DYST
This is currently a work in progress.
Introduction
Hello everyone and welcome to Dyst! This is going to be a little different from the type of play style we've all used in the past. It's my hope that we can keep this one going for a little while as we maintain a casual attitude towards it. The idea is that one can come here and post a response or action whenever convenient. This will mean our game will progress slowly, sure, but without the pressure and logistics of getting everyone together for sessions, perhaps this is something we can log into and check up on and basically roleplay as conveniently as possible!
Above you'll see three tabs that we'll use to communicate and reference. IC means In Character, OOC for out of character and the character tab to post our characters and any NPCs you might create and/or encounter.
Gameplay and Systems
As the GM I will establish the scenarios with a few paragraphs and you can respond/react to my posts with a paragraph or two. You'll have more time to horde the spotlight and as of right now I see no reason why there should be a limit to how much you can add. Arthanus has a lot of experience with this format so I'm going to use his help to fine tune the gameplay but as of now I suggest being as descriptive as possible. What is your character thinking while performing his or her actions. What do you know about the world around you? You can even have your own interactions with NPCs so long as they are universe and gameplay appropriate. I'll be approving anything you post before it becomes cannon anyway so I can help with this if there's an issue. You have the freedom to create named and important NPCs as well. More on this later as I figure out how that works.
I believe I've invented a system for gameplay that will give us the thrill of rolls without actually rolling anything. I call it:
The Time Piece Action System
The system basically works by attempting to guess a number between 1 and 12 every time you declare an intended action by placing your guess within a parenthesis after your declaration. Characters or situations presented before you will have a pre-established number associated with that character or place or situation and your accuracy for guessing that number determines your success. Your personal characters capability in performing certain actions will affect your margin for success so the better you are at say shooting people in the face, the larger your +/- will be around your declaration of "I shoot him in the face (#)."
The system basically works by attempting to guess a number between 1 and 12 every time you declare an intended action by placing your guess within a parenthesis after your declaration. Characters or situations presented before you will have a pre-established number associated with that character or place or situation and your accuracy for guessing that number determines your success. Your personal characters capability in performing certain actions will affect your margin for success so the better you are at say shooting people in the face, the larger your +/- will be around your declaration of "I shoot him in the face (#)."
Example 1:
You're playing a skilled swords-man and you're attempting to slash your blade at an opponent standing right in front of you. I've secretly assigned this opponent the number 6. You declare "I'm gonna chop that dude in half! (3)". A person who's never wielded a sword would have missed but since you are so skilled your guess was given a margin of success of +/-3 so your attack was a success!
Example 2:
You're a particularly agile person and someone threw a rock at you from across a busy alleyway. I've assigned the situation a 7 before hand and you say "I see the rock being thrown and I'm going to dodge it (2). Your characters agility could grant you +/-4 and the crowded environment could add another +/-1 giving you a total of +/-5 meaning you'll successfully dodge the rock.
I use a time piece because A. Steampunk and time pieces go hand in hand and B. Because this works both by increasing or decreasing your number and imagining a clock will make this system clear.
Example 3:
You're in a situation that was assigned 11 and you guessed 2, while your stats gave you a +/-3. You'd succeed because counting counter clockwise around the time piece will take you from 2 to 1, 12, and finally 11.
This will work for combat, persuasion. Everything. After a roll succeeds I will randomly assigned a new number to replace it. However, if a number fails I will keep the original number. This will allow greater success at second attempts for players who are paying attention and stand in as a system to simulate your characters adapting to the situations they find themselves.
The World of Dyst
Dyst is a very old world with a rich and troubled history. Yet in it's current state there has been a notable peace between the Solarian Empire and the Gracian Collective, the two major population centers that bookend the solitary continent of the planet. Unfortunately this peace was not achieved by diplomatic means. For longer than a century these two countries have been locked in a technological stalemate. Small scale battles pop up every few days but territory almost never changes hands.
Solarian Empire
Standing atop massive floating islands in the clouds, some thousands of square miles wide, is the Empire of Solaria. Named for the amber glowing gemstone that burns extraordinarily hot for a near infinite amount of time that fuels their civilization of clockwork and steam powered mechanisms. Within the white marble walls of the primary Skyland Victoria, you'll find Giant Iron golums patrolling the busy streets populated with anything from wealthy merchants to impoverished commoners. Above and blow the skylands, thousands of airships of a great variety swarm as they travel to there destinations between the hundreds of smaller skylands that surround the mainland.
Below the cascade of floating landmass's are towns and cities that dot the countryside along the western coast and adjacent territories that all belong to the Empire and all enjoy a degree of prosperity. The towns on the land are less technologically advanced than the skyland territories but they've got the tech where it counts. Most commonly the populations on the furthest reaches have been designated with one or two Solarium gems per town to power mills and/or pump stations and the people are forced to live a simple life of hard labor.
The Gracian Collective
The Gracian people are the complete antithesis of their rivals to the west. Deep within the ocean off the east coast of the great continent is an unimaginably massive metropolis aglow with neon lights, hologram advertisements and illuminated vertical buildings, the tallest of which protrude into the open air above the sea. Black Anti-grav ships and their blue energy trails can be seen cruising through the water and docking into this building and that. Large glass domes and tubes envelop the roads and walkways in the more open areas of the city where one could see a dense population of it's pale skinned inhabitants. The air is thick with cigarette smoke and carbon vehicle exhaust as the air filtration systems intended to keep Gracia's air clean have been incapable of compensating with the massive pollution generating population.
Grancian towns and city-settlements can be found a ways inland from the eastern coast but these are mostly as military defensive outposts of limited size as typical Gracian tech simply runs too hot to run for long in the open air. Instead Solarium equipped solitary soldiers and their Anti-Grav's patrol deeply inland and into the Middlelands to maintain a presence as they can often run indefinitely when they are augmented to do so.
Middlelands
Not officially labeled as such by history, the massive landmass between the two nations is referred to by The Middlelands. Thousands upon thousands of square miles of different landscape are littered with tiny settlements from many different walks of life. Single homes surrounded by farmlands worked by automotons, villages set around the openings of ancient mines in the mountains, riverboat cities that thrive off the wildlife, there are countless tiny population centers.
No census has ever proven it, but it's common knowledge that there are probably as many Jantari living throughout the Middlelands as there are within' the Solarian Empire. It is rumored that this is because many of the first Jantari to come to the planet were neutral in the Human/Gracian conflict and chose, instead, to distance themselves from it.
The Races of Dyst
Human:
Appearance: They each look very Human like in their Humanity.
Common Knowledge: Recorded Human history is far more brief than their genetic history. It's also a lot shorter than the calculated age of some ancient human artifacts. As such, it is generally accepted to believe that at some point in their past, the Human race went through some sort of cataclysmic event that somehow erased all recorded history past this point. However, they are the most common race within the Empire, out numbering Jantari about 300 to 1. Not much else is noteworthy of this prosperous people.(wip)
Jantari:
Appearance: With eyes closed a Jantari is indistiguishable from human kind for their only telling physical differences are their illuminated eyes that glow in an amber hue.
Common Knowledge: Modern Jantari are descendants of extra planetary beings from Dyst's nearest neighboring planet. Thousands of years ago they descended onto the planet in massive colony ships and bringing with them the Solarium gems that power the modern empire. The Human race was all but wiped out by the Gracian people when the Jantari of old came the this world and as the Gracian race were seen as sacrilegious to their faith in the Eternal Flame, Jantari allied with the human race and pushed back the Gracian offensive to the thousand years stalemate that's been in place to this day. Child birth is rare for the Jantari people and as such their population remains small compared to the other two intelligent races of Dyst.
Unique Capabilities: All Jantari are born capable of the following but it takes training and practice to make some of these abilities predictable and usable. Including but not limited to:
- Telepathy with other Jantari
- Extended life spans
- Far sight
- Extra sensitive sensory to vibrations in the air or ground
- Night Vision
- Extra Ordinary Empathic sensory
- Extremely Rare: Power of suggestion over other Jantari and wild beasts. (Obsessively practiced and trained, only a few of the eldest of Jantari have accomplished this feat)
- Extremely Rare: Slight Telekinetic ability. (Only ever rumored)
Gracian:
Appearance: Taller than humans, pale skinned, naturally jet black hair. However it is culturally accepted and expected that Gracians modify their looks as much as their capabilities. You'll find the Gracian city filled with patrons with neon colored hair, infinate combinations of tattoos and piercings and clothes of dark leather and/or metalic body parts.
Common Knowledge: The oldest of the three races, the Gracian people are numerous and enjoy near immortality. They are born indistiguahable from human beings save for their pale skin, some of whom are born with skin so pale it is mildly transparent. Their technology is so advanced that at any point in their lives should their organs fail, they can be replaced with cybernetic ones. Many Gracians opt for modifications well before nature demands it. Should the organic portion if a Gracian die, they can be, and commonly are, resurrected and given the necessary artificial body parts required to live a normal life. Is it for this reason that many Gracians life well into their thousands. Some Gracians exist only in data form within their civilization wide internal network called "The Grid". The Grid is accessible for any Gracian with the proper neural implants and data jack modifications and nearly all Gracians get connected at some point.
Unique Capabilities: Self modification of almost anything one can imagine modifying in ones self.
Notable Factions
Church of the Enternal Flame: Oldest and most influential religous organization within the Empire. Their faith in The Flame is centered around the belief that Solarium energy is fueled by the souls of the dead. It is for this reason they have encouraged war against the Gracian Collective. "They deny the fire and must be delivered unto The Flame with righteous force".
Knights of the Solar Order: Originally established hundreds of years ago as a Knights for hire mercenary group, they since become the premier Solarian Empire fighting force. From guarding the Emporor to leading soldiers into battle the Knights of the Solar Order have come to signify Solarian might. Equipped with their famous Emberblades and shining armor, the Solar Knights stand for all that is good and just within the Empire.
Academy of Alchemy: The Academy of Alchemy was built upon the main Skyland of Victoria and is the second largest structure in the Empire. It is the epicenter for Scholors and academia. Known to be a rather whimsical place, the Academy is a breeding ground for weird and wild things. Many different schools of science are studied, not just Alchemy, and most if not all advances in Solarian technology originates from there.
Dark Sky: What happens when the sky is full of pirates who oppose the politics of the modern age and attempt to live free only to inevitably begin to construct a code to reduce stealing from each other? They organize a guild and ironically become what they opposed in the first place. The Dark Sky Guild is an organized crime operation who prey on merchants, trade vessels and cargo runners between the Skylanders and the Middlelanders. Problem for independant pirates: DS Pirates will kill you for taking their loot. Problem for guild members: DS Pirates will kill you if you try to leave the guild.
Bal Collective Inc.: A successful young Gracian company with investors whose pockets are deep, Bal Collective Inc. deals in assassinations first and foremost. The stalemate between the two nations is profitable for a vast number of manufacturers and so it became profitable to invest in maintaining the stalemate by systimatically assissaniting anyone influencial enough to shift the tide of war. Their killers are highly trained and well equipped for the job. Rumor has it that they've opened a research and development branch of the company and some Gracians fear unethical practices take place there.
The Grid Runners:
Might delete this section
Character Sheets
Name:
Gender:
Race: (Human, Jantari or Gracian)
Appearance: (if possible find an image to link in a hider to illustrate an approximation of your character. Otherwise a detailed description will do.)
Age:
Abilities: If Jantari how much of their natural abilities can you control? If Gracian, what kind of augments are you equipped with?
Equipment: (Weapons, Armor, anything item related worth noting)
Bio: (Minimum of 3 paragraphs, please include how you came to join Murdek's crew of freelancers. You can create a personal history with any of the crew members or whatever you want.)
Personality: (Minimum 1 Paragraph, Let us know a bit about you, how you think, what you like, what you don't, your feelings about the conflict ect..)
Relationships: (Once everyone completes their character sheets, share a few words about how your character feels about each of the other major characters.)
Who are you?
You are each members of Deckard Murdochs crew of freelancers upon his retrofitted Inperial Frigate, The Vengeance. For however long you've been on the Vengeance you've been working odd jobs of many sorts to make ends meet and earn a living. Lately Deckard has been taking contracts of increasing difficulty with far greater payouts. So as a crew, you've been quite prosperous and have generated a fair amount of fame as the crew who can "Get it done".
