Aberrant: Stargate Universe - Table Talk - General OOC Thread.

[Charlie Cole]

I on the other hand, have decided that I have to withdraw. My reason is that you guys have decided to completely take the story in a new direction to some degree, in a story fic set before my character comes into game existence, and it doesn't seem as if my informing you guys that matters a damn.

As a result I'm giving my game's two week notice. I'm not going to try to spoil your punch party.

[Mr Fox]

Sorry man, the Nice Genes plot was already in motion when you joined. As a player in the game you do have a voice however, and just as much right to state your preference as everyone else. There will be some folks staying on Earth and with the SGC and still doing missions if you want to stay.

[Charlie Cole]

There's continuity issues because mine comes after. If others are going to break, defect or whatnot, one, people like Kyria and Dec shouldn't be there, and besides I don't really have an IC choice if this all comes before Area 51.

[Mr Fox]

Sure you do. As a 'specialist' he can choose to go with them or stay with the SGC.

Yes there are continuity issues, but we're waving the magic wand and pretending they don't exist, just like the show did. There were several episodes where the characters spent months of time passing during the single episode, but the over all plot was still marching along and things were happening so they just ignored the discrepancy for the sake of the story.

[Charlie Cole]

Alright then.

Charlie's feelings are mixed here, but he'd stay and be a 'better influence' on anything the IOA does. And he fully supports public knowledge. Especially because he'd rather not cramp efforts that could keep the Goa'uld from turning this Earth into another cinder.

[The Story Guide]

My apologies guys, but I'm going to pull out of the game. Fox, feel free to do what you need to with Kyria. I can write something for an exit fic if you want. I've posted a more detailed explination here.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Who is up next in Lazarus?

[Yseult Sierra]

I left it for whoever wants to go, though I was fishing for a response from Cam.

[Rorx]

So what's going on with Nice Genes? Is anyone going to make a significant responce to the Council or shall we just move on?

[Mr Fox]

I've been waiting for Kyria since she said she wanted to post in that thread before we moved things forward to the meeting aboard ship.

So with Mala no longer in the game, does anyone else want/need to post in Nice Genes in response to what has been said/done by the Asgard? If not let me know and I'll move things back to the ship for the discussion of 'where to next'.

[Mr Fox]

Ok, I've got to ask some questions.

I know some folks have been getting their butts kicked by RL issues recently, I'm certain one of them. Posting has come to pretty much a halt here.

What I'd like to know is, who is left? Who wants to continue? Are people waiting on me or just losing interest?

I've got a major plotline planed for what is coming next regardless if people go off and do the pirate thing or stay with the SGC, or has Mala pulling out taken the wind out of the sails on that idea?

Pretty much what I'm asking is who is interested in continuing and what direction do people want to go pirate or SGC? I'd hate to end it here but Nice Genes would be a decent ending point if not exactly a satisfying one.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Kyria's leaving didn't take any wind out of my sails; Vinny leaving did that. It wasn't a case of 'Oh-noes! Livy's fuck-toy is gone!' (though I am tired of my PCs hooking up with other PCs only to have them pull out of the game or dissappearing) but rather a simple case that I had worked Olivia up to emotional high ground, and with Vinny's death, a lot of that will be undone. My posting has slowed because I am dreading Olivia being emotionally shattered again. She's put a lot of hope and happiness in her relationship with Vinny and once again, its being ripped away. I had planned to address that lack of emotional self-reliance just not so soon. Because I have no interest in writing Olivia's black hole of despair in the wake of Vinny's death, I was going to ask Fox to give us a couple of months of downtime while she takes some leave and pulls herself together. I could handle her sadness after a couple of months of IC time, but not her raw grief immediately after his death. This has to do with how I write for my characters; I put myself in their heads to get them right. Putting myself in Olivia's head for this particular event makes me cry and I really don't like that. It isn't so much the loss of Vinny (though I had a ton of fun writing with the player and the character) as it is the loss of an aspect of Olivia (her progress made in her recovery).

For me, the fun of a story like Olivia's is seeing her improve; knowing that this set-back is coming is disheartening. It makes it really hard to write for her in this universe, and part of why I snuck her into SGA (albeit with a distinctly different backstory). That said, I love the character and will be continuing with her. At this point, I don't see her going pirate. If there aren't enough people to support the SGC angle of the game, I'll shoehorn her into her 'independant contractor' career (I have some ideas for this and they'll probably even work ).

For the game itself, I personally haven't enjoyed the way some plots have gone, but that alone isn't enough to stop me. The SG world is fun to play in, and while I miss the mission-based aspect of the game, I understand why it went away and why it doesn't seem to work in this game. And I'm okay with that.

Why am I saying all this? Mostly because Fox asked, and I feel that this is part of the discussion. In part, I feel like I've been a 'posting leader' in this game, and that my slowdown has sapped some of the life out of the game, too. I feel bad about that, but haven't been able to push past it save for brief spurts of activity.

As a last note, I'm not angry or upset with Forge, Mala or anyone for leaving or whatever. Both players (and everyone else who has pulled out of the game) has done what they had to do for themselves. I'd be in the same position if Livy had hooked up with Damien and Fox had opted to remove him via death. These are just my feelings on the questions Fox asked.

Am I making sense - does this help explain things?

[Ryan Hawke]

I'm still interested in continuing and Ryan will stay with SGC. I miss the mission format, but I'm fine with how things are. Despite my short posts and semi-limited activity I have enjoyed playing in this game, and I'd prefer if it kept going.

[Yseult Sierra]

I'm still in with Yse-Prime. I've just been slacking lately. Most of the threads she's in don't seem to have progressed much lately and I didn't feel like forcing a post. And I just haven't been that motivated to post in her personal fictions at the moment, though I do intend to continue them.

Yse will most definitely stay on Earth, and thanks to Landry and O'Neill supporting her right to be with her family, she's still willing to stick around with the SGC at the moment as well.

I wanted to post in Nice Genes, just couldn't come up with something that I liked - saying we're happy to have helped you seems a little bland and besides, Yse had already said as much anyway.

I guess I am sort of influenced by others in how I post - when others slow down, I tend too as well, usually. The others leaving doesn't affect me wanting to still continue with the game, though the change in tone from missions/stop the Goa'uld to potentially (seemingly) rewriting Humanity did bum me for a bit. But I am still most definitely in.

[Mr Fox]

Glad to hear from you three that you all want to continue. Even if you three alone want to continue then I certainly will. I would still like to hear from Dec, Cole, Simms and anyone else that was in or wanting to be in the game.

Also, for the record, I want to add my sentiments to Dawns above. People have to do what they have to do and I don't hold that against them even if the game were to collapse as a result, which it won't.

On the subject of the tone/plot of the game, I ask that you be patient. The ascension device was in there for a couple reasons, one of which was to make the players face a tough choice. You guys in a way hold the future of humanity in your hands in that device... what you do with it makes a difference. Also, realize that both SG1 and Atlantis encountered ascension devices. The one in SG1 was destroyed and the one in Atlantis was flawed in that it forced the user to ascend or die, and so was unusable for lack of advanced knowledge on how to tweak it. You guys are facing the fact that the you don't have that limit, so what you choose sets the course of the future. That will happen in game in the new thread aboard ship. But I'd like to hear back from everyone who is still in before I open that up.

Also, I do ask that everyone be just a little patient as we move forward, as I said I do have a major plot coming that was shaped by what has gone before.

[Charlie Cole]

Sure. I can definitely stay in. Cole too will stick with the SGC. He figures playing watchdog and good influence on the IOA is better than leaving the planet.

[Aradia McConnell]

Well.. here's the deal. I'm kind of torn. I was definitely on board with the pirate idea, but with Kyria leaving that might take the sails out of that particular plot line indefinitely, since it sounds like most people (at least that have responded thus far) will be sticking around the SGU. That doesn't mean I can't do stuff w/Aradia, I can. But at this point all her team mates player's have either left or seem to have stopped playing entirely, so that's going to have to be addressed. I was playing with the idea of removing her from the game just because I'm not sure where to go with her at this point. If Kyria and Dec had gone pirate, she might have jumped on that save for her relationship w/Wakiki, which she's also concerned about the IOA finding out that she told him stuff she shouldn't have told him. Now, Carver told me that Waki would totally go rogue with Aradia were she to come to him about it. So I guess, depending on what happens and what other players decided to do.. I don't know Dec's plans for instance.. I have one of two options since Kyria's left. Either Dec sticks around, you figure out what happened/happens to Kyria, Aradia stays with the SGU and I keep playing her. Or if you're having people run off and go pirating then I can say Aradia and Wakiki went with them and bow out of the game. I'm kind of 50/50 on the whole thing at the moment. I've had a hard time integrating Aradia into the mission parts of the story thus far, part of that is my fault because at the time I made her I knew so little about SG, so it was suggested that I make a character not involved before with the SG program so that the lack of knowledge wasn't much of an issue. But without meaning to, I ended up creating a character that really kind of resented the position she was in, and that hasn't worked out so well for me in the game. However, I do love the character and love playing her, and I'm okay with keeping on with that sort of storyline. Not all characters have to be happy about their situation after all. That's part of what makes the story interesting.

Anyway, I suppose what I'm trying to say is I could go either way, depending on the decisions some of the other players make and that you make about what direction the story is headed in Fox. I'll mull it over in my mind for a couple days, but I'm pretty ambivalent (in the true definition of the word) at this point, so it's a tough decision. Also, not to parrot anyone, but pretty much everything Livy says about people dropping applies here too. I certainly don't blame anyone, people do what they need to do. It just does create the need for a decision on my part at this point about where I should go with my character. Let me know if you have any questions specifically, Fox. Otherwise, hope the feedback helps.

[Mr Fox]

It does, and I appreciate it. Definitely need to hear Dec's desires. I have no problem with three people going off and being pirates (Ari, Dec and Waki). Heck if even one of you wants to do it I'm fine with that, I figured someone would want to do it eventually. I only worry that if it's only one or two people they would go off to do their own thing and because of the lack of interaction with others they would slow in their posting and eventually stop. That's why I'd like to have some IC reason to keep the 'pirates' also at least somewhat engaged with the SGC even if it is only visiting rights. That way fics can be written between those characters and the ones back at the sgc.

Another possible option is that we could open up the game to new players and allow them to be people you guys pick up along the way as pirates. I'd allow Asgard (new body), Jaffa, Tok'ra, or whatever worked for the game.

Incidentally Cam could still go with either group. He's at a turning point in his thinking where he really doesn't trust those in authority over him (other than Landry and O'Neill).

[Katalyst]

Simms is good with staying with the SGC. It would probably work out better that way as he has worked (albeit a little) with Ryan more than the others. I've just been waiting for things to wrap so that I can jump in.

[Mr Fox]

Still waiting on Dec's rolls in LotL. Kinda need those before I move on since he's leading the way.

[Dawn OOC]

Fox, you may have to post for him; I know he's been swamped with RL. I haven't seen him in chat for a while.

[Mr Fox]

Ok, I'll move it forward then.

I'll also be posting up the discussion aboard ship so you all can officially decide what to do with the ascension device and where you want to go from Nice Genes.

[Mr Fox]

Incidentally, I can't wait to see Waki's reaction to Ari's bomb shell.

[Aradia McConnell]

Hehe. It should be an interesting fic. Right now we've got shock, but what the follow up reaction to that shock is should be interesting.

On another note, do you want me to do any kind of perception rolls or tracking rolls or anything in LotL?

[Mr Fox]

If you guys have anything to add to "Where do we go from here" please do so now. I'm going to move that thread forward very soon.

[Mr Fox]

Ok, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things on the site. I've been mostly gone for the last month, only stopping in now and then and haven't given any time to SGU since it seemed to be in a slump.

I'm back now or as much as I can be with IRL issues. I'm willing to continue running SGU. I've got tons more plot and lots more missions, but I need to know if anyone is still interested in continuing. Seems I haven't been the only one in a bit of a slump so it's time for a health check.

Continue, yes or no?

If yes, then I'd like some feed back from you guys on what you'd like to see out of the game. I have meta plot that's in motion, and I have a ton of missions, but in the past the missions have been the part of the game that stalls out the most compared to the interpersonal stuff. So what do you guys want?

I also need a firm head count of who all is still in or who would like to be in.

If I don't get any responses to the request within the next week, then I'll consider that answer enough.

[Justin OOC]

I'm still in, just remember I know nothing of Stargate really.

I'm fine with anything, and have been waiting to see where things are gonna go.

[Yseult Sierra]

I'm definitely still willing to continue. Yse still have to finish reuniting with her husband and she wants to finish her goa'uld antitoxin too.

I liked the missions - though Yse didn't as much - but I had only been on one when we still had multiple teams and Jordan and Omar were slow in responding. If we're few enough that it's only one team, it should go better, especially if there is a time limit on posting when combat comes around.

When I first joined, I thought the premise was much closer to what the show was like - missions with the overall goal to stop the goa'uld from being a threat to Earth. Now, I don't know what all the meta-plot involves, though I might have a tiny bit of an inkling, and I'm willing to continue with that as well - especially with the Ascension Device gone (at least for now, ). It was a very big quandary for Yseult... and for me, with what it could do, both good and bad.

My lack of posting here was due to a bit of a slump and the fact that I'm quite influenced in rate of posting by the rate of posting of others. Looking forward to see things moving again.

And glad you're around again, Fox. Welcome back.

[Dawn OOC]

I'm still in. I'd like to see you, Fox, focus on big plots and missions - a mix of the two would be nice. We can do PC torture interpersonal stuff on our own.

[Mr Fox]

I enjoy watching the tortu...er interpersonal stuff, you guys do a great job with it.

Do we still have Dec, or has he dropped out or gone mia? I know he reappeared for a couple days, but I haven't seen him in ages.

Also Katalyst wanted to rejoin the game. If you are around and interested please speak up.

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Dec has been pretty much MIA, other than that one post several weeks ago saying he was back. Rorx has been scarce too, though I have seen him lurking around occasionally.

[Aradia McConnell]

I'm in as well - I would really love to see this game pared down to a team of those still interested and willing to post, so we can regain some momentum. I love Aradia and the connections she's developed in this game, I'd like to see things progress. Hopefully now that you're back we can get stuff rolling again, doing whatever we need to do to for that to happen. Let us know if there's any way we could help.

[Mr Fox]

Thanks very much. Is Ryan still in? Figured he'd speak up, but he hasn't yet.

[Justin OOC]

I play Ryan, I am in...

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Is this enough for us to go on, Fox?

[Mr Fox]

Yep. I'll try and get something up today or tomorrow so everyone can get back to posting. I've got to watch the kiddo today so typing on the computer and focusing on writing can be difficult.

[Aradia McConnell]

Originally Posted By: Aradia McConnell

Hehe. It should be an interesting fic. Right now we've got shock, but what the follow up reaction to that shock is should be interesting.

On another note, do you want me to do any kind of perception rolls or tracking rolls or anything in LotL?

I asked this a while ago for LotL, but assuming we're picking that up again and that's where you're intending to post to move us along, then this question still stands.

[Mr Fox]

No. I'm going to just narrate an ending to that thread since there are so many people that were in it that are gone now.

In fact I'm going to work on that now.

There will be two posts up today. The ending for LotL, and a second one that will introduce the new situation at the SGC after the Asgard situation.

The characters will have been given a 3 month downtime to recover after the loss of Vinny and Cam.

You guys are welcome to write anything you like during that 3 month downtime.

Also, any old fics that you have open, I'd appreciate them being wrapped up. However, if they would be ongoing even during the downtime that would be ok to keep them open, but make sure that anything that occurs after the return from the Asgard homeworld takes the big changes to the structure of the team and loss of friends into consideration.

[Mr Fox]

Note the changes on the Timeline. The start date of the new missions will be March 1st 2005.

[Katalyst]

Just saw this thread and I'm all in. What if anything do you need from me Fox?