World Building Looking for a few good players.

[Owlishnerd]

I have a pitch. Kind of hoping to get a concept going. One part fantasy, one part horror. A sort of episodic or chapter by chapter R.P. So we all are in a fictional town called Hillvale it doesn't matter your reasoning for being there. All that matters is that you are there. My character is going there for College allegedly. At least that's what he's going to be telling any and all he meets. He's actually retreating there because of family members and his new found sleep paralysis demon. At least that's what he's gonna call it. I really liked old shows like Gravity Falls, Buffy, X-Files, etc. and I kind of want to try my hand at recreating that kind of feel. The same conceptual monster of the week thing. Forcing the players to team up and sort of become paranormal hunters. They would have to find their own individual tools to fight off a threat.

If this is a concept that interests any one of you. Just gimme some feedback. With enough positivity I will work with people to map out the town, build characters, and such. I just really wanna try a world building project that isn't traditional High-Fantasy. More like modern day Low-Fantasy. Maybe together we can work on a whole new world. This could branch into other concepts piloted by you lot.
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[MusicalMadness]

I really like this idea, the whole chapters, and monster of the week. caught my eye.

 

[Owlishnerd]

I have a rough draft of a starter already. Is there anything you would like to see? Like do you have favorite types of tropes and monsters within this genre of stuff? I'm down for anything really. I just need insight into what others would enjoy here.

 

[MusicalMadness]

I have a rough draft of a starter already. Is there anything you would like to see? Like do you have favorite types of tropes and monsters within this genre of stuff? I'm down for anything really. I just need insight into what others would enjoy here.

No not really maybe if I get a better picture of of the world, but really just along for the ride

 

[GojiBean]

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I have a pitch. Kind of hoping to get a concept going. One part fantasy, one part horror. A sort of episodic or chapter by chapter R.P. So we all are in a fictional town called Hillvale it doesn't matter your reasoning for being there. All that matters is that you are there. My character is going there for College allegedly. At least that's what he's going to be telling any and all he meets. He's actually retreating there because of family members and his new found sleep paralysis demon. At least that's what he's gonna call it. I really liked old shows like Gravity Falls, Buffy, X-Files, etc. and I kind of want to try my hand at recreating that kind of feel. The same conceptual monster of the week thing. Forcing the players to team up and sort of become paranormal hunters. They would have to find their own individual tools to fight off a threat.

If this is a concept that interests any one of you. Just gimme some feedback. With enough positivity I will work with people to map out the town, build characters, and such. I just really wanna try a world building project that isn't traditional High-Fantasy. More like modern day Low-Fantasy. Maybe together we can work on a whole new world. This could branch into other concepts piloted by you lot.
​

Hoyo!

I like this concept as it brings back quite a bit of nostalgia for me.

If I may, I'd like to offer a bit of feedback on what you've provided so far in an effort to help improve its foundation and boost its chances of success.

So here we go!

1) "...it doesn't matter your reason for being there. All that matters is that you are there..." - This is a BIG no-no for two major reasons:

A) It gives the impression (to me at least) that there's no narrative need for any of our characters to exist, and that they're just there as fodder to occupy a body tally for your RP rather than being thought of as intricate parts of the narrative who have a long-term purpose to the experience.

B) Role-playing is part of the world of "creative writing." The big word there is "creative."

If we're not challenged to be creative with why our characters exist and how/why they ended up in a place where they can get involved in the core narrative of the RP, what's the point? Why should we expend the creative juices to burp up a character that's there just for the sake of being there? And why should we trust you, as the GM, to take care of our characters if we have no reason to believe our characters matter to you outside of just being there so you can start the RP?

The reasons for our characters being in this town should and do matter if you want this RP idea to get off the ground and last for the long haul. If they didn't matter, our characters would have no reason to exist. You could even give some basic ideas of your own as to why they could be there, such as the following:

* The town has a history of paranormal activity which is a lure to any would-be paranormal hunters
* The town has a single famous haunted building whose paranormal occupant is known to be violent, and has injured many tourists in the past
* Your character is here on a business trip and their mode of transportation breaks down in front of the main location, forcing them to stay at the inn across the street
* Your character has a relative who was harmed/killed by the paranormal occupant of the main location and are here for a revenge investigation

These are just a few things to help encourage our creative juices which will not only make us all feel more welcome and involved, but also stimulate our creativity and further encourage us to continue being creative within the boundaries of your RP's lore.

2) Flesh out the perceived threat.

A "conceptual monster of the week" is an interesting idea, but most peeps are gonna need more than that since there's a strong possibility the majority who see this post have never heard of those shows before and are relying on your descriptions here to better inform them of what they'll be in for. So take it a step beyond a single sentence and maybe provide a few ideas for some of the types of threats the group will face.

You don't have to spoil anything major, of course. But give cryptic hints and entice us with things like, "You know about Wraiths, right? Ghosts with thin bodies and horrific shrieks who both haunt and hunt humans in their territory? Well, what if I told you that wasn't a true Wraith at all? What if the version you know was just its first stage of existence? What happens when it's allowed to linger for decades, if not centuries? What does it become then?... Whether we want to or not, we're soon to find out."

3) Don't wait to map out the town.

As the GM and the originator of this story concept the sooner you have at least a strong concept for the town's layout and its most important points of interest, the better. Even if it's just a pencil-paper sketch with boxes and circles with lines drawn between them for the main location, the local bar, the nearest gas station, the Town Hall building, the nearest local church, the closest shopping center, the nearest bank, etc, that's something you can use as a strong foundation from which to build upon for later.

The main point here is to not go into this empty, and don't wait for others to help you flesh this part out. The vast majority of those who want to join are going to be relying on you have figured this out anyway since that's a GM's job. We're supposed to have the world already fleshed out and ready to go by the time others start joining in. So yeah. Even if it's just a pencil and paper with simple shapes that have lines connecting them, map out a basic layout for the town sooner than later. It can always be expanded and made more refined later on. But the concept should be ready immediately.


That's about all the feedback I have for what's been presented so far!

Again, I really like the idea and I'm interested to see where this goes. I might not join since I'm stretching myself a bit too thin on RPing right now, but I'll definitely be lurking and hoping for the best.

Cheers!

~ GojiBean