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Apprentice
 
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Last Login: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 12:28 PM
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| It is a funny one and I know the make-up issue is a big one for a lot of people. I've been independent since Mascherata, my first event, and I loved it - it gave me a lot of opportunities to mix with a wide variety of interesting people who I would never have been able to with a colony allegiance, and to get a flavour of the whole of the field. From talking to a lot of colony people over the years, they have completely missed that, which seems to me to be missing a fundamental part of what Maelstrom is about, which is really sad to me. Now, however, it's time for something new and I'm giving the allegiance thing a try. To be honest, I'm kind of nervous about it - it might be a lot of downtime faf (although I figure it can't be worse than exploring was!); what do you do between the furthering the goals of your allegiance since it's harder to meet new people and bimble at them; how will I fit in with an already well established group; how will I pass my time supporting their goals; will they let me tag along to help in their already arranged schemes; fundamentally, will I be bored? That's the downside. On the other hand it appeals because there should (hopefully) often be things to get involved with as there are pre-existing goals to support, meaning in-game achievement is one step closer. I go in with a ready generated background, and already knowing the flavour of the group from the almanac; I already have a lot of respect for the group oc in terms of their active nature and organisation; it provides a network of people I will automatically have something in common with; there is something vaguely zealous in me that likes the idea of having an allegiance to support, a la the good old days of empire; and, when all's said and done, I looked at several new groups, and decided I want to hang around with my mates...
PD - Thoughtful http://DwarvenForge.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk
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Heroic Knight
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chalicier (7/10/2008)
Really, you get whingeing about that? Seems weird to me. I'd say IC repercussions for big decisions like that don't happen enough...
But then again I suppose you can't win, really.Very true..
PD: Head of economics
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Prodigal
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 3:23 PM
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Apprentice
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Today @ 5:00 PM
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| Indy jam...mmmmmm.... Indy Novak circus folk for the win!
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PD: Vald Novak of Novak's Traveling Carnival
CP: Mage Prime Sgt. Johnathan Pierce of the Arcane Tempest.
UKM - Southampton: Then: Max of clan Brujah - a verry bad boy...
Now: Mr King of clan Malkavian.
Cold Horizon: Unrest - Egotistical DJ extraordinaire
RL: Sam
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Wag
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 3:34 PM
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Ed Fortune (9/1/2008)
Question: If Indies where isntead called 'Assorted Scum' in the rule book and on the booking, would more people pick 'colonist' to represent 'just some spod'?
That's a very good question. I've never played an Indie, so I'm not sure, but I can't help but think that if they were called "Other" or "Scum" rather than "Independent" they'd be less popular. People do so love to play the rogue agent.
Another Question: Is colonist jam any better than Indie jam?
Well, it really depends on if you play the Colony DT game. Before Allegiance Advantages and the latest ruleset it was a little more obvious, but even now the difference is pronounced in Income, MAA and Retainers. The latter of those has been the big one, given the ridiculous power of Retainers in the game.
The other big bit of Colonist Jam is Allegiance Advantages. Indies don't get the opportunity to spend 5 points on anything. Being able to have 50 MAAs, or Income 5 every DT, or 5 Farms/Mines, or whatever... that's a big advantage.
And all that's just the hard rules munch. I haven't even started on the potential of ready-made allies, the extra RP due to colony politics, the huge quantities of player-built personality and culture that's grown up around most of the colonies... I find myself wondering why anyone would want to play Indies, tbh. Apart from the Free Islands, of course.
PD - Brother Farael of the Ordo Dictum Dominus
EOS - Some Raggard Scum, previously Some Arimin Scum
6P - System creator (now retired), Andrei Treune of Clan Suner (for the moment)
RL - Will Robinson
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Apprentice
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Today @ 5:00 PM
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Another Question: Is colonist jam any better than Indie jam? Well, it really depends on if you play the Colony DT game. Before Allegiance Advantages and the latest ruleset it was a little more obvious, but even now the difference is pronounced in Income, MAA and Retainers. The latter of those has been the big one, given the ridiculous power of Retainers in the game.
The other big bit of Colonist Jam is Allegiance Advantages. Indies don't get the opportunity to spend 5 points on anything. Being able to have 50 MAAs, or Income 5 every DT, or 5 Farms/Mines, or whatever... that's a big advantage.
And all that's just the hard rules munch. I haven't even started on the potential of ready-made allies, the extra RP due to colony politics, the huge quantities of player-built personality and culture that's grown up around most of the colonies... I find myself wondering why anyone would want to play Indies, tbh. Apart from the Free Islands, of course.
Dont take this as a pop or flame. Im a member of the Novak Carnival and we just wanted a fun group with a good concept the whole spending 5 points on X at char gen thing didnt even come into it. TBH i really didnt care that i was at a stats disadvantage that's not why i play the game. Im there for good RP and fun, i really couldnt care less if X char has Y and i can never be as Uber in shipping/MAA etc as them. Basically im not there to be the best/biggest or win the game, im just there to play the game. The trick with being independant is we will deal with EVERYONE! no preudice towards X becouse their from Y colony. Also we have no aligence to anyone so we can never be put in positions of having to do Y because your colony is at war or otherwise hates X. (must stop with this whole X, Y thing) This makes our group skill base and trading ability MASIVE!!! There is the argument of the fact that we have no "backup" if anyone ever attacked us but as we own no land nor buildings why would you attack us? there's nothing to gain from it... except 50+ angry pikeys with guns and larp safe bottles on your door step! "oh look my friend is bottle! oh dear my friend is in you face no?" 
******************************************
PD: Vald Novak of Novak's Traveling Carnival
CP: Mage Prime Sgt. Johnathan Pierce of the Arcane Tempest.
UKM - Southampton: Then: Max of clan Brujah - a verry bad boy...
Now: Mr King of clan Malkavian.
Cold Horizon: Unrest - Egotistical DJ extraordinaire
RL: Sam
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Prodigal
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 3:23 PM
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| I think the bias should come from the colonies, not the indies. Indie groups seem to have the advantage of flexibilty, but really, why is that? The nation doesn't know you from Adam, and you don't have the huge tonnes of gold that Rimici Cappel has, the massive fleet of Sacuza, etc. Perhaps colonists need more of an incentive to not favour 'small business', or perhaps Trade Houses need buffing.
Fan made FAQ Rules here. Maelstrom Community links: Livejournal , Myspace, Facebook , Orkut , the Frappr Map of Players and Flickr photosharing . See also the List of Allegiance based webgroups and Helen's list of Event Photo Websites . The chatroom is: irc.esper.net , #maelfroth . See also Top Tips for Priests . My LRP CARD.
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Wag
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 3:34 PM
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SpikeySam (9/1/2008)
Im a member of the Novak Carnival and we just wanted a fun group with a good concept the whole spending 5 points on X at char gen thing didnt even come into it. TBH i really didnt care that i was at a stats disadvantage that's not why i play the game.
I think you missed the bit where I said "It really depends on if you play the Colony DT game." If you don't play the DT game, then you're not going to care about the DT jam.
BTW, it's not really about a "stats disadvantage". It's a matter of possibilities. You flat-out can't play an Income 5 megafop as an Indie, or a Blessing 5 Uberpaladin. Nor can you play dozens of other character types that pretty much require 5 points in something. It doesn't mean you're losing out stats-wise; you get the same 5 points everyone else gets... you're just restricted in what you can do with it. Anyone else can play the same characters an Indie can, but the reverse is not true. That's what I mean by "jam". "Stats" aren't the issue as much as "character potential".
The trick with being independant is we will deal with EVERYONE! no preudice towards X becouse their from Y colony.
See, I don't consider that "jam". In fact I consider that anti-jam. Why is not having deep-seated prejudices against people fun, exactly?
Reminds me of what I thought when I saw the bit in the forum agenda for the next event about "Mayans and Lyzars". My heart just sank and I thought "Why? Why would you do that?" Surely it's way more fun to dislike each other?
There's a very common bit of reasoning amongst Indie players in my experience - "I don't want to get dragged into someone else's war" is a direct quote from another Indie player, which seemed odd to me. Surely if you were in a Colony group it's not someone else's war, it's yours.
I can't help but feel it's about 95% about not wanting to be told what to do (whether by other players or PD's background material). I realise this is almost certainly not the reason regarding your group - "travelling carnival" seems more suited to Independent than almost any other group concept imaginable. But if I had to pick out the most likely motivation for most Indie group concepts not being part of either a Colony or Trade House or Church, it'd probably be that.
PD - Brother Farael of the Ordo Dictum Dominus
EOS - Some Raggard Scum, previously Some Arimin Scum
6P - System creator (now retired), Andrei Treune of Clan Suner (for the moment)
RL - Will Robinson
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