We've all heard the stories, be they from religion, folklore, or gossip. Malevolent supernatural beings that exist only to bring grief and suffering to those on Earth, who seduce their victims with a kiss and drive them to despair and death. They lurk in dark corners and under children's beds, and are combatted only by chosen warriors, those of the conviction and innate strength to face down the ultimate evil...
Witches and Mahou Shoujo are locked in a never-ending cycle of battle, bloodshed, and rebirth, all for the sake of a small white creature's merciless, coldly logical whims. In exchange for a wish, the pied piper known as Kyubey contracts young human females to a fate of battle and eventual despair as a Magical Girl. No matter their wish, no matter their motivation, they must fight, fight or be killed, fight or let others die, fight or succumb to the ever-growing taint of their Soul Gems.
This is a Puella Magi Madoka Magica roleplay set in modern-day Santa Barbara, a Californian coastal city which is a popular destination for tourists, immigrants, and families alike, and a hunting ground rife with Witches. Magical Girls, be they passers-by or call the territory home, cooperate, compete, and clash, generating the energy Kyubey desires and struggling to survive.
Where do you fit into this chaotic scene? Are you a veteran, trying to rid her territory of witches and defend it from other magical girls? An idealistic greenhorn who wants to be a fairytale heroine? A jaded youth who just wants to survive, and is willing to do so at the expense of others?
There will be some randomization regarding starting stats for variety's sake, but the majority of your character will be determined by you, the roleplayer. Each starting stat may be rerolled once, and they are negotiable. The amount of despair you receive after certain encounters will be randomized, however.
1) Put effort into your character and posts! This is a roleplay where all are welcome, but please take it seriously.
2) No discrimination. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of bigotry are not permitted. Try not to go overboard if your character is discriminatory.
3) Be kind and respectful to the other players!
4) Use proper grammar to the best of your ability.
Name: (What's your character's name? Characters must be female. Transgender girls are allowed.) Age: (Your character can be between 10 and 17 years old. Girls 14 and younger tend to have a higher thread of fate count (potential), while ones older than 14 tend to have more experience and developed mental capabilities.) Theme Color: (The color of your Soul Gem, which extends to the rest of your appearance as a Magical Girl. Useful for deciding your appearance.) Appearance: (Height, weight, hair and eye color, usual apparel and all that jazz. You can draw or use a picture, in addition to a written description! Please tell me what your Soul Gem looks like and where your Soul Gem is located, transformed and in your normal state.) Nationality: (Santa Barbara attracts all manner of people; where do you hail from?) Personality: (Who are you? How do you regard those around you, your identity and your world? What are your likes and dislikes, how do you process and use information? What wish did you make, and why? Optionally, include your MBTI.) Backstory: (Why are you, you? What led up to you becoming a magical girl? What's happened since then? How does that impact you as a person? With permission, you may choose to know the truth about magical girls and witches, but that will increase your starting despair.) Wish: (What were you willing to risk your life and soul for? Put the exact words you spoke to Kyubey. A more complex wish allots you an extra thread of fate, though your abilities may be more difficult to control.) Skills: (What are your talents? What have you learned? Mostly nonmagical.) Weaknesses: (What could you character improve upon? What are your flaws?) Magical Weapon: (Madoka has a bow, Homura has a shield--what do you wield? This tends to tie in with your personality. They don't cost magical energy to use, which is quite useful if you're trying to conserve it.) Magical Ability: (Distinct from your weapon, your magical ability is based on your wish and to some extent your personality. You should describe the core ability and any secondary abilities you might have achieved. The more experience you have, the more secondary abilities and control over your power you have. Higher threads of fate mean more potency to your abilities.) Signature and Finisher: (Particularly experienced magical girls have access to a signature and finishing attacks. Signatures are more powerful than ordinary attacks and can be used a few times per battle; they are typically used to better your position or do sizable amounts of damage to an opponent. Finishers, such as Mami’s Tiro Finale, are used to bring catastrophe to opponents and end fights, but must be used intelligently and sparingly.) Threads of Fate: (I have seen this system in several other Madoka roleplays and hope it is not a crime to adopt it! Your innate potential as a magical girl; tends to be higher the younger you are, and/or the more powerful your wish is. They also directly correlate to how powerful your witch will be. You can increase them beyond the initial rolls, but it is quite difficult.) Experience: (Your current level of mastery over your combat abilities and magical powers. The amount of secondary abilities one has is based on this stat. Your experience increases given time, training, and extraordinary feats and events.) Despair: (Your character's mental state. Is increased by traumatic events, excessive magic use, and generally very slowly by living. While Grief Seeds can lower or eliminate your despair level, certain experiences leave traces of despair that cannot be erased. This is reflected in your character's starting despair level and can be modified over the course of the roleplay. Your starting despair is determined by rolling 2d12.)
Experience levels determine your mastery of your abilities and are demonstrative of how much time you've spent performing magical girl duties. If you are above age 14, you may increase your experience by one; you may also choose to increase your experience by knowing the truth about magical girls and Witches, but this will add to your starting despair. 1d8 determines your starting experience.
1: A freshly-contracted magical girl who has no experience with abilities and has never been in battle. Core ability.
2: A newbie who's fought once or twice before, but is otherwise ignorant. 1 secondary ability.
3: A rookie girl who doesn't really understand her powers yet, but has been in battle. 2 secondary abilities.
4: An average magical girl who's just growing into her own; not entirely new but by no means experienced. 3 secondary abilities.
5: An experienced magical girl who's fought her fair share of battles. 4 secondary abilities and a Signature Move.
6: A veteran magical girl who's been in quite a few battles and knows her way around the system. 5 secondary abilities.
7: A veteran who's fought many few battles and has relative mastery of their abilities. Mami's around here. 1 Finisher.
8: A magical girl who has fought near-countless battles and achieved mastery of her abilities. She understands her limits and has impeccable control of her power. 6 secondary abilities.
9-10: A Magical Woman. Few make it this far, and the extent of their abilities are mostly unknown.
Threads of fate are a measure of your true potential, and determine how powerful your witch will be. The stronger your wish is, the more threads of fate. It is more difficult for characters with higher threads of date to gain experience, though. If you are 14 or under, you may increase your threads of fate by one. You may also increase it by one if your wish is particularly powerful/far-reaching. However, it will be more difficult to gain control over your abilities, especially if you combine the two. For reference, Madoka would be an 11 on this scale. 1d8 determines your starting ToF
1-5: Most magical girls fall around here. It's not a shameful place to be, you're still quite powerful, being a magical girl, and you tend to be more resourceful and varied thanks to needing to try harder.
6-8: You're a cut above most magical girls, and your abilities tend to be very unusual, such as Homura's timestop. Either that, or you're just innately powerful.
9-10: Your witch will most likely kill the majority of players in this roleplay. Your Core ability is often tied to unstable, formless concepts, and is very powerful.
(note: most of this system has been adopted from various roleplays I've read, most notably this. If you are the owner of any part of this system and wish for me to stop using it, I will comply.)
This roleplay will have a Discord once the main cast is decided. I am not certain what the player limit will be, but it most likely be no more than 10, not counting myself and the co-GM. There will be some plot direction, but nothing along the lines of railroading. Feel free to suggest lines of plot to me or personally PM me about things you want to be kept secret from others!
If you have a specific character you want to play and your stats don't line up with her, I encourage you to roll (heheh) with the punches, but exceptions can be made! I'm not a monstrous, unyielding GM, I promise.
You can die. This does not mean you are kicked from the roleplay, you can play your fallen character's witch and/or roll another. The tone of this roleplay will be similar to that of the Madoka Magica anime--while there will be humor and light-hearted moments, it is serious.
I'd prefer you be available at least once a week, but if you're busier than that, don't think you can't join! We'll schedule sessions based on availabity and make certain players who are less active are still plot-relevant!
All you have to do is post here saying you're interested and I'll roll your ToF, experience and despair! Post your character sheets here once you're finished!
@NightinGem Aww! It's no problem. Haven't seen a good PMM RP idea anywhere in years, so i felt the compliment was warranted. :)
Are those my rolled starting stats as well?
Though, just for the fun of it, could i see a second roll for stats as well? Having a couple of options could be cool to choose from, at least when brainstorming on my end. I mean...only if that is ok...
@Nightingem Does the experience from knowing about witches stack with the experience from being over 14? Also, what do the moves at the side of each experience level represent? Do you only get what is listed at each level, or do you gain that in addition to what you got at the previous level?
@Crusader Lord Yep! No worries, I can whip up the second set. Experience: 5 ToF: 6 Starting Despair: 15%
@snake153 It can, but keep in mind it can stagnant your exp growth significantly. And you gain abilities in addition to what you had at the previous level, yes, sorry for being unclear about that.
@Crusader Lord A wish that both has extensive implications and is well-worded. A sample character I rolled had the wish "I wish I was able to sense suicidal and self-destructive thoughts and save those with them," which I would use as an example. Note: if you choose to increase your ToF by wish, you can't by age and I would strongly recommend against increasing exp by age if you choose a wish like this. Witches made from these wishes tend to be much more formidable even if their bearers have a relatively low ToF.
...next on "Things Gem Should've Included in the OP..."
@NightinGem Should not be up this late and normally am not, but was struggling to sleep and decided to check up on this place before i head back to bed again. ;)
@Crusader Lord A wish that both has extensive implications and is well-worded. A sample character I rolled had the wish "I wish I was able to sense suicidal and self-destructive thoughts and save those with them," which I would use as an example. Note: if you choose to increase your ToF by wish, you can't by age and I would strongly recommend against increasing exp by age if you choose a wish like this. Witches made from these wishes tend to be much more formidable even if their bearers have a relatively low ToF.
...next on "Things Gem Should've Included in the OP..."
Hmm...so what about a wish like this by a potential magical girl, said in a manner meant to be poetic but that has a lot of implications as a part of it:
"I wish i was as great and mighty as the stars in the sky, in that i am not aging, but am full of great power and great majesty, in that i am unable to fall, but am able to cause those in my way to fall before me as well!"
Would this sort of wish be complex enough to warrant a "+1 ToF"?
And whether this is the case or not, what sort of powers or such could this wish result in?
@Crusader Lord That is...a tad powerful. The general rule is don't go Madoka level or beyond. Perhaps take out the "unable to fall" part? Then you'd have a pretty damn powerful girl *and* she'd have a potential neato star theme. You'd probably have some manner of raw energy manipulation/special theme. References to stars and not falling, combined with your character's general poetic, grandiose nature would point to something like that~
If you want help fleshing this out I can PM you whenever!
Hey guys, so I'm a fucking stupid anxious idiot who figured it'd be ok to borrow rules from a previous PMMM roleplay just crediting them and without asking permission. I might end up cancelling this roleplay if they want me to...and also I kind of made this on a whim, and am going through a lot of crap right now irl and don't really have the energy for this. So all around a terrible decision on my part. I'm sorry.
Hey guys, so I'm a fucking stupid anxious idiot who figured it'd be ok to borrow rules from a previous PMMM roleplay just crediting them and without asking permission. I might end up cancelling this roleplay if they want me to...and also I kind of made this on a whim, and am going through a lot of crap right now irl and don't really have the energy for this. So all around a terrible decision on my part. I'm sorry.
Hey calm down! We all make mistakes so don't beat yourself up about it. Has the original gm said anything in specific? We can still continue with a PMMM roleplay if we ditch the exact stats/etc thing that they're not happy about, and come up with another set of rules instead.
But you're the GM here . I'm just pitching in my two cents!