NSWRPF Archive Trilobite Shipping - A Dinotopia RP

Welcome to Dinotopia
[image=http://dinotopia.com/images/art/dinosaur_boulevard.jpg]

Survival of all me or none.
One raindrop raises the sea...fish poo gives it flavor.
Weapons are enemies even to their owners...but mostly to the guy on the business end.

Give more, take less. <-- Bad business.
Others first, self last. <-- Ditto.
Observe, listen, and learn. <-- Good business.
Do one thing at a time. <-- Ditto.

Sing Drink every day.
Exercise imagination. Nothing too dirty...
Eat to live, don't live to Eat. The cook spits in the food, anyway.
Don't p...ay for anything unless you've got it in your hand.

-The Code of Dinotopia tablet in the Black Fish Tavern,
with accompanying graffiti.

Isaiah Achebe was sitting in the Black Fish Tavern when the idea struck him: there's a lot of business to be had in transporting cargo over land. On Dinotopia, if it's too heavy for a skybax to carry, a guy has to deliver it himself or hope there are caravans going to the right place at around the right time. There was no overland, dedicated courier service. Realizing this, and realizing that the world of theater was leaving him behind, Isaiah and his partner Bolo founded Trilobite Shipping Company. Now he just needs some more help. That's where you come in.

Intro
Welcome to Trilobite Trading Company, a different kind of Dinotopia RP. Charitability and selflessness aren't for everyone, and it's those types that populate Isaiah Achebe's world. Outright evil may be rare, but charming rogues and salty dogs abound; it's Han Solo/Firefly/Pirates of the Carribean meets the Land Apart from Time, and it may prove to be quite interesting.

[image=http://dinotopia.com/images/art/attack_on_a_convoy.jpg]

Guideline
- This RP is based, primarily, on the books by James Gurney and other contributing authors. The TV series will receive less consideration.
- Character sheets should be messaged to the GM (me) before posting, for approval.
- Most characters should be affiliated with Trilobite, but exceptions may be made.
- You need not feel pressured to make your character a scoundrel, if that feels uncomfortable, but many of the characters in the RP will be.
- Please try to keep soley OOC posts after the start of the game to a minimum. If there?s something that needs addressed, add it onto an IC post or send a PM.
- No one line posts!
- Writing well counts for something. Grammar, spelling, sentence structure...take it seriously, please.
- Combat, if it occurs, will be turn based, obviously.
- Do not God Mode - you cannot take control of another character without permission.
- Don?t claim too many skills for your character. A person usually has one thing they excel in but can be proficient in other skills as well. You may be a jack of all trades, but also a master on none.
- Don?t try to carry to much stuff. A being can only bear so many items in their packs or pockets.
- While a little less squeaky clean, this is still Dinotopia. Bear that in mind.
- While taking place on Dinotopia, we're exploring the elements of the island that are less squeaky clean. Bear that in mind.
- Save for the GM, you will be limited to 1 character, though additional characters may be allowed with the GM's permission.
-Try to post regularly. If you are absent for more than a week without warning, the GM will move your character so the group doesn?t lag behind. If you?re going to be gone, please be courteous and tell the group.
- If your character is of a former alignment to any other groups or factions, mark it down.
- If you have any questions, just ask!

[image=http://dinotopia.com/images/art/will_and_bix_sm.jpg]

The Character Sheet

Name:
Species:
Gender:
Place of Origin:
Age:
Height:
Appearance:
Possessions:
Skills:
La

 

OOC: A bit of a preview...

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[color=teal][b]IC: Isaiah Achebe
[i]The Black Fish Tavern[/i][/b][/color]

[blockquote]Maybe it was the rum, but Isaiah was pretty sure the curly-haired blonde wench at the bar fancied him. Nah, it couldn?t have been just the rum. He was handsome, and charismatic. Perhaps she recognized him from a performance in Sauropolis. Anyway, everyone else was ugly and drunk. Well, Isaiah was drunk, too, but at least he wasn?t ugly, so what else would she look at?

It was a good night in a rough place. He?d just returned from a short delivery to the foothills of the Forbidden Mountains: a milk run, to be sure, but a lucrative one. In a mutual decision to pat themselves on the back, Isaiah and his partner, Bolo, decided to pass right by their hometown of Ruhmsburg and head straight for the mouth of the Polongo River, to the greasy, dirty, smelly, rundown, loud, violent, [i]wonderful[/i] Blackfish Tavern. Treasure hunting submersibles were docked along the pier and a thick, viscous film sat atop the water and glittered in the moonlight. People stumbling out greeted people going in with loud, carefree salutations. Hypsilophodont servers scurried in and out, taking the orders of patrons too large and covered in spines to enter the pub. The laughter and hollering of humans mixed with the hoots and rumbles of reveling saurians. Upon entering, Isaiah and Bolo were met with acknowledging nods and thumbed hat brims, raised glasses and grunts, letting them know they were welcome. The interior of the bar was dimly lit with candelabras, fireflies, and the wash of the sunstone beacons outside. A tablet hung behind the bar displaying the Code of Dinotopia along with graffiti additions. The pair had weaved their way through the crowd, Bolo ducking under the bellies and between the legs of some of the larger barflies, finding an empty table and anchoring themselves for the night.

They drank grog and did the occasional rum shot, toasting everyone and everything. Ever so often Bolo ordered a bowl of something thick and green that had no effect on humans but apparently made ceratopsians very cheerful, indeed. They sat together, surrounded by the roughest and saltiest the island continent of Dinotopia had to offer, laughing loudly at vulgar jokes, trading stories with everyone around, occasionally gambling, but being careful not to lose too much. It didn?t get much better than this. [i]Not to mention,[/i] Isaiah thought as he began to feel the effects of his last shot of rum, [i]every woman in this bar loves me.

Even the Pachyrhinosaurus lady over there with the eyepatch.[/i] It was true, she wouldn?t take her eyes off him. She wouldn?t enter, though, she merely stood outside. Isaiah pointed her out to Bolo, and they sniggered at the idea. It was then that two burly looking Stygimolochs entered. They were making a bee-line for Isaiah?s table. The two friends stood, suddenly recognizing that Pachyrhinosaurus: Lady Crumplesnoot, esteemed trader and collector. In the outside world, she may have been called a gangster. She definitely wasn?t above more?aggressive tactics to get what she needed, and Isaiah realized, through the fog of his drunken tarpor, that what she needed was payment on some of those barter credits he owed. Her Stygimolochs didn?t seem friendly. At all. This was bad.

Isaiah stood, ready to reason. ?Look, guys, tell your boss??

But Bolo was too quick for him. ?Hey!? he yelled to the next table, a group of men playing Treble, ?That card was up your sleeve! I?ve been watching you cheat the whole game, but that was just blatant!?

The right cross that landed against the accused man?s jaw expressed the other players? displeasure. The cheater vouched for his innocence with a left hook. Soon the tavern was boiling with a fray and Isaiah, now very much sobered, slipped away as the Stygimoloch hooligans ducked a flying chair. Bolo, huffing as he tried to keep up on his short Protoceratops legs, met him outside. Careful to avoid the gaze of Lady Crumplesnoot, they hopped into their lit

 

Thoughts from the GM

Episode 1: Saurian Language

It does not appear that, on Dinotopia, the dinosaurs have physically evolved much in 65 million years; the changes they have undergone are purely mental. As such, they are mostly incapable of human speech. (As we're all Star Wars fans, and know about Wookiees, this shouldn't seem odd to us.)

What's more it would seem that different species' vocal apparatus are different enough from one another that it seems unlikely that dinosaurs have any one real language. References to "Saurian" are made in some of the digest books; for the purposes of this game, we'll assume that Saurian is a crude pidgin dialect, not terribly complex, and supported largely by body language.