Some background thoughts/suggestions. Not trying to push the game around, honest. Just trying to help
--Imperial Navy ships generally don't just roam around alone. Usually they have at least a small flotilla. A frigate might have a small picket of destroyers, a cruiser would have frigates and destroyers accompanying it, a battleship would have cruisers with, and so forth. The other ships don't matter as much but they might present opportunities for splitting up the parties, conflict between ships, etc. "All ships, fire upon [this ship] and purge the corruption at the heart of this flotilla", etc. Even civilian ships generally travel in flotillas (pilgrimages, Mechanicus, etc). About the only ones that travel by themselves are Rogue Traders and the Inquisition.
It's quite reasonable enough, though, for a single ship to be diverted at the behest of someone appropriately important enough. Like say, a Space Marine Captain or an Inquisitor...
--Also, how does everybody get there? Certainly the Doctor can just poof out of thin air with the Tardis, that's kind of his thing. This could be left up to the individual players though. Barnest (HMS Sophia now, I suppose) can set the scene and we come up with whatever rationale matches up well enough (issues can be worked out OOC).
Elheru Aran wrote:Barnest (HMS Sophia now, I suppose)
The Less reminders of the old name the better thanks
Frigates are the most likely to travel alone. It is, after all, essentially what they do. Maybe a small squadron isnt a bad idea though...
Every 40k player I'm planning on having aboard the Frigate, on the bridge. The dr who character I have a plan for...
I am ready to go as soon as I get confirmation of character from said player.
"Seriously though, every time I see something like this I think 'Ooo, I'm living in the future'. Unfortunately it increasingly looks like it's going to be a cyberpunkish dystopia, where the poor eat recycled shit and the rich eat the poor." Evilsoup, on the future
Not official, I know, but it does give a general idea of the size of basic ship classes. In general cruisers range from ~3 to 5km long (roughly). Frigates, by contrast, are only a couple of km long max.
To draw an analogy, comparing these ships to towns, a frigate is a small town in size with ~20-30K crew. Cruisers on the other hand tend to have around 100,000 crew...
It's an escort with decent armament, but still an escort, which means that it could be detailed to carry out an individual mission as needed as it's not one of the capital ships of the fleet.
Other possibilities are:
Armageddon-- refitted Lunar-class cruiser. Perhaps on a shake-down cruise after its repairs are finally complete?
Vengeance-- old-school, plenty of history to be found there. Bit of a shadow on this class as many tend to turn up coming the wrong way out of the Eye...
Why cruiser rather than frigate? Thinking about it... it's easier to hide in the midst of a lot more people than it is a smaller number. More quarters for a large group to fill. More nooks and crannies where you have to dig. Big enough that you have to come up with a good excuse to commandeer the ship, but not so big that it'd be sorely missed at the battle.
We are in something of a Hurry Up and Wait mode, aren't we?
Right now my main issue is how to have a character that fits with all of you and not be bland. Because literally everything I can think off is bland by comparison.
It has become clear to me in the previous days that any attempts at reconciliation and explanation with the community here has failed. I have tried my best. I really have. I pored my heart out trying. But it was all for nothing.
You win. There, I have said it.
Now there is only one thing left to do. Let us see if I can sum up the strength needed to end things once and for all.
Purple, just because two of us are Space Marines doesn't mean your character can't stand out. We might handle the heavy fighting, sure, but that is not the only element to dealing with things, even in 40K and especially in Doctor Who, as the Doctor will no doubt point out to us Marines many, many times.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
Name: Miranda Fitz.
Role: Rogue Dalek drone.
Description: Middle-aged with short red hair and brown eyes.
Background: A human soldier was turned into a drone by the Daleks and sent to kill the Doctor but their human personality regained control, at least for now.
Equipment: A Dalek gun and eye concealed internally.
Motivation: The human side's motivation is to oppose the Daleks and redeem themselves. The Dalek side's motivation is to exterminate other life forms (especially the Doctor).
Look at it this way. Your character doesn't have to be all that interesting; what you DO is what makes the character different.
You go with security officer; ok, so he's a space-cop, but he's a space-cop that wants to keep his ship secure, and all of a sudden there's a bunch of weird people running around, and you have to keep tabs on them and figure out what they're up to...
You see? Background can be fairly light. You can make it up as you go. That's the beauty of games like this.
Space Marines have a lot of flash-- fancy armour, centuries (if not millennia) of tradition, big guns-- but beneath all that, about all they amount to is faithful soldiers of the Emperor. There's not much going on there beyond that. They get stuff done; the rest of it is trimmings.
Don't over-think it. Just go with what works. If it ends up not working after a while, check with the GM and the other players, blam the not-working character and either sit back or start up another char. That's part of how TGOD's work-- with spontaneity and an organic progression of the story. Rule one is have fun; rule two is don't go nuts. So there you go
RR: Interesting. When did Daleks start knocking off humans? I haven't kept up with Doctor Who much at all after I got halfway through Nine and then wasn't able to watch it after that point...
The Daleks used people/corpses taken over by Dalek technology in season seven of the new series (specifically Asylum of the Daleks and Time of the Doctor).
Agree with these two. Don't worry. The space marines are flashy, and very good fighters.
But maybe it would be good for you to look at the seneschal archetype? Remember this is a Doctor Who story, essentially, that happens to take place in the 40k verse. Fighting isn't going to be the be all and end all.
RR: Looking good. We'll await purple and then go for gold.
"Seriously though, every time I see something like this I think 'Ooo, I'm living in the future'. Unfortunately it increasingly looks like it's going to be a cyberpunkish dystopia, where the poor eat recycled shit and the rich eat the poor." Evilsoup, on the future
Further background details to consider. Just trying to build a little atmosphere here!
We can likely assume the layout of the ship includes:
--Bridge, auxiliary bridge, Navigator's sanctum, quarters for extra Navigators
--Armsmen headquarters and possibly control posts throughout the ship.
--Astropathic choir, quarters and medicae for astropaths. Electronic short- and long-range comms (vox and pict casters) do exist in the Imperium, so facilities for that might parallel the astropathic choir. Almost certainly various communications stations are placed throughout ship, both for external and internal communications.
--Officers', guest, crew quarters, the necessary corridors and personnel conduits for getting them from quarters to their posts, recreational areas, apothecaries/medicae, etc.
--Food service and preparation. Officer's mess, crew's mess, perhaps but not necessarily a guest's messing area. With the size of an Imperial starship, probably several crew's mess areas throughout the ship.
--Also ship records/archives. That may come in useful.
--It being an Imperium ship, you absolutely have to have a ship's chapel, probably multiples, and priests or hierophants of various descriptions to maintain them and lead regular devotions. There's probably a ranking priest as Ship's Chaplain.
--Training facilities for crew (if any require training past on-the-job), officers, armsmen. A few Drill Abbots?
--Hangar bays with adjacent maintenance shops, crew areas, flight-control, and so forth.
--Enginariums as required--reactors mainly, perhaps also some secondary or tertiary for cogitators, drive and weapon maintenance. Machine shops. Power generators, plasma, conduits, and so on. Could integrate the Mechanicus quarters into the enginarium, perhaps a small temple (or the enginarium IS the temple).
--Gun turrets. Missile and torpedo bays. Associated magazines and ammunition-moving equipment. Perhaps adjacent rest quarters for on-duty crew.
--Various holds for provisions, equipment, etc. Armouries. Fuel tanks. Water tanks. Plasma containers?
--Saviour pods and access thereto.
--Don't forget the maintenance tunnels. Can't have a starship without St. Jeffries' Tubes.
--And of course it wouldn't be a 40K ship without dark, dank sewers and bilges to crouch away in with the mutants and the rat-roaches...
The ship is probably compartmentalized to quite some degree, so that's going to entail airlocks every now and then (complete with big, creaky doors, purity seals, key-pad and hazard stripes). Big, arching bulkheads. Rust on the walls in the lower sections, neat paint in the upper areas.
Vague layout:
--Central core would be magazines, power generation, engine and drive. Bilges and sewers. Secure holds for some equipment or emergency provisions. Fuel might also be kept in the central core area as it's probably not healthy otherwise. Anybody up for a dip in Promethium Tank 35-B?
--In the middle are quarters, messing, and so on, with the rest of the holds.
--External layers are weapons, hangars, primary bridge, saviour pods and so forth.
--And of course running through all these layers are passages for ammunition, conduits for fuel and power, the St. Jeffries' Tubes, hallways for personnel.
--Each layer is probably contained in armour, most especially the exterior and the core. So, metres thick corridors that are just for passing through the armour?
If all this seems fairly improbable... remember, we are talking multi-kilometer-long ships here that can be up to (or over) a kilometer wide/deep as well. 20, 30m layers of armour are entirely possible. We are also talking between 80-100K crew. That's the population of a large town or small city right there.
When you add to this the realization that the Imperium has hundreds of thousands of these ships, plus far more of smaller craft, plus thousands of even larger battlecruisers and battleships... it's a big damn galaxy we're in.
Some days I really wish there was an offline component to STO that could be modded for Battlefleet Gothic or something like that...
I'll be keeping this alive as OOC chat, either here or I'll ask for it to be moved to the STGOD section if needs be.
Anyone in the process of thinking up a character, wanting to join, etc etc, there is plenty of room for you to do so Just keep going and you can step in as and when.
I hope I've done a good job of setting the scene...
"Seriously though, every time I see something like this I think 'Ooo, I'm living in the future'. Unfortunately it increasingly looks like it's going to be a cyberpunkish dystopia, where the poor eat recycled shit and the rich eat the poor." Evilsoup, on the future
First response is up. I noticed you didn't include the Deathwatch people in the Interrogator's message, any particular reason?
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
"Seriously though, every time I see something like this I think 'Ooo, I'm living in the future'. Unfortunately it increasingly looks like it's going to be a cyberpunkish dystopia, where the poor eat recycled shit and the rich eat the poor." Evilsoup, on the future
"Seriously though, every time I see something like this I think 'Ooo, I'm living in the future'. Unfortunately it increasingly looks like it's going to be a cyberpunkish dystopia, where the poor eat recycled shit and the rich eat the poor." Evilsoup, on the future
Oh, did I mention Orcus normally speaks in High Gothic, when he speaks at all? I imagine his ways may change in time, but until then (or if it becomes an annoyance) I'll cheerfully provide footnoted translations as needed... (it's Google-Translated Latin. I'm not *that* good)
Elheru Aran wrote:Some background thoughts/suggestions. Not trying to push the game around, honest. Just trying to help
--Imperial Navy ships generally don't just roam around alone. Usually they have at least a small flotilla. A frigate might have a small picket of destroyers, a cruiser would have frigates and destroyers accompanying it, a battleship would have cruisers with, and so forth. The other ships don't matter as much but they might present opportunities for splitting up the parties, conflict between ships, etc. "All ships, fire upon [this ship] and purge the corruption at the heart of this flotilla", etc. Even civilian ships generally travel in flotillas (pilgrimages, Mechanicus, etc). About the only ones that travel by themselves are Rogue Traders and the Inquisition.
This isn't true. Imperial ships sometimes travel in groups. Chartest vessels with regular runs, Rogue Traders, Navy scouts, and Navy long patrols are frequently solo. If the Imperial ship is in a group, the group exists for a reason. A battleship and escorts, a supply fleet, etcetera.
The Excellent Prismatic Spray. For when you absolutely, positively must kill a motherfucker. Accept no substitutions. Contact a magician of the later Aeons for details. Some conditions may apply.
Elheru Aran wrote:It could. Does it translate outside as well as inside, though?
It translates for the TARDIS crew while their outside. SO from the Doctor's perspective, we're all speaking Gallifreyan. From our perspective the strangers are speaking Low/High Gothic. I think we should just stick to English as a common convention.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
Elheru Aran wrote:It could. Does it translate outside as well as inside, though?
It translates for the TARDIS crew while their outside. SO from the Doctor's perspective, we're all speaking Gallifreyan. From our perspective the strangers are speaking Low/High Gothic. I think we should just stick to English as a common convention.
Fair enough.
Imperial Overlord wrote:
Elheru Aran wrote:[snip]
This isn't true. Imperial ships sometimes travel in groups. Chartest vessels with regular runs, Rogue Traders, Navy scouts, and Navy long patrols are frequently solo. If the Imperial ship is in a group, the group exists for a reason. A battleship and escorts, a supply fleet, etcetera.
I think you misread me, mate. I pretty much said they usually travel in groups with some exceptions, which is pretty much what you said... albeit I'd forgotten about the Navy patrols and such, but otherwise.
Elheru Aran wrote:
I think you misread me, mate. I pretty much said they usually travel in groups with some exceptions, which is pretty much what you said... albeit I'd forgotten about the Navy patrols and such, but otherwise.
No, I'm saying that most vessels are usually traveling solo unless they're involved in a war (which are admittedly common). Chartest vessels making their usual runs make up the majority of Imperial interstellar commerce. Cruisers and lighter vessels are routinely on patrols. Battleships are usually with a task force, but they're not exactly common. The Imperium usually only musters in strength for full on warfare. That's when you get convoys and battle squadrons. Don't confuse a planetary invasion fleet with normal sector traffic. They aren't the same thing.
The Excellent Prismatic Spray. For when you absolutely, positively must kill a motherfucker. Accept no substitutions. Contact a magician of the later Aeons for details. Some conditions may apply.
I'm gonna wait for purple or RR to respond before having another GM post. Loving the utilisation of assets and so on. The Techpriests sound 'fun'.
As for the IN... Yes, solo travel is the norm. They're a bit like modern navies, everything but the Capital ships pretty much travels solo or in very small groups. So escorts travel in packs or on their own, light cruisers and cruisers are lone rangers, as it were. I find it unlikely that the BB's travel without their own escorts and so on, but look at US CVN's today. Doesn't mean they're not out and about...
And then during war, it all goes to pot, you gather the cruiser squadrons, and blow everything up.
"Seriously though, every time I see something like this I think 'Ooo, I'm living in the future'. Unfortunately it increasingly looks like it's going to be a cyberpunkish dystopia, where the poor eat recycled shit and the rich eat the poor." Evilsoup, on the future
Random question: Has the Tardis ever taken the Doctor and company to a *fictional* world? Cause I can see that happening. It can do alternate dimensions and all, right?
