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Thread: Star Trek RPG - Setup thread

  1. #3201
    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    Tapas for Two - Part 1. Now available for your delectation in the Apocrypha.
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

  2. #3202
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    Enjoyable story, CIAS and WES! And pleasurable to see a romance cooking up, so to speak.

  3. #3203
    I'm the Cute one! =^.^= anyrose's avatar
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    I'm confused. Do you expect Rangin to not survive this mission, so you're laying the background of another character? You can't do that to Kylah. She's just found love. Maybe it'll give her the confidence boost she needs so that she'll seem less irritating to Collins.
    Last edited by anyrose; 26 Jan 2015 at 10:16 AM.

  4. #3204
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    I have absolutely no idea at this point in time, what is happening/will happen to Rangin. Then again, I'm currently being held in a chair by Darth Palver, so its not like I have a lot of choice about what happens next anyway

    Mr Johnson is just a guy who cooks and plays chess. He won't be going on any missions...I hope.
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

  5. #3205
    Member Elendil's Heir's avatar
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    Who knows what the future may hold...?

  6. #3206
    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    For general amusement (especially for Ens. Graham), I've updated Rangin's character sheet with his attributes.

    I'd forgotten his Psi and Strength scores were so low, even Kylah could take his lunch money without too much trouble.
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

  7. #3207
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    Velir brings plenty of emotional strength to the table. I'm sure that's more than enough for Kylah. Although it is surprising that he has less of a strength stat than she does (and intelligence too). Surely that's a mistake--Kylah's a known weakling, and while she's certainly smart, she's not nearly as educated or thoughtful as Velir is. Maybe Velir was sick as a boy? At least he has a lot of endurance.

    But now I'm confused. Why is EH posting stuff from Velir's POV? CIAS, you're still active today, right? Is this a scene you guys have written together? Usually there's a credit at the bottom when that's the case.
    Last edited by choie; 27 Jan 2015 at 12:43 PM.

  8. #3208
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    more likely, PC tried to do something, [rolled for it], and the GM told him how it turned out.

  9. #3209
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    Since the scene is unfolding both in the physical and the mental planes, as GM I need to address both, so some of Rangin's thoughts are provided by me. I try to do it sparingly, but I have done it before. Dice rolls are incorporated into the unfolding of the story as needed.

  10. #3210
    Ape must not kill ape! general_urko's avatar
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    Rangin & Graham's mutually low psi scores perhaps are / will be a factor in continuing to miscommunicate. (Wait, is it really miscommunication when Rangin simply asserts Graham is a drooling moron?)...

  11. #3211
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    Even morons can have startlingly clear insights now and then!

  12. #3212
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    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    Since the scene is unfolding both in the physical and the mental planes, as GM I need to address both, so some of Rangin's thoughts are provided by me. I try to do it sparingly, but I have done it before. Dice rolls are incorporated into the unfolding of the story as needed.
    Okay. Wow. I'm off to read a bit about GMs and how they work because clearly I had a totally wrong idea about what "role-playing" and "player character" meant.

    Don't worry, if I find anything enlightening I'll post it separately for anyone who's interested, since you've made it very clear what you think of my opinions!

  13. #3213
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    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    Since the scene is unfolding both in the physical and the mental planes, as GM I need to address both, so some of Rangin's thoughts are provided by me. I try to do it sparingly, but I have done it before. Dice rolls are incorporated into the unfolding of the story as needed.
    Unfortunately, there has been a slight disconnect between what EH thought Rangin was thinking and what I, as the player, knew Rangin to be thinking. Hopefully, it has been sorted now.

    My personal preference is that character thoughts are the sole purvey of the player responding to the GMs description, but can understand the need for a little extra description for all given the timezones we occupy.
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

  14. #3214
    Ape must not kill ape! general_urko's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by CatInASuit View post
    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    Since the scene is unfolding both in the physical and the mental planes, as GM I need to address both, so some of Rangin's thoughts are provided by me. I try to do it sparingly, but I have done it before. Dice rolls are incorporated into the unfolding of the story as needed.
    Unfortunately, there has been a slight disconnect between what EH thought Rangin was thinking and what I, as the player, knew Rangin to be thinking. Hopefully, it has been sorted now.

    My personal preference is that character thoughts are the sole purvey of the player responding to the GMs description, but can understand the need for a little extra description for all given the timezones we occupy.
    EH it's CTRL+C then CTRL+V into Rangin's head:

    Drat, I was totally wrong about Graham. He's brave, smart and charming. Actually maybe he's kind of hot. I only hope I have time to pen the sincere and detailed apology he deserves before I turn into a slobbering monster and die.
    Last edited by general_urko; 27 Jan 2015 at 09:56 PM.

  15. #3215
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    I read and understand all the criticism, even if I don't agree with it all, and even if I don't instantly do all that is suggested. As you've asked, however, I will refrain from putting thoughts into the heads of the characters from now on. I am striving to bring this mission to an end - far later than I ever thought it would run - and am thus nudging the story along a bit, as I try to comply with one player's request that another's character be given a chance to shine at the conclusion of this adventure. Please, let's reach the finish line of this mission together, and then move on from there. The next mission will, I expect, be quite different, and not have the... complications that have made this one so fraught.

    I'm still glad you're playing. Many thanks!

  16. #3216
    Administrator choie's avatar
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    Right.

  17. #3217
    Ape must not kill ape! general_urko's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    I read and understand all the criticism, even if I don't agree with it all, and even if I don't instantly do all that is suggested. As you've asked, however, I will refrain from putting thoughts into the heads of the characters from now on. I am striving to bring this mission to an end - far later than I ever thought it would run - and am thus nudging the story along a bit, as I try to comply with one player's request that another's character be given a chance to shine at the conclusion of this adventure. Please, let's reach the finish line of this mission together, and then move on from there. The next mission will, I expect, be quite different, and not have the... complications that have made this one so fraught.

    I'm still glad you're playing. Many thanks!
    Aw surely it must be that CIAS, requested Graham should shine...I'm sure he'd be touched...

  18. #3218
    Ape must not kill ape! general_urko's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by choie View post
    Stressed over being able to do nothing, Kylah falls in a dead faint.

  19. #3219
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    Some cool astronomical news - a planet discovered with rings far larger than Saturn's: http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/28/tech/g...tem/index.html

  20. #3220
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    I heart Astrophysics and Cosmology.

  21. #3221
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    Quote Originally posted by anyrose View post
    I heart Astrophysics and Cosmology.
    Every time I see the new icon, I feel like all your statements should end with a "!"

  22. #3222
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    Why! Would! You! Say! That! ?!

  23. #3223
    Ape must not kill ape! general_urko's avatar
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    Welcome! Back! Collins!

  24. #3224
    Ape must not kill ape! general_urko's avatar
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    ...It is sooo weird being on East Coast time...usually everybody (maybe sans CIAS) is online by the time I'm out...

    (Thursday I may be off the grid, travel/work stuff, FYI...)

  25. #3225
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    Understood, and thanks for letting us know.

  26. #3226
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    Welcome back too, Collins/anyrose!

    Speaking solely to general_urko and CIAS: are you guys getting the hint that the forces that rule our fictional little universe really really really want to change the time of death retroactively? I don't know about you guys, but personally I don't think that can happen--there's no backsies, here: we've all been paying too close attention for that. Let's look at what the text from a GM post--presumably trustworthy exposition (since it's from no one's POV, just the straightforward description from the GM)--said about the autopsy:

    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    After scrub and sterilization-ray prep, they begin the autopsy. Dr. Miriam Villa and Nurse Sarah Perry assist them. T'Var follows the standard Starfleet Medical pathology protocol.

    The subject, Anthony Wilson, is a well-nourished, apparently previously healthy, Human male, Caucasian, approximately age 50. After a full exterior and interior medscan, T'Var closely examines the entire body, noting two puncture wounds in the chest, one of which, the deeper one, fully pierced the heart, causing rapid exsanguination into the chest cavity and death. Wilson had small birthmarks on the right hip and the top of the right foot. The skin, digits, extremities and genitalia are otherwise typical; there are are no other visible wounds or injuries, other than the bruise on his right wrist which T'Var saw earlier. She extracts or collects blood, urine, marrow, semen, hair, skin, fingernail and saliva samples, and asks Dr. Villa to run a full battery of toxicology scans and tests. The CMO, in doing so, finds no indication of any foreign substance, drug, disease, cancer, poison, spore (OC3 or otherwise), mold, pathogen or other toxin of any kind. Opening of the chest cavity and brain, and physical examination and scans of their contents, reveals unremarkable (other than the heart) and undiseased organs. Roughly two-thirds of the expected volume of blood for a person of this age and stature is collected from the chest cavity.
    So despite what Villa just said, she didn't merely collect fluids and do little more than a scrub nurse--she ran a full line of tests on them, which would include being able to judge the lividity/oxygenation/congestion of the corpse's blood, all relating to judging the time of death. Plus, we can't discount that Villa actually saw the body, for pete's sake. urko and CIAS, don't you think it unlikely that an experienced CMO of a Starfleet starship who's seen heaven-only-knows how many dead bodies can't accurately judge the time of death herself once she's viewed and analyzed a corpse?

    Now let's look at T'Var's dialogue when we contacted her while she was still on the ship:

    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    Delaney gives his report; everyone now knows what everyone else knows. He adds, "I have a question for Dr. T'Var. I wonder what the time of death was?"

    She replies, "Judging by body cooling, lividity, cellular decay and other factors, I'd estimate it was between 2330 and 0030 hours. Drs. Villa and Halsey concur."
    Note that T'Var is up on the ship at the time, in the autopsy room (she was interacting with Halsey just prior to our contact with her), and that we saw her actions from the autopsy to the communication with the crew down on the planet, thanks to WES's posts. When did she have time to fake the information?

    I just can't see how this alt.history is gonna fly given the evidence. And I hope it doesn't, because if for an entire year we've all been investigating a crime based on a false premise given to us directly by the Word of God (our GM) and a PC-turned-NPC (T'Var)...

    Well, that's pretty much the antithesis of "fair play" when it comes to creating mysteries. (And this isn't even a regular mystery, it's an RPG--something interactive, where we the players are supposed to be the prime actors in the campaign.)

    I dunno, guys. I think it's already a bit frustrating that our villain turned out to be a hugely powerful mentalist whose race canonically doesn't actually have mental powers according to Memory Alpha and who never showed any proof of such powers, nor were they foreshadowed in any way. (Not to mention the fact that one of our PCs happens to be an empath with a PSI of 12, and still couldn't detect any PSI 'aura' about the guy whatsoever in all the times she's met him.) In short, there was no way we could've fairly discovered his powers. The only way this case was solved was through the good fortune of Palver suddenly deciding to confess even though we had almost nothing against him.

    So speaking to my fellow players only, while we have no say whatsoever in how this endgame goes, are you of the same opinion as me... that the most rational, sensible and fairest way for this game to end up is that it does not turn out that we've been wasting out time for the past year based on a lie due to some mental mage's voodoo that put lies into the words of one of our trustworthy teammates (T'Var)? I'd like to believe that we successfully uncovered something in this mystery, in particular the fact that Palver has been lying in a shabby attempt to ruin Hardin's alibi?

    Anyway, that's my theory. I think the time of death is correct, and Palver simply lied in order to set up the framing of Hardin; he was going to force-feed this fake info to Kylah, Velir & Graham and we'd all have gone back down to the planet certain that Hardin was guilty after all. What do you think, CIAS and urko?
    Last edited by choie; 05 Feb 2015 at 05:03 PM.

  27. #3227
    Ape must not kill ape! general_urko's avatar
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    (not quoting because it's a big block)

    I guess I would frame this differently: I've never GM'd a virtual RPG, but I've DM'd a lot of old school D&D, and as I see a game is a cooperative effort (player-player and players-gm-players) for everyone to have a good time and get something out of it.

    If I felt like the GM was purposely jerking us around or wasting our time out of malice of laziness, I'd be pissed.

    If I felt like the GM was contravening the desires of the group--e.g., everybody signed up for mysteries and problem solving and he's giving us hack-n-slash, or vice versa, I'd complain.

    Conversely--and this is conditioned by the fact that I am terrible at mysteries (although you've had kind words on the matter, if I tried to craft a clever mystery as a GM someone like you choie would assuredly solve it in 10 minutes, and if a GM did a mystery that purely resolved on solving it and I was on my own as a player I'd wind up giving up, or perhaps shooting suspects at random in frustration...)--I would try and break things down into something actionable:

    - Was this a well-intentioned but 'malformed' mystery?
    - Was there a mistake?
    - Is there substantively more that we should be investigating?

    In whatever case, how do we make it better now or next time?

    For my part, I don't feel qualified to judge the mystery, but the more important point is that character development is my thing . My personal bias is that any adventure that fosters character development is cool, whether it's something I'm less comfortable with (i.e., mystery) or more comfortable with (e.g., a more physical challenge, action-oriented one).

    So I'd say, "what do we want?" - do we (players) want to ask for and/or help with: breadcrumbs into a bigger deeper mystery than where things stand? Or do we want some other Starfleet folks to come "bag up the garbage" and move on the the next one? For my part, Graham's (...character dev!...) is comfortable with either.

    Hope this helps.

  28. #3228
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    Good questions, general. Look, I know the GM should have fun too, but doesn't that usually come from setting up an interesting premise, setting and characters, and then watching how the players deal with them all? The satisfaction of watching players uncover a cleverly written plot, and seeing them appreciate having been smart enough to solve whatever problems you threw at them?

    Clearly we didn't sign up for a mystery RPG; this mission just happens to be "the mystery episode" of the longrunning Star Trek: The Yorktown Adventures! series. Malice is out, as I know the GM wants to give us a good time, since that's usually the raison d'etre for a GM choosing to, uh, GM.

    And both you and CIAS know better than anyone just how much of a good time I have been having with this mission, how thoroughly enthusiastic I was about it, as late as September--I was having a blast working on the mystery, tracking the evidence, and working with you guys to develop our characters via some interpersonal drama (also doing the same with EH re: the Jan stuff, and briefly with anyrose for Collins/Kylah and WES for T'Var too).

    So for the vast majority of this particular mission things have been going really well, because like you, I'm primarily interested in character dynamics among the PCs (and to a much-lesser extent, any interesting NPCs), as well as each individual PC's development through his or her various arcs.

    For me, the most rewarding aspects of the game as a whole, and this mission in particular, have been the interactions between Kylah and each of her PC crewmates Collins, Graham, Rangin and T'Var (before WES left). Heck, I would be semi-fine just dealing with you guys, with the nudging of some NPCs and external plot now and then. There's enough juicy stuff going on among us to fuel plenty of drama!

    The fact that this mission involved a genre that's squarely in my wheelhouse as an author, a reader/audience member, and my work as a book editor... well, that was icing on the cake. It seemed like a complex mystery that could involve anything from a simple love triangle (unlikely) to the Orion Syndicate (which could've been really relevant to both Graham and Rangin) to the possibility of the skeevy Hwuen working with Hardin, to my latest theory: the Klingons trying to get involved in financial warfare as we were teased at the beginning of the mission. Piecing together the puzzle and coming up with these theories has been terrific fun.

    Where things dwindled for me, rather rapidly, was when we lost both the ability to have character interactions (due to the pace of the game suddenly increasing and our attempts at exchanges getting cut off by Plot) and the NPCs suddenly took over and stopped being supernumeraries, instead turning into the prime movers-and-shakers of the game--with infodumps from Delaney, Hardin, Ebling and Palver, respectively.

    Think of it: NPC Delaney's unlocking of the H/S file was really the only piece of evidence this game ever needed, honestly, since it gave us the Wilson/Hardin connection... and while a PC (Velir) was the one to find it, it was NPC Delaney who successfully opened it and then blabbed about it, allowing NPC Hardin to erase all doubt by shooting us and fleeing).

    Then once he was chased down, NPC Hardin gave his big confession, saving us the need for any more evidence-finding, and NPC Ebling revealed herself to be an Internal Affairs agent, sparing the PCs the need to prove this to the higher-ups. All the PCs could do was arrest baddies who confessed before we even had a chance to accuse them.

    Now we've got the new ending with Palver and his mind control. And y'know, that's an improvement in its way. Okay, it's wild and 'out there' but at least it's not as straightforward and simple as Hardin being the killer. Plus it explains away some of the inconsistencies that crept into the game.

    To answer your question, "what do we want?" Speaking solely for myself, I would have looooved your first idea--the breadcrumbs into a bigger deeper mystery. I always thought this mission, this murder mystery, would be More Than It Seemed: while we could solve the murder, there'd still be a Sinister Plot that could keep us going through the next couple of missions. I've literally thought of five or six different solutions to this mystery, some of which had some cool links to the PCs in various ways.

    But again that's not for us to decide. It's okay that this isn't a Bigger Picture murder plot--or at least, not one we're supposed to find out about except through a narrative cut scene as with the start and end of Mission #1. I'm not thrilled that the other Starfleet folks are going to "bag up the garbage," but the way things stand, that's probably what has to happen.

    All I want is a believable, logical ending to the mystery. The superpowered Palver isn't exactly either believable or logical, but whatever... the reason I object to the continuing push of T'Var-as-mind-control-changing-the-autopsy-results is that it inadvertently means we've been blindly fooled by one of our own teammates, and even worse it obliterates one of the few actual bits of detection the PC characters did: eradicating Palver's alibi, discovering Hardin was not the actual killer because he did have an alibi, and eventually realizing that the only reason Hardin confessed was mind control. Then it was up to Kylah and Graham to distract Palver while Rangin played he-man.

    At this point, given what we have, if this were a democracy (and I know it's not), I'd be voting for "bag it and tag it." Let Palver be proven a liar, give the PCs a frickin' win instead of forcing us to buy the idea that T'Var was mind-controlled (which means a former PC character has been turned into a dupe--and she's supposed to be a former member of the Vulcan secret service!).

    And I hope we get to tie up some loose ends. Maybe the crew can hear the truth about Mrs. Hsu's involvement once Ebling reports to us. Collins/Graham can have their chat about how much Kylah and Rangin suck .

    I do hope to see Fastolfe again. He was a vital part of this whole mystery--IMHO Fastolfe was the outstanding NPC of the game by far, and I'd hate to see us leave without a final send-off to a vivid, well-dimensioned creation.

    Now, personally I'd kill for a certain suave Norwegian to make a final appearance to creep out both Kylah and Velir--that could really set the stage for later conflicts between them. That's highly doubtful, though. But certainly I hope for some Graham/Rangin, Graham/Kylah, Collins/Rangin and Collins/Kylah stuff too.

    Basically I hope we get to have all the character moments we need to put a cap on this exhausting mission that's lasted, uh, four days. And then... curtain.


    ...And it'd be awesome to have some time pass, btw. What do you think of that idea? We could each write a recap of what happened during those few weeks in between missions, maybe. But since the entire game began it's only been, what, two months or so? Time for some promotions (or demotions, who knows!) and start Mission #4!

    So, if this were a democracy, that'd be my vote.
    Last edited by choie; 05 Feb 2015 at 08:47 PM.

  29. #3229
    I'm the Cute one! =^.^= anyrose's avatar
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    I am not used to all the character development that went on - I felt like we were writing fan-fiction, and I felt not up to the caliber of the rest of you. As far as RPGing goes, I'm used to sitting around a table, rolling dice, and marking up a character sheet. I have to adjust my mindset. If we're writing fanfic, then so be it, but I'd love it if the pace of the adventure was a little faster. 18 months is a long time to tell one story. I realize I may be alone in this, but that's what's going on in my head

  30. #3230
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    I'd imagine it is a big change, going from tabletop to what's basically a PBEM except via message board--where all the interactions are in writing and thus are more like telling a story. FWIW, I think you did a very good job at creating a pretty vivid character, and (as I've said before) I had a good time interacting with you during the Kylah/Collins scenes. But if you didn't enjoy it, I guess that knocks out the idea of any Kylah/Collins stuff in the future.

    As far as timing goes, it's interesting that the first two mission threads took 14 months and 24 months to play out, respectively. This was right in the middle despite all the fanfic.

  31. #3231
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    Don't get me wrong. I can write dialogue til the cows come home. It's exposition and description in which I feel weak. I'd love for Collins and Kylah to have a few more, uh, heated discussions.
    Besides, Collins still hasn't seen the box on her bunk. I've got a scene in mind for that little tidbit.

  32. #3232
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    Hey, dialogue is the prime stuff that makes for character interaction--and most development is revealed through dialogue (both internal and with others). That's the important part of role-playing, right?

    I mean, yeah, character observation through tight POV descriptions (as opposed to omniscient narrative) is another way of developing one's character, which is why I use them as well. It shows how the character views the world--what s/he sees or doesn't, what s/he pays attention to, and what s/he leaves out. But it's just a matter of style. Not everyone wants or needs to use all the tools in a toolbox, and even those who do can pick and choose when to use 'em. It's all good! This isn't a competition, after all.

    I was wondering if she was gonna notice that box! I was worried maybe the transporter engineer du jour may have nabbed it for him/herself.
    Last edited by choie; 05 Feb 2015 at 09:54 PM.

  33. #3233
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    Oh grief.

    Ok, a few points from my POV on the mission in general and to be honest, I'd like to hear from EH (once we've left orbit of course) as to what your thoughts were and what the mystery was supposed to be and what changes and improvisation, if any, there were. I'd be genuinely interested to know what we missed, what we screwed up and what we screwed up for you and generally how you thought it would go.

    And yeah, I'd love to know what the deal with the transporter buffer was?

    As someone who does enjoy mysteries and solving stuff in games, though I am usually terrible at it, my preference is for a set of clues the players discover through their own work that we could follow to a logical conclusion and for us, the characters, to wrap it up before handing it across to someone else to process the paperwork. The only thing I want is consistency and the knowledge that if we find something out, it is set in stone unless there comes a very obvious reason as to why such info should not be trusted. As examples, I would give the time of death and transporter times as facts the PCs found which should be left alone, but anything an NPC says should always be taken with a hefty dose of salt. IMHO, of course.

    If I had to guess, I'd say this was a mystery story gone wrong, where the facts and causes didn't quite match up and no amount of crowbarring was going to put them back into order. Frustrating at times, yes it was, but I'm still enjoying playing, especially with all the characterisation stuff going on. Then again, my usual GM style is to have as few dice rolls as possible in an evening. If EH does decide to do another mystery, then I'll still look forward to it and he can see everything that went right and wrong in this scenario to improve it.

    The other thing I am enjoying is the mis-mash of styles we have, which is great fun to play with and I'm still looking forward to the next mission. The only thing I would ask is that everything that occurred between the players and NPCs isn't reset, as several members of security have a lot to answer for

    For the mission, I'm looking forward to some last bits of character interplay and then onwards. As for the mystery, tag it and bag it.
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

  34. #3234
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    Those are some great points, CIAS.

    I think there are two RPG dynamics that seem apposite but really aren't... From what I've read of RPGs and in my brief experience in this one, it's clear that a GM is, in the end, the ruler of the universe s/he's created--and yet, the players are the ones who are creating their own roles within it, and the universe is created for them to play in. There's a good quote about this from Game Master Techniques for RPGs by Jamie Wild:

    ...A good gamemaster has to look at himself as a combination of writer, director, and producer of his campaign. You (the GM) play the secondary actors and the extras, but the players and their characters are the stars of the show. If you keep that in mind when writing adventures and (especially) when running sessions, you’re going to do well.

    Here’s the thing: especially if you think the player characters are lacking in some way, you may feel the urge to introduce NPC characters who upstage the PCs or “show them how to do it right”. Believe me, I’ve felt the same way many times over the years. In the end, your players, however flawed they might be, are the stars of the show.
    Sometimes I felt the PCs' best efforts were stymied because there was a pre-existing plan (e.g. the way each of the PCs tried to break free from Palver's mind-control, the way when we asked good questions NPCs just suddenly clammed up and never said a useful word again...). We showed a lot of initiative at times, and thought out-of-the-box, but most of the time, those ideas just didn't pan out.

    Of course a mystery plot is unusual in that usually, when it's created, there is a fixed ending that the author/GM needs to get to. In a plain adventure such as the Sakathian thing, all we needed to get to was the final battle, and it was easy to keep us on a single track to get there, but how we actually fought those zombies was sorta up to us.

    But if the players come up with genuinely interesting ways around obstacles or figure things out early, I'd love to see us getting in-game credit that isn't ephemeral. Usually whatever our success was, it turned into a red herring. Hardin's presence in the nightclub on the video footage being a chief example.

    Another quote, from Sean Francis's 17 Gamemaster Tips:

    Reward player cleverness, don’t punish it. Too often GMs feel they are playing against the PCs because they are setting up obstacles. This dynamic sometimes translates into the GM being overly loyal to the obstacles and trying to be more clever than the players. If the Players have discovered a loophole in an obstacle, don’t try to fix the obstacle in spite of the Players.
    Obstacles, usually in the form of red herrings and falsehoods, intrinsic to the nature of mysteries. We can't have a simple, straight line to the solution. And yet, there are still some things that--as CIAS mentioned--should probably considered sacrosanct. GM exposition posts in particular, IMHO; we can't suddenly have an unreliable narrator. (Unless we're told in advance that's the kind of universe we're playing in, of course.) Then there was the transition from the official, objective description of the autopsy results to T'Var's reference to the time of death...

    Now, if it had come solely from Halsey, and there was reason to doubt him (as it appeared there was--we never did get an explanation for his weird excitement/happiness that night), then it's totally fair to make the T.O.D. questionable: we would probably have picked up on this if there had been this type of foreshadowing.

    T'Var is different. She was a PC only one post earlier. We also watched WES play her during the very brief time T'Var examined Wilson's corpse when we first found it--which was the only time Palver could've gotten to her. She behaved no differently, exhibited no signs of mind control. Thus we had no way to figure out that T'Var had been tampered with, and so we've been working off the original schedule for a whole year.

    (Of course, I think the reason there was no hint that T'Var had been controlled was because that wasn't actually part of the original scheme--this whole effort to obfuscate the time of death seems like a glitch in the Matrix, an attempt to pull a new twist on us.)

    Fortunately it's still not too late to remove this element from the game, since it makes us look terribly lame and it also kinda injures T'Var's character, which seems unfair to WES. I'm hoping EH will consider it.

    In the end it comes down to my wanting to trust the GM, as we always have been able to in past missions and, I thought, throughout most of this one. Another quote from the first source above:

    Good gamemasters exhibit patience–and not just in waiting for the player characters to get through their scenes. They do it in an ultimately more important way: by not abusing their power as GM.

    You’re going to get frustrated with the game and frustrated with your players at times. Things they do are going to hack you off or even infuriate you, especially if you put a lot of time and thought into a session and they are putting no thought into how they conduct their part of the session. But the best gamemasters maintain their patience in the face of these things, fight through their frustrations, and make the game work anyway. They don’t throw fits and kill the group (or some part of the group) for making them lose their patience.

    Ultimately, being a good gamemaster is about establishing a level of trust with your players, so they feel they can build good characters and tell their stories without a bolt from the blue destroying all they’ve built. If you abuse your GM powers to their continual disadvantage, they are going to view you as some kind of angry god who punishes them for every infraction, and trust you about as much as they would an angry god. As the DM or GM, you’re putting them in mortal danger all the time, essentially trying to kill them repeatedly throughout the session. The trick is to be their antagonist without antagonizing them, to put them in danger without them thinking you “really mean it”.
    I think the game has done a great job at this for most of its run. It's only relatively recently where I've felt that the agency has been taken out of our control due, perhaps, to impatience and an understandably human desire to show off the mystery as it was original created.

    I want to stress that I genuinely don't think there's anyone who has more thoroughly enjoyed this mission--the majority of it--than I have. I've mentioned this to EH in private but I might as well express it publically: this particular mission came at an extremely fractious point in my personal circumstances, and having it as a diversion, with all the fun interaction with each of you guys, as well as the delight in finding what seemed to be a complex mystery, was exactly what I needed to maintain some semblance of sanity. (Which y'all are probably doubting, but that's okay. )

    So I hope our GM and the rest of you too understand that I've vastly enjoyed 5/6ths of this mission. It's only the last 3 months that disappointed me re: the way things are ending--but that doesn't obviate how much I loved the rest of the game, and I truly appreciate all the hard work EH put into the creation of it.

    I am greatly looking forward to the next mission and I'm hoping it does have a connection to the bigger picture (we've gotta get back to Walsingham et al. at some point, right?) or maybe some ties to one or more of our PCs. I don't know about you guys, but my favorite Trek episodes were those where the mission somehow involved one of our beloved crew members (which was more prevalent in TNG-era shows, but we haven't adhered strictly to TOS-era story conventions so this one seems like a good kind of deviation).

    So bring on the character interactions and another rollicking adventure.
    Last edited by choie; 06 Feb 2015 at 12:37 PM.

  35. #3235
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    Thank you all for your participation thus far, and for your input. I do not doubt the sincerity of the critics. You also make some good points. This mission has not unfolded as I expected, either in duration, several of the tangents, or in its outcome. I would rather not discuss what I had in mind from the start, or where things went awry (or didn't), as I think it would now serve no useful purpose. I, too, am more than ready to move on.

  36. #3236
    Ape must not kill ape! general_urko's avatar
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    But Rangin is still going to turn into a monster and die, right?

  37. #3237
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    g_u, do you remember Hot Lips' paramour Pvt (Lt) Jack Scully? He wanted her to be all pink and frilly, and he got demoted because he mouthed off to his Captain, who was several years younger than he? That's how I picture Graham.

  38. #3238
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    Quote Originally posted by anyrose View post
    g_u, do you remember Hot Lips' paramour Pvt (Lt) Jack Scully? He wanted her to be all pink and frilly, and he got demoted because he mouthed off to his Captain, who was several years younger than he? That's how I picture Graham.
    OMG that's pretty funny, I had to look him up to refresh my memory--but now I can picture the episodes. Pretty good, although I think Scully was a straight-up sexist, and (well at least I hope) Graham comes across as more than that, although he certainly has some issues....

  39. #3239
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    He's a 23rd Century version of Scully, so he wouldn't even consider a misogenistic approach to his female crew mates.


    IOW, he's a good man, who bristles at authoritative figures, and would really prefer a quiet traditional sort of life, if not for the fact that he loves shooting things. LOL.
    Last edited by anyrose; 06 Feb 2015 at 08:31 PM.

  40. #3240
    Ape must not kill ape! general_urko's avatar
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    A little Apocrypha. (Faaaar toooo loooong plane ride...argh...)

    (Post #36 if direct link doesn't work...behaving strangely for me at the moment.)

  41. #3241
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    Good stuff! Thanks, general.

  42. #3242
    Ape must not kill ape! general_urko's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by anyrose View post
    He's a 23rd Century version of Scully, so he wouldn't even consider a misogenistic approach to his female crew mates.


    IOW, he's a good man, who bristles at authoritative figures, and would really prefer a quiet traditional sort of life, if not for the fact that he loves shooting things. LOL.
    OK, fair enough!

    Now 50 quatloos if Kylah & Rangin get into a rip-roaring shoot out down on the planet's surface while Graham tries to be Collins' Guinan back on the ship,

    (Hmm it might be worth a time-travel episode for Graham to interact with Guinan. That might be an interesting conversation...)

  43. #3243
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    If we're talking time travel, Collins could probably become BFFs with Worf.

  44. #3244
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    Quote Originally posted by CatInASuit View post
    "Diplomatic corp," Rangin eyes go distant for just a moment and he remembers a few things. "No, I don't think that would work somehow."

    After they have beamed down, he looks across at Kylah, "So where to. I guess Fastolfe's house is that one over there, though you might want to check to see if he is in. Still want me along when you meet him?"
    Oh, good: "would you like to be alone with the violent lecher, or a xenobiologist for backup?" Good thing Graham's drunk & distracted...

  45. #3245
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    Quote Originally posted by general_urko View post
    Graham winces slightly. Pseudo-brother. Was that what I was to my real sisters?
    And once again, Collins puts her foot in her mouth.

  46. #3246
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    Happy birthday to WES! Hope you've had a good one.

  47. #3247
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    Quote Originally posted by anyrose View post
    Quote Originally posted by general_urko View post
    Graham winces slightly. Pseudo-brother. Was that what I was to my real sisters?
    And once again, Collins puts her foot in her mouth.
    Well the beauty of it is that if its anything family related, Graham will totally blame himself!

  48. #3248
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    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    Happy birthday to WES! Hope you've had a good one.
    +1

  49. #3249
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    Quote Originally posted by general_urko View post
    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    Happy birthday to WES! Hope you've had a good one.
    +1
    Ditto

  50. #3250
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    every time the investigative team is mention, I hear Baba O'Reilly* over the credits for CSI:Starfleet




    *has to be a Who song, right?

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