Just fifteen years of doing it that way. After a while you just get used to doing things a certain way.
Fair enough.
Though since Ranshiin mentioned it, I do recall that often such interactions were very slow IRL. I'm remembering quite a few times now where the players would go OOC and discuss what the speaker should say.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GameGeeks
You'd be surprised at the number of systems that don't have this.
Maybe. What published systems don't? (Obviously homebrews may not. For example the one I'm putting together doesn't).
Quote:
Originally Posted by GameGeeks
For those that do you still RP it out and a good DM would decide if a roll was needed. A player doing what you described would be chewed out by the DM and other players. Even if you RP well and get a low roll, failing the check, it doesn't have to be about your character's persuasiveness but can simply mean the NPC is hard headed or was never going to budge in the first place. I've never seen a charisma check made with players interacting with other players. Just against NPCs. And in a way it acts as a way for a DM to be unable to simply say it doesn't work. For those systems that don't have it, just hope you have a reasonable DM.
I've seen a lot of variations on dealing with the issue actually (and heard a lot of complaining), I was just curious how you went about it.
I find divergence especially occurs when a character has a truely exceptional capability that the player can't come close to matching (often that just ends in disillusionment for the player).
Quote:
More using a third party program with AF members as the players.
Yeah, that'd be hard. I've found people surprisingly unwilling to move off of a given forum. (And often trying to lure them away is a rules infraction, I'm not sure about here)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ranshiin
As for the thing about the separate cultures, sunny, you could do a 'short' and 'long' version and put the long version in Spoilers so people that are interested could read into the backstories a little deeper, and then those that don't want to have the shorter version for reference?
Using spoiler tags is an awesome idea! Thanks :D
Quote:
My character seems to have a few minor Bushido traits judging by your long explanation of the culture but I'm still sticking with the Therian stuff because of who/what he is. Maybe I can work those traits to my advantage (i.e. give them a logical reason/purpose in the RP).
Yeah, it could work well if you character feels somewhat drawn to a different culture. That could explain why you might interact with or end up in the same place as someone else's character.
02-19-2014, 04:44 PM
GameGeeks
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
@sunnyside Just gonna go by your quote break down.
1. Yes, but you still get interactions. It's also not unusual for an ingame event to spark a story about a previous campaign.
2. Off the top of my head, the Uni system and I believe early incarnations of Shadowrun. And I believe the first edition of D&D. Though I've never been able to get my hands on those rules.
3. Yeah, and it's not unusual for those instances. Take Int for example. Say a char has 25 Int. That would be beyond the greatest minds to ever live. So of course a player can't match it. In these instances it's just roleplayed to the best of a players ability and some suspension of disbelief is had. Not much can be done about it. And really, charisma is probably a rather easy stat to RP if you think about it. Especially when you get past charisma it just being about persuasiveness. It's more force of personality. A villain can have high charisma but he isn't going to convince a neutral good farmer to kill a village. But he will strike fear in said farmer just by being there.
4. Wouldn't be taking them to another forum. It'd be using a program like openrpg. Which has it's own chat feature, dice roller and grid to use.
03-16-2014, 07:32 AM
Ranshiin
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
is this text/turn-based RP stuff still going ahead or has everyone gone to that table-top-RPG website?
Just wondering because it's gone -very- quiet here.
03-16-2014, 02:57 PM
sunnyside
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ranshiin
is this text/turn-based RP stuff still going ahead or has everyone gone to that table-top-RPG website?
Just wondering because it's gone -very- quiet here.
I'm here and still interested in running a game, but I worry about this board (and AF as a whole). I actually just finished up a series of books, so I suspect this will be the next thing I turn my attention to. I'm sure I'll at least put up a sign in thread and see if I'm lucky and the issue is just a lack of GMs as opposed to a lack of players.
03-17-2014, 01:38 PM
Tetsanosuke
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
It's just been the same story with me, finding time to log on via my computer. It gets very frustrating trying to type everything out from a mobile device, so I've mostly scanned over things and posted poetry the last while.
As for running a game I'm now a DM again for my group's weekly game, and still a ST for a game I attend on Thursday, so I'm not in a good position to confidently GM a game here.
03-18-2014, 12:07 PM
sunnyside
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
Some design notes:
Maybe in going into this I should point out that having cultures instead of races is deliberate, and meant to better facilitate character interaction. For example relationships could develop between any pair, though differing cultures could make that complicated. I hope that it also makes things easier to understand and RP since, while the physical form is altered in a few of the cultures, you’re dealing with people. It also plays into the setting in that many of the tensions come from the fact people can change culture, with young adults in particular being prone to getting fed up with their culture or being temped away by another.
Cultures ought to be believable enough given the supernatural power rich somewhat post-apocalyptic setting. But it is fine and expected that many characters wouldn’t be entirely comfortable with the one they choose to have come from (even given their ability to vary things for the particular city-state they hail from). It might be interesting to have a few that think their culture is the greatest thing ever and just want to show it off to the characters, but that isn’t needed.
Anyway lemmi put down some stuff on the Therians
Even when there were still nations, there were groups of people in each who felt that they had a special connection or affiliation with animals instead of people. Or they just happened to enjoy forms of art and entertainment that featured anthropomorphized animals. Most actually lived in urban settings, but some were also very much into camping or developing primitive survival skills. When the Magics of Mass destruction were unleased in the Great War they tended to target urban population centers. Since members of this fandom knew each other, they fled to those campsites and their fellows with the survivalists and campers becoming the leaders due to their skills. Using magic to achieve a transhuman anthromorphic form was already a known technique, but it was general only used by a small proportion of people due to the different societies generally labeling those who did it as freaks. With the collapse of society many more made the change, and after that many others who were with them did it out of peer pressure or pragmatism in the face of having to survive in a dangerous apocalyptic world. Eventually as different groups established contact with each other they started calling themselves Therians and differentiating themselves from other survivor groups primarily by their transhumanism, but also by the emphasis they developed on healing the land, community, and having sexual and cultural mores that tended to produce large families.
Children are born as “normal” humans, but are expected to select a transhuman form after puberty. They are then transformed through a ritual involving the rest of their tribe. In modern times there is great variety in forms such that you do find Centaurs, Chackats, Gargoyles, dryads, and forms designed for aquatic life, the vast majority appear as a basically human form with animal inspired traits such as ears, a tail, altered feet, animal appropriate eyes, whole body fur covering, and some alterations of facial structure. There are also many who appear almost entirely human with minimal animal features, such as only having cat ears and a tail. However these are often viewed with suspicion due to being “not Therian enough” and parents worry about them leaving as such individuals can blend into a different culture relatively easily.
Package 20 points
20 points of biomorphs
For most purposes biomorphs work the same as powers, however they will have a biological physical aspect to them that usually produces something of an advantage and a disadvantage.
For example a “normal” flight power simply allows one to fly (superman style). However a flight biomorph would involve a pair of wings. This could make it so that flight in or through a tight space isn’t possible, but you could also perhaps use a wing to hit something. Feel free to propose the physical aspects of whatever abilities to suggest, but I’m here to help if you feel stuck.
20 points of biomagic
Biomagic can achieve things like temporarily adding biomorphs to someone or enhancing one that already exists, healing, finding life signs, attacking living beings, or accelerating and manipulating growth. This is used to perform much of the land reclamation that Therians are famous for.
03-19-2014, 10:53 PM
Princess Lemon
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
I've been super busy with my second semester. I only have 2 months left so I haven't had much time for writing out RP ideas sadly.
Hopefully after this semester I can start something
03-20-2014, 12:02 PM
sunnyside
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
As a point of tension (and explination for the need of the school) I had elaborated on the recent war, and had some number of Therians held as sort-of slaves by some of the other cultures.
At this point I'm wondering if thise would be "too much" and/or would turn off potential players or if it would make things more interesting and make more sense. @Ranshiin @Black-Cat0001
I'm also debating how much time should have passed from the war to the starting of the school and the game. Origionally I was thinking a longer time (24 years) so that player characters wouldn't have been involved in the war. But that would mean the collaring situation has gone on a long time, and the captured Therians would generally be middle aged or older. I'm thinking of maybe instead going with a six year gap. Thoughts?
As the ever expanding territory of the Therians started bumping up against other city states, tensions started to build. The spark that started the war was actually an accident. A Magitek head researcher had run out of places to store his chemical waste, and holding tanks are relatively difficult to produce these days. So instead he looked around for a different solution and discovered a pre apocalypse war waste pipe. Once he determined that wherever it went was quite some distance away from the city, he dumped the waste into it without giving it much thought. Where it went was to an old stormwater runoff retention basin that a Therian tribe had converted into a healthy and lush lake with a village built up around it. The results the pipe unleashed upon them were horrifying. The few terribly injured survivors traveled to other tribes, often with dead loved ones in their arms, and begged for vengeance for their destroyed families against what they assumed was a deliberate attempt to obliterate their tribe in order to claim their land for exploitation. Word spread, and one day a mighty hoard descended on the entirely oblivious Magitek city. Mercy was in short order that day. As defenders deep in the city tried to hole up to survive, a number of people escaped in airships and contacted non-Therian cultures begging for help against the onslaught and calling up favors owed and alliances made. As those groups started attacking the Therian hoard, other tribes of Therians joined to help their fellows. This process spiraled out of control and eventually most of the planet was involved. Ultimately the Therians were defeated and negotiations started. In time people got to the bottom of what had actually happened. While an uneasy peace took hold around the world, that could not erase the anger of those who had lost loved ones in the conflict.
There was also the question of what to do with all the Therian prisoners of war, which in some cases included all survivors from a tribe. Many were consumed by rage and a lust for vengeance against those that had killed their loved ones and families, others were filled with sorrow or psychologically broken from the terrors of war or their losses. While it wasn’t always clear who had done what, it was known that many of the prisoners had racked up kills of their own and not always just against enemy soldiers, so many cultures felt justice demanded they not simply be set free. However keeping angry Therians with their magic and biomorphs in prison was deadly and costly. In the end magic collars were developed. They essentially enslaved the individual by suppressing their memories from before they were collared, filling them with calm, and giving them a predisposition to follow orders. It was claimed this was a mercy for such traumatized individuals, or at the least much more humane and enlightened than giving them “what they deserved”.
While the Therians continue to heal more lands, they are upset about some lands that were stolen from them during the war, and about their fellows still held in collars. Tensions are rising again, and this is what led to the creation of the school where the game takes place.
In game, characters from certain cultures could have collared Therians in their control, or would at least have some in their tower. As always, these represent generalizations as opposed to rules.
Bushido culture: They have taken responsibility for most of the Therians that they had captured, and more or less treat them like their paid servants from their conquered cities. As collared Therians are calm, follow orders, and are not predisposed to speaking unless spoken to, the Bushi actually tend to prefir them.
Celestial culture: The celestials felt a responsibility to keep Therians from falling into abusive hands, but are too fearful of what might happen if the collars were removed, so many collared Therians are found in Celestial cities. This is very awkward for the celestials who oppose slavery and if anything treat the collared Therians better than a typical celestial. Therians are still expected to “put in honest work,” but the celestial giving them orders usually appears quite emberassed.
Magitek Culture: The Tech Mages don’t have slaves as such, however they often have minions whom they can be rather absent minded about in terms of payments and such. The collared Therians generally just blended in with the other minions and at least get fed well enough for their labors.
Netherkin culture: Netherkin are highly variable, but some have certain cruel needs in order to continue their existance. Those were more likely to have gotten involved in the war, and may have relished the opportunity to gain some thralls.
Pactmaker culture: This culture already had the concept of indentured servitude, and so individuals gladly took “responsibility” for as many collared Therians as they could. They treat them as slaves, but “rationally” in that they generally seek to keep them in good health and decent spirits.
Therian culture: The Therians largely stayed on the same side of the conflict and would free their collared fellows if they could.
Wanderlust culture: This culture doesn’t keep any collared Therians (or much of anything).
EDIT to self:
Consider pointing out that children may be tempted away by the big cities of other cultures, Therians may gain people in part because the transformation can help in creating a new life for someone that wants to leave their past behind and get a fresh start.
Consider 30 pts of biomorphs (no single one over 20 points) and 10 points of bio-magic, giving them more room to grow and less of a "magic" aspect they may not like.
Perhaps shift emphasis to transhumanism, and their exploration therof.
03-20-2014, 03:31 PM
Ranshiin
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
I'd have to give it some thought, sunny, especially as to whether I should decide that my character would be one of those 'collared' Therians that managed to get out of it or not, and whether that might affect his reason for being at the school/college or not.
He's more-than-likely going to be some sort of outcast anyway.
03-21-2014, 12:01 PM
sunnyside
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ranshiin
I'd have to give it some thought, sunny, especially as to whether I should decide that my character would be one of those 'collared' Therians that managed to get out of it or not, and whether that might affect his reason for being at the school/college or not.
Does that mean you at least like having that be a part of the game?
03-21-2014, 12:38 PM
Ranshiin
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by sunnyside
Does that mean you at least like having that be a part of the game?
It would be your RP but I could roll with the idea of racial/cultural abuse/slavery. It might help to add some depth to each culture as to how they perceive and interact with one another in the face of the war that happened and whether they attempt to abolish the outstanding 'standards' in order to get along or if personal opinion and stereotype is going to always cause trouble/strain.
I'd still need to work these sorts of things out. Personality I don't have a problem with but there could be a range of potential backstories and purposes or intents for me to consider. I'm just unsure as a result of what changes something as 'simple' as this could cause in terms of plot or story or interaction with others.
Also, it's not just my opinion that matters as, since I'd be the one playing the Therian character (at the least), then the opinions of those who'd have to interact with my character should be considered too. :)
edit
My character would be around the 17-19 age-range if it helps.
03-21-2014, 01:08 PM
Ωmega
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
Yeah, I'd go with a gap of under 10 years, maybe even under 5. It would give time to rebuild and having to adjust to the new norms after war. The characters would all have experienced the war in some way, shape or form and add to their character over a bunch of characters who only know of the war from their parents.
03-21-2014, 04:13 PM
sunnyside
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
Oh, and one other thing I was thinking off adding to the different cultures was lists of sources for inspiration or to grab artwork for potential character descriptions.
For the Bushido culture, there are quite a few anime, series, etc.
But I could use a little help with the Therians.
03-21-2014, 04:57 PM
Ranshiin
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
I'm unfortunately not too sure how I could help with the Therian side of things really, given that my character's only going to be of that culture because I'm stubborn as fuck about what type of character I play.
"Fucking furries." I hear you all say.
xD.
03-21-2014, 05:00 PM
Ωmega
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
Yeah, arent they half-human, half-animal? "Furries" would work, or even the neko-girl, kitsune-girl, etc kinda stuff
03-21-2014, 05:07 PM
Ranshiin
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ωmega
Yeah, arent they half-human, half-animal? "Furries" would work, or even the neko-girl, kitsune-girl, etc kinda stuff
Well it would work, yes, but I'm still not sure how I specifically could help the Therian culture especially since my character might fit in appearance/background only and not necessarily in interests x3
03-21-2014, 08:24 PM
sunnyside
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ranshiin
I'm unfortunately not too sure how I could help with the Therian side of things really, given that my character's only going to be of that culture because I'm stubborn as fuck about what type of character I play.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ωmega
Yeah, arent they half-human, half-animal? "Furries" would work, or even the neko-girl, kitsune-girl, etc kinda stuff
It's just that I'm not in the fandom and don't have so much in the way of references.
I guess I saw SpicexWolf with ummm...Holo. But there's gotta be more out there then that. I mean I saw the first could episodes of Inuyasha, and so there's that guy. But I don't know if he's the only not human thing in the show or not.
There's probably stuff outside of anime. I've heard of Chakats enough they have to have something. And there are Yuan ti and half dragons from D&D and whatnot.
If push comes to shove I guess I can google around to get something of a list. Or maybe people interested in Therians would tend to be like Ranshiin and have a character in mind that they might have drawn themselves from the get go.
03-21-2014, 08:47 PM
GameGeeks
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
@sunnyside Yeah, might have to be specific with half dragons from D&D. There's so many ways of doing it it's not funny. And I just don't mean the different types of dragons like bronze, green, etc. There's the traditional mating with a dragon method. The Bahamut method which involves a rebirth process.
03-21-2014, 09:51 PM
sunnyside
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by GameGeeks
Yeah, might have to be specific with half dragons from D&D. There's so many ways of doing it it's not funny. And I just don't mean the different types of dragons like bronze, green, etc. There's the traditional mating with a dragon method. The Bahamut method which involves a rebirth process.
Actually, I've never played the current version of D&D, I just know they went on and on about the half dragons in the promo materials. What I'm shooting for is to "hook" people by giving them a spark of inspiration that makes them want to sign up, instead of having no idea what sort of character they'd want to play and closing the thread. You'd have to select how the character looks, figure out how to represent how you think they should work in the system this game uses (which I could help with if it isn't obvious), and they'd come to be that way through magic ritual.
At least that's how things stand now.
Actually, now that I think of it, wasn't there an anime called half dragon or dragon half?
Oh hey and Star Fox! They've kept making Star Fox games and/or featuring him in other games so people still know him right? His art would fit as a Therian that got his hands on some Magitek culture gear.
Actually, I've never played the current version of D&D, I just know they went on and on about the half dragons in the promo materials. What I'm shooting for is to "hook" people by giving them a spark of inspiration that makes them want to sign up, instead of having no idea what sort of character they'd want to play and closing the thread. You'd have to select how the character looks, figure out how to represent how you think they should work in the system this game uses (which I could help with if it isn't obvious), and they'd come to be that way through magic ritual.
At least that's how things stand now.
Actually, now that I think of it, wasn't there an anime called half dragon or dragon half?
Oh hey and Star Fox! They've kept making Star Fox games and/or featuring him in other games so people still know him right? His art would fit as a Therian that got his hands on some Magitek culture gear.
Not talking current. Current D&D is crap. I'm talking 3.5 and earlier. If doing the magical ritual route then the Bahamut route might be an interesting idea. Link for more information and ideas. Feel free to modify what you want and ignore the mechanics part at the bottom.
03-22-2014, 07:12 AM
Ranshiin
Re: OOC: RP Discussion/Idea thread
Well, I was simply assuming that my character (in the story) would have taken the whole animal transmutation thing like everyone else does, only he went practically the whole way with it or something (because y'know, he's weird).
But that aside I'm now a little confused about why all of this talk sprang up x.x; You said yourself that the Therian culture can be anything from minor changes (ears and tail, like nekomimi?) to drastic changes such as a near full-body alteration similar to my character? I was simply going to go from that as far as my character's appearance goes, even if furries can technically fit into the latter side of it.
The whole "fucking furries" thing was a joke regarding my stubbornness xD. Not because of the nature of Therian's body alterations being similar or identical to it.
Also yeah it's Dragon-Half, but that's not really a 'furry' anime. I think the closest one I've seen that I've heard of is Legendz - and that's what my character's appearance is based off of. I don't really think Japan understands furries anyway.
In reality I want to stick with the character and a similar personality because I'm working on his story/novel-thingy still and given that I haven't worked on it in so long then RPing here as him would make it easy to keep myself 'in his mind' so to say.
I didn't see anything wrong with what you suggested regarding the Therian culture in this RP anyway, I'm still pretty adaptable o.o