jackfractal

ShyGuy stands up as well and moves to the back of the bay, away from the doors. "I should disembark last, while the ship is pulling back from the drop-off. My gear is uh... awkward, and I'll need to deactivate the gravity coil in the airlock to move it into EVA. It'll take about 300 seconds for me to unpack and get everything running once I'm out there. I'll aim to go in through the main breach, but if we hit resistance right away I can move to backup whoever is taking fire."

So, one way of doing this would be to create a new species called “Synthetics.” They would be mechanically identical to IPC’s. When you picked a Synthetic, you’d get two options, your shell and your brain. Your shell is what your body looks like. There would be the classic mechanical look that IPC’s know and love (with more options for different styles of head), and then some kind of ‘synth skin’ option that makes you look mostly like a squishy human. Maaaybe you could have a ‘synth fur’ or ‘synth scales’ option as well if you wanted to look mostly like a Tajaran and/or Unathi. I say ‘mostly’ because I think it’s important that you be able to identify them by Examination, so that Doctors don’t load them with chems by accident if they get dropped in medbay, as well as for roleplay reasons. Then you pick your brain. Your brain could be a posibrain, like existing IPC’s, or an mmi containing a brain from one of the existing sentient species. Picking a non-human sentient brain would require white-listing for that species in addition to Synthetic white-listing. That means if you wanted to have a tajaran brain in a shell that looked like a unathi, you’d need tajaran and synthetic white-listing, but not unathi (biological unathi would likely think you were intensely weird, unnerving, and probably highly offensive). Of course, doing this pushes SS13 from it’s current position as chaotic but anachronistic sci-fi, all the way through the neon streets of cyberpunk, into the strange and unknown lands of post-cyberpunk, but that seems to be what people want. If I were going to fluff this, I’d say that civilian access to this kind of thing would be new (as in, maybe one or two years at most from ‘present day’), highly controversial, rare, and expensive.

Shyguy taps another few times on their tablet, then shakes their head, the straps on their gas-mask clinking. "I don't think I can get through the shuttle bay launch tubes unless you made the breach pretty large." They look up at Quaddy who is shaking his head, "Aaaaand I think Quaddy would object to using that much boom. I'll have to go in through the existing breach, or try for one of the main airlocks. The breach is probably my best bet." They look up from their tablet and look around, "So if, uh, our large friend here is going in through the shuttle bays, who's going with him?"

Shyguy leans forward to look closely at the map. "Interior dimensions look like... four meter clearance on the main junctions." They look down at their tablet, then back up at the map, "I can work with that." They check a few more things on their tablet before turning to Quaddy. "I'm not uhh.... I'm still not convinced going in, in one big group is the best idea. If anyone has breaching charges, we could put them there -" they point at the lower portion of the ship near a chevron indicating a launch tube "- and there. Then we could go in through one of the launch bays. If those are fighter bays, not drone pods, the individual fighter shuttles will have independent life-support systems, power supplies, that kind of thing. If I were stuck on that ship and I couldn't get to an escape pod, that's where I'd go..."

I was going to disagree with you, but then I realized that I'd be disagreeing with you about whether we would disagree, and that's too circular even for me.

That's what I was getting at. Maybe we could make command imperial purple...

And yet people will. Go to rpg.net and search for 'immersion'. You'll find quite a number of threads on the topic filled with considerable disagreement. As to 'realistic', I think we'll just have to agree to disagree. What is 'realistic' to one person is seldom 'realistic' to another person. In both cases, they're probably wrong. Reality is both stranger, and filled with more coincidences then any 'realistic' narrative. I like all the definitions in this thread. They're very interesting in terms of what you think would make a good role-playing game, but nobody has a clear definition for the delineation between what is 'medium-rp' and what is 'high-rp'. I'm starting to think that there really isn't any. The second you try to maintain a player/character separation of knowledge, you become 'high-rp'.

Ah, that's a pretty big ask. I would try it, but I'm not at home this weekend. Do we really need a map? A description might do just as well.

So I thought I'd contribute to the spate of essays tonight with a question. What is High-RP? Specifically, how it's different then, say, Medium-RP. It's been asked a few times today, and nobody's really answered it. I thought about it some, but I don't have a good answer. I can tell you about the other levels though. No-RP The player and the character have identical information and there is no attempt by the administration to prevent this. If someone says "Urist MacDeadSoon is a changeling! They killed me in telescience!" over OOC, well, Urist MacDeadSoon had better learn how to run. Low-RP This, like No-RP, has no differentiation between information known by the player and information known by the character, however, OOC information transfer about the current round is prohibited. Because of this, people will typically refer to other characters by name, and Urist MacDeadSoon just has to worry about regular surveillance, not vengeance from beyond the grave. It's considered bad form to mention that you're in a video-game, but you probably won't get in trouble for it. You are allowed to do anything within your capabilities. A bartender can do brain surgery provided that they have access to the tools. Medium and/or High This level assumes that the player and the character have different information. While the player may know how to set up a supermatter engine, their character will not, unless they're an Engineer. Knowledge of how antagonists work is often partitioned as well. You are supposed to act how your character would react. The difference between Medium and Heavy eludes me though. Sue suggested in her response to Skull's thread that the definition of 'heavy-rp' is an expectation of quality. In that case, Medium and Heavy RP are defined simply by who is more skilled, and can exist in parallel on the same server. Tainavaa gave a good attempt to define it as "To play a role on the NSS Aurora in an immersive/realistic manner." But if you've ever spent any time on tabletop rpg forums you'll know that no threads, not even edition wars, get as heated as threads about 'immersion'. It's a term that seems to have as many definitions as players most days, and 'realistic' is a slippery term at the best of times. Spacemans Atmospherics Simulator 13 isn't very good at 'realism' by even the most generous definition, and what makes perfect reasonable sense to one person is hilariously unrealistic to the next. In addition, an invocation of realism is often used to bludgeon other people into playing how you want them to play. Don't be too skilled. Don't be too unique. Don't be too aggressive. Don't be too inventive. Don't be too pushy. Stay in your departments. Always run from bad guys. You wouldn't have been hired by NT if you were so young/damaged/scary/strange/unhappy/rude. It's not realistic. So I've had trouble with both proposed definitions I've heard today. Anyone else got a different one?

I imagine that the reason most admin-pm's come across as terse and intimidating is that, as usual, the player receiving the PM does not have the complete picture. SS13 is built on incomplete information, that's what the various domain specific radio bands, PDA private messages, alien languages etc, are designed to foster. You're not supposed to understand what's going on at all times. And we've extended that, I believe by accident and the limitations of byond, to the administrative system. If you get bwoinked about something, even if the admin in question is just looking for information about something you weren't even really involved in, it's a lot like getting tapped on the shoulder by your boss and hearing the dreadful words 'Lets talk in private.' Even if they're giving you a raise, it's scary as hell.

((I might be able too cook something up. What did you have in mind?))

((Rationale for saying you're not wearing EVA gear: - D3F417 described as wearing a shirt and cargo-pants - Kovner is described as wearing a jump-suit - Omen's clothes are not described but people's reactions to his robotic arms are described in detail (and they wouldn't be visible inside a space suit) - Shadow's clothes are not described but she is described as wearing sunglasses, something you wouldn't normally wear inside a space suit, and she scaled a wall with ease after a long jump, something you wouldn't normally be able to do while wearing a space suit. If you actually are wearing a space suit at this point, just put a note in parenthesis and we can assume that ShyGuy didn't point you out.))

"What? No," says ShyGuy to Shadows question. "Of course not." They cross their arms in front of their chest, then, several seconds later, realizing what they've done, they place their hands, palms down, on their thighs. "I've done this before." It would be more convincing if their voice didn't break on the last word. After several seconds of awkward silence, ShyGuy perks up at Mulders story about the raid on N'tek research. They look like they're about to add something to Mulder's recounting of Shadow's job, when they're cut off just as they start speaking by Quaddie's news about the map. "All of us going in one way? Isn't that, I dunno, dangerous? What if there's stray ordinance in the wreckage, or they still have some working point-defence. We could all get offed with one lucky shot." There's a quick pause, and then another thought seems to strike them, "And inserting through a breach? These two -", a hand covered in a thin space-suit glove points to the two Tajaran, "- aren't wearing EVA gear. Neither is your co-pilot, or the droid."

"I mean, like, yeah," says ShyGuy, "But, like, a plan on how we're going to do that? A schematic of the ship? A roster of the crew? Choke points? Squad assignments? Tactical objectives? That sort of thing?"

"Uh... hello Matrix," says ShyGuy. "I uh... thanks for the offer but I'm not really comfortable having other people inside my info-sec perimeter." They play with their hands in tiny nervous movements. "You won't have any trouble keeping track of where I am though." ShyGuy looks around at the rest of the team, "Does anyone know what the plan is once we get there?"

Could I suggest a five minute cool-down on looc after death? I know that I, personally, have complained in LOOC immediately after dying and that both distracts and disorients the antagonist. Killing someone as an antag is a stressful thing to do, even when you're successful, and having to deal with their ghost immediately afterward cannot be particularly fun. Dying in SS13 is often pretty emotional, and I think that deadchat is the proper place to process that, not LOOC.

ShyGuy, who has been trying, with limited success, to pretend not to be interested in what the others are saying, perks up when the automated voice speaks from Mulder equipment. "Is that a LAI in a flame-thrower?"

I don't mind the uniforms, but I miss the red. Security looks too much like command now.

So I've been playing on Aurora for about a week at this point. I've seen rounds where there were no Engineers, I've seen rounds where there were no Doctors, and most rounds have nobody working in science, but I've never seen a round with no security. I also play on Paradise, which is a high-population low-rp server. No requirements to RP. Most nuke teams announce their presence by brutally murdering the AI, then bombing several parts of the station simultaneously, and a good 1/3 of the rounds there ends with the air lighting on fire or the singularity getting released. And Paradise struggles to fill a security department. I'm talking a single security guard and a Warden for a round with ~100 players. If common wisdom were true, and people played security for a chance to hunt criminals and shoot badguys, wouldn't you expect the opposite to happen? Why do you think security is so well staffed here on Aurora where, theoretically, it's not the action that is supposed to keep you interested?

ShyGuy, still picking up the tools, is startled again by Mulders appearance. As the grey-haired man strides past him they say, "N-no! Party hasn't started yet!" but Mulder has already moved past them and into the ship. "And... you weren't talking to me," says ShyGuy, fumbling the last of the spanners back into the toolbox. "Of course you weren't." With another longing look toward the far cargo-doors, ShyGuy walks up the ramp and into the ship.

It doesn't look funded yet to me. Still! Backing the hell out of this. EDIT: Aaah, because they've made ten times more then they asked for. Though they were asking for a spectacularly low amount of money to make a game like this.

I tried it once. It was very awkward. It worked, but it was distracting. You really don't need a physics simulation to handle die rolling. You don't need a physics simulation to handle model placement. Roll20, Vassal, or even Google Drawings would fit your needs much better.

Unless someone stops them, ShyGuy will just pick up the tools, only dropping them again one or twice, and retreat onto the ship where they will try to find a corner to pretend not to exist in.

>>> Some time ago… A message arrives at Quaddy's console. Sender: ShyGuy-62. >>> Now… One of the loading doors at the end of the Docking Bay 2.11 opens and a six legged forklift droid walks through with the measured even cadence of a metronome. It is carrying a half-size unmarked metal cargo container. Behind it, almost hiding, is a small human wearing a gas-mask, a thin, cheap looking space suit, and carrying a commercial tablet computer. The droid and the human approach the ship, not spotting the and stop some distance from the entrance. The human looks around the bay, craning its neck, as though hoping that there’s been some mistake and this is not the right ship. But there are no other ships. They do not notice Shadow or the other Tajaran speaking off to the side. The human pauses for several seconds, as though weighing their options. It looks back towards the cargo doors, and then back towards the ship several times. After about thirty seconds of indecision they roll their shoulders once and signal to the droid to go up the ramp. The communication lights on the borg flicker in response and it clicks its up the ramp into the ship, the large cargo container almost scraping the ceiling of the loading dock. The human taps the console several more times, apparently paying the droid, because after several more seconds the droid emerges from the ship again without the cargo container and walks off toward the doors, job done. The human sighs, which is right when Frank greets the two Tajaran. The human leaps back in alarm, knocking a toolbox on a nearby tray onto the floor with an enormous clatter, scattering its contents in a wide arc across the bay’s tiled floor. The human says “Sorry! Sorry!” in a strangled voice and starts picking up the scattered tools.