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[Nova Returns March 13th]

The shuttle climbed slowly and steadily from the ground, with the young Captain at the controls. In the seats behind him were a few of his officers, battered and bruised from the mission they had just been on. The Captain looked down at his controls to ensure that their climb was steady, then turned his chair slightly so he could look his officers in the eye.

"You all did well - we did well. It was tough going, but we just saved an entire civilization from the brink of extinction"

The Science officer eyed the Captain in disbelief - the mission was a direct violation of their standing orders. General Order One! How could the Captain be so cavalier about breaking a rule like that?

The officers remained silent, each contemplating their futures, and the mission.

It isn't every day one goes diving into ice caves and cracks to leave a sonic resonance cannon in a deep crevasse of a planet's pole to help realign the magnetic pole and stave off an apocalyptic ice age that would have killed all life on a pre-warp planet.

What a trip, what a climb! When the quake hit, nearly everyone thought that would be it...

But they did it, and now this planet will remain stable for at least another 80 years; by which time the people may be more capable of surviving the event.

As the shuttle climbed through the clouds, a voice came through the comm array.

"Shuttlepod One, we have you on our scopes, you are cleared for docking."

And with that, zooming over head - Nova!

Taking up a position ahead of the shuttle in a low orbit, Nova aligned her launch bay for the shuttle to glide below. The magnetic grappling arm reached down and pulled the shuttle in, securing all aboard in the kind embrace of familiar sorroundings.

On the comm, the voice came on once again

"Shuttlepod One, Welcome Back"

Nova Returns March 13th

Good Day Blacksmiths

*coughs* Spider web! *pfft pfft* *Hairball noise* Sorry - dusty in here.

I wanted to bring to your attention - this: https://www.theforgegaming.net/forum/index.php/topic,258.0.html

A more elaborate explanation. I want to get back into RPG-X. I have a series in my head that I think would be a lot of fun, and very unlike anything we've done before (The only comparable RPG-X series I can think of in my years in RPG-X was Telex Ferra's "First Steps" - both are non-trek, focusing on a more modern, real world motif)

In order to pull off the idea in my head, I need to build some maps - in order to build some maps, I need to make time, and in order to make time - I want to make sure that these maps will see use - so I need to see if there is still any interest in RPG-X.

RPG-X has a lot of life in it - and the biggest issue I see is that everyone looks at it and thinks "Star Trek Game" - but it doesn't have to be! With some guidance, we can make new content, and do new things - and give RPG-X a life outside of Star Trek, molding it into something different.

I'll get off this soap box before I go on too much longer - but the bottom line is, I want to do something different - and create a new world to explore in RPG-X (or explore some old ones while I finish building the new one )

The link above leads to three spring mini-series ideas, response to those ideas will tell me how much interest (if any) is out there still for RPG-X. With any luck - We'll run one of those series for 3 months, then come back in the Fall for "From Here to Infinity"

I welcome any and all feedback - even if it's a "Thank you, but no, I'm not interested" I'd love to see you all out there, and helping to rekindle the fun we all once had with RPG-X while working together to give it some new life.

A few minor notes

This is an old post - and that title may be a bit of a misnomer - we'll see.

If we have a semi-clear winner by the end of the month, we could start as soon as March 13th (if not sooner)

I'd prefer to run this as a Saturday Series - though comments on day/and time will be taken into consideration

(Translation to the above - let me know when works best for you here, so I can try to accommodate your schedules the best I can)

I also see this running as a 12 episode (max) mini-series. All but one of these has a continuation in mind - and can/will likely spawn a full series that I'll aim to start in the Fall.

If you have any questions about any of the above ideas, or the logistics of the series - or anything, please let me know.

Added a list of acceptable mods - which is not exhaustive. If we can all agree on the mods - it will be added to the list. - let's try to fill this in soon.

tbh - I agree with this - and IMO option 3 would likely be the closest to that, allowing for more focus on building the game mechanics and less on a complex setting.

Scott Archer has submitted the following as a fourth option - After almost a decade of civil war, the core systems are finally starting to stabilise. But as they do so, an old ally turns into a new enemy, once again threatening the lives of those in the core systems and a new arms race begins. Meanwhile, a reminder of their past threatens to completely redefine what it means to be human and a recent scientific survey finds evidence of an ancient race who preceded them all.

For more info on any of these options, or to suggest one of your own - don't hesitate to reach out!

I went ahead and put the poll up. If you have any questions about the options, please ask. if I forgot to include an option, I honestly may have just missed it - please call me out on the oversight! and feel free during this period to brainstorm and think of other ideas, I'm not opposed to adding onto the list still.

I have changed the settings to open registration again - in preparation for the weekend's vote.

[*officially*]

Early in the week of June 22nd, 2020 - Discussions began between a handful of people about the possibility of migrating RPG-X to a new engine.

Having been in the RPG-X community for more than a decade, I've seen these conversations before come up, and die almost as quickly - three times.

Over the last three days though, we seem to be thinking about something other than just a port of the RPG-X we know, but instead designing something new altogether.

I want to say this right now - we're still in the very early "throwing ideas at the wall and see what sticks" stage, but it's slowly looking like a team is emerging from all of this (as well as some well placed cautious optimism).

This post is intended to kinda help bring folks up to speed, who are not actively participating in our Discord (There's a link to our discord above - the blue circle widget on the end)

Now - all of this is open for debate, and I at least love feedback. We have an opportunity to tailor make a game experience for our community - so take part in helping us build it (even if all you do is Statler and Waldorf heckle us from the balcony )

So to start off, I have suggested that in order to avoid a lawsuit, we would need to *officially* avoid building something from any known intellectual property out there, and design something new. (*cough* mods *cough cough*)

Another thought - RPG-X wasn't nearly as polished when it first dropped. it took a number of iterations to get it to how we've known it for the past decade - so don't expect this to be a copy and paste of what you know, it'll take time to get to that.

Lastly, I'm working to compile a list of ideas and suggestions - the most important one right now - we need to create a setting for the base game universe, and roll with that setting in mind. I suggested a couple, but there could be more ideas - so suggest them! On Saturday, June 27th, I'm going to put up a poll here, and we'll vote on a setting and move from that.

Note: This list lives here (I'm a link) and may not be updated regularly on the forums, but will be at this location - so check this link often

A Theme
We need to settle on a setting and theme. In an effort to avoid any known Intellectual Property, it'd be best if we design our own universe (Though, we can take a great deal of inspiration from various Sci-Fi sources...)

That said, I have two suggestions from my portfolio - and one from the modern world.


Suggestion 1 - Beyond Infinity: BI was a series I ran many many moons ago, set in a universe where gods, and mythological creatures roamed free. Zeus was the king of the planet Olympus and ruled the Alliance of Light for millenia, protecting it from the Shadow of Hades, and the shadow (literal shadow people) of the Hadin.

Suggestion 2 - A world I'm currently writing a book about: I'm writing a Novel based in a Tolkein-like fantasy world, but some 400 years in the future. So it's Lord of the Rings, in space.

Suggestion 3 - Space Force: We can use the modern world as a template, keep things Human within the base game, and explore the militarization of space some 80 years or so from now.

Personally, I feel Suggestion 3 is the most scalable canvas of the three suggestions, allowing for the most modability, without stepping on any possible IP's toes. - but, I'm open to other suggestions and ideas

Bottom line, we need a theme!

I am very enthusiastic about this, and I truly hope we can pull this off, but I know the only way we will is by the support of the community, so keep in the conversation! Lend a hand if you're willing/able (if I can learn Unreal, anyone can - I'm a computer hardware guy professionally, not a programmer - and I'm trying to learn this). I suspect over the course of next week, things will start to move into some form of real organization, so stay tuned

Disabled registration and deleted spam.

This is a public FYI...

If you have any questions, I think the best way to ask is on Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/vDzaHys

This isn't easy for me, so I'm going to make this short.

effectively immediately, I am stepping back from The Forge, RPG-X, all of this. After a couple of months of trying just get a discussion going about a future RPG-X series, a failed attempt to get an Orville SRP rebooted - and just the general sense of apathy in the community, I know I can't fix it.

So like that, I say goodbye.

I'll talk with Scott in the coming days, as he is still interim Ops Team head - and work out the financial situation of the community with him. In the meantime, if it's working now, it'll continue to work.

See you all out there.

Klaw

I can't speak for anyone but myself here, but this is where I am.

So, back in late January, I took a small step back to try to get my head on straight for about a month. (Post is here: https://www.theforgegaming.net/forum/index.php/topic,256.msg923.html#new)

During that time I started out strong in an effort to create some new items for RPG-X, and shared my progress with the community, mostly to the sound of chirping crickets. From my perspective, nobody cared. On the 11th of February, I notified the Interim Ops Team leader of my intention to retire, and he convinced me to hold on, and see what the next month brings.

We are about to enter that next month.

At this point right now, I am still on the brink of retirement. Our Discord is silent, and the forum posts that I've made over the last month have gone unanswered. It very much appears that nobody wants to be here anymore, and that's a sentiment that deeply saddens me.

For my part, I made this known privately, I'm really only around because of RPG-X - and if RPG-X is done, so am I. That's not to say I won't drop in to do a GTA heist, or help the Hawking Squad take on the Foxian Republic in our long overdue SE rematch... but, I have no vision for leading those games - or for creating/designing exciting content with them.

In my mind, when we created The Forge, I had hoped that we would all take on the mantle of leadership, explore new games and ideas, and use this as a venue for is to express our passions - all of them! We're not a Star Trek branded group - we're as far from any branding that I can think of. The Forge is intended to be a place of creativity, and comradery; and whether I am an active part of it or not, it should endure on that basis.

I know I can be a little overzealous, and maybe overbearing when it comes to my excitement for an RPG-X series, or a new map, or something that strikes my interest - and I have tried to tone that down. Please help me keep The Forge going, even if we no longer choose to support RPG-X - come and tell us what YOU want to play - organize your own games - take part in our Picard Discussions - let's spend the next month tempering our bond once more.

it has come to my attention that we're still having issues with our mail server. As a result, Newly registered members are NOT receiving e-mails to finish the registration process.

As a result, if you've come here, and do not receive a message from us to finish the registration, please reach out to me at doktor_klawktopus@hotmail.com, I will try to be prompt in responding, and should be able to get you setup quickly.

I apologize for any inconvenience, This e-mail requirement was put in place to curb spam accounts, and has so far been fairly successful, Just looking for some verification that you're not a spammer

Maybe an Orville-esque RP based on a New Orleans Class Starship during the TNG/DS9/Voy Era. We'd explore the Gamma Quadrant first, meet some new alien races, and possibly take a pivotal role in the war... - as well as show some of the awkward transition between the Enterprise C and the Enterprise D. (pre TNG Season 1)

As a preliminary suggestion - a few off the cuff ideas have come to mind (and I'm not afraid to map like a madman to accomplish these )

1. A dystopian 30th century. The Borg have all but destroyed the Alpha Quadrant, and what remains of the Federation live on in a scattered Flotilla, protected by an elite taskforce called Section 31 (it'd be a new, interesting take on the organization in the far future, after the events of option 2)

2. What I've called DS9 Season 8 - based on the writers room segment of the "What We Left Behind" DS9 Documentary. The first Cardassian in Starfleet has arrived on DS9 to take command of the station (20 years after Sisko was taken by the prophets) - and the galaxy is a very different place, but like Quark said "The more things change, the more they stay the same".

3. Days after the Khitomer conference, and the signing of the peace treaty between the Klingon Empire and the Federation, Starfleet readies a humanitarian convoy to head to Klingon Space. Mission 1 - Aid the Praxis cleanup, Mission 2 - Explore the vast expanse beyond the empire that even the Klingon's haven't ventured.