Aberrant: War Journal - War Journal Expansion Teams

[Asbjørn]

I now submit this to you guys...what do you think I should play in this game. I have 2 choises at this point ... Opinions?

Completely honest? I don't like Damien. I think he's bad for team dynamics. So go with the other option, is my advice.

Bahamut - Damien, pessemestic brick or Daredevil, Jack of all Trades (Undecided)

Alex Green - (?), Stealthy Healer

Nullifier - (?), Warping Telepath (Undecided)

I've got an interesting character idea. Definitely on the brickish side. He's fun in my head.

Apart from being from an alternative earth and thus having a certain level of area knowledge of that particular reality, I think my guy could best be described as a low-level scout/combat guy. He's got some good skills and a few powers, but the theme is a fighter type. Not socially strong, so definitley not a leader. Most of the points so far went into Quantum and Temporal Manipulation...

[Prince of Boredom]

First, I'm in if there are any character slots left. Not sure exactly what kind of character yet.

Heritage, is the non-nova world a cyberpunk-esque world, and if so could I/we do some tweaking to make a cybernetic-type character from that world?

If that's not an option, I'm thinking a character with the 'plot-device' power pretercognition with the aberration 'uncontrollable power'. Other than that, undecided.

Second, the Prof has tweaked the philosphy major in me, reference his mention of limited possible worlds:

As for the infinite worlds theory, that's actually pretty easy to argue out of existence by some simple philisophical word-play:

If there are in infinite number of worlds, then there is a world out there where both my every wish comes true, & which can detect my wishes across the gulf of the multi-dimensional universe. I'm wishing really hard for a ham sandwich to appear on my desk. It hasn't happened. Therefore that one dimension has been proved to not exist. If one theoretically possible dimension doesn't exist, then the possibilities can't be infinite.

So - we know that there are limits on the number of theoretically possible dimensions out there: it's just up to the ST to determine what those limits are.

The major flaw in this argument is that you don't differentiate between simple impossibility and 'logical impossibility'. In most philosophical thinking, logical impossibility can not be used to deny infinite qualities.

For example:

In Judeo-Christian, God is described as having the quality of Omnipotence (all-powerful). Anyone who has ever studied theology or epistemology has probably heard the counter argument, "can God make a square circle?" At first this seems to create a quandry because if the apologetic (defined by the Prof in another thread) answers yes, they now have no define exactly what a "square circle" is, whereas if they say no, they apparently limit God's omnipotence.

However, when one applies the concept of logical impossibilty to the problem, it can be solved. A square circle is a logical impossiblity. Why? Because a square is a "four-sided polygon, with all angles at 90 degrees, and all sides equal" (or something like that), whereas a circle is "a closed plane curve every point of which is equidistant from a fixed point within the curve". Now, it is logically impossible for God to create a square circle because by definition you can't have an object with four 90 degree angles, and an object with no angles (only curves). Now, does that limit God's omnipotence, no. It simply bounds the definition of what omnipotence to is something of the form, "able to perfrom any task that is logically possible." The fact of the matter is that there are very few things which are logically impossible.

How does this apply to the Prof's argument? Simple, it is logically impossiple for world X to override the 'rules' of world Y. Is there a world out there where all of his wishes come true? Sure. Is there a world where "it can detect my wishes across the gulf of the multi-dimensional universe"? Sure. And can that world make wishes come true in his 'current' world? Only if that world allows it.

While physical (scientific) rules are different between various worlds, the rules of logic necessarily must carry through all worlds.

For those interested in this, do a google search on 'possible world semantics'

[ProfPotts]

We badly need a Warper. But we also need someone to mix with the baselines.

I'm not so sure. I mean yeah - Warp is a lovely power in a tactical sense, but good tactics don't always lead to good stories. Like various super-senses, Telepathy, & the like, Warp is one of those powers which, by its very nature, limits the scope & variety of stories which a ST can present the group with.

In equal measure, the Warp power can be essential for skipping the 'boring' bits & getting to the 'meat' of an adventure if the ST doesn't like bothering with the 'how they get there' bit, or the possibility of the group being cut-off from retreat or reinforcement.

So, I wouldn't say that a Warper is 'badly needed' until we had a chance to hear Heritage's opinions on the subject.

While physical (scientific) rules are different between various worlds, the rules of logic necessarily must carry through all worlds.

Of course you're not applying your logic there to the rules of the Aberrant universe as presented in the books - in Aberrant it's fully possible for the 'multi-dimensional sandwich genii' to be real. Heck - I could whip you up some stats if you really wanted. But - it isn't real, even in the context of the game world - ergo my argument stands ::wink . In any case, I was illustrating a point ::rolleyes .

I should probably expand that a bit. Mostly he has a "Life Manipulator" flavor to his powers. Healing, Animal Mastery, Weather Control, that sort of thing.

Cool - I was thinking about something along those lines myself. Of course, I have no idea how Heritage is doing for player slots in this thing, but I'm working on a 'Green Lantern' type of character now.

[Bahamut810]

Well...im using daredevil for this, so you guys know.

[Damanor]

But we also need someone to mix with the baselines.

If Heritage has space for me, I'll play a shapeshifter Scout - mainly short-term undercover/infiltration, decent in social situations (not a leader, though), and still good in combat.

Question is, are there any open slots?

People who expressed interest and have mentioned a character concept:

Alex Green: Life Manipulator

Nullifier: Warping Telepath

Phoenix: Brick

Bahamut: Daredevil, Jack of All Trades

Ashbjorn: Low Level Scout/Combat

ProfPotts: "Green Lantern"-type character

People who expressed interest but (until now) haven't talked about any kind of character concept:

Damanor

Prince of Boredom

So I guess it comes down to this: Heritage, are you going to hold it to six slots (I think that's what you said in the other thread), or are you willing to let me and/or PoB in? If it's the latter, great; if not, fair enough, I'll find a place for my metamorph next time a game opens up. ::sad ::thumbsup

[Bahamut810]

We dont have to worry about someone to mix with the baselines. Daredevil is a very baseline nova. He should be able to get into even the low/no Q settings without a really negative effect (like not having access to any of his powers). Most of his points went into Attributes and abilities.

[ProfPotts]

Okay - power-wise I know where I'm going with this character, but I'm still uncertain about a lot of the actual world which War Journal is set in.

So far we've seen what life in the Greens is like, but what's the outside world like? I mean - are there still cities left? Is there a national government? What do people actually do? - is everyone involved in 'the war effort' (e.g. like in the two World Wars), or does most (or even a portion) of the population get to ignore the fact there's a war on, apart from media reports (e.g. like with the two Gulf Wars)?

Re-reading the background stuff on the Greens it seems like they spend a lot of their time hiding - 'cos they're seriously outnumbered. Do they actually have any set objectives (like take control of area of land 'X' or something), or are they just trying to survive?

What would the life of, for example, an average American be like in the War Journal world? The usual nine-to-five at work, just with more soldiers on the street? Or does everyone live in fallout shelters, shanty towns, or nuclear bunkers?

What's the technology level like? The same as the normal Aberrant setting? More advanced? Less advanced? I'm not really thinking about war-related stuff, more about everyday life - does everyone in the big city go to work in a flying car, or has fuel rationing forced most people to walk everywhere again?

The thing is, with Rex, I managed to avoid most of these questions by making the guy a career military Green from birth. I'd rather do something a little different with this new character, so an over-view of the world's socio-economic situation would be a help.

Cheers! ::thumbsup

[phoenix]

Yeah, Heritage, I would like to join this game if you want another character. I take back the brick thing though - I'll wait for your ok to send more character info. Also ditto to what Prof said.

[Heritage]

I want to apologize for my absence from this thread and EON in general recently. Having some access problems - I now have a wireless modem on my own PC (yay! ::biggrin) but due to my computer's age, it freezes like crazy from info overload (boo! ::angry). I've also worked pretty much every day since I started my second job, sometimes working two shifts a day between Blockbuster and Sportmart, and I've been too tired to even think ::sleeping

My connection issues seem to be at least partly resolved, but time is still an extremely precious commodity, at least until the holidays are over (two jobs in retail + Christmas season = near-terminal exhaustion ::crazy). I have some time off on Sunday, so I plan on answering lots of questions in this thread at that time, since I can barely keep my eyes open now. Many excellent points have been made and issues brought up, and I plan on addressing them all in the next few days. Just bear with me, and we should have this thing up and running in a week or two.

I hope everyone is a having a relatively sane holiday season. Peace on Earth, and good will to all!

[Alex Green]

::biggrin Get some sleep Heritage. ::biggrin

[phoenix]

Get some sleep Heritage.

You heard the man.. Glad to hear from you though.

[Bahamut810]

You heard the man.. Glad to hear from you though.

Ditto.

[Grizzly]

Still alive and kicking...! ::biggrin

[Bahamut810]

So. To recap this is what we have so far...

Bahamut810 - Nicholas "Nick" Engall (Aka Daredevil), Jack of all Trades

Alex Green - Paul 'Doc' Smith, Force of Nature

Nullifier - (?), Warping Telepath (Unconfirmed)

Prof. Potts - (?), Green Lantern (Unconfirmed)

Phoenix - (?), (?)

Absjorn - (?), Scout/light combat

Backups:

Damanor

Prince of Boredom

As long as the Warping guy, the Life Manipulator and the Green Lantern guy are low in the taint dept...we have a pretty stealth-nova type bunch.

A few things that we can get out while H is recouping from work and holidays (I know from experience, Holidays in retail SUXXORS!!).

1. Lets confirm our consepts and names. I went ahead and updated the list with all current info. I will keep the list updated as we finish some of this.

2. Team Leader. There has been comment as to who the team leader is, but no real desscussion on it. I dont know about everyone else, but Nick (aka Daredevil) has very high scores in all his mega-socs, and almost as impressive dice in all their skills as well. Dots do not a leader make...but its something to consider.

3. Tactics. Are we going to have a common tactic when we get to a new dimention? Do we go in guns blazing? Do we skulk around trying not to be noticed for a few minutes then kidnap a local? Some discussion on this will help later.

4. Equipment. We already are limited to what we can take, but do we want to modify that across the board because of out 'different' mission objective?

That should be enough for now as to what we need. Im sure more will come up later, but this is a good starting point.

[Asbjørn]

As long as the Warping guy, the Life Manipulator and the Green Lantern guy are low in the taint dept...we have a pretty stealth-nova type bunch.

I never said my character was low on taint... ::halo

1.  Lets confirm our consepts and names.  I went ahead and updated the list with all current info.  I will keep the list updated as we finish some of this.

A bit hard to confirm any of these concepts until Heritage is back among the living, don't you think? But in my case the description is valid, I guess. Goes by the name of Hood. At least in my head so far.

2.  Team Leader.  There has been comment as to who the team leader is, but no real desscussion on it.  I dont know about everyone else, but Nick (aka Daredevil) has very high scores in all his mega-socs, and almost as impressive dice in all their skills as well.  Dots do not a leader make...but its something to consider.

Do we need a leader? Is this a rank-based, military type operation? Do we know or have any foundation for guesswork here? My reply is: No. We wait for Heritage.

By the way... "high scores" in "all his megasocials"? ::sly And you still managed to buy a shitload of skills and not end up as Mr Taint? Somehow I don't believe that... ::tongue

3.  Tactics.  Are we going to have a common tactic when we get to a new dimention?  Do we go in guns blazing?  Do we skulk around trying not to be noticed for a few minutes then kidnap a local?  Some discussion on this will help later.

We don't even know what the mission is. I'm looking forward to this story as much as the next guy, Bahamut, but I think we just need to be patient here. No point in discussing tactics or leadership until we know how the operations go. From there it should be a natural effect of our various character choices who ends up in charge and how we do things.

4. Equipment.  We already are limited to what we can take, but do we want to modify that across the board because of out 'different' mission objective?

This one I simply didn't understand, but again: I have every confidence that the lord Heritage will provide once He again is among us.

[Alex Green]

Name: Paul 'Doc' Smith

No Aberrations just yet but he does have taint.

Paul is big on indirect confrontations. He would much rather have enemies face very hostile weather conditions and equally hostile insects/animals until they lose. He can also keep these various effects going for a very long time by absorbing life energy from other novas. The same trick lets him heal quite large groups of people.

Tactics: Considering we don't want to fight an entire dimension, and also considering the locals will know a lot more about the area than we will, I suggest we try to either blend in the with locals or open up trade with them. The real question is whether or not we want to let them know we are from another dimention.

Options: Without knowing more about what everyone can do it's tough to form plans, but here are two plans at the opposite ends of the "Stealth" spectrum.

1) A faith healing / "Miracle" type show wouldn't let us blend in, but it might get us some friends.

2) Hide out in the woods and use animal agents and telepathy to find out what is going on.

[Alex Green]

By the way... "high scores" in "all his megasocials"? ::sly  And you still managed to buy a shitload of skills and not end up as Mr Taint? Somehow I don't believe that...  ::tongue

For this type of game even a mega-social-stat of 1 seems pretty high. ::biggrin

Even more so if it's a world without novas. ::devilangel

[Bahamut810]

I never said my character was low on taint...

...

A bit hard to confirm any of these concepts until Heritage is back among the living, don't you think

I was thinking we can at least confirm what we are trying for here...what we are planning on, what we are planning on being able to do. That way we can know what our group dynamics will be like, who will need to do what and so forth.

Do we need a leader? Is this a rank-based, military type operation? Do we know or have any foundation for guesswork here? My reply is: No. We wait for Heritage.

By the way... "high scores" in "all his megasocials"?  And you still managed to buy a shitload of skills and not end up as Mr Taint? Somehow I don't believe that...

In a military based operation there will (or should) always be a leader, even if they are all same rank. From what I can tell (from everything we have seen so far) X-4 (i.e. the War Journal game) is experimental in that it didn't initially have a leader, and now we have Capt. D. From what we are told we are going to be an exploritory force, possibly deviating into super-heroics. Seemed pretty straitforward to me anyway... ::unsure

And that last part is a mistype...I ment high scores in all his socials, not mega-socials. Sorry! ::wacko

We don't even know what the mission is. I'm looking forward to this story as much as the next guy, Bahamut, but I think we just need to be patient here. No point in discussing tactics or leadership until we know how the operations go. From there it should be a natural effect of our various character choices who ends up in charge and how we do things.

Like I said before...it was stated earlier what our mission is. When I say tactics, I mean what do we do when we get to our gate, the SO points at it and says 'Do your thing'. What do we do? Of course each mission is going to be different, but we are there to explore and to find things out. This may also help H better know what we are good at based on us answering that according to our characters.

This one I simply didn't understand, but again: I have every confidence that the lord Heritage will provide once He again is among us.

This was supposed to be...what is standard. Each character is supposed to be packin' something. H gave all us WJ people a list of what we start with based on what branch we are with. Will we modify that? I mean...do we need to take along 3 extra pairs of socks when the general populas of where we are going may not have socks? We want to take a shotgun when the populas may be forbidden from carrying firearms?

Considering that all scouts/RA/Cobras are issued the same things...some of the stuff should be left behind...We dont want to look like invading soldiers after all... ::sly . And as before, if nothing else it might help H out to get some imput on this sorta thing.

[Bahamut810]

For this type of game even a mega-social-stat of 1 seems pretty high. ::biggrin

Even more so if it's a world without novas. ::devilangel

Im working on it. I am going to have m-att 1 in them all eventually. Im almost half there!

[phoenix]

Uh, I'm thinking a Mega-Intelligent, Mega-Perceptive telepath, possibly with a transportation power like Warp or Teleport; the concept I have in mind is a little wonky and I want to be sure it's ok with Heritage first. But it should be a pretty low-taint character, and in honor of Heritage it'll even be a chick. ::smokin ::wub

[Nullifier]

Um. Hey! Read the thread, that's what I was going to play!

[Heritage]

Wow, so much to respond to! Let's see how much I can get to tonight!

Okay - power-wise I know where I'm going with this character, but I'm still uncertain about a lot of the actual world which War Journal is set in.

So far we've seen what life in the Greens is like, but what's the outside world like? I mean - are there still cities left? Is there a national government? What do people actually do? - is everyone involved in 'the war effort' (e.g. like in the two World Wars), or does most (or even a portion) of the population get to ignore the fact there's a war on, apart from media reports (e.g. like with the two Gulf Wars)?

Here's a bit that might have been forgotten by all buried in the Fiction Database, which probably offers the only clues to the 'rest of the world' I've put up here:

Forms of Identification

Resident's Card - These replace driver's license and state IDs. They are color-coded to the appropriate Emergency Management District (EMD), and list name, address, blood type, physical data (height, weight, hair and eye color) and a scanable DNA strip that looks something like bar code. Random blood tests are often done to ferret out novas in their various guises. If the bearer is a licensed driver, all appropriate info will also be present.

Inter-District Transit Permit (IDT card or 'travel permit') - Anyone who wishes to travel outside his or her own District needs to apply for one of these photo IDs. They are very hard to obtain, unless you are a corporate bigwig or work for the government. A computer chip, hologram and various other design features make them very difficult to forge, though it can be done.

Work Permit - If you are not working for the government or carrying military ID, you need to carry your work permit with you at all times. This is a simple plastic card with a magnetic strip that stores the bearer's name and current address, employer's name and address, and verifies that you are a current employee in good standing. Police rarely ask to see these, but not carrying one is a misdemeanor.

Selective Service Registration Card (Draft Card) - All able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 35 not currently in military service need to carry this cheap plastic card at all times; draft dodging is a federal offense, and will get you put away for a long time.

Fuel Card - If you own a vehicle, this is the only way to recharge your fuel cell or buy a new one. Remember that it is illegal to own or operate an internal combustion or MHD powered vehicle, as gasoline is for government and military vehicles only. Credits can be put on fuel cards either by an employer or EMD officer, usually transferred from a wage card. Lost or stolen fuel cards must be immediately reported to the nearest EMD office. Fuel cards must bear the local EMD sticker.

Ration Card - The only legal way to purchase food, though barter is used secretly in urban areas and openly in rural areas. Cards are cheap plastic with a magnetic strip, and color-coded for each month, and arrive either by mail or can be picked up at the local EMD office. Ration cards can only be used at businesses displaying the distinctive red, white and blue US Market logo - food availability can very greatly, as can price, quality and packaging. Items like krill cakes and small, self-heating dinners are delivered by the truckload, but sugar, salt, coffee and chocolate are always in demand. Ration cards must bear the local EMD sticker.

Wage Card - All legitimate employers put earned wages on to these durable plastic cards, which contain small microchips for storing financial and transaction data. Wage cards are used to buy all non-perishable goods and services. Records are kept in case of lost or stolen cards - the local EMD office should be able to replace any lost or stolen wage card in about an hour after verifying hours worked and hourly wage with the IRS database. Stolen cards must be immediately reported to the nearest EMD office, so that the perpetrator(s) can be brought to swift justice. Wage cards must bear the local EMD sticker.

Military Identification Card (MID) - A military ID opens almost all doors; these durable plastic photo IDs contain complex circuitry chock full of the bearer's physical and personal data (including DNA records), military record and current posting. They also act as an all-around payment card, useable at a base PX, fuel station, US Market or retail center, with all funds drawn off the bearer's military pay account. There is also an imbedded tracking device that can be activated through any military or police card scanner, or remotely by a special device as long as the card is within three meters. They are almost impossible to forge, though a skilled technician can modify a stolen one.

- - - -

When an EMD officer asks to 'see some ID', he mostly wants to see your resident's card and (if you're male) draft card, and sometimes a work permit if he's a real stickler. Only if one of these seems suspicious will other cards be examined. Anyone attempting to cross District lines will have to show a travel permit; all roads that cross between Districts have checkpoints, as do all airports, train stations and bus terminals. Travel on US Interstate Highways is illegal; the interstates are reserved for military or government traffic. Any commercial vehicles transporting goods on an interstate must have a military escort to guard against Aberrant or extremist attacks, and to make sure the vehicle doesn't enter any restricted or secured areas. The driver must also bear a stamped work order for the delivery, with clearly marked pick-up and delivery addresses, appropriate work permit and IDT card if crossing District lines.

Anyone found farther that fifty miles away from their place of residence without the appropriate work permit will be questioned - a reasonable answer without visible signs of nervousness will probably get you left alone. If you must bribe, contraband A/V chips with Nova Content are the best way to go, but be very careful - a pissed-off EMD now has probable cause!

What would the life of, for example, an average American be like in the War Journal world? The usual nine-to-five at work, just with more soldiers on the street? Or does everyone live in fallout shelters, shanty towns, or nuclear bunkers?

Most of the downtown areas of major cities, at least in the US, are taint-ridden battlegrounds fought over by Aberrants and the US military forces - they are cordoned off and off-limits to civilians. The urban populations have been resettled in an ever-expanding ring of camps several miles away from the worst fighting. The camps are heavily patrolled by EMD officers, basically military police, as normal police forces no longer exist.

The resettlement camps do have chain-link and barbed wire fences put up around them for security, but the gates are only closed and locked at night or if there is an 'Orange Alert' (suspected Aberrants operating in the area). Most camps have a strong sense of community spirit, and many people put a lot of effort in making them more habitable - planting gardens, setting up book clubs, etc. Citizens are also allowed to own and operate small businesses within the camps, following the limits laid out by rationing and work restrictions.

Smaller cities (such as nearby Yakima, City of Intrigue ™ ) have suffered less, but still have an increased military presence, and are becoming more and more important in local politics. As in the camps, the EMD are present to enforce martial law, keep the peace, and watch for Aberrants, suspected Aberrants or Aberrant sympathizers. The local EMD office is a mini-fortress, usually a converted police station surrounded by concrete barricades and barbed wire, with watch towers erected on the roof.

What's the technology level like? The same as the normal Aberrant setting? More advanced? Less advanced? I'm not really thinking about war-related stuff, more about everyday life - does everyone in the big city go to work in a flying car, or has fuel rationing forced most people to walk everywhere again?

The OpNet still exists, albeit in heavily censored form in the States, and is the primary form of entertainment and source of news for most Americans. The age-old complaint of there 'never being anything good on' is more true than ever, unless you like wildly-inaccurate news reporting, banal propagandistic films and specials about 'why we fight the Aberrant scum', or movies and TV shows that pre-date the arrival of 'novas'. And while we in 2004 might not have a problem watching vids from before 1998, try explaining the world of 'Seinfeld' to a frightened family living in a camp outside the irradiated ruins of Los Angeles. 'Pre-Nova Content' is seen by most young Americans as being hopelessly outdated, so much so that 'PNC' is popular slang for 'lame, useless or boring'.

Most of the really high-end tech is commandeered by the military or government sponsored research and medical facilities - one of the few good things to come out of martial law is free medical care to all US citizens, at least once the military's needs are met. Medications are frequently in short supply, and the waiting list for certain procedures can be so long that the patient might not live long enough to receive treatment.

All civilian vehicles are relatively slow-moving, lightweight fuel cell cars, each with built-in tracking and automated override technology that can be accessed via satellite. The system of 'navigation points' imbedded in the US roadways, though heavily damaged by the War, is still largely operational, and allows the civilian driver to ride 'hands free' after entering a destination into the car's navcomp - this same system allows those in power to take you and your vehicle anywhere they please, and is one of the main reasons the Greens only use very old gas-burning vehicles converted to alcohol fuel for their operations.

Military and government vehicles typically run on magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) power for smaller vehicles (including those flying police cars) or small fusion reactors for the massive tanks, automated cross-country transport rigs (think computer controlled tractor trucks hauling eight freight trailers each) and other heavy machinery.

Re-reading the background stuff on the Greens it seems like they spend a lot of their time hiding - 'cos they're seriously outnumbered. Do they actually have any set objectives (like take control of area of land 'X' or something), or are they just trying to survive?

Here's a little insight into what's going on in Happyland, home to the Greens' Inner Circle - this stuff is highly-confidential, not the type of stuff the gang at X-4 is privy to, and the reason that all Trans-D personnel must have at least a rank of Captain:

A few years ago, General Chimera realized that the baselines would most likely win the War - they have greater numbers, access to more technology, and a lot more to lose. Once she came to accept this fact, she thought for a bit on what she could do to save as many of her people as possible; she decided to implement a number of different programs in the hope that at least one of them would bear fruit.

1. The Warplift program. Among the many aims of aiding communities in need on the edge of the Blight was establishing friendly relations with baselines who might one day aid the Greens. Other than a few eager recruits from blight-towns, this plan has been largely unsuccessful, and has drained the Greens' resources considerably.

2. A space program. Lack of materials has greatly hampered this endeavor, with prototype space vehicles been stripped of needed parts by hard-pressed Engineers. However, friendly but sporadic contact has been maintained with elements of the Space Brigade on Luna, and with the help of warpers, fully operational space vehicles might not even be necessary.

3. Project Sidestep, aka the 'Trans-D Group'. Though fraught with its own problems, this program has yielded the most positive results to date, much to many naysayers surprise. I'll go into a bit more detail about Sidestep later this week, hopefully tomorrow.

What all this means is that the Greens are basically fighting a defensive war until they have a solid exit strategy to get their people the hell off of Earth. The Trans-D teams were inactive for 18 months after problems developed at their last base (*cough* Warpstation Charlie *cough*), but now they're up and running deep under Warpstation Bravo, once again ready to explore the 'Known Worlds'.

Whew, I'm beat! Hope this helps folks - look forward to more background for Trans-D, confirmation on PC submissions, and another post in WJ 'Classic'.

Cheers, all! ::chillbeer

[Heritage]

Another crazy idea has recently come to me. I was flirting for a while with the idea of bringing Project Pandora into WJ in some way shape or form; I saw PD as the Aeon Society's attempt to use paramorphs to get all the dangerous insanity 'back into the box', so to speak, but I decided things were complicated enough in the campaign, and decided to put PD into cold storage.

But how's this for a fun twist - the Greens upper echelons have known about Pandora for some time. Pandora secretly tracks down high-taint novas and 'treats' them, usually through therapy and medications, but sometimes performing drastic and largely unsuccessful lobotomies in the worst case scenarios. On the one hand, doing this to novas is seen as barbaric, but on the other hand, Pandora has taken out some mutant crazies that have threatened the Greens and their people.

Pandora is independent of the US government (it actually operates out of a facility in northern Ontario, Canada), but it has helped the US in the past while secretly despising it's current agenda, which some American muckity-mucks probably suspect. However, Pandora has the most complete knowledge of taint (their files go all the way back to Bahrain, after all) of any organization in the world, and the US can't afford to lose their expertise.

When Project Sidestep actually worked, General Chimera realized this was too big for just the Greens - humanity had a right to know, but whom else could they tell about it? Over the course of a series of secret meetings, the true nature of Sidestep was finally revealed to the amazed Pandorans (or 'Pandas', as the Greens call them ::tongue); in exchange for agreeing to keep all knowledge of Sidestep hidden from the US, Pandora requested that one of their paramorphs be included in a team.

So you get a token paramorph in a group of Greens; no one trusts anyone, but maybe they can work together? Such a paramorph would have Trinity-based powers (as described in the APG) but otherwise use Aberrant-style stats for attributes and skills.

So, any takers? ::sly

[Asbjørn]

Mission:

We know that Project Sidestep is the Greens' best hope for survival. The whole organization is fighting a losing war while waiting for us to do our job, so we're going to be under a lot of pressure. This pressure may or may not be actively felt in the game, but should be a big motivation factor for our characters.

The whole Project's mission is to find an alternative world suitable for resettlement. What I don't think is obvious is the player group's job. Are we scouts/explorers/spies? Are we the First Contact Team, sent in to deal with the natives? Are we the Search and Rescue Team? I think the First Contact Team offers the most opportunities for gameplay and challenges, and makes the group more self-reliant. So I hope that's what Heritage has in mind, but we don't know that.

If it is, we need to keep a few things in mind:

• Don't scare the natives

  - All characters have to seem friendly (or stay hidden). That means: no psychos, no permanent hideous bodymorphs or alternative forms, no extremely unnerving permanent aberrations, and so on. I'm not going to say 'no taint or aberrations', cause then I'd have to rewrite my whole character... ::halo

  - Mega-socials are a good bonus, of course, but shouldn't be our only asset when dealing with potential allies.

• Versatility

  - We're not very many. If we're an all-nova team chances are we're most of - if not all - the nova operatives Sidestep has. We have to make sure we can handle different types of challenges, both to survive and ensure goodwill from the natives.

• The authority to make decisions

  - Heritage already said we need a minimum rank of Captain to be a part of this. We need to keep in mind that when we're in the field we're on our own. We won't be able to contact the general, and have to be able and willing to make life-or-death-decisions that affect both our group and the Worlds in general. If we mess up, we mess up big time. This means no internal bickering, of course. The guy or girl in charge must be in charge.

Leadership:

Ok, so we're a military unit. That means whoever spends the most points on rank is in charge. Bahamut said 'dots do not a leader make', but I disagree. Dots in the right places are excatly what makes a character fit for leadership. The rest is just roleplaying, and that's why we're all here, isn't it? In my opinion, anyone who assumes the role of a leader takes on a certain responsibility for the mission and the story. Personally, I caused a lot of delays in Dreams of Dragons (may it rest in peace) because I wasn't prepared for being the commanding officer. In a military system, all in-game decisions have to be approved by the leader or whoever he or she has delegated that responsibility to, so anyone who takes that job is as much obligated to keeping the story moving and keeping the other characters active as the ST.

So, my question is: Who wants to be in charge? Who wants to be second in command? Remember that these positions don't necessarily have anything to do with how charismatic your character is.

My part:

Name: Hood

Tainted, with aberrations (Normally concealed, but obvious during power use)

Hood's a refugee from the world Sidestep has labeled 'Utopia'. He was part of a mixed nova/baseline band of outlaws that was seriously opposed to the Utopian World Order, and worked as a scout before his eruption. He was probably brought back to Dullsville and the Project by one or more of the others on the team, and joined up. My idea is that he's something of a provisionary member, not being a native and all, but that hasn't been OK'ed yet. Can't see him in a leader position anyway, though.

He's a close combat specialist - stronger, faster and tougher than any baseline, but not exactly the guy to send out in nova-level combat - and he's got a talent for manipulating time.

[Prince of Boredom]

Well, I have actually have two very different character concepts, as well as interest in playing the paramorph... but I'll wait till Heritage makes his decision about who is in before I start submitting characters.

[Bahamut810]

Bahamut810 - Nicholas "Nick" Engall (Aka Daredevil), Jack of all Trades

Alex Green - Paul 'Doc' Smith, Force of Nature

Nullifier - (?), Warping Telepath

Prof. Potts - (?), Green Lantern (Unconfirmed)

Phoenix - (?), (?)

Absjorn - Hood, Scout/light combat

Re: Dont scare the natives

So far I think we have a good mix for not scaring the natives. We are (At the moment) reletivley low taint, no major aberrations. As long as we wear the same socks as everyone else we should be fine ::sly

Re: Versatility

We are good for that at the moment. Nick (aka daredevil) will has all skills (except one) at at least 3 dots and we have a force of nature confirmed. All we need are powers to fill it out. Null will fill that warping telepath quite nicley in there. If prof is making the green latern then we will be in good graces (even I can think of a million ways to use his powers, just think of what prof can think of ::crazy )

Re: Leadership

When I said that I meant more "the guy with 5 chr, 5 command dots, but is a hot head who likes to kill things' type deal. But thats not here nor there. Right now Im not sure who would make the best leader becuase we dont have all the characters in. Nick might be a canadate. He is the most human, he does have high stats in all the right places, and if you want to go by the 'when your on' im always here (even when im at work). The Profs char might be good for it if he is anything like the actual green lantern in the comics or cartoons. I agree that an out-of-towner wouldent be team lead, and neither would a paramorph.

Opinions?

[Asbjørn]

Sorry, mac. In a military setup it's not the character most suited for command that gets the job. It's the character whose player ponied up the most for rank. It's his responsibility and his ass on the line. He should of course have high leadership skills and an IQ of more than 85, but that's not the bottom line. The bottom line is who of us players wants to be in charge?

If you're saying you want the job, that's fine by me. Whether Nick is the best man for the job or not is irrelevant...

It really doesn't matter much who's online the most either. The important thing - I think - is that you have to take a certain responsibility for the story. Making good use of the characters, don't block anyone's gaming possibilities and so on.

[Bahamut810]

In a military setup it's not the character most suited for command that gets the job.

Yes...I know thats idealised. I would assume that as personal as the greens are the person most suited to lead would be the leader, not the guy with the college degree. Especially since there dosent seem to be an officer 'class' there is only different branches with equivelent ranks.

the character whose player ponied up the most for rank.

We cant buy rank (unless thats changed), and we are all at Capt level.

The bottom line is who of us players wants to be in charge?

If you're saying you want the job, that's fine by me. Whether Nick is the best man for the job or not is irrelevant...

I wouldent mind being in charge. If someone else thinks they would be better suited, then we can see who would be best. What matters is that someone is in charge to make sure things go smoothly. *Someone* needs a final say as to what is going to happen. Wether its Nick, Paul or Hood (for example) is what we need to decide. This is one thing that we do need to wait on everyone for. While No one right now has any M-soc stats, someone may bring William (from Consignant Chimera) in, who would be very suited to lead and deal with people.

As for the being online part. That was just in response to your saying that a leader needs to be there.

Mabey its time to bring in the Nova Files?

[Heritage]

A couple of points here:

1. Having at least one dot in Dormancy is in fact a requirement of nova Scouts, as described in their original write-up, and it is not a freebie.

2. I made reference to the Canadian rebels in my mini-write-up on Pandora above, when in fact the North American Police Action has yet to take place, though it is in fact right around the corner ::unsure The post has been edited appropriately, including putting Pandora's base farther away from Toronto, mostly just for flavor ::tongue

3. It might be easier to use the Aberrant-based chargen rules for paramorphs out of the APG instead of the Trinity ones - I'll discuss it with anyone interested in playing such a dude or dudette.

4. Just as a flavor thing, I see Pandora being treated kind of like the Vulcans in early episodes of Star Trek: Enterptrise - they have their uses, but never fully trust them, and it's probabaly a two way street.

5. And why did I put them in Canada, you ask? To put them outside of the US but still within the threat zone, and as a tribute to Alpha Flight - go Puck! ::laugh ::thumbsup

6. Ranks are assigned in WJ, so if we want to have a leader-type, which is probably a good idea, I will give the appropriate PC the rank of Major, which would most likely have just been earned.

7. And finally, don't forget that most American willingly gave up their freedoms in exchange for a sense of security and the illusion of normality - hmm, sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? ::sly Of course not all Americans are happy about this, but they have different camps for them ::nervous

edit: Minor edit to clarify the rank thing. ::wink

[Bahamut810]

Dernet...I have to modify my guy slightly...

[Heritage]

A word on PC submissions to date

Okay, as I recall, these are the 'hard' submissions, as in I have sheets on these people:

Bahamut810 - Nicholas "Nick" Engall (Aka Daredevil), Jack of all Trades

Alex Green - Paul 'Doc' Smith, Force of Nature

Absjorn - Hood, Scout/light combat

These are the 'soft' submissions, just discussed here in the thread:

Nullifier - (?), Warping Telepath

Prof. Potts - (?), 'Green Lantern' (Unconfirmed)

Phoenix - (?), (various)

Damanor - (?) some kind of Scout

Prince of Boredom - (?), (?)

ConcreteDragon - (?), (?)

I also said from the get-go that available slots would go to New Guardian orphans first, which means ConcreteDragon and Prince of Boredom get still get first dibs on slots, but I need to get the PMs, people! ::biggrin

There is also another orphan player, my buddy Hugh who got screwed out of the tabletop version of WJ when I ended that, and I offered him a slot as well. He played in my old proto-NG Trinity game in the Yahoo Groups, and he's got a Scout he might want to bring in.

Now I know what you're all saying - "Heritage, can you count? You said six slots, ya idjit!" Yeah, I know what I said, so back off, ya lousy bums! ::angry ::wink

As of right now, we're officially going to eight slots, m'kay? Final selections will be made by the end of the week ::thumbsup

[Asbjørn]

A few questions on backgrounds that you WJ veterans might be able to answer:

• What's 'Command'?
• What's 'Tactics'?
• Does 'Requisition' cover cash/punchcards?

[Prince of Boredom]

Ok all. I've got a couple of character ideas and I'd like a little help on deciding which one to make.

1) Tesseract - Essentially a 4-dimensional being (vs. the normal 3-dimensional like us). The idea is that just as we can interact with the 3rd dimension, he can act in the same way with the 4th (time). This in no way implies any level of time control (or even temporal manipulation for that matter). The concept is anything we can do spatially, he could do temporally. For instance, you can turn your head and look down a street, though your vision is limited by line of sight. He could do the same temporally (Pretercognition, Intuition [noticing something out of the corner of his eye]). He can move in 4 dimensions instead of the normal 3, allowing him to essentially Teleport (by walking perpindicular to the flow of time..). Probably have Mega-Wits to take into account his ability to see things before they happen, thus seemingly thinking and reacting quicker than the average human. He is still a work in progress, so any comments are much appreciated.

2) <no name yet> - Has the ability to create raquetball-sized spheres of pure force. He has developed a few techniques with these spheres. He can target himself or allies, causing the sphere to expand and surround them Force Field. He can do the same against enemies, Immobolize. Finally, he can hurl the spheres at enemies as pure kinetic force balls, Quantum Bolt [Mirved].

Tell me what you think...

[phoenix]

2) <no name yet> - Has the ability to create raquetball-sized spheres of pure force. He has developed a few techniques with these spheres. He can target himself or allies, causing the sphere to expand and surround them Force Field. He can do the same against enemies, Immobolize. Finally, he can hurl the spheres at enemies as pure kinetic force balls, Quantum Bolt [Mirved].

Don't forget Quantum Construct (insanely large swarms of these balls), Telekinesis (using the balls to lift and manipulate objects) and Telepathy (using the balls to read and infiltrate minds ::wink ). I vote for this guy. You could name him Balls. ::cool

[Heritage]

Okay, I can officially confirm that I lost all but two of the PCs submited to me - I have sheets from both Potts and Damanor, both of which look pretty cool, and are probably in. Bahamut, Alex and Asbjorn, please resend you characters to me, so I can copy-and-paste them into Word asap and save them. I still need submissions/sheets from everyone else.

Prince, Tesseract sounds cool - I like characters that manifest traditional powers in new ways. Please send me a sheet at your earliest convinience. Due to my compy troubles, obviously I'm extending deadlines quite a bit, so please start sending the PMs again.

See you in the funny papers! ::thumbsup

[Damanor]

Heritage:

Are we including merits and flaws and/or weaknesses and strengths? (My merits and flaws are straightforward, and they balance out so it's okay to drop them; I ask for clarity's sake.)

[Asbjørn]

C. Merits and Flaws - Unlimited Merits, up to 10 points of Flaws.

G. Strengths and Weaknesses - These should be fine, but we'll talk about 'em as we do

      character creation.

For other guidelines, see Alex' re-posting on page two of this thread.

[Alex Green]

--Edit--

Name Change:

Paul Green aka ‘Green Might’ aka 'Doctor Green'

[Bahamut810]

Here is what we have so far...

Bahamut810 - Nicholas "Nick" Engall (Aka Daredevil), Jack of all Trades

Alex Green - Paul Green aka ‘Green Might’ aka 'Doctor Green', Force of Nature

Nullifier - (?), Warping Telepath

Prof. Potts - Halle 'Emerald' Jordan, Green energy constructs (nothing too big!)

Phoenix - (?), (?)

Absjorn - Hood, Scout/light combat

Damanor - (?), some kind of Scout

Prince of Boredom - (?), 4 dimentional being or Mega-Ball guy

ConcreteDragon - (?), (?)

We also have to decide who is going to be team lead, I think thats it from what we were discussing before though.

[phoenix]

Heritage said that this game is on indefinite hiatus while he sorts out his computer issues. If you're eager to make some lists I could use a summary of the major events in the Revolutionary War.. ::devil ::wink ::tongue