Hello folks, I'm known as Butcher over in the until-recently super secret secluded cave that is the WCRPG. I'm a regular player, and technically the newest player of the RPG. While I'm by no means an official speaker FOR the RPG, I think I can address a few FAQs and such that person might have about the WCRPG from that "new player" perspective. For the last 3 years, I've had a lot of fun playing the game with the other colorful players and GMs that make up the WCRPG. I think interested people and fans of Wing Commander looking for a RPG, after making a slight leap of faith, can enjoy it as well!
Q: Alright, I'll bite, a Wing Commander RPG. What exactly is that?
A: I think the best way to sum up playing the WCRPG in an elevator pitch is that it's like roleplaying character interactions like the cut scenes you'd see in WC 1/2/3 and parts of 4, applying a complex but player-friendly combat system for space combat and gunfights, and letting players plan and execute an encounter, all while both celebrating and expanding upon the themes Wing Commander had with Science Fiction, Space Opera, and Futuristic Military Fantasy. We also include elements of mystery, adventure, and human drama (the good kind!).
Q: Okay, when I think Wing Commander, I think space lazer battles shooting fuzzball cat-people with SCIENCE! and high-explosive missiles. You guys got that?
A: Hell yeah we got that! You'd be hard pressed to play anything Wing Commander inspired and forgot space fighter dogfighting, and WCRPG is no exception. The biggest difference you might find between the video game experience and the text-based RPG we have here is that you're not yanking your joystick around like a twitchy caffeinated hotshot most of the time. The nature of an RPG is that while luck always plays a part, the way you fight is based on knowledge, tactics, and teamwork.
In the very basic WCRPG space combat situation, you'll dictate how much juice is going into your shields and guns, how aggressively or defensively you're flying, and who you're shooting with either guns or missiles. Omitting a few other extras for the sake to entice you, these bare bones, combined with the different scenarios the GMs cook up for the game sessions, allow for a lot of tactical flexibility and ingenuity in how to either most effectively take down a target or (my favorite) the most fun way to do the same thing. You want space fighter dogfights in PnP-esque RPG form? We got'em!
Q: Gotcha, but I'm also a fan of the setting, story, and style of Wing Commander. You guys aren't just rolling dice blowing up stuff for hours on end with nothing else going on, are you?
A: Of course not! What's an RPG without a story to be told, much less one with Wing Commander in it's name. The GMs have been cooking and serving the players stories since 2001, and they're not the paper thin "Bad guys are here, blow them up, get a medal, see you next week". We've played through plot beats that last months at a time, and recently finished up a pretty epic campaign that culminated from 5 years of gaming and ingame events and exploded with a great climax. The GMs haven't run out of ideas though, not by far, there's still mounds of materials for stories that have been both hinted in past games, and stuff that's been newly swirling around in their heads. You could almost say the stories and plots have a vintage.
Now wait a second, I've played Wing Commander games and paid attention to them, you guys are missing stuff! Where's the KAC and the Nephillium? What is this Alliance thing you guys invented? What the hell is going on?! Did you guys ignore these important bits of cannon?
A: You want answers?
I WANT THE TRUTH!
YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRU- oh, wait. Well, I'll admit this is probably the biggest leap of faith any Wing Commander fan can take when investing time and effort into any other fan's project, be it Holding the Line, Standoff, or the countless pieces of fan art, which is your interpretation of the Wing Commander Universe may not be the same as someone else's. In the WCRPG, we plainly (and proudly) make clear that our game is a tangential departure from the Wing Commander cannon from WC4 onward.
After awhile, both players and the GMs get bored with blowing up the Kilrathi over and over again, with no other reason than "they're the badguys". So, that's where invention and deviation step in, and the game has created new enemies and challenges for the players to overcome, while keeping them in the spirit of Wing Commander. In the last 6 years since we've explored our interpretation of the Wing Commander universe, we've done things we feel are unique to us and our RPG that you can't find anywhere else. If you're looking to relive the Terran-Kilrathi war in it's heyday, this RPG might not be for you. But, if you can make that leap of faith into an alternate Wing Commander universe that we've made, and we love and enjoy, I think you'll like it a lot.
Q: So, I shouldn't expect to fly on Blair's wing showing off all he taught me, punch Maniac in the nose for dating my sister, or tell tales of Tolwyn having dinner with my family back when I was a kid, all while flying off the deck of the TCS Midway captained by Esien?
A: That's right. The reason for that is simple: Why lurk in the eternal shadow of such celebrities when you can be your own big damn hero? We're in our own world with our own problems and dangers, and we (try to) solve them and save the day. After all, Blair may have been a hero, but if it wasn't for you playing him he'd be floating around in space in a tiny box after his first encounter with a pair of Salthis. SO I'd say it's better to step into your own flight suit and show our universe that you too were meant to be a big damn hero.
Q: Well, for some reason my brain tells me this could be a fun thing to do and that I should take this WCRPG into consideration. What should I do next?
A: Yessss, listen to my mind control devi- erm, I mean, listen to your brain. The next step, after reading this FAQ and deciding that the WCRPG is a fun thing to do, is to head on over to the WCRPG website, found at
http://www.wcrpg.com, and explore what else we have to say and show. After that, hop onto our forums, register, and say hello. We have our own IRC server, which is irc.starbase31.com port 6667, and we lurk in there constantly throughout the week in between our sessions on Saturday. Point your IRC clients to our server and say hello as well. We're happy to answer any further questions you might have about the WCRPG, and we can help you get started should you decide you want to play with us.
Q: Sweet, I'm on my way. Since you're the newish-est guy, you got any advice for a fresh new player?
A: The best bit of advice I can give you as a player is to participate. If all you do is show up for the shooty-flying space combat and leave when it's done, you're missing out on half of the RPG we play. Don't come into the game with the only goal of going from a lowly butterbar to full blown Colonel in a year because stats and promotions are the only thing to do, because the WCRPG isn't about that. We're here to play characters facing extraordinary circumstances on the edge of chaos, so take your character and live in our universe. Roleplay with us, be unique but natural, don't feel like you need to fill some traditional RPG role/niche. Participation leads to its own reward, but you'll sometimes be rewarded for that too.
Most of all? Have fun. I know that sound like an empty cliche, but I mean you shouldn't take the RPG and everything around it seriously. We're all normal people outside the RPG, who live our own lives and do our own things in between sessions. Sometimes we write and/or work on little projects for the RPG, but it's not our reason for waking up in the morning. We play to have fun and enjoy the setting and events of the WCPRG, and for those who want to come along with us, we hope you will too.
Hopefully this little FAQ, in addition to the news post graciously made by the CIC above, helps you and any other interested people take a jump and decide to experience the grand tales we have to tell, and make your own footprints within it.
See you in space, flyboys and girls!
