1/24/16: NOW RECRUITING FOR CHAPTER 2
The high, polished geared gates of Cogswall opened for the first time in years, to admit a small group of curious-looking Travellers. They came with stories of danger and magic, waving silly drawings on paper as if they were weapons. Preposterous! Surely Cogswall's reinforced walls, shining towers, mechanical soldiers and experienced gunsmen could handle any emergency, as they had for hundreds of years!
THE PREMISE
This is the City of Cogswall: a proud steampunk city that is as full of corruption as it is of soot and grime. Like all cities, Cogswall is surrounded on all sides by a high wall. No one knows or cares what lies beyond the wall: the citizens gratefully leave adventures to the Travellers.
Throughout this world, the majority of people live out their lives in walled cities without ever glimpsing the outside. No one is forced to remain behind locked gates -- but those that do step out of the Cogswall gates are stripped of their citizenship and residence. The dirty business of exploring and adventuring is the job of the outcasts, the people called Travellers.
Traveller is a title given to those adventurous few who move between cities. They may be messengers, merchants, beast-hunters and storytellers. Almost every city will welcome a Traveller in hope of trading money and supplies for the Traveller's skills and knowledge.
Your character is a citizen of Cogswall; they have lived all their lives within these walls. Travellers are so rare that the gates rarely open at all. So now, when a group of Travellers arrives and has the audacity to warn the city of an incoming danger, no respectable citizen would ever take them seriously.
GAMEPLAY
Heavy influence is taken from Kino's Journey, Mushi-Shi, Undertale, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, among others. The focus will be on exploration, problem-solving and character interaction. Expect colorful and trippy scenarios, anime physics, tropey plots, and stuff that doesn't quite make logical sense. This is a fantasy world where, outside the secluded city of Cogswall, anything goes.
The RP will progress (at first) based on a series of missions dictated by the Traveller or requested by citizens of foreign cities. Throughout the journey, characters can expect to gain new skills, abilities, tools and allies that will help them become strong and competent Travellers themselves. There will be an overarching plot involving a Big Bad -- traces of that plot will be introduced early in the RP, but it's not the immediate objective. If all goes according to plan, the story will begin happily innocent and slowly progress into something darker. If you're looking for a consistently happy-go-lucky RP, this is probably not for you.
CHARACTERS
Characters originate in the city of Cogswall, which is your average gritty-yet-advanced Steampunk city. Everyone is human. There is no magic. Your character has probably heard tales passed down from long-ago Travellers about sigils and spells and intelligent monsters, but they are only stories. You are free to create locations and cultures within the city where needed to flesh out your character's history.
SAMPLE CHARACTER SHEET
art by the magnificent Tervola
Name: Spook
Abstract: A masked Traveller with a permanent grin
Detail:
When Spook stands still and quiet, he is a most menacing figure: the mask and hood and well-used sword give passersby good reason to avoid crossing his path. He looks like something that might spend his free time summoning dark hellions or snatching children in the night.
This, according to the Travellers who know him, is a hilarious idea. The very thought of Spook doing something as productive as summoning a beast of any kind is simply ridiculous. Spook is best known for being cheap, for his endless sense of humor, and for taking nothing at all seriously. He couldn't pretend to be evil if his life depended on it.
The Travellers have asked him why he knows the rare magic runes of the Magi. They've asked him how he learned to fight so well when he barely had the discipline to stand up straight. They've tried, time and time again, to see what he was hiding under that mask -- but to this day none have succeeded.
