CHAPTER I GAME DRAFT - outboundhope.com€¦ · storylines. Military characters will all begin with...

CHAPTER I

GAME

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DRAFT

FINAL UPDATE TO BE ANNOUNCED PRIOR TO NOVEMBER EVENT

© Quest Adventure Gaming, 2019

USSC NAVAL HANDBOOK (2219 Edition)

The Outbound Hope Mission is a multi-day, live-action role-playing event intended to give players the realistic, immersive experience of being aboard a space-bound starship. Hosted within the interior of the decommissioned USS Edson in Bay City, Michigan, players will be en-gaged in three days of exciting science-fiction adventures and mis-sions. For the duration of the event, the Edson will be outfitted to serve as the Ascendant Dawn, a military vessel leading a fleet of colo-nists into the unknown. With a crew of over 100 individuals, players will need to work together – and against each other – to fulfill duties and objectives unique to their character.

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PLAYER VERSUS CHARACTER Throughout these rules, the terms “player” and “character” will be used de-liberately. These terms are not interchangeable; “Player” implies the actual individual participating in the experience. “Character” implies the fictional

persona a player is meant to be carrying out. Certain situations may affect a player but not the character and vice versa.

INTRODUCTION

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CHAPTER 1: GAME RULES

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Throughout the Outbound Hope experience, players will be asked to remain “in character” as much as possible. For the sake of immersion, players are asked to car-ry out the persona of their assigned character as much as feasibly possi-ble. Interactions – from conversa-tions to conflicts – should be isolat-ed to in-game experiences.

As such, they should also be understood within an in-character context: A conflict between two characters should never be inter-preted as a conflict between two players. Players are encouraged to refer to each other by their charac-ter names and should avoid out-of-

character distractions – such as personal electronic devices – as much as possible.

That being said, there are instances when breaking character is essential to the safety and well-being of players. In the event a player becomes injured or is in a situation where injury is possible, any player involved in the situation may call out “GAME HOLD!” At this time, all players within earshot should instantly break character, take a knee, and echo the “GAME HOLD” call. This should allow the at risk-player to move out of the dangerous situation or seek necessary medical help. If warranted, another player can – and should – seek out a member of the Outbound staff. Once the situation has resolved itself, the player who originally called for the hold (or, if they are removed, any other player nearby) may call out “3… 2… 1… GAME ON!” At this point, all paused characters may resume gameplay as if no time has passed. A “GAME ON” call should similarly be echoed.

KEY POINTS:

◼ Out-of-Character (OOC) actions should be kept to a minimum.

◼ A call of “GAME HOLD!” will temporarily suspend gameplay to resolve dan-gerous OOC situations. A call of “GAME ON!” will resume game functions

◼ Bright orange is used to designate OOC items, loca-tions, or individuals, and should be inconspicuously ignored by players.

IN AND OUT-OF-CHARACTER

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When items, locations, or individuals must be placed out of play, they will be marked by Outbound staff with the color orange. Areas clearly marked by bright orange should therefore be inconspicuously avoided by characters while in-play. An orange object should never be used, and a door marked orange should never be entered.

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OUTBOUND STAFF Outbound staff will frequent the play area for the sake of maintaining safety, story, and continuity. Whenever this happens, their costume will reflect OOC rules and will also be marked with orange. Unless deliberately speaking to a

player, Outbound staff should be ignored by characters. Though typically dressed as the ship’s maintenance staff, there is no in-character reason to engage them in any major way. Should a player need something or have a

concern, staff members are happy to assist.

LOCKERS Inside all berthing (sleeping) areas, players will be given two lockers – one for

in-character (IC) items and props and the other for out-of-character (OOC) personal items. These lockers will be issued upon player sign-in at the event. The IC locker should be used for any in-character items a player has access to

and – being in-character – can be viewed, broken into, and stolen from by other characters. While theft from an IC locker is not OOC illegal, it should cause a character to report the incident to ship security. IC locker locks are

provided by Outbound Hope staff. Players will be given the key to these locks along with the character badges at sign-in.

OOC lockers are strictly for OOC personal items — wallets, keys, electronic

devices, etc.. At no point should an OOC locker – appropriately marked with orange – be broken into or stolen from. Such an act would immediately be considered both an OOC offense and a violation of Michigan State law and should be referred to game staff. OOC storage areas may never be used to hide or maintain IC items – an act that would also be considered an OOC

offense. Players are asked to provide their own OOC lock, though Quest Ad-venture Gaming and the USS Edson reserve the right to remove a player’s lock — via bolt cutters if necessary — should the need arise. Players are

strongly encouraged not to carry their OOC locker key — if any — along with their IC key.

Quest Adventure Gaming and the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum (USS

Edson) are not responsible for personal items left in lockers.

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Unlike many live action and tabletop roleplaying games, Out-bound Hope does not restrict play-ers to specific sets of skills and abili-ties. Generally, if a player is capable of doing something, they are per-mitted to carry it out so long as it does not physically harm them-selves or other players and does not violate additional rule limitations.

Generally, characters are orga-nized and differentiated by two ma-jor characteristics: Rank and Role. Given the military nature of the As-cendant Dawn and her occupants, rank will play a major part in estab-lishing both characters and their storylines. Military characters will all begin with a specific rank that places them somewhere within the military hierarchy. Whenever possi-ble, characters should make an effort to respect the general chain-of-command, adhering to the or-ders of those above them and demonstrating superiority over those below them. While occasional disobedience towards superiors is permissible – especially if it is a trait determined by the character’s back-ground – such actions should draw penalties from higher-ups. For a full breakdown of USSC and USOM ranks, see the appendix.

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KEY POINTS:

◼ If a player can carry out a task within other rule limits it is permissible.

◼ Major differences between characters are determined by rank and role – both determined by a player’s character sheet.

◼ Military and non-military characters will exist within a hierarchy of rank; Re-specting (or in some cases ignoring) the chain-of-command will be an essen-tial part of roleplay.

◼ The responsibilities of a character’s role will be ex-plained during tutorial ses-sions prior to the game’s start. Players will have am-ple time to learn the skills needed to carry out their duties.

◼ It is possible to allow a character to change roles if another character teaches them the necessary skills. Characters new to a role should never be perceived as being more capable than those who originally began within that class.

PLAYER ROLES AND ABILITIES

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While civilian characters do not fall within the military hierarchy, they also possess a notable chain of command. Especially within the Civilian Government, the Governor will act as the highest official, with lesser officials ranking beneath them. Civilian colonists have very little authority and are generally placed below all others. Their obedience to the military’s ranking system is purely optional, as they have no per-sonal background or interest in it.

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GAINING RANK Acts of great service and heroism are always to be rewarded, and it is possi-ble for players to be awarded with a greater rank while serving in the line of duty. This should not be commonplace, however, and generally requires the permission of the fleet’s Admiral. When this happens, the character will earn

the respect and prestige of her new rank.

LEADERSHIP OF THE FLEET As a general rule, the three highest-ranking characters aboard the Ascendant Dawn are the Fleet Admiral, the Civilian Governor, and the Ascendant Dawn’s

captain (who ranks below the admiral). Conversions between military and civilian rank are left deliberately ambiguous and should ultimately create ten-sion between characters. After all, who really leads the fleet – the Governor

or the Admiral?

In addition to rank, characters will also have a specific role that helps to define their activities within the fleet. Some characters will be engineers or scientists, while others will be crew members or officers. A crew member may be ranked as an Ensign, but possess his role of helmsman of the Ascendant Dawn. In every case, they will be tasked with a set of responsibilities as outlined in their character sheets.

The ability to perform these responsibilities will depend greatly on the training session that each character will receive before the com-mencement of the event. In the hours before game time, players will be teamed with Outbound staff members according to character roles. In some cases, this may involve familiarizing players with specific props or locations, while others will be introduced to specific software essen-tial to their character. In every case, these tutorials will allow a player time to gain the necessary expertise to do their job well once the mis-sion begins.

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Because these skills depend almost exclusively on the ability to carry them out, it is possible that – as the game progresses – charac-ters may instruct others in how to do their job. In this way, it is possi-ble that a civilian colonist could be drafted into the USSC to assist a gunnery terminal – an important opportunity if the existing gunners are unavailable. Many players — including those in civilian and com-mand roles — may already be trained in tasks during pre-game tutori-als to correspond to past backstory. For the purposes of roleplay, such opportunities present challenges in-character; Reassignment should be met with opposition or support from others and always with the per-mission of those in authority. Most importantly, shifting characters into a new role should never give them superiority to those who were originally assigned that role. A colonist-turned-engineer should attempt to be less-skilled than the engineers who began in that role, even if it means roleplaying a degree of incompetence.

HEALTH & HEALTH STATUSES

KEY POINTS:

◼ Character ailments are rep-resented by three Medical Categories (Physical Injury, Infection/Poisoning, Radia-tion) over four Health Stat-ues (Healthy, Sick/Injured, Incapactitated, Dead).

◼ Health Statuses are not permanent, and demand specific roleplay require-ments (see next page).

◼ If untreated, non-healthy Health Statuses will pro-gress to the next State after 10 minutes.

A voyage of exploration and discovery like the Outbound Hope Mission is sure to bring with it a host of potential injuries and condi-tions affecting the overall health of its participants.

Negative medical conditions are represented in Outbound Hope by a total of three Medical Categories (Physical Injury, Infection/Poisoning, or Radiation) and four Health Sta-tuses (Healthy, Sick/Injured, Inca-pacitated, Dead). None of the Health Statuses – even death – is ever permanent, with numerous opportunities to move into and out of each. All characters start as Healthy, with no Damage Levels in any Medical Category.

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CHARACTER Health Statuses: EFFECTS

HEA

LTHY

Healthy characters are unrestricted by medical conditions and have unlimited movement. They can carry out normal duties and

tasks without difficulty.

SIC

K o

r

WO

UN

DED

A sick or wounded character has been in some way injured, poi-soned, or otherwise negatively affected by another character or the environment around them. Sick or wounded characters have limited movement, requiring them to limp, clutch a limb, or com-plain of severe internal pain (depending on the cause of their con-dition). Their ability to perform tasks is extremely limited. Charac-ters in this State cannot operate their console, use a weapon, etc,

without the assistance of another character (see next page).

INCA

PA

CI-

TA

TED

An incapacitated character’s injuries have progressed to the point of unconsciousness. At this point, they are fully immobile, and are completely unable to perform duties or tasks. They have very little

awareness of what is going on around them.

DEA

D

A dead character has no awareness of their surroundings, no movement, and no signs of life.

For all intents and purposes, “He’s dead, Jim…”

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Health Statuses have important roleplay effects on the player:

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Progressing from the first to second status – that is, from “healthy” to “sick” or “wounded” – can come about through several means: typi-cally combat injury, disease, or hazardous atmospheric conditions. In some rare circumstances, additional causes can be announced by an

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attending Outbound staff member. Such damage can come from any of the three Medical Categories, but all result in the sick/injured status. Note that a character who is hurt during roleplay or gameplay in a way that is not life-threatening – a black eye, a head cold – is considered to be healthy. Moving into the sick/wounded status phase requires a player to roleplay limited movement and an impairment in the ability to complete tasks, regardless of the cause (that is, an injured character has the same rule requirements as an irradiated one), though a play-er’s roleplay should better reflect the original cause (clutching the re-cently shot limb or feigning extreme nausea, for instance).

Unfortunately, any ailment will progress if left untreated. All char-acters will have skills that allow them to perform Stabilization, a type of first aid, for one or more of the three medical categories. Stabiliza-tion is one key to returning a player to a Healthy State. If a character is not Stabilized, they progress down the Health Statuses after a set amount of time.

If a Sick/Injured character is not Stabilized within 10 minutes of the initial injury, the character becomes Incapacitated. Alternatively, if a character who is in a Sick/Injured State takes additional severe damage of any Medical Category, they immediately become Incapacitated

If an Incapacitated character is not Stabilized within 10 minutes of reaching Incapacitated, the character becomes Dead. Alternatively, if an Incapacitated character takes additional severe damage of any Medical Category while in this Health Status, they immediately be-come Dead. In-character, if a Dead individual is not restored via BioBed within 72 hours, they have been killed permanently — though this is impossible for a player given the limited event time.

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OFFERING HELP “Help” is a dedicated action where a present healthy character may choose to

take direction or directly assist a Sick/Injured character to complete tasks otherwise restricted to the latter character’s role. So long as a Sick/Injured character hasn’t become Incapacitated they may continue to guide Help.

Roleplay during this time is expected to reflect the difficulties of performing a task outside of one’s training, as well as the all the severe pain, nausea, etc.

of trying to keep working while suffering life-threatening condition.


Stabilization is key to pre-venting the progression of damage to a character. All healthy charac-ters have the ability to “Stabilize” another suffering from a physical injury or an incapacitated state re-sulting from a physical injury; Healthy medical-trained characters can additionally Stabilize infected, poisoned, or irradiated characters.

To do this, the Stabilizing char-acter must maintain close proximity to the victim for at least 1 minute and display appropriate roleplay -- applying pressure to the wound, “dosing” with game-provided props like medicines or faux injections, etc.. Once completed, the patient will be Stabilized, and progression to the next status will be halted in-definitely. If the Stabilizing charac-ter is stopped or redirected to an-other task (or victim), the ten-minute progression timer will begin approximately where it left off. This rule is slightly altered in any of the Ascendant Dawn’s medical facilities, where medical-based characters may can Stabilize or Treat up to three characters at a time.

While useful, Stabilization does little more than lock a character in his or her current state. Treatment refers to bringing characters back to more favorable Health Statuses – ideally returning them to full health. This can be achieved in a variety of ways.

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STABILIZATION & TREATMENT

KEY POINTS:

◼ Any Healthy character can Stabilize a character with a Physical Injury through appropriate roleplay for one minute.

◼ Healthy medical-trained characters can Stabilize and Treat any known Health Status from any medical category.

◼ Stabilization locks a charac-ter in their current Health Status, preventing decline. Treatment returns a char-acter to a more favorable Health Status.

◼ Medical Treatment is exclu-sive to medical personnel, and varies slightly between medical categories (Physical Injury, Infected/Poisoned, Irradiated).

◼ Treatment options include use of the HADTU, extend-ed surgery (roleplay) and — in cases of death — use of the BioBed.

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While Physical Injury Stabilization is an op-tion open to any healthy player, all other Sta-

bilizations and all Treatments require medical specialists exclusively. All Stabilizing or Treating char-

acters must be in good health themselves, since such an act would be prevented by the existence of a negative Health Status.

In the Treatment of character ailments, Stabilization and Treat-ment break down along the following categories:

◼ Physical Injury: Anyone on the Outbound Hope Mission already has the basic training required to Stabilize an-other’s physical injury. All Treatment, however, must be conduct-

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DETERMINING A DIAGNOSIS For obvious reasons, character ailments will not always be visible to other

players. A gunshot wound – which would realistically be clearly visible – may need to be narrated rather than viewed. Any character may approach a sick/wounded or incapacitated character and quietly declare “MEDICAL CHECK.” If the character in question has been damaged by a physical wound, their play-

er may then describe the wound out-of-character to the checking player. Otherwise, they should merely declare “non-wound.” If

the checking player is playing a medical character, the sick/wounded or incapacitated character can

freely describe the ailment in whatever form. Note that medical characters’ uniforms will al-ways incorporate patches with the appropriate

cross symbol shown on the left.

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THE THREE MEDICAL CATEGORIES

PHYSICAL INJURY

Infection/POISONing

RADIATION


ed by a medical professional (hospital corpsman, marine medic, or chief medical officer). Only characters in the appropriate medical classes will be able to conduct these tasks.

◼ Infected/Poisoned: All Stabilization and Treat-ment must be conducted by a medical professional. Only charac-ters in the appropriate medical classes will be able to conduct these tasks.

◼ Irradiated: All Stabilization and Treatment must be con-ducted by a medical professional. Only characters in the appropri-ate medical classes will be able to conduct these tasks.

Treatment Options

Medical characters will have a number of Treatment options at their disposal, each with various advantages and disadvantages:

◼ HADTU (Handheld Augmented Diagnostic & Treatment Unit)

The use of a HADTU device requires medical personnel and the HADTU prop. The character is healed of the Treated Damage Type 5 minutes after the HADTU dispenses nanomaterials specific to the category of ailment sustained. Each HADTU will have limited charg-es for each of its nanomaterial types, and is a consumable re-source. Specific usage information will be given to medical person-nel during tutorial.

◼ Surgery or Extended Treatment

This is active care roleplay, for 30 minutes, and requires appropri-ate props. It may be surgery, administering drugs via IV, Treatment with handheld devices, etc. The medical personnel administering extended Treatment cannot leave the patient during the 30 mi-nute period without resetting the timer and returning the charac-ter to their previous state. This is a one-on-one interaction, with one patient and one medical specialist. The exception to this is in the MedBay, where sophisticated equipment allows one medical specialist to Treat (or Stabilize) up to 3 patients simultaneously.

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◼ BioBed

Despite their high degree of sophistication, no nanobots or drugs can restore the dead. In this case, the only solution is the BioBed, which cannot be used on a living patient. The BioBed works with each character’s internal passive nanonetwork to restore the char-acter to a full Healthy state. The BioBed has two modes; Scan or Repair. In Scan mode, the BioBed writes the character’s complete State, including current memories, to their personal nanonetwork. In Repair mode, the Biobed restores the character biologically to their last nanonetwork recorded state.

The restoration process of the BioBed takes less than 5 minutes. The body must be placed into the device, requiring the player to be present at (if not in) the prop. When the player emerges, they are Healthy but have no memory of events since their last BioScan.

In most instances, this will require a significant amount of roleplay, since a player may be asked to ignore critical – and recently acquired – information. For all Outbound Hope personnel, their last scan was within the 72 hours before the launch of the Mission. If a new scan does not take place before death, the character will return to life be-lieving that the mission had not yet passed through the Bifröst Station. Medical staff will be trained – during the tutorials – about how to properly scan player information. Human nanonetworks are only able to update with a scan once every 12 hours.

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Introducing the HADTU (Handheld Augmented Diagnostic & Treatment Unit)! Brought to you by TraumaTek Industries!

Diagnoses and Dispenses Specific Materials for Field Expedient Medical

Care! Works with individual patient’s personal nanotech to rapidly diag-nose and develop immediate custom treatments for debilitating and life-

threatening conditions. Using the latest in TraumaTek Gen6 Nanotech, the HADTU dispenses programmable materials your TraumaTek Nanites

can employ to repair nearly the full range of human injury. This is the industry’s most advanced and reliable system and puts

your personnel back where they belong!

“

”


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Medical Flowchart

IRRADIATION INFECTION/POISONING

PHYSICAL WOUND

10 MIN. W/OUT STABILIZATION


PHYSICAL WOUND

10 MIN. W/OUT STABILIZATION


PHYSICAL WOUND

HEALTHY ◼ Unlimited Movement ◼ Normal Duties and Tasks

SICK/WOUNDED ◼ Restricted Movement ◼ Limited Task Performance Only ◼ Normal Duties may resume with 1:1 Help from a Healthy Character

INCAPACITATED ◼ Partial to Full Unconsciousness ◼ No Movement ◼ Unable to Perform Duties or Tasks

DEAD ◼ Complete Unconsciousness, lack of awareness of surroundings ◼ No Movement ◼ Unable to perform Duties or Tasks


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STABILIZATION (1 Min RP) PREVENTS

PROGRESSION TO DEAD (Medical Only)

HADTU USAGE Heals in 5 Min.

SURGERY RP, Heals after

30 min.

HADTU USAGE Heals in 5 Min.

SURGERY RP, Heals after

30 min.

USE OF THE BIOBED (<5 Min Location Use)

FULLY RESTORES CHARACTER, But all memory is lost since last scan (Medical Only)

STABILIZATION (1 Min RP) PREVENTS

PROGRESSION TO DEAD (Medical Only)


Outbound Hope uses three separate combat systems, depend-ing on the situation: Passive com-bat, live combat, and starship com-bat.

As the Outbound Hope Mis-sion strongly emphasizes interper-sonal conflicts, stories, and relation-ships between characters, combat situations will be less frequent than

in many other forms of live-action role play. Still, there are numerous occasions that might spark open conflict and violence between player characters or between player characters and non-player characters.

Conflict situations will play out very differently depending on whether characters are aboard the Ascendant Dawn (as depicted by the USS Edson) or an alternative location. Given the concern for safety and the need to preserve the historical site that is the USS Edson, The Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum has asked that combat scenarios be kept off-ship as much as possible. For this reason, most violent en-counters aboard the Edson will operate off a very different rule set than in alternative locations, and is known here as “passive combat.” “Live combat,” involving a much more physical and realistic approach to combat, is the term used to describe off-site, alternative locations. Starship combat – the third form of character combat available in Out-bound Hope – is carried out through a combination of computer soft-ware simulation and physical character actions.

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COMBAT Systems

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KEY POINTS:

◼ Combat exists within three separate systems: Passive, Live, and Starship.

◼ Players are asked to curb on-ship combat as much as possible for safety con-cerns.

DISSUADING COMBAT IN CHARACTER Given that players must curb their desires for on-board combat, characters can help to explain this by understanding the significant damage a firefight might cause to a ship’s delicate systems. For all intents and purposes, live

combat aboard a vessel like the Dawn is incredibly risky, as a stray projectile could sever a life support system or puncture a reactor. Anyone attempting to start live combat aboard the Dawn should be dissuaded by other characters

present as much as possible – One missed shot could kill everyone!


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COMBAT SYSTEMS - Passive

As of the release of this beta version of this ruleset (August 2019), Outbound Hope Staff are still undergoing

playtesting of passive combat rules.

These rules will be added prior to the event and will be reflected in all player handbooks.


Players will be presented with a number of opportunities for off-ship combat in the form of ship-to-ship boarding and possible station or planetary landings. While most of these types of conflicts will favor Marine characters, there is always the potential that other individuals could be caught up in these violent affairs. In these instances, an alter-native combat ruleset – referred to as “live combat” – will occur.

Live combat incorporates the use of a high-tech infrared-based combat system using IR-projecting weapons and body-mounted receiv-ers. Prior to a live combat instance, all participating players must be outfitted with receivers and their weapons. Once the engagement begins, it will play out in much the same way as a typical airsoft or paintball encounter. Each individual receives a specific amount of armor points, displayed on a player’s re-ceiver and determined by the char-acter type they are playing. Security personnel will begin with sufficient-ly more armor points than typical officers, crewmen, or civilians, with Marine personnel having far more than security, and OMEGA Troopers having the most. The amount of damage a weapon deals is deter-

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COMBAT SYSTEMS - LIVE

KEY POINTS:

◼ Live Combat exists as a more physical form of com-bat based on the use of a infrared laser system.

◼ In Live Combat, each par-ticipant will be assigned an IR-projecting weapon and a body-mounted receiver, largely dependent on their character role.

◼ Receivers will keep track of and display a character’s armor points. When armor points are depleted, the character should take a “Physical Injury” and is no longer able to fight.

◼ Use of melee weapons can instantly cause one drop in Health Status — despite remaining armor points. In this way, wounded players can be accelerated into incapacitation and death.

◼ In rare circumstances, live combat can take place on the Edson with GM approv-al and supervision. When this happens, a call of “Live Combat Situation” will be given. Players who do not wish to participate may evacuate.


mined largely by the weapon being used.

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As soon as both parties – typically one PC, one NPC – are present in an off-site location, the combat may break out. Play-ers will need to aim their IR weapons at their enemies, striking their sensors. With each hit, the player’s IR rig will calculate

everything from remaining ammo to availa-ble armor points. Once a character’s armor

points are depleted, their weapons system will cease operation, and the character should now be

wounded via “Physical Injury.” Wounded characters will no longer be able to fight, and will thus need to retreat if still able. Following the typical medical progression, an untreated wound will eventually cause incapacitation, and finally death. In this instance, other players may continue to Stabilize and Treat wounds, though doing so may put them at significant risk.

Though the vast majority of a live-combat situation involves the IR weapons system, use of melee weapons can bypass the system alto-gether. If a player is able to make contact with another player via a melee weapon (such as a combat knife), it causes the victim to move down by one Health Status – despite remaining armor points. In this way, characters may “stab in the back”, or expedite a character’s pro-gression from wound to incapacitation or incapacitation to death. It is the responsibility of every player to ensure the safety of others.

While live combat situations almost exclusively occur in locations other than the USS Edson, there are highly-specified times when live combat may occur on the ship itself. When this happens, players will

THE WEAPONS OF 2219 In character, all ranged weapons still rely upon many of the same technolo-gies available in the 21st century – that is, they continue to fire projectiles.

While newer methods and technologies have been introduced into the Out-bound Hope World, military forces have yet to rely upon lasers, plasma, phas-

ers, etc. to eliminate the enemy. To maintain realism on this point, all IR weapons will be set to emit appropriate sounds and muzzle flashes.


be notified via an announcement from the ship’s SAI indicating the commencement of a “Live Combat Situation.” This call will typically occur long before combat itself is meant to break out, allowing charac-ters who do not wish to participate ample time to evacuate. GM’s will typically mark out designated areas to contain the Live Combat en-counter. This ensures that players who do not feel physically safe and able — or simply desire not to — are not obligated to be involved in the situation. A similar call of “live combat situation now over” will re-turn the area to a passive combat zone.

Ship-to-ship combat is the third means of combat, and exists as a vastly different system from the other three. Given that the As-cendant Dawn, its gunships, and the remainder of the Outbound Fleet exist within an elaborate software network, all ship-to-ship combat will take place through the software itself. Characters whose role in-volves ship control, maintenance,

or weapon use will all play a part in ship-to-ship combat. Role specifics will be outlined to players in the tutorial sessions at the beginning of the Outbound gameplay weekend.

While most actions will occur via computer interfaces – including power allocation, shield allocation, or targeting with and firing weapons – there are instances when physical actions and the manipulation of props will affect the situation within the sim-ulation software. An engineer repairing a key power node, for example, could restore a ship’s shields and bring them back into the fight. Like software familiarity, these specific actions will be detailed to players at the time of tutorials before the event.

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COMBAT SYSTEMS - starship

KEY POINTS:

◼ Starship combat takes place primarily via terminal through the game’s elabo-rate starship system.

◼ Role specifics will be out-lined to players in the tuto-rial sessions.


Certain situations may cause characters to encounter various environmental hazards associated with the dangers of space travel. When this occurs, hazards will be indicated by a specifically colored light to notify players, who should respond accordingly.

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KEY POINTS:

◼ Environmental hazards can negatively impact a charac-ter’s health. They are typi-cally indicated by a colored light within a given space.

ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS

ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS

COLOR: INDICATED HAZARD:

SUGGESTED ROLEPLAY:

White/RED/BLUE

NO HAZARDS Gameplay may continue

as normal.

Gameplay may continue as normal.

GREEN

LOW ATMOSPHERE Choking, inhibited

breathing as a result of low oxygen

Health Status decrease by one level for every 60 sec-onds of exposure (PHYSICAL INJURY). Can be avoided

by use of appropriate protective gear.

YELLOW

TOXIC ATMOSPHERE Difficulty breathing, se-

vere pain, shaking

Health Status decrease by one level for every 60 sec-onds of exposure (INFECTED/POISONED). Can be

avoided by use of appropriate protective gear.

HIGH RADIATION Nausea, disorientation,

weakness, fatigue. UV/

BLACKLIGHT Health Status decrease by one level for every 60 sec-onds of exposure (IRRADIATED). Can be avoided by

use of appropriate protective gear.


Green (low atmosphere) and yellow (toxin) lights are typically used to mark an entire room or region, and thus its effects take place for everyone within that space. UV (high radiation) lights are typically emitted from a particular object. In this case, any character within a 10 foot radius from the light source takes the effect of radiation. Typically a monitoring GM will supervise any area of environmental hazard. Ad-ditional hazards may come into play as the game progresses; Present GMs will explain these conditions when appropriate.

In some instances, characters will need to obtain information from sources unwilling to give it up. When this happens, a system of Interrogation may be employed. Given that this type of roleplay can be uncomfortable to some, it re-quires a highly-specific and manda-tory set of procedures:

◼ An Outbound Staff Member must be present

◼ The character subject to Inter-rogation must be restrained or im-prisoned (in character)

◼ The player must never be made to feel physically or emotionally threatened

If these conditions are satis-fied, an Interrogation may begin.

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INTERROGATION

KEY POINTS:

◼ Interrogation is allowed, but only under strict condi-tions.

◼ A player may — at any time — opt out of an Interroga-tion, though doing so will cause them to reveal any information their character may have been hiding.

◼ Interrogations play to a character’s “Weakness,” as outlined in their character packet. If an Interrogator’s roleplay successfully corre-sponds to the victim’s weakness, they must re-veal information. Other-wise, they make react as they see fit.

IMPORTANT NOTE ON INTERROGATION: At any point, a player has the option of “opting-out” of Interrogation by

revealing their information. This immediately ends the Interrogation.


Interrogations play off of a character’s “Weakness,” a trait found on the “Personnel Profile” page of a player’s character packet. Weak-nesses are one of three things: Pain, Persuasion, or Comfort. At the beginning of an Interrogation, an Interrogating player may begin a roleplayed Interrogation that threatens one of these basic weaknesses if proper information is not revealed. Appealing to “pain,” for instance, might take a more aggressive approach, threatening the physical safe-ty of the character. “Persuasion” might attempt a more logical ap-proach, outlining the reasons why it might be in the character’s best interest. “Comfort” effectively “sweet-talks” the character, offering a more “good cop” approach. The roleplay of the Interrogator should clearly reflect one of these options.

If the Interrogator’s approach matches the captive’s weakness, they must reveal the information that the Interrogator seeks for ap-proximately the next five minutes. While every detail and specific need not be given, the responses of the captive should be the general truth as much as possible. If the Interrogator’s approach does not reflect the captive’s weakness, the captive can respond however they would like – even feigning fake duress or giving false information if they choose. If the Interrogator fails to achieve their goal, they may try another Inter-rogation session a minimum of fifteen minutes from the start of the prior – No character may be Interrogated more than once every fifteen minutes, even if a different Interrogator is used.

Given its questionable implications, Interrogation should be seen as a moral and ethical issue by most characters.

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THE THREE WEAKNESSES

PAIN PERSUASION COMFORT


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Situations may arise that re-quire the restraint or imprisonment of a character. In such instances, certain rules must be followed in order to allow for maximum safety of all players involved.

Characters can only be re-strained or imprisoned if the corre-sponding player agrees; while it is possible to resist, doing so may cause the injury or death of the character. Even if a character is in-capacitated, the player may not be restrained against their will.

Restraining a player involves the use of specific props provided by the Outbound Hope Staff. At no point should an individual be re-strained by anything other than a Staff-provided prop — especially one which prevents easy escape in the case of a real-world emergency. While it is possible to easily break out of Staff-provided props, this fea-ture is purely for the safety of the player and should be ignored in roleplay. Restraint props cannot be broken out of by the character in them; They must seek the assistance of another char-acter in order to escape.

Similarly, players may be imprisoned in specific, staff-established areas, which also allow for easy escape in the event of an emergency. These, too, can-not be escaped from with-out the assistance of anoth-er character.

RESTRAINT & Imprisonment

KEY POINTS:

◼ Characters may be re-strained or imprisoned, but a Player must always be able to remove themselves for safety purposes.

◼ Restraints or imprisonment areas must be given or es-tablished by staff, and can-not be escaped without assistance from another character.

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