Hello, yes this is Wally.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be putting our regular reports and updates to both the ACC and the Character Sheets. Character Sheets 2.0 has been fully approved and greenlit, and the team is hard at work (as we speak) on deploying things in the smoothest manner possible. What you will see is a tiered approach where we release documentation that has been converted from the Google Docs/Sheets the team has been working on over the last 5 months into Wikipedia articles. Further changes to the website database will be added as we move along and will be viewable through the Character Sheet Reference which we will talk more about later.

For now, let me talk about something that actually coincides with my job as CM. As most of you know, I’m doing more than the average CM with CS 2.0 changes, but that does not mean I forgot about the ACC’s future.

Here is the start of some of the changes I plan on making.

Venues 2.0

To kick things off, it’s time for us to have more places to beat each other up. The design goal with these was to pick locations that are well known in the Star Wars universe, to serve as a base for not only fun places to have “battles” but ones recognizable by fans of the movies/tv shows. These are the first of what will be many more venues.

You can check them out with all their magesty here (and their consummate “V’s”)

I’d like to thank the authors of the new venues: Turel, Mirus, Adam Bolera, and of course A’lora. I would like to single out A’lora for taking my concept of using a unified “filter” over each Venue image and turning it into something crisp, clean, and sexy looking. Much better than my original Photoshop attempts were. As a result, the venues look like they come straight out of a holo-deck. It’s awesome, and I’m in love with them, and we now have a standard going forward for adding new venues.

Speaking of which, I made a few other changes you’ll probably notice. For one, Venues no longer have “prompts”. It was a cool concept at first, and I have plans to implement a “Scenario” mode at some point down the line and in the future. However, the prompts trapped a writer into how they would tell their story. I have decided to get rid of this in favor of: Clear description of the venue. An image that helps highlight the description. Allow the writer to create their own story of why the fight is happening.

Let me know what you guys think. We’re always open to feedback and new ideas.

CS 2.0 - Tiered Rollout

As mentioned previously, CS 2.0 will be rolled out in two phases. The first has already been deployed, and I will outline this information in the space below. Phase II will be covered in my next report and will cover actual updates/changes to the databases. I appreciate your patience and understanding with the process.

PHASE ONE: WIKI DOCUMENTATION / TABLES

Force Powers and Skills

One of the biggest issues I’ve had with questions from members over the years is: “where do I go to see what I can do with Force Power X?" or "at Skill Level Y?" Up until now, everything has been in a single spreadsheet document that is still labeled as a “Beta” resource.

While everything for CS 2.0 has been created in Google Docs/Sheets, we decided that it would be best to have all tables and information regarding Force Powers and Skills easily viewable on the Wiki.

Force Powers

You will now be able to see a table of Force Powers here.

The biggest thing to note here is the change from Force Shock to Force Lightning. This has, since the new CSs come about, been the power that has come up the most as a point of question and curiosity. Force Lightning is one of the most coveted and popular “powers” in all of science fiction, on par with the famed “Jedi Mind Trick” when it comes to pop culture awareness. The difference between “Shock” and “Lightning” had previously been a confusing divide. With CS 2.0, we have made a change.

Force Lightning is the ability to manifest the Force into violent energy from the user’s own body in the form of electricity directed at a single target. Force Lightning can fry sensitive electronics and will cause extreme pain in the recipient.

With this new description, you have more control and freedom with using Force Lightning. It can either be a single tendril, or splinters of it, but ultimately you will no longer have to worry about getting docked points for using the word “Lightning” if you’re not an Elder. The table found on the wiki explains more about the power's refractory period and what each rank in the power details.

While simple at its core description, there are a lot of Feats you will be able to take that modify how Force Lightning behaves.

For example, you have three Feats in:

“Fork It”, “Chain It”, “Stream It” (technologic!). Each of these Feats modifies Force Lightning in a different way, creating more possibilities to differentiate how your character fights or uses their power.

For example, Elders will have the ability to use:

”Elder Storm--” As an Elder, {{member}} can not only split {{gender:his,her}} Force Lightning to multiple targets, but can also chain outward from a single target, all without losing any power.

Whereas GMs will have the ability seen in “Lords of the Sith” novel wherein Palpatine takes down a whole shuttle with just Force Lightning:

”Tempest--" With power only a Grand Master could ever hope to wield, {{member}} can unleash a full storm of Force Lightning at a distance. {{member}} can even amplify {{gender:his,her}} Force Lightning with enough power to take down a starfighter or shuttle overhead.

There were some other changes of note that you will see in the Changelog a little bit later on in the report.

Skills

You will now be able to see the table of Skills here.

The biggest thing to note here is that these are just a guideline for you to reference. The descriptions are solid and define exactly what each skill does. The tiers are relatively subjective, but you can be assured that the entire team had input on this, and that there is a unified agreement on the breakdown between skill tiers.

All that said, I want to just remind everyone that the system is not just about the numbers. Everything has to do with the situation/scenario you are in. Most of the time, a situation will have your character pulling on 2-3 different skills all at once. Are you trying to talk your way out of a sticky mess? (heh) You could use your character's Leadership skill combined with their Manipulation skill and sprinkle in a little bit of Empathy to realistically charm your way to safety.

The point is, even in the ACC, very rarely will you ever see someone say, “You did this at +1, but really you would need +2 to do it.” It’s just not what we look for in terms of realism. We look for large disparities, like getting 10 headshots in a row when you have a +1 in Blasters. That’s bad touch. Do not want. So, please keep that mind as you look over the skills.

The two big changes to note here are “Artistry” being changed to “Crafting”. We did this in an attempt to make the skill more useful and familiar to those who have used conventional RPG systems before like the one used in ToR. While ToR isn’t canon, it does give some good inspiration for things that have been factored into the sheets.

The second is the addition of the new skill Tactics. Tactics helps us divide the charisma element of a “Leader” and the Military mind of a “Leader”. Leadership now focuses on your character's charisma and ability to get people to follow your lead without the use of manipulation. Tactics refers to your character’s battle acumen for handling troops and warfare based on experience.

Changelog: Force Powers

- “Force Shock” changed to “Force Lightning”
- “Stasis”, “Stun” removed and converted to Feats for “Slow”
- Removed: "Affliction"

Changelog: Skills

- "Artistry" changed to “"Crafting"
- New Skill: "Tactics”

In the next report:

• PHASE 2: Hard Coding/Database Updates
• Species 2.0
• Feats 2.0
• Disciplines 2.0
• Aspect Templates
• Wally runs a contest for a new logo for the ACC because he hates the current one.
• And more!

This is a lot of information. There is a lot going on. Months, hours, days, and countless sleepless nights have gone into this project. So many people have done so many things. Compared to when we first worked on the CSs, it’s been refreshing to have so much feedback, and to work with so many different people from lots of different units. The Brotherhood is in a really cool place right now.

I ask that everyone remain open-minded to the changes we are making. People have worked really hard. Arguments have been made behind closed doors, and a lot of work has been done. Please keep this in mind, along with the fact that while we love critique, we ask that you please keep it constructive. If you see something that might have been overlooked, shoot me an email at [Log in to view e-mail addresses] and I’ll make sure the team is on top of it.

The people that have worked with me through all of this are the best. They are talented, capable of working wizardry (tables and spreadsheets and CSS and other magics). Even as I write this, they are arguing over some kind of formatting-style thing on the wiki articles. I mention this to point out how we are always considering the small details while keeping our eyes on the big picture.

These individuals will all see recognition in the coming reports, and just rewards will be had. Make sure that if you see someone who has been working on the CS Projects that you give them a hug. The Character Sheets are the core of how we use our characters in the club and write them with our friends.

Remember all of this, and don’t forget to smile. That’s all I have for now.

Until the next report,