Unified Records / Custom Character Backstories

[atomic1fire]

A cool but potentially bad miscreant idea.
Acquire a criminal background by being incarcerated at the end of the round.

Also I suggest that scanning using the pda scanner on fingerprints should flag any prints tied to an existing arrest record, if the prints are a clear enough match.

Also if a fingerprint is intact why not let us click on it to open the security record on our pda using the fingerprint scanner on the pda. It would give tators better reason to delete their security records, because it would make tying them to a crime harder also setting them to arrest much more difficult.

It would also make sec pda's that much more useful.

More reasons to use the security records that aren't just "because beepsky" would be great.

If random flavor text is a thing, I think people should be able to suggest the madlibs entries in it's own thread.


My personal favorites being "x was raised by wolves", "x is the former dictator of space canada" and "x suffers from the belief that their parents were abducted by giant pastry"

Notify players of these details so that they can react and be treated accordingly.

Alternatively add miscreant objectives to the security/medical/personel records. (this one might be kinda dumb though I dunno)

"X is focused on their music career and only sees employment to a means to an end" (Become a rapper)

"X may be on the verge of something big." (that convince the station of something secret objective)

"X shows emotional problems and may suffer from the paranoid delusions that his/her fellow co-workers are out to get them." (Convince the station someone else is up to no good)

This would encourage people to react to other people's miscreant objectives, and also encourage people to actually do them because other people might play along.

Maybe it might be a better feature for an extended server though.

[Cogwerks]

Some thoughts from last night on a starting one-axis system. One axis might be too simplistic but I like how the three R's sound.

SS13 BIO GENERATOR
~*Rough, Regular, Refined*~

Rough
-chance to start with prosthetics, “Lucky Left Arm”
-RNG nicknames, shitty-bill formatted names (suggested by AngriestIBM)
-grim prior occupations and backgrounds
-funny prior arrests / prior injuries on record
-chance to start with mutations

Regular
-past employers and education all standard things
-for newbies / people who don’t care, default selection

Refined
-fancy past employers and education
-announces that you maybe know what you’re doing
-fancy starting items like diplomas, awards, #1 dad mugs

*examples*
Name: Geoff “Hambone” Jenkins
Job: Bartender
Background: Ex-Convict
Prior Occupation: Bartender (Syndicate)
Education: REDACTED
start with: Prosthetic left leg.

Name: Alice Chumpwaltz
Job: Assistant
Background: Office Temp
Prior Occupation: Assistant (Hemera)
Education: Correspondence School

Name: Dave 41
Job: Engineer
Background: Clone
Prior Occupation: N/A
Education: N/A

Name: Ched Wainfaff
Job: Head of Personnel
Background: Affluent
Prior Occupation: Student
Education: Nanotrasen Administrative Institute

I don't want to go too overboard with details. Improv comedy standards would work best, I think.
Ever watch Whose Line is it Anyways? They only get a short snippet of info to work with. Related:
http://scene-from-a-hat.tumblr.com/

There'd be nothing to stop an eyepatched ex-smuggler named Old Dave from rolling captain or a former Hemera 4 researcher from rolling chef. None of this would conflict with job prefs or assignments, and I don't want it to tell players how to behave.
If someone notices the clown used to be an RD and has a doctorate in physics, that could spur some funny dialog and interactions. Players would probably get a little reminder of a few backstory details at round-start and in Notes.

[atomic1fire]

Cool sounding effort post

Add eyepatch to the list of possible prosthetics and I'd say yes to this. I wanna chance of spawning with an eyepatch and a chance to make a cool story as to why I have an eyepatch.

[icarus]

i started working on a personality test idea kinda based off that thing from Fallout NV

the test would cover your
F.riendliness, or how well known/liked you are (wasn't this actually gonna be a thing?)
A.cademics, your level of education
R.aising(??), what your childhood was like
T.alents, anything you're especially good at
M.edical History, how hecked up your body is
A.wfulness, any criminal history/bad blood you'll have with people
N.Name/Nickname, you're done! (besides learning your cool nickname)
once finished, the F.A.R.T.M.A.N. has your whole life story and skills ready

mostly i just wanted to make a wacky acronym but once i know more about what you're going for i can expand on it

[BruiseCruise]

-snip-

Perhaps there could also be a War Veteran background as well along with the random-gen names of the wars and battles you fought in.

[UrsulaMejor]

It'd be fun to be able to look up shitty bill's history and find an infinitely long document of literally every possibilitiy

[Frank_Stein]

This could maybe be tied to traitor objectives too?

Like, for instance, if the traitor has a list of targets they need to kill, they could have some kind of flavor text about their motive, beyond just being a syndicate agent. This could be related to the mirrored backstory.

An example. Bill and Ted are both scientists who went to the same academy and worked on a major research project together. This is in the public notes. However, unknown to everyone else, Bill is also a traitor.

In Bill's private character sheet/notes, it might say that Ted took all the credit for their work together. Bill never forgave Ted for this, and joined the Syndicate for a shot and revenge.

Now, add a couple of extra ways Ted's background is linked to random crewmembers, and you have a reason for Sec to pour over victim records to try and narrow a list of suspects

[OMJ]

all of these ideas sound really good, i really like the three Rs system

[salix_catus]

Traitor objectives should tie in to this somehow. IE have a reason, however stupid that someone is being assasinated or have a reason why an item or credits are needed.

[Winklabom]

Bump!

[Cogwerks]

un-rip this

Might get more traction against the 'playstyle is too fast' thought now that Destiny's around.

[Nnystyxx]

This actually sounds really cool. Gives people an opportunity for background and backstory and to break their mold without having to cast entirely new ones, instead getting a chance to try new things.

[atomic1fire]

If records aren't being filled out then automating them seems like the best solution.

I kinda like the idea of optional suit sensors personally, on Hippie there's literally a SEKRET room that lets you spy on people. I spent a whole round telling someone where suspected gang members were located so they could kill them off. I was alfred to someone's batman. Normally the medbay computer on tgstation/bay is used for telling people where dying people are.

[ZeWaka]

If records aren't being filled out then automating them seems like the best solution.

I kinda like the idea of optional suit sensors personally, on Hippie there's literally a SEKRET room that lets you spy on people. I spent a whole round telling someone where suspected gang members were located so they could kill them off. I was alfred to someone's batman. Normally the medbay computer on tgstation/bay is used for telling people where dying people are.

Yea, I've been over to Colonial Marines once or twice and I really liked their suit tracking system. You can set it to location and vitals, vitals, or nothing (There might be one more option, I forget). It would be neat if we could tie that in with the computer system so there is an actual reason to check the computers. Also, I think the ticket/fine system should automatically input those into the minor crimes section in Secmate. It would allow officers to look at if a prisoner they have has had any past infractions, instead of trying to hunt another officer down (Who could be dead) to see what they did.

[somepotato]

That's not from colonel marines, but I forgot what branch it was from originally(maybe tg?);
Having an interface for tracking people with GPS trackers in them or easily checking the vitals of people would be nice