Imperial Russia RP in Second Life

I recently heard about a region in Second Life made for a historical roleplay: The Romanov Imperial Court of Russia.

The RP takes place in 1776. Russia is ruled by Ekaterina II, better known as Catherine the Great, as well as the Russian nobility. In St. Petersburg, court intrigue abounds. In the southern part of the Empire, a rebellion is brewing. Between them and the capital, the army marches to meet them. And everywhere, the peasants somehow manage to eke out a living despite everything against them.

The RP covers 11 sims. SL Newspaper came in contact with one of the players, ThomasK Andel, whom told us that the group had over 200 members, of whom about a hundred were active participants in the roleplay. Players could take on multiple characters, the Thomas saying he himself played both a nobleman and one of the rebels. Court intrigue takes up much of the roleplaying, but there was plenty of action with the Empire having to deal with a rebellion, as well as people going about their lives. There were also a number of players playing the roles of doctors and their aides.

The region was described as having it’s own economy, with it’s own RP currency technically apart from the Linden, players able to buy period clothing and personal weapons at shops. But some effort (and presumably Lindens) are needed to maintain one’s rank in the RP.

One has to join the RP group to move onto the place freely. For those who don’t, there are red barriers around places, including around the main entrance, though some can be gotten around. Near a ship are a few free peasant outfits, one for men, two for women.

There is no official roleplaying going on for now. The region is still under construction. Some places are largely finished, others are still being worked on. Thomas explained among those working on the builds were Second Life residents living in Russian in real life. He went on to say there would be some activity soon.

The official entrance to the region is at the Peterhof sim at (167, 65, 28).

“God Save the Tsaritsa”

Bixyl Shuftan

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NCS2 Rebooted

Letter to the Naruto SL Community from the Creators of NCS

We are well aware of rival combat systems attempting to label NCS2 as “dead.” I can assure you, we are most certainly not! We are in the midst of performing some major restructuring, to address all of the issues the community has had with thus far. We have had great success in this regard.

Any attacks from rival system should be seen as desperation. They want NCS2 out of the way. We will not comply with them. You deserve better.

The incident of some NCS development team leaving, and as a result the removal of Iwakgaure, can be summarized as this: some members of the team did not agree with some of the clans being added, and those members threatened to leave if they didn’t get their way. NCS does not run like that. As a result, those particularly disgruntled members left and took what they could and did whatever they could to hinder future development of NCS.

The rest of the development team feel the community should be informed about the subject, as there have been many rumors and mentionings of what actually happened.

* * * * *

Down but not out. Despite a setback, Naruto Combat System version 2’s development is still on track, and the sim will soon be open for both business, combat, and roleplay. “People think we are dead,” Bioblaze Payne told SL Newspaper, “I just wanted to set the record straight.” A look at the NCS Official Mall District showed a shopping area constructed with some of the stores filled and the team looking for more. “I just opened up the sim,” Bioblaze explained.

Bioblaze went on to say his goal was to bring both elements of “massive multiplayer online” and “first-person shooter” to NCS2, “Everyone can make a prim fire from another prim. We are trying to bring meaning to it, melding both role-playing, with constant action, to combine a seamless yet, interesting form of playing that has yet to be named, on Second Life that is.”

Bioblaze showed a picture of the new HUD display, which was different from the previous version, “We are debating if to use countries or villages. We have yet to decide. We will be including a TOS (notecard) on creation of your character along, with a full database, to show your stats to your friends, and even look them up online, giving people not only control over their character, but actual Information on what they have purchased and objects they have won from tournaments, as well as other things.”

“Going along with this System, we are adding several styles of taijutsu along with almost fifteen Clans. We are sporting clans that are in the anime, not sticking ourselves to just the normal clans, but the clans that are within the anime and manga itself, branching off to where other Naruto combat Systems have yet to tread. By doing this, we are hoping to have a very in-depth system. People will no longer have 15 HUDs with 15 characters. They will have one HUD with one character, and may buy additional slots to store new character data.”

“We are not only implementing a new HUD, but we are also doing a Team-Based System and a Role-Playing Tool. You and your friends can attach a special HUD which will be very very low cost, and none of you will be able to damage each other on Role Playing Missions and SL Grid Wide Missions, allowing you to communicate off the radar. If you are familiar with Naruto, they have a Squad based system. With the Team HUD you will be able to make your own Squad so several team members can gain experience, as well as Different objects/items/stats from various missions/battles/tournaments. At the top you will be able to place your own Team name which will auto fill once you have all agreed on the Squad name. The Squads will have a one-time fee, and will be identified throughout Second Life by their name and picture. We will work on haven this also shows on the webpage, given a list of all the squads for every single village.” The HUD itself will still be free, “Never going to charge for it.”

Of the sim, Bioblaze explained everything should be up and running within a week, two weeks at most, “period.” He and his teammates, such as texture artist Syhon Hoxley, lead builder MeetThe Engineer, and Bioblaze’s partner Dark Broome were busy setting things up, “We’re currently working on a few juitsus.”

Bioblaze explained the HUD version in development could not be shown, “Too many people want to try and copy us. ... but the basic style of the artwork hasn’t changed. A basic idea of what’s to com. ... People want to be the best, and NCS2 is the best Naruto system combat-wise. We pull all the stops to get things done.”

Bixyl Shuftan

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The Naturo Combat System, Version 2

To those familiar with the Naturo roleplay area, there is a new combat system in development: the Naturo Combat System version 2, or NCS2.

“Our combat system is known as the NCS2, reason being the Naturo community started with the first NCS,” Bioblaze Payne, one of the design team, told me, “The creator was banned by Linden Labs, so he lost his HUD along with much more. We restarted the project, for NCS2, to be a revamp and revision of the first system. It looks nothing like the first system, in both look and internal design.”

“We have strictly followed the manga and Anime down to the T. We have designed our internal code just for that purpose. So as our Jutsus, items, and fan base grows, so does the HUD. We built in several modules ... to incorporate this way of thinking into the items, terminals, and other things we created for this combat system. As well as our way of building our sim. ... We have completely covered a good number of the clans and we plan to do so with every single one. We have taken baby steps in that reguard, the popular ones to the least, each having the same care and consideration, so not to allow anyone to be over-powered. First clans we plan to release, Uchiha, Hyuuga, Kaguya, and Senju, followed by three more every month until all the clans are fixed.”

“One of our major things is inter-sim missions ... where other sims can be sponsored by our combat system to hold additional missions and quests. For instance, you may get a quest from Hidden Sound to kill this person in Hidden Cloud. Everything is interlaced in that aspect.”

Bioblaze suggested begining fighters, “Practice on Taijutsu dummies and stay within training areas. People will always want to fight, but working on your character is the best way to go. Always remember to enhance your Taijutsu a little first. It’s going to do a lot of damage and not take a lot of Chakara. Then go for your first and secondary elements. If you’re worried about Genjutsu, stay within the limit, always add at least 1-2 points per level to it. It helps when someone hits you to break your Genjutsu. Not only that, it shortens the time that the Genjutsu will effect you.”

“New users should stay close to the mission areas. The PvP areas such as the Forest of Death, are rather big and people sit there looking for fights. If you want to stand a chance, focus on your main element, and hope they don’t have the same element as you. ... everyone of course levels their character in different manners. If you get someone with the same element as you, depending on his level or his element stat, he may have more of a resistance than you do. Where your normal attack would do 150 damage, with that person it may do 70, depending on how much of the same element you have.”

As one’s character gains experience, “Not only does your level increase, but you gain more stat points. The more stat points you get, the more you can up your character’s level and such. Not to mention you’ll gain more access to missions and specialized Jutsu. ... Focus on your way of fighting. No one’s way is the right way or the wrong way. It all depends on the character. Really, it does.” Bioblaze explained they made an effort to make the combat system easy to use.

The NCS2 comes with three attachments, which are simply worn, a pouch, a HUD, and a headband or armband, depending on what you choose when you first put them on and are asked which you prefer plus some other questions for your character in the RP. There are also a few combat gestures included (more given as you progress in the game). The main HUD shows how much health and Chakra you have (a previous version had two bars over your avatar for all to see). To see whom else has the NCS2, press the “check” button. Pressing the pouch on the HUD will open it, as well as triggering an animation to make the avatar appear to be reaching inside the pouch attachment he’s wearing. The pouch itself holds a variety of ninja weapons from smoke bombs to cover a retreat, to throwable knives, to paper-bombs, to caltrops to cover a retreat.

Activating and playing the NCS gestures will activate jutsus, which use up an amount of chakra, but will damage an opponent if you hit him/her. One can also do physical attacks, “Holding down your left mouse button gives you the ability to go into taijutsu mode. Using your arrow keys, you can perform a number of attacks. Pressing your back button with the mouse button still held down is your block feature. If you hold down your mouse button and then hold down shift hitting either the left or the right key, you do a special attack.”

Bioblaze is working with a team in developing the NCS2. Among them, Puppet Tatsu. Kegan Loon also worked with him, though concentrated on designing the sim their group is in: Kumogakure. The reason they chose that name was that it was the village described the least in the Naturo stories, so they felt they had more leeway and room in what they could do with their designs and builds there. They also started work on some “Official Training Grounds” in another sim (at the time of this article were mostly complete).

Kumogakure, the Hidden Cloud Villiage, is at the Kumogakure sim (129, 216, 148). One can click a box near the entrance to request a copy of the NCS2 from a staff member. There is also, a "Release Group" invitation box near the box to get the HUD, the release group has the most update information anywhere on SL about the combat system, from weapons to newest updates. As of the printing of this article, the next beta version should be available in a few days. Bioblaze says they will not be charging Lindens for the NCS's final version.

If you’re a Naturo fan, or a fan of manga in general or combat games, the NCS2 is definitely worth taking a look at.

Bixyl Shuftan

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The USS Defiant

Recently, I was informed by the Trek Museum about a ship that was recently built, getting a Landmark to the location, and an invitation to look around. The ship in question, the USS Defiant. For those less familiar with Star Trek, the Defiant was the starship frequently used on missions in the “Deep Space Nine” series. It was smaller than the Enterprise, but was heavily armed. In Second Life, this Defiant will be the location of a Trek Roleplay.

Getting aboard and looking around, I was soon met by one lady in a gold Trek uniform and a silver collar: Donnaj Firehawk. She greeted me, and offered me a tour of the ship, starting with the transporter room, and going to the ready room, and then the room most think of with Trek ships, “This is our main Bridge. It has a changeable screen behind you, and in the front, and also an alert system.” And just after taking a picture, the ship began flashing Red Alert, “Ooops, are cameras considered a security hazard?” I asked in jest. Donnaj giggled, “We are still in the finishing touches. The Captain is anyway.” She explained the ship hadn’t been up for very long.

Donnaj showed me the Captain’s Office. The desk being neat and tidy, there wasn’t much to distinguish it, except for a small fishtank with a half-globe display set in the wall with a lionfish swimming inside. “This is Trigger,” she explained. She then showed me the brig, with a room with not much more than a bunk at one end, “Our holding cell.” With a weak field up, moving into and out was no problem. But after Donnaj strengthened it, “Now try to walk through the force field.” And indeed there was no simply walking in or out.

Going along, I noticed several pictures of avatars on the wall, some in uniform some not. I asked about them, and Donnaj told me those were of the upcoming crew, which was still incomplete. The trip went past the upper cargo room with a few containers, and led to a place familiar to Trekkers, “This is the top view of Engineering,” she pointed to a group of four columns lit up in pulsating blue light, ”with working warpcore.” When she turned it off, the ship announced in the loudspeaker, “Warp Core is offline, Condition Yellow.” Donnja explained, “Also, it’s connected to the alert system.” She turned it back on, the computer then announced, “Warp Core is online, Condition Green.”

The trip then went to the rear Crew Quarters. The ship being smaller than the Enterprise, most of the crew were assigned not individual rooms, but bunks, “There are four bunks here.” The trip then went past the datacore, the heart of the ship’s computer. We then came to the front Crew Quarters, “There are six bunks here.” We then headed to a room with some tables with chairs and control panels with shelves underneath on one side, and a larger than normal door with another panel on the other. “This is the Mess Hall andHolodeck,” Donnaj explained, “Click the replicators. Those meals are copyable; three different meals.” Turning to the other side of the room, “Of theHolodeck , the Captain is currently working on making it workable.” This would probably be the last part of the ship that would be finished.

Heading out of there, we went to Sick Bay, which stood out from it’s several beds with panels with X-rays and graphs behind each one, “This is our Medical Facility. If you’re have a lay on a bed, I’ll activate it.” I did, and an arch went over my avatar, the computer going, “BioBed closing, please stand clear.” After a few seconds, “BioBed opening, please stand clear.” Donnaj remarked, “Scan complete, you’re in good health.” Unlike McCoy with Spock, there were no jokes about the differences between human and non-human physiology.

We then went to another large room, “This is our Main Cargo Bay.” She then pointed to something not normally seen on a Federation ship, “Also Borg Regeneration Chambers.” Asked if there was this kind of character in the RP, “We do have a Borg on board, yes.” The cargo bay door was open, but a force field was up for keeping in the air. We walked on, and came to the last large room, with a two-man ship sitting inside, “This is the Shuttle Bay. The shuttle does fly. If you like, I can take you down.” I agreed, and we both walked inside, “Have a seat.” After we did, the computer announced, “Pilot Donnaj Firehawk. Say ‘start’ to begin flying.” She did, and the ship floated up a few inches, and she slowly backed the ship out of the shuttle bay and the Defiant.

Donnaj took the shuttle towards the ground, telling me that another ship was being worked on, “The Captain is currently working on a Borg Cube.” Which for someone familiar with Trek suggests a few rough and tumble adventures ahead. Getting closer to the buildings of the Trek Museum grounds, Donnaj pointed out a few places, though she was soon having some trouble steering as the ship was closer to more and more prims, “Our shuttle seems to be having a mind of it’s own. It’s not letting me turn the direction I want to go.” She eventually decided to land it a little short of where she wanted, “I will have to have my Captain take a look at it.”

The USS Defiant is at the Saint Clara Island sim, at (72, 201, ***)

Bixyl Shuftan

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