Yikes. You guys are really into this thing, huh? Well, at least it isn't peetering. Just need to keep me from getting lazy.
On that note, I'm not going to be able to work on responses today, so we're looking at late tomorrow night at the earliest. Probably more like Saturday, since this still leaves me, a1s, NonAnon, Edmund, Iituem, and Euchre.
How the hell did I wind up with 14 players anyway? And we're still one God short.
In the meantime, I'll let you guys discuss some things. I'm trying to tune the mechanics, and I could use some suggestions. One is the too good Success Roll thing. The biggest problem is finding a way that gives everyone a reasonable chance at failing or succeeding, without rendering all those points worthless. I've thought of changing the random number range to something like -50 to 70, but that's just delaying the issue. Maybe expanding the range to -100 to 150 and widening the scale with more modifiers. Any ideas?
The other is diplomacy. I want players to have a choice in accepting or rejecting offers, but without a certain random element, it becomes just a straight RP. I'm thinking I'd take both players' bonuses and wills, roll a random or two, and decide the effects of negotiation based on that. Wide open on that. By far the biggest hurdle, both for success and just for the rules themselves, will be that most of these species don't even communicate the same way, much less speak eachothers' "languages".
Nilocy - I'm not sure what you think an 8ft wall across a thousand miles of mountain range will accomplish, but it sounds great.
Shikogan - Don't worry, at this rate, this turn won't be over till Saturday/Sunday, and I'll definitely have to delay things next week to write a paper. (It occurs to me, that I put about as much work into that one turn as I do into most essays.) About the Maelstrom, since we're short a God for you to worship, I made one. It thinks with die rolls, so good luck. Also, I didn't think to mention this, but there is one solid rule I need to clarify. My fault, so I'll let you make this up whenever you get around to it, don't worry.
RULE: Language and communication are two different things. Communication abilities (namely all the psychic ones) are useful for exploratory and warfare actions, since they let individuals communicate in more direct and reliable ways. However, without a language, they just speak in emotions and inflections. Language measures a species' ability to define and relate concepts, so is used in pretty much any thinking-power related actions, and is a big determinant of how civilized they are.
Tuv - That result might have been a little harsh, but it's hard to make rock breeding interesting. If you want more to happen, do more. But for my sake not much more...
Duke - I really need to hammer out those diplomacy rules.
Kadesh - croak bipbipbip gurrrgle
Shrike - <<I say old boy, how are things on this side of the mountain?>>
Kadesh - !!! grap grap ! kraag !
Shrike - <<Run that by me again will you? Sounds like you've a fishbone in the gullet.>>
Kadesh - [smolder]
Shrike - <<Oh drat. Why does that keep happening?>>