Battle Zone Guidelines: Advancement

An Encounter!

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Once a month (usually), each participant will receive an e-mail from me stating that they have earned a certain number of points. More on that can be found at the bottom of this page. For now, read about how points can be spent.

Points may be spent for advancement of characters in the following ways:

BOOSTING ATTRIBUTES:  Once you've actually started contributing to the storyline of the Battle Zone it is too late to gain ranks for your character on a point-for-point scale.  You may not raise your attributes by more than one rank at a time, but you can boost as many as three attributes at once.  The costs for boosting attributes are as follows:

When you boost an attribute, you may have ranked skills as well as un-ranked skills in that attribute.  The ranked skills stay at the level they are at, but the un-ranked skills are raised with the attribute (for example:  Character X has Dexterity at 30, with Blaster at 50 and Dodge unranked at 30.  The player spends five points to bring his Dexterity up to 31.  Blaster stays at 50, but Dodge is raised to 31 with the attribute).  A ranked skill may be boosted separately if an attribute has been boosted.  It is important to remember the fact that no skill can be lower than its' governing attribute.

BOOSTING SKILLS:  The costs for boosting skill ranks are as follows:

You may not raise a skill by more than one rank level at a time.  You may not raise a skill that has already been modified by the boosting of an attribute.  (Example:  Character X, from the previous example, wants to raise his Blaster skill from 50 to 51, and spends two points.  He also wants to raise his Dodge skill, but will have to wait until next month because Dodge was raised by the boosting of the Dexterity attribute in the previous example)

BOOSTING FORCE ATTRIBUTES:  Aha!  You want to become a powerful Jedi, do you?  Well, be patient.  Like the attributes, Force attributes may only be raised one rank at a time.  The costs for raising Force attributes are as follows:

There is on exception to the rule about raising the rank one level at a time.  If the character is with a teacher the character may raise the attribute as many as five rank levels (for the appropriate cost of course).

Heh heh heh!!!  Another way to boost the Force attributes is to embrace the Dark Side.  Aligning oneself with the Dark Side will raise all Force attributes by 25!  The Dark Side is not more powerful, just quicker.  The hold of the Dark Side is not something to be taken lightly.  Once you embrace it, it doesn't let go easily.  Returning from the Dark Side to the Light Side will have a penalizing effect on a character; all Force attributes will diminish by 50 for a short time, until the character has completely purged himself of the influence of the Dark Side.
This method is something I will govern with extreme scrutiny.  It is more than just declaring a character as evil.  That character must BE evil and DO evil things.  If such things are not done, they may consider themselves aligned with the Dark Side, but the Dark Side hasn't necessarily aligned itself with them.

LEARNING NEW SKILLS:  Before a character can learn a new skill, they must have a reasonable way to learn the skill (you just don't acquire a skill because you want to).  Once that method of learning is declared, the points may be spent.  As I stated above in the skills section, skills cost two points if someone teaches it to the character, or four points if the character teaches himself.  A brand new skill may not be ranked (Example: Character X is taught how to repair Character A's ship.  His new skill is un-ranked at the level of his Technical attribute).

LEARNING NEW FORCE POWERS:  After character creation, Force powers cost 8 points each.  If the character has some form of scroll, book, or other learning device, such as a holocron (which are not floating freely around on the BZ by the way), the cost of new Force powers is lessened to 7 points per power.  If the character has an instructor, that cost is lessened to 6 points per power.  Force powers are not ranked, but are regulated in their power by the rank of the Force attribute that they are components of.  The only limiting factor in the number of Force powers a character may learn at one time is the number of points that character has available to him.

ACQUIRING NEW FORCE ATTRIBUTES:  New Force attributes cost 20 points, plus how ever many points a character wants to spend to have the attribute ranked.  The character does not have to rank the attribute.  Not ranking the attribute merely means that the character is Force-sensitive, but cannot actually tap into the Force itself.
On the other hand, when a Force attribute is purchased in this manner it is beneficial to rank it at that time because the ranking cost is as if the character were new (meaning that the attribute is ranked point-for-point at the time it is purchased).

ACQUIRING NEW ITEMS/WEAPONS:  This is easy!  If you want a weapon and have the points, go to a market, store, weapons dealer, steal it, or whatever and pay the appropriate points for the weapon.  The point cost for each weapon is listed with the weapon description in the Technology section (and not all weapons have a point cost).
This can be a fun way to use your Bargain skill.  If you do not have the number of points to purchase the weapon, let me know, and perhaps we can role-play it out on the Battle Zone guestbook or at least work out a deal in e-mail.  At the very least, role-play the actual acquisition of the item; don't just have a new Squib-Army knife at the beginning of the month, write about finding it in a street gutter.

MODIFYING WEAPONS:  This is discussed on the Technology page, but I felt it was necessary to mention it here.

ACQUIRING NEW VEHICLES:  This is the one where I hear a resounding "YOU'RE A BIG MEAN JERK!"
New vehicles cost more after the character has started in the Battle Zone.  The reason for this is logical, though convoluted and hard to explain.  Hahaha!!!  No, really, I want characters to start on the BZ with whatever they should have, but getting new stuff must cost something, and I don't want to deal with credits (money in the Star Wars universe).  To get a new starship you must have the means to do so.  Each ship listed in the Technology section has a cost listed with it.  This is the point cost for purchasing a new ship.  However, there are other ways to get a new ship:

MODIFYING VEHICLES:  This is also discussed in the Technology section, but it required mentioning here.

OTHER WAYS TO SPEND POINTS FOR ADVANCMENT:  None exist just yet, but participants are great for making suggestions.  If anything crops up it will be posted up here as soon as possible.

Earning Points

Once a month (no earlier than the 3rd of that month) I will send out e-mail to everyone with point awards.  I will expect all point expenditures to be made within ten days of the date I send my letters out.  I WON'T be updating any profiles until I have received all point expenditures or until that ten-day period has expired.

"How Do You Figure the Point Awards?"

This question has been asked to me on several occasions, and I've always been straightforward with the answer, but it has occurred to me that if this information were published here on the BZ it might encourage everyone to new and exciting levels. The people who have asked me how I score points were under the impression that it was all subjective, but the system is actually a series of questions that force me into objectivity. Here are the questions and what they mean to me:

1. Was there participation this month? 

Participation on the BZ is vital, for without it nobody knows what a player's character(s) is/are like; those characters will be forgotten or at least not remembered well. Also, as this is a role playing/storytelling kind of place, you can't really be a part of it if you are not
participating. Participation is a flat score per character. Either they were active to some degree that month or they weren't. 
Participation accounts for 10 points in the point award

2. How valuable was the character this month? 

Now THIS sounds suggestive, doesn't it? Well, It's not. Character value is determined by taking the situations "Character X" was involved in and seeing what other characters were affected by the actions of "Character X." I call it "Character Value" because involving other characters into your storyline is important to keeping the game going. I like seeing other players' characters involved with your storylines, but if you have more than one character you will get points for character involvement if their actions are tied in together. However, before you go off making a new character for a situation, make sure someone isn't already playing a character just like the one you would be creating. I like originality as well. 
Character value point awards are as follows:

3. How valuable was the situation?

Along with character value, situational value is a factor. Sure you've involved other characters in a storyline, but the story really has to have an impact on things as well. If you start a plot that has galactic significance, it will be of more value than something that involves the lives of a few people. 
Situational value awards are as follows:

The other ways to earn points are mentioned below.

GETTING MORE POINTS

I strongly encourage everyone to provide things such as:

I could list other ways to earn extra points, but you get the general idea (for more on this, check out the FAQ page).

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