Gundam, Zoids, Battletech, or an original Mecha Universe (Interest check linked)

[Saria]

That doesn't look so bad. Although, maybe you should mention to add a note for weapons/armaments that aren't part of a mech's standard layout. As I understand it, Joseph is going to "borrow" a mech, then add some stuff to it.

[King Serperior]

That doesn't look so bad. Although, maybe you should mention to add a note for weapons/armaments that aren't part of a mech's standard layout. As I understand it, Joseph is going to "borrow" a mech, then add some stuff to it.

True, very true.  This should do the trick:

[img height=300 padding=10*]http://MECH IMAGE URL HERE[/img]

Chassis:  Mech Frame
Model:  If it is a standard-issue mech, name the model;  If it is a custom design, just leave it as 'Custom'
Weight Class:  Battle Armor, Light, Medium, Heavy, or Colossal
Weight:  Mech's weight as well as maximum weight.
Height:  Mech's height
Mech Name/Callsign:  If the mech is named, list it;  If it has a callsign instead, list that.
Armaments (Standard Layout):  List the mech's standard weapon systems;  Each system should be noted as fixed or not (I.E. can it be removed and replaced with another weapon?);  Basically, the weapons that the mech starts with.
Armaments (Non-Standard):  List any additional and/or replaced weapons on the mech.
Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard):  Anything that isn't a weapons system (I.E. adaptive camouflage, jump jets, Advanced targeting systems, ect); Note whether they are standard or nonstandard.
Strengths:  List at least three things this mech excels at, both in and out of combat (I.E. Hands, mobility, armor, ect)
Weaknesses:  List at least three things this mech has difficulty with both in and out of combat (I.E. Very loud, slow reload/recharging weapons, limited mobility. ect).
Overall Description:  A short, detailed description of the mech that the picture doesn't show.

[Karma]

Name: Athena Metaxas
Rank: Elite Contractor
Role: Engineer and mechanic, pilot when necessary
Nicknames: Meta, Queen Bitch
Call sign: Hephaestus
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Explosive and selfish
Height: 175 cm (5' 9")
Weight: 56 kg (125 lb)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Skin: White
Physique: Slender just short of malnourished
Distinguishing marks/accessories: Arms and legs are peppered with scars of all sizes from her rigorous work ethic designing and implementing mech technology. Sides and inner arms are crisscrossed with self-inflicted but incredibly intricate Greek script that appears to be complete gibberish even in Greek.

Appearance:
Athena is an undeniably beautiful woman with the heart of an engineer. That is to say that she rarely takes any advantage of it; more often than not she is greasy, sweaty, and uninterested in doing anything about it until she finishes that “one last thing” that never seems to be completed. This often leaves her in boy shorts and clingy undershirts, for what it’s worth. Similarly, she’s known to rarely smile or laugh, taking great ownership of a classic “resting bitch face.” She’ll make a fantastic old witch one day.

Bio:
Athena’s father, Aineas, was once a well-respected aeronautics and bipedal robotics engineer. His designs were said to be truly genius; he was considered by his peers to be designing up to fifty years ahead of existing technology at any given time. It became a given that each new Metaxas design would require entirely new manufacturing processes to even test. The development of utilitarian mechanized armors into purebred weapons of war was a movement that Aineas Metaxas codified when he was still a young man; his legacy was great and terrible, and where lesser men would have buckled under the guilt, Aineas was focused only on the next big thing. His diligence and genius made him wealthy and highly sought-after, though not only for contracts. When Athena was only twelve, she watched from a closet as “peace activists” put a violent end to him. Humans are weak, she learned that day. We need to become something stronger.

Born of a rather short-lived tryst with a popular actress, Athena’s beauty and inheritance could have bought her a life of ease and luxury even in a world such as this. Though she had her mother’s gifts, she also had her father’s: mechanical genius and deep-seated sociopathy. She pored over Aineas’ prodigious notes after he died and proceeded to burn them all once they were settled in her head. By the time she should have been starting college, she was already spearheading the resurgence of Metaxas Defense Industries to the fore of government-contracted mechanized infantry work. Once her father’s legacy had been assured, she became a recluse, working feverishly on the project, as of yet, has not borne any publicly known fruit.

Athena views modern mecha as bloated abominations. Though it was primarily her father’s doing, she can be easily goaded into ranting about how pointless it is for a simple gun platform to have feet instead of treads. While her father’s company continues supplying much of the world with the very mecha she hates, she has continued private work on her magnum opus. Force amplification is a concept basic to physics and can be seen in tools as simple as levers and pulleys. It is this concept that underlies her Human Amplification Suit, or HAS. Powered assistance mechanisms have existed for centuries, but never with the fully natural feel of the HAS. It is her greatest work, and few know about it yet.

Personality: Athena is cold, misanthropic, and brilliant. The only thing that matters to her is research and development, and she possesses a disturbing lack of discretion about what methods are used to enable it. She is not an especially talented combatant, and has seen little direct action, but has spent thousands upon thousands of hours tuning and improving her HAS as well as the HEE (Hostility Escalation Exoskeleton) that it docks with, which has given an her extremely exact sense of what it is capable of. She takes little interest in her own well being. She spends inordinate amounts of time working on and wearing the HAS, barely sleeping or eating, and it has left her health in a sorry state. While some of her muscles are toned from working endless hours with her hands, most of them have atrophied to at least some extent. In her suit she's the strongest person on the planet, but out of it she can't walk quickly for long without getting winded, among other things.



Mech data forthcoming.

[Ralhend]

given the current way that technology is advancing, perhaps we need to give holograms and augmented reality a look...


I want to say the standard for a computer interface would be holographic...   
Maybie not true holograms but beams of light projected directly onto the retina, so that the recipient sees shapes and objects floating around in front of them, sort of like a 3d windows 10 interface, with the keyboards projected onto a slate of metal...    Its fewer moving parts, and it wouldnt be that hard to implement redundant systems should something go wrong...

I really dont think a manual pilot-by-wire system could apply here, since the human body does not possess the strength to actually move a mech's limbs per se...

Also,  augmented reality systems for combat applications, IE the soldier wears a pair of shades, and there is a HUD with ammo in the magazine, a virtual laser dot for where the weapon is pointed, flash protection, lowlight, and other such things are not that far away.  Its fair to assume that kind of tech is commonly produced and cheap at this point?

[Saria]

given the current way that technology is advancing, perhaps we need to give holograms and augmented reality a look...

I figured augmented reality is commonplace, and soldiers and mech pilots would all use versions of it that not only do the things you mentioned, but also share combat information across the battlefield. For example, a mech pilot's heads-up display or visor would show which mechs are friendlies and which are not, who's targeting what, where the mission objectives are, terrain info, etc.. That's what I figured the systems in Deepika's mech do: collect data through all her sensors, then share that data with her teammates, so that even if they're blinded by thick smoke or it's pitch black at night, they can still "see" the battlefield clearly.

I can't imagine what use holography would be, though. I would presume it exists - I mean, it exists today. But it's really rather useless, other than for art or gimmicks - neither of which are really what military hardware is about.

I want to say the standard for a computer interface would be holographic...   
Maybie not true holograms but beams of light projected directly onto the retina, so that the recipient sees shapes and objects floating around in front of them, sort of like a 3d windows 10 interface, with the keyboards projected onto a slate of metal...    Its fewer moving parts, and it wouldnt be that hard to implement redundant systems should something go wrong...

I suppose those kinds of interfaces might be available in this world, but I can't imagine anyone would put it in a combat mech. If the mech takes a good whack, and the image projectors get knocked out of alignment with the sensors that detect where your fingers are by just a few fractions of a degree, you may touch the "fire" button only to find the "eject" triggered.

Military equipment in general isn't really about bells and whistles, it's about what will continue to work even after it's been soaked with salt water, buried in sand, slammed by an artillery round, burned by an EMP and whacked with a baseball bat by a disgruntled operator. I mean, this is the cockpit of the most advanced fighter plane in the US military right now. Yeah, that's basically Pac-Man level graphics, in a $150 million plane introduced in 2005. And those are all manual switches and buttons. If it weren't for the multicolour displays, that cockpit wouldn't look out of place in the 1970s.

The cockpit of the next-generation plane in development is an entirely different matter, though. The whole thing is basically just two eight by ten inch touch screen displays (two screens so that if one fails, you still have the other as a back up). And the helmet has an augmented reality system that tracks your head movements, so as you look around, the data follows (so you can look to your left, and see the target marks over the plane on your left, friend or foe). Even so, it still uses physical flight controls, and buttons and switches for some of the key systems, like fire control (and the eject lever).

Besides, it wouldn't be a particularly great control system if it required a whole keyboard to tap-tap on. You want the pilot's eyes up... looking out on the battle through the heads-up display, not looking down to see which button she's pressing. There's a good reason all the key controls for combat are right on the control stick of a fighter plane - the pilot doesn't have to, for example, let go of the stick to reach up and touch a button on their helmet to talk over the radio; the push-to-talk button is right on the control stick. A fighter pilot has a ton of buttons and controls on the dash to press before entering combat... but once engaged, her hands never leave the yoke and throttle, and her eyes almost never look down at the instruments (that's why there's a heads-up display in the first place).

I really dont think a manual pilot-by-wire system could apply here, since the human body does not possess the strength to actually move a mech's limbs per se...

I'm not sure, but I think you have your terminology mixed up. Fly-by-wire doesn't mean there are wires and pulleys and such connecting the control stick to the control surfaces. That's the opposite of fly-by-wire. Fly-by-wire means everything is electric (or, more recently, electronic) - there is no physical connection between the control stick and the control surfaces.

All modern planes (other than tiny ones) are fly-by-wire, and not just because of force. Many modern fighter planes would simply be impossible to fly manually, because they are dynamically unstable. Most planes are dynamically stable, meaning that if you hold the controls steady and a gust of wind hits the plane, the plane would eventually balance out and level off (hopefully before hitting the ground, or stalling out). Fighter planes are dynamically unstable, meaning if every little buffet of wind threatens to throw the plane out of control. This makes the plane astonishingly manoeuvrable, but utterly impossible for a human to practically fly. You need the help of the avionics.

I would imagine all mechs are fly-by-wire, too. You push the stick forward, and the mech walks forward (basically)... and the avionics handle all the minutia like uneven terrain, shifting weight as it takes each step, and so on.

[King Serperior]

Name:  Angela Blair
Rank:  N/A;  Civilian
Role:  Pro Mech Fighter
Nicknames:  Often called 'Angel of Destruction' in the arena or just 'Angel'
Callsign:  N/A
Age:  24
Gender:  Female
Sexuality:  Straight, but curious
Height:  5'5" (165cm)
Weight:  125lbs (57kg)
Eyes:  Green
Hair:  Red, straight, cut to shoulder length, often gets cut shorter if it gets too much to handle
Skin:  Lightly tanned
Physique:  Healthy and lithe
Distinguishing Marks:  Tattoo of a purple rose on left shoulder.

Appearance:  Like the image, for the most part. =>;  Appears rather pixie-like.  Despite that, she is very much tomboyish, though she does occasionally like to make sure she looks decent.  In all honesty, she looks more like the kind of girl who should be a model instead of a mech fighter.  More often than not, her looks cause her opponents to underestimate her. 

Bio:  Angela was born on one of the small colonies on Earth's moon and was raised by her grandparents, her parents owning a few decently-sized factories that build and repair mechs.  She was born on the moon because her parents didn't want her to live on Earth which was no place for a child to grow up on due to the fighting going on in some areas and the intense mech combat in the more peaceful countries.  So, the first ten years of her life was spent going to one of the better schools on the moon and growing up.  Despite that, she discovered the joys of Mech Combat when she was 10 after watching an underdog pilot defeat a champion pilot in a wild 1v1 match.  From that day forward, she was interested in combat mechs.  By the time she was thirteen, she learned how to drive a small loader mech, the very one that that her grandfather drove to load and unload shipping containers at the colony's main port.  When she was sixteen, she caught the attention of someone who worked on the mech combat circuit.  It turned out that the guy had never seen someone so young pilot a machine like that with such ease and thought she had potential.  By the time she was eighteen, she was piloting a Light mech and winning one-vs-one battles with little effort in the lower leagues of the circuit.  By the time she was twenty, she'd upgraded to a Heavy mech and was working on two-man teams for a change.  However, she quickly found that her style of battle clashed with most of the teammates' she sided with.  By the time she was twenty-one, she'd won one of the larger tournaments and that supplied her enough money, along with the selling of her winning Heavy mech, to buy a custom Colossal mech.

Her parents, having followed her progress, helped her upgrade and work on her newest mech which was based on an 'Omni-Shell' system, one of the most adaptable of the Colossal Mech shells.  Her parents were thrilled to learn that she was planning on piloting the newest mech type and helped upgrade it according to her strengths.  Thus, the Ragnarok was born.

Angela eventually took this machine to win a number of smaller championships and excelled in Free-for-all battles.  In just two years, she achieved enough victories and made friends in key locations to receive an invite to this year's grand championship as one of three Dark Horse picks.  There, she fought her way to 7th place, surprising a number of people with her skill and dogged determination.  After such a hard-fought victory, reaching the top ten in that tournament, she and Ragnarok returned to the Moon for repairs, upgrades, and reloading.  She planned to stay there for a few weeks before returning to Earth just in time to enter the new season.

Chassis:  Hexapod Omni-Shell
Model:  Custom Design
Weight Class:  Colossal
Weight:  125 tons (Standard loadout, fully loaded); 180 tons (Maximum carry weight)
Height:
Top Speed:  40kph (25mph)
Mech Name:  Ragnarok
Armaments (Standard Layout):
Rail Gun:  Central weapon and main gun, the Rail Gun fires a long piece of hardened Tungsten that is designed to penetrate even through cover.  It can only fire one shot before requiring reloading and requires a three second charge time before firing.  However, once fired, the seven pound projectile travels at speeds that exceed Mach 6, making a direct hit devastating.  It takes 10 seconds (5 with the custom ammo delivery system) to load up a new projectile.  The weapon has an effective range of nearly 20 kilometers, each projectile losing nearly no velocity when it reaches its target.  The Rail Gun has a total of 100 projectiles, more than eight the number she would ever need in the arena, theoretically anyway.  As the main gun, the Rail Gun cannot be removed without completely altering the mech's frame.
Minigun:  Mounted just above and to the right of the main gun, the Minigun is designed for closer work than the Rail Gun and can help pin down a close-range target while the main gun charges and takes aim.  The minigun fires depleted uranium rounds that can tear apart smaller mechs, vehicles, and personnel with ease.  Fully loaded, the minigun has a total of 720,000 rounds of ammo and the gun fires at a rate of 12,000 rounds per minute.  It takes about a second for the barrel to spin up before it fires.  The minigun can be removed and/or replaced if needs be.
2x 14-Missile Pods:  Featuring 14 explosive high-yield missiles, these pods are mounted on the just above, behind, and to the left and right of the main gun in a half-hexagonal, half-cube launcher whose safety covering can flick open to rain either direct or suppressing fire on the targets.  Each missile carries a high-yield payload and travels at 350 mph towards its target.  Each missile can be fired either individually or at the same time as any number of others, providing either precise attacks or an overwhelming assault.  Each pod has three full pods of replacements, totaling 84 missiles overall, though the missile pods must be emptied before the replacement set can be loaded (which takes up to thirty seconds).  The Missile Pods are set on rotating turrets and, as such, are currently only weapons that can be fired backwards on Ragnarok.  It is mainly used to pin down a target, get them out of cover, or for pure offensive purposes.  Both missile pods can be removed and/or replaced.
Armaments (Non-Standard):  N/A
Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard): 
Ammo Delivery System:  Halves the time it takes to reload ammo.  Extremely important for the Rail Gun's lower reload rate.
Target Lock:  Makes the Rail Gun and Missile System much more accurate and deadly; Limited range, but once a target is locked onto, target lock remains even if the target is out of sight for almost 60s.
6x Gripping Claws:  Under each leg is a 'foot' with a 4-prong gripping claw that allows the mech to grab the ground to help reduce recoil and provide extra stability.
Fortress Armour:  The mech doesn't need speed, rather it needs heavy armor to survive in the arena while picking off targets.  Even for it's weight class, the Ragnarok's armor is substantial. 
Basic Sensors and Communications Equipment:  Designed for the arena, these sensors and communications are of limited range.

Strengths: 
Powerful Weaponry:  It is rare that a mech has the stopping power of two Missile Pods, a Rail Gun, a Minigun, and enough ammo to hold back a small army.  The Ragnarok has this stopping power, making it a deadly threat on the battlefield.
Extremely Heavy Armor:  Backing up the weaponry is the massive slabs of armor coating nearly every surface of the mech.  It is a true juggernaut in the arena, able to shrug off attacks that would cripple smaller mechs.  The Ragnarok once survived a missile barrage of more than 100 Swarmers with barely any damage, walking out of the smoke to blast the legs off the smaller mech it was facing.
Very Stable Firing Platform: Six legs and six gripping claws allows the mech to accurately fire it's weapons on just about any terrain while on the move.
Massive Power Source:  It takes a LOT to power this behemoth of a mech and it's fusion engine is one of the most powerful of it's weight class.
Pilot Protection:  The pilot sits deep inside the mech, protected from nearly all assaults.  It is theorized that, when the cockpit is sealed, the pilot could survive a nuclear blast due to the mech's massive, thick armor and the cockpit's sealing system.
Ranged Combat:  A combination of missile fire and the massive range of the Rail Gun's projectiles allows it to cut down targets before they get into range.

Weaknesses: 
Size:  Being an Colossal mech, it's size means that it is a big target.
Noise:  The Ragnarok is pretty much impossible to use silently, so sneaky tactics are out of the question.
Speed:  Though the Ragnarok has a powerful power source and is fairly quick for it's size and weight, it is still fairly slow, maxing out at 40kph.
No Hands:  Due to it's design, it has no hands to use in delicate situations.
Close Range:  Due to the weapons systems, the Ragnarok's main defense at close range is it's Minigun as the Rail Gun fires too slowly to make it useful beyond a single shot.  As such, when dealing with small, fast targets, assistance by allies is appreciated.

Overall Description:  Ragnarok is a large, somewhat squat, Hexapod mech with thick armor plating covering nearly all of the mech's body.  Due to it's increased weight and the way it's legs are designed, it is not very fast or agile.  It's thick legs instead provide stability when firing it's weapons, no matter the terrain.  Each leg has gripping claws that allow it to grip the ground and stand it's ground while the pilot aims and fires it's weaponry.  Ragnarok has the Blair Factory Logo (a purple rose) printed on it to represent it's pilot's family's factories.  Other than that, it can easily be painted multiple coloration, but it is usually a rusty brown, giving it the illusion of it being little more than a giant rust bucket.  The main gun is the largest and most central of the armaments and is the most powerful ranged weapon the Ragnarok has (Though a full barrage of missiles outdoes it).  The Minigun is more for closer work and the missile pod is for pinning down targets until Ragnarok can bring it's other weapons to bear.  The heavy armor on the legs provide additional protection.

[Ralhend]

Well damn, I'm actually wrong...

Saria, thanks for straightening me out on my terminology and what military hardware is designed for...

Anyways, I have everything I need, ready when you guys are

[King Serperior]

Anyways, I have everything I need, ready when you guys are

Well, there's a few things we need to do before we're actually ready.  For one thing, Karma said he's going to be off on a trip for a couple of days, so we'll wait on him for that.  Another thing is that there's someone who's interested, but they require another day or two before it's known if they are able to join us or not.  Also, you, Saria, and Karma don't have completed Character Sheets, so we need to get those details down.  There's no major rush for the reasons stated above.

Another thing about waiting is that one other person may see this and catch the interest, thus we will be closer to that magical number of 6, which is the max number I was looking for for this game.

[Karma]

Theoretically I can work on the mech details tonight, but I can't promise anything.

[King Serperior]

It's not a problem.  You enjoy your trip.  There's no rush nor obligation to finish tonight.   :-)

[Karma]

Well I want to work on it but I might just be too tired. :)

[King Serperior]

Haha, well, I can't wait to see what your mech's like!  It'll be very interesting to see how the inner and outer shells contrast (if they do) beyond size differences.

[Ralhend]

Also, you, Saria, and Karma don't have completed Character Sheets, so we need to get those details down.

Do we have a standardized character sheet format somewhere that I wasn't aware of?

but yeah, I'm in no hurry or rush, I just bought a new video card for my computer, and I'm breaking it in playing ARK

[King Serperior]

Do we have a standardized character sheet format somewhere that I wasn't aware of?

but yeah, I'm in no hurry or rush, I just bought a new video card for my computer, and I'm breaking it in playing ARK

Technically, no, there isn't one in one place.  However, I used the format Saria used for her character.  Then, she and I discussed an idea for the Mech side of the Sheet.  So, if you look a few posts up, you'll see my final character sheet for both mech and pilot.   The only thing I am missing is the Ragnarok's height, which I am not sure what it should be.

[Saria]

Sexuality: Explosive and selfish

:P

Saria, thanks for straightening me out on my terminology and what military hardware is designed for...

Oh, no worries. I'm not actually military, but I have worked extensively with the (Canadian) military, and I (used to) have top secret clearance (which I let expire).

(Having top secret clearance in the Canadian Armed Forces means I know Canada's top military secret. But I'll never spill it, even if you torture me! I'll never tell where we keep the keys to the boat! ~shakes fist~)

Working with the military is a bit of a pain in the ass, because they're extremely demanding, and have their own bizarre and idiosyncratic standards and ways of doing things. You'd have surreal conversations like: "How do we move the bracket out of the way for loading?" "No problem, we'll just put a little cylinder right there to push it aside." "What if a solider gets frustrated and kicks it? Wouldn't that knock it out of alignment and lock up the whole thing?" "Why the fuck would someone-?!? *sigh* Alright, fine, I'll find another way...."

On the one hand I like working with the military because mmmm yummy beefcake in uniform make Saria happy, but honestly, the only people more frustrating to work with than them is the American auto industry ~shudder~. It's the 21st century! Get metric, people!

Also, you, Saria, and Karma don't have completed Character Sheets, so we need to get those details down.  There's no major rush for the reasons stated above.

Yup, I've been slacking for 3 reasons. 1) Karma's taking the weekend off, so that gives me an excuse to procrastinate. :P 2) I hold out hope that we might attract another player. And 3) while skimming the thread King Serperior's character sheet is in (I was looking for other character sheets to get a sense of what other things to use in my own), I found a link that has intrigued me, and has been distracting me considerably. :P

Another thing about waiting is that one other person may see this and catch the interest, thus we will be closer to that magical number of 6, which is the max number I was looking for for this game.

I was wondering if we should move this thread to the "seeking players" forum. Or even better, create a new thread (because I've found people tend not to join when the thread already looks too big - plus they're disinclined to read through).

Now that we've got things a little more settled than what this thread's title suggests, we could create a thread where the first post is an info dump about the world we've planned so far, the type of game we want it to be, and so on. Then each of us could repost our character/mech profiles there (and the first post can link to them so everything's easy to find - and link back to this thread too).

We could even reuse our profile posts to keep track of changes over the course of the game: For example, Angela's post would have her profile and the Ragnarok's profile... then if at some point in the game the Ragnarok's minigun is replace with a beam weapon, you could add an {hr} and make note of the change... and if she dyes her hair to avoid being recognized, and other {hr} and the change... so each character's profile post tracks the progress of them, their mech, their inventory, and whatever else you want to track... you could even make notes about major changes to the character's beliefs and opinions, or traumatic things that happened to them. So basically, each character's post has their starting info at the top, then becomes a sort of diary of their progress in the game.

[King Serperior]

Yup, I've been slacking for 3 reasons. 1) Karma's taking the weekend off, so that gives me an excuse to procrastinate. :P

:P 

2) I hold out hope that we might attract another player.

True, very true.  I'm holding out hope that the person I mentioned earlier will join us.  They're a very good writer and extremely creative.   :D  If we can maybe find one final person to max out our six-player party, that would be great!

And 3) while skimming the thread King Serperior's character sheet is in (I was looking for other character sheets to get a sense of what other things to use in my own), I found a link that has intrigued me, and has been distracting me considerably. :P

Oh?  Well, I am certainly interested in what you've found and what this link may be.  Feel free to PM me. 

I was wondering if we should move this thread to the "seeking players" forum. Or even better, create a new thread (because I've found people tend not to join when the thread already looks too big - plus they're disinclined to read through).

Now that we've got things a little more settled than what this thread's title suggests, we could create a thread where the first post is an info dump about the world we've planned so far, the type of game we want it to be, and so on. Then each of us could repost our character/mech profiles there (and the first post can link to them so everything's easy to find - and link back to this thread too).

That is a good idea.  Though, we should make a note that, at the moment, there is only one open space remaining until we hear back from the interested party.  If they are unable, then we edit to say that it's two spots open instead.  Saria, would you like to make the interest thread in the 'seeking players' board?

We could even reuse our profile posts to keep track of changes over the course of the game: For example, Angela's post would have her profile and the Ragnarok's profile... then if at some point in the game the Ragnarok's minigun is replace with a beam weapon, you could add an {hr} and make note of the change... and if she dyes her hair to avoid being recognized, and other {hr} and the change... so each character's profile post tracks the progress of them, their mech, their inventory, and whatever else you want to track... you could even make notes about major changes to the character's beliefs and opinions, or traumatic things that happened to them. So basically, each character's post has their starting info at the top, then becomes a sort of diary of their progress in the game.

I like this idea.  *nods*  You are a genius for certain!   :D

[Saria]

That is a good idea.  Though, we should make a note that, at the moment, there is only one open space remaining until we hear back from the interested party.  If they are unable, then we edit to say that it's two spots open instead.

Yup, that would work.

Saria, would you like to make the interest thread in the 'seeking players' board?

Sure. I'll prototype it here, so we can all work out (or in) the kinks, then once it's quality, post it in the other forum.

*nods*  You are a genius for certain!   :D

~srsfaces and puts a hand on Serpy's shoulder~ Yes. Yes, I am.

Haha, no, in all seriousness, while I have zero experience GMing on Elliquiy, I have a ton doing it elsewhere. My previous experience is almost entirely all romance-based games, but one of the things I really liked to do was experiment and innovate with the formula.

For example, I pioneered things like using GraphViz to chart "love dodecahedrons" between the characters (which were so popular I ended up writing tutorials so other people could make them too). I also tried things like games where characters had no back-story at all (they were literally "born" the moment the game started, so no one could use past trauma to justify character development, and every character's personality had to be defined in game by what they did and how they interacted with other characters), and games where secret messages could be passed between characters that not only were did the characters not know where they were coming from but the players didn't either, and games that were like massive social experiments with a deranged experimenter mixing and matching pairs and putting them into "interesting" situations.

Character journals is something I've worked with before, where each character would get their own thread, which would not only include their profile, it would include posts for tracking status, inventory, relationships, and their "thoughts and feelings" journal about major in-game events. Obviously a mech game doesn't need that much drama-tracking. :P But keeping track of major incidents and changes to the character or mech might make sense.

So really, all this is just playing to my strengths. :P

[Karma]

*_*

[King Serperior]

Yup, that would work.

Sure. I'll prototype it here, so we can all work out (or in) the kinks, then once it's quality, post it in the other forum.

Great!  ^_^

~srsfaces and puts a hand on Serpy's shoulder~ Yes. Yes, I am.

Haha, no, in all seriousness, while I have zero experience GMing on Elliquiy, I have a ton doing it elsewhere. My previous experience is almost entirely all romance-based games, but one of the things I really liked to do was experiment and innovate with the formula.

For example, I pioneered things like using GraphViz to chart "love dodecahedrons" between the characters (which were so popular I ended up writing tutorials so other people could make them too). I also tried things like games where characters had no back-story at all (they were literally "born" the moment the game started, so no one could use past trauma to justify character development, and every character's personality had to be defined in game by what they did and how they interacted with other characters), and games where secret messages could be passed between characters that not only were did the characters not know where they were coming from but the players didn't either, and games that were like massive social experiments with a deranged experimenter mixing and matching pairs and putting them into "interesting" situations.

Character journals is something I've worked with before, where each character would get their own thread, which would not only include their profile, it would include posts for tracking status, inventory, relationships, and their "thoughts and feelings" journal about major in-game events. Obviously a mech game doesn't need that much drama-tracking. :P But keeping track of major incidents and changes to the character or mech might make sense.

So really, all this is just playing to my strengths. :P

O.o

Wow.  That sounds like something that would confuse me faster than I don't know what!  Better you than me on that as I likely wouldn't be able to keep track of all that.  >.>

[Saria]

Wow.  That sounds like something that would confuse me faster than I don't know what!  Better you than me on that as I likely wouldn't be able to keep track of all that.  >.>

Oh, there's not actually much to keep track of! Romance RPs are easy to manage - there's no fighting (at least, no combat), so you don't need to worry about godmoding, twinking, or any of that stuff, really. Mostly you just need to be good at keeping info up front and available for all players, and watching out for couples pairing up and balkanizing the game; you don't really need to vet it or worry about balance.

By the way: THIS RP NEEDS A NAME! Suggestions? I'm terrible at naming things.

[King Serperior]

Oh, there's not actually much to keep track of! Romance RPs are easy to manage - there's no fighting (at least, no combat), so you don't need to worry about godmoding, twinking, or any of that stuff, really. Mostly you just need to be good at keeping info up front and available for all players, and watching out for couples pairing up and balkanizing the game; you don't really need to vet it or worry about balance.

Heh, believe me.  I'd find some way to overcomplicate and confuse things.  >.>

By the way: THIS RP NEEDS A NAME! Suggestions? I'm terrible at naming things.

I'm not the best at naming things either.  Lately, I have been keeping game names fairly simple.  For example, 'Under Fire' is nice and simple and describes the situation they'll be in when things go south.  Another idea is 'Against All Odds' which describes the fact that not only are they behind enemy lines and in dangerous territory, but also the fact that they are the most unlikely group to survive each other, let alone a conflict against a common foe!

[Karma]

HOT CHIX IN GIANT ROBOTZ

A new mechsploitation film coming to a grindhouse near you!

[Saria]

Karma wins the naming game.

I was toying with the idea of using "heavy metal" in the name, just because it sounds badass. And if it starts with that, the next word has to start with 'M' to make it roll off the tongue. Like, because they're on a long trek to safety, "Heavy Metal March", or "Heavy Metal Magellan". So I need a cool 'M' word.

Though if I'm going to do it Karma's way, I suppose it should be "Heavy Metal Maidens Making Out". :P

[Karma]

Dude, Heavy Metal Magellan is Super Robot AS FUCK. Consider my vote going to that.

"MAGERAN, Asena, deru ze!"

[King Serperior]

Oh ha ha.  :P

On that note, it's getting a bit late on my end, so I'll think up some ideas tomorrow.