[K5pbem] My Thoughts On Restarting the K5 PBEM

[Mike Surbrook]

On Mon, 21 Nov 2005, Jeff Skagen wrote:

> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Surbrook" <susano at guisarme.net>
>
>> 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.

Jeff, you've read my mind. This is very true. You can be in London, for 
example, but if no one else is, you're going to have a tough time 
interacting with people.

> 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.

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.

Yes it did. And 6 weeks sounds good for a turn. That's 1.5 months per turn 
and about 8 turns a year.

> 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.

I'd like one, if only in the interests of comparison to known characters.

>> 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.

Okay. I am asking. What needs to be done?

>> 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.

At the very least, I'd like to clean up said sections.

-- 
Michael Surbrook
susano at guisarme . net http://surbrook.devermore.net/index/
If violence isn't the answer then I don't understand the question