New Project
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 7:43 pm
In an effort to do something a bit simpler form a GM perspective and from a player perspective I need to shift gears for a couple of reasons.
1. I just found out my wife will be having our second child in late November. Figured this was coming and it was part of the push to bring Alpha towards a conclusion for me. I simply won't have the time to run something as free form and involved as that is.
2. Simpler might turn out to be more fun in the end.
Enough of the nonsense...here are the particulars for a proposed replacement.
1. We are going to look at doing Star Wars. Two other genres (or should I say eras) were considered but seemed to have limited appeal with our current player set (1918 Earth and 1970'ish Earth). I personally am very interested in both those dates and some of the work here would apply going forward if I elected to do those. But that is not really important to most here.
2. This will be set in the period just after Revenge of the Sith, except the Emperor and Vader lose and die so the Jedi and the force are gone. They won't be a factor in the game. Don't ask about it because the answer is no. More IC justification will be provided for this at the outset.
3. The powers that could be played are TBD, but will include a number of options for most players. Essentially in the game world the galaxy as it is known will be fragmented with a very very weak Senate after all the nonsense with Palpatine and the Jedi gets revealed. Options are effectively limitless and I personally don't have a problem creating a race for someone if the hundreds out there don't suit you in particular. The galaxy is proposed as big enough that probably anything you wanted could exist.
4. There is effectively no R&D. The solution to more power is more guns or missiles or shield power or armor. It does not get better. Tech is old and stagnant so it just sort of is what it is. This takes a huge amount off of my plate and makes the game more manageable.
5. Fully designable capitol ships and fighters. You can design anything you would like to have, though only a fixed number of each can be in service at any one time.
6. Did I mention fighters? They will be fully integrated into the game dynamic as they are critical to the genre. If things work out right...and as play tested so far they should...there should be a balance between the value of big ships, fighters and more flexible medium ships.
7. Simplified defense and movement. Though it is a bit of a fudge we will go the interconnected hyper-space lanes route. This means from one planet you can only go to certain other defined planets. This should simplify defending oneself from attack and increase conflict among players.
8. Hopefully a more robust and scarce resource system. More and different resources that vary from system to system should force more trading and create planets of strategic value to all players.
9. Far far far fewer ships. Though this is a direct violation of some EU cannon we are doing it just from a game play point of view. If you can only have a few hundred ships, of which possibly a dozen are of the very large type, then you will value them more and it will make fleet actions a bit more rational. Plus it will add anguish if you make a mistake and leave your fleet flagship that is pushing 8 KM's in length alone and watch it get blasted to bits by a couple dozen squadrons of heavy bombers.
That is basically where things stand right now. A few people are helping me put together the universe and test out some things on the spreadsheet. Will keep people advised and it is not time to claim player nations yet but if you are interested/have input put it here for now.
1. I just found out my wife will be having our second child in late November. Figured this was coming and it was part of the push to bring Alpha towards a conclusion for me. I simply won't have the time to run something as free form and involved as that is.
2. Simpler might turn out to be more fun in the end.
Enough of the nonsense...here are the particulars for a proposed replacement.
1. We are going to look at doing Star Wars. Two other genres (or should I say eras) were considered but seemed to have limited appeal with our current player set (1918 Earth and 1970'ish Earth). I personally am very interested in both those dates and some of the work here would apply going forward if I elected to do those. But that is not really important to most here.
2. This will be set in the period just after Revenge of the Sith, except the Emperor and Vader lose and die so the Jedi and the force are gone. They won't be a factor in the game. Don't ask about it because the answer is no. More IC justification will be provided for this at the outset.
3. The powers that could be played are TBD, but will include a number of options for most players. Essentially in the game world the galaxy as it is known will be fragmented with a very very weak Senate after all the nonsense with Palpatine and the Jedi gets revealed. Options are effectively limitless and I personally don't have a problem creating a race for someone if the hundreds out there don't suit you in particular. The galaxy is proposed as big enough that probably anything you wanted could exist.
4. There is effectively no R&D. The solution to more power is more guns or missiles or shield power or armor. It does not get better. Tech is old and stagnant so it just sort of is what it is. This takes a huge amount off of my plate and makes the game more manageable.
5. Fully designable capitol ships and fighters. You can design anything you would like to have, though only a fixed number of each can be in service at any one time.
6. Did I mention fighters? They will be fully integrated into the game dynamic as they are critical to the genre. If things work out right...and as play tested so far they should...there should be a balance between the value of big ships, fighters and more flexible medium ships.
7. Simplified defense and movement. Though it is a bit of a fudge we will go the interconnected hyper-space lanes route. This means from one planet you can only go to certain other defined planets. This should simplify defending oneself from attack and increase conflict among players.
8. Hopefully a more robust and scarce resource system. More and different resources that vary from system to system should force more trading and create planets of strategic value to all players.
9. Far far far fewer ships. Though this is a direct violation of some EU cannon we are doing it just from a game play point of view. If you can only have a few hundred ships, of which possibly a dozen are of the very large type, then you will value them more and it will make fleet actions a bit more rational. Plus it will add anguish if you make a mistake and leave your fleet flagship that is pushing 8 KM's in length alone and watch it get blasted to bits by a couple dozen squadrons of heavy bombers.
That is basically where things stand right now. A few people are helping me put together the universe and test out some things on the spreadsheet. Will keep people advised and it is not time to claim player nations yet but if you are interested/have input put it here for now.