Forum Mission

[Xavier]

As I am not able to attend actual duty shifts over the next few weeks, I am thinking that I can still play on the forums some kind of mission.

It would be a long duration, so would comprise of a couple of scenes and we could set specific times for when key things must be resolved. Is anyone interested? It would require a commitment to playing over the longer period of time and possibly more participation with the live documents (updating scenes etc).

The plantary mission seemed to go well, so we could include an element of that. We could also include things like the descent and more exploration.

Whos up for it?

[Rodger Wilcon]

I think I would be interested in this event, hopefully it wont peter out like the simulation missions did.

[Matsiyan]

I would love to but with work being critical and Comicon and house guests looming, I know I cannot this time.

[Xavier]

I am still trying to figure out exactly why they petered out. Perhaps as time limits weren’t as strict that may have had an impact. Maybe it was the missions themselves that didn’t have enough of a focus at the beginning. The planetside mission for example had a pretty clear, time limited objective.

The forum games are set up so that if people drop out or don’t respond, two or three can keep it going without having to wait around, but then it does require two or three to do just that.

I did think we could do some kind of bridge based mission. One idea that has just popped into my head is a search ad rescue mission in Poseidon, time limited because of some kind of impending gravitational storm.

Another could be a planetside mission like we did before perhaps.

Maybe we set our opening scene (the search and rescue mission) with a time limit, then the result of that informs the next scene and we think of a new time limiting factor e.g. a race to shut down the core before it explodes, a race to capture a stolen weapons before it is detonated…

Any thoughts?

[Nhaima]

I don’t remember which one petered out, the last one I see is the planetside mission. That one did get a little rushed at the end I think since we were trying to wrap it up before the next shift, but if it were allowed to function then I think we should be fine?

Things I think we should talk about/agree on some level about:
What sort of mission do we want? (planet-side/space-side, combat/exploration/etc.)
Do people feel comfortable with the general level of progress with each post? Some times I think that people sometimes do a lot in one step, but by the same token other people might think that I should be doing more per post than I have been.
What sort of tone do we want for the mission? Realistic, pulp scifi, heroic, gritty, etc.
How much deference should be paid to characters with a higher TSN rank, versus not making assumptions of other characters?

We’ve done this a few times now. Having a check in about our assumptions and preferences seems like a good idea.

[Xavier]

OK, I have been thinking on this some more, and with some time off coming up I want to work up and begin a new mission.

I think the planet side mission progressed more smoothly because there were very clear objectives to try and achieve – set up monitoring station and explore the impact crater. It meant we could progress towards those goals, and the main thing in our way was the environment around us.

In answer to some of Nhaima’s questions – we could try another similar mission to the planetside mission, perhaps returning to the same location to pick up data or check out the impact crater. In general, the posts progressed fine. A ‘lead’ player was one thing we were going to have who could make the decision to skip on a bit. It seemed though that things went smoothly in the planetside mission we tried. The trick is to support each other not to make too many leaps forward. More time playing should give us practise and hone in what is acceptable in terms of progression. As for the tone of the mission, I very much feel we should go for the “realistic” star trek style as it seems to fit the game best, and matches with a lot of people’s experiences (though I am basing that on a general assumption).

In terms of rank, it should be a teamwork thing, but at the same time, part of our RP revolves around our rank system. We are all officers, so we could assume a certain level of expertise in our chosen fields. I think we need to strike more of a teamwork approach than a “follow the highest ranking officer blindly”. As we have more time to discuss actions, it could work fine, with those in higher ranks accepting they can’t just steamroller the RP. Again, we’l probably learn from experience what the right balance is. I do wonder what would happen if “the fleet captain” lead the mission though….

So, how about a return to the planet we discovered? A quick idea would be to a. investigate the impact zone, and b. re-establish a link to the monitoring station as we’ve lost contact with it. It would be a relatively straightforward mission with only the terrain and local alien life to contend with. And it would be interesting to see what the impact crater turns out to be (though we have to try and figure that out as impartially as possible i.e. not come with a preconceived idea and then skew our questions and resolutions to fit).

[Xavier]

I have started planning out the mission. A return to the planet we first landed on so we can explore further.

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