Rise of the Empire: Campaign Guidelines
1. Overview
A. Intentions --- Rise of the Empire is a new gaming concept we hope to make a permanent part of this forum. Set between Episodes III and IV, this era is ripe for exploration and storylines that don't traditionally take place during the Galactic Civil War era. Digging deeper with this concept, we hope the ROTE era allows us to build immersive storyline campaigns set in specific regions of space, with specific plots, organizations, and characters that take us all from Point A to Point B in a collectively-driven story. What this means, is that we intend to START and then FINISH each campaign rather than create an open-ended sandbox environment.
B. Roleplaying --- Players then will embody a master character plus any additional support characters in order to write storylines that have clear targets and goals that those characters are working towards. We hope that these goals bring other player characters into conflict, and if so, enrich the overall story. To help drive the overall story, a handful of opportunities will be available to players in the environment such as organizations that may be for or against a player's interests, or quests that could dramatically alter the game for everyone else if pursued.
C. Linear --- Since each campaign has a start and finish, both will be collectively decided by the player base. However, each campaign is not meant to be a "race to the finish line" because there is no winner. Rather, players are encouraged to rewrite canon as the story progresses and see what happens... because the next campaign could take place in an unrelated region of space with entirely new characters and story pieces! The point is to have fun with the setting and use all available background reference material to thicken the plot.
2. Considerations Before Getting Started
A. Character Roles --- Considering each campaign is different, try creating a character that fills a particular niche in the campaign rather than using a typical archetype and running with that (although initially that's not a bad idea). Each campaign takes places in a region of space that has it's own conflicts and forces at play that might be different from standard Empire vs Republic gameplay. Granted, because we are in the ROTE era, the Galactic Empire will constantly be an ever-present force, but to what extent and how far they are involved in affairs depends greatly on the setting and player choices.
B. Occupation and Motivation --- Once you've created a Primary or Player Character, it's time to figure out where that character goes to sleep. Depending on the occupation, that could be onboard a space freighter, or in a corporate penthouse, but given the setting and role your character plays - try figuring out something realistic that matches the character's preferences and goals. Use the background information provided in each system to help determine what would be an ideal location for your character(s) to reside.
C. Scale --- One other thing to consider is your character's overall logistical "footprint". It may be your character's goal to create a large organization, but if your goal is to maximize stealth and security then having an underground facility full of vessels and squads upon squads of troopers will make it very hard for your character's operations to go unnoticed. As a rule of thumb, the minimum space required for any person, object, vehicle, or vessel is its total length in meters (at its longest) in cubed meters. For example, a 6ft individual requires 2m3 of space. On the other hand, if your character already has considerable amounts of power and wealth, then it will be equally difficult for that character to keep a watchful eye over everything in their operation, which might create more vulnerabilities and liabilities.
3. Missions and Quests
A. Setting --- Each campaign is broken down by related locations. These will be systems, moons, space stations, or any other location where major events take place. Players are encouraged to write their stories based on location and not individual threads, although for background/flashback/non-descriptive character development, creating individual threads are permitted.
B. Progress --- Each location carries with it an applicable quest or mission that can be worked on to advance an event, interest, organization, or character goal. Players are encouraged to align their storylines with quests or missions such that the campaign can move forward. In general, missions will bring a player prestige, resources, or opportunities, while quests will shift paradigms or bring larger organizations or factions into conflict with one another.
C. Courtesy --- Since the game is honor system based, players should pace the development of missions and quests in a reasonable amount of time and not "game the system" by writing rapidly and moving faster than other players or NPC elements would reasonably be expected to interfere or catch up.
4. Player Created Conflicts and Events
A. Player vs NPC --- Since NPC elements represent both active and passive presences in the campaign, players are encouraged not to abuse NPCs, NPC organizations, or NPC locations in ways that would drastically alter the setting of the campaign. In other words, by keeping storylines within "the spirit of the game", campaigns can run more smoothly. In doing so, conflicts between players and NPC elements should be handled in ways player characters are not overcoming challenges or odds that are too slim.
B. Player vs Player --- When it comes to these sorts of conflicts, preparation and OOC discussion are as important as IC storylines. As a hard rule, primary player characters cannot be killed unless given permission to do so, similarly, deterministic events cannot be orchestrated as to kill a primary player character as to remove all opportunity for escape, avoidance, or retaliation. As a soft rule, secondary and support characters are not afforded this same protection, but OOC discussion is still required to verify kills.
C. Player vs Events --- Uncaused events, systemic forces, chaos, chance encounters, and deus ex machinas are an ever complex part of any story. The extent these events play can lead to serious implications that impact other NPCs and Players in ways that could hamper their missions or quests, and so players are encouraged to write as many Deterministic Events into their stories as possible, such that causes and effects can logically be explained without relying on sheer luck, chance, or chaos to explain plot holes.
5. Resolving Conflicts and Events
A. Court of Resolution --- This court is composed of every player in the game and at any time any player can request a Quorum to initiate a dispute or claim.
B. Player vs Player --- Between a dispute of 2 players, both of them must mutually select a 3rd player to function as the Mediator and Arbiter in a dispute. The Plaintiff will present a 1 post writ complaint/accusation against the Defendant, detailing the who, what, where, when, and why the complaint/accusation is being made, plus a requested outcome. The Defendant also gets 1 post to defend/explain their position and also request an outcome, upon then, the Mediator will make a Decision to resolve the issue. Plaintiffs or Defendants who disagree with the Decision may make a 1 post Appeal which must include why the appeal is being made and a recommended a resolution. The Mediator will then make a Judgment, which is final.
C. Player vs Events --- In situations where deterministic events are reasonably expected to create an outcome that effects another player, and that player has unreasonably avoided that event, then players should request a Quorum to discuss the intended and unintended consequences of an event. For instance, if a player destroys a major Imperial outpost in a city, and the Galactic Empire (as an NPC element) does not react to it, then players should keep each other accountable in those sorts of cases.
