Discuss RP Ideas

[Orcus]

[SIZE="1"]Hello there, fellow OBers. I seem to be in quite a pickle. You see, The Protoss and I would like to take another crack at starting a RPG or two, but I have too many ideas. Sooo, I'd love it if you brilliant RPers could give me some feedback about my ideas- which seem plausible for a RPG, which would be better as actual stories, and any and all tips you could bestow upon me for implementing a successful RPG. These ideas listed below are mine- I'll have brief summaries of his up soon. Thank you for your time.[/SIZE]

[CENTER][SIZE="8"][FONT="Mistral"]STORY IDEAS[/FONT][/SIZE]

[FONT="Times New Roman"][SIZE="2"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="DarkBlue"]Magic Focus-[/COLOR][/SIZE]
The greatest magic user ever to live is a threat to the world- his magic comes straight from the life of the planet, the lives of others. Every time he uses his magic, a soul is consumed- and too defeat the ultimate evil, he must use the strongest of abilities, and risk ending the very world he’s trying to protect.

This man, the last of the original sorcerers, uses the most pure form of magic, and thus, the use of his magic coincides with most natural force in life- death. Mild spells can cause a mortal illness or a sharp, unidentifiable pains. Moderate magic can cause serious illness, severe wounds, or even death to one human being. Powerful magic can cause widespread epidemics or mass deaths. The hero is plagued with a horrible moral battle- his powers are necessary to kill his sadistic rival- whose powers instigate rebirth, and thus allow him to kill and kill and never run out of victims- but to stop him would require him to willingly condemn every being on the planet.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT="Garamond"][SIZE="2"][SIZE="3"]Human Focus-[/SIZE]
An ordinary group of friends takes a camping trip to relieve stress, and, after a freak meteor storm, return with powers. Unfortunately, the responsibility of these new powers may be more than the teenagers can take as their social relations, family ties, and mental state are all strained.

There’s certainly nothing special about these teens- they’re close friends, plagued by problems both large and small, but what teenager isn’t? When they emerge, unharmed, after being struck by a mysterious meteor rock and soon discover they’ve been given amazing gifts, they only imagined their life could get easier. They never imagined how truly horrible this gift would be- how awful it felt to sit in class when they could be flying around the planet, how tedious gym class was when they could easily run at the speed of sound, how little they’d have to relate to with “normal” people. At first they live like any kid would dream of, to escape the monotony- they become superheroes. But with a severe lack of any real challenge, most noticeably, the lack of any super villains, their exploits tire quickly- until they find themselves at blows with their family, friends, and ultimately, each other.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[SIZE="2"][FONT="Century"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Morality Focus-[/COLOR][/SIZE]
In this particular cursed race of men- what’s on the inside counts for everything, and counts for nothing. The more “beautiful you are on the inside”, the more hideous your outward appearance is and vice versa. So a new generation is presented with an age old problem- which is more important, your soul, or your appearance? The populace must struggle as the souls of those who’ve chosen vanity are devoured by the creature responsible for their curse, but the hideous folk never seem to find happiness.

This being that has cursed these people is the greatest of all mages, having even eluded death by the use of his magic. Through his travels he has learned the importance of cherishing life and the importance of the soul. Coming upon a race of men horridly concerned with physical treasures, he became disgusted and decided he would give them the exact thing they wanted more than anything- the only prices being that to attain it they would need to continue their sinful, selfish acts and, that, if they did indeed chose to debase their conscience and soul for something so trivial, they would be deemed as unworthy of a spiritual afterlife.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE="2"][FONT="Felix Titling"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="DarkRed"]Vampire Focus-[/COLOR][/SIZE]
In an alternate world war II fueled by corrupted faith, fallen heroes and manipulated warfare, the people's only hope is a band of “Emperor Vampires” hired by the government to end this devastating war- but they'll soon find that they may be fighting against the wrong evil, while the real villain pulls along the strings of fate.

The highest “rank” of any species is the “emperor” class- a being very humanoid in appearance who automatically assumes leadership of its race. Long ago, 5 Emperor vampires rose to great, god like power, causing the very elements to bend to their will. They were revered as gods, but the people soon became afraid and envious of their greatness, and sought to destroy them. The vampires fled and split their powers into two beings so that they could hide and be spared. Throughout the years, both halves of each vampire have inhabited numerous hosts [transferring their power and soul by biting a victim and residing in their body until they could entirely possess them]. Now, with the war destroying their lands, these elemental vampires are being gathered together to find others like them and fight against the opposing army. However, the force behind their gathering is truly more sinister- as he has already gathered together 5 of the elemental vampires to work beneath him- but to what ends?[/FONT][/SIZE]

[FONT="Monotype Corsiva"][SIZE=4][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE=5]Clan Focus-[/SIZE][/COLOR]
“An Ancient Power Transverses the Endless Expanse,
A Force, Great and Terrible,
Capable of Miraculous Birth,
And of Unspeakable Turmoil.
It Will Fall, Like a Black Star,
And When Arisen Will Search,
For a Mortal Reflection and Vessel,
And Their Powers Will Be As One.”

The great star houses the most powerful being in the universe, one that can bestow any given creature unlimited power- and takes away its free will. This creature lives only for destruction and turmoil, and is fueled by the creation and continuance of these forces of nature. The people of the warring planet of Gaetia are unaware of this danger, however- every nation simply seeks to attain this power to tip the tide of the war in their favor. The 6 nations of this planet had, at one time, existed in harmony, each nation having been granted the ability to control dual, coexisting elements by a divine race of creatures. However, not all of the people of these nations were born with this link to the planet- and these people became spiteful of their empowered neighbors. Now, the 6 peaceful nations have been turned against one another by the emergence of a 7th nation, inhabited by all of those abandoned by the planet. This new nation created an element of their own, a man made, unnatural element- the element of steel- and threatened to destroy every other nation. Each of the 6 nations agreed that they must be stopped- but their methods differed so much that these nations eventually came to blows with one another, and eventually, all out warfare broke lose.

However, the star will prove to be more than any could have imagined, as it turns the prospective hosts sent from each nation into harbingers of death and puts their guardians into a sanity eroding nightmare.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="2"][COLOR="MidnightTeal"][SIZE="3"]Rebellion Focus[/SIZE]-[/COLOR]
The world is run by an oppressive government of former heroes, who capture any gifted individuals and train them to fight under their orders. However, the only rebellion standing against the government might just find their ace in this struggle in the form of a group of exceptionally gifted children.

Centuries ago, the world was faced with a great and terrible oppressor- the king of dragons, the devourer of worlds came to our planet, with the intention of causing the world to sabotage itself. The most capable fighters of the land took up arms against this force, borrowing strength and power from the most powerful forces in their world. They fought a long, tiresome battle against the dragon, but eventually they defeated it. When the dragon fell, it’s body erupted into a dazzling display of light that immediately blinded the heroes and wounded nearby watchers. When the people awoke, they found that a strange type of rock existed all around the planet, one that resonated with strange and miraculous powers- ranging from restorative abilities to destructive capabilities. Some even found that some rock had been imbued into their bodies, giving them the ability to constantly access these powers. The heroes were not so lucky- this odd force stripped them of their powers, of their vision, and slowly, petrified them alive. While they still had enough power to be considered fearful, they gathered followers and enacted a hostile takeover of the government, and elected themselves as eternal leaders. Once their bodies had been entirely petrified, the heroes had their bodies stored, as they could not truly die, and continued to rule, becoming increasingly distant and ruthless with their power. Spiteful of those who had been blessed by their victory, they gathered together any human they could find who had any of the mysterious rock bound to their body and tortured them until they were their pawns for destruction.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[SIZE="2"][FONT="Iskoola Pota"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="DarkOrange"]Extinction Focus[/COLOR][/SIZE]-
The eternal sand storm finally ceases, and a mysterious young man walks out from its midst. He reveals nothing of himself, but his attire and strange abilities tell all of him- he is the last of the sorcerers, having survived their brutal massacre eons ago. But were the sorcerers truly the victims of that onslaught, or was their destruction a necessary evil? And this remaining piece of history- is he a savior, or a new threat?

The truth of the matter is, eons ago, his race of people had launched an attack on the planet, attempting not only to destroy it, but every living thing on the planet. Their motives, however, were justified- they had seen a vision of the future to come, where the rest of the world would use their magic and technology to transverse the galaxy, conquering and decimating planets, taking other races as their slaves, and violating all forms of humanity. At first, the hero only remembers that his people did perform a horrible deed in the past, and is overcome with guilt, but when the vision returns to him, he determinedly takes up his people’s work to stop this horrifying prediction from coming to pass.[/FONT][/SIZE] [/CENTER]

[PWNED]

[quote name='Omega']
[SIZE="2"][FONT="Iskoola Pota"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="DarkOrange"]Extinction Focus[/COLOR][/SIZE]-
The eternal sand storm finally ceases, and a mysterious young man walks out from its midst. He reveals nothing of himself, but his attire and strange abilities tell all of him- he is the last of the sorcerers, having survived their brutal massacre eons ago. But were the sorcerers truly the victims of that onslaught, or was their destruction a necessary evil? And this remaining piece of history- is he a savior, or a new threat?

The truth of the matter is, eons ago, his race of people had launched an attack on the planet, attempting not only to destroy it, but every living thing on the planet. Their motives, however, were justified- they had seen a vision of the future to come, where the rest of the world would use their magic and technology to transverse the galaxy, conquering and decimating planets, taking other races as their slaves, and violating all forms of humanity. At first, the hero only remembers that his people did perform a horrible deed in the past, and is overcome with guilt, but when the vision returns to him, he determinedly takes up his people?s work to stop this horrifying prediction from coming to pass.[/FONT][/SIZE] [/CENTER][/QUOTE]

I personally think that this idea is the most interesting of the lot. It is intruiging when to prevent something terrible from happening, people have to stoop to such lows in an effort from preventing such a thing. The character development in it could really reveal some interesting stuff concerning the story.

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I actually think that the Human Focus idea is my favourite. It comes across at first as a typical superhero story (teenagers who gain powers from a meteor? Yep.), but I think that the end of it contains an interesting twist.

After all, if you have all of those super powers but you have no real "super villains" to fight, what do you do? Would you become so frustrated and bored that you'd begin taking things out on people who you actually care about?

I mean it needs to be a lot more fleshed out to become an RPG, but I think that it has potential. Super powers do not automatically make super heroes, I guess.

Ironically you've presented a lot of ideas here, but all of your concepts seem to still revolve around some central themes. Elements like super powers/magic, apocalypse and prophecies seem to permeate just about all of these concepts. So they are different on the surface, but they all seem to share a common core.

Rather than worrying too much about outright setting, I would look at changing the core focus of what you're doing. What if you tried to create an RPG that isn't based on magic/powers or some sort of ancient prophecy?

You could do something more realistic (like a real-life drama), or you could look at doing a horror story (which may or may not include supernatural elements) or you could even do a parody of your favourite film.

And along those same lines, you could maybe even look at taking a franchise you're interested in and re-developing it with a very different focus (like Shy's Zelda RPG).

So you have a lot of options. It's good to see all the brainstorming anyway. Good luck.[/font] :catgirl:

[Orcus]

[SIZE="1"]Thanks for the feedback James and PWNED.

[LIST]
[*]PWNED- I actually decided a while back to start writing it as a story, instead of creating it as an RPG, because I thought it was one of the best ideas out of the pack, and I really wanted to flesh it out well.

[*]James- You make a good point. Most of my story ideas carry the core themes you mentioned, usually because I like the escape from reality it gives. But, it might prove more productive to delve into other genres for the purpose of creating an RPG- as well as for expanding my familiariity with those story elements.

I'm currently attempting to work on a Final Fantasy RPG, possibly a spar, but I can't think of a great story element that'd make it worth joining- the basic principle is that the main heroes from every world have been contacted by this goddess [believed by Cloud to be Aerith] who manipulated them into believing that all of the pain and destruction is directly attributed to their inability to stop the calamity of their world immediately. They gather the other heroes to make them repent for their crimes, whether it be by forcing them to do battle with one another, or sending them to do miscellaneous, horrible tasks that they have no choice but to comply with- or something along those lines. Any thoughts?

I'm in the same boat for the Human Focus. Do you have any ideas/suggestions for fleshing out the Human Focus idea?
[/LIST][/SIZE]

[James]

[quote]I'm currently attempting to work on a Final Fantasy RPG, possibly a spar, but I can't think of a great story element that'd make it worth joining- the basic principle is that the main heroes from every world have been contacted by this goddess [believed by Cloud to be Aerith] who manipulated them into believing that all of the pain and destruction is directly attributed to their inability to stop the calamity of their world immediately. They gather the other heroes to make them repent for their crimes, whether it be by forcing them to do battle with one another, or sending them to do miscellaneous, horrible tasks that they have no choice but to comply with- or something along those lines. Any thoughts?
[/quote]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I think it's a good concept for a spar. I don't know very much about spars though. For a spar I would tend to keep it simple, but as I said, I'm not too familiar with them - it could be that people who spar regularly prefer more detailed backstories (which yours is, so it should be fine anyway).[/font]

[quote]I'm in the same boat for the Human Focus. Do you have any ideas/suggestions for fleshing out the Human Focus idea? [/quote]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I'm not really sure. Since there is no super villain, it might be that the characters begin to investigate the origins of their powers? Maybe the meteor came from an alien planet or something? *shrug*

I have been thinking about doing a superhero RPG for a while, partly because I'm generally not a huge superhero fan...so I thought it'd kind of be interesting to do my own twist on superheroes. Although what I have in mind is very different to what you're proposing here.[/font]

[Orcus]

[SIZE=1][LIST]To be entirely honest, I'm not too familiar with spars myself, having only joined one previously, and that was quite a while ago. I enjoy the concept- for those like me who, occasionally, just like to write out an action scene, it's an outlet more or less. However, I don't like the other elements implied. I'm not paticularly thrilled with the lack of a linear story [though I think I can get around that]- and it seems as if, being the one who's directing the events, I wouldn't get too spar at all. In judging the winner, if I thought mine was better it would seem snobbish, but I wouldn't want to cheat myself. Maybe a popular vote type scenario?

[*]Well, my original idea, for when I was actually going to write it out, was that the teens would run out of heroic acts to perform [because nobody lives in meteor infected Smallville] so they decide to start creating accidents so that they can save people. Eventually, even that ceases to be entertaining, and some of the teens come to the only logical solution: become supervillians. This pits the characters against one another. What do you think?

[*]Also, two things: 1) I really appreciate your feedback on my ideas, James, and, 2) If you wouldn't mind, could I hear about your superhero idea?
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