RP Concept Suggestion Thread (Open for ideas!)

Well this took decidedly longer than I intended.


RP Name: Hellbent

Concept: (Adventure/Character) Three years ago, Hell literally broke loose, and swarms of sinners, demons, and hellish beasts now roam the land. Amidst this chaos and horror, a group of rogue sinners have hidden out in a shabby town called "Hell On Earth", established by demons, for demons. The sinners, now free from Hell, have been given a new chance at life-- And they intend to use it. Gathering together into a ragtag group, the sinners plan their route to the nearest safe haven: "New Trio City". The trail there will not be easy, and many, many dangers along the way, but if they can make it to their new home, then their chance at a new life may just come true. Hijinks, monsters, madness, and general insanity will occur, making the trip to New Trio one hell of a road trip.

Setting: The world is a heavy fantasy mix that operates under the "all myths are real" rule. Anything can exist, and not all of the creatures and monsters came from Hell-- A good number existed on Earth in secret, but have finally come out in lieu of the new landscape. As Hell itself has broken open from beneath the Earth's surface, leaving many frantic sinners with a get-out-of-jail-free card; and this, predictably, has not been a GOOD thing. A slew of unfortunate sinners are now back from Hell, with hopes of continuing their old lives or possibly to get their payback on the people they knew in life. They're not all bad, of course-- Some are genuinely repentant now, and a number are attempting to make amends --but the majority WERE in Hell for a reason. As such, most of civilization isn't looking so "civil" anymore, and most technology has been rendered useless as Hell-beasts rip through souls.

The general world is a mix of devastated and absurd. In the wake of the massive destruction, anarchy thrives and the stupid now is the new sane. Very little order or structure remains, and humanity is basically playing the drunken fellow running around in his underwear and a lampshade on his head, while supernatural beings of all kinds merely smirk and toy with him. The world allows for the absurd and ridiculous to occur, as much as it does the dramatic and dangerous. Stakes exist, but at the same time, it's totally acceptable to take a break and go on a demon-killing spree with your shotgun. The tone is not as serious as one would expect, and it's closer to a wacky road trip than "The Walking Dead".

Hell On Earth and the Trail Beyond: Hell On Earth is a small little town located a ways away from a local hellhole; it's your starting position on the journey, and where you'll get everything ready before shoving off. But the main path starts from a dead-end city in the Desert, Hell On
Earth, and ends nearer to the civilized, urban city of New Trio. In
between them lies a massive desert, forest, and mountain range filled with all kinds of monsters and madness. In Earth terms, they're likely located somewhere around Nevada, though there's no way of truly telling.

The Trail itself isn't so much an actual trail as it is a path forged by the characters themselves. The world is constantly out to get them, and is basically watching the travelers bemusedly, toying with them, sometimes helping them, sometimes squashing them under their thumb to remind them where they stand. Due to the mixed up nature of the world, the trail can lead practically anywhere, but will usually remain in either desert, forest, or mountain.

Plot Outline: The RP takes place over a series of episodic adventures that put the Caravan through different and bizarre stories, run usually by a GM or GM group. The group may or may not get closer to their goal, or suffer a drastic setback that stops them dead in their tracks. Either way, they'll be on the road for quite some time, but the adventures produced along the way are where the action happens for the characters.

Each "Episode" is run by a different GM or groups of GM, who write a basic plot to follow for the story. It can be anything from "The travelers must find more food and have to bargain with pirates for it" to "someone gets sick, and the cast must deal with it", making the plots either open-ended or involved, depending on the writer. To ensure these plots don't screw over certain characters or glorify them, GM plots must be approved by the other GMs, and consulted with players that they may affect. The tone of these can range from silly to serious-- But a general tone will be decided based on what the players desire, and both players and GMs should attempt to follow that tone through. The absurdist world of Hellbent allows for either drama or comedy to be done, and anything in-between. Situational changes will be made constantly, but character changes (such as temporarily making a character younger, older, reversing their personalities) must be worked out with a player prior to the start of the Episode.

However, the goal of Hellbent is to create a mesh between GM planning and Player organics. GMs must adapt to Player spontaneity, while Players must work with what the GMs give them. Players are encouraged to DO things, be wild, and be absurd-- but at the same time to respect the things the GMs have put together, and use them to their fullest advantage. GMs are also encouraged to be quick on their feet-- If a Player uses a balloon sword to attack a demon, roll with it-- Make something crazy happen, and give them plenty to continue with.

At the end of each Episode, a certain amount of progress will be made, and the group will either go forward or back one point. Along the way are many Checkpoints to reach, where characters are given free reign for a bit before hitting the road again. Checkpoints will be the point where characters "refuel" and can pick up new weapons, clothes, etc. in the story, and also where new arrivals will join the party. Checkpoints are laid out after every 2 points, or 2 Episodes, roughly. In total, there will be 4 checkpoints, meaning a minimum of 8 Episodes, but the amount can be extended or shortened if needed.

Lastly, characters can be "voted out" Survivor style from the Caravan, (mostly to accommodate players dropping out) and if they choose to return later on, they can rejoin at the next Checkpoint as the original character or as a new one.

Specific Rules: 1) Respect GM decisions, especially in storytelling areas. If the GM is trying to write a more serious tale, then do not have your character go on a rampant killing spree for no reason. Having a non-serious character is one thing, but attempting to derail the tone of the Episode is another. (E.g. Having your character kill off a clearly important NPC "just cause".)

2) Players can be "voted off" the caravan by Player vote. This can be used pragmatically to provide an out for players who no longer wish to play, or to be used to get rid of problematic characters without asploding their heads. The vote is decided by a simple majority, and cannot be called unless there is a legitimate reason seen by the GMs.

3) GMs are allowed to play as players, but do not retain story control while playing. GMs may play in a story of their own creation, but the story must be co-written/designed by a fellow GM to ensure it does not intentionally glorify or vilify specific characters.

4) GM control will shift after each Episode, either by volunteer or by schedule. If no GMs wish to take the story, Players are free to suggest their own plots or events. If the idea well runs dry, then we can always go for just organic RPing with the cast.

Goals:
- Organic playing combined with careful planning.
- Better GMing and game-running.
- Focus on a cast/ensemble of characters and developing as part of a group
- Running GM/Player coordination
- Story-planning and writing
- Being goddamn nuts
- You get to fight demons and stuff that's pretty cool

Present day or in the future? If in the future, how much has technology advanced? If in the past, inverse of previous question.

Plot Outline: The plot opens with Deus Ex Machina granting the 12 players the power of the Future Diaries. Each will be visited by a servant of Deus who will explain how their future diary works.

Is this something that we will need to post about, or can keep secret? (I assume the latter, but confirmation would be nice.)

From there, they will be engaging in a battle of kill or be killed with the other players in a big battle royale. However, as the numbers dwindle Deus's motivations and plans will start to become more suspicious and more questionable... Just what could he be up to? Think of this as sort of an RPG, taking down the bosses and uncovering a hidden story going on under your noses that may or may not change the goals of the characters drastically!

In the source material though, Deus was kind of a god-like being that you basically didn't want to mess with. Is he going to be the same in this RP? Because if so, I think that his actual agenda is pretty immaterial- it's not like any of us are going to be able to take down a God with the powers that the God itself gave us.

Specific Rules:

• Players will be allowed to edit previous posts they have made, provided they follow certain rules.
• Players may only edit the direct last post they made (unless their particular diary has special rules that differ from this) due to the rather small time spans that future diaries cover.
  
• Players may only edit a previous post (without prompting) if their diary would have information covering actions or events from later posts. They are required to include, in a spoiler tag, the entry in their diary that resulted in the change in the events of their post.
  
• Players may edit their post, provided the post before their post had been edited. For example, if the following scenario plays out: Player A posts, Player B responds, Player A edits their post, Player B edits their response
  
• You may edit a previous post to add an entry, even if you don't change anything in the post itself, if you wish.
• Players may not read the diary entries of other players, unless given permission. GM's have the right to overrule entries that they think are unfair or breach the scope of the diaries info/powers.
  
• The abilities of the players future diaries will be PMed and kept secret, unless the player chooses to reveal it. Theoretically, no-one should know the future diary power of any other player unless they guess it.
  

In regards to the whole "edit previous posts" mechanic, I'm not positive how the whole thing will work. Basically, players will be able to see future events and then edit their posts and act based upon those? Because I feel like this could get really messy and confusing, with players having to constantly edit posts and retcon actions all over the place, and make it so that other players need to continually reread posts in order to properly understand what's going on in the rest of the RP. [/quote]

With the help of Enigma, a new RP concept arises to face judgement! 

RP Name: Persona ∞

Concept: In this Psychological Mystery RP, players take on the role of mainly (not exclusively) high school students with the power of going into a time that has been wiped off the face of Osenjima - Sunrise and Sundown, a twisted version of Osenjima covered in a thick, draining smog. Characters will experience various themes, while attempting to crack the mystery around the situation.

As with most persona games, the main focuses will be dungeon crawling and character interaction/development, with a very important balance being struck. Most of the time, characters will optimally be putting together the pieces to realize the truth. Dungeon sections will provide build-up to bigger battles, that may shine a light, no matter what direction it points at.

Setting: Welcome to Osenjima. It’s the modern era and industrialisation is flourishing. And on our little island, industrialisation is key! A metal behemoth of factories, eternal construction, electronics, artificial light and steel buildings. A light smog seems to constantly hang through the air, tinting everything a dirty orange… Almost all citizens are either factory workers, desk jockeys, engineers or important businessmen. Still, amongst this there is still a school and most modern convenience… In this society of work and toil, what sort of story is going to unfold?

Plot Outline: In the industrial city of Osenjima, a strange phenomena has been occurring. Sunrise and sunset have completely disappeared, leaving only the period of before and after for each. People can remember nothing of these time periods, and no evidence is left to suggest anything happened…


Except one large detail; A corpse is left behind, being either suffocated or smothered to death within the victim’s home or workplace, with no signs of struggle to be seen. With no evidence or even knowledge of the situation during the time of murder, police are stumped, and no one is charged. As this goes on, stir arises in the city as fear shows through the eyes of the people. However, they stay, as they have nowhere else to go if they abandon their jobs and homes.

Somewhere within this turmoil, a rumour spreads among the students of Osenjima High- a small group of students are claiming to have seen into the sunset and sunrise… However, in this time period they were unable to function; constantly repeating their “normal” actions on a loop… Naturally, these students’ claims were dismissed. Having been ignored, and made fun of; will the truth of these students’ words come to light?

Specific Rules: 1. Players will attempt to give other players visual, oral, or any kind of cues to continue, spark, or change conversation. Cues can include body language, strange tones of voice, or noticeable quirks that hint at something.

2. Players will cooperate with each other in large fights, and attempt to communicate their plans to others clearly.

3. Players will attempt to keep a schedule up, as activity is important in an RP that has a time system.

4. Players will take the setting and premise seriously in character. This does not detract from the existence of silly scenes, which allow characters to destress and have fun. In Persona itself as a series, such scenes happen often. I only ask that you make an attempt to not do anything that could destroy established scene tones, the fourth wall, or anything that should not be destroyed.

5. Players will take their characters seriously. If they are having trouble role-playing a character, they will not resort to making them into a joke, and will talk to a GM instead. (Dave is guilty of this himself, so he feels it’s important to mention.

6. If a player is touching upon sensitive topics, they are to make sure they have researched it. Along with this, players are also to remember that a writer’s opinion is not the same as a character’s opinion.

Goals: Attempting to gain in-depth knowledge of characters’ psyche.
Learning to manage time within an RP setting.
Learning how to cooperate with other players and characters, along with managing character plot-lines.
Learning how to make complex, yet efficient characters.
Handling complicated issues that are a bit sensitive, and how to handle them with respect.
Cool ass fights?!
Symbolism. It kind of defines itself, really. Probably symbolizes the collapse of human effort.

I'd be interested in this!

are you my latest debitors because I have a lot of interest

Throwing up my concept for JoJoMaf. I've basically got the entire OP written up already so this is just that with the extras removed.