Candlewick (a fantastical seafaring RP)

[Mokley]

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Creaking wood. The shuffle of feet above. A murmur of whispers. The rush of the ocean. The woven rope of a hammock biting into your skin. This is not where you fell asleep. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. A lamp burns nailed to a table; it casts shadows like monsters on the raw bark walls. A few sprigs of green grow out of the twisted fissures in the wood. Did that wall just move? No, a trick of the lamplight, surely. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

The Premise

This is a whimsical, hyper-fantasy, folklore-inspired roleplay about exploration, creativity and character development. Your character will begin without knowledge, without skills, without weapons, without supplies. All they know is they fell asleep in their own bed and woke up in the belly of a ship woven out of living wood. All they have are the clothes on their backs and their own wit. Your woefully unprepared character will be presented with the opportunity to interact with the ship, with each other, and with the inhabitants of the islands along the way: only through these interactions -- and the resulting domino-effect of events -- will the true nature of the nameless vessel reveal itself.

OOC

[BingTheWing]

Looks good. Will our characters have to be from present-day Earth?

[cnash1303]

I like it! I'm in.

[Mokley]

@BingTheWing No, I don't think so, though that's something I'm still unsure on. I think, rather, that it might be interesting if all the characters came from a time and place similar to our Middle Ages up to the Victorian era. But again, I'm open for suggestions.

[BingTheWing]

Actually, I once entered this RP that was similar to this - it involved characters being transported to a mythical land and stuff. The GM had the idea of characters being from any point of time and space, from the American Revolutionary War or Japan during WW2.

[calmay]

I'd be interested in this.

[cnash1303]

@mokley Well, for what it's worth, since we all randomly are transferred to the ship with no warning, weapons, skills, ect....it really wouldn't matter what era they were from.

[Mokley]

Actually, I once entered this RP that was similar to this - it involved characters being transported to a mythical land and stuff. The GM had the idea of characters being from any point of time and space, from the American Revolutionary War or Japan during WW2.

@BingTheWing

@mokley Well, for what it's worth, since we all randomly are transferred to the ship with no warning, weapons, skills, ect....it really wouldn't matter what era they were from.

@cnash1303

That is a valid point! I can't think of a terribly good reason against it. So, ok then! Characters would be welcome from anywhere at any time, without necessarily having to be geographically or historically accurate.

[Stairdweller]

This sounds very interesting to me. I've always liked writing fish-out-of-water characters, and I loves me some whimsey.

[Skythikon]

Interesting, but what of characters whose profession would have had them be somewhat knowledgeable in combat and the like? Say, a militiaman from some Victorian era nation. Not a soldier by a longshot, but not exactly clueless either.

[Blitz]

I'll keep an eye on this. If I end up not joining, just know this is a super interesting and original idea and hope it goes far.

[Bubsy 2]

Interested

[twave]

I am interested as well.

[BingTheWing]

Waaiiit. What if your character is a soldier, or a survivalist, or a forester, or whaaat? some characters would at least know SOMETHING about how to survive or fight. In the CS, we need to have a 'specialty' field.

[Mokley]

Interesting, but what of characters whose profession would have had them be somewhat knowledgeable in combat and the like? Say, a militiaman from some Victorian era nation. Not a soldier by a longshot, but not exactly clueless either.

@Skythikon

Waaiiit. What if your character is a soldier, or a survivalist, or a forester, or whaaat? some characters would at least know SOMETHING about how to survive or fight. In the CS, we need to have a 'specialty' field.

@BingTheWing

Good questions all! Through experience I've seen that any characters who have experience in harsh survival and combat tend to automatically take leadership roles. It's not necessarily bad, but the story plays out in a much more interesting way when there's no one character that the others look up to (unless a character simply has the personality for leadership, of course). I'm looking for a group of bankers, florists, bakers, dog groomers and farmers, identified by their personalities and not by their skills. Essentially I would stress nonviolence and unpreparedness in the CS application, and then take them on a case by case basis. If the character has such experience as you're describing, I would probably ask you to clarify some flaw or limit to that experience that puts them closer to the same level as everyone else.

[Aura Lodestone]

I have an idea, but would rather think about sending it via pm or just doing a character sheet to explain it but anyways I am interested cause this interesting interest has interested me

[cnash1303]

<Snipped quote by Skythikon> <Snipped quote by BingTheWing> Good questions all! Through experience I've seen that any characters who have experience in harsh survival and combat tend to automatically take leadership roles. It's not necessarily bad, but the story plays out in a much more interesting way when there's no one character that the others look up to (unless a character simply has the personality for leadership, of course). I'm looking for a group of bankers, florists, bakers, dog groomers and farmers, identified by their personalities and not by their skills. Essentially I would stress nonviolence and unpreparedness in the CS application, and then take them on a case by case basis. If the character has such experience as you're describing, I would probably ask you to clarify some flaw or limit to that experience that puts them closer to the same level as everyone else.

@Mokley

I definitely think this is the best way to go, no offense, but I don't think soldiers, warriors, ect have much of a place in a story that has "a certain amount of whimsy and humor."

[Bubsy 2]

I definitely think this is the best way to go, no offense, but I don't think soldiers, warriors, ect have much of a place in a story that has "a certain amount of whimsy and humor."

@cnash1303

I'm not disagreeing with the GM and am fine with the whole no experienced fighters rule, but I think it's incredibly silly to say that they can't fit into a humorous story. No offense.

[Mokley]

To be honest, everyone is right. ;) We're going for a wide diversity of characters, all of whom are on the same level and ripe for development. That's the main reason for the no-combat-experience rule. We're also looking for alternative means of solving problems besides violence -- some of which may turn out to be humorous, given that characters may have to get creative in order to solve said problems when violence is not feasible.

[Stairdweller]

I think I'm going to enjoy creating a character to specifically not have any helpful survival skills. This is a challenge, because IRL I'm pretty survival-friendly.