Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Should Force Sensitivity be a known path or a mysterious one? (II)
Message Edited by WesBelden on 07-10-2004 02:18 PM
)"You know what's wrong with scientific power?" Malcolm said.
It’s a form of inherited wealth. And you know what **edit** congenitally rich people are. It never fails."
Hammond said, "What is he talking about?”
Harding made a sign, indicating delirium. Malcolm cocked his eye.
"I will tell you what I am talking about," he said. "Most kinds of power require a substantial sacrifice by whoever wants the power. There is an apprenticeship, a discipline lasting many years. Whatever kind of power you want. President of the company. Black belt in karate. Spiritual guru. Whatever it is you seek, you have to put in the time, the practice, the effort. You must give up a lot to get it. It has to be very important to you. And once you have attained it, it’s your power. It can't be given away: it resides in you. It is literally the result of your discipline.
Now what is interesting about this process is that, by the time someone has acquired the ability to kill with his bare hands, he has also matured to the point where he won't use it unwisely. So that kind of power has a built-in control. The discipline of getting the you so that you won't abuse it.
But scientific power is like inherited wealth: attained without discipline. You read what others have done, and you take the next step. You can do it very young. You can make progress very fast.
There is no discipline lasting many decades. There is no mastery: old scientists are ignored. There is no humility before nature. There is only a get-rich-quick, make-a-name-for-yourself-fast philosophy.
Cheat, lie, falsify--it doesn't matter. Not to you, or to your colleagues. No one will criticize you. No one has any standards. They all trying to do the same thing: to do something big, and do it fast.
"And because you can stand on the shoulders of giants, you can accomplish something quickly. Yon don't even-know exactly what you have done, but already you have reported it; patented it, and sold it. And the buyer will have even less discipline than you. The buyer simply purchases the power, like any commodity. The buyer doesn’t even conceive that any discipline might be necessary.
Hammond said, "Do you know what he is talking about?"
Ellie nodded.
"I haven't a clue" Hammond said.
I’ll make it simple" Malcolm said. "A karate master does not kill people with his bare hands. He does not lose his temper and kill his wife. The person who kills is the person who has no discipline no restraint, and who has purchased his power in the form of a Saturday night special. And that is the kind of power that science fosters, and permits. And that is why you think that to build a place like this is simple."
"It was simple," Hammond insisted.
'Then why did it go wrong?"
Make it known that evaluation will often take place at publicized player-run events.
Can you imagine what a positive effect this would have on the game?
JustG wrote:
Message Edited by Ice-Cold on 07-10-2004 10:43 PM
The question to continue discussing is this:
Should the method of becoming Force Sensitive (not the path from Force Sensitivity to Jedi) be a mysterious, unknown mechanic orone that is visible and known to everyone?
I think that it should have a level of mystery to it, however I don't think that it should be unknown or even unavailible to the average player, It should be difficult but not in the manner of killing things.
I think honestly that it should begin with a random encounter vision or some random encouter clue...For instance...
Roogah is rideing his Swoop across Tatooine, andI recieve a system message across my screen.
*Your neck beings to tingle and you feel as if someone is watching you.*
Roogah slows down and gets off his swoop and equips his sword cause he's an old jaded fencer who thinks he's gonna have to kill someone.
a minute after the first message
*You see a figure out of the corner of your eye* (NPC spawns off about 64m away)
As he approches the figure it says.
"Roogah, have you sensed it?"
Insert followup dialogue thru character boxes outlineing quest 1 of the path to realizing Force Sensitivity.
Because in essence ALL PC's will be Force Sensitive in it's base description, it's the path to realizing that sensitivity that is their journey.
You could even put modifiers to the trigger that spawns the random event.
Such as was the last mission performed for a good cause or an evil cause. Have the missions spawn based on faction or interactions in the dialogue defineing weather the player character is of noble ideology or of an evil allignment.
The NPCwould choose a path that eithercajoled Roogah into embracing his anger (if he showed he was an evil sort) or one that focused him towards peace and balance with it. And the Missions would have both possible outcomes...
For example if Roogah outwardly was a peacefull sort as evidenced by dialogue choices the NPC could give him a mission nearby that was to diffuse the situation, but if heused combat to solve the mission the NPC would "give up onhim" and then later a "dark NPC" would find him and carry on with thequest from the dark point of view.