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| Gods among us; An RP interest gauge to a new idea | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: January 6, 2014, 6:05 pm (1,218 Views) | |
| NTNP | January 6, 2014, 6:05 pm Post #1 |
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Admin
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Gods among us What would happen if 7-10 people, everyday-usual people gained the powers of the gods in a world without any form of magic? What if someone, maybe a 17 year old girl just leaving home for the first time, suddenly gained the ability to shoot lightning out of her fingertips and control storms with her emotions? What would happen if a traveling mercenary could suddenly cause shockwaves with the swing of his sword and had the strength of a bear? Or a woman in mourning after the death of her husband, could suddenly call his ghost back to her and heal those she chooses? Would that change the world? Would that alter the very timeline of existence? Probably not. But it would be enough to change things, to alter the immediate history of where it happened. Those 7 people might have the strength to change the outcome of a war, they might be able to save a city… but what if these people kept becoming stronger and stronger? What if by the time that the lightning imbued girl turned 19 that she could cause a tornado to rip apart a town overnight? What if that mercenary united an entire country’s military to his banner and with his overwhelming strength could teleport around a battlefield like a blurr? Or if that heartbroken widow went from conjuring her lost lover to raising an army of 2,000 mindless zombies to raze the countryside? Would that alter the world? Would these heroes and villains alter our timeline? Possibly. They would unquestionably change the nature of the setting- there would be reasons that those people would be the things of legend without question. But that isn’t where our story might end… by the time our lightning girl turned 25 she might have grown to become the living embodiment of the lightning goddess. With the ability to fly through the air, create tornados in her wake, twist lightning around her fingers and bring life or death to entire countries at will she would be like a god compared to the mere humans that walk beside her. Her whims could be as world shaking as that of nuclear bomb and her wrath might bring an end to entire empires. This is what our characters would someday become- true and unquestionable gods of all creation, the new myths of our world. However, until then, they are mortal. Every bit as mortal as anyone else in this world. A single knife to the throat would cause them to bleed out within minutes. An arrow to the chest would still be as fatal to our lightning goddess as it would be to the archer who shot her. Even mundane methods of poison, toxins or being locked away in a cell without food or water for a week might be enough to bring these “living gods” to an end. For everything that makes them supernatural, they still retain their humanity and their mortality unless if they can ascend to true godhood. How they get there, if they get there, what they must do to reach that point and how their lives change the world is the focus of this story. This is- without a question- their story, first and foremost. How can less than a dozen living gods transform a world? In this story, our characters find themselves given unimaginable power that could have them ascend to the status of gods in a world full of mundane people. Our setting is that of something out of the 1100AD. This is an era of knights, kings, queens and declines of empires of old who are losing touch with the world they helped shape just a few hundred years before. We would likely start in a relatively isolated land filled with chaos- the perfect place for our characters to grow and alter the course of history without gaining too much attention from the world at large initially. The story would begin in a small town, perhaps at a crossroads of sorts… the kind of place where people from every walk of life might find themselves. Thriving markets, large inns and all the sorts of places that travelers might find welcoming off the road. Our characters would (by luck) find themselves here one night when the entire world would change and the new era would begin. Something falls from the sky and those in the town are instantly knocked unconscious from the pressure of it appearing. Suddenly everyone in the town has magical powers- hundreds to thousands of “superhumans” are born in a moment and every sort of person gains these powers. The just and unjust alike gain power. The rich and the poor alike gain power. The young and the old, all gain these mystical powers… but the world isn’t content to see such a great change happen without it’s consent. The world cannot abide the natural order to be altered so- and in turn the world itself tries to exterminate these abominations (including our characters). The mountain erupts in fire and brimstone, the sky is filled with dust and falling debris, the earth itself rips itself apart, the rivers boil, the wind twists and turns like the worst storm you have ever seen- the world tries to exterminate these gods before they can truly awaken to their powers but beyond luck- our characters survive and escape extermination. Coming into the world harrowed by their journey and rebirth, these characters will now experience the world for the first time as something other than mere mortals. How will the world react to them revealing their powers? What will happen in response to their unnatural gifts? Will they be seen as saviors? Abominations? Destroyers? This is the story to find out what will happen when a world of knights, kings and castles meets the new gods of the world… our characters. |
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| NTNP | January 6, 2014, 7:00 pm Post #2 |
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Another idea has been brought up in the chatbox which seems relatively interesting. Instead of choosing just a single “starting” power what if you actually had two of them instead? One of these powers you can choose entirely on your own but the other would be assigned to your character based on their actions in the prologue and based on their backstory. These were established as “roles” that the gods play- like the god of trickery, the god of thievery, the war god, the protection god, the god of leadership etc. Basically the archetypical “roles” that the gods possess in the various mythos throughout the world. Each of these “roles” would grant a power to that character ONTOP of whatever power that the player chooses for themselves giving them increased power AND grants a few new and potentially useful secondary or passive abilities that will make it easier or more interesting for that character. So I will ask this first; are you interested in this idea and secondly, what “roles” would you like to have appear if we choose to use this idea? |
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| oniskieth | January 6, 2014, 7:04 pm Post #3 |
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The Silver Light
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What if I was a god of war and strayed from my path? Would I loose my secondary power? |
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Katherine's Approval
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| NTNP | January 6, 2014, 7:10 pm Post #4 |
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No, you ARE the incarnation of that god. Someone can have multiple aspects of their personality and so can a god. Just because you are partly a great leader of men (for example, what I would link to being the war god) that doesn't mean that you can't also have a love of music, care deeply about medicine and occasionally use your powers just because it is a lot of fun to suddenly summon up a mountain in the middle of the ocean and live there for a few months when you become irritated with the world and need a break. So no, once you have a power it is yours. YOU ARE THAT GOD and nothing baring the power of another player, some rare artifact, forbidden ritual or death can take that from you. And more than likely, unless it is under your consent, the ways that I (the narrator) might steal those powers from you would be short term and regainable relatively easily afterward. |
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| Dreaming Sun | January 6, 2014, 9:34 pm Post #5 |
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MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO
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On why I prefer a 1400s-ish time period compared to 1100s: Basically, at this time period, the technology and strategies of warfare fit what I would assume to be most people's impressions of a medieval/high fantasy world. In the 1100s, we wouldn't have knights in shining armour; we wouldn't have plate armour at all. Castles were less castles and more large rocky houses on top of mountains. You'd have just a handful of decently trained knights in chain, who, against anyone with some sort of supernatural power, would just run away. More or less, I'm pretty sure people would prefer masses of proper, plate-clad knights marching from huge castle complexes over people in chain just stabbing each other. On a political side of things... well, in Europe, the feudal system doesn't mean very much for large scale unity very much at all. However, the 100 Years War was just... significantly more organised than, say, the Crusades. Europeans were able to organise themselves properly in both time periods, but in the 1400s, they were able to do so without large scale rebellions and whatever. If you want large amounts of people to mass against the PCs, the 1400s would probably be a far better opponent. A sidenote is that the 1100s did have Genghis Khan doing his Mongolian thing, so that's a huge amount of points in favour for the time period. However... well, at this time period people wouldn't exactly have been friendly with them. And PC characters can easily stomp down Genghis Khan and leave Mongolia in ruins, as they ended up in. The 1400s, I don't think, have any such significant military conquerers, but I don't feel that'll diminish a continent's unity against a common enemy. A last minor sidenote is that the 1400s have the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, while the 1100s put up with the aftermath of the Great Schism. Interesting potential for sidestories there, on both sides. But yeah, those're my points. I'd prefer the 1400s, however, the 1100s having a huge military leader like the Khan mean it can certainly be made really interesting. |
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| NTNP | January 7, 2014, 3:58 pm Post #6 |
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Admin
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A new poll has appeared about the setting itself and what we would like to explore; the real world or a fantasy world. |
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| Dreaming Sun | January 7, 2014, 9:47 pm Post #7 |
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MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO
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So I may as well post my reasoning for all the voting I've done in the hopes that others might actually do the same. 1. Definitely interested in this RP. It's all about how these otherwise normal people are thrown into situations they couldn't honestly have comprehended, and being prejudiced as a result. Though superhuman, it seems like it'd be a very human story, and one I'd definitely be interested in. 2. However, I do not like formal "God roles" in this RP, because I feel it takes away from what interests me a lot about the original concept - humans thrown into something supernatural. I can see two key reasons why one would want these roles to happen; increased power levels, and to see how characters interact with the "role" they have been chosen for. For the first, other than the key idea that increased power levels... aren't going to make anything any better, all of the characters will eventually reach a huge power level regardless. Adding this secondary role doesn't really change the overall power level. What it does do, however, is change the character's focus; and as we've likely seen, a character having too little focus doesn't make for a strong character or a strong RP. Interaction with a character's role can... potentially be interesting, I admit, but only if their personality clashes with the role that has been chosen for them (a warmonger chosen to be the God of War does nothing for the character except increase their strength; a pacifist or someone who only fights for necessity and is chosen to be the God of War can be interesting). However, this interaction between what Is and what Should Be can be done regardless of whether or not the character has been granted a particular role. If I want a pacifist to be a God of War, then I can provide them with a War-based power and have them attempt to come to terms with it. You might ask "but what if I want another power", in which case lack of focus becomes a huge problem. Basically, I feel throwing in an official role for the characters does nothing but temporarily increase power, as a result of huge loss of focus for characters. And I'd definitely pick the latter. 3. I also picked a Real World setting, although this is just something more personal. Basically, a real world setting just makes things more... personal, and easier to enter, than an all around fantasy world. Which would have more personal investment? Marching an army against Genghis Khan, or marching an army against Guyperson Genericname? The former, almost certainly, unless you've personally come into contact with said Guy. Which, for the reader and writers, would have a more personal resonance? Murdering Saladin or Pope Gregory XII, or murdering King King and his empire? A fictional world allows more freedom, yes. However, it comes at the cost of a lot of personal investment and an understanding of the repercussions of the actions our characters cause. Besides, a real world setting does allow some sense of freedom; the world is large and much is unknown. Throw in some random village on France and be happy. Overall, though, the ability to have more of a personal investment in a real world setting means I would much rather that, than the freedom in creation of a fictional world. |
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| oniskieth | January 7, 2014, 9:57 pm Post #8 |
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The Silver Light
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If the rp took place in the real world wouldn't the characters have to take on formal god roles? There's a god for nearly everything if you comb through the different cultures that have been around. Something I wouldn't like about the real world is that everyone would have different understandings of what really happened or how things worked. |
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Katherine's Approval
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| Dreaming Sun | January 7, 2014, 10:02 pm Post #9 |
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MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO
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They could be seen to be a God of whatever. But they wouldn't necessarily be such. I mean if I were the lightning God I could well be seen as the God of Weather but... that affects what exactly? And if we go for a full fictional setting everyone has no understanding of what happens or how things work unless we're told. Unlike a real setting where we can have that, and our own background understanding. |
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| oniskieth | January 7, 2014, 10:07 pm Post #10 |
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The Silver Light
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But if we're all thrown into the same world we know nothing of it gives everyone an equal footing. Plus the real world has a ridiculous amount of different cultures with their own languages. Especially during the 1100's. I doubt everyone's ability to fully understand their character's culture/background. Plus this last one will probably sound ridiculous, but I don't want to play as a god in a world where Christianity exists. Edited by oniskieth, January 7, 2014, 10:08 pm.
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Katherine's Approval
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| Dreaming Sun | January 7, 2014, 10:16 pm Post #11 |
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MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO
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Basically everyone starts on an equal zero footing and appreciation of the land; compared to a real world setting where people have increased appreciation? Isn't the more people who enjoy the setting, the better? And yeah. It's the hugeness and large scale that everything is that increases lots of the appeal. No amount of worldbuilding NT or the entire site will do will have the same depth that a real world setting would do. And if the problem is that it's a larger scale, then just do a smaller scale...? And no, we can't fully understand our character's background. Never are able to. However, having real historical information means we better understand them than we would in a fictional world. And ehh. If your beef is with Christianity, than couldn't you just end it? Or if you think having your gods with a God is blasphemous, then it's not as if it's actually a real world. Make your character a dedicated Christian and leave the church well alone/protect it. |
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| oniskieth | January 7, 2014, 10:24 pm Post #12 |
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The Silver Light
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Eh, agree to disagree. |
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Katherine's Approval
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| Kazemitsu | January 7, 2014, 10:38 pm Post #13 |
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Assassin
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I wanna be a smith god. Fear ma hammer! |
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| DVD Player | January 8, 2014, 12:20 am Post #14 |
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Mdl. No. 00X "Burrito"
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One thing I wanna know is where the focus on the plot would go in this RP. Would this be something where there's a central plot that we become a part of, or this is more sand-boxey where there's a loose direction and the main plot is crafted more around our characters? |
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| NTNP | January 8, 2014, 4:31 am Post #15 |
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Admin
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Thank you for the input, I greatly appreciate all the information and suggestions that have been provided up to this point. I won't directly address the issue of history versus fantasy (at least not directly, since it is still something I am up in the air about generally speaking) however there was one question that did strike me as important to both setting and story; "what is the plot?" I'll give a few examples to let you have an idea of how this RP will be structured and then talk a little about the types of things that our characters will be doing in this RP at the end. After the prologue is complete (where we gain our powers and survive basically a super natural disaster trying to kill us) we will enter into Ch.1. Each chapter will be roughly split into three acts; “the buildup”, “the rise” and “the resolution.” For those who were previously in some of my other “epic saga” styled RPs such as Calatia’s Throne this should be pretty easy for you to understand but for those who were not I’ll explain. I usually plot out 3-4 possible “hooks” plotwise to dangle in front of the various characters based on what I understand of their characters, what roles they have served up to this point and what role I “hope” that they will serve in the future. A heroic knight who has sworn to serve his kingdom, for example, might have his resolve tested by being ordered by his newly appointed king to invade a small-relatively peaceful village that opposes the kingdom through trade tariffs and blocking trade ports to see if he will break his oath. However, that probably wouldn’t be the only hook I would offer for him (and his comrades if there are any). I might also provide another option for him such as tracking down a wanted apostate mage and a half-blood elven assassin who was responsible for the previous king’s death. Both of these plots will be “resolved” by the time that the chapter is complete. Whatever “hook” isn’t bitten onto will be done by other NPCs with varying degrees of effectiveness but at the end of the day most of these hooks will always be resolved by the time that we finish the chapter. During the chapter itself, assuming the knight (and comrades) decided they wanted to track down the apostate mage and half-elf assassin it would result in something like this. Upon making the decision within the first page or two, being provided any necessary information/equipment/assistance etc and then being given an option to complete any side objectives the “build up” phase of the story ends. I will often suggest quick traveling as an ideal way to cut down on unnecessary scenes unless that particular author just enjoys travel based stories. I will usually provide shots of “what are the antagonists doing right now” to give the audience an idea of what is happening on the other side of the plot (assuming that there aren’t other RPers controlling those characters and already providing a POV). The next stage is the rise. This is the point where (ideally) there starts to become a personal connection to the story, characters, events etc. I usually introduce various NPCs at this stage to help provide foils, spear counterpoints, alternative character interpretations, plot devices and conduits of change to help the various PCs involved gain a personal sense of ownership into the plot. I might have some of the previous victims of the two assassins show up in one of the towns that the knights are traveling through to give them an idea of the type of people that their enemies are. I would bring the knights past the assassins previous battlegrounds to hint at the level of destruction (and potentially their combat styles) that is associated with attacking these type of foes. Lastly, I might include one “combat” encounter at most during this stage- perhaps against bounty hunters who are also interested in capturing these assassins for gold. As usual in one of my RPs; most encounters don’t have to devolve into combat. These bounty hunters could probably be reasoned with and probably even recruited if offered the right mixture of gold (current or promised), attitude and arguments. This is all meant to help heighten the reason of “WHY” it is important to complete the current mission. Additionally, this is often the point where within party interactions become more important because the characters themselves often act as those “devices” listed above to increase the narrative focus. Then we enter into the final “act” the resolution. The protagonists have finally caught up with the assassins and are given a few possible options. The knights have arrived in a small village with a single inn, which after asking around they are relatively sure that the assassins are in. Often to help “confirm” the details, I might provide a POV of say the half-elf assassin drinking at the bar with some of the towns people and the apostate mage sitting upstairs fighting with himself about trying to get a chain off from around his neck to give some further insight into the characters before the two parties finally meet narratively. The protagonists would choose how they wanted to go about initiating the conflict (often with me placing an arbitrary “timer” where if they can’t choose after 2-3 pages that I call it a day and have the antagonists set the scene) and then the game begins. While combat is likely, given what we know of the assassins, there are also other ways that it could go. But once an end result is determined and we have completed the purpose of the chapter (either by killing the assassins, capturing them, having the assassins escape, defeating the protagonist party or a mixture between those possible results) we enter into the “wrap up” half of that chapter. In this case, it would likely involve traveling back to the castle (with or without the assassins as prisoners), interacting with the mission provider, being given some further information about “what might be in store for this plotline next” via foreshadowing or hinting and lastly I’ll often provide a few pages between the two for any character based dialogue that will hopefully improve the overall scene. Now while our story might not be as “archetypical” as the one above because of the size, scope and uniqueness of the storyline that is how most of our adventures will occur. I will provide a number of possible story hooks that I believe might interest that character (or hell, I might even offer them up as polls or PMs to help make it more fluid for the authors) and then base an entire chapter around that. If the group splits into 2-3 parties I reserve the right to create “sub chapters” which would consist of just their stories if the groups are unlikely to meet again over the course of that chapter in order to provide them an easier- more direct narrative. Plus it helps me keep track of things better if I subdivide them. Lastly one thing I will be including is something relatively simple; at the beginning of each chapter (likely via PM or a topic itself) I would ask the simple question of “what do you want as a reward/consequence for this chapter?” and list a number of potential examples. For this setting, I might have one possible “reward” take the form of artifacts, relics etc that could provide a power boost that might not be ‘exactly’ what you had planned in order to give a little creativity and spontaneity to your character build. If you said “I want a weapon that my character knows how to use; like a sword or a dagger” I might decide that one of the antagonists in this chapter might possess such a relic and build up that item (along with the antagonist) throughout the buildup and the rise. If you say, “I want my character to get a minion” I might design an NPC that could be swayed over to your side… like perhaps the bounty hunter from the above example who would be willing to stay on after your character personally saved her from death against the assassins and now feels as though she owes a “life debt” to you. Alternatively more abstract things can also be requested like “a title and position within that country” or “a cult to be formed based on my awesomeness” as well. Although I will still likely provide various “other” things to you during the storyline as I see fit if I know explicitly what you would like to obtain I can help tailor make the plot to be what you want. Now as far as the storylines for this particular RP, I will likely have it start small with our characters gaining notoriety at first for possessing magical power and then have us getting swept up into the various factions actions. Invading armies, religious orders, criminal organizations, personal wars etc will follow based on the actions, personalities and interests of our characters but there won’t be an initial “myth arc” present. We won’t know, for example, if there is some divine “goal” in mind for our characters from the beginning or anything like that. It will be focused a lot more on the actions of the characters and how they influence the world at large as opposed to following along a specific line of quests with a single “final” goal in mind. |
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| Matttheman89 | January 9, 2014, 3:56 pm Post #16 |
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Assassin
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Only question I have is when we can reasonably expect this to start? |
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| NTNP | January 9, 2014, 4:29 pm Post #17 |
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Admin
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I was thinking of having CC take place this weekend, ideally once we have sorted out one or two things involving what we are wanting to see out of some of the minor aspects of the storyline and the individual character designs. But otherwise I was hoping that we could probably look forward to it beginning sometime next week if we are alright with it being a little on the "light and flexible" side as far as the structuring goes. Plus I am wanting (as usual) to test out a few ideas with a few people to see if there are any major issues involved so I would love to have some people offer to help out as beta testers before we get going. |
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| Sin | January 9, 2014, 4:49 pm Post #18 |
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Slow and steady...
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I like the idea of one we pick and one that's assigned. I think it'd also be neat to have everyone have unique powers too, the ones that we choose. If that turns out to be the case, I call dibs on Necromancy and the element of Light!
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| Kazemitsu | January 9, 2014, 5:56 pm Post #19 |
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Assassin
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Strength, endurance, earth/metal, blacksmith stuff XD |
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| NTNP | January 9, 2014, 7:15 pm Post #20 |
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Admin
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I feel as though command over an entire element might... not be perfect functionality wise. For example, there are a number of "light" elemental uses that you could pull together. Healing, holy blasts, rays of light, illusions, walls of shining light and even stunning bursts would all be considered. I think it might be better to offer up this sort of option instead: If you chose to have command over an element, it must be passive in nature and function more like "avatar styled bending" where you manipulate the natural elements and then it grows progressively stronger over time. Also since Kaze brought it up, do you think that we should have anything stats wise? I hadn't intended to have them (due to the over reliance on magic being combined with being mere humans) but we can included them if you guys choose for us to. Other than that though, I feel like we probably can agree that we don't want to see 3 people who all use the same "essential" moveset and whatnot though, don't you agree? |
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| Primera Espada Yggdra | January 9, 2014, 7:33 pm Post #21 |
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The Kitty Cat, Mew!~
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Hmm, a bunch of stuff I want. Dibs on them! |
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| oniskieth | January 9, 2014, 7:59 pm Post #22 |
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The Silver Light
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If we're setting claims then I call fire. Ahhhh fire.
Edited by oniskieth, January 9, 2014, 9:11 pm.
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Katherine's Approval
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| Primera Espada Yggdra | January 9, 2014, 10:40 pm Post #23 |
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The Kitty Cat, Mew!~
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Hhhhhngh just in case... Water, Love, Darkness, Ice, Nature, and uhhh... that's all I can think of for now. |
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| Garm0099 | January 10, 2014, 10:40 am Post #24 |
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Marksman
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I'll keep my "dibs list" short and simple: Illusion and Enchantment. Those have always been my favorite schools of magic in D&D. Well, my favorite in what they represent, my favorite in things they actually do is Conjuration (which I'm sure I can pick up later ;) ). But yeah, make people think they see/hear/taste/feel/smell things and then bend their thoughts to my will :D |
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| Sin | January 11, 2014, 8:51 am Post #25 |
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Slow and steady...
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I think calling five things (love doesn't even really make sense, truth be told), might be a bit steep. >_> Edited by Sin, January 11, 2014, 8:51 am.
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