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    1. ApocalypticaGM 11 yrs ago

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In RPGNews ver 2.27.14 11 yrs ago Forum: News
Such a pleasant sight to see back on the Guild! Between the articles giving users a representation, the oh so appropriate banner (so thematic, Lillian), and the features, I've always enjoyed the newsletter. It's one thing to call RPG a community, but seeing our members, many who may not even have the pleasure of interacting directly, and hearing their voices is nice reminder of the great personalities we have assembled here.

Thank you for the feature of Night Kiss! I appreciate the exposure and I'm sure the courageous members who've signed up so far will love any extra company who come our way now.

Needless to say, we appreciate your work.
I've been PMed by three additional people who are interested and likely to apply. Adding that to Legion (should they), that'll give us 4 expected applicants. I do have a bit of a crew I work with who may or may not check this out, but once we get a few of those 4 I mentioned, we'll get the ball rolling IC.

Legion X51 said
I'd like to know the races available to be played and maybe something about the technology level of the world, but those are perhaps minor quibbles.Other than that, I'd like to declare my interest in this RPG. It looks awesome.


Technology is described in the Art of Logos section. If you read a bit about separate regions they should give you a good idea of places apt to have more technology, with Lémuria being the clockwork-powerhouse. The variance here means that while Lémuria is a clockwork city with some self-drawn carts and other useful bits, another region may be no different from a medieval land. Again, do read Art of Logos as it points out some of the history to this and the drawbacks.

I declared earlier in the Interest Check that there would be other species (I assume you meant this, and not other racial-ethnic groups). If you read each section for the Regions at the bottom they'll say who are the major populations or at least the founders of that land. I have not created drawbacks and benefits to each race, and may not, but I think some of the basic Tolkien or Skyrim can be assumed: Elves are attuned to Magic, Dwarves are excellent craftsmen, Orcs are no different from men except for the physical appearance and their more brutal culture, etc. I'll let you know if you cross the bounds in your CS and we can talk it through.

Throw up a CS! I'm working on the OOC thread, sure, but it's nothing mandatory to start the IC. We're just waiting on our interested members to submit.

@Kraxius: I shot you a PM.
SirBeowulf Welcome to the fold. You posted first and reminded me to add the date, so it's in there now right under the general topic 'Regions of Léva. Go ahead and put it in. For now I imagine your character as someone with quite a bit of experience in life, regardless of in Night Kiss, I see someone in their early to mid thirties. Very interesting character. You seem to be on the same vein I normally might follow. I could see Darius as a practising apothecary, but think the strengths you chose are a good balance of Charisma, Intimate Killing, and Expert Brewer (an interesting choice). To be clear, your weaknesses are Lack of Strength, Easily Swayed by Temptation/Lust. I like it and the history. You left a bit of a gap as to how Darius joined up, but I suspect this may be related to your not having a date reference. I'll be building a character in the near future, if you'd like, they can be related to your entrance. Feel free to PM me if you fancy that.

Oh, I'll just throw out there, while I watch a couple anime here and there like any other, you are dealing with someone who'd prefer not to see it describing characters. See anime is great for how easily acceptable it is to the eye. Each expression is big and clear, even when we barely know them. Here we're developing the characters and writing all those expressions. That furrowed brow that seems to rest like an excited, if uneasy V could be better served left to the written word or another type of image. I'll say you've at least chosen a better image as far as that area is concerned for this. So, that said, if you find another image please do switch them out, but it's not top priority.

Krauxis You BeoWulf may now gloat of your position. Just to be clear, you must've made at least three excuses for your CS before I even opened the hider. Not the best way to present your work, right? Have some faith and don't apologize for what you create. You were excited to make this and that should come with no shame.

The youth and the possession seem solid. I was a bit suspicious in the earlier bits, but your writing in the history sold me that you'd give this some thought and would play it with excitement. Rosa is possessed and will likely gain knowledge given time in the IC as well as being strangely effected by what lands manipulate Lef. Severity of these effects can be determined between us as we go, but dice will probably have some part in it (I don't do dice/stats much, so it's gonna be easy). Just know that.

Your strengths are Excellent in Close-Combat, Energy Drain, and Fierce Loyalty. Weaknesses include Violent Stubbornness and Perpetual Hunger. First, she's young and I'd prefer if you clicked Excellent-anything to Intermediate -- can hold her own, but could use further training as she will get with Night Kiss. Let's talk about the latter. You made Energy Drain require the will and need to eat, but you always need to eat -- possessed or not. I'm going to aim for more precise language here just so what I expect you to give into the possession is clear. If Rosa does not drain regularly then she losses mass, her body fat and muscle are literally consumed as energy for Beezelbub. Why not instead change your weakness of Perpetual Hunger to the life-threatening need to regularly feed off others' mass. I'd also use your explanation at the end to more clearly explain that the mass is converted to energy to sate the demon and sustain you. It's beyond you taking their Lef, you're sort of ignoring that and going right for the meat -- similar to taking plasma and not blood. I imagine the person literally looking gaunt and starved as you do this, probably suffering some weakness along the way. Your 1/10 of their mass per hit idea is also a good move toward balance, but still, you're talking about taking 20 pounds in a glancing blow from a thick man. Also, if they wear armour, does it consume that's mass -- if so, does it physically change the armour like moths eating cloth? Finally, easiest concern to resolve, I like the demon of gluttony, but would you mind creating your own demon or pulling one less commonly known? Other myth stories are just fine, but the standard Christian Demon of Gluttony is so popular already I'd prefer we create/use another. That demon will probably have a cult so-- oops, spoilers.

Those are a lot of questions and me pointing to areas that could use some work. Here's my advice: Rosa has some potential with Himlan as a lonely youth being consumed and left to her own. Instead of just having her learn from the demon, I am open to Rosa waking up/being guided to one of the hidden Temples of Myth (and only one) and being brought up by the monks/priests there. We can build the temple together and the occupants, if you like. That'd enrich your backstory some and give Rosa some guidance, perhaps being taught Corrupt Lef there. I'd also consider replacing Loyalty with an adept knowledge of the chakras/energy flow. This would mean instead of scoring 1/10 mass from any hit, Rosa could pinpoint her attacks (seemingly basic punches) to pressure points and areas of the body known to store energy -- taking mass from these areas easiest. It would allow Rosa to be a small person who has the knowledge to be effective. In short, this would make Energy Drain more balanced (you could roll on if you hit a pressure point and how well, if I ask you to), would highlight her Combat skills, and would give Rosa a little bonus perk. Just a suggestion, feel free to PM me if you'd like.
Closet Nerd said
Kay fine then, I'll just slide myself into the Gallery. Hopefully there is an actual audience there or else this whole thing is going to be less than fantastic...


It's a great idea that I think we all support, Nerd, so don't think you're being shot down. I think we all can agree it'd be wonderful to have a more dedicated section to support writers on more individual efforts, while preserving the communal aspect. That said, the Gallery is an excellent place for this and the only way to bring literary threads into light there is to make that change. Mention to your fellow RPers and friends to throw their work up and ask for critiques, or just to invite them to keep up with your writing here. Submit to your thread like you might a blog, but with your sweet fiction. Make that audience. You have a whole forum and soon the News will undoubtedly be looking for people to feature and show off.

Perhaps you or someone else could create a Compilation thread and request it be stickied in the Gallery. This thread could split known threads into VISUAL ARTS / LITERARY and designate those who's aim are to regularly update for critique or an audience, or are shops, etc. Something, at least, to help people navigate the growing pages of the Gallery. Make that effort and it'd be a good step toward what you're wanting.
Not only is the OOC created and being built fast, the Character Sheet and Setting sections are both done and there's a lot of potential! Can't wait to see what y'all come up with!
Character Sheets have been added under Night Kiss Roster. May the submissions begin!
Proser said
I've PMed it to you.


Sorry Proser, I thought you'd said the first and had Prom clear it for you days ago. In my mind it was resolved, should have checked up with you. If you've already worked on the CS there's no reason you can't post it up here as well and continuously edit it if you prefer. The Google Docs posting was merely a habit for former members, not a requirement by any means.
Thought I mentioned this before, apologies -- the map and graphics for each category are on the way. I usually create maps myself and commission graphics, but in this case, am doing all that (as far as I can tell). I knew everyone could read, obviously, so I focused on this and will do the CS next as time allows. From there I'll work on the map and onto Organizations and so on... looks like I forgot to add Races and the like under there too, but that too. Expect a non-traditional CS. As with Apocalyptica, another project I'm on, I've seen the value avoiding the basic résumé style sheet. Should be fun and help you get in their heads!

Glad you're all enjoying it thus far! I tried to leave some room outside major cities within each region for people to build their own. It's totally plausible to live in any region, granted Himlan is probably rocky territory (pun!). You're welcome to come up with your own villages and towns and the like, but if you plan something big just fly the idea by me here. Others will benefit from hearing your ideas.
Scanned this page and just wanted to say something I hope others have already noted:

The faiths feeding into Judeo-Christianity are built on deep wells cultures, many divided and brought together through their mythos in the form of the Old Testament. These are stories passed down orally through each Hebraic tribe over generations until being written here. Some are written far later, however, in the name of author whose style or point they sought to build after-- like an artist working under the name of their master or a modern graduate student in pysch working under a their Ph.D boss's license. Like the names of the authors which are not always, I dare say usually, literal many of the books in both testaments are commonly regarded are deeply metaphorical by past and modern theologians. In other words, the people who study the Bible and the cultures feeding into it, as well as the people actually invested in the cultures, recognize that not all of this is attempting to state a fact. Much is merely meant to translate a message through the stories, wisdom thought worth keeping. Quoting each bit and declaring it clearly states X for all of us is lot like going to tribe we know very little about short of a deep reading of their texts and saying we totally get what they mean. We don't. We did not see the physical center of our culture and religion taken a razed, we did not serve in bondage for several generations for being of that heritage, and we did not experience the elation of escaping that bondage. There is more to understanding these texts than simply reading them and following some Americana interpretation.

There are absolutely bits, sorry, leagues of this book that turn women to objects submit them sexually to men -- oh yes. And rape is often used as a tool by people therein, and many of the heroes had killed, raped, and blasphemed horribly. There are also bits that are passages which are entirely symbolic and offer few, if even, explanations as to their meaning -- oh wait, those are the quotes from Jesus. There are many lenses we need to switch between in reading a text that is part cultural narrative, part historical record, and part mythos. Declaring the entire thing does or does not condemn something like rape is a difficult as one could view the laws as merely historical record of an old system or laws still in effect today. Some say Jesus reduced the many laws, but the detail with which he did so is somewhat vague and bound to lead to other interpretations.

So maybe instead of bastardizing the texts, we could talk about how American culture bans rape and victimizes survivors. Maybe we could talk about the reduction of women into objects thousands of years after these texts y'all are observing. We could even talk about the OP, which is about a group I think we can all detest together.


Mission Difficulty_________________________________________________________________________________
I'll be straight with all of you. I have GMed a handful of roleplays since 2009 and many were built around the idea of choice and how it might effect everyone involved. Choice is the greatest tool we have in a roleplay, as it defines our characters, and it marks a precise decision to act in a way that may clearly benefit or cut down others. When cornered and left to choose between one's own benefit, perhaps their very survival, in reality this choice is monumental and separates some from others. Roleplay is difficult to display this same, palm-sweating sort of point. To remedy the issue I have included the use of dice/stats in a very simple form. Here's the Standard Model for rolling below with a brief example of how it can play out. The rolls are meant to help guide creativity and lock in a few general ideas for outcomes. You roll shit consistently, then you know this isn't going to be your day. You can decide to become wounded, to be separated, and this can inspire you to greater 'what-ifs' along the way. As an example, I am not a dice guy, but I rolled about a minor decision for a character of mine in Apocalyptica, and it ultimately led to his being captured and sold into slavery. The same possibilities are here. Revel in them!

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