A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending))
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@seraphim73 I'd much rather the focus be on the Jedi Civil war with the Mandalorian war more a prequel of sorts we play through part of.
I am certainly NOT, if we go with starting near the end of the Mandalorian wars, going with the line of "Every Jedi who worked with Revan became Sith" because I never personally liked the idea of all inclusive statements like every when it comes to plot concepts. Yes the MAJORITY of Revanchists, and those who fought in the war will wind up becoming the foundation of the Sith faction. However Player characters are not the majority of characters in the verse so they'll be free to chose who they wind up siding with: Jedi, or Sith. Just because you fight in a war doesn't mean you're going to instantly turn Sith. (I'm fully aware there are more lore reasons behind why they all turned, and I know what said reasons are. That doesn't make them any less silly.)
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I've always been a fan, at least in theory, of that kind of played-prologue sort of thing. I would definitely say it's better off keeping it strictly that, than trying to run X months of the game as one thing and then time-skip and switch things up.
As much as people say they like character growth, they also hate change. Particularly the sort that upsets their status quo of existing RP circles, relationships, accomplishments, positions, and so on.
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@bored said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
I've always been a fan, at least in theory, of that kind of played-prologue sort of thing. I would definitely say it's better off keeping it strictly that, than trying to run X months of the game as one thing and then time-skip and switch things up.
As much as people say they like character growth, they also hate change. Particularly the sort that upsets their status quo of existing RP circles, relationships, accomplishments, positions, and so on.
I totally get that, it would suck to get all the work done on this place get everything together then lose my playerbase because we did a time-skip after people got settled into Mandalorian War life. Probably for the best if I do just go ahead and keep it to maybe one or two events as a prequel to launch the game then keep the focus on the Jedi Civil War.
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One of the problems Generations of Darkness had was that it originally planned, from my extensive discussions with staff, to do something like this:
<IC Play>
Timeskip with new history based on IC play
<IC Play>
Timeskip with new history based on IC playAnd that was abandoned a few months after it started and it never did that; largely because of internal debate over whether or not to engage with player agency as they interfered with the course of 'cannon' history, but also because of general skittishness over the concept for the reasons above.
Personally, it can work either way, but I think a time-skip every so often is a wonderful idea, as it gives people a potential chance to reinvent themselves and then explain why, and can break up cliqueishness, which is a problem.
The time chosen is super appropriate as the other problem SW in general has is uh, a not-insignificant number of people mistake 'I'm not angry when I do this' for 'I'm doing good and not using the dark side'; which is actually an IC issue at the time too.
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That would be one area I'd make sure to have a clear idea on. What do you want your White Hat faction to look like? Because you're going to have White Hat Jedi, Black Hat Sith, and a giant mixture of inbetweens and a lot of conflict arises from people wanting their own look of how things 'should be'.
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@seraphim73 said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
@mr-johnson No no, I think setting it at the end of the Mandalorian Wars is kind of brilliant. Give it like 6 months there, and then skip ahead a year to the return of the Revanchist. Gives 6 months to make connections between PCs and to get the L3-4s up closer to Prestige Classes. Then you get the fall toward Sith Apprentice of those with Revan, and the 'but we didn't really want war,' and 'what the heck happened to our friends' from those who stayed with the Order. As @GirlCalledBlu noted, it's storytelling gold.
As someone who staffed in Age of Mortals which did implement the time skip/new plot location a couple of times I will say that I don't think its ideal. Overall it disrupts personal stories (so most MU) and the handing out of levels, gear, and such due to timeskip sounds logical but it further disrupts things and then adds the administrative headache of people wanting to redo portions of the advancement because they wind up not liking their initial choice (yeah you can make a policy against this but people will forever complain and if you let just one person change one thing its curtains for you).
I liken that last bit to using console commands in Skyrim. Suddenly the natural story/char progression is out of whack and you'll be forever trying to smooth things out rather than running events.
KotR is a good setting though. Giant sandbox for fantasy SW play. Just be mindful of who you let help out. Certain parties have already ruined or nearly ruined a game or two because of their "enthusiasm". Looking at you, Vaapad.
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@secretfire said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
<IC Play>
Timeskip with new history based on IC playIt's always been my dream to run a game like that. I have a weird fetish for writing extrapolated alternate histories based on a few actions. Living fiction on a bigger scale. It's also why I've always liked some of the company-run RPG organized play/'living campaign' type stuff that did this.
I just don't think it would ever work on a MU. Every timeskip would see ~half your playerbase quit in outrage/fail to engage in the new story/etc.
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@bob said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending))
Looking at you, Vaapad.
I wouldn't worry about Vaapad, he's pretty busy with his Lords & Ladies FiranMUX clone these days.
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@bored said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
I just don't think it would ever work on a MU. Every timeskip would see ~half your playerbase quit in outrage/fail to engage in the new story/etc.
I've also dreamed of a game like this, but not the time nor inclination to follow through. The Reach/Fallcoast/Fallcoast2 is proving that it's possible, but the mere risk of losing players frightens a lot of people, staff and players alike.
But if the players are enjoying themselves, they will find a way to make it work. I played on a game long, long ago where the goal was reach the apocalypse. And the staff followed through. And half of us stayed on to play the after-effects and it was fun.
I think if you are 100% Up-Front about it, then you can do it. My own plan was to run a one- to two-year plot then move on, but the plot would be, in the nature of plots, something that ends. But more than that, something that the players would drive to the end.
In my case: The martian trade city that the Earth colonies want to control is having leadership issues, and everyone knows that the local Martian King is going to die. The end scenario was "the crowning of a new leader", but each faction or even player might want something different from this situation. It would start with Space 1889. The next jump would be Mars Noir (between WW1 and WW2). Then I would do the Asteroid Pirate Wars. Then...
It's a dream.
Traditional ongoing story with interweaving situations is easier and more stable. AetherMUX did things this way and it was fantastic.
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos -
I've had my own game idea that required timeskipping... but kind of worse in that it required a majority of the PCs being 'reset' on the timeline. You wouldn't lose XP or anything, but everyone would essentially suffer memory loss.
I've never rolled it out because I know people would hate the relationship 'loss,' but man I think it'd be fun metaplot/story-wise.
I do feel maybe being 100% up front would help. And maybe only doing it once, at the beginning, might soften the blow a bit. Use it as a way to kick off the game and ease in. Then it's only your initial players doing it. It's a hook into the game. It's a bonus! not a detractor.
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Oh I wasn't going to do it on the regular it was going to be a one time thing. Start with your mando v jedi/repub and transition to the meat and potatoes main focus of the game the Jedi Civil War, since everyone loves a good Jedi and Sith fight and I figure they'll probably wind up the majority of the playerbase anyway.
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@rnmissionrun said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
@bob said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending))
Looking at you, Vaapad.
I wouldn't worry about Vaapad, he's pretty busy with his Lords & Ladies FiranMUX clone these days.
what game is this?
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@bob said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
As someone who staffed in Age of Mortals
The Age of Mortals/Krynn joint from 98 to 2000-2002'ish? I never played (I migrated from original DL Mux to some SW places then), but I was under the impression each arch was a set of chars, and it was new chars for the next arc, just the plot and meta was determined by what happened in the prior arcs of time? I thought it was a great idea, but hadn't read the War of Souls at the time and thought that was part of the pre-game canon.
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@lotherio said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
@bob said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
As someone who staffed in Age of Mortals
The Age of Mortals/Krynn joint from 98 to 2000-2002'ish? I never played (I migrated from original DL Mux to some SW places then), but I was under the impression each arch was a set of chars, and it was new chars for the next arc, just the plot and meta was determined by what happened in the prior arcs of time? I thought it was a great idea, but hadn't read the War of Souls at the time and thought that was part of the pre-game canon.
Yes, that theme. This was around 2005/6. It may have been originally conceived as new characters but at that time it was executed as carrying people forward OR creating new with a continuous story.
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@thenomain said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
@bored said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
I just don't think it would ever work on a MU. Every timeskip would see ~half your playerbase quit in outrage/fail to engage in the new story/etc.
I've also dreamed of a game like this, but not the time nor inclination to follow through. The Reach/Fallcoast/Fallcoast2 is proving that it's possible, but the mere risk of losing players frightens a lot of people, staff and players alike.
But if the players are enjoying themselves, they will find a way to make it work. I played on a game long, long ago where the goal was reach the apocalypse. And the staff followed through. And half of us stayed on to play the after-effects and it was fun.
Yeah, I've done a "one year later" timeskip on two different games when big changes to the setting were part of the metaplot. Some folks hated it, but you could say that about virtually any MU decision. It's not like half the game ragequit or anything.
I personally wouldn't want to do a complete character wipe reset like @Auspice was describing, but even that is not necessarily a dealbreaker to everyone. Some folks like starting fresh. Witness TGG's ever-shifting campaign settings.
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@bob said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
As someone who staffed in Age of Mortals which did implement the time skip/new plot location a couple of times I will say that I don't think its ideal. Overall it disrupts personal stories (so most MU) and the handing out of levels, gear, and such due to timeskip sounds logical but it further disrupts things and then adds the administrative headache of people wanting to redo portions of the advancement because they wind up not liking their initial choice
I would strongly recommend against any particular advancement during the timeskip. I still love the idea of 6 months of play to set up personal history between characters who are going to be on different sides, skipping an IC year, and then really playing in the Jedi Civil War, but I recognize that some of the ideas that I like the most... don't go over well with the MU*ing community as a whole.
@thenomain said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
I think if you are 100% Up-Front about it, then you can do it.
If you do choose to run the time-skip, I think this would be CRITICAL. Big bold letters in the MotD and on the wiki about how the Mandalorian Wars section is a prologue and there will be a one-year timeskip with no sheet advancement (except maybe some DSP for the Sith-side) in between.
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@faraday said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
Witness TGG's ever-shifting campaign settings.
This is a game where you can lose a character because it's Tueseday. Starting over is baked into its genes. This is what's important.
However, @Mr-Johnson has their goal: Ongoing Changes. A++ for this plan.
I'd be willing to continue talking about Reset Games in another thread and let the poor man have his thread back.
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos -
@thenomain You know, a game set in the Star Wars universe using the TGG methodology wouldn't be a bad idea.
He/Him
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@tinuviel said in A New Star Wars game? (Legends of The Old Republic (Name pending)):
@thenomain You know, a game set in the Star Wars universe using the TGG methodology wouldn't be a bad idea.
Eh, I feel like it always gets under-played what a small MU TGG was, even at its height. Like, it can work and I personally enjoy that kind of play a lot, but it's going to be more niche than @Mr-Johnson is maybe going for. I think the Old Republic is a good setting for a standard MUSH, though it'd also work for something more experimental.
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@three-eyed-crow I was speaking generally, rather than specifically for this game.
