RLLAILLIEU! What have you been and gone and done? (My, that's a difficult name to yell.)
Oh well, will continue, assuming that there IS going to be an RP:
Now you mention it, I haven't played any Agents of Yesterday either so although I'm familiar with TOS, I'd be at a disadvantage with what happens in that specifically. Pocketstory, are you keen on making it TOS-era yourself? If not, I'll back down.
I don't do god-mode characters, I like to play ordinary people like me. But I have another problem, that I accumulate a lot of ideas about my character that I find, when I actually try to write them, are incompatible with each other! So starting from scratch and working things out as I go along seems a good idea to me too.
You've summed up my rather long and waffly position in 3 words! I also would enjoy going back and forth with people if I happen to be online for an extended time and at the same time as someone else is; but can't promise that that will happen.
5) If you join this RP how often to you expect to make posts? at least once a day, generally two or three times a day, but I've been known to posts dozens of times a day. lol. It often depends on how interested i am in the RP, as well as what my day is like. I dont usually go more than two days without posting. also i highly highly highly recommend having a Posting Order.
6) How long do you want the forum/chat RP do go before we move RP into game? I dont really play STO that much so it doesnt really pertain to me, sorry. I'm a writer, not a gamer :P
7) Once the RP move ingame how often do you want/expect to play the game and for how long each session? I play the game like once a week, if that, so count me out of that.
This all pretty much sums up my position as well (better than I did), except I can't promise that I'll post every single day, hence the need to be able to carry on without my input if necessary. The0infamous, what do you mean by a Posting Order?
0) Are we definitely planning to set this at the Academy, then? One of the previous posts seemed to imply that that wasn't set in stone.
I'm in favour of that. It seems to leave more scope; people can be more fun and flaky (in any century, students will be students!) and also have more of a "real life" outside being in Starfleet. (Not that being in the military isn't as much a life as any other, but it's one I have no direct knowledge of so I struggle to think of any ideas about what would happen in it.)
my emotes are being dumb so ignore them as much as you can lol. I'm former military, so I'd like to be able to give advice on that. One of the major problems with RPers RPing Starfleet, military, war, or other types of stories that involve tragedy and death is that they have no concept of how it affects people. If we are all RPing as non-sociopaths, than we should keep in mind that our first, and maybe even second and third, combat experience will have certain amount of mental stresses and emotional changes in our characters. This can often be overlooked on TV, but I think TNG is the show that got it close. People say DS9 got "war" right but they are only right in a limited fashion. Sorry, i'll get off my soapbox now lol
The0infamous, you seem to be better/more experienced at this than I am, and know more about the military stuff, so if you think my character's behaving unrealistically in some way, just say so and I'll try to profit by it.
My smileys are doing that too! Almost always the "pensive" one or the "disappointed" one. Somebody must have fixed something that wasn't broke. I think I caught most of them but I don't know.
5) I really don't know how often I expect to make posts. As I've mentioned I've got health problems, so, depending on my mood that day, some days I won't be feeling like posting and others I'll be dropping in several times a day and firing off a bit more. So try to arrange things so that I can always be readily "ghosted" if necessary (i.e. just carry on with the story taking my character as read).
Might it be helpful to have a rule that if someone's not been seen for, say, 24 hours, or 48 hours, the others don't wait for them any longer and are allowed to say what their character does if that's essential to moving on?
I'm OK with that rule, but I'd like to do something that I used to do back in the day, which is actually be friends with my fellow Rpers. What I mean is, I dont just want this to be an RP-only group. If you find yourself in one of these moods or you know you're going to have a serious health issue that prevents you from posting (or anything), let someone know. Hell, even if you just feel down and need someone to talk or vent to, I think that should be an option if you so desire. In half my RP's I play a security officer, and in the other half I play a counselor. I have an urge to help and protect people, so whatever I can do to help anyone here, just let me know
The thing is that the reason I usually disappear is that I realise that I need to get the hell off the computer for a bit because it's getting too obsessive/tiring! But thanks. I agree, it's nice to make friends over an RP rather than just talk to a black box. (If you others want to remain black boxes, that's fine.
Again, can't we do both? I'm much better at emotional character development than treknobabble, as anyone who's read ESD can attest to. Since I will most likely be playing a security officer or counselor, you could play a science officer or engineer, thereby putting your character right in the midst of the treknobabble :P
Oh, I'm fine with that and I may even join in. I just don't want to HAVE to because it's all there is, in case I can't do it!
I can't seem to do feelings in a vacuum, when nothing's happening - I can only do them with reference to a thing. I can think of "the emotion of character who hasn't written their essay", or "the emotion of character on a ship being attacked by space pirates". But when people tell me I ought to do it the other way around and be "character-driven", then I'm just left wiggling my fingers at the keyboard and hoping that if I shut my eyes and visualise the character's personality hard enough, what happens next will magically appear, since that's what seems to be supposed to happen. And even in the first case, it's usually expressed as doing another thing - whether that be resorting to hacking or going and crying on somebody. If I have to just write that so-and-so feels such-and-such, I get bogged and it doesn't seem to go anywhere.
Maybe it's an autistic spectrum thing. Or maybe the thing I'm actually not good at is understanding cryptic writing maxims like "Everything should spring from who your character is", and they don't mean that at all!
Also, much more simply, it does seem a pity to be playing in Star Trek and not have anything happening that wouldn't happen at home!
Occasionally, someone comes in and posts once and then vanishes. Usually it's a super-long post...so I guess they have every intention of Rping with us, but then they get left behind and dont feel like continuing on their own. Plus sometimes they post in another part of the galaxy, where the rest of the Rpers are not located. In order to keep this RP available to new Rpers, perhaps we should have an Rper who has a playable character always at SF Academy, to welcome the new player's character and give them an update on what's going on. The character who stays behind could be a veteran/instructor, or a cadet who just cant graduate, though I recommend the former.
Good point. I expect by that stage all of us will have introduced at least one "NPC" at the Academy at some point (our character's demon Physics tutor, a hot dog seller, etc.), so we can use those to greet any strays and point them to where stuff is happening.
Good point. I expect by that stage all of us will have introduced at least one "NPC" at the Academy at some point (our character's demon Physics tutor, a hot dog seller, etc.), so we can use those to greet any strays and point them to where stuff is happening.
I dont do “NPC's” well. Again, referring back to ESD, you will see me introduce “redshirts” who I (and other readers) end up becoming attached to, with more developed backstories and personalities than most other Rpers' main characters. So if I have a character remain at SF Academy, it wont be an “NPC” in the traditional sense, of me not playing as the character and anyone being able to move it..unless we make it a canon character, such as Tuvok. Actually, that's probably our best bet. Then literally anyone can play as that character.
Oh, I'm fine with that and I may even join in. I just don't want to HAVE to because it's all there is, in case I can't do it!
I can't seem to do feelings in a vacuum, when nothing's happening - I can only do them with reference to a thing. I can think of "the emotion of character who hasn't written their essay", or "the emotion of character on a ship being attacked by space pirates". But when people tell me I ought to do it the other way around and be "character-driven", then I'm just left wiggling my fingers at the keyboard and hoping that if I shut my eyes and visualise the character's personality hard enough, what happens next will magically appear, since that's what seems to be supposed to happen. And even in the first case, it's usually expressed as doing another thing - whether that be resorting to hacking or going and crying on somebody. If I have to just write that so-and-so feels such-and-such, I get bogged and it doesn't seem to go anywhere.
Maybe it's an autistic spectrum thing. Or maybe the thing I'm actually not good at is understanding cryptic writing maxims like "Everything should spring from who your character is", and they don't mean that at all!
Also, much more simply, it does seem a pity to be playing in Star Trek and not have anything happening that wouldn't happen at home!
I see. Well, I think everyone would agree that writing emotions in a vacuum is more difficult. But I doubt we'd have that much of a vacuum in this RP, if we have at least 4 people. I'm sure once the main OOC and IC threads are made, others will join, giving us plenty to play off of, emotionally. I'd be happy to help with emotional writing if anyone needs it.
The thing is that the reason I usually disappear is that I realise that I need to get the hell off the computer for a bit because it's getting too obsessive/tiring! But thanks. I agree, it's nice to make friends over an RP rather than just talk to a black box. (If you others want to remain black boxes, that's fine.
You and I are on the same page brother
what do you mean by a Posting Order?
1) Bob posts.
2) John posts.
3) Jane posts.
4) Bob posts.
5) John posts.
6) Jane posts.
rather than...
1) Bob posts
2) John posts
3) Bob posts
4) Jane posts
5) John posts
6) Bob posts
7) John posts
8) Bob posts
Basically, its the established order at which everyone posts.
This works best if you have 3 - 5 RPers who are doing fast-paced things like combat. If you have half a dozen players or more who are surveying a planet, it's not a good idea.
The0infamous, you seem to be better/more experienced at this than I am, and know more about the military stuff, so if you think my character's behaving unrealistically in some way, just say so and I'll try to profit by it.
I rarely point things like that out. Also i think most of you have seen or played enough Star Trek to get the majority of it right. The only thing I'm worried about is Ensign Bob running around killing a dozen klingon veterans and then going straight to lunch where he's the life of the party. Then I may say something lol
EDITION: I have an idea for a Kobyashi maru type of simulation...
Looks like this idea has been saved! On a side note Agents of Yesterday comes out July 6. If this RP happens I will be making a new character for it regardless of what anyone else decides to do. So I think July 6 would be a good day to start posting character profiles for this RP. If we don't RP in the TOS timeline the date is arbitrary but I'll be on the game making a character that day and trying out the new content so it will be a good time to make a new character for this RP as well.
Now when I say character profiles I mean basic profiles including Name, Race/Species (whichever term you want to use) Sex, age, some basic statistics and maybe a brief history. Something that would be appropriate for a cadet file [or instructor resume if you choose to RP as an instructor] We don't need fully developed characters since the point of RP is to develop our characters.
Also it looks like we are going ahead with the academy setting at least to begin with, I hope for this RP to continue past graduation and into the universe at large.
All of that being said we still have a few decisions to make. I'll be posting my answers to my list of questions soon but I want to make one thing clear before I post my answers. This is not MY RP, this is a RP that I wanted to do and had the idea for but I'm not running it. Being a character in a RP and the GM is a bad combination. I want this to be a group effort meaning if I want to do something and nobody else thinks it's a good idea please tell me. This is the main reason I'm taking so long in this OOC thread before starting the IC RP. As a group we will keep the RP on task and help each other avoid things like god-modding and straying outside of what is appropriate for the setting or drifting OOC in IC posts and all the other things that can happen during a RP.
That being said I think I should wait until after I answer my questions and add a few more to the list before saying more.
If we start posting character profiles on July 6th that means we have just over 2 weeks to make a few basic decisions. and Hopefully the RP will start 3 weeks from now. I know 3 weeks might seem like a long time but trust me it isn't.
So here are my answers to my questions and a few more to help people think about the RP. Sorry for the long post.
1) New characters Yes/No?
I will be making a new character for this RP. I'm not saying everyone has to make a new character but I will be making a new character. I do recommend new characters for many or the reasons already mentioned in this thread but I'm not going to force the issue unless we have a strong call for all new characters by a majority of the people in this thread.
I also strongly suggest that anyone who does not make a new character RPs
as an instructor instead of as a cadet. I will not insist on this I just strongly suggest it.
2) TOS or Post TNG/DS9 timeline?
I recommend starting in the TOS time-line for a few reasons. To begin with starting earlier in the time-line means there is less history to learn at the academy. If we start post DS9 history class would include information from all of the previous series and lots of supplemental sources. If we start in the TOS time-line we don't even need to worry about being familiar with TOS since we will be discovering that in the game when/if we move to the game. Starting in TOS all you really need to watch if you want to know a bit about the universe is Star Trek Enterprise. Though I would recommend at least reading some wiki pages on the history of the alien species you choose to play as, or just Star Trek Earth history if you plan to play as a human character.
Also with Agents of Yesterday being new content in game it will put everyone on an even playing field as far as knowing in-game information.
3) Start with 100% forum RP or use a text chat program as well?
From what I've seen it looks like keeping the RP forum based is the best decision with text programs left for OOC planning and side RPs.
4) Voice chat Yes/No? If yes IC voice chat or OOC only? [needs a 100% yes vote to pass]
This looks like it is going to be a no.
5) If you join this RP how often to you expect to make posts?
When I do forum RPs I tend to make one post a day on average. During more action oriented scenes or scenes with multiple characters interacting which requires shorter posts I'll make multiple posts a day but I'll also at times take a few days off from posting if the current scene doesn't require the presence of my character.
6) How long do you want the forum/chat RP do go before we move RP into game?
I'm thinking 6 months to a year of RP to get through the academy depending on how may times we manipulate time OOC. Forum RP is strange we could take a week to RP a single day IC and then fast forward time a month or if needed continue the next day taking an entire month to get though a week IC.
7) Once the RP move ingame how often do you want/expect to play the game and for how long each session?
I currently barely touch the game though with Agents of Yesterday being added I'll probably take some time to get a feel for the new content. That being said I am quite busy and my schedule is erratic. But I will probably be able to play the game for 2-3 hours at a time anywhere from 1 to 3 times a week.
Currently I'm thinking of just keeping the RP forum based with in-game RP working as a kinda Side RP like chat program RP would. Doing it this way we can even start using the game IC during the academy part of the RP with the goal of reaching the in-game rank of Captain before graduating from the academy. Details can be worked out over time but I think you can see where I'm coming from with this idea. It always seemed odd to be that you are captain of a ship in-game without having the rank of Captain.
Also I think spending time in-game playing the game while doing the Academy RP will help us care more about our characters and get into an IC mindset easier.
Now for a few new questions.
1) What kind of character are you planning on playing? Race? Sex? Specialization [Science/Engineering/Tactical]? Cadet/Instructor? Etc.
Right now I can tell you that I will for sure be RPing a cadet. As for the other questions I have a couple of characters in mind but am waiting to decide who to RP as in order to provide maximum cast diversity.
2) List any deal-breakers. Any plots/topics subjects you refuse to address in RP. This is to help establish any rules on things to be avoided.
Personally as long as it fits in the established universe and my character is allowed to respond in an In Character manner I'm in the anything goes camp for RP. That isn't to say that there are no IC consequences. If say one character assaults another character IC there will be a hearing there will be a court-martial and more than likely there will be consequences up to an including expulsion from the academy. Deals might be worked out and with proper OOC planning such plots could be interesting. But keep such possibilities in mind. Graduation is not guaranteed. [the RP would be boring if it was.]
Also it looks like we are going ahead with the academy setting at least to begin with, I hope for this RP to continue past graduation and into the universe at large.
Yes, in fact, I had another idea regarding what the SFA would be like, in RP format.
This is not MY RP, this is a RP that I wanted to do and had the idea for but I'm not running it. Being a character in a RP and the GM is a bad combination. I want this to be a group effort meaning if I want to do something and nobody else thinks it's a good idea please tell me. This is the main reason I'm taking so long in this OOC thread before starting the IC RP. As a group we will keep the RP on task and help each other avoid things like god-modding and straying outside of what is appropriate for the setting or drifting OOC in IC posts and all the other things that can happen during a RP.
The ESD thread was created by Hawku, but he and i collaborated on an overall story-line. Since Nat's character is the highest ranking character (and most powerful ) he also "led" the RP. It worked out KINDA well, in that we had a lot of checks and balances, but Nat and i DID get a little god-mody and OP with our super-Q characters. Needless to say, a list of prohibited species should be...listed.
1) What kind of character are you planning on playing? Race? Sex? Specialization [Science/Engineering/Tactical]? Cadet/Instructor? Etc.
Male 1/4 betazoid, 1/4 bajoran, 1/2 human.... joshua Mekezai. He'll be going in for both tactical and ship's counselor. he will also be a TA for a Krag Maga course, the real life israeli self-defense art that i sorta know lol.
2) List any deal-breakers. Any plots/topics subjects you refuse to address in RP. This is to help establish any rules on things to be avoided.
I dont bash people in the face with my character's (or my) political, religious, military, etc. beliefs or knowledge, but they do play a part in the development of my character. I think as long as people arent completely belligerent about it, i dont mind anything being in the RP. Besides, i would probably say something in the OOC thread if something that harsh came up.
My main concern about stuff like this is that it isn't really an option in the game itself. I imagine that you can create a human character and just have that information in the bio but I want to just mention my concerns here to make them known. I think all characters should be something you can make in the game itself or at least have the ability to create a character that has the correct look. Of course with the "alien" option almost anything can be possible... within reason.
That being said I do agree certain character types should be banned for the sake of play-ability. No non humanoids especially characters such as god like energy beings... Asking to RP as a member of the Q continuum obviously falls under this category. I don't think even RPing as a being exiled from the continuum and forced to give up its powers and live as a mortal should be allowed (or any similar backstories) for fairly obvious reasons... it's just asking to be allowed to god-mod.
Also if we go TOS timeline certain groups don't make sense. Klingons or Romulans would not fit even if you wanted to RP as a defector or a lost child raised by human parents like Warf was. Actually if we decide to use the TOS timeline it might be a good idea to see what options are available in the character creator for TOS characters before finalizing any decisions on what characters to play as. That being said feel free to post ideas and plans so we can start to put together a picture of how to start the RP.
Hi USSJohnBrown, good to see you here. I'm glad we saved the RP! It's a pity about Rllaillieu, but if they come back they can join in then. And other people might join as we go along.
Pocketstory, welcome back!
My answers to new questions:
1) Can't really say until we know which era etc. In fact, I might decide that at the time and post my character sheet then.
2) Can't think of any at the moment.
3) I've actually only watched TOS. However, I do know a lot of stuff from the other eras because I've been playing the game and other forum RPs and have a good memory for that kind of stuff. But that's only on specific facts - I don't feel very confident about actually playing those eras, because I sort of feel I haven't seen them in practice. (I'm fond of the Rihannsu books - that's TOS era too though.)
I've voted.
As regards the "prohibited types of character", an exception might be if someone is apparently a human cadet or whatever, and then is eventually revealed to have been Something Else masquerading as a human! That should end in them not staying on, though, since the same problems would still apply as soon as they were known to be a Q or space monster or whatever.
The0infamous: So long as some things are happening, and it's not going to just turn into a college drama that happens to be taking place in the future, I'll be OK. Don't worry too much about all that guff I posted - I was mainly just thinking things over for my own benefit/seeing what you as a more skilled/less nervous writer made of it.
In the same vein: I think what gets my goat is that what I find interesting in that kind of thing is how people react to different and sometimes unusual situations, whereas in some fanfics/RPs I've seen on here, it seems as if for fanfics with any pretensions to standards, the only "proper" emotional situations to write about are the parts that are strictly "universal" and would happen in any genre - people agonising over responsibility or relationships or stuff about war. But I think that some of the most interesting situations, emotionally speaking as well, just *aren't* universal and *don't* generalise, they are what they are. (I'm speaking as a person in a very non-universal situation, who keeps feeling that nothing she's familiar with is something that people would approve of her writing about, because it's not "universal themes" like dates or office politics.)
The0infamous: Using a set posting order makes sense in some situations, makes sure nobody gets left behind. But on the other hand, that would mean that if one of us didn't post, nobody could post until they came back. And since I'm posting from a substantially different time zone to everyone else, waiting for me is liable to mean that we can only have one round of posts per day even when I am there. (I've had that problem before, although if I start observing what time of day most of the others' posting is taking place, and vice versa, it might turn out we can improve on that).
Maybe keep it strictly for things like combats or rapid-fire arguments. And try if possible to say if we're going to disappear and what we want people to do about it ("hang on until I get back please", "carry on without me"). I once saw a disappearance from a many-handed street fight handled very neatly in one of our fleet's RP threads - the player responsible just said he was leaving for a week, then posted when he returned, saying that his character regained consciousness at this point, having been whacked with a frying pan by an alarmed stallholder at the start of the fight. That's one way to duck yourself out of a fight.
Good point. I expect by that stage all of us will have introduced at least one "NPC" at the Academy at some point (our character's demon Physics tutor, a hot dog seller, etc.), so we can use those to greet any strays and point them to where stuff is happening.
I dont do “NPC's” well. Again, referring back to ESD, you will see me introduce “redshirts” who I (and other readers) end up becoming attached to, with more developed backstories and personalities than most other Rpers' main characters. So if I have a character remain at SF Academy, it wont be an “NPC” in the traditional sense, of me not playing as the character and anyone being able to move it..unless we make it a canon character, such as Tuvok. Actually, that's probably our best bet. Then literally anyone can play as that character.
Good point, that's why I put "NPC" in quotes myself, all I basically meant by it was a PC who's not our main character and stays in one place like a game NPC. I didn't even think of the idea of sharing them between everyone. Introducing canon characters and sharing them between everyone sounds an interesting idea though, I might try that at some stage.
I think all characters should be something you can make in the game itself or at least have the ability to create a character that has the correct look. Of course with the "alien" option almost anything can be possible... within reason.
The issue with that is that i dont really care for the game that much, especially the character development aspect - and I'm mostly just here for the RP. The fact you CANNOT have hybrids in STO except by going into the "alien" option seems kind of counter-intuitive to me. In a show/game like Star Trek, hybridization is almost as regular as multi-ethnicity in America. Even if he is 100% human (which it looks like he will be if we go TOS route), i will still play him more or less the same way. And since I'm empathic in real life, it would naturally extend to him. I do have characters who DON'T automatically know what others are feeling, but they're either harder for me to play or theyre complete sociopaths like The Infamous.
Hi USSJohnBrown, good to see you here. I'm glad we saved the RP! It's a pity about Rllaillieu, but if they come back they can join in then. And other people might join as we go along.
I assume some certain people, including Rllailieu, lost interest? or became otherwise occupied with life?
WOMBAT said...
My answers to new questions:
1) Can't really say until we know which era etc. In fact, I might decide that at the time and post my character sheet then.
Yeah I was assuming post-DS9, obviously. If we do TOS, I will most likely come back with a brand new new character, all or mostly human, or I might, in all honestly, lose interest in the story since TOS is one of my least favorite series. However, if there was time travel to post-Dominion War or STO time-lines, that's another story. Honestly it all depends on what the story is. If the story is good and not just "we're going to the academy, yay," i will probably stay.
3) I've actually only watched TOS. However, I do know a lot of stuff from the other eras because I've been playing the game and other forum RPs and have a good memory for that kind of stuff. But that's only on specific facts - I don't feel very confident about actually playing those eras, because I sort of feel I haven't seen them in practice. (I'm fond of the Rihannsu books - that's TOS era too though.)
My only response to this is "what?!" lol
I was mainly just thinking things over for my own benefit/seeing what you as a more skilled/less nervous writer made of it.
I see. well, my skill is in question, as well as my level of nervousness lol. Well, I'm not nervous with writing, I'm nervous with people. Mainly people reading my writing.
The0infamous: Using a set posting order makes sense in some situations, makes sure nobody gets left behind. But on the other hand, that would mean that if one of us didn't post, nobody could post until they came back. And since I'm posting from a substantially different time zone to everyone else, waiting for me is liable to mean that we can only have one round of posts per day even when I am there. (I've had that problem before, although if I start observing what time of day most of the others' posting is taking place, and vice versa, it might turn out we can improve on that).
Maybe keep it strictly for things like combats or rapid-fire arguments. And try if possible to say if we're going to disappear and what we want people to do about it ("hang on until I get back please", "carry on without me"). I once saw a disappearance from a many-handed street fight handled very neatly in one of our fleet's RP threads - the player responsible just said he was leaving for a week, then posted when he returned, saying that his character regained consciousness at this point, having been whacked with a frying pan by an alarmed stallholder at the start of the fight. That's one way to duck yourself out of a fight.
Yeah, I'm not sure but I think I mentioned that already. I have a bad memory so maybe not. I mentioned the whole fast-paced versus slow-paced thing.
I didn't even think of the idea of sharing them between everyone. Introducing canon characters and sharing them between everyone sounds an interesting idea though, I might try that at some stage.
Tuvok is in the ESD thread. Although I have repeatedly told everyone they can use him, as well as Admiral Jorel Quinn, they havent, because I introduced them first i guess. Honestly, unless we either get really vague (Redshirt #34), or really canon-specific (Admiral Tuvok, or Admiral James Archer grandson of Jonathan Archer, who is an NPC and you better move him yourself because I'm not returning from vacation early to do it for you), than we might see people just NOT using the NPCs they didnt create. Honestly, I doubt that would be much of an issue though because as soon as a new recruit shows up, most likely the first person who noticed will come in with an NPC. I assume...
EDITION: I voted too. Everyone knows my choice, but for some reason the poll says post-DS9 has zero votes... Do I have to wait for it to refresh or something, or is there a defect with the poll?
Lots of people RP as hybrids even though in the game they have to do the character as either one or the other or an Alien - that seems to be accepted practice. We have several in my fleet (including some who aren't even hybrids of species that exist in STO, e.g. our Human x El-Aurian intelligence chief. I wouldn't call him so much a good listener as a notorious listener :-D ) So I think that's OK.
I assume some certain people, including Rllailieu, lost interest? or became otherwise occupied with life?
Rllaillieu got banned over a quarrel that broke out on another thread. I sent a PM to LaughingTrendy asking if it was a permanent or temporary ban (I don't know if there's a way to tell the difference), but haven't had a reply.
Yeah I was assuming post-DS9, obviously. If we do TOS, I will most likely come back with a brand new new character, all or mostly human, or I might, in all honestly, lose interest in the story since TOS is one of my least favorite series. However, if there was time travel to post-Dominion War or STO time-lines, that's another story. Honestly it all depends on what the story is. If the story is good and not just "we're going to the academy, yay," i will probably stay.
It all depends on the quality of the yay Yes, the idea so far seems to be that Pocketstory isn't providing a plot, we all improvise plots equally once we start. That depends whether we have ideas for things to happen and aren't just going to sit looking at each other. I have a few ideas, though (thought of them when I first joined this thread and wrote 'em down for future reference). Don't know about the rest of us.
3) I've actually only watched TOS. However, I do know a lot of stuff from the other eras because I've been playing the game and other forum RPs and have a good memory for that kind of stuff. But that's only on specific facts - I don't feel very confident about actually playing those eras, because I sort of feel I haven't seen them in practice. (I'm fond of the Rihannsu books - that's TOS era too though.)
My only response to this is "what?!" lol
"what?!" meaning what am I talking about, or "what?!" about having only seen TOS? If you meant what do I mean, I just mean I can't get a feel for what kind of stuff is supposed to happen in the later series, because all I've seen of them is from STO where life consists only of ranks and bleeps and blowing stuff up. I find it hard to imagine what parts of familiar human life still apply at all when there are replicators. So if we end up with post-DS9, then I'm going to just pretend it is TOS, and then edit my posting for any obvious "factual" differences when I've finished. There will STILL be derring-do on the Spanish Main, I'm afraid.
And since I'm empathic in real life, it would naturally extend to him. I do have characters who DON'T automatically know what others are feeling, but they're either harder for me to play or theyre complete sociopaths like The Infamous.
Interesting point. (Sorry, everyone, this keeps turning into a writing workshop between me and The0Infamous - these bits aren't meant to be germane to the planning!) I think it also doesn't always come naturally for ANYONE to do that in an RP, because actually you're told what the other character is feeling (except when they just describe the character's body language, in a way that doesn't make it immediately obvious what it's about, and it's left to you to work out what they mean), and the natural thing is to take that as known information. I suppose to do a character not knowing what another character is feeling, when it is stated what they're feeling, you would have to treat it as "information known to me but not necessarily to my character", in the same way as any more literal kind of OOC information. You know that Joe is anxious about whether he's up to commanding his new ship, but all your character knows is that Joe is eating his pen in a way that they might or might not be able to interpret, depending how well they know the guy.
I see. well, my skill is in question, as well as my level of nervousness lol. Well, I'm not nervous with writing, I'm nervous with people. Mainly people reading my writing.
Then I never realised we had that in common! rotten feeling, isn't it? I always assumed you were someone who thought you knew exactly what you were doing, because you talked so ambitiously - like you were expecting to do real writing rather than purely just looning around - and I always enjoyed the results. In fact, I was nervous thinking you were going to be looking down on me if I wasn't managing anything very subtle, what with you having left the other thread in disgust and all (I assume that was about godmoders), so we ought to get on better now we know! Don't be nervous about people seeing your writing - you're good, you do know what you're doing. Dare say I am too, I'm just assuming the worst!
Rllaillieu got banned over a quarrel that broke out on another thread. I sent a PM to LaughingTrendy asking if it was a permanent or temporary ban (I don't know if there's a way to tell the difference), but haven't had a reply.
That sux, she's been really nice and helpful to me so far.
...or "what?!" about having only seen TOS?
yeah that. i mean why havent you seen the others? lol
and i understand all that about the empathic stuff, but even when people are trying to hide something from me IC, i still know it, even when there is no reason for me to know it. Ask the ESD RPers lol.
IE: Joe asked Bob if he'd fixed the deflector.
Bob said "Yes."
Joe knew Bob was lying.
:P
Then I never realised we had that in common! rotten feeling, isn't it? I always assumed you were someone who thought you knew exactly what you were doing, because you talked so ambitiously - like you were expecting to do real writing rather than purely just looning around - and I always enjoyed the results. In fact, I was nervous thinking you were going to be looking down on me if I wasn't managing anything very subtle, what with you having left the other thread in disgust and all (I assume that was about godmoders), so we ought to get on better now we know! Don't be nervous about people seeing your writing - you're good, you do know what you're doing. Dare say I am too, I'm just assuming the worst!
Which thread did I leave again? I'm still doing ESD, but I'm just trying to bring my subplots to a close. The god-moding isnt too much of an issue anymore. and I like everyone there. I'm easy to get along with, i think.
(Sorry everyone, I'll try and stop dropping those walls of text on you! I get a bit carried away. )
Ah, I misunderstood what you were saying in ESD then, The0Infamous. I have only the haziest idea what's supposed to be happening there, IC or OOC, because there was just so much of it by the time I first tried looking at it It's pretty crazy; if this is the "serious" half of the act, I don't know what "The Adventures of Earth Spacedock" can be like
It's occurred to me that as well as not knowing anything about naval academies, this is also a foreign country for me, I've never been to America myself! I could worry about not knowing enough about things indefinitely, so my plan for dealing with the things I'm not sure I know all the facts about is just to go ahead and if the rest of you notice me getting a real-life thing wrong, just tell me and I'll sort it out. That plan OK with you?
Thought, for anyone who finds it useful: this setting should make it convenient to duck out whenever you need to, anyway. All you have to say to get your character out of a scene is "Oh %$&*% I have a lecture in two minutes".
I've not even watched all of TOS - I just don't watch that much TV!
I've been watching DS9 this morning, there happened to be an episode on. First impressions: Dr Bashir is sweet. Odo is most unpleasant and rather alarming, but we all know that he's in a much more awkward situation than the staff seem to know about yet. Too much sinister moody lighting! Quark is actually quite a nasty piece of work, if he wasn't also such a comical little fellow. Hard to take any of the women seriously because they're all made up like Hollywood stars and speak in husky voices (OK, some of that may be natural to the American accent, but I'm not sure it all is), but I liked the way Jadzia ignores people!
I feel happier about trying to play later timelines (if we end up doing that) now I've seen that, actually - they're just acting like humans there too, those that are humans, of course! TOS was to me "the one where they act like people", because I only knew the others from STO which really is not like people. Seeing everyone squabbling away there in that episode has encouraged me, clearly you are allowed to be like people in those series too!
The0infamous, what are (some of) the things you like about the later timeline better than TOS, if there are any that are easy to state? Might give us some ideas for what we could both agree on. Apart from anything else I've got various ideas for things that I might have happen, and probably won't get around to all of them, so that'd help me choose which ones to try first that'd go down well!
I feel happier about trying to play later timelines (if we end up doing that) now I've seen that, actually - they're just acting like humans there too, those that are humans, of course! TOS was to me "the one where they act like people", because I only knew the others from STO which really is not like people. Seeing everyone squabbling away there in that episode has encouraged me, clearly you are allowed to be like people in those series too!
The0infamous, what are (some of) the things you like about the later timeline better than TOS, if there are any that are easy to state? Might give us some ideas for what we could both agree on. Apart from anything else I've got various ideas for things that I might have happen, and probably won't get around to all of them, so that'd help me choose which ones to try first that'd go down well!
these two paragraphs are linked, in that I like the latter shows more (among other reasons) because people, in my opinion, act like people, not like actors acting like people. everyone over-acted in the 60s, and that's to be expected. DS9 is one of my least favorite series, tied with Enterprise. Voyager and TNG are the best, story-wise and character-development-wise. People will tell you otherwise, but theyre wrong lol.
I like character-development, story-telling, and universe-building. I love how one episode of one series can relate or correspond to another episode in another series, and how they do cross-overs. I'd love to hear your ideas!
Hard to take any of the women seriously because they're all made up like Hollywood stars and speak in husky voices (OK, some of that may be natural to the American accent, but I'm not sure it all is)
All Americans sound like that. lol
It's occurred to me that as well as not knowing anything about naval academies, this is also a foreign country for me, I've never been to America myself!
yeah, dont worry, if anything gets too unrealistic, i'll say something. i've done Army JROTC (basically high school army training), basic Army boot camp, Army Advanced Individual Training, additional training while in the army, and cross-trained and worked with other branches of other militaries, including Australia, Israel, Britain, and Iraq. Though my experience with them is limited. very limited. I think most of our info for the SFA RP would come from Memory Alpha and other wikias.
I have only the haziest idea what's supposed to be happening there, IC or OOC, because there was just so much of it by the time I first tried looking at it It's pretty crazy; if this is the "serious" half of the act, I don't know what "The Adventures of Earth Spacedock" can be like [/quote:]disappointed:
my emoticons are acting up again. Anyway, the current IC thread for ESD is pretty interesting, my favorite RP i am in by far. I am in about half a dozen forum RPs, on other sites. All Trek. But we made it so that, like SFA, if anyone wants to join, they can, relatively easy. All they'd have to do is show up at Earth Spacedock
However, I just realized I had Admiral Chekov declare a quarantine: no one in or out. I'll lift that eventually lol.. but still, writing someone into the plot shouldnt be that difficult. Once a new RPer shows up, someone would post, kinda like we discussed for SFA, and explain whats currently happening. We've already had a new RPer show up since you've been to our OOC thread. but he's on LOA now cuz of...i dont remember why.
Yes, all I'd have to do is say my character was there already, ESD is huge, there can be assumed to be far more people on it at any time than the few dozen characters we've seen in the thread.
Oh, well, as far as "acting style" goes, I play it however I can, anyway, trying to change the style is beyond me, so which era it was wouldn't make any difference as far as I'm concerned! I'm all about universe-building and I like to *read* good story and I like to read about characters with their own troubles and agendas, though I can't promise to succeed in *writing* them because I may have a bad day at any time. Might; don't know; a fleetmate's just been telling me I panic too much, so what I do even when I'm not up to making a proper effort may be better than I think. I have to admit that in the episodes I've seen, pretty much the only TOS character whose personal "stuff" has any part in the story is Mr Spock, and I always enjoy watching that.
Ideas - OK, do you want me to post here or send a PM? I always tend to sit on my ideas so they'll be surprises, but then I do it too much and end up getting in my own way because if I don't let anyone know anything at all about what I have in mind, they can't play along; so I need to get out of that habit a bit. I don't have any ideas for what you might call an over-arching plot, but I thought of a lot of possible things that I might have my characters do, or somebody else might; some of them could be extended into a whole storyline by themselves, others not so much. And what's everyone else got, if anything?
actually ppl are disappearing from ESD. there's under 100 now lol.
Here is how I do ideas, and how I've been doing them on ESD:
If it's related to one of my subplots, builds suspense and mystery, etc. and if the ultimate reveal would be pretty badass, I keep it a secret, and if I need others to play along, I PM them and either let them know, or I PM them and we RP in PM (some of my characters have empathic abilities that can reach into others' minds, so RPing it in PM so other RPers cannot see it makes sense).
If it's related to the over-all plot and there isnt really any feasible way to make it happen without everyone's input, then i bring it to everyone in the discussion thread.
However, I have hundreds of ideas a day so I usually just write them down in a notebook to be added to the plot later.
Also sometimes I just randomly do things, like instead of my main character's fiance being vaporized by a phaser, it turned out she was transported into the backup pattern buffer of a starship, to be later merged with the ship's computer core.
The0Infamous, I've just sent you a PM with the ideas, since the others didn't ask to see them.
I'm going to leave it at that and disappear until we start on the 6th, if that's OK. I could do with a break, I've been spending far too much time boggling at this, when nothing's actually happening yet. I think we've kind of settled everything that needs settling before we start, as far as I'm concerned. Except that we haven't decided yet which era it is, have we? Well, as you all know, my position is I favour TOS (mainly just because you don't usually get the opportunity to try that in STO RPs) but I'll play whichever it turns out to be.
Oh - and if it's TOS, shall money exist or not? I think canon leaves it open whether money had disappeared by the TOS era or not until TNG, so it's up to our taste. (It's possible there could be a halfway-house situation, where some co-operative/collective systems have developed in some circles in the aftermath of World War III (they're fun to speculate about) but money doesn't completely die out until the replicator arrives in the next century. That might give more possibilities than anything.) Again, I'm happy with whatever you decide on so won't take any further part in that, and we may turn out not to need to make up our minds about that until after it's started.
However, I have hundreds of ideas a day so I usually just write them down in a notebook to be added to the plot later.
Also sometimes I just randomly do things, like instead of my main character's fiance being vaporized by a phaser, it turned out she was transported into the backup pattern buffer of a starship, to be later merged with the ship's computer core.
Pretty much how I'm doing it too - I've just been writing down any ideas I think of for things that could happen or things my characters could do or that could turn up about them generally, so when nothing seems to be happening - or at least, not with my characters - and I can't think what to do, I can just reach into my notebook and say "let's do that".
lol our RP has 666 posts and no one online can post to change it! I've just posted, Nat doesnt have anything to do cuz he goes off by himself so much, and I trapped rattler in her own dream (PM RP) XD
also, again, thanks for reading the thread. I often wonder how many people read the RPs or if it's just the ones participating.
I have been looking at info about the upcoming expansion and I have discovered a few things. Not that it was hard to find out I just watched the latest trailer lol.
Agents of Yesterday will indeed involve Temper Agents. So if we do set the Academy in the TOS time-line it will eventually cross over into the future time-line. Or perhaps the past, it looks like it is dealing with the Sphere Builders which are the villains from Enterprise. Personally Enterprise could have been my favorite series. I love stories about beginnings and seeing the universe before the Federation was just great for me. Sadly the series was flawed. The Sphere Builder plot while interesting wasn't the best Star Trek plot and sadly the series was canceled just as it was getting to the really good part the war between Earth and the Romulan Empire and the actual Formation of the Federation itself.
That being said it makes sense for the game to merge the new “faction” into the game proper so that characters created in the past can still take advantage of the full game. So being limited by starting in TOS will not be a problem. We already suspected this but it was nice to see some actual confirmation. (Or maybe this was already confirmed and I just now noticed it because I'm too busy IRL to read everything that is available sadly.)
That being said it gives me an idea for the RP. One of the instructors at the academy, or a fellow student NPC, or say the academy janitor, or even one of us could be a temporal agent sent to watch over, recruit, keep us from being prematurely time-line altered etc. I right now am saying I am not going to pick the option where my character is a hidden temporal agent. While an interesting character it is also a character that has already gone through their base development and has achieved self discovery, they will know who they are and what their mission is and personally I don't find that to be an interesting character to play.
That being said I don't want to keep someone else from RPing that if they want to. Personally I'd rather not know who if anyone is a Temporal Agent be they PC or NPC just so I can enjoy the mystery more, but if someone has ideas they want to talk about to help keep the RP running smoothly feel free to talk about them here or in PMs either with me or with someone else.
I've also got a few messages from rllaillieu and they're still interested and have suggested moving the RP off the forums onto site such as Enjin or Shivtr since they can no longer post on the forums here. I'd like some opinions on that option before setting anything up.
On another note I've narrowed down my character selection to two options. Either a Vulcan or an Andorian. One is male the other is female, I'm not saying which is which because I don't want that to be a deciding factor on which I decide to play. Also I might change my mind on that. [Besides I'm going by the Book Lore that Andorians have 4 sexes instead of 2] That being said the Vulcan character is a much more reactive character, being a Vulcan they will rely on logic which will make them somewhat predictable and more of a supporting cast member than driving force behind the RP. (This option will allow me to focus more on the RP at large while still being a part of it.) The Andorian character is a more involved character and in my opinion a much more interesting one and has more potential to be a driving force in the RP. And while the Andorian sound in all ways more interesting and the better option of the two there are advantages to playing a character that is not the center of the drama like the Vulcan option.
Again I'm open to opinions on this before I make a decision even if it's something as simple as you stating that you think it would be more interesting for your character to interact with one or the other for reasons you do not wish to disclose at the moment.
And I think I'm going to cut this already long post short for now. We're getting close to the release of the new patch and it looks like we're going with TOS unless someone wants to protest that. I'm still open to both options.
On a side note that I forgot to mention. If we do do TOS we can have the Temporal Agents thing happen either after graduation or before. The way I understand it temporal agents are recruited by selection people who show potential and then die in a way that leaves no body and at the moment of death they are recruited and snatched up yanked out of their timeline in such a way that they are still presumed dead.
It always reminds me of how you save Crono in Chrono Trigger.
That being said we can have it be a post graduation mission or something as simple as an accident on a training mission.
We can decide this at any time during the RP which means we can end the Academy part of the RP at any time of our choosing if we feel it is getting stale or we are running out of ideas for RPing academy life.
Another reason to choose the TOS time-line not that I want to rush out of the academy part of the RP but having a get out of jail free card and not using it is better than not having one and wanting it.
Also I think we can have interesting RPs happen centered around some unseen presence futzing with the time-lines while we are at the academy which can allow for all kinds of strange and interesting hijinks, it's not something we would want to overuse but it's an interesting tool to have in the box if we need it.
Another forum fine for me, if one of you knows how to set that up. Don't forget to lock it somehow if you can (i.e. set it so that some other member has to give a new member permission to post) so that spammers or trolls can't walk in.
Temporal agent sounds like a good idea.
We all seem to have different ideas of what we'll be doing. For me, I'm happy with just the slice-of-life stuff - student life in the future, and the strange things that might happen with that. If other people want to have plots that are above and beyond that (like the temporal agent and/or things futzing with the timeline, for instance), then that's OK, that can be happening too. But I just like the idea of playing about with seeing the Academy and the stories that come out of that.
Been thinking: if there's no GM, do we all get to do things like describe the scene, usually a GM's job? I assume so, really just mentioning this to point out to people that that's a possibility.
That being said I don't want to keep someone else from RPing that if they want to. Personally I'd rather not know who if anyone is a Temporal Agent be they PC or NPC just so I can enjoy the mystery more, but if someone has ideas they want to talk about to help keep the RP running smoothly feel free to talk about them here or in PMs either with me or with someone else.
On a side note that I forgot to mention. If we do do TOS we can have the Temporal Agents thing happen either after graduation or before. The way I understand it temporal agents are recruited by selection people who show potential and then die in a way that leaves no body and at the moment of death they are recruited and snatched up yanked out of their timeline in such a way that they are still presumed dead.
as i have told rll and wombat, this is what happens to my main character. In ESD (dont tell the other ESDers) Elihu comes back from ten years in the future to assassinate a spy who tried to nark on him to the main villain, The Infamous. However, The future Infamous also came back with him to help. Apparently they're allies but im not sure if theyre good or evil or both. Anyway, the point is, Present Eli is going to be put into a coma first, and then "vaporized/transported" into a long-term backup pattern buffer like his fiance Talitha was, making everyone think he is dead. Eventually, at some point in the future, he will be removed from the ship and made whole again, so he can go back in time. Since D'ren/The Infamous was tortured by a temporal agent to be the perfect assassin, it makes sense to me that The Infamous would sorta do the same to Eli, making him a temporal agent in a sense. I'm not sure if i would do it in this RP, but its a thought. D'ren and Eli are my two most developed characters right now. D'ren is 15 RL years old (33 in game), and this incarnation of Eli is about a year old (28 in game).
As for not being able to develop the characters because they "know who they are", that has never been an issue with me. But if i do bring in Eli or D'ren as an agent, they would be "recurring guests" rather than my main. My main would be a new, more normal character.
That being said the Vulcan character is a much more reactive character, being a Vulcan they will rely on logic which will make them somewhat predictable and more of a supporting cast member than driving force behind the RP. (
Ive had this discussion with a few people before. It all depends on the RPer and the character. Despite Enterprise's flaws, T'pol in the later seasons was NOT very reactionary. In fact, her character was supposed to be half Romulan. Same with Saavak, but it never made it to the show. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I do believe a Vulcan can be just as much as a plot-driver as any other species; they may be logical, but they do have emotions - they just dont show them. Which is what makes my main character in ESD so interesting: he's Vulcan/Betazoid...
I've also got a few messages from rllaillieu and they're still interested and have suggested moving the RP off the forums onto site such as Enjin or Shivtr since they can no longer post on the forums here. I'd like some opinions on that option before setting anything up.
You should count me as .5 of an RPer too, not just because I may not be able to make it to another site, but also because I have personal issues that may make it so that I have to stop RPing for good once my plot with ESD is complete, which will happen soon.
Another forum fine for me, if one of you knows how to set that up. Don't forget to lock it somehow if you can (i.e. set it so that some other member has to give a new member permission to post) so that spammers or trolls can't walk in.
I have one forum we could use, but it would need to be redesigned. I've admined dozens of forums in my day. I also know some already-made forums that probably wouldnt mind if we set something up there. Within a forum, you can have your own board and have a password so spamming wouldnt be a problem.
Been thinking: if there's no GM, do we all get to do things like describe the scene, usually a GM's job? I assume so, really just mentioning this to point out to people that that's a possibility.
In most RP's I've been in, usually the IC person-in-charge is in charge of the Rp as a whole, but anyone can make things up as they go along. I've never really been in an RP where one person is in control of the plot, but it seems to happen with Star Trek RPs more than fantasy RPs, I've noticed. If there is a GM, it should obviously be someone who has experience with Star Trek, RP, forum moderation/admining, and leadership in general.
Sorry to hear that, The0infamous (assuming it is a sorry-to-hear-that type of issue!)
If it's so doubtful whether we can continue to have enough players, maybe it's not such a good idea to move to another forum, after all. I mean, that would pretty much cut off our chances of recruiting any new players after the RP starts, wouldn't it? I suppose somebody might see this thread and ask if it's still going on and decide to join, but I think that's much less likely than if they actually saw the thread going on and wanted to join in. I'm going to ask Trendy again about whether Rllaillieu can possibly be allowed to come back yet. I'll let you know the answer, if any.
Please, call me Eli (or my real name Aaron :P ) omg these dang emotes..
yeah i see your point. have yall tried just talking to Hawku and seeing if yall could start some sort of SFA/ESD collab? I'm sure he wouldnt mind the extra RPers, especially since I'm leaving.
Good idea. Speaking for myself I'm kind of reluctant to do that, since it looked as though this was intending to be a semi-serious/realistic (realistic for Trek!) one, which might not be the case for long if it was connected to ESD...! Still, if we talked to Hawku and explained that they might cooperate.
Pocketstory, what was your idea? Were you expecting it to be "played straight" when you started the idea, or was it always your intention to have mad robots and evil twins and Death Stars anyway? If so, obviously there's no point worrying about that question anyway!
While I'm not a stickler for keeping things 100% canon I do want to be a part of a RP that is at least show friendly in tone. Think of it as group fanfiction writing from my POV only done in the moment and not planned out like a fanfic. (there are several things that separate RP from Fan Fiction but I'm using it as an analogy) I'd like it to stay within the realm of the tone of the show / movies which is already fairly broad. I however am not a fan of plots that would feel more at home in crossover fiction or crack-fics.
To answer for the examples given. Killer Robots; possible of course. Evil Twins; that happens in the show so as long as it isn't overused that's fine (bonus points for slapping an evil goatee on your evil twin) Death stars.... while superweapon threats fit within the tone of the show a direct crossover with Star Wars does not, so a "Death Star" like weapon with suitable Star Trek skin thrown over it wouldn't bother me (they basically have that in Enterprise after all) but as soon as Jedi show up I'm bailing. Nothing against Star Wars I love Star was as much as I love Star Trek but if I want to RP with Jedi I'd go play SWTOR.
I'm not saying that can't be a thing, and if you enjoy it have fun with it that's the point. I'm just saying that's not what I'm looking for right now.
That being said if you can find a RP you'd like to make happen somewhere else some other way go for it. Feel free to post some links here if you get something going so people can check it out.
my future evil Eli has a goatee and all the D'ren clones are evil versions of me so they all have facial hair of some sort XD
As for ESD, if you force everyone to start with a level 1 character, we wont be able to bring in our god-characters, OP-ships, and stupid amount of unkillable redshirts (cough, im looking at you Nat lol)
Tell you what, I'll run it by Hawku and see if he likes the general idea. I know how he RPs and we've collabed with ESD to an extent, so if he thinks it's doable, I will let you know and then yall can decide from there. Since I'm not likely to be on this site more than a few more weeks, I wont do anything more than that. I'd hate to be an intermediary and then have to vanish in the middle of negotiations lol
Oh, I'm not asking for those things, Pocketstory (at least, I'M not, I don't know about anyone else!) Rather the reverse. The point I was making is that the ESD thread is mostly wildly over-the-top and a bit silly stuff, almost cartoony - I mean, there are currently multiple Q-like beings, many incursions from parallel universes, occasional fourth-wall-breaking from Hawku, and a mad interplanetary warlord with the power to bend time and a ship the size of a planet. All in the same thread. Although some people have been keeping up some more lifelike character stuff at the same time, mostly Rattler and Aaron, and oddly they somehow make it fit in reasonably well. But I can't quite see what can be brought across from ESD (if that's what Aaron's suggesting) without sending the new thread immediately into the realms of the totally bizarre. But maybe Aaron and Hawku have a better idea how it would work than I do, it was Aaron's idea after all. We'll see what happens!
No, I like the idea of having something a bit more reasonable-by-Trek-standards myself, within the realm of what you could get away with in an actual episode. Not that I necessarily wouldn't play a totally outrageous silly RP if that's what came along, mind you ;-)
Just got on the game to take a look and it seems 23c Starfleet character creation is limited to Human Andorian Tellarite and Vulcan.... A bit more limited than I was hoping. It doesn't affect my ability to create the character I wanted too but I can see it being off-putting to some people who might otherwise be interested in the RP. So I think the RP itself shouldn't be limited to 23c ingame characters, we can still set the academy RP during the 23c timeline but can allow any character that can be created in the game to participate. Can fudge the canon and say something like their species is new to the federation or applying to join and as part of that process members of that species is being admitted to Starfleet... I mean hell in the movie reboots there is an Orion at the academy.
Besides I think it's becoming less likely that it will be practical to hold off doing anything in-game until the academy part of the RP is over. I'm making a character to play around on and see what the new stuff is like. I might use them in the RP I might not but my original idea of the RP group leveling together in-game as a fleet is far to impractical to enforce. I would still prefer people making new characters for the RP regardless of weather they make the actual character Starfleet or 23c Starfleet ingame. But again I'm no insisting on anything just stating my preference.
Comments
Oh well, will continue, assuming that there IS going to be an RP:
Now you mention it, I haven't played any Agents of Yesterday either so although I'm familiar with TOS, I'd be at a disadvantage with what happens in that specifically. Pocketstory, are you keen on making it TOS-era yourself? If not, I'll back down.
I don't do god-mode characters, I like to play ordinary people like me. But I have another problem, that I accumulate a lot of ideas about my character that I find, when I actually try to write them, are incompatible with each other! So starting from scratch and working things out as I go along seems a good idea to me too.
You've summed up my rather long and waffly position in 3 words! I also would enjoy going back and forth with people if I happen to be online for an extended time and at the same time as someone else is; but can't promise that that will happen.
This all pretty much sums up my position as well (better than I did), except I can't promise that I'll post every single day, hence the need to be able to carry on without my input if necessary. The0infamous, what do you mean by a Posting Order?
The0infamous, you seem to be better/more experienced at this than I am, and know more about the military stuff, so if you think my character's behaving unrealistically in some way, just say so and I'll try to profit by it.
My smileys are doing that too! Almost always the "pensive" one or the "disappointed" one. Somebody must have fixed something that wasn't broke. I think I caught most of them but I don't know.
The thing is that the reason I usually disappear is that I realise that I need to get the hell off the computer for a bit because it's getting too obsessive/tiring! But thanks. I agree, it's nice to make friends over an RP rather than just talk to a black box. (If you others want to remain black boxes, that's fine.
Oh, I'm fine with that and I may even join in. I just don't want to HAVE to because it's all there is, in case I can't do it!
I can't seem to do feelings in a vacuum, when nothing's happening - I can only do them with reference to a thing. I can think of "the emotion of character who hasn't written their essay", or "the emotion of character on a ship being attacked by space pirates". But when people tell me I ought to do it the other way around and be "character-driven", then I'm just left wiggling my fingers at the keyboard and hoping that if I shut my eyes and visualise the character's personality hard enough, what happens next will magically appear, since that's what seems to be supposed to happen. And even in the first case, it's usually expressed as doing another thing - whether that be resorting to hacking or going and crying on somebody. If I have to just write that so-and-so feels such-and-such, I get bogged and it doesn't seem to go anywhere.
Maybe it's an autistic spectrum thing. Or maybe the thing I'm actually not good at is understanding cryptic writing maxims like "Everything should spring from who your character is", and they don't mean that at all!
Also, much more simply, it does seem a pity to be playing in Star Trek and not have anything happening that wouldn't happen at home!
Good point. I expect by that stage all of us will have introduced at least one "NPC" at the Academy at some point (our character's demon Physics tutor, a hot dog seller, etc.), so we can use those to greet any strays and point them to where stuff is happening.
I dont do “NPC's” well. Again, referring back to ESD, you will see me introduce “redshirts” who I (and other readers) end up becoming attached to, with more developed backstories and personalities than most other Rpers' main characters. So if I have a character remain at SF Academy, it wont be an “NPC” in the traditional sense, of me not playing as the character and anyone being able to move it..unless we make it a canon character, such as Tuvok. Actually, that's probably our best bet. Then literally anyone can play as that character.
I see. Well, I think everyone would agree that writing emotions in a vacuum is more difficult. But I doubt we'd have that much of a vacuum in this RP, if we have at least 4 people. I'm sure once the main OOC and IC threads are made, others will join, giving us plenty to play off of, emotionally. I'd be happy to help with emotional writing if anyone needs it.
You and I are on the same page brother
1) Bob posts.
2) John posts.
3) Jane posts.
4) Bob posts.
5) John posts.
6) Jane posts.
rather than...
1) Bob posts
2) John posts
3) Bob posts
4) Jane posts
5) John posts
6) Bob posts
7) John posts
8) Bob posts
Basically, its the established order at which everyone posts.
This works best if you have 3 - 5 RPers who are doing fast-paced things like combat. If you have half a dozen players or more who are surveying a planet, it's not a good idea.
I rarely point things like that out. Also i think most of you have seen or played enough Star Trek to get the majority of it right. The only thing I'm worried about is Ensign Bob running around killing a dozen klingon veterans and then going straight to lunch where he's the life of the party. Then I may say something lol
EDITION: I have an idea for a Kobyashi maru type of simulation...
Now when I say character profiles I mean basic profiles including Name, Race/Species (whichever term you want to use) Sex, age, some basic statistics and maybe a brief history. Something that would be appropriate for a cadet file [or instructor resume if you choose to RP as an instructor] We don't need fully developed characters since the point of RP is to develop our characters.
Also it looks like we are going ahead with the academy setting at least to begin with, I hope for this RP to continue past graduation and into the universe at large.
All of that being said we still have a few decisions to make. I'll be posting my answers to my list of questions soon but I want to make one thing clear before I post my answers. This is not MY RP, this is a RP that I wanted to do and had the idea for but I'm not running it. Being a character in a RP and the GM is a bad combination. I want this to be a group effort meaning if I want to do something and nobody else thinks it's a good idea please tell me. This is the main reason I'm taking so long in this OOC thread before starting the IC RP. As a group we will keep the RP on task and help each other avoid things like god-modding and straying outside of what is appropriate for the setting or drifting OOC in IC posts and all the other things that can happen during a RP.
That being said I think I should wait until after I answer my questions and add a few more to the list before saying more.
If we start posting character profiles on July 6th that means we have just over 2 weeks to make a few basic decisions. and Hopefully the RP will start 3 weeks from now. I know 3 weeks might seem like a long time but trust me it isn't.
1) New characters Yes/No?
I will be making a new character for this RP. I'm not saying everyone has to make a new character but I will be making a new character. I do recommend new characters for many or the reasons already mentioned in this thread but I'm not going to force the issue unless we have a strong call for all new characters by a majority of the people in this thread.
I also strongly suggest that anyone who does not make a new character RPs
as an instructor instead of as a cadet. I will not insist on this I just strongly suggest it.
2) TOS or Post TNG/DS9 timeline?
I recommend starting in the TOS time-line for a few reasons. To begin with starting earlier in the time-line means there is less history to learn at the academy. If we start post DS9 history class would include information from all of the previous series and lots of supplemental sources. If we start in the TOS time-line we don't even need to worry about being familiar with TOS since we will be discovering that in the game when/if we move to the game. Starting in TOS all you really need to watch if you want to know a bit about the universe is Star Trek Enterprise. Though I would recommend at least reading some wiki pages on the history of the alien species you choose to play as, or just Star Trek Earth history if you plan to play as a human character.
Also with Agents of Yesterday being new content in game it will put everyone on an even playing field as far as knowing in-game information.
3) Start with 100% forum RP or use a text chat program as well?
From what I've seen it looks like keeping the RP forum based is the best decision with text programs left for OOC planning and side RPs.
4) Voice chat Yes/No? If yes IC voice chat or OOC only? [needs a 100% yes vote to pass]
This looks like it is going to be a no.
5) If you join this RP how often to you expect to make posts?
When I do forum RPs I tend to make one post a day on average. During more action oriented scenes or scenes with multiple characters interacting which requires shorter posts I'll make multiple posts a day but I'll also at times take a few days off from posting if the current scene doesn't require the presence of my character.
6) How long do you want the forum/chat RP do go before we move RP into game?
I'm thinking 6 months to a year of RP to get through the academy depending on how may times we manipulate time OOC. Forum RP is strange we could take a week to RP a single day IC and then fast forward time a month or if needed continue the next day taking an entire month to get though a week IC.
7) Once the RP move ingame how often do you want/expect to play the game and for how long each session?
I currently barely touch the game though with Agents of Yesterday being added I'll probably take some time to get a feel for the new content. That being said I am quite busy and my schedule is erratic. But I will probably be able to play the game for 2-3 hours at a time anywhere from 1 to 3 times a week.
Currently I'm thinking of just keeping the RP forum based with in-game RP working as a kinda Side RP like chat program RP would. Doing it this way we can even start using the game IC during the academy part of the RP with the goal of reaching the in-game rank of Captain before graduating from the academy. Details can be worked out over time but I think you can see where I'm coming from with this idea. It always seemed odd to be that you are captain of a ship in-game without having the rank of Captain.
Also I think spending time in-game playing the game while doing the Academy RP will help us care more about our characters and get into an IC mindset easier.
Now for a few new questions.
1) What kind of character are you planning on playing? Race? Sex? Specialization [Science/Engineering/Tactical]? Cadet/Instructor? Etc.
Right now I can tell you that I will for sure be RPing a cadet. As for the other questions I have a couple of characters in mind but am waiting to decide who to RP as in order to provide maximum cast diversity.
2) List any deal-breakers. Any plots/topics subjects you refuse to address in RP. This is to help establish any rules on things to be avoided.
Personally as long as it fits in the established universe and my character is allowed to respond in an In Character manner I'm in the anything goes camp for RP. That isn't to say that there are no IC consequences. If say one character assaults another character IC there will be a hearing there will be a court-martial and more than likely there will be consequences up to an including expulsion from the academy. Deals might be worked out and with proper OOC planning such plots could be interesting. But keep such possibilities in mind. Graduation is not guaranteed. [the RP would be boring if it was.]
3) How Familiar are you with Star Trek?
This isn't to exclude people unfamiliar just to get a feel for who to go to for lore questions. I'm currently re-watching every episode on netflix in chronological order. http://thestartrekchronologyproject.blogspot.com/2009/09/and-now-we-present-complete-star-trek_19.html I've also read several book and regularly browse wikis. I also have read the manuals for Star Trek Tabletop RP.
The ESD thread was created by Hawku, but he and i collaborated on an overall story-line. Since Nat's character is the highest ranking character (and most powerful
1) What kind of character are you planning on playing? Race? Sex? Specialization [Science/Engineering/Tactical]? Cadet/Instructor? Etc.
Male 1/4 betazoid, 1/4 bajoran, 1/2 human.... joshua Mekezai. He'll be going in for both tactical and ship's counselor. he will also be a TA for a Krag Maga course, the real life israeli self-defense art that i sorta know lol.
2) List any deal-breakers. Any plots/topics subjects you refuse to address in RP. This is to help establish any rules on things to be avoided.
I dont bash people in the face with my character's (or my) political, religious, military, etc. beliefs or knowledge, but they do play a part in the development of my character. I think as long as people arent completely belligerent about it, i dont mind anything being in the RP. Besides, i would probably say something in the OOC thread if something that harsh came up.
3) How Familiar are you with Star Trek?
I only watch the shows really.
My main concern about stuff like this is that it isn't really an option in the game itself. I imagine that you can create a human character and just have that information in the bio but I want to just mention my concerns here to make them known. I think all characters should be something you can make in the game itself or at least have the ability to create a character that has the correct look. Of course with the "alien" option almost anything can be possible... within reason.
That being said I do agree certain character types should be banned for the sake of play-ability. No non humanoids especially characters such as god like energy beings... Asking to RP as a member of the Q continuum obviously falls under this category. I don't think even RPing as a being exiled from the continuum and forced to give up its powers and live as a mortal should be allowed (or any similar backstories) for fairly obvious reasons... it's just asking to be allowed to god-mod.
Also if we go TOS timeline certain groups don't make sense. Klingons or Romulans would not fit even if you wanted to RP as a defector or a lost child raised by human parents like Warf was. Actually if we decide to use the TOS timeline it might be a good idea to see what options are available in the character creator for TOS characters before finalizing any decisions on what characters to play as. That being said feel free to post ideas and plans so we can start to put together a picture of how to start the RP.
http://www.strawpoll.me/10531746
Pocketstory, welcome back!
My answers to new questions:
1) Can't really say until we know which era etc. In fact, I might decide that at the time and post my character sheet then.
2) Can't think of any at the moment.
3) I've actually only watched TOS. However, I do know a lot of stuff from the other eras because I've been playing the game and other forum RPs and have a good memory for that kind of stuff. But that's only on specific facts - I don't feel very confident about actually playing those eras, because I sort of feel I haven't seen them in practice. (I'm fond of the Rihannsu books - that's TOS era too though.)
I've voted.
As regards the "prohibited types of character", an exception might be if someone is apparently a human cadet or whatever, and then is eventually revealed to have been Something Else masquerading as a human! That should end in them not staying on, though, since the same problems would still apply as soon as they were known to be a Q or space monster or whatever.
The0infamous: So long as some things are happening, and it's not going to just turn into a college drama that happens to be taking place in the future, I'll be OK. Don't worry too much about all that guff I posted - I was mainly just thinking things over for my own benefit/seeing what you as a more skilled/less nervous writer made of it.
In the same vein: I think what gets my goat is that what I find interesting in that kind of thing is how people react to different and sometimes unusual situations, whereas in some fanfics/RPs I've seen on here, it seems as if for fanfics with any pretensions to standards, the only "proper" emotional situations to write about are the parts that are strictly "universal" and would happen in any genre - people agonising over responsibility or relationships or stuff about war. But I think that some of the most interesting situations, emotionally speaking as well, just *aren't* universal and *don't* generalise, they are what they are. (I'm speaking as a person in a very non-universal situation, who keeps feeling that nothing she's familiar with is something that people would approve of her writing about, because it's not "universal themes" like dates or office politics.)
The0infamous: Using a set posting order makes sense in some situations, makes sure nobody gets left behind. But on the other hand, that would mean that if one of us didn't post, nobody could post until they came back. And since I'm posting from a substantially different time zone to everyone else, waiting for me is liable to mean that we can only have one round of posts per day even when I am there. (I've had that problem before, although if I start observing what time of day most of the others' posting is taking place, and vice versa, it might turn out we can improve on that).
Maybe keep it strictly for things like combats or rapid-fire arguments. And try if possible to say if we're going to disappear and what we want people to do about it ("hang on until I get back please", "carry on without me"). I once saw a disappearance from a many-handed street fight handled very neatly in one of our fleet's RP threads - the player responsible just said he was leaving for a week, then posted when he returned, saying that his character regained consciousness at this point, having been whacked with a frying pan by an alarmed stallholder at the start of the fight. That's one way to duck yourself out of a fight.
Good point, that's why I put "NPC" in quotes myself, all I basically meant by it was a PC who's not our main character and stays in one place like a game NPC. I didn't even think of the idea of sharing them between everyone. Introducing canon characters and sharing them between everyone sounds an interesting idea though, I might try that at some stage.
The issue with that is that i dont really care for the game that much, especially the character development aspect - and I'm mostly just here for the RP. The fact you CANNOT have hybrids in STO except by going into the "alien" option seems kind of counter-intuitive to me. In a show/game like Star Trek, hybridization is almost as regular as multi-ethnicity in America. Even if he is 100% human (which it looks like he will be if we go TOS route), i will still play him more or less the same way. And since I'm empathic in real life, it would naturally extend to him. I do have characters who DON'T automatically know what others are feeling, but they're either harder for me to play or theyre complete sociopaths like The Infamous.
I assume some certain people, including Rllailieu, lost interest? or became otherwise occupied with life?
Yeah I was assuming post-DS9, obviously. If we do TOS, I will most likely come back with a brand new new character, all or mostly human, or I might, in all honestly, lose interest in the story since TOS is one of my least favorite series. However, if there was time travel to post-Dominion War or STO time-lines, that's another story. Honestly it all depends on what the story is. If the story is good and not just "we're going to the academy, yay," i will probably stay.
My only response to this is "what?!" lol
I see. well, my skill is in question, as well as my level of nervousness lol. Well, I'm not nervous with writing, I'm nervous with people. Mainly people reading my writing.
Yeah, I'm not sure but I think I mentioned that already. I have a bad memory so maybe not. I mentioned the whole fast-paced versus slow-paced thing.
Tuvok is in the ESD thread. Although I have repeatedly told everyone they can use him, as well as Admiral Jorel Quinn, they havent, because I introduced them first i guess. Honestly, unless we either get really vague (Redshirt #34), or really canon-specific (Admiral Tuvok, or Admiral James Archer grandson of Jonathan Archer, who is an NPC and you better move him yourself because I'm not returning from vacation early to do it for you), than we might see people just NOT using the NPCs they didnt create. Honestly, I doubt that would be much of an issue though because as soon as a new recruit shows up, most likely the first person who noticed will come in with an NPC. I assume...
EDITION: I voted too. Everyone knows my choice, but for some reason the poll says post-DS9 has zero votes... Do I have to wait for it to refresh or something, or is there a defect with the poll?
Rllaillieu got banned over a quarrel that broke out on another thread. I sent a PM to LaughingTrendy asking if it was a permanent or temporary ban (I don't know if there's a way to tell the difference), but haven't had a reply.
It all depends on the quality of the yay
"what?!" meaning what am I talking about, or "what?!" about having only seen TOS?
You did, I was just expanding and saying definitely make sure to do that.
Your vote's there now, or at least somebody's is.
Interesting point. (Sorry, everyone, this keeps turning into a writing workshop between me and The0Infamous - these bits aren't meant to be germane to the planning!) I think it also doesn't always come naturally for ANYONE to do that in an RP, because actually you're told what the other character is feeling (except when they just describe the character's body language, in a way that doesn't make it immediately obvious what it's about, and it's left to you to work out what they mean), and the natural thing is to take that as known information. I suppose to do a character not knowing what another character is feeling, when it is stated what they're feeling, you would have to treat it as "information known to me but not necessarily to my character", in the same way as any more literal kind of OOC information. You know that Joe is anxious about whether he's up to commanding his new ship, but all your character knows is that Joe is eating his pen in a way that they might or might not be able to interpret, depending how well they know the guy.
Then I never realised we had that in common! rotten feeling, isn't it? I always assumed you were someone who thought you knew exactly what you were doing, because you talked so ambitiously - like you were expecting to do real writing rather than purely just looning around - and I always enjoyed the results. In fact, I was nervous thinking you were going to be looking down on me if I wasn't managing anything very subtle, what with you having left the other thread in disgust and all (I assume that was about godmoders), so we ought to get on better now we know! Don't be nervous about people seeing your writing - you're good, you do know what you're doing. Dare say I am too, I'm just assuming the worst!
That sux, she's been really nice and helpful to me so far.
yeah that. i mean why havent you seen the others? lol
and i understand all that about the empathic stuff, but even when people are trying to hide something from me IC, i still know it, even when there is no reason for me to know it. Ask the ESD RPers lol.
IE: Joe asked Bob if he'd fixed the deflector.
Bob said "Yes."
Joe knew Bob was lying.
:P
Which thread did I leave again? I'm still doing ESD, but I'm just trying to bring my subplots to a close. The god-moding isnt too much of an issue anymore. and I like everyone there. I'm easy to get along with, i think.
Ah, I misunderstood what you were saying in ESD then, The0Infamous. I have only the haziest idea what's supposed to be happening there, IC or OOC, because there was just so much of it by the time I first tried looking at it
It's occurred to me that as well as not knowing anything about naval academies, this is also a foreign country for me, I've never been to America myself! I could worry about not knowing enough about things indefinitely, so my plan for dealing with the things I'm not sure I know all the facts about is just to go ahead and if the rest of you notice me getting a real-life thing wrong, just tell me and I'll sort it out. That plan OK with you?
Thought, for anyone who finds it useful: this setting should make it convenient to duck out whenever you need to, anyway. All you have to say to get your character out of a scene is "Oh %$&*% I have a lecture in two minutes".
I've not even watched all of TOS - I just don't watch that much TV!
I've been watching DS9 this morning, there happened to be an episode on. First impressions: Dr Bashir is sweet. Odo is most unpleasant and rather alarming, but we all know that he's in a much more awkward situation than the staff seem to know about yet. Too much sinister moody lighting! Quark is actually quite a nasty piece of work, if he wasn't also such a comical little fellow. Hard to take any of the women seriously because they're all made up like Hollywood stars and speak in husky voices (OK, some of that may be natural to the American accent, but I'm not sure it all is), but I liked the way Jadzia ignores people!
I feel happier about trying to play later timelines (if we end up doing that) now I've seen that, actually - they're just acting like humans there too, those that are humans, of course! TOS was to me "the one where they act like people", because I only knew the others from STO which really is not like people. Seeing everyone squabbling away there in that episode has encouraged me, clearly you are allowed to be like people in those series too!
The0infamous, what are (some of) the things you like about the later timeline better than TOS, if there are any that are easy to state? Might give us some ideas for what we could both agree on. Apart from anything else I've got various ideas for things that I might have happen, and probably won't get around to all of them, so that'd help me choose which ones to try first that'd go down well!
these two paragraphs are linked, in that I like the latter shows more (among other reasons) because people, in my opinion, act like people, not like actors acting like people. everyone over-acted in the 60s, and that's to be expected. DS9 is one of my least favorite series, tied with Enterprise. Voyager and TNG are the best, story-wise and character-development-wise. People will tell you otherwise, but theyre wrong lol.
I like character-development, story-telling, and universe-building. I love how one episode of one series can relate or correspond to another episode in another series, and how they do cross-overs. I'd love to hear your ideas!
All Americans sound like that. lol
yeah, dont worry, if anything gets too unrealistic, i'll say something. i've done Army JROTC (basically high school army training), basic Army boot camp, Army Advanced Individual Training, additional training while in the army, and cross-trained and worked with other branches of other militaries, including Australia, Israel, Britain, and Iraq. Though my experience with them is limited. very limited. I think most of our info for the SFA RP would come from Memory Alpha and other wikias.
Oh, well, as far as "acting style" goes, I play it however I can, anyway, trying to change the style is beyond me, so which era it was wouldn't make any difference as far as I'm concerned! I'm all about universe-building and I like to *read* good story and I like to read about characters with their own troubles and agendas, though I can't promise to succeed in *writing* them because I may have a bad day at any time. Might; don't know; a fleetmate's just been telling me I panic too much, so what I do even when I'm not up to making a proper effort may be better than I think. I have to admit that in the episodes I've seen, pretty much the only TOS character whose personal "stuff" has any part in the story is Mr Spock, and I always enjoy watching that.
Ideas - OK, do you want me to post here or send a PM? I always tend to sit on my ideas so they'll be surprises, but then I do it too much and end up getting in my own way because if I don't let anyone know anything at all about what I have in mind, they can't play along; so I need to get out of that habit a bit. I don't have any ideas for what you might call an over-arching plot, but I thought of a lot of possible things that I might have my characters do, or somebody else might; some of them could be extended into a whole storyline by themselves, others not so much. And what's everyone else got, if anything?
Here is how I do ideas, and how I've been doing them on ESD:
If it's related to one of my subplots, builds suspense and mystery, etc. and if the ultimate reveal would be pretty badass, I keep it a secret, and if I need others to play along, I PM them and either let them know, or I PM them and we RP in PM (some of my characters have empathic abilities that can reach into others' minds, so RPing it in PM so other RPers cannot see it makes sense).
If it's related to the over-all plot and there isnt really any feasible way to make it happen without everyone's input, then i bring it to everyone in the discussion thread.
However, I have hundreds of ideas a day so I usually just write them down in a notebook to be added to the plot later.
Also sometimes I just randomly do things, like instead of my main character's fiance being vaporized by a phaser, it turned out she was transported into the backup pattern buffer of a starship, to be later merged with the ship's computer core.
I'm going to leave it at that and disappear until we start on the 6th, if that's OK. I could do with a break, I've been spending far too much time boggling at this, when nothing's actually happening yet. I think we've kind of settled everything that needs settling before we start, as far as I'm concerned. Except that we haven't decided yet which era it is, have we? Well, as you all know, my position is I favour TOS (mainly just because you don't usually get the opportunity to try that in STO RPs) but I'll play whichever it turns out to be.
Oh - and if it's TOS, shall money exist or not? I think canon leaves it open whether money had disappeared by the TOS era or not until TNG, so it's up to our taste. (It's possible there could be a halfway-house situation, where some co-operative/collective systems have developed in some circles in the aftermath of World War III (they're fun to speculate about) but money doesn't completely die out until the replicator arrives in the next century. That might give more possibilities than anything.) Again, I'm happy with whatever you decide on so won't take any further part in that, and we may turn out not to need to make up our minds about that until after it's started.
Pretty much how I'm doing it too - I've just been writing down any ideas I think of for things that could happen or things my characters could do or that could turn up about them generally, so when nothing seems to be happening - or at least, not with my characters - and I can't think what to do, I can just reach into my notebook and say "let's do that".
also, again, thanks for reading the thread. I often wonder how many people read the RPs or if it's just the ones participating.
Agents of Yesterday will indeed involve Temper Agents. So if we do set the Academy in the TOS time-line it will eventually cross over into the future time-line. Or perhaps the past, it looks like it is dealing with the Sphere Builders which are the villains from Enterprise. Personally Enterprise could have been my favorite series. I love stories about beginnings and seeing the universe before the Federation was just great for me. Sadly the series was flawed. The Sphere Builder plot while interesting wasn't the best Star Trek plot and sadly the series was canceled just as it was getting to the really good part the war between Earth and the Romulan Empire and the actual Formation of the Federation itself.
That being said it makes sense for the game to merge the new “faction” into the game proper so that characters created in the past can still take advantage of the full game. So being limited by starting in TOS will not be a problem. We already suspected this but it was nice to see some actual confirmation. (Or maybe this was already confirmed and I just now noticed it because I'm too busy IRL to read everything that is available sadly.)
That being said it gives me an idea for the RP. One of the instructors at the academy, or a fellow student NPC, or say the academy janitor, or even one of us could be a temporal agent sent to watch over, recruit, keep us from being prematurely time-line altered etc. I right now am saying I am not going to pick the option where my character is a hidden temporal agent. While an interesting character it is also a character that has already gone through their base development and has achieved self discovery, they will know who they are and what their mission is and personally I don't find that to be an interesting character to play.
That being said I don't want to keep someone else from RPing that if they want to. Personally I'd rather not know who if anyone is a Temporal Agent be they PC or NPC just so I can enjoy the mystery more, but if someone has ideas they want to talk about to help keep the RP running smoothly feel free to talk about them here or in PMs either with me or with someone else.
I've also got a few messages from rllaillieu and they're still interested and have suggested moving the RP off the forums onto site such as Enjin or Shivtr since they can no longer post on the forums here. I'd like some opinions on that option before setting anything up.
On another note I've narrowed down my character selection to two options. Either a Vulcan or an Andorian. One is male the other is female, I'm not saying which is which because I don't want that to be a deciding factor on which I decide to play. Also I might change my mind on that. [Besides I'm going by the Book Lore that Andorians have 4 sexes instead of 2] That being said the Vulcan character is a much more reactive character, being a Vulcan they will rely on logic which will make them somewhat predictable and more of a supporting cast member than driving force behind the RP. (This option will allow me to focus more on the RP at large while still being a part of it.) The Andorian character is a more involved character and in my opinion a much more interesting one and has more potential to be a driving force in the RP. And while the Andorian sound in all ways more interesting and the better option of the two there are advantages to playing a character that is not the center of the drama like the Vulcan option.
Again I'm open to opinions on this before I make a decision even if it's something as simple as you stating that you think it would be more interesting for your character to interact with one or the other for reasons you do not wish to disclose at the moment.
And I think I'm going to cut this already long post short for now. We're getting close to the release of the new patch and it looks like we're going with TOS unless someone wants to protest that. I'm still open to both options.
It always reminds me of how you save Crono in Chrono Trigger.
That being said we can have it be a post graduation mission or something as simple as an accident on a training mission.
We can decide this at any time during the RP which means we can end the Academy part of the RP at any time of our choosing if we feel it is getting stale or we are running out of ideas for RPing academy life.
Another reason to choose the TOS time-line not that I want to rush out of the academy part of the RP but having a get out of jail free card and not using it is better than not having one and wanting it.
Also I think we can have interesting RPs happen centered around some unseen presence futzing with the time-lines while we are at the academy which can allow for all kinds of strange and interesting hijinks, it's not something we would want to overuse but it's an interesting tool to have in the box if we need it.
Temporal agent sounds like a good idea.
We all seem to have different ideas of what we'll be doing. For me, I'm happy with just the slice-of-life stuff - student life in the future, and the strange things that might happen with that. If other people want to have plots that are above and beyond that (like the temporal agent and/or things futzing with the timeline, for instance), then that's OK, that can be happening too. But I just like the idea of playing about with seeing the Academy and the stories that come out of that.
Been thinking: if there's no GM, do we all get to do things like describe the scene, usually a GM's job? I assume so, really just mentioning this to point out to people that that's a possibility.
as i have told rll and wombat, this is what happens to my main character. In ESD (dont tell the other ESDers) Elihu comes back from ten years in the future to assassinate a spy who tried to nark on him to the main villain, The Infamous. However, The future Infamous also came back with him to help. Apparently they're allies but im not sure if theyre good or evil or both. Anyway, the point is, Present Eli is going to be put into a coma first, and then "vaporized/transported" into a long-term backup pattern buffer like his fiance Talitha was, making everyone think he is dead. Eventually, at some point in the future, he will be removed from the ship and made whole again, so he can go back in time. Since D'ren/The Infamous was tortured by a temporal agent to be the perfect assassin, it makes sense to me that The Infamous would sorta do the same to Eli, making him a temporal agent in a sense. I'm not sure if i would do it in this RP, but its a thought. D'ren and Eli are my two most developed characters right now. D'ren is 15 RL years old (33 in game), and this incarnation of Eli is about a year old (28 in game).
As for not being able to develop the characters because they "know who they are", that has never been an issue with me. But if i do bring in Eli or D'ren as an agent, they would be "recurring guests" rather than my main. My main would be a new, more normal character.
Ive had this discussion with a few people before. It all depends on the RPer and the character. Despite Enterprise's flaws, T'pol in the later seasons was NOT very reactionary. In fact, her character was supposed to be half Romulan. Same with Saavak, but it never made it to the show. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I do believe a Vulcan can be just as much as a plot-driver as any other species; they may be logical, but they do have emotions - they just dont show them. Which is what makes my main character in ESD so interesting: he's Vulcan/Betazoid...
You should count me as .5 of an RPer too, not just because I may not be able to make it to another site, but also because I have personal issues that may make it so that I have to stop RPing for good once my plot with ESD is complete, which will happen soon.
I have one forum we could use, but it would need to be redesigned. I've admined dozens of forums in my day. I also know some already-made forums that probably wouldnt mind if we set something up there. Within a forum, you can have your own board and have a password so spamming wouldnt be a problem.
In most RP's I've been in, usually the IC person-in-charge is in charge of the Rp as a whole, but anyone can make things up as they go along. I've never really been in an RP where one person is in control of the plot, but it seems to happen with Star Trek RPs more than fantasy RPs, I've noticed. If there is a GM, it should obviously be someone who has experience with Star Trek, RP, forum moderation/admining, and leadership in general.
If it's so doubtful whether we can continue to have enough players, maybe it's not such a good idea to move to another forum, after all. I mean, that would pretty much cut off our chances of recruiting any new players after the RP starts, wouldn't it? I suppose somebody might see this thread and ask if it's still going on and decide to join, but I think that's much less likely than if they actually saw the thread going on and wanted to join in. I'm going to ask Trendy again about whether Rllaillieu can possibly be allowed to come back yet. I'll let you know the answer, if any.
yeah i see your point. have yall tried just talking to Hawku and seeing if yall could start some sort of SFA/ESD collab? I'm sure he wouldnt mind the extra RPers, especially since I'm leaving.
Pocketstory, what was your idea? Were you expecting it to be "played straight" when you started the idea, or was it always your intention to have mad robots and evil twins and Death Stars anyway? If so, obviously there's no point worrying about that question anyway!
To answer for the examples given. Killer Robots; possible of course. Evil Twins; that happens in the show so as long as it isn't overused that's fine (bonus points for slapping an evil goatee on your evil twin) Death stars.... while superweapon threats fit within the tone of the show a direct crossover with Star Wars does not, so a "Death Star" like weapon with suitable Star Trek skin thrown over it wouldn't bother me (they basically have that in Enterprise after all) but as soon as Jedi show up I'm bailing. Nothing against Star Wars I love Star was as much as I love Star Trek but if I want to RP with Jedi I'd go play SWTOR.
I'm not saying that can't be a thing, and if you enjoy it have fun with it that's the point. I'm just saying that's not what I'm looking for right now.
That being said if you can find a RP you'd like to make happen somewhere else some other way go for it. Feel free to post some links here if you get something going so people can check it out.
As for ESD, if you force everyone to start with a level 1 character, we wont be able to bring in our god-characters, OP-ships, and stupid amount of unkillable redshirts (cough, im looking at you Nat lol)
Tell you what, I'll run it by Hawku and see if he likes the general idea. I know how he RPs and we've collabed with ESD to an extent, so if he thinks it's doable, I will let you know and then yall can decide from there. Since I'm not likely to be on this site more than a few more weeks, I wont do anything more than that. I'd hate to be an intermediary and then have to vanish in the middle of negotiations lol
No, I like the idea of having something a bit more reasonable-by-Trek-standards myself, within the realm of what you could get away with in an actual episode. Not that I necessarily wouldn't play a totally outrageous silly RP if that's what came along, mind you ;-)
Besides I think it's becoming less likely that it will be practical to hold off doing anything in-game until the academy part of the RP is over. I'm making a character to play around on and see what the new stuff is like. I might use them in the RP I might not but my original idea of the RP group leveling together in-game as a fleet is far to impractical to enforce. I would still prefer people making new characters for the RP regardless of weather they make the actual character Starfleet or 23c Starfleet ingame. But again I'm no insisting on anything just stating my preference.