[GroupDesign: Schrodinger's War] Drafting Mechanics

[Tobias]

It turns out that lying in my own bed, alone, is good for the game-creative process. Who'd'a thunk? ;)

Just a thought, this time, though. But one that will inspire some mechanics from me later on.

I just realised that the Passions can also be the prime reasons time-disparate Archivists can effectively communicate/co-operate with each other. I personally would be spectacularly ineffective as a Native American Indian, Viking Raider, or Pharao. (There would be some comedy in it, though, as I apply my mishmash of literature and popular movie knowledge). I presume those people would also be rather ineffective if they had to be me.

But if you assume that it's the Passion you're invoking in a person to get him to do something, then it's ok if you don't understand the actual skills involved, even if your Host is doing some actions that are really bizarre to you, the Archivist.

(This is assuming primary human passions haven't changed much over the last couple of thousand years - which seems likely enough, given evolution and pyramid of Maslow, etc.).

Oh, and happy new year to those folks who are still around during this slow time of year (I'd wish it to the others as well, but those wishes'd arrive late, wouldn't they?)

[Michael Brazier]

Tobias: I'd say that resonant people are those who know what actions of theirs will invoke the societal Passions to which they resonate; that is, they can create resonant events, largely at will.  In that sense I think the events come first -- one recognizes resonant people by the resonant events they're involved with.  Also, the easiest way to describe what the Archivists do when they meddle in history is, that they are trying to create or alter resonant events (which, by the way, is another point of similarity between them and resonant people!)

... how's this for an idea?  Some events trigger Passions all on one side, and every Passion that gets triggered grows stronger in later events.  Other events trigger Passions in conflict, so at least one Passion has to be thwarted, and when that happens the thwarted Passion grows weaker in later events.  (Continuing with the example of Hitler: Germany's loss in WWI weakened the national ambition somewhat, but the fascists' rhetoric inflamed it again; WWI was a conflict of Passions, Hitler's speeches and writings were uncontested.)

[Tobias]

Michael - fair enough.

Would you want to write up some event-resonance driven mechanics, then? I'll keep plugging on the personal-resonance driven side and we can lay them side by side.

[Tobias]

So, everyone waiting for my mechanics? ;)

[Sydney Freedberg]

Looks like we are all, indeed, sitting around waiting for each other to draft mechanics.....

Administrative points:

(1)
If you (whether your name is Tobias or not) have written up what you feel to be a reasonably comprehensive set of mechanics -- not just neat ideas as we've tossing around for most of this thread, but at least the outline of a system -- then please PM me before posting, as your ideas may warrant starting a new thread to focus on them specifically, rather than trying to shoehorn them into this now rather long thread.

(2)
Ron Edwards has politely asked me not to keep posting links to new threads to the "Index thread," which has now drifted off the first page of the forum, as that violates Forge etiquette on resurrecting old threads. His recommendation -- and I think it's a good one -- is that we set up a GroupDesign webpage of our own to provide a master set of links and (eventually) a downloading point for playtest rules. Since I have the web-expertise of a hamster, anyone willing to set this up should PM me. Many thanks.

[Andrew Morris]

I have no web design skills, minimal graphic design (I usually supervise) skills, and very strong writing, proofreading, and editing skills. I'd probably be willing to foot the bill (as long as it's a small bill) to have a real website, without tons of ads and the pop-ups that you tend to get with free sites.

[daMoose_Neo]

We (Neo Prod) don't touch capacity on our site at all, so we can throw something up there no problem.
Better idea: anyone know of a nice little wiki/blog type program that could be thrown up with little fuss? Put that up on our server, and away we go ^_^

[Tobias]

I am a highty experienced HTML, vbscript and .asp programmer.

Throwing up links is no problem. I don't have any experience with high quality forum, blog or wiki programs, though.

Joining a 'build your own wiki' community might be just as easy, though?

I will try to work out some mechanics over the weekend. I tried last evening as well, but my brain was thouroughly fried by my workweek.

[Sydney Freedberg]

More footly administrivia:

1) This discussion about creating our own website is vital, so vital it shouldn't be shoehorned into this thread. I've accordingly created a thread devoted to the topic over in the Publishing forum, here.. Let's take our discussion of an online existence for GroupDesign there.

2) Anyone who has comments on the mechanics issues already raised in this thread, or small pieces of mechanics to offer, post away in this thread. Anyone who has a fairly complete set of mechanics, please PM me and I'll start a new thread to give your work the attention it deserves.

[Tobias]

Don't have anything near solid mechanics yet. I keep going on the teeter-totter of 'why' and 'how' (do A's do anything).

The time-travel complexities don't help either. :)

I've been trying to solve the problem by writing up some Hypothetical Play, not really specifiying in my mind yet whether I want G, N, or S, but just what would be cool.

I get a vague image of scenes like Viking Raiders raiding a town protected by knight, cyberdine stuff, finding a relic, etc., but that all event or item-driven stuff (whereas I'm aiming more for person-driven). I could go back to event-/item-driven, but that would sound like a cop-out, and I would lose the nice tie to the Archivists' primary activity - possession.

You've got the entirety of time and the human world to select scenes from - and you're trying to affect the timeline. Tough stuff. I'm leaning towards granting the A's a measure of abstract comprehension (much like grandmaster chess players don't see individual chess piece positions, but a more general, almost intuitive feel, of the board's general state of game). This abstract comprehension would allow them to find scenes that are key to them, but actually proposing those scene's would be a power in the player domain. To not make it a solitary excercise, I want some mechanic that will interest people in the scene, and make them take a position on how that scene ends up (I'm still toying with the players being all the archivists there are. Maybe players not in the scene can play the antagonists? Maybe I need to look at Scarlet Wake, for this?) Whatever the outcome of the scene, it's impact is measured as deviation from the norm (history as we know it), since that will save me from having to define the norm (which would be something I find myself incapable of Simming).

Why would I play the game? Probably to do cool stuff that matters to the world in a cool backdrop. Be that Viking Raider, boost his strength, throw an axe into the evil knight that would've risen to King otherwise, etc. - and have it matter to how history plays out as well. Overcome the opposition (other players) and impose your vision/passion on history.

Why would a character become Archivist, leaving behind all the ties that make him human? Reasons vary. Perhaps all his loved ones have been slaughtered, and this is a great way to get back at those who did it. (Cliché, yes). Perhaps he's dysfunctional. Perhaps, after a long rewarding life, death is near anyway, and goals held in life can still be supported as Archivist. Why would the Archivist be interesting as a character after he's become other-than-human? Because he can still feel attachments to people in the human timestream (matching passions?). Because his fellow archivists will be very important to him as well (especially if they're also 'raw passions').

I'm tossing out things I want to be present in Hypothetical Play, to get me unstuck on my creative block on mechanics. Post your criticism, own hypo play, etc., what you want, if the foot allows it.

[Sydney Freedberg]

I think Tobias is onto something. I also think this current thread has run its course, so with my Mighty Foot Power I'm declaring it closed and starting a new thread devoted to Feel of Play.

Again, anyone who has a good chunk of mechanics worked out should PM me and we'll start a new thread devoted to that when we have something solid to sink our teeth into.