Brainstorm Session

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Alright! So far there isn't much here, but that can change as we go on. I can even change the name and url pretty easily, as well, so worry not, my little minions. I even wore something familiar to really get you going ;o Let's get started on some brainstorming!

Okay. So everything we've posted in the chat with Shelby/Shea's Darker than Black has been read, I think, so I don't think we need to post the whole bit, but to summarize:

Obviously, that entire idea can be shaped more if anyone has other things to put in, but personally, I dig it. I'm just unsure how we'd work it out with a group of 5 PC's, at least. 5 is a good number of people to start our own group, or even maybe we could be one of the crime syndicate's. I'm getting a real Gotham/Batman vibe from this story, and I think it might be interesting to act as vigilantes/underground syndicate who's main goal is to disrupt the criminal grip of things. Maybe cuz some real bad shit's about to happen.. though I guess that pretty much becomes Suicide Squad.

I also wanted to present a few alternative idea's, as well, and encourage anyone else with an alternate idea to do the same Very Happy

(Don't let the group run away with an idea if you're flat out not digging it -- we're all cool here, so I think I can speak for everyone when I say feelings won't get hurt)

DnD (or Dungeons and Dragons for those who are unelightened...) is a setting/idea that always has a lot of potential to work well. I think it'd be cool to use the races and classes and lore of DnD and bring it to a campaign setting. I'll go over some details below:

Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what I mean by an arcana-punk fantasy:

Spoiler:

Continuing off of that, there is also a setting called Pathfinder. There's a futuristic alternative setting called Starfinder, which is basically PF set far in the future to where space travel and intergalactic conquests are normal. I've always wanted to play around with a space-themed RP, so I am beyond for this idea.

Alternatively, if you guys really like the idea of a DnD campaign but were looking forward to the darkness of a noire-style story, then I'd like to present Warhammer 40k as an option. For those of you that are unaware of what WH40k is, it's essentially Star Wars and DnD put together if it was written for survivors of the Holocaust who then got the bubonic plague.

Aaaaaand that's pretty much all I can think of right now. Personally, I think it's a lot more fun to do fantasy, but more realistic stories allow for those really, really deep writing moments. Though it would require collaboration, it's totally possible to have a good story from a modern setting Very Happy

Hopefully this is enough to start generating some discussions.

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My original thought, and I suppose another submission to the list of possibilities, was a proper, all encompassing supernatural (genre, not show) universe, i.e. the basic shit like vampires, werewolves, etc, but include angels and demons, seelie and unseelie, humans capable of magic, mythical beasts, etc.

Could either be a modern setting where humans have, at least in some part, become aware of the supernatural world and are actively beginning to suppress it or control it, ex. sanctions on when vampires can feed, requiring permits to create progeny, supernaturals are always at fault in crimes, etc.

It could also be slightly more medieval, the real meat of the times when the supernatural was at it's own throat, constant wars between sections of supernaturals forming into what actually amounts to nations versus nations if things play out correctly, factions form or break apart, people betraying their own kind, etc.

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TheBigun wrote:: My original thought, and I suppose another submission to the list of possibilities, was a proper, all encompassing supernatural (genre, not show) universe, i.e. the basic shit like vampires, werewolves, etc, but include angels and demons, seelie and unseelie, humans capable of magic, mythical beasts, etc.

Could either be a modern setting where humans have, at least in some part, become aware of the supernatural world and are actively beginning to suppress it or control it, ex. sanctions on when vampires can feed, requiring permits to create progeny, supernaturals are always at fault in crimes, etc.

It could also be slightly more medieval, the real meat of the times when the supernatural was at it's own throat, constant wars between sections of supernaturals forming into what actually amounts to nations versus nations if things play out correctly, factions form or break apart, people betraying their own kind, etc.

Oh man, monsters and ghouls? Vat more could you vant?

I think it would be cool if we were a select group of people that were capable of detecting these kinds of guys, but the rest of everyone typically can't, save for the ones the 'monsters' want them to see. Not only would that give us reason to band together, but it could also provide opportunity for powerful opponents, as well. People who have this power that aren't wanting to stop the monsters, you know?

Personally, I love medieval style things, though I'm already doing a medieval RP.. What about Victorian-age London? Like when Jack-the-Ripper and Sweeney Todd and Sherlock Holmes and all them were around? I think that sort of theme could find it's place pretty comfortably in that setting, yeah?

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TwisterZaraku wrote:

TheBigun wrote:: My original thought, and I suppose another submission to the list of possibilities, was a proper, all encompassing supernatural (genre, not show) universe, i.e. the basic shit like vampires, werewolves, etc, but include angels and demons, seelie and unseelie, humans capable of magic, mythical beasts, etc.

Could either be a modern setting where humans have, at least in some part, become aware of the supernatural world and are actively beginning to suppress it or control it, ex. sanctions on when vampires can feed, requiring permits to create progeny, supernaturals are always at fault in crimes, etc.

It could also be slightly more medieval, the real meat of the times when the supernatural was at it's own throat, constant wars between sections of supernaturals forming into what actually amounts to nations versus nations if things play out correctly, factions form or break apart, people betraying their own kind, etc.

Oh man, monsters and ghouls? Vat more could you vant?

I think it would be cool if we were a select group of people that were capable of detecting these kinds of guys, but the rest of everyone typically can't, save for the ones the 'monsters' want them to see. Not only would that give us reason to band together, but it could also provide opportunity for powerful opponents, as well. People who have this power that aren't wanting to stop the monsters, you know?

Personally, I love medieval style things, though I'm already doing a medieval RP.. What about Victorian-age London? Like when Jack-the-Ripper and Sweeney Todd and Sherlock Holmes and all them were around? I think that sort of theme could find it's place pretty comfortably in that setting, yeah?

Ooooh, I'm definitely down for some Victorian-age stuff, that sounds pretty solid.

We could do an intermingling of individuals as well. Like for some reason we'd have to determine, our group is the beginning of a group who's purpose is to ensure that the supernatural world stays separate from the real one. So most supernaturals can see each other or determine that they are what they are in some relatively easy manner, but humans typically can't, except for a select few who have some gift for it, Nephalim-esk abilities, etc. I've been watching a show recently called Shadowhunters that operates under a similar idea, only in that the humans who police the supernatural typically view themselves as being above the common rabble of supernatural and police them accordingly. If did go down this road, though, I would prefer there to at least be some option for supernaturals working within this group of people trying to retain the masquerade (that's another reference that fits, if anyone gets it).

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This is sounding like some kind of Yu Yu Hakusho spirit detective type stuff, but in a grittier setting. I can dig that type of story. Maybe a time honored line of wardens that are tasked with keeping supernatural life from tampering with society, and we're the fresh meat trying to learn the ropes. Although that sounds like an FX prime time television series where all the characters are disproportionately attractive.

My only other input is that I've been recently rekindling my love for the Metal Gear series, so military espionage has sounded fantastic to me lately, but that's just me. I'd be on board for whatever.

Subject: Re: Brainstorm Session Sat Sep 16, 2017 4:21 am

Of all the ideas I’m definitely digging the Victorian era, magic noire pathway as I’ve had a lot of experience with the modern superhero RP type deal but the former is something I’ve barely scratched the surface of and never really had the proper chance to dive into, but have been yearning to for some time.

If we wanted to implement some aspect of a rules + chance system, then like Chase was saying it sounds like W40k would be a better bet, if we didn’t want to pull everything out of thin air ourselves. I mean, I imagine we’re going to make the world ourselves, though, and I’d personally prefer it that way. So have the lore, story, setting be original, but implement the 40k rules within it to suit.

TheBigun wrote:: My original thought, and I suppose another submission to the list of possibilities, was a proper, all encompassing supernatural (genre, not show) universe, i.e. the basic shit like vampires, werewolves, etc, but include angels and demons, seelie and unseelie, humans capable of magic, mythical beasts, etc.
Could either be a modern setting where humans have, at least in some part, become aware of the supernatural world and are actively beginning to suppress it or control it, ex. sanctions on when vampires can feed, requiring permits to create progeny, supernaturals are always at fault in crimes, etc.

It could also be slightly more medieval, the real meat of the times when the supernatural was at it's own throat, constant wars between sections of supernaturals forming into what actually amounts to nations versus nations if things play out correctly, factions form or break apart, people betraying their own kind, etc.

YES, PLEASE. I am all for this shit right here. I’m getting more the vibe of Bloodborne though, like I said personally preferring the Victorian era setting with all of that stuff inside it. We can still have those rules and sanctions, just adapted to suit the time period where we need to.

Okay, well, it sounds like everyone is pretty on board with that as the setting/time. So, summing up (and adding in a few of mine own things);

-Our group is some kind of underworld institution that deals with supernatural threats. At the same time, they work to ensure that any crimes committed by supernatural beings are kept hidden from the mundane world. Although humans cannot see and do not know of the existence of these creatures, they are often still their prey. We work to protect humanity, but also work to protect supernaturals from other supernaturals, and from a particular syndicate that has some greater, evil goal. Either a supernatural syndicate against everyone, or more likely I feel, a supernatural syndicate looking to wipe out the humans.

-We are a variety of humans or at least humanoids, though some have supernatural qualities such as suffering from lycanthropy, or are in fact fully or partially a supernatural being themselves (e.g. a half or fullblooded seelie). All of us, however, have a small set of magical abilities that are all the same, then one that is unique to each character. For example, we can all inherently sense undead and supernatural beings in a certain vicinity, have increased physical attributes, but 'Elizabeth' can also control fire, whereas 'Jonas' controls electricity instead, etc etc.

-On the note of powers too, I’m feeling that there’s a force like a god or some entity that has gifted them to us. Considering the darker setting, what do you think of it being some kind of Death God that we’ve sold our souls to in exchange for our powers? And there are conditions on that, like if we die too early it claims our soul to damnation or some such.

-On the age and experience of our characters, I think they should be pretty well into their service of a few years at the very least. I think that gives more to play with in terms of how our relationships are already set up, instead of having us all start at the very start of their whole initiation and all that. I think that the threat is made greater by having our characters more powerful than some newbies. I personally love having experienced, powerful characters being shown up by the new big bad who is like 200x more cunning and more powerful.

Also BG, I’m guessing by that lil reference you mean The Masquerade videogame cause I’m definitely getting that vibe here as well. I'm also a big fan of the Shadowhunter + Infernal Devices books (not as much the show), so I'm definitely gonna be drawing from that as we go.

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Shea wrote:: Okay, well, it sounds like everyone is pretty on board with that as the setting/time. So, summing up (and adding in a few of mine own things);

-Our group is some kind of underworld institution that deals with supernatural threats. At the same time, they work to ensure that any crimes committed by supernatural beings are kept hidden from the mundane world. Although humans cannot see and do not know of the existence of these creatures, they are often still their prey. We work to protect humanity, but also work to protect supernaturals from other supernaturals, and from a particular syndicate that has some greater, evil goal. Either a supernatural syndicate against everyone, or more likely I feel, a supernatural syndicate looking to wipe out the humans.

My only qualm with this is that, despite the syndicate's goal needing to be complex because they are the end all be all, I don't think they'd want to completely wipe out humans, possibly not enough severely damage the population. Subjugate and control, definitely, but removing them or a large portion of them goes completely against some supernaturals very being, ex. vampires needing blood to survive (they could use animals, sure, but if they're setting world conquest goals, I think at least of the vampires therein would request a large supply of human cattle remain. Large enough, at least, to retain himself, his progeny, and his friendo's in perpetuity.

Shea wrote:: -We are a variety of humans or at least humanoids, though some have supernatural qualities such as suffering from lycanthropy, or are in fact fully or partially a supernatural being themselves (e.g. a half or fullblooded seelie). All of us, however, have a small set of magical abilities that are all the same, then one that is unique to each character. For example, we can all inherently sense undead and supernatural beings in a certain vicinity, have increased physical attributes, but 'Elizabeth' can also control fire, whereas 'Jonas' controls electricity instead, etc etc.

-On the note of powers too, I’m feeling that there’s a force like a god or some entity that has gifted them to us. Considering the darker setting, what do you think of it being some kind of Death God that we’ve sold our souls to in exchange for our powers? And there are conditions on that, like if we die too early it claims our soul to damnation or some such.

This is if we want to pursue an "above and beyond" style for our characters. By that I mean, if we're meant to "police" the underworld (no pun intended), do we want to be classified as superior beings to other supernaturals because of special abilities, or are we simply the same style of supernatural beings but a cut above in our ambition or goal to keep the over and under separate from one another. It could definitely work for humans, because they'd need the edge working with/against supernaturals, but I personally don't know how to incorporate it elsewhere. Like, for example, I just can't think of what above and beyond ability I'd apply to a lycanthrope or vampire without somewhat cheapening their original supernatural abilities or otherwise breaking their fundamental weaknesses, i.e. making a vampire who resists sunlight or a lycanthrope who isn't effected by silver (and that's coming from someone who is already reprising an old lycanthrope character that was purportedly immune to it). I don't mind either way based on what everyone decides, though. Razz

Shea wrote:: -On the age and experience of our characters, I think they should be pretty well into their service of a few years at the very least. I think that gives more to play with in terms of how our relationships are already set up, instead of having us all start at the very start of their whole initiation and all that. I think that the threat is made greater by having our characters more powerful than some newbies. I personally love having experienced, powerful characters being shown up by the new big bad who is like 200x more cunning and more powerful.

Age and experience should vary a bit depending on the person just because some supernatural races are ageless or otherwise long-lived, etc., but I totally agree we should have some or all intermediate vets in the industry. It might be interesting if someone wants to be a slightly younger member, ex. another RP'ers progeny, so I wouldn't say we exclude that option, but that's just me. That's the selling point though really, a group of people who have been at the job long enough to be accustomed to sorting out the usual drivel, before running into this actually organized evil that does what no one else besides their order has managed to do, bring together opposing supernaturals to cripple a system our order has been tasked with the protecting.

Shea wrote:: Also BG, I’m guessing by that lil reference you mean The Masquerade videogame cause I’m definitely getting that vibe here as well. I'm also a big fan of the Shadowhunter + Infernal Devices books (not as much the show), so I'm definitely gonna be drawing from that as we go.

Ding, ding.

Yeah, I considered reading the books (there's a lot of books I consider reading, but I'm also really lazy), but I ended up watching the show because I could throw on an episode or two in between whatever else I was doing. Just by watching it, I could tell the books had a solid backstory and strong world-building, even if the show kind of seemed to skip over a lot of important details. Like there's a decently large reveal of information, but the next episode it's mostly glossed over as if several chapters of book have past, which really it's only been 15 minutes of an episode or they state something exists/how something works in the supernatural world as though we should already have some modicum of information on that particular subject, but we, the viewers, were never actually given information on it prior to it's mention.

But that's how Book>Show/Book>Movie works, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Woah. Let me catch up.

Hm. Okay, so it seems like we're going the supernatural/victorian route. Let me touch on some points and throw in my two cents.

Shea wrote:: If we wanted to implement some aspect of a rules + chance system, then like Chase was saying it sounds like W40k would be a better bet, if we didn’t want to pull everything out of thin air ourselves. I mean, I imagine we’re going to make the world ourselves, though, and I’d personally prefer it that way. So have the lore, story, setting be original, but implement the 40k rules within it to suit.

I feel like we either go balls-to-the-wall on the 40k rules or we abandon them completely. Chopping up and slicing up an entire rules mechanic system to fit something else requires a lot of playtesting and balancing -- something we don't have the means to really do aside from trial-and-error... which is something I don't really wanna do haha. I'm okay with crossing 40k off the board -- I just would rather not have to deal with dismembering it and sewing it back together.

Shea wrote:: -On the note of powers too, I’m feeling that there’s a force like a god or some entity that has gifted them to us. Considering the darker setting, what do you think of it being some kind of Death God that we’ve sold our souls to in exchange for our powers? And there are conditions on that, like if we die too early it claims our soul to damnation or some such.

I like the whole "Archon of Some Deity" idea. I'm not sure I love the idea of all of us introducing other races to be, though if we did, we could wind up being a sort of "Hellboy" crew and I think that would be pretty interesting. I know that you were going with basic example, Shelby, but just in case, I'd rather this not turn into an elemental affiliation RP. All my other RP's essentially use that system, and it seems like we're attempting to make something a little different here, so something less cliche may do well. With that said, I think we really need to think about the kinds of powers we want. For me, something like how Jackie Estacado from "The Darkness" comes to mind.

Expanding on that idea, I also think it might be interesting to have a sort of "Four Horsemen" group, too. I'm not sure if anyone has ever read Sandman by Neil Gaiman (if you haven't... Jesus Christ you're cheating yourself), but in that story, he essentially makes up this group called "The Endless", where you have a group of beings that embody powerful forces or aspects of the universe, and are much more powerful than gods. These people include Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium. I could go on on what they do, but it doesn't matter so much, just that there's a group that are all-powerful. I think it might be interesting if we have a group of, say, 4 that represent the different horsemen of the apocolypse or something to that effect. Perhaps the "Dark Lord" we serve is one of these all powerful beings, and perhaps there are Archon's for each of these "Horseman".

And the idea doesn't need to exclusively stay with the Horseman idea. They could be anyone. I'm just trying to hone in on the idea that maybe there are a group of beings that pretty much play this game. You have one, or some, that make these creatures while you have the others that produce "champions" to slay them. Not in love with how basic this idea is, but it's got potential to be built upon.

To go off what Shelby was saying about "Dark Lords" and somehow coming under their service... What if in order to have the opportunity to serve these "Lords", our characters needed to die in a fucked up way? Maybe each "Lord" represents a different spoke of the emotional wheel. Joy, Surprise, Anger, Fear, Disgust, etc. So we die and one of these guys goes "This guy was a'ight... let's bring him back". Just something that came to mind while stringing on the other thoughts.

TheBigun wrote:: This is if we want to pursue an "above and beyond" style for our characters. By that I mean, if we're meant to "police" the underworld (no pun intended), do we want to be classified as superior beings to other supernaturals because of special abilities, or are we simply the same style of supernatural beings but a cut above in our ambition or goal to keep the over and under separate from one another. It could definitely work for humans, because they'd need the edge working with/against supernaturals, but I personally don't know how to incorporate it elsewhere. Like, for example, I just can't think of what above and beyond ability I'd apply to a lycanthrope or vampire without somewhat cheapening their original supernatural abilities or otherwise breaking their fundamental weaknesses, i.e. making a vampire who resists sunlight or a lycanthrope who isn't effected by silver (and that's coming from someone who is already reprising an old lycanthrope character that was purportedly immune to it). I don't mind either way based on what everyone decides, though.

Going back to what's already here, BG you mentioned you couldn't think of "edges" to give to non-human races. You're right; lycanthropes and vampires and such are already a step ahead, but they are balanced by their weaknesses. If you buff up humans but don't really change the other aspects, things get unbalanced. So they can totally afford some stuff. Vampires could possibly have a sort of "heartbeat sensor", where they can see the presence of other creatures. Lycanthropes could have extended stamina, so they can fight longer/run further. Then, of course, they still need their negatives.. though this ties back into my original point. If we're vampires needing to go around sucking blood.. Are we going for an anti-hero vibe? What is it we want to fight against?

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Kiryuku wrote:: This is sounding like some kind of Yu Yu Hakusho spirit detective type stuff, but in a grittier setting. I can dig that type of story. Maybe a time honored line of wardens that are tasked with keeping supernatural life from tampering with society, and we're the fresh meat trying to learn the ropes. Although that sounds like an FX prime time television series where all the characters are disproportionately attractive.

My only other input is that I've been recently rekindling my love for the Metal Gear series, so military espionage has sounded fantastic to me lately, but that's just me. I'd be on board for whatever.

I've sadly never played MGS, but my roommate/best bro loves the series. It's always interested me. But it looks like we're leaning away from that option. Seems like an RP better suited for 1x1, anyways. When we're done with Naruto let's come back to this haha

As far as the YYH aspect to it all, I dig that a lot. Lolol nothing wrong with eye candy for the audience, you know? But I'm open for a more guardianship angle to the story. Makes me thing of Voltron -- we're the pieces needed to protect some great something-er-other.

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TwisterZaraku wrote:: I've sadly never played MGS, but my roommate/best bro loves the series. It's always interested me. But it looks like we're leaning away from that option. Seems like an RP better suited for 1x1, anyways. When we're done with Naruto let's come back to this haha

As far as the YYH aspect to it all, I dig that a lot. Lolol nothing wrong with eye candy for the audience, you know? But I'm open for a more guardianship angle to the story. Makes me thing of Voltron -- we're the pieces needed to protect some great something-er-other.

It was simply on my mind, so I felt like bringing it up. I would love to get into the series with you one day. We'll come back to it Very Happy

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I'm definitely vibing with the protective force of beings that keep the supernatural world in check from the unknowing human society. You guys are definitely doing a good job of hammering out the nitty gritty details. Here's what's coming to my mind after reading through it all:

Idea #1 - Our foundations goal is to protect humanity from being wiped out/enslaved/harassed by supernatural beings, and ensure that humans are kept separate from (or are completely unaware of) them. If this were true, it would be difficult to keep them unaware if a large portion of our force were also supernatural. It could be that we are an order of strictly humans, but humans blessed, or perhaps cursed, with extraordinary ability. This could be through the work of gods, ritual, special training, or a combination. As a result, we can easily assimilate within society as normal, while keeping tabs and only unleashing our abilities when necessary, and out of public eyesight. I assume there would be a base set of abilities that are commonly shared (increased stamina/constitution, extrasensory vision, immunity to disease, combat prowess, etc.), and then if we chose to go the route of godly blessings or rituals, whenever a member reaches the end of their training, this blessing/ritual will imbue them with some ability that is unique to them. So eventually the supernatural world starts to brew something sinister that could spell gloom and doom for humanity, and we must fight it while maintaining calm. I also think having a range of experience would be a bit more intriguing, with more opportunity for varied interaction between characters when one person knows something another doesn't.

Idea #2 - If we wanted to do a group of mixed humans and supernatural, which is just as valid, I do agree with BG that it makes no sense to tamper with the recipe of most supernatural creatures. That being said, if we went a route where humans and non-humans have been assimilated for a long time up until this point, the non-humans could suffer the same pitfalls as humans. That being that there could be a majority of vampires/werewolves/faeries/etc. that have become complacent/impoverished/lazy/etc. over generations of co-mingling, and are not as effective or dangerous as they would normally be. Especially in an era where the larger portion of the population are of a lower class. So those that join this order are the "cream of the crop"; those supernaturals that have not forsaken their abilities. The humans that join could be of similar liking to the ones described above. That way they would all be on a fairly even level. The goal could still be rather similar, that we look after the population from the sidelines, preventing uprisings, until one that may be above what we are equipped to handle arises. I could see with this idea that we could be more known to the public, since we aren't trying to hide anything from them. Perhaps we regularly mingle with society, but are hated by a large portion, seen by the poor as having everything while they have nothing.

Thoughts?

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Following this sooooo hard.

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HOLY SHIT, I feel like there's so much back and forth in our ideas right now, and I FUCKING LOVE IT. This is literally the most excited I've been about doing something creatively for months. IT'S RANT TIME BABY!

TwisterZaraku wrote:: I like the whole "Archon of Some Deity" idea. I'm not sure I love the idea of all of us introducing other races to be, though if we did, we could wind up being a sort of "Hellboy" crew and I think that would be pretty interesting.

Dude, what? This is literally exactly what I want. Straight up, supernaturals devoted to keeping the world in order and stopping the collide of the Overworld and the Underworld.

TwisterZaraku wrote:: With that said, I think we really need to think about the kinds of powers we want. For me, something like how Jackie Estacado from "The Darkness" comes to mind.

TwisterZaraku wrote:: To go off what Shelby was saying about "Dark Lords" and somehow coming under their service... What if in order to have the opportunity to serve these "Lords", our characters needed to die in a fucked up way? Maybe each "Lord" represents a different spoke of the emotional wheel. Joy, Surprise, Anger, Fear, Disgust, etc. So we die and one of these guys goes "This guy was a'ight... let's bring him back". Just something that came to mind while stringing on the other thoughts.

Before we decide on anything like this, I think we need to decide whether we're the exception or the rule, if you catch my drift. Are we 6~ meant to be the top of the line/only line between these worlds, or are we a part of a group that spans many more than us. I realize we'll likely be the ones spearheading this fight against the worst of the worst, we are the players after all, but I think the whole goal there is futile without more nameless people towing that same line. If there are more people then, are we substantially more impressive than the rest, whether it's through this divine favor stuff or otherwise? Or are we just individuals who show an aptitude for this kind of work, above and beyond others in our organization?

TwisterZaraku wrote:: Expanding on that idea, I also think it might be interesting to have a sort of "Four Horsemen" group, too. I'm not sure if anyone has ever read Sandman by Neil Gaiman (if you haven't... Jesus Christ you're cheating yourself), but in that story, he essentially makes up this group called "The Endless", where you have a group of beings that embody powerful forces or aspects of the universe, and are much more powerful than gods. These people include Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium. I could go on on what they do, but it doesn't matter so much, just that there's a group that are all-powerful. I think it might be interesting if we have a group of, say, 4 that represent the different horsemen of the apocolypse or something to that effect. Perhaps the "Dark Lord" we serve is one of these all powerful beings, and perhaps there are Archon's for each of these "Horseman".

And the idea doesn't need to exclusively stay with the Horseman idea. They could be anyone. I'm just trying to hone in on the idea that maybe there are a group of beings that pretty much play this game. You have one, or some, that make these creatures while you have the others that produce "champions" to slay them. Not in love with how basic this idea is, but it's got potential to be built upon.

I'm down for facing off against some four horsemen-esk individuals. Maybe they aren't even the actual four horsemen, they're just individuals, with some dark favor behind them or not, who have taken up the torch of tearing down the world as it is to start again. Maybe they view the world as being broken, maybe they're all of a race without a need for humans and do view them as being a lower standard than them, so they seek to tear apart the world which so heavily favors people they view as weak.

TwisterZaraku wrote:: Going back to what's already here, BG you mentioned you couldn't think of "edges" to give to non-human races. You're right; lycanthropes and vampires and such are already a step ahead, but they are balanced by their weaknesses. If you buff up humans but don't really change the other aspects, things get unbalanced. So they can totally afford some stuff. Vampires could possibly have a sort of "heartbeat sensor", where they can see the presence of other creatures. Lycanthropes could have extended stamina, so they can fight longer/run further. Then, of course, they still need their negatives.. though this ties back into my original point. If we're vampires needing to go around sucking blood.. Are we going for an anti-hero vibe? What is it we want to fight against?

Well, and that's the thing really, because supernaturals like vampires and lycanthropes are such old tropes/ideas, thing like a heartbeat sensor might be an innate quality of vampirism to someone. Me personally, I view vampires as having a keen sense of life itself to the point that they would sense living individuals not specifically shielded from their supernatural view. As far as "extended stamina" for lycanthropes goes, how do you define that? By which I mean, we aren't exactly building DnD characters here, we don't have values we can place on stamina and then take a feat to extend it, so short of bringing up the fact that everyone else should be getting tired faster than you are, how does something like "extended stamina" benefit you? I realize those were probably just off the cuff ideas, so I don't want to sound like I'm bashing you too hard, haha, but it just brings me back to my original point that I don't know how to effectively say that I, a lycanthrope, am substantially or even noticeably stronger/faster/more agile than my other lycanthrope brethren in a way that is different to simply stating I'm a couple hundred years older than them, which would effectively accomplish the same thing, without adding in something like "I can also control lightning", which like I said inherently cheapens the fact that I'm a lycanthrope to begin with.

Kiryuku wrote:: I'm definitely vibing with the protective force of beings that keep the supernatural world in check from the unknowing human society. You guys are definitely doing a good job of hammering out the nitty gritty details. Here's what's coming to my mind after reading through it all:

Idea #1 - Our foundations goal is to protect humanity from being wiped out/enslaved/harassed by supernatural beings, and ensure that humans are kept separate from (or are completely unaware of) them. If this were true, it would be difficult to keep them unaware if a large portion of our force were also supernatural. It could be that we are an order of strictly humans, but humans blessed, or perhaps cursed, with extraordinary ability. This could be through the work of gods, ritual, special training, or a combination. As a result, we can easily assimilate within society as normal, while keeping tabs and only unleashing our abilities when necessary, and out of public eyesight. I assume there would be a base set of abilities that are commonly shared (increased stamina/constitution, extrasensory vision, immunity to disease, combat prowess, etc.), and then if we chose to go the route of godly blessings or rituals, whenever a member reaches the end of their training, this blessing/ritual will imbue them with some ability that is unique to them. So eventually the supernatural world starts to brew something sinister that could spell gloom and doom for humanity, and we must fight it while maintaining calm. I also think having a range of experience would be a bit more intriguing, with more opportunity for varied interaction between characters when one person knows something another doesn't.

Idea #2 - If we wanted to do a group of mixed humans and supernatural, which is just as valid, I do agree with BG that it makes no sense to tamper with the recipe of most supernatural creatures. That being said, if we went a route where humans and non-humans have been assimilated for a long time up until this point, the non-humans could suffer the same pitfalls as humans. That being that there could be a majority of vampires/werewolves/faeries/etc. that have become complacent/impoverished/lazy/etc. over generations of co-mingling, and are not as effective or dangerous as they would normally be. Especially in an era where the larger portion of the population are of a lower class. So those that join this order are the "cream of the crop"; those supernaturals that have not forsaken their abilities. The humans that join could be of similar liking to the ones described above. That way they would all be on a fairly even level. The goal could still be rather similar, that we look after the population from the sidelines, preventing uprisings, until one that may be above what we are equipped to handle arises. I could see with this idea that we could be more known to the public, since we aren't trying to hide anything from them. Perhaps we regularly mingle with society, but are hated by a large portion, seen by the poor as having everything while they have nothing.

Thoughts?

Personally I'd strongly prefer something closer to #2, I just find it hard to believe that beings who have been bred to understand and respect secrecy could find it difficult to keep others of their world in line without revealing themselves, especially considering most of what you'd assume would be the common types share the vast majority of visual characteristics with humans, i.e. lycanthropes are/can be human 90% of the time, vampires always appear human aside the teeth (unless you go with the Van Helsing style vampires who can change into a harpy-esk creatures at will), Seelie and Unseelie are generally human shaped and sized (even the variety which appear as the stylized, small, and winged fairies are often considered to have a human form they are capable of taking), angels and demons often either take human hosts or have a somewhat human form themselves, etc. That might just be me, though. I'm up for debate on the subject. Razz

As far as Idea #2 goes, I like with a few minor idea tweaks, subject to group debate. I like the idea that supernaturals might have become somewhat complacent in the current era. Like I view the Medieval/Dark Ages and earlier as being this devil's playground for supernaturals. Humans are slightly more in their infancy than the "advanced" races who live longer/are stronger/etc, so the "advanced" supernatural races have formed these large power bases and clashed with one another for hundreds or whatever years. Then as with the rest of the world, the Renaissance hits and there's this cultural expansion even in the supernatural world which leads humans toward a scarier understanding of the supernatural world, so the supernatural world comes to this realization that despite their strength, they are pretty vastly outnumbered, but more than that they're divided in many, many sub-domains and if the overworld were to ever discover them, suddenly they'd be overrun, not the least reasons for which being the relatively low number of people who have attacked their kind before have determined some weaknesses, even if not all of them are true, and given the right guidance, a mob of humans could stake, garlic, and sunlight away a vampire population, and onwards.

Anyhow, with this realization the supernatural world comes together and creates this guideline to follow, possibly even establishes this group we are a part of where supernaturals will police supernaturals all in an effort to keep up the masquerade (name obviously subject to change, just using what I've got). This way, vampires can still feed on humans, but a vampire who does it too much or flaunts it in front of too many eyes without warrant, is found, captured, tried(?), and possibly staked for his ignorance. The grouping still exist, i.e. there would still be vampire covens, werewolf packs, etc, but they're all meant to obey the law which keeps the humans fat, happy, and unaware of their existence. A large portion would still likely be unhappy with the group who polices them, vampires want to feed however and whenever they want, some clan masters may forbid their vampires from feeding on humans altogether, leading to an uptick in cow disappearances no less... some lycanthropes may want to freely hunt in their "true form" but are only allowed to turn in contained environments or once they're of an age where they can control their impulses to hunt prey and do so without getting seen/caught... the list goes on. Whatever the case, I think the primary goal should always be to keep the worlds separate for the betterment and safety of the supernatural world, or for the betterment of both if you're the rosy-cheeked variety.

P.S. Just as a final thought, if humans, or individuals who claim to be mainly human (Nephalim, possibly magic-capable humans, etc) were meant to a potential part of this organization, they might qualm with the fact that vampires are even still allowed to feed at all, but those are minor details that can be hashed out when and if we decide to actually come up with rules established in the kind of scenario listed above.

/Rant

Subject: Re: Brainstorm Session Sun Sep 17, 2017 2:35 am

Okay, imma just not even quote anything and just throw in some comments and agreements specific people have made.

TheBigun wrote:

That’s a good and obvious and important point I completely overlooked (not killing humanity cause they’re needed for food + multiplying forces too when it comes to infectious diseases) so thank you for correcting me. In that cause (as it’s been mentioned a few times now) I agree then that they’d be more into the enslavement route.

I think with the ‘superiority’ route.. I think they’d be more or less the same as most other supernatural beings, but their title is what have risen them a league or two above, just as the general police force of the real world would do. They’re human, but more powerful in their social standing. The obvious exception being that we’re super powered beings (to a degree).

Age and experience; Yeah. I mean they wouldn’t all be the same age either unless we wanted to go all-out Hollywood about it and have everyone look 18. There might be some, for sure, but the ages would vary considerably I’m hoping, to give it some flavour. But ageless beings or human, they should at least be experienced enough to know how to handle the usual threats and have knowledge of the different kinds of creatures of their world, as well as be adept at fighting, etc, but can still get beat occasionally.

TwisterZaraku wrote:

I think so too. And I think at this point we might as well just do away with the rules system; I think it’s just gonna be too much to keep track of however we do it. I feel it will make the story a bit hard to chew through in parts, and I don’t really wanna risk parts becoming less interesting or enjoyable because of it.

Also a good point on the powers; it was a general example indeed, but I get your point. Thinking about it, I also wouldn’t wanna go the elemental route, again cause of my experiences with it, I’ve done it so many times it would be nice for something different. In that case, I think the powers should either be things that you rarely see in fiction, or not often, and play on some aspect of the body or mind, like hemokinesis, or The Gunslinger’s kind of deal with being a deadeye shot and all that fanciness (don’t be fooled by my referencing though, I still haven’t read Dark Tower - so sue me).

Oooh. That’s certainly an option, the Four Horsemen or equivalent, but I do like The Endless type idea too.. I’m kind of torn. So are you saying more like the Horsemen are kind of like us in the way that they’re anyone? Like, different races, background, reasonings, powers? Cause I think that would give them a lot of depth. You could have some 10yr old girl who is War and oh man.

Death idea; I like me a good death story. I second some elaborations on this. That way each of our characters could represent that one emotion in undeath, too, in some way. And their death was also tied to their emotion somehow?

Kiryuku wrote:

Idea 1 – I think that sounds like the most feasible way of the organisation’s functioning to me. In relation to the abilities it goes into what I was saying with the inherent power sets across the board, then with a special ability for each specific person on top of that general set. I like this idea the most I feel. It puts the organisations on kind of a higher pedestal than maybe the second idea. But some things may need to be tweaked, like just how much our organisation has to hide. Using our abilities would put us into the light pretty easily to both humans and supes.

Idea 2 – I feel like a lot of this, especially with the social structuring could easily be put into the first idea; there are spaces to merge them into it.

TheBigun wrote:: BG #2

If the supernatural and the humans have both been around forever, I think it makes sense for our organisation to be pretty ancient; think of Assassin’s Creed kind of deal. And probably has bases all over the world, just some more well established than others. Also plays in to Shadowhunters inspiration; they have Institutions over a global scale. But that also goes back to the contention with ‘how can an organisation have kept so much so secret for so long’, and the only reason answer I have is lame AF and something along the lines of ‘welp, other stories have done it’.

Also, your explanation for tweaks to idea 2 is winning me over to that side now.

Admin Posts : 10 Join date : 2017-09-15 Age : 33

Holy shit.. this is really chaotic and all over the place.. Oh well, that's the nature of this beast, now. Time to roll with it. Sorry if I crush anyone's dreeeeeams <3

TheBigun wrote:: Before we decide on anything like this, I think we need to decide whether we're the exception or the rule, if you catch my drift. Are we 6~ meant to be the top of the line/only line between these worlds, or are we a part of a group that spans many more than us. I realize we'll likely be the ones spearheading this fight against the worst of the worst, we are the players after all, but I think the whole goal there is futile without more nameless people towing that same line. If there are more people then, are we substantially more impressive than the rest, whether it's through this divine favor stuff or otherwise? Or are we just individuals who show an aptitude for this kind of work, above and beyond others in our organization?

Hm.. The more I was thinking about a Hellboy type of story, the more it started to grow on me. I think a mixture of Van Helsing and Hellboy is exactly what this is turning into, and I fucking love it. I think that's what we should draw our inspirations from... maybe with a dash of Constantine thrown in for good measure. With that said.. I know I mentioned the Dark Lord idea but that was more of a play off of what Shelby said about it. What if instead of fighting for some deities, we're actively trying to disrupt them? Perhaps we're also those "creatures of the night" everyone avoids, but despite all that, we want to help humanity. Because you know.. it's the right thing to do, and all that crap. I can see some members of this "task force" being selfless and playing into this, while others still think most "people" don't deserve their help. That's my vote for how to handle our approach to issues as a group.

TheBigun wrote:: I'm down for facing off against some four horsemen-esk individuals. Maybe they aren't even the actual four horsemen, they're just individuals, with some dark favor behind them or not, who have taken up the torch of tearing down the world as it is to start again. Maybe they view the world as being broken, maybe they're all of a race without a need for humans and do view them as being a lower standard than them, so they seek to tear apart the world which so heavily favors people they view as weak.

Shea wrote:: Oooh. That’s certainly an option, the Four Horsemen or equivalent, but I do like The Endless type idea too.. I’m kind of torn. So are you saying more like the Horsemen are kind of like us in the way that they’re anyone? Like, different races, background, reasonings, powers? Cause I think that would give them a lot of depth. You could have some 10yr old girl who is War and oh man.

Yeah, I can dig that. I don't know how much I love the idea of them feeling they don't "need humans", as feeling like humans are an important role is essential for a reader reading a story about humans to feel connection. Look at LOTR, Star Wars, Mass Effect and anything else that has an eclectic mix of creatures and also humans. Humans are always important in some way. I think that should be tweaked a smidge. If we're literally going with the Four Horsemen idea... then I think this needs to be focused. Vampires AND Faeries AND Angels and Demons is a hard concept for me to wrap my head around.. is this.. Folklore inspired? Religiously inspired? What mythos are we drawing from? Because it's a bit all over the place haha. I just feel like if we're mixing creatures and ideas that don't stem directly from The Bible or an equivilant religious text, then we shouldn't use exactly the Four Horsemen. I just think it looks too much like too many ideas slammed together, and that runs the risk of just becoming sloppy. I know you like the idea of a bunch of monsters and creatures, Dylan, but I think we should start talking about what kind we're going against and maybe narrow it down? All we're missing is Frankenstein at this point.

TheBigun wrote:: lycanthropes are/can be human 90% of the time, vampires always appear human aside the teeth (unless you go with the Van Helsing style vampires who can change into a harpy-esk creatures at will), Seelie and Unseelie are generally human shaped and sized (even the variety which appear as the stylized, small, and winged fairies are often considered to have a human form they are capable of taking), angels and demons often either take human hosts or have a somewhat human form themselves, etc.

Kiryuku wrote:: That being that there could be a majority of vampires/werewolves/faeries/etc. that have become complacent/impoverished/lazy/etc. over generations of co-mingling, and are not as effective or dangerous as they would normally be.

TheBigun wrote:: Whatever the case, I think the primary goal should always be to keep the worlds separate for the betterment and safety of the supernatural world, or for the betterment of both if you're the rosy-cheeked variety.

So... I'm pretty confused on something here, maybe everyone can help me clear this up: Are the vampires, werewolves, faeries, angels and so on just.. literally living together? Because I mean.. that's some Lord of the Rings-level explanation we need to come up with if fucking ANGELS are living among humans. I thought these creatures would frequent the "natural" world, and that's where we get our myths and legends from -- those encounters. But primarily, they don't really.. live together. Are we changing that up? Or am I misunderstanding and we're actually on the same page? Are they living "among" them, not necessarily "with" them?

TheBigun wrote:: The grouping still exist, i.e. there would still be vampire covens, werewolf packs, etc, but they're all meant to obey the law which keeps the humans fat, happy, and unaware of their existence.

Because it seems to me like this is turning into a sort of "humans know and acknowledge they exist. So. Laws." which... is really fucking interesting and elevates this story, in my book. "YOU'VE HEARD OF WITCH TRIALS.. BUT NO ONE PUTS A WEREWOLF ON TRIAL! WOLF TRIALS!" Lol no but seriously, I like this idea a buttload. OOOOOH.. Okay. There are laws/rules/structure that is in effect and we're basically the police enforcers. Okay. I see what you're saying. I think I really love the idea of these creatures needing to obey the law.. I just don't like angels being there because.. you know. What, you're gunna throw a celestial being in the brig?

TheBigun wrote:: As far as "extended stamina" for lycanthropes goes, how do you define that? By which I mean, we aren't exactly building DnD characters here, we don't have values we can place on stamina and then take a feat to extend it, so short of bringing up the fact that everyone else should be getting tired faster than you are, how does something like "extended stamina" benefit you?

I mean.. that's literally how you write things like that, yeah. How would you explain someone is more cunning than someone else when there aren't Intelligence stats to roll from? It's as easy as writing out what they're able to do.

TheBigun wrote:: As far as Idea #2 goes, I like with a few minor idea tweaks, subject to group debate. I like the idea that supernaturals might have become somewhat complacent in the current era. Like I view the Medieval/Dark Ages and earlier as being this devil's playground for supernaturals. Humans are slightly more in their infancy than the "advanced" races who live longer/are stronger/etc, so the "advanced" supernatural races have formed these large power bases and clashed with one another for hundreds or whatever years. Then as with the rest of the world, the Renaissance hits and there's this cultural expansion even in the supernatural world which leads humans toward a scarier understanding of the supernatural world, so the supernatural world comes to this realization that despite their strength, they are pretty vastly outnumbered, but more than that they're divided in many, many sub-domains and if the overworld were to ever discover them, suddenly they'd be overrun, not the least reasons for which being the relatively low number of people who have attacked their kind before have determined some weaknesses, even if not all of them are true, and given the right guidance, a mob of humans could stake, garlic, and sunlight away a vampire population, and onwards.

Shea wrote:: If the supernatural and the humans have both been around forever, I think it makes sense for our organisation to be pretty ancient; think of Assassin’s Creed kind of deal. And probably has bases all over the world, just some more well established than others. Also plays in to Shadowhunters inspiration; they have Institutions over a global scale. But that also goes back to the contention with ‘how can an organisation have kept so much so secret for so long’, and the only reason answer I have is lame AF and something along the lines of ‘welp, other stories have done it’.

I GOT YOU, FAM!!! Here's the missing piece, bros... Technology. The Horror of Science and Magic!

If this gets shot down for a world-environment element, then MONDO-DIBS on a character using this kinda shit haha

Spoiler:

Posts : 12 Join date : 2017-09-15 Age : 30

Shea wrote:: If the supernatural and the humans have both been around forever, I think it makes sense for our organisation to be pretty ancient; think of Assassin’s Creed kind of deal. And probably has bases all over the world, just some more well established than others. Also plays in to Shadowhunters inspiration; they have Institutions over a global scale. But that also goes back to the contention with ‘how can an organisation have kept so much so secret for so long’, and the only reason answer I have is lame AF and something along the lines of ‘welp, other stories have done it’.

Also, your explanation for tweaks to idea 2 is winning me over to that side now.

Really I don't see how it would be so hard to believe. I mean, like I said, these are races who have extensively taught over generations to keep a low profile, operate within the rules, don't make a show of your abilities, etc. Those that didn't listen have been likely been culled over that same amount of time, which should only serve to reinforce supernatural's desire to stay hidden, and the modicum of humans who might have caught wind of it were generally either removed, labeled insane, or possibly had their memory magic'd away by someone capable of doing so. It could even be that the larger scale events which stand to the contrary are used as examples of what happens when this organization fails to do their duty, ex. Salem Witch Trials.

TwisterZaraku wrote:: Hm.. The more I was thinking about a Hellboy type of story, the more it started to grow on me. I think a mixture of Van Helsing and Hellboy is exactly what this is turning into, and I fucking love it. I think that's what we should draw our inspirations from... maybe with a dash of Constantine thrown in for good measure. With that said.. I know I mentioned the Dark Lord idea but that was more of a play off of what Shelby said about it. What if instead of fighting for some deities, we're actively trying to disrupt them? Perhaps we're also those "creatures of the night" everyone avoids, but despite all that, we want to help humanity. Because you know.. it's the right thing to do, and all that crap. I can see some members of this "task force" being selfless and playing into this, while others still think most "people" don't deserve their help. That's my vote for how to handle our approach to issues as a group.

My only reason for being hesitant on this kind of thing is that specifically going against deities starts pushing us toward god-killer style play, which is pretty starkly different from the original idea of simply being the SPF (Supernatural Police Force). If that's the direction we want to go, that's fine, but I don't think you can have both and still get away with being a group charged with keeping the two worlds separate, especially if you've got the lower tier rank and file members who handle small disputes, crimes, etc, which I assume we'd have unless we're, again, trying to run this purportedly worldwide organization with 6 people.

TwisterZaraku wrote:: Yeah, I can dig that. I don't know how much I love the idea of them feeling they don't "need humans", as feeling like humans are an important role is essential for a reader reading a story about humans to feel connection. Look at LOTR, Star Wars, Mass Effect and anything else that has an eclectic mix of creatures and also humans. Humans are always important in some way. I think that should be tweaked a smidge.

I feel like that's a big fallacy of logic either way though. Like "because humans are important in other stories, they should be important in ours", really doesn't make sense. Humans aren't "important" in LOTR, they're "prominent" because they're one of the most numerous races on Arda, or more specifically in Middle Earth. Same goes for Star Wars, Star Trek, Mass Effect, etc. Even in situations with Mass Effect, for example, where humans are typically considered the least developed race in the galaxy, they're still "prominent" and the reason the game focuses so heavily in on them, makes them seem so superior to the other races with paragons like Shepard and Ryder, is because WE are also human and you play to your audience. In fact, that's mostly true for every story listed there. Humans are often one of the youngest, most inexperienced races in their respective universes, but still manage to be one of the strongest or otherwise most prominent races either in actual population or with "the determination of the human spirit" which every other race somehow lacks simply because they've been around longer.

All that being said, however, I'm not saying humans aren't important here. In fact, I'm saying the opposite. Human prominence, numbers, and the threat they'd pose to the supernatural world if a war ever broke is the ENTIRE reason I suggested that a treaty-type deal have been made, one in which the supernatural "leaders" at the time agreed they'd be better with the humans never truly knowing they existed. The reason this group is targeting them, at least by my own suggestion, isn't that humans aren't "important", it's the opposite. Humans pose the biggest threat to the supernatural world and these "horseman"-esk individuals believe that rather than hiding in the shadows, supernaturals should unite and either extinguish the threat before it becomes impossible or weaken it to the point that it no longer holds such a large sway over how they live their lives.

Again, all that being said, I'll play devil's advocate on myself and say that the world we build has to be built a certain way to in order to enable eliminating humans altogether, but I don't necessary think they'd be capable of doing so or want to anyhow. The smart choice for these supposedly intelligent and strong individuals would be to kill the majority of their population, capture humans, force them to breed in controlled environment, limit or eliminate free breeding for the rest, create human cattle for vampires to bleed or turn, gives wolves things to hunt or turn, etc.

TwisterZaraku wrote:: If we're literally going with the Four Horsemen idea... then I think this needs to be focused. Vampires AND Faeries AND Angels and Demons is a hard concept for me to wrap my head around.. is this.. Folklore inspired? Religiously inspired? What mythos are we drawing from? Because it's a bit all over the place haha. I just feel like if we're mixing creatures and ideas that don't stem directly from The Bible or an equivilant religious text, then we shouldn't use exactly the Four Horsemen. I just think it looks too much like too many ideas slammed together, and that runs the risk of just becoming sloppy. I know you like the idea of a bunch of monsters and creatures, Dylan, but I think we should start talking about what kind we're going against and maybe narrow it down? All we're missing is Frankenstein at this point.

I guess it just depends on which style of history you choose. Honestly, I'm far from opposed to the idea that god-tier beings get their power from being worshiped, meaning that as a religion fell out of favor, the deities therein would still exist however diminished. Those stories and the beings who existed in them still existed, or still exist, but they become less prevalent or, in the style of DnD, simply ventured back their own plane of existence. The Christian God and his bible's four horsemen are simply the most recent/currently worshiped of the deific beings.

TwisterZaraku wrote:: So... I'm pretty confused on something here, maybe everyone can help me clear this up: Are the vampires, werewolves, faeries, angels and so on just.. literally living together? Because I mean.. that's some Lord of the Rings-level explanation we need to come up with if fucking ANGELS are living among humans. I thought these creatures would frequent the "natural" world, and that's where we get our myths and legends from -- those encounters. But primarily, they don't really.. live together. Are we changing that up? Or am I misunderstanding and we're actually on the same page? Are they living "among" them, not necessarily "with" them?

I can't speak for everyone else was thinking, but my own head cannon is that: the typical races, i.e. vampires, werewolves, faeries, etc, typically live with members of their own kind in covens, packs, etc like I said before. Slightly less common or higher tier individuals, such as angels and demons would typically exist within their own realm or plane of existence, i.e. heaven, hell, etc, but might go through long stints on Earth itself whether because they're on a specific mission, a general one (demons acquire human souls, etc), or simply because they don't choose to actively follow in the footsteps their commander in chief.

In a very unhelpful bottom line, it varies.

TwisterZaraku wrote:: Because it seems to me like this is turning into a sort of "humans know and acknowledge they exist. So. Laws." which... is really fucking interesting and elevates this story, in my book. "YOU'VE HEARD OF WITCH TRIALS.. BUT NO ONE PUTS A WEREWOLF ON TRIAL! WOLF TRIALS!" Lol no but seriously, I like this idea a buttload. OOOOOH.. Okay. There are laws/rules/structure that is in effect and we're basically the police enforcers. Okay. I see what you're saying. I think I really love the idea of these creatures needing to obey the law.. I just don't like angels being there because.. you know. What, you're gunna throw a celestial being in the brig?

I really don't know where you're getting the impression that the idea was "humans already know", in fact, I thought, up until this point I've been stating that my idea was humans are expressly meant to NOT know supernaturals exist. The reason the laws exist and are followed is specifically to KEEP THE TWO WORLDS SEPARATE, because humans pose a massive threat en masse to the majority of supernatural races. Angels and Demons might return to their own realm if they were threatened, but vampires, werewolves, Seelie and Unseelie, etc would just be meant to hide and hope they aren't found/executed for being supernaturals.

My justification for angels and demon is that the existence of mythos has to make sense in the world. If the fabled vampires, werewolves, etc exist in the world, then you can have these widely believed stories of deific beings just be made up bullshit, IMO. As far as how to punish these beings, I suppose the primary idea is that higher-tier beings are more difficult to deal with, but beings like angels and demons already have a stake of their own in staying in the shadows, right? If Lucifer found his subjects actively exposing themselves to humans (that sounds dirty) and not mopping up after themselves, he'd have them off'd. If the Christian God found his angels openly exposing themselves (it still sounds dirty) to humans with no regard for secrecy, he'd deal with it. You don't worship the god you know, you worship their mystery. Once you understand them, they're not important or impressive anymore.

TwisterZaraku wrote:: I mean.. that's literally how you write things like that, yeah. How would you explain someone is more cunning than someone else when there aren't Intelligence stats to roll from? It's as easy as writing out what they're able to do.

But my point is that that doesn't create an interesting or worthwhile differences. Like I make my special trait that I'm super intelligent, or I just write the character as being intelligent, and you'd never know the difference. A write a human that has the ability to control lightning, you notice that kind of shit and demand it be something that's included in the character write-up. But you can't have the latter situation with someone who is already a werewolf/vampire/seelie, at least not without cheapening the fact that they already are what they are.

I don't know how else to explain that. It honestly might just be a difference of brain wiring, haha.

TwisterZaraku wrote:

I GOT YOU, FAM!!! Here's the missing piece, bros... Technology. The Horror of Science and Magic!

If this gets shot down for a world-environment element, then MONDO-DIBS on a character using this kinda shit haha

Spoiler:

NO, FUCK YOU! WE WILL NOT HAVE STEAMPUNK-VICTORIAN/MEDIEVAL-FANTASY WITH NO REASON FOR IT'S EXISTENCE. THIS IS NOT WORLD OF WARCRAFT!!!!!!!!!!!@#!@$!@$!@$!%!%!@$ Razz

Admin Posts : 10 Join date : 2017-09-15 Age : 33

Alright. So any other ideas aside from this monster thing that anyone wants to flush out? Lol I think Dylan has a pretty solid idea of what he wants this one to be like.

Subject: Re: Brainstorm Session Sun Sep 17, 2017 8:59 pm

I.. am really lost. I have trouble remembering as some of you know, so most of this info flying around has gone through my brain in one instant and vanished the next as I'm trying to keep up.

Admin Posts : 10 Join date : 2017-09-15 Age : 33

Yeah, it's a lot of info that suddenly exploded. Let's try to break down what we've got and handle it piece-by-piece, and handle it together one piece at a time.

It seems we're all in agreement of the theme/setting of the campaign:

Quote :: Grungy/Noire set in Victorian-Age London

Let's put up the next step. What is it, exactly, we want the story to be about. I know Kiry posted a few ideas but it wound up getting drowned out in the noise. So let's start with this:

Quote :

What's The Story About?

Supernatural beings threatening humanity and endangering the world

Okay. So it seemed like we all were digging that idea, at the least. We've got a Victorian-era Noire flick about supernatural creatures that pose a risk to people. Let's try and decide what, exactly, that means for us as PC's.

Quote :

What Do We Do In This World?

Awaiting response...

Do we want to be a group that fights for humanity and protects them of our own volition/ancient guardianship/honor? Or are we employed/enslaved/forced to do it by beings of a higher power that do all of this in the background?

Posts : 12 Join date : 2017-09-15 Age : 30

TwisterZaraku wrote:: Alright. So any other ideas aside from this monster thing that anyone wants to flush out? Lol I think Dylan has a pretty solid idea of what he wants this one to be like.

Fuck man, that makes it sound so bad. XD

Spoiler:

I've got ideas and I've worked out a lot of the details for those ideas on my own because this is something I've been thinking about little by little over literal months. That said, I'd be entirely unopposed to scrapping every bit I suggested if that's what other people wanted. That's why I've been drive home the point of "this is what I think, not what I'm demanding we do".

Posts : 3 Join date : 2017-09-15

This is, by far, the most difficult part of starting a group RP. If I had a dollar for every RP I was involved in that didn't even make it out of a preliminary OOC thread, I could probably pay a years tuition. If this is proving anything to me, though, it's that our imaginations are alive and well, and we're all clearly very excited for the prospects of this. It seems like all the fireworks of ideas are getting a little too bright, though. So before we burn this motherfucker down, let's dial it back a bit and hammer away the necessities.

I think Twist laid it out pretty well, so as far as "What We Do In This World?", from the shared opinions I gathered, supernatural life and human life are kept apart for the betterment of both. We as an order of both extraordinary humans and supernaturals exist to monitor interactions between the two worlds and keep them from becoming a threat to one another. How does this sound as a start?

Admin Posts : 10 Join date : 2017-09-15 Age : 33

TheBigun wrote:: I've got ideas and I've worked out a lot of the details for those ideas on my own because this is something I've been thinking about little by little over literal months. That said, I'd be entirely unopposed to scrapping every bit I suggested if that's what other people wanted. That's why I've been drive home the point of "this is what I think, not what I'm demanding we do".

Haha well that's why I figured you already had a good grasp of what it was you wanted out of the story, but it blew up so much and you had so many ideas coming that it was beginning to get hard to keep track of and follow what everyone else was saying. So I slowed it down and restarted a bit.

That said, I want you to keep that passion up. Nothing is a "no" to what you said -- I honestly just got overwhelmed by how much there was without much structure/organization. I know what it's like to have an idea that you've been sitting on for a while -- I've been doing something similar for the better part of a decade, now. You've got a lot of ideas for this kind of story, but I just want to make sure everyone has a chance to really follow what you, and everyone else, is saying about it.

Posts : 12 Join date : 2017-09-15 Age : 30

TwisterZaraku wrote:: Yeah, it's a lot of info that suddenly exploded. Let's try to break down what we've got and handle it piece-by-piece, and handle it together one piece at a time.

It seems we're all in agreement of the theme/setting of the campaign:

Let's put up the next step. What is it, exactly, we want the story to be about. I know Kiry posted a few ideas but it wound up getting drowned out in the noise. So let's start with this:

Okay. So it seemed like we all were digging that idea, at the least. We've got a Victorian-era Noire flick about supernatural creatures that pose a risk to people. Let's try and decide what, exactly, that means for us as PC's.

Do we want to be a group that fights for humanity and protects them of our own volition/ancient guardianship/honor? Or are we employed/enslaved/forced to do it by beings of a higher power that do all of this in the background?

I'm of the opinion that we're effectively employed to be a part of this group. It'd be sort of like a government position, heavy background checks, extensive testing both mentally and physically, etc. Beyond that, anybody's reason for join would be their own, whether it's a sense of obligation, following the footsteps of parents, etc. Bottom line, it's something you apply to do, but aren't forced to.

We might could toy with people being forced to a part of the organization, but I think that'd make it more difficult to justify people fully carrying out their job, unless we go down the route of openly stating that the organization is an "evil" (whether it's for the good of the worlds or just out of corruption) and have them holding families hostage and shit in order to force people in their service. But the stretch I had to make just to explain that, really makes me dislike that I even tried to make that an option, haha.

Subject: Re: Brainstorm Session Mon Sep 18, 2017 9:39 pm

Haaaa.. yeah, I'm not feelin that last thing so much. I feel they're trying to do good for the world, so taking such drastic actions to manipulate people into choosing their side doesn't fit.

For me at least I prefer the first part of what you're saying;

TheBigun wrote:: I'm of the opinion that we're effectively employed to be a part of this group. It'd be sort of like a government position, heavy background checks, extensive testing both mentally and physically, etc. Beyond that, anybody's reason for join would be their own, whether it's a sense of obligation, following the footsteps of parents, etc. Bottom line, it's something you apply to do, but aren't forced to.

So they be paid then, too? Like any other job? Then secondly, their strict guidelines for employing begs the question of how we're going with the genetic makeup of what this agency wants. Should we be blessed/cursed humans of some kind or potentially blessed/cursed supernaturals or some kind, or do we want a mix of both?

Posts : 12 Join date : 2017-09-15 Age : 30

I'll try to organize this in a vague chronological order to help organize the information for easier viewing/understanding, but feedback on the information itself and questions about things that might be confusing would be great. This might end up being a lot of brain throw-up after all.

Seelie and Unseelie (Faeries) -

Spoiler:

Technically the oldest out of most supernatural races, though not like the oldest to call [Earthrealm, Midden, Middle Earth, the Prime Material Plane, Earth?] home. The Seelie, or faeries as they can be commonly referred to, are an ancient race of supernatural beings who long ago called another realm their own. In that realm, the Seelie were considered caretakers of nature and the other various races which existed there. Prioritizing harmony and peace above all else, the Seelie were, and technically still are, a benevolent race devoted to the safety and well-being of those under their care. That said, long ago the Seelie experienced a divergence in their realm which slowly, over a long period of time, began to corrupt the very land upon which they lived. The once lush forests and roaming plains, turned to ashen, barren, and scarred landscapes populated by hellish flames and beings not unlike the corrupted forms of the creatures they once strove to protect.

The Seelie fought desperately to return their lands to their former glory and splendor, but the longer they fought, the harder it became to exist in their realm at all. Just as the creatures they once protected changed, so too did the Seelie begin to experience a corruption within themselves, once which eventually caused a great number of their race to change into something very different. These new beings, the Unseelie, acted in stark contrast to their brethren. They thrived on the discordant nature of the landscape of their new realm, sought constant conflict among the lower species, and acted in a cruel manner never seen or understood before among the Seelie themselves. So much so, in fact, that it eventually lead to an all out conflict between the two, now wholly separate, races. Though an even match in strength, the Unseelie were much more accustomed and willing to wage war, eventually leading the Seelie into exile within their own realm and the allowing the discordant nature of the corruption present to spread to every corner of their realm. With no else to go, the Seelie abandoned their realm and took to living in our own, generally keeping their distance from the mundane races of the world, preferring to live within the vast forests present in our realm, often taking primary care giving position to woodland creatures and occasional mundane beings who lose their way.

The Unseelie primarily remain within their own realm, where they are the most comfortable. However, it is not uncommon for some Unseelie to wonder into our realm, their appearances marking strange changes in landscape over a surprisingly short amount of time. The Seelie consider these occurrences of the utmost concern and typically move to push back the lost Unseelie back into their old realm, before returning these areas to their former appearances, but they do not always succeed in time and have, over the course of Earth's history been prime elements in the appearances of strange and dangerous new diseases which rapidly spread through mundane populations.

Seelie and Unseelie typically resemble the pixie folklore attributed to them, possessing diminutive sizes in their true form. However, as an astoundingly adaptive race, Seelie's have come to possess a form similar in size and shape to that of human beings since they arrived in our realm. Though generally stronger in their true form, many Seelies often choose to live out much of their life in their secondary form. Both magical races are capable of manipulating the natural world (Seelie through bonds and requests of the nature around them, and Unseelie through demands and threats) who are given to very long life-spans, though not eternal/immortal ones in the normal sense of the words. Given the nature (no pun intended) of their magic, Seelie and Unseelie who reach a substantially old enough age typically find themselves drawn towards saying their goodbyes and finding a nice spot to lie down and pass away. These spots are typically marked by the immediately sprout of a new tree, something which is celebrated among the Seelie and somewhat less so among the Unseelie. These trees often perpetuate energies similar to the beings who birthed them.

Code:: Elves/Children of the Forest -
Technically considered a race of their own, these beings are the intermingling of faerie magic and the human children who find themselves under the care of those faeries. While not entirely uncommon, Elves are not widely found outside the realms in which they were "birthed", in fact most never mate themselves at all given how rare their kind actually is. Elves possess similar magic to their faerie guardians, but to a level beyond what most faeries are capable of at their strongest. Elves retain most of the characteristics of their human lineage for both size and shape, but are considered incredibly fair-skinned and beautiful to nearly all who lay eyes upon them, as well as possessing an odd characteristic of surprisingly pointed ears.

Angels, Fallen Angels, and Demons -

Spoiler:

Witches, Warlocks, and other magic-capable Human beings -

Spoiler:

Vampires -

Spoiler:

Though not entirely known to be fact, Vampires are a bastardization, or in some senses a failure, of magic meant to make one immortal. In the process of developing a way to circumvent a Demon's contract, a Coven of Witches and Warlocks came together and cast a spell which they believed would make them ageless and immortal. The spell yielded surprising success, those effected no longer aged and possessed strength and speed far beyond what they had previously, but the process came with several downsides. To begin with these new beings, which would eventually come to be referred to as Vampires, possessed somewhat less magical prowess than they did previously, but more importantly, they quickly discovered that they could only retain this immortality and agelessness by absorbing the life-force of other beings, the easiest process of which would be sucking their blood. Some fed on animals originally, but they quickly discovered that the most effective and alluring food was other humans, especially those with magical abilities. More than that however, the Vampires also quickly discovered that they were severely weakened in direct sunlight and could no longer reproduce as they once did. All of which lead to these Vampires pursuing a new goal, the continuation of their kind.

The process was somewhat complicated at first, involving a willing human and a Vampire who would drink of each other's blood in order to create for the human to then become a Vampire themselves. This created a second generation of Vampires, and so on and so forth. But, Vampires were a bastardization from the beginning, and so over time, the new generations changed little by little until they reached their current common form. Most, if not all, Vampires who currently exist no longer age from not feeding, and instead rapidly degenerate into ravenous beasts over time. Vampires are no longer "weakened" by sunlight, but are now entirely destroyed by it. More than that, the decadence which abounded within the race only worsened the hunger most Vampires feel and lead most Vampires to receive almost no sustenance from feeding on lesser animals, compared to humans and especially compared to magic capable humans. Worst of all the changes, however, Vampirism is no longer a mutual decision between two beings, and can instead be passed at the Vampire's will upon feeding.

Vampires possess magic similar to what magic capable humans do, though it does tend to lean towards their own nature as creatures of the night, and generations of woo'ing humans has led to a much stronger gene in magic of the illusory variety. Also, as stated before, Vampires are much faster and stronger than they were as humans. A Vampire's strength, speed, and even their magical prowess grow continuously as they feed and age, until somewhere in their late second millennia to early third (1800-2400) where feeding begins to no longer sate them as they used to, their eyes typically begin to gloss over into blindness, they begin to show their age (still much slower than a human would), and eventually crumble into dust. Only a few Vampires have ever been known to reach an age where this change begins, but it is commonly believed, whether true or not, that the degradation of their race does not occur in the earliest generations, though most of the originals are either gone or in permanent hiding, so this cannot be confirmed.

Though the sun became the Vampire's greatest enemy, even when their race could still stand it's presence, the Vampires sought ways to protect themselves in daylight. The first of these creations was ultimately a failure, but eventually became one the Vampires' longest standing enemies, the Lycan (and later Werewolves). Several other attempts were made to create subservient beings, until eventually they created what are commonly referred to as Darklings.

Code:: Darklings -
To put it simply, Darklings are lesser Vampires, beings created through Vampire magic rather than bite. They possess speed and strength somewhat greater than most humans, but age the same as humans do. They are not weakened by sunlight, but they do find it preferable to avoid it as much as possible. The process for creating Darklings isn't complicated, but it isn't simple either, which lends to a great many of their kind ending up with twisted and corrupted visages. Darklings can still eat human food for sustenance and receive none from drinking blood, though they abhor the taste of food and often drink blood regardless. They possess no magical abilities of their own and often only pursue the goal of pleasing their master to the point that they be granted true Vampirism.

Lycanthropes (Lycan and Werewolves) -

Spoiler:

Posts : 12 Join date : 2017-09-15 Age : 30

DP (double-post, not what you losers were thinking), but I can't be bother to care right now.

Shea wrote:: So they be paid then, too? Like any other job?

I wouldn't think we'd be "paid" exactly. I could see some kind of compensation being dolled out, but it'd have to be like straight up gold, because I mean, many of us could theoretically live hundreds, or over a thousand, years, so money wouldn't always retain it's value over time or possibly even continue to exist within our lifespan.

That is, unless we want to come up with some special currency that supernaturals use, like Drachma or some shit.

Shea wrote:: Then secondly, their strict guidelines for employing begs the question of how we're going with the genetic makeup of what this agency wants. Should we be blessed/cursed humans of some kind or potentially blessed/cursed supernaturals or some kind, or do we want a mix of both?

I don't know what you mean. If you're talking specifically blessed by a god, like we were trying to decide on before, I don't know they we ever came to a decision whether we going down that route or not. I mean, based on my descriptions, assuming people don't take issues with them, many of the supernatural races already have some past or connection with angelic (past or present) beings. And that's not even going to into the vague ideas I had of direct Human and Angel/Fallen Angel children which could theoretically exist, or further the tons of other past gods which were actively worshiped but fell out of favor with the batteries... I mean humans of Earth.