Example Of Running A Game by: Trunks Players try to talk their way past a Nosferatu. With the NDA officially lifted, I've put together a quick article of what it's like to run a multiplayer game as a ST. I've taken several screenshots to help make things clearer for you. This particular game I ran was the first of a four custom chronicle series I created, and was designed for beginning players (Neonates). As characters complete each chronicle, they'll be experienced enough to play the next one. So they start out as Neonates in the first chronicle, but by the time the Modern times arrive in the third chronicle, they'll be Elders. This first chronicle takes place in the Dark Ages era. The first two screenshots you see here are quick snippets from two other sessions when I ran this chronicle with different players. These should give you a quick idea of what to expect when in a multiplayer game with a lot of role-playing. Most of the chronicle's designed was done well before this particular game took place, and it took a total of about three hours to do it. The party investigates a grave. First, a quick overview for this particular chronicle. As this is the first chronicle in the series and intended for relatively new characters, those participating don't need equipment from a previous game, as they will acquire some later on in the storyline. Prior to the game starting, the players can come up with a quick story behind how they got together as a group and why they're traveling with each other. This shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes. For whatever reason the group got together and where ever they're headed, they happen to stop by the small town of Temesval. After being on the roads for a few hours, and seeking shelter for the night and the forest, the group enters the little town and the Inn for a break. It is here they learn of the recent events of Temesval, and what happens next depends on the party's actions. Before we continue on, a quick explanation of the game's chat feature. Unlike the single player game, in multiplayer games that have a live ST, you don't always have to click on NPCs to initiate conversations...you can just use the chat window and talk to them as if they were another person. The ST should reply accordingly. This is not to say you don't HAVE to click on a NPC. If the ST is following the group around and keeping track what's going on, then you probably don't have to click on the NPC to start a conversation. If the ST is busy elsewhere though, and doesn't notice the chat window, clicking on the NPC (assuming the "talk icon" is available for that particular NPC) should send a message to the ST (something along the lines of a 'Clicked conversation initiated at' message) and will hopefully get the ST's attention. There are some special formatting keys you will need to get familiar with to fully utilize the chat feature. Keep in mind that this may change in the future from the beta. Normally, typing in the chat window will just get a "Player says 'whatever'" message on the chat window. But by using these formatting keys, you can do different things. The first is for "emotes." For those of you familiar with IRC, this is the equivalent of using /me. You would use this if you want to show that your character is doing an action, or if you want to be descriptive such as laughing, glaring, or speaking angrily. This is done with the colon key, so some examples of using it would include ":laughs heartily," ":glares at the smug merchant," and ":angrily says 'The hell you say!'" This is what appears when you put ":laughs" in the chat line. The shout feature has 2 uses. The first use is for, obviously, showing that your character is yelling. Gameplay wise, it has another use. Normally, players can only see chat text from other players that are in the same area as them. So if someone is in a different section of the level, anything they say there can't be seen. Shouting allows you to talk to each other across levels, though the main use of this would be for out of char chat. The ST can see all conversations in any area, but players will only be able to hear the ST if they are in the same area as they are. To roleplay phone conversations across a level, you can either use the Shout feature and disregard the fact it says "Player shouts," or you can have the ST be the middle man, and relay what's being said. Shouting is done by the exclamation mark, so examples of it's use may include "!Hey, get away from there!" and "!(hey, don't go in there yet, come back here)." The use of parenthesis in that last example signifies it was out-of-character chat (OOC). This is what appears when you put "!Hey wait, stop!" in the chat line. You can also whisper messages between each other. There are two kinds of whispers, private whispers and team whispers. Private whisper messages can only be seen by you, whoever you are sending the message to, and the ST. There are two different methods for whispering, one is for whispering to the ST only, and the other is for whispering to another party member. To whisper to the ST, use the period. So an example might be ".Hey, you forgot to give me those gloves in the tavern." To whisper to another player, type /Playername followed by your message. So to whisper to someone named Bill, you would type "/Bill Hey, let me deal with him, I have better social skills." Team whispers can only be seen by your teammates and the ST. This is useful not only for PvP games where you might have 2 groups of players against each other, but also for roleplaying whispering and talking amongst your group in a role-playing game. Team whispers are done with the comma, so an example would be ",Hey watch it, we shouldn't don't get the guard too upset!" This is what appears when you put ".Hey ST, am I talking to the right NPC?" in the chat line. This is what appears when you put "/Monique Is that a good idea?" in the chat line. This is what appears when you put ",Maybe we shouldn't tell him we're really here for yet..." in the chat line. The chat feature also has a dice roller. For those of you who want to implement certain P&P rules in the game, you can use this to roll as many dice as you want. It only rolls 10-sided dice, as those are the only kind used in the original P&P game. Dice rolling is done by the percent sign, entering the percent sign by itself will roll 1 10-sided die, and putting a number after it will roll that many 10-sided dice (with a max limit of 20). So typing "%" in the chat line will roll 1 die, and typing "%6" will roll 6 dice. This is what appears when you put "%" in the chat line. This is what appears when you put "%6" in the chat line. Finally, there is Narration. This is mainly for the ST, for the times when you want to enter a sentence in a narrative format without any "Storyteller says/shouts/emotes" stuff. This is down with the semi-colon, so an example would be ";You notice a strange hooded man further down the street as you leave the inn." I forgot to take a direct screenshot of it like the ones above, but there are examples of it in later screenshots. Next Page