Special People: An RTDExplanation follows.
If you ever have a question or want to talk to me about this or anything else, then feel free to contact me, either via PM or in this topic.
What's this?A mission based RTD with a relatively high death rate for both players and civilians, where cities get destroyed roughly 75% of the time one is encountered.
Play with or against other people (depends on the mission) while trying to survive various challenges and gain power.
Bonuses to rolls are given depending on the special abilities you choose, among other things.
You can choose almost any ability you want, mundane or supernatural. At the end of each challenge you'll be able to upgrade your character with unique upgrades created just for them.
You can also influence what the mission will be during mission selection. Almost anything is possible, with missions ranging from infiltrating a Soviet base with the aim of retrieving alien artefacts to protecting a city from a giant robot to exploring a continent where magic is abundant with the aim of finding a powerful magical beast and bringing it to justice.
People say the characters, writing and humour are nice too, if you're into that sort of thing.
What's the story?You are an exceptional individual.
Through mundane or supernatural means you have come to be more than the average human.
Abducted from your universe by unknown god-like entities you, along with other special people, have been forced to complete challenges for their amusement and your survival.
Some of the challenges will require teamwork and the entity that chose you may try to help, but at the end of the day you can't trust anyone but yourself.
That sounds interesting/fun/so bad it could be good. How do I make a character?No character sheets necessary. We work with a less structured system here. I believe it allows for more freedom and creativity.
First you tell me what kind of ability or abilities you want, either by posting here or by PM.
The abilities you submit can be anything from the weakest (like being the best cook ever) to the strongest (like being a physical god) or even combinations of abilities (like being a physical god that can cook the best meals in the world).
They can be of completely supernatural origin (gained by touching green rocks for example or because it's normal for your species), completely mundane (like finding a piece of alien tech or training to become a ninja) or any combination thereof (like being a ninja from Krypton).
Do note, however, that more powerful and/or versatile abilities tend to come with some "baggage". If your abilities are completely overpowered don't expect to get exactly what you asked for (so the physical god example from before wouldn't really work as a character). On the other hand, extremely weak abilities may gain some unintended bonuses.
However abilities that would be extremely hard for me to manage, like long term precognition or time travel to the far past are out.
I'll roll for what advantages or disadvantages you get based on how powerful your ability is. If your ability requires specific equipment to work, I'll roll for it too.
When deciding abilities, keep in mind that if your ability translates to more than two +1s you have a much higher chance of gaining additional disadvantages. Generally try to keep things balanced. You'll get your overpowered character after you win a few rounds.
After we work out your power, you can submit a name and/or nickname.
You can optionally submit a description and bio for your character. I suggest you do so, since it makes the game a bit more fun and gives me more ways to make the fighting more "realistic", especially when going up against people or things that can affect the mind or when the entities are commenting on your performance. Otherwise, I'll probably make stuff up on the spot.
You can have any bio and appearance you want, provided that you are or at least have been human or at least humanoid (since the powers you choose could relate to altering ones appearance).
If you have an idea about something you think would be interesting or some concept you'd like to test with your character or a specific mission or gamemode, then feel free to contact me about it, in thread or in PM. I'm all for experimenting with fun ideas and I like to give the players the chance to influence the game, not merely control the characters.
If you really must have a character sheet, then there, have this, but note that the character you originally create is likely to change during character creation:
Name: <Your name. No need to be a normal human name, it can be a nickname like "Pieman" or "Captain Obvious" or anything else you want.>
Ability: <Your ability. Try to make it interesting and not too much like that of other players', if you've read part of the game and know what their abilities are.>
Appearance: (Optional, but I'd prefer to know a bit about how your character looks so that I can describe him to other characters or describe how the limbs of yours that just got horrifically mangled look like. Gender, age, appearance, anything you'd be willing to provide.)
Bio/Personality info: (Optional, but I'd prefer to know a bit about where your character comes from, any notable events from their past or about their personality. It helps when selecting what entity I'll pair you up with or when selecting which childhood memories you'll experience while getting mindfucked by deranged telepaths.
Other: (Optional. Any other info you'd like to share or any other requests you'd like to make.)
-2 is completely useless
-1 is a very untrained human
+0 is an average human (0 penalty to lift a heavy wooden table).
+1 is a well trained human (-1 penalty to lift a box full of rocks).
+2 is a bit above the best a pure human could hope to achieve (-2 penalty to lift a car).
+3 is well beyond the realm of normal humans, but still possible to a normal human with some help (-3 penalty to lift a tank).
+4 approaches the ridiculous godlike and starts to demand secondary powers to manage (-4 penalty to lift a small prefab house).
+5 gets to the realm of completely impossible without supporting powers (-5 penalty to lift a small concrete house, although the ground beneath your feet is likely to collapse).
+6 is just plain godlike (-6 penalty to lift a concrete house, if you manage to find something to hold your weight)
Okay, I have a character. What now?Now the game begins for you.
You start in a safe area called the Staging Area, where you can ask some questions, talk to other players, RP and generally faff about while waiting for the next round.
When a round you are going to participate in begins, you can help select the arena. The arenas can vary wildly, both in scale, content and objective/s, depending on your suggestions.
Each arena has one or more objectives, conditions that must be fulfilled for the round to end.
Some arenas will have no objective other than to be the last man standing. Some will have secondary objectives, not necessary for victory but quite helpful nonetheless.
After being given some minimal exposition you will appear in the arena and be left to complete your objective/s. The entities will be watching. Try to entertain them and do not disappoint the one that chose you.
The Staging Area is the safe area mentioned above, a place where new characters spawn and characters who finish their mission return to. Each character has a personal area inside the Staging Area that can only be entered by them, the entity that chose them and anyone those two allow to enter. The Staging Area and the personal sections by extension can change based on the desires of the people inside them. However, this being a safe area, your ability to influence others will be fairly limited. But don't worry, if you want to kill each other or otherwise experiment, one of the entities can always arrange something.
So, how do I do stuff?What I understand to be standard RTD rules apply.
When acting on your own, 1 is big failure 2 is failure 3 is small failure/half-success 4 is small-success/success 5 is success/great-success 6 is overshoot.
When acting with someone else while not acting against someone else you can either work together and have your rolls averaged (the effect of your actions will be bigger if successful and applicable, for example something that would take 4 turns by one player to build would be built in 2 by 2 players) or have them help you to give you a +1 (again, if applicable).
When fighting I will roll for initiative and then will make additional rolls as necessary according to actions taken. When there are opposing rolls the highest roll wins.
Modifiers on rolls will be applied depending on conditions, abilities, equipment and the difficulty of the action.
Actions can be posted in thread or sent through PM.
I won't roll for simple things unless there's a reason, like driving while in combat or intoxicated.
The round is over. What's next?You return to the safe area.
Now the victor of this round chooses an upgrade to their abilities or equipment.
The others are revived (if they died) and repair, rearm, yell at the ones who beat them and generally prepare for the next round. Some of the equipment gained during a round (especially equipment gained by completing objectives) can be retained to the next one.
People in the waitlist can replace those that participated in the last round.
If someone is unhappy with their character they can roll another one.
Is that all?That's it so far.
If important things happen or are revealed during play, they will be added here.
Pay attention to details and use your head. Good luck and have fun.
Leveling up:Okay, here's how leveling up works:
Each of you has an upgrade tree. You need to unlock the previous upgrades in the tree before you gain access to the next ones. You can get multiple upgrades from the same branch (unlock Reflex 1,2 and 3 all at the same time for example if you have 3 upgrade points). Each upgrade costs 1 Upgrade Point (except for some special cases).
You can also choose to spend 3 Upgrade points to let your entities work on you freely, giving you something they find useful, something related to them. The ability they choose is not limited by your current abilities. It will be powerful and will probably unlock new options for you, increasing your versatility. However you have no control over what they give you.
You will receive your upgrade trees via PM soon. If something seems weird or wrong or if you have a question or if I have made a mistake, don't be afraid to PM me and tell me about it. Once you're certain which upgrades you want, PM me your choices. Or write them here if you don't care about secrecy.
What the hell is an interface anyway?On almost every mission (there are some exceptions) every character has a device called an interface somewhere on their body (usually on their arm). It is a metal shackle-like thing with a glass-like orb embedded in it. The orb is usually clear with a slightly cyan tint and it can light up with different colours. The device may also produce sounds and project images when appropriate. It looks somewhat like this:
The interface is what the entities like to call a meta-object and it is bonded to you. It is a device can only be seen by people wearing one, barring some exceptions, meaning that NPCs in missions are unlikely to notice it. People wearing those can usually communicate telepathically with each other. When they cannot, it will probably be clearly stated by me. It can also be used to ask for information, although its responses may not always be very helpful.
The device is peculiar in that it is weightless, offers no protection and is barely noticeable unless you focus on it. In fact, even if your arm gets cut off it will inexplicably appear on some other part of your body. If all your limbs get cut off... well, I guess you can imagine what the only place left for it to appear would be, right?
(The answer is 'your neck', you pervert!)
Players & Entities:
- Hawk132: Saevus Saita
Age: ~800
Appearance: A suit of black armor, towering above normal humans (~3m/~10ft tall). His "eyes" glow red. The whole suit is covered in runes that dimly glow red with the exception of the left arm - it glows a bright gold. His armour has been scratched or otherwise damaged in places and some of the runes are dim.
- DreamerGhost: Svajoklis Razor
Age: ~30
Appearance: Male of an average height, seemingly in his thirties, with long black hair, full beard and slightly crocked nose. Skin color is white but tanned. He is of lean, muscular build and one unchanging piece of clothing he has is a belt with a chain on which hangs the Book. Lichtenberg figure marks his left arm, remnant of once having been struck by lightning.
- Lenglon: Irene Stellar
Appearance: Adolescent female human with black hair and brown eyes. Or a three tailed fox. Or an adolescent female human with fox like characteristics (3 fox tails, fox ears, teeth of a fox, etc) That's the trouble with shapeshifters.
- Harry Baldman: Lucky Ike Watkins Roger D. Drake
Appearance: Slightly taller than average, with unusually large (seriously, they're the size of a splayed-out hand each) ears that jut out comically from his head, and also a rather long and bony nose with highly prominent nostrils. He possesses a thick, black Fu Manchu style mustache for unknown reasons, and is dressed in woodland camouflage, complete with real rotten leaves! He also wears a camo sun hat, which seems to principally be held up by his ears rather than his head, as it is slightly oversized. He fidgets ceaselessly, and seems like he is waiting for a chance to snap at something.
- Toaster: John Lancaster S-Zero, Engineer, Sigma, Zero
Age: 27
Appearance: A tall, lanky man with short dark hair and grey eyes. Dresses in simple clothing, and keeps looking around.
- DarkArtemisFowl: Zechariah "Zach" Dimikaelo Scion
Age: 14
Appearance: Black hair, shining aqua eyes, light brown skin, above average height, medium build, with crystal aqua dragonfly wings. Carries a wooden long staff with a triangular crystalline flag on top, shining aqua.
- Icarus, Jake Boyman
- Xantalos: ALAN RICKTERSVINKSONTERNIKBIK Rhymerer
AGE: 34 AND PROUD
APPEARANCE: HE'S A CHUBBY GUY WITH STRAWBERRY BLONDE HAIR, A VERY SCRAGGLY BEARD, AND THREE PAIRS OF SUNGLASSES. HE'S WEARING A TRENCH COAT, OVERALLS, AND A PATCHWORK T-SHIRT MADE UP OF MULTIPLE OTHER T-SHIRTS. HE SMELLS VERY BAD.
- NAV: Nikolai Slevinskyevskiovich Violet
Age: 50
Appearance: Tall, thin. Wears a long green coat, heavy boots, and a gas mask with a cracked lense.
- Kathryn
- Nick
- Tiruin: Theri Aria River, Creator, Darkstar
Age: ~19
Appearance: A female humanoid with fox-like ears and tail, whose body is covered with a soft blanket of silver fur.
- wipeout1024: Honora Martinez Alpha, Architect, Charlie
Appearance: A hispanic woman in her 60s, with gray hair in a bob and cheap glass, and wearing a blouse, jeans, and flats.
- Zormod: Brian Hoss Snow
Appearance: Thin, and pale as a ghost. He has dark brown hair and eyes. If his face were any thinner, most people would make the mistake of thinking he was undead.
- TheBiggerFish: Alex Tempus Aurora
- FallacyofUrist: Kosak Durar Captain
Age: 79
Appearance: A red-bearded muscled dwarf. His fists look hard as iron.
- Execute/Dumbo.exe: Mr. Litany "Adam" Adams Black Hand
Age: ~25
Appearance: His body is just as thin as his face, it wouldn't surprise a passerby to see him with ribs sticking out under those clothes and what little of his skin that can normally be seen is almost pale white, nearly luminous. The most noticeable thing about him is his clothes, they look as if countless man-hours were spent on them, his black business suit seems to be little more than a second skin for him, his black silk gloves unscarred, his shoes are glossy and untouched, he looks the part of the rich man, too, with long, slender piano player fingers, a winning million dollar smile that never quite seems to reach his eyes, and a slender, angular face that always looks so calm, so knowing.
- Beirus: William Mark Davis Frostbite
Appearance He is in his early twenties and stands about six feet tall, with brown hair, brown eyes, and a mountain man beard. His torso is a bit longer than normal. His skin is tanned and leathery and his hands are calloused. He has broad shoulders and a stocky frame.
- Plague
- Knight
- 1. scapheap: Eria Unnamed Entity
Appearance: A blue scaled lizardwoman with two short grey horns and blue eyes. She has a tail of about two feet and stands at 6 foot. She wear cobbled together hides of several creatures.
- 7. GreatWyrmGold: Angel Carlson Unnamed Entity
Age: 6
Appearance: A fairly short (~3'3") six-year-old. She has straight auburn hair to her shoulders, pale skin, and blue eyes. She wears glasses and green clothes of various sorts.
- 2. Fniff: Jordan Svenson Unnamed Entity
Age: 22
Appearance: Brown hair, blue eyes, white hoodie, pale skin.
- 14. Roc CURIOUSBEAST_EATER: Lioraw Unnamed Entity
Appearance: A non-descript man who you just can't take your eyes off.
- 7. Salsacookies: Ron Bones Jake Boyman
Appearance: He looks like a normal, if more musclebound, human. His body is tattooed in places.
- 13. Wolfkit: Welroki Alpha, Architect, Charlie
Appearance: Singed white lab coat, safety glasses, wild white hair that is lightly smoking, and perpetually writing on a clipboard.
- 15. Megggas: George Copperfield Aurora
Appearance: A slightly chubby caucasian man from early 1990s New York. He is balding, somewhat short, wears glasses, and is dressed in khakis and a plaid button shirt. The only truly unusual thing about his appearance is that his eyes and ears emit a strange lime green glowing light.
- 14. Illgeo: John Doe Snow
Appearence: Biologically human, but with nondescript and very generic "classic human" features, which kinda makes him land in Uncanny Valley. Blond hair and blue eyes. All gestures and face expressions are exaggerated.
- 11. Coolrune206: "Rune" Nick
Appearance: A tall, slim man, usually wearing a fedora that hides his eyes in shadows. When his eyes are visible, they are haunted by past memories he will never forget.
- 10. Alarith: Bryan Anderson Kathryn
Age: ~19
Appearance:6' 1" Of Caucasian descent. He has dark Brown hair kept to a very short length, like a military haircut. He has dark brown eyes. He has a small straight scar on the right side of his face a bit below eye level.