Zeroth
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@Cleveraptor: Gallery might be your best bet for prose samples, or possibly Roleplaying Discussion.
14 days ago
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14 days ago
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@Cleveraptor: Gallery might be your best bet for prose samples, or possibly Roleplaying Discussion.
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15 days ago
@Estylwen: If it helps I once did the same, staying awake for a total of about 36 hours and managing to force-write a little over 30k words. I'd say around hour 22 was probably when the mania began.
1
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15 days ago
PlayerTips: Awesome, your character did a cool thing! Now look at your co-PCs. Who HASN'T gotten to do a cool thing in a while? How could you subtly push them into the spotlight for a bit?
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21 days ago
A spirit appears in your room with a more successful-looking version of you: "--and THIS is what you would be!" "My God! Spare me these visions, I've learned my lesson!" Both immediately vanish.
2
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25 days ago
GMTips: Shrink your plots---No, even smaller than that! Don't let them pick from all the starting points on your epic sandbox map; 3 Plot Coupons are easier to collect than 7; keep stakes personal!
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Bio
On CST time, United States. Typically busy most of the week and do most posting/replying on weekends.
Most Recent Posts
I'll be fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine~
Im the protagonist, after all. Got that sweet, sweet plot armor.
*Contiues to brag and raise Death Flags*
This made me imagine an anime where the protagonist cheats/lucks their way into finding out that they ARE, indeed, the protagonist, and either out of spite for the world or as some crazy battle tactic, they intentionally raise every death flag possible and catch everyone else around them in the cavalcade of destruction. Something like this scene but with stuff like:
"I can't fall here! I still have to see my best friend get married to his childhood sweetheart!"
*said best friend suddenly does a double take* "What!? I haven't even confess---!" *the childhood sweetheart tackles him just before an explosion goes off inches away, scattering debris all around them*
*Main Character leaps over their trench and keeps sprinting* "I have faith in the Side Cast Trio! Their Super Defensive Formation cannot be broken!"
*said Trio is trying to hold the line ahead of the main character, and one of them looks back at him in shock* "Dude, don't jinx us!" *they're immediately scattered by a giant enemy with a bowling pin sound effect, which opens a space for the Main Character to run through unimpeded*
Finally posted! If need be, Akitsugu could be slightly time-displaced and rejoin @RemramBrom and @DragonydasMyrr when they've finished their own tasks, cause I assume it took him a reasonable amount of time to choppy-chop everything.
Akitsugu had two separate piles of wood before long. One had sticks no thicker than his forearm at the most, while the majority in the pile were perhaps two or three finger-widths. The other had the bigger logs he had cut down into sections no longer than from his hand to his elbow, using the same v-wedging technique from before. Doing it to two more fallen trees had taken quite a bit of effort, and his arms were already tiring as sweat darkened his robes. But, both piles soon constituted a "double arm load." So now he needed a way to actually carry them back in one trip.
Looking around the rest of the forest, Akitsugu continued to keep an eye on Brom and Myrr just to make sure the three of them didn't get separated from one another. He circled in a wide arc, wandering in a somewhat meandering pattern between trees, until he found what he was looking for. A woody vine curled its way up one of the more lively looking trees---likely the kind of parasite that used a stronger plant to support itself. Akitsugu bent down to chop at its roots first, and then began a laborious process of unwinding it from the tree's trunk and canopy. It took a lot of jerking, and pulling, and at one point he had to jump and cling to the vine like a baby monkey so that his weight would yank it free of the tangling branches up above. There was a lot of rustling and grunting during this time, followed by a rather loud THUMP as his backside hit the ground.
"Oi! You almost sat on me!" Miyusahime hissed.
"SHH!" Akitsugu scrambled to his feet, adjusting the sword at his hip before glancing around nervously. "I haven't told anyone about you, yet! We don't know if someone might try to steal you!"
He rubbed his aching rear while grumbling, and threw the loops of vine over his shoulder before marching back to his wood piles. A few more swings of his axe split the woody lengths down their middles, so that they would bend more easily as the green, fibrous material inside was exposed. He then tied two loops around each pile to hold them together, respectively, then put a third and a sixth loop between each pair to serve as a handle. Once this was done, he found a longer, sturdier branch on a still growing tree, and chopped it away from the base. This fresh bough wouldn't be used as firewood, but as a pole to put through the handle-loops. Then, after returning his tool to his backpack, Akitsugu squatted under the center of the pole. With a short "Ki-ai!" and a great heave, he managed to lift the firewood from his shoulders like a milkmaid would carry buckets of cream.
He walked back towards Brom and Myrr now, cheeks slightly red from exertion.
"I don't know if this is enough firewood to last us the whole night," he called, "but maybe if we hurry we could make a second trip before sundown. Sir Brom, I hope you won't mind switching with me at some point on the way back?"
HARVESTED: MORE WOODEN STICKS
HARVESTED: MORE WOODEN LOGS
HARVESTED: VINES
HARVESTED: WOODEN POLE
The thing about plotting for an RP as opposed to a self-contained novel or movie is that you've got to remember your players, and their interactions and motivations, will create and change the "original" plot. Unless you've talked to your players beforehand and planned out how things will go, in order to keep the plot on railroads, it's almost inevitable that what they do will change your setting, provoke your NPCs into different behaviors, or throw off your expectations and plans. And while you might need to reign in the chaos every so often, to me seeing those changes is part of the fun of being the GM the way interacting with the plot is part of the fun of being a Player.
The essentials of any plot, imo, is that "A character Wants something really badly, but Can't Have It because X is in the way." So for an RP, you need to consider "Why do the Players want to carry on their mentor's lifelong goal" so badly? This means you'll need to put some sections in your Character Sheet for Backstory, and maybe Motivations or Personality, and try to work with what the Players give you. You can either leave "The Artifact" or "The Archaeologist's Mission" vague until you have a better idea of what kind of characters people are going to make, OR you could make it something that most people, in general, would want for some reason or another.
For instance, if the Artifact is worth millions of dollars, there are many many reasons Characters could want that money. "It belongs in a museum!" "I need to pay for my sick sister's extremely rare surgery!" "I want to clear my debt with the Yakuza before they take my kidneys!" And so on and so forth.
If the Artifact is said to have the power to grant wishes, or give a person control over others, or some other supernatural ability, that would likewise be a big motivator to a lot of people---BUT, it also opens the door for skepticism from Characters who wouldn't believe in its abilities, and thus they might not be as convinced to heed their deceased mentor's words. In other words, they might say "to heck with Dr. Indie's pipe dream, I'm taking my piece of his fortune and going home."
So, consider what it is you want the Players to do, and then consider how their relationships with each other, with their teacher, and with the Artifact could motivate them to do those things.
Next, the part where "They Can't Have It Because X is in the Way." Again, this one is much easier to do if you already have an idea of what kind of characters your players are making. If one player has in their Backstory, "parents were killed by a terrorist attack," then maybe you have a villain involved with that terrorist group who wants the Artifact because it's a "holy symbol" to their death cult or something. If all the Players thought of the Archaeologist as their father figure, then maybe the villain is a megalomaniacal female business tycoon who used to be romantically involved with the Archaeologist, but he left her for some reason and now she wants to "destroy his legacy."
Alternatively, if you don't have an Indiana Jones style race for the Artifact going on between Players and Villains, then you'll need to design whatever set pieces are in place to make the Artifact hard to reach. A deadly desert, an arctic wasteland, a temple full of traps and twisting mazes, etc. And to make these obstacles meaningful to your players it might be a good idea to include things that will force them to face their fears or question their own motivations--and, again, this will rely on your ability to connect their backstories and personalities into your original plot. For example, maybe one character is a brooding loner who hates relying on others for help...but then, how will they get past the puzzles in the ancient temple that requires them to have a team of people standing on different weighted pressure plates?
I hope this hasn't been too wordy, and that it helps you develop your idea! Good luck to you!
The idea is that a group of people that had been under the wing at some point of a disgraced archaeologist who after dying, has given the group's control of what is left of his family's fortune and estate and have decided to carry on his mission and discover the lost history of the world. Starting with the finding of an artifact that the disgraced archaeologist was looking for. Anyone here willing to help me with this?
The essentials of any plot, imo, is that "A character Wants something really badly, but Can't Have It because X is in the way." So for an RP, you need to consider "Why do the Players want to carry on their mentor's lifelong goal" so badly? This means you'll need to put some sections in your Character Sheet for Backstory, and maybe Motivations or Personality, and try to work with what the Players give you. You can either leave "The Artifact" or "The Archaeologist's Mission" vague until you have a better idea of what kind of characters people are going to make, OR you could make it something that most people, in general, would want for some reason or another.
For instance, if the Artifact is worth millions of dollars, there are many many reasons Characters could want that money. "It belongs in a museum!" "I need to pay for my sick sister's extremely rare surgery!" "I want to clear my debt with the Yakuza before they take my kidneys!" And so on and so forth.
If the Artifact is said to have the power to grant wishes, or give a person control over others, or some other supernatural ability, that would likewise be a big motivator to a lot of people---BUT, it also opens the door for skepticism from Characters who wouldn't believe in its abilities, and thus they might not be as convinced to heed their deceased mentor's words. In other words, they might say "to heck with Dr. Indie's pipe dream, I'm taking my piece of his fortune and going home."
So, consider what it is you want the Players to do, and then consider how their relationships with each other, with their teacher, and with the Artifact could motivate them to do those things.
Next, the part where "They Can't Have It Because X is in the Way." Again, this one is much easier to do if you already have an idea of what kind of characters your players are making. If one player has in their Backstory, "parents were killed by a terrorist attack," then maybe you have a villain involved with that terrorist group who wants the Artifact because it's a "holy symbol" to their death cult or something. If all the Players thought of the Archaeologist as their father figure, then maybe the villain is a megalomaniacal female business tycoon who used to be romantically involved with the Archaeologist, but he left her for some reason and now she wants to "destroy his legacy."
Alternatively, if you don't have an Indiana Jones style race for the Artifact going on between Players and Villains, then you'll need to design whatever set pieces are in place to make the Artifact hard to reach. A deadly desert, an arctic wasteland, a temple full of traps and twisting mazes, etc. And to make these obstacles meaningful to your players it might be a good idea to include things that will force them to face their fears or question their own motivations--and, again, this will rely on your ability to connect their backstories and personalities into your original plot. For example, maybe one character is a brooding loner who hates relying on others for help...but then, how will they get past the puzzles in the ancient temple that requires them to have a team of people standing on different weighted pressure plates?
I hope this hasn't been too wordy, and that it helps you develop your idea! Good luck to you!
@Remram I had a minor procedure done yesterday, so my post is a little delayed. Don't feel like you need to wait on me!
Finally got a reply up!
Just to be clear, I'm all good with other players and characters! Auguz's dislikes and grudges are simply because he's quite far from anything resembling "sociable!" XD
Just to be clear, I'm all good with other players and characters! Auguz's dislikes and grudges are simply because he's quite far from anything resembling "sociable!" XD
Auguz the Manslayer
The too-old human spoke up, his shadowed eyes fixed upon the mountainous horizon. He called them the Spine, and Auguz turned his own gaze that way. He had seen the Spine before, but were these really the same---Wait. They were, but he had been on the other side of them before. He tried to envision the memory, mentally twisting and turning it, and overlapped it across the image in the present time. It seemed to fit. Finally, a landmark!
He took more than a little satisfaction from the elder's statement that Sulfrey, the land of their destination (though he still had no seen no reason to believe the Warden could stop him from simply disappearing into the wild blue yonger) was to the southwest. Which meant the other human elder, the stupid one, was trampsing off in the wrong direction. While continuing to taunt the "beast," no less.
Ah, I know which of these accursed ones I'm going to kill first. Now he had only to decide how to do it. His first slaughter after being released from the Maw deserved to be special---should he slice the man into tiny bits like a diced onion? Or butcher him in thick cuts like a prime beef cow?
The orc's wry little grin disappeared, however, when the blue woman began to squawk. If she was trying to endear herself to him, she was protesting far too loudly. And she continued to talk, of gold and other meaningless things. He simply crossed his arms and pointedly ignored her, looking instead towards the mountains again.
The too-old human's senses were sharp. Auguz lifted one big hand to his brow, and scanned the same ridge the elder seemed to be looking at. The blue woman's hawk cried out, so now surely the rest of the group would notice as well. The rumbling of many feet; the thunder of horses. Heavy breaths and voices on the air. What was such a band doing---surely they could not have spotted Auguz's own small group from so far away? He looked for the glint of a spyglass, or the banner of a leader. Was anyone guiding the oncoming wave of bodies? They seemed too...chaotic...to be a marching army, even of the tribal variety. And what was more, they did not radiate bloodlust. Auguz had trained in the martial arts to the point that combat triggered what was almost a sixth sense in him; to know when someone wanted to kill you was as easy as listening to the rhythm of their breath and watching the light in their eyes. No, these raiders were full of fear, not exhilaration.
And of course, the others of his group began to panic at such a sight. Auguz stepped to one side as the blue woman unleashed more magical birds. As they flew past him, he continued to back away as they set the grass alight. The sparks nearest him were stomped out under his sandal before they caught properly. He snarled.
"Fool! In this grassland you're liable to burn us all!" He barked at her, pointing with one clawed finger. But then a momentary waft of something foul wrinkled the orc's nose, and he turned just in time to see the old dwarven woman quaff something. He was about to ask if he could have a taste---booze that smelled like that had to be worth a try---when the woman's flesh contorted while her bones seemed to rebel against their mortal prison. His nose wrinkled as he stepped back. More sorcery! Was devilry simply here to stay in his life, now?! Would everyone he encountered from this moment on be some form of bloody witch?
Before his eyes the foul transformation unfolded, and again Auguz put his hand to his sword---the oncoming horde of easterlings was of no concern to him yet, for they were far and whatever this was, was near. The dwarf's body swelled and changed, folds of flesh devouring cloth only to sprout a new wardrobe. In her place now stood an ogre, a beast Auguz had encountered more than once in his wanderings. He knew well enough, then, to leap out of the way as she barreled forward and vomited all over the earth---which extinquished part of the flaming arc now separating them from the horde. Was she giving them a path out, before they were all cremated, or trying to make a choke point? Auguz blew air through his nostrils and rubbed the bridge of his nose as if he were wearing a pair of chafing spectacles.
The stupid human and the other dwarf of their group seemed to be arguing, a mixture of shouting and babbling and speaking in tongues none of which Auguz cared to try and understand. Instead, he walked to the other human---the only one of this bunch who hadn't yet gotten on his nerves.
"They are afraid." he said to Thengil, as calmly as if he were remarking on the weather. "If we stand firm they'll part around us like water around a stern rock. Anyone who tries to run from them or across their path will likely be trampled. I doubt they care anything about fighting us at all."
Then, for the first time he actually drew his sword, instead of just threatening the action. Northern Gale's gleaming blade reflected the red of the sunset as if it had already been bathed in blood. He smiled as he held it aloft, as if he were thinking of cutting the entire horde in two at a single stroke.
"But I'd certainly like to see what they're running from." He chuckled darkly, and faced the thundering hooves and churning bodies without a care in the world. True to what he'd said, unless the easterlings attacked him he had no plans at all to move out of their way, even if their steeds bore down on him.
I will hopefully have something ready to post soon!
I should be able to work on a post soon!
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