Great Houses - Interest, Sign-ups, and Planning

[Experience he/him]

But if not, it'll be way awesomer

[xinoehp512 he/him]

50 minutes ago, SmilingPanda19 said:

The amount of people we have on this now is crazy XD It’s going to be war 

49 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

What this means is that secret alliances will be EPIC

This makes me wonder if we could potentially be slightly more strict than standard FFRP. :thoughtful:

26 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Like I said in the PM, I'm pretty sure it'll be chaotic for a few days before most people drop out. A lot of the inerest are from folks who aren't super mcduper active, so I imagine that after awhile it'll become a lot more easy to follow.

We could allow people to cede control of their factions to another if they wish to drop out.

[Experience he/him]

3 minutes ago, xinoehp512 said:

 

We could allow people to cede control of their factions to another if they wish to drop out.

Yeah, but if someone's gonna drop out right away, probably better that they just don't right?

[Channelknight Fadran]

35 minutes ago, xinoehp512 said:

This makes me wonder if we could potentially be slightly more strict than standard FFRP. :thoughtful:

There's an interesting mechanic I was thinking of implementing.

@The Bookwyrm, there happens to be this TTRPG called Blades in the Dark - I've never played it, but have taken great interest in one of its primary mechanics. It's an espionage RPG that has a "stress" mechanic, where you take on Stress Points when you fail actions to make them succeed - too many Stress Points will seriously tax your character, but are necessary to succeed on each of your missions. In addition to letting you reroll dice and such, it has a unique "flashback" feature that allows you to say that you character had already accounted for a specific action in the past: for example, if you were suddenly trapped a hidden cage, you could take a stress point to say "my character had prepared bolt cutters for this very incident."

If this were to implemented here, I'd probably call them Resource Points, and have it be that your House can "spend" them in order to account for other peoples' actions. This would hopefully make it so that nobody gets completely bogged down by everyone else, while simultaneously rewarding foresight; however, it has the nasty little risk of "this might inevitably become a FGaRS."

Just summat to think about.

[Mat he/him]

One thing I have noticed in the sort of more turn-based or rules-y RP formats, at least here on the Shard, is that they die out quicker because players or the GMs either don't take their action or otherwise forget it exists entirely (I'm thinking of that one global domination thing Fadran had going for awhile) so I'd advise that we don't have too many point systems or other things to keep track of. I think it probably would be a good idea to have official 'ages' or 'resets' or whatever, but too many rules leads to nothing happening  

[Experience he/him]

And the story will be even crazier if there's less rules. But having a set age would be nice for the compilation story I am in charge of making.

[Through the Living Elan He/Him]

We need enough rules that this doesn’t get out of hand but not so many that you can’t keep track of everything.

[SmilingPanda19 Any!]

A healthy balance. Some Mcdonalds chicken nuggets and some salad. Healthy balance. 

[Channelknight Fadran]

46 minutes ago, Matrim's Dice said:

 (I'm thinking of that one global domination thing Fadran had going for awhile)

(which was my fault, btw. Burnout sucks)

36 minutes ago, Experience said:

And the story will be even crazier if there's less rules. But having a set age would be nice for the compilation story I am in charge of making.

22 minutes ago, Ancient Elantrian said:

We need enough rules that this doesn’t get out of hand but not so many that you can’t keep track of everything.

46 minutes ago, Matrim's Dice said:

One thing I have noticed in the sort of more turn-based or rules-y RP formats, at least here on the Shard, is that they die out quicker because players or the GMs either don't take their action or otherwise forget it exists entirely (I'm thinking of that one global domination thing Fadran had going for awhile) so I'd advise that we don't have too many point systems or other things to keep track of. I think it probably would be a good idea to have official 'ages' or 'resets' or whatever, but too many rules leads to nothing happening  

What we could do to avoid any GM stagnation or whatever is to have an official "engine" that keeps the timeline going. Something like a basic action and timescale system. We want to avoid any of this "turn-based" crap, but if there's going to be rules at all then we also want a way to make sure people can't just constantly post their House doing things.

Again: honor system. Just presumably with a couple extra rules to follow so we all stay on track.

[Experience he/him]

1 minute ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

What we could do to avoid any GM stagnation or whatever is to have an official "engine" that keeps the timeline going. Something like a basic action and timescale system. We want to avoid any of this "turn-based" crap, but if there's going to be rules at all then we also want a way to make sure people can't just constantly post their House doing things.

I understand this, but my mind is failing to come up with something that would work. Do you have any ideas or is it just at the stage of us saying we want to have some structure?

[Channelknight Fadran]

not yet I don't, but I'll be brainstorming

[Guest Ψιτιsτηε Βεsτ]

1 hour ago, Matrim's Dice said:

One thing I have noticed in the sort of more turn-based or rules-y RP formats, at least here on the Shard, is that they die out quicker because players or the GMs either don't take their action or otherwise forget it exists entirely (I'm thinking of that one global domination thing Fadran had going for awhile) so I'd advise that we don't have too many point systems or other things to keep track of. I think it probably would be a good idea to have official 'ages' or 'resets' or whatever, but too many rules leads to nothing happening  

Well if people do forget about it, and they aren’t very active, the natural consequence might be that they just don’t do as well because of the lack of participation.

[Channelknight Fadran]

I'm going to brainstorm some potential RP-Loop structures:

• We have a direct Timescale between IRL and in-game time (For example, 3 days irl = 1 month in-RP). We could set the turnover to an official hour and timezone so that we do it automatically, so the RP would remain moving forwards without getting bogged down by smaller hijinks. We could also skip certain days or prolong certain periods based on peoples' regular Shard activity (for example, a lot of folks here are less active during the weekend). If we need an announcer for turnovers then I could pick up this role (I don't have a life lol)
  • If someone's been inactive for awhile, it'd be common courtesy to politely ignore their House for the time being. We could set up a "Default Action" system for when someone doesn't post during a cycle (like "House Fadran retracts his forces to defend their home planet" or something), or we could just politely remember that everyone on the Shard has a life outside of it and shouldn't be punished for that.
• Like in ye olde Conquer the World... With AI, we have a direct-ish "Resource point" system. Basically, we'd all start with a net-zero(ish) sum of advantages and disadvantages - to increase this "score" (I do want to avoid using numbers, btw), you would have to complete campaigns against other Houses or into unclaimed zones. The outcomes of these conflicts would, of course, be determined by RP: hopefully we'd all be capable of honoring the storyline and other peoples' perspectives and whatnot, but if not then we can always just turn to consulting with outsiders as to who "won" the confrontation. It would be the equivalent of writing a 1v1 combat sequence in a regular RP, but instead of determining the flow of a battle we'd be determining the flow of   p o l i t i c a l    i n t r i g u e.
  • We could do that "stress" system thing that I proposed earlier, where you can intentionally drain your own House's resources to basically "Flashback" your way into countering something. I'm more attached to this idea conceptually than I am in terms of this RP specifically, so if it seems too jank then that's all good by me.
• Communication between Houses in-RP would limited to the Shard, either on the thread itself or via PM. For this it's more about the principle than anything else.
• There are currently 16 members in the PM, but only 10 Houses on the doc. I propose we migrate any developed Houses to this thread to get an "official" roster of RPers, then allow any stragglers a day or two to complete theirs. Once we've got a closed list of members, we'd each randomly select another member to be in a Secret Alliance with (read: PM) - in order to make sure we don't have too many locked-out RPers or a massive loop of every member, we could probably run the numbers on this a few times to see what kinds of groups are most common.
• Performing ANY action would require posting in the RP Thread Proper: none of this "gwehehehe actually my house has been hoarding death stars the whole time" stuff. No action goes unnoticed, which means that with everything you do, at least part of it is projected for everyone else to see. This doesn't mean you have to post "House Fadran starts stockpiling weapons to invade House Matrim, planning to take the secret back route through his planetary defenses" or anything - you can keep your secrets, but you'd have to at least say something among the lines of "A rumor has spread that House Fadran has been manufacturing a lot of weapons recently..." and leave everyone else to sus out why this is the case. Again: honor system, guys.

[The Unknown Medallion he/him]

3 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

There are currently 16 members in the PM,

Can I please be in the PM?

4 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

If someone's been inactive for awhile, it'd be common courtesy to politely ignore their House for the time being. We could set up a "Default Action" system for when someone doesn't post during a cycle (like "House Fadran retracts his forces to defend their home planet" or something), or we could just politely remember that everyone on the Shard has a life outside of it and shouldn't be punished for that.

I like the idea of everyone giving themselves a default action if they miss a period. A sort of just in case, but it can be decided by each player so they have some control. 

6 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Performing ANY action would require posting in the RP Thread Proper

Could we maybe just have a public thing "Rumor has it that TKN has been investing in better ships" then have a little Spoiler that we honor system don't look in saying along the lines of:

Spoiler

TKN has been researching new hyperdrive capabilities to outspeed the enemy.

 

[Channelknight Fadran]

I like that accountability system. Perhaps we should put it behind several spoiler boxes just in case though

[Experience he/him]

2 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

I like that accountability system. Perhaps we should put it behind several spoiler boxes just in case though

Only one problem. I click on spoiler boxes almost before I read anything just by habit.

Edit: Multiple spoiler boxes would fix that.

Edited August 14, 2023 by Experience

[Channelknight Fadran]

Either way we just have to do the honor system.

[SmilingPanda19 Any!]

Why y'all so gosh darn smart. Yall are the smartest most intelligent human beings ive ever met.

Also, can a House specialize in a particular area of research or resources? Ex. The House of ____ specializes in weaponry, luxury, agriculture, mining (Thinking of the general 12 hunger game districts ordeal but outside that box too)

(not gunna lie half the words coming out of your guy's mouths are confusing but I'm sure I got the base of what your saying)

Edited August 14, 2023 by SmilingPanda19

[Channelknight Fadran]

5 minutes ago, SmilingPanda19 said:

Why y'all so gosh darn smart. Yall are the smartest most intelligent human beings ive ever met.

Intelligence is secondary to experience. When you've written as much D&D homebrew as we have, you'll understand

5 minutes ago, SmilingPanda19 said:

Also, can a House specialize in a particular area of research or resources? Ex. The House of ____ specializes in weaponry, luxury, agriculture, mining (Thinking of the general 12 hunger game districts ordeal but outside that box too)

I should think less officially than the Panem districts, but certainly some Houses would be more wealthy in some areas than others. For my own House Vitres, I'm thinking they'll specialize in mining and refining some kind of energy crystal that starships run on, but it wouldn't be like "Vitres controls the trade."

Edited August 14, 2023 by Channelknight Fadran

[The Unknown Medallion he/him]

9 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

I should think less officially than the Panem districts, but certainly some Houses would be more wealthy in some areas than others. For my own House Vitres, I'm thinking they'll specialize in mining and refining some kind of energy crystal that starships run on, but it wouldn't be like "Vitres controls the trade."

*Slowly realizes he's just made the Careers*

But yes this is logical and just fits how the words works anyways. The MURDER OCTOPUSES are good at war, the other guys do this, the other guys do that.

11 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Intelligence is secondary to experience. When you've written as much D&D homebrew as we have, you'll understand

We?

I've only written... two real subclasses and a race. And I haven't even finished the race. 

But yes, experience (no, not that Experience), is key.

[SmilingPanda19 Any!]

Okay that makes sense. Just wondering if that could factor in, thank you.

[Experience he/him]

4 minutes ago, The Known Novel said:

But yes, experience (no, not that Experience), is key.

In this case, Experience does indeed have lots of experience with D&D

[Channelknight Fadran]

I wish there was a way we could realistically implement full-on spying, but perhaps it's for the best that the Shard can't accommodate such a system

[Channelknight Fadran]

Here's a form for collecting opinions on some ideas I had. It is by no means final in regards to anything:

https://forms.gle/RG6ZUugoXbJvpot3A

[Aeoryi she/her]

22 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

I wish there was a way we could realistically implement full-on spying, but perhaps it's for the best that the Shard can't accommodate such a system

add me to the pm for reading only tho, i might not participate but