I'm thinking I might attempt a new version of a play-by e-mail game I ran off-site. That incarnation of this game ran for almost ten years, and a key point of that was players who were dedicated, alongside a strong plot and background that all of the characters and players were involved in. I would love to try and re-create that on RP Guild, and hopefully get a game that runs as long. Thunderbolt Black is essentially a story told in an alternate version of our world, post a World War Three in the 1990's, after the cold war persisted for longer, and eventually went hot. A lot changed, and - to cut a long story short - mercenary companies and mega-corporations become commonplace and powerful (all of this will be explained in a much more detailed background if I get enough interest). The players will be part of a tactical fighter squadron (though it would include multi-role and attack aircraft) that is part of the most well-known and well-respected PMC, Thunderbolt Black. They are fighting a secretive war against the mega-corporation MultiCorp, which has plans of its' own for re-building the still fragile world. My hope is to involve the characters' backgrounds and personal storylines with the larger story, and weave things into a somewhat epic adventure. I didn't get to run the full plot I had planned for the original version of the game in the end (it only came into being as I realized the game was actually getting somewhere), and I'd like to use elements of it in this version. In terms of the 'mood' and 'feel' of the game, it's a blend of sci-fi elements with military thrillers. So, there will be things like killer satellites, genetic engineering and minor cybernetics, etc. The kind of thing that would be theoretically possible, if money was no object, or one or two breakthroughs in the right area had been made. Othwerwise, there will be a strong element of realism to the aircraft - no Ace Combat or otherwise 'super planes' like the X-02 or Morgan or whatever, and no 80+ missiles or backflipping your jet at five times the speed of sound. A good knowledge of aircraft and their systems would help, but isn't essential. Willingness to learn, to be corrected, and to do your own research is kind of essential though. A sense of humour and the desire to actually make a goddamn post is absoultely 100% vital to joining in. I'm looking for about 4 - 8 players. The game will be high-level casual - primarily due to the story/plot content, but decent writing standards would be nice too.

WEll. Let me be the brave one and step up first. I'll sign up. Only on the grounds that I get to fly a bomber or cargo plane sooner rather than later. >=3

Hooray, a person! I'm sure I can wrangle that into the plot at some point. You wouldn't be able to have one as a regular aircraft, but I'm sure I can fit it in. Especially the heavy bomber, as I'm a huge fan of the B-1 Lancer myself. Though equally, I've always had a huge soft-spot for the C-130 Hercules as well.

Well, this seems to be going down like a lead balloon.

Well, shit, you might have won yourself another player, if you think you'd like me to be here too.

Well, a smaller crew just means less down time between posts. So is having fewer people a bad thing?

> Well, shit, you might have won yourself another player, if you think you'd like me to be here too. NO! Yes of course I would :P You're more than welcome. > Well, a smaller crew just means less down time between posts. So is having fewer people a bad thing? Oh, I have no problem with the fact that at least yourself and Machine have shown interest, but I was hoping there might have been a little more reaction from the Guild as a whole, and a few other and new people might've shown some interest. That's not to diminish either of your interest or involvement though - at least we all know how one another play, and that's good. And if there's not any more interest after, say, a couple more days, then I can start tailoring things just to the three of us. And we can always run multiple characters each. Heck, I could even make it like the original TB, and it could be a furry/anthro game again. I was just hoping for a few more bites is all - I'm sure you know how it is. You get excited about something, and want other people to be excited too!

Heh. I'm excited, to be sure. While its not the norm for me, I am not afraid to step outside my comfort bounds to explore new types of RPs. I've recently allowed myself to make a 'superhero' character with intense mental abilities. If its all the same to you, I'm used to collabing with Machine and yourself, so I'm very much not afraid to try other templates ^_^

Shit, my heart skipped a few beats there, Silver :c A small group formed of us three is just as exciting as a larger group to me. Like Es said, I'm pretty familiar with both writing styles and I wouldn't be here if I didn't enjoy either. While larger groups of people tend to be messy, it is interesting to see everyone's way of thinking. I'm completely fine with writing several characters too, I'd might include a few cameos from my own repertoire of characters actually. And the fact that it might end up anthro/furry is the icing on the cake. I still have to carefully study and learn how aerodynamics work, though. Pretty sure I can dedicate one night to it one of these days and figure stuff out. But I have a question: if the setting is in near-future, how technologically advance can our aircrafts be? I get it, no X-02, Morgana and I suppose other experimental models, but what about VTOL fighter jets (Harrier, F-35), VTOL transport/cargo crafts (V-22 Osprey) or other "exotic" aircrafts? (Su-47, XA-20 Razorback, F-22, An-225, maybe MV-24h)

> I still have to carefully study and learn how aerodynamics work, though. Pretty sure I can dedicate one night to it one of these days and figure stuff out. Watch lots of Youtube videos! Though I wouldn't worry too much - I'm not going to be slavishly adhering to accuracy, but just making sure things don't go too far outside the boundaries of reality. For example, one player in the original game once tried to backflip an A-10 while in flight to shoot down a pursuing missile with it's cannon. This would be classed under 'hell no, physically impossible'. I think most people would understand this. >But I have a question: if the setting is in near-future, how technologically advance can our aircrafts be? I get it, no X-02, Morgana and I suppose other experimental models, but what about VTOL fighter jets (Harrier, F-35), VTOL transport/cargo crafts (V-22 Osprey) or other "exotic" aircrafts? (Su-47, XA-20 Razorback, F-22, An-225, maybe MV-24h) I'll include more info on this when it gets to the OOC stage, but since you asked and others may have similar questions; I'm not allowing any _fictional_ aircraft, i.e. the Ace Combat models you mentioned, or for example, Firefox or the Yukikaze (from the anime of the same name) or, say, Airwolf or the Turbokat. But, if there's a particular prototype aircraft you liked - let's say, the SU-47 or to be even more out there, the FB-22 Strike Raptor, then I'd allow that, as it has recognisable and quantifiable charactistics. So, all of the other aircraft you mentioned are fair game too. Although, the game will be about a fighter squadron, so you wouldn't be allowed to pilot a transport or a heavy bomber on a regular basis, but they could feature as NPC or adversary craft easily enough. The alternate timline allows for a lot of such things, and they were a staple of the original version of the game, and half of the fun was the wide array of aircraft. Most of the older ones (for example, one character flew a Saab Viggen, and one of my characters flew a Skyhawk) were also upgraded to be more competitive - not to mention, having good pilots. A standard feature of all aircraft was modification to allow carrier-based ops and in-flight refuelling as well.

Ok, gotcha. Might settle for some of those ugly, kludgey soviet models for the sake of variation xP. Or maybe a sexy Dassault, I'll see

Psst, I've moved the int-check over to the casual thread, as there's a bit more traffic there, and because I'm running it in Casual anyway. Head over there to carry on our discussion, okay? Cheers, guys. http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/75561/posts/ooc I'll get a mod to close this thread, if possible!