With the server rebooted, and an (unintended) fresh start, perhaps it's time to brainstorm some new RPG ideas. What would you like to see? Something based off the movies? Off of TF Animated (they made another season while I wasn't looking! Gah!)? A new take on Beast Wars? Something with fresh characters? Something reviving old characters?

Myself, I've got several more chapters of that "Preda-Convoy" story written in my head, and it's something that could serve as something of a Predacon Base reboot.. but it might be best as a standalone story for now.

Something based on the movie universe would be cool. TF2's expanded universe opens the door quite wide.

The small elite team battleing foes would work here.

But then again, what do I know.

For some reason or the other, Gen 1 based games have never gone too far here.

Psycko's been tossing around a good idea actually, which I'll let him reveal here when he feels ready. But I do believe this is one where Jungle, with a few tweaks, would fit right in.

Don't mind me ninja-ing into all your threads do you? :3

TF2 got me all fired up too, but as the expanded universe goes, I had no idea who was what, and what was going on half the time for that matter. I have to say I'm not quite up on the contemperary material, I was a Beast Wars fan mostly, and even that's gotten rusty. How long has it been, 10 years for me? Yow, I feel like the old scottish Jetfire. Ach!

The only problem with the movie universe is all the pesky Humans. They're all a bunch of killjoys, I know we're all in it for the cybertronians. The 'small elite teams' seem to flash me back to the bounty hunter ideas. If we're going for commandos.... Wow I just had a flash of power rangers, only the mechs are the stars and the humans are the cheap CG effects. xD I'm looking forward to meet Psycko after all this time though.

Hey Blazer. You're obsessed with TF2 lately too, huh? PYRO HADOKEN

How could I not be? The mech fluid in my veins boils. xD

One of numerous reasons, I returned to this forum is because all of my fictional work for Transformers has been placed on gag order or failed to spark any interest.

Zevais and I have been pitching graphic novel story with Dreamworks, Marvel, and IDW for about three years now. We are both published for work other than Transformers; I am for scientific journals. There is a trade paperback, in the best hopes, in the works. The story is post apocalypse and guided by the movies-set on Cybertron. There is a gag order on the physical plot until and if the story goes to publishing; however, it is set in the future of the movies, and I am willing to pitch material here reguarding material that could have happened during the time of the movies themselves.

Setting: Cybertron
Energon is limited. Much of Cybertron is dead as a result of starvation and war without any hope of the Allspark restoring life. Autobots are trying to replicate the Matrix and find a suitable star to drain Energon from-one that is not fruiting life as we know it.

Combat heavy and eating Energon in much higher amounts than their Autobot conterparts-Decepticons have turned desperate; all of the remaining Decepticons are working as mercenaries for a leader that holds the last stockpile of Energon. The leader has amassed much of the stockpile by harvesting the Energon from other Transformers. There are frequent raids on Autobot populations. The Decepticons drain energon from the Autobots and the Autobot technology.

Restrictions:
Autobots will have less firepower; however, they will be allowed higher intelligence and more agility. Skills will have to reflect this as well-Decepticons will have combat heavy skills and Autobots will have social/scientific heavy skills. Autobots will be automatically awarded more luck; sorry, they are the protagonists. Four characters will be the maximum-two Autobot, two Decepticon. "Special Abilities" will be limited-Decepticons are allowed a single reasonable combat special ability and Autobots are allowed a single reasonable defensive/healing/scientific special ability. Combat will take its toll; Transformers take caution not too waste too much of their internal Energon. Feel free to create old characters becoming weak and rusted from lack of Energon and age; old should outnumber young.

No organics; however you can simulate organics: mechanical beast modes and holographic imaging will be allowed. Technorganics and technorganic related abilities are restricted.

In Closing:
I will be willing to work on this further if there is any interest. I am welcome to feedback, and I will be willing to have someone work with me on this one to provide additional input and story ideas.

I do like the setting of rusted and abandoned architecture, dead bots, lots of scavenging. Would there be anything of value to search for on cybertron itself? Like caches of energon reserves? I start thinking of Fallout 3, bombed out terrain with bots trying to scrape together enough to live from day to day. Would there be any 'wasteland settlers' or the like, trying to freelance for themselves?

Now if the autobots are trying to find suitable stars with no life on them, what are they still doing on cybertron? Is it part of replicating the Matrix? Searching for... something, on cybertron? The decepticon plot sounds a lot like Grand Admiral Thrawn from Star Wars. Decepticon Remnant. :3 Though I question the 'only the stupid survive' restriction you're proposing for the decepticons. If I, say, wanted to play my namesake, he's a weapon designer, that takes intelligence. Sure he'd have limited resources and have to MacGyver his inventions together, but that isn't to say that all decepticons have to be especially stupid. That just... wouldn't be all that fun. I guess I'm just looking for clarification. The decepticons have always been more combat oriented than intelligent. :3 Just wondering if some of us COULD play rather smart decepticons if they chose. After all, the savvy can survive in post-apocalyptia just as well as the strong.

Artifacts:
I do not think any story is complete without objects to gain and objectives beyond combat. You can definitely expect more plot than combat.

Offworld:
Yes, there will be survey missions offworld from time to time. I expect the Decepticons to follow them to take advantage of them and their research. I wanted to leave this idea open for future segways and future missions. Development of a new Matrix and Conversion Machine will be a primary focus until it is possible.

Intelligence:
There is a difference between a person that has been working with weapons all his life to become an expert, and a natural einstein or well rounded scientist. You do not need a 10 intelligence to be a weapons expert, in my opinion. I open to combat specialist; however, any Decepticon that is insanely intelligent and well rounded will not be a lowly mercenary remaining under the command of a vicious, greedy power-monger. The Decepticon would probably either: take over the Decepticons, join the Autobots and try to help restore Cybertron for the benefit of the species, or live like a loner hermit occasionally come out and make sure people know he is still evil and still brooding.

I am looking for Decepticons that will make better mercenaries and unintelligent enough to follow a leader that may or may not be better than themselves because he hordes their wealth. As time goes by, and the story changes, Transformers can evolve and be introduced. Sometimes story takes priority. The Autobots are going to be the more well-rounded thinkers trying to think of ways to solve the crisis Cybertron is facing. Right away, I think it is important to have everyone together and not have too many side-stories going on. If this goes well, the story will evolve and take a number of directions; I would even allow additional characters beyond the limit at that time.

Other:
I like the bomb-out shelters and wasteland ideas you are thinking about. The landscape is going to be near-wasteland between faction borders, anywhere that are not the main strongholds. As for now, to limit sidestories and players doing whatever they want, Decepticons will be mercenary combat oriented & Autobots will be scientific and research oriented. Decepticons can be specialists and Autobot can have combat designs, reguardless.

Ooh, me like Artifacts. :3

Offworld sounds fun, some variety.

Well I don't want to shpeel about my characters, but Aviak was once employed as a weapons R&D lead. So he knows his way around tech and the science of his field. He mostly does the research and engineering end, so he wouldn't quite fit as a 'weapons expert'. He's actually quite the gunery novice, even with the weapons he designs. xD And his original plot had him as a mercenary since he tends to alienate all his employers. Where do all the really smart decepticon scientists get their jobs in that universe anyway? Back in Ult he had to take on the role of general tech and engineering, he didn't like it. =D Oh and he did go turn-coat a couple times if I remember correctly. Trust me, he'd fit in.

Well back to your idea, (Sorry, i babble about my own characters) it does seem like we're on the same page with the setting. I'm interested. :3

I am not claiming there are no intelligent well-rounded Decepticons. There are, and there will be will be. The superscientist types would not be hanging about these Decepticons. Most of them would consider this mercenary work beneath them.

I am sure there will be a demand for a superscientist if the Autobots complete the new Matrix and find a suitable planet. If the Decepticons get ahold of said Matrix and find said planet, there will be a place for that superscientist. Until then, the superscientist will be just out of place. Like you say, what job would he really have that he would be satisfied with?

And it won't be just Autobots their hunting either, all Transformer technology uses energon. The Decepticons may raid a power station for a defense turret. You never know. I have ideas involving unintelligent native life like cyberfoxes, that also have energon inside and were created by the allspark.

Point is, he wouldn't be satisfied. Is any decepticon satisfied with what they have? >:3 And no, I don't plan on playing a superscientist, unless you count Thadeus Venture as a model. xD It's fun playing squandered potential and flawed characters. And no, I don't plan on stealing the show or anything. I just love your concept and wish to help out.

Honestly, as long as your character is a combat based weapons specialist that is fully willing to follow a leader that may make plenty of questionable orders without trying to overthrow him. I think he'll work fine as long as he has no qualms about getting his hands dirty. Remember, G1 didn't happen. This is movie-verse, and you may have to edit to work within that universe. Now, if your character makes snide comments and is carefully watching to see if the leader dies unexpectedly-that is just normal Decepticon behavior.

I just don't want to see a dozen superscientists and/or know-it-alls/can-solve-any-scientific-situation mixed up in a band of basterd mercenaries out for their survival and wealth. They always become too intelligent for the health of the group-threatening the health of the story and cohesion of the group itself.

Heh. Blazer? Didn't the old Aviak commit acts of sabotage and mutiny on a basis that became downright routine? Just so long as that doesn't become the focus of his character, I think you'll be fine.

I've been thinking about the boards a fair bit lately-- about where we go from here. As far as the Transformers universe goes, we've had our share of great ideas... Many of which have since faded out and fallen by the wayside. (You know who you are.) But that doesn't have to mean they're just done and gone. My thinking here is that we could take those non-starters, with their intriguing casts and prologue plots, and we could write out just the parts we most want to see. Instead of following the arc through its natural (slow) progression of beginning, middle, end, you could drop in the pivotal moments, tell the story in pieces, in the order that they came to you. Then you could fill in any gaps as desired. Or not. Sort of like a Quentin Tarantino movie.

What we do best, I think, is the cooperative writing of head-to-head banter, or action-heavy, choreographed combat sequences. Sometimes following an underlying story can get in the way of that-- the moments of intense, concentrated character that we do so well. And on that front, a more nonlinear approach could bear dividends.

I want to be clear: I'm not saying we should do away with more conventional boards, and this is different from longer stories as well (like Preda-Convoy, which incidentally, Ribo, interests me very much). But I do think getting a little closure on all the ideas we've all wanted to do (and haven't) might be good for everybody. If nothing else, it could keep us occupied for a while.

I call it: The Best Of.

...As in the best of us, the AUG RPG.

Any thoughts?

You're talking about decepticons, right? O_o Intrigue adds spice to any story arc! But no, I wouldn't be trying to backstab every time the leader turns around.

My personal outlook toward story arcs and interaction revolves around the character. I like to make a well seasoned and thought out character and toss them into the situation and see what happens. In the case of stories, I like the modular system, with an open ending and 'interrupts' designed to throw curves at players. A story that's already been written isn't quite as fun to those who want to play in it.

I think that is a good idea too, a freeform RPG. I think it was tried before, but it did not pan very well. The Warbound Inn was set up on a similar premise. People come and go in a bar and just interact with no set story. I think we just need enough people on board to do it. I think Ribo should recreate the FreeForm section; I have some fanfiction I plan to write here, and I am going to leave it open for people to add onto. Much of my work is being gag-ordered. It is going to be nice to have some freedom.

Sometimes things fizzle out when there is no defined goal. We definitely should have some structure around. My idea that is above would be a good idea for a new Bot/Con that I wish I never missed out on. Even if it does not pan out, I think I will make it out into an open fanfiction.

I agree completely. Without something to push for, without a plot 'framework' that people can build up with character interaction and fun roleplaying, the motivation just isn't there. What I've found to be true in my experience is that people enjoy a clear direction to take their characters in, with the freedom to take a round-about route if they want. Weighing a solid plot direction with the ability to let players do whatever they want. :3 Though the interaction would be a lot closer and coordinated than the cluster...bomb, that I hang out on nowdays. xD I'm really not sure how much solid backbone the adventures will have here. It's been a while...

A freeform board isn't really what I was suggesting. It's a fine idea, just not what I meant here. This would be a board meant for unfinished subplots, those long, slow builds of character and planning that would happen in the background of most boards, and, as a result, have been largely cut short when said boards fizzled out.

The idea comes out of online mobisodes, those little self-contained vignettes of character and plot, brief flashes of insight taken aside from their normal context to stand alone. If you've ever had a perfect scene you wanted to write and were only waiting for the perfect moment to spring it on your fellow players-- a moment, perhaps, that never actually came, or came and went, but you missed it. You put that here.

It's about pure interaction-- assign the premise, drop in the characters, and bang! Go. Write. If it only lasts two or three posts, that's fine. If it goes on page after page, well then that's -fantastic-.

The idea is just to experiment, to see what happens, what could have been. It's an excuse as much as anything to revisit old haunts. Want to see the various oddballs on the old Ultimate RPG cook up a harebrained scheme? Done. Want to jump into a high-octane cops-and-robbers highway chase on Crime Cybertronian? It's yours. The fateful high-stakes duel we never got to see on Metal Reign? Hit it up.

Given that nostalgia is a lot of what keeps this board going after all these years, I don't think it'd be a bad thing to capitalize on the fact.

To my knowledge, I believe that was the intent of the freeform board in addition to introducing ideas for new games. I believe the content ended up on general discussion frequently reguardless of the intent.

Nastalgia is nice, and I am sure this will be great in short runs. There is a problem; there is no longevity. We definitely need some structured stories to go back to. These nastalgic moments are best left for slow periods and times that we find ourselves locked in a writer's block without much creativity. I am sure they could even at some point transform into something structured.

Off topic while remaining connected to nastalgia-does anyone remember that Hydro Hazards idea that someone pushed? I have a strong itch to play transformers in aquatic environments that I cannot quite scratch.

I get what Tarry's saying, and I think it's a good idea, but the key is that it's something to have in addition to ongoing story boards, not as a replacement. A lot of the best writing here has always come out of the tangents and subplots, or side stories focused on two or three characters. They tend to get interspersed in the main story, or put in another thread someplace random, or sometimes just done on IM or email and never posted on the board at all. So someplace to gather this sort of stuff would be good.

I don't think it should be limited to nostalgia. Certainly there's lots of good ideas sitting in the attic, because they didn't quite fit into any story at the time, and I'd go further and say there's a lot of good stuff that did get written and deserves to get dug up and reposted. But of course there should be new ideas and things that grow out of future stories too. I'd prefer to call it something like "Spotlight Scenes" or, well I got no other ideas at the moment, but "Best Of.." implies that it's only looking backwards.

More on adding, not replacing -- We would have to accept that this thing would be by nature more exclusive than an ongoing story. To maintain quality and focus, most threads would likely be defined at the outset- the situation and characters involved. It might be only two characters. In many cases, another player wouldn't be able to throw their hat into the ring in mid-scene without permission from the originating writers. And, as the focus would be on intense interactions, there could be an inherent towards players who know each other's characters well, and against new characters and players. None these things are inherently bad, and in our group of old hats I think it's a net positive, but it's something that needs to be complimented by other boards that are more open and plot driven.

Even though this probably wouldn't be something that a new player could just jump into, I think it'd have some value for recruiting because a focused, entertaining story that gives a sense of what we're about is going to draw someone in more than trying to sort through an ongoing mission thread.

You know what, I just realized something. The big difference between the AUG of old and the boards I play on is the sheer number of players. A story arc can't fit in one thread alone. Threads rarely last more than 5-6 pages. Villages are sub-dividers of forums, and each forum within those subdivisions is in fact a place. Each thread within those places is a separate RP with varying numbers of players. Private two person interactions, three person, five person. Each is started, plays out, and then finished. The repercussions of any interaction take effect starting at the end of that thread and effect any threads thereafter that the character joins. There's a different sub-forum for missions, pure character interactions, training, moving to other villages, village council discussions. I even came up with a nifty bulletin board for my villages where characters could leave notes for each other in-character. ^^

It's quite spaced out compared to the single-thread form that you guys have used, but it's also adaptable and very intuitive. One of the benefits is that players don't have to read EVERYTHING to figure out what small segments their character should know about. If their character isn't in it, they don't need to read the thread. (If i fell behind in the old days it was HARD to catch up. @_@) If you guys have time, I'd be happy to offer a quick tour. :3

It is a good idea; however, I really do not think we have the support to start that form of roleplay. If we regain more long lost players and recruit, this idea would be quite viable. Until then, I think there should be focus on keeping people together. We lost Drakgun and Zevais recently, and they were once some of the most enthusiastic players here. I am sure if the few remaining people split up into small personal groups, returning players and new players would feel left out and isolated until they found a niche within one of the small groups.

Pterascream, on your idea, I do think that all the restrictions on the Decepticon side of your board idea make it hard to come up with anything that's not cookie cutter in personality and history. So maybe do something like the old Vehicon board, focusing on a few "generals" or generally higher ranking cons, rather than the shock troops? Or, for that matter, if the Decepticons are meant to follow orders and make life difficult for the Autobots in various ways, why not focus on the Autobots and make the Cons NPCs? One thing I did like about the Cons in the movies were the clever alt forms, especially of the little guys, but a lot of those probably work better as one-off NPCs than an ongoing PC, because its really about the novelty factor.

I understand you're going for something combat driven, I just think it needs a bit more space for the players to be creative.


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Larger point - overall we've got kind of an even split right now between players who like story/interaction driven boards, with all the subplots and tangents that implies, and players who are into things more linear and combat driven. I'm oversimplifying, of course. But we do need to find ways to accomodate both playing styles. If we had more players, it'd be easier, just create a wide variety of boards, but I think over the past few years, with only one or two boards active at a time, it's been just kind of a pendulum swing, just depending on who's able to post more that month. And that's been a recipe for losing players, or just barely retaining them on the margins. I don't know the solution, maybe the best option is just to experiment and see what sticks.

It was always my intention that these short scenarios be supplementary to the main action happening on other, complete boards. I just think that if we encourage more of these short, capsule stories, we can get more writing happening, which is really the important thing.

As far as dividing up the main story thread, I've seen that work and work well when there's a lot of players going in different directions. It might have been good on the Ultimate RPG or Cybertronian Alpha, for example. But while I am generally loath to split up the group, the whole being the sum of its parts and so forth, it does have its good points, under certain circumstances. What I'd like to see myself is a combined interaction thread that bookends each active adventure. By this I mean there's a downtime thread that kicks off each ADV, as it were, and at a given point during that downtime, missions will come up for grabs. Groups of PCs can get together and depart on a mission, which then gets its own separate thread. There could be more than one mission, or a character can just sit that ADV out, and spend it back at base, chilling out max and relaxing all cool. Until the next time. It's kind of tailored for players having multiple characters, without having them all be in high-maintenance, plot- or action-heavy situations.

I have taken some thought; in light of the criticism, I may be becoming too critical of the Decepticon side. Decepticons are definitely a fan favorite, and we like to play them. Often, we will give them more development than even our heroic counterparts as a result. It is a dilemma that probably makes the Con sides of things fall apart all too often. Our Con characters are so well designed and thought out that it becomes extremely hard for any Con to be the type of a team player that roleplaying stories often need. I do believe a different approach is needed; that is for sure.

Psycko had a good idea in Metal Frontier. Criminals are disposable, and more lightly designed. There have been issues; however, it was beginning to take hold. I do not think that will work in a standard Bot/Con. I have a genuine worry about giving Decepticons entirely too much freedom. There is a manner that everyone typically makes Decepticons-that manner of creation results in Decepticons that usually do not work cohesively. Still, we need to have our player freedom or the writing becomes stale. I cannot leave out Decepticon creation because they are a favorite, and I do not want to create all the Decepticons resulting in stale writing again.

I have a proposal. You must create an Autobot in order to create a Decepticon. Autobots get 2 free intelligence points. Decepticons get 2 free firepower points. You are free to use them or not. I am thinking about a stat system similar to Metal Frontier; you will have to balance your points carefully. Similarly, if you have a character that would normally be out of place, you will have to provide good description reguarding how they will be fitting in-something I do not believe many people dedicate enough time into. I am thinking about a skill restriction. Autobots will get more non-combat skills and less combat, vice versa for Decepticons. In addition, we could make time to make sure another player knows if another character is already in play that is very similar-perhaps knowing just that, will allow another player an oppurtunity to create something more original if they so desire.

These are suggestions. I am curious how everyone would feel about that sort of arrangement. I think it allows for freedom and sense of direction at the same time. The story ideas I have will not be entirely Autobot in defending against combat driven Decepticons. The Decepticons may often even attack NPC Autobots and Autobots defend attacks from NPC Decepticons, especially in the beginning. I would be more than willing to accept lighter, more disposable character as well for the sole purpose of being disposable-I would like to add again that I believe that is a very good concept that Metal Frontier possesses.