Hidden 3 yrs ago 3 yrs ago Post by PKMNB0Y
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Emerald Odyssey

Following its release less than a decade ago, Emerald Odyssey has found itself a solid niche within the world of modern gaming. Boasting a strong variety of content to appeal to players from all walks of life, the game has found success with players even outside of its target demographic. With the release of its new expansion, Cloudfall, the buzz around the game has once again reached a fever pitch. New places to explore, new enemies to face, friends old and new to meet once more...

Would that it be that things were so simple.

Awakening in the world of a game would catch most people off guard, no matter how much they might have desired it so; after all, Emerald Odyssey was no fancy technological VR marvel—just a simple online game. But with their minds inhabiting the bodies of the characters with whom they had hoped to explore what new fancies the game had to offer, who knows what the future holds in store?

About Emerald Odyssey

  • The World
    The main continent that players will spend much of their time in is named Usira, upon which four city-states exist. To the north lies Frostpeak, a stone citadel of ice and snow; to the east, Aluvera, a castle town resting upon rolling plains; to the west, Perellan, a bustling port of trade overseas; and the south, Sen Rynta, perched upon a flying island high above the clouds.
    Beyond the base game, two expansions—Sands of Eternity and Jade Phantasm have been released to date, each with their own new lands to explore. The former brought with it the deserts of Sha, upon which the city of sand Khefrat rests; the latter, the port city of Guixi, nestled next to the mountains of Wufeng. Cloudfall was to introduce a new region between eastern Usira and Wufeng—Pelemeos—but...
  • The Races
    The world of Emerald Odyssey is populated by a variety of peoples, though only a few are playable. They are, as follows:
    • Humans: Your average, run-of-the-mill humans. They can and will live anywhere that life can sustain itself, which is impressive in and of itself.
    • Elves: Similarly, elves are elves. Long ears and a fairly long lifespan are par for the course. They, too, are scattered about the world, though a fair few have established their home in Sha.
    • Nidae: The Nidae come in two 'main' varieties, though both have the distinction of being, essentially, humans with animal ears and a tail. The Tanbi have features of a fox, while the Shenke's are more akin to a wolf's. Both primarily live in Wufeng, though it was Shenke migrants who had first helped establish Frostpeak in Usira.
    • Titans: As their name suggest, are tall humanoids that tend towards a bulkier, more muscle-bound frame than their counterparts. Their homelands lie within northern Usira, past the unrelenting storms, and Pelemeos.
    • Belva: The designated 'small' race of the game. Most originate from Sen Rynta or Aluvera, with most of their ancestral homes lying ruined beneath the former.

    No one race is more inclined towards any particular class than another is, which allows for plenty of freedom of expression on part of the players on that end.
  • Technology
    The world of Emerald Odyssey is advanced enough to work upon magitech principles; airships for travel are often used, for example, though their price may be a bit high for the average citizen. Similarly, weaponry using magitech exists, but the cost of production and the materials necessary for such items means that most combat is decided through the usage of more 'expected' fantasy weaponry. With that said, firearms do exist, though the presence of magic does not make them the all-powerful killing tools we know them to be on Earth.


From Game to Reality

Players transported into the world will find that not everything is perfectly akin to the world that they came from—not that a fantasy world would perfectly abide by the laws of physics perfectly, mind you. The given list is just a small chunk of the changes to be found; there are many more in place that might not be readily apparent, but it is up to those who find themselves in this world to find out what those are.
  • Death: is not the end. As in the game, players can be either resurrected by other players or return to town. They drop nothing and lose nothing upon death, but they certainly feel pain if they fall in battle. That said, this is a luxury afforded towards players and not the 'original' residents of the world; if they fall, their story ends there.
  • Inventory: A player's inventory is as it was in the game—namely, a bag full of items that can be brought out and put away on a whim. Obviously, there are limits to what can be put into an inventory (e.g. most living beings or things above a certain size).
  • Classes and Class Switching: In the original Emerald Odyssey 'game', players could switch between three combat classes at a time, with the ability to change between them while not in combat. Cycling those three 'active' classes out could be done at a shrine at any given city-state, but those shrines have since disappeared, leaving players with whatever they were on at that point in time before the patch. This, in essence, leaves them unable to access whatever classes were not active.
    In compensation, though, players seem to have retained the necessary skills to fight as their chosen classes, even if they have never had combat experience beforehand. Furthermore, they are able to use the skills and abilities of those other classes, provided they have the requisite weaponry on hand. Anything beyond that, whether it be attempting to (re)learn a fourth class or otherwise, must be done from scratch.
    With regards to non-combat classes (e.g. blacksmithing), a similar 2-class limitation separate to the 3 combat classes is applied. In compensation to that, however, relearning previously-learned skills can be done at an increased rate and with increased proficiency.
  • Levels and Equipment: The strength of characters functions more on a sliding scale rather than static bonuses based upon character level. Equipment, however, functions similarly to how it did in the game, though with far less clarity in regards to numerical values. Older materials may also find new life breathed into them by materials from other regions, leaving possibilities yet unknown to be expounded upon.


GM Notes

Hello, yes, I'm running an MMO isekai. Original, I know.
Self-deprecating jokes aside, this RP is intended to be the equivalent of bashing Log Horizon and Final Fantasy 14 together, tossing them into a blender, and cooking the result before serving. With that said, I'm pitching this with the assumption that things might not be as tightly plotted as most other stories might be. The pace and direction will be adjusted to account for the players' desires and actions, but as to what form that will take... Well, only time will tell.

Of course, as this is (as always) a work in progress, anything present right now is subject to change. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask below.



With that settled, here's a form to get started with.

Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by VitaVitaAR
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Will need to prep some stuff, but my character should be done over the next few days.
Hidden 3 yrs ago 3 yrs ago Post by Hammerman
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Here's my CS.


Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by Rune_Alchemist
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Still working on a beast tamer/summoner/bard thing

Will have something up probably tomorrow~
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by PKMNB0Y
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@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist: Looking forward to it!

@Hammerman: I think that the base is fine, but I'd like it if you could flesh everything out a bit more. Could you expand upon the history and personality a bit more beyond two sentences per?
Additionally, an explanation for each class would be appreciated. Things like what they do, how they do it, etc.;
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by Hammerman
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@PKMNB0Y
How about now?
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by PKMNB0Y
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@Hammerman: Hm...

When I asked for more in regards to personality, I thought it was implied that 'more than two sentences' was what I was looking for. To be more specific, 'dislikes studying' isn't the sort of thing I'd place in a 'personality' section of a bio; they're on the same level of things such as 'doesn't eat vegetables' or 'likes sitting at home with a cup of hot cocoa on cold days'—things that, while parts of a character, do not necessarily tell us anything about the character, if you get what I mean. 'Personality' should give us more of an insight to their motivations and decisions, rather than being more of an aside that can be told (or shown) to us just as easily in-universe. You've said that the character is cheerful and bubbly, and there is that inherent bright-eyed optimism about the situation implied in the subsequent statement, but those three points on their own seem a tad barebones to me.

As for the rest...
Logically, games have money sinks to funnel funds into; otherwise, inflation kicks in and the currency becomes worthless. This is not to say that you can't be hoarding fat stacks of cash in a game, but having so much to the point where you can buy your way out of most problems in-universe is... A problem, I suppose? Logically, a game should have ways of generating and circulating money, but also ways to get it out of the system; with that amount of money, I'd assume that there should be something to drop it into. Mounts, housing, fashion, and so on and so forth... Heck, the description you've given to how alchemists functions gives a perfect solution: a decked out personalized space to work on everything in that field. That'd cost a lot of money, wouldn't it? Not to say that it'd take everything or that it would even scratch the surface, per se, but I'm just trying to avoid a "suddenly worldwide economic collapse" scenario (because let's be real, if there's that much money backed up in the system, we end up in Zimbabwe).

Weather mage... I suppose that functionally I see how it works; it's localized weather phenomena, right? I don't think that'd necessarily play into 'chaos', because weather is actually incredibly predictable (see: forecasts). I don't know if it's what you intend, but something like that sounds more like a mage that sets up effects before executing them in order rather than 'RNG city', if you get what I mean.

Of course, these last few points are just me speaking from a designer's perspective; if you want to commit to a given idea, I'm totally willing to help hash things out, but otherwise, I think those are my thoughts on the form proper.
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by Hammerman
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@PKMNB0Y
How about now?

I agree with your assessment about the money part, which is why I've added it to my CS.

Yes, localized weather phenomena. The chaos part comes from how the mana in the surroundings will become a lot more excitable the more violent the weather phenomenon is. Like a raging tornado that excites Wind Mana.

Another way to look at it is to treat it more like a geomancer. The caster augments the mana surrounding him/her and that causes certain natural phenomena to occur.

Don't think you can call down a meteor shower as a geomancer though.
Hidden 3 yrs ago 3 yrs ago Post by PKMNB0Y
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@Hammerman: Personality is much better (though it might be a good idea figuring out where said mansion is situated in-universe, given that it'll likely become relevant for the future).

With that settled, let's look at the 'weather mage' bit again. I think that this is a bit of a weird situation because while I do see where the concept is coming from, my problem is in the execution. Given what you've said, it does seem like more of a ramping caster than something that functions more on setting up and executing effects (though I feel like 'annihilate an entire army in one blast' is definitely overkill, even as a finishing move). With that said (and I'm speaking from the perspective of design again here), though, I don't know if I'd agree to it being able to sustain massive bursts of CC and/or AoE once it hits that 'apex' of fluctuating mana.

In terms of solutions there (assuming you might be okay with steering away from sustained wide-scale burst and control)... Could we give it a resource system where you'd use certain spells to build up gauge or something similar before consuming them for the more noteworthy effects or larger-scale versions therein? This provides a more inherent balance to the class in theory in my eyes, as you're not just dumping everything into artillery siege casts and repeatedly nuking or chain-CCing the battlefield until one side is dead (as the class seems like it's got a lot of inherent utility outside of the theoretical damage it would provide). I think something like that might also give the character more reason to play tactically in-universe, as she can't just go full nuke mage from the start (and in terms of character diversity, leaves the playing field open for someone who wants to play a more burst-oriented mage playstyle). This isn't the same as saying it needs 'setup' and 'execution' as I had said in my prior statement, but rather something more along the line of... Cycles, I guess? Thematically speaking, I guess I could liken this to the 'calm' before or after a storm, if only because things don't escalate and stay escalated forever.

What say you?
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Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by Hammerman
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Ooh, I like that idea! I'll add it to the CS.

As for where the mansion is, Sen Rynta. I choose that city for her homebase.
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There. I've updated the CS.
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by VitaVitaAR
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Going to be playing an elf and I know what her powerset is going to be. This shouldn't take very long!
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by PKMNB0Y
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@Hammerman: Yeah, looks fine to me now. Accepted.

I'll probably start spinning a form up for myself sometime soon. Want to get a clearer grasp on what everyone who wants to join intends to play.
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Hidden 3 yrs ago 3 yrs ago Post by Rune_Alchemist
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@PKMNB0Y

Alright, here we go. Let me know if the companions are too strong or whatnot. Didn't think I needed to really go into too much detail as long as I listed general abilities and strengths/weaknesses.

If there's anything wrong with the classes too, lemme know too.

Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by SilverPaw
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@PKMNB0Y Can we assume that once the transferral happens, everyone (players and NPCs) in that world will automatically speak the same language? Or understand each other regardless of the language?
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by PKMNB0Y
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@SilverPaw: Yes, universal language rules apply, because this would be chaos otherwise.
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by Hammerman
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Thank God. Or my character will have to spend months learning the conlang, a process she will despise no doubt.

By the way, should I move my character to the character tab?
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@Rune_Alchemist: Okay, form analysis time.

  • Does Beast Tamer not have a weapon type? You mentioned strongarming some monsters into submission, but I would expect that a game would not want to just throw a player into the fray Pokemon-style in this instance.
  • Gathering should be more specific; 'mining' and 'harvesting' could qualify just as easily as 'fishing' (which, like, let's be real, what MMO doesn't have fishing in this day and age), so a clearer, more specific direction would be appreciated.
  • Can the Arachne speak? I suppose it's an assumption that the answer is 'yes', but it's better to ask to make sure.
  • Is there a 'multitasking limit' in terms of monsters? This is a future-proofing question, as it might end up overwhelming to control too many pseudocharacters at once.


@Hammerman: Yes.

Oh right, form's done. Woo.
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@Rune_Alchemist: Okay, form analysis time.

  • Does Beast Tamer not have a weapon type? You mentioned strongarming some monsters into submission, but I would expect that a game would not want to just throw a player into the fray Pokemon-style in this instance.
  • Gathering should be more specific; 'mining' and 'harvesting' could qualify just as easily as 'fishing' (which, like, let's be real, what MMO doesn't have fishing in this day and age), so a clearer, more specific direction would be appreciated.
  • Can the Arachne speak? I suppose it's an assumption that the answer is 'yes', but it's better to ask to make sure.
  • Is there a 'multitasking limit' in terms of monsters? This is a future-proofing question, as it might end up overwhelming to control too many pseudocharacters at once.


1. Ah. Something I sort of forgot to consider. Suppose I was too focused on the more taming aspects that I didn't really consider the actual combat style of the class itself. I was trying to avoid having her be able to really fight things solo, since well, I want to avoid a situation where she does everything when her mounts are probably going to have a wide variety of talents as is...hm.

I suppose probably normally they'd just use heavy weapons? Probably have similar physical ability as a base fighter...or could go the fisticuffs route to actually wrestle monsters lol. Open to suggestions on that front.

Hm, In that case might swap her third class for another support/command class? Maybe something that gives buffs based on verbal orders given.

2. Fair enough. I was mostly thinking of something she'd have to synergize with her armor work...so I guess I'll narrow it down to mining.

3. Yes. I imagine the class allows her to 'speak' with most mounts, though its less talking and more understanding their body language and such. I'd imagine more humanoid/special monsters could speak clearly. (Particularly special dragons or similarly tiered creatures, perhaps.)

4. I was imagining in game she'd only be able to use one at a time, and either be locked to a particular mount during combat, or take a few seconds to switch between them.

After Isekai'ing, It'd probably already be pretty difficult trying to control more than two at once. I'd say probably a limit of three at once for most, but generally it probably shouldn't go above one or two since that should likely hopefully be enough for most things. I don't want to turn into a one man army, after all it realistically it'd be hard for someone to keep track of more than that I feel.
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by Sanity43217
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I’ve got a few questions [@PKMNB0Y, if you don’t mind.
    [1] Did our players sign up to be transported into the world, or was it more of a surprise?
    [2] Do most of the game mechanics still work inside?
    [3] Can people trapped in the game “hot swap” classes mid fight?
    [4] are there still people who play the game normally? Who aren’t trapped in the game?
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