OK then, the areas which I feel were streamlined was the entire Sapphire Point ordeal. Everyone was eager to get off Las Thaddas, just to get their characters paid and ready for a new planet with a new mission, when suddenly it is dragged out by Sapphire Point.
There were times within that, as well, I think. The robot fight was nice and interesting. What really stands out as streamlining are the attempts to take out the Sword and stop the orbital weapon. While everybody tried to have their characters take action to accomplish these things, they were consistently denied as if to say 'No, not like that.' Flank shooting down the Sword, for instance. That went awry for no apparent reason, speaking from a player's perspective, not the character's. The build up seemed to fit, it was down to the last straw, the victory would have been well earned, but apparently it was not to be.
This telegraphed that you were planning for something to happen that tied in with something that happened earlier in the RP, like the Sentinel, or those guys on the Ponderra, but it just turned out to be some delaying tactic, when really the plot would have advanced just as well if Flank did knock the Sword about a bit.
I had hoped we'd already covered that particular instance, but I do see where you're coming from. I rebuffed your attempt to shoot down the Sword, to mean no offence, because the idea's execution was conceptually ridiculous, as I established on page 51 of this thread, rather than because I do not think it would have been narratively fitting (which it would have been, assuming it didn't break willing suspension of disbelief).
From my perspective, everything was going relatively well until the eleventh post on this page. As a GM, what I then saw was this:
Also, could you remind me of the other times where other characters' attempts to resolve the situation were rebuffed?
IsakTheWriter Green Spice
Posts : 505 Upvotes: : 11 Join date : 2011-10-21 Age : 26 Location : That's a true mystery.
As I've stated up there, it is really more of a feeling. But when you actually think about it, all those rebuffs makes sense. Also, Delta's intellegence(of posts) has reached to the answer of Life, the Universe and Everything.
Potatrobot Bronze Spice
Posts : 1601 Upvotes: : 21 Join date : 2010-11-19 Age : 29 Location : Triangulating...
Good God it has. You are wise beyond your years, Delta. I thought that the battle with Azure seemed dragged out, but it made sense to say that he put up a fight and that he didn't get shot in the head, since he was a professional assassin and we needed the visor. It was just that for some reason, a miniature FlaK cannon got less accurate the closer the target was?
That's just about it because, apart from the security forces on Las Thaddas, I haven't been involved with much more combat than that of Sapphire Point, and the plot seems to have moved on well.
Yeah, it's true Azure had to have some serious bullet-dodge-fu to make a competent 'boss-fight' as a fragile speedster armed primarily with melee weapons, which may have been stretching it at times. The way I picture it in my head is that aiming down a scope at a sideways-moving target gets exponentially more difficult when the target is only a few meters away. Video games taught me this, therefore it must be true! Or else I just suck at FPS games. Or both! Can we go with both? ._.
If anyone else has any feedback for me on the RP so far and how it's been run, good or bad, this'd be a good time for me to hear it since soon I am going to be cutting down on my free time.
Potatrobot Bronze Spice
Posts : 1601 Upvotes: : 21 Join date : 2010-11-19 Age : 29 Location : Triangulating...
For future reference, Flank's cannon is hooked directly up to his brain, so it moves like another limb, albeit one with a scope. It goes without saying that a movement command goes straight to the cannon's motors rather than to the thumb, into the analogue stick, then into the weapon. Therefore Flank's cannon gets a speed advantage over FPS game weapons
Other than that, the roleplay has been quite epic. I enjoyed reading the moment in which the Rangers on the Ponderra all storm out and take the Coalition by surprise, particularly when Crank appears. Since it was the first time I had even beheld an RP before, this was my thought process at the time:
What is this?! What is this awesome thing and why am I not in it?! Ah mah Gahd that was sah epic! Do it again!
There's always that feeling of unfamiliarity when one first reads a roleplay that has already been going for some time in which one has no idea what the plot is, where the characters are and what they're doing, it just seems so epic. But when you're up to speed, it seems so different. That's what I felt before I read the entire OP only to join during the Las Thaddas mission. Now, I think the RP could do with another planet, possibly a few more players. Maybe I could introduce my second character after all.
I think the best roleplaying moments were when the players did what they wanted so long as there was a basic goal in mind. Shopping in SF, for example. The message was 'go nuts, just be here by whenever.' Since everything since then has been on a linear path, we haven't had much time to develop characters.
That's all I can think of at the moment.
Mitchz95 Purple spice
Posts : 748 Upvotes: : 10 Join date : 2010-06-23 Age : 29 Location : Depends on where I am at the moment.
What we need to do now is get off Ariid. That's one thing that I didn't really like - we just finish that near-impossible mission at Las Thaddas, we're all pumped to get off Ariid and do something else...and then we get another Ariid mission. That's where things slowed down, forcing people to throw random fights into the story to keep interest.
Understood. Rest assured, I have no more unpleasant surprises planned for Ariid.
EDIT: Also, regarding the weapon Flank is currently putting together, I think we should come to an agreement on what its capabilities and limitations are — considering how much firepower Flank is toting already.
Hutch Admin
Posts : 935 Upvotes: : 23 Join date : 2010-06-12 Age : 28 Location : USA. Stereotype me.
I was making the plasma... cannon? not sure what to call it. Anyway, only making it as a personal project and for character development, besides occasional use, but sure. He could let Dagon use it, because I swear he has never hit a single thing with his rifle.
Although we'll have to wait until he finishes it for me to get a bearing of what it's capable of, since the construction process will have developments as to its capabilities.
Delta Admin
Posts : 2281 Upvotes: : 84 Join date : 2010-10-11
Subject: Re: Nerrone's Rangers OOC Sun Jul 15, 2012 2:39 am
For a while now I've had in mind a potential alternative (or possibly addition) to using money to buy weapon upgrades and suchlike, so I thought I'd share the idea since we're approaching a point at which its implementation would be appropriate:
In essence how it would work is that everyone in the team is allowed to choose a single upgrade or addition to their loadout after a major mission — things like new secondary weapons, weapon modifications that allow for status effects, or other pieces of equipment that have temporary effects with a limited use — such as stims that temporarily increase speed / strength / endurance but have negative side-effects if overused, or a blaster power boost module that allows ten shots with extra armour-penetrating power (needing an hour to recharge afterwards).
This would also apply to the ship, allowing one major upgrade (such as a module allowing a temporary speed boost, or a new weapon) or two minor upgrades (such as upgrades to the vessel's sensors or improvements to aspects of the engine or weapons).
I've got a provisional list of items written up on the NR MASTER TEXT DOCUMENT OF DOOM, so tell me what you think.
Potatrobot Bronze Spice
Posts : 1601 Upvotes: : 21 Join date : 2010-11-19 Age : 29 Location : Triangulating...
Subject: Re: Nerrone's Rangers OOC Sun Jul 15, 2012 3:17 am
I think it's a good idea, that's what I think. Then again, I like anything that beefs Flank up. I'll think of something balanced. We still have to go back to SF to get the payment, though, don't we? I'll use that time to request the schematics so that I can logically make this weapon without the use of instant magic or drunk science.
Dammit, everyone is going away. I guess this whole 'summer holiday' bit is just something people have to get out of their systems, like a nasty cold. I'll be right here talking to my sock puppets until you're all done frolicking merrily in the sun. >:U
Potatrobot Bronze Spice
Posts : 1601 Upvotes: : 21 Join date : 2010-11-19 Age : 29 Location : Triangulating...