New to the site, not to roleplaying. I do some writing on the side and find myself tending towards darker themes in both my RP's and original pieces. I'm a casul scrub who needs to git gud
I'm currently constructing a horror-adventure roleplay that is absolutely saturated in inspiration by both the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the Fantasy Flight boardgame "Arkham Horror". It takes place in the fateful town of Arkham, Massachusets wherein Lovecraft set up a great deal of his mythos. However, I am attempting to be original with my ideas beyond this point. This is my first time constructing a roleplay, and I have several concepts in mind that will make up the "major organs" of this roleplay; hopefully they will be a little refreshing and enough to keep your interest.
"The process of delving into the black abyss is to me the keenest form of fascination." - Howard Phillips Lovecraft
Of things irrefutably true, that there exists a mysticism to the world is one; that which alludes simultaneously to the grandeur of life and also all the macabre happenings and sights we are privy to. After the closing of the Great War, the United States is experiencing a widespread shifting of identity. Some say it was the American progressive movement at its finest, while others say that the war snuffed out its already dying light. The Prohibition is in full swing, intolerance and prejudice towards immigrants and foreigners is rife, youth is disenfranchised with the prominent individuals of government and science has found itself called upon to answer the social questions of the time.
Arkham, Massachusets, 1925. The sea-softened town of Arkham, at once both large and small, home to schools of thought both conservative and youthful, sees most of this social struggle through word-of-mouth and printed news. Once a humble fishing village, and lies some significant distance north of Boston. It is home to the Miskatonic University, an institution known for its quality of education in the sciences of both the world and mind. Arkham is historical in that it is host to dark legends, rumors and dreadful wive's tales that have lurked about its wooded hills and rock-laden, driftwood shores for centuries. Bizarre happenings in the sea, disappearances, plagues, a furtively operated sanitarium and a number of resident cults are among this plethora of grim stories.
It would seem, however, that this morbid air that hangs over the town of Arkham is to be requited; an ancient horror, something beyond the comprehension of mere mortals and dwelling within a loathful otherworldly realm, has chosen Arkham as its bastion by which to awaken, and enslave the world of man. Once again, as happened so many decades ago, the tides of the ocean have begun to swell and recede and strange happenings are abound. An impenetrable fog broods in the hills, slowly seeping forward, and inmates of the Arkham Asylum howl madly at the waning moon.
The signs are there, patterns hinting at an imminent evil churning in the ether. For those few in Arkham who question the freakish occurrences, those who are possessed of a curiousity, courage or dark fascination to peer into the impending doom - they shall face the Old One rising.
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The tentative goal of the characters, or investigators as they may be referred to, will be to work together to find out the nature of the bizarre things happening in Arkham, discover their source, battle the forces of evil and ultimately try to stop the coming of the Great Old One. However, each character may have their own ambitions that could further or hinder this task. Any number of things from a sudden banishment of monsters to a character death could mean Arkham is closer to either being saved, or consumed.
As I mentioned, there were a few principles to the roleplay I'd like to work with, both to make it vaguely unique and to remain true to the horrific, dark nature of Lovecraft's mythos. However, I'm not one for being caked in rules or a certain way of doing things, think of these more as things to chew on as we go:
1.) I want this roleplay to be dynamic, for lack of better words. Of course interactions will determine the course of the plot, but as time progresses and the Great Old One gets closer and closer to awakening, things in Arkham will change regardless of how much progress the characters have made. The utmost will be done to ensure that this does not impede the main goal of roleplaying.
2.) Should you like to join, I'd ask you work with fellow roleplayers and I to make this a very difficult roleplay. For example, as these individuals in Arkham learn of the Great Old One and its coming, battle the horrors spawning from other dimensions and even enter these otherworld realms themselves, they face great danger. Horrific sights, be they nightmarish creatures or atrocities, will pose a threat both physically and psychologically to each investigator of the paranormal. Death, insanity and disappearance are all very readily available fates for any character, be they a hardened war veteran or frail student of the university. This will not mean the end of your involvement however, another character can be brought in and the previous simply becomes part of the plotline.
3.) I'm kicking around the idea of having several semi-static NPC's, such as a university professor, deputy of Arkham, barkeep and the like. Individuals that will help track the status of Arkham, provide information, act on their own and help our investigators. Like your characters, they are not immune to meeting their ends.
4.) It is 1925. With that said, appropriate era technology applies. Characters shall fight with such things as cavalry sabres and tommy guns, but magic will be made available as otherworldly power seeps into Arkham.
5.) By this point, you should expect this RP to involve somewhat mature themes of violence, psychological development (or degradation), anguish and keep a general air of horror to itself. It goes without saying that the rules of the roleplayer's guild, as well as common courtesy should be obeyed so we may all enjoy in peace.
If you're interested in joining me on this Lovecraftian adventure, please let me know. Further details about the roleplay, a character sheet and the like will follow any interest shown.
I'm with you guys. It took me a while to notice the timer on the left; if it ever says I've been absent a number of days it's because I just haven't logged in - I still lurk as a guest to see if anyone's posted.
Standing before the church's altar of faded marble, Arghast stared deeply into the flame of a lit candle which sprouted from its placements. It rose shortly, wavering in the vague breeze which carried through the church and cast some small light upon the statue standing over him. Arghast had seen this icon before; the woman of mercy whom held aloft the sword-bearing child, the perceived nurturing quality of the gods juxtaposed with their might. It was perhaps one of the few objects that attested to their presence that did not incite malice inside of him. And although his sunken eyes were fixed to the altar, he was at once aware of another intrusion into the church.
The mossy bricks, etched columns and beckoning halls of the parish caused sound to carry far off and away, often deceiving their point of origin. The dragging of mail across the ground, fine, sharp and almost comparable to the sound made by coins frothing about in a pouch, echoed from the upper portions of the church. He thought first of those newly-arrived to Lordran, the exotic and destined undead whom he had encountered at Firelink Shrine. Arghast turned, staring across the candlelit breadth of the church only to spot a bizarre figure standing within an arch in the upper floor.
Even at its distance from him it was apparent that it stood somewhat taller than he. It emanated an obnoxious golden glow from where the light caught its gilded royal blue robes, only leaving the face of its helmet unadorned of jewelry; instead a row of six sinister eyes glared down at him. Held firmly in one hand was a curious weapon: long-hafted, gold and bound with a banner of faded yellow. At its peak the body of the weapon forked off into three individual teeth, taking the shape of a violent prong.
Arghast took several steps forward from the altar, his armored greaves scratching against the stone steps. At this, the mystic brought the trident to his chest and began to spout an unintelligible, guttural invocation that was muffled by its headpiece, yet resonated throughout the church. At once, a radiant blue light appeared from nothingness, its aura growing; a magic Arghast recognized immediately as the soul arts. Springing forward from the altar, Arghast narrowly avoided the singing blast of the soul arrow fired from the channeler, now planted firmly against a column within the church for cover. As he turned from the column to look back at his foe he saw naught but an empty space in the archway, wherein the pale blue particles of soul magic glittered in the air. Stepping from behind the column, he scanned the church for a sighting; the quiet rattle of treacherous golden mail was again heard - from directly behind him.
Whirling around to face the six-eyed warlock, he rose both his weapons in defense, only to be met with the towering mystic's golden trident plummeting towards him, its top spinning rapidly in a bizarre fashion. Arghast tumbled backwards, his sword caught in the twirling prongs and tossed some number of feet from him as the end of a trident's tooth bore shallowly into his shoulder. Beckoning in anger from beneath his sanguinated helmet, he flung his axe forward from the opposite hand. As the channeler stepped back and withdrew his weapon from Arghast's wretched flesh, the edge of the axe incised itself into the broad side of his enemy and forced a violent spurt of crimson to jet outwards. Standing from the slightly blood-dampened church floor, Arghast approached the reeling channeler, his right hand being consumed in an otherworldly dark aura. Flinging down his dark hand towards the enemy he unleashed, now only several feet from the wounded thing, a violent bolt of black magic that struck the channeler and seemed to cleave off and wholly disintegrate the upper portion of its mass.
Left standing, hemorrhaging, before the mutilated golden mess that was the Six Eyed Channeler, Arghast looked again to the altar before him. Such unforeseen magics had nearly seen him slain by this mage, whom was so out of place in the church given its inclination towards the soul arts. The image of the goddess, who continued to hold aloft the mighty child of the flame, did not appear to him now with the same sense of impartiality.
It seems having Arghast stray away from the group was the right choice, I would have been unable to keep up with the rate of posts with what's been going on. I'm finally home, and can post freely.
I'll assume for now that if there is to be an NPC in the church, he/she is not currently present (or even hiding from Arghast). I'm going to take the liberty of having him fight the channeler that stands in the church; it's being there could leave Seathe's status in the RP still up in the air.
The heavy thud of steel-alloy armor crashing to the stone floor resonated through the hallowed cathedral. Arghast withdrew his axe from the exposed throat of a hollowed knight, having caught the doomed warrior's red cape with his foot and nearly decapitating it with a fell swing. The corroded tendons of the undead relaxed, loosening its grasp on an exotic sword, needle-like in shape. These ill-fated soldiers roamed about the ramparts of the burg; their numbers, Arghast concluded, were indicative of some failed foreign crusade into Lordran.
Watching the thick, cursed blood of his kill conglomerate on the edge of his axe, he wondered just how many unfortunate forays had died here, in search of the supposed Bell of Awakening. Servants to lords, warrior champions, paladins of faith, they had all met the same inevitable fate which awaits those cursed by the gods. Now, it seemed, the very halls where potent prayers to the gods had echoed have sunk into decrepitude. Taking several steps deeper into the church, he looked over the shattered pews to the far door, harboring the distinct sense that he was being spied upon.
I've also been preoccupied with interstate travel, but I'll post while I have this stop between car trips. Internet is not plentiful in the badlands of the Northwest.
I suppose I'll have a go with the NPC interactions, in that case. Arghast is going backwards of the way a normal player would go through the Burg, starting at the Undead Church. Leslie, I'll let you decide if you'd like an NPC to be there and give me some basics, and I can post again once I get that info. As you said, he has plenty of humanity available if there's information relevant to him.
EDIT: That's just fine, nothing to say they can't show up later. That dinky post is all I have time to write this morning, but I can expand on it later. I sincerely hope you're feeling better soon!
I will post as necessary, I intend for Arghast to show up at some point but that's all entirely dependent on where the group ends up. I seem to be the only antagonist outside of the bosses right now, and if he ends up fighting anyone I'm going to have to demand a handicap if everyone sticks together.
I'm incapable of comprehending this boss fight idea until I just see it happen.
Would love to have Arghast interact with some NPCs in the meantime, perhaps in the way Leslie just mentioned, but I'm honestly kind of confused how this is going to work. It seems like we will need a few more NPCs available than have already been spelled out, and I don't know if this will entail Leslie as the GM having to control them, or if the respective player could temporarily RP this character in question. In my opinion, some of these story-prominent NPCs may become spread so thin that it will be more of a hassle for the GM to solely RP them than it would be for everyone to just use them as needed. Perhaps you could post small sheets for these NPCs so we may each have an idea of how you intended them to behave when we temporarily assume them in character interaction?
Howdy,
New to the site, not to roleplaying. I do some writing on the side and find myself tending towards darker themes in both my RP's and original pieces. I'm a casul scrub who needs to git gud
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Howdy,<br><br>New to the site, not to roleplaying. I do some writing on the side and find myself tending towards darker themes in both my RP's and original pieces. I'm a casul scrub who needs to git gud</div>
