Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Jb
Raw
GM
Avatar of Jb

Jb Because we're here lad

Member Seen 5 mos ago

'Misthophoroi'




A Sci-Fi Mercenary Roleplay


Introduction: As a Classical historian and lover of all things military, the idea of a professional warrior (or group of warriors) bound my nation, ethnicity, culture or coin and employed by another or others to fight for them - regardless of cause, religion and so on - is something that has always fascinated me. Hence the basis for this role play; you may be wondering why I chose to set it in a sci-fi setting if I like history so much, and the simple answer is that no-one really wants to read up on subjects before even creating their character - I have tried 'historical' on the Guild before and it has no gone down too well, alas.

So, here is a sci-fi based role play - think of Warhammer 40,000 mixed with Star Wars mixed with Iain Banks' Culture series mixed with Xenophon's Anabasis mixed with the Hellenistic Era in general mixed with the Italian condottieri, and you'll have some idea of what you can expect. Throw in a spattering of adventure, world building, 'slice of life' antics and you're pretty much there.




Setting: It is the 13th Millennia (according to human/Earth reckoning) and Mankind has spread far and wide among the stars, encountering species as diverse and contrasting as the stars themselves, all the while they have been founding colonies and settling upon alien worlds. To many children of Earth, the home-world itself is little more than a myth, somewhere they have never set foot and are unlikely to in their lifetimes, some worlds veering off in their own directions culturally, religiously, even physically as the centuries passed...some even mingling with 'creatures' that would have been seen as fantastical in the dim past.

As stated, Mankind is not the only species out there; among the vastness of space are civilisations and cultures far older than Man, and others that are so alien that there has been nothing but war and campaigns of extermination against them.

The most recent conflict (of any note) was a galactic-wide quarrel that caused a schism in the wider sphere of space - a united confederation of human Planet States banding together to defend themselves from the aggressive Valnaur Empire. It was a war that depleted both sides, the Valnaur deciding that annexing these territories was not worth it after all, while the human planets were left economically in tatters. Allies and client systems on both sides breathed a sigh of relief and began to rebuild as best they could, fearing for the day when another such event may occur.

Yet space is vast, and there are employers aplenty for any with the know-how and will to take what they want at the tip of a blade or the barrel of a gun. In the blackness are many gathering places for such folk, the planet of Taenarum being one such place, floating as it does some light-years on the edge of Valnaur space, but also within reach of human colonies. If one wished to find gainful employment, or simply build an army, then this is where they would start looking.










Players/Characters: Firstly, please ask questions if you wish, only by asking questions now will you save yourself time later.

As you probably gathered, we're going to be forming an inter-galactic band of gun slinging, blade-toting bodies-for-hire; exactly what form your characters take is more-or-less completely up to the player. I'm deliberately leaving the background/setting sparse and vague, as well as asking players not to reveal everything about their characters when it comes time to write them up.

All I ask is that no-one is invulnerable, no-one is a Mary/Marty Sue, and if I turn your concept down don't start complaining unless you have good reason to do so. I'd prefer a majority human group (although what their culture/background is is still up to the player), but aliens are welcome as I've stated.

This is an 'advanced' RP - everyone knows what that means - all the usual rules apply, it will have mature themes so please bear that in mind, and posting at least once a week is mandatory. If the action is high, or the story is flowing well, then of course more than once will be fine.




Character Creation: I would like everyone to write a form of 'character statement' for this RP, a prose-based character sketch that incorporates everything you would need to know about the character to deal with them. You do not need to reveal everything about their inner workings or their past, and it can be a reasonably short statement if you wish, as long as you give the other narrators (I'm shying away from 'player' as this is more a cooperative writing effort than a game) plenty to interact with once we get going.

As I said, characters can be pretty much whatever/however you'd like them to be, with a few caveats to consider;

There are going to be varying levels of mercenary – some may be green while others may be more hardbitten, so do not make your own an invulnerable killing machine. No one wants to write about their character sitting around watching another do everything simply because they began as the ultimate character (Gary Stu/Mary Sue).

Your character may die – this is not to say that I'll kill them off without permission, but don't put all your ideas in one basket. We're mercenaries, and death is ever present.

Balance – says it all really!

If my character is a master sniper then he might also be a drunk, pretty much negating his extreme skill with a rifle due to his constant alcoholism. If as strong as ten men then he may well have the intellect of a small child (a common enough trope, but a good balancing act). Perhaps you have a mercenary that is very skilled but sadly is too poor to afford any actual equipment, reduced to scavenging low-quality bits and bobs from employers and battlefields?


Apart from this, just use common sense.



Suggested Roles

1. Condottiere/General/Leader etc

2. Lieutnant/second-in-command etc

3. Paymaster (Reserved)

4. Quartermaster

5. Pilot/(Ship) Engineer (Reserved)

6. Linguist/Interpreter/Translator

7. Navigator/Tracker/Scout etc


Please post your completed characters inside a hider in the main OOC thread when you think you've finished.




Again, if you've any questions, then please do ask either by PM on on this thread.

Thank you.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Jb
Raw
GM
Avatar of Jb

Jb Because we're here lad

Member Seen 5 mos ago

3x Like Like 1x Thank Thank
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Vowel Vagabond
Raw
Avatar of Vowel Vagabond

Vowel Vagabond

Member Seen 7 yrs ago

Fancy. :)

I really like the character statement, a very novel and interesting approach!

If there are no objections, I'd like to write up a noble-born paymaster for the company. A "fighting banker" as it were, except not an oxymoron for once.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Tortoise
Raw
Avatar of Tortoise

Tortoise

Member Seen 22 hrs ago

Calling dibs and working on a Pilot/Engineer as we speak.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by POOHEAD189
Raw
Avatar of POOHEAD189

POOHEAD189 Warrior

Moderator Seen 4 hrs ago

WOOOO! Here.

Also I suggest we each only have one role, yet we can have skills in other areas to cope in case we lose someone.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Jb
Raw
GM
Avatar of Jb

Jb Because we're here lad

Member Seen 5 mos ago

@Vowel Vagabond You're welcome to it.

@Jeyma That you have, although we will be a primarily ground-pounding group, so bear that in mind.

WOOOO! Here.

Also I suggest we each only have one role, yet we can have skills in other areas to cope in case we lose someone.


Of course, they're only roles that we actually need filled up for the hierarchy to operate - if other characters have a mix of other skills, that's perfectly fine.
1x Thank Thank
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by POOHEAD189
Raw
Avatar of POOHEAD189

POOHEAD189 Warrior

Moderator Seen 4 hrs ago

@JbcoolNice. I was mostly referring to Jeyma making a pilot and an engineer. I'd think they should be exclusive, even if say, a pilot has engineering skills just in case.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Jb
Raw
GM
Avatar of Jb

Jb Because we're here lad

Member Seen 5 mos ago

@JbcoolNice. I was mostly referring to Jeyma making a pilot and an engineer. I'd think they should be exclusive, even if say, a pilot has engineering skills just in case.


The '/' usually acts as an and/or, which is why I put pilot/engineer, although you're perfectly correct that they'd likely have mingled skills if they were on or the other...more if you were a pilot being an engineer than an engineer flying a ship.
1x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Iuniper
Raw

Iuniper

Member Seen 4 yrs ago

I also really like this 'character statement' concept.

Excuse me if this has already been asked/answered ...

How has this mercenary/pirate band come together, exactly? Has the general/leader brought everyone together, or is there some larger organizational structure? Relatedly, it would seem in the former case at least characters would know each other beforehand and have personal history, yeah?
2x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Jb
Raw
GM
Avatar of Jb

Jb Because we're here lad

Member Seen 5 mos ago

We are most certainly not pirates! How dare you.

Taenarum is a place for merceneries of all stripes to basically chill out and await further employment, our leader making his way there in order to hire/recruit a band of soldiers, probably on the orders of a larger entity. Likely he was hired himself and then used as a recruiter.

If you want characters to already know one anothe, and both parties agree, then there's no problemo there.

Make sense?
2x Like Like 3x Laugh Laugh
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Bishop
Raw

Bishop

Member Seen 20 days ago

@Jbcool Does the paymaster work for the second-in-command/ leader or for the employer of the band, on behalf of the "larger entity" as you called it? If so I call dibs on paymaster, but if he works for the leader/lieutenant I would like to call dibs on one of the latter.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Jb
Raw
GM
Avatar of Jb

Jb Because we're here lad

Member Seen 5 mos ago

@Bishop Paymaster works for the General of the company, as the internal financier - splitting loot, handing out pay to the troops, logging income of pay from our employers etc; @Vowel Vagabond also already called dibs on the paymaster, I'm afraid.
1x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Tortoise
Raw
Avatar of Tortoise

Tortoise

Member Seen 22 hrs ago

@JbcoolNice. I was mostly referring to Jeyma making a pilot and an engineer. I'd think they should be exclusive, even if say, a pilot has engineering skills just in case.


I know they're engineer, and I might also make them a pilot depending on whether that role is filled when the RP starts.

If someone else asks for the pilot role, I'll gladly back off and they're welcome to it. My heart is only really set on the engineer aspect.
2x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Jb
Raw
GM
Avatar of Jb

Jb Because we're here lad

Member Seen 5 mos ago

Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Polybius
Raw
Avatar of Polybius

Polybius Rhymer

Member Seen 6 mos ago

Yep. I'm waiting for someone to drop a character first.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Bishop
Raw

Bishop

Member Seen 20 days ago

Oh yeah so..uhmm what roles are open? I would like to be:(from most wanted to better than nothing)

1. Lieutnant/second-in-command etc

2. Navigator/Tracker/Scout etc

3. Condottiere/General/Leader etc
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Tortoise
Raw
Avatar of Tortoise

Tortoise

Member Seen 22 hrs ago

@Bishop
As far as I know, paymaster and engineer are the only taken positions.

@Jbcool
To avoid repeated questions, it might be a good idea to put a (reserved) beside the "suggested roles" that have been claimed.
1x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Tsar Gatto
Raw
Avatar of Tsar Gatto

Tsar Gatto African or European?

Member Seen 8 mos ago

@Jbcool

Hey! Yeah I'm still here. I'll try to get a character up today - also like the idea of a 'statement' instead of usual CS.

I'm still leaning towards the Navigator/Tracker/Scout type role.
2x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by POOHEAD189
Raw
Avatar of POOHEAD189

POOHEAD189 Warrior

Moderator Seen 4 hrs ago

thinking on what to make...
1x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Tortoise
Raw
Avatar of Tortoise

Tortoise

Member Seen 22 hrs ago

I know what to make, but this Character Statement idea is new to me, so I'm just going to go the cowardly way and wait for someone else to post one first >.>

↑ Top
© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet