On a sunny morning, dozens of eyes stare up at the sky, their gaze hazy and confused. Where are they? How did they get here. Who are they? The longer they think, the more questions start to come into their minds, but answers are few and far in between. There is this bugging in the back of their minds, words on the tip of their tongue they just can't put into context. But whatever it is, they have to wait. With no memories of who they are and how they got here, their attention turns to each other, then to their surroundings. They all feel like they should do something and their bodies move on their own to collect firewood, but if asked about what they were doing they could hardly explain it. Such is the curious nature of their fate, shared by many others on this sunny day, the beginning of a new era in their history.
Greetings, ladies and gentleman!
Come one, come all! Take a step forth and feast your eyes on the most ambitious crossover since Infinity War! Surely, you must have many questions about this project (unless you're from the old thread), so sit down and listen a while as I explain to you what this RP is about.
Surely, you have played RPs before where you were asked to create a history for a nation or a character. And surely, you've felt that same bugging sensation of having to create something new, but not being able to play it out. That sensation when you are still unsure of what your character would do/say in the very first posts of any roleplay. When you spend hours creating a past event for your nation in your head, only to give it a tiny mention in a post, and then think about how that seems interesting to play. When you wish you could truly explore the past of your characters or nations.
Well, look no further, because this RP is all about that. In a nutshell, the RP aims at starting your civilization from the beginning, waking up with only a handful of others in an unknown land with no knowledge of... well, anything. They are but a blank paper upon which you may write epic stories or draw masterpieces. You shall guide them throughout their history and shape them in any way you like, be it in war or peace. No longer will you have to worry about what the past or culture/traditions of your race are, because you will be there when they are first created.
Your sheets will start as little more than skeletons of a proper CS, but as time progresses I aim to fill it out to an extent that would make even the most dedicated NRP players blush. All in small little additions, bite sized chunks that will eventually add up to a giant whole.
Oh, and did someone say magic? Or elves? Am I hearing songs praising a chaos god? Well, none of these might be what I'm hearing, but hopefully it will be. You will only be limited by your imagination as to the people and culture you choose to play. Though I suggest that you all stick to more normal humanoids, some fringe cases might still be fun to play. The only limitation here is to make it so that the primary functions of your race are similar to humans, so that speech and interactions (as well as tech to an extent) can be properly balanced. Other than that, the world is your oyster.
Mechanics
But let's talk gameplay! Of course, what is such an ambitious idea without a proper framework which we should follow on our journey? Since this is more similar to a game of Civilization than your usual Space NRP, there will be some guidelines to help grease the wheels of progress so it doesn't get stale, but we can still explore every single aspect of your civilization.
Even if you are here from the old topic, I suggest you listen because things have been changed since the last time we played. First, let me start with a quite from a player, which really highlighted these issues to me:
That said I think my waning interest primarily has to do with the fact that this played out more like a forum game than a roleplay, primarily because there wasn't any interaction within the first few posts between players. I think the premise of the RP is awesome, and if it were game-ified into a forum game I'd definitely play again, primarily because at that point it wouldn't take me an hour or so to write a post that, in essence, will be repeated word by word by other players simply because the founding of society all over the world has been rather one dimensional -- we all found shelter, and we all found food. The nuance is in what we made our shelter out of or what we ate, but when it comes down to it, we're all writing the same thing. Exceptions being there (the fae were really unique in this case), I think that's primarily what ended my interest. :^(
Now, I took away a few things from this, notably that such a massive task should be streamlined in order to allow for Roleplay to take place, while also offering some game-like features that function as guiderails and sets up the context for posts. That, and how the very beginning was extremely boring, and I'm guilty as charged.
So, I turned to some of my favorite 4x games to try and come up with a solution that might allow us to overcome these issues, and I believe that I have cracked the code. So, here are the basic mechanics that will be here on top of just raw RP:
- Origins - All of your races will start at roughly the same time on the islands, their memory lost. But unlike last time when they simply gained sentience, this time they have been whisked to this place with no knowledge of their past lives. Though most of their knowledge about tech is gone, they understand and know the basic principles of survival: they can make fire, use tools and build simple shelters using various foraged materials and the tools they have at their possession. They also all have a knowledge of language from the very beginning, which should prove important. All of these changes should allow them to breeze through the initial boring sections of history, and begin working much sooner on interacting with each other and creating more complex problems/solutions within their own culture, mainly establishing leaderships and religion.
- Race Traits - Before, races were kinda just... weird. Let's face it, we didn't have any system to deal with what the benefits were to a race with more strength and how that would affect their survival, other than a roleplay advantage. This time around when creating your race, you will be given 3 trait picks, and 1 trait points by default to play around with. Taking a page from Stellaris, you will be able to use these trait picks to gain benefits which will have actual benefits: like longer lifespan, stronger bodies or higher birthrate. But if you want to pack in more, you will need to choose negatives too: like having a weak immune system, or having to consume very specific nutrient sources do to unique evolutionary traits. These traits might seem like a purely game oriented feature at first, but I intend to use them to break away from the usual "5 races of humans, elves, dwarves, catgirls and lizardmen" towards something very you can tailor the idea of what you want your race to be without any premade ideas in mind, and without having to prioritize how they look. In fact, I would rather you don't even faceclaim, and instead try your best to describe your race based on the attributes you picked for them using this trait tree. Believe me, I'm working hard on making it have many options for you guys to choose.
- Technology & Time - I must admit, tech was very badly implemented. You could just sort of write whatever you want and explain that they gained a tech. It proved to be both too lucrative of an RP focus, and too shallow of a gameplay feature to really have it's place. Similarly, because of the fact that I intended for turns to take place in a manner more similar to Civ (where turns aren't the same length in time), it was a bit confusing as to how much time you'd need to master a technology. So this time around I have chosen a radically different approach. In this new iteration each turn will last exactly the same time (I am undecided if it should be 1 month or something else, but we can discuss that later), and techs will be tied to how many turns it takes to advance into them. Most if not all techs will take 1, whereas "breakthroughs" that are gateways to a next age will take a bit more, so people can have a brief time period to interact with others in a more stable environment and reply to the problems I throw at them as a GM. You can still write multiple replies per turn, which is the main way that you will all be able to interact with each other in timeframes smaller than that of a single turn. For example you might be fighting a war with someone in the bronze age, and in one turn you will unlock iron weapons, while they are getting better armor. Let's say you write 2 posts each about two battles, but it still rages on. By the next turn you will have access to different tools which you can use to wage war with. Alternatively, you might write about a failed expedition across the sea, only to get better ships in a turn and then send out another expedition with these revolutionary new vehicles. I hope that with this MUCH more simple and streamlined system we will be able to advance without any sort of bottlenecks, and we can speed it up or slow it down as we wish by adjusting the time to advance into tech.
I should note that tech is still mostly a guideline despite this. They will mostly allow you to make a better category of items or a new resource, instead of coming up with concrete examples of weapons or buildings. As such, the way your culture works and uses up resources is still in your hand. - Magic, Psyonics & Other Powers - Last time we did not have much time or chances into exploring magic, and this time I hope to change it. By default, no race will be able to fully use advanced magic, but it won't be long until people start to experience weird happenings in the world. Basically, once magic enter the world after an event which I will write out, the very first age is over and you will have the chance to tech into the more mystical forces. These shall work similarly to magic in the Elder Scroll series, meaning that almost anyone can learn it, but the "technology" of magic evolves over time. So at the beginning spellcasters are rare, magic often takes rituals to cast and might be dangerous, but overtime it shall improve. An entire race of magic users is entirely plausible, as the more time they invest into magic, the more they will be able to simplify the way they work.
This is mostly a general way to describe magic: there are other ways things can work, and this is where I expect magic to turn into a very unique and narratively rewarding aspect of the game. If you want your people to have telepathy or bend the elements like in Avatar, they are all entirely possible. Due to the very nature of how magic and superpowers work, it will not have a tech tree of any sorts, rather a simple "Power x Refinement" chart, meaning that depending on what your people are trying to achieve, it takes more time to refine a simple spell, or conjure up a stronger one. After a certain number of powers/abilities are unlocked, your race may start to refine these into more easier to use abilities. As an example, a race of elves might begin to use their own mystical force of "Arcana" to cast spells similar to DnD. Others may choose this unique energy to be their "Ki" and use abilities to make themselves stronger, or bend elements in a more natural way. A third race might choose to worship gods, their prayers willing such divine beings into existence, where their unique power is their "Prayers", whereas they may cast destructive spells upon their enemies or bring rain in a drought, but these require lots of people to truly believe in their gods. As you can see these are just a few examples of mine, but I am sure that everybody who wants to use magic can also come up with a system of their own just as easily, or use these as frameworks.
One last note that I should add is that Magic exists *with* technology, but the two aren't exactly compatible with each other. A steam engine might spontaneously explode when a powerful psyker/mage goes near it, while a magic crystal golem might crumble to dust when in the area of a Wi-Fi router. Originally this was supposed to be a gimmick, but since I've rethought the way things work, it became nearly a requirement. Since you cannot advance in both magic and tech at the same time (you must choose one or the other every turn), this will stop magical players from simply stealing technology and using it without teaching into it, and tech players cannot simply kidnap a mage as their powers would dissipate or mess with their equipment. Of course, I expect players to find ways to circumvent this in various unique ways, but the tech/magic to make this effect disappear is fairly high level. As long as the advancement in either tech or magic is higher than the other, something will always break in either. Only races which choose to advance slower than others but put effort into both will enjoy the benefits of relief from this arcane wrath. I imagine players who decide this route will prove to be invaluable to players looking to ward their equipment from opposing forces. Still, when it comes to battles between magic & tech, these effects will be mostly overlooked: obviously we want the RP to be cool, not bothersome. - Culture & Religion - This is the one gameplay element that barely changed, if at all. This is still probably the main focus of the RP (alongside traditional interactions in NRPs), which means that these will not be limited to any sort of tech tree. You will still be able to freely mold your culture and religion to the way you see fit, making the RP as flavorful as your imagination can. What your people wear, eat or do for entertainment is mostly in your hands, only limited by the factors of what resources they can acquire, but this will mainly be ignored unless in specific cases (aka, if you can't grow spices or anything remotely similar, your people probably won't have spicy food. But if you have strong trade partners, then you may just turn into British Empire v2, drinking tea you cannot grow). The one change is in religion, just as we have said in the previous tab about magic. For most if not all races religion will mostly be a symbolic thing in terms of gameplay, except when they choose it as their base of magic. In this case religion will become quite an important cultural element, moreso than for other empires. Apart from this one change, no one god is more or less powerful than the other between different religions, but I am certain this won't stop crusades from getting started (whether or not it is simple heresy, or techno-heresy is up to you
) - Resources, Climates and the Flora/Fauna - Just as before, I have a world map with topology and biomes, as well as one with resources than will be unveiled once players gain access to such resource (aka copper, iron, gold, etc.). Most plans can be grown anywhere, except for a notable few which we will most likely discuss together. However, there are some changes from the last game. To avoid confusion and a vast number of varying fantasy resources/creatures, I will be taking it into my own hands. I am hoping that by introducing different elements with various properties as well as "strategic resources" players will be able to make their own cultures even more unique and quirky, without having to necessarely advance into tech/magic that they aren't interested in. I also want to make it so that trade will be required in order to get anywhere, so some resources will only be refinable by tech/magic, or be only found in a specific part of the world (think about how most of Earth's Titanium is in Russia, or most of it's Cobalt is in Africa). Of course, if we have a mostly magic oriented or mostly tech oriented playing field then these restrictions may not apply, but I am hoping for a diverse cast of players here :D
As for the flora and fauna part, well, I like to think of it as DnD or Endless Legend. It's mostly what we know, but there will be some unique and quirky things. In the following days I shall begin to work on a bestiary/floral encyclopedia so that you can familiarize yourselves with what the larger world offers and choose to sprinkle it around in the areas you inhabit for fun. * - Maps & Landmarks - Lastly, the map has been changed: it is now smaller than before, to make sure that players will get to meet each other sooner. However I have decided to go for a medieval european approach: there will be other islands or even continents to discover if it proves that our living space is too small, or if you go on a large expedition. Furthermore, there will be unique landmarks that shall appear once the world is "consumed" by magic after the sort of prolouge of our RP is over in a few turns. These will all be marked on your maps, and will provide points of interest that will sometimes give benefits. Such examples are gigantic trees that produce enough food for a while city, large slates of easy to refine stone or precious minerals, or pillars of crystal that hum with latent magical energy. These shall all provide various roleplay and gameplay benefits, both able to shape a culture drastically or give a reason for players to interact, whether or not they share the same holy landmark and create a join religion, or wage war over a particularly fertile batch of land that creates pumpkins the size of cows. **
- Militaries & War - We must take a moment to talk about something rather central in most NRPs that I do hope of seeing some of. It is war. However, in most NRPs it isn't very easy to tell who has how big a military and the kind of advantages that they have. But in order to make it so that people don't just godmod, and that roleplayers don't have to min-max these sorts of things, we will be taking a rather casual approach to this (that is, unless we decide otherwise). When two parties go to war, they shall have a talk about potential army sizes, which the rest of the players will then have a say in. Since this is more of a joint world building project instead of a purely military focused one (thought the two go hand in hand, just look at our own history), I expect that both players will be rational about this. But from here on, much depends on the sort of tech/magic they have, and the way that they use it. It shall be a fun playground to see how individual races fare in war, given that we shall hope to see war not from the perspective of a player who aims to win, but from the eyes of a nation, or rulers. And for those less aimed to roleplay, this should be the perfect way to practice for some arena roleplays while also having some fun with your creations.
Otherwise, any aspects of your military will be up to you to decide. What they wear and use, their formations, military traditions and the like will all add tons of flavor to your race, and create a unique history for their forces. Of course, these will all be taken into account if war emerges. - Economy & Industry - For this topic, I can only really say the same thing as I said for militaries. Since we aren't necessarily playing a competitive game, your economy and industry will be entirely up to you and the techs/magic that you unlocked. I want people to have a fun time and not stress about such micromanaging, but such aspects like the resources you have access to will have a unique tab on your sheets. But as a general rule of thumb, larger empires with more people will have a better economy. In case any problems arise from this simplistic way of dealing with a fairly advanced topic, I have several ideas to explore if the players wish to change it, though I have a feeling it won't be important for quite a while.
And uh... that should be all. Really, I know that this might sound intimidating at first, especially for people more sued to roleplay or character oriented NRP games, but what all these changes focus on doing is separating the roleplay from the game like aspects, making for a more fun experience, regardless of which aspect you enjoy more. Those who want an in depth 4x game with some extra lore attached will most likely enjoy the game just as much as those who want to create an NRP sheet with which they can fill up to teh brim with history and then use wherever the wind may take them later.
* - Both of these will be open for suggestions. At any point if you wish to see some creatures in the game, we will do a community vote and add them in.
** - Same as with the bestiary, if you have ideas or things you want to see in the game, feel free to give suggestions. Based on a vote, we will see about adding them to the RP.
Rules
Hey, congrats on making it through the mechanics :D
Sadly, I am contractually obliged to say these yadda-yadda parts, but you might as well read them.
- No godmodding: Pretty straightforward in an NRP I think, especially since most of the relative powers will be decide by us all, or between contestants in a conflict.
- No metagaming: This rules used to say something-something about advancing too fast in tech, but we already established that we have changed that. So this mostly means you shouldn't know about the secrets of another nation because you read their post.
- No griefing: There are no winners or losers here. We are all here to have a great time, and hopefully influence each other in a creative way. If you do something that is out of character for your people that is aimed at hurting anyone else's experience then you and I will have a long talk.
- Be nice with each other: This is self explanatory. Don't be a douche or critique other's works beyond an acceptable limit even if you disagree with them. We are all here to have fun.
Final Words
First of all, thank you for reading through everything written down above, I know that it can get pretty complicated and long at times. Usually it would be the place for some lore, but this time we are the ones making it. Or if you didn't read it, then naughty you >:o
I want to say that this is something that has been in the works for over 3 years now. As far as the GM (me) is concerned, you should know that I'll pour all my energy into getting maps, fancy images and ideas for all of you to see, because I do want to see this thing through. I am well aware that RPs more often than not die out after a while, but since I've had the pleasure of participating in an RP that has been going on for well over a year now, I've always held hope that an RP can survive when the people are passionate about it. We all have a real life that can fuck us over, so I will not ask anyone to be around at all times. What I do want to say though is that I hope that everyone who writes here was something they want to see in this RP. Imagine the sorts of things that you'd want to do that you can only do when playing with me. If you've found one that you like, the congratulations! Share with us your thoughts, and if you don't like something, then please try to talk with me/us to change it instead of leaving.
I have no false hopes, but I still have faith that we can create an amazing experience for everyone as long as we worth together as a team, and put our noggins together to create an experience about nations, people or even individual characters that we'd enjoy. It certainly isn't out of the question to create character based spinoff RPs if we ever like a select few of them enough. And if things go right, we shall see our people become so advanced that they themselves will start their own little RP inside this one
With that little speech out of the way, I am hoping to see all of you lovelies down in the interest check below, and hopefully soon enough we will be working together on creating something amazing. Until then, I shall be working on creating all the content for you to enjoy.
This is Nisqhog, signing off.
1x Like
