Arright, project pitch, take 2. Basically, I thought it'd be fun to do a play-by-post RP and then adapt each session into a chapter of a JRPG using RPG Maker VX Ace. I realize that with A2XT, Talkhaus Revolution & the other projects going on right now this is a terrible time to start something like this, but I went and made this thread like the dumb that I am so I might as well share a rough idea of what I have in mind and gauge interest and availability.
< THE FOLLOWING STUFF IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE >
SETTING:
Contemporary
GENRE:
Crazy shonen/seinen anime shiznitzel
VAGUELY NOT AS SPOILER-Y PREMISE:
"Fandoms ruin everything, Talkhaus members divided between fixing the situation and making things worse."
OVERALL TONE:
It'll start out fairly light-hearted, but it has some serious underlying themes and I've prepared some darker material should players choose to use that stuff later on.
CHARACTER CREATION:
You may base your characters on yourselves or create new characters. Strong emphasis on identity, physical aspects will be very limited at first -- only one species, human, with no special powers or anything. At least one new species and other options, like allegiance, will become available as the story develops, and I'll and introduce ways for players to change different aspects of their characters. So with that said, you may not want to jump in and start creating a character right away.
Players should know their characters inside and out; try and have at least the following details worked out:
- Name and nickname (choose something that would sound natural when spoken out loud)
- Age (preferably young adult to middle-age)
- Gender/gender identity
- Personality, including character flaws (if you're not sure if something counts, check with someone else or use a mary sue/marty stu litmus test)
- Physical appearance
- Health
- Skills and weaknesses
- Hobbies, likes/dislikes, fears
- Goals
- Background (lifestyle, notable life experiences, beliefs, education, etc.)
- Voice (dialect, verbal quirks, etc)
PLAYER CONDUCT (ONCE THE RP BEGINS):
- Follow the forum rules, be respectful and keep things civil (your character can be a jerk to an extent, but don't use them as an outlet/excuse to post anything illegal, harass other players, etc.)
- Please don't respond directly to posts or quote other players, just use quote tags for you own character's dialogue. Also, please make it clear when you're posting out-of-character, preferably through a spoiler tag with "OOC" or something above.
- Be specific about what your character is saying or doing; nothing like "Suddenly [character] shows up out of nowhere and kills everyone with his arm cannon katana" (also, please don't show up out of nowhere and kill everyone with arm cannon katanas, it's kinda rude).
- No godmodding -- if your character has the authority in-universe they can still request or command someone else to do something (within reason), but no directly manipulating other players' characters UNLESS your character has, like, mind control powers or something AND the other player consents to it. Also, mind controlling powers will most likely not be approved.
- If you want to do something other players have a chance to miss, follow the guidelines on Secret Actions below.
SECRET ACTIONS:
Players may do things discreetly by hiding expiring messages in their posts. To do so, write a message using QuickForget, set it to expire in 5 views and 5 hours and then generate the link. The message must be in this format, follow the same rules of player conduct as public posts and not contain any behavior that could potentially create time paradoxes (i.e. secretly pocketing an item that someone else may try to pick up) in order to be considered a "legal" action. Once you've generated the message, take the URL and add it to the end of your post in a font no smaller than 75 and with a color similar to the post background,like this.
If other players catch the message before it expires, they may choose to (A) keep it to themselves, or (B) openly acknowledge it. If the latter, they must take screenshots of both the message and the highlighted link in the post and link to them as proof after acknowledging it; if a player does not acknowledge a secret message in their first post following the link they may still accuse someone of doing it later in-character but they may not use the screenshots as proof. Another player, however, can use theirs to vouch for the accuser.
INFO MANAGEMENT:
Selectively withholding information from different players will be a major element of the RP due to story reasons. There's three categories of players in terms of the knowledge they'll start out with:
- "Initiates" will be given absolutely zilch about the plot when they first join.
- "Members" will each have access to one of several private "common knowledge" documents that they'll update with what they learn as the plot unfolds. Initiates should have the opportunity to become members soon after their introduction.
- There will be 3 or 4 "admins" who will both serve a special purpose in the story and collectively have access to most of the campaign guide, plus viewing rights to the common knowledge document of their subordinates. The admin slots are reserved for raocow, Rena, TLs4 and Argumentable, though if they don't want the positions then current & former mods get the next pick. The fourth admin slot is not necessary for the RP and will be handled a bit differently; I'll elaborate on that privately to anyone interested.
- Players may only add information established publicly in the RP to their respective common knowledge docs, and they cannot share their own doc or information from it with anyone who does not have access to it.
- You may not share privileged information with other players privately unless (A) doing so does not break the above rules, and (B) you first specify you're doing so in-character -- either ask another character to step away from the action (and wait until they agree) or specify you're sending someone a secret message via whatever form of in-universe communication.
PLOT POINTS:
Each player will get a small number of "plot points" that they can use to do something awesome/heroic/villainous/dramatic, such as arriving in the nick of time to help out other players, switching sides or dealing a finishing blow to a weakened character/sacrificing yourself to stop one. The action you choose must be something that would be both in-character and possible for them to pull off; if not, the action is denied and the point is unused. I'll probably look into some sort of system to keep track of plot points and other stuff via sig widgets.
OTHER MECHANICS:
Later on the following may or may not be introduced:
A form-changing mechanic for certain characters
the option to pass along abilities from one character to another a la the remakes of Final Fantasy IV in which
everyone stays dead
other in-battle things that wouldn't be too much trouble to set up without modifying the engine via RGSS
STORY DIRECTION:
The story will be split up into chapters
Ch. 1 introduces the protagonists (initiates, 3-5), two additional characters (members) & one minor antagonist (initiate, special).
Ch. 2 introduces several other characters (up to 5 or so members, one admin) and gives some exposition. A new option will be introduced for character creation and players that use that option will begin driving the conflict of the narrative.
Ch. 3 and onward have no set events; players are free to establish stuff so long as the other admins are introduced no more than two chapters apart. Once introduced, these admins may drive the conflict of the story as well.
THE VIDEO GAME:
Nothing too ambitious. Vanilla RPG Maker mechanics (aside from those mentioned in the "Other Mechanics" section above), turn-based battles, no overworld or routes, just a hub map with an area select menu. The action of each chapter will mostly be contained to the hub and one or two additional areas. All characters will be based on the characters from the RP, and mechanics like the plot points and selective info management will not factor into the gameplay.
PLAYER QUEUE:
- Little Boo
- bkamakaze
- Lunatic Quark
- KobaBeach
- FluffiMasta
CONDITIONS TO BEGIN:
- Development of A2XT finished, or at least Ep. 3
- More potential players signed up
- Private discussions with players about their characters and roles
- Finalization of rules, guidelines and mechanics
- Preparation of private info and documents
- Preparation of the RPG source
#1 mega cd enjoyer AND "making fun of"-er 
