Forum Gaming (Alternative Rules), Coming up w/ an idea that needs fleshing Options

[Sphynx]

The biggest problem with online gaming, especially Forum Gaming is the lack of dice. Kinda sucks to build a cool character with the perfect numbers, and then play in a game where the GM just decides what happens because he can't really have you roll dice.

I'm considering creating some ForumRules for Shadowrun that should make it easier to do this. Much like Character Creation, the best way to switch out of the random rolling, is to spend points. So, what do you think of a point system for Shadowrun? (For those of you that play the MuRPG/Marvel, you might recognize this) This system is primarily for Combat and Spell Casting. Everyone already has a Combat and Spell Pool, rather than use that to boost rolls, use it to buy successes. Basically, both pools are doubled (simple x2)

Combat would work like this: You then spend an amount on offense/defense per round. The most you can spend on Offense is twice your skill level, so with a Combat Pool of 8, and a Pistol skill of 4, you'd have 16 points to 'spend', and if you chose to go pure offense, you could 8 points 2 times (SA Fire) thus spending all of your points and leaving nothing for defense. You 'regenerate' a number of points equal to your Combat Pool, so in the above example, after spending 16 in the first attack, when your turn comes again, you'd regenerate 8 of those. Meaning the more you exert yourself, the less you can do later (You don't have to spend all 16 every action).

Your 'TN' is the defense the target puts into his action plus whatever armour is relevant. Of course, this only works at low to mid level gaming I think, because once skills start reaching levels higher than you can put pool into, you're almost wasting your time advancing a skill...

Anyhows, since I'm intending to run an online Forum Game (as stated in my signature) coming up with some good Forum Rules seems essential (rather than players trusting my 'rolls'). Any chance one or some of you would be willing to work with me on this thread to kinda test the waters on how to do this most effectively?

Sphynx

[Edit]
Some possible ideas.... spent 'defense' points immediately regenerate (thus making the game a bit more defensive oriented...)

Magic must have a number of stones spent equal to the TN.

Maybe combine Magic and Combat into a single pool?

Every box of damage reduces your 'pool' by one, or if that's too much, the +TN from damage/drain is added to what you need to spend.
[/Edit]

[Czar Eggbert]

If you want a good site for forum gaming then try Shadowland.org it a fully functional Java bbs for forum gaming. It has a dice roller, chat features, a tree based navigational utility, fully customizable pages, and sections for White Wolf, D20, and Shadowrun gaming. probably one of the best designed "play by post" game sites. It's also has a very decent Shadowrun community. If you don't want to post in the public areas then there is a private campain area as well, but posting in the "Game World" is encouraged.

-The Eggman

[krishcane]

Just out of curiosity, what's wrong with players trusting your rolls?

--K

[Fortune]

Roleplay Online has a pretty decent setup for online play. The dice roller incorporated in the site also caters to Shadowrun's particular idiosyncracies.