SLA Industries: An Inch From Eden

Post by **Grimmie** » March 3rd, 2010, 23:08

I'll pass on the recon - leave me behind to pose as 'protection' against the enemy, if you will.
I'll shuffle around and keep my eyes on the staff to scope out any funny business.. And encourage it.

I'll swing Bertha around often, pointing it in to the airlocks when my patrol route takes me past them, leering in with my outrageous facepaints.

Unless of course you guys can think of some way to make my suit sterile to the environment?
Or, with Dirk's order I shall flaunt the rules and skip outside with my rebreather, and risk contaminating the entire ecosystem.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » March 4th, 2010, 15:56

Grimmie wrote:and risk contaminating the entire ecosystem.

I'm pretty sure the toxin would kill you first.

Post by **Grimmie** » March 4th, 2010, 17:48

What toxin?

Post by **deject** » March 4th, 2010, 17:53

The workers have been ingesting shit that reacts badly to the outside environment. We have not, unless it's airborne and only needs a short time to reach lethal doses.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » March 4th, 2010, 18:29

Oh, right. Still, it's a virus in the labs, we don't know if we've caught it.

Post by **Dog Pants** » March 4th, 2010, 18:58

Your contacts did say that you're not at risk. Up to you whether you believe them though.

Shelton returns.

Shelton wrote:Mathis tells me you've finished with him. Is there anything else I can help with?

Post by **Dog Pants** » March 6th, 2010, 16:27

Guess he can't. So is it just Dirk and Brainy going walkabout then?

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » March 6th, 2010, 19:46

I sense a sudden disturbance in the SLA enthusiasm.

Post by **Dog Pants** » March 6th, 2010, 20:01

There's nothing sudden about it. That's why this is the last BPN for a while.

Post by **Grimmie** » March 6th, 2010, 20:36

Sad times. I love SLA. I just can't progress the story any more at the moment.

Post by **Dog Pants** » March 6th, 2010, 20:49

Is it my writing? SLA does tend to be a bit investigation heavy, and on the forums it's a lot easier to assume someone else will come up with a plan if the next step isn't apparent. In that case I'll progress things myself, as sometimes you just need to wait.

At risk of going off topic, it's very demotivating to spend a lot of time and effort writing a BPN and have your players appear not interested. Which is strange, because you all talk about the game with a lot of enthusiasm, but when it comes to actually playing it there seems to be resistance. I can't figure a way around it - I've asked if the squad would prefer a different direction (media, cloak, paranormal, etc), but nobody does, I've tried combat heavy BPNs, I've tried investigation heavy BPNs, I've tried linear BPNs, I've tried open-ended BPNs. I'm not having a bitch, despite what it sounds like, I just want to run a game that people want to play, and if RL is getting in the way at the moment, which I suspect will be the most likely reason given, then I'll just wait until people have more time for it.

Post by **deject** » March 6th, 2010, 21:16

I haven't really contributed much because I really am just at a loss of what I could do. I also haven't been able to contribute much in Shadowrun so far either.

I don't think it's your fault in any way DP. You've been doing a great job of GM'ing. I'm just haven't been able to really think about it as much as I have in the past.

Post by **Dog Pants** » March 6th, 2010, 21:21

Well that's fair enough. A problem with the forum games is that if people are stuck it just sort of dries up, with everybody waiting for everybody else. It's made even worse with investigations or when a combat isn't particularly clear. I can sympathise, because I hit the same walls playing Shadowrun. I just don't know what needs to change to get things flowing.

With reference to this BPN, you're just trying too hard. All you need to be doing right now is waiting for orders.

Post by **deject** » March 6th, 2010, 21:32

That's kinda what I was doing, if only because I couldn't think of anything to do.

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » March 6th, 2010, 21:46

I don't think it helps that you've really only got one person who is geared towards speaking (Roman) when you're doing a BPN which starts off with his range of skills, as it means you're waiting on that one character.

The Shutting Downs · Post by **The Shutting Downs** » March 7th, 2010, 10:23

It's not your BPN writing, I've really enjoyed the games so far.

At the moment, I'm playing a combat specialist with a specific method of interrogation that really doesn't fit with the game at the moment. So I'm waiting to be told what to do until I can make use of said skills.

Youre right with the forum thing though, if noone knows what to do, it goes quiet whilst they think.

Your writing is good, and to have come up with what you have so far

Post by **Grimmie** » March 7th, 2010, 11:27

I'm sure pants will expand on this, but we had a chat last night and decided that it's possibly the mentality that it's easier to close a text box than it is to close a chat-window or a skype conversation when everyone's waiting on you to do something.

So perhaps we could schedule a late-night game at the weekend to play live over XFire?
Means we have logs to post on the forums, and we get to speed things up for a little while.

Post by **Dog Pants** » March 7th, 2010, 12:03

Not a lot to expand on really. I figure it's worth a shot trying a live game. I can't reliably schedule voice, but I should be okay using chat.

Post by **Roman Totale** » March 7th, 2010, 12:24

I love SLA, unfortunately a bad day a work will often impinge upon my ability to get into character. The main problem there is that it can hold up the game for other people.

The xfire idea is good. If I have a specific time frame to play, it's much easier as I don't have to dip in and out.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » March 7th, 2010, 12:33

Well, xfire does sound good.