2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke Memorial Game - Signup

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous
March 19, 2008 - 8:01pm
Refer to: 2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke Memorial Game.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke passed away on March 19th, 2008. This game is in honor of his contributions to the science fiction community.

THIS IS A PLAY BY POST GAME for 2 to 5 players. I have diversified the line-up of characters. Choose a character you're comfortable with. The Referee does all the rolling. The player simply decides what they want their character to do. Don't make your character do anything that disturbs the continuity of play or player immersion in the game.

This will be my first forray into Refereeing a Star Frontiers game. I hope I can provide an exciting experience. Rest assured I will be updating this regularly. Please sign up below if you wish to tip your hat to Sir Arthur C. Clarke and enjoy his story from a roleplaying perspective.

My only current house rule is that unless an action is expected from a particular player, the game will progress daily regardless of participation. It will be assumed that the character is doing the last task they said they were going to perform unless it is an attack action or a specific response is expected.

Please do not review the module if you wish not to ruin the game for yourself.

You will be playing one of the pre-generated characters from the story. Sign up below if you are interested. Play the characters in a way that makes you feel comfortable and does not cause conflict.

I'm going to be taking some liberties to make the story more unpredictable. I've just worked out some adjustments based on some of Arthur C. Clarke's other stories that also happen to fit with modern cinema to make it more interesting and unique. As a result, there will be crude maintenance and service robots aboard who were placed to make the crew's life easier by catering to their every need. One will be an anthropomorphic robot.

Crew may die, so I'm going to provide provision for the players of those crew to continue to be able to participate in the story by some capacity. So just because your character dies, doesn't mean that's the end of your participation in the story.

If you receive a message from me by PM, follow the direction in the PM as it will be important to the plot.

Please inform me if you will be unavailable for more than 2 days. It is important that the game keep moving.

The available characters are:

David Bowman

Dr. Bowman is Captain of the crew. His fast reflexes and keen mind make him ideal to lead a mission to Saturn. Graduated valedictorian at MIT and was a flying ace in the airforce Stealth Squadron. He served as site administrator for Operation Moon for 5 years before being called to head the U.S.S. Discovery.
Race:
Human
Gender:Male
Age:35
STR/STA:
45/55
DEX/RS:
60/60
IM:
6
INT/LOG:
55/65
Current
Stamina:

PER/LDR:
50/60
Special Abilities: None
Skills: Astronomy 4*, Computer 3, Technician 6, Piloting 2, Astrogation 1
* New character skill.

Frank Poole

(Gullwind)
Dr. Poole graduated summa cum laude at Harvard Medical and received his masters at MIT. He was member of the naval strategic air command for three years and honored with distiction twice. Dr. Poole is HAL's caretaker and the only one permitted to enter HAL's control center.
Race:
Human
Gender:Male
Age:34
STR/STA:
50/60
DEX/RS:
65/70
IM:
7
INT/LOG:
50/55
Current
Stamina:

PER/LDR:
45/50
Special Abilities: None
Skills: Astronomy* 3, Computer 4, Medical 1, Technician 6, Piloting 2
* New character skill.

Victor Kaminski
Dr. Kaminski is the Russian observer on the mission and is a true tech expert. If it sparks, he knows what to do. He maintains the robots on Discovery and likes to tinker.
Race:
Human
Gender:Male
Age:43
STR/STA:
50/50
DEX/RS:
50/55
IM:
6
INT/LOG:
70/80
Current
Stamina:

PER/LDR:
50/55
Special Abilities: None
Skills: Astronomy* 4, Computer 2, Technician 4, Astrogation 1, Robotics 2
* New character skill.

William Hunter
Dr. William Hunter is the ship's Psychiatric Specialist and is responsible for maintaining moral on the Discovery. His quick wit and tireless enthusiasm make him a welcome addition to the crew.
Race:
Human
Gender:Male
Age:36
STR/STA:
60/70
DEX/RS:
45/55
IM:
5
INT/LOG:
50/55
Current
Stamina:

PER/LDR:
55/60
Special Abilities: None
Skills: Astronomy* 3, Computer 3, Technician 3, Piloting 1, Psycho-social 2
* New character skill.

Peter Whitehead
Dr. Whitehead is head medical expert, with years of experience. He can cure most wounds and illnesses. He graduated validictorian at Harvard Medical and served in the airforce's Operation Moon where he acquired much space flight experience.
Race:
Human
Gender:Male
Age:31
STR/STA:
50/60
DEX/RS:
50/55
IM:
6
INT/LOG:
60/60
Current
Stamina:

PER/LDR:
55/60
Special Abilities: None
Skills: Astronomy* 3, Computer 2, Technician 6, Medical 3, Piloting 2
* New character skill.

Andrea Stetham
Dr. Stetham is an experienced field medic with intimidating amounts of knowledge. But this knowledge and experience has not tarnished her innocence. She has gained the respect of her colleagues and has a sharp wit that keeps men in their place. She graduated from Prague Medical with honors and is foremost in the field of medical robotics. In the marines, she served in the robotics division disarming warheads.
Race:
Human
Gender:Female
Age:31
STR/STA:
40/50
DEX/RS:
55/60
IM:
6
INT/LOG:
60/55
Current
Stamina:

PER/LDR:
60/50
Special Abilities: None
Skills: Computer 3, Technician 2, Robotics 4, Medical 3, Explosives 2
* New character skill.

Once the list of character's are full, or only 2 or more players sign up after 1 week, no more players will be taken.

The Deck Plans for the U.S.S. Discovery are available for viewing.

Being a module, it is not set in stone, and I will be expanding the plot a little with inspiration from other Arthur C. Clarke works to make the module less predictable, but not so much that it is unrecognizable.

The game will begin in just a few days.
Comments:

Gullwind's picture
Gullwind
March 20, 2008 - 7:34pm
Sounds fun. Count me in. I'll play any of them, but I wouldn't mind being Bowman or Poole.

I actually have both of these modules from way back when.
"Rome didn't build an empire by having meetings. They did it by killing those who stood in their way."

Full Bleed's picture
Full Bleed
March 20, 2008 - 8:50pm
I've never actually played a play by post game before.  Any basic guidelines you could put up?  I wouldn't want to commit to something I won't be able to keep up with or bring something meaningful to.

Having a little situational history on the characters might make it a little easier for people to pick one.  I read the Oddesy series a couple times... well over 15 years ago, so not much has stuck with me except the core concepts (which made a very lasting impression.)  It's suprising how little I remember of the actual characters though... seems I remember more of the characters from the movies than I do the books... but that's still not saying much.





Anonymous's picture
Corjay (not verified)
March 20, 2008 - 10:15pm
Well, I'm looking to let the players play the characters as they like. I'm going to be taking some liberties to make the story more unpredictable. I've just worked out some adjustments based on some of Arthur C. Clarke's other stories that also happen to fit with modern cinema to make it more interesting and unique.

There will be crude maintenance and service robots aboard who were placed to make the crew's life easier by catering to their every need.

Crew may die, so I'm going to provide provision for the players of those crew to continue to be able to participate in the story by some capacity. So just because your character dies, doesn't mean that's the end of your participation in the story.

By request, I will see about working out very basic bios, but it is expected that any fleshing out be done by the players, because it is important that the players own the characters.

Gullwind's picture
Gullwind
March 21, 2008 - 5:02am
Oh, goody. Robots controlled by HAL. What could possibly go wrong?
"Rome didn't build an empire by having meetings. They did it by killing those who stood in their way."

Anonymous's picture
Corjay (not verified)
March 21, 2008 - 9:57am
The bios are complete. If someone wants to alter a bio a little, feel free to offer something for the character you would like to play.

Anonymous's picture
Corjay (not verified)
March 21, 2008 - 2:20pm
Full Bleed wrote:
I've never actually played a play by post game before. Any basic guidelines you could put up? I wouldn't want to commit to something I won't be able to keep up with or bring something meaningful to.
The best thing I can say is that the Referee does all the rolling. The player simply decides what they want their character to do.

Being my first game as Referee, I have no idea what I'll need to house rule. My only current house rule is that unless an action is expected from a particular player, the game will progress daily regardless of participation. It will be assumed that the character is doing the last task they said they were going to perform unless it is an attack action or a specific response is expected.

Gullwind's picture
Gullwind
March 24, 2008 - 8:37pm
Are we waiting for people to claim a character? I'll get the ball rolling and play Frank Poole, if that's the case. Anybody else?
"Rome didn't build an empire by having meetings. They did it by killing those who stood in their way."

Anonymous's picture
Corjay (not verified)
March 24, 2008 - 8:54pm
Yes. If no one else signs up, I'll need you to do David Bowman, while I play Frank Poole. I'll start a new thread in the Game Talk forum to see if there are any takers for David Bowman and others, in which case you can be Frank Poole.

Gullwind's picture
Gullwind
March 24, 2008 - 9:49pm
Works for me.

Just remind me to take my helmet EVERYWHERE!!!!
"Rome didn't build an empire by having meetings. They did it by killing those who stood in their way."

Full Bleed's picture
Full Bleed
March 26, 2008 - 2:24am
Maybe you should go post over at a high volume site like Enworld.  That might bring in some new blood.

http://www.enworld.org/forumdisplay.php?f=49





Anonymous's picture
Corjay (not verified)
March 31, 2008 - 2:29pm
I'm going to call it - Monday, 4:29pm. I'm not excited enough about this to run a single person, so I'm wrapping it up. People don't seem to be interested enough to run a 2001 adventure. I'll run the Gamma World aquatic adventure for playtesting AER and the Gamma Dawn Sourcebook when I finish the module.