Mission Based RP Thingy

I've been thinking about making an RP wherein the players are part of an organization and apart from story elements, a large part of the RP will be through "missions." The format idea I have is that players have "free time" wherein they interact with one another and the RP is more of a sandbox type thing and that missions are offered for them to go on. It can be a mission that requires 3 people, just one, or requires everyone to go on. If I can work the system out there'd be like a "mission board" wherein players can collaborate and choose what missions to take--OR, they could just be the device that drives the plot forward and they are assigned to all the players or whatever. I have ideas for both, but I'm wondering what would interest people more.

As for the organization, I have a lot of ideas depending on whether people would want to play in a more fantasy based or realistic setting. It could be like an academy for mutants/super heroes if we want something more modern, or for like knights/mages etc if we want something more fantasy based. Or even it could be like a guild of monster hunters or demon slayers or something.

I have lots of ideas and obviously stuff that I am leaning towards, but I want to create something that the community actually wants. I don't want to make an RP based in fantasy lands with lots of magic and dragons and stuff if more people are interested in being super heroes in a modern setting or like mecha pilots or something, ya dig?

I know it might seem a bit weird to ask people to essentially choose the "plot" to such a relevant degree, but I feel like with the way some RPs here die of quickly or never get off the ground, getting peoples' opinions on what they want to play before devising all the innerworkings of the plot so that it can be long-lasting and meaningful.

So hit me with what kind of setting/world you'd want and how you feel about having a mission system--especially in regards to a bunch of missions being thrown up for players to choose or if like a global mission should be assigned as a plot advancer. I also would like an opinion on if the whole in between mission sandbox thing is a good idea or if something should constantly be going on to keep the plot moving. I like the sandbox element because I feel like if contained properly it will allow for better character development because in real life someone is hardly ALWAYS doing something. In most RPs the group goes to slay the dragon, then they hunt down the guy who released him, then thy find he was working for some group and they try to dissolve it to bring peace to the land and rarely have any times to just like be normal people.

Anyways sorry if I rambled or my thoughts seem scrambled, but just let me know what you think!

Tbh I would love more mission based Pokemon RPs. I love me some gym challenges, don't get me wrong, but having evil organizations vs the good guys has always been fun. You can have missions where they test your morality, not quite sure what makes a person good or bad so you tip toe the line or maybe even choose a side. Maybe you were born into the organization or dragged or chose at one point. Maybe you started off with a good heart but sickened or you felt a lightness and joined the opposing team. Fan of end of the world sort of rps as well where the characters need to find a solution. Anything that makes people have to rp together to complete mission is fun and far more socializing.

I don't feel like I'm particularly up for a Pokemon RP--if it was one, however, it'd definitely be a lot darker than is traditional.

I've definitely enjoyed a good mission-based RP in the past, so the idea can work; there's just the question of a motivating plot. Ultimately though, that's going to come down to you as the GM, otherwise it isn't your roleplay. That being said, here's a couple of ideas I can come up with.

Magic: The Gathering--Due to the sectioned nature of the Planes, and the uniqueness of Planeswalkers, I could see this making for a fun RP. The only issue you might run into continuing where the lore is at right now is finding a canon enemy. Or make one up. Or make it parallel. (Return to return to Zendikar?) Of course, this is just a nerd's musings, ignore this if you aren't a Magic fan.

A supernatural, almost Bleach-esque task force sent to deal with evil spirits. This is similar to that RP I mentioned at the beginning of my post, but that one had its own things going for it.

A fantasy setting; most likely an adventure guild. Get payed to go dungeon crawling, or slay a beasty, and so on. This one might work best with the semi-sandbox you seem to want, since there will be the Guild Hall, where one can spend their free time, then go off on missions. Possibly could even let players decide the missions they want to go on (with a minimum to keep up activity of course).

I'd be totally interested to see your ideas now that I've put in my two cents.

I'll just say, regardless of settings, I've had a fair amount of success with a mission-based set-up in the past. It's a good style of RP for people who have trouble coming up with their own overarching stories and makes it easier to promote/force interaction.

AlphaLuxray said:

I've definitely enjoyed a good mission-based RP in the past, so the idea can work; there's just the question of a motivating plot. Ultimately though, that's going to come down to you as the GM, otherwise it isn't your roleplay. That being said, here's a couple of ideas I can come up with.

Magic: The Gathering--Due to the sectioned nature of the Planes, and the uniqueness of Planeswalkers, I could see this making for a fun RP. The only issue you might run into continuing where the lore is at right now is finding a canon enemy. Or make one up. Or make it parallel. (Return to return to Zendikar?) Of course, this is just a nerd's musings, ignore this if you aren't a Magic fan.

A supernatural, almost Bleach-esque task force sent to deal with evil spirits. This is similar to that RP I mentioned at the beginning of my post, but that one had its own things going for it.

A fantasy setting; most likely an adventure guild. Get payed to go dungeon crawling, or slay a beasty, and so on. This one might work best with the semi-sandbox you seem to want, since there will be the Guild Hall, where one can spend their free time, then go off on missions. Possibly could even let players decide the missions they want to go on (with a minimum to keep up activity of course).

I'd be totally interested to see your ideas now that I've put in my two cents.

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I'm definitely a Magic fan! But the lore is so expansive and I wouldn't want to wreck the cannon by any means. A parallel is an idea, but I feel like it might still restrict creation so I'd like to ideally do something completely original. It could be based off certain elements surrounding MTG, but I wouldn't want to draw too heavily on any real plot from it.

gimmepie said:

I'll just say, regardless of settings, I've had a fair amount of success with a mission-based set-up in the past. It's a good style of RP for people who have trouble coming up with their own overarching stories and makes it easier to promote/force interaction.

Click to expand...

Yes, it is. My only question is if I do end up drafting this, would I be better off making like multiple small missions chooseable by players, or force them to all go on the same one? My issue with the first is that some people might feel left out, they might have a hard time finding other players to go on missions with them apart from the story designated ones. The other issue would be if it would cause the pacing of the story to go too slowly. I like it a little better though, because it lets players more directly choose to do things they are interested in doing. I could potentially make , like, a story mission have like two or three parts as seperate missions and all the players group together to do their part or could be assigned or something.

And just as I typed that, I wonder if it would be a good idea to assign players to "squads" ala the style of say... Naruto and then they can go on missions that way. At least that way, people would always have someone to interact with and they wouldn't need to worry. Hm.... ideas ideas ideas.

EDIT: I also don't want to publish an RP and have it not pick up due to the sheer fact that RP community around here seems to be waning at the moment. Can't have the same like five people playing in 6 different RPs... Well, I mean it probably could but it might wear people down.

Just some random musings.....

ANARCHit3cht said:

I'm definitely a Magic fan! But the lore is so expansive and I wouldn't want to wreck the cannon by any means. A parallel is an idea, but I feel like it might still restrict creation so I'd like to ideally do something completely original. It could be based off certain elements surrounding MTG, but I wouldn't want to draw too heavily on any real plot from it.




Yes, it is. My only question is if I do end up drafting this, would I be better off making like multiple small missions chooseable by players, or force them to all go on the same one? My issue with the first is that some people might feel left out, they might have a hard time finding other players to go on missions with them apart from the story designated ones. The other issue would be if it would cause the pacing of the story to go too slowly. I like it a little better though, because it lets players more directly choose to do things they are interested in doing. I could potentially make , like, a story mission have like two or three parts as seperate missions and all the players group together to do their part or could be assigned or something.

And just as I typed that, I wonder if it would be a good idea to assign players to "squads" ala the style of say... Naruto and then they can go on missions that way. At least that way, people would always have someone to interact with and they wouldn't need to worry. Hm.... ideas ideas ideas.

EDIT: I also don't want to publish an RP and have it not pick up due to the sheer fact that RP community around here seems to be waning at the moment. Can't have the same like five people playing in 6 different RPs... Well, I mean it probably could but it might wear people down.

Just some random musings.....

Spoiler:

Haven't had much time lately, and I didn't get much initial interest in this, but it's nice to see that the idea behind it can work. If any one has played Final Fantasy Type Zero, the gameplay mechanics behind that are what drove me to want to a mission based RP. The characters attend a university that teaches them and they are also essentially the countries army. You play between missions interacting between characters to gain items, explore skits to develop characters but the bulk of the story is taking place over the course of missions. The missions move the story forward, while the sandboxy time in between fleshes out better character development. It's hard to get a feel for a character when they're always off trying to slay some grand beast or something.

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I'd avoid signing permanent "squads" and rearrange the groups every mission. That way nobody is always stuck with the same group. I'd also allow time for people to write on their own sometimes, like between missions or w/e.

Just posting to say I'm following the development of this idea from a distance atm. If I have any questions, criticisms, or compliments I'll be sure to post them!