HylianRose

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

<Snipped quote by HylianRose>

Thank you in return for being patient and not make wild assumptions when I brought up these kind of topics.

To make long story short, essentially, I do not put fictional minors on a pedestal, I don't see them as deserving any special treatment, I enjoy stories that does not tip-toe around the fact that all sorts of things can happen to people, just people, regardless of age.

If a story strays away from gore, sexual matters, or other heavy stuff on a meta-narrative level because the author wishes to maintain a certain atmosphere, then that's fine, but if the story does so specifically because the characters aren't adults? Then... I'll respectfully disagree and will live and let live, I do not agree with such sentiments but I won't fault them for having those either, and in such situations, the best way to avoid needless conflict due to subjective preferences is to stay out of each other's way.

@Izurich

Honestly, you do make a great point. Things do happen to minors in real life just like anyone else and censoring that is taking away from level of realism and reality from the world. I suppose then, my points do still hold that I don't want to read details of gore and/or drugs etc but more on the level of regardless of age. I keep thinking about things like My Hero Academy and how they handle drama and heavy topics because those are children and things do happen to them. People die, children have their abilities taken from them, hurt horribly. And I don't really think twice about it other than enjoying the story. I think it may just take some time for me to get away from this idea and this discomfort of being 29 and writing stories where children are the subject. But that's not something I need to project onto you or this story.

However, there are still limits to things and as you said, compromises that need to take place in a group rp. We need to be aware of everyone's limits and what they are comfortable reading/writing/interacting with. I fully believe that heavier plots should be discussed with all writers who might be involved prior to implementation. I'm not going to include a character who was a survivor of SA without first clearing it with ALL who might need to read or interact with it.

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

@HylianRose Hmmm, you made some good points, but I need to settle something with you to properly gauge whether I'll fit with the vibe of the RP or not.

Right now, to me, between this part:
<Snipped quote by HylianRose>
Plus your rather extensive elaboration about limits, all tied to one aspect, the ages of these fictional characters, I have the feeling that we won't see eye-to-eye in how we see fictional characters as storytelling tools. Personally, I do not like to censor my creativity, but I understand that in a group RP, compromises and concessions are inevitable, so I just wish to know whether or not we're too different in the way we enjoy fiction.

If we don't, great, then we can work something out, but if not, I'd rather we find out now rather than later, save the both of us the potentially wasted effort and all that.

@Izurich

Honestly, very fair and thank you for wording it so respectfully.

In what ways do you see this potentially censoring your creativity? I'm trying to understand, I guess, what the real question is here? I think, from my perspective, I'd just like to be careful about portraying minors because they are so young. Not that I think anyone would portray them in a bad/poor way. Hmm...

When you say characters are story telling tools, what do you mean by that?

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

Alright, so I'm going to try and cover a few people at once per topic so that everything is a bit more cohesive.

1. Age. Seems like the majority either want High School age or are ambivalent towards the ages of the characters. After thinking about it myself (and considering things like Pokemon and My Hero Academia ages) I think I'd be perfectly fine with playing characters age 16-18. I just think that, considering my own age, we need to be very careful and cognizant of how we are portraying minors. I don't think it will be an issue, but I just want to say it all the same.

2. I want the combat to still be mostly story-driven. The idea here is to create an exciting fight and have an end result that contributes to the over-all story and plot of our world we're building here. I do think that people's suggestions (thank you to @ERode and @Duoya) concerning changing from a d20 to a d6 system. I did want to ask if you had any more suggestions for that? Should major and minor abilities modify the roll as a plus numerical or should they add a d6 to your roll. I'm not super familiar with TTRPGs outside of Pathfinder/Savage Worlds/Deadlands so any help and advice there is appreciated for the betterment of the RP as a whole.

3. Seems like most people want to keep the NPCs open and a little vague until it's necessary that they are.. no longer vague. I do really like the idea that @ERode mentioned regarding making 1-2 NPC characters that have some relationship/connection with your main character. Maybe they were childhood friends that became estranged due to drama between families. Maybe this person is someone that used to work at their home (one of the faculty in this case), etc.

Something that I used to do as a DM for DnD is have people create characters, give me some back story, and then I gave each character a connection to the others. For example, let's say player A creates a delinquent knight and player B creates a Noble who's father is the head of the Police Department for the area. I might PM both players and let them know that Player B's character knows about Player A's character's reputation and is keeping tabs on them. Things like that that might connect characters a bit more organically? Obviously, you guys can do things like that too. I think it's important that the world feels real, alive. Otherwise it's all just separate character who have no reason to interact with one another.

4. Seems like the consensus here is to start off more light and care-free but slowly develop into something a bit darker. I'd love to hear some of the ideas here for what kind of darker plot we can get into. I can formulate ideas, but those are my ideas and what I might find fun. I want to know what YOU find fun. I also want to know what people's boundaries are. I don't anticipate getting too heavy with such young characters, but I don't think death is necessarily off the table. But I want to gauge everyone's level of comfort and how far they're willing to go. I'm going to classify this RP as like.. E for everyone? But obviously drama is best served when there are real stakes involved. So.. but anyway, please just let me know what your limits are. For me, I'm a bit iffy on things like drugs and anything sexual (obviously considering the age of the characters) and explicit descriptions of gore. I'm fine with things like loss of limb/etc, death, etc but I don't want it described. Like.. for example, if there's a revolution and a rogue band of rebels comes through because the school still support the current prime minister (or what have you) and they take the life of a random npc student or something. I would deem that a pretty heavy topic I'd want to discuss with you all prior to introducing it.

I also want to start off with a lighter plot to begin with, that much I know. Something with lower stakes like the gossip Douya mentioned. As always if you have ideas, please send!

5. @ERode, I honestly love your idea here. I think that adding Nobles in the fights gives them more stakes and does make sense lore/world wise why the duels even take place. This world is pretty but only on the surface level. Underneath it's nasty and violent (marginally at least). I also think we could fluff it a bit, kind of like laser tag? you know how the chest thingy lights up when it's been hit? Maybe the barrier has a system built in where it can take three hits before it throws an alarm to stop the fight and that a victor has been decided.

@Duoya Let me take some time to brainstorm some class ideas as well as advantages that ranks might have. I'm thinking classes would be your general core education classes like a normal HS might have, but along side PE you might have mandatory "Duel Ed" or "Offensive/Defensive Magic". And Extras like Practical Magic or Business. If you guys have any ideas for classes or privileges that might be given to the top ranked students, please let me know!

Now to address questions and everything else;

@Fading Memory

I personally have no qualms with someone just hanging out!

@Expendable

I'm thinking somewhere in between. European inspired but not an exact match if that makes sense. Mostly so we can have some wiggle room if we need to change up Europe to suit our story needs. You absolutely can have npc servants as a noble! Your Knight would likely be your main bodyguard, but I don't think I'm opposed to them having more than one body guard. That is something we can decide together. I'm going to spend time this weekend (hopefully) creating a spreadsheet for the dorms so we can easily track who rooms with who, who stays where, etc. But that's still up for debate and your input. I personally like them needing to share a room with another noble because that lends itself to even more interaction which is important for an RP like this to thrive. But if you're confident your noble would still interact in a meaningful way with other characters, then I don't mind their money getting them some special treatment.

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I do have some example pairings that I made previously when I had NPCs for this RP. If you'd like me to share them, I'd be happy to.

If I didn't answer your question or you feel like I ignored you, please, please let me know!

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

Dentist and then work today! Work should be slower today but I won't know until I log into my email.

Going to try to touch on everything everyone has said/asked. Lots of good points were made!

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

Busy day at work today so I apologize folks! When I have time, I'll respond to everything!

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

@Kero

Double post since I missed yours. The Combat system definitely won't be for every little thing. Fights can happen outside of the duel system and not being tied to rolls. The duel system would likely just be one roll for the entire duel to simply things. Like... rock, paper, scissors. And to make it fair, I'll likely request that when a duel does occur, that I'm notified so I can make the rolls for the characters. Mostly because it would be hard to confirm whether or not someone is modifying their rolls just to win. And again, if the two writers decided "Hey, we don't want to do the roll, we have a plan." I will fully respect that.

Edit: Headed home and likely logging out for the day. but I'll try to come back and answer questions if I see them and have time!

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

I'm having a bit of trouble getting a bead on the setting, looking everything over. I see that it takes place in 20XX, but I'm struggling to piece together the general world and society we're working with. Any elaboration on that stuff would be appreciated.

@Kero

That's incredibly valid! The idea is a modern day (so thinking 2024, but leaving the last bit of that open time-wise). Magic is around but very modernized. Think street lamps lit with magic, eye doctors that use flame wizards to cut glass, etc. Then you add in the swords and shield bits of the world. Which, in a modern setting, can seem like they cancel each other out. But in a world like this, the swords and shields bits are all just on tradition and don't have much use in daily life aside from being a sort of pomp and circumstance sort of thing.

If that's still to vague or confusing, please let me know! Questions that you have or ideas that you have are helpful as well.

@Crowvette

That's a fair point on the combat system. I definitely want the bits and bobs to be more story flavor rather than DnD combat system. And I don't want the system to take away from the actually writing/fun of it. If two writers are willing to work out a plan for their duel on who should win/how it should go, I'd be open to that as well. I just don't want it to turn into an irl argument because that can quickly turn into something rather nasty given the ight circumstances. An opposed dice roll kind of takes that bickering between players away and allows the players to go "ah, so Character A is going to win, how are we going to write it such that Character A wins this duel?" Again, just my opinion and I'm very open to the ideas/opinions of others!

Thanks for letting me know your thoughts on the other bits too!

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

@Izurich Hi! Thank you! We'll look at the potential for needing dupes once we figure out our numbers. I know a lot of times for things like this (pairings) it means that it's very important that both writing partners stick around. So we'll navigate that sort of stuff as it comes up. We'll just all need to be a little flexible with that as needed! My intention is to try my best so that we only need one character per person.

This could be fun, yes.

I spent some time in England, almost everything was closed on a Sunday. If that's the one day students are allowed in town, some of these shops must have Sunday hours. MartMart, of course, doesn't care what day of the week is, nor will the local newsagents.

Favorite Anime characters are Ed from Cowboy Bebop and Maomao from The Apothecary Diaries.

@Expendable

That's an excellent point! I'll have to amend that in the lore bits. If you have any more tidbits about life in England, I'd love to hear it so I can potentially use that for lore stuff!

Interested if there is still space! Would prefer to play a knight, but I don't mind rolling with a Noble if pairings are skewed.

When you get the ooc up, do you mind throwing up some example talents (minor and/or major)? I want to get a feel for where to aim when making those.

My favorite characters change pretty often, but Lain Iwakura from Serial Experiment Lain and Kaoru Yamazaki from Welcome to the NHK are pretty high up there.

@Duoya

Absolutely! I've got that on my docket of things to do for the RP.

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OOC is up! https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5499748

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

GM is currently working on;

- School Map? Maybe?
- Cleaning up Lore Bits as Needed

GM Schedule (EST)
Weekdays - 9am - 5pm - spotty, but usually around
Weekdays - 6pm+ - less likely to be around, often gaming or adulting, there is no in-between.
Weekends - Spotty, TTRPG every other Saturday. Otherwise I'm likely gaming or adulting.

Discord will not be created unless a need arises for one. If you need me, PM me.

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

Alright, we're up! Here are a few questions I have for the masses;

1. What age are we preferring here? I listed 16, but I'm not sure I necessarily vibe with that. I much prefer older, at least 19. But I want you all to be able to weigh in on this.

2. Combat. I outlined a rough idea for a way to do combat that would involve a simple d20 roll with simple modifiers from skills/abilities, etc. If you have experience with this or just want to pitch your two cents, I'm all ears.

3. NPC characters. Most NPC characters will be teachers, the head teacher, the coordinator, etc. These are characters that you are able to move as you need to. Need a teacher to get onto your character for doing something stupid? Maybe pick the strict one and have them come in and smack them up the back of the head and admonish them. It's up to you. Just try to stick to the established personality. I'll be trying to fill that in while folks create characters and we work through all of that. Regardless, the real question is; do you want to fill out the ranks with npc knights and nobles? Or would you prefer to "skim" over that information. I.E. discussing rank one (if empty of player character) but leaving the description very vague. Pros to npc is that the world feels more fleshed out. Cons, it becomes more taxing for me, the gm, to navigate those characters and it becomes a bit harder for others to take those positions. Not that we can't make it happen.

3. Plot Direction. Do you have ideas for how you think plot should develop? do you have a general theme you prefer? Dark and angsty? Light and fluffy? Just want to get a gauge for our preferences.

4. As always, please send any feedback or ideas you have for the world. Someone in the interest check (Expendable) mentioned something about in England shops being closed on Sunday which is definitely something I need to consider changing lore-wise! Things like that are always helpful.

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Someone on the interest check also asked about power and ability ideas. I'm going to try to get those out to you all as soon as I'm able!