RP Proposal Thread

Reverie · Post by **Reverie** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 5:23 am

What's the interest in RPing like nowadays? It doesn't look like the board's been very active as of late, but I'm more than willing to write something up if other people want to take part.

Pierre · Post by **Pierre** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 7:49 am

I watch for every RP that comes through here.

Reverie · Post by **Reverie** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 8:03 am

If I were to work on a fantasy genre RP, utilising OCs, would that appeal to anyone?

Pierre · Post by **Pierre** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 8:14 am

That's like my standard MO when it comes to RPs so it's fine with me.

Reverie · Post by **Reverie** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 8:40 am

Good, okay. The initial setting is pretty simple. It's set on multiple continents controlled by a number of nations at war. Each nation has its own system of government, religion, culture, etcetera. For this reason, different weapons, magic, armour, and items exist in different places. There will be proper classes, but only after the introduction, and an emphasis will be put on individuality. Nobody, for example, will just be a lancer or a mage. Traditional classes will become archetypes and a character's "class" will be unique to them, fitting under a traditional archetype. In addition, some weapons will be unique and others won't be. Unique items aren't easy to come by, but a unique item will be given to each character early on.

Since war and politics play an important role in the setting, characters may choose an allegiance, but don't have to. Each nation has their own motives and desires, but there will be two sides to the conflict: the parties to have broken the peace and the parties to have retaliated.

In truth, the whole idea is inspired by multiple JRPGs, but battle is played out in regular RP format. To begin with, there will likely only be one group of characters moving together, but this will change as events play out and more characters are introduced. Characters can be self-inserts or OCs from thin air, it doesn't really matter. I also don't want to give players a set objective, because I find that doing so makes the destination seem a lot more important than the journey. I'm happy to keep world-building in more detail as new territory is explored. Lastly, the exact rules aren't set in stone but I have a good idea of what they'll be.

Website · Post by **General Luigi** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 8:42 pm

Is combat going to have proper mechanics or is it more a matter of everyone trusting one another to not god-mode?

Reverie · Post by **Reverie** » Mon Nov 23, 2015 1:27 pm

To put it simply, stats will be given to each character beforehand and players should use those as reference. For example, if your character's speed is high, your dodging will usually be successful against the average enemy. If it's low, you can expect to get hit a fair bit more. Since most battles will be against mooks and bosses, I'll be able to say whether or not an attack misses or hits and how much damage it does to the enemy, etcetera. And I'd rather present that kind of thing descriptively, as opposed to using raw numbers which might not mean a lot to players and aren't always easy to keep track of.

I'll be keeping a close eye out for actions that contradict one's stats, but my expectation is that I should only have to say something about it during the introduction, which will serve as a kind of tutorial so that players can have a practice against weaker mobs and I can advise anyone who isn't sure about battling or is godmodding without realising. It won't be complicated, mind you. Players will get a feel for their characters strengths and weaknesses, which will be assigned according to their preferences and style of play anyway.

I made that sound a lot more complicated than it is, but my point is that it won't be difficult to manage.

Website · Post by **General Luigi** » Tue Nov 24, 2015 1:48 am

I see. Well, I look forward to seeing a more detailed plan laid out. I'm generally fond of fantasy, so I might join the RP myself.

Reverie · Post by **Reverie** » Tue Nov 24, 2015 8:05 am

I hope it lives up to expectations. Either way, I'll carry on fleshing out the mechanics until we have enough interest to get it started.

Spider · Post by **Spider** » Mon Mar 07, 2016 3:13 am

How active is this forum with roleplays? How many posts are usually in a roleplay per day? I would be interested in joining if I knew there would be other at-least-somewhat-committed people.

Mister Gruel · Post by **Mister Gruel** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 12:11 am

check the post above yours for a rough number

Spider · Post by **Spider** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 8:37 pm

I'm not sure what that tells me... about a post a day, then no post until mine some months later... Pretty sorry place to look for roleplay then, if I go off that alone, then...

Pierre · Post by **Pierre** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 8:48 pm

Eh he's just being miserable.

I like a good roleplay but a lot of your questions are really specific and hard to answer. "Posts per day" ain't something I imagine many people seriously measure.

As for activity its definitely dropped but that might be due to a lack of RPs. Some have started up before but have struggled to last.

Mister Gruel · Post by **Mister Gruel** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 10:06 pm

Pierre wrote: I like a good roleplay but a lot of your questions are really specific and hard to answer. "Posts per day" ain't something I imagine many people seriously measure.
.

asking someone roughly how many times they can post each day is very commonplace in setting up roleplays

Spider · Post by **Spider** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 10:19 pm

Yeah like, I love roleplays where you can just sit at a computer for hours with a couple characters having a nice discussion, or fight scene, or some very good comedy (I was in a hilarious Black Butler roleplay as both Ciel Phantomhive and Arthur Wordsmith). But then come across other roleplays where you post in a thread once, maybe twice, a day... maybe wait longer for someone else to respond... that's a very much dying rp.

Slezak · Post by **Slezak** » Fri Mar 11, 2016 4:48 am

I used to be big on roleplaying around here, though I'd always use the same one or two OCs based on myself. I'd love to return to RPing as soon as one starts up. As one can expect, because of the scarcity of RPs at this time, I wouldn't even be picky. Would give me a great chance to dust off the ol' writing skills. I'd assume it's pretty clear from this post that I have no problem writing a lot.

Spider · Post by **Spider** » Fri Mar 11, 2016 7:41 pm

Slezak wrote:I used to be big on roleplaying around here, though I'd always use the same one or two OCs based on myself. I'd love to return to RPing as soon as one starts up. As one can expect, because of the scarcity of RPs at this time, I wouldn't even be picky. Would give me a great chance to dust off the ol' writing skills. I'd assume it's pretty clear from this post that I have no problem writing a lot.

Maybe we could start one then? I mean, some of my best roleplays had only two or three people, so long as they posted often. I'd be willing to think something up if I knew another person was on board. Make a goal of at least three people maybe? AA canon characters or OCs? Or a fandom mash-up, those are pretty fun. (Like having characters from different games, anime, TV series, etc. meet in one roleplay. At one point I was Beyond Birthday from the Death Note prequel novel and Grell Sutcliff from Black Butler.) I'm up for something different.

Anthony · Post by **Anthony** » Sat Mar 12, 2016 12:17 am

Yeah, we need a new RP, my RPing skills are rusty an been quite bored recently with no RPing in my life.

Spider · Post by **Spider** » Sat Mar 12, 2016 2:02 am

Ok, we can work on one together. Maybe start with a little vote on what kind of roleplay?

-Ace Attorney Canon
-Ace Attorney - with OCs
-Other Fandom
-Other OCs
-Fandom Mash-Up (each character of a different franchise from any media)

Work from there.

Spider · Post by **Spider** » Sun Mar 20, 2016 9:06 pm

Does anyone like Creepypasta? I've been looking for somewhere to roleplay a kind of OC for that fandom.

Pierre · Post by **Pierre** » Sun Mar 20, 2016 9:40 pm

I got real into creepy pasta a while back. Not sure how you'd roleplay that though.

Mister Gruel · Post by **Mister Gruel** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:27 am

Not sure how you'd roleplay that though.

you dont

Website · Post by **General Luigi** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 3:59 am

At long last, Version 2.0 of my Fire Emblem RP is ready to be unveiled. I am open to suggested changes to some of the rules, provided I can trust the person suggesting the change to actually be interested in participating in the RP. Regrettably, I need to be up early for jury duty tomorrow, so unless some of you are really quick readers, I probably won't see any responses until a little over nine hours from now at the earliest (and that's assuming I have time to look over responses before I have to leave).

Spoiler: tl;dr version

Fire Emblem: Ruler of the East

Testing Phase

At this point, the only things I don’t have ready are some maps of Duat, some Lore entries, and other things that, while helpful, are not necessary. I don’t want to keep everyone waiting any longer than I’ve already made them wait, though, so I figured I’d kill two Wyvern Riders with one arrow here by carrying out test battles while finishing up the extra stuff. This will also allow everyone to get used to the way the RP’s combat system works and also allow me to catch any problems with the RP’s mechanics that I failed to notice beforehand (or noticed, but didn’t expect to be a problem). There are some homebrewed mechanics I’m considering, so testing them out is crucial lest they turn out to be more trouble than they’re worth. Worst-case scenario, any ideas that don’t work out will just be flat-out nixed. Considering how many test battles I plan on running, I don’t plan on having experience carry over from them into the RP. These test battles also provide players with a convenient excuse to test out various classes and items without having to keep them. One final benefit of test battles is that they allow me to gauge how tough I should make the enemies, how good I should make the enemy’s tactics, and so on. To that end, I ask that you all perform to the best of your abilities. If you intentionally make really bad decisions in the hope that I’ll make the RP easier to compensate, you may find yourselves bored in later missions due to the relative lack of any real challenge.

Spoiler: Things to test

Night battles. Same deal. “Fog of war” has been in every game I’ve played except Awakening and Fates (and possibly Shadow Dragon, though I don’t remember that one too well), so it’s almost certainly staying, although it will just be night battles here rather than any plot-convenient fog.
Battles with NPC allies. Considering that the RP will involve a war between countries, I don’t think it’s a stretch to sometimes have the party be part of a much larger battle. I need to figure out what kind of NPC complement is suitable for such a battle. Don’t worry; unless you guys screw up so badly that the country you sided with is on the verge of defeat, there will be no “protect this NPC or it’s game over” missions—and even then, I have plans for continuing the RP even in the unlikely event your employer loses everything. Strictly speaking, it’s only truly “game over” if everyone chooses to kill off their characters after a TPK.
Proper enemy stat scaling. Enemy units (excluding bosses) will probably start out with a penalty to stats, but I also need to gauge how significant the penalty needs to be at higher levels. This means you’ll all be temporarily given higher levels in a few test battles.
Siege weapons. Awakening is the only Fire Emblem game I’ve played in which there were no siege weapons. There are almost certainly going to be siege weapons in this RP, which means I want everyone to get used to how they work, not to mention I might want to make some changes if my current designs prove to be a problem.
Indoor battles. I am considering introducing some terrain types exclusive to indoor battles. For example, some doorways might be so narrow that they provide a penalty to Avo.
Battles against Laguz. I need to be sure Laguz classes are not overpowered or underpowered, so there will be at least two test battles in which the majority of the enemy forces are Laguz.
Sea battles. I don’t know how common sea battles will be. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one scenario in which such a battle is likely, but I want to err on the side of caution here and figure out how I should run sea battles just in case the situation calls for one.
Bosses. If a boss has an important role to play in the story, I’ll probably make him/her more powerful than a PC of the same level should be. I need to make sure he/she is still beatable, though. Thankfully, this also gives me an opportunity to recycle some of the planned bosses from the old RP.

There are also some other ideas I have that I want player input from. Whether or not I go ahead with the ideas in the spoiler box below depends on what the players think.

Spoiler: Ideas

Story

The prospect of a united Anatolia has often permeated conversation in the Beorc courts of the east. Rarely has more than a few years passed without at least one of the kingdoms in the region finding itself at war with a neighboring Bear Laguz kingdom. If Anatolia were to unite into a single state, only a fool would dare attack. No one has denied this. The main reason it hasn’t happened is disagreement over the answer to a predictable question: Who would rule a united Anatolia? This disagreement has ensured that a united Anatolia would be little more than a dream for a long time. After the Bear King’s Wars ended almost three hundred years ago, Anatolia consisted of twenty-seven kingdoms. Over the centuries, that number dwindled to six; some kingdoms were subjugated by Hellas or Calis to the west while others were conquered by their brethren.

Of the six remaining kingdoms, only two are powerful enough to have any chance of uniting Anatolia through force of arms: Paphlagonia and Chaldia. War between the two was almost inevitable. All it took was one sufficiently ambitious ruler, and King Damian of Paphlagonia was long thought to be that ruler. However, in 1079, the situation was turned on its head: Paphlagonia suddenly and unexpectedly found itself at war with the neighboring Bear Laguz kingdoms of Arka and Zemar. With the majority of the Paphlagonian army occupied fighting the Bear Laguz invaders, King Emmanuel II of Chaldia (nicknamed “Emmanuel the Golden”) seized the opportunity, gathering a large force of mercenaries to bolster his own forces and declaring war on Paphlagonia the following year. This, in turn, led Jaffa and Seleucia, Paphlagonia’s allies, to get involved. It is likely that whoever wins this war will ultimately rule over a united Anatolia, dramatically shifting the balance of power in Duat.

Spoiler: Political Map of Duat (screen-stretch warning)

Starting Out

This section is currently only relevant to people who join before the RP formally begins, so it will be changed once the RP begins. You and the other players need to decide on a few things. The big one is how you all got involved in the war between Chaldia and Paphlagonia. I’d prefer if your first character and the other initial players’ first characters were all part of a small mercenary company that signed a contract with either King Emmanuel of Chaldia or King Damian of Paphlagonia. I favor this because it allows for much more freedom of movement with regards to where your characters are from without making it seem odd that, say, several Western Beorc and Crocodile Laguz are in a region inhabited mostly by Eastern Beorc, Bear Laguz, and Eagle Laguz. If you can all agree on an alternative, I’m open to it if it works. Naturally, you also need to agree on which ruler you’re fighting for, as I am currently not willing to manage two campaigns simultaneously. In the worst-case scenario, if part of the party wants to switch sides, the two sides will fight and I’ll manage the campaign of the winning side (the losing side would be at the winning side’s mercy, though, up to and including being killed by them).

Also, to help reduce the likelihood of early-game TPKs, I am going to allow for the presence of a single crutch character. Whoever offers to control the crutch character first will get to design and play as the crutch character unless they were only making an “if no one else wants to, I’ll do it” offer. This character may be a Laguz class, a second-tier Beorc class, or a third-tier Beorc class. Regardless of their choice, their true level will be 21, they will have more weapon experience, and they will be able to start out with more expensive weapons and items that are currently off-limits to other characters. Because of their true level, I advise having them be either a second-tier Beorc class with twenty bottom-tier levels or a Laguz class. A crutch character who starts out as a third-tier Beorc class will almost inevitably be a Jagen (and not of the Oifey variety, either). In the beginning, the crutch character’s true level will not affect what level new characters start out as. Once the starting true level is close enough to the crutch character’s true level, I’ll start taking the crutch character’s level into account. Being the crutch character is an important responsibility; you need to observe restraint so everyone else can gain experience and catch up, yet you also need to be in a position to save the day if the party gets in over their heads. If I plan out the battles properly, a crutch character won’t even be necessary. This is just a precaution in case something goes wrong in the earlier chapters, such as me making the enemies too strong, the RNG being in a bad mood, or the party making a really bad tactical decision.

Posting Policy and Schedule

This RP will cycle between two separate posting systems. The first system, Story Posting, is observed whenever the party is not participating in a battle. Players are free to post in the narrative thread at any time under this system. The second system, Battle Posting, is observed whenever the party is participating in a battle. Under this system, players are to cooperate in the OOC thread and plan out posts beforehand; posting in the narrative thread without my permission is forbidden. I will announce changes between Story Posting and Battle Posting in the OOC thread.

Battles are carried out “behind the scenes” in the OOC thread. During battles, players take turns choosing what their characters do in each phase of a battle. We all work together on planning out the posts that will be made in the narrative thread. This is purely so there isn’t an excess of extremely short posts that only mention someone’s character taking out a generic enemy. In addition, I will be employing a session system. All participants must specify the times they are available and what time zone they are in. We might be unable to schedule sessions unless at least one of us is able and willing to adjust their schedule. I ask that all participants be prepared to adjust their personal schedules to accommodate the RP if necessary, but only within reason. When stating the times you are available, please only mention your general sleep schedule and any times you flat-out cannot attend under any circumstances. You might be asked to stay up a bit later or wake up a bit earlier than usual, but only within reason and only if we can’t schedule a session without you making that kind of sacrifice. We’ll try to arrange for sessions that are most accommodating to the people who can least afford to make sacrifices. For example, if we have to choose between a session that requires five people to wake up an hour earlier than usual and a session that requires one person to stay up four hours later than usual, we’ll go with the first option unless the one person in the latter option personally volunteers to stay up late and they can afford to do so.

Currently, I plan on carrying out battles over Skype, as it allows us to communicate more efficiently and also has a screen-sharing function, so I can provide all players with a view of the map and their possible actions during battles (though I’ll need to do something a little different for battles in which visibility is limited). If Skype is not an option, I will look into CyTube and the possibility of streaming my screen. In the worst-case scenario, I’ll set up a CyTube channel with no connection to CR and use that for our sessions. Sessions will definitely be carried out during Battle Posting, but they will also be used during Story Posting to prevent people from getting lazy about moving the story along between battles.

Absences and Late Arrivals

If you expect to be unable to attend a scheduled session or believe there is a risk of you being late, you must say so before the session is scheduled to begin. Unannounced absences and late arrivals will be punished with penalties to the rate at which your characters gain experience. I’ll give some leeway with late arrivals as long as you’re no more than ten minutes late and your frequent tardiness doesn’t become a habit. The penalty will increase for each session you miss or arrive late to unless you told us beforehand of your expected absence or tardiness. The penalty will decrease each time you attend a session on time or announce your expected absence/tardiness beforehand. Three unannounced absences in a row or six unannounced late arrivals in a row will be punished by permanent stat decreases at a rate of one point in a random stat (two points if it’s HP) for every one unannounced absence or every two unannounced late arrivals. This is in addition to the aforementioned penalties to experience gain. Should you choose to relinquish control of your penalized character(s) and make someone new, the penalties will be moved over to your new character(s).

Character Creation

You may have a maximum of two characters in this RP. The policy may change to one character (albeit not retroactively) if enough people join the RP. I’m allowing a maximum of two characters to join each chapter save for in the first chapter. I’m allowing every player to bring one character into the party for the first chapter. Your character must be approved by me before he/she is allowed to be in the RP. Please refer to the “Format for submitting a character” spoiler tab for the standard character submission form. If your character has a mount, I consider the mount to be an NPC under your control rather than one of your two characters.

Spoiler: Format for submitting a character

Spoiler: Starting Level

Your character’s starting level is determined based on a special formula I’ve devised. It uses something I call a “true level.” If your character is a Beorc, a Marked, or a depowered Laguz, his/her true level is his/her bottom-tier level plus his/her mid-tier level plus his/her top-tier level. For example, if your character started out as a Guard, promoted to Knight at Level 13, then promoted to Champion at Level 17, and is now a Level 5 Champion, his/her true level is 13 + 17 + 5, which is 35. For Laguz, it’s much simpler; a Laguz’s true level is his/her level plus twenty. So, for example, a Level 13 Eagle has a true level of 33.

Your character’s starting level is the average true level of everyone in the party who is within a certain range. What I do is this: I take the true levels of everyone in the party and find the median level. I then average out the true levels of everyone whose true level is the median level ± 2. For example, suppose the party has eleven people and their true levels are as follows: 1.03, 1.72, 2.93, 3.18, 4.19, 5.44, 5.81, 7.17, 8.23, 9.71, 22.02. The median is 5.44, so the crutch character, so the four lowest-leveled characters and the three highest-leveled characters are not counted. Thus, I average out the four who are within range and get 5.6525, which I round down to 5.65. In this scenario, a new character would start out at Level 5 and have 65 experience points toward Level 6. If the starting true level is greater than or equal to 21, you need to choose how to distribute your character’s levels between the three tiers (unless your character is a Laguz).
You will also start out with a minimum of 31 weapon experience points to distribute, though this will only matter in the case of classes that can use more than one type of weapon or promoted from a class that used a different weapon than they use now. As with your character’s starting level, this will change as the party grows stronger. The amount of weapon experience your character starts out with is determined by the same formula as the party’s starting true level, but with a range of median ± 10. The crutch character starts out with 181 instead.

Spoiler: Bottom-Tier Beorc Classes (screen-stretch warning)

Spoiler: Mid-Tier Beorc Classes (screen-stretch warning)

Spoiler: Top-Tier Beorc Classes (screen-stretch warning)

Spoiler: Laguz Classes (screen-stretch warning)

Spoiler: Laguz Mechanics and Comparison to Beorc

If you have not played Path of Radiance or Radiant Dawn, Laguz mechanics will be unfamiliar to you, though you may have seen some transforming classes in other games. Laguz have two forms: a “beast” form and a “human” form. Rather than use weapons or tomes, Laguz use their “beast” forms to fight. Transformation is based on a gauge that fills up or goes down depending on the circumstances. When a Laguz is in “human” form, the Transform Gauge increases at the beginning of each turn and is farther increased by combat. When he/she is in “beast” form, the Transform Gauge decreases at the beginning of each turn and is farther decreased by combat. The rate at which the Transform Gauge fills up and empties varies from race to race. A Laguz may only change from “human” to “beast” when the Transform Gauge is at 30, the maximum unless the Laguz in question is recovering from an injury. The transformation is done manually. A Laguz may take another action after transforming, though they must end their turn on the tile they transformed on. A Laguz in “beast” form may return to “human” form manually in the same way as they can change from “human” to “beast,” though they will also be forced out of their “beast” form if the Transform Gauge hits 0. Where a Laguz’s Transform Gauge starts out in each battle depends on what form they were in before the battle started and how long it has been in-game since they were in the other form.

Laguz in “beast” form typically have better stats than Beorc of the same level. I may subject them to some nerfs if they prove overpowered in test battles, though. In addition, their “weapon” is completely free, improves in power automatically as their Weapon Level increases, will never break, and cannot be unequipped. Because of the nature of their “weapon,” Laguz are unlikely to be as much of a drain on resources as Beorc—not to mention the Disarm skill won’t work on them. The downside to having only one weapon available is that Laguz aren’t as versatile as far as attacks are concerned; even a Beorc class that uses only one weapon has a variety of different weapons to choose from. The more serious downside of being a Laguz, though, is that Laguz in “human” form typically have much worse stats than Beorc of the same level, making them easy targets. In addition, when in “human” form, they can only counterattack with an unarmed strike, which is a physical attack that has a Mt of 0. There are items that can boost or maximize the Transform Gauge, though relying on them too heavily can get expensive in the long run and could counteract the financial advantage Laguz classes have over Beorc classes. There is also an equippable item that can enable Laguz to remain transformed indefinitely, but it also reduces the stat bonuses to their “beast” form, effectively turning them into slightly less versatile Beorc. Eventually, I will introduce a rare single-use item that enables the Laguz who uses it to remain transformed—without any penalties—for the duration of a single battle. Said item will only be available late in the RP, though, and will not be available in stores (i. e. it can only be received from an NPC, taken from an enemy, or taken from a chest).

Spoiler: Assets and Flaws

Spoiler: What I won’t accept

Mary Sues. At their core, Mary Sues exist to be the center of attention. Most often, this is through an excess of positive traits, but negative traits and a tragic past can also be a means of calling attention to a character. Your characters are not the only important characters in this RP, so don’t design them in a way that treats them as though they are. There’s more specific advice on avoiding making your character a Mary Sue in the “Advice” section.
Excessive Fanservice. This isn’t to say you can’t make your character attractive. I’m not going to reject your character for having Ike’s muscles or Camilla’s curves unless I feel too many PCs already have that kind of body. I'll also allow your character to show some skin. I’m not going to insist on everyone being completely covered up at all times. That said, please observe restraint; I’m not going to allow your character to dress like, say, Nowi or Hawkeye. Marisa here is showing about as much skin as I’ll allow anyone, male or female, to show in battle, and even then, only if your class typically wears little to no armor and the right areas are covered. If your male Knight is wearing nothing but a pair of pants in battle, I’m going to intervene.
Canon characters. While this setting incorporates elements from the games (especially the Tellius games), none of the canon characters are going to make an appearance in this RP. Soren and Ike both have descendants living in Duat, so if you want to create a character descended from one (or both) of them, I’ll allow it, but please discuss it with me first, as their descendants are subject to some minor (but largely trivial) restrictions that don’t apply to other characters.
Custom classes. I apologize if there is a specific type of class you want to play as that isn’t available (for example, this setting doesn’t have anything like a Berserker or a Warrior). I’ve put a lot of work into tweaking every class’s stats, caps, and growth rates to make sure no one class is likely to significantly outperform the rest. I’m not going to go through that kind of trouble again just because you want Awakening’s Dread Fighter class to be available. There are some unique classes reserved for major NPCs, but they’re a special case due to their role in the story (and potential role as important bosses).
Characters with an unauthorized connection to an existing character. You may not give your character a connection to a character already in the RP unless the player controlling that character has given their consent and the two of you have agreed on the nature of the connection. Needless to say, if both of the characters in question are controlled by you, you don’t have to worry about this rule.
Secrets that I am unaware of. If you keep a secret from me about your character, you risk me vetoing it the instant you decide to reveal it. If you want your character to have a secret that the other players don’t know about, I need to know what the secret is. Just PM the information to me. I promise to not reveal the secret to the other players. I’ll let you know beforehand if your character’s secret has any risk of being forced out by the story I already have planned. Otherwise, unless you pretty much charge headlong into a scenario in which the secret needs to come out (I’ll alert you to the risk beforehand), you can be confident that the secret will only come out if you want it to come out.
Characters who defy the setting. Pretty simple, right? Stay true to the setting I’ve designed. Instant mastery of something does not happen, for example. If you have a character who plans on promoting to a class that uses bows, make sure he/she already has some experience with bows and just needs more practice before he/she is ready to use a bow in combat. If you have a character who knows dark magic, make sure he/she had already studied it for several years beforehand. Similarly, Marked and Laguz operate under very specific rules that are not to be defied. If your character is a Marked, he/she may not transform like a Laguz—not even if out of thirty-two third great-grandparents, only one of them is a Beorc. Likewise, if your character is a depowered Laguz, he/she must be the parent of at least one Marked child.

Spoiler: Advice

I’m willing to help you make a character who fits the setting. I’ve posted a lot of extra information on the setting, and I don’t consider you obligated to read all of it. If you’re worried about creating a character who seems out-of-place, feel free to ask for my help. Maybe you want your character to come from a country with a particular political situation and/or a particular culture. I can point you in the right direction. I’ve tried to avoid creating any sort of total rip-off of a real-world country, but considering my interest in history and the sheer diversity of cultures in the real world, it’s pretty much inevitable that some countries will bear at least some similarity to real-world countries, to say nothing of the fact that I have still drawn some inspiration from the real world to help create a believable setting.
Avoid giving your character an excess of positive traits. Having too many positive traits is a common sign of a Mary Sue. It can be pulled off without making your character a Mary Sue, but it’s very difficult. I’m probably not going to risk a Mary Sue among the PCs by betting on you being good enough at RPing to handle your character’s awesomeness in a way that doesn’t annoy the other players. Your character should be “incomplete” in the beginning; he/she should become a better (or worse, if that’s the character you’re going for) person over the course of the story rather than start out as the person you want him/her to be by the end. To that end, it’s best that you give your character weaknesses to overcome or a goal to strive toward that he/she initially lacks the means to achieve. A character who starts out perfect is unfit to be the protagonist of any story, as there is nothing to present a legitimate challenge to him/her.
A flaw that doesn’t cause problems for anyone shouldn’t be thought of as a flaw. If you say your character is absent-minded, for example, make sure you have him/her occasionally demonstrate that absent-mindedness in a way that causes problems. For example, maybe he/she gets distracted at some point while the party’s traveling through the forest, resulting in him/her getting lost, which in turn means the rest of the party will probably have to stop and try to find your character. That said, I recommend avoiding any flaws that are likely to hinder the party in combat (as opposed to flaws that just cause problems in the narrative). For example, if your character is a coward, the most in-character thing for him/her to do when the party’s getting swarmed is to flee—an act that could indirectly lead to someone else’s character being wounded, captured, and/or killed. I’m always willing to help you come up with flaws that can inconvenience people in the narrative without causing problems in battle. If you want your character to have some sort of quirk that could cause problems for other players in battle, please talk it over with the other players first.
Look for ways to use game mechanics to help portray your character. For example, if you want your character to be clumsy, giving him/her Skill as a Flaw and choosing a class with a naturally low Skill growth rate would help demonstrate that. You could also add to that in the narrative by doing such things as occasionally portraying a missed attack as your character tripping or losing his/her grip on his/her weapon rather than the attack simply missing.
Avoid giving your character an excess of negative traits. Just as a character can be so amazing as to annoy everyone else, a character can also be so pathetic as to make everyone else want to vomit. As with having a lot of positive traits, it is possible to portray such a character properly, but I don’t want to bet on you pulling it off; I feel the risks outweigh the potential benefits.
Keep it relevant. Suppose your character is physically attractive. We don’t need to be reminded of it every time you post something pertaining to him/her. Chances are other characters will bring it up themselves when they feel it’s relevant (such as if someone else’s character is flirting with your character). The same holds true for negative traits and/or a tragic past. Characters who constantly angst about how pathetic they are or constantly brood about their past tend to come off as annoying whiners rather than someone to sympathize with. Again, constantly being the center of attention is why Mary Sues are often so hated.

The Factions

Currently, there are only two factions. Neither Chaldia nor Paphlagonia is inherently good or bad; both have problems that they need to address, but they both also have advantages that make them attractive to certain people. I will admit to having a preference, but I don’t want to force the party to side with a country they might rather oppose (unless you think both countries are horrible, in which case you’re out of luck). I will provide opportunities to switch sides under certain circumstances, but please keep in mind that treason will not go over well with your former allies in such a scenario (i. e. getting captured by your former allies will almost certainly mean being executed). Also, as I mentioned before, you and the other players need to agree on which side to fight for.

Spoiler: Chaldia

What kind of country Chaldia is depends on whom you ask. To most Beorc merchants and nobles, especially Eastern Beorc, Chaldia is a wonderful place to live. For most of its history, the rulers of Chaldia have chosen to intervene as little as is reasonable in the affairs of their vassals. Taxes are low, provincial nobles are largely free to pursue their own goals without fear of being stopped by the crown, and trade has flourished, leading to a larger-than average burgher class. Those who wander north of the Vila River and east of Trebizond, however, will find a different story told by the Eagle Laguz who inhabit those lands. The Chaldian Pegasus Hunters’ Guild has established many settlements on lands that belong to Eagle Laguz nobles. The Guild has repeatedly shown no regard for the Eagles already living in the region, paying no taxes and complicating the Eagles’ way of life. Many Eagles, both noble and lowborn alike, feel King Emmanuel has no interest in their well-being, some even going so far as to suggest that King Emmanuel would prefer if they weren’t there to begin with. The Eagle nobles are willing to put aside their grievances against the Guild for the duration of the war, but there is an unspoken understanding among the Chaldian nobility that the Eagles will rebel after the war if nothing is done to improve their situation once peace has returned.

The capital, Trebizond, is one of the two main trade ports in the east, a trait reflected in its sprawling market district. Merchants and craftspeople have flocked to the city from all over the continent, hoping to make it big as members of Trebizond’s powerful guilds. Outside of the capital, however, Chaldia is much more sparsely populated. Provincial villages are rarely any more impressive than villages anywhere else, but the towns that spring up around castles and cathedrals are generally wealthier than their counterparts in other countries. Most landowners attribute this wealth to the low taxes and their investments in trade in Trebizond. The near-inexhaustible wealth of King Emmanuel has helped compensate for Chaldia’s population; if necessary, King Emmanuel can hire large numbers of mercenaries to bolster his forces, helped by the fact that many mercenary companies are based in Trebizond, greatly reducing the amount of time it takes for them to get organized. Because of this, despite many of Chaldia’s neighbors being more populous, war is rare.

Chaldia is a relatively flat and low-lying country, thickly forested in most places and covered in swamps and wetlands near the Rusalka Delta. Due to how far north Chaldia is, a day’s length will vary immensely across the seasons. During the winter solstice, the north coast gets only around six hours of sunlight. Winters are long and harsh, with snow being common for almost half of the year, especially in the north. It’s common for most of the rivers to freeze over during the winter, though the Rusalka and Vila rarely freeze over completely, remaining navigable year round save for on very rare occasions when winter is much colder than usual. Because of this, trade with the rest of Anatolia is still viable even in the winter. A wet spring eventually gives way to a humid summer. Despite the winters, summer, while short, is often uncomfortably hot except on the coast.

At the moment, Chaldia is fighting this war alone, but King Emmanuel has made efforts to convince the rulers of Istria and Travunia that they have a vested interest in Chaldia winning the war. Travunia is more centralized than Chaldia, but is also much more homogeneous, being populated almost exclusively by Eastern Beorc. Paphlagonia’s alliance with Seleucia has left King Julius worried that Paphlagonia may invade. An alliance with Chaldia would be helpful in ensuring Travunia’s independence. Istria is in a similar situation, worried about not only possible Paphlagonian aggression, but also Ugarit, a Bear Laguz kingdom to the south. King Justin will likely be very easy to convince that an alliance with Chaldia is the best guarantee of Istrian independence.

Spoiler: Paphlagonia

As with Chaldia, what kind of country Paphlagonia is depends on whom you ask. Unlike Chaldia, where there is a much clearer difference between “Laguz territory” and “Beorc territory” in most areas, Paphlagonian lands have a much greater mix between Anatolian and Mainland Bear culture. This has contributed to tensions between the Beorc and Laguz populations in the past, each feeling the other is trying to “take over.” King Damian has done much to try to ease tensions between the Beorc and Laguz populations and has seen some success in his efforts, but there is still room for improvement, especially in some of his vassals’ lands; not all landowners share the King’s interest in Beorc and Laguz sharing Paphlagonia. Furthermore, many of the nobles’ privileges have been revoked, allegedly to make it harder for them to contribute to interracial tensions, though most of them understandably don’t buy that explanation. As a whole, King Damian is slightly more popular among his Laguz vassals than among his Beorc vassals, but overall, he is an unpopular ruler in the eyes of the nobility. There are even rumors that some of his vassals are planning to rebel should the current war go poorly, though no one dares name names.

Paphlagonia’s capital is Smyrna, a large city situated in the north at the junction of the Jinn and Rusalka rivers. The Patriarchate of Smyrna is centered there, making the city one of Eastern Duat’s foremost centers of learning, both religious and secular. With the recent completion of the Academy of the Mystic Arts (albeit over the vehement objections of Matriarch Uren), Smyrna has also become an attractive destination for practitioners of Dark Magic. In the north, Paphlagonia is largely indistinguishable from Chaldia, consisting of forested wilderness occasionally interrupted by a small village or town. In the south, however, landowners have much more productive land, which in turn increases the need for serfs to work the land. Castle towns in the south are quite populous compared to their counterparts in the north and are usually surrounded by fields and pastures, occasionally interrupted by a peasant village.

Paphlagonia, like Chaldia, is mostly flat, though higher than Chaldia and slightly hillier. As was mentioned earlier, the northern regions of Paphlagonia are mostly forest. Eventually, though, as one travels farther south, the forests give way to grassland. The soil in the south is some of the most fertile in all of Duat, allowing for incredibly productive farms. Despite being farther south than Chaldia, Paphlagonia’s winter is only slightly shorter and milder. Summer, however, is noticeably hotter, especially on the steppes in the south.

Paphlagonia has two allies in this war: Seleucia and Jaffa. Seleucia is populated mostly by Eastern Beorc, but has a noticeable Bear population in the east. Queen Katherine is married to Prince Alexander of Paphlagonia, the son of King Damian and heir apparent to the Paphlagonian throne. Their daughter, Dorothy, may one day inherit both kingdoms. Jaffa is inhabited mainly by Bears, but has a large Eastern Beorc population, too. King Koyash’s son and heir apparent, Prince Ulgan, is married to Princess Anastasia of Paphlagonia, King Damian’s daughter.

Items

Each character has eight item slots: four for weapons and four for other items. Your character may have one weapon equipped at any given time. The equipped weapon is always at the “front” of the list of weapons your character has on him/her. Should your character’s equipped weapon break, he/she will automatically equip the next weapon on that list. Most items (i. e. not weapons) are things to be used manually, not equipped. There are some items which can be equipped, but they provide a passive effect and do not break, meaning that they will be equipped until you unequip them. As with weapons, only one equippable item may be equipped at any given time.

Spoiler: Dropped Items

Spoiler: Storage and Supply Wagons

Spoiler: Customization

Spoiler: Enchantment

Spoiler: Repairs and Broken Items

Spoiler: Starter Shop

Spoiler: Crutch Starter Shop

Combat

Combat in this RP is handled the same way as in the Fire Emblem games, with most of the mechanics being from Radiant Dawn. The maps will require a little imagination on your part, but I’m confident they’ll be understandable. When your character engages the enemy, I run a series of calculations to determine what happens as far as the mechanics are concerned. You are, of course, free to describe combat as more than what the calculations say happened. For example, if I say your Swordfighter attacks an enemy Swordfighter and scores a hit while the enemy’s counterattack misses, feel free to portray the fight as more than that. That said, portraying every fight as an epic multi-paragraph struggle will likely bog down the narrative very quickly, which is why the current plan is for all of us to work together on making the combat posts. Generally speaking, anything goes when it comes to how you portray a fight; I’ll only intervene if I feel your character does something especially outlandish, such as using a Bronze Sword to bisect a Champion in full plate armor. Speaking of bisection, please avoid overly graphic descriptions of blood and gore. We don’t need to read about how your Swordfighter’s finishing blow caused the enemy’s blood and intestines to spill out of a gash in his abdomen.

Spoiler: Status Conditions

Poisoned: Caused by being hit by poisoned Beorc weapons or the fangs of transformed Snake Laguz. At the beginning of each turn for five turns, your character will randomly suffer one to five points of damage. After the fifth turn, the poison wears off.
Severely Poisoned: Caused by being hit by a transformed Snake Laguz when their Overkill skill activates. Same as being poisoned, but the damage range starts out wide and decreases each turn (5-25 on the first turn, 4-20 on the second, 3-15 on the third, 2-10 on the fourth, 1-5 on the fifth).
Asleep: Caused by the Sleep staff’s spell hitting your character. Your character cannot do anything and Speed is reduced to 0. Your character will wake up after taking damage from an enemy’s attack or after three turns have passed. Being shoved, rescued, or dropped counts as one turn passing with regards to the status condition.
Silent: Caused by the Silence staff’s spell hitting your character. Magic and staves cannot be used by your character for three turns. Your character is also mute for those three turns.
Blind: Caused by being hit by a Ranger’s attack when their Blind skill activates. Your character’s Skill and Vision are reduced to 0 for one turn, preventing him/her from attacking (though counterattacking is still an option).
Stunned: Caused by triggering a trap, getting hit by Flaming Pitch, being attacked by bees, or being hit by a Zephyr Knight’s attack when their Stun skill activates. Your character cannot do anything and Speed is reduced to 0 for one turn.
Gored: Caused by being hit by a transformed Elephant Laguz when their Gore skill activates. Your character’s Defense and Movement are halved for one turn.
Berserk: Caused by the Berserk staff’s spell hitting your character. I control your character for three turns. I promise he/she will attack the nearest character, be they ally or enemy, with priority going to the most vulnerable in the event of equidistant targets. If your character is attacked by a berserk ally, it will be up to you to decide whether or not to fight back.

Spoiler: Battlefield Conditions

Spoiler: Stealing

Spoiler: Rescuing

Spoiler: Shoving

Other Features

Spoiler: Weapon Level

What weapons your character can use depends on two factors. The first is what weapons your character’s class has access to. For example, a Swordmaster can use swords, but not axes. The second is what Weapon Level your character has for each weapon type. If the aforementioned Swordmaster has Weapon Level B for swords, he/she can use any sword with level B, C, D, or E, but not A, S, or SS. Using a weapon will increase experience for that type of weapon. After gaining enough weapon experience, your character’s Weapon Level for that weapon will increase. Upon gaining access to a new type of weapon, your character will automatically gain one weapon experience point in that type of weapon, giving him/her Weapon Level E.

If your character promotes to a class that can’t use the same weapon type as before, any weapon experience for the now-inaccessible weapon type becomes latent. For example, a Wyvern Rider’s Axe experience will become latent if he/she becomes a Wyvern Mage. Suppose for the sake of this example that he/she has 110 experience points with the axe. Since the Dark Raider class has access to axes, the latent experience becomes useful again if the Wyvern Mage in question promotes to a Dark Raider. If he/she promotes to a Dark Flier, though, there’s no point in keeping that experience. As such, you have the option of transferring that experience to another weapon type. This transfer happens gradually, though, and cannot more than double the amount of weapon experience gained in the new weapon type. For example, if the aforementioned Dark Flier wants that experience transferred to Anima Magic, he/she will still start off only able to use E-level tomes, but will gain weapon experience at a rate of 2/use instead of one. A D-level tome would yield four points per use, a C-level tome would yield six, and so on until all that latent experience is depleted.

The Weapon Levels and the weapon experience necessary to reach each level are detailed in the chart below.

Spoiler: Skills

Your character has four basic skill slots, although at least one of them is already filled by an innate skill. Any skill classified as innate cannot be removed, as it is something everyone with your character’s class has. The only exception is if your character promotes to a class with different innate skills. A Guard loses the Shove skill if he/she promotes to a Horseman/Horsewoman, a Knight loses the Shove skill if he/she promotes to a Paladin, and a Swordsman/Swordswoman loses the Shove skill if he/she promotes to a Cavalier. There is also an Occult Skill, which occupies a special fifth skill slot and is automatically acquired at a certain point. For Beorc classes, an Occult skill is acquired upon promoting to a top-tier class. For Laguz classes, an Occult Skill is acquired upon reaching Level 21. Occult Skills, like innate skills, cannot be removed.

From time to time, a defeated enemy may drop a Skill Manual, a single-use item that bestows a skill upon whoever uses it. In addition, some shops carry certain Skill Manuals (including the Starter Shop eventually). If your character has a skill you want to get rid of, just say so and I’ll remove the skill as long as it’s not an innate or Occult skill. The skill in question will be transferred to a Skill Manual which you can then sell at the next shop or give to someone else who wants it. Please keep in mind that some skills take up two slots instead of one, so if your character has only one open skill slot, he/she can’t learn any skills that take up two slots.

Below is a list of every skill in the RP (though I might throw in a unique Occult skill for the final boss and other important NPCs). A skill listed as Passive will activate under the specific conditions mentioned in the description. Manual skills will only be triggered when you specifically say you want to trigger them. Skills with a formula shown as their trigger have a quasi-random chance of activating; the higher the relevant stat, the greater the chance of the skill activating. For example, if your character has the Adept skill and a Speed stat of 13, then the skill has a 13% chance of activating each time your character carries out a regular attack.

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Spoiler: Death, Wounds, and Capture

In most of the games, a character would die upon running out of HP—though some exceptions existed. In the RP, running out of HP means your character is wounded and unable to fight for the rest of that battle. What happens from there can vary. Normally, your character will remain in the place where he/she was defeated for the remainder of the battle unless an enemy or ally picks him/her up (wounded mounted units have their Wt stat reduced accordingly), just as they would Rescue an ally. When your character is picked up, I will mark a drop-off tile for him/her to be taken to and safely taken off the battlefield. Alternatively, you can have your character die when he/she runs out of HP. You’ll get to decide whether he/she dies or lives when and if your character runs out of HP except under very specific circumstances.

After the battle in which your character was wounded, his/her ability to fight will be dramatically hindered. The penalty depends on whether your character is a Beorc class or a Laguz class. Beorc classes have their combat stats (Max HP, Str, Mag, Skl, Spd, Lck, Def, Res) reduced by 75%. With the passage of each in-game day, those stats will recover by 5%, though participating in battle will stop the recovery process for that day. Laguz classes have their combat stats reduced by 60%, but also have their Transform Gauge expanded to 75 instead of 30 and will drain at 2.5 times the normal rate (though it will fill up at the normal rate). With the passage of each in-game day, stats will recover by 4%, the Transform Gauge will shrink by 3, and the rate at which it drains will decrease by the corresponding amount. Assuming your character doesn’t do anything to hinder his/her recovery (such as fight, let alone get wounded again), your character’s stats (and transformation abilities in the case of Laguz) will fully recover after fifteen in-game days. Getting wounded again during recovery will force your character to start the recovery process over again.

I’ve also proposed making it possible for your character to be captured if an enemy picks him/her up and takes him/her off the battlefield (the destination will be indicated on the map if that happens, not to mention your character can only be picked up by an enemy when wounded). If the battle ends with the party retreating, your character will be automatically captured if he/she has not been taken to safety by an ally. Likewise, if the battle ends with the enemy retreating, your character will not be captured unless an enemy captured him/her and got him/her off the battlefield. Your character will still recover normally if captured, but will be a prisoner of the enemy. I will discuss your character’s fate with you through PMs. The most likely scenario is that your character’s captor will request ransom from the rest of the party and release him/her once the ransom is paid. Depending on how long your character is held, though, there may also be opportunities to escape. Defection is also an option, though this means your character may one day meet the rest of the party as an enemy. If your character defects and is defeated as an enemy rather than convinced to return to the party’s side, he/she will be entirely at the mercy of the party, meaning whoever defeats your character will have the option of killing your character without your consent. Of course, you’re also free to relinquish control of your character if he/she is captured.

Spoiler: Religion

This is almost exclusively a plot point, not a mechanic. The main reason I’m bringing it up here is so everyone’s on the same page regarding the religious landscape of this setting. The last time I failed to cover this, someone’s character exclaimed “Gods!” despite the setting’s dominant religion being monotheistic.

The Church of Ashunera is the by far dominant religious entity in Duat, exerting its influence over every country. The religion is called Ashuneranism, its followers are called Ashunerans, and they worship Ashunera (and only Ashunera). If you’ve played Radiant Dawn, you might remember that name. In the interest of avoiding spoilers for those who have not played that game, I will not explain her relevance. All you need to know is that she is a goddess, similar to the Abrahamic God as far as her role in everything is concerned. If you do not specify your characters’ religious beliefs when submitting them, I will assume they are Ashunerans. The Church takes the whole “one Goddess” thing very seriously. To the clergy, only Ashunera deserves to be worshipped; it is blasphemy to worship anyone else.

The other major “religion” in this setting is animism, although “animism” is just an umbrella term for a wide variety of belief systems that are completely independent of one another. The only thing all animist sects have in common is their worship of spirits (see the Lore entry on spirits for more information). Some sects only worship specific spirits, some sects worship all spirits, some worship spirits in addition to the Goddess, and some worship spirits instead of the Goddess. There are a few sects that I’ve designed, but you are free to design one of your own if you so desire—though I’ll probably ask you for detailed information on the sect’s beliefs and traditions and hold you to what you say. If you say your character’s sect believes X, I’m going to intervene if you later have your character reveal that his/her sect believes Y and not X. For additional information on animism, I advise reading the Lore entry on it.

There is also metatheism, which is pretty much the closest thing this setting has to atheism. The bottom line is that metatheists are people who, while accepting that Ashunera exists, choose not to worship her and choose not to adhere to all of the Church’s rules. People’s reasons for being metatheists vary. Some feel Ashunera is fallible and thus shouldn’t be considered a person’s sole source on what is right and what is wrong (though the extent to which such people are willing to ignore Ashunera’s alleged teachings varies between individuals). Others believe Ashunera (or at least the Church of Ashunera) is actually evil and should be opposed rather than obeyed. If you’re planning on making your character a metatheist, I recommend reading the lore entry on metatheism.

As Ashuneranism is the state religion of every country in the RP, non-Ashunerans are, on average, worse off than Ashunerans, though the extent to which they are worse off varies. For the most part, non-Ashunerans are tolerated, but not necessarily welcomed. There have been plenty of incidents of people inciting violence against non-Ashunerans, but there have also been cases of non-Ashunerans being treated quite well. It depends on a lot of factors, such as the individual and what society they live in. Someone who is outspoken about their hatred of the Church of Ashunera is unlikely to be treated well anywhere unless they live in some remote village where everyone holds the same religious views as they do. By contrast, someone who has a “live and let live” attitude when it comes to religion is usually going to have an easier time living among Ashunerans.

Spoiler: Support

I imagine most, if not all, of the players already know what a Support is, but just in case you don’t know, a Support is a bond between two characters. Think of it as anything from a budding friendship to love. Being next to an ally on the battlefield will provide a small boost to both you and the ally. Increasing your Support level with said ally will increase the bonus you get. The chart at the bottom of this spoiler box shows you the bonuses. Each Support level counts for one point, an ally you have no Support with providing one point. Since you can at most be adjacent to four allies, the maximum number of Support Points you can normally have at any given time is 17, 12 for each A-Level Support and five for your S-Level Support. The Solar Knight class’s Occult Skill, Camaraderie, raises that limit to 21 and provides four free Support Points.

I think of the first support level, C, as being the equivalent of two acquaintances who are on good terms. The second level, B, is what I think of as being friends. After that is A, which I think of as being very close friends. The highest level, S, is reserved for lovers. Your character may only have one S-level Support, but there is no limit to how many lower-level Supports your character may have.

A Support level will be increased if enough in-game time has passed since the previous increase in Support level for that particular pair of characters and I am convinced that the characters have grown close enough to warrant an upgrade. I will, however, downgrade Support levels if I feel the characters are growing sufficiently distant from each other. An especially nasty falling out could lead to me getting rid of the Support altogether (though I will revive it if the characters make up). If you feel your character’s Support level with another character should be increased or decreased, please make your case to me in a PM and I will make the appropriate changes if convinced. If you do not control both characters, I will also ask for the other player’s opinion.

In the event of Supports between two characters controlled by the same player, I will only allow upgrades if both characters have an equal number of total Support levels with other characters. So, for example, suppose you want your two characters, Lucina and Laurent, to become a couple. That means both of them need four Support levels with other characters before I’ll allow them to have an S-level Support. For example, Lucina could get an A-level Support with Chrom and a C-level Support with Cynthia. Likewise, Laurent could get something along the lines of a B-level Support with Miriel and a B-level Support with Gerome. This policy is purely to prevent players from gaming the Support system.

Spoiler: Romance

Spoiler: Marriage

As the section on romance pointed out, marriage is completely optional. I only included a section on it to explain the way marriage works in Duat. Truth be told, this section might be better off under “Lore,” but then I would risk players never bothering to read it.

Most marriages are officiated by the Church of Ashunera. As all of the existing countries are ruled by Ashunerans, only Ashuneran marriages are officially recognized—though most rulers don’t bother to confirm with the Church the marital status of every couple they come across who claim to be married. Most priests are willing to marry interfaith couples as long as one of the two people seeking to get married is an Ashuneran, although priests are technically within their rights to refuse to marry non-Ashunerans. Under normal circumstances, priests may only marry opposite-sex couples who are more distant in blood relation than first cousins. A “forbidden couple” that wishes to marry may ask the bishop of the diocese they live in for a dispensation allowing the marriage, though it is extremely rare for a dispensation to be granted for anything other than an opposite-sex marriage between first cousins—to say nothing of the fact that dispensations in general are rarely granted. If your character enters a forbidden marriage without a dispensation (such as by not telling the priest that he/she and his/her would-be spouse are closely related by blood), the marriage will be annulled if its forbidden nature is discovered. Interclass marriages are just flat-out not allowed; slaves may not marry non-slaves and serfs may not marry non-serfs. For a slave to marry a non-slave, the slave must be freed first, effectively making the marriage between two non-slaves. Likewise, for a serf to marry a non-serf, the serf must be released from the landowner’s service, effectively making the marriage between two non-serfs. The Church’s reasoning behind this is that a slave or serf is already bound in service to his/her master; marrying someone not similarly bound in service to the same person could lead to a person’s duty to his/her master conflicting with his/her duty to his/her family.

In the Ashuneran tradition, divorces are only granted under very specific circumstances and only bishops have the authority to grant divorces. The most common reason for divorce is adultery. Your character will be allowed a divorce if he/she can convince the bishop of the diocese he/she lives in that his/her spouse has been unfaithful. Unless the bishop personally witnessed the act of adultery, the accused is considered innocent unless he/she personally confesses to the act or four witnesses testify to witnessing it. Even then, the bishop may reject the testimony if he/she believes it is false—such as if he/she believes the accused has been coerced into falsely confessing. A less common justification for divorce is if one party is anathema. Someone is anathema if they are a non-Ashuneran or the Church has anathematized them. Your character may divorce his/her spouse if either the former or the latter is anathema. That said, if the bishop granting the divorce suspects your character married an anathema person just so he/she could avoid having to commit to the marriage, he/she may call for your character’s excommunication after granting the divorce. Finally, if your character or his/her spouse swears a monastic oath, their marriage is officially annulled the instant the oath has been sworn.

The Church of Ashunera also requires a recently-divorced or -widowed woman to wait three months before remarrying. This is purely to ensure that if she is pregnant with her previous husband’s child, the pregnancy can be discovered before she is remarried, thus ensuring that the child would not be mistaken for her new husband’s child. Some elements within the church argue that this is pointless in the event of adultery, as the woman may be pregnant with the lover’s child in such a situation. Others argue that the policy should stand, but men should also be obligated to wait three months in the interest of equality.

Most animist sects have their own traditions with regards to marriage and divorce. Most only allow monogamous opposite-sex marriages and forbid first cousins and anyone more closely related to marry, though there are exceptions to all of these. Some sects allow same-sex marriages, some sects allow plural marriages (i. e. marrying multiple people), some sects allow consanguineous marriages (though most who do still stop short of allowing people to marry siblings and/or direct descendants), and some allow some combination of the three. Some sects even reject the idea of marriage altogether. If you feel like making your character an animist, the marriage customs (or lack thereof) of their sect will be up to you unless you choose a sect that I or another player created rather than a sect of your own design. I will enforce consistency, though, so if you say your custom sect forbids something or allows something, I won’t allow you to change it later.

Pierre · Post by **Pierre** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 7:57 am

I'm working now and so don't have a chance to read but you can basically consider me interested for now

Shadowsleuth · Post by **Shadowsleuth** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 8:35 am

oh dear god that is so many words

Pierre · Post by **Pierre** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 5:35 pm

Mostly read it now, I'll submit a character but it seems like this RP would benefit from.a good number of people. A dedicated Fire Emblem Fansite might appreciate it more but we'll see.

Website · Post by **General Luigi** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 1:08 am

Pierre wrote:A dedicated Fire Emblem Fansite might appreciate it more but we'll see.

I'd probably get a lot more takers on Serenes Forest, yes, but starting a new account on a new forum just to run an RP strikes me as rather silly--not to mention a Fire Emblem fansite would probably already have plenty of Fire Emblem RPs. There's also the matter of there already being users here whom I could reasonably expect to be interested in my idea.

Anthony · Post by **Anthony** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:58 am

How is it Version 2.0?

Website · Post by **General Luigi** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 4:37 am

Version 1.0 was the RP that died.

Anthony · Post by **Anthony** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 4:47 am

Ah. Two things I thought one was it was just on Hiatus. The other would include new classes.

Website · Post by **General Luigi** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 9:08 pm

New weapons have been introduced, some of the classes have been renamed, most of the classes have been tweaked for what is hopefully better balance, new skills have been introduced, some old skills have been removed or changed, new mechanics have been introduced, the RP takes place in a different location and time, the story is different... and those are just the changes that occur to me off the top of my head.

Shadowsleuth · Post by **Shadowsleuth** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 8:50 pm

Back on AAO, we ran a couple Fire Emblem RPs and they were pretty cool. Our user Kwando came up with some handy generators that calculated leveling and battles, which I think I could get if you wanted.

In the interim, holy jeez is that a lot of text. That is gonna be hugely intimidating to anyone looking to join, regardless of if they're a fan or not. I haven't gone through it all despite the fact that I am interested, but if you can find any way to make that thing easier to read, that would really help.

For example, the story section makes it difficult to tell what's going on beyond "countries fighting". I know the plot doesn't really matter in Fire Emblem, but you should consider simplifying the presentation there too. Generally (pun intended) speaking, there's too many proper nouns that make a reader stop and think "wait, what's that" before continuing.

Website · Post by **General Luigi** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:26 pm

I'll see about putting together a "tl;dr" version that covers the basics.

Pierre · Post by **Pierre** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:50 pm

Mediaeval Kingdoms! Fighting! Beast People!

Romance!

Fire emblem is pretty standard fare in its story.

Website · Post by **General Luigi** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 10:36 pm

Spoiler: tl;dr version

If you want any additional information, please let me know.

Spider · Post by **Spider** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 11:52 pm

I really wish I looked here sooner... when few people responded to me about even the possibility of a rp here, I didn't bother looking here for about a week I think. Regrets...

Anyways, I would look into playing the Fire Emblem rp, but, as I just mentioned in the Fire Emblem thread, I'm looking to just get into the series now, meaning I'd be missing out on a lot of story elements. I'm also used to more casual rpgs. I mean, with dedicated people yeah, but not with a lot of mechanics thrown in. The most complicated I've done was a Pokémon rpg.

Also, to address something that came up earlier in this thread, yes, it is possible to roleplay Creepypasta. It just had a bad reputation because of fangirls. I think it's very possible to have a game set up with canon or original monster characters that don't detract from the source material or the purpose of them being scary. It's just done really badly a lot of the time.

Shadowsleuth · Post by **Shadowsleuth** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 10:56 am

I've been in an RP mood lately and I've yet to get this one off the ground. So hey, figured I'd give it a shot here. I've basically already written up the OP, so this is just that with all the extras taken out.

Spoiler: The Mercurial Peace

Website · Post by **General Luigi** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 5:42 pm

Looks good to me. You're technically free to start an OOC thread now, but I recommend waiting until you've got some interested parties.

Pierre · Post by **Pierre** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 6:32 pm

I'm pretty interested in something like that.

Spider · Post by **Spider** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 8:59 pm

Yeah, again I'm not familiar with the content. I know the World Ends with You, though I wasn't that impressed by it. I've only seen the first episode of Durararara and only seen about a few gameplay episodes of Persona 4 and kinda dropped it. Not my kind of thing...