Forces: Affiliations and Wants

When it comes to design, brainstorming for ideas based on wants rather than needs is easy.  It can be fun to dream of everything you want to see as a card.  You want to see your favorite characters appear on a personnel card or a climatic scene depicted on a dilemma card.  It is all too easy to overlook though some elements that are truly needed during the design process.  Planning and a willingness to modify those same plans are critical.  A healthy dose of humility and acceptance when your plans are not working helps too.

 

During the earliest stages of planning what has become Forces, I looked at affiliations.  I wanted to have fully realized and vibrant affiliations featuring Star Wars universe factions as are seen in Star Trek Second Edition.  I wanted to create cards for as many as eleven different affiliations: Jedi Order, Sith Order, Galactic Empire, Rebel Alliance, Galactic Republic, Confederacy of Independent Systems (Separatists), New Republic, Galactic Alliance, Yuuzhan Vong Empire, Mandalorians, and assorted Non-Aligned.  Some of these included sub-factions (as Federation cards are divided) such as Ancient Jedi, Modern Jedi, The One Sith (Legacy series), Ancient Republic, Modern Republic (Episodes I-III), Palpatine Era Empire, Post-Palpatine Empire (Imperial Remnant), Fel Era Empire (Legacy), Ancient Mandalorians, and Modern Mandalorians. 

 

Some of these featured different names as I brainstormed different scenarios.  For example, the Rebel Alliance affiliation was called "Alliance to Restore the Republic," shortened to variations of "Rebel" and "Alliance" before settling on the classic RA.  Similarly, CiS and various Imperial groups alternated titles.  Ultimately, my wants were more than 20 individual groups.  I eventually concluded that my wants were beyond the scope of one individual.  Although I considered different combinations of affiliations, tried different avenues such as blending all eras into each other in order to condense the total number of affiliations, I was always far from satisfied.  However, it always occurred to me that these affiliations could be grouped in opposition to each other. 

 

When Block format for Star Trek First Edition was being publicly proposed, I was inspired.  Although different in nature, I considered how Block represented a different way of grouping.  I put together a plan of "core blocks" that would include three expansions per core.  This plan helped me revise affiliations based around their opposing nature: Block I (Galactic Empire & Rebel Alliance), Block II (Jedi Order & Sith Order), and Block III (Confederacy & Republic).  Each core block would include a set that would debut the featured affiliation's Headquarters.  Non-Aligned and Mandalorian cards would be sprinkled throughout while a Block IV would include the Mandalorian HQ mission.  With the elimination of some groups (Yuuzhan Vong was the hardest to let go), I felt that six core affiliations (coupled with Mando and NA) were a more reasonable undertaking than 20 or more.

 

Beginning in early 2012 and into the summer, I mapped out ten different sets of cards, several with design themes, titles, and other assorted content.  After researching the existing 2E affiliations and the number of personnel, ships, missions, and support cards they received during their individual debuts, I laid the foundation for a 117 card set.  This first set would debut two affiliations (GE and RA) and fit nicely on 13 pages of 9 cards each.  This number was somewhat limiting though and the set grew to 126 cards out of necessity.  Some individual cards were rotated in and out (typically saved for a later expansion set) yet with the dual purpose of both balancing and strengthening the two affiliations versus existing 2E cards.

 

In hindsight, I was restricting myself design-wise.  In discussions with some players, I realized that ST has a tremendous amount of visual content, characters, and stories.  Comparatively, SW has much less.  Although the SW Expanded Universe would help, creatively I would still be limited.  A significant amount of time was spent in developing mission cards.  It was a daunting prospect to design for six affiliations with six films (a handful of locations) versus the numerous locations featured in ST across multiple series and films.  Pressure was increasing with the prospect that there would not be enough content, especially if some affiliations were introduced later than others (through a block system).  At some point, the idea of missions featuring mostly Tatooine, Hoth, and Endor for three (or more) sets was simply unappealing.

 

I had reached a design impasse.  By this time, I had already built an initial Galactic Empire affiliation template, was half-way through a Jedi Order (out of debut sequence no less) template, had most of set 1 built (still needing proofing, some subtitles, and slight skill balancing for assorted personnel), but my dissatisfaction with the project was mounting.  In my professional life, when struggling with job performance, I advocate returning to fundamentals.  I needed to take the same approach with this project.  In the late evening of November 28th, 2012, I sat down to consider what I wanted from this project.  I wanted to accomplish four goals: 1) SW-themed 2E cards, 2) logistical efficiency in building cards, 3) more time to creatively design cards, and 4) to have fun.

 

Because of what I had already developed, I was stubbornly trying to accomplish one goal at the expense of or without another.  I had a SW theme, but the template design plans (to be discussed in a future post) were becoming convoluted, and my creativity was being stunted by restricting myself to only two very specific groups (while essentially ignoring others).  As such, I was far from having much fun with the project.  I went back to what I fundamentally had fun with: my old SWCCG collection.  Before 2E was released, I had spent years collecting, playing, and studying my SW cards.  I loved their simplicity and elegance.  The same could be said for 2E, especially the mechanics of game play.  I concluded that the key to resuscitating my project and achieving my goals simultaneously was through blending SW and 2E.  Rigidity in design had to give way to an instinctively flexible approach.  I had to get creative and maintain simplicity at the same time.

 

Two opposing groups (affiliations) exist in SW both on a grand scale (good and evil) and in a more intimate way (an individual's internal struggle between the dark and light).  These forces were represented well in SWCCG.  2E represents several different affiliations and their individual agendas, yet they also possess a more blended version of good and evil (i.e. Honorable and Treacherous personnel).  I accepted that I did not need six or twenty individual affiliations to explore SW comprehensively: two new affiliations would suffice.  Non-Aligned help bridge thematic elements that are a bit more "grey" than would be seen on either.

 

Deciding to construct two affiliations not only allowed me to immediately maintain my first goal, but injected a bit of fun into revisiting my design templates.  I felt more creative in blending some elements from both SWCCG and 2E while creating the Dark Side and Light Side templates themselves.  Card-wise, missions were immediately less restrictive, and subsequently other verbs as well.  Thematically, I now had far more content with which to work with (using Episodes I-VI rather than just three or fewer) and could introduce popular nouns more often.  For example, my early block set planning meant that Boba Fett (my favorite character) would not have made an appearance until set two, three, or four!

 

Recognizing the need to change course during the development of Forces has been tremendously rewarding.  This flexibility has allowed me to revisit previously discarded ideas (some sorely wanted) and has offered a number of solutions to some design problems that have appeared now and then.  Headquarters missions, sometimes problematic during design, will be featured in my next post.