INTEREST CHECK Persona Group Roleplay

[GK061490]

So I have this idea for a Persona Group RP and I'm here to see if it will gather enough interest to be able to turn it into an actual RP.

NOTE: Comments, Suggestions, and Tweaks are welcomed.

The RP is set on the fictional semi-rural island of Yamijima off the coast the Chiba prefecture. The island has experienced steady growth over the years, slowly making its presence known but there's still plenty of problems that hamper the island from making total progress. One of them is the electrical outages that wrack the island every so often due to its fairly remote location. Other than that, Yamijima is slowly becoming a prominent city.

There is a popular urban legend amongst the youth (and young at heart) of Yamijima. As the urban legend goes: if a person tries to access ww.fukushunetwork.com during midnight, they will be able to wish the person they hate the most dead. The victim will then disappear during one of the blackouts that happen in Yamijima.

Once a person has been wished dead using the website, they will begin experiencing a recurring nightmare embodying their greatest fears. In the nightmare they are constantly hunted by shadows; malevolent creatures that prey on humans. If the person dies in the nightmare, they will disappear without a trace in the real world during one of the blackouts. While this is all happening, the person who wished for revenge to see their victim's suffering in their dreams. The only way a victim is to escape the deadly nightmare is to earn the forgiveness of the person who wished them dead. By doing this, they can also awaken their "Persona", a reflection of their true self turned into power. With the power of a Persona, a sinful will be able to visit the nightmare if they will it and gives them the ability to combat shadows and save other sinfuls that have fallen into the nightmare.
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So that's the idea for this RP and the plot will be developed as soon as I get some people on-board here. If you're interested or if you have suggestions you would like to make about the RP, feel free to post here.

 

[GK061490]

Bump!

 

[Raiu]

I find it interesting... If a bit wierd.

The persona series is like Silent Hill in that it forces the characters to confront themselves before they can use their Personas. Other than that... Otaku. Hehe.

 

[GK061490]

Ahaha! Likewise, if my avatar and sig is any evidence.

And I totally agree with the similarity between Persona and Silent Hill though Persona deals with it in a less disturbing way. XD

In this RP the characters will be confronting their sins and shortcomings. If they accept their faults, it will make them a better person thus awakening their Persona.

So uhh, you have any suggestion or changes that you would like to put forward?

 

[Raiu]

Actually, this is less about facing personal fears and earn the forgiveness of people who hate them.

Especially people who may just hate the person enough to kill them themselves, or people who have no reason.

Or if the person who hates them is dead.

Really, I am picking at plot holes, you might just want to go somewhat the Persona 4 route, though the website is a good idea.

Also the black outs, sudden and unpredictable... Yah, weather was easier to guess, and plan... Eh.

 

[GK061490]

Hmm, I never saw those plot holes. Thanks for pointing them out.

Adapting the Persona 4 route is tempting but I wanna give the RP some originality. Please do tell if you have an idea how to make it work.

I was also thinking that only people with genuine hatred and thirst for vengeance would be able to access the website. Those who don't will only see a "website is not available" page or something like that.

As for the blackouts being unpredictable, I was thinking that they will be scheduled or rotating brownouts. The reason for this is that the power plant where Yamijima is drawing electricity from cannot sustain the island's demand at certain times since it is also supplying power to another city. The local news/authorities would alert the people of Yamijima when the next blackout will occur.

Again, feel free to share your input on this whether it will work or not in your opinion.

 

[Raiu]

Ok. I still don't like the idea of having to earn the forgiveness of the person. It seems to go against what we know about the Persona Series (given that I only understand the 4th one, I'll look into the third and the other two).

Lets see, from the wiki: Persona: "The Persona, for Jung, was the social face the individual presented to the world - 'a kind of mask, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and on the other to conceal the true nature of the individual'."

Your origional idea is similiar to the 4th game however, it doesn't seem right that inorder to gain the "mask designed...to conceal the true nature of the individual" you have to gain the forgiveness of someone who genuinely hates you...

Sorry, its just that little bit really gets me for some reason.

 

[GK061490]

Hmm okay...

Ima see if I can tweak the plot to match that concept a little more then.

 

[Hartke]

I'm already signed up for the other persona rp. But I'd be interested in joining this one as well. I had two characters in mind and it would be nice to be able to use the other one. I actually really like your original spin on this, it feels like it could be a sequal, in some ways, to the existing games. A new take with the same concept in mind.

The whole forgiveness thing I think ties into the mistakes we make in our relations to other people. Routinely individuals will say/do things that upset other people. Sometimes these people over-react, sometimes these reactions are justified. I think it depends where you really want to go with this but it could vary character to character or fit an overall theme such as forgiveness. I see where Raiu is coming from about the theme not quite fitting with the series, but it's different and not bad. I really like the idea, personally. Right now I'm not sure how I'd change it though.

Also, although I don't really care for the anime, this reminds me a lot of hell girl. It might be worth looking into just because some of the stories, while flat, do have some interesting twists and turns.

 

[GK061490]

Ah yeah, I did draw inspiration from Hell Girl with regards to plot.

And about the relationship of forgiveness to knowing one's self, that is exactly one of the points of it. Sins and mistakes are a part of a person's true self. I was thinking that maybe the all of the sinners in this RP are in some way, unable to accept the their sins and shortcomings thus they are rejecting a part of themselves. Now the people who wishes them dead using the website will force the sinners to face their wrongdoings and accept them. If they reject their sins (which is a part of their true self), then they die. This is pretty much the same with people who reject their true self in the Persona 4 game. If the sinners accept responsibility for their sins and at the same time earn the forgiveness of the people they have wronged, they get their persona.

 

[Hartke]

That's good. Although I think an interesting twist for someone might be to get vengence on someone that put them into their nightmare. It would be hard to justify such a cruel decision unless our characters were particularly vile, and all people have redeeming traits. So anyone that sent someone to the nightmare realm might have the same done onto them. It's a thought. A good idea might be to have each character put another character into the nightmare. It would sort of eliminate the time element, as they would all be in around the same time, but something might be able to be done. Maybe it doesn't take effect immedietly, maybe they all hit send at the same time.

It's just a few thoughts. Communication between players would be key.

 

[GK061490]

Hmm, interesting but a tad confusing.

So basically what you're saying is that there will be a sort of domino effect with regards to the nightmare, right? Like if Person A was sent to the nightmare and he/she survives. Later Persona A is wronged by Person B. Person A remembers his time in the nightmare so he decides to send Person B there. Wash, rinse, repeat.

I hope I interpreted that right. Correct me if I'm wrong though. ><

Anyways if that interpretation is correct, I think the primary problem with that would be how the group will come together. I was thinking that like the previous Persona games, the group would try to find out who is behind the website. I don't think a group of people who at one time, wished one another into their doom would be able to band together and accomplish that task.
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As for the characters needing to be vile to be sent to their doom, maybe they don't necessarily need to be vile and evil. Maybe they're just doing something bad (that they may not be even aware of) that's causing a lot of pain and suffering to another person. Enough for that person to make them pay for what they have done.

Some examples are:

1. A girl dating the ex of her bestfriend. She may have contemplated on not going through it out of respect for her bestfriend but loves the guy too much to say no. She now believes that she's doing nothing wrong since her bestfriend and her ex are over before they got together even though it is obvious that her bestfriend is hurting because of it.

2. The captain of a particular sports team in school. The school's team hasn't reached the regional in 6 years and they are finally getting their shot at it. The captain decides to bench one of his teammates for the remainder of the season due to his poor performance, seeing as they could not afford anything less than 100%.
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Lastly for the time element of the RP. I don't think it will be much of a problem and that the group will know when a potential death will occur. As I've stated earlier, the blackouts in Yamijima are scheduled and will be announced by the local authorities. The deaths only happen during blackouts so as long as the group knows when the blackouts will occur, they have an idea of when they need to go into action.

 

[Hartke]

Alright. It looks like you've got things sorted out. With the new information you've given it makes sense. I had been thinking on a touch bit more dramatic, but the more subtle makes much more sense (such as the two reasons you listed). The only problem is how forgiveness is then achieved. Technically speaking, the characters sent into the nightmare haven't done anything wrong. They are justified, but they did also hurt someone.


The girl dating her friends ex and the captain both had reasons. The girl was pursuing her feelings and the captain was pursuing the betterment of the team. But still, in both cases, they did hurt someone. They'll need to get the forgiveness of the person that put them in, but the person that put them in will also need to meet them halfway. Perhaps the ultimate goal is not forgiveness, but perhaps understanding. They forgive each other, one for putting them into the nightmare, and the other for the betrayal.


Just trying to help work out the logic we'll all have to figure out for our characters. It'll make things easier for everyone in the long run. I love what you're doing and you're doing a great job. I'm excited to get started, and I'm sure we'll garner more interest soon.

 

[Raiu]

Ok. That makes a bit more sense.

Keep in mind that I am writing this after making a rather bad and dark poem.

Here are two more ideas.

1: The sibling of a student who commited suicide after being buillied by a particular student finds out and loathes said bully. This hate would result in CONSTANT trips to the nightmare because of the love emotion of the sibling for the dead student turns into hate and loathing. Their particular nightmare would be hellish due to the AMOUNT of hate the person is recieveing and most early attempts to earn forgiveness would end in failure.

2: This one is a bit more self hate, involving a recent immigrant who arrieved in our setting, carrying emotional bagage from a fatal car accident which took the lives of a family of four. The immigrant, as with most survivors of fatal car accidents, will be loathing himself and constantly doubting himself, preventing him from forgiveing himself while he tries to avoid the crushing guilt that engulfs him.

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This one is a bit of a personal one that is inspired by a manga called Soil.

My character would be a bit of a pyromanic, and the reason of the hate is because he burned down an old shrine in which a person was sleeping. The person survived but a part of the community hates him. One gets online, sees him, he gets sent and he must attone. Another gets online, sees him, attonement. Rinse and repeat as neccessary.

Yep, I like to kick my characters when they are down with steel toed boots.

 

[GK061490]

@Hartke

That's a great idea! Understanding rather than forgiveness.

I like it!

@Raiu

Great character ideas there.

As for your personal character, looks like it will take him a while to get his persona since he's got lots of people to atone for. XD
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Also I've got this radical idea with regards to the wishers. What if they are the Social Link that the sinners need to develop in order to power up their persona. XD

And of course like any Persona game, each person will be assigned a tarot card that reflects their personality and story. As for the suggested characters:

a. The Girl choosing between her bestfriend and her boyfriend could be represented by The Tower. The Tower card can symbolize abandonment of the past, ending a friendship, disruption, and unexpected events.

b. The Team Captain can be represented by The Emperor or The Chariot. The Emperor because he embodies a leader in him. The Chariot because it can sometimes represent a rushed decision and turmoil.

c. The Bully could be represented by Strength. A reversed Strength symbolizes pettiness, tyranny, and abuse of power.

d. The Newcomer dealing with guilt can be represented by Justice. In its reversed form Justice symbolizes guilt, loss, self-reproach, delays, and fear.

e. For Raiu's Pyromaniac I'm not really sure what card to associate him with. Sure he is a pyromaniac but I'm not sure if he actually enjoys torching down places. If that is the case, he can be associated with Death or The Devil.

 

[Hartke]

I think the social link concept, with the wishers, is a good idea but will require the use of npcs. So I'm not 100% sure if that would be too much work or not since leveling up our characters would require us to regularly interact with these npcs instead of other player characters. I'm unfortunately at a loss as to how to tweak it to fix the problem, but maybe you or Raiu might have a solution (or perhaps someone else). Maybe we could sort of have it alluded to in the background as the main characters interact or in between days. I'm sure there's more than a few solutions.

Anyway, I think I've an excellent character based around the team captain suggestion you tossed out there. A few ideas have been floating about in my head since the example was first given. I know it's a bit early in the development stages, but would you mind if I worked with that concept?

 

[Raiu]

I think it would be death. Since he burned down an old shrine it seems to be he is putting an end to old things.

Really, he might think of fire as clensing, as when you pass something through a normal fire it either catches fire, being unable to make the change, or remove inperfections like germs, becoming clensed through flames.

And yah, he does have burn marks on him, mostly self inflicted.

In short, he is messed up.

 

[GK061490]

@Hartke

Hmm yeah, I think that will require the wishers to be NPCs.

And yeah, you can use the concept about the team captain.

@Raiu

Alrighty then, Death it is.

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I think we need at least 1 more person to be able to start this thing. Just to even things out.