| Welcome to Espada of Alexandria. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Title Pending | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: March 4, 2016, 6:40 pm (685 Views) | |
| Onime No Ryu | March 4, 2016, 6:40 pm Post #1 |
|
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
|
Magic, sometimes called Magick, described by some as "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will," and others simply as a system of beliefs and practices no different from any religion or scientific field. The pursuit of the Mysteries of the Occult, that which is unseen, unknown, or unaccepted by reality. Practitioner, Magi, Witch, Sorcerer...there are as many names for those who continue to delve into these arts, just as there are many systems from which they claim to draw their power. Long ago, society surpassed them. No longer were the sooth-sayers, the prophets, or the shamans needed in any capacity save those who would offer mankind the claim of "Salvation;" that is, solely, the necessity for an "afterlife" that keeps the human psyche from tearing itself apart under the seeming futility of its existence. This was infinitely preferable, as those who had the true intentions to understand the Mysteries had no need for the acknowledgement of their fellows. In the vein of Aristotle's observance of man's social nature, they sought to become Beasts and Gods who stood outside the realms of men. While society left them behind for technology and convenience, they continued to seek a truer form of understanding... This RP would take place in our modern world, possibly in a fictional city, but with the single caveat that magic is real. And I don't mean our usual customized magic systems that tend to draw on anime and videogames for inspiration, I mean the actual Occultic beliefs that go back to the dawn of civilization, as well as New Age mysticism and other esoteric doctrines. It's incredibly secretive, and we'd have to come up with some reasons why any Joe Schmoe couldn't accidentally say the same magic words and have them work or whatever, but the idea is that all of these systems coexist--not peacefully, by the way--and each of them works in its own manner for its own purposes. For a Plotline, there are a couple of ideas:
For powersets, I would let people do their own research into the occult, through wikipedia or whatever, and as long as they could give me a link or a PM containing the necessary info so that we both had a good understanding of how things worked, beyond that it'd be free game as to what you could do WITHIN the limits of your system. What's unique about this is that things like Hermetic Magic, Wicca, etc, they're not known for things like calling down lightning out of the sky or casting Magic Missile at the darkness. So you'd have to get a little more creative than usual. For game mechanics, I would use something similar to DUSK, but instead of a slightly modified system, I'd be ripping WHOLE HOG from the following Simple DND system, with perhaps the only change being the number of modifiers you can have at the beginning, so that everyone can have a little more "oomph" to their magic. Just like in Dusk, though, I'd be doing all the rolling and the threat of death would be a very real possibility, as would the chances of things not working out for your character necessarily the way you want them to. As far as Leveling Up and getting EXP goes, I'm not sure how I would do it, since no matter what plotline we choose this is likely to be something more along the lines of an action-suspense-mystery than it is a straight up SUPER FIGHTAN' SERIES. Maybe instead of leveling up over time, I'd allow people to just use whatever kinds of powers and skills they wanted within their magic system, but they'd have a limited number of points or spells or whatever to cast until they had to do rituals or gather materials or whatever to restore their magical ammunition. Questions, comments, suggestions? |
![]() |
|
| Sin | March 4, 2016, 8:43 pm Post #2 |
|
Slow and steady...
|
I'm worried about the extensive amount of research people are going to have to do in order to prepare a character. Having a different spin on magic is one thing but REQUIRING people to put a lot of time and effort into learning about something they likely have no interest in is a bit of a stretch. I voted "Yes" because this is in it's infancy stages but in my opinion the magic system will need a lot of work. |
![]() |
|
| Onime No Ryu | March 4, 2016, 9:21 pm Post #3 |
|
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
|
Yeah, that's really where it all hinges is player interest. I'm doing some research of my own just out of curiosity/planning for other things, and I might be able to put up some "basics" later on that could give people a stronger lead. For instance, Kaze was on the fence because he's not big into magic, but when I told him a little bit about the Younger Futhark runes and the magics associated with them and the Vikings' culture, he was able to start coming up with some ideas and past that it's just double checking some sources. Off the top of my head, I can think of things like Wicca--the so called true version of witchcraft--, the Ars Goetia and Keys of Solomon that were often said to be a type of summoning magic used for gathering information and calling spirits to serve the summoner, the system of Onmyoudo from Japan that used elemental magics and talismans to exorcise or communicate with spirits and demons, the I Ching Five Elements along with Taoism and the more commonly known Chi or Qi energy used for both martial arts and magic, the Egyptian forms of magic that had a lot to do with spirits and terms like "ka" and "ba" for different aspects of a person's existence, the more occultic form of Alchemy as opposed to its scientific form, and then some of the New Age stuff like Chaos magic and Psychic abilities. Honestly though given how much other media we've all consumed, whether through books or videogames or what have you, I'm sure knowledge about some of the world's different forms of magic isn't something we're too terribly lacking. Heck, most of the magic we use in our RPs tends to be based on the kinds of stuff wizards like Merlin often did, which would fall under Hermetic and Nature magics, maybe with things like Druidism mixed in a bit. There's also the Kabbalah, Numerology, Astrology, and Tarot cards. The longer I sit here the more options I can think up. And once people have some ideas about what system they'd like to use, we could start compiling what everyone's got and come up with some baseline things that would apply to everyone, such as whether or not an energy source like Mana Points needs to be a thing, and whether or not one has a limited number of spells per day, so on and so forth. |
![]() |
|
| Primera Espada Yggdra | March 5, 2016, 1:05 am Post #4 |
![]()
The Kitty Cat, Mew!~
|
Funny thing is that I'm actually learning a bit about occult stuff in class although the "magic" is not the kind of magic one might normally imagine. Here is an example of an occult text: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetica However, the only turnoff for me is the dice system and I will admit that from my personal opinion, it was something I did not enjoy in Dusk. |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Because... My Imagination When talking with you. - Person A | |
![]() |
|
| Onime No Ryu | March 5, 2016, 2:07 am Post #5 |
|
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
|
With the experience I've gained from Dusk I'm fairly certain things will feel a little more balanced out this time around, but the fact of the matter is that when dice are involved it is NOT guaranteed that a character is going to succeed at something. A lot like real life. There are going to be times when even if you do everything right, it's not going to work out, and it's not anybody's fault. But to me, Dusk was the most enjoyable RP I've run and played in a long, long time, exactly because we couldn't know what was going to happen ahead of time and exactly because we couldn't get our way all the time. That creates tension, that creates suspense, that creates a sense of reality that roots us despite the chaotic and fanciful nature of everything else in a given setting. The important thing is to not take it personally. If your character keeps failing Perception checks it doesn't mean they're dumb, it just means whatever they're looking for is hidden well. If they roll 1s three times in a row and just epically fail something, it's not because they're not a good character, it's just because something happened that chanced to screw up whatever they were attempting. That said, you also can't expect things to NOT have consequences. If somebody tries to rough up the town guard or the police or whatever, more than likely they're gonna get their asses handed to them. If someone tries to take on a thousand-year-old dragon solo, they're probably going to get eaten. Besides the few moments when Thalia got called out on that level of stuff, what was it specifically you did not like about the way Dusk played out? |
![]() |
|
| NTNP | March 5, 2016, 11:44 am Post #6 |
|
Admin
|
While I am happy that you want to stick with the DUSK system, and that you are interested in rebalancing the DnD aspects- this RP just doesn't do it for me. I like modern, I like magic and real world connections but this just does nothing for me. A swing and a miss unfortunately, old friend. |
![]() |
|
| Onime No Ryu | March 5, 2016, 1:14 pm Post #7 |
|
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
|
Any specific reason why? |
![]() |
|
| Primera Espada Yggdra | March 6, 2016, 2:15 am Post #8 |
![]()
The Kitty Cat, Mew!~
|
Personally, it felt like the dice system was in every single thing performed. Now I understand that this was your idea of how the RP would run, but I didn't expect for it to be utilized so extensively. Whether I got a bunch of lucky rolls or I got a bunch of 1s, I just didn't feel comfortable that the dice rolling was everywhere. |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Because... My Imagination When talking with you. - Person A | |
![]() |
|
| Person A | March 6, 2016, 3:24 am Post #9 |
![]()
Best to sleep on it.
|
"Alright, my character's gonna go use the bathroom while y'all go on ahead." "OK, got back to your character and I rolled a 1." "Wait what what'd you roll for?" "Your character proceeds to drop his pants and run around the entire public bathroom, hitting everything with his piss that isn't a toilet." "..." "Dice gods, man." I'll bring up what I said in the chatbox so that it's recorded somewhere. I'm fine with a dice-based system because I've had a bit of experience with DnD now, and I can say it's pretty enjoyable with the tension that comes with seeing how successful you get or how royally you screw up. Won't quite say that I was particularly good at doing anything narrative-wise while juggling stats and the like, though, and I'm definitely the type of person that would focus more on one than the other. For a roleplay, I am and still more inclined to focus on the narration than the... "gameplay" aspect of it. Still sounds silly, to coin "gameplay" to a narrative. As for the magic systems, I not opposed to figuring out something that could work, but the restrictiveness by nature and the need for research for some basis - or creativity, failing that - seems to be a bit much for me. Nothing that could, hopefully, be worked out, but I'd say it would be difficult to find with some systems and the like. I will echo Kill's earlier arguments that this isn't necessarily the best way to enforce creativity, but if this is what you're more inclined to, then by all means. (Worm is totally good at portraying unconventional powers and how effective they can be and I'd say that that's a good way to help people think outside the box, if you believe that we aren't creative enough as writers. No offense, but it does feel like you don't trust us to be creative we have in some characters by doing this. Not looking for an argument, just my thoughts) ...And for the record, I am not Dreaming Sun or Kill, don't mesh me together with them just because I echo thoughts :c |
![]() Mover, Shaker, Brute and Breaker. Master, Tinker, Blaster and Thinker, Striker, Changer, Trump and Stranger. Worm: Power Classifications
| |
![]() |
|
| Onime No Ryu | March 6, 2016, 5:35 am Post #10 |
|
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
|
The dice rolls were meant to be involved in everything that provided a chance for failure that would, depending on the degree, effect an outcome in a significant enough way that it was worth acknowledging. Like Persona's example, I wouldn't use it for someone taking a piss. And for the most part, it didn't have any bearing on character interaction. When it DID, however, it was for things that actually meant something. Like Intimidate and Bluff and Insight. When a person suddenly screams to make themselves heard in a crowded room during an argument, in the movies everyone always stops and stares at them, surprised by the outburst. In real life most people just ignore you because they don't give a shit. And as a community, we've had the same kind of problems for a long time--nobody bothers to acknowledge other characters who aren't speaking directly to them, partially because it's too much to handle in large groups, and partially because no one cares about taking notice of anyone else's character but wants everybody to see how cool their character is. Which is completely self defeating and part of the reason I feel like it's very hard for people to use just one character at a time in our RPs because they're not fulfilling their "I need attention" quota. So even though Ulric's some big tough guy who never gets scared, if Thalia rolls an Intimidate Check and passes it, then he HAS to take notice. He doesn't get to just brush it off and act like nothing happened. If Thalia's doing crazy person stuff and literally everybody calls her out on it and somebody rolls an Insight check and throws an accusation about her motives and feelings at her, she doesn't get to say "no you're wrong you don't know me," she has to actually take it into account and at the very least ask herself the question "do they have a point?" Those kinds of outcomes affect character developments and relations, so I think they're important enough to roll dice for. What's more, even as a skilled writer it can be difficult to accurately portray the exact kind of image, tone of voice, and intensity of emotion a character has. "Ulric glared at Thalia, raising his hackles to show his teeth as his ears lay flat on his head. "Shut the fuck up." he growled." It's a perfectly serviceable description for a narrative, but it doesn't give the "real" experience of having a wolf man be intimidating towards you cause nobody's ever gonna deal with that shit in real life. Would it REALLY be that easy to just blow off? Would it REALLY be something you just roll your eyes at? The dice roll can serve to ENFORCE the narrative, it's not replacing it. If the dice say "Ulric passes his intimidation check" then Thalia has to deal with it and BE INTIMIDATED.
There are literally hundreds of websites made with bad 1995-level HTML coding that are all about "How to Cast Real Magicks" with lists of spells and rituals. Hell, some of them have some actual sources you can backtrack. If you don't wanna read huge wikipedia articles those would probably at least make a much easier start. I still don't really know what Worm is. And no I don't really trust people to be creative enough. You guys should know my standards by now, just because I've stopped yelling at the rest of you as much for not meeting them doesn't mean they've gotten any lower. |
![]() |
|
| queenzelda | March 9, 2016, 7:07 pm Post #11 |
|
Lady Queen
|
Personally, I've been researching how Egyptians used to use magic & it's a bit different then most magic done by most 'magicians', from what I can tell (at least so far). But from what I've read, this idea seems to be a bit too much, but I thought of a way that it could work. Maybe just use the Jedi rules from Star Wars, Jedi abilities one upon a time could be honed for 'magic' effects so why not just use the same ideals in the official books describing how to play as a Jedi in a role play sense? It's just something to think about. Still, all in all my vote would be 'depends'. As in; if things work out to where it'd be easier to get in or not have to worry about dice rolls then I'll consider it. But atmo, I'm on the fence. Edited by queenzelda, March 9, 2016, 7:09 pm.
|
![]()
| |
![]() |
|
| Onime No Ryu | March 9, 2016, 7:24 pm Post #12 |
|
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
|
Force powers were all, for the most part, based on psionic abilities and the kinds of "inner power" claimed to be utilized by mythological/legendary figures in martial arts. Anyone who wanted to use similar abilities would just need to base their magic on Psychokinesis or on Chi/Qi/Ki methods. I'm not sure what you mean exactly by "just use the same ideas," because this isn't a Star Wars RP and magicians aren't Jedi. If you're talking about some system from one of the games, like KOTOR or something, the fact that this would use D&D rules would pretty much do that because those games were based on d20 systems. As far as worrying about dice rolls go, in my previous dice-based RP, Dusk, I did pretty much all the rolling myself and told the players the outcomes. All they did was decide on what methods and actions they were going to use, just like they normally do. It worked pretty well so I don't see any reason to change it; it ended up actually taking a whole lot of pressure off me as an admin, contrary to what one might think, because instead of having to decide everything on my own I was able to get a much clearer picture of how actions played out thanks to the dice. With a calculator and an RNG dice bag, it takes literal seconds to get results and just a few minutes of typing to flesh them out into a narrative. |
![]() |
|
| queenzelda | March 9, 2016, 7:36 pm Post #13 |
|
Lady Queen
|
I'm talking about there being an actual book (for this instance): ![]() Jedi Academy Training Manual (Star Wars Roleplaying Game) Once upon a time book used to be the go to thing long before video games became their replacement. :p Also, couldn't the role player just do their own dice? I've seen script that can add in dice rolls. Besides I wouldn't trust any one else doing the dice roll but me because what if your lying? Any who that was that rp, not this one. -Maybeh?- :p Still, Idk.. This sounds good on paper but in order to keep every one accountable for what they decide to do is going to be half the trouble. XD Edited by queenzelda, March 9, 2016, 7:38 pm.
|
![]()
| |
![]() |
|
| Person A | March 9, 2016, 7:39 pm Post #14 |
![]()
Best to sleep on it.
|
The problem with the die roller in the post option is that you're not allowed to edit the post if there's at least one dice roll in the post. |
![]() Mover, Shaker, Brute and Breaker. Master, Tinker, Blaster and Thinker, Striker, Changer, Trump and Stranger. Worm: Power Classifications
| |
![]() |
|
| queenzelda | March 9, 2016, 7:41 pm Post #15 |
|
Lady Queen
|
Ah I see. I'd then record myself rolling my own dice, problem solved.
|
![]()
| |
![]() |
|
| Onime No Ryu | March 9, 2016, 7:47 pm Post #16 |
|
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
|
Using that book wouldn't work because, again, this isn't a Star Wars RP. That's why I do the dice rolls all myself, because I'm the admin of the RP and in this way I keep the players from cheating--even though based on how things went in Dusk I doubt anyone would have anyway. But just having the admin do it not only ensures it's impartial--I NEVER fudged any of the rolls for Dusk, and it shows--but also allows the players who don't like to do much mathematical thinking to minimize how much the "mechanics" have to affect their "narratives." Character design in Dusk made a lot of people nervous at first because they weren't sure about the numbers. When I started doing all the calculations myself, it made it a lot easier for people to jump into it even if they'd never played like that before. An RP's admin is what keeps everyone accountable, their roleplay is under their rules and they get the final say. But because I'm using the dice, the players can be sure that what I say isn't based on favoritism or anything like that because all the results are randomized and I'm simply passing them down.
Or just save yourself the trouble and let me do it, like I've been saying. Problem still solved and no complications with uploading videos or hyperlinks or whatever to bog down the site. Edited by Onime No Ryu, March 9, 2016, 7:49 pm.
|
![]() |
|
| NTNP | March 10, 2016, 5:56 pm Post #17 |
|
Admin
|
My biggest issue with this isn't that you have a system that is different and dice heavy. I love systems, I like DnD, I like D20. If anything, I would rather if we used a straight up published system and go modify it- like what I did for most of my RPs based in a particular series. With that being said, the issue isn't with the dice. I don't mind that part, and now that I know what sort of character system you are wanting to run and how you want it to run (martial based without spell differentiation available, group based, less independent and more difficult to excel at certain things via stats without skill points), I am fine with it. Now moving on, I cannot abide by the fact your ideas seem lackluster and uninteresting. "A big war for some kind of magical treasure or power, similar to the Fate/Stay franchise, where different magicians from different systems all fight for the prize." OK, seen this a lot- and with a lot better premise/presentation. How are we fighting? Is it the good guys versus bad guys? Are we a band of mercs out to make it to the "mother load" before someone else get's it? Is the McGruffin a weapon? An energy source? A crap ton of gemstones? All in all, kinda mehish. "Some kind of once-every-century-or-so event, centered on ley lines or something, that have significant impacts on a large number of magic systems. Whatever this event is, the magicians are gathering to either stop it, use it, or whatever, and have to deal with everyone else's overlapping motivations. Maybe there's only so much power to go around, or maybe the mystical being destined to awaken on this day is the god of one system and the devil of another." Once again, we did this too many times. If we are going to stop a villain, save the world, defeat the gods etc, why does it matter how we do it. Is the change in setting and style really that interesting and useful? Does it legitimately add anything to the narrative, or is this just an excuse for the endeavor? "A villain unleashes some form of event that either presents a terrible danger to the world, or threatens to expose the existence of Magic, and must be stopped--or maybe, certain magicians would ally themselves with the villain instead. Or maybe the villain themselves is some form of magical creature, something like Cthulu, whose very existence threatens the rest of humanity." Ok, mildly interesting with the "choose side A or B" approach, but again it doesn't require or even enhance the narrative to use a different system than usual. Additionally, why would someone join sides with the villains here? I've ran examples before like there being a world ending disaster looming- where the ancient god of destruction and rebirth will be reborn on earth and cause the destruction of the world. Not because he or she hates the world, but because it has to happen or everything gets tossed out of wack and then the entire planet will be lost. It isn't "muahahaha" destroying but more "you have to burn down the forest for new trees to grow" mentality. "A clash between modern day society and the mages--perhaps a government organization is dedicated to investigating paranormal events, or maybe the Church has begun a new series of Witch Hunts behind the veil of their modern image. All the different systemic practitioners simply live in this one place for convenience, and their daily lives overlap and the struggles they go through as part of their lives cause natural character development." This has the best option, but honestly it isn't indepth enough to make a difference. We haven't gotten enough information to pull it off, and then what side would we be supposed to choose? How and why are we supposed to do so? Again your system seems fine, although I feel like we could just about go with simple DnD style casting types (clerics pray to gods, wizards use complex rituals and alchemy to pull things off, druids commune with nature to control it, sorcerers just scream and things happen etc) and it works just as well. |
![]() |
|
| Sin | March 10, 2016, 6:51 pm Post #18 |
|
Slow and steady...
|
Who cares? RP time!
|
![]() |
|
| Onime No Ryu | March 10, 2016, 6:54 pm Post #19 |
|
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
|
So are you saying that none of the currently listed plots are unique enough to justify the setting? Like, to rephrase, "It's still people using magic to fight monsters, so why does it matter whether they're in the 21st century or a fantasy world?" Or maybe "None of these plots are tied closely enough to the essence of the Occult--they are not plots which could ONLY be done using this setting, therefore they diminish the importance of all the specific research and real-world references that would be required." Or are you just saying that none of the suggestions thus far are really all that great? I mean, they're pretty bare bones, yeah, but that was because I had hoped other people would be making more detailed suggestions using the ones I listed as springboards. As I said, this pretty much would be using the Simple DND thing that I linked up above. It's not an official Wizards of the Coast thing but the people who made it have outlined it very well and it's still pretty much the same thing, just--as the name suggests--simplified. As for "we haven't gotten enough information," that's probably the biggest hang-up of this idea thus far. Until we have some ideas floating around, we can't really sit down and make a standard just yet. More than likely it will probably be some generic life-force/Mana or whatever energy that is used in different ways by each system, or perhaps the true unique point of each system is that it draws its power from somewhere different, and the actual processes of using it are more similar. For instance, a lot of occult practices use different kinds of trances and meditation when performing their rituals. But, again, I left things bare bones to let people build off of them, and so far no one has. In any case, if I don't get more interest, this idea probably isn't even going to happen. My last few RPs have ended up with only myself and, at most, three other players in them, and that's not enough group dynamism to keep things moving. The first time someone drops out or goes missing, it sucks the life out of the whole thing. |
![]() |
|
| Keith | March 10, 2016, 7:57 pm Post #20 |
|
Mage
|
I think that if you ever re-use the dice system in any form you should think about changing how you handle the combat posting. Instead of having it play out as: "Ulric attempts to attack the target" -> you roll -> you post "Ulric's strike was un/successful" you could instead do it as: Kaze tells you OOC that he's going to attack -> you roll and tell him and the result -> Kaze posts both the action and the result That might be more entertaining for people, to be able to write both instead of just the latter while you post the former. Edited by Keith, March 10, 2016, 7:58 pm.
|
|
MAP OF HYRULE BESTIARY WORLD NOTES
| |
![]() |
|
| Sin | March 11, 2016, 12:26 am Post #21 |
|
Slow and steady...
|
What about something smaller in scope too? Like, instead of a whole big world, why not just one area, or one building in general? A big castle or something of the sort. |
![]() |
|
| Onime No Ryu | March 11, 2016, 2:05 am Post #22 |
|
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
|
That could be arranged. But when they tell me OOC, depending on how creative they want to get with it, they'd need to be descriptive, and that's a bit difficult to do in the chatbox because of the character limit and how multiple conversations in one place tend to go. So I'd be fine with just a case by case basis--people who choose to could just say in the chatbox "I wanna punch/stab him, Onime," and I just roll normally, but if they wanna do something more complex it might be better to make the attempt first or at least use a PM.
The setting is just a current-day city, with the world being "ours," but no real need to traverse it. But depending on what we decide on for a plotline, something like a big castle owned by some prominent magician's family or a multi-floor hotel that happens to be set on top of a huge magical node point could definitely be arranged and might be interesting. Like I said, I left the Plot Ideas very bare bones. What suggestions do you guys have? Do you have any ideas for storylines, antagonists, anything that would fit in what's basically a Real World setting only with real magic? |
![]() |
|
| Kazemitsu | March 13, 2016, 8:05 am Post #23 |
|
Assassin
|
Murgic Nurdles |
| |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · RP ideas · Next Topic » |




















.png/revision/latest?cb=20090324215003)





5:53 PM Jul 10