Hello From DarthAussie

[DarthAussie]

Hello,

I was browsing /r/worldbuilding a couple of days ago and came across a comment about Star Army and thought it looked very detailed. A lot of love has gone into this community.
I'm 16, so I probably haven't RP'ed as much as some of you, about 6 years of computer game RP and 1 year of a form of post-by-post RP in which you run a country. For the most part I've done serious RP based on many tabletop game rules (No one really to play table top games with IRL), however I'm still petty much a novice on the stat and skill building for those.
I really enjoy worldbuilding and story building processes, especially when they have been grown by a community over a long period.

Looking over the wiki for a bit I feel that the Freespacer faction just popped right out at me, so I'm leaning towards that. It also reminds me of the Mandalorians of Star Wars, who are a nomadic group, welcoming of many races, often hired as freelancers, mercenaries and bounty hunters, with a strong code of morality.
There are quite a lot more occupations than I expected as well.
Also, excuse my ignorance, but how does currency/economy work here? I definitely don't want to stay within the limits and not annoy people with too many posessions.

Anyway, thank you for reading this and responding in advance. I hope to have an enjoyable time with you guys, as well as make your time more enjoyable.

 

[Floodwaters]

Greetings, and welcome to Star Army!

First, I have to say that for a 16 year old, you already appear to write very well; in fact, better than some people twice your age! Well done!

The Freespacers aren't quite like the Mandalorians, in that they are a much more loosely bound faction, and there are a number of Freespacer characters not affiliated with the Free State out there. While some comparisons could possibly be drawn, they don't adhere to a single set of unifying traits necessarily, and you have a bit more freedom in what kind of character you would play.

As for the economy, I'm afraid that it's one of the weaker aspects of this universe in that it isn't very well balanced and thought out, but since most of the RP threads (called "plots" here) are focused more on character development and story rather than numbers and statistical data, much of that gets hand-waved. What is considered acceptable starting equipment may vary wildly depending on which plot and/or GM you wish to join up with, but the safest place to start would be the new player's guide. There is a template listed on the creating a character page, but bear in mind that the guidelines listed there are geared strongly towards starting with the "main" factions. The best thing I can tell you is basically just to "keep it reasonable." Give your character a modest but believable inventory (including flavor items like clothing, personal items, trinkets, etc, not just weapons and armor!) that fits well with their established background, and submit it to the GM you wish to play with. The character approval staff and the prospective GM will help you from there.

With that said, Star Army was originally created as a sci-fi military roleplaying community, and the majority of the RP activity here still leans heavily towards that. However, there has been a recent emergence of independent plots, focused more on freelancers, adventurers, smugglers, pirates, and their ilk. I myself run one called The Fringe, which is modeled as something of a blend between Firefly and the Star Wars Outer Rim with our own personal flavors smattered in. In fact, I am currently in the process of trying to further develop star systems that lie outside the scope of the big empires in order to give such plots a stomping ground that isn't as heavily policed as the core empires.

The list of active plots can be found here, along with their posting speed, the current GM, and their status. If you see one that sounds interesting, even if the plot is listed as "full," it may still be worth talking to the GM to ask questions, as sometimes that list may be out of date, or the plot may have one or two characters that are not keeping up and could be dropped to make room.

Also, we have an Open Roleplaying forum, in which events are considered non-canon or "quasi-canon" until further approval, but no prior approval is required for characters. If you want to just cut your teeth there, you could find another player to RP with and jump right in until you're comfortable enough to make your first official character (or submit your Open RP character for official approval). I myself would be willing to RP with you there, if you so desire.

If you wish, we have an IRC channel (#StarArmy), accessible via a link at the top of the forum page. There are also instructions on how to set up your own IRC client to connect to it on the main wiki page. Feel free to jump in and ask for more information, there is almost always someone available to help you out.

Again, welcome, and I hope you enjoy your time here!

 

[Wes]

Hello fellow Redditor! Coming from /r/worldbuilding I'm pretty confident you're full of awesome ideas. For the country-running RP, are you referring to Nationstates? I like that forum too. The Freespacers are indeed pretty awesome and they could use some love. Their original creator left a few years back so they're more free for anyone to use. Many of them live under the protection on Nepleslia, since Yamatai had a preemptive overreaction strike against them for consorting with their enemies, the tentacled Mishhuvurthyar, during the last major war, resulting in what became known as "The Freespacer Genocide." and Yamatai still at war with certain subsections of them (Wired Rovers [pirates], Guild of Cyberempathy [cyberterrorists], and anyone associated with the Independent Worlds League [rebels]). Despite this, occasional Freespacers can and do live or work in Yamatai and Yamatai tolerates them.

Also, excuse my ignorance, but how does currency/economy work here? I definitely don't want to stay within the limits and not annoy people with too many posessions.

For new characters, the rule of thumb is 3000 KS (Yamatai currency) or equivalent (look up currency exchange on the wiki) minus the rough cost of your starting item. There is some flexibility to this, and you can start off owing money in order to get a shuttle, example. When in doubt, free free to ask here.