[K5pbem] My Thoughts On Restarting the K5 PBEM

[Jeff Skagen]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Surbrook" <susano at guisarme.net>
To: <k5pbem at devermore.net>
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 8:08 AM
Subject: [K5pbem] My Thoughts On Restarting the K5 PBEM


> Here are my thoughts on the whole K5 PBEM reboot.
>
> 1) We don't need to settle on one specific place. While I like the idea of 
> using Hong Kong (it has a lot going for it as a center for PC interaction) 
> there is nothing stopping people from placing themselves in different 
> locations. That said, some locations will be (IMO) less useful than 
> others. Downtown LA, for example, was hit by a home-made nuclear weapon 
> early in the 21st Century and is mostly a crater and ruins surrounded by 
> urban sprawl (think the scenes from the opening of AKIRA the manga). 
> London seems too passive to me -- not enough tension. Moscow would have 
> scads of tension, since it's not the most stable place, but it is also out 
> of the way in a geographical sense. Hong Kong has Mega-Tokyo tp the north, 
> war-town China to the east, and Singapore, SE Asia, and Australia to the 
> south.

I agree that the whole world should be available to the players, but we must 
also keep in mind that players whose characters are in different cities may 
have some difficulty getting their characters together for a story. For this 
reason, I do think we should have an unwritten understanding that one 
particular city - such as Hong Kong -  is the main focus of our stories. 
This does not mean that all characters have to be there  - after all, the 
Neo York Zero Zone was the focus previously, yet we also had characters in 
downtown Neo York, Hong Kong, and Mega-Tokyo at various times - but it does 
mean that if someone decides to make a character who is not primarily based 
in Hong Kong, he needs to be aware that it may be harder for his character 
to regularly interact with the other characters, and that he may find 
himself writing more solo stories as a result. Which is just fine, if that's 
what he wants, of course.

> 2) We need to determine a play style. How often do turns occur? Do we need 
> or want character sheets? How do we determine interactions and plots? Is 
> there a Game Master? If so, who? And what will the GM do?

I wouldn't mind if the turns were just a bit longer than they used to be; 
maybe a week or two more. I sometimes used to feel a bit rushed at the end 
of a turn. I think we can determine interactions and plots by e-mailing each 
other and posting notices as needed to the mailing list. That's mostly what 
we did before (at least up until the Jinsei invasion of the Zone) and it 
worked out well then.

Personally, I intend to write a character sheet even if it is not it is 
required, if only for my own use. If I were GM, I think I'd want a character 
sheet for every character, even if just as a reference for consistency, even 
if game mechanics almost never actually are made use of in the PBEM. Of 
course, if a player is unfamiliar with the Hero System, he need only write a 
thorough description of what his character is and can do, and I'm sure 
someone here can make a Hero System character sheet from that in short 
order. But in the end, it's your call, Mike. If you don't think you need 
one, then don't require one.

> At the very least, as the guy who created the world and am still 
> developing it, I should have some sort of authority to accept/decline PCs, 
> NPCs, technology, and plots. People should (I hope) come to me to ask 
> about in-game concepts for people, places, and things, and I can say 
> either 'yay' or 'nay,' depending.

I agree. You also should have the right to review all submitted stories and 
tell players if there is anythign inapproriate or inaccurate to the world 
that needs correcting. Beyond that, the GM probably doesn't need to do a 
whole lot more than pick a DiTL theme and minor duties like that, so if 
you're prepared to do the stuff you mentioned above anyway, I think you may 
as well be GM. If necessary, you could ask someone else to be co-GM to help 
take up some of the burden.

> 3) We need to determine what parts, if any, of the website need an 
> overhaul. The game introduction needs work, if only to reflect the new 
> play style. If this is done, I need to know what it should say, or someone 
> out there could type up new data for me to enter.

I'm sure several us would be willing to point out areas that need revamping 
and work on different parts of it, if you ask us to.

> 4) We need to create a message board. Dustin can help with this, and I 
> think it would be a good place to discuss plot concepts and the like.

I agree, although this mailing list can carry most of the burden until a 
proper message board can go up. BTW, you could always just start a Yahoo 
Group for that; it's pretty much a mailing list/message board in one.

> 5) We need to overhaul the PC/NPC section. Remove the PCs who are not 
> being used, enter new PCs, and do the same for the People, Places, and 
> Things entries. Players should make an attempt to send me short 
> descriptions of characters they've created so others can read about and 
> use them.

Actually, I'm thinking that most of the Places and Things should probably 
stay; it's likely that someone will want to use some of them again at some 
point. Same with the NPC's, wherever they are located. I agree we need to 
prune away all the old PC's that are no longer in use, and I think we need 
to expand the list of Hong Kong based NPC's.

________________
Jeff Skagen
jeff.skagen at verizon.net