Factional Roleplay System
This is a book to capture my thoughts on creating a factional roleplay system. The overriding goal is to create a system that can be played when not everyone is present; to encourage story creation and interaction; and to be accessible to several role play skill levels.
Part of the idea in this is to eliminate the distinction between PCs and NPCs. People in given scenes should be able to play a role even if 'their' resources are not involved. Additionally, with the elimination of individual characters, missing a session should not be as big a deal, though participation should be encouraged.
Note: None of this is written in stone at this point, and suggestions are welcome.
High Level Concepts:
Disciplines - Categories of Factions created by the GM in his or her Worldbuilding.
Factions - The unit of PC creation. Factions are members of exactly 1 Discipline, and assume that Discipline's Goals (though possibly at different weights). Factions consist of Actors and Locations; both of which are player (not necessarily GM) created. A faction consists of 1-2 Central Actors; ~12 Major Actors; and 24+ Minor Actors.
Faction Leader - The PC who owns and controls that faction.
Actor - A character in the game. Actors have a skill level (better name needed) in their faction of: Central, Major or Minor. This controls both the importance of that Actor in the faction, and the possible interaction of other players. Actors are assigned faction based on which faction has the most interest in that actor. A spy Faction A may have in Faction B is not a minor actor in faction B, it's a major actor in faction A.
Central Actors are pretty much analogous to PCs. They can only be played by the Faction Leader, or the GM. They are the most interesting and capable members of that Faction, but need not be the most powerful. To give a common literary example, the King of the Kingdom isn't always the central character in a book, but might be a very powerful man.
Major Actors may be played by any player, but all changes to traits must be approved by the Faction Leader. Major Players are created by the Faction Leader, or GM in some instances.
Minor Actors may be created / changed / played by anyone, but are expected to follow the faction's ideology.
Influences or similar ideas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universalis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aria:_Canticle_of_the_Monomyth
Part of the idea in this is to eliminate the distinction between PCs and NPCs. People in given scenes should be able to play a role even if 'their' resources are not involved. Additionally, with the elimination of individual characters, missing a session should not be as big a deal, though participation should be encouraged.
Note: None of this is written in stone at this point, and suggestions are welcome.
High Level Concepts:
Disciplines - Categories of Factions created by the GM in his or her Worldbuilding.
Factions - The unit of PC creation. Factions are members of exactly 1 Discipline, and assume that Discipline's Goals (though possibly at different weights). Factions consist of Actors and Locations; both of which are player (not necessarily GM) created. A faction consists of 1-2 Central Actors; ~12 Major Actors; and 24+ Minor Actors.
Faction Leader - The PC who owns and controls that faction.
Actor - A character in the game. Actors have a skill level (better name needed) in their faction of: Central, Major or Minor. This controls both the importance of that Actor in the faction, and the possible interaction of other players. Actors are assigned faction based on which faction has the most interest in that actor. A spy Faction A may have in Faction B is not a minor actor in faction B, it's a major actor in faction A.
Central Actors are pretty much analogous to PCs. They can only be played by the Faction Leader, or the GM. They are the most interesting and capable members of that Faction, but need not be the most powerful. To give a common literary example, the King of the Kingdom isn't always the central character in a book, but might be a very powerful man.
Major Actors may be played by any player, but all changes to traits must be approved by the Faction Leader. Major Players are created by the Faction Leader, or GM in some instances.
Minor Actors may be created / changed / played by anyone, but are expected to follow the faction's ideology.
Influences or similar ideas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universalis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aria:_Canticle_of_the_Monomyth
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