Traveller's Cafe 4: Brainstorming, Discussion, Tea, Advice

[Harbertia]

True... you could contact people who have tagged or applied for similar RPs you've hosted. It's a vague association but it's not as random; "Hello, this is Dayganistan. While X RP didn't get off the ground I remember your interest in it and am inviting you to my most recent project. Perhaps this time we'll get things rolling."

There's pretty much no point anyway. The kind of RPs I want to join seem doomed to failure whether I'm hosting them or someone else. I don't know why I'm still here in the vague hope I'll see something appealing to me that's not going to die immediately. I don't even know what happened, about a year or 2 ago I could regularly find RPs that were appealing to me. But now, literally nothing.

This has to be the twelfth time I've read you saying this over and over again. To elaborate one what I've been trying to express before in different words; your repetitive uttering of this only re-enforces it in your mind making it harder for you to get out of this gloom. It's like Despair from Never Ending Story, with you being the horse and me trying to pull you out of it.

[Allied Wessex]

Back in the day I played (albeit briefly) an RPG set in 16th century Britain called Maelstrom.

Great fun and if there was ever interest in something like that I’d be up for it.

Well, nothing's stopping you from rebooting it.

That’s not an unreasonable response.

A couple of things give me pause for thought:

* I’ve never actually modded a forum based game before and secondly....
* RL really is hectic (as in full time job, a three year old daughter and another baby due in January). These commitments just wouldn’t leave me enough time to do this sensibly and I’d hate to get excited about setting something up and maybe pull one or two others along in my wake only for the game to fade away because my posts were infrequently and rushed - that would just be disrespectful to those who had signed up.

[Pax Nerdvana]

RP INTEREST AND FEEDBACK REQUEST

---

Please provide as much detail as possible.
RP's Overarching Concept: Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire - Similar to the setting of the Foundation Series sans the Foundation.
Genre/s: Sci-Fi, Apoc / Post-Apoc
Character or Faction Based: Faction Based
Detailed Description: Ever since I read the Foundation series I've really wanted to do an RP in something similar to it's universe - an ancient, decadent and declining Galactic Empire starting it's gradual decline and fall into a Galaxy-spanning Dark Age, unless, perhaps, players can somehow avoid that apparent inevitability. The RP would start after the death of the Emperor who would come to be known as the last to rule over a unified Galaxy. Players would be able to RP as factions seeking to uphold and maintain the Empire, take control of it or achieve independence, and create their own lore for whatever Sector or world they wanted to be based on. They could also try their hand at a member of the Imperial Government, be it General, Senator, Grand Admiral, or if they really felt like it some enterprising space-peasant. I'd be RPing as the Emperor himself and do what I can to make being in my faction a nightmare of bureaucracy, bickering and general awfulness to encourage separatism. Oh, and the galaxy is entirely human - intelligent xenos either never existed, have been driven to extinction in the glorious wars of human domination, or are in hiding / coming over from intergalactic space, depending on how many RPers there are and if any want to be xeno filth.

Need Help With: Making this an actual RP, gauging interest - I'm not particularly experienced with making or moderating RPs, nor am I sure if I'd be very good at it or if what lore I have is enough or at it's core good / interesting for an RP. I'm just itching to see a Fall of the Galactic Empire RP. Oh, and if an RP similar to my idea already exists, I'd appreciate being pointed in it's direction.

Please leave this hashtag in place: #Mentorhelp

I love Foundation. I'd be interested.

[Labstoska]

RP INTEREST AND FEEDBACK REQUEST

---

Please provide as much detail as possible.
RP's Overarching Concept: Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire - Similar to the setting of the Foundation Series sans the Foundation.
Genre/s: Sci-Fi, Apoc / Post-Apoc
Character or Faction Based: Faction Based
Detailed Description: Ever since I read the Foundation series I've really wanted to do an RP in something similar to it's universe - an ancient, decadent and declining Galactic Empire starting it's gradual decline and fall into a Galaxy-spanning Dark Age, unless, perhaps, players can somehow avoid that apparent inevitability. The RP would start after the death of the Emperor who would come to be known as the last to rule over a unified Galaxy. Players would be able to RP as factions seeking to uphold and maintain the Empire, take control of it or achieve independence, and create their own lore for whatever Sector or world they wanted to be based on. They could also try their hand at a member of the Imperial Government, be it General, Senator, Grand Admiral, or if they really felt like it some enterprising space-peasant. I'd be RPing as the Emperor himself and do what I can to make being in my faction a nightmare of bureaucracy, bickering and general awfulness to encourage separatism. Oh, and the galaxy is entirely human - intelligent xenos either never existed, have been driven to extinction in the glorious wars of human domination, or are in hiding / coming over from intergalactic space, depending on how many RPers there are and if any want to be xeno filth.

Need Help With: Making this an actual RP, gauging interest - I'm not particularly experienced with making or moderating RPs, nor am I sure if I'd be very good at it or if what lore I have is enough or at it's core good / interesting for an RP. I'm just itching to see a Fall of the Galactic Empire RP. Oh, and if an RP similar to my idea already exists, I'd appreciate being pointed in it's direction.

Please leave this hashtag in place: #Mentorhelp

Very much a fan of the foundation series and the idea of an RP based around the decline of a galactic empire, will the RP take place in a small timeframe or over hundreds of years as in the Foundation series?

[The Hierophancy]

RP INTEREST AND FEEDBACK REQUEST

---

Please provide as much detail as possible.
RP's Overarching Concept: Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire - Similar to the setting of the Foundation Series sans the Foundation.
Genre/s: Sci-Fi, Apoc / Post-Apoc
Character or Faction Based: Faction Based
Detailed Description: Ever since I read the Foundation series I've really wanted to do an RP in something similar to it's universe - an ancient, decadent and declining Galactic Empire starting it's gradual decline and fall into a Galaxy-spanning Dark Age, unless, perhaps, players can somehow avoid that apparent inevitability. The RP would start after the death of the Emperor who would come to be known as the last to rule over a unified Galaxy. Players would be able to RP as factions seeking to uphold and maintain the Empire, take control of it or achieve independence, and create their own lore for whatever Sector or world they wanted to be based on. They could also try their hand at a member of the Imperial Government, be it General, Senator, Grand Admiral, or if they really felt like it some enterprising space-peasant. I'd be RPing as the Emperor himself and do what I can to make being in my faction a nightmare of bureaucracy, bickering and general awfulness to encourage separatism. Oh, and the galaxy is entirely human - intelligent xenos either never existed, have been driven to extinction in the glorious wars of human domination, or are in hiding / coming over from intergalactic space, depending on how many RPers there are and if any want to be xeno filth.

Need Help With: Making this an actual RP, gauging interest - I'm not particularly experienced with making or moderating RPs, nor am I sure if I'd be very good at it or if what lore I have is enough or at it's core good / interesting for an RP. I'm just itching to see a Fall of the Galactic Empire RP. Oh, and if an RP similar to my idea already exists, I'd appreciate being pointed in it's direction.

Please leave this hashtag in place: #Mentorhelp

Very much a fan of the foundation series and the idea of an RP based around the decline of a galactic empire, will the RP take place in a small timeframe or over hundreds of years as in the Foundation series?

Not sure. I like very character-faction entwined RPs so an RP that jumped decades between pages and in which those characters only lasted a few wouldn't be as appealing to me, but if it was over a lifetime or two and used the same time-scale as the Foundation series we wouldn't get into the total collapse. I guess either it'd have to be a much quicker collapse than that of Foundation's Galactic Empire or making long time jumps every once and a while when we got tired of our current batch of characters and situations. I'm leaning towards the former, but am certainly open for suggestion.

[Labstoska]

Very much a fan of the foundation series and the idea of an RP based around the decline of a galactic empire, will the RP take place in a small timeframe or over hundreds of years as in the Foundation series?

Not sure. I like very character-faction entwined RPs so an RP that jumped decades between pages and in which those characters only lasted a few wouldn't be as appealing to me, but if it was over a lifetime or two and used the same time-scale as the Foundation series we wouldn't get into the total collapse. I guess either it'd have to be a much quicker collapse than that of Foundation's Galactic Empire or making long time jumps every once and a while when we got tired of our current batch of characters and situations. I'm leaning towards the former, but am certainly open for suggestion.

A quicker collapse definitely could be possible, perhaps some large goth-like migrations of xenos or some lost branch of humanity could cause various parts of the empire to be cut off from one another and for large amounts of advanced technology to be destroyed leading to a much faster collapse.

[Asardia]

RP INTEREST AND FEEDBACK REQUEST

---

Please provide as much detail as possible.
RP's Overarching Concept: A mutation in the genes of some people have created Esoterics (or psychics/espers) in the real world
Genre/s: Fantasy
Character or Faction Based: Character, but factions are still a major part of the story
Detailed Description: Esoterics are now a common occurrence in society. While the usage of powers aren't illegal, the government would like to keep the Esoterics under control and have established many academies across the country to help train the students and use their powers later on for various purposes. Despite this, some Esoterics still end up as criminals, and their organizations become a danger to the people, which ushered in prejudice and distrust of Esoterics. The government is not pleased, and have created their own special police force of espers to take down the criminals. The players can choose to be part of the Esoteric police force, the criminal organizations, or just academy students.

Need Help With: Making this seem coherent enough to actually be fun to role play.

Please leave this hashtag in place: #Mentorhelp

[Kassaran]

You all left without me! :<

Who else is looking forward to Elementals maybe coming out?

[Das Redner]

How well would an alien-apocalypse/invasion RP or a metal gear fandom fair here?

[Harbertia]

How well would an alien-apocalypse/invasion RP or a metal gear fandom fair here?

Seeing how my interest has recently been in War of the Worlds I'll say I'm interested in seeing what sort of invasion you have in mind. Typically your interest will depend on what sort of Aliens are invading- their goals and how interesting players find them.

For some players an invasion by a species that has come to prey upon Humans and corral them as cattle is good enough for an RP of armed resistance and military struggle.

For other players more stimulating thoughts need to be provoked.

For example, I hosted an RP called 'The World After' set in the events after an Alien invasion and take over of Earth. While inspired by XCOM 2 this RP had a twist in that Earth was annexed to protect it from a swarm of rogue Terraforming nanites that have become a scourge upon the galaxy- and this threat is used to justify the occupation and puppeting of Earth.

It's not an appocalypse so to speak but given as an example of what I mean by 'stimulating thoughts need to be provoked' for some players.

I say that if you want to focus on the war, go with a species that can't be reasoned with - one that perhaps as I've proposed sees Humans as a new food source; or you could go half way with space vampires.

[Das Redner]

How well would an alien-apocalypse/invasion RP or a metal gear fandom fair here?

Seeing how my interest has recently been in War of the Worlds I'll say I'm interested in seeing what sort of invasion you have in mind. Typically your interest will depend on what sort of Aliens are invading- their goals and how interesting players find them.

For some players an invasion by a species that has come to prey upon Humans and corral them as cattle is good enough for an RP of armed resistance and military struggle.

For other players more stimulating thoughts need to be provoked.

For example, I hosted an RP called 'The World After' set in the events after an Alien invasion and take over of Earth. While inspired by XCOM 2 this RP had a twist in that Earth was annexed to protect it from a swarm of rogue Terraforming nanites that have become a scourge upon the galaxy- and this threat is used to justify the occupation and puppeting of Earth.

It's not an appocalypse so to speak but given as an example of what I mean by 'stimulating thoughts need to be provoked' for some players.

I say that if you want to focus on the war, go with a species that can't be reasoned with - one that perhaps as I've proposed sees Humans as a new food source; or you could go half way with space vampires.

Ehh, the more I think about it I’ll pass on it. As slightly embittered as this sounds, after my last little wash-out I’m leaning away from such advanced in-depth ideas for now.

I will say another concept I have in mind is a “dark Scooby Doo” RP. Another fandom basically where a returning scooby doo villain creates a zombie parasite that ravages Coolsville.
The gang blasts their way through zombies to find a cure and stop the villain.

[Saint Ryvern]

How well would an alien-apocalypse/invasion RP or a metal gear fandom fair here?

I’d be interested in something along the lines of an alien apocalypse rp.

[Harbertia]

Seeing how my interest has recently been in War of the Worlds I'll say I'm interested in seeing what sort of invasion you have in mind. Typically your interest will depend on what sort of Aliens are invading- their goals and how interesting players find them.

For some players an invasion by a species that has come to prey upon Humans and corral them as cattle is good enough for an RP of armed resistance and military struggle.

For other players more stimulating thoughts need to be provoked.

For example, I hosted an RP called 'The World After' set in the events after an Alien invasion and take over of Earth. While inspired by XCOM 2 this RP had a twist in that Earth was annexed to protect it from a swarm of rogue Terraforming nanites that have become a scourge upon the galaxy- and this threat is used to justify the occupation and puppeting of Earth.

It's not an appocalypse so to speak but given as an example of what I mean by 'stimulating thoughts need to be provoked' for some players.

I say that if you want to focus on the war, go with a species that can't be reasoned with - one that perhaps as I've proposed sees Humans as a new food source; or you could go half way with space vampires.

Ehh, the more I think about it I’ll pass on it. As slightly embittered as this sounds, after my last little wash-out I’m leaning away from such advanced in-depth ideas for now.

I will say another concept I have in mind is a “dark Scooby Doo” RP. Another fandom basically where a returning scooby doo villain creates a zombie parasite that ravages Coolsville.
The gang blasts their way through zombies to find a cure and stop the villain.

Utterly surprising myself, I like that idea. Surprising because I didn't particularly care for Zombie Island.... but I did enjoy Mystery Incorporated and that sounds..... I'd have to think of what character to play. I'd probably have to do some sort of recital to see which role I fit most smoothly into- that's actually a great idea for you to adopt.

Have interested players apply with some samples of them as each of the gang and then choose who will be in what role. Being sure that each application is given the same scenario to write out. I believe that will also make the IC more manageable for you.

Alternatively, and at greater risk of instability, you can just go with a first come first serve basis which may result in players applying as their favorite and getting the role because they where first only to not really suit the role or perhaps hold it for long.

[Das Redner]

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=456391

[Dayganistan]

Here's my newest idea that will never become an actual RP. Sandbox RP set during a civil war in a post-Soviet republic (subject to change though depending on what I'm feeling). You can be anyone, a government soldier, a rebel, a civilian trying to live their life as well as they possibly can, a government official, foreign journalist, aid worker, you name it. Would be set primarily in and around the capital of the country as it's besieged by anti-government forces. I already have a general backstory in my head about all of this, my biggest block to actually putting the idea out there as an RP is having no idea how to make people want to be involved.

[Forest State]

Aaaaaaand my 2019 modern FanT kind of sort of alt-Earth project now has a trailer.

It's a closed thing for now but I might open it up a bit more if the trailer and the tanks + mages + alternate Europe thing draws interest.

[Harbertia]

https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=456391

For those who didn't catch the above or didn't want to click on an unlabeled link; it's the Scooby-Doo Zombie RP!

Also, Das Redner- you should advertise this through the Advertisement thread.

[Tasuirin]

RP INTEREST AND FEEDBACK REQUEST

---

So, while I'm not quite willing to call my other P2TM RP "That Which Is Unholy" a failure yet, I do have another idea which I'd like to see fleshed out into a broader concept, perhaps before I start work on it.

The name (which is still a working title) is Sanctuary from a Poison Sky, and the details are below.
RP's Overarching Concept: Technological advances cause the climate to become hostile, causing humanity to split into four groups, which each have adapted to fill their unique environmental niche.
Genre/s: Post-apocalyptic, mix of future and fantasy tech, warfare and international relations.
Character or Faction Based: Mix of both. While players will control a player on a fundamental level, most characters will be heads of certain societies, which will be the factions. As the heads of factions, and de-facto players of those factions, they would control much of the RP factionalism also.
Detailed Description: Effectively, modern-day (and later) technological booms cause a climate catastrophe, effectively poisoning the air and sky. As such, humans become separated into four different groups who, over time as well, have developed and adapted for their new environments. One group, similar to the mythos of Atlantis, goes under the water, adapting the ability to breathe water and communicate within it. Another group, kinda like dwarves, retreated under the ground, usually into mountainous areas. A third group attempted to master sustained air travel, hoping to remain continually above the smog of the lower atmosphere. Finally, a group of so-called purists covered entire cities in domes, thus protecting technology and culture, but restricting the political reach of these communities. As such, while the three groups who left their homes did bring some technology with them, generally that which they did bring proved inadequate for their purposes quite quickly, and so while technology in general became much more specified, it resulted in a net loss of technology, bringing the non-purists into a state of effectively anachronistic Past Tech rather than any form of future tech, while the purists, still trapped in their domes with the sum of their technology, are powerful enough to exert their own technological prowess on each dome alone.

Need Help With: Feedback, gauging interest, fine tuning, pointers for how to organise such a roleplay.

Please leave this hashtag in place: #Mentorhelp

[Saint Ryvern]

RP INTEREST AND FEEDBACK REQUEST

---

So, while I'm not quite willing to call my other P2TM RP "That Which Is Unholy" a failure yet, I do have another idea which I'd like to see fleshed out into a broader concept, perhaps before I start work on it.

The name (which is still a working title) is Sanctuary from a Poison Sky, and the details are below.
RP's Overarching Concept: Technological advances cause the climate to become hostile, causing humanity to split into four groups, which each have adapted to fill their unique environmental niche.
Genre/s: Post-apocalyptic, mix of future and fantasy tech, warfare and international relations.
Character or Faction Based: Mix of both. While players will control a player on a fundamental level, most characters will be heads of certain societies, which will be the factions. As the heads of factions, and de-facto players of those factions, they would control much of the RP factionalism also.
Detailed Description: Effectively, modern-day (and later) technological booms cause a climate catastrophe, effectively poisoning the air and sky. As such, humans become separated into four different groups who, over time as well, have developed and adapted for their new environments. One group, similar to the mythos of Atlantis, goes under the water, adapting the ability to breathe water and communicate within it. Another group, kinda like dwarves, retreated under the ground, usually into mountainous areas. A third group attempted to master sustained air travel, hoping to remain continually above the smog of the lower atmosphere. Finally, a group of so-called purists covered entire cities in domes, thus protecting technology and culture, but restricting the political reach of these communities. As such, while the three groups who left their homes did bring some technology with them, generally that which they did bring proved inadequate for their purposes quite quickly, and so while technology in general became much more specified, it resulted in a net loss of technology, bringing the non-purists into a state of effectively anachronistic Past Tech rather than any form of future tech, while the purists, still trapped in their domes with the sum of their technology, are powerful enough to exert their own technological prowess on each dome alone.

Need Help With: Feedback, gauging interest, fine tuning, pointers for how to organise such a roleplay.

Please leave this hashtag in place: #Mentorhelp

It’s a cool concept, but where does player action and the plot of the roleplay come into things? It’s one thing to have a good idea, it’s another thing having a good idea players can interact within.

[Forest State]

Here's my newest idea that will never become an actual RP. Sandbox RP set during a civil war in a post-Soviet republic (subject to change though depending on what I'm feeling). You can be anyone, a government soldier, a rebel, a civilian trying to live their life as well as they possibly can, a government official, foreign journalist, aid worker, you name it. Would be set primarily in and around the capital of the country as it's besieged by anti-government forces. I already have a general backstory in my head about all of this, my biggest block to actually putting the idea out there as an RP is having no idea how to make people want to be involved.

I think if you're trying to keep it from dying, you should reconsider making a sandbox. Not that you should try to limit what your players want to do, but sandbox RPs die much easier because it's very easy for everyone to come up with their own thing to do since there's no central goal, and they end up not interacting, getting bored, and they stop posting all together.

[Harbertia]

Here's my newest idea that will never become an actual RP. Sandbox RP set during a civil war in a post-Soviet republic (subject to change though depending on what I'm feeling). You can be anyone, a government soldier, a rebel, a civilian trying to live their life as well as they possibly can, a government official, foreign journalist, aid worker, you name it. Would be set primarily in and around the capital of the country as it's besieged by anti-government forces. I already have a general backstory in my head about all of this, my biggest block to actually putting the idea out there as an RP is having no idea how to make people want to be involved.

I think if you're trying to keep it from dying, you should reconsider making a sandbox. Not that you should try to limit what your players want to do, but sandbox RPs die much easier because it's very easy for everyone to come up with their own thing to do since there's no central goal, and they end up not interacting, getting bored, and they stop posting all together.

It also becomes difficult for new players to find other players willing to let them into their clique so to speak- as Forest State has stated players of sandbox tend to create their own stories. This is great in it's self but the groups that form around the different stories find it difficult to accept a new comer- as it would require them to adopt these personal stories to fit the new player in- something an OP would find easy to do but a common player will find reluctance.

Such is only part of the challenge I faced hosting Sandbox RPs- the other was trying to weave the various group stories together in the hopes that players would recognize that they share the setting with others who are outside their group- and even that did not seem to work so well. Sometimes players chose to ignore the connections of the common setting- in one story for example a park could be on fire while in another group the park isn't- and despite my efforts I was unable to get players to see how the common environment connected their characters. The group who was going on as if the Park was fine didn't want to interrupt their narrative- seeing the fire another group of players had brought into the narrative as an inconvenience they would not accept.

[Dayganistan]

What would you guys suggest then? I want to keep the same type of setting, but I want it to be broad enough that people can make the types of characters they want rather than just constraining people to the military role. Not sure how to get it focused on one unified group all focused around the same general story while doing that.

[Saint Ryvern]

What would you guys suggest then? I want to keep the same type of setting, but I want it to be broad enough that people can make the types of characters they want rather than just constraining people to the military role. Not sure how to get it focused on one unified group all focused around the same general story while doing that.

Having it take place in the capital during a siege is a good idea, but having some sort of additional event at the beginning of the roleplay and give them a similar motivating factor would be beneficial. If there’s a specific problem that requires a wide variety of skills to handle that can bring a diverse set of characters together to try and solve it. You could also lay out specific factions that characters could be a part of, that way there’s a basis for interaction between different castes of characters.

[Harbertia]

What would you guys suggest then? I want to keep the same type of setting, but I want it to be broad enough that people can make the types of characters they want rather than just constraining people to the military role. Not sure how to get it focused on one unified group all focused around the same general story while doing that.

Having it take place in the capital during a siege is a good idea, but having some sort of additional event at the beginning of the roleplay and give them a similar motivating factor would be beneficial. If there’s a specific problem that requires a wide variety of skills to handle that can bring a diverse set of characters together to try and solve it. You could also lay out specific factions that characters could be a part of, that way there’s a basis for interaction between different castes of characters.

Indeed, you'll be able to use the factions to keep the player characters focused on the shared setting and as a medium for which to base interaction.

[Tasuirin]

:idea:

RP INTEREST AND FEEDBACK REQUEST

---

So, while I'm not quite willing to call my other P2TM RP "That Which Is Unholy" a failure yet, I do have another idea which I'd like to see fleshed out into a broader concept, perhaps before I start work on it.

The name (which is still a working title) is Sanctuary from a Poison Sky, and the details are below.
RP's Overarching Concept: Technological advances cause the climate to become hostile, causing humanity to split into four groups, which each have adapted to fill their unique environmental niche.
Genre/s: Post-apocalyptic, mix of future and fantasy tech, warfare and international relations.
Character or Faction Based: Mix of both. While players will control a player on a fundamental level, most characters will be heads of certain societies, which will be the factions. As the heads of factions, and de-facto players of those factions, they would control much of the RP factionalism also.
Detailed Description: Effectively, modern-day (and later) technological booms cause a climate catastrophe, effectively poisoning the air and sky. As such, humans become separated into four different groups who, over time as well, have developed and adapted for their new environments. One group, similar to the mythos of Atlantis, goes under the water, adapting the ability to breathe water and communicate within it. Another group, kinda like dwarves, retreated under the ground, usually into mountainous areas. A third group attempted to master sustained air travel, hoping to remain continually above the smog of the lower atmosphere. Finally, a group of so-called purists covered entire cities in domes, thus protecting technology and culture, but restricting the political reach of these communities. As such, while the three groups who left their homes did bring some technology with them, generally that which they did bring proved inadequate for their purposes quite quickly, and so while technology in general became much more specified, it resulted in a net loss of technology, bringing the non-purists into a state of effectively anachronistic Past Tech rather than any form of future tech, while the purists, still trapped in their domes with the sum of their technology, are powerful enough to exert their own technological prowess on each dome alone.

Need Help With: Feedback, gauging interest, fine tuning, pointers for how to organise such a roleplay.

Please leave this hashtag in place: #Mentorhelp

It’s a cool concept, but where does player action and the plot of the roleplay come into things? It’s one thing to have a good idea, it’s another thing having a good idea players can interact within.

Hmm... True. I was basically going kinda sandbox-ish for most of it, but I guess I will have to have a plotty-device. I was thinking something about a Purist warlord who has pioneered technology to effectively conquer other domes, and is thus creating some form of xenophobic empire, but I realise that's fairly elementary-level stuff. Is there anything you'd have in mind?

The problem for me isn't thinking up storylines, it's just thinking up ones that other people would be able to get involved in, lol. Once I work that out, I have a feeling my OP'ing skills would improve.