King Cosmos

Ready Player One inspired RP

@Burning Kitty

I don't particularly mind whether we call all items artefacts or just the unique stuff; I was just being pedantic and explaining my interpretation of it. I'm starting to realise that the movie gave a very different view of this world than the books did. Stuff like Mjolnir armour wasn't in the book at all, but I'm going to guess it was generic gear; I want to stress that I think unique items should mostly be available only through quests or challenges, like the Gundam capsule being a reward for winning the huge deathmatch in the movie.

The plot looks intriguing. So, the Stargate's (love this inclusion by the way) just act as warp points to secret locations but are initially inactive; you need to solve the riddle/clue/puzzle to get the co-ordinates to the first world, then activate the Stargate and go to the next location, presumably find the next clue and so on?

My only issue with the unique setting is if this is a future utopian version of Earth then does it still make sense that Sanctuary has items and locations based on pop culture from decades or even centuries in the past? I also worry at the inclusion of levels because it seems unnecessary both in and out of universe; if Sanctuary was originally created as just a virtual world with no game elements then there would be no reason to have levels, meaning it was something added to Sanctuary after the badlands was introduced. I also don't really see it playing much of a deciding factor in fight in the RP so I just don't see a reason for it and would prefer a setting where your "power" is determined by your equipment, skill and intelligence.

Other than these nitpicks I also vote for a unique setting.

I also vote in favour of pets but would want to draw a distinction between pets, mounts and companions. Pets would just be, well, pets; basically a cosmetic item. Mounts would be anything sentient that you can ride, so something like a Chocobo or Shadowfax; basically another form of vehicle. Companions would be combat capable AI allies like the mechanical dog you mentioned. The latter two should be treated like artefacts, with unique and non-unique versions.

... feel free to tell me to shut up if I'm getting annoying.

Ready Player One inspired RP

The movie I’m pretty sure indirectly mentioned levels. Once I’m pretty sure they referred to avatar death as resetting to zero and I know the wade told his aunt’s boyfriend to level up.

@Burning Kitty

There are definitely no levels in the Oasis. I'll stake my reputation on it.

When you die your account "zeroes out". Basically you lose everything, your entire inventory and every single gold coin and you are given an essentially fresh character again. That's why people explode into piles of loot when they die.

I'm unsure whether it actually deletes your account or not, as in death is an actual permadeath and that character is just gone; accounts are free anyway so it wouldn't make much difference.

The "level up" line was just a general gaming reference I'm fairly sure. Wade was just telling him to "git gud scrub".

Ready Player One or unique setting?

@Burning Kitty

What would the difference be, aside from the lack of references to canon characters or events? Would the game world function differently, would the real world be less of a dystopia?

Ready Player One inspired RP

It definitely won't be a rehash. The third quest in the movie for the keys (video games) was boring only made interested by the corporate war. The quest itself needs to be interesting.

@Burning Kitty

Just for reference the quests in the book were a lot longer and had multiple parts. The third quest in the movie is only the final, final part of the book's third quest.

We still shouldn't do a rehash though.

Everyone can definitely make suggestions. Some artifacts may not be allowed until higher levels if at all. Some may be unique, some may be acquired multiple times (common), there may be artifacts that have both a unique and common version (Master Chief's MJOLNIR armor versus MJOLNIR armor). I might not allow every feature of said item to be allowed for the artifact version or may restrict certain features to higher levels.

@Burning Kitty

I think artefacts by definition are unique, whereas everything else is just a regular item. That's just me being pedantic though, it doesn't really matter what we call them.

The movie made artefacts seems a lot more common than they should be, because they were trying to cram as much stuff in visually as possible. I think they pretty much all are earned as part of a hidden quest or something originally, before being put up for auction or entering the wild when the owner dies and loses everything. You don't just buy the Cataclysm from the in-game store.

If your character has a unique artefact I think there should probably be an explanation in your profile as to how you got it, either as part of your significant quest or other notable information.

Something else that was in the book and not the movie, that may be interesting to use, is the idea of magic/technology specific zones. In the book all items are classified as either magic, technology or neither (say just a regular sword) and zones are either non-combat, magic, technology or both. In a non-combat zone all items and atrefacts are disabled, it is a safe zone. In a magic zone stuff like lightsabers wouldn't work, in a technology zone a wizards staff would be useless and some zones allow you to use everything without restriction.

May restrict certain features to higher levels.

@Burning Kitty

If we were to set this in the Ready Player One universe there would be no levels. Strength is determined by equipment only.

Sorry for the wall of text and sorry if it sounds like I'm being negative or overly critical. I'm more just trying to provide information about the setting because you have only seen the movie and there was a lot of stuff in the book that explained the world that was wasn't included.

Ready Player One inspired RP

@Burning Kitty

I'm tentatively interested in this; my only reservation is what the plot is going to be.

I'd rather not do a rehash of the plot from the movie or the book, mostly because we'd be facing challenges that we already know the solution to in a story we've already seen the end of, but there's not much else to work with. The Oasis is just a game after all, outside of the Egg Hunt and the threat of corporate take over there isn't any other major threat to face.

Maybe there could be a second Egg Hunt? Say a special event organised by the characters of the movie to mark the anniversary of something; anniversary of the Oasis' creation, their taking ownership of the company or just what would have been Ogden Morrow's 100th Birthday or something. There would be a second Egg Hunt with a special prize at the end (untold riches or a unique artifact, maybe even the chance to design your own artifact or area of the Oasis) that our clan would try to win.

It would be something relatively high stakes without being too serious at the same time.

Either way I’ll have a list of Artifacts that the players can acquire, some of which our characters will start off with.

@Burning Kitty

I would very much like to be able to at least suggest our own artifacts. The whole appeal of a Ready Player One RP to me is the mash-up of every pop culture IP ever; obviously there is a focus on 80's stuff but there's plenty of stuff from newer works in both the book and movie.

Besides, I already have a pretty good idea of the kind of character I want to build. Not being able to pick my own equipment would make that harder to achieve.

The Hunter's Club

@Raging Fenrir I'm interested as well.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

Another level up. These things were coming a lot thicker and faster than Oberon had originally expected, not that he was complaining; the amount of battles that they had partaken in was likely a big part of that. The constant interruptions prevented him from spending as much time as he would have liked on experimentation but when it resulted in increased mana capacity and free skill points to spend he couldn’t complain.

Seeing the level up menu also gave Oberon a chance to get a progress report on the skills he was attempting to develop, as well as a few that he didn’t know about. Mana Dart and Minor Regeneration being on the list on unusable skills meant that he was on the right track with some of his ideas, but unfortunately neither skill was as developed as he had hoped they would be.

A sudden shout from the stricken rat in front of him startled him out of his thoughts, the level up screen disappearing as he whipped his head around to face them. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who had levelled up and the rat, whose name he should probably ask at some point, had just put a bunch of points into poison resistance. Probably a smart idea, all things considered.

“Heal just the burned area? If I restore your hit points it should heal all of your injuries anyway, if I understand this spell correctly. Besides, I can do one better. Six points into ‘Lesser Status Heal’.”

Oberon allocated some of his skill points into the partially complete skill, a system message appearing as he did so informing him of his new ability. Wasting no time he immediately cast it on the rat, and used his Magic Analysis to get some information on his new spell beyond what the system message would have told him. For good measure he then cast Minor Heal once more to top off the Dire Rats health, focusing the spell on the area around the acid burn as requested just in case that made a difference. “Ok, you should be good to go? It’s a new spell so just to be sure I need you to say ‘Open status menu’ for me. It’ll open up a system message and should let you know if the poison has been cured.”

As he was explaining, Mourningstar floated passed holding a small satchel and muttering something under her breath about ‘getting stronger’. He heard the slime he had helped earlier shout after her, but if the Wisp heard him she wasn’t showing any signs of responding. She was moving away from the bonfire and with the little cache of supplies she was carrying it looked as if she was planning on leaving; why she would do that or what her plan was, if she had one, he didn’t know, but with everything that was happening right now and with a counter attack from the Goblin’s probably coming any moment it wasn’t the best time to be wondering off alone.

Not that it was ever safe to be alone in this cave.

Climbing to his feet Oberon pushed off of the ground and flew to catch-up with the Wisp, his upgraded flight allowing him to move slightly faster than Mourningstar. He flew past her and swung in front to block her path. When he spoke he tried to sound gentle and concerned, so as not to sound accusatory. “Hey, are you going somewhere?”

Action Report

Allocate six skill points to 'Lesser Status Heal'
Cast 'Lesser Status Heal' on Asteria
Cast 'Minor Heal 1' on Asteria
Inform Asteria about opening 'Skills Menu'

@SilverPaw@floodtalon@Zeroth

Free For All

@MikkishtheLeprechaun@Samdragonx

I'm really unclear on what just happened. If Naiji dead? Are the elevator doors blocked by rubble now?

Free For All

“They are probably trapped here like us.” Alastair unconsciously stepped back until he was up against the wall, leaning his shoulder against it, as if seeking some meagre protection from it. “But that doesn’t meant they will be friendly. We should be careful.”

A loud roar rend the air, an animalistic noise that continued for several seconds as it echoed through the seemingly endless passageways they found themselves in. Alastair ducked his head further inside his hood as this was followed by a low booming sound that he could feel through the ground much more strongly than the footsteps before. Another, smaller crash came immediately after this which was in turn followed by a cacophony that sounded suspiciously like raining debris.

Silence reigned for a few seconds before suddenly, disconcertingly, Alastair began to laugh; it was not a pleasant sound. It was a weak, wheezing laugh that could be mistaken for a coughing fit; a laugh that sounded more like madness than mirth. “Maybe this labyrinth has a Minotaur. We should – we should probably find a new path.”

@Illiren

Soul Eater RP (not begun yet, everyone welcome)

@Squirrel98

Ok, I've added a history section, changed his name a bit and added him to the tab.

I'll look for another image tomorrow, that one is just way too small. I'll cut it straight out of the source and crop it down myself if I need to.

Soul Eater RP (not begun yet, everyone welcome)

Aleksandar “Alex” Mistreski

Name: Aleksandar “Alex” Mistreski
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Personality: An easy going person with a confident attitude, Alex walks through life with a relaxed self-assuredness that is at times frustrating. He is not the kind of person to get worked up about the small things in life, or the large things for that matter. He does not worry when things go wrong, or agitated when the unexpected happens; on the one hand this means he is able to keep a level head when others would panic but it also means that problems tend to spiral out of control because he overestimated his ability to deal with them or he just didn’t think it was worth acting about them.

He is someone who dislikes complications. He has simple tastes, a simple lifestyle and a simple, straight forward approach to problem solving. He has confidence in his strength above all else and isn’t one to think too hard about a situation, instead preferring to charge ahead and trust that he is strong enough to succeed; some would call him decisive, others an idiot.

This confidence also means that he cannot resist a challenge. For someone so easy going he can be surprisingly competitive and is easily riled into competing with others, the otherwise laidback Alex coming to life when there is a winner to be crowned and a first place to be taken. He takes challenges seriously and a friendly contest is never just a friendly contest. He is not a great loser, with a tendency to sulk, but he can handle a defeat with some grace assuming the contest was fair and he gave his all. A loss in a friendly game he will mostly just shake off and not worry about, but a loss in a serious competition will take him longer to get over. Alex is not one to hold grudges though, if anything considering them too much effort to maintain, and he can always pay them that loss back in the future.

Partner: N/A

Faction: Shibusen (Demon Weapon Meister Academy)
Student Class: Exceptional

History: Alex is the only child of Sostratos and Berenike Mistreski, a Meister and Weapon pair who have resided in Death City their entire lives. Alex’s family has a long history in Shibusen having resided in Death City ever since his ancestor showed signs of Meister abilities and the family was brought to the city two hundred and fifty years ago. Originally hailing from Macedonia, the Mitreski family has produced many Meisters in its time, with Alex being the ninth generation.

However, despite its deep roots the Mitreski family is not particularly influential or well known within the city walls. Its Meister’s have never been particularly successful or powerful; many retired early, others died, but none ever had much success with producing a Death Scythe. Most settled into the normal student group and stayed there, some failed to even make it to this level. Only Alex’s Grandfather, now deceased and for whom he was named, ever reached the level of an exceptional student. However, despite his talent he too was unable to make his partner into a weapon of Lord Death, failing in every attempt to claim a Witches soul and finally retiring. He died several years ago when Alex was young.

It was he who raised Alex, at least at first, since his parents were still very active at this point and spent long days or weeks abroad hunting Kishin Eggs. He taught Alex to fight from a young age, determined to prepare him for when his Meister abilities would no doubt begin to show themselves. He also taught him about their family, telling him their history, stories accumulated over the years from his own adventures and those that were told to him by his own father and grandfather; stories reaching back even to before their time in Death City, when their family still lived in Macedonia.

He imbued in Alex a desire to become a Meister, although it was always a given that he would be one and always spoken of as an inevitability, his grandfather was the one who made it sound like something he wanted to do.

When Alex was ten years old his grandfather passed away, prompting his parents to take a step back from their work and spend more time at home or at least closer to it. Alex’s father has taken over as his tutor and mentor, continuing the training his father started.

To Alex, being a Meister is something he always wanted to do; there was no need to consider doing anything else. While he was attending regular schooling, he would not pay attention in classes because he felt that he wouldn’t need the information for what he was going to do. He would work hard during gym class, genuinely enjoying the subject and having a competitive streak that wouldn’t allow for anything less, but aside from this he saw schooling as something to fill the time until he could attend Shibusen.

Luckily for him, Alex was something of a prodigy when it came to being a Meister. Only two years after his grandfather passed away Alex developed the first ability of a Meister; soul perception. And at age thirteen, during a training session with his father, he learned how to perform a soul purge for the first time.

They were sparring outside and his father was pushing things further than he usually did. Alex, frustrated with how he was being beaten so easily was beginning to lose his temper and wasn’t performing as well as normal. After knocking Alex down for the tenth time, Sostratos decided to give his son a push, tauntingly asking if he would ever make it as a Meister if this was the best he could do.

Something snapped inside Alex and without really knowing why he charged and threw a wild punch at his father, something rising up within him. His father easily sidestepped the clumsy attack and Alex instead hit the tree behind him. Instead of the pain he expected Alex felt that ‘something’ inside him flow down his arm and out of his hand into the tree.

The bark splintered, the trunk buckled and the tree fell.

Without missing a beat Sostratos said that they would begin the next phase of training tomorrow, and that he would enrol Alex at Shibusen when he could do that at will.