FujiwaraPhoenix

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

Sunohara Ryou

With maintenance all but finished and the newest expansion pack pre-downloaded, Ryou was more than ready to dive into Emerald Odyssey and start streaming. He had made sure that his setup was in perfect order the night before—triple-checked it, even—which left him precious little to worry about now. With a few people buzzing about in the pre-stream lobby, the young man was more than ready to greet his viewers and dive into the new content with everyone.

The amount of congestion the servers had to face on patch day was oddly absent, though—a fact that struck Ryou as odd, but one that he chose not to question. After all, looking this sort of gift horse in the mouth was a bit rude, especially when it was most certaily in his favor. But as he moved to log in, his character selected and the loading splash screen appeared on his monitor...

White. His vision was overwhelmed in an instant by something far beyond what any sort of monitor could produce normally. There was no time to react or respond, and before he could even make a single sound in response——

Shokatsu Yu

Aluvera — Silverfield Inn

"...Eh?"

Blinding though that all-consuming white had been, the young man found that both it and any aftereffects that it might have left were nowhere to be found. While that might have been reason to breathe easy, it took no more than a few passing seconds for him to realize that something was most definitely wrong.

After all, his computer and everything around it had been replaced by a simple wooden desk, and his room far less... 'Modern' than he last remembered. Though that oddity was at the forefront of his mind, nothing had truly quite processed yet—not until he got up and looked out the window. It was the middle of the afternoon when he had logged on, but with the amount of sunlight streaming through past the curtains, it felt more like early morning instead.

Of course, even a single glance outside the window would cause things to start falling into place. He had read enough stories to understand what had happened, and though he was still unaware of exactly why something like this had happened, it was almost undeniable that the world outside was undoubtedly a locale he was incredibly familiar with despite not being anywhere in Japan—or on Earth, for that matter.

"This has to be a joke, right?"

Though still somewhat in denial despite how his voice sounded slightly off, Ryou glanced around once before walking into the washroom, clinging onto some faint hope that this was all some sort of last-moment fever dream. But when he splashed water on his face and glanced at himself in the mirror, that hope, too, came crashing down.

After all, it was not the face of Sunohara Ryou looking at him, but that of Shokatsu Yu, his character.

"...I guess not."

Of course, it was not panic that overtook him immediately after; with a few deep breaths, Yu had shaken at least some of the chaos running through his head as he began to consider the implications of what his current position was. After all, with isekai settings having become so commonplace, it wasn't as if he was left without any direction to center his thoughts.

"So I'm in the world of the game as the character I main. There was no indication of what the cause was, nor what will get me to return immediately..." he muttered to himself, flicking the water off of his face as he left the washroom, "...Which means that the first thing to determine is whether or not I'm the only one in this world now."

Centered though his words may have been, though, Yu could feel his heart pounding as he promptly left the room and the inn proper; whether it was out of excitement or fear, even he couldn't quite tell.

---

Aluvera — City Streets

Clean though the air on the streets of Aluvera were (or, well, as clean as you could expect), the state of the actual city seemed to be... Less than orderly. There was nothing like rioting or havoc on the streets, but the amount of people clearly trying to process the situation was more than Yu could count. In this case, though, that was probably a good thing; after all, that meant that he wasn't alone here. The grander implications of that soon crossed his mind, though, and before long, Yu found himself walking through the city, trying to find someone—anyone—that he knew among the crowd. All the while, of course, the young man began to half-awkwardly fiddle with the empty air with his right hand, hoping that at least some part of the game beyond his current personage was carried over. After all, finding something as basic as an inventory or friends list would be astronomically helpful at a time like this...

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

@VitaVitaAR: Character seems good to me. Accepted.

@Sho Minazuki: Sketch already looks great as-is! Honestly, that much alone would've sufficed, but all the more power to you if you want to clean it up.

With this, I think our cast is... Just about set to start? Once all the forms are in place, I'll get to writing the first post to kick things off.

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

@Sho Minazuki: Aye, game character only. I don't suspect that 'real' appearance will become relevant, but if it does, I'll probably ask for it after the fact.

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

@Sho Minazuki: Yeah, this version looks a bit better. I'd give this a pass.
Now I think it's just the face we're waiting on?

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

I mean, it is based on an MMO, and not every MMO is WoW (again, Log Horizon was also based on an MMO—Everquest, iirc?), but there are still some core design philosophies to abide by. If the class wouldn't logically exist within the game before the transition to isekai, then I'd probably fight it. Things gotta make sense in-universe, y'know?

But yeah, going over it a second time now and I think the rest is fine. No real qualms about anything else, so once we resolve this issue (and you get an image), we're probably good to go.

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

@Sho Minazuki: I think that's more inherent in the type of game, isn't it? If we're using MMOs as a point of reference (at least as a starting point), then I'm not sure to what degree you can make it engaging beyond making the subarchetype consist of what are essentially physical casters (instead of mobile ranged DPS without cast times), and even then the way you've set up the class makes it really linear and hard to add anything on to. Like, if you have the core kit at some leveling point, then how do you add skills onto it? If every expansion would add something (or a few somethings) new, it becomes very difficult to given them new tools (as you yourself have stated here).

My personal recommendation would be to take the fundamental ideas of what you want in the class (as after a bit of though I think a physical caster-esque class could be interesting, designating them as 'snipers' is a bit of a misnomer) and break away from the 'box' that is the archetype you've started with. Since the class needs (new) room to grow once the RP starts, which way do you go from here?

That's my suggestion in this case.

@VitaVitaAR: Will go into a more detailed analysis once it's done, then.

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

@Rune_Alchemist: Seems good to go then. Accepted.

@SilverPaw: Also looks fine. Accepted.

@Sho Minazuki: Hm...

I think my biggest problem is in the conceptualization of the 'Ashigaru' class. Ashigaru, historically, were frontline infantry, which makes them existing as a sort of sniper... Odd, I guess? I also don't know how I feel about the idea of sniper classes in MMOs, as the long range only means so much when you're either forced to be in a more enclosed area or do mechanics and break lining up your shot. Class designs also usually are a bit more complex than 'prep, load, fire', and I'm not sure how much a linear gameplay style like that would keep people. In my opinion, outside of FPSes this specific subarchetype of ranged DPS is best off in strategy games or action RPGs where that range advantage can be taken full advantage of without the necessity of kiting.

The rest is probably fine though? Might need to give it another brush over later.

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

@Rune_Alchemist: Aight, then let me know when that's been edited to adjust for that stuff.

@Sanity43217: To answer, in order:

• The latter.
• Case-by-case basis. It's hard to draw a line between how things work in-universe and what's an extension of the game's systems/things for the convenience of players.
• Yes and no? Swapping weapons and accessing skills is possible in theory (but good luck juggling weapon types), but changing clothing means... Changing clothing.
• Nope.

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

Character List

@PKMNB0Y — Shokatsu Yu
@Hammerman — Myrtle Bramblewood
@Rune_Alchemist — Kokoma
@SilverPaw — Nova Albright
@Sho Minazuki — Saito Souji
@VitaVitaAR — Sefira Sylvanbelle

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

• Name: Sunohara Ryou
• Character Name: Shokatsu Yu
• Race: Human
• Appearance: "We have the knowledge; all that matters now is the execution."
• Age: 25
• Personality: Though he seems rather laid-back at first glance, Ryou is actually rather dedicated when it comes to most things in life; he just doesn't tend to show it all that often. He is also rather patient, taking time to expound upon his thoughts and processes as he works through problems—not to say that he doesn't have his fair share of moments losing his cool, of course, but those are somewhat few and far between.
  That dedication, though, does lend itself well to scenarios where his focus and determination need to pull through. If a challenge presents itself, Ryou is more than willing to welcome it with open arms; backing down wouldn't be fun to watch, after all.
• History: Ryou is—or, well, was—a full-time streamer, having found himself lucky enough to garner enough of a following to slip out of the rat-race of Japanese work culture. Unlike most of his peers, Ryou had been lucky enough to hit the proverbial jackpot as he proceeded through college, and though he had picked it up mostly as a hobby, the young man had soon created a small following for himself online. That following grew, slowly but steadily, until by the end of his school life he had found himself garnering enough of an income to dedicate himself to his newfound craft wholeheartedly.
  Of course, the young man was not without some modicum of talent to accompany his play, least of all in Emerald Odyssey. Though he was not among the best of the best, Ryou would regularly run through the most difficult endgame raids with teams assembled from viewers and friends alike, and his triumphs and failures alike brought with them ever more accolades to their names.
  The release of the new expansion brought with it a time of anticipation, and given his position, it was only expected that Ryou would be one of the first to start playing on release day. Little did he know what that would bring with it, though...
• Class(es):
  Combat:
  
  • Blademaster — A melee DPS class, Blademasters are agile fighters that deftly strike at their opponents with a flurry of slashes and stabs. Though ordinarily limited to a single one-handed sword with no secondary armament, Blademasters have the unique ability to control their weapon from a distance if the need arises, making them both able to attack at a distance (with decreased efficacy) and impossible to disarm permanently.
    Blademasters also gather 'qi' in combat, which can be consumed to create 'spirit blades' that mimic the skills that they used for the duration of their existence.
  • Tactician — Tacticians are healers with more of an emphasis on buffing their allies' capabilities, be they offensive or defensive. They work by cycling through stances in the form of 'orders', which changes the effects of the magic that they use. A defensive order, for example, would allow them to create shields to absorb damage or outright reduce the amount of damage the party takes, while an offensive one might temporarily boost their critical hit rate or lower the enemy's resistances.
    In terms of weapons, they tend to wield books or scrolls, from which the orders are drawn from and executed.
  • Dragon Knight — Dragon Knights are tanks that fight back just as furiously against the enemies attacking them; most of their mitigation involves deflecting or parrying attacks directed at them rather than just blocking before returning with strikes of their own. Once they have drawn enough blood from their enemies, Dragon Knights can also temporarily enter a 'trance' to connect with their contracted dragon, which empowers their offensive abilities for a short while.
    Their weaponry consists primarily of spears, polearms and halberds.
  
  Non-Combat:
  
  • Weaver — Weavers are able to create and repair cloth-based clothing, be they armors or purely cosmetic. Though some classes do prefer to use the lighter equipment that they are able to provide, it is the latter that is lucrative; fashion is the true endgame, after all.
  • Blacksmith — Blacksmiths primarily craft and maintain metal weapons and weapon components, as opposed to armorsmiths who would do the same for metal armors and shields. They are not limited strictly to tools of combat, though; things like cooking knives and fishing hooks would also likely fall into their purview.
• Other: