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Mass Effect: On the Edge

Mechanics of the Story

a part of “Mass Effect: On the Edge”, a fictional universe by The Ghost Writer.

A Mass Effect fan fiction chronicling an elite Cerberus outfit.

Characters Settings Story
This conversation is an Out Of Character (OOC) part of the roleplay, “Mass Effect: On the Edge”.
Discussions pertaining to roleplay on RPG.

[OOC] Mechanics of the Story

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby The Ghost Writer on Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:55 am

ImageHello ladies and gentlemen, my name is Paul James (also known as The Ghost Writer); and I am the lead writer of Mass Effect: On the Edge. This thread is primarily for our readers, to serve as sort of a Q&A spot. In case you haven't realized yet, this story is actually a continuation of something much larger, hosted on a different play-by-post forum community. On the Edge is a story based off of Bioware's hit Mass Effect series, incorporating elements and characters from both the games and the literary works. Unlike the other Mass Effect RPs on this site, my authors and I have decided to keep everything "neutral"; in other words, we're keeping our story separate from the player's story. Decisions made by Commander Shepard, his moral attributes (paragon/renegade), and even his/her gender are never mentioned.

On the Edge is written through the perspectives of (currently) five authors, all controlling characters that work for the pro-human organization known as Cerberus. The story itself is set in the year 2184, one year after Commander Shepard is pronounced KIA and the Normandy SR1 is destroyed by a Collector vessel. According to the cannonical timeline of Mass Effect, not much other than five notable events happen during this year, so that's where we come in... to fill the holes.

In order to compensate for the lack of material and events in the codex for 2184, I've given my authors some wiggle room in order to create a truly enticing story. Anything is allowed to happen, so long as it does not effect the canon universe. Now, there are a few elements of the story that set it apart from all the other RPs out there; and that's what this first post will explain.


  • The Trust Method
Throughout the story you'll notice several moments where the character of one author and the character of another author are having uninterrupted dialogue and actions between each other. The magical thing about this is... it's all being written by one author. But that's impossible! No, it isn't. A lot of role players are too blinded by their own ego that they can't allow themselves to give other authors in a story the chance to write out what their own character thinks, feels, does, says, etc. They have this desire to completely control everything about that character, and that is my biggest argument in regards to why a lot of role plays die so quickly. If authors can't trust one another, how can anything be written?

A lot of you probably struggle with fleshing out those chapter-long posts that this role play showcases, and you become severly defensive whenever someone else asks to raise the standards and require a certain amount of paragraphs or sentences or words. Well, if you or your game master didn't have your heads so far up your butt puckers (see what I did there?) and learned to use this method, then maybe you'd actually be able to write so much you'd be the next Hemingway with all your short-story-long posts.

Most of On the Edge's OOC discussion is conducted over Skype. If one of us needs to use the trust method (which is nearly 100% of the time now because there are so many characters involved in this one story already), but we're not sure what the other character would say, then we hit each other up in the chat and find out.


  • Ignoring the Turn-Based System
This method was popular several years ago with those that I like to call the "traditional role players". I consider myself to be one of these few remaining authors in the world of play-by-post role playing. Nowadays, however, there is this new age idea that everyone has to "wait their turn" before they can post. Meanwhile, I'm sitting behind my computer screen with a cup of coffee about ready to pull my hair out and yell, "WHY THE FUCK DO I HAVE TO WAIT?!"

If you're running a role play with this kind of new age thinking and you're not using the above mentioned "trust method", then I've got two words for you: You're fucked. Oh yeah, before I go on, I've given you the impression that I'm this elitist ass hole, then I've done well. And if you're not even slightly giggling at the near-liquid sarcasm that is drenching this post, then you're doing poorly.

Moving on... On the Edge does not utilize the new age turn system. If one of my authors feels like posting immediately after someone that just posted afterthem, I have no problem with it. Shoot, I don't even care if they double-post - you know: that evil act that is apparently against the role playing bible. Gee, I guess I'm going to hell now because I love pulling that stunt.





That's pretty much all I have in me to start this thread. If you have any questions about the story, the role play methods, the authors, or the characters, then please feel free to ask! Myself or one my authors be happy to provide you an answer.
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"Don't concern yourself with the dead too much, Commander... There may too be much of it to handle if you do."

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The Ghost Writer
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