Lou Anne suggested in the parent discussion thread that it would be nice if characters who are fated to erupt could interact IC with the other characters before they actually erupt.

This leads to the question* of what kind of IC forum the 200X era should have. Is it a secret chatroom buried within a Directive computer? Is it a semi-public OpNet site that is for novas only? Is it a private OpNet site for a coterie of novas and their trusted friends? Is it something entirely different?

Prepare your ideas. Ready? GO!




(* But it does not "beg the question." That means something completely different.)

It could be an opnet site like so many internet sites now...a special interest site. This one's by novas, for novas...but that doesn't mean you can't have baselines posting. There's no magic scanner that says, "Oops, you're not a nova! NO POST FOR YOU!"

There could even be a sort of, "Ask a Nova" thread for curious baselines who want to ask questions of novas, with all that entails. Nova-philes could masquerade as novas, incurring ire if they're discovered.

All kinds of stuff. I see the "Opnet" stuff as being a sort of metafiction area, where we're IC between stories. Locking it to novas only deprives us of fun, and what fun is that?

Lily, that's a very good idea. I was fleshing out something very complex involving nodes and what not but your idea is better. Much like some modern day internet sites, there would be the assumed equivalent of a button to mark a post as spam thereby flagging it for a moderators attention. Hence the reason the site isn't overwhelmed with "Novz XuK!" posts.

As far as baseline interaction online the persona has to be as interesting as the novas. In the past just being a baseline wasn't enough though a couple succeeded just by stroking the nova egos sufficiently.

I'm not opposed to the idea of baseline characters on the boards. These days I'm finding baselines more and more interesting than the novas, believe it or not - one of the reasons I'm keen on the Directive.

As for pre-erupted novas, that I'm hesitant on, because I can see it getting very ridiculous VERY fast. Novas are literally one in a million. That means that in the city where I live, ONE person MIGHT erupt. Two if we're statistically anomalous. In order to have a believable number of pre-erupted novas we'd need a LOT of visitors.

Yes, there is the possibility of having latents come on board, assuming they can afford a latency test (and I picture them being expensive tests and not guaranteed accurate, because the general impression I get from the books is that it's very difficult to tell who might be a nova before they actually become one. The various nova wannabes seem to be unable to afford tests; genetic therapy clinics that offer 'increased latency chances' seem dubious and shady.) A few of those, I could handle. But a baseline character on the boards should be interesting without the possibility of them erupting into a nova.

As for the nature of the board, I spelt out my ideas for it way back when: a board that is run by an anonymous benefactor who uses the registered user licenses of the OpNet to do background checks on the various posters. Any nova is approved; any non-nova requires some degree of sponsorship, though some exceptions have been made.

This. Fuck the baseline rubberneckers.

I like it. Why not? More options, and some of those options are quite interesting.

Amen.

If it allowed baselines there would be thousands upon thousands. It should be a Nova only board provided free of charge by N! Why? Because this would let the network have a direct feed on gossip and get a pulse for Nova goings on. Maybe all public area posts would be viewable only to baseline visitors, a Opnet bonanza for N!

The downside to that, Kris, is that the only novas who would post on that forum would be glory slut PR whores who care more about their popularity rating than anything else. A forum like that would be full of shameless, sycophantic douchebag novas who would share their access with hired lackeys to generate buzz and churn productive rumor mills at their behest. Making the forums publicly viewable IC would be a bad idea: every post would sacrifice legitimacy for a positive public image. The idea is to have a place where novas can go to be themselves, not to simply provide another advertising outlet where they have to be "on". Also, many Terats wouldn't post there on principle: the N! is owned by baselines, after all.

No character I've played or probably would be inclined to would post on such a forum.

Heres a possibly cool idea: Make the "OpNet" part a social networking site. MyNode or something like that. There could be an OOC section for posting sheets but maybe since Chosen is redesigning the site we could see if there is a way to post up IC "profiles."

Anyone remember Shadowrun? There's a hidden matrix node shadowrunners use as a speakeasy called "Shadowland". Perhaps there's some sort of community not watched by the normal baseline population. Perhaps some brainiacs put an opnet server together, and made the server farm private (enough) to keep John Q. Baseline out. Somehow someone gets to the new nova (or even an established one) the way to access the site(s).

I don't know how much work someone would want to put into coding the templates, but I like the idea in theory, Overload. Someone would need to volunteer to code a template and Matt would have to agree to host it, but as a simple idea, I like it. The only problem lay in characters who wouldn't have such a space.

Also, "MyNode"? Dude. Something gotta be done about that name.

Make the site's origins mysterious. All novas have access, we're not sure how it tells the difference between the novas and the baselines.

And if someone wants to run a baseline, well, then whoever or whatever is running the board made a misstake.

Or intentionally let them in, just to fuck with all the Novas...

Remeber though this idea will mean we won't have the pleasure of the ranting psychotic religious figures that pop in from time to time...

I am PERFECTLY fine with the absence of Father Ryan type characters.

I think we should allow room for psiads and "oh wow, I think I may have erupted but I'm not sure... what do I do now?" types.

This leads us to the question of the other 2 books in the series.

Does Adventure represent the past of this aberrant board? Does Aeon (Trinity) represent a possible (Please Note that I say Possible) future?

If so, is it possible to represent those character archetypes here? Can I make a Psiad, Mesmerist, Stalwart or Daredevil as a character? Can I have them in my stories?

My feeling is no. I'd really rather not deal with alternate AEON concepts in the reboot, unless it somehow dealing with the eras they originate from. No contemporary versions of those concepts.

Jordan, my sense of the matter is that they are cleaving as close to the core book as possible, so no Project Re-Write and not much chance of an Aeon character. Likewise, if there is some 'System' mechanic for keeping out baselines, it would keep out psiads as well.

Oh c'mon, don't ya just feel the Xtian Love when he posts?


Oh and ditto on the "No psiads/paramorphs/fomorion bandersnatches" thought.

Oh uh....Just so it's clear; those weren't my personal wants. I just figured those questions should be asked and answered before 200X went live to avoid any IC snafus.

Despite my best efforts at allowing myself some time to depressurize after yesterday, here I am posting anyway. I guess I care too much to stay away.


I was so taken by the above that it appears in the 200X Bible as flavor text. I think Seph's argument is airtight. There is provision in the 200X Bible for one sticky IC forum thread, perhaps destined to be a mega-thread, which is publicly viewable. That is the "Ask a Nova" thread. Of course the latents, the Psiads, and the baselines would be able to participate there.

I'm afraid that the intent of 200X is to be as simple as possible, yet still an entertaining setting to write. I believe that the inclusion of Adventure and Trinity material would subvert this intent. At the minimum, it would expand the scope of the era overly-wide.

No formorian bandersnatches?!?!

Damnit.

Back to the drawing board.

I have to agree with this.

First off, simplicity is always desirable in an endeavor like this one because (AFAICT) no one is getting paid to maintain it. Make it too complex and it runs the risk of becoming a burden, not a pleasure. Keep it simple enough and the setting can often maintain itself.

Second, I don't really like the idea of including Inspired or Psiads into this sort of collaborative setting. The problem I see is that, as Nova said, it broadens things too much. Since this going to be a collaborative storytelling venture, I think it's important to keep the story focused on one strong, easy to understand element. In this case novas, and their impact on themselves and the world around them. Psiads are there, and I'm sure some interesting stories could be told that include them, but a player who has a Psiad character is (for understandable and obvious reasons) going to want to be constantly exploring all things Psiad-y, and that just isn't what the setting is about. Or at least, not as I understand it. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me.

You may as well. Someone wants to play a unicorn.

MEEEE!

That wasn't a joke?!?!

Hell no. I got it writ out and everything.

*gets a bucket of popcorn*

*rolls his eyes*

Yeah MyNode is cheesy but it gave you the right image for the kinds of things I was talking about. We dont even need actual "pages" since we wont be able to do alot of the things you could do..post up photos or vids of yourself using your powers, having somgs etc. The rest of its mostly boring anyways unless someone really wanted to go to all the trouble. More I was thinking that the boards could be the forum part of an online social/business networking site.

As for how it got there there are I am sure mysterious cyberkinetic novas who have all kinds of fun. Be careful however lest Microsoft (through Mungu) or the Teragen (through Synapse) come spying in...

So this is you?

I'm favoriting that.