Summaries and Catching Up

DarkGemini24601

Well-Known Member
So I feel this is a problem that ought to be addressed, I know that there is at least one person that wants to join up, but doesn't want to have to read through the entire 3 threads relating to the story.

I personally attempted to write a character catch up for Atka, but found it would exceed a single post, and got discouraged. Even if everyone were to follow Adrammalech's example, we stilk have the issue of summimg up story progression, tech progression, etc.

The question: How do we go about summarizing things to make it easier for someone that wants to join? Should we work towards doing that, should we require them to at least read or skim everything, or should we just make a small summary of story events and then just have them get to understand it from there?
 

Adrammalech

Well-Known Member
Well, I still think a "neutral" summary of the story line is implausible, even someone who has read every post (it would require an unfair time investment, not to mention how the summary would have reader/writer dissonance with foreshadowing and Chekhov guns). I personally think the optional individual summary is the best solution, which is why I created the thread without any real deliberation. I plan to add a sentence every 1-2 posts as time goes on. It's not perfect: i.e., the whole thing is in Emily's chronological order, leading to back-to-back flashbacks instead of being in the context of what's happening at the moment in the present. But, it's the only thing I can think of that would work.

In terms of solely being a roleplayer coming in (ignoring the intimidation of trying to catch up on the reading aspect), any characters who came in at this point would be a "new guy," and the character wouldn't be able to effectively use anything from the prior events anyway. They would have to meet the characters like everyone else has, and ask what's with them for the character to know (i.e. Emily asking about Ammelia's SAAIDA even though I as a person read the personnel file). One could potentially leverage this into a character's goal, to get through the existing cliques and "belong" to the base.
 

BlueBead

Member
I'm interested in joining the roleplays, but as I've said before, joining is really daunting.
Maybe like Adrammalech said, going with a sort of "You character is new, so you learn with them" kind of thing might be pretty effective and interesting. Then just address important past plot points as they become relevant. Probably in the think tank.

So maybe instead of a story summary, write a "style guide" for beginners. Something that covers some of the rules of the roleplay. Things that I can think of to cover are how to introduce characters, a basic template to fill out for the character's bio, when and where it's ok to talk out of character, how the whole "Dungeon Master" thing works, what happens if your character is interacted with but you don't have the time to roleplay, incredibly major story plots that even a new soldier would probably have heard rumors about... stuff like that.

I'd be willing to help out in writing some of the newbie guide, but of course being a newbie myself, I can only help in regards with what a newbie would want to know and basic character bio stuff.
 

DarkGemini24601

Well-Known Member
I'd love to hear your suggestions for that, and we could add them into that thread Marine created.

I can't help today though, being on a phone and all.
 

MarineAvenger

Operator 21O
Staff member
That is a good idea. We have rules for a GM and some guidelines for general writing and site stuff but I agree with the fact we could create a roleplay guideline.
 

Adrammalech

Well-Known Member
I'm interested in joining the roleplays, but as I've said before, joining is really daunting.
Maybe like Adrammalech said, going with a sort of "You character is new, so you learn with them" kind of thing might be pretty effective and interesting. Then just address important past plot points as they become relevant. Probably in the think tank.

So maybe instead of a story summary, write a "style guide" for beginners. Something that covers some of the rules of the roleplay. Things that I can think of to cover are how to introduce characters, a basic template to fill out for the character's bio, when and where it's ok to talk out of character, how the whole "Dungeon Master" thing works, what happens if your character is interacted with but you don't have the time to roleplay, incredibly major story plots that even a new soldier would probably have heard rumors about... stuff like that.

I'd be willing to help out in writing some of the newbie guide, but of course being a newbie myself, I can only help in regards with what a newbie would want to know and basic character bio stuff.

Our stuff is kinda jumbled up, we started the RP in quite a whirlwind and didn't think much about post sequence as we made stuff up.

Entering the RP:
Post in the tank or message the GM to declare your intent to join. Create your character along the guidelines, and then post the biography in the Character Bios. After that, you can start doing journals about personal life and base life as regularly or rarely as you like, and will get assigned missions as the GM sees fit.

The Complete Ruleset (press the "↑" arrow to go to the post):
Zombieplitter53's official-ish rules for the RP (-ish because, like the American Justice System, there are always rules).

Character Creation Synopsis:
- You can have two "main" characters and a squad of less detailed characters
- You can have any motive for joining except being blackmailed/coerced into service
- Your character requires no experience, but it's highly recommended to have military service for soldiers
- Your class is "assigned" (based off your decision) after your first mission so shouldn't be part of your origin story unless they were rescued from another roleplayer's mission
- Your character can have any body type (but should be reasonably athletic for soldiers) and mental quirks as long as they aren't so pervasive that it would disqualify them from even a desperate consideration (i.e. frequently harming teammates or superiors)
- Character bios are completely up to you, there's no standard format any of us used. Generally the good things to have are: Full Name, Age, Gender, Nationality, appearance description, and a primary reason why they'd be recruited
- If your character's quirks are really out there in terms of science fiction or serious mental defects, you should ask the GM first
FLAWLESS SEGUE
The GM:
- The GM role by itself essentially operates as the Commander's computer, posting mission briefs and assigning soldiers to tasks. They also resolve disputes and have editting/deleting power over posts if need be.
- Our GM is ZombieSplitter53 and controls Morrigan (the Commander), Bradford (the Executive Officer), Shen (the lead engineer) and Vahlen (the lead scientist); essentially controlling how "game progression" would work in terms of equipment, research, and mission timing
- Zombie is very accommodating and will work with you to do certain story tasks. Generally, if what you want to do affects something in the base structure, mission sequence, research order, or any other players you haven't deliberated with, you should clear it with the GM
- If you're unsure about something, ask the GM
- If another person has infringed on your character, ask the GM
- If you're too busy IRL to do a mission in a reasonable timeframe, ask the GM

Thread Types:
In-character: Story of Defiance (main RP), XCOM Missions and EXALT Missions (structured missions only)
Out-of-character, on-topic: Character Bios and Character Catch-Ups
Out-of-character, anything goes: The self described "full of shit" think tank
Rules (includes the rules, alien types, and class progressions): Character Sheets

Collaborations:
Usually collaborative posts are declared in a message or post here and then scheduled at a time that works for everyone. It's generally good manners to tell someone your post will affect them in some way. If you have a solo post that affects someone in a way bigger than "there's murmurs about you," you should tell them beforehand. If your post affects someone in a way that would change their appearance or operating procedure, you should absolutely ask for permission first.

Example - I'm writing a non-collaborative post. My character Emily will briefly interact with Marine's character, Desmond, in some way.

Okay to solo post: Emily tells her friend that she thinks Desmond is cool.
Check with the RPer: Emily says "how's it going" in passing to Desmond, to which he will reply "I'm doing well."
Check with RPer and GM: Emily decides Desmond is a butthead and sucker punches him in the middle of the mess hall, starting a brawl and giving him a visible black eye.
 
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MarineAvenger

Operator 21O
Staff member
\Example - I'm writing a non-collaborative post. My character Emily will briefly interact with Marine's character, Desmond, in some way.

Okay to solo post: Emily tells her friend that she thinks Desmond is cool.
Check with the RPer: Emily says "how's it going" in passing to Desmond, to which he will reply "I'm doing well."
Check with RPer and GM: Emily decides Desmond is a butthead and sucker punches him in the middle of the mess hall, starting a brawl and giving him a visible black eye.
Funny because they haven't even met yet :p
 

DarkGemini24601

Well-Known Member
Let me tell you all about how I became the fresh Exalt of X-COM... (A Story of Defiance)

Originally, there were four EXALT characters. Two belonged to PrismaCube, who had to leave due to not being able to find the time to write. Prisma played "Lusett Exalt", the leader of the organization and a brilliant scientist from a prestigous family line that has influenced historical invention. She disappeared after inventing the holographic technology used for XCOM's hologlobe and working in the field of Artifical Intelligence. On her own, she developed a true A.I. dubbed A.V.A.N.I.X. The other two were spies sent to infiltrate EXALT by her. There was Eva Aegerter (Dahlexpert) and Desmond Walker (MarineAvenger).

More than anything, Lusett made leaps into the illegal field of human cloning. She had many failures, but two were successful before the alien invasion, using a mysterious substance (MELD) that she dubbed 'Tz6'. Subject 1, her 'daughter' Eve based off the DNA of Lusett's friend Eva Aegerter, was the first. The second success came from the DNA of Viktor Dorian and his brother (that died in the process by accident) Desmond. The male clone, Subject 42 or Desmond Walker, was sent off to train with japanese shinobu. He was brought back forcefully into the fold, resulting in the shinobu being wiped out, after his training was complete but he did not want to leave.

The invasion begun, and Lusett began making further advances. Lusett (Or, Subject Zero) genetically modified her eyes, making them a lizardlike yellow, and captured some aliens with her own cunning in combat (though in truth she was no good fighter, but her intelligence was more than enough to compensate). She went to get data on a UFO and was attacked by a chryssalid (Originally, losing her arm, and being rescued by Eve and other clones. However, because Prisma left soon after due to the aforementioned reasons, this was retracted to simply injury and being rescued by only Eve.).

With PrismaCube gone, MarineAvenger took over by having Viktor Dorian kill Lusett and her daughter, taking over XCOM and starting a line of clones based off his/Desmond's DNA. The contribution of DarGemini24601 (myself) was that Lusett suspected she might die. To prevent the end of the Exalt family lline, she used her dna and a little of Eva's to create an heir, Elene Exalt. When Viktor Dorian created his own A.I., S.R.A. (Sora), Avanix fled to the computers in the secret room where Subject Negative Zero, Elene, had been 'grown'. Viktor soon found out and awakened Elene, but only allowed her to live on the condition that he would serve her.

Viktor turned his still simmering anger at the deceased Lusett (who he blamed for his brother's death) at the world at large, and went to war with XCOM. While his 'K' line clones were setting up EXALT cells to operate out of (and one was later lost to Atka's covert operation), Elene was allowed to create 3 clones to assist EXALT. She created Subject 156 (Lily) out of primarily Lusett's DNA, making her a genius scientist like herself. She created Subject 157 (Vee) who was based primarily off of Eva Aegerter as an expert soldier. Finally, Elene cloned herself, creating Subject 158 (Emma) and faked 158's death so she might escape to seek out an old friend of Lusett's who she helped develop Ammelia's sight device: David Cross.

All the while, two soldiers of XCOM that Lusett had sent as spies became aware of her death through the 'psi radio' device that allowed Desmond Walker to communicate with EXALT HQ, curtosy of Elene. Eva swore that she would avenge her friend, though still retained loyalty to Elene. Desmond claimed to be Elene's friend, though he does not seem to be fully willing to obey her orders.

Emma arrived in London and persuaded David Cross to give her a lab. There, she would develop technology for Elene to eventually defeat Viktor and reclaim what was hers. Emma contracted a Colombian mercenary (Nicolas Jimenez) to serve as a basis for the "Adam" line of clones, who would serve primarily as soldiers. In the meantime, she used David's skill in engineering to help develop a line of robotic soldiers in a project named after the robotic collective intelligence that would fight for Elene, "Legion".

Around this time, Elene was out of commission. This is because of a battle she and Vee fought in alongside Viktor's troops. Earlier, Avanix had hacked 30 F-22 drones from the American military and sent them to 3 bases around the world managed by Viktor. Once two UFOs were detected in Saudi Arabia, the drones were dispatched to shoot them down, and teams went to clear the crash sites. In the process, intact alien Drones and an outsider shard were recovered, though the significance of the latter was lost on Viktor, but not Elene when she recovered. 'Fighter' Drones to supplement the "K" clones were created from the former.

Recently, Viktor finally recruited a scientist to bolster Elene's small team, named Markus Grathem. He has expressed his desire to remain neutral in regards to the feud between Viktor Dorian and Elene Exalt.

As of now, EXALT as a whole has access to laser weapons and basic alien alloy armor. Their expertise lies in cloning, genetic modification, and other processes involving the Tz6 (or MELD) and alien biology. However, whereas Viktor possesses many 'K' clone soldiers and a few modified alien drones, as well as more resources than Elene, he is unaware of the extent of her subversion and subterfuge. He has no knowledge of Avanix's continued existence, the "Adam" clones, "Legion" robotic troopers, or her involvement with David Cross. He knows she has been in contact with Desmond and suspects she is trying to turn the other members of EXALT against him, but allows her to live due to her skills... For now.
 
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