The Lancersreactor Webstory techy bits

Thu Feb 26, 2004 3:42 pm by Whasp Commander

Thanks, Dafty.

Actually, I just got a revelation. Since many posters seem to have english as non-native language, it just makes the fact that their posts are so well written (in the foreign language of english) as an even greater compliment. (Includes you, too, nickless.)

And: Doh! I'm doubly-stupid. Sigma-19 DOES have Crow Nebula in it. It's -17 that's barren. *thwacks forhead*

@heltak: Thanks for the compliment.

Actually, this is more of a webstory than an actual RP game. As in... it's a multi-author fiction.
There *was* a character sign-up sheet a long time ago. After filling up, Wizard locked it then stickified it. Since a mod unstickified the post, it had instantly disappeared to the realm of "7 months ago." It should be found at that geological timeframe.

However, I put the profiles of all the characters actually posted in the actual webstory on my site that I linked to. (I think I got them all... might have missed some of the newer characters.)

I interpreted the "if you're hit you're hit" comment as if the GM says you're hit, then you're hit. But he'd have thought about whether or not to let it hit or not.

Fortunately, we've only had one player vs. player battle so far, and nobody really complained about that. I'm not sure what would happen if ever two players got into a fight that really mattered. We'll build that bridge when we come to the stream, I guess. Everybody' here is pretty decent, too, and wouldn't just *kill* off another character like you described.

As I stated earlier, it's not really an RP game in the sense of dice and statistics. I guess Wizard originally meant to be the GM and decide things like that, but life (unfortunately) got in his way and the webstory progressed into more of a collaborative fanfiction. I'm sure we could start an actual role play somewhere else, if wanted. I guess it's up to the individuals to decide.

And on tense: Both can be used properly. As the fic as a whole progressed more into a fiction novel than a game, the present tense began to be used less and less. Yes, reading present-tense text is somewhat unusual. I haven't gotten used to it, and past-tense seems better because it's used a lot more frequently. But as long as its kept the same within the post as a whole, I don't care what it's in. I couldn't care less if poster R likes to use present, while poster T uses past, as long as they don't switch in the middle of a post. I don't like to force someone to write in a certain style.

So... for the obligatory summary because I always right novelettes:
Thanks for the first compliment.
There's no-one managing it, and it doesn't seem to need that.
It's not an RP game - more a collaborative fiction.
There *was* a sign-up thread waaay back.
As it is right now - this IS the OOC thread.
And most of the rest deals with how this is a free-form collaborative fiction than an online RP game.

(Jeez... I feel like a ****

Oh, well... on to finishing what I promised, then )

Edited by - Whasp Commander on 2/26/2004 3:43:52 PM

Fri Feb 27, 2004 12:19 am by Heltak

Sigh

A FORUM RPG DOES NOT USE DICE ETC, ANY FORM OF MULTI AUTHOR FICTION ON A FORUM IS AN RPG UNLESS EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF STORY IS PLANNED BY EVERY SINGLE PERSON

-~-~-~-~
There is no Silicon Heaven! But where do all the calculators go ?

You could no more evade my wrath... than you could your own shadow!

Fri Feb 27, 2004 7:55 am by Nickless V2

Heltak, would you be so kind not to use all caps please? And I think you deleted a post or something, because Whasps post was a reply to, I think, you and I can't seem to find that post.

Wether this is rpg or not, I couldn't care less. I concider it as storywriting and I'm having fun while I'm doing it. It's even more fun because there are (were) different people taking part in this "project" making it somewhat impossible to plan as everyone comes up with his own twists and surprisingly, until this very point it all seems to work out nicely. Except the first few posts in which we all needed to work ourselfs into the story, the entire story is quite good if I may say so and I've been surprised by the post of all writers and the ideas they've come up with.

I hope some of the regular writers return to post some more, until then the ones that do will take the characters along with them and try to make them act accordingly to their personalities, which kinda works.

Edit: Damn spelling.

- I'm not crazy, I'm a car. And if you don't believe me, you can get out and walk home. -
*** The Titan flies like a cow

***

Edited by - Nickless FL for Life on 2/27/2004 7:56:11 AM

Fri Feb 27, 2004 4:01 pm by Heltak

Sorry but people saying an obvious RPG is not an RPG but something else really bugs me.

-~-~-~-~
There is no Silicon Heaven! But where do all the calculators go ?

You could no more evade my wrath... than you could your own shadow!

Fri Feb 27, 2004 5:49 pm by Whasp Commander

I can see where you're getting at with the RPG thing. I'm saying that, even though it is somewhat role-play based, I see it more as a collaborative, yet spontaneous, fanfiction.

There's dozens of types of RPG out there, some with dice (or other randomness) and some with not. Some are internet/email based, and others are the "stay at who's house for a night". Maybe what I'm getting at is it's less like a game than others. Sure this one is fun, but much more stable than others. (Points at cardamine's thread

)

All in all, it boils down to opinion. I don't see this as an RPG. You do. I've justified my side, so I'm content now.

Oh, and I'm still working on continuing. I'm off to my dad's place for the weekend, so I'll post both a semi-teaser and a way to get the work at my dad's place.

Psawhn watched his navmap carefully. It showed the two icons marked by his ship and the estimated Rheinlanders position converging slowly. A small circle was drawn about this position, marking where the Rheinlander's scanners were effective. When inside this circle, Mu flight's passive scanners should pick up the Rheinland battleship's active ones. Daniel assumed the plan was to then head towards the battleship and finally break radio silence when engaging. A simple enough plan in theory. Except that there's the adage that no plan seems to work out perfectly.

In fact, this plan didn't work out quite as well. Even on passive, Psawhn's scanners kept picking up 'ghosts' all over the place. Of course they were pockets of gases that were slowly reacting, but it still provided an eerie feeling - especialy in the pervading fog. He focused back on the navmap. Based on estimates, they should be picking up the battleship about now. Of course the Rheinlanders would need to be actively scanning for the lane hacker base. And a battleship had rather powerful scanners. Psawhn frowned. Why didn't he pick them up?

Mu squad continued for another minute, before Rachel broke the radio silence. The icons were well past the supposed location of the battleship.

"One. Okay, then. I suppose this sneaking about doesn't do any good if we're lost. Wolfie, you didn't get anything on those improved scanners of yours?"

"Not a thing."

"Fine. Go active. See if you can find anything."

Daniel watched as the three icons representing the other ships of Mu wing lit up on his navmap display. Daniel followed suit by turning on his own scanners. His navmap changed instantly to reflect the switch, but showed a surprising lack of anything on it. In fact, the only two additions were the markings of several gas pockets and a general fuzziness due to the reflecting gases. It only showed one patriot and two defenders.

"

Plus, I'm gonna fix the italics up when I finish constantly updating my posts. Gotta keep the ship names italicized.

Edited by - Whasp Commander on 2/27/2004 5:50:30 PM

Sat Feb 28, 2004 9:55 am by ~Corsair#01~

I'm confused- what do you actually do on this thread? Is it a collection of fan-fiction or something?

-OFFICIAL AGENT OF THE FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA-

Sat Feb 28, 2004 12:08 pm by Heltak

Go back to sleep Corsair

The difference between this and Cards is that Cards is a CHEEZE RPG, anything goes. But it's not an RPG, not like this one. It's a "Story" since no-ones BEING a character, it;s just random events

-~-~-~-~
There is no Silicon Heaven! But where do all the calculators go ?

You could no more evade my wrath... than you could your own shadow!

Sun Feb 29, 2004 1:21 pm by Nickless V2

Well, at first it was each char for himself, but at some point people started to create chapters rather then lines, filling in each char involved. Thinking for them and acting for them, but always "secondary", if you know what I mean. it was like the guy who wrote it, wrote in 3rd person about his char and involved the other chars in his "chapter".

And it worked. We had to, because a lot of guys backed out eventually. So we had no choice then to take the other main chars along in our own parts. But it produced some interresting pieces and some relative quality work. It's not Shakespeare of course, but for a bunsh of gamers we did nicely I think.

Btw, nice piece Whasp.

I'll put up a teaser aswell. It's far from complete, but it's something to read

Lutz sat in the bar alone. He had a large cup of steaming hot coffee infront of him and pondered as he warmed his hands at the cup. He had learned through extensive training to do with very little sleep and had needed only a few hours, but Alys needed her sleep so Lutz had gone to the bar as soon as he woke up. Now he somehow wished he would have stayed with her. He felt alone and obviously thought about Michael as he let his mind go over the events on Manhattan. He didn't notice O'Connor walking up to him and he scared up from his thoughts as the Captain pulled the chair from under the table and sat down.

"Oh, I'm sorry Lutz. You mind if I join you?"
"Of course not Roger, sit down. Do you want a cup of coffee?"
"Is it any good?" O'Connor asked. He knew the reputation of Libertonian coffee was even more illustrious then Liberty Ale.
"No." Lutz confirmed his suspicions. "But it will wake you up."
"Very well." said O'Conner and Lutz ordered another coffee.

"So, how are you?" O'Connor asked.
"I'm glad I got some rest. I get a fealing I'm gonna need it."
"Thats not realy what I meant, Lutz." O'Conor had a more serious look on his face then he ever had before. Lutz sighed.
"I know what you mean Roger, but i can't sit here and worry about someone who's probably dead while there are so many othere things to worry about."
"How can you say that?" O'Connor asked, surprised and shocked by Lutz' cold and determined reaction.
"How can you say that? You don't know if he's dead. For all we know, he could be alive and inside scanner range as we speak."
"Oh comon, do you realy believe that? There's no way anyone could have made it out of there alive. Even a pilot of Michaels caliber and you know that just as I do."
"But that's no excuse to dismiss him like an old commset that has gone bust. He's your friend, you can't just wipe him from your thoughts."
"But I have to. Don't you understand?" Lutz raised his voice and stood up, knocking over the chair. O'Connor, scared by the sudden violence in Lutz looked up to him.
"I HAVE to erase him from my mind, because if I don't I go insane and I have too many other things on my head to risk that. I gotta take care of Alys, I gotta run the leftovers of the defending fleet, I've got this freaking huge gun on my ship capable of distroying battleships and bases in the blink of an eye, I've been on the run for the last three months straight and we're being chased by a superior force of inhuman fighters and battleships. I am this far from a nervous breakdown, so excuse me for taking some f*cking time for myself, trying to forget the latest drawback I had to endure."

O'Conner stared at Lutz who was walking in circles through the bar. The only other person present, the bartender, had gone to the kitchen so they were practically alone. Lutz knocked over a chair in anger and barged to the exit.
"Lutz! Wait, please." Lutz halted and O'Connor desperatly thought of something to say.
"The coffee, it's drinkable now. Come and sit down." O'Connor pleaded. Lutz hessitated, but then he turned around and walked back to the table and sat down. He took a sip of his coffee and his face wrenched as he swallowed it.
"Liar, this coffee will never be drinkable."
They both smiled and then started to laugh and the bartender, unaware of all that had happened, wondered if they were still drunk.

It's coming bit's 'n pieces and I hope to have something more by the end of the week.

Btw, Corsair, this is the Webstory discussion thread on which we discuss things related to the webstory

Edited by - Nickless FL for Life on 2/29/2004 1:25:08 PM

Mon Mar 01, 2004 12:11 am by Whasp Commander

Looks good, Dafty. Can't wait to see the whole thing.

My two latest additions have been edited and fixed up a tiny bit.

Also...
Coming soon to a webpost near you: My first fight scene! How will it fare? Will it suck like the depressurization of a hull breach? Will it be as incredible as Wolfy posting an intelligent comment? Will it be as long as a new roll of toilet paper? Will Psawhn actually survive a battle for once?
Tune in soon to find out.

Edited by - Whasp Commander on 3/1/2004 12:12:29 AM

Mon Mar 01, 2004 12:18 am by Heltak

Will be an evangelised advert?

Surveys say yes

-~-~-~-~
There is no Silicon Heaven! But where do all the calculators go ?

You could no more evade my wrath... than you could your own shadow!

Mon Mar 01, 2004 8:48 am by ~Corsair#01~

Can you just make up your character and join in then?

-OFFICIAL AGENT OF THE FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA-

Mon Mar 01, 2004 1:33 pm by Nickless V2

Well, you can join if you want, but bear in mind that the story is actually going on for a long time and all things are inter-related, all personalities have their own beckgroundstories and have their share of devellopments through-out the whole story. If you decide to join, which would be nice, there are a few things to do.

First, read the story. I know it's a long strech but you need to know what happened to be able to understand why things are the way they are. We'll help you with this ofcourse and will provide you with hints and feedback (Always constructive

)

Second, make up a character. Think of a small background story and how this character would fit in the story. Work this out in your posts a bit more. When you post, describe what your char is thinking/doing and why. One note though, we left out the Nomads in this story. Aswell as the Nomad weapons and the experimental weapons (Diamondback, etc). Most chars are flying nothing more then a HF with a moderate loadout, so try to match that. Also note that there are numerous "special weapons", so coming up with your own one would be a bit of an overkill, unless you got one hell of an explanation.

Third, when your posting, please concider that Whasp, I and all the others have been working on this for a few months (not continually tho) and have something planned out for the near future. At least I have some ideas and I think Whasp has got his own. So don't start changing the course of the story to your own liking. When you enter the story, we'll take you along and give you a place in it. It's up to you how big this role turns out to be.

I hope you'll take the chance and help us write this. We can always use more creative writers.

Mon Mar 01, 2004 1:43 pm by Nickless V2

Heltak wrote:

OOC: Fan fiction writers take note, THIS is how you write. Though I'll have to disagree with your rules Stinger/Wizard, whoever made this. "If your hit your hit" coughCHEEZEcough, if it ever has Player vs Player combat then this is the worst idea possible since someone could come out with X flies at G shoots and kills in one salvo or hits dead on everytime. This gives G no chances to work the plot, no-one likes having their character killed off. And um you might want to create a seperate topic entitled Sign Ups or Character Details, this also gives you space for OOC and OT posts like this one, it also allows you to accept new members etc until you have an acceptable number and update and expand on your rules. Most forum RPGs NEVER us THAC0. If you want any more advice on running this contact me, I roleplayed quite alot on other forums and it's good to finally see one up and running here. And another point, having *X does this* compared to "X did this" Ie part of the sentence jars it and breaks up the flow, it's uch more enjoyable to read the latter.

Tnx for the compliments

There is a signup thread stickied but it's closed I think. If you wanna join, please put your profile up here. You're welcome to join btw and perhaps, but this is just a crazy thought, take care of one of the chars currently not "Occupied" by their own writers.
I'd say Terranova or Arrigonni would be interresting chars to pick up.

Check out their char profiles at Whasps MSN page. A good place to catch up on the story aswell as it reads a lot better then on this site.

Whasps Webstory-and-more page

Mon Mar 01, 2004 2:01 pm by Jim Groovester

I'm thinking about posting something up, but it won't be all that much. Since I have no clue what the two masterminds of the story have in mind, I'll play it safe and do something plot-unrelated.

Mon Mar 01, 2004 3:05 pm by Whasp Commander

Mastermind? Naw... I just inherited it.

But, yeah. Fresh blood is always welcome. (Well, not always. I guess at the start it wasn't too welcome

)

Here's the exact spot of the main webstory and
here's the listing of character profiles.

The character profiles on that page may not exactly coincide with the information developed in the story itself. Not too much of a problem if you read the story.

I concurr with what Nickless said for the rest of the stuff. (Maybe except for the 'working on this for a couple of months' part

. (For me, it's hasn't even been on the back burner, so to speak. More like put into a plastic baggie then thrown into the fridge. Thankfully it's not put into deep freeze.)

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