advanced [Planning] Space Age Equestria [OOC]

[Sapphire_Lightning 42]

Concept

 

"Equestria has advanced not only in technology, but in Unicorn magic as well. Leaps and bounds in these advancements allow for things unseen in Equestria for things such as space expeditions, weaponry, and time/spacial anomalies. Though these advancements exist, a universal agreement was made to keep the original designs of buildings as they were before new tech came into play. A mysterious force orchestrates a mass abduction plot, with reasons known only to the ponies the entity abducts placing them in lands unseen. Missions across Equestria, or past the Equestrian Sea are to be expected. Expeditions into space will be few, but needed. Will you take the step in order to find out what this entity wants?"

 

From laser weapons (think Mass Effect) to stasis rooms where time slows to a near halt, the sky is the limit. If you can think of the tech, or somewhat import it from a space-age type medium, it's most likely able to be used or seen in this universe.

 

Equestria is facing a new force of evil, one of which had never been seen before. It comes as a mist, abducting ponies and dropping them in strange, unseen lands beyond the Equestrian sea. It's up to these ponies what they do to survive and make it home. One pony by the name of Bass Clef had such a tale. Each pony is taken with certain intent, all of which is to be discussed privately between myself and the pony whom wishes to be abducted for the story.

 

Bass Clef's story :  Please read in order to gain a feel for the type of RP will be expected here.

 

The Rules

 

• Alicorns are barred from this roleplay. Exceptions made for canon Princesses (ie. Cadance, Twilight, Luna, Celestia)
• Mecha ponies are barred from this roleplay. Due to the nature of Mechs, upgrades and the type of tech needed to make a Mech would be too powerful for this. Autonomous armor will be accepted upon strict review.
• God-modding will not be accepted. A system will be put in place for battles between two roleplayers, however, battles between NPC's will be roleplayed out.
• Weapons are accepted in all forms, minus nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weaponry is considered far too powerful for this universe and will not be acceptable.
• Housing mods are to be reviewed, and allowed upon approval.
• Ships for intergalactic travel are allowed, however photos will need to be approved.
• Missions must be put in for approval

 

Other Important Information

Missions: Any and all missions will be given out on approval. Each mission will require no less than 2 in a crew, and will be subject to a separate RP in the IC thread in which they mission crew report to their respective Officer.

 

Ships: You can have an NPC crew, but the NPC's cannot be over the top. Think Normandy crew.

 

Autonomous Armor: To a certain extend, autonomous mod armor can be used, but cannot be full body, much like the Power Armor of Fallout.

 

Weaponry: Simple. No nuclear weaponry.

 

To Apply For This RP

Post your character page in a comment below, and tell me why you believe you could be an integral part of this roleplay. As an advanced roleplay, your posts must be lengthy and descriptive to better describe how things are being done. Actions speak louder than words, but words are all we can really use in here. Explain what kind of weaponry you'd use, whether or not you're interested in the war-type storyline, or whether you want to take a peaceful stance during the roleplay.

 

I'd like to see at minimum 1000 characters on how you plan on making your character fit within the universe. If your character is a canon character, explain how you wish to fit a canon character into a universe like this.

 

List of Characters

Bass Clef (Played by Sapphire Lightning)

Slot 2

Slot 3

Slot 4

Slot 5

Slot 6

Slot 7

Slot 8

Slot 9

Slot 10

Slot 11

Slot 12

Edited December 18, 2015 by Sapphire_Lightning

[Hederik 119]

I'm intrigued. The advanced tag certainly is what draws the eye at first, but the premise is, if not overly original, at least true to itself, having Equestria advanced by itself, not just mashing it together with some popular sci-fi series with nary an explanation. You're (quite understandably) expecting a lot from someone to even apply, so before I decide whether it's in my interest to commit myself further to this enterprise, I'd like to pose you with a few questions.

 

1. The initial description seems to point towards the technological advancement having happened over a considerable period of time. Contrary to what might be expected from that, however, there is talk of Lyra, Ponyville, the Princesses and whatnot. Thus forms question one: what is the extent to which canon is translatable into this fanon? In other words, how much of the Equestria we know from the show, including politics, culture and personal stories, is still true in this setting? Certainly, the lives of those involved cannot have gone the same way in such a vastly different world. Do you expect the potential canon-playing RPers to cover the characters' back stories, or do you have some idea thereof, sketchy or otherwise?

 

2. "Anything goes" is a pretty generous offer, and one that saves a lot of laying down the basic rules, opting instead for a case-driven system of allowance. That is understandable, but leads to some concerns: will there be an index of what is approved and what not, updated as certain ideas are accepted or revoked? How about the extent to which the different technologies should be unified? Will the same technology be available across Equestria (so that I can for example expect to find parts and materials to repair my gear once in a different part of the world), or is there a supposition that every region develops independently and no guarantee is given that what is known in one place won't be seen as black magic/alien technology entirely?

 

3. Expanding on the above question a little, the story linked of Bass Clef's adventure strikes as more of a samurai story than sci-fi. No mention is made whatsoever of any advancement, cultural or otherwise. Is it therefore an even wilder mix of high-tech and not? Are some regions of Equestria on space-travel level, while another are stuck in middle ages? Or is it more of a tendency to preserve tradition, as indicated by the globally unchanged architecture?

 

4. You mention a system to be in place for PVP encounters. Please expand a little on this topic. Are dice involved? Will we know the stats of whatever equipment will be in the characters' possession? Or is just to say "basically, all is still riding on the posts describing your actions, but the results will also be chewed on by some arbitrary secret number-based system"?

 

5. There is a hint of an overlapping story in the mention of an abducting alien race which will ultimately have to be bested, but could you elaborate a little more on what is to be expected while the action takes place? All I see is a minimalistic mention of pre-arranged abduction (an entry point for the RP? An event to anticipate during the course of play?) and a jumble of mentions pointing towards "missions", which will be "given out on approval". So maybe the starting point of everypony's adventure will be this mission -- whatever might be hidden behind that word -- and the creation of one's spaceship is mandatory, along with a "photo" of it (?) and a crew to populate it? That seems rather steep.

 

6. You listed an astounding amount of 12 slots. My view is based on a very short stay so far, but I'm not even sure there are this many active roleplayers. How many entrants do you expect to wait for before launching the whole shindig? Since the forementioned missions are said to require the minimum of two PCs, I'm guessing that's the bottom limit of anything beginning to happen?

 

Well, that would be it for what came immediately to mind. Let's see if you manage to net me with the insight

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,027]

hey Sapphire I said I would apply so I am here putting forward my name sake EB

[Hederik 119]

 

 

hey Sapphire I said I would apply so I am here putting forward my name sake EB

 

One, two, three... seventeen. You're 983 words short

 

 

 

I'd like to see at minimum 1000 words on how you plan on making your character fit within the universe.

 

Unless we count the emoticon too, then it's a mere 982, no biggie.

 

However, I kind of believe that was supposed to be a 1000 characters... 1000 words is more than three standard-issue essays oO

[Sapphire_Lightning 42]

Yeah, characters. My bad. Will change it when I get on my pc.

I'm intrigued. The advanced tag certainly is what draws the eye at first, but the premise is, if not overly original, at least true to itself, having Equestria advanced by itself, not just mashing it together with some popular sci-fi series with nary an explanation. You're (quite understandably) expecting a lot from someone to even apply, so before I decide whether it's in my interest to commit myself further to this enterprise, I'd like to pose you with a few questions.

 

1. The initial description seems to point towards the technological advancement having happened over a considerable period of time. Contrary to what might be expected from that, however, there is talk of Lyra, Ponyville, the Princesses and whatnot. Thus forms question one: what is the extent to which canon is translatable into this fanon? In other words, how much of the Equestria we know from the show, including politics, culture and personal stories, is still true in this setting? Certainly, the lives of those involved cannot have gone the same way in such a vastly different world. Do you expect the potential canon-playing RPers to cover the characters' back stories, or do you have some idea thereof, sketchy or otherwise?

 

2. "Anything goes" is a pretty generous offer, and one that saves a lot of laying down the basic rules, opting instead for a case-driven system of allowance. That is understandable, but leads to some concerns: will there be an index of what is approved and what not, updated as certain ideas are accepted or revoked? How about the extent to which the different technologies should be unified? Will the same technology be available across Equestria (so that I can for example expect to find parts and materials to repair my gear once in a different part of the world), or is there a supposition that every region develops independently and no guarantee is given that what is known in one place won't be seen as black magic/alien technology entirely?

 

3. Expanding on the above question a little, the story linked of Bass Clef's adventure strikes as more of a samurai story than sci-fi. No mention is made whatsoever of any advancement, cultural or otherwise. Is it therefore an even wilder mix of high-tech and not? Are some regions of Equestria on space-travel level, while another are stuck in middle ages? Or is it more of a tendency to preserve tradition, as indicated by the globally unchanged architecture?

 

4. You mention a system to be in place for PVP encounters. Please expand a little on this topic. Are dice involved? Will we know the stats of whatever equipment will be in the characters' possession? Or is just to say "basically, all is still riding on the posts describing your actions, but the results will also be chewed on by some arbitrary secret number-based system"?

 

5. There is a hint of an overlapping story in the mention of an abducting alien race which will ultimately have to be bested, but could you elaborate a little more on what is to be expected while the action takes place? All I see is a minimalistic mention of pre-arranged abduction (an entry point for the RP? An event to anticipate during the course of play?) and a jumble of mentions pointing towards "missions", which will be "given out on approval". So maybe the starting point of everypony's adventure will be this mission -- whatever might be hidden behind that word -- and the creation of one's spaceship is mandatory, along with a "photo" of it (?) and a crew to populate it? That seems rather steep.

 

6. You listed an astounding amount of 12 slots. My view is based on a very short stay so far, but I'm not even sure there are this many active roleplayers. How many entrants do you expect to wait for before launching the whole shindig? Since the forementioned missions are said to require the minimum of two PCs, I'm guessing that's the bottom limit of anything beginning to happen?

 

Well, that would be it for what came immediately to mind. Let's see if you manage to net me with the insight

Excellent questions Hederik, and while I'm going to answer them fully and honestly, I feel obligated to remind you that it is in planning, so I'm subject to change things as I see fit. My initial drafts of things like this tend to change once or twice, sometimes more depending on when I wrote it, how I think things are fitting properly, and what I believe I need to remove.

 

So here are answers to your questions without further adieu.

 

1. Well, we still do not know from the show how long each race of pony lives, therefore mention of the princesses, Lyra, Ponyville and the like are mentioned solely on the premise that they live an exceptionally lengthy lifespan. Most of Equestria remains the same, of course to a certain extent many lives have been changed by the afformentioned mysterious force. Some of the larger changes would include Canterlot having much stricter security, Manehattan takes on a different role from just a high society feel, politics are generally at a standstill over an agreement proposed in order to keep the values instilled from the time the show seems to be temporarily frozen in. As for the canon-playing roleplayers potential, they are encouraged to cover the back stories of the characters, but they really don't have to. This is up for discussion, as it's something that many canon-playing roleplayers may have an issue with.

 

2. There will be an index, notable through a Google Doc in order to rule out what isn't allowed, and what is approved, consistently updated as ideas are accepted and revoked due to the understanding that things will get complicated quickly with a system like this in place. The same tech will be available across Equestria due to a mutual effort to unite Equestria without further alienation from the main areas that will most likely be much more used than others. These being Canterlot, Manehattan, Ponyville, Appleoosa, with shops to stock commonly needed parts and materials. While it would be true that every region would be developing independently on different projects or areas of expertise, a treaty from the Princesses gives entrance to a share of that information among each region. As for the question about the extent of which the different techs should be unified, I'd like to ask you to elaborate on that a little bit, as I do not understand the question entirely.

 

3. Bass Clef's story was done on the premise that Equestria had advanced. However, when looking into the possibility of other countries expanding to the advancements made in Equestria, we cannot be sure of, hence why the areas Clef went into seemed to be underdeveloped, and rather crude in comparison to Equestrian ideology and technology. It was rare to see a pony on that side of the Equestrian Sea, and even when he did, there was a backstory to Genn Krelion that I did not include, as the time I spent playing out the story of Bass Clef with the 3 other people involved took just over 3 days of planning before we had even gotten past it. As for the mix of tech, and the appearance of architecture, it was more of a move with acceptance by the Princesses (kind of known to be the main source of power and Government in Equestria, which is why they're so often referenced) to preserve tradition. Not all regions of Equestria are practicing space travel, but in that regard, they're all capable of sending ponies to the capitols in order to train for space travel. It can be looked at much of how we look at space travel in our world. No region has multitudes of NASA-esque facilities to continually launch shuttles. We outsource it to one facility, much of which is to be expected to be the same in an Equestrian space age.

 

4. I'm inclined to remove the PvP system, as the algorithm I had in order to figure out battle damage has disappeared off my portable hard drive. I had an entire system based on a set of skill points and upgrades. I'm going to use the fallout SPECIAL system as an example, because it's the best example I can think of. Everyone participating was going to get a set number of points to spread into their trees, and missions would give them more points to spend at a fixed point, dependant on difficulty of the mission, and participation factor. All battles would have been expected to be roleplayed to their entirety using the results of the "rolls" so to speak. If the need for a system arises, I'll gladly revamp it and re-release it, but as for now, I don't see any need for it and will be redacting it in the original post.

 

5. To make it clear, I didn't give the creation of a ship, crew and photo a mandatory tag. It's allowed, but not mandatory. No one has to go into space if they feel it takes away from their story, or takes a hit on the story in general. It's an option I was looking at, and it's becoming clear it may complicate the story too much for me to keep in. The starting point I had in mind for everypony was the abduction. They roleplay out their abduction if they decided it was in their characters books for this story to be abducted. It's not so much as pre-arranged, as I felt it would have added spice to a story that could have been potentially dull without it. One pony getting abducted and pulling a handful into the mix with him just seems rude. On top of that, I did say mysterious force, but I did in no way mention that it is an alien race. We don't know the exact limit of magic in Equestria, what with Twilight being able to poof teleport to another location however far away, and now Starlight Glimmer using a time reversal spell in order to change the course of history from Starswirls original spell. Missions in and of themselves were to be requested and given out on approval of a squad of a minimum of 2 ponies, but beings I'm redacting the PvP encounters, and the potential of redacting the space portion, I may redact missions as well and see how ponies can roleplay in an almost limitless universe with highly upgraded tech and the ability to use imaginations to showcase what they can do. I will still be keeping an index on allowances of weaponry, armor, etc just for the simple case of value.

 

6. I did list 12 slots, because I feel that 12 slots may indeed be a lot, but as this is going to be open to applications even while in motion, I'd give a high allowance of players. I plan to take it out of planning phase before I launch anyways. As you can tell, this is a rather largescale RP that I'm planning. I need to flesh out everything before I give the go-ahead to begin.

 

I'd also like to note that I linked the story of Bass Clef as a background because the universe I had RP'd him in had been much of the same as what I'm trying to create here, minus a few key details that I've opted to leave out due to the rules of the site. However, if you have any further questions I will answer them to the best of my ability while I try to look into editing the post a little more to take away and add what I need to.

 

Thanks for the consideration, and the questions, Hederik.

[Hederik 119]

 

 

1. (...) Well, we still do not know from the show how long each race of pony lives

Apparently enough to see their race advance through what feels like two to three hundred years in human development. It's an acceptable supposition, however, that their science skyrocketed for one reason on another, wilder propositions have been accepted.

 

 

 

2. There will be an index, notable through a Google Doc

Perfect.

 

 

 

2. (...) As for the question about the extent of which the different techs should be unified, I'd like to ask you to elaborate on that a little bit, as I do not understand the question entirely.

 

You answered it. The last question was this one exactly, only phrased better and more detailed.

 

 

 

3. (...) Not all regions of Equestria are practicing space travel, but in that regard, they're all capable of sending ponies to the capitols in order to train for space travel. It can be looked at much of how we look at space travel in our world.

 

 

That sounds reasonable.

 

 

 

4. I'm inclined to remove the PvP system

You got my vote there. For several reasons, I'm highly opposed to widespread use of stats, feats, dice rolls and so on in roleplay, particularly one that's forum-based. In "real-time" RPG it might make more sense as most players (from my experience) won't commit to lengthy descriptions of their actions and behaviors, rather wanting a hack&slash with elements of sandbox-y interaction with the world. Not that I immediately object to taking part in an RP implementing such, just my two cents of an opinion.

 

 

 

5. (...)

Yeah. Mhm. Okay. Sounds good. AHHH SPOILERS!

 

Serves me right for postponing the watching of season 5 for so long. As I joined this forum, I understood this has to end, so I'm already halfway done, so. Yeah. Moving on...

 

 

 

6. (...) I plan to take it out of planning phase before I launch anyways.

Oh, right. Totally looked over that planning tag. Well, this changes nothing anyway.

 

 

 

As you can tell, this is a rather largescale RP that I'm planning.

Yeah, quite. Are you sure you're ready for it? Not to say I doubt in you or anything - if you have experience with this type of thing, good for you. This many players will mean a lot of simultaneous action, several plotlines needing to be coordinated between themselves... probably way more than a single forum thread, too. Again, just saying.

 

 

Well, I continue being intrigued. I might lean towards "interested", even. I don't think I'm gonna commit to anything so early on, but I'll follow this thread with a keen eye. Should you manage to piece all this together nicely, I suppose I wouldn't mind taking a character, canon most likely, for a spin.

 

For now, good luck.

[Sapphire_Lightning 42]

Apparently enough to see their race advance through what feels like two to three hundred years in human development. It's an acceptable supposition, however, that their science skyrocketed for one reason on another, wilder propositions have been accepted.

 

 

 

Perfect.

 

 

 

 

You answered it. The last question was this one exactly, only phrased better and more detailed.

 

 

 

 

 

That sounds reasonable.

 

 

 

You got my vote there. For several reasons, I'm highly opposed to widespread use of stats, feats, dice rolls and so on in roleplay, particularly one that's forum-based. In "real-time" RPG it might make more sense as most players (from my experience) won't commit to lengthy descriptions of their actions and behaviors, rather wanting a hack&slash with elements of sandbox-y interaction with the world. Not that I immediately object to taking part in an RP implementing such, just my two cents of an opinion.

 

 

 

Yeah. Mhm. Okay. Sounds good. AHHH SPOILERS!

 

Serves me right for postponing the watching of season 5 for so long. As I joined this forum, I understood this has to end, so I'm already halfway done, so. Yeah. Moving on...

 

 

 

Oh, right. Totally looked over that planning tag. Well, this changes nothing anyway.

 

 

 

Yeah, quite. Are you sure you're ready for it? Not to say I doubt in you or anything - if you have experience with this type of thing, good for you. This many players will mean a lot of simultaneous action, several plotlines needing to be coordinated between themselves... probably way more than a single forum thread, too. Again, just saying.

 

 

Well, I continue being intrigued. I might lean towards "interested", even. I don't think I'm gonna commit to anything so early on, but I'll follow this thread with a keen eye. Should you manage to piece all this together nicely, I suppose I wouldn't mind taking a character, canon most likely, for a spin.

 

For now, good luck.

Well, the questions were much appreciated. They got me thinking into a much larger scale of detail that I was lacking when I wrote it last night. There will be frequent updates and I hope other ponies come in with questions, because questions fuel my creativity.