Fate/Alter Summons

[Carthrat]

It might be fine to go with a mix of sorts, where the servants are handled by the PCs when more than one PC is present, whilst in other scenes the servant is handled by the GM. I think it's key, btw, for the servants to be GM'd early on, since presumably our interactions with them when we get them will set the one for the relationship as a whole. If we're talking to ourselves then, as it were, it's a bit off. >.>

[Ragnar]

Carth, that idea sounds pretty good.
I think I had an idea of the Grail War in my head that I assumed everyone was already thinking of, so I didn't clarify. Part of it is also that I'm asking for suggestions, because I'm not sure what the best system or set-up for this would be.

It's a forum game, so would each player have a thread for himself? Would there be thread crossover, if so? Would it take place according solely to player wishes or as mandated by plot/you?

The overall goal is presumably to win the war, but what intermediate goals exist? Eliminate the others? Via cultural victory? Diplomatic victory? Space race victory? Any/all of the above? Yeah, borrowing from Civ, but you know.

In any game people do stuff, so who are the players interacting with primarily? Each other? NPCs? If there's little PC-PC contact due to conditions (ie not knowing who the other masters are), are there actually other people to confide in or work with aside from the Servants?

Considering how this goes, I think it'd be pretty clear who should control what.

This is a simulation of a Grail War. Each player would have a thread to himself, except when encounters required crossover, I think; what do you think would work well? I haven't really thought of a plot other than the Masters starting off in their respective places. Unless there is a reason for something to be changed, assume that things are roughly the same from Fate/Stay Night. It will be mainly shaped by the players trying to win the war. You can do this however you want, but magi are expected to conform to the rules of a Grail War; e.g., you fight each other unless you work out some kind of alliance. You will not know the identities of the other masters at first, but you can probably hazard some guesses if you know the history (unless you're like Shirou and clueless); for instance, you probably know the three main families are in it.
At first, then, you will be interacting either with NPCs or people you see on a regular basis, for instance at school. I really am not sure how to handle that, but maybe a thread for common places such as the school would work.
The basic assumption of the Grail War is that you will be fighting each other until only one Master/Servant pair remains. While you are not locked into this, keep in mind that this is how a character such as Rin will see the situation.

[Carthrat]

Freeform's fine with me. I assume the masters who don't get players will be NPCd, so I'm fine with just a few players stumbling through the city and making things happen themselves.

It's not like the grail war ever went to plan in any of the routes anyway, I'm sure there'll be plenty of wrenches, from both ourselves and the NPCs. <_<

Anyhow, any idea on when this'll get started?

[Corwin]

It just didn't make much sense to me, so I decided to just ask. On the one hand, the best approach for me seemed solo threads + crossover when necessary. On the other, you seemed to be suggesting the servants would be run by us, alongside the masters. That didn't really seem to work, since in those solo threads the bulk of the interaction was surely going to be from servant-master relationships.

In any case, a mix is fine too, etc. A method I like is control in combat, but not in social situations, for example. Lessens the burden on the GM, while not truly controlling more than one character or dictating their personality. There are surely other ways to mix things up, too.

A couple threads for the common areas would probably work great, and it's easy enough to post hyperlinks in the solo threads and back to keep track of things.

[Ragnar]

That sounds like a good idea, Corwin. I think we'll go with GM control when not in combat.
As for when it will start, I assume I've got Carth and Corwin on board, but I'd like to know who if anyone else is up for the game. Then I'd start getting info on your characters, followed by gameplay.

[Carthrat]

*bump*

[Ragnar]

I'm thinking of getting one or two folks from another board to join in. Would that be OK?

[Dracos]

You should!  Recruit! *Cheers Ragnar on in bringing new folks in*

[Corwin]

I support this bold venture!

[Carthrat]

Total strangers? I have no objection.

[Ragnar]

So now that I am taking a break from jobbiness, I'm working towards trying to get this off the ground again.