Aberrant: Nova Reality - Round table discussion (OOC)

[Interceptor]

OK, this is an OOC discussion table, new threads will pop up as we start getting things under way.

As a kind of mission reminder what we're setting up isn't likely to be an online game or anything, but more like IC role playing as well as mutually designing stories. That's my intent at any rate, things might develop where it becomes easier or more necessary to make it more of an online game than now. The setting is a reality show of Novas who have joined together as a municipal defender team for Chicago and the surrounding areas. Backed by N!, local and state governments, and local business and industry, and filmed most of the day for an in depth look at what moght happen in the day to day life of a team of basically super heroes.

Here is where we'll discuss story elements and plots and such, but also feel free to send each other PMs for things you feel you need to keep private. I also want to use this thread as a springboard for other threads. We should make episodes I feel of things that happen to us, and we should also have a thread where the Novas (in seclusion of course) add a little verbal entry for the camera, a technique often seen on Reality shows, a place to let off steam or vent a little IC. I'm going to have all the other threads moved here. Other threads that need to be created we'll be talked about also. For example I think we should have a thread that allows viewers to post, kind of like fan emails.

OK? We'll start this up now that we have a home.

[Jager]

Well, it is going to be interesting just how public Jager becomes. He is generally opposed to the idea of 24/7 invasion of anyone's lifestyle, even his own.

The core reason he has shown up is to help the other novas to adjust to the benefits and frustrations of being novas in a baseline society. He is pro-interaction, but believes the whole "great powers lead to great responsibility" saying is a trap. Strong Social character leads to a desire to help others, not powers.

Basically, he doesn't want the other novas to a)burn out and no longer give a damn, b)decide that baselines are hateful leeches, or c)decide that other novas are baleful parasites.

Novas need to learn that they can help people, but they have to do it on their own terms, not the peoples.

:gets off the soapbox:

[Hugin]

Curious. How about people that want to stop you?

[kestrel404]

Alchemist is here to look into the 'nova society' angle of this group. Helping people comes naturally to him as well, but he has no combat experience worth mentioning.

He will push the backers to allow Ashnod to participate, and to allow the more camera shy Novas to stay in the background. Generally, he will try to mediate the disputes that arise during negotiations (or help Interceptor with same) and make the process smoother.

[Tangent]

As for background motivation Tangent isn't really interested in the glory hound aspect but that doesn't stop him from being in the limelight either. He's all about rescuing kittens from trees and helping people as he feels he should.

The money and good eats are just a bonus.

[Jager]

Quote:

Originally posted by James 'Prodigy' Meehan:
Curious. How about people that want to stop you?

No one can stop him.

[BlackStar]

BlackStar is interested in this venture because it permits him to help people. He´s not interested in the publicity of the job. And like Jager, he will be at odds with the N! people in order to protect his privacy. But he´s also interested on the money, his own business not going too well at the moment. Not to mention the opportunity to work with the interesting novas in the group.

[Hugin]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jager:

Quote:

Originally posted by James 'Prodigy' Meehan:
Curious. How about people that want to stop you?

No one can stop him.

Egomaniac.


No, what about people that want to stop the group from being succesful? People who will manipulate events, if possible, to make the groups existence a living hell?

[Tangent]

How can anyone want to oppose such a noble, brave and selfless endeavor!?

Doesn't artifically ruining it spoil the whole "It will ruin itself" idea? Because now we can just say it was the damn Terats.

[Interceptor]

OK, why don't we start by discussing the actual perks of what we should get here. From there we can do the story of the actual contract signing.

Some of the things that I've said were offered were:

1 Money (Resources)

2 Law enforcement/emergency service legal powers (Backing, Influence)

3 License for access to hover vehicles, weapons, armor and equipment (Backing/Devices, Eufiber)

4 Headquarters (Sanctum)

5 Exposure (Followers, Influence)

6 Staff at HQ (Followers)

7 R&D budget and facilities (Sanctum, Devices)

I felt it was necessary toput these in game terms, and some of the terms are cross genre but should work just fine for our purposes. Are there other perks? Do you agree with these? Should there be more or less? Should we not think of them as Backgrounds? Should we pool some of the backgrounds (as in if one person is usuing them, others can't)? What are your ideas about this?

In all honesty, the set up for this is a Nova Reality show, these things are going to come with the job/story. If that's not your cup of tea, this might not work for you. But for this to go forward as intended, logically I feel these things would be included, and could make for interesting stories. One that comes to mind is someone making an invention that the backers really like, but Project Utopia deems as a problem, and what would happen afterwards.

[Epicenter]

hey sorry for the HUGE gap in between posts.

access to a working computer and internet connection has been sketchy lately. i've been working a new schedule.

but i'm still here, and still interested

[Ashnod]

Ashnod doesn't want anyone to "help" her participate, if she ends up going through with this at all. She wants people to know it is her, the racist, speciest, separatist, etc, doing this. All of that is upfront and isn't going to be hidden.

On the same token, she won't sign any contracts. As she's stated ICly, she will not be obligated or held accountable to any backer or financer. If that's going to disqualify her (or Apep for that matter), lemme know.

Her likeness and other marketable "images" are also not up for negotiation in any way shape or form.

[kestrel404]

Alchemist isn't offering his 'help' to Ashnod, he's making it less likely that the backers will reject her outright. And he's vouching for her intentions without having asked her first.

Interceptor, would the backers be amenable to having only some of the novas involved be contractually bound? Perhaps those that don't take money don't have to sign on? Alchemist would be willing to forgo getting paid if he didn't have to sign anything, and it would make several of the others much more agreeable.

[Ashnod]

That's what I mean, Alchemist. She doesn't want people "pulling strings" or "greasing the wheels" to make her acceptance possible.

[kestrel404]

I understand. But Alchemist won't stop unless you ask him to. Besides, the only thing he's doing specifically for you is vouching for your sincerity. Everything else he's doing for Jager, Blackstar, and himself.

[Interceptor]

To be honest, if the theme of this is a Nova Team Reality show, I can't logically see how the backers will sign up Novas that can't pass a criminal background check. They might love to have controversial Novas for the show, but if that Nova is actually on a wanted list...Basically the Novas are the stars, but they don't own the show. That being the case certain things have to be given up, it only makes sense. We're not trying to make just a Nova team, but a Nova team show, that's the theme of it. If we can fix it logically so you can get in, by all means let's try. But if not, maybe this isn't the right venue.

Some ways that the 'questionable' Novas might get in. They threaten the producers; they fake their way in, they bribe them, they cooperate with the Directive in some manner (give them some leads for example), or something.

Basically I want to keep the concept of the Nova team with heavy exposure, I don't see how that would be done without corporate and local government backing. We can work within that constraint, but I still think we need it. So I doubt that they would want anyone on the team that doesn't sign a contract. The city would need some kind of legal protection.

[Access]

Bandwidth is just looking for more excitement in his life. He's led a boring life for 26 years and he wants more so he left it behind to come to Chicago. He wants to help people all the while though.

[Ashnod]

Okay. Go ahead and count Ash out of it then. No big.

[Interceptor]

Sorry then Ash. There might be a way to get you in, we just need the right story. I'd also have nothing wrong with you being a guest on the show, that could really make for interesting stories. Maybe it could be like that?

[BlackStar]

I am sorry about your departing, Ashnod.

[Epicenter]

I think this will be fun, but once again, we'll have to see how it pans out.

Epicenter came this way, because there is honestly nothing back home for him. his life is different, and there are bad memories at home.

he wants the chance to do something about it, without having to look it in the face everyday.

if it's TV, so be it. Who doesn't want to be famous? at least in some small degree?

[Jager]

Well, Jager is still in.

[kestrel404]

Alchemist is still in. He'll just be proclaiming the unfairness of not allowing independants join.

[Interceptor]

OK, let's do a roll call:

Interceptor

Alchemist

Jager

Blackstar

Epicenter

Bandwidth

Tangent

That sound about right? Prodigy I didn't include you yet, correct me if you need to, I just wasn't sure if you were in. What I'd like to do then is basically lock the team from there, once we have the commitments from everyone. From there we'll decide on the perks, and the responsibilities. Considering some of the members desires to be noncombatants, we should probably divide the team into two aspects. Support and research for example and a field team.

Let's confirm the roster, then confirm the perks, and finally the commitment, which will also determine how we go about signing the contracts (which will spell out our responsibilities).

[kestrel404]

I'm all about research and support. I don't do Gizmos in most cases, but I'm really good with materials, and I give a whole new meaning to rapid-prototyping .

I'm also pretty good at cleaning up the messes that novas tend to leave behind. Everything but casualties, and some of those since I'm very good with first aid/general practice/light surgery as well.

[Jager]

Jager is still in.

One aspect I would like to bring up before this thing gets off the ground:

I am having Jager develop a relationship with Alejandra. No, she is not a member of the team, but she will be showing up from time to time.

Is this going to be a problem?

[BlackStar]

BlackStar is in.

I think his abilities tend to move him to the field part of the group.

A thing I need to put forth is his "mania" to investigate who try to employ him. If you read the post about his background you would have noticed this. He doesn´t like a bit the idea of working for criminals even the "white tie" sort. How do you think we could go around it?. BTW he has the mental prodigy: investigative enhancement.

[Alex Craft]

April's in. (Sorry, folks - been out of town.)

Her motivation for joining up is pretty simple. She'd already decided to skip out on college and get a job. She was probably going to get into Utopia when this came up, but she decided to sign on here because it looked like it would be more fun than doing construction work in North Africa.

She doesn't really have a grasp of just how much exposure this will involve, but once she does she will come out pretty much demanding that she (and, by extension, everyone else) have control over when the cameras enter home life.

She'll also be wanting to keep a fair amount of control over her image. She probably won't think of this on her own, but she will back anyone who brings it up. In the unlikely occasion that nobody does mention this, she'll eventually pick it up from her mother.

She's new enough to this market that she also doesn't really grasp just how much money she can potentially earn. Once she starts seeing figures, she'll hide her surprise pretty effectively and let the more experienced members of the team (who presumably know their value better) to negotiate salaries and perks.

April would probably fit best into a field team. She doesn't have any particular experience with combat, though, so her usefulness there will be limited for a while. Any serious nova combat will leave her outclassed for the time being. Her talents are easily enough to let her deal with street crime, but she might get into trouble if the group starts hitting more serious operations - the C-Z syndicate, for example. However, her combat abilities should improve with training.

April's best fit will be in other operations the group deals in - rescue work and the like. She's tough enough to walk into hazardous situations and she's fast enough to get anywhere in the Region within minutes, if not seconds (she does Mach 3 or 4 easily). Naturally, her TK has any number of applications.

On a different note, if it would ever make sense in the setting, Alex could easily make a guest appearance (don't know how much we'll be wanting to do that kind of thing).

[billy Horrorshow]

This is a pretty cool idea, all in all.

Is "anybody" doing it for the publicity?

The only reason I ask is since I saw this I so figured Horrorshow would secretly love to get a gig like this...he's nowhere near powerful enough to pull a solo defender act. Of course, his reasons are completely different from most of what's said above.

Just my 2 cents: Too new to get involved yet but still wondering if there was a moral requirment for being interested IC.

[Interceptor]

Everyone has their reasons for getting into this Horrorshow, fame is just as valid, and for this situation even more realistic I'd say. There could be a place for you on the team, it's mainly a collective story building exercise after all. A glory seeking Nova would fit right in on such a team.

[Interceptor]

BTW sorry for the delay I was sick over the weekend and busy over all (my brother had a baby boy).

We can add April to the list also.

Let's start getting some specifics down. Do we agree with the perks? From there do we agree with the logical game Backgrounds? From there we need to decide on the amount I'd say. I think the deal should basically award us a number of Background points, in return for the service we provide for the greater Chicagoland and Midwest area. Individual contracts will vary, so everyone can make the kind of deal they'd like. For example, Alchemist might want less money, but more research grants. Interceptor would likely concentrate on Backing and Influence. Everyone would get perhaps 3 dots in Domicile I'd say, to represent the Headquarters, we'd need to spend most of our time in the same building as it is a reality show. I'd say we'd get a bonus of 5 Background points to divide among the proposed Background Perks, as well as 3 in Domicile. The Novas that are less combat oriented would reflect that in their choice, probably taking more in Devices maybe.

And we still need to decide on a name, though I think we were narrowing that down. Also, there's still the meeting going on at the Chicago office, feel free to post there or enter into it.

[kestrel404]

The backgrounds you've proposed are fine, since we're all signing a contract. Since the contracts are individually negotiated, I'd say we each can manage what backgrounds we get (everyone here seems reasonable).

I'm curious when we're going to start. It shouldn't take much longer for the legal details to be worked out. Contracts similar to city-defenders, but media and corporate tie-ins, so nothing truly outrageous to set up.

We just need a base of operations, an N! crew, and some direction, and we're set, right?

[Interceptor]

Yep, those things I'd like to do in story, the meeting with the city planners, interviews, a gala event, the filming of the first show as we see the HQ for the first time. The first complications (I'm thinking team uniforms for everyone, and not everyone liking what's offered), or training from Baseline agencies, such as police and paramedics, or of course the first rescue. So if we can agree on just a few things here, maybe wrap up a few posts in the meeting at Interceptor's office, we could start the story involving the contract signing and go from there.

[kestrel404]

Well one complication with uniforms: Eufiber is allergic to Alchemist. He's fine wearing it, but it dies off after a few hours of being implanted. Also, he doesn't care for uniforms in general. He will be very hard to get into a uniform of any kind.

[Alex Craft]

Come to think of it, April can't bond with eufiber, either.

[billy Horrorshow]

sounds like something that'll be interesting in-character when it comes up somehow...

[Interceptor]

Geez, and I was thinking people wouldn't like the designs...

[Alex Craft]

Better yet, April doesn't know that she can't bond to eufiber. ( ;

[Access]

Bandwidth is in for sure. He won't have any complications with Eufiber, as he already has a colony of it. He'll probably want to keep his normal look though, you might be able to talk him into ditching the video game memorabilia look for a shoulder logo while he's on duty though. He'd be more geared towards the R&D as well. He's very interested in gadgeteering and producing some things that might augment his or the teams abilities a little bit.

[Interceptor]

OK, sorry for the delay. So everyone that's interested, write down your role in the team as you see it, what you would do and not do, and then the rewards (in the suggetsed Backgrounds) that you think you should receive. From there we'll start writing up the story with us signing up for this, OK?