Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Dulcet
Raw
GM

Dulcet Interested Third Party

Member Seen 8 yrs ago

The Star's Dreams

A Night to define a lifetime



Nobody knows how or why she does it. Tales spread from world to world on the lips of mischievous storytellers, and from there local bards took the mantle and plied the tale to ravenous ears. In many worlds, the tale fizzled out and died—none of its inhabitants ever expanding the story or being selected. In a few select worlds, the story lives on. On the smallest collection of choice worlds, her eyes settle.

Sometimes the invitation comes in the night; a letter or note left on a nightstand, or perhaps it is folded neatly over the recipient’s chest. Other times, the invitation is more aggressive—coming in the heat of battle, or during a particularly trying night after a fight with a loved one. No matter the manner it’s delivered, the invitation’s content is always the same.

A Cordial Invitation,
To whom I have expressed interest.
Should you reciprocate, and are prepared to give your time to satiate my desire,
I invite you to my home for supper and pleasantries.

Introductions and my statement will begin the night.
Dinner begins at 8’oclock
Entertainment in most rooms will begin at 9.
My departing statement will take place at 3 AM.
Guests should vacate the premise by 4.

To accept this invitation, simply place underfoot and tarnish the seal.
If unable to do so, hold the invitation to your chest and tear it.

I anxiously await an affirmative reply,

-A Lonesome Star


Those that receive the invitation begin to have strange dreams—nightmares, to some—of a lonesome woman in gold. She beckons to them as they sleep; occupying their dreams for as long at the invitation stands. It is no secret that she’s driven some to madness with her call. In their dreams, the invitees see the moment they accept the invitation. They see the world of wonder that she lives in. They walk down the grand hallway to her abode. They see her atop a fountain surrounded by thousands of silver chimes. She extends their hand to them, and while they can never exactly remember what she says, her final invitation is always clear.

"A story waits for you beyond my doors," she says.
"It would be a shame to let it go."



|Overview|


A warm welcome to The Star's Dreams. With few defined rules and an opulent setting overseen by an age-old celestial being, guests are encouraged to interact with each other and their surroundings to their heart's content. At the top of the hour every night, the host will introduce something new for the guests to marvel at, or will change something in the house to stimulate action. She can be a fickle woman, but generally her changes are pleasant. At the desire and preparation of the guests, however, she can introduce... less-than-pleasant scenarios. Worry not--death in her home is simply one way of leaving.

The Star's Dreams is wholly focused on the players. While the host may take some actions herself, she will simply observe them, for the most part. NPCs may come and go as the players interact with their surroundings, but will also generally keep to themselves. Guests may call on the host to reveal things to them, or point them in the right direction. Despite this, should someone interact with the host in particular, she will happily engage them.

By the end of the night, the host hopes that the guests have enjoyed themselves, and have left her intriguing stories in return. There has never been a case of a second invitation, but perhaps another interesting story will arise and draw her attention once more.


|A Note on the Host|


While the intent is that existing characters in the midst of their own tall tales and actions, there are a few things that increase a person's chances of getting an invitation from the Host despite not having a tale to tell as in they're tailor-made for this RP. She is particularly fond of long-standing romances a-la-childhood friends, incredibly fond of forbidden romances, and absolutely enamoured by tragic romances--it's not at all far-fetched for her to send an invitation promptly after the death of one's true love.

Aside from that, the Host seeks out romantic stories in the sense of heroes prevailing against all odds, Pyhrric victories, and beautiful visions of tomorrow. Those that lead the charge into battle and those that lead a kingdom into prosperity alike may find themselves invited. That is not to say that those of low birth and unremarkable lives aren't invited--sometimes she will take interest in the life of an unremarkable person to see how they fare standing amongst living legends.



The Home of a Star

The building itself is meant to be explored, but after arrival all guests will be given a general map. As the layout of the building changes at the Host's desires, only a list of the rooms is presented. Rooms may also change, but the following are almost guaranteed to exist.




The Rules




A Note on the Posting Requirements:

As it stands, I aim to make this a faster-paced, shorter RP. To facilitate that, the RP will be broken into segments ("hours," loosely.) Within each segment, I hope that players will at least make one post describing what they intend to do. Technically there is no limit to what you can do within that hour, but to move things along and have the Host introduce new elements, we will advance into a new "hour" when:


  • All players 'declare' in their post that they are done taking actions for the hour.
    or
  • All players have made at least one post and I move the clock ahead. I won't do this often; maybe I'll do it after around a week of posting. This will be mentioned in OOC. After the announcement, you have 3 days (negotiable) before the clock moves ahead.
    or
  • Some players have made at least one post, but one player is inactive even after I announce that time will soon advance. At that point, they're considered either drunk or otherwise predisposed, and time will move on. If this happens twice in a row, we'll roll dice in OOC and see what to do to the person.


I write this in a really laid-back manner to show that I'm fairly relaxed most of the time, but I'll come down harder on rule-breakers in return. Let's not let it get that far, okay?


On Character Creation


This is an advanced roleplay, and a character-centric one at that. Applications are required. I'm hoping at least one person uses a character otherwise engaged in another RP and manages to write this experience into their character (ask your GM first!) but that's just a gimmick. You can use that character's CS, but make sure to retool it to the one that I lay out.

This is incredibly important:

DO NOT USE A CHARACTER THAT HAS SEVERE ILLNESSES--MENTAL OR OTHERWISE--OR DISABILITIES UNLESS YOU CAN ROLEPLAY IT WELL

I say this because, for quality's sake, and from the perspective of the RP, I want to end up with some engaging stories. The caveat to this is if you contact me beforehand that your character is going to fake either of the above--I say that, but make sure to GIVE IT A GOOD REASON. Bonus points if they're doing it to run from a marriage or something; just make it interesting and at least plausible. It's fine if your character just happens to have a cold or something, but please note that the Host has the capability of temporarily "curing" it during your stayshe may leave it if she thinks it'll make for an interesting plot device

Characters will retain any abilities that they have in their world. If you're a wizard in your world of magic, you can use that magic, or if your character is some sort of John Carter analogue they can have superhuman strength. Characters from different worlds, however, cannot use their special abilities on each other; the wizard's fireballs won't do anything to John Carter, and John Carter would have to put in the same amount of effort to lift the wizard that a person of similar physical muscle mass would have to. However, physical objects inside the Host's world are affected by all special abilities, and retain any energy put into them. If the wizard can levitate a piano, set it on fire, and toss it at John Carter, John Carter would have to throw it back or dodge. Issues that come up from different-but-similar worlds will have to be taken care of OOC (e.g. can your wizard that uses mana drain mana from the wizard from a world without it to stop their spells?)






As it stands I think this is everything I needed to mention for this post, though if some more information comes up later I'll make sure to post it here. I'm looking for around at least 6 players, though more would always be welcome before we start (maybe even after!), and I can work with less. I understand that it might be a busy time for some people, so we may start a little later; it depends on everyone's needs.
1x Thank Thank
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Kyrisse
Raw
Avatar of Kyrisse

Kyrisse

Member Seen 3 yrs ago

This looks interesting.
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by shylarah
Raw
Avatar of shylarah

shylarah the crazy one

Member Seen 6 hrs ago

@Dulcet

>love
>tragedy

WELL THEN.

Ahaha, I know who's coming, because if she likes it that much then dear gods, your star will /adore/ Alys. She's the messed-up one that has recovered some but still carries deep, /deep/ scars. ...Oooh, I should see if I can't drag Sly over to this! I mean, she's not on this site, but she plays the guy that Alys eventually marries. ...After trying to push him away, taking gentle advantage of him (possibly more than gentle, but to be fair he kept offering), putting him through the emotional wringer, eventually crushing his heart so thoroughly that he fled London so as not to encounter her by chance, and then TEN YEARS LATER he has returned and runs into her again and the whole tragic spiral starts over. Though we do give it an eventually happy ending? ^.^;;

This doesn't even touch on why she's so messed up to start with, of course, nor the half-point in her story where she completes her objective and then expects to be killed or imprisoned for life. And turns herself in so she can be. *giggles like a mad fool* SO YEAH.

It's a shame, because I really wanted to play Cecilly (technically blind dancer) or rhylaen (stranded youth) but neither one fits the sort of thing that our lovely host adores so much as Alys. ^.^;;

As a side note, you might like Fallen London, which is where Alys originates. <3 "In matters of the Bazaar, always look to love."

The only issue here is that before the halfpoint Alys is incredibly hard to get close to. But I suppose right about when she's resolved that she is going to remove herself from Maxwell's life because he has a not-quite-wife that absolutely adores him would be sufficiently tragic, and that's much farther on. ^.^

Might change my mind. It's nearly six am and I've been up most of the night and I'm sick. But yeah, this is the instinctive reaction.
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Dulcet
Raw
GM

Dulcet Interested Third Party

Member Seen 8 yrs ago

@shylarah
I'm glad to see you have ideas already!

I've actually heard of Fallen London! I currently only know of it from Sunless Sea; I've yet to delve into the browser game.
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by shylarah
Raw
Avatar of shylarah

shylarah the crazy one

Member Seen 6 hrs ago

@Dulcet ehehe, I had ideas in the interest check! I just am now nearly certain I have made a decision. Even if it's not the one I intended. Stupid characters, having minds of their own...
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Oliver
Raw
Avatar of Oliver

Oliver Stupid Kid

Member Seen 7 yrs ago

I think this is a cool idea. I'm still pretty foreign to Advanced, but I can fit the post length.
Anyway, I have a few questions:
. As far as our characters go, did you have a specific age range in mind?
. Would it be assumed that all characters are speaking the same language, even those from different worlds?
. Would a physical disability, such as being deaf or in a wheelchair, count as a "severe illness"?
. Is there a limit on how technologically advanced our character's homeworlds can be?
. Could a character from a past incarnation of Earth be alright? Dickensian London, Edo Period Japan, World War II America, etc?
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by BayRat
Raw
Avatar of BayRat

BayRat Oh No

Member Seen 1 day ago

Can a character be dead and still be invited? Like coming from some vague afterlife, I have two different ideas for characters from previous roleplays I did.
1x Like Like
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by shylarah
Raw
Avatar of shylarah

shylarah the crazy one

Member Seen 6 hrs ago

@Oliver I would imagine there is some sort of translation spell in place. OH GOSH. Crud, now I kinda really wanna use Rhylaen, because she's not been able to speak her native tongue in /years/. GAAAH. But it would also get rid of her heavy accent in English/common so eh.

@dragonmancer I think I like you. ^.^
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Dulcet
Raw
GM

Dulcet Interested Third Party

Member Seen 8 yrs ago

I think this is a cool idea. I'm still pretty foreign to Advanced, but I can fit the post length.
Anyway, I have a few questions:
. As far as our characters go, did you have a specific age range in mind?
. Would it be assumed that all characters are speaking the same language, even those from different worlds?
. Would a physical disability, such as being deaf or in a wheelchair, count as a "severe illness"?
. Is there a limit on how technologically advanced our character's homeworlds can be?
. Could a character from a past incarnation of Earth be alright? Dickensian London, Edo Period Japan, World War II America, etc?


I'm not looking for a particular age range, save for hoping your character is at least of age to communicate and interact with the world without too much difficulty (e.g. if you're geriatric that may be a little out there.)

All characters will be able (forced, if need be) to communicate with the Host, but if they don't want someone else to understand their language they have that choice. This is something that I figured would only have a chance to be announced after the Host's opening statement, so by default everyone understands everyone else.

I would consider deafness fairly severe in terms of a disability, though sign language is included in the 'languages people will understand' category (just that they need to be looking at you to "hear" it,) I would consider it one of the disabilities that are "easier" to RP if you know what it's like. Compared to being blind it's easier in a sense that you can still describe things as they appear rather than what you think they are, though actions will be appropriately handicapped. A wheelchair is completely fine so long as you remember that you won't be using the same movement verbs.

There is no limit on how advanced a world can be, though I would prefer if you didn't come from a world that's so technologically advanced they could have stumbled upon the Host's home through their own means (that'd be late late-dimensional tech; the kind that sniffs out actual Gods). It's a privacy thing.

Any character from any incarnation of Earth is fine--people are plucked from every timeline and every dimension here.


Can a character be dead and still be invited? Like coming from some vague afterlife, I have two different ideas for characters from previous roleplays I did.


Dead characters are fine; it's your choice of whether or not they were alive at the time they got the invitation (like if they just kept it a secret to the grave.) If you're thoroughly dead, there may be special conditions attached to that which will be announced IC for everyone else, though I'll probably PM you if it's something integral to your character's functioning.

Hidden 8 yrs ago 8 yrs ago Post by Dulcet
Raw
GM

Dulcet Interested Third Party

Member Seen 8 yrs ago

The first character has been APPROVED! @Kymera has claimed the first character spot.

As a reminder for everyone else that's getting characters in order, drop them in here in the OOC (in a hider) or PM me when you're ready!

I've put the Host in the Character's tab; held off on the details, as that's something you'll have to pry out of her IC (gotta keep people on their toes.)

First IC post is in the works.
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Kymera
Raw
Avatar of Kymera

Kymera Genetic experiment gone wrong

Member Seen 4 mos ago

Hello everyone! There's some exciting ideas floating around and I hope I get to RP with you guys!!
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by shylarah
Raw
Avatar of shylarah

shylarah the crazy one

Member Seen 6 hrs ago

Okay, so most of this is probably irrelevant, but it sorta bothered me and then I /really/ got thinking...I'm fairly certain I know the DM's intent here, but it's still fun to play with. <3



tl;dr half-coherent Shy thinks too much. Working on a sheet right now. ^.^
Hidden 8 yrs ago 8 yrs ago Post by Dulcet
Raw
GM

Dulcet Interested Third Party

Member Seen 8 yrs ago

@shylarah
I'm fine with the picky questions; they can turn out to be big concerns for a lot more people than expected!

As a rule of thumb and TL;DR, a character will maintain their normal level of perception, and physical, technological items will work on people that haven't reached that stage of development yet (just don't expect any hyper-rare or synthetic materials to lie around for you to reload your crystal-focused disintegrator with!)

Now I'll try to target your questions directly (and hopefully expand on my answers so they're not just hyper-specific.) Some further specificity issues may come up, so please ask if there's some other loophole that opens up.

I'll go in order of asking.



Please remember that the point of the RP isn't combat, though it's allowed. I want your character's wounds to be emotional.

I'll stick this stuff in the main post once I'm not sitting in a car fighting its suspension to type without looking like I've had a stroke.

Please, bring more questions if you have them.

EDIT: For a grammar error. Also, the Host won't put you in any peril! At least, not at first.
EDIT x2: More grammar.
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by shylarah
Raw
Avatar of shylarah

shylarah the crazy one

Member Seen 6 hrs ago

@Dulcet <3 I like you a /lot/. Yeah, I figured this is mostly to keep things from getting out of hand. And because we-the-writers are humans in this particular world, that is the baseline used for the IC. Even though, theoretically, our lovely star host could have picked anything as a baseline.



<3

UGH I NEED TO FOCUS. But hey, /almost/ done with Alys's char sheet!
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by shylarah
Raw
Avatar of shylarah

shylarah the crazy one

Member Seen 6 hrs ago

Okay so this took me like all day? And I am sick to death of looking at it now. x.x

Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Dulcet
Raw
GM

Dulcet Interested Third Party

Member Seen 8 yrs ago

@shylarah

This looks pretty good! Hopefully the more interesting parts of the dark forces that work in the Neath follow through to make things interesting.

Alysanna (and whatever secrets she may possess) is APPROVED for the gathering. Drop her off in the characters tab.

As for everyone else, I'll probably send a mention to everyone in a few days to check if they're still interested. Things are shaping up to be interesting!

Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by shylarah
Raw
Avatar of shylarah

shylarah the crazy one

Member Seen 6 hrs ago

@Dulcet Woo! *dances* I'm excited!
Hidden 8 yrs ago 8 yrs ago Post by Rumplestiltskin
Raw
Avatar of Rumplestiltskin

Rumplestiltskin The Dark One

Member Seen 8 yrs ago

Greetings, @Dulcet. Pleasure to meet you, and read your RP's premise.

Close friend of Shylarah here. She wants to RP with me and thought this one might be up my avenue...

I have something in mind--a monstrous idea, to be sure. Love themed, though I might leave it to you and your Host to decide what kind of spine-tingling love it might be.

Hopefully I'll have a pitch for you soon.
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by Dulcet
Raw
GM

Dulcet Interested Third Party

Member Seen 8 yrs ago

@Rumplestiltskin

I'm excited to hear it! Always good to have more people onboard, and if you've got something scandalous for us... I'd love to have you onboard!
1x Thank Thank
Hidden 8 yrs ago Post by shylarah
Raw
Avatar of shylarah

shylarah the crazy one

Member Seen 6 hrs ago

@Dulcet It's more like I throw anything that might be vaguely interesting in his direction hoping some will stick because we never end up in the same rps. =P And man, he wrote this thing and I read it and *shudders* so creepy. /Good/, but creepy. It'll be fun, if it works. ...And probably infuriate Alys, but oh well. I'll either figure out how to have her not go BSOD or just watch from an authorial distance. <3
1x Laugh Laugh
↑ Top
© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet