The Harbinger of Ferocity

Ask the Person Below You a Question

Deep in the mountains, somewhere surrounded by pines, with flowing rivers dotting the landscape, where the granite stones are warm, and the grasslands are softly swaying with the breeze rolling down the mountain. There are seasons too, as winter is laden with snow but not ice, but summer is warm yet not scalding; everything in between is a nice lead in to the next event. A place where the people are by and large not, instead replaced by bison, elk, moose, pronghorn, among others. There are few places like this, but I am fortunate to already call it home.

The following question is, what method do you use to create a character? Are they conjured up freely or do you sit down to craft someone for the story? Are they more an independent agent where you place their hat on your head and take on their character or are they an instrument of your will? Think along those lines.

Keeping Creativity Flowing?

The largest portion of advice I can offer is reading and rest. It is no secret reading and writing are tied hand in hand, with one not only generating inspiration for the other, it keeps the metaphorical wheels turning. It is not wholly passive activity, especially if the content is deeper than say, just a story. While avoiding writing for a time, perhaps a day or two at most, reading taking up its place more or less restores the reserves, as long as the reading is intellectually stimulating; reading a tabloid is not going to be as helpful as say, reading a psychology or philosophy book to help understand and formulate a character's mind and its motives. This element and approach I have found largely successful, namely just before sleeping as well which leads me into my other point.

Doing nothing but reading just before sleeping is a fair way to unwind the knot that is the mind in regular activity, especially creatively. I say this because what you take away from the reading will become part of the unconscious to come when you sleep. You begin formulating information to later extract and use from it in the next day. It might be invisible, effectively, but it is there in the underlying thoughts and feelings, that when you do return to writing by the third day in this example, you have had time to create those thoughts and can now tap into an underlying reserve that was not or might regularly not be there; it is free no less, a consequence of reading before sleep. Granted you do not want a page turning book, the sort you get too invested in, but something relevant and building in foundation for the story or character.

As for the rest itself, try to make it actual rest, a full eight hours uninterrupted in a dark room. I know for a fact a surprising number here do not sleep as they should or in the right environment, but for most that does nothing but harm one's actual writing ability because the mind is not afforded its time to successfully draw down. However, those are my suggestions for pulling one's self out of a rut as it were. Having done this for some time I have not felt myself in a place where I could not write due to a lack of sufficient creativity, or so I felt.

New to this site

Welcome to the Roleplayer Guild, @William Cade. I am certain you have noted there is a fairly active tabletop community here, but if you wish for more activity on it, I strongly suggest joining us on our Discord; there is a channel there for it there. That said, no need to if you wish not to, but the welcome remains all the same.

D&D 5e -- The Lost Children

Having a smaller party does not hurt either, truthfully. Perhaps the posts will come by sooner and swifter as a result of that. Either way, hopefully all is well for them, as I imagine the Roleplayer Guild being down might have warded them off, if even for a time. Perhaps they might not know it is back yet? Regardless, it is good to see this alive even yet.

There Are No Heroes

I need note it is a maximum of three days to post via a Discord and someone who continually takes the maximum amount of time will raise more problems than resolve them, @Silvan Haven. Just because one has a maximum of three days does not mean a post takes three days to complete, hence the reference to "More is better." essentially. Given the game is casual up to advanced, asking for two paragraphs, the sort of minimum, is not much - about half an hour of work at most.

There Are No Heroes

The majority of players will have a d20 Modern class on both sides of their gestalt is what I am alluding to there, @Hekazu. For example, in place of being a Smart Hero 2 / Fighter 2, it is far more likely a player will be a Smart Hero 2 / Dedicated Hero 2, or even a Smart Hero 2 / Dedicated Hero 1 and Fighter 1. More or less, Third Edition classes are miniature prestige classes because they are direct upgrades to the d20 Modern classes. A Strong Hero, the fighter archetype parallel, is still far weaker than just a fighter from Third Edition. It is more or less a selling point to try and argue how or why someone would qualify for them; of course as the game goes on this becomes far easier as they can simply level in what they believe to be the most appropriate class based on their experiences.

Sanity score is tied to Wisdom, giving you a bonus to it in the form of adding to the total maximum as well as acting as "resistance", essentially Damage Reduction for incoming sanity damage. Ability scores however, are going to use, likely, a 21 point buy. A player will assign their ability scores appropriately, with nothing below an 8, and it should reflect the whole of their character. Each player will then fill out their own assessment of that person's ability scores, based on the character profile they read over, then they will then be totaled and averaged out.

There Are No Heroes

This post is relevant as an overview for those who were interested before when I spoke on it off the cuff in the Roleplayer Guild Discord. As such, those being mentioned here, this is mostly for your notice as a courtesy for your interest and hopefully a further explanation beyond the brief bits you received, as well as a place for you to pose your questions for all to see and have answers to.

• @Silvan Haven
• @Hekazu
• @catchamber

There Are No Heroes

There Are No Heroes

d20 Modern - 3.5e Dungeons and Dragons

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Concept

The pitch and concept is simple, your character is yourself in an alternate version of reality. Not just any reality, but one where the world is not quite as you know it here, a grim-dark, twisted reflection of itself. It is not pleasant, it is not kind, and it is most certainly not safe. Why, you might ask? Because if the greatest economic recession in history and rampant, unchecked crime and corruption were not enough, there are more disturbed, more frightening things in the darkness; the things people either will not or cannot regularly see or experience. Man is a monster already, the sort of creature that will kill you for the few dollars you have in your wallet, but what is worse is that not everything is just a man. There are monsters here and they are unquestionably more dangerous, more devious, and more destructive than any world rife with poverty and illness alone... at least individually. You have to do battle with them both.

How you ended up in this situation is up to you, but one way or another our timelines diverged. Yet fate now seems intent on bringing you and a few other seemingly random individuals together in an opportunity to do something about the bleakness of the future, however small and insignificant it might be. You are not heroes, the things you are going to be tasked with doing at times not heroic, but if you do not do them, who will? Perhaps you might just succeed or perhaps you all might just die trying. Either way, whatever you pursue or however you pursue it is up to you and your company. All I need know is, would you take that gamble? Are you willing to test yourself, even if that means you might actually lose?

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Information

Yes, you are playing yourself, you read that correctly. All we are going to do is file off the details of who you really are. You will recreate yourself using the d20 System rules, namely those found in a hybrid Third Edition and d20 Modern game. How, you might ask? You will pitch what you can for your character, the other you, based on your background and other associated information. Why you have the ability scores, the skills, the classes, and feats you do. This character for all intents and purposes is yourself, other than details such as personally identifiable information, of which are removed; name, birth date, residence, et cetera. All of those are irrelevant, but for the better I assure you. But... what about magic and exceptional classes beyond the default ones in d20 Modern?

There best be an exceptional reason you can call yourself a "ranger" or think you have the background to be so much as a "fighter". As it is, you are playing a gestalt character one way or another, but consider anything from Third Edition to be as elite as it gets. Unless you are an actual black belt in any of the martial arts, or its equivalent, do not bother with "monk"; unless you have spent your life dabbling in the occult and strange, you are certainly not a "warlock" or a "wizard". So on and so forth, but the good news is, is that you start at 2nd character level and take the best of both d20 Modern classes. If you so happen to die, let us note fate is not so forgiving; death is permanent and a new character is just a regular person.

I digress, for one reason or another you will begin in the northwestern tier of the United States, either the states of Washington or Oregon, to be determined at a later date. You and your companions-to-be are brought together under unusual circumstances. You certainly do not have ties to one another or your past, but your options are clear; either work together for the best or work apart and hope for the best. After all, this game includes everything from supplementary sanity rules to massive damage rules and is played with a tactical mindset. It is dangerous and it is gritty, so if you cannot handle either, I recommend staying far, far away. Speaking of...

If you cannot commit, fully, to a complex edition as this game and its rules, in addition to its supplementary ones, let alone being consistent in activity and posting, do not bother. We do not want players who cannot learn, will not learn, will not post, or will not be proactive. No ifs, ands, or buts. We need four absolutely dedicated players. If you are inexperienced or have a "busy" lifestyle that does not allowed reliable posting and game execution, you are not the audience being sought out, do not waste my time or that of other players.

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Rules

The first rule is that what the Dungeon Master says, goes. I have been a Dungeon Master for years in this edition and I have run this setting two other times at actual tables; I know what to expect and I have largely refined it down to a science. Exceptions will arise of course, but at the end of the day I retain executive power. If you are not certain what I mean by something, ask, never assume.

The second rule is, is that there is not mercy here. If the dice land where they land, that is what happens. If you become inactive, you are gone, no more of this nonsense about being "busy" or "things came up". You either tell us all and best get working on a solution, fast, or you are out and are likely not coming back. Expect to post, at least, once every three days; the more the better. Consider the quality expected at minimum casual posting and at maximum anything advanced. At the bottom of your posts, you will have a section containing the mechanical effects of your actions, assuming you did anything that requires rules applications, be it rolling a Diplomacy check to persuade the police that you are not responsible for something, to running thirty feet, crouching, taking a shot, then dropping prone.

The third rule? This is a game in a world where everything is terrible, people are still using tape-based devices and flip phones, most cars are from the 1980s through the early 2000s, crime, poverty, addiction, and all equally twisted things are common. This is a mature game but not an adult game. I might imply certain things, but under no circumstances will we make the leap. Violence, limited gore, and other associated ilk are going to be present. Terrible things are going to happen here and a large component of the game is a "What would you do?" scenario, that is the reason you are playing yourselves; please do not lie about that and be dishonest. This game is far, far more entertaining to learn about one's self and others around them when put in hypothetical and stressful, at times disturbed, scenarios. If that is not for you, then this game is not for you.

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Requests

If you have questions, comments, concerns, the like, post them here in this topic. I will be working on the actual post and eventually a Discord. The game itself will be played predominantly on the Discord to better simulate a live experience, with each chapter being played out here on the forum at its closure; I will write an overview of the events as a narrator, then ask you to portray your character's recollection of them and opinion on it in their own posts. Much of it will be "mission" based, meaning each instance of events is a small chapter over a large arc, so do expect to write several in-character pieces for the chapters. Recall this might be as simple as a day in the life to something outrageous such as having narrowly avoided death against a cult that is attempting to learn actual dark magic.

Ask the Person Below You a Question

I have been involved in roleplaying one way or another for approximately nineteen or so years, so long that I cannot definitively name it beyond that. It was crude and simple in those initial stages of course, as goes with being young, but having greatly advanced with the flow of time. Uniquely, my character and persona have always been the same, only refining rather than undergo any actual or overt change, @Exit.

For the next person to follow, what is the one character you most regret making and playing?

Why do you RolePlay?

Yet another reason I delve into roleplaying is that frankly, stores by themselves are entertaining and all in some cases, but having the dynamic of another independent agent with free will is far more exciting, namely so if there is more than one variable. Now, this obviously can range from a non-factor, such as players who contribute very little in terms of character, involvement, or development, to outright frustrating by those who are too overbearing or problematic. The fine niche in between is the rarest and most difficult, where it is a pleasure to be awaiting a response because it shakes up and alters the chemistry and dynamic, but at the same time is not based upon waiting too long and does not consistently or continually disappoint.

While writing along and alone I can always invent a plot or story that plays by itself quite well, it hasn't that true depth of freedom another player, or rather players, afford. The downside is, is that one becomes reliant on them to actually participate. Admittedly I would much rather have a mediocre partner who posts frequently than an amazing partner who posts rarely. Why? Because one I can work with - with an average company who is consistent, I can still keep the story flowing and twist, bend, turn, and change it as I whim within my limits. With the other I spend days, weeks, perhaps even months awaiting something I now need deconstruct then continue with again, then find myself in a void awaiting another reply.

That is another reason I so choose to roleplay rather than write alone, to get that social dynamic going. Sadly, that is all too rare.