Alamantus

Earthbound – Mother Earth

Character Template

Name: <example: Ness> Quality: <example: Determined> Description: <example: you don't need an example for this one> Main Weapon/Fighting Style: <example: sports equipment> Skills: <example:

• PK Flash: Blinds the enemy with a bright light of PSI energy!
• PK Fire: Burns enemies within a small area of effect.
• PK Heal: Removes status effects from a party member.

> Stats: <this is where you allocate your stat points! You'll earn more stat points for specific stats as you fight.>

• Speed: 4 (influences your turn in a fight and how fast you can avoid things outside of battle)
• Strength: 1 (influences how much damage your attacks do and how much you can lift outside of battle)
• Guts: 2 (influences how many hits you can take and how long you can stay alive)
• Wits: 3 (influences how perceptive you are (how much information you can gather from a certain situation), i.e. how an enemy is described so you can find a weak spot or if you can find a hidden trapdoor)
• <custom stats here>

Pockets (16 items max): <example:

• Sandwich
• Baseball Bat (equipped)
• Baseball Cap (equipped)
• Odd Key

>

Earthbound – Mother Earth

New Players pretty much always welcome! We'll sort out details here OOC.

Story

Startere is a sleepy, "all-American" town situated in the middle of Nowhere. There are no paved roads into or out of the town, and there's just desert all around--temperate desert, but a wasteland all the same. Along the main road, there's the general store, mostly stocked with local woodwork from tables and chairs to toys though it sometimes has some factory-made things when a rare shipment comes in; there's the farm stalls once a week where everyone trades the fruits (and vegetables and eggs and other farm things) of their labor; and a bunch of other useful things like the tailor, a diner, and the big, elaborate Town Hall building. Most of the time, most people are found just milling around this main street, but they're always sure to get their work done. For the past couple of weeks, the residents of Startere have been complaining about loud noises and bright, colorful lights coming from the sky at night. A few people have stayed out at night to see what was causing it, but the sound was so loud and the lights were so bright that they couldn't actually see what was causing it. Rumors about aliens started going around, and a general unease settled on the town. But the mayor finally had enough. Just last night, he went out shooting blindly into the night with his shotgun when the lights showed up again, and after a few shots, the lights began to flicker and the noise shifted, closely followed by a fiery explosion out to the south of town. Now a small group is gearing up to go check out the crash site...

Gameplay

General

This is just like any other RP except that there are battles. You can walk around and do what you like and manage your reactions and go where you please, but let the GM describe the locations and places you go. If you keep it within reason, you can decide to go somewhere completely different! Like if you're in a forest, you can "investigate the cave" even when it hasn't been pointed out/expected by the GM. We want to focus on world and character building while pushing the adventure forward.

Fighting

Dice Roller (Open this in a new tab!) The battles are not random--just like in Earthbound/Mother you can see your enemies and decide if you want to fight or avoid them, though your chances of avoiding the enemies depends upon where you are (i.e. is it an open space with lots of room to walk around or a narrow hallway) and often upon the roll of a die (6-sided - the GM will decide what you need, typically 4 or higher). Each battle is turn-based, and the order of the turns depends on your character's Speed stat. When your turn comes, announce what you would like to do first, and then roll a 6-sided die (a digital die will be provided for all your die-rolling needs) and write your result. The higher your roll, the more successful your action, with a 6 being a SMAAAAAAAAASH for attacks or a highly effective healing PSI move. The opposite is true as well, with a 1 being anything from a miss to a backfire. Based on your roll, write your action's outcome. Be fair, ok? The GM(s) will roll for the enemies and will follow the same rules. To best emulate Earthbound's rolling HP counter, there will be no HP. Just be fair and know when you've died. If it's clear that a fatal blow has been dealt (and the GM should always say if it is), the GM(s) will probably announce your death the next time the enemy's turn comes around. Within that time, however, a healer can heal a party member with PSI or items and keep them from dying. There's no easy way to do this in this format, so just be fair, OK? The same goes for special attacks, particularly PSI attacks. There is no PSI amount to keep track of, but they must be used within reason. Let your character "run out" of PSI or energy once in a while. Don't just spam the same attack unless it actually seems reasonable. During battles, you can talk/do "free actions" out of turn, but don't do anything that influences the battle unless it's your turn. An exception is non-actively-fighting characters in the immediate vicinity. For example, once per turn, a character like that can, say, "throw a rock" or "tell <so and so> to be careful". If those characters intend to do damage or defend a player, they will need to follow the action rules above.

Pockets (Inventory)

You can carry up to 16 items total in your pockets. The catch is that you carry everything in your pockets--both healing items and equipment--and items do not stack. This means that if you have 3 hamburgers, each hamburger takes up 1 of your 16 item slots, so you'll need to be careful with what you want too keep. You can use items any time--on your turn during battle (in place of an attack/guard) or outside of battle as long as it's relevant. It's your responsibility to keep track of your items in your character post by editing it and updating your pockets there (because the GM can't). Keeping your pockets updated will help everyone (especially you!) remember what items you have and can use. You can trade/move items amongst yourselves, but do so in a very clear way. Make sure you ask clearly so both you and the person you're moving items around with know what's being moved. The most important part is that everyone knows what items they have and don't have. :)

Characters

Your character can be of an independent age (that's a huge range, I know), but they've got to be human. Make sure you're as descriptive as you can be in your character post so you and everyone know what your character is like. I probably don't need to say this, but take your character seriously! Don't do things in game that your character wouldn't do, and of course, do things they would do. Use the following template and allot 10 skill points to the stats of your choice. In addition to the stats listed below, you can also give your character up to 3 custom stats! It can be anything to help fill out your character. For instance, it can be "Cooking" or "Cow Tipping" or whatever. You will still need to distribute your skill points across them from the same pool of 10 points, so be careful! Suggestion: Let your stat distribution influence how you describe and act as your character. Interpret that suggestion as you please. You can also pick 3 special attacks/skills to use in (or outside of) battle. Let what you choose be influenced by your character's "Quality" (see below). Also, describe what your skills do. Be creative! Because there's no HP, just describe what it does (i.e. heals a party member a lot/heals all party members a little). Note: You don't need to have PSI attacks! You can just use general skills like "Focus" or "Wild Swing" if you want.

Character Template & Example

Name: <example: Ness> Quality: <example: Determined> Description: <example: you don't need an example for this one> Main Weapon/Fighting Style: <example: sports equipment> Skills: <example:

• PK Flash: Blinds the enemy with a bright light of PSI energy!
• PK Fire: Burns enemies within a small area of effect.
• PK Heal: Removes status effects from a party member.

> Stats: <this is where you allocate your stat points! You'll earn more stat points for specific stats as you fight.>

• Speed: 4 (influences your turn in a fight and how fast you can avoid things outside of battle)
• Strength: 1 (influences how much damage your attacks do and how much you can lift outside of battle)
• Guts: 2 (influences how many hits you can take and how long you can stay alive)
• Wits: 3 (influences how perceptive you are (how much information you can gather from a certain situation), i.e. how an enemy is described so you can find a weak spot or if you can find a hidden trapdoor)
• <custom stats here>

Pockets (16 items max): <example:

• Sandwich
• Baseball Bat (equipped)
• Baseball Cap (equipped)
• Odd Key

>

Rules

• The players decide where to go and what to do, but the GM(s) handles the descriptions and explanations of what happens.
• Don't worry too much about #1, the GM(s) will not be dictators about this. Just be sure to discuss OOC before you do anything drastic.
• Your characters will be confined to their own skills and skills directly related to who they are. For example, if your character's main weapon is, let's say, a frying pan, keep your skills related to that.
• Don't cheat on your die rolls. That's just lame.
• Be at least reasonable with what you decide to pick up. For example, you can pick up a pencil, but you can't pick up a motorcycle (unless you're a crazy body builder or something).
• Keep track of your stats and items! Off the top of my head, I'd recommend keeping your character sheet open in another tab and editing it to keep your inventory (pockets) and stats up-to-date. The GM(s) will keep track of your things based on that.
• The essential rule: Don't be a jerk! Be respectful to each other. Banter is OK in character, just make sure you're OK with each other bantering and don't take it seriously. If you get into a real, actual fight, take it somewhere else.
• Let's keep this RP at most PG-13.
• Try to be here with some consistency. It's no fun if it's your turn in a battle and you're gone for a week and nobody can fight. If you are gone that long, the GM(s) will have to take your turn into their hands and make you, like, be drooling or picking your nose instead of taking an action. Just make sure if you need to be gone, let us know in the OOC tab. Otherwise, make sure you're subscribed to this topic so it doesn't get lost in Casual's constant flood of newer posts.

Links & Additional Things

Link: NPC Character Archive (Archive of initial stats and items)

Bestiary

Enemies

Panicked Cactus

First Appearance: http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/2347860 Stats:

• Speed: 1
• Strength: 2
• Guts: 0
• Wits: 0
• Pointiness: 5

Creatures

Earthbound – Mother Earth

^{See OOC tab for details.}

Sunday, the morning after the crash

The town hall was as packed with as many people as a small town like Startere could muster, all insisting to know what happened and brandishing telescopes and newspapers and other assorted things that didn't really have anything to do with the topic at hand. The excitement was building upon itself, causing the crowd to surge and intensify as time went on and even more rumors started flying around. With a little effort, the mayor managed to squeeze through the admittedly quite small crowd to stand behind the short podium at the front of the hall. After banging a comedically-oversized gavel on the podium a few times with no success at calming the really small and actually quite orderly crowd, he had Johnson, Startere's only police officer (who incidentally was also self-appointed), shout into a megaphone to get everyone's attention. "HEY! EVERYONE LOOK UP HERE AND YOUR QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED!" The megaphone screamed mechanically with every other word and everyone in the building stopped and covered their ears and some screamed. "Thank you, Johnson." The diminutive mayor cleared his throat and continued, his bushy white moustache shuffling as he spoke, "Fair citizens, over the past few weeks, we have all seen the bright lights flying over our town. And if you haven't seen it, you've surely heard it! I can't imagine how anyone could sleep through that blasted whooshing and whirring and buzzing." This comment was met with nods and murmurs of agreement throughout the crowd. "Last night, I decided that enough was enough, so I took matters into my own hands and shot the damned thing down, whatever it was. So today, we are putting together a task force to go investigate the crash." At this, the crowd started bubbling with activity again as everyone started talking about seeing what that thing was and "giving it a piece of their mind" and such comments. Johnson shouted into the megaphone again and everyone stopped talking again. The extremely short mayor continued talking. "We are looking for volunteers to come and help us figure out--" The crowd exploded again with statements like "I'll go!" and "Take me!", cutting off the mayor. For a third time, Johnson shouted into the megaphone, the squeals of which were again more effective than Johnson's shouting. The tiny mayor (who really could easily have been confused for a child if it wasn't for his white hair and wrinkles, I mean come on) continued again, more urgently this time. "Please know, we don't know what this thing is, so it could be dangerous! We need any volunteers to know this and be willing to charge headlong into danger nonetheless!" A slight, uneasy silence gripped the crowd. "So those who are willing to risk their lives for the sake of curiosity, please come forward and we'll figure out a plan!" Only three men came forward: Ronnie the general store owner, a gangly man with patchy stubble and a hammer looped into his gray canvas apron; Stewart, Harry's grandfather, a wrinkly old gentleman in a fancy-but-old-fashioned suit; and Hans, the gigantic foreign body builder who nobody knows how he ended up in Startere but who helps with construction and other heavy lifting jobs.

NPC Party Member Stats

Ronnie Quality: Orderly Main Weapon/Fighting Style: Hammers Skills:

• Deep Pockets: A passive skill that allows Ronnie to hold twice as many items as normal.
• Cheer: Encourages the whole party, doubling each member's Guts.
• Flee!: Escape a fight without fail.

Stats:

• Speed: 3
• Strength: 2
• Guts: 0
• Wits: 3
• Friendliness: 10
• Generosity: 8

Pockets (32 items total) _{(stacked for convenience only)}

• Candy Piece x16
• Granola Bar x6
• Sandwich x6
• Mallet (Equipped)
• Apron (Equipped)

Stewart Quality: Uptight Main Weapon/Fighting Style: N/A Pockets (8 items total) _{(stacked for convenience only)}

• Peppermint x2
• Pocketwatch (Equipped)
• Monocle (Equipped)
• Tacky Suit (Equipped)
• Brass Key

Hans Quality: Hulking, Dim-witted Main Weapon/Fighting Style: Fists Skills:

• Throw: Pick up anything and throw it at anything else. In battle, the size of the thrown thing influences the amount of damage done.
• Flex: Increases Strength but decreases Speed.
• Suplex: Slam an enemy into the ground, dealing heavy damage. Has a low success rate.

Stats:

• Speed: 1
• Strength: 10
• Guts: 10
• Wits: 0
• Manliness: 11

Pockets No pockets. Hans only wears a speedo at all times.

"Oh, and you two, Isaac and Harry. You come, too! You two youngsters are the oldest youngsters in town, and you need to learn how to become men. So you'll be coming with us!" Stewart piped up, pointing at the boys as the crowd dispersed around them.