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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:54 am 
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The old OOC was getting pretty long, and this is a good time to make a new thread, so here's this.

The Well -> Arcana. The Well is an integral piece of my Arcana world for reasons which shall, for right now, at least, remain unknown. As we'll be going out into Arcana now, I'm changing the name of the game to Arcana - the Arcana thread is the Well thread.

The Arcana world, as you will find as you play through the story, is based very much off of a tarot deck.

For those wondering:

a) Yes. It is, in fact, possible to get through that room and into the Fire Temple. It is, however, deliberately engineered to wipe a party if you screw it up enough times. Which you did. And pulled the Certain Doom lever to boot. The Kid and Enver were quite correct in not wanting to risk the room. The Well is a not a nice place. It is designed to KILL people. For reasons which will be revealed eventually.

b) Enver actually had a chance to live. Everyone else was pretty much screwed. However, Enver failed to run away fast enough (yes, rolling was involved there).

c) I was getting the feeling that people were growing a bit tired of the puzzles. This gives me a good chance to move the plot along.

d) Upon dying, as noted in the game thread, your memories grow dim in the void, to the point where you pretty much lose them. However... well. Sucks to be you. You remember everything now... except for just who the woman is, and what her hold is over you. You've been on many worlds, many places. Always, you are doing something for her. Always, inevitably, you die in her service... only to be returned, again and again. Before, your memories were wiped this time. Not so this time.

e) Everyone still has their stuff - the Kid still has the Star, everyone has their weapons, the obsidian tablet with the sigils.

---

Dying was not all for nothing. You guys would die eventually unless you all got really, really lucky. The farther you guys got into the Well, the more abilities you would get once you finally got out into Arcana. You cleared King Nothing, Obsidian Entertainment, and even technically Disco Inferno – three areas/puzzles.

King Nothing, you guys figured out quite handily.

The Infinite Hallway doesn't count as an area, as it is, after all... well, a hallway.

Obsidian Entertainment you guys went through the hard way, but had an easy time with the fight.
For those wondering, the sigils on the block said “Push Me”. In the smaller line, it said “Push Block Not Lever”. The smaller line uses a slightly different sigil set than the first one – the sigils are similar for each letter, but not identical.

Disco Inferno you mostly got through correctly. The main mistake you made was not hitting the last grey tile... which actually stopped the blinking tile from counting down into the lava falling. There's a reason why the room's designed to kill – the one tile you guys really needed to push was the least likely one you guys would try. Also, the right lever was the correct one. The left was, indeed, Certain Doom.

---

So, in any case, you guys cleared 3 areas. I'm giving you Disco Inferno because in the end you did solve the puzzle, as the Lady pulled both the best and worst lever at the same time.

What does that mean?

Powers. Abilities. You remember how, at the very beginning of the game, I made the very explicit statement that you were only capable comparable to an 'average' human being? Here's where this changes. Based off of how far you guys got, you have each been dealt a tarot card of the Major Arcana for every area. That is three cards each, for each character that remained in play (and roleplaying) until the end.

I will do so for you... guys... now...



And now I'm reminded as to exactly why I don't mess with tarot. That's just spooky who got what cards...

Alright. So here's the deal. Below you will see what character got what cards. With each card I placed a rough description of what the card means upright. If you really want to go more in depth, the Wikipedia entries for the Major Arcana tend to have a lot of information for each card.

The idea here is you may each create one ability or power based off of the theme of each card. This ability will allow you to do something beyond the ability of mortal men. Now that your memories are unlocked, you remember all the various abilities and powers that you have learned over repeated lifetimes, deals that you made, dooms that you suffered. You do not have to think small for these abilities. Be creative - the more creative the ability is, the more likely it is I'll allow it. Think big – then, once I see where you are going with it, I can work with you to bring it back down to appropriate levels. Yes, magic exists in the world, as do miracles. It is primarily a fantasy based setting. These abilities are the accumulation of over a thousand lives. Have some fun making them.

---

Now, most importantly...

The reason why all of this information is in the OOC is that I would prefer for you guys to work together when designing your powers and abilities. Discuss it here in this thread. That way a) everyone knows what everyone else is doing, b) everyone can bounce around ideas, and c) I can see what you guys are thinking of and say 'yea' or 'nay'.

For those wondering, I'm using Luis Royo's Labyrinth Tarot deck.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:57 am 
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Stocky

The Chariot

Success and the control of events. Energy, strength, and health. The love of travel and freedom. The risk of adventure with a promising future. SUCCESS and VICTORY

The Sun

Light, genius, and talent. Happiness and favorable omens. Vitality, material fortune. LIGHT and VITALITY

Strength

Valor, the eternal spirit of overcoming obstacles. Confidence, heroicness, virility, and physical strength. SELF CONTROL

---

Enver

Justice

Just measure, impartiality. A balanced spirit, justice and harmony. A clean game. FAIRNESS

The Magician

The alchemist or spellmaker. Willpower, a tendency toward new ideas. Creativity, originality, dexterity, and flexibility. FULFILLMENT

The Empress


Intelligence and sensitivity. A creative business, a cured illness, a birth, a solution of problems. INTELLIGENCE

---

The Kid

The Moon

Imagination apart from spirit. The subconscious mind. Fantasy and dark illusion. INSTABILITY

The Star (I find it very amusing that it was the Kid who got this Arcana, considering what he carries...)

Renovation and new possibilities. Intuition that shows us the way. Brilliant perspectives. HOPE

The Hermit

The sage, the holder of secrets. Material austerity, but inner wealth. Prudence, precaution, advice, meditation. WISDOM and SOLITUDE

---

The Lady

The Hanged Man

The spirit of renouncement and sacrifice. Conformity. Spiritual decision and hidden power. SACRIFICE

The Lovers

Choices and trials, optimism, a meeting of contrasts. The struggle between sensual and fraternal love. FREE WILL or TEMPTATION

The Fool


The eternal traveler. The beginning of adventure. Spontaneity, enthusiasm, impulsitivity. FREEDOM

---

Ginger

The High Priest (or the Hierophant)

Knowledge adapted to the world. Faith and mysticism, yet also conformity and orthodoxy. Wisdom with comprehension, the head of ritual. FAITH in synthesis with KNOWLEDGE

The Priestess

Esotericism. Cerebral and independent. Darkness and mystery. The mouth of science, of occult knowledge, the black flight of imagination. OCCULT and WISDOM

The World

Unification with life forces. Harmony. The control of the earthly plains. The final result of reaching the goal, definitive change. FULFILMENT and CAPACITY

---

Pretty

The Emperor

The great beast, power and stability. Leadership, authority, pride, richness, and world power. FULFILMENT and sometimes HIERARCHY

Wheel of Fortune

The continual turning of destiny. Changes and modifications. Transition. DESTINY

Temperance


Harmony between material and spiritual. Compromise and moderation. Fusion, serenity. Just measure. STABILITY.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:01 am 
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Lastly, feel free to start roleplaying in the game thread. If we sit and wait for everyone to figure out their abilities, it'll be weeks before the game gets going again. Instead, we start now. As we go along, since your character is 'remembering', he can remember his powers/abilities as you play.

The worlds that you have been in before can be any mix - fantasy, sci-fi. We're talking dimension hopping. If you've read about it, in theory your character might've been there in some way, shape, or form.

I will say that this world is going to be more along the lines of medieval fantasy.

And now, as I've been working at these series of posts for the past 4-5 hours, I'm getting some sleep.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:28 am 
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So, just as an example:

Ruan wrote:
The Magician

The alchemist or spellmaker. Willpower, a tendency toward new ideas. Creativity, originality, dexterity, and flexibility. FULFILLMENT


Spellcrafter: Enver was, in several previous lives, different varieties of master wizards. In many of these cases, his magic worked on some variant of True Speech; anything which he says, or writes, in that ancient language is an immediate spell. His experience in many previous lives has made him quite adept in this difficult tongue, allowing him to cast a wide variety of spells; he can basically attempt to cast any spell whose effects he can describe.

There are, however, two important limitations; the first is with regards to the names of creatures. He knows the true names of dozens of people; all from previous lives, all now dead, their dust scattered on the wind. Of the present group, the only one whose True Name he knows is his own; and he cannot cast magic directly on any being or creature without knowing what to call it in the True Speech. He can cast magic on most inanimate objects (air, rock) and any plant species whose True Name he knows; but not on any strangers he happens to meet.

Which isn't to say that he can't use magic against them. He just needs to be creative. For example, he can magically levitate a heavy rock, move it about ("...a little to the left, now back a touch...") until it's over an enemy, and then simply cancel the spell; all without requiring the enemy's name.

The second limitation being that this form of magic tends to be a Literal Genie; he'll get exactly what he asks for. Making someone's skin as hard as stone (if he gets their name) will make it more difficult to injure them, but it will also prevent the victim from moving, trapping them (in effect) in a statue of themselves.

Would that be the sort of thing that you are looking for?

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 9:09 am 
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Ooooh, interesting combo. Both spontaneity AND conformity? The Freedom and the Temptation/Free Will thing are an interesting pairing.

I'm going to have to mull this over. A power that involves sacrifice, impulsitivity, choices...

Oh, hey, are we in different clothes? I feel that The Lady would care about that.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 10:50 am 
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Hmm, so we get names now, correct?

Also, is this supposed to be one power per card, something that incorporates all three cards, or just a mish-mash so long as it relates to the cards?

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 12:01 pm 
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I'm noticing that there seem to be some interesting relationships between characters according to the attributes assigned to them. Perhaps this suggests ways powers can be combined. Here are Ginger's relationships to other characters via attributes:

  • The Kid: The Priestess has a lunar crescent at her feet and a diadem on her head (The Moon, The Star); The World represents Prudence and Wisdom (The Hermit)
  • Stocky: Veil behind The Priestess decorated with palm leaves, which are associated with triumph and victory (The Chariot)
  • Enver: The Priestess is sister to The Empress; The World is associated with fulfillment (The Magician)
  • The Lady: The Hierophant sits between the pillars of Law and Liberty (The Fool); hand gesture suggested by the body of The Hanged Man, and likewise represents the link between heaven and earth; The World represents the ending of a cycle of life, and The Fool represents the start of a new one
  • Pretty: Wheel of Fortune concerns destiny and transition, related to The World's ending of a cycle of life; The World represents fulfillment (The Emperor)

Overall, Ginger seems most closely associated with The Lady, and least associated with Stocky.

EDIT: Ideas for Ginger's powers:

The Priestess:
  • Representative of science, wisdom, secrets and mystery, and coupled with The Hierophant, she might have Mystical Vision, permitting her to discover hidden items or understand the workings of mysterious devices.
  • Related to darkness, she might be able to Blind enemies.
The Hierophant:
  • Teaching, having knowledge and discipline; Ginger could Learn powers from others or Teach her powers to others.
  • Positive change through painful experience, perhaps coupled with The Lady's The Hanged Man, she might be able to gain strength, mana or some other attribute by Siphoning it from an ally.
  • Deception and power over others; she could cause Hallucinations in enemies, or Dominate their minds and control them.
The World:
  • Harness Nature, invoke strong wind, heavy rain, snow, hail, lightning, earthquakes
  • Recruit Animals to assist the party
All Three:
  • The Priestess's veil decorated with palm leaves (victory, relating to Stocky's Chariot; success, relating to The World) and pomegranates (the seasons, death and resurrection), The Hierophant represents the bridge between diety and humanity. The World relates to the ending of a cycle of life, and The Lady's Fool the start of a new one. Ginger might have Victory over Death, the ability to resurrect a fallen comrade, perhaps through the cooperation of The Lady or Stocky.

EDIT 2: You know what's really ticking me off? The fact that I was considering hitting the sixth tile just to see what would happen.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 3:36 pm 
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CCC wrote:
So, just as an example:

Ruan wrote:
The Magician

The alchemist or spellmaker. Willpower, a tendency toward new ideas. Creativity, originality, dexterity, and flexibility. FULFILLMENT


Spellcrafter: Enver was, in several previous lives, different varieties of master wizards. In many of these cases, his magic worked on some variant of True Speech; anything which he says, or writes, in that ancient language is an immediate spell. His experience in many previous lives has made him quite adept in this difficult tongue, allowing him to cast a wide variety of spells; he can basically attempt to cast any spell whose effects he can describe.

There are, however, two important limitations; the first is with regards to the names of creatures. He knows the true names of dozens of people; all from previous lives, all now dead, their dust scattered on the wind. Of the present group, the only one whose True Name he knows is his own; and he cannot cast magic directly on any being or creature without knowing what to call it in the True Speech. He can cast magic on most inanimate objects (air, rock) and any plant species whose True Name he knows; but not on any strangers he happens to meet.

Which isn't to say that he can't use magic against them. He just needs to be creative. For example, he can magically levitate a heavy rock, move it about ("...a little to the left, now back a touch...") until it's over an enemy, and then simply cancel the spell; all without requiring the enemy's name.

The second limitation being that this form of magic tends to be a Literal Genie; he'll get exactly what he asks for. Making someone's skin as hard as stone (if he gets their name) will make it more difficult to injure them, but it will also prevent the victim from moving, trapping them (in effect) in a statue of themselves.

Would that be the sort of thing that you are looking for?


Right idea. The main problem with that sort of magic, however, is that it tends to be very powerful. Keep in mind that its' not just creatures and people that have true names - stone, wind, fire, water, metal, wood... all of those can have true names. The way I would play it - to keep the power in bounds, at least at first - is for each card's power he puts into the ability, he may choose a true name that he knows, which can either be an animal or elemental/inanimate object - that's not counting him knowing his own True Name - at their deepest hearts, everyone knows that.

---

No, you are not in different clothes. Same clothes as before... just newer, and not scorched by lava.

---

You can, if you want, get names. Each time you've come 'back', you've usually gotten a different name. Therefore there is not one that you immediately identify with as yourself.

It can be one power per card, something that incorporates all three cards, or it could still be a mish-mash. Really, lot of ways you can go with it. I left it open for your creativity for a reason.

---

Always nice to get someone studying the actual symbology of the tarot. Lot of stuff there.

Mystic vision would be possible. It could also double as a form of foresight, which as GM could allow me to feed you tidbits of information.
Blinding - Almost too narrow. If you're going to do something with darkness, think bigger.
Learning/Teaching powers - probably not. You guys will be getting more powers as the story goes on. If everyone has the same powers, then it loses the flavor.
Syphoning - Rather nasty thing to do to an ally. That sort of thing hurts. Wouldn't suggest it unless you wanted to antagonize the rest of the party.
Hallucinations/dominating - better than the blinding idea. Keep in mind that effects that work directly against an enemy I will be rolling the equivalent to a will save against the effect.
Harness nature - probably only medium effects right now. If it's windy, you can control the wind. If it's storming, you might direct the lightning. 'Harness', not 'control'.
Recruit Animals - animal speech might work better - then you could just simply convince the animals to help the party.

If players pool together powers in game, it'd probably be possible something like that may happen, but at the same time the effect would be uncertain. Also, there's not really a need for the ability to resurrect when you're just going to get spat right back out of the void anyway.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:27 pm 
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Hmm, well, here's my thoughts for the easy ones (Strength &The Sun).

For the Strength card, I could see taking the self control aspect to an extreme and being able to control his own being.
At the lower end of the power scale he would resistant to poisons/disease, heal faster than normal and be able to boost his abilities when concentrating (i.e. move faster for a period of time, or lift something super heavy, etc.)
At higher power levels I could see this allowing him to change shape, grow to giant size or shrink away, becoming immune to poison/disease, regenerating from wounds, resisting cold/fire, etc. (I'm assuming the magical nature of these powers would account for the change in mass)
At extremes, he'd be somewhat akin to the homonculi from Full Metal Alchemist or the T1000 from Terminator 2. He'd be able to change forms at will, or change parts of his body to become diamond hard, or form spikes and tendrils, possibly even dividing into multiple copies of himself or having limbs operate when dismembered, etc. and regenerating enough be virtually unkillable.

For The Sun, most obviously, generation/control of light/heat/fire. Lower power levels would likely just be simply generating light and/or fire of varying form and power (bolts/fireballs,wall of fire) or blinding auras (i.e. hard to be hit if opponent can't look at you.
Higher power levels would allow for creating images (holographs/illusions), becoming invisible or making other things invisible.
Extremes would be generating thermonuclear blasts at whim, creating ionizing winds, etc.

I'm gonna need some time to research The Chariot, because I'm not really sure I understand that card well enough nor do I have any real inspiration for a power of Success/Victory.
Just based on the name of the card I'd considered some form of traveling power, but I'm not sure what. Teleport would be nice, but I don't see that meshing with a Chariot.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:35 pm 
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Good ideas - especially the ideas where your powers can, potentially at least, scale over time. That's the right idea to be going with your ideas.

And no rush with regards to making the powers. I have a feeling it'll be awhile before everyone gets theirs chosen.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:58 pm 
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Warbeard wrote:
I'm gonna need some time to research The Chariot, because I'm not really sure I understand that card well enough nor do I have any real inspiration for a power of Success/Victory.
Just based on the name of the card I'd considered some form of traveling power, but I'm not sure what. Teleport would be nice, but I don't see that meshing with a Chariot.


Well, one possibility would be extreme luck; when he throws caution to the wind and simply does something that has a chance of failure, that chance is greatly reduced (more so as it scales). Very useful in a casino.

Hmmm. For INTELLIGENCE, I'm thinking some kind of perceptive power; the ability to be able to talk to the spirits of the air, and to ask them things like 'what's over that ridge?' - or maybe to talk thousands of languages, including the languages of the beasts and birds. Information gathering in some form, anyhow. (Maybe some sort of microscopic vision, instead, the ability to notice minute details that a normal person wouldn't? Or just a hyper-awareness of his surroundings?)

And for FAIRNESS... hmmm. I'm not sure. An instinct for whether, and how, someone else is breaking the established 'rules' of any situation to gain an unfair advantage?

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:05 pm 
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Okay, I've been thinking, and checked out Wikipedia.

Let's see, the Hanged Man is sacrifice, life suspended and given up, leading not to death but rebirth.

The Lovers are temptation / free will / choices (often difficult) but also passion, connection, sexuality -- and decisions made before wisdom is gained.

The Fool, which is now my very favorite card, is as Ruan said:

The eternal traveler. The beginning of adventure. Spontaneity, enthusiasm, impulsitivity. FREEDOM

but also: "both the beginning and the end, neither and otherwise, betwixt and between, liminal."

And: " he is a signal to strip down to the irreducible core"

And: "The number 0 is a perfect significator for the Fool, as it can become anything when he reaches his destination as in the sense of 'joker's wild'."

Sorry, I'll be back. I'm sort of thinking out loud, here.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:19 pm 
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weatherwax wrote:
The Fool, which is now my very favorite card, is as Ruan said:

The eternal traveler. The beginning of adventure. Spontaneity, enthusiasm, impulsitivity. FREEDOM


Some kind of inability to be bound or imprisoned? Some way to pass through walls, ropes, handcuffs, any obstacles?

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:49 pm 
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CCC wrote:
Some kind of inability to be bound or imprisoned? Some way to pass through walls, ropes, handcuffs, any obstacles?


Oooh, good ones.

I was also thinking, in lieu of this info:

"both the beginning and the end, neither and otherwise, betwixt and between, liminal."

Maybe something with teleportation?

Or something with time? Perhaps speeding up or rewinding the "personal journey" of things? For instance, disarming an enemy by, say, fast forwarding their weapons to rusty, useless bits? Or rewinding an enemy itself until it's just a child again. I imagine actually targeting an enemy would take massive amounts of energy.

The spontaneity coupled with the fact that "0," the anything is possible bit, also makes me thing of some sort of chaotic energy. Like, invoke chaos sometimes. Twist the fabric of space itself to upset the present.

The Lovers

Ah, choices, passion, desire, temptation, free will.

The easy power would be that of the pied piper. Or the succubus. Tempt enemies (or people) with their desires, sexual or otherwise. Be the lure. The distraction.

The Hangman

This one is a toughy, like The Fool. Sacrifice, submission, rebirth.

I had one somewhat macabre idea to be a sort of human voodoo doll: any injury done to me is done equally to the attacker. Or to the thing I'm targeting. So my death is my enemy's death. Not that it's a good idea to die every time!

Another idea was that the Lady's blood could be potent either in a harmful way or in a beneficial way. So, say it's poison. The sacrifice is that I must submit to injury to do injury. Same with injury to do good.

Hmmm.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 11:10 pm 
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Hmm... I'm having trouble with the Fulfillment and Hierarchy, but Destiny could be limited sight into the future. Stability could be raising my power to that of a stronger opponent, or lowering his to mine, or meeting somewhere in between.

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