Best Of
Man, I love sci-fi.
One thing that always bugged me about my first real main character in Achaea is that I class-hopped like mad because I wanted to try everything out. It didn't really fit the RP as well in that world and while that didn't matter at the gamewide level, it always bugged me personally that I couldn't narrow it down and stick to one thing. (This was before multiclass. Multiclass would have saved me so much money early on...)
Here, I took my nanoseer and made him a scoundrel within a month of multiclass which sucked, but at least class-wise, it makes more sense. For a little bit there I felt like the one thing I wanted to do RP wise was stay the same class, but then I realized people make drastic career changes these days, so how much easier would that be in the far future?
And then once I actually started playing again and started using the augmentation options to change Xiru's appearance, it really hit how much fun the mechanical advantages are here. It really suits my RP style, which can be quite fickle even as I'm trying to tone it down.
I'm curious as to whether or not anyone else has things they really appreciate about the sci-fi genre that just wouldn't fly or wouldn't fit as well in high-fantasy muds?
Here, I took my nanoseer and made him a scoundrel within a month of multiclass which sucked, but at least class-wise, it makes more sense. For a little bit there I felt like the one thing I wanted to do RP wise was stay the same class, but then I realized people make drastic career changes these days, so how much easier would that be in the far future?
And then once I actually started playing again and started using the augmentation options to change Xiru's appearance, it really hit how much fun the mechanical advantages are here. It really suits my RP style, which can be quite fickle even as I'm trying to tone it down.
I'm curious as to whether or not anyone else has things they really appreciate about the sci-fi genre that just wouldn't fly or wouldn't fit as well in high-fantasy muds?
Xiru
3
Re: Recommended Playing Time 10/3 at 6pm EST
Re: Man, I love sci-fi.
Generally speaking, I find the sci-fi setting immensely useful for negotiating the strangeness that is having a player play a character through a game. Specifically, and most prominantly, I find the mindsim and the commsphere to be crucial to RP. I tried Achaea after playing Starmourn for a while, and every message that wasn't a mere SAY was jarring -- and, in my experience, nobody even tried to work around it. Perhaps that's an organizational phenomenon. Similarly, mindsim integration level (MIL) is brilliant. Nobody's talking about levels IC, really. Steve gets to talk about whatever his mindsim's got his MIL rated at (and that goes for captaincy and all other manner of things). This also plays out with things like FHELP files; check it out on the mindsim, and voila. No stretch of the imagination there.
Frankly, I just don't see why players enjoy RP in fantasy environments when so many of the game mechanics in a MUD work directly against fantasy world-building. Sure, everybody can have telepathy or something like that, but that's not my cup of tea (and the same goes for most high-fantasy trappings). To give you a sense of how I feel about it, I'm letting that Achaea character time out because the Starmourn setting suits my tastes far, far better. But hey -- that's my opinion, and to be clear, I expect other people don't mind the discrepancy I just pointed out, and certainly manage to have a great time. I also do not mean to be bashing on Achaea. It seems like a solid game, and I enjoyed my time with it, overall.
Related: I'm a big fan of sci-fi things like wetwiring explaining smooth mechanics. I see wetwiring as an example of brilliant lore-meets-game. While I'm comparing SM with Achaea, I'd like to point out how crazy it seems to have somebody sipping fifteen different drinks while using thirty different salves and still finding time to swing a sword.
OK, I'm done. In short: I love the sci-fi setting of Starmourn and think it's perfectly suitable to a roleplaying experience while still being a game.
Steve
4
Re: Good Vibrations!
Love the interactions I'm finding at Lamentations. So glad to see a natural gathering spot actually being used as a gathering spot. @Orrin, Keiko, even Poffy 
Xiru
2
Re: Recommended Playing Time 10/3 at 6pm EST
As mostly an outsider in this series of events I think it is amongst the better run events.
As a player base we need to realize that jobbing is part of the RP scenarios. It is virtually impossible to code and support more than a couple different outcomes.
Further, RP needs of different people will almost always be left wanting by the very nature of events.
What this does however tell us is that more such events are welcome to cater to a varied audience in different capacities.
As a player base we need to realize that jobbing is part of the RP scenarios. It is virtually impossible to code and support more than a couple different outcomes.
Further, RP needs of different people will almost always be left wanting by the very nature of events.
What this does however tell us is that more such events are welcome to cater to a varied audience in different capacities.
Kirin
2
Dynasties! HUH! What are they good for?!
Absolutely everything, if we give them the chance!
Dynasties are both promising, and in their current state, depressing. Here are some suggestions, requests, thoughts, hopes, and dreams relating to the good old fashioned future of the Dynasty.
-Currently, Dynasties have very little in the way of proper channels to spend marks. In fact, the Dynasty account holds very little purpose, the Dynasty leader could take donations and dole them out just as easily. Easier in fact, as they'd have no daily limit to withdraws. How can we address this? Tons of ways! Yay!
--Dynasty Ships. Let us build and maintain group ships. This can be done by allowing a Dynasty to 'lease' a ship to a member. Thus allowing us to reclaim the ship should said member disappear into cyro. This lets you maintain the 'one ship, one pilot' setup you have. Or, we could start moving beyond that really stupid setup, and allow members of a rank imbued with a certain power, the right to pilot Dynasty ships. Maybe limit it to Destroyer or lower, although I don't see why that's necessary.
--Dynasty STATIONS. OMG PLS. Let us build stations. Have it be a right tied to larger groups. Limit one station per sector, with an active upkeep or else the station collapses and someone else can build there. Don't allow PVP to ruin these, this is the non-pvp side of building a community. (Think guildhalls. You can invade 'em, but not destroy/capture 'em). Let us spend vast swaths of Marks to improve our stations. Let us add shops, chop shops, manufacturing stations, and so on and so on. Have it cost marks AND materials to expand and build. Could even copy the ship build system, and just have station rooms to use.
-Let the Dynasty have Storage for commodities. Let them put up work orders that pay from the coffers. Let them sell materials from storage.
-Dynasty ranking! Install Dynasty ranks separate from positions. Let us promote/demote people to and from these ranks. This gives a better incentive to set up and keep people engaged with that sort of RP
-Dynasty Credits! Let us unlock getting a cut of membership sales similar to factions. It can be less, that doesn't matter. Just put it into a Dynasty coffer, giving us an even better incentive tool.
-Titling! Let us give and remove prefixes and suffixes at whatever milestone.
-Alliances! Let us set allegiance to factions. Let us build alliances between Dynasties. This doesn't have to be more than a line added into the INFO display.
-Logos! It could be a part of the Station chop shop actually, but if not, let us submit a log that any member can use at any chop shop for ships.
-Ship prefix options! Let us set a ship prefix that can be turned on/off by the shipowner. Possibly force apply it to any Dynasty owned ship (out on lease).
Yes, I do realize right now that you can wing it and manage several of these things. No, I don't see that as an excuse we shouldn't make it easier and better supported to do them. Right now, it seems like we have a real serious issue retaining new players. I, personally, feel like a big part of that is that we only have three real 'groups' and no supported sub-groups within that. Yes, you can join a Dynasty currently, but what does that MEAN? You can RP as much as you like, but it doesn't give people achievable goals with tangible returns. There's a reason guilds/houses in other IRE games are so important. They're smaller hubs of fairly intense RP when done correctly, and they have the tools to create and support that RP. I'd like to see that expanded to Starmourn, with a more player-driven and flexible approach to the mechanics behind it.
But it's possible that's just my singular opinion!
Dynasties are both promising, and in their current state, depressing. Here are some suggestions, requests, thoughts, hopes, and dreams relating to the good old fashioned future of the Dynasty.
-Currently, Dynasties have very little in the way of proper channels to spend marks. In fact, the Dynasty account holds very little purpose, the Dynasty leader could take donations and dole them out just as easily. Easier in fact, as they'd have no daily limit to withdraws. How can we address this? Tons of ways! Yay!
--Dynasty Ships. Let us build and maintain group ships. This can be done by allowing a Dynasty to 'lease' a ship to a member. Thus allowing us to reclaim the ship should said member disappear into cyro. This lets you maintain the 'one ship, one pilot' setup you have. Or, we could start moving beyond that really stupid setup, and allow members of a rank imbued with a certain power, the right to pilot Dynasty ships. Maybe limit it to Destroyer or lower, although I don't see why that's necessary.
--Dynasty STATIONS. OMG PLS. Let us build stations. Have it be a right tied to larger groups. Limit one station per sector, with an active upkeep or else the station collapses and someone else can build there. Don't allow PVP to ruin these, this is the non-pvp side of building a community. (Think guildhalls. You can invade 'em, but not destroy/capture 'em). Let us spend vast swaths of Marks to improve our stations. Let us add shops, chop shops, manufacturing stations, and so on and so on. Have it cost marks AND materials to expand and build. Could even copy the ship build system, and just have station rooms to use.
-Let the Dynasty have Storage for commodities. Let them put up work orders that pay from the coffers. Let them sell materials from storage.
-Dynasty ranking! Install Dynasty ranks separate from positions. Let us promote/demote people to and from these ranks. This gives a better incentive to set up and keep people engaged with that sort of RP
-Dynasty Credits! Let us unlock getting a cut of membership sales similar to factions. It can be less, that doesn't matter. Just put it into a Dynasty coffer, giving us an even better incentive tool.
-Titling! Let us give and remove prefixes and suffixes at whatever milestone.
-Alliances! Let us set allegiance to factions. Let us build alliances between Dynasties. This doesn't have to be more than a line added into the INFO display.
-Logos! It could be a part of the Station chop shop actually, but if not, let us submit a log that any member can use at any chop shop for ships.
-Ship prefix options! Let us set a ship prefix that can be turned on/off by the shipowner. Possibly force apply it to any Dynasty owned ship (out on lease).
Yes, I do realize right now that you can wing it and manage several of these things. No, I don't see that as an excuse we shouldn't make it easier and better supported to do them. Right now, it seems like we have a real serious issue retaining new players. I, personally, feel like a big part of that is that we only have three real 'groups' and no supported sub-groups within that. Yes, you can join a Dynasty currently, but what does that MEAN? You can RP as much as you like, but it doesn't give people achievable goals with tangible returns. There's a reason guilds/houses in other IRE games are so important. They're smaller hubs of fairly intense RP when done correctly, and they have the tools to create and support that RP. I'd like to see that expanded to Starmourn, with a more player-driven and flexible approach to the mechanics behind it.
But it's possible that's just my singular opinion!
Rylek
8
Re: Good Vibrations!
Song is full of cool people, and the number of times I've been able to walk into a room and put out long-form emotes and receive them back has more than quintupled since the last time I played. I'm having fun, so...good vibes to everyone!
Sun
5
Re: Recommended Playing Time 10/3 at 6pm EST
Had a great evening. Thanks for the work you put into this, team. Definitely didn't expect our new immigrants to be a swarm of ST morts ;D
Re: Quality of Life Wishlist
- Add a new column in HONORS LIST for 'Feature', with a Yes or No value
- Additionally, add whether or not an honors is featurable in HONORS SHOW <honors>
[IMPLEMENTED]
Rhindara
2
Recommended Playing Time 10/3 at 6pm EST
The following post is a public service announcement!
The Storyteller team can neither confirm nor deny that players in the Starmourn sector may or may not see, hear of, or participate in events of interest to them on the 3rd of October at 6pm EST, especially if those players are citizens of the Celestine Ascendancy.
It's possible nothing will happen. OR WILL IT? Well, it might not. BUT WHAT IF IT DID THOUGH?
So if you have time, log in! Or don't. (But definitely log in.)
This has been a public service announcement.
The Storyteller team can neither confirm nor deny that players in the Starmourn sector may or may not see, hear of, or participate in events of interest to them on the 3rd of October at 6pm EST, especially if those players are citizens of the Celestine Ascendancy.
It's possible nothing will happen. OR WILL IT? Well, it might not. BUT WHAT IF IT DID THOUGH?
So if you have time, log in! Or don't. (But definitely log in.)
This has been a public service announcement.
Eukelade
3