[OOC] Firefly - Second 'Verse

[wanderingwolf]

Hey crew! Things are moving along swimmingly for our crew-wide JP--extra thanks to all who have been participating. I'll be traveling this weekend, but next week Sail (he's the brains of this operation) has some great stuff in store for the crew and passengers of the China Doll. I hope you all have a great Guy Fawkes day!

wolf

[sail3695]

If it's Sunday, this must be the Cargo Bay...

Happy Weekend, All! So sorry that I fell off the face of the Earth for a couple weeks. Work has been totally nuclear for the past month, with no free time to engage in this game I love.

The good news is that I see light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm fairly certain it's not an oncoming train.

I'll get the next installment posted tonight before I call it quits. Then, we can move along to the final piece and into the episode climax. Thanks for being patient with me!

sail

[sail3695]

Happy Sunday, all!

I hope that all of us who celebrated Thanksgiving had a wonderful time with family and friends. Thanksgiving in our house involved a brand new smoker, failing propane connections, and frantic recovery efforts that finally met with success on Thanksgiving morning.

The tale is long and harrowing, and I won't belabor you with it here. Suffice to say that we had a detonation free Thanksgiving. Though dinner was two hours later than planned, everyone agreed that it was well worth the wait (though I'd assume that Mrs. Sail's Bourbon Punch was responsible for enhanced good moods all around.)

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program:

The long awaited Part 6 was posted yesterday. We do have a Part 7, but as it's been largely undeveloped for the weeks of my forced march through work, my immediate thought is that the plot points to be made there can be more effectively handled in future posts...if at all. But I'll leave it up to you, dear crew. We can still shape Part 7 to suit any participants, or send what's already there to the cutting room floor and move the story on to the climax. What do you think?

Again, my apologies for being pulled away. Though I'm still spinning way too many plates on the job, I'll do my best to remain current and help things move along. Hope you're all enjoying this weekend!

sail

[wanderingwolf]

Happy holidays all! It’s a pleasure to write story with the lot of you, crew!

[sail3695]

Happy New Year from the cargo bay!

Wishing for each of you the best of health, prosperity, and happiness in 2023.

For the first time in ages, I've made a few New Year's Resolutions:

1. Reclaim the work-life balance. (All work and no play has made Dan a very, very dull boy.)
2. Dial down the snark (or at least, fine tune it. Wolf says he likes my snarky moments, so I should consider this a bit more.)
3. Read more. Happily, I found three books under the Christmas tree, so I'm on my way there.
4. Write more. I apologize for FF2V's pacing and opportunities suffering over the past few months, and I've already begun to reestablish pacing. (See #1.)

The current scene has each of you in handcuffs as the Feds assist the police in a search of the boat. I'm sorry that you're all currently in positions to only react and express individual thoughts, but we're right on the edge of our climax, and I will make certain your characters are free to handle their shipboard jobs during the coming week.

By the way, 3 cheers for @Xandrya! The Alana/Imani/Captain Kondo scene was entirely her concept, and though I haven't even told her this, what took place there has birthed the kernel of an ongoing subplot for future episodes. That's what I love about writing with all of you here.

When we created FF2V, Wolf and I decided upon an episodic approach, which allows for defined way points in the overall plot. Under that theory, he and I drive the overall story plot with each of the member writers contributing in a fashion befitting their characters and shipboard jobs. Coupled with everyone's preference for joint posting collaboration, this approach has worked really well for us in the past.

As I mentioned earlier, we're right on the edge of the episode's climax, so you can expect to receive invites for particular scenes in which your character might participate. After the individual scenes are written, Wolf and I edit them together into the overall climax. We had great success with this at the end of episode 2, when China Doll flew into a hurricane to rescue a shipwrecked Yuri. You can expect to receive JP/Collab invites during the coming week.

After that? Pelorum! The crew gets a well deserved break. During that time, your characters' personal plots will take precedence for the episode. Wolf and I will supply one or two central plot arcs, but for the most part, this episode is designed for personal character growth and rejuvenation. Seeing how quick fried Abigail's temperament is these days, I know that she could use the break.

Okay, it's noon. I cooked NYD breakfast, and now I have to clean the kitchen. Tonight's supper involves black eyed peas, a Southern tradition in which a dime is mixed into the bowl. The lucky person who discovers the dime in their black eyed peas will be the recipient of good fortune...or the Heimlich maneuver, possibly both. On that cheery note, I'll close for now.

Happy New Year,

Sail

[psych0pomp]

Glad to see that this RP is still up and going! Congrats! You guys are awesome.

I promise I didn't die. I almost did, though. Seriously. That's not at all over-exaggeration.

[Xandrya]

Glad to see that this RP is still up and going! Congrats! You guys are awesome.

I promise I didn't die. I almost did, though. Seriously. That's not at all over-exaggeration.

@psych0pomp

Glad you're okay after whatever happened!

[wanderingwolf]

Glad to see that this RP is still up and going! Congrats! You guys are awesome.

I promise I didn't die. I almost did, though. Seriously. That's not at all over-exaggeration.

@psych0pomp

Psych! So glad to hear you're okay! Thanks for dropping in and saying hello :D We've certainly missed you.

[psych0pomp]

Glad you're okay after whatever happened!

@Xandrya

Psych! So glad to hear you're okay! Thanks for dropping in and saying hello :D We've certainly missed you.

@wanderingwolf

Awe. Thanks. Just some organ failure for fun. Along with a house fire for zest. But things have simmered down, and I thought I'd pop in on my favorite people. I felt so bad that I didn't give you guys an update. But life just had fun beating me while I was down, ala the printer scene in Office Space.

I'm currently reading through everything again. Sweet memories... glad to see this is still going strong!

[wanderingwolf]

@psych0pomp Wow, I'm sorry to hear that, and I'm glad you're doing better now. Real life comes first has always been our motto.

[Gunther]

@psych0pomp I am happy to see you are doing well. Joe Hooker was looking forward to a few poker games with the first officer, but that never happened. You take care of yourself and remain on the safe and narrow path.

[sail3695]

Happy Sunday from the cargo bay!

And here I am, apologizing once more for work eating my brain. To be honest, a big chunk of what was knocking my work/life balance has just been completed. It looks like there'll be waves off and on, but the coming week is way, way laid back! Time to write...

Thanks, everyone, for bearing with me. We'll get the police raid wrapped up in a hurry and move on to the climax.

Sail

PS: Hi, Psych! Great to see you again. Hope you're in a better place now.

[wanderingwolf]

Just wanted to highlight that the last post I added occurred in the past and lays a bit of foundation for what's coming!

[Zapdos]

Hi, I don't usually post in RPs I'm not in, but I read through yours and wanted to say I enjoyed it! Not sure how I started that since I don't even know much about Firefly in the first place, but all the same, I'll follow this to see what happens. That's all I wanted to say, really, so I wish everyone here all the best!

[sail3695]

Happy Sunday from the cargo bay!

Yes, I know. It's been a long, long time, and our little RP has nearly ground to a halt. Entirely on me, gang. My adulting schedule went right through the roof as we lurched into the new year. The good news is that wave of activity has crested and I'm looking at a much more sane springtime, with plenty of writing opportunities.

The bad news is that I decided to be fashionably late to the Covid party. Tested positive last Tuesday. Fortunately, I'm vaxxed and boosted, and my doc wasted no time in putting me on "the Pax." (You'll be happy to know that I haven't displayed any Reaver symptoms since.)

And so, I cranked out a post today for which I'll beg your tolerance. It's clearly been affected by Covid brain fog, but I think it gets everyone moving forward. Yuri's given orders and China Doll is about to lift off.

Look for a shipwide JP invite coming Monday or Tuesday. Til then, there are tags up that are purely optional. If you feel the inspiration, we'd love to hear your characters.

But for now, it's nap time. Write when it's fun!

sail, quarantined

[sail3695]

Happy Sunday from the cargo bay!

I added a bit to the JP/collab. Here's what we know for now:

Hook, Imani, and Elias are in the cargo bay with Yuri. They're about to lower the ramp and are hoping to see the captain, Sister Lyen, and a few of the college student volunteer body doubles all running for the boat. Yuri also hopes that they're not going to see pursuing slavers, especially those with guns. He's put Abby on the catwalk with her long rifle to watch their backs and keep unwelcome guests from boarding.

Edina is currently standing guard in the medbay lounge. She's sealed the aft cargo bay hatch.
Tommy is in the cockpit, keeping China Doll's atmo engines idling for a quick takeoff.

That leaves two characters, Quill Cassidy and the doc. Now, our doc is a member of the crew. She wasn't ordered to the cargo bay for fisticuffs; I'm assuming she'd be prepping medbay for possible wounded. (Not to mention, there's an Anabaptist strapped into the medbay lounge with a case of the Wet Lung.) @Xandrya, what do you think? Given her character dynamic, what would Alana be doing right now?

Then there's Quill. What would she be doing? She's not officially crew, though in Yuri's eyes she's a Big Damn Hero. What would she be doing during this moment...joining the cargo bay folk in a scrape, taking a position with Abby in the catwalk, or would she be looking after their Anabaptist passengers? @PatientBean, you've got carte blanche to have Quill act according to her own lights.

Just a reminder that the JP/Collab is being built on FF2V Reusable 5. The link's available in our group chat, or we'll be glad to send it directly if you need.

Hope you're all having a terrific weekend. This is my first completely open weekend in six months. Work has slowed down, and as of last Tuesday I'm officially Covid free! What a joy to have plenty of time to flex both physical and writing muscles once again. And by the way, if you're having any trouble flexing that writing muscle of your own, let us know. We're happy to talk character subplots and brainstorm to fuel your creativity.

WWIF,

Sail

[wanderingwolf]

Can I just say a huge thank you to @sail3695 for getting us to the next episode! I'd give you a round of applause but seeing as this is written text I have to rely on emojis!

Thank you for all you do keeping us in the black Sail!

[sail3695]

Aww, shucks...

I'm just sorry for the lag time, gang. Just emerged from the six busiest months of my career, and I've got the blown out desk chair to prove it. (Important work/life balance note: When you find yourself using pairs of socks to cover crumbling armrests, that's a telltale sign of two situations that bear correction.) But anyway...

Happy Sunday from the cargo bay!

As Wolf pointed out, we're now into Episode 5, "Shore Leave." Cap'n's got the boat pointed toward Pelorum, and he's in a mind to give his hard working crew a few days off. You can get the full skinny over in the IC thread, along with our latest "Crap Art" travel poster. Yeah, I believe this is becoming a thing.

It bears repeating that while our plan for Ep 5 is completely up to you, we will run a couple underlying plots for anyone who wants to play along. And for all you who have your own character stories to tell, just know that if you need our characters to support your ideas, just send a wave. We're happy to see your adventures come to life.

So, I'm traveling for the next 3 weeks (work thing.) Mainly SOS, different office, meaning I'm pretty confident that I can keep up with y'all. However, if my responses are a little delayed, just know that I'll still be checking and keeping myself current with the happenings on and off the boat.

Now, get your sunscreen and a beach chair. Abby's got bikini shopping in mind...leastways til she sees the price tag. "Fer Buddha's sake, I'll jest go swimmin' in muh gorram unders!"

WWIF,

sail

[sail3695]

Happy Sunday from the cargo bay!

So, Wolf and I have been talking. When we started FF2V in 2021, we understood that our writers would all be adults with busy lives. At the time, we were just beginning to slowly emerge from the pandemic, and for many of us, the habits of quarantine were committed to muscle memory. Then the world came roaring back, and all of us found ourselves immersed once more in increasingly hectic schedules. So much so that it seems the only writing we could all share in over the past few months was a stream of apologies for our individual lapses.

And that, dear shipmates, is a violation of our one and only rule, “Write When It’s Fun.”

You’re all a conscientious, highly talented group of writers. As your hosts, the last thing we’d wish is knowing that you all feel badly about life pulling you away from our little game. With that in mind, we thought it was time to reach out to you all for your thoughts on the future of FF2V. We’ve had a few discussions, and settled on some possible options:

1. Sunset the game. “All good things…” The current episode sees us on Pelorum, which could serve as a “happily ever after” in and of itself. The freeform nature of this episode allows for characters to seek their own conclusions and stories. Under this option, you could write your ‘happily ever after’ or ‘bitter conclusion’ as you see fit from Pelorum. Or, for that matter, writers could simply choose to call a halt.

2. Hiatus. As spring and summer are typically much busier times for us all, this option would simply place FF2V on seasonal hiatus, beginning now and running through Labor Day ‘23.

3. Full shutdown. Right now, China Doll is flying toward the happiest place in the ‘verse. We could just leave it there, roll credits, and all head off to do our taxes.

4. Reboot. If we’d like to keep the band together, this offers us the option to consider new stories, characters, even a complete genre shift.

5. Keep Flying. Under the heading “Know Thyself,” I must admit that I still love Firefly and my characters have told me (one in no uncertain terms) that they still have things to say. If you decide you want to keep the boat in the black and participate when you’ve got time to enjoy, you and I can put our heads together and figure it out. However, such a call places no obligation on any shipmate, be they member writer or game host.

That’s what we’ve hashed out. What do you think?

Sail

[wanderingwolf]

Happy Friday from the cargo bay, cast and crew!

We've tallied the votes and they've fallen thusly:

Hiatus - 3
Keep Flying - 4
Reboot - 5

That means we'll be heading into a new era for the game with a reboot! Can I just echo what Sail said in our Google Chat room about how touching it is that, even though we all have real life obligations, every writer wants to keep writing together as a group. That buy-in is infectious, and I can't wait to see the stories we have yet to tell together.

Before I launch into the below questions to be raised, I think it might be a good idea for us to get together at the same time in our Google Chat room to discuss. Let's open up the dailog for time and day, but I thought I'd point us to Friday, April 14th, at 10pm Eastern Daylight Time--7pm PDT. I know we have writers across a few time zones, so feel free to chime in on days and times that work best for you.

Here's what Sail and I have hashed out that we'd like everyone to think about and chime in with their opinions and feelings on. Bear in mind, these are just touch-stone questions and so feel free to ask for anything here as we brainstorm together.

1. If you could change anything about FF2V, what would you like to change?
2. Do you want to keep writing the same character, or sunset that character and introduce a new one?
3. Would a time jump be interesting to you? Why?
4. As a writer, do you have particular roles or plots you'd like to see come to fruition in the scope of the game?
5. Do you like the China Doll as a ship and want to keep it around, or get a completely new ship (The Mariposa, perhaps?)?
6. Would you like to play a different role on the ship? (Companion, mechanic, pilot, etc. (see the below info))

Sail and I have a few mainstays during this reboot:
1. Abigail will keep flying with the ship.
2. Sail will write the 'First Mate' role (as Yuri, or whomever that might be) so he can fill in for the Captain when he goes on a bender.
3. Cal will stick around the ship as captain.
4. I'll probably keep SAM and Lyen around, too, but I'm still considering these characters.

As way of reminder (I had to sound this off, too), here are the current roles filled by hosts and member writers:

1. Medic - Alana
2. Companion - Quill
3. Mechanic - Elias
4. Muscle - Imani
5. Deckhand - Abigail
6. First Mate - Yuri
7. Deckhand - Edina (Cal: "Am I payin' you fer sumthin'?")
8. Captain - Cal
9. AI - SAM

That leaves a couple spots open just by way of necessity:

1. Pilot
2. Spiritual Guidance

However, apart from Sail and my mainstays, everything can get shaken up above (as long as the writer in that role is keen to vacate the role for something else, mind).

So that's all the news fit to print! Feel free to reply in our OOC in RPG or in the Google Chat with your thoughts, and let's find a time to get the gang together around the galley table all at once to talk this out.

May the road rise,
Wolf & Sail