I'm looking to dip my toes in a Wheel of Time MUSH and I'm looking at a copy of Ares (with @tempest's kind help) to figure out what kind of commitment we're talking about.
Before I do much more I wanted to open a discussion about its mechanics. While knowledge of the WoT books and settings isn't necessary in it, I'd very much appreciate not derailing it into tangents too unrelated to this, since I'd like to use whatever I can from the debate to generate the system itself for such a game - meaning rolls, attributes, and so on.
Design ideas:
Overall:
I want players to make interesting choices. Forcing dilemmas about A or B should be at the heart of the system, which means as few 'filler' skills, talents and attributes as possible.
All systems need to be easy. Simple. If you have an idea of an amazing system that would require too much work to explain and too much reading to understand then it won't work for this. However additional complexity that can be automated and hidden beneath a coded roll is fine.
Balance between channelers and non-channelers won't be tackled directly (i.e. I don't plan to try and make them equal in power). However while channelers' power will be placed at considerably less than the book characters' with IC reasoning - no Nynaeve/Mazrim level powerhouses - I want non-channelers to be able and achieve the highest skill levels, including heron-marked blades or other cultures' equivalents.
Resource management should also be in the picture if it can be managed, since it can fuel the Great Game.
One part of the books I think is very thematic is the progression from trainee (in whatever disciple) into mastery. How do we, and can we do that on a MUSH convincingly? Aside from the timeline (obviously we won't require waiting for RL years for a Novice to become Aes Sedai), can this be done mechanically without turning it into a chore?
Channeling:
I'd like PCs to purchase overall potency, individual Powers or weaves directly, with each purchase becoming more narrow but more impactful. So for example you could sink one point (?) into your overall strength as a channeler which powers all your weaves, or put it into Air to make all your Air weaves stronger than they'd get if you had just purchased a point in overall potency, or even use it to buy something like Windstorm specifically which would empower that one weave far more than the former two options.
Not sure how I would handle overgrasping Saidin/Saidar enough to burn out. Maybe make it impossible for channelers to, but give them the channeling disease itself where they are impacted for a RL duration of time?
Non-channeling:
I'm trying to figure out a system that allows PCs to buy sword forms directly to improve their fighting but also not limit all fighting in the game to match that style. The Aiel don't use them, for example, and I don't simply want to give them a separate (but boring or unrelated to the books) system instead to achieve balance. One way to do it is keep forms completely IC separate from mechanical power, so characters can be assumed to know what they know based on their skill levels. Thoughts?
A trope from the books is fighting one-versus-many. I don't know if it's nostalgia speaking but in my own gaming past we gave NPC retainers to certain organizations - so for example a Whitecloak PC would have X NPCs with him, a Band of the Red Hand member would have Y (where Y<X) but with bonuses to Band-only groups, etc. These are hard to balance; is it worth having? Can you come up with or propose a system that achieves this?
Finally, what challenges am I forgetting so far that absolutely should be in a WoT game? Remember, let's keep it mechanical and try to focus on general rules rather than exceptions; channeling has a myriad of the latter but unless it's going to realistically happen in a somewhat day to day basis then I don't care about it too much for now, and it can be handwaved or summarized in a roll later on.
Thanks in advance for any input!