Hello everyone, and welcome. This is the OOC thread for Wartorn Space, a game of adventure and profit-seeking, inspired by Ballad of the Stars. You, the players, are the crew of a smuggling starship in the middle of a galactic war. Without allegiances to any faction and no predetermined objectives, it's up to you to choose your ambition and achieve it. The game will be roleplay intensive and work in the model of You are King games and the like: actions are rolled on a d6 to check their success (1 is a critical failure, 6 is an overshoot) and you can do pretty much anything possible within the limits of reason.
As a rule of thumb, there are two kinds of actions: actions by your PC, such as attacking somebody or trying to get drunk at the bar or attempting to plug the hole in your suit before you get spaced, and actions to help the ship, which will help the ship perform well in various tasks, such as surviving a spatial battle or mining an asteroid. Having skills increase chances of success in both regards.
If you only want what's essential, the spoilers below are for you. If you want all that and an explanation of how ships work, go into the google doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fIuZfJjsn4FrbeypmsXC6OIQVOZFNbLRqKY-Um4J6qg/edit#heading=h.1boiye5vn592 Races:
The Vaskar are descended from reptilian creatures of a jungle planet. Broad shouldered and very muscular, they walk on their knuckles and are roughly four feet tall at the shoulder- although they can easily top five feet if they stand up completely. Fully carnivorous, they used to ambush their prey in the jungle, grappling and then either suffocating them, breaking their neck, or simply beating them to death. As such, they have short claws perfect for making sure potential prey would not escape. They have impressively broad jaws and powerful teeth, but those cannot be used as weapons, since their necks are not flexible enough to allow for it. Their scales are relatively dull in coloration, with dark greens and blues interspersed with rough black “tiger stripes”.
They generally wear clothing of similar fashions as humans, though they always leave their arms bare. Vaskar often use a form of tattoo-like art to change the color of the scales on their arms to patterns which, depending on where they are from, may represent achievements in life, the family they are from, their position in society, or any combination of the former.
The Vaskar are the strongest of all fives races and as such get +1 strength, but they are very poor runners and suffer -1 speed.
The Ji’gan are descended from amphibious creatures that once drifted along under the icy surface of their home planet’s great seas. Mottled reddish-grey patterns mark their skin, natural camouflage in the iron-rich seas of their homeworld. They posses six deft fingers and long, lithe bodies streamlined for swimming. A set of sharp, venomous quills line the back of their bodies, staying flat unless threatened or attacked. Many of them posses tentacle-like protrusions along their tails, each ending in a jagged, hooked stinger. Their facial features look vaguely human, but with too-wide mouths and two pairs of dark eyes-- one for the same spectrum of light humans can detect, the other for sensing infrared radiation.
They often wear bright coloration with heat-generating panels, a habit developed to help identify each other in the murky depths of their homeworld.
Ji'gan often dive from the water’s surface to the very depths of the ocean floor in order to feed, as their main diet consists of an organism roughly analogous to giant tubeworms. As such, they can survive without oxygen for a long time, which can save their life if their suit is pierced during a battle and even allows them to spend a few rounds without risking asphyxia. However, after a prolonged time without a proper suit, they must recover in a water-heavy environment until such a time as they obtain a new one.
The Kenturo, like the Vaskar, are also descended from reptilian creatures, but they have developed some limited flight over the years. Relatively small and not too muscular, they stand at four feet at most. Their arms have evolved into feathered, wing-like appendages, though they’re too small for true, long-term flight, mostly useful for gliding from branch to branch; the Kenturo usually depend on thermals to go any further than that. Exuberantly colored, with scales and feathers ranging from red to orange to bright green, they move and act with swift grace. They mostly ate fruit and small insects in their natural environment, savanna-like plains covered in tall grass interspersed with massive trees.
An interesting point is that the Kenturo are the only species to never wear any kind of clothing, as it impairs their capacity to fly. Although they obviously make exceptions in space and in cold environments, they generally prefer to remain "one with the air". They also have specially designed suits which allow flight in space ships during times where depressurization is a threat, though they are clumsy at best.
Kenturo are able to fly and fit in small spaces and have +1 agility, but this comes at the price of -1 strength.
The Romulek are the tallest of all species, standing at seven to nine feet. Walking on a pair of long, powerful legs ending in cloven hooves, they can run at impressive speeds, which allowed them to chase down almost anything on the vast stretch of plains of their home planet. They are omnivorous, but tend to favor meat over fruits and vegetables as a result of their culture, which prizes fast-moving hunters. Completely covered in a light fur which ranges from browns to dark blonds, their upper body is relatively muscular, and they have a pair of very long arms, which allow them to pick things up from the ground without having to bend their legs.
Their heads possess elongated jaws and noses, which grant them a powerful sense of smell, and surprisingly human-like eyes. Their sizable ears are pointed upwards, and tend to be sensitive to dirt and other foreign materials. They generally wear clothing on their upper body, but leave their legs bare most of the time, as fabric impairs their capacity to run.
Romuleks get +1 speed due to their legs, but -1 at climbing. This can either be extremely inconvenient or completely unproblematic, depending on the design of the ship.
Humans evolved from simian hunter-gatherers specialising in prolonged chase, and are very adaptable due to their hairless skin, which allows them to don clothing suitable to most environments with minimal discomfort. Their relatively small hands and dextrous fingers make them well-suited to very fine manipulation, of the sort normally left to much smaller races.
They do not have any specific physical bonus or malus, and make good jacks of all trades.
Note: The players do not belong to any of these. This is just for your background.
Factions:
The Republic of Andemar is a mostly-human faction based on Earth. It is a highly nationalistic, conquest-run state with a strong emphasis on civic service, and began the current star system-spanning war when it broke a border treaty with the Karnak Empire by invading a system near its territory. Its population is roughly 60% human, 20% Romulek, and 20% other races who are somewhat evenly distributed.
The Karnak Empire is an absolute monarchy which was relatively peaceful until very recently. Ruled by the Emperor Below the Waves (a Ji'gan), it felt threatened by the Republic's extremely militaristic nature and quietly built up its military in preparation for a potential invasion. While the Republic ultimately did not invade them proper, they did break a major border treaty, forcing the Empire to declare war or otherwise lose face. However, their counteroffensive accidentally fired upon a Federation fleet, leading to the escalation of the conflict when the fleet answered with super weapons. The Empire's population is 30% Ji'gan, with other populations roughly even.
The Federation is a loose alliance of various galactic nations which united to protect itself against the other big players in the region. Pooling their resources into a sizable military allowed them to maintain peace for some time; however, one of its armadas was fired upon by an Imperial ship while it was guarding a system which had just defected from the Republic and into the Federation. While some swift diplomacy could’ve allowed them to avoid war, the armada answered by bombarding three Imperial planets with powerful bioweapons that wiped them clean of all life. This massacre left the Empire no choice but to declare a war against the Federation as well. Its population is mostly evenly distributed.
The Kandos Union is a constitutional monarchy of sorts, where the King and the Queen (who represent the executive and legislative branches of government, respectively) are elected by a parliament. It is a nominally peaceful and secretly ambitious nation that joined the Great War supposedly due to the Federation’s use of superweapons, which was in violation of nearly a dozen galactic treaties. However, many suggest that it is probably a gambit to acquire border systems it lost decades ago during a war with the Republic. Its population is 30% Kenturo, 30% Vaskar, and the rest is evenly distributed - although it contains next to no humans, due to them being in opposite parts of the galaxy.
Skills:
Skills give bonuses to the chances of an action succeeding. Actions are rolled on a d6, and skills generally give a +1. They are as follows:
Piloting: For any roll involved in piloting a ship.
Weapon control: For aiming better with ship weapons.
Engineering: For dealing with problems such as overloaded systems, power outages, and system damage.
Maintenance: For dealing with problems such as physically damaged non-system things (this can vary, but generally covers hull damage and breaches).
Healing: For stitching the arm back onto the shoulder.
Shooting: For shooting things.
Fighting: For fighting in melee.
Agility: For jumping around and doing complicated things with your hands. The agility bonus, divided by two and rounded down, is added to the shooting bonus.
Speed: For going somewhere, quickly. The speed bonus, divided by two and rounded down, is added to the agility bonus. This does not count towards the shooting bonus granted by agility.
Stealth: To avoid being seen by somebody.
Strength: For lifting heavy things and kicking down other things. The strength bonus, divided by two and rounded down, is added to the fighting bonus.
Every character may start with two level one skills, which can be then trained in game.
Starting equipment:
Every character may start with one starting piece of equipment. They are as follows:
Better suit: This suit can isolate some of its sections from the others, reducing risks of asphyxia in case of suit damage during a breach. If the suit is damaged, a roll of 4 to 6 will indicate that it successfully isolated the damaged part.
Gun: It allows you to shoot people to hurt them. You can fluff it to be what you want, but it will not have any additional bonuses even if you describe it as a pocket death star.
Melee weapon: Gives you +1 to your rolls when you are fighting someone without one (or with an improvised one). Again, you can fluff it however you want.
Some other cool thing: Describe it to me and I’ll see what I can do. Pure fluff is not necessary to be listed here.
You may have noticed that the description of the races make no mention of psychological demeanor. That is intended! No race is composed entirely of one personality type, and you can play as whatever you want no matter what species you choose.
This thread is for applications and questions. Applications will be approved (or not) here, and I will also answer questions in case I have left something unclear. The app form is below:
Name: Your character's name.
Race: Your character's race. All those listed are playable.
Gender: Male or Female.
Position: Your character's position in the ship. Examples: Weapons Officer, Captain, Engineer, Surgeon...
Physical appearance: Your character's look. The racial descriptions are baselines; just like humans are varied, aliens can be varied too.
Psychological description: What your character's personality is, how he thinks... You are not forced to follow this at all times during roleplay, but you should try to form a personality for your char. Otherwise, the roleplay is dull and the character is one-dimensional. This is more here to help you than it is here to help me.
Bio: Your character's past. Where is he from? How did he become a smuggler? Why is he part of the crew? There is no length limit. Go wild.
Starting skills: Think carefully about those. It may be tempting to play a Vaskar who is terribly strong and kicks ass in physical combat, but is that really going to be useful in a smuggling ship? Of course, you can make it useful with some imagination, and it might even become the best of the crewmembers, but still, be careful about what you take.
Starting equipment: As I said in the spoiler, you can take one of the listed things or something else. In the latter case, you might need to convince me.
I will be taking 6 to 8 people in. One of them will need to be the captain of the ship. I will choose the apps purely based on quality of the writing (and maybe also a little length, writing the most beautiful sentence I ever saw but only writing that sentence won't get you in), so try and put some effort into this. This is not first come first served.
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Topic: Wartorn Stars OOC Thread (Taking Apps!) (Read 1560 times)