Creature Writers

Dalthid

05-08-2006 10:44:07

One of our post-GJW 'projects' is the completion of the Creature NPC's for the ACC. We currently have 10 of them, with dossiers, stats (along with bonuses and penalties) and all of that stuff already up - which can be found in the compendium. What we have been dealing with is "how" to actually incorporate them as combatants.

This is what we wanted:
- The creatures to be 'selectable' as opponents
- The writers behind the creatures to be anonymous
-- The anonimity is to keep the idea that you're fighting a 'creature' and not the person behind them or their DB character

2 seemingly simple things...

We tried it with the 'staff members' as the people behind the creatures and a few 'test' subjects from the membership, but due to the general "workload" of the staff, coupled with their Clan duties and such, most of the battles kinda fizzled out.

So, our next approach is the creation of Creature Handler staff positions and the hiring of a few more bodies. These people would be solely responsible for writing as the creatures of the ACC, but there are some issues that go along with it:

1) Wins and losses would go to the 'creature's' dossier, not the CH's (we're hoping there'd be more losses anyway, so that's a good thing, I guess)
2) A system of recognition would otherwise need to be devised for the CH 'staff' to compensate for effort and lack of allocation of points to their CS and recognition (actually pretty easily dealt with since staff members are given 'bonus' points on the CS to compensate for the inability to wage numerous battles in the first place)
3) Anonimity would need to be maintained as to which creatures a CH controls (apart from the GM/DGM/CM and DCM's knowledge of who controls them)

The "job" would also require the following:

1) Better than average writing skills...to a point
---- Not a 150 word poster (i.e lacks detail)
---- Not a 2000 word poster (i.e. long winded/distracting)
---- Can spell "cat" without breaking a sweat (i.e. doesn't regularly make 'basic' spelling/grammar errors)
---- Not prone to an overabundance of $50 words (i.e. writes in 'plain' language while still possesing a 'flare')
---- Understands that MOST in the DB are not Linguists, PhDs in Literature or Scholars, but 'regular' folks
2) Unquestionable ability in writing where ACC standards and stats are concerned
3) A desire to provide the best combat environment to members without thought for what you'll get out of it
4) A high activity level that will rarely see you barely beating out the 14 day time period by an hour
5) Rarely (preferrably NEVER) the cause of a battle's time-out
6) Uncompromisingly trustworthy as you will be given dossier #'s and PINs of the creatures you control
7) The ability to write as a creature (i.e. NOT your character, but completely autonomous)

The "job" would NOT entail:
- Rating battles
- Opening battles
- Running Live!
- Running Competitions
- Any 'regular' ACC staff duties

Basically, you'd be a 'staff writer' with no responsibilities other than controlling your creature and providing the best insane/exciting/realistic/dramatic etc etc combat enviroments for members of the ACC.




So, with all of that said - I was just curious if anyone would be interested?