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Noxryn

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I love the idea for this, but have a couple of questions regarding Force users and possible powers. If one were to start as an Inquisitor, they would appear to have some Dark Side training, and some abilities already. 

 

Yes, Inquisitors were trained by the Dynamic Sith Duo to hunt Jedi. They were skilled, but no where near on the level to rival Vader or Palps.

 

 

Would there be chances for Light Side users to get the same? Perhaps not at the beginning, but finding someone to train with and help hone their abilities? Or will Light Side users not be available to start?

 

Light Side users will be available from the start, but somewhat different than the establish Inquisitors. Any light side users that show up will be self-trained over the course of the RPG, utilizing found holocrons to guide them. A big part of this RPG will be character development, meaning they won't start off as insane Jedi Masters by any stretch, but they certain could get there.

 

 

As for abilities, will we be able to use powers that say, were only briefly mentioned in a book? I ask because I vaguely remember an old Star Wars RP in which I asked to use the Force Item Teleport ability mentioned in one of the early novels, and was very strongly told no because I claimed it was a canon ability and the GM disagreed.

 

I'm not sticking strictly to canon, or Legends, as long as there's a plausable explanation and it's not utterly game breaking or unfair, most abilities will be fine.

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At last! I am definitely going to play this if it goes through.
 
The pitch looks great, but it seems a little bare-bones at the moment: it relies on a fair bit of a. prior knowledge of the SW universe (mostly justified, because everybody's seen the films and I expect most people who will want to play will have at least basic Legends knowledge) and b. everyone having the same idea of what's 'sensible' (less justified, but I'll get onto that later).
 

Alright, so I'm effectively putting Star Trek: To Boldly Go on the shelf temporarily to make room for this. Mostly cause, VII hype and all that.
 

 

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Great choice of era and setup. Post-Endor makes perfect sense as an RPG setting: the recent past is well-known to players as the plot of the original trilogy, and we can stay close to that OT aesthetic that we know and love while telling new stories.

 

 

THE GAME

 

It has been only months after the Battle of Endor and the destruction of the second Death Star battlestation, and with it the Galactic Empire’s head. Both the newly christened New Republic and the Empire are scrambling, consolidating power and swathes of territory as star systems pledge allegiance to one side or the other, only to turn at the slightest provocation (or threat of bombardment from the Imperial Navy). The Empire, hit the hardest from the death of Palpatine, has been struggling with infighting as power-hungry bureaucrats attempt to claim the throne for themselves. While the Council of Moffs have taken de facto control, the initial chaos has allowed the New Republic a number of victories to push the Imperials back from the Outer Rim and to their Core strongholds.

 

Though facts are in short supply and rumors are everywhere, the ceaseless churning of the Imperial propaganda machine being of no help, news of the former Rebellion’s win has spread like a wild fire, kicking up smaller, local resistance movements across countless worlds.

 

However, Darth Sidious’ demise has had far more affects than most of the galaxy’s inhabitants can sense, many of which could be devastating to both the fledgling New Republic and weakened Empire. As the waves of darkness, malice, and hate that the Sith Lord had been blanketing the galaxy with dissipate, the Force shines out into void once again, seeking out those who connect to it and igniting old beacons of knowledge. The first to hear this call, unfortunately, were those in the ranks of the Empire’s dark side adepts, the Inquisitors. With Sidious gone, the group of would-be Sith Lords have struck out on a crusade for power, far more than what the previous dark lord would have allowed. This search has led some of their number to the battered world of Taris, where they pursue a Republic agent, and the information which will lead them to the biggest repository of information available: a holocron.

 

Nice. We've got a political Empire/Republic conflict interleaved with a Dark/Light one, the the immediate story hook (hunting for the holocron) is already there. Exciting.

 

However, you haven't really told us what to expect from the game and its story. I know from your comment above and from conversations with Tyler that our characters will have the opportunity to seek out more holocrons and thus learn the ways of the Force, and I think that's a fantastic way of combining Force training with plot and character development, but for that very reason it should be in the pitch. For me, that's one of the biggest draws of this RPG concept, so advertise it!

 

You also haven't told us what our characters' immediate involvement with the holocron hunt will be. Obviously Inquisitor/Imperial characters will be chasing this Republic agent you mentioned, but how will the good/neutral guys get involved? Will we just throw our Ordinary Joes With Great Destinies into the middle of the Taris spaceport and hope they get caught up in the action?

 

 

THE PLAYERS

 

The New Republic is a fledgling government created from the reorganization of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Spurred by the Empire’s defeat at Endor, and the subsequent mass of star systems rallying to their cause, the New Republic has transformed the fighting force of the Rebellion to a legitimate political power. Its seat of government is positioned on the world of Chandrila, with Mon Mothma serving as Chancellor. The Republic is still relatively small compared to the might of the Galactic Empire, though discord throughout the Imperial powerbase has worked to their advantage. Its military consists mainly of starships loaned by sympathetic and member world’s planetary security forces, though Imperial warships from both captures and defectors have been added to their ranks. The Empire is currently under the command of the Council of Moffs, with the even tighter military grip on member worlds forcing many to seek help from the New Republic.

 

Galactic Empire, a name which sent dread and despair into the hearts of being across the galaxy. The Imperials were severely weakened command-wise with the death of Emperor Palpatine, the Sith Lord’s direct approach to government proving to be a weakness once the head was severed from the body. While theoretically they are still the reigning power in the Galaxy, infighting between Moffs and the slow breakaway of star systems from their iron grip has cut down the Empire’s effective strength immensely. However, an Imperial cruiser parked in orbit is still an effective deterrent to open rebellion.

 

The Inquisitorius, on the other hand, was a name that scarcely few would recognize, and those that did would never speak it aloud. Originally a branch of Imperial Intelligence, the organization has since grown into its own distinct entity, some say even from the Empire itself. The organization is made up of Force-sensitive individuals, all trained in the dark ways of the Sith by the late Darth Sidious and Vader. These acolytes, while not full Sith Lords, are still brutally effective Jedi Killers, and the freedom from their dark master has only made them more dangerous. Their primary objective was to hunt down and either kill or convert the remaining Jedi after Order 66, though they also worked to gather artifacts of the Force and recruit Force-sensitive younglings to their cause. The Inquisitorius is lead by the Grand Inquisitor, and the organization is quite small compared to the other military branches of the Empire. Even so, they do have their own small fleet of black-armored Imperial ships to command, in addition to what power they can take from the Moffs.

 

Nice familiar factions, though I wonder why you haven't mentioned the Skywalkers at all. Are they helping helm the New Republic, or off on adventures of their own? Even if nobody knows, I'd like to at least be told that they're conspicuous by their absence.

 

 

THE BOARD

 

Your story begins on the Outer Rim world of Taris, a polluted, industrial planet that has been plagued by war over the millennia. The wrecks of starships and the glass craters of orbital bombardment sit side by side with massive skyscrapers of the rich and the battered huts of the poor. While still regarded as a major world, Taris’ influence has dwindled over the years, and suffered even more so under the rule of the Empire. It is technically an Imperial planet, not many Imperials would be caught visiting. The capital city is a gleaming mass of durasteel buildings, rising just above the yellow smog, positioned next to the planet’s major spaceport. Around the spaceport are clusters of ramshackle buildings, houses, and less-than-savory businesses. Every piece of available land that isn’t swamp, and some that is, is taken up by the less fortunate of the planet’s population. On the other end of the city is the Imperial Garrison, which has access to enough Stormtroopers, Imperial Army personnel, and TIE fighters to quell most public riots. The garrison’s commander, however, isn’t too picky when it comes to where the credits in his pocket come from.

 

Is there a way off this dreary world, well, nothing's impossible.

 

I love the choice of Taris as our starting system (KotOR feels), and having it under Imperial control immediately gives the good guys reason to watch their step.

 

Again, though, you haven't told us what to expect as the story progresses. I'm sure it'll take us through Hyperspace to other far-flung, exciting, single-biome planets in good time (this is Star Wars, after all) but I'd like to know, vaguely at least, that I've got such things to look forward to.

 

 

THE PIECES

 

Your heroes and villains. Fields in bold are required, others can be added and removed as needed.

 

Name:

 

Age:

 

Gender/Species: Only rule is being sensible when it comes to species.

 

Appearance: Description, picture, anything that accurately portrays them works.

 

Skills: What are the good at? Do they have any natural abilities?

 

Force Abilities: For those that are Force Sensitive. Includes both specific techniques and passive benefits (e.g., Force Lightning or a perception boost respectively). Do note, characters are not going to be throwing X-Wings around without proper training, and most aren’t even going to be aware of the Force to begin with.

 

Equipment: Blasters, comlinks, old rusty knives, etc?

 

Personality: What are some of their mannerisms, how do they carry themselves?

 

History: Who are they, where are they from, how did they end up on Taris?

 

Ship: Do they own any starship?

 

Affiliation: Galactic Empire, New Republic, a lone mercenary, a Hutt Cartel enforcer, who do they call allies, if they have any?

 

Rank: If part of a larger organization, do note that Imperial Moffs aren’t likely to concern themselves with these events, and the New Republic leadership is too busy trying to keep a government together to notice.

 

Position: Say if they’re part of the crew of a cruiser or on a squad of soldiers.

 

Alignment: Good, evil, justice, money, adventure, knowledge, what do they value?

 

Might be worth giving some more detail on what a 'sensible' choice of species is. Are shapeshifters allowed, for example? Or the Falleen and their pheromone abilities? And what about droids, are they playable?

 

I'd say the same about ships and ranks. I take it we can't have our own battlecruisers, so are we restricted to fighters and freighters? How about small frigates? As for ranks, what you've said seems to imply that extremely high-ranking members of both factions are in theory playable, although in practice they wouldn't be concerned with events. Is there an upper limit to how much authority a PC can hold?

 

I hope I'm not coming across as overly nitpicky, because I really like the look of this game. Everything it's got so far is great, so I guess all my complaints could be summed up as: tell me more! :P

Edited by Ghosthands

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At last! I am definitely going to play this if it goes through.

 

The pitch looks great, but it seems a little bare-bones at the moment: it relies on a fair bit of a. prior knowledge of the SW universe (mostly justified, because everybody's seen the films and I expect most people who will want to play will have at least basic Legends knowledge) and b. everyone having the same idea of what's 'sensible' (less justified, but I'll get onto that later).

 

Great choice of era and setup. Post-Endor makes perfect sense as an RPG setting: the recent past is well-known to players as the plot of the original trilogy, and we can stay close to that OT aesthetic that we know and love while telling new stories.

 

*tie fighter noises*

 

Nice. We've got a political Empire/Republic conflict interleaved with a Dark/Light one, the the immediate story hook (hunting for the holocron) is already there. Exciting.

 

However, you haven't really told us what to expect from the game and its story. I know from your comment above and from conversations with Tyler that our characters will have the opportunity to seek out more holocrons and thus learn the ways of the Force, and I think that's a fantastic way of combining Force training with plot and character development, but for that very reason it should be in the pitch. For me, that's one of the biggest draws of this RPG concept, so advertise it!

 

You also haven't told us what our characters' immediate involvement with the holocron hunt will be. Obviously Inquisitor/Imperial characters will be chasing this Republic agent you mentioned, but how will the good/neutral guys get involved? Will we just throw our Ordinary Joes With Great Destinies into the middle of the Taris spaceport and hope they get caught up in the action?

If it comes to it, liberal use of fancy narrative twisting. Taris is meant to act as a jump and starting point for the initial wave of characters, with a group of adventurers gathered together ANH style. That being said, I recommend characters that say, a New Republic agent might hire for help, or those that the Empire would employ to track them down.

 

 

Nice familiar factions, though I wonder why you haven't mentioned the Skywalkers at all. Are they helping helm the New Republic, or off on adventures of their own? Even if nobody knows, I'd like to at least be told that they're conspicuous by their absence.

i have an irrational hate for the skywalker story c:

 

Let's just say they're too busy on the other side of the Galaxy being le Chosen One's Son and Heroes of the Alliance to get involved.

 

 

I love the choice of Taris as our starting system (KotOR feels), and having it under Imperial control immediately gives the good guys reason to watch their step.

 

Again, though, you haven't told us what to expect as the story progresses. I'm sure it'll take us through Hyperspace to other far-flung, exciting, single-biome planets in good time (this is Star Wars, after all) but I'd like to know, vaguely at least, that I've got such things to look forward to.

spooooooilerssssss

 

I mean if it's necessary, I really could try to imply a bit more, but at this point, spoilers~.

 

 

Might be worth giving some more detail on what a 'sensible' choice of species is. Are shapeshifters allowed, for example? Or the Falleen and their pheromone abilities? And what about droids, are they playable?

Sensible as in, no Celestials ore Rakata cause there're super gone, no mynocks unless you want to spend the entire game stuck to an asteroid. Honestly, I'm forgoing most arbitrary PvP balance for the sake of story 'realism'. The idea is for characters advance and develop over the course of the RPG, powers included. At the start, Force-sensitive characters should have only basic abilities, if any, to leave room for growth later on. Which means they theoretically could get to levels were any sort of innate species choice would be irrelevant.

 

That, and I prefer to play it by ear rather than limit choices from the get go. The playerbase here is small enough to be handled easily enough.

 

I'd say the same about ships and ranks. I take it we can't have our own battlecruisers, so are we restricted to fighters and freighters? How about small frigates? As for ranks, what you've said seems to imply that extremely high-ranking members of both factions are in theory playable, although in practice they wouldn't be concerned with events. Is there an upper limit to how much authority a PC can hold?

One could have their own battlecruiser, if the character in question would command one, but just like having a high ranking member of a faction, the captains of those ships wouldn't concern themselves with petty magic talismans when there's a New Republic out there. Not to mention, being a captain of one of those ships would really take them out of the action of the rest of the RPG. Short answer, the limit on authority is up to who would be reasonably involved in this small conflict, but it's a soft limit.

 

 

I hope I'm not coming across as overly nitpicky, because I really like the look of this game. Everything it's got so far is great, so I guess all my complaints could be summed up as: tell me more! :P

alright tarkin.

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*tie fighter noises*

 

yes.

 

 

i have an irrational hate for the skywalker story c:

 

Let's just say they're too busy on the other side of the Galaxy being le Chosen One's Son and Heroes of the Alliance to get involved.

 

Fair enough :P

 

 

spooooooilerssssss

 

I mean if it's necessary, I really could try to imply a bit more, but at this point, spoilers~.

 

All I'm suggesting is that you hint that we will end up going to other places. By all means, keep it a surprise where those places are until the story reaches them.

 

 

Sensible as in, no Celestials ore Rakata cause there're super gone, no mynocks unless you want to spend the entire game stuck to an asteroid. Honestly, I'm forgoing most arbitrary PvP balance for the sake of story 'realism'. The idea is for characters advance and develop over the course of the RPG, powers included. At the start, Force-sensitive characters should have only basic abilities, if any, to leave room for growth later on. Which means they theoretically could get to levels were any sort of innate species choice would be irrelevant.

 

That, and I prefer to play it by ear rather than limit choices from the get go. The playerbase here is small enough to be handled easily enough.

Yeah, that makes sense. I hadn't thought about putting species-specific abilities into perspective against potential Force powers.

 

 

If it comes to it, liberal use of fancy narrative twisting. Taris is meant to act as a jump and starting point for the initial wave of characters, with a group of adventurers gathered together ANH style. That being said, I recommend characters that say, a New Republic agent might hire for help, or those that the Empire would employ to track them down.

 

One could have their own battlecruiser, if the character in question would command one, but just like having a high ranking member of a faction, the captains of those ships wouldn't concern themselves with petty magic talismans when there's a New Republic out there. Not to mention, being a captain of one of those ships would really take them out of the action of the rest of the RPG. Short answer, the limit on authority is up to who would be reasonably involved in this small conflict, but it's a soft limit.

 

Yeah, these are both pretty much what I assumed. Thanks for the clarification.

 

 

alright tarkin.

 

Well, I think all my concerns have been answered, so...

 

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  • 4 months later...

An announcement.

 

The time has come for BZP and I to part ways. I'll be stepping down as a judge, and I'll be leaving any RPGs I am currently a member of. This has been coming for awhile now, figured I might as well make it official. 

 

Regards.

Edited by Havelock Vetinari

I believe you find life such a problem because you think there are the good people and the bad people. You are wrong, of course. There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm not sure I'm in the best position to run an RPG at the moment. I probably don't even have the appropriate qualifications, and I do know I have a long history of bad ideas (some of which I'd be happy to share if anyone's up for a laugh). However, that hasn't stopped me from thinking of one or two ideas and I guess there's no harm in sharing them. I do have this one idea I've been thinking about for a few days, and I figured it could be worth writing down.

 

I've recently been spending a lot of time playing Mass Effect 3, and have wondered if there would be some potential in there for a good RPG. Obviously, most of the players wouldn't be taking on the role of Shepard this time, although she may still have a role to play (I had thought the host could control Shepard, perhaps basing her on their experiences in-game). That would subsequently leave room for players to choose their species (of the several dozen that appear across the trilogy). As for the story, I'd imagine it revolving around the players taking on the roles of ordinary people struggling to survive against the Reapers. In that sense, it would be something of a survivalist game.

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Historically, ideas like this have not fared well - players tend not to get very excited when told that, while there is a grand struggle to determine the fate of the galaxy, they're only going to be involved to the extent that they're the guy hiding behind the counter in the deli, frantically dialing 911.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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That's true, although I had imagined the story to be taking place after Mass Effect 3. If we're to assume that the Alliance lost the war against the Reapers, that would mean society has more or less been eradicated, and the actions of any survivors could mean the difference between their species' survival or extinction.

 

Alternatively,  I guess we could also go on the assumption that Shepard succeeded in dstroying the Reapers at the end of Mass Effect 3, in which case there is a new danger posed to the galaxy. 

Edited by Atton Rand
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Well, before this is discussed further, you may do well to decide what we're assuming.

 

Door #1 means a post-apocalyptic scramble to somehow avoid being vaporized by godlike machines that already took out the rest of the galaxy, while Door #2 is still too vague to mean anything.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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Of course, the downside to focusing on the human-Turian war would be that we already know how it's going to end. While there would be room in which to develop the details of the individual battles, people involved, and key events, you'd be joining up knowing whether you're on the winning or losing side from the beginning. I'm not saying that makes the idea invalid, though it seems like something that should be addressed.

 

What I was thinking was if we set it some time after the events of Mass Effect 3, perhaps ten years later, and Shepard's gone into a (well-deserved) retirement, although she's probably still dealing with PTSD and survivor's guilt. As for the story itself, there was one plotline in Mass Effect 3 that seemed like it could work as a starting point, namely the section of the game where the player has to cure the genophage (or at least make it look like it's been cured). Several people bring up the possible long-term effects of a cure. I was thinking perhaps ten years later, the Krogan are rebuilding and repopulating, and beginning another attempt at galactic conquest.

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So the Krogans went through the whole mess with the genophage, having to work together with everyone else to save the galaxy as a whole, struggling to cure the genophage...

 

and apparently learned nothing from any of that.

 

yeah I'm with Tyler, selling pistachios for a first-contact war game.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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The only thing that would have to be the same about a First Contact War RPG would be the start. This is a freeform RPG in a very fleshed out universe, the GM can go whichever way they please.

"I serve the weak. I serve the helpless. I am their sword and their shield. If you want to strike at them, you must go through me, and I am not so easily moved."

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There's no reason anything necessarily needs to fit into the canon storyline.

 

And basing it around Shep is bound to lead to a lot of conflicts. Namely the fact that each Shep that every player has had could have made vastly different choices, so the GM of the game would have to essentially decide on the outcome of those choices which could be a little messy.

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On this eve, the thirtieth anniversary of that first colony, many are left to wonder; is the world fast approaching a breaking point?

 

 

  Breaking Point: An OTC Mecha RPG

 

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And basing it around Shep is bound to lead to a lot of conflicts. Namely the fact that each Shep that every player has had could have made vastly different choices, so the GM of the game would have to essentially decide on the outcome of those choices which could be a little messy.

 

That's true. That's not even getting into the detailed customization across the trilogy; most people wouldn't be able to agree on Shepard's first name, letalone her appearance and gender. Both the male and female versions seem to have their own fanbases, which is unusual. In my case, Shepard's definitely female, though that seems to be the case with a lot of in-game characters and there do seem to be fans of the male version. Normally people seem to lean one way or the other (I still have yet to meet anyone who prefers the female version of "Soap MacTavish" I came up with while playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to the comparatively awful official male version in the sequels who completely ruined my vision). Revan seems to usually be accepted as a man (though to me, Revan seems to work better as a woman), and players of Skyrim appear to generally refer to the Dragonborn as male (which she isn't) even though both games allowed the player to choose the characters' sex.

 

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, Shepard's a woman. I guess what I'm getting at is that not everyone would agree with that notion. For that matter, I probably wouldn't put it too far to assume there's at least one person on this very board who prefers the male Shepard.

 

So it sounds like there's more interest in this idea of focusing on the Turian War than my original ideas. I went over the description in Mass Effect 3 and it didn't sound like much happened (basically, Turians attacked some humans and tried occupy a colony, got driven out by other human forces, and then they negotiated) so I'd still remain skeptical of how well it would lend itself to an RPG format. Still, I guess we won't know until we try.

 

There's no reason anything necessarily needs to fit into the canon storyline.

 

 

Well, it's hard to apply a definitive "canon" to the Mass Effect Games, given the variety of different ways the story can go and the numerous different ways Shepard can appear. In that sense, an alternate timeline could work, though there's probably still some aspects of the First Contact War that could be fleshed out for an RPG.

 

As far as gameplay goes, I guess the idea would be that players would be somehow affected by the war, and presumably would become involved one way or another, although exactly how they end up taking part in the war may vary between different people, whether they end up taking sides or somewhere in the middle. 

 

One thing that I do find myself noting is that it is a war between species, which may limit options for players. In other words, beginning on one side would result in them either being human or Turian by default unless we wanted to work around that. Having the option not to choose a faction when you first start would leave room open for other species (Quorrians, Volus, Elcor, Asari, etc.) to appear. 

Edited by Atton Rand
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I think, before moving forward, it may be best to try to nail down why people are so excited about a First Contact war, and so unexcited about Krogans 2: They Learned Nothing, so that you are sure that you and your potential players are on the same page, and you don't wind up accidentally cutting out the very things people want in the process of adapting this to an RPG.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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I like the idea of a sci-fi action RPG. And the concept of First Contact is just fascinating all on its own.

 

Before this the only aliens that the Systems Alliance knew of were the Protheans and those fellows were long dead.

Edited by Silvan Haven

"I serve the weak. I serve the helpless. I am their sword and their shield. If you want to strike at them, you must go through me, and I am not so easily moved."

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Mmh. The mix of wonder and terror that comes with first contact, especially when the first aliens you meet appear to be hostile, is fascinating to me, as is the idea of playing through, on either side, with the complex game of blind man's bluff that leads to some rather interesting moral questions - Are they evil, or are people dying because of a communication breakdown? How far is it acceptable to go in fighting this war? Whose fault is it anyway?

 

The Turians at least know of other aliens they can compare the humans to, but they're also part of the same system that decided something very close to genocide was the right answer in dealing with the Krogans, so finding the right path won't be easy for players on that side. The humans are just totally out of their element, and this is exactly the sort of situation that produces guys like Heimskr from Cerberus.

 

As for Asari, Krogans, Salarians... I say forget 'em. Not totally, I mean, we could have Batarian mercenaries making things worse for everybody, but in general, I feel like it should be much harder to get a profile approved for any species that isn't Human or Turian. It's fine to leave them out, because if this is about the Human-Turian First Contact War, then it isn't about those other folks.

  • Upvote 1

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, now that I've got way more free time than I'd like to admit (weird how a wrecked computer got me on BZP more), I'm looking at finally starting up an RPG. Now, those who remember every other time I've said something like this know not to get too hyped-up, but I'm also not in college anymore, so this could actually work out.

 

So, I'd like to use you all as a sounding-board real quick, and find out which of these rough concepts the community would be most interested in seeing fleshed-out into a full-on RPG.

 

-The Gunmen of Leng: Set in the Dreamlands, HP Lovecraft's delightful little borderline high-fantasy setting, but with some of the tech restrictions removed, bringing human technology up to steampunk/teslapunk levels. Main conflict would be between the humans and the creatures that rule this setting's moon, but there'd be plenty of action for players interested in playing as Gugs (four-armed freaky giants), Ghouls (semi-doglike graverobbers) or Lengfolk (vaguely satyr-like humanoids, many of whom are enslaved by the Moonbeasts), plus a handful of crises I can bring into play if I need to shove things into action. Original concept when I first proposed this was sandboxy, but I could be persuaded to limit that if the community demands it.

 

-[Not named yet - currently leaning towards either The Shadow of Life or The Last Candle]: More Lovecraft, but set in a post-apocalyptic version of our world. The apocalypse was long enough ago that the details can be handwaved, but much of our technology and knowledge went the way of 90% of the human population, and just as in Fallout, some of the wildlife has taken on unpleasant changes. In the portion of the world we're looking at - probably somewhere around where New Orleans used to be - the dominant groups trying to restore order developed from cults devoted to Nyarlathotep, Shub-Niggurath, Dagon, and T'yog Ghatanothoa, now seen, respectively, as deities of Knowledge, Fertility/Farming, Fishing/Fertility, and Power gained through Fear. It goes unsaid for T'yog, who already sounds unpleasant, but the rest also retain somewhat brutal touches, helped along by the desperation of a post-apocalyptic world. Tsathoggua was considered, but his followers were ultimately too gruesome for BZP. Strange creatures and magic will feature, but ultimately the focus is on people and the things they do. Could be either sandboxy or formatted in a similar manner to Star Wars: Interregnum, in terms of the movement of characters and the plot.

 

-[VERY ROUGH - likely The Elder Scrolls: [something]]: Centered on an expedition to Akavir an unspecified amount of time after the events of Skyrim - that is, people know what dragons are and that they're not extinct, but the Empire is clearly doing alright enough to send an expedition across the ocean. Insofar as it's acknowledged at all, the existing canon regarding Akavir (which is incredibly sparse) will be regarded in much the same light as the tales Greek explorers told of distant lands, and much of what appears of Akavir will be decided upon by yours truly. All Tamrielic races are fair game, with Akaviri races opening up somewhere down the line if things go well. Very cavalier attitude towards canon, leaning more towards grain-of-salt historiography than interpreting it at face-value.

 

If any, all, or none of these interest you, please let me know, along with any detailed critiques of any or all concepts, or requests for clarification.

 

EDIT: Just realised I'd mixed up a Lovecraftian beastie and the name of the priest of Shub-Niggurath who'd tried to destroy it. Can't really be blamed, because between Ghatanothoa and T'yog, the latter is definitely more memorable.

Edited by Rache

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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Well this is just my two cents but I would probably advise against doing an Elder Scroll game. We had one relatively recently that was very well thought out (plenty of attention in here, too) and drummed up a lot of interest in the first week or so only to die out quite quickly. By no means does this mean you can't make one, obviously, but given how much difficulty OTC RPGs seem to have surviving lately it seems like a decent sign to leave that be a while.

 

I can't speak to how much interest there would be in a Lovecraft game, but it's certainly something we haven't seen in a while. My only concern I think would be the amount of knowledge needed to participate. I'm only a passing fan of his work, and with Bas gone I'm not sure who around here has an extensive knowledge of it. It would probably need a decent summary of relevant information in the first post to help new players.

 

The first two, though, definitely seem like the better concepts.The second one in particular seems like it might stand out most in the current crop of games.

Edited by Peele

fK5oqYf.jpg

 

On this eve, the thirtieth anniversary of that first colony, many are left to wonder; is the world fast approaching a breaking point?

 

 

  Breaking Point: An OTC Mecha RPG

 

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Yeah, there's a reason I put the TES one last. I watched the last one go up in smoke, and didn't really see anyway it could have been fixed or avoided. It was pretty much included just in case Lovecraft was absolutely DOA.

 

For the Lovecraft thing... My goal is definitely to make it so that the players don't need to touch Google to play either of these. The second in particular is so disconnected from the Mythos at large that anything beyond a cursory knowledge of the names invoked would be pointless. For the Dreamlands one, a little knowledge of the setting might help, but the ways I've changed it are likely to impact how things would go at least as much as the things that stayed the same.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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  • 3 weeks later...

Rise of Tigers
A BattletTech inspired Mech Game

Tiny background blurb:
The year is 3550. Man kind has spread through the stars, finding no other sentient species. Aggressive colonisation has left technology in communications lacking, leaving most planets unable to communicate past a few thousand light years. Warfare has evolved. Infantry no longer serves as the frontline in  planetary wars, instead, immense machines called BattleMechs dominate the battlefield. Armed to the teeth and more maneuverable than any land vehicle, Mechs are the ultimate war machines. Mech pilots are the new frontline soldiers, and you, Mech Jockey, are about to join that illustrious group.



Story blurb:

Planet Kell is embroiled in civil war, and you are part of a mercenary group of Mech Jockeys hired to fight, whether for honor, fame, or money. A rebellion against the government has risen up. The odds are stacked against you, but the pay is too good to pass up. So you’ve come, three lances of Mech Jockeys, taking whatever hard jobs the rebels need. 

Factions blurb:

The rebels-

Taking up the banner of House Blake, and led by one Jacob Hawthorne, the Rebels have little in the way of proper BattleMechs, relying mostly on modified Industrial Mechs, tanks, and power armor to make fast strikes. They have the edge in numbers, but can't field them as effectively. They won’t survive alone. Their headquarters is secreted away, deep in a mountain in the northern continent.

The Government-

The de facto government, led by a council of military governors that overthrew the previous monarchy, is well equipped, but they’ve been fighting a long time. Once pristine Mechs now have been repaired time and again. They've got a technological edge, and better equipped units, but they have smaller numbers. The Capitol is heavily defended, and all strikes against it thus far have failed. No one knows where they're getting their tech, but it's more advanced than anything the rebels have ever seen.

The Mercs (Lightning Tigers)

This is the player faction, a not quite ragtag group of Mech Jockeys making a name for themselves. Modestly equipped, they’ve brought their own dropship and a company of Mechs.

Setting blurb:

Player setting for in between missions is the DropShip, a large, spherical craft that Houses not only the Lightning Tigers, but also has a well equipped Mech Bay, For storing, modifying, or repairing damaged Mechs. There are bunks, a mess hall and a recreation deck. Player setting during missions will be described per mission.

Mech Blurbs:

Mechs come in three standard sizes, Light, Medium, and Heavy. Light Mechs are typically scouts, or forward strikers, moving fast with a decent punch, and good heat management, but not a lot of armor. Heavy Mechs conversely, are either close in brawlers or weapons platforms, dishing out huge punishment, and taking it just as well, but heat management is low. Medium Mechs are well rounded, tackling melee or ranged capabilities well, and having decent heat management, but having neither the speed of lighter Mechs, nor the staying power of heavier ones.

Mechs all come with hardpoints, in the center torso, side torsos, and arms. Some larger mechs have an additional head hardpoint. Each Mech has two slots for weapons per hardpoint, but can carry a weapon of one level above their weight class in each hardpoint at the cost of additional heat generation and less weapons over all. Keep in mind that the more weapons you pack on, the heavier your Mech will be, and this will impact engine performance if you have too many, leading to power draw issues and a slower Mech.

Average Top Speeds:

Heavy Mechs: Top Speeds of around 100 kph are average for Heavy Mechs

Light Mechs: Top speeds of 150 kph are average for Light Mechs

Medium Mechs: Top speeds of about 110 kph are average for Medium Mechs.

Heat Blurb:

All weapons produce heat, with heavier weapons producing more heat than lighter ones. All Mechs have a heat shutdown point, to keep from frying a pilot alive in their own Mech. Heavy Mechs typically have a heat shutdown much higher higher than Light Mechs;  Medium Mechs usually sit between the two in heat management. Certain weapons run hotter than others, with energy weapons being the hottest and ballistics running the coolest. Missiles sit in between.

Weapons blurb: 

All weapons have a classification of light, medium, and heavy. some require ammunition, while others do not. Keep in mind that you can only bring so much ammunition, and that heavier weapons will require more ammo space.

Damage ranges from poor to heavy, Range ranges from low to great.

Missiles come in two varieties, SRM(Short range missiles) and LRM(Long range missiles). Short range missiles are fast, and are devastating up close, but don't have the burn time to reach long targets. Long range missiles are slower, but can be locked onto a target that you or an ally can see. The downside is that they take time to fully arm, so up close, they're all but useless.

Light SRM: Fires two short range missiles for small damage.

Medium SRM: Fires four short range missiles for moderate damage.

Heavy SRM: Fires six Short range missiles for good damage.

Light LRM: Fires five Long range missiles for moderate damage.

medium LRM: Fires ten LRMs for good damage.

Heavy LRM: Fires fifteen LRMs for heavy damage.

Lasers are varying range energy weapons that require no ammunition, but run hot and require a steady hand to keep them on target for their whole burn time to maximise damage. larger lasers take longer to recycle than smaller ones. Savvy pilots will twist their Mech's torso to try and spread damage, increasing suvivability.

Light Lasers: A small, relatively low heat laser that burns for only a brief 2 seconds, it has a low range, and small damage, but a recycle time of 2 seconds.

Medium lasers: A larger, more powerful laser, burning for 4 seconds, it has good range and moderate damage, and a recycle time of 5 seconds.

Heavy lasers: The largest laser, burning for a full 7 seconds, with great range and heavy damage, and a recycle time of 8 seconds.

Particle cannons are a strange and poorly understood energy weapon, using charged particles to ionise a trail to their target and then detonating in a burst of electricity. they do great damage, but they also produce a lot of heat, and have long recycle times. additionally, it takes a small amount of time to ionise the target trail, and this increases with larger PCs and greater distance, though there is technically no limit on how far the weapon can be fired.

Light PC: A small particle cannon inflicting moderate damage, with a 2.5 second Ionisation time and a 4 second recycle time.

Medium PC: A larger particle cannon inflicting heavy damage, with a 4 second ionisation time and a 6 second recycle time.

Heavy PC: A very large particle cannon inflicting massive damage, with a full 6 second ionisation time and an 8 second recycle.

Autocannons are automatically reloading ballistic weapons of varying sizes and reload times, with smaller AC's reloading faster than larger ones. They don't produce too much heat, but heat scales with size, leaving heavier autocannons running hotter. They have good range, but are impacted by drop and weather conditions.

Light AC: a small auto cannon dealing small damage and reloading almost instantly.

Medium AC: A larger autocannon dealing moderate damage and reloading in 3 seconds

Heavy AC: a very large autocannon dealing heavy damage and reloading every 5 seconds.


Machine Guns are fairly old tech, but ever reliable, and can pack the most ammo per ton of any weapon. They don't deal a lot of damage, and have poor overall range, but produce almost no heat, and chew through internals voraciously.

Light MG: A small machine gun that deals poor damage. similar to heavy machine guns used by infantry.

Medium MG: A larger machine gun dealing small damage. 

Heavy MG: A very large Machine gun that deals moderate damage.




Profile layout:

Recommended reading(forum post about cockpit layout): mwomercs.com/forums/topic/135931-mech-cockpit-layout/

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Appearance:
Personality:
Bio:
Weaknesses:

Mech Name:
Mech class:
Apearance:
Armament:

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too similar to breaking point for my tastes, one would probably end up killing the other. otc precedent from the last two or three years usually frowns on those kinds of games

 

-Tyler

SAY IT ONE MORE TIME 

TELL ME WHAT IS ON YOUR MIND

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To be honest, I feel like some of the changes from BattleTech standard (Mechwarrior -> Mech Jockey, the context of the use of Blake, Kell, etc.) are a bit too superficial to be worth it. Like... it's a BattleTech RPG in all but a couple of details, and I think maybe it would be better to shift that couple of details unless there's a reason for them beyond cosmetic shifts.

 

I like the idea of basing it around mercenaries in a particular war, though I'm not sure if we're supposed to be solidly against one side or the other, or...

 

---

 

Unrelated, since the ideas I posted have received almost precisely no interest in about a month, I'm shelving them. Lovecraft's pretty clearly a dud here, required reading or no.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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I'm trying to keep the required lore knowledge to a minimum, since Battletech has a looooooong lore history, hence the different terms and factions. Also, such allows me to develop the factions more as I see fit, rather than trying to pick a timeline and keep to canon. This also allows players to not be limited to canon Battlemech designs, and create their own mechs, so long as they still fit the overall setup.

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mmh, fair enough. I do feel, though, that to participate in something on this scale in the proper Battletech universe, little outside knowledge would be required - no one cares what Clan Wolf is if you're only dealing with some tinpot dictator who holds precisely one planet.

 

Still, with that reason in mind, I don't care either way about that detail.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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I'm trying to keep the required lore knowledge to a minimum, since Battletech has a looooooong lore history, hence the different terms and factions. Also, such allows me to develop the factions more as I see fit, rather than trying to pick a timeline and keep to canon. This also allows players to not be limited to canon Battlemech designs, and create their own mechs, so long as they still fit the overall setup.

Without the lore and its designs, Battletech really isn't Battletech. If you remove that, all you get is just another generic giant robot RPG.

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i mean I considered saying chicken walkers only but I thought that might be a bit much.

 

it is also inspired by, rather than battletech itself, so there's that too. 

 

You may have a point, though, I might switch to a 'if it looks like it could be in battletech' or something.

 

speaking of the giant robots, are there any mechanics that don't fit/seem out of place/aren't right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

please critique my game mechanics

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i mean I considered saying chicken walkers only but I thought that might be a bit much.

 

it is also inspired by, rather than battletech itself, so there's that too. 

 

You may have a point, though, I might switch to a 'if it looks like it could be in battletech' or something.

 

speaking of the giant robots, are there any mechanics that don't fit/seem out of place/aren't right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

please critique my game mechanics

Ah, so it's a game influenced by Dougram.

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All I can say about your mechanics is that they are so much more robust than your story that I got bored and skipped half of them.

"I serve the weak. I serve the helpless. I am their sword and their shield. If you want to strike at them, you must go through me, and I am not so easily moved."

zsUPm2E.jpg?1

 

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