In a Time of War Sign Ups

Hi everyone. Some of you may know me and some of you may not. I've never created an RP here on the forums of Troping before, so I hope that you'll indulge me with a moment of your time, as this idea will be the teeniest, tiniest bit different from the other threads you may have seen. Or at least, the ones that I've seen. Anyway.

The basic premise is that everyone in this group will start off as kids living in a small village called Breganne, in a country called Sollis. Breganne is fairly close to the border of another country called Verena. Now, familiar as you all are with the conventions of storytelling, you have probably guessed that Sollis and Verena are about to go to war but that will not happen for some time.

The story will be told in a series of time skips with each part representing a period in your characters' lives. The time skips will also be an opportunity for decisions taken to have an impact on the world around you — and on yourselves as well.

Now, all of this might seem like there won't be a lot of freedom compared to some of the other games in progress at the moment, but I don't believe this to be the case. I don't interfere in a big way in campaigns I GM, most of the time (and make no mistake, this is a campaign). My role, as I see it, is to supply information to you when I feel it becomes relevant and occasionally possess NPCs in order to create situations that I think would be interesting.

I guess you could say the two most important words you will need to remember here are "cause" and "consequence".

Still interested? I hope so.

We'll go with the Standard RP Rules, with GM Fiat of course.

• Name: Your name, of course.
• Gender and Age: Remember that we'll be time jumping in the future, so unless you'd like to die of old age halfway through the story...
• Appearance: No need to worry your head too much over this one. You'll be growing older, after all.
• Personality: Remember, nothing here or anywhere else is particularly set in stone.
• Backstory: Since you're going to be relatively young, there is probably not much you will have to say about yourself but fill this out with detail to the best of your ability. Perhaps you could talk about your family a little bit — what are they like? What was your first memory? Your happiest memory? Your likes and dislikes? Have you lived in Breganne your entire life or did you move there from elsewhere? Have you stopped beating your sister?

...and that's more or less it. Anything else you will pick up as the story goes on.

• The aesthetic of the setting is very much like Valkyria Chronicles, if you've ever played it. World War II-level technology with some minor fantasy elements.
• Breganne is a lovely little town in the countryside that makes most of its money from trade with other communities in the area. Tradesmen of all kinds periodically travel to hawk their wares elsewhere. It is famous for its river fishing and the high quality of its woodcarvings.
• If I haven't said that you can't do something, chances are that you can.

My character proposal:

• Name: Leon Cashern
• Gender and Age: Male, around 6 years old
• Appearance: Jet black hair and grey eyes. (At the moment), thin as a rail but on the lean side.
• Personality: Your average active, happy kid.
• Backstory: The Cashern family lives on the outskirts of town, but along the beaten path to Breggan. The family consists of Leon, his Father (Dan), his Mother (Beatrice), and his newborn Baby Sister (Claire). Every day, Leon and his Father travel to the river nearby to fish, trade and provide for the family. Leon has an odd aversion to baiting fish hooks, but is otherwise a skilled fisherkid.

Interesting... I see much potential for good character development in this game.

Consider me interested if we get some more players.

Ooh, I'm interested! Just one question on the setting — is this an imaginary land in an Earth setting? An alternate sorta-Earth? A completely different world altogether? (You'll see in my character profile why I'm concerned about such things).

Name: Gent Shepherdson (and yes, the name means he is the son of a shepherd)

Gender and Age: Male, at the beginning of puberty (say 11 or so)

Appearance: Most notably, the loss of a leg and scars across one half of his body. Otherwise, rather short, with blond hair and piercing blue eyes.

Personality: Gentle, reflective, thoughtful. Highly intelligent, but doesn't tend to boast of it. Spiritually inclined. Also, a masterful player (well, for his age at least) of [insert whatever strategy game is most common in this part of the world here].

Backstory: Until a couple of years ago, Gent had an entirely different personality — a troublemaker, quick to anger, even a little bit of a bully. Then, one day, while tending the sheep, he was attacked by a wolf, and his companions, with no love lost for him, left him to fend off the creature by himself while they saved their own skins. Somehow, he managed to survive, albeit with the loss of his leg. For three days, he was in near-delirium, ranting and raving against the world. One evening, however, he genuinely seemed more at peace. When asked about this, he told the town that he had had a vision of [insert whatever saintly figure or deity is worshipped in this part of the world here], telling him that his injury had been a sign of the fate that awaited him should he continue on the path he was on, and that he had since decided to mend his ways, even forgiving the comrades who left him to die.

Since then, he has been obsessed with the spiritual teachings of [insert whatever religion is followed in this part of the world here], hoping to become [insert whatever clerical figure exists in this part of the world here] when he grows up and thereby foster peace and love in his home community.

It's a completely different world, although when in doubt you should call a rabbit a rabbit.

edited 17th Oct '12 7:17:20 PM by HouraiRabbit

This seems interesting. One question though, how long time will pass between the start and the beginning of the war, as I'm uncertain how old I can make my character without him becoming like 50 by the time to war starts.

edited 18th Oct '12 8:08:32 AM by Peldms63

For further clarification, I was wondering how set on a plot you are. Because the premise you gave in the introduction was fairly vague, but the timeskip notion seemed to indicate like you had a set idea on the acts and happenings in the roleplay, and I was just wondering how freeform this would be. I don't mind, to be honest. It's just the type of roleplay this is might have an effect on the character I may make, so

Anyway, for now, semi-interest. I have an idea for a character, but my timetable may pick up soon, especially around early-mid November, so again it depends a bit on how much story involvement is needed from the players (and how organised I can be ).

edited 18th Oct '12 10:27:42 AM by Aralyn

Aralyn? Is that you?

I do indeed have certain happenings in mind, but beyond that I don't intend to exert a whole lot of control on this outing. I intentionally left a lot of details out because I was hoping to give players more of a chance to change stuff in the world. You guys will get as much out of this as you put in. I can always take the reins more if you would like me to.

Hmmm...Interested, I'll see how this goes and perhaps I'll sign up.

This roleplay sounds like it has a lot of potential Give me a bit to submit a proper profile, but I think I'll be joining in. I'm not sure if I'll be able to partcipate very actively till after November 18th, though, if that's alright with you.

No! It's her evil twin, who somehow sneaked into my- uh, her house and managed to hack into my- damn it. I'm bad at this doppelganger thing.