Debrief and Wrap Up

[Pale Rider]

Well my friends using what Morse has sent me as a rough and I do mean rough outline we are in for.the following environments:
Space
Space Ships
Space Station
Finally possibly even a short land fall.

Opponents:
Humans
Aliens
Something new possibly.

Quicksilver, if you don't mind I may use you like a NPC with limited exposure to.keep you connected for any time return.

[Quicksilver]

Feel free to keep Mark around, Pale, and use him for whatever needs doing.

[Morse]

So what's our ETA on the next mission. - Cus I think we gotta start prep.

Basically we need to start the recruitment drive right back again since we lost 4 people - and perhaps more. - In essence, fire out the emails to see if we can get back of the old ones, and I'm gonna start slapping ads all over to get people here.

And if were doing nothing as always I may do something in the Mess Hall thread, since we're in the middle out point.

But the wheels need to keep turning, in spite of the celebration of our survival from that last hell storm

[Pale Rider]

John Rassmussian, Daniel's older brother is returning. Now I have to figure out how to get him posting again.
Then we have Killjoy if he's interested.
Erika aka Iola could be back.
That leaves 3 depending on our Civilian.

But I say give me approximately 2 weeks or less depending on recruitment.

[Morse]

I can probably get Killjoy to do it. He's a friend a mine. But I do recommend getting an email out to all old members as we have been doing.

[Whisky]

Better late then never.

Enjoyed the last mission Pale, especially when things picked up. The buggy at the end. Lol

I think we might be served well by a few small and sweet missions. Things tend to hang when we are between the action for too long.

Search and Destroy, Rescue. Etc. I like the idea of being in space. Over run space ship for example. Pirates :-)

[MarcusOTerra]

Maybe some Visit Board Search and Seize op's might be cool. (Like marines also do)

[Dirk Pitt]

While I don't really have anything worth mentioning that I didn't like, I really liked the danger that all the characters were in. When Dirk and the scouts were cut off and Duncan got killed by the queen I went wild. Then when Dirk, Sam and G were cut off with the Xenos coming at them from all sides I felt like Gorman must have watching his men being cut down and not being able to do anything about it. Like Dirk said to Morse.. I wasn't sure I was going to make it.

As for who should we fight..... I still say predators. They have been mentioned before and we could find Xenos and Marines killed together.

Whatever you want to do, as always, I'm in!

[taimdala]

Hi everyone!

Wow, it took some lucky clicks on my part but I finally found this thread. Yay!

First up:

GREAT GAME!!!! OMG, TWO FREAKIN' QUEENS?!?!?!??!!!!!! OMFG!!!! I TOTALLY DIDN'T ANTICIPATE THAT ONE. I LOVED IT!

I also liked how everything went to hell at that point: all our lovely plans to infiltrate the place to grab intel got thrown to a fuckin' fare-thee-well.

Also--and I can't stress this enough--BIG thanks go out to Pale for letting me play a civvie in a non-civvie geared game. It was a risk on Pale's part and I'm grateful he was willing to take it. I think I did well with the briefing portions of the initial mission and the segue into the second. I'm all for doing more in that capacity as needed.


What else did I like?
Pretty much everything. World, creatures, hybrids between native species and the Aliens, the weather and how crappy it was, the iffy atmo, all of that.


What I didn't like?
Feeling a bit lost as to what I could do in this last mission. I was sticking ike glue to Quinn, but when Quinn didn't post, I wasn't sure a) where I was in relation to the action so that meant b) I wasn't sure what I *could* do. In retrospect, I should have PMd/emailed/poked/whatever him and got some answers that way, but I didn't think of it. That's entirely on me, so really not an issue for the GM.

Edit to add: Had I known of this thread, I would have been more effective. My fault entirely. Sorry, everyone.


Things that fell in between:

Post speed: I'm not sure if 24 hours vs. 48 hours would make a difference for me in terms of being able to post. I wasn't able to check the boards every day when my schedule got full in RL. I basically relied on auto-email notifications from the threads to tell me if anything was happening. Which, of course, ceased to work once a new thread I hadn't posted in got created. Unfortunately for me, I was two full turns behind before I realized I hadn't checked the boards in a while. Again, that was on me. I should have posted a note where I could see it every day to go check. So--point being: 24 hours vs 48 hours? If I could have my druthers, I'd go for longer, instead of shorter. It will give me time to write up a good post as opposed to something short, rushed, and obviously a placeholder.

Odd duck status:
Being a civvie consultant attached to the UCSM ... yeah. Odd duck. Not a combatant, not entirely useless if I've information or skills needed. Thing is, it's not entirely clear when I'm needed and when I'm not. In a life-and-death situation, you can't have extra baggage that you need to babysit. The civvie pulls his or her weight ... or he or she does not. In the latter case, it's a liability to everyone's survival. I'd rather not be a liability but a solidly contributing member of the team. I'm just not entirely sure how I can do that as a civvie ... but I have no desire to play a Marine, though.

(Odd for the daughter of a Marine in RL, but there you go. I don't have the handle to do it well in this game setting. I'm sorry, Dad.)

So this last mission? I totally flubbed it. If I'd been given a task to do, I think I could have done more. I thought I'd be sneaking into the base to extract scientific intel but I don't think we got that far. So ... yeah. Not sure what I could have done as a civvie and all.

Relationship building:
Was hampered by that odd duck status. I come from a table top background where you have the time to interact with the other players at the table (and write about them--I come from a writer-heavy group of gamers). So I was approaching this campaign looking to get to know the others through in-character conversation. Of course, when the bullets start flying, there's no time for chit-chat and heart-to-hearts. I get that. LOL! Maybe if we were in a spaceship, there'd be more of that. I still feel I could have had some good scenes with Sam (we're the only two women there) or with Duncan and Dirk and Quinn. Hell, Morse, too! He's abrasive as hell but he's got a rough charm that grows on you.


What I'd like to do in the future:
In character, Oksana's in a bit of a bind. At the moment, her employer is still a civilian company who loaned her out to the Marines to help them on-planet. Once the Marines pull out, I expect she'll be retained on Ekylprillion by her employer. She has a job--and a husband--to keep her there. Or she could quit ... and ... be a Roadie for the Easy Eights? Go on a revenge-quest for what happened to her husband? I suspect I'll need to discuss some options with the GM as to that. But as I see it *right now*, Oksana's obligations will keep her where she is, unless I can conjure up a reason for her to leave.

That said, I'm not sure if I can continue playing here if I can't find a good in-character reason for Oksana to remain with the Easy Eights. I'd like to continue playing here but perversely would rather do it playing a civvie. I think a civilian character has some great potential in this setting--especially a civvie that doesn't backstab the Marines for a stupid percentage of the company profits.

So ... yeah. Bit of a bind. Of course, we could do with Oksana what we'll do with Quicksilver--keep her on as an NPC or we could have her come back in a future mission/turn as the story needs her. All I need is a heads up from the GM. I can be a plot-device, an presenter of expo-dump, whatever! In that capacity, I need not actually stay with the Marines 24/7 but still get to play as needed.

Also, it will give me a way to work out an in-character resolution to the situation with Dmitri. Oksana and her husband are in a rough spot with each other right now and I *hate* not tying off loose ends. I dislike it when scriptwriters do it in movies and tv. For damned sure, I hate doing it myself.

Ask Morse. I stayed in a pbp situation for nearly two years longer than I wanted because I refused to just walk off the set. I *had* to stay and write my character to a reasonable point in the narrative where she could stop playing. It was the most untenable campaign situation I was ever in. It was like being trapped in a first date that crashed and burned and took two years to end. But I stayed the course and wrote myself out of it in a way I could respect myself for.

Yeah. I'm like that.

In case you are wondering--don't worry! I am NOT getting that vibe off this game. I think this is a great place to play. I'm just the sort that needs to reconcile my character's situation with the Marines' ... I'm sure I'll figure something out. It might mean I will not ship out with you but join the narrative later, but I do want to be a part of whatever y'all end up doing.

Geez, I hope I didn't write too much. Pale, Nick (everybody, really) if you need me to explain further, just PM or email me. I'll be happy to explain or whatever you need. Just ask!

In closing--GREAT GAME! Bring on the next one!

[eyeball]

Wow I'm an idiot, been checking mission log very day, going come on come on post more......then I see this post and I'm like oh it's over,
Then I'm thinking shit did I die?
Loved the campaign as a whole, some long periods of nothing were at times frustrating, loved the 24 hour post part but we would need to have a way of contacting people to let them know what was going on because although the web page is suposed to let me know when ever someone else posts it doesn't.

Looking forward to space the other two missions I have been on were on planet as well so that could be cool.


Ps. Am I dead?

[taimdala]

Wow I'm an idiot, been checking mission log very day, going come on come on post more......then I see this post and I'm like oh it's over,
Then I'm thinking shit did I die?
Loved the campaign as a whole, some long periods of nothing were at times frustrating, loved the 24 hour post part but we would need to have a way of contacting people to let them know what was going on because although the web page is suposed to let me know when ever someone else posts it doesn't.

Looking forward to space the other two missions I have been on were on planet as well so that could be cool.


Ps. Am I dead?

Nope! See here

[maxvale76]

Hey there Taimdala;

While I certainly don't know if any of the following ideas suit you or not; here's a couple of things that come to mind for playing a civilian character that might make sense for a USCM unit:

1. An android assigned to the unit.....this was done once before; though I know I for one didn't much care for how the character was played (basically as an "I must be the center of attention in EVERY scene" kind of character that oh yeah....was of course in the form of a gorgeous chick that was curious about getting it on with humans....which is pretty eye-rolling nonsense from my perspective; but nonthless the concept of an android character is well documented (Bishop) and could serve any number of roles at once (Expert Knowledge, Driver, Medic, etc.)

2. A Coporate or Merc. who somehow has a lot of knowledge of Xenos and becomes officially attached as an "Advisor"

I don't know.....just spit-ballin' here....and of course neither option is likely to be popular with Morse; but hey.....what would be?

[taimdala]

LOL! Actually, in RL, Morse is a pretty okay guy. But yeah, I have to commend him on staying rigorously in-character on the boards. Seriously--even on the on-board chatrooms he and I have used elsewhere, he pretty much stays IC.

*taps glass* Hey, Morse! You ever think of doing method acting? Cuz you got it in spades, buddy. Tell Dustin Hoffman to move his old tired ass over. New blood's gonna mop the floor with it.


And I like the idea of civvie "Advisor", actually. It'll be fun.

[Morse]

Many thanks for the praise Rina. But I am a theater major so..... method is just..... one method.

I would obviously never let any in character grudge poor over to be an issue, though Morse is noted as having a great deal of issue with robots, corporates, and civilians in general - Though like with Sam and Sal, working with people from a group he doesn't like can change his opinion.

I do have a potentially different idea.

She could be a representative, attache, or adviser from the ICC (Interstellar Commerce Commission). They're basically a UN style entity that oversees corporate activity and colonial activities. All separatists are basically breaking away from the ICC (Most notably the world of Alexandria). The USCM works very closely with them, and generally responds to requests through them.

Just a thought, but it would be different then our normal go-to's of Corporate or Robot civie.

[taimdala]

Many thanks for the praise Rina. But I am a theater major so..... method is just..... one method. [\quote]

You're welcome, man.

I do have a potentially different idea.

She could be a representative, attache, or adviser from the ICC (Interstellar Commerce Commission). They're basically a UN style entity that oversees corporate activity and colonial activities. All separatists are basically breaking away from the ICC (Most notably the world of Alexandria). The USCM works very closely with them, and generally responds to requests through them.

Just a thought, but it would be different then our normal go-to's of Corporate or Robot civie.

Does the ICC have an Investigatory Branch? Someone who investigates claims of fraud or fiscal malfeasance, stuff like that? You'd think that the ICC would have to have some sort of investigatory/enforcement branch, right? That might give my character the authority to go places and observe/investigate some potentially damaging/shady stuff.

Hmmm ...

(Grah, for some reason the quotes won't un-nest. a quote tag keeps reappearing after I delete the little bastard. Go figure.)