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Well, I'm introducing a new thread here which might be better placed under Entertainment in a new section for Role Playing Games, or perhaps under Role Playing Games in a new section for other game systems or maybe under fanfiction... I'm not sure.

So my first question is, who here plays Shadowrun - SR3?

I've decided to run a game in September based in Seattle which is the normal location for the game, but I want to incorporate the Millennium Group.

So given the way the world changes in 2010 with the Unexplained Genetic Expression with the birth of Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, Orks etc., the eventual return of magic, the transformation of some adult humans to the races mentioned before, plus high levels of cybertechnology etc., how would the Millennium Group have evolved?

Shadowrun 3rd Edition begins in the year 2060 which is also the year that Sir Isaac Newton predicted the Apocalypse, and as I recall from memory was also the year mentioned in Owls that the tear in space passes through our neighbourhood and could change everything, or might not change anything at all.

Part of my problem is that not having seen the third seasn or the X-Files episode Millennium I don't know how the Group evolved after second season.

So are there any Shadowrun players here that might want to take a crack at describing how the Group might evolve and change with such dramatic changes havcing taken place in the world?

Maxx

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Maxx,

I am so up for this but I had never heard of Shadowrun until you mentioned it and I confess to finding what I have read difficult to understand. Millennium Role Play sounds like an amazing excuse to get uber-creative and would hate to miss such an opportunity: can you recommend a good beginners/idiot guide to the Shadowrun World? I have also included a fan-fictional demonology that I created for Millennium, it was to be the groundwork for a fan fiction work that I never began and was simply my way of catergorising my ideas and drawing upon the rich symbolism of the occult, philosophy and hermetic sciences. I wondered if you could utilise this in some format as part of a gameplay manual? Maybe not but I have loads of notes and ideas and things that never see the light of day and maybe some of them could provide a framework for a gaming realm. Of course you may, like everyone else I imagine, conclude it is the finest work of rubbish you have ever encountered but no harm done either way. I have refrained from including characters from Season One as it was intended to be work in progress and I have currently begun to watch Season One again so I have not decided upon who to include or where quite yet. Read on.....

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Understanding the Canticle of Swine

The term "demons" was not always understood to have the absolutely negative connotation that it does today. Homer used the terms "demons" and "gods" more or less interchangeably. Another opinion was that demons were intermediaries between men and gods, and that demons had once been men. Plutarch speaks of "human souls as commencing, first heroes, then demons, and afterward as advancing to a more sublime degree." Philo of Byblus seems to draw on this same tradition when he states that, "The most ancient of the barbarians, especially the Phoenicians and Egyptians, from whom other people derived this custom, accounted those the greatest gods who had found out things most necessary and useful in life -- and had been benefactors to mankind."

Our current use of the term "demon" is to denote a malignant spirit, and comes to us primarily form New Testament writers. However, there is still uncertainty as to whether or not demons are considered to be distinct and separate from the Devil and his fallen angels.

Demonology is, as its name suggests, the study of demons: which prompts the question, what a demon is. The word itself derives from the Greek daimon, meaning simply a supernatural spirit or power of an inferior sort, i.e., not a god. Thus eudaimonia, having a good daimon, which is translated as "happiness" or "fulfillment" or even "a flourishing life". When Socrates, in the Apology, claimed to be advised by a daimon, he meant (it seems) more or less what we now call "the voice of conscience" (or would call it, if we were still old-fashioned enough to believe in a conscience). In Latin, the word became dæmon. The general rule, as Latin degenerated through the Middle Ages, was that the dipthongs "æ" and "oe" (which isn't in the standard web character set) became "e"; this gave us edifice from æedificum, celestial from coelestis, and demon from dæmon. None of which actually says what the word came to mean.

In a basic sense, the meaning remained unchanged: an inferior sort of supernatural being. But such a statement carried one set of implications for the pagans, and another, very different one for Christians. In the Christian tradition, there was only one category of supernatural beings inferior to God, namely the angels, who were divided between those who joined in Lucifer's rebellion (a third of the heavenly host, according to the Book of Revelation) and were condemned to Hell, and those who remained loyal to their Creator and stayed in Heaven. The existence of the pagan gods was not, for the most part, denied by the Fathers of Church (for instance, Augustine): they were real alright, and really did work miracles for their followers, they just happened to be fallen angels who lied. This applied all the way down the line, from the Olympian Gods to the most minor fountain nymph, so the dæmones of the pagans were really fallen angels. Thus "demon" came to mean "fallen angel, inhabitant of Hell." Demonology, then, took the form of saying what these fiends were like, and what they were up to.

I have chosen only to include those characters who have a distinct and identifiable connection to the divine or supernatural and refrained from distinguishing between those who's intentions or actions can be perceived as benevolent and those who are identified as malign. Herein all references, and understanding, of demonology is used in the context of it's ancient accord as described above.

MYTHOLOGY

When the demoniac informs Christ that he is Legion what he does is instruct Christ that he is 'composed' of a hardy of infernal entities and the use of the term Legion seems to be an indication that he considers this number to be around 6000 (The term Legion denoting 6000 soldiers,) Since Christ is successful in exorcising 2000 of them Millennium may have conceptualised this theological conundrum as the basis for it's Legion mythology: Frank's crusade against the remaining incarnations of the Biblical monster. Interestingly it has been widely believed that Legion is compliant in his own demise but modern thinking interprates his desire to be transmigrated into the herd of swine as a desperate act of survival. Legion doesn't want to be sent away. The occupying power desperately wants to maintain its foothold somehow, somewhere. Jesus acquiesces to this request, but in such a way as to reverse the scapegoat mechanism that had locked the demoniac in such a cruel relationship with the townspeople. Normally it is the scapegoat who is killed by the people as a substitutionary sacrifice for their sin. Instead, the scapegoat is healed, and Legion, representing the spirituality of the people, is cast into the swine and headlong over a cliff. Evil requires a scapegoat in order to maintain its legitimacy; without it, it dies. For sake of my own understanding and as the framework for a fanfiction I have begun to shape the Legion entities and their role and relationship within the MM Universe. For want of needed a title I refer to this order/legion of beings as the Canticle of Swine.

"Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them."

"Tell me what you want. Do you like me? Hey pig piggy pig pig pig ... "

"I smell bacon, I smell pork, run little piggy, I got a fork."

"Once more... it could be Carl, a hired man who cared for my hogs. A drifter and an alcoholic. I never asked his last name, as I said,"

"Once upon a time there were three little pigs..."

THE CANTICLE OF SWINE

QLIPPAH

Element: Earth.

Correspondences: The Divine Conundrum. The Volatility of the Alchemical 'Great Work'. The Husks that house light but contain no light.

"We must peel away the husks, break open the shells, dig deeper beyond the surface into the rich soils hidden from view--and there find the Life of God in all things."

Signifying the inert all potential these are 'old souls' ripe to become future incarnations of Legion and, as such, are sought by both his functionaries and by the Millennium Group. These souls are the ultimate enigma and may represent the climate of Group thinking, no more to seek to destroy these enigmas but to study them. The contradictions that are housed within Danielle Barbakow suggest that she is one of the most profound discoveries of a group that is becoming spiritually experimental, she is "qlippah" or "klippah" meaning "shell" or "husk" which in its simplified, metaphysical terms is the outer covering of which the sephira (holy spheres if you will) are made to contain the light of deity. The duality between the container and the contained is one of the most important in Kabbalistic explanations of the act of creation. The word "qlippah" is an extension of this metaphor, the word is commonly used to refer to a covering which houses light yet contains no light: that is, an empty shell, a dead husk. The Group's search for these pre-hurricanes may indicate a move in it's enlightenment from the literal devotion to scripture to the pursuit of transcendental philosophies and the reality of the visible world which mingles life and death, love and hate, beauty and filth.

Millennium Quote: ""I've experienced evil. It feels like a force, like gravity, like the wind. It has blown across Cambodia, been a cyclone in Nazi Germany, it gusts throughout Los Angeles. Danielle Barbakow is a pre-storm, a breeze, of an approaching hurricane."

Avatars: Dani Barbakow. Clare McKenna. Divina Saxum. Lucas Sheldon. Daniel Bronstein.

CYNXIR

Element: Air.

Correspondences: Angels and Archangels. The Orisha. The Nephilim.

"These were the prefects of the two hundred angels, and the remainder were all with them."

The most earthly of orders, represented by the Sephira: Malkuth, they are functionaries, actions and modes. The operate within the human equation concerned in matters of good, evil, redemption and salvation. For Greeks and Romans, these daemons ("replete with knowledge", "divine power", "fate" or "god") were not necessarily evil. Socrates claimed to have a daimonion, a small daimon, that warned him against mistakes but never told him what to do or coerced him into following it. He claimed that his daimon exhibited greater accuracy than any of the forms of divination practised at the time though there are those amongst them who have turned their face from the throne and cannot, therefore, be trusted implicitly.

Millennium Quote:

"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."

Avatars: Lahsa. Rose. Steven Kiley. Toby. Greb. Brock. Blurk. Lara's Angel.

LEVIATHAN PRAXIS

Element: Water.

Correspondences: Solution in the Alchemical Process. Eleggua. Carrefour. The Trickster. The Ndoki. The Crossroads.

"Qui non itelligit, avt, taceat, avt discal"

Capable of transmutation and Glossolalia and symbolic of the occult element of water. These beings are malleable and reflective agents of the true process of self examination and self disgust and can cause fear and collapse like the mock death of the mystery initiations. They are the psychological surgeons of our emotions and how we experience them. Such matters as survival of the species, sexuality, family, sociableness and solidarity with the surrounding world are governed by them and relate to the Feeling Function of Jungian psychology. At the lower expression this may occur as escapism, excess, and dogmatism; at the higher level of expression it can denote more constructive enthusiasm and spiritual devotion. In their interaction with Frank they appear as the archetypal Eshu: associated with disorder and destiny. As "orisa orita" or "esu orita", orisha of the crossroad or the corners, they represent the transitional or center point of the crossroad where one must make a decision and all the bewilderment and confusion one faces when attempting to make the proper choice.

Millennium Quote: "I can be anything you want me to be." "Take this deal, kid. Secure you and your family's future. Because the time is near and he will win. There's no way he can lose."

Avatars: Tamara Shui Fa Lee. Mr. Crocell.

RHADAMANTHUS

Element: Fire.

Correspondences: The Day of Judgement. The Law of Threefold Return. Karma. The Loa of Vodun. The Keys to Purgatory. The curse of "Mi She Para".

"What is within us sounds a trumpet"

The Satan's of God's Court and the Implacable Angel of Job they are the purging fires of aspiration, discontentment and the principles of infernal prosecution. Their nature is of destruction and disintegration of the natural self and the emergence of the righteous and the principle of divine forbearance which operates in every era of God's dealings with people. God awaits till the measure of iniquity is full, whether in the case of the Amorite (Gen. 15:16) or the antediluvians consumed by the Deluge (Gen. 6) or the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19). But God always gives a way to repent and avoid the judgment (consider God's words in Ezekiel 33, as an example -- "God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather, that the wicked turn from his evil ways.")

Millennium Quote: "Mine is not a court of law, Mr. Bardale. It is a court of justice. We cannot address every case. Our scope is not broad like the common law courts. It is narrower. Deeper. More pure. Our judgment final."

Avatars: Samiel. The Judge. Alice Severin.

0

Element:Ether.

Correspondences: Divine Thought. Lillith. The Incubus and Succubus. Lucifer. The 6000 Swine. Cthulhu.

"Facilis descensus averno; noctes at que dies patet atri lanua ditis"

Chaotic, boundless and eternal they are the Watchers of Enoch, The Old Ones who descend up and down the qlippoth and move to and fro within the earth. They are lofty, vainglorious, sexual and psychic and represent the four cardinal points of the ineffable compass and the uppermost points of the infernal pentagram (Legion being it's single southern point,) These beings are the Dark Force which cannot be avoided, tamed, ignored or resisted against. We create it as we view the world. Every one defines it differently. We feel it all the time - it is our ego, our intelligence and our errors all warping to form our observed reality. It is the potential for nothingness that exists wherever there is something. It is real life, necessity and materialism.

Millennium Quote:"The base sum of all evil... The sleep of reason... The Devil's liege... " "I am the first and I am the last, I am the alpha and I am the omega, I am the beginning and I am the end. And soon he will come to understand this as he works to get inside me. With me his gift his useless."

Avatars: Lucy Butler. The Long Haired Man. Mabius. The Polaroid Man.

LEGION

Element: 0.

Correspondences: 0.

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I guess that consolidates the belief that I am the official TIWWA loon then lol.Till then,

eth.snafu

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Maxx,

I am so up for this but I had never heard of Shadowrun until you mentioned it and I confess to finding what I have read difficult to understand. Millennium Role Play sounds like an amazing excuse to get uber-creative and would hate to miss such an opportunity: can you recommend a good beginners/idiot guide to the Shadowrun World? I have also included a fan-fictional demonology that I created for Millennium, it was to be the groundwork for a fan fiction work that I never began and was simply my way of catergorising my ideas and drawing upon the rich symbolism of the occult, philosophy and hermetic sciences. I wondered if you could utilise this in some format as part of a gameplay manual? Maybe not but I have loads of notes and ideas and things that never see the light of day and maybe some of them could provide a framework for a gaming realm. Of course you may, like everyone else I imagine, conclude it is the finest work of rubbish you have ever encountered but no harm done either way. I have refrained from including characters from Season One as it was intended to be work in progress and I have currently begun to watch Season One again so I have not decided upon who to include or where quite yet. Read on.....

Hi Eth.snafu!

Thanks for the reply. I'll reply for now to the gaming related portion of your message and I'll leave the demonology material for later so I can have time to review it in depth, think about it and respond to it with the dedication it deserves.

There are a number of game systems we use as follows..

1) White Wolf Games put out a series of games which are horror based which together encapsulate "The World of Darkness". They are based in a reality like ours with the Apocalypse at our doorstep. The players usually play one characters which are beings as per the titl of the game. There are a number of official games which are part of the system. The official ones are ... World of Darkness - Vampire: The Masquerade / Werewolf: The Apocalypse / Mage: The Ascension / Wraith: The Oblivion / Mummy: The Resurrection / Changeling: The Dreaming / Hunter: The Reckoning.

In addition there are some fan created supplements that mesh well with the commercially produced books by White Wolf. These are: Highlander: The Gathering / Predator: The Hunting / ALIEN: The Breeding

This World of Darkness is the easiest game system to work Millennium into the context of. Now White Wolf came out with supplements which brought an end to their World of Darkness and have now revamped their system and rereleased them. In our gaming group's opinion it's not as good as the original and we won't be upgrading to the new one.

2) Paladium Games has a number of games which all rely on one system. They are Palladium Roleplaying Game (fantasy genre), Beyond the Supernatural (horror genre set in our reality), RIFTS (futuristic post-apolacyptic world with the return of magic, incredible advances in science, human supremacy, and races from a multiverse of worlds.) In this game system Beyond the Supernatural is the best fit for a Millennium Campaign.

3) D20 System - WizKids bought Dungeons and Dragons from TSR and created a new system called the D20 system. The D20 system has grown to become a common platform upon which many games are now structured. Among the ones we have access to are Dungeons and Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, Jeremiah (based on the TV series), BESM (Big Eyes, Small Mouth) for Anime gaming, Judge Dredd and many more. There are rumours that Shadowrun will convert to D20 system as will Palladium games etc. Many others already have. The Star Wars and Star Trek Role Playing games have converted. The strength of this system is that you only need to know one system in order to play any type of game you like. And it's infinitely adaptable.

Fans have brought out a number of supplements using the D20 platform. There's a Hellraiser game and an ALIENS vs PREDATOR game, Resident Evil. etc.

I ran a Dark Tower campaign using D20 system with different worlds linked to it through Midworld and a variety of doors and gates between them. The different worlds were all D20 versions of the worlds/realities we had already played in from the different systems over the years. For instance characters from the Dark Tower campaign travelled through a door to the World of Darkness setting city of Bangor, Maine and encountered characters they had played before in other games.

This game system would be ideal for creating a totally new MillenniuM game.

4) FASA Corporation originally created Shadowrun. Shadowrun is now owned by WizKids and FanPro which appears to be a publishing subdivision of WizKids. SR3 or Shadowrun 3rd Edition is the current version. In 1 month version 4 will be released but from a quick peek at the SR4 FAQ it doesn't appear to be using the D20 system.

The website for the Shadowrun game is at ...

https://www.shadowrunrpg.com/

If you go to the Resources page, about 1/2 way down tou will find Game Information. There you will find a link to the Shadowrun Timeline as follows...

https://www.shadowrunrpg.com/resources/timeline.shtml

If you're lookin for game mechanics etc. then you can actually download the main manual as a PDF document on the following page for $23.00.

https://battlecorps.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=28_84

Now this reality is a little unusual and may not be the best for making a normal MillenniuM game. But I like to think of the possibilities of a world where the Apocalypse comes and has a different face than what was predicted. Has everything happened that entails the apocalypse? Has the worst come to pass, or is the worst on the way?

Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Trolls, Humans, Magical Spell Casting, A Super Structured Internet called The Matrix, Implanted Mechanical Body Parts and Augmentation called cyberware (think William Gibson's Neiromancer or Johnny Mnemonic), synthetically grown and grafted body parts and augmentation called bioware, the lives of the people run by the corporations they work for or by the boots of their oppressors, governments that are nothing more than corporate puppets and pawns....

The face of the Millennium Group in Shadowrun 2060 may not be the face of yesterday's Millennium Group, but then again... This Is Who We Are

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Damn!

Just downloaded the pdf file as advised then spotted the obvious flaw I had overlooked

I've decided to run a game in September based in Seattle which is the normal location for the game, but I want to incorporate the Millennium Group.
Seattle! Never saw that the first time round which means it will be a bugger of a walk from Yorkshire, England. To say I am disapointed is a minor understatement. Millennium role play is exactly my cup of tea. Can these things not be done online Maxx? Is there anyway to adapt the system?

Oh well, off to read my PDF document all the same as I absolutely intrigued as to what is all about. And please do not spend too much of your valuable time over the demonology, it is a complete work of fanfic not a geniune order of demons, all the correspondences, demonic groups, images etc. are all my own invention drawn form a myriad of metaphysical sources. The Legion entry is still ongoing and proving more difficult but I hope to include it here soon. Keeps me off the streets I guess.

Till then,

eth.snafu

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Damn!

Just downloaded the pdf file as advised then spotted the obvious flaw I had overlooked Seattle! Never saw that the first time round which means it will be a bugger of a walk from Yorkshire, England. To say I am disapointed is a minor understatement. Millennium role play is exactly my cup of tea. Can these things not be done online Maxx? Is there anyway to adapt the system?

Hi again. Just taking a quick peek. Let me clarify.The game setting is Seattle. The game I'll be running will be here in Iqaluit with the players I have on hand. We all sit around a table with dice, paper, etc.

Now, as for an online version it could be done. Perhaps using IRC, but I don't think I'd have the time to run it myself. The other option might be to use the format the other RPG here is using via posts, or by emails. but I'd have to look into that.

Maxx

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I Have A Dream

I have been mulling this over Maxx, defeat is such a dirty word, and I believe it could be done albeit with none of the complexity or intelligence of the style you are used to.

I believe it is possible to create a case, design a complex virtual Millennium episode from scratch, borrow, purloin or beg for a forum and run it as an email/posting/rpg game. Each player would define their character and the 'case' designer or 'Elder' would provide each member with files containing briefs, outlines, suspect info, medical reports, clues etc. It would have to have some sort of agreed 'meeting point' whereupon each player would post the results of their findings in the forum and new information would be assigned to the players by the case 'Elder'. As it could be run with an 'email' component selective, or conflicting, information could be given to players throughout the game - it would be nice to have a player as an Odessa Operative, for example, who unbeknownst to others was deliberately sabotaging their efforts. Or whoever was playing 'Frank' would receive 'visual' clues ,in the form of images, in keeping with the show.

Now this is all preliminary rumblings but wondered if you thought there was anything to be had in the idea before I run with it. Of course we would need some more interest from other members to have a viable game. If it was successful it could be done regularly and rather than 'write' a virtual season we could 'play' one.

What say you? Am I so wide off the mark?

eth.snafu

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So, you still want to play, eh? :devil:

I do think it's possible to do what you're suggesting. Playing Lucy's Advocate, will we not be recreating what's already being done with the roleplaying game already established on this board?

I would think for the purposes of an online game we would want to totally abandon the notion of using the Shadowrun setting, though I'd still welcome input on that from any shadowrun players into Millennium becuase I will be running that game for my gaming group here in Iqaluit.

For the sake of not confusing things I would propose a separate thread from the Shadowrun: Millennium 2060 thread if we decide to fly with this.

The Elders - This would be the game master team that would create the scenario and implement it. They would post the happenings of the day, send emails when required, and make all final decisions on outcomes.

NPCs - Non-player Characters - Characters that are run by the Elders. These would be support cast for the story and adversaries.

Player Characters - The characters that the players speak on behalf of.

Conflict Resolution and testing for success...

Remember when you were a kid and you were playing cowboys and indians or cops and robbers with your friends and someone shot another? I shot you! No you didn't. Yes, I did! Yeah, but you missed me. No I didn't. Yes you did. Bang. Now you're dead. No I'm not. Yes you are! ..."

An important element of the RPG is having a method of resolving issues. It could be combat or it could be testing to see if a PC successfully performs a skill. A means of determining the level of success or the amount of damage taken by a character or a thing needs to be created.

For instance in table top RPGs this is usually determined by the roll of dice.

You want to see if you successfully pick that lock? Here some ways it's done...

(a) in D20 system you have a rating for that skill which you add to the result of a roll on a 20 sided die (d20). The Elder in our case sets a target number and the player tells us how much they "rolled" - i.e. I roll a 16 on a D20 and I have a rating of 4 in that skill so my result is a 20. The Elder set the target number at 15 so the lock is picked successfully. I a 6 was rolled on a d20 and the rating was 4 the amount rolled is 10. The target number was 15 so the lock is not picked.

(b) in the Shadowrun system the player rolls a number of six sided dice (d6)equal to the skill rating. A target number (TN) of 4 has been set by the Elder. The player who has a skill rating for 4 rolls a 5, a 6, a 2 and a 1. Two dice are higher than 4 so there are 2 successes. Two are lower than 4 so these are not successes. However the 1 is indicative of a critcal failure and so 1 success if taken away. The player hence has a net result of 1 success and so manages to pick the lock - barely. Two successes would indicate the lockpicking was donewell. Three successes would have indicated the lock was picked with style.

© In World of Darkness they use a 10 sided die. Your skill indicates the number of dice you roll and you add a number of dice up to the value of your related attribute. Lets say I have a dexterity of 5 and a skill rating of 4 I could roll up to 9 dice. My goal when rolling is a TN (lets say 6) set by the Elder which indicates the difficulty to pick the lock. There is also a rating for the lock of 3. In order to succeed the player must roll a target number of 6 or higher on the d10s with a minimum number of successes of 3 or the lock won't be picked.

In LARP systems (Live Action Role Play) they don't use dice but rather Rock, Paper, Scissors. The player performs RPS with the Elder to determine if the lock is picked. If you wanted to use a rating system you could have the player perform RPS a number of times equal to their rating against the Elder. The number of times the player succeeds in RPS against the Elder determines how well or how poorly the lock picking was performed.

You would also have player to player tests - lets say one player is hiding from another.

Player 1 (hiding) rolls or does RPS against Player 2 (spotting). If player 1 succeeds he remains undetected. If player 2 succeeds then player 1 is spotted It's also possible for the player to have something to assist in performing a skill. In the same sceario I've just mentioned lets say player 1 has camouflage fatigues on and is hiding in the forest from the FBI guy. Camo Man's clothes assist him to hide. The is either reflected as a bonus to hide added on to the die roll or in a RPS contest it may provide the opportunity for a second hide test if the first fails. If the FBI guy were using binoculars to assist with his spotting this could modify his die roll or provide additional RPS tests to see who gets the best score. If the FBI guy were chasing someone in a clown suit in the woods then the clown suit might make it more difficult for the clown to hide. This might be represented by a number to subtract from a die roll or to be added to the spot roll or in the case of RPS give the FBI guy more opportunities to spot the clown

So a system need to be devised for resolving these tests. Owls/Roosters/Foxes?

Each character should have a character profile sheet which the Elders have a copy of. The sheets has things like attribute scores (how smart, dextrous, wise, strong, etc) the character is. It should have a list of skills and abilities the character has. It should have an equipment list plus money available, etc.

There should be a way to track the character's growing experience at doing his/her job and thus scores should improve as the charater becomes more experienced. New skills might be acquired as could new abilities. A system needs to be devised for this.

In essence we'd be creating a new game system. Not impossible to do, but it could take some time. If you want to tackle it I'd certainly be willing to give it a shot.

I would propose that players create their own characters too rather than playing a Millennium show character. For instance I might well play Maxx Blackwell as I described him in the question about writing in a character for the series based on yourself. I would further propose that the characters that are in the show would be used by the Elders to move plotlines along etc.

So RavenWolf might be playing an FBI agent investigating a serial killer case. Because the group is involved she may be able to speak to an Elder and have Frank Black assigned to assist in the case. Walkabout might be playing a Millennium Group candidiate assigned to a case involving a missing girl. She may be able to speak to an Elder for assistance and have Lara Means assigned to her case because she needs the skills of a forensic psychologist. Frank and Lara would not solve the cases but would provide the information that might direct the player in the right direction. Frank could have a series of flashes which he interprets and then passes on to the player. The problem with having players running primary characters is that the primary characters are higher level characters than most. They're the superheroes of the story ark.

People could play victim characters also. But as The Rock says they need to know their role and when it's time roll over and accept the consequences of who they are. I ran a game once at a gaming convention in which the players played victim characters for the first hour of an 8 hour game. The objective was to die in the most glorious or cliched of ways. (I thought I heard something. Lets split up. You go that way and I'll go this way...) Then they played the hero characters for the remaining 7 hours and when they got psychic flashes and intuitive leaps they could relate to what their characters experienced. Of course they had to play as though they didn't know exactly what happened but that's where roleplaying and experience comes in.

Now if we had 4 plotlines running silmultaneously (therefore needing 4 elders minimum) you might have two plots criss-cross. Maxx Blackwell is brought in on a case to do some forensic photography on the group's request. After he's developed the negs he sees what appears to be an angel in one of the frames. Lara's assistance is requested of the Elders but the Elders have her assigned to another case. Blackwell decised he really needs her assistance and so goes to Lara. Unbenownst to Blackwell the killer he's been put on the trail of spotted him at the crime scene on the news and is now stalking him. He follows Blackwell to Washington where Lara is. Blackwell, Lara and Walkabout's Group candidate meet but Walkabout's character gets upset cuz Lara is supposed to be helping him. He makes a scene and leaves the restaurant. Blackwell's stalker decides two things. As he wants Lara involved (hes an attention-seeker) he attacks Walkabout's character and knocks him unconscious and stuffs him in Blackwell's car trunk... and so on.

So depending on the number of players and the number of Elders you could have simultaneous stories and plotlines going on at the same time. Someone wants to play a villain that could be done. All moves and plots need to be approved by the Elders so as not to conflict with other storyines already under way or to allow for them to be adjusted.

You're obsessed with and planning on kidnapping Lara? No probs. She's in story arc 2. Plan it and make your move. Whatta ya mean she's missing asks Walkabout's character. Now you have two problems. Walkabout's got a missing girl to locate and now a missing Group member. Is it the same guy responsible for both? You won't know until you investigate Lara's disappearance, but then again you know the longer the little girl is missing the less likely it is she'll be found alive.

And you, Lara's kidnapper. You called down the thunder. Well now you've got it. The Group's mobilizing some heavy hitters. Whatta ya gonna do now?

Character's die. An system needs to be devised for that.

It could be lots of fun eth.snafu!

Maxx

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Hi Maxx,

I had to think about this one, a lot.

Firstly I agree there needs to be a way to reach a resolution and I have mulled over the various ways this is achieved in the gaming systems you are accustomed to, but, as what we are discussing takes place in cyberspace it would still end in a case of 'I'm dead/You're not' as I cannot fathom a way to confirm that what the player throws on the die is actually what they have thrown: the same could be said for rock/paper/scissors which, again, would be an issue of trust and whilst I do not distrust anyone round these parts it does defeat the object of its use.

Many moons ago when the X-Files website first came in operation there was a game associated with it in which fans registered themselves as FBI Agents and assisted in solving cases that were mailed to them in emails: unfortunately I have no idea how this panned out and would welcome any recollections from Philes that were involved - but it is this format that I propose we consider.

Rather than create a universe where the player directs the story I propose that a Millennium Online Game would have to be the reverse. The Case the 'players' investigated would have to have a very definite beginning, middle and end and with just the right amount of files, clues and information mailed to them to take them to the next stage of the investigation. It would be essential, therefor, to have in operation a series of 'outcomes' that the players have to reach before the next chapter ensues.

In Season Two the Millennium Group despatched Lara and Frank to a number of cases that weren't cases as such: what Frank and Lara were sent to uncover the Millennium Group already knew, the point was in the process, the lesson the cases were to teach them. I propose that for a Virtual Season to work it would have to emulate this format e.g.

Players are mailed the first chapter or teaser in the form of an episode transcript that sets up the episode and contains the clues. The players objective would be to use whatever means necessary, I assume the Internet, to uncover the secrets contained in each stage of the case. When, and only when, these have been obtained is the next step on the investigation opened to them. Of course it would not be overt, the case files would not state literally what the objectives were but, for example, if bodies were discovered with strange markings or words it would be near enough obvious that the players would have to deduce what the markings represented. Clearly each stage of the investigation would have to include a sufficient amount of these puzzles for players to get their teeth into.

I guess it would require a forum of its own and numerous sub-forums, off the top of my head these could be.

Millennium Group Headquarters

Where players could request assistance from other agents or 'The Elder' and, as you suggested, from Non-player Characters such as Frank, Peter, The Old Man etc. Non-player Character's assistance would come from whoever was playing 'The Elder' role but would have to be 'true' to the abilities of the character.

Millennium Group Inbox

A forum where case information would be left for the players i.e. the next installment of the virtual episode. I have separated this from the above to keep this section uncluttered so players could refer to the original case information freely and easily.

Millennium Group Outbox

The forum for players to post the results of their investigations and to discuss, amongst themselves, theories they may have. It would be the result of what is posted in here that would allow 'The Elder' to decide when the players had uncovered all there is to uncover from a particular installment and move on to the next one.

Of course it is very simplistic to the gameplay systems you are used to but I think that to stand a fighting chance of anyone, beyond ourselves, being interested it has to be immediately accessible so that people do not have to immerse themselves into too much gaming theory but simply join in and enjoy the ride. Of course I have no idea what I am talking about as I have never taken part in an online RPG but the kind of thing I have in mind, which I am finding difficult to verbalise, I think might actually work. Please take the time, if you have it, to respond to the above as you know sooooo much more than I about subjects such as these. If it is a turkey of an idea please say so.

The other thing that may prove problematic is lack of interest...judging by the fact that we are the only ones yakking about it it might be fair to assume that it isn't what people want. I know a lot of people are way to busy for something that may prove time consuming.

Let me know what you think all the same...

Best wishes,

eth.

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Hi Eth.snafu!

I don't think it's a turkey of an idea. I think it's good. I would like to spend some time and energy working up a game system that would function well over the net for this purpose. As a guy who role plays every week (except when on vacation) and has been doing it since grade 11 (24 years) I would say that being able to figure things out and use skills your character has and improve your character over time so it becomes better at what it does is what makes gaming so much fun. And let us not forget the high that comes from saving the work yet again one more time.

Because I have somewhere to be I can't spend more time on this at the moment. I'll try and put in some time before the week is through to suggest some mechanics of how we make our game work. I like the ideas you've suggested and I think we can come up with something.

Best wishes,

Maxx

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