Hey Seth,

Somewhere I got the impression that your design goal for Alyria is a system that will resolve conflicts at the macro/cultural level and at the micro/interpersonal level with the same mechanics, presumably with cross-pollination of augmentation and modifiers, but now I can't find either a posting or anything in your archived columns that would have given me that impression. This is essentially the idea that the resolution of individual combats among the characters on the battlefield indicate the outcome of the whole battle. Am I totally misremembering or misperceiving that you wrote something along these lines?

Paul

Hi, Paul! You are somewhat misremembering me. My theory was to have a system that can handle interactions between characters as well as other institutions using the same system. As the resolution system currently stands, that should not be a problem. Just give the institution (nation, guild, village, whatever) a Force, Insight, Determination, Virtue, and Traits, just like a character. This is the long method, though.

Another development in the system is a formalization of Plot tracking using the concept of global Virtue. This is defined as both a central problem and its current status. Therefore, if the war between two countries is the central conflict of a Plot, then global Virtue might be sufficient to track the waxing and waning of the war. Since global Virtue is directly affected by character action, the choices of the characters will affect the central conflict in one way or another.

To be fair, I have not yet had the opportunity to do more than a cursory playtest of the developing system, and I may yet alter or scrap certain ideas. The worldplot system is one area that is currently in flux. So, the answer that you're getting (muddled as it is) will be altered and adjusted by the time the alpha playtest copy gets distributed.

I certainly hope that this is a clear response. I'm a bit distracted right now. :smile: Ask further questions if you have them, and I will try to clarify further.

Hi Seth,

I thought I'd follow up on this thread to ask, "When can we see an alpha version?" You've described some ambitious, ground-breaking goals for a role-playing game. I'm eager to see it.

Best,
Ron

Er...real soon now? :smile:

I'm not quite sure. Right now the Plot mechanics (which also act as the worldplot system) are still being hashed out but they are approaching solidity. The biggest factor, I think, is going to be time (on my part). I'm still working on promoting Junk, which takes time. I'm also working full-time and going to school part-time. On top of all this, we just added that third child to the fold. I be fairly busy. Finding the time to write will be interesting.

That all being said, I would like to be able to pull something together in the next few months.