:::ELYSIUM:::
-The Battleground of A Thousand Gods-
The Gods of Elysium rule their strongholds and towers across the vast red plains of their world, ever-squabbling and fighting among themselves. To those they serve, they are divine, possessed of impossible power - to a more advanced eye, they are simply a breed of transhuman, their power maintained by powerful technology. In the end, it is the same. These gods command sworn armies and champions to go across the land, battling eachother and protecting the peasantry from the dangers of the land when they bother. Gene-grafted champions, vat-grown and blindly loyal, sacrifice and dedicate their acts to their patrons for further favors and rewards. Servants gifted with divine technology roam the land doing their bidding. Great machine- and flesh-beasts and monsters are unleashed by intention or accident. Entire villages may be slaughtered in dedication to a patron god; great heroics performed in their honor.
Lately, others have taken an interest in this strange world. It is evident truth Elysium is the center of the universe, the only home of mankind and other races - but it appears there may be further universes. The barriers of reality are weakening; some whisper of an Abomination, a devourer of worlds... but that is all far away. Still, it is clear the people of other worlds are coming to Elysium, with their own plots and machinations that may threaten the power of the gods.
A shaky alliance of divinities has called together their champions and servants to fulfill their will. They are to be sent out, gifted with a mighty Myrmidon to carry them, to fight, investigate and honor the gods wherever they go.
The red wastes are dangerous, especially now, and the gods make poor allies for eachother - it is only natural they should aim to accomplish their own, private goals in secret as well. Should these champions serve them well, they will be rewarded; but they may just as well soon be bones and dust to be swallowed up by the earth.
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An RTD of divine quests, bloody heroics and mystery.
You are a group of superhuman champions and godly servants tasked with accomplishing whatever your masters decree. You are sent out into the world to fulfill their whims, have adventures and do great deeds in their name, and investigate the world for all its secrets. In the process, you will likely amass a bewildering quantity of weapons, upgrades, abilities, skills and achievements, as is only proper for any proper hero. You'll enjoy all the luxuries of a juggernaut of a vehicle that will serve as your mobile homebase and more as you trek out across the wastes.
The setting is inspired by a world from the Valerian comics and the Olympos/Ilium books by Dan Simmons. It also has a bit of scifi western; the world is essentially a wasteland outside the godly strongholds, full of hardy frontier towns and harder men and women. Technology varies, high and low existing side by side even in the same village, and it is rarely fully understood.
Basic rolls use a 1d6 like in any other RTD. 1 is a total failure, 2 is a minor failure, 3 usually a half-success, 4 a minor success, 5 a success and 6 an overshoot. However, combat is run with the Trifold system of mine, which allows for tactical and varied combat. Characters have HP, AP, abilities, equipment, etc etc.
The Trifold System is a reasonably complex and tactical combat system inspired by the combat of the Mass Effect series. Most characters possess protection in some form - whether Armor, Shields or an Aegis. These three types of protections are strong and weak against different types of weapons, which kinda happened on its own when designing this, in a strangely organic way. In short;
*Armor is good against SMGs and other weapons with low damage, but high rate of fire. Armor is vulnerable to rifles, sniper rifles, and other high-damage weapons.
*Shields are good against weapons with low rates of fire, such as rifles, shotguns and pistols. Shields are vulnerable against SMGs and other weapons with high rates of fire. Shields regen on their own.
*Aegises are similar to Armor, but very vulnerable to Close Range and melee attacks, and thus weapons such as shotguns, pistols and SMGs. However, Aegises can be 'reformed' when destroyed, unlike Armor.
Thus, there is no weapon type that is unquestionably superior, and all types and ranges of combat are necessary/useful. Using the right tools against the right enemy in the right situation forms most of the tactical side of combat, but there are a variety of abilities and actions that spice up things even more.
Actions: Combat is done through rounds where characters perform two Actions (basic enemy mooks only get 1), such as Attacking and Reloading, or Attacking and Moving to a closer Range. The specifics are found in a spoiler below.
Area: Combat takes place in a certain Area, which is mostly relevant for the Seek Cover action. An empty plain leaves combatants much more vulnerable than a warehouse bursting with chest-high boxes.
Range: Range is an important facet of Combat, and split to Long, Medium and Close. Most weapons are best suited for certain ranges. Attacking at Long Range grants a -1 to Hit, while Close Range does the opposite (+1 to Hit). Different players may be at different ranges from foes, which will be listed accordingly.
There are other effects that mainly affect Dodge rolls, such as; being in Cover, Moving (when you are counted as 'moving' is pretty arbitrary, mind you), being a big or small target, etc. Vehicle Combat is only simpler.
In any given combat round, the players choose 2 Actions to take. These Actions are;
Attack: Ranged or Melee. Combat Roll (a 1d6, where 3-6 are successes), then enemy dodge roll(s). If there are hits, damage is dealt. You need to be in Close Range for melee, obviously.
Move: Enter or leave area, combat manoeuvring. The latter are tricks such as trying to flank an enemy to rid them of their Cover, repositioning, performing an exciting acrobatic move, changing to a closer or further Range from the enemy. They require Combat Rolls - simply running away won't.
Seek Cover: Takes Combat Roll, modified by area cover abundance. The better the result on the roll, the better the cover you find is - 1 and 2 are failures, 1 even leaving you vulnerable.
Change Weapon: Change used weapon or draw one if unarmed.
Reload Weapon: Reload a fresh clip/drum/canister into a weapon, if at hand. Weapons require reloading when the clip is empty - reloading before that is certainly possible, but the ammo remaining in the clip is wasted.
Use Equipment/Use Ability: Use an innate or equipment ability. Does not require a roll (though the abilities themselves might).
Other: Non-combat actions, like talking at length, using a computer terminal, ordering mooks around, etc.
NOTE: You don't necessarily need to use these specific terms; 'I'll try to flank Enemy #2', 'I'll charge in and open up at Enemy #73' will be interpreted by me within these Actions just fine.
In Vehicle Combat, each player has 1 Action. The possible Actions are similar;
Combat Move (Driver only): Is stuff like ramming, evasive manouvers, move from one Range to another, trying to get to their foes' rear/front/sides, trying to get away from the enemy. Combat Rolls, sometimes opposed ones, here.
Attack: Ranged (or Melee, more rarely). Combat Roll, then enemy dodge roll(s), damage is dealt, as normal.
Ready/Change Weapon: Hop into a weapon turret or out.
Reload Weapon: As above - a pair of crew can operate a single-shot cannon by one firing and the second reloading every turn, ensuring no turns wasted in reloading.
Use Equipment/Use Ability: Use an innate or equipment ability. Does not require a roll (though the abilities themselves might).
Other: Non-combat actions, like talking at length, using a computer terminal, ordering mooks around, etc. Most Vehicle Actions go under this, operating terminals, possible emergency repairs, etc. Actions such as attempting to get a targeting solution with the vehicle computer, or boosting the engines, are possible, but may also go catastrophically wrong.
Weapons and their Most Exciting Stats
Weapons are a fairly central part of the system, and so they have a number of stats, below;
Damage (per Hit): How much damage a successful hit deals. Keep in mind a To Hit/Dodge critical failure (a 1) doubles damage, and a 3 halves it.
Rate of Fire: How many times the weapon fires per turn.
Accuracy: Grants modifiers, positive or negative, to Hit rolls.
Clip Size: How much ammo a given clip holds; when you fire, shots are removed from the Clip according to Rate of Fire. When a Clip is empty, you need to reload, or pray.
Mod Slots: Mod slots can be filled with various Attachments to the weapon, such as special ammo, a scope, a larger clip, etc., which will affect the weapon's qualities.
Special: Weapons may have Special qualities, such as ignoring a certain type of protection, reloading automatically, dealing more damage at a certain range, etc etc.
With melee weapons, there's only Damage, 'Speed' (Rate of Fire by another name), Accuracy and Specials.
You'll come across plenty of things to plop into Mod Slots, and plenty of different weapons, in that delightfully Borderlands-y way. Other than that, there'll be a wide variety of combat and skill consumables, armors, learnable powers and skills and whatnot.
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Name: The name of your Champion.
Gender: The gender of your Champion.
Description: What your Champion looks like, how she or he acts, how they prefer to fight.
Background: What has happened to your Champion before this point? Some servants of the gods grow up in their strongholds, seeing little of the outside world, while others are chosen from the people of the wastes, perhaps after some great deed or faithful service to a god.
Patron Name: The name of the god who you serve.
Patron Description: Who is the god you serve? What do they look like, how do they behave - what powers do they mainly hold, how do they rule and in what kind of stronghold?
Your starting equipment and powers will be based on the description of your patron and your own description and background.
Name: Asharil, Sister of the Blade
Gender: Female
Description: Asharil is a statuesque, muscled warrior woman of dusty skin. She wears dark, ceremonial leather armor, tightly bound and covered in small cuts in honor of her mistress. Black hair cascades to her shoulders, crowning a face of sharp features and ice-blue eyes. On her back Asharil carries a pair of shivering swords, the weapons of the Lady's wrath - and a blood-red handcannon, heavy and powerful. She is a wrathful woman, quick to anger and to kill, plagued by suspicion and envy. She is eager for greater favor, for greater power, and will stop at nothing to see her Lady's will done.
Background: Asharil was caught by servants of the Lady on an attack on the camp of her people. Suspected of having insulted the goddess, they were slaughtered to a man - save for a little girl of dark hair and wide eyes. The leader of these servants aimed to raise Asharil - a new name given to her, meaning 'unsheathed blade' - as his own, but the Lady intervened. She had higher pursuits in mind. As the girl grew, she was indoctrinated into fanatical service of her new mistress and imbued with subtle nanotech - divine blessing - to empower her together with harsh training with weapons. Her body and mind were made into a weapon, but she has largely remained inside the safety of the stronghold - until now, called to join a quest into the wastelands...
Patron Name: Temateru, the Lady of Ash
Patron Description:
Temateru is a prideful goddess of night. She is a towering woman wrapped in a black gown of ever-shifting folds, with skin like moonlight and pure-black eyes. Patterns of darkest blue run down her face, from the middle of her eyes, like teardrops fixed in place on her skin. Subtle openings in her hands allow her to channel great power - outlets of forgotten technology - into deadly energy that can wipe entire towns off the map, should she choose to call it down from her tower. She is also said to shroud herself in night and darkness, and sometimes such a veil envelopes her stronghold and the surrounding land, suffocating even the slightest sound.
The Lady - who demands to be called only that - never leaves her ashen tower, which rises from the earth as a black monolith, though broken by irregularities across its surface. In its heights lays the Lady's garden, where she spends most her days and nights, while her temples and servants occupy the lower levels - though deep, where no-one goes, arcane machinery can be found, wreathed in energy that races up the length of the tower. The Lady's servants, mostly women of the Sisters of the Blade, learn poetry, calligraphy and the sword in the tower's halls, dedicating themselves to her service. Their shivering swords are said to cut through any material, no matter how strong. Other gods the Lady avoids, ever suspicious, but seeks to twist and manipulate them to her own ends - with little success.
Player List1. Warbreaker Kazren, Champion of Rennahn (Draignean)
2. The Everchild, Champion of Basius (Yoink)
3. Fenrik, Champion of Nilvath (adwarf)
4. Dust, Champion of The Weaver (IronyOwl)
5. Arlia the Shaman, Champion of Aeraimua (Samarkand)
Waitlist1. Malbjorn of Hal'grath (Cheesecake)
2. Plasma Electra Lazzara of Colossal Hugh Jay-Jay (Harry Baldman)
3. Harkus Wildblood of Gartuk (VinnietheDead)
4. Ahlona of Coula (wolfchild)
5. Akkar Gustemica of Orolo (The Ensorceler)
6. Orion of Ophiuchus (Salsacookies)
7. Sindis Yager of Jenshin (BlitzDungeoneer)
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I'll be taking 5 players. Quality comes over speed, this isn't first-come first-serve. Length of apps can be much longer than the example.