M:TG Roleplaying Group

[Remec]

Have you played Magic:The Gathering and had your imagination tickled (among other things) at the possibilities inherent in what duelists and planeswalkers do to acquire and manipulate the powers under their command? How they get such diverse beings to obey and do as they wish when summoned?

Have you read any of the novels and/or short stories that addressed these issues as well as showed the backstory behind the different world settings for the card game?

Well, come in and leave your two cents, then. *BG*

We are looking at putting together a M:TG RP where various duelists would come together and use their mana access (not to mention their summoning abilities) in ways that we've always thought they might be doing, but have yet to see WoTC admit to.

To that end, we need to know

• who's interested
• how we are playing the summoning of creatures
• how are we depicting the use of Magic
• When will we know when a duel is won or lost

I'm sure there are other things to cover, as well, but that's a good start.

8-)

[Ex68471]

I am totally in for this.

[Saerrael]

I know I shouldn't do this, but I want in!

And I really want to play a Black/ White deck >.>
Will be fun to see how the hell I'm going to RP that combination of magic.

Any restrictions on cards?

[TheGlyphstone]

I'm on this like removal on a Tarmagoyf.



What? :P

[GryphonCompanion]

Count me in Remec! I've always wanted to do one of these ^_^

[GryphonCompanion]

LMAO Glyph :) Should we use the currently banned/restricted lists? Cuz Black Lotuses are kinda the shiznitz >.>

[TheGlyphstone]

Wait, we'd actually be playing by card game rules? I was picturing something more like the novels - we could totally still have battles, but more of a freeform-ish nature.

[Remec]

I know I shouldn't do this, but I want in!

And I really want to play a Black/ White deck >.>
Will be fun to see how the hell I'm going to RP that combination of magic.

Any restrictions on cards?

First good question.

Shall we have people posting deck lists so we know what to potentially expect? Shall we keep it wide open, as you might in Casual Play, or to we want to limit the scope to specific blocks of the game?

One concept might be to play what you'd like, but keep your 'deck' to within a given framework plus the Basic set.

Example:
You plan a character from (to be recent) Zendikar...then you give them access only to spells from the Core set, Zendikar, Worldwake, and Rise of the Eldrazi

8-)

[Ex68471]

Hehe.

I just had this image of one of us players commanding a massive rat army using only a pipe. ;D

[Saerrael]

First good question.

Shall we have people posting deck lists so we know what to potentially expect? Shall we keep it wide open, as you might in Casual Play, or to we want to limit the scope to specific blocks of the game?

One concept might be to play what you'd like, but keep your 'deck' to within a given framework plus the Basic set.

Example:
You plan a character from (to be recent) Zendikar...then you give them access only to spells from the Core set, Zendikar, Worldwake, and Rise of the Eldrazi

8-)

Personally, I'm thinking of not listing desks, but at least some restriction should be handy. We don't want to have Wrath of God on every turn, now would we?

[GryphonCompanion]

I'd think maybe using either Standard or Legacy/other similar format banned/restricted lists would work well, and keep it open but not too overpowered. Because I was thinking of using a R/W or R/W/G slide (not sleigh) deck :)

I'm old school like that.

Of course, I'd tweak it with the newer generations of cards too.

[Ex68471]

I'm probably just going to appropriate my all-color artifact deck for this.

It seems like it'll be a lot of fun. :D

[TheGlyphstone]

I'd still advocate a semi-freeform setup for duels. Create a planeswalker character, and decide on a general deck archtype/theme/color mix. Keep a general idea of what you've used and are using, and try to keep it going to the tempo that a fully rules-stable card match would have...Goblins or Grizzly Bears on the first turn, not Bogardan Hellkites or Eldrazi.

[Latooni Subota]

Why hello there, i'm the one who immediately suggested we do this. -Modelwalks-

Obviously, i'm interested, and i have LOTS of ideas on how to run this stuff. :3

Much like a lot of the novels do, the way it works normally works is the prospective planeswalkers travel around and gain ahold of areas of land that have strong mana, as well as somehow attaining creatures and developing spells to use, sometimes copying them from others.

The way I think works best is that each Planeswalker has their own little demiplane, probably linked to some nifty item they have on their person. In order to acquire artifacts/creatures/etc they put their personal magic 'touch' onto them, like a mark or something . . maybe work out deals or force the creatures into submission. Let's say this allows the creatures to go on with their lives, but it saves a 'copy' of their current power/mental state/whatever in that demiplane that the Planeswalker can call on.

As for mana, the Planeswalker puts his mark into a special place with strong mana, creating a link between the place and himself, so he can call upon it's mana in the future.

On the Planeswalker's person, he keeps a token of some kind that acts as a link to whatever essences he has in his demiplane, allowing him to easily summon it by using the right amount of mana. You use the token by thumbing it, kissing it, brandishing it, whatever to help you summon your whatever.

When the creature is killed, the token burns up, probably necessitating you to find that creature again and re-make a contract . . if they let you. Maybe when a creature you summon dies, the original weakens or something somehow, to give less incentive for certain creatures to want to ally with you?

Magic spells are developed by the mage himself, and can be re-developed and 'readied for use' if countered/used up/etc. Artifacts . . well, if you have the real artifact, then you can keep making essences or whatever of it if your essence of the artifact in question ends up destroyed somehow.

Rather than suffering wounds, Life can be displayed by your spiritual resilience or something. Probably personalized for each person. Your total Life is represented by how many nifty floating magic barriers/etc you have protecting you. When you run out, you give up, because dying SUCKS. Rather than being brought to negative somehow (NO LICH SHENANIGANS! :P ) maybe your last shield soaks all of the overwash damage and leaves you helpless?

As for rules, the game should be played with standard rules except for the changes as outlined above, but you can essentially 'draw' any card from your deck at any time. Normally 1 mana played per turn, start at 20 life, etc.

Using the Banlist is fine by me, and picking what format (Classic/Legacy/whatever) would be a good idea. Also, we should pick a limit to what amount of mana we have in our deck. Maybe also limit how many Colors we can use to start? And yes. Deck Lists are good.

Edit while Posting: Hmm, picking a limited amount of Sets for each character to choose from would be a neat concept. Maybe one person picks Urza Saga, one Rath Cycle, etc? And yes, also we should have Limit Etc of a card per deck like usual. Maybe the nature of the magic makes it naturally more like the Trading Card Game? :P


Also, MSN or AIM or SKype or something chat would be handy, no? :P

BIG EDIT: OOOH! Maybe when you win and have your . . fun . . you also get the ability to use one Set of the loser's chosen Block? Would be a neat competition-inspiring rule. ;)

[GryphonCompanion]

Would we have a limit of 60 "spells," which would include the ability to tap into the land around us? Or would the mana generation be separate from the actually spells and not count against said limit?

[Saerrael]

I'd still advocate a semi-freeform setup for duels. Create a planeswalker character, and decide on a general deck archtype/theme/color mix. Keep a general idea of what you've used and are using, and try to keep it going to the tempo that a fully rules-stable card match would have...Goblins or Grizzly Bears on the first turn, not Bogardan Hellkites or Eldrazi.

Yes, of course. I didn't mean to imply a system game. Sorry if it came across like that :)

My god, this thread moves like a train! xD

[Latooni Subota]

I'd suggest the mana pool be a separate pre-determined number like 10 or 15. As for the actual MEAT of the deck, limit it to . .  30 or 40? Maybe every win makes you a bit stronger, and you can add 5 cards to the limit of your deck? Also, I did a slight edit to my post about consequences of winning/losing.

[GryphonCompanion]

*jumps on the Latooni bandwagon* ^_^ No qualms from me there.

[Ex68471]

I truly like the ideas you have put forward, Latooni, but you neglected to mention one very important card class: Planeswalkers. Are we just going to not use them, or would we summon their "essence" and essentially just have an ally standing next to you casting massive area-effect spells as we activate their abilites?

[Saerrael]

I truly like the ideas you have put forward, Latooni, but you neglected to mention one very important card class: Planeswalkers. Are we just going to not use them, or would we summon their "essence" and essentially just have an ally standing next to you casting massive area-effect spells as we activate their abilites?

*suggests playing as Planeswalkers*

[Latooni Subota]

Eventually, if you get tired of a character/let him or her die for some delicious story reason/feel like a change of pace, maybe we can make extra characters too, using different sets or something? Just a thought.


Edit: PLANESWALKERS! For that, we could have a group discussion, and make our main characters actually BE a Planeswalker. Vote on whether or not the abilities are fair/worth the loyalty cost. Instead of loyalty, make it be another type of thing like "Spirit/Chi/Whatever" and if you drop to zero, that just means you exhausted that type of energy and can't use it again for the remainder of the battle. Maybe give yourself a (Voted on) mana cost to activate that 'mode'?

Or we can not use planeswalkers as extra things. :3

[GryphonCompanion]

Ex, that would all depend on if you are using a set block, like Latooni suggested. I would say to not use planeswalkers, since they are only in the last few blocks. And they are still confusing as hell at times for me in the game @_@ lol

[TheGlyphstone]

For the creatures, the token idea is neat, though I'm just as amused by the idea of each summoning being somewhat spontaneous. When the planeswalker calls upon the titanic energies of two volcanoes and rips open a portal between universes, Gozzik the Goblin is actually bodily dragged from his lazy shift on sentry duty to fend off the attacks of a ravenous ghoul. When 'killed', Gozzik would vanish and reappear back home, no worse for the wear minus a miserable headache and severely confused as to what just happened.

We should be the Planeswalkers themselves, as described in the original MtG manuals...the Planeswalker cards are mostly combo gimmicks anyways.

[Katina Tarask]

I'm interested, though I've never really played magic.  Latooni's promised to take me under her wing and utterly trounce me a few times so'st I can learn.

*Attempted to post six times within a few minutes and each time got a 'new post' notice.*

[Remec]

*suggests playing as Planeswalkers*

Yeah, I think that'd be the way to go with it. Even if you want to rp that you're not a Walker, and only know about and reside in a given plane,

[Saerrael]

For the creatures, the token idea is neat, though I'm just as amused by the idea of each summoning being somewhat spontaneous. When the planeswalker calls upon the titanic energies of two volcanoes and rips open a portal between universes, Gozzik the Goblin is actually bodily dragged from his lazy shift on sentry duty to fend off the attacks of a ravenous ghoul. When 'killed', Gozzik would vanish and reappear back home, no worse for the wear minus a miserable headache and severely confused as to what just happened.

We should be the Planeswalkers themselves, as described in the original MtG manuals...the Planeswalker cards are mostly combo gimmicks anyways.

That's what I mean. More story and less system. ;)

[Latooni Subota]

Still keeping the system (minus my changes I mentioned) in place, makes sure that there is less bickering, I'd think. As well as making a definitive marker of "I WIN!".

Also, Infinite/Extra Turn Combos should be banned for annoyance's sake. Just sayin'. ;)

Edit: Oh, lol. I see what you meant Saerra. I thought you were disagreeing with my ideas for some reason. I must be hungry.

[TheGlyphstone]

While we're discussing it, I would like to suggest that whether we use systematic duel rules, or play it freeform, that we abide by gentleman/woman/other's agreements as to general content. No ripping Grand Tour-winning decklists off the net, turn-one win combos, or infinite loops. Calling forth goblins, fire elementals, and capping it off with a Dragon Tyrant is okay - coincidentally having four Rites of Flame and quadruple-casting Bogardan Hellkite on turn one isn't. >:(

[Vandren]

There's a part of me that wishes some of the aforementioned cards made sense . . . there's another part that's glad I got out of the game back in '96, even if I do still have my R/G/Bl/B deck lying around.

[bluemoon]

As I stated in the SB, totally interested.

I'd say we should have a set amount of mana, and only so many different creatures we each can summon, only so many artifacts, and only so many spells and instants. Maybe limit it to one spell per turn, even? What I'm suggesting is having it so we can summon probably 5 or so different creatures (but can summon more than one of those creature, etc) and 7 different instants, 10 different spells...I'm not saying those should be the number, just how I think it should be set up. If you ever played the Magic game for Xbox(yes I know it's nothing like the actual card game) you play as a planeswalker on a field against another planeswalker and slowly generate mana, and have a few spells you can choose to summon as many times as you want, so long as you have the mana to summon them. And I got the one spell per turn idea from playing a type of chaos magic where everyone draws from the same deck(very LARGE deck) and has infinite mana, but can only play one spell a turn. These are just a couple of *my* ideas.

[Ex68471]

All right, Planeswalkers as summonable a no-no. Understood.

And the mana tokens, quick question. After each turn, are they just charged up one more notch?

Also, I'm gonna have to dig out some of my old decks and run some of my more vicious combos by you guys to see if I need to exclude them, because a lot of my decks were made to exploit one-turn KO's and infinite/repeating turns... :P

[Latooni Subota]

Agreed. This is why posting Deck layouts could help, as well. :3

Well, at least whatever your current deck is :)

Bluemoon: it has possibilities. I like my original set-up, but lets see what others think about it. :3


EDIT: As for infinite mana, I'd say NO. I like my X-Burn spells thank you very much, and that would make them broken.

Maybe a slowly rising cap of Mana up to the chosen maximum. Turn one you can use 1 of your chosen mana. Turn 2 you can use that and one more. And the mana you've spent refills after every turn?

[Saerrael]

All right, Planeswalkers as summonable a no-no. Understood.

And the mana tokens, quick question. After each turn, are they just charged up one more notch?

Also, I'm gonna have to dig out some of my old decks and run some of my more vicious combos by you guys to see if I need to exclude them, because a lot of my decks were made to exploit one-turn KO's and infinite/repeating turns... :P

*had infinite life gen/ life sac/ player burn deck* >.> Waaaay back when, though.

[bluemoon]

Your set up just seems complicated to me is all. The other way would just simplify a lot of things, in my opinion. I just think keeping track of 20 or so spells(including creatures, summoning creatures is considered playing a spell) or so would be easier than keeping track of 40 + in deck form no less.

[GryphonCompanion]

I don't think we should limit the number of each card type available, but the total number. Because I know some decks are instant heavy. Others are creature heavy. Others are very artifact heavy. Et cetera.

And to limiting the decks from Nationals winners, I semi-like the idea. This could also broaden to top 8, top 16, whatever. That part I do not like. Because I like me some Astral Slide decks from back in the Onslaught block with Invasion block cards. (I played MtGO when it first came out. Good memories ^_^.) That's my only qualm with that.

[Latooni Subota]

Bluemoon: I don't think you understand. What you just suggested is my suggestion, with slightly less Spells in it. O.o

Edit: Well, except for the mana thing. :3

[bluemoon]

I just suck at explaining my idea is all...it's not the same...not quite...it is similar in some ways...but I just suck at explaining...

[Latooni Subota]

Well, it also hurts that my ideas aren't organized that well either. Maybe someone can write a more-organized bulletpoint of them? Getting hungrier, and finding it harder to think like a smartypants

[Saerrael]

I think I'm just going to let this fester for a while and see not only what springs to mind but also what happens to this thread in the meantime.

[Latooni Subota]

As for me, I have yet to have dinner and it's getting late, so i'm gonna step out of the house for twenty-ish minutes and grab some. Be back later, hopefully with more ideas.

[Remec]

I think I'm just going to let this fester for a while and see not only what springs to mind but also what happens to this thread in the meantime.

Indeed, I'm actually going to have to turn in soon...was up way late yesterday and will come see what has been worked out or suggested in the mornng.

Apologies to anyone who might have wanted to start right now (unless you get it worked out, in which case I will join you tomorrow some time)


8-)

[TheGlyphstone]

Likewise, I'm turning in for the night. I'm still advocating a freeform approach, more like RPing in the MtG cosmology with frequent duels between players, but at least a minimalist structure will probably be necessary.

[Saerrael]

Indeed, I'm actually going to have to turn in soon...was up way late yesterday and will come see what has been worked out or suggested in the mornng.

Apologies to anyone who might have wanted to start right now (unless you get it worked out, in which case I will join you tomorrow some time)


8-)

Could let everyone fight over who the heck will GM this >:)

Anyway, have a good night's rest, doll. See you another night, I'm sure.

*votes for free form as well*

[Ex68471]

Glad to know I'm not the only one having to go right now. I'll definitely check in on this tomorrow.

[HockeyGod]

Oh my, I think I just had an e-gasm. I would love to join. I'd especially be interested in black or blue/black. I really wouldn't mind playing dark or evil.

I created a freeform story-based game a couple of years ago based on MTG. It was play by email (PBEM).  I even have a map and have drawn up the lands.

In the game I created Planeswalkers were Oracles that cared only a little for the world and were more sought out to answer questions. I tried to limit god-modding.

Are you considering it adult sexual or just adult violence?

[Latooni Subota]

alxnjsh: Nice map! I approve. :)

I think that we're closer to adult sexual (since that's half the fun) at least after the battles. In fact, after waking up from a particularly . . invigorating dream on the subject, I had a few ideas about the After Phase.

So you've beaten your opponent, and have them fairly helpless at your feat. Not counting those pervy Planeswalkers out there, why wouldn't you want to just kill them, or even let them go without doing anything? Power, that's why. With their magical power depleted, the only resistance they have left is their mental and emotional fortitude. By having your way with them (Via yourself, your creatures, maybe even gender tweaking magic if that's your thing.) you weaken those final barriers just enough to steal a fragment of their power, which you wouldn't be able to acquire if you killed them.

Assuming we go with the idea that everyone has one Block to start with, the fun-time after the actual battle allows you access to one Set from the enemy's Block after you weaken them enough to steal a bit of their power. I say 'steal', but I don't mean the enemy can't use that Set that you choose (Or maybe randomly gets chosen via a quick diceroll?).

Comments, concerns, etc? I'll see if I can write up a little bullet-point thing on issues to be decided on later, since I might be going to the movies pretty soon.

[HockeyGod]

Hmmm...I'm not sure I understand the "Block" and all that. I also wonder how do you make a cohesive story if it's mainly battling and stuff. This was the main page for the game I created, just as an FYI:

Amaranthine is a fantasy based play by email (pbem) that takes place in the court of the royal Amaranthine Dynasty based on Magic: The Gathering. The Amaranthine family has been the appointed body serving as arbiter over the world of Dominaria for a millennium. They work to bring the disparate peoples of the four major lands (Kjeldoran Plains - white, Anabian Mountains - red, Verduran Woodlands - green, and Union of Merchant States - blue) together for common ground, common good.

There will be day to day dealings within the court. The one plotline that binds all characters together is the Amaranthine court. Your character may be a trader, royal family member, soldier, wizard, elf, alchemist...anything you want...from one of the four major lands of Dominaria.

Occasionally the Amaranthine family will require assistance to quest for a designated purpose - investigate the loss of communication from Benal, escort a Sister of the Flame back to her keep, settle a dispute over the Halls of Mist - and a group of writers will join the quest.

Free writes will occur in between quests. These times allow for character development. Typically they occur within the Neutral Lands and the court rather than one of the four major lands. Travel is quite slow by feet or horse!

In this venue we were the various cards rather than wizards - Rangers, Merfolk, etc. However, you could also make it so that it is based on wizards - like the M:TG books (if you have read them).

[bluemoon]

The idea was that we would be the plainswalkers, summoning creatures to do our bidding.

[HockeyGod]

The idea was that we would be the plainswalkers, summoning creatures to do our bidding.

Gotcha! Makes sense.

[Latooni Subota]

Well obviously, at the moment this is more . . . setting up a fair/whatever framework to deal with battles between Planeswalkers, rather than setting up an overarching plot/storyline atm. The latter should be done, of course, but I like having something crunchy to work with before building the fluffy parts. Rules are my comfort zone, and they limit my inner-munchkin/urge to argue about silly things! :D

I foresee no problems with setting up short-term storylines (Example: The MTG book 'Arena' would be a great way to playtest everything while still keeping delicious plot . . or something like it.). A group of young (power scale, not necessarily age) Planeswalkers gathering together to take part in some kind of extradimensional tournament, in order to win some epic prize. Insert whatever is running the tournament to instigate shenanigans, rivalries, and some delicious mystery to the mix. So many choices of things to do!

alxnjsh: By Block, I mean the grouping of sets of cards as they were released. Example, the Rath Cycle or Tempest Block, which consists of the three sets Tempest, Stronghold, and Exodus.

Example2: Lorwyn Block, which consists of the two sets Lorwyn and Morningtide.

[TheGlyphstone]

An Arena-style tournament setting sounds like a good idea to go with. Individual threads between players for actual duels, and a couple of general community threads for various arena locations they might gather in.

[Remec]

Okay, so, we have a lot of thoughts and ideas. Here's what I gather to be a quick summation:

1. The writers would be Planeswalkers...new and original, either well-established or nascent and just coming into their abilities...ie, you may play someone who thinks they are merely a wizard, sorceror, duelist, whatever you wish to call yourself and your ability to summon and use mana for assorted things.

2. We would have an overall storyarc that deals with a large scale Tournament (with a capital 'T'), but there may be side duels going on as the characters wind their way towards and through the event.

3. Mana and the access to it would be seperate from your deck of spells, and build bit-by-bit as the duel progresses unless helped by the right spells, creatures, and/or artifacts.

4. We all agree that a limit of what spells can be used and how many needs to be in place, just need to work out the details.
4a. One suggestion is a standard deck worth of spells---if we don't count the mana, that would mean 36 spells (on average) to work with. We could go with more or less.
4b. Another suggestion was to have each person design their character to work within a given Block (eg, Mirage, Visions, Weatherlight), and that winning a duel would give access to one of the loser's sets.

5. I don't think this has been addressed, but I think we should be in a noncanon world or plane, so that we don't have to worry about conformng to an established history that not everyone will be up on.

6. While the level of sex and violence can vary, it has been suggested that it be placed in the Exotic:NC or Exotic:Extreme areas just to cover all bases.
6a. Another aspect of winning, possibly as part of claiming the set access mentioned above, would be the loser being subject to the winner's desire(s).

Anything else that has been discussed or brought up for discussion?

8-)

[bluemoon]

I don't like the blck idea...mainly for the fact that I always build decks with cards that I have collected over many different blocks...I still suggest using the spells more as a layout, rather than a deck (having access to them, with mana being the only thing in question) maybe with a regen cycle for stronger cards (how fast you can re-use the spell) more for fairness...I'm not accusing anyone of being un-fair, it just eliminates the whol "Yeah, I drew this card" thing.

[TheGlyphstone]

Likewise somewhat against the block idea - if you're an experienced planeswalker, you'll probably have collected spells and creatures from multiple universes. Having specific themes would be a better guideline, whether it's block, tribal, or strategy-based. For example, I'm planning on a hot-blooded ;D pyromancer, who employs a lot of blasting magic and fire-themed creatures...both Ravnica block and Llorwyn block have lots of fire-elemental-esque creatures, and I'd like to be able to draw from both of them - but I wouldn't be able to pick creatures who don't support the fire-elemental theme in some way. Comparatively, a young mage from Kamigawa or Alara might be a block 'deck' instead, since they're new to planeshopping.

[bluemoon]

well, none of the planeswalkers are supposed to be "experienced" but my point was more that I don't really do blocks, even being a not-overly experienced-magic player. Really, inexperienced ones may have collected random spells along the way too. I always ran a black/green or green/blue deck, and nobody could figure out my strategy, as everything seemed random...

[Latooni Subota]

bluemoon: The word Deck does not imply that you're drawing cards at random, imo. The way I saw it was that we have our deck of lots of stuff to pull from. However, upon thinking about it, that would either SUPERPOWER or SUPERGIMP discard decks. So how about a middle ground?

You have your 'deck' of spells (30, 36, whatever is fine.), but instead of being able to choose from all of them, why don't we have a 'ready' system? At the begining of the duel you 'ready' seven spells to be used, and at the begining of each turn, you 'ready' another spell. This makes hand-control stuff still viable, and makes Draw cards pretty useful too.

Say a given Planeswalker can only mentally/physically keep 7 spells 'readied', just because of the strain of having all that magic ready to go. That means that when you go over, at the end of the turn you lose spells of your choice that went over that limit, since it would be 'unsafe' without an artifact or something to allow you to focus on more spells at once. See, it's really easy to add fluff in to keep it fairly close to the real MTG. :3

As for the Block thing, I still insist it's a good idea. Mainly because I totally didn't want to see people starting out as LOL GARTH ONE-EYE and such. Limiting everyone to a Block gives a (relatively) even playing field to start with. You want to use cards from certain other blocks? Seek out the people that use the sets you want, and beat them. It's also an incentive to battle more, and win more, since each victory makes you that much stronger/gives you a bigger pool of spells to choose from.

That and it wouldn't be difficult to actually look up the cards. Block-decks (especially with newer blocks) work QUITE well. And even older ones have enough stuff to make some spiffy decks (Lich decks anyone? Plz no D: ).

Edit: Oh, right. I totally agree on non-canon setting. :D

Edit2: Okay, fine, in the interests of being more pliable . . despite me INSISTING we do Blocks to start, I SUPPOSE we could also do something like choose three SETS to start with, regardless of Block. From there, continue with the winning a Set a duel. -Washes off her brain for suggesting something she hates-

[RubySlippers]

I have a suggestion instead of blocks just limit new planewalkers aka players to cards that are common and some uncommon. Rare and mythic cards should be earned and uncommon cards limited. Then one could build all kinds of deck from many sets since the card power level would be fairly modest.

[TheGlyphstone]

As for the Block thing, I still insist it's a good idea. Mainly because I totally didn't want to see people starting out as LOL GARTH ONE-EYE and such. Limiting everyone to a Block gives a (relatively) even playing field to start with. You want to use cards from certain other blocks? Seek out the people that use the sets you want, and beat them. It's also an incentive to battle more, and win more, since each victory makes you that much stronger/gives you a bigger pool of spells to choose from.

Except, Garth should have sucked royally by any terms approaching the rules of the game - drawing from all five colors at once without any sort of mana-balancing shenanigans. And one-block limitations don't actually do much towards keeping power down - Block Constructed is only regarded as balanced because it limits everyone to the same pool of potential cards. With all blocks in play, but only one per person, it just means certain blocks won't ever see play because their overall power is so much weaker than their competition (Kamigawa, for example, or Ice Age, and a lot of the older blocks that don't start with On and end with Slaught.

What I think we really need to agree on before any more decisions get made is what we're playing. Is this going to be a set of play-by-post M:TG duel matches dressed up in RP trappings, or is it an RP based around or set in the Magic mythos/meta-setting? The first would be where keeping everyone 'balanced' is more important, naturally. The latter would be where playing out the duel is more important that who wins, though keeping some rules of sorts will help lower the chances of it turning into cops-and-robbers.

Ruby's suggestion isn't bad though, I like the idea of limiting rarities - maybe allow each person one rare card, but no mythics or legendaries. The idea of a three-set 'custom block is a good possibility also.

[Latooni Subota]

Hmm, I half agree and half don't? Mainly because I've made WAY too many decks out of COMMONS, let alone Commons and Uncommons, that can trash delicious rare decks like no tomorrow. A limit on Rares, I don't like. A limit on Mythic Rares and Legendaries . . I can agree with that, or at least limiting the number of them in the deck?

Either way, I'd still prefer my ideas. My ego is powerful. ;)

Glyph: I'll wait for others to weigh in on that. And also, Garth was epic. Don't deny is manly ability to seduce even Benalish women! :D

[TheGlyphstone]

Well, I haven't actually read Arena - I just googled his name and found him listed as a character in the MtGSalvation wiki, where it was mentioned he used magic of all five colors.

We definitely need to ban Mythics or Legendaries. I'm starting to feel ambivalent about the other rarities - you comment reminds me of all the powerhouse budget decks I've seen and played. Wizard's design strategy doesn't always put 'Good' in rare as much as they do 'Cool', at least until they invented Mythics specifically to hold the 'Cool not Good' cards.

[bluemoon]

I don't like limiting the "number" of a card, because that's still going back to the draw idea. I'd prefer the regen thing then, it could be "turn-based" and you could only cast those spells after so many turns, and each time you cast it, the counter resets. Maybe instead of just 7 spells at random, you start with 7 common spells, and as turns go on "unlock" the higher level spells?

[Latooni Subota]

Bluemoon: Where are you getting the idea that you'd randomly draw cards from? I thought I was clear that there was no random about it. My 'draw/hand' idea is just so that several rather important blue/black/etc deck concepts aren't completely useless. You PICK what you put into your hand. Adds a different level of strategy to the whole thing.

[bluemoon]

when did I say "random" anywhere in that last post?

[Latooni Subota]

Not to be combative or nitpicky, but you did. Last line of your post: "Maybe instead of just 7 spells at random". This implied to me that you thought the earlier ideas for the 'draw/ready' thing was random. If I was wrong, sorry, but that's how I saw it.

[bluemoon]

I honestly don't know how that random got in there...guess it was a subconscious slip, but still...

[MMTwo]

I am in on this idea!

Though I agree with Glyph it would be good to know if this is more Magic RP, or playing Magic with interspersed RP. Both are interesting, but what more people want would definitely help with deciding which way the rules should go.

In other news, Hey everybody!

[HockeyGod]

Not to derail the group - but that would be kinda neat - role play an actual game. I'd read that!!

[TheGlyphstone]

It'd take a lot more structure, though I can see it working. You'd need:

A set decklist for each player, with each card numbered 1-60.
A neutral DM/Referee.
A random die roller used to 'generate' what cards are drawn, off the DM-maintained decklist.

It'd go very slowly, but it's possible. Hence, why I'm rooting strongly for a loose, semi-freeform and RP-heavy game structure instead.

[MMTwo]

Well I think the middle ground has been whats been talked about for most of this thread.

A list of 36 or so spells.
Each turn you choose one to add to a 'ready' list, but can only have 7 ready total.

The main thing undecided is mana cost and how they would work. Whether each posting round would mean both players have 1 more mana available, or whether the mana cost would relate to a natural cooldown for repeating that same spell (or spells in general).

But yeah, middle ground.

[Zebu]

Wow.  Definitely feeling Johnny-come-lately to what looks like an amazing roleplay.  I'll just toss my two cents out there and see what happens, then.

It looks like the biggest disagreement is structural-- everyone's trying to come up with a system that would be a) fair and b) fun.  Me, I'd like to point out that even a system that's balanced for experienced players could easily create problems for the people who haven't memorized every set from Alpha to Mirridon.  Which just goes as one more example of how most people disagree about what balanced would look like.  So let's step back for a minute and look at the big picture.

Assume that we create a perfectly balanced system.  We'll put it in a box: [box].  Now, let's fit [box] into an RP!

Using [box], any player can theoretically defeat any other player, placing them at their mercy.  Evil chuckle.  But is that really what players want?  Under [box], everyone has an equal chance of winning/losing.  This means that any character can challenge any other character and beat them.  The problem is that not everyone wants to be beaten.  In other words, joining this RP under [box] means consenting to letting anyone/thing, regardless of gender or species, rape your character.  I'm sure some people have no problem with that, but a quick look at some On/Off lists shows that some of you are not like that.  So.

You could implement [box] and let people agree about permissible events in the OOC. But if that's going to happen, why 'mandate' [box] at all?  Instead, I suggest making it completely freeform.  People can decide how they want to structure their duels, and use [box] or something they think is more interesting.  If people like one set of restrictions on sets or mana or similar, they can use that.  If they like a setup that makes one decktype suddenly worthless, they can agree to it and just not play that decktype.  If a group of people want to hold a tournament, they can do it-- they all agree to one set of rules and run with it from there.  There are enough people in this thread to make that possible.  The only thing that making [box] optional does is remove a way for people to force other players to do things they don't want to, and that's good, right?

Of course, this needs some fluff.  It looks hard to create a coherent RP where a player can only summon goblins in one battle, but has an Exalted Angel in the next.  Here are some suggestions:

Players live in a world where magic is highly fluid.  It collects heavily in some areas and is much more sparse in others.  The same mage can operate on two entirely different levels in two different cities, or even two different streets on opposite sides of town.

All players are living in a dimension with no native magical powers.  In order to use cards, they must breach the planes to bring them into this world.  This is easier in some areas and harder in others, and anything pulled into this world cannot last for too long.

Pure coincidence.  "Oh no!  I just happened to step outside without my Heart of Light crystal today!"  Probably not the best option, but it's there.


So.  There're my thoughts, and admittedly different from the last three pages.  But regardless of whether you like them or not, consider this my official declaration of interest in this RP. :)

[Latooni Subota]

Or why not this? Make two separate groups. One does the more structured form, and the other does the more freeform one. People can choose to play in either, or both, depending on their wants. Or something. :3

[Saerrael]

Bowing out of this. Too much games up.

[Sanai]

I may be interested. If it is card based, will all of the cards be up for us all to read somehow?
I also love the idea of the loser of a duel being at the mercy (sexual and otherwise) of the victor.

[Latooni Subota]

A list of sets/blocks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTG_sets

Where to find what all the cards do: http://www.cardkingdom.com


Also, I would totally be up for playtesting the more structured rules. For funsies. :3

[GryphonCompanion]

I second Latooni's desire! =D

[MMTwo]

Also to throw my hat in on voting this or that.

I would say it may be necessary to do two different games, one free form and one structured. If people don't like the structured rules that are invented, then a freeform game can crop up after.

[GryphonCompanion]

So, is this officially dead? Or are we going forward with this? >.>

GC

[Remec]

So, is this officially dead? Or are we going forward with this? >.>

I have something in mind to kick things off, but just need a few days to get the time to write in quiet. *g*

It would be something more in line with the novel Arena and the follow-up books. ie, Duelists form their decks by learning or being taught spells, and by tagging specific lands for use in tapping into in order to summon previously tagged specific creatures. As such, when a duel begins, you have access to an initial group of resources which slowly increase round by round.

How structured is the rping forum here in terms of can I set up an initial post and let people join as they will (both in the OOC and the IC) or do we need to have a roster of sorts of who's playing upfront before we get started?

8-)

[TheGlyphstone]

What game? We never even managed to agree on how to set up the rules. ;D

[Latooni Subota]

-Notices progress in the thread- Ohsnap, yey!

I'm still in, of course! And Arena-style is my sorta thing, though I still think my PERFECT RULES are besterest ever! :3

Remec, for your structure question, it's pretty much just an issue of your taste. You can do it either way really . . though I always prefer the more structured way of getting a roster of people first. That's just me though :3

[Remec]

Okay, so let's say we want to go with a roster of people, here's everyone who's expressed an interest (interest being defined as posting here):

Ex68471
Saerra  (bowed out 5/1)
TheGlyphstone
GryphonCompanion
Latooni Subota
Katina Tarask
Vandren
bluemoon
alxnjsh
RubySlippers
MMTwo
Zebu
Sanai

8-)

[Geeklet]

Just now noticed this thread, and though its been ages since I've played, depending on how the rules turn out, I might be interested.

[HockeyGod]

Groovy - as long as the rules are fairly clear I'm game.