[K5pbem] My Thoughts On Restarting the K5 PBEM

[Alex Fauth]

>>> Here are my thoughts on the whole K5 PBEM reboot.

What about everyone else out there? Agree/disagree?

>>> 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.


I like this. It would be good to see a bit more of other cities, and that's 
a great reason for people to use, or even be based in them. But a focal 
point is likely to be the best option. Can we all agree on Hong Kong for 
this?

>>> 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.

Just for bookkeeping, it's probably best if we re-start the turn count, and 
have "new" stories listed on a separate page, or at least a seperate section 
of the page.

>> 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.

Shoudl we make it a standard, then? All PCs get a character sheet - whether 
by the player or another mmember of the game - for the GM's reference?

>>> 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.

If we're going with the more player-driven idea of earlier posts, then the 
GM's burden would be a lot lighter. Generally, I don't see the GM (Mike, 
most likely) having to do any more than a basic read-over and occaisional 
review of submissions. Mike, are you good for that?

>>> 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?

Reorganisation, mostly. Backgroudn infor and characters established are 
good, it's just a matter of sorting things. I think the major change to 
consider is if we need to divide such background info into categories for 
the old and new game, and if so, how to divide them. It would be useful if 
we could, if only to make things les... cluttered, I guess, for what is 
basically a fresh start. Also, do we want to make PC's charcter sheets 
available to the public and other players for comparison? It might help in 
the seemingly inevitable event of a versus story or similar, or at least so 
people can find PCs with complememnting skills for missions and such.

>>> 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.

A message board woudl definitely help overall. I see it as being largely 
devoted to story ideas and development, althought there should definitely be 
a subset - probably the first section to go up - for constant ideas on 
gameplay, site layout and so forth. It would help if we could get that up 
soon, and move this discussion there.

>>> 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.

Places and things could stay, although it could do with reorganisation once 
more. Re-organisiation is the key here. I think the site could benefit from 
reorganising and subdividing pages - for example, the characters page should 
only list active PCs on the front page, and include inactive and retired PCS 
as a subpage along with the NPC categories.

Anyone else?