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Hidden 8 yrs ago 8 yrs ago Post by Dreamforge
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Dreamforge

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You are among the last of Homo sapiens, a species of such potential. Villages across the wilderness and forests now lay empty; roving bands that had scoured the highest peaks and lowest basins are now gone.
Your band represents what may be the last survivors of your race. Together, you travel the land in search of shelter, sustenance, and of course, in a defiant attempt to find any other survivors of the onslaught. You race against the elements, you fight against the wild, the night, and hide from the yellow-eyed terrors that lurk in the depths of the vast, unexplored wild.

With this premise in mind, let me introduce you to From Afar, a concept born from a subversion of the classic alien invasion style story. Instead of extraterrestrials descending upon the Earth in a modern day or future setting and doing battle with humans who are armed with bullets, bombs, or perhaps even lasers, From Afar explores an alien invasion (or rather, infestation) at a point far further back in our timeline: our days of being hunter-gatherers, living in bands and tribes, a primal lifestyle; humans during the palaeolithic era. It is during this time that we still fear the night, deify fire, scramble for any food we can, it is a time in which super fauna still walks, and the world remains wild and mysterious. Except in this timeline, an infestation (think Tyranid vanguard or Zerg) fall from the sky one fateful night; the following years are replete with utter slaughter at the hands of utterly alien beasts with the seemingly sole intention of consuming all Humans.

It would be here that our story would begin. We would assume the role of one of (if not the only) surviving band of hunter-gatherers still living. We will journey across a prehistoric world in search of a better fate, and continued survival. What we encounter along the way, however, may not live up to such an optimistic expectation.




In terms of gameplay, I want character impermanence to play a large role. I want the threat to be very real, and I want character-based and survival-based action and storytelling. This simply cannot be done with a cast of characters who live from the first page to the last.

- I want each player to be able to introduce new characters at will through the IC, either by encountering rogue survivors living alone in the wild or, really, by any other means. These will not require a CS as they will b built entirely through the story. Of course, a record of each character will be kept for the sake of keeping track of who is in play.

- I want each character, when created in IC, to be specified whether or not they are essentially 'public domain' (able to be assumed by any participant) or not so. In this way we can steadily build up a cast of characters that can all take part in the action. It also prevents you from getting too attached to certain characters because...

- ...I will be killing characters off, whether public domain or private. This is why new character introduction is so important. The alien threat will take a toll. Lives will be lost. It will be fucking glorious. Those who have difficulty accepting characterised characters dying need not apply.

- I want each player to assume the perspective of exactly one character per post, though these will usually if not always be part of our roving band of survivors, so we don't have to worry about multiple setting confusion. I hate that stuff.

Who is game? We can make something pretty sweet.
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Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by ButtsnBalls
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So, what happened to Echoes?
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Dreamforge
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To be honest, I wasn't feeling it too much after writing the IntCheck. I might jump back into it in a bit, but i fancied a bit more of a manageable concept for the time being.
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Halvtand
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Halvtand The Voice of Reason

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I like it. Good time period. Good villains. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. You have one player.
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Dreamforge
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Glad to have you on board @Halvtand! We're off to a good start.
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Halvtand
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Halvtand The Voice of Reason

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@DreamforgeI sure hope so. This looks like a lot of fun.
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Dreamforge
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Dreamforge

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The enthusiasm is always a great help! The more the merrier!

I'm going to get some OOC information up hopefully by the end of the night. It should give us all a better idea of the nuances of the setting and the antagonists we're facing up against; as well as to give any prospective players a better idea of how to introduce effective, fitting characters.

Needless to say, i'm pretty pumped for it.
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Halvtand
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That sounds like a good idea. A basic rundown about what technology looks like for us, what the aliens are and such things.
I'm thinking about creating a religious person as my first, basic pantheistic stuff, should be fun to explore.
Hidden 8 yrs ago 8 yrs ago Post by Dreamforge
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Dreamforge

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The aliens are definitely going to take the general theme of the Tyranid/Zerg: often large, numerous, insectoid-bestial creatures with a singular desire to consume life that the encounter. In our case, they will be almost solely focused on consuming Humans for reasons that i'm sure will become apparent later into the story.
This means, of course, they will not be blasting us with lasers, nor be utilising any kind of vehicles, though there will be some monstrous aliens who tower above the trees, for example.
Expect to get eviscerated. It's going to be great.





In terms of technology of involved characters, we're looking at rudimentary bows, spears, clubs, slings, and other forms of stone-aged equipment. As this will be taking place in the palaeolithic era, we are restricted to stone based tools, weapons, and torches. The nature of this time period does not allow for metal elements in equipment. Furs, leathers, reeds, skins, and other natural resources are the materials through which most things are crafted during this time period.



@Halvtand mentioned a 'religious' character being involved, which is an interesting subject to bring up that is worthy of discussion. I, like every other human being on Earth, have absolutely no idea how palaeolithic humans worshipped or otherwise revered a divine or religious practice. My assumption would be that 'gods' are more likely to be spirits of the wild in some sense: spirit of the wolf or bear, perhaps. This does not restrict certain characters from having other beliefs, of course, but I think in the spirit of deviating from the standard practice of civilised modern religion, we should stay well clear of common religious tropes in favour of more eccentric models.
I imagine Humans of the time focus on survival first and foremost. Design any religious elements around this paradigm if possible.

Any questions are gladly welcome as I shape this up.
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Dreamforge
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Dreamforge

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Preliminary OOC is up. Expect images and loads more graphics by tonight.

Let's get this ball rolling.
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