Firefly MUSH to play in... by Greenleaf

I considered posting this down in the Firefly Universe section, but I wanted to make sure a lot of folks see this so we can get some feedback.

For those not familiar with it, a MUSH is an online, real time, text based game where folks take on the role of a character to play in a universe designed by the staff. The administrators and their helpers create supporting characters and plotlines to entertain the players who weave their own storylines into the world as well.

In this case, we're in the midst of building a Firefly MUSH for folks to come and play in. From Persephone to Three Hills and from Boros to the Sky Plex, we're trying to re-create the universe Joss Whedon has gifted us with so Firefly fans can play to their heart's content. It's also a great opportunity to introduce science fiction fans and roleplayers to this incredibly rich and three dimensional 'verse we all have come to know and love.

Players will be able to take the roles of ranchers, pilots, Alliance military, merchants, browncoats, smugglers and just about anything else you can think of that would fit into 'verse.

So my question is...

Are you interested? :)

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 6:20 AM

STILLSHINY

Count me in. Let me know more. Tried to jump in on some of the earlier on-line rpg's & fan-fic games. Consider me in. Please provide any necessary links.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn." --Joss

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 6:25 AM

I should add that we're still a few months away from opening, but we'll continue to post updates here as we draw closer.

There's a tremendous amount of coding to be done in order to have working starships, an economy system that will allow folks to make money buying, selling, creating and transporting goods, etc. We want to make this mush /very/ user friendly, which means a lot of 'help' and 'data' files as well as an easy to understand, balanced character generation system.

We'll have a website as well as a mailing group as we hope to create more than just a mush but a community of fans and roleplayers :)

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 7:17 AM

STILLSHINY

Sounds great. I've no programming ability but I'm creative & will gladly provide word of mouth for more players.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn." --Joss

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 8:14 AM

KOIPOND

i would be very interested also

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 8:41 AM

EVILMIKE

I'm certainly interested.

Which MUSH type is it built in?

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 8:50 AM

NRKANGEL

I'm interested. Lemme know when it's soup and I'll bring a spoon. (Not a coder, but a creative writer/role-player of old who wants to brush off old skills.)

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 10:32 AM

DOUBLESHINY

Aha, I've never played an RPG before, but I guess there's no time like the present, i'll read up, and count me in.

Curse your sudden yet inevitable betrayal!

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 10:54 AM

KASUO

What will this be created in? I have some basic understanding of PHP and MySQL.

________
"Let's moon 'em!"

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 11:36 AM

SERGEANTX

This sounds really cool. How can we find out more? I'm a fair hand at C/C# & SQL and I'd be happy to help with the coding. I'm also into RPGs, the table top variey.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 12:24 PM

Lately I've been programming in C, PHP, Python and Perl. But, I also know others. I have a 3 Mbps connection (static ip

) and will be setting up a server (OpenBSD) in the next week or so.

On my workstation I plan on installing WinXP (or some such, got win98 sr2 now), BeOS R5, Gentoo Linux, and OpenBSD.

If I can help, let me know.

EDIT: Oh yah, I've also worked with DB's before as well (MySQL

, mSQL

and access *shiver*).

----
"Canada being mad at you is like Mr. Rogers throwing a brick through your window." -Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 1:08 PM

RAYSTON

I am quite interested, I have played a few MUSH'es and a firefly one sounds quite interesting (still waiting on a Song of Fire and Ice one to finally open up)

Any idea what codebase your going to be using?

Staff Structure? How character creation is going to work?(is it going to be approved chargen? ) Game system?

(gawd cant you tell IM a gamer geek)

Thanx

Rayston

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 1:48 PM

I'm a big MUSHer, mostly sticking to the superhero genre, but I've been waiting for a Firefly MU* to check out.

My main question would be whether you could play canon characters.

My preference in this area would be for a no. It's a big 'verse, more than enough stories for everyone.

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 4:01 PM

I thought I'd step in and back up Greenleaf on the plans for the Mush. While I'm not the coding guru, I've got a few answers on some other things.

At this point in time we have no intentions of having canon characters played. Let's face it, it would leave the door open to too many problems.

We are also going to keep tight limit on connections. In other words, Mal's little sister who he taught everything he knows and whom Jayne fell in love with last week will NOT be showing up on the mush.

Now, the goal is to have fun. Not to be character police. However, as it was mentioned, its a very big universe. And we want to be respectful of it, while at the same time doing everything we can to have good quality rp and adventures!

Sooo....

Life is neither the candle nor the wick - It is the burning.

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 4:46 PM

TADIERA

I am DEFINITELY interested! I've been MU*ing for a long time (MOO, MUSH, MUCK, etc under my belt) and I'm a decent coder, a good builder/descer, and I don't mind writing helpfiles (they can be written long-hand while offline and all ;)).

If you need any help, or want/wouldn't mind an extra hand, I'm so for it. :)

Email is: leigh-at-twilightdreams.net

I'm like a superhero with no powers or motivation.
http://www.livejournal.com/~tadiera

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 5:18 PM

OSIRUS

I thought I would jump in here to share a bit more information in backing up Greenleaf and Beylix.

I'm Osirus and with the above mentioned individuals, we comprise the current core of the the FireFly MUSH administration at this time. I thought I would drop by and share a few tidbits of information to questions I've already seen asked.

First, together with the other two admin, we bring with us an ungodly investment in years across all sorts of RPG tabletop genres, online gaming, and other sorts of roleplay that don't fit into any specific category. This is our first time, however, at attempting to build a MUSH from scratch. All of us have, at one time or another, been administrators on quite successful MU**'s and have the knowledge required to see this particular project through.

Second, the systems currently running are the most stable releases of both PennMUSH and HSpace Trueline available. The MUSH /is/ running. It /is/ up and construction is taking place at an impressive rate.

Chargen (Character Generation) will most likely be a very familiar system (I'm not naming it purposely while we iron out minor yet crucial specifics) to a majority of RPers.

Are we hiring staff at the moment? The answer is no but don't be disheartened. It is only no at present so we can get things ready for opening. This is a Roleplay-intensive environment and in order to be considered for a staff position, be it coding or whatnot, we have to get to know you as a player and as a person before giving you the keys to the car in the game. There is no slight intended here. We've just witnessed too many games in the past die prematurely due to "staff incompatability" and "creative differences". It's sad but it is also a true fact.

With that said, stay tuned for information regarding how you can still potentially help build the worlds and areas of this MUSH before it opens to the public.

The date of opening is not set in stone but we're looking at a late-summer/early-fall grand opening. For that to happen we have several goals needed to be met first. As each of those goals are met and more system specific information becomes available, we will be sure to post that information here as well as on our website.

Expect a webpage address and associate information to be forthcoming in the next several days.

-O

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 6:48 PM

I definitly understand about the capatability thing. But, one question, are you considering having this span multiple systems?

I mean if you can have certain "planet clusters" on different systems (across the net), you would be able to have more people play at the same time, less lag, etc. I'd be willing to host a chunk of the 'verse if you indeed do it this way.

Question, you said that you'd be building this from scratch. Are you referring to just the server or the client as well. If both, I'd be willing to attempt a port of the client to a different OS (I assume it'll be opensource?). See my list of OS's above and add MacOS X as the wife will be getting a PowerBook within the next month or so. Also, if this is so, I'd be able to work independantly from the core team, thus negating any incapatability issues that may arise (ie my failure would in no way affect the project, but, any success would enhance it.).

Anyway, food for thought.

----
"Canada being mad at you is like Mr. Rogers throwing a brick through your window." -Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 7:24 PM

Ooooh! I, too, am a long-time M*er who's been waiting to see if anyone will tackle this. I think Firefly has some built-in difficulties (the spread of the world, and thus the possibility of the spread of RP being one), but if the staff can come up with a good system, I'll definitely be one to play! At the very least, I'll come by to check it out.

(For the record, I'm happy to hear you're not planning on FCs, and I'd prefer a smaller area with fewer options but more players to a spread-out area with tons of planets but no community)

Please keep us posted as stuff goes up! I'd be very interested to know what areas are going to be open, what sorts of things will form the core of the game, what your vision is, etc.

And in an interesting sidenote, as I pimp this to friends currently on a MOO, I get this comment: If they make a MUSH, I'll buy the series.

So see? Spreading the Firefly love!

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 3:47 AM

There are a number of questions that have been raised as the three of us build the mush, but you've hit upon one of the two big ones in regards to how spread out the universe is.

So...how about I ask you guys :)

The first question is - how long should it take to get from point A to point B?

Now the show makes it clear - it takes days to cover the distance between most planets, so to stick with the theme, interplanetary travel should be lengthy.

However...

On a mush or any other online RP you run into a few problems with that. First is that your RP options are limited during that time - you have your crew and any passengers and that's it.

So you're thinking 'that's all I need!' and you could be right, but what if they aren't logging on? Suddenly you find yourself logging on to an empty ship and you're days away from other folks.

The other drawback is attending events. If you're sitting on Persephone and we announce that this coming weekend we're going to have a big event on Osirus, you might not be able to get there in time.

So we have to juggle the 'realism' of the Firefly 'verse with the realities of online RP and keeping folks involved. One option we're considering is to let the crew choose how long it will take them to cover the distance - i.e. if a ship wants to RP out the journey, they opt to take the days it will take to get there. If you're more intersted in the RP at the other side of the trip, you can cut the travel time to a matter of hours or less.

How do you folks think we should do this?

The other question that we're left with is - What kind of roles are you all going to want to play?

A full universe like this probably won't work if we get fifty players all wanting to be Firefly captains and crew.

Are folks interested in playing the fences, Alliance soldiers, ranchers, merchants and other people who would populate the 'verse?

What would you want to play?

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 4:05 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Greenleaf:

The first question is - how long should it take to get from point A to point B?

Now the show makes it clear - it takes days to cover the distance between most planets, so to stick with the theme, interplanetary travel should be lengthy.

However...

On a mush or any other online RP you run into a few problems with that. First is that your RP options are limited during that time - you have your crew and any passengers and that's it.

So you're thinking 'that's all I need!' and you could be right, but what if they aren't logging on? Suddenly you find yourself logging on to an empty ship and you're days away from other folks.

I'm all for flexibility. One of the other points of Firefly is that different routes take different times. Mal and company avoid routes with Alliance patrols and so take a long time (in Out of Gas Wash set a course that took 2 weeks for a trip that normally only took a couple days), others might not care so much.

Perhaps have a range of minimum travel times, but beyond that, leave it up to the individual ships, like you said. They can take longer if they want. And, be willing to fudge time in the event of an event that a lot of people might want to make.

There is one other thing to consider; you're not just limited to passengers and crew for RP if you're on a ship - there's also the Cortex. Sure, in deep space you apparently can't use it, but you could probably handwave that along the regular travel routes there are regular signal boosters and such that allow people to remain connected. Though yeah, it's a bit silly to RP being on the Space-Net while on the real Net. ;)

Quote:

The other question that we're left with is - What kind of roles are you all going to want to play?

A full universe like this probably won't work if we get fifty players all wanting to be Firefly captains and crew.

Are folks interested in playing the fences, Alliance soldiers, ranchers, merchants and other people who would populate the 'verse?

What would you want to play?

I don't think you're going to avoid getting most people wanting to play captains and crew, especially with a wide area to play with (anyone planet-bound is going to be left out of a lot of stuff if something happens elsewhere in the verse). One option is to allow multiple characters, but only one for each player can be ship-based... everyone else has to live on a planet or space station or somewhere stable (but, as the plot demands, they may be able to ship out for short trips for whatever reason).

There are enough types of roles that I think a wider range should be encouraged, but not necessarily forced.

As to me, well, I'm looking to play a pilot, personally. ;)

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 4:21 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

I myself could find great fun in being a merc/gun-for-hire like Jayne.

I don't know how you're setting things up, but I think that most adventures should be planet based, and that planets should be rich environments where one might spend a whole RP career if one wanted.

Ships could be multi-room taxis/cars (a variation of transportation in other mushes) that spend a minute or two in each area before moving to the next. This would allow interception/boarding if desired.

But for the most part, (barring Out of Gas and Objects in Space) adventures are what happen when you get OUT of the ship. Ship travel should be boring, by and large. Make those planets exciting, and you'll get real interaction and role-play. Otherwise, you'll get a dozen people on a dozen ships, uninterested in leaving their little worlds.

--Anthony

P.S. Don't forget that leaving a ship while it is in space, and without a space-suit, should be lethal.

"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 4:53 AM

TADIERA

I've played on a Star Trek game in the past that had their gametime be 6 IC days per 1 RL day. This meant that travel time was almost nothing, but since often you can go RL days without events, needing to be places, etc, you could still RP out long trips. But you didn't need to fudge, fake, or miss events due to timing. It may be a bit much time, but it's something to think about.

Me? I've got a captain forming herself in my mind... Usually on these sorts of games, I play a mercenary or pilot type, but I want to be a captain this time and "Rade" is already writing out her background in my head...

Man, I wish I didn't have a long drive to make shortly...

I'm like a superhero with no powers or motivation.
http://www.livejournal.com/~tadiera

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 7:09 AM

CAPNRAHN

Hello! We have a group here on FFFn that has been playing the original crew since January 1st, but within threads here.

It was actually started by ZachsMind, who played Wash. Myself was 'steering' Simon and just a 'coupla months ago I was given Mal and the direKtorship. It has been VERY fun and rewarding, I can tell you.

It is a 'freeform' RP that mutated into a slightly structured and directed RP. It has been very fun and instructive on a 'posting type' RP. To the casual reader it can be a tad confusing, but it has been IMMENSELY fun and gratifying to play.

Note to the curious: I have archived all the ACT threads and the OOC threads {Out Of Character commentary}

If your are interested in taking a peek at our ongoing experiment - here are some links:

CURRENT ACT {18} http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=17&t=5931

PREVIOUSLY ON FIREFLY:
ACT 17: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=17&t=5306&m=74524#74524

CREDITS & BIOS:
http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=17&t=3498

RPing TOOLS:
Tools and tricks for the hip RPer.
http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=17&t=4266

GREEN ROOM:
Storyline work and a place for the acKtors to hang out.
OOC 16 http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=17&t=5279

ARCHIVE:
Includes episode synopses and links to all the threads for prior acts
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=17&t=3681

DIRECTORIAL STAFF:
Guest DireKtor - DragonflyDireKtor { CapnRahn@aol.com AIM, MSN }
Guest Asst. DireKtor - MercedesTroy { tampa.cyberose@verizon.net AIM}
GameMaster - Geezer { fireflygeezer@cox.net }
Co-Director - FrauDirektor { htempe@hotmail.com, MSN, AIM: MissAstriana, Yahoo!: MissAstriana, ICQ: 9592266}
Co-Director - Channain { channain@yahoo.com; AIM}
Minion - DirektorsSmeagol { DirektorsSmeagol@aol.com } , MSN, AIM)

If any of ya get to read the current stuff and become interested in seeing it from the beginning, shoot me a request email. Caveat: each .mht file (web page archive file, I think it is called) is just a tad over 1M each ... and there are 18 Acts+ Teaser and 18 OOC threads! So dialup users BEWARE! **evil direKtor grin**

We have the Characters - players FFFn ID:
the most current player is last}
Mal - 1)Humble 2)Geezer 3)CapnRahn
Inara - Ciara
Zoe - Astriana
Wash - 1)ZachsMind 2)Astriana 3)RavenWhyteWing 4)Decoy
Jayne - 1)SerenitysSon 2)SaintJayne
River - TeelaBrown
Simon - CapnRahn
Book - ManiacNumberOne

Guest Stars:
Jubal Early - Succatash
Adlelia Niska - 1)Kelso 2)CapnRahn

Player made Guest Stars
Rowan - Channain
Roosevelt "Rosie" Thorne - Geezer
Damon Boster - Squee
Brink Slight Helsing - RavenWhyteWing
Merzedes Troy - MercedesTroy
Bolo - Kalenvor

direKtor ran Characters in the GunRunners RP
{Some of them are for a spin-off series called DragonFly} Dysseus Hlastoni
Corzaire Andrew Jax ESQ.
Thilda Leon
NicoAllez
Corvair Troy
Shelby Troy
Or'Sha Troy

WheW!!! I lot of info to read - but I put it here to pique interest in our little RP ...

This 'episode arc' will be ending soon and we are starting a 'one-shot' Serenity Vacation before we started a MiniSeries called "Shadows of the Pale Moonlight" that features a huge story that has Rowan, Damon, Simon & Niska at the core of the story.

So, what ya think? Personally I feel I may have put WAY to much info here!

"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 7:28 AM

Probably. I'm not too into Message Board RP myself, but good luck to you all with it. MUSHes seem to me a completely different style, and one I prefer.

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 7:33 AM

CAPNRAHN

Yeah, I am not too familar wirh MUSHes meself. Except for the classic BattleStar Galatica name for ... candy, wasn't it?

This whole Message Board RP is very experimental. That is why I thought folks may want to take a peek and see what we have accomplished since January 1st 2004.

I know Haken was going to make a MUSH-like section here on FFFn, but i suppose he has been caught up on other projects.

Heh, Means I need to contact him about that and a few other matters!

"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 1:34 PM

Well, its exciting to see that we have people interested! As Osiris said, we'll try and get up a web page to be linked to, and we'll make sure to list our mile stones here. And I'll see about lurking on the chat here a bit in case anyone has any questions.
August or bust!

Life is neither the candle nor the wick - It is the burning.

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 2:01 PM

My suggestions:

I'd definitely go with an accelerated time-rate, but I would be careful about making it /too/ high. I've had both the frustration of playing 1:1 time and feelinng like things take forever and the frustration of playing 4:1 time and feeling like things are rushed or that events we RP out would not have logically taken that lot to occur.

The benefit of something like 4:1 time is that I think people tend to be a little more flexible with it - that is to say, I just finished up an arc that took me... oh, goodness. Wow. 6 months to finish. In IC time, that's nearly two years - but that didn't make sense logically. It made more sense to fudge it a bit to about a year and a quarter, so we did. We're also more willing to backdate, forwarddate, and generally work to the schedule of others than what I find on the 1:1 game. The one thing I /wouldn't/ like is letting it be 'open'. While it's one thing to retime a personal plot, I'd like to know that the major things are all on the same 'timeline.'

As far as the areas - I would resist the temptation to try to cover anywhere and everywhere we've seen on the show. That, to me, is a good way to spread your playerbase out and make RP difficult to find. Ideally, what I'd like to see would be a limited number of core, middle, and outer planets - maybe 8 total, with 3 of them being fully built and the others being sort of 'stopover' or 'event' places. Or perhaps keep it even smaller than that and have an area that can be redesced and reuses as needed (that big Companion meeting on Sihnon needs a room for that event, but doesn't need to be permanently on camera). I'd also like to see several 'paths' to each planet, station, moon, Alliance cruiser, whatever, laid out, with varying time (IE, do you take the public route, or the 'go around the backdoor so no one sees me' route?)

For ships: I'd limit them. Severely. Not to say that I wouldn't have them - no. But I'd have in mind how many you want to have running around, and then force people to play out getting hired, buying passage, getting jobs, etc. Whoever suggested using the cortex for additional RP while shipboard had an excellent idea! It'd be a great way to tie people together.

I'd almost suggest having several key 'areas'that aren't 'areas'. That is to say, communities built in. Pick maybe 4 or 5 that you like a lot and really develop them. Say you want to have a thriving blackmarket (Mal and his lot), a busy Alliance center, a legal traders' guild, a Companion guild, and maybe a collition of local goverments. Give people as many ways as possible to hook into each other and form 'community' bonds.

I'm starting to ramble on and on now - when you get me brainstorming, I don't shut up. ;) I'm sure there are some holes in these ideas, since I've just written off the top of my head, but there you have it. I hope it ends up well - and asking for suggestions on the forum is a fabulous way to start, and a great sign of the sort of place you guys are building!

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 2:28 PM

I'm always a little wary of compressed time, though perhaps it's just because I've never played on a game that had it...

It's just that, to me, it takes enough mental fudging to justify a four hour scene taking only a couple minutes of real time... if you have a scene, and then RP the next RL day, it's 4 days later or whatever, even if it would make more sense for it to be the next day. Oh, sure, you can fudge, but then you can just get more and more into time-debt. (Plus, with a realtime schedule everyone's on the same page for things like Unification Day or whatever). So, I'd say if you do a time compression, I'd hope it's not too large. 2 IC days for every RL one I think maybe. But then, what do I know, it could work better with a higher rate.

As for people missing out on stuff because they're too far away from something... well, them's the breaks. I mean, sure, if it's a big event, you might want to post about it with enough time to spare for travel to occur from any planet to the location before it happens, so anyone who wants to get there has enough time to play it. But, sometimes, you may just be too far from something, and have to hear about it on the cortex.

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 5:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by StarPilotGrainger:
I'm always a little wary of compressed time, though perhaps it's just because I've never played on a game that had it...

It's just that, to me, it takes enough mental fudging to justify a four hour scene taking only a couple minutes of real time... if you have a scene, and then RP the next RL day, it's 4 days later or whatever, even if it would make more sense for it to be the next day. Oh, sure, you can fudge, but then you can just get more and more into time-debt. (Plus, with a realtime schedule everyone's on the same page for things like Unification Day or whatever).

I started playing on a game that does 4:1 time, and I have to say I prefere it - though I also think a bit of preferences come from what you were 'raised' with. I just wanted to address a few things.

The first is that I actually think the bit about 4 hour scenes taking only a few minutes in 'real time' is actually somehow easier to fudge in a game where time is already fudged. I'm not sure why, but it seems to loosen up that mindset that we must maintain time absolutely, which I find to be beneficial.

As far as time-debt, I've never even considered such a thing. It's more that we simply shove all the high-drama on camera and consider that all that time we 'took up' with that four hour scene was filled with more mundane off camera stuff.

And as far as 'big events' - those are pretty easily solved by a simple post. It's the little things that tend to get fudged in my experience (like those 4 hour/30 minute scenes) rather than the big things, like holidays or events or basic overall time schedules.

And I kind of like having a character age faster than I do. It gives me a broader experience than I'd otherwise have. There's something very interesting about getting to play a character from 13 to 35 and experiencing all the life changes that come along with it.

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Thursday, July 15, 2004 12:36 PM

STATIC

I'd be interested.

==================================================
"Wash. . .we got some local color happening. A grand entrance would not go amiss."

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Tuesday, August 3, 2004 6:17 PM

LEST

As a longtime MUSHer, I'm very interested. Any further news?

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Friday, August 6, 2004 4:09 AM

We've been hard at work getting the mush ready, with an opening scheduled at some point in September.

The chargen framework is in place - a combination of the d20 system, the hero system, and our own ideas.

Planets are being fleshed out, skills written up, and a fully functional space travel system is in the works. The basic system will allow for compressed time, but for those who would prefer a more 'realistic/true to the show' time frame, there's nothing to stop you from roleplaying out a long voyage. This way it gives people a choice so they don't miss out on events if they don't want to (picture the old 'map with a red dotted line' bit in a show - the travel scenes aren't relevant) or to get into a full week or two of rp limited to your shipmates without outside influence.

A website is also in the works which will give a full explanation of the character generation (chargen) system as well as a summary of the planets that exist on the mush and help with character ideas from the various planets.

All character sheets and character sheet upgrades will have to be approved by a staff member and explained by the player. We're looking to create a good roleplaying setting, not a power gaming mud, and if you went from being a rancher who'd never touched a gun in their life to suddenly being a crack shot during the game, we'd like a roleplaying reason as to why ;)

One solid rule has pretty much been decided on, and I figured it's worth mentioning here so folks don't go getting their hopes up - players will not be playing anyone from the television show, nor will we allow backgrounds for characters that tie them to the characters (i.e. Mal's little brother, Jayne's old mercenary buddy, etc.) Simply put, too many people would want to do this and it just wouldn't make any sense if everyone and his second cousin was friends with or was related to someone on Serenity.

There are also no rules for psionics/mental abilities as River is (virtually) one of a kind. Again, this is to avoid a glut of teenaged genius runaways turned psionic by the Alliance, etc.

We might also close character types (this is still in discussion) - for example if the first dozen players on the mush end up to be five mercenaries, five shepherds and two engineers, we might say 'no more shepherds or mercs at this time'. There might also be recommendations at chargen as to what we are short of or looking for in new characters.

We're hoping for a variety of characters and intend to stress this on the website - not only ship crew but Alliance soldiers, merchants, ranchers, etc. We're looking to populate the whole 'verse, not just a ship or two ;)

There are a lot of things in the works, and we'll keep you all updated as we go along!

Greenleaf

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Friday, August 6, 2004 4:32 AM

RHYMEPHILE

As a longtime fanfic writer, I'd be interested. I've played traditional table-top RP games, but I'm sure there are those of us online RP newbies that would like more information on RPing in general. Any good websites newbies can read up on to see what type of game you have in mind? I'd like to research this and be prepared so I don't look dumb.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Revenge!"

Vince in Rex the Runt

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Friday, August 6, 2004 4:41 AM

Hrm... most of it sounds good. I'm a bit disappointed, as I prefer statless 'traits-based' MUSHes to statted games, but for Firefly I can probably make an exception. Although, I hope the rules for making characters are pretty easy, seeing as how it's a mishmash of systems.

One minor question. At the risk of opening up the 'how is it on the show' debate again, is the MU* going with a 'single solar system' model, or a 'multiple nearby solar system and slow FTL' model?

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6
http://www.unreachablestar.net - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinion

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Friday, August 6, 2004 4:49 AM

FIREFLEW

This all sounds very cool I must say.

Jayne: "Know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I beat you with till you understand who's in command."

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Friday, August 6, 2004 7:42 AM

GEOLOGIST13

This most certainly sounds like fun. I will eagerly be anticipating more information and the start.

Duck

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Friday, August 6, 2004 9:06 AM

The basic system is pretty simple overall, and the website will walk you through chargen if you need the help.

Basically you'll have six stats to describe your person (strength, intelligence, etc.) and then skills that are based on those stats.

You pick what skills you want based on what your job is (website will make recommendations for you, such as pointing out pilots will need both pilot and navigation skills to get anywhere ;)) and then you 'buy' ranks in that skill (1-15 with it skills becoming more expensive the higher up you go)

Take the bonus from the appropriate stat + skill rank = skill level.

The end :)

When you're finished, you have a character sheet with numbers for your six stats (ranging from 3 to 18) and a list of skills with your skill level.

But more important, you'll be asked to write a biography for your character - it's the RP that's more important than the hard numbers. The numbers should reflect your background.

We're very excited about how things are coming along, and even more excited to see how many people are interested!

Greenleaf

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Friday, August 6, 2004 5:26 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by StarPilotGrainger:

One minor question. At the risk of opening up the 'how is it on the show' debate again, is the MU* going with a 'single solar system' model, or a 'multiple nearby solar system and slow FTL' model?

At the risk of over stepping my bounds, I'd recommend not addressing this at all. Just say it'll take you x amount of time to get from a to b and leave it at that. That way, whatever people want to think, they can. Basically, leave it as the show left it... mysterious.

----
"Canada being mad at you is like Mr. Rogers throwing a brick through your window." -Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

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Friday, August 6, 2004 6:06 PM

I think we plan on leaving it undefined until such time as there's an official decision on whether or not it's one system or not.

Greenleaf

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Friday, August 6, 2004 10:58 PM

TENTHCREWMEMBER

Could you please just make it stranger? Stranger. Odder. Could be weirder. More bizarre. How about uncanny?

Sounds like good solid fun. I look forward to seeing the fruits of your labors!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BROWNCOATS! Rise again and promote Firefly/Serenity!
visit: http://the11thhour.home.att.net

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Friday, August 6, 2004 10:59 PM

TENTHCREWMEMBER

Could you please just make it stranger? Stranger. Odder. Could be weirder. More bizarre. How about uncanny?

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Sunday, August 8, 2004 8:00 PM

TENTHCREWMEMBER

Could you please just make it stranger? Stranger. Odder. Could be weirder. More bizarre. How about uncanny?

Are you any closer to setting a date?

The more I think about this project, the more I want to be a part.

Just jonesin' for good RP opportunities...

OH! and when is alot of background too much background? *grabs a pen and starts making notes*

TCM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BROWNCOATS! Rise again and promote Firefly/Serenity!
visit: http://the11thhour.home.att.net

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Tuesday, August 10, 2004 5:14 PM

Greenleaf:
Out of curiousity, will it be open-source (client and/or server)? Language?

----
"Canada being mad at you is like Mr. Rogers throwing a brick through your window." -Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

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Monday, August 16, 2004 11:24 PM

TEMPEST

Any new developments? I'm a long-time MUSHer, who has taken part in the building of several mushes in the past, have been admin to countless mushes over the years and am itching for a Firefly Mush. I'd love ot help out in any way possible. I started the foundations of a Firefly MU* a while back, but found that not many people expressed interest to aid in coding and descing, but you have had the interest for a while, which is awesome. Do you have the website up, or a temp server?

I'll be in my bunk.

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Thursday, September 2, 2004 3:48 PM

It's September and I'm hoping for an update

----
"Canada being mad at you is like Mr. Rogers throwing a brick through your window." -Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

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Thursday, September 2, 2004 5:05 PM

Toss me in there with those eager to hear progress! I know it takes a lot of time, so I'm hoping things are going well on your end.

If you need any help whatsoever, even with the mundane details of descing or writing basic files, give a shout-out our way. I'm sure there are many of us who'd chip in!

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Thursday, September 2, 2004 6:10 PM

DRAACH

To answer the questions a few people have had about what this is being written in, whether it's Open Source, whether there's a client or server that's being worked on...

MUSHes are old; they're part of an established line of applications that go back to the old text-based MUDs (Multi User Dungeons). Unlike MUDs, though, you can code MUSHes from the inside. From within the game, you create the world and all of the code that supports it.

As such, there's no traditional programming involved; the internal code is very much a LISP-like syntax, relying strongly on list manipulation to get things done. You don't tend to do much to the server itself from outside of the game in order to build the game; for those that want to, though, it's just C so if you want to do anything fancy that can't be done easily within the game, that's the place to do it.

There's no client needed; rather, there are clients that make a lot of things nicer or easier or whatnot...but it's just a straight telnet session under the hood. Any client just adds things like text buffers, maybe some mapping tools, macros, triggers, things like that.

If it's PennMUSH, I'm not sure of the state of that code; if it's TinyMUSH, there's a SourceForge project in the works so I believe it's being released to the community at large for development.

Here's a MUSH code tutorial: http://moosh.net/mush/guide/

From the same site: "What is a MUSH?" http://moosh.net/mush/what.shtml

And to see what a MUSH looks like, try one of the older and more recognizable ones: Star Wars (telnet www.starwars.com port 4402)

(Note: I'm not affiliated with those who are setting up the Firefly MUSH, though I wouldn't mind adding my 12+ years of MU* admin experience if needed. Likewise, I'm not affiliated with Star Wars MUSH; it's not an advertisement, just a good example of what MUSHes are)

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Sunday, September 5, 2004 6:46 AM

Hey there...
I know Greenleaf has been answering most of the questions. We've all been busy trying to get it all together! I think I've worn out my DVD's trying to get descriptions matchin!
Osiris is heading up most of the coding systems, so I'll let him address that in particular.
We said September (after one slight pushing out) and we are sure as hades going to make it september! *grins* Don't worry on that matter. Just might be last week of September...
We intend to have all the details on the website. So, any questions about Chargen, what the skills mean and how they are used, will be seen right up front.
The website we intend to have up at least a few days before the site so that you'll have a chance to read on what we've got.

Soon! Soon!

Beylix

Life is neither the candle nor the wick - It is the burning.

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Sunday, September 5, 2004 7:22 PM

OSIRUS

Okay. A few things. :)

I've been up to my ying-yang in code

and have a few things to put out briefly.

The skill system is 90% complete with the only thing missing being the admin interface commands. Odd, isn't it?

But rest assured, those commands will be done or else ... well ... /we/ wont have an easy time with it. :)

As Greenie mentioned, the system is a meshing of a couple RP tabletop systems. We have done our best in making it as minimally distracting from the RP experience as possible. As with all our systems, a majority of them are not needed to immerse yourself into the gameplay and storylines that will be occuring throughout. However, they will be in place for those instances where folk who need a structured skill system can utilize it.

Our space system is HSpace ( www.hspace.org) and is actually what I've got my fingers in at the time of this post. We've put thought into how to make all facets of travel fun while at the same time giving a nod of the head to the show. Our HSpace setup will be explained in better graphical detail on our webpage when it comes online. Our main codebase is PennMUSH ( www.pennmush.org) and is the latest stable edition of it.

Our webpage will detail the best ways to connect to the MUSH but I suggest to all those interested to visit ( www.mudconnector.com) and ( www.topmudsites.com) as the main hubs of the MU** communities. I also suggest MUSHClient ( www.mushclient.com) by Nick Gammon as an alternative to telnet for WinXP, TinyFugue for Macs and Linux boxes unless you have SUSE 9.1 which comes with it's own MUD client that's actually very, very good.

After I am done with the space system, I will be moving onto the economy system. This will not be a supply-demand driven market but instead more akin to the trucker-dispatcher relationship which will allow for admin driven events to also revolve around cargo runs.

That's it for now. More to come as we grow nearer to our opening this month. :)

-O

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Sunday, September 5, 2004 7:55 PM