Fantasy Halloween-esque Dungeon Crawler RP (set in The Elder Scrolls Universe) — Roleplayer Guild

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Hidden 9 yrs ago → 9 yrs ago Post by TTNoobs

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TTNoobs

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Hello,

A couple of years ago a participated in an incredibly short, yet captivating RP set in a blighted version of the Elder Scrolls universe. It effectively used a setting accessible to a wide audience, TESV Skyrim and its starting area of Riverwood and Whiterun, and fused it with the familiar campy-Halloween trope of a perma-dark world riddled with the undead, overgrown only by wiry branched, decaying trees and smoking moss. It had a really unique atmosphere, and I was really sad when it petered out after only a few posts. 

So, I'm hoping a few of you will help me revive it, at least in some form. The RP I'm proposing would take place in Skyrim, 4E 201, but before the beginning of Skyrim's main quest, and would include a small group of adventurers searching for some deus-ex-machina to help them drive off the Apocalypse. An archetypical dungeon crawler. I have had a few ideas for the setting, so I'll leave a list of them, and see what potential participants think of them. Thanks for taking the time to read :).

Potential Setting:

1) 
1) Dwemer Dungeons - The twisted and bitter Falmer have, in their hatred for the nords who now occupy their land, made a pact with the Daedric Prince Peryite. Peryite has gifted them with a lethal disease, one which bloats its victims into spores who with each choking, sporadic breath exude a crimson miasma, which engulfs and infects anyone who it touches. After only a few weeks, Markarth hold has been cordoned off by the Empire, who's legion man the borders, fearfully slaughtering any of Markarth's citizens who venture threateningly towards the supposed safety of the outside world. Our characters will be residents of Markarth, trapped inside a city suffocating around them. Little is known about how the disease took hold, but reports of Falmer slinking onto the surface almost always precede a fresh new outbreak of the disease. In desperation, a group of adventurers will have to venture into the only known Falmer dwelling in the hold, Nchuand-Zel, a sequestered keep of the enigmatic dwemer, a race who's famous emnity has yet to follow them to the grave, living on in rusted scythes and sadistic fire traps that sit, dormant, ready to unleash one final measure of its creators sadism on anyone who disturbs the keep's slumber.

2) 
A splinter group of Harkon's bloodline, freshly thawed from their icy kernels on the sea of ghosts, have stumbled their way to Morthal. Ominous and sulken, cast, as it is, amongst the smog of Hafingaar's refuse-swamps, Morthal provides the perfect dominion for these tortured creatures, frozen and alone, yet forever kept from the cure for these afflictions. After arriving under the guise of ship-wreck survivors, the Vampires exploited the kindness of the townsfolk, who had taken in and diligently cared for their supposedly misfortune kinsmen and women. Under the leadership of a bitter and envious rival of Harkon, eager for a lordship of his own, they cornered, indoctrinated, and turned key figures in the community, enthralled the weak minded, and broke those strong enough to resist into their blood-bag cattle. Now, three months after their arrival, the Vampires have isolated the town, setting up guards to keep outsiders firmly deserving of the term 'outsider', and hoarding all its wealth into the nearby Stonehills mine, which has become a sort of royal-hold for the Vampire elite. Our characters will take the role of some of these blood-thralls, who must escape their bondage, break into Stonehills, and destroy the head-Vampire, Styrman the Unrestful, thus liberating what can be salvaged of the town. I envisage this option will have multiple possible endings.

3) 
The witchmen, ethnic Bretons, have a culture fitting of the wind-whittled reach-mountains they consign themsleves to. Repugnant and hideous to the minds of the civilised Imperials, yet enviably robust, they nonetheless have many twisted rituals. In one, they rip out the heart of a man and replace it with a bushel of thorns, birthing a dispassionate devotee, primed to be pointed in the direction of a kill and left to carry out their work without a hint of feeling or remorse. In another, they offer up the young to the hideous half-woman hagravens, who fuse feather and flesh and spew out another of their ilk, gifting powerful magicks to their disciples in return. Our characters will have heard all these tales, and, fittingly, will be terrified to find the Forsworn have drugged and kidnapped them, dragged them out into the battered wilds and thrown them in wicken cages, lit dimly by half-light fires, broken by the shadows of the writhing dances of red-painted tribals awaiting the commencement of their ritual. A ritual for which our characters will be the sacrifice. With their fellow captives, our characters will be dragged to an altar, ringed by briar-hearts and hagravens alike, then, at the height of their peril, our characters are released into the twilight. For this RP, we will be perused with all the horrors the Forsworn can muster, a twisted chase that seems to be to the death.

I hope, even if you don't like TES, this RP can still pique your interest. TES is a very accessible universe, one anyone with a vague understanding of fantasy will understand, yet it is, too, incredibly rich. Please, if you love fantasy and you love horror, consider posting your interest. 

Thanks 

EDIT: Oh, and please do let me know which of the three settings you think I should go with, and which you'd really not want to play, if any. I'll pick the most popular one.

Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Valkyr

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Valkyr Pacific Standard Time

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I like the idea, consider me interested. I think the first setting sounds good.

If this kicks off, I was thinking of perhaps playing a guard. Half of the time trying to maintain some level of order, the other half trying to survive.

Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Adamina

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Adamina

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Definite interest from me. I like number 2 and 3, though I'm tending more towards 2 at the moment. But I'd be fine with any of the three. 

Hidden 9 yrs ago → 9 yrs ago Post by TTNoobs

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TTNoobs

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I like the idea, consider me interested. I think the first setting sounds good.

If this kicks off, I was thinking of perhaps playing a guard. Half of the time trying to maintain some level of order, the other half trying to survive.@Valkyr

Thanks, I'm torn between 1 and 2 myself, but I enjoyed writing out 1 the most. I think a guard character would be essential, just keep in mind that the RP is going to be a dungeon-crawler adventure RP, with all of the characters going into Nchuand-Zel. I want to keep the focus very close. 

Although, if we had enough players, I guess we could have two groups, one going into the Dwemer Dungeon, and the other staying in Markarth to keep the peace.

Definite interest from me. I like number 2 and 3, though I'm tending more towards 2 at the moment. But I'd be fine with any of the three.@Adamina

Awesome, thanks for your interest.

Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Valkyr

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Hoping we get more people for this. Oh and-

<Snipped quote by Valkyr>

Thanks, I'm torn between 1 and 2 myself, but I enjoyed writing out 1 the most. I think a guard character would be essential, just keep in mind that the RP is going to be a dungeon-crawler adventure RP, with all of the characters going into Nchuand-Zel. I want to keep the focus very close. 

Although, if we had enough players, I guess we could have two groups, one going into the Dwemer Dungeon, and the other staying in Markarth to keep the peace.@TTNoobs

Well, the guard can always just go into the ruins with the others. I can imagine him seeing the adventurers heading into the ruins, discouraging them, and then deciding to follow and help them once they ignore his cautions

Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by TTNoobs

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TTNoobs

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Hoping we get more people for this. Oh and-

<Snipped quote by TTNoobs>

Well, the guard can always just go into the ruins with the others. I can imagine him seeing the adventurers heading into the ruins, discouraging them, and then deciding to follow and help them once they ignore his cautions @Valkyr

Excellent. I only say that I want to keep the focus close because with this sort of setting, one themed around a holiday, people's enthusiasm is only going to last for so long. For instance, people spend weeks looking forward to Christmas (although, mainly for the time off), but are usually sick of it a couple of days after the event. I imagine it's the same with Halloween. I want to see if we can get this RP done within that window of opportunity, though ATM that's entirely depdenent on how long it takes us to get enough sign-ups.

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