I'm gonna tell you something you don't want to hear.
I'm gonna show you where it's dark, but have no fear.

When darkness falls, the City of Angels becomes an entirely different city. The sun-soaked streets glow in neon lights and the drone of synthesizers pours from the thunderous clubs, but to you, Los Angeles is home to another kind of "night life." Strange creatures that seem straight out of Hollywood lurk in the shadows, just out of sight of the city's three-million residents. How do you know about these shadows in the night? It's only natural, considering that you're one of them.

Fortunately, most of these monsters are content to stay in the darkness; mere whispers in the back of the mind. However, not all of them are content to stay in the darkness, and intrude into the world of light to prey upon the people that live there. They are not the only threat, though, as even the most mundane of humans can behave as monsters beyond comprehension. Call it youthful idealism or childish naivety, but you're not about to stand idly by and let this city fall into despair. You have taken it upon yourself to stand against the the evil that you share the night with, and become a ward between dusk and dawn. A dark protector. An avenger in the night.

This is your nightcall. Will you pick up?

---

Basic RP premise is this: you play as a teenage supernatural being (think I Was a Teenage Werewolf) that fights crime and monsters in 1987 Los Angeles.

Thematically, I'm hoping to work in the feel of an 80s crime drama with plenty of action and supernatural horror and mystery throughout. If you guys want to work in some teen movie drama or romance as well, more power to you. Consider this an homage to that era of film and other media. Tongue-in-cheek at times, but not silly. Major inspirations come from the nu-80s wave over the last few years, including the film Drive, music by artists such as Kavinsky, Perturbator, College and Mitch Murder, and video games like Hotline Miami. Other inspirations were tabletop games such as World of Darkness and Monsterhearts.

As far as characters go, I'd expect them to be like something out of a movie or comic book from the 80s, while also being a recognizable and relatable character. Not that they have to be a shallow joke or anything like that, but I would just prefer if that was the direction which characters were built in, if that makes any sense. Regarding their "supernatural" elements, I'm pretty open, so feel free to send ideas my way for us to discuss.

That follows with the rest of the setting as well. I'll be happy to build this world with all of you, so feel free to share any ideas you have with me.

I expect the CS to be very light, and I'm going to be putting more emphasis on the writing sample that I request with it. I would very much like a small group of dedicated players, so I will be scrutinizing applicants to see who would be most conductive to a fun and successful game. Take your time with it, rushing to send me something won't give you an advantage.

Alright then, feel free to send any questions or comments you have my way, and we can get started on this adventure pretty soon. I'll be running this interest check in both the Casual and Advanced sections to garner interest, and I'll run in whichever section that gets off the ground first.

I'm interested. My name is Mirth. :)

I am very interested in this game. I was the guy in the thread on /tg/.

I would like to play a 17 year old boy by the name, Flint Williams. He has been fighting the supernatural solo for a short while, and maybe it hasn't been going well. Perhaps his last adventure was a close call. That could be reason to join a team. His staple feature would be a torn lettermen jacket that's missing a sleeve and medium length brown hair styled sort of like Kurt Russel in Escape from New York. I'm not too sure how combat works as you didn't mention the system, at least I don't think you did, but if it's allowed, a spiked and chained baseball bat would be an appropriate weapon for our young hero. Maybe a sawed off shotgun too if it's not too OP. His supernatural side comes from a voodoo curse put upon his family 100 years ago. None of his family members live past the age of 15. In his case he was run down by a semi truck. When fate takes them they remain dead for only about a month. After that, they rise again, although they appear physically the same. In the moonlight though their true form is reviled. Their body is as decayed as you would expect it to be, and after two years he is now no more than a skeleton. I'll leave the whole "killing an undead" thing up to you as I want the game to be fair, but yeah. He's a skelly.

Ah, good to see you figured everything out alright.

As far as the system goes, I will admit that this would be more of a freeform deal. I hope that's alright by you.

The baseball bat sounds fine, but the shotgun would be a bit much. Teenage heroes, remember?

I was pretty cool with your explanation until you said that he was a skeleton. As much as it's a /tg/ in-joke, a skeleton would be just a bit too silly for what I have planned. Would you consider playing as a more conventional zombie? Perhaps the curse that resurrected him kept his body semi-preserved (he wouldn't decay to a skeleton over a span of two years, anyway), making him disfigured, but still mostly human? I could see him having voodoo-esque powers in addition to all of the benefits of undeath.

That's all fine by me. I look forward to it.

Feel free to PM me some more specific character concepts/details, or a writing sample at any time.

Should I send you an application?

By all means.

How long of a sample would you like?

However long you think is adequate.

Please PM it to me, by the way, so we can discuss it privately.

I'd like to get in on this as well. I'll send/post a CS tomorrow evening, if that's alright.

Sounds just fine to me!

Incidentally, if anyone is good with Photoshop (or whatever other image-editing/artistic software of choice) and wants to make us a fancy-pants banner, I'd be quite grateful!

I'm an extreme fan of Hotline Miami, and I enjoy good urban fantasy from time to time. However, the teenager thing is putting me off. Is it possible to portray a 'grown up'? At least 25+.

Oh, man, you've just introduced to me to a lot of potentially cool things. For that alone, thanks!

This is exactly the sort of quirky, unapologetically-'80s-loving idea I didn't know I'd been waiting for. So much so that, even though I've been meaning to do without RPGs for a little while, I'm immediately backpedaling on my position because I want in.

I know you used it as an example in the premise description, but a teenage werewolf in the eighties is just the role I'd want to play. Can I, pretty please? I still have to work out more of a concept (gonna refamiliarize myself with some archetypal '80s characters), but right now I'm thinking a track runner named "Barry Talbot" in homage of Barry Allen (The Flash) and Lawrence Talbot (The Wolf Man), possibly also with some nickname that winks at his true nature.

Speaking of, are these monsters "out" or do they keep a lid on their alter egos as much as possible?

Wizard said
I'm an extreme fan of Hotline Miami, and I enjoy good urban fantasy from time to time. However, the teenager thing is putting me off. Is it possible to portray a 'grown up'? At least 25+.

Hmm. I'm hesitant, as one of the themes I was planning on working with mostly was the "teen hero" angle. Though I don't want to alienate anyone, it'd be a bit out of place if you were playing the only "adult" character. Send me a PM and we'll see if we can't work something out.

dreamshell said
Oh, man, you've just introduced to me to a lot of potentially cool things. For that alone, thanks!This is exactly the sort of quirky, unapologetically-'80s-loving idea I didn't know I'd been waiting for. So much so that, even though I've been meaning to do without RPGs for a little while, I'm immediately backpedaling on my position because I want in.I know you used it as an example in the premise description, but a teenage werewolf in the eighties is just the role I'd want to play. Can I, pretty please? I still have to work out more of a concept (gonna refamiliarize myself with some archetypal '80s characters), but right now I'm thinking a track runner named "Barry Talbot" in homage of Barry Allen (The Flash) and Lawrence Talbot (The Wolf Man), possibly also with some nickname that winks at his true nature.Speaking of, are these monsters "out" or do they keep a lid on their alter egos as much as possible?

First of all, thank you for your passionate interest!

I have no problems with a werewolf, as in fact I was just watching Teen Wolf the other night. Send me a PM and we can talk out the specifics of your character.

With our characters, they generally have two choices regarding how much they embrace their monstrosity. They either try to lead normal, mundane daytime lives with their supernatural nature concealed, or they abandon normal human society all together and fully embrace the "underworld." That said, there is something of a "masquerade" in place where the vast majority of the population has no idea of the existence of the supernatural. Perhaps one of the most likely motivations for our characters in their "heroism" would be to keep the existence of the supernatural a secret.

However, that said, I'm not about to turn this into a game of VtM politics. I'm trying to strike a balance between "keeping our alter egos a secret" and "not caring too much about covering our tracks," only because the latter is boring. I guess when in doubt, go with whatever is cooler, or more fun to play.

I'll do a teenager anyway. It's not that big of a deal. Besides, the 80s were all about over exaggerated emotions anyway (The Breakfast Club).

Cool, thanks for the feedback, DC. Working on a PM for you, but for the sake of others who may also be curious, I'll ask here; Will the PCs be peers at the same school (supposing they all even attend)? While a degree of autonomy from each other is believable, I for one usually feel like a group RPG should strive to have characters who frequently interact.

It's possible that some of you will attend the same high school, but there are multiple public school districts in Los Angeles, and as I mentioned before, some of you may have turned your backs on human society and no longer attend school. I'm still formulating the plot, but now that you've mentioned it, some of you may group up by recognizing your classmates as their "alter egos."

Indeed, L.A. is so large that multiple schools and dwellings in far apart cities-within-the-City seems very likely. Thanks for the confirmation. As I alluded before, I was interested in how we'd have our characters' lives intersect. I'm sure something cool will be worked out. ;)

Writing sample/CS en route.

I would never call myself 'good' with Photoshop, but I may have a few extra moments this weekend. I shall see what I can do.

...but seriously, someone else should probably plan a backup. Or...what's the opposite of a backup? A frontdown? A plan A+? A first resort? Whatever. One of those.