Do you [i]feel[/i] the need to do something heroic? Do you [i]crave[/i] helping other sentient beings? Do you [i]hunger[/i] to be a paragon of goodness in a galaxy gone wrong? What about the chance to [i]eat[/i] your own weight in barbecued ribs? If you (or your parents / legal guardian) answered yes to any of these questions, let me be the first to invite you to the ISF! [CENTER][h3]THE INTERPLANETARY SPACE FRIENDS[/h3][i]BROUGHT TO YOU BY HENDERSON'S RIBS[/i] A (Most Likely) Casual Roleplay About Space Adventures, Friendship and Fast Food[/CENTER] [i]The ISF started off as a much smaller, humbler institution. It began life as the Henderson's Kid Club - a way to encourage children to associate the fledgling Henderson's Ribs fast-food empire with fun and games, ensuring a lifetime of brand loyalty. When the planet of Henderson's Ribs (as it came to be known) joined the galactic community, the Kid Club became the Interplanetary Space Friends, and helped turn the company into the galaxy's largest provider of barbecue ribs. In any given inhabited system, you'll find the familiar brown and red flag flapping gently over a domed building emblazoned with those wonderful words - [b]HENDERSON'S RIBS[/b]. New members of the ISF receive a membership pack, containing the following things: A badge. It's made of plastic, and painted gold. It features a smiling, oversized bovine and the letters ISF. It comes with a little badge holder, made of an even flimsier plastic. A membership number is printed on the reverse side, along with some text explaining that this badge remains the property of Henderson's Ribs. The latest copy of the Space Friends Monthly, a newsletter about all the great and wonderful things members have done. It's also filled with adverts for Henderson's Ribs, crosswords, word-searches and other puzzles. The back of the newsletter contains an editorial written by Henderson himself on whatever topic the company feels is particularly important. The Handbook. It basically promotes the three core values of the ISF - Be Good, Help Others, Eat Ribs. There are all sorts of rules and regulations within the handbook, many of them contradictory. Most members have a passing familiarity with at least some of the rules, and it's rumoured that there are different editions of the ISF Handbook. The Notebook. This is the most treasured of belongings for most ISF members. Each page has the ISF logo embossed upon it, and the pages are perforated down one side, so that they can be torn out easily. A sticker applied to the inside of the notebook explains the purpose of the notebook - write in the good deeds you have done, get it signed by the person you helped, and exchange it at any Henderson's Ribs franchise for fantastic prizes.[/i] [hr] [b]Question #1: What?[/b] The premise is fairly simple; you are members of the ISF, aboard a space ship. You travel the galaxy, doing good deeds, or at least [i]trying[/i] to do good deeds, before reaping the sweet, sticky barbecue-y rewards. As you can probably gather, this isn't a particularly serious roleplay - think [i]Space Dandy[/i] rather than, say, [i]Star Trek[/i]. Ideal players will have a sense of humour, and treat this as the lighthearted escapist silliness it is. In terms of how the game is going to play out, people to help, planets to visit and the like will be made fairly obvious, mostly via issues of Space Friends Monthly. I will leave it to the player characters to basically come up with an agreement on what options they want to pursue, and then I'll try and keep up with whatever "help" you end up offering. If none of the prompted ideas tickle your collective fancies, I'm more than happy to run with whatever you end up wanting to do - the galaxy is a big place, after all, and can easily accommodate all of our ideas. Want to help a girl rescue her genetically engineered pet from a tree? I'll run with that. Basically, if you want direction, I'll gladly provide it for you, because that's what the GM is for, right? If you want to be the masters of your own destiny entirely, I'm good with that too. As long as things are happening, the story is moving forwards and I'm getting a good giggle or two out of it all, I'm happy. [b]Question #2: Who?[/b] I'm looking for a small group of people, four or five at most. I am [i]dangerously[/i] flexible regarding the sort of character you want to play, except for two things - they must be a member of the Interplanetary Space Friends (Brought To You By Henderson's Ribs), and they are on board the [i]Quest For Flavour[/i], a cheerful looking spaceship that serves as a base of operations for the crew. Aliens, robots, zombies, intelligent slime, polka-dot humans, elves [i]in spaaaace[/i], toasters, weird creatures made of cheese, unintelligent slime, creatures fashioned out of clay and abandoned by their creator... as long as they're on the ship, and part of the ISF, it's all good. [b]Question #2b: The Quest For What Now? Who's In Charge Of That?[/b] It's a spaceship. Do keep up. As for who is in charge; I have two thoughts on this. If somebody wants to play a character with the not-entirely-prestigious title of "Captain of the Quest For Flavour", then I'm happy to let them have it. It'll probably be on a first come, first served basis (much like the fine eating establishments of Henderson's Ribs), so if you desperately want to lead a bunch of space misfits but never had the opportunity to do so because of legal reasons, here's your chance. If nobody wants the title of Captain, the Captain shall be an NPC to begin with. [i]But[/i] I'll probably try and pass off the role - with hilarious consequences - to some character or other at some point, because it'd be funnier. Not wanting to be the Captain will not guarantee that the hat of leadership will be thrust into your hands! [b]Question #3: When?[/b] I'd like to start fairly soon, as my head is bristling with ideas and my resolution for this year was to try my hand at [s]inflicting[/s] running a game here. I'm hoping that a small group of people can manage a reasonable posting schedule, where nobody gets left behind, and we all carry one another into a galaxy of bizarre happenings. I usually check the website in the evening and in the mornings (GMT), and will [i]aim[/i] to make sure that nobody's waiting on me for more than a day. [b]Question #4: How? I Mean, How Do I Join?[/b] Fill out a character sheet, post it here, and I'll get back to you as quickly as I can. [b]Question #5: Are There Any Other Rules Or Things I Should Know About?[/b] I operate under the general rule of "please don't be a jerk". Be good to one another, be willing to work with one another, be willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, and make sure you drink plenty of water. If other rules need to be established, we can work on them together, as a team. Yay, teamwork! [hider=Character Sheet!] [center][b]ISF Membership Form c-98bV2[/B][/center] [B]Name:[/b] This could be the name inflicted upon you at birth, a stupid nickname given to you by your so-called friends or a super awesome nickname that you demand everyone else calls you, like "[i]Ace McCool[/i]". [b]Appearance:[/b] This could be text, this could be an image, this could be a bit of both. [B]Species Name & Description:[/b] Feel free to go pretty hog-wild here. Obviously this'll sort of fold in with "appearance", but it's just so I know what people would [i]call[/i] your species. Also, if you could include how [i]common[/i] the species is in terms of the galactic community, that'd be good - I'm happy if you want to be the last of your species, or just one amongst countless trillions, but it saves me having to guess and helps a lot with working out how NPCs will react to you. [b]Favourite Side Dish:[/b] This is just one of those things that Henderson's Ribs needs to know about their customers, sorry. [b]Useful Skills & Abilities:[/b] What can your character do? Fix things? Telepathically communicate with fish? Fight with their fists? Negotiate their way through a hostage situation? Taste great with mayonnaise? [b]Membership Number:[/b] Your ISF membership number. These tend to be long and sometimes include letters, weird arcane symbols and guttural sounds. [b]An Inspirational Quote That Sums Up The Character's Personality:[/b] "[i]Glory and adventure awaits![/i]" is good and implies a certain amount of action. "[I]I don't wanna get out of bed today![/i]" might very well be honest, but that's not what we're looking for. [b]History:[/b] Don't fill this in, [i]but[/i] have a think about it now. Because everyone is going to be a crew member aboard the same ship, I figured that it's probably best for everyone to come together once characters are made to agree on how they came to be on the ship. [/hider] [hr] [center]Brought to you by your friends at Henderson's Ribs. [i]Out Of This World Flavour![/i][sup]TM[/sup][/center]