[OOC] Interplanetary Space Friends - A Game About Space Adventures, Friendship and Fast Food

[Archmage MC]

@Fancy Party So, if its octodad, do we notice hes an octopus cat or a human that feels off? Toony is a robot so disguises probably wont trick her as easy if its the latter. xD

[Fancy Party]

@Fancy Party So, if its octodad, do we notice hes an octopus cat or a human that feels off? Toony is a robot so disguises probably wont trick her as easy if its the latter. xD

@Archmage MC

Haha, good question. While Bunz is good with stealth and disguise, nah he'll be noticeable as what he is. I think it would be hard to get away with being human with a fish-bowl over his head. Though, he probably will ask Toony to make that resonant frequency weapon for him down the line in different iterations, probably as a rifle of some sort first.

[Hylozoist]

I'll give Vonny a bit of time to weigh in on the mission choice, direction and what-not, and then make a post to move things along. I've got to venture into the outside world this afternoon ("Can you deliver?" "Uhhh..." "Great! Thanks!"). Just so I'm not entirely surprised by whatever lunacy ends up happening, the plan is to help throw a party on Ofromia, right?

I would like to run a little bit of this-is-what-the-ship-is-like between Nurr-Slugg and Ofromia (or wherever it is you end up), but if people are desperately yearning to sink their teeth into some delicious ribs sort-of-structure, I'd be happy doing a post outlining the journey overall and throwing the action back to you just prior to landing on Ofromia. Either's fine, really, but I want to make sure things are progressing at a rate that people like. Hopefully, eventually, I'll have a much better handle on the pace that works best for the group.

It's a learning experience for us all!

[Squad 404]

I would personally appreciate a bit of "Daily life on the ship" stuff so that everything seems a bit more alive and meaningful rather than a plot device to get us from A to B. Perhaps not to slice of life levels where literally every waking and sleeping moment is accounted for, but perhaps something more like original Teen Titans where it would sometimes show things like Cyborg and Beast Boy playing video games, Raven meditating, Starfire being Starfire, etc.

I'm sure that's a completely unhelpful description, but I don't really quite know how to put it.

[Hylozoist]

I'm sure that's a completely unhelpful description, but I don't really quite know how to put it.

@Valor

Quite the opposite, it's very helpful! I think we'd benefit from that sort of scene personally, because it really can help cement what the characters are like ("What do they do when they're free to do whatever they want..." is a good way of understanding characters and what players like to do, perhaps even more so than asking "what do they do when they're forced to act by circumstances"). I'll let others weigh in on it as well, and I may have to step in during this scene to go "okay, folks, let's move along a little now" if it gets too slice of life.

I'm a little sad that we lost the Ship AI character, as that would've been a nice way to string together some "daily life aboard the Quest For Flavour" bits.

[TwelveOf8]

I agree with @Valor about the "Daily life on the ship stuff @Hylozoist. It's all well and good having the characters be thrust into situations in order to keep the pace up for the sake of the story. I like to think though, that the characters themselves can dictate the pace of the story, and not necessarily by dictated to, if ya know what I mean. That the characters themselves aren't necessarily a vehicle for the plot, but windows of many different types to view the plot.

In my posts, Fiddlesticks doesn't do very much action wise. The purpose is to allow for interaction with other characters whilst avoiding continuity errors. In my humble opinion, exploring how characters are affected in detail can very well enrich the plot further in ways unexpected. I'm sure you have some exciting stuff for us planned @Hylozoist but I'm the type of person who likes to take his time. To stop and smell the roses, so to speak. So yeah, move the plot along and stuff, but I think it should be priority number one to let the characters themselves move through the plot organically. That's my two cents worth.

P.S. This is the best role play I've been a part of, by far! I criticise because I care.

[Fancy Party]

I know I'm technically not part of the story yet, but I'm cool with a "this-is-what-the-ship-is-like" type adventure.

[Hylozoist]

P.S. This is the best role play I've been a part of, by far! I criticise because I care.

@TwelveOf8

Thanks! But, well, I don't really see it as criticism; this is my first time running a game for people online, and I need to make sure that we're all happy with the direction this ship is going, so to speak. Talking about what works and what doesn't is an important discussion to have. I want to run a game that makes people happy! This isn't to say that I don't have my own ideas, but "helping my players have a good time" is the first priority. Hopefully, most of the time, I get it right. Sometimes, though, I'll have to ask to make sure I get it right. And, sometimes, I'll have to be told by others when I've got it wrong.

Apologies as ever for the rambling, but, basically, don't fret at all about telling me what I can change to make this work better for you. It will be hard, at times, to juggle everyone's needs, but I've put the GM Hat on to run a game that people will enjoy first and foremost, rather than to demand people play in the sandbox we've come together to make in a certain way.

[DracoLunaris]

a little ship time sounds fun so long as we don't keep @Fancy Party waiting to long.

I'm a little sad that we lost the Ship AI character, as that would've been a nice way to string together some "daily life aboard the Quest For Flavour" bits.

@Hylozoist

well there are probably bees in every area that isn't someones quarters, so if you had anything in mind with how you where going to link them together they and the Mind can kind of act in a similar roll to what the AI would.

[Fancy Party]

<Snipped quote by TwelveOf8>

Thanks! But, well, I don't really see it as criticism; this is my first time running a game for people online, and I need to make sure that we're all happy with the direction this ship is going, so to speak. Talking about what works and what doesn't is an important discussion to have. I want to run a game that makes people happy! This isn't to say that I don't have my own ideas, but "helping my players have a good time" is the first priority. Hopefully, most of the time, I get it right. Sometimes, though, I'll have to ask to make sure I get it right. And, sometimes, I'll have to be told by others when I've got it wrong.

Apologies as ever for the rambling, but, basically, don't fret at all about telling me what I can change to make this work better for you. It will be hard, at times, to juggle everyone's needs, but I've put the GM Hat on to run a game that people will enjoy first and foremost, rather than to demand people play in the sandbox we've come together to make in a certain way.

@Hylozoist

I'm not even technically a player yet and I'm still happy with how all this is going. xD

a little ship time sounds fun so long as we don't keep @Fancy Party waiting to long.

@DracoLunaris

I'm actually fine with waiting for the time being, gives me more time to refine my introductory post ideas. Plus this is one of the few games I actually enjoy reading.

[Archmage MC]

@Hylozoist I think The Mind can replace the AI like Draco said. I like the 'life on the ship' idea.

Also unrelated, does anyone know a good place to visit to find gamer friends, especially female ones? Besides cons, I try to go to those whenever I can.

[Hylozoist]

well there are probably bees in every area that isn't someones quarters, so if you had anything in mind with how you where going to link them together they and the Mind can kind of act in a similar roll to what the AI would.

@DracoLunaris

@Hylozoist I think The Mind can replace the AI like Draco said. I like the 'life on the ship' idea.

@Archmage MC

I was thinking that, if we had a sort of slice-of-life situation where everyone was in the ship doing their own thing, then the presence of the AI (or the bees now!) could serve as a way of making sure everyone had somebody to interact with, and to bring people together. It's one of those things that I'm not sure if it'd actually be needed, but I wanted to make sure that I had some sort of backup plan in mind if it looked like people were left out, or if we needed something to break the ice, or so on.

Also unrelated, does anyone know a good place to visit to find gamer friends, especially female ones? Besides cons, I try to go to those whenever I can.

@Archmage MC

Most of my gamer friends were made at university, at LARPs (it's one of my secret shames) and board game meet-ups. Plus the occasional convention. Not that I've go to particularly many; my "convention schedule" is a pair of post-it notes with "Rezzed in Spring" and "Dragonmeet in Winter" written on them.

[Fancy Party]

The bees can do it all!

And man, you guys have way more social life than me. I've never even been to a con. I have no local friends, let alone gamer ones. My closest gamer friends live in New Zealand, so about 8,500 miles away .-.

[Hylozoist]

The bees can do it all!

@Fancy Party

I may end up making a Ship AI as an NPC, just because I've got a joke in my head about it.

I have no local friends, let alone gamer ones.

@Fancy Party

I'd say "you can go out and make some!" but, honestly, doing that is hard and more than a little terrifying. But I've found that making gamer friends has one advantage - you tend to meet them in an environment where everyone's there to do something else, and the friendships sort of happen over time. The thought of going out to meet people for the sake of meeting people is pretty scary, but going out to play board-games with people who are also there to play board-games isn't so bad. If I start feeling nervous about talking to somebody, I can just focus on playing the game. Even though we're all probably there, really, to meet people, the convenient fiction about it really being about playing board-games takes the edge off that.

Okay, no more rambling, I am going to drink some tea and clear the foggy cloud of sleep from my poor, addled brain-meats.

[Fancy Party]

<Snipped quote by Fancy Party>

I may end up making a Ship AI as an NPC, just because I've got a joke in my head about it.

@Hylozoist

Go for it!

<Snipped quote by Fancy Party>

I'd say "you can go out and make some!" but, honestly, doing that is hard and more than a little terrifying. But I've found that making gamer friends has one advantage - you tend to meet them in an environment where everyone's there to do something else, and the friendships sort of happen over time. The thought of going out to meet people for the sake of meeting people is pretty scary, but going out to play board-games with people who are also there to play board-games isn't so bad. If I start feeling nervous about talking to somebody, I can just focus on playing the game. Even though we're all probably there, really, to meet people, the convenient fiction about it really being about playing board-games takes the edge off that.

Okay, no more rambling, I am going to drink some tea and clear the foggy cloud of sleep from my poor, addled brain-meats.

@Hylozoist

Its not that I haven't really tried, its just hard to find people online my age in my area (small rural town) where people can meet up to do stuff like that. Plus, aside from roleplay games, I don't consider myself much of a gamer anymore since most games no longer hold my interest any longer than about half an hour. I also, kind of shut down around most people in social situations, though not really sure if focusing on a game in front of me would help or not.

[Hylozoist]

Its not that I haven't really tried, its just hard to find people online my age in my area (small rural town) where people can meet up to do stuff like that.

@Fancy Party

Yeah, that's not a great situation to be in, you've got my sympathy on that front. The last time I lived in a small rural-ish area was when I was growing up, and so my advice about how to meet people in that regard is probably a little dated (and obviously there's cultural differences and what-not!). I wish I could be a bit more helpful on that front, really. At least there's always the internet, and for all my talk of doing social stuff with people, most of my socialising is still done through a screen and keyboard. If it weren't for the fact that I live with two other people, who have become my sort-of-surrogate-family, I'd probably end up becoming some sort of hermit.

Okay, clearly, the tea has yet to kick in.

[Fancy Party]

All good, I frankly prefer the internet friendships. But it would just be nice to have at least one local friend. Either way, it'll happen eventually I suppose.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to the stories to come from aboard the ship.

[Hylozoist]

Anyways, I'm looking forward to the stories to come from aboard the ship.

@Fancy Party

I should probably keep working on that. The good thing about doing a day-to-day-life bit on the ship is that it gives me more time to flesh out Ofromia. Some of my notes were scribbled when I was half asleep, and so require some time to decode. I'm sure there's a very good reason why there's a picture of a duck in a top hat with a monocle in there. Really makes me wonder about people who claim to be able to connect to past lives, when I seem to struggle to connect with me from a week ago.

[Fancy Party]

I should probably keep working on that. The good thing about doing a day-to-day-life bit on the ship is that it gives me more time to flesh out Ofromia. Some of my notes were scribbled when I was half asleep, and so require some time to decode. I'm sure there's a very good reason why there's a picture of a duck in a top hat with a monocle in there. Really makes me wonder about people who claim to be able to connect to past lives, when I seem to struggle to connect with me from a week ago.

@Hylozoist

I'm sure it was a very elegant and elaborate NPC, probably the mayor of Ofromia or something.

[Archmage MC]

@Fancy Party

Let me know if you find anything. I've got roughly the same situation, although I have a smallish city nearby so I can uber there at least. I'm going to try a few social apps and see what happens.

@Hylozoist

I'm pretty much a hermit already, but at least I keep myself looking clean and presentable. Hoping when I go out I can find friends. I have no fear talking to people, I just have a problem with actually making friends since I'm annoying due to wanting to talk a lot and being fairly clingy. lol Lady friends are even harder since ladies in general tend to not want to make friends or deal with guys in general it seems nowadays >.<. At least from my experience. lol

Also that duck in top hat thing sounds like Howard the Duck.