RickyG85

Digimon V3

Hmmm... I happen to have different, less "grimdark" concept I could easily whip up, trying for reliability, instead? I can't help but feel like what I've been working up is maybe a little too dark, even compared to the other, similarly serious characters. Maybe that's the problem?

Night Terrors- A Modern Horror RP

for some good atmosphere and inspiration, there's always X-Files, and almost any horror film, but Youtube has some great material, as well! I enjoy a channel called "Strange But True Stories!"

Night Terrors- A Modern Horror RP

Alright, players, no rush, but, let's get working on characters! I'm getting started on the first "episode" I have in mind. Suffice to say, you'll be starting in the same general location (let's call it "Nowhere", since that's where this kind of stuff always happens :P), whether you live there, or not. Don't sweat the how; I'll lay it out (after a brief discussion with each of you, of course) in the introductions, good strong backgrounds help me with that.

I'm still hoping for a co-GM, if anybody is interested!

Digimon V3

Edit: Forget I asked- I'm going to be patient, and I apologize for being impatient.

Sum up your week in roleplaying in just 3 words

Hurry Up & Wait :P

Murder Mystery Dinner: The RP

Sounds interesting! I'll give it a shot!

Digimon V3

I'm a little confused, about the digivices- the characters I've seen portrayed with art (great, btw) are holding gen1 Digivices, but the one pictured in the intro almost looks like something designed to fit on the wrist and forearm? Which one is actually being used?

Night Terrors- A Modern Horror RP

Another excerpt, this one a complete work of fiction, but, something that some characters may have been exposed to, similar to "The Message"-

The Truth is Out There

“Ok, so, this blog post is my attempt at putting a lot of stuff, together. I’ve been hunting around online, doing research, and hopefully, I’ve weeded out the nonsense and anything outdated regarding the weird stuff going on. If you’re a regular to this Blog, you know what I’m talking about.

The Nightmare Zone
This is the foggy/misty atmosphere that always seem to present when the ‘incidents’ occur. The popular opinion seems to be that these ‘Nightmare Zones’ are where The Real World and the World of Nightmares have inexplicably blended, or overlapped.
How does one know when fog is just fog? You can’t! Or, at least, I haven’t found anything solid. But, my research suggests some common elements: It tends to be abnormally thick/heavy, and unusually localized. It can be pinned down, on maps, but only with patience- wherever an encounter has occurred, and a Nightmare(will elaborate on this later) wasn’t killed, the Nightmare Zone is bound to manifest in that location, again, eventually. Especially of someone or something got hurt, or killed. Some of the witness testimonies I found suggests that it can get bigger, with repeat manifestations!
Power is spotty at best, inside the Nightmare Zone. I can’t find any reliable suggestions as to why.
I haven’t found any real pattern to when and where the Nightmare Zone manifests; some sites were previously rumored to be cursed, or haunted, or something, otherwise it seems… Random. I can say for certain it’s always at night, but, otherwise I don’t have near enough data to suggest any other pattern- we have no way to see it coming until it already has!

Nightmares
The monsters that seem to manifest in these areas, I’m going to referred to simply as “Nightmares”. From what I’ve been able to sort out, there’s no pattern to these things! I was surprised by the information that actually bore weight, versus the stories that were just… Made up for Likes, or something! In any case, I could find no consistency, unless inconsistency somehow counts? ‘Consistently inconsistent’, LOL. Anyway, even with sorting out the obvious frauds, descriptions and behaviors are all over the place; some are bizarre and small, even cute, but eventually turning numerous and nasty. Some are human sized or larger, and behave more like predators, stalking about. Others, still, seem completely alien, and are unpredictable, just running all over the place, either just appearing, giving people the creeps, seemingly exploring, or just killing whatever they happen upon! Nightmares aren’t the only problem, though, I found.
I stumbled upon this stuff by accident, and at first ws ruling these stories out. Eventually, though, as I was discovering connection to the Nightmare Zone, I went back to look over these, more closely. It turns out, even if some kind of Nightmare/s doesn’t show up, the Nightmare Zone has a way of affecting peoples’ minds! It can seep in, “clouding” their judgment, even overwhelming them with fear, to the point where they don’t act rationally at all! Some have even lost their minds entirely, and at that point, they’ve become Nightmares- stop them at all costs, because you can’t save them. Worse, still, these people don’t fade away with the Nightmare Zone, making them much more dangerous. They aren’t restricted to the boundaries of their Zone, but, they tend to stay close to it, and seem to interact with it like Nightmares, stalking about, seemingly to spread fear, as though that’s how they expand their boundaries, and increase potential victims.
Oh, one more thing: For some reason, nobody has ever been able to collect a specimen, or even produce a body, even in more reliable reports. I think these things vaporize, or melt, or something, outside the Nightmare Zone.

Official Responses
This one was probably the hardest to work through, just for the fact that so many civilian outfits were already out there before this seemed to start. As I did my research, it got easier to pick out the one’s who are seriously on to something- they’re still out there doing their thing (“Hey, there, scary demons. It’s me; ya boy.”), but the tone has… Shifted. There was a transition, I’ve watched hundreds of hours of footage, and I can’t quite pin down when it happened, but something is different, now. They’ve gotten more serious, and based on my own research (confirmation bias, perhaps), they’re coming to similar conclusions. Y’all out there with the tin-foil hats might be quick to assume that dismissal has ramped up, in order to cover something up, but no! I’ve been closely following government information outlets, as well, digging where I can to try and see what they aren’t saying, but I can’t find anything solid. I’ve found a wealth of information, here and there, but I can’t for the life of me pin down which department it’s coming from- I ruled out the FBI, right away, but, nearly every larger government organization is telling the same basic stories. Keep in mind, these are the same organizations that easily allow suspected terrorists and black listed passengers onto planes simply for the fact that it takes so long for every concerned outfit to connect and confirm. If they’re all on the same page, it’s not because they’re talking to each other and coordinating- they’ve all noticed the same things, I think, and trying to present a sense of order and normality. ‘Nothing to see, here, citizens. Move along.’
At the same time, as I’m digging deeper into this rabbit hole, I’m noticing, yes, some of the civilian groups only briefly had an upswing in activity, a darkening of tone, and than just went silent. Their channels and streams have been removed, entirely, with no message to their fans as to why. Some private investigators, as well, have stopped taking clients- even shut their doors, outright! Not many ‘psychics’ and ‘mediums’ have gone quiet, but enough for that to stand out, as well. Combined with stuff I’m finding that reads like government reports and documentation, minus any indication of department or organization, I would speculate that some kind of official, but discreet, response is taking place.
Myself, and others, have noticed a message going around, all over the world, as well as all over cyber-space. I don’t know who’s responsible; not a soul has credibly stepped forward to take responsibility

That’s all I’ve got, but, I’ll keep up the work, as long as I can.

Stay safe, everybody, and if possible, avoid the Nightmare Zone.”

-The blog was completely deleted two weeks later, and nobody has heard from the original author. The host site has denied any such user having been on their platform.

Night Terrors- A Modern Horror RP

In the last year or two (no one really knows, for sure), strange encounters and sightings have radically increased! It started small, like these things always did, with the usual suspects- people who, for one reason or another, experts and society at large could easily shrug off or dismiss. But, ignoring it like a hoax didn't work, anymore...
Not only was it slowly, noticeably, escalating, but a pattern was emerging. Not with the people reporting incidents, themselves- it quickly grew to where there was no pattern, with them- but, it was always at night, and always in an area thick with fog, or myst; regardless of the season, or if the area normally experienced such weather.
Still, nobody began to take it seriously until property was damaged, and animals and people started going missing.
People have stopped going outside, especially after a message began appearing in seemingly random places:

When the fog is thick,
too thick to see,
lock your doors
and don't go out.

If you find yourself
caught in an alien stair,
Run faster than fast,
hope your legs don't give out!

Nobody knows who is responsible for this message, or it's precise meaning- some think it's just a warning, from people working to try and understand what's going on. Others think something is spreading this message to taunt and frighten people.

Whatever is going on, it's not showing any signs of stopping...

---------------------------------------------------

I'm interested in running a horror game in a setting where supernatural elements are overlapping with the "normal" world, but, unlike an Urban Fantasy setting, or other horror themed settings, this overlap is recent, and not constant. Thus, it's not necessarily a common knowledge fact that this is happening, but people are aware of it, to some extent or another. Society being the way it is, people are still very reluctant to acknowledge what's going on, but are unconsciously adapting, i.e., people have stopped going out at night, etc. (expect a mix of more traditional monsters like things that could be compared to current mythologies like vampires and werewolves, but also "cryptids"; more "modern" monsters like The Dover Demon, Sasquatch, Chupacabra, and all manner of things that simply haven't been given a name.

Psychics are rare to this setting, but they are present. No high powered psychic abilities, but, maybe some low level stuff, like sensing emotions or reading surface thoughts, with a lot of concentration, maybe even the ability to consciously sense other minds, subtle things. No magic, just, people working with what skills and resources they have either to investigate what's going on, or just survive, depending on the role a player wants to take on and how the scenario plays out.

Players are encouraged to make use of tropes as a jumping point for building distinct characters, with some obvious caveates; Tropes are not stereo types, per se, I do want to see some actual character. On that note, embrace being someone who's good in particular situations, and maybe average at best in others; avoid the extremes of "Can only do one thing" and "capable of many things but good at precisely none of them". Other than that, give other players a chance, ok? No speed posting.

Edit: Some information I think will help potential players better envision the setting came about in a PM, and I'm going to post my response here. Hopefully, this helps build interest as well ^_^

The Excerpt

Alright, so, I'll go through this one thing at a time-In general, the world is basically ours, typical to horror settings. You've got the first bunch of things right. Those gifted people are rare, and, typical to a horror setting, people are just going about their day to day lives, most of them either not taking current events seriously, or in denial to one extent or another. what I'll refer to as the "Nightmare Zone" manifests in places, mostly at random, and is capable of repeat manifestations, and can even expand it's boundaries (again, look to typical horror movies; Jason, Micheal Meyers, and Even Freddy Kruger start in fairly small, localized areas, and their range has expanded over time). For a good, specific example of people's awareness, again, a good example being the early Friday the 13th films; people are, at most, vaguely/generally aware that something is wrong, but nobody wants to talk about it, for better or for worse. People are disinclined to listen to witnesses/survivors because they don't want to.

as to your questions, point #1: Yes, some are deliberately seeking some of these things out to destroy them. Like the occasional psychic, they're rare, but they've all had direct encounters and survived. Not all survivors are hunters, but all hunters are survivors. Nancy's and Tommy Jarvis's, sometimes Ash's, that kind of thing. To a very limited extent, some governments are hastily throwing together "X-Files" type outfits, scrambling to muster some kind of discreet response, and prevent panic.

Point #2: Do they live in harmony with the supernatural? Eh, yes and no. Does a cattle rancher live in harmony with wolves? A sailor with the storm? The monsters that tend to appear are just that: monsters. Nobody tries to be friends with these things, and the monsters certainly aren't showing any interest in such things. Horror movie logic; nobody who's forced to confront this is going to think about how to make peace with this, just get through it, and hope it doesn't come back.

A lot of these really boil down to "Just apply horror film reality and logic", but I'm going to keep going.

Point #3: Yes, the people with abilities are very much in the minority, and regarded in a similar fashion to the "nightmare zone" and the resulting monsters; nobody wants to believe it.

I really already answered point #4-5 earlier in this response, but I can elaborate on #5- It's entirely likely some have had interactions without realizing it, but these would be instances where, say, they were out walking late, or something, and they "got a bad feeling", maybe after that ran home, feeling like they were being followed, maybe they hear strange noises, or find strange foot prints, real urban legend material, but little else. Are they locked in their homes? Not against their will; it's been an unconscious response, at large, to try and hide from "the danger", even if they don't know what it is, or even if it's real. Nobody is being instructed by emergency broadcasts to take precautions, local governments aren't enforcing curfews, people are just doing this, but again, some are more in denial, and thus, taking it less seriously than others. Finally, yes. Many, at their most extreme responses, are absolutely not going out of their homes after nightfall, and never alone, if they can help it. Some places are liable to also become no-go zones, like Camp Crystal Lake, as an example.

TL;DR: "The normal world has become a horror film, and just doesn't know it yet."

Character File

Character Name:
Physical Description:
Age:
Role: Several roles can be filled in this setting, but I'll describe a few as examples elsewhere
Psychic: Y/N (if yes, include information in the Background)
Skills/Abilities of Note: A short list of traits or attributes that would be particularly useful to the character/make them an asset to a group, somehow help chances of survival. These must be within reason, and similar to psychic abilities, should be incorporated into the Background.
Willpower: Strength of will, relevant to the effects of the Nightmare Zone. A willpower rating, on a scale of 1-10, is assigned per a discussion with the GM/Co-GM, prior to character approval.
Fear: This is a negative sort of points; the GM/Co-GM hand these points out throughout a scenario, and if your Fear score matches or exceeds your Willpower, bad things are about to happen (example: The Evil Dead; characters who figuratively got to this condition were attacked and possessed by The Evil, becoming Deadites)
Background:
Previous Encounter/s: Y/N
Encounter Summary: Only fill this out if the character has had previous encounters
Resources: contacts, items/equipment a character would reasonably have/access to.
Odds of Survival: This is basically hero points; Each player starts with one, and can be issued more at GM/Co-GM discretion, provided they are in agreement on the decision, throughout play. Ways to earn better "Odds" include, but are not limited to- good role play (consistent characterization/behavior in character), clever ideas or actions, exemplary behavior out of character, well made character, etc. In addition to being able to earn Odds by impressing the GM/Co-GM, players can PM either the GM or Co-GM to nominate other players to receive bonus Odds (within reason).
Odds can be traded in to avoid death in an otherwise deadly situation, or change circumstances to their advantage (example: Players are isolated, and unarmed in a cabin by the lake. A man, his mind warped by the effects of the Nightmare Zone, is trying to get in and kill them all with a chainsaw! The phones aren't working, so you can't call for help, and he's sabotaged the cars. A player who has a cell phone[Resource!] could potentially sneak out, and, maybe, find a spot where they can pick up a signal, allowing them to call the police![Odds reduced by 1). Their is always a risk, however, in spending these points, because, well, you're literally "reducing your odds"! (Same example: Becky snuck out the bathroom window, figuring that homicidal maniac was mostly watching the doors. However, she had no way of knowing where he was when she made her move, and having to be out in the open, it was only a matter of time before he happened upon her- she'd just have to hope that luck was on her side!) Odds can also be traded to reduce a character's Fear score.

Example Roles

Survivor
The one that made it out alive, for better, or for worse. This is one role that has had some kind of encounter with the Nightmare Zone or a Nightmare, before, and survived. This role is also the most common, and thus, the most diverse.
"Than he's still there!"- Friday the 13th

Nightstalker
This is not just someone who survived at least one night against Nightmares, but is looking to find them again, and kill it! Why varies from one to the next, but it's always the same- something is out there, and it needs killing.
"Memo: 4 pounds of C-4 may be a little... excessive."- Tremors 2: Aftershocks

Nerd
The smart guy, often the one to come up with ideas in tough situations. Unfortunately, also tends to be more vulnerable to Fear, in some cases. Typically skilled or knowledgeable, even if in areas normally not practical/useful.
"It's my media induced, paranoid, delusional nightmare."- Eight Legged Freaks

Hero
Often Jock-ish, but just as often a punk type, or even just a cheerleader in an extreme situation, this role is the one to step up and take charge. Either possessed of high Willpower or possessed of a skill or two that set's them apart.
"I know I'm human- and if all of you were one of these things, than you'd just attack me, right now. So some of you are still human."- John Carpenter's The Thing

Space Case
This role often comes through in the strangest ways. They typically think very differently from other people, which, while being something of an outcast or "reject" for it, also means they come up with ideas or solutions that never would have occurred to anyone else. If nothing else, they just as often have a resource that everyone needs at just the right time.
"Puppeteers..."- Cabin in the Woods

Believer
Like the Nightstalker, Believers can often overlap with Survivors. The difference, of course, is that the Believer is just as likely to have been open to strange things before ever encountering the Nightmare Zone/a Nightmare. They're knowledge is helpful to the group, more often than not, and they have an easier time keeping calm.
"Scully, you're not gonna believe this!"- The X-Files

The Man
Don't let the title fool you- this is not a gendered role. The Man is always a figure of some authority, like a police officer, a ranger, or even a security guard. By virtue, they're likely to have the best resources.
"Urban legend, my ass!"- Urban Legend 2

These are just some examples, but, should be enough to give a player a wide variety of ideas!

Submit Character files here, or in a PM, please. Either way, a PM conversation will be had, so, keep that in mind when deciding where to submit it.

Night Terrors- A Modern Horror RP

Going to repost this in the Casual RP section