RP ideas
Jan 19, 2012 1:19:12 GMT -8
Post by JW% on Jan 19, 2012 1:19:12 GMT -8
Okay, I would, in theory, have my hands full with just Triumphant School... in theory... if everyone who signed up posted in it regularly. After all, I only check this forum every so often, and I like to keep a reasonably tight reign on my RPs, keeping them somewhat story focused(I also don't do major planning, every player through their characters guide where the story goes, I just try to keep the world stable while it's being driven).
However, Al suggested that I try starting a new one here. Not sure if I'm going to get that much of a following, there's not many people who frequent this place any more, and of those who are, I'm thinking that none of these ideas will really sing to any of you. After all, the Twilight Star idea seems like a spectacular failure...
But, no matter. Commander Alastor, reporting as ordered sir!
Anyway, basic idea here is that I have a bunch of ideas, and I'd like to know which of these would be the most popular. You get one vote, but I'd actually appreciate feedback, so secondary votes, or just "that has my interest" can easily be expressed by posting.
Here's a short description of what you should expect from these:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steampunk Train Pirates
The players take the role of random misfit "sparks" who have a potentially powerful gift for "mad" science. Each of them is a drifter, orphan, or otherwise outcast of a not quite industrial revolution era on a world where science works slightly differently. Steam locomotives are the primary means of transporting goods, communication, and of course people from one city to the next, and as such the trains are tempting targets for robbers and pirates who can organize themselves enough. With corrupt governments forcing their way on the people, it's the player characters goal to not only free the oppressed masses, and make themselves wealthy and/or powerful in the process, but also rise to the standards of high society.
The sign up sheet will be slightly differently done, sorta "Mad-libs" style telling the story of how your character came to meet all the rest for the big heist you're all working on, as well as pointing out the characters strengths and weaknesses. A pool of "Story Points" will be used, and for every scene where your character does something heroic, amazing, or otherwise steals the spotlight, you spend points. For entertaining(IE they don't mind letting you be in the spotlight) or facilitating(IE you actively try to give some one else a chance to be in the spotlight) the story of the other players you earn points.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dinosaur Riding Elves with lasers"
Actually comes in two flavors: With lasers and without.
The idea is a kind of melding of Dino Riders and ElfQuest. You won't need to be familiar with either of those however.
The idea is that a race of powerful psionic aliens, resembling what humans would call elves, is knocked through time and ends up on a prehistoric Earth-like world. Their numbers are few, the primitive threats the planet offers many, and the more advanced threats they've unwittingly brought with them even more insidious, but with bravery, compassion, and the aid of the native beasts("Dinosaurs" though expect an awful lot of anachronisms) of the world they set out to make the best of their crash landing and survive as best they can.
The "with lasers" variant places the player characters in the "Just crash landed" time setting, where the space ship can still be salvaged for parts, putting armor plates and laser mounts on the dinosaurs. The "without lasers" places the player characters several generations after the crash, living as scattered tribes with their lost technology scattering the land. The first drawing more inspiration from Dinoriders, the second from ElfQuest(Wolfriders in particular).
Sign ups would involve picking pregenerated characters who's basic abilities and relationships with each other are established, and expanding on them as you see fit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Build your own Sentai
Also known as Power Rangers. Eh, whatever...
Your characters have been chosen by a race of highly advanced and benevolent transcendent technomorphs(I'd say "Giant robots" but they're not all giant, and being alive and all not really robots either). The Earth is in peril from multiple sources, and our heroes are to track down each of these sources and generally inform them in no uncertain conditions that Earth is not going to be conquered by them. There's several groups of villains, each working towards their own goals, why may spend more time fighting each other than the heroes, but the heroes are specifically chosen to stop these confrontations and reduce the amount of property damage involved.
As such, sign up sheets will be multi-tiered. Initially you just have your normal human. Then there's the normal human in a jumpsuit(and probably helmet). This is the primary fighting form, and used to deal with the mooks the villains uses for their workforce and army. To deal with the lieutenants(the "Monster of the Week" you see on Power Rangers and the like), your hero gets a powered armor form, but will typically want, or be told to, use team tactics rather than breaking out the heavier artillery. Above powered armor comes single person vehicles for dogfighting with the lieutenants and captains of the villains. The single person vehicles combine with a larger vehicle/mecha, which itself can transform for those times when the monster is giant and stomping the city kaiju style.
And then of course if we have enough player characters, the mecha can combine, but at that point it's not part of your individual design any more, it's a group effort.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Magical Girls Bidding War
I've actually done this before on another forum, and if I can get at least three regular players it goes pretty well. The idea here is that the player characters are re-incarnated royal family from an alternate universe where they were the God-Emperors. Destiny is bringing them together once again as this universe is now threatened by a third dark realm that destroyed the God-Emperors in a terrible battle. Wounded and breaking down, they now seek the realm we know as their next location to pillage, and our characters awaken to the fact that they've been in this battle before in a past life, and how high the stakes are that they remember their former powers in time.
Basic stuff. What makes this interesting is that during character creation you're given 100 character generation points, and you BID on your attributes such as Physical fighting power, intelligence, rank/charisma, and magical prowess, with any points left over going into a "influencing the story" bid, and you offering one theme suggestion. Once bidding is done you're given ranks in these attributes, and the one who had the most points left over, their theme is given to the player characters, while the rest of the themes are dispensed to the villains and monster of the week.
The previous game I ran this with came up with Paranormal themed heroes(Cryptid, UFO, Ghosts, and Psychic heroes) fighting against playing cards(basic Spade, Heart, Club, Diamond for the mooks, Tarot cards to theme the major enemies). The bidding at the start can lead to some... interesting and inspirational scenarios.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dungeons and Dragons of Hyrule
Actually, the Microlite game mentioned in the "Traditional RPs" thread. It's system should work even easier than BESM to translate a sword and sorcery storyline. And yes, the setting is Legend of Zelda, though a unique version of my own creation so you don't need to be familiar with any of the games to play.
Character sheets would follow the Microlight simplified rules, so three stats to keep track of, plus your racial bonuses and character class training/equipment. We assume your hero knows the basics of adventuring and has been hired by an adventurers guild to work together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Transformers: Earthfall
I just like Transformers. The continuity would be an original, like the Legend of Zelda, and you could draw any Transformer(or human) from any point in the series history you'd like to play, or design a new one for yourself. The game would start with the Transformers awakening aboard the Ark on Earth. I want to go for a G1-ish feel, rather than the movie versions, but other than that, I'm pretty open about how things develop. Yes, that includes Transformer shells being piloted by your human character(Masterforce style) if you want that sort of thing.
Character write up would be to write yourself a Tech Spec, or to copy one if you're taking a pre-made character. You can play either side(good guy or bad guy), and I'd suggest playing both sides if you're going to play multiple characters so we'd balance out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MushroomKingdom Underground
Well, if I'm going to suggest Hyrule as a setting, I might as well suggest something from Mario Bros too. Don't expect to recognize it as the Mushroom Kingdom though, as player characters will be like Mario was when he first arrived, or like Alice when she first came to Wonderland. You explore the land, learn how to survive with it's unique style of magic working on you, and maybe save a Princess or two.
Anyway, there are the ideas perking through my head. I'd like to hear feedback on if any of those catch anyones fancy.
However, Al suggested that I try starting a new one here. Not sure if I'm going to get that much of a following, there's not many people who frequent this place any more, and of those who are, I'm thinking that none of these ideas will really sing to any of you. After all, the Twilight Star idea seems like a spectacular failure...
But, no matter. Commander Alastor, reporting as ordered sir!
Anyway, basic idea here is that I have a bunch of ideas, and I'd like to know which of these would be the most popular. You get one vote, but I'd actually appreciate feedback, so secondary votes, or just "that has my interest" can easily be expressed by posting.
Here's a short description of what you should expect from these:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steampunk Train Pirates
The players take the role of random misfit "sparks" who have a potentially powerful gift for "mad" science. Each of them is a drifter, orphan, or otherwise outcast of a not quite industrial revolution era on a world where science works slightly differently. Steam locomotives are the primary means of transporting goods, communication, and of course people from one city to the next, and as such the trains are tempting targets for robbers and pirates who can organize themselves enough. With corrupt governments forcing their way on the people, it's the player characters goal to not only free the oppressed masses, and make themselves wealthy and/or powerful in the process, but also rise to the standards of high society.
The sign up sheet will be slightly differently done, sorta "Mad-libs" style telling the story of how your character came to meet all the rest for the big heist you're all working on, as well as pointing out the characters strengths and weaknesses. A pool of "Story Points" will be used, and for every scene where your character does something heroic, amazing, or otherwise steals the spotlight, you spend points. For entertaining(IE they don't mind letting you be in the spotlight) or facilitating(IE you actively try to give some one else a chance to be in the spotlight) the story of the other players you earn points.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dinosaur Riding Elves with lasers"
Actually comes in two flavors: With lasers and without.
The idea is a kind of melding of Dino Riders and ElfQuest. You won't need to be familiar with either of those however.
The idea is that a race of powerful psionic aliens, resembling what humans would call elves, is knocked through time and ends up on a prehistoric Earth-like world. Their numbers are few, the primitive threats the planet offers many, and the more advanced threats they've unwittingly brought with them even more insidious, but with bravery, compassion, and the aid of the native beasts("Dinosaurs" though expect an awful lot of anachronisms) of the world they set out to make the best of their crash landing and survive as best they can.
The "with lasers" variant places the player characters in the "Just crash landed" time setting, where the space ship can still be salvaged for parts, putting armor plates and laser mounts on the dinosaurs. The "without lasers" places the player characters several generations after the crash, living as scattered tribes with their lost technology scattering the land. The first drawing more inspiration from Dinoriders, the second from ElfQuest(Wolfriders in particular).
Sign ups would involve picking pregenerated characters who's basic abilities and relationships with each other are established, and expanding on them as you see fit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Build your own Sentai
Also known as Power Rangers. Eh, whatever...
Your characters have been chosen by a race of highly advanced and benevolent transcendent technomorphs(I'd say "Giant robots" but they're not all giant, and being alive and all not really robots either). The Earth is in peril from multiple sources, and our heroes are to track down each of these sources and generally inform them in no uncertain conditions that Earth is not going to be conquered by them. There's several groups of villains, each working towards their own goals, why may spend more time fighting each other than the heroes, but the heroes are specifically chosen to stop these confrontations and reduce the amount of property damage involved.
As such, sign up sheets will be multi-tiered. Initially you just have your normal human. Then there's the normal human in a jumpsuit(and probably helmet). This is the primary fighting form, and used to deal with the mooks the villains uses for their workforce and army. To deal with the lieutenants(the "Monster of the Week" you see on Power Rangers and the like), your hero gets a powered armor form, but will typically want, or be told to, use team tactics rather than breaking out the heavier artillery. Above powered armor comes single person vehicles for dogfighting with the lieutenants and captains of the villains. The single person vehicles combine with a larger vehicle/mecha, which itself can transform for those times when the monster is giant and stomping the city kaiju style.
And then of course if we have enough player characters, the mecha can combine, but at that point it's not part of your individual design any more, it's a group effort.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Magical Girls Bidding War
I've actually done this before on another forum, and if I can get at least three regular players it goes pretty well. The idea here is that the player characters are re-incarnated royal family from an alternate universe where they were the God-Emperors. Destiny is bringing them together once again as this universe is now threatened by a third dark realm that destroyed the God-Emperors in a terrible battle. Wounded and breaking down, they now seek the realm we know as their next location to pillage, and our characters awaken to the fact that they've been in this battle before in a past life, and how high the stakes are that they remember their former powers in time.
Basic stuff. What makes this interesting is that during character creation you're given 100 character generation points, and you BID on your attributes such as Physical fighting power, intelligence, rank/charisma, and magical prowess, with any points left over going into a "influencing the story" bid, and you offering one theme suggestion. Once bidding is done you're given ranks in these attributes, and the one who had the most points left over, their theme is given to the player characters, while the rest of the themes are dispensed to the villains and monster of the week.
The previous game I ran this with came up with Paranormal themed heroes(Cryptid, UFO, Ghosts, and Psychic heroes) fighting against playing cards(basic Spade, Heart, Club, Diamond for the mooks, Tarot cards to theme the major enemies). The bidding at the start can lead to some... interesting and inspirational scenarios.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dungeons and Dragons of Hyrule
Actually, the Microlite game mentioned in the "Traditional RPs" thread. It's system should work even easier than BESM to translate a sword and sorcery storyline. And yes, the setting is Legend of Zelda, though a unique version of my own creation so you don't need to be familiar with any of the games to play.
Character sheets would follow the Microlight simplified rules, so three stats to keep track of, plus your racial bonuses and character class training/equipment. We assume your hero knows the basics of adventuring and has been hired by an adventurers guild to work together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Transformers: Earthfall
I just like Transformers. The continuity would be an original, like the Legend of Zelda, and you could draw any Transformer(or human) from any point in the series history you'd like to play, or design a new one for yourself. The game would start with the Transformers awakening aboard the Ark on Earth. I want to go for a G1-ish feel, rather than the movie versions, but other than that, I'm pretty open about how things develop. Yes, that includes Transformer shells being piloted by your human character(Masterforce style) if you want that sort of thing.
Character write up would be to write yourself a Tech Spec, or to copy one if you're taking a pre-made character. You can play either side(good guy or bad guy), and I'd suggest playing both sides if you're going to play multiple characters so we'd balance out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MushroomKingdom Underground
Well, if I'm going to suggest Hyrule as a setting, I might as well suggest something from Mario Bros too. Don't expect to recognize it as the Mushroom Kingdom though, as player characters will be like Mario was when he first arrived, or like Alice when she first came to Wonderland. You explore the land, learn how to survive with it's unique style of magic working on you, and maybe save a Princess or two.
Anyway, there are the ideas perking through my head. I'd like to hear feedback on if any of those catch anyones fancy.