Union|Tides of Steel

[Harsh Tranquility]

Hi,
I know some of you where here back in Febuary, when my brother (Quentin, Harsh Attack) first posted about our selves and our game, but since it has been a number of months since then, so let reintroduce myself, my brother, and our game Union|Tides of Steel.

Uh, Hi!
My name is Cameron Harsh. Ok, about a year and a half ago, I was with my creative other half, my brother Quentin. (Think of it in the Wachowski Brothers sense) Anyway about making a Matrix RPG, you know something to have fun with. And so in about 3 months we whipped a system that had Hong Kong, and the Matrix feel. (I.E. Bending the rules of the Matrix, Downloading Info into your brain, and the like.) Mind you the system was far from perfect but it was sufficent from our percpective. (And it was alot of work, alot more than we thought it would be or as I would lead on in this story.) We called it the RPE system. (Role Playing Experince) So being proud of our system, we approched our usual Comic\Game store to host a demo. It was great and we had a wonderful feed back to the point the store asked us to play it there bi-weekly. As we play tested it the system grew and was documented. Thats when delusions of grandure set in and dream of being give the lisence by impressing the WB exuctives. When reality set in we stopped gaming at the store for awhile to think up a way to de-Matrix what was other wise a great game. So the summer came and the project sat and then in October we came back to it at changed in to an Anime-ish/Sci-fi/Mecha game called Union:Tides of Steel. (The tides of steel describe large scale meacha robot combat.) The game takes place after a war has completely destroyed human life. The war isn't fought with the nuclear weapons of today but small tactical coffin sized nukes, and most promently the wars is waged with half human/ half animal gene wrriors and Mechs. After the war a "space ark" arives in orbit containing the last members of an alien race, much like our own that wiped out their planet and most of their population in a war similar to thee one we just finished. The Union is the peaceful coexistance of the two races. (Kinda like a U.N.) So like 30 some years pass and we make great stides in science and technology with our new freinds. You see they filled in the holes of our science, becuse theirs is based on eatherical (Magic, Spirtual, Ki) energys. So using these energy to build a "soul" and our hardtech Mech designs they create A.I. constructs. And in true Sci-Fi fashion they turn on us. A "Machine War" is fought the Union vs. the Smart Mechs. We push them past the astreriod belt, where thay take over the factory and mines on Jupiter's moons, and lay low. Thats where the game starts, you can play as a Human, an Ul'kleran (the aliens), or a decendent of the gene soilders of the last great human war. The idea is the game has a tention created by the fact the Machine could start atacking back at any time, and while we wait they get stronger. At least thats the plan. See we have been working on writing ever since, and while our charcter rules are pretty in place (from the Matrix play-test, not that they are going to be up for evaluation) we need to polish rules about creating mechs, which are a centerpeice of the game.

That's a short run down of the idea, to get a clearer picture and some bits to chew on vist our site Union|Tides of Steel
As stated on the site we will be updating our site with new information every first and third saturday untill the game is relesed, sometime next fall. For now please take some time to browse what we have, and to form questions and/or comments based on tonights updates:
Close Combat and the Main Story
Thanks for your time hope to hear form you.

[samdowning]

Hi Cameron,

BIG point - get an editor or learn grammar and spelling.  There are a ton of problems with your post and your site.  No one will respect your game if you can't make yourself clear and if your writing skills are poor.

[Cemendur]

Gotta love the pop-up ads. Thanks for the tracking cookies. *munch munch* quite tasty!

[Harsh Tranquility]

Hi, sorry about the post, I was just in an excited rush and didn't go through my normal grammar/spelling checks, and about the site sorry, it was the best I could do for free, but by this time next month it will be on a "real" website.
But, I hope that this not detouring people form helping me out, if so tell me and I'll restructure the post better, but if not, please try and help me think through the elements of the game and not the presentation.

Sorry, but thanks.

[samdowning]

So I'm confused.  You want help with the structure of the game itself and how the system works and you want to ignore (at least for the time being) the way in which it is written?  Communicating your thoughts in a concise manner is rather integral to conveying the rules in a way in which others will understand you.

In other words, "Cain't unnerstan' da rules if da rules ain't written precise-like."

Not making fun... it's early for me.

[greyorm]

Hey, let's give Cameron a break here, his and he brother are and have been actually working on this game, he's run major playtests of it, and it has been well-recieved by players -- that's more than I can say for many of the games that get run through these boards.

So, props to the man for that. Hence, I think we can give him a break about the grammar, pointing it out once without getting all superior about it and providing what help we can with clarifying rules and text by asking about what is unclear to us.

Rather than just rolling eyes and proclaiming, "I can't work with this!" or making snide and completely unnecessary remarks about pop-up ads or what-else -- attitudes and behaviors rightly reserved for spammers, not designers looking for real input into their game -- either help out or shut-up, because if it doesn't answer the question or help the designer, it doesn't belong on these boards.

Ok, enough bitching on my part, on to the game: I think Union:ToS sounds pretty cool as presented.

I had my doubts when the Matrix idea was mentioned as the basis for the game -- there are so many Matrix rip-off ideas out there it makes me want to puke, and it screams "unoriginal."

I had my doubts when he said the game was changed from a Matrix-like game into one about 'mechs and such -- I was wondering how much of the game's enjoyment was from system rather than the pop-culture setting.

And I had my doubts when the history was described -- I've seen games that, in true Middle-Earth fashion, have had everything interesting done by the time the game's characters would arrive on the scene, thus the game is more about the history than the future

And I've seen games where, in true Forgotten Realms fashion, all the interesting roles (which create the interesting stories) are already taken by NPCs, making PCs lackeys.

However, those doubts went away when I read the statement, "The idea is the game has a tention created by the fact the Machine could start atacking back at any time, and while we wait they get stronger." Then I was interested, then I thought, "Hey, I'd like to play that game."

The idea ties it all nicely together, provides conflict and tension, and a great deal of creative room to work with from that point forward for any group.

So, keep it up, Cameron, I'd like to hear more about this game...feel free to ask about anything specific you're having problems with, or wrestling with.

[Harsh Tranquility]

Thanks for your comments, positive and negative. We did not post on our site and will not post about the game until this coming Saturday. We are investigating a new temporary way of posting our site info, without using eccentrix, and also pulling down the info so we can give a hard look at it, clarify and fix grammar errors. I hope that when Saturday rolls around we can present a better presented set of info, and some new things to talk about, Until then, I ask only if you have the time, tells us what we need to present early so you can get a handle on the system.

Also hopefully my brother will log on.

[Harsh Attack]

Holy cow, I wasn't expecting any positive feedback.  Thanks alot greyorm.

Anywho, I'll be in charge of grammar and spelling from now on.  Cameron's not exactly the best of typists.  So never fear, the wordsmith of the operation is back on board.

[Mike Holmes]

Hey guys. Did any of the advice from the first go-around here make it into what you have so far? I'm a little leery, you see, because there you have those coffin-sized nukes again, after I told you that modern nukes exist that are much smaller than that. You don't seem to be taking any advice we give, which leaves me wondering why are you asking?  

What sort of feedback are you looking for from us at this point?

Mike