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And I was born in a world that is ending
Restless Heavens Public Document @ Google Docs
I've been adding in more information about each kingdom, and I've been starting to define each character 'type' and also starting into the structures of the government and military. I did give the Youma Hunters a name, Akuniku - basically, they are like the Shusei in that they are kingdom-less wanderers, but instead of plays and amusement, the Akuniku kill the shit out of youma plaguing countrysides in decline. They might have some connection/relation to a Sen-nin from Mt. Hou, but I'm not sure yet (also tell me if Akuniku is a stupid name - it means 'butcher of evil' roughly so I thought that was neat XD ).
Lately, I've been hammering and debating and pondering some of the mechanics of the game as they relate to members.
- I talked with a few different people about the character limit on Kings and Kirin. The reason why I want to keep it at only one King OR Kirin (alive as of 2005) is in case the game explodes and suddenly there are twenty players, so that people don't feel like they have lost out on a shiny just because they are late (I do not want to be like a game I will not mention but most of you remember). However, the flip-side is the possibility of not having that many players, and then we have half of the world's government missing. So I'm thinking of having a delay before people are allowed to go for that second King or Kirin (well, you can't have two Kings, if you have a King already your second must be a Kirin, and vice-versa). You must have been active for at least 4-5 months, and have reached a certain quota of stories already.
I like the delay idea because, 4-5 months into the game, we should have a good idea of how big the game is going to remain, and plan accordingly. Plus, I think the game/plots would survive 5 months with missing figures, while I know that it wouldn't be able to continue indefinitely that way.
- As of yet, I don't have a character limit set on TOTAL chars a person can have. In fact, I think with a world this big, it would be reasonable for a person to have 6 player-characters, honestly. However, like the King/Kirin issue, certain types would be rationed out - each person allowed one Taika, one Hanjyuu, two non-royal Sen-nin (but in different capacities - like if I had one military Sen-nin and one civil servant), Shusei, Akuniku. That should be plenty of shiny for everyone, really.
- I am kicking back and forth the necessity of having story quotas. For example, must write at least one 1000 word story every three months, or contributed in a tag at least 1000 words worth. I think this is very necessary, cause I personally don't want to have to worry about deadweight players (obv. if there is an excuse, that is different). However, I want to know how other people have felt about games with story quotas, and how their experiences in such games where. Any opinions? Recommendations?
I've been adding in more information about each kingdom, and I've been starting to define each character 'type' and also starting into the structures of the government and military. I did give the Youma Hunters a name, Akuniku - basically, they are like the Shusei in that they are kingdom-less wanderers, but instead of plays and amusement, the Akuniku kill the shit out of youma plaguing countrysides in decline. They might have some connection/relation to a Sen-nin from Mt. Hou, but I'm not sure yet (also tell me if Akuniku is a stupid name - it means 'butcher of evil' roughly so I thought that was neat XD ).
Lately, I've been hammering and debating and pondering some of the mechanics of the game as they relate to members.
- I talked with a few different people about the character limit on Kings and Kirin. The reason why I want to keep it at only one King OR Kirin (alive as of 2005) is in case the game explodes and suddenly there are twenty players, so that people don't feel like they have lost out on a shiny just because they are late (I do not want to be like a game I will not mention but most of you remember). However, the flip-side is the possibility of not having that many players, and then we have half of the world's government missing. So I'm thinking of having a delay before people are allowed to go for that second King or Kirin (well, you can't have two Kings, if you have a King already your second must be a Kirin, and vice-versa). You must have been active for at least 4-5 months, and have reached a certain quota of stories already.
I like the delay idea because, 4-5 months into the game, we should have a good idea of how big the game is going to remain, and plan accordingly. Plus, I think the game/plots would survive 5 months with missing figures, while I know that it wouldn't be able to continue indefinitely that way.
- As of yet, I don't have a character limit set on TOTAL chars a person can have. In fact, I think with a world this big, it would be reasonable for a person to have 6 player-characters, honestly. However, like the King/Kirin issue, certain types would be rationed out - each person allowed one Taika, one Hanjyuu, two non-royal Sen-nin (but in different capacities - like if I had one military Sen-nin and one civil servant), Shusei, Akuniku. That should be plenty of shiny for everyone, really.
- I am kicking back and forth the necessity of having story quotas. For example, must write at least one 1000 word story every three months, or contributed in a tag at least 1000 words worth. I think this is very necessary, cause I personally don't want to have to worry about deadweight players (obv. if there is an excuse, that is different). However, I want to know how other people have felt about games with story quotas, and how their experiences in such games where. Any opinions? Recommendations?
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* Akuniku is an AWESOME name for youma hunters. <3
* Limits on Kings and Kirin and the waiting period and delay and activity levels are all very good ideas. Like you said, you don't want people feeling like they missed a shiny, yet if the player count stays fairly low, you don't want to have such important roles sitting vacant. Very good plan, very wise. ^_^
* Max character numbers and rationing of certain character types = also very good and wise planning. I totally agree that with a world this big and epic and diverse, players would have more opportunities for interaction and awesome plot if they had more characters, and six is a nice number. <3
* Activity quotas: In this game, it might be a necessity, especially since you don't want people grabbing a key character like a King or Kirin and then dropping off the face of the planet. I think 1000K/quarter is very reasonable -- 1000K sounds like a lot, but it so isn't! And that's speaking as someone who doesn't really consider herself a writer. XD Heck, I can crank out 1000K without breaking a sweat!
One angle to consider is separate tiers of activity depending on character type. In one of the Pern games I used to play in, if you had a ranking character (like a bronzerider or a queen, or the head of a craft or something), you had a higher activity requirement -- I can't remember the exact numbers, but it was basically "you have a shiny, you have to continue to earn that shiny". That starts getting into serious granularity, though, and behind-the-scenes work for the game guru(s) and might possibly be too big a pain in the arse for you to administrate.
I've already showed you River Twine Holt, which has an activity requirement very similar to what you're contemplating, and it works quite well. It used to be much more strict, much higher, but they found that people were stressing over it and not having fun -- and when a game's not fun, why play?
(Funnily enough, River Twine is run by some of the same folks behind the Pern game mentioned above. XD What they found worked in the Pern setting didn't work so well in the Elfquest setting -- and they didn't want to drive off potential good players, or drive themselves spare with monitoring player activity.)
So yeh. This is all very logical and sense-making, both from a player perspective and from how the game is organized and managed behind the scenes. ^_____^ I hope this is helpful! <3
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- I really have to ponder the requirement of 'required to do more if you have a shiny'. On one hand, it makes sense, but you are right about the extra work involved sorting out who-owns-what, and also I don't want to start getting the players divided into different tiers.
- I HOPE 1K ISN'T TOO HARD ON EVERYONE. AAAAAH but it does sound generous, so.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR THINKY THINGS <3
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(and Angie reminded me that she also spoke to you about River Twine. <3)
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