goodmode

Achieving Transcendence Isn't Worth The Effort!

Welcome! I've been roleplaying a while too but I'm new here as well. My name is Anders, nice to meet you!

Interest Check - The North Road (adventure, fantasy, spooky)

@lugubrious
For the rest of the worldbuilding I was going to try and keep it simple for the time being - I have ideas for the expanded world and for some stuff that may be going on back in the towns and capital, but to answer two questions in one, I was hoping to start the group off having already reached a point at the start of the North Road, and they'd have already left the towns behind.

This is partly due to wanting to jump right into what the premise is actually about, and not spending too much time noodling about in an area where the bulk of the story won't even take place... and partly because I don't want to have to roleplay fifteen random throwaway NPCs plus innkeeper(s) right from the get-go.

Characters would begin with whatever gear they brought with them (within reason, and I've yet to work out some reasonable limitations) The story would begin at late noon, with the beast rumoured to be more active at night.

(Edit, because I forgot: I guess I'll play it by ear - I'll try and decide whether or not I'll play a character before it begins, but I guess I can always duck 'em out later once things are rolling...)

And thank you! It's nice to meet you :^)

Interest Check - The North Road (adventure, fantasy, spooky)

Premise

^{THROUGH WITCHENED WOOD AND RUINED ARCH
SOMETHING WICKED GRIMLY PROWLS
TREAD THEE LIGHTLY, HOMEWARD MARCH
ELSE ON THE WIND HEAR DISTANT HOWLS}

Fero Province is beautiful. It is dotted with some of the most idyllic and picturesque towns on the continent, and certainly the most fertile land this side of the Cinder River. If all were perfect, perhaps its capital, the Pigeon Citadel, might be the richest in the kingdom.

But all is not perfect. Fero Province is surrounded to the south, west, and east by impassably steep and inhospitable mountains. The storm water that runs down from these may well be what keeps the land so lush, but the mountains that trap the clouds also trap Fero's citizens.

The only open space that might connect Fero Province to the rest of the kingdom lies to the north, where moorlands, forests, and swamps make up the journey to the hinterlands.

Once, the wild yet alluring landscape was not a problem. The North Road used to have settlements scattered along it - inns, guard towers, farmland.

Now, there is a beast.

Accounts of what this thing looks like are scarce and highly contradictory. Perhaps you've heard it has teeth. Perhaps you've been told it took someone's father, or mother, or sister, or son. Maybe you think you saw it one evening, a shadow on the distant horizon, and maybe it looked at you with too many eyes at once. The children sing songs about it. The adults tell hushed stories and hang trinkets on their doors. The livestock go missing. Strange calls float across the wilderness at night. They say it brings fog, brings rot, changes the weather, turns you in circles until you're lost - and once you're lost, the beast will find you soon enough.

What is certainly true is that anyone who sets out to make the perilous journey along the overgrown, ruined trail of the North Road has never returned... At least not in one piece, and never with the same grievous injury as the last.

For Fero Province, ten years have passed in resigned, hushed solitude. The land provides for its people, and so long as they stay, they are safe. But the crown has not given up. The Pigeon Citadel finally put out the call: the royal treasury will generously reward anyone capable of clearing the North Road and putting Fero Province back on the trade maps.

You have decided to hunt the beast, or make a run for the hills.

_{THROUGH MISTED EVE AND RAINY NIGHT
THE HUNT ENDURES TIL MORNING FROST
SWIFT COURIER OR DARING KNIGHT
KEEP LANTERN LIT, OR ELSE BE LOST}

Game Info

I haven't run a game like this in a long time, but I'm ready to shake off the rust.

This would be a dark-ish low-fantasy, medieval-inspired setting (bows and arrows, swords, and maybe just a little magic). I'd be playing the role of gamemaster - setting the scene, giving information on the environment, sprinkling in events, and playing NPCS. I may or may not dip in with my own character here and there, or have an NPC join the group temporarily(?), but the focus will be on what your characters do.

You'd be playing one character each, in a relatively small group, with the option to split the party now and then. This will be played paragraph-style (though I'm not too fussy about length beyond that as long as there's enough to go on). Let's say a maximum of 6 players for now and see how we go.

Characters are allowed to die, but I'll be leaving that largely up to the players' discretion. It is extremely likely there will be blood and injury.

I ask that people try to engage with each other's characters, share the spotlight with each other, etc. I'd like to see some character development and interpersonal relationships form (good or bad).

Also, there may be other strange things on the Northern Road than just the beast.

The Goal

Slay the beast, or escape to the North.

Your character's exact motivation is yours to decide, but they must have lived within the closed-off Fero Province for the past ten years and have some reason to take the risk of travelling the North Road or hunting the beast. Maybe they have family up north? Maybe they're trying to win that sweet, sweet reward money? Maybe they want fame (or infamy), maybe they're just sick and tired of living in a place where nothing new comes in or goes out.

Let's see what you can do.

✧ ✧ ✧

If you're already inspired for a character idea, don't discuss it publicly just yet. ;^) You can DM me with anything you like, including character ideas, questions, suggestions, plot ideas, etc.

SO UHHHH any interest? Any thoughts? Feedback? Something you don't like? Something you do?

I'm a little nervous about posting this so any and all response is welcome. I still need to figure out character sheet stuff, some setting-related worldbuilding, and build up some courage, so... we have time to discuss stuff! I'll figure out a real title later

Topic of the Day/Week/Whatever

"Should likes/dislikes, hobbies, fears, etc. be included/required in a character sheet? What are some of the things that are absolutely mandatory for a character sheet? What are some things that we're better off leaving out?"

@HaleyTheRandom

I think there's no harm in it, and I don't mind if people want to go that far, but for myself I'd rather keep details like "likes/dislikes" under my hat until it comes up naturally in the roleplay. I like being surprised. Knowing every little detail about someone else's character before we start sometimes makes me less excited to meet them ingame, not more.

If I already know everything including their long and tragic backstory, then all I can get interested in is the present/future. I probably won't bother having my character ask questions like "so where are you from?/why are you looking at me like that?" if I know I'm going to get an in-character repeat of "I'm from Hecktown, where both my parents died in a tragic demon attack. / You're a goblin, and I HATE goblins." Having my character ask questions I already know all the answers to isn't very interesting for me as a player, though sometimes you have to do it to "catch up" your character with that info to avoid metagaming. If you don't tell me, I'll have way more fun finding out as we play.

You can add some detail, I just don't want to know your character like the back of my hand like you do right from the start.

That said, for stuff I do want to know...

Name and the basic details of what they look like at first glance are the barest minimum I absolutely need to know. This isn't even because I need to know, per se, it just makes it a hell of a lot easier to write my post when I can address it properly...

"Jeff noticed the person(?) on the other side of the room and nodded vaguely" is doable, but not very smooth, easy, or engaging. If I don't know the basics, I've got next to nothing to use in my own post. Goes without saying, I guess?

"Jeff noticed the tall, cloaked figure, came to the conclusion he probably could not take them in a fight, and decided that extending a laurel might be a better idea. He ordered two drinks and approached with his eyes firmly fixed on the shadowed face." Even if all I know is that your character is tall, edgy, and wears a dark cloak shrouded in shadows, I can use that and give a bit more action/reaction for both of us to work with. I don't need a lot, but it really helps to at least have a little.

Then all the rest for me is decoration, and gives me more material to bounce off/work with. A more in-depth description, what their pronouns are, the basics I could have "Jeff" glean from a once-over... It helps me to get interested in your character, and I might get a better idea of whether mine and yours might get along or form an interesting rivalry/working relationship, but I can work with less. Other people may not feel the same.

TL;DR: Less is more, but nothing isn't something.

Oblivion: A Story Forgotten

I think this is a cool idea. I'd be up for it, blank sheet and all.

Barges in.

Thank you! Nice to meet everyone!

D:\World\DigitalShift\The_Yokai_Incident\Digimon RP

I can see this has a lot of interest already, but if there's still a slot going (or if anyone drops), let me know!

Barges in.

Hi, I'm Anders and I've been roleplaying since I was a wee bairn (now 26). It's been a while since I went looking for roleplay offhand, but I found this place and I hope I can find something for me. Despite the lockdown I've always kept myself pretty busy at home and I do have other obligations sometimes, but like everyone else lately I've got time for some more.

I'm into fantasy/high fantasy first and foremost, with a little sci-fi, slice of life, and everything else - I'll play nearly any genre if it piques my interest enough. I'm happy with everything from characters socialising casually to high-octane fight scenes, but through everything it's way more fun for me when characters form deep bonds with each other - both positive and negative! I'd prefer a group setting, but I'll play one-on-one for a while too.

I'll be lurking in the Interest Check forums here and there, but it may take me a while to feel confident enough with the site to volunteer myself for anything or start anything off myself [edit: I lied, I'm already posting] - so don't be shy of dipping into my DMs if you'd like to invite me to a roleplay or tip me off to something I might like.

(Edit: Oh, and I'm in the UK, so it's gonna be Greenwich Mean Time for me.)

Hope everyone's staying safe and washing their hands!