Dervish

Military RPs- a Cause for Debate

Oh hey, this is back in circulation.

A thought occurred to me as I was reading about some of the comments about it being a niche kind of roleplay where every player needs a basic level of understanding the military for it to be fun for everybody/ not a constant fact-checking adventure of turbo realism. If someone were to make a more grounded RP about conscripts (oh hey Stalingrad-based RP I want to do sometime!), it would definitely be something where the average player would know about as much as the average conscript for how military operations work. You'd need GMs who are familiar with the subject matter to act as the veterans/ officers to act kind of as guidepost characters for the larger player base, and you could definitely keep it pretty simple and streamlined. Don't need to know a lot of tactics, equipment, and lingo when you're basically a peasant who got rounded up one day, thrown in the back of the truck in a uniform, and had a rifle that was produced the week before shoved in your hands as you're told to go kill the enemy. I personally think it would be fun taking an RP with a bunch of players over the course of a battle (or god forbid, the war) and watch as they develop from green conscripts to specialized veterans who are much more competent fighters and are steeled to the horrors of war.

Mass Effect: Omega Serenade

@DJAtomikaIT'LL HOLD.

Ardan has duct tape. Standard issue engineering equipment.

Mass Effect: Omega Serenade

After that post, I had to get my own licks in. :D Great stuff all around, guys.

Mass Effect: Omega Serenade

Boy, the boss is pretty touchy. Big words coming from a guy who comes from a race that killed their planet and had to become the hanars’ serfs and playthings in exchange for surviving. Easy to complain about people being scared to lose power when you come from a race that only exists because a group of obnoxious jellyfish got bored of the regular zoo offerings. Ardan thought, keeping pace in the formation. Nik had an overly simplified way of looking at things, and that was fine. Didn’t make him right, but the man had a point about them picking a pretty stupid time to argue politics. Ah, growing pains. The team would figure each other out, somehow. Nik was also probably bitter about having lost a few men. Ardan never had a chance to meet them, but the day was apparently quite taxing on the lot. He picked a bad day to enlist. Listen to yourself, is there ever a good day? Man’s probably a bucket of fucking sunshine like this all the time. Probably needs to get laid before the tension makes him lose his mind.

After several moments of awkward silence, Ardan decided to break the tension. “So, about the Ardat-Yakshi being unfuckable… Anyone ever try anal?” he asked.

Twenty minutes in a combat zone was an eternity, and it was impossible not to feel the tension and uncertainty hound every step. Stopping in front of the Import – Export building, Ardan took note of the casualties. It was remarkable the Crimson Fist managed to keep in power if they kept bleeding off manpower like this. He tried to come up with a satisfactory estimate of the value of the equipment just laying around, discarded like their owners, and nothing came to mind other than a shitload.

"Ardan, in case our fearless leader has forgotten that you're just as ex-military as I am, he wants the two of us to cover the rear." Haze explained, sarcasm dripping from his voice like a leaky faucet.

"Always the fun job. Think we'll have time to visit the gift shop?" Ardan replied dryly.

Ardan picked up the formation quickly enough, the mercenaries running off their own variation of a fairly standard tactical formation. Ardan took up the rear, walking backwards to cover the group and relying on the IFF beacons of his team to keep himself oriented behind them. His Vindicator was shouldered and the fire-selector set to automatic, room to room fighting about the only time it was a viable option. Things were quiet as the team moved in silence through the battle-ravaged building, passing bodies from both attackers and defenders, their armour telling who was who. Gunshots filled the air, muffled from being in a separate room, and Ardan kept his position in the rear, watching for flankers. He changed a look at the sudden thump of a dropping body and noticed the turian with the severe impalement and wondered if Daro was trying to think of ways to save the dumb, unlucky bastard’s life. As far as fatalities went, that one was at least different.

Soon, the team entered a room that looked like a slasher vid with bodies and blood sprayed all over the damn place. Ardan’s face, concealed behind his helmet, grimaced as he immediately gave up trying to figure out what organs were splattered over the table nearest him. He swivelled gracefully to face the batarian and his men torturing the krogan, deciding to look elsewhere at the other men as the batarian tore off the Crimson Fist soldier’s crest. Ardan wasn’t a squeamish guy, but shit like that was pretty uncomfortable to look at. He watched the volume of his ear pieces diminish on his hud as the screaming was drowned out. Tonight was definitely a drinking night. As soon as he heard the batarian speak, Ardan returned the volume to normal. Not helping his race’s reputation, the batarian looked like a cannibalistic serial killer. When he discovered that this piece of work was Jek, Ardan groaned over the private line to the squad communications.

“So, he seems nice.” He said sarcastically. “If you were looking for blood transfusion supplies, Daro, I’ll go grab a few buckets.”

Mass Effect: Omega Serenade

I can't think of a name! Uh... uh...

< Not imaginative enough. Sorry >.<

@McHaggis

Psst... Nikky's Angels.

Mass Effect: Omega Serenade

“Sure thing. I’ll follow your lead, won’t be my first round of clawball. I won’t blow shit up unless there’s an order to do so, or if I absolutely, positively am sure it’s for the best interests of this team and our allies. Well, unless there’s a tightly bunched group of bastards behind cover or in a choke point, but that’s what this is for.” Ardan replied to Nik, tapping the stock of the grenade launcher resting on his back. “I won’t let you down. But if you really have to shoot me, try to go for somewhere other than my face. I’m rather fond of it.”

Soon, the colossal krogan that had ordered Ardan to set the charges lumbered towards the group from the open gate carrying one of those obnoxiously huge Claymore shotguns that were just hitting the markets. They weren’t overly popular because the recoil was so powerful only krogan could fire it without turning their arms into bone shard soup. Nik and Krag spoke quickly, giving a quick rundown of the larger mission at hand. He didn’t pity the dumb bastards manning the wall, dying because a gang wanted to waste lives pretending to fight a war that mattered. Wasn’t the point of joining a gang to earn wealth and power? It seemed pointless to squander it dying for some asshole who probably didn’t even know their names. They would die at this wall, have their corpses looted, and probably left there to rot. It truthfully didn’t seem like an ideal scenario, but Krag and his goons seemed pretty keen on their station, and morale went a long way. It was possible they’d make it through alright, and most of them seemed decent enough over a drink or two waiting for Nik and company to arrive. After Nik dashed his brains over the krogan’s crest, a remarkable feat in that he could reach the damn thing, Ardan approached Krag.

“You called the charges too early. They should have been 13 meters closer to the gate before you told me to hit the switch. There’s that little thing called shrapnel and kill radiuses, in case you forgot. You’re lucky none of these guys got hurt.” He said, stepping into formation after the others, offering a wave to the defenders. They were idiots, but it didn’t mean they weren’t worthy of some measure of respect and acknowledgement. Spirits know their boss couldn’t give less of a shit.

Ardan listened to the others as he scanned the area for movement. Just because most of the Crimson Fist troopers were giving Krag a hard time didn’t mean there weren’t flanking elements. His rifle was kept at the ready, his helmet filtering out the worst of the war-ravaged air. “No target’s too big if you have enough intel and manpower. I’ve helped bring down some pretty hardass insurgent leaders in the colony worlds, and the look on their face when they realize their hiding spot wasn’t flawless is worth it every time.” He replied to Daro, scratching his mandible on his helmet liner. He was surprised when Haze brought up working with the Blue Suns. Those guys were almost as no-name as this lot. “I thought the whole point of this outfit was to stamp out criminals, so why would we want to enlist the help of them? I don’t know about you, but I’d hate to help some jackoff by offing his competition because it was a convenient alliance only to find out I more or less helped them become a powerhouse syndicate. Just because you look and act legitimate doesn’t mean you are. In my experience, that usually means you’ve got bigger things to hide. It also says volumes about humans if they’ve only been a part of the galactic community for a few years and already they’re posturing themselves to be major players in organized crime. That’s batarian-level bullshit.”

Mass Effect: Omega Serenade

Wouldn't that be what YOU would name the team, not Hazan? I think there should be some kind of disconnect there.

Ardan would likely keep it simple and strong to the purpose, like Retribution. More likely, he'd let the public's name stick. It would help cement them in people's mind as an agency for the common good.

Mass Effect: Omega Serenade

I'm flexible! Short or long is good for me. I think mixing it up from time to time is handy.

Coruscant Sacked: Aftermath

@EllriOh, uh... hmmm.

We'll bang, okay?

Coruscant Sacked: Aftermath

<Snipped quote by Dervish>

:p Keep the start open ended as Xid will engage Nyiss at 9h!! XD

@Fallenreaper

OH BABY YOU SENSING SOME 4 WAY ACTION?

Collabing, I mean.