Until Dawn RP

As the title may imply, I recently got an idea for an RP based on the game "Until Dawn." Without spoiling, the game features a number of stereotypical dumb college kids who have to survive until dawn on a spooky mountaintop with killers, ghosts, and monsters on the loose.

The RP would function the same way, with the RPers isolated in a spooky location (not necessarily a mountain, but we'll get to that in a bit), and hilarity ensues as all the cliches of horror descend upon them, just like the game. To be honest, that's as much of the story as I have planned out. That's because I need some input on a few things first.

MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR UNTIL DAWN BELOW

Thirdly, I want to explain an idea I have. An important part of Until Dawn is(are?) the characters and their relationships with one another. To accommodate this into the RP, once I have all of the characters accepted, I'm going to ask them to what their character's relationship with the other characters is, eventually stringing them all together, for example "A is: B's friend, C's friend, D's rival, and E's sister." The RPers would be able to communicate as they sort out who is what to who.

And lastly, I need help, because I've never done this before, GMing, I mean. I really like this idea and want it to happen, but I'm afraid I just wouldn't be able to keep up with something like this. I need someone to co-GM with me.

Alright, I think that's it, have a good day!

Horror themed RPs are a bit of a rarity here. Always nice to see people broadening horizons.

Regarding your question about keeping elements from Until Dawn or simply using them as an inspiration for your own setting, I feel you would have more liberty with the latter. A classic horror is all about dealing with the unknown, so surprise everyone with your crazy ideas that aren't restricted to simply expanding the aforementioned game's existing lore.

Location should be something the GM thinks about. Take into consideration of scale, environment and the restrictions the players will have to face. Are players able to exploit the surroundings in various ways to consistently survive threats?

Predetermined relationships is an interesting idea, but it feels forced and could push players to interact with specific characters. It doesn't feel as flexible in the long run. I feel it's more interesting if characters are unfamiliar with each other, to accentuate on the tension of the setting and exemplify how dire the situation really is since trust becomes a constant issue. But this is just my preference, I can't really advocate for others.

I was told Co-GMing was not a good idea when you're starting your own RP for the first time, especially if you're asking for a volunteer out of the crowd rather than someone specific. It's unnerving, but it's best to just try out on your own. You have more leisure because you don't have to rely on a partner who may not always be there to pick up the slack and could inadvertently disrupt the flow of the RP much to everyone's chagrin.

Thanks for the input, I've been busy with Christmas and such. I'm grateful that you took the time to give me some pointers.

Another idea I had for the RP was death. In Until Dawn, death is always a very major threat, one wrong step can mean the immediate death of a character. I kinda wanted to capture this, but naturally, this is difficult to do in an RP. With this in mind, I want to use a system in which if an RPer finds themself unable to continue with the RP due to schedule limitations or simple unwillingness to continue, they (or I, upon request) would make an IC post effectively killing off their character. That way, we wouldn't have any characters falling off the face of the earth (just a rather high cliff) This also creates tension, as a character could potentially die at any moment. Tying back to my original post, this would also tie well with the pre-determined relationships. In this case, it's not just some stranger you met that's at risk. It's your friend, or your sibling that could die at any moment. Also, if all of the RPers lose interest, the story won't suffer an abrupt, unsatisfying ending. Instead, it will have a dark, rather bleak ending. Everybody died. But hey, it's better than no ending at all, right?

I like the idea, as it's new and fresh. Regarding monster and location, remember that the two are linked. In the game, the monsters were wendigos because in the original folklore, wendigos lived on frozen mountains. If we were in, for example, a desert in the American southwest, the threat could be a skinwalker or chupacabra.

Regarding relationships, while an interesting idea, I'm concerned about how it would play out. It definitely makes the stakes more personal, but you know players are going to firm groups, and probably stick to those groups. And sadly, there will be one person who isn't in the group, and they'll be on their own for much of the story. Which could work in a horror game, I'll admit, but it's an unnecessary bit of drama.

Basically, make the setting your own, and make the threat match the environment. And if the player relationships work, take advantage of them.