69 replies to this topic

[Listless Nomad]

EDIT - I've decided to go with the Naval RP, but feel free to continue to provide feedback, suggestions, or ideas for any of the ideas as I'll likely end up doing them at somepoint.

Hi everyone,

So I'm debating starting an RP of my own, and if I was going to go through the trouble of setting one up, I wanted to do something completely different. Therefore, I've started thinking about different ideas, and I want to see if any of them seem interesting to any of you writers out there. I've listed my three favorites below. All require elaboration and additional research but I'm just starting out. Ideally, I'd like to have people on both sides of the engagements to make it more interesting and give different perspectives, but we'll have to see what people's feelings are.

First: Takes place in the Chainelane Isles, a deep periphery territory of competing principalities. Cut off from the IS, they war amongst themselves mostly with infantry and armor. Mechs are only used in decisive engagements. Story would be (hopefully) infantry and tank based, with lots of character interaction and small unit engagements. Almost nothing is written about the Isles so we would have carte blanch for characters, technology, nations etc. I'd come up with a campaign, missions etc and we'd let it play out.

Second: Takes place during the Reunification War in 2581. According to lore, it featured the largest naval battles of the war, and the RP would be exclusively naval combat based. Members could be captains of capital ships, aerospace fighter pilots, dropship captains, or naval marines engaging in ship to ship combat. This one would really require people adhering to not "godmodding" and to act realistically, allowing their ship to take damage etc. Members could fight on the side of the invading SLDF navy or could defend Taurian space as a member of the TDF. The SLDF eventually win, but individual engagements are not described and it's anyone's game as far as I'm concerned. I'd go through and detail the ships involved on both sides so everyone knows when a ship goes down what's left.

Third: This one would be a predominantly mech based RP and would take place around the final assault on Terra by the SLDF against Amaris forces. This is my least thought out one as its pretty similar to a lot of other RPs done so far, but I love my mechs too haha. Once again members could drop in with the SLDF or defend Terra to protect Amaris. This one we all know how it ends, so I'd base it on the fringe of the major battles, giving amaris players a chance to do some damage and not just lose inevitably.


I don't know if people are over extended already, or find these dumb, or what - just thought I'd throw out a feeler or two to see how people reacted.

I'm open to suggestions, additions, details, commentary - whatever. I just suddenly have more time on my hands and these are areas that haven't been done over and over. I thought a fresh start might be appealing. I'd just like to avoid clan things if possible as I don't want to compete with many of the other excellent RPs going on right now.

Let me know what you think! If anyone is interested, just go ahead and post here and with whatever scenario you are most interested. We'll see what's appealing haha.

Edited by Listless Nomad, 15 August 2012 - 07:51 AM.

[G is for Gamma]

i love the idea of the second one, as well as the third.

[Oni Storm]

Personally I luv the second idea, course I'm a fighter jock wannabee so there you go with my opinion. If I have to choose a second I'll go with the first idea, but that's just the defensive loner recluse that wants to wall off his borders and protect his subjects through whatever brutality and fear mongering is required.

Edited by Oni Storm, 14 August 2012 - 04:27 PM.

[Cordel Ordo]

I'm not really versed at RP but if you guys will take me I would love to try. I promise no god modding (if it does happen let me know and I will fix it). As for your ideas being the mech head that I am I'll probably go with number 3 as my first choice with number 2 as my second as aerojock comes as a close second of stuff I would love to pilot.

[Listless Nomad]

I'd love to have you Cordel. No worries about being new - I'm not that much of a veteran either, so we'll go how we go haha. I'm leaning a little more towards idea 2 right now just because it hasn't been done before but we'll see what some other people's ideas are. Who knows - maybe we can do both haha!

[Cordel Ordo]

That sounds like fun. Lets see where it goes indeed.

[Oni Storm]

The only other thing I can say about one is I can't help but think of famous admirals from the past and mashing them together. but that's just my silly mind racing through famous movies, anime, and sci-fi. If you do go with plan 2 can I request a 2 person part. Picturing something akin to the typical famous Ships captain father and pilot son duos, or even some such thing as famous same ship ace rivalries. Perhaps even encumbracing both sets, if I can talk someone into playing another aerospace jock on the same ship. In which case the father figure / real father would have to be assigned to a different ship than his son and constantly worrying about him / trying to get him reassigned.

[Listless Nomad]

I'm not opposed to people playing multiple parts. In the past, we've had mostly RP's that involved unaffliated mercs, or small individual teams. In all of these ideas, the player would be part of a much larger machine and it would be unrealistic to only play one part. I have no problem with the 2 person role you'd like Oni - and it could actually prove to be rather interesting haha.

[G is for Gamma]

If we go with number two, i'd be interested in playing an Amaris or SLDF marine. Boarding actions where suppose to be really brutal during the retaking of Terra.

Edited by Gammadin, 14 August 2012 - 06:18 PM.

[Thom Frankfurt]

All 3 are perking my interest, and I applaud you for staying well away from the Clan area's.

[RogueSpear]

I second Thom's motion - count me in for any of the above!
I love the hook of the third, Amaris vs SLDF forces - I'd do some research and play on the Amaris side if I could. My 3040+ merc corp's background actually relies on Amaris Era stuff, so it would be great to flesh it out, from what little I can in amongst the shattering of Terra!
The first appeals to me because I'd love to see some primarily conventional warfare with some mechs sprinkled in - really has some flavour. Sounds very good to me.
As for the second...
Suffice to say I spent about 6 hours last week reading through naval assets listed on sarna and I'm an avid Star Wars fan. I'd need to look into things, because I have never read any BT fluff about how warships perform, but if I had to give a 'This one first before all others' vote, naval warfare has my vote! Preferably I'd like to RP a warship (Of any size, just let me know what I'd be allowed to play with and if you have any preferences) and would be willing to play host to any other players on request - a PC XO, aerospace pilot, tech, stowaway, whatever! Just PM me first
Let me know if you need some help sorting things out for whichever one you choose - I tend to have a knack for ad libbing links between two or more points that I'm told aren't always terrible!

EDIT: Spellcheck

Edited by RogueSpear, 14 August 2012 - 08:33 PM.

[Sparks Murphey]

You had Kenny Loggins' Danger Zone in my head at number two. Loving the idea of a pre-Succession Wars game as well - not a lot has been done there.

The one concern I'd have about number two is that PCs could get quite separated even by simply being in different sections of the same spacecraft, let alone the different levels of action between capital ship battles, dropships on orbital insertion, aerospace fighters in dogfights, marines on boarding actions. The narrative threads of the PCs could get isolated quite quickly; you'd need to put some thought into how you'll keep the players involved when their characters aren't ("Boarding Team 1, get to Airlock 05 and prepare for a boarding action in, oh, about an hour after we clear these aerospace fighters.") Oni's suggestion of multiple characters per player could help there; if your marine hasn't got anything to do, switch to your capital ship gunner.

I'd be a little hesitant about number one. Lack of constraints often (somewhat counter intuitively) leads to lack of creativity, because you can always choose the simplest answer in any given case. The restrictions of the pre-Succession War era give shape and direction to the story, while still avoiding retreading the same territory that so many have trodden before. As an alternative, perhaps blend the first and third options together: the PCs are armour and infantry in support of the golden boys and girls of the SLDF's (or Amaris') BattleMech forces. This focusses their story away from the main battles, while keeping the outcome of those battles very real for the characters in question. It provides some background context (the battle for Terra and the culture of the Star League) while exploring a new angle, that of the treadheads and squishies who support the 'Mechs.

[Oni Storm]

Sparks brings up a good point about players having nothing to do during the boarding actions, though with various combats and switches between technically multiple scenes all happening simultaneously, i personally think it adds a bit of the feel to the chaos that surrounds warfare in general. Conversely though I think he has come up with the perfect solution. What if we all create multiple characters with many being backup almost NPC like. You (each player) would pick say two primary characters that are your Avatars for the spotlight. All other characters are mostly fill ins, so for example I'd have a ship commander and a fighter pilot as my 2 primary, but I'd have a marine in someone else's primary character's squad I'd voice and lightly play [I.E. not take the spot light] in a way giving the background characters more life, there would be NPC like characters for other members of a fighter wing, ship personnel etc. Just a thought. What are people's and our most humble Game Master's opinions?

[Listless Nomad]

Sparks Murphey, on 14 August 2012 - 11:29 PM, said:

You had Kenny Loggins' Danger Zone in my head at number two. Loving the idea of a pre-Succession Wars game as well - not a lot has been done there.

The one concern I'd have about number two is that PCs could get quite separated even by simply being in different sections of the same spacecraft, let alone the different levels of action between capital ship battles, dropships on orbital insertion, aerospace fighters in dogfights, marines on boarding actions. The narrative threads of the PCs could get isolated quite quickly; you'd need to put some thought into how you'll keep the players involved when their characters aren't ("Boarding Team 1, get to Airlock 05 and prepare for a boarding action in, oh, about an hour after we clear these aerospace fighters.") Oni's suggestion of multiple characters per player could help there; if your marine hasn't got anything to do, switch to your capital ship gunner.

I can definitely see that issue Sparks - and I think that each person having multiple characters is the way to go. We can take time to craft characters together to make sure that they all mesh.

Sparks Murphey, on 14 August 2012 - 11:29 PM, said:

I'd be a little hesitant about number one. Lack of constraints often (somewhat counter intuitively) leads to lack of creativity, because you can always choose the simplest answer in any given case. The restrictions of the pre-Succession War era give shape and direction to the story, while still avoiding retreading the same territory that so many have trodden before. As an alternative, perhaps blend the first and third options together: the PCs are armour and infantry in support of the golden boys and girls of the SLDF's (or Amaris') BattleMech forces. This focusses their story away from the main battles, while keeping the outcome of those battles very real for the characters in question. It provides some background context (the battle for Terra and the culture of the Star League) while exploring a new angle, that of the treadheads and squishies who support the 'Mechs.

I love that idea sparks, and I think that I'll write that one down for the future, I'd really like to try the Naval one, especially because people seem excited about it. If it crashes and burns, or down the road in the future, we'll definitely have to set that one up.

Oni Storm, on 15 August 2012 - 05:38 AM, said:

Sparks brings up a good point about players having nothing to do during the boarding actions, though with various combats and switches between technically multiple scenes all happening simultaneously, i personally think it adds a bit of the feel to the chaos that surrounds warfare in general. Conversely though I think he has come up with the perfect solution. What if we all create multiple characters with many being backup almost NPC like. You (each player) would pick say two primary characters that are your Avatars for the spotlight. All other characters are mostly fill ins, so for example I'd have a ship commander and a fighter pilot as my 2 primary, but I'd have a marine in someone else's primary character's squad I'd voice and lightly play [I.E. not take the spot light] in a way giving the background characters more life, there would be NPC like characters for other members of a fighter wing, ship personnel etc. Just a thought. What are people's and our most humble Game Master's opinions?

I love that idea Oni. It would ensure we are still talking and reacting to one another, and gives us a chance to explore something rarely done in RP - character death. If you are a background boarding marine, you can kill off your character and allow other members to react to their death - which could make the RP a little more immersive than they tend to be.


If everyone is ok with it - I'll start doing research and background for the Naval RP. Now in the idea that I had, this battle takes place in the reunification war with the SLDF against the Taurian Defence Forces. Is everyone ok with that? Anyone that thinks they'd like to be a part of it - start to come up with what side you'd like to be on, and perhaps what role you'd like (captial ship captain, small escort ship captain, aerospace fighter pilot, boarding marine, etc.)

If you'd rather do a naval action during the Amaris Civil war, we can talk that out as well, there is just less information on naval battles that took place - so we'd have to make one up. Just let me know what interests you more. In either case, my vision would be to have a large fleet engagement, with lots of NPC ships in the background. I'd mostly handle NPC ship deaths and weapons fire etc, but you'd have free reign to mention them or shoot down aerospace fighters etc. I want to make it a large enough battle that PC's could kill pretty much anything they wanted without it seeming too game changing (ie don't blow up battleships, but little frigates or dropships you can kill no problem.) Does that sound ok to everyone?

[Grafvitnir]

I love the idea of the naval RP. Fellow Star Wars fighter jock wannabe here.

[Vodkavaiator]

Give me a U-Boat, so I can channel my inner "Das Boot."



Space submarines for the win.

Edited by Vodkavaiator, 15 August 2012 - 09:10 AM.

[ChaosGrinder]

Lawl

you know, i love this idea :3 I like naval warfare, ww2 carrierbattles and battleships , that´s what i like And this sounds really nice !

[Vodkavaiator]

I know it may be a bit early to ask but what year exactly is the start date of the RP?

Oops, need to stop drinking and posting.

Edited by Vodkavaiator, 15 August 2012 - 10:41 AM.

[ChaosGrinder]

You ... should. But then again, your name contains Vodka ...

If this is naval based, i would love the idea :3

[Oni Storm]

EDIT- [color=#959595]the Concordat are Taurian vessels and should be removed from the 13th fleet[/color]

[color=#959595]my bad, sorry [/color]

on the plus side, it gives good reason to join forces with the Taurian Concodat or the Magistracy of Canopus

FSS Basel (for the Swiss city of the same name)
New Syrtis Class Carrier
Flag Ship of the 13th Fleet
Ship's Captain Wolfe Striker (my 2nd main)
Admiral Corwen Nitez (Residing)

Fighters on board by Wing
Basilisk Wing
Reaper Wing
Apocalypse Wing
Iron Weasels Wing
Viper Wing
Talon Wing

Escort Ships:
FSS Bismark Avatar Class Battle Cruiser
Shadow Wing

FSS Doenitz Riga Class Frigate
White Rooks Squadron -Intercept- (Lightning)
Black Bishops Squadron -Recon- (Lightning)

FSS Don Quixote Quixote Class Frigate
FSS Wile E Coyote Quixote Class Frigate

5 Baron Class Destroyers
2 Bonaventure Class Corvettes
2 Vigilant Class Corvettes
4 Vincent Class Corvettes

Edited by Oni Storm, 16 August 2012 - 03:12 PM.