OOC: Death Note RP?

[Ωmega]

I've been toying with the idea of making a Death Note RPG. Heres how it would break down:

The story would take place after L and Light.

There will only be 3 Shinigami.

Likewise, there will only be 3 people with death notes.

Members would have the option of being: high school students, college students, high school or college teacher/professors, or members of the police force/FBI/CIA

Shinigami can make themselves be known, however those with death notes *Won't*.

Those who carry death notes will be personally selected by me.

Those who carry death notes will have "code names" such as Kira in the series.

Those who carry death notes will submit all posts concerning the use of thier death notes via pm to me to keep the identity of the death note holder a secret.

Those who carry death notes will post themselves as if they are innocent and not make any mention to the death note they carry or their Shinigami.

Shinigami will not refer to the holder of their death note by name, only by their code name.

The police would be responsible for catching the three with the death notes.

So, I was wondering if I have enough to go on and if it would work at all, since this RP would be more of a game then story telling.

[Luzifer]

The problem I see, is that creating the characters that would use the death note so that they are not obvious but at the same time would actually USE a death note.


Example, one person who might use a death note is a thief who might use it to rob banks, but since he's benefitting directly from the deaths caused he would be easy to find out.

So that rules out a direct benefit for any user of the death note. However, indirect benefits would be difficult to keep interesting. How many different kinds of megalomaniac can you make? Not to mention that the police would be at an EXTREME advantage in that they have a pool of, say, 7 people who could possibly be the user (average amount of consistant RPers in any given RP) now almost half of them will have a death note. Now its just a matter of looking at those seven characters bios and picking the one thats most likely to be commiting the crimes indicated. Example, if environmentalist politicians are dying, the sun a of an oil shiek would be a good suspect.

Finally, the other weakness is actually not mentioning the death note. It would be difficult for the death note user to keep posting interesting posts while using the death note unless he was in a interesting position, like on the police force itself. Example, the student couldn't post much because other then going to school, all could really do is kill people. To further the problem the person everybody in the RP would have to use third person objective which I have never seen anyone use. Otherwise, they would say things like "X was suspicious of Y" which would be a give away that X is a holder of a death note because otherwise the line doesn't make sense in most contexts. Basically poster couldn't talk about there characters thoughts as they would be gives as to whether he was or was not a death note user. What would probably end up happening is that those three people with deathnotes would have emotionally sterile posts to avoid letting a give slip out, which would itself be a give since only people with death notes would have that style.

In summation, it wouldn't work.

[Hollow Ichigo]

I hate to say it but he is right. I myself was thinking about a Death note Rpg and just had to give it up. Now i've moved on to a Code Geass Rpg.

[Luzifer]

calm down there hollow, don't forget you already have a RP

[Hollow Ichigo]

Don't worry. i'm going to finish clash before I start another one and that may not be till late october.

[Cross Avantgarde]

Luzifer's concerns are valid, as are Hollow's. However, I remain optimistic concerning this potential RPG. You see, the poster himself/herself may discover who the owner of the Death Note is, but that doesn't mean that their character can discover this as well. For example, thoughts can be given out in any post, but the characters around the scenario would not hear the thoughts.

In one sense, the dilemma that the police would face would be that of discovering hard evidence to convict the owner(s) of the Death Notes; the same dilemma that L, Mello, and especially Near faced. No matter how much suspicion arose around a suspect, empirical evidence would be needed for a conviction. However, my "solution" has a problem as well: the owners of the notes (and in some cases, the police task force) would be prone to modding as they would have clear access to the inner thoughts and plans of the opposing party. So, to remedy this, some communication would be necessary with Maru.

On that note (a sour pun, I know), this can work, and I'm excited about it.

[Luzifer]

It wouldn't work, there is a certain level of bias that knowledge gives.

If I as player know that person X is a death note user, then its impossible to completely remove that knowledge from my posts. I will even if ts only a small bit, the effective intelligence of the character will increase because what seems like a natural connection to someone who knows the answer might be a difficult concept for one who doesn't. Basically, its like a math problem, just because you know the answer doesn't mean you can solve it, but it does make it a lot easier to solve.

RPing, given its subject and artistic nature, will have even more difficulty establishing the objectivity necessary. Simply because when someone is writing something, the what they write places emphasis. Example, my character has a death note, but no one else knows it. I write, using third person objective, "He sat there, his left foot twitching quickly and but his expression mute and unreadable". Someone can easily look at the post and go, 'hey, his foot is moving that indicates nervousness or guilt'. The fact my character is nervous is overstated simply because i mention it, however, if i don't mention his leg moving, I'm hiding facts to avoid being discovered, which is a manipulation of reality. In reality, because we are innudated with stimuli in a short period of time we can't focus on it all and we ignore or don't perceive many things. In writing, where every single thing that is mention takes on a grate and more methodical import its MUCH easier to pick out details.

That, and the death note people could just kill off the PCs and win by default, and whats more, it would be difficult to impossible to come up with legitimate reasons why they couldn't as long as they see his face and know the name, anyone on the police force can be considered dead. Heck, if one of the people on the police happens to be a death note user, he's at a large advantage since he can kill the PCs rapidly. Even better, kill the entire police force and fake his own death and he not only removes the entire organizational core of the anti-death note force, but also removes himself from suspicion.

Basically, there are a lot of mechanical problems and powerful moves whose only justification for not allowing is 'its not fun that way' rather than any relation to the Death Note rules or reality.

[Cross Avantgarde]

Heck, if one of the people on the police happens to be a death note user, he's at a large advantage since he can kill the PCs rapidly. Even better, kill the entire police force and fake his own death and he not only removes the entire organizational core of the anti-death note force, but also removes himself from suspicion.

True, that is possible. Yet, in the series itself, Light could've done the eye deal when he joined the task force and would then have been capable of doing the same thing. Since this would take place after he met the task force, that would increase the suspicion over him (and people at Wammy's house were always at the ready), even if he faked his own death. Hopefully that same knowledge would be held by the players, though there's nothing stopping them from doing it.

The objectivity that would need to be upheld would be very difficult to muster, but not impossible. You would definitely see a lot of details being noticed due to suspicion, but that could mislead as much as it could reveal about the Death Note owner's identity.

It's possible, as I stated earlier; though, that does not say anything about the likelihood of it working, and I agree with you that the inherent problems are numerous.

[Luzifer]

No, the reason light didn't do it was because the story would have ended too soon and there would have been no drama. He could have done it, and in fact there were many things he could have done that were simple but that he didn't do in preference for things that were complex. The reason is that's what the author wanted.

No it is impossible. That's just a fact of life. Complete objectivity is a lie.

Decieve? What, somebody who doesn't have the death note will deliberately act suspicious? Thats the only way a detail could be a mis-direct.

[Ωmega]

The idea was that all posts by the Kira's would be posted by me, not the actual person Ive picked.

The person's role would then be to react to his/her own actions. This I think can work since there were hundreds of Kira supporters in the series. The person who is Kira could even react disgusted to what Kira [themselves] has done. Not even the RPers as the Shinigami would know who the RPer holding their death note would be.

So, example:

I post-

Kira jotted down the name John Doe into his notebook and smiled to himself. The cause of death was pure genius in his mind and its beauty gave himself a sort of sick satisfaction. He doubt the police would know this was the work of Kira.

The actual RPer would then post something like-

Light turned on the tv and listened in on a the latest death. He scoffed to himself a bit at the cause of death and how the police were blaming this too on Kira. Even the death of a small child was blamed on him.
"Seems every death now-a-days is being blamed on Kira."

[Luzifer]

first of all, is that realistic? Someone would act like there are surveillance cameras in his house when there are not? It seems like it would lead to RPing to fit a game rather than RPing to fit a reality.

They could possibly swing it if there character had split personality disorder but other wise its just lacks the sensation of being uniquely real.

[Ωmega]

Hmmm, then perhaps going that route might be better?

One Shinigami, one death note.

And of course, those who have split personalities dont know that they have the disorder...

[Hollow Ichigo]

If you think about Light then yes he had a split personality. One minute he seems the nice genius working to catch Kira then in a split second he is this power mad god me death raining death from above.

Just hear me out.

-The news was on again as it did everyday. It was right at a quarter to eight and the run was only just setting in the Kento reign. The room was dark as it always was and there wasn't a sigh of life. It was totally silent in the same one bedroom apartment. However something dwelled in the darkness. A God with the power to give or take life. A God of death.

It razor sharp teeth gleamed in the light me the tv as it looked upon a little human. This human known to the world as Kira. Over his head was a series me number that only the Death God could understand. It was in his native language and told when his time to die would come. He grinned.

"You know My deal is still open" Kira turned around in his chair and looked at the God. He was the only one that could see and hear him. Unless someone else had touched the death note.

The death note was a book with the power to take lives as the user sees fit. Kira had learned of it's power three days ago. It worked by writing the name me anyone and knowing their face, that person would die. If it wasn't written down how the would die then it was a heart attack. Kira loved it. He would use this book to create a new world. A world under their new God.

"No deal i will rule this world for as long as I have." Kira turned back around in his chair and opened the death note. The criminal John Doe was displayed. He had killed a young girl at a club and wasn't allowed in Kira's new world.

"Judgement......." Kira's hand moved quickly across the page. Writing the name down.

"Judgement......." Kira closed the book and placed it back in it's safe spot. He stood and walked toward the door. "Three.....two....one." A wicked grin spread across his face as the news caster recieved new information.

"This just in. The killer John Doe just died from was a heart attack.

[Lady_Baneheart_Of_Blades]

actually you can't have a split personality a split personality is referred to as schitzofrenia, but you can't technically say it's a spilt personality. I've never seen a split personality before.

Yes, keep it at one shingami and one death note, it be harder to find who is the person who is going to be killed, but fun.... unless I got death note wrong...