[Advanced] Empires of Sand (fantasy NRP)

[Flagg]

Empires of Sand

First, the desert is the country of madness. Second, it is the refuge of the devil, thrown out... to "wander in dry places." Thirst drives man mad, and the devil himself is mad with a kind of thirst for his own lost excellence--lost because he has immured himself in it and closed out everything else. So the man who wanders into the desert... must take care that he does not go mad and become the servant of the one who dwells there in a sterile paradise of emptiness and rage.

THOMAS MERTON, Thoughts in Solitude



They make a desert and call it peace.

TACITUS, Agricola

OOC

Hello!

So I finally have time to GM a proper NRP, my earlier attempts at doing so in recent months being somewhat overly-ambitious. Here's the big idea: a low-to-mid fantasy NRP set on a desert world, one recovering from an ancient cataclysm brought on by a now-lost advanced magi-tech civilization. The emphasis would be on scarce resources and impassible landscapes and Lovecraftian secrets hidden beneath the sands. While there will be different 'biomes' and areas to the world (fertile river valleys, oases, dune-seas, mountainous areas and plateaus, ruins of ancient civs, etc), the basic idea here is that our nations will inhabit a harsh, demanding world. As always with my NRPs, I'm placing a premium on collaborative worldbuilding- each nation and faction ought to feel at home with each other, possessing shared histories and entanglements. Likewise, the geography, fauna, flora and history of the world itself will be something all of us will jointly design.

The setting would take what I call the Tolkien/Martin approach to magic. Magic is real, mysterious, and powerful, but for the most part takes place 'off-screen', and is for aesthetic purposes somewhat subdued or indirect (eg- no undead armies or mages throwing fireballs around). Likewise, while multiple sentient species will inhabit this world, I would like to stay away from the elf/dwarf/gnome/orc/goblin mainstays of D+D. Players would be encouraged to give the traditional fantasy races a unique twist, or better yet invent their own! Our tech level would be around that of late antiquity, but of course factoring in the existence of magic and fantasy beasts.

Hope this whets your interest! I look forward to RPing with you!

[Chairman Stein]

Incredibly interesting.

Question: What's your take on writing perspective? Will we be using characters or will players have more freedom of choice in the matter?

[Flagg]

Incredibly interesting.

Question: What's your take on writing perspective? Will we be using characters or will players have more freedom of choice in the matter?

@Chairman Stein

You can basically do whatever you're comfortable with, as long as it's advanced-quality writing and not disruptive for others.

[Darkmatter]

Responding to the request, I'll say that I am in. However, I need to know right now, that even if there's an emphasis on world-building that there will also be a greater one on actual role-playing. I want to join this for interaction, I don't want to spend 2-3 weeks with five people carefully crafting an intricate backstory, only to have it all fall apart and an IC never truly begin.

This isn't anything personal on you Flagg, as made evident in the PM, just my feelings right now especially with regards what the PM discussed. I'd love to be a part of this, I just need to know you don't mean to take it down the same road.

[Flagg]

@Darkmatter

No I would start the IC once we get three or four solid NSes. I have a story-arc in mind that I can deploy if that would be useful to prodding the IC along, but otherwise I'm content to let players devise their own paths.

The benefit of this setting is that people can join and we can explain their absence from the story so far as "there's a huge amount of desert between us, so you havent been part of the story yet". I do want to emphasize collaborative world building and having the NSes feel as though they belong in a shared world, however, as well as working together to design the geography and history, etc etc. But hopefully not to the detriment of the IC, which I will be emphasizing more than I have in the past.

[Darkmatter]

@Darkmatter

No I would start the IC once we get three or four solid NSes. I have a story-arch in mind that I can deploy if that would be useful to prodding the IC along, but otherwise I'm content to let players devise their own paths.

The benefit of this setting is that people can join and we can explain their absence from the story so far as "there's a huge amount of desert between us, so you havent been part of the story yet". I do want to emphasize collaborative world building and having the NSes feel as though they belong in a shared world, however, as well as working together to design the geography and history, etc etc. But hopefully not to the detriment of the IC, which I will be emphasizing more than I have in the past.

@Flagg

Again, I'm not criticising you, more leaning on my own bad experiences.
Anyways, I am in, just let me know if there's anything you need.

[Rhymer]

I like the premise...what are expectations for posting frequency? I've got another RP going but this looks too good to pass up.

[Flagg]

I like the premise...what are expectations for posting frequency? I've got another RP going but this looks too good to pass up.

@Rhymer

I would ideally like a post once a week, but as long as I know you're still active and you dont hold up the story, I can make exceptions or we can work something out where the GM can help move things along if you dont have time to post one week.

[Darkmatter]

we can work something out where the GM can help move things along if you dont have time to post one week.

@Flagg

In other words, each day over deadline you don't post, the chances of your nation getting the bubonic plague increases by 13.25%

[Legion02]

Looks interesting.

[Pepperm1nts]

Very interested in this.

EDIT:

Responding to the request, I'll say that I am in. However, I need to know right now, that even if there's an emphasis on world-building that there will also be a greater one on actual role-playing. I want to join this for interaction, I don't want to spend 2-3 weeks with five people carefully crafting an intricate backstory, only to have it all fall apart and an IC never truly begin.

@Darkmatter

Also, a billion times this.

[Flagg]

Great! Well that's enough interest for me to get the OOC started anyway.

[Dead Cruiser]

Hidely-ho, neighborino. Figure I'll throw my burdensome presence into this RP. Maybe resurrect a couple of ideas from our other, stillborn endeavors.

[Darkmatter]

Pretty much already worked out a nation I think

[Chairman Stein]

Also yes I'm also in by the way. Thought I'd make that clear.

[Flagg]

Alright then, have at it:

roleplayerguild.com/topics/90357-empir..

@Chairman Stein @Dead Cruiser @Darkmatter @Rhymer @Pepperm1nts @Legion02 (apologies if I missed anyone)

[neogreggory]

I am interested, always wanted to do a Nation Based RP. Though I'll need to think up an entire nation to play as.