The Adventure Begins

[OoohFrac]

Let's call this the kick off thread.

Tired of trying in vain to develop a character on an MMORPG? Sick of powergamers endless begging you for kEwL lEwT while you're trying to play out a scene? In love with the new BSG series? Get back to basics here.

Put your ideas here regarding your interests and suggestions for BSG TNS roleplaying.

What settings do you find interesting? What systems do you prefer? We want to know. ;D

Here's a few links to some play-by-email websites to get your ideas flowing...

www.pbem.com/

pbem.brainiac.com/

[RedSalmon]

I'm interested, but haven't got a clue how this works, so I'll see what others have to say before I chip in.

[Loki]

I'm new here, however I might be interested in something along these lines. I have participated in pbem's before, and they seem to be the most common, imo. Although, "live" games are pretty common as well, and the chat room on the main page could be used for those.

If I was to give my two cents, I would have to say that Pbem(play by e-mail) is the way to go as it allows for really good story development and forgives thereal live time constraints everyone deals with.

[OoohFrac]

Loki said:

I'm new here, however I might be interested in something along these lines. I have participated in pbem's before, and they seem to be the most common, imo. Although, "live" games are pretty common as well, and the chat room on the main page could be used for those.

If I was to give my two cents, I would have to say that Pbem(play by e-mail) is the way to go as it allows for really good story development and forgives thereal live time constraints everyone deals with.

Getting people together in the same place for a game is tough enough in the real world. Doing it online consistantly is almost impossible. I'd definitely be leaning toward pbem via the message board here.

[ViperTech]

As I really don't know jack about d20 games, aside from playing games like KoTOR and Neverwinter Nights, which do all the math for you, I don't think I can truly give any ideas concerning like skills and stuff. However, I really think that any kind of person, in the BSG universe should be playable, from civilians to military folk. If not all civies, than certainly there should be something for players who don't want to be part of the Galactica crew, like they want to be politicians. This, however, really depends on numbers, more people, more character options. It is still something to shoot for though.

I also think that main characters and supporting characters from the show should be off-limits. So basically no Adamas or Callies. Considering the only person who could decently write these characters are the show's writers, RDM and crew. They can however be mentioned to move the plot, or viewed from a different POV, ie. a bridge officers thoughts on Adama's actions. We'd also be bound by the show's plots if we use series characters, which means we'd have to wait a week before we play them again. Therefore, original characters are the best bet.

I don't know if I'm stating the obvious here though. If I am be sure to tell me.
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I'd also like to offer another format completely different from the d20. As mentioned earlier I come from RP sites that don't use dice, what we do is basically write stories with original characters based around the rules of the scifi/fantasy world. It is almost like joint-fanfictions. Each player has a character with seperate motives and feelings and thoughts that interacts with other character written by different writers. This is, of course, formalized, third person POV, and no character is godded. A good example of this format can be seen at www.hatrack.com/forums/battleschool/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi (Virtual Battle School, based off the book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.) It may be a bit simpler than all this dice business...

[OoohFrac]

ViperTech said:

As I really don't know jack about d20 games, aside from playing games like KoTOR and Neverwinter Nights, which do all the math for you, I don't think I can truly give any ideas concerning like skills and stuff. However, I really think that any kind of person, in the BSG universe should be playable, from civilians to military folk. If not all civies, than certainly there should be something for players who don't want to be part of the Galactica crew, like they want to be politicians. This, however, really depends on numbers, more people, more character options. It is still something to shoot for though.

I also think that main characters and supporting characters from the show should be off-limits. So basically no Adamas or Callies. Considering the only person who could decently write these characters are the show's writers, RDM and crew. They can however be mentioned to move the plot, or viewed from a different POV, ie. a bridge officers thoughts on Adama's actions. We'd also be bound by the show's plots if we use series characters, which means we'd have to wait a week before we play them again. Therefore, original characters are the best bet.

I don't know if I'm stating the obvious here though. If I am be sure to tell me.
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I'd also like to offer another format completely different from the d20. As mentioned earlier I come from RP sites that don't use dice, what we do is basically write stories with original characters based around the rules of the scifi/fantasy world. It is almost like joint-fanfictions. Each player has a character with seperate motives and feelings and thoughts that interacts with other character written by different writers. This is, of course, formalized, third person POV, and no character is godded. A good example of this format can be seen at www.hatrack.com/forums/battleschool/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi (Virtual Battle School, based off the book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.) It may be a bit simpler than all this dice business...

I agree that on-screen character should be off-limits. This should include both character that appear in the new series and re-imaginations of characters from the old series. So... no Commander Cain walking in with their own Battlestars, or male Starbucks appearing out of mysterious wormholes. All the characters in the game should be original creations by the player.

My opinion on diceless RP systems... My experience with diceless RP is that the game sessions become a contest of wills (particularly in online use) and the people with the most dominating personalities dominate the sessions. Standard RP systems help ensure everyone playing gets their opportunities to do what they do best.

[ViperTech]

OoohFrac said:

My opinion on diceless RP systems... My experience with diceless RP is that the game sessions become a contest of wills (particularly in online use) and the people with the most dominating personalities dominate the sessions. Standard RP systems help ensure everyone playing gets their opportunities to do what they do best.

That is true, but it also depends on the characters you write and the nature of the plot. Obviously a more assertive character will take part in a plot or plots than a less assertive one, but this can be balanced out by a well planned out plotline. For example, if a group of characters are planning to escape from XXX place, a certain amount of character communication is required. Or if the characters are planning an attack. Really for diceless RP's, its about finding the right group people and writing with them. If you find the right group, and write the right character, then it is possible.

[OoohFrak]

ViperTech said:

its about finding the right group people and writing with them. If you find the right group, and write the right character, then it is possible.

I agree. No amount of rules and structure saved the game groups I was with at those times from the 2 different occasion we ran into guys that brought weighted dice into game sessions.

It was bad enough in a D&D game session, but the other time was during a game of one of the old monster paper and pencil wargames with thousands of counters on multiple mapsheets. More than 3 months of weekly game session lost on that one.

[ViperTech]

That sucks man...

Ya know I just thought of something, how are we going to get other people to join us? I mean before we even consider dice/diceless systems we should probably get more people, at least from around the board.

[OoohFrak]

ViperTech said:

That sucks man...

Ya know I just thought of something, how are we going to get other people to join us? I mean before we even consider dice/diceless systems we should probably get more people, at least from around the board.

Yeah... it will a bit before we get sufficient numbers to get going. It's nice to get these preliminary discussions going, though.

[ViperTech]

Umm... You have any ideas, aside from the dice thing? All I think of really is character and setting stuff, since like I said, I really don't get this dice thing, fully, even with those links.

[OoohFrak]

ViperTech said:

Umm... You have any ideas, aside from the dice thing? All I think of really is character and setting stuff, since like I said, I really don't get this dice thing, fully, even with those links.

I'm not sure what your background is. Here's a tutorial on basic PnP roleplaying...

www.wizards.com/playdnd/playdnd.asp

By the way, what's going through your head regarding settings?

[ViperTech]

OoohFrak said:

By the way, what's going through your head regarding settings?

Well its not so much settings as it is the fact that already there are so many facets to actually use with a proper BSG game. I mean humanoid Cylons would really kick ass, but there's the problem of Boomer. There's also the whole Caprica sub-plot, in fact, I partially like the idea of playing in pre-Invasion Caprica, just to see how things were before the Cylons kicked down the Colonial door. Theres also the various kinds of ships, ie. those like the Olympic Carrier, the prison ship, etc. Basically what I'm saying is that there should be room for somebody to play non-military characters and still be equal to a commissioned officer on Galactica.

This is a band survivors, which means it would be more multi-faceted than what we see on the screen. So like there must be skeevy black marketeers, families struggling to survive, that sort of stuff. The kind of people that President Rosilin represents when she talks to Adama. So we can't just be all military, we need to have civies around to make things more interesting.

However, to start off it would probably best to keep things between the Galactica and at most Colonial One. Have the first civies be political, and keep the action between the civilian and military populations by proxy. Also since there would be few people no sense in spreading yourself thin.

A personal note: I'd be interested in writing either an engineer or a political character, a presidential staffer. So this is why I advocate civilians be allowed on...
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I'd also like to note another thing, just a general observation, as I'm playing through this flash tutorial on the D and D site, this dice stuff doesn't leave much room for social interactions. I mean hacking and slashing and dungeon crawling are great in video games, but what dungeons does the Galactica have? Its a drama, its more about social interaction, which largely isn't an activity which requires dice.

An idea: What if we had an area where this d20 stuff could be used, and are where it isn't needed, a place specificially for characters to interact. Unless this is already done with PnP games...

[OoohFrak]

ViperTech said:

Well its not so much settings as it is the fact that already there are so many facets to actually use with a proper BSG game. I mean humanoid Cylons would really kick ass, but there's the problem of Boomer. There's also the whole Caprica sub-plot, in fact, I partially like the idea of playing in pre-Invasion Caprica, just to see how things were before the Cylons kicked down the Colonial door. Theres also the various kinds of ships, ie. those like the Olympic Carrier, the prison ship, etc. Basically what I'm saying is that there should be room for somebody to play non-military characters and still be equal to a commissioned officer on Galactica.

This is a band survivors, which means it would be more multi-faceted than what we see on the screen. So like there must be skeevy black marketeers, families struggling to survive, that sort of stuff. The kind of people that President Rosilin represents when she talks to Adama. So we can't just be all military, we need to have civies around to make things more interesting.

However, to start off it would probably best to keep things between the Galactica and at most Colonial One. Have the first civies be political, and keep the action between the civilian and military populations by proxy. Also since there would be few people no sense in spreading yourself thin.

A personal note: I'd be interested in writing either an engineer or a political character, a presidential staffer. So this is why I advocate civilians be allowed on...
------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd also like to note another thing, just a general observation, as I'm playing through this flash tutorial on the D and D site, this dice stuff doesn't leave much room for social interactions. I mean hacking and slashing and dungeon crawling are great in video games, but what dungeons does the Galactica have? Its a drama, its more about social interaction, which largely isn't an activity which requires dice.

An idea: What if we had an area where this d20 stuff could be used, and are where it isn't needed, a place specificially for characters to interact. Unless this is already done with PnP games...

I just gave that as an example of how a PnP combat system works. A lot of that stuff will be done behind the scenes by the GM alone. I just wanted you to see how the combat system works when it happens. The vast majority of what players will be doing will be interacting.

[ViperTech]

Hmmm... Okay, so what about the civie thing I mentioned?