Downtown Khazan: Ice Cold Utopia

[master of read]

sigh.

i remember skipping class to go play shenmue with my best friend back in 2001 on the dreamcast. it blew us away with how good it was......for the time i mean.

so i still breaks my heart that "shenmue 3" turned out to be an utter disappointment of a game. and that falls totally on the director who not only hasn't played a modern game but was influenced by them at all. so he was using ideas and gaming techniques that were out of date. keep in mind, he still hired his VAs, based not on talent but how much they looked like the characters.

and even worse, it doesn't advance the plot and it feels more like a continuation of the second game than a proper sequel.

[Len Ikari145]

sigh.

i remember skipping class to go play shenmue with my best friend back in 2001 on the dreamcast. it blew us away with how good it was......for the time i mean.

so i still breaks my heart that "shenmue 3" turned out to be an utter disappointment of a game. and that falls totally on the director who not only hasn't played a modern game but was influenced by them at all. so he was using ideas and gaming techniques that were out of date. keep in mind, he still hired his VAs, based not on talent but how much they looked like the characters.

and even worse, it doesn't advance the plot and it feels more like a continuation of the second game than a proper sequel.

I honestly wasn't too disappointed with Shenmue III and had quite a bit of fun with it, but I feel Yakuza/Like A Dragon has long since become the spiritual successor of the series and appropriately modernized and expanded upon the concepts that Shenmue introduced back in the early 2000's.

[Iron_Twister]

sigh.

i remember skipping class to go play shenmue with my best friend back in 2001 on the dreamcast. it blew us away with how good it was......for the time i mean.

so i still breaks my heart that "shenmue 3" turned out to be an utter disappointment of a game. and that falls totally on the director who not only hasn't played a modern game but was influenced by them at all. so he was using ideas and gaming techniques that were out of date. keep in mind, he still hired his VAs, based not on talent but how much they looked like the characters.

and even worse, it doesn't advance the plot and it feels more like a continuation of the second game than a proper sequel.

Oh god, this.

Shenmue was awesome. Played hours upon hours on my dreamcast. My brother and I tend to compete who got the faster time in the 70 man battle. Was unfortunate to not see 2 released on dreamcast but enjoyed the brief time I've played on Xbox

So yeah....This just stings knowing what became of 3.

[master of read]

I honestly wasn't too disappointed with Shenmue III and had quite a bit of fun with it, but I feel Yakuza/Like A Dragon has long since become the spiritual successor of the series and appropriately modernized and expanded upon the concepts that Shenmue introduced back in the early 2000's.

hence my problems with it. if only the director was so stuck in own head about it, 3 could've been great. but with all the poor game design choices, horrid dialogue, grinding gameplay, that stupid stamina/health system, the combat being laggy, and the fact that almost nothing happens to progress the story, it just broke my heart because i was this close to buying on launch.

but yeah, yakuza pretty much does shenmue 3 better than shenmue 3.

[Iron_Twister]

...If such a thing happened to me, I'd just burn the tape and just pretend it never existed.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

I’ll post the character sheet here and answer the few questions, then post the sci-fi one in a bit.

Character Sheet for Falgain:

Name:
Bloodline:
Rank: (military, noble, etc….)
Occupation:
Gender:
Age:
Weight:
Height:
Appearance:
History:

Skills: (you have 10 skills points to spend)
-Unarmed Fighting/Weapon fighting
-Crafting/Forging
-Research/Investigation
-Hunting/Survival
-Local knowledge/Local connections
-Stealth/Disguise
-Medicine/Science
-Strangeness/Other

Physical stats will be mostly human to Cassandra Cain level, with Feverblades often peaking the physical stats when they boost. Of course, certain Fae bloodlines could grant natural physical stats too that are beyond the norm.

Magic: if you desire, you may play a magic user, either internal or external or alchemical. If you do so, further ranks of magic and how powerful/skilled you are will be dependent on your biography and player/dm discussion. You could be a novice mage, a veteran Feverblade, or a wandering herbalist/alchemist if you so desire. Or no magic whatsoever.

[Sharkerbob]

I hear you guys. It's been surprisingly kinda draining that my creativity is at minimum levels as I'm focusing on other things. Working in retail at the holidays really pounds the brain to mush to boot.

Let us suffer in retail hell together.

And then my personal problems but thankfully I'm walking away from that but it sure was draining.

Sorry to hear that, but good you're getting away from it.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Looking at this I thought of good combinations

1 Earth & Magnetism

2 Light & Darkness

3 Fire & Metal

4 Fire & Earth

5. Light & magnetism

6 Plants & Animals

7 Magnetism & Animals

8 Magnetism & plants

9 Wind & Fire

10 Wind & Magnetism

Lot of possible combos.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Shatterpoint: Pale Star


History and Timeline of the Solar Era:

2125 AD/CE: Humanity enters WWIII. Advanced cyber warfare and biological agents ravage the world, and for the next ten years the Earth is rocked by massive instability. Due to the integrated nature of technology and computers into everyone’s daily life, the modern era was brought to a near standstill in most of the world as various groups and governments attacked each other’s cyber infrastructure.

2135 AD/CE: WWIII ‘ends’ after the world economy crashes. Three massive nuclear events (called Cobalt Bombs) also echo across the world and render three large sections of the planet unlivable (One in Europe, one in Asia, and one in North America).

2140 AD/CE: All remaining countries of the world suffer an unknown compelling event that wipes nearly all electronic storage records and access. The already fraying internet crumbles and nearly all ability to access global networks fail. The cause of this is unknown, but scholars later believe it to have been the last of the cyber terrorist sect known as PLM (Peoples Liberated Minds).

2141 to 2166 AD/CE: The Second Dark Ages. This quarter of a century marks the greatest backward slide of humanity ever recorded. Culture, history, science, and religion all backslide as institutes and organizations crumble under the weight of war, loss, and the disconnect from the global culture that had existed. Barbarism, anarchy, and the end looms.

2167 AD/CE: Doctor Bindi Hollow, deep in an old joint USA/Australia military bunker located in the united Australian Territories, discovers Ether Energy. With this clean and near infinite burning source of power, she along with a small group produced the first Ether Drive (an engine allowing one to move far faster than regular).

2171 AD/CE: First test Flight of the Butterfly (named after Doctor Hollow), the first Ether Drive powered ship. It leaves Earth and travels to Mars and back in less than a week. The EED (Earth-to-Eden Device) is also discovered onboard the abandoned ISS floating between Earth and Mars. The device, created towards the end of WWIII, offers a chance to help restore Earth’s ecosystems and environments.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

2175 AD/CE: With the Ether Drive, Doctor’s Hollow’s group (called Hollites by modern scholars) reaches into the stars and helps humanity start to heal. They send smaller drone ships to each of the few remaining bastions of humanity (discovered by scanning the world from space and following any electromagnetic signals discovered) and start to spread the newly discovered technology of the EED and offer a means to either heal the planet or leave to start colonizing Mars.

2180 A/CE: The First colony on Mars (called Barsoom after a famous author’s name for Mars) is established.

2191 AD/CE: Lunar Colony established on Earth’s moon, dubbed Lycan 1.

2200 AD/CE: Modern era end and the SE (Solar Era) begins. The Terran Alliance of Planets (TAP) is created as Earth and its two colonies unite and form a new united government that brings humanity into the future.


1-35 SE: More colonies are established as Earth continues to heal. Despite being a planet in comparison to many of these smaller city-colonies, due to its recovering nature the Earth and its colonies are all on the same equal footing and are considered equal partners in the TAP.

36-75 SE: Mars is officially colonized and terraformed enough to be considered a properly colonized planet. The colonies of Mars form their own planetary government and now make up the bulk of the power behind TAP.

76-105 SE: Moons around Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are colonized for mining purposes. The first free-floating colony, not connected to any planetary body, is also built. Dubbed Hollow Point, this colony orbits opposite the Earth in a set rotation around the Sun.

107-220 SE: Technology advances, two more free floating colonies are established (one named Styx, near Pluto, and one called Gungnir near Jupiter) are built as well. Cybernetics begin to take steps forward, and Ether Drive Engines Mark II begin to offer hope of extra-Solar colonization.

221-305 SE: A series of growing tensions between Mars and Earth begin to put strain on the TAP. War looms, and then sparks off.

306-310 SE: The four year war between Mars and Earth is known as the Martian Succession War. It ends with Mar’s economy in shambles and with Earth taking more of the leading role in TAP. A permanent TAP base is built on Mars and the Martian planetary government is forced to disband their actual military and only allowed to have Colony Defense Forces based in each Colony itself.

311-350 SE: Known as the Great Expansion. Ten Extra-Planetary Colonization Ships are built and launched outside the Solar System. Many of the colonists are survivors or sympathizers of the MSW who wish to get as far from Earth and TAP as possible. In this 39-year time frame, only four of the colony ships make contact back and establish proper colonies (three of which are free floating colonies built around or near asteroids and various small planetary bodies for mining). Barnard’s Star colony (called Golgotha), Wolf 359 colony (called Lock’s Luck), a small colony just outside the solar system called Nabiru, and the only planetary colony established in Alpha-Centauri. A planet (originally named Alpha-Cen-Earth, it was renamed Caliburn) is earth like enough that terraforming quickly makes it 100% habitable and marks only the third planet humanity has fully established itself on.

351-480 SE: Creation of the Solar League of Scientists (coalition of the best scientists to promote and grow technology). Creation of the Reclamation Forces (a research organization run by the TAP to discover lost cultural aspects and technologies from Earth pre-Second Dark Ages as most things were lost then). Creation of the Department of Solar Affairs (essentially the in-game version of the CIA/NSA/FBI). The DSA is the evolution of the PAD (planetary affairs department) and is now a much wider ranging and more secretive organization.

481-550 SE: A period that marked the arrival of more advanced ships, making FTL travel and communication much easier than previously known. Ether Drive Engine Mark III created, now travel between the Earth and its furthest colony takes only a month.

550-607 SE: A period of expansion, economic growth, and the beginning of stellar tensions between Mars, the extra-solar colonies, and Earth proper. Creation of the CHROME combat units, armored combat chasses used for close quarter ship defense or for landing operations after naval pilots clear an area.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

608-612 SE: A brief surge of conflicts between a Martian terrorist organization, called Red Prophet, and TAP ends with a massive bio-virus being released on several dozen ships and various colonies. Over three million die and the Red Prophet organization is wiped off Mars with an orbital strike that levels a massive swath of the planet (the size of Texas) and leaves a permanent scar on the planet. The loss of life and poor ability in stopping the events from happening (much less the massive scar left on Mars) sours relationships and faith in the TAP.

613-615 SE: Two year period of tension and continued lack of faith in TAP.

616 SE: The modern day. A plan has been initialized by TAP HQ and the DSA. The newest ship of the line, the TAS Pale Star, has just been completed. The plan is to have the ship and its new crew, made of player characters gathered from various colonies/institutes/defense corps/etc….complete an old tradition called the Steller Tour. Back when the ships first came out, they would stretch their legs and go to each colony as a sign of power and dependability. This Steller Tour will have multiple purposes: for DSA agents onboard to investigate the colonies under this hidden pretense. For the ship to be seen as a symbol of TAP’s power and continued authority alongside bringing supplies to various locations, including being the first ship capable of touring the extra-solar colonies and testing the waters of their loyalty, as DSA spies have found possible dissension in those governments.

And there are rumors. Deep rumors the DSA has held onto of something else. Something potentially beyond Caliburn and the other colonies. A threat, possible alien, for the first time.



So you, as crew, would be onboard and discovering the secrets of the colonies, the DSA, and what lurks in the darkness beyond the colonies.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Pale Star Character Sheet:

Name:

Age:

Rank/Occupation:

Unit:

Gender:

Height:

Weight:

Appearance:

Specialties:

Mutations (optional): (due to the heavy viral and radioactive fallout from WWIII, plus various other conflicts, some humans boast minor mutations they gained from their ancestors such as hair and eye color of unusual kind, abnormally tall/strong for their size, tougher skin, etc…..) All minor things, must be okayed by the GM first.

Cybernetics: (optional): (humans can now be cyber used up to fifty percent of their body and remain just as capable or even more so than a regular human). Must be okayed by the GM first.

History:

Other:


This character sheet is more simplified and won’t involve stats. Instead characters jobs/occupations as possible pilots, mech drivers, ship helmsmen, captains, scientists, DSA agents, engineers, etc…onboard the ship would work to build a more RP heavy story and less stat heavy.

[Yun Lao]

Shatterpoint: Pale Star

...

Appreciate you giving us both options.

I think if we were to vote, I'd probably go for Falgain.

[Postmania]

I think the Pale Star setting is a bunch more interesting in terms of plot unpredictability and RP. The Falgain one is more easily accessible though and clear in where it could go.

If it's a vote I'd go with Pale Star but either sounds fun

[bruceleegreyhulk]

I'm gearing more towards Shatterpoint: Pale Star. Mutations sound interesting to me. That and the mechs. Also it would seem you could do zero combat depend occupation. Great for people who don't want to necessary do combat and want to do more supporting roles.