Star Wars: Age of Alliances

Jennkryst · May 28, 2015, 3:35 AM

-- Episode 7 Era Star Wars MUSH:

The MUSH is set after the events of Return of the Jedi and just before the events of The Force Awakens. We follow the movies canon and are holding to the actual Star Wars experience, we always have, we always will.

Do you want to join a game with a TON of opportunities right now? You can craft a Star Wars character of your 'wildest imaginations' if you join up now and help grow the community back to a healthy level.

The MUSH will be continuing where it left off and will use the reference material from the new films to adjust course accordingly to fit within the new era of Star Wars lore.

The movies are canon on Star Wars: Age of Alliances. The expended universe is used to add flavor, but is not guaranteed to be theme.

The game was started in 2000, launched in 2001 and has a wealth of history. Its got a solid code base foundation and many unique features.

We are starting fresh, the playerbase will need time to grow. Come and help us do that.

Starwars.Xidus.Net : 5500

So says the actual ad I've been given. Background, anecdotes, and rambling to commence now.

Age of Alliances was the first proper mush I ever played on, and it's fancy fun. If you're familiar with Dahan's +sheet code on SerenityMU, just scale it up so that 70 is the average Attribute level, and 100 is the cap, and you'll be right-on. Also, add other species, because Star Wars.

The game's activity always seemed to wax and wane with the films - Attack of the Clones, or Revenge of the Sith would come out, and the playerbase would skyrocket. It dwindled, as games do, and the doors finally closed a few years ago.

The Force Awakens has re-sparked the desire for the game, and news of it's return made me feel all nostalgic and I'm somehow in the running for being on PlotStaff. It's weird.

All that said. It's coded in Penn, which updated sometime between when it closed and reopened (possibly updated a few times), so not all of the code came back completely functional. There is coded spaceflight (an abusive love of mine), but /two/ systems for it, both of which are tricksy, one of which may have made the game crash repeatedly until it was removed from the game.

Numbers are low, what with the game being back for a couple months at this point, so I'm tossing the ad here to help bolster that. Possibly find time to throw money at @Thenomain or someone to help deal with the code issues.

RP is focussed on Nar Shaddaa until we have a more accurate image of what the galaxy looks like, but if they foolishly hand me the keys to Plot Staff, I'm sure we'll wander around to places full of excitement!

Tempest · May 28, 2015, 1:17 PM

Ever since I started MUSHing, I've had a love/hate relationship with SW games. I love the idea, but never seem to last. I've never managed to stick around very long on any except a couple of the d20 SW Legacy games (or whatever it was called), and mostly because I love that game system.

Not sure I've played one set in Movie-time (it kind of has a crippling effect on character options, hate to say it but force-fu and lightsabers are the main draws of SW games for me), the d20 ones usually seemed to be set in KOTOR-esque times.

But...intrigued. Will poke at the game, thanks for posting. If Miraluka are a thing, I'll probably be forced to try and make something. (They probably aren't, alas. Extinct in movie era, iirc. Poor blind people. But, will take a peek and see what's what anyways. )

FiranSurvivor · May 28, 2015, 2:33 PM

Age of Alliance..? Isn't that Cujo's old place? Only people I remember from there is Cujo and that crazy fuck (it was the good kind of crazy) Halcyon.

It was also the first MUSH I ever started on. God I was awful back then.

SG · May 28, 2015, 3:02 PM

Man, their stat system was awful. I've played some obscure games with strange things going on and have been able to understand most, but Dahan's system is just a mess.

If they're working with penn, they'd be much better off adapting FS3 or something.

Jennkryst · May 29, 2015, 3:42 AM

Dahan's isn't terrible. It's just slightly confusing. Luckily, the game handles all the code for you, so that's nice. I did, admittely, try to pitch the idea of Edge of the Empire rules, but got funny looks. Probably because the +sheet and +equip code is all already there...

But yes, Cujo and company.

Three-Eyed Crow · May 29, 2015, 3:55 AM

@SG said:

Man, their stat system was awful. I've played some obscure games with strange things going on and have been able to understand most, but Dahan's system is just a mess.

If they're working with penn, they'd be much better off adapting FS3 or something.

Any reason they aren't just using d20 Star Wars (of which I am a fan)?

Jennkryst · May 29, 2015, 4:53 AM

@Three-Eyed-Crow - A combination of the mush pre-dating d20 (if memory serves. I know for certain it predated Saga Edition), and because level-based systems are for suckers (your mileage may vary, but I much much much prefer being able to spend XP on direct buys, rather than having to wait to level up and get everything in one fell swoop. What if you're level 15 and you suddenly want to branch out into Use Computer? WHY WAIT UNTIL LEVEL 16 TO GAIN RUDEMENTARY KNOWLEDGE EVEN A LEVEL 1 CHARACTER CAN GRASP?

Tiny pet peeve of mine, levels.

SG · May 29, 2015, 4:52 AM

@Three-Eyed-Crow As @Jennkryst mentioned it was out before Saga, I think. I'm in the same boat regarding d20, I don't think it works well in a mush. I think at the time they came out, D6 would have been a better choice, but I think they wanted to try a different system to stand out, which is cool, I just didn't like the system they chose.

Jennkryst · May 29, 2015, 4:56 AM

@Three-Eyed-Crow - Also, if you look at the Saga mushes, you'll see they have +maps that are pretty much a d20 grid for combat, because nigh all combat requires it. Then again, there are a lot of games that just hand-wave things like speed and distance for simplicity.

FiranSurvivor · May 29, 2015, 6:11 AM

How far after RotJ is the setting now? When I last left Coruscant had been conquered and all that jazz. Or did they reboot at all?

Jennkryst · May 29, 2015, 2:37 PM

+time lists the Battle of Endor as being 32 years, 3 months ago. The idea is that, once the Force Awakens hits theatres, we are officially IN new trilogy timeline.

... and since the movies are canon, I'm not sure they're committed one way or another to previous mush RP. So it's in a quasi-reboot state. As the majority of the EU has been wiped clean (and even then, the game picked and chose what was and wasn't real), we're waiting on all of the NEW THINGS to get a look at the state of the galaxy. No point in having events on Coruscant if the emperor had a killswitch that blew it up when Deathstar 2 exploded.

FiranSurvivor · May 29, 2015, 3:29 PM

Makes sense, as I remember AoA's interpretation of the fall of Coruscant being a little... out there. (Lots of Interdictor class space ships or what not)

I think a reboot in anticipation for the new movies could be a good thing.

Fizzle11 · Jan 7, 2016, 4:18 AM

Checked this place out.. 50+ players on! Pretty impressive numbers for any MUSH these days, much less a Star Wars game.

Jennkryst · Jan 7, 2016, 4:37 AM

@Fizzle11 said:

Checked this place out.. 50+ players on! Pretty impressive numbers for any MUSH these days, much less a Star Wars game.

This is mainly because it's the only Ep 7 era mush (and it's only competition in Star Wars is Generations of Darkness, set during the early years of the empire). But it's fun, none the less.

Tempest · Jan 7, 2016, 12:33 PM

The important question is, can you be force sensitive and have a lightsaber.

Gonna assume not, since 9/10 Star Wars MUs seem to outright ban that or save it for staff-pals. Which is why the genre has died, IMO. I don't wanna play some goddamn Han Solo knock-off. I want a lightsaber.

Ghost · Jan 7, 2016, 1:00 PM

@Tempest said:

The important question is, can you be force sensitive and have a lightsaber.

Gonna assume not, since 9/10 Star Wars MUs seem to outright ban that or save it for staff-pals. Which is why the genre has died, IMO. I don't wanna play some goddamn Han Solo knock-off. I want a lightsaber.

Ding!

I used to play Star Wars MU* and on every one I worked hard and hoped for a force sensitive slot. Every time one opened I was passed on in favor of a staff buddy, someone a staff character TS's with, or yet another character that (despite a policy requiring regular rp and involvement) would disappear from the grid and never be seen again...and the force slot would never be taken from that person.

Fuck that bridesmaid waiting game.

EDIT/UPDATE: News Force on the game states there are no force sensitive applications being accepted at this time, but (sic) if you're a really good time player you'll be considered for a slot when it opens.

Nope. NOPEnopeNopeNopenopeNOPE.

Miss Demeanor · Jan 7, 2016, 1:10 PM

I'm gonna flat out call false advertising. 'Make whatever Star Wars character you want from your wildest imaginings! ... except anything that might fall under the label of Jedi or Sith. So, y'know.. the two major factions from the Star Wars universe that everyone wants to be part of. So basically, its Lords & Ladies in Space. Pass.

Ghost · Jan 7, 2016, 1:15 PM

@Miss-Demeanor said:

I'm gonna flat out call false advertising. 'Make whatever Star Wars character you want from your wildest imaginings! ... except anything that might fall under the label of Jedi or Sith. So, y'know.. the two major factions from the Star Wars universe that everyone wants to be part of. So basically, its Lords & Ladies in Space. Pass.

Pass agreed.

I spent 2+ years on a Star Wars MU* hoping for a force slot to come into my hands. After seeing 3-4 go to staff buddies, I realized holy fuck, I just spent 2+ years roleplaying as my SECOND choice in hope of being able to play my first choice.. Never again. I'm gonna be allowed to play what I want, or I'm passing.

Coin · Jan 7, 2016, 1:23 PM

So someone make a Star Wars game where people can play Jedi and Sith. Maybe set it far enough into the future that the canon is history; or far enough into the past that it doesn't matter. I'd rarther the former despite us not knowing what's coming. You could have legends about how everything turned out and have none of it be true; or simply ignore whatever comes next in canon that doesn't fit the narrative.

Maybe a setting where Force sensitivity is ubiquitous and the Jedi and Sith orders have splintered into many factions with different ideals, tenets, and reasonings.

You know, how things tend to actually work.

Ghost · Jan 7, 2016, 1:39 PM

I did find a d20 Saga Edition MU* once, but every time I logged in, I watched the owner/staffer talk on pubChan about how stupid most of his players were. I had a Jedi there for all of 2 login sessions after approval. I'm not gonna stick around a place where the headwiz has so little respect for his players. He used to brag about how much money he had and not having to work; it was like roleplaying with PharmaBro.

But yes, I would like to see someone make a Star Wars MU* that allows people to play where their interests lie, rather than turn force sensitive into earning a spot at the COOL KIDS table.