The Last Outpost

As I sit here preparing my twelfth (!!) roleplaying season set in the Accobar System, I can't help but look back over everything that has come before and be extremely pleased to have been a part of so many RPG-X stories. No two seasons have been the same, and that's mostly down to the characters and the members that have created them. I can't complain about character turnaround when it is that process which has allowed for so much variety to shine through. Although my main task has been to find something for those characters to do.

What's relevant here are the seven seasons of storytelling which have taken place at TLO. While the name of the SRP may have changed, there's little denying that the Asteroid Field name only came about due to a map change. Which so much to fall back on, the series often relies on building on existing and former storylines rather than starting new ones. I think this is mostly due to my playing it safe. But I do want to get back to the days of coming up with new and wild ideas to build episodes around. That was my plan for the third season of Asteroid Base. I mean - some of you remember the synopsis for Day of the Prospectors (http://www.last-outpost.net/forum/index.php/topic,4401.0.html), right? Incidentally, that episode addressed the construction of Pioneer Station - so there's a nice piece of continuity for newcomers  ^-^

So, this upcoming season feels like the right time to wipe the slate as clean as possible - mostly by addressing the ancient Accobarian/Halkonian conflict which has spilled in to the present day. Following in the paths of TNG, VOY & DS9 - this story comes to an end in it's seventh season. I think that's quite long enough for anybody to drag this out, especially through two near-misses. This is also why I have packed it in to six episodes. I believe that I can convincingly pull this off in twelve hours - but I can't do it alone. so I hope that you will all do your best to ensure some smooth sailing in the months ahead.

But where then? I have said it before and I shall say it again. Asteroid Field can end with this season, if it needs to. It won't be an entirely clean finish (looking at you, MT), but I would be more satisfied than I ever have been with an ending for this story. I am glad that Scott Archer has joined us, as I was starting to get very concerned with the sustainability of our station departments. I don't like relying on just department heads. I don't like scattergun crews. So hopefully we can pick up another member or two before we reach the season's end. If the roster is still at a good level and the interest is still there, I would be more than happy to go on for a fifth season and beyond - it would actually be quite liberating.

But it could just be me interesting in progressing further at that point. I'm so caught up in developing this world that I'm almost on autopilot. I no longer have a Quy, LynxMukka, Vanguard or Griffiths to reign me in and keep things in balance and check things over before they go out on the night. But I also believe the time has passed for somebody to take up that role. So this is why I will be continuing to pressure for feedback and have made voting on the weekly polls mandatory (http://www.last-outpost.net/forum/index.php/topic,7212.0.html). I don't think that ticking a box is too much to ask for the time that I put in to running and maintaining Asteroid Field. Comments are more useful, but I didn't want to stretch to that. The crew lounge is what I get back for this. In the seventh year of developing this concept, you might imagine that it's hard to surprise myself. So you have to surprise me instead. I have always said that the day people stop voting will be the day that I stop - because at that point, the SRP will be dead. It's a symbiotic relationship, we have.

I should probably take this opportunity to tease something about the upcoming season. Well, I have all the episode titles down - so that's a thing. In context - the titles come last. Once I have an idea and a general overview of an episode, only then will I put down a title. Greek Mythology is back in play. Two titles in particular, I think you will be very excited by. I'm very happy with the finale. Very fitting. Not as a fitting as the episode before it - oooh. This season is a bit of a departure, I think. A station built for peace is truly going to war. Characters devoted to diplomacy are seduced by violence. I have tried to walk a line up to now in staying true to Pioneer's roots, but there's really no way for that to work this season. It's an ambitious set of episodes which happen to include a moment which puts the entire series on it's head. It's a moment which I hope will truly shock. You won't see it coming, I hope. It really solidifies my claim that this is the darkest season of Trek I have conceived. Even President "I Support Accobar" Taylor isn't coming out well from this one - her reelection came at a cost. Oh, and did I mention the Vice President? No need, I think. Not yet.

Anyhow, I should probably call it a night. But before I go, as we say farewell to Season Three - I would like to say thank you once again for sticking with us, or jumping on board during the break. I love all of you - except SFC3. You're all the very best roleplayers and I shall challenge anybody who disagrees. Go forth and be merry, for in September - we truly go into darkness.... and this time it doesn't include Alice Eve in her underwear.

QuoteI hope that you will all do your best to ensure some smooth sailing in the months ahead.

Done. :)

QuoteI don't think that ticking a box is too much to ask for the time that I put in to running and maintaining Asteroid Field.

Hell no it isn't. For me it's a base minimum.