Mattchstick

The Band of Fools

@KassarockCedric has been updated with a much better picture with much better clothing. Make sure you refresh before you analyze him :D

Experiment-200: KILL_OR_BE_KILLED (Always open)

MASTER

Name: MASTER, Deputy Director of the IHS and Experiment-200 overseer.
Age: 39
Sex: M
Appearance: Caucasian. 5'10", thin but not skinny. Dark brown hair cut to about an inch long. Dark brown eyes.
Clothing: Gray collared shirt, black necktie, heavy white lab coat with the Institute's logo printed on the shoulder, black dress pants, black leather shoes, rectangular gunmetal-gray eyeglasses.
Personality: MASTER is a cold, calculating man, who is defined by his ability to separate data from empathy. If he is insane, he doesn't show it.
Background: ???

Experiment-200: KILL_OR_BE_KILLED (Always open)

Post your CS here for approval.

"Kill or be killed" survival RP with a few quirks

The OOC is up

@Cryfest@tigersloth@Default@Perpenheimer@Monacho

Experiment-200: KILL_OR_BE_KILLED (Always open)

Hello. You have been selected to participate in Experiment-200, courtesy of the Institute for Human Survival. You've been summoned here today to test your ability to make the most important decision in the history of mankind. To kill...or be killed.

This is a classic survival murder story, but with a few quirks. Like the Hunger Games, all characters will be unwilling participants in a closed environment in which they must kill others or be killed. Unlike the Hunger Games, you must kill one specific person, and you can only be killed by another character (or by the GM, more on that later). If you kill that character, you have succeeded, and the experiment will end for you. And best of all, the RP is built in a way so that anyone can join or leave at any time, and if you die, you can join again as a new character.

Things you need to know

1. It is extremely easy for players to leave and join. The only way to die is being killed by another player, or by the GM instantly. If you want to leave, the GM will kill your character, giving the person targeting you the opportunity to get their kill and win. If you want to join, you'll be funneled into the test, and an existing player will be assigned to you, with you assigned to their previous target. To avoid continuity troubles and characters being put in "sleep mode," the GM will reserve the right to permanently kill your character, with the player having the option to roll in again with a new character at any time, to keep the story moving.

2. Everyone will be given a flip phone that is connected to the GM's phone by text and voice. You are given one (ONE) IC phone call to the GM. You can use that call whenever you want, to say whatever you want, but only once. Want to make threats? Ask for help? Try to make a bargain? Feel free, but make it count.

3. While there will be no giant traps or wild animals, the GM can and will send in "assistants" to move characters in specific directions. The assistants will likely be soldiers, armed with automatic weapons, who force characters out of hiding. But they might also be medics or arms dealers. All of them will be controlled by the GM. This is avoid things becoming monotonous or repetitive for the Institute (and the players).

4. Rather than an empty arena or abandoned cityscape, two large stores will be available on the map. One will sell food and water, the other will sell supplies, clothing, and weapons. Survival is not the problem. No one is going to die from starvation, freezing to death, etc. unless you do it on purpose, though the assistants may be on hand to keep that from happening.

5. The GM will actively communicate with the players via text message to induce stress. Cryptic messages or threats will appear at times to provide a false sense of urgency in the characters. All texts will be sent via PM only, though players will be allowed to reveal what they say IC if they so desire.

6. There is an OOC map of the town, which is 5 miles by 5 miles. It is not to scale and is basically a reference guide. You will not have access to an actual physical map IC. The map will not shrink, areas will not be sectioned off, there will be no electric clouds of death.

7. To avoid confusion and continuity troubles over day-night cycles, the experiment will take place over the length of one unusually long day.

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The Map

Not to scale, reference only, does not exist IC, 5 miles x 5 miles

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Basic Rules

1. No god-mods, no meta gaming, respect each other.
2. The GM reserves the right to kill any character at any time, and dead characters cannot be revived. However, the GM does not have the right to kill characters for fun or for disliking them. If a player does not want their character to die at that time, they may talk to the player attacking them or the GM to work around it if reasonable. The CS is stripped down to the basics so players can die and roll back in without difficulty.
4. Teamwork will be discouraged, romance is not allowed. You can TRY to team up, but expect the GM to try to disrupt it via an assistant. This isn't the Hunger games, where working together to kill other people is a potential strategy. E-200 is designed to see if individual humans can kill other humans on command.
5. Keep the language and behavior PG-13. If you absolutely have to swear, use asterisks.

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Character Sheet

Name: (first and last)
Age: (at least 18. Can be any age past that)
Sex: M/F (as stated earlier, romance is not going to be a factor)
Appearance: (height, weight, hair color/length, eyes color. Pictures are fine)
Clothing: (basic description of visible clothing. Ignore this is you're submitting a picture)
Personality: (a few descriptive words or sentences)
Strength(s): (optional. whatever trait(s) your character excels the most in. whatever you put here will be tested)
Background: (three paragraphs max)

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Rules on Posting

1. Your first post* should consist of you leaving the starting room and heading in a direction. You will not be able to stay in the room.

2. Once everyone has posted once, wait until at least two other people have posted before posting. There should be a gap of at least two people between each of your posts.

3. The minimum post limit is once per week, two paragraphs per post. Please do not post walls of text. Three to four per post would be excellent, but you're free to go past that. I'll let you know if you're going overboard, but I doubt that will be an actual problem.

*NOTE: There is no limit on the length of your first post. Your first post is critical in establishing your character. Be as elaborate or concise as you want.

The Band of Fools

@Forgiveness

.(Maybe Cedric taught him)

Yeah, maybe because he's, like, almost identical to Cedric? The two of them are almost interchangeable, especially in Skills and Abilities. And Equipment.

The Band of Fools

Please feel free to correct me on what you may consider "historically inaccurate" information. I am not all that good with medieval etiquette and behavior.

How much freedom is allowed for clothing and weapons? Are characters clever enough to improvise things, or are we simply filling "Head, Chest, Legs, Gloves, Boots" slots? Are they intelligent enough to, say, wear the knife sheath horizontally on the back of his belt? Create a makeshift flaming arrowhead? Use tree branches as camouflage? Innovate and improvise in general?

Cedric Amberstone

Name: Cedric Amberstone

Gender: M

Age: 25

Role/Position: Longbowman

Appearance:

My Hider

Cedric stands at 5'11" and weighs 190 lbs, much of which is lean upper-body muscle. He is surprisingly pale for someone who should have spent so much time outdoors. His hair, which is straight and nearly shoulder-length, is a dark brown, with equally dark eyes and furrowed eyebrows that suggest he is constantly in thought. Though he bears no blatant scars, there is an ugly red burn along his left forearm, reminding him of the time he gripped his bow incorrectly and the bowstring raked a good six inches of his skin. The mark is now covered by a long glove (see Equipment) that he refuses to take off.

Personality: Cheerful and optimistic, Cedric tries his hardest to find some good in whatever the situation. He has a great deal of respect for those older than him, as they are more experienced and hardened than he is, and trusts them to make the difficult decisions. He never shows a great deal of enthusiasm or excitement, as his time with the Fools has taught him that the world is a bit dimmer than he had initially believed, but he does his best to enjoy his work, and will always manage at least a grin.

History: If one were to look up the definition of "common peasant," they would find an excellent description of the first twenty years of Cedric's life. He was a farm boy, raised on a small farm that provided just enough of a profit to keep him from severe poverty. He took to archery at a young age, since wild game was a major source of food. He learning how to string, unstring, draw, and maintain a bow, as well as craft and carve arrow shafts and forge arrowheads (given the proper tools, of course). Survival was nearly as critical, since wild animals did not have a habit of sitting about, waiting for you to shoot them, and no one else was going to clean and cook your kill for you.

Two days after his 20th birthday, Cedric left home. The reasons for this are an absolute mystery to anyone else, since it is the one and only subject Cedric refuses to expound on. The location and health of his parents and siblings (if he had any) is a well-guarded secret to him. All that is known for sure is that he has not returned to his home since he left five years ago.

Cedric had never much liked the idea of roving, moving from down to town and taking anything a stranger would hand out, but that is where he found himself. It was not a pleasant life, but there were always farmers looking for a good set of hands to help with work, so he always managed to find a reasonable place to sleep. He worked any odd job he could find, including a few months as a blacksmith (from which he learnt almost nothing and enjoyed none of it). He saved up a good bit of money by choosing to hunt rather than buy food and sleep at his place of employment rather than an inn.

His luck expired during the second winter, at which point the work seemed to dry up and he found himself paying out of pocket to stay somewhere warm. Desperate, he took a try at gambling, where he discovered that he was absolutely incapable of bluffing and lost every coin within an hour. One of the gamblers felt a faint tug of remorse and return a single gold coin to Cedric before he left. It was a hard lesson, one that he would never forget.

On his way out, he encountered another archer who looked surprisingly similar to him. Cedric recognized the other man's longbow and kit and struck up a loose conversation. Cedric asked if he was some sort of guardsman, as he had seen no other guards armed with such a weapon. It was here that he learnt of the existed of the Band of Fortune and the benefits that came with it. Cedric had never dealt with mercenaries before, though he had heard both good and bad stories of their behavior. Curious, and completely out of other things to do, Cedric asked around the town for information.

"Oh, I've heard of them," a stranger said, whom Cedric later realized was an existing member. "But these days, they're called the Band of Fools."

Cedric couldn't resist a smile as he tossed the man his sole remaining coin and asked if they could use one more fool.

Skills and Abilities: Many years hunting wild game has given him tremendous skill with a longbow, though a normal bow will do if he has no other option. He is an excellent hunter, a skill that includes tracking, cleaning, and cooking. His strongest trait is his eyesight, and he has the ability to see small movements at a considerable distance, though his sense of hearing is nearly as sharp. He has a peculiar habit of cocking his head to the left and narrowing his eyes when he hears something.

Weakness(es): Though he has some skill with a hand ax, Cedric is completely untrained in using his fists or his knife as anything but a tool. He does not have poor endurance and stamina and cannot run at full speed for very long. In the realm of war and death, he is still very ignorant, having never set foot on a front line. He is also incapable of bluffing or lying in the sense that he just cannot keep a straight face.

Equipment: Steel-plate brigandine, steel greaves, and a studded leather bracer on his right forearm, with the left sporting a leather arm guard shooting glove. He totes along a steel sallet on a leather strap for actual combat.

He carries a longbow (120-lb draw weight) and reverse-draw quiver for combat, along with a small one-hand ax with a hook on the opposite side. For cleaning and skinning animals, he carries a large hunting knife in a sheath on the back of his belt.

His horse is an even-tempered thoroughbred mare with four white socks and a wide white blaze.

The Band of Fools

If it's allowed, I'd like to reserve the bowman position, as I am no good at being a leader and would be much happier having orders than giving them. I'm busy right now, will work on a CS in a bit.

Don't suppose I could be Sir Shmoopy of Awesometon, the dual-wielding Canadian lumberjack.

The Band of Fools - A Medieval Mercenary Company Roleplay

Yeah longbows can and will be a thing. However, there is a debate about how battlefield longbows are used. Very little period art shows it raised for the volley, a lot of historians think it was designed to be used as the enemy closed in to maximise penetration.

But consider the fact that "With work scarce they became little more than glorified thugs and many even turned to banditry when hard times struck," so our combat method may be a bit more unorthodox. I guess it depends on our orders and to what extent we follow them.

The Band of Fools - A Medieval Mercenary Company Roleplay

Secondly, planning to play this as a nebulous 'High-Casual' level RP, which for me means I expect advanced levels of spelling/grammar/writing, but I don't care if you only post a paragraph or two to keep things ticking along.

Gotta love how the first two High-Casual requirements are correct spelling and grammar, since that's special anymore.

Thirdly, this is very Low-Fantasy. No magic (although your characters might believe in magic), no non-human races, no ridiculous anachronistic stuff for a period equivalent to the High/Late Medieval.

This is straight-up the best selling point for me.

In terms of tech levels, I'm thinking late 13th - 14th century.

Oh snap, can we be longbow archers? Those guys were hardcore. Punching holes in chain mail armor at 300+ yards. Plus, they had a reputation of not having formal military training, and were borderline hired mercenaries, as I've been informed.

My experience with RPs and video games (and games in general) has led me to prefer aggressive close-range combat, but picking off game and scouts at range sounds fun too. Depends on what other people decide to be, I suppose.