SWmud

Mech Rework Proposal

                    ===================================
                      Mechanical Stat Rework Proposal
                    ===================================

////////////////////////////////// Reasons for Reworking Mechanical

//////////////////////////////////

History

The mud's base stats were originally taken from the West End Games *Star Wars RPG* system. The stats in that system were Dexterity, Knowledge, Mechanical, Perception, Strength and Technical. Since they required input from a gamemaster, Knowledge and Perception were dropped during the conversion to the mud and a Force stat was added.

> Mechanical stands for "mechanical aptitude" and represents how well a > character can pilot vehicles and starships and operate the various systems > on board. It also reflects how well the character handles live mounts, like > banthas and tauntauns. A character with a high Mechanical attribute is going > to take naturally to driving landspeeders, flying cloud cars and piloting X- > wings and ships like the Millennium Falcon. A character with a low > Mechanical attribute has a lot of minor accidents. > > Most Mechanical skills are used to drive vehicles or pilot starships. Most > of the time, characters should be able to negotiate clear terrain (Very Easy > or Easy) without too much trouble. It's when a driver goes too fast, tries > risky maneuvers or gets involved in a chase that things get tricky.

The mud started with four guilds: Jedi, Mercenary, Pilot, and Scientist. This gave a single stat for each guild with Strength being a universal stat all of them needed. As the mud has expanded over the years, the need for stats has become much more diverse and the simple structure of the original mud doesn't necessarily reflect the needs of the current mud. As an example, due to the needs of Diplomat, Merchant and Smuggler, the Charisma stat was added in 2019. Charisma has allowed for a better gameplay experience overall and has been seen as a positive change by both the coder and player populations.

Mechanical is currently, and has been for years, the least useful of the MUD's existing attributes. It is often redundant with Tech, as the two stats are usually bundled together when Mech is involved, but Tech can and does function independently. The concept of "driving" is already covered by the related skills for ships and vehicles. This does not currently allow for much use, and the concept is extremely limited, making it unlikely that the situation will change in the future.

When creating new species for the mud, Mech is often regarded as a ready candidate for a sacrifice stat. This isn't the most compelling argument for a stat's setup and does a disservice to the storytelling of the species. Even when actually used, the results are often less than ideal.

Proposal and Variants

As far as names for stats, we looked at a lot of choices. Here's part of the brainstorming list we had in no particular order: Grit, Moxie, Mettle, Cunning, Spatial, Intuition, Perception, Alertness, Tactical, Instinct, Aptitude, Savvy, and Cool.

We were trying to replace not just the word mechanical, but the purpose of mechanical. Its purpose as far as guilds and races went were in piloting and scouting skills which is why some of the terms were picked for the brainstorming. Then we looked at ones that could be expanded in interesting ways and used by other guilds.

We didn't want to replace Mechanical with something that would be pretty much only Pilot again. We'd settled on Intuition and Tactical.

There are multiple variations of the proposed plan listed below, including ways of keeping Mechanical along with ways of using these new stat ideas.

Links to spreadsheets with suggested guild/stat combinations have been included with each variant proposal. Jedi and Sith also include an additional stat beyond Force which could factor into either skill success or skill effect.

Work to Implement

Any option that includes renaming mechanical or adding additional stats will require some work from the coders.

//////////////////////// Leave Mechanical Alone

////////////////////////

Summary

This is the easiest variant. Nothing changes.

There is no example spreadsheet for this because it's just what we already have.

Pros

Cons

/////////////////////////// Expand Mechanical Variant

///////////////////////////

Summary

This variant simply takes our existing mechanical stat and broadens its use to be applicable to more guilds. This includes using it for some skills in Bounty Hunter, Merchant, and Slicer where they are using Technical currently. In the case of Slicer, there would still be Technical skills and it would make use of both stats.

Example Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet - https://s.gwenn.dev/mechreworkmech

Pros

Cons

/////////////////// Intuition Variant

///////////////////

Summary

This option would replace Mechanical with a new stat called Intuition.

Intuition has nothing to do with the Force and is more akin to Wisdom in tabletop RPGs whereas Technical is its Intelligence counterpart. Intuition is your gut feeling based on your experiences and instincts in your field as opposed to what the textbook tells you should be the case. The classic Star Wars line of having a "bad feeling about this" ties into Intuition. A Pilot needs to be able to trust their training and intuition on how to handle a fight. A Scout needs to trust their intuition when dealing with nature and animals. Scientists occasionally need to follow their intuition as well as their Technical expertise dealing with their field. Bounty Hunters rely on their intuition on tracking a target. Diplomats can rely on their intuition when doing backroom dealing.

Please see the example spreadsheet linked below for a rough look at what the stat combinations for guilds would look like.

Example Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet - https://s.gwenn.dev/mechreworkint

Pros

Cons

////////////////// Tactical Variant

//////////////////

Summary

This option swaps out Mechanical for the new stat Tactical.

Tactical fit an interesting niche for us. It's about picturing the "battlefield" and knowing what pieces need to move where. It was also a better word than Spatial, Perception, or Alertness for a stat. This is a very important stat from the viewpoint of pilots where you need to understand where all of the pieces are and how to avoid running into things. Other interesting ideas based on this were giving it to Diplomats and playing into some of the political intrigue type concepts that we'd like to see them do more of. Other examples are Bounty Hunters trying to hunt their quarry and some of Scout's more tactical moves.

Example Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet - https://s.gwenn.dev/mechreworktact

Pros

Cons

////////////////////////////// Intuition & Tactical Variant

//////////////////////////////

Summary

In addition to renaming Mechanical to Intuition this variant also adds Tactical as a seventh attribute.

Adding both Intuition and Tactical was an idea that allowed for a little more variety in the guilds as well as feeling like some of them being less shoehorned into a particular stat for the sake of it. It also allows for a little bit more variety in the stats for player species by giving one more thing to be good or bad at. Also, please note that the guild stat distribution is a theoretical one and may change drastically between now and the time everything is implemented.

Please see the example spreadsheet linked below for a rough look at what the stat combinations for guilds would look like.

Example Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet - https://s.gwenn.dev/mechreworktactint

Pros

Cons

///////////// Conclusion ///////////// It is impossible to have a perfect model to represent that galaxy far, far away. We do hope that these options at least provide a possibility to provide builds and improve the overall gameplay for players as well as provide coders the ability to create adventures for another thirty years of mudding.

Vote Results

THE QUESTION: Which Mech Rework Variant do you think is best for the mud?

Polls closed at Wed Jan 1 01:17:33 2025 CDT.

Results: