SDNW5 Preliminary Discussion Thread

[Panzersharkcat]

Clearly struggling with the words, she starts speaking. "You call me Kerith. I sorry for bad English. Not used to speak Human tongue. I must speak. Others can not." She gestures to the Neithian, who starts streaming a whole bunch of colors across his head. "He deaf. He say hello. Call him Blue. Greeting from Bastian Star Empire. He foreign minister for Emperor." She looks at the young Bastian with a rich coat of black fur and a blue and red robe. The Bastian murmurs a steady stream of purrs and chirps. "Call her Tomasa. She Emperor niece. She wonder what device is."

It is hard typing in bad English.

[FaxModem1]

"This, is a demonic detector. It lets us know if what we're dealing with is an alien, or something evil, such as a demon. You're alien, so we don't have to worry. Would you be interested in having Watcher protection in your space? We would be happy to cleanse your space of any demonic influence."

[Feralgnoll]

OOC: may I join?

[Panzersharkcat]

After a brief chat between them, Kerith says, "She thank you for offer. Will consider. Priests of dragon god do good job. May not want help."

The giant dragon god does exist. He shot off to another part of the multiverse tens of thousands of years ago, though some of his agents drop by every few hundred years. He's currently in my comics/game universe, where he is dicking around with several superheroes by pointing out the fourth wall and driving them mad from it.

OOC: may I join?

Yes, you may. I don't know why I'm answering here since I'm also talking to you on Facebook but whatever. I don't think we really need OOC markers for this thread.

[FaxModem1]

The Watcher looks at Kerith, and gives a small nod. "Of course, in the meantime, may we have transition rights through your space to make sure that no such creatures escaped your dragon gods's notice? Better safe than sorry and all that."

[Simon_Jester]

OOC: may I join?

Sure. As what? You need a country- see what's up in the rules discussion thread.

What do you have in mind?

[KhorneFlakes]

Kayo, OOB and NCP spending are kinda up: Want to organize them a bit more later. Are more interested in storywriting at the moment.

http://worldsofsdn.wikia.com/wiki/Screworlders
http://worldsofsdn.wikia.com/wiki/Screworlder_Armadas

Let me know if I messed anything up.

[Feralgnoll]

Homeworld: Braxis.
Adjective: Braxian.
Government The Braxian Collective (Autocratic, Militaristic)
Society: Militaristic, Scientific.
Planet: Braxis is an Temparate world that trends towards hotter climates. Jungles and Rainforsts Dominate the landscape, with 65% of the world being Water.
History
Braxians evolved around a massive metal structure on left on the planet from before they became sentient. The Tribe who discovered it beniftieted from an early advance of makeshift metal tools from the wreckage. They Quickly dominated the other tribes in their area with their military prowess. As time went on, the strange metal structure continued to grant them a scientific advantage over the other tribes on the planet. Metallurgy, Smelting, Gunpowder, electronics, lasers, all stemmed from this wreckage of the crashed ship. The Braxians never could figure out from where, or who had piloted the ship to their world, but named it the Braxian Craddle, because it allowed their civilization to flourish. The Braxians unified the planet after a few Unifcation wars, hard fough despite their technological advantage. They established a few colonies within their solar system before discovering FTL travel, once again from the wreckage.

Looks like http://images.wikia.com/forgottenrealms ... escott.jpg (but in space)

[Panzersharkcat]

After another quick discussion, she says, "Yes. Free to worship in Empire. Free to travel, too. One important rule. Bring no power armor. Only Imperial Army allowed power armor. Death penalty."

[Scottish Ninja]

Simon, any comments on my Volscian Confederacy?

[Simon_Jester]

My only comments on the Volscians are, one, that I overlooked them in all the shuffle and babble and craziness. And, two, that I want to double-check with you: are you sure this represents a viable polity for you to play, one which extends across dozens of systems? Because that would actually be potentially very interesting, but you may wind up being interesting because you're the prize someone else wants to fight over.

I respect you all the more if you choose to go with it in light of that fact. There is great potential for glourious fun.

Also, when I rolled dice for you I got a 12, so whether you take the Volscians or something else, whatever you take, it's gonna be really big.

...

OK, let's see, who else is there? The Braxians. Rolled a 6.

[Panzersharkcat]

To make a note, if such a thing can exist, the Bastian Star Empire is basically a libertarian police state. Sure, planetary governments have good amount of autonomy and are considered co-equals, the tax rates are very low, freedom to worship is respected as is freedom to badmouth the Emperor, interspecies sex barely raises an eyebrow, and it's perfectly legal to own military grade combat armor and rifles. But try to leave the Empire? Crackdown by legions of troops in power armor. Try to own your own suit of power armor? Crackdown by legions of troops in power armor. Refuse to pay taxes? Crackdown by legions of troops in power armor. Well, I exaggerate a bit. It's usually just being dragged off the street and hustled into cars with tinted windows. The legions of troops option is only for really big stuff.

TL;DR: There is a very high degree of personal and economic freedoms. Not as much politically and rattling too many political cages will result in bad things happening to you.

[Simon_Jester]

So, it's basically a police state that doesn't care about how people amuse themselves?

[FaxModem1]

"We Watchers never wear Power Armor, it would wrinkle the suits we wear.

[Panzersharkcat]

Yeah, basically.

"We Watchers never wear Power Armor, it would wrinkle the suits we wear.

Kerith nods. After another brief discussion, she says, "Then you may."

[RogueIce]

Kayo, OOB and NCP spending are kinda up: Want to organize them a bit more later. Are more interested in storywriting at the moment.

http://worldsofsdn.wikia.com/wiki/Screworlders
http://worldsofsdn.wikia.com/wiki/Screworlder_Armadas

Let me know if I messed anything up.

Hey guys, as one of the Wiki admins, do me a favor: don't start putting your nations on the existing wiki. Thanks.

It may well turn out that SDNW5 uses this wiki...or it won't. But that's an issue to be settled on much, much later and I'd rather you not put the effort and time into creating wiki pages on a site you may or may not end up using.

So in short: patience is a virtue. Wait until the game is much more finalized and then have the "Wiki Discussion" before you start making articles.

[RogueIce]

Double posts are awesome and that's all I have to say about that. *glares at server*

[Scottish Ninja]

My only comments on the Volscians are, one, that I overlooked them in all the shuffle and babble and craziness. And, two, that I want to double-check with you: are you sure this represents a viable polity for you to play, one which extends across dozens of systems? Because that would actually be potentially very interesting, but you may wind up being interesting because you're the prize someone else wants to fight over.

I respect you all the more if you choose to go with it in light of that fact. Also, when I rolled dice for you I got a 12, so whether you take the Volscians or something else, whatever you take, it's gonna be really big.

Oh yeah. That's pretty much exactly what I was going for. Honestly what I want is a diverse place with a lot of serious problems, as a backdrop for various stories where basically anything can happen, with opportunities for conflict both internal and external to give other people the chance to come in and shake things up a bit, one way or another. It hardly even matters if someone comes in and conquers the place; that doesn't necessarily fix anything. After all, I want to go in there and tell stories about bands of mercenaries; politicians of various entities within the Volscian Confederacy scheming against each other for power, wealth, and influence; smugglers seeking lost riches or the ultimate mineral jackpot, racing agents of powerful corporations with the same goals; petty disputes, grand ones... and the tales of a few overworked space traffic controllers who just have the weirdest days sometimes.

And I think there's a lot I can do with that huge roll - that sets the stage for times getting better in some, even many ways for the Volscians - but the question is, can they get their act together to exploit the opportunities they've been given before someone else decides to try and take advantage of them?

[Simon_Jester]

[modhat on]

[bangs gavel]

OK, gentlemen, Rogue (who was one of the SDNW4 mods) is right. Wiki articles are premature; if you have small amounts of information post it HERE, if you have lots and lots of information, sit on it for a while.


Now, I also want to mention something else: while I respect the initial surge of enthusiastic energy and role-playing, I want everyone to take a step back and a deep breath. There's going to be a decent window of time for people to look in on the game and decide to join, before we jump into the deep end.

If the Commentary pages wind up choked with forty pages of RP between generic Bastian diplomats and fanatical advocates of the color grue and one-trick-pony micronations, there won't be any room to talk about the game. Look at what happened to poor ScottishNinja, he asked me a question about his country idea and I barely even noticed because he got lost in the shuffle.

This will also tend to scare off the more serious players- and on some level, most of your nations should be played at least part-seriously, because an entire country of nothing but jokes is liable to be rather dull after a few months. I'm hoping this game will last the better part of a year, at least, so make sure you've got something you can keep interest in over the long haul.

SDNW5 is meant to be inclusive, so let's make sure it includes people who want to play a serious SF nation, make sure that they can play, and can participate meaningfully in our conversations without getting totally drowned out, OK?

[Esquire]

Hmm. I'm considering putting a lot of NCPs (maybe five to six NCPs) into trade routes, as I want to make the Empire a major commerce hub. After reading through the rules, I'm not totally certain how wise that would be. On one hand, it would make the Bastians heavily involved in trying to resolve wars and trade disputes. On the other, it may end up violating the intent of keeping them neutral and non-interventionist, as things may escalate.

I'd be interested in one of those trade routes.

EDIT: Oops. Didn't realize there was a 4th page and that we were supposed to not be diplomaticizing just yet.

[Simon_Jester]

Huh?

Diplomaticizing is fine- I mean, do remember you'll have plenty of choices available in a week or two, the game isn't limited to the dozen or so people who elected to join in the first twelve hours of open enrollment. But go ahead and agree, on a preliminary basis.

The one question is- what's in it for Panzer? Will you have a trade route running back to him, as he has one running to you?

[Esquire]

Probably should have made it clear. I've got two NCPs budgeted for trade routes, and I'd be happy to reciprocate. Surely the entire galaxy has a need for elaborately-painted pottery and treatises on natural philosophy?

[Simon_Jester]

Or exotic minerals from the spacesilver mines around Athens, or for some reason olive oil is a popular recreational drug to one or more of the Bastian species, or... the possibilities are endless.

[KhorneFlakes]

Meh. In response to Simon's post I was going along with the silly convo thing, but Panzersharkcat and Faxmodem go excited talking about stuff, and I was going to say something along the lines of "hey guys you're drowning out everyone else" but you said something similar before I was able to post, Simon.

To be honest, while the game is still a while away from starting, I've already got a prologue ready. To be honest, this is nice. I have no headaches at all, which is a much deserved breather from last year, where I had them almost daily.

[Vanas]

I'm very tempted to deploy a couple of NCP's worth of micronation for this. In the interests of joining the non-human club:

An Entire Goddamn Empire of Fucking Bees.

Also known by most people after the initial shock simply as Bees.

Homeworld: Waltz
Government: Bees
Society: Bees
Population: Incalculably large quantities of bees
Military: Bees in Spaceships
Main Goverment Policies: Pollination of flowers, consumption and export of honey, the total extermination of Japanese Hornets.


A slight accident of SCIENCE!, the Bees have formed a small empire centered around their green and pleasant homeworld of Waltz. They primarily export large quantities of honey to nearby sectors and somehow maintain a starfleet. As bees, they're not overly threatening unless riled up and are quite happy to deal with species that have, you know, opposable thumbs and indeed most others. Except Japanese giant Hornets.

Note: Yes, I have put some thought into how they actually work. The idea of a bio for an interstellar empire of bees pretty much reading 'bees' was just too amusing to pass up.