Wheel of Time
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Was talking about this with someone yesterday.
Still a thing?
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@krmbm said in Wheel of Time:
Was talking about this with someone yesterday.
Still a thing?
Yeah I'm slowly working on some stuff. Though probably doesn't help that the Division 2 dropped and I've had friends drag me into playing that, haha.
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@Rucket said in Wheel of Time:
@krmbm said in Wheel of Time:
Was talking about this with someone yesterday.
Still a thing?
Yeah I'm slowly working on some stuff. Though probably doesn't help that the Division 2 dropped and I've had friends drag me into playing that, haha.
stupid AMD Rewards is all 'nah fam, you'll get your key ON the 15th'
aholes.
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Just started reading this. Man I played on a MU* when I was young where I played a Warder. And I was super shitty at it. Since I've gotten older I've always wanted a chance to get to try it again. Playing a warder to an Aes Sedai just conceptually seems so cool to me. As long as the Aes Sedai player isn't horrible, of course. And to echo many of the people in this thread, I don't think it would need male channelers. There are a lot of cool options for males. Aes Sedai being female only was always cool to me.
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Unapologetic necro.
The main thing I think of when it concerns WoT as a theme for MU*ing is the power disparity, but since that and the other major points were already covered, this is where I'm at:
It would have to be virtually a homebrew theme loosely based on the books. Whether that includes notable locations and organizations such as the White Tower or not is one of the major questions. The reason I think it needs to be basically homebrew/customized has to do with addressing the channeler : non-channeler power ratio. Every PC being a channeler isn't precisely boring and stale, since channeling is a diverse system (who has what Talents and skills), but not every PC should necessarily be a channeler, considering that they are approximately 10% (I think that's the percentage) of the population at most.
This then leads to the other major point about why it should be a homebrew theme: a prevalence of ter'angreal that non-channelers can use. In essence, it would drive the theme closer to a kind of steampunk, I'd say, but the only thing that really makes sense to me is to up the role of ter'angreal in the setting, and that does include Power-disrupting devices, be they individual protection or area, as in Far Madding.
So yeah. I wouldn't say no to a MU*, but if it goes into a full-fledge skill/spell/etc. system, then there has to be some consideration given to those who would generally (but not necessarily always) get wrecked if it came to fighting people able to access the Source, and the only two solutions I can think of are either a) weak channelers; b) a means of combating channelers which typically will mean ter'angreal.
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There are many ways that Jordan designed the setting to be self-balancing. Aes Sedai are powerful but limited by the Oaths, and by suspicion of Tar Valon witches. Men who channel are powerful but will go mad, and have to hide their abilities or face persecution. Folks who can't channel may not have the One Power, but they have an altogether different power, the ability to politic and act and function openly and without any of those restrictions. Does that bring it all to perfect balance? No, perhaps not, but it's close and ideas like prolific availability of ter'angreal could close the gap.
I think the critical thing to not do if you're going to have male channelers is go with a cleansed Saidin. It unbalances the whole thing, such that with no Oaths and no consequence to channeling the One Power, what stops these guys from taking over everything? Pretty much just the writer's pen. I suppose you could go with Aes Sedai who are also freed of the Oaths, and hand out ter'angreal like penny candy to people that don't channel, if you wanted to go with a wildly high-powered setting.
I think you're right here that a successful game wouldn't be one with Rand al'Thor and company doing all the amazing things that they do. There isn't a lot of room in there for other characters to do much that's meaningful or impactful on the setting. It would be better to play out an alternate timeline and let events happen however they happen organically. While it would be fun and interesting to play out what happens after A Memory of Light and beyond, I don't think that Harriet and Jordan's estate appreciate that sort of thing at all.
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@dvoraen said in Wheel of Time:
The reason I think it needs to be basically homebrew/customized has to do with addressing the channeler : non-channeler power ratio. Every PC being a channeler isn't precisely boring and stale, since channeling is a diverse system (who has what Talents and skills), but not every PC should necessarily be a channeler, considering that they are approximately 10% (I think that's the percentage) of the population at most.
Also keep in mind the power disparity in the books exists but it's also exaggerated by the book characters; Rand, Mazrim Taim or Nynaeve aren't exactly typical channelers, for example.
One of the (many) ways this could be reflected in mechanics is having players make meaningful choices. Sure you can build someone who can slice weaves and heal or blast with impunity but they'd be a glass canon as well - after all there's a reason Aes Sedai had Warders around and Asha'man started carrying swords. Not everyone should be a top-end channeler and a near Blademaster. Then enforce the natural limitations channelers have, too; for example that they need training to do anything useful (or, hell, to not burn themselves out) so people don't end up making nobles who're also secretly great channelers, too.
But also in my experience in most games people don't necessarily go for the 'power' templates. They go for where the RP is, which sometimes happens to be where the power is because staff don't do their jobs right; the WoT theme provides ample opportunities to go in different directions - there's a full Lords-and-Ladies minigame baked into the settings so you can have cutthroat politics, you can have tournaments and PrPs for weapon wielders, etc.
In other words if you make your game support both channelers and support diversity you'll be fine.
