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Seeing how the issue arose with the 2nd Approval thread starting as a continuation of this thread- I'll move the relevant posts to this thread in the hopes that if the Merc Mission part 2 ever comes back to life all pertinent posts are gathered here.
| Jedi_Christopher wrote: |
Mercenary Mission Part one is wrapping up. I know the original idea was for us to have another space battle, but I had a different idea a couple of days ago I wanted to run past you guys.
Thrawn is planning to take down a New Republic-held planet. To begin, he sends in us, the Skar'kla Commandos, to go undercover and prepare the battlefield. We split up into teams and sabotage, scout, assassinate, and relay intel, and then we join the battle in ships and on ground when the Imperials arrive to lay siege.
I remember many people agreeing that we should do something Wraith Squadron-esq. This is our chance. What do you guys think? |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
| It sounds good. Perhaps we could start the next mission at some ship yard. Considering all the damage the ships have taken it seems logical that after completing the mission we would head off to get our ships repaired. I like the idea overall though, sounds like it would be a lot of fun. |
| Iron Fist wrote: |
Don't know if this is the proper topic but I'm still up for joining the RP if there's a place for me.  |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
| Yep, I know my squad has lost some men so I'm sure the group is in need of replacements. You should fit right in. |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
Just on the issue of replacements I was going to introduce a replacement character for Dawn 3. I was going to have this replacement come from a "reserve" squadron. Basically when all the "frontline units" (namely the squadrons already being led by our characters) have their rosters full any excess recruits get assigned to this reserve unit until attrition opens up a slot in a frontline unit or the recruit quits. I thought typically it could be led by older veteran officers who are now too old to lead regular combat units but because of their experience are kept on as trainers.
If everyone approves of my idea the name I was thinking of calling the unit was Triumph Squadron, but have it informally known as "Fodder Squadron" (or some other name that conveys that the "frontline units" look down on the unit made up of recruits and "fossils"). |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
| I like the idea of old mercs going back into battle. |
| Jedi_Christopher wrote: |
| Shipyards are fine, but I think it being down on a planet would open more options. Should we create a planet or pick a really obscure EU planet that has never been developed? |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
Let us open the floor for suggestions...
I nominate Felucia: strange creatures, stranger plants. |
| Reepicheep wrote: |
| I second Felucia. This might not work, but maybe we could do a ground battle? Or was that what you were getting at? |
| Jedi_Christopher wrote: |
| I don't like the idea of Felucia at all: I think somthing urban or atleast populated would be better. There are so many more possibilities on an urban planet. Maybe Taris? I don't think anything is developed about Taris in that time frame. |
| Iron Fist wrote: |
| Taris is supposed to have declined and never recovered after KotOR so I'm not sure how well it would work. Perhaps a more earth-like word would provide possibilities. |
| Jedi_Christopher wrote: |
| Maybe a partly settled world like Tatooine. Or as I said before, maybe we could make up a planet. |
| Iron Fist wrote: |
I didn't mean to take Taris off the table, I was just pointing that out. 
Tatooine wouldn't be too bad and making up planets is always fun as well. |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
I kinda like the idea of Taris, it being a semi-grave yard world would open up a lot of interesting exploration options that wouldn't be possible in a normal urban planet.
For picking a world perhaps we should first figure out why it would be of any strategic advantage. Places like Tatooine or Felucia that are hardly populated I think would only make sense if Thrawn's goal was to draw New Republic forces out of position. Otherwise they would have little military value.
I think we should also stick with established planets for the time being. That way all we have to think about is creating interesting missions and not also working on setting up believable environments. Look how much time went into just creating the first mission for the RPG, we'd have to assume double the planning time if we create new planets and we don't want the RPG to die off simply because it takes too long to create the next mission.
Besides if we go with the idea of venturing off into the Unknown Regions at some point we'll have plenty of time to develop planets for that mission (or group of missions). Why not start creating planets but table them for now until later in the RPG, that way we can focus on just creating new missions that allow us to develop the characters and Skar'kla group as a whole. |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
| All right, I'll second the notion of picking an existing planet. Guess I'll take a look at some realistic prospects, with "urban" in mind. |
| Jedi_Christopher wrote: |
Maybe it could be a floating city, e.g. Cloud City, or a gigantic space station, e.g. the Jubilee Wheel or somthing?
I'm just throwing that out there. Personally I'd rather have a planet. |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
I like the idea of a planet better myself as well. When I suggested it start at some dockyards or something I was thinking more in terms of how we started the first mission and had to then make our way to the location where the bulk of the mission takes place (sort of having the ships in dock, we receive our next mission, call everyone back to the ships from "shore leave" and head off to the planet the mission is going to take place on).
It might also be worth considering expanding the mission into several missions since a planet would offer us the ability to do so in the way deep space couldn't. For example the first mission could be our insertion planet side with recon missions. The next mission(s) are the sabotage, assassination stuff and then finally end it all up with the invasion. It would also give us the chance to explore the planet more and go really in depth. |
| Jedi_Christopher wrote: |
| I think one good, long RPG to encompass all those aspects would be better than chopping it up. |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
one huge mission suites me fine.
Why not figure out the basics of the mission and get more in depth once the planet is chosen.
So it starts off somewhere not at the target planet when we get our next mission (at this early stage perhaps we can introduce new crew rosters/characters etc.). All crew returns from shore leave, we launch and prep for covert insertion. Now if we want covert that means we'd have to leave our larger ships and most of the fighters somewhere else and take in transports (seeing as a frigate and several gunships along with fighter escorts jumping into system would be anything but subtitle  ).
It sounds like we insert as teams (possibly combining units or elements of units together) so it is probably good to figure out how we want to break up the group for insertion. First off we should figure will Skull and Bones Squadron be broken up into flights each with a seperate target or kept together? Likewise should Dawn, Nova and/or Pearl Flights combine or go seperate ways with different targets? Will Adenn Kad temporarily take command of a smaller unit and make that the command/HQ unit that coordinates the others?
We also need to figure out what each units target will be based on what their strength is. My unit has a communication expert, slicer, medic and soon to be added sniper (haven't quite decided on everyone else's role in the flight but I'm thinking of keeping things to more subtitle roles so a demo or heavy weapons expert is out. Potentials I'm considering are melee expert, and a scout/ranger). So that might set them up really good for recon and intelligence gathering aspects of the mission and we could combine my unit with another one to expand their capabilities into the assassination/sabotage aspects.
Potential targets are reconing and sabotaging the planets communications and computer systems; troop placements/barracks etc. and sabotage of defenses (possibly we could have a unit infiltrate the troops as a green unit of recruits to gather info from the inside). Another potential target is the planetary governors who get assassinated (probably later in the mission). |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
I think it makes sense for each squadron to stick together simply because they would work well as a team already. And a fighter squadron's 12 pilots would equate to a commando squad, who could split up as need be for the mission.
For insertion they'd break off into pairs if they were using conventional means, ie. assuming civilian id's and simply coming in via the spaceport. However if they come in by orbital insertion into a remote area of the planet, evading radar, then they could come in in squads.
Skull and Bones has a medic, a mechanic, a computer specialist, a demo man, and an assassin. |
| Jedi_Christopher wrote: |
Commander Aden will be going undercover with Captain Tistell of the Glitterclaw and Jace Kadara, the Glitterclaw's comm officer. He'll be cordinating the mission and doing whatever else needs to be done to get the mission done.
I think, with Aden, I'll be focusing alot on the assasination aspect of the mission. It's somthing he's good at. |
| Old Master Ben wrote: |
| I feel like Pearl is kind of a crew for the misfits. They're good, but they don't really have special things that they excel at. So I'm not sure what you would want them to do for this mission. I was thinking having Keenen join Aden's squad would be interesting because of the added tension. In the current mission, if we can get the fire to continue on the Raider, I plan on Keenen doing something that would derserve some respect from the other officers. |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
So since the first mission is nearing its end I thought it might be good if we get this thread up and running again.
I've thought of other planet options other than Taris and one that came to mind was Telos (Carth Onasi's homeworld) because it would be fun speculating what the world is like now after being "rebuilt."
Manann might be a good option for more specific military based goals because its kolto production might be useful to Thrawn to supplement bacta. |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
Telos sounds good. However, I kind of like to know just how many people we still have interested in rping here...
So anyone who still wants to play, now's the time to speak up  |
| Jedi_Christopher wrote: |
| Of course I'll be playing... Telos sounds cool but Manaan sounds cooler. I like that idea a whole lot. |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
well since the Empire let us use an interdictor cruiser we could always assume that they supply us with equipment for submersible combat. Or they could just leave us to our own devices and not provide equipment
If we assume the Selkath still have their ban on weapons in effect it would also present interesting tactical problems for us which might be fun. We could have a whole additional objective of requiring a team of "scroungers" to acquire the equipment we need to complete our objectives. |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
| Would it be an infiltration mission then? Everyone undercover and in disguise... |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
| Would it be an infiltration mission then? Everyone undercover and in disguise... |
we could do that. Sort of base it off of RC: Triple Zero or something in terms of style. |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
All right. So our next mission is Manaan. Grand Admiral Thrawn is impressed with our work in the previous mission so he sends us out to secure a steady supply of kolto for the Empire. There's only one surface city on the planet, Ahto City, so that would be our ultimate destination. Most of the Selkath live in underwater cities.
According to the history, the Empire laid mines into the ocean depths in order to bring the Selkath to the surface. Then they enslaved them. Later, Vader contacted the Order of Shasa (Force sensitive Selkath) and urged them to overthrow the Imperials, which they did. Thus they were duped into thinking Vader and Palpatine were good guys and the Empire was the badguy. There's no information on what happened afterwards cause Vader died shortly after their revolt. (Took place during Battle of Endor) |
| Jedi_Christopher wrote: |
| That's an interesting story. I was thinking more like Manaan had been left pretty much alone since the Old Republic, and was just now becoming a military target. The planet becomes a battleground for Imperial and New Republic mercenaries. And also I think there should be more than one above-water city by now. It's been what, 4,000 years? You'd think they'd build more. |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
| More than one above city sounds alright (maybe not space ports though and make them accessed only by boats), I think we should stay with there being one main space port (the original city from KOTOR). We could even say that the original areas of the city are now the slum/underworld areas. |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
| Actually I got all that from Wookieepedia...but with the fall of the Empire, it's possible they might have built new cities. I would imagine they would have a lot of resources going in to clearing out all the mines the Empire saturated the planet with. |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
| Actually I got all that from Wookieepedia...but with the fall of the Empire, it's possible they might have built new cities. I would imagine they would have a lot of resources going in to clearing out all the mines the Empire saturated the planet with. |
all the mines could potentially be a motivation to move cities above water. The mines probably make it very difficult to get between underwater cities so maybe they moved some above water so as not to get isolated. |
| Jedi_Christopher wrote: |
Ok. So what is the objective? Sure, we're going to be "preparing the battlegroung
," but we need a pretty clear-cut objective so the RPG is endable. So here's my idea:
The planet is ruled by a court of twelve or so Selkath leaders. Three of the leaders want to join Thrawn's empire. Nine want to join the Republic. The planet is protected by a large floating fortresse that boasts planet-to-space ion guns and turbolasers that would wreck havoc against any invading force. Our job is to go in and quietly assasinate the nine Republic-leaning Selkath leaders, who live on different floating cities, then go and take down the fortress so the Empire can take possesion of the planet. |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
| I'm liking this idea. It also provides for some moral dilemma possibilities. I'm wondering how all our commandos will feel about being assassins... |
| Jedi_Christopher wrote: |
| So, how are we going to split the characters up into teams? I guess each of our main characters should take one or two NPC's with them. More than that would be suspiceous. |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
we might want to say 1 or 3 NPCs, that way it would be either one element or one flight (sticking with the method we've broken up units so far). Story wise it probably makes sense since our characters would probably find it akward to be broken into a "unit" that doesn't conform to the normal method our group organizes forces.
I think we should try to establish what each unit will be doing (or if they will all be doing the same task and just approaching the problem from different angles). That way each of us can form a squad based on required skills for the mission (we can open the mission by having each player announce who will be going with them and not bother with that detail right now).
Just an aside but do we want to consider having a medic unit (perhaps part of the command unit)? Our characters would probably assume some injuries may occur so they would want to consider how medical attention will be handled (do we bring a field medic unit, each unit brings their own medic or we rely on the planet's medical facilities). If we plan on each squad remaining in contact with the entire group a field medic unit is an option; if each squad works without contact (overall better for the mission in case one group is captured at the cost of having no reinforcements) then they either need a medic (requiring a larger squad size) or reliant on local medical facilities for serious injury (in which case they risk capture and/or death). |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
I actually have a member of my squad who has medical expertise. Thus if I formed a 3 man team, I'd put him on it to cover my group. But if we designate a medical team, then I could assign him to that group.
Since there are nine targets, another question would be whether we want nine strike teams? It would probably be in our best interests to try and take them all out as quickly as possible. Since we have so many commandos, we need to decide just how big and complex of an operation this will be. Will we need to do some prep work before we carry out the attack? Will the attack take place all in one day? Do we try to make any look accidental? Can we take out more than one target by catching any clustered together?
Here's my possible team: Saul, Jen'ri Volkhan (Bones 3, male Anx, medic), Dek (Blood 4, male Morseerian, slicer)
If we needed another team I could use my characters Bannick Kruai (Blood 1), Frender Tuultof (Skull 2, male Ryn), and Ariel Skannis (Bones 2). |
| Jedi_Christopher wrote: |
Yes. Lots of prep work. Organizing the mission, finding a place to hide our fleet while we're away on Manaan, getting transport to manaan, scouting the planet. And then assasinating the leaders and taking out the fortress. Assasinations and the fortress attack should take a week at the most. We dont want this to be over too quickley.
My team will be our communications officer Jace Kadara and the ship's captain, Tistell. I'll most likely be doing assasinations and reconasiance work. Then Aden and Tistell can be part of the fortress assault team while Jace cordinates communication for our forces. |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
I'll go with infiltration and sabotage. I'll take Zak Bendall (my slicer), not sure who will be the other member of the team.
We can work on getting into systems/secure facilities and then doing whatever sabotage needs to be done (or stealing equipment if needed for the operation). |
| Reepicheep wrote: |
| We should really get the new one underway, because I (like I'm sure many others) have nothing more to say in the first one. |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
| Good point. What, if anything, do we want to cover in the existing thread in order to wrap it up? |
| Reepicheep wrote: |
| I never thought about it, but do the Skar'kla's have homes or do they just live at a base or something. Maybe we could wrap it up with our characters heading to either/or. |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
Correct me if I'm wrong but they were heading to a RV point with the Imperials to get payment and return the ships. All things considered that doesn't really need anything except one post stating something along the lines of '"we have arrived, the Imperials are transferring the funds to our account now." It can be any character really who can overhear this be said to JediChristopher's character.
Just for the sake of speed and not having the whole RPG die on us just say at this time the home base is an space station currently in orbit of an undisclosed planet? There are two possibilities here: 1) that the space station will show that we are a much more powerful organization than previously thought with a whole elaborate support network or 2) the space station serves as our safe haven but is actually owned by someone else who agrees to service our ships etc. for a price. I think right now option 2 makes the most sense since so far there has been no indication that our organization is any larger than the fleet.
As for where we are headed I thought we were starting the next mission out at a shipyard where we are undergoing repairs, at which point we receive our next mission and set out for Manaan. |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
| Sounds like a plan. So next post will be putting us at the RV... |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
So I don't know about anyone else but for me I have nothing further to add as far as Mission One goes. So do we maybe want to set a start date for the next mission soon (I think we should maybe give a week advanced warning). If we get a start date set for the next mission I'll PM all the people who either were playing or had expressed interest in playing to find out if they still want to play.
This is also just a thought but since the RPG has died down in the number of people involved do you guys think maybe we should loosen up the rules for joining until we get a larger number of players. Namely what I'm thinking of is figuring out a way to let people join mid-mission. Obviously we would still not allow new characters to join when it was illogical or physically impossible but I think maybe we should temporarily allow new characters to join mid-mission until the number of players have increased. |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
| Sounds good. How about starting Mission 2 on the 19th? As for people joining mid-mission, I'm sure we could work that out without any problems. |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
The 19th would work well for me. That is the day before the first day of Spring Semester classes though so I don't know if other people will have problems.
At any rate we can plan on the 19th but if necessary postpone it until later that week. I'll get to work PMing people to find out if they are still interested in playing. |
| FatalFist wrote: |
| When did the first mission happen???=o...I missed it=( |
| Salaris Vorn wrote: |
| Well the thread is still up if you want to read up on what happened. Since the second mission hasn't really gotten very far there wouldn't be any conflict in having a new character introduced if you wanted to create a character and join up. |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
| Yeah if you want to sign up, just head over to the Character Posting/Approval Thread and post your merc's profile. Once approved you can join the mission. |
| Reepicheep wrote: |
| What ever happened to this? |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
It died 
But all that lies in print can be resurrected...if the people are willing |
| Reepicheep wrote: |
| I'm game. |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
That makes two. Let's see if we can't attract a third.  |
| Reepicheep wrote: |
| I think one of the problems might have been was that most of the members weren't regulars. |
| Mara Jade Skywalker wrote: |
| Hey, I'd love to play! I've just never played before...how exactly does it work? |
| Reepicheep wrote: |
| It's basically like telling a story. Everyone makes up a character and they take turns writing. Darth Skuldren can probably explain it better, but don't worry I was green as bantha butter when we started this. Thanks Mara, we may get this thing off the ground yet. |
| Mara Jade Skywalker wrote: |
| Well in that case, I've RPG'd before. Just unknowingly. A friend of mine and I used to do that back and forth through the email all the time when we were younger. So maybe I might be able to pull it off! |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
IronFist is on those sites too.
Yeah, it's all done in forums pretty much like what we were doing here. You make up a character, they get approved, then you roleplay and interact with others. It can be really fun, especially pretending to be a Yuuzhan Vong commander |
| Old Master Ben wrote: |
| I'm willing to get back into this one here, which gives us four. The question is, would it be better to start a whole new RPG? |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
We could. Let's put it to a vote...
Those in favor of continuing the RP?
(and if not, please suggest what RP you would be interested in) |
| Mara Jade Skywalker wrote: |
Well...seeing as I'm a newcomer, what would starting a new RPG entail? And if we stuck with the old one, how would that work? Pros and cons of each?  |
| Reepicheep wrote: |
| A lot more thinking, but thinling can be fun. I for one would like a new one, maybe a Jedi one? |
| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
Right now, everything's set where we are mercs and we were about to go to Manaan to do some sabotage. (time period is Thrawn trilogy)
If we want a new one, say with Jedi, we also need to decide what time period we want to play in. Old Republic, Empire, NJO, etc. |
| Old Master Ben wrote: |
| I'd be happy with a new one. Jedi sounds fun, but of course not all characters would need to be Jedi. So, I vote new, and Jedi. Time period...Clone Wars maybe? Either that or Old Republic, for me. But, I'll do whatever. |
And from there- the thread became the 2nd EUC RPG.
So if you find yourself ever wanting to breath life back into the 1st RPG- these are the details that people were using when the story dried up. Enjoy.
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