A hole in the basement of a friend’s new home opens out above the clouds over a vast landscape.

I look up to the sky, because it’s not really clear whether the top floor is actually the roof or not, and there is a biplane flying around rather lazily, looping in and out of the clouds. When it’s in clear portions of the sky, it seems to generate its own cloud around itself. It’s not clear if this is meant to be some kind of camouflage or just showoffy like smoke trails, or if the plane is malfunctioning somehow. It doesn’t stop looping around, even when the sky darkens and the clouds roll in, until the sky is the same grey as the cubicle farm.

And now it seems like the inside and the outside are fused together somehow. The plane is now dipping from the grey above into the grey below and then back up, over and over as it toodles about. The plane doesn’t stop being a plane, but somehow I am still imagining it as a whale, swooping between the layers of sky.

Later I have descended back to the street where a couple of guys ask me if this building houses the offices of SEGA. I seem to recall seeing a window sign to that effect, so I point it out, and then realize that is, in fact, where I have just been. Also I have left my clipboard there and need to go back to get it. When I return I realize all the LEDs I remember seeing are actually on various random electronic components laying all over the place. It is more mysterious but less exciting than I had hoped.

The sky is
An upended brazier with
The last glowing embers of
Yesterday’s coals.

As we flee, we stumble across a camp under an overpass, populated by a dozen or so homeless people- they seem to be the homeless-by-choice sort rather than the down-and-out sort. I try to explain the danger- the zombies are not far behind! But they say I have to talk to their leader, a woman called the Dumpster Fairy, and she won’t grant me a hearing without a proper offering.

Hastily searching around, I find some boxes of old junk laying about somewhere and hurry back to upend them into the dumpster by the camp. The Fairy seems quite pleased and even rewards me with a kiss in the cheek. So now I gather all the campers together and start to explain about the horde, and that we all have to get the hell out of here- but it is already too late- moans are coming from all around! I abjure everyone to stay as still as they can- these zombies hunt by motion, like velociraptors. If you stay perfectly still, they won’t notice you.

We are all remaining motionless, our eyes flicking between one another and the zombies shambling through the camp, when the Dumpster Fairy says, through clenched teeth, “Ny nose itches… I… I hashta shneeze!” and before I can say “Hold it!” she has already succumbed to a fit of sneezes. The zombies all turn as one and stumble toward her. Swearing under my breath I lean down and pick up a bunch of stones and start pelting the mass of undead around her. “Hey! Over here, assholes!” I shout, waving my arms and dancing around. They turn toward me, confused for a moment, until I bean several of them in the forehead with stones. With a dull moan they start toward me.

“Wait until they follow me, then run the other way!” I call over my shoulder as I lead the zombies into the darkness.

In the year 3318AD, the Terran Federated Colony Ship Epsilon experienced a thruster malfunction during atmospheric entry to their target, Planet F247, and the ship made an emergency landing in a convenient body of water. All hands survived the landing and the colony proceeded as planned, but their reactor was damaged, leaving them without enough power to set up their quantum matter transmitter, leaving them stranded. Reports came that they had found a suitable energy source, a crystal easily obtainable by class-II mining robots. The smartshelter was set up, the water filtration plant running, and it seemed all would be well. Then, abruptly, communications with Epsilon were lost.

Resources:
* Smart Shelter – AI functional, but interface aphasic
* Clean Water – Filtration plant power couplings failing
* Labor Robots – Unstable, intermittently hostile
* Fuel Crystals – Abundant and easily accessible

Factions:
* Anti-Robot Agrarian Veterans Society;
Ludwich Olaff, Kyle Penderson, Samuel Chow
* E.D.F.;
Tory Dexrin, Akbar Thorgrim, Rene Villanueva
* The Phoenix Group;
Dr. Jensen, Governor Pyle, Maxx Action
* Vox Populi;
Bianca Delacroix, Timothy Sandoval, Cadence Tam

Spring
1. A New Leader Arrives (Ah)
An ambassador arises from the ranks of the labor robots, dubbing itself Hans Sprocket, and is taken in by the EDF.
Meanwhile, survey drones discover what seem to be abandoned dwellings in the mountains northeast of the colony. Readings suggest a relatively advanced level of technology.
A party is sent to investigate, led by Akbar Thorgrim of the EDF. [1 tick]

2. A Setback (10h)
Communications with the exploration party are lost. [+1 tick]
The smartshelter AI slips further into dementia, and no longer recognizes humans as inhabitants. Pest Expurgation Countermeasures Systems are engaged, and will continue to escalate. [4 ticks to lethal response]
The Phoenix Group decides not to wait to hear from the EDF party and begins packing to emigrate to the mountain settlement. [2 ticks]
The ARAVS launches a preemptive strike against the malfunctioning labor robots, clashing with the EDF. During the skirmish, Ludwich is wounded and it is revealed, to everyone’s surprise, that he is actually a class-IV android. Stunned by this, Ludwich is unable to reconcile his anti-robot sentiments with his own true nature. He stumbles to the smartshelter data core and uploads himself into it, giving up his human form, and rendering the habitat no longer inimical to its residents.
The robots, having discovered how to remove their AI-limiting restraining bolts, retreat to a settlement of their own to the southeast.
The EDF scouting party returns to the Epsilon settlement and reports that the mountain caves are mysteriously abandoned, as if the residents were teleported away without warning.
A colony wide council is called, what to do about fresh water? Some suggest trying to salvage new power couplings from the ship, others recommend searching for a new source of fresh water.

3. A Temporary Reprieve (8h)
Ludwich, now the operating system for the smartshelter, figures out a way to reprogram the oxygen synthesizers to be more efficient, delaying the breakdown of the water filtration plant [+2 ticks]
The Phoenix migration party reaches the mountain cave settlement and begins moving in.
The EDF begin peace negotiations with the rebel robot colony, dubbed Robotopia. [3 ticks]
Strange purple spores float into Epsilon from the south, investigation reveals a field of waving purple stalks with curled fronds sprouting from the ground that seems to grow closer every day.

4. Sabotage (5h)
Ludwich has had to curb Cadence’s power and water consumption repeatedly, she finally becomes fed up and sabotages the mainframe.
ARAVS send out a party to analyze the source of the purple spores.
Negotiations with Robotopia are going well. [-1 tick]

5. Spring is Fleeting (Kh)
Spring gives way to Summer.
ARAVS discover the purple plant is not only edible, but a good source of hydration, alleviating the water purification problem to some degree.
The negotiations with Robotopia end on a good note, a mutual nonaggression pact is formed, and the EDF faction becomes the Human Robot Coalition.
Cadence’s sabotage leaves Ludwich no longer self-aware. The smartshelter’s AI still functions properly, but it no longer has a personality.
A transmission is received from colony ship Omega, recently arrived in orbit around F247, offering assistance. Spirits rise dramatically.
The remaining AIs in Epsilon colony agitate for en-masse robotic defection to Robotopia [6 ticks]

6. Harbinger (9d)
Omega’s orbital scans reveal an approaching and probably hostile alien presence on the southern horizon [6 ticks]
The purple vegetation has taken root in Epsilon, and is growing around the power conduits, threatening stability.
Those of Phoenix still remaining in Epsilon begin construction of an autonomous perimeter defense system. [5 ticks]

7. 20% Power Remaining (3d)
Lack of robotic labor for mining and increasing power demands due to building projects has severely taxed the supply of fuel crystals. Only a little over a month’s worth remain, with careful husbanding. [3 ticks]
The HRC begins planning a human embassy in Robotopia. [4 ticks]
A garbled transmission arrives from the Phoenix enclave at the mountain settlement- mostly screams.

8. Summer is Fleeting! (Kd)
The ARAVS start programming the smartshelter to contain the purple growths.
The HRC launches a rescue mission to the mountain settlement. [5 ticks to rescue the survivors]

9. MIA (4d)
Cadence goes missing during a picnic with a boyfriend- the boy was discovered in the purple field, alive but comatose, and riddled with purple growths.
Maxx Action, at the mountain settlement, has been feeding an odd little creature, which is growing larger at an alarming rate. It’s only a matter of time before it requires more sustenance than Maxx can provide and turns on the colonists. [6 ticks]
A transmission from Omega informs Epsilon that the previously mentioned alien threat seems to be attracted to the colony’s waste gas emissions.

10. Changing Sides (5d)
Cadence resurfaces at the mountain settlement, severing her ties with Vox Populi and joining the Phoenix Group there.
The supply of fuel crystals finally runs dry, leaving only emergency power. The perimeter defense, growth containment, embassy, and rescue mission projects all have to be abandoned in the scramble for basic necessities.
Most of the Vox Populi make plans to retreat to the partially-submerged Epsilon craft, ostensibly to scavenge parts for repairs. [3 ticks]
The remaining members of the Phoenix Group at Epsilon cast their lot with those evacuating to the ship, with their help, the timeline is moved up. [-1 tick]

11. Plague (Qc)
The purple growths found in Cadence’s boyfriend have surreptitiously spread to other members of the colony. Soon nobody will be able to hide the signs of infection. [2 ticks]
The infected find that the purple stalks are the only form of sustenance that satisfies them.
Robotopia sets up a quarantine/sanitation facility outside their borders and irradiates any incoming robots to keep the infection out. The process would be fatal to humans, but the HRC begins trying to retool the process to make it safe for colonists.
The Epsilon evacuation party gets aboard the ship and manages to power up the life support systems.

12. A New Hope? (6c)
The Robotopian nano-sanitization protocol, still experimental, delays the spread of the purple plague by injecting volunteers with nanites that effectively purge the spores, at the cost of rendering those who undergo the procedure technically cyborgs.
Hans and Ackbar defect from HRC to join Robotopia, as their android bodies can survive the irradiation process.
Samuel, the boy who was subject zero for the infection, wakes from his comatose state and exhibits the ability to feed directly off the smartshelter energy conduits. He convinces the surviving AVARS members to join him, they would rather become plants than machines. [2 ticks]
The nanite protocol is perfected by the HRC, who undergo mass nano-infusion.

13. Early Frost (Kc)
The aliens strike at the outskirts of the colony, Samuel and Kyle, communing in the purple field, are incinerated along with all the vegetation.
The Epsilon evacuation party have managed to prep the ship for launch. Governor Pyle goes on a suicide mission to trigger the smartshelter’s self-destruct mechanism.
Despite the loss of Samuel and Kyle, the remaining members of AVARS make their peace with the purple plague and become vegesymbionts. The “disease” is no longer a threat, now it is their salvation.

14. The Frost Shepherds Arrive (Ks)
In the burning fields outside the colony, the vegemorphs and cyborgs prepare for a final showdown, as the strange, angelic indigenes arrive.
As the three factions stare each other down, each waiting for another to make the first move, the self-destruct detonates, turning the entire colony into a huge fireball. Above it all, the Epsilon limps into the sky on sputtering rockets.
Somewhere, off in the mountains, a hulking creature with floppy puppy ears licks blood off its muzzle and wonders at the strange star rising.

So, what ARE classes and races in games? They are basically templates, narrowing down what your character can do from a wide spectrum to something manageable. Think of them like opaque cards with holes punched in them. Line up the cards with the light, and what shines through is what’s available to you.

That’s the mechanical function of races and classes, ideally they also have narrative functions, but those are generally only given lip service in MMOs, if they are addressed at all. This right here is an issue, as far as I’m concerned.

Do we even need races and classes? I think they are optional. But if you’re going to have them, how about making them interesting? Tailor them to the setting, for starters. Or come up with some cool ideas and build the setting around them.

Now, in the years I’ve been gaming, I’ve come up with a few handfuls of “classes”, usually by extrapolating around a single unique character with a shtick that I feel has more depth than can be explored in one character’s story. Some are similar to or drawn from existing ideas, both in gaming and in media generally; I’m not claiming my ideas are spun whole cloth out of the aether. And I’m not saying any of these in particular would work well in any given MMO, but I feel they are at least more interesting than the old standby Red Box D&D set. And if I can come up with stuff like this, certainly people who design MMOs can.

And let’s come up with some more interesting magic systems, please, while we’re at it.

Here are some new entries from me.

Tanglewhisper - The Tanglewhisper is a thoroughly impassable riot of leaves, vines, roots, boughs, and murk that stretches from the foothills of the Murder Hulk Mountains to the Serrated Coast. The river Mythglass flows down from the Murder Hulks and spreads into the lowlands to create a wet, hyperverdant environment with very little actual dry land. Mats of vegetation or root systems can be walked on for short distances, but offer treacherous footing at best. The lapping of the stagnant water, the rubbing of branch against branch, the sussuration of vegetation in the wind, all combine to create a constant low white noise, giving the region its name.

Argent Water - Deep within the Tanglewhisper, a traveler might encounter a strange shimmering on the surface of the waters. This is due to an oily residue imparted by submerged white metal, a strange substance that has the feel and properties of porcelain, but can be worked and forged like metal. This is one of the reasons a few brave souls do try to penetrate the Tanglewhisper, as this substance is quite valuable. The Argent Water itself will coat the flesh of anything that is dipped into it, the longer submerged, the more thickly the residue. Those who dig for white metal are easily spotted by the pale crust covering their legs and arms.

Murk Fire - A common name for the wil o’ wisps that sometimes float above the surface of the waters in the Tanglewhisper.