Dreaming Together With You
Hello. Welcome to my experiment. I've never done an anime-style RP before, but the inspiration struck me and here we are. The roleplay will be about a group of people who inadvertently travel into another world together and how their actions and lives in that other world impact their day-to-day existences in their home town on Earth. As such, this roleplay will be featuring Slice of Life elements as well as the more traditional Adventure, Exploration, Magic, and Action highlights of a Fantasy game.
My background in anime is as a casual consumer and regular convention attendee. My background in Fantasy comes from classical and gothic literature and, frankly, I have a penchant for gritty, dark, and realism as qualifiers; as such, this experiment in 'anime' will be a labor of growing pains and broaching the realm of the uncomfortable and unfamiliar. What this means is that you will encounter strange creatures, unfamiliar situations, the occasional puzzle or riddle, and circumstances that will have lasting consequences for the world(s) your characters inhabit.
The game will feature a Prologue Segment; this segment will focus on the characters as teenagers when they first discover this ability to travel to the 'other world', the initial introduction of the 'other world', and essentially be an organic means of introducing elements that would otherwise have just been prompts on a character sheet so that these things can develop on screen. All of this is important to me as a DM because I want the roleplay to focus on the bonds of the characters and their supporting cast, and I feel that if people are willing to put in the legwork for a prologue segment like this that it will strengthen the characterization and themes moving forward. The prologue segment will conclude with the characters returning home and segue into a Time Skip to when the roleplay will begin properly. Over the Time Skip, the events of the prologue will become memory, dream, myth, imagination; the roleplay proper will begin with an event bringing the player characters, now adults whose bond over their shared imaginary adventure has kept them in touch with each other, back together with a reawakening of the Dream...
Below will be a brief interest-blurb of the two key locations of the roleplay.
Art by Sin Jong Hun
The Small Village of New Hope
"New Hope. Nestled between two mountains, at the junction of two rivers, where the beautiful Lake Chartreuse basks in the golden rays of the sun... At least, that's what this brochure says. Truth is, this place is about as 'quaint' and 'small-town' as you could ever expect. The history of this place is long- but quiet and boring despite how well documented it is. Family lines can be traced back to the founding families of New Hope, and a stubborn sort of pride persists in its people. Myself included, to be honest. Everyone tries to leave at one point or another, and a few manage to stay away... But most come back, seeking the quiet of this place. As the brochure says; 'Welcome to New Hope, where all your dreams come true'."
-"Hickory" Earhart, local Librarian.
New Hope is the Player Characters' home town and the setting of our roleplay on Earth. This small village houses a population of three hundred. This is always in a gentle state of flux as people come and go, and travelers pass through, but it's a quirk of the town's history that the population has more or less always stayed the same. The landmarks of the area are the Mountains Bilica and Hoar [The former being the lesser of the two mounts], the Lake Chartreuse, the adjoining rivers [Bilica: River Fontaine, Hoar: Swallow River; "The Swallow"], and the nearby forest called "Weeping Sam" after a local myth. The mountains and the river coming down Mount Bilica are named after three of the Founding Families of New Hope.
The village contains a schoolhouse, a grocer, two restaurants, a gathering hall for communal vote, a local shrine to the old gods of the Founding Families up on Mount Bilica, a small library, and a small communal dock on Lake Chartreuse. Everyone in town has stories of hidden places or forgotten hideouts or mysterious buildings up on the mountains or in the Weeping Sam, but the townsfolk are generally settled in to their routines of farming and toil and many of these adventures of the elders have become local myth or forgotten entirely.
Art by Asur Misoa
The Dreamlands - Yo'Bikur
"Yo'Bikur is the home of the Bikura. It is not unusual for strange beings to appear in the deep wilds of our home, drawn in by Yo'Bikur's silent beckoning. Our history is colored by such visits! The Great Songs of the Elder Voices tell of many a Hero- and many a conqueror- to visit our lands. The Power of Yo'Bikur is an allure, drawing those who visit her back again and again for better or worse. Such is the way of things. Such they shall always be."
-The Princess Rulania, The Song of the Bikura volume 1
Yo'Bikur, The Dreamlands, will be the 'other world' that our roleplay takes part in. Information will be sparse for now, and be revealed as the roleplay takes places. It will be a Medieval themed fantasy land featuring magic, beasts, adventures, mysteries, myths, and danger. In their initial trip to this land as teenagers, the characters will begin awakening to the mystical properties of the Dreamlands organically and in this way the character sheets will grow and become 'complete' after the Prologue. Once the Time Skip occurs and the prologue is complete, travel between The Dreamlands and Earth will be generally sandbox for the Player Characters with the exception of key story beats requiring the full cast in one location or the other. Will your characters try to achieve a balance, fear the Dream and the strange powers they gain there, or lose themselves in this other world?
