Dark Gods NRP idea

[NewSun]

I originally posted this to the NRP interest checks section, but it's mighty slow down there, so i'm gonna stick it here too just to get input and stuff. Hope that isn't against any rules.

NewSun said So 've had this idea floating around in my head for the last, I don't know, thirty seconds or so. I was thinking a little too hard about the Chaos Gods from WH40k (they're basically Daedric Princes, if you're not too into the lore) and their continual power struggle against each other and the mortal world. It got me thinking that such a style would make a really cool Nation Roleplay. Obviously the idea is still in it's infancy, but I imagine something along the lines of this:

Every player creates their own Dark God, and a realm of horror and sin and heresy and enigma to go along with it, with complete control over the design of their own realm and the denizens. Each God (and realm) would vie with the others for control of a central point which could either be some ungodly relic or shrine, or maybe a mortal plane into which each faction could enter to wreak havoc. Or both.
But I think it would be pretty awesome, you could have Demons being sneaky in the mortal realm while massive armies of otherworldly horrors lay siege to the realms of other Dark Gods in an eternal struggle for power.
The very basis of such a style of NRP would lead to a few intrinsic advantages, mainly that the flow of time is altered, and that people would not have to adhere to such 'realistic' conventions as they would in other NRPs.

Now, the catch is that i'm a NRP newbie. That doesn't mean RP newbie, just new to NRPs. This sucks because I have little to no idea how to set up a nation role-play to make it both fun, challenging and long-lasting. I get the process of leading a NRP in theory, but I have no idea how to balance Economy, Diplomacy and War while maintaining creative freedom. I never found rolls and game engines particularly fun to play with, especially in text-based role-play, so i'd ideally need a co-GM who has experience in the RP genre who can lend their experience to create something unique and special and fun. Anybody in? Any takers?

Some things to note:
-Will be played as an NRP.
-Will likely be somewhere between Advanced and Casual level
-Other details will probably be added as more things come to mind

[ActRaiserTheReturned]

I'm thinking of creating a Dark God basically who's power is taking things that belong to others.
So he'd be the deity of :
*thieves
*murder
*blood letting
*rape/yes rape
*cannibalism
*plagiarizing (The Unpardonable Sin). lol
*Way too many evil things to mention.

[NewSun]

Definitely a yes to all of that. Mature themes go along with the idea of Dark Gods rather nicely. In fact, i'm going to encourage it, and probably put warnings on the thread titles. The way I see it, the more evil the goddamn better >:)

[ActRaiserTheReturned]

NewSun said
Definitely a yes to all of that. Mature themes go along with the idea of Dark Gods rather nicely. In fact, i'm going to encourage it, and probably put warnings on the thread titles. The way I see it, the more evil the goddamn better >:)

Of course, on the side he'd have benevolent qualities, just to keep do-gooders on their toes.

[NewSun]

ActRaiserTheReturned said
Of course, on the side he'd have benevolent qualities, just to keep do-gooders on their toes.

Only to those that give themselves to him, I trust?

[GreivousKhan]

Hmm, I like this idea, have a few ideas in mind in fact but will have to narrow it down to a direct focus of what I want.

Sounds cool though, interested.

[NewSun]

Interest is always appreciated!

So can I ask for a little input as to the interaction-driving devices? I'll assume that you guys both have more NRP experience than I do. Should there be a mortal / material world? Should there be an object of great power to go along with it? Any other suggestions maybe? I have seen NRPs stagnate because of little need for player interaction, and I wouldn't want to see that happen here.

[darkwolf687]

I like this idea. Would it be more fantasy or sci fi though? I've never really enjoyed dice rolls either (plus, the other guy might be making it up xD)

I have a suggestion for the economy, maybe it could be similar to Black and Whites power system or Overlord 2's system? Like, if you attract cultists they generate a steady supply of Life Force continually (As you are siphoning away parts of their soul) you can have your army go on a rampage in the mortal world and get a larger, one time amount from harvesting pesky mortal souls. We'd have another, rarer resource that could only be found in the mortal plain, which would be required to combine with the other resources to make more powerful servants and more advanced structures (so its basically got properties that make it a catalyst for evil energies) And the final resource would be simply be Energy, which would be the resource required in order to force your will onto the world, so it would be the one used to construct structures and to launch manifestations of your dark power at your opponents.
Life force comes from slain mortals or from your cultists
The second resource comes from mining it out in the human world (or raiding the mortals who are already in possession of some)
The final resource comes slowly over time, and the amount you get can be increased by spawning a specific structure
As you can see, I got hooked on the idea of it as a quick but non renewable versus slower but renewable.
I don't know, just throwing an idea out xD

As you can tell, I am in favour of a mortal world. We could even have a set of religious zealots who want to destroy anyone and anything with any connection to the demonic beings that seek to ravage their world. The mortal world, much to the chagrin of the poor souls who live there, happens to be the one and only source of valuable materials the Dark ones need to expand, and like the colonists to the Indians the gods aren't too interested in sharing it. The Gods could also do another Daedric prince thing and have champions, or... Well, anything I guess. I feel we would need a lot of clear limits on our godly powers.
I am not too sure what I would want to be the Dark God of... Maybe I can be the god of uncertainty xD

[NewSun]

Heh, ninja-ing me, are we ;)

NewSun said I had it in mind that it would have been a fantasy, though it's always open to changes. Early stages and all that! Though I don't see it making much difference either way, as demons and dark gods aren't going to be too into technology. The only thing it will really affect will be the mortal world.
Okay, and I like the idea of gathering some form of resource through influence in the mortal world. I think it would be even cooler if said resources were gained through interaction relevant to each god, so only a god of war and bloodshed or death would benefit from mindlessly killing humans, a god of plague would benefit more from infecting the world with disease, and a god of hedonistic desires and secrets would benefit from infiltrating human social structures and working their way up the mortal chain of command. The only thing I am a bit dubious about is how such 'influence' would be counted as an actual resource, and how this would limit creative freedom in players. Using a system like this also means one has to think about a rate of actual troop production and function of various buildings when every faction is going to have different buildings. bearing in mind that each 'nation' per se is not really a nation, but a whole plane of existence and reality, building individual buildings wouldn't fit too well into the feel of things. I definitely want things to be more on the creative side, and less on the strict side.

And yes, being a God of an abstract concept would be awesome if played right! And i'm all down for a mortal world too!
I was thinking that all the Nation Sheets would detail the Gods, the Realms, it's denizens and it's greater demons / champions and such. Don't you worry about creativity begin stifled by a lack of demonic champions!

[Tatsua Aiisen]

I'm around.

[NewSun]

Fantastic! I'll start writing up OOC information tomorrow.

[ActRaiserTheReturned]

NewSun said
Only to those that give themselves to him, I trust?

Nah. Just spreading goodness and cheer in the name of evil so he can deceive people.

[NewSun]

http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/27815/posts/ooc?page=1#post-786551 We have an OOC up here now. If you guys are still up for it, let's get this going!