1x?

[RavenWolf1010]

I'm looking for some people to do a little RP. Probably something close to fantasy/ open world since that's my favorite. I'm pretty busy with work/ school but I have off-time here and there. Sometimes I'll be on hours at a time so it just depends!

[skwerl56767]

   I can do a fantasy RP, though if it's a small group I'm not sure what to do with more of a sandbox setting. I'm good at worldbuilding though, at least. Do you have any details on what kind of RP you'd like? Supernatural, high fantasy, realistic, gaslamp, serious plot or not...? I've thought about running the typical "players get trapped in a videogame" isekai, and it'd be a casual sandbox RP, but there aren't quite enough people on DCF for it, so I'm up for anything else you'd want to do (especially if I don't have to be a human in it)!

[RavenWolf1010]

Sorry! With everything hitting the fan I had to deal with a lot of the fallout. 

 

I'm all for supernatural... the rest you listed I haven't heard before. Guess I've been out of the loop for a while and need to do some research   I've noticed too it's nowhere near as active as it used to be. A shame, I spent quite a few years on here roleplaying with everyone. Anyways none of my go-to characters are entirely human, and Supernatural would definitely fit the best.

[skwerl56767]

   That's understandable. I don't know where everyone went, either; I suppose they keep becoming too busy and there wasn't enough new blood to proceed them/fill in the inactivity gaps.

   Alrighty, supernatural works for me! Do you have any plots, ideas, character designs, etc. you're looking to use? I'm pretty flexible, though I've learned that if I worldbuild too much I end up essentially running the RP, so I like to let others pitch their ideas first, then I can tack on anything needed afterward.

[RavenWolf1010]

So far I only have my characters (wolf shifter and an arch angel). The wolf shifter came from a facility trying to make an artificial werewolf and the archangel for the most part is kind of rogue. I'm also kind of considering my newer human character since I haven't gotten to play him much and he's a little more in depth than the other two.

 

Also: do you want to keep it 1x1 or do keep it open?

Edited March 29, 2020 by RavenWolf1010

[Merciless_Medic]

Hey, I was wondering if it is alright for me to join. I'm super interested in RPing and I have spent the last 3 years RPing on another more active site. If you guys would like to, let me know.

[skwerl56767]

   I'm fine with that! Do you have any ideas of your own? I haven't worldbuilt much, and I've lost a lot of spare time to do it, so if you want to help I wouldn't mind.

   So far all we have is this:

• Supernatural beings were summoned into a modern dystopian world by a summoner.
• Summoner is looking for help from the beings, but I haven't decided what the help is.
• Darker themes, so demons and stuff are expected.
• Setting is a forsaken city. We're starting in the older part of the city. It's not a big one, but I haven't decided if it has a modern metropolitan area or not.
• I'm debating whether the city is coastal or set in a high prairie. I haven't decided topography, either, which could affect the climate.
• The city already has a previous affliction that causes it to always be dark, like night. More supernatural beings can be seen because of this.
• I also haven't decided how acclimated the people are to seeing supernatural occurrences, and if our characters would scare them or seem the norm (either way, we wouldn't be treated like citizens)
• I'm leaving it open for whether you want to come in as a "good guy" or a "bad guy". Raven and I were thinking of making this partly a moral-exploring RP, so there will be grey zones.

   Finally, we were both thinking of leaving this as an open sandbox, but because of how quiet the forums are nowadays I've been trying to think of a more solid plot. If you have plot ideas of your own, though, we could start it as a sandbox and let things develop along the way.

[Merciless_Medic]

Well, depending on what you are doing, I want to bring in a character I have used for D&D, but I have no idea if you have Orcs or half-orcs in this RP. If you do, I'd like to make a god, if the Eye of Gruumsh is not included. If not, I'll work in your guidelines. Basically, she's a half-orc, named Kansif, who is strong, tough, and pretty charismatic but she isn't the sharpest tool in the shed and pretty blunt and boisterous. She also holds honor, and is expected to be a shaman in her tribe of coexisting humans and orcs.

 

As for setting, here are a few things I got to help you with:

 

- It depends if you want a morally grey character or a character more set one way or another. If you want morally grey, you can have the dude fight to restart humanity because it has become horrible in this dystopian society, but then he'll become god with the power of the supernatural and try to take over in a more totalitarian way of life. Or you can have him use the supernatural to free the people from the government and free everyone. Or you can have him kill everyone and let the supernatural live in the world given, whether it be by the summoner's wish or not.

 

- In a modern dystopian setting, a modern metropolitan area would be nice.

 

- For climate, make it vary a lot. The plains make the city landlocked, making it easier to control, while its harder for materials like people coming in to trade or importing/exporting materials in and out. If it is coastal and near water, it would be less easy to control as people can just hide in the water and swim away, but they get materials a lot better and faster, and they aren't landlocked. It just depends on what you want. I would suggest having a Forest, a mountain range, a system of caves, plains, and a more arid environment like savannas or something of the like.

 

- If supernatural occurrences happen during night, and if it always night time, our characters will be seen as normal, but may seem slightly off as the characters vary in species. Not all supernatural beings may appear naturally in the city, so it may be uncommon to see something like a bunyip there than a demon or a fallen angel. If the creature is supposed to be rare, like a unicorn, I could see them spreading awe and fear. It should also be established how long it has always been night. If it's been like that for generations, everyone should be acclimated to it. If it has been recent, then people will be in the middle of getting used to it and there should be varying stages of people accepting what has happened to their City.

 

- I may make two or three characters, one more morally grey character who is confused on what side he should be on and two more idealistically concrete characters.

[Lycanious]

Hey everyone, would there possibly be room for a rusty fourth here...? What’s been fleshed out so-far already seems a pretty fun concept, and I’ve got a demon(maybe?) character I’ve been musing over lately I’d like to try out. Plus a few older ones on standby if there’s a need for them.

 

 

[skwerl56767]

   Hey Lycanious! I didn't think you were still on here. We can always accept more people! (I think, RavenWolf hasn't objected so far.)

 

   Medic: I haven't planned on blacklisting any species, so Kansif might be fine? I'm not sure if a half-orc is supernatural enough to fit as a summoned creature, and I don't have plans on giving the world other humanoid species, although... that might make for a more interesting setting. Having her be a god would work, but be warned that there won't be any true gods in the RP, so her power level will be more equivalent to an archangel's. I'm thinking of how to articulate what that means... like if your character's powers are fathomable, they'll do, but the more powerful they are, the more chances we need to have to anticipate/try to reverse the effects. So technically you could have a power that could destroy the planet, indirectly or not, but there needs to be the option and enough time to prevent it from happening, like "us dealing with this could be a whole season/arc for a show" kind of time. Although, in thinking about the kinds of fiends that would be attracted to this world, most would see it as an asset and would fight over it rather than destroy it. I also trust you guys enough to not enter characters that would go around destroying planets will-nilly, since that sort of kills the setting we've built. Finally: RavenWolf can completely override this, so the power cap may end up being lower than that.

 

   I've thought about it a bit more, and I think I like the idea of the world being a reality that essentially damned itself, causing it to be forsaken by the angelic forces in that reality. This would be an open invitation for all sorts of nasty things to enter, but also for angelic forces from other realms/realities to come in as well. It also hasn't been night for very long, so supernatural things are definitely not the norm. I want there to be uncertainties between our characters and the denizens so we have some interesting strife. I don't want us to be on the run all the time though either, because people are panicking and trying to kill or banish us; something more in the middle, maybe during the acclimation phase where people are still trying to figure us out, and deciding who can be trusted (especially with demons complicating the process)? I'm also thinking there will be other cults and followings popping up besides our summoner, now that everyone is forsaken.

 

   Yeah, I think I'll pop in a metropolitan area. Having an old downtown and a cityscape, along with the usual urban and rural areas, will make it more interesting! I don't know about having a cornucopia of biomes around it, though, since a lot of stories with a central city tend to either do that, or have just one biome... I definitely want good topography, caves and thickets and things where cults could hide. I also know I don't want deciduous forests, or the warm/wet that encourages them; I feel conifer forests have just as much to offer but are always overlooked. The ocean... I don't know, I'm not as attached to it as an inland setting. Big cities do tend to be coastal, but if we have a major river going through the city, then that could be their means of trade, which would explain the growth.

   One idea I like is having the city sit in a valley, between two mountain ranges, and the climate is arid but there's a lot of standing and moving water (lakes, ponds, rivers and things). The lack of humidity would be due to huge conifer/boreal forests on the mountains, but in the valley it would be more like a floodplain. The reason I hesitated with this setting is because a ton of my RPs have mountains in them. I'm a fan of mountains. If you guys like the idea though, we can do that!

 

   I tend to play principled characters, so chances are good that's what I'll do. The summoner I'm still not sure about... though hey, if you guys want to play the summoner, by all means, feel free! I'll allow NPCs and quests galore, especially since I'm getting a bit too swamped to GM another RP at the moment. I'm also allowing RavenWolf to have final say on everything, since she spurred all this.

[Merciless_Medic]

Well, I uh... wasn't going to have Kansif be a goddess. She worships one: the Eye of Gruumsh. Gruumsh created the orcs to pillage and kill and all that fun stuff, so orcs and half orcs have an innate want to kill and destroy, yet it isn't all that rare to find an orc or half orc who have chosen to be a librarian or other such calm jobs that require responsibility and care. Plus, she calls upon the power of this demon to use powers and she is used as an asset of Gruumsh when he feels a pull of someone summoning supernatural in another planet and sucks up his best shaman to put her in there. So she is basically angel Michael to god, if they were somehow demonic, if that makes any sense.

 

And thank you for taking my suggestions to consideration. Also, I don't see that setting all that often. I do like having numerous biomes though, as it brings variety to the landscape, but maybe there can be a nice even middle we can achieve with a few biomes without clogging up the area it's in. 

 

I can make two more supernatural characters: a dragon and a Griffin. 

Edited April 16, 2020 by Merciless_Medic

[skwerl56767]

   Ohh, the way you worded it made me think Kansif turn into another orc god, or was maybe a companion god to Gruumsh. Yeah, that makes more sense now. I'm so used to orcs being their own race thanks to D&D that I don't know if they'd be supernatural enough, but considering I'm allowing other races like werewolves and fairies, which could be the norm in another setting, Kansif should be good! The more characters the merrier, too!

 

   No problem! I did ask for help, after all. Diverse biomes do make it more interesting... hm, thinking about my original idea... it'd be landlocked, but if I add the big river, that widens the valley considerably. So we'll have mountains, coniferous forest, and the river floodplain, and if I keep it arid, then the spaces without tributaries/ponds can be small plains, and the ones that do can be marshes. A big enough river/lake also makes the climate slightly milder on the shores the winds blow toward, which will add humidity/retain warmth into different parts of the city. That gives us five or six-ish biomes? That sounds pretty good, since we have at least three different parts of the city to add onto that.

   Also, I'm thinking there will be some less realistic terrain as a result of the supernaturals interacting with the environment; nothing as severe as floating islands, but maybe more dramatic mountain peaks, deep caves with lava welling up in them, a single marsh that's overgrown and dark, little things like that. More dramatic changes would be caused by more powerful supernaturals. Most of these will be in spots supernaturals have called home, or where cults are trying to summon more supernaturals/otherwise hide their activities, so they could pop up in the city too.

 

   I think those are all of my ideas... we're pretty much set up for a thread, at this point! I don't know if RavenWolf wants to set it up or if I should, since I'm particular about updating the OP. I haven't seen her since Easter, but she might hop on this weekend.

[Merciless_Medic]

Yup, everything sounds awesome. Can't wait to start RPing.

[Lycanious]

(Thanks, nice to see you around again too haha~ Admittedly I mostly just lurk these days.)

 

Just to throw in my two-cents worth on the setting beforehand, maybe society as a whole is pretty accustomed to the supernatural but it’s the implication of some of the player characters being here that’s more concerning for them? Like archangels and demons and avatars of the gods are known to be around, but if you suddenly see a bunch of them hanging out at the local dog-park you can be sure something terrible is about to happen. Alternatively we could do more of a ‘hidden world’ approach, where there’s a thriving supernatural society that’s secretly woven its way throughout the city and there’s various measures taken to keep it that way. The previous idea could still apply, but there’d be more of a focus on having to work around these rules while the characters try to reach their goals.

 

Setting sounds perfect to me, good variety without seeming too Frankenstein’d together :3

 

In regards to the mythology side of things though, is that being left pretty open-ended? I was wondering if my demon character, Vaz, would be able to have a role where they entice mortals into making deals with more powerful demons? They’d be sort of a go-between that recommends a particular higher authority, how to appeal to them, maybe chase down mortals that don’t pay their end of the bargain, etc. Mostly it’s to secure souls for their superiors, but they wouldn’t be opposed to redirecting them to other entities outside of their domain, or even more angelic forces if they had a good enough reason to. Could something like that work in this world? 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Lycanious

[skwerl56767]

   Mm, I've never really been into the "secret world" reasoning for unnatural things suddenly showing up in a natural world, where the supernaturals exist in secret societies. Everyone being accustomed to the supernatural doesn't sound too bad, although I would want them to be accustomed in the sense that the religious people won't be too bothered (or turn their zeal up to 9,000), drunken teens will blow it off, fans of certain creatures will be ecstatic, etc. People can know or believe these things exist, but they weren't really showing up until recently. I just want to avoid the plot where unusual creatures are seen as the norm and society just moves on regardless. I like to stir the pot a bit.

   On that note, since the world has been forsaken for a little while, we could run into people who have seen enough supernaturals to not freak out, but they'll still be wary or awed, so a few places are safe to travel in (as in, you won't be mobbed, since I'm trying to avoid having us be persecuted all the time, too). The cultists may also be unusually calm, since they're looking for that stuff. I'm not sure how much time would have to pass for us to be at that stage.... maybe a couple of months or so? The hard part is accommodating for the fact that the initial flood of supernaturals will be demons running around causing chaos. :'D The city will be quieter than that when we start.

 

   For your second question, I'll be incorporating some lore to explain why so many different supernaturals are showing up. The lore is that a religion, coupled with the "territories" it has claimed in the mortal world, is a big package called a Realm. Each Realm's territory in each plane is like a country on a piece of infinitely-extending land; so every Realm's Heaven exists together on the Plane of Heaven, every Realm's Hell exists on the Plane of Hell, etc., and because not every religion shares the same concepts, some Realms extend to other planes and miss others, such as a "trails to reach the afterlife" plane or a lack of a Hell territory. The reason so many evil creatures from different worlds/dimensions/etc. would suddenly target this one world is because it's conquering territory, to gain more power and to destroy rivals. The Realms in Hell are particularly notorious for being war-torn, as their rulers (generally known as Hell Lords or Devils) are constantly attacking each other and vying for more power. Some of them have more to worry about than petty rivalry, but that's just specific to the ruler. So basically, if your supernatural isn't with the angels that forsook this world, or with the demons that are now attacking it, then you're from a different Realm. It's sort of like multiverse theory.

   So in short, yes, Vaz is 100% okay! He would basically be a demon that works with other demons/Hell Lords into securing mortal souls, which there would be a lot of in the Realms, and I like the idea of him being neutral enough to work with holier forces, too. The cults can also be connected to different creatures/influences from other Realms showing up. I'll let you guys have fun with that.

Edited April 17, 2020 by skwerl56767

[Lycanious]

All good, I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea I do like the idea of some people gradually becoming more accustomed to the concept as time goes on though, though understandably not right from the start. Mostly so the characters have a bit of breathing room every now and then. 

 

Did you have any ground rules on how easy you want them to be able to hide to start off with? Are we sticking with just creative clothing choices if we want to hide clearly not-human traits or would something like an illusion spell or shapeshifting be sufficient if we give it some limitations/opportunities to fail? Personally I’m pretty happy with any approach.

 

Otherwise, I think the Realms is a neat way to tie everything Just to make sure I’ve got the right idea though, from the perspective of a character like Vaz they would be from the Hell plane and any previously dealings with souls would have been made in other, seperate worlds on the Mortal plane? And this recently forsaken world would be the latest opportunity for Vaz’s Realm to try and claim some territory so its residents can start properly interacting with it? 

[skwerl56767]

   How your character hides will be entirely up to its range of powers and what you decide, though not everyone will be hiding (especially the more powerful ones). I won't be picky about it. A lot of supernaturals may also be looking for followers, purposefully going for shock-and-awe and performing miracles to establish their presence, but not everyone has to do the same to expand their Realms. Realms expand using influence, and influence is... kind of amorphous, in this case. The closest thing I can think of to it is one of those label-maker guns, where if you have enough power, you can stick a label on something to claim it, but the label isn't physically there (followers are desirable because they're lifeforms claimed without using any power). It's inspired off of the belief/influence mechanic of Black & White, where a god can work without limits inside its territory, but has limited power outside of it, and to expand this territory it spreads belief in it among mortals. It's a similar idea, though instead of just an imaginary boundary, influence can also change the landscape and the way things look and feel, as it also serves as an extension of the supernatural's "home" where its power works within its Realm's laws, and not the laws of the other Realm's. Sort of like how curses and cursed land works in fantasy, but it's not strictly negative. It's just a trace of your Realm's presence that you left there, and fades if you don't add to it now and then. I'm not sure if any of that makes sense.

   To claim territory, you leave your Realm's influence there (how you do that is also up to you). To conquer another Realm's territory, you override its influence with yours; so, understandably, a stronger influence means territory that's harder to claim. Territory can be more than just land, too; you can leave it on living things, or place it in a river to try and claim everything downstream, etc. Influence can also be diluted or concentrated, so if you have a bit of power, you can put a strong claim on something small, or a wider, weaker claim on something big. Finally, it takes a significant amount of power to claim a soul (claimed separately from a lifeform's body), which is why many Hell Lords are eager to make soul contracts: if the person is willing to just give up the soul, it grants extra power to the Hell Lord with no cost.

   This all looks complicated, but I promise it's a simple framework. :'D I'm just not great at explaining some concepts.

 

   Yup! Vaz would be from the Hell plane, and doesn't even have to herald from any particular religion/Realm if you want! All of his "clients" (the demons he's worked with) would reside in the Hell plane too, but they're connected to their mortal worlds, so it's not a far stretch to assume he's seen some mortal territory while working with them. I'll leave the details up to you! The forsaken world is absolutely an opportunity to expand (even indirectly so if you're an angel, by defending people and encouraging them to be good again)!

 

   One last thing: I think I'll have enough time to manage the RP, but not RP in it at the same time; that, or leave management up to someone else, though I'm finding I'm enjoying GMing. Depending on how many summer chores come up, I might not join for several months... I'm not sure. I don't want to discourage you guys, especially now that we've just pieced the setting together, but I figured it's fairer to give warning first.

   I'll put up the thread and message RavenWolf, to see if she's still around. After that, you guys can start posting whenever!

 

   EDIT: She's in! Also I wrote too much, as usual, so I'm going to work on distilling the thread tomorrow, make it a slightly less scary size.

Edited April 22, 2020 by skwerl56767

[skwerl56767]

   @RavenWolf1010 @Merciless_Medic @Lycanious

   The thread is up! Sadly my schedule hasn't changed, but at least you guys can get started. Throw a ping my way if you need anything! I'll try and check the thread now and then, just to witness the shenanigans, though I might still miss stuff.

[Merciless_Medic]

So, what do you need for the post explaining a character? I'm more used to character sheets as opposed to writing out a post, since I tend to forget what I'm writing about and it's a lot easier to maintain what I have on the character. 

 

Just give me a guideline of what I should include and I'll start up a post.

[skwerl56767]

   All that would be needed is a name and a description, since I anticipate powers and things changing along the way. "Description" is a lump of appearance and personality, maybe a dash of history if you want; I'd say appearance is most key since people need it to describe your characters, and whether you put more character information in OOC or not is up to you! I'll keep character descriptions updated in the OP's roster, so it can serve as a reference if need be. Speaking of, if I need to edit anything in the roster to make it clearer, just give me a poke. I try to be as accurate as possible while also keeping things concise, but I'm not in everyone's heads. : P Looking forward to the post!