sm. group, modern fantasy (search)

[Jess Incognito]

Hello hello - this is a planning thread for a small group (to be named). friendlycoffee and I have been discussing a premise, but would like to move forward with plot development with two or three more partners. Please jump in here if you're interested with any ideas for plot and characters!

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A modern, urban setting where magic, though widespread, has been kept mostly secret from the general public. A special sector of the government is dedicated to keeping the two worlds separate, but that job has become a lot more difficult lately with the surfacing of a prophecy with a looming date. This has caused magic users from around the world to flock to the city and tensions are high. There have been some disappearances of magic users, too, but no one seems able to track down those responsible or their reasons.

This is a world deciding if it is still possible to keep magic a secret. This story will be based around characters in the middle of maintaining a balance of magic and non, trying to find the source of the disappearances, trying to figure out this prophecy.

SETTING:

1. Non-human magic entities do exist, but in dwindling numbers, at least by human count. We can work some of them into the story, but will have to talk ideas.

2. There are four different types of casters or human magic-users.

MAGES need to write or draw out their spells. This is precise work, not good in combat but allows for clever preemptive traps.
WITCHES use their voices to cast magic though rely more on intent than specific words. They are not as precise as mages, but can do more than sorcerers.
SORCERERS wield magic with thought, but theirs is a raw power lacking the subtlety and cleverness of mages or witches.
NECROMANCERS work with souls and are rarer than the other casters.
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3. The trait for magic in humans is familial, but the casting type is not. That is more based on the mind of the individual. The trait can pop up randomly, however, or may be a throwback gene. These cases are rare, however.

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current players
friendlycoffee
Jess Incognito
x
x
x
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[Wolfsbane706]

I'm interested, but are there any restrictions I should know about?

 

[friendlycoffee]

I'm interested, but are there any restrictions I should know about?

Depends what you mean, I would imagine.

 

[friendlycoffee]

Also, um, link back to earlier discussion if anyone has a burning need to look over what we've talked about, though Jess mostly has it covered. On my part I'll probably leave characters until we've sorted out the plot properly, I've got a few I can tweak to fit but I'd prefer to pick based on what other people chose, so we don't get too many overlapping personalities.

 

[Wolfsbane706]

What's your preference on the pictures used for the characters?

 

[RJS]

Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes! I call dibs.

 

[Eon]

Huh, this looks pretty neat. I'll stake a claim, if you'll let me.

 

[Jess Incognito]

Glad to see some interest! That's five of us if all of you are truly in - so we are potentially full.

We need to make some decisions still. I think we have a few options we can focus on in this total narrative depending on what sort of characters people want to play.

Could be more wrapped up just in the magic side, purely citizen characters or more of a mix with the government's role.... probably those among a number of others. Please share your ideas and interests freely.

 

[RJS]

"I really like the idea of some kind of prophecy drawing everyone to the same city, and causing problems because having so many different people with different magic in one place is just unstable, and the prophecy itself not really leading anywhere. It could be that the prophecy was made a couple of years ago and caused a whole lot of people to gather... and then nothing really happened so they're just kind of waiting around, getting bored, questioning the validity of the prophecy in the first place, and beginning clash and cause trouble now that they're frustrated.

This is a nightmare for the government sector wanting to keep magic under wraps, and they've kind of come to the conclusion that it's getting harder and harder to cover up and they're probably just going to have to reveal it all to the world."

This was mentioned in the old conversation, and it really got me thinking. Say the policy is something vague like "The star of magic will shine in ascendancy, and all else shall succumb to its light." You could then have all these magic users forming factions:

• Magic supremacists who believe that those with magic should rule the world and so seek to enact the prophecy by any means necessary.

• Those who interpret it as everyone awakening magic ability, and so some wish to openly share their gifts, whilst others seeking to keep to themselves (some crossover with the supremacists with this group)

• Those who think a magic user might bring about the end of the world, and so work to thwart the prophecy (maybe also some people who lack magic but know of it, and so have started witch hunts seeking to eliminate any suspected magic user)

etc. etc. and so forth.

With all these factions running amok, supernatural incidents are rife and so the government is forced to utilise a secretive division of mages (potentially comprising some normals as well) to try and police the streets, act against the more disruptive and troublesome factions, and also to discover the true meaning of the prophecy, work out whether it will be beneficial or not to the government and then initiate or thwart it as required. Of course, different people within this team may have their own differing views, and as the truth of the prophecy becomes more apparent through investigation then their loyalty to the team and to the government may be tested.

 

[Wolfsbane706]

I'm partial to the idea of a bunch of rookies coming together and self-teaching on how to use their magic.

 

[The_J]

Room for one more?

 

[Jess Incognito]

@The_J
Unfortunately I think not. We really wanted to keep this as a small group, but if something changes, we'll let you know.

"I really like the idea of some kind of prophecy drawing everyone to the same city, and causing problems because having so many different people with different magic in one place is just unstable, and the prophecy itself not really leading anywhere. It could be that the prophecy was made a couple of years ago and caused a whole lot of people to gather... and then nothing really happened so they're just kind of waiting around, getting bored, questioning the validity of the prophecy in the first place, and beginning clash and cause trouble now that they're frustrated.

This is a nightmare for the government sector wanting to keep magic under wraps, and they've kind of come to the conclusion that it's getting harder and harder to cover up and they're probably just going to have to reveal it all to the world."

This was mentioned in the old conversation, and it really got me thinking. Say the policy is something vague like "The star of magic will shine in ascendancy, and all else shall succumb to its light." You could then have all these magic users forming factions:

• Magic supremacists who believe that those with magic should rule the world and so seek to enact the prophecy by any means necessary.

• Those who interpret it as everyone awakening magic ability, and so some wish to openly share their gifts, whilst others seeking to keep to themselves (some crossover with the supremacists with this group)

• Those who think a magic user might bring about the end of the world, and so work to thwart the prophecy (maybe also some people who lack magic but know of it, and so have started witch hunts seeking to eliminate any suspected magic user)

etc. etc. and so forth.

With all these factions running amok, supernatural incidents are rife and so the government is forced to utilise a secretive division of mages (potentially comprising some normals as well) to try and police the streets, act against the more disruptive and troublesome factions, and also to discover the true meaning of the prophecy, work out whether it will be beneficial or not to the government and then initiate or thwart it as required. Of course, different people within this team may have their own differing views, and as the truth of the prophecy becomes more apparent through investigation then their loyalty to the team and to the government may be tested.

I definitely like the vague prophecy idea. It leaves a lot of room for surprise later on if we actually decide that something is going to happen from that prophecy. And definitely there should be varying opinions on what it means.

I figure we'll end up having characters that all fit into one of those beliefs together and are sort of 'against' the others. Either that or we have a mix that is, for whatever reason, thrown together, but that one is more difficult to stitch together.
I suppose the characters don't necessarily have to be on the same side, but I've found it difficult to orchestrate extremely different points of view in one roleplay. Only because it gets difficult to break people out of writing in pairs and all of a sudden you end up with two completely different storylines, but maybe it's easier with a smaller group like this.

I'm partial to the idea of a bunch of rookies coming together and self-teaching on how to use their magic.

I'm worried that a set of all-rookie characters would push the roleplay more to learning their craft and figuring out 'the world of magic', instead of dealing with issues set forth by the prophecy and chaos. Plus, I think this premise sets out a great opportunity to have a meshing of points of view, which I think should include those who are magic, who are new to magic, not magic at all and etc..

But certainly there can be characters new to magic, just figuring it out.

 

[Wolfsbane706]

I'd have put more detail into it, but I was working on my phone and I don't like doing detailed stuff on my phone lol.

 

[friendlycoffee]

@The_J
Unfortunately I think not. We really wanted to keep this as a small group, but if something changes, we'll let you know.



I definitely like the vague prophecy idea. It leaves a lot of room for surprise later on if we actually decide that something is going to happen from that prophecy. And definitely there should be varying opinions on what it means.

I figure we'll end up having characters that all fit into one of those beliefs together and are sort of 'against' the others. Either that or we have a mix that is, for whatever reason, thrown together, but that one is more difficult to stitch together.
I suppose the characters don't necessarily have to be on the same side, but I've found it difficult to orchestrate extremely different points of view in one roleplay. Only because it gets difficult to break people out of writing in pairs and all of a sudden you end up with two completely different storylines, but maybe it's easier with a smaller group like this.





I'm worried that a set of all-rookie characters would push the roleplay more to learning their craft and figuring out 'the world of magic', instead of dealing with issues set forth by the prophecy and chaos. Plus, I think this premise sets out a great opportunity to have a meshing of points of view, which I think should include those who are magic, who are new to magic, not magic at all and etc..

But certainly there can be characters new to magic, just figuring it out.

I agree, that kind of vague prophecy is exactly the kind of thing we need, and it's interesting to consider how different people would interpret it. I don't think it's necessary to have characters who all have the same opinion on it though, so long as there's a convincing reason as to why they might still meet and band together, it just might be a bit tricker but overall a difference in viewpoint might be more fun. Consider a temporary truce to try a find out why people are disappearing...

@Wolfsbane706 I'd have to side with Jess on this, I expect most of the characters would already have an understanding of their abilities (to a varying degree, based upon age and experience), especially considering that magic is a trait that tends to run in families, so most people would have had someone to teach them or find a tutor (if their casting type is different for example). While it can pop up randomly and there are probably some people who are new to it, it's unusual, and everyone learning how it works isn't really where I think we want to go with this...

 

[Wolfsbane706]

I agree, that kind of vague prophecy is exactly the kind of thing we need, and it's interesting to consider how different people would interpret it. I don't think it's necessary to have characters who all have the same opinion on it though, so long as there's a convincing reason as to why they might still meet and band together, it just might be a bit tricker but overall a difference in viewpoint might be more fun. Consider a temporary truce to try a find out why people are disappearing...

@Wolfsbane706 I'd have to side with Jess on this, I expect most of the characters would already have an understanding of their abilities (to a varying degree, based upon age and experience), especially considering that magic is a trait that tends to run in families, so most people would have had someone to teach them or find a tutor (if their casting type is different for example). While it can pop up randomly and there are probably some people who are new to it, it's unusual, and everyone learning how it works isn't really where I think we want to go with this...

I get that, no worries. Wasn't disagreeing, I just don't like being detailed when I'm using my phone since I can't see what all I'm writing and whther it meshes up with what I wrote.

EDIT: Also harder to catch typos before sending.

 

[Jess Incognito]

mmm, that's true, I keep forgetting about the disappearances part. That's a good banding-together point.
And it could be fun for the characters to be arguing over prophecy while the plot in the forefront is more about disappearances. /yougotme

Could be....could be there's a gang/entity/organization of magic people (or non-magic people, I dunno) who supposedly has some information on the disappearances and these individuals we're playing have independently decided that this is square one.

 

[Wolfsbane706]

mmm, that's true, I keep forgetting about the disappearances part. That's a good banding-together point.
And it could be fun for the characters to be arguing over prophecy while the plot in the forefront is more about disappearances. /yougotme

Could be....could be there's a gang/entity/organization of magic people (or non-magic people, I dunno) who supposedly has some information on the disappearances and these individuals we're playing have independently decided that this is square one.

So, someone/something's collecting/disappearing mages and we're the Scooby Gang?

 

[RJS]

I think it's more like we're simultaneously and independently investigating them and so end up bumping into each other. Maybe a mage set up a portal in various obscure places and so we all end up getting portalled into their hideout? I think it could be worth developing the prophecy as sort of a background thing that drives the plot, with what it means becoming ever clearer as time goes by. So maybe lots of different issues crop up sequentially, but all linked in some way to the prophecy?

 

[Wolfsbane706]

I think it's more like we're simultaneously and independently investigating them and so end up bumping into each other. Maybe a mage set up a portal in various obscure places and so we all end up getting portalled into their hideout? I think it could be worth developing the prophecy as sort of a background thing that drives the plot, with what it means becoming ever clearer as time goes by. So maybe lots of different issues crop up sequentially, but all linked in some way to the prophecy?

Honestly it sounds like a string of coincidences that aren't really coincidences.

 

[RJS]

Honestly it sounds like a string of coincidences that aren't really coincidences.

That was kind of the idea - after all the threads of prophecy and destiny are woven throughout the world :P