Thinslayer

The Faraway Land: Dragonbound (CLOSED, non-starter)

That's an idea. I'll mull it over. Got any pictures of potential fox goddesses?

The Faraway Land: Dragonbound (CLOSED, non-starter)

@kitramos Oh, I'm glad you liked it! I got a little discouraged because I didn't think anybody was reading this thread anymore. ;_; I have a decent idea of how the next part plays out, so I can write that up shortly.

As for when we start, that'll be just as soon as I get everyone's character sheets.

Whenever that happens.

Someday... ;_;

The Faraway Land: Dragonbound (CLOSED, non-starter)

@aia2022
Oh! I can help with some of that. Some of the techniques I use are actually pretty simple.

• Newton's First Law of Roleplaying: For every action, there should be an appropriate reaction. Half the fun of RP is seeing how others respond to you. So give them the meatiest, juiciest reactions you can find before starting your character's actions. Too often players fall into the habit of just doing doing things to you or to the plot without showing how they felt or thought about the things they're responding to.
• Respect other players' agency. This includes everything from thoughts and feelings to physical reactions. Yes, this even includes physics and other "obvious" responses. This has a twofold purpose: 1) It allows the player to control the flow of their character's story and 2) leaves them a great hook to hang a reply on. It's literally a cliffhanger, which is the kind of thing that keeps people coming back. Give them a cliffhanger, and they'll feel mysteriously compelled to respond.
• Invoke as many of the five senses as possible in your descriptions where relevant. Strong sensory descriptions have a way of making them more vivid and easily pictured.
• Show emotions, tell feelings. You've probably heard the adage "show don't tell," but I remember reading someone point out that, in their experience, physical feelings (e.g. texture) are better told than shown. This rule is a corollary to the above three, and tends to follow naturally.

Does that help at all?

The Faraway Land: Dragonbound (CLOSED, non-starter)

What's Past is Prologue, Part 1

It is said that when facing death, your life will flash before your eyes.

Lucas never realized how true that was until the moment they tied him to a sturdy wooden stake atop a pile of wood. Cultists chanted around them while monsters of all kinds surrounded them, but not even the raucous din could drown out the sobs of the young princess tied behind him. His heart sank as he remembered how deeply he'd failed her, and took her hand in his through the ropes behind him. She clutched it as hard as she could, squeezing all her life and all her hope into his calloused fingers. Lucas squeezed back, fighting a sob of his own.

He had to be strong for her.

Would Master be disappointed in him? His mind drifted back to the moment he first met her, his swordmaster and the woman who became like a mother to him.
-----
He was only five years old at the time, and his mother had brought him to the temple to receive a blessing from the priests. As the firstborn son of a wealthy businessman, he got to live in the highest crust of society alongside children of the rich and famous. Stories of brave knights fighting dragons and saving princesses inspired him, so as soon as he learned how to walk and talk, he was screaming around the garden with a stick in hand about "smiting the foul fiend."

"Please pardon him," his mother said to the chuckling priestess as he tore around the temple grounds. "He dreams of becoming a knight someday, and we haven't yet given him his dose of reality."

"I'm going to guard a princess!" he exclaimed, running back to show his makeshift sword to the pretty lady.

The priestess squatted down to meet his gaze, her eyes sparkling with innocent curiosity. "Are you, now? That is an admirable aspiration indeed."

"An ammerbable asserashun?" he repeated back.
"Yes, an admirable aspiration."
"What's that?"
"An aspiration is a dream, a wish in your heart that you want to fulfill someday. It is an admirable dream, a good dream, that you should work for as hard as you can."
"An ammermable aspershun is a good dream?"
"Exactly."

With that, he screamed with delight and scampered off again swinging his stick-sword at imaginary enemies. The priestess watched him for a minute, chuckling at his boundless energy before turning to his mother.

"May I train the boy?"
His mother's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"
"Quite. While I serve God now within these hallowed halls, I was a warrior once, and still remember the Way of the Sword. His dream has inspired me, and I wish to encourage it."
"I don't know. He has recently begun his education, and I'm not sure my husband would approve the funds."

The priestess waved her off. "Oh no, there is no need to concern yourself with payment. Let me make you a deal: if your son does not surpass the other trainees his age within six months, I will pay for a year of his tuition in the field of your choice."

"Now that is a proposition I can get behind. You have yourself a deal. Son, come here."

Lucas scampered over, "sword" still in hand.

"This lady is going to teach you swordsmanship. Go on and introduce yourself."
He sheathed his stick in a belt loop and puffed out his chest. "My name is Lucas!" he declared.
The priestess leaned over to meet his gaze and extended a hand to shake. "And my name is Rue. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"A presser to make your acquain- acquaintance!"

To this day, he still remembered the warmth of her smile and the firm, grown-up way she shook his hand.

"The pleasure is mine, Sir Lucas."

The Faraway Land: Dragonbound (CLOSED, non-starter)

@aia2022 I understand. What kind of experience would you like to earn? I can offer roleplaying tips in my posts for you to read if you'd like. Basically, whenever I use an RP technique, I'll explain it in an OOC post-script.

The Faraway Land: Dragonbound (CLOSED, non-starter)

Yeah, I was wondering about that too. I'm waiting on the others' character sheets.

The Faraway Land: Dragonbound (CLOSED, non-starter)

@Blizz My discord is Thinslayer#6669

The Faraway Land: Dragonbound (CLOSED, non-starter)

@Blizz Hmm, it might actually be possible to include both. He needs to survive long enough to make dragon scale armor from Yddrog's corpse, but that doesn't have to mean he succeeded in his quest. Perhaps Yddrog killed countless millions, including his hometown and everyone he cared about, before they finally slew the beast, and your character turned down Regret's offer of immortality because he didn't want to live on in a world without his family and friends.

The Faraway Land: Dragonbound (CLOSED, non-starter)

@Blizz I've been pretty busy IRL too, so I feel that. You didn't miss anything important. There was a bit of discussion about whether to implement a numerical game system (I decided a compromise was in order for testing purposes; no specific game rules were implemented yet), and offered some suggestions to people who couldn't decide what character to play. That's about everything you may have missed.

Speaking of character suggestions, I think that's doable. Here's the conditions we have to work with:

• He must have served under Regret the first time around.
• He must have had a powerful lingering regret of his own when he died to become a ghost.
• Something must tie him to Yddrog.

So here's what I'm thinking. Let's say Yddrog captured or killed someone important to him, ideally someone in the current party (to connect him to them), and he regretted being unable to save/avenge them when he died. He thus became a ghost. If his suit of armor was made from Yddrog's dragon scales (so he gets dragon-scale armor! Yass! Gotta find some sick fanart for that), then when Yddrog resurrected, he would be bound to Yddrog's will.

Your thoughts?

The Faraway Land: Dragonbound (CLOSED, non-starter)

@Blizz What's giving you pause?