[Interest Check] [FATE Core] Mystery Point Crawl in a College Setting

Hi y'all. I'm new to GamersPlane. In fact, this is my very first post. I've written a campaign pitch for a weekly VTT game, but it didn't get off the ground in the end. So, I thought maybe I'd give play-by-post another try. It might take a while for me to actually run it, as I don't know how things work around here yet. Anyway, here's the pitch. Thanks for reading. And have a great rest of your day.

VTT = Virtual TableTop? Are you recruiting for games not on GamersPlane?
You cant do that.

No. I was planning on running a weekly game, but it didn't work out. I want to know if anyone here would be interested to play a pbp here based on that pitch.

thank you :)

You got it. :)

I'll make a bold suggestion. Can you move the setting to Japan? Or, more specifically, make it anime?

Welcome, erkin -- great to see Fate on offer, it doesn't get the love it once did in many RPG spaces. I'm not in the market for another game at the moment, but I'd be patient as you wait for interest -- academy-style games are a favorite for many...

That thought has never crossed my mind. But it does sound like a fun idea to me. I might end up doing that if the others are interested in it as well.

Thanks. :)

I've been thinking of playing some FATE Core anime, actually. Madoka Magica / Dededede sort of thing. I think it fits detective-bu plot quite nicely.

Given that anime is just an æsthetic, is there something specific you're looking forward for with this change? I'm up for playing whether the campaign is set in Fargraves or some Japanese university (though the choice would influence what I'd play). Whether it is 'anime' or not seems mostly a matter of visual æsthetics, since anime is a medium that includes many very different genres and story types.
Not familiar with either except by second-hand accounts, but aren't those more occult-actiony and not academic-detective?

Both are great artsy titles I recommend watching if only to have first-hand knowledge of them. And define "academic detective", because I'm relying strictly on the pitch in OP which fits anime tropes perfectly.

Investigative activities (e.g. figuring out other students' skeletons in the cupboards) within an academic context (an academy, a university, &c.).

And are there any restrictions on what those skeletons in the cupboards might be? What if a student is secretly a magical girl or an extraterrestrial about to bring the end of the world, for example?

Surely rumours are pretty wide-ranging. Whether the most outrageous rumours are true probably depends on what kind of setting this is. On the high end of weirdness the world could be like Oddity High (or the recent Youkai Academy), but on the low end it could provide cool social intrigue like in Yakuza Fiancé.

...You might want to slow down until erkin can respond. ;)

Welcome, erkin! We're a good community here, and it sounds like your game idea already has some interest!

Speaking as someone with no skin in the game, a dark slice-of-life detective game set at the modern day uni and absurdness extravaganza à la Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu sound like two completely different games, for, mostly, two completely different crowds.

Hey. Thanks. I already like this community. :)

Good point. The pitch probably should've been more detailed. I'm open to suggestions, but what I had in mind was ordinary people in an ordinary world. Supernatural phenomena, if they occur, will be a shocking revelation. So, PCs are ordinary students, but some rumors might step into the boundaries of the supernatural because, as with real life, some people do believe in it.

Edit: TL;DR: The current iteration of the idea is more of the former and less of the latter.

That can be important for both the players and yourself - to figure out what you actually want to run.

Starting with a base idea and then building the setting together is fine, but I'd be careful with letting yourself get carried away and steamrolled, trying to please folks, only to suddenly realize that the game shaped out to be one you're not that interested in running/playing.

Consider me tentatively interested in the anime-esque style where everyone is a normal (but obviously still unique) person.

My main question is how much the 'school' parts will play into the game. I've played quite a few 'academic/university' games at different points and my biggest gripe is that the academics tend to be a background or setting element, and the narrative focuses on adventuring.

Personally, I'm all for being part of the Detective Club and participating in investigations, but I'd also like to actually take classes, get grades, establish relationships with students, and participate in other events, clubs, and activities as well.

Anyway, just kind of voicing my interests here. Feel free to discard if that's not your cup of tea. ^^

What do you think of unreliable-narrator PCs? Let's say, the word is completely ordinary, but the character imagines things and sees the world differently. Similar to Eizouken, Gakkou Gurashi, Alice: Madness Returns, etc. I like the potential for veiled darkness there and it's always interesting to explore themes of overactive imagination, trauma, and mental conditions. I'm with @vicky_molokh and @kaekozee otherwise.

...I could not help myself xP

Good advice. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.

The PCs managing their student lives has been part of my idea. So yeah, studying and navigating interpersonal drama are just as important solving the next case.

I'm fascinated with the idea of the unreliable narrator. But I'm not sure how it can work in a TTRPG. If we can find a way to implement that in the game without making it feel like we're playing in two different worlds at the same time, I'm actually interested in exploring that avenue.

Awesome! Well, so far, I like what I hear. I don't have a *ton* of experience with FATE, but if that isn't an issue, count me as certainly interested.

I love it. But I think that if we avoided typical chunibyo scenario (as Kaede pointed out), we'd be neck deep into either a very depressive, rather than dark, exploration of an ill mind or a crawling, denpa madness. Either way, it will definitely take a front seat to the usual slice-of-academia-life backdrop.

It seemed to me, at least judging by the OPs description, that they were aiming for something like Hyouka - relaxed vibes, darker undertones and more cerebral, dangerless mysteries.

tl;dr - love unreliable narrators, but I feel they will interfere with the initial setup too much.

Is that supposed to mean something?
I'm quite confident that I can write it properly.

I'm getting the impression that I really don't know what that would imply, require, and look like in practice. I'm not familiar with those three, but I am familiar with Takanashi Rikka, and my thoughts are similar to reversia's: the theme looks like a recipe for drastically shifting the whole campaign either into a grimmer or a wackier direction, possibly both. Though maybe it doesn't have to be, depending on the more exact implementations.

I'm trying to envision what the PC clique's composition and social dynamics would look like. I'm imagining that the first two PCs would be, approximately, someone mostly normal (e.g. Fujioka Haruhi, Hori Masayuki, Tsuda Takatoshi, Komi Shoko and Tadano Hitohito), someone more eccentric but still mundane (e.g. Carol Olston, Nanakura Rin, Amakusa Shino, Mikorin and Kashima Yuu, Osana Najimi), and then the next one much wilder, Takanashi Rikka (or I guess Takeya Yuki, based on reading the description)? Or are we talking about a more down-to-earth interpretations, like Fox Mulder in a world without the X-Files, or Tsuda Kotomi's low-key chuuni stuff?

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Also, it seems there are good odds of this getting off the ground, but given that much of the setting/premise is still in flux, I'd like to know which of the setting/premise features are negotiable, and which ones are a Big Deal to the point of being dealbreakers if they 'go wrong'?

E.g. it seems that Kae and I both want the normal-life stuff to matter to the PCs on-screen (and not just be something that happens in the fast-forward between investigations); I'm fine with an anime æsthetic; I'm ambivalent about the move to Japan (it opens some options, but makes others look more dubious or out of place; it makes some thematic allusions take on a different cultural flavour; personally I think anime set overseas are also fine); I'm very unsure of what the unreliable narrator's characterisation and interactions are expected to be like and how much of it is negotiable (i.e. what, if any, degree and/or form of it is required for participation), but I'm somewhat concerned about what I might be signing up for (at a minimum, our detective club should be non-dysfunctional enough that both our PCs and we the players remain able and willing to stick together).

Welcome @erkin. Your pitch, to me, sounded more Kids on Bikes or Tales from the Loop than all the stuff that’s been written above. There’s definitely some appetite for mundane kids & mysteries play here on GP.

Don’t let the game get away from you! PBP is a marathon, and you’ve got to love what you’re running! Stick to what works for you, and you’ll find your audience here!!

Good luck!

Fellow players, I don't intend to intrude on anybody else's role-play. I specifically asked GM and only GM if the explorations of those topics were okay for my own character, and they were deemed to be okay. The rest is really only my problem, and one I'm perfectly capable of handling at that. So, everyone, relax, stop assuming things, and write your own characters. if I decide to go with unreliable narrator concept at all, I'll find a way to fit it in the group organically without disturbing any of you. Maybe, if any of you will be interested after the character debut, I'll infect you with my madness. And if the concept won't work in whatever group we'll end up having, I'll drop the concept. So please stop throwing "meaningful" (or demeaning, I don't really know) gifs at me and comparing my words to names and tropes from titles I chose to avoid, especially after I provided my own reference points for every concept I suggested. Let's focus on what you want to play instead of what I'm allowed to write and think about.

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As long as it's not a harem, it's okay. Since we are going to play as an anime club, and in a slice-of-life genre at that, I propose that all characters will be girls.
I agree with that.
And with that.

I think what’s being pointed out, S.F., is that you’re running in a direction that’s potentially pretty far from the core concept that was being pitched by someone brand new to GP, and to PbP games generally. And it’s about the setting, the vibe, the subject matter, not just your PC. I think folks like Cowleyc and KCC are just suggesting that erkin should feel comfortable and confident in running exactly what they had in mind, rather than the niche of a niche that’s currently dominating the discussion in their thread.

Hey. That's some good advice. Thanks.

Welcome to GamersPlane, erkin!

There's definitely a lack of Slice of Life University style games around these days.

Okay, so, it seems like I should've communicated my thoughts more clearly. I'm gonna try again now. I am open to suggestions, but I'm not committing to anything yet. I think some of the ideas brought up here might be fun to explore, but what I currently have in mind is still pretty much what I've written in the first place. To add more context, I haven't watched any of the anime mentioned above. Some of the IPs that have inspired me in their own different ways are Gossip Girl, Persona, Life Is Strange, Being a DIK, One of Us Is Lying, Harry Potter, School Spirits, Undercover High School, Steins;Gate, and Dark. I'm thinking about moving the setting to Japan and giving the game more anime vibes, because I think it might be fun, but still, what I have in mind is a bunch of mundane college students getting into all sorts of shenanigans while juggling their education and social life in a mundane world. There will be hints of the supernatural because, as is the case with the real world, some people genuinely believe in it.

As for the unreliable narrator angle, like I said, I'm fascinated with the idea, but at this moment, I'm not sure I'm experienced enough as a GM to be able to handle it in a fair and fun way. I'm not sure what the future brings; something might click in my head, and I might be able to figure out how to implement it in a positive way. But if the inclusion or lack of this angle is a deal-breaker for you, my current stance on it is that it won't be in the game because I as a GM don't think I could be able to handle it properly.

I want you to know that I appreciate the discussion, and I never thought this pitch would've created the buzz that it did. So, thanks for making this old man happy. :D

Hey there. Thanks. :)

Lovely! I think Fate's a rather easy system to learn. Don't worry about it.

Welcome to Gamers Plane, @erkin ! As you can see, we're a lively bunch here.

I would suggest NOT moving the setting to Japan unless you have a good reason to do so, and none of the themes and touchstones you've mentioned suggest you do. Moving it to Japan would mean (a) you would need to represent what it is like being a college student in Japan -- do you have any experience with that? If not, maybe don't set a game there. You don't want to end up using stereotypes and misconceptions to represent Japan and its culture. (b) You will inevitably draw a very anime-focused player audience, which is *fine* if that's the vibe you're going for, but it sounds like you're not. So you might have some tension between your expectations and theirs.

If you do end up running a Kids on Bikes or something similar, I think you'd get a good audience of quality, interested players!

Sure. Thanks for being chill and entertaining the discussion. I'm looking forward to playing in one of your future games one day, especially since those topics we discussed seemed inspiring. I'd like to share an observation: when people gave me unsolicited advises over the years, I found out that doing exactly the opposite of what was said was usually the most fun and productive thing to do. Perhaps, those who truly know things only share when asked, and those who don't know anything desperately want to convince everybody that they know something. I wonder if your observations will be different than mine. Cheers.

Subtle.

I’m interested! I’m similarly not super familiar with FATE — I worked a bit with FATE accelerated in the past but never went very far with it. I like your original pitch a lot, but am also probably okay with whatever things end up looking like, if you’ll have me!

Hey there. That's great! Fate's a rather easy system to learn imo, so don't worry about it.

I am halfway interested. What would the posting rate be? What sort of subplots are YOU interested in there being? Is it going to be a (fake) monster of the week thing or is there going to be an overarching plot (even if we have to figure out what that is).

Hey there. I don't have a number in mind right now, but let's say I want everyone to be comfortable and not under pressure while moving the game forward at a fun rate. There is an end-game mystery (for lack of a better word), yet the PCs are not under any kind of pressure to solve it. I might introduce some time-pressing events when they add fun to the game. As for what subplots I'm interested in, great question, my aim is to strike a fun balance between school-related subplots (e.g. the weird project that no one has any idea how to complete), interpersonal drama (e.g. what does that student have against you and the other club members?), and lore-related mysteries (e.g. why is that building the only one still under renovation?). I hope I've properly answered all your questions.

Hey there. Thanks. I've lived all my life in Iran, so unfortunately, my knowledge of anywhere else is the world is limited to media, the internet, and second-hand stories at best. So, I'm as familiar with Japan as I am with any other country. Though admittedly, a European setting would allow a more international cast of characters. I hadn't entertained the idea of a more anime-style game, because most of my sources of inspirations were not anime, but I do quite enjoy anime myself. So, if I do decide to make a change, it's because I like it myself. Having said that, you've made some good points that I will take into account when making a decision. It seems that there is some interest being shown in the original idea.

Setting a game in Iran could be very interesting (and have the side benefit that you can show off your country to others).

I've thought about it, but the negatives outweigh the positives imo--that is, for this particular genre.