In late 1987 I had an idea for a unique play-by-mail game system that I called Corona Galaxy but as development continued I realized that there might be something more to it. Playing through the mail might limit the scope of the game and that was not what I set out to do. At about the same time I realized that Corona Galaxy was unique in that it was not tied into anyone else's universe; this was not some future Earth, though there are some similarities in the "official" game setting to Earth history, this is not a spin off from someone's TV series or movie and it has no connection with any other game system. I was starting out with a blank slate.
One major difference between Corona Galaxy and other games is that most other systems are limited in their scope of play, either because they are tied into some other idea, a television series for example, or because they are designed for one mode of play only. I wanted my game to have limitless possibilities. Players can, within reason, go anywhere and do anything they want to...for a price. As in real life, nothing is totally free and the laws of nature require some kind of balence. A character that starts out extremely gifted or highly skilled may have some mighty impressive disadvantages or disads in his/her/its background; a death penalty if a true identity is discovered, a physically disabling or life-threatening illness, or a jilted and slightly psychotic ex-lover who is pursuing the character intending to collect choice parts of his/her/its anatomy...juicy little things that will pop up from time to time to make life more interesting.
With everything that makes Corona Galaxy different, there are some things that it has in common with other game systems. It assumes that any race capable of achieving self-awareness that does not bomb itself out of existance will have an innate curiosity about the universe around it and will eventually move out to explore that universe. It also assumes that people have certain gifts, abilities and disadvantages both as individuals and as members of their race. I like to think that this is universal because it makes them seem more like us...more like people, no matter what they look like.
Players must remember that everything has a price. You can have a race with a hundred worlds and a thousand battle fleets, but the next empire over may be twice as big and four times as nasty. You can have a race with god-like powers, but Local 666 of the Union of Demons and Devils may be casting a coveting eye on your territory even as you are creating it. Your race of physically perfect people may enjoy tremendous strength and sexual virility, but the first offworlder that comes along with a venereal disease may wipe them out. Forgoing all physical sensation, your race may develop tremendous mental abilities only to die out because it is no longer any fun to procreate. The "ideal" race, if there is such a thing, is realistic and well-balanced. The same is true for characters as no one wants to to outstrip all others in one area and have to be coddled along in other areas. A proper balance must be reached in all things. This is what makes the game, and reality, fun!
(This being said, the author puts away his soapbox and orders a pizza.)
