RP General Discussion

wow.... that's pretty awesome, I'm proud to have been a part of it

w00t

Holy crap.

Tilulla's request for an alien schtick has reminded me of something.

For a while now, I've wanted to re-do the templates. The template list as stands is my main contribution towards the system; I created the current list- massively expanding from by brother's originals- some years ago and my experience of- and theories about- game design have changed greatly since then.

This is not a matter of balance, you understand- the templates are not numerically balanced and not intended to be; their balance is relative to their intended role. No, it's a matter of theme; I think mirroring all the types (except the Force-specialist) three times was a mistake and it denies some thematic points for Light and Dark Side.

Other than satisfying my thematic desires, it would also allow the advantage of putting in, for example, an Alien Jedi template to allow these sorts of things.

But one big problem. It would invalidate a lot of the existing templates. For example, there would be WAY fewer Fallen Jedi options in this version, because I feel having half the Dark Side options be fallen Jedi has led to this mad plethora of them, to the point where I have banned further DJ templates, which is a shame.

But of course, a bunch of you guys have already done back stories. You see my issue?

Gah...

Thoughts?

I think I would want to see how you were going to implement changes, what you would change, and how it would effect current player characters.

Well part of it began when I was trying to come up with a distinct story idea for Dark Jedi and Outsiders as an interlude, like I had for Jedi and Renegades.

(This in turn reminds me that the Outsider penalty really should be stronger than it is to pay for that Merit)

And I managed that, but all the way through I felt like I was fighting the system there, and the simple logic kept coming back to me that the Dark Jedi/Outsider distinction, done to mirror the Jedi/Renegade one, was really not helpful; it was very forced and I really should have built the Dark Side templates in anothe rway.

This was a deliberate distortion I had introduced. You can see my brother's originals more strongly in the difference between the Acolyte and the Orphan- the principle of the natural but applied both ways. That one works. But by the same logic, he also inverted the Athlete with the Brute; physical superiority done both sides. This meant no Dark Side Athletes. I put them in- in fact I mirrored everything- so players could have options and on a basic gameplay/structural level that works great and I suspect you guys prefer it that way.

But my more creative side keeps telling me that my approach sucked and the thematic differences worked well.

I'd also like the Brute back.

So there's one example. But, for example, Rah is a Dark Side Athlete and it's a shame to trample on that.

...I admit that I would be greatly annoyed if that did away with my template and stuff, as I have way too much backstory worked out by this point, I'm pretty attached to the idea of playing someone who's really good in one aspect but not much good in any others (even if I am in the process of breaking that), and I did use the description for the Pariah template pretty heavily in working out my backstory.

So...I dunno. Hrm.

Relle is also a Dark Side Athlete, too.

I wouldn't mind changes so long as Relle wasn't changed too much from being a lethal assassin.

So she is... and not much of a Brute.

I should have done this years ago really. It bugs me, is the thing.

Obviously there is no question of me wiping people's back stories; they count for more, even if the number of ex-Jedi we have running around irks me.

You know, I was actually thinking of changing Galder's backstory to be an ex-Jedi...

(joke)

It'd be really interesting to see the Brute back, not going to lie.

Heh!

I know I've been feeling this at least since the OT templates came out, because they are awesome and there is no mirroring at all. There are thematic relations (e.g. Free Trader vs. Bounty Hunter) but they remain very distinct.

I'd be willing to cooperate so long as some tweaks could be made here and there for Relle v2.0. If it comes to that.

I would be curious to see what kind of new templates there might be, and whether any of them would better fit what Dak has become.

At the same time, I still like the "complex" of sorts that comes with being a Type C, even if we're techically not, anymore.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Heh!

I know I've been feeling this at least since the OT templates came out, because they are awesome and there is no mirroring at all. There are thematic relations (e.g. Free Trader vs. Bounty Hunter) but they remain very distinct.

Still I just hate to see my guy go away after all this work. 😛

I assume that, hypothetically, it'd be like when everyone was converted for the Lego system?

We have five former Jedi right now. Not too much, but I guess it's more than intended.

Well as I am not removing backstories that's less of an issue. More likely the Pariah and Corsair would be merged.

There would only be two broad categories instead of the four we have now- Light and Dark. Renegade types would be part of the Light Side category, and incidentally the Adventurer, Ronin and Fallen would all still exist as they fill important archetypes. The Marauder- less sure. He might be more re-tooled.

The Acolyte, Revenant and Orphan are all fine as is also.

I would be interested in hearing some more.

Aww, but I love the name Pariah so...and I do like that there are subtle differences between the two (like that Corsairs have more skills while Pariahs have more saber and Force abilities). Ultimately not that huge of a deal, though, I suppose.

My biggest hesitation in general is that I have used the strengths and weaknesses - as well as the description for the Pariah template - so heavily in Rianna's backstory (of which there is a lot) that fundamentally changing that template much would more or less break her as a character. Which would peeve me a tiny bit.

What about Apostate, Ush? As long as Gallador remains good at using the Force to influence others I will be fine.