Random idea (calling all old members of FoG!)

Blackrock's idea, and...gotta show some love for the Vigilantes idea of Spectre's.

I don't know if it's too late to propose an idea but dammit I'm going to try!

Brain Dump: (if you're interested in my train of thought here, which I think is fascinating)

Spoiler:

Organized Theme Pattern:

Spoiler:

This is pretty rough in my humble opinion but it's definitely workable. It would be real nice if someone could take a look at it and see if there's anything they would change; I'm definitely open for revision here.

It's nice of you to try with your idea and all but if I add it to the list now those who have voted before your post wont get a chance to vote for it.

Honestly, it might be because I'm not American, but I find the Civil War setting to be over-used (in books, games, movies and all sorts of media) and not all that interesting. In addition, if this is used as promotion for the site, I believe the whole thing must be more generic in nature (as in, not bogged down in a single sub-genre, such as historical fiction) to show people that we can build something from scratch. By all means, we can draw inspiration from all sorts of settings, but I think our own must be unique. But that's besides the point I want to make in this post, it's still down to what people want to do.

What I wanted to write is a short summary of all the ideas here, I've got this image in my mind that I think blends them in quite nicely:

So we've got this world where the forces of Magic and Technology are clashing (or have clashed). Technology works by following a certain physical law, by following certain steps to produce a desired result; Magic, on the other hand, works by manipulating/bending said physical law into producing something that the spellcaster wants. They're basically two sides of the same coin, but one doesn't play by the rules so to speak. Maybe the rise of technology has finally broken magic's hold on the world, this could have happened in ancient times (relative to our story's timeline) when all the mythical beasts inhabiting this fantasy setting started disappearing one by one. The rise of humanity and all that, slowly moving forward and relying on its own wits and ingenuity, rather than some dusty spell-tome.

Whatever the case, we're up to our point in time, when we've got this mainland where technology rules supreme, with science at the frontier - new remedies are discovered, inventions making everyday life easier, and so on. Obviously, it's not utopia - pollution is starting to be a problem, ancient groves are cut down to make room for new buildings and cities, savvy merchants have replaced kings and lords as masters of poor men's fates...but things are progressing. Off the mainland, we have this island-nation that's been relatively untouched by the industrial revolution and half-forgotten by powers on the mainland. (think something like Japan during the Boshin War) But, maybe due to natural resources on the island, the various countries are starting to take notice of it again.

I like the idea of a big-scale war brewing on the mainland, maybe all the countries are busy scheming against each other; maybe it's just too expensive to bring an entire army to subjugate the island, but whatever the case settlers have started making homes along the coast of this island (a cultural invasion ,rather than a full-scale military one), much to the dismay of the local ruler(s). This island doesn't have to be totally backwards, they may be up to a level of late-medieval/early renaissance (minus gunpowder I would say) technology. They may have developed independently or perhaps were an outpost for some old Empire from the mainland. The possibilities are many. There could be various factions on both sides - the locals can be open towards this new tech, but some may resent it; the settlers may be willing to just live peacefully, but some may want to forcefully expand further inland. And so forth and so forth...

We could say that some years (decades or centuries) before the events of our story, the "Great Wizards" (for lack of a better name) all fled to this island, once they started noticing the fall of their dominion. Perhaps they had a conclave there, but I would say that isn't the case anymore. Either due to in-fighting or some other reason, most of them are dead, with perhaps only a few remaining secluded somewhere in the wilderness. So you see, magic isn't this "higher" art it usually is anymore - but just a collection of memories passed on from generation to generation (maybe by the locals). It can be based on sacrifices and rituals, with gleams of actual information hidden in this old tome or the other, or perhaps pacts with otherworldly creatures (if one has enough power and understating to even get there). There could be "mages" among the local people, but they would hardly be the fireball-tossing badasses we're used to seeing. And perhaps, maybe not all of the settlers came with pure intentions - maybe some are parts of sects that seek to unearth this forgotten knowledge. (of course, there could be such groups on the island too)

It's a bit rough around the edges, but that's how I envision it. Using this setting I think we cover the wants of the various people who have posted so far (more or less):
- Fantasy/steampunk mix
- Magic is dark and esoteric in nature
- Frontier setting
- Island that has a plausible reason for being out of the loop
- Political maneuvering and behind-the-scenes influence form the mainland

I, for one, am all for the idea Blackrock has described in his above post. Every single aspect of it, particularly, though, how it keeps magic on the lower end of things and the atmosphere has more of a dark fantasy feel to it. To me, anyway.

Other than that, all I'd really have to add is that I also agree with Blackrock in that the Civil War approach is over-used in pretty much every medium.

I realized that I forgot to vote for ideas! Anyway I am voting for my idea (obviously) and Blackrocks.

Edit: Also since we have 8 members claiming interest in this RP right now should we close the RP to new people? Since this is a group project I saw we should decided as a group.

Edit 2: Here is an active list of members who are involved in this RP.
Members who are involved:
Blackrock
Digital Muse
Guilty Carrion
Hello Danger
Kalon Ordona II
Ruu
Spectre
Sunwolf007

Aren't you forgetting Gadreille and (maybe) Ysopet?


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Rather than approach this from a world-building angle, it might be wiser for our purposes to figure out the plot we want our characters in first.

Do we want a war?
If so, it'd probably have to be quick.

We should get a clear picture of what we want our (group of) characters to do. A lot of role-plays are more free to take their time with characterization, development, enjoying a wing-it approach to telling the story. But it sounds like what we want is a tight, display-worthy masterwork that won't bore and won't disappoint. We need to revolve around the plot, not the setting (much as I love reveling in the setting). The setting will fill itself in naturally, worldbuilders that we all are, once we settle on a general concept.

So:
Do we want a (compound) hero(es)' journey?
Are we thinking more of a there-and-back-again?
Should it be a mystery to solve / a singular problem to eliminate?
Is it a search for some item or discovery?
Will it be a quest to turn the whole world around?
Something else?

And in the end, who will change? The world? Our characters? Both? Neither? Or something in between?

Personally, I'm envisioning a few unlikely groups unwittingly coming together to change the world. First separately, then, beyond all prediction, all together under a single cause.

However, I remind myself at this point what I tried to remember before: don't let it become too grand in scale.

A simpler, perhaps more realistic plot might be better. Our characters work very hard and (seemingly) accomplish very little. Yet it is indeed a victory. A small change, but one that brings much hope for the future.
Sort of a 'Yes, you can make a difference' type of feel.

Due to the overwhelming interest we have backed out of this role play for now. I'll still be following along, but it is quite big enough without us

Though I am no longer going to be participating, I would like to offer a suggestion. To prevent this from becoming too large in scale, and also to showcase the abilities of the participating writers, it might be better to focus on a mini-plot set in a larger world. The world itself would only be related through the happenings of this mini-plot.

For example, if you wanted the overall plot to revolve around a war, then a good focus for this role-play would be one particular battle or a turning point in the world, or perhaps something that is not a part of the war itself. Again example, the war with all of its sides and plots and scale and battles and logistics and lands and all of that time consuming and space devouring detail could perhaps be summed up in a treaty negotiation? Or, if you don't want your role-play to revolve around dialogue (who does), throw in an assassin.
Through proper dialogue, you have shown who is interested in the treaty and who isn't. Through the use of the assassin you have shown who claims to be interested in the treaty but isn't. Through the selected target of the assassin, you show who among those gathered carries the most weight among his peers. Or perhaps that is already established.

Any way, the point I'm trying to make is a mini-epic-hero journey can quickly escalate to something beyond what it was supposed to be. Action will interfere with dialogue and vice-versa, and suddenly you have less remaining time and space than you thought you did, or you just aren't quite as far along as you wanted to be. Perhaps some players will try and escalate it in ways it shouldn't be escalated, and maybe others won't do enough.

If you have a specific event for the role-play to revolve around, you can include all of the necessary specifics for the reader to know that there is viable and living world just outside of this setting, but these players, and their actions, are far more important.

That's just my uninvolved two-cents

While I'm saddened by their withdrawal, I strongly agree with the point Ysopet made.

My vote is for sunwolf’s idea.

I was thinking what if at one point in our world the technology (a blend of somethingpunk-esque/western, as Sunwolf described) and the study/practice of the magic-ways of old (rune/symbol drawing, speechcraft/lost language/ancient tongue, alchemy/herbaology, and cursed/enchanted relics) have formed a perfect unity where the world and its kind are flourishing under both. Until the “great impact”. Something like a giant blackmetal spike pierces the sky and lands in the “mainland area”, laying waste to the land and dividing the continent into the “islands”. The story itself can take place hundreds of years later when civilization is struggling to survive in the wastes/ruins of their old world. (Wildwest/Wildarms/Mad Max/S.King’s The Gunslinger-esque with small settlements/towns/villages ruled by the ways of the gun, sword, and craft. Each island-region/character can be more privy to what ways they cling more too. )

The black spike can be a war machine/or creature, being, deity, monster, or whatever you fancy--from another planet/dimension/realm/plane or wherever else baddies come from--come to devour and or conquer the world. Perhaps a strange blackmetal wall-like structure goes up and stays up while the war machine’s gears turn, building its army of undeadmachinces, until unleashing them on either the walled-in region of the “mainland” or the walled-off “islands” to prospect the world for magic-sources or to carry out some evil plot. The machines can be a twisted-sinisterstyle-somethingpunk- that runs on a dark energy/magic of some kind, channeled by the giant blackspike.

Not sure how this will take with the group or how well it will align with what sunwolfs vision is. But at least you can’t say I’m not attempting to contribute

How will we survive without Sunwolf? xD

I'm back, so don't worry! Anyway now that we have the two top setting ideas (Blackrock's and Sunwolf's) I think we should narrow it down to one. Afterwards then we can do the same voting process for the plot ideas that keep cropping up. Blackrock and I came up with ideas that are very similar which is going to make things interesting on how the vote goes. Either way I will be happy because I really like the two ideas we came up with. So I guess we should all vote for one idea and then get on to the plot portion of world building.

Well, if we were going to pick just one, maybe we should have ranked all three, like say

Blackrock, Sunwolf, Spectre
Sunwolf, Spectre, Blackrock
Spectre, Blackrock, Sunwolf

etc.

maybe it's just me but picking two seems to have created a tendency to combine the chosen two. =)

Sorry to disappear on you guys like that. I had a rough group of weeks there. I had to learn my new job which for about a month was working 30-40 hours a week, plus had 3 classes at college. Then the really not fun part was one of my friends that I graduated from High School with died from cancer a few weeks back. I was a pallbearer in the funeral and after that I wasn't doing so good mentally. It was right around then I needed to make time for myself. I am still in the process of fixing my semester at school but anyway I was wondering if you all would be interested in resuming the RP startup work. I still have my mental notes on where I was going with it and if you guys are up for resuming it than so am I.

(not ignoring; already replied in the return notices thread.)

Not sure how the holiday season will affect our progress, but I'm up for it!

Well, if some of the others are up for it I don't think it would be that bad. We were just about done with half the start up work if I remember right. If there is enough interest I would love to keep working on it. Otherwise I think I'll just steal the idea for a small scale RP.