Steven Universe RP

[Maltien]

I assume the main problem is them treading on interaction with the Crystal Gems, and what things they could be doing that doesn't cause the Crystal Gems to become full involved in it?

 

[Kagayours]

I assume the main problem is them treading on interaction with the Crystal Gems, and what things they could be doing that doesn't cause the Crystal Gems to become full involved in it?

I think we pretty much said that they'd be sneaking around well enough to avoid detection.

Which I'm pretty sure brought the warp pads into discussion and I don't remember what solution we had for that... I'd have to go back and look.

 

[Maltien]

I see well if we need some enemy Gems let me know I got quite a few on the back burner I would love to play x3.

 

[RiverNotch]

What about the human settlement? So far, aside from naming it "Peninsula Town" and setting it somewhere akin to Beach City, there's naught on that. I'm thinking somewhere with good access to either the ocean to the lake, but surrounded by enough nature so that our Renegade Gems won't be so seen (and definitely nowhere near the West Coast, what with Hollywood being in Kansas, and all the implications of that little detail): I would suggest the Great Lakes, or somewhere in Canada, but I know very little geographically about those regions, so I can't yet name specifics.

I also have a more detailed idea for the settlement and how it's gonna interact with the gems. I'm thinking the human settlement was established right by a gem temple, and the big local industry that established the town was scavenging all the resources of the temple. Then, after that big rush, the town settled into more mundane agricultural and commercial businesses, but lately, the greedy leaders of the town have been exploring the idea of doing something a bit more intrusive to the gem ruins, something that might result in catastrophe.

My character Frederick will be someone who's sorta interested in town history, and the general strangeness of the way the local "mines" look, although mostly for aesthetic reasons. Maybe one of the big mines becomes the gems' hideout, and at the beginning Frederick goes on exploring, and he just, er, finds them. I dunno.

 

[Indabayou]

If they live in or near gem ruins/ a temple, wouldn't that be risky since there's more of a chance that the crystal gems might stop there for something?

 

[Fennik]

Can I claim Jade?

 

[Kagayours]

Can I claim Jade?

Jade has not been claimed. I'll add it to the list now.

Indy and River: I'll reply to your comments later. My whole schedule's been thrown out-of-whack due to some interesting events.

 

[Indabayou]

that's completely fine- take your time!

 

[Kagayours]

What about the human settlement? So far, aside from naming it "Peninsula Town" and setting it somewhere akin to Beach City, there's naught on that. I'm thinking somewhere with good access to either the ocean to the lake, but surrounded by enough nature so that our Renegade Gems won't be so seen (and definitely nowhere near the West Coast, what with Hollywood being in Kansas, and all the implications of that little detail): I would suggest the Great Lakes, or somewhere in Canada, but I know very little geographically about those regions, so I can't yet name specifics.

I also have a more detailed idea for the settlement and how it's gonna interact with the gems. I'm thinking the human settlement was established right by a gem temple, and the big local industry that established the town was scavenging all the resources of the temple. Then, after that big rush, the town settled into more mundane agricultural and commercial businesses, but lately, the greedy leaders of the town have been exploring the idea of doing something a bit more intrusive to the gem ruins, something that might result in catastrophe.

Yeah, I like this idea. After all, it was sort of implied that Beach City cropped up right alongside the Crystal Gems' temple, so it makes sense.

I also like the idea of everything being near one of the Great Lakes. It would be interesting to see our RP set in a different sort of environment than Beach City.

If they live in or near gem ruins/ a temple, wouldn't that be risky since there's more of a chance that the crystal gems might stop there for something?

We could say that the Crystal Gems don't know about this particular area (or don't care). Ooooor it could even be said that the local warp pad for that area is broken -- potentially by our own renegade gems.

I remember way-back-when we discussed something about how our gems would avoid the Crystal Gems with the warp pads and all, though I'd need to get the chance to go back and scavenge for it.

 

[Maltien]

So whats the villain element so far in the rp besides the possible humans?

 

[Indabayou]

If it gets set in Canada can we have a Tim Hortons instead of a Big Donut? I am only mostly joking.

 

[nomadicdesert]

I think we might be overthinking this a bit. Not where the base is or what it's next to, I like the idea we have, but also how to avoid the crystal gems. Maybe we just have an odd warp pad that masks our signatures, or maybe we just say that we never happen to meet them. It's not a huge deal.

 

[Kagayours]

I think we might be overthinking this a bit. Not where the base is or what it's next to, I like the idea we have, but also how to avoid the crystal gems. Maybe we just have an odd warp pad that masks our signatures, or maybe we just say that we never happen to meet them. It's not a huge deal.

Eh, it'll be a while till I'll be able to start this regardless of what goes on in here. There's no harm in thinking these through in the meantime. In fact, continued discussion would actually help keep people interested, I'd say. :P

 

[Kagayours]

OK

SO

I finally went back and re-read this whole thread to "scavenge" for all those things I kept saying I needed to scavenge about. Additionally, it also occurred to me that a ton of great planning has already happened that I apparently forgot about. o.o So, I took the opportunity to organize the ideas we have so far, which I'll talk more about later.

For now, let's start by answering some questions:

So whats the villain element so far in the rp besides the possible humans?

I found some pretty awesome answers to this question. Firstly, there's the whole thought of fighting and bubbling corrupted gems, but that's pretty standard stuff. The good idea I managed to re-discover is the thought that there are some enemy gems -- like a small team of them or something -- also living on Earth, but who want to use the Earth for their own purposes -- like starting a new Kindergarten, maybe. The most interesting part is, they don't even have to be Homeworld gems, as they could just be some other group of gems who split from Homeworld and are also stranded but who have some different ideas about Earth. In fact, now that I think about it, it's possible that they might even be a group that split apart from our group... hmmm...

Either way, having some actual gem antagonists is a really good place to start if we want an actual plot to go for.

As for the warp pad thing that I kept mentioning... I found the "solution" that I vaguely remembered, and apparently all that was ever mentioned was that our gems have some sort of "special system" to see when the warps are being used by the Crystal Gems, in order to avoid running into them. I... suppose that explains why I don't remember what the solution was. XD

At any rate, it got me thinking... do we even need warp pads? RP-wise, I can't see them working very well mechanically, and I feel like it might make more sense to just have every setting we need be right in the local area. Plus, in-canon, we've seen Steven and Amethyst travel to the Kindergarten without using a warp pad, meaning that the Kindergarten can't be too far from their own temple -- so, it's plausible that our RP could have a number of important locations not super far away from our own home base, too.

So, maybe the local warp pad is broken or maybe there was never even one there to begin with. Either way, it gives us a good excuse to have our gems just sort of stay within their own circle of things without really needing to interact with the Crystals.

I did say that I organized a lot of the overall info for the RP, and I'll make some sort of info dump for that another time (partially to get us all on the same page and discuss further ideas, and also partially so that I can add it to the OP or something to better reflect where we are in the planning stages for this RP). As for tonight, though, I'm definitely feeling drained and not focusing super-well, so, that's about all for heavy GM stuff for now.

ALSO, if I'm being real with you guys, I should probably tell you... I probably won't have an OOC up until December. I know, that must sound insane, but, college just takes up too much time. And the time that I do have isn't time in which I'm feeling very inspired for this particular RP or the setup that needs to be done. This semester will be over with in December, though, and then I'll have a two-month-long break before the next semester starts, which is a great time to do a lot of RP stuff and really get all this nonsense started -- not just because I'll actually have time for it, but because I'll need something to occupy my time and keep me from going insane from that lingering feeling of emptiness that seems to accompany being out of college.

IN THE MEANTIME, what do you guys think about the ideas mentioned here?

 

[RiverNotch]

OK

SO

I finally went back and re-read this whole thread to "scavenge" for all those things I kept saying I needed to scavenge about. Additionally, it also occurred to me that a ton of great planning has already happened that I apparently forgot about. o.o So, I took the opportunity to organize the ideas we have so far, which I'll talk more about later.

For now, let's start by answering some questions:


I found some pretty awesome answers to this question. Firstly, there's the whole thought of fighting and bubbling corrupted gems, but that's pretty standard stuff. The good idea I managed to re-discover is the thought that there are some enemy gems -- like a small team of them or something -- also living on Earth, but who want to use the Earth for their own purposes -- like starting a new Kindergarten, maybe. The most interesting part is, they don't even have to be Homeworld gems, as they could just be some other group of gems who split from Homeworld and are also stranded but who have some different ideas about Earth. In fact, now that I think about it, it's possible that they might even be a group that split apart from our group... hmmm...

Either way, having some actual gem antagonists is a really good place to start if we want an actual plot to go for.

As for the warp pad thing that I kept mentioning... I found the "solution" that I vaguely remembered, and apparently all that was ever mentioned was that our gems have some sort of "special system" to see when the warps are being used by the Crystal Gems, in order to avoid running into them. I... suppose that explains why I don't remember what the solution was. XD

At any rate, it got me thinking... do we even need warp pads? RP-wise, I can't see them working very well mechanically, and I feel like it might make more sense to just have every setting we need be right in the local area. Plus, in-canon, we've seen Steven and Amethyst travel to the Kindergarten without using a warp pad, meaning that the Kindergarten can't be too far from their own temple -- so, it's plausible that our RP could have a number of important locations not super far away from our own home base, too.

So, maybe the local warp pad is broken or maybe there was never even one there to begin with. Either way, it gives us a good excuse to have our gems just sort of stay within their own circle of things without really needing to interact with the Crystals.

I did say that I organized a lot of the overall info for the RP, and I'll make some sort of info dump for that another time (partially to get us all on the same page and discuss further ideas, and also partially so that I can add it to the OP or something to better reflect where we are in the planning stages for this RP). As for tonight, though, I'm definitely feeling drained and not focusing super-well, so, that's about all for heavy GM stuff for now.

ALSO, if I'm being real with you guys, I should probably tell you... I probably won't have an OOC up until December. I know, that must sound insane, but, college just takes up too much time. And the time that I do have isn't time in which I'm feeling very inspired for this particular RP or the setup that needs to be done. This semester will be over with in December, though, and then I'll have a two-month-long break before the next semester starts, which is a great time to do a lot of RP stuff and really get all this nonsense started -- not just because I'll actually have time for it, but because I'll need something to occupy my time and keep me from going insane from that lingering feeling of emptiness that seems to accompany being out of college.

IN THE MEANTIME, what do you guys think about the ideas mentioned here?

Yo yo!

I'm pretty glad you're only gonna be able to do an OOC this December, because I have pretty much the same problem as you. Oh well, at least i get to learn about diatoms. Of course, we just have to do a Christmas special!
I don't exactly like the idea that our gems would be so averse to even meeting with the Crystal Gems -- it feels inevitable that our gems are old enough to have either a concrete love or hate for the gems, but not to the point of plain avoidance -- that is, if we do hate them, we'd either think them so inconsequential as for them to not matter, or so weakened by the war that we just have to hunt them down. But putting everything close enough to not need warp pads is a really good solution; maybe the local warp pads are just broken for some reason? Ooh, that would also make a good long term objective for our gems too, haha, to fix the warp pads for whatever, and that would explain why the gems never bothered to visit the area...

Idea for gem antagonists: if we run with the whole people of the town choosing to do something a bit more intrusive with the local gem ruins, how about our gem antagonists also run in the same vein, but of course on a grander scale? Like, the very same ruins our townies settled down on was some sort of ancient gem facility that was meant to be a secondary kindergarten (or maybe something else), and our gem villains are thinking about, well, reactivating it or something. But this is their intent, only meant to tie them thematically to our townies -- as for how or when they came here, I dunno. An offshoot from our group of gems would be kinda cool.

 

[Kagayours]

No posts in three weeks means it's time for another one of those reminders: I'm still here. I've just been very busy. And when I haven't been busy, I've been too tired to think about this. Rest and leisure are important to keep one sane.

I still plan to resume doing stuff in December.

ALSO, with any luck, next semester won't be quite so hectic, because I'm planning on taking fewer credits. Which is good, because it means I don't have to worry about my roleplays coming to a screeching halt while I'm in school like they did this semester.

 

[Kagayours]

A'IGHT FOLKS

I'm back (sorry it took so long, by the way). Here's what's going down:

We have some things that still need to be worked out before I can put this RP together. I'm going to list these things out so that we can all discuss them point-by-point, real business-like, so that we won't keep shelving ideas like we used to. Last time I tried to make a post like this, I only really got one response, and I need more than that if we want this RP to be a reality. That's why I'm being more to-the-point this time.

Before that, though, since it's been so long since the start of all this, I'm going to write up a quick info dump of all the things that we do know so far — not just to refresh everyone's memories, but also so that I can edit this into the RP for any newcomers who are just now seeing this thread — which would make much more sense than having people try to reply to the original OP and/or trying to read through this whole thread to figure out where we are now.

So, here's what we currently know:

• This RP is going to be about our own group of gems living on Earth in the present day (though not all player characters will be gems from this group — more on that later).
• Our gems (temporarily named the "Renegade Gems" for now) are a separate entity from the Crystal Gems, and they don't really associate with the Crystal Gems, either.
• Similarly to the Crystal Gems, though, they are a diverse group of gems with a diverse set of backstories (so, no central backstory that unites the group or anything).
• The primary concern for the Renegade Gems is simply surviving on Earth. They've been here ever since the war for Earth, cut off from Homeworld, and have different personal goals and motivations (unlike the Crystal Gems, who have the unifying goal of protecting the Earth). What the Renegade Gems have in common is that they're all gems stuck on Earth, essentially banding together for protection and a sense of camaraderie. They all have differing opinions towards the Earth/humanity.
• It's possible to play a gem who is not part of this group at the start of the RP, though. You can play a rogue gem who happens to be on Earth for whatever reason you like -- and they'll encounter the Renegade Gems during the RP.
• Human characters will also be playable.
• Our Gems' settlement is near the Great Lakes (maybe in Canada), with a human settlement nearby (similarly to Beach City being built right around the Crystal Gems' temple).
• Our Gems really don't associate with humans much (or have any reason to) at the start of the RP (think of how the Crystal Gems acted in "Story for Steven" when they first met Greg — they didn't seem to understand humans very well and preferred that humans stayed out of their business. That's basically what our Gems are like).
• This RP will have minimal connection to canon events and characters. While the events of the canon are still happening, they're not something our characters are involved with and, for the most part, our characters probably aren't even aware of most of the events in the canon.

If you have any comments/questions/concerns about anything on this list, don't hesitate to speak up. While it's true that this list of things is more-or-less set-in-stone, it's still possible to make adjustments if any good suggestions come up.

Now then, here is the list of things that need comments/questions, so that I can decide what to do with these points. While the above set of points are all things that I'm totally fine with keeping if no one has any objections, the following are things that are still up in the air and that I really do need feedback on.

1) Our Gems' opinion on the Crystal Gems. For a while, I'd been leaning towards our gems strongly disliking the Crystal Gems and/or being afraid of them. Perhaps they'd view the Crystal Gems as traitors for siding so strongly with Earth/humanity, or perhaps they're even afraid that the Crystal Gems will see them as enemies (as they do have a habit of bubbling first and asking questions never). Either way, what this essentially boils down to is the Renegade Gems wanting nothing at all to do with the Crystal Gems, even avoiding them so that the Crystal Gems don't really know that they even exist. Worth noting: this doesn't necessarily mean that every member of the Renegade Gems strongly hates the Crystal Gems and what they stand for. There could very well be members within the group who don't have strong feelings either way or who perhaps even sympathize with the Crystal Gems and their cause. It's just that the general consensus among the group is to avoid them. To me, this seemed ideal since it gives us a good reason to have minimal connection to canon characters, staying out of the Crystals' way and all that. But, I keep getting the vibe that there's a lot of opposition to this idea. So, I wanted to formally put it up for discussion. Also, I had originally intended that the Crystal Gems don't even know about the Renegade Gems' existence (again, makes sense for staying out of their way and all that), but that's another thing I'm staring to second-guess.

2) Warp pads. If the Renegade Gems are trying to avoid the Crystal Gems, that raises the question of how the warp pads could even be used without them being noticed. I know it's rare that a member of either team would, say, stick their head out of the stream and notice such a thing, but, after several thousand years of living on the same planet, they'd be bound to run into each other at some point. There have been several approaches to solving this problem:

• A "special system" to tell when the warp is being used, so that they can avoid detection themselves. I know this is incredibly vague — it was vague when it was first suggested, too — but, it could potentially be doable if we had some idea of what that "special system" was.
• The Renegade Gems have their own series of warp pads and/or some sort of substitute for the warp pads (something like Lion's ability to warp from place to place). This is something that, again, could be hard to come up with — but still a potentially viable option.
• Perhaps we could just… not have warp pads (or any equivalent) at all?? I mean, do we even really need them? It's plausible that the whole RP could take place in one general area and without the need for warping. We've seen that the Kindergarten is more-or-less within walking distance from the Crystal Gems' Temple (as Steven and Amethyst traveled there without warping in "On the Run"), so it's plausible to think that any gem- related areas in our RP could also be within such a distance. Not to mention, just from an RP mechanics standpoint, warping could potentially make things more confusing and make it harder for characters to more smoothly move from one interaction to another. So, it begs the question of whether or not we even really need warp pads. Personally, I'm most strongly leaning towards the idea that our gems don't have any nearby warp pads (or maybe they had a warp pad near their residence, but they broke it to keep themselves hidden), thus essentially removing warp pads from the RP. But, I still want to hear everyone's opinions on this.

3) Plot. This RP isn't well-suited to be a sandbox, so we need some sort of antagonist or goal to give the RP some greater sense of direction. There are two main ways this could go (or, perhaps we could even utilize both). One is that this RP could be focused on the interactions between gems and humans that will inevitably play out — humans discovering gems and gems learning about humans, etc — as well as the conflicts between the gems that would likely come up due to differing opinions about humans. Another idea is that there could be the more concrete antagonist of a group of enemy gems living on Earth. These gems aren't necessarily from Homeworld (although they could be). They could be another group of gems simply stranded on Earth like the Renegade Gems (and perhaps they could even be a part of the Renegade Gems that split off at some point…), who have some sort of goal that the Renegade Gems disagree with for whatever reason. Maybe they want to start a new Kindergarten on Earth? There's room for a lot of possibilities, here.

4) Our gems' settlement. This is a minor thing, but still something that's undecided and worth putting up for discussion. While our gems could have a temple similar to the Crystal Gems' temple, it could also make more sense for them to have a more hidden, secluded hideout — perhaps something underground. There was also talk of the gems living in the remains of a crashed Gem spaceship, similar to the one seen in "Friend Ship". There are a lot of ways this could go, as well.

5) Our gems' name. Once again, this is a minor thing, but still worth discussing. The name that's been used throughout most of this post was "Renegade Gems", but that was only ever intended as a temporary name. It would make more sense to have some sort of geology-based name, more similar to the Crystal Gems. The only name I've taken much of a liking to is Geode Gems, which is serviceable, but, there's still plenty of room for other suggestions if anyone has any.

I think that's about it for the big questions that need to be answered before this RP can start (though don't hesitate to speak up if you can think of anything I forgot, or just have any other questions in general). If you're interested in this RP and want to see it get somewhere then please try to answer these questions. Even if you don't have strong opinions on some of them, a little bit of input goes a long way. Agree with something? Great, I'd love to hear it. Disagree? That's fine, I'd love to know why. Even if you don't strongly agree or disagree, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

One last order of business:

As many of you may recall, I was keeping a list of gem types that people wanted to reserve, so that we didn't have duplicates of the same type of stone when people's CS's rolled in (though it'll be a while till I need to see any CS's, haha). Still, it's been a very long time since I started that, and I feel like a lot of members who used to be with us have since left, so, I sort of want to get rid of the old list and start anew, so that it isn't so cluttered up with gem types being reserved by no one.

What I'm going to do is post the old list as it is, and, if you see the gem type that you reserved on this list, please confirm that you still want to keep it so that I can remember to hold onto it. Every reservation that isn't confirmed between now and when the OOC is posted will be nullified.

Here's the old list:

Obsidian
Howlite
Benitoite
Aquamarine
Blue Agate
Pyrite
Florite
Pyrope
Tanzanite
Black Opal
Moonstone
Jet
Jade

Pyrite's bolded because that one's mine. If your gem type was reserved here, please speak up and confirm it for me.

I think that covers every order of business that needed to be addressed. But, as always, don't hesitate to speak up with any other miscellaneous questions or comments! I'd love to hear them.

 

[State Of Bedlam]

Obsidian
Howlite
Benitoite
Aquamarine
Blue Agate
Pyrite
Fluorite
Pyrope
Tanzanite
Black Opal
Moonstone
Jet
Jade

Confirming Fluorite

I will have to make time to read the rest of your post later. I'm done with finals technically but still a bit busy.

 

[Indabayou]

1. I like the idea of our gems being afraid of detection and capture/bubbling from the crystal gems, like you suggested. Since they were left behind in the war, homeworld would likely see them as enemies, but since none of them joined the resistance either, that makes them enemies of the crystal gems as well. No matter what their actual feelings are on the matter, their 'neutral' position is dangerous either way.

2. I like the no warps idea, since it is plausible for everyone to just walk wherever. It is possible for gems to have super speed (as seen with Sapphire from Jailbreak) so other transportation-y abilities could also be possible if we go that route as well.

3. Any of those sound good, sorry I don't have more to say on the matter.

4. I recall someone having an idea about mines or something that our gems lived in? If that wasn't a thing that happened, since we are based near the Great Lakes, maybe they could live in an underwater air-pocket cavern or something? Much less chance to be found by wandering humans or crystal gems on a mission that way, I dunno.

5. Here's some ideas even though they might not be great:
Loose Gems
The Cut Collection
Defected/Defector Gems (not defective, but defector like deserting a post)

ehhhhh, I tried.



**Confirming for Obsidian and Howlite

 

[That One Loser]

Its late at night so I cant reply to all the points yet but they seem solid! I have some good ideas and will share tomorrow.

Confirming for Benitoine
Only conflict is with them hating/fearing humans. Ive created benitoine to not have any problems with them and enjoy their forms of meditation/relaxation, zen etc. I could edit her a bit to change her opinion on humans, so its not that big of a deal, but I was just wondering if all of these Renegade Gems had to be anti human.

Im also open to play my gem as an antagonist in some way depending on our plot decisions