There are choices you make in life that you often wish you could get back. Things happen and a person acts on the fly to bring on a bad result, or a long and drawn out decision turns out to be the wrong one. Over periods of time, there can be a string of mistakes that lead to one colossal one. That, my friends is where we are. Over the past two years, I have made more mistakes than I care to imagine. Every small thing I spent my time on, every eruption that caused a distraction, every time I went to IRC instead of pulling up my editor was a mistake. Letting this project go this long was a mistake. Project Rebirth should have been done by now!

I don't like to make excuses, and even less do I like to regret the past. The time that we have used for other things in this organization may have been well spent, and it may have been spent poorly. That no longer matters. That is time we cannot get back. Hindsight is 20/20, but now we must do our best to keep perfect vision for the future. Unlike when we started, we now know the extent that this project will go. We know the requirements. We know the workers. We know the pitfalls. The only thing that hasn't changed is the fact that we know Rebirth will impact the online community in a big way.

That's the goal isn't it? We're here because in some great way, this club has changed our lives. I personally want to spread this organization to others, and give those within the experience that I could have only dreamed of when I joined. What better thing is there than to take everything we love to do in life and combine it into one thing? Star Wars, gaming, talking to friends, being leaders, writing, coding, winning, getting awarded. The Brotherhood offers it all, and yet with Rebirth we could offer so much more! In my vision, this organization will be the perfect mesh of fiction and reality. Rebirth is the first step toward that goal.

When I wrote the first introduction to this vision, I talked about service. I said that "the higher ranked you are, the more people you serve; not the more people that serve you." In the last two years, I have found that, unlike the EH, we don't have a problem there. The Brotherhood is built on serving from your position. What we have failed at, is serving in the right way. As leaders, we all get caught up in the day to day affairs so much that we miss the big picture. We work so much on the smaller things that we never get a chance to keep the big guns rolling. Today, my friends, that changes! As you can see, I have titled this document "Rebirth: The Awakening." That title is to symbolize what I want this document to lead to: an unending devotion to this project. From every position of the Brotherhood, the number one goal must be the completion of all aspects of this project!

As Grand Master I will lead the way. I will delve into the project head first and pull everyone else in with me. With every decision we make, we are going to need to look into whether we are helping our ultimate goals. We must no longer waste time. We must no longer quarrel amongst ourselves. We must no longer take priority for projects that mean nothing in the long term. We will get organized, get a schedule, get motivated and then stick to it. No more excuses. Rebirth will be completed this summer!

The leaders of this club must be awakened to realize that we are not invulnerable. Unless we work for security now through Rebirth, the club will not last through the years. We've lasted almost a decade. I want to die a Grand Master.

So join me Brothers and Sisters in a mission that will be the Rebirth of this club. Awaken and get to work!

Many details of this project have already been given out in one way or another. However, this document itself should remain behind closed doors. Any information about the project should also only be communicated through appropriate channels.

Members who willfully violate these requirements will find themselves no longer working on this project, and facing a demotion.

The goals of Project: Rebirth are vast and general in nature. They will be achieved only through completing every phase of the project and even then it will only provide a means to an end. There are many misconceptions of what these goals entail. Many people think that this project is a website. Rightly so, in some respects. The website is a giant part of this project, however, there are other aspects of this project that do not revolve around the site. Many are complete, but there are many more that need to be finished. Everyone can contribute to these tasks.

There has never really been a process to the project, a point that has caused a lot of the failure. However, Organization is needed if all of the Councilors, Consuls and Proconsuls are going to take part. The Grand Master will be the lead facilitator of the project and will be handing out jobs to the team. To coordinate this, the Grand Master will do the following:

The Grand Master will complete a weekly internal report to communicate the progress of each project. The members will be required to update the GM regularly on the status of their projects. All updates should be made through email to keep a record.

The Dark Brotherhood website is a fantastic work for what the Brotherhood is currently, but unfortunately, it is the limitations of the website that limit the club as a whole. The Dark Brotherhood has grown outside the boundaries originally set by the designers of the current database. We have hacked and mended the files in the website to suit our needs, each time pushing the site further toward the end. It is imperative to the stability of the DB that the website work, be easily navigated both from the internet and in the code, and be updatable by a variety of people. The position of SCL provides for a great asset to the DB, but the work of what is to come with Project: Rebirth will be too much for one or even two people to handle. Furthermore, it will be too much for our current database structure to handle.

The way we must look at Project: Rebirth is just that; look at the DB as if we were being born again. What would we do differently with the structure of the website and database had we known then what we know now? There are many things that come to mind, detailed as requirements below. Many more things I am sure can be added to that list.

Operation: Overhaul has progressed very far since the beginning, but is the main focus for the coming months still. Currently, we have done the following:

This list is not long, but it amounts to a lot of work. The toils of Cybey, Jam3z and Jac have been tremendous already, yet there is still much more to do. Aerick will be joining the group as the fourth member of the Fantastic Four. Together we will pound out the rest of the code to get the website overhaul finished.
An important aspect that we must remember is that the current website is on a moratorium for new development. That means that no DCer is getting their projects done that need any site design.

A list of some main requirements for the site has been compiled with details below:

The following list is a guide of the system specifications that will be used for the coding.

Largely completed operation. Most of the houses in the brotherhood have move to orderless structures. What follows is the original proposal. Please note that we have chosen not to use Circles as a common entity across the brotherhood.

When Houses and Clans were first introduced to the Dark Brotherhood, the basic unit of the Dark Brotherhood was the various Battleteams. These Order-specific battleteams made up multi-order Houses. Clans were a collection of two or more Houses which were ruled by a Consul and Proconsul. This system allowed the Dark Brotherhood to grow in activity and strength, providing a tiered structure of reinforced activity. At the lowest level, each Battleteam was important to its House, as they were the contingent of members of that Order that the House would field. This made the importance of Battleteams far more significant. Membrs were introduced to the responsibilities of leadership at the earlier levels, and they were accustomed to working with all three orders at the House summit level rather than the clan summit level.

Today’s system uses a much different version of the Clan-House system. Clans are made up of 3 Houses, one of each Order, with up to three Battleteams from a given Order inside each House. This system massively devalues the worth of a Battleteam. As Houses then become giant units of a single Order, it becomes the job of the Quaestor to administer the House, managing every one of the members. While many Quaestors are able to handle this task, it also creates a disconnect between the membership and the leadership. Rather than working directly with a small number of membership, the Quaestor of the House has disorganized groups sometimes as large as 26 to work with. The large number of members creates a distinct possibility for someone to be “lost” between the cracks. Beyond that, it also limits the possibility of competition inside a Clan. Since each House is Order-specific, it is nearly impossible to hold competitions between houses inside a Clan, and due to the fact that Battleteams are largely defunct, they are completely ineffective for holding competitions except in a very small number of Clans.

It is for that reason I present the beginning of a restructuring operation that would return, in large part, to the previous multi-order system used in the Dark Brotherhood. While many are against this idea for various reasons, I think it is quite clear that it is necessary. One of the largest problems the Dark Brotherhood currently faces is the near complete uselessness of the Battleteam unit. This restructuring will place for focus on a smaller unit of people, increasing the opportunity for leadership experience within the Dark Brotherhood while simultaneously increasing communication through all levels of the Dark Brotherhood. It will also be a conductor for intra-clan competitions that pin house verse house. Furthermore, the word “Battleteam” is disliked throughout the Dark Brotherhood for its lack of originality. For this reason, as well as hoping to keep a more “Dark Jedi” feel to the organization, I recommend we rename the Battleteam unit to Circle.

† Definitions and Structure of Each Unit †

The Circle

The Circle, formerly the Battleteam, is the basic unit of the Dark Brotherhood. This unit is made up of members of a single Order. However, each Order-specific Circle has a different name. First, there is the Sith Flight(More fitting than squadron for reasons below :P). Second, there is the Obelisk Brigade(possible rename- Phalanx). Third and final is the Krath Phyle.

Each Circle, regardless of Order, is made up of a single leader who is in charge of the maintenance of communication between members, internal competitions, and membership admissions/instruction within the Circle. The title of this leader varies depending upon the Order for which the Circle belongs. Leaders of Sith Circles are Commanders, while Obelisk are Sergeants and Krath are Tetrarchs.

Membership in a Circle provides the base level of activity throughout the Brotherhood. Ideally, the most competitions in the Brotherhood are run at the Circle level of structure, ranging from competitions between Circles, to internal tests of skill and activity. Circles would hold as many as 10 members, but for a Circle existing with a House (see below), the ‘recommended’ size is 6 members. Due to the nature of the Brotherhood currently, a flexible size of Circles is necessary as to not leave “the odd man out.” This means that in certain cases the size of a Circle may be temporarily increased. However, keep in mind that one does not need to be a member of a Circle in order to participate in DB-wide Competitions. This allows for an opportunity for each Circle to set (reasonable) joining requirements of members, instead of just having the Circle be a place to dump “everyone” in a Clan.

Circles exist in Independent Clans, and in Houses inside of Clans. Under the structure of an Independent Clan(as detailed later), the Circle leaders report directly to the Consul. They work with the Consul to coordinate Clan-wide activities that their Circles can participate in. However, only one Circle of a given Order can exist within the structure of an Independent Clan.

The House

The House is the competition unit of the Dark Brotherhood. Compromised of one Circle of each Order, the House is lead by a Quaestor. Aedile could be kept, but it may not be needed. Furthermore, each House is allotted one Auxiliary Summit position, in which they may name any member in the House not already on the Clan or House summit to a position that they can completely define. This feature would be added to djb.org, including the ability to name the position by the Quaestor and/or Consul.

As mentioned before, each House would be made up of no more and no less than one Circle of each Order with a maximum of 6 to 10 members each. Upon transferring into a House, members are automatically placed into the Circle of their respective Order if space is available if they complete any possible pre-reqs of being in that Circle, as mentioned above. Should the member wish to leave the Circle, they will not be able to participate in any competitions open to Circles, though they are still able to participate in any competition on the Dark Brotherhood level.

Houses would be involved in a multitude of competitions. These competitions would include Rites of Supremacy at the House level, where the Houses could battle for titles. They would also participate in competitions inside the Clan they are part of, where the Houses inside a Clan would compete.

Houses would exist within a Clan, as detailed below in the Clans section. During Clan feuds, the Houses would fight for their Clans. Furthermore, Houses would not have individual possessions beyond what they are assigned by their Clans. The Quaestor would then be able to assign these possessions to individual Circles for their ‘fictional’ use.

The Clans

Each of our existing Clans would be brought down to two Houses, or made into an Independent Clan. Each of these Houses would function as described above, while an Independent Clan will be mentioned shortly. Each Clan would have a Consul, a Proconsul, and one non-summit Auxiliary member of the summit in any of the Houses with a position description and name designed by the Consul and/or Proconsul. Again, this feature would be supported on djb.org as talked about above.

Independent Clans are clans which have no Houses. These Clans are made up of one Circle of each Order, with the Circle leaders reporting directly to the Clan Summit. Each of these Circles act as any other Circle, however, Independent Clans can not participate in Right of Supremacies at the House-level, as they have no Houses. Members may belong to Independent Clans without belonging to a Circle, though it is recommend that any active member of the Dark Brotherhood not in a summit position join a Circle. If any Independent Clan reaches a size where it can function with two separate Houses, it will Clan to a Housed Clan with two Houses as detailed above.

Clans would compete against each other as they do in the Dark Brotherhood now. Furthermore, they would own possessions and be able to assign them to use by a House or in the case of an Independent Clan, its Circles. The House may then be able to assign these possessions to Circles, as they see fit. At any time, the Consul may change where these items are assigned.

Please note: Almost all of the numbers here have changed or are subject to change.

Almost all Dark Jedi are selfish at heart, and motivated little by loyalty or honor. Instead, Dark Jedi seek power, influence, and control over others. It is for that reason, that a system of Prestige is to be implemented into the Dark Brotherhood. This system is designed to represent an individual (and, indeed, a Clan's) influence over others.

The need for power and influence is what drives a Dark Jedi. For the purposes of the Brotherhood, the representation of the influence of a particular Dark Jedi (or Clan) is represented by their Prestige. The amount of influence (Prestige) a character has is based off of his rank, his position, and any medals he has earned. Prestige would accumulate in a number of ways, through systems already existent in the Dark Brotherhood. Whenever a member is awarded a medal, they receive prestige appropriate to the medal (or add-on). Whenever a member is appointed to a position, they gain the prestige of that position. Whenever a member is promoted, they gain the prestige of that rank. Members can also lose prestige by transferring clans, leaving positions or through CoJ convictions.

Prestige is never "used." Prestige directly relates to the purchasing and training access a member has within the DB. For instance, a member with a certain level of prestige can have access to buy, and possibly customize, a personal fighter, transport or weapon for use in role-playing and other areas of the DB. A person with a lower prestige would not have this item available to him. This represents the need to have connections and power in order to obtain certain things. This offers exciting options for the customization of games by Dark Brotherhood members. As the system develops, we will be able to easily add new items to the list of what can be obtained.

Clans, as well as individuals, will have a Prestige rating. A clan's prestige rating will be roughly based upon the average of the prestige members of their Clan plus the total number of members the Clan has, using the following formula:

( 2(Average Prestige of Members) + Number of Members – (Number of Houses)*3 ) 17

This formula was chosen due to the fact it awards Clans with larger membership numbers, yet also keeps the Prestige of Clans fairly close together, so that there would not be great disparity between Clans that were hurt a lot from the separation, versus Clans that weren’t hurt so much. The Prestige clans have work in much the same way that it does for individuals, in that having a certain prestige will allow a Clan to purchase certain items. Clans, however, have a different list of items to choose from. These include larger star-ships, advanced armor and weaponry that will (generally) be out of reach of the average member due to the amount of influence needed.

Also, it should be noted that any member resigning from a position equal to or above Quaestor after having served for 6 months (or a time at the discretion of the GM, DGM and/or ARCH) will receive a permanent, but one time, 50 point Prestige addition. This is to represent the prestige that comes with having served in a prestigious position for a long period of time.

Where Prestige is a value of a member's influence over others, there needs to be established a standard for advancement internally in characters. If Prestige is influence then XP is worth and experience. The XP earned by members will be used to train in skills and abilities that will help define their character and aid them in wargaming and RPG efforts.

Please note: Many equations and values have been redacted to keep the members from having a complete documentation of the system. Members should not know the equations used to calculate things. Webmasters: See Jac for the complete document.

Also NOTE: Not all of this has been updated as of its posting. Kaiann is working on a new spec document. Consider this a basic outline -- NOT THE FINAL PLANS.

1. Preface

This document contains the implementation specification and details of the roleplaying system of the Brotherhood. It is intended solely for those persons involved in approving and/or coding this system. The mathematical formulas used to calculate experience values and costs of various items are not to be made public; instead it will be left to the members’ own discoveries to determine how much experience is gained or used for what character aspect. The only costs known to the member at any time are those that directly affect character purchase decisions (i.e. the immediate price for an item).

Not knowing the exact price for items adds to the roleplaying experience as it does not allow for planning out an exact path to a specific character feature.

Note: Some tables in this document use only the Krath titles for Equite ranks. They are to be read as encompassing the equivalent Sith and Obelisk ranks as well.

2. Calculating Experience

Experience is granted to members based on their achievements in the Brotherhood. Four individual aspects are considered in the experience point total:

· Rank (at 40% weight)

· Medals (at 30% weight)

· Time of membership (at 10% weight)

· Direct experience awards (at 20% weight).

1.1 Rank

Rank is translated into experience using a direct table:

REDACTED
APP
NOV
ACO
PRT
GRD
JH
DJK
KP/SW/OT
KAP/SWM/OP
KE/SWL/OE
(none)
KPN/SO/OPM
(none)
DA
(none)
DJM
(none)
DP
(none)
GM

These values are not cumulative, so e.g. the promotion from DJK to KP earns 11,200-8,400=2,800 new experience.

1.2 Medals

Medals use two values to define their experience value: a base value and a deprecation factor.

The deprecation factor is applied to each medal of the same kind after the first as a multiplier, reducing its XP value. The multiplier is 1 – (DF / 100), so with a deprecation factor of 25, the second medal of a type would be worth 75% of its original value. Fractions should be rounded up (in favor of the member)

The minimum value of any medal, regardless of deprecation, is 5% of its original value, rounded up.

REDACTED
GLS
SL
DS
ED
RS
SB
GC
(OK)*
SC
StA
DC

GN***
SN***
BN***
Cr-D**
Cr-R**
Cr-A**
Cr-S**
Cr-E**
Cr-T**
Cr-Q**

LSS
DSS
SI
SoL
CF

(*) This is a proposed new medal filling a gap between the Steel Cross and the Grand Cross

(**) The deprecation factor applies for all Crescents together, calculating the highest Crescents with the highest multiplier (least times deprecated). If a member thus has Cr-2D-1R-4S, he would have the two Diamonds at 100.00% and 95.00%, the Ruby at 90.25% and the four Sapphires at 85.74%, 81.45%, 77.38% and 73.51%.

(***) Treat these the same way as the Crescents, applying one DF for all three types of Novas.

IMPORTANT on merit medals (DC and upwards):

If a member would gain less XP from a medal than he would be receiving for a lower medal through the deprecation factors, he is awarded that lower medal’s value instead. So, if I had two SBs but no GC, I’d receive 5,000 plus 3,500 instead of 5,000 plus 2,500. If I then got a GC afterwards, this would only be worth 2,500 then of course (as now the second SB falls back to its original slot).

Algorithm:

Count medals of each type GLS to DC. Calculate the lowest value that would be awarded for each medal type and the next one that would be given for this type.

Then:

For each medal type high_type from top to bottom{

While {there exists a lower medal type low_type with next_value (low_type) > current_value(high_type) {

Deduct one medal of type high_type

Add one medal of type low_type

Recalculate next_value and current_value for these two types

}

These medals are of course added and subtracted only virtually for XP calculation, not on the actual dossier J

These algorithms should be reapplied whenever the member gets a medal of DC or higher. Count things from scrac

1.3 Time served

A flat award of 4 XP is given for each day since the member joined. This needs to use the accurate date calculation however, not the current messed-up one that subtracts days of the month while the date progresses J

1.4 Direct XP awards

These awards are for everyday activities in the DB and in very special cases should be handled like medals and also be listed on the dossiers with their reasons. They should be given for any achievement that deserves recognition but does not directly translate into a medal or promotion. Usually, these will be small, but especially in Dark Council or Consul situations, they can also be substantial.

Members can give these awards depending on their position:

Position	Can award up to
GM	Any amount
DGM	6,000 XP
Dark Council	2,500 XP
Consul	1,000 XP
Proconsul	750 XP
Quaestor	400 XP
Aedile	300 XP
Battle Team Leader	100 XP

Some typical XP awards will be listed in the RPG compendium, examples are 10 XP for playing a training multiplayer game or 50 XP for submitting to a standard writing competition without placing. The Grand Master and selected DC members / Consuls of his choice receive monthly experience awards to recognize their basic work that is not generally rewarded with promotions or medals. A feature should be present for the GM to set this “salary” for each member in such a position; this will then modify the standard 4 per day award accordingly (a member with a 1000 per month bonus will receive +33 XP per day)

1.5 Storing Experience

The member’s experience needs to be stored in two ways: Total earned experience and experience spent. The displayed values however are the total and unspent experience.

Experience should be recalculated under the following conditions:

- A member was promoted, received a medal or was granted a direct XP award.

- A member’s character sheet is called up and had not been viewed the same day.

The second variant saves us a daily “add 4” job.

1.6 Special situations

Demotions or loss of awards:

- If, after the loss, the spent XP is still less than those earned, no special provisions happen

- If, after the loss, the spent XP exceeds those earned, but not by more than 10% of the member’s XP total, the member will simply have to re-earn the experience before progressing in power again.

- If, after the loss, the spent XP exceeds those earned by more than 10% of the member’s XP total, the member’s character will automatically be reverted to the last saved character compatible with the new XP total and all higher-total backup characters erased. (A backup character should be saved every time the member first edits their character sheet after a rank promotion, resulting in a maximum of 15 backups per member).

Members above Apprentice at the time this system goes live:

Members currently above the rank of Apprentice at the time this system is put into use will receive a one-time experience bonus in the amount of 40% of their rank’s total experience value. This reflects the direct XP awards they should have received since they joined (nominally 50%, but reduced somewhat due to the fact that their higher rank will allow them to acquire Force powers cheaper than they would have done had they gradually risen through the ranks).

3. Character creation

Building a Brotherhood character consists of two steps: the initial creation and the advancement. Before any character can be advanced, it must be created as a zero-experience base character reflecting the personality that entered the Brotherhood as an Initiate. Character creation is available to initiates, however members of that rank cannot gain experience.

This chapter deals with the creation process, advancing a character is described in chapter 4.

1.7 Basic statistics

The name of the character is taken from the dossier. The member may now pick a race and a planet of birth (as well as any appearance stats we may wish to store). Racial characteristics will not be applied to the character until the next step. The member should be shown the race’s abilities and hindrances in an IFRAME depending on the race chosen. “Human” can have subraces with slightly different abilities to accomodate more choice. Half-breeds should be possible – in this case, the member selects two races and all bonuses will be the average of the two values, rounded down (i.e. 0 and 5 rounds to 2, –3 and –6 to –5)

Note: Code for the possibility of having a total of two “racial packages” with the second being taken from a different list. This provides for family/sect packages to be added onto a character later. A racial package includes a descriptive text and any number of characteristic modifiers. Under no circumstance will a character have more than two racial packages, although one may possibly be split into two half packages. Also, familiy package benefits will obviously be minimal, they should provide only one or two small changes to stats apart from the descriptive text.

A member also selects one or two “archetypes” on this screen. Archetypes are changable later on and determine the member’s philosophy and ethos. They do have no effect on stats and just serve as a roleplaying tool. Archetypes are stored with a descriptive text.

1.8 Initial attributes

The member has 69 points to distribute over the six attributes Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. He may set any attribute as low as 5 or as high as 18, however only one attribute may be above 16 at this time. These values are used for internal storage, limiting attribute maximum values and determining cost. At any time beyond this initial setting, the attributes shown will include the racial bonus.

While setting initial attributes, the following text should be shown to the member:

“The attribute values displayed here are expressed in relation to your chosen race. Racial modifiers will be applied to your numbers after this step to determine your actual values. 10 is the value that reflects a completely average being of your race, thus a Wookiee character created with a 10 as Strength will wind up stronger than an Ewok created using the same Strength value. You may set values anywhere between 5 (pathetic) and 16 (way above the norm); in addition one value of your choice may be 17 or 18 (exceptional).”

In the form, the member should be given a base value of 5 in each attribute and 39 points to spend. Once committed, apply the racial values to any displayed steps. (A confirmation screen should appear showing the racially modified values).

Note: The minimum of 5 is given so that a racial modifier of –4 will still lead to a living character J

1.9 Granted abilities

Every race gains a number of granted abilities (expressed in a points value ranging from 1 to 10 with the “normal” value being 6). These points can be spent on minor abilities reflecting skills and training obtained before joining the Brotherhood as well as those Force talents a member may have had before joining and that ultimately led him to our doors. Some sample granted abilities are given below, more may be added later:

Name	Cost	Description
Professional*	2	Grants a rank of 10 in any one skill. However, further increases in this skill must be purchased at double cost. Code this as the actual skill rank being (stored rank + 20)/2 for this one skill. Every character can have only one profession.
Wild talent	2 or 4	The character can use one Force power untrained, rolling 1d30 (with no attribute bonus) for the Force power roll. This can never be improved upon, should the character learn the power normally, he can choose to apply either the normal roll or the wild roll. Cost is 2 for a Journeyman power or 4 for an Equite power.
Knack	1 or 3	The character has a special aptitude for learning one specific Force power. He can learn it as if he were one or two ranks higher (Cost 1 for 1 rank, 3 for 2 ranks).
Social status*	varies	The character has higher than standard social status with the appropriate starting money and possessions. Choosing 0 in this area essentially starts the character out with nothing, 1 would be an average citizen, 3 well off and 5+ nobility. This grants (cost squared) x 10,000 credits of which half are bound in property (e.g. land ownership) and the other half is applied to the member’s account.
Mutation *	1	Choose from a list of bodily enhancements. Two points may be spent on the same mutation, doubling its effect.

A member may leave points open for “later discoveries”, however abilities with * cannot be chosen later on.

Once the member has chosen all desired granted abilities, he may commit the character. At this point, the character is given starting characteristics (copied from a special table); some of those reflect skill and feat points to be spent during the advancement process.

Note: Once committed, a created character’s base values can never be changed. The member is stuck with his choices for the duration of his membership. Similarly, this applies to all changes made under character advancement, once committed, those can only be undone through a loss of experience.

4. Advancing characters

Advancing characters is essentially done by spending experience on various improvements. Improvements of various types can be bought at differing costs, generally increasing as the character has selected previous improvements in the same category. This is noted as a cost of x/y with x being the base cost (applied for the first purchase within the category) and y being the increment frequency. This means that the first y increases of the category are purchased at a cost of x, the next y at a cost of 2x, the next y at a cost of 3x and so on.

Example: The first nine upgrades of an item costed at 100/4 would cost a total of 1,500 XP (4x100 for the first four, 4x200 for the 5^th to 8^th and 1x300 for the 9^th).

1.10 Attributes

Attributes are the only item not costed by the x/y scheme. Instead, increasing an attribute to the next level costs 500x the current level minus 14 (125 for any increase up to 10, 250 for any increase up to 14). Thus, from 14 to 15, I would need to spend 500 XP while 20 to 21 costs 3,000. The maximum any attribute can be raised to is 18 + ½ of the character’s level.

1.11 Skill points and feats

Skill points are costed at 15/4, feat slots at 120/1. A starting character has 16 skill points (plus any eventual Intelligence bonus) and one feat slot available that do not affect the cost. Once purchased, skill points and feat slots can be spent on any skill or feat the character meets the prerequisites for. Skills cannot be increased beyond the character’s level +3 (except in the case of a professional – this character may however still have no more points assigned to that skill, they just get a higher benefit from it).

1.12 Attack bonuses

Attack bonuses reflect the character’s general capability to fight either with handheld weapons (land attack bonus) or with vehicles and starships (pilot attack bonus). These two values are independently costed at 150/1 and cannot exceed the character’s level +2.

1.13 Saving throws and hit dice

Saving throws measure a character’s resistance and come in three flavors: Fortitude, Reflexes and Will. These three together are costed at 80/3 with two free points avalable to a starting character. Hit dice reflect the character’s vitality (each die grants 1d8 vitality plus any Constitution bonus but never less than 1) and are costed at 150/1. There is no limit on saving throw numbers, however a character cannot have more hit dice than his level +3. The first hit die (which a character starts out with for free) is always 8.

Note: Roll all hit dice for a character at creation time and just sum them up accordingly. Also be sure to code the Constitution bonus separately per die – a character with a Constitution penalty of –2 and having rolled 8, 1 and 3 for his hit dice has 5+1+1 = 7 Vitality, not (8+1+3)-9 = 3.

1.14 Force powers

Force powers use a complicated costing system that is essentially based on a x/5 cost. However, different levels of Force powers and different levels of mastery cost a different number of points as per the character’s rank (higher ranks have an easier time learning the same Force power). The costs are as follows:

Journeyman powers

Rank	1	2	3	4	5+	Max
INI-1*	15					1
INI	9	13				2
APP	8	10	12			3
NOV	8	9	11	13		4
ACO	8	8	10	11		4
PRT	8	8	9	10	13	5
GRD	8	8	8	9	11	5
JH	8	8	8	8	9	5
DJK	8	8	8	8	8	5
KP	8	8	8	8	8	6
KAP	8	8	8	8	8	7
KE	8	8	8	8	8	8
KPN	8	8	8	8	8	8
DA	8	8	8	8	8	9
DJM	8	8	8	8	8	9
DP	8	8	8	8	8	10
GM	8	8	8	8	8	10
GM+1*	8	8	8	8	8	10
GM+2	8	8	8	8	8	10

Equite powers

Rank	1	2	3	4	5+	Max
GRD	20					1
JH	15	18				2
DJK	11	14	16			3
KP	9	11	13	15	17	5
KAP	3	10	11	12	14	6
KE	9	9	9	10	11	6
KPN	9	9	9	9	9	7
DA	9	9	9	9	9	7
DJM	9	9	9	9	9	8
DP	9	9	9	9	9	9
GM	9	9	9	9	9	10
GM+1	8	8	8	8	8	10
GM+2	8	8	8	8	8	10

Elder powers

Rank	1	2	3	4	5+	Max
KAP	30					1
KE	22	28				2
KPN	14	19	26			3
DA	10	11	15	19	23	5
DJM	10	10	10	12	14	7
DP	10	10	10	10	10	8
GM	10	10	10	10	10	10
GM+1	9	9	9	9	9	10
GM+2	8	8	8	8	8	10

Grand Mastery powers**

Rank	1	2	3	4	5+	Max
DA	50					1
DJM	35	60				2
DP	20	35	75			3
GM	12	13	14	15	16	10
GM+1	10	11	11	12	12	10
GM+2	8	8	8	8	8	10

(*) These lines are needed in case a member has a bonus or penalty to rank in terms of learning specific Force powers. Coding should use numerical rank indicators here with INI=0, APP=1, NOV=2, etc. up to GM=15. A table design for these items is included in the Table Init Excel.

(**) Grand Mastery powers have unique restrictions if not wielded by a true Grand Master; so for example might a sufficiently trained DJM be able to affect someone’s ability to use the Force, but unlike the changes bestowed by a GM, these will last only a short time. None of these abilities will unfold their true potential until used by an actual GM (or, in exceptional cases, the reigning GM specifically entrusts the member with full power).

Also, to prevent some nasty going around by sneaky members, a member wishing to learn any:

- Equite powers needs to have at least 30 total levels of mastery in Journeyman powers

- Elder powers needs to have at least 70 total levels of mastery in Journeyman and Equite powers

- Grand Master powers needs to have at least 120 total levels of mastery in lower ranked powers.

Note that a mastery level of 4 is required to really use the Force power in a combat or other tight situation. Mastery 3 may be borderline useful in such situations but incurs severe disadvantages. Thus, a KE’s “Force Lightning” might be useful to impress his fellow Equites on a drunken evening (or just as probably to make a fool of himself), but not to actually smite a foe in combat. You can still expect members to spend premium prices on these abilities, just for the “look mom, I can do this” factor J.

Costing example: An APP wishing to learn two Force powers to level 3 (his maximum) each would need to spend 8+10+12=30 XP on the first such power and 8+10+24=42 XP (the /5 part kicks in now) on the second. Assuming he wants to learn four powers, he is well advised to learn them one after the other instead of first beginning all of them, then later improving:

Learning one power after the other: 8+10+12+8+10+24+16+20+24+16+30+36 XP = 214 XP

Beginning several at a time: 8+8+8+8+10+20+20+20+24+24+36+36 XP = 222 XP

This effect becomes more prominent the more powers are involved. It pays to learn one thing at a time.

5. User Interface

1.15 Character creation user interface

The character creation system consists of three screens. The first asks for race, gender, archetype, place of birth and appearance, filling in appropriate items from the character history if those exist (they are however editable even if pre-filled). Once this is submitted, advance to the attribute selection screen similar to that of the ACC. There should be a “suggest” button for those completely new to this type of character creation that selects a sensible set of attributes based on Order, archetype and gender. (as the numbers are relative to the racial norm at this point, no racial features need to be taken into account. To simplify coding, all values are coded as modifiers from the basic order set of attributes).

Lastly, the member is allowed to choose their granted abilities, submitting them one by one and choosing a specific power or skill if such is needed. After choosing all desired granted abilities, the member can save the character. At any time in the process, starting over is allowed. Before finally saving, show the completed character and ask for confirmation, pointing out that submitting cannot be undone.

1.16 Character advancement user interface

The most critical user interface component is that for character advancement as the member will be making most decisions there. It consists of a main screen, a Force screen and a number of subscreens for assigning purchased points. In addition, two “view” modes need to be provided, one for the character as he was before editing and one for the current status including edits.

The main screen

In the main screen, list the current attributes, attack bonuses and hit dice and available skill points, feat slots and unassigned saving throw points. Then provide for a way to increase these numbers (similar to the ACC character setup). Important: Costs must be listed next to each choice and only such changes the member can currently make, from available XP and maximum values, should be selectable. At any point, the member also needs to be informed about the remaining available XP. For skill points, the effective number purchased needs to be displayed along with the raw total as a high Intelligence yields bonus points here. This number may change if an Intelligence increase is taken at the same time, so be sure to work off the selected value, not the stored value.

Once the form is submitted, any points purchased become available for use in the respective subscreen.

Coding note: Make sure to apply any attribute purchases first when adding in new purchases as a simultaneous purchase of Intelligence points and Skill points needs to yield the number of skill points due by the now increased Intelligence!

Subscreens

There needs to be one subscreen each for feats, skills and saving throws.

For feats, provide a dropdown with those feats the member currently meets prerequisites for. If a feat is selected that requires specifying a text (e.g. a weapon) or selecting from a list, enable the respective selection (Javascript, this should not require an extra submit process). Once submitted, return the member to feat purchasing if he has another slot available, otherwise return to the main screen.

For skills, list all presently possessed skills with a way to increase the number of ranks as well as a dropdown with all presently unselected skills. The latter should have a button “add skill” – this adds the skill to the list of taken skills at 1 rank (for the cost of 1 point). In case a language or a craft/knowledge/profession skill are selected, a dropdown or list box needs to be enabled to select the specific subskill from (make sure to disallow duplicate selections).

Note that language skills should never appear in the skill list to be improved as they cannot be increased.

The saving throw screen is a straightforward screen with the three types of saving throws listed and the possibility to increase the number on each of them.

Also accessible as a subscreen should be the granted abilities screen from the character creation setup if a member has any points for granted abilities remaining.

Force purchase screen

This is the most complicated screen to create. The user will be given a list of Force powers he can currently use or improve including those not learned but having a maximum of at least one level, sorted by class and then by name. Behind each power that can be improved is a link / button allowing to upgrade this power by one. When this is used, the display will have to change accordingly (Javascript would be ideal as it avoids major reload times – however some changes may require a full reload, especially when a 30, 70 or 120 boundary is reached and the class of available Force powers improves). Once all desired changes are made, the user submits the form. Now one of two things can happen:

1) No new mastery level of 6 or higher was taken: Return the user to the main screen.

2) At least one new mastery level of 6 or higher was taken: The user will now be presented with a screen from which to choose the benefits of each such mastery level. Present this as a table (with borders) for each power, being sure to list the currently available upgrades. Sample layout:

Pick your options for Telekinesis (upgraded from 7 to 9, currently +24, -1 cost reduction):

8 (dropdown or radio button list)

9 (dropdown or radio button list)

Pick your options for Affect Matter (upgraded from 5 to 6, currently +20)

6 (dropdown or radio button list)

Submit

Submitting this screen takes the member to the main screen.

Important: Whenever a dropdown list is made available, make sure to pre-select an invalid option. There should never be a submitting of a choice the member has not actively clicked on.

Reviewing and submitting the character

After making a change, the member can view both his changed character and the character as it was before any changes were made during the same session. At the end of the viewing form for the changed character, there are two buttons for submitting this character and discarding all changes. Either one will require a confirmation screen. Only when the character is submitted are the XP actually spent and the abilities gained.

Confirmation text for submitting:

Warning: You are about to make permanent changes to your character sheet. Any such changes made can not be undone. The changes you made will cost you [...] Experience points and affect your character as follows:

[Insert differential list of changes made – only changed items should appear here – e.g.

Intelligence was 14 now 16

Telekinesis was 7 now 9

Affect Matter was 5 now 6

Tumbling added at 4

Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Bowcaster) added

]

Buttons: Submit changes, Discard Changes, Return to character advancement. Discard leads to discard confirmation screen (which has Yes, discard changes and No, Return to advancement

Implementation notes

Uncommitted changes should be stored in the database. When a member returns to character advancement with uncommitted changes, he should have the option of continuing from where he left off or discarding the changes. This prevents the results of an editing session from being lost in a connection error. A screen similar to the confirm commit screen should be shown to remind the member of what was changed.

All choices are implemented from fixed lists, the member should never be allowed to just type something. If a new ability or variety of an ability is desired, the member needs to propose that to the RPG manager who will then add that to the list.

6. Administration interface

7. Coding issues

This chapter deals with specific issues about coding the system.

1.17 Character storage

REDACTED

8. Nonplayer characters

A member is allowed to maintain one nonplayer character per rank (APP = 1, NOV = 2 and so on). The XP totals for these characters can be freely set up to 90% of the main character’s total. They may be of any order, and any rank up to the member’s own rank. The member himself chooses when to award these characters XP to keep within the storyline. Nonplayer characters can be deleted freely, however to avoid abuse, the slot they occupied will only become available again after one week after deletion.

Nonplayer characters do not have saved waypoints, if their owner wants to demote them, they will have to be deleted. Upon an XP loss, any nonplayer character(s) now above the new limit become inaccessible except for deletion; they will become accessible again after the member regains the requisite XP. If a member loses rank and thus has more accessible NPCs than allowed (after deactivating those with excess XP), the ones with the lowest XP totals will become inaccessible as well.

Other than this, NPCs are treated exactly like main characters. They can be viewed from the member’s main character sheet. Members cannot create NPCs until they have created their main character.

There are also NPCs assigned to no particular member, these are maintained by the administration and usually, once created, not advanced. They can be viewed from the general RPG library.

9. Standard characters

Members not wishing to take part in this system will show a standard character determined by Order and rank. One such character will be provided for each rank/order combination. These will use a relatively low experience total for the rank, assuming just some basic medals.

Most of the recent, well known Dark Jedi were notoriously wealthy. Often engaging in pleasures of the senses, as well as those of the mind, Dark Jedi would gorge themselves on material possessions. Furthermore, a Dark Jedi would always be seeking ways to improve their power, through buying training time, advanced weapony, ships, and even transports. This system is the only truly new part of Project: Rebirth, though it is absolutely necessary. Not only does it provide a unique way for individuals to customize their progression through the Dark Brotherhood (through their economic choices), but it also provides yet another way for the Dark Brotherhood to reward its active membership.

Credits are a term for currency used in Star Wars. In our case, the Dark Brotherhood would adopt a system of currency. At the start, the amount each Clan receives would be a set standard. Each member is also given an amount of credits that is determined by their rank and position within their Clan. Clans receive credits that allow them to purchase armor, weapons and equipment for their members, though the individuals would not own any of this equipment. The access that Clans and individuals have to what they can spend their credits on is dependant upon the Prestige that each has. Note that Clans and individuals do not use the same list of what they can purchase for what prestige they have. An individuals credits would be shown in their dossier, and they would be able to access a database on the website in order to purchase official possessions, which would be added to their dossier. Members will be able to purchase from a long list of items, with the higher quality items being “unlocked” for purchase as members advance through the structure of the Dark Brotherhood.

Credits are earned primarily through participation in competitions run within the Battleteam, House, Clan, and even the Dark Brotherhood as a whole. Both Clans and individuals will primarily be rewarded for activity in competitions through the awarding of credits, while medals (and the Prestige that comes with them) will still be awarded to the victors in these competitions. Additionally, a salary is given once a month to individuals. Clans will each receive one tenth of what each member would earn from this salary. This amount is not subtracted from the members earned credits. When this system is first implemented, Clans will all receive the same number of credits. Also at the time of implementation, each member will receive a number of credits in their salary based upon their position and their rank. As with Prestige, it is possible for a member to lose credits, as well, through disciplinary action.

It should be noted, these salaries are give to ALL members, regardless of current position.

These salaries are awarded on the first Monday of each month, in conjunction with the credits per month, and require a member to be serving in the position on the “pay day.”

Every competition run by the Dark Brotherhood should give at least a minimal bonus to Credits for participation. As the number of participants and complexity of the competition grows, so too should the awards given. These are suggested credits to be awarded for events in competitions that do not include banner/motto competition. Obviously these numbers are completely at the discretion of the DGM to accept or decline as he sees fit based on each competition as submitted by the person planning on running said competition. Keep in mind, that credits are given for participation, while medals are given for the competitiveness of these events, so that winners will tend not to receive many more credits than those who participated.

Members in the Dark Brotherhood as of the implementation of the Credit-Prestige system will receive credits based upon the following formula:

(Credits equal to 7 month’s salary at their rank) + (Credits equal to one month serving in their Position)

All members of the Dark Brotherhood will have access to a section of the Dark Brotherhood website that will allow them to spend credits on various items. These items include ships, weapons, and training time. Dependant upon their Prestige more varied and complex items and training become available to the member. The below list is for individual members, and is FAR from complete!

This is clearly an incomplete list. It is meant as a rough glance at the kind of items that would be purchased. This also gives members the opportunity to submit new designs for weapons, armor, ships, and anything else that can be purchased.

Prestige Necessary	Cost	Item Type	Item Name	Brief Description
1	15	WEAPON	Club/Baton	A simple weapon used for bludgeoning.
1	50	WEAPON	Knife	A simple weapon used for stabbing/slashing.
1	150	WEAPON	Longsword	A simple weapon used for slashing.
1	65	WEAPON	Quarterstaff	A simple weapon used for bludgeoning.
5	300	ARMOR	Blast Helmet	Simple armor worn on the head to protect against shrapnel and fragments, though useless against blasters.
5	500	ARMOR	Blast Vest	Simple armor worn on the body to protect against shrapnel and fragments, though useless against blasters.
5	500	WEAPON	BlasTech DL-18	The most common blaster in the galaxy.
5	750	WEAPON	XT-1 Blaster Pistol	One of the most common blasters found in the galaxy. Equivalent power to the DL-18.
5	250	WEAPON	BlasTech DL-22	A simple blaster used for stunning.
5	500	WEAPON	BlasTech DL-30	Smaller than DL-18, but equal power.
10	500	ARMOR	Combat Jumpsuit	One piece jumpsuit with attachment rings and pockets for various items.
10	750	WEAPON	DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol	Far more firepower than the DL-18, but with very limited range.
10	900	WEAPON	XT-1a Military Sidearm	Slightly more powerful than the XT-1, the XT-1a also holds slightly more ammo.
10	900	WEAPON	XT-2 Extended-Use Blaster	The XT-2 almost as strong as BlasTech's infamous DL-44 heavy blaster pistol, but holds more ammo.
15	1,400	WEAPON	BlasTech A280	One of the best armor piercing rifles in the galaxy.
15	2,500	ARMOR	Thermal Suit	One piece jumpsuit that contains thermal sensor jamming equipment.
15	1,000	WEAPON	BlasTech E11 Blaster Rifle	High powered, versatile blaster rifle.
20	1,500	WEAPON	BlasTech E11/M	Sharpshooter’s blaster . More accurate than their E11 sister blaster.
20	2,500	ARMOR	Corellian PowerSuit	Very popular armor suit capable of enhancing the wearers strength. Easily modifiable for personal use.
20	4,000	WEAPON	Merr-Sonn SX-451 Heavy Sniper Rifle	Heavy sniper rifle with a good scope. Used on a bipod
30	1,700	WEAPON	BlasTech ES-23	Semi-automatic blaster rifle capable of burst firing.
30	2,000	WEAPON	BlasTech T-21	Larger and more powerful than average blaster rifles.
40		ARMOR	Merr-Sonn Personal Shield	Belt sized personal shielding device, projecting a one-meter in diameter concussion/ray energy shield.
40	8,000	ARMOR	Incom TS-43 Marauder Space Battle Suit	Complex armored battle suit including a laser cutter, armor penetrating rockets, a laser cutter and a very potent rocket pack.
40	40,000	SPACE	TIE Fighter	Stock line of the TIE Fighter.
50	80,000	SPACE	Z-95	Aging craft. Capable of hyperspace travel.
50	90,000	SPACE	R-41	Aging craft. Capable of hyperspace travel.
50	80,000	SPACE	Pin/F	Pinook Fighter. Aging craft. Capable of hyperspace travel.
50	80,000	SPACE	T-Wing	Aging craft. Capable of hyperspace travel.
60	83,000	SPACE	Cloakshape Fighter	Popular, yet aging craft. Highly customizable.
60	120,000	SPACE	T/I	TIE Interceptor.
70	130,000	SPACE	A-9	A-9 Vigilance Interceptor
70	165,000	SPACE	I-71	I-7l Howlrunner
75	175,000	SPACE	A-Wing	A-Wing
75	220,000	SPACE	B-WING	B-Wing
75	200,000	SPACE	X-wing	Upgraded X-Wing
80	240,000	SPACE	SHU	Lambda Shuttle
80	300,000	SPACE	T/A	TIE Advanced
100	500,000	SPACE	T/D	TIE Defender
100	120,000	SPACE	Firespray-31	Firespray-31
100	130,000	SPACE	YT-2400	YT-2400
150