Excalibur Squadron OOC Thread

[Nightkill the Emperor]

So I was informed you wanted a review on this.

What exactly do you want judged and what specifically should I look at?

[Boriem]

Just saying that I'm still here.

Again.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Audit is almost done. I heard from basically everyone I expected to, except for one or two that I still see around but who aren't responding to my TGs. Kinda rude.
So I've got two operations worked out now, and we'll keep recruiting in the next few weeks. The overall RP structure is going to be changed around a considerable amount too, so keep checking in.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Ah yes, I remembered this.

I'm reading it over again, don't worry.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Ah yes, I remembered this.

I'm reading it over again, don't worry.

Excellent!

[The Tiger Kingdom]

OP UPDATED WITH SEVERAL NEW THINGS, INCLUDING ACTUAL RP RULES. EVERYONE MUST READ SAID RULES. FEEL FREE TO ASK QUESTIONS IF THERE ARE ANY.

[Firstaria]

Standard rules, fully acceptable.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Also, some more likely future changes:

- There will probably be a new OP for the OOC thread soon. I've changed the original around so much it's virtually unrecognizable from what it originally was, and it's not like these 43 pages are doing much. It would look better overall to start again with this thread and cut away all the old chaff, I think. It's likely just be called 'Excalibur Squadron V2' or something to that effect.

- The Red Lion and Hofbrauhaus will be going away. They're used so sporadically there's really no point to them. Which is connected to...

- In the future, there will be no separate operation threads. There will simply be a centralized "Excalibur Squadron IC Thread" that will be retitled when a new operation starts. This one thread will encompass ALL IC activity for the group. Hopefully, this will lead to a more unified and coherent IC component, rather than having IC stuff spread across 5 different threads and a whole bunch of old ones. That isn't to say that pilots can't have their downtime at the Red Lion/Hofbrauhaus - it just has to be in that thread. No other ones.

Feel free to ask questions or submit suggestions for further reforms.
Hint for the new operation will be coming up soon, now that the audit is done - and so will the updated roster. We've got plenty of space, so feel free to try and recruit people to come in, if you've got someone in mind who would be a good fit.

[Firstaria]

- In the future, there will be no separate operation threads. There will simply be a centralized "Excalibur Squadron IC Thread" that will be retitled when a new operation starts. This one thread will encompass ALL IC activity for the group. Hopefully, this will lead to a more unified and coherent IC component, rather than having IC stuff spread across 5 different threads and a whole bunch of old ones. That isn't to say that pilots can't have their downtime at the Red Lion/Hofbrauhaus - it just has to be in that thread. No other ones.

I'm not agreeing with this, as I loved this part of the format. You may want to make an HQ thread and side operation threads, so one can be used as a bar and the others will be closed and archived side to side, like I did with XCOM.

I think creating a single thread will make things confusing, and a HQ can be useful to land the new recruits.

By the way, NEVER PLAYED SILENT STORM?

[The Two Jerseys]

- In the future, there will be no separate operation threads. There will simply be a centralized "Excalibur Squadron IC Thread" that will be retitled when a new operation starts. This one thread will encompass ALL IC activity for the group. Hopefully, this will lead to a more unified and coherent IC component, rather than having IC stuff spread across 5 different threads and a whole bunch of old ones. That isn't to say that pilots can't have their downtime at the Red Lion/Hofbrauhaus - it just has to be in that thread. No other ones.

I'm not agreeing with this, as I loved this part of the format. You may want to make an HQ thread and side operation threads, so one can be used as a bar and the others will be closed and archived side to side, like I did with XCOM.

I think creating a single thread will make things confusing, and a HQ can be useful to land the new recruits.

By the way, NEVER PLAYED SILENT STORM?

I'm inclined to agree with the need for a separate thread for individual ops. Since the squadron operates as a group, there's a limit to how much we can advance the plot without commandeering other characters, which is why we often end up with short posts, and when these start piling up it would get awful confusing with a single thread.

Now, it would be possible to have a single IC thread, but to do so we would have to consider the possibility of operating in smaller units or increasing the number of non-player characters in the RP; it may be worth adding some NPC pilots to the squadron so we have "wingmen" to control and can divide into two-man teams on the ground. I for one can crank out pages of material if we operated semi-independently with NPCs.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

- In the future, there will be no separate operation threads. There will simply be a centralized "Excalibur Squadron IC Thread" that will be retitled when a new operation starts. This one thread will encompass ALL IC activity for the group. Hopefully, this will lead to a more unified and coherent IC component, rather than having IC stuff spread across 5 different threads and a whole bunch of old ones. That isn't to say that pilots can't have their downtime at the Red Lion/Hofbrauhaus - it just has to be in that thread. No other ones.

I'm not agreeing with this, as I loved this part of the format. You may want to make an HQ thread and side operation threads, so one can be used as a bar and the others will be closed and archived side to side, like I did with XCOM.

I think creating a single thread will make things confusing, and a HQ can be useful to land the new recruits.

By the way, NEVER PLAYED SILENT STORM?

This was, I'll admit, a bit of a thorny issue to work out. Very well, I'm amenable to compromise. We can have an HQ thread and 1 other active IC thread (for the operations), but I think that'll be the limit.
And no, I've never played Silent Storm unfortunately, I think it was a bit before my time...

And I've thought of allowing wingmen in the past as well. I've kinda already done that with Commander Noble as it is, I realize...
So what exactly are you envisioning with the wingman thing? Would these essentially just be a second character under the control of one of the RPers? That's my conception of the idea, anyway. Just want to make sure I understand.

[Firstaria]

Really, because this reminds me somewhere of it, except the Silent Storm team is a infantry one, but it's really similar.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Really, because this reminds me somewhere of it, except the Silent Storm team is a infantry one, but it's really similar.

My main inspiration for the whole idea was the Wraith Squadron series of books, by Aaron Allston. They're Star Wars books, set around a team of Rebel pilots/commandos fighting an Imperial warlord. They're very, very good, I highly recommend them even if you don't like Star Wars. They hit all the tropes - quiet and smart explosives expert with a dark past, charismatic disguise expert with a dark past, tough as nails squadron leader with a dark past, mischievous computer expert with a dark past, cute comms-expert girl with a dark past...
You get the idea. They're all considerably deeper and more fleshed-out than that, but still.
At any rate, they're all really well-written, and I thought that combining that kind of narrative to World War Two would be like combining peanut butter with chocolate.
Hence, this RP.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Oh, almost forgot: first hint as to the next operation:

[Britcan]

Oh, almost forgot: first hint as to the next operation:

http://tinyurl.com/bvl76u3

That's Blenheim Palace, the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough of which Winston Churchill was a member. I'm guessing we are going to be working closely with Churchill on this one then?

[Tiltjuice]

Really, because this reminds me somewhere of it, except the Silent Storm team is a infantry one, but it's really similar.

My main inspiration for the whole idea was the Wraith Squadron series of books, by Aaron Allston. They're Star Wars books, set around a team of Rebel pilots/commandos fighting an Imperial warlord. They're very, very good, I highly recommend them even if you don't like Star Wars. They hit all the tropes - quiet and smart explosives expert with a dark past, charismatic disguise expert with a dark past, tough as nails squadron leader with a dark past, mischievous computer expert with a dark past, cute comms-expert girl with a dark past...
You get the idea. They're all considerably deeper and more fleshed-out than that, but still.
At any rate, they're all really well-written, and I thought that combining that kind of narrative to World War Two would be like combining peanut butter with chocolate.
Hence, this RP.

Yeah, those were pretty decent. I was disappointed after Solo Command, but them's the breaks.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

I was just disappointed they abandoned Rogue/Wraith Squadron for so damn long to make all those shitty one-off books they did before the Vong showed up. I think they JUST made a new Wraith one, all of 30 in-universe years after the last one, and like 20 RL years later.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Also, Lieutenant Noble and Captain von Sporrenburg will soon be getting their own writeups, as they'll be recurring characters.

[Wolfmanne]

Name: Lieutenant Jack Stockholm
Age: 28
Rank: Lieutenant
Physical Description: 6'2 tall, Caucasian, Crew Cut hairstyle
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Flight/Flight Combat Experience (good sources for experience could be the Spanish Civil War, maybe stunt pilot training, or simply previous Air Force experience): Trained as a Royal Marine pilot; had a private pilot license at 20.
Ground Combat Experience (Highly recommended, but not entirely necessary - this can be trained): Spent 6 years of his career as a Royal Marines officer and he has completed Commando training. His more recent 3 years has been as a Royal Marines pilot for the Fleet Air Arm.
Specialities (air or ground - communications, demolitions, disguises, languages, etc.):
RP Experience (not necessary, but helpful): You know me...
Personal History/Bio (more than one line please): Born in Liverpool, London, to a Catholic family, his father was a Royal Marine officer and he was expected to follow in his footsteps. He attended Harrow School, where he met Bryon Thivierge, who would be one of the first members of Excalibur Squadron, although he was three years younger than him. He attended the University of Warwick from 18, studying Engineering and graduating with a 2:1. He applied to the Royal Marines as an Officer, serving for three years, before at the ripe age of 25 applied to become a pilot for the Fleet Air Arm. He was accepted and served on a number of vessels, At the outbreak of World War II, Stockholm was stationed on board HMS Ark Royal at the outbreak of the war. He was temporarily attached to a RAF squadron in the Far East after one of their pilots was shot down, where he obtained a number of victories in a short time. His former classmate Thivierge, before leaving the Squadron, recommended Stockholm as a potential Squadron member. Eventually, he was accepted, becoming the first Royal Marine and Fleet Air Arm pilot in the Squadron. He has only had barely enough time to adjust to the Spitfire from the Skua.

Note: I write this while I was tired, so this app may not be the best.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

*snip*[/i]

Accepted!
Surprised you're not re-upping Byron, but Stockholm seems an interesting chap. Glad to have you back!

[Calizorinstan]

I'm debating killing off Emily for some drama in Excalibur, but yet I think we've been through enough with losing James without killing off a spouse too.... Seems like far more drama than is necessary..

[The Tiger Kingdom]

I'm debating killing off Emily for some drama in Excalibur, but yet I think we've been through enough with losing James without killing off a spouse too.... Seems like far more drama than is necessary..

We have had a shitload of drama lately, but it's ultimately up to you, of course.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

By the way, the TVTropes page could use a little expansion, if you guys want to scratch a writing itch before our next operation.

[Wolfmanne]

*snip*[/i]

Accepted!
Surprised you're not re-upping Byron, but Stockholm seems an interesting chap. Glad to have you back!

Bryon is probably stationed elsewhere; I'm debating whether he should be Free French or Vichy but harbour sympathy for the Free French cause. The latter would be interesting for future operations.

[Firstaria]

I would prefer to have written NOX Squadron instead of "Danilo De Simone" as enemy, and also I'll work on NOX tropes once we reach the next operations.