In reply to Hugh Shinjison Hoshikawa (msg # 458):

I agree with the Retcon.  In the end, it's all "lost time" on the trip out, and whether that's 3 lost days or 7 makes little difference, other than what *you,* the GM, might need to fill in should we encounter a successful way to retrieve those lost memories.

You've already indicated a week as the return trip, so we've already built that in.

Because if it *doesn't* "make sense," then someone (who is me.  it's me) is going to poke at it until they figure it out and/or uncover the conspiracy that created the disparity.

Retcon.  It's better this way.  :-D
This message was last edited by the player at 04:19, Mon 29 Apr.

Partly my bad, I suggested to Catherine that she could weigh in on the next plan of action in the OOC thread.  That would be here.

I deleted the incongruous messages from the IC thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:23, Sat 04 May.

In reply to Game Master (msg # 460):

Makes sense. If we're going self-directed it would be good to get everyone's input. As a player I can go either way, but I don't know what kind of "revenge" the rest of the PCs are interested in.

Like Hugh's player, Petra's player would prefer to know what happened (not necessarily make someone pay/revenge herself) - and I am not strongly wed to the idea of the side-quest, especially if it derails things (i.e. the party/GM want to go in a different direction).

That said ...  I am not sure quite how to respond to Jewel's 'offer' of assistance.  We (Natakkoa, Petra, and Hugh) likely should discuss here what (if any, presumably we had some time on the return flight) to dream up what we'd ideally like to have happen ... :D  Honestly, as a player, I am not sure where to start looking.  Petra is a pilot, and while she has a good INT bonus, she doesn't have much in the way of Urban/Streetwise/Investigation/Influence/Communications skills.  I'm actually not sure who the best `Face` for the group is...

heh...and I'd been waiting to see what Petra's comment was going to be!  :-D

Ok, here's my (Nat's) perspective:  As much as she'd love to accept that offer, and to find out what happened to her missing days, there is no universe in which she trusts Rach or his organization anymore  -  at least, not right now.  She strongly (edging into 'desperately') wants to retrieve those memories, both as a scientist and as a human being who has plowed a LOT of time into sorting herself out:  missing data is bad.

In my, the player's mind, *most* quests are "side-quests" until they aren't, until something changes and a corner is turned.  But I don't know what *this* feels like, exactly.  It kind of feels like we "finished" a short quest, and are now at philosophical odds with our 'employer.'  At this point in a campaign, groups usually start checking out the "jobs posted" board, or hitting the streets for rumors of things to do.  But, on this world, most of **those** things track back to Rach...who is tainted goods.  I'm not keen on taking Jewel's offer just because there's "nothing else to do"....


And I agree with Petra  -  of the three of us, I don't think there's a great "Face" person.  Nat's not good with the schmoozing, the small-talk, or any kind of duplicity.  I, too, do not have, like, *any* "Urban/Streetwise/Investigation/Influence/Communications skills" either.  I'm not sure we three (or even we four, with Ves), make a particularly good infiltration/espionage team.

To me, this feels like it has the makings of something we grouse about, but put in our pocket to address at another, later, date when we have more experience, more knowledge, and more ability to meet the necessary skills for that pursuit.

The plan had always been to run the first adventure to kind of shake out the players.  There are always ghosts and drop-outs*.  Now that it is done, we move into a semi-sandbox set-up.  There are some stories happening in the background.  You are free to pull on those threads or not; you can influence their outcomes, or ignore them.

Jewel metioned the intermeidary was on Akaisha (now dead), and that you guys went there first.  That is a thread if you want to find out what happened.  She put you in touch with Vesperos as the only registered, full-telepath on the island that she is willing to admit exists.  (Only saying that because there has to be more than one.  She is bitchy but that is not meant to make her seem more suspicious.)

Therefore, please discuss here what you guys want to do, as a group, and then I'll weave that into the story.

Hi folks,
Sorry I posted in a wrong place before. Is this the right place?

Yup! We'd love your input so we can pick a direction that will be fun for everyone. This thread is OOC so you can say whatever you want about your character or player inclinations.

In reply to Game Master (msg # 464):

Hugh is also in the no Urban/Streetwise/Investigation/Influence/Communications skills category and is unlikely to push for that kind of investigation, as much as he'd like to know the outcome. I think those are threads to pull on later, unless Ves' telepathic skills can pull good leads out of our minds. If Catherine has the missing skillset and her player is interested in that route, maybe, but it sounded like she's more of an engineer "fixer" than a social "fixer" though the two could come together.

Given that hole in our skills, maybe we should look at what we would be good at. Some kind of anomaly investigation, on a planet or asteroid, seems to fit. Hugh is mostly security for almost anything we pick.

In reply to Hugh Shinjison Hoshikawa (msg # 466):

Thanks, Hugh.
I'm kind of hoping that Catherine can be included as fulfilling a requiremnt (niche or skill gap - you get what I mean - it's just one of those things about including newbies without being too cheesy but not having the player waiting for ages) that the party needs (even if it's invented expressly to include the newby (me).

Here we go: I'm a decent (aka good) roleplayer but only an indifferent writer (but with a reasonable level of english) but my groups have pretty much evaporated through natural attrition. I also have a touch of dyslexia which doesn'y help. Moving on: Catherine doesn't advertise the fact that she's a semi-telepath, but is very open about having decent skills with machinery, systems, pretty much any type of hardware, whether running, repairing or redesigning it*. Not so good with people though. Nimble, bright but no gun-bunny. So, rather then me try and elbow my way in, maybe one of you kind people cam feed me a thread to pick up somewhat more organically.
:)

*Within the constraints of a Lvl 1 character

In reply to Hugh Shinjison Hoshikawa (msg # 467):

Catherine can drive, do oribital piloting and has decent "General Skills". Aware of her inadequacies in social interaction she has worked on the art of 'getting along with folks', (aka Diplomacy +20). Oh, and she enjoys playing cards too.

Almost **exactly** one year ago, the intro to the city and Rach's role was laid out in post #1 of the "01 - Beginnings (IC)" thread.

The players then posted where they were, and how they responded to the summons to Rach's place for a job he had.  We then lose several days and wake up in a malfunctioning space station with no weapons, a mysterious voice on the intercom, and two hostile lifeforms.


To the best of my knowledge, other plot options, hooks, curiosities, and such have not been made known, or available to us yet.  None of us have spent in IC time in the city  -  it was all either background on our character sheets or inferred but never stated.  Ergo, we don't have any in game perspective on the city, or what's in it, or what else we *could* do with our time that isn't wrapped up in Rach's business.

That is kind of price one pays for a "drop and go" scenario  -  despite some of us having been "in the area" for up to a few months, we don't have any actual 'in game' knowledge of what's here.  We were introduced and were immediately in the middle of things.

So, the question becomes:  HOW do find out what other things we could do?  I feel like a little more world-detail would help us figure this out.  :-)

In reply to Natakkoa Tukumpeh (msg # 470):

TY! Got to go and do dinner now but I'll read: post #1 of the "01 - Beginnings (IC)" afterwards.

Well, what sort of thing do you (as player and as character) want to do?  Or, what do your character want to pursue?  An abstract goal is useful as a guide (money, fame, power, etc.) and then a sense of a near-term goal to get there.  No knowledge of the universe is required for this, just think about what sort of steps they need to accomplish to get to such a place, I can then translate that into possibilities.

This place where you are is much like a quiet version of the pirate haven Tortuga.  There are a lot of bars and restaurants, a lot of 'flop houses' and a lot of places to fence loot and also buy said loot.  They have money changers who mostly deal in hard monits.  Emerich has elmonit transfer capability.  And there is a space port, of course.

It is not a typical city in terms of schools, government, police, fire, taxes, etc. The typical 'adventure' in town is a bar-room brawl or such encounter.

If you guys go bar-hopping then I will detail encounters at various locations, some of which may be hooks for a larger adventure.

If you are sick of Emerich and his organization, take their offer for help and get transport somewhere else.  You could go to Akaisha on the pretext of following up on what happened and either look into it or not, and see what other options are there.  You could go to Karoline, Devonian capitol, and look for options.  You could even try your luck with one of the other crime lords, though Emerich is by reputation the one who cares most for the well-being of those who work for him.

In reply to Catherine Aria Tyndale (msg # 468):

If you haven't had a chance to already, take a read through the "Cast" character descriptions and see if any interesting elements jump out at you!  Be that system of origin, training, possible hobby interests, etc.  And if you're so inclined, feel free to steal any of the formatting ideas for fleshing out your own Description!

I could probably stand to flesh out Nat's description a little more as well, now that I've discovered some things about her through RP, and there are things on her Character Sheet (that only I and the GM can see) that I intentionally built into the character but that I haven't detailed on the description, and have only incidentally come up in game play.

Some of those things led me to create some "quick and on-the-fly" history with some of the other characters, based on those common elements and the fact that we had ~2 months on-planet before being pulled into the job.  For example:  I had seen and was aware of Yom (retired character), due to both of our loves for the sea  -  I'd seen him on the beach a few times when I was down there.  No interaction, but awareness.  With Lev (also retired...I'm sensing a pattern....), we both agreed it would be fun to have a little bit of an antagonistic relationship, based on an awkward and unfortunate interaction/accident, and it was fun being 'prickly(-er)' with him while he was around, with the other players going "...wtf...."!  And with Petra, we'd decided that she, as a Pilot, had run Nat out to a few research sites (as Nat is a Planetologist who specializes in Water Planets, and as Hyperion has some unusual hydro-geological construction and history...) and had gotten to know each other that way.  THAT connection has developed into something more, and something interesting, that I hadn't been planning on, but that makes sense with Nat's societal upbringing.


I think we can fairly safely assume that you've been planetside for at least *some* amount of time, so if you have any thoughts about possible encounters or connections with current/active characters, I would suggest approach any of them via PM for an interest check.  :-)   I suggest PM because that keeps the details secret until a time of your choosing, while still allowing the GM reading access to what's going on.

Here's a question to get you started:  since you've self-identified as a semi-telepath (something our characters would not and do not know, until you tell us), might you have travelled in the same circles as Ves, or been a part of the same organization, or maybe know the same people?  Just a thought!
This message was last edited by the player at 15:09, Tue 07 May.

I don't know how comfortable you guys are with meta. I'm a LARPer so I'm all for "positive meta", as in deciding OOC to stick together and find an IC reason. Best cure for "That's what my character would do", that many well-meaning people get hit in the face with when they struggle to find an IC reason to do things/team up etc.

Of course, "You seem trustworthy" is the other end we want to avoid.

The only thing I can think of is desperation makes strange bed-fellows. Perhaps the offer's too good, or there's noone willing to employ them?

In reply to Natakkoa Tukumpeh (msg # 470):
I've had a look around and: "01 - Beginnings (IC)" thread doesn not seem to be visible to me..

In reply to Catherine Aria Tyndale (msg # 475):

See if this works:

link to a message in this game

In reply to Natakkoa Tukumpeh (msg # 476):  TY! Yes, that worked. I've now read  msg #1 in "01 - Beginnings (IC)" .

In reply to Game Master (msg # 472): As a player IDK this world setting at all although I do know Dune and have played a bit of Traveller. I'll have to push myself and read History of the Terran Empire (although I'm not great at assimilating Lore). As a player I'd like to get to know this place (world setting) and to grow the character and get to know her to the point where she makes the decisions. Exploring works but mostly as a way of interacting with others (PCs and non-2D NPCs).
What the character wants will almost certainly evolve (as I get to know the world setting and the character) but to start with, let's go for money - she needs money. She likes gambling but really only enough to keep her fed and housed as she can't afford to lose much.

***
I haven't read the "Cast" character descriptions yet but I'll try and get round to it after looking at the History of The Terran Empire

In reply to Vesperos Willbrand (msg # 474):

I am, perhaps obviously, fine with some Meta, as we are all adults here and have the capacity to both keep IC and OOC separate, *And* able to own it if or when called on a trangsression.

I personally feel that play-by-post actually requires a bit of this, as we aren't sitting around a table together and privy to the non-verbal cues from other players, and we don't know each other, and each other's boundries, IRL.  Stepping back and checking in, saying "I'd like to try this thing," or "I'd like to interact in this way" is good and healthy way to both craft interesting story elements AND to respect the player behind the character.

I agree with Nat; well said (if I could have given the post a like/heart, I would have).  Some OOC Meta-gaming discussions is likely required in PbP, as even IC strategic/tactical discussions bog down due to posting latency/cadence issues which are unavoidable (where as table top discussions/back and forth may take seconds/minutes - PbP ones take days/weeks).  So, clearing the air OOC can be crucial.

Especially in a fairly open-ended game.  And with a group that is relatively unfamiliar with each other.

I'm fine with #478 & #479.
IMO the NVC comment is on the nail

In reply to Catherine Aria Tyndale (msg # 480):

I don't believe in OOC communication of any kind!

Ok, I'm amused that the strikethrough uses the s /s codes which I didn't know until I said that.

I'm pretty much in agreement on the meta thing, especially in PbP where sometimes shortcuts make a lot of sense. I also play games like Fate where the meta is absolutely part of the play, so I'm fairly flexible on how much is discussed OOC. In PbP, I'm not averse to having footnotes with intent, especially when dealing with NPCs. I'm not such a spectacular writer/RPer that I can put into words what my intent is without saying it explicitly.

This discussion about using OOC and private text to work out things is actually in the players expectations for the game as strongly encouraged.  It is essential for good communication and overall enjoyment, again as long as IC and OOC knowledge area separated.  Similarly, player and character knowledge must be kept separate , but I am very okay with making assumptions about what a character would know or do.  I played a game once where the GM insisted that f the players didn’t say their characters were doing something then he would not assume it was done, even if it was routine knowledge for the character and out of the player’s experience.  Also, he made no allowance for logic, for example, assuming the characters didn’t buy winter clothes because one of the players said it aloud.  That is just stupid.

Thank you for having that kind of healthy mentality. As if characters are players' avatars and not living, breathing people in a world.

I have a better story though. A GM did not allow a player to pick up a book because "you don't have free hands, you said you are holding your staff with both hands, you didn't say you took one of your hands off first before saying you picked it up".