OOC: Keep Flyin', A Serenity PBP Game Dumpshock Style Options

[Gray]

Format borrowed (and modified) from Redjack's Shadowrun game.

Posting Colors
- - "Speech color=cyan, optionally enclosed in quotes"
- - <Waves (vocal) color=violet>
- - <<Waves (text) color=lime>> also signs or "written documents" (without angle brackets, optionally enclosed in quotes)
- - Thoughts color=darkkhaki and in italics
- - Memories, flashbacks, dreams color=silver and in italics
- - Scene Headings = orange and bold
Feel free to use PMs as needed as well for clarifications or covert details.

Dice Rolling
Please use http://invisiblecastle.com/rolldice.py.
For campaign name, please use "Keep Flying" Note: Please capitalize the "K and the F" and spell "Flying" correctly. For your character name, use whatever your character is called in everyday conversation (i.e. Casey, Gatlin, ect.) The only rolls I will reserve are perception rolls. By knowing if the character botches or the degree of success, then strategic information may be given away. All other rolls will be made by the players.

NPC's
Do not assume the actions/reactions of major NPC's (i.e Badger). You can take reasonable artistic liberties with minor NPCs, but please PM me first if you engage in extended dialog. In the case of assumptions of time passed in travel, NPC reactions, etc I may ask for an edit. In the end, I will try not to impact your creativity where your post doesn't impact my world view. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Time away from the board
We have set our expected post frequency at two posts per week. Just like in the 'Verse, things don't always go smooth, though. If a player will be away from the board for more than a few days, please post in the OOC thread, and give us a heads up. PM me instructions on how you character will act, and I can NPC her(or him) so that the game can continue with your pre-submitted instructions.

First Actions
Provide a basic description of the appearance of your character. You can provide more details as time goes on. Some of your characters know each other and some don't. Work those details out in OOC before we get started.

IC Thread

--TO BE CONTINUED--

[Gray]

Basic Campaign Information

Active Players
----------------------
Redjack - Jacob Braylock - captain of the Jade Pearl (Hero of Canton worshipper)
Meriss - John James Santiago - disgraced noble (the Face)
Divine Virus - Bruce Cruickshank - engineer/medic (man mountain)
Donum Moriarty Michael Hicks - weapons specialist
CrazyTao - Autumn Moon Tsan - doctor/computer expert
Thanee - Tatjana 'Qiang Wei' Ivanova - unarmed combat expert
Karaden - Fae Rokurou - brash pilot
ravensoracle - Hal Gatlin - pilot (gruff War vet, second in command of the Pearl)

Inactive
--------------------
Dirtz - Casey Underhill gunslinger/rough and tumble hired help (Jayne type)

GM Character
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Li Kao - Ship's cook on the Jade Pearl; a buddhist pilgrim with a shadowy past (Kung Fu master? seems to be ex-military)

NPC's/LOCATIONS/SHIPS
--------------------
Number Ten Ox - a large dog currently residing with Li Kao at the impound yard. A Himalayan Mountain Dog (or Tibetan Mastiff - they look sort of like a St. Bernard-sized Chow) He's only 8-10 months old and he is already huge. Presumably, Ox was the last born (and largest) of ten puppies.

The Jade Pearl- An old spaceship named by Li Kao after the Princess of Birds, a forgotten minor deity in an old folk tale from Earth that Was.

Badger - Badger operates as a crimelord of sorts, with "offices" in the Eavesdown Docks area on Persephone. He speaks with a heavy 'east-end' accent that identifies him as a native of Dyton Colony. Although he is primarily active on Persephone, he keeps connections in many different places. (from FireflyWiki.org)

Persephone - A civilized planet with heavily stratified societal structure (and, as a result, a large slum population). The Eavesdown Docks are located here, a lower-class slum used for planetside docking of less well-to-do craft, and Badger's base of operations. Shepherd Book had been living on Persephone at the Southdown Abbey. Persephone has a local monarchy. Nobility is indicated by wearing a sash. Persephone's name comes from Greek mythology as the name of the "Queen of the Underworld".

[Thanee]

Tatjana 'Qiang Wei' Ivanova

Tatjana is a young woman of russian origin, standing a bit over five and a half feet tall with a slender and athletic body, lithe and graceful. She has waist-long auburn hair worn in a single braid and green eyes.
Most often, she wears a traditional chinese white linen tunic with green embroiderings and matching pants, but has also been seen in more typical casual clothes. A simple shoulder-bag contains most of her belongings.
Her attractive appearance and unusual choice of chinese clothes make her stand out in a crowd. Her manners are friendly and outgoing. When she speaks english, her accent is clearly noticable, but her russian and chinese are both fluent.
Tatjana carries herself in a self-confident fashion and knows very well how to handle herself when the situation gets rougher. She is a highly skilled martial artist, a lot more capable than her appearance might suggest on first glance. Somehow she manages to end up in these kinds of situations more often than she would prefer, but sometimes by choice, since she has a rather protective streak and is fiercely devoted to helping those in the need.

[Redjack]

Captain Jacob Braylock

Jacob Braylock, captain of the Jade Pearl, is an average looking man who fails to stand out in a crowd. What he lacks in first impressions, Jacob compensates for when he swings into action. He stares down death with stead-fast, grim determination and has a knack of pulling things out of the pan before it all goes into the fire. He is fiercely loyal to his crew and can't stand to see the underdog trampled.

His friends and foes alike both agree that Jacob flirts with that fine line separating bravery and insanity, though. Both his loyalty and his penchant for chivalry carry him from one scrape to the next. He has been known to utter the phrase, 'What would Jayne do?' and is known for a small, clay statue of a man he keeps on the helm of the ship.

All that aside, when the chips are down, most would agree that Jacob is one of those men you want fighting alongside you... unless you are a paper-pushing bureaucrat. Then he's the last on the list.

[Donum Moriarty]

Michael Hicks - Security

Some folks call him "Mikey", "Michael", or "Mike", but most just call him "Hicks". He's a quiet and soft-spoken fella, keeps to himself for the most part, though he does not outright avoid company, and is extremely polite around others.

Hicks doesn't talk about his past much, but he is openly loyal to the captain, and expresses great personal interest in seeing the Jade Pearl released back into the captain's hands.

Hicks looks to be an athletic man in his mid 20's, about 5'11", with short sandy-brown hair and green eyes. He keeps his living space extremely well-kept and tidy. He shaves once in awhile, which makes him look much younger. But sometimes he lets the facial hair go for a few days. He normally dresses in black or olive-drab combat fatigue trousers, the legs tucked into the tops of his combat boots. He usually wears a black t-shirt, and sometimes wears a plain black baseball-cap.

He enjoys sparring with Li Kao in his free-time, and while skilled and sometimes challenging for the cook, Li is obviously his superior in the martial arts.

Hicks also enjoys hobbies such as, "Disassembling and reassembling a pistol while hanging upside-down, blindfolded". He also enjoys reading, whether it's a pulp-novel, a news flyer, or a comic book. Exercising is also something he can often be found doing, and if the time and opportunity presents itself, he enjoys taking target practice.

A picture of what I envision him to look like, roughly:

http://members.tripod.com/~biehnteam/c.jpg

[CrazyTao]

Dr. Autumn Moon Tsan

Is an unknown and "recommendation" by Badger.
She perches on top of about 100 lbs of hermetically sealed cases labeled 'medical supplies'.

She is definitely not someone you would forget once you see her, her features are Asian, with almond-shaped parrot green eyes.
Her hair is also red, but bright and coppery swept up off her neck and face into a complicated knot on the back. Her skin is almost inhumanly flawless but the well-made and fasionable glasses she wears distracts from that and gives her a bookish countenance. She is leggy, curvaceous and certainly doesn't look particularly strong or used to hard living. Her clothes are wrinkled but very fine quality and speaks of the Core Worlds, as do her manicured hands and perfect teeth. She looks to be in her 20s at least you think she does, if you can get past looking at her legs. She's about 5'8" and probably about 135 dripping wet. All in all she is a beautiful and rather exotic looking specimen but she has none of the predatory nature or casual competance with it that bespeaks of a companion or one used to using it. More like she hangs her looks from her as one might hang an advertising board trying to sell its breakfast special, it is utilitarian and nothing more.

The look on her face is set to an attempt to look hardened, which isn't very convincing. She is probably in the middle of being disillusioned about life out on the rim but she has set herself to a grim determination to face it and if possible conquer it. You don't know what she can do or if you even want her around yet, but Badger says you're like to need someone to patch you up where you're headed and assures you she can do it. It seems she's content to work for a place on a ship that keeps to the outer reaches and will help you retreive it in exchange for a place in the crew and no questions asked. She even brought her own tools and enough supplies for a month to outfit a clinic. She ignores any looks and seems busy with a small book like object in her lap where you can see her fingers typing or manipulating empty air.

Picture of Dr. Tsan http://steedt.tripod.com/

[Gray]

Li Kao

Little is known about this man, other than he is the ship's cook aboard the Jade Pearl, and due to a clerical error he is officially listed as essential equipment rather than part of the crew. Li Kao was already aboard the Pearl cooking rice when Jacob Braylock took possesion of the craft, and he's been there ever since. He is a devout Buddhist, and has taken of the secondary role as a ship's chaplain of sorts.

Li Kao is an unimposing 1.75 meters tall, with dark hair and brown eyes. He has a powerful, yet agile build, hardened from years of martial arts training. Li Kao has a pleaseant demeanor and a nearly omnipresent smile, that tends to make people underestimate his abilities. Kao does not speak of his past, and no known records of him exist. He has an accent similar to those native to Sinhon.

Kao recently purchased a Tibetan Mastiff puppy that he has named Number Ten Ox, after the hero in a story his grandfather used to tell. Ox is presumably the last born and largest of ten puppies, if the tale told by the drifter who sold him the dog is to be believed.

Li Kao looks vaguely like this ==> Jackie Chan from Shanghai Noon

[Meriss]

John James "JJ" Santiago

JJ needs off world in fair hurry so he paid Badger his last bit of credit to get out.

Appearence
JJ stands about five feet and seven inches. He stands with an easy athletic grace and a trim figure. He wears a somewhat arrogant expression on his face with his rich black hair framing his face. He wears a timeworn neosilk suit and carries his defensive cane proudly.

Personality
JJ is tricky, lying, lecherous bastard and he knows it. He's grandly proud of his cussed disregard for the rules and society in general. He tends towards making grand gestures and not following through. Despite his flexible morals, he actually has a set of rules he lives by. What they are he refuses to specify.

[Gray]

I posted a link to the IC thread in the first post of this thread. I need one more character sheet I think but everything looks good.

1 pack of ordinary Core World smokes cost 1 credit. Local crappy cigarettes cost from .1 credits and up, but you get what you pay for.

The Jade Pearl is a 02 series Firefly. Serenity was a 03 series. Stats are pending.

If anyone wants to do something before the meeting with Badger, let me know before posting in IC. It's probably 8:00 am or so and the meeting is at noon.

[Meriss]

Perfect, thank you.

And how much for a semi expensive lighter. (Cause the non smoker fergot the basic tools of the smoker)

[Gray]

Perfect, thank you.

And how much for a semi expensive lighter. (Cause the non smoker fergot the basic tools of the smoker)

Let's say 5 credits for a nice stainless steel one unless you want a platinum one (15 credits)... but that would just be inviting a knife in the ribs in the Eavesdown Docks.

[Gray]

Every one has 6 plot points to start.

1 Bonus plot point for a 1-3 paragraph story in OOC (or PM if covert/secret) on how your character spent the previous night in the location indicated by the IC thread. CrazyTao you can decide if Autumn Moon's ship landed last night or this morning...


In case you missed it, here is the IC Thread => Keep Flyin' IC Thread

[Thanee]

Still thinking on my introduction, though I have some ideas already; will post when it is a bit more solid... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Redjack]

Jacob Braylock Prologue

[ Spoiler ]

The past few months had been hard on Jacob. Too much time spent planet-side. Too much time spent under the heel of others. Too much time not in control of his destiny. Like many nights, he found himself belly up to a bar in a neighborhood most considered the butt crack of the Eavesdown Docks.... And since most people considered the Eavesdown Docks the butt crack of Persephone, I guess that means he was really circling the hole.

He was in the middle of his fifth beer when it all started. This bruiser of a man came in all fit to be tied, looking for someone in particular. He found her at the far end of the bar and you can guess most of the rest of the story from here... Goon comes in, slaps around woman, Jacob steps up to defend her, Jacob takes a beat down, someone else beats down goon and leaves with woman. Perhaps you didn't see that coming?

That off course left Jacob to get up, get a sixth beer and nurse his busted lip. He didn't really mind, he was sure it was what Jayne would have done. 'Cept the getting beat down part. He figured he needed to spend more time learning to fight better. Or next time I just make sure to go out with Hicks...

He hadn't made it very far into that beer when a woman he didn't know did come up to wipe the blood off his mouth. He didn't mind the attention but didn't understand her angle at first. As he later found out she was the other woman's younger sister. It also turned out she was very turned on my heroics, even when they don't quite work out. The next morning, as he stared up at the ceiling in the flee bag hotel, he smiled. I REALLY love a woman who appreciates the effort.

(In a spoiler simply to restrict thread growth)

[Thanee]

Why don't you post that in the IC? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

EDIT:

...in OOC...

Ok, I see why... totally missed that part. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Gray]

Jacob Braylock Prologue
...
(In a spoiler simply to restrict thread growth)

Nice touch. Me likes. Plot Point for Jacob. I'll post Li Kao's previous evening after the debate tonight.

[CrazyTao]

Farewell My Fair Ladies

She had spent most of the voyage avoiding the gaze and the hands of various members of the crew trying to hide as much as possible behind her profession and her sense of professionalism. The Captain of of the ship, however, had finally cornered her not 18 hours out of Persephone. The ship was the worst she had ever been in, but the "My Fair Ladies" flew and it got her that much further from the Core. Not that different from the ship itself, Captain Quintain Jeffers was a man of nostalgia and an odd chauvinism. She hadn't had any real problems onboard and she supposed she had him to thank for it it was the way of thanking that had to be negotiated.

"Dr. Ma'am ahm sure glad we had a chance to help you out to this private clientele meeting of yours. I am sure your gentleman will be mighty happy to see you an all your fancey equipment."

The doctor was up against a bulkhead looking into the man's eyes as both his hands rested on either side of her cutting off escape. She knew nothing like this would happen in her own clinic back home. She put a fairly bland expression on her face but a polite smile.

"Thank you Captain Jeffers for the quick and efficient service you have provided. My client will be most pleased and I'll make sure to mention your name, perhaps more passengers can be sent your way." She tried to wriggle a bit to the left but found it blocked.

"Ah, yes Dr. Ma'am I was hopin you noticed how efficient we was, I was thinkin perhaps a bonus was in store and ah know just the thing that could make us friends forever."

A myriad of thoughts tumbled through her head each more lewd and lurid than the next sending mental shudders through her head. She needed to keep her last bit of money to herself, no telling when she'd need medcine or different passage where she was going, or how long it would be until that underground contact finally called her up. She took a deep breath and calmed herself. Perhaps if she came at it from a position of strength...

"Friends are always good to have, Captain, in fact if your crew could watch my cargo when we land I'd consider it a very friendly gesture. I wouldn't want anything to happen to the medicine that truly is needed for my client." The Captain looked like that could be worked out and nodded. The Doctor continued, "Now what sort of recompense do you think I might be able to help you with?"

5 hours to landing on Persephone

The crew had heard grunts and a few shrieks coming from the aft rooms where the medical passenger was and noted the Captain was gone that entire time. Curious enough to stick around the halls they wondered what was happening behind the doors. Things had been quiet for the last half an hour.

The Doctor peeled off her gloves and sighed. She was exhausted. They had been at it all night, his insistance to keep going no matter what, despite the pain, even when things got raw, and so she had.

It certainly wasn't her best work as she had never been an artist of that kind but even she admitted it wasn't bad. She got out a mirror and unfolded it for him to look. The Captain took the bit of leather belt out of from between his teeth and looked back. There among the angry red skin was a rather large and exhuberant tattoo with a picture of his "gal" on Persephone. She was sitting in the same pose as she had in the picture she had sent him nine months ago, in garters, a corset and black curls, the smile on her face a pure advertisement to licentiousness. Beneath the figure, done in ink shot into his pores, was a large scroll work in script with the letters Bonnie Sue on it.

The Captain passed out with a rapturous and satisfed look on his face. She sanitized the skin so it would heal properly and wearily put away her instruments. She had just enough time to grab a sponge bath and pack everything tight before landing, she just hoped he remembered the promise to send someone to guard her baggage. Covering up the Captain's body and tucking a pillow beneath him she staggered out of the door and into her tiny private quarters to the smirks of some of the crew.[/color]

[Gray]

Farewell My Fair Ladies

Excellent story. Point for the Doc.

[Donum Moriarty]

The crew of the Jade Pearl were stranded. Without the ship, they were effectively stuck on the planet Persephone. A real shit-hole, but Hicks had seen worse.

"Stay out of sight - and out of trouble," the Captain had said. Hicks didn't need to be told twice. He sat on the edge of a fixture that some might call a 'bed', as he dismantled his pistol, and re-assembled it again. He did it a second time - faster. He did it a third time. Then a fourth, each time finishing the process by slamming the magazine upward into the handle with an audible 'click'.

Safety off. Point. Breathe. Brace. Shoot.

'Click'.

The mag was empty, of course, as was usual when Hicks gave his weapons his usual TLC.

He sighed. He could hear the sounds of a rowdy night-life in the surrounding neighborhood. Screams of anger, lust, surprise, and mischief mixed with music from somewhere. Every now and then, there were even a few gunshots.

He tensed with each gunshot that he heard. Not close enough to be directed at him, of course, but who knew what the crazy locals were capable of?

The Captain would come up with a plan, he knew, and he owed it to the Captain to hang around and help him out as much as he could. Afterall, the Captain had taken a big chance on him, and Hicks wasn't about to pay that back by abandoning Braylock on this planet.

He considered going out to find the Captain, talk with him a bit maybe. Hicks would like the company. But the Captain had said to lay low, keep out of sight, keep out of trouble. Hell, the Captain was probably holed-up in his own room somewhere, planning his next move.

Hicks then wondered where Li Kao might be staying. Perhaps they could spar? Bah, probably not this late in the evening.

Bruce and Hal were probably out bar-hopping. That just wasn't Hicks' style, though. But at least he somewhat knew those two, and he half-wished he knew where they were.

He sighed again, resigned to an evening in his dilapidated hotel room, until finally he would go to sleep.

Slide. Pull. Push.

'Click'.

[Gray]

Another good story. Plot Point for Hicks.

[Gray]

Eavesdown Docks Impound Yard - September 30, 2519 - 11:17 PM - Li Kao and Number Ten Ox Prologue

[ Spoiler ]

The impound yard was dimly lit with the yellow light of a cooking fire. Ghostly shadows danced about the yard, making an eerie scene of flickering specters. Li Kao took a small vial of cooking oil from his pouch and poured it into the wok. The oil popped and crackled as it came up to heat. The large dog by his side perked up his head as Kao removed the package of real Chinese sausages from his pouch, and cut the meat into pieces, before putting it into the pan with a sizzle.

"Patience, Ox. Our meal will be cooked soon enough," Kao told his companion.

Then Ox caught wind of something else: intruders closing in on their campsite. Ox let out a low, warning growl alerting Kao to impending danger.

"You are welcome to join us for dinner," Kao said simply to the figures in the dark. "We do not have much, but we are happy to share."

Five thugs closed in on the campsite, surrounding Kao and Ox on three sides. The only escape was up the boarding ramp of the Jade Pearl.

"Who the hell are you?" the one who appeared to be the leader asked.

"My surname is Li. My personal name is Kao. And there is a slight flaw in my character," Kao answered, hiding a grin from the in-joke he had just told. "I am the cook on the Jade Pearl."

"Not anymore you're not. Get the hell out of here, or we'll take you and your mutt out of here. In a bag..."

Ox growled again, and began to get up but Kao stayed the dog with a gesture of his hand.

"It is said that the fool thinks he has won a battle when he bullies with harsh speech, but knowing how to be forbearing alone makes one victorious."

The leader puzzled over Kao's words for a moment and then said, "Mates, I don't know what the tosser just said, but them's fightin' words. Get him!"

Kao stomped his foot, flipping the quarterstaff he had lying on the ground up into his hands. He swung the staff in sweeping figure eights in a show of martial skill. The thugs pulled out chains and pipes and began to close in...

[Thanee]

Tatjana Ivanova Prologue

[ Spoiler ]

It started with an innocent walk around the place.

Tatjana ended up on Persephone mostly because it was as far as the little money she had on her got her. She had no real destination, so why not here.

The bar looked as good as any, or as bad as any, and all she wanted there was a glass of water. Unfortunately, she ended up spilling it all over the face and shirt of a huge guy who then grabbed her arm with smudgy fingers that held her firm like a vise, yelling all sorts of insults she only half-understood. Not for long, though, a lightning quick jab to his neck sent him on the floor gasping for air. Then all hell broke lose.

The whole bar erupted into a huge brawl, patrons fighting each other for no apparent reason and without knowing who or what had even started it. And noone seemed to care about that, either. Tatjana was hard pressed to keep herself from getting swallowed up by the whirling mass, when it all ended as sudden as it had begun. Three gunshots echoed through the place and everything went silent.

The guy, one of the few who actually did know what started it, walked over to the red-headed girl and told her that he was someone who represented a guy called Badger, she neither knew "someone" nor "Badger" at that point, and that it was bad for business. And of course, that everything was her fault. Sigh. What a mess.

It took all her persuasiveness to avoid further punishment and since she handled herself rather well, more like exceptionally well or surprisingly well in fact, during the brawl, she even managed to get an interview with this "Badger" guy, who seemed to be some sort of big gun around here. Maybe he had use for her talents, someone said. Whatever that might mean.

(Repost from IC - thought we should post the 'prologue' there... edited the IC post to the current day instead. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) )

[Gray]

Tatjana Ivanova Prologue

...

(Repost from IC - thought we should post the 'prologue' there... edited the IC post to the current day instead. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) )

Good idea. Point for Tatjana.

[Meriss]

Gray you'll have to forgive me I'm a bit of a newb to this system. That roll we spoke of, whats the dice pool?

[Gray]

Gray you'll have to forgive me I'm a bit of a newb to this system. That roll we spoke of, whats the dice pool?

That would be Willpower + Influence (or Persuasion if you have the specialty).