So I kind of see a few different story possibilities. One of the key questions to me is does this take place across the planet or purely in the United States.
1 - No Apocalypse, but China/US War happened.
The initial idea I had. That is there was no nuclear war. American and China went at it but ended in a stalemate. Thus PA, Fatmans, and Chinese Stealth Suits all exist. Aliens came in a few years later. A UN like entity was formed to combat them, but due to issues between the constituent countries mankind was defeated. Our story begins 20 years after the alien victory. Scattered resistance fighters remain but have been unable to do much beyond hide, survive, and plan. The countries of old are now called by new names, their cultures assimilated into the one government. Only the resistance remembers what was.
This RP is set in the entire world with membership from different countries. Our resistance force is based out of an alien supply ship, scouting out with Vertibirds.
2 - Miniocalypse.
There was a nuclear war but it wasn't as bad as in Fallout. Aliens moved in afterward to take over now that the nations of man had weakened each other. There was a war, but due to the damage caused by the nuclear war the civilizations of mankind were defeated. Our story begins 20 years after the alien victory. BoS and NCR exist in some small form (perhaps unified) but have limited access to tech due to alien controls. The states of old are now called by new names, their individual cultures assimilated into one government. Only the resistance remembers what was.
This RP is set in the United States with membership from different states. Our resistance force is based out of a Mobile Crawler unit, scouting done with Vertibirds.
3 - No Apocalypse, No US/China War.
China and Canada but reluctant to work with US. China was giving nearby countries "freedom" but secretly installing their own agents as a form of annexation. Power Armor, Stealth Suits, FEV, and Fatmans were not yet developed. Due to this distrust the alien invaders are victorious. Our story begins 20 years after that victory. The borders of old have been replaced with those of alien design. Only the resistance remembers the world that was.
This RP could be set in the US or the World.
We could also do any of these approaches as the initial Human/Alien War rather than the 20 Years After Alien Victory thing.
Here's a bunch of stuff about how I imagined the actual RPing to go...
Spoiler
- 1 GM
The GM in this instance plays a different role. He will actually be playing the battle scenarios out. This helps keep things unpredictable. I'd like to play this role, as I've pre-ordered the game and am quite looking forward to it, but we could also easily have 2 or 3 people playing out these scenarios and sort of an amalgamation of the results.
- Many Troops
Everyone participating can join as multiple troops. In the very beginning everyone will start out nearing the end of their basic training, after that everyone will start out having just graduated. Whether an individual troop flourishes or flounders is based on their approach to combat and a lot of random chance. It will be good to make multiple troops because any individual character may be killed or injured at any time. Having more troops will also allow posters to put together a squad as they see fit when it's their turn to be the commander. Initially what class a troop becomes will be random, but pretty soon you'll be able to decide what class you want a troop to be. The Character Sheets will be brief, but will include things to help the GM use the character as you would want them to be used.
- Commander or Commanders
This role rotates from one participant to another. Either one person in charge of this or the position rotates between posters. Here you will be in charge of what to investigate or invest in until a combat bit pops up. You will then get to decide how to build your squad. That is why it's important to have a number of troops, if you want to have an all Sniper squad you need 4-6 Snipers to be available for use. Since we only have so much traffic here and there are a number of possible classes it's important to have a good number of troops. After you make your choice the GM will go through the combat gameplay and then send you the results. You can then either type up a battle summary yourself or ask the GM to do it for you.
- In Action
So...
The GM would tell the Commander what mission is up and what the terms of completion are (like kill all the baddies or find the McGuffin). The Commander would decide what Troops he/she wants on the mission. He could also describe how he wants to progress in general terms how he wants to approach the mission. The GM would then play out the mission according to the Commander's instructions and the troops characteristics. When that's done he would describe what happened to the Commander who could then write up how the mission went.
That way everyone gets to do some combat writing as well as some general messing about the base stuff.
Character Sheets
I want to keep these simple, as in my Commonwealth RP that fizzled out. Something like...
Name:
Nickname: The first game assigned this based on performance though it is editable. Not given until you reach the rank above Recruit.
Appearance:
Nationality: You can have a flag on the back of your gear and I figure it would be kind of cool to have them still wearing the flags of countries that no longer really exist.
Role: These are also unlocked when you reach the rank above Recruit or when we reach a certain point in game.
Personality Traits: These will define how the GM plays that character. If Tommy Salami is a gung-ho maniac with a death wish he'll do more flanking maneuvers, get up closer, and use cover less. If Tony Bologna is a reclusive sniper with a savior complex he'll try to always keep his partners covered from a height advantage. If Sophia Sopressata is a bad ass with a heart of gold she'll stick right there with her squad ready to fix up any injuries and insist on leaving no man behind.
The cool thing, to me, about this approach is that it would mean everyone gets to be a Commander every so often. You can put together a squad of troops that you like, knowing that every time you send them out they may not come back but if you don't send them out they'll never get better. Any character can die at any time, so a character who actually does make it through a bunch of missions would likely grow on us. The game even has built in things like Panicking and PTSD.
Even if you're not interested in the alien bit I'd appreciate any feedback. It would be difficult but if we develop a system that works it could be adapted to work for a NCR/BoS War RP or Institute/BoS. Might have to wait for mods to come out as there are some elements that have no Fallout Universe equivalent, but I'm sure we could make it work.
Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 12:31 am