X-Com Enemy Unknown 2012, Semi-freeform Nationstate RPG

I think a game light this might be fun to GM...?
Anybody?

I'd be willing to try it, but I've never even heard of the game before.

I had to look it up on TV tropes and Wikipedia before I even knew it was a... sci-fi tactical shooter (I think)?

(We don't exactly have good luck with forum RP's though.)



Still, if I can find the rules and setting, I'd be happy to play it.

I would play if we got some rules down.

If I was not going to be in a state of internet limbo for the next five weeks, I'd totally be down for this.

As it stands, if people want crunch, I might write up some stuff for human country players and whoever plays the alien side, but it would probably be best if I wasn't directly involved.

I suspect it would be each player plays as a country's alien defense force, and allocates the budget, hires soldiers, engineers and scientists, determines loadouts and shares their gains with the other human players (or don't at their decision). The alien player would dispatch alien missions, which the players may or may not detect.

So what is the setting cwd? I mean, all I know are that aliens are fighting humans.



(I understand if you don't think this is a big enough turnout to start something.)

Who does?

So... is there some actual RP here, or is it more of a strategy-game-ey thing?

Who does?

The forum. The forum doesn't have good luck with RPs.


Look at Brighthaven, Alteria, RTD d6, RTD d8, D&D, Squishy, The attempted superhero thread...


I kind of miss the Roll the dice d8. =T

Who does?

The forum. The forum doesn't have good luck with RPs.

No, no, I meant that question in the sense of "Which forum does have good luck with RPs?".

Who does?

The forum. The forum doesn't have good luck with RPs.

No, no, I meant that question in the sense of "Which forum does have good luck with RPs?".

Oh!



...Oops...

That's certainly true. Forum games everywhere have a way of dying out.

Everything everywhere has a way of dying out.

Yeah, but RPs are worse because they require the continued participation of many people, none of whom are professional writers or even necessarily competent amateurs.

Yeah, but RPs are worse because they require the continued participation of many people, none of whom are professional writers or even necessarily competent amateurs.

Each with their own plans for the story.

Which is why I suspect keeping it more gamey might be better, since there'd be little pressure to keep a narrative going.

The setting would be alternate Earth in 1999. A recent escalation in reported alien abductions has caused the UN to establish XCOM, or Extraterrestrial Command. Each of the member states runs their own arm of XCOM, and contributes any R&D to the whole group in their efforts to figure out how to defend Earth from the alien forces, and what they're doing there in the first place.

In terms of what types of play there would be--there would be an 'alien' player, as I mentioned, who would dispatch assaults on the humans. There would be a number of 'human' players who defend their countries (and bordering ones, potentially) from the alien player. Finally, there would be a moderator who gets the turn reports from each of the players, sorts them out and reports what happens on each turn, letting people know what research they've completed, what engineering projects they've finished, what raids they've heard about being carried out, and what sightings have been made that they could chase down.

It's conventional in RPGs for the GM/moderator/referee/whatever to also control the NPC enemies and "world at large". This may not not work so well in a strategy game with fog of war, though.

I'm guessing we should ask Cwd if he was thinking about RPing various countries' high commands, or if he wanted to RP small squad tactics. They'd be completely different games.