Bloodborne-esque Plotting and Ideas

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I have been seeking such a thing as this for so long, you don't even know. Since the days of Dark souls, I have searched and journeyed through the maelstrom of the perverse and the horrid that is the internet. And finally, with the coming of the Hunger, I have found my port to lay my head down and sigh in completion.

Anywho, enough of that. You guys mind if I join you in this endeavor? I'm digging what I've seen so far
The more the merrier, friend!

I like the sound of this a lot, actually, Jageroux. I am completely happy to let that be the basis of our roleplay if everyone else is happy with it. I wrote up a short piece about the city myself, using the information you've worked on as a basis, which might help us with ideas.
Yeeeeeeees. I'm really liking how this is all coming together.
Before I say anything on the topic, is there a set GM(or GM's) for this yet? I have a few ideas on the inner workings of this world(based off what you folks have done thus far) and would love to chat with them if the title has already been appointed.

As for the execution for the more mechanical side of things, I say we give the PC's a Souls game esc inventory system (Weapons, Armor sets, held items, spell, the jazz). The "Currency" could be measured through the traditional point system(but I think we should have the lore down solid before venturing there). As for the capabilities of the PC's, we could have it so that there is some form of "training" that they undergo(again, the Lore should be better Ironed out before we get to there), but I don't think that it'll be hard to manage, assuming that everyone acts responsibly and uses common sense. Perhaps a char sheet of sorts?

Also, I forgot to say this earlier, but do you mind if I join in? :V
I'm currently the GM, but feel free to put your ideas here. We're all here to work together to make this RP come into fruition, so there's no need to go straight to me xD I doubt I'll be doing any 'massive' GM things until we have all the ideas and details ironed out and the RP begins, so fill free to state your suggestions/ideas/etc.

I'm not 100% sold on an actual inventory system, because that borders somewhat more on 'video game' mechanics. Our characters would undoubtedly acquire new gear and items as it goes on, but an actual IS may not be needed.

As for a CS, I've been working on somewhat of a rough draft for one:

Name:
Age:
Experience: [Rookie, Hunter, Veteran (I think Veteran Hunters would be more suitable for maybe an NPC or something, but a PC could definitely become one if they manage to avoid/resist the corruption)] The ability to choose between Rookie-Hunter or Hunter (one that has slight experience) could add more flavor to the RP in terms of character interactions, as something that's common to a regular Hunter could very well terrify a Rookie.
Shard Integrity: 100% (Rookie), 85% (Hunter) - Decreases by 5 per death
Corruption: 0% (Rookie), 15% (Hunter) - Increases by 5 per death.
(While a Hunter may start off with a slight bit more corruption, they'd be slightly more skilled meaning they'd probably die less, compared to a Rookie.)
Personality:
History:
Weapons: Trick-Weapon, Standard Weapon, Gun, Etc....
Considering currency served as a way to purchase items and level up in Dark Souls/Bloodborne, systems which don't translate hugely well to roleplaying, I don't think there's any huge need to include something like it. Still, shards of the Goddess's Tear could be useful as plot items, functioning similarly to the Lord Souls found in the first Dark Souls, in that we might have to collect them from powerful bosses in order to reforge the Goddess's Tear and end the curse, perhaps.
I can see that becoming a plot point later on. While our characters arrive at Estoic (love the name, btw) to just Cleanse the city, the gradually discover that the only real way to end the curse is to reassemble the Tear, though that would naturally include exposing themselves to more Corruption.

I love it.
 
Ooh, that could work well to. Though, I wonder. Should we keep the whole thing in every souls game where no matter what, the cycle will continue? Like in dark souls the first flame being something that must be relit to start then next age of light
 
I'm currently the GM, but feel free to put your ideas here. We're all here to work together to make this RP come into fruition, so there's no need to go straight to me xD I doubt I'll be doing any 'massive' GM things until we have all the ideas and details ironed out and the RP begins, so fill free to state your suggestions/ideas/etc.
Yeah, but, assuming we want to stick to the Souls game Mantra of having the player experience the lore, rather than be given it, I'd rather not spoil anything. My "ideas" pertains more to the the "Hidden Lore" so to speak, and if implemented in some way, I doubt it'd be background knowledge to most. Not sure if its too ambiguous to want to Co-GM when it comes to lore-building n'such.
 
Ooh, that could work well to. Though, I wonder. Should we keep the whole thing in every souls game where no matter what, the cycle will continue? Like in dark souls the first flame being something that must be relit to start then next age of light
Hmmm. I could see something akin to that happening.
Yeah, but, assuming we want to stick to the Souls game Mantra of having the player experience the lore, rather than be given it, I'd rather not spoil anything. My "ideas" pertains more to the the "Hidden Lore" so to speak, and if implemented in some way, I doubt it'd be background knowledge to most. Not sure if its too ambiguous to want to Co-GM when it comes to lore-building n'such.
Oooooh, yeah, then definitely feel free to PM me. And if you feel comfy with Co-GMing, then you won't hear any objections from me.
 
As for a CS, I've been working on somewhat of a rough draft for one:

I don't necessarily think experience, shard integrity, or corruption need to be included. I imagine we'd be able to get a rough idea of how skilled, and how exposed they've been to the corruption, through their history segment. I'm also not a huge fan of personality sections of character sheets, since I've always thought that the history/biography did more than enough to give the others a rough idea of how a character will act and respond to certain situations. That and personality sections always end up exaggerating character traits or flaws that never really live up to their "hype". That second one is just a personal thing though.

While our characters arrive at Estoic (love the name, btw)

It started off as Estoc before I realised that's actually already a thing. Woops!
 
I don't necessarily think experience, shard integrity, or corruption need to be included. I imagine we'd be able to get a rough idea of how skilled, and how exposed they've been to the corruption, through their history segment. I'm also not a huge fan of personality sections of character sheets, since I've always thought that the history/biography did more than enough to give the others a rough idea of how a character will act and respond to certain situations. That and personality sections always end up exaggerating character traits or flaws that never really live up to their "hype". That second one is just a personal thing though.
I second this. "Personality" is abit one-dimensional(when it comes to char creation) and Shard integrity, corruption, and (to a certain degree) experience are extra flab. We're all responsible Rpers here(I hope), we can undoubtedly judge the PC's wisely. Though, when it comes to the effect death has on the PC, I'd say its best to take into account the details of the death before calculating its effect, rather than having it as a static degradation.
 
I don't necessarily think experience, shard integrity, or corruption need to be included. I imagine we'd be able to get a rough idea of how skilled, and how exposed they've been to the corruption, through their history segment. I'm also not a huge fan of personality sections of character sheets, since I've always thought that the history/biography did more than enough to give the others a rough idea of how a character will act and respond to certain situations. That and personality sections always end up exaggerating character traits or flaws that never really live up to their "hype". That second one is just a personal thing though.
I always took the personality section as not for the reader, but for the author, to plan out their character sand how they'll act, if only a rough sketchy way to be smoothed out and refined in game. I personally would like there to be a personality thing. maybe even a few questions like fears, hopes, what would you do sorta things, to help with the planning

I second this. "Personality" is abit one-dimensional(when it comes to char creation) and Shard integrity, corruption, and (to a certain degree) experience are extra flab. We're all responsible Rpers here(I hope), we can undoubtedly judge the PC's wisely. Though, when it comes to the effect death has on the PC, I'd say its best to take into account the details of the death before calculating its effect, rather than having it as a static degradation.
I'm a sorta old school guy. While mechanics must always take a back seat, having a few mechanics in there is always preferable in my opinion. Places limits on yourself, and lets you see just how close you are to the end.
 
A Souls style RP set in Victorian era like Bloodborne? This sounds very promising. I'd like to climb aboard this train as well.

There can be a personality section on the character creation but it can be optional.
 
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A Souls style RP set in Victorian era? This sounds very promising. I'd like to climb aboard this train as well.

There can be a personality section on the character creation but it can be optional.

Perfect

Problem solved XD
 
Perfect

Problem solved XD
Haha.


Since this is going to be a RP in the spirit of Souls/Bloodborne though, how are we going to do equipment? I think it'd be easier to follow Bloodborne route and have a limited list of weapons instead of the plethora available in Souls.

Also are we going to have Magic or go strictly weapons/guns?
 
Haha.


Since this is going to be a RP in the spirit of Souls/Bloodborne though, how are we going to do equipment? I think it'd be easier to follow Bloodborne route and have a limited list of weapons instead of the plethora available in Souls.

Also are we going to have Magic or go strictly weapons/guns?

I'd like to go with the bloodborne sorta magics, but maybe having our own form of magic would be best
 
I'm not 100% sold on an actual inventory system, because that borders somewhat more on 'video game' mechanics. Our characters would undoubtedly acquire new gear and items as it goes on, but an actual IS may not be needed.
Agreed.

I'm still interested in this -- though I'm a little leery of it being too video game-ish. I've generally found that overemphasis on stats and equipment and the like can get rather tedious and difficult to manage. It's important to remember that this should still function in writing without having to keep charts and whatnot. Er, well, that's my opinion, anyway. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone should be put on a level playing field - because nothing ruins the enjoyment of an RP faster than an OP character - but there shouldn't be anything too difficult to keep tabs on, either. If I wanted that, I'd go play a tabletop. ._.

I also agree with having a personality section, even if it is optional. While I've never felt there should be paragraphs describing such (as players will inevitably deviate from it) a sentence or two can be helpful to give others a vague idea of what to expect and perhaps how to interpret a character, should their writing not convey it well enough.
 
So are we agreed on having an optional personality section? What's the general opinion on the corruption/shard integrity parts of the character sheet?

Since this is going to be a RP in the spirit of Souls/Bloodborne though, how are we going to do equipment? I think it'd be easier to follow Bloodborne route and have a limited list of weapons instead of the plethora available in Souls.

Also are we going to have Magic or go strictly weapons/guns?
I don't see why we can't just let the players choose their weapons, either from real life examples or (in the case of magical or more steampunk themed weapons) ones made from their own imagination... I was thinking of playing a character who specialised in explosives for example, which isn't really a viable option to specialise in in either game. A grenadier of sorts, hurling explosive cocktails to destroy monsters and creating smokescreens to mask their escape. Because nothing embodies the spirit of Dark Souls/Bloodborne more than hiding in a corner throwing firebombs at the big scary monsters until they go away.

Magic depends entirely on whether we choose to make magic a commonly used thing in the setting. That's yet to be discussed though.
 
I think it should be a rare practice, only recently resurfacing thanks to excavations into the old city and the catacombs below even that. So there are some weak spells going around for novelty, though the deeper you go the stronger the magic becomes but also the more corrupting it is
 
I can see that as being possible. In exploring the ruins of Estoic, the people of Drendavar discovered the secrets of magic, a mystery long since lost to the modern people. It spread outwards and became commonplace, but the birthplace of magic is still considered to be Drendavar, and its rituals and experimentations have left their clear mark on the city. It means we could have an enormous college of magic in the city, which'll no doubt be interesting (and horrifically dangerous) to explore, full of magical traps and abominations.
 
I can see that as being possible. In exploring the ruins of Estoic, the people of Drendavar discovered the secrets of magic, a mystery long since lost to the modern people. It spread outwards and became commonplace, but the birthplace of magic is still considered to be Drendavar, and its rituals and experimentations have left their clear mark on the city. It means we could have an enormous college of magic in the city, which'll no doubt be interesting (and horrifically dangerous) to explore, full of magical traps and abominations.
Yes, this pleases me XD

What theme should we go with for the magic? standard magic? more arcane energy looking? Cthulu magic? or what?
 
Perhaps the steampunk elements could take on more of a magitech quality to them? Functionally identical, except it is all powered by magic rather than coal. Drendavar could be the birthplace of this world's industrial revolution, which would give the city more of a reason to be as important and well known as it is.

Weapon enchantment will likely exist, which fits into the magitech style and allows us to have enchanted weaponry, which is common in both series'. We could have magic limited to rituals, making casting spells a long and complicated process, but potentially very useful (a personal preference of mine). We could play it more like Dark Souls did, where the spellcaster channels energy through a catalyst to produce spells. People might be able to channel magic simply through their bodies and not require a catalyst... or any number of other options.

Or we just shrug, let people play it however they want to fit their character, and let chaos ensue.
 
Hmmm, I like the magitech idea. Like, for a catalyst, you have a special fir earm that's ammo is the actual spells, just bounded to a piece of ammo to be activated upon firing.

Sorta like Caster Weaponry in outlaw star, where each Caster shell was a unique spell which held varying powers.
 
Mhmm. Although if we go solely for that idea then it'll be less casting spells and more just using magically infused equipment... which I also have no problem with. That would likely be included regardless of whether we include an active magic system or not, considering it was common in Dark Souls/Bloodborne.
 
well, flavor wise it would just be magic equipment, mechanically though it's just a gun shaped catalyst
 
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