A forum for PB3 [Play By Bulletin Board] roleplaying of any and all roleplaying games. For clarity, please state the name of the game you're playing in the subject line.
Ask and ye shall receive. I've been caught in the right mood, and the right people pleaded in the right tones. And let's have everybody give three cheers for Control, by the way.
We're back. Different format, different home, same crew of misfits. With a few changes of course. If you're new to the True Facade, welcome. You'll get your explanation of what it is before too long. Perhaps the man who wanted this back second most to me (that would be you Deev) would be so kind as to write up a brief explanation of this concept.
For those who are familiar with The True Facade, I'm going to remind you folks of the posting styles once again. Either go for the unique account for each character, or the post heading style, as follows.
Operator
SysOp of The True Facade
"Anything else you need to know, don't bother asking."
We are reborn. Welcome home.
For now, I'm going to ask that we only stick within the one thread I will start shortly, if all are agreeable. Let's wait and see what our traffic is like before we start posting willy-nilly.
Screw liquid diamond. I want to be able to fling apartment building sized ingots of extracted metal into space.
Weeeeell, basically, back on the old Bulldrek Forum, a bunch of nerds got together and started an in-character shadowrun thread full of shadowtalk...but it wasn't really shadowtalk, this time regular people were talking to eachother. Your everyday police officer was talking with Joe Blow from down the street. This time we heard what citizens and sinless thought of things instead of hearing Argent and Prime Runner discuss the price of EX ammo in Amazonia. We all thought it was cool, there were some _seriously_ cool threads...
The time we rescued Jim Brown from the strange spirits.
The death/disappearance of Richard "Bat" Masterson.
The time where Obsidian and Requiem decided to come and visit null in an old abandoned bunker on a still active army base.
*sigh* Those were the times where you could see all the posters sitting there, behind their computer, waiting for new posts to show up...constantly refreshing the screen to see what was new...
...okay, maybe that was just my pathetic arse that did that, but still...it was cool.
So, what is TTF all about? Discussing the shadowrun world on an open forum. Hearing the opinions of Joe Q. Public and Sally the Gunbunny all in one happifying public board.
Well, this time I am going to make time for it, I promise. (And little bit of pre-formal news, the Account Switch is 2.0 final complete, so make all the characters you want )
I've just revealed one of the greater mysteries of The True Facade. It was something I promised myself I would wait until the right moment. This simply felt right. It was something I never discussed with any of the other Administrators or Moderators. It was the entire evolution of the True Facade as it ran through my mind. It's also something likely to spawn many questions. I'll let you all get to them both IC and OOC in a moment.
To leave their true mark, Chrome Messiah and Old Dirty Buzzard took a gamble. They decieved everyone they ever knew, and more. They wanted to be one of those names remembered in the annuls of hacking lore. So, they stumbled onto a person who went by the name Elijah. After discovering the mathematical and analytical skills this young man possessed, they began work on a plan to free Elijah from his servitude to Cross Applied Electronics and certain R&D projects. Every member involved in this task sacrificed something at one time or another. Red King, the very first "Operator" (the elf whom some of you remember going insane and being killed, allowed himself to be exposed to psychotropic IC and be taken down by Ares security deckers to keep the team protected from competition that was looking for Elijah. Chrome Messiah himself had to give up the Matrix, and suffer some extensive surgery while he posed as a Triad associate whom Maximillian was familiar with. Old Dirty Buzzard gave up his life to go into hiding while he finished the final details of the plan. In one glorious run by a crew of old-timers, Elijah was freed. I have to admit that it was one of the most amazing runs I've ever gamemastered for in table top fashion. Shout out to the Allentown crew for helping me finish that story. Thanks guys.
Elijah has changed the structure of The True Facade permanently on a very basic level. The True Facade has no central structure. It never will. A semi-autonomous knowbot (SK) with built-in learning capacities runs the central structure of TTF. This SK will use exisiting systems found in the Matrix to use as the backbone and processing structure for the bulletin board. Combined with elements of the Crash virus and some high-end random number generators, the security and structure of the True Facade is near perfect. Theoretically, no one should ever be able to predict the random leaps and jumps that the system makes through the Matrix. It's possible, but the odds are even too high for a mathematical genius like Elijah to even calculate. Even otaku themselves have been baffled by the sheer insanity that is required to dream up such a structure. It defies all clear lines of logic and intuition. It's something that even Elijah himself cannot predict or recreate. Any knowledge he has of this setup has long since been chemically and/or surgically erased from his mind. So the True Facade has something it has never had before...freedom. Complete independence from any backer, and every single user on the service holds an equal position of power. This is not to say that users cannot try to exploit the system to harm or help others. It's possible, just incredibly difficult and only generally possible for short periods of time, due to the chaotic leaps and changes the network makes at irregular intervals.
What's amazing is that I've been working on this for approximately the last eight months. What's even more amazing is that it coincided with the change in structure that Bulldrek has undergone, a change that I had literally no knowledge of (a fact that Earl can attest to). Even more amazing is the fact that I actually managed to keep this all secret from all you die-hard fans. Serendipity, perhaps. I wasn't content to let the True Facade die. I was even less content with the way I handled its death. So, I began this plan. Everybody here can give some mad props to the Allentown crew for helping me with this grandoise plan. They walked into a one-shot session, that took place over a 48 hour period, having never dealt with these characters before, save for the introductions and briefings I gave them over the week prior. Two months ago, I ran the session that lead to the storyline I've mentioned above. It was hands down an amazing session, and a virtual Who's Who of The True Facade. I'll get into the full details later, if people want to know the events that transpired for specific characters. I had planned to open up the old board and reveal these events there. But this just felt more appropriate. Anyway, I've rambled enough for now. Let the questions roll in folks, and enjoy. I know that I am.
_ I am lost, but now am found. Blessed be the Ghost in the Machine.
[Voiceclass "Hudson" from Aliens] Is it to late to get into this chicken-shit outfit?[/voiceclass]
No, really, that's a serious question.
"I have a conundrum for you. A riddle if you will. What's the difference between you, and malard with a cold? I don't remember how it ends, but your mothers a whore." -"Sean Connery" Celebrity Jeopardy- SNL
Rico, it's never too late for TTF. It's an open in-character bulletin board, so new characters can come and go as they please. You'll see. It's nice, because you're only committed to the participation level you are comfortable with.
_Whoever invented that brush that goes next to the toilet is an idiot, cuz that thing hurts.
With the initial update out of the way, and you folks now possessing some idea of the overall storyline that has occured, TTF is now officially open for business. So, start rolling out whatever topics you like. Here's the suggested rules as I see them.
1. Preface all topic names with the [TTF] tag, as well as the IC: or OOC: tag, followed by the thread name.
2. Keep IC and OOC posts in the appropriate threads.
3. Let's not cluster fuck the forum here and keep in mind that a topic needs to be something that spurs discussion and/or debate.
4. Conduct OOC discussions in private through email or private messages or chat programs, and publicly in the appropriate OOC thread.
5. Bear in mind the "everyman, average citizen" philosophy behind the original TTF. However, note that with the new found security and freedom of TTF, a more Shadowland type discussion is also perfectly viable.
Comments, additions, edits, questions?
Screw liquid diamond. I want to be able to fling apartment building sized ingots of extracted metal into space.
How about having a TTF thread to be used for Character registry? You know, give a little background, blah blah blah- I seem to remember seeing a similar forum on the old TTF board. That way, introducing new characters (as I intend to do) won't be as "cheesy"...
Good point, Ryan. I'll try to get that up tomorrow. If not, someone else may gladly get that running. I'll also be working on some new posts and threads over the next two days.
Screw liquid diamond. I want to be able to fling apartment building sized ingots of extracted metal into space.
Yeah, I've given thought several times recently to starting up the old board again and just pay for the no ad setup, or even just running topics on here again. Unfortunately, it looks like the interest to TTF has largely died out. I really couldn't keep these few threads going by myself only, and other posting seemed to largely drop off. It was disappointing, since I had finally just revealed one of the long awaited secrets of TTF, but these things happen I guess. Though maybe if I can find Brineshrimp again, I'll just go for an old throwback to the past, and do an updated interview with Jim Brown, maybe delve more into the "death" of Bat Masterson. Ideas, ideas. But all told, it just seems like the rest of the interest is gone, save for a few lonely souls.
Screw liquid diamond. I want to be able to fling apartment building sized ingots of extracted metal into space.
'Sid's still out there, Jeff, time just always seems to be the commodity that is first to dry up around here. I still wonder what life is going to be like when I end up on a 'normal' schedule.
Still interested Just was a newbie and didn't know how to act too much But still willing to go for it, heck willing to set things up if you want on the WT server (think its like $8/month for a DB and 50 megs)
10:41 Kai: Ohayou minna
10:42 Adam: ENGLISH MOTHERFUCKER!
10:44 Kai: Fuck off, how's that? ;P
10:45 Adam: Much better.
While I'd love to do so Kai, and I've thought about it, it just doesn't seem feasible. The money isn't a problem. It's the fact that I don't know how to code and actually set up the board (and it's something I don't really have the time or inclination to learn presently). Also, it would require moving some at least some percentage of the old threads over, which would require someone more than just myself to do so. I'd also need a hand with administration and just general housekeeping. No coder, no assistance, and from what I can see, still very little interest, leads me to think this is still just not feasible. The more I look at, the more sense it makes in some ways, since it would help to have a nice place to work on some of the things I'm looking at doing...but it just isn't feasible without a coder at very least. And considering that the three main coders I know (the Module, yourself, and That Wacky Guy from Amsterdam Way) are all working on their own boards and Bulldrek, I wouldn't really feel right pulling attention away from those things. And I'm not really sure that spamming the forum here with TTF topics, especially with low traffic on those threads, would be the way to go either.
Screw liquid diamond. I want to be able to fling apartment building sized ingots of extracted metal into space.
Jeff, if you want it, just say so. A simple phpBB board with the threads from here moved, heck if the old EZBoard is there it can be imported, maybe a few hours. The hardest part would be you deciding on a color scheme I'm more than willing to be your mechanic if you either want me to or until you have the time to learn it.
Until you start wandering off into the realm of modifications that someone hasn't written yet, its no trouble for me to keep an eye on another board and do some occasional maintenence.
10:41 Kai: Ohayou minna
10:42 Adam: ENGLISH MOTHERFUCKER!
10:44 Kai: Fuck off, how's that? ;P
10:45 Adam: Much better.
Kai wrote:Jeff, if you want it, just say so. A simple phpBB board with the threads from here moved, heck if the old EZBoard is there it can be imported, maybe a few hours. The hardest part would be you deciding on a color scheme I'm more than willing to be your mechanic if you either want me to or until you have the time to learn it.
Until you start wandering off into the realm of modifications that someone hasn't written yet, its no trouble for me to keep an eye on another board and do some occasional maintenence.
If you want to do so, I'll go ahead with it. I'm still not sure the traffic is worth it, but I'll do so. I'll work on finding some folks who may be interested in doing some conversion of old threads, or just do what I can myself slowly. As for color scheme, unless anyone objected, I'd largely go with the general scheme the old TTF site was. I liked the colors and it fit the old newspaper style feel. It would work for now and could be changed later. It's a starting point at least.
Screw liquid diamond. I want to be able to fling apartment building sized ingots of extracted metal into space.
Fast question: If we are ever to get TTF back up, then what is the goal of TTF? Quasi-storyline like TTF has? Or just a board where people from SR universe would log on to debate over pieces of news like it was originally intended to be?
I'd probably focus small. That was the problem that lead to the eventual demise. I planned far too large. Probably just go for the combination newsboard/public style Shadowland. Either base it in one particular city, like Seattle for ease of use, or just might it multi-national and just keep the topic flow smaller. I don't know, feel free to brainstorm here folks.
Screw liquid diamond. I want to be able to fling apartment building sized ingots of extracted metal into space.
I would place TTF as a news channel with locality of Seattle. What I mean by localty of Seattle, I mean all news are revelant to citizens of Seattle are there. And also, any international news that may be revelant to citizens of Seattle. Now there's only a question...of what is "news" to citizen of Seattle? What will sell the most? What will keep TTF alive? Think like a newspeople.
Well, for those still checking this, it is now official. The True Facade will live again, for the very first time, completely separate from any other entity. No EZboards, no Bulldrek, but on its own. Winternight will be graciously hosting TTF at an incredibly reasonable price, and you can all give some mad shouts to Wildfire for agreeing to largely taking over the initial coding setup. No set plans or date yet, but if anyone wants to assist with any kind of archival from the EZboards, let me know. We'll do some brainstorming after the board is set up, before we actually go live, and we'll get some more advertisement out there. It's been a rough time in my neck of the woods lately, but damn this feels good to have some forward progress, and to get back to what I love working on. Party down folks.
Screw liquid diamond. I want to be able to fling apartment building sized ingots of extracted metal into space.
Heh, dude, he totally wouldn't let me, he's paying full up WT rates. Which just happens to be a good price There's a convertor out there from ezboard to phpBB so most likely I'll import that and let you guys reorganize it however you'd like before adding the new stuff.
As for advertising, I'm really thinking this might be a good time to look back into Convergence, a project to link up several phpBB boards user databases to do site switching like account switching. Bulldrek, TTF, Jackal's Den was originally in there, really anyone could be who doesn't mind pulling a few of the tables of a DB from Winternight's space. Ther's a hack alrady to use the same user table, I just need to implement seperation of users permissions between boards.
But a big booyah and hell yeah for Jeff and TTF
10:41 Kai: Ohayou minna
10:42 Adam: ENGLISH MOTHERFUCKER!
10:44 Kai: Fuck off, how's that? ;P
10:45 Adam: Much better.
