Long have people dreamed of power, but who could ever have dreamed of this?
Welcome to the world of Epithet Erased. It's a modern world, united in a single evolving language, where about one in every five people has a special gift known as an Epithet, but it's far from the typical superpowered society. An Epithet is a single word tied to an individual's soul, like 'Coupon', 'Parapet', or 'Bellybutton', and that person can develop powers tied to both the popular and individual concept carried by that word. Thing is, Epithets are completely random. Who gets them, what they are, and so forth. And most are weak, requiring both prolonged training and lots of creativity to use well, comparable to that of a sport or art. Those with the dedication, imagination, and luck can, however, pull off incredible feats, but most of those who even discover theirs seldom get any more use out of them than party tricks.
As such, society on the whole really hasn't changed much. But things are a bit more colorful, a bit more interesting, and a bit more special. And sometimes, remarkable stories emerge from unlikely places.
That's where you'll come in. The details of the event aren't ironed out yet, since this RP will go nowhere if there's no interest, but something's going down in Sweet Jazz City, a cheery town situated on the west coast of the U S of A. Maybe it's at a grand hotel the night before a valuable award is going to be given out to a high-profile Epithet user. Maybe it's after a rockin' concert headlined by someone with dubious ties. Maybe it's just after the launching of a new cruise ship, with all sorts of colorful characters aboard. Or maybe it's field trip day to the zoo, where the first-ever animal with an epithet is housed. Whatever the event, you can bet there's going to be interested parties, goons from the 'criminal' organization Banzai Blasters, shady operators from the Mundie terrorist group Bliss Ocean, police, and innocent bystanders aplenty. What could go wrong?
Imaginative character designs, both appearance and personality wise, are encouraged. Basically anything goes, in a sort of anime-ish way. Colorful hair, uniquely-shaped irises, you name it. You'll be able to adopt any sort of role in the setting once it's established, with whatever motivation, which can put you in conflict with other player characters. You could be a mostly-harmless Banzai Blaster mook, out to steal and vandalize a little, and stuck in a bigger operation by accident. You could be a headhunter from Bliss Ocean trying to take down a prominent Epithet user, a bodyguard for that user, a police officer just trying to keep people safe, or hey, just a kid in the wrong place at the wrong time doing your best to stay out of the crossfire.
For this RP, there would be some expectations concerning participation. I would ask that players not apply at all if they don't intend to stick with it for the long haul. If a player decides after joining that they can't or don't want to continue, I would appreciate notification rather than just disappearing. It's just common courtesy not to get people's hopes up or leave them hanging. There wouldn't be any posting requirement, but I plan to update at least once a week, and it will be using my Reaction Prompt system. If a character is put in a situation necessitating a response, especially in terms of combat, and you don't post one or get a continuation, the results will play out as if your character just didn't do anything, which can range from other characters just thinking yours is weird to getting a free hit from an attacker.
By the way, considering the random nature of epithets I'm considering the idea of randomly assigning a selection of possible epithets for each player to choose from. I figure most people wouldn't spring for it, but it would flex your writing/creation skill in terms of making and playing characters, and really lean into the core idea of using creativity to make the most of whatever hand life has dealt you.
Oh by the way, you can play a mundie too, if you like. They might not have special powers, and are often underestimated by inscribed, but people are still people. A sharp wit and a strong punch are stronger than many epithets on the market. And, if you're a cop, you'll have Eraser Cuffs to even the playing field.
All credit to Brendan Blaber and the amazing Epithet Erased team!
Please let me know what you think. I'd love to hear any interest, feedback, what have you. The scenario event for the RP is open to suggestion from whoever's interested. Thank you for reading, and I look forward to this hopefully coming to fruition!
Welcome to the world of Epithet Erased. It's a modern world, united in a single evolving language, where about one in every five people has a special gift known as an Epithet, but it's far from the typical superpowered society. An Epithet is a single word tied to an individual's soul, like 'Coupon', 'Parapet', or 'Bellybutton', and that person can develop powers tied to both the popular and individual concept carried by that word. Thing is, Epithets are completely random. Who gets them, what they are, and so forth. And most are weak, requiring both prolonged training and lots of creativity to use well, comparable to that of a sport or art. Those with the dedication, imagination, and luck can, however, pull off incredible feats, but most of those who even discover theirs seldom get any more use out of them than party tricks.
As such, society on the whole really hasn't changed much. But things are a bit more colorful, a bit more interesting, and a bit more special. And sometimes, remarkable stories emerge from unlikely places.
That's where you'll come in. The details of the event aren't ironed out yet, since this RP will go nowhere if there's no interest, but something's going down in Sweet Jazz City, a cheery town situated on the west coast of the U S of A. Maybe it's at a grand hotel the night before a valuable award is going to be given out to a high-profile Epithet user. Maybe it's after a rockin' concert headlined by someone with dubious ties. Maybe it's just after the launching of a new cruise ship, with all sorts of colorful characters aboard. Or maybe it's field trip day to the zoo, where the first-ever animal with an epithet is housed. Whatever the event, you can bet there's going to be interested parties, goons from the 'criminal' organization Banzai Blasters, shady operators from the Mundie terrorist group Bliss Ocean, police, and innocent bystanders aplenty. What could go wrong?
Imaginative character designs, both appearance and personality wise, are encouraged. Basically anything goes, in a sort of anime-ish way. Colorful hair, uniquely-shaped irises, you name it. You'll be able to adopt any sort of role in the setting once it's established, with whatever motivation, which can put you in conflict with other player characters. You could be a mostly-harmless Banzai Blaster mook, out to steal and vandalize a little, and stuck in a bigger operation by accident. You could be a headhunter from Bliss Ocean trying to take down a prominent Epithet user, a bodyguard for that user, a police officer just trying to keep people safe, or hey, just a kid in the wrong place at the wrong time doing your best to stay out of the crossfire.
For this RP, there would be some expectations concerning participation. I would ask that players not apply at all if they don't intend to stick with it for the long haul. If a player decides after joining that they can't or don't want to continue, I would appreciate notification rather than just disappearing. It's just common courtesy not to get people's hopes up or leave them hanging. There wouldn't be any posting requirement, but I plan to update at least once a week, and it will be using my Reaction Prompt system. If a character is put in a situation necessitating a response, especially in terms of combat, and you don't post one or get a continuation, the results will play out as if your character just didn't do anything, which can range from other characters just thinking yours is weird to getting a free hit from an attacker.
By the way, considering the random nature of epithets I'm considering the idea of randomly assigning a selection of possible epithets for each player to choose from. I figure most people wouldn't spring for it, but it would flex your writing/creation skill in terms of making and playing characters, and really lean into the core idea of using creativity to make the most of whatever hand life has dealt you.
Oh by the way, you can play a mundie too, if you like. They might not have special powers, and are often underestimated by inscribed, but people are still people. A sharp wit and a strong punch are stronger than many epithets on the market. And, if you're a cop, you'll have Eraser Cuffs to even the playing field.
All credit to Brendan Blaber and the amazing Epithet Erased team!
Please let me know what you think. I'd love to hear any interest, feedback, what have you. The scenario event for the RP is open to suggestion from whoever's interested. Thank you for reading, and I look forward to this hopefully coming to fruition!
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