Fantasy Banners & Blood - OOC

[Grammatic]

Also, the Bloodied Khanate. That is a nation entirely of exiled Orcs? Or are there other races in there as well?

There are a few other races, but they are by and large a minority.

 

[Grammatic]

Goldenwood is predominantly elves, the Bloodied Khanate Orcs, and the Theocracy vampires and humans.

 

[Grammatic]

The Empire has the largest diversity of any species by far, there are a few members of every race and type within their borders.

 

[WlfSamurai]

So, ShadTheWerepire , I want to make sure. The group hasn’t quite departed to Glewick yet. They’re about two days out. Did you want to encounter them or start out in Glewick separately? Either is fine.

 

[Grammatic]

I can have Tanner go to Glewick for some interaction and stuff, under the guise of a recon mission perhaps?

 

[ShadTheWerepire]

WlfSamurai Oh shit O.o I'm sorry I'm terrible at guessing distances. I can just stay separate for now. I like reading everyone else's posts and seeing where the lore goes for now anyways.

 

[frakncheese]

i hate it when a roleplay makes me want multiple characters.
the tarot are just so perfect for lore-building, character-building... anything that requires thematic division.

 

[Ronan]

Here's a brief TL; DR of what was discussed on the Discord server tonight for those who aren't on it, or those who don't want to scroll through 1000+ messages to find the necessary information:

• Post-Glewick City: As a group, we acknowledged that there was a role-play continuation error to be had once we reached the city. There would be no reason for the characters to stay together (what's to prevent Iiolete from 'peace-ing' out, Finch going home traumatised, or Elias from returning to the Workshop, et cœtera?), and in Epiphany 's words, 'splitting up the group is a death sentence for role-plays'. So we tried to come up with scenarios that would befall the cast in order for them to stay together. We came up with a couple ideas:
  • The Kingdom of the Sun sieges Glewick City and captures all the characters and imprisons them within their kingdom. It would initiate the character arcs we discussed in an previously-made OOC post with Tanner eventually revealed to be part of the Sun.
  • We arrive and find the entire city empty, except for a single enigmatic message on a wall, 'Those who mark these words bring doom to their homes.' The message instantly incentivises the group to find out what did it (a curse of sorts) and encourages us to not go home in case we bring doom to our countries.
  • Everyone's dead at the city, cruelly slaughtered by something that scythed through their ranks. Yet trackers in the group are able to locate signs of people who escaped, clearly wounded and likely in desperate need. Disaster tends to pull people together. So does compassion and pity.
  • Arriving in the burned wreck of the city and we find a central well has broken open. Something came out and went back in, and it's presumably what did this. But scattered in the rubble among the dead are scatterings of rocks and jewels. If there's more down there, there could be a treasure to secure anyone's lasting dreams.
  • Epiphany also had this to say (which is interesting in it's own right): 'I'd be just as hooked if something broke the Veil in Glewick City, sundering the boundary between the living and the dead. And when we arrive, we find the fires are the towns people setting pyres for the dead who've crossed into the world of the living. In order to save the city, perhaps this group will have to venture into the Underworld itself to find out what caused it and set it to right. And in so doing, run the risk of encountering the dead of our various character's histories.'

Regardless of what option we choose (or better yet, WlfSamurai surprises us!), we need to decide on something that unifies the group going forward. If you have an idea that is not on the aforementioned list but unifies the group, please share! This bullet is especially critical as we get closer to the city!

• [ **EDIT: THIS BIT WILL BE BETTER EXPLAINED TOMORROW BY Grammatic SO PAUSE ] The Empire and Nobility: There is still group-wide confusion with the Empire v. Arcana. Do we continue with this idea or scrap it?—or do we come to a compromise that does not implicate characters and can still be changed as we move the role-play forward? The issue seems to be that the Empire/House Sun is the metaphorical 'Iron Throne' for this role-play and we don't want that. We want the world to be like ... earth. Different countries, races, et cœtera with Major Arcana ruling them to give our characters freedom to do with the world. Some 'countries' (let's call them Arcana for understanding's sake) will have alliances; some will have merged through marriage, while others perished because of war. There is no one Arcana that rules over the others.
  • Need confirmation/response on this bullet, lmao.
• Ash's Foot: Regardless of how we move forward, the foot issue needs to be addressed. Ash would like both of her feet going forward in the role-play pls and thank.

 

[Grammatic]

Guys just...pause this topic till I get time to explain it tomorrow.

 

[frakncheese]

kidnapping makes the most logistical sense but i like the mood of the well better. it's appropriately creepy and we can put that surreal gothic spin on it with a little creative word choice.

re: foot, Cal should be able to heal it quite easily, without much prompting or desire for recompense, mostly because... they just wander aeound looking for stuff to occupy themself and that's one way to go about it cx
i haven't introduced Cal yet bc there's still a bit lf hubbub with the sisters and now with Cassie.

also, this happened, i thought Teh Frixz would be amused

 

[WlfSamurai]

Here's a brief TL; DR of what was discussed on the Discord server tonight for those who aren't on it, or those who don't want to scroll through 1000+ messages to find the necessary information:

• Post-Glewick City: As a group, we acknowledged that there was a role-play continuation error to be had once we reached the city. There would be no reason for the characters to stay together (what's to prevent Iiolete from 'peace-ing' out, Finch going home traumatised, or Elias from returning to the Workshop, et cœtera?), and in Epiphany 's words, 'splitting up the group is a death sentence for role-plays'. So we tried to come up with scenarios that would befall the cast in order for them to stay together. We came up with a couple ideas:
  • The Kingdom of the Sun sieges Glewick City and captures all the characters and imprisons them within their kingdom. It would initiate the character arcs we discussed in an previously-made OOC post with Tanner eventually revealed to be part of the Sun.
  • We arrive and find the entire city empty, except for a single enigmatic message on a wall, 'Those who mark these words bring doom to their homes.' The message instantly incentivises the group to find out what did it (a curse of sorts) and encourages us to not go home in case we bring doom to our countries.
  • Everyone's dead at the city, cruelly slaughtered by something that scythed through their ranks. Yet trackers in the group are able to locate signs of people who escaped, clearly wounded and likely in desperate need. Disaster tends to pull people together. So does compassion and pity.
  • Arriving in the burned wreck of the city and we find a central well has broken open. Something came out and went back in, and it's presumably what did this. But scattered in the rubble among the dead are scatterings of rocks and jewels. If there's more down there, there could be a treasure to secure anyone's lasting dreams.
  • Epiphany also had this to say (which is interesting in it's own right): 'I'd be just as hooked if something broke the Veil in Glewick City, sundering the boundary between the living and the dead. And when we arrive, we find the fires are the towns people setting pyres for the dead who've crossed into the world of the living. In order to save the city, perhaps this group will have to venture into the Underworld itself to find out what caused it and set it to right. And in so doing, run the risk of encountering the dead of our various character's histories.'

Regardless of what option we choose (or better yet, WlfSamurai surprises us!), we need to decide on something that unifies the group going forward. If you have an idea that is not on the aforementioned list but unifies the group, please share! This bullet is especially critical as we get closer to the city!

Hmm... All of these are interesting and I certainly have my favorite. I can get to that if need be. I had my own ideas on what has occurred—obviously since I planted the flag of it being a ruin.

But, It is my nature to disagree with the main premise. And so, we should talk about that first. Perhaps I am naive. Perhaps I am an idealist with little experience in non-dice-based RPs. Perhaps I will never get away from the success I've had with similar situations, but with a group of close friends in a live setting. Maybe all of the above.

I can see how always keeping the characters together would make continuing the RP easier. On everyone. Sherwood once gave me some interesting thoughts after I was talking to him about a similar topic. His RPs are fantastic and he has the ability to make them last FOR YEARS. They're well thought out and structured. And they play like a great movie. I've always been impressed and wanted to peek behind the curtain. I asked him about it once.

But I could never run a game like him. He has a specific story in mind. Something that he wants the whole group to enjoy together. He keeps his games going for impressively long periods of time because, by keeping the group together, it doesn't matter who is in the group or what they do, per se. If they are together, they can be shuffled along through the story and kept on track.

There is nothing wrong with that. And I am doing a MASSIVE disservice to what Sherwood 's games are and I hope he doesn't take offense. In reality, he builds a ton of choice and consequence into his games. Some of the best games I have ever played here were his. I'm oversimplifying to prove a point.

Hopefully I can get to the point here and stop slandering friends. Here comes the indie-RPG side of me made of rainbows and butterflies...

The point: RPGs/RPs—or rather the game conversation around the table or PBP that make them—are a medium. The conversation is a medium that can do more than some fiat situation. The story is NOT something I bring you. The story is what comes out of what we bring together. To say that I write something and then suddenly you're all enamored with it and shower me with praise would be stupid of me. I'm not that smart. Or creative. It's all been done before. And when I bring you a story and we play it, it doesn't really matter who your character is. You could be anybody. The story is the story. We can lift people in and out like action figures in a child's playtime.

I know this seems unrelated and way off-base. But, I think I'm getting there. What I'm trying to say, poorly, and in 1000 words, apparently, is that the ONLY thing that matters in RPGs/RPs are the characters you bring. Let's see what they do. How they do it. I want them to make choices. Make mistakes. Have victories. I want to be there when they fight through and save each other or some one else. I want consequences to their choices to be irreparable and meaningful. I want them to feel, look, sound different and to conflict on what to do. These are people (or close...I think)! I want them to feel real. The story is who they are and what they do.

Already, these characters are so well put together and real to me. I don't want to rob them of that. I don't want them to become a nebulous character called "the group". You put work into fantastic and varied characters. You gave them backstories and experiences. You breathed life into them with your mind and soul. I want to explore what makes them tick. Together, apart, and together again.

Now, I'll step off the soap box because rainbows and butterflies don't fly, usually. We can't have an RP where everyone runs around and never meets up. That's boring too. I get around this by ALWAYS pointing the characters back at each other. They part for a time, but there is always something to point back at the other players.

But the glory of RP is the freedom to do anything and go anywhere. At least to me. You can't do that in a movie or book (yet). Video games are working on it, but not even close. There is no other medium where you can explore concepts and characters 100% to your heart's content.

Okay, okay. That was too much and a massive grand-stand.

TL-DR; I don't think the the characters have to stay together, but if you'd rather keep together, that's okay with me.

I REALLY like something along the lines of Epiphany 's broken Veil idea. I had some mundane ideas, but with the tone of the game, I was considering going supernatural in some way. That really fits the bill.

• [ **EDIT: THIS BIT WILL BE BETTER EXPLAINED TOMORROW BY Grammatic SO PAUSE ] The Empire and Nobility: There is still group-wide confusion with the Empire v. Arcana. Do we continue with this idea or scrap it?—or do we come to a compromise that does not implicate characters and can still be changed as we move the role-play forward? The issue seems to be that the Empire/House Sun is the metaphorical 'Iron Throne' for this role-play and we don't want that. We want the world to be like ... earth. Different countries, races, et cœtera with Major Arcana ruling them to give our characters freedom to do with the world. Some 'countries' (let's call them Arcana for understanding's sake) will have alliances; some will have merged through marriage, while others perished because of war. There is no one Arcana that rules over the others.
  • Need confirmation/response on this bullet, lmao.

I'm responding early. I really liked Fritz's idea because it allowed all the houses equal importance. That gives players more options. They rang to me of Vampire clans or Exalted castes. I don't think the intention was to squander any previously written backstories.

Just like I don't think Arisen was attmpting to steamroll his lore. He was super open about changes and compromise.

Perhaps his clarifying post will help out, as you say.

• Ash's Foot: Regardless of how we move forward, the foot issue needs to be addressed. Ash would like both of her feet going forward in the role-play pls and thank.

This was never meant to be permanent. I had every intention of either having player characters restore it completely or bringing NPCs in, if necessary, to restore it completely. I wanted a cost to the choices that were made, more than just "oops, an NPC you never had the chance to care about died." I'm being careful to keep the situations where she would be hindered by it at bay until we have it fixed. Her foot is a major part of what makes this character cool (it sounds so dumb put that way sorry). Meaning, the cool things she can do require this foot. I will not take that away from her. I just wanted it to sting a little.

 

[WlfSamurai]

OMG I'm so bad at tagging. This is for the above.

Teh Frixz , elie , Ronan , PJ-Flash , @JohnEgbert, Grammatic , Wackadoodle0987 , Epiphany

 

[Wackadoodle0987]

Me sleeping during this phase of OOC progression is proving dangerous. I'm all for anything (per say)... however, I would undoubtedly prefer if not everyone in Glewick was dead. I had every intention (and a pre-written post) of my sisters encountering a character to ... not really advance their plot, but expand your understanding of 'where' they are, character-wise.

I am totally open to abandoning it in support of a majority vote, but wanted you all to know where I lie on the matter.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Yeah makes sense. It doesn’t have to be utter. There can be survivors and people who hid in the nooks and crannies.

 

[WlfSamurai]

In fact, there could be a group of survivors holed up somewhere in the city. I think that would be kind of neat, anyway.

 

[Oswald_Abbott]

floats in*

 

[Oswald_Abbott]

is a spirt* hello!

 

[Grammatic]

Hi.

Will be working on this post soon.

 

[Oswald_Abbott]

Hi.

Will be working on this post soon.

ok

 

[Grammatic]

Gothic nations, as a principle, are secular, grim, and constantly facing one trial or another. Diversity and freedom breeds adversity and compettion amongst people, and something like that is the very thing a Gothic nation cannot afford. They have to be united to focus all their power and resources in the threat they face, the threat making their lives hell, or they will be doomed. The reason I was against the Arcana Houses being also the rulers of the Empire of Vrelan is because that would lead to internal bickering and strife, and in the end doom. The Arcana Houses while an amazing idea, make the general setting more high fantasy than Gothic.

To compromise with keeping them, I would like to look into the idea of having the Arcana Houses not be royalty, just nobility. They can hold the position of Chancellor, but not any higher. Other than that, I just can't entirely get behind the idea of how powerful and widespread the Arcana Houses will be. I don't want people to make comparisons between us and GoT, so we just got to work with it and compromise on all sides.

 

[Teh Frixz]

“Gothic nations, as a principle, are secular, grim, and constantly facing one trial or another...

...Arcana Houses being also the rulers of the Empire of Vrelan is because that would lead to internal bickering and strife, and in the end doom...”

That all sounds fairly Gothic to me? Much more grim and dark in line with something like the Warhammer: End Times. Having a single Imperial bloodline derived from the Rebels of a civil war is decidely more high fantasy, sort of like the line of Isildur in Lord of the Rings. I think you contradict yourself a little bit here.

I mean, an Imperial ruling line and secondary council is one of the most common High Fantasty tropes, that’s quite literally the governmental structure of the Imperials in Oblivion, a peak high fantasy setting. Or even the Arthurian fantasies, a King riding along while the peasants are covered in shit :p Let everyone be covered instead!

The partialness I have towards ruling houses is it greatly diversifies and tones down the level of fantasy. There aren’t any Great Heroes of lineage, just Human strife struggling against an uncaring world. Something more akin to the Witcher or Game of Thrones and the real world if one decided to call the Church a type of House. No great prophecy of Human domination against foreign hordes, just various unique peoples embodying their cultures, geography, and personality trying to balance their own petty needs and wants against the bigger picture.

There is also the issue of power balancing in a single line family. Any character claiming affiliation with that line has instant prestige, importance and power over everyone else in the setting. It would be like playing an Elder Scrolls game where one player is The Emperor and the rest peasants. Or one player is the Nerevarine and the rest kwama farmers. I think a level playing field of equally grim and ultimately trivial characters would be considerably more grim Dark and gothic.


Was the compromise of the House of the Sun being the line that broke the vampire yoke of oppression not working out?

I don’t and didn’t think this would have evolved into an issue anyways, these upper levels of fantasy politics are beyond our characters, even a noble like Iiolete is so far removed from the central plot of Vrelan that she’s irrelevant. Maybe it’s best to leave this all undefined and we steer the game away from Imperial Lore and focus back on the lovely filth of the gothic world of Eldritch horrors and destroyed trade cities?

Adding: Also there is no way any fantasy setting of any kind is not going to be compared to other settings. I don’t think we should worry about that at all, we are after all a teeny little fantasy game in the shadows of real fantasy settings, we are gonna end up taking and implementing versions of other works no matter what we do. No use stressing about comparisons

 

[Grammatic]

I am not in the mood to debate it back and forth. Neither do I have the time as of right now. I'll let everyone else have their say and do what they want.

 

[Teh Frixz]

I hope I didn’t have anything to do with your mood, I think I come off strong at times and if I did that I apologize. This shouldn’t be a stressful activity but a fun one.

 

[ShadTheWerepire]

Teh Frixz I just find the Arcana Houses forced and there's 21 of them. You essentially made 21 unique cultures in the land that almost none of our characters are involved in and then forced Grammatic to take his empire which was outlined before and fit it into your Arcana mold.

I may be one of the newbies and haven't read the entire IC word for word, but the Arcana houses don't seem important while the Empire of Vrelan is extremely relevant to Tanner's backstory. If anything I think the Arcana houses should be toned down, maybe even serve as more of a myth that some believe in and others don't, and we continue with the story. The Myth angle makes it even more interesting because we can make the Arcana houses whatever we want as the story progresses. Arguing lore like this while no one is posting is boring and frustrating because we don't even know where this story will be taking us yet.

TLDR: Lore is cool and all but let's just start posting in the IC again.

 

[Oswald_Abbott]

huh