(OOC) Planning Thread!

I like the gang war idea, so sign me in. =) Right now I have two drafts of characters, one Mando weaponsmith/merc/lore collector, one double-agent Twi'lekk mob frill. Do they fit in?

Twi'lek! I think they both fit or can be made to fit since there doesn't seem to be a solid plot right now.

I'll be a gangster and a civvy. I don't really have anything beyond that. I'll make whatever we need. I'm flexible.

I want my civilian character to be the gang's lawyer.

Revan, when do you think you'll post the game info? I'm super excited to get started and I want to write my character bios!

I think I'm going to have a snarky gangster who half-asses everything, and a 16 year old Mandalorian girl who's going to prove her worth and not turn into a Mary Sue.

Catika wrote:

I'm super excited to get started and I want to write my character bios!

So am I! Who wants to have a personal Twi'lekk... ehm, massagist, who's going to sell all the information on you and your affairs both to the Imps and to the rival gang?

Heheh, nice. I should be able to get info up on Monday. I'm currently wrapped up in 2 RPGs at the moment, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to post my character just yet. I have enough trouble doing 2 at once, let alone 3

It's fine. If you need help running the game here I have the time. I've run a number of games in the past so I have experience.

Hey, anybody here? =) Or everybody's busy with the exams?

I'm still here! I was just thinking about asking the same question.

I'd hate to do more plotting without Revan, but it's been more than a week. We should get something started...

Maybe start writing bios and posting them. That way we'll know exactly what kind of characters we have involved and what characters we might need.

For a bio maybe something along the lines of this

EDIT: Likes and dislikes were combined with personality. It's not a major change so if you started your bio and had a Likes and Dislikes category it's still good.

Character Name: (You can add in nick names here too.)
Age:
Gender:
Race:
Occupation:
Personal belongings: (Weapons, vehicles, house, heirlooms, and other what nots.)
Appearance:
Distinguishing Marks: (If there is any.)
Personality: (General personality, likes and dislikes.)
Aspirations:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Background: (Can be as elaborate as you want but make sure you at least add what your character is currently doing.)

I hope this doesn't seem too long. You don't need paragraphs and paragraphs for each thing. If there is anything you feel that should be added or taken out please comment.

Maybe I just have a personal grudge against these things, but I feel like Aspirations, Strengths, Weaknesses, Likes, and Dislikes could maybe just be included in Personality. Sometimes I get frustrated when I have to come up with things like that, and I'd rather them just randomly appear in RPGs because it's more exciting. :3

So instead maybe we could condense it like this and make them optional?

Personality (Strengths/Weaknesses, Likes/Dislikes, Aspirations, etc):

What do you guys think?

I think it might be better this way. Sometimes it's very difficult to tell whether some trait of character is a weak or a strong point.

And do you think it's OK to use a fiction-character-to-be in a RPG? I think I'd like to get acquainted with one a bit better, to get the feeling of his personality, to learn something about his life...

I think it's fine, Kote. Especially if you want to flesh out that character more.

I really want to work on my bios but I can't find the motivation! All I have so far is that Kou (my gangster) is a red-headed human male, age 24. And Catra (my Mandalorian) has nothing other than a name, she's adopted, wears yellow armor, and she's 16.

Anyone have suggestions for a pretty Near-Human species that Catra could be?

My Lorrdian lawyer character is coming along, the other one isn't. I'm so bad. I'll try harder to get them done and maybe seeing bios up and posted will motivate other people.

Kiffar, Epicanthix, Ubese, Hapan, Mirialan, Arkanian, Etti... since she's adopted she could be anything.
I think Epicanthix and Hapan are closer to human than then rest. Kiffar too maybe, but there's the whole 1 in a hundred have magical powers thing.

And there are still Codru-Ji! They have four hands! And apart from them I can also suggest Devaronians.

Huh, am I the first to come with ready-like characters? Here they are.

Character Name: Yuno'jekurra (Yuno Jekurra)
Age: 23
Gender: female
Race: Twi'lekk
Occupation: dancer, courtesan, double agent
Personal belongings: an impressive bank account, a whole load of jewelry and finery and a small fancy nerve disruptor. She also uses a fine sports speeder and lives in a nice apartment, but she's not the owner - these are "gifts" from her patron.
Appearance: 1.7 m, 90-60-90, pretty face, azure skin, two lekku, orange-golden eyes - everything one could expect from a Twi'lekk dancer.
Distinguishing Marks: a scar in the left armpit where once a slave brand was.
Personality (aspirations, strengths, weaknesses...): a totally messed, crooked, vile, unreliable creature. In her opinion, any end justifies any means. She hates about everyone around her and finds a twisted pleasure in betraying those who are stronger or have more power than her. She craves for freedom, but she has a mind of a slave and cannot understand what she wants, so instead of the freedom she gets money and all the pleasures of life.
Likes: posh things - the more expensive the better - and intrigues.
Dislikes: threats - if one threatens her, she will do her best and more to see him ruined.
Background: used to be a slave, then managed to free herself. Her past, as is evident from her personalty description, wasn't a happy one. Right now she lives under the protection of one of the gangsters, eagerly sells information to the Imperial Security, and then arranges things so that the Imps get screwed.
(Gangster boys, the girl needs a patron! )

Character Name: Tyre Besich
Age: it really depends on what time we are playing
Gender: male
Race: Mandalorian (human)
Occupation: weaponsmith, mercenary, lore-collector
Personal belongings:
- Weapons - prefers cold steel, usually weilds a beskar knife he forged himself, but he must be using blasters too. Also he has an ancient bes'bev, the battle-flute. (It goes both for a weapon and a heirloom, I guess.)
- Vehicles - a modified Skipray gunship, "Cin'werda" (White shadow).
Appearance: 1.75 m, lean, blonde, dark eyes, not really handsome.
Distinguishing Marks: acually, a lot of them, if you mean scars, - and one more, a tattoo on the right shoulder with the clan crest.
Personality (aspirations, strengths, weaknesses...): a surprisingly nice and polite man for a Mandalorian, but despite his social skills he doesn't have any close friends - apparently he has some problems with forming attachments to living beings. Yet a very reticent person - it's impossible to tell what is going on there behind his polite front. He's fond of Mando antiquity and struggles to collect and preserve all the lore, songs and tales he can find. As for his soldiering skills, he prefers to work in team and to have a back-up; he also prefers "silent" work - collecting information, infiltratons, assassinations and so on. Rushing on hordes of enemies shouting banzai is not his style.
Likes: doing things with his own hands, creating and modifying weapons.
Dislikes: ignorance and young trigger-happy idiots.
Background: he uses mercenary work to follow his vocation, that is to rummage both the archives and the cantinas to find any piece of information on Mando history and lore. As a great secret, he was born on Alderaan and is a half-bred pacifist.
As for his part in the present conflict, I think the GM will be free to give him any assignment that fits in the general plotline.

How is it? I could have written much more, but decided in favour of laconic bios. I really hate to write those two-page essays some RPG masters love so much...

It think it's good. It has everything it needs. That's why I put so many categories so everyone knew what the good stuff was and addressed it.

My bio will probably end up longer, but that's because I'm weird. I'm not expecting anything too long. Kote's bios are good examples of what to have.

Got room for more? If so count me in I'm up RP anyday, this is gonna be in the forums right? or not?

Anyways, i've already got a few characters i've made from stories i've written and the ones i use in the Star Wars Role play game. Give me a shout if it's possible for me to join in...

Jump right in, Dha'Aden! We're still way in the planning stages. I think we're going to start brainstorming as a group here pretty soon. And yes, the RPG will take place on the forums!

As a summary: we're thinking an Empire-era gang war on Coruscant, so your options for characters can fall under these suggestive categories: gang member, Mandalorian (because it's MANDOBOARD :p), or civilian (neither a Mando nor a gang member but still very relevant!). Any other ideas are welcome too!

Yes, anyone and everyone can join!

I do have my bios written, I just have to edit them and post them. It's been an eventful week and weekend.

Here are my bios finally. We need to figure out a name for the gang lord and a name for the gang. Anyone have some suggestions?

Character Name: Saki Chiisulu
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Race: Epicanthix
Occupation: Gang Member
Personal belongings: A small apartment, a bulky speeder, a blaster, a virboblade, and her prized possession is a rotary blaster cannon.
Appearance: Saki is 5’10” dark skinned woman with very dark blues eyes. She has very short hair that she either wears in a fro, or slicked back. She’s very muscular and with a solid frame. For some reason, she always has a small smile on her face. She wears form fitting clothes with coverage and boots.
Distinguishing Marks: A large scar that almost splits her face diagonally. No one’s quite sure if she got it in a fight, if it’s fake, or if it was self-inflicted. She wears it like a favorite accessory and might even wear make to draw attention to it.
Personality: Saki always appears to be content with a small hint of smugness in her smile. She’s more of a follower than a leader. She doesn’t strive to be the best and is a low maintenance person. Saki isn’t a chatty or small talk kind of person. She’s not the type to initiate a conversation and really only makes conversations with someone because they started talking to her.

Saki likes making people she doesn’t like uncomfortable. She also enjoys fast and reckless driving, chasing people down, fighting no matter how petty it is, explosions, boots with pointy heels, undercover jobs, lipstick, hawkbats, and card games.

She doesn’t like the rain, getting lost, cleaning up after herself, anyone and anything her boss doesn’t like, being taken for granted, and feet.

Aspirations: Stay loyal to the gang she’s in until she sees no reason to continue working for them. If she gets tried of the whole gang thing, she’s thought about becoming a bouncer or a public transportation driver.
Strengths: Saki keeps a level head in the worst situations. She has a strong physique and has a high tolerance for pain. Saki doesn’t always know what she’s doing half the time, but looks very convincing doing it.
Weaknesses: Saki can get confused and lost when she doesn’t have someone telling her what to do or specific instructions. She holds grudges and doesn’t forget them until she’s gotten back at the person. This can sometimes make her miserable or frustrated depending on how long she’s had the grudge.
Background: Saki was born to a lower class family. She grew up with the mindset that physical strength and power made you successful and kept you alive. She dated an older man who was fairly high up in a local gang. While she was dating him, she got involved in the gang’s activity. She stayed with the gang until she found out her boyfriend was cheating on her. Saki decided to get back at him by joining the rival gang.



Character Name: Balin Norn
Age:30
Gender: Male
Race: Lorrdian
Occupation: Lawyer
Personal belongings: A luxury speeder, an apartment (recently turned bachelor pad) on the nice side of town, a platinum ring, briefcase, datapad, commlink, a large savings account and a stingbeam.
Appearance: Short dirty blonde hair with light brown eyes and stubble on his face. He’s around 6’ 1” and a little on the lanky side. Balin wears simple and solid colored business suits on a regular basis. If you observe him closely, you can see that he wears them all in a pattern. He wears mostly monotones. He has a kind face and a calm or tired looking expression.
Distinguishing Marks: He has a small scar below his elbow from his youth, and tiny mark on the heel of his foot where he stepped on a piece of broken transparisteel as an adult. One of his front teeth is false. These aren’t very noticeable unless under closer inspection. He also still wears his wedding band, but not on the appropriate place.
Personality: Balin is calm, cautious, and pays close attention to details. He’s a good listener and a patient man who endures a lot. Sometimes he doesn’t always understand why he puts up with things, but for some reason he believes it’s necessary and in the long run it’ll somehow pay off.

Balin likes antique speeders and is currently trying to restore one. He got it shortly after he and his wife separated. He likes long walks, people watching, reading, has an appreciation for art but not the attention span for long operas or plays. He likes his job, but isn’t a workaholic.

Balin doesn’t like seafood. He likes dogs, and got one after one after he and his wife separated, but discovered that he wasn’t that much of a dog person and gave it to his niece and nephew. He doesn’t really like the color gold. He doesn’t like flashy and gaudy things.
Aspirations: Balin, out of fear and duty, wants to prove to his gang lord employer that he’s a brilliant lawyer. Balin wants to finish restoring his antique speeder to not only prove himself that he can do it, but also prove to his wife just to spite her. He also has a dream of maybe making a foundation to help ex gangster and criminals start over. It’s just a thought and an idea that he keeps to himself.
Strengths: Balin is very good at reading people and their body due to his heritage. His parents were both Lorrdian and taught their children kinetic communication. He uses this ability strategically in his job and his interactions with people. Balin knows how and when to pick his fights. He’s a generally good person and would rather be friends with you than enemies.
Weaknesses: Though he is starting to get immune to the activity that surrounds his client, he still get easily flustered in situations that are very illegal or that he wouldn’t consider dignified. He’s more of a fleer than a fighter, which makes him look like a coward. But, if they only knew how bad he was at fighting they might understand that he’s just being smart. He can be a little bit of a push over.
Background: Balin, Abby, and Bade were a set of multiples born from Lorrdian parents. They were raised in a comfortable and nurturing household. Balin and Abby got along the best. Both had similar personalities. While they got along with their brother, Bade, he was a troublemaker and got mixed in with the wrong crowd.

Balin became a lawyer, Abby became a therapist, and Bade never really told his family the specifics of his job. Despite his family’s questions and suspicions of Bade’s career, they co-existed with each other fairly smoothly.

That was until Bade was arrested under the suspicious of murder. Balin stepped in to help his bother, convinced that though his brother wasn’t exactly upstanding member of society he would never commit murder. Unfortunately, the evidence was against him, and Bade confessed to Balin that he was guilty. Even after knowing Bade was guilty, Balin went and tried to prove that he was innocent. In the end, he lost the case and his brother went to jail. However, he had impressed the plaintiff, a gang lord.

Balin and the gang lord formed an odd friendship. Balin didn’t dislike the man, but he wasn’t always sure if he liked him. The man puzzled him and also paid him a lot of money. Unfortunately, Balin’s wife didn’t like the fact that her husband was working for such a dangerous and disagreeable man. She put up with it for years, but after Balin had been beat up after a court case (and lost a tooth) she couldn’t deal with it and the two separated. They have not discussed a divorce yet.

Still need some editing, but they're mostly done. Can you tell who's my favorite by the length of the bios? :p Haha, just kidding, Kou.

Character Name: Jiro Kou
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Occupation: Gangster
Personal belongings: Spice, fake ID keys, pimped out datapad, one-room flat, fixer-upper speeder, DL-44 heavy blaster pistol, two dagger-sized vibroblades and brass knuckles.
Appearance: Kou is 5'7'' (170 cm), 149 lb (67 kg), and moderately built. He is by no means the gang's heaviest fighter, but he's agile and has a high endurance for hard work. He has red hair that he keeps buzzed and sideburns, brown eyes, and fair skin.
Distinguishing Marks: Freckles, sideburns, and a black eye for at least the first three days of game play.

Personality: Kou has "short man syndrome." He likes being in charge and making decisions, and he doesn't like it when people disagree with his reasonable rationale. He's stubborn and likes to debate (or argue, as it were), and he clearly operates in a manipulative, self-aggrandizing manner. He likes alcoholic beverages, drugs, wearing disguises, tricky jobs, and bossing people around. He hates anyone with a similar personality to his, large animals, Imperials, and his father.
Aspirations: Kou wants to be a gang lord, and he plans on rising in the ranks and either taking over the one he's in, or starting his own.
Strengths: Kou is a precise, detail-oriented being who could concentrate while picking a lock with a staple under fire. He is driven and stubborn and would sooner lose two nights of sleep than leave a task undone. In a fight, Kou is slinky, quick, and hard to grab hold of. He's a decent grappler, too, and a good shot.
Weaknesses: No one likes Kou. Kou doesn't care, either. He's selfish, manipulative, and long-winded. He's also addicted to spice, which leads to terrible withdrawal if he doesn't get any, and an empty wallet if he does. His stubborn tendencies tend to corner him, and he doesn't work well on a team or if someone else is the leader.

Background: Kou was born to an upper middle class family on Coruscant. He is an only child who began butting heads with his father (of whom he is the spitting image) at an early age. He was never the number one offender in school, but he was labeled as a troublemaker on numerous occasions of insolence.

In his late teens, Kou and one of his friends began experimenting with prescription drugs, which eventually lead to spice addiction. Kou's need for spice lead him to the big players in the spice and drug trade: gangs. While it was dangerous and foolish to join such a society, Kou was intrigued by the challenge and the hope of becoming a gang lord with infinite amounts of spice and minions at his disposal. After some deliberation, he found one he liked and joined.

Character Name: Catra Shaadlar
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Race: Arkanian (Offshoot) / Mandalorian
Occupation: Mercenary
Personal belongings: Mandalorian beskar'gam, antique SoroSuub Firelance blaster rifle (her most prized possession), an assortment of knives, vibroblade in left gauntlet, grappling line in right gauntlet, jet pack, and an assortment of ammunition (EMP, cryoban, frag grenades).
Appearance: Standing at 5'4'' and 128 lb, Catra is of an average height and build. She has white skin and silver hair. As an Arkanian Offshoot, she has five fingers and human-like blue eyes, unlike the dominant race of Arkanians. She keeps her hair cut just under her chin to fit under her helmet. Her armor is light yellow with navy blue accents (to be determined later).
Distinguishing Marks: Catra has a square-shaped burn mark on her lower back about five centimeters in diameter, as well as a blue tattoo on her left shoulder.

Personality: Catra is naïve and willing to please. She's self-sufficient on her own, but she prefers company for guidance and support. She is sometimes hasty and over-confident, which usually gets her into trouble. While she has some measure of resilience, Catra prefers to find the easiest way out of things, and she is sometimes discouraged when things don't work out right away. During interactions with acquaintances and friends, Catra is pleasant and upbeat, and she likes to have fun and slack off whenever she can. She likes meeting new people, getting new gadgets, blowing things up, and eating. She particularly dislikes being the center of attention, having too many responsibilities, and being left-handed. She also doesn't have much of a taste for meat.
Aspirations: Catra wants to be a medic, but she's too afraid to let her father down. Right now she's trying out being a mercenary in hopes that she will learn to like it and gain some skills, so she's trying to gain notoriety by getting hired by gang lords. Part of her is hoping that being involved in crime syndicates will eventually convince her father that she belongs in a hospital instead of shady alleyways.
Strengths: Catra is an expert in close-quarters combat and she is a fairly precise shooter. She's a pretty good actress and a decent liar, and she's also empathetic to others and a good listener.
Weaknesses: Catra is still very young and immature, and she has a lot of growing to do before she can be completely independent. She enjoys working with others because she isn't very confident in doing everything by herself, which tends to throw her off if she's completely alone.

Background: Catra was born with the name Desla Ukar on Arkania. She had an older brother named Cael, and her parents worked (or rather, were enslaved) in the Arkanian gem mines. At a very young age, Desla was forced into helping with the mining. She was once prodded with a red-hot metal stick when she disobeyed her boss, attributing to the scar on her back. When she was six years old, an uprising amongst the workers caused rioting and an eventual battle. She was separated from her brother Cael and her parents were killed. She managed to escape the mines and found herself wandering the Arkanian tundra until she collapsed. A ship traveling out of the nearby settlement picked her up on a scanner, and the owner, a Mandalorian by the name of Attic Shaadlar, rescued her.

Desla was quiet and almost mute around the large Mandalorian man, despite his patience and kindness. Attic learned of the uprising from news reports and, knowing how Arkanians treated the subspecies of Offshoots, Attic decided to take Desla with him to Mandalore. He then adopted her, renaming her Catra.

It is unclear whether or not Catra remembers any of the events of her past, and the only remaining evidences of her time on Arkania are the scar on her back, and a tattoo on her left shoulder that signifies her affiliation with the Ukar name.

Attic had one biological daughter that was six years Catra's elder. His wife was killed just before he found Catra during a routine bounty-hunting mission, leaving him alone to raise his daughters Saviin and Catra.

When Catra turned sixteen, Attic decided to send her off on her first solo mission to Coruscant, where her sister was doing bodyguard work for the Senate. There she would have Saviin's support if she needed it, but she could function without Attic's watchfulness. Catra took up a job being a gang lord's contact with other gangs because of her exotic looks and close-quarter combat specialties. She hopes she can learn to like this sort of mercenary work, or somehow convince her father that she would make a better medic.

Oh, now I feel I should expand my bios, they're so short...

Did I mention I LOVE Arkanians? =)

Don't feel like you have to make yours longer! Only if you come up with more ideas should you add to a bio. Don't force it. :3

YES! Arkanians are great! Cael (Catra's Arkanian brother) is a recycled character. He might play a minor role in this but I'll have to see how the game goes.

Also, as for naming the gang lords, maybe another thing we should discuss is what "reputations" the gangs have. Is there a "good gang/bad gang", are they both neutral, is one just sort of "okay" and the other is TERRIBLE, or what?

Tenna and I have been calling the gang lord that Balin and Catra work for "Franz."

I'm not big on the name Franz. I associate it with a lot of different things, all of which are not gang related.
But if everyone likes it or isn't really consider about his name, then I'll shut up about it.

The gang itself also needs a name. And what should their 'business' be? Do they traffic illegal products, own real estate, offer services like protection or threatening people... any other ideas...

And they should have a club/bar/cantina/head quarters.
There's some other things we need to tackle, but let's do baby steps.

Oh hey! I totally forgot about Black Sun. Should one of the gangs have an affiliation with them?

I spliced together a list of possible names for the gangs themselves from Seventh Sanctum and random ideas. Let me know if any of them strike your fancy, or if you have other ideas, post them as well!

GANG NAMES
Dark Scourge
Dire Hoard
Manta Shears
Howl's Bane
Black Gale

GANGLORDS
Should one be a woman? I don't actually have any name ideas yet but if anyone posts some ideas I will compile them here!