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YE 36/2014 planning

Wes

Wes

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Hey Star Army! It's getting close to 2014, and that means the Star Army in-game year will change to YE 36! What does this mean for Star Army?

1. Theme Change

YE 35 was the year of exploration. GMs worked to make plots happen that showed new parts of the SARPiverse and to create a bigger "frontier" that would be a space for indie plots. Before that, we focused on aspects of the NMX war metaplot. In YE 36, i want to shift towards it being the year of development, where we take underutilized parts of the SARP, polish them up, and use them in the RP. This could be neglected species, planets, and characters, as well as revamps of existing locations that make them bigger and more friendly to RP in. More than anything I want to start putting more plot hooks in wiki articles, seeding the setting with RP fuel for both Open RP and future GMed plots.

2. End of the Year Events

We've got holidays coming! There's the Yuletide holidays, Lewis Pasco day, the Halloween Trick-or-Treat threads, and new years celebrations we have have in the RP. We should probably try to time-sync our plots as needed before December. This Sunday is also Plot Pride Day! It'll also be StarArmy.com's 10th anniversary of being created.
 
Well, I plan to continue updating and expanding the Hidden Sun Clan and its area naturally. I also plan on expanding the Saiki Cluster worlds, and those that are in the Bard Cluster since the 4SF is still under my control
 
Some ideas:
  1. The wiki is full of unfinished articles, most of which are abandoned. To help with this in the future, I am thinking we need a dedicated WIP namespace where all unapproved articles must be place until they get approved.
  2. A plot featuring Gashmere (Kodians) or Ohara (Phods) might be great, as it would allow extensive updates to those worlds and finally resolve the conflicts on them between the pro-alien and anti-alien factions.
  3. Rather than stubs we want to try to make each planet incredibly rich with familiar major RP locations. It's not enough to have planet stats, the planets need some personality and notable NPCs. Let's try to revisit planets more so that players have a reason to actually care about them.
  4. Instead of using the wiki as just a record of what happened, use it also as an RPG sourcebook for what could happen (e.g. fill it with plot ideas) so that Open RPers can be more self-sufficient.
  5. I'd like to have another international relations conference.
  6. Something needs to be done about the Iromakuanhe. Players still want to play them but there's no plots.
 
Fastest way to spread a frontier is to have an incentive there. Incentive comes from the change to make money which comes from resources and in turn, resources from a new and better way to use them.
 
OsakanOne said:
Fastest way to spread a frontier is to have an incentive there. Incentive comes from the change to make money which comes from resources and in turn, resources from a new and better way to use them.
Click to expand...
Do you have any suggestions, other than land and minerals?
 
Colonisation. Exploitation of indigenous life (plants, animals, natural phenomena). Production of tiertiary industry (resorts, culture, music scenes, archeology, extreme sports, sight seeing, hunting, combat), the creation of new work...

Aether makes a lot of this anull. It might be clever to say something like stuff made from aether lacks a certain quality -- so while its perfect for a lot of things like making fairly inert materials (fabric, plastics, metalwork), it doesn't quite cut it in high stress systems for starships and computers where quantum phenomena are depended upon which aren't anywhere near as durable or tend to break down a lot (since an aether made object "misbehaves" on a quantum level because its inherently different... We could explain this jokingly in marketing as: "We all know aether-made keys go missing. So get a real pair and always have access to your doors". Its misleading but its poking fun at the way people will lose their keys anyway. Maybe living on aether-made food for a long time can be bad for your health due to those quantum misbehaviours over time.

You could have a culture for people who value traditionally made objects more -- or even using specific rare materials WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN MADE WITH AETHER as currency, since most economies depend on some model of sacristy. Without it, there is literally no reason to go to war because you always have everything you ever wanted.

My point is, for this year to make sense, sacristy has to exist -- and make sense.

And it could all start with a revelation of these things like a controversial paper released. Or maybe a whistle-blower -- and it jumpstarts an industry for authentic matter that previously didn't exist because people didn't even know the need was thee.

It will create have's and have-not's (economic disparity on at least some level is always brilliant for stories because it creates innate tension and all stories are basically how we deal with problems) and will be really really interesting.
 
Melisson did make such a bombshell awhile ago. She was laughed at in a "LOL, NO U" way.

Aether and zesuaium make tons of thing inconvenient. I agree with that. But they're here, they're staying, and there are site rules covering how them being around isn't even to be disputed.

So, yeah, this is where I step off my soapbox and go back to minding my own business.
 
Like always, I will be developing the Neshaten, although I will also be working on finishing the Isu'nane Star Cluster so that it can be unveiled possibly in the middle to late next year.
 
I plan on getting the Garts back up to 100%. With the Holidays lurking I have been neglectful. But as opposed to expansion, I want to focus more on internal development, the 147th, and possible Political plot.
 
Abwehran plans:

OOC:
  • Finish the multitude of wiki revisions I need to complete
  • Revamp the Abwehran CCG to accommodate wiki revisions
  • Work on background NPC factions that are in my head (?)
  • Start designing for the Abwehrans again.
  • Try to recruit more.

IC:
  • Finish Second Mission of the 69th Paramilitary Squad
  • Finish the Diplomatic JPs that have been on the backburner
  • Maybe Joint Exercise with foreign power
 
Well, this year's over-arching goal, if I can be so bold, would be to;

  1. Finish the TFL plot.
  2. Flesh out the existing Yugumo cluster/10SF/Asura pages (and then get them approved, apparently some of them aren't).
  3. Come up with some new social/political stuff.
  4. Work with Osaka what she just pointed out (this sounds like fun for me and fun for players). Always wanted some political RP, never really had anyone to RP with.

As to the 'Frontier' - well, I just want to point at the Yugumo cluster again, and keep pointing there.

  • Law is scarce and largely planetary? Check.
  • Pirates are out there? Check.
  • Huge potential natural resources? Check.
  • There's a foreign power very interested in destabalizing the regoin? Check.
  • You can use Yamataian and Lorath (if Doc's still up for it) NPCs for plots? Check.
  • DMs/Players allowed to write soft/hard canon the area for plots, flexibly? Check. (We did this for Leo Station and it worked/is working very well.)
  • And More!
 
Wes said:
Some ideas:
  1. The wiki is full of unfinished articles, most of which are abandoned. To help with this in the future, I am thinking we need a dedicated WIP namespace where all unapproved articles must be place until they get approved.
  2. A plot featuring Gashmere (Kodians) or Ohara (Phods) might be great, as it would allow extensive updates to those worlds and finally resolve the conflicts on them between the pro-alien and anti-alien factions.
  3. Rather than stubs we want to try to make each planet incredibly rich with familiar major RP locations. It's not enough to have planet stats, the planets need some personality and notable NPCs. Let's try to revisit planets more so that players have a reason to actually care about them.
  4. Instead of using the wiki as just a record of what happened, use it also as an RPG sourcebook for what could happen (e.g. fill it with plot ideas) so that Open RPers can be more self-sufficient.
  5. I'd like to have another international relations conference.
  6. Something needs to be done about the Iromakuanhe. Players still want to play them but there's no plots.
Click to expand...
Alright, it's time to see what we've done so far:
  1. WIP namespace: Now that we have a decent "move" tool for the wiki, we could make this happen and make a "WIP" namespace for all unfinished articles. Thoughts?
  2. We haven't done a Kodian or Phod plot yet.
  3. Richer RP locations: I think this needs more work. I have some some improvement in Yamatai's Kyoto but there's so much more to do both there and elsewhere.
  4. Same as above
  5. International Relations Conference: Woot! We've got this happening and so far things are going well.
  6. Iromakuanhe: We still haven't done anything with them.
 
A WIP space would help with tagging issues. A Kodian or Phod plot would be unique but needs a trailblazer to take it on, because they're going to be coming up with stuff from scratch.

I'm still a little leery about using the wiki as a sourcebook. I'm not worried about unconfirmed information as much as visibility. Open RP folks need to know those hooks/ideas are out there. A tag, maybe? A page with links to proposed hooks? Even a namespace? I just wouldn't want it all lost in the great wide wiki we've got. As long as the hooks themselves are written in a "this is what's happened; possibly this stuff COULD happen", I'm cool with it.

Hackman's been around. Not sure what's up though.
 
1. WIP namespace... don't like it. I create WIP pages in their proper name space. EG, new products for my corporation, new pages for the HSC.
The only use I can see of a WIP namespace would be if someone wants to create a page for a concept that they want others to help brainstorm. Eg, Person A wants to create a race, creates a page in win:species_new. They can work on it, have others look and add. But if they decide to abandon it, there is no new orphaned name space with just a stub page.

2 - If a plot hasn't been done, there is obviously a reason. You can't force a plot for a specific species.
 
1. I also don't agree with the WIP namespace idea, largely because the move plugin is only accessible to admins and can't be used by other members(unlike its possible to add people to a permission list, such as tech mods). Like Nashoba, I create WIP pages in their proper namespaces because that is where they belong. If I'm unsure how something is going to go, then I use my sandbox page which serves as another avenue for a work in progress page.

3. It has been stated once before on this site that one of the reasons why we don't have a lot of rich locations is because of how claustrophobic the current cluster feels.. not to mention that we have planets that are... quite frankly.. undeveloped in terms of information and what is on them. I've entertained the idea of going back to my species plants and putting information related to every one of their planets.
 
Just going to say right now. "Discovering" the Iroma with little to no information on their location, or sending the NMX in are two things I am vehement opposed to happening if people are thinking about that.
 
I think all articles, WIP or not, should be placed into the namespaces they are supposed to be in once approved. Having a separate namespace specifically for WIP would lead to even more move operations than what are occurring now (though to be honest, the current spam of move operations is occurring due to all the ye year articles being moved to the calender namespace and almost every article as a YE link).
 
2. Let's address this one.

The less humanoid races add a pretty classy diversity to the setting. However, it's a little harder to get into the mind of something with a different physiology. What sets these races apart is what makes them unique, yes, but that very same thing can make them difficult to grasp. People who would play them, but couldn't properly convey those differences might as well be playing humans with alien suits.

Even Nekos themselves can be difficult to grasp with all of their features, though more recent models are easier to play. Before the NH-33, there were the 29s who had little biological similarity with humans save for appearance. You couldn't note a 29s racing heartbeat, she had no heart. Did she lose her barracks or entire ship in the previous battle? She can subconsciously call on the ship to clothe her volumetrically. She can never fear falling because she can cancel out her weight and fly. Her brain is a computer and impress pictures and send messages to other NH models. She wants a baby? Boom, preggers.exe initialized.

So many grand features about the Neko, but they get played like a girl with cat ears. You could put cat ears on any girl of most races and you might not even see much of a difference from an actual Neko character. It's a cat girl yes, but it's not a Nekovalkyja.

That's the problem we face when we seek to make a plot with aliens with very few human features. The portrayal could come short, but most of all we'd have to find people who'd be willing to grasp what would make them alien then put them in a plot that drives a unique enough point home.

Which is why it's a lot easier to see Kods and Phods as a NPC race, which adds the visual flavor of diversity.

Besides, how do you make woo green women as a rotund bear?
 
If you want Kodians and Phods to be relateable, you need to make it so that people have a frame of reference for them. Thing is that past wiki articles, we don't have much of that.

For instance, all I have of the Phods originates from stuff I remember Yangfan saying. As for the Kodians, I'm lucky enough to have read and remembered what the first contact with the Kodians on Gashmere was like... but I can't say the present 'revised' version of the Kodian really matches the mental picture I had from said first contact. Our Kodians right now just support the humanoid-bear-big-bruiser; rather than the grittily cybernetic headache-plagued beastly polar bears with semi-humanoid features whom might not even be sentient were it not of their cybernetics that I remember reading about.

As a GM, I don't really dare using either of them as NPCs in my plots simply because it doesn't look like I'd get it right. I'd likely not match Wes' vision on them today. However, if Wes would - for example - set a mission that is centric on Phods, then we'd get an up-to-date look on the race as Wes wants it in his setting, and from there we'd be able to follow his example... much like many of us have followed his example with the Mishhuvurthyar.
 
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