Sword Art Online [Light, Bon, Exotic, NC, Extreme]

[Sabre]

Alright, so for now we have (with specialized stat in parenthesis):

Latooni Subota: One-handed dagger wielding merchant (luck)
azzmeister89: One-handed sword wielding swordsmith (endurance)
Sylia: Two-handed sword wielding fighter (endurance)
pendarious: Halberd wielding heavy armored tank (strength)
Kaisude: One-handed curved sword wielding agile fighter (agility)
Vaulera: Unarmed heavily armored martial artist (strength)
Vergil1989: One-handed agile sword fighter with throwing knives (agility)
NotoriusBEN: Strength-based archer (strength)

There are certainly some more, but already it's shaping up to be a sizable group.  We should discuss how this should start, the opening scenario (if any at all), and if any would like to be co-GMs, either full time or part time, to run miscellaneous adventures and quests.  And maybe some character ideas for other players or tweaking existing ones for party synergy and/or uniqueness.

[Latooni Subota]

Did somebody say looking for rare materials? THIS LOOKS LIKE A JOB FOR PRINCESS LUCKY!

If there's a Floor Boss that has a bow weapon, or long notable hair, or a rare monster on one of the upcoming floors with either, I think that would be your best shot. After following up on like, five totally wrong rumors and fighting PKers, of course. :3

Unrelated Amusement: Man, I really wish this was going to the higher levels of the dungeon, so I can try and convince you all to let Hime have the Dual-Wielding Extra Skill, just for the tremendous amount of butthurt from imaginary other players that someone using DAGGERS with AVERAGE OR WORSE COMBAT SKILLS has a unique skill. That would be the funniest thing ever. X3

Edit: Ideas for other characters? Just gentle reminders that people should probably not have buckets of crystals, low-luck characters proooobably shouldn't start with any particularly 'rare' items (Maybe a cool weapon or armor if they decide to not start with crystals? Maybe?), and an extra-gentle reminder to Kaisude that having a katana means you'd have to have unlocked the extra skill for Katanas (Taking up an extra skill slot on top of One-Handed Curved Sword). Not sure if I'm missing anything . . . Though damn, Kaisude's swordsman is SUCH a Myrmidon from Fire Emblem. ALL THE SPEED! Somebody get that boy a Killer Edge.

Oh, also, I guess I'd like to see ONE character at some point with high Resistance. You can always use a healer who can actually resist status effects, since lord knows Hime is gonna drop like a boulder off a bridge if a monster so much as coughs sleep or poison at her. XD

[Vaulera]

See, this number works out perfectly if you have a co-GM, as I said. Having two GMs run two separate dungeons at the same time to entertain the two parties, so that it doesn't become an incoherent posting storm.

[azzmeister89]

Ok so shall we devide who's going to be in what group now or have everyone decide when the game starts?

[Sabre]

Since party sizes are limited, but guild sizes don't seem to be, it's conceivable that we don't have to separate completely at any point and RP as a single game for the most part, but at times a party or three could be made to tackle a specific quest while other groups handle something else.  We won't have to decide on breaking people up now, it could be constantly changing and fluid depending on individual scenarios.

[azzmeister89]

I like that plan, good thinking sabre

[Vergil1989]

He does seem pretty smart huh?  Lol, joking aside, this is a good idea I say and while Athena would most likely be against the idea, I say you've got a great set up going for the whole guild/group idea going Sabre.

[pendarious]

i'd be willing to full time co-gm for the game.

the only problem with runnin two dungeons is that each floor has ONE laberynth not multiple dungeons so either we'd have our parties switch out mapping the laberynth and doing quests or just have one mapping group and one quest group

[Sabre]

Only a problem if we focus on front-line work, which can get monotonous even if dangerous and unknown.  For the bulk of the RP we could focus on exploring Aincrad itself, learning and uncovering new things about the game world through various quests and player-related adventures and mysteries.

[pendarious]

fair point

[azzmeister89]

It would be nice if everyone could get some kind of demon or boss level drop item during the game but i like the idea of not always being on the front lines, it will also be fun to give the characters fights that allow them all to advance in story line, romance and abilities

[Latooni Subota]

Remember, there ARE dungeons and rare monsters and bosses OTHER than the tower and it's guardians. Plenty of stuff to explore! Heck, we could draw up our own fluff for the last couple of floors and say that there's a few places that haven't been explored yet to give us more wiggle room.

[azzmeister89]

thats fair enough, perhaps our guild could be lost in the land around the tower where the monsters roam free and have no level limits to where they go

[pendarious]

well i guess it depends on your definition of Dungeon really......I hear dungeon in SAO and my mind goes to the tower. though i suppose cave with ELITE mobs could count or "ruins" with mobs but you get my point

[Vaulera]

Oh, the tower was actually just an instanced raid event. In MMOs there are "dungeons" where a party or guild just has to load the area, and other players don't appear there, and then there are "raids" which are the same thing, just with a boss.

[pendarious]

I know how MMO's work ive played WOW and guild wars and diablo.

its just the way that  SAO was narrated it talks as though the tower is the only real dungeon

[Latooni Subota]

It's the main dungeon. There have been sub-dungeons before, in various forms, iirc.

[Kaisude]

Did somebody say looking for rare materials? THIS LOOKS LIKE A JOB FOR PRINCESS LUCKY!

If there's a Floor Boss that has a bow weapon, or long notable hair, or a rare monster on one of the upcoming floors with either, I think that would be your best shot. After following up on like, five totally wrong rumors and fighting PKers, of course. :3

Unrelated Amusement: Man, I really wish this was going to the higher levels of the dungeon, so I can try and convince you all to let Hime have the Dual-Wielding Extra Skill, just for the tremendous amount of butthurt from imaginary other players that someone using DAGGERS with AVERAGE OR WORSE COMBAT SKILLS has a unique skill. That would be the funniest thing ever. X3

Edit: Ideas for other characters? Just gentle reminders that people should probably not have buckets of crystals, low-luck characters proooobably shouldn't start with any particularly 'rare' items (Maybe a cool weapon or armor if they decide to not start with crystals? Maybe?), and an extra-gentle reminder to Kaisude that having a katana means you'd have to have unlocked the extra skill for Katanas (Taking up an extra skill slot on top of One-Handed Curved Sword). Not sure if I'm missing anything . . . Though damn, Kaisude's swordsman is SUCH a Myrmidon from Fire Emblem. ALL THE SPEED! Somebody get that boy a Killer Edge.

Oh, also, I guess I'd like to see ONE character at some point with high Resistance. You can always use a healer who can actually resist status effects, since lord knows Hime is gonna drop like a boulder off a bridge if a monster so much as coughs sleep or poison at her. XD

I'm guessing that's a good things, but I think it's a bad thing. *goes to run off and find a better picture.*

By the by thanks for the heads up.

How bout this one or

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

this one

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

I'm leaning towards the second one. It seems to talk to me.

[Vaulera]

First one, dear god the first one. You can see the anime han solo bleeding off of him. And SO MUCH HAT!

[NotoriusBEN]

ok then, I think we are ready to go then. saber just needs to throw us into a town or better yet, in the middle of a dungeon/wilderness/fight in media res style.

[evangel]

Hey! Am I too late in posting a profile? :x

Name: Masakazu Hirano
Character Name: DEVASTATOR
Age: 18
Appearance:

Sabre I swear I am not obsessed with Knight Blazer, I'm just doing this because all other fantasy armors look really ugly.

Offline Biography: The young college student who has always wanted to try out one of those gosh-darned MMORPGs and run around with MMORPGers finally gets a chance when he timidly joins the computer club at the university! Entry fee? Standing in line and the bloody cold for days to buy SAO for the nerds. It wasn't that bad since Hirano was athletically inclined and scored rather high in the endurance roll when he crawled out of his momma's womb. He could even endure the couple of nerds who stayed with him to talk about SAO beta testing all day and night long since he wanted to play the game.

The jump into the world was dreamlike, to say the least. Everything felt, sounded and moved like reality. Everything except DEVASTATOR's weapon strikes. The absolute poorness in which he wields his blade ended his first leveling session at level 2, while the rest of the computer club was already at level 4. It's the motion inputs, he says. He never played Super Punchies Arcade Edition and practiced his Hadoukens n' Shoryukens, he says. At least he felt better while the crazed Game-Master's announcement unveiled the computer club to be the nerds that they are. Well, DEVASTATOR would if he wasn't busy panicking about not being able to return to the real world unless he kicks up his nerdery and focuses on clearing the game!

If anything, he felt worse as the computer club formed a guild with him, and started to go through dungeons while helping him train at the same time. The low-level monsters provided a large safety margin at the beginning, but it was clear that the difficulty curve of Sword Art Online would climb at a higher rate than poor ol' DEVASTATOR's learning curve. Fortunately, a rare drop that a Bandit King dropped later on would ameliorate this issue for the next few floors at least - a shiny, new set of armor that would match the e-ferocity of DEVASTATOR's handle, promoting him into an excellent tank. It was quite fortunate that the computer club's baby had forgotten to put his skill points into anything, which meant that he was able to pump most of them into wearing the shiny new set of armor he received.

It was great. For a good while, DEVASTATOR was able to intimidate potential player killers away while everyone else put the hard work into dungeon-grinding (and helping DEVASTATOR kill cute pink pigs in the dead of dawn). After all, who wants to touch a guild with an angry, tall armored asshole as the vanguard with a name like DEVASTATOR? He'd probably be the thirteen year old who'll rip you apart limb from limb, and then crouches over your dying body to ensure the last image your brain receives before it melts would be his nuts.

Unfortunately, DEVASTATOR's rumored reign of terror was proven to be a mere rumor by a few members of the Laughing Coffin. The guild was lured into an anti-crystal zone to help a lovely young lady for a handsome sum of cash in a typical scam. Despite the onslaught, the computer club managed to break through and nearly reach the escape with three members - until thrown daggers subsequently claimed the other two. Big D's armor was the only thing that saved his life and bought him enough time to use the teleportation crystal back to the Town of Beginnings.

Armed with a single iron sword, his armor and his determination, DEVASTATOR declared that he will live up to his undeserved reputation and swear revenge. Or die trying.

Level: 8
HP: 1102
Strength: Good
Agility: Fair
Endurance: Excellent
Resistance: Good
Luck: Poor

Skill Slots: 7
Equipped Skills:
One Handed Sword
-- Cross Slash
Parry
Fighting Spirit
Heavy Metal Equipment
Extended Weight Limit
Detection
Cooking

Main Equipment: Silver Mace (Purchased), Firebloom Armor (Found, Rare + Res, +End), Cloth Headband (+ Res)
Items: Teleportation Crystal, 5x Light Healing Potion, 5x Spices, 20x Pork, Frying Pan, Flint & Tinder.

EDIT - Shuffled stats around for a better approach! Also added more pork.

[Vaulera]

LIIIIIIIIIGHTTT SAAAABBBERRR. Besides that, I don't really see how his armour would work too well in an MMO setting, usually armour is the thing you want to replace the most in MMOs, either for aesthetic purposes or just plain stats.

[evangel]

Hmm. Would it be more acceptable if I can show a set of progression for whatever armor image I'm using?

[Sabre]

I don't mind a character having their own idioms.  Perhaps DEVASTATOR is a man of style, so any new armor sets are worn only after he finds a way to customize their color (either a personal tailoring skill, or an easy ability any armor smith would know and he could pay for).

[evangel]

Well, Vaulera raises an excellent point regarding the armor progression. Latooni gave me an excellent idea that I can use! I'll replace one of my current skill slots with Heavy Metal Armor Forging, and specialize in Intimidation! Armor crafted from rare or high-class material should last for a good while, no? Also, how often do we get new Skill Slots?

Also, best thing about MMORPG armors - I don't have to give a flip about logical progression in terms of aesthetics.