The Churn: an Expanse game

Cura · Jul 20, 2018, 9:12 PM

It's nowhere near done, but people keep bringing the setting up, so I guess it's worth mentioning: this is in the (slowest of slow) works. It's built on Ares (with help from @faraday, thanks lady) and will use FS3, but not in any especially crunchy way -- more as a flavor supplement to RP for those of us who like a little bit of chance mixed in with our RP.

Trying to avoid spoilers for anybody who watches the show and isn't finished with watching season 3: the game's timeline is set following events that happen late in s3, with Medina Station as the central hub/factional melting pot. (The scope of the setting is the entirety of the Sol system, however, with some lightweight handwaviness for travel time, because this is a MU* and the point is to RP.)

There will be no FCs. The crew of the Rocinante has been written out of the story (as much as I love Amos, RIP). At the moment I'm planning to leave some major factional NPC roles filled with canon characters (examples: Avasarala, Dawes, Johnson), but they won't be played -- more as plot devices when big faction decisions are necessary. Ultimately, having those roles become occupied by PCs instead would be ideal.

Stuff that's going to take a while to complete:

Overhauling FS3's default BSG loadout to appropriately reflect this setting. I'm the first to admit that statbrain is not my strength. For that reason, this is probably going to take the longest of any task on the list.
Finishing out the wiki and all of its player resource pages: there are fiddly (read: boring) things to compile like the pre-game timeline, and less fiddly but equally necessary things to sort out, like how to organize player contributions to theme (pop culture, player-run factions, etc).
Gridbuilding: This isn't going to take a terribly long time and it's partially in place, but I do need to do things like 'set up weather zones so that there isn't a warm spring rain happening in the cold vacuum of space.'
Metaplot. This piece will probably wait until a soft open so that I know wtf kind of characters are even going to be on the grid, and can figure out what people might enjoy and be most interested in engaging with, for those people who like metaplot.

Right now, the staff consists of...me. Hence the creeping pace of development! There's information on the web portal about the kind of game this is intended to be, and in an ideal world it would attract people who like to run plot when they have the freedom to do that, in a lenient setting that allows for a whole lot of flexibility and large-scale storytelling.

On a personal note, in the last few years I've kinda come around to feeling as though being able to say 'yes' to players who are motivated and active is a critical part of a healthy game, and that those sorts of players are happiest when staff can just help them do their thing, and then get out of the way. I've gotten weary of Fun Police stepping in to discourage things that don't actually actively damage the theme or anybody's actual IC experience. I'd like to try to create a game that is mindful of that, and encourages people to blow things up and make messes, as long as it creates RP for other people instead of hindering it.

It's probably going to be a work in progress on that front, and I've seen enough games open (and close) that I know there's an element of luck/chance involved with the playerbase a game draws when the doors open, too. Those are my intentions, though.

I'm actually going out of town this weekend and that makes this timing awkward I guess, but I'm happy to answer any questions that I actually have firm answers to at this point!

(Side note for the curious: If you were on BSG:U toward the end of its life, you might have seen me wandering around that grid as Ines.)

Three-Eyed Crow · Jul 20, 2018, 9:15 PM

@cura
Very interested (though will be more interested when stuff opens, I'm not one for pre game enthusiasm). That said it's an awesome setting and I think fs3 is well-suited for it. Good luck!

Insomnia · Jul 20, 2018, 9:17 PM

How easy would this be to get into for people who have it on their want to watch but haven't gotten around to it yet list? Will they be completely spoiled by playing if they procrastinate and don't catch up first?

Auspice · Jul 20, 2018, 9:27 PM

I'm gonna be that guy and say that this might be best for the Game Dev board and I will gladly move it there (then an official announcement once you're open can be put here).

But hey, I'm excited! I've wanted to open an Expanse game myself and have a lot of ideas, but I am HELLA BUSY.

Cura · Jul 20, 2018, 9:39 PM

@auspice Oops! Sorry about that. That would be great, thank you!

Yeah, I remember you had mentioned/we talked about it way back when I first got the itch to write in this setting. I went radio silent after that, but I've been poking at it ever since.

I would also rather be a player than admin something, to be 100% honest (I feel like most sane people have this preference, haha) but since it doesn't exist, I suppose somebody has to get it started. And, hey -- it creates the opportunity to maybe foster the kind of game culture I'm most interested in, so there's that. Hopefully it works for other folks, too.

@insomnia said in The Churn: an Expanse game:

How easy would this be to get into for people who have it on their want to watch but haven't gotten around to it yet list? Will they be completely spoiled by playing if they procrastinate and don't catch up first?

The really nice thing about this setting is that, in spite of being hard sci-fi, most of its sci-fi elements are intuitive evolutions of very familiar present-day technologies and cultures. There's lot of cultural blending and things are in general a lot more socially progressive, but it has a familiar feeling that I think probably makes it easy to pick up and run with.

There are totally spoilers in the theme, though. It takes place after events in book 3/4, and events at the end of season 3.

Peppel · Jul 20, 2018, 9:41 PM

This looks very promising! It's nice to see more sci-fi games, I'm looking forward to it. One question: Is the plot going to follow the events of the next books, or it's going to be a different storyline?

faraday · Jul 20, 2018, 9:45 PM

@cura said in The Churn: an Expanse game:

Overhauling FS3's default BSG loadout to appropriately reflect this setting. I'm the first to admit that statbrain is not my strength. For that reason, this is probably going to take the longest of any task on the list.

I happen to know someone who's pretty good with FS3 stats if you want help with that. Y'know, just saying...

Cura · Jul 20, 2018, 9:50 PM

@Peppel I would prefer that the trajectory of the game hinge on what people choose to do IC. How much that deviates depends heavily on how much initiative players take, and whether people plot and plan and push things in directions of their own.

There are things the book establishes as true about thematic elements (like the protomolecule) that may influence future events in similar ways, but I have no desire to retread canon things happening in canon ways. (Since the crew of the Roci isn't in play, that would be difficult to recreate, even if I wanted to!)

Cura · Jul 20, 2018, 10:06 PM

@faraday said in The Churn: an Expanse game:

@cura said in The Churn: an Expanse game:

Overhauling FS3's default BSG loadout to appropriately reflect this setting. I'm the first to admit that statbrain is not my strength. For that reason, this is probably going to take the longest of any task on the list.

I happen to know someone who's pretty good with FS3 stats if you want help with that. Y'know, just saying...

OMG. I would absolutely love help from this hypothetical FS3 statwizard. I just did not ask because it sounds like a huge amount of work and I have already gotten a whole lot of help from another nameless FS3 expert.

(Seriously though, if you're actually willing, that would be incredible.)

mietze · Jul 20, 2018, 11:05 PM

Squeeeeeeeeeeee

ThugHeaven · Jul 21, 2018, 2:38 AM

I iz a Belta!

Seraphim73 · Jul 21, 2018, 2:46 AM

Totally interested. And I'm happy to help with stats if you'd like it--or, you know, the actual expert could do it (Fara). That's the kind of nerdiness that I love.Then it's time to work on my Martian Marine PC.

Testament · Jul 21, 2018, 1:47 PM

Isn't Medina Station in S3 still considered the Behemoth? Its splitting hairs, I know.

Watching the show made me read the books. Currently on Nemesis Games, which I think is book five.

I will drop everything in doing and play this, full stop. As much as I love the Rocinate crew, kinda glad there won't be a Jim Holden running around to be Sols resident white knight.

Though I'd take any excause for more Miller, even if that's not feasibly possible. Or Drummer.

Templari · Jul 21, 2018, 6:53 PM

I am completely looking forward to this. I'm a fan of the series and currently reading the first book. So I'm excited about this. We need more grim space based games. You know, one of the best things about being in space is the ability to give under-performing minions an Airlock Promotion.

Cura · Jul 21, 2018, 7:01 PM

@seraphim73 said in The Churn: an Expanse game:

happy to help with stats if you'd like it

We caught up on discord about this a little before I had to jet for this trip, but yes! I am not too proud to accept all kinds of help, thank you!

@testament said in The Churn: an Expanse game:

Isn't Medina Station in S3 still considered the Behemoth? Its splitting hairs, I know.

[...]

kinda glad there won't be a Jim Holden running around to be Sols resident white knight.

It may be. I actually have six episodes left of the show to watch, so I'm not sure how they broke it down, other than I know they heavily compressed a lot of the book events and slid things into more overlap with one another, time-wise. Once it's through the (spoilers), and after the Roci crew goes to (spoilers), it turns back up as Medina, and this is roughly when the game takes place. (The Roci crew, in the game, stays on the aforementioned spoilers.)

There are so many fantastic characters that make that setting up that it does seem a little sad not to have them kicking around, I know. But if someone wants to app a character that relentlessly mashes the Paragon Interrupt option like Holden does, or just happens to be a rumpled, hat-wearing, sardonic detective type, I am sure there's a place for them somewhere.

@templari said in The Churn: an Expanse game:

We need more grim space based games. You know, one of the best things about being in space is the ability to give under-performing minions an Airlock Promotion.

Agree. The series is pretty cool for me in that it manages to be both hard sci-fi and also dirty, industrial space, and doesn't lose its grounding in familiar things, even though it has over-the-top space opera action, too. I always prefer 'blue-collar' scifi. (Probably something I can lay at the feet of the movie Alien.)

Deleted · Jul 21, 2018, 7:28 PM

Not gonna lie. The title 'The CHurn' made me expect an Amish-themed game.

Expanse is a much cooler idea though.

Testament · Jul 21, 2018, 7:32 PM

The Churn relates to a side book in the series about Amos and it's also something he says during the series. To a guy he really wants to vent into space.

I mean it's just more Amos appreciation which I can completely get behind.