Roleplaying game in the making

[nyvyan]

Hello.

I'm not sure if this is the right section of the forum but... Anyways.

I'm creating this threat because I have been working a little on a tyranid roleplaying system (though i'm only at the very beginning of the brainstorming).
The idea behind the system is to make a one-shot game like fx. lets say you have been running a long champagne with your friends and just need a break of to do some mindless killing/destroying? This may sound very simple and probably not very fun in the long run but that's why it's suppost to be something you just do one evening for funs and giggles.

As for what i'm working on atm is classes and what's special about them... and so far I have decited to have warrior prime, y-stealer, lictor, venomthrope (maybe) and i'm trying to figure out of a player should be able to play a brood of gants or gaunts and how that would work.

I'm but about to put in any of the bigger nids like the fex, tyrant, guard, tervigon etc. as one of the ideas with the game is like restarting a failed hive invasion. Lets say the hive mind failed an invasion but you, the players, are a few of the surviving nids left in hiding and hibernating, only to reawakening and start the next invasion. This is where the bigger nids might come into play as maybe the space marines, IG or whatever have somehow captured a carnifex and keept it alive to experiment on it. Then what if lets say a cunning y-stealer were to set said fed free and let it run rampage through the facility?

I know some might say "but tyranids can't communicate or are mindless beings lead by the hive mind" and that is true but this is a roleplaying game and therefore thise nids you are playing will ofc. be smarter.

As for people who are familiar with the 40k official roleplaying games like rogue trade, or what they are called, then you know it might feel like power gaming playing space marines and purging aliens and chaos. That is also the idea of this one-shot system to power game and kill stuff.

I have no idea if this will work at all as i'm not far enough to test it and ofc. there might be something with copyrights (I have no intention of publishing it, only share it with people who might find it interesting) and i'll write an e-mail to GW just to ask them about that I can and can not do with it so to spreak. So that is the thought so far and I would like some feedback on the very little I have been able to share so far of people won't mind.

[Inquisitor Stingray]

Hmm, I'm usually better at pitching ideas than to explore and conretize details. Maybe put a focus on synergy (teamwork) between players through some reworking of the Synapse mechanic. It's obviously impossibly to tell which direction such a game would go at this point, but if you can to make it 'niddy, there's a lot of cool rules and elements that could be reworked into a RPG game. Biomorphs and weapon symbiotes as gear and equipment, with every choice having consequences. Flying nids are more flimsy, armored ones are slower.

It sounds like fun, but also very daunting. Much as I'd like to try, I have no idea how to go around creating my own game.

[ilovethenids]

That sounds like a game I would like. Based on what you've said, it sounds very similar to the Xenomorph campaign from the 2010 AVP game - you play as a xenomorph drone (equivalent of a gaunt), but in the opening cutscene you see that the specific drone you're playing as is significantly craftier than its sisters. You start in a facility where you're being studied but then the Matriarch gives you an "assignment" to escape, and you progress through the game with the Matriarch giving you objectives.

I'm actually good with coming up with detailed plans for concepts like this - my biggest obstacle is always the fact that i don't have the programming/modeling/animating skills to make them come to life. Since you probably do, this is the stuff that comes to mind when I think about your plan:

Do something a bit similar to the AVP Xeno campaign - the player starts out as a gaunt of some sort, that had a stronger connection to the Hive mind than its brethren (kind of like the Hive Node mutation from I believe it was the 4th ed codex). To make it more interesting, the player could start out with a certain number of "biomass points" so they could choose a set of starting upgrades - kind of like the points system in actual 40k. For example, if you start off with 500 biomass points, you first have to choose a body type - gaunt or genestealer. The genestealer one costs more, say 300 biomass points instead of 250 (this is just hypothetical, obviously). If you chose the genestealer body type, you'd get to use your remaining biomass points to buy optional upgrades such as scything talons, extended carapace, etc. - the same mutations you can give to a genestealer in the game. For a gaunt, you could then choose to make them a hormagaunt, or some type of gun gaunt. Killing and eating enemies would give you biomass points, that you could later spend on further upgrades. Since tyranids obviously don't just spontaneously mutate on the battlefield (except Ymgarl genestealers, but I digress), you could only spend your biomass points by submerging in a digestion pool, which would also completely heal you (although you could regenerate a small portion of your health by eating your kills, but that would mean less biomass points for evolution). With your idea of there being a previously failed invasion, that could mean that there were leftover digestion pools from the previous attempt. The game would start when your character picks up the "scent" of a new approaching Hive Fleet, and the Hive Mind gives you missions to prepare for the incoming swarm. Since tyranids don't have a "language", you could have certain symbols appear over the players' heads so they could call for help defending a point, or warn their teammate that there's a tough enemy ahead, or whatever.

That's all I've got for now - if you need any more help with ideas just shoot me a PM or something

[bayne]

The Deathwatch rpg's Squad Mode might be a good starting point for working from for synapse rules.