Preamble
Feel free to skip this section if you want, it's just a lot of explanation/nostalgic rambling, mostly.
I've wanted something like this for a while, as sort of a... callback, to a simpler time when I first started forum roleplaying like 10+ years ago lol. Many of the roleplays I did then were pretty structureless, very collaborative, very much a free-for-all... usually they began with a base concept (ie, wolves) and people would simply build onto that; sometimes in good ways, sometimes in not so good ways. For sure, those were the days of Mary-Sues and powerplaying, wolves with wings or two tails or red eyes or whatever. We told stories that were chaotic and juvenile, but we had fun doing it. So, I want to try to capture that again a little bit.
I do feel as though much of the time we get caught up, now, in trying to tell a story that is good or interesting; there's nothing wrong with that, of course, and I love that kind of collaborative storytelling. But, I think part of the heart of roleplay is just coming up with -something-, and someone else coming up with -something else-, and then you throw them at each other without a plan or too many rules and things just.... happen.
So, the idea behind this is to give a rather loose core concept/plot, a couple of guidelines for characters and settings, and then let players build from there. So, they can involve themselves in whatever the "main hook" is, or completely go off the rails with different characters to develop their own plots and scenarios. Characters can be as heavily or loosely tied together as they want. Similarly, we will start with only a fairly vague lore and setting, and as characters are created and scenarios play out we will add to the lore.
Concept, Plot, & Setting
It has been winter here for longer than anyone can remember. Many of the younger wolves know not the feeling of grass beneath their paws, and the bitter, icy winds make flight difficult for those with the ability. Prey has been scarce, and the trees have been bare for what would normally be called "seasons," but it seems that those no longer change. The shining sun has been absent, hiding behind a veil of storm clouds save for all but a few fleeting, infrequent moments. Some say it's a curse that brings this upon the world; others say it is the end of times. Some seek an answer, a solution; others have yet given up hope. And some of the youngsters don't even know a different way for the world to be.
This roleplay takes place in a wintery landscape ranging from "pretty cold" in the frosty pine forests to "deathly freezing" on the snowy slopes of the mountains. I won't define the places/setting too much for now, so as to leave room for people to come up with places of their own, but for the time being imagine something akin to a Canadian winter. We can add more definite regions and landmarks as we go. The world is cold and blizzardy, and the sun has remained covered by continuous storm clouds for some like five or six years. This means less foliage, which means less prey, which means less wolves. It is not easy to survive here, though some older wolves do remember a time when the world was green. They have different explanations for the current predicament, though most blame some sort of curse or powerful spirit. There are some who actively seek to find the cause and fix it, but most feel that is a fruitless endeavor.
Characters
Characters will be pretty open-ended- they don't even need to be strictly "realistic" wolves. There will be a few guidelines from the get-go, though. Wolves are welcome to be somewhat unrealistic; for example, having multiple tails, unnaturally-colored markings or eyes (like red, purple, or green), or even feathered wings. However, they may not have magical powers (such as elemental control or fire breathing or anything like that). They may also not be completely unnatural colors, such as being entirely blue. Finally, they may not be chimeras, in that they must be entirely wolf- so no part wolf but with hooves or anything like that. The only part they may take from other animals is that of feathery, bird-like wings. Finally, wolves may have accessories so long as they're not man-made. So, necklaces made of woven vines and piercings made of bone is fine; knitted scarves or metal jewelry is not.
Other parameters may be established as we go.
That's about it for now. The rest, really, would be up to the characters to come up with and decide.
