The Darkest of Nights Casual Interest Check

The Darkest of Nights; A Dies The Fire Roleplay

Overview:

Hello! If you're reading this, you must be at least slightly interested and/or clicked the wrong thread. But regardless, you're here, and will never leave! i'll try my best to explain what this potential RP is all about :)

NOTE: You don't need to have read the book to be a part of this! We are only using the concept - the universe that Stirling created - and not the characters or setting.

Short Explanation:

This is basically a medieval roleplay set in modern times. Take modern day people, in a modern day setting, minus all modern day amenities. Without electronics, guns or explosives, people revert back to small tribes, swords, bows, arrows, and lots of war. It's a bloody, awful, dangerous new world.

Long Explanation:

The Roleplay will be based in the world of S.M. Stirling's novel Dies the Fire. According to the book, in the year 1998, a sudden white flash renders all electrical devices nonfunctional. In addition the Change, as it comes to be known, alters the chemical effects of explosives, thereby making gunpowder and ultimately guns useless. In this new world, survivors must group together to find food, water, and shelter; creating tribes and learning medieval weaponry to defend themselves against Bandits, hostile settlements, and even Eaters - survivors that have turned cannibalistic.

You are one of these survivors. Barely managing to escape as your former life ceased to exist, you watch as fires burn down the cities, and factions emerge out of the ashes. It is up to you to find sustenance, and a place to live; to battle bandits, cannibals, and rampant disease. To secure a way to be one of the lucky few to survive.

Location: For the purposes of not allowing this RP to intertwine with the in-book characters, I'd like for us to steer clear of the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California and Nevada. Also, the state of Massachusetts, seeing as Nantucket was apparently the epicenter of the Change. I'm guessing it was pretty bad there, so let's not do that state either. Alaska and Hawaii are options, though not preferred, as they are both secluded and would get kind of boring after awhile. Also on the table is Canada. Any other country I'd rather leave out because I'd like to already have knowledge of the local terrain and customs, and I really don't with any other country. So, first thing that needs to be decided on is:
Location - United States (42 states to choose from) or Canada? Also pick which state or region.

Party Setup: Now, this I've been thinking about for some time now, and cannot decide which format would fit this RP best. To explain a bit, by party setup I mean what should the balance be between number of characters per player, and number of factions in the game. The way I see it, there are three options, though if you can think of another please post it!

The first would be that everyone playing gets one character, and we are all in the same tribe/settlement/faction together. There would be other factions out there, that I (and a Co-GM) would to some extent control, but the focus would be on that one faction, and how they survive, fight, and get along with eachother. The potential downside to this is it may get dry after awhile, following only one group.

The next would involve having a few factions at the start, all lead by willing players, and have the rest sign up with one of the pre-made factions in their Character Sheet. That way, there would be more than one faction, with different groups of people in each, both interacting domestically and with the other factions in the game. The potential downside for this one, however, is if we get a few people who quit mid-RP, some factions may be grossly under-matched compared to others.

The last, would be that every player who signs up gets their own faction or town, with multiple side-characters they could create to be some of their citizens. Now, this could get a little complicated, but I suppose it might work well. I'm not sure. One downside is that you don't get the interaction of more than one player in a faction, as you do in the other ones.

Though there won't be any characters from the actual book in this RP, there are a couple concepts introduced that will be. Below, I'll explain a few of them, sometimes using direct quotes from the book. (Will be adding more later)

Eaters:
Eaters are groups of survivors that have banded together and become cannibalistic. Most of the time, they are all infected with diseases such as Kuru and others, and are among the most feared individuals in this new world. They generally take a group of captives and keep most alive at first so that their food does not spoil.

"Most people would rather die than turn cannibal, but when you were talking about millions, a small minority was far too large. And they were starting to get hungry, as their food became scarce in turn." - Narration, 290

Government Structure:
In the post apocalyptic world, where it has become impossible to get the message out to the masses easily, and transcontinental communication ceases to exist, Democracy in the modern sense has become extinct. At this point in time, the best form of structure is that of a tribe or village; where one or more people lead the majority. Many in this world try to advance this concept too early, creating feudalistic societies that ultimately collapse.

""Like, we've got to learn how to crawl before we walk ... Get tribes and chiefs right, before we can have barons and emperors."" - Mike Havel, 353

So please post if you are interested or have any questions! I'll also be looking for a Co-GM for this, so post if you would like to be considered for the position

Interested

Oooh, this sounds good. I'm in! >:3

Definitely interested.

Omg, people! :D Well that's exciting! Anyway, to all that are interested, would you mind taking a look at the Plot questions when you get the time and tell me which you'd like to do (or suggest your own)? I'd like to keep this RP as player-driven as possible.

Cleverly Disguised Bump

I like the second one the best. :3

Ohkay, thanks Purplez! :) any input on where the location should be? Lol sorry about rambling on in that topic, by the end the only reason I kept the rant up there was because the end result was there being 42 states left ^.^ Oh. Plus Canada. Can't forget Canada.

Colorado seems good. xD

Noted. Thanks! :) I'd like to see if anyone else posts any more suggestions before I put up an OOC and CS (also, to get more people interested, especially if we do do option #2, which will require more than a few people)