On The Gallian Front - [Interest Check]

[MissFire]

1935 CE
The continent of Europa is dominated by two superpowers: The autocratic East Europan Imperial Alliance in the east and a commonwealth of loosely allied democracies known as the Atlantic Federation in the west. The economies of both powers depend on a precious multipurpose mineral called Ragnite. Its growing scarcity results in the Empire declaring war on the Federation, sparking the Second Europan War. The Empire uses its military superiority to quickly put the Federation on the defensive. Emboldened by their progress and momentum, the Empire decides to invade the neutral Principality of Gallia to seize its rich Ragnite deposits. The border towns fall quickly to the Imperial advance as the regular army retreats and the town watch is woefully unprepared to deal with a full assault. All seems lost for Gallia, but one squad will help turn the tide of the war. Your squad. Squad 7. Move out!

The Proposal: This will be a Valkyria Chronicles game. We will be following the story of the first game, but with a twist; all original characters! Squad 7 will be made up entirely of player characters, so no Welkin, Alicia, Rosie, Largo, etc. We're going to fight this war and win it in our own way. We may have a Valkyria, we may not! The game will focus half on the battles, half on the 'down time', ie; the times when the sevens are relaxing back at camp or headquarters or training. Battles will be freeform with myself acting as the GM and controlling the imperial troops. Do you need to have played Valkyria Chronicles? No! We'll go over everything if the game gets interest and as play begins. For now, think of it as kind of an anime or alternate history take on World War II with a slightly steampunk twist. I'm going to keep this topic open for a few days and see if it gathers enough interest. If it does, we'll post up a character sheet and get Squad 7 moving! For now, here are some questions I'd like to ask of those interested in playing;

1) Do you want freeform battles or something dice based?

2) Do you want to follow the game's outline (ie; do all the battles in the order they appeared in-game), or make up some new ones?

3) Realistic character images, animated images, or let people choose what they want?

4) Do you have any ideas for things we should add? (ie; plot elements, game systems, etc.)

[MissFire]

Meet your CO...

2nd Lieutenant Sarah "Whiskey" Sauer is widely regarded as lazy, slovenly, and a total drunk. She has one of the worst reputations in the militia and an even worse academic record, yet somehow managed to ace the vast majority of the practical exams she took at the military academy. To this day she still holds the speed record for the obstacle course. After finishing at the academy she attempted to join the regular army but was found to be lacking in discipline and had a poor attitude with regards to her superior officers. With nothing left to do, Sarah opened up a bar in her home of Randgriz, where she became noteworthy for serving up stiff drinks and bodily hurling out the door anyone who broke her rules. When EWII broke, Sarah joined the militia and quickly stunned Captain Eleanor Varrot with her brusque attitude, ability to think on her feet and her 'creative' solutions to problems. Promoted and assigned as the leader of Squad 7, Varrot's faith in Sauer is either the greatest mistake she's ever made, or the best idea she's ever had.

Class: Commanding Officer/Shock Trooper
Age: 25
Eyes: Green
Hair: Blonde
Build: Athletic
Height: Tall

"Squad 7, take it to 'em!" - Whiskey


Strengths: Sarah is an extremely capable soldier, making up for her shortcomings in academics with a more well-honed body than her constant drinking and smoking would imply. She is an excellent shot with firearms, an excellent close combat fighter, and has some knowledge of basic first aid. Despite outward appearances, she has a sound tactical mind and while long strategy sessions may bore her she is exceptionally good at thinking on her feet. Her non-standard tactics and plans have a way of giving her an edge in battle. Despite her gruff demeanor, she cares deeply for all the soldiers under her command.

Weakness: Her terrible reputation in the militia and army will have her squad at odds with her until she proves herself in battle. It doesn't help that she can be extremely blunt, lacking almost any sense of tact whatsoever. She's terrible at adhering to discipline and suffers from chronic tardiness. Sarah lacks even the most basic military book knowledge and is totally deficient in the areas of history, science, literature, and geography. She basically has zero knowledge of anything outside of firearms, farming, and alcohol.

[TheHangedOne]

1) Do you want freeform battles or something dice based?
While I prefer dice based combat, as I like the gambling aspect, I will play freeform as well.
2) Do you want to follow the game's outline (ie; do all the battles in the order they appeared in-game), or make up some new ones?
Maybe we should make things up as we go; initially, things could be the same, but our characters aren't likely to make the same choices as the characters of the game. The more the differences build up, the farther we'd deviate from the game's storyline, in my opinion.
3) Realistic character images, animated images, or let people choose what they want?
I would say stick with animated.
4) Do you have any ideas for things we should add? (ie; plot elements, game systems, etc.)
A simple to moderate complexity dice system that I could come up with for you, if you'd like. 

Also, are we going to stick to the classes established in the game, or are we going to have a bit more freedom when it comes to armaments?

[Scribbles]

I LOVE this idea, both a beautiful setting and theme!

1) Do you want freeform battles or something dice based?
I HATE dice based, with a passion, crossing my fingers that you might pick freeform!

2) Do you want to follow the game's outline (ie; do all the battles in the order they appeared in-game), or make up some new ones?
Unfortunately, I've never heard of this game...

3) Realistic character images, animated images, or let people choose what they want?
Personally, I don't mind, all have great sources for anything military or steampunk!

4) Do you have any ideas for things we should add? (ie; plot elements, game systems, etc.)
Lots of potential in such an RP for story-heavy missions, maybe some which highlight the plight of the citizens or special missions which focus on individual characters of the squad.

[Silk]

Putting a Edelweiss sized block of interest into this. :D

[MissFire]

Welcome aboard! If you're interested in play, just follow my character example as best you can. We'll need a tank pilot, and I'd like to see at least one of each class.

[Deathnote]

What are the different classes?

[MissFire]

If you haven't heard of the game, here's some information for you;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVd_Xf9bMNo

I suppose 'steampunk' is an incorrect term, but the concept is the same. I guess 'ragnitepunk', maybe? Vehicles, some weapons, and even medical tech are powered by ragnite. It's the reason for the Imperial invasion of Gallia as well; the country has rich ragnite deposits.

http://valkyria.wikia.com/wiki/Ragnite

The game is well known for it's unique visual style. It has kind of a sketchbook quality to it, lending it a very interesting visual flair. There are a couple of sequels to Valkyria Chronicles, but they're still on the PSP and Vita, as far as I know, so they haven't been as widely played as the first one, which is a PS3 title. The first game is also on Steam now, and costs $20 USD.

http://youtu.be/p-0RY4TTNwE

The game is a turn-based strategy RPG. You're given a specific number of action points to use each round and can select any character at any time, as many times as you like, though each time you select a character their movement points go down until they can barely advance at all. Some characters also have limited ammo, preventing spamming certain attacks. Once you pick a character, it goes into real time as you move around the map, and enemies react to your movement so it's important to approach from cover unless you're using a high armor class like a Shock Trooper or Lancer. When you fire, the game pauses to let you aim and the results play out. On humans, head shots do critical damage, while vehicles have weak points at the engines (usually in the rear).

Characters can be one of five classes;

Scout: Armed with rifles (with under slung one-shot grenade launchers when promoted), Scouts have the highest mobility of all classes, but are lightly armored.

Sniper: Can kill from extreme range, but have very low movement, low health, and limited ammo. They are excellent at killing exposed enemies, but do poorly against enemy troops in cover.

Engineer: Similar to a Scout, but with lower movement. Engineers can repair the squad's tank, disarm mines, and repair barricades. They have access to the basic rifle. They also carry large medkits, as opposed to the small medkits that all other units carry.

Lancer: Anti-Tank units that carry heavy armor, blast shields, and lances that fire their tips equipped with explosive ragnite warheads. If they flank a tank and hit the engine, they can take it out in a single shot. When promoted, their lances become mortars.

Shock Trooper: Armed with an SMG and more heavily armored, these troops provide good frontline offense. They have decent mobility and health and excel at targeting troops in cover; especially once they get promoted and carry an assault weapon with an under-slung ragnite flamethrower.

Lastly, there's Welkin and Isara. Welkin is the CO, the strategist, and rides around in the Edelwiess, the squad's tank. The Edelweiss is maintained and piloted by his sister Isara. The Edelweiss takes twice as many action points to use, but it is equipped with a mortar, anti-armor shells, and machine gun. It is immune to everything except anti-tank mines, other tank fire, lancer fire, and takes minimal damage from grenades. It's weakness is the engine on the rear. If the Edelweiss is destroyed, the game is over.

http://valkyria.wikia.com/wiki/Valkyria_Wiki

I think we'll probably just stick with freeform for our version of the game and skip out on the dice rolling. In ours, Sauer will be the CO, taking up Welkin's role from the game, so that means we still need a tank pilot and at least one player for each class. Multiples are allowed, of course, but I'd like at least one of each so we have a balanced squad. If the game still interests you, let me know! I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

[Silk]

Both sequel games are on the Psp, but only the second one was released out of japan (Which is a shame since the third one has an awesome concept about your squad being a expendable penal legion) Since I can't comment on the third I'll just mention a few differences in the second.

Major difference is the introduction of a new class "Armor Tech" Which take some traits of the Engineer class such as disarming mines. While also being a strictly melee class that uses heavy lancer armor and riot shields to basically give your squad some moving cover. (Which since VC2 has a lot more enter able buildings they were excellent for breaches.)

Besides that the overall concept is a civil war within Gallia in response to "Spoiler tag" where you play a bunch of army cadets trying to keep order. And besides the Armor mech inclusion, and a second line of class progression there isn't a whole lot of difference systematically between the two as far as RP's are concerned.

I'm debating going with a tank pilot role with an engineer subclass (For situations where the tank is out of commission etc) But I also have my eye on Sniper. :)

[TheHangedOne]

I'd like to play as Scout.  ;D

[MissFire]

Glad to see the interest and looking forward to the profiles you guys come up with.

[TheHangedOne]

1st Scout Edgar "Cyclops" Lamont managed to score quite high on his aptitude tests, and even in most of the academic subjects, but was quite bad with history. Additionally, he was found to be very much the opposite of a team player, and one who has difficulty with respecting the chain of command. The only thing that kept him from being rejected is that he really just is that good at being a Scout. Besides that, given the situation Gallia finds itself in, every bit helps.

Therefore, he was placed into Squad 7 along with the other misfits, where he will hopefully do some good for his country.

Edgar earned his nickname "Cyclops" from the fact that he lost his left eye in what he refers to as a training accident, but which he has been extremely cagey with providing details about. Time, place, other people involved... nobody seems to know a thing about this "training accident", and the quiet Edgar is not volunteering any more information than what he's already said. Despite the loss of his eye, he manages to be well above average in marksmanship.

Because of the lost eye, he usually prefers to hide his face behind a ballistic mask, which shows his practical and pragmatic side.

He is very fond of a thirteen inch long double-bladed dagger he carries with him, frequently in an ankle sheathe. In addition to using it for utilitarian purposes, "Cyclops" is quite the accomplished knife fighter.
Class: Scout
Age: 26
Eye: Gray
Hair: Brown
Build: Athletic
Height: Average

"[silent 'throat-slitting' gesture]"--Cyclops

Strengths: A resilient warrior, he is capable of pushing himself without food, water, or sleep for far longer than the average soldier. He's also been in his fair share of fights, so has built up something of a pain tolerance. Despite having lost his left eye, he remains an excellent shot with his rifle, even at long distances. Cyclops is also a very quiet person, not just in that he doesn't talk much, but in that he is very good at sneaking; a skill essential to a scout. Skilled knife-fighter; combined with his stealth skills, he has the potential to be an excellent infiltrator. Cold and logical, shunning emotions, makes him an excellent warrior even as it weakens his ability to be human.

Weaknesses: He lost his left eye in a 'training accident', and because of this, he has no peripheral vision in his left eye, as well as a dampened depth perception ability. He has, to a large degree, learned to compensate for this, but he is still left with a rather large (and literal) blind-spot.  He prefers to work on his own, and when paired together with a group, he tends to suffer, as he becomes more focused on what his allies are doing, rather than what the enemy is doing. Thankfully, this is likely a weakness that can be trained out of him. Relatively deadened emotions keep him from being empathetic to others, which often leads him to chew out others for being "weak".

[Angie]

Since Engineer seems to be the 'support' class, I call Engineer. Why?

I AM SUPPORT!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aea9IQlNphU

But yeah, I like playing the support guys, can you tell?

Gaige Phogea is one of those people that are only Engineers because they're just that damn good. Anyone else with her love of smoking and tendency to defy authority would have been thrown out on her ass a long time ago, but her ability to drag even the most crippled machines back into fighting force kept her in-though, she's been assigned to Squad 7 because no one else wants to deal with her. Put her with the rest of the misfits, they thought.

She's a decent academic, but rarely flexes her intellectual muscle, preferring to work with her hands in the garage-or in the field. In fact, the only time she isn't smoking is when the machines need fixin'. She keeps most of her past to herself.

In combat, she's a half-decent shot with her rifle, but she also carries a kit of tools and medical supplies-just in case someone needs a patch or the tank needs another field repair. She's no fighter, though, and she would prefer to stay behind sandbags.

Class: Engineer
Age: 24
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
Build: Slim
Height: A little shorter then average.

Derp, forgot the questionarie.


1: Prefer free form.

2: Honestly, we should do our own thing. Following the plot of the game could be fun, but I'd prefer us to be unique.

3: Well, see my image.

4: Not that I can think of.

[MissFire]

Apparently Sarah and Gaige both went to the same tattoo parlor. And the same 'Looking Cool With Cigarettes' class.

[Angie]

I don't see anything wrong with this. Heck, they might know each other.

[MissFire]

Maybe Gaige was a regular patron of Sarah's bar and when Sarah signed up for the militia, Gaige did as well. Gaige would probably be the only person on the squad that knows Sarah and doesn't instantly dislike her, or something.

[Angie]

Maybe Gaige was a regular patron of Sarah's bar and when Sarah signed up for the militia, Gaige did as well. Gaige would probably be the only person on the squad that knows Sarah and doesn't instantly dislike her, or something.

That could work. I can in fact see that working.

[Scribbles]

So, it seemed smoking was the "in" thing for this squad, surprisingly difficult to find! I'm not done yet but I only need to fill in a few tiny gaps, so the general idea is basically there!



Bang, headshot!

Private 1st Class Camille "Snapshot" d'Aubigne is a by-the-book recruit who boasts an impeccable academic record -- top marks in saluting, keeping a tidy uniform, and all that other super-important stuff -- and yet very little in the way of actual field experience. She was well known amongst her colleagues for being an exceptionally keen shot, easily dominating in the firing range, but mostly she was notorious for her patronizing attitude and gall to talk down to superiors. She earned her nickname more for her know-it-all behaviour and near perfect form and presence than her ability to take down targets quickly and efficiently, she rarely had a hair out of place, even during drills. This had many of her colleagues equating her with someone you'd see within a snapshot rather than a uniform. It was this attitude which also had her assigned to squad seven, beneath the most rowdy lieutenant in the army, whether as a punishment, lesson or a bad joke is anyone's guess.

Class: Sniper
Age: 21
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Black
Build: Athletic
Height: Tall

*Sigh* - Camille


Strengths: Camille is the sort of soldier every commander wants, good at following orders, fit and healthy, eager to prove herself, and yet such merits are generally quashed by an annoyingly patronizing attitude. Despite this quirk, she'll rarely move beyond grumbling or questioning an order to outright rejecting it. The private's also quite the acrobatic, able to traverse most types of terrain quite efficiently, whether it's up steep walls, trees or cliff faces, she is adept at setting up her sniper's nest almost anywhere on the battlefield. That said, she's no scout, running is for plebeians -- plus she was horrible at it but mostly it's the "pleb" thing. Otherwise, give her a gun and a target and Camille will shine on the battlefield, both with pistol or rifle.

Weakness: Cigars, wine, and scones, but for her squad's sake, she will survive with cigarettes, water, and rations. Never let it be said that Camille didn't sacrifice for the good of the team! That said, she's not the sort to willingly crawl in the mud or engage in other such soldier-like activities, that's the sort of work reserved for the lesser important shocktroops and scouts, right? As for function on the field, Camille isn't the fastest soldier, or the strongest, she's also extremely arrogant and tends to underestimate her enemies. Last but not least, she has never been shot or stabbed or hurt in any fashion before, so that probably won't end well...

[Angie]

With any luck, you won't have the Sniper Curse.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

MY FUCKING SNIPER COULD ONLY HIT 1 OUT OF 10 SHOTS AND EVERY MOTHERFUCKING SCHMALZI GORMTROOPER AIMED FOR HIS STUPID FACE! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[Scribbles]

Haha, sorry, all I heard was a whoosh as the reference flew over...

Hopefully she isn't cursed at all, it's going to be tough enough being so absolutely "loved" by the squad once she opens her mouth for the first few times!

[Angie]

Less a reference, more like a "goddamnit, you're a Sniper!" joke.

[Scribbles]

Haha, now I feel silly, it seems so obvious at a second glance! Definitely something to keep my fingers crossed over, especially if this leans towards a dice system...

[Dynamod]

Would possibly be interested in playing, I need to read through this in more detail to determine though; probably later tonight while at work.

[pendarious]

I'm totally interested and will have a character up soon.......I've just got to decide on a class and what sort of person I want the character to be really *chuckles* OR people given I have a knack for playing multiple characters.


1) Do you want freeform battles or something dice based?

I prefer freeform but if you choose it I can do dice systems

2) Do you want to follow the game's outline (ie; do all the battles in the order they appeared in-game), or make up some new ones?

while I say we should do the Major battles mostly in order I also think we should make up battles of our own as well. After all I don't think a war is really composed of that few battles.


3) Realistic character images, animated images, or let people choose what they want?

I say let people go with what they want (despite personally having a preference for anime style pics)

4) Do you have any ideas for things we should add? (ie; plot elements, game systems, etc.)

I'll let ya know if anything comes up

[rikka]

1) Do you want freeform battles or something dice based?

I prefer a dice based or at least some mechanic that resolves situations. Otherwise snipers will have headshot chains, or lancers doing one shot tank kills.

2) Do you want to follow the game's outline (ie; do all the battles in the order they appeared in-game), or make up some new ones?

Make something up new, but that's just me, since I have played the game some time ago and will be familiar with scenes and situations when they come up.

3) Realistic character images, animated images, or let people choose what they want?

Leave to individual taste. For me, anime style.

4) Do you have any ideas for things we should add? (ie; plot elements, game systems, etc.)

Hope there will be no Valkyrie on the Squad 7 side? It will just open up to a deus ex machima.