Cyclone

Dungeon Keepers

What would the total population be? 400,000, spread across a few major cities and the countryside?

I'm not sure I like the idea of four completely stereotypical nations, each one with one type of resource in abundance. Too much like Avatar: The Last Airbender. The basic premise is fine, I'd just prefer more unique groups for the sake of a better story.

Maybe a loose khanate of nomadic tribes would have access to wind and nature magic, with various shamanistic rituals to commune with the spirits for guidance or help, and a tiny portion of their population born with the ability to wreak havoc by calling upon the magic powers of their tribal spirits. This tribe would have the least amout of magic, however what they do have would be powerful. I can see these people controlling a relatively large swathe of land, but with a low population due to their nomadic nature. Inspired by the Mongols and a bit of the Klug tribe, technologically wise they might not be superior but through the use of clever tactics and what magic they have, they would make a surprisingly formidable opponent.

What do you think? We don't even have to use that; I just wanted to make the point that four mostly equal nations that neatly fall into the four categories of stereotypical magic seems too gamey. Just like we have the OP urge players to make interesting and unique characters and creatures, the NPCs and plot characters especially need to be interesting as well. But then again, I could be the only one who feels this way.

Also, as I mentioned in my previous post, we should figure out who will be the GMs.

Edit: Come to think of it, I don't think four nations, each fiting nicely into one corner, is ideal. I say we have five, with this fifth one being a kingdom with a massive and wealthy capital, smack dab in the center of the map. Such a prize would be very tempting, so naturally I think we might see two or three Keepers straying from their edges of the map towards the middle in an attempt to sieze it. The more things we can do to encourge interaction, the better. A central location would also be a good place for plot actions to go down.

Dungeon Keepers

Well, now that we've decided on two as the number the next step would be to figure out who those two will be, if we're going through with this. Then those two could work out the division of labor, plot, and so on.

BBeast, if you don't want to be a GM for the next go I don't blame you. Personally I think it might be fun to go back to not knowing the plot, but I'll still do it unless somebody else wants to.

Kangutso has a point, but we should probably just start with two and only add more people to make it easier if the work gets to be too much.

Dungeon Keepers

BBeast, you just said that this would need less GMs but you're asking for a collaborative PM discussion to figure out the plot. I wouldn't mind doing that, but if I know the entire plot wouldn't that make me a GM?

How many GMs would be ideal, anyways? If just one of us has to update the Compendium, design the entire plot, answer questions, and control plot characters then it would be too much. Maybe two is a good balance. In the end I think that it's a proportion; the more players we could attract, the more GMs we could get away with having.

Dungeon Keepers

An interesting idea. What if we removed imps and made that resource humans? There would be a good reason to conquer NPCs (to capture slaves) and combined with a smaller amount of land, the inevitable rush to conquer would drive keepers to meet each other faster than they normally might.

Dungeon Keepers

It's also hard to find a balance between having a sandbox and a rigid plot. In hindsight I can't help but feel like this might have lived if Ripper's Destruction Catalysts landed sooner so that we could have had the plot force interaction and make things interesting.

Dungeon Keepers

I apologize for my utter lack of activity as of late. Just stopping by to say that I haven't forgotten about you all, and will continue to keep an eye on this.

Dungeon Keepers

Nowadays when I have the time I just play Kerbal Space Program and occasionally pvp on modded Minecraft. I've never been able to get into the likes of LoL, DOTA, or Smite.

Dungeon Keepers

Blowing up their entire continent? Ludicrous, even by the standards of keepers. Atomic bombs would be considered grotesquely overpowered in this sort of RP, and they leveled cities. Incinerating an entire continent is magnitudes worse.

I'm not trying to stomp all over your fun or needlessly impede character development, but this RP just becomes literally pointless when that sort of power gets thrown about. If Shaige could just wave a hand and destroy the entire forest, then snap a finger and turn Paterdomus into a mountain of rubble, then there wouldn't be much of a story.

I'm asking now if anyone could help me come up with a description, and tell me whether or not I should lower the number of elements involved.

I could try to help if you give me some basic information about the elementals. Tomorrow I expect to have a decent respite, so we could exchange a few PMs.

Dungeon Keepers

Not the 'text wall' I promised by any standards, but lately my workload has been ridiculous.

Dungeon Keepers

A leaf fell from one of the great trees above, its sable silhouette shrouded by the night's gloom. The forest felt tranquil in its unnatural silence, utterly devoid of sound save for the soft rustling of branches in the wind. The sudden crack of a twig snapping underfoot broke the silence. In comparison to the bustling streets of Paterdomus, ever illuminated beneath the sun or the grand night-fires atop the temple, this dark wood was another world. Some no doubt would call it serene, but ever foreboding tree and shadow only served to spur the scout onwards by sheer terror.

After all that he had seen in these wilds, William was unable to rest. For no less than a day and a half he had relentlessly made his way back towards civilized lands. At last, to his joy, he came across a watchtower atop a deforested hill. The square tower was crudely built from the logs of nearby trees, and inside a garrison of two or three men kept watch. Several similar watchtowers were nearby, surrounding a moat-and-bailey castle that served as the forward outpost and base of operations for the invading crusaders. As the scout approached, he saw that the watchers were nowhere to be seen. Unsettled, he continued the trek towards the keep.