Talk:Core Concepts

Theme The core concepts for the game were supposed to be:

1. Comic book superheroes genre game
2. Blended world (not one world as base or the other, but elements of all the relevant worlds blended together into a single unique whole resembling all)
   • Marvel
   • DC
   • Wildstorm
   • Others possibly

--BlondieWiki (talk) 19:35, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

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I would say for this that we restrict it to only superhero comic themes as listed already, with a few others (Dark Horse possibly?). Within comics there should be themes we disallow also. For example, I would not want to see anything like GI Joe or Transformers in a comic world, even if they have comics. I could be okay with allowing some other themes on a case by case basis, and giving people the options to make their case for how it could work in the current them.

For example, if someone wanted to do a Mercy Thompson view of werewolves and werecritters, I could be convinced, but that would also further limit what's possible from other modern horror/fantasy settings once approved. We couldn't then also allow, for example, Anita Blake stuff because how werecritters and vampires are done is completely different in that world.

I also am willing to allow superheroic concepts from other media like books or movies, but only if the player can demonstrate it will work in theme. For example, Worm is an excellent superhero story, but the way powers work (that everyone has shards of power from an extradimensional being) is incompatible with Marvel/DC theme. Could they still do the character of Skitter? Sure; a girl who controls insects is a workable power, but she'd have to rewrite her background to fit theme.

I also think we should outright disallow any anime characters, as I feel they are just not workable because each anime world requires its own world rules, and because I don't want to see someone making OCs based on anime characters or their worlds.

--Metahistory (talk) 19:52, 4 July 2020 (UTC)

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I'm not going to lie, I'd actually go more strict than Meta suggests. By that, I mean, I'd go with "only the comic themes we specify" and sit down as staff and choose those... and no to everything else.

I hate to be the bad guy here, but without a solid no, there will always be someone who thinks their (dumb) implementation of whatever it is will work, when it won't. And they will not accept no for an answer and they won't want to do the work to adjust it; or not accept it can't BE adjusted; or they will want us to adjust to fit them. All this is doing is setting theme and apps staff up for failure and stress in the long run, as well as giving more room for bad OC apps to be pitched.

Basically, coming from a long staffing career: you want to say "no" in +jobs as little as possible. It's better to say "no" in rules and theme upfront.

My suggestion:

• DC
• Marvel
• Wildstorm (excluding the Authority and the Four)
• BRPD (Hellboy)

Make me some suggestions if you think I've missed something WORKABLE, but I just don't see other comics properties fitting the theme overall. I think twisting a bunch of crazy properties (take Sex Criminals as an example) to "work with the theme" is more trouble that it's worth and just opens doors we will later want to close but can't because grandfathered in bullshit. Also, having a strict set to pick from makes actually blending the worlds more palatable and less stressful on the theme folks. --OwlCity (talk) 7/4/2020 10:35pm EDT

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I can see the value of having a hard list, sure. The issue is also that there are some series under a particular publisher I'd be okay with and some that would be problematic. IDW or Dark Horse, for example. We can probably mitigate that with our banned list when we get to it though.--Metahistory (talk) 22:22, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

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It's always easier to make a strict list upfront and add maybe one or two properties later than it is to be like "oh, x publisher is fine" and having to walk it back. Players do not like feeling like something has been taken away.

Further addition: I wouldn't even say "Marvel" or "DC". Some jackanape will take "Marvel" to think they can app Darth Vader, because technically Star Wars is a Marvel imprint.

I know I sound harsh here. But I'm trying to say trouble down the road. Banned lists are fine-- but if we only focus on banned lists, I feel like I'm going to be fighting for every thing placed on it because there will be some reason "it could be fun" or "it COULD work if someone makes it just like this". Staffing is HARD. Staffing a mixed theme is already a nightmare. Please make it easier on yourselves, because you are all nice people and you don't want to do this to yourselves.

--OwlCity (talk) 22:27, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

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Should we take the step of requiring that people put in a request for a character then before we'll make the bit for them? So we have that last check on whether or not we want to allow the character or not? --Metahistory (talk) 23:06, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

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