USCMRPG

That my friends is that. We didn't quite make it down the rabbit hole but all in all we accomplished quite a bit. Hopefully everyone enjoyed this one better than the last. I know I did.
I will be taking 1-2 Weeks to work up an outline for the next mission. If you have any suggestions pm away. We need new blood and I would also like to pick up the pace a little bit. If we need to run two missions I am game. Just let me know. I think we lost players due to the length of time in between posts. If we run two the second will be composed of new characters (I have a new system that I am writing that we will use for character creation. If you choose to play this route I will send you the system) and you can play in both.

Thanks,

Pale Rider

Also try to answer the following questions:
1. What did you like the most? The least?
2. What can we do to improve?
3. Who should we fight next?

Hey there Pale;

First off; I think you've done a FANTASTIC job of running the missions; big props to you! As for players dropping out; I don't think any kind of "lag time" or whatever is really responsible; I think for PBP games you get 3 kinds of players: the truly dedicated (which this site has in abundance); the stick-around-for-a-bit and then drop off the face of the earth (perhaps for good reasons, perhaps not); and the just inexcusable kind who jump on for 5 minutes and then vanish forever. Every game we play here seems to have some of each kind. Don't beat yourself up about it; I think the only real thing to do is to put most of the known dedicated people into the Roster and then make room for new-comers and if they stick around....great....if not; oh well.

As for what works best/least and where to go/who to fight next......well, no matter what; I'm sticking around; so don't sweat it if what I say doesn't mesh well with you. But here's my two cents....

Best: The FANTASTIC level of detail for multiple different kinds of settings you've run......a ship on a stormy world; a military fire-base compound; an alien hive/colonial building; etc., etc. I can't gush enough over how awesomely you create environments that leap into life in my imagination. Very, very cool!

Worst: This is a minor thing and something probably limited to me....so I'm fully prepared to just suck it up and deal with it. I would guess I'm probably the only one on these boards who's more than a little bit of the "Star Trek" inspired, wussy optimist who likes more 'Black and White' kind of conflict. That's not to say that I don't enjoy some 'grey area' conflict; in my short-lived campaign I was having marines fight aliens against the backdrop of a Colonial revolt with evil Corporations behind the scenes per usual 'Aliens' style. But fighting against sentient, stone-age level aliens who are neither humans (or other sentient beings with a similar technology level) with guns or terrifying predators who think of humans as nothing more than food; tends to make me very uncomfortable. (I'm thinking of the Huldra here). However, as I said before....I'm pretty sure this is just a "me" problem; so I'm prepared to just deal with it.

Where to go/Who to fight next: As for where to go; with your ability to awesomely create new environments; it really doesn't matter to me as to where we go. As for who we fight; unlike many others (I'm guessing); I don't need "new" versions of Aliens to fight because the old kind are "boring"; but I also don't mind fighting new versions either. Likewise; if we fight "harvester" or "Predator" type aliens; that's cool too. Basically; I'm cool with whatever you come up with!

Keep up the good work amigo; you're doing a kick-ass job!

-Max

Thanks Max, at some point we might encounter the Harvesters or.even.the Predators but no time soon. Not too sure how Preds would avoid the motion trackers so the smartguns would chew them to pieces.

I had a piece of graph paper full of underground labs, offices, and kennels that were simply down the stair well. Originally there was nothing behind the upstairs door but I improvised and added a second alien queen which hatched and sent out a signal to Xenos from the same clutch of eggs. The other queen didn't like the invasion of her territory.

Something I am thinking about will set Max and Morse slightly at odds. But that's for me to know and ya'll to possibly find out.

I’m gonna respond to Max’s point on the drop off in activity. I disagree that it is the ‘types’ of player – or at least that that is the sole reason at least. As we have seen, when there is a great deal of action and fast paced gameplay, we see major upswings. Now the new people did not really go in that time. – When they were fresh and new they posted frequently (such as Creed), because they feel they have something to do. But when we go back to multi week/months of turns which are little more then prep and investigation, we see major drop offs, not only in new players but old.
- I would say that to avoid this, we need to maintain the good game pace, and keep the environments and situations as ones that are actively engaging, as well as full understanding of where we are. – It was difficult to understand what was happening on the ship in the storm because we didn’t really have any idea what we were solidly looking at beyond the small description. – Also the ship investigation was awkward since we spent months on a boat where nothing happened.

Now that that’s done, I’ll move to the points.

Best – The feeling of character risk. There was so much happening in every direction that even in spite of me being very active, I got the impression that the buggy might flip or the 25 aliens may come up and destroy us. That hopeless feeling was very good. Namely in the sense of it made it seem more real, rather then what we had several missions ago, where we were in nearly the same situation and lost an NPC and two of us suffered a burn.

Least – I actually have a few things for this, and I’ll put them out in a list.
- The Snakefighter – It’s hard for most fans, even those of us ridiculously familiar to see not so standard equipment and understand it. I don’t even like the Snakefighter design, and removing Conestoga’s and Cheyanne Dropships is one of the most integral parts of USCM operating. – Case in point, no ability to nuke the site from orbit
- The Huldra – Like Sam said, I was not a big fan. As interesting as it was, it presented no challenge and seemed to deviate from the universe. And there hardly seemed to be any risk with them. But my biggest issue was that it seemed like I was dealing with Brutes from Halo rather then a USCM mission.
- The Big Bad Company – I feel the Weyland-Yutani evil is a bit overplayed. I liked Sam’s campaign where it was a separate company, not just Wey-Yu doing bad. But the mysterious corporate entity that is our grand secret evil is something you see in every corner of the Aliens universe to the point where it seems to basic. – Especially with the magical anti alien gas. - It’s just a bit confusing and beyond our general understanding so I was not a fan.
- Planetary Duration – In my head I count the last 3 missions as just one. Because we’re on the same planet. I was never a fan of jungle environments, or the gas mask bit. But we did the ship in the storm. Then the Huldra attack and counter attack. Then the Alien attack and counter attack on the facility. I don’t think we’re cut out for these long deployments short of a noted time skip. But being on this single environment for so long got a bit daunting and repetitive. – I would prefer not to do that anymore.

Improvements – I think I listed what to do in the ‘least’ bit so that.

Who and Where Next – Space! I wanted to go back to space, like a ship. I was gonna send you those things, and I’ll get on that now that I have the time. But for me, I’m most interested in going back to the original aliens movie a bit, and doing something on a ship. Not an alien ship, but some kind of cargo hauler or something.

Final point – As for the Sam and Morse being at odds – well Morse and Sam seem to have been growing in completely separate directions for some time, and Morse has now lost his ‘platoon enemy’ that was Duncan (I always have one), but that’s all I can say at this point.

I should have mentioned that the pace of the game is always good for keeping more people around during PBP games.....as Morse correctly points out. While I don't mind a bit of a slower-paced; I have learned many times over that PBP games are at their best when the action is hot and heavy. Sorry, I should have been a bit more clear on this part......and this is a big reason (in my mind) why there are some of the 2nd kind of players I mentioned....those that stick around for a bit and then vanish.

As for setting Morse and Sam apart....while they are clearly very different in their outlooks; they've also saved each others' lives several times over and certainly have a mutual respect and personally; I'd rather keep it that way. I'm REALLY not a fan of having in-game 'enemies'; so please; if that's a dynamic that people want to indulge in; please, please, please keep me out of it. Thanks;

-Max

...oh yeah; thanks for the kind words on my campaign Morse! I really appreciate it!

My daughter is now almost 4 years old; and I'm finally off of shift work after 3 years so I have a LOT more time for posts (as can be seen in this past mission)....so if Pale and Nick ever want a break; I could try to run something again.....just give me plenty of advance warning to get the old noodle working on some ideas!

-Max

A quick google search found this http://www.serenadawn.com/Alien-Campaig ... rrent.html

So hey, who wants to repel boarders? Hunt Pirates? *shrug*

Ah, another finds Morse and my secret stash of all things Xenos!

Plus I want to try and make notes on turning on players. I had Daniel's older brother all set to rush up the stair well but I never could get him activated.

Just for the fun of it, I should start having Morse start referring to Sam by racial slurs and go on genocidal tirades regarding Colonists. - Force her hand.

But Max has a point. They're approach and outlook is different, but they're still doing the same job. Sam is more tactful and understanding. Morse is more direct and quick to judgement. Not exactly grounds for fallout.

I on the other hand have always enjoyed a certain degree of internal conflict, but not in some of the flare up extremes we've had recently. As long as its controlled I'm fine with it.

Well I.definitely didn't mean literal enemies. Just a definite different ends of the spectrum with their approach to an issue they're facing.

Typically I'll only fight with new guys. Duncan, Dunn, Cartwright. Know it all types who've all 'been there' and know better then anyone and everyone.

However, your view on colonists and Sam's view differs.

Ya, but she's been around that a lot, and Morse is not in favor of their mindset and the fact they're the kinda people that are always shooting at him. - But Morse is extremely wishy washy on all of it. Sal is technically a Colonist and Morse doesn't care.
- Its really just one of those pointless biases people have for the sake of upbringing or life experience.