Signup for Mad Plans: Freestyle RP

[Khael!]

Here we go, sorry if things got a little scatterbrained back there.

Once the game gets running, I may open this up to receive new members periodically. If you want to join mid-game, post here and we'll work you in as soon as we can. Scroll down a little for the retardedly long list of rules and detailed information. There's good links there.

Dynamic ad-libbing at it's finest! The fun part about this RP is that I'm extremely new to running a campaign. The system (hah!) I'm using will be evolving a lot through trial and error, meaning Players will be able to help shape how this thing runs. Especially when it's first starting up. If you have a great idea for alchemical ingredients to add to the list, or a battle rule, or other stuff I haven't considered yet, feel free to suggest it.

I will be DM at first, though this role may get passed onto another occasionally when scheduling is a conflict. This RP will be using dice and a loose turn-based system, not unlike Dungeons and Dragons. If you've never tried tabletop gaming, don't panic! There's an awful lot of video games out there with similar systems you're probably familiar with.

You can post more than once per day, but please, don't edit posts and re-write your actions. If you post something, and two other posts later, totally change your mind, there is no undo'ing actions. That makes my life too difficult. Your character can change their mind and stop mid-way through something, but that time they wasted still occurred.

The DM will read over the days' posts whenever an opportunity arises. I'll usually get on around 8 - 10 PM. (pending?) I will be using dice (by preference real dice) to determine the outcomes of several actions, and essentially running the scenario using input from you guys. But you probably knew that.

Get as creative as you want with characters, but don't over-twink on me. The point of this RP is to come up with this ingenuous stuff using in-game resources. Ideas and info for starting items, spells, and abilities can be found in the rules post below.

Have fun, and don't die!

[Ogianres]

I would like to sign up for this, but I just have some questions to ask.

1. What fantasy-type races can one expect to live in this world, and which ones are players allowed/encouraged to create?
2. Could you make a post of the rules of how combat works (because I know from the Mad Plans thread that this RP will have governing rules about combat)?
3. What is the nature of magic? Is it DnD-based, or is it something else?
4. What limitations do you want players to adhere to in regard to making up more-than-personal background (i.e. politics, economics, nations, geography etc.)?
5. Can you provide details on more-than-personal background that you don't want the players to make up?
6. Is there a specific range of strength or power that you want characters to be at? I understand that god-mod characters are a no-no, but I don't know much past that.

I've learnt in the past (at a forum dedicated to RPing) that such questions can be crucial in regulating how you want your RP to progress.
I have an idea for a character, but I would rather learn of the limitations and freedoms of the system and world in which I place my character before I place him/her there.

[Khael!]

Races: As long as you're not retardedly overpowered and can amply describe what you are, It will most likely be allowed. You could, for example, be draconic in nature if you so chose. I wouldn't allow a full-blown 3 ton adult dragon because it could too easily melt everything with city-levelling firebreath. A little juvenile dragon that can't fly yet, but has great fiery magical capacity... that would be both allowable and interesting to roleplay with.


Here is the D&D page that essentially mirrors the player's handbook. Browse through it for tons of ideas, from races to spells to special feats (abilities) and other stuff. I do encourage you to come up with abilities or classes that are original, I am a story-loving artist after all.

Basic races will include elves, humans, orcs, half orcs, halflings, centaurs, dwarves, drow, and all sorts of other half races. Aquatic, winged, or reptillian people are allowed. Races from final fantasy settings are applicable as well. If your race's abilities, size, or extra limbs is going to make you unfairly powerful, there's a flaw or other trait that can balance it. Think a little, and you can come up with some surprisingly original character concepts just through this balancing act.

Combat: For the most part, you can state you actions through any creative text you want, i.e.
"I curl up to cover my precious organ from my attacker!" and I can extrapolate from it on the fly.
'Okay, they're defending, but not with proper armour. Small bonus of +2.'

In D&D, one turn equates to six seconds in game time. You get two 'standard' actions a turn. I won't be strictly forcing you to take actions that fit into one turn at a time. Rather, if you state,
"I duct tape my sword back together!" mid-battle, I may rule that it's gonna take three turns to complete that, unless you're being really messy about it. Being easier to hit due to distraction during that time would be a factor to remember.

In-battle, your turn could consist of moving, attacking, most spells, drawing/changing weapons, using a potion... these are all 'standard' actions like I mentioned above. Yelling or talking can be done simultaneously while doing other things, so don't worry about wasting time informing people of dinosaurs or anything.:p Same goes for using spell components when casting.

There is no limit to the number of spells you can cast per day. Instead, there will be a cool-down time before you can cast the same spell again. (Note that casting a different spell will have it's own cool-down). Normally 1d4 turns, for some spells 1d6 or 1d8. In specific cases, spells will have a limit per day. This is mostly a balance issue.

Magic and Alchemy: Everything in this RP's world possesses some magical energy within it. Alchemy, in it's simplest form, is the craft of releasing or distilling that energy into a useable form, alongside chemical properties. Magic and alchemy are both very suggestable. There are safe basic spells and potions, many of which will be similar to D&D and final fantasy. For those of you who play Oblivion, I will be using much of the normal ingredients from there. (no, strawberries won't have the damage health property anymore.)

Here's the list of alchemical ingredients from Oblivion. These are great for a load of the mundane stuff like apples and milk thistles. Each ingredient does not automatically give all four effects. The first is prominent if you simply eat it. (Any mushrooms eaten, and I will look up the trippy effects, just a warning.) The first two are the most prominent when used in potions. Multiple ingredients with like effects must be used to create stronger potions. Highly magical 'catalysts' can be added to produce the third and fourth effects, or perhaps other results.

Some of the terms are a little different:
- Daedra are demons.
- The various salts listed come from golem-like creatures from chaotic/demonic planes.
- Bloodgrass, harrada and spiddal sticks are also from these alternate planes.
- The Dragon's tongue listed is a plant, but I'll be including real dragon's tongue too.

Alchemical ingredients almost always double as spell components. Using relevant components to augment your spell casting won't be necessary, but will make it much easier. Example: using ash or soot in casting a darkness spell works just as well as using coal, using neither means it will be harder to cast. Casting spells with somatic components is harder while wearing heavy armour.

For some spells, namely powerful ones, some sort of strong component is necessary to provide the power needed to cast them. They are often difficult to obtain, or more expensive. Components are used up in casting. There are a few exceptions; components not consumed by a spell are called spell focuses.

There will be materia, though it is much less prominent as most people have innate casting abilities, nor is it produced synthetically using mako reactors. They act much like spell scrolls, but are not used up after casting. No starting with summoning materia.

Spell component pouches: These contain enough basic components for 20 uses. Items generally found in a spell component pouch include, but are not limited to: Ash, salt, copper wires (less than 1/2 a twist tie long each), wool, silver dust, bat guano, coal, wax, feathers of different birds (may include chocobo), tiny vial of oil, mica flakes/powder (glittery!), chalk, glass beads, different animal hairs (such as bull, fox, feline, moogle). It is not necessary to list all and which ones, this is to give you an idea of what you have on hand. Potent or more costly ingredients are listed separately.

Spell/Potion Improvising & Creation: Experimenting with spell components or using special buffs on other magical targets/items can yeild new results. Sometimes explosions, sometimes nothing surprising, usually combinations of the original spells. Try to combine complimentary spells and components. Mixing things with particularily chaotic or incongruous traits may result in unpredictable and unwanted side-effects. Like dinosaurs. When attempting to make a new spell, there will be dice rolls to determine how well it turns out. Difficulty increases with the number of spells/effects you are mixing, more if the spell elements normally cancel each other out. Components can ease the casting of spells being mixed in this situation. Combining a component with an alternative spell is treated in a similar way as combining two spells.

"I'm going to use ice cubes to augment firaga!"
I don't wanna have to get doom-weird on you guys. Wait, yes I do!

There will be times when you gain new spells. If you know a spell with an element or other similarities to the one you wish to learn, there shouldn't be any issues. Learning a spell unlike anything else on your list requires a scroll, materia, strong component, someone who can teach you, or someone you can watch cast it. Sometimes certain elemental spells will come naturally to your species or character class...

Starting Inventory & Cash: Your character may start with a few basic items, personal belongings, a bedroll, armour, weapons, and two weeks worth of food. You can start with (class appropriate!) spells/special abilities, keep it close to five. We won't be using experience points and levels blatantly, though your character will improve over time and gain better spells, items, geblah.

Everybody starts with 200 gold pieces (gp), and 50 silver (sp). Gp is this RPG's primary currency. Ten sp is worth one gold. There are platinum coins, but those are out of date and more likely to be found in a forgotten dungeon chest. Few shopkeepers will accept platinum coins as legal tender, though some might be willing to buy it. (<- mega hint!)

If you try to start off with items of particular rarity, or quality (example, a bunch of materia and adamantite weapons), I'll get you to reconsider. In some cases, you can take an item like this in exchange for starting off with less to no silver, or other items I'd normally allow. If you want something inexpensive, but it doesn't exist in the given time period, (i.e. duct tape), chances are there's an equivalent that's still chronolgically appropriate.

~~~~~~

I gotta sleep, blarg! I am dead!

Edits, awaay!: "I'll edit this tomorrow night to answer more, I have to log off now. "
Holy craptasticalness Batman, I underestimated the unadulterated power of Anime conventions. It was AC cubed, just a little con compared to what Anime North's gonna be. But it was brilliant in ways intelligence scores cannot describe. Being a stats obsessed, gender confused, possibly Polish, schizo albino twink for 15 hours straight was easier than I thought, but I'm still a very tired geek. (What kind of name is Statskowski?)

[Bisected8]

Name: Hakiver
Race: human
Class: Thief (with mechanical skills for some reason)
Age: 17 (presumed)
Hair: light brown
Eyes: blue
Clothes: Blue trousers, shirt and a thick jacket
Other equipment: Custom made Dagger, pocket knife, oil, "gaffa tape" (basically thick cloth with a special glue), flairs (small crystals which emit light and smoke), sunglasses (can be worn for protection against glare and and increase intimidation but reduced searching ability),
Special: SAFPIE -may create a convincing argument that something exists, the target may make a charisma check to prevent the illusion. A perfect 20 causes the argument to create an illusion so vivid it may cause damage to targets (e.g. believing that they just fell into a pit). The argument (if successful) works for 1d6 rounds and then the target may make a saving throw every subsequent round to realise the truth.
Bio: Was trapped in a small room for an unknown amount of time until he forgot his own name, and when and where he was born. The only thing he had for company was a strange device which portrayed the adventures of a man far in the future. Eventually he escaped his prison in search of who he is, forging a dagger himself from a partially created one stolen from a blacksmith (it was still hot enough to finish with little effort). He has a habit of creating elaborate devices and traps as well as refusing to use bows.

If I can't have the Macgyver stuff then I'll settle for a toolkit of some sort.

[42PETUNIAS]

id like to sign up as a drow assaissan. Are you going to make a basic character sheet that we should follow, or are we going to decide ourselves what details to use?

[xravi]

I'll sign up as a Human Sonic swordman (Ok now I just made that up but whatever.) He has a sword and five potions in his pack (The pack is like a small bag to his side.).

Name Roy

Race: Human

Age: 19

Hair: Black

Eyes: black, he looks like he does not get that much sleep.

Clothes: Light clothing fit to easily fight with dexerity. Kinda like a full set of light leather armor.

Bio: Sonic swordmen a group trained in the windy plains of the sacae. They belive to reach enlightnedment they must become one with the wind and to "Overcome its sprit with ones own.". Roy learned because he thought it would be easy, and was for him. After he was done with his training he decied it was time to leave his home after he got bored of the place (20 minutes after the intatiating ceromony.) Now he wanders looking to do somthing with his life (usally failing.)

Spells: when holding a gale stone(materia) is able to use air domain spells.

Attributes:
Str:10
Dex:18
Con:14
Wis:12
int:15
Chr:8
(Do not ask how I got thoes attributes, it is complecated. fixed some attributes.)

Skills: Tumble, Ride, Balance, Use rope,

Feats: COMBAT REFLEXES DODGE WEAPON FINESSE

[Darkfire]

Name: David quantum
Race: human
Class: Rogue(carpenter)
alignment: neutral
Age: 27
Hair: brown
Eyes: grey
Clothes: ordinary tunic and pants, coat with lots of pockets, quiver w/20 arrows
Other equipment: hatchet, knife, chisel, various other tools in pockets, 200 gp
weapon: shortbow
Bio: David was raised by rogues (basically thieves and assassins) but left home to pursue his one true interest: carpentry, especially making traps. He could do most of the things a rogue could do, but he'd rather make a needlessly complicated trap than actually backstab someone.

[The Argent Lord]

Name: Safra Omowyn
Race: Human(Demon)
Age: 8(1,483)
Hair: Black
Eyes: Gold-flecked purple
Clothes: Opalescent, flowing bluish-white dress.
Bio: Safra used to be an normal girl. She lived an ordinary life, in an ordinary village, with ordinary parents. Then she met someone while playing in the woods one day. He was a funny-looking man, with shiny purple skin and strange golden clothes. She told her parents about him, but they just laughed and said that she had a great imagination. She started going into the woods more and more to meet him, and he told her about himself, though she didn't understand much. He said that there were other poeple like him, and that they did bad things. He said that he wasn't like them, he didn't like doing bad things, so he ran away, and now they were chasing him. Every time she saw him, he looked a little more worried, a little more scared. One day, he stopped coming at all. She still went out every day, shouting his name and looking for him. A few weeks after he disappeared, in the middle of the night, Safra woke up suddenly. She saw him standing by her bed. He asked her if he would help her hide for a while, and she said yes. He warned her that if she accepted, it would be very hard on her, but she agreed anyways. Then he vanished, and she could feel him inside her head. Her body moved to the window without her control, and she lept out, but wings of blue fire appeared on her back, and they flew off into the moonlight, two minds in one body. Since then, they've been on the run, sometimes with Safra in control, sometimes the demon. But their minds are slowly growing together, and acting more and more like one person with aspects of both personalities.
Abilities: Though physically weak, Safra has access to powerful magic, although some of it is beyond the capabilities of a human form to handle.

[42PETUNIAS]

is this what all our character models should be? you didnt really post a format...

[Khael!]

Yes, a character sheet template will be in order, but I'm supposed to be asleep right now, d'oh! Sorry, I'm too damn slow tonight, I've been writing this for like 25 minutes now. I'm also rolling a bluff check to see if I can make this up on the spot and sound like I've done this before. I'm getting all 1's. >.X

I will need you guys to include a bit of character personality info, and goals or motivations. How you obtained your character class will be necessary in most cases. Are you a guild thief? Or homeless and you pickpocket to survive? Are you an assassin who simply kills anything? Or do you hunt elusive criminals for the city guard? Do you do what you do for fun, revenge, or the greater good?

It will help greatly in determining how you get along, among many other things. Example; if your character's been in the circus the past five years, they're probably going to be a lot better acrobatically.

Xravi, I'm fine with the potions and sword. You guys can start off with some armour or other objects if it's class appropriate too. I would like to know what makes a sonic knight different from a regular knight. It sounds very cool, I need to hear more please!

Bisected, your items get the ok. Maybe not gaffa tape, per se, but something essentially the same. (there's sovereign glue in D&D and I swear it's identical to crazy glue. It even dries after 12 bloody seconds!) There are alchemists that can make magical potions, so I don't see why they shouldn't be able to make flashy fireworks.

Edit: The Argent Lord just blew my exhausted, pocky-fueled mind. Yes, this would be excellent for the character background. A paragraph, which additionally gives some insights into possible strengths and weaknesses of the character. Additionally, yes. It seems all your wonderifluous input is going to aid this RP as it evolves into completion. Seems I work best amalgamating input and suck at making rules from scratch.

Does Safra experience many conflicts concerning who's in control? I like how you've balanced the powerful magic with an imperfect control over it.