Darkest Dungeon RP

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

Yes, you've read it right: Darkest. Dungeon. RP.

Okay, more like "Darkest Dungeon" inspired, since the real deal would get too dark for Forum Rules before leaving the first page...

 

But fear not! There is still plenty of Dark, and, Dungeons, left! The basic premise of the RP is as such: Somewhere on the Western reaches of Equestria, lies a mansion, and a village that belong to a noble family. The noble who lived in the mansion, nowadays called "the Ancestor" in hushed voices, learned that the very mansion is a gateway to some fabulous power... I'll let the man speak for himself.

 

it's been several months since the Heir has returned, and adventures, heroes, and madponies from all over Equestria are coming, lured by gold, Holy Quests or whatever agenda they may have. Most end up on the Graveyard, and over half of the tombstones are symbolic, since there weren't enough for burial. You, the players, are the fresh batch, just arrived through the Old Road.  Will you join the others, in the poisoned earth, awaiting merciful oblivion? Or will you deliver the World from the clutching shadows of the Darkest Dungeon?

 

Rules and features:

- only mature players, this thing will be dark,

- no powergaming, Mary Sues etc, the harder you push for that inprobable win, the harder I will put you down. There will be instances when you will lose, and it's part of the experience,

- this RP revolves around what you become when faced with the unimaginable, so the players are required to weave character development, stress, trauma, coping mechanisms etc into their story. Your toon may become alcoholic or do risky gambits to cope, for example. The borthel is closed! Forum Rules, you know. 

 - I play the NPC's and the Heir, as well as hostiles. In a way, I am the D&D style GM, without active PC's in the game,

- the characters can and will die, but there's a thing that brings them back to life, no necromancy involved. Think respawns but with some actual backstory,

- the RP can be anthro or feral, depending on player preferences,

- one thread per group, wchich consists of 4 players. Incomplete groups wait till they are at full strength before entering,

- one post per week at the very least. If you disappear without a word, your rolls will have a debuff,

- speaking of rolls, I will perform dice rolls to determine the outcomes of actions. You go into a room, I post what's inside. You open a chest, I post if it's trapped or what's inside (after roling the dice) 1=critical failure 2-3=failue/bad outcome 4-5=success 6=critical sucess,

- this RP borrows the setting and overall feel and structure from DD, but is not a carbon copy. There will be custom locations and enemies, quests, items and services,

- tech level around 17th Century - there be black powder guns, bombs, cannons etc.

 

I think that's enough for starters, ask away if you have any questions!

[reader8363 1,281]

I'm interested, but I figure out whether or not to play as Shadow or his daughter, since it kinda sounds like there area, but I do know I'll play as anthro

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

One for anthro, ditto. Makes it that much easier to swing those blades around if anything. Of course, when you make your mind, give me a summary of your character, okay?

[Lil' Lovebug 1,041]

Oh sweet. You're actually doing this. I'll be playing as Steady Hoof, if you'll accept him. 

[PonyOfWar 126]

This sounds great! And I love the chaos that comes with DnD as I play a lot of it myself. I would like to play! My pony is feral and I would perfer to be in a group of other ferals so I can wait until there is enough ferals to go in.

I also have played DnD as my pony OC before and have some basic level one  starting stats if you need them. Though it does sound like it will be a little different, something to make it easier online I assume so it doesn't look like they will be needed.

I am out at the moment but will link my OC when I get home. If he is OP or anything I don't mind the change things up for the sake of specific RPs.

Edited April 20, 2017 by PonyOfWar

[reader8363 1,281]

I decided to use Rose since her dad can use portal while she can't 

 

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

@reader8363 she looks okay but what "powers" are we talking about in her case? I want to know what she can do.

@Lil' Lovebug the toon is alright, sounds like a straight laced hero type but if you think you can write hishis development as the game progresses then sure, you're in. Also, anthro or feral? 

@PonyOfWar

Let me see that OC, and it's going to be a bit wishy washy with no real stats to count - too hard to keep up with the math and rolls every time you take a swing at something. A single encounter would take several weeks you see. I'll give the players freedom over their actions in a fight but keep a look out on any OPness going on.

[reader8363 1,281]

@Raven Rawne

She inherited the ability to control the shadows, but it doesn't work with bright lights, or pitch back, and she's new to it so doesn't have a lot of experience

[Lil' Lovebug 1,041]

@Raven Rawne

I was a bit afraid of that tbh. If you want a bit more of a feel for him, he's just a converted version of this. I was just having trouble writing his character into the canon universe.

I'll go with anthro, I guess. Doesn't really matter for him since unicorn and all.

Edited April 21, 2017 by Lil' Lovebug

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

Oh I see your predicament with converting the toon. We have ranged weapons here do he can have an arbalest or a musket to fit his taste. Still, I'm not against this character,  just pointed that heroic breakdowns are always a messy affair.

[Lil' Lovebug 1,041]

I might go ahead and just use my original version. I think I could get into his character more than a proud military pony.

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

Yeah, go ahead and do just that if you feel that version more.

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

Huh, I hoped for some more interest from players. Anyone else up or this? Anyone got questions to ask?

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

28 minutes ago, Raven Rawne said:

Huh, I hoped for some more interest from players. Anyone else up or this? Anyone got questions to ask?

Aye aye.

 

I'll need a little time to put a character together. I'm less inclined towards anthro characters but it's not a huge deal. A question I have is this: what's the expected post rate? I'm busy a fair few evenings of the week, so I can only really sit down and put some time and effort into a post two or three times a week.   

 

On 4/20/2017 at 8:35 PM, Raven Rawne said:

- this RP borrows the setting and overall feel and structure from DD, but is not a carbon copy. There will be custom locations and enemies, quests, items and services,

Without wishing to add too much complexity to the game, there's an RPG called Patrol that has a rather nifty doubt mechanic which does a rather nice job of making characters go insane in a really thematic way (much like everyone's favourite dungeon.) It's a stand-alone thing that could be added without changing any existing mechanics, if you wanted.

 

The gist of it is that you pick an ideal, and whenever you see something that goes against it (so an idealist witnessing brutality against civilians) you gain doubt... and you gain xp by playing to your ideal. The more extreme your actions, the more xp you get - at the high end, which is only unlocked when you have very high doubt, you get rewarded with xp completely mad but consistent actions (so a righteous character shooting a soldier who tries to surrender.) This gives a sliding scale from sane people trying to act in line with their beliefs spiraling down into unhinged fanatics.

 

This would go quite well with an MLP theme, in a twisted way, as we already have a set of ideals (the elements of harmony) that the characters start off with and take to insane extremes. 

Edited April 24, 2017 by Once In A Blue Moon

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

@Once In A Blue Moon

Nice to see you're interested! Now, thepost rate will, of course, work out as players actually start posting, but I expect one post per week minimum. There's a bullet pointthat you get a debuff to your rolls if you won't tell in the OOC that you will be off for more than a week, just to discourage disappearing without a word. But as long as players communicate on their absences, they don't get penalised - reali life first.

Now I admit, Quirks and Virtues are a HUGE part of the game, and, if I had a month to design a session RP, I would totally incorpotrate it but I feel that it just won't work in a post based setting. Simply because I can't stop a player mid-post and tell them they need to pull a card because they just crossed the moral event horizon. So, yeah, I'm afraid that, in the current stage, it's up to the players themselves to take responsibility for their character's development as they keep getting hammered by all the mean stuff I have in store, and I can't even go super dark because Forum rules. Besides, if someone insists their character's psyche is ungreakable, a good ol' Joker Gambit should suffice to prove the point. Still, thanks for the idea!

 

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

@Raven Rawne

He's still fairly bare-bones right now, and I will be adding more, but Valius Torran seeks to enter the Darkest Dungeon to restore his honour and return to the life of a pampered noble... no matter who or what gets in his way.

 

On 4/24/2017 at 7:50 PM, Once In A Blue Moon said:

I'm less inclined towards anthro characters but it's not a huge deal.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Once In A Blue Moon

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

@Once In A Blue Moon

Alrighty then! I'm pretty sure there was a fine tombstone ripe for some recycling for this fine chap!

Just kidding, but, sure, I'll have him in the team no problem.  Anthro or feral then?