Getting back in the groove (M for F light to EX)

[Leodran]

Good day everyone,

After a long absence from Elliquiy I'd like to get back into the swing of things.  I have a number of ideas I've been wanting to try, and I'll outline some of them here so feel free to browse and let me know if anything piques your interest.  If so send me a PM, I'd prefer to keep this thread clean.

Most of my settings are fantasy or sci-fi based and could work equally well as free-form or system based.  I also have a history as a GM and enjoy running campaigns, so I'm open to running most of these plots in a group setting as well.

Sworn Guardian - Fantasy, D/s, Romance, Intrigue & Combat (Possible Bondage, NC or semi-con, extreme)
This is an idea I've had running around in the back of my head for a pairing in a larger setting.  I'm happy to play either side of the pairing as both have a lot of potential for fun and story.  The setting could go any number of ways, from a deeply honourable partnership to a dark and twisted corruption of an innocent.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Alterra is a world of magic, where the Arte has deep influence or total control of everything from politics, to trade, to war.  Pious leaders use it to root out evil in their kingdoms, military generals study it's effects and plan for it's use in battle, and unscrupulous traders use it to smuggle goods.  The practitioners of magic, however, were few and still vulnerable in any number of ways.  Often isolated from the very communities they served, or ruled, many more fell to a knife in the back than to a duel of magic.  Thus, several centuries ago a powerful mage developed a new magic, the magic to bond with a willing defender and create a Sworn Guardian.  In exchange for surrendering their very wills to the mage they serve they become more than human, their bodies marked with a rune of magical strength.  Stronger, faster, and with a touch of their mage's power at their command, they changed the entire hierarchy of magic, balanced power in a way never before achieved.

Over the coming decades the post of Sworn Guardian become one of honour and prestige as wars between mages quieted down.  Academies sprung up in the great cities, where young men and women trained to be chosen as a Guardian, and even those not selected left with skills unparallelled by most of their peers.  But every great discovery is subject to misuse, and in only fifty years less honourable mages discovered a way to enact that bond on unwilling subjects. There were trade-offs of course, the powers gained by the Guardians never manifested in the unwilling slaves, but those who's only interest was power didn't mind such details.  Soon collars were created, linked to stones that gave the holder control over anyone they could get the collar onto.

Most kingdoms in the world denounced the practice as the worst kind of slavery, outlawing it and anyone who dared contribute to it.  But in the free cities, open oceans, and black markets of the world the slave trade exploded from a dirty business to an international empire wealthy enough to challenge even the great nations.

Now a young mage has completed their training and is in need of a Guardian.  What sort of mage are they, and where will they go to find the one they seek?

Virtual Reality Television  (EX- could include almost anything)
The basic premise of this idea is that virtual reality has been created, but remains far to expensive for common use.  Instead many private companies have set up virtual environments into which they can put people and televise the results to the masses.  From extreme sports to alien worlds the audience could enjoy seeing a real person put into unreal situations always knowing that no real harm can come to them.  That most of the contestants are beautiful young women most people choose to ignore.  After all, it is television.

Several series have popped up, with broadcasts usually edited for time and aired a week after production.  What most of the adoring public don't know is that some stations also have private memberships that allow live viewing of the VR session, and that there was more than one game being played.  I've created one show so far, but more will likely follow.

Dungeon Crawl

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Styled after popular video games, Dungeon Crawl puts an individual or small group at the start of some trial with several evil "bosses" to defeat.  Contestants are given a set number of "lives" in order to clear the dungeon of with week, with winners proceeding onwards to harder and harder creations.  Each time they fail and "die" they are returned to the start of the dungeon.  If they were defeated by a boss then that boss gets a little weaker for their next attempt.  The Game Masters will test the player's ingenuity, stamina, creativity, and physical prowess.  Highly popular, any five dungeon Champions are awarded $10,000,000 and sometimes reappear for follow up performances.

Private members get to watch the events live, and rather than the televised "fade to black" when the player is defeated, they see the virtual story continue to a much more final conclusion before the player begins again.  If they like a player, they can make an extra donation to give them a boost and help them along with an item or other bonus.  Thus, even during the horrors of a loss, it's often in the players best interest to put on a good show.  To take it one step further, when a player defeats a boss the members can offer sizable donations in order to request a "rematch".  The player sees this amount and if they accept the rematch half of the donation is immediately transferred to their personal account and the boss is restored in full without even giving the player a chance to rest and recover.  Rematches are almost never won, but the best Champions can often double or triple their winnings but fighting close matches and accepting rematches, even knowing they will loose, which is of course the whole point.