Jeremi decides to call her old boss for assistance . . .
Jeremi decides to call her old boss for assistance . . .
Here is Appleciders's new character, as mentioned in the game thread. Welcome aboard! (I'll add your attributes here later, if you wish).
CHARACTER NAME: Velir Rangin
USERNAME: Appleciders
CURRENT RANK: Ensign
CURRENT ASSIGNMENT: Xenobiology Officer, Sciences Department, USS Yorktown, NCC-1717
SPECIES: Coridanite
RACIAL/ETHNIC SUBGROUP, IF ANY: N/A
AGE: 30
SEX: Male
HOMEWORLD: Coridan
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Ens. Velir stands only 165 centimeters tall and masses only 65 kilograms, with thin dark hair and an olive complexion. To the untrained observer, he appears to be an Earth-normal human.
PERSONALITY PROFILE: Social and affable, Velir rarely shows stress and enjoys the company of others.
SPOUSE, SIGNIFICANT OTHER OR NEXT OF KIN, IF ANY: None
HOBBIES OR INTERESTS: In addition to his interest in xenobiology, Velir is a skilled amateur chess player (both traditional and Tri-D). He is very interested in traditional Coridan culture, and has an elaborate metal nhorel heirloom mask that he wears on special occasions.
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND: Bachelor's equivalent in Xenobiology from Cordas University 2263; Starfleet Academy Class of 2268.
SERVICE RECORD: Following his graduation from Cordas University, Velir sought special dispensation from Starfleet to enroll in the Academy despite the fact that Coridan had not yet been accepted into the Federation. This was granted, and he graduated in 2268, having continued his studies on xenobiology. He was assigned to the USS Lexington upon graduation, and was slightly injured in the M-5 incident near Alpha Carinae. He is familiar with Ens. Pourtash from their mutual service aboard the Lexington. He has training in advanced first aid.
CAREER GOAL: Velir believes that the best hope for Coridan to break the cycle of violence and political instability associated with dilithium smuggling is Federation membership. Now that that's been achieved, Velir feels that continuing to serve in Starfleet represents the best service he can offer to his beloved Coridan.
This mission is now winding down and almost over. I'll wrap it up in the next few days and we'll take a short break before our next adventure. I encourage you to post now, if you wish to. Thanks!
A warm welcome to Appleciders! Looking forward to our next mission.
I've updated and expanded the Crew Roster in this thread's post 1.
You will be telling us the solution to the mystery, right? Right???
Thus ends Mission #1, "On the Brink." I hope you liked it. Although I never expected it to last so long, I wanted to give everyone a taste of what I love most about Star Trek: a sense of optimism, of humanity united and courageous as it faces the unknown, of futuristic adventure aboard a cool ship. Over the course of almost 14 months (!) you had First Contact, boarding party duty, landing party duty (and no dead redshirts!), combat, diplomacy, scientific and engineering challenges to overcome, espionage, a murder investigation, and all the ups and downs of shipboard life, including a touch of romance.
This is your game as much as mine, so please let me know what you thought - the good, the bad and the ugly. What could I do better next time? If you'd rather not post here, please PM me. Your feedback is important to me. Thanks.
And now we'll see if What Exit? knows what seven of our NPCs had in common.
We'll start Mission #2 in about a week.
Last edited by Elendil's Heir; 20 Sep 2011 at 07:31 AM.
Okay - I have a complaint.What 'before"? Was a previous meeting mentioned and I missed it? Did we ever meet or hear of Walsingham, Sorge, or Gohh before? Please point me to the post. And other than being Brownlock's roommate, when did Dr Bucci have any significant part in the scenerio? Jeez, you're worse than Agatha Christie!Originally posted by game thread
Now for more constructive feedback. Aside from vacations, there was too much space between GM posts. I'd like to see more frequent updates. I know it's tough doing this in a forum as opposed to sitting around a table facing each other, but perhaps all players could make the commitment to check the game thread daily? that way the game might move faster. And if a player-character has nothing to add, to post as much in the set up thread?
Thanks, anyrose.
Walsingham, Sorge, and Gohh were mentioned in the second post of the game thread, setting the stage for what was to come. (The first two names are also significant, BTW).
It was Dr. Bucci who examined George when he was first brought aboard, "tried" to revive him when he was found unresponsive in the Brig, and did the scans of blood, urine, marrow etc. after he was autopsied. Doctors make the deadliest criminals, Conan Doyle wrote. Agatha Christie, indeed!
As to posting more often, I prefer not to until everyone has had a chance to respond to my most recent post. And everyone should already be aware of Rule 12, which requires them to check the setup and game threads at least every other day.
My apologies - I did not remember that from page one. I'm guessing the names Walsingham and Sorge have something to do with the original Yorktown and its famous battle?
I get the impression that Gohh is Ferengi. He talks of business too much to be Klingon. But has the Federation even encountered Ferengi yet?
Wrong about Walsingham and Sorge. A little Googling will yield the answer.
Correct, no Ferengi encountered yet. I dropped a clue about Gohh's race in that last post.
Very interesting article - thank you
btw - when I Googled "Walsingham and Sorge", the game thread was the fourth entry.
"mottled yellow" skin - that's Eruunlac, no?
Thank you so much for running this for us, Elendil's Heir! And especially for being so tirelessly patient with me.
As far as feedback goes, I've really loved the intrigue elements of the game. Those have been the parts that really made things exciting for me and I can't wait to see how things unfold.
So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.
You're welcome! It's been fun for me, too.
In addition to the seven NPCs mentioned earlier, I thought you might like to know the stories behind some of the other crew names. In no particular order:
Sundri Parvinder Singh - The first name I picked from a list of common Sikh female first names; the second I've always liked for its exotic flavor since first seeing it many years ago, and the last because of Kirk's great foe and because I just think Sikhism is pretty interesting. Sikh women today don't typically use Singh as a last name, incidentally; most go by Kaur ("princess"). I presume that Sikh naming practices will change in the next two hundred years.
Horst Leventhal - Some years ago I wrote a series of ST:TNG-era short stories set aboard the USS Kearsarge, commanded by Capt. Margot Leventhal. I thought Horst might be her grandfather or grand-uncle.
Pablo Echevarria Vargas - The first and last names don't mean anything in particular, but TNG writer Rene Echevarria was once helpful to me.
Euterpe Terezis - Euterpe is a relatively common Greek female first name, and I knew a very nice girl in high school with the last name Terezis.
Abdi Roble - I once did some reading on the problems of Somali immigrants in the U.S. Among those quoted was a man with the first name Abdi, and another with the last name Roble. As it happens, I know a guy who perfectly fits my mental image of the ship's Science Officer.
Mikhail Trigorin - I played Trigorin, a famous author, in a college production of Anton Chekhov's tragedy The Seagull.
Miriam Villa - Named after a friend and former coworker who's a ST fan (it's her last name, but Miriam is not her first).
Cecilia Bennett - A mashup from two of British actress Keira Knightley's finer roles, Cecilia Tallis in Atonement and Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice.
Sarah Perry - One of my sisters is named Sarah, and I went to high school with a memorable guy named Perry.
Giancarlo Bucci - There's a nice Italian restaurant nearby named Bucci's!
Not every name has a story behind it; some just pop into my head, or are from an otherwise-insignificant list I have of names I like.
Keep the comments coming, please! Praise or constructive criticism, it's all useful. If I can improve the game for the next mission, I'd like to. PM me if you'd rather.
Last edited by Elendil's Heir; 22 Sep 2011 at 10:17 PM.
Many thanks to Elendil's Heir for a job very well done. Also thanks to my fellow crew members for great posts and lots of fun! I'm really looking forward to mission #2!
Only suggestion -- I'd like to see our crew have more free time during the mission to interact socially and explore their hobbies and interests, etc. I think this would add depth to the game itself and also allow us to grow with our characters and learn more about them.
I know a Somali guy named Abdi, actually. He was born into a family of nomadic herders and eventually left Somalia on a basketball scholarship. Very nice guy. He'd play in local pick-up games and refuse to shoot unless his team was losing.
I thought I had posted already, it may have been eaten on my iPhone.
I thought the pace of the game was good and it was a fun adventure.
My thoughts exactly, on both points. The mission was great fun; I appreciate the gamemaster and other players a lot.
And I wish there were more "down" time chances during the mission. The Giya subplot is an excellent example. But, in particular, I'd like to see more talking among the player characters. Maybe by having less time pressure to get things done in-game (not much time to talk when boarding another ship) and more things to discuss.
Thanks for your feedback. I tried to build in downtime at the end of every ship's day when your off-duty characters could have coffee (or something stronger), swim, study, enjoy hobbies, explore the Yorktown, go on dates, play games, read, exercise, goof off, etc., but maybe that wasn't clear enough. The next time you get itchy for that kind of chance again, please post it here in the setup thread, or PM me, and at the next possible opportunity I'll see to it.
ETA: In fact, I'll start the next mission out that way!
Knowing what a Heinlein fan What Exit? is, I'll now admit to using Heinlein character names for some of our NPCs (non-player characters), including the Security team aboard the alien ship in its entirety:
De la Paz - from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Russell - Have Spacesuit, Will Travel
Dodson - Space Cadet
Nivens - The Puppet Masters
Bartlett - Time for the Stars
Rico - Starship Troopers
Mahmoud - Stranger in a Strange Land
Dahlquist - from the short story "The Long Watch"
Last edited by Elendil's Heir; 27 Sep 2011 at 11:39 PM.
Here is WES's new character. Welcome aboard! (I'll add your attributes here later, if you wish).
CHARACTER NAME: T'Var
USERNAME: WES
CURRENT RANK: Lieutenant
CURRENT ASSIGNMENT: Assistant Chief Medical Officer, USS Yorktown, NCC-1717
SPECIES: Vulcan
RACIAL/ETHNIC SUBGROUP, IF ANY: N/A
AGE: 60
SEX: Female
HOMEWORLD: Vulcan
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Tall and quite muscular. Black hair and eyes, with typical Vulcan features.
PERSONALITY PROFILE: Brilliant, friendly and, unlike many of her race, very interested in emotions and how they relate to the physical and mental healing of patients. She believes strongly in duty, honor and honesty.
SPOUSE, SIGNIFICANT OTHER OR NEXT OF KIN, IF ANY: T'Var comes from a large, supportive family. She hopes to find a mate - who need not necessarily be Vulcan - and have children someday.
HOBBIES OR INTERESTS: She loves team sports of all kinds and is very athletic and competitive. Meditation is also an important part of her daily routine.
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND: Raal Prefectural Medical Institution, 2257; Starfleet Academy, 2264; Starfleet School of Medicine, with high honors, 2267.
SERVICE RECORD: T'Var served in the V'Shar, the Vulcan intelligence and security service, for decades, but tends not to talk about it. After becoming a physician and serving a residency on Arcadia, she was in private medical practice on Vulcan but felt unfulfilled professionally. She decided to join Starfleet, and served aboard the USS Constitution, NCC-1700, as a staff surgeon before being recently assigned to the Yorktown.
CAREER GOAL: To be the best doctor she can possibly be, always improving her skills while serving the Federation with distinction and honor.
The new mission: http://www.mellophant.com/forums/sho...il-Nocere-quot
Just a suggestion: "watch" is a more nautical term than "shift" to describe a scheduled period of duty aboard a Starfleet vessel. I recommend it.
Noted! Thank you.
So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.
I clearly need to reread Space Cadet again.
Last edited by What Exit?; 04 Oct 2011 at 09:00 PM.
Me too! I loved that book back in junior high. I reread Time for the Stars not long ago, and it held up pretty well.
Yep. I guess that was unclear; I associate Dahlquist more with Space Cadet than The Long Watch simply because I've read it so many more times. My dad hooked me on science fiction with Space Cadet and The Rolling Stones when I was about seven. I must have read them twenty or thirty times each before I was sixteen, and it's funny how well some of those firsts stick with you. Space Cadet holds up really well-- I have only one quibble nowadays. The female characters are really, really weak, and the Patrol seems to be exclusively male. Heinlein usually does so well with having strong, savvy women, so it's surprising not to see them in that book.
Last edited by Appleciders; 04 Oct 2011 at 09:31 PM.
I tend to reread a few Heinlein books every summer. "Glory Road" was one this year as an example. That book has held up real well.
I love The Rolling Stones, it is one of my favorites. It has been a while since Space Cadet.
I reread The Rolling Stones & Red Planet this summer also.
Last edited by What Exit?; 04 Oct 2011 at 09:27 PM.
I confess I have never read The Rolling Stones, Podkayne of Mars or Red Planet. Someday! My favorite Heinlein stories are... well, all those from which I drew character names, and Glory Road and Have Spacesuit Will Travel.
Last edited by Elendil's Heir; 05 Oct 2011 at 10:11 PM.
In fact, The Rolling Stones contains an episode with a single small, cute, furry creature which breeds wildly until it threatens to overwhelm the ship with thousands of adorable furballs. The writers for TOS admit that they probably subconsciously lifted the idea for Tribbles from Heinlein. They wrote him to ask for his permission to do the episode anyway, and he gave his consent, noting that he'd stolen the idea from someone else anyway. I have heard that while he was offered a payment for the idea by the Star Trek producers, the only reimbursement he'd accept was a copy of the script for the episode signed by the writers, but that part of the story may be apocryphal.
WES has a great idea for the chess-loving Trekkers here.
I'm setting up a thread for her here, http://www.mellophant.com/forums/sho...ays-some-chess, in which she, as Dr. T'Var, will play Earth-style chess with any other Yorktown crewmember who wishes to take her on. Stay in character, please. Each move will be posted and other crewmembers can comment as they see fit as the game goes on. No hints/advice as to next or future moves, please, unless requested by the players.
Other Mello members who'd like to kibitz may do so - but tell me what kind of character you'd like to be (sex, race, age, branch of Starfleet, etc.) and I'll cook up a quick Starfleet character for you to maintain the in-game mood.
This will be a sideline to the regular Star Trek roleplaying game, as if you all were in the ship's Rec Room, playing chess one lazy afternoon, or watching others do so, before going on-duty.
Last edited by Elendil's Heir; 11 Oct 2011 at 10:57 PM.
Heh, nice idea Elendil's Heir, although my chess is terrible, I may follow along.
*Paging Malacandra, Paging Malacandra* - Oh wait, he's already there.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Since neither I nor Collins is a big chess fan, you all have fun. Collins would rather play D&D or something similar anyway.
Hi everyone! Many thanks to Elendil's Heir for setting up the chess thread. This should be a lot of fun.
I'm an intermediate player, BTW. Definitely not a beginner, but no master of the game (if that's ever really possible). I'm sure Dr. T'Var is much better than I am, though.
Anyrose, perhaps Collins could introduce the crew to some D & D action? I played when I was younger and enjoyed it very much. I love fantasy RPG's of all kinds.
Onsott: "That would violate the Prime Directive, wouldn't it, doctor?"
Librarians rule, Oook
I think my brain would explode if we did that....
Another TOS-era Starfleet women's uniform design, for those who dislike both miniskirts and pants:
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__...ions_Spock.jpg
Talking of recursion, there was a great quote from Dream Park where some characters were reminiscing about the pencil'n'paper days: "...then the party went into the house and the DM said 'You go into the kitchen and there are a group of people sat around a table with some books and strange dice.' One of the PCs shot the DM - and the dungeon disappeared!".
Librarians rule, Oook
Though Vulcan's aren't really all that fixated on their attire, I'll have to agree with anyrose on this one. T'Var will remain in pants and tunic, thank you very much!Thanks for the option, though. An "interesting" look.
I cannot recall if TOS's computer was programmed to repsond to "Computer, locate Person"