Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Sarcor
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Sarcor

Member Seen 6 yrs ago

Hello all!

I would have liked to create a splash page, but after 30 minutes of tinkering with the exceedingly poor QQcode format we here at roleplayerguild have to get used to, I gave up! Who knew!

In exchange here's some pictures to get into the mood:







So here is the breakdown of what I'm trying to start up (details, of course):

- The modern urban city is called Rulnapolis, founded by the corporation of Rulnap Co.

- It is surrounded by a bay area to the south and a large suburban area to the north and west. A river naturally empties into the bay and into the ocean which stretches to the east.

- Rulnapolis is in Puresk, a country in a supernation known as UTA (United Transatlantic Alliance). A conglomerate of smaller countries, UTA swallowed Puresk in a bid to compete with the land grabbing WAU (Western Asian Union). Politics won’t be a big deal unless they have to do with the character plot arcs.

- The game is known as Adventures in Tanak: Rise of the Overlords or ATRO. The system will be pseudo DnD with random numbers generated from a d20 and other respective dice to represent all the actions in the game. If people want to get technical about we CAN implement DnD rules (3.5 or otherwise) but the emphasis isn’t on the game mechanics, but the interactions between characters offline and online.

- The technological level is pretty much the same as the modern age, with the exception of virtual technology. As well some major medical advances and military capabilities.

- For the game’s purposes, the players will be immersed in the virtual world through a special chair, a helmet that encompasses the head entirely to provide stimulation to all senses. The sense of touch is transmitted through a skintight suit that is infused with nanomachines that do the work. The sense of pain and pleasure is DRASTICALLY reduced by normal standards. That means anything that has to do with pure physical pain (wounds, injuries) as well as pleasure (sexual and otherwise) is numbed to the point where people are aware of it but can choose to ignore it. Pain and pleasure slightly increases with the severity but players have an option to turn that off and opt for no stimulation or the sending the same signal all the time. This can be exploited sometimes to enter harder dungeons and surpass your levels but the game mechanics don’t allow for any major exploitation (level-locked). However, hackers are always looking to break this hard limit. Rulnap Co has since defended its code with ferocity.

- Death mechanics are pretty standard. All items are lost (dropped at gravemarker) except for bind on character items. These are kept by Death and you can get them back automatically by paying a price (expensive). Otherwise they will be destroyed in 15 days from the date of death.

- NPCs are actually virtual AI inserted into the game. Since the game was advertised by Rulnap Co, which is a Bioinformatics and Technology Corporation, the code is encrypted to the point where hackers have all but given up (or disappeared) after investigating it. The AI are capable of acting to near human capacity and are only limited by their prime directives. These include following all game mechanics to the numbers, obeying all Administrator accounts and following their specific purposes.

- Rulnap Co. pretty much owns the city, runs the game, funds the University and supports the government of UTA through modernized propaganda. They mostly control media and all information that reaches Puresk goes through the higher echelons of Rulnap Co.


The players will be enrolled University students attending New Luther University. The university is a public university that has general and specialized majors. Players can pick whatever age (as long as it's above 18, because of content warning reasons). There is going to be some mature stuff, but that just includes language and adult behavior. We can all be adults here, right?

This idea came out about as Log Horizon had just ended (anime), and I had recently read Otherland by Tad Williams. I would really like to try this virtual reality idea out.

I have learned over my travels that even 5 or 6 people is a bit too much for a consistent, engaged, and exciting roleplay, so I'll cap this at 4 people (not including me). That way, everybody gets a turn, and there is a simplified post order. Thank you!
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by You Will Oscar
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You Will Oscar

Member Offline since relaunch

Sounds like it could be pretty entertaining. I'm unfamiliar with the source material you referenced, save by reputation, but I've read/watched plenty of other stuff in the genre.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Headphones
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Headphones

Member Seen 4 yrs ago

From what I see you aren't going for the "trapped in the game and can't get out" setting that has been contaminating a lot of stories lately, for which I am glad.

Overall, I like what has been presented. Fairly structured. Straight forward. However, I am still not set on joining. Could you possibly explain to me what the plot is aiming for or how we will build the story? Will the development of the story solely depend on the characters or do you have something in mind for the future? I'm not familiar with "Log Horizon", albeit I've heard the name and seen a summary, nor with "Otherland" or with DnD mechanics (yes, if you are wondering, I exist). Will that be a problem?
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Sarcor
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Sarcor

Member Seen 6 yrs ago

@Headphones

I introduced this idea as a foot in the door, that's why I didn't elaborate on the plot details. Interest checks are supposed to be exactly that in my opinion, interesting. At first, I wanted to present the premise. The plot structure of this RP is something I am currently working on, but trust me, it doesn't involve the cliche 'getting stuck in the virtual reality' idea. Examples of this cliche include: .hack, Sword Art Online, Log Horizon and Otherland.

I wanted to establish our characters in this world, show how things work I suppose. Let people roleplay their exposition of out of game characters as well as their in game characters. Set the scene, if you will. (It can be done in one post) After everything is settled, I will introduce the initial plot arc, which will be something to the effect of guild wars (an in game conflict) related to competition in the University (out of game conflict). I want this to be an exploratory roleplay that goes into how we react to virtual perceived aggression, as well as distinguishing the difference between reality and the virtual world.

I also want this to be a heck of a lot of fun. :D

The D&D comment was there as a sort of insurance, explaining to people who want hard rules to be set in the virtual game itself (conflict resolution). In the end of this interest check, there will be a final decision whether to use these rules to help navigate the game within the game, if you will. You don't need to be acquainted with any of the references I made, they were just musings I put down. A simple google search of those keywords will remedy that if you are interested. I find Log Horizon (despite being seemingly cliche) to be the best of the virtual reality anime shows. I respect the amount of detail the creators put into the virtual game, portraying characters as realistically as they can (showing how people would really react in that situation). The trilogy of Otherland by Tad Williams explores how vague and twisted cyberspace can really be, if identity is combined with virtual reality. It's a bit of a mystery as well, with the villain in the shadows.

I like to have character arcs in my roleplays in addition to the story I want to introduce as well. The best solution is to combine stories with character arcs, so I hope I can work with people to collaborate on the work put into this RP. This is why I would like only 4 others. It would get exceedingly complicated beyond that.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Headphones
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Headphones

Member Seen 4 yrs ago

Lightly speaking, I am astounded. Finally, a person with an idea I haven't seen in awhile. *slowly claps*
A battle of morals, of identity, of self. I am now quite interested. Although, as mentioned before, I'm still not well aware of how DnD works, rest assured for I have played MMORPGs, thus I know many terms and how such games work.

If by chance you are having trouble with categorizing the information and neatly organizing it, might I suggest the following site: www.weebly.com/
It offers a site creation for free and it is quite nifty, if I do say so myself. Sometimes it can become a bit bothersome, but it's great for gathering all the information needed for a role-play. If you are interested in seeing what a final work on it looks like, feel free to browse around the site I made for a role-play of mine: http://6am-yesterday.weebly.com/
Needless to say, please don't use any of the information written there.

Sarcor, could you also give me a few notes on character creation? I am thinking of submitting a male ex-hacker with an unfortunate past (or maybe not so unfortunate?). Hopefully, he'll we worthy of your standards when I create his character sheet (it's currently a bit late/half asleep right now, thus I will do it tomorrow).
Also, will there be different species/races in the virtual world or will all the characters be human or something else? If you need ideas for the world creation, I would be glad to help. At the very least, I am a good image and gif finder XD
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Sarcor
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Sarcor

Member Seen 6 yrs ago

@Headphones

I appreciate you enthusiasm, however, I'd like to wait at least one more day to see if there is sufficient interest.

Character creation is standard, really. There will be two sheets: one for your in game character and one for your out of game character. Name, sex, age, nationality, appearance/description, brief background with an image if you so desire. In game characters will be added later because I will have to establish the rules of the virtual game world so people can choose who they want to play as (classes, etc.)

As for world building, while this interest check is up I will be mulling over specific details. I have established a vague skeleton of a world, but I will be doing all of this as we speak. I hope you understand.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Sarcor
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Sarcor

Member Seen 6 yrs ago

I know I'm double posting, but after 4 days of no other interest, I am going to have to start winding this down. It is a bit disappointing that my interest check didn't do well at all, I thought I had an interesting idea. If both of you would like, I could start the roleplay with just the 3 of us and continue this interest check's life a bit longer, to recruit people on the way. How does that sound?
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