ROGUE: It is coming...
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@bobotron said in ROGUE: It is coming...:
At what point is it really IMPOSSIBLE for certain types of characters to reasonably RP with each other and stay within theme?
This. I have played on a lot of different games, but I have never had a harder time finding RP than I did on the few Star Wars games I tried. And given that I'm a pretty motivated self-starter when it comes to finding RP, that's saying a lot.
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This was the approach taken by a sw game not long ago that met with burning crashing. Everything was about the rebellion. Players wanted to do their own things and the disconnect left people scratching their heads.
Star Wars kids are Star Wars kids. Never forget that.
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@faraday said in ROGUE: It is coming...:
This. I have played on a lot of different games, but I have never had a harder time finding RP than I did on the few Star Wars games I tried. And given that I'm a pretty motivated self-starter when it comes to finding RP, that's saying a lot.
I concur, but, to be fair, my hours are kind of sketchy at times.
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I think limiting the geographic area of play is more important than the factions/type of characters.
Age of Alliances for example has dozens of planets and several factions, but most of the RP was focused on one planet (may have changed with TFA/TLJ time lune going into affect) so you never had real trouble finding folks to RP with.
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@bobgoblin said in ROGUE: It is coming...:
This was the approach taken by a sw game not long ago that met with burning crashing. Everything was about the rebellion. Players wanted to do their own things and the disconnect left people scratching their heads.
There are all kinds of reasons why games fail. Attributing one game's failure to one particular design decision is a shaky proposition.
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Long time lurker, first time poster, etc etc. So in the interests of not letting it seem like setting the game during the movies is an unanimous preference, I’d like to mention a few concerns/questions. Once the next movie comes out, how would the game develop in order to remain consistent and understandable to players? If the 9th movie goes in some unexpected direction, would the game continue down its own path or try to stay faithful to canon? Either way, I think it could cause a lot of confusion. If Rogue somehow meets up with the ending film, how does the game let players feel like their characters have purpose and can drive plot forward? That’s one of the main issues I had with Star Wars: Generations of Darkness. On top of that, there’s not supposed to be any powerful Force Sensitives beyond the handful already there. I’m not sure how Force Sensitive PC’s would work into that, especially while maintaining a cohesive setting with meaningful PC choices.
My totally random suggestion is this: Set the game a couple centuries before any of the movies, say 200 BBY. Put it on Coruscant, and give players three main factions – the Jedi Order, the Senate, and a collective mercenary group. From what I saw in the films/cartoons, it seemed like the Republic needed soldiers, if all we saw were a bunch of clones. So during this time period, this highly trusted mercenary collective acts like a hired arm of the senate, with the Jedi as officers whenever they join missions. This way, everyone has a reason to play with everyone, there’s a place for many concepts, and the setting is familiar enough (while not in the middle of the movies) that there’s room to mess with the galaxy and the freedom to have PC’s move plot forward, without worrying about eventually connecting to the films.
Tl;dr: It’s not my game, and I’d probably at least try it either way, but I personally believe any setting is better than during an active trilogy.
Anyway, that’s my two cents.
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Yeah, I'm not so sure about setting it during the new movies either. One, AoA's already on that. Two, everyone and their grandmother does either Pre-Empire, or Post-New Hope. Or occasionally Old Republic. A shake-up would be nice. Three, that's going to get messy with nine not even released yet, and honestly, while I like the movies, FO vs Resistance is Empire vs Rebels but less interesting, so short of allowing people to play FCs and reenact their favorite scenes (which would get old fast and also goes against your no FC policy which I am totally in favor of), it seems like there's more potential elsewhere. Set it during the New Sith Wars. Haven't seen that one yet. Mandos while they were still riding basilisk war droids down from atmo allied with a struggling Republic against a resurgent and fractured Sith Empire? Sounds crazy. Maybe crazy enough to work.
Maybe too crazy, who knows.
Either way, I'm going to be playing a Hutt and running all the crime ever, so it's not like my opinion counts for a whole lot.
As for the broad range vs narrow focus? Eh. I dunno'. Star Wars kind of thrives on the many diverse factions and people/creatures. I can see the point of trying to herd people together to facilitate RP, but I can also see how that could spoil the fun. I play Indies primarily. Being forced to go Rebellion/Resistance or Empire/FO because that's what the whole game is, would be an instant deal breaker for me. I'm sure there's others with a similar opinion if the game was fully indy and they really like playing a Stormtrooper. I'd suggest looking for a different solution, ultimately.
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Just set it during the Army of Light vs. Brotherhood of Darkness(Republic Dark Age) era. Jedi and Sith, everywhere. No other concepts allowed! People who carry a blaster are actively mocked as the uncivilized monkey gets cut down. I'm joking. Don't do this.
Personally I favor periods where the Jedi(and even Sith/Dark Jedi) are prominent. The Old Republic is a decent setting or, more specifically, time period. Many(not all) play those games so that they can play the snowflake Jedi/Sith/Dark Jedi. That's what regularly draws in the crowds. If you build it, they will come.
I would be interested in seeing something based around the Mandalorian Wars; it has conflict that Star Wars needs to thrive, it has the possibility of diverse locations, enough open lore that you could take some creative liberties, and it has basilisks. Just, you know, without people playing the key characters of that time period. I hate FCs actively played in Star Wars MUs.
No Vong.
MSB free since 24/3/2018
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@faceless said in ROGUE: It is coming...:
I would be interested in seeing something based around the Mandalorian Wars; it has conflict that Star Wars needs to thrive, it has the possibility of diverse locations, enough open lore that you could take some creative liberties, and it has basilisks. Just, you know, without people playing the key characters of that time period. I hate FCs actively played in Star Wars MUs.
This was going to be my suggestion originally, but I dread to imagine that someone, even Staff, might NPC Revan as something other than my perfect, unassailable headcannon version.
Or worse someone might ruin HK.
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I advise against limiting a Star Wars game to one sector of space.
One faction? Yes. This is a great idea. Keep the players together. One sector of space? The whole point of Star Wars is that there is a rich galaxy-spanning environment to explore and interact with.
Players will want to see Tatooine, Maz's castle at Takodana, the watery paradise of Dac, the worldwide casinos of Canto Bight, and the jungles of Kashyyyk.
You can't make a game about spaceships with hyperdrives and galactic warfare and then tell players that they can't visit the planets from the movies because they're limited to 3 planets that they may or may not care about.
Secondly? War. I advise against making a peacetime Star Wars game. Every era of Star Wars (with Wars in the title) focuses on the heroes and villains of an epic war.
Stars+War=Star Wars
Take them to the stars and give them war. Make it big, explosive, and take the fight from one corner of the galaxy to the next.
Delete the Hog Pit. It'll be fun.
I really don't understand He-Man -
All absolutely fantastic suggestions. Lots of think about. I know it will not please everyone, but I know the potential is there. I'll mull this over during the week. Thanks again for the great responses. If you can think of anything else or would like to offer any other suggestions, please post away!
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@ghost said in ROGUE: It is coming...:
Take them to the stars and give them war. Make it big, explosive, and take the fight from one corner of the galaxy to the next.
Yeah, I think this is key. Bar RP is still just bar RP even if you're sitting in a space-bar. And it gets oooooooold.
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Oh, I totally agree that there needs to be major conflict and war. Something unknown, sinister, and original, or multiple somethings, maybe. Or a known antagonist that arrived earlier than canon or returns from the past. My setting idea is not really necessary and can be tossed out at one’s leisure. The heart of it was to give a lot of room for players to develop characters, but away from previously-written lore (and especially yet-to-be-written lore).
200 years before the movies shouldn’t be too difficult to include, if everything’s basically already set up. Coruscant was also more a proposal for a main planet to branch rp out of, since it houses a bunch of vastly different venues and is extremely well-documented.
Plus, I confess I’m a fan of political roleplay, so there’s that.
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I would love for this to be set in the Lords of the Expanse setting, just post Return of the Jedi. The Empire is fractured and many factions vie for power as the rebels try to consolidate the New Republic.
The great houses of the Expanse try to get their tendrils into every pie, while romantic youths fight ultimately pointless(but high prestige) duels with lightsabres found in secret armouries that were hidden from the Empire.
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Lots to think about. I have looked at several instances over the SW timeline. Canon or Legends? Mando wars or 1000 BBY? 200 BBY? Whats the perfect timeline? Whats needed and/or wanted?
Not to be cliche, but if you have an idea or suggestion as for what the perfect timeline may be, come join my discord server https://discord.gg/RCTzbCr
If i'm not around, just throw your ideas out there. I'll be interested to see what ya'll have to say!
Thanks
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I would love to see the First Force Wars or the Mandalorian Conflict
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Speaking as a long, long, long-time Star Wars geek; I've found it much easier to run games in the now-called 'Legends' setting over the years. Even before the House of Mouse took over, one issue you inevitably have trying to run something in the movie timeline is keeping things 'canon'. You can say that you're diverging however you want, but at the end of the day people expect certain things to be true and tend to go into situations with those expectations and preconceptions in tact.
Setting things in, say, the Old Republic or the Legacy Era leaves things far more open. There are a few tentpole events (Mandalorian Wars, Yuuzhan Vong invasions, etc) but, beyond that you can fill in the blanks however the hell you want. There's also far more variety in character types available - though now that I think about that, it may be a detriment in a MU settings. Still, the Legends series - especially the WEG material - did offer a lot more backstory than was presented in the visual media. (Mandalorians? Warrior culture based around competing clans. Awesome. Mandalorians in Legends? Warrior culture descended from a race that evolved natively on Coruscant and were ultimately kicked out by encroaching humans, blame the Jedi for their displacement and have a long-standing hatred of them, and a distrust of force-users in general. More awesome.)
Ultimately, it really boils down to how deep you want to dive down this particuliar rabbit hole. It's pretty well distributed that when Timothy Zhan was writing Heir to the Empire, he asked Lucasarts for some reference material - and they sent him a box of the WEG books. They're that detailed an in depth, and pretty much made the Expanded Universe on their own; but while that's great for a tabletop or story-writing session, it's probably not all that feasable to include everything in a MU.
If someone wants to play a Hoojib Jedi, just say no though. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.
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I advise to keep the game within eras depicted by the movies and TV shows or at least eras with familiarity (NJO, Legacy) of Sith, Empire, Republic, Jedi.
While a Star Wars meganerd like me would love to see the Mandalorian Wars, your non-meganerd players may suffer for the lack of familiarity.
Really, I've found that giving your players more comfort with the setting will make them more confident to run plots, etc.
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These are very good suggestions.
SWR has 3 mandates.
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Find a timeline that's unique. There are games played in canon, was an old republic game, and there have been several (that ultimately failed) based on rotj.
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Find a plot that's unique. I know this may unsettle some players because it's not cookie cutter, but that leads to our third mandate:
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NO FCS. Play what you want without waiting 6 months. For those who remember me talking up this game 2 years ago, our mandate was clear. No FC chars, no staff run special characters, not waiting in line to play the character you want to play.
These things are not easy, but doable.
We are having some fantastic chat and banter in our discord channel. We have settled on a timeline, we are just fleshing it out. I appreciate everyone in there giving their 2 cents and helping shape the game.
Join us @ https://discord.gg/RCTzbCr I appreciate all the help we can get!
Cheers!
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