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[jaked122]

Hello Bay12Forums, it's nice to be back, with me I bring an idea for a game that I would like to try here: Anyway, let me do away with this discourse and get to the subject of the announcement proper.

Research and Dungeons
Abstract
As you may have guessed, there is research involved here, this is a game about a different academic system than you are accustomed to (I hope), and therefore more interesting.

You play a professor of various skill, aspiration, and specialization (be sure to specify these!). Of course, in real life, had you wanted to achieve your aspirations as a professor, you would likely turn to tenure.

In this game this is not an option, therefore all of you are going to be mad-scientists (or humanity professors), in fact, when you bring up the word tenure, the sole institution that exists on the space station points at you and laughs, before yelling at you to go into the variously abandoned parts of the space station (remnants of eras both more and less advanced than the current) and dig up some artifacts, or more likely, destroy that giant evil computer in the dark depths of station segment 12.
Why is this different than any other generic roleplaying game? Well, for one thing, you cannot gain the skills necessary to accomplish all of your aspiration by yourself, even if you had tenure, therefore you must play a game of diplomacy with the others in your seniority level (don’t worry, the older, conservative scientists are still at the top of the food chain here), and if possible, achieve your aspiration.
Setting
You probably noticed that I was talking about a space station in the previous section, you might be thinking, “Great, I’m not going to play because a space station is obviously too small an environment to be a source of long lasting fun”. This is where you are wrong.
            This space station is ancient, and when I mean ancient, I mean that it probably recorded the moon splitting from the earth a few billion years ago, it was already about 12,000 years into its operating life, more to the point, it has been expanded upon and refitted by hundreds of thousands of species over the many millennia before you and your buddies’ species came to exist (probably, there are a few elder races here), and every single one of them has tried to hold onto the station as it continued upon its comet-like orbit into the center of the galaxy. Now there is the PolyTech, and it is going to stay.
            Basically, this means that I have the liberty to describe a given part of the space station in any way I see fit. Don’t worry, I remember what is venerated on the forum, you will have ample opportunity to die.
Races
Now for everyone’s favorite part, the races.
Dragon:
This race of large reptiles is known for its lust for princesses across the galaxy, and oddly enough, its well-earned.  This race has been around for millions of years. They have been too busy stealing princesses to advance beyond their 900,000^th year technology. Not that they were good with technology in the first place.
            That being said, they are making steps towards becoming integrated with the academic community on the station, and some say, are surprisingly subtle and quick to learn.
Abilities: Flight, strong scales (meaning that you can punch one all you want and it won’t hurt, shooting, guns or lasers, another story), strong muscles, large(more damage, not so easy evading), ancient study techniques ( you learn faster).
Human
            If you are a human on the station, the other races look at you and say, “Why are you in preschool, you’re still pink?” Their idioms don’t work very well to say the least. Needless to say, if you are playing a human, you no doubt have a terrible inferiority complex, or superiority complex if the other race’s comments were taken the other way.
Abilities: Squishy body (can be crushed more easily), surprisingly resilient (can make saving throw if injured mortally), psychologically impaired (you are likely to be petulant and difficult for the other faculty members to deal with), political power (the majority of the board of trustees are human).

Space Elves:
            If you are an elf on the station, you are probably a pointy eared crank who nobody can find a reason to get rid of. That being said, elves… well… they are useful despite their insistence on eating their foes, even if the foes are not edible (see giant evil computer earlier). They are very conservative, but in general as a whole the space elven faculty is well respected, if only because they see shit through.
Abilities:
1.    [/font]universal Cannibalism (You can eat anything that doesn’t like you, so long as it is dead)
2.    [/font] crank (you are able to outlast any argument, but not necessarily win it)
3.    [/font] humanitarian (you are probably a humanities professor, ironic as that seems)
4.    [/font] conservative (your aspirations probably involve improving upon or defending a contribution made to your field by a great genius earlier or the founder of the field)
5.    [/font] lithe (better able to dodge or squeeze through a tight spot).
Troxan
If you are a Troxan, then you have a large pumpkin shaped head that is apparently an amazing instrument of sound detection and differentiation. You also use incredibly unusual grammar, not really wrong, or at least, not any less correct than Yoda. In general, you will generally want to be some variety of sound expert here…

Abilities:
1.   [/font]Troxan hearing( You can differentiate sounds at an incredibly minute level)
2.   [/font] Troxan grammar (your funding requests always raise eyebrows, but they succeed at about the same percentage of the time as any other race)
3.   [/font] Large headed (You are likely to scare off primitive humanoids that reverted to their base instincts).
Giant Space Squid
For many years, the galaxy at large laughed at the possibility of two meter long squids with incredible oxygen breathing skills and tentacles supple enough to build technology. If you are a giant space squid, you are likely the one who made the confusing comments to the human in pre-school. This species is stealthy, very much so, otherwise they would not have been believed to be a myth for so long. What is even more mythical, is their ability for abstract reasoning, giving out huge bonuses to so called “back of the envelope” estimations.  However, you are relatively weak, your tentacles are not really all that good for moving you around through gravity, and they don’t do well with keyboards…
Abilities:
1.    [/font]SuperSquidStealth™ (large bonuses to Evade and stealth checks)
2.    [/font] invertebrate fragility (you are not very resilient)
3.    [/font] lateral abstract reasoning (you are a math wiz, though this does apply to other things too)
4.    [/font] Tentacle goodness (you like to think that you are good at giving you messages, because whenever you do so, people try to give you what you want quickly)
Others:
If you would like to play another race, propose it in essay format (why it isn’t like the others, and why it would be a good addition to the game), and I’ll consider adding it.
Alternatively, choose a university, review their financial allocation request forms, and write a proposal in that form, and it will be added unless the sole intent is to break the game.
User Races

Rak/Stenners

(courtesy of Rolepgeek)

If you are a rak, then you are a large mound of rocks (think diamond) which happens to possess an extremely distributed brain, which is generally in the midst of combat, a good thing. However, not all things are bright and shiny in rakland, no, you don’t get along well with the other… well, non-rak races.  They are just too different. They are almost inferior… You don’t say that though, instead, when challenged, you simply use your blow-torch lasers to kill them, or give them a sun burn if you aren’t too close.  You cannot differentiate color because you see the wrong part of the spectrum to see anything that they do.
Oh yeah, you also eat Rocks
Abilities: Regeneration based on food (eat some gravel and feel better),
1.   lasers (because, frankly, being a giant jewel is pretty great, even if you aren’t worth the net sum of Polytech’s board of directors)
2.    rock metabolism(enjoy not eating)
3.    inability to rock (no hands or fine manipulators)
4.    color blind (you don’t see what other people do)
5.    Rock face (you are not good at charisma checks)
6.    minor shapeshifting(you are able to change shape a little bit)

Typically called Rak or Stenners. Officially called Dezhreskciles. Nobody actually calls them that because it's also impossible to pronounce.
 
 If you're a Rak, odds are you don't get along with others. This is probably because you aren't like the others; they're all made of tiny vulnerable sacks of fluid, the only worthwhile parts being the very inside of them. You, on the other hand, are a collection of highly energized and organized pieces of shiny rock. Your brain is essentially a quantum computer, and while you would think being made of rock would make you less mobile and flexible than the other races, you'd be wrong. Since you're basically a pile of sentient jewel-dust/sand, you can actually change shape, to an extent. Can't do basic fine manipulation all that well, like pulling a trigger or using a keyboard, but since you're a giant battery made of crystal, in a sense, you can manipulate things on an extremely fine level, like molecularly fine. Did we mention the lasers? Yeah, you can fire lasers. Mostly blow-torch style, not all that powerful or ranged, comparatively, and it takes a lot of you, but you can fire lasers. Also, you don't need to breath, and you feed off of heat and light. Not having a face, and looking like you're worth more than the entire board of director's net worth, doesn't help you get along with people. And then there's the part where you're 'color-blind' because you see above (and below) the typical range of species vision. Finally, the part that really sets you apart; you don't have what most people typically think of as cells, so you don't heal or grow. You ingest material that replaces lost material. Oh yeah, and your entire body is your brain when it isn't doing anything specific(crystals changes form to perform different tasks; synapse crystals, perception crystals, feeding crystals, morphing crystals(which change other crystals into different types; if you lose your core of these you're basically fucked), movement crystals, armor crystals, etc.)

Human-O-can

(courtesy of 10ebbor10): A man in a can.

Abilities: not so squishy body (anything under armor piercing probably doesn’t do much), speed of the can (you don’t move very fast).

Crabuloid (courtesy of hisshinhwalnuts):

You are a giant crab person, like zoidberg. You have two normal size arms with hands, and two smaller ones with pincers. In all likelihood, you have an exoskeleton made out of something a bit harder than normal human flesh.
Abilities:
1.   pincers (you are like a pair of wire cutters)
2.   chitin (you are not very flexible, but blows with small (think wieldable) blunt objects do negligible damage)
3.   awful luck (at some point your race broke a lot of mirrors)

Tiny People

Courtesy of Aseaheru

You are a giant little person, but really you’re just a little person. People like you because of your charm, and the fact that you like tea, which is a lovely drink. Due to your childish size, you were a boon to early space industrialists who found that you were adults, and therefore, can work dangerous spaces with minimum pay.
Abilities:
1.   [/font]Charming
2.   [/font]Small size
3.   [/font]Childish Dexterity
4.   [/font]


race: Little people.
 
 This race of absurdly small humanoids look and sound like small humans, but are only half a meter tall. And thats the (analong of basketball) players. Although squishier than the other races, they are also able to fit into tiny spots and screw with mechanical things easier. They quite enjoy the human substance known as "tea" and may often ramble on about it.
 
 Things about them:
 Tiny size (fit into small spots better than elves, but almost no chance of surviving melees)
 Fancy hands (good engies.)
 Tea lovers (ramble about tea)[size=0pt][/size]


Specialization
          ­Mad scientists are incredible multi-discipline experts, you,  however, are not. You need help working out much of your aspiration because you understand most of it, but not all of it falls under your domain, so you must work with others.

Scientists
Computer Science: Being a computer science major, I have a soft spot for this one, you’ll write AIs and solve problems using ludicrous amounts of computing power, but of course, you aren’t very likely to be very good at combat (unless you’re one of those CS majors whose minor involved a good deal of ass-kicking).
Chemists: Your exploits are only a little short of the sorcerer alchemists of the 37^th intercessionary period. You are a specialist whose field is almost all inclusive, and whose structures are almost incomprehensible to you. It is only through the good grace of computers and pen/paper that you got this far at all. Much of your work is done intuitively at first, because the calculations are so beyond a human level that oftentimes, it makes more sense to simply do the experiment and hope for the best. In general, this means that you reasoning skills are up to par with the best of them.
Physicist: You are an individual whose scope of interest travels between the macroscopic and the microscopic. I guarantee that you are probably going to be a better shot under the Coriolis Effect of the station. You are also likely going to grasp the implications of a technology faster than the person who invented it.
Mathematician: You are an individual who likes painful computations that make Computer Science majors cry out in frustration. You enjoy long walks on sandy beaches, but only because you know the upper and lower bounds on the number of sand particles that the beach contains. You are going to be in high demand, but you aren’t going to be able to do much outside of your field (or if you force me to admit it, computer science) without help either. A mathematician may be a long, frustrating game, at least if you find numbers as tedious and frustrating as I do.
Biologist: You are an individual whose interests fall outside the field of dead matter. This is not unlike the chemist, but you are a master of chains of reactions, rather than individual ones, perhaps one day you will create a great, genetically engineered race of space beetles to carry your name on flaming banners across the stars. But more likely, you’ll content yourself studying those fascinating slime molds that grow in the Residence Hall bathrooms... In any case, you will be indispensable when dealing with unfamiliar creatures or diseases, and don’t worry, you’ll see plenty of both.
Engineers
Mechanical Engineer: You build stuff, you take it apart, and you repair it. You design giant fighting robots… What else would you do? I’ll expect more out of you guys than the rest.
Chemical Engineer: You are an expert at making chemistry more efficient, designing large scale systems to work with chemical processes, but you are not the kind of chemist that would go out and discover something new. You are likely to be building bombs of small size (any larger and you’d be in danger of putting the station itself in harm’s way).
Materials Engineer: What’s the tensile strength of the station hull? You may be the only one able to ask the right questions to turn away the ignoramus who asked it, if only because it varies based on more factors than I care to consider. You will likely find yourself making new materials for the other specialists that you work with, like a poisonous fist for that mechanical engineer’s giant robot, because, well you know that poison fists make robots better.
Civil Engineer: You are neither building bridges nor playing Dwarf fortress, so thoughtfully excluded for the moment.
Electrical Engineer: You are the CompSci major’s best friends. You will build gear that will make everybody else jealous , like your Bluetooth equipped, talking, smartass lazer gun.
Software Engineer: Other engineers make fun of you because you aren’t really an engineer. The computer science majors hate you for other reasons. This is mostly because to them, you don’t get your hands dirty coding (keyboards are disgusting), but you dictate how they need to do their jobs. Sometimes it works, other times, it doesn’t. You are helpless, figure out how to maneuver other things politically, and perhaps you’ll have a shot at reaching a milestone in your project.
Aerospace Engineer: Congratulations; were you on a planet without extensive public transportation systems, the team would be seeking out favors of you left and right.  We’ll see about changing that at some point, but don’t build your character based on this.
Humanities
Dammit, they’re all the same. They aren’t technical, so they fall under social studies or art.
Art is useful and fun, and really, if those aerospace engineers end up on a planet building a plane, they will do anything to get you to draw some witty cartoon on the front (yes, this does make the plane better). Really, this is actually true for all of the aspirations that I hope to see, because really, the incorporation of art into science or engineering makes them both immensely improved. Also, you have an excuse to be as eccentric as you want.
Psychology: With a firm grasp upon the mind (figuratively), you will guide the team forwards into a complex plan that will no doubt see you come out on top. In return, others will not trust you initially because they are aware of the potential power that you may have over them. They only hope that your fake (and unnecessary) Hippocratic oath is enough to stop you from manipulating them as marionettes.

Gameplay
Everybody’s other favorite thing to focus on.
Describe your action, make no assertions as to what happens as a result, or the reactions of other players, unless your character would do such things verbally. In which case I strongly encourage it, hence the obnoxious, mad psychologist (the power of the humanities is staggering in mind control).
There will be a private series of calculations made as to the combat effectiveness, action success etc. that I will act upon, upon my decision, I will inform you about your fates.

Really though, make an argument for why something should work, give it a good reason, or (if you want to be my best buddy), use some basic reasoning to ruin science (draw the wrong conclusions).
Questions?
Are there any?

[Weirdsound]

Is there a character sheet to fill out, or do we just throw out a race and a specialization?

Edit: Also, you should have named this Dungeons and Dissertations :p

[Darbles]

Egor, Giant Space Squid, and Physicist, woot!

[jaked122]

Is there a character sheet to fill out, or do we just throw out a race and a specialization?

Edit: Also, you should have named this Dungeons and Dissertations :p

Throw out a name, race, and a specialization, also signify what your character wants to accomplish (large scale goals if possible)

[GreatWyrmGold]

Mad humanities professors? There's another kind?
Why do Space Elves lack "Squishy Body"?

Grawagul, Dragon Biologist
Goal: Create a new sentient species from as close to scratch as possible.

[evilcherry]

Theta, Elven Sociologist.

Sociologist, of course, study a society. Like this one.

If not allowed change to Political Scientist.
If not allowed change to... Comparative Literature I guess?

[jaked122]

Theta, Elven Sociologist.

Sociologist, of course, study a society. Like this one.

If not allowed change to Political Scientist.
If not allowed change to... Comparative Literature I guess?

Your character has been accepted.

Mad humanities professors? There's another kind?
Why do Space Elves lack "Squishy Body"?

Grawagul, Dragon Biologist
Goal: Create a new sentient species from as close to scratch as possible.

Good point; I'll explain that in the next edit.
Also, your character has been accepted.

[10ebbor10]

Woa, large fonts.

Anyway:

Rob-o-tron (Human Cybernetic Operation*)
Physicists
Goal: Study and perfection of his newly discovered energy source. First tests left just enough of him to scoop into this can, and try again.


*It's man in a can. Has pretty much the same abilities and disabilities.

[HissinhWalnuts]

(Can I be a crab like humanoid? Pincers( 2 small extra arms with pincers.), Chitin ( Everything but blunt objects and futuristic weapons are ineffective.), Bad luck magnet ( Your race is cursed with bad luck) to make me more prone to accidents in trade for my other abilities. Also when was the last time there was a crustacean as a race in a forum game? Don't answer that.)

Name: Xavrax
Race: Crab-uloid, human if not acceptable
Job: Biologist.
Goal: to make his own biologic spaceships.

[Rolepgeek]

Race: Unpronounceable. Typically called Rak or Stenners. Officially called Dezhreskciles. Nobody actually calls them that because it's also impossible to pronounce.

If you're a Rak, odds are you don't get along with others. This is probably because you aren't like the others; they're all made of tiny vulnerable sacks of fluid, the only worthwhile parts being the very inside of them. You, on the other hand, are a collection of highly energized and organized pieces of shiny rock. Your brain is essentially a quantum computer, and while you would think being made of rock would make you less mobile and flexible than the other races, you'd be wrong. Since you're basically a pile of sentient jewel-dust/sand, you can actually change shape, to an extent. Can't do basic fine manipulation all that well, like pulling a trigger or using a keyboard, but since you're a giant battery made of crystal, in a sense, you can manipulate things on an extremely fine level, like molecularly fine. Did we mention the lasers? Yeah, you can fire lasers. Mostly blow-torch style, not all that powerful or ranged, comparatively, and it takes a lot of you, but you can fire lasers. Also, you don't need to breath, and you feed off of heat and light. Not having a face, and looking like you're worth more than the entire board of director's net worth, doesn't help you get along with people. And then there's the part where you're 'color-blind' because you see above (and below) the typical range of species vision. Finally, the part that really sets you apart; you don't have what most people typically think of as cells, so you don't heal or grow. You ingest material that replaces lost material. Oh yeah, and your entire body is your brain when it isn't doing anything specific(crystals changes form to perform different tasks; synapse crystals, perception crystals, feeding crystals, morphing crystals(which change other crystals into different types; if you lose your core of these you're basically fucked), movement crystals, armor crystals, etc.)

Name: Unpronounceable. You can call him Dave, though.
Profession: Unpronounceable. No, not really, he's a Mechanical Engineer.
Goal: Army Workforce of evil helpful robots, obviously.

[Aseaheru]

Race: Little people.

This race of absurdly small humanoids look and sound like small humans, but are only half a meter tall. And thats the (analong of basketball) players. Although squishier than the other races, they are also able to fit into tiny spots and screw with mechanical things easier. They quite enjoy the human substance known as "tea" and may often ramble on about it.

Things about them:
Tiny size (fit into small spots better than elves, but almost no chance of surviving melees)
Fancy hands (good engies.)
Tea lovers (ramble about tea)

Name: Edgar Evans
Profession: Electrical Engineer
Goal: Become an Civil Engineer and build a new part of the station? (if that is out than to make a badass, insanely cool robot army to fix the place.)

[Ultimuh]

Name: Ch'thul F'woo Ch'ool Zul
Species: Giant Squid
Gender: Male (Probably dosnt matter in this game tough.)
Abilities: SuperSquidStealth™, invertebrate fragility, lateral abstract reasoning, Tentacle goodness
Profession: Biologist
Goal: To bring back long extinct (and possibly dangerous) species (Dinosaurs or eldritch abominations, it dosnt matter really).
Even if they did possibly destroy a few civilizations or decimated entire species, they didn't deserve extinction!
Also, this is a good opportunity to unlock the mysteries of a possible connection to work together with other biologists in order to create something new and exiting!

[Yourmaster]

sariis erion the IV

Species: Space elf
Gender:Male

Science:Biology

Goal: To be able to control the minds of weaker-minded races and parasites.

[HissinhWalnuts]

I find it odd how we are mostly going biology, Perhaps we can put our heads together and produce for ourselves some slave races to take over the galaxy?

[Ultimuh]

I find it odd how we are mostly going biology, Perhaps we can put our heads together and produce for ourselves some slave races to take over the galaxy?

Sounds intriguing, I'm in.
Should I be accepted into this game of course.