MatthiasAngel

Convalescence - A New World

<Snipped quote by MatthiasAngel>

Believe it or not, I was actually considering an APC as well, I'm still in a dilemma about it, because a tank might actually be more fun in how impractical its. Like, people would need to sit on top (a Soviet T-72, as I was considering, only has a crew of three maximum), along with supplies, any loot, making choosing what and who to take a big dilemma. Plus, I feel it's a very romantic idea, people sitting on top of a tank, rumbling through the overgrown cities of this setting.

On the other hand, APC's are much more practical for the reasons you mentioned and, for civilian characters, a lot easier to maintain (wheeled ones are closer to cars), plus there's still the possibility of people sitting on top, just not as romantic as a tank to me. But the claustrophobia idea is definitely an interesting one. The dilemma comes down to it being practical or impractical. Impractical could be a lot of fun to write, with all the challenges of it, but practical is, well, more practical and maybe realistic.

@Section

Good points. Plus a tank overall is more recognizable and easier to envision. You say "tank" and it's like "oh, okay. Big, clunky, menacing, easy to ID at a distance." Everyone else will know a tank when they see one. And less space means more collaboration between survivors.

Thing is, too much party conflict means you'll be RPing a group, not a person. That's way, way more work. We'll need to know why people are fighting. Personality? History? Phobias? It'll be even worse if/when another RPer meets you, because they may not get along with you, but they might with someone else. Oops, they need a description/picture, name, age, personality, set of skills, etc.

The tank idea is great, but I think you're going to need to collaborate with someone else here. You need at least a crew of four to operate a tank: driver, commander, gunner, and loader. (three if the tank has an auto-loader, but those are pretty modern). But you could have someone to be the loader and gunner because you won't be firing frequently, and they could scramble between positions (or ride on top until needed).

Heck, make the driver an NPC. It's extremely boring: you sit there and just do what the commander says to do. The driver is often also mechanic, so he could just keep an eye on the tank all the time.

Basically, I suggest using a tank and collaborating with someone. You need three characters, with the driver as an NPC taking orders from the commander. I'm interested. I can RP two people, and they'll be the gunner and loader, since you'd probably like to be Commander.

Convalescence - A New World

@DeepestApology I said I couldn't think of anything for perception or intelligence.

Convalescence - A New World

@Section I for one think the tank idea is cool. If you pick a large enough tank, you can make it a shelter too.

Better idea: use an APC (armored personnel carrier). The bay area is big enough for a Jeep, so you have plenty of room for a weatherproof and bulletproof sleeping and supply zone. It also has a turret gun and needs a crapload of fuel, and it would be fantastic for character development because people could start to develop claustrophobia, or you could find supplies that are too valuable to leave, but are so bulky that someone has to sleep outside.

Convalescence - A New World

Stat system - not likely - I will gauge whether any submitted CS are overpowered and I will tell anyone if their character can be bumped up a little. However, not everyone has the same capacity to learning nor do we all have athletic bodies or quick wit. Some people may simple be more powerful/'stat high' but that doesn't count for much when they make a bad decision

Yeah, I highly recommend staying out of the demonic and supernatural world entirely. You don't have to screw around with the rules to compensate for stuff. As for stats, you could pick a few of the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. perks (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck) from Fallout, but people get to pick only one or two.

In fact, just make a list with descriptions.
Strength: Can lift larger objects, kick open wooden doors, and carry more belongings.
Endurance: Can keep going in adverse weather conditions, run longer, and last longer without medicine when injured.
Charisma: Can talk others out of giving up supplies or not attacking you.
Agility: Can climb faster, scale larger obstacles, and are more likely to evade gunfire.
Luck: Can find more ammunition or extra food when scavenging, have a better chance of finding resources they are searching for, and find resources more relevant to them (if you have a shotgun, you will find more shotgun ammo than other kinds).

That's five, so maybe pick two of them. We the players are responsible for being realistic and limiting ourselves. Like, I have luck, but I only find a handful of ammo, not a box of it. I have agility, but I could still get clipped by a bullet from an automatic weapon. I have charisma, but I won't convince a whole group of people. And the GM will have the final say anyway, obviously.

If you have other ideas for the list, post them (I couldn't think of any for Perception and Intelligence). Or scrap the whole thing, it's up to the GM @Vermillion

Convalescence - A New World

Okay, so can I lightly toss a few ideas at you? (I'm into this. Count me in whether you take this or not.)

So, what about this. Whatever you start with for a CS, you have to be with no supplies. Whatever happened, you lost it to thieves, you ate all your food, you dropped your supplies and can't find them, doesn't matter. But you've got nothing save for the clothes off your back (extremely helpful in their own right, though). This means, however villianous someone might want their character to be, they can't be a hoarder overlord without genuinely working for it, at least somewhat.

We could at least get one item and one weapon in the CS, I think. Last time, I gave myself a revolver, but I was out of ammo. It was entirely for intimidation. The GM hooked me up with some ammo later on.

You start each IC day with a post that has worldly things in it. Weather, temperature, and all that. But you also have a sort of list of things that need to be done, either every day or in general. People/groups who've done these things are marked as having done them, and the post is updated every so often. It could be put in the first OOC post, if you wanted, just to make it easy to access.

That may be a little too restricting. I don't want a daily itinerary, I want an end goal. My idea was more like, you get to the Haven and they say they need seeds or rifle ammunition or something. If you have it, you're in. If not, enjoy your fetch quest, which you can make as long or short as you want. The idea is that we don't know what it is, so we have to scavage for supplies for us and supplies they need.

"We don't need your box of .50 caliber ammunition, but we do need a pair of binoculars."

...well crap. But now you can decide to hunt down a band of baddies several times before you succeed, or you could trip over a pair walking away (probably somewhere between those).

Convalescence - A New World

@Vermillion

Watch this. It's a Fallout 3 short film, and I think it's exactly what you're talking about (minus the mini pip-boy and VATS, of course)

youtube.com/watch?v=wwvHhWzlTZE

Also, you misspelled "Einstein's" in your signature.

Convalescence - A New World

@RaeoftheLight Even weapons have a 'use by date' so a pristine automatic rifle will be near impossible to come across in anywhere but an abandoned military base. However, ratchet and homemade weapons will be far from sparse - metal may rust and wither with time but steel is particularly durable.

Handguns etc while not common are certainly not rare by any stretch. I would think also that the upkeep and maintenance of such weapons would be emphasised and key during these times - thus maybe the reason why they are not used by everyone/ why they are still around to date.

@Vermillion

Right. All the guns in the world aren't going to evaporate. Maybe you can include gun safes in people's houses. Players can opt to try to pick it. GM flips a coin to see if they succeed. If they fail, they have to get new lockpick stuff. You can always just go with "screwdriver and Bobby pins."

Convalescence - A New World

I'd like a .357 revolver. Seems reasonable, since it doesn't fire fast and I don't have to hunt for spare magazines. And it makes me way less likely to get into a firefight.

Anyway. Ask yourself: if everything went to crap, and you were in a destroyed city with clothes, shoes, and any supplies you can salvage, what would you want? What would be your ultimate goal? "Find more food," sure, but would you want the rest of your life to be just that?

I would say three possibilities are companionship, refuge/safety, and a sense of accomplishment. So, maybe there's a huge "shelter" that survivors have made and are building. Every Fallout game has one. Think Megaton or Diamond City. Goal: get there.

To buff it up, they will only let you in if you bring supplies, currency, food, etc. Make a checklist for players to choose from that they don't get to see until they get there.

For companionship, maybe everyone could have a radio receiver and the GM could send out messages via PM or publicly. Locations of supplies or something. This could get players to meet up. In the other one I played, the GM had the "Children of God," which were just a lot of scumbag mercs who thought they were superior because they survived, and they mostly just killed people and stole supplies. The GM used them to move players around, because they had better numbers and bigger guns. They were a good source for resources, though, so hunting them was also an option.

I went into an abandoned apartment building to find a friend. They weren't there, and I had no good leads. To help, the GM sent a group of the CoG in to ransack the place. It gave me a goal (get the heck out of there). Wild animals and earthquakes could be utilized as well.

Sense of accomplishment comes from players doing something the GM wanted them to do. Could be saving lives, I dunno. My character goal was to find his BFF, but I had nothing to do after that.
-----

That's all I got for now. Your RP will end eventually, so you might as well have an ending. We're writing a story, and I would rather have a planned ending in ten pages than "no one is posting so I guess it's over" ending in 50 pages, even if the ending is something simple like "Everything's going to be alright now."

Convalescence - A New World

I joined one of these a while back called Overgrown. It had the same "survive and do your own thing, don't get shot by a crazy person." It didn't last very long because, face it, people can only good off in a sandbox for so long before it gets boring. You need a story/goal/objective/means to an end. The idea is that we can goof off, but can actually do something if/when that gets boring.

I have a handful of ideas if you're interested.

~убийца академия:Academy for assassins~

@Spriggs27 I'm going to unofficially withdraw because I don't like having RP's hanging around in my [Subs] box if they're dead. Give me a Mention if it picks back up.