Zeroth

Blackguards!

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Auguz the Manslayer

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A blue woman with too many fingers. A young human---either too young, or too baggily dressed, for their gender to be readily apparent. An old crone, and Auguz thought she was even more shrunken than normal until he realized she was dwarven. A human man, with the darting look of one who skulks and lies and runs from battle. An older man in plated steel, who had an odd smell about him...the orc sniffed the air, and it reminded him of the temples where humans prepared their dead while claiming to heal their sick. And an even older man...too old, said the Auguz's sixth sense, the intuition of a warrior who has faced many potential deaths, and many opponents.

None of them seemed worth his blade at first glance. He made an allowance for the elders, if only for the fact that manlings who survived long enough had to have a few tricks up their sleeves. But there wasn't a proper orc among them. Was he the only true warrior? Did the rest of them flirt with their arts of witchery and deceit, like the Warden? Perhaps the cutpurses among the small band could cut throats just as well, but could they fight?

The movement of his eyes was arrested just as his body had been. His body lurched in place as the Warden seized his mind. She spoke of far lands, of divine rulers, of places and things that Auguz had not yet seen. As she spoke, Auguz saw them now. Her words did not merely communicate the meaning of what she spoke; the images were burned into the orc's mind. So too burned the gaze of the masked one, the one who smiled. The manslayer's blood boiled. Was this the self-proclaimed god-king? Did he dare Auguz to whet his blade on the fool's throat? The Warden's voice cut through the embers of rage searing the edge of her prisoner's consciousness.

A competitor to the Tyrant. No, tyrants did not like that, did they? The witch-thing's explanation would have bored Auguz if he had been able to shut her out. But he could not---and neither could he ignore the images stitching themselves into his memories like patches on a quilt. The orc realized he did not know whether or not he had closed his eyes. He could see the Warden, yet she flitted as if he blinked when he could not feel his eyelids. She walked behind the tapestry of her own story, a shadow always at the edge of his vision.

Three more shadows appeared. Red haired woman, scarred man. But the man in the golden mask still smiled with anticipation. Anticipation of what? His death at Auguz's hands? The Warden seemed to expect that they would obey without question. Something like a fish hook squirmed in Auguz's guts.

The images ceased. The earth swallowed them, so swiftly Auguz could not even attempt to jerk in his invisible restraints or cry out in protest. Everything collapsed; everything went dark. Except for the Warden. Her presence remained, not as a guiding light, but as something even darkness refused to touch.

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Auguz awakened with his body already in motion. Snarling, he leaped to his feet, reaching to his waist out of habit even though he knew---

His swords had been returned to him.

As his grip closed on the hilt, the reassurance of steel steadied him. He froze, not out of fear, nor from the pull of magic, but with the sensation of sense returning to him. Clean air. Waving grass. Distant mountains, misty and dark. Orange sun---rising, or setting? Unless one had been standing here long enough to observe the star's motion, it was too disorienting to tell. Water, flowing fast. Wind in the trees.

The others were here too, each now in a state of wakefulness. The too-old human seemed just as alert as Auguz, thus far. The orc removed his hands from his weapons, for his confusion and wonderment overcame his bloodlust (something rare enough that he himself was shocked to admit it), and now he simply stood for a moment, turning this way and that as he read his surroundings.

Somehow, he knew the witch-thing had not freed them. But, still, what was to stop any one of them from turning on the others or simply...leaving? He did not understand magic, but he understood power. The Warden was too powerful to let them defy her so easily. And yet, in the absence of proof, what else was there to do?

He plucked a strand from the grass, just to assure himself it was real and not one of the visions planted in his head. Twisting it between two fingers on one hand, he looked towards the too-old human, who now wore battered armor and a purple crest. Even from a glance, even sheathed, the sword he now wore caught Auguz's experienced eye. His fingers twitched over the pommel of his own weapon.

"...Where are we?" he asked, simply, looking around at all the others.

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

A Wild Treant appears!

Duddeli-duddeli-duddeli-du-duuuuu~!!

Treant uses Trunk Fist on Akitsugu.
IT'S SUPER EFFECTIVE!

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Guess I'd better get to rolling some dice, drawing some cards and preparing some traps fun encounters for the forest crew now.

@Xaltwind

"Lookit that cute little mushroom guy! Where ya goin' little fella? Aw, is that your dadd--HEURRRGH!!!"

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

LET THE DEFORESTATION BEGIN!

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

--- Village Center > Springwood Forest ---

Akitsugu

Late Morning / Early Midday
@Rune_Alchemist@CitrusArms@Xaltwind@Dragonydas@BunniesOfDoom@Remram@LupusIntus

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The bard apparently had a rapier to flourish, but before he could do so the elven woman called Adrila suddenly entwined her arm with his. She seemed so certain of his sophisticated background Akitsugu was a little taken aback, but then again bards tended to have reputations as ladykillers for a reason, he supposed. In any case, it kept the man from bothering the other elf girl who was clearly uncomfortable with his advance.

Myrr seemed to quietly speak to Brom, before she answered the blacksmith's question. She apparently didn't have much in the way of weaponry, but could use two different kinds of magic. To Akitsugu, being able to affect an enemy's footing was good enough---he certainly couldn't do magic himself, so that fact alone was impressive.

"Keeping a sharp eye out will certainly be appreciated." he said, though as the woman began to mutter to herself and jot her thoughts down in a notebook, the blacksmith remained politely silent. Clearly, she was a bit like himself---he tended to think silently, but was also a note taker when needed. He knew that in his case, voicing one's thoughts aloud or whispering to one self was like imagining a conversation with another part of the brain---what if this, how about that? To evaluate thoughts as they occurred, and come to a conclusion only after considering both positive and negative aspects of an idea.

Brom chimed in that he was also familiar with swords, to which Akitsugu nodded with a positive "Mmh." Yingmei's grumble, however, caught his ear next and he turned to the girl with a look of concern. She declined his offer of an escort, which brought a slight frown to his lips, but he nodded in understanding. Best not to try and force his presence on anyone, especially when they seemed the naturally timid sort, and when he had only met them mere moments previously.

Although...what was that she'd said? Something about a divine beast? Again, the same way he allowed Myrr's thoughts to run uninterrupted, he merely blinked and did not draw attention to Yingmei's nervous stammers.

Brom, however, tried to encourage the girl into coming along with them anyway---to which Akitsugu held up an empty palm.

"I disagree, Brom-dono. If Miss Yingmei's specialties lie elsewhere, let her put them to the use she deems best. I trust her judgment. The three of us will be enough."

Myrr and the dwarf both seemed ready to go, so Akitsugu gave Yingmei another soft smile and a pat on the shoulder, before turning away and walking in the direction of the Springwood Forest. Best to take the lead and let those who would follow do as they willed---and leave those who did not wish to follow to their own devices, without making the situation more awkward. He did, however, hear Niara offering to accompany Yingmei, which brought a smile to his face despite not turning back.

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The wild grass, dotted with shrubs and patches of flowers, was tall but not impedingly so. Aside from the occasional rabbit or bird, the most fearsome beasts out here seemed to be the trundling, membranous masses that Akitsugu knew to be called "Slimes" in this land's tongue. He wasn't even sure if the creatures were sentient---they simply rolled about, in their ponderous way, eating at bits of already dead or decaying things. Personally he only saw one; a blue specimen in the distance, tumbling down a gentle slope until it hit a particularly thick patch of grass, which formed into a ramp beneath its gelatinous body and launched it perhaps a foot in the air. It disappeared into the brush with a sound like manure being dumped out of a bucket.

There weren't really any noticeable landmarks, but the way was clear enough--entirely one-dimensional, in fact. Within less than half an hour they came to a line of thin and short trees, which thickened past their line of sight but never came close enough to shut out the sunlight. The day was warm and pleasant, and the canopy rustled every so often with a pleasant breeze. Akitsugu turned to Myrr first.

"If you have any idea what types of trees these are, have Brom-dono--ah...Sir Brom, mark the ones he wishes to use for smoking. I'm going to look for deadwood first." So saying, he pulled the hatchet from his pack once more, and began to search for twigs, tree limbs, fallen logs, or anything else that would be dry-but-not-rotten, flammable, and most importantly, within easy reach on the ground.

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

Will try to get something up later today! Got an appointment this morning and we're already off to a rough start >_<

Do You Have RP Pet Peeves?

@SammyMcW Best response to that person would've been to tell them "Go write a book," since they apparently already know exactly what kinds of characters they want in the story, and likely have a concrete plot they don't want to deviate from either.

As for playing characters that may share certain challenges, issues, or mindsets that we as the writers have IRL, I think recent kerfuffles with WotC about changes they've been making to D&D have bled out into other role-playing spheres and put a sort of stigma on that kind of thing out of the mistaken beliefs that it's an issue related to "self insert Mary Sues," "some weirdo with a fetish," or that fiction always has to be completely escapist/idealistic in its presentation---because (keep in mind this is sarcasm) why would anyone ever want their character to be crippled in that way?

I mean, I'm not the type who would design the evil lich's ancient tomb dungeon to be wheel-chair accessible myself, but unfortunately the same way people walking on the street don't like to make eye contact with the homeless, those of severe deformity, and really ugly babies, some people in RP aren't going to be empathetic to our personal struggles. Just like they shouldn't try to make you change to suit them, them being "uncomfortable" with the idea may not be something they're ready to change about themselves---even if they SHOULD try to communicate it in a better way without being an asshole.

That said, for the longest time, I denied that my OCs were autistic too because that was... well, let's just say I was more selfish than I am now.

But yeah, my present OCs are autistic.

@Letter Bee

Don't feel like you have to pigeon-hole yourself just because other people insist that your characters "act that way." I think the nature of this hobby, just like video games, probably draws a lot of people who are somewhere on the spectrum. And we as writers will, of course, write more convincingly about things we're familiar with. But I've never been able to give any kind of independent psychiatric diagnosis to any character I've read in fiction outside of RPs or within them, and don't understand why other players would want to outside of a story specifically about dealing with those conditions. You write 'em the way you want.

Blood of the Crown (Medieval Fantasy, Royalty, Magic)

Potentially interested, though I share a lot of the same questions Xalt has. In addition:

The fact that the royal line are the ones who have the power of the Runes helps a bit with the idea that the nobility specifically want someone of that same bloodline to be found, since I imagine that power is either very useful or outright required in some manner---as a deterrent against enemies, a means of controlling the knight commanders who were given Lesser Runes, etc---but is there any particular reason the nobles are actually cooperating to find the lost heir, rather than vying for the throne themselves?

Unless the power of the rune somehow makes it so that each king can only have one child or something, or the inheritance is specifically determined BY the Rune's presence and thus other royal children aren't actually considered royalty, there surely would've been other members of the royal family who branched off, right? King I has 2 kids, one becomes King II and the other becomes Duke I, but if King II dies before having a kid then Duke comes back to become King III, and so on. That's how "noble families" become nobility in the first place, typically, so is there a reason that the Dukes, Earls, Counts, etc who have closer ties to the royal line aren't waging a civil war to put themselves in power?

Pokémon: Sorrow's Song {looking for players}

I just don't want to lean hard into Mad Max Pokémon: the RP or the like. I don't want it to be full on goofy just because it's Pokémon.

@Carlyle

Oi, I'll have you know those buff biker dudes were a Fist of the North Star reference, thank you!

So players will need to create their own narratives, then? I feel like things would probably work better if there was at least some form of overarching conflict besides just the need to survive... Do you have a plan for some villainous Team to be at work? Or maybe Groudon and Kyogre are still occasionally kaiju-ing it up in the remnants of a city and the Players could have the long-term goal of defeating/capturing/sealing them? Or maybe just finding some way to call Rayquaza back so that he can do his job? Full on sandboxes, in my experience, tend to work less well in RPs than they would in, say, a videogame.

Do You Have RP Pet Peeves?

Not sure about the "pandering" aspect. This is RPing. Not Hollywood. Openly allowing people to play a character of a specific orientatiom doesn't equate to "Hey we have a gay character" the way it migbt in a pre-scripted movie or show. Even if it was that way, by your outlook, wpuld it not be just as much of a pander to play a character as bi/gay or build up to a come out without explicitly mentioning it OOC?

@Little Bird

I should clarify on that aspect, because you're right that in these RP scenarios it's not the same as advertising. I guess maybe a better way to say it would be that, in the same way the corpo-advertisement lacks depth, I've seen some examples where Players seem to overemphasize the parts about sexuality to the detriment of the parts about personality. I just see it as an inherently bad sign if the question "So what kind of character are you playing?" is answered with "I'm playing a gay/bi/super straight girl/boy/etc," instead of "I'm playing a nepo-baby college drop-out with a coke habit who is trying to avoid the mob," or "I'm playing a fallen noble scion who's entered a pact with a fae to save the village his family used to govern."

In my personal experience, the RPs wherein sexuality has a spot on the CS, things like relationships are planned and plotted (mostly) ahead of time anyways. So the "will they, won't they" isn't a factor OOC... usually. So being open about which way one's character(s) swing(s) becomes useful in ironing those matters out.

That does sound out like it would work better, but from my perspective also seems like it would take out the fun of character-self-discovery. My experience has been that RPs where a lot of stuff is planned out between characters ahead of time often suffer from a lack of motivation in players, because... well, they already know where the story's going to go, so why bother playing it out? Of course that won't be the same for every writer, so I'm sure it wouldn't be the same for every RP either.

I agree to the extent that a characters' personality should be able to stand without leaning on sexual orientation. But I don't think it inherently detracts from an RP if the option to specify it is present in the CS. I'm sure as Hell not gonna abandon an RP that I find appealing over such a minute detail of the process. But that's why it's your pet peeve and not mine.

Right. That first part is mostly what I'm trying to emphasize, my objections just come from my own experiences where that hasn't been the case. Or cases where it was on the sheet even though the RP didn't emphasize the pursuit of romance, but because it was there it attracted a Player(s) who maybe was more concerned with trying to bump uglies than, say, helping us abscond with ye olde ghost pirate's treasure horde before we're caught by cannibal natives.

I should also mention that I embellish examples for the sake of humor, I'm not really trying to factually debate anybody about the subject of Sexuality on character sheets.

Do You Have RP Pet Peeves?

Defining a character's sexuality doesn't necessarily equate to an RP being erotic though. It's a legitimate element to include in environments wherein romance is likely to emerge at any degree; frankly, any brand of high school/college setting has a door open for that sort of stuff. I just view at as supplementary to the character's personality. Really just depends on how it's played out in practice.

@Little Bird

I disagree that it adds anything useful to supplement the character at all, because I see it as being like the corpo-pandering that says stuff like "Our game has a GAY character!" but then has no answer for "Okay, but what about this character makes them relatable, fun to play, or endearing to the audience?" In 90% of character interactions it's never going to be relevant, and it's the kind of thing that can be obvious without being stated---if a character's commentary or internal monologue notes their attraction to other characters, or two characters develop romantic chemistry through interaction, then their preferences are self-evident.

The only thing I can see it being useful for in a romance-focused RP (which is really rare outside of 1x1) is to tell people at a glance who they SHOULDN'T have their PCs develop relationships with because there will be no attraction present---which I would think would ruin half the premise of a "will they won't they" plot line because you already know the answer from the beginning of the game.

Having a bunch of goofy teens trip over themselves to blurt out their crushes, then get shot down because their crush isn't into them, is probably where at least 50% of the interesting character drama/development would come from in such a story. So plastering a label over everyone's head at the start to immediately take some of that "would he/she/etc accept me?" element away is probably why I've seen those RPs fall off even faster than the hordes of generic Medieval Anime Fantasy games.