King Cosmos

Ready Player One inspired RP

In games with clans do the clans earn cash? If so how? What would the clan use the cash for?

@Burning Kitty

I've never been a part of a clan, so I don't really know how that would work. In most games a clan is just a group of people who regularly play together, even most MMO's I think don't have in game mechanics for clans. This game world is probably closest to an MMO than anything else, though it probably plays more like a character action game or FPS given the lack of levels or abilities.

I think in Sanctuary the reason for forming a clan would be for safety in numbers and to allow for the completion of larger and more difficult quests. If zeroing out is still a thing we are keeping from Ready Player One, then a clan would be a way to protect yourself in the badlands by allying with other players. MMO's also have quests and raids that can require dozens of people working together to beat, often requiring a specific strategy, decent gameplay skills and strong teamwork to beat; sure you can try and do this with a group of random people, if you want to give yourself an aneurysm, or you can join a clan and work with a consistent group of players.

As far as money goes, it would be earned by completing quests as normal. Loot would be divided by a prearranfed method and so would gold. Maybe a portion of it goes towards clan expenses/funds; maybe the clan ship can be upgraded? Either in terms of performance or amenities?

Just for future reference, editing in a tag later on doesn't send that person a message. I almost missed this question.

The Hunters Club

@Raging Fenrir Here's my effort. The history ends a bit abruptly, I can add to it if need be but I was struggling for a way to continue it and wanted to get this up.

Sora Ikeda

Name: Sora Ikeda

Appearance:


Age: 15

Gender: Male

Hobbies: Barbequing, Cycling, Nature Walks

Pet Peeve: Rain, Urbanization, Being rushed

Base Power: Smoke Breath – Enenra Ancestry
Enenra are yōkai made up of wisps of smoke, which rise up into the sky from fires; they are the personification of smoke. As a descendant of an Enenra, Sora possesses some small control over smoke, so far only manifesting as the ability to create moderate quantities of smoke via his breath; he can exhale a cloud of smoke, similar in constitution to that created by a wood fire, at will.

History: Ever since he was young Sora knew he was a little bit different. For one, he could see things that other people could not.

As a child Sora was something of an outcast due to being just a little bit… strange. He would stare into space and talk about things that no-one else could see and insist that they were real; his teachers said they were imaginary friends and that they were perfectly normal for a boy so young, while he would deny this and say they weren’t his friends, he could just see them and didn’t know why anyone else could. The other children would just ignore him.

It didn’t take long for his parents to intervene. They told Sora that the things he could see, the strange things that no-one else noticed were a secret that only his family knew about. Other people couldn’t see them, only he and his mother could since they were both special, and it wasn’t polite to point at or talk about things that no-one else could see. It was not the whole truth, but it was enough explanation for a small child to understand and to begin acting “normal” around his peers; it was enough for his teachers to stop giving him worried looks when he wasn’t looking and for the other children to stop avoiding him.

As he grew older he began to understand more and he began to grow tired of always ignoring the things he saw. He read about Japanese history and culture, about myths and legends, and began to notice similarities between the stories and the things he could see. When he was eight he asked his mother about it, about the things they could both see and why they were both “special” as she liked to call it. So she told him, she told him about yōkai and spirits, how they were real even though everyone said they weren’t; she even told him about their family’s heritage and how they were descended from a yōkai themselves and it was this heritage that made them special.

Supernatural History: Sora has been able to see small spirits for most of his life, for so long that it no longer seems strange to him. Living in a fairly rural part of country it was not at all uncommon to see Hinotama of various types in the woods or out on the lake near his home and although from an early age he had to get used to the idea that no-one outside of his family could see the same things that he, but it is safe to say that he is not scared of the supernatural.

One event in particular stands out however. When he was twelve years old Sora went down to the lakeside at night with a couple of friends to stargaze. It was the perfect night for it, an incredibly peaceful night with no wind and not a cloud in the sky, the kind of night where the lake is so still it looks like a mirror of the sky, every single star reflected in its surface. On this night, there were even a few extra lights to be seen alongside the stars.

As he was looking out at the lake Sora spotted a single fiery orb floating above the middle of the water. It looked different from the other lights he would sometimes see, larger and lively, dancing and bobbing around enough that he became mesmerised by it. As he watched he saw other, similar light join it, then a few more, then a dozen more until it looked like there were hundreds of dancing lights streaming across the lake; it was like nothing he had ever seen before. After a while the lights drew together, not reducing in number but clustering to become a single shape; together they formed a single line of lights, like a serpent, flying over the lake, writhing and dancing until it disappeared.

That was the first and last time Sora ever saw the Ryūtō, the Dragon Lights, on that lake.

Free For All

@MikkishtheLeprechaun is it Frank West?

Ready Player One inspired RP

@Burning Kitty

I don't particularly mind whether we call all items artefacts or just the unique stuff; I was just being pedantic and explaining my interpretation of it. I'm starting to realise that the movie gave a very different view of this world than the books did. Stuff like Mjolnir armour wasn't in the book at all, but I'm going to guess it was generic gear; I want to stress that I think unique items should mostly be available only through quests or challenges, like the Gundam capsule being a reward for winning the huge deathmatch in the movie.

The plot looks intriguing. So, the Stargate's (love this inclusion by the way) just act as warp points to secret locations but are initially inactive; you need to solve the riddle/clue/puzzle to get the co-ordinates to the first world, then activate the Stargate and go to the next location, presumably find the next clue and so on?

My only issue with the unique setting is if this is a future utopian version of Earth then does it still make sense that Sanctuary has items and locations based on pop culture from decades or even centuries in the past? I also worry at the inclusion of levels because it seems unnecessary both in and out of universe; if Sanctuary was originally created as just a virtual world with no game elements then there would be no reason to have levels, meaning it was something added to Sanctuary after the badlands was introduced. I also don't really see it playing much of a deciding factor in fight in the RP so I just don't see a reason for it and would prefer a setting where your "power" is determined by your equipment, skill and intelligence.

Other than these nitpicks I also vote for a unique setting.

I also vote in favour of pets but would want to draw a distinction between pets, mounts and companions. Pets would just be, well, pets; basically a cosmetic item. Mounts would be anything sentient that you can ride, so something like a Chocobo or Shadowfax; basically another form of vehicle. Companions would be combat capable AI allies like the mechanical dog you mentioned. The latter two should be treated like artefacts, with unique and non-unique versions.

... feel free to tell me to shut up if I'm getting annoying.

Ready Player One inspired RP

The movie I’m pretty sure indirectly mentioned levels. Once I’m pretty sure they referred to avatar death as resetting to zero and I know the wade told his aunt’s boyfriend to level up.

@Burning Kitty

There are definitely no levels in the Oasis. I'll stake my reputation on it.

When you die your account "zeroes out". Basically you lose everything, your entire inventory and every single gold coin and you are given an essentially fresh character again. That's why people explode into piles of loot when they die.

I'm unsure whether it actually deletes your account or not, as in death is an actual permadeath and that character is just gone; accounts are free anyway so it wouldn't make much difference.

The "level up" line was just a general gaming reference I'm fairly sure. Wade was just telling him to "git gud scrub".

Ready Player One or unique setting?

@Burning Kitty

What would the difference be, aside from the lack of references to canon characters or events? Would the game world function differently, would the real world be less of a dystopia?

Ready Player One inspired RP

It definitely won't be a rehash. The third quest in the movie for the keys (video games) was boring only made interested by the corporate war. The quest itself needs to be interesting.

@Burning Kitty

Just for reference the quests in the book were a lot longer and had multiple parts. The third quest in the movie is only the final, final part of the book's third quest.

We still shouldn't do a rehash though.

Everyone can definitely make suggestions. Some artifacts may not be allowed until higher levels if at all. Some may be unique, some may be acquired multiple times (common), there may be artifacts that have both a unique and common version (Master Chief's MJOLNIR armor versus MJOLNIR armor). I might not allow every feature of said item to be allowed for the artifact version or may restrict certain features to higher levels.

@Burning Kitty

I think artefacts by definition are unique, whereas everything else is just a regular item. That's just me being pedantic though, it doesn't really matter what we call them.

The movie made artefacts seems a lot more common than they should be, because they were trying to cram as much stuff in visually as possible. I think they pretty much all are earned as part of a hidden quest or something originally, before being put up for auction or entering the wild when the owner dies and loses everything. You don't just buy the Cataclysm from the in-game store.

If your character has a unique artefact I think there should probably be an explanation in your profile as to how you got it, either as part of your significant quest or other notable information.

Something else that was in the book and not the movie, that may be interesting to use, is the idea of magic/technology specific zones. In the book all items are classified as either magic, technology or neither (say just a regular sword) and zones are either non-combat, magic, technology or both. In a non-combat zone all items and atrefacts are disabled, it is a safe zone. In a magic zone stuff like lightsabers wouldn't work, in a technology zone a wizards staff would be useless and some zones allow you to use everything without restriction.

May restrict certain features to higher levels.

@Burning Kitty

If we were to set this in the Ready Player One universe there would be no levels. Strength is determined by equipment only.

Sorry for the wall of text and sorry if it sounds like I'm being negative or overly critical. I'm more just trying to provide information about the setting because you have only seen the movie and there was a lot of stuff in the book that explained the world that was wasn't included.

Ready Player One inspired RP

@Burning Kitty

I'm tentatively interested in this; my only reservation is what the plot is going to be.

I'd rather not do a rehash of the plot from the movie or the book, mostly because we'd be facing challenges that we already know the solution to in a story we've already seen the end of, but there's not much else to work with. The Oasis is just a game after all, outside of the Egg Hunt and the threat of corporate take over there isn't any other major threat to face.

Maybe there could be a second Egg Hunt? Say a special event organised by the characters of the movie to mark the anniversary of something; anniversary of the Oasis' creation, their taking ownership of the company or just what would have been Ogden Morrow's 100th Birthday or something. There would be a second Egg Hunt with a special prize at the end (untold riches or a unique artifact, maybe even the chance to design your own artifact or area of the Oasis) that our clan would try to win.

It would be something relatively high stakes without being too serious at the same time.

Either way I’ll have a list of Artifacts that the players can acquire, some of which our characters will start off with.

@Burning Kitty

I would very much like to be able to at least suggest our own artifacts. The whole appeal of a Ready Player One RP to me is the mash-up of every pop culture IP ever; obviously there is a focus on 80's stuff but there's plenty of stuff from newer works in both the book and movie.

Besides, I already have a pretty good idea of the kind of character I want to build. Not being able to pick my own equipment would make that harder to achieve.

The Hunter's Club

@Raging Fenrir I'm interested as well.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

Another level up. These things were coming a lot thicker and faster than Oberon had originally expected, not that he was complaining; the amount of battles that they had partaken in was likely a big part of that. The constant interruptions prevented him from spending as much time as he would have liked on experimentation but when it resulted in increased mana capacity and free skill points to spend he couldn’t complain.

Seeing the level up menu also gave Oberon a chance to get a progress report on the skills he was attempting to develop, as well as a few that he didn’t know about. Mana Dart and Minor Regeneration being on the list on unusable skills meant that he was on the right track with some of his ideas, but unfortunately neither skill was as developed as he had hoped they would be.

A sudden shout from the stricken rat in front of him startled him out of his thoughts, the level up screen disappearing as he whipped his head around to face them. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who had levelled up and the rat, whose name he should probably ask at some point, had just put a bunch of points into poison resistance. Probably a smart idea, all things considered.

“Heal just the burned area? If I restore your hit points it should heal all of your injuries anyway, if I understand this spell correctly. Besides, I can do one better. Six points into ‘Lesser Status Heal’.”

Oberon allocated some of his skill points into the partially complete skill, a system message appearing as he did so informing him of his new ability. Wasting no time he immediately cast it on the rat, and used his Magic Analysis to get some information on his new spell beyond what the system message would have told him. For good measure he then cast Minor Heal once more to top off the Dire Rats health, focusing the spell on the area around the acid burn as requested just in case that made a difference. “Ok, you should be good to go? It’s a new spell so just to be sure I need you to say ‘Open status menu’ for me. It’ll open up a system message and should let you know if the poison has been cured.”

As he was explaining, Mourningstar floated passed holding a small satchel and muttering something under her breath about ‘getting stronger’. He heard the slime he had helped earlier shout after her, but if the Wisp heard him she wasn’t showing any signs of responding. She was moving away from the bonfire and with the little cache of supplies she was carrying it looked as if she was planning on leaving; why she would do that or what her plan was, if she had one, he didn’t know, but with everything that was happening right now and with a counter attack from the Goblin’s probably coming any moment it wasn’t the best time to be wondering off alone.

Not that it was ever safe to be alone in this cave.

Climbing to his feet Oberon pushed off of the ground and flew to catch-up with the Wisp, his upgraded flight allowing him to move slightly faster than Mourningstar. He flew past her and swung in front to block her path. When he spoke he tried to sound gentle and concerned, so as not to sound accusatory. “Hey, are you going somewhere?”

Action Report

Allocate six skill points to 'Lesser Status Heal'
Cast 'Lesser Status Heal' on Asteria
Cast 'Minor Heal 1' on Asteria
Inform Asteria about opening 'Skills Menu'

@SilverPaw@floodtalon@Zeroth

Free For All

@MikkishtheLeprechaun@Samdragonx

I'm really unclear on what just happened. If Naiji dead? Are the elevator doors blocked by rubble now?