I have an idea for a Soldier Boy joint post that takes place in the living area of the Cathedral. Which one of you wants in on it?

I know China has been nagging me incessantly urging me to do a Kate/Luke joint point, so I guess I really should see about getting one under way. So, Luke/Nemesis, interested?

I am always up for doing a joint post and I would jump on this in a heartbeat if I didn't all ready have two in the works waiting on me.

I don't nag.  *pout*

I pout. 

...but it is a good idea!  ...and Nemesis kinda mentioned her in his latest post, Tools of the Trade. 

With all the content being copied over from the old site and new pieces added I've lost track of what I have read and what I haven't. Could someone please give me a list of the posts that used to be on the old site? That way I can check it against what's currently on the new site and figure out what I've missed.

Well, Stone will be living at the Cathedral.  So why not?  Count me in.

Making a list of the NEW content would be easier.  :)

Thanks for the suggestion, KL. 

So here are the names of the new pieces and the location!  All the other pieces are ports from LCG.  I'd really like to get all the old journal stuff over here before any more new stuff is posted.  I guess I'll start working on that tonight for those that haven't done it.  And I'll choose not to front page them, so they don't bump the new stuff down.  I'll post progress on the forum somewhere, under Conquistadors.  I know that Richard and John plan to do theirs, and Dave did his, so I'll start with Saint and go from there.

TCQ: Soldier Boy -- New Abigail Piece
www.nextgenrpg.com/drupal/node/21

TCQ: Keeping in Contact, Part 3
http://www.nextgenrpg.com/drupal/node/186

TCQ: Soldier Boy vs. the Swear Jar.
http://www.nextgenrpg.com/drupal/node/185

Nemesis: Tools of the Trade - This is one that he never posted on the other site, it's placed after his Going for Infinity Stories 
http://www.nextgenrpg.com/drupal/node/173

A Stone/Soldier Boy joint post it is then. It would have to take place sometime after Phi's big party, so should we sit on it a bit to see how that goes, or just fake it?

I have two more posts for Heatwave to copy over and then the joint Heatwave/Soldier Boy piece. I'll get that done tomorrow.

That's up to you boys.  ....just don't post it till after the party thread.

I usually handle these things by writing it when the spirit hits me, and then editing it later to add in some tidbits from whatever it was that was missed.  Usually one or two references will make it seem like you wrote it after it happened.  

Gotcha. Sounds good to me. I'll get something started then.

Just following up: I sent you a PM with some background info you might find useful.

Just checked my messages. Didn't see your PM.

The mystery deepens.

Definitely. Send me a PM with any ideas you may have and we'll run with it.

And sorry it took me so long to respond. It's been a long weekend/week.

I'm going to piggyback off this and say that I would very much like to do some side pieces. I expect to be tied up over the next 2-3 weeks, but beyond that I should have time.

(Hey Nemesis - I think there's potential for a Nemesis/Avatar piece delving into the aftermath of Devil Within.)

And it no longer appears in my "sent messages" list. 

BUG ALERT! 

Oh great.

Did you see it in your Sent Mesages before? Are you certain you hit send?

My standard answer to a question like that is, "I don't remember what I had for breakfast this morning, and you want to remember that?"

But yeah, I'm pretty sure I hit send and saw it in my messages list. 

I have ONE thought.  There was a day when I was ill...I think it was Friday???  Where we lost everything from 3:30 to like midnight, cuz I accidentally deleted the global admin account.

IF it was written during that time, the database restore would have been responsible.

China

That seems likely.

*shake-shake-shake-shake*

*peer*

"All signs point to yes"...Good enough for me.

Heya folks.

As you know, everyone on the team was required to go through at least one evaluation session with Sebastián. In an ideal world I'd love to be able to do one on one pieces with each of you. However not actually being able to manipulate time, I'll have to settle for one or two, which will stand as a guideline for the rest of you to get a feel for what each of you went through. Anyone care to volunteer ?

Do you require a cooperative patient? 

Captain Bunty wrote:

Do you require a cooperative patient? 

What he said.

Crap, a DiSantiago I haven't messed with yet!  >)

Right, then. Sign me up.

Everyone wants their head shrunk! 

Not Phi!

although a future group session between she and Jag or she and Nemesis, could be funny.  *grin*

Captain Bunty wrote:

Do you require a cooperative patient? 

LOL well considering the evaulation is one of the things that could make or break being on the team, I figured the guests might be a little cooperative. I don't expect people to walk in the door and start spilling family secrets within 4.5 seconds. On the other hand, sitting on the couch, sulking/pouting/ generally being obstinate likely isn't going to help you much.

Besides, we here at the Conquistador's don't believe in 'forced' therapy.

Not yet at least.

Stone will be joining right around the time of the first meeting, so he wouldn't have gone through the regular process including the medical.  He'd forget to show up anyway. 

I'm thinking some group therapy with a family counselor. 

JBone wrote:

Captain Bunty wrote:

Do you require a cooperative patient? 

LOL well considering the evaulation is one of the things that could make or break being on the team, I figured the guests might be a little cooperative. I don't expect people to walk in the door and start spilling family secrets within 4.5 seconds. On the other hand, sitting on the couch, sulking/pouting/ generally being obstinate likely isn't going to help you much.

Ha! No, I was just thinking that anyone testing Ed is going to get tested back. 

I view it happening something like the NASA medical profiling scene in Armageddon.

Oddly enough, I've been replaying that sequence in my head whenever I think of the profiling. Makes me laugh

I have to admit, it would be interesting to see JACE in this, if you still have an opening.  He's not exactly a big fan of psychiatry. 

Somehow I have never gotten around to seeing that. 

I keep saying I'm going to write some side pieces when the site is done...and I realized that's just an excuse for my procrastination. I really like collaboration so if anyone is up for a joint post, I'm game. No story ideas yet, but I have some fun NPCs in mind to play with.

Is anyone up for doing a JP with Heatwave? I'm not sure what it would be about but we can work that out.

Stone is available for any and all JP ideas surrounding the events between the party and the three-month-after point.  He's going to be living at the Cathedral, spending a lot of time working on the hypercycles and getting to know them well, and will also be spending time trying to learn as much as he can about the Soldier Boy program to determine the possible identity of the woman Sodier Boy spoke of during the Stone/SB jointer.

Possible ideas:

• If Soldier Boy wants to learn how hard Stone can hit, all he has to do is ask.
• If anyone wants to learn how to ride one of the hypercycles, Stone will be offering lessons.
• Any goings-on around the Cathedral could get his attention.

Lem, if you have time, I'd like to pull you into a side piece with Aarchon, where Marionette kind of runs into him.

Lemme know and I'll tell you what I have in mind.

Thanks!

Anybody out there want to do a JP between the Secret IDs of our characters? I'm not sure it could be done given the vastly different backgrounds but if we can come up with something I think it would be interesting.

KL,

Well, I know (thanks to Bunty) that Avatar/Edison would probably see Heatwave as the most approachable teammate.

I'm still working on getting a handle on the character, and I've yet to actually participate in a JP, but if you think it'll work, I'm game.

Heatwave hasn't revealed her Secret ID to anyone and probably won't unless given a compelling reason to. So anything we did secret ID wise would have to be done with at least one of the heroes having no idea the other was part of the team.

His speech patterns being fairly recognizable :) 

It could still be done with Danny. Heatwave would just have the advantage of knowing he was a Conquistador.

China and I were engaged in a spirited debate this evening (me yelling hysterically, her shushing me) about something I feel to be missing in TCQ. 

This is supposed to be a team. And yet, so far, we've not seen anything that would show the reader any of the following:

1. When the Team assembles to go fight the baddies, who does what? If Nem says "Code Indigo" to indicate some sort of coordinated manuever, who's involved? What do they do? etc.
2. Nemesis is our leader. Why? What does the team know about him? Where are examples of his leadership style? And Soldier Boy as team trainer - what is he teaching us? Is he effective as a trainer? Do we like him? Hate him? 
3. What can each of these heroes actually do? Like, we know what Reed Richards can do. We know what Storm of the Xmen can do. But what can Stone do? (I think it's be strong, but I have no idea really). What can Soldier Boy do? I think he's strong too, but...uh.. anything else?) Is Nem just a guy in goggles with some bat-toys? Who knows? Not me, not really.
4. How do they work together as a team? 
5. What does the team know about each other? 

These are just some of the questions running through my brain. China raised the VERY good point that it takes months to finish a scenario in this venue, and that a danger room one might bore the hell out of everyone. But I keep wondering (as I'm writing stuff for Danny) just how much all the characters know about each other. 

I think we need something like that desperately. And it could easily be done via something like "Nemesis Daily Diary" or "Soldier Boy's Combat Training Log"... something that shows where the team is actively trying to come together as a team. So far it's been a lot of one-off's and vinettes describing our individual lives, but not so much about how we function as a team. 

Am I off base here? Maybe the current scenario will rectify what I perceive to be lacking. The stuff that people have written so far is beyond awesome - I think we'd all agree to that. I"m not complaining that there isn't enough stuff about the characters out there. There absolutely is. But not about the team... 

Just my two cents here. What's everyone else think? 

-Me

It's a very good point, and I agree.

Part of the problem (as I perceive it) is that any interaction that involves the group en toto will update at the speed of the slowest poster. This is not unique to TCQ; it's a function of online gaming in general. That fact tends to discourage large gatherings, though, especially if any other fiction to be written has to be put on hold until the main plot is resolved.

There's also the fact that, frankly, I have a hard time seeing this group of heroes being able to function as a team. I'm trying very hard to say this without sounding snarky, but the qualities that make the characters entertaining to read about make them... well, not incompatible, but indisposed towards cooperation. There is no internal motivation pulling them together; their reason to even be in the same room is externally applied.

For my part, I'm still trying to get a fix on Avatar's abilities and how they function, so I haven't had the chance to contemplate how he works as a team member. I'm trying to work through his own motivation for being in the team and, well, I'm still working on it.

Yes, Torchy and I got into a spirited debate about this and agreed to disagree as to whether a scenario of this nature should have been done.  Since I can expect to run only 4 to 5 scenarios a year, over this medium, I didn't want to waste one on a danger room scenario.  I've seen to many games die, before making it through their first combat or training session, to even think about going there.  Not to mention, I believe that the GM drives the enthusiasm, and if I'm not excited about a thread...how can I expect the players to be.  

Regardless, though.  Torchy has a point.  The readers and the other players need to know more than they do about the team member's abilities.  In a perfect world, the Prequels would have been finished and all of the original cast would have had an opportunity to showcase their powers.  Didn't happen.

Dave warned me that handwaving 3 months was a bit much.  But I really wanted to catch up to the calendar, I hate a game that only passes a few months game time in one year real time.  I was hoping we could do a good enough job taking care of the handwaved time, with side pieces while the new team scenarios are running their course.  That is still my opinion, and I LOVE the idea of a 'Nemesis Field Diary' or a 'Soldier Boy Training Log'.  LOVE IT!  

Here is what I have done.  I've created a few forum assignments with the hopes that the answers to the questions would provide insight to the passing of time and the getting to know the other characters.  Unforutunately, not all of the players have chosen to answer the challenges, AND there were some valuable questions that Torchy just suggested that I didn't touch on.

http://www.nextgenrpg.com/forum/tcq-getting-know-our-cast#comment-2351
http://www.nextgenrpg.com/forum/tcq-challenges-assignments#comment-2368

I'm open to suggestions, but here are two ideas that I have.

1.  Continue with the forum angle for the benefit of the players.  Prod the players that haven't participated yet, to do so.  AND, create another questionair (created by Torch), that goes into more of the team and power dynamic.  XP would be awarded for participation.

2.  Create a parent page called Nemesis's Diary or Soldier Boy's Training Log, or both.  ...and allow players to contribute to it.  Perhaps in the form of a situation report or danger room report.  Or excerpts from newspaper article clippings.  Whatever.  Or even an incident report if someone imagines that they were so out of line during something that they got written up.  Be creative.

We hand waved 3 months.  And these new scenarios will take 2-3 months to play out...so we have PLENTY of time to correct this oversight, on my part.  We can brainstorm and figure out ways to make it real for the readers and the other characters.  It's not too late to fix this.

Any other ideas?

Also, Richard has mentioned to me and I think the entire group that he is willing to do JPs centered around training, at any time.  SO...please take him up on this if you are so inclined.

I think some more detail as to exactly what goes on in the boot camp and what SB tries to teach would help lots in being able to figure out how our characters react and handle the training.

I think the answers to the one above need to be added to the main character pages - this would give us a one-stop-shop to find out more about the team members :) 

I think the answers to the one above need to be added to the main character pages - this would give us a one-stop-shop to find out more about the team members :)

Excellent idea.  I also need to add the character profiles that come off like an interview.  IF you guys see anything else that needs added, let me know, So I can do it in one sweep.  

Like...the list of NPCs for each character.  That would be helpful.

Anything else?