- This topic has 153 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 5 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I think we should always default to something positively average (like Fair), and if we want to make our character Poor or Miserable at something, we can do so of our own volition.
Also, ranks and achievements should matter for character creation. Each earned rank and achievement should give you more points/possibilities.
I think all of the characters should be approved by a GM before entering play.
Fair can be the default for some traits ut I do thibk some should be default to poor. For example, if at the academy you chose not to study advanced engineering, then you would have poor engineering skills. There would be the possibility of improving them as you advance though, and linking in thr tests jemel came up with would be an option, so if you took the advaced engineering test and passed, you’d be allowed to advanced your engineering skill to fair or even good if you passed with flying colours.
All character profiles would be reviewed, both by peers and the GM, with the GM having final say. By peers we can ‘self-moderate’ our character, taking some of the burden away from the GM and drawing on veteran RP players’ knowledge.
Linking ranks in with a couple of traits could work, so as your rank increases, something like your security clearance increases. If we had a list of things you could improve based on your rank, it would give players a choice to increase something. For example, a Lieutenant is required to have a good knowledge of all consoles and how they operate in game. To reflect this in your character profile you could have general traits like engineering, helm control, sensor analysis all at least ‘fair’ by the time you become a Lieutenant.
With skills that are directly tied to the stations, that’s not a bad idea. In fact, we could even use Jemel’s new advanced tests and prerequisites for advancing in rank. Example: You need to have passed the tests for helm, weapons, engi, sci and comms to become a full Lieutenant.
@maurice I know you play Dystopia Rising, which has to have simple system rules. Any input you might have on all this?@Aramond, I disagree. I don’t think those tests should be a prerequisite for an Lt, and I believe that it shouldn’t be mandatory to have a character in order to advance to Lt. Or any rank, for that matter.
I’d recommend against them as well. I just don’t think that we should be checking their exam results all the time we feel someone is ready. And practical results are a better indicator of readiness that test results, with all due respect to Jemel’s department.
Whilst I am away, I will start to pull together some ideas about how this could work. Though my internet access is limited (hopefully it will pick up next week) I’ll post when I can.
For the moment,I’d lile more suggestions for traits and some brief description. This can then form our core traits to choose from when creating/ describig yoir character.
I was also thinking of trying out a proper RP session on a week when I return to figure out how often to post and how ot will play out. It would be a proof of concept to test and refine guidelines and rules.
I would like to reiterate that our basic TSN skills should not be part of the character creation. The reason is that no matter how many skill points I put, for example, in Mundy’s Helm skill, my own skill would not improve at all; on the other hand, someone like Aposine could put zero points in his Helm skill, and he would still be a great pilot.
The RP skills should be things that, well, we can RP: krav maga, or computer hacking, or knowledge of the Library archives, or security clearance and protocols, etc.
Noted. Perhaps an informal reference to our skills is all that is needed, for example a note on our specialist area, rather than assigning a ‘level’ to it.
I think a couple of traita could be things like ‘command authority’ so we can say who has authorisation to order a ship launch or organise a crew. We could also have ‘Security level’ which could give an indicator as to who can access certain intel systems, bypass security or have access to operatives. Other general ones could be ‘reflexes’ just to reference standard human reflex where required e.g. a torgoth might have slower reflexes whereas an arvonian might be quicker and a kralien about equal.
For skills, we could have things that link with using electronics e.g. rewiring or fixing a console, software e.g. using the datapad to hack into systems or find information.
Any other ideas are welcome.
Ok, so this is what I am thinking at this moment:
Traits – arbitary levels assigned to a character based on their rank and position.
Command Authority – linked to your current rank. We can outline things like ‘Lieutenants can be expected to organise small groups of officers to undertake specific tasks’ and ‘XOs and Lt. Commanders have authority to organise teams and direct them appropriately as well as put together crews and lead ship operations when authorised by a more senior officer’ or something along those lines. More detailed descriptions and examples are needed, but you get the general idea.Security Clearance – a numerical level giving you access to more or less possible intelligence information, e.g. level 3 might give you access to more critical station/ship security systems whereas level 4 might give you access to databases and comms equipment to link up with operatives. Again, we can add more detail later.
Skills – things that reflect your characters training and expertise. A bit more depth here; for these I was thinking you could select skills based on modules studied at the academy as well as ones that a character has chosen to continue studying in their own time after the academy. My thoughts are to have a list of modules from which you can pick a set number. As you use them in RP they would be boosted higher. For levels, I was thinking of a simple rating system of ‘untrained’, ‘trained’, ‘confident’, ‘expert’ and ‘master’. The modules would then look like this:
Xeno linguistics
Xeno biology
Intelligence analysis
Sensor analysis
Medical
Drive systems engineering
Software engineering
Astro-naviagtion
Alien culture
Jump point theory
Warp drive mechanics
FTL communications theoryAnd so and and so forth (I have more jotted down and others could be suggested and added as we think of them.)
When you start, you pick something like 5 modules to study. You then get to boost two of them initially to being ‘confident’ in those skills.
As you progress, you’ll get a chance to boost them further based on your usage, though I dont think we should expect them to advance rapidly, or set an arbitary number of uses/ shifts to advance them.
I think there should be a system for characters to study a new skill too, which could link to some good things to talk about in the bar. It would have to link to canon too. For example, if we use Randal’s kralien language, people studying it could use it as a source material to better inform thier own RP.
In terms of fitting in things like connections to the unakalhai, we could adopt simple phrases and slot them in to ‘gifts and flaws’. So someone could use their ‘Connections to unuks’ gift and say, ‘I’ll contact a couple of people I know and see what I can dig up’
I think this should give us a framework to build on. A spreadsheet with character profiles on would help create an easy reference for GMs as well as other players too.
In terms of RPing on the forums. It might be possible to have games between shifts and split it in to five ’rounds’ somehow. Though to be honest, we’ll need to look at this.
Framing things as questions or as ‘I try to…’ sounds the best way to go about getting across what you want a character to do. That way then, you are uncertain of the success or failure of ths attempt until the GM follows up with all the extra information about the outcome. Again, clearer guidelines can be drafted up about this.
Thats it for now. Any comments are welcome!
This looks excellent! Simple enough to easily follow and complex enough to allow for a variety of characters.
Love it.
Ok. Next job then – how we go about running the RP session through the week.
Once I return from the world of limited internet, I’ll be able to devote plenty of time to replying and acting as full GM until the end of august/beginning of september. The thing is, I want to set up something that is managable for me after that time too. My thinking is that I should be able to manage a post a day, later in the evening (around 8 – 9pm UTC).
Would this be workable with the system we are thinking about? Could we effectively run an RP session over 5 or six nights in this way, or does there need to be more response from the GM?
I think one way to find out is to try it. Over the following week therefore, I will look at writing up more formal guidelines to follow and get people defining their characters ready for the RP. We could then set up a special ‘holo-deck’ RP game (i.e. it will have no impact on the wider universe). It will be a ‘training sim’ for RP purposes, and will be a trial of the system on the forums.
It will be interesting to see how much we can play out, how it will work with people joining part way (though I dont see that being much of a problem) and will help set up an example to follow for future sessions. Perhaps we could run an RP scenario every couple of week or so,instead of trying to come up with something dramatic each week. We could also use the time between to let new GMs have a go with a holo deck sim or a mini RP story that lasts just a week and has no impact (dealing with a tribble infestation, or the stange case of disappearing alcohol from the incoming shipmets to the bar etc).
I will make a start on a website page with all the information on. That way I can build it over the week and release it in a more complete format, rather than trying to write post by post on the forums.
All characters will have to be OK’d by the GM first but there is no harm thinking ahead as to what traininh you may have undergond alreadg. Any ideas on other modules to add to the academy training would be great, as well as any extra studies that an officer could have a go at after the academy.
Just had a thought: we could go about this like a turn-based game, where each turn lasts a day. This would help us in a way that we don’t have to write multiple posts each day, waiting for others, waiting for GM’s response for each skill. Rather, we would specify the general idea of what we want to achieve during the time alloted for the turn (an hour, a day, three days, a week), and let the GM handle the turnout, “rolling our dices” as per our character sheets. The only reason why I’m proposing this is the degree of our activity on the forum.
And I agree that running a “simulation” is the best course of action.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.