Hypatia Event OOC Planning Post #2

[cmdr_renegade]

Alrighty everyone!

I've been desperately trying to word this as clearly and succintly as possible and I apologize for any confusion caused by my rambling. Please ask me questions if you feel something is unclear or that I omitted a serious consideration, make suggestions if you have a better plan of attack, and throw in anything else you'd like to contribute. I'd love to hear it. This is a collaboration with all of you.

On that note, I would like to emphasize that I wrote the majority of this before this post happened and I ask you to please bear with me in that most of this post doesn't assume that we'll be ending the game any time soon. While it would not be hard to roll this into an endgame event to follow, it would take me considerable effort to rephrase all of this and that plan isn't entirely set in stone yet.

But we've barely begun and I'm already straying into a tangent! This is not the post for discussing the endgame and moderator positions at Sing, this is for the Hypatia Plot!

Let's begin!



First, I'd like to thank our mods. Despite their busy schedules, our Mods have approved the Deactivation of Hypatia plot and we can start planning it out!



OOC Mechanics

Before we dive into the details of the event, the various sections and general plot structure, and start figuring out how we can set these things in motion, I'd like to take a moment and set up a schedule. Singularity has always had a really diverse and fabulous player-base and I want to make absolutely certain that everyone who wants to participate can participate as much as they like, and can do so comfortably. This is not to say that we should strand the faster taggers, or the players with more free time, and leave them with little to do but introspection and network posts. Rather, I believe the best route is to set up a way to keep everything somewhat...metered and alleviate the stresses related to slow tagging.

RP is pretendy funtime, after all, and I'd hate to see anything about this become less than fun for anyone.

What I propose is that we make a basic schedule and allot each section of this event an amount of RL time. (e.g. The Planetside Trip will span a week of RL time, the section after it, two weeks, the next, three days....etc.)

At the end of that RL time-frame, I'll put up a OOC post in the community and do a ”Where we stand.” summary for OOC purposes. Everyone who has finished tagging and moved on can let me know what their characters are doing, planning, or feeling, and anything else they feel is relevant, and the people who may still be tagging, who were unable to tag as much as they'd like but still want to participate in the rest of the event, or who are gradually coming to a conclusion with their threads can give me the gist of what transpired (the relevant information to their character and the plot) so they don't feel pressured or stressed, they can tag newer things without guilt, and nobody is left waiting around. (The OOC post/Schedule will also encourage OOC planning on a community level, since everyone will know where everyone else's characters stand, what they could have their characters interact with, whether it's public knowledge or not, and potentially really get some good CR going.)

In an effort to keep this as orderly as possible, in addition to an RL schedule, I wanted to really structure each of the major plot sections. Each specific section of this event, at least the portions that will be action/log with a great many characters, should probably be an individual post with top-level threads that separate out location, or time, or what-have-you, as we have done with Space Prom and as we did with the last trips planet-side. It's a good system, I think, and keeps everything together quite easily. It also allows characters who may not be directly involved in a section of the plot to post to the comms without getting swallowed by the event posts and lets faster taggers post outside of the event for things that may take place after the IC time-frame the section is occupying.

Since Singularity has always been a little wobbly with the flow of in-game time (a feature I'm personally immensely grateful for), the amount of time the trip (or any particular section of this plot) would actual take in game can also be decided ahead of time. It's unrealistic to imagine that we could get everyone online simultaneously for any one part of this, so there's no reason to believe that the IC and OOC schedule have to be concurrent. This will let everyone in the game, on whole, get around posts, tag speeds, or topics that may not mesh with them, personally.



Now that I've suggested that, we can get to the fun parts! (Relatively speaking, of course.) If anyone has concerns or opinions about anything above, though, I'd really appreciate it if you could comment on it separately from any of story points below. I assure you, I would not consider it clutter. In fact, it would really help me to keep everything straight so I can make sure every comment in this post gets its due attention.






Plot.

Because of the excellent suggestions in the last post pertaining to this event, I've really been actively trying not to plan anything particularly solid. The idea of this event is to provide opportunities for reactions and interactions because of major conflict. The following sections of the plot, as I see them logically divided, are more a vague structure and become more malleable as we approach the Aftermath section where everything just drops off. I can only speak for my characters and that stage, the Aftermath, is really all about everyone and how events leading up to that point play out. As planning too much of it now can really only hinder the potential for cool things we can do up until that point, I focused on what is effectively the first half of the event.

Very little of this is a sure thing, so all input is completely welcome. I've put notations of how long a section could potentially last, IC and RL, but those are completely open for alteration if anyone has an issue. There are also a great many places where the Mods, if they are able or feel it feasible, can input additional material (be it new or old NPCs or plot and consequences) but that is for them to decide and I'm hesitant to imply the promise of anything on behalf of anyone but myself.




-Inciting Incident (IC Time: Wobbly. RL Time: Until the start of the next section.)

This is less a section of the plot, so much as what is going to cause Shepard to flip a table and start this whole ordeal. While I have no particular or specific incident nailed down (nor do I really need one, if push comes to shove), this will either involve Shepard making a very loud and beligerant, open network post calling Hypatia out and demanding a trip to the planet...or a very flat and calculating post to the same effect. In either case, she will extend an open invitation to come down to the planet with her, imply fairly bold-facedly that it is so they can talk without Hypatia breathing down their necks, and generally try to get every person who is willing and seems competent down to the planet as a group.

Aside from the incident itself, there's not much potential in this section, so I'll leave this short.




-Planetside Trip (IC Time: 2-3 Days? RL Time: A week? More?)

As most of the characters at Sing are generally very suspicious of Hypatia, for any real progress to be made they have to head down to Asphodel and away from where Hypatia can hear them. Overall, the mechanics of this are fuzzy. How they will be getting to the planet, whether by shuttle provided by Hypatia or otherwise, where they'll end up specifically, and what happens when they're down there are all open for ideas, really. I'm not sure how many characters have been down to the planet, in game, but Shepard and...some of the current ME Cast have been and it wouldn't be out of the question to assume they could set up an area to reasonably protect the station-residents from the natural dangers of Asphodel, for the duration of this section.

There's a great deal of NPC potential interaction, here, but I can't speak to how much of that will actually occur.

What will be happening:

Ages ago, when the NPC Lev (the aloof insurgent leader with a penchant for dramatic bible quotes and a good amount of hate for AI) first dragged several station residents down to the planet, he unloaded a considerable amount of data regarding Hypatia and the maintenance ring of the station onto most of them. A barebones plan to do just this event was set into motion (I suspect because Lev wanted people to do his dirty work, but that's beside the point.) Now, seeing as Shepard hoards intel and guards it like a jealous girlfriend with a shotgun, she still has all of this and has been waiting to put it into action. Once she has the opportunity, Shepard will be taking all comers because she's done with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane Hypatia. The threat of the AI has trumped the potential casualties and they're not getting anywhere on returning people home while she's around.

It is very likely that Shepard will deliver this sentiment (and some of the data) as a speech to everyone, collectively, once planet-side...though that thread will be difficult to structure. I suspect the easiest way to manage it will be to have her stalk off, at the end of said speech, with an ultimatum about joining or getting out of the way, so sub-threads can be more manageable.

Does anyone want to weigh in on time planetside? I suspect that, IC, it will take most characters a while to make a decision about actions that could potentially cost lives, whether killing AI is wrong, and all the other moral issues involved here, so a day or two would be ideal. We can surely concoct a plot device to trap people on the planet, if we'd like to extend that window without forcing what may not be a serious moral question for your characters. It's also possible that the Mods may wish to involve the Insurgents, or characters will want to wheel and deal while on Asphodel.

At the end of this window, characters who want to leave (because they disagree with the idea, the execution, etc) can leave and the remaining characters will break into tactical teams. (Hopefully cross-canon. Three man, no more than four because the actual assault log will get out of hand and tag order will be a nightmare.) If you know your character will be down with killing an artificial intelligence, potentially risking the lives of the remaining station residents, and running a military assault under Shepard's direction, right this instant, I'll start up a big list so we can plan teams. If you're not sure because the way things unfold will be a huge factor, NO WORRIES! The only reason I can commit to this so readily is that I'm playing the character who suggested it, I understand waiting for this.

Once that is set up and any additional points anyone would like to add are done, we can move to the next section.




-Training and Arming or, alternately -We Have To Stop This. (IC Time: 7-14 Days? RL Time: Completely up for grabs. No less than 1 week.)

This section is...generally speaking? Is filler.

Given the nature of the planetside trip, the following few IC days will likely be teeming with character drama, arguments, interpersonal conflict, and factioning (She doesn't even go here.) Alongside that, it's very possible we'll have a good number of people who don't know what their characters are going to do, whether they'll side with Shepard or not, until after that trip, and who may tag more slowly than others. This section will allow everyone a little wiggle room (IC and RL) or a break before everything goes to Hell in a handbasket.

After returning from the planet, Shepard is getting to business. The teams have to be armed, geared up, prepared, and possibly trained. Intel has to be gathered, reliable transport secured, and likely a myriad of other tasks.

There is potential for an NPC to be involved here but, failing the availability of one, I'm quite certain one of the Mass Effect crew would be willing to fill in and, failing that, Shepard could orchestrate something, personally. Given all of the prep-work to be done, now that everyone knows the score, there is great potential for player or non-Hypatia NPC issued jobs. Characters who aren't in on the coup, who did not go to the planet, who don't want to participate in the assault but desire money or to help the people going, or who just want to do a job, could be given tasks like: 'Breaking into Hypatia's Armory', 'Hacking to find the override codes for the turrets' or, slightly more mundane and less obvious tasks like, 'Salvaging parts', 'Calibrating mag-boots', or whatnot.

This has a lot of potential for characters that are tech-savvy but...not expressly militant to get in on the action without getting in on the...action.

If it's a PC that has to be doling out jobs, payment could easily come in the form of hacked credits, traded favors, training, or equipment that isn't on the stockpile list. Sky's the limit here.

Really, there's a well of CR here to satisfy the people who want to take advantage of it.

Characters who did not go down to the surface could be told bits and pieces of what transpired and afforded the chance to join in on the Assault or share in the horror at the risk. (Though Shepard will explain, in no uncertain terms, that talking about this plan on the station will have dire consequences from either Hypatia or herself. This is to dissuade derailing of the event, but how attentive Hypatia actually is when it comes to whispered conversations is up for debate. If your character would not be swayed, I'm sure we can figure something out.) Characters who object have a chance to try and stop them, quietly, or to help prepare the innocent, and every character will have ample opportunity to express their feelings and opinions at every turn, building negative and positive CR all over the place.


Then, once we've gotten through that section, the really juicy part:




-The Assault On Hypatia (IC Time: <6 hours RL Time: 5 Days?)

With all that lovely positive and negative CR, all the teamwork and potential boiling rage, it's time to take on Hypatia. The actual circumstances will depend on the Mods, and what they want to throw at us, but it should be interesting. With so many characters involved, with a range of opinions, it's hard to predict what will happen here. The meat and potatoes of this section is really going to be the characters and how they approach the mission, whether they try to disable Hypatia, repair her, or just empty bullets into everything, will really make up how well this section goes. There's a lot of potential for NPC interaction as well as PC interaction before and during the assault (stow-aways, people who want to help who shouldn't, people who want to stop them at all costs, etc) and I'm all for any of it.

What the teams break, trigger, disable, etc is up to the Mods. Similarly, this part of the event has the potential for serious casualties. In fact, I assume most of the characters going will be injured in some fashion. Bangs, bruises, damaged armor, damaged weapons, burns, and other minor injuries at the very least. (One does not simply walk into Mordor, after all.) There's the possibility characters will suffer more serious injuries, if the Mods dole out immediate consequences, or if any of you would like. It wouldn't be out of the question to have a character or two die in the process. Whether the transporter revival is in effect, or not, during or immediately following the event could be worked around.

Injuries will be a great potential for CR immediately following this section, though, given that the Assault teams very likely disabled the hospitals, but that's just one possibility.

Ultimately, no matter what transpires on during the Assault, no matter which team of characters manages to destroy/supplant/deactivate Hypatia, Shepard will be turning things off via thermide grenades. She'll be blowing things up, Vanguard punching consoles, and emptying bullets into everything that looks like it could use a few. If nothing else is predictable, there will be extensive damage done to the maintenance ring. While it may change the tone and the resulting interactions drastically, the plot won't be derailed easily. If anyone has any ideas they want to throw in here, please shout them out.

*This section poses a problem, unfortunately.

While it's more than easy to separate the Assault teams into manageable size, the characters not directly involved in this part are left with very little to do. I would like to keep the RL time allotted to this section reasonably short, so as not to strand them out in the proverbial cold, but I'm not sure how well that would work. Then there's the issue with the actual conflict and mechanics of this section. Each team's thread has to be carefully monitored and interacted with by a Mod, someone in the know, etc, so as to keep them interacting and fighting against something, or else we risk stagnation on this actiony event.

It might be interesting to make a few toss-away NPC journals to represent whatever they end up fighting against, or just hand out icons so people can just use their own journals, and have volunteers (possibly those not directly involved in the Assault) play out the swarm of hench-robots trying to take characters out? Yea? Nay? Suggestions?




- We Broke It (IC Time: Completely up for grabs. RL Time: Until the end of the event? Suggestions?)

Here is where everything gets really fuzzy as far as planning goes. This is the second half of this event. There were a myriad of amazing ideas in the last post and if we get no more and just use those, everything will still be brilliant. The actual situation will also depend, greatly, on the consequences as set forth by the Mods, so it's difficult to actually plan. I don't want to make the game unplayable or impossibly difficult, frought with constant hazards, but the looming threat of impending, uncontrollable disaster is a must. That threat is the biggest motivational factor in this whole event. It will make people, who are potentially very polarized by this time, deal with one another rather than depend on a helpful, albeit crazy, computer.

A few cool ideas:
- An AI could be installed as a jury-rigged custodian to keep a zone or two running so that PCs have somewhere relatively safe to live.
- A rotation of tech-savvy character could be assembled to preform upkeep on damaged systems or locate manual interfaces for said systems. (Potentially opening up new job systems and areas.)
- The majority of the Garden and Residential Zones are rendered uninhabitable, thus forcing characters into a considerably cozier living situation.

The biggest concerns so far, as posed to the Mods already:
- Air and how fast it runs out.
- Gravity. Will deactivating Hypatia affect it?
- Heat retention/rejection. How does this work and will deactivating Hypatia affect it?

Other systems and such are consequence related but if you have a concern/suggestion/question, please go for it!

The end for this event could mean that the residents have to reactivate the AI, to protect them from something worse (thus facing a moral dilemma here), to contain the rift (a possible segue into a 4th wall event), or she could come back online all on her own and return the status quo. I'm sure everyone has a million ideas and I'd love to hear them all, really I would.


I apologize for both the length and...decidedly disjointed nature of this rambling post, but I hope it was clear enough to get my ideas across.



EDIT:

Oh goodness. There's still a few of you I need to respond to, and...I think, a bunch who still need to weigh in, but I think we may be getting excited (which is excellent, in and of itself, and I have a grand list of predicted character affiliations for later) and passing over the first part of this post.

So if everyone could kindly weigh in on the Schedule? Over on this thread. I would really appreciate it.

Just any basic leanings toward how long you think each section should last, IC and RL, what you'd be worried about running too short or too long, and generally when you'd like this event to actually start.

All of that will help me immensely in getting this ball rolling.

The last bit, though, may be more related to any ideas the Mods/some of you have for an Inciting Incident, or what have you, but just letting me know when each of you would like it to start would really help me average a date that works for everyone as best it can.

Comments

[chozobloodrites]

Everything sounds good! Just throwing out that, whenever you start making the team lists, Samus is definitely going to be there 100%, front of the lines, ready to take Hypatia down.

For Lara and Steph I'll wait until we make an official group clusterfuck plotting post.

[cmdr_renegade]

Roger Dodger! I'll jot Samus in the Assault Team list and put the other two on undecided.

[ispoint]

Tai on her phone. Arthur is in, Clove is sitting terrified out.

[cmdr_renegade]

Roger that!

[mcfussyfangs]

Whenever you start making lists and stuff, Kanaya will probably want to be doing some kind of covert A.I. lobotomy (I will clarify this) via smashing important things. Eve goes wherever Legion goes, so while she might not be in his group she will be aligned with Shepard simply because Legion is, though she will have a lot of feelings about justifying the death of others. Tucker will probably go where Wash goes, but I'd also like to see him having to participate for a petty reason or because the event gets pushed into his comfort zone and he's gotta break out the sword and renew his Badass License.

A.I. Lobotomy-wise.
I'm not sure if it's too late to suggest this, but the idea came about after the initial post. Like a while after, when I started playing HAL at Re/Alignment. In 2001, when Hal goes nuts, Dave doesn't so much completely shut him down as he lobotomizes him, keeping certain essential function running. This is sort of important because while there are somethings that the station would be able to manage without, slowing it's rotation would shut off the gravity and probably seriously fuck up both the planet and Sacrosanct.

Along with that, I figured it would be sort of a nice last ditch effort if Hypatia brought back the bodies of dropped characters. Like depending on how this would work out, they could either be themselves, or husks that Hypatia is forcing to fight for her, or a combination of both. I think it would be a neat idea to up the stakes and the emotional reactions of characters seeing their friends again would also be really fuckin' neat.

[cmdr_renegade]

"I'd also like to see him having to participate for a petty reason..."

Shepard knew the other Tucker. She can totally call him a sissy and tell him, as usual, the female version of any given super-soldier has twice the brains and twice the balls, etc. :D

If Kanaya wants to be all about the lobotomy, I am totally down. This is an awesome alternative. Shepard will still be all about blow it up and take no prisoners, but having someone with a more reasonable solution headed toward the end goal would be boss.

I also REALLY support the husks option. Anything that fills this with more terror/drama/ridiculous-ness. I'll add those ideas to the list.

[brbvirmire]

Put Ash down for the assault team- was there ever any doubt?

[cmdr_renegade]

Nope.

[articletwelve]

I am absolutely down for all of this (though I'll let you know if I think of anything else ♥). Wash will be all for the assault team, because ill-advised plans are his thing.

[cmdr_renegade]

Excellent.

[alaspooryork]

As mentioned on the last plotting post, Delta has been working for some time on How To Run The Station in Case hypatia Loses It or in other words I'm volunteering him for the friendly AI to at least attempt to control a few sectors as mentioned in the last part.

As discussed on Plurk, Emile will be a casualty of this event as I plan to drop him anyway. Preferably during the final battle of course.

I'll have to discuss with Troncast what Gibson will be doing but they will be involved somehow!!

[cmdr_renegade]

Delta's assistance is more than welcome and Emile's death will be a glorious one.

:D I'll drop Gibson in the undecided spot

[selfmadehero]

I don't have any good answers for the questions posed, it's just not my wheelhouse and I am a clueless little babe. BUT. I can tell you that Steph will be involved, potentially through the entire event. If nothing else, she will want to get in on that training however she can.

[cmdr_renegade]

Excellent, excellent! And no problem, having suggestions isn't required, I just want to make sure everyone who really wants to say something has all the opportunity to say it. c:

[sarcasticpelican]

You can put 479er down.

I should note she's a pilot so if you need help with the reliable transportation thing she'll be likely to volunteer for that though the time to learn will definitely be taken advantage of. You know, unless the controls of whatever they're sending are identical to those of a Halo Pelican.

Otherwise she has some mechanical skills from working on her pelican back home, and she can probably help out that way.

[cmdr_renegade]

Both are excellent possibilities and they will definitely need pilots, so that's a fabulous role she can fill. Since they'll probably need ships as well...hijacked or constructed, that's another bit she can be directly involved in.

[justoverreacting]

First: Definitely mark down CT as being involved, both in the assault and prep if need be. This is absolutely up her alley and since finding out that the shuttle was blown up, she has been trying to figure out a way to do this herself. o/

Re: OOC Mechanics: Absolutely agree with all of this. Structure is great and I think it'll help keep players from feeling overwhelmed. Especially the mentioned "checkpoints/where we stand" at the end of each section so the game can keep moving/not waiting on everyone to finish backtagging.

Re: Plot!
-Possible plot device for keeping characters on Asphodel: big storm? Magnetic/dust/weather/whathaveyou. Just throwing an idea out there.
-Prep/Training: CT definitely has some tech savvy, how much is still unclear canon-wise, but if someone could talk her into it, I'd say she's definitely capable of arming EMPs or EMPlike weaponry at least.
-An idea for the surviving zones/areas: Of course I'm going to suggest the desert or a cave system. Partially because CT, paritally because we've seen in the real world that not being out in the open (visibly at least) is a strategy because it requires the enemy to come smoke you out. And if someone keeps guard on the one or two teleporters leading into the zone in question, it could be a strategy to keep the sh*t out of their bed (for lack of better phrasing).
-Also if the hospitals get taken down, it'd make sense for the PCs to set up a med camp at the least to take care of their own casualties that can make it back.

Altogether scree I am excited.

[cmdr_renegade]

Marked and marked. :D

I was thinking a 'trapped because of the storm' scenario would be the easiest to manage, honestly, so I'm all down for that. As for Prep/Training, EMPs are fantastic and CT could potentially enlist help (from other assault team members or through the impromptu job system) to get parts or assemble, if you wanted an excuse to thread with anyone in particular.

:D


As for the second half plot section, those are good points. I'll mark them down for when we get closer to the Aftermath of it all.

[urbaninja]

Although I admit I've been feeling a bit of burnout with my guys, I'm going to try to get them active again with this event.

So, Leoben can probably help out with preparing supplies. While he understands that Hypatia is a threat, he's not 100% on board with outright "Killing her" given his experience with human/robot relations. He prefers efforts that go into stopping that cycle, rather than perpetuating it, so someone will probably have to convince him to get on board.
Otherwise, yeah, he's good with supplies and stuff.

Roxas, on the other hand, will probably want to help out because maybe this can get him home. He's a combat oriented guy, but his primary weapons are a sword that doubles as a key and magic spells, which might have some effect, might not. Either way, he'll want to help so any little jobs he can do would be great.
He's done missions that involve setting up things like antennae and recon stuff, so he's good at that.

[cmdr_renegade]

Excellent. I'll put Roxas in the all-in section and Leoben in the 'agreed but would prefer an alternative to killing her' list.

I can understand the feeling of burnout and I really hope this event will inspire you and renew some of your character drive. The mechanics I have, above, should help mitigate any threads that don't quite click and let you still be a part of the event without having to tax yourself by forcing anything.

Above all else, I want to make sure this is as fun for everyone as it can be.

(Now, I don't advocate the potential/spontaneous dropping of threads, persay, but it's nice to have an architecture that'll allow for it without damaging/awkwarding-up everyone's cr and still give the opportunity to participate later with no hard feelings. c: Also, if you want your guys involved in one of the event section posts but you're just not feeling up to it/don't have time to tag into that particular post, it shouldn't be too hard to handwave a bit where needed.)

[whatever_it_takes]

Carolina's definitely on the front lines for this one!

I saw that other id. <3

[cmdr_renegade]

Booya. :D

Too many words, Mica. Too many.

[autodidacticrobogirl]

A good suggestion for the inciting incident might be something to the effect of Romance is Mandatory, or similar. An otherwise fairly harmless but still totally annoying indictment of behavior re: Hypatia's typical 'tudes.

---

I think Kimiko would not want to leave the station, both because she doesn't see a lot of merit in the refugees or entering their sphere of influence, and because she's already very entrenched where she is. I've made a point out of her slow buildup and reinforcement in zone 16, so her bat-cave is pretty much a fortress at this point, which might become relavant.

EDI, on the other hand, would definitely want to send her mobile platform down with Shepard. "This platform is disposable," as she would put it, and there's nothing like having someone able to tell you firsthand that everything up at the Station is fine, without physically having to go and check. Robot shipmom got your back, Shepard.

See also: a cool convo between EDI and Shepard in which EDI is brought around to the renegade way of life re: killing rogue AIs. And possibly reveals her origins???? :0

---

For the Training Montage section, a reverse emphasis on my part would be awesome because Kim Ross Invents Weird Things has been the name of the game so far and you guys want portal guns and other awesome weird things she's been cribbing from the junkyard, right?

Yes. Yes you do.

Aww yiss.

EDI can hang out and come to moral crossroads over things and eventually get a red dialogue option to the face and do a heel-turn because that is how these things work in ME, okay. Shepard can talk you into doing whatever she wants, it is a fact.

---

As for the assault, I can see coneivably including both my characters in it, although Kimmi would probably be a bit of a burden, while EDI is.

Well, EDI can kill things.

It might be fun to have a combat mode more suited to the synthetics, with a digital battle being waged on the grid-metaphor or something similar, and having the effect of Hypatia-loyal enemies being fried or otherwise disabled as a result of victories in the invisible, digital realm.

I just want to portray EDI as the general of a digital army, deploying all her cyber-warfare suites and being a robo-bamf, I am so biased omfg.

The latest reply to this.

[cmdr_renegade]

For the record: I like all of these suggestions.

Particularly the EDI and her origins potential. LOVE IT. I'm a sucker for dramatic things.

FUND IT.



Do you have an opinion on the time-frame?

[unchimerical]

I still need to comb through this post in more detail, but I am most certainly still down for sending Zel into assault mode once he's properly buttered up and motivated. He is pretty pro kill-all-evil-annoying-overlord-things.

The latest reply to this.

[cmdr_renegade]

Excellent. Not even gonna lie, I am so excited at the potential to have more CR with Zelgadis. I adore Slayers and, man, you can't take out an evil overlord without at least one redhead and one dramatic, sword-wielding dude.

It's a rule.

[thearchangel]

Where Shepard goes, so too does Garrus. :|b

[conspirator]

hot damn hiku you are incredible

Jituss is massively tech- and stealth-orientated, so I hope to have her be useful one way or several anothers. She also has medical training and kolto for hands-on application, but no medical droids. The extent of her involvement depends on Snare and Nox!

Hawke will be your personal demolition team, Shepard. She's good for destruction on a massive scale and... not much else, aside from inappropriate comic relief.

**OUTLINE OF WHAT HAWKE CAN DO FOR YOU**

[conspirator]

So. She's a wizard. Follow the think for easy mouse-over references to the spells in her arsenal.

While Hawke can only perform basic healing spells, she's extremely talented in all other areas. Blood magic is the only kind she will never, ever use for IC reasons involving the death of somebody her life revolved around.

Force Mage is her specialty of specialties, which should be especially useful against mechanical enemies! Pressure in the right areas will fuck up a robot but good.

Entropy is not so useful against mechanical beings, unless they're sentient.

BARRIERS are an important advantage for anybody who's in the vicinity. Don't have shields? Armor? Just need that extra insurance? Hit up Hawke or, depending on her involvement, her sister Bethany for some defensive action.



And last but not my least, for my personal favorite, Hawke can put her limbs through short-range portals and have much larger versions of them pop out to have them...drawn and quartered, so to speak. Other uses apply. She's your own portable flyswatter!

[edgeoflucidity]

Count all mine(AU Wash/Epsi and Rinzler) in.

Because damn it, I'm making this good with Rinzy, seeing as he'll most likely go with the rest of what's left of Tron cast if the game does keep on trucking.

Need to do some in cast planning there.

And Wash and Epsi are wherever a rude little AI and his derp of a host are needed.

The latest reply to this.

[cmdr_renegade]

Excellent and rude AI are needed everywhere.

SCHEDULE

[cmdr_renegade]

EDIT:

Oh goodness. There's still a few of you I need to respond to, and...I think, a bunch who still need to weigh in, but I think we may be getting excited (which is excellent, in and of itself, and I have a grand list of predicted character affiliations for later) and passing over the first part of this post.

So if everyone could kindly weigh in on the Schedule? Over on this thread. I would really appreciate it.

Just any basic leanings toward how long you think each section should last, IC and RL, what you'd be worried about running too short or too long, and generally when you'd like this event to actually start.

All of that will help me immensely in getting this ball rolling.

The last bit, though, may be more related to any ideas the Mods/some of you have for an Inciting Incident, or what have you, but just letting me know when each of you would like it to start would really help me average a date that works for everyone as best it can.

Re: SCHEDULE

[articletwelve]

For the most part, I like what you have up there for IC vs. OOC time, but I think the major factor is going to be a numbers game - how many people go down to the planet, to start with. 10 characters are a lot less to wrangle than 30. The main thing I think we need is to be flexible, based on what goes on in game - if it turns out that the game as a whole slows down during a portion of the plot and the next part needs to go ahead and roll out, that should be doable, as well as the alternative - that if there's not enough time, we can push things back for a few days.

Most of all, though, I think having an OOC post between each segment is the most crucial. No matter how much time is there, not everyone's going to finish everything they want within the RL amount of time, but so long as there's clear communication about what's going on in game and with characters and how it affects the plot as a whole, it'll be a lot easier on everyone to manage.

As far as starting goes - honestly, I'm good with within the next week or two? There's a little bit of stuff to do post the dinosaur plot, but other than that I think it's pretty clear a lot of us have run dry. So, soon enough that we've got stuff to do, but enough time for the plot to have enough time to get pulled together.

(if i am not coherent on any of this i can clarify, i am a little bit sleep deprived.)

OK HI THIS IS LATE

[neverknocks]

hello yes i meant to weigh in on this post all day but i was busy and brainless BUT

you know how bad i wanna be involved in this event

york will happily go planetside for the initial trip and she'll totally be down for the assault. plus she is tech and especially security savvy, so if you need someone risking their neck and diving deep into sacrosanct's security systems, york can do it. she's also an infiltrations expert, so there is that too. she will definitely be available for pretty much the whole plot.

harry is a good deal less useful but he's good to have around for shits and giggles i guess. i'll find some way to keep him busy in the plot. but his skills pretty much involve shooting things and investigating things although he is not particularly stealthy.

NO LATER THAN THIS. <3

[cmdr_renegade]

York is so very welcome on this mission. Shepard knew the last guy calling himself York, so a snappy personality and that name and Shepard'll embrace her with open arms.

Open arms means she'll arm her. More.

And I do love that idea about security diving, we have a few people who have that under their belt. It may be worth it to find something unique for you guys to do.

[allianceman]

it pretty much goes without saying that Shepard isn't allowed to go off into danger without Kaidan.

i don't have much input otherwise since you did a super job laying everything out, but as far as the inciting incident, iiiiiiiif nothing less horrifying comes along, I could potentially arrange for Kaidan to poke his nose somewhere he shouldn't hacking-wise and get him in trouble with Hypatia, or have him... uncover something he could bring to Shepard?

Oh my god how am I this late.

[cmdr_renegade]

YOU AIN'T ANDERSON; I DO WHAT I WANT. /zsnap

But awesome. Actually the later could work. The post I was drafting feels a bit thin, I'll private plurk you about it after I finish catching up to all these woefully neglected comments.

[cliffjumper]

/late

But Cliffjumper would most probably/definitely be in from the start, if just to get an idea of what's planned and what he thinks of it, and would end up participating.

[cmdr_renegade]

/also late

Excellent. Excellent.

Did you have any preference about time-frame? Any thoughts?