Ariadne Guardpost
xect
Join Date: 2002-11-24 Member: 9807Members
Join Date: 2002-11-24 Member: 9807Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Another attempt at roleplaying.</div> <b>Ok, last time we tried roleplaying, it messed up. But I still think it can become enjoyable in the end, so I'm trying
again. After seeing what went wrong last time, I'm gonna put up some guidelines this time, which I'd like you to
follow:</b>
<ul>
<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. If all colors are taking, use bold text or something, 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. *I'm going to the
table*), things your character says are written in quotation marks(e.g. "Hello, who are you"). 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><b>Remember that you are not a hero.</b> 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.
<b>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.</b>
<li><b>Don't take over the story.</b> You are your own character, and ONLY your own character. Anything that is not your
character, is MY domain. In the earlier roleplaying thread, 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><b>Take part in the story that's already there, don't try to create a new one.</b> 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 <b>read the last couple of posts and determing what <u>your character</u> would do in such a
situation.</b> 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.
</ul>
<i>In an attempt to increase their abilities in the outer regions of the Ariadne Arm, the frontiersmen have employed a new squad of recruits to establish a base in the Jerren system. On this base is also a few veterans, but most of the crew are new to the TSA, and no one knows anyone yet. As far as the frontiersmen know, there's no actual infested ships in the region, but that's know to change quite quickly. Untill now your main job will be to stand by and make sure you discover, and respond to, new threats as fast as possible.</i>
<b>and you're new, you don't know each other yet. No reason to start off your posts with a presentation of rank and personality, we'll find out of those things when you start talking to each other.</b>
again. After seeing what went wrong last time, I'm gonna put up some guidelines this time, which I'd like you to
follow:</b>
<ul>
<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. If all colors are taking, use bold text or something, 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. *I'm going to the
table*), things your character says are written in quotation marks(e.g. "Hello, who are you"). 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><b>Remember that you are not a hero.</b> 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.
<b>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.</b>
<li><b>Don't take over the story.</b> You are your own character, and ONLY your own character. Anything that is not your
character, is MY domain. In the earlier roleplaying thread, 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><b>Take part in the story that's already there, don't try to create a new one.</b> 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 <b>read the last couple of posts and determing what <u>your character</u> would do in such a
situation.</b> 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.
</ul>
<i>In an attempt to increase their abilities in the outer regions of the Ariadne Arm, the frontiersmen have employed a new squad of recruits to establish a base in the Jerren system. On this base is also a few veterans, but most of the crew are new to the TSA, and no one knows anyone yet. As far as the frontiersmen know, there's no actual infested ships in the region, but that's know to change quite quickly. Untill now your main job will be to stand by and make sure you discover, and respond to, new threats as fast as possible.</i>
<b>and you're new, you don't know each other yet. No reason to start off your posts with a presentation of rank and personality, we'll find out of those things when you start talking to each other.</b>
Comments
*very eager about my first day in space...with a gun*
"Hehe, a gun makes all the difference."
*pulls out a manual for the CZ that is now my new baby*
*reads feverently as I don't want to screw up and be embarrassed on my first day*</span></span>
<span style='color:green'>*paces in shower*
*waitsfor first day to start as cold water explodes out of shower head*
YEAOW! coldcoldcoldcold!
*hot water turned on*
*get to showering*
*tries to not forget basic training*</span>
*stares at the bowl of gruel in front of him*
*looks dissatisfied at his meal*
*mutters under his breath*
"Do they expect us to eat this ****. Really... this is the worst oat meal I have even eaten..."
*turns head towards the door*
*sees a bunch of officers eating their fancy stuff*
"Bunch o' sissies... not able to eat what their men are stuck with. Life, ladies and gentlemen."
*continues to eat oatmeal*
</span>
<b>If this isn't alright... just tell me. I'll change it.</b>
*walks over to the mess hall*
*confronts the cook for a meal*
"Oatmeal or the mystery meat, maggot."
*looks over to see what Jack is eating*
"Euh, I'll take my chances with the mystery meat."
*gets a slop of brown meat with an orange oil seeping out*
"...thanks."</span></span>
"Alright mystery meat thanks"<span style='color:red'> </span>
<b>Well I cant get the damned colors working so I geuss im the normal color guy</b>
"Dang this stuff sucks, oh well thats what this is for"
*pulls small shaker of garlic and herbs to flavor the, well, pale mush*
"Ya want some, just a wee bit though, dont have that much and its gota last, at least till the mail comes with the next suply ship"
*offers shaker to Lumberjack* </span>
<b>Ahh.... i wanted blue <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo--> oh well, ya want us to post a char discription, of how we look and stuff?</b>
"Holy ****, where am i?"
*remembers the weeks of hard training in the TSA Academy*
"Oh, great, just great."
*gets out of his bed, heads toward the mess hall*
"(sarcastically)Yummmmay, oatmeal"
*sees Lumberjack Wannabe and Frosty, walks over and sits down*
"Hey guys, do you know who our commander is? I wanna see what he can do" </span>
*looks at Frosty and his shaker*
*looks at Oatmeal*
"What do I look like? Little Caesar? If I'm going to put some stuff in mah oatmeal, It's going to be some honey and milk. But guess what."
*grabs container of milk*
*bangs it on the table*
"The milk is frozen, the honey is mechanical oil... and the oatmeal is what a chimpmunk that ate too much **** barfed out."
*looks away* </span>
*Checks what were having for dinner*
*Looks at the high officers*
"Ah crap"
*Takes food*
*Walks up to erenedor*
*Stares at him as he eats his oatmeal*
*Sits down*
"So, tastes good?"
*Smiles*
"Just met our commander... Man! He looks like a real Thinking freak! Wish i could be the commander some day."
*Takes a chunk of the oatmeal*
*Spits out*
"Oh my god!! Why the F**k do they give us this crap?"</span>
<b>Edit: Forgot colour</b>
<span style='color:purple'>
*Stares at cieling, having just woken up in his top bunk*
*Sits up, looks around the room a bit. Sees several empty bunks*
"::grumble:: I don't know how I got used to waking up this early."
*Rolls out of bunk, skips shaving for now, heads to mess hall*
*Looks at table with the rest of the guys, notices some odd facial expressions*
*Goes to cook, points to the table and says:*
"I'll have whatever they're <i>not</i> having."
*Heads to table, not caring what's on his own tray. Hears someone asking 'why do they give us this crap'*
"Food is food, as long as it doesn't kill you before the Kharaa do."
*Has a mouthful*
"Though I can certainly see why you're asking. Speaking of Kharaa, does anyone know when we're gonna get told why we're out here in the middle of nowhere? I was just starting to like boot camp."
</span>
"oy, pass some of that spice, anythigns better than this"
<i>Slowly, people finish eating and start bringing out thier weapons to clean them. As usual when a new station is formed, the air is thick with rumors. The usual "Kharaa homeworld" and "major assault" rumors dominate, but they always do. People are getting ready for the new day to begin, waiting for an officer to announce the rules and shifts on board the ship, as they always do. Most of you are new though, so even though the event is routine, a slight tension is felt all over the hall.</i>
*Distractedly starts to dismantle gun a to start the standard checklist.*
*In reality, paying more attention to how others do the same, trying to get a feel for who knows their weapons better than others. It could be a valuable piece of information to remember*
*Scratches back of neck, thinking of something with which to break the silence*
"So, what brought all of you guys into the TSA? Wanted to get a piece of the action for when we finally learn how to beat those buggers back down under the rock they came from?"
</span>
"I can do this...I've practiced it before..."
*starts to disassemble rifle*
*relubricates it, replaces a dull and eroded ejector spring connecter, with a nice new shiny, sharp one*
*starts to put in the lubricated, shiny, sharp ejector spring connector*
*cuts self*
"F*CK!"
*reads warnings on silcon-hybrid lubricant bottle*
*If swallowed, contact a poison control center immediately*
"..."
</span></span>
"Heh... I joined because I wanted to. Maybe it's an instinct..."
*shrugs*
*looks at his pistol... engraved on it are his initials and his blood type*
*gulps*
"We all have our times... don't you forget that, guys." </span>
*pockets herbs, finishes the now talorable "porage"*
*Begins to clean and oil revolver*
*notices some people staring at the revolver*
"Eh, ya lose a lil' acuracy, and ya only get six shots, but ooo, what shots they are!"
*mumbles softly to myslef "Wonder what primary they guna asighn me"*
*because Lumberjack seems a bit touchy i turn to face erendor "I'll give ya two ta one odds this mision is guna be on a mining instalation"</span>
<b>SilentMurderer xect hasnt said what our comm lookes like yet, so we dont know if he looks like a thinking freek or not, if we guna play this one by the rules lets play it all the way</b>
*grumbles
"I just hope this isn't another 'Search and Rescue' mission."</span>
<b>Twenty points to whoever can tell me what that's from and reply to that.</b>
"Well I come from the Old Sector of Earth and decided that the military would be my best bet. I went through basic and a couple of TSA recruiters showed up. I listend to em and applied for Selection. I passed and here I am."
<b>its from the begining of op forces <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> </b>
<b>Yes... Frosy gets 20 points.</b>
"I joined because of a simple reason, the Kharaas'.. They... My wife.."
*Tears falls down from my chin*
*Scratches head*
*Takes out the Standard issue knife*
*Scratches away some dry dirt*
"Damn them..."</span>
*sees that there is a lot of stuff going on in the little groupie that has formed*
*sees Silent and his painful memories*
"God damn, this group goes down pretty deep..."
"Wonder if I really should fit in with these guys...I only joined because of some poor fantasy of outer space that might well get me killed..."
*shuffles farther away from the others, clearly believing i should segregate myself from the much more "motivated" soldiers*</span></span>
*Tries to smile but my memories make me not to*
*Looks at terran to see if he comes or not.*</span>
*looks at silent, pondering if its mockery or benevolence*
*shuffles over to the group*
*is happy that i am now in the company of peers*
*looks at Silent, and offers a hand*
"Thank you, Silent."
</span>
*Shakes it*
"Not to mention."
*Looks deep into Terrans eyes*
"So, why did you join?"
*I look behind terran and see that the high officers stares at us*
"Any interesting story you want to tell, eh?"
"Oh, by the way. Looks like you're gonna need some help with that gun of yours, eh? Give it to me and i'll fix it for ya.*
<!--c1--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>CODE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='CODE'><!--ec1-->*Blunders into the mess hall, bleary eyed, obviously having overslept*
"uurrghh. this oatmeal is rank"
*finishes breakfast in record time, then drops bowl in the bucket*
"I wonder how much of that i'll be seeing again"
*sits down with the others and waits for something to happen*<!--c2--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--ec2-->
"Thanks. Well, I joined for tuition money. I was in need, and the TSA had a program, so decided to serve a tour or 2, then go to college. My mechanical and programming skills I obtained so far got me in as a Combat Engineer."
"Hell, it seems rather fun, so i might take the ROTC program instead and become an officer, maybe."
*takes out a picture of my brother*
"He's already a Frontiersman, so that influenced my decision quite some too. He is also a Combat Engineer, except he's a Sergent First Class."
*feels eriee like I'm being watched and looks behind*
*sees the officers staring*
"...[whisper]I may sh*t my pants if they keep staring[/whisper]. Freaky bunch they are."</span>
<b>try changing your font if you wanna join.</b>
"Oh, sorry. Don't mind my staring, I just thought I was the only techie freak here. Can't say I'm too educated yet, though. Everything I know I taught myself."
*Holds out left hand. A long thin burn scar reaches from down the thumb to the other side*
"First time I ever did any soldering, I figured the thing would cool down faster once I'd unplugged it. Boy, was I wrong."
*brings back hand to keep cleaning gun*
"Still kinda itches when I try to grip the front end of my primary too hard. I've tried to stay away from the mechanical side of engineering ever since -- too much sharp stuff, not enough programming and wires. I've since learned my lesson about soldering, of course, but boot camp was the first time I'd picked up a real welder."
</span>
"For crying out loud, i can never do these things"
*hands it to silent murderer, butt first.*
"can you get this for me please?"
*watches in amazement as one by one the gun parts fall to the floor, and is left holding the barrel*
"you cocky soab. Where did you learn to do that?"
*begins to clean the gun*<!--c2--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--ec2--><span style='color:blue'> </span>