[OOC/Concept] X-RPG

[Arcalane]

I've been bouncing this idea around in my head for a while. Some of the more experienced and older gamers here may remember the X-COM series; Enemy Unknown, Terror From The Deep, Apocalypse, Interceptor, and so on†. For those of you who do, you now know the basic premise. For those of you who don't, here's the basic rundown, according to the X-COM Canon;

In 1998, an organization known as "X-COM" is formed to fight off an alien menace. After three years of brutal warfare and bloodshed, the aliens are defeated and mankind is saved. Hurrah.

That, at least, covers the basic history of X-COM themselves. I admit it's terribly brief, but it gets the gist across. this UFOpaedia topic provides a lot more history on X-COM.

The story here is poised to swing a number of ways. I am indecisive on the end focus. Global, like the original X-COM. Metropolitan/Citywide, like Apocalypse. A hybrid of the two. Or perhaps a fourth outcome.

However, mostly what I'm interested in is input from potential players, both on setting, style and other odds and ends. Recruitment and player "loss" are far less dangerous to plot stability due to the nature of the game. To quote a discussion on it elsewhere; "Players who appear just get congealed out of the faceless horde, players who disappear congeal back into the faceless horde." This gives a lot of flexibility for drafting in new characters or fading out those of players who are no longer around. Go AWOL during a mission, however, and the consequences could be dire*. On the other hand, those who perform well will be rewarded.

Rules would be simple, though. You are the world's best, but you cannot afford to take liberties. You are not unique and pretty flowers. Do not expect to be able to get away with insubordination unless the results are spectacularly good. You wear what you're given, you wield what you're given, and you shoot anyone or anything you're told to shoot - no questions asked.

There is no magic or similar systems, unless you put forward extremely good reasoning for it that isn't simply "because it sounds cool" or "because they have it on <TV show>". Psionics and their initial level of use depend on the story. For example, they may be entirely unheard of for a stock X-COM setting, but at least somewhat harnessed and controlled for an Apocalypse-esque setting. They will exist in order to stick with the X-COM "canon", however, and their use will be a lot more flexible than X-COM's original "mind probe", "panic target" and "control target".

(*This doesn't mean you active folks will get it any easier if you miss the cues. Your life expectancy will be measured in minutes.**)

(**Just kidding. They'll be measured in seconds! )

(†Anyone who mentions Enforcer in a serious manner will be laughed out of the thread.)

[techmaster-glitch]

Whoa...the basis is just slightly eerily similar to the RP that my buddy nameless blade has been workin on every day...only his is far more complex and convoluted

[Arcalane]

Entirely possible, given that alien invasions are a fairly common theme.

[techmaster-glitch]

Not quite an alien invasion, but it is a post-apocalyptic global RP.

[lucas marcone]

i do need a good grissled armed services-esque character to round out my stables. you could count me in.


would it be safe to assume you can start as pissboy and work your way to officer(comissioned or otherwised)

[Arcalane]

Essentially. Even though you're part of the world's finest, you're still just getting your foot in the door in the organization.

Don't set anything down until I have more of an idea for the setting. Classic X-COM, afterall, is slightly dated by now as it took place in the late 1900s (1998 onwards), whereas Apocalypse took place in the mid 2000s (around 2040 I think, not 100% sure) and there are a lot of differences.

[Azlan]

Will this have staying power or die out after a short time like you past RPs?

Your track record is low

[techmaster-glitch]

Actually, I though Wastelands 2 was pretty cool, and I tried to join in, but it didn't work out.

[Arcalane]

Will this have staying power or die out after a short time like you past RPs?

Your track record is low

I know. That's partly why I haven't gotten much past the vague concept stage; I'm not sure I want to run it if it's just going to flop again.

It's not entirely my fault, though. We lost about half the Wastelands 2 team either to Real Life(TM) or they just faded out and didn't show up again.

I'm hoping the more flexible signup/signout system here will make losing players a lot less dangerous to gameplay stability.

[namelessblade]

this is really neat  i like it its still vary basic so i would say a far as setting a secret war would be cool so no one knows about the alien menace and of course the organization is vary shadowy and gets angry if there are witnesses or they need to do clean up and i would do a lot of different alien races 

[Arcalane]

Impossible. By X-COM canon, entire cities are invaded and serious damage is dealt. Civilians are killed or witness X-COM soldiers fighting off the invasion forces. Multiple UFOs are seen within a week later on, and it's obvious what's going on. You can't hide crash-landing UFOs and plasma-scorched housing from the public. Whilst I imagine X-COM try to leave crash sites as clean as possible (recovering all available scrap/etc. at the end of a mission) they can't repair urban damage. As for the alien races; amply covered by both Apocalypse and X-COM:EU stock. I may not use those species in particular, but the general purposes will remain.

[lucas marcone]

how about friendlies? with so many races gunning for earth, there has to be atleast one that made contact and has stable trades or atl east good relations with us.

[Arcalane]

Nope. The races are not individual forces - they are a combined army. Each race serves it's own purpose within the invasion forces. Ethereals are the commanders, Mutons the heavy soldiers, Floaters the scouts, and so on and so forth.

[namelessblade]

now it becomes clear this is a lot like the halo before halo

[Arcalane]

Except without the supersoldiers, covenant, and rabid fanboys who declare all who dislike Halo as heretics.

[namelessblade]

more or less the aliens are a lot like the covanant though and your more like a marine instead of master chief and rabid fan boys are bad

[Arcalane]

Not really.

In structure they are nowhere near that of the Covenant, and the goals are much different. Many theories have arisen about what they're doing; most agree that the seeds of life were sown by the aliens, and that they were returning, several millenia later, to harvest the "crop". This is evidenced mostly by the kidnappings, modification and mutilation. Civilians are not simply slaughtered, but their vital organs are harvested and stored, transported back to the alien bases for unknown purposes. Also, unlike the Covenant, there is no internal strife and no non-strict leadership rules.

The Brain controlled them all, orchestrating the operations from Cydonia, and they could not resist it's will - rather than the Covenant, where the species had free will and could rebel, but did not, for various reasons. The Brain's Ethereals were powerful psionics and some of the most dangerous despite their physical frailty. Mutons exhibited signs of a dependancy on constant communication with their Ethereal Commanders, lest they die. Sectoids are probably the most independant of the species alongside the Snakemen, and the Floaters are entirely reliant on the Brain for survival.

The Covenant rage a religious war. The Aliens (they are never officially given a name) are simply out to kill us all and harvest our vital organs for food and to power their warmachines*.

(*I'm not sure how canonical TFTD is, but many aliens are supposedly heavily modified humans, and at least one alien terror unit makes use of a drugged, tortured and reprogrammed human brain as part of it's control mechanism.)

[namelessblade]

oh then a post apoctilyptic setting would only make sense because aliens start yankin out brains and vital orgins i would assume they would come in force and pepole would panic.

[Arcalane]

Well in Apocalypse the motives are less certain. All that's known is that they're interdimensional invaders. They seem more intent on wiping everyone out for the hell of it than harvesting organs. They too have psionic capabilities and have shown themselves capable of taking over allied corporations to undermine X-COM. Like the first Alien War, the aliens of the third Alien War do not directly communicate with mankind. It is obvious they are hostile, but the reasons for their hostility remain unknown.

Take in mind the difference in scale between the two settings is remarkable; Enemy Unknown takes place on a worldwide scale. Apocalypse takes place in one massive city (Mega-Primus, the last habitable city on Earth) instead.

They start quietly in either case, stealing the odd nobody here and there - but eventually as X-COM steps up it's operations, they're forced to use more and more drastic tactics to acquire what they want. Sometimes X-COM's interference has even driven them to attack X-COM bases in an attempt to stamp out the organization.

[namelessblade]

hmm mabey a mix of all of the setting and styles of the x-coms then to create a ultimate x-com

[Arcalane]

That would just be a terrible unspeakable mess, and would be ridiculous. The participants of both the First (EU) and Second (TFTD) Alien Wars are related, but the interdimensional invaders of Apocalypse are not related to either.

See, rather than combine a terrible mash of everything, I'm going to focus on a select few elements from the games. Either a global or city styling, or an as-yet un-thought-of style.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

The issue with a city styling is... how many city blocks can get demolished before there isn't a city anymore?

As a GM, you should be aware of this, even if you don't tell anyone...

The issue with a global one, is that people will hardly ever meet, and there's enough space to drop Texas into a black hole without anyone noticing...


I think the single-city variant is probably your best bet, although what with the Heroes and Villains threads, it'll be the third "city" type RP... I'm not sure if that's going to have much effect.

[namelessblade]

like glitch said earlier this is alittle bit like the welcome to earth rp and i went global so mabey a bit like that you can have a global rp with just a few choice locations that stick out ?

[Arcalane]

The issue with a city styling is... how many city blocks can get demolished before there isn't a city anymore?

MegaPrimus is HUGE. And I mean absolutely eff-you-cee-kay-ing MASSIVE. If I can find my X-COM Apocalypse CD, I may try and take several screenshots MegaPrimus so you can get an idea of the scale of this thing. It really is amazingly huge, especially by game terms.

As a GM, you should be aware of this, even if you don't tell anyone...

The issue with a global one, is that people will hardly ever meet, and there's enough space to drop Texas into a black hole without anyone noticing...

Which is why everyone is part of the same organization.

I think the single-city variant is probably your best bet, although what with the Heroes and Villains threads, it'll be the third "city" type RP... I'm not sure if that's going to have much effect.

Such is life.

like glitch said earlier this is alittle bit like the welcome to earth rp and i went global so mabey a bit like that you can have a global rp with just a few choice locations that stick out ?

Doesn't that rather defeat the point of "global"? Take in mind the settings; there will be plenty of casual "on base" roleplay to be had, but missions could be anywhere on the globe, as X-COM is frequently shooting down and recovering UFOs.

[namelessblade]

yes but what im saying is having a few  bases where the characters go for info and new jobs as oppossed to one absolutely massive city that way you can show different cultures reacting differantly and if players need to take a break there just transfered to a different base for a assignment with the characters as rookies at the main base and it dosent make it such a pain to get back to base after a mission like in some rps

[Arcalane]

The getting to and from is easy; handled primarily either by VTOL dropships (such as the Skyranger) or ground vehicles (in Apoc) so no worries there.

[namelessblade]

hmm im just throwing out ideas but a city based rp would get boring no matter how big on a global rp connected through bases you can always send them into space for a big offensive or something

[Arcalane]

Not really. Space flight doesn't become conveniently do-able until the reverse engineering of alien technology in the classic X-COM scenario.

[namelessblade]

mabey but at some point i imaginen it will become  possible based on the threads life

[lucas marcone]

this seems more.....sane than welcom to earth so it will be a strikeing contrast.

i vote for continantal.