News Half-Life 2 Roleplay: After-Life

[PepicWalrus]

we ought to have more player owned vehicles, that van I had as Jess was so much fun to build and drive around in. we have to have maps that allow some driving. I want carcrashRP

Definitely a desire. Raiden and I very briefly spoke about even having some way to build vehicles with crafting added although nothing more beyond that idea at the moment. Just depends if we can get vehicles to not be so demanding or not really. But we do want vehicles and vehicle accessible maps.

We also need a passive loot system that doesn't rely on admins.
I miss Zulu crates

i think with this being set in what is basically post-post-apocalypse, where society is mostly reformed, i doubt looting will be the main source of item acquisition going forward

commerce will probably be the big thing i think?

Bit of both I think. With the legal and illegal methods and item tiers. There may be a materials economy to manufacture stuff that'll require people to go out into the outlands to harvest materials or doing it for personal use and then bring it to facilities in the city. Creating nodes and POI people can try to maintain control over or act as targets.

We want to have different tiers of stuff for crafting with exotic materials needed for high grade weapons especially black market alien tech weapons to have that element of the fact Combine tech is now being freely used in less restrictive ways.

So fully legal will require commerce with illegal being mostly self crafted. A dichotomy of that pristine upper city and that dark lower city.

But for the most part you won't be rummaging for random loot spawns. There'd be key locations you can go for specific material nodes is our idea right now and then take them to appropriate processing facilities. That way people can do runs for specific things and also create locations people may get into conflict over.

@Raiden feel free to add on or correct anything since you had the majority of the crafting ideas.

 

[NiGHT]

Definitely a desire. Raiden and I very briefly spoke about even having some way to build vehicles with crafting added although nothing more beyond that idea at the moment. Just depends if we can get vehicles to not be so demanding or not really. But we do want vehicles and vehicle accessible maps.



Bit of both I think. With the legal and illegal methods and item tiers. There may be a materials economy to manufacture stuff that'll require people to go out into the outlands to harvest materials or doing it for personal use and then bring it to facilities in the city. Creating nodes and POI people can try to maintain control over or act as targets.

We want to have different tiers of stuff for crafting with exotic materials needed for high grade weapons especially black market alien tech weapons to have that element of the fact Combine tech is now being freely used in less restrictive ways.

So fully legal will require commerce with illegal being mostly self crafted. A dichotomy of that pristine upper city and that dark lower city.

But for the most part you won't be rummaging for random loot spawns. There'd be key locations you can go for specific material nodes is our idea right now and then take them to appropriate processing facilities. That way people can do runs for specific things and also create locations people may get into conflict over.

@Raiden feel free to add on or correct anything since you had the majority of the crafting ideas.

knowing where loot spawns would be amazing

wood in forests etc

 

[Vaz]

I'm honestly looking forward to this iteration.

Just wanted to comment and be part of the hype. I am very much interested in being part of this!

 

[PepicWalrus]

knowing where loot spawns would be amazing

wood in forests etc

Yes that is the general idea. Just needs a balance of being restrictive enough to brew conflict over them while being abundant enough to not choke hold the community. We'd want these "nodes" as we call them to be able to be set up by staff but then be automated to replenish on their own. So we could set up a scrap yard for metallic and damaged tech components for example. Woods as you said. Going out to get raw materials at key locations. Outland groups could also try to maintain control over these areas. Likewise in the city area you'd have processing facilities to take these too. Either legally or illegally established and these in turn could be targets to destroy or whatever.

There would also be 'exotic' materials needed for the highest grade of crafting. Dark Matter being one I want to be core to high tier crafting but also be illegal to own and handle without authorization from (I presume at this time) the political council. So if people want the best stuff they'll need to obtain and use illegal materials to make these items unless they want to go through legal hoops and likely being tied to organizations/companies.

What we have in our notes currently, These are just examples and not set in stone:

Grades: Natural, Refined, Tech, Exotic

Natural: Wood, Metal, Stone, Coal, Oil

Refined: Alloy, Planks, Bricks, Gunpowder

Tech: Wires, Circuits, LEDs, Batteries

Exotic: Dark Matter, Gemstones, Xenian Materials

should still make it so you can only get PK'd if killed by someone who had PK permissions on you beforehand, or your death is resoundingly thematic, narratively appropriate, or canonical in feeling

slipping off map geometry or being killed as a matter of pretense (killed for the crime of wrong place wrong time for example) shouldn't go, because no development comes as a result of that

in RPG terms; PKs if you die as a direct result of your own stupidity, poor actions, and lack of foresight, and less because of circumstances where you were fucked from the getgo. if the metaphorical DM is watching, it's fair game

we're here for OOC enjoyment first and foremost, and we owe it to every player to make them not hate their character dying, even if we can't make them enjoy it
(though personally a really good death scene can be enjoyable even for the person playing the character)

also heavily agree with nexus‘ old suggestion of removing pk appeals entirely outside of event pks or glitches and change to a pk request system where the killer must explain their reasoning for a pk before getting it approved

Forgot to reply to this earlier but I do like this idea. I know the reduction in PKs let to some contention during HL2RP2^ but given this isn't a war time setting unless it evolves into civil unrest or something naturally then stricter PK rules seem fitting alongside shifting away from narrative event focus and more on player driven directions for the server. I suppose a few concerns are how it'll be handled for the Shadow Operatives without outing them if something goes wrong. But requiring PvP PKs to purely be centered around pre-approved PK Auths will give clear intention ahead of time to staff. Will require discussion but overall favoring this direction for PKs.

 

[Eternal Light]

For some loot spawns, whether guns, ammo, materials, etc, there should be outposts or overrun bases or locations that have AI enemies (Combine, radicals, rebels, zombies, antlions, etc) where you have to face these enemies to earn that loot placed there every time the items respawn.

 

[A. Vaher]

We should have a Candy Crush minigame every time we want to craft something

 

[PepicWalrus]

Random lore question. Been toying with the specific timeframe of how long it has been. Majority of things won't change. The Populus is still developing and while it has made quick progress the majority of the world is untamed. But what would interest you the most?

5 years after the war ended (2029)

10 years after the war ended (2034)

20 years after the war ended (2044)

General things to note is the last one would allow for people who were born at the end of the war to be adults. However anyone who was alive for the occupation would be pushing up there in age. Politically things will also still be developing.

People are in theory going to be able to ICly have kids in their story although I'll state now we don't plan to accommodate children or underage characters existing physically so There'll have to be some explanation on why they never show up. Hybrids are also NOT a thing.

 

[Ricsow]

Random lore question. Been toying with the specific timeframe of how long it has been. Majority of things won't change. The Populus is still developing and while it has made quick progress the majority of the world is untamed. But what would interest you the most?

5 years after the war ended (2029)

10 years after the war ended (2034)

20 years after the war ended (2044)

General things to note is the last one would allow for people who were born at the end of the war to be adults. However anyone who was alive for the occupation would be pushing up there in age. Politically things will also still be developing.

People are in theory going to be able to ICly have kids in their story although I'll state now we don't plan to accommodate children or underage characters existing physically so There'll have to be some explanation on why they never show up. Hybrids are also NOT a thing.

20 Years

 

[Tinbe]

Random lore question. Been toying with the specific timeframe of how long it has been. Majority of things won't change. The Populus is still developing and while it has made quick progress the majority of the world is untamed. But what would interest you the most?

5 years after the war ended (2029)

10 years after the war ended (2034)

20 years after the war ended (2044)

General things to note is the last one would allow for people who were born at the end of the war to be adults. However anyone who was alive for the occupation would be pushing up there in age. Politically things will also still be developing.

People are in theory going to be able to ICly have kids in their story although I'll state now we don't plan to accommodate children or underage characters existing physically so There'll have to be some explanation on why they never show up. Hybrids are also NOT a thing.

20 years, if not even more.

 

[The Red Devil]

Random lore question. Been toying with the specific timeframe of how long it has been. Majority of things won't change. The Populus is still developing and while it has made quick progress the majority of the world is untamed. But what would interest you the most?

5 years after the war ended (2029)

10 years after the war ended (2034)

20 years after the war ended (2044)

General things to note is the last one would allow for people who were born at the end of the war to be adults. However anyone who was alive for the occupation would be pushing up there in age. Politically things will also still be developing.

People are in theory going to be able to ICly have kids in their story although I'll state now we don't plan to accommodate children or underage characters existing physically so There'll have to be some explanation on why they never show up. Hybrids are also NOT a thing.

5 years I think

 

[MaXenzie]

Random lore question. Been toying with the specific timeframe of how long it has been. Majority of things won't change. The Populus is still developing and while it has made quick progress the majority of the world is untamed. But what would interest you the most?

5 years after the war ended (2029)

10 years after the war ended (2034)

20 years after the war ended (2044)

General things to note is the last one would allow for people who were born at the end of the war to be adults. However anyone who was alive for the occupation would be pushing up there in age. Politically things will also still be developing.

People are in theory going to be able to ICly have kids in their story although I'll state now we don't plan to accommodate children or underage characters existing physically so There'll have to be some explanation on why they never show up. Hybrids are also NOT a thing.

considering the sheer state of the world after the combine left, if we dont want absolute post-apocalypse stuff, 20 years

its far enough that humanity can really be in the swing of rebuilding, and now start to worry about long-term problems instead of "how are we going to avoid starving today"

 

[deathwolf]

20

 

[Vaz]

I have to say, I would prefer 10 years.

Jumping so far forward would defeat the purpose of having our characters fix the problems the Combine have caused, yes shit might still be fucked after 20 or 30 years in the future, but it wouldn't be as bad. And wheres the fun in that?

If we want After Life, we might as well stage it still somewhat fresh in the minds of the populace, where the PTSD of the Combine is still holding strong in the minds of many, be that Ex-Resistance or Ex-Combine.

 

[MaXenzie]

I have to say, I would prefer 10 years.

Jumping so far forward would defeat the purpose of having our characters fix the problems the Combine have caused, yes shit might still be fucked after 20 or 30 years in the future, but it wouldn't be as bad. And wheres the fun in that?

If we want After Life, we might as well stage it still somewhat fresh in the minds of the populace, where the PTSD of the Combine is still holding strong in the minds of many, be that Ex-Resistance or Ex-Combine.

if The Populus is unique in that it's one of the only large cases of civilization then yeah 5 or 10 years is far more justifiable

i think a lot of people are saying 20 years assuming this is a mostly worldwide return to normalcy

 

[Vaz]

if The Populus is unique in that it's one of the only large cases of civilization then yeah 5 or 10 years is far more justifiable

i think a lot of people are saying 20 years assuming this is a mostly worldwide return to normalcy

Hard to explain of the idea I got in my head, but I will try:

Have it so some cities around the world have a higher priority to getting fixed and to get them back up and running over other cities that might not be as important, for example cities such as London or Washington DC, New York etc

Where other cities are still struggling to fix/clean up due to the damage caused over years of the Combines Abuse, or just don't have the proper equipment to do so, like Cairo or Puerto Rico (I'm just saying random Cities, by all means no shade thrown on them).

It's down to whether we want to go for a city with a high priority of getting fix, or a low one.
High Priority means shit might get fixed up quicker over a Low Priority city, where there might still be wildlife or environmental danagers.


That make sense?

 

[chronos]

Random lore question. Been toying with the specific timeframe of how long it has been. Majority of things won't change. The Populus is still developing and while it has made quick progress the majority of the world is untamed. But what would interest you the most?

5 years after the war ended (2029)

10 years after the war ended (2034)

20 years after the war ended (2044)

General things to note is the last one would allow for people who were born at the end of the war to be adults. However anyone who was alive for the occupation would be pushing up there in age. Politically things will also still be developing.

People are in theory going to be able to ICly have kids in their story although I'll state now we don't plan to accommodate children or underage characters existing physically so There'll have to be some explanation on why they never show up. Hybrids are also NOT a thing.

5 years...

the thing that makes post occupation sound interesting (to me at least) is the conflict that comes with it. you are now in the process of literally rebuilding humanity, both in mind and structure; skipping twenty years ahead feels like taking away the power of the punch the combine dealt during their occupation of earth. twenty years on, and you're playing in a mostly rebuilt town and getting on with your life - which doesn't sound very interesting (again, to me)

with five years on, the nightmare of the union's occupation is still fresh in the minds of those who survived it - not like it ever won't be, but the fact that it literally only got toppled five years ago helps - and now you have to rebuild from the core fundamentals. think about the warlords grasping for power amidst the new world, the ex-civil protection head-hunting (you could still have this after twenty years so it's whatever), dealing with what little combine forces that still remain on earth

dealing with the more or less direct aftermath sounds like a more entertaining idea to me

 

[hewrrra]

Random lore question. Been toying with the specific timeframe of how long it has been. Majority of things won't change. The Populus is still developing and while it has made quick progress the majority of the world is untamed. But what would interest you the most?

5 years after the war ended (2029)

10 years after the war ended (2034)

20 years after the war ended (2044)

General things to note is the last one would allow for people who were born at the end of the war to be adults. However anyone who was alive for the occupation would be pushing up there in age. Politically things will also still be developing.

People are in theory going to be able to ICly have kids in their story although I'll state now we don't plan to accommodate children or underage characters existing physically so There'll have to be some explanation on why they never show up. Hybrids are also NOT a thing.

5 years. 20 years later sounds interesting but it strays away from a lot of the interesting things, ideas and conflicts that could develop from the populus, or even the world still being affected and heavily suffering from the fallout of the war and the occupation. 20 years later would take away a lot of player agency in developing the post-occupation world - something which I've gathered this iteration highly strives for - semi-skipping past the stage of a town rebuilding after the war and just handing an already developed settlement to the players

 

[john]

Anything listed as default will be available to everyone the moment they log in for the first time with no additional effort required.

this is very cool btw please stick to ur guns on this. player trust is essential to interesting stories. im gonna give this iteration a brief go it's got some steam behind it

 

[MaXenzie]

rescinding my choice and saying 5-10 years is best

Populus being the sole Big City also means everyone has a lot of credence to make weirder characters since in-universe, everyone who isn't in the outlands would be going there

 

[A. Vaher]

Random lore question. Been toying with the specific timeframe of how long it has been. Majority of things won't change. The Populus is still developing and while it has made quick progress the majority of the world is untamed. But what would interest you the most?

5 years after the war ended (2029)

10 years after the war ended (2034)

20 years after the war ended (2044)

General things to note is the last one would allow for people who were born at the end of the war to be adults. However anyone who was alive for the occupation would be pushing up there in age. Politically things will also still be developing.

People are in theory going to be able to ICly have kids in their story although I'll state now we don't plan to accommodate children or underage characters existing physically so There'll have to be some explanation on why they never show up. Hybrids are also NOT a thing.

I like 5-10, 20 feels too far detached as a lot can happen in 20 years and I feel like it would gloss over a lot that could have happened in that time