Regent Report #15
Hello friends!
I hope you've all been enjoying last month's release of Land Vehicle Upgrades, tricking out those rides. We've got some more goodies coming to you today, as well as a policy update, specifics on a review we've been working on, and some other stuff!
Item Aspect Approval Guidelines
With the first round of upgrades available for member items completed, aspects see a lot less use than they did before. Still, upon reviewing the guidelines for the Item Aspect Approval Policy, we decided it was due for a bit of an update to reflect some things that have been policy for a while now (longer than I've been Regent) so that the members are fully aware what is expected.
The biggest changes come to the Counterfeit Rule, Brotherhood Robes, and Lightsabers. These updates are:
- Counterfeit Rule: An aspect cannot modify an item such that it is attempting to become a copy of another item. After reading the item aspect, it must be clear that the extended description of an item does not attempt to mimic another. The custom aspect must retain the original characteristics of the item.
- Brotherhood Robes: Journeyman and Equite Brotherhood Robes custom aspects must describe an item used on the Herald robe selector tool. The use of descriptors for light, medium, or heavy armor should also not be included in the aspect as these can be changed on a whim by the member at any time. Tailored Brotherhood Robes and Elder Tailored Brotherhood Robes are custom robes and can reflect whatever appearance the member desires as long as it does not conflict with the Counterfeit Rule (i.e. no Mandalorian armor, Stormtrooper Armor, etc)
- Lightsabers: Lightsabers in possessions are meant to mirror the options available on members dossiers. Lightsabers of members EQ1 and below (on the Knight Lightsaber and regular Lightsaber/Lightsaber Shoto item, if purchased) must be that of a selector image and will use the Basic Lightsaber Cosmetic aspect type. All lightsaber cosmetic aspects that wish to describe a selector lightsaber will use a Basic Lightsaber Cosmetic, all custom or modified lightsaber cosmetic aspects will use an Advanced Lightsaber Cosmetic. In addition, we've added several examples of item aspects, so that members can see the kinds of things wrong with aspects and how they can be corrected.
You can read the full policy here
Prototype Renames
When first added we use whichever name is available or listed for a given item, but if there's one thing we know it's that Star Wars lore is rarely static and if an item is new enough to the Star Wars universe when we add it to possessions, we can guarantee that there will be future updates or information. Until now, the Regent Staff lacked the ability to "reset" an item instance's (the actual item the member or clan buys) prototype name when updating the actual name of an item prototype, meaning we lacked the ability to keep up with Star Wars lore.
Thanks to James, this is no longer the case and I can manually reset a given item name back to what the main prototype is. I've renamed the following prototypes to reflect their canon names, leaving member or clan owned items untouched for now (but any member can get ahold of me anytime to get this reset to match the prototype, and I'll even override the name back to whatever you had it set to).
- Death Watch Blaster Carbine -> GALAAR-15 Blaster Rifle
- Kalevalan Star Yacht -> Nau'ur-class Yacht
- Mandalorian Executioner Vibro-ax -> Munit'kad Halberd
- Razor-class Gunship -> ST-70 Assault Ship (because ST-70-class Razor Crest M-111 is stupid)
- Sphyrna-class Corvette -> Sphyrna-class Hammerhead Corvette
- Combat Hammerhead Corvette -> Sphyrna-class Combat Hammerhead Corvette
It's that time again, and the Regent Staff is releasing our fourth booster release, Republic. This release includes 18 member items and 4 clan items for a total of 22, putting it on-par with the other booster releases we've put out so far in terms of item count. This release (as with most of them) includes a couple member requested items, but is a bit of a special thing in its own right because it marks the first time that items from the High Republic have made its way into the system, and that's where this release gets its name.
Every High Republic item added in this release was proposed by no-longer-my-Magistrate-because-he's-a-traitor Arch. A couple of them didn't make the cut, but only because of lack of suitable images or the fact it's a giant force-user killing murderous Drengir plant and would have been the only item in the system to be a Plant creature. They're still all approved, so may be added at a later date should we find a suitable image (or in the case of the Drengir, find more Plant creatures to add).
You can find the full release of items here.
Lightsaber Resistant Materials
Over the last couple weeks, the Regent Staff has been doing an intense review of both canon and Legends material on lightsaber resistant materials. After an exhaustive discussion on the matter amongst the staff, we've decided to bring a few of these into the system now that they're workable and find a solution that best fits possessions. To that end, we will be bringing in Phrik and Cortosis to start and eliminating the "minor lightsaber resistance" and "major lightsaber resistance" granted aspects in lieu of a new set of three featuring the two above metals. We will only be using the canon versions of these materials, as canon takes precedence.
To ensure consistency with other lightsaber resistant items already in place (as consistency is key with possessions), lightsaber resistant versions of certain items will be available to members to purchase at a later date, while existing lightsaber resistant items such as the Imperial Purge Trooper Armor and Iron Legion Special Forces Armor will be updated. We're trying to stick as close to canon where possible, so don't expect to see every legendary weapon or item getting lightsaber resistance - that's just not going to happen.
As always...
- If you have any questions/comments/concerns about a possession or the possessions system, or have found an error, please email us at the Regent Staff mailing list (linked below).
- If you have a canon/legends item prototype or droid/starship/weapon upgrade suggestion, please use the suggestion box (linked below).
- If you want to propose a non-canon/non-legends item prototype for inclusion in possessions, follow the Item Prototype Approval Policy (linked below) and send us the full proposal outlined therein.
Important Links
- [Log in to view e-mail addresses]
- Item Research
- Item Stores
- Item Aspect Approval Policy
- Item Prototype Approval Policy
- Regent Suggestion Box
- Item Error Reporting Baox
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Woot. More credits to the coffers.
Roger Roger!
Who doesn't love a little phrick in their possessions?
I bought a fire doggo :D
Sweet I love your reports. Every time it's like Christmas.
One question. For the updates to lightsaber resistant materials, how will this affect beskar? If I remember right it's supposed to resist lightsabers but I'm not sure if it includes phrik or cortosis.
Beskar hasn't changed. It's staying the same as it was before.
I like the counterfeit rule. It was a slippery slope in making sure items weren't being replicated by aspects. However, I have some concerns for the other two (less so on lightsabers.)
Regarding the "Brotherhood Robes" rules (which don't affect me much as I do own Elder Robes), I can see this being problematic for a lot of reasons if I think back to a year ago when I was writing aspects for standard "White Rarity" possessions.
1: Commissions / "True" Appearances The most obvious is for those with character commissions or artwork that represents what their character wears more accurately than the "presets" available on the selector. For instance, one of my characters wears "natural armor", which only has one selector design (that isn't accurate to what they actually wear), and no male selector image. If a cosmetic aspect has to 100% describe something on the selector, would I get docked in the ACC for writing what my character wears in their commission (assuming it violates no counterfeit rules, like my character commission having beskar armor, but not owning it)? In my mind, writing the selector appearances for my characters would be very inaccurate, but the aspects allowed me to describe how, say, Oriana's outfit "should" be written (the design of which doesn't seem to break any counterfeit rules, but also doesn't describe one of the selector options.)
2: Alterations / Granularity How granular is the moderation going to be on writing alterations to selector images in aspects? Is the Regent staff going to make sure the description matches a selector skin 100% every time an aspect is submitted? What if I wanted to use something similar to smuggler robes, with no sleeves and sandals? Not to mention a selector graphic can be changed at any time, independently of possessions or aspects.
Hmm, apologies. The formatting didn't carry over when I hit "post."
Alora,
To be clear, the only items affected by this update (which has been used in practice for a while now) are the Journeyman Brotherhood Robes and Equite Brotherhood Robes. Those two items must describe a selector option. Any other item (like Natural Armor, per your example) is unaffected by this codification of existing practice and does not (and hasn't had) need to use a selector option.
As for moderation, it will follow the existing rules and update to the counterfeit rule: The custom aspect must retain the original characteristics of the item. So while "minor" changes such as going sleeveless or accommodating your character's Darth Maul reverse articulating legs are allowed, it must still in essence be a selector item. It'll be (just like the counterfeit rule) up to Regent Staff discretion.
I see this as a non-issue. Dossier graphics have always been able to be changed independently of possessions, and a "snapshot" aspect option has always been offered for Brotherhood Robes for those that don't want to go into extra details. This codification changes nothing, it's just to cut down on aspect remands and (hopefully) speed up the process for members getting to use their new aspects. If a member wants to change graphics but still wants a better description other than "see dossier", they'd write a new aspect like they would for any other item. The same goes for lightsabers.
Oh, my mistake. I read that as "Robe items unlocked at Journeymen or Equite" and not a specific item called "Equite Robes." That change seems fine to me now.
No worries!