Visions of Futures: A Pre-Interest Check

[Sierra]

Visions of Futures

A Collection of Interesting Ideas

Some of you familiar with how I do things probably know how this works. What we have here are a collection of concepts, none of which are anywhere close to being a full roleplay just yet. I post these when I have multiple general ideas but no plan for which to prioritize. Interest and feedback guide my efforts to whichever seems most likely to attract people. So without further ado, here's my latest collection of machinations for your consideration, commentary, and critique.

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Yet Another Alien Apocalypse ...

... this time with mechs.

They came once before, and the casualties were in the hundreds of millions. We knew they would be back, and that we had to be ready. But all that was 30 years ago. This generation grew up without the experience of our very existence being threatened ... but they are our salvation now. They made planetfall 15 days ago, and we have since mobilized everything we have. This time, it will not be a desperate struggle to save our skin. This time they will know they fucked with the wrong planet.

This story follows a bunch of relatively young pilots too young to remember firsthand just what the enemy did to mankind. Nonetheless, they are the soldiers that will stand and fight wielding a variety of mechs developed to counter these hostiles. A main battle tank demands a well-trained crew of three, but a vehicle mimicking the human form takes less training and only a single operator to wield with lethal effectiveness. The mechs are somewhat prefab - military issue and all - but beyond being one of a number of chassis available, the weapon layouts are completely customizable. Exactly how customization is handled is still very up in the air since I want to give as much player freedom as I believably can.
Feedback Wanted.

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2077: Fantasies and Nightmares

Just forty stories separate the Gods from the Slaves

That enigmatic titling aside, this is a cyberpunk idea (hence my cheeky reference to the future GOTY whenever it bothers to release) that exists somewhere between the grim predictions of Deus Ex and the colorfully deceptive dystopia of Cyberpunk 2077. At one point this concept looked every different and even toed into the realm of high sci-fi where ludicrous technologies would be accepted without question, but my intents have shifted. In this world your height in society is a very literal construct. The elites with their helicopters and penthouses live high above the rest, leaving the populous that build their world out of sight and out of mind. I keep going back and forth on how grim to make the lower portions of this very vertical world. That and I keep debating exactly how to start off the players (no, true sandbox is not going to happen).
Feedback Wanted.

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More Than a Man

Great power brings great irresponsibility ...

I actually keep flip-flopping between doing this as superpower or modern magic. The fundamental difference is that superpower actually opens the door to some of that high sci-fi gadgetry I mentioned earlier (Tony Stark doesn't have any superpowers but that doesn't stop him from kicking ass). Meanwhile the modern magic route has involves a more interesting (albeit more laborious) worldbuild. I'm probably going to settle on the former option because that eliminates the need to work the high sci-fi elements into somewhere it probably won't work as well. This idea is extremely preliminary.
Feedback Wanted.

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Thanks for bothering to read what is essentially a minimally-organized public brainstorm. I definitely and looking for some thoughtful feedback on all of these, as well as just some general commentary on what's most interesting to people. This is mostly for me to really decide what's the best route to go in terms of developing my next roleplay project. I like to be extremely thorough even before my projects go up for interest check so the potential for a lot of wasted time is real.

[tal0n]

@Sierra I would be very interested in the Yet Another Alien Apocalypse plot. I would like to know more about the direction that you'd like to go with the world in the RP, and what kind of thin that you'd be going for with the characters, beyond what you have already stated. After that, I absolutely love to do world-building, so I would be happy to help with that if you want help.

EDIT: I also really like the concept art for the aliens

[CaptainBritton]

I'd be interested in the Alien Apocalypse idea as well.

[DeadDrop]

Looks epic.

[Sierra]

@tal0n I havent really sat down to solidify any kind of plot arc at this time, but I have though through a basic structure for the roleplay that alternates combat deployment and downtime. This way we can have some more structure to the pacing while also having time for the narrative storytelling to breathe.

As for the world, I've written a lot of notes about it stemming from Pacific Rim. While the franchise isn't known for realism by any stretch, I've always felt it does a good job with believability, and the subtle elements of how the civilian side of their world works. I've developed a world concept where you have these younger generations that aren't weighed down by the gravity and the mental baggage of the past in sharp contrast to most of the leadership who is still deathly terrified. The physical readiness is definitely there, but you have this divide in attitudes that exists. There's a certain lack of faith and lack of fear that exists that will bite them when the predictions of terrified survivors come to pass.

[tal0n]

@Sierra I really like the sound of that, I'm in for sure.

[Whoami]

I have a particular weak spot for modern superpower RPs.

[Sierra]

Bumping my own thread to lend a slight development on the front of "2077" (I gotta get a better title for that at some point). Was toying around with the idea of something currently called R.E.S.E.T.: Reimplantation & Excision System for Emergency Trauma. In layman's terms, that's a respawn system. Obviously I'm not gonna make it that easy as death is still something to be avoided and there's supposed to be massive economic rifts, but I want to include something to give a unique twist, rather than sticking to genre conventions exclusively. To that end I'm taking a bit of a page from Altered Carbon as well as my other material sources.

I also wanted to introduce a new idea (or rather a really old idea I spruced up).

Hell's Angels

A story of righteous soldiers in a war as old as time.

Olympus, Valhalla, Heaven ... The Underworld, Niflhel, Hell ... call them what you will, they've been at war since the dawn of time. Of all the worlds in an infinite universe, the one called "Earth" is their battleground. For the infinite sapient species in this universe, the faith of the one called "humanity" is deemed a resource worth fighting for eternity over, beyond the view of the humans they so value. This is the story of those who wage this shadow war.

Still working on this concept but its a different spin on the whole "angels vs demons" trope I've seen before. Its surprisingly uncommon here on RPG it seems. The beauty of this is that it works beyond any specific time period, so what era it's played in is up for discussion. Hit me up with your preference here. Middle ages and the traditional fantasy tropes are usually what's invoked here, with a sprinkling of modern era ones, but I want creative ideas. Ancient Egypt? Spacefaring Future?
Feedback Wanted.

[DeadDrop]

Very intrested!!

[tal0n]

@Sierra For the Hell's Angels idea, I'd love seeing it set in a space-faring far-future setting, with the various angels & demons being alien races that look human-esq, with tech so advanced it looks like magic, and we (humans) just misinterpreted their names & etc and turned it into myth.

[Sierra]

@tal0n The thing with doing that, and I say all of this having very much considered this possibility, is that I feel it diminishes the value of invoking the religious-supernatural element. I was tempted and that's part of why I've set it up the way I have so that the religious-supernatural elements are not in any way in conflict with scientific fact, present of future. As an aside, I'm trying to develop the supernatural elements in a way that lends a sort of universality to any past or present religious sect, despite drawing heavily from western/european judeo-christian mythology. I'm struggling a bit with the polytheistic cases but I'll probably figure something out.

I think pushing it forward maybe 50+ years and bringing it up to speed with my cyberpunk realm would be really interesting. Pairing it with humanity having developed a pseudo-immortality of their own that is arguably more powerful than that of the divine creates a really interesting dichotomy and in a lot of ways levels an ordinarily-unbalanced playing field. The effect that balancing has on the dynamic between Earth and Heaven and Hell would be super interesting to play out.

But with all that said I have other stories I want to tell in that cyberpunk world that are more grounded in reality and I tend not to like double-dipping in the creation of RPs ... so that leaves me in a bit of a rock and a hard place. Lemme know what people think regarding my thoughts on it. These are just my thoughts on the matter (but I am the one that has to make the decision and do the work, so there's that).

EDIT: @DeadDrop You're going to have to be more specific, since there are now four different concepts here, as to which you're referring to. There needs to be a clear winner in terms of popularity and/or idea development for me to know which avenue to focus my efforts down.

[tal0n]

@Sierra you raise a good point, and I'd love to see what you will end up with. I'd be super interested in them Allen apocalypse or cyber punk/hell's angels ideas