Kanomi Pikjuna plays Second Life's most promising games
- Title: Roleplay Combat System (RPCS)
- Released: 2009
- Genre: Sim-level gamemaster tool set for roleplaying games
- Age Category: N/A
- Summary: Turn your lackluster sim into an action packed WoW-a-thon!
- Price: Free for players / variable for owners
- Estimated Play Time: Indefinite
- Where to Buy: XLstreet (free player HUD)
- Web Resources: RPCS blog; RPCS Wiki; The RPCS API
- Developer: Colleen Marjeta
Online games in particular only matter if a community embraces them, and communities can gather unexpectedly around modifiable games -- that is, games that are open to customization by its own fanbase. But as PC gaming hardware has marched on and the MMORPGs have risen to the fore, as development tools became ever more sophisticated and teams ever larger, the ability for the average computer user to create complementary content has seriously waned in recent years.
But how many of you out there are making your own World of Warcraft levels? How many of you out there can use Autodesk Maya? Unless we're talking about a game like Neverwinter Nights or The Sims 2 -- games deliberately set up to facilitate community content -- community power in terms of mods is pretty threadbare these days.
So where are the aspiring game-makers turning? Second Life is an increasingly attractive option, particularly for junior MMOs: it has a real 3D-rendered world, a huge online player base, minimal content restrictions, and open access for building objects and scripts. So it's not surprising that SL harbors some of the most diverse and innovative roleplaying groups and experiments online, or that enterprising individuals have created whole in-world tool kits that let aspiring game-makers do just that: create their own games within the framework of SL.
Today we'll look at one of those gamemaster's kits that help aspiring gamers create their own multiplayer content in SL. And although there are several, this is the newest and hippest dark elf on the block.
Going by the unromantic name of RPCS, the Roleplay Combat System is not a game per se, but rather a gaming system that can be implemented on a sim and customized to that sim owner's liking.
What does RPCS allow you to do? OK, so you are a Sim owner. You want to set up a theme and roleplaying system. Doesn't matter if it's vampires, Goreans, Midgets of Oz, or Giraffe herd dynamics. Whatever you want as a theme, you can build. This is a tool to let you control the numbers and drive your own roleplay.
You create or control the classes, races, skills, hit points, damage, and all the other obvious RP stats. You can set and assign different skills to your game masters and assistant GMs. You determine what skills players can use, and when. Most of it's handled through an easy to use Web. And if you get stuck, you can always get help from the friendly volunteers.
"They can customize whatever they want in terms of races, classes, etc.," Colleen Marjeta, the creator of RPCS tells me. "There's actually two APIs -- one for Sim owners, so they cam make things like the hospital beds that heal you if you're wounded. Then there's the content creator's API. The idea is to let you make stuff, jewelry or armor for instance. You could take a simple script which we give you examples of. Drop it in your item, license the API (it's cheap), and then sell your ring or whatever as a magic ring that plugs into the RPCS system."
That's all fine and well, but how do you prevent cheating? What's to stop me from creating a +15 Hand of Satan that shoots cages and sends newbies in orbit around the moon?
"It's the meter that handles all the damage," she tells me. "When you make the weapon, the only person whose meter it can talk to is your own. So you could set it to do something outside the bounds of the system, but the meter won't accept the commands. Someone would have to crack that."
So confident, in fact, is she that nobody can crack this system, she's actually advertised a 25,000 Linden Dollar reward for the first person who can defeat her system's global safeguards.
OK so that's all fine and well, but how well is RPCS working in the field? Erie Island, the first sim to use the system, was voted the #1 place to roleplay in the 2009 Second Life User's Choice Awards.
I don't own a Sim, so I can't tell you what's the best RP system for you to use. All I can tell you is this one is worthy of your interest, and for all you hobbyist gamers out there, this platform and these tools could be the way to break through.
- Strengths: Can't beat the try-out price; highly extensible, flexible system
- Weaknesses: Could use more documentation and examples for the novice gamemaster, including pre-built NPCs, weapons, and quests
- Helpful Hints: Join an RPCS-powered sim first, roleplay with them for a while, and decide if the system could be modified for your own RP vision
- Final Take: Creative efforts like this cannot be commended highly enough. Although aimed at a tiny minority of SL users, the number of other users who eventually benefit from this key foundational work is exponential. RPCS is one of the newest, most exciting products of its kind on the markets and should be looked at seriously by any sim owner interested in RP.
Kanomi Pikajuna is the gamemaster of Tiny Dancing
I've just recently changed my environment from DCS to RPCS & couldn't be any happier.
For one, the support in RPCS is not only approachable, but active in bug fixing. The fees involved target the correct audience (sim owners should pay, not the individual players), and the system simply works...fast.
What I love about the system is it's not only just for the traditional urban setting, it can be used for literally any environment.
In it's infancy, this system smokes. I'm completely in love with the back-end of it & the added features sim owners were literally begging for with other systems is built in with this one.
Other games state "you create your own game", but with RPCS you can actually make it happen.
Hands down, RPCS is the Halle Berry of RP enhancement systems.
Posted by: Viorel Daviau | Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 12:21 PM
We just went from DCS to RPCS before opening soon, and I must say between the ease of setup (could use more docs yes), the ease of the content creator scripts (got my first weapon for it up last night... first ranged weapon on the system too), AND the speed of which the devs reply to your questions and support tickets, even for simple feature requests is top notch.
Even if it was just as good as DCS that alone would win hands down, but the fact that the meter works now at 0.74, as good as DCS and everything they are going to have in it by 1.0 is just amazing compared to any others.
Posted by: Korwyn Obscure | Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 04:54 PM
"Weaknesses: Could use more documentation and examples for the novice gamemaster, including pre-built NPCs, weapons, and quests"
This is a black eye for other systems as well--documentation in simple words for the everyday player.
Now, like Korwyn's comment, this system isn't even final release. I think for a review even at this stage really says a lot.
Granted yeah, it still lacks solid documentation, compared to other systems (years after release) that provide ancient .pdf files or ESP, RPCS was smart in utilizing a Wiki where everyday Joe & Janes can contribute so the developers can focus their time doing what they do best; code.
The Wiki IS growing (I've personally done multiple pages, just not visible yet). By the time the full version is released, there is no doubt that the support end will be info rich.
Posted by: Viorel Daviau | Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 08:04 PM
Wanted to drop in and say THANK YOU to Kanomi for the wonderful review, and to the those of you who commented. We're working hard to make this a real player and sim owner driven system, but I'll be the first to day there's a long long way to go before we're at version 1.
@Korwyn: very cool with the crossbow! I love that you gave it both sniper mode when prone and regular ranged otherwise, that's _exactly_ the kind of thing I was hoping would develop, which is people extending it and taking it in new directions with things I'd never even though of.
I know the comparison with DCS seems inevitable, but in the end I think we'e headed in a very different direction than other systems which are purely combat based. And for documentation: yes, it's a real shortcoming right now. Working on it and fast, and _very_ grateful for the contributions people are making on the wiki, that makes the job a lot easier.
The bottom line: This is a framework... but the _game_ is what you guys are making in your sims. That's what I'm really loving about this: seeing the creative things that people can do with it which are beyond the scope of anything that ever occured to me. You guys rock.
Posted by: Colleen Marjeta | Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 02:53 AM
While it looked interesting, my big frustration is there seemed to be very little to no information on actually setting it up for your own use. I don't just mean no directions, I mean actually finding RPCS in-world and figuring out how to obtain the sim owner version and development API; the main site did not have such instructions very obvious aside from "log in".
Posted by: Aliasi StonebenderA | Sunday, July 19, 2009 at 05:52 AM
Aliasi... if you follow the links on the home page under "IMPORTANT LINKS" you'll find the wiki, links to where to get RPCS and more. Feel free to contact me in world also if you have trouble finding those links.
Posted by: Colleen Marjeta | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 11:05 AM
Aliasi... if you follow the links on the home page under "IMPORTANT LINKS" you'll find the wiki, links to where to get RPCS and more. Feel free to contact me in world also if you have trouble finding those links.
Posted by: Colleen Marjeta | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 11:05 AM