The Official OTC TBRPG Planning and Organization Topic

[Lara White]

I also suggest that if you want to keep the complexity level down, keep your weapons systems simple and limit the classes of ships you have.

[Akaku: Master of Flight]

Yeah, indeed xDI'll probably end up just giving the Thernians a fancy system in there ships where there is magnets, and the species wears suits that also have magnets that attract/repel in a similar manner to once again roughly mimic gravity (same thing goes for items on the ship; one could simply add a magnet kit or something to say a notepad and it would react as if it were in a planetside enviorment) also, another suggestion: To avoid confusion as to who has what, this time around you could have it so the first post a person makes holds there' species stats as far as armies, economys, and such go. I partly agree with you on that Lloyd xDI just think that it may start to be repetitive after a while if there's only a handful of ships causing in only a handful of outcomes as far as space-battles go to me it would seem that going into detail about something is what really adds to the complexity, and while simply adding new variables does as well, not to as much as an extent. --Akaku: Master of Flight

[Xomeron]

The main thing I'm worried about here is balance. IL got just plain sad when all the big players were helping all the newer guys around, and that bloody fight between ToA and Necro about who had the hugist fleet. Now, with bookkeeping being enforced, we can focus on the game.

[Lara White]

I agree. With massive games like this, you need a bit of book-keeping. That being said, I am assuming that we're not gonna have any ridiculous soft science fiction weapons like hard light (unless someone justifies it). IMO, a lot of stuff you can find in modern science fiction is the equivalent of saying "The sky tastes igenous this Decemberween, don't you think?"

[Xomeron]

This game is going to be much, much harder than IL was. That said, does anyone have anything else to add?

[Lara White]

Not as of yet. When will we see a map? (I reiterate my offer to make a hex map if you have no plans for a map ATM.)

[Xomeron]

Map's waiting on Humva. Hex map?

[Lara White]

A map that is made with hexagons for spaces instead of squares. (When can we expect Humva to respond with a map?)

[Xomeron]

Whenever he gets it done. And I was hoping for a more IL map, where it's pretty much numbered circles representing habitable systems over a hubble photograph background. Just really nicely established the feel I got from IL

[Akaku: Master of Flight]

ohgod, the military buildup in IL was crazy xD Hrm. Well, everything looks good to me. I'll probably end up joining immidiatly regardless of my schedule; nothing beats having a good ol' fashion spacebattle and alien politics while trying to figure out how all the high-tech stuff of the future works If I were to add anything else, It'd be to make the starting maps ALOT bigger then the ones in IL. I would also suggest having some "uninhabitable" star systems here and there for the sake of having some "no man's land" in space conquest/battles, or for the sake of not having everyone so close together when the board begins to be filled. That being said, I'd also keep a watchfull eye to make sure the entire galaxy doesnt get inhabited early on in the game like it did in IL, leaving new players little room to join.) Perhaps maybe have some certain systems that have some sort of perk to them, such as stating it has many inhabitable planets or a moon that has lots of valuable resources in it for the sake of motivation for war or for the sake of going after certain systems IN war =P --Akaku: Master of Flight

[Xomeron]

One of the reasons for Burnspace is so that, if necessary, I can open up new areas. Say "A burnspace pocket has disappeared. New stuff!" Also it sounds cool. Everyone who wants, start sending profiles in.

[Lara White]

Possibly a +1 to Industry for certain planets? Of course, we already have Burnspace for no-man's-land and to restrict travel routes. As for profiles, mine is chugging along nicely. Compiling all of my ship types and weapons...it's a little nuts.

Edited October 20, 2011 by Lloyd: the White Wolf

[Xomeron]

Certain planets might have better industry, but I've just thought of another element. Warp Corridors: Thought of as the extended version of a Sweet Spot, a Warp Corridor is when the stars align in your favor; literally. Occasionally, Stellar Drift will line up just right, and there will be a long stretch of empty space between habitable worlds with no gravitational anomalies in between. This allows for long range travel with Jump Engines, possibly across entire fields. Basically, the line from 23A to 1B back in IL was this. Might actually call them Insterstellar Lines.

[Lara White]

That'd be a nice callback.

[Kothra]

On the topic of numbers, it's really not that bad.I've memorised pretty much all of them at this point.

[Lord Kaitan de Storms]

I've also got pretty much all the numbers down. Still working on my profile. I'm not sure how much I want to go into Ter'ek Kar religion...

[Lara White]

I suggest we take any further conversation that doesn't have anything directly to do with improving Starscape itself to PM, until the RPG is posted in its own topic. Speaking of which, I might be able to whip up a banner for Starscape--it'll be simple, but I think it'll look rather nice. Interested?

[Lord Kaitan de Storms]

Moving on... Am I supposed to send my judges-approved RPG to Than via PM or wait until he stops by the topic?

[Lara White]

I think you're supposed to wait, but if he doesn't show up for a while, then you could probably shoot him a PM with a link to it.

[Lord Kaitan de Storms]

Okay, thanks.

[Alex Humva]

As an update to the map and a general idea as to what I'm doing, I'm going be doing something semi-IL style, with star systems as little dots -or hexagons, I'll figure something out-, and then have a color code built directly into the map so you know who controls what. It'll require a lot of constant updating, but I feel I can spend five minutes a day updating it and then reuploading it. Thing that is going be different from IL is tactical options. There'll be star clusters surrounded by burn space, sweet spot routes that can take you into the enemies core worlds, burnspace ridges that'll force you to redirect your forces. It'll make you choose your starting position well, so as to take full advantage of the area. It'll be fifty star systems per sector, and Xom wants two sectors to start with so we'll have a hundred systems to start with. Naturally I'm sure we'll get more when we run out of space, but at the progression that the colonization takes, that'll be a while. If all goes well I'll have the maps tonight, and then we can go forth and rule the stars once more. EDIT; I've revised the built in color key thing; I'll make a separate image for the color key.

Edited October 20, 2011 by Alex Humva

[Lara White]

Sorry if I'm not clear on this, but what's the deal with solar systems? Is each one just a space on the board, or is each planet a space on the board?

[Veeci]

Sorry if I'm not clear on this, but what's the deal with solar systems? Is each one just a space on the board, or is each planet a space on the board?

Each numbered location on the maps will be an individual star system each with multiple planets.And if all goes well my profile will be compiled by later this evening. Edited October 20, 2011 by Veeci

[Lara White]

Ah, okay. I've provided Xom with a fairly simple banner to use. Not very fancy, but I am of the opinion that simpler is often better.

[Hanako Herupa]

Moving on... Am I supposed to send my judges-approved RPG to Than via PM or wait until he stops by the topic?

I know Lloyd answered this question but speaking from experience I linked the the final approval from the judges and sent him the RPG. Then I waited for him to respond.

[Alex Humva]

*Reads new draft* I applaud you Xom; you have ensured this RPG's survival for the next three years; it's going take that long just to colonize a hundred bloody worlds at that pace. To put it in perspective, a year is fifty two weeks. It takes two weeks to make a colonizer. That is twenty six colonizers a year from one planet, and you have to wait another two weeks for your colony to stop being a leech on your economy to work effectively. That is going be so much time, the RPG is going get off to a very, very, slow start. Then again, it gives people who are isolated from everyone else the ability to stay safe against attacks for a while. So it's good and bad. I guess.

[Lara White]

I believe he mentioned that there are two options for starting out. One, that you have a few extra adjacent worlds already colonized, or two, that you start out with a few colonizers ready to run off and pick prime systems for you. That being said, space is big. I mean, you might think it's a long way to the supermarket, but that's peanuts next to space. I expect there will be large uncolonized zones and hotspots where national borders meet. In addition, this gives an interesting question of, since there's a large amount of empty space, where do I fit colony ships into my fleet budget? Especially when there's a war on and you have to wait three weeks just to see any profit from said colony ship.

[Alex Humva]

Aye, I agree it creates strategic options; I suppose it works out for me as it means I don't have to make any more maps for a loooooong time. Speaking of the maps; the prototypes are done, and now I'm just numbering the systems and adding a few final touches then Xom passes judgement and bam, we get an RPG. I quite like the star clusters, though I did make sweetspots more like highways than anything else.

[Vak Il Mio Amore]

Just to indulge my personal curiousity as I've lost a bit of track over the conversation: Is somebody still planning to do a high-fantasy/mideival RPG that is in some ways like IL? Much as IL interests me, I like to try and balance out my sci-fi vs. fantasy, and with the Halo RPG I'll be getting my sci-fi fix So if anybody was still planning to do a fantasy version that is in some ways similar or what have you, I'm totes willing to support it and offer my thoughts to make it work as well.

[Bloody Nine]

Well, it depends on how you want to go about it. Closest way to a 'from scratch' situation is a colonial expansion-y thing. Then the question would be why the people with ambitions and from all sorts of races and species would want it. So a universal commodity that's valued by everyone. Then stuff like how much you want to limit magic. Will it be treated like the nuke it is, or will everyone and their mothers be able to toss fireballs? And why am I filling in the blanks as I ask these questions

[Vak Il Mio Amore]

^Seeing as I won't be able to create the RPG or what have you, they're certainly not questions I'm to answer But stuff like that are invaluable questions for the creator of such an RPG to take into account- particularly magic. Heck, personally for magic, I'd suggest creating a sort of "Spellbook" system like that used in Runescape. You've got your combat magicks, your portal/transportation magicks, your enchantments, and your non-combat magicks. Then perhaps some way of controlling the amount of Magic used, so to say. Either way, I'm hoping someone takes that mantle upon their shoulders :3

[Bloody Nine]

Aye. Though my personal feeling is that magic should be something a bit more special than 'derp I make fireballs', socially speaking. I mean, if you're in 'medieval' ages, then it'll be at least a millennium before you can even make fire portable with your bic lighters.

[Vak Il Mio Amore]

Those were just suggestions on how to organize skills and ensure that people aren't creating random, potentially OP spells out of the total blue. I wouldn't necesarrly condone having the same kinds of combat magicks, portal magicks, etc. Just the idea of organizing spells in a way somewhat like that. Heck, players that would make their own guilds of wizards would probably be able to construct their own spellbook, with moderation from the GM?

Edited October 20, 2011 by Gladiator Vak

[Bloody Nine]

I think we're talking about two very different things.

[Vak Il Mio Amore]

Oh, I thought you were nitpicking on types of magic >_> Nah, I get the angle you're coming at now. Ah well, I'm gonna stop while I'm ahead before I go and start writing half an RPG by accident XD

[Bloody Nine]

Since different societies would be coming in, there should be a 'develop your own magic school' system? I mean, there's quite a big difference from Norse Galdr / Seidr to Shinto-ism and whatnot. There'd be sorta concrete rules, of course, like "No magic system is going to teleport" or whatever. perhaps also 2 levels of gameplay. One on the 'grand' scale where you move armies and heads of states, another on the character scale. Problem with IL was that there were no 'characters' so to speak, as much as 'mouthpieces of their collective nations.'

Edited October 20, 2011 by Undying Light of the Lake

[Lord Kaitan de Storms]

Quite frankly, I found the lack of specific characters in IL to be quite refreshing.

[Lara White]

I think it'd depend on the player's writing style. I, for example, will probably have a few select characters in a Clancy-esque technothriller style, whereas some people probably won't even give their nation's chief of state a name.

[Bloody Nine]

I'm not talking about naming your king. But more like a guy striking out and making his own buddies. Otherwise, if you're just playing Heads of State, then your friendship options are pretty much limited to only people that you play with, since realpolitik is a tricky and vicious thing. Which does get sorta boring after a while and would just end up in bickering if your only relationship with other players is as foes/tentative armistice.

[Lord Kaitan de Storms]

That was exactly the point of IL; it was a political and strategic game. One guy striking out on his own is what every other RPG does, effectively. And that's why IL was so refreshing. And more fun, IMO.