Interplanetary Space Friends - A Game About Space Adventures, Friendship and Fast Food

[Hylozoist]

Do you feel the need to do something heroic?
Do you crave helping other sentient beings?
Do you hunger to be a paragon of goodness in a galaxy gone wrong?
What about the chance to eat 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!

THE INTERPLANETARY SPACE FRIENDS

BROUGHT TO YOU BY HENDERSON'S RIBS
A (Most Likely) Casual Roleplay About Space Adventures, Friendship and Fast Food

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 - HENDERSON'S RIBS.

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.

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Question #1: What?
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 trying 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 Space Dandy rather than, say, Star Trek. 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.

Question #2: Who?
I'm looking for a small group of people, four or five at most. I am dangerously 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 Quest For Flavour, a cheerful looking spaceship that serves as a base of operations for the crew. Aliens, robots, zombies, intelligent slime, polka-dot humans, elves in spaaaace, 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.

Question #2b: The Quest For What Now? Who's In Charge Of That?
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. But 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!

Question #3: When?
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 inflicting 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 aim to make sure that nobody's waiting on me for more than a day.

Question #4: How? I Mean, How Do I Join?
Fill out a character sheet, post it here, and I'll get back to you as quickly as I can.

Question #5: Are There Any Other Rules Or Things I Should Know About?
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!

Character Sheet!

ISF Membership Form c-98bV2

Name: 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 "Ace McCool".

Appearance: This could be text, this could be an image, this could be a bit of both.

Species Name & Description: 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 call your species. Also, if you could include how common 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.

Favourite Side Dish: This is just one of those things that Henderson's Ribs needs to know about their customers, sorry.

Useful Skills & Abilities: 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?

Membership Number: Your ISF membership number. These tend to be long and sometimes include letters, weird arcane symbols and guttural sounds.

An Inspirational Quote That Sums Up The Character's Personality: "Glory and adventure awaits!" is good and implies a certain amount of action. "I don't wanna get out of bed today!" might very well be honest, but that's not what we're looking for.

History: Don't fill this in, but 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.

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Brought to you by your friends at Henderson's Ribs. Out Of This World Flavour!^TM

[DepressedSoviet]

@HylozoistYou know what? I'm down for this. Expect a sheet in the future.

[Hylozoist]

Thanks @DepressedSoviet, I look forward to reading it!

[DepressedSoviet]

@HylozoistI wanted to try something different for this CS, to capture the humorous tone, so I wrote it as one-sided interview dialogue. I won't be writing in 1st-person for the IC though, don't worry.

Documentation of an interview done upon Member %XYN)p(Xf@vlv)fL boarding the Quest for Flavor

Name: "Name's Elarin. That's it, we don't do family names where I'm from. Friends used to call me 'flyboy' cause I flew the ship, so I guess you can call me that."

Appearance: "What, can't you just look at me and take some notes? No? Alright fine. Reptilian, green scales, spikes trailing from the top of the head down to the end of the tail. Usual outfit of a hooded long-sleeve shirt, pants with a hole for the tail, no shoes. That good enough for ya?"

Species Name & Description: "Last I heard the going name for us was 'Reptiloids.' There's a bunch of us out here, enough to have several different factions. Not sure most of us came from the same planet originally, actually.

Favourite Side Dish: "I..uhh..whaddaya call the little yellow sweet bits? Starts with a C...cake? No...car? No, that ain't it...Corn! Yeah, corn!"

Useful Skills & Abilities: "I'm a pretty decent pilot. Used to run cargo for a bigger shipping company, before they got bought out. Had to sell my ship recently to get some cash flowing again, but my skills still hold up."

Membership Number: "%XYN)p(Xf@vlv)fL. Yes, I know there's no actual numbers in it. Don't ask me, I just read it off the back o' this badge.

An Inspirational Quote That Sums Up The Character's Personality: "A wise, long-dead human once said 'Life is like a sewer… what you get out of it depends on what you put into it.' I gotta say that you humans sure know how to make a guy laugh."

History: "Oh, you want my story? My WHOLE story? Well sit back, and get comfortable, cause its gonna be a long one..."

[Hylozoist]

@HylozoistI wanted to try something different for this CS, to capture the humorous tone, so I wrote it as one-sided interview dialogue. I won't be writing in 1st-person for the IC though, don't worry.

@DepressedSoviet

Nailed it! Made me grin, gave me a good idea of what Elarin is like, and it goes without saying that any ship needs a pilot, so good call on that front. Fingers crossed that we can collect a few more players and get this space-party started.

It goes without saying but, if you decide you want to fiddle with anything on the sheet, or submit something else, feel free to do so. Nothing's set in stone (or that gravy that sets into concrete if left for long enough) just yet.

[rush99999]

Would it be ok if I played as the ship's somewhat homicidal AI?

[Hylozoist]

Hey @rush99999, sorry it's taken me a while to get back to you there, I needed to put my thinking hat on, then I needed to sleep, and then I needed a cup of tea. Anyways, as a fair amount of the action is going to involve not being on the Quest For Flavour, it could be a bit tricky to play a ship AI.

But! But. There's three ways that spring to mind that could make it work:

Option 1: Have some sort of remotely controlled mechanical shell that the AI can inhabit, for when the crew go off to do things away from the ship. This'll make sure you can still do stuff, because doing stuff is generally good, but I'd worry that it might make your character feel less like "a ship AI" and more like "a robot that does stuff", you know?

Option 2: We give the crew members, or one of the crew members, a communication device that lets them keep in touch with the ship AI and send it information. This'll make sure you can still take part in things, offering helpful advice, snarky one-liners and the occasional impassioned plea to do something sensible. You won't really have, you know, hands, but trying to convince the crew members to do your bidding could be fun.

Option 3: It stays on the ship, and does ship-running things while the crew are planet bound. I worry that this might get a bit dull when they're not doing ship things. If you want to go down this route, then I'm sure we can work something out; it's going to be a small group, so running "here's what the ship is doing" while also handling "here's what the crew are doing" wouldn't be out of the question. The disparity between the two could be a good source of giggles for us all.

Or, obviously, we can mix-and-match things - perhaps option two and three would go well together. Or, even more obviously, if you know how you want it to work, I am all ears and/or eyeballs.

Let me try and condense this down a bit:
As long as we can come up with a way to keep you involved (whether that's embodying as a sort-of-crew member, remaining in communication with the crew, me running ship-things while the crew are away, or something else), I am happy with a Ship AI.

We do have a pilot already, so we may need to come up with a bit of an explanation for why the AI doesn't pilot the ship.

I will adjust prizes offered by ISF franchises accordingly to include things like "hot wax spaceship wash", "free 30 day trial of Ribworld: Online" and other things that might be of more interest to an AI.

Also, I'm sorry for the rambling nature of this reply, the more I thought about it, the more I ended up writing. Even my condensed version ended up a bit rambling, and now even this apology about how long this ended up being is getting lon-

[Sovi3t]

Do you need a cook? Or a Quartermaster in charge of the limited weapon systems?

[Hylozoist]

Do you need a cook? Or a Quartermaster in charge of the limited weapon systems?

@Sovi3t

Yes, and yes. I have a soft spot for cooks in games especially. I imagine the Quest For Flavour has a small contingent of weapons, some of which may even be practical, as well. If you're wanting to do somebody who is in charge of weaponry, we can flesh that out a little more, and I'll gladly take input as to what kind of nonsensical and highly dangerous experimental weaponry the ship should have stowed away (quite possibly in contravention of various laws).

[Sovi3t]

I'll think about what I want to do, probably may end up doing quartermaster tho is it possible to double role and be the cook part time or something?

[TwelveOf8]

You've sold me. I'm in! Can I join your super awesome mega cool ultra friend thing? I can be a ship engineer that keeps the engines chugging along. It's not the funniest job but I do it for the those sweet barbecue ribs, and your fries! I just made myself hungry.

I will submit my character sheet later in the day. Too late right now. The sand man awaits!

[Hylozoist]

I'll think about what I want to do, probably may end up doing quartermaster tho is it possible to double role and be the cook part time or something?

@Sovi3t

I've no problems whatsoever with you doubling down on being the quartermaster and the ship's cook. Every ship would benefit from both, and unless we get anyone who has a mighty need to play the ship's cook, I think "quartermaster and part-time cook" works fine.

I will submit my character sheet later in the day. Too late right now. The sand man awaits!

@TwelveOf8

I look forward to reading it, and as you're the very first person to express an interest in the noble position of "Engineer", it shall be yours. Use this power wisely! Wisely, I say.

Once I've got character sheets from everyone who has expressed an interest so far, I shall set up a proper thread for the game, tag everyone, and get this party started proper. As I'm likely to be a little bit distracted over the weekend due to real life and baking, you fine folks who have expressed an interest still have plenty of time to come up with stuff, so please don't try and rush those creative-brain-muscles on my account. Have a cup of tea and think about things!

[DepressedSoviet]

I look forward to seeing what the rest of you come up with!

[DracoLunaris]

obligatory do you still have space message.

I was thinking of making a hive-mind of hand sized bee people to act as all our red shirts.

[Hylozoist]

obligatory do you still have space message.

@DracoLunaris

We do! I think that you'll be the last person, though; a reptilian pilot, a ship AI, a cook/quartermaster, an engineer and an army of bee people will be enough players. If it looks like my poor, tea-addled mind can support juggling handling more players, I'll open things up again.

So, ahem.

Recruitment Status: Closed!
(I'll work on getting a thread up for Monday morning)

Also - the captain hat is still available.

[DracoLunaris]

I went with cute space fairies rather than fist sized bees or creepy aliens because i think it will be funnier when they get hurt.

The Bees

ISF Membership Form c-98bV2

Name: Swarm Species 5207B The Bees/The Will/Draksal the Devourer(nobody calls them this, not even The Bees)

Appearance: The average bee is a humanoid about the height of a refreshing beverage can with yellow and black striped skin, blond or black hair, bee wings and small antenna on their forehead wearing a red jacket over a black jumpsuit. Some of them might have different outfits so that they remember who has what specific information in them(bees with sciency stuff have lab coats, bees with engineering skills have little hard hats and overalls, tactics knowing bees in generals outfits etc.). Whenever The Will of the hive needs to intervene somewhere the antenna of the bees in the area glow purple and a voice can be heard from thin air, instructing, explaining etc.

Species Name & Description: The Bees are a psychically linked hive mind that evolved on a very small planetoid and as a result they represents their entire species. Like any self respecting hive-mind they were going to take over the galaxy until it turned out that everyone else was much, much bigger than them and unfortunately, unless I intervene, the bees aren't the most focused bunch .

Favourite Side Dish: Honey. What did you expect? Yes, they know its more of a condiment. No they don't think having honey on ribs is that weird. That squid faced guy is eating a brain with his, they point out. honey is banal in comparison they argue some what unsuccessfully. Can we just move on?

Useful Skills & Abilities: Individual bees are fairly expendable every bee is basically the same baring some of the specialist data carries and even then they have many of each set, as a result they are perfect for doing anything that is almost guaranteed to be lethal. A Lot more memory than the average lifeform though they have to find what bodies have the required memory or skill. Great at multitasking. The combination of these two makes them a good backup for most task and good assistants if someone has a proficiency in a skill. Sewing.

Membership Number:
αξορρδινγ το αλλ κνοων λαωσ οφ αωιατιον τηερε ισ νο ωαψ α βεε σηουλδ βε αβλε το φλψ ιτσ ωινγσ αρε τοο σμαλλ το γετ ιτσ φατ λιττλε βοδψ οφφ τηε γρουνδ τηε βεε οφ ξουρσε φλιεσ ανψωαψ βεξαυσε βεεσ δοντ ξαρε ωηατ ηυμανσ τηινκ ισ ιμποσσιβλε

An Inspirational Quote That Sums Up The Character's Personality: Curiosity killed the cat. Fortunately have many cats to spare / The bees wonder what this big shiny red button does

History: get off planetoid, ‘infest’ ship.

If no one else wants it The Will can be the captain.

[Hylozoist]

I went with cute space fairies rather than fist sized bees or creepy aliens because i think it will be funnier when they get hurt.

@DracoLunaris

I like it. Plus, I'm a sucker for little cute things. I'd say it's my one weakness, but my other weaknesses would surely be disappointed to think I'd forgotten about them.

Plus, it's an opportunity for somebody to shout "NOT THE BEEEEES!".

If no one else wants it The Will can be the captain.

Hooray! If you do end up being the Captain, would you mind if we worked out (together!) how The Will came to be Captain? I'm going to be asking everoyne to provide a little snippet of their history that basically explains how they got on board, whether they're part of the "original" crew, or a replacement, or what-have-you.

[TwelveOf8]

ISF Membership Form c-98bV2

Name: If I had a choice in the matter, my name would be Lord Captain Super Awesome Double Bacon Cheese Burger Ultra Warrior Magic Man of the Ultimate Eagle Force of Doom! But you can call me Fiddlesticks. That's what my older brother calls me. But if you value your life DO NOT ASK ME WHY I AM CALLED FIDDLESTICKS! CAPICE!?

Appearance: I'm a ripped super hero with the muscles of Thor, the brains of Ironman, and the combined awesomeness of both! I hate gym class though, I'm always picked last for sports. The kids always call me jelly belly in the locker room. I may have little bit of extra fat but beneath that extra fat hides extra glory! Oh yeah, I also have brown eyes, slightly tanned skin, black hair, and I'm not short! Maybe a little short....

Species name and description: I'm just a regular old human. Well, humanish. I do have very large pointed ears and massive eyes. My eyes are like the size of grape fruits. That's what I'm told anyway. What's a grapefruit? Most "normal" humans are like two heads taller than me. People ask me what I am all the time. I just tell em I'm Lord Captain Super Awesome..... At that point they lose interest and wonder off.

Favourite side dish: My favourite side dish to your amazing honey braised ribs are your sweet and crunchy sweet potato fries! We do get free ribs and fries on this thing right?

Useful skills and abilities: I can work your engines like a cat works a fiddle! Yeah, I admit, the Henderson Ribs space ship engine is pretty much like a simple toy compared to other engines. But you know what? I can take that baby apart then put it back together in my sleep! He he he XD!

Membership Number: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, Gargle, beware those that watch through the static, 64858368472fnsjnchd

An inspirational quote that sums up your characters personally: Everything is better with extra cheese and bacon.

Brought to you by your friends at Henderson's Ribs. Out Of This World Flavour!TM

[TwelveOf8]

I look forward to reading it, and as you're the very first person to express an interest in the noble position of "Engineer", it shall be yours. Use this power wisely! Wisely, I say.

hylozoist

I feel, uhh, what's that H word? Uhh humoured? Hammered? Yes! That's the most awesome one! Alright, here goes! I am hammered to be your ships engineer on this tasty journey of ribs, fries, and friendship! Onward to adventure!

[Hylozoist]

Looks good, @TwelveOf8! I'm going to be a tad distracted over the weekend (OH GOD I GOT INVITED TO A PARTY IT'S GOING TO BE AMA- ahem). Also, reading through your sheet has given me some weird ideas about how Henderson's Ribs should have it's sticky sweet meat fingers in various other industries - a Henderon's Ribs engine, Henderson Rib's insurance, Henderson Rib's Artificial Intelligence Division, etc. etc.