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Interest
Yes 7 (63.6%)
No 4 (36.4%)
Total Votes: 11
Needs a Title; Apparently haven't learned my lesson
Topic Started: October 26, 2015, 9:07 pm (1,469 Views)
Onime No Ryu
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
So even though I don't really like admining RPs I've had some ideas and been encouraged by some people so now I wanna throw out the proposal before I actually go balls to the wall with ideas and developments so that I don't end up wasting my time. Here's the basic rundown before I get into specifics:

Dark Fantasy like Dark Souls, Bloodbourne, etc.

Uses this simplified version of D&D with some personal tweaks: https://simplednd.wordpress.com/

Characters level up and get new equips over time while progressing through the story

Playable Races, at least 3

A Story where Players can create Semi-NPCs that are basically your characters serving Roles in the story (Evil General, Deposed Princess, etc.)

Now for the specifics:

In this fantasy world, there are three different races. Humans, Elves, and Beastmen. Humans are obviously the usual fare, though with a little bit of the typical "dwarf" archetype thrown in as well--humans are builders and crafters who refuse to accept things the way they are and instead redefine their world through their own efforts.

Elves are also pretty typical to their usual archetype, but to keep the "oh so perfect elves" cliche at bay, I'm planning to take the whole "one with nature" thing to a few different conclusions. They won't be like Native Americans or tree huggers or whatever, but they're still the "magical" bigshots of the setting, although Humans can learn it to an extent too.

Beastmen are anime-style tribes with ears/tails/wings and all that crap, like the Laguz from Fire Emblem. They have a great deal of variety, being divided into different tribes representing the different animals, and while they have greater strength and speed, their ability to use weapons is limited and they cannot learn any kinds of magic save for what they innately possess, which revolves around shifting and half-shifting into various beast or part beast forms. Right now I only really have plans for Mammal types, so sorry Kaze, no dragonmen.

Of the three races, Beastmen have a particular problem. Beastmen from different tribes can breed, but this produces a Mongrel, and such a child is very likely to have some issues similar to the problems caused by inbreeding and other genetic disorders. In addition to this, ALL Beastmen carry a risk of "going feral," which causes them to enter a were-beast form and succumb to a powerful rage that makes them a threat to everything around them. Mongrels have a much higher chance of going feral and staying that way compared to other types of beastmen.

In the case of two countries, one of which is primarily Human and has very strict laws concerning non-humans, and the other of which is a progressive country where the three races live in relative harmony, the Pro-Human country undergoes a series of events that causes the Beastmen to be seen in a light much like the Jews during World War 2. A massive war breaks out between the two countries, and the more peaceful nation is left defeated and broken, its landscape war-torn, its cities raided and burned. This is where the story would actually kick off, and players would be left to rebuild this shattered land. Forcing out the occupying forces and defeating the evil enemy is one option, uniting the races is another, and so on and so forth. Like I said, I haven't gotten around to ironing out tons of details just yet because I don't want to waste my time if no one is interested.

Players would explore various locales of lonely, atmospheric natures, and there would of course be plenty of battles, treasure hunting, and other activities to be had.

So if you're interested in this, I need you to start asking questions and throwing out ideas. And at this specific moment I could use a title.
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Arcvalons
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Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
I voted yes.
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Sin
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Slow and steady...
Any more info?
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Onime No Ryu
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Sin
October 27, 2015, 5:37 pm
Any more info?
As far as the stats and such go, since D&D takes a while for players to level up and such, the system I mentioned in the first post would mostly be to give us an easier way to actually get the stats and what they mean as opposed to creating something original. We'd use the attributes, the armor class (or the chance of being hit by an attack) and stuff like that, but when it came to actually levelling up and using spells and other things I was going to diverge from it and instead use something based on the Souls system from the Fromsoft games. So instead of having to get 2000 experience points in order to gain 1 stat point or add a few HP points, like in D&D, you'd instead be gathering your "souls" or whatever I end up calling them and using them for a lot of things.

Levelling up wouldn't be as expensive as it is in D&D, and increasing stat points would be easier. The "souls" could also be used to buy items, upgrade weapons, and cast spells as opposed to using coins and mana and other things. Basically an all in one currency would be in place because of the "Souls."

As far as combat goes, there wouldn't be any dice rolling by the players. I'd do the dice rolling behind the scenes though, since all the stats would be there to draw from, so that we'd get some actual tension going in the fights and whatnot. I'd list the results or whatever so people wouldn't get frustrated if it seems like an enemy is always hitting them and they're always missing, and I'd be willing to fudge things if it looks like people are just constantly getting screwed over or if I feel it's conducive to the story. The idea is to make the combat in this RP HARD, so that, after you actually defeat somebody, you feel like there's some weight to it, especially when you pick up the rewards afterwards. Having fodder to waste by the hundreds is VoC's shtick and works pretty well, but I've always favored making things more complex and making people earn their time in the spotlight.

I'm also planning to try and photoshop/draw/etc. some stuff so that there's a little more of a visual factor for enemies, environments, and just general "pizzazz." I kind of just realized that there's a ton more I could be doing to "sell" this idea, and if you have any suggestions for that I'd be all ears. I remember you talking before about making like, a pseudo-game boxart for one of your RPs in the past and how cool all your players thought it was.

Do you have any more specific questions about the kind of info you wanna hear about? I still have a lot of stuff in the planning phase right now but I'm not sure what you're looking for and it'd take too much time to type it all out.
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Sin
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Slow and steady...
When can we start? :3
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Onime No Ryu
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Sin
October 27, 2015, 7:01 pm
When can we start? :3
It'll take a while to actually get it ready. I have a vague idea for a plot right now but I would have to iron out some details and then break it up. What I'm aiming to do with this RP that I haven't done before is make the plot much more malleable. Usually when I do an RP, I write the story like I'm writing a novel--it is a set, linear tale that requires certain things to happen in order to move the plot along. And sometimes it doesn't work, because you can't keep an RP group on rails like that very often.

By talking with folks and looking more at how D&D and other tabletop games are run, I'm beginning to get a feel for how those kinds of plots tend to work even with all their players pulling in different directions. Basically, I've got to give NPCs, Villains, and other important "pieces" that aren't quite players enough of their own goals and motivations so that the Players will naturally run across them in the world that they share.

For instance, normally, I have the Big Bad set up in his Evil Fortress or something, and the Heroes have to get there. If the heroes spend all their time dicking around at the local market, the plot takes forever to move.

If I give the Big Bad enough of his own characterization, then out of his own motivations, maybe he'll one day leave the Evil Fortress and go to the local market so he can buy some moldy cheese to put in his evil stew. And lo and behold he'll run into the heroes, who have been dicking around this whole time!

This is another reason I'm planning to open up the options for characters to create Semi-NPCs that play specific roles, so that the players themselves will do some of the work for me when it comes to fleshing out the events and motivations within the world that drive the plot.

If there are any plot suggestions or things that you'd like to see in a game that you don't normally, feel free to let me know.

If you were asking about when we could create characters rather than when the RP itself will start, I could probably throw something like a rough character sheet together, but I would hate for others to waste their effort if we don't get enough votes and the RP ends up not launching. Are you sure whether or not you'd like me to do something like that?
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Sin
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Slow and steady...
I'd rather start. >__<
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Onime No Ryu
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Sin
October 27, 2015, 7:33 pm
I'd rather start. >__<
The prep time will speed up immensely if I can get some feedback and suggestions. Anything you'd like to see, anything you think would be interesting to try, anything you want to implement in the story or world, a location you'd like to explore, a character model you'd like to be expanded on, anything and everything. Comments, discussions, debates. The more of it I can get, the more it'll help.
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Sin
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Slow and steady...
A lot of stuff can be added as you go; like a release schedule, it's pretty exciting!
I'm not super picky in all honesty. I just REALLY wanna RP now that I have a computer to do it on.
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Arcvalons
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Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
I would just like to be given freedom like in Calatia's Throne
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Onime No Ryu
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Arcvalons
October 28, 2015, 2:27 pm
I would just like to be given freedom like in Calatia's Throne
Considering what I have planned for now, I think as far as the "plot" goes there will be a lot of freedom. I don't really have an end-goal--players aren't really pushed from the start to "defeat the evil empire" or "find the macguffin" or "seal the ancient evil" or anything. There's just kinda this world, and stuff is happening in it, and the players I guess just have to react.
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Primera Espada Yggdra
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The Kitty Cat, Mew!~
Onimers! What do beastmen look like!?
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Because...


My Imagination When talking with you. - Person A

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Onime No Ryu
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Primera Espada Yggdra
October 28, 2015, 6:59 pm
Onimers! What do beastmen look like!?
Quote:
 
Beastmen are anime-style tribes with ears/tails/wings and all that crap, like the Laguz from Fire Emblem.
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Kazemitsu
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Assassin
So a defining animal feature and then an animal form?
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Onime No Ryu
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Kazemitsu
October 28, 2015, 8:27 pm
So a defining animal feature and then an animal form?
Pretty much. Cat person would have ears and a tail, maybe some furry bits or whiskers here and there, and they'd turn into a cat or half shift into a catlike battle form or whatever.
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Arcvalons
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Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
1) You mentioned in the chatbox that only mammals for now, right? Do lizardmen, etc. still exist somewhere in the world?

2) What methods of transportation are used in this world? Just horses, carriages, etc.?

3) How magical is the world? Is it like, just something obscure a few people do, or is it full magitech?

4) You said you were doing a normal planet, does that mean it has the same axial tilt, orbit, natural satellites, etc. as Earth?

5) What is the full list of stats we will be using? You have mentioned HP, Strength, and I gues there'll be at least one Defense stat, maybe another for Magic Defense, probably Agility or Speed or maybe both.
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Onime No Ryu
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Arcvalons
October 28, 2015, 10:10 pm
1) You mentioned in the chatbox that only mammals for now, right? Do lizardmen, etc. still exist somewhere in the world?

2) What methods of transportation are used in this world? Just horses, carriages, etc.?

3) How magical is the world? Is it like, just something obscure a few people do, or is it full magitech?

4) You said you were doing a normal planet, does that mean it has the same axial tilt, orbit, natural satellites, etc. as Earth?

5) What is the full list of stats we will be using? You have mentioned HP, Strength, and I gues there'll be at least one Defense stat, maybe another for Magic Defense, probably Agility or Speed or maybe both.
1) Actually debating on that--see, reptiles are usually considered to be very primitive. I don't know all the science behind it or whether it's the same for all reptiles, but I remember reading at one point that certain kinds of snakes and lizards that we commonly keep as pets don't actually have a well-developed emotional center or something. Dogs and cats demonstrate affection towards humans, but the reptiles seem to function solely based on things like "When the human rubs his hand on my head I like that." In other words they like what is pleasurable and dislike what is painful, without further regard for the human themselves.

So I was thinking that if I included lizard people, they'd be like this "monster race" of the beastmen tribes, something mothers scare their children with, this kind of "forbidden" tribe. They would be a primal, animalistic type of race with little in the way of empathy for others or abstract morals, only seeking what's necessary for survival without regard to how they get it. I was considering doing something plot based with that, but I dunno if I'm actually gonna do it or not.

2) Haven't figured it all out yet, but yeah horses and carriages would probably be fine. I kinda doubt even if there are airships or something that they'd be on the level of like, circling the world in just a few days.

3) Dunno yet, that'll have to wait til I figure out more of how I want magic to work.

4) Uh well I mean it's a common thing in fantasy that the world tends to be pretty much the same as Earth just with some other shit like dragons and giant trees. So as far as gravity and all that goes yeah it's pretty much the same. Not sure yet if there'll be like, two moons or whatever.

5) Haven't finished it yet.
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Arcvalons
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Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
Onime No Ryu
October 29, 2015, 7:38 am
Arcvalons
October 28, 2015, 10:10 pm
1) You mentioned in the chatbox that only mammals for now, right? Do lizardmen, etc. still exist somewhere in the world?

2) What methods of transportation are used in this world? Just horses, carriages, etc.?

3) How magical is the world? Is it like, just something obscure a few people do, or is it full magitech?

4) You said you were doing a normal planet, does that mean it has the same axial tilt, orbit, natural satellites, etc. as Earth?

5) What is the full list of stats we will be using? You have mentioned HP, Strength, and I gues there'll be at least one Defense stat, maybe another for Magic Defense, probably Agility or Speed or maybe both.
1) Actually debating on that--see, reptiles are usually considered to be very primitive. I don't know all the science behind it or whether it's the same for all reptiles, but I remember reading at one point that certain kinds of snakes and lizards that we commonly keep as pets don't actually have a well-developed emotional center or something. Dogs and cats demonstrate affection towards humans, but the reptiles seem to function solely based on things like "When the human rubs his hand on my head I like that." In other words they like what is pleasurable and dislike what is painful, without further regard for the human themselves.

So I was thinking that if I included lizard people, they'd be like this "monster race" of the beastmen tribes, something mothers scare their children with, this kind of "forbidden" tribe. They would be a primal, animalistic type of race with little in the way of empathy for others or abstract morals, only seeking what's necessary for survival without regard to how they get it. I was considering doing something plot based with that, but I dunno if I'm actually gonna do it or not.

2) Haven't figured it all out yet, but yeah horses and carriages would probably be fine. I kinda doubt even if there are airships or something that they'd be on the level of like, circling the world in just a few days.

3) Dunno yet, that'll have to wait til I figure out more of how I want magic to work.

4) Uh well I mean it's a common thing in fantasy that the world tends to be pretty much the same as Earth just with some other shit like dragons and giant trees. So as far as gravity and all that goes yeah it's pretty much the same. Not sure yet if there'll be like, two moons or whatever.

5) Haven't finished it yet.
About No.4, it actually seems to me that the trend is to have weirder cosmologies. For example, I've only played FFIV and FFIX but in both of those the moons were no moons at all, there is Elder Scrolls with it's rather... unusual planetary system (the planets are the rotting corpses of the gods), Kingkiller Chronicles with the moon going between planes, even ASOIAF with the long-ass winters and summers.

More questions:

6) Is the RP going to be more fight-based like a shonen anime or manga (enemies clearly defined, enemies actually seeking out the heroes so we can get fighting scenes, etc.), or is it going to be more adventure-based (going to different cities and locations, talking to people, exploring ancient ruins, etc.)

7) "When creating cultures for fictional worlds most people draw (sometimes quite explicitly) lots of inspiration from real world cultures and peoples like Rome or Egypt and why not, history is awesome. However, it would be interesting to hear about the cultures in your world that aren't just Romans with magic or such. Of course no one can (or should) create a culture without any similarities with real world stuff, but anyway, you know what I mean."

8) Im curious what routes you have taken in developing gods for your world. Are they real gods? Are they strictly the creation of a religion? How many are there? Which cultures worship them, do different cultures share gods across beliefs? This is important for immersion and more practically because of the generic Cleric / Priest class, what exactly are they a priest or cleric of?

9) Is there a wider theme to the story and the world? "The fundamental idea is that the world isn't something separate from your story. It's not just a container for your story - it's in fact intimately connected to and part of the expression of your story. And the place where story and world intersect, is the theme. It's the broader idea that both story and world expresses - the core expression. Everything branches out from that - and you have sub-themes, and sub-plots, etc. but they always serve the core-expression in some way."

"If you don't consider the theme the danger I see is that you copy certain elements from other works - like having a bunch of different races (like Lord of the Rings) but you don't tie it into a theme. If you do that you'll end up with something feeling unoriginal and cliché. It's not that different races are cliché in of themselves, it's when they don't fit in the world/story they stand out as cliché."


Sorry if it's too much, but I want to help you make this setting the best that it can absolutely be. Some people may not care about the details, but I definetly think it helps inmensely to give more character to the story and in turn captivate the attention of the potential players.
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Onime No Ryu
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Arcvalons
October 29, 2015, 9:45 am
More questions:

6) Is the RP going to be more fight-based like a shonen anime or manga (enemies clearly defined, enemies actually seeking out the heroes so we can get fighting scenes, etc.), or is it going to be more adventure-based (going to different cities and locations, talking to people, exploring ancient ruins, etc.)

7) "When creating cultures for fictional worlds most people draw (sometimes quite explicitly) lots of inspiration from real world cultures and peoples like Rome or Egypt and why not, history is awesome. However, it would be interesting to hear about the cultures in your world that aren't just Romans with magic or such. Of course no one can (or should) create a culture without any similarities with real world stuff, but anyway, you know what I mean."

8) Im curious what routes you have taken in developing gods for your world. Are they real gods? Are they strictly the creation of a religion? How many are there? Which cultures worship them, do different cultures share gods across beliefs? This is important for immersion and more practically because of the generic Cleric / Priest class, what exactly are they a priest or cleric of?

9) Is there a wider theme to the story and the world? "The fundamental idea is that the world isn't something separate from your story. It's not just a container for your story - it's in fact intimately connected to and part of the expression of your story. And the place where story and world intersect, is the theme. It's the broader idea that both story and world expresses - the core expression. Everything branches out from that - and you have sub-themes, and sub-plots, etc. but they always serve the core-expression in some way."

"If you don't consider the theme the danger I see is that you copy certain elements from other works - like having a bunch of different races (like Lord of the Rings) but you don't tie it into a theme. If you do that you'll end up with something feeling unoriginal and cliché. It's not that different races are cliché in of themselves, it's when they don't fit in the world/story they stand out as cliché."


Sorry if it's too much, but I want to help you make this setting the best that it can absolutely be. Some people may not care about the details, but I definetly think it helps inmensely to give more character to the story and in turn captivate the attention of the potential players.
6) I wanted to strike a good balance here. Like I said, the players will have opportunities to make characters with lots of influence over the plot--so if someone wants to fill the Evil General spot, they'll have a lot of chances to send out oppressive armies or whatever that the players can oppose. But I do plan on putting some extra effort into the environments, so that the players feel like they're in a more atmospheric type of world compared to what we usually have. And because it's based on tabletops, it'll probably have a little more variety than what we usually do--which consists of "fight here, go there to find another person to fight, repeat until we beat all the bad guys."

7) I was planning to give a little bit of a snippet regarding the cultures and civilizations of each race, but not so much that there'd need to be a big lore book or something. People haven't liked my ideas for having real in-depth lore in the past, so I'm gonna try and keep it to just generalized stuff that might help people figure out the local flavors, but not something they'd need to take a history course on.

8) I was planning on having each race have their own religions, but other than that I wasn't planning to have deity figures actually interfere or appear in the story. I've always kind of thought that stories where the gods make actual appearances are a little bit too...I guess convenient? Or they raise a lot of internal logical flaws? It's like, if Zeus cares so much about Hercules, then it's kind of a get out of jail free card whenever he gets into more trouble than even his super demi godness can handle. Or, if the gods are so concerned with actually passing judgement on humans, then why do the humans have their own law systems? Why not just bring everything before the gods? So I was planning to make religions more like they are in our world--you worship a big man in the sky or whatever, based on faith, without any real knowledge of whether you're right or wrong but solely because that is your choice in what you believe and that's what you base your morals around. Maybe there are some events that make you question it--miracles that don't seem possible otherwise, or coincidences that just seem like the universe knows what it's doing--but you never actually see a flaming chariot come out of the sky.

9) Dunno I was kinda just doing this thing with like racism or whatever I guess. Like on one hand, this Empire is Evil because it wants to kill all the beastmen, but at the same time the beastmen have this very legit problem with the Feral thing because it makes them an active threat to everything around them. Should they be destroyed for the greater good of other species? Should they be tolerated even if they hurt others because that's "just the way they are?" Is there a third option? I guess those are some of the questions you could implement with some kind of theme.

no worries i like details too. I like worldbuilding and expanding on it even if it never really comes up in the story cause it gives me a more concrete understanding of how the characters would and should act and things like that.
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Onime No Ryu
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
So I was using this generator thing to make some maps and it took forever cause I wasn't getting any good ones so I finally settled on a couple that were alright and I figured I'd let you guys choose which one we use. Keep in mind that the story requires two different nations that are on the same landmass together, one of which is very expansive/imperialistic and the other of which is this kind of alliance that resulted from the three races banding together. There probably won't be a lot of involvement from any other countries, especially not ones that are overseas, for the first arc or two of the story.

Warning Large Images
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Arcvalons
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Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
I like the first one, just turn it upside down so the snow is in the north. The last one looks pretty cool, but it bothers me that there is snow both north and south, like, how?
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Onime No Ryu
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Arcvalons
October 29, 2015, 11:04 am
I like the first one, just turn it upside down so the snow is in the north. The last one looks pretty cool, but it bothers me that there is snow both north and south, like, how?
well i mean north and south poles are a thing
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Arcvalons
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Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
I thought they were all regional maps, but now I see they are world maps. Still, that's a lot of ice and snow, and the actual country where the story takes place would be too small. For the first one here's how I think it'd work:
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Onime No Ryu
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think right now Sin has said she likes the last one, Kaze said he liked one and two, and Octy I think you said you liked the first one and last one right? So right now the votes are like this:

1 - II
2 - I
3 - 0
4 - II

Still need some more people to chime in so we can pick something. As far as your proposal for the first one, I like it, but I still kinda think there's not enough ocean between the continents, and the continents where things would take place seem sorta small. Plus given the shape of the continent where the empire and alliance would be, it seems like there's too much of a choke point for the Empire to march right on through and lay waste like the storyline requires. Remember that the country the players start off in has been completely decimated by the war, for whatever reason. If, on a map, they seem to have a lot of advantages (they're closer to those islands, so shouldn't they have a decent navy? There's a country between them and the empire, shouldn't they have a buffer? The landbridge is narrow, so isn't that a chokepoint?) it becomes less believable that they could be stomped into a literal post apocalyptic state.
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NTNP
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So here is my two cents, and a little more that might not be requested:

First from the giant line of questions/answers made between BO and Onime:
1. Make the lizard men (Kobold's for simplicity sake) a feral like species, kinda like that of the goblins and orcs. Do they have cultures and ideals of their own, of course. But make it clearly not human. And to support that belief, make it where these sorts of creatures live and thrive ONLY where the civilized cultures don't. Put them on islands, put them in swamps, put them in the places where only adventurers might travel and only when the other options are worse. It makes a much better function for them and it makes them unique. Plus that doesn't mean ALL of them are mindless idiots, especially if you choose to make dragons a part of your world and I would suggest giving them the same limitations and areas too, further running up the "this is not a place for men" sort of world.

2. Look at boats, given the design of this world being mildly aquatic. They should be a major consideration. In fact, having it where our party travels via water craft as their primary process when hoofing it isn't a great option, it would be ideal. Secondly, boats are big enough to supply a "market" of their own too, and most people enjoy the option to have it where the party can lay around together, lousing around when the party is in between events.

3. Since we are going with minor DnD, stick with minor DnD. Have magic be part of the world, flowing naturally and it being a matter of manipulating it that matters. Rituralists study and learn how to alter things using complex processes. Channelers call forth the mana and change it within themselves to create an effect. Spiritualists call forth mana and through faith, ideology and ideal cast it that way. It is a simple idea- basically HOW you do it doesn't really matter, as long as the mana keeps flowing.

4. Whatever is fine for me.

5. Go straight DnD and maybe basic class. Give us say HD, AC and saves too automatically generated alongside basic saves. I would go with the big ten classes too: fighter, rogue, ranger, sorcerer, bard, druid, wizard, cleric, paladin and barbarian. Pick any generatorlite system etc and go for it is my personal opinion.

6. I would highly suggest going the route of asking people to play out certain roles for the party. Say if you decide that we will be using a ship, have someone be/become a captain of said ship. You want us to be for/against some party, ask for someone to take the role of the champion against that cause or a deserter from it. Say I decided to be involved, maybe my character might decide to be a previous captain or whatever of the empire, who chooses to turn against his homeland when he sees how bad they are because he got bastardly orders. Congrats, you have a motivation and a device for travel in one action. I would also suggest creating a number of "thing we need to have happen to help the plot through the motions" which would help too.

7. I disagree- choose a base culture for each group. Say make the Empire go with the naming traditions and culture of say... England. Maybe the Allies would take on the cultural trappings of Rome/Greece. Have the poor warring battleground culture be say that of Japan etc. Keep the names the same, keep the cultural norms the same. It makes a much stronger setup when say you meet Daisuke, of the warring states, a willful ronin and is fighting for his honor against Sir Alvin Lancaster, of the Western Imperial Army while Centurion Augustus watches, unsure where his Alliance would fall in the matter. It's a minor thing, but it works significantly better. And lastly, make sure it is NO MORE than about 3-4 cultures at a time so it makes it easier to track down logically.

8. If you choose to make it where religion isn't super important, then I would consider it's function via magic. If magic exists, either religion is tied to it or it is against it. If you want to make religion important, make them FOR magic and it's growth like the old Christian faiths where that is who you go to in order to learn it. If you want to make it where the importance is minimized, make it where they don't believe in using magic and are in fact believers that it is a crutch. Your call for the most part.

9. Theme is up to you.

As far as the maps go: I like the first one personally.
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Systematic made by Phaede of the SZ..