Serenity/Firefly: Hole in the Black IC

[ancalimohtar]

I was originally going to send this to you through PM/email, but I do want others to read some of the text near the bottom, so here it is. If anyone would prefer that in the future I do this type of stuff privately, let me know please.

((Only the bit I put down as a quote, and that was just there as some background information - I said not to read it unless interested. With the rest, I was too tired to think up how to make it sound more interesting, plus I've never treated a gunshot injury before... I probably should have gone into a memory of the actual treatment, so I could've described the patient's pained reactions, and how everything had to be fast and accurate. I was tired, however.))

You don't have to justify anything--I have no problem with that post. It's fine as it is. It's just not what I would give a plot point reward for.

((Not exactly. Everyone is getting PPs ahead of me, so it makes sense that I'd be concerned about catching up. I was wanting to get another medical skill for the crew.
Ryder comes from a planet constantly under attack by reavers, he's a little trigger happy from the experience. I wasn't "asking for PPs", I was asking about the reasons behind plot points being given out.))

The fact that you are concerned about others having received PPs, while you haven't, is proof that there is a problem with how you're viewing the game. It's the beginning of the game. You guys just took off and haven't even gotten to the moon yet. The four people who have earned points are Boran, Grace, Trevor, and Jin. There are nine crewmembers. In addition, Ryder may be trigger happy, but YOU are the one who is aching for combat, as evidenced by your multiple OOC remarks. Again, there's nothing wrong with that kind of game--this just isn't it, and I just don't want you to be disappointed with a game that focuses more on plot than rape-and-pillage-for-phat-lootz.

((What? I'm sorry, I didn't realise the nicer room got me a +2 comfort bonus to sleeping checks. Ryder did it because he wanted the nicer room... Ryder is an opportunist--an amount of the reason he became a doctor was that it was well paid...))

That's good. I was afraid you might not be aware that Ryder has this personality fault, but since you do, all is well.

I'm afraid that I'm not used to writing when you're allowed to describe very little... having to ask "can I do this?" "is this like that?" "do I succeed in doing this?" before I can roleplay anything.))

You do not have to ask for most things. Like I said in a recent post, everybody in this game should think of himself as one member in a team of writers, narrating the adventures of ten people. If you read my note in the OP, which I had since the very first [Gauging Interest] thread, I do not want to play the role of the traditional DM who has to have control over everything in the world, leaving their personal characters as the only degree of freedom for the players. If everybody can advance the plot in a more robust way, 1) nobody feels the only thing that will bring them fun is selfishly pursuing phat lootz and XP for their character (since they identify with everybody and the story as a whole, rather than just their own character), 2) I don't have to spread myself too thin, and I can run a game for ten people, which is much better than a game of four people, and 3) we can keep the play-by-post game running at a decent pace, instead of having the players pause and ask the DM for permission to do every little thing. At a real-life gaming table, asking the DM for permission is no problem; on OpenRPG, it's an inconvenience; but on a messageboard, it's murder.

((Ryder is similar to someone I once knew who seemed as nice as anything, but ended up stealing from us--Ryder being without the stealing part, though. Ryder always tries to be incredibly charming--that's how he managed to get himself into such a good academy without coming from a wealthy family. Sometimes cultural differences trip him up, however, and he may inadvertently insult someone.
He comes from a reaver attacked planet, guns are pretty much everywhere around you... EVERYONE knows how to use a gun there. He didn't mean to be rude though.))

As to Ryder's character: A lot of characters in Firefly are a bit larger-than-life (Jayne for example). I'll try to cut down on superfluous descriptions, though, and just assume everyone knows by now that he smiles incessantly.))

The point is, you cannot simply TELL us Ryder is nice and charming and polite. You have to SHOW that through good narration and roleplaying. And you haven't done that, so there is a disconnect there. It makes reading your posts very awkward, and gives the impression that either Ryder is a phony, or you as a player are only concerned with advancing your own character at the expense of a good story.

[roninkelt]

Abel

After making the rounds of all the duty stations, Abel will write up a report on what needs fixing, supplies needed (such as chili plants for the greenhouse) or other notes of concern in his notepad, encrypt the file and mark it for reference next time we are on planet.

Everyone he speaks to finds him quite personable and easy to talk to. (I was going to rp all the encounters, but no one has replied to my overtures).

Once the report is done, I'll look up the Captain again, "I have a couple of questions for you, if you have the time."

"First, do you know what the cargo is on this 'milk run'? Should we prepare a hideaway for it?"

"Secondly, What is this about Charlie?"

OOC: has Abel ever heard about a mover named Charlie on Persephone? Would it be an Intelligence + Knowledge check? (I'm just learning the serenity system, please be gentle with my lack of knowledge.) Perhaps Intel + Influence?

[Koji]

((ancalimohtar, I think you should make an OOC thread for us so that we can keep all the discussion seperate from the game))

Trevor nods to Abel when he comes by. At a loss for words, he simply frets nervously and says, "It's, er...goin'!"

...

A sharp beeping wakes Trevor from his fitful slumber. He pulls himself out of dreamland with a shake of the head and cancels the alert. The ship is approaching its atmospheric re-entry point at too sharp an angle--looks like someone forgot to take the particulars of the lunar orbit into account when astrogating the trip.

Piloting check: 1d8+1d12=12

Without a moment's pause, Trevor takes hold of the controls and deftly readjusts the ship's trajectory. He looks behind him, wondering if anyone noticed his frantic behavior, and nervously bites into the soft part of his hand between the thumb and the knuckle of the forefinger until he tastes blood.

[ancalimohtar]

Koji, I know that's the way people like to do it on these boards, and there are some benefits--you can go back and read what happened much more easily, it reads like a novel, you don't have to wade through the OOC stuff--but I'm not sure I like it. For one, OOC stuff is usually about IC stuff, so you have to check back and forth to follow the topic of conversation. For two, if you do have to go back and check OOC stuff, it's much harder to follow the timeline of the game. Was this OOC stuff said before or after that IC stuff? Timestamps are an awkward way to follow a conversation.

But anyway, if the majority of you would prefer a separate OOC thread, I'm more than happy to do that. If not, I'll just italicize OOC text.

Back to the plot: If you guys have nothing special to do with the resupplying, I'm going to jump it ahead maybe six or so hours, to contact with Yuri. I've had this bit written since my recent plane ride, so I'm anxious to get it off the scratch paper in my jacket pocket and onto the hard, cold, internet. I'm going to assume Alex sent back a confirmation message to Yuri, agreeing to meet at a certain time.


Trevor manages to pull the ship out of the dangerous angle. Not pretty, but he does it okay, and Alex, coming up to the bridge to check up on the re-entry, doesn't mention it. Trevor is not sure whether she's pretending not to notice.

The next few hours go by in a hectic blur of haggling and loading up medical and other supplies. Ryder, in his element, picks out an assortment of necessary equipment and drugs. Hopping along the moon, named Ivangrad after a pioneering family, the crew finishes filling up the Hole with necessary items and head toward Yuri's shop.

-----------------

When the Hole enters Katma, she finds a city that clearly never gets any tourists. Heavily industrialized, most of its buildings are massive warehouses or factories that load their products into isotainers to be shipped 'round the moon or offworld. Lodged between two much larger and more expansive properties, the crew finds a few large piles of mostly rusted machinery. Amid the junkheaps a lone warehouse makes itself seen.

Trevor lands at a dock a few hundred yards away, where isotainers, stacked neatly, await to be loaded onto cargo ships.

A few of the crew leave the ship and walk to the warehouse, passing by a number of spare engine parts and half-assembled float and mule suspensions. The hangar door for the warehouse is open, and as the crew of the Hole walk in, they see dozens and dozens--perhaps a hundred or more--vehicles of all shapes and sizes in various states of repair, many of them simply parked in rows, some of them suspended from rafters, others in the middle of the shop being attended to.

A handful of grease-covered mechanics look up as you enter, although a few more are too busy to do so. A middle-aged man of average height and build wipes his hands on a piece of cloth and calls over to you.

"Alex? Beck's friend, yes? Welcome!"

[mainiac]

Alex was a bit amused when Abel brought his concerns to her. She smiled wryly into mule's anti-grav system she was currently patching up. Nice early morning work that.

"Heh, I ment the milk run sorta milk run, Abe." Alex fiddled intently with an old gasket as she talked before sighing and knocking the damn thing off and replacing it. "We're hauling some old floats or mules or something. nothing dangerous. Can't hurt to be alert in this part of space but I think we're safe for now."
The new piece in place, Alex looked Abel in the eye before going on. "Charlie's a whole different game. Like I said before, nice and mysterious. Could be lucrative."

-----------------------

Alex's eyes couldn't help but wander as she crossed through Yuri's workshop. Floats weren't her speciality but she was impressed and maybe made a little envious by the place. She took her eyes off the crafts and kept them on the man though, there was work to get done after all.
"Yeah, I'm Alexandra Gibbs. You're Yuri, right?" Alex gave Yuri a firm handshake, not caring that she got some residual oil on her hand in the process. She'd dressed nice and professional like for the bussiness deal but if Yuri prefered to keep things informal she'd definately follow his lead. "Nice to meet a fellow grease monkey, not to mention a family friend. Rebecca's family always seemed pretty good sorts in my book so I like doing bussiness with y'all." Alex smiled before changing the topic.
"Care to show what our bussiness is? You said you need float moved but looks like there's quite a few of 'em here..."

[Sunfall]

Everyone he speaks to finds him quite personable and easy to talk to. (I was going to rp all the encounters, but no one has replied to my overtures).

((I replied, didn't you notice?

Hmm, maybe it would be better if I wrote speech in color, too, but I seem to have a faulty access to this forum from time to time, so that I can't use the HTML buttons. And I'm not overly fond of coding all this by hand...))

Grace has stayed aboard the Hole, dreamily whiling her time away in the greenhouse, tending her plants. When most oft the other crew have gone off ship, and the Hole seems deserted and silent, she vanishes into her cabin.

"Hello my darlings", she softly purrs, fondly stroking the flowers of one of the orchids that grow in pots suspended from the ceiling, dry roots groping into the air. Their blooms are of an ageless, waxy beauty, displaying countless colors in Grace's world of brown and grey. Some of them flaunt their colors as warning signs for those who can read them: Grace has taken to keep her more... interesting plants in her own cabin, where no harm can come from them, no other crew member can accidentally run into their fatal beauty.

Grace takes a squirt bottle from a messy shelf (absentmindedly holding back a pile of stuff that starts to slip as the bottly had supported it) and starts generating a soft fog for the plants that need to get their water and nutrients from the air.

[Koji]

After watching the others leave, Trevor sneaks into the infirmary to bind up his hand. He grabs a bit of gauze and furtively loops it around his palm, and secures it with a bit of tape, ignoring completely the idea of antiseptic.

Once finished, he slides on a pair of gloves to hide his self-inflicted injury and slinks back to the cockpit, where he is content to play video games and wait for the others to return.

[ancalimohtar]

Does anyone go with him? Lee's there, but what about the rest?

[Jannex]

((That depends largely on Alex; Annalise would've been happy to accompany her, if she has the impression that her presence will be useful.))

[ancalimohtar]

Hey everybody, does anyone object to moving the game to myth-weavers.com? It's still this type of forum (vBulletin), and the colors are lamer, but their code is amazing. It's got the best of vBulletin and the best of rpol all put together!

• First of all, we can have our own individual forum and subforums even, better than rpol. Now I can make stickies and stuff!
• The dice are so, so much easier and more robust. You just type (dice)2d8 + d2 + 5(/dice), but with brackets, and it rolls them, tells you what each result was, adds them up, and puts it in a neat little box. It gets better than that if you want it to be, which is even better.
• There is still the option of PMs, but what's better is they have private text. I can just type (private=Sunfall)Hey, about the the type of vegetables in the garden...(/private) in the middle of a post, and only she can see the text, or even know that there is special text there. No more email, no more PMs, oh god I'm excited.
• There's OOC tags too. Your OOC text appears in a little box when the viewer moves his mouse over text you designate. No more parentheses or italics!
• So, so much more. They have DM screens, random generators for names and adventure hooks (all from user submissions I think), and more.

Take a look at their (very impressive, I must say) FAQ here: http://www.myth-weavers.com/faq.php, you can go to any of the links under "General Features" and "Using the Dice Roller" to see the dice and OOC tags and other neat stuff I mentioned above.

What do you guys think? Shall I start copying stuff over? It's just a quick signup for everybody.

[roninkelt]

Abel

Alex was a bit amused when Abel brought his concerns to her. She smiled wryly into mule's anti-grav system she was currently patching up. Nice early morning work that.

"Heh, I ment the milk run sorta milk run, Abe." Alex fiddled intently with an old gasket as she talked before sighing and knocking the damn thing off and replacing it. "We're hauling some old floats or mules or something. nothing dangerous. Can't hurt to be alert in this part of space but I think we're safe for now."
The new piece in place, Alex looked Abel in the eye before going on. "Charlie's a whole different game. Like I said before, nice and mysterious. Could be lucrative."

"I'm sure you are right, but that kind of thing always raises my hackles. If it was so easy, why not pack the damn things into a crate and ship it on a dang Alliance freighter. The rates are cheaper and more secure."

"In any case, would you mind if a couple of us come along to the meet and help out? I promise to keep quiet unless spoken to."

He gives Alex his winningest smile.

"I'll even put on my sunday best so as to be presentable like."


EDIT

Re: Mythweavers - I'd be ok with that if they do a daily subscription email.

[mainiac]

"No, no, no, you've got it all crabwise. We're the best, fastest, most secure ship in the verse, Abe, and don't you forget it. Appearances, they're everything." There's a tinge of indignation, meaning that Abel might have hit a nerve, but Alex doesn't seem all that serious. "But it's not that strange shipping independent. Alliance will give you no end of fuss and don't hit most routes. Still... never hurts to be suspicious. Anyway, yeah, you can come meet Yuri if you want, long as you don't go y'know acting all suspicious, alright?"

[Jannex]

((Regarding the MythWeavers thing... It sounds shiny and all, but for me, it's a lot more convenient having all my games here, so I can check them all at once. I'll go along with what everyone else decides, but my vote would be to stay here.))

[ancalimohtar]

Putting out an APB for Jin, Boran, and Ryder...

I'm going to assume Jin, Abel, and Lee go with Alex. Also, I'm moving the plot forward a little bit. You guys can roleplay however much you want.

Edit: Yes, Myth-weavers does have RSS alerts for threads and forums. I'm willing to copy all of what has happened so far in this game over to that forum, do all the other work for the transition, to gain its awesome benefits (like no freakin downtime when comics come up). All you guys would have to do is make an account and post, pleeeeeeease?



Yuri smiles and nods hello to the others accompanying Alex, blissfully unaware of even the thought of being intimidated, not even by an eyepatch-wearin' man.

In response to Alex, Yuri laughs and shakes her head, "No, not related to Beck. She friend of my cousin, though. But yes, business!"

He leads Alex as he walks down his workshop. Lee follows closely, leaving Jin and Abel at a bit of a distance. "We have many float late delivery. Near thirty, I think. Our old contractor is..."--and here he gives the impression of picking his next words carefully--"having problems."

Brightening up, he continues, "But no matter! You take our floats to Sephie. We pay you good money, short notice premium, yes?"

Yuri and Alex talk about the specifics of the deal, and agree on a fee of 220c, payable upon delivery to Yuri's satellite office on Sephie. As the details are set down and the ID cards scanned, Yuri brings up a different topic.

"Oh, one other thing, you say you want do some work, well like I say before, not possible. All my team, very professional, my equipment state-of-art, you know." He pauses, but grins. "Lucky for you, I have job I cannot do. Can give to you." He hands Alex a piece of paper.

Lee, watching all of this with unabashed protectiveness of Alex, keeps the rest of the mechanics in his field of vision. He squints as Yuri hands over the piece of paper.

"Go see him," Yuri continues. "Dock mechanic at Lindon Docks in Peterville, back on Sephie. He has man dock there with interceptor, very broken. Man also very broken!"

Yuri laughs at his own almost-pun. Lee is not amused.

"So you can fix on credit, maybe," Yuri finishes. With that, he instructs some of his men to begin loading the floats onto a gigantic cargo mule, to be taken to the Hole.

[mainiac]

((I couldn't find your game on mythweavers. Link please? I'm assuming that 220 is the post haggled price, right? Also, Sephie? That short for Peresephonie?))

Alex keeps an upbeat outlook when Yuri mentions the troubles of the last transporter. "Heh, don't worry about us having the same kinda troubles, Yuri, we're in this for the long haul."

Alex thanks Yuri for the address as she descretely tucks it away in her back pocket. "Yeah, let me go get all this organized in the old" she says as they start moving the floats. "Then there's nothing left but tea and dumplings."

As she heads away she falls in step beside Abel. "Seems Yui's partners don't last too long, eh?"

[ancalimohtar]

http://www.myth-weavers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6758, and yes to the other two questions.

Rejoice! I made it look real purdy, worked out the kinks, and I have to say, I can't even imagine coming back here for anything now. Take a look guys, especially at the Preludes folder and the Main Narrative thread.

[roninkelt]

Abel

"No, no, no, you've got it all crabwise. We're the best, fastest, most secure ship in the verse, Abe, and don't you forget it. Appearances, they're everything." There's a tinge of indignation, meaning that Abel might have hit a nerve, but Alex doesn't seem all that serious. "But it's not that strange shipping independent. Alliance will give you no end of fuss and don't hit most routes. Still... never hurts to be suspicious. Anyway, yeah, you can come meet Yuri if you want, long as you don't go y'know acting all suspicious, alright?"

"You are absolutely right Cap'n. My mistake... FAHNG-sheen, I said I'd keep my mouth shut."

As she heads away she falls in step beside Abel. "Seems Yuri's partners don't last too long, eh?"

"It seems not."

OOC: for the GM

Spoiler

Show

were any of the floats showing the signs of having been stolen? (busted keys/keypads, removed serial numbers or id plates, etc)
Int/Perception (d6/d6) [roll]2d6[/roll]

[Koji]

((Sorry I have been so quiet. The boards haven't been working and I'm indisposed at the moment.))

[Jannex]

((Roninkelt, you can't edit in dice rolls; you need to make a new post for that.))

[Sunfall]

((Yup, Jannex is right. Had a hard time finding out that one by myself You can't even use the "Preview" option when dice rolls are included... At least, I never could...

As for in-time posting... I'm not sure whether to continue here or at Myth Weavers (I already registered), and I'll just wait for Koji, if that's not a problem ))

[ancalimohtar]

Register at MW, apply for the game (so that I can let you in so that you can actually post), and then you can post.

[roninkelt]

lets try this again
(2d6)[8]


I really don't care for the forum die rollers in any case...