Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by HeySeuss
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HeySeuss DJ Hot Carl

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I hope you feel this RP as I do; I am passionate about it. I am prepared to do it with one or two other people, if they are engaged in the creative process. I have a Discord for chatting and brainstorming. I have a Trello with setting notes already established.


This rocks. This is by JJcanvas.

TL;DR Summary


  • Dark, Apocalyptic.
  • Robert Howard-inspired, with Low Fantasy roots. A dusty world of desperation and brutality. Life is nasty, brutish and short. People call to gods, but they do not hear or answer.
  • Into this, magic springs out of nowhere, in the hands of tyrants and conquerors, what was only myth. It exists, but the characters do not know how to use it. The enemy does, that is why they're so dominant.
  • Magic will be learned by the characters, but the price is paid in blood and tears.
  • Many kingdoms have fallen, a few remain.
  • Characters are part of a much larger party that lost many members trying to make it to a dungeon that holds secrets to their salvation, or damnation.
  • Not first come, first serve. There is an application to join the RP, and character sheets need to go up fast.
  • GMing duties will be collaborative.

In Character Info


The world is strewn with ancient ruins, reminding everyone of a shrouded history that only left fragments behind for those that came after to study. The gods died, so the tales went, and magic with it. That was a fanciful tale people told to make sense of life. People made their religions, kept traditions, but their prayers were not answered substantially. People did not call lightning from their hands.

The Vukash were considered a savage people of the hinterlands, but when they overran their first kingdom, and then their second, and kept going, the world realized with a growing horror that they could call fire and death, that the Emperor Bozash called on legions of fell beasts from legends, including the ferocious trokals.

The kingdoms of the world fell one by one. Those on the front line were besieged and brought down, and the armies that were sent out by kingdoms further back came back whittled down and telling tales of horror and defeat; often, these proud warriors came back both maimed and mad from what they witnessed.

The source of the magic, which only the Vukash knew, was unknown, but the scholars of all remaining kingdoms worked feverishly and identified a place where they could find answers. If one myth, magic, could be true, and the trokals were undisputed, why couldn't other stories? While the kingdoms fell, scribes, scholars, wise men and witches all studied fervently, tried many different methods to tap magic, but couldn't. There were terrible things done in calls to dead deities; sacrifices and experimentation in terrible desperation. One rumor among many was the Dark Library of Dihira, a long dead goddess. No one could locate it. It was one of many desperate legends that the scholars and scribblers spoke of, hesitantly, while civilizations were swept away by a fell hand of magical tyranny.

Until a man came back. It was thought that he was just another raving survivor of a massacre, but he brought something, a piece of crystal shaped like a seed that glowed with lightning within. The man ranted of the Dark Library, and the horrors within. He was interrogated, stripped of all his knowledge in desperation until he was no longer. But the scribes, they wrote everything, however disjointed.

The seed was studied. Someone tried to split it with an axe. It wasn't even scratched. No one was sure what the secret was, though it was dipped in blood, prayed over and so many other things done to it. But when it faced some directions, the light within died out. When it faced a given direction, it glowed again. And as it moved away, it grew dimmer. As it was taken in the right direction, it grew in warmth. The madman raved of the World Tree. The seed pointed the way.

A party of the most intrepid souls that could be found was assembled, it followed the seed's lead into territory held by the enemy. They tried to slip in by stealth, they tried to fight on the move. So many died on their way before the party arrived at the World Tree, a long-fossilized wonder of the world that was once a site of holy significance, but in the lands overrun by the Vukash. Only a few survived to see it. Guided by the ravings of the tortured madman, they found the entrance. Doubts plagued the party, very little held them together besides a common cause, and yet they took the fateful step in...

Out of Character Info


So the story starts with the mid-point of an arduous journey. A band of heroes(?) stands before the World Tree. The gate to the Dark Library, cunningly hidden, was only the first secret to unravel. The next steps are into the unknown, of their world's history, of the enigma of magic and the darkness of their own souls.

The setting is a dusty low-fantasy sort of setting in the mold of Robert Howard, a place of terrible secrets that lay entombed, waiting to be unleashed. A lot hasn't been fleshed out because it's very important to give the players the room to grow their own backstories and write in what they feel inspired with.

The Dark Library and its perils are a starting point, but the RP is meant to spring from what happens in there, so it's almost a prologue. It's possible to write it as prologue, in fact, and move to what happens afterward. I am flexible as to how to arrange the RP and what a good starting point is.

The idea here is that there isn't really a GM calling all the shots, but rather a consensus on how to write a good plot. I am not looking for a lot of people, but I am looking for a couple highly engaged collaborators that feel this RP and want to take the idea and run with it. To that end, I intend to set up an application that involves character sheets, but also a solicitation of people's ideas on where to take the plot, how to create a story collaboratively. Instead of a GM just imagining challenges, we talk about how to write the scenes and spring things on each other. To that end, the people accepted into this RP are colleagues, and are encouraged to write as many characters and NPC's as they need. They are free to invent the enemies and keep everyone else on their toes. The idea is to work together to make the story better.

While it starts with a dungeon full of secrets, it by no means has to end there. There is a world burning, after all, and it's entirely possible that the characters will emerge with secrets from the Dark Library and very different ideas on how to use them. Perhaps they won't even wait that long to start turning on each other...

If that's of interest to you, start brainstorming -- this won't be first come, first served, this will be "the most creative and enthusiastic will get the nod."
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Life in Stasis
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Life in Stasis pretentious jerk

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Low fantasy, secrets to uncover, collaborative GMing? Count me in.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by HeySeuss
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HeySeuss DJ Hot Carl

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Low fantasy, secrets to uncover, collaborative GMing? Count me in.


I tried to lay down the bones of a plot but I am also open to people having thoughts on how to structure the RP. There are plenty of options I have in mind, but I also figure that the idea here is to see who bites and what ideas they have. I have to unlimber the notes on the setting that I've had in the past, but that's also a discussion and brainstorming thing.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Life in Stasis
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Life in Stasis pretentious jerk

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Of course. I assumed there would be some collaboration with the ideas you already have vs. ideas I could contribute. My only fear here is whether or not the RP could hold some surprises. I would love to offer some creative input but I also don't want to entirely show my hand, or to fully see what's in everyone else's.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by HeySeuss
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HeySeuss DJ Hot Carl

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Of course. I assumed there would be some collaboration with the ideas you already have vs. ideas I could contribute. My only fear here is whether or not the RP could hold some surprises. I would love to offer some creative input but I also don't want to entirely show my hand, or to fully see what's in everyone else's.


My experience is that once players trust each other with scenarios, surprises are fun to pull and plot twists are cool. The trick is to make sure that the innovations on plot don't abuse the trust.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by ML
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Oh boy this tickles all my fancies
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Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by HeySeuss
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HeySeuss DJ Hot Carl

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Fancy Ticklin' > Jimmy Rustlin'.

Edit: Welcome to my next user title, after I get tired of "DJ Hot Carl."
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Dead Cruiser
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Dead Cruiser Dishonour Before Death / Better You Than Me

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I remember expressing interest in this a few months ago, did that ever get off the ground?
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by HeySeuss
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HeySeuss DJ Hot Carl

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I remember expressing interest in this a few months ago, did that ever get off the ground?


No, unfortunately. I still have the chat up and old content, but it never got off the ground. Character sheets didn't roll in, so at least it didn't have a lot of work put into it.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Dead Cruiser
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Dead Cruiser Dishonour Before Death / Better You Than Me

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Well, regardless, I'm still here. I think my concept last time was some kind of exiled prince?
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Rockette
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Hmm.
I'll toss in my interest.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by HeySeuss
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HeySeuss DJ Hot Carl

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Well, regardless, I'm still here. I think my concept last time was some kind of exiled prince?


I had this character concept going, but I already committed to brainstorming something else. Maybe a disillusioned cult acolyte.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by DracoLunaris
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DracoLunaris Multiverse tourist

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interested
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by vietmyke
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vietmyke

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'allo boss.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Callthecops
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Callthecops The Empty Headed

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Seuss! (Tentatively)

Could it really be you? I'm pretty sure were working on putting together a city building RP when GuildFall happened (RIP). I was so sad when we were cut short and so I'm definitely interested in seeing how this goes.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by HeySeuss
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HeySeuss DJ Hot Carl

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Seuss! (Tentatively)

Could it really be you? I'm pretty sure were working on putting together a city building RP when GuildFall happened (RIP). I was so sad when we were cut short and so I'm definitely interested in seeing how this goes.


I used the material from the Guardians of Dara for this RP. Some of the plot themes are very similar. This is sort of a merger of several different things that I had done notes on and otherwise developed. So yes, definitely an evolution of previous work and plots.
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Callthecops
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Cool, well I've spent a few minutes working on some ideas that I just got in terms of world-building that I'll share here. I'm glad to have found you again and I hope we can work together some more. They're not terribly refined or anything for the record, but I think I've got the point across well enough.

Edit: also, how long ago did this desolation occur/start?

Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Innis
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Innis A Hapless Harpy

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I would like to make my interest known.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Iuniper
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Iuniper

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I am interested and have posted as such in the Discord server.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by HeySeuss
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HeySeuss DJ Hot Carl

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The OOC is over here.
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