This forums is for questions, answers, and discussion about First Edition rules, formats, and expansions.

Which path do you want to take for WotC6?

Option 1: Make a mission from (almost) any source.
27
36%
Option 2: Make a 23rd century planet mission and a personnel.
48
64%
User avatar
Director of First Edition
By MidnightLich (Charlie Plaine)
 - Director of First Edition
 -  
Prophet
#446020
Greetings! Today I'm happy to announce to return of Will of the Collective! If you haven't had the pleasure of participating before, Will of the Collective is a process where the community makes most of the key decisions for a card's design, from starting concept to finished creative treatment. This installment, the sixth, is hereby know as Will of the Collective VI: Return of the Collective, and will be officially starting off on Monday, January 21st. And this year, we'll be making a mission!

But before we can begin, you must make a decision. Because, down one path you'll get to make almost any mission you can dream of; but down the other, you get to make a mission and a personnel. You see, in Project Delenn, we're introducing a new mechanic we've nicknamed "natives." These are personnel that name in their lore a non-homeworld planet that has "23rd century" in lore. This mechanic captures the diverse number of local personnel that so often joined Kirk and crew on missions.

Project Delenn features a number of these missions, and a support card for the native personnel that acts much like Assign Mission Specialists does. You can download a native, or score points when a native solves their named mission. While technically any personnel that names a non-homeworld planet in their lore is a native, the mechanic is meant for (and works best with) [OS] personnel. And this will be a mechanic that appears throughout the block's three expansions.

We thought it would be fun to tie this community design project into the upcoming block and make a "23rd century" mission and a personnel that is native to that location. But doing this comes with some necessary restrictions, such as limiting the mission to a planet that could reasonably have "23rd century" in its lore. In exchange for accepting these restrictions, we'll be allowing you to also design a personnel to match the mission. But, we don't want you to feel forced to take this path, so we're giving you a choice. And because it impacts the rest of the process, we're giving you ten days to discuss this and make your choice before we start the process. That's this poll. Here are your options:

Option 1: Make any one (1) mission with minimal restrictions. If you choose this option, you'll be able to submit suggestions for almost any mission from our available sources. There may be restrictions based on cards in development, or stories that for some reason are unavailable, but other than those rare cases, there are no limits.

Option 2: Make a "23rd century" planet mission and native personnel. With this option, the process will create both a mission and a personnel. However, there will be some limitations on the available source material. Firstly, the mission must be a planet, and be from the original Star Trek and/or the first six movies, or otherwise be logically able to include the phrase "23rd century" in lore. Secondly, any mission currently in an OS Block file (of which there are about a dozen) will be off the table. And thirdly, the personnel should be from the same episode as the mission.

In either case, you will have opportunities to submit ideas, vote on ideas, and make almost all the decisions for the mission (and for the personnel if option 2 is chosen). I personally hope the community will choose option 2, as it's an unprecedented chance to make cards that will fit perfectly into the upcoming block expansions. But the choice is yours.

You'll have until the end of the day on Wednesday, January 16th to vote in this poll. Please use this thread to discuss the pros and cons of the options presented, and cast your votes. You'll be able to change your vote until the poll closes. And of course, this thread can be used to ask questions, which I will answer to the best of my abilities.

I hope that you will enjoy WotC6: Return of the Collective, and are excited to make a mission - and possibly a personnel. There is an article on the front page with some more details that will be going live on Monday, so check that out when you can.

-crp
 
By HoodieDM
 - Delta Quadrant
 -  
#446039
Well I can see folks are going crazy with the 2 cards. As its 4 to 1 in the voting atm. However, I felt due to TOS block coming out, theyd be getting enough missions. I felt it would have been more significant to do a mission that would have helped a current affiliation struggling, or something a bit more thematic.

I mean either choice isnt bad, Im just surprised the boards didnt vote for something to help lets say Vidiian or Cardassians/Dominion. Esp since everyone has been harping about a Dominion War Arc. This would have been the time to start that. Oh well...

~D
User avatar
 
By GooeyChewie (Nathan Miracle)
 - Gamma Quadrant
 -  
Continuing Committee Member - Retired
Architect
#446043
I voted for option 2 not because I want to make more cards, but because I like working with restrictions. With no restrictions I’d just go with whatever came to mind first. With the TOS restriction, I’ll be researching all the possible missions to figure out which one I like best.
User avatar
First Edition Creative Manager
By KazonPADD (Paddy Tye)
 - First Edition Creative Manager
 -  
1E European Continental Runner-Up 2023
1E The Neutral Zone Regional Champion 2023
#446045
I'd be wary of that restriction "any mission currently in an OS Block file (of which there are about a dozen) will be off the table"... those crafty design team members will have plucked the ripest and juiciest looking options from TOS for themselves already! :shifty:
 
 - Beta Quadrant
 -  
#446055
Making a set of cards using a new mechanic, without even knowing how that mechanic's support cards work, seems like a problem to me.

On a broader note, using "23rd century" in mission lore is also something I'm not comfortable with - it further blurs the line between "the spaceline represents space in the 24th century" and "time locations represent locations in other eras (including the 23rd century)."

I know that CC-produced cards have continued to push that envelope and blur that line - and I don't like that this process is continuing even further.

I also hope that "natives" are fully defined on the cards that use them, rather than being another "loaded" rule that one has to look up in the glossary..
User avatar
First Edition Rules Master
By BCSWowbagger (James Heaney)
 - First Edition Rules Master
 -  
Community Contributor
#446059
frakkingoff wrote:I also hope that "natives" are fully defined on the cards that use them, rather than being another "loaded" rule that one has to look up in the glossary..
This is the case.
User avatar
First Edition Creative Manager
By KazonPADD (Paddy Tye)
 - First Edition Creative Manager
 -  
1E European Continental Runner-Up 2023
1E The Neutral Zone Regional Champion 2023
#446060
frakkingoff wrote:On a broader note, using "23rd century" in mission lore is also something I'm not comfortable with - it further blurs the line between "the spaceline represents space in the 24th century" and "time locations represent locations in other eras (including the 23rd century)."

I know that CC-produced cards have continued to push that envelope and blur that line - and I don't like that this process is continuing even further.
All lore on “23rd Century” missions does frame them as being from a 24th century perspective.
EDIT: See Secure Strategic Base as an example.
User avatar
Director of First Edition
By MidnightLich (Charlie Plaine)
 - Director of First Edition
 -  
Prophet
#446070
Slayer07 wrote:I gotta go with option one. Why? Because I don't know jack about the original series and won't be able to participate otherwise. I don't know how many people would end up having that same problem.
That isn't true! You may not feel comfortable nominating stories, but you can watch the episode once one is picked. You can vote on everything and nominate titles, write lore, etc.

-crp
User avatar
Director of First Edition
By MidnightLich (Charlie Plaine)
 - Director of First Edition
 -  
Prophet
#446071
frakkingoff wrote:Making a set of cards using a new mechanic, without even knowing how that mechanic's support cards work, seems like a problem to me.
There is one support card for the mechanic that works very close to how Mission Specialist Works. Calling it a new mechanic is a simple term that isn't accurate, as this is really just a new lore reference.
frakkingoff wrote:On a broader note, using "23rd century" in mission lore is also something I'm not comfortable with - it further blurs the line between "the spaceline represents space in the 24th century" and "time locations represent locations in other eras (including the 23rd century)."

I know that CC-produced cards have continued to push that envelope and blur that line - and I don't like that this process is continuing even further.
All of the missions that have "23rd century" in lore are framed from the 24th century point of view. Here's an example for you: "Search for debris from Starship Intrepid, destroyed in the 23rd century." We tried some wacky stuff in design, but it didn't work out so we're keeping it simple. It's just a hook, like "nebula," we can use for other things.
I also hope that "natives" are fully defined on the cards that use them, rather than being another "loaded" rule that one has to look up in the glossary..
"Native" is just the nickname we gave the personnel, it's not a new game term or anything one needs to know. Their main card spells out exactly what they are, and it's fairly easy to spot on a personnel once you understand what to look for. I'm not intentionally being oblique; I'd show you the finished card, but it's being massaged by Rules right not and isn't ready to be seen.

-crp
 
 - Beta Quadrant
 -  
#446073
MidnightLich wrote: There is one support card for the mechanic that works very close to how Mission Specialist Works. Calling it a new mechanic is a simple term that isn't accurate, as this is really just a new lore reference.
Ok, but presumably this support card is going to confer benefits to Natives, giving them some kind of extra power - which should probably be taken into account when designing Native cards, right?
 
 - Delta Quadrant
 -  
Community Contributor
#446119
I voted Option 2, because the restrictions and option to make two linked cards sound more interesting to me.

Also a question:

Does this mechanic and specifically this challenge extend to characters from the 23rd Century who appeared in other series. For example Captain Morgan Bateson and the U.S.S. Bozeman from the TNG episode "Cause and Effect," or the Klingon sleeper ship I.K.C. T'Ong from TNGs "The Emissary?" As they're a couple of the few examples of "23rd Century" in lore that already exists.

(If yes, my votes for a new Morgan Bateson and a mission based on Cause and Effect that the Feds can actually do! :D )

All the Best,

Mattgomery Scott.
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