Interest Check: Mass Effect(-Inspired) Commando RP

Signups are open.

Hey, folks. Would anyone be interested in a fairly plot-driven, high-stakes commando roleplay either set in or heavily inspired by the Mass Effect universe? I know the series' heyday has kind of passed, but I feel like there's a lot that could be done with the setting still.

I'm still working through it in my head, but I'd like to have a smallish number of players, a clear (if potentially changing) mission objective, and a risk of permadeath if things go wrong. I'm looking for a squad feel here, and a mission with do-or-die consequences, but that could potentially win the entire war.

In terms of the feel I'm looking for, think Aliens, the Ciaphas Cain books, and X-COM: Enemy Within - these soldiers are not getting paid nearly enough to deal with what they find on this mission, but they have no choice but to fight.

And we're launched!

• Discussion thread
• Roleplay thread

• Accepted Characters
  • Corporal Starizea T'Vala, asari assassination expert - Nman
  • Private First Class Hierax Thraxis, turian point man - Plumbum
  • Lance Corporal Karen Carpenter, human support engineer - CATS3688
  • Sergeant Sanguis Scrutor, turian Cabal veteran - Lior Val
  • Corporal Katherine Brooks, human weapons specialist - daltar
  • Corporal Kard Veksan, krogan frontline fighter - Gladonost
  • Open Slot.

edited 7th Aug '14 10:02:42 AM by RedSavant

Interest!

Possible interest?

I'd be glad to answer any questions (or work out what people would like) if you have any, too. =)

May I cast my vote for "inspired by" rather than "set in" the Mass Effect universe?

Noted! I'd personally prefer the Mass Effect universe myself, for variety of species and backgrounds if nothing else, but I'm not averse to coming up with three or four alien species for players to choose from if we go original.

Trying to avoid too many Human Aliens and Rubber-Forehead Aliens, huh?

Yeah, for the most part. People can play any character they like, but damn if interspecies cultural differences aren't a blast to tackle.

I'm interested in this, either way.

I'm interested, though I'd prefer for it to be set in the Mass Effect universe myself I'm fine with either.

Alright, so that's one for and one against so far. Anyone have any questions or suggestions? I'm glad to see interest. =)

I like Mass Effect's universe.

MASH EFFECT.

(Read: Interesht.)

Why thank you, Mr. Connery. =)

Alright, so it's looking like things are leaning to the Mass Effect side of things. I'm thinking of allowing human, asari, turian, quarian and krogan signups - I don't think we'll be going with any unshackled AI or Protheans.

I would be interested in this. Mass Effect's setting is more convenient since I played the games and I'm already familiar with it, but I don't mind something different, either.

This would be good.

Though I might've tried my hand at writing up a Batarian.

A batarian might be interesting too, actually.

If we do go Mass Effect, this will likely be set during the Reaper War.

Can I do a BIOTIC GOD?

A Volus might be interesting, but as long as he's only megalomaniacal sober. =)

There goes my dream of an elcor infiltration expert

I'd most likely make a quarian or asari, though.

Also, no Salarians or Drell?

edited 17th Jul '14 2:51:40 PM by nman

I'm trying to keep down my brief-writing to a minimum. =) Let's say the core five are fine in general, and other races can be considered when people have ideas.

Alright, I think we have enough interest for a signup. Here's a preliminary sheet to get you going (copy-paste friendly!), and some more info.

Your characters are inductees to a specialized Council Black Ops team, serving under a Spectre. Drawn from the respective militaries of your species, you enjoy limited immunities to act in Council Space at your commander's discretion, limited Council funding, and dark, dangerous missions crucial to Galactic wellbeing. You report directly to Captain Ansina Falix, a turian Spectre and captain of the interceptor Menae.

*'''Name:'''
*'''Race:''' Human, asari, krogan, turian, quarian and salarian are fine; other races you'll have to ask about.
*'''Rank:''' The rank your character holds in the squad. I would like one Staff Sergeant and one Sergeant; your squad reports directly to a Spectre.
*'''Squad Role:''' Your specialty in the squad, if you have one. Includes medic, CQC, sharpshooting, or infiltration (digital or physical) skills.
*'''Skills:''' Use the classes of Mass Effect as a reference here. Pure tech and biotic specialists will be limited to one each.
*'''Weapons:''' I'm not going to be a super hardass on the weapons, or on ammo - assume we have a cache of pre-ME2 weapons. =) Anything but a pure soldier can only carry two guns at once, but I won't enforce the class restrictions from the games. Just specify assault rifle versus battle rifle, machine pistol versus heavy pistol, that kind of thing.
*'''Personality:''' What it says on the tin. Your character's attitude, general outlook, and degree of friendliness and squad cohesion go here.
*'''Backstory:''' Here, write a short paragraph detailing your character's life before they entered the squad. Where are they from, the homeworld or a colony? What is their service record like? As the inductees to the unit are hand-picked, a distinguished or long-running record is more likely to earn a place in a squad with this kind of freedom.

edited 18th Jul '14 12:45:28 AM by RedSavant

Dude, my face is very interested in this.

Let's hope my character building is better than the last time I was in a Mass Effect RP.

If I were to make a character, how far could I push cybernetics? Could I use a minigun, or are we sticking to weapons explicitly used in the series?

I like Mass Effect, but I didn't touch ME 3. Would I need to have played that game?

Hm... a minigun would probably be alright, but I'm inclined to call that a combat ability, in class terms, rather than tech or biotic. You could still have tech or biotic abilities, but you won't have access to the most powerful or complex ones from those two trees.

As for what you'd need to know from ME3... basically, everything Shepard said was going to happen did, and the entire galaxy is under attack by Reapers. The Council races are scrambling to get their defenses in line and aren't doing a very good job of it, and most of it boils down to 'why would we help you? We're getting destroyed over here' and 'well, what's in it for us?', as you might expect. The major point of the third game is that Liara and Shepard recover plans for a massive Prothean weapon called the Crucible that could destroy all the Reapers at once, and the Alliance's attempt to draw the races together to build the damn thing with any resources they can scrounge together. The Merae and your team is one such artifact-hunting group.

On a related note, I don't expect to mention Shepard much, if at all, in the roleplay. The state of the galaxy as a whole will be referred to, but not specifics of Shepard herself, except that she is female. My RP, my Shep. =)

edited 18th Jul '14 8:15:07 PM by RedSavant