Welcome to Probity! As of the current year, this sleepy West Virginia town has a tight-knit community of nearly three thousand happy, healthy, God-fearing neighbors. It is a town where every elder is respected, every wife is starry-eyed and obedient, and every husband can take a load off at the bar after a hard day's work. A town where picket fences are all painted white, where pies are all apple, and all atop a backdrop of a purple mountain's majesty and amber waves of grain. A town where traditional American values are not forgotten. All that's missing from it is you!
Welcome to Probity! It's a slice-of-life roleplay set in a constrictingly conservative small town. Not everybody knows each other, but every player character certainly does. The timeline is intentionally anachronistic and vague; Citizens dress in modest cookie-cutter outfits ripped out of the 1950's, the town's radio station competes with the town's public access channel, and there is nary a mention of the world outside Probity to confirm a year in American history. Even if there was, there is a sense that Probity is a few years behind the rest of the world, and that's just how they like it. As you might have guessed with a town name meaning "Honesty" and a sickeningly sweet village nickname, characters and their interactions are far darker than the atmosphere would have you believe. This is not a segue for a supernatural plot, zombie uprising, or secret cave cult, but a simple commentary on the themes of the story I'd like to tell -- Faith, love, purity, and corruption.
If this long-winded intro hasn't lost you so far, read on and then see how you feel. It's going to get a little more long-winded.
First and foremost, a Co-GM to help me run this. I have lofty ideas for this story given that it's still confined to the parameters of a play-by-post game, and I could use a hand. Secondly, I'm looking for players who have something to offer outside of a character sheet. The reason for this is a bit silly, but one I plan to enforce all the same. Character sheets can be made in a day, but I believe players who have contributed something, be it graphics, music, banners, illustration, voice-overs, character art, or even simple collections of aesthetically appropriate gifs and playlists, are more likely to stay. People who have immersed themselves in the story through artwork of some kind, in my opinion at least, will fight harder to keep a roleplay alive. Given the typically dry, dramatic nature of slice-of-life RPs compared to readily available space operas, fantasy tales, and superhero stories, I think this level of creative immersion is just what the roleplay needs to not die in a fortnight.
The last thing I'd like to specify about this story, aside from the aforementioned requirements, is that I will be assigning every character one (1) additional character trait in the form of a secret. Everyone in Probity has a secret, and these secrets will both enforce pre-existing relationships to facilitate player interaction, and thicken the plot of the story. There are events, memories, and traits that are given to us by circumstance, or as they would say in Probity, given to us by God. Given that the GM is an all-present, all-powerful being within a roleplay, I, circumstance, will be giving you this secret. It might not match your character, but that's kind of the point of it being a god-given secret. I understand that the GM imposing their ideas on characters is strongly frowned upon, but like the "you gotta submit something" rule, it's one I am enforcing for the sake of thematic consistency rather than a personal whim. All the same, if this is not your cup of tea, this rule is slightly more bendable than the first, and I'm willing to work with players to achieve a secret they're comfortable with.
Color me interested. I'm not sure if I'd quite want to dedicate myself just yet but after I put some thought into it, I'll come to a conclusion, and let you know. Assuming you'd have me, of course.
I am wondering. Is this set in the 50's, 60's, 70's and peoples' behavior is some what behind or is it modern and the culture of Probity is just bizarre and like 'the good ol' days'?
@YungTweak The setting has many anachronisms making it difficult to discern an exact year, if one even exists, but it's mostly based on the 50's and early 60's. Probity's conservatism makes them look and act like it's the 50's, but outsiders from Probity would probably look and act like it's the 70's. Both of them have computers from the 80's, and the soundtrack could go as far forward as the 90's.
Thank you. I asked because I had a character in mind who may, as the idea suggests, be an overwhelmingly good citizen to most, but have racial prejudice and hate, and I feel that timeframe can effect a lot in that sense.
EDIT: I also considered him being a war veteran, or perhaps even a neo - nazi.
@YungTweak War veterans, casual racists, and secret bigots are welcome. That being said, there is very little that is outwardly ugly about Probity and it's people -- If anybody harbors views more racist than palatable casual racism, those views are kept as secret as a gay lover or hairless twin in the basement.
I've not really dabbled in Advanced before- but this type of thing is just up my alley. Graphics, voice overs, all of that; I'm really digging it. I'm just a bit nervous about the level of play.
No, unless you can give me an exact year that this takes place in. Otherwise, I feel like it'll be an anachronistic Twilight Zone episode where my character will end up bludgeoned to death by a cult member wielding a wooden cudgel. Or something else along those lines.
No, unless you can give me an exact year that this takes place in. Otherwise, I feel like it'll be an anachronistic Twilight Zone episode where my character will end up bludgeoned to death by a cult member wielding a wooden cudgel. Or something else along those lines.
who says that won't happen?
I'm kidding, I also have zero idea as to what is going on.