So how would one do a 'Trapped-In-an-MMORPG' game, anyway?

In this cancerous mess of a post, the idea of the now-infamous 'trapped in an MMORPG' cliché of modern Light Novels and anime was outlined as being a potential concept for a game. While it has zero value to the old guard of grognards, to me it seem like an idea with interesting hybridization of very old school and very new school ideas: the kind of game concept which would appeal to the people my age or younger, in other words, those I game with. This is not a post to convince any veterans that it's a good idea. I'm well aware it has no appeal to those unfamiliar with MMORPG and modern video games and anime. Not that I blame anyone, a lot of things are pretty crummy these days.

Game Design Conceits

Obviously, a lot of MMORPG and video games elements are ill-suited to tabletops. Therefore we have to make some assumptions about what kind of video game this would be to allow a functional tabletop campaign to happen within it.

• The game most likely is ridiculously technologically advanced in order to work, therefore the implied setting is futuristic. Think less current video game and 'MMORPG holodeck'.
• The game is more likely geared toward action-RPG and/or third-person style action games and shooters (albeit from a first person view for the character) like Dark Souls, Warframe, the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer or TERA online than an interface-based MMORPG like Everquest or World of Warcraft. The players are inside the game, after all, using their minds to simulate the body's movements.
• The game very likely allow a more complex environment interaction than current videogames, allowing players to pick up environmental objects and move them. Doors can be closed, blocked by crates and objects can be stacked. In other words, anything short of destroying walls which limit the map itself is theorically allowed, at least within a dungeon.
• Towns likely have built-in safeties which render objects indestructible and unmovable. Same for NPC. This is to prevent players from breaking the hub areas and 'griefing'.
• Character death now mean player death, as per the cliche of 'trapped in an MMO death game' stories.

Mission-Based Gameplay

In my head, the game which would be best suited as an inspiration is not even a classical MMORPG: it's Warframe. Now I'm biased because it's what I've been playing for a month and it's really damn good, but nonetheless, there's a lot of good which come from a mission-based structure. This is not to say the open areas where players can roam don't exist but in many ways they are boring, antiquated empty areas where the only quests are 'go kill bears and bring me their asses'. Fetch quests sucks!

The fact each mission is labelled in what type it is BEFORE starting (and the fact that, in sandbox play, players can easily find them) mean that pre-mission preparation is not only a factor but a clear gameplay element. The mission blurs give hint of what enemies are inside and so what gear, powers, spells or whatever to equip.

Dungeon Missions

Dungeon Missions would form one of the 'core' mission types and are those best suited to the tabletop medium, as they themselves originally evolved from the tabletop roots. A dungeon in this definition is an 'instance' where a group of players enter. Under my current game design ideas, Dungeon Missions=/=Map Missions (I'll get back to 'Map Missions' in a moment): a dungeon is less open, more room-and-corridor-based and the environment is just as important as the monsters. There are dead ends and secret rooms. The game would use advanced procedural generation to create these dungeons but obviously, in real life, it would be a mix of random tables and GM crafting a suitable dungeon.

• Dungeon Treasure Hunt: Explore the dungeon and recover X amount of loot found in chest. This is different from 'dropped loot' from random enemies, as the chest is a distinct (glowing) in-game object.
• Dungeon Assassination: Explore the dungeon and find the boss inside and kill it.
• Dungeon Extermination: Explore the dungeon and wipe X specific enemies.
• Quest Dungeon: A major dungeon with elements of multiple mission types with a major boss at the end. Much more massive in size.

Map Missions

These are different from dungeons in their structure: larger rooms, more interconnected, little to no dead-end and no secrets. These are more similar to the maps you'd find in Warframe. They are designed to allow players and enemies to split up/regroup on a need and for prolonged battles.

• Defense: Hold out for X turns against enemies and prevent whatever you are defending from being destroyed.
• Escort: Similar to defense but with different map layout, you need escort a convoy from area A to B.
• Skirmish: There's a pre-set number of enemies in the map. Kill them all.
• Assassination: Like Skirmish, but you need to kill a boss to complete it.
• Monster Hunt: Like assassination, but with a bigger map and a huge boss at the end. Has more players in it than the usual party size, meaning it's a good place to bring NPC players (by that I mean someone playing the game who is an NPC, not an NPC in the videogame itself).

Exploration Missions

It's here that the 'holodeck' nature of the game come in, as nothing in real-life would ever have something of this scope (or at least have it and be good): Exploration missions are small hexcrawls where the players are expected to camp in-game. Given they are trapped in the game, this mean they are vulnerable when sleeping.

• Reconaissance: A 'small'-ish hexcrawl for a normal-sized group. It's an instance meaning only the goup can enter.
• Exploration: Every few days (or maybe weeks) or so, the game world will automatically generate a new hexcrawl area that multiple groups can enter and everything, be it resources or loot, is up for grab. This is a PVP mode, meaning player-versus-player. Considering death in the game is permanent, this is some serious stuff.

Knowledge Of The Game

While the players may be trapped inside the game, meaning they can't check the game's wiki, having to rely on purely in-game data (read: stuff in their sheet and game document), the more people play the more the exact stats of certain monsters and items will be known. Understanding the 'meta game' is an important element, as it will allow the players to prepare their loadout for the mission ahead. This also mean that manually acquiring the information is required, even if it mean just hanging in town asking other players what they know of X. Beta testers may still be in the game but this carry a risk: that things were changed between the beta and current version.

Random Elements?!

A certain level of chaos and GM flexing their creative muscles is still required: if everything was 100% planned out it would make for a boring game. As such the game has a certain amount of procedural generated 'special content' which has a small % chance of appearing in certain areas of certain missions. These are the 'funny rolls' on the random encounter table, these things which only happen on certain rolls and which may make the players crap their pants and run away from the encounter.

Players Interacting

One thing to remember is that the game world is currently full of other human beings equally trapped in this mess. People will panic, go crazy and worse. While the game world has static elements, such as merchant NPC standing still day and night, most of the Non-Player Characters of the campaign will be just as much individuals with names and lives as in any game.

Hirelings

Or 'noobs'! A good source of hirelings are other players trapped in the game who are lower level: being unskilled in the game and/or unable to grasp the more complex and deadly gameplay of higher levels and being afraid to die they tend to gather around good players and defer to their authority and skill.

Crafters

Some people will simply decide 'fuck it' and wait out to be freed from the game. In the meantime they will level up their crafting skills and make a living gathering materials for other players and crafting them new gear. These people form the core of the in-game economy, as in-game NPC invariably only sell the most basic of items which quickly become worthless.

Guilds, Conquest and PVP

In time, players will gather into 'guilds' which offer in-game benefits. The non-player guilds will become enemy or ally factions as the game shift into the 'domain management' of higher levels as players gather more and more resources to build themselves an in-game guild base. First a small building then eventually a fortress of some kind. Other guilds can attempt to invade these bases and steal their resources. Crafters not hanging in the town where combat is disabled will be found inside those, having access to the guild's vault (an actual, physical place in this game).

The Conquest mode affect the game's overworld: there are small towns scattered across the world, which factions can conquer and/or protect to gain additional resources. This mean that, rather than having to face some orc horde or hobgoblin army the invader are other players and their summoned NPC soldiers, 'built' using their guild hall and it's resources.