Low-Fantasy Short-Term RP

[Piper Juunanagou]

I have vague ideas, but I don't have the time to put them into more words (I'm reading Storm of Steel).

But I want to create a grungy, forlorn low-fantasy world where there will be vague plot-lines that involve whoever wants to take part. I love Chubbs, and my favorite type of writing is the bitter, dark, 'realistic' stuff. I think that fantasy is a vague enough category that people would be interested. These will be short-term. There will be no stats or anythin like that. Just characters. They'll range from a week or, idda know, a month? Then again, this is Chubbs, so they may just last as long as interest holds. As the stories will be stand-alone (yet set in the same 'universe,' possibly at different times?), character can and will probably die at some point. Or maybe they'll live and reappear again, who knows.

tl;dr (fuck you, read it) : Kind of like an Elder Scrolls game (easiest example to think of) formatted like a pen-and-paper campaign without all the numbers that I hate. Once I'm done with all my reading for the week, I will make more coherent thoughts.

[Jonathan Meer]

I'm in.

[Sigfried Hunin]

Yup yup, fire it up.

[Vad]

/signed

[Victoria]

Like it!

No stats, just story!

[Piper Juunanagou]

Uh, more details I guess.

"Overview"

The world of *I haven't really thought of a name* is a drab and bleak place consisting of numerous human settlements amidst a patchwork world of dark forests, foreboding mountains, treacherous waterways, and ruins of ancient civilizations. Beyond the city walls, brigands and beasts infest the wilderness of *BROODING, POSSIBLY GERMANIC NAME*. As more stories unfold, the overall story will undoubtedly expand as both the Story Guides and Writers craft their narratives.

"How it Works - The Story"

In this RPG, a Story Guide (SG) plays the role of devising a scenario ('Instance') for the Players Characters (PC). Instances may range from very short pieces (an arena battle) to more involved pieces (a tale of drama and intrigue that will change the world of *LACK OF NAME PUN* here). Everything in between those two extremes is also possible.

It is up to the SG to determine how plotted out in advance their Instance will be. For me, I enjoy creating vague plots and seeing what the PCs do.

In the days before an Instance, the SG will release all the pertitant information related to the setting and some of the backstory. This is to allow the Writer to think about and design a fitting PC for the Instance.

Given the threat level and ephemeral nature of this RPG, PCs will be in danger of death at any and all times. A death may happen for any reason: Losing a fight, getting into an impossible situation, or for the purpose of adding drama and more danger to the story. It is quite possible that all the PCs may die. *INSERT NAME OF WORLD* will keep on turning as if it were none the wiser of your loss.

Because of nature of stories and the probability of death, one should be prepared to make a new PC for each Instance. Whether or not your surviving PC may be used is up to the Story Guide.

"How it Works - Characters"

*INSERT WORLD NAME* is home to a bunch of vile creatures that inhabit the wilds. Within the 'civilized' world, everyone's either human, dwarven, or elven (you know, the fantasy staples). Player Characters will be drawn from one of these three races/species. Unless specified, most Player Characters will not be individuals of any substantial prestige or renown.

"How it Works - Rules and Assorted Junk"

1. No matter the plot of the Instance, you as one of the Writers is free to do whatever you want (within reason, don't go off and become Jesus). If you deviate too far from the SG's plot, he may try to reel you in, ignore you altogether, or (in a rare case) adapt your plot to his/her evolving story.

2. There are no stats in this RPG so any sort of inter-PC combat will be determine by a mixture of writing quality and the in-character context. If you want to be a lithe thief, you might not want to fist-fight the warrior.

3. The intended genre for this RPG is what I personally call "fantastic low-fantasy." I guess a way to look at it is 'Pseudo-realistic fantasy.' There's no magic or glorious cities or extra-planar worlds. There are still 'fantastical' creatures and the staple fantasy races, but that's more for the sake of creative freedom to Writers than anything else. I actually have a pretty solid idea of the setting and the history, but I chose to withhold 95% of that information for the sake of mystery/laziness/space.

4. If there is enough continued interest in this world and system, this RPG may switch to being primarily 'Open,' with Instances serving much as 'Sagas' do in CDBZ. Do I expect this to ever happen?

5. Piper retains the right to amend this for the sake of clarity or adding additional information at any time in the future.

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That's everything that's in my head. I hope most of it made sense.

[Jonathan Meer]

It makes sense and I like all of it.

[Jarka]

I'll take four, good sir.

[Piper Juunanagou]

*some sort of mechanic that'll reward interaction between writers in the form of constructive assistance blah blah blah* /placeholder

I'll probably just jack a lite version of the Gundam RPG, but I see the importance in social writing mechanics.

[Piper Juunanagou]

Renown:

A Writer (not to be confused with a PC) may accumulate 'Renown' over the course of numerous instances.

"How do I earn renown, Aru-san?" - Well that's simple. At the conclusion of each instance, I will create an out-of-character thread dedicate to the purpose of giving members an opportunity to constructively discuss one another's writing. This can include grammar, style, character construction, and plot direction (and, you know, whatever else).

All discussion must remain positive. Even if you think someone did a terrible job with their character or writes like an 'r-tard,' you need to phrase it in such a way that helps them and doesn't make you sound like an a-hole. This 'End-Game Discussion' thread will remain open until the beginning of the next Instance. At that time, everyone who gave constructive input to their fellow Writers will receive a value of Renown between 1 and 5. Writers will receive at least 1 Renown for any degree of input, even if it's just to say "Hey, man, I really liked your character and think you did a great job with X, Y, and Z." You can be generic with your praise, but you at least need to show you read it by citing an example or two.

"Okay, I have some points...what do I do with these?" - As you may be aware, there is no stat system in this game. Instead of bolstering your PCs' attributes, Renown will affect the character creation process. At the beginning of an Instance, a writer may 'spend' Renown to enhance their character's in-game station.

As mentioned earlier in the information, all characters should come from some lowly (or otherwise non-influential station). Renown allows you to make characters who carry more importance, whether its economic, political, or otherwise. There is no flow chart for how spending Renown works--it's a 'basis by basis' deal.

Whether you choose to spend it or not, a sort of 'lifetime' renown will accumulate for all Writers. These values will be listed in the form of a leaderboard and many accolades shall be had by all.

---

So I think my Firefox spell creskzk crapped out (yes, yes it did). I'll have to run all this stuff through google docs when I make a finalized version.

Is the above engaging/woo? Aside from that, is there anything the audience/interested parties feel is missing from the information I've created thus far? If so, please lemme know through some medium. Otherwise, I will proofread, edit, and underp all of this to make it all nice and official-sounding.

[Super Buu]

That's a pretty sweet way of handling it. The first element, of rewarding for C&C, is something that I totally agree with. The second element, of using it to affect your character's in-game station, is excellent and actually similar to something I was considering in a different way back when I was thinking of running an RPG with 'seasons' after which the whole setting changes but how well you placed at the end of a season affects your character creation in the next one. What I am saying is that GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE, no smug.

I was wondering if, like that idea, players would receive renown for participating actively in the game as well as in the feedback discussion.

[Piper Juunanagou]

Yea, all Writers will receive Renown simply for taking part in an Instance. That is something I totally forgot to note. Thank you for pointing that out =o

AND YEA, WE R PRETTY COOL DUDES

[Jonathan Meer]

It's a three-day weekend. Any chance we can get this up this weekend?

[Piper Juunanagou]

If I can't get to sleep tonight, I will work on editting an official copy. Other than that, I'm good to go with this whenever. I wrote up the first instance last week, so yea.

[Sigfried Hunin]

So I was wondering if I could be a troll. Not like a LOTR or WoW or D&D troll (or like meer) but like a classic troll. Basically like people. He would be a changeling, raised by the human-folk.

EDIT: if I CAN'T be a troll, can I be the human that was stolen by the trolls in exchange for he changeling? AKA: a human boy raised by trolls?

[Vad]

I like where this is going.