RP&D: Roleplay and Development

[Aix]

I like the concept for your new RP, and all the ideas you have for it. 

The steampunk/Victorian era is really cool and the Animus system is a great idea.

 

It sorta reminds me of Paladins of Emeralda though... (Newest generation of warriors, trained to blah, blah, blah.... And i'm pretty sure Moderatus [from said RP] rules over a land called Brittania)

 

Other than those really close similarities, the concept is still great,  and i'll most likely be joining.

 

I would offer to try and help you host, but i'm not quite brave enough yet. >.<

Oh, it's already up. http://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/topic/308925-clockwork-souls-pg-16not-startedaccepting/

[Aix]

MONSTER REBORN!

 

Anyway, I'd like to remind that this Club also allows fics and such and I decided to write a fic of my own, a rather silly story really.

 

It's a deconstruction and parody of sorts of the shounen genre and might dabble a bit into harem. I'd like some advice and such and beta reading before I actually go post it in Creative Writing.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 1: A Hero Is Born]Do you believe in destiny? Do you believe in a greater meaning in life? Do you believe that everyone has a special place in this world? I think that’s bullshit and, well, my opinion is really what matters here. Fate, ume, is just wishful thinking. You aren’t anyone special. Not just anyone can become someone special, even if you work for it, even if you train, even if you put your life on the line. Effort is not always rewarded. The good guys don’t always win, we are simply lucky. I'm sure in some other universe evil has prevailed and taken over the galaxy while the defenders of peace and justice lay dead with their heads stuck on pikes.

 

On these lazy summer days, I sit on my bed, perhaps given up on reality, and watch my animu, all the while sneering contemptuously at the idealist protagonists, then spitting vehemently as their nakama power pulls them through. That should have realistically never happened. You do not suddenly get an enormous power boost after reaffirming your principles or seeing your loved ones get hurt and don’t even get me started on deus ex machina. Sighing, I closed my laptop and stepped outside to pay a visit to the corner store only to come face to face with my great archnemesis.

 

Oh, the sun. It shines, it burns, it mercilessly stabs my eyes. I must be part vampire or something, a dhampir maybe, and I had chosen the most inopportune time of the day to peak my head out of my Batcave - it was still early in the afternoon. Best option was to keep my head down and avoid it, but I paused mid-step as I realized that something is off here. As I redirected my gaze back up to the heavens, the truth hit me like a punch to the gut and fear erupted from deep within. The sun was much bigger and much, much brighter than usual. A few clouds stood in the way of its radiant splendour but made no difference as the light pierced right through. Sweat began to pour down my face, whether from the heat or from awe I could not tell, likely both. I finally understood why the ancients worshipped the sun as a god. Speechlessly, I watched as reality seemed to warp around this great ball of fire. The sky appeared to distort and become drawn into a swirling vortex. The sun did not hang in the sky, this entire world revolved around it, everything I knew and everything I loved held just went around it in circles unable to escape, bound by both gravity and necessity.

 

Does man truly know the extent of his insignificance? Compared to the infinite expanse of the universe, he is nothing. Even this planet is nothing in the grand scheme of things. I quote Carl Sagan, what we live on is but a pale blue dot, merely a mote of dust suspended by a sunbeam. I felt so incredibly vulnerable, as if my existence were to be wiped out any moment now, and a sinking feeling deep in my gut told me it was possible. Had the sun decided that it would go out billions of years early? Was it going to swallow up the Earth as it blows up to a red giant? Perhaps there was no point pondering about it as there was absolutely nothing I could do.

 

Through the cracks in my bright red fingers I catch a glimpse of a small black object in the light. As it approached I realized that it was a person falling at an incredible speed. A girl, in fact, with long light-colored hair, which I thought was blond like my own, but I then realized it was, in fact, pure white. Of course, there was no way I was going to try and catch her as was the typical shonen response, she was falling at such an incredible speed that if it wouldn’t matter if I tried. I would probably just die from the impact and not break her fall at all.

 

However, then, the strangest thing happened. The fabric of space warped around me, it felt like like I was high and overdosed or something, and I suddenly found myself standing beneath where she was to land with my hands held out as if to catch her. Before I had any chance to withdraw, she tumbled into my outstretched arms and I miraculously managed to remain standing despite the extreme pain that shot through my legs from shock.

 

“Thanks for nothing,” said the girl. She rolled her eyes as she turned over and stood herself up. Despite the sour expression she had just showed me the moment earlier, the girl was truly a beauty with thin fine features that radiated with elegance and refinery and sky blue eyes without a hint of an end to their depth. “The Lightbringer descends...” Muttering that while glancing up at the sun, she then turned to face me and extended a hand. “There is no more time, what kind of Hero do you wish to be, (insert name here)?”

 

That’s right. That’s my name. (insert name here). (insert stuff about name here, note ignore this stuff if can’t think of good name). Seeing the abnormality of the circumstances, I decided to ignore the fact that this girl who just fell out of the sky knew my name and asked a more sensible, if that is even possible in this situation, question.

 

“What do I need to know about what’s going on?”

 

The girl raised an eyebrow at this. I merely looked her in the eye, waiting for her to explain. “You need to defend me from the enemy that’s going to come down from the sky any minute now or the universe will end. I will grant you power to defeat this foe.”

 

With everything going on, I was not entirely surprised and the grave and sincere look in her eyes made me fully believe her, she seemed to know what was going on a lot more than I did, but my head still hurt from the genericness of this development. However, how could I possibly turn this down? For one, the universe was apparently going to end if I did and, two, you could not understand nearly how much I wanted to have magical powers.

 

“The Lightbringer, huh?” I said casually despite the fact that I was literally trembling from an odd combination of fear and anticipation. “Very well, grant me the power of the darkness that devours everything.” It was a futile attempt to remedy the cliche, but I then realized that great number of stories now had protagonists with demonic or evil abilities. There was no more time, however, at least according to what she said earlier, and I reached out to accept her hand.

 

“The enemy is powerful and experienced while you have never actually been in a fight in your life,” she said and I paused. “It would be better, rather, to have an ability that will instantly take them out and require little actual combat.”

 

I pondered this, what she said was true, but then a few ideas crept into my head. “But that’s incredibly risky, isn’t it? You can grant me other powers, right?”

 

She nodded. “However, the first power you accept with this contract will forever be the foundation of the rest of your abilities,” she said. “Make your decision now.”

 

There was no need to say more. I grabbed her hand and felt the power course through me. It was an incredible feeling, similar to adrenaline, and my heart started to pound extraordinarily fast. Never had I ever felt so alive. But, then, I felt the torrent from within me, it writhed and honestly felt quite disgusting. A wry half-smile appeared on my face as I realized perhaps “darkness” was not such a good choice. Nevertheless, there was no turning back from this. Both the girl and I directed our eyes to the sky and with my newfound power I no longer feared the sun.

 

There was a sudden flash of light and I recognized that something was bursting towards us. That must be it, the Lightbringer, whatever that meant. I moved on instinct, reacting at superhuman speeds, shoving the girl under my arm and blitzing out of the way while at the same time releasing my trap. A sphere of absolute darkness, a substance neither solid nor liquid that defied all laws of physics, swallowed the Lightbringer up sealing it inside.

 

“You have fallen into my trap, Lightbringer!” I announced grandly. “I have sealed you in my dimension of absolute darkness and there is no escape! Rot forever in this boundless prison!” With a smile, I realized that my bluff worked and I felt the being, a humanoid clad heavily in powerful armor, stop moving temporarily. I got the opportunity to properly apprehend the Lightbringer’s form feeling the shape obscured in my darkness. A girl, I thought. And with a sizeable rack!

 

A voice broke me out of my excitement. “What are you even thinking?” spoke the girl I still held under my arm as she broke herself out. Not understanding the real meaning at first, I took this as a prompt to go on with my attack. Even if the Lightbringer were only a girl, the universe was at risk here, I will strike now when she’s vulnerable. The Code of Honor meant nothing when everything I cared for was at stake, I wasn’t one of those cheesy shonen heroes who would blatantly refuse to use underhanded tactics. The ends justifies the means, in the end, only one girl would be dead instead of the entire universe. I whispered this to myself and breathed in and out to calm my nerves.

 

Condensing the rest of my energy in my hands, I materialized a magnificent pitch-black bastard sword, and I raised it high into the air before striking towards a kink in the Lightbringer’s armor with insane strength. There was no hesitation in my stroke, perhaps I was too scared for my own fate to even care any more.

 

The Lightbringer must have sensed something, perhaps ripples and vibrations in the fabric of darkness as the sword sliced through and she moved at the last minute even though she could not see the sword itself. With a resounding clang on her gilded helmet, she was knocked unconscious instead of being decapitated instantly. I felt her limbs go limp and the metallic sound of her armor as she collapsed onto the ground.

 

As I removed the darkness field, I looked up to see the aberrant sky slowly revert to normal. Looking back down, I came upon second gorgeous babe I had the fortune to see today. Unfortunately, the elaborately crafted gold and silver armor revealed nothing except her dazzling face, but I suppose that was reward enough for taking her down.

 

“Why did you not kill her?” the girl behind me demanded.

 

I thought about this for a few moments. “I don’t entirely trust you,” I finally said. It was a lie and the girl narrowed her eyes.

 

“I don’t believe that,” she said with great resolution in her tone.

 

If she were not someone to be trusted, she would not have said that, she would’ve likely been more wary and paranoid, but I decided against saying anything further on the matter. “Why must she be killed?” I asked instead.

 

“So she can’t try to destroy this universe, again,” replied the girl.

 

“Could we not imprison her? With your great power, it should be possible to contain her,” I said. “I’m sure we could benefit somehow from letting her live. Does she have comrades? Could we not hold her hostage?”

 

The girl bit her lip. “She does.”

 

“Don’t take me for one of your cheesy shonen heroes who refuse to kill, I know it would’ve been too risky to just try to knock her out. She moved at the last second and I hit her helmet instead,” I said.

 

“It seems her plot armor is rather strong to be even active in this world,” said the girl. She crouched down to look at the Lightbringer in the face.

 

“Plot armor?” I asked.

 

“I believe someone like you would be familiar with the term,” she said, standing up and looking me in the eyes.

 

“Ah, yes,” I said and I shut my mouth as I thought about the implications of that term. “Does that mean that this entire world is just a story then? An elaborate tale? Are we all just actors on a stage destined to carry out predetermined lines?”

 

“In a way,” replied the girl. “But, it’s not entirely true. I just like the term ‘plot armor’, it sounds like it’s a physical object, but rather, it’s the influence on Fate that Heroes like Lightbringer and yourself have. The blessing of Fate, the proof that the multiverse loves you.”

 

I felt like rolling my eyes at the way which these terms came that needed to be properly explained and developed. I thought about it and had a certain idea from piecing together what had happened thus far, but I was under no illusion that what I hypothesized was bound to be correct. “I suppose it’s time you explained everything to me.”

 

“You are... a Hero!” she declared.

 

“Why, thank you, ohime-sama,” I couldn’t help but say. I also couldn’t help but feel the animesque vibe that this entire premise gave off.

 

She glared at me before continuing on. “Each and every one of the millions of universes in the multiverse designates a Hero to defend them. Both you and the Lightbringer are Heroes of your respective worlds. The Heroes must fight each other for supremacy and absorb the power or life force of the other universes to prevent the decay and destruction of their own. Universes are born, naturally, all the time, but there is a strict limit on the space in the multiverse and the weakest universes, often the oldest, will naturally crumble away when the limit is reached. In order to preserve their own universe, Heroes add the power of other Universes to their own by destroying them.

"As the Hero of a particular universe, you are blessed by fate, you are one out of many billion or even trillion sentient beings, granted with plot armor and infinite potential for growth," she said.

 

I stood still for a moment as I absorbed this. It was more or less what I thought, but there were still some holes in the story. I looked back at the girl. “And who are you to appoint me as the Hero?”

 

The girl smirked. “I am the Goddess of this universe.”[/spoiler]

[Astolfo]

hehe

I like it. A lot.

[Aix]

Any sort of name suggestions?

[Astolfo]

Perhaps an animu-esque name or something, for another gag?

[Kōsuke Ueki]

Speaking of fics, I have two in mind:

 

The first is more along the lines of staying within Assassin's Creed canon. It is about the life of Desmond's son, Jason Miles, having his life changed by being forced to work for Abstergo. But Desmond saves him and time and begins to unravel the memories of a hidden ancestor that none of the Assassins knew about, whose timeline was after the Crusades, but before the Renaissance (In a sense, this ancestor is after Altair is dead but before Ezio Auditore da Firenze (And the majority of his generations before him) is born. I haven't decided what time period to go with, and I'm actually playing the games first to get an idea of what's going to happen, so some references can be made. So, I'm doing a lot of research before I actually start writing this. And the name is Assassin's Creed: Ascension.

 

The other is more or less a new Yu-Gi-Oh fic involving 5 Duel Academy graduates/best friends (At least after the first saga) who go through a quest to stop an advancing dark force unlike which has ever been seen before. The timeline is an alternate reality, but it happens after 5D's ends and way before Zexal would exist, but I intend on having Xyz cards "created" to make things interesting. Also, I have already made some custom made Ace cards for said protagonists, and I'm still working on it (When I get all the custom cards I need to have made, including Tuners and Synchros, then I will begin writing). But I also need help. That's where you guys come in. You are able to create one of these protagonists to be used in this story (And credit will be given to you).

 

Any thoughts on these ideas?

[Jolta]

AIX, that might be a Light Novel-like work. Just give it a literal title that isn't too awkward too read.

Like

'I don't have many friends'

Or

'My mental multiple choice is ruining my Romantic Comedy Life'

Or

You get me. Something long and literal that isn't in your pants.

We live once more?

Ah yes, I had an intended harem-shonen LN-tier thing I call Chevalier. The primary concept is the the MC is a 'Catalyst' who must kiss female-only warriors known as Chavelier, allowing them to evolve into higher forms to kick the ass of evil Chavelier.

[spoiler=A prologue from a long time ago]
"At last, I have you now, Catalyst..."

A middle-aged woman had cornered young Gen into a corner. The darkness of the night shielded her appearance, but he panicked, for he felt a strong, menacing aura being emitted from her.

"What do you need from me?" Gen questioned.

"I do not need anything from you," the lady smirked, "I need you."

She pulled and grabbed Gen by the hair.

"You have issues, old hag!"

Gen believed his insults would save him. Instead, the woman's grip became tighter, out of sheer rage.

Gen thought he was doomed when a murder of crows flocked above him. This was when a certain dark knight with wings of black and eyes of blood descended, kicking the 'old' hag's wrist, effectively causing her to lose her grip.

"Corbeau... you..."

the lady took a few big leaps into the distance, gradually fading from sight.

"Thank you - huh?"

The hero was gone as well, leaving but a black feather as the only piece of evidence of her very existence.

"Black... feather... I might need this."

Gen picked the black feather up and proceeded to walk home.

If fate was on his side, he would meet the mysterious 'crow warrior' once more, very soon.[/spoiler]

And my RP idea posted in the Planning thread: Ibaraki-doji no Hyakki Yagyo. It's a mix of comedy and shonen fighting and maybe some romance.

[spoiler=Plot]
The Hyakki Yagyo - known as the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

Every year, the Nurarihyon, one of the most powerful yokai in Japan, would lead his assortment of yokai soldiers in this Night Parade. It was a beautiful sight to behold, but humans are always wary, for they believe that death would come for them.

Change dawned upon Nurarihyon's faction one fine day when a young yokai child who claimed she was the Ibaraki-doji, the child of the most barbaric yokai in Japan Shuten-doji, proceeded to join them. She had, explicitly stated her background with her supposed father, Nurarihyon let her into his faction.

After Nurarihyon's death, the authority and leadership of Nurarihyon's faction was transferred to Ibaraki-doji. It was now known as the Ibaraki-doji faction. The problem was - due to her background, unpredictable behavior, mild immaturity and stereotypical oni habit of drinking excessive sake, the trust between her and her yokai army is... not very much, save a handful of soldiers.

Now, new threats are appearing throughout Japan, and not even the onmyoji, ninjas, samurai or whatever of the country can stop them all. This means that the Ibaraki-doji faction has to step in and stop the mayhem that arises.

Of course, due to the low trust between Ibaraki-doji and her minions, this will be a very difficult task. Let us just hope the new recruits don't add fuel to flame.[/spoiler]

[Astolfo]

Chevalier's idea seems a bit like Date-A-Live's summary preview (I haven't seen DAL).

[Jolta]

Chevalier's idea seems a bit like Date-A-Live's summary preview (I haven't seen DAL).

In DaL(or Fairy Fencer F as I like to call it), Shido kisses Spirits to seal their abilities. Their power can return, but not to a full extent.

But you still have a little point.

[Aix]

My other RP is starting to drag, so I'm looking at an RP that I've always wanted to do. Always. That is a Sword Art Online RP or at the very least, a VRMMORPGRP (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game Role Play, can you swallow that?)

 

This one shouldn't as much effort to host as we should all contribute, so I'll be fine even if my other RP doesn't die. (I'm becoming jaded)

 

Anyone who is even a bit of a gamer at heart speak up now to contribute ideas, plots, quests, arcs, etc. Do you guys want it to be Sword Art Online (or at least a death game)?

 

Would also like to get characters created now as well, before the RP, well at least, conceptualize them first and have a basic idea of them that can be put here.

[Jolta]

I'm not so sure about death games, but I am definitely sure about VRMMORPGs

I used to run an Accel World RP and since it relied heavily on levels, it was hard to manage.

Odd how my Night Parade RP isn't going that well. The reception appeared positive.

Patience is key. I will continue to wait.

[Aix]

Renegade in the arpees thread also said he didn't want a death game, so it could just be a VRMMORPG.

[Merci]

DEATH GAMES PLEASE.

 

Unlike some others, having death is what really made Sword Art Online so interesting, and why the second season was so horrible. Characters need that real sense of danger, so that's more than just being trapped inside a videogame, and you can just respawn or something. They need to fear. They need to face reality, when they thought they could run away from it by coming into this fake, virtual one.

 

I absolutely approve. However, you should make it different from SAO in some ways, of course. First off, you should probably keep avatars as they are, and maybe have the real character appearances -and even biographies- be a secret (so genders and identities could be masked and no one would know). It makes to cause trust issues, especially when it comes to romance. I don't think there should be levels  though since that can prove to be a bit complicated, instead relying on unlocking skills and such.

 

Or, if you really want an RP where people transition between VRMMOs and RL, I guess you could blend it in with elements of the Midnight Channel in Pesona 4, giving off a slightly supernatural vibe.

[Ren✧]

The reason I wasn't for death games is because any time you see a show, or an RP, or a movie, or a novel, etc. that has to do with a video games, the people always end up getting trapped inside of it and then the possibility of death is being hung over them. While I agree that it gives people a sense of urgency and fear, I feel like it has been overdone. I feel like an RP where the people have to cope with real life and strive to just beat them game is interesting. 

 

I've never watched SAO, or really any animes that deal with anything resembling it, so I would suggest, if even just for my personal benefit(lol), that you make it so that you don't need any prior knowledge to join in on the RP

[Astolfo]

Maybe the game is connected to reality, and something happening in game translates to real-life?

[Aix]

We could also go .hack style and have people trapped, but not the players themselves.

 

One idea I had a while ago was that the game world was secretly another dimension and the game server was in fact a magical artifact that allowed this connection.

 

Maybe the game is connected to reality, and something happening in game translates to real-life?

I do like this idea though.

[Astolfo]

Maybe like some overlord character is bringing forth monsters for whatever reason, and they appear as natural disasters, sort of like an apocalypse in the real world? Like buildings collapsing, or vehicles exploding, etc?

[Jolta]

I haven't watched Log Horizon, but why not make it more akin to that? That seems a bit akin to A I X's new idea on his most recent post.

I like that idea.

[Aix]

I haven't watched Log Horizon, but why not make it more akin to that? That seems a bit akin to A I X's new idea on his most recent post.

I like that idea.

Log Horizon does suffer from its lack of urgency and I believe it would've been a lot better if it did have the death factor, not even sure why it didn't, I guess it just didn't want to be like SAO. The series only works because it focuses on strategy and plots from an intelligent main character which can rather difficult in an RP.

At any rate, moving the discussion on, what sort of races shall we have?

Should we have a Sword Skill system akin to SAO? Perhaps a Log Horizon system where it is partially computer aided but you do actually move on your own?

[Astolfo]

Races?

Not too many.

 

Human

Magical race (Elf/Fairy/etc)

Animal-Human/Beast-Human hybrid thing

um

idk

[Jolta]

Let the starting races be few in numbers. Elemental Spirit(Undine, Salamander, Sylph, Gnome), Human, Elf, Cait Sith and Cu Sith, etc.

And add some feature where we can change our race using the corpses of monsters or even bosses we fight.

[Aix]

Sounds interesting... upgrading your race, it would certainly fit with the otherworld idea as you'd really be upgrading your form. What if we just all started out as human, but then could go through various changes?

[Jake the Sage]

Sounds interesting... upgrading your race, it would certainly fit with the otherworld idea as you'd really be upgrading your form. What if we just all started out as human, but then could go through various changes?

 

Well in certain cases if you know magic you could graft something else onto your body.

 

For instance a human could magically graft spider-legs onto his or her body. At the same time an elf could use the same magic to replace a severed arm with that of a merfolk.

[Aix]

I was more thinking of using ingredients to modify your form and powers as turning into Frankenstein isn't exactly appealing.

[Jake the Sage]

I was more thinking of using ingredients to modify your form and powers as turning into Frankenstein isn't exactly appealing.

 

Well potions would either be permanent or, more likely, a short term transformation.