We Aren't The Hero's Party
A Fantasy Adventuring, Dungeoneering Roleplay
Synopsis:
In this world of swords and sorcery, the world is divided into six different nations. Each realm has its own system of laws, culture, inhabitants and form of goverment. Sometimes these nations work together through trade and diplomacy, other times things break down and lead to rivalry or war. Yet, the six countries always remain and survive... At least, until the Demon King awakens. Yes, the Demon King, a fierce and terrible entity with near god-like powers and abilities, who lead horrble monsters and legions of dark minions for no other purpose to crush and destroy the world.
The only way to stop a Demon King, is with the legendary Hero! Yes, a Hero! An individual who has undergone trials, tribulations, hardships and overcome countless challenges, rising above the limitations and surpassing the potential of lesser men. A shining beacon of hope, inspiring everyone around them. Of course... There's not just one Hero. One Hero wouldn't possibly be enough to defeat the awesome power of the Demon King, no. To defeat the ultimate evil, each of the six nations must raise their own Hero, and then, by forming a 'Hero Party', can these six uniquely gifted and talented individuals set off to slay the darkness and save the world!
... Of course, nobody starts out as a Hero. A strong will and determination is needed, as well as the correct character traits and mindset. Many try, but most fall short. So where does a Hero come from? Why, from the ranks of each nation's adventurers, of course! People who earn a living by taking on requests to slay monsters, explore dungeons, gather various items or provide other services along those lines. From the rows and columns of these 'sell-swords', Heroes are shaped and form, becoming more than their money-grubbing or glory-hungry peers, and rising to the challenge of shouldering the future of the world!
... Or, at least that's what people like to say and think...
The reality of the situations is, Heroes aren't really that much different from normal adventurers. They grow stronger and become more powerful, sure, but at the end of the day they're still just people, with flaws and faults just like everyone else. To reach their goal of joining the "Hero Party" though, they must first train up and gain experience, equipment and knowledge, and to that end they'll train in their respective country, forming a "temporary" party which serves to "train" them in preparation for their ultimate goal.
... But our story isn't even about all of this.
You're not one of the six Heroes. You might want to be, or strive to become one, but you aren't one. And you won't become one. This isn't a story about how you travel far and wide, slay powerful demonic generals and ultimately defeat the One True Evil to save the world. No, this is a story about a group of people, who came together for their own personal reasons and predicaments, in order to try and achieve their own, individual life goals or desires. A tale about a group of adventurers who won't go down in history as the ones who saved the world, or who changed the tides of fortune in the world's darkest hour. Perhaps they'll be remembered for other things though, or perhaps they won't be rmembered at all.
That all depends, on what their ambitions, goals and dreams are... And whether they managed to achieve them or not.
Setting:
A high-fantasy world based on games and anime like World of Warcraft, I was Kicked out of the Hero's Party, The Strongest Tank's Adventures and other similar things. It is a roleplay where we'll have a group of six people who go on various mundane, generic fantasy adventures, all driven by the goals and desires of each character within the group. There's not going to be any end-goal other than achieving whatever it is your character wants to achieve or do - aside from ecoming a Hero and slaying the Demon King, of course, because that's just not gonna be possible.
Elves, dwarves, humans, halflings, all that good stuff. Magic, swords, armor, enchanted loot, trinkets, treasure chests, traps, dungeons, potions and monsters of different types and sizes. All of this and perhaps more will be present in the roleplay. If that sounds like something you'd enjoy, then please do read on!
Your Character:
Every person of any of the sentient races are born with "Skills". These skills are broken up into one of three categories:
- Passive
- Active
- Conditional
Passive skills are things that're active and constantly effecting or providing the person with a constant benefit. This is usually in the form of something that aids them, such as having a resistance to a particular element or type of status-effect, increased health or magic recovery, a talent for a certain type of weapon and so on and so forth.
Active skills are abilities that allow the person to perform a certain action which has an impact on either the enviroment or other creatures or items around the person, or causes a specific effec tin the person itself. This can be things like letting out an intimidating shout to frighten opponents, a surge of strength that makes your next attack ten times stronger than you normally hit, a flash of light that blinds everyone with eyes around you or an emergency cure that closes any bleeding wounds on yourself or someone else. Thesea are all examples of what active skills do.
Conditional skills are abilities that're a mix of active and passive skills. they're skills that only activate and bestow their effect when certain criteria are met. The effects can be almost anything, but usually corresponds to what the required condition to activate it is. For exmaple, if you're struck in the back by an unseen assailant, your skill may trigger a momentary shield that protects you from all harm, from any direction, for a brief period of time. Or, if you defeat three enemies in short, consecutive succession, you may be granted a temporary boost to speed. Basically, conditional skills provide a brief "power-up" when a certain trigger is met. However, conditional skills usually have time limits on them and, like active skills, tend to have a "down period" where they can't activate for a period of time.
Each person in the world is born with between one to four skills, and these skills are usually unique to each person - although many are very similar in nature or function. The important thing to note is that, if one is going to try a life as an adventurer, their skills will usually dictate what kind of "class" or "position" a person will be most suited for. As an example, a person who has increased health regeneration and an ability to taunt or draw the attention of enemies would be more suitable as a "tank" than someone who has an increased magic regeneration-rate and who can turn transparent once every eight hours.
As such, adventurers tend to choose their path and job based on what position in a group their skills are best suited for. Of course, there are those who refuse to be bound by their innate skills and choose to forge a path of their own, selecting to train and grow as a class/job they want to pursue, but isn't necessarily suited for. But there is one universal truth to forming a party, and that is to have a balanced team with the crucial roles of having at least one tank, one healer and one attacker. Naturally, since a party can have up to six members at any given time, there's some room for personal preference and tactics.
And you, as an adventurer, will need to figure out what class or job you want to train as, and what position you'll be filling in your new party. Below is a short list of some typical classes/jobs that're common across all six nations.
- Tank: The heavily armored front-liner, who typically wields a shield and single-hand weapon. Their job is draw the attention of enemies and keep their allies safe by taking the hits or interposing themselves infront of attacks that would otherwise surely cripple their compatriots.
- Wizard: A trained mage who uses magical spells of either an elemental or arcane nature to deal damage to their opponents. These spellcasters can cast both single-target or area of effect spells, but typically don't have very good physical defenses or strong bodies, so they need to be guarded.
- Ranger: A fighter who trained with both melee and ranged weapons. They prefer to wear medium armor and can sometimes employ a pet or wild animals to help them. They're skilled scouts and trackers and are very useful in the outdoors and wilderness as they're skilled at survival. They're flexible and well-rounded, but don't really excel in either achery or close combat.
- Cleric: A person trained in the art of holy magic, used to heal wounds, remove negative statuses or destroy wholly 'evil' creatures. They fill the role of a Healer and is an invulable and indispensible member of any group, but like the Wizard don't tend to have much physical defense, or even magical defenses, and are thus extrra in need of protection.
- Rogue: A sneaky git who wears light armor and uses lighter weapons. Some are also trained in archery. Their job is to scout ahead, find and disable traps, pick open doors or locked treasure chests, and perform sneaky attacks from the flank or behind when the enemy is distracted. Sadly, their wide range of roles and expertise means their fighting-capabilities aren't very impressive in a straight-up, one-on-one fight.
- Warrior: A burly, strong and capable frontline fighter who usually wields a two-handed weapon and medium armor. They're able to strike very hard and can even hit multiple opponents in close combat at the same time with their cleaving attacks. They're also rather quick on their feet and are sometimes required to act as supplementary or emergency tanks in a gyoup, though their defenses aren't as good as true tanks.
- Spellblade: A hybrid class who focuses on casting both magic and fighting with a melee-weapon. Their use is in their ability to face almost any foe, due to their very wide range of both spell and steel. Alas, having split their attention between the two fields, they'll never be as good as Wizards at magic, nor as good at fighting as a warrior or other "pure" melee-fighter.
- Bard: They use their words and their songs to empower their allies or hinder their enemies. They possess a small amount of training in spellcasting and have basic knowledge of melee-combat, but their purpsoe isn't to be the strongest or most damaging, but to help their allies by providing benefits through songs and magical buffs. They're also usually very good at negotiations and diplomacy, which is useufl in a myriad of situations!
Of course, there's an absolute plethora of other classes and jobs in the world, many of which are either very similar to the ones listed above, or who're hybrids or variants of them. This isn't the "absolute, one true list" with your options, but rather serves as a template or guide to give you an diea of what's available and how classes and jobs work. Remember, there's no one class or job that can do everything alone, but rather, each class has a role and purpose to fill within a group, and its your job to figure out what role and puirpose you want to fill.
If you have any quesitons or comments, please, feel free to leave a reply and I'll get back to you with an answer as soon as possible. :)
