The war between the Celestial Realm and the Nether Realm has reached a conclusion, and that conclusion is stalemate. The Middle Realm lies devastated, and the upper echelons of both Demon and Angel society are gone, slain forever. The gates between the realms are barred, and the process of healing and renewal has begun.
In the Nether Realm, healing is only ever done with a scalpel. There's a big gap at the top, and the former middle-rankers are already making their opening moves, all intent on claiming for themselves the title of Overlord. Bargaining, intrigue, conspiracy, and outright violence make up the menu of the day.
You're not a big player, of course. But with luck, guts, brawn, and brains, that will change... probably.
Characters will start off as demonic vassals of one of the current lords of the Nether Realm. Your goal is to become the Overlord, by whatever means you find appealing: going it solo, setting up a puppet rule, or creating your very own democratic Dark Congress. The goal is to have a fairly light-hearted game, with tons of rivalry and backstabbing; think Disgaea or Good Omens with a healthy mix of Paranoia.
The goal is to be forum-based, with perhaps occasional IRC sessions, depending on how things go. The ideal would be to keep posting rates fairly slow. I'd hope for one post a day minimum. The premise should be flexible enough to accomodate a variety of posting rates, however. Start date would be in early November.
The plan is to use the HERO system. Character base is 75CP. By default, no points will be granted for Disadvantages.
The following house rules apply:
1) Eternal Damnation. You're a demon, and there's no easy
way out of Hell. If your character dies, you will
automatically be reincarnated in your home base (whatever
it might be at the moment). You retain all your
memories, but can completely remake the character other
than that if you so desire.
2) It's All About Who You Know. Most of the power-ups
through the game will be earned through Favours -- powers
lent to you by other demons. Perhaps you killed an
archdevil's rival for him, or promised to retrieve an
artifact for him, or someone has agreed to be a vassal;
either way, you'll get some power (a new ability, or
extra stats) in the form of a Favour. That Favour might
come with limitations or conditions, however -- fail at
the task for which the Favour was granted, for example,
and you'll not only lose the Favour, you'll incur the
wrath of the gifter. Favours will come and go, with
shifting alliances, completed tasks, and betrayals. You
can use earned CP to "buy off" a Favour, letting you make
it part of your own powers without the attendant
restrictions. But....
3) It's Also About Who You Kill. If you're killed, you lose
all your Favours. What's more, if you're killed by
another player, he can choose to take one of your Favours
for himself. On the other hand, there's the:
4) Obi-Wan Rule. The character base for a reincarnated
character is increased by twice his unspent earned CP.
(Earned CP will be earned at a fixed rate (probably something like 1CP for every two or four weeks of gaming without deaths), plus a bonus for earning a Favour. Balance to be determined.)
Obviously, this is a bit of an experiment, so mechanics may get toyed with in the course of the game. Frankly, I think I'm crazy for even suggesting this. But, hey, the question is how many other people are crazy, too?
I'll go ahead and toss my hat into the ring for this one.
One thing I forgot to mention. I'm still fleshing out the details of the story and setting, and ideally want to suit it to the characters that people want to play. So feel free to come up with concepts, arrange for common histories between players, ask me whatever questions you want, etc.
I'll bite, but gimme a start date. >_>
Let's say Nov 14th.
Hmm, is there anywhere where we can check out the Hero system for those of us who are interested but lack any idea what the character creation system would look like?
Bjorn, you are a taunting little bastard. =)
Dracos
who can't afford at the moment to commit at all. >_<
Quote from: "Irius"Hmm, is there anywhere where we can check out the Hero system for those of us who are interested but lack any idea what the character creation system would look like?
I think I have a link or two on another computer; I'll post them when I get home.
Beyond that, you might want to talk to Drac or Rez; they might have some resources for the previous edition, which at least gives you an idea.
I can hook you up with 4th edition if you catch me at a good moment.
Dracos
Ditto. If you use irc.nabiki.com (our chat server) and join #elysium, I'll be able to toss it at you, or you can use my fserve and grab it off there.
<->
Bjorn, on the character re-development- just what stays the same and what can change, exactly? 'Memories' pretty much equals 'Skills+Everything' without a clearer definition. The only thing that I really see changing is your physical makeup (which can admittedly count for alot).
Quote from: "Carthrat"Bjorn, on the character re-development- just what stays the same and what can change, exactly? 'Memories' pretty much equals 'Skills+Everything' without a clearer definition. The only thing that I really see changing is your physical makeup (which can admittedly count for alot).
The only things that should stay the same are non-physical skills (Knowledge/Science/Professional skills, mainly). Physical skills can be dropped or added at your discretion (your new body hasn't learned how to do/has instincts that allow you to do), as can stats and powers.
I'm probably not going to be very picky about enforcing even that much, however. If you want to completely redesign a character from the ground up, give it a new name and personality, and get back into the fray, that's fine by me. The "memories" clause is there just to provide some continuity -- you might have gone from a succubus named Lilith to being a ten-foot fanged monstrousity that calls itself Billy-Bob, but Billy-Bob still remembers all the game events that Lilith would have.
Back stabbing is always fun >.> I'll get the Hero rules and read up on them, hopefully they won't confuse me <.<
I'd like to throw my hat in too. Like Trunky, I need to study up on the Hero rulebooks. It sounds like it'll be a blast, though. ^^
I'm rather interested although it sounds a little confusing, but those details will be worked out over time, I bet.
You bet your sweet ass I want a part of this.
I promise to post at a regular rate. I swear.
I'm willing to give it a try if I can snag a copy of the rules.
Oh, wow. Apparently, there's a bunch of backstabbing wannabes on this board. o.O
Okay. I think I'm going to call an end to recruiting at this point. Current list of players is:
Halbarad
Carthrat
Irius
Dracos... oh, no, WAIT! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Trunky
Olguin
StormDragon
Yuthirin
CyMage
I know that some of you are tentative, but consider it a place held. ;)
I'm going to be fairly busy until the end of October. I'll try to answer any questions you might have before then, but please bear with me. After that point, we'll start getting serious with character generation and the like.
Excellent! Prepare to be skullduggered, naive fools!
Does look interesting, but yeah I won't commit to anything at the moment until I know what I'm going to be up to in a month.
Well he was closing joining anyway since even the amount he has now is going to be a real stretch to gm. =)
Maybe if it goes well, he'll run a second sitting.
Dracos
On the Nature of Demons
Demons come in all shapes and sizes, though the vast majority are humanoid and roughly human-sized. Similarly, there is also a wide range in power levels. The greater part of demonkind is no stronger than a talented human. The demon aristocracy (the mind refuses to label them 'nobility') is far more powerful, the top ranks capable of demolishing entire armies and cities with no more than a wave of the hand. And legends are whispered of such demons as Vierhymn and Gankorrux, whose might made them gods.
What unifies demonkind (beyond, of course, their residence in Hell) is their immortality. A demon can be killed, but the death is not permanent; they will reincarnate, though not necessarily with the same form. It isn't understood why some demons gain new forms or increase in power upon reincarnation, but then, demons are rarely given to curiousity beyond "what happens if I smash this?" It is also a mystery why sometimes, demons do not reincarnate. Perhaps age, or lack of power, or too much power. One thing is certain, however: no demon ever slain by an angel has ever reincarnated.
The majority of demons are created in the manner that humans would euphemistically refer to as "the usual way." Some demons spontaneously come into being, for reasons again unknown; they might, however, be reincarnated demons who have lost their memory, for such is known to happen when a long time passes between reincarnations.
On the Nature of Hell
Hell is made of an infinite number of realms, each of infinite size. Probably. Or maybe a finite number of realms, each of which is very big. Heck, it could all just be one medium-sized place, and everyone's been too lazy to walk far enough to find out.
What is definite is that there are perhaps a hundred or so different realms known and inhabited, widely varied in nature. Whether they are linked by physical means is a mystery, and the only way to travel between them is the Gates; portals opened by demons called Gatekeepers. The power of which defines the Gatekeepers is quite rare, which means they are usually enslaved by the aristocracy with great alcarity. Even rarer yet are those Gatekeepers who can open Gates to previously unexplored realms.
Hell is thus rather spacious, which is necessary to accomodate the uncountable hordes. Or rather, was necessary, for the Great War has left very few alive. The city-realm of Slaughterhouse is a ghost town; for the first time in history, prey outnumbers hunters (though the terms are admittedly loose) in the jungle of Gashbagg.
On the Nature of Humans
You can push them around. That's all you need to know about the nature of humans.
They used to turn up in Hell all the time, complaining about being "dead" or "damned." No one was quite sure why, but since someone has to clean the floors, there were no complaints. Occasionally they'd disappear, but replacements were always easy to find.
There are no more humans left in Hell, however. They were the "shock troops" (meat shields) of the Great War, and utterly wiped out. Since the end of the war and the sealing of the Gates to the Middle Realm, no humans have reappeared in Hell.
The Great War
It lasted over a thousand years, and spread over a dozen worlds of the Middle Realm. Literally trillions of demons were thrown against a matching host of angels in battles where the casualties were numbered in the millions. The reasons why it started are lost to memory.
It ended literally overnight. No one knows what happened on the last day of battle, because all those on the fields were killed, without exception. Those few in the Middle Realm but not in battle speak of a bright light shining over the field, a sun come down to earth whose shadows reared like dragons above the armies. Whatever happened, in ended with every surviving demon in the Middle Realm fleeing in panicked rout back through the Gates. The angels did not pursue, and the Gates were sealed not long after.
Um...
Sorry Bjorn, but I'm going to be blunt here, which will probably bite me in the ass someday, but I just can't bring myself to care lately.
I'm dropping out, 'cuz the way the concept evolved just made me lose interest. That, and in my great and pessimistic wisdom see this game as becoming very messy very quickly.
So yeah. Sorry.
Quote from: "Olguin"I'm dropping out, 'cuz the way the concept evolved just made me lose interest. That, and in my great and pessimistic wisdom see this game as becoming very messy very quickly.
Fair enough. Better to hear this now than once the game starts.
For clarification, though, for the other players: if people are concered about the tone of the backstory presented here (which is admittedly fairly serious and dark): don't be. The game
is going to be light-hearted and somewhat silly in tone, as I originally said; the backstory is dark because, after all, this is Hell.
I'm past my big crunch, and available for help in character construction. If you can't catch me on IRC, drop me a private message on the forum -- or post here, if you think it's a question that applies to everyone.
Some other questions that have come up:
1) You have to play a demon.
2) There are no restrictions on how you build your character. You can use Skills, Talents, Perqs, Powers, whatever. Please include a little note on how you plan to develop the powers of the character later on for my reference.
3) You can have guns, if you want. But since demons lack advanced manufacturing abilities, this means either you have an enchanted gun (i.e., you must spend CP on it), or you have an ordinary gun brought back from the middle realm -- and that means bullets will be in very short supply.
Okay. I want to start the game on the 15th. I only have one character sheet so far, with one more promised. If you want to play, please get your character sheet in to me by the 12th.
Ready and waiting SIR!
The 12th has come and gone, and I've got only two characters. C'mon, folks. I know that at least three others have been working on character sheets.
My sword awaits the flesh of my opponents.
And given the way you wield it, it'll be waiting a long time. ^^
Eat it, Rat. I'm going to really, really, really try this time.
Really.
My friend, do not rise to his taunts but stand firm and show by actions your dedication =)
Dracos
Or just stab him in the face when the game starts.
DEDICATION! Yes. Dedication. Bjorn, let's start the stabitizing. I've got tomorrow off.
*Insert the Obi-Wan quote here.*
Okay, here's the story.
Many people have finished characters, apparently, but I only *have* two. In addition, my loyal and puissant co-GM is having some computer problems, which is, uh, complicating things.
Howevaaaa, I can detect that there is obviously a strong can-do spirit in all of you, driving you to put aside your differences and work together to peacefully and democratically restore order to the Nether Realm. So these difficulties will be overcome quickly and with rapid grace!
Anyways. I have the characters of Rat and trunkyboy. StormDragon, Yuthirin, and CyMage have all finished their characters, I think, but I haven't seen them yet. Either PM them to Bjorn on irc.nabiki.com, or email them to bjorn@caltech.edu.
Bjorn
Bjorn, I sent you my character description and copy of the sheet DAYS ago.
From the murky depths of network layers below the internet ... a behemoth moves. The dark mists part to show only suggestions of the thing's true size and power ... but there it does lurk, and there, it will emerge.
The computer....
...is fixed.
Now all I need is some free time.
Damnit.
Quote from: "Yuthirin"Bjorn, I sent you my character description and copy of the sheet DAYS ago.
Did you? Jesus. It must have gotten lost in the crap that passes in and out of my fserve everyday. >.<
Sorry about that, Yuth. I'll find it tonight.
Also... Halbarad, Irius, I haven't heard anything from either of you about the game. Are you still interested?
If not, there's space for one more person, but I plan to start the game by Friday, whether or not it's filled.
Ahem. Let's try this again:
In the murky depths, a behemoth moves ... brightly outlined in flashing warning lights, with all sensors deployed, and surging along at a pace best described by the word 'timid' it lives.
Perhaps.