I
Insomnant
Guest
Original poster
Hello everyone!
I am planning to start a new medieval fantasy roleplay soon, and I realized... I haven't even checked to see if anyone would be interested, or what they might be interested in. So I decided to start a thread and see if I could get a conversation going while I continue working on the setting.
To start off, I'll say that I wanted to do an adventuring/dungeon-exploring fantasy RP with magic and different races and fantasy creatures, emphasizing on becoming more powerful and navigating accumulating stronger gear and having an impact on the setting and eventually changing the history of nations as super powered heroes and heroines. But my starting point was, okay, let's put this in a generic fantasy world so as to avoid the baggage of an existing setting that might come with mechanics I don't like or facts I/my players might not be familiar with. But then I realized... 'generic fantasy world' am I serious? That's such a bad idea- bland, shallow worlds can only yield bland, shallow roleplays as they lack the soil of detail needed for the roleplay to grow strong roots and flourish!
So that started me writing a lot about my roleplay. A lot... I'm writing about what magic is and how it works and where it comes from, all the different races and their histories and cultures religions, the starting city and its history and the organizations that play a large role in it, the types of undead that might threaten the inhabitants of this world as well as the creatures that populate it, etc.
And that's a lot of stuff to read! Not to mention a lot of stuff to write before I've found out if anyone would even want to play it, haha! xD
My thought at the moment is, yes it's a lot to read... but I'm looking for invested, literate, long-term players who can sink their teeth into such a rich setting and then set about making it their own, expanding on it and developing it with me over the course of a good story wherein their characters grow and persevere. And perhaps having a large reading barrier might naturally weed out the more casual interest, I'm not sure.
Anyway, I'd like it to have a bit of a gameplay element to it as well, meaning character creation involving picking a race and gender, both of which affect stats, and possibly a former career or something. Then having a set of bonus points to spend between attributes and skills, and that amount of bonus points would be slightly random as well, determined by a dice roll (not hugely random, only slightly). I'm not a fan of the idea that everything must be balanced everyone is born equal and you're all equally special snowflakes! Nope, some people are at a natural disadvantage, and when they overcome that disadvantage to do crazy awesome things it just makes it all the more amazing and impactful. Plus you could earn extra bonus points by providing a picture on top of a description, and by giving a detailed (four paragraphs or longer) history (can be posted or PMed to me if preferred to be kept a secret from other players), and maybe even another extra bonus point for writing out a meaningful scene in the character's life, something that helped shape who they are now.
Oh, and this gameplay system would be as unobtrusive as possible! I hate the DnD style of 'roll for every single action you do including breathing!' Don't get me wrong, that's fine when it's a small group around a table in real life but when you're on a forum and it's not real-time, that sort of rule-mongering kills more fun than the simulation-ness produces. So my style of gaming would be one where the player would always know what to roll ahead of time (or could ask in Skype if unsure, preferably), and then roll the dice in OOC before taking that result and using it to craft a post in the IC thread. I'm working on just such a system and I think it should go pretty smoothly, acting as a natural limit for godmoding urges as well as allowing for a level of dramatic uncertainty.
So my questions would be twofold:
1. Would anyone be interested in such an arrangement/setting?
2. And, what sort of story would people like to play in such an RP? The sorts of stories I'd like to run include the group of adventurers but could also branch into things like kingdom-running/nation-building. Or perhaps something like running an item shop selling potions and armor and weapons and whatnot, either made by the players or 'found' (looted) or whatever.
2.a) So I guess a corollary to question two would be, what sort of power level would people like? Ranging from street level, one step above (or no steps above!) being homeless and building your way up to being someone? Or start off already as grand heroes and experienced warriors, only to be plunged into an even greater degree of craziness by a larger threat? Or first the former and then the latter?
I want this to be a conversation so no poll, feel free to speak up if you'd like to weigh in and don't feel like posting here compels you to participate in the RP once it's finished and open, either. I'd just like to hear from folks!
I am planning to start a new medieval fantasy roleplay soon, and I realized... I haven't even checked to see if anyone would be interested, or what they might be interested in. So I decided to start a thread and see if I could get a conversation going while I continue working on the setting.
To start off, I'll say that I wanted to do an adventuring/dungeon-exploring fantasy RP with magic and different races and fantasy creatures, emphasizing on becoming more powerful and navigating accumulating stronger gear and having an impact on the setting and eventually changing the history of nations as super powered heroes and heroines. But my starting point was, okay, let's put this in a generic fantasy world so as to avoid the baggage of an existing setting that might come with mechanics I don't like or facts I/my players might not be familiar with. But then I realized... 'generic fantasy world' am I serious? That's such a bad idea- bland, shallow worlds can only yield bland, shallow roleplays as they lack the soil of detail needed for the roleplay to grow strong roots and flourish!
So that started me writing a lot about my roleplay. A lot... I'm writing about what magic is and how it works and where it comes from, all the different races and their histories and cultures religions, the starting city and its history and the organizations that play a large role in it, the types of undead that might threaten the inhabitants of this world as well as the creatures that populate it, etc.
And that's a lot of stuff to read! Not to mention a lot of stuff to write before I've found out if anyone would even want to play it, haha! xD
My thought at the moment is, yes it's a lot to read... but I'm looking for invested, literate, long-term players who can sink their teeth into such a rich setting and then set about making it their own, expanding on it and developing it with me over the course of a good story wherein their characters grow and persevere. And perhaps having a large reading barrier might naturally weed out the more casual interest, I'm not sure.
Anyway, I'd like it to have a bit of a gameplay element to it as well, meaning character creation involving picking a race and gender, both of which affect stats, and possibly a former career or something. Then having a set of bonus points to spend between attributes and skills, and that amount of bonus points would be slightly random as well, determined by a dice roll (not hugely random, only slightly). I'm not a fan of the idea that everything must be balanced everyone is born equal and you're all equally special snowflakes! Nope, some people are at a natural disadvantage, and when they overcome that disadvantage to do crazy awesome things it just makes it all the more amazing and impactful. Plus you could earn extra bonus points by providing a picture on top of a description, and by giving a detailed (four paragraphs or longer) history (can be posted or PMed to me if preferred to be kept a secret from other players), and maybe even another extra bonus point for writing out a meaningful scene in the character's life, something that helped shape who they are now.
Oh, and this gameplay system would be as unobtrusive as possible! I hate the DnD style of 'roll for every single action you do including breathing!' Don't get me wrong, that's fine when it's a small group around a table in real life but when you're on a forum and it's not real-time, that sort of rule-mongering kills more fun than the simulation-ness produces. So my style of gaming would be one where the player would always know what to roll ahead of time (or could ask in Skype if unsure, preferably), and then roll the dice in OOC before taking that result and using it to craft a post in the IC thread. I'm working on just such a system and I think it should go pretty smoothly, acting as a natural limit for godmoding urges as well as allowing for a level of dramatic uncertainty.
So my questions would be twofold:
1. Would anyone be interested in such an arrangement/setting?
2. And, what sort of story would people like to play in such an RP? The sorts of stories I'd like to run include the group of adventurers but could also branch into things like kingdom-running/nation-building. Or perhaps something like running an item shop selling potions and armor and weapons and whatnot, either made by the players or 'found' (looted) or whatever.
2.a) So I guess a corollary to question two would be, what sort of power level would people like? Ranging from street level, one step above (or no steps above!) being homeless and building your way up to being someone? Or start off already as grand heroes and experienced warriors, only to be plunged into an even greater degree of craziness by a larger threat? Or first the former and then the latter?
I want this to be a conversation so no poll, feel free to speak up if you'd like to weigh in and don't feel like posting here compels you to participate in the RP once it's finished and open, either. I'd just like to hear from folks!
