Object Ownership Implications for a No GM System

[LordEntrails]

I'm looking at adapting a ruleset for a multi-player boardgame (Knight Hawks). The first thing that has come up is on adapting a current object (either PC or NPC) to what I need (in this case a "space ship").

These ships will have multiple instances, hence I'm thinking NPC, but there is some concern over ownership with this approach and so PC's have been recommended (because a PC can be owned by the host or a client).

Think of a board game with 2+ players, each controlling a fleet of spaceships (composed of multiples of frigates, destroyers, cruisers, etc)

What are people's thoughts on if I should start with a PC (to have the ownership question handled) or an NPC (to have the inherit/multiplcity question handled)?

What else should I be concerned with at this point?

EDIT: oh, and at some point I need to hide the contents of some objects (i.e. 'fleets' based on encounter objects) from the host...

[Moon Wizard]

If you're going to implement a board game, you probably need to think about a completely new ruleset from scratch. The CoreRPG layer is really only for RPG games.

Also, you'll find that the APIs are mostly geared towards RPG needs as well, so you may not have all the features you want in the APIs to do what you want. While it would be interesting to explore what features are needed, our reality right now is that we don't have any bandwidth to take on any more development.

In fact, that was my initial thought when I joined FG is that we could expand to board games. However, the sheer volume of needs for RPGs, as well as the absurd licensing challenges in board games (which are anywhere from 2-4 licensees per game), has kept me from exploring.

Regards,
JPG

[LordEntrails]

If I was doing a complex boardgame, I would probably go the Vassal Engine route (and I've thought about it for this game) but the rules are really very simple, and more importantly, the game is an extension to the Star Frontiers RPG (which Dulux has on his bucket list to adapt for FG).

I think the biggest challenge to using FG as is are the two facets I mentioned;
1) Multiple instances of an owned object
2) Hiding from GM/host, which could just mean that the host starts a second instance of FG and joins as the other player (sure their are trust issues, but I don't play with people I don't trust).