The Suikoden universe has always had quite the appeal to me as a writer. An incredibly fleshed out but always expanding and evolving world, colorful and numerous characters, and a fascinating mythos with mysterious "deities", intrigue, and plenty of explorable possibilities. I've been enraptured with the games since I first picked up Suikoden 3, have since played 4 and 5, and have 1 and 2 on my wishlist the next time I go on a PSN spending spree.
Most of the folks I've met over the years that have played any of the Suikoden games are similarly enamored with it, whatever their own reasons are. And, undeniably, they all have a clamoring to see Konami rekindle the franchise with Suikoden 6. I'm not holding my breath. Instead, I would prefer to take the awe and wonder I feel for this universe and put my own splash of creativity into it. I would love to find others who share that sentiment.
For those of you who might not know the universe but are still looking for a fantasy/mythological/ancient Chinese literature-inspired roleplay, here is a basic rundown of the mythos:
27 True Runes play the role of "gods." They span everything from elemental forces, to the Sun, Moon, and Stars, and many as of yet unknown qualities. However, as opposed to being entities unto themselves, they instead take the part of being symbiotes. Attaching themselves to a sentient being, these "True Rune Bearers" have varying amounts of control over their godly counterparts but are undoubtedly powerful as a result. The only shared ability granted among all True Runes is eternal life. Despite this, Bearers may still be killed through wounds, poisons, etc. Because of this, wars are fought over the possibility of obtaining a True Rune in the search of greater power.
Insane amounts of further detail can be found
here for those not familiar or just for general reference.
What I'd be interested in doing with this rp:
-I tend to prefer story-driven to "gameplay"-driven, so if I set this up it would be more of a roleplay and less of a roleplaying-game. Though, even without gameplay elements, I would find it interesting to maintain a kind of "party system" of 2-6 people per writing group. These could be filled out with NPCs or be made up entirely of PCs. We could also have two or more of these running simultaneously. Just a thought.
-I'd be very interested in doing some sort of finale. Just as deep as any of the games would be in scope, but some way to reconcile all of the cliffhangers that Konami has given us thus far. I'm ok with not doing a "finale," perhaps even a smaller scenario (to insure that this might actually finish?), as long as it moves the overall plot of the series forward as opposed to simply being open world blah.
-I'm very interested in continuing to fill out the mythos of the True Runes, the roles that they play, the characters that wield them, the circumstances they end up finding themselves in, and the companions they end up finding themselves surrounded by. Simply reusing old True Runes doesn't interest me unless they are fundamental to the plot.
-I am not interested in fanfic. I will likely set the story well enough away from most lifespans (True Rune Bearers notwithstanding) so as to not interfere with the majority of established characters. Any outstanding cases (i.e. True Rune Bearers, Jeane, Viki) will be NPC only, if used at all.
-I don't like traditional GMing. We would function as a unit, making decisions togethe, progressing together. Events that come along would be planned in advance, any surprises or twists that occur are still welcome, but if found not to fit logically with the story we are concocting will be edited accordingly.
-I put this in Advanced because I don't know how to write... well, small anymore. I like detail, a lot. I'm not interested in post limits per se, and I am not interested in comparing in terms of quantity, but I would prefer things of quality. Please spell check/grammar check and be open to criticism. I am open to it myself, as that is how we improve as writers/roleplayers, no?
So this post primarily serves as a way for me to gauge enthusiasm in doing something like this. If there are enough interested parties, I'll cook up some plot elements and see if we can't tailor something to what we have to work with. I welcome any plot/functional elements that anyone else would like to contribute as well!