The Official OTC TBRPG Planning and Organization Topic

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

You are confusing no killing with no conflict JC. You can still have characters who fight, who have opposing ideologies, who just dislike each other. If anything just killing anyone not on your side is what curtails character development, because then what conflict do you have?

[Archer Vonn]

You know what thinking about it I think I'm starting to lean towards your side more. Character development doesn't really need to test wit.

Edited August 3, 2012 by ~JC~

[Alex Humva]

Again, I fall back to the ideology of "why should I care." It's simply an option, one that is actually rather hard to take, seeing as no one likes being around the guy who tries to kill people. You can't just kill everyone opposing you because, well, killing someone is rather difficult, ingame and IRL.

[Lara White]

I support Rover's idea. I'd play it.

[JiMing]

Hey, uh, anyone remember that RPG I was planning a while ago?No? Well, uh, I sort of need some people to play some important roles. Could any of you volunteer?

[Zulu Yankee Kilo Echo]

What kind of RPG is it? I might be interested in filling one of said roles.

[JiMing]

Well, it's called Divided Lands: The Magitech Wars. It takes place on a planet, on it is a supercontinent. Scattered throughout are different "kingdoms", all very diverse. The two largest kingdoms are Ergas and Technos.Ergas is a fantasy medieval land with magic being a big part of everyday lives. The Warriors of the army have had their bodies modified by magic, and as such, are ridiculously strong, and capable of feats considered superhuman to many. The army also has skilled Mages, who range from Attack, Defense, and Healing Mages, and there are a variety of spells at their disposal.Technos is a futuristic kingdom with the people there living a worry-free life. The robots there do all the work for them, and Technos is overseen by a mysterious group of men who don't reveal their identities, but commonly like to brag about their achievements, and belittling other kingdoms, especially Ergas. This has enraged Ergas, who plan to declare war. Technos then builds up a force of robots in order to retaliate.So yeah, I need two people to fill in the roles of the commanding officer of Ergas, as well as one for Technos. If you're interested, PM me for more info.

[Zulu Yankee Kilo Echo]

Yeah, I'll PM you on that.

[The Lonesome Wanderer]

Would anyone like to help with a RPG that follows a world through multiple era's?Basicly, at certain story points, there will be a multi-year time lapse. New character options will be avalible after. You can play as an aged version of the old characters, if its within reason(no 101 year old dudes, or 50 year olds that look 19, etc.)

[Toast of Awesomeness]

That sounds very interesting, and rather like Assassin's Creed.So you have the gimmick, what's the story?

[Xomeron]

Alright people, here's an idea.The year is 2096. The place is Cydonia, Mars. The game? Adventure-Archeology; uncover the ruins of the Martian civilization, advance scientific understanding, and earn enough money to eat another night. The way the game is played? Backstabbing, murder, power-play, espionage, theft, and jaywalking.The style of the RPG would essentially be a Space Western; Mars, like the Old West, is a wretched hive of scum and villainy where veterans of the Last War have come to find a life free from the overbearing rule of the United Nations. If you want a TV show to give you an idea of the style, Firefly is a good place to start.

[Archer Vonn]

So kinda like Fallout on Mars, I like....you know what I'm just gonna finish the Fallout RPG anyways I don't care if its me and one other dude RPing an entire war I'm doing it

[Xomeron]

Not much Fallout, except the whole "you're in a desert wasteland and it's dangerous" idea.

[Lara White]

The archaeology idea appeals to me.

[Archer Vonn]

Well, everything except ruins on Mars checks out in both columns lol

[Xomeron]

I'll be having some fun with the artifacts. Players will be able to, if they can figure out what the artifacts do, hang onto them for their own use, or sell them to interested buyers, which could be either collectors or scientists.There will be an overarching metaplot, but the players will be freely able to ignore it and go explore the ruins, and there will be no shortage of ruins. I mean seriously this place is like Cyrodil with all these ruins. Place is just lousy with ruins. Ruins everywhere.

Edited August 10, 2012 by cardworkMagician

[Lara White]

You'll probably need a world map that's segmented somehow, though I'd suggest not displaying ruins until someone chooses to explore that segment of the map.

[Archer Vonn]

Yeah I like. Do it. + fast so we can snag a few people before the summer rush ends [LOL jay thinks there's a summer rush on BZP]

[Xomeron]

Given the limits of travelling on Mars, the area you can explore will actually be pretty realistically limited; the region of Cydonia is the largest spaceport on Mars, and some of the more intact Martian ruins.Thing is, wheeled and tracked vehicles have trouble with Mars' terrain if they're there for too long, since the dust piles up and clogs them pretty quickly, and it gets several feet thick in areas. Planes and helicopters are unusable due to the thin atmosphere, and Jet VTOL are so expensive your characters can't afford them. This leaves you with the options of bicycles, motorcycles, or cross-country skiing. All three are practical and relatively affordable on Mars. This limits people to a small area of Mars, but it'd nice and dense. For video-game comparisons, figure around the size of Skyrim is practical before you have to go back to the city for more water. Farther out you go, the less likely you are to actually find anything, but the more likely it is to have never been explored.

Edited August 10, 2012 by cardworkMagician

[Trad]

Will there be dust storms, meteorites, volcanos, Marsquakes, and a whole host of disease or such?What about cities and space ports?What about food and water.

[Archer Vonn]

Those who survived the Mars landing did so in enormous, underground Vaults...

[Xomeron]

The setting will be centered around one major city, whose name I haven't decided yet. In it will be the region's space port. There are richer, larger cities at the poles where there's water, but they're hard to come by. The city doesn't have a large pressure dome like you see in most Martian media, but rather dozens of smaller domes, so one meteor won't take the whole place down. You can get food and water and such there for relatively cheap, and you'll probably have an apartment there.There will be no Vaults. No radioactive mutants. There will be no Fallout.Marsquakes are unlikely; Mars is geologically much more stable than Earth, and tectonic shifts are rare. Meteorites happen but aren't really a problem. Dust storms, again, not a huge problem thanks to Mars having incredibly thin air. Disease? Why would there be disease?

[Trad]

I don't know why I said that, but sci-fi says that there will be a disease.Either that or normal diseases from Earth emigrate along with humans (a la colonisation) and mutate into something deadlier there through adapting to live on Mars?

[Xomeron]

Sci-fi is wrong. Science says that Mars is far more sterile than Earth. The normal diseases that follow humans won't change; they don't care about Martian conditions, it's conditions in a human body they care about.

[Trad]

But if the conditions of a human body has to change to adapt to Mars, wouldn't that affect the microorganisms?

[BenLuke]

...you know what I'm just gonna finish the Fallout RPG anyways I don't care if its me and one other dude RPing an entire war I'm doing it

I'd play that.

[Toast of Awesomeness]

If we're playing in Mars, the conditions of a human body won't change, asides from the affects of lower gravity, leading to bone and muscle loss. No factor will affect earth diseases, through water being rarer will prevent some. It sounds to me as if limited space suits will still be required, or at least oxygen. The diseases won't really be exposed to the environment, and if they were, there's no life to spread them.Also, due to the Gravity, recent immigrants will seem superhumanly strong until their muscles atrophy. My character will be taking advantage of this.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Toast of Awesomeness

[Alex Humva]

I might play as a guy who believes in working out, to keep his muscles and bones from decaying at rapidly. If it works for the ISS (they still suffer from decay, but much much less than usual), it'd work on Mars, possibly even better.

[The Lonesome Wanderer]

That sounds very interesting, and rather like Assassin's Creed.So you have the gimmick, what's the story?

Medieval times, two enemy kingdoms that have been separated for years reunite. Tension erupts. Add in that both sides have there own cultures, politics, and morals, and Dragon Krystals, and It will probably be a war. Unless the players stop it, which changes what happens over the first time lapse. New events, players decide how it ends, time lapse, repeat until storyline ends.

[Trad]

So I'll be playing as someone who utilizes gravity to fight or something, or maybe ambush someone else.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

wait wait wait"Krystals"?Adding the letter K to words that don't usually have it doesn't make the words cooler.

[Lara White]

Poor literacy is kewl, dontcha know.

[Havelock Vetinari]

Poor literacy is kewl, dontcha know.

Curse you 90's! Curse you!But yeah, the "Krystals" bit doesn't add anything.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

Actually, it added ten points to my blood pressure, but it didn't add anything good.On the subject of the Lovecraft western RPG (and just typing that made me grin like a maniac), do you think cities like Celephaïs and other somewhat big, rather civilized (depending on who owns the city - I mean, the city of the Gugs would be pretty pleasant for them, but humans, ghasts, ghouls, and really anything that isn't a Gug would find it rather inhospitable) locations should be included as accessible locations? The reason I ask this is because westerns tend to function more on the frontier than in the heart of civilization.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Ymper Trymon

[Lara White]

Maybe one or two highly built-up cities, but mostly the frontier.

[BenLuke]

^^^ "YEAH! NORMAL SPELLING ISN'T X-TREME ENOUGH, MAN!"*Ahem*I'm really looking forward to when the Lovecraft western gets going, it sounds awesome. Now to read the story it's a going to be based off. . .

[The Lonesome Wanderer]

Fine, Crystals. But would anyone be interested in co-GM'ing or helping think of some locations

[Toast of Awesomeness]

I've never read Lovecraft at all, could someone explain the basic idea?

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

The setting can be explained by reading The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath. Wikipedia has it available as a free pdf, because it's presently in the public domain.I'm taking a bit of a departure from what Lovecraft usually did with his stories. He was a horror author who tended to convey the idea that humanity is utterly helpless in a universe full of sufficiently-advanced aliens whose blue-and-orange morality somehow always comes out to mean "Hundreds of people die". This RPG is going to be more focused on the mortal denizens of Lovecraft's universe, and, specifically, the Dreamlands, so humanity is going to be on somewhat more even footing.That being said, if someone does something to irk me, Nyarlathotep will sweep down from the sky with an army of Moon-Beasts and proceed to lay the offending parties to waste.

[Havelock Vetinari]

....That'll be fun. Yes...Will magic be available? Granted Lovecraft magic isn't ideal to use.