Generic Gaming

Brian,

I agree wholeheartedly that having your own storyline is fun. It just isn't
so good for interacting with folks at a long distance (email/cons/etc)
where the more conventional 'canon' stuff is more well known. It can work, but
the 'canon' stuff is easier.

The reason you see more conversation about FT and SG on the list (I believe)
is that they are more commonly played. DS2 seems (if GZG ECC is any
indication) to be one of the least played (FT being first obviously) of the
GZG games.

Also, the reason FT might seem less generic and the reason more people seem to
reference 'known' ships is because almost every ship mini has stats (not
quite, but almost). In SG2, this is far from true. In DS2, I also supsect
there is a lack of an official set of stats for every figure. SG and DS
players are thus forced to define more for themselves. FT has more
'pre-gen'
stuff done for it. And SG lacks a point system, so some new players prefer to
stick to 'standard' TO&E to get some sort of scenario balance. It takes some
playing to appreciate the impact of various units in SG and to comprehend play
balance. I routinely screw it up (prior to playtests). Playtests tend to be of
great use in SG2 I find (for events you want to run at cons and such). But
once you have a good feel for the game, and experience in playing it, you
begin to understand what is an UberUnit and what will distort or lopside a
battle.

The great strength of SG2 (and the other GZG games) is that they can all
relatively easily be tailored to custom universes. That's sweet (and I'm sure
the marketing angle hasn't escaped St.Jon of Needham). It means you can 'play
what you want to'. All GZG games seem to be 'play the game, not the rules'.
Unlike some other large hulking games companies I can
name....

> Brian,
It just isn't
> so good for interacting with folks at a long distance

And...you can fit your own stuff into the Canon universe without great
difficulty. The Official FT ships are NAC NSL ESU
FSE--those four, no more.  Islamic Fed existed as a nationality,
but no ship designs existed until I did them, no military organization existed
until John Atkinson did them, no detailed history and naval organization
existed until...uh, I'll get to that Real Soon Now.... The Alarishi culture is
in no way part of the Official GZG History (unless Jon wants to add it), but
it fits in without any difficulty. Similarly, someone has done Dutch units,
and UN ships, and Antarctic, and Martian, and....not to mention obsolete
models of the Official Navies.

So there's an agreed-upon framework, and plenty of room to be
creative within that framework.

> Laserlight wrote:

> The Official FT ships are NAC NSL ESU

But come April 1, you can add SuVasku, KraVak and Phalon too.

> Islamic Fed existed as a nationality,