Chasing the Stars ~ Omega, 2185 (OOC discussion)

Jan 6, 2017 19:52:18 GMT @tzeenchianapostrophe said:

Jan 6, 2017 19:45:56 GMT Draining Dragon said:

The first thing to decide would be what number represents an average human's abilities. 5 seems like the logical choice, because we want to leave room for below-average scores. 3 could be another option. Also, remember that while players should be constrained to 10 at the maximum, you could have NPCs with higher scores. For instance, a Reaper might have 25 Tech Prowess or something similarly absurd.

With biotics, I think a 1 would probably mean somebody who simply doesn't have any biotic abilities at all... or, if we want to make it interesting, a person with 1 Biotic Prowess would have some sort of sensitivity to biotics (like they feel physically ill when somebody uses biotics near them), while a higher number (like 3) could be the baseline for no biotic powers.

Indeed, I actually wanted to point out that someone like, say, the Shadow Broker, would receive a special strength rating of 15 (example).

Or that an evil mastermind like the Illusive Man (never mind his actual intelligence in the game), or a genius scientist like Mordin might have a similarly high rating for intelligence and possibly tech prowess.

With the Prowess system, I'm not even sure we'd need the quantitative attributes. They were more of a brief stop on my train of thought. But yeah, it would make sense for a character like Mordin to have unnaturally high tech prowess (or intelligence, if we use that system). Same with TIM.

Also, with regards to the specific skills within each area of expertise, it might make sense to use a simpler method of measuring those to avoid overcomplication. Maybe just a "trained" or "untrained" marker (perhaps represented by a - or + next to the skill) that indicates whether or not you are knowledgeable of the subject. That would allow for characters with high Tech Prowess that are good at medicine but not at electronics. Your Tech Prowess would still make it easier for you to use electronics than if you had low Tech Prowess, but a character with training in electronics and lower tech prowess might still be better at electronics.

Jan 6, 2017 19:55:19 GMT GeneralXIV said:

So long as you dont get a set amount of points and have to distribute them, I think that could be a good idea if it serves as a fact file almost, with marks out of ten for each attribute or something along those lines... thats good for me but id rather not have a point allocation system for character creation or anything like that

You could simply have a maximum and minimum set of points, rather than giving everybody identical amounts. We don't want any god characters with 10 in every skill or troll characters with 1 in every skill, but it makes sense to have characters at somewhat different power levels (within reason). Personally, I'm a sucker for point allocation systems, and it would make the roleplaying feel a bit more "Mass Effecty."

When I get around to it, I'll write up a detailed proposal and make a thread in the rules discussion section.

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• Location: Omega (starting in Afterlife)
• Timeline: 2185 (Pre-Shepard. Pre-Plague. Pre-Archangel. Pre-Morinth)
• Formality: Tutorial (Character headers or names on posts - use of OOC 'Out Of Character' tutorial encouraged)
• Story Setup: Sally is hiring for a job. He needs two or three hired guns.