These Dice Are Pink

Posts Tagged ‘Game Design’

Firanmux for 2010

I haven’t talked about Firan for a while.  To be honest, I didn’t have a solid direction for quite some time.  I like thinking about game design, I like plotting, and I like writing stories.  Many times, this does not translate well into talking much about here.  Mostly, there are so many things that can’t be shared because they are spoilers.  Or, I fear the mundane details of design, which are fascinating to me, are extremely boring to other people.  I’m pretty sure the ins and outs of keeping a request queue from 150 players down to 40 or less is something of a pretty good niche.

When people look at Firan, they see a social and political roleplaying game.  For me, there’s a whole back end of little pockets of information that must be filtered, handled, set in motion, and processed.  Studying efficiency has always been part of the game to me (once I became a wizard) as the story itself.  And finding the balance between the two, it has always been a challenge and a delight.

Around December 17th, I finally stepped up into the Assistant Chief Wizard position.  About 3-4 days later, Prince Zaridos killed Prince Argin and the world went to hell in a hand basket.  I admit I wasn’t sure I wanted to take it on at that point.  I have since managed to stop hyperventilating enough to realize that it’s a challenge that can be handled.  A lot of wizards have over five years of Firan experience.  Since I joined the staff in 2001, my picture of the roleplaying world has exploded.  I’ve examined different systems and different methods of resolution.  I’ve had time to experience more of what is fair and what is good story and how to mix them both.  And I have the experience now to realize, it’s going to be difficult, hard, bloody, and quite possibly deadly.

With all that in mind, I believe we can do an interesting and fair job.  This sort of unrest is why people came to Firan to play for many.  It’s like the situation has put forth a challenge to make it count.  And we all know, I have trouble backing down from a challenge.