Ecliptic Rift

I don't know much about CCGs, so I'll just go with "okay" on the first bit. ;) I do recall that the PnP RPG as originally planned focused on non-capsuleers, just as you mentioned, something along the lines of the current Chronicle mini-series on the mercenaries. "A Minmatar, Caldari, Gallente, and Amarrian walk into a bar..."

I don't think Dust would work as a CCG, its an action FPS for a start, there's hardly any strategy involved. I'd much rather see a PnP tabletop RPG along the lines of the WoD games. The problem with the spin off non-computer games that have been produced around EVE to date is that they've tried to take a mechanic that was in EVE and translate it out of the computer, it hasn't really worked.

There is an entire world of possibilities within EVE for a PnP RPG. All the intrigues, spying, exploring, and adventuring that don't neccesarily involve capsuleers would be an ideal basis for one. Characters whose death actually matters, who are maybe striving to reach the level of capsuleer, always looking up as seeing these demigods lording it over them in their giant starships.

The universe is there it just needs populated.

I see your point, but thats not what I was saying. The big events are simply given as examples of what the players can do. Think of EVE as an almost infinte canvas where some of the painting and background has been filled in. We can add as much fine detail as we want without detracting from the overall painting.

See my first response to Rettic above. While that is indeed an awesome aspect of EVE, it doesn't cover the interesting details and dark little corners of the world that many of us like even more than the macro stuff that the big boys in nullsec do.

But it's not just about the politics: it's about the tech and the minutiae of daily life. Are the Gallente polygamous in any fashion? What do the other Minmatar tribes look like? And then we can get into planetary climates and such.

Maybe CCP could establish an approval process, something akin to what they do on EVElopedia.

/me wonders what it would take to push CCP Ginger on this.

They canceled the game, but I never felt like they gave it enough of a chance, nor that it was the best option given their existing demographics. I always felt like CCGs lean a little younger, and EVE leans a little older. Maybe a DUST CCG would work though, especially if it were online.

I've tried very hard to keep Vieve out of politics. Unfortunately, it did tend to find her (and not just in the form of dashing Caldari soldiers and handsome Gallente Freecaptains).

Did the card game tank? I don't remember.

The thing with EVE is that its not entirely someone elses world, is it? Its our world too and we play as big a part in its stories and dramas as any of the characters created by CCP. Guiding Hand Social Club, The Great Wars, The Fall of BOB, all events with amazing stories surrounding them and its only becaus ewe're mired int the details that we don't see the true scale of these sagas. The players made these things happen.

CCP have handed us a pen and paper, all we have to do is write. (not as easy as it sounds, believe me)

Very much like Vieve... I concentrate on writing from my characters limited perspective of things.

She is not overly involved in politics, so I dont need to worry about the politics other than those that immediately effect her.

Anyone who reads my writing knows Maeve is pretty simple... she has no huge aspirations to take over systems, prove herself to anyone, or do anything really other than do what she does, and that is essentially to build... so I write about her art and the dramas that might surround it. I try to keep things pretty simple... just like Maeve. ;-)

I would adore if they put some nice hard-back RPG/lore books back into the works.

Indeed, some sort of program in which folks got compensated for contributing to the world (i.e. ISD Mercury) would alleviate my concerns a bit.

I used to use that argument, but then I got paid for an Amber DRPG novella. :P

I wonder what changed in their internal business case and whether they'd consider re-starting the project.

It is their world, and we just live in it. That's part of what's wrong with this picture: the result is "all or nothing". Either I go off and write my own world, in which case I "own" everything, or I work in theirs, and since it's a derivative work, they "own" it all.

Gah, now you're going to get me set off on my rants about the fallacy of intellectual property.

Yeah, I get you. I think we do just have to take those blows and recognize that in the end this is CCP's world…they just let us live in it.

I'm sure some folks would disagree with this perspective, but it's how I see it.

Yes, I have begged for this since I first started EVE. It needs this so desperately…both to get seasoned players more familiar with the world they're immersed in, and to bring in new players entire that would otherwise be turned off at the overwhelming scale of EVE's lore.

Plus, with concept art and maps, I couldn't imagine a more perfect case study for worldbuilding in a book.

I know! And that broke my heart! :(

Let's hope they change their minds!

They had one in development for a bit, but it got put on hold.

This is the reason why I'd love for CCP to publish - yes, as in a bound book, preferably hardcover - an RPG version of EVE. Or at the very least some lore books on each race, faction, major NPC corporation, on the ship manufacturers, etc. Once these primers are available, it would make for some great material for aspiring writers and would help guide them on what the official explanation/story is behind some of the major players in EVE - wheter they be NPC corps, faction or technology.

A lot of that can be found in the Chronicles - but who the hell wants to go through all of them to gather the necessary background information.

For the latter question, my response to myself is usually "practice". Even the stuff that never sees the light of day.

What would happen to my world? Eh. It'd get tossed. If rewrites to make the fiction fit PF were necessary, I'd go back and do them.

It's not a question I struggle with. On the other hand, I've struggled with the question of 'hey, why are you investing all of this time into this universe and not submitting to EON or White Wolf?". My mercenary reptile brain and I have had a lot of chats about that.

So the Mannar provide a perfect example. Let's say you spin out this whole thing with that bloodline, develop some bits useful for your fiction. Now one day CCP releases a chronicle that goes against everything you wrote. What happens to your world? That's the question I struggle with.

Right, but there's an important distinction between chronicling events driven by players and the things in the world not created through game mechanics. For example, I wrote a recent piece on the development of the Minmatar fighter bomber. But I recognize that CCP could wipe that away with a conflicting piece of PF someplace and suddenly it's not part of "my world" anymore, or somebody else could come up with a conflicting story on what happened.

How do I go about writing in someone else's world?

I usually start with a character. In the course of figuring out how that character got through life/gets through life in this pre-made universe, I tend to find holes in the scenery. Little holes like "Huh? Are there Post-It(TM) notes in Eve?" Big holes like "Er. So, what convinced the Caldari to go along with the idea of forming a Federation with the Gallente in the first place?" and "What are the Mannar like as a people besides short, pushy and Hawkish?"

I don't want to go rearranging the set (or giving some of the props Jedi Mind Powers): unless CCP ever decides otherwise, the PF's not mine to mess with. But the holes in it? I'll patch them up to my satisfaction until the day somebody gets an official mandate to fix them.

A last point: We're worldbuilding every day with the gameplay we do. When we recount the Dronelands War or the takedown of BoB, etc, etc, those are stories that will be in the EVE records forever. CCP may never write RP about it, but we can, and should.

How fantastic would an "EVE History" book be? …an RP retelling of the player events of New Eden since the game's launch.

Thanks for elaborating. Very cool topic.

The only way I reasonably expect to go about "worldbuilding" in EVE is to focus on the world as my character sees it. I think that's how most of us approach it. I also think that's why worldbuilding within EVE's ready-made parameters is different than a more standard lore creating exercise, where the creator of that world (CCP for example) would officially pass the torch to a trusted contributor that can elaborate on it…and it's accepted as canon.

But EVE's lore is a sandbox only as much as the game itself. It's a pretty close metaphor really. Sure, New Eden is a "sandbox" in that you can determine your own goals and are never obligated to take a linear path. But there are plenty of boundaries defined by the game's mechanics that keep us from truly creating our own world within their engine. Otherwise, we'd be inventing the mechanics of the game. So we work in their parameters, and build our own worlds within theirs: alliances, corporations, economies, friendships, enemies, etc. But no matter how hard we wish, we can never manufacture a new type of ship ourselves, or unify and destroy CONCORD because we're tired of the man keeping us down.

Same goes with worldbuilding in an RP sense. We all write EVE fiction about what affects us, not the universe as a whole. Nothing says we couldn't try, but it'd just be downright odd if one of us decided to "invent" an account of ancient conflict or galactic-scale event without CCP's direct influence. I don't know if anything we could write would truly affect the canon of EVE in a meaningful way, to CCP.

But I do think the hundreds of stories we all write affect each other. There's evidence of that in the way our writing often intertwines from blog to blog. So when it comes down to it, who gives a damn what CCP wipes away on the whim of their writers. What New Eden is to us is what matters.

See, I knew I'd find this topic interesting. Excuse the length here. :P

I'll look forward to it.

An interesting question my friend. I've got a response for you. The blog post is almost done, it will go live tomorrow morning. Here is the link: http://www.eve-druid.com/now-that-the-foundatio...