Ariadne Guardpost 3: "the Origins"
xect
Join Date: 2002-11-24 Member: 9807Members
Join Date: 2002-11-24 Member: 9807Members
Following up on the earlier Ariadne Guardpost RPGs, which went pretty well I think, I'm starting a new thread to host the sequel. Rules are as follows. Red ones are new from last time, rest is just like before.
<li>When joining the story. Get yourself a character (a marine one, having characters on only one side makes it easier to keep the story straight). Make sure you decide who your character is, give him a heart and a personality. That makes him/her able to become a part of the story.
<li>When posting in-character(action or speech) text, do so in colored text. Use a color that no one else uses <span style='color:red'>and stick to basic colors that have a name (can be written with [color="], makes it easier for me). We should be able to keep the player number down so that no one will have to change font</span>. If all colors are taking, use bold text, just make sure to chose a color so it's not confused with OOC text. This helps compensate for the lack of a real face and makes it easier to distinguish characters to keep an overview of the story.
<li>Follow the standard posting formats. Actions your character performs are written in asterisks(e.g. *goes to the table*), things your character says are written in quotation marks(e.g. "Hello, who are you"). Text in brackets (e.g. [tries to open hatch]) is things your character attempts to do, like killing aliens or hacking stuff.<span style='color:red'> In combat, one bracket is what your character could reasonably do within, say, 5 seconds</span>. I'll post later what works and what doesnt. Out-of-character text is written in bold text, this is text that isnt a part of your characters actions(try to avoid too much of that, use it when you have something to ask or suggest)
<li>Remember that you are not a hero.
You aren't supposed to save the day. In novels and fan-fics, a hero who saves the day is allright, but in this thread every character is the main character to his owner. if every one of them were going to save the day, and all of them wanted to be the first to do it, no story would ever develop. An example is the first roleplaying game we tried, first time they encountered the kharaa, they were overrun with the whole alien team, with onos', fades and lerks, and everyone wanted to try and save the team, so the next 40 posts were about everyone performing heroic actions against those aliens. Needless to say, I've never seen anything that pointless and boring. Try considering that a character who runs away often adds far more to the story than one who just lifts his gun and fires, trusting that the great god will make sure he is still alive afterwards because he is a character in the story.
<li>Don't take over the story.
You are your own character, and ONLY your own character. Anything that is not your character, is MY domain. In the first roleplaying thread (before the A.G.), I had people posting things like: *I call the tsa, they reply that they will send a dropship*, or *I lift my gun to shoot at the alien, and it dies*. We are on a forum where not everyone is online at the same time. You have to accept that it takes a LOOONG time for the story to develop. A battle can easily take a few real days, because a lot of people have to do things and the targets have to reply, and the first people react, and so on. Have patience, it'll reward you with a better story in the end.
<li>Take part in the story that's already there, don't try to create a new one.
I know it's tempting to try and trigger new happenings, but we'll end up with a lot of things going on and none of them having depth. One of the main problems in roleplaying is the risk of ending up with everyone starting to do their own thing, and no one ending anything. While doing something new might sometimes be neccesary, remember that replying or reacting to something another character did enhances the story and provides depth, while doing something new yourself removes depth. So, the basic rule to follow here is read the last couple of posts and determing what your character would do in such a situation. If someone is killed, would your character get shocked, would he run, would he get angry or would he do something else? If you're in a battle, don't just post *I shoot at the alien* just like the last 10 guys, because that's damn boring. Read what the last few posts did, and determine what to do about that.
<li><span style='color:red'>Because we've had some problems last time with too many players, I'd like to restrict access this time, so send me a PM with your stats (rules for stats below) and please don't post before I give you the green light to do so.</span>
<li><span style='color:red'>Text in italics is things happening around you (written by me only), if there's one or more names in front of some of it (like <i>Jack- This and that</i>) only those caracters are there to see it, or only they notice. If your character is not one of those, try to act like your character simply didnt notice anything.</span>
</ul>
Stat rules:
Assign a number of skills (positive and negative) to your character in each of the following areas:
<ul>
<li>The average is 0, worse than average is below zero, better is above.
<li>The total of your skill numbers must be zero.
<li>Some skills are worth more per stat point. That is factored in by their skills counting more in the total. Multiply a skill with the number written in white after the skill when checking that your skill total is 0 (so having a computers skill of +10 and a weapon skill of -5 would even out)
<li>It's possible to bring with you items that are not standard TSA equipment. Write those down an list their value in positive points to you (including them in your skill total). Of cause, the higher stats you "sacrifice" to bring the item, the more it'll be worth in-game.
<li>To give some idea of the stat sizes, the numbers are added to a roll of a 20-sided die. So a stat of +10 means that your worst performance will be equal to the average of a person with skill 0, and the best of a person with skill -10.
<li>It's possible to "split up" weapon skills if your character is better with some weapons than with others. Split them up into the weapons already in NS (pistol, LMG, shotgun, HMG, grenade launcher). The average of those weapon skills is your total weapon skill used for calculating skill total. One individual weapon skill can't be more than 5 points away from this average.
<li>One skill can't be more than +20 or less than -20 AFTER being multiplied with the white number.
</ul>
Weapon skill <span style='color:white'>x2</span>
toughness <span style='color:white'>x1</span>
Speed (both movement and reflexes) <span style='color:white'>x1</span>
Computers <span style='color:white'>x½</span>
Engineering <span style='color:white'>x½</span>
Medical <span style='color:white'>x½</span>
physical fitness(strength, endurance and so on) <span style='color:white'>x½</span>
For instance, a character could have the stats:
weapon skill: +5
toughness: +5
speed: 0
Computers: -10
Engineering: -13
Medical: -13
Physical fitness: +6
The total would be:
+10 for weapon skill *2
+5 for toughness
0 for speed
-5 for computers*½
-6.5 for engineering*½
-6.5 for medical*½
+3 for physical*½
-------------
0
If I confused you, just ask and I'll clarify things.
<li>When joining the story. Get yourself a character (a marine one, having characters on only one side makes it easier to keep the story straight). Make sure you decide who your character is, give him a heart and a personality. That makes him/her able to become a part of the story.
<li>When posting in-character(action or speech) text, do so in colored text. Use a color that no one else uses <span style='color:red'>and stick to basic colors that have a name (can be written with [color="], makes it easier for me). We should be able to keep the player number down so that no one will have to change font</span>. If all colors are taking, use bold text, just make sure to chose a color so it's not confused with OOC text. This helps compensate for the lack of a real face and makes it easier to distinguish characters to keep an overview of the story.
<li>Follow the standard posting formats. Actions your character performs are written in asterisks(e.g. *goes to the table*), things your character says are written in quotation marks(e.g. "Hello, who are you"). Text in brackets (e.g. [tries to open hatch]) is things your character attempts to do, like killing aliens or hacking stuff.<span style='color:red'> In combat, one bracket is what your character could reasonably do within, say, 5 seconds</span>. I'll post later what works and what doesnt. Out-of-character text is written in bold text, this is text that isnt a part of your characters actions(try to avoid too much of that, use it when you have something to ask or suggest)
<li>Remember that you are not a hero.
You aren't supposed to save the day. In novels and fan-fics, a hero who saves the day is allright, but in this thread every character is the main character to his owner. if every one of them were going to save the day, and all of them wanted to be the first to do it, no story would ever develop. An example is the first roleplaying game we tried, first time they encountered the kharaa, they were overrun with the whole alien team, with onos', fades and lerks, and everyone wanted to try and save the team, so the next 40 posts were about everyone performing heroic actions against those aliens. Needless to say, I've never seen anything that pointless and boring. Try considering that a character who runs away often adds far more to the story than one who just lifts his gun and fires, trusting that the great god will make sure he is still alive afterwards because he is a character in the story.
<li>Don't take over the story.
You are your own character, and ONLY your own character. Anything that is not your character, is MY domain. In the first roleplaying thread (before the A.G.), I had people posting things like: *I call the tsa, they reply that they will send a dropship*, or *I lift my gun to shoot at the alien, and it dies*. We are on a forum where not everyone is online at the same time. You have to accept that it takes a LOOONG time for the story to develop. A battle can easily take a few real days, because a lot of people have to do things and the targets have to reply, and the first people react, and so on. Have patience, it'll reward you with a better story in the end.
<li>Take part in the story that's already there, don't try to create a new one.
I know it's tempting to try and trigger new happenings, but we'll end up with a lot of things going on and none of them having depth. One of the main problems in roleplaying is the risk of ending up with everyone starting to do their own thing, and no one ending anything. While doing something new might sometimes be neccesary, remember that replying or reacting to something another character did enhances the story and provides depth, while doing something new yourself removes depth. So, the basic rule to follow here is read the last couple of posts and determing what your character would do in such a situation. If someone is killed, would your character get shocked, would he run, would he get angry or would he do something else? If you're in a battle, don't just post *I shoot at the alien* just like the last 10 guys, because that's damn boring. Read what the last few posts did, and determine what to do about that.
<li><span style='color:red'>Because we've had some problems last time with too many players, I'd like to restrict access this time, so send me a PM with your stats (rules for stats below) and please don't post before I give you the green light to do so.</span>
<li><span style='color:red'>Text in italics is things happening around you (written by me only), if there's one or more names in front of some of it (like <i>Jack- This and that</i>) only those caracters are there to see it, or only they notice. If your character is not one of those, try to act like your character simply didnt notice anything.</span>
</ul>
Stat rules:
Assign a number of skills (positive and negative) to your character in each of the following areas:
<ul>
<li>The average is 0, worse than average is below zero, better is above.
<li>The total of your skill numbers must be zero.
<li>Some skills are worth more per stat point. That is factored in by their skills counting more in the total. Multiply a skill with the number written in white after the skill when checking that your skill total is 0 (so having a computers skill of +10 and a weapon skill of -5 would even out)
<li>It's possible to bring with you items that are not standard TSA equipment. Write those down an list their value in positive points to you (including them in your skill total). Of cause, the higher stats you "sacrifice" to bring the item, the more it'll be worth in-game.
<li>To give some idea of the stat sizes, the numbers are added to a roll of a 20-sided die. So a stat of +10 means that your worst performance will be equal to the average of a person with skill 0, and the best of a person with skill -10.
<li>It's possible to "split up" weapon skills if your character is better with some weapons than with others. Split them up into the weapons already in NS (pistol, LMG, shotgun, HMG, grenade launcher). The average of those weapon skills is your total weapon skill used for calculating skill total. One individual weapon skill can't be more than 5 points away from this average.
<li>One skill can't be more than +20 or less than -20 AFTER being multiplied with the white number.
</ul>
Weapon skill <span style='color:white'>x2</span>
toughness <span style='color:white'>x1</span>
Speed (both movement and reflexes) <span style='color:white'>x1</span>
Computers <span style='color:white'>x½</span>
Engineering <span style='color:white'>x½</span>
Medical <span style='color:white'>x½</span>
physical fitness(strength, endurance and so on) <span style='color:white'>x½</span>
For instance, a character could have the stats:
weapon skill: +5
toughness: +5
speed: 0
Computers: -10
Engineering: -13
Medical: -13
Physical fitness: +6
The total would be:
+10 for weapon skill *2
+5 for toughness
0 for speed
-5 for computers*½
-6.5 for engineering*½
-6.5 for medical*½
+3 for physical*½
-------------
0
If I confused you, just ask and I'll clarify things.
Comments
we make a character, and give him some stats like weapon skill 5 (x2 = 10) and so on, but some must be negative so the total skill is 0
If we are posting in the Researsh vessle mmfd1 thread, can we join this on too?
<i>In the guardpost, things are more silent than ever. A lot of the frontiersmen who used to live here have been lost in recent battles with the new evolution of kharaa that has by now spread to most of the Ariadne Arm. Only one squad managed to get out of a battle with the new kharaa victorious. This squad arrived back on the station yesterday, and two of the frontiersmen from this squad are still in the hospital department of the ship, one after being hit directly by an onos, another has had his shoulder impaled by a fade. It is expected that both will, with the help of medical nanos, recover fully from their wounds within a day or so. A third person is in the hospital too. He was picked up during the successfull mission, and is the subject of a parasite infection of a severity not yet encountered. His situation is uncertain as the bacterial specialists are trying to figure out how to handle the problem.</i>
weapon skill: -2 x2 (-4)
toughness: -1 x1 (-1)
speed: +4 x1 (4)
Computers: +10 x0.5(5)
Engineering: +4 x0.5 (2)
Medical: -10 x0.5 (-5)
Physical fitness: -2 x0.5 (-1)
------------------------------
Total = 0
I take it I am the guy in the med lab who was hit by an onos...
(stats edited) </b>
<span style='color:blue'>*opens eyes, world swims into focus*
"wh...where am I?"</span>
I'm going to sit this one out guys, gotta sell Magic Brew and look after my RPG which some of you i hope will join.
*is sitting in the waiting room of the Medical Wing*
*waiting for visiting hours to start*
*does some college homework/reading while snacking on some Reeses & Pepsi*
"Eh...christ. I don't believe I'm actually finding time between getting eaten and shot at to do my studies."
*continues scribbling notes on a 8x11 pad of paper about the reading*
*sighs and glances at the time*
*still a while before visiting hours start*
*nudges glasses over a bit and shifts a bit over on my chair to get more comfortable*
*Thinks to self: "One long ****ing wait...all the more time to figure out what this formula means."
</span></span>
<b>And so, I'd like to welcome Nightdragon to the RPG :)</b>
<i>The son of captain rhenning from the Therion gaurdpost. Moved to the Ariadne because he felt his father was to leniant towards him, he wishes to start over his career in the TSA without his fathers influence. He recently passed an intermediate medical skills course and hopes to work as medical bay assistant to the AG</i>
<b>Skills
Weapon Skill :</b> -1 x2 = -2
<b>Toughness :</b> 0 x1 = 0
<b>Speed :</b> +2 x1 = 2
<b>Computers :</b> +6 x1/2 = 3
<b>Engineering :</b> -13 x1/2 = -6.5
<b>Medical :</b> +11 x1/2 = +5.5
<b>Physical Fitness :</b> -4 x1/2 = -2
0-2+0+2+3-6.5+5.5-2 = 0
-------
Total: 0
<span style='color:orange'>*Waits as the air lock door opens*
"Ah, finally, the ariadne gaurdpost. No more dad and loads more freedom"
*A large smile appers on face*
"I really need a shower, then I'll see if I can find anyone else"
*Wanders off, trying to find the shower block*</span>
Weapon Skill: +5 (+10)
Toughness: +2
Speed: +3
Computers: +2 (+1)
Engineering:-20 (-10)
Medical: -20 (-10) My guy is hopeless when it comes to med stuff.
Physical Fitness:+8 (+4)
Total=0
Hope I got it right.
EDIT: Forgot to mention my dual Sig Sauer P229 pistols.</b>
*Opens bloodshot eyes and rubs them with both hands*
"Damn, I hate cryotubes they always make me feel sick."
*Looks around at the lab crew*
"And I hate being treated like some sort of one time novelty, why won't these guys leave me the hell alone?"
*Looks toward scientist who smiles and then runs away letting some paperwork fall on the floor*
"Jesus why is everyone looking at me like this today its not like I-"
*Looks in mirror to see some form of yellow armour plating skirting his temples, forehead and running down the side of the face.*
"Great thats obviously new, I'm like a goddam freak on legs, I shoud never have taken that damn armour off in the first place."
*Grumbles to self for a bit*
"**** I need a goddam beer, being couped up in the medical bay is sure beginning to tick me off, I may even go see the other guys, providing I don't scare them ****less with fear.
</span></span>
<b>
I'm not sure about stats ATM because being a Hybrid mutant/Unlucky Bugger makes it difficult xect what do you suggest?</b>
"Hey terran, you decided to hang around too? Some of the other guys decided to ship out after they realized how much of a hellhole this is... doubt it'll get much better though"
*Goes and grabs a Pepsi and a Milky-Way bar before returning and taking a seat accross from terran*
"Glad to see at least a few of the old squad are still here... any word on whats up with Ven? As much as I don't trust that guy I hope he's ok."
*Props his feet up on a table and sips his soda*</span>
<b>Just got my OK pm a few min ago <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->, Looks like I'll be back! ^_^. (P.S. Here's my stats o.O, already checked em with xect.)
stats: (After multipliers)
Weapon Skill - 10
Toughness - 5
Speed + 5
Computers + 20 (hehe ^_^)
Engineering + 2.5 (5 before multiplier of 1/2)
Medical - 12.5 (I'm totaly medicaly inept bebe! <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo--> )
</b>
*thinks "God I cannot wait for a new job, this standard armour chafes like mad"*
*walks around for a bit and spies 2 others sitting down, walks over*
*grabs a pepsi and sits down*
"Hi im new here, just got transfered from Therion, names TJ, whats yours?...."</span>
Nightdragon, this could get ... confusing, especially with BOTH of us being medics. Although I trained in field medicine... <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--></b>
<span style='color:green'>*yawns, stretches and gets out of bed*
*to nobody in particular* "Yet another day in the back end of bumsville. Bleah."
*showers, suits up, grabs his medical kit from the locker and stops off at the med lab to resupply*
*BALEETED*
*stocks up med kit, including the nanite canister*</span>
<b>Hey xect...you want me to itemise the contents of that pack?
Guess I should post my stats, huh.
Weapon -2
Medical +14
Medical kit +2
Computers -5
Engineering -5
Everything else +0 <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--></b>
<span style='color:orange'><i>"Why did I have to go and leave the damn PDA in the console, hopefully Lost and Found have got it."
*walks into L&F, hair tied back and katana at my side*
"Hi, have you got a PDA with a bunch of hard-drives jury rigged to it, there's a disc in the drive as well?"
*the person looking after L&F puts my PDA on the counter, he tells me the disc is still in there*
"Thanks."
*wanders around the station befoore spying Terran, Khaim and Nightdragon*
"Hey guys, I see the fresh meat's arrived. Managed to get my PDA back, I forgot to ask Xect to grab it before we left. Lost & Found had it, with the disc. Now then, time to bring Mercura back to life."
*sees the others wondering what I mean*
"I kept a compressed copy of Merc on the disc. Now let's see here."
*starts to extract Mercura, again*</i></span>
<b>Don't worry, she won't go dropping any more buildings on peoples heads.</b>
STATS:
Weapon: +6
Toughness: -10 (I go down, often. As proof of me getting downed constantly from small arms fire.)
Speed: -5 (Minor limp due to previous injury, Left leg)
Computers: +10
Engineering: +10 (I WAS an Engy on the W.T. Hell afterall.)
Medic: -6 (First aid but not much else)
Fitness: -8 (Bad leg, plus the multiple nano-healed bullet wounds [I assume some scarring in present], Oh, and the fact that im a little overweight doenst help mapter all that much either) Forgot to mention the Glasses too.</b>
<span style='color:White'> *Ed walks into the cafeteria from the doors at the far end, a bit of grease covers his overalls*
"Nothing like the sweet smell of RCS Coolant in the morning to get you up and about!"
*Ed picks up a coffee and sits down at the table, noticing Nightdragon.*
"Ah, someone new! Good to meet you. The name's Ed, Edward Crab to be all technical."</span>
<b>I still dont understand.
I guess I will copy Terrans stats.</b>
" Doc wheres my LMG"</b></span>
Wynona +3 weapon,
PG-CRB +1 Weapon
Bit of a side note: the PG-CRB's 1 point is there just so i can bring it, It's basically a normal pistol with a lam, same clip size as the stock pistol, decreased Calabre and slightly better accuacy</b>
<span style='color:orange'><b>"SH!T!!! Huh? What am I doing back here, last thing I remember I drove into a data block staging area and was about to board a transport? Wait, now I remember, I transfered my memory files into my compressed self on the disc. SO IF YOU'RE OUT THERE BOGGLE, I'M STILL P!SSED OFF AT YOU!"</b>
<i>"You don't let go of grudges do you, even after I brought you back to life?"</i>
<b>"Of course not."</b>
<i>"Well, just the same, it's good to have you back"
*I quickly explain what happened after she hit boggle with an observatory*</i></span>
<b>Oh, a bit of info on the accuracy thing, instead of "Hit the skulk at the end of the corridor" thinkof "Pick an Eye"</b>
Weapon skill 8 x2 16
toughness 2
Speed 2
Computers -20 x½ -10
Engineering -4 x½ -2
Medical -20 x½ 10
physical fitness 4 x½ 2
I thinks the're plenty of tech guys and medics. I'm here to make it dead. And pass jelly beans, mmmmmm...... jelly beans......
<span style='font-family:Arial'><span style='color:blue'> *Goes to medical and checks in on Boggle* "How ya doing buddy? You took a real beating from that Onos. But, your still alive, and that's better than what woulda happend to most people" *Looks around and makes sure no doctors or staff are watching* "You want a Jelly Bean?" *Hands Boggle a handful* "As soon as you're ready to get out of here, I'll round up Ed, Night Shade, Terran, Darkness, Khaim, and spinviper. Then we'll all go out for thoses drinks I promisded you guys."
"Venmoch is in with the lab guys. The're running all sorts of test on him, but won't tell anyone whats going on. Or at least they aren't telling me. Anyway, I hope they can cure him. Poor guy. I think Spark and a few others are getting reasigned to other posts, don't know who and all is going, but I'll check and find out."
*Looks around the room, notices the docs looking at him* "I think visiting hours are up, so I'm gonna go grab a shower and some grub, let me know if you need anything."
*Waits to hear what Boggle has to say, then heads out to his bunk*
*Grabs a shower* "Oh, what do you do with a drunken marine..........."
*Goes to the messhall and grabs some grub, sits down next to anyone who's there* "Hi."</span></span></b>
"Hello?"</span>
<b>Xect, could you arrrange for me to have a nasty accident just before the two RPGs meet? That way I can decide which rpg to carry on in, because my stats are the same for both (hacker). I would like to go out in style...</b>
By the way, italics with one or more names in front of it means that only those characters know. I'll edit that into the rules post.</b>
<i>With the new recruits on board, life is moving on. People are learning the place, the messs room is noisy in the "morning" again, and rumors have started to circle, as they always do with new recruits. As always, officiers have been heard talking about assaults on the kharaa homeworld and similarly heroic operations
-Venmoch: A doctor arrives and moves over to you with an injection needle. You vaguely remember seeing the substance within before, but can't remember where. He proceeds to inject it into your arm, and leaves again without a word.</i>
<b>Well, Boggle, if you're leaving, I could arrange for that to happen.</b>