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Hello all! A few weeks have passed us by with our most recent shakeup of the leadership team. Promises were made, and goals were set on rejuvenating this faction. Today, I would like to announce some of those changes, and outline further things you as a Republic member (or a possible Republic member) can expect from us.
The GAR
The biggest change of all is we have fully revamped the GAR. For detailed coverage of what exactly changed, please see our GAR AFL's announcement in the following spoiler. A big thank you goes out to @Calixis for handling the brunt of the work to spruce up the GAR. Thanks a million man! And I can't go without also thanking @Darasuum for contributing heavily as well. Without them, you'd probably still be waiting. :p
Let's get down to brass tacks with regards to the Grand Army of the Republic.
[Obligatory Meme.gif Here]
This part of the revamp has been focused on consolidating GAR both IC and OOC around a singular concept. When it comes down to military roleplay - particularly on SWRP - there has too often been a problem of characters feeling too 'separated' from one another, as if they lack a place of belonging. It's a very unique problem that only military factions really suffer from. Does it really feel so immersive when your grunt is running missions solo? How many times can you convolute a reason for your corporal to take command of all these random NPC soldiers? The introduction of GAR tried to get around this issue with the introduction of 'Commando units' however this concept was never really pushed enough. We knew what the Jedi Army was, we know who the Death Watch were, what were GAR/Border Alliance beyond 'non-Force Sensitive soldiers'.
With that in mind, all GAR Player Characters will now fall under Special Forces. More specifically, the Special Operations Group. In this way, PC characters will always be a cut above the regular NPC grunts that the Sith are so fond of slaughtering. You weren't planning on having your character roll over and die to a glowstick like them were you? No? Grand, your ability to actually fight back just marked them as a potential candidate for Special Forces. It affords us the suspension of disbelief that these 'unconventional operators' would be able to take on critical, small-unit assignments whether in pairs or as a full squad, whilst also allowing the PC's to thrive as being a cut-above-average.
Ranks have also seen a rework. Previously we just had a member rank, a vague leadership position (usually held by AFLs) and then- well, that was it. I wanted to introduce a ranking structure was that not bloated down in too many colourful but useless ranks people had to climb up slowly. Instead what I've gone for a system that is more vague on the exact rank of the character but is more tied to their role within the structure. Troopers will be our bread and butter, the majority of Special Forces soldiers and players. Squad Leaders are for characters capable and willing to command both NPCs and, yes, lead other PCs through missions. Commander? Well, you see where this is going. For those who want to command larger formations of NPCs into battle, plan operations and missions and lead. All Members can potentially obtain these ranks, although they will need to earn them.
Even the Sign-Up thread has received a fresh lick of paint. As per the warning in the activity check, the roster has been completely wiped. Everybody will be required to sign-up again so that we can take down some new information from you regarding your character. Don't worry, we'll get you into the fight quickly enough.
Additional information regarding the make-up of the Grand Army of the Republic has been created by yours truly also. Have a look at the thread HERE which also contains information on our new ranks.
So, where do you, my wonderful GAR soldiers, go from here?
- Reapply via the sign-up HERE. The activity of those who responded to our activity check has been noted.
- Watch for a brand new Mission Pack coming today, tomorrow or Wednesday. This is to ease-in and kick start our activity.
- Revamps to existing Technology are incoming. Our armoury has been lacking and I - alongside of Darasuum - are eager to get us more unique gear.
- Pre-order your official MRGA(tm) hat today and support the troops.
Well, what are you waiting for? There's a war to win!
For those who want the TL;DR version of what exactly changed, the gist is: We narrowed down what roles a player character can actually assume, choosing to gravitate to spec ops type characters for now. This does not mean we will not expand to other archetypes or allow other characters on a case by case basis, but by and large the revised writeup (found here) details what we generally are allowing. While more specific, the roles we have listed should be broad enough to allow for individualism and a variety of skills, so please don't feel like you can't have some leeway with that.
The Senate
From a senate perspective, @Darasuum is hard at work at developing Senate mission packs to help provide more content for our ever patient and neglected senate players. But this dovetails into our next announcement. We will be utilizing a new type of mission pack that we brainstormed. This mission pack will primarily be used by the senate for now, but expect to see some GAR type missions along this same vein, and they are called:
Interactive Mission Packs
Who likes video games? Probably most of us. When you look at the most successful video games out there, or more accurately the most popular rpg type video games, such as mass effect, kotor, dragon age, etc., they do one thing very well. That thing is involving the players on an emotional level with the characters, with their decisions, and the repercussions of their decisions. At the moment, I'm sure we can all agree that rp on this site has gotten fairly repetitive, namely an upsurge in combat threads and a decline in story driven threads.
Obviously there is nothing wrong with combat threads. In fact, when done right, they can add flavor to the story by means of conflict and developing rivalries. But as is the case with any seasoning or flavor, too much of it can leave a bad taste in your mouth, which is the unfortunate outcome many have suffered here, specifically within the Republic.
Interactive missions (TM) are our solution to trying to help broaden our rp palette. These packs will start off with 1 mission, with the participants of that mission expected to create further missions based off of the actions that take place in that first mission. They will have more of a story driven flair, and they will be centered into involving the members of our faction into developing story arcs and decisions that can affect the faction as a whole (within reason of course. Myself, @Calixis and @Darasuum will regulate/moderate these arcs accordingly under the cooperation and approval of the admin team) By way of clarification, that is not to say we won't have any more combat threads. The Republic can look forward to more conflict threads by means of open threads and main faction battles, and these interactive missions can also serve as a means to do that as well.
You might be wondering though, about what this means. Perhaps you are trying to visualize how this type of rp would work. Allow me to provide the following example.
Mission 1: A secret meeting
"Chancellor Rhone assembles a group of influential senators to a private meeting, under the hopes of uniting them to common purpose of reaching out to neutral worlds in the hopes of bringing them into the fold of the Republic."
Participants: 3 Senators and Gregory Rhone
Now, suppose throughout the course of the rp, the decision is made to target key neutral worlds (we'll just pick Seleucami and Nal Hutta as examples). The senators that participated will be encouraged to create missions within this pack, subject to approval by myself and Darasuum, since he is the senate AFL, to further this story arc. Perhaps one of the senators wants to sabotage these efforts to bring other worlds into the Republic. Perhaps another Senator wishes to use this occurrence to consolidate influence and gain more political clout. The choice is yours, and is only limited by the bounds of the rules of this site, the approval of myself and my AFL's, and whatever motivations and aspirations your character has.
This idea is fairly new, and we will monitor and adjust accordingly should there be a need to do so. But the intent should be obvious, namely to encourage involvement and active participation by the members, rather than activity being solely dependent on the leadership team. This obviously does not mean we waive that responsibility or we are discharging it, but our mentality is that if the players are invested in stories they helped create, that can't be a bad thing, right?
In conclusion, I'd like to take this opportunity to encourage anyone who is even remotely interested in joining the Republic to do so. We have seen small growth since I have returned, which I am overjoyed about. It is my hope we can grow even more, and have even more help in making the Republic great again by means of content and literal man power. If you haven't noticed, during our restructuring phase we have dropped significantly in numbers while kicking inactive members from our roster, or as Calixis has mentioned in our efforts to re-sign everyone up.
Thank you all for your time and attention, and may the force be with you. Always...
@Calixis @Darasuum (please tag anyone I miss) @Captain Hook @Raydo @Outlander @TWD26 @Nor'baal @Sangga @Andrewza @Cainhurst Crow @Headastator @Grim @jamessour @Lavi @Livu @Dmitri @GABAroo @Flying Dutchman @Loco @Korvo @Krajin @SirNoodles
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