Sector Rangers [Interest Check/Brainstorm]

[Mr.BossMan]

Okay so here is a Link: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sector_Ranger

That is kind of what I had in mind, like a Marshal service. They go around kind of on their own, hunt down these high profile criminals and bring them in. They ask for help when they need it, they do what they have to do. There not bound by normal laws, simply because they are almost Lawless Lawmen. They do what they have to to bring down the big baddies.

Edit: I'm likin all the ideas thus far.

Member run, check.
Two "roles", check.
Elite Small and under funded sounds badass, check.
Bunch of guys wearing cowboy hats and smokin big cigars, check.

Now questions.

What happens when we catch bad guys IC and I mean other players had guys? We have to be able to do that or we will not seem like a legitmemnt threat to other factions.

Also will we ourselves make our own contracts? Or will that be up to those dedicated members?

Also, whose laws do we uphold? What happens when you have like a "Robin Hood" character? A man that is bad for the right reasons? Will it be strictly THE LAW IS THE LAW or will we make our own laws?

Can we be infilitrated by other groups? Will there be corruption in our ranks?

Okay now I am done with questions, for now.

But I think I should express my opinion on this one last thing.

I personally do not think this should have FS in the faction. Sorry @Benvenu7 it's just my opinion hate to bust your bubble or rain on your parade so to speak. Then again it ain't my call, so who knows.

 

[Loco]

What happens when we catch bad guys IC and I mean other players had guys? We have to be able to do that or we will not seem like a legitmemnt threat to other factions.

I'm glad you asked this! Capture rules are already in place. The capturing faction basically has control over the enemy characters, so what would likely happen is that we treat it as if they go to trial (we may or not play this out depending on the characters we get, or we may just convene an OOC "trial" to decide if enough evidence was legally gathered IC to get a conviction. Convicted characters would be imprisoned, and would likely have to RP their characters form prison until dead, escaped, or released.

Also will we ourselves make our own contracts? Or will that be up to those dedicated members?

I'm not sure what you mean by this question.

Also, whose laws do we uphold? What happens when you have like a "Robin Hood" character? A man that is bad for the right reasons? Will it be strictly THE LAW IS THE LAW or will we make our own laws?

We uphold mostly international law- theft and murder and such are illegal pretty much everywhere. As for who an individual agent puts effort into trackign down... well, some investigations are just dead ends. Shit happens.

Can we be infilitrated by other groups? Will there be corruption in our ranks?

Any faction can be infiltrated or its members corrupted. I won;t rule out internal affairs investigations.

I personally do not think this should have FS in the faction. Sorry @Benvenu7 it's just my opinion hate to bust your bubble or rain on your parade so to speak. Then again it ain't my call, so who knows.

I sort of disagree. I'm not keen on taking full fledged Jedi or the like, but what reason is there to exclude FS, and even if we had a reason how would we even identify them generally speaking?

 

[Mr.BossMan]

Okay first off let me clarify my question that confused you. Is what I meant by "Contracts" was simply like, investigations. Will we as members in the faction make our own NPC investigations, or will higher ups in the faction do that?

Now regarding force sensitive characters. I again disagree, in my opinion, I think they are sort of a turnoff for a faction like this. For me it's real simple, this faction is a low funded, unknown organization, of Elite Badasses. Now for me, all FS are badasses. How could you not be cool when you have the ability to throw people with your thoughts? Or choke people with the flick of a wrist? Or run, jump and do all of these amazing feats?

Now it takes a REAL badass to be badass, without those abilities. For example, we want kick ass piolets, we want people that know their way around bombs and guns, people who can detect a lie, not through usage of the force, but by their skills. We want People who make themselves badasses, not born with badassness. Because we are ELITE, we want to be feared by criminals, not because we are FS but because we earned it, worked for it and we have that reputation hanging over us proudly.

You see what I am saying? Now like you, I think it would be okay and even cool to work with Jedi, but not Jedi working for us.

Dude I am just dying to see this thing go, like said previously this faction has so much potential.

@Loco

 

[Richie B.]

Well again let me say my character isn't like a Jedi he doesn't sense things or tell the future or read emotions he simply focus on fighting and with some criminals being force user you would want a person that can fight a force namely another force user and since my character won't interfere with the nature process of investigation I don't feel like he shouldn't be allowed in. When if they know he will only be used for taking down criminals out of normal people's ability. Not saying non FS can't take down a force user but I think you would want a asset on standby ready to fight a force user at a moments notice when you never know what will happen.

@Mr.BossMan

 

[Loco]

Okay first off let me clarify my question that confused you. Is what I meant by "Contracts" was simply like, investigations. Will we as members in the faction make our own NPC investigations, or will higher ups in the faction do that?

Well, to start with I would like to focus investigations on enemy PC's and their lackeys, while NPC targets would be relegated to shorter term missions. I'm still fleshing out my idea for an adjusted mission board setup. That said, I would like investigations to be member driven. How do most investigations start? A tip off or lead that is developed and turned into a case by an investigator. It gives a lot of leeway to the member base to develop their own cases and investigations.

Now regarding force sensitive characters. I again disagree, in my opinion, I think they are sort of a turnoff for a faction like this. For me it's real simple, this faction is a low funded, unknown organization, of Elite Badasses. Now for me, all FS are badasses. How could you not be cool when you have the ability to throw people with your thoughts? Or choke people with the flick of a wrist? Or run, jump and do all of these amazing feats?

Now it takes a REAL badass to be badass, without those abilities. For example, we want kick ass piolets, we want people that know their way around bombs and guns, people who can detect a lie, not through usage of the force, but by their skills. We want People who make themselves badasses, not born with badassness. Because we are ELITE, we want to be feared by criminals, not because we are FS but because we earned it, worked for it and we have that reputation hanging over us proudly.

You see what I am saying? Now like you, I think it would be okay and even cool to work with Jedi, but not Jedi working for us.

In my opinion though, that's more of an individual character issue than it is something that needs to be restricted by faction rules. It's up to the character to overcome whatever feelings his fellows may or may not have about working with him. From an IC standpoint,there's no reason to not let them in. Anything that happens after that is up to character interaction.

 

[Mr.BossMan]

Sounds good to me, both of your points. I don't see a reason to not let them in past "it's not as badass." Plus that could add some depth to my character, amistrust or dislike of force sensitives.

So how far are you in this process? Still brainstorming ideas or are you already putting it down on paper? Cause if your still thinking, I have some ideas I'd love to shoot at yah.

 

[Richie B.]

Alright going to ask, how will the faction handle criminals that are known force sensitive will they send in like my guy to fight the force sensitive (fight fire with fire) or work with the Jedi? And how do we plan to transport the criminal since the force can help them escape and if they get out of whatever restrains the person has than things can easily turn against the good guys?

@Loco

 

[Loco]

Sounds good to me, both of your points. I don't see a reason to not let them in past "it's not as badass." Plus that could add some depth to my character, amistrust or dislike of force sensitives.

So how far are you in this process? Still brainstorming ideas or are you already putting it down on paper? Cause if your still thinking, I have some ideas I'd love to shoot at yah.

Putting some of it down in write up form. I'm trying to have most of the discussion out here in the open- since I want it to be member driven, I also want it to be based on Member ideas.


For everyone else: if you haven't read @Mr.BossMan linke above to the Sector Rangers, I highly recommend it since I didn't even know it existed before. The description pretty much matches what we've been discussing to a T, minus a bit of the inter-faction cooperation, but we could always work it out and write it in. With a little adaptation and adjustment to fit with some of the things we've already discussed here and to fit into indie faction guidelines, this could be the perfect baseline.

Plus, we get to be called Rangers, which gives us a lot more cool points the "Agents".

Alright going to ask, how will the faction handle criminals that are known force sensitive will they send in like my guy to fight the force sensitive (fight fire with fire) or work with the Jedi? And how do we plan to transport the criminal since the force can help them escape and if they get out of whatever restrains the person has than things can easily turn against the good guys?

Honestly, I don't expect there to be that many of them. If there is I guess the lead investigator will have to figure something out.

 

[Mr.BossMan]

I like a challenge, and FS criminal characters will provide one.

So I think we have exhausted pretty much all of my ideas, which basically were based off the Sector Rangers link I posted. Honestly like you said @Loco I think that would be a great baseline to which we can expand and take away what we need.

But I still have an idea of two left, tell me what you think.

What do you think of the idea of Classes? Or roles or something of the sort. I know you already touched base with this topic. Saying you would seperate them into agents working the cases and then all the other stuff, like tech people, engineers and all that.

But what about more specific, more defined roles that your character can bring to the table. So here are some "Classes" I've thought about. All of them are the Elite of the Elite, the best at what they do. Each role has a purpose of a contribution they can make to the faction IC.

Ranger - These characters will be the Lone wolves. They work alone in deep space and primarly live on their ship, provided by the faction. They are given simple task, find and capture the bad guys, any way and by any means. Their missions mainly come in Via a Hologram on their ship, they talk to the "Director," are given their orders and left alone to do the Job.

When they need help of any sort, they call in and get it, but primarly i invision these people to work alone and have almost an unlimited authority. They can do whatever they like to see the mission through, but of course, it most be legal.

Agent - The sneaky type, the Spies, Undercover Badasses. These people will be our eyes and ears. I invision these characters as being double agents of sorts. They enter a rival faction, poke around and then relay that information back to the main faction. Whatever it is they gathered, this way we can find IC evidence to take down characters, but not only characters Factions as well.

I see this role as being kind of like a rouge type. They need to blend in with the faction They are spying against, but also still remember they are cops, and can not cross that line. These people will have long term missions, given a wide goal, and they will attain it, with time.

Spartans - These people like to fight. When shit goes down, their the first ones in and last ones out. These are our factions warriors, our fighters. Now of course every "Class" will have knowledge and expertise with some form of combat. But these people, know it all. I am talking Rambo mother fuckers, machine gun Totten, grenade carrying, mean green fighting machines.

If and when we have enough evidence to bring down a faction, or a very high profile target. These guys come into play. They kick ass and don't even have time to take names, so they get their inaitals instead. We send these boys up against the big factions, I'm talking like Hutt Cartels and all that stuff. And if we ourselves ever come under attack, these guys are a best defence.

Javelins - These are our pilots, badass in their own unique way. They can fly anything and everything. Honestly that's as far as I have really thought about these guys. Basically transport people, take you one place and drop you off, grab your prisoner and take him back to be punished.

I am not a flyer and don't really have my characters flying, but if someone out there does, then they can expand on this Class, I myself can't.

Seekers - The brains of the operation. Their people are the head honchos, they do everything. When a criminal is brought before them, the execute the sentence. They are our Lawyers, our bread and butter. Not much action in this job but none the less important. They are our tech people, who can hack just about anything, they are our interrogators our office jobs, our representatives, our public face. Basically they are everything that the other classes are not.

And then last but not least.

The Director - This person is the main man, the head honcho, The big dog, the man up stairs. Pretty much the Faction leader.

So ya, a rough draft of roles our characters can fit into. Tell me what you think or if you still are leaning on the two class approach. I personally like for roles to be more defined, that way it promotes cooperation between faction members.

For instance an Agent would relay the information they gathered back towards a Seeker. If a Ranger knows he is out matched he might call upon a Spartan for help. It also adds to the flavor of the faction in my opinion and spices all that stuff up.

Again this is just my idea and if your against it then by all means lets discuss...

 

[Richie B.]

I'm not sure how many people we will get so I'm not sure how well this will actually work out. I suggest leave it for the two position since I think @Loco i think wants to have a feel that we don't have enough people for the job so these system kind of goes against that kind of feel. Not too shot down your idea just don't see how it will work out realistically.

 

[Eccles]

I agree with Benvenu7, I think. Don't make it overly complicated. PCs will undoubtly best be suited for the Ranger role.

 

[Mr.BossMan]

I'm not sure how many people we will get so I'm not sure how well this will actually work out. I suggest leave it for the two position since I think @Loco i think wants to have a feel that we don't have enough people for the job so these system kind of goes against that kind of feel. Not too shot down your idea just don't see how it will work out realistically.

I agree with Benvenu7, I think. Don't make it overly complicated. PCs will undoubtly best be suited for the Ranger role.

All fair points. I knew I was going out on a limb with this idea and I'm glad I got some feed back.

 

[Loco]

I get what you're going for, but it's more suited to an online MMO than a forum based RP. For one, getting enough active PC's at once to fill all of those different classes in a useful manner and on a consistent basis is unlikely. Second, I think it unnecessarily shoehorns people into roles and limits the potential creativity with their characters. And last I just think it's overly complicated. Generally speaking, the broader, more general, simpler approach works best with bringing in members and sustaining consistent activity. The harder people have to work to find or maintain a niche for their character the more quickly the lose interest- it's why the multitude of "sub-factions" we've traditionally had within the main factions, and all of the overly specific indie factions that crop up inevitably wither and die. Simplicity always makes things more active and playable.


As for the Director role, I'll probably be making that along with all other IC leadership an NPC position. I've seen ALL of the factions on this site suffer from the same problem at one point or another- every time the leadership is invested in a single character, that character or players absence (whether through IC death or OOC inactivity) pretty much kills activity across the board. The only success we've had in combating that is by making most leadership positions an NPC position that is easily transferred or used independent of any reliance on one single person.

 

[Nor'baal]

As long as that NPC is a gruff ex-cop with a drink problem, then I'm ok with this ;)

 

[Loco]

As long as that NPC is a gruff ex-cop with a drink problem, then I'm ok with this ;)

Well I'm leaning more and more towards just adapting the Sector Rangers, which would make that NPC a gruff current cop with a drinking problem.

 

[Mr.BossMan]

Okay I can tell you know what your doing far better then I do. So I am going to let you take the reigns.

So to change that topic, and to start a new one.

Just for clarification can I see, by the show of hands, how many people are 100% going to make a character for this faction?

 

[Richie B.]

Count me, got the force specialist

 

[Loco]

Okay I can tell you know what your doing far better then I do. So I am going to let you take the reigns.

So to change that topic, and to start a new one.

Just for clarification can I see, by the show of hands, how many people are 100% going to make a character for this faction?

I'd say, by the talks I've had with people, we've got at least four or five sure things and a couple of maybes. Enough to start.


On a semi-related note, I just burned through the entire final season of Justified between yesterday and today, so inspiration abounds.

 

[Richie B.]

Got a feeling my guy won't be liked at first >.>

 

[Mr.BossMan]

OMG @Loco lol

Justified is my inspiration! We can be inspiration buddies!