Project CITYFIGHT Sign-up thread: You must defeat an entire city to win the game

[Arhra]

Inbred, it's a nifty concept and quite workable, but I think that I should spell something out here given the specific background you provided.

This is going to be a very light hearted game. Why at times it may even verge on silly. The villains are more jerkish than evil, we will at worst be beating people up rather than killing them and we are likely to all sit down for a tea party at the end.

I had thought this was fairly obvious, given the fact the enemy is a city and that I spend a decent chunk of the opening post talking about parties?

Originally Posted by Menarker

I thought it was a mobile city kinda like a floating fortress or a mobile continent, still with its own civilians and/or army. Is that still wrong?

The city is mobile in the same way kudzu is.

Originally Posted by Menarker

I'll take out Prelude to Phantasm. No problem with editing down to ridiculously tough.
On a related note though, I was wondering if you have any ideas for how to intergrate the idea of sleep-walking/talking/fighting into the character. (But not as a default state.)

Drawing a blank on it right now. Will think about it and get back to you.

Originally Posted by Menarker

I found the backstory a little troublesome to write myself.
I guess I would have a few suggestions as to why/how it could be justified...
A: This happened a long while ago and they have gotten much stronger/better since then. (Of course assuming you have no problem with Pier's being 800 years old.
B: They are great at fighting, but an aura which bypasses typical armor just makes Piers a mismatch against simply armed soldiers. The priests and faith users who would have been a tremendous threats were the ones in danger who stood to benefit from any timely intervention.

Ah Menarker, you still don't quite understand.

Anyone of any consequence has some trick of their own. This is all about having treetop sword fights with people, the unassuming teacher revealing their secret technique and similar ridiculousness with everybody kung fu fighting.

Originally Posted by Menarker

Of course, this brings up my next big question. How is my primary technique , State of Perpetual Rest, going to operate in this setting where there seems to be no real difference in personal strength among NPCs? It is the ability by which my entire character and his functions are based around.
If they are all incredibly strong minded and viligant enough to resist sleep and drowsiness then the very core basis of my character is gone and he's basically just a human bear with counterspells and a team ability.

To be blunt, pretty much everything encountered for the entire game will be an individual with their own hopes and dreams, whether they're a giant tar snake, the Blank King or the panzerwitch herself.

(You will be encountering all of these, by the way.)

Part of the idea is to do away with mooks. There is a difference in strength between antagonistic characters, but disposable enemies are basically nonexistent. Obviously due to their traits some may be more susceptible to a drowsiness aura than others.

Originally Posted by Menarker

You mean among the spirits or among the humans or in general? Is there any functional limitation why that is the case or is it just a coincidence that everyone tend to organize themselves as smaller groups and never seem to actually gather any larger?

It's because it's trying to herd cats. Things get troublesome when you try to tell Jimmy 'Punches Out Tigers' or Joey 'Kicks Down Mountains' what they should or shouldn't be doing.

Basically people run around doing whatever the hell they like until they make such a nuisance of themselves that people gang up on them and take them out.

Which is in fact exactly what is happening in this game!

[Inbred Chocobo]

Originally Posted by Arhra

Inbred, it's a nifty concept and quite workable, but I think that I should spell something out here given the specific background you provided.

This is going to be a very light hearted game. Why at times it may even verge on silly. The villains are more jerkish than evil, we will at worst be beating people up rather than killing them and we are likely to all sit down for a tea party at the end.

I had thought this was fairly obvious, given the fact the enemy is a city and that I spend a decent chunk of the opening post talking about parties?

Its actually a concept that I had been sitting on for a while. I didn't think about him till just before I put him up. I can change the background if you want to make it light-hearted if you like, because yeah, the background doesn't really match the theme of the game for sure.

[Astral Harmony]

- Name: Celverette "Celcie"
- Gender: Female
- Race: Human
- Profession: Amazon Manhunter
- Appearance: 22 years old, stands nearly six feet tall with black eyes and brown hair drawn up in a long ponytail. She wears a tight white tank top that shows off her abs with a black leather jacket, fingerless gloves, blue jeans with holes in the knees and travel boots with belts. A large axe with a blade longer than the handle is sheathed on her back.
- Personality: Acts friendly and tolerant to even the angriest of people. However, she does have a penchant for asking guys if they want to help the amazons breed. She's no kidnapper.
- Background: Celverette was born and raised in the Lanluct Composite Sanctuary, a massive forest and jungle that are connected together. She lived for a great time in a wide ranging and disconnected tribe of amazons. When she came of age, she assigned herself the role of manhunter since there's usually either that, hunter & gatherer, crowd control (takes down dangerous creatures and humans that might threaten other amazons and the ecosystem), or construction.

Manhunters simply venture out into the more populated world and go hunting for attractive guys who might be enticed to go to the Lanluct Composite Sanctuary for breeding services. She is never to use violence to convince anyone to go and must never kidnap anyone.

Celverette has been living and traveling outside the sanctuary for several years now and has acclimated herself to many of the fractured societies well. The large axe she carries on her back was used by her grandma when she was in crowd control and is Celverette's most prized possession, to the point that even if very necessary, she would never wield it in battle. Instead she used a large hardwood club fashioned by her mother as a coming-of-age present.

- Abilities

~ Physical Build: Celverette has amazing strength, stamina, and endurance. You'd pretty much have to be strong to live in the Lanluct Composite Sanctuary.

~ Intimidating: Celverette's a big girl who carries a big club. Many people who don't care to be violent and haven't known Celveretta for long can be a bit intimidated by her fearsome presence. Oftentimes Celverette has to use "forceful friendliness" to get people to open up to her.

~ Unarmed & Dangerous: For someone who manages to disarm Celverette, their problems aren't over. She still has her fists, and she can use a right hook so devastating that your face will slide to the back of her head.

~ Forest/Jungle Knowledge: Celveretta can't possibly get lost in a forest or a jungle unless some kind of magic is in effect. She also has extensive knowledge of the creatures in said places. She knows what will kill you in one bite, weak points, what you can eat raw or if you can cook it right, etc.

Inabilities

~ Mechanical Incompetency: "Ooo, what does this button do?" Celverette's knowledge of machines is just enough that she knows she's looking at a machine. Other than that...well, just make sure she doesn't go fiddling with anything like that.

~ Magical Incompetency: "What are these things? Runes, you say? What a funny word. Runes. Runes. Runnies...hee hee!" Likes machines, Celverette's knowledge of magic is practically nonexistent. Her encounters with spirits have been few and far between, and anything not human posing as a human has been able to fool her.

~ Too Stupid For Smart Solutions: Strategizing isn't really her strong point. After all, what problems can't be solved by a kind smile and a warm pat on the back...or the process of cracking your knuckles where the other guy can see it? If you've got complex plans, either make her role simple or you might wanna have her sit this one out. At the very least, it seems she can read and write. There is some education to be had in the sanctuary.

- Involvement: Celverette has little patience for injustice and unjustified invasions, especially in they could bring trouble to her homeland. She's gonna punch that city in the face.

[PhoenixFlame]

Yay, cityfight finally showed up.

Name: "X", also "The Wheel of Fortune" or more formally "Major Arcana Number Ten"
Gender: A card. Manifests female in most cases.
Race: Fate Spirit, Trump Suit
Profession: The flying fickle finger of fate
Appearance: Typically appears as a female harlequin jester with long red hair and a floppy hat. Designs follow the theme of Coins, Wands, Cups and Swords.
Personality: The Wheel of Fortune behaves semi-randomly, exploding into it's corporeal form with the spin of a massive wheel and fireworks and the phantom cries of people suggesting you may win fabulous prizes. It generally sticks to a particular theme every time it manifests, chosen by the result of the spin. Each personality is based on the various other major arcana, which may be upright or inverted. (Caveat: The tower is not inverted. Or perhaps more correctly, the tower is always inverted.)
Background: The Wheel of Fortune is the primal construction of the concept of fate, birthed at the same time as her brothers and sisters, the other 'high' arcana of the deck of tarot, a series of spirits that humans might mistake for some 'powerful artifact' or, as Wheel likes to call them, 'macguffins'.

She's had a draw (Er, hand?) in a lot of random events, and perhaps even the appearance of this marauding city.

Abilities: The Wheel's abilities are sharply constrained by her current aspect, chosen at the beginning of a given scene when she manifests. It is most often rolled randomly by either myself or Arhra, whatever seems more entertaining. It's a lot of skills, but only one is ever used at a time, and I'll probably let Arhra tell me what I can actually do with it, as it'd be difficult to list them all in detail here.

-1: The Inverted Arcana; All of the below have a 50% chance of manifesting as their inverted aspect, with the exception of the Tower. Their powers are similar, but reversed, or given a nefarious bent. The magician might summon demons, or the High Priestess might cripple her foes with wasting curses instead of protecting them.

0: The Fool; Fool's luck: The most and least powerful Arcana, the fool is possessed of a great capacity for luck at the complete cost of any sort of skill. She is likely to survive attacks or miraculously land effects on those far more powerful, such as 21: The World, but is otherwise unsuited for typical tasks.

1: The Magician; It's Magic!: The Magician is possessed of the ability to work basic magic, from conjuring shields and throwing fireballs, and the general video-game style effects. In noncombat scenarios it might use magic for mind control or teleportation, but the esoteric powers can not all be listed here.

2:The High Priestess; The High Priestess represents wisdom and sanctity. She is possessed of powerful defensive and restoration magic considerably stronger than the Magician's, but cannot attack.

3:The Empress; The female aspect of power and rulership, the Empress is a force of nature... In social combat. Extremely charismatic and luxuriously clad, few people can resist the commands of their Empress. Except zombies.

4:The Emperor; The male aspect of power and lordship, the Emperor is a far more martial combatant. Taking the form of a monarch with crown, scepter, and longsword, the Emperor gains abilities similar to fantasy swordsman protagonists.

5:The Hierophant; Protector of the sacred, destroyer of the profane, the Hierophant calls down offensive divine magicks upon those he sees as idolators, like citizens of invading cities. If not in a particularly vengeful mood, he will try to convert them to his religion, which may or may not be made up and involve commandments like "Ye must not live in cities".

6:The Lovers; Manifesting as a beautiful man and woman, the lovers have the power over positive human emotions. (The lovers inverted are far more terrifying.)

7:The Chariot; Manifesting as a glorious winged chariot, The Chariot(TM) can provide exceptionally rapid movement and flight ability to those that require it. It can also run people over, which is pretty effective when you consider how much large golden flying chariots weigh.

8:The Strength; Taking the form of a giant, muscular humanoid figure of it's choice, The Strength is, as it's name suggests, very strong. It is capable of fighting even the toughest powers to a standstill with judicious use of brute force.

9:The Hermit; Rejecting the path of violence and performing acetic meditation, the Hermit is a manifestation of wisdom and tranquility. He also knows all kinds of Kung-fu, but only for self defense, you see.

10: The Wheel of Fortune; If by some fickle twist of fate the Wheel of Fortune manifests as the Wheel of Fortune, she typically weilds a revolver with one bullet, to which none are entirely sure which chamber the bullet resides, even the Wheel herself. It's one hell of a bullet, though.

11: The Justice; The Justice appears as a blind woman with a sword and a set of scales. It judges the current scene, and, if the scene is found wanting, will intervene to pass judgement upon the guilty party.

12: The Hanged Man; Taking the appearance of a ragged knight with rope marks upon his neck and stigmata, the Martyr is a potent blood mage, hurling lances of his spilt blood at those whom wronged him in life and sent him to the grave.

13: The Death; The death weilds a scythe and potent destructive magicks, seeking to cleanse what is old and decrepit so that new life may spring in its place. Cities are really bad about this sort of thing.

14: The Temperance; Weilding the power of balance and true potential, the Temperance exists to assist those seeking to better themselves. She can considerably increase the potency of a power used by another character.

15: The Devil; Passion set to reach one's ends, the Devil is the high arcana that best represents humanity. Of course, the Devil has little love for humanity, merely passion. The devil exists to make faustian bargains with the humans of the city, which may give them incredible power but will no doubt end poorly for them.

16: The Tower; The tower represents the truncated destiny, the evil at the very root of the world. It is a fell power of destruction and unmaking, the paving the way of new glories. The tower weilds incredibly powerful but indiscriminate destructive capabilities, often calling lightning from the heavens to sunder buildings or set the land aflame. All of it's powers are forces of nature, however.

17: The Star; Embodying hope, the Star allows for the impossible to those whom truly believe in themselves. It's power is a great charisma, and grants preternatural capacity to those whom truly believe in themselves. It's very hard to actually recieve the Star's blessing however, even the slightest doubt will ruin the perfection attained.

18: The Moon; Represents mankind's dreams and imagination becoming reality. The Moon may summon fantasy creatures that fight on her behalf, and alter the local reality to resemble a surreal dreamscape.

19: The Sun; The collossal energy force that sustains and destroys all things. The Sun manifests as a massive sphere of burning plasma. It projects collossally powerful rays of light that can destroy the unprepared, and strikes humans blind whom look upon it without sunglasses.

20: The Judgement; He whom pronounces judgement and executes sentances. Unlike the Justice, the Judgement is divine and omniscient, but can only act in the pursuit of bringing Judgement to those whom have committed grievous sins agaisnt the firmament. (This includes the PCs.)

21: The World; The most powerful arcana of all, the World represents absolute glory and complete perfection in all things. It is the perfect world in which nothing can go wrong or be changed. The manifestation of the world possesses the power of personal perfection, and as such is nearly invulnerable, may stop time for short intervals, and rarely fails at what it undertakes.

Involvement: Response hazy, ask again later.

[Menarker]

Finally thought of something interesting and amusing as a replacement ability that includes sleep-walking/talking/fighting.

*New moves added in bio: "Restful Repose" and "Slumber Party"*

Haven't thought of a way to edit my backstory yet. Got to get ready for work as well. Sorry.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Name: Morel

Gender/Race/Profession: Mime

Appearance: Mor is a somewhat top heavy guy, his broad chest and long arms showing decent strength. In addition to his strong frame, he has a decent height to match, standing around 6 feet. His facial features are rather plain and rounded, and his brown hair curls a bit. His eyes are brown with what look like dark rings below them. What is notable about his physical appearance is his skin tone, taking on a very pale grey color. Its almost as though he is covered from head to toe in a very light makeup. He is clad in a rather thick teal jacket, and long brown pants. A black satchel is strung across his shoulder.

Personality: The first thing to mention about him is that he never speaks. Even he sometimes forgets this. He might start moving his mouth only to suddenly realize there is no sound being emitted. He's a bit angry and sad about this, so he's got something of a temper. He often has to exxagerate his movements or actions to get his emotions across. He is also very prideful, and seems to have something of an ego and to make sure his ego is intact he always tries his hardest at whatever he does.

Background: Morel was once a great actor and showman. He could sing, play music, act, and perform all sorts of feats to entertain people! There's often be lines to see him, and it went to his head. He was the best entertainer in all fields, and there was no stopping his rise to the top as he went from town to town with a band of other actors and entertainers.

Despite his boasting though, there might have been some lingering worries and insecurities. What if his act ran stale one of these day? Where would he be? Just some stale and washed up showman? He didn't want to be relegated to telling people how great he used to be from a rocking chair as an old man. It was because of this fear that he was always on the lookout for things that might be able to spice up his routine or give him some new material.

It was this underlying search alongside a bit too much of alcohol that lead Morel to make a hasty deal with a rather shady spirit. The cloaked and shady trickster granted him some very unique powers, the powers to create! Surely this would add to his repertoire!

Morel neglected the price when he made this decision though. It was only after a fun night of abusing his new abilities did he realize the full weight of them: he gave the spirit his voice. Even his breaths were almost inaudible. Not only that, but his skin had fallen into a rather permanent pale. Without his appearance or wondrous voice, his career would laps even faster than before! Therefore, he decided he needed to take something of a sabbatical, in order to track down the spirit who stole his voice the jerk until he gets it back or the spirit loses his as well.

Abilities:

• Pantomime: This is really Morel's major power. At the cost of his voice, he can now create items to suit his purposes by merely acting out their use. Need a club? All he has to do is form the shape with his hand and swing away! A rope? Not a problem! From a sppon to a bow and arrow, he can make it. There are certain limits to this power of course, he can't make something monumentally bigger than himself, like a tower. He can't make something too specific either. He can make an arrow, but he can't make a poisoned arrow. The items also have to be solid, he can make a glass to hold water , but he can't make the water.
  
• Sight unseen: It stands to logic that the creator of invisible items can see invisible items. Morel can see a sort of gray hue where his creations are, almost like glass. Its not completely limited to his own creations either, Morel is generally capable of seeing the invisible, or things others have a hard time seeing themselves.
  
• Choreography: He's acting. Morel does all of his own stunts, so he has a lot of skills. He can hold his way through fist fight scenes, sword fights, and all sorts of other acrobatics that others might be afraid to try. While it may be fake fighting, it still makes for better experience than no fighting at all!
  
• Hush: When he's just had enough, he can place this curse upon a hapless victim. It operates very much like the one on himself, but it fails to convey the same benefits. It requires him to place a hand on the victim's throat, and their skin suddenly befalls a loss of color, and their voice itself disappears. Its temporary though, lasting about 20 minutes or so. He can only cast it on one person at a time as well.

Involvement: His eternal quest to track down his voice has lead him to the invading city.

[Arhra]

Inbred, basically 'dishonoured samurai who lost his arm and gained a dark power in a tragedy' works fine, it's just that particular tragedy is a bit too tragic for this sort of game. Something that hits most of the same notes without obliterating a village should be fine.

AB: There's something about your character that puzzles me and I can't quite put my finger on what exactly it is, which puzzles me even more. I need a bit more time to try to figure it out.

Phoenix: I believe you mean CITYFIGHT. You've tried for the holy grail of the tarot themed character. Looks fun! Specifics will need to be settled as each card comes up, but I don't see that causing too many problems. Only concern is that designing inverted forms for each card as well might be a little tricky.

Menarker: while I think Slumber Party is nifty, that plus Restful Repose making it so he has an ever growing army of invincible zombies following him around?

Yeah... not going to happen.

Bard: you're the mime. It's you.

[Sifright]

Arhra I've an idea for a character but it's incredibly odd and I would prefer to discuss the idea with you in real time if possible, i've set up a pad to discuss the idea with you if you are willing.

[Menarker]

Originally Posted by Arhra

Menarker: while I think Slumber Party is nifty, that plus Restful Repose making it so he has an ever growing army of invincible zombies following him around?

Yeah... not going to happen.

Did I say invincible? I could have sworn I never said that.
Anyhow I was just trying to think of something neat, and at least that is on the right track if you thought it was nifty.

Anyhow, if you have any viable suggestions to cleanly limit it while keeping its amusement value, that would be neat. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind if the skill is mostly GM controlled like if they started wandering off and falling off cliffs or getting into fights with random passerbys and other silly situations. :3

[Overcast]

I will find amusement in having Addins always know what Morel is saying and wonder why everyone else is so inattentive. Also edited my character with the moves we talked about, should make him about on term as a clever human with no magic can be.