Aphorism based RP interest thread

[Einsamwulf]

So basically Aphorism is a Manga that's about students that go to a special high school which is said to lead attendees to success in life after graduation and the only ones who can attend are those who can see the 'island' in the sky. Once there the students are made to choose and write a single word/kanji that will help them in the 'battle' ahead. After this ritual the students were forced to fight monsters of 'beginning' and those who didn't use there power, will or brains were killed leading to 96 of the 204 dying on the first day. How you say, believe, will, or think of the "character" changes the word to become what you want.

tl;dr basically based on the manga Aphorism. Word = imagination. 108/204 students left on first day. A girl who choose love survived because she is either lucky or love is a formidable weapon.



I'm hoping to take the most basic part of the Manga that words have power. I'm also debating whether or not to use Kanji or runes but here's the "story" I was going to use. After a worldwide contest online, multiple people won a 'vacation package' that entailed multiple activities from snorkeling to zip lining, all expenses paid trip. The last activity on the itinerary was exploring one of the island's cave systems which houses its vast history. They find runes in the ruins or strange symbols on the ruins which becomes their 'powers' and that's basically all I have so far. I dunno whether or not to make it all "AHHH ZOMBIES!!" or "Oooooh, new world!" or even "Let's use our power for good/evil".


System-wise I was told Mutants and Masterminds would be a good system for customization purposes. If I were to use the system, it would be the SRD on this site

Looking for suggestions to flesh this idea out and make it better  

[xX_Terei_Xx]

I like the idea of using kanji. You don't even have to know Jap for it, since there are kanji dictionaries on the internet for people to use.

I would almost suggest going system-less and make this more of a fun "drop-in, drop-out" game. You could have a few people act as admins to prevent OP characters and have it as a survival game. That way, people can use the game as a way to work on their RPing skills by only being able to succeed if their actions are considered believable and in good RP spirit.
I wouldn't mind helping out with creating tables and such for the survival portion, if you choose to go with that idea.

Alternate Reality Post-Apocalypse, maybe?  

[xX_Terei_Xx]

Hmmm... True enough.

But that's kind of what my point was. People don't seem to know how to roleplay and are just concerned with being the MOST OP CHARACTAH EVAR. Those systems, I might add, that make it pretty easy to do so.

I created a character in d20MnM and basically made them able to kill people with a small amount of points. 30 points? BAM You're now losing Stamina and you need a 20 to cure yourself and each time you fail it gets progressively worse. Did I mention that you'll eventually die if you get down to debilitated?
Poison, man. Poison.

Why did I give my little snake boy such a dangerous weapon? It wasn't so I could use it to kill people. In fact, my charrie vowed to never use that ability of his and took up martial arts to defend himself with. What I did was spend 30 out of my 150 points for a power I never planned to use. Why? Flavor.

If people were more concerned with having fun and enjoying a good roleplay, we wouldn't have any need for systems and dice. -sigh-
I dunno. The fact that these systems are "necessary" just makes me sad....  

[Rain Yupa]

Mutants and Masterminds is a bit all-encompassing, with a wide variety of skills and feats and equipment and powers... it COULD work, and I COULD see it working, but I don't think it's the best system to use for it.

BESM is one I hear spoken highly of, but having never really looked at it myself, I can't really testify to its appropriateness.

It's been a LONG LONG time since I played it, but Everway might work as well. It's a diceless system too. I suggest looking into it.

One final possibility is, what if you design your own system for it?  

[Xenar1]

xX_Terei_Xx

Hmmm... True enough.
If people were more concerned with having fun and enjoying a good roleplay, we wouldn't have any need for systems and dice. -sigh-
I dunno. The fact that these systems are "necessary" just makes me sad....

I hear you and it makes me sad too....

I am adding DnD rules and dice rolls to prevent people from being OP in my idea. I like it when everything doesn't *need* rules to function. rp is the best part of a game, not the combat.  

[Rain Yupa]

If you're trying to use a system as a safety measure, then you might as well just play that game instead and apply your basic storyline as the premise.

If your goal is to leave it somewhat free-form enough, then what you should be looking for is a mechanic, more than a system, that leaves results up to chance than completely in the players' hands.  

[Einsamwulf]

Thank you all for the input but I think I'll make my own system.

I think I'm going to adapt this into a Horror RP. Its going to start again by applying to a contest of sorts but every applicant will be given a "number" which will translate to a power. All powers will be equally sucky and it'll be up to the player if and how to use it. I was thinking of either using an island or house to isolate the players on. Both have advantages and drawbacks but I'm leaning more on the house because I could make it more detailed plus it'd be easier to create and run. Another thing I was thinking of having was a table full of 'randomized' events. Like I roll a 4 and it matches up with door locking or lights going out.  

[Rain Yupa]

Kuro_nee-chan

Thank you all for the input but I think I'll make my own system.

I think I'm going to adapt this into a Horror RP. Its going to start again by applying to a contest of sorts but every applicant will be given a "number" which will translate to a power. All powers will be equally sucky and it'll be up to the player if and how to use it. I was thinking of either using an island or house to isolate the players on. Both have advantages and drawbacks but I'm leaning more on the house because I could make it more detailed plus it'd be easier to create and run. Another thing I was thinking of having was a table full of 'randomized' events. Like I roll a 4 and it matches up with door locking or lights going out.

Would you like me to run a quick one-shot game that my friend Erik made, to give you a taste of what "human players with extraordinary powers in a horror setting" can be like? I've talked to KytanaTheThief and maybe Mongooseh about the game in the past but I've never run it before. You of course would be involved, as would I be. I think we'd SAFELY need 2 more, but I'd accept up to 5. Dunno if you'd drag Terei into it.

Thoughts?  

[Rain Yupa]

Well, I am single.

Also, it's not superheroes, per se. You actually play yourself. But you're also NOT yourself. It's complicated sweatdrop Part of the fun of the game is discovery the first time you play, figuring out what's what, so people who've played before generally know what they're in for and those who haven't are supposed to learn "the hard way".

Mind you, depending on what choices you make, you could end up with something very similar to a super power.

The game plays like a Traitor game, if you've ever played it. It's determined randomly and last time I played, I got the traitor every other turn (in a group of 6!), so they ended up not trusting me.

It's a simultaneous cooperative and competitive game. There is only ever one winner, and it's whoever survives.  

[xX_Terei_Xx]

Rain Yupa

Dunno if you'd drag Terei into it.

I don't need to be dragged.

emotion_kirakira Count me in  

[Rain Yupa]

What do you say, Kuro? Between you, me, Terei, and Seph, that's the bare minimum needed. Something you want to try out?