Finally, An Update
The blog has been quiet. The MUSH has not been quiet, or, at least, between two wizards, the system, the ever-expanding +news and +help files, and a thousand other nuances, the MUSH has been very happening.
The gifts are being written and added. Many of the news files are in place. Many more are written, and others are in the rough draft stage. Much has been done, but much more has yet to begin. Personally, I know for every one task I complete, I come up with two more ideas that are either must-haves or are just plain cool.
I have not yet started the grid, but there’s time for that, plenty of time.
What I have been compiling and meditating upon has opened my eyes more to the philosophy of games and the many, many differences between RPGs. For example, one such insight may very well compel me to +search/news my way through the +news files and exchange almost every ‘role-play’ I have written in the past for ‘story game’. I suppose that is one bit of evidence that this is not a grudge game (nevermind that this is completely different from every other Anitaverse game that has yet to crop up and usually whither) or a sandbox. A story game will not be ‘my’ game or ‘your’ game, it will be the players’ game, and it puts the story in the hands of the players, not staff. That aspect has to be my favorite aspect of the entire system, or one of them.
I should save the rest of the chatter for Jonquil. While I understand the system, he can explain it far better than I can. My point is, things are going well, and we’re still excited.
System Overview
This post is as much for my benefit as for that of any potential players reading it. I want to explain the system for the curious and to force myself to take a step back and look at the whole instead of being mired deep in the code of a particular part.
So! As we’ve alluded to out system is heavily influenced by that of Road to Amber. I can’t call it a clone, it’s more of a reverse engineering modified to what I think we need for Mission Hill.
First, the character sheet. There are three sections of it: the 4 stats (which describe the character’s aptitudes at very tactics for overcoming problems), the Gifts (which tend to be things inherent about the character, such as being a vampire, or being able to do magic, but can also be items and learned preternatural abilities), and Lores (which tend to be learned things like how to use a sword or what you know about werewolves).
Stats are independent of the other sections and each other.
Gifts and Lores are both somewhat hierarchical: as one obtains Gifts or Lores new ones become available. On RtA some Gifts have Lores as prerequisites, though the reverse does not seem to be true.
As far as character generation goes, the steps are as follows:
1. Pitch a concept/background. Once it’s approved CG can be entered.
2. In CG Stats and Gifts are purchased in accordance with the concept and background.
3. Staff determine and set the character’s initial Lores based on the concept & background.
4. Finishing touches (+finger, public background, description, etc).
In addition to the public background viewable by everyone, players will have the option of setting backgrounds (which I called concepts in my comment to the previous post) which require a particular Lore at a certain level.
