Giant said
Well, consider me interested. It'll be fun to see a balance between the powerful arts of old and the advancing machinery of the modern ages; the ritualistic nature of magic and the clash with modern society and pragmatism. I'm up if you're up, any suggestion as to paths you want to take?

I would say a benefit or theme to mixing old and new concepts of magic versus technology, would be the discrimination of magic users and those who do not indulge in it. I suppose it would depend if we wanted magic to be a learned art for anyone or something genetic that could lean toward science fiction?

Genkai said
I would say a benefit or theme to mixing old and new concepts of magic versus technology, would be the discrimination of magic users and those who do not indulge in it. I suppose it would depend if we wanted magic to be a learned art for anyone or something genetic that could lean toward science fiction?

If we're going to touch on the discrimination of non-magic users, I'd say having magic as a genetic trait would be far more beneficial to the setting, what with certain families holding all the power with the inability of others to access the path to magic. It could lean towards science fiction or we could just have it as a preassumption within the setting, given that any investigation into the biology of magic would be rejected by the magician families, with the objective of perpetuating the secrets of magic. And there could be magicians who are in favor of it, making small breakthroughs.

Okay, sorry, I'm going off track here, hehe.

Giant said
If we're going to touch on the discrimination of non-magic users, I'd say having magic as a genetic trait would be far more beneficial to the setting, what with certain families holding all the power with the inability of others to access the path to magic. It could lean towards science fiction or we could just have it as a preassumption within the setting, given that any investigation into the biology of magic would be rejected by the magician families, with the objective of perpetuating the secrets of magic. And there could be magicians who are in favor of it, making small breakthroughs.

Okay, sorry, I'm going off track here, hehe.

If we wanted to have a field of science dedicated to the use of targeting a magical gene and perhaps selling it or altering it, in case someone doesn't want their child to have it. We could probably do something with upper and middle class if that was the case, as I assume if the gene itself became a commodity, then it could be something the wealthy either abhor or want a monopoly on. Either way, I can see class system dynamics working in some way with magic v non-magic users, then of course there's the idea of putting them in the military and all that, though I'd have an idea that only certain parts of the world can have native of certain magical affiliations. What do you think?

Genkai said
If we wanted to have a field of science dedicated to the use of targeting a magical gene and perhaps selling it or altering it, in case someone doesn't want their child to have it. We could probably do something with upper and middle class if that was the case, as I assume if the gene itself became a commodity, then it could be something the wealthy either abhor or want a monopoly on. Either way, I can see class system dynamics working in some way with magic v non-magic users, then of course there's the idea of putting them in the military and all that, though I'd have an idea that only certain parts of the world can have native of certain magical affiliations. What do you think?

I like the idea of a magical gene adapting to the enviroment to suit survival on it properly, in a way that different regions of the world have different kinds of magic; in the past there could have been slave markets in order to use the people with said genes and to transmit them. That's pretty dark, though.

The class system is fine, it'd seem logical that the people with the power to transform their enviroment without relying on machines or workers would have had an advantage in an early stage of civilization, although nowdays it could be rejected. It does depend on the person. And the military... that's an entirely different issue, there's the fact that a nation that conscripts its magicians will have more power, yet in a modern society the individual would have the choice to enroll; which leaves us with the problem as to why people who hold economic power would enroll willingly. Perhaps because of honor and tradition. There's also the fact that in a modern age, no matter how powerful a magician may be, he can't hold an entire army at bay like they could before, when they defended fortresses from the top of towers. Most of the army would still be composed by regular humans.

I only mentioned military in passing, I have no interest to go anywhere near politics or fighting with nations, I just assume for the background sake of everything, at least establishing whatever conflicts are going on be them internal or global would be useful. As far characters go, back to the basics here, what sort of character(s) would you be interested in playing? I assume the dynamic of a non-magic user and a magic user would be ideal. And as far as modern settings go, we could pick a city or country and start there, while traveling elsewhere. Or have a non-native of the country in the mix as well, as far as bringing in other branches of magical talent. I'd probably like something with a mix of slice of life, action, drama and mystery. I think as far as plot go, we could do something like character "on the run" as some people put it. Or do some sort of modern day quest to fulfill some mystery or problem. Or something more intricate?

As for the plot, perhaps we could be on the run because the both of us have found files about the magical genes that could be exploited? It'd also work well as one character chasing the other; if we took upon something more intincrate, it could be changing the way society views magic, or something around that idea. Something big.

And characters... well, that's a hard question right there. If I had a magic user, I'd probably be some spoiled, sheltered rich kid who looks down on non-magic users; an idiot who's easily manipulated. I guess it'd progressively advance from there, for better or worse. I could also be some activist against the people who abuse magic (a blind idealist), or a mage who collaborated with the researchers of the gene in order to improve humanity. There's a ton of possiblities, really. As a non-magic user? There's even more. It could be some disgruntled individual with a hatred for all things related to magic, it could be someone on a quest to acquire magic powers for himself (as for the reason, there are plenty of possiblities) or a researcher that accidentally found the materials of the files and got caught up in an ordeal.

Tell me if you like any of these ideas, I am just throwing 'em out there.

I don't really like plots where one character is kind of center of it, even for just a catalyst of an event of some sort.

I think the cliche spoiled magic kid or the activist could prove entertaining. I think the possibility of mixing science and morality would be cool. Like an intern who could work for a company outsourcing people to "harvest" magic genes in other countries which could probably be deadly for those people whose genes have been extracted, who could also moon light as an activist who is against. Though that's saying the person can be both sides of the coin, unable to decide what they believe is right. I don't know. Are you looking for something more thrilling and serious or something more slice of life, light but with enough drama/secrets? I think our character choices will make the path as light or as dark as we like.

Then one of those two it is!

Also, I think there must be a balance between drama and regular ''slice of life'' situations within a story. A character isn't fully fleshed out when the only reasoning we can see of him is in crisis, nor can he sometimes shine when the drama happens. Of course the plot has to have some kind of dramatic content in it, as every narration that has as an objective catching the attention of the reader, but a man doesn't react the same to an explosion downtown as he does to the handling of his finances and his relationships. A hero can appear at the most crucial of times out of the most grim, despicable man.

So I guess the slice of life with enough drama would work pretty well.

I'd probably have preference to slice of life, if anything it can always be taken to the next level, though the same could be said for any "plot" though I tend to make plots prior to making characters per say. I find it a bit hard to stick a character down and make a plot work around it or them. Are you thinking of making and playing more than one character or are you keen to stick to one generally?

I'd say I prefer sticking to one, if that's alright with you.

Yeah that's cool, it just makes things easier to know what the dynamic may be (small group of characters v a duo). So any age range you're looking at? I'd say I'm fine with anyone from 18 to 30. Anything younger and it just gets a little hard to make developments happen smoothly.

Hm. I'd say around 30, or maybe a bit less, like 28 years old or so. By the way, should I be the magic user?

I'm not sure, it probably depends on what plot we'd like to use, I can probably go either way but probably better to make a conflict prior to predetermining roles.

Alrighty then! Then, how do we solidify the plot and context our characters are going to be part of?

I decided to make an OOC for us.

Bump.

Bump because my class is finally over!

Consider me interested in either a Harry Potter or a Naruto roleplay, though I'm more knowledgeable of the former as I only read the Naruto manga and stopped when Tobi's identity and past was revealed.

Now, what I think would be interesting would be to make the 'bad guys' of Harry Potter into the 'good guys's avatars in a non magical AU where virtual realities are full of magical stuff.

AUs can be a tad tricky, since it's more of an "unknown" situation, while I've enjoyed them, it's essential that both people are on the same page as far as roles, intentions, situations and setting. When you mention "bad guys" who do you consider bad and is there one or two (or however many I guess) you'd like to focus on redoing them in a modern setting as another person, so to speak?

It came mostly from the idea of what would happen if one of the main or even less known character would act in a virtual reality where they would be one of the Death Eaters. Of course, I could always plot something else up, but I thought it would be interesting to see how they would juggle being jerks on virtual realities and try to be decent but flawed persons in real life.