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Dakka regular Kid_Kyoto brought the concept of Survivor to Dakka.  See his rules below:

The rules: Each item starts with 10 points.  Copy the list into your reply and make a "vote" by either adding or subtracting one point from a single selection. When a selection reaches "0" it is out of the game. You may not vote again until four other posters have voted after you, or two hours have passed without *any* valid votes from anyone (not any posts, any votes).

(See existing threads below for examples)

thanks russ!

Can you edit the post to include the issues of timing? I think it would clear things up.

Not that I follow the survivor threads

Something that would make the game go faster (not sure if that's a goal or not) would be start at 20, but you can do either +1, or -2.

So where do I sign up?

HellsGuardian316's Guide to the Games Thread


Hi there, this is my first attempt at making a *How to* guide for the *Survivor Games & Chain Fiction* Forum. I hope to include in this guide a list of all the games currently played by the dakka users who frequent this part of the forum giving general rules on how these games are setup and played as well as giving a few hints and tips on how to start your own ones. As you can tell from the first post in this thread, the Survivor forum was the brainchild of Kid_kyoto and what started as a simple mini-game has since evolved into what you see in the forum today.


There are several main games that are played within this forum which I have listed below. To make it easier to read or skip I have made three additional posts below that detail as much information as I can about the three main games that are currently being played. If a new game ever becomes popular then I'll try and amend my posts accordingly to include it in my guide.


This is a list of the main games currently being played...
Survivor Games - (Where the object is to list various related items and then have users vote against them until only one item is left remaining and thus the winner)
Chain Fiction - (Also known as Roleplay(RP’s) or Role Playing Games(RPG's))
Dice Generated Chain Fiction - (Also known as Dungeon & Dragons(DnD) or other Hero Quest styled games)



Please see the posts below to read up on each type of game

Survivor Games

A Survivor game usually takes the form of a thread where the Original Poster(OP) will list a group of items that are related to each other, such as the names of all the Races in 40K. A number is then assigned to each item. The object of the game is that users will come along and scroll down to the last post, then copy and paste that post into a new one. They then decide on which item in the list they wish to deduct 1 from before posting it as a new post. Another poster will then come along and do the same. This continues until all but one item has been reduced to 0, the remaining single item that is 1 or more will be deemed the WINNER of this survivor game.

Here is an example of how this would work. Bob316 will post a list of names, in this case he has chosen to list 4 items and has given them a value of 5 for each one
-----
Original Post by Bob316
Space Marine 5
Chaos Marine 5
Tau 5
Eldar 5

A second user comes along and see the post, he copies and pastes the last post (which in this case is the original post) and decides to reduce the item Tau by 1 and also leaves a "-" symbol to show which item has been reduced
-----
Second Poster Charlie
Space Marine 5
Chaos Marine 5
Tau 4 -
Eldar 5

Another user comes along and copies and pastes the last post (which in this case would be Charlie's post) and decides to reduce the item Space Marine by 1 and again leaves a "-" symbol next to it to show which item he has removed while removing the old "-" symbol from the previous posters post.
-----
Third Poster Derek
Space Marine 4 -
Chaos Marine 5
Tau 4
Eldar 5

Eventually enough people will have voted until only a single item is left with a positive number, all the ones with a 0 are the losers and the sole remaining item is the Winner. In this example you can see that the Tau were the winners as Xena removed the last vote from the Eldar item and reduced it to 0, leaving Tau as the only item which had 1 or more
-----
Twentieth Poster Xena
Space Marine 0
Chaos Marine 0
Tau 1
Eldar 0 -



Rules
There are no set rules on how a Survivor game should be played, however there is a standard template that most people use when creating a new game that I will list here. If you look at the *Variation* part in this guide you will notice I have include some of the variations I have seen that add more depth and interest to the game.

(1) A list should contain approximately 10 to 15 related items. (listing the names of all the Space Marine Primarch's for example)

(2) A number of 10 should be assigned to each item.

(3) A user can reduce an item by 1 each time they post.

(4) Use the symbol "-" to show which items are being reduced.

(5) A user may only post again in the same thread after two different people have posted or a time frame of 1 hour has passed.

(6) If you are the creator of the thread then write the rules for the game that are in effect.

I feel this point is important enough to stress that the rules listed above are for standard games only and you do not need to adhere to them if you do not wish to


Variations
Some posters like to change the way that this game is played. Usually this is by adding new rules or altering existing ones to add some variety to all the games currently out there in the forum. The rules being used will normally be listed by the creator of the thread in their first post at the start of the game. Variations include (but are not limited to)...

(1) Poster being able to reduce items by 3 instead of 1. This means a poster can reduce a single item by 3, or reduce three different items by 1 each or one item by 2 and a second item by 1.

(2) Posters are able to Add OR reduce an item by 1

(3) Posters can reduce an item by 1 but must also add 1 to a different item as well


Guidance
When creating a Survivor thread yourself, try to keep in mind these tips to help make your thread a fun one to play. There is nothing stopping you creating as many of these threads as you like, but thinking your idea through before posting it will help make it longer lasting and be more enjoyable

(1) Try to think of a list of items that are interesting, possibly one's that may not of already been done before or haven't been done for a long time (using search can help you in this matter)

(2) Decide how long you want the game to last. The more items you list and the larger the values you assign to them will affect how long or how short the game will last. In the example above only 4 items are listed and a value of 5 given to each which would make this game a relatively short lived one … perfect for a practice game or to test some new rules you want to test.

(3) Its helpful when writing out a new game that you list any rules you want people to adhere to, as not always will everyone using the forum be familiar with how the games work.

Chain Fiction (Roleplay)

Roleplaying is one of those things that you either know how to do, don't know how to do, or have little experience in doing. For those of you reading this and wondering what Roleplaying is, the simpliest way I can explain it is to say that when you roleplay you are basically pretending to be something or somebody else. There are many examples of this all over the world, in films, on acting stages, World of Warcraft computer games and many many more. In each example a person is acting out a role, pretending to be something that they actually aren't in Real Life, wether it be an action hero all the way to a orc with a grudge.

In the world of Dakkadakka, roleplaying takes the form of WIP story-writing or an interactive story writing where other posters will post their own sections of the story based on their own characters point of view. In escence the story is written by the users as it goes along. A user will create a new thread and give it an appropriate title that explains a little about what the story will be about. This person is usually refered to as the Games Master or GM for short and in their first post the GM will write an introduction to the story to explain the scene, the situation and any other important information such as the year it is set in, what the surroundings are like and other important factors that will help mould the story.

As a participant of a roleplay you will usually create yourself one or sometimes more characters that will be involved in the story previous set by the GM. If the story was about the Imperial Guard invading a planet you might want to create your character as an Officer, or a guardsman, maybe even one of the enemy. In any case its usually best to try and be a bit realistic even though it is just a roleplay. Your not really going to find a lone Space Marine Terminator joining a squad of Gurdsman are you?

I have included below two examples of how roleplaying can be written, though everyone will have their own quirks and ways of writing and each one is a valid form of writing.

Example 1
Warrender glance though the open window but could see no sign of the soldiers that were pursuing him. He had no idea what they wanted but as soon as he had heard the shouting and saw the soldiers coming in his direction he didn’t hesitate and ran away as quickly as he could. “Phew!” he said to himself as he turned around and slid down the wall till he was sitting.

Example 2
Warrender looked through the windows and saw the soldiers were gone. “Phew” he said to himself as he sat down.


Rules
There are no rules per sae, as everyone has there own method of roleplaying with styles and quirks. The best way to learn how to roleplay is to read what others have written in the threads that litter this forum. The only rules tend to be “unwritten rules” as they come more under “common sense” than actually being rules. The few rules there are, are as follows

(1) When speaking out of character use the word ooc to show other users that what follows next is not part of the story. Posters frequently use ooc statements to ask questions or to give other posters additional information that they can’t do when roleplaying. For example, at the end of there post they might put something like
((ooc was that a lasgun or lascannon that Bob316 found in the box?))

(2) Killing off other peoples characters without their permission or intentionally roleplay a main event when you are not the GM as this will obviously impact on the GM’s plans for how the story will evolve. Never try to kill off someone else’s character without prior agreement.

(3) Always read what was posted before. By not being up to date with the story could mean you missing out on a change in the story. If your post seemingly ignores a dramatic event it only serves to confuse other posters and cause the story to go off track until it is sorted. For example, roleplaying your character going over a bridge that a poster has already roleplayed being destroyed.

Guidance
Its very hard to guide someone in how to roleplay as everyone has their own unique style and degree of ability when roleplaying. So below I have listed a few things that I personally find useful and help users post more clearly

(1) When typing Out of character(OOC) I always tend to type ((ooc insert text)) as it helps make it more visible so as not to confuse other posters.

(2) When I write down characters speech I use the “” symbols and also italics so that it looks different from the rest of the text and more recognisable as speech. For example “That was close” Bob said.

(3) When roleplaying someone else’s character I find it useful to not go into great depths when describing there actions and/or reactions. This is because the owner of that character will obviously have a better understanding of his or her characters personality and by going into great depths you may disrupt that. For example if the poster has spent the majority of the RP as a thug then they would be fairly upset if you suddenly had them rescue a kitten from a tree.

(4) Using PM’s. Sometimes you have read something that you need clarification on. I find that its sometimes useful to send a PM to that person rather than posting questions in the thread that temporarily stop roleplay while others all contribute when only one poster needed to.

(5) Starting/Joining multiple roleplays. There are no rules as to how many roleplays you can start or join, though I would advise only being part of as many as you can comfortably participate in. For example I myself would only participate in 1 to 2 roleplays at a time whereas there are other members who are able to join 10 roleplays and give each one the time it needs.

(6) Additionally I would add that a rather useful tip when you want to start a new RP is to open a new thread that gives all the details of what the RP will be about. Posters can then post there interest in it and submit there characters they wish to use. The GM and poster will then be able to discuss all the finer details and smooth out all the issue’s before posting another Thread that will actually start the Game/story. The Gm might call the first thread some thing like this for example. “Interest Thread for Necromunda”. Then when the game starts the GM will open a new thread called “Necromunda Fight for the Iron Ring”, for example.

(7) When making your own Roleplay, give thought to the layout and storyline. Story's that constantly chop and change or randomly throw playing characters into situations may be fun for while but the lack of structure will eventually show and risks posters losing interest. Try to have a master plan or goal that the players are trying to achieve or reach, that way everything betweenthe start and finish will be a build up to the end scene. Think about character placement, are they all going to start in the same location? Or are they going to be wondering around alone and eventually meet up with other characters and form small bands of Warriors before eventually having everyone meet up?

(8) Give some thought to the title and try to make it as informative as you can, also, try to make use of various notes in the title so that others can instantly understand it. ((Please remember that you can always edit the title after posting to keep up with changes)) For example, starting a new thread titled "40K Roleplay" is bland, boring and not very helpful. Below is a list of examples of a good title as well as some info on understanding them.

--- Example 1 "(Roleplay 40K) Battle for Fargroth Ridge (2spots left)" ---
In the first bracket you see a word that describes the type of game it is as well era or setting. The next part is the name of the game which instantly gives an insight to the setting of the story this will be taking place. then lastly in brackets you see some text that describes wether the story is full or if there is still room for more players to join

--- Example 2 "(Survivor BFG) Which Race Survives? ()" ---
Again, in the first bracket it tells the type of game it is, in this case a survival of the fittest game as well as it detailing what it is about, in this case its Battlefleet Gothic Races. Again a simple title but informative title. Then the last brackets are blank because for Survivor games there isn't much of a need to fill it in.

As stated in the section above there aren't many rules to this forum, however i think you can agree that using tip 8 will greatly help in making your thread more appealing and informative and thereby will help generate more interest in your thread. For more examples you can look in the "Swap Shop" section of DakkaDakka for more examples

DnD

DnD is also another form of Roleplay, but generally because of the way it works differently I thought it best to list it as a separate entity. DnD work the same way as Hero Quest or Dungeon and Dragons board games work. The only difference is that it is in written rather than played on a board. Usually the GM will start that game with an opening scene that details what is happening and posters will post their reactions to it. The GM will then use his/her own method of determining what the outcome is and then posts that for the posters to see. Being unfamiliar with this type of game I cannot offer anymore information other than advising you to read through a couple of these types of threads as they are very easy to understand.


Other Games

I'm leaving this section blank for now, and will fill this in with detail if I happen to see any new types of games that become popular with users

Nice work, HellsGuardian...

... been waiting to see this for a long time...

Cheers, I've noticed a few spelling and grammer mistakes in my posts so I'll be fixing those and also adding more information/clarification when I get chance. Looks like I've missed out certain bits which would be helpful.


EDIT: Have done the amendments, hoping its got more appropriate info now

No problem...

.

Have updated the Roleplaying section and added Tip 8 to the Guidance part. Hoping to encourage some more descriptive thread titles just like they have inthe swap shop.

Just a note, the standard Survivor rules are pretty much these ones now. Well in any games myself, rockerbike and a few others have been setting up for the past year.

It makes sense to make them the standard though, plus we have found the games run smoother with them like this.


Survivor Rules
All options start at 10, you may -/+ 1 to one of the options with each post, when a option reaches zero they are eliminated.
You may not modify the list again until at least one of three following things occur.
1) Four other people have posted since you did.
2) At least one person has posted and 2hrs have passed since your last post.
3) No one has posted and four hours have passed since your last post.

Thanks a bundle man well done