No problem. And I had taken NPCs as a given anyway. Although, what kind of world is it we're looking at exactly? Is it politically complex, with efficient governing systems etc., or is it a simple "this is the king, he can boss anyone around" kinda thing? And what kind of im[act does the government/monarch have on the guilds, if any? Or is that for us to decide?
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This all sounds good to me. I think the RP would handle numbers better with Two conflicting guilds and one wild card though. Personally, I think the wild card should be run by an INCREDIBLY talented assassin, who remains anonymous because he's completely useless when running large numbers of agents. This gives them the power to resolve issues (for a cost) but removes them as a threat. The other two would probably work as broken factions of a previous guild that fractured during a political upheaval of some kind. They have to remain hidden because the fragile political state could lead to outright civil war if the battle goes public. This also means that several assassins will know each other personally, and create conflicts/tensions. It could also explain why the assassins are reluctant to kill one another (it's a bit of a pain killing/being killed in RPs) unless necessary.
We should also come up with some kind of system for actually killing other players (if it's even possible)
Just my £0.02
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No problem. And I had taken NPCs as a given anyway. Although, what kind of world is it we're looking at exactly? Is it politically complex, with efficient governing systems etc., or is it a simple "this is the king, he can boss anyone around" kinda thing? And what kind of im[act does the government/monarch have on the guilds, if any? Or is that for us to decide?
Details are a bit iffy on this part. I'm not the expert on the social structure of such a city.
Though I know the economy has to be mercantalism. Whoever has the gold runs the show. And certain powerful industries have political say in things. Though with that in place, I think the authority here is going to have to be a monarchy (one that justs sits back and is content so long as it gets tax money) We don't want another element to worry about. As for the Sub-structure of Guilds, that's for you to decide.
QUOTE (Sparrowsmith @ Sep 20 2011, 01:26 PM)
This all sounds good to me. I think the RP would handle numbers better with Two conflicting guilds and one wild card though. Personally, I think the wild card should be run by an INCREDIBLY talented assassin, who remains anonymous because he's completely useless when running large numbers of agents. This gives them the power to resolve issues (for a cost) but removes them as a threat. The other two would probably work as broken factions of a previous guild that fractured during a political upheaval of some kind. They have to remain hidden because the fragile political state could lead to outright civil war if the battle goes public. This also means that several assassins will know each other personally, and create conflicts/tensions. It could also explain why the assassins are reluctant to kill one another (it's a bit of a pain killing/being killed in RPs) unless necessary.
We should also come up with some kind of system for actually killing other players (if it's even possible)
Just my £0.02
I don't like having 2 teams. That gives little incentive for people on opposite sides to actually communicate. Besides, if it was 1 vs 1, why would there be a power lock? We would just be at civil war.
I suggest 3 guilds, and maybe the ninja assassins, because this way it's more like a board game. Everyone's having fun until one person starts winning, and then they screw you over.
If I may, i'd be more than glad to work on the Monarchy and possibly one of the guilds. I have a few older characters of mine which would actually fit quite well in those positions.
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Maybe we could incorporate a purely NPC guild, perhaps the "black horse" kind of one that Ryuga mentioned? The one that can turn the tides at any time? It'd force the players to occasionally unite in order to survive against a third party NPC group; the closest thing to an "antagonist" we could hope to get out of this kind of roleplay.
Yeah, having more than 2 houses does sort of stretch the playerbase thin.
But like I said, we want character interaction. If we do 2 houses, than the most we get out of it is a bunch of combat encounters. While these may be fun, they get old after a while.
I think it's necessary to have at least an organized 3rd faction, to act as a wedge. Not one that will shift power balance instantly, like a single assassin.
I'll go ahead cross out the idea for Guild 4 though. It is a legidimate concern.
Though we could mitigate this problem by increasing the minimal character count. If each player had 2 characters, than we could get at least 3 characters per house.
Religion needs to be addressed if you could do that.
And update. Just a few rough outlines of certain Guilds.
House Eisern House Eisern was one the first Guilds to be established in the City of Guilds The origins of house Eisern can be traced back a century or so when Rex Eisern a wealthy nobleman in his good fortune, took an early lead in the mining operations of Gold. Having accumulated even more wealth, since then, he invested in other areas of the mining industry, and eventually gained the largest foothold for raw materials. Selling its materials at a marked up price, Eisern became a leading powerhouse. House Eisern employs a system inspired by Social Darwinism. The current leader Albert Eisern and members of the main family are treated essentially like royalty. Meanwhile the servants and workers the house employees are given the bare minimum for compensation. House Eisern’s believes money to have the largest say in matters. The house has a large history of solving its problems with bribery, or threats. They regularly buy out businesses that have a chance of threatening their sector, or paying politicians to promote their ideals, or strike down unfavourable bills. Get on House Eisern’s bad side, and they’ll change the financial situation around you until you end up the poorest and most desperate man in the city If that’s not an option, money is a good way to get someone to stab you in the back. The third leader of the house Aaron Eisern had a peculiar interest in artifice, and was a prominent Artificer, hoping to discover the secrets of eternal life. Though his dreams were never realized, they are still passed on from father to son. All knowledge of this trade are kept under tight lock and key, thus no one knows what sort of magic the house is dealing with in the rumoured basement laboratories. Scientists and engineers of City could achieve a status of power and prestige so long as they devote their services to House Eisern’s artifice projects. Eisern does not have the best of relationships with the other guilds. The House tends to come across as antagonistic and condescending towards all non-members. The only reason they receive any respect from their neighbours, is because of how much of the economy they control. With all these taints, if any Guild is attempting to take over The city of Guilds, one would certainly put House Eisern on the top of their list.
Important figures: Coming soon.
Society of Revolutionary Nourishment By Trickster
The Society of Revolutionary Nourishment, or SRN, is a relatively young guild being only sixty-five years old, built as the foundation of free speech and controversial ideas. Its members are educated in secret, taught the ins-and-outs of politics (both modern and historical), philosophy, and coercion. Its goals are to place one such member in a seat of great national power, so that he or she may make decisions that are ground-breaking, unheard of, and (most importantly) influenced by the guilds higher-ups. Its founder was one Alexander LeBell, a scientist whose theories and conclusions often contradicted that of the [INSERT MAJOR RELIGION HERE]'s beliefs. Tired of being censored, (both verbally and otherwise) he gathered a small group of followers and educated them. It was extremely difficult, being that they were all orphans or rejects who had never been to school. Yet his genius prevailed. He taught by rewarding them for correct answers, rather than punishing them for wrong answers, and so they were more determined to accept the teachings. In the end, he succeeded, and turned a group of city scum into the most intelligent party of individuals seen in recent years. These eight orphans, along with Alexander himself, are known as the "Physical Deities", in a sort of ironic worship.
Although originally secluded entirely, the guild has, over its sixty-five year existence, revealed itself slightly, manipulating politicians directly (rather than through scapegoats and proxies), hiring cut-throats and spies, and ultimately increasing the extremity of their beliefs from mere thoughts and hopes to actions with very real, very dangerous consequences. This is due largely to current Guildmaster Richard Tarkin's passion for the Guild and its ideals, feeling that it must overthrow the ignorance of society as a whole if there is ever to be any kind of substantial change. His son, Silva Tarkin, is not so passionate, remaining in the Guild by his father's side solely for the promise of battle, which he loves more than anything. Richard's daughter, Era, has no interest in the Guild's affairs whatsoever.
KEY MEMBERS (NPCs): Richard Tarking - Leader Silva Tarkin - Security Chief / General Lucas Bigg - Lawyer Harry Trutt - Political Representative Garreth Vollkern - Head of law "donations"
This post has been edited by Ryuga: Sep 26 2011, 09:29 AM
Oh, i'll post the monarchy and guild I thought up in here then.
The Falawmire Royal Family
Long before The City of Guilds was created, the land was filled with several spread out "clans" which mostly kept to themselves and had little to no contact amongst each other. Until one man, by the name of Alphonse Falawmire, a general of great renown from one of those tribes, started dominating all of the other tribes until he eventually unified them all under the same banner. Together, the city grew and evolved with Alphonse and his sons as the kings. As time passed, however, the guilds and merchants slowly started taking the political power, though the Falawmire Lineage remains, it is still mostly symbolical at this moment.
The current king, Cristoph Falawmire, does nothing but sit on his throne most of the day and give eventual speeches, the biggest participation he has in the politics is when worries and complaints from the people are voiced to him and he then transfers them over to the Guild leaders. The King's wife passed a few years ago, leaving the young Leanna Falawmire as the only avaible successor to the throne, even though she shows no interest in taking this position, neither shows to be proper for it. One thing is clear, as soon as Cristoph passes away, the monarchy won't last more than a few months in Leanna's hands.
Important NPCs
Cristoph Falawmire - Symbolical Monarch - Age 67
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Despite being a Monarch, Cristoph is well aware of the condition of his family and and the fate it undoubtedly awaits them. Even though generally regarded as a fool for the major populace for not doing anything to keep the guilds from taking over, he simply realized that there's no point in trying, for there is nothing he can do without simply speeding up the process. He is very gentle and always tries to be nice to everyone around him, even though that sometimes gets him into trouble for he doesn't seem to be able to realize he can't always keep everyone happy. He is awfully weak spirited and will give up easily regardless of the situation, he is most of the time either depressed or lost in thought, the only times when he even manages a few smiles is when he's together with his daughter, princess Leanna.
Leanna Falawmire - Princess - Age 21
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The heir and next of the Falawmire Lineage, Leanna is rather care free and distracted. Usually not worrying even a single bit about herself, others and the world around her. She thirsts for adventure and excitement at all times, being quickly bored by politics or other things of the sort. Due to her obssesion with finding adventure, she oftenly gets herself into trouble, to the point where Cristoph hired a bodyguard from the Red Steel (See below) to safeguard her. Despite that, she still tends to get herself into trouble quite often, which always ends up with her bodyguard, Norroar, dragging her out of it. As nobility, she had to learn a way to fight and defend herself, even if she had a bodyguard, as such, she's a proficient close quarters fighter, knowing several wrestling moves both for self-defense and offense. She has a rather tomboyish nature, being easily annoyed and agressive most of the time. She's also very childish and possesive.
Norroar Darkwood - Royal Guard - Age 23
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A bodyguard hired from the Red Steel Company, one of the guilds that control the City of Guilds. Because of his training and discipline received in the Red Steels, Norroar is always serious, his answers to each and any thing are short, logical and straigh to the point. He was born in a small farming village in the outskirts of the city so his knowledge is rather restricted. He is a quick learner, however, having grasped a little bit of experience regarding political affairs on his time as royal guard. (He also has learned on his time as royal guard how to properly carry a drunk princess back to the castle...) He holds no real attachment to the assignment he was given, but never shows any objection towards it, another consequence of the discipline he received in the Red Steel Company.
As the The City of Guilds grew, it became necessary the creation of a specialized military force to protect the city, from the monsters outside of it and from itself on the inside. At this moment, The Red Steel Company was created. The Red Steel are the city's army, police, jail, judge and executioner if it proves necessary. The Guild follows a positivist vow of "Order and Progress" and educates all of it's members appropriately, not only the trainer of the best warrior in the land, the Red Steel also supports heavily the technological advancement of the city, bearing a great disdain for the arts of magic in it's entirety. Enemies of the Red Steel, when small and unknow, are usually dealt with the use of violence and made an example of. Whenever someone start stirring up trouble for The Red Steel, it's quite common for said person to "disappear" for some time, if not forever, when they come back, however, they return weak and frail, and no longer dare stand up against the Red Steel.
The Red Steel Company is organized in a quite simple manner, everyone inside of the organization has a rank, the higher ranks give orders and the lower ranks obey, or fear incarceration. The Red Steel's objective is to make the whole city work in this manner and stimulate the industry as much as they can.
Important NPCs
Wilma Strois - Grand Master of The Red Steel Company - Age 31
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As the current Grand Master of The Red Steel company, Wilma has been focusing on catching up with the other guilds after the delay caused by the previous Grand Master. Wilma follows the Red Steel code to heart, being always serious, logical and direct. She gets aggresive when her authority is questioned or when she hears bad news, oftenly show in the form of slamming her fists into nearby objects, as such, her office's tables and walls are all slightly cracked. Wilma is very dedicated to the task given to her and intends to stimulate the Red Steel as much as she can during her time as it's leader, she is very strict with all of the other Guild members, with the exception of Navarro, for some reason. She is a skilled spearwoman. Despite the military background, she still takes pleasure in the "simple things" of life, such as jewels, pretty clothes and other frivolities, though she keeps herself from showing that side of her while guild members are around.
Eztyer Hineack - Grand Marshal of The Red Steel Company - Age 28
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Eztyer is Wilma's second in command and counsellor. Much like the rest of the Red Steel company members he's an expert fighter, his focus being blades. Following the Company's standard, he is very mature and logical, he is know among the major populace as the strictest and most violent out of all members of The Red Steel Company, sadly, he is also the one responsible for overseeing the judgement and execution of criminals in The City of Guilds. It is speculated that his behaviour towards criminals originated back way before he joined The Red Steel, when his sister was murdered and raped by a group of outlaws.
Daveth Dynale - Retired Ex-Grand Master of The Red Steel Company - Age 63
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After running the Red Steel for thirty years, Daveth retired and passed the leadership over to Wilma. Though he follows the Red Steel code, he is lazy, to the point where, even though he leaded The Red Steel company, he was rarely seen by anyone, spending most his time in the Guild's headquarters doing minimal tasks. While he was in charge, The Red Steel Company suffered a period of recession and loss of power, though it is recovering it slowly under new direction. Now Daveth spends his old age as a sort of counsellor for Wilma and all of the other Company members.
Ridvan Simyl - Marshal of The Red Steel Company - Age 29
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Ridvan is the responsible for the Police and Intelligence department, follows the Red Steel code. Even though Red Steel members are know for being quiet, Ridvan gets to the point where few people ever heard his voice. He seems to be oftently lost in thought and is quick to dismiss anyone who doesn't have anything urgent to tell him. Despite the outer quiet and anti-social shell, Ridvan is also know in another way around The City of Guilds, as a writer. While not on duty, Ridvan writes small novels and poetry and has published a wide variety of books. If one were to try and judge his personality from his literary works, one would conclude him to be a romantic and religious individual, holding a tight belief for the concepts of fate and faith. He is also an escapist, as shown in his works, he wishes to free himself from the shackles of duty and flee to a simply life on the fields and forests. He also constantly likes to speak about the beauty of little innocent things. Bluntly and rudely put, he's an effeminate fruitcake, the last person to refer that way to him disappeared. He is an expert marksman.
Navarro Darkwood - Marshal of The Red Steel Company - Age 26
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Older brother of the Darkwood family, Navarro is the Chief Medical officer of The Red Steel company. Unlike the other members of the guild, Navarro doesn't seem to take the code too seriously, following it only on public, when in private or in smaller groups, Navarro is a lot more talkative and extroverted, strangely enough, he is never picked on by Wilma for acting like that, even though when someone else slips they are immediately scolded by her. He enjoys helping others in any way possible, though he will rarely put other people's needs above his. He dislikes dirtyness and unsophistication, it is speculated that he has obsessive compulsive disorder, though he denies it while violently brushing the speculators faces with soap. He is an expert of hand-to-hand combat and uses his medical knowledge to his advantage, carrying with him a wide variety of poisons and sedatives.
I'm still working on the Bestiary, I will post some of it tommorow.
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Since we've taken the background this far, we may as well expand it into a full-on appendix of information. The kind of thing we could set other RPs in, like a franchise to use as we wish (without the legal stuff ). Maybe we could go into some more general history on the "city of guilds" (on top of some of the backstory presented by Nicsp on the monarchy), its climate, and possibly even the country/province/continent it is located within.
We still need to write up info regarding the Assassin Guild, you could lend a hand to Kisuke with the writing of religion if he wants it. That and I could always use some help with the bestiary, since it's no where near as big as i'd like it to be at the moment. Oh, a word of warning, if all goes according to plan, this bestiary will give RPers nightmares for quite a while.
So far the bestiary includes, other than non-fantasy creatures, the following.
Night Predators
The stuff of nightmares for people who travel outside of the city walls.
Boogeyman (A.K.A Slenderman)
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This tall and thin humanoid creature has the torso of an average human, but it's arms and legs are incredibly long, it has no face and it's skin is pitch black. Its skin feel slightly sticky to the touch, much like it was some sort of ink instead of skin. Its mouth is located right on the torso but it remain closed and is hard to see most of the time, once the Boogeyman immobilizes its victim by wrapping both of its arms around it, it follows by slowly pulling it closer and devouring it in a single bite. It's a strictly nocturnal creature, not only is the Boogeyman is it sensible to direct sunlight it also stands out quite a bit in broad daylight. As such, during daytime it usually spends its time waiting in caverns or other places where the light doesn't reach it.
Gremlins
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These small black and quick creatures usually hunt in packs at night, since they lack eyes they instead make low gnarling noises as they walk around with their pack, by following their companions sounds, they know where they have to go to follow the pack and know when there is prey nearby for them to focus their attacks on. They have very sensible ears and can hear things such as the cracking of a fire from over a mile away. As a weakness, however, several loud noises in unison tend to disorientate them and oftenly causes them to panic and scatter, alas, gremlins are pretty defenseles when alone.
Squidward Molusk men
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Usually lives in swamps or close to the shores, these creatures will try to pull into the water any unwary creature that gets too close. Once underwater, Molusk men paralyze their victim with a spray of poisonous ink which comes from amidst the tentacles in their mouth. They are a cowardly race, however, and rely on quickly dealing with their prey before it has the time to react, in the case that the victim isn't pulled in immediately by their tentacles or somehow resists their poison, it will immediately run away to safety.
Sylvans
Usually not aggresive, these creatures usually know basic speech and will not bother travelers unless said travelers attempt to do something harmful to them or to the flora around.
Ent
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With ages that can range from a few hundred years to millenia, these gigantic trees are the smartest and wisest out of their group. Though they lack any form of defending themselves other than Underground Horros (See below), their trunks are highly valued for being incredibly durable, oftenly causing them to be cut down for people seeking to sell their wood. Their fruit are also said to have healing capabilities.
Underground Horror
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These creatures, unlike their big, ancient cousins, are unable to generate their own food and energy through photosynthesis, so instead, they estabilish a mutualist relationship with Ents. While the Ents shares a portion of it's energy with Underground Horrors to keep them alive, they live in colonies rather close to the Ents and will rise to defend their benefactor, if necessary. They're not as intelligent as Ents, keeping mostly to themselves and being poor conversationalists, unlike Ents, who can ramble for hours if the mood takes them.
Human look-alikes
Some monsters grew an alarming similarity to humans and can sometimes manage to sneak into human towns unnoticed and live among the people convincingly, however, these are often hunted by The Red Steel or specialized monster hunting groups formed in the City. Though several of them are harmful towards humans, some try to fit in, though such situations are rare.
Two-mouthed Maiden
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An hermaphrodite race, these creatures can easily pass off as a beautiful human girl. All of these creatures have very long hair, which they can actually control as if they were arms if they so desire to. Their front mouth is merely a fake, it is unable to actually ingest food. Their real mouth, located in the back of their heads, has big squary teeth and feeds mostly on grains or meat. They are relatively rare, to the point they are considered mere myths by some people.
Shade
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A close cousin of the boogeyman. Shades are creatures with no definite form, though they tend to assume shapes that may call the attention of possible prey, which can range from the shape of a beatiful girl, a handsome man or even objects. When not in a definite shape, they are pitch black and sticky, having only a single red eye slides it's way across the body. They can take pretty much any shape as long as it has roughly the same volume as them, which usually is around 0,075m³ (The average human has 0,07m³), they can also hide by pretending to be other creatures shadows. They are intensively sensible to light, to the point being exposed directly to the sun can be lethal for a shade if they stay outside for longer than a few minutes. The only way to kill a shade is either by exposing it to sunlight or by putting under extremely low or high temperatures, since the wounds caused by slashing, piercing or blunt weapons will simply dismantle their form and possibly stun them temporarily.
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Edit
Just saw Trickster's post, that sounds great by me...Except..Well, I can help brewing up some more historical info. Though, honestly, I suck at geographical information so I hope one of you guys is good at it. Regarding climate, however, as you can see from the bestiary, I had imagined The City of Guilds as being located in the middle of a heavily forested continent, with several swamps and caves all around, with the City of Guilds standing proudly on the center of the island...Also...Can we think of an actual name for the city? City of Guilds sounds a bit...Too simple.
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Maybe city of guilds could be a nickname, like Kirkwall in dragon age 2 which was known as the city of chains.
As for at bestiary... It looks fantastic. It has room for diverse enemies that require their own strategies to beat them, rather than every fight being a simple matter of "hit until dead, don't get killed" fights that we're seeing from most RP enemies (sort of like the Creepers and Endermen in Minecraft, the Big Daddies in Bioshock, or the Helicopters in Half-Life, all very unique enemies to fight). Even still, a few simpler, more relatatable enemies that people know and love would be nice too. Manticores, Werewolves, animated corpses; things that already exist, but meet the horror theme.
I knew I was forgetting something, lol. I'll add a few more, including simple ones as well, tommorow after I get home from school.
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And Niscp continues to impress. We seem to be making some wornderful progress. Keep up the good work everyone. And yes we do need a name for the City. Anyone got suggestions? I suck at coming up with names.
Sparrowsmith
Can't mention anything that hasn't already been listed by Trickster or Niscp havn't already stated. Take your pick.
Trickster
I agree with your idea completely. Even if say this RP fails, we have all this compiled info we can use to continue pumping out RP's.
Niscp
While the bestiary is shaping up to be rather awesome, I feel like we might not use some of it, since the RP will primarily take place in the city. I just thought I should advise you to pool your time into street creatures rather than ones you would see in the wilderness.
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Sep 20 2011, 11:11 AM
Although, what kind of world is it we're looking at exactly? Is it politically complex, with efficient governing systems etc., or is it a simple "this is the king, he can boss anyone around" kinda thing? And what kind of im[act does the government/monarch have on the guilds, if any? Or is that for us to decide?
What else is there to do?
It has room for diverse enemies that require their own strategies to beat them, rather than every fight being a simple matter of "hit until dead, don't get killed" fights that we're seeing from most RP enemies (sort of like the Creepers and Endermen in Minecraft, the Big Daddies in Bioshock, or the Helicopters in Half-Life, all very unique enemies to fight). Even still, a few simpler, more relatatable enemies that people know and love would be nice too. Manticores, Werewolves, animated corpses; things that already exist, but meet the horror theme.
