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Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP (Updated w/full description)

Trixie

Super-Earth
Joined
Jun 18, 2013
NOTE: Looking for one more player at least! Preferably female, with one woman and two men so far.

The Premise

In the year 2225, Earth has been deprived of most of its resources. Great advancements in technology have been made, but at the cost of increasing the rate of global desolation -- most of the icecaps are gone, global temperatures are rising, shorelines are shrinking, with multiple cities such as Venice and New Orleans long abandoned and underwater as a result.

Forward-thinking scientists in the previous century had pushed for greater money towards interstellar research and possible travel, gaining money not only from federal governments, but also certain industrialists that got rich off killing one planet, and were now looking for something else.

Some few decades later, they found it.

Designated Habitable Planet 002 -- given the common name of Diadem -- it was not only determined to be habitable by humans with a bit of terraforming, but was also close enough to be a viable trip -- 4 years in the fastest ships Earth could produce.

So plans were hatched to make the trip there, and to begin the largest undertaking in all of human history.

This was 60 years ago.

The northern hemisphere of Diadem -- an abnormally hot planet where the northern hemisphere was temperate at best in the northern climes, and scorching desert around the equator -- has been settled by all kinds. Miners, engineers, surveyors, businessmen, traders, and finally, soldiers. Fifteen large cities currently dot one continent, and all kinds make their way to the resource-rich Sand Belt, the scorching equator, to power the rest of the planet and deliver goods back to Earth. Soldiers in high-tech mechanical suits -- as tall as ten meters in the largest cases -- protect mining operations, and defend against the harsher wildlife that populate the Sand Belt.

However, there exists a growing faction of separatists in the southern hemisphere, colonists, soldiers, and all other types that intend to colonize rather than pillage the planet dry. Personified by bandits that use the sand to their advantage in the Sand Belt, and steal technology from the northern hemisphere, such as mechanical suits and weaponry.

The Roleplay

Roleplay Thread Link

The RP will be long-term in nature, and revolve around a small group of soldiers employed by one of the northern mining operations, and a larger conflict that will come to sweep all of Diadem in its wake.

Characters

Character Profiles Link

RP will center on the forces of Kaiser Company, a mech unit that operates out of the mining city of Ganymede just north of the Sand Belt. The squad is headed by Aleta Rook (my own character) and so far features two other corporals.

However! We are still open to accepting a couple more members.

We need: A sergeant, and one other corporal.

As far as characters go, here's what is NOT allowed.

  • Complex AIs
  • Aliens
  • Ranks of Lt. or higher -- they wouldn't be part of the same squad with another Lt.

We do, however, allow a few interesting things!

  • Cyborgs -- from having a mechancial hand to being a brain in a life-like robotic body
  • Genetic splicing -- one of our dudes is part shark, so genetic diversity is A-Okay!

Plus, bog standard humans! Yaaaay.

Mechs

Obviously the lynchpin of our RP. Mechs are designated E-###, and are most similar to the NEXTs of Armored Core. Sustained flight is limited to light craft such as reconnaissance units, and only so many weapons can be carried.

Additionally, mechs have to be humanoid in nature, having a humanlike shape (two legs, two hands) despite the robots being anywhere between 7-10 meters tall. They can be unusually stocky (7 meters tall and very wide) or very lanky (10 meters tall and very thin) but they have to retain the shape.

Beyond that, weaponry from grenade launchers, high-powered sniper rifles, and certain types of lasers are alright here. It's less anime super robot and more standardized military vehicles -- there are no super prototypes or off-the-wall vehicles like the E-666 Fuckslayer with tactical nukes.

If you're unsure, feel free to bring it up in here!
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

Thought I'd make a couple of small additions!

Sexual Content

O' course, something of a given since it's not in the Non-Sexual RP part! Depending on the makeup of the group and where we as a group would decide to take it, we could go any number of ways. Anything goes, more or less, and I guess that's something to be discussed when it comes time. Maaaybe confined to PMs, maybe not.

Contact

If interested, please post in here!
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

I'm not sure yet. I'm open to basing these on some basic rules, or even devising some myself. Most RP I do -- on here and off -- is done without a firm system in place. I feel it adds a lot to the experience, but the trick is that you have to do it with people you can trust. I've had characters in stat-free settings lose life, limb, and loved one because it felt right and helped the story, and then just had them deal with it or come up with a new character if they die.
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

Trixie, I'm comfortable with no rules and just writing, just not used to it when there's actual encounters involving conflict.

Alura, I'm actually partial to Zoids myself ;) Although the Valkyrie's from Robotech/Macross were cool.
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

I don't really like the super mecha and combiner mecha ideas. Combiner robots are ok because then the separate robotic minds join up into a single networked unit. And 20-40 story tall robots is just silly. The zoids were also a bit large for my tastes, but I liked the interaction between the pilot and their zoid (at least the ones that apparently had some sort of ai or organic computer). Transforming mechs though, that's just plain cool.

However, while I may not have liked how big the jaegers in Pacific Rim were, the idea of needing two minds to control them the way it was shown has some possibilities for role playing. I'm reading the Liaden series again, and I could see how a true lifemated pair would work as pilots.
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

I'm most definitely interested. I for one like the idea of a pacific rim like dual piloting system. Perhaps more can be expunged from that. I really like the idea of pilots 'partnering' up in more sense than one.
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

Pacific Rim..heh...I don't know if she plans to base it off of anything or not, but maybe Xenosaga? Awgs units? ouo
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

Mechas are like chicks: At the end of the day, it all comes down to the size of your rack.

Also jump jets.
Gotta have jump jets.
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

... I leave for ONE DAY...

Ahem! I kid.

As far as the mechs themselves go, I was thinking the Code Geass Knightmare Frames. Like so.

I don't mean when the show goes super anime-y in the second season with all of the ace customs and the ridiculousness, but more like early season 1 where the mechs were much more consistent with one another and deviations were, well, deviations and not the norm.

Armored Core robots (at least the less super powerful ones) would also be a good example of what I'm after. I think flight will be somewhat restricted, with special flight packs and light recon units being the only ones with flight, while heavier, armored ones need to be dropped in.

I'm also thinking about 7-10 meters tall -- somewhere between 20-30 some feet. They're big, but not utterly gargantuan.

I mean, all of this is up in the air as it stands. I'd love to talk with you guys. I'm also down for having to have partners in most of the mechs, but I dunno about mindmelding. Definitely someone on the physical controls while another is on the weapons or electronic systems, similar to old-school tank control.

What do you guys think, with that little bit of extra info?
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

So power rangers? And uh..wouldn't what about robo-girls? >_> Like um..mehca girls that are used to power giant robots? ^^; sounds sexist actually..nevermind..
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

Power Rangers? Another possibility I thought up is a quite large robot -- not in the Pacific Rim range (that's 280 feet, roughly) but more along the lines of 50-60 feet, that's piloted by up to, say, four characters. And keep the roster to those four characters. One on locomotion, one on ballistics targeting, one on electronic defense (hacking), one on command. Just a spitball of an idea, and one I'm not entirely sold on, but an idea nonetheless!
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

S'a humongous mecha movie by Guillermo del Toro. Has huge robots, which are each piloted by two or more people that "drift" together, controlling half of the robot (called a Jaeger) through melding their minds into one.
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

Ohh...well I'm sure ou'd want to drift away from that idea since someone else took it first but that's just me x..x;
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

Yeah, something with a crew of four divided up that way is a tank or ship. Two man crew of pilot/gunner or pilot/systems operator is something I could see (thinking back to F-14's and Apache helicopters)
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

Yep. A crew could definitely work. It just depends on what everyone would like to play. I might even come up with a poll for those who'd like to weigh in. And there shall definitely be jump jets, Raze.

... actually, on the subject of polls, I think I'd rather have the results not be anonymous so people that aren't actually interested can't really weigh in. The ideas right now are:

A. 60 ft tall robot, crewed by the roster of characters we decide to play like a tank.
B. Individual/partner 25 ft robots (with smaller and larger types as well), perhaps one bot per player for an entire squad.
C. "Other", if you have another idea.

I definitely think we're not doing the Jaeger thing. The mind-melding is a bit much for a group game, I think, since partners aren't super interchangeable in the case of emergencies, and these bots are designed as an alternative to tanks. Basically, the Sand Belt has a -lot- of storms and very uneven terrain, so having someone with human mobility and something not TOO large would be the most ideal for this setting.
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

Trixie said:
Yep. A crew could definitely work. It just depends on what everyone would like to play. I might even come up with a poll for those who'd like to weigh in. And there shall definitely be jump jets, Raze.

... actually, on the subject of polls, I think I'd rather have the results not be anonymous so people that aren't actually interested can't really weigh in. The ideas right now are:

A. 60 ft tall robot, crewed by the roster of characters we decide to play like a tank.
B. Individual/partner 25 ft robots (with smaller and larger types as well), perhaps one bot per player for an entire squad.
C. "Other", if you have another idea.

I definitely think we're not doing the Jaeger thing. The mind-melding is a bit much for a group game, I think, since partners aren't super interchangeable in the case of emergencies, and these bots are designed as an alternative to tanks. Basically, the Sand Belt has a -lot- of storms and very uneven terrain, so having someone with human mobility and something not TOO large would be the most ideal for this setting.

I see...what if there were personal mechs(20-30 ft, code geass style mechs) and mega mechs intended for crews (90ft, zords, gurren lagan). Ever thought of that? Why can't there be room for both? I like the idea of some versatility with mechs. Larger mechs for space exploration and tasks that requires more finite power or whatever larger mechs are generally used for , smaller mechs for ground reconnaissance and basic warfare/scouting. I mean, what is a mech really? It's just a highly sophisticated tool. Some tools are similar but serve different functions, I mean there are steak knives and there are machetes. Both are pretty much the same thing , a sharp pointy tool but with different applications.
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

There's absolutely room for both. The question I'm asking more is which would be preferred to be played out by the group? If we go with A, for example, our characters would likely be the crew of one such robot. But if we were to go with B, they would just be all part of the same squad with their own individual bots. S'a question of where we're going to be putting our characters and the focus and so on.

Plus things can change in-story -- such as, for example, them working as a squad for much of the RP before being selected for a special larger mech initiative.
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

Trixie said:
There's absolutely room for both. The question I'm asking more is which would be preferred to be played out by the group? If we go with A, for example, our characters would likely be the crew of one such robot. But if we were to go with B, they would just be all part of the same squad with their own individual bots. S'a question of where we're going to be putting our characters and the focus and so on.

Plus things can change in-story -- such as, for example, them working as a squad for much of the RP before being selected for a special larger mech initiative.

A combination of A and B is what I mean. Chances are you can't excavate or explore space/the ocean with a smaller mech so a big tank mech would be needed in some instances, but you can't use a big tank mech for scouting reasons obviously. I was thinking something more like the big mech acting as a mobile flagship, with our smaller mechs sortied on standby. Does that make sense?
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

Oh, I gotcha now. It does, yus. That'll work for me. I'm going to be editing the thread so we can start coming up with character concepts and 'bots for said characters. We're not going to be doing space so much early on -- though there's capacity for such later -- but the idea of doing something in the ocean or bringing it out for heavy combat in the Sand Belt is definitely interesting.

I'll come up with a basic profile template to put in the Character Profile subforum as well -- I figure we can iron out any issues in this forum before putting it nice and fancy in the Character Profile subforum. Sound good?
 
RE: Blood, Sand, and Mechs - a Sci-Fi RP

Trixie said:
Oh, I gotcha now. It does, yus. That'll work for me. I'm going to be editing the thread so we can start coming up with character concepts and 'bots for said characters. We're not going to be doing space so much early on -- though there's capacity for such later -- but the idea of doing something in the ocean or bringing it out for heavy combat in the Sand Belt is definitely interesting.

I'll come up with a basic profile template to put in the Character Profile subforum as well -- I figure we can iron out any issues in this forum before putting it nice and fancy in the Character Profile subforum. Sound good?

Everyone sounds fine to me so far. I can't wait to work with you on this. In more ways than one. ; )
 
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