New title, same old face...

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New title, same old face...

So Jac has let the cat out of the bag – after 16 months and a bit of training Initiates, Journeymen and Equites in the Dark Side, I have found a new calling as Lord Hegemon. Now you may wonder what that entails and what I will be doing. However, before I’ll do that, I’ll have to say a tiny few words to look back at my time at the helm of the Shadow Academy:

When I was appointed to the position of Headmaster, 16th in a long row of famous Brotherhood names, it was with mixed feelings. On the one side, it was a great honor to serve on the Council coming directly from command of a House without ever having been in a Consul role. On the other hand – what I had been trying for at that time was actually the leadership of Clan Satal Keto and the Council role was only a second choice. Nonetheless, it was an intriguing situation to start in. Pyralis had left me the seeds of greatness already in place. There was the original implementation of Dark Fury, a program to assign Apprentices to Clans where they would be needed most. There were the initial attempts to streamline the joining process, at the time of the split an ardous task that often took 7 to 15 days and ensured between 65 percent (Krath) and 85 percent (Sith) of new members never made it into their Clan. There was also a very important starting point for my work already in place with the existence of some of the advanced courses; we already had made the transition from a pure newbie processing facility to a full-service addition to the Dark Brotherhood open to all members. So the seeds were laid and my task was essentially to complete what was begun.

Have I done this in those sixteen months ? I would say no. Not in the sense that there was no progress – the Shadow Academy has matured from then 7 to now 19 advanced tests, Initiates typically make it into their Clans within a maximum of two days since joining and at a rate of more than 70 percent and the number of course graduations in the time was as high as that of the EH’s IWATS in the same time – but on a membership basis of 900 (on average) compared to their 5000. These are impressive figures, yet I believe Spears will have a good workload to do before we can really say that the task of progressing from an EH-style inprocessing facility to as close to perfection as a training instituion of an online club can be is really complete. I have my full trust in him that, now that I move on, he will finish what has been begun and that he will on top of this add his own, personal mark to the Academy. Good luck, Spears, and may the 17th Headmaster be named with the greatest among them in the future. You’ve started on your reputation before you even got the job...

Which brings me to what I am moving to: Lord Hegemon, a new position. As first in what shall hopefully become a long tradition, the task falls upon me to set up something for the future to build on and it is nothing small. I selected the title of Hegemon because it represents what we do with the character creation and roleplaying aspects of the Brotherhood: We spread our philosophy of Darkness around the weaker races, subjugating and ruling in the Final Order. Where today there are Dark Jedi and nothing else, in the future, there will be people, planets, artifacts, starships and powers to rule over and it is my role to secure those for the Brotherhood.

However, this task, as well prepared as it may be through all the work that was done by myself and many others in the last almost four years since I first pitched the idea of a very simple flexible character generator system to then-GM Zoraan, is monumental and, due to the many possibilities of error, cannot be undertaken alone. And while I obviously rely on Mav and Jac to review everything to ensure compatibility with the overall vision of the Brotherhood, the many details of making true characters work can only be specified in a team. On the other hand, we want to make definite and fast progress, so I will wish to keep things to a small and dedicated group of individuals at first. While I may slightly exceed the number of three assistants due to a Council position, for now I shall call upon three persons to be the main ruling force of the Hegemony – and for now they shall use the Praetor and Magistrate titles.

(People not interested in the positions can skip a few paragraphs now, I’ll tell you where to continue reading)

These positions will demand the utmost in reliability and a good talent in numbers and storytelling. In detail, I will require:

One Praetor to the Lord Hegemon
This individual will be a key co-developer of the RPG system, possibly including other, related systems (Prestige and Credits). He or she will be responsible for development and setup of entire aspects of the system (like item statistics or Force power descriptions) as we find to best complement each other. An Equite rank is a prerequisite, Epis/Warlord/Exarch or higher is preferred as a high amount of DB experience is required. The person also needs to be a good writer; members who cannot point to significant Krath competition placings should please submit a writing sample with the application. Finally, a strong working knowledge of the D20 system in the Open Gaming (fantasy) version and at least basic knowledge of the D20 Star Wars system are required. I know this is asking a whole lot, but I am looking for a RPG developer to really toss ideas back and forth with at a frantic pace. Rank advancement and medal opportunities are commensurate with the workload, so if you are looking for some ways to spend your time creating lasting contributions to the Brotherhood and meet the criteria, you’re the person. I have a few names in my head who might fit the bill, but I’ll keep it open to not overlook anyone – I’ve been pleasantly surprised in the past by quite unlikely people applying for jobs after all.

Two Magistrates to the Lord Hegemon
The above duties and requirements will apply to the Magistrates as well, but to a lesser extent. Anyone with at least 3 months of service and decent writing and D20 skills plus a record of reliability is a possible candidate. PHP and/or PERL coding experience will be a strong plus for one of the positions as that will allow for „quick and dirty“ test runs to be coded quickly.

As I want people who are online a lot and can work to deadlines, I’ll have one out there right away: Applications are due by Sunday night this week, that’s the 24th. If I have it on my desk Monday morning upon getting online, it’s in, otherwise it’s out. Applications for Praetor will automatically also be considered for Magistrate if unsuccessful for the higher position, no need to apply twice. And if you think you don’t meet the listed requirements but feel you have something unique to contribute that makes up for it, go for it. I want the best and nothing less. If you’re chosen, you’re a big part of the DB’s future. No specific form for the application, just write what you think is right. In-character writing gets you a bonus if you manage.

(Here, those without position interest should rejoin the reading)

Once we have the staff, we’ll jump right in. Our work will be in close contact with the SCL and LA offices as everything we come up with, they’ll have to code after all. We’ll work „on paper“ for a few weeks (okay, Excel and Word) and then, as soon as possible, move on to coding and testing within the Rebirth database. The system envisioned is mathematically more complex than most paper-based RPGs, but members will find it actually much easier to use because the calculations will be made in the database for you as far as possible. Thus, in the end-user experience, you’ll find that the Brotherhood RPG will be somewhere in the middle between traditional over the table roleplaying and computer RPGs in terms of automation – you will be able to do the complex stuff on the web, without having to count up points, but you’ll still have the excitement of rolling that crucial attack die live when you play.

As I appreciate the fact that the interest level in RPG issues may be quite different among members, you will have different levels to participate:
- You can jump in head first and use everything provided, including the RPG sessions,
- You can just customize your character, but otherwise skip RPG,
- Or you can use a predetermined character path that will do all advancements for you automatically, requiring only a minimum initial setup (essentially choosing your race, gender and character type).
You can move up from the automatic character to full customization, however you will not be able to step back down. Once you start controlling your life, you are in charge :)

Also, we will keep around three types of characters:
- Your main character: This is yourself, according to your DB dossier. You gain experience by participating in DB activities and what you gain is what you can use in your stories, RPG sessions and anywhere else.
- “Tight” characters: These are secondary characters for hardcore RPGers and will be advanced through the gamemasters only. They are essentially how you’d run a character in a classic RPG campaign.
- “Open” characters. These are secondary characters you have full control over. You can promote, demote, upgrade, downgrade or delete them as you see fit. Well, apart from being more powerful than your main character, that is. Use for whatever story purposes you desire.
RPG sessions will also be classified as main, tight or open, depending on what characters you are allowed to use. Note that the number of secondary characters you can have will be limited, although dedicated roleplayers can earn themselves more.

An important aspect of the system is that it’s extremely open by design. If you really want a power, race or skill for your character that doesn’t exist in the DSC or initial setup, you can propose it to the RPG crew. It may get altered to balance it, but once it’s approved, it’s there for your character to have. Of course at that point it’s there for anyone else’s character to have, too, but that’s how you make real and lasting contributions to the Brotherhood.

If you have additional questions (and I sure you do), you can ask them on this messageboard thread. Keep it bookmarked, this will also be your best chance to give input if you’re not getting on the core team right now. We’ll have open tests and chances to play around for you once the basics are in the Rebirth database. And then there’s a chance for you to finally have that power or skill you always wanted...

Phew. I estimate this was about two Goathams(TM) long. That’s what I get for trying to tell you everything at once, I guess.

May Darkness reign, in the Hegemony forever.

Dark Jedi Master Kaiann Yetaru Entar
Lord Hegemon of the Dark Brotherhood on Antei

This post is so fucking long, it needs its own ISBN-number.

:P

Yeah -- no pushing my speech down!

I only had one thought after reading this... and fortunately, I'm not the only one. But after reading it, all I can say is, "Gotta catch 'em all, gotta catch 'em all! Hegemon!" :P

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