The Delay of Destiny (Discussion+Sign Up)

[AnonymousSpeed]

[spoiler=The Tale Before Our Tale]Long ago in Tellius, before even the Hero of the Blue Flames, there was madness. A land raved by a seemingly unstoppable foe, which left the people of the living in fear. A group of marauders which swept over the land like a breeze, as it pleased. But these were no ordinary bandits, in fact, they were as much a mobile empire as marauders. They numbered in the thousands, the best equipment available through their pillage, and were headed by four of the most fearsome warriors and tacticians in history:

Lyna the Great General, who stood sturdy against all opposition like a wall. Her determination was said to stronger than the armor which she bore, and any force lead by her was certain to be a hearty defense against almost anything.

Baarik the Reaver, a warrior with a reputation for plowing through his foes. Yet, he was said to stand tranquil, and that it was his control and skill with his weapons, rather than ferocious force, which made him as powerful as he was.

Verbeth the Tigress, who was the personification of ferocious force on the battle field. Even her own soldiers were afraid of her, and there was a mystery she kept which made her more feared by most all. She only ever spend a single moment on the field when not in the form of a beast, and very few knew and fewer now know what she looked like when in her human form.

And Avion, the Arcsage, a master of magic who was without equal in his own time. The only of the four to hold more authority than another, his strategic abilities were said to be comparable his spell casting. While a common mage might summon a bolt of lightening with a proper tome, it was said Avion could form an entire thunder storm, and was able to fell battalions with his spells alone. He was the one of the generals who was most dreaded by those who would take arms against the marauders.

The ability of these four and the generals they employed below them was great enough that no opposition succeeded against them. Compared to both wind and waves for how futile it seemed to remove them from the land as long as the four commanders lived, they become known as 'the Monsoon.'

However, enough became enough. A small army formed from all sorts of people, who came together and, with their wits and skill, displayed themselves a surprising match for the Monsoon. A small army grew to a one of fair size, and then to a great one, and eventually, after many years of fighting, the Monsoon was pushed back to a large cave in Begnion. Yet, it still seemed doubtful they could be vanquished. Both sides were exhausted, and it seemed the army would be unable to eliminate their foe as long as they remained fortified in the cave. So, a powerful magician came forth and, while the Monsoon did not expect it, cast a powerful seal at the mouth of the cave, which seemed to make them all disappear. Thus, a temporary, very uneasy peace fell upon Tellius, which would eventually fall and bring about great damnation to the land...

***

After the quest of the Hero of the Blue Flame, peace once again returned to Tellius, this time with far greater confidence. However, within a decade of the end of one issue, a prophesy came of another. That prophesy was that a group of mighty warriors, long sealed away and forgotten, would be released upon the land once more in 100 years. That in one hundred years, what had come to be known as the Red Cave would lose the seal which blocked it, and that the Monsoon would once again blow through Tellius. This prediction gained a fair bit of popularity among the paranoid populace, and thus the many rulers of the land came together and made a pact of cooperation on a scale previously unseen. By the time the coming of the Monsoon was prophesied to occur, many forts had been built around the cave, and most all sides contributed soldiers to appose whatever might come.

However, the years passed, the rulers passed, and a century passed, with naught happening. For years after they kept their forces around the cave, just in case. Though as more passed, slowly more and more of the support to project had once seen waned. It has been 146 years since the quest of the Hero of the Blue Flame, and nothing has come from that cave. That which surrounds it is but a few bands of soldiers, and only the cheapest mercenaries are likely to be hired to stay around it. It's become more a place of study and observation than the expected location of a great battle. However, a great evil is indeed about to be unleashed upon the land. The timing was wrong, yet the actions were not...

[spoiler=Start of the Tale]With almost forty years passed since the expected release of the Monsoon, most have taken to believing that it was all a myth, some old superstition from a traumatized generation. However, there is just enough heeding of history for there to still be people watching Red Cave, though not great armies of any kind. The area has become something of an international zone, as all nations are allowed to keep troops and send expeditions there, and most still have some sort of representation among those watching the cave. This has led to it also becoming something of a trade zone. The peace of the past century has left borders largely unchanged, though the space around Red Cave has shrunken since the original predicted release. Most of the once might forts have fallen either into disrepair, Begnion territory or both.

As it stands, large tents and civilian structures are most of what circles Red Cave, with only a few true towers. It has gradually turned more into a place of observation and study since the failure of the Monsoon to arrive on schedule. The area is very hilly, even Red Cave itself is on a large hill, and most outposts are built on hills to allow the cave to be watched from farther away. A scholar named Albus resides in a hamlet of tents a hundred meters out from the mouth of the cave, settled on a rather low hill but with an unclaimed valley between it and the cave.

Very soon though, that prediction will come true in part. Who will be there to witness the release of the Monsoon? And what will they do to stop it?

[spoiler=Application and Character]This RP is supposed to be character driven. As such, the need for calculation will be kept as low as possible. However, in combat, your character is expected to perform tasks reasonable for their skills, class and background.

[spoiler=Skills, growth, etc.]Leveling Up: Since experience and the like isn't being tracked, your character will level up when you feel appropriate, though try to be reasonable by the standards of your typical FE game. Note that you don't just have to fight enemies to gain levels, training is another valid explanation. When a character 'levels up' it will be assumed they will be a bit stronger over all, especially given that there aren't specific stats. There is no specific cap, and levels carry over after promotion (see below).

Promotion: Promotion is only available to characters who start as a tier one class. Rather than be done via a master seal, it will be done at a time which makes sense, story wise. One must contact me when you wish your character to promote. Promotion does not reset level, unlike in the games. A promoted character becomes notably stronger and changes from their base to one that class would be able to promote to, logically. For example, Pegasus Knights might have promoted to Wyverns early in the series, but here that is unlikely to go through.

Skills: This RP will be going for skill distribution more akin to that of the Tellius games. Imagine if you will that your character has a certain amount of skill points they can use for skills. Activation skills will count as about 10, but have their Awakening power. Note that you need not due exact math, as long as the skills you have and the number of them are reasonable, then it should be fine. Just one's ability increases as you level up, a character might learn skills as they level up. Unlike items or classes, custom skills are more welcome, but please do keep them reasonable. However, if you wish to change your skills, you will need to submit your new set for re-approval.

Name: The name of the character. Try to keep it easy to spell and refrain from using the names of other characters in this story or well known Fire Emblem characters.
Class: The class of your character. It is recommended that you stick with a generic class which already exists in a Fire Emblem game, except in rare circumstances.
Starting Level: The 'level' your character starts at, a measure of their ability and experience.
Skills: See above.
Gear: The items your character starts with. Please refrain from having very strong weapons unreasonable for your class and level. Custom weapons are discouraged, except in rare cases.
Backstory: Why is your character here? Were do they come from? What did they do before this mess began? Please refrain from dimensional travelers, time travelers, demi-gods, nudists, reincarnations of heroes or anything of the like. By 'please refrain,' I mean 'there is a 99.Infinity% chance I will reject your application in that case.'
Personality: What does your character act like? What are their more notable quirks? What are their flaws? What are their strong points?
Appearance: What does your character look like? Try to keep it reasonable, at least by FE standards.
NOTES: Important things to note about this characters.
[spoiler=Example: Albus]Name: Albus
Class: Strategist (Custom Class due to his lord-esque role. Uses light magic.)
Starting Level: 1
Skills: Strategist (Units within speaking distance of Albus gain a slight boost to ability)
Gear: Lightening, Vulnerary
Backstory: Albus is a scholar from Begnion coming to thirty years of age. He was raised in the doubtful time after nothing happened at the cave, and as such is incredulous about it actually happening. His family was of fair wealth and sent him away for school, were he studied to become a scholar. Upon his 'graduation' he was sent to the cave to observe it, something he found ridiculous.
Personality: Albus is fairly collected, but can be flustered a bit more easily than most and have trouble empathizing or asserting himself. His focus is quite admirable, however. His preferred pastime is reading, and he actually cares very little for his magical abilities. He can be very impatient if he managed to get in control of a situation, and is notable for sighing to himself quite often. His specialty is in history.
Appearance: Albus is a tall man with a clean face, very dark brown hair and pale blue eyes. He often wears the mahogany robes of a scholar, with are adorned with white lines to form various patterns.
NOTES: As his class name implies, Albus is the strategist of the games army, and thus less likely to see direct combat.

NOTE: Please post your application in this thread.
NOTE: You may apply more than one character, and you may apply more characters later. Due try to reasonable with the amount though.

[spoiler=Mechanics]Character creation, ability, improvement and promotion can be found in the application section.

Pair up is not preset, though you may still fight alongside a specific person if you so choose.

There also are not 'tiles', your weapon will be assumed to be capable of striking a reasonable distance. The same train of thought is applies to movement, as this is, again, more story and character than something simulating the statistics and workings of FE.

Weapons: Weapons will eventually break/run out of magic or otherwise become unusable, and do so more quickly the stronger they are. Healing items have about as many uses as in Awakening. Items can be freely traded to others, though you ought to stick to the weapons your class uses. So, for example, a cavalier can't just hand a thief their spear and then they can use it right away.

Supports: If two characters interact enough, spent time together on the battle field or are in some other way set up to have a Support Conversation, they may do so to increase their support rank. The higher the support between the characters, the better they fight near each other. Like with levels, this isn't concrete, characters with supports will just be assumed to be a bit better near each other and more capable of working together. Supports no longer come in 3-4 levels, and are weaker individually than in the games. However, two individuals may support 5-6 times (6 being some type of familial life-long commitment, though not necessarily marriage), and every character has unlimited supports.

Death: Even if a character of yours is incapacitated (runs out of HP), they will not have to die. However, they will not be able to participate for the rest of the fight. Note that a character of yours will unlikely ever be required to meet their ultimate fate, that is entirely up to the creator.

NOTE: Please, only control characters of yours. To control other people's characters is against the rules.

NOTE: This RP is currently underway! Don't think that means applications are closed though! There's still quite a bit of room for others, just follow the guidelines in Application and Character, and we can work on getting your character involved as soon as possible!

The in character thread, were the actual RPing goes on, can be found here.

[spoiler=Accepted Applications][spoiler=Albus]Name: Albus
Class: Strategist (Custom Class due to his lord-esque role. Uses light magic)
Starting Level: 1
Skills: Strategist (Units within speaking distance of Albus gain a slight boost to ability)
Gear: Lightening, Vulnerary
Backstory: Albus is a scholar from Begnion coming to thirty years of age. He was raised in the doubtful time after nothing happened at Red Cave, and as such is incredulous about it actually happening. His family was of fair wealth and sent him away for school, were he studied to become a scholar. Upon his 'graduation' he was sent to the cave to observe it, something he found ridiculous.
Personality: Albus is fairly collected, but can be flustered a bit more easily than most and have trouble empathizing or asserting himself. His focus is quite admirable, however. His preferred pastime is reading, and he actually cares very little for his magical abilities. He can be very impatient if he managed to get in control of a situation, and is notable for sighing to himself quite often. His specialty is in history.
Appearance: Albus is a tall man with a clean face, very dark brown hair and pale blue eyes. He often wears the mahogany robes of a scholar, with are adorned with white lines to form various patterns.
NOTES: As his class name implies, Albus is the strategist of the games army, and thus less likely to see direct combat.

[spoiler=Pierman]Name: Pierman

Class: Berserker

Starting Level: 14

Skills: Axefair (Increased strength when wielding an axe), Provoke (might get enemies to attack him instead of others)

Gear: Silver Axe, Hand Axe

Backstory: Pierman was born unto a group of traveling bandits, some number of years before the prediction of the Monsoon incident. He took up the axe and became a practicing raider from a young age, but the better armed time period meant the numbers of his group dwindled during his childhood. However, after nothing happened at Red Cave, the group enjoyed a bit more freedom, but grew cocky, and in recent years were forced to surrender. Since Pierman lacked any real nationality, he was tried and convicted in the country he was caught in: Begnion. He spent some time in a dungeon but was eventually given a sort of probationary period as a guard at Red Cave, as Begnion desired to watch it without actually spending money on it. Pierman is actually his surname, he has not given his first name to any of the characters yet.

Personality: Boisterous and eager, Pierman is actually a rather friendly person. He's also a resourceful, though book dumb individual. Being a former bandit however, he can be greedy and inconsiderate to others, though he has greater loyalty to his friends and his years of experience and loquacious mean he's not slow to dish out advice, though of debatable quality. He was able to keep quite a collection of items he stole during his time as a raider, which was the only payment he asked for watching Red Cave.

Appearance: Pierman is a very large man, who towers over most others and has massive muscles from swinging axes around since he was a boy. His hair is short, upright and a pale (almost white) green, while his eyes are brown. He wears a long brown jacket with some rather fancy yellow buttons and patterns (stolen), a faded, ragged looking blue shirt underneath (stolen), a broad white cloth belt (stolen), and brown pants which are to large for him, probably because they're stolen.

NOTES: Pierman, as his class indicates, is sort of like the Jeigan.

[spoiler=Dal]Name: Dal

Class: Dark Mage
Starting Level: 2
Skills: Luna (negates defense)
Gear: Flux, Vulnerary
Backstory: Dal is a descendant of Pelleus. He grew up in Daien but moved to Begnion to further his studies. This was when he learned about the cave, and went to investigate it.
Personality: Dal is quiet, but trustworthy. He doesn't talk unless he has to. Give him a task, however, and he will do it.
Appearance: Dal wears swishy robes akin to that of a dark mage, with blue hair and dark blue eyes.

[spoiler=Cerai]Name: Cerai(pronounced Seer-eye)
Class: Wyvern Rider
Starting Level: 1
Gear: Steel Lance, Vulnerary
Skills: Wrath(critical rate boosted when HP is low)
Personality: Fun loving, intelligent, a bit of a jokester. Can be competitive. Likes to annoy people at times, can be blunt.
Backstory: Born in Crimea, to a couple of members of the Crimean Royal Air Force. She was the first born twin. Having heard rumors of the cave prophecy coming true, she travels there with her brother to investigate.
Appearance: Medium red hair, green eyes. Wears light green armor.
NOTES: Her wyvern is an orange female named Blaze.

[spoiler=Leo]Name: Leo
Class: Wyvern Rider
Starting Level: 1
Skills: Cancel (might delete one enemy hit)
Gear: Steel Lance, Vulnerary
Personality: Bold, witty, level headed. Fiercely competitive, and a huge sore loser, but a hard worker.
Backstory: Born in Crimea, to a couple of members of the Crimean Royal Air Force. He was the second born twin. Having heard rumors of the cave prophecy coming true, he travels there with his sister to investigate.
Appearance: Messy red hair, green eyes, birthmark below left eye. Wears yellow armor.
NOTES: His wyvern is a white male named Frostbite.

[spoiler=Aloysius]Name: Aloysius

Class: Priest
Starting Level: 2
Skills: Miracle, Shade
Gear: Heal, Vulnerary
Backstory: Aloysius is the son of a bishop from Begnion. Despite not sharing his father's extreme beliefs, he is still a relatively religious man, and has worked for many a church. Recently, he has been interested in ancient history, and has traveled the world, both preaching his word and learning about these living legends. Now, he has decided to come to the cave to investigate rumors and hopefully help others who journeyed to it.
Personality: Aloysius is a vocal man, always saying what's on his mind. He's also a bit full of himself, and a bit of a neat freak. However, deep down, he's a nice guy. A "Jerk With a Heart of Gold," if you will. He'll get along with anyone and everyone if he's known them for long enough.
NOTES: Aloysius is, as hinted at by his class, not suitable for combat. He's not the most physically fit, and he doesn't want to get his luxurious white robes TOO bloodstained.

[spoiler=Valerina]Name: Valerina

Class: Soldier
Starting Level: 2
Skills: Adept
Gear: Iron Lance, Javelin, Vulnerary
Backstory: Valerina harbors a dread secret, a secret horrible that she mustn't permit the secret to be discovered by outside party aside from herself, due to this she was forcibly banished from her adopted household because she refused to give them what they wanted. Only a teenager, she went to a nearby mercenary band and made a bet with them. If she could win against the leader, she would be allowed to be a member, if she lost, they could do as they please with her. Needlessly to say, she won of course. The leader believed her as a prodigy and made use of his newly acquired asset training her as much as he could. Unfortunately, before she could reach a principle, he died on her sixteenth birthday when they went off to a battle they were hired to alongside with everyone else in the band, as the sole survivor, she now realize she is not permitted to have a family ever again and embarks on a lonesome journey.
Personality: A rather silent but serious and stoic. She choose to be anti-social due to her history. She views the battlefield as a method to discovering her self rather than a field of massacre. She believes she may find an answer as to why she lives, and why she's not permitted to disappear with her secret. Due to this, she may choose to continue fighting rather than finishing off an enemy if she thinks the enemy may have a specific information for her whether or not they are capable of telling it.
Appearance: A white woman slim build with fairly built muscles to accounts for her frontline capacity. She is incredibly pale and always encase her upper half of face in a protective mask hiding her barely visible eyes. (Think Bertram without the horn or backside) Her hairs are silver blonde blending with dirt and blood of her lonesome adventuring extending down to her breast line. She wear an incredibly ordinary type of armor shaped for a woman's breasts save for peculiar runes inscribed on the gauntlets and to some degree on part of her shoulder. The armor are painted in dim blue preventing a particular identify of her homeland. The only area where her body are exposed are as following: her thighs, her upper arms, her neck, her lower face, and tiny portion of her stomach.
NOTES: Her truth may be revealed depending on the situation around her.

[spoiler=Gabe]Name: Gabe

Class: archer
Starting Level: 7
Skills: Counter
Gear: Iron Bow, Herb
Backstory: Gabe was born in a small market town in Daein. His father was a hunter by trade and he also was part of the town militia. His mother was a cleric at the local church. Gabe was an only child and was very shy around most others because of this he didnt have many friends. At the age of 9 Gabe's father decided to teach him archery so that he could help hunt and protect the town from bandits. By the age of 13 he had become a fairly decent archer and a member of the militia. At the age of 15 however Gabe decided it was time to leave home. Before he left home though he had overheard some people in town talking about some red cave and psome sort of legend. Curiosity overtook his shyness and he asked what they were talking about. After hearing the story he decided to travel there and have a look himself as the story sounded interesting. He is currently 16.
Personality: shy and easy to startle, doesn't usually talk much to strangers, he also isn't the most energetic.
Appearance: short stature , short brown hair, wears glasses, has emerald green eyes, and usually wears a brown wool shirt and brown durable hunting pants and boots, and has a round head and face with a usually tired expression.
Notes/quirks: zones out sometimes and is an insomniac

Edited January 9, 2015 by AnonymousSpeed

[Nanami Touko]

> fire emblem stats and mechanics, from fe10, with no tiles

welp

good luck

oh wow this is also a tellius spinoff

hahahahahaa fuck

"This RP is more story and character driven. As such, the need for calculation will be kept as low as possible."

goooooooooood luck

i can see the mary sues and gary stus now

Edited December 12, 2014 by I have opinions

[AnonymousSpeed]

Well, there's a reason for this:

Please refrain from dimensional travelers, time travelers, demi-gods, nudists, reincarnations of heroes or anything of the like. By 'please refrain,' I mean 'there is a 99.Infinity% chance I will reject your application in that case.'

[MRDRHAWK]

anon I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you

the last time we did statless RPs on SF precisely 0 people were happy by the end of it

and you don't exactly have a great track record for writing a realistic character yourself

plus, no tiles but still FE styled? not even an overly original plotline? using a pre-existing locale?

add in the fact that there's no public application process and, well...

you're basically making a fucking war for our waifus: tellius edition

and everyone knows how fucking garbage that RP was

I mean, good luck and all if you're that sure you want to make yet another cancerous RP, but either way, I will have absolutely nothing to do with it unless you change a lot of things about this, from the application process to the mechanics to the actually having your own original plot and setting

[Nanami Touko]

Well, there's a reason for this:

'cause that'll stop people

[Vestige]

> fire emblem stats and mechanics, from fe10, with no tiles

welp

good luck

The "statistics" are, from what I can tell, in name only. They are more or less arbitrary numbers, used only as a metric to gauge relative strength. If it were up to me, I'd get rid of the component entirely, because it serves no purpose beyond needless complication, but that's simply my opinion, so I wont comment further. Judging from this thread, and it's spiritual predecessor (I assume we all know what I'm talking about here) that the numbers were added in for a false sense of depth, but really they aren't going to do anything. As for the tile system, I don't think it's necessary to have a tile system when the numbers have no concrete use.

"This RP is more story and character driven. As such, the need for calculation will be kept as low as possible."

goooooooooood luck

i can see the mary sues and gary stus now

The only thing I want to point out here, is that a stats system is not necessary in order to prevent the creation of mary/gary stus. If you need numbers to keep your characters in check, that's just a mark of a bad writer. If you can't realize that perhaps the 16 year old teenager, whose only just started wielding a sword, wont have the easiest time besting five enemies at once, that's a mark of a bad writer. If you can't realize that not every woman is going to fall in love with "John the Baker", just because you think he's an attractive romantic interest, that's the mark of a bad writer. But, and this is something I've come to understand, not everyone is born being able to write multifaceted characters right off the bat, and everyone needs some form of practice. I wont comment on whether or not these type of RP's cater to good writers, because from what I can tell, the last RP 'in the same vein' was (in my opinion) quite a flop (and that very may well be because I am not the target audience). But I digress. But there's no reason that this can't be the stepping point for someone on this forum to get some practice, so that they can better themselves in the future. It's not the concept here that's flawed, it's the execution.

anon I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you

the last time we did statless RPs on SF precisely 0 people were happy by the end of it

and you don't exactly have a great track record for writing a realistic character yourself

plus, no tiles but still FE styled? not even an overly original plotline? using a pre-existing locale?

add in the fact that there's no public application process and, well...

you're basically making a fucking war for our waifus: tellius edition

and everyone knows how fucking garbage that RP was

I mean, good luck and all if you're that sure you want to make yet another cancerous RP, but either way, I will have absolutely nothing to do with it unless you change a lot of things about this, from the application process to the mechanics to the actually having your own original plot and setting

Allow me to interject, and say, that I don't think you can speak for all the people who were in that RP. Like, let's be real here, there were over 35,000 posts in that thread. Most of them were probably one-liners, and other such trashy posts, but the fact of the matter is, is that someone must have been having fun for it to have lasted for that long. And just because this person doesn't have a fantastic record of writing believable characters, doesn't mean they can't progress from that point. Like I touched upon earlier, not everyone is born a fantastic writer, and people need practice, and critique.

I don't understand the mentality here, that there is such a thing as a "cancerous" RP, like we're talking about some sort of terminal disease that threatens to wipe out the RP board. We're not some elite exclusive group, and just because some people here can't write in the same vein as others doesn't exclude them to their right to write whatever kind of story they so choose. Let's be real here, I too found the aforementioned "War for our Waifus" as it is so frankly put, to be an incomprehensible activity. Who likes writing this kind of crap? How do people consider this good writing? It was laughable, at best, and this is my very frank opinion. Yes, it was kind of annoying to always see it at the top of the boards, but then I thought, "hey, at least these guys are having some fun". At the end of the day, I don't really give a fuck if someone is writing about their gorgeous twenty year old, gets-all-the-ladies, shonen gary-stu protagonist. It really doesn't affect me, or the experience that I have in the RP's that I myself am apart of. The only time where it would directly impact me, is if this type of writing managed to trickle down into the more "serious" RP's on this board, and at the time of writing, I will go ahead and say that it has not.

And, not to call you out specifically, but why do people come into threads that they find are sub-par, and say "hey man, this thread sucks, and like, even though I know you weren't talking to me specifically, but like, I just want to point out to you that I'm totally like, not joining this shit. And uhhhh, fuck ur ideaz. And uhh, yeh. Kthxbye." I mean, yeah cool, it's fine to express your opinion, and I'm glad you have put up some ways in which this RP can become more polished and suffused with substance (because I agree, it's not something that I find to be enticing to me, even from the sign-up thread), but come on, let's try and be a little more tactful here?

[Nanami Touko]

The "statistics" are, from what I can tell, in name only. They are more or less arbitrary numbers, used only as a metric to gauge relative strength. If it were up to me, I'd get rid of the component entirely, because it serves no purpose beyond needless complication, but that's simply my opinion, so I wont comment further. Judging from this thread, and it's spiritual predecessor (I assume we all know what I'm talking about here) that the numbers were added in for a false sense of depth, but really they aren't going to do anything. As for the tile system, I don't think it's necessary to have a tile system when the numbers have no concrete use.

If people want to get rid of numbers entirely, that's fine, but using an FE system (as stated by the FE10 usage) in the OP, without using a map, feels like it wouldn't work very well. That's the entire point of FE. Being able to maneuver properly on a map as to best use those stats. Otherwise, it just becomes rock paper scissors, without any sense of strategy.

I only brought this up at all because of the seemingly pointless inclusion of them, and the fact that, last time this group (as I assume anon is expecting similar users from before to sign up) did a no stat RP, the result was tasteless, pointless, bland anime characters, with one or two character traits, and almost absolutely no drive. It was a bit of an eyesore.

The only thing I want to point out here, is that a stats system is not necessary in order to prevent the creation of mary/gary stus. If you need numbers to keep your characters in check, that's just a mark of a bad writer. If you can't realize that perhaps the 16 year old teenager, whose only just started wielding a sword, wont have the easiest time besting five enemies at once, that's a mark of a bad writer. If you can't realize that not every woman is going to fall in love with "John the Baker", just because you think he's an attractive romantic interest, that's the mark of a bad writer. But, and this is something I've come to understand, not everyone is born being able to write multifaceted characters right off the bat, and everyone needs some form of practice. I wont comment on whether or not these type of RP's cater to good writers, because from what I can tell, the last RP 'in the same vein' was (in my opinion) quite a flop (and that very may well be because I am not the target audience). But I digress. But there's no reason that this can't be the stepping point for someone on this forum to get some practice, so that they can better themselves in the future. It's not the concept here that's flawed, it's the execution.

That was my point entirely. I do not expect any of the people currently in RPs to sign up for this, and the people that signed up for the last one were just that: bad writers. I don't think a public forum is the best place to practice one's writing. I used to be completely awful at RPing when I was younger, and it's all viewable in public forum. I would not wish anyone participating in a public RP to be able to go back and view their older works, knowing that at any time, anyone else could see them. Doing this stuff over skype, or in a more private place, would probably be better for practice. And then when one is confident enough in knowing that they won't feel like their things are awful and embarrassing, post. There are better stepping stones, especially considering the presentation of this one.

I don't understand the mentality here, that there is such a thing as a "cancerous" RP, like we're talking about some sort of terminal disease that threatens to wipe out the RP board. We're not some elite exclusive group, and just because some people here can't write in the same vein as others doesn't exclude them to their right to write whatever kind of story they so choose. Let's be real here, I too found the aforementioned "War for our Waifus" as it is so frankly put, to be an incomprehensible activity. Who likes writing this kind of crap? How do people consider this good writing? It was laughable, at best, and this is my very frank opinion. Yes, it was kind of annoying to always see it at the top of the boards, but then I thought, "hey, at least these guys are having some fun". At the end of the day, I don't really give a fuck if someone is writing about their gorgeous twenty year old, gets-all-the-ladies, shonen gary-stu protagonist. It really doesn't affect me, or the experience that I have in the RP's that I myself am apart of. The only time where it would directly impact me, is if this type of writing managed to trickle down into the more "serious" RP's on this board, and at the time of writing, I will go ahead and say that it has not.

And, not to call you out specifically, but why do people come into threads that they find are sub-par, and say "hey man, this thread sucks, and like, even though I know you weren't talking to me specifically, but like, I just want to point out to you that I'm totally like, not joining this shit. And uhhhh, fuck ur ideaz. And uhh, yeh. Kthxbye." I mean, yeah cool, it's fine to express your opinion, and I'm glad you have put up some ways in which this RP can become more polished and suffused with substance (because I agree, it's not something that I find to be enticing to me, even from the sign-up thread), but come on, let's try and be a little more tactful here?

I agree that Poly's usage of cancerous is a bit extreme. There was nothing that RP was going to do that was going to ruin the board or spill over, at least not right away. The only time I ever gave a fuck about it "spilling" over, was when people from it attempted to join M. Seeing what they had done in their old RP colored my opinions of them. It leaves other users (aside from Phee who is the most patient person ever) automatically thinking when they see a signup "nope, don't want them near this." It's bad. It stops people from trying again, even if they've improved, or they've quit RPing like they used to. If someone wants to have fun with their gary stus and mary sues, they're free to, and in a private forum, I would encourage it-- who hasn't enjoyed writing out someone who's great at everything, at least once? But as soon as it's in public view, I'm free to criticize it. And you're damn sure I will, because I refuse to believe that anyone who wants to RP will ever get more out of the quick fix of gary stu than they would out of actually building and exploring a proper character.

I could be more tactful, but I believe in a more heavy handed approach in the things I enjoy. I welcome anyone to step up and criticize any writing that I ever do, and I will take that criticism no matter what it is, no matter how harsh, as long as there's something in it to take away from it. And I hope that Anon takes away from what Poly has said, and does his best to make this into something worth writing for. I realize that "worth writing for" is broad, but I mean, something that isn't just thrown together in a couple of hours, for some quick fun. If Anon is serious about this, which I hope he is, he'll take the abrasive response and do something with it. Prove to us that this isn't just him wanting to fuck around for some laughs, and come back with a story and plot that makes people go "I want to throw a character into this world and watch them grow." Otherwise, I hold onto my opinion that cheap, quick, gary stu type characters shouldn't be done in a public forum, if this type of backlash is trying to be avoided (especially considering the previous RP attempt from Anon).

Edited December 12, 2014 by I have opinions

[AnonymousSpeed]

If I might take a moment to say something...I understand being 'cautious' about this. I fully acknowledge my horrible, horrible failure in the not-to-be named thread. However, I would like to say that I think I've gotten a bit better since then, and that I am trying to prevent some of the notable failings which plagued it. I get that this is, quite possibly, a dumb idea, but I'm attempting to be optimistic, and hoping I can make this work. And to be honest, those last two posts are far more encouraging responses than I expected, which I shall of course have to consider.

The "statistics" are, from what I can tell, in name only. They are more or less arbitrary numbers, used only as a metric to gauge relative strength. If it were up to me, I'd get rid of the component entirely, because it serves no purpose beyond needless complication, but that's simply my opinion, so I wont comment further. Judging from this thread, and it's spiritual predecessor (I assume we all know what I'm talking about here) that the numbers were added in for a false sense of depth, but really they aren't going to do anything.

Hm...this is a good point, thank you for it. You are correct, they were a way to guage strength in a general fashion, and I will consider your suggestion. Honestly I actually feel like that's a good course of action already.

[scorri]

I'd suggest putting signups in the thread if for no other reason than to avoid "everyone is a myrm" problem

[AnonymousSpeed]

I'd suggest putting signups in the thread if for no other reason than to avoid "everyone is a myrm" problem

Don't worry, I intend to. So far there's just one, who is not a myrmidon, and I will hopefully add them tomorrow.

[Nanami Touko]

I believe she meant make people post their signups in thread, so other people know what there already is.

[scorri]

That thing. That way people can also see gender and where people are from so that there's variety in signups

[AnonymousSpeed]

Ah, I see, thank you, that's good advice. Alright then, as of now applications will be public, as the consensus is that that's a superior option. The people who've already PMed an application needn't post it here though.

While originally I only intended for one thread, as things are now I specified this for discussion and signups, since that's what it's been used for and suggested to be used for. Thank you to everyone for the input.

[Vestige]

If people want to get rid of numbers entirely, that's fine, but using an FE system (as stated by the FE10 usage) in the OP, without using a map, feels like it wouldn't work very well.

I only brought this up at all because of the seemingly pointless inclusion of them, and the fact that, last time this group (as I assume anon is expecting similar users from before to sign up) did a no stat RP, the result was tasteless, pointless, bland anime characters, with one or two character traits, and almost absolutely no drive. It was a bit of an eyesore.

I will contend with your first point, perhaps I misunderstood what you were trying to say, or I misread the OP, but I'm willing to agree with you here. Perhaps it would be fair to say that this RP is a bit marketed, or slightly misleading. But again, it's not my RP, so I wont be commenting on this point further. As for pointless, I'm willing to disagree on that. The point, of any RP, if I may be so bold as to say, is to have fun. Granted, this fun should of course, not be at the expense of others, but that's a separate matter entirely. Whether or not your fun and their fun align, is also a totally different matter. Was it bland? Yes. Was it tasteless, perhaps. Driveless? Perhaps once more. But pointless? To you maybe, but to the people who participated, I cannot say. And an eyesore? I dunno. I guess? Maybe? Again, it's not really something I cared for much, one way or the other.

That was my point entirely. I do not expect any of the people currently in RPs to sign up for this, and the people that signed up for the last one were just that: bad writers. I don't think a public forum is the best place to practice one's writing. I used to be completely awful at RPing when I was younger, and it's all viewable in public forum. I would not wish anyone participating in a public RP to be able to go back and view their older works, knowing that at any time, anyone else could see them. Doing this stuff over skype, or in a more private place, would probably be better for practice. And then when one is confident enough in knowing that they won't feel like their things are awful and embarrassing, post. There are better stepping stones, especially considering the presentation of this one.

Maybe it's not the best, but irrespective of that, it's a place to practice all the same. Again, there's no exclusivity on this forum (besides the fact that a majority are FE fans, perhaps), so with respect to RPing, no matter how shit of a writer you are, you're still free to choose to post, in plain view, whatever it is you want to post. You know the reason why I enjoy writing so much at this age, was because much like you, I used to RP at a very young age. And much like you, I can probably go back and view my posts, however atrocious they were. This RP was also on a FireEmblem forum (which is now all but defunct), and at the time, I was ten. You don't need me to tell you how atrocious a ten year old's capacity to write is. The RP that I was in? It consisted of me and this one other guy, who was in middle/highschool at the time, and that was it. There were no rules, no stats, no nothing. We didn't know what the fuck we were doing, but it was fun. We got a couple pages out, but due to unforseen circumstances, we couldn't continue. Despite that, my drive for writing persisted until very recently. Since that RP, when I was ten, the very next RP I joined was BtS, almost eight years later.

The point of my long-winded story, is that at the end of the day, you really don't know what can serve as a catalyst for someone else to pursue their creativity, or to find a reason to improve. For me? It was the collaboration of two people, creating a story, and working from there. Sure, now, I enjoy writing by myself, as the sole creator. But back then, it took someone else's help to get me started. There was no way for me to have found that RP, had I subjected myself to private skype chats, or 'private' forums. It just wasn't an avenue at the time, and for what it's worth, I couldn't have been bothered to have gone specifically searching for something like that.

Again, I agree, the presentation of this RP is lackluster at best, but good criticism do not include "this is cancer" or some such vitriol.

I agree that Poly's usage of cancerous is a bit extreme. There was nothing that RP was going to do that was going to ruin the board or spill over, at least not right away. The only time I ever gave a fuck about it "spilling" over, was when people from it attempted to join M. Seeing what they had done in their old RP colored my opinions of them. It leaves other users (aside from Phee who is the most patient person ever) automatically thinking when they see a signup "nope, don't want them near this." It's bad. It stops people from trying again, even if they've improved, or they've quit RPing like they used to. If someone wants to have fun with their gary stus and mary sues, they're free to, and in a private forum, I would encourage it-- who hasn't enjoyed writing out someone who's great at everything, at least once? But as soon as it's in public view, I'm free to criticize it. And you're damn sure I will, because I refuse to believe that anyone who wants to RP will ever get more out of the quick fix of gary stu than they would out of actually building and exploring a proper character.

I could be more tactful, but I believe in a more heavy handed approach in the things I enjoy. I welcome anyone to step up and criticize any writing that I ever do, and I will take that criticism no matter what it is, no matter how harsh, as long as there's something in it to take away from it. And I hope that Anon takes away from what Poly has said, and does his best to make this into something worth writing for. I realize that "worth writing for" is broad, but I mean, something that isn't just thrown together in a couple of hours, for some quick fun. If Anon is serious about this, which I hope he is, he'll take the abrasive response and do something with it. Prove to us that this isn't just him wanting to fuck around for some laughs, and come back with a story and plot that makes people go "I want to throw a character into this world and watch them grow." Otherwise, I hold onto my opinion that cheap, quick, gary stu type characters shouldn't be done in a public forum, if this type of backlash is trying to be avoided (especially considering the previous RP attempt from Anon).

If my teacher's graded my papers based on my previous work coloring their perceptions of my current work, I'd never see an improvement in my grades. An extreme example, I realize, but the point is, is that being able to access someone's old work, is no excuse for immediate dismissal of their current ability. Yes, I admit, there seem to be some people on this forum who have a beat of 'bad' streak when it comes to Rping, but that's besides the point (let's not talk about them, lol). It's quite easy to remedy your 'perceptions' of the quality of someone's work. Someone from that other RP wants to join yours, and you're unsure about it? Explain this fact to them, and then give them a simple scenario. Say, "hey here's a prompt, if you're really serious about joining, write something dealing with this situation that I've handed to you and if I think there's an improvement, we can talk more about your signup". If they're serious, they'll write it. If they're not, that's it. That's the inhibitor that stops them from joining, and the sieve that filters out the people you don't want in your RP. Simple as that.

And yes you're free to criticize, by all means, criticism is the progenitor of good writing. But the manner in which (at least what I have seen) the 'criticism' gets done, is laughable. If people said that kind of stuff to me, in my thread? You know what my response would be? "Yeah, uh, thanks...I guess?" and then I would proceed to ignore that person, because the crap that they spouted to me sounds so elitist, I wouldn't take into consideration the actual merit of the point they were trying to get across. The tone in which people go about "correcting" the habits and tendencies of those 'other' rpers exudes a sense of "because we write better than you, we are better than you".

So yes, if anon manages to actual grasp any of what Poly has said (which are completely valid, and I'm glad he brought them up instead of just saying nothing constructive), I will have nothing but applause for him because the tone and demeanor in which this supposed criticism is displayed is something that I, personally, would have a hard time dealing with. It's not heavy-handed, it's kinda just rude?

[Nanami Touko]

I will contend with your first point, perhaps I misunderstood what you were trying to say, or I misread the OP, but I'm willing to agree with you here. Perhaps it would be fair to say that this RP is a bit marketed, or slightly misleading. But again, it's not my RP, so I wont be commenting on this point further. As for pointless, I'm willing to disagree on that. The point, of any RP, if I may be so bold as to say, is to have fun. Granted, this fun should of course, not be at the expense of others, but that's a separate matter entirely. Whether or not your fun and their fun align, is also a totally different matter. Was it bland? Yes. Was it tasteless, perhaps. Driveless? Perhaps once more. But pointless? To you maybe, but to the people who participated, I cannot say. And an eyesore? I dunno. I guess? Maybe? Again, it's not really something I cared for much, one way or the other.

Then my point was, why include stats at all? The previous one was an eyesore, and the lack of stats allowed the writers in it to go full out in their efforts to write godmodding drivel, but if they were happier with that, why not instead this time, focus on trying to not do the previously expressed thing (of godmodding), instead of include stats that do little to nothing, especially not in their intended domain? I'm sure one could fashion a system around FE stats that doesn't use a map (BtS and RotE got/get along fairly well), but using them without a critical component, especially when they're tacked on for the sake of it, seems like a useless addition.

The point of my long-winded story, is that at the end of the day, you really don't know what can serve as a catalyst for someone else to pursue their creativity, or to find a reason to improve. For me? It was the collaboration of two people, creating a story, and working from there. Sure, now, I enjoy writing by myself, as the sole creator. But back then, it took someone else's help to get me started. There was no way for me to have found that RP, had I subjected myself to private skype chats, or 'private' forums. It just wasn't an avenue at the time, and for what it's worth, I couldn't have been bothered to have gone specifically searching for something like that.

Again, I agree, the presentation of this RP is lackluster at best, but good criticism do not include "this is cancer" or some such vitriol.

You don't need to put yourself into a public forum to get that sense of building something with two people. And if people want to do that, then they can go ahead, I can't stop them. I just don't think it's a good idea. In your situation, you were ten, you most likely didn't know any better. Some of the people that participated in the other thread were probably young as well, but a lot of them are teenagers. Teenagers can be stupid (I'd know, I was a pretty stupid teen), but there's no reason for them to put out something that while fun, is most likely complete drivel. Everyone I've spoken with from that RP has said that they agree it was pretty awful, and they regret it now. I'm sure some of them don't, and that too is fine, but I see no problem in starting somewhere more private, and then PMing someone you think can help. There are plenty of writers on SF that would be willing to offer criticism that isn't vitriolic or pointless, and go in depth with them, helping them write better.

This part of the argument I feel is too heavily opinionated for either of us to really come to a compromise. You think it's fine to do what one finds fun at the time and practice from that, I think it's better to save that embarrassment and practice in private before you jump. I don't think either of us are exactly "wrong".

If my teacher's graded my papers based on my previous work coloring their perceptions of my current work, I'd never see an improvement in my grades. An extreme example, I realize, but the point is, is that being able to access someone's old work, is no excuse for immediate dismissal of their current ability. Yes, I admit, there seem to be some people on this forum who have a beat of 'bad' streak when it comes to Rping, but that's besides the point (let's not talk about them, lol). It's quite easy to remedy your 'perceptions' of the quality of someone's work. Someone from that other RP wants to join yours, and you're unsure about it? Explain this fact to them, and then give them a simple scenario. Say, "hey here's a prompt, if you're really serious about joining, write something dealing with this situation that I've handed to you and if I think there's an improvement, we can talk more about your signup". If they're serious, they'll write it. If they're not, that's it. That's the inhibitor that stops them from joining, and the sieve that filters out the people you don't want in your RP. Simple as that.

And yes you're free to criticize, by all means, criticism is the progenitor of good writing. But the manner in which (at least what I have seen) the 'criticism' gets done, is laughable. If people said that kind of stuff to me, in my thread? You know what my response would be? "Yeah, uh, thanks...I guess?" and then I would proceed to ignore that person, because the crap that they spouted to me sounds so elitist, I wouldn't take into consideration the actual merit of the point they were trying to get across. The tone in which people go about "correcting" the habits and tendencies of those 'other' rpers exudes a sense of "because we write better than you, we are better than you".

So yes, if anon manages to actual grasp any of what Poly has said (which are completely valid, and I'm glad he brought them up instead of just saying nothing constructive), I will have nothing but applause for him because the tone and demeanor in which this supposed criticism is displayed is something that I, personally, would have a hard time dealing with. It's not heavy-handed, it's kinda just rude?

My point with what I said is not that is colors my impression of them (I worded this better over Skype), it's that it colors my impression of their writing. I'm not trying to be black and white enough to say that it would immediately bar me from looking over something they wrote and attempting to appraise it in a new light given improvements on their writing, but if I see them spend time writing thousands of pages of drivel, I'm going to come to expect that from them. They can prove me wrong, most definitely, and I would welcome and encourage that, but anyone's going to expect things given previous examples of people until proven wrong. That's just how people are.

I will concede that your [bolded] example of how to "weed out" those kinds of people is a rather fair and effective way of doing so. I didn't think of doing something like that, and I think that it would work really well, especially with people that you have seen as lacking in the past.

I will admit that most of us in the RP section (myself included) tend to act like that, and it's a rather unfortunate facet of most of us. It's part anonymity, parts conceited, but I can't toss blame away from myself in the ways that I act. I will apologize for coming across as the ass that I did.

You'll note that I didn't include myself on what criticism Anon should take away from this, I only said Poly. I honestly didn't offer any criticism. I pointed out, in a vitriolic manner, what I think is wrong with the current execution. Now that I'm actually committed to the topic (thanks ves ur fun to argue with), I'm probably going to provide something of actual criticism.

I, in my own opinion, will excuse Poly on the grounds that he was a part of the previous thread and seems to hold a lot of negative emotions towards it and things like it. While I would not excuse some of the terms he used, the general tone of the post, to me, doesn't come across as rude so much as he is trying to sound serious about it. I say heavy handed because he truly does strongly feel like this is a bad idea. He doesn't think it led to anything good the last time, and he doesn't think it will this time, unless serious changes are made.

Could he have been nicer about it? Sure. Could I? Yah, most likely will try to now. But I'm not surprised Poly reacted to strongly towards this because of things that went down in the background of the last one.

If I might take a moment to say something...I understand being 'cautious' about this. I fully acknowledge my horrible, horrible failure in the not-to-be named thread. However, I would like to say that I think I've gotten a bit better since then, and that I am trying to prevent some of the notable failings which plagued it. I get that this is, quite possibly, a dumb idea, but I'm attempting to be optimistic, and hoping I can make this work. And to be honest, those last two posts are far more encouraging responses than I expected, which I shall of course have to consider.

Right, actual criticism time.

Honest opinion, drop the stats. If you're not willing to develop a system around them, or use a fully existing one, then there's no point tacking them on where they won't add anything. If you're going to be serious about keeping others (and yourself) in line for what fits and makes sense characterwise, then by all means do that, and trust that the people who signup are going to do just the same. I don't see the problem in godmodding or making overpowered characters sometimes, or if the setting is right, but putting this in Tellius and having characters like you had in your previous attempt to RP will, while it may be fun at times, probably lend itself poorly to a lot of prospective joiners.

Which leads me to my next point, of setting it in an already established canon. You can set it in Tellius. Go ahead. You just need to be willing to write around what's already been set, otherwise people may see it and go "what? That's not how [x] happened/works at all!" and that's a whole other kettle of fish. The appeal of writing your own world and setting, no matter how much you take from other things, is that you can do whatever you want with it. It's your world. You say [x] works the way it works because [y]? People can criticize it, but they can't tell you "No, that's wrong, it works this way" like they could with a lot of things in a pre established world.

It's tough making your own world, though, and I understand that. It's a lot of lore writing, a lot of world building, and a lot of setting things up. But isn't that sort of what writing fiction is about? Being able to create? Sure, there's fanfiction, but it's limiting in many ways, and allowing yourself to explore what you can set up in your own, self created canon, might surprise you. And if you can make something more interesting than some Tellius spin off, you might interest more people. There's a pretty big stigma around fanfiction, and Tellius (especially), for a lot of the regulars in the RP section, but a new world that's enticing and exciting, that doesn't follow regulations, could be just what you need to get people aside from the originals from last time to try and join. Heck, even I might. I love RPing more than anything else on SF. It's probably why I'm bothering to type any of this right now.

And my last point, is to commit yourself. The reason the last topic devolved into one liners and simple drivel is because no one really put themselves to it. You don't need to put out giant, page long paragraphs for every post, but sitting down, getting into character, and writing out three, maybe four lines at least, can seriously help an RP survive, and develop more than firing off one liners like pez in a dispenser. It also helps flesh out the characters more. It lets us know more about them. It helps other characters interact with them on a level that's higher than one, or two different character traits. You don't have to write Gatsby here, but putting six, seven, maybe eight different things down as a base for what your character likes, and then expanding from there into more, will keep things going far longer than any one liner topic. And I promise you, you'll have more fun getting replies like that then you will from one liners.

That's all I got. Running an RP takes commitment, it takes time, and it takes effort to make something that's really enticing. If you're willing to commit to all of that, then go for it. I will not poo poo on real effort. Something hastily thrown together in a few hours, or perhaps even a day, needs to take a step back and look itself over, to see if it's really worth doing or not.

Edited December 12, 2014 by I have opinions

[Dragoncat]

Wow...butthurt about stats/no stats. Seriously people? I don't want to read a debate in a SU thread.

Since it's Friday I will have time to post mine after work today.

[Nanami Touko]

Wow...butthurt about stats/no stats. Seriously people? I don't want to read a debate in a SU thread.

who's butthurt

this is a friendly debate

besides, the title says discussion now

Edited December 12, 2014 by I have opinions

[Dragoncat]

Okay. Here goes. I suppose making it so long after the games' time is to prevent people from being like, Ike's long lost twin etc? Some dragon laguz might still be around. Thought about using an older version of my Rannoc. But, I decided on tweaking these two so that they could fit a century after PoR/RD.

Name: Cerai(pronounced Seer-eye)

Class: Wyvern Rider

Starting Level: 1

Stats:

+ speed

+ skill

- strength

- resistance

Gear:

Steel Lance

Vulnerary

Skills:

Wrath(critical rate boosted when HP is low)

Personality: Fun loving, intelligent, a bit of a jokester. Can be competitive. Likes to annoy people at times, can be blunt.

Backstory: Born in Crimea, to a couple of members of the Crimean Royal Air Force. She was the first born twin. Having heard rumors of the cave prophecy coming true, she travels there with her brother to investigate.

Appearance: Medium red hair, green eyes. Wears light green armor.

Other: Her wyvern is an orange female named Blaze.

---

Name: Leo

Class: Wyvern Rider

Starting Level: 1

Stats:

+ strength

+ speed

- skill

- resistance

Gear:

Steel Lance

Vulnerary

Skills:

Cancel(might delete one enemy hit)

Personality: Bold, witty, level headed. Fiercely competitive, and a huge sore loser, but a hard worker.

Backstory: Born in Crimea, to a couple of members of the Crimean Royal Air Force. He was the second born twin. Having heard rumors of the cave prophecy coming true, he travels there with his sister to investigate.

Appearance: Messy red hair, green eyes, birthmark below left eye. Wears yellow armor.

Other: His wyvern is a white male named Frostbite.

I can write more if needed.

[AnonymousSpeed]

No, that should be fine.

the title says discussion now

That it does. Well, taking all of this discussion into account...

Then my point was, why include stats at all? The previous one was an eyesore, and the lack of stats allowed the writers in it to go full out in their efforts to write godmodding drivel, but if they were happier with that, why not instead this time, focus on trying to not do the previously expressed thing (of godmodding), instead of include stats that do little to nothing, especially not in their intended domain? I'm sure one could fashion a system around FE stats that doesn't use a map (BtS and RotE got/get along fairly well), but using them without a critical component, especially when they're tacked on for the sake of it, seems like a useless addition.

Honest opinion, drop the stats. If you're not willing to develop a system around them, or use a fully existing one, then there's no point tacking them on where they won't add anything. If you're going to be serious about keeping others (and yourself) in line for what fits and makes sense characterwise, then by all means do that, and trust that the people who signup are going to do just the same. I don't see the problem in godmodding or making overpowered characters sometimes, or if the setting is right, but putting this in Tellius and having characters like you had in your previous attempt to RP will, while it may be fun at times, probably lend itself poorly to a lot of prospective joiners.

Based on this and similar comments I do feel that it's likely I'll remove stats in their current form, though I don't assume anyone has a problem with skills which do actually, you know...do things. The idea was to provide a means to see what reasonably chance a character stood against an opponent, but maybe having stats isn't the best idea, especially if this is, for the most part, going by what's reasonable for the character. Now, while I feel that I will keep promotions, I debate a bit more about levels, given that they would be a simpler but still existent indicator of a characters capability and training.

Everyone I've spoken with from that RP has said that they agree it was pretty awful, and they regret it now.

While it was certainly unworthy of reward, I wouldn't necessarily say I regret it. Being such a mess it did point out to me a lot of problems with how I did this sort of thing, which I would have had to learn later, if I learned them at all. And, at least this way, I can share in other people's shame instead of being the one crappy new guy in an otherwise solid thing.

I will admit that most of us in the RP section (myself included) tend to act like that, and it's a rather unfortunate facet of most of us. It's part anonymity, parts conceited, but I can't toss blame away from myself in the ways that I act. I will apologize for coming across as the ass that I did.

You'll note that I didn't include myself on what criticism Anon should take away from this, I only said Poly. I honestly didn't offer any criticism. I pointed out, in a vitriolic manner, what I think is wrong with the current execution. Now that I'm actually committed to the topic (thanks ves ur fun to argue with), I'm probably going to provide something of actual criticism.

I, in my own opinion, will excuse Poly on the grounds that he was a part of the previous thread and seems to hold a lot of negative emotions towards it and things like it. While I would not excuse some of the terms he used, the general tone of the post, to me, doesn't come across as rude so much as he is trying to sound serious about it. I say heavy handed because he truly does strongly feel like this is a bad idea. He doesn't think it led to anything good the last time, and he doesn't think it will this time, unless serious changes are made.

Could he have been nicer about it? Sure. Could I? Yah, most likely will try to now. But I'm not surprised Poly reacted to strongly towards this because of things that went down in the background of the last one.

That would be fine sir, a chair cannot be painted without sandpaper...is that a stupid saying?

I do hope that I can have something like this turn out well, and so far having criticism like this is a good sign for this. Also, I thought I made quite a few changes, with me intending to exercise more executive power, not having a plot which started as a joke, I mean...good stuff can come from ascended jokes, but you cannot copy paste the joke like with that, something which it demonstrated.

Which leads me to my next point, of setting it in an already established canon. You can set it in Tellius. Go ahead. You just need to be willing to write around what's already been set, otherwise people may see it and go "what? That's not how [x] happened/works at all!" and that's a whole other kettle of fish. The appeal of writing your own world and setting, no matter how much you take from other things, is that you can do whatever you want with it. It's your world. You say [x] works the way it works because [y]? People can criticize it, but they can't tell you "No, that's wrong, it works this way" like they could with a lot of things in a pre established world.

It's tough making your own world, though, and I understand that. It's a lot of lore writing, a lot of world building, and a lot of setting things up. But isn't that sort of what writing fiction is about? Being able to create? Sure, there's fanfiction, but it's limiting in many ways, and allowing yourself to explore what you can set up in your own, self created canon, might surprise you. And if you can make something more interesting than some Tellius spin off, you might interest more people. There's a pretty big stigma around fanfiction, and Tellius (especially), for a lot of the regulars in the RP section, but a new world that's enticing and exciting, that doesn't follow regulations, could be just what you need to get people aside from the originals from last time to try and join. Heck, even I might. I love RPing more than anything else on SF. It's probably why I'm bothering to type any of this right now.

Don't worry sir, I fully understand the need to maintain consistency with the source material. I like Tellius as a world, and thus I don't feel like I won't be able to work within pre-established boundaries. I've thought up a world or two in my free time, and it's fun, but I am currently alright with this setting for this story. I'm sorry if that disinterests you, but I'm certainly taking something away from what you're saying. Well, I enjoy breaking down stigmas, so...let's see how that goes, eh?

And my last point, is to commit yourself. The reason the last topic devolved into one liners and simple drivel is because no one really put themselves to it. You don't need to put out giant, page long paragraphs for every post, but sitting down, getting into character, and writing out three, maybe four lines at least, can seriously help an RP survive, and develop more than firing off one liners like pez in a dispenser. It also helps flesh out the characters more. It lets us know more about them. It helps other characters interact with them on a level that's higher than one, or two different character traits. You don't have to write Gatsby here, but putting six, seven, maybe eight different things down as a base for what your character likes, and then expanding from there into more, will keep things going far longer than any one liner topic. And I promise you, you'll have more fun getting replies like that then you will from one liners.

That's all I got. Running an RP takes commitment, it takes time, and it takes effort to make something that's really enticing. If you're willing to commit to all of that, then go for it. I will not poo poo on real effort. Something hastily thrown together in a few hours, or perhaps even a day, needs to take a step back and look itself over, to see if it's really worth doing or not.

Why of course sir, that's all important things I learned RPing elsewhere, which I think was a good learning experience for me.

Well, that's fine, you've put in more than I would have expected, so thank you. I have a fair bit of free time, so...I think I'll manage. And while it might not show, I've spent a bit thinking about this idea, though of course there's a bit more to be done.

[Dragoncat]

So...

I'm assuming I'm accepted?

[Nanami Touko]

Well, that's fine, you've put in more than I would have expected, so thank you. I have a fair bit of free time, so...I think I'll manage. And while it might not show, I've spent a bit thinking about this idea, though of course there's a bit more to be done.

Then the last thing I would suggest you do is go back into your OP and spend time writing up more than three paragraphs for the story and setting. There doesn't even seem to be a place where everyone gets introduced. It's incredibly bare bones and doesn't tell someone much that they can add to their character backstory or talk about where they're from.

[AnonymousSpeed]

As I don't see a reason not to, yes. Those two are added to the first post, which is where I'll list accepted applicants.

Then the last thing I would suggest you do is go back into your OP and spend time writing up more than three paragraphs for the story and setting. There doesn't even seem to be a place where everyone gets introduced. It's incredibly bare bones and doesn't tell someone much that they can add to their character backstory or talk about where they're from.

Ah, yes, a good idea, I'll work on that, thank you.

Edited December 12, 2014 by AnonymousSpeed

[AnonymousSpeed]

First page updated. As suggested, I added a few more details to the story and the world to hopefully make it more clear and enjoyable for people. I also ditched the statistics, though if you still like the idea you can keep in mind the advantages and disadvantages of your character compared to the standard member of their class. I did keep the levels and skills however.

[Dragoncat]

Nice, a laguz antagonist! And a female tiger too! I wonder why IS gave us all male tigers...and all male hawks for that matter. I happen to have a tiger and hawk among my OCs, both female...but as we digress.

You put skills and equipment twice on Cerai, heads up :)

[AnonymousSpeed]

Indeed. I actually think that's part of the reason I came up with this character.

Ah, my bad, thanks for pointing that out.