![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Rules/FAQ
The Rules
1. Don't be an asshole.
This is pretendy fun-times game. If you can't treat others with respect and kindness, go back to Kindergarten. I really shouldn't have to elaborate on this, should I?
I will by the way extend this rule to OOC instances of stalking/harassment/wanking outside of the community if sufficient evidence of such crosses my path. (Screenshots or it didn't happen.) Being an ass to someone on Plurk or wanking behind their back on wankgate is still being an asshole. If I wanted to deal with the stupid kind of drama, I'd go to work.
2. In character actions = in character consequences, but in character != out of character.
In case anyone forgot. This also extends to godmode/infomodding-- you can only control your character, not anybody else's, and what your characters know is limited to what they actually find out on-screen, not from OOC informative posts.
3. This is an 18+ game.
I'm not going to go around carding anyone, but since this is a game that's theoretically filled with adults, I will expect adult behavior. That does come with a basic expectation that all players can follow written instructions, have a decent grasp of time management, and can communicate with others in a productive and respectful manner.
Oh yeah, and there might be some mature/graphic content. All I ask is that graphic or sexy times content be warned for and placed behind a cut so that nobody can stumble upon it randomly.
4. You have to post to AC or be on hiatus to stay in the game.
If you do not post to the AC post, you will be dropped if you were not already on hiatus. This includes new people!
AC runs a little differently here than most games, so make sure to read the instructions carefully.
5. When in doubt, ask!
This is a fairly free-wheeling ship, but run questions or comments by your lovely mod or other players who may be impacted by what's going on before doing a thing. If you're unhappy about how things went down due to poor communication, that's kinda on you.
Gameplay FAQ
What sort of game IS this?
A fun one!
The plan is to not bother trying to conform to any one particular type of game. I will be running this game like I would a tabletop campaign, which means events will slalom across the whole gamut of things. Humor, slice of life, exploration, combat, horror, diplomacy, survival scenarios.. we have the whole nine yards. (Well, ok, this won't have any sex-based events.) The only real constants will be your ship and your boon companions.
The setting itself leans science fiction/science fantasy, with liberal amounts of world-hopping and mysterious weirdness to keep things fresh. Humor, sarcasm, and genre-savvines are all welcome as well, since all grimdark and no jokes make your moderator something something.
As such, this will also definitely be a game where player actions heavily impact what's going on. Success, failure, faux pas, plots to blow things up.. all will have consequences later on down the line for the characters, and the more a character gets out there, the more they will be able to impact the fate of the ship. Ultimately, this is a game where everybody works together to play out an epic tale of epicness, and important things rest on the choices your characters make.
What kinds of characters do you take?
All of them! Well, except real people. That's just creepy.
Bring in your canon characters, your AU characters, your CRAU characters, your OCs, your fandom OCs, that one guy who you've been playing for seven years and has a lot of baggage, whatever. Humans and nonhumans and mechs are welcome, though, uh, there are some space constraints because spaceship. You can totally bring in a fictionalized version of a real-world person too if you want, like Lincoln from Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer, but otherwise we're staying away from folks who actually exist.
How many characters can I have? What kinds of restrictions are there for people playing multiple characters?
You can only app in one character at a time. The maximum number of characters you can play is five. You can't have more than one character in a given fandom, to help cut down on self-threading.
Outbound does rolling apps at the moment (this may change if the traffic gets crazy), but there is a wait period of at least one AC between characters for people wanting to bring in multiples. This is to ensure that nobody's loading themselves down too much. If it looks like you're having trouble maintaining your current character count and you want to app in someone else, you will be asked to drop someone before any new apps will be accepted. It's better to have a couple characters played consistently than a whole bunch who barely make AC.
Can I bring my character's Gundam?
Nope.
All characters start off with the clothes on their backs and any soulbound (IE your magical girl transformation locket, fancy magic sword, loaded battle chips, etc) items/equipment they have. Otherwise.. they're just gonna have to dig through closets to see if anything else arrived.
The same deal applies to companions-- only those companions absolutely required for the continued mental functioning of the character will appear with them, otherwise start checking storage containers. The Core has a lot of those.
Otherwise.. well, the whatever the hell that brings people in sometimes brings their stuff as well. If it can fit somewhere on the ship, it can appear there in the appropriate storage area.
What about powers?
Powers in this game are not nerfed, though there are a couple important caveats.
First: Magic, psychic, or other powers that are not purely physical effects will not work on the zombies (and presumably not Master either). They can't be telepathically read, magically healed, whatever. Physical powers will work just fine, so fire away with the magic fire or telekinesis. Should you run into people on, say, another planet, same deal (mostly) applies. You can probably heal/mind control/whatever non-ship people you encounter, but it's a lot more effort than you're used to, as if you're working through a cloud of interference.
Second: Teleportation, clairvoyance, precognition, and reality altering powers are a little.. special. The ship seems to exist in its own warped little bubble of reality, so reality-bending powers tend to have really unpredictable results. Teleporters would be able to move around the ship but not outside of it, same for clairvoyants trying to see things. As for the future-- visions and dreams of precognitives are vivid, trippy, and make no sense. (But if you want to have some real fun, indicate on your permissions somewhere that you'd like to get visions from the mod.)
Otherwise, powers can effect your boon companions as they normally would in your world of origin give or take the usual wrangling about incompatible universe set ups. It will appear to anyone with the appropriate magical/psychic sensitivity that the ship and its natives are just a little out of step with the rest of the universe, and likewise you imports are a little out of step with the ship, which is what's causing the fun with powers.
Oh yeah, and don't blow up the ship or everyone will be cross with you.
How do I get my stuff back? You mentioned getting my stuff back.
There will be irregular item drop events, in which people's stuff mysteriously appears in various places on board. A sign up post will go on the OOC community for people to request an item (or nonsapient companion) and for still more people to volunteer to get an item. Then, through the magic of random number generators, a randomly generated percentage of the items will spawn on the ship and a randomly selected person will find/get the item.
What happens afterward is up to the players in question. Item drops are not a guarantee, but to increase the odds of someone eventually getting what they want, if you get an item in an item drop event you can't make a request during the next event. (The rules will be posted in each of the sign-up posts, don't worry.)
If an item can fit somewhere on the ship you can request it. The caveat is that if it's something that requires, say, ammunition or specialized fuel, there's only a limited amount that will appear with the item, and refueling/reloading will mean getting lucky with another drop...
Some items may come with a caveat, particularly forms of transportation. If there are potential use restrictions on your item, you'll get a note to that effect on the sign-up post so you can decide if you want to go through with the drop or not.
How does Activity Check (AC) work here?
Activity check is always trying to find a balance between making sure characters are actively playing and making sure nobody's handwaving a million things with the actual needs of people with busy lives. This is especially true of an 18+ game, since most of us have jobs, higher education, or both to deal with.
Activity Check must be done by every player in the game when it rolls around, even the newbies. Right now AC is slated to happen near the end of every month, with about a week set aside so that everyone has a chance to spot the post and respond.
This is a departure from normal game protocol (most games let the newbies sit out). The reason for that is.. there's no actual numerical quota to meet. All you have to do is check in with each of your characters and provide an activity summary, which is basically a paragraph or two (or longer if you want) covering what your character did this month and a link to something you did to prove that you were actually playing and not just handwaving everything for the month in question. (Obviously players who abuse this system will get a stern talking-to and/or dropped for inactivity. Try to finish your threads. It's only polite.)
If you seriously could not get to playing in a particular month, you may take a save. However, if you do not respond to activity check the next month or start presenting a pattern of only responding every other month, you'll be dropped from the game for inactivity.
If you are on hiatus over the AC period and posted to the correct post, you will be excused from activity check. Hiatuses can last for a maximum of two months, and you must make the AC after you get back from your break or you will be dropped for inactivity. (With normal common-sense exceptions, but you get the general idea.)
OMG I got a PM from the mod account! What the hell?
Private note-passing is a tradition in tabletop games and I'm bringing it to this game. :3
If you got a PM, read it! Unless you did something you know you deserve a spanking for, it's going to contain some information/vision/dream/special mini-incident your character witnessed. What your character does with the information is up to you. This ties into that whole "the players heavily effect what's going on in the game" thing mentioned earlier.
If you do NOT want to get random PMs from the mod account, you do have the option of opting out. It'll mean you miss some of the fun, but whatever. The last entry in the IC permissions form is for opting in/out of game information PMs. Please fill it out accordingly.
What happens if I die?
If you die in-game or plan to die in game, post to the deaths post. This will allow the mod to keep track of who's been dead how many times and to allow for death penalty assignment.
Characters who are dead remain so for one week. Unless special precautions are taken, dead characters will eventually get picked up by the maintenance robots and deposited in the nearest medical bay to sit in the freezer. Dead mech or otherwise non-organic characters will be taken to the ship's garbage/recycling center. At the end of the week, if the bots didn't get them, their body just sort of magically discorporates.
After seven days, your character will respawn wherever it was they initially appeared. (Or in a box somewhere in the Core, whatever.) They will experience a death penalty lasting a number of days after that. Death penalties often involve memories and skills, as if your body respawned but your mind didn't quite download right-- a common death penalty is to spend several days with no memory of anything that happened while onboard the ship. The more times you die, the more severe/longer lasting the penalties get. People who make a real habit of dying risk getting to have some fun in glorified NPC status for a while.
Try not to die too often.
What if I want to app in a character who's dead? What about someone with a terminal condition?
Go for it.
For dead characters: Their initial resurrection at the beginning of the game will count as one death already in the bag for the purpose of calculating death penalties. (So your first death in-game would be your second for determining penalties.)
For terminal characters: Their disease/condition will be in remission unless you are seriously planning on having them die a million times. You can stop the course of the condition at any point that makes sense to you.
I have L33T H4XX0R! How does that or other skill checks work?
First of all, check the permissions posts of various characters you plan on interacting with to see what level of information snatching the various players are comfortable with. You can find links to people's permissions in the directory page. If the player isn't comfortable with your character getting much from information gathering skills like haxxor or telepathy, tough luck.
As for encryption/decryption and other shenanigans with the commlinks-- something about the communication network just doesn't like having the network's native encryptions screwed with. Your L33T H4XX0R characters who happen to be very privacy oriented are going to find themselves having to reset their commlinks every twenty four hours or so. (You can save the file, but the cryptography settings roll over every day.) This may or may not have something to do with the fact that the Master can't seem to break into your commlinks' communication network very well either.
Commlinks archive public network content automatically but do not archive private content unless someone's hacked the network for the day and is actively watching/recording for a private archive. (IE if you want to have someone creep on the call, you better slip a post in to that effect for it to count.) For encrypted content, that's largely a hacker vs hacker thing that's best left for individual player communication.
Nobody can work the PA system except the Master, sorry.
Setting FAQ
Wait.. this is kinda familiar... Where did you say the setting came from again?
The ship's formal name is Outbound Flight, and the environs and some of the NPCs are very loosely based on the setting and events of the Star Wars novel. However, the ship's not really in a galaxy far, far away anymore. Expect influences and encounters from across the science fiction/science fantasy spectrum, with a large helping of Stargate and Sliders type exploration antics. You never know where Outbound Flight will stop next!
How did my character get here?
Hell if anybody knows.
No, really.
Your character woke up in a storage area of some kind that's appropriate to their size (so.. a crate, a closet, a morgue freezer, a shuttle bay...). They have whatever clothes were on their back at their canon point, and they have anything that's mentally/physically/magically tied into them... but that's it. The only anomaly that might explain what the hell is going on is a brand or glyph that your character seems to have picked up. (Exactly where is up to player choice.) While all the glyphs are similar in their structure, everyone's is subtly unique in the fine details, like you've all been stamped by some magical bar code. (There's a commlink that's always nearby for your character to pick up too... but it seems to be a normal bit of technology.)
Otherwise.. well, the zombies don't talk at all and the Master isn't exactly the most helpful guy in the galaxy. People appear at random intervals in all sorts of storage-appropriate locations, so it's also a good idea to check the closets for newcomers before getting up to anything... compromising.
Where will my character live?
Uh, anywhere? They might not want to room with one of the zombie-folks (more on that below), but there's more than sufficient room for everyone since the mission's gone from an original compliment somewhere in the ten thousands to, uh, a couple thousand zombies. They can live in a box in the storage core for all anyone really cares.
There are some sections of the ship that are locked off, or that lock away at random intervals. It might be smart to take your time choosing accommodations.
How will everyone communicate?
Everyone has a commlink, which looks and works something like your average smartphone and lets you text, talk, or video chat. Each commlink seems to be uniquely linked to each character, as it's marked with a copy of the glyph that your character has. It also has a convenient calendar app and Tetris. You can use a commlink to download things from the ship's computers, assuming you can hack into the firewall. You can also use the commlink to take pictures and send files across the 'link network.
As for language barriers, that's really up to you. Everyone comes in able to speak Basic, which isn't English but might as well be, in addition to their native language. The commlinks have a really awesome translator utility, as well, and with some work you can download some of the local language learning apps from the shipboard computer if you want to learn how to swear in Huttese.
One other note: You can't really get rid of your commlink. You can leave it somewhere, but it'll always find its way back to your pocket within a day (sometimes sooner). Great for the forgetful, maybe, but kinda creepy.
Zombies?!
Well, you can call them drones if you're feeling PC.
There are about two thousand men and women and assorted aliens who appear to have been with the ship since it launched. Many of them bear scars as if they were burned badly at some point, but they're all very much alive and bleed and stuff if injured.
Problem is, they really don't act like people. They behave like automatons, moving around the ship in work shifts making sure in their quiet automaton way that everything is running smoothly-- you'll see them repairing stuff, monitoring the power systems, all sorts of stuff. They don't generally move any faster than a brisk walk and don't seem to respond much to outside stimuli-- in fact, they don't seem to register you at all for the most part. They won't fight unless attacked first, and even then will try to flee instead of engage. (Really persistent people might get a blaster to the face, though.) If injured, they report promptly to the medical robots in the medical bay. At the end of a shift, they go to their rooms (so it's a good idea to check the crew quarters for residents before moving yourself in) and sleep. And that's it. They have some kind of connection to the guy who calls himself Master.
Master? Who's that?
The Master, AKA that guy on the PA system, seems to be in control of this mad venture, though his actual interest level in the day to day happenings aboard ship tends to wax and wane at weird intervals. He seems to have been from the same place as the zombies and the ship itself, is awfully full of himself, and seems to have some kind of ideas about forming a Utopia somewhere if he could just locate the right spot.
He also has control of the ship's systems. It's possible to override his commands, especially if he's in one of his lackadasical periods, but he can, will, and does do whatever the hell he wants. Sometimes he even has missions for everyone.. and since he has master control of the environmental systems.. well. It's for everyone's good, supposedly, to go along with what he says.
He has some kind of connection to the zombies-- they actually fractionally respond to his occasional PA system rantings-- but what kind of connection and what might happen to all those zombified people if the Master was taken out is anyone's guess.
How will my vampire/Transformer/battle cyborg eat?
While obviously traditional carbon-based life is going to have an advantage here, whatever or whoever brought you in has an interest in keeping you alive.
The Core will contain a supply of whatever exotic nutrients/power/whatever your character might need. It won't be an abundant supply, but it's adequate. Sufficiently motivated science/gearhead types will also note that there's plenty of random stuff and other equipment to jury-rig converters, condensers, and other junk like that to try and manufacture a less supernaturally distributed supply.
As for blood and other medical products-- there's plenty in the medical bays, but it's a bulk-generated artificial substitute. Nutritious, but you'll probably be hungry again a half hour later.
I have a character who is normally a disembodied AI. How does that work?
Characters who do not normally have a form of some kind in canon will manifest in a cozy little computer box with wifi router somewhere in the Core. AI characters are free to wander the ship's networks-- the battle damage to the computer freed a lot of memory-- and muck around the commlink network like anyone else. Like any self-respecting Star Wars ship, Outbound Flight has a lot of holoprojectors around, so an AI could easily manifest a hologram to chat.
AI characters who have a habitual body they inhabit, like JARVIS inhabiting the Iron Man suit, can always make a drop request for their usual runabout.
AI characters who do have some kind of physical form will manifest with that, so cyber-elves and programs and so forth who have bodies in their universes will manifest as such. An AI character like The Doctor from a late season of Star Trek Voyager, for example, would manifest as a hologram with his holo-emitter since he had a physical form as a solid hologram. (Sooo.. basically if your AI character has an actual actor that we see, you're good to bring their body. You are welcome to ask if you're not sure for a case-by-case call.)
Back to those glyphs.. what the heck are those for?
Well, if you were to ever meet whoever or whatever put them on, you could ask that question. Anyone familiar with alchemy or glyph-based magic might recognize them as some kind of variant transmutation circle, though the exact details aren't familiar to any known system of magic.
The most obvious thing the glyph does is give everyone a unique marker. They're also pretty obviously tied into the commlink and its ability to home in on your character.
The glyph is probably tied to whatever method brought you to Outbound Flight in the first place, but the Master will just get upset at you if you start asking questions about it.
A few things are for certain. You can't get rid of them-- they're tattooed through all the layers of skin in that spot, and hacking your skin all the way down to the muscle there will just make the scar tissue/skin graft grow in showing the mark again.. same idea for people with metal skins. They can act as a tether with the ship, snapping you back to the cargo area if you're separated by about a parsec (three light years) in any direction, though sometimes more, sometimes less. Anyone who has a mark experiences vivid dreams, though it's rare to remember them on waking.
The glyphs might be what's protecting your character from whatever got the zombies. They might also be what's holding your character on this crazy ship. They might be your ticket home. It's a mystery!
What kind of info is on the ship's computers? How do I access that? How do I learn how to [insert future skill here]?
The ship's public computer system is unlocked, but a lot of the files are horribly degraded. There are language modules for the galaxy's common languages, as well as partial manuals for the ship's systems and partial navigational charts for the ship's galaxy of origin. (All you can really tell about the ship's origin is that it's far, far away from where you were.) Someone with a background in the related discipline (medicine, engineering, weapons, etc) would be able to learn how to operate the related ship's systems with some study and practice, assuming they come from a time and place that's post computer revolution.
Most of the vehicles do have accompanying driver/pilot education simulators, but again they're a little glitchy and might dump you in a master-level obstacle course when you really just want to learn what the buttons on the controls do.
The ship's private network is locked up tight. If you want to make an attempt on that, contact the mod and we'll set something up.
Do we really have to join the crew?
Nope.
The Master has a pretty OK set up. The ship comes with a lot of automation baked in, and so the zombie crew is enough to make sure the basic systems go ping like they're supposed to.
The emphasis there is on basic. Nobody except the Master has any higher brain function that anyone can notice, so a lot of important positions involving brainy skills like medicine, science, or performing really complex piloting maneuvers are a little beyond them. The ship won't fly into a sun and can get from point A to point B all on its own, but the place just isn't equipped to function like a proper starship as-is.
Learning how to function as a crew would probably put your character and their friends ahead in the grand scheme of things, but nobody's holding a blaster to anyone's head. (Well.. most of the time.)
1. Don't be an asshole.
This is pretendy fun-times game. If you can't treat others with respect and kindness, go back to Kindergarten. I really shouldn't have to elaborate on this, should I?
I will by the way extend this rule to OOC instances of stalking/harassment/wanking outside of the community if sufficient evidence of such crosses my path. (Screenshots or it didn't happen.) Being an ass to someone on Plurk or wanking behind their back on wankgate is still being an asshole. If I wanted to deal with the stupid kind of drama, I'd go to work.
2. In character actions = in character consequences, but in character != out of character.
In case anyone forgot. This also extends to godmode/infomodding-- you can only control your character, not anybody else's, and what your characters know is limited to what they actually find out on-screen, not from OOC informative posts.
3. This is an 18+ game.
I'm not going to go around carding anyone, but since this is a game that's theoretically filled with adults, I will expect adult behavior. That does come with a basic expectation that all players can follow written instructions, have a decent grasp of time management, and can communicate with others in a productive and respectful manner.
Oh yeah, and there might be some mature/graphic content. All I ask is that graphic or sexy times content be warned for and placed behind a cut so that nobody can stumble upon it randomly.
4. You have to post to AC or be on hiatus to stay in the game.
If you do not post to the AC post, you will be dropped if you were not already on hiatus. This includes new people!
AC runs a little differently here than most games, so make sure to read the instructions carefully.
5. When in doubt, ask!
This is a fairly free-wheeling ship, but run questions or comments by your lovely mod or other players who may be impacted by what's going on before doing a thing. If you're unhappy about how things went down due to poor communication, that's kinda on you.
Gameplay FAQ
What sort of game IS this?
A fun one!
The plan is to not bother trying to conform to any one particular type of game. I will be running this game like I would a tabletop campaign, which means events will slalom across the whole gamut of things. Humor, slice of life, exploration, combat, horror, diplomacy, survival scenarios.. we have the whole nine yards. (Well, ok, this won't have any sex-based events.) The only real constants will be your ship and your boon companions.
The setting itself leans science fiction/science fantasy, with liberal amounts of world-hopping and mysterious weirdness to keep things fresh. Humor, sarcasm, and genre-savvines are all welcome as well, since all grimdark and no jokes make your moderator something something.
As such, this will also definitely be a game where player actions heavily impact what's going on. Success, failure, faux pas, plots to blow things up.. all will have consequences later on down the line for the characters, and the more a character gets out there, the more they will be able to impact the fate of the ship. Ultimately, this is a game where everybody works together to play out an epic tale of epicness, and important things rest on the choices your characters make.
What kinds of characters do you take?
All of them! Well, except real people. That's just creepy.
Bring in your canon characters, your AU characters, your CRAU characters, your OCs, your fandom OCs, that one guy who you've been playing for seven years and has a lot of baggage, whatever. Humans and nonhumans and mechs are welcome, though, uh, there are some space constraints because spaceship. You can totally bring in a fictionalized version of a real-world person too if you want, like Lincoln from Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer, but otherwise we're staying away from folks who actually exist.
How many characters can I have? What kinds of restrictions are there for people playing multiple characters?
You can only app in one character at a time. The maximum number of characters you can play is five. You can't have more than one character in a given fandom, to help cut down on self-threading.
Outbound does rolling apps at the moment (this may change if the traffic gets crazy), but there is a wait period of at least one AC between characters for people wanting to bring in multiples. This is to ensure that nobody's loading themselves down too much. If it looks like you're having trouble maintaining your current character count and you want to app in someone else, you will be asked to drop someone before any new apps will be accepted. It's better to have a couple characters played consistently than a whole bunch who barely make AC.
Can I bring my character's Gundam?
Nope.
All characters start off with the clothes on their backs and any soulbound (IE your magical girl transformation locket, fancy magic sword, loaded battle chips, etc) items/equipment they have. Otherwise.. they're just gonna have to dig through closets to see if anything else arrived.
The same deal applies to companions-- only those companions absolutely required for the continued mental functioning of the character will appear with them, otherwise start checking storage containers. The Core has a lot of those.
Otherwise.. well, the whatever the hell that brings people in sometimes brings their stuff as well. If it can fit somewhere on the ship, it can appear there in the appropriate storage area.
What about powers?
Powers in this game are not nerfed, though there are a couple important caveats.
First: Magic, psychic, or other powers that are not purely physical effects will not work on the zombies (and presumably not Master either). They can't be telepathically read, magically healed, whatever. Physical powers will work just fine, so fire away with the magic fire or telekinesis. Should you run into people on, say, another planet, same deal (mostly) applies. You can probably heal/mind control/whatever non-ship people you encounter, but it's a lot more effort than you're used to, as if you're working through a cloud of interference.
Second: Teleportation, clairvoyance, precognition, and reality altering powers are a little.. special. The ship seems to exist in its own warped little bubble of reality, so reality-bending powers tend to have really unpredictable results. Teleporters would be able to move around the ship but not outside of it, same for clairvoyants trying to see things. As for the future-- visions and dreams of precognitives are vivid, trippy, and make no sense. (But if you want to have some real fun, indicate on your permissions somewhere that you'd like to get visions from the mod.)
Otherwise, powers can effect your boon companions as they normally would in your world of origin give or take the usual wrangling about incompatible universe set ups. It will appear to anyone with the appropriate magical/psychic sensitivity that the ship and its natives are just a little out of step with the rest of the universe, and likewise you imports are a little out of step with the ship, which is what's causing the fun with powers.
Oh yeah, and don't blow up the ship or everyone will be cross with you.
How do I get my stuff back? You mentioned getting my stuff back.
There will be irregular item drop events, in which people's stuff mysteriously appears in various places on board. A sign up post will go on the OOC community for people to request an item (or nonsapient companion) and for still more people to volunteer to get an item. Then, through the magic of random number generators, a randomly generated percentage of the items will spawn on the ship and a randomly selected person will find/get the item.
What happens afterward is up to the players in question. Item drops are not a guarantee, but to increase the odds of someone eventually getting what they want, if you get an item in an item drop event you can't make a request during the next event. (The rules will be posted in each of the sign-up posts, don't worry.)
If an item can fit somewhere on the ship you can request it. The caveat is that if it's something that requires, say, ammunition or specialized fuel, there's only a limited amount that will appear with the item, and refueling/reloading will mean getting lucky with another drop...
Some items may come with a caveat, particularly forms of transportation. If there are potential use restrictions on your item, you'll get a note to that effect on the sign-up post so you can decide if you want to go through with the drop or not.
How does Activity Check (AC) work here?
Activity check is always trying to find a balance between making sure characters are actively playing and making sure nobody's handwaving a million things with the actual needs of people with busy lives. This is especially true of an 18+ game, since most of us have jobs, higher education, or both to deal with.
Activity Check must be done by every player in the game when it rolls around, even the newbies. Right now AC is slated to happen near the end of every month, with about a week set aside so that everyone has a chance to spot the post and respond.
This is a departure from normal game protocol (most games let the newbies sit out). The reason for that is.. there's no actual numerical quota to meet. All you have to do is check in with each of your characters and provide an activity summary, which is basically a paragraph or two (or longer if you want) covering what your character did this month and a link to something you did to prove that you were actually playing and not just handwaving everything for the month in question. (Obviously players who abuse this system will get a stern talking-to and/or dropped for inactivity. Try to finish your threads. It's only polite.)
If you seriously could not get to playing in a particular month, you may take a save. However, if you do not respond to activity check the next month or start presenting a pattern of only responding every other month, you'll be dropped from the game for inactivity.
If you are on hiatus over the AC period and posted to the correct post, you will be excused from activity check. Hiatuses can last for a maximum of two months, and you must make the AC after you get back from your break or you will be dropped for inactivity. (With normal common-sense exceptions, but you get the general idea.)
OMG I got a PM from the mod account! What the hell?
Private note-passing is a tradition in tabletop games and I'm bringing it to this game. :3
If you got a PM, read it! Unless you did something you know you deserve a spanking for, it's going to contain some information/vision/dream/special mini-incident your character witnessed. What your character does with the information is up to you. This ties into that whole "the players heavily effect what's going on in the game" thing mentioned earlier.
If you do NOT want to get random PMs from the mod account, you do have the option of opting out. It'll mean you miss some of the fun, but whatever. The last entry in the IC permissions form is for opting in/out of game information PMs. Please fill it out accordingly.
What happens if I die?
If you die in-game or plan to die in game, post to the deaths post. This will allow the mod to keep track of who's been dead how many times and to allow for death penalty assignment.
Characters who are dead remain so for one week. Unless special precautions are taken, dead characters will eventually get picked up by the maintenance robots and deposited in the nearest medical bay to sit in the freezer. Dead mech or otherwise non-organic characters will be taken to the ship's garbage/recycling center. At the end of the week, if the bots didn't get them, their body just sort of magically discorporates.
After seven days, your character will respawn wherever it was they initially appeared. (Or in a box somewhere in the Core, whatever.) They will experience a death penalty lasting a number of days after that. Death penalties often involve memories and skills, as if your body respawned but your mind didn't quite download right-- a common death penalty is to spend several days with no memory of anything that happened while onboard the ship. The more times you die, the more severe/longer lasting the penalties get. People who make a real habit of dying risk getting to have some fun in glorified NPC status for a while.
Try not to die too often.
What if I want to app in a character who's dead? What about someone with a terminal condition?
Go for it.
For dead characters: Their initial resurrection at the beginning of the game will count as one death already in the bag for the purpose of calculating death penalties. (So your first death in-game would be your second for determining penalties.)
For terminal characters: Their disease/condition will be in remission unless you are seriously planning on having them die a million times. You can stop the course of the condition at any point that makes sense to you.
I have L33T H4XX0R! How does that or other skill checks work?
First of all, check the permissions posts of various characters you plan on interacting with to see what level of information snatching the various players are comfortable with. You can find links to people's permissions in the directory page. If the player isn't comfortable with your character getting much from information gathering skills like haxxor or telepathy, tough luck.
As for encryption/decryption and other shenanigans with the commlinks-- something about the communication network just doesn't like having the network's native encryptions screwed with. Your L33T H4XX0R characters who happen to be very privacy oriented are going to find themselves having to reset their commlinks every twenty four hours or so. (You can save the file, but the cryptography settings roll over every day.) This may or may not have something to do with the fact that the Master can't seem to break into your commlinks' communication network very well either.
Commlinks archive public network content automatically but do not archive private content unless someone's hacked the network for the day and is actively watching/recording for a private archive. (IE if you want to have someone creep on the call, you better slip a post in to that effect for it to count.) For encrypted content, that's largely a hacker vs hacker thing that's best left for individual player communication.
Nobody can work the PA system except the Master, sorry.
Setting FAQ
Wait.. this is kinda familiar... Where did you say the setting came from again?
The ship's formal name is Outbound Flight, and the environs and some of the NPCs are very loosely based on the setting and events of the Star Wars novel. However, the ship's not really in a galaxy far, far away anymore. Expect influences and encounters from across the science fiction/science fantasy spectrum, with a large helping of Stargate and Sliders type exploration antics. You never know where Outbound Flight will stop next!
How did my character get here?
Hell if anybody knows.
No, really.
Your character woke up in a storage area of some kind that's appropriate to their size (so.. a crate, a closet, a morgue freezer, a shuttle bay...). They have whatever clothes were on their back at their canon point, and they have anything that's mentally/physically/magically tied into them... but that's it. The only anomaly that might explain what the hell is going on is a brand or glyph that your character seems to have picked up. (Exactly where is up to player choice.) While all the glyphs are similar in their structure, everyone's is subtly unique in the fine details, like you've all been stamped by some magical bar code. (There's a commlink that's always nearby for your character to pick up too... but it seems to be a normal bit of technology.)
Otherwise.. well, the zombies don't talk at all and the Master isn't exactly the most helpful guy in the galaxy. People appear at random intervals in all sorts of storage-appropriate locations, so it's also a good idea to check the closets for newcomers before getting up to anything... compromising.
Where will my character live?
Uh, anywhere? They might not want to room with one of the zombie-folks (more on that below), but there's more than sufficient room for everyone since the mission's gone from an original compliment somewhere in the ten thousands to, uh, a couple thousand zombies. They can live in a box in the storage core for all anyone really cares.
There are some sections of the ship that are locked off, or that lock away at random intervals. It might be smart to take your time choosing accommodations.
How will everyone communicate?
Everyone has a commlink, which looks and works something like your average smartphone and lets you text, talk, or video chat. Each commlink seems to be uniquely linked to each character, as it's marked with a copy of the glyph that your character has. It also has a convenient calendar app and Tetris. You can use a commlink to download things from the ship's computers, assuming you can hack into the firewall. You can also use the commlink to take pictures and send files across the 'link network.
As for language barriers, that's really up to you. Everyone comes in able to speak Basic, which isn't English but might as well be, in addition to their native language. The commlinks have a really awesome translator utility, as well, and with some work you can download some of the local language learning apps from the shipboard computer if you want to learn how to swear in Huttese.
One other note: You can't really get rid of your commlink. You can leave it somewhere, but it'll always find its way back to your pocket within a day (sometimes sooner). Great for the forgetful, maybe, but kinda creepy.
Zombies?!
Well, you can call them drones if you're feeling PC.
There are about two thousand men and women and assorted aliens who appear to have been with the ship since it launched. Many of them bear scars as if they were burned badly at some point, but they're all very much alive and bleed and stuff if injured.
Problem is, they really don't act like people. They behave like automatons, moving around the ship in work shifts making sure in their quiet automaton way that everything is running smoothly-- you'll see them repairing stuff, monitoring the power systems, all sorts of stuff. They don't generally move any faster than a brisk walk and don't seem to respond much to outside stimuli-- in fact, they don't seem to register you at all for the most part. They won't fight unless attacked first, and even then will try to flee instead of engage. (Really persistent people might get a blaster to the face, though.) If injured, they report promptly to the medical robots in the medical bay. At the end of a shift, they go to their rooms (so it's a good idea to check the crew quarters for residents before moving yourself in) and sleep. And that's it. They have some kind of connection to the guy who calls himself Master.
Master? Who's that?
The Master, AKA that guy on the PA system, seems to be in control of this mad venture, though his actual interest level in the day to day happenings aboard ship tends to wax and wane at weird intervals. He seems to have been from the same place as the zombies and the ship itself, is awfully full of himself, and seems to have some kind of ideas about forming a Utopia somewhere if he could just locate the right spot.
He also has control of the ship's systems. It's possible to override his commands, especially if he's in one of his lackadasical periods, but he can, will, and does do whatever the hell he wants. Sometimes he even has missions for everyone.. and since he has master control of the environmental systems.. well. It's for everyone's good, supposedly, to go along with what he says.
He has some kind of connection to the zombies-- they actually fractionally respond to his occasional PA system rantings-- but what kind of connection and what might happen to all those zombified people if the Master was taken out is anyone's guess.
How will my vampire/Transformer/battle cyborg eat?
While obviously traditional carbon-based life is going to have an advantage here, whatever or whoever brought you in has an interest in keeping you alive.
The Core will contain a supply of whatever exotic nutrients/power/whatever your character might need. It won't be an abundant supply, but it's adequate. Sufficiently motivated science/gearhead types will also note that there's plenty of random stuff and other equipment to jury-rig converters, condensers, and other junk like that to try and manufacture a less supernaturally distributed supply.
As for blood and other medical products-- there's plenty in the medical bays, but it's a bulk-generated artificial substitute. Nutritious, but you'll probably be hungry again a half hour later.
I have a character who is normally a disembodied AI. How does that work?
Characters who do not normally have a form of some kind in canon will manifest in a cozy little computer box with wifi router somewhere in the Core. AI characters are free to wander the ship's networks-- the battle damage to the computer freed a lot of memory-- and muck around the commlink network like anyone else. Like any self-respecting Star Wars ship, Outbound Flight has a lot of holoprojectors around, so an AI could easily manifest a hologram to chat.
AI characters who have a habitual body they inhabit, like JARVIS inhabiting the Iron Man suit, can always make a drop request for their usual runabout.
AI characters who do have some kind of physical form will manifest with that, so cyber-elves and programs and so forth who have bodies in their universes will manifest as such. An AI character like The Doctor from a late season of Star Trek Voyager, for example, would manifest as a hologram with his holo-emitter since he had a physical form as a solid hologram. (Sooo.. basically if your AI character has an actual actor that we see, you're good to bring their body. You are welcome to ask if you're not sure for a case-by-case call.)
Back to those glyphs.. what the heck are those for?
Well, if you were to ever meet whoever or whatever put them on, you could ask that question. Anyone familiar with alchemy or glyph-based magic might recognize them as some kind of variant transmutation circle, though the exact details aren't familiar to any known system of magic.
The most obvious thing the glyph does is give everyone a unique marker. They're also pretty obviously tied into the commlink and its ability to home in on your character.
The glyph is probably tied to whatever method brought you to Outbound Flight in the first place, but the Master will just get upset at you if you start asking questions about it.
A few things are for certain. You can't get rid of them-- they're tattooed through all the layers of skin in that spot, and hacking your skin all the way down to the muscle there will just make the scar tissue/skin graft grow in showing the mark again.. same idea for people with metal skins. They can act as a tether with the ship, snapping you back to the cargo area if you're separated by about a parsec (three light years) in any direction, though sometimes more, sometimes less. Anyone who has a mark experiences vivid dreams, though it's rare to remember them on waking.
The glyphs might be what's protecting your character from whatever got the zombies. They might also be what's holding your character on this crazy ship. They might be your ticket home. It's a mystery!
What kind of info is on the ship's computers? How do I access that? How do I learn how to [insert future skill here]?
The ship's public computer system is unlocked, but a lot of the files are horribly degraded. There are language modules for the galaxy's common languages, as well as partial manuals for the ship's systems and partial navigational charts for the ship's galaxy of origin. (All you can really tell about the ship's origin is that it's far, far away from where you were.) Someone with a background in the related discipline (medicine, engineering, weapons, etc) would be able to learn how to operate the related ship's systems with some study and practice, assuming they come from a time and place that's post computer revolution.
Most of the vehicles do have accompanying driver/pilot education simulators, but again they're a little glitchy and might dump you in a master-level obstacle course when you really just want to learn what the buttons on the controls do.
The ship's private network is locked up tight. If you want to make an attempt on that, contact the mod and we'll set something up.
Do we really have to join the crew?
Nope.
The Master has a pretty OK set up. The ship comes with a lot of automation baked in, and so the zombie crew is enough to make sure the basic systems go ping like they're supposed to.
The emphasis there is on basic. Nobody except the Master has any higher brain function that anyone can notice, so a lot of important positions involving brainy skills like medicine, science, or performing really complex piloting maneuvers are a little beyond them. The ship won't fly into a sun and can get from point A to point B all on its own, but the place just isn't equipped to function like a proper starship as-is.
Learning how to function as a crew would probably put your character and their friends ahead in the grand scheme of things, but nobody's holding a blaster to anyone's head. (Well.. most of the time.)
More questions?
Second Question
no subject
Basic ship operations are handled by the zombie drones and pre-existing automation so that nobody goes crashing into a sun. Emphasis, however, on basic.
If the ship is ever to become actually functional in terms of being more than a bucket that goes between various destinations that nobody sets, then yes, player crew is needed. There are no pilots, no non-robot medical personnel, no scientists, and the crazy guy with the zombified crew probably couldn't handle the ship too well in a combat situation or other major disaster. Player crew would also be necessary in any attempt to make the ship do anything aside from what the Master dictates.
no subject
Does the Shuttle Bay support the possibility of being replaced with strike craft? How large would the shuttle bay fit? Because there's canons like Descent with 5mx6mx7m Strike craft, and then Freespace with the smallest being 40 meters long.
no subject
With extensive refitting, it would be possible to convert the cargo space on one of the dreadnoughts and service up to 12 TIE-sized fighters, but would take a bunch of gearheads time and effort. It might also be possible to convert some of the Core as an ultra-long-range project.
/Becomes the first question
And does that do anything regarding their abilities or will it just fall into the permission aspect since dude, no, some people find an AI hanging out in their commlink creepy.
no subject
AIs can totally enter the computer system if that's their wish-- the box/router combo is a save haven so that you don't have to have them be subject to events and attacks to the network as a whole unless you want to. There are also holoprojectors like any self-respecting Star Wars ship, so an AI in the network could also easily hijack one of those and project an image to interact with people as well.
And yes, shenanigans with AIs in the commlink network is a permissions thing. Please to be working it out with the players to plan on punking.
no subject
no subject
SW-universe characters can have whatever knowledge of Outbound Flight you'd think would be appropriate for their canon point and general interest level in events of the time period. SPOILERS: our version of Outbound Flight went a little differently.
no subject
Awesome, thank you! And yeeeeah, I can see how it did 8D
Many questions!
Is it okay to bring in powers-nerfs from CRAU characters so as to not be ridiculously god-level overpowered?
Would a character who's default form is basically a glowing cloud of particles be forced into a physical form? (said character can do so on their own but it is not technically /default/ form.)
I presume a character that remembers the future (as opposed to simply prophesying; memory particles are weird) would be subject to the same supreme wonkiness a normal person trying to fortell the future would?
no subject
2. If you're comfortable with the power nerfs already in place, go ahead and keep them. Just make sure to describe the mechanics of your breaky powers/nerfing in case any other considerations need to apply for this setting in particular. (Anything that could vaporize the ship in a single shot, for example, would probably need to be run by the mods before you can try it.)
3. A glowing cloud of particles might wanna adopt a physical form pretty quickly since the ship does have a working HVAC system and said cloud might get sucked into a vent. Otherwise, natural form is totally fine.
4. You're right, future memories would be as screwed up as prophecy. Your future remembering character would have a bad case of future amnesia except in rare cases as The Plot Demands.
no subject
no subject
I am currently toying with apping Thrawn's clone, which does actually exist in canon, but is killed before he ever wakes up. While canon outlines what he'd most likely be like and know based on other clones using the same methods, it's all extrapolation.
Would this character count as a fandom OC due to all the extrapolation, or still count as a canon character? edit: also, if he has no canon name, is it alright for him to pick one After application? it'll make the app a little harder to write but before that the only name he'd know is Thrawn's, and that's not /quite/ right..
no subject
Since this character would be entering the game with no first-hand life experience, try to focus the application around who he thinks he is when he wakes up, maybe with some conjecture on where you think he will evolve after a little exposure to the ship and crew. While I realize the ultra-dynamic nature of this kind of character makes it a little wibbly-wobbly to app them, having a good idea of where he's starting helps us both.
As for names, I can always edit the game's tags/entries. If you don't want to assign him a name at app, we can use a provisional name until he picks something.
no subject
I can do that much pretty easily. he does have his template to draw from, which will set certain habits and behaviors in, the variances would simply take place from there and extrapolated on. It may make a ..shorter personality section than I'm used to writing but I think I can make it at least intelligible.
Thanks for your time, and sorry for the pending extra work. D:
no subject
no subject
Submit to brainwashingI mean...Someone interested would probably want to take the training in the computer and certify on whatever they're trying to learn. Most non-professional positions have training manuals.
no subject
I will have to find a working computer then. Thank you!
no subject
One of my potentials is basically from a one-off episode in which one character visits the alternate grimdark WE LOST AND EVERYONE DIES future, so it's a thing that exists in canon, but with only one episode and not much time for intense detail, playing from it does also involve a fair bit of filling in the blanks on one's own!
no subject
no subject
no subject
Yes, up to three of the same character are allowed as long as they are not complete duplicates of each other. Your CRAU would be able to app in nicely as an AU character.