The year is 2179 CE, a year has passed since the raids on Torfan and Theshaca. While many mercenaries and batarian raiders were killed, many more escaped deep into the Terminus System beyond the judiciary reach of the Systems Alliance. Yet the Alliance still demands retribution for the blood drawn and many bounties exists for the taking by those willing to risk life and limb making a considerable amount of credits in a comparatively short amount of time. Professional killers, naive up-and-comers, and anyone else with a death wish flock to the borderlands of civilized space all entranced by fortune's seductive call. Each player will in turn portrays one such daring, conflicted space adventurer who reaches boldly beyond their current safety and means in a bid to make a name for themselves amongst the stars

Our story, however, begins much more humbly. as a handful of wandering destinies slowly begin to intersect. This wanders thread have been drawn together by the promises of one Nikolai Tsoi, an ex-Alliance soldier who was stationed on Elysium during the Blitz and has made a career hunting down those that prepertared those crimes ever since. Tsoi’s last job having left his old crew dead and leaving the mercenary in need of a new one. The job listing the Tsoi put out promising lucrative pay to those willing to put up with the harsh and often then not deadly working conditions. For many especially on a hellscape such as Omega any opportunity to escape and start anew is tantalizing. Some of Tsoi’s new hires are old hats at the mercenary business and are just looking for reliable pay; others spent the last of their credits on a pistol half chewed by a vorcha and armor that was more adhesive then plating. It didn’t really matter in the end where they came from, credits called to everyone in the end.

The crew already has their first mission. One of Tsoi’s old military buddies tipped him off on a score, an Asari Matriarch by the name of Salisa Sarsi. She used to run with the Eclipse, but eventually after awhile went independent. She was on Torfan but managed to escape the Alliance forces, and the Alliance was willing to pay big money if she was brought in alive to stand trial for war crimes she committed during the Blitz. Soon though it becomes apparent that not just the Alliance wants to bring Sarsi in and unlike the Alliance, they are not too particular whether the asari is brought in dead or alive. And so, the crew is gonna have some competition if they are gonna be the ones that bring her in.

Welcome to Mass Effect: Renegade, a roleplay run by yours truly.

The premise of this roleplay is simple enough; your character will be one of the crewmembers of the Achilles, The Achilles was once a well-armed turian patrol craft, but while it’s been repurposed in its new life, it still has the sleek lines, limited crew, and cargo space of a predator. You are effectively bounty hunters and extraction specialists, the type of group that will kick down any door and get into any firefight as long as the pay is good enough. Luckily for your in the Terminus system work is never exactly hard to find. And so the general arc of the story is going from a relative group of newcomers to a highly sought after group of mercenaries, the classic rag to riches story.

Posting standards are your typical Advanced fare with the primary focus being on a steady rate of IC posting. Personally, I am not a fan of setting a strict you must post X number of posts in Y number of days, but if I feel that things are beginning to slow I will say so in the OOC and state a “checkpoint” is coming in such a scenario all active players who haven’t posted should at least check in with me. Failure to do so will result in either me effectively making your character into an NPC or in the worst case scenario shoving them out an airlock. Though that being said, as long as you communicate and inform me of any real life shit^tm that is going on then this of course will not be a problem. Real life, of course, takes priority over your hobbies.

Gameplay is arranged in a mission/downtime structure. If you have ever played something like Blades in the Dark or Scum & Villainy you understand the general idea. What this structure means for you is that the RP will generally be broken up into two sections: mission & downtime. Missions are much more linear experiences that are strung together to lead you from set piece moment to set piece moment in a cocktail of frantic and highpace action. Expect like all the explosions. Downtime segments occur whenever missions are not occuring and are sandbox in structure allowing you freedom to do as you please. Though the general focus of this structure will be character interaction and to be able to provide a breather between the frantic action of the missions. Beyond standard set piece missions, there will also be the potential later on for “side” missions. These missions while sometimes not directly affecting the plot are typically centered around the backstory of your character’s to allow us to spotlight them. These missions will be collaboratively brainstormed between the Player controlling said character and myself. Because in the end, I always try to make my RPs character focused first and story focused second, I having found that the former usually informers the later.

At the start, I am setting the player cap at approximately 7 players beyond myself. Character sheets will be done via application process where the main criteria will be based on the base quality of the sheet (writing ability, command of the language, etc), the strength of the concept being presented, and what characters I feel will create the most interesting dynamic. If more players apply then spots available, said players will be contacted if such a spot becomes available, gaining first priority to submit a new application. The general reason I have a hard limit set in the first place is primarily because of personal experience that anything beyond 10 tends to bog down the RP, so I’m aiming to play it safe with a solid 8.

General inspiration: Mass Effect Video Games (duh.), Cowboy Bebop, Firefly, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Scum & Villainy.

Music I listened to while writing this: New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down, Chromakey Dreamcoat, Love Theme, Music Sounds Better With You