Posts made by WildBaboons

@arkandel said in Wheel of Time mechanics:

@faraday I have somehow managed to not add a single line of code on mushcode in my life so far and I'd like to keep it that way.

This is worthy goal.

Ares makes it so you don't have to re-invent the wheel to get a lot of the basic stuff that people take for granted taken care of. bboards, mail, logging, etc and that tight integration of web that people keep touting.

Evennia may have this taken care of too with various contributions, but I haven't really dug in to that yet. I'm hoping it does? Professionally, python is a language I should be more familiar with than I currently am and working on Evennia would have some immediate benefit outside of a fun place to play.

@arkandel said in Wheel of Time mechanics:

If lore is a resource in and of itself, what does it buy and how do we make it as useful as ordering around cavalry units? Because that's what we're talking about here, right? Making fun choices... so what could make you think "damn, I bought those horsemen but I kinda really wish I could have afforded more lore!".

Not exactly the same thing and I'm not sure how to put this mechanically in a system.. but it makes me think of the very beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones (high lore, bunch of action worthy skills) finds ancient tomb, gets a McGuffin. Belloq (the French archaeologist) is waiting outside with a tribe of retainers (still high lore, more social skills). Indy can take Belloq in a fight one-to-one no problem.. but Belloq has overwhelming force of retainers so gets the McGuffin.

Maybe system wise... some sort of Contacts skill lets Belloq know that Indy is going after the McGuffin that is triggered by Indy putting in a +request to go raid the tomb. Belloq puts in a request to follow after Indy and just wait outside the tomb.

@faraday said in Wheel of Time mechanics:

@krmbm said in Wheel of Time mechanics:

I love AresMUSH, but it would take someone that could code a whole different stat system to pull it together.

I agree, but you can do that. I mean, you're going to have to code up a whole different stat system whether you pick TinyMUX, Evennia or Ares. I don't think the effort to do so is going to be orders of magnitude different no matter which one you pick.

This. It really depends on what language you want to work in.. and what other systems are already available (logging, messaging, etc).

Are reverse centaurs okay?

There is a Sage Starwars to Wheel of Time conversion that was done and I remember people enjoying, but I don't recall any details of it itself but may be worth a look through.

In fact, I'll put a link so I can find it later and do just that myself.
Wheel of Time SAGA Conversion

@arkandel said in Wheel of Time mechanics:
How does this sound, to work work within the 'interesting choices' mandate:

A single unified paradigm for both channelers and non-channelers.

• "Aes Sedai training", "Three-Fold Land conditioning", "Channeling Potency" which give all of your actions within their scope a modifier. This has a very high price so if you buy more than one you're not going to able to buy nearly anything else (and it's our job as designers to make sure it's not a no-brainer either way). These things might actually be scaled; perhaps someone got training up to the level of an Accepted and then fled the Tower, for instance.

• A second degree of ability levels such as "Offensive/Defensive Sword Forms", "Fire/Earth/Water/Air/Spirit" which again, offer modifiers (more bang for the buck) than the previous tier. The fact non-channelers have fewer of these also makes purchasing them all more economical, which helps balance a bit more - you can make a somewhat well rounded, excellent melee combatant easier than a channeler (which is something the books point out - remember how many Asha'man didn't feel they should know how to use a sword).

• A third degree of skills such as "Apple Blossoms in the Wind" and "Earthquake". The number of forms is troublesome here, and I can use input, as well as trying to make them be distinct from each other; why pick the first one instead of Parting the Silk?

Thoughts?

I would be wary of doing anything with individual sword forms. While it is thematic there are a few problems to overcome:

• there are a ton of them! Making them each mechanically different and balanced would be a chore.
• What would you do for the non-sword users to create an equivalent system or balance? If you figure out the point above and end up with 50 sword forms to choose from.. what is the staff fighter going to get? The knife?

Specialization absolutely makes sense though, both for channelers and non. Blademasters being the obvious example, but even aside from Talents on the channeling side there are plenty of examples of people just being good at stuff from doing it all the time. Windfinders and weather magic, that kin with the unbreakable Shield, etc.

@arkandel said in Wheel of Time mechanics:

@wildbaboons I don't have a game. I have some thoughts and a port on a VM. Now I also have a thread!

Me too! It's like the good ol' days of competing options.

@arkandel said in Wheel of Time mechanics:

Well, that was one thought. The problem with that is that then what do Aiel, swordbreaker users, etc skilled warriors buy? I could make some shit up but it won't be thematic since... they'd be made up.

My own ideas are still very vague, but thinking of doing something like Fate style stunts/more familiar Feats. The basic combat skills would be there, but then people spend XP for some specialty focuses like Spear and Shield for the concept of that style, but with Spear Dancing being able to be added atop that for the specific Aiel style.

Oh my! Looks like we may have competing WoT games. How nostalgic!

Are you looking at buying individual sword forms or just a style of "sword forms"? i.e. 1 xp for River Undercuts the Bank, 1 xp for Ribbon on the Air, etc or 10 xp for Sword Forms.

For me it really is between going with the Fourth Age or the Whitecloak->Aiel War and beyond.

Setting it before the books the game really likely isn't going to get into the area of the books, just set that expectation up to start. There is a lot of stuff that can be done without worrying about that and if a game survives that long.. deal with it then.

The Fourth Age one is intriguing, but as the problem of the ridiculous power level differences. Quick and dirty solution I can come up with is that Rand and Co. activities to seal away the Dark One again severely hampered the One Power. Basically put a hard cap on how much one person can use that can't be undone.

Oh, and cannons.

@faraday said in Star Trek?:

@bobgoblin I think some places took Reports to an extreme and expected it to be written up in an IC, professional and detailed manner. That’s just annoying. A pithy OOC summary can convey important plot details to players and staff who weren’t there, but hardly anybody wants to read (let alone write) a realistic AAR. They’re long and dull.

This. The place I had seen it the report requirement was the equivalent of "Office Space: The RPG" and if you didn't have the cover letter on your TPS report you got crapped on.

@arkandel said in Wheel of Time MU(SH|X):

My vote still goes to the Fourth Age. By way who is actually thinking of putting all this into motion past this thread?

Me

or didn't realize you could change it and don't care enough to figure out how

The above is why I am very much leaning towards the setting of Whitecloak War into Aiel War. That's quite a bit of time, quite a bit of story, even though it loses out on Seanchan, Asha'man and a lot of Aiel stuff until we actually get into the Aiel War.

Time can be compressed a bit too.. who's to say that the Hailene can't land early?

Male channellers would be allowed, but I think put into a situation similar to what someone had said another MU had done. They need to understand that they are temporary. Madness will happen, they will be hated and hunted by most people and even their own family might poison their food once they realized what they are.

In my head I envision the game mostly set in one city, but with other places available (like tar valon). Cairhien or Caemlyn makes the most sense so people can be throne jostling.

Ares is attractive code wise solely because it's such a full package. Almost everything you need is There sans the actual rpg system... but it's also Ruby on Rails and that just doesn't interest me all that much.

I didn't meant to imply that canon has to be followed.

I meant that.. with Asha'man for example, if people want to play them the black Tower needs to be founded and things setup a certain way otherwise you're not playing Asha'man, you're playing some other version of non-Aes Sedai male channelers. This isn't wrong, per se, but it's a variation from the original theme that may have been a draw and has other, further reaching cultural implications that the Asha'man represented.

It's nothing insurmountable, just takes some clever people and STing to blend into the setting

My thoughts on spoilers had been its way past time to worry about those too but then a couple of people mentioned reading the books.. but they can just be spoiled. Really nothing super surprising occurs that is an OMG didn't see that happening moment.

"prince played by Jensen Ackles is a badass swordsman" describes not a small amount of characters actually.

@arkandel said in Wheel of Time MU(SH|X):

@wildbaboons said in Wheel of Time MU(SH|X):

I think the crux of what I am trying to wrap my head around for choosing a setting is: What is the Wheel of Time?

That's what I tried to break down a few posts up. No matter what there are some elements you 100% want in a game (you want to use the 'magic system' for example, it's too good to leave out) and after that it depends on the kind of game you want to run.

• You can absolutely get away with a WoT Lords and Ladies.

• An adventurous take is definitely possible (hunt down darkfriends, recover treasures and knowledge lost to the ages)

• You can do dark 'alternate' apocalyptic states (the Dark One already won and humanity is staging its last stand against the Blight!)

• It could be a Hogwards-like school setting focused on teaching young channelers the ins and outs of the world and channeling while they try to save the world from the Forsaken conspiracies.

• You could even run a high-magic more light hearted MU* in the Age of Legends where all kinds of whacky things are possible, even crossovers, time travel, adventures in Dreams... whatever the hell you want.

So, what kind of MUSH are you (generic you) trying to make? At some point we'd need specifics before we delve any deeper into it.

The first two are a given I think so matter what time frame/setting the game is set in. Those are just baked into theme and what a lot of people like about it. And the fourth sort of is too. I can't envision a WoT game that didn't have the White Tower and letting people go through that process if they want to. Some people really enjoy it as long as it's optional.

I have some other ideas too.. but since I know a couple of people that are following the thread are just reading the books I'll ask: Do you want me to use spoiler tags when discussing ideas that give away some things? I am been just assuming knowledge up to this point.