Black Lagoon Anime/Manga based RPG (Revised, NC:H, action oriented)

Started by Daril, June 05, 2015, 12:42:44 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Daril

Note: This is a revision of an earlier RPG proposal I made.

I would like to do a RPG based on the anime/manga series Black Lagoon.  I intend for the rpg to be action oriented (the NC:H rating should be taken as an acknowledgement of the mature nature of the setting, not an indication of what the RPG will primarily be about).  I also intend for it to be relatively fast paced.  Ideally I would like to get players who can post daily, but at the very least I'd like to get players who generally don't require more than a couple days to make a reply.

Edit: Although my instinct is to focus on a crew of pirates/smugglers who operate some sort of boat, I am also considering another idea.  Please see the second post for details.

I'm thinking this RPG will follow a crew of pirates/smugglers/mercenaries similar to the Lagoon crew.  The main roles I'm looking to fill are captain/boss, helmsman/navigator, and mechanic (ideally I would like the last one to be a cute girl  :P).

Plot wise, I'm thinking of taking a page (or maybe several) from the source material and making the first job a kidnapping/ransom mission that ends up becoming a lot more hairy than the crew anticipated.  As in the person the crew was hired to kidnap turns out to be a major crime boss' daughter or something.
  :P

Here is the character profile template for those of you who are interested in joining:


[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Nationality:[/b]
[b]Sexual Orientation:[/b]
[b]Biography:[/b]
[b]Personality:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b] I'd kind of like to have both a picture and a written appearance for this, but may be willing to forgo the picture to makes things easier for potential players.
[b]Weapon(s) of choice:[/b] Please stick to weapons that were available circa 1995.  I can likely make some suggestions in this regard if you need them.
[b]Fighting style/tactics:[/b]


Here is a sample character profile.  I don't know if I'll actually end up playing this particular character concept.  I really like her, but she's in her present form at least she's an outsider who would have to be drawn into the crew over time (perhaps through a friendship with one of the other crew members).  So she doesn't really fulfill any of the essential roles I'd identified.

Sample Character Profile

Name: Sara McMillan
Age: 24
Nationality: Canadian
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Biography: While she claims to be American because she thinks it increases her credibility as a gun for hire, Sara actually hails from Canada.  She joined the Canadian Armed Forces shortly after they began to train women for infantry roles.  However, her wild attitude did not jive well with military discipline and soon led to her being given a dishonorable discharge.  After this, her adventurous spirit led her to travel, and she ended up in Thailand where she caught wind of the city of Roanapur.  Being an adrenaline junky, she couldn't resist the allure of such a dangerous city and soon became one of its many guns for hire.  Her cowboy hat and general craziness have led to her being nicknamed "the cowgirl" among her peers.
Personality:  Sara is a rather boisterous person and a huge adrenaline junky who enjoys dangerous situations far too much.  She's considered mildly crazy by many of the people who know her.  She also tends to be rather sexually aggressive -if she's interested in someone, they'll tend to know it.
Appearance: Approximately six feet tall and well endowed, with blue eyes and long red hair, Sara sticks out like a sore thumb in Roanapur.  She often wear jeans and a sleeveless top, but her most distinct article of clothing is the cowboy hat that she almost always wears when she's out and about.  She also tends to wear a low slung gunbelt.

Weapon(s) of choice: Sara tends to be very heavily armed even by Roanapur standards.  She's rarely armed with just a pistol when she's going around her business.  Her favorite weapons include a "CAR-15" (M16A1 carbine) and a stainless steel Colt Python revolver.  Perhaps her most notorious weapon however is one that even she doesn't carry on a whim -a Soviet PKM belt fed machine gun with a custom backpack feed system.
Fighting style/tactics:  Sara's grasp of tactical basics is actually pretty good, she just tends to be very aggressive with regards to how she applies them.  As noted above, many of the other mercenaries in Roanapur consider her a bit crazy.  While she is actually a pretty good shot, she has a definite appreciation for rapid fire  She also has a tendency to shoot through the cover her opponents are using, a habit that has earned her the ire of quite a few of her competitors in Roanapur's mercenary community.

Daril

Although my instinct with this RPG is to focus on a crew of pirates/smugglers, I am also considering a group of straight up mercenaries.  I'm not really sure what I'd do story wise with that particular idea, but I'm wondering if I might be able to get more players with it.  People just don't seem very enthusiastic about being part of the boat crew and also seem to be having trouble coming up with characters for it.  Heck, the character I posted myself seems better suited to being a gun for hire than part of the crew of a pirate/smuggling boat.

Sessha

 I guess I am putting my name down here for this as well.
Locked, cocked and ready to rock!


Daril

Bump for July.

Aside from a pirate or mercenary crew, a third idea would be to temporarily assemble a group of independents for a job.  I prefer the idea of a crew since I think it's better for long term play, but I got some PM interest from someone who wanted to play an eccentric medic.  The character wasn't someone who would really belong as part of a small crew, but she'd be a great addition to tapestry of colorful characters that make up Roanapur.

Sorrow Singer

Sure, I'm an old fan of the black lagoon manga anyway. Goofy over the top sexy violent fun. I can throw a character together.

Daril

Great!  Are you more interested in the boat crew idea or the mercenary crew idea?

Sorrow Singer

While traditionally the Black Lagoon trading company operated out of 'The Black Lagoon' Their old war patrol boat. The majority of the time the boat just served as transport, and a lot of the fighting jobs took place either on larger ships, or solid land. So the Boat crew idea isn't really that limiting, plus it was the source of all of the good old pirate banter.

So personally a group of mercenary smuggler/shooters operating out of a waterborne relic would be preferable for the setting. And after all the entire thing is designed around dramatized pirate adventures in south east Asia. For people who haven't read the manga or watched the anime this setting is somewhere between firefly and the pirates of the Caribbean.

Sorrow Singer

"Ho' shit. Th' Fuck'n rumors true, you fucks ar' the crew wit' the honest to life fuckin' Samurai School Girl."
"Look at these clowns, can you believe it? That fucking slant actually brought a goddamn sword to a gun fight."
"No Fucking excuses, you piece of fucking trash. You really expect me to believe seven of my best boys bought it to a little girl with a Fucking sword?"

   - A Choice selection of last words.



Name: 'Tiny' Aya Hamasaki. 'The Samurai Schoolgirl.'
Age: 21
Nationality: Japanese
Sexual Orientation: Bi sexual
Biography: B movie reject material at it's finest, Aya could well have inspired 'Kill Bill.'
Family slaughtered before her eyes, Kidnapped at an impressionable young age, taught the killing ways as a young orphan. The Fuckin' works. No joke.
By the time the bitch was seventeen she was swinging a sword in one hand, with the gun fu in the other. One job went south another sideways, leadership kept getting dead.
Wasn't no mistake either, little killer had a mind to get some vengeance on those who wronged her. One week it was government officials, next it would be big league private military contractors, then the yak got hit. Tiny cleaned house until those left started getting wise, started getting scarce. Tiny packed up and then got out of town, Straight to the ocean. Joined up with some little crew in the middle of nowhere, god knows why. You ask me though looking to find the killers and controllers, shes still looking to get square.
Personality: An honest to god polite pirate. Tiny Aya barely touches the drink, scornes the drugs and doesn't smoke much. Oh and the holier than thou bitch doesn't even use 'curse words'. Shes like some sort of fucking antithesis to the point.
Good worker though, despite all the weird shit. Mumbles about honor and a good fight while cutting down goons with a mother fucking samurai katana. As dumb as it sounds she makes the thing work, pairs it with a nine mil and a lot of attitude. Seen tiny punch out a man twice her size when he made a pass at her, one punch. leverage she said after, fucking believe that? fucking leverage.
Appearance: Hair like iron, eyes like steel. Tiny Aya lives up to her name at five foot one inches tall, and weighing in at just under a hundred pounds. All of it muscle. Honest.
Shes a lithe killer, more about speed and grace than strength. Shes built like an acrobat, all tight muscles. Coiled like a spring. Wears her hair long and doesn't care much for makeup. She likes to wear black, comfortable practical clothes. Skirts and stalkings. Wears a fucking Japanese sailor schoolgirl outfit when shes on the clock.
Weapon(s) of choice: Tinys traditional armament is a sword. A genuine samurai katana, the real deal not some sort of imitation garbage. She maintains the weapon with meticulous care. Doesn't name it though, looks at you funny when you ask what she calls it. wasted opportunity if you ask me. Otherwise shes flexible, years of sketchy assassin training means if it shoots she can shoot it. that goes for the big toys too. Once told me she could hot-wire and fly a fucking helicopter gunship, have yet to see it, but then shes not exactly the lying sort.
Fighting style/tactics: Roll the B movie real. Fights like a snake, lots of rapid movement. In and out slash a man down, use his carcass as a shield and pop his buddy with a pistol. Seems fine with a gun, prefers her stupid sword though. some garbage about honor and dignity. Certainly works as a scare tactic though. Sometimes Tiny doesn't look human after a scrap. Covered in blood that gray hair of hers goes dark scarlet. That's the sort of shit that wakes you up in a cold sweat at night.

Daril

Initially I thought a katana wielding girl in a sailor uniform would be out of place in Roanapur.  Then I remembered that Black Lagoon has characters like Roberta, Shenhua, and Sawyer.  :P

One concern I have is that she seems a bit young.  At nineteen she's legal, but with her choice of attire I'm not so sure some of the older characters would be very interested in her (though Sara would probably find her cute  :P).

I'm actually still not entirely sure which character I'm going to play if we go with the boat idea.  I like Sara, but I'd sort of like to keep her in reserve for the mercenaries idea (if we get enough players I might try to do both ideas -a pirate/smuggler crew and a mercenary crew).  So I might end up playing a different character.  Possibly male, possibly female.  I'd kind of like to go for something relatively gender balanced with the boat crew (the mercenary crew not so much).

Sorrow Singer

fixed the picture, what i get for being lazy and not hosting it myself. and slapped two more years of life experience on her so shes not too young. And yeah i thought she would fit in okay, Black Lagoon was all about the absurd out of place characters and how they interacted with the regular sea scum. In a series complete with gun running nuns and elite battlefield maids I thought the samurai schoolgirl would be right at home.

Izaya Orihara

Seems interesting. I saw this a few weeks ago, though it didn't seem to be getting much attention.
Always liked Black Lagoon, too, which helps pique my curiosity in this.
Well, if I had to give a reason for my actions, I guess it's because I love people. I guess I wanted to see the faces that mankind has to offer.

Daril

What sort of character are you looking to play?  (I want to clarify that part right off the bat so I have an idea how the overall group is looking at this point.)

Izaya Orihara

Well, I had a few different character ideas, but I've been leaning towards the one below, considering the way I've been making increasingly androgynous characters. I suppose the other characters may or may not realise or believe that he's male, which could be a potential character point/thing to have in the RP.  It's probably best just to show you the app, so here it is:

Name: Yūki Ayanokōji
Age: 20
Nationality: Japanese (half-Japanese, and half-Spanish)
Sexual Orientation: Heteroflexible, with a preference for feminine aesthetics.
Biography:
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Yūki was born in Nagano, on the 30th of June, 1975. His father was a businessman, though originating from a lesser branch of a Japanese noble family. His mother, meanwhile, was was a Spanish singer, author and model, who had come to live in Japan a few years earlier. Despite showing considerable intelligence, Yūki was always in the shadow of his older sister, with his appearance even then seeming remarkably femenine, and causing people to mistake him for his older sister, if they hadn't met her. She seemed to possess a genius level intellect, and quickly became skilled with whatever she happened to delve into, from the arts, to science, literature, and other areas. His father pinned the family's hopes on her, more or less ignoring Yūki. Her paintings were sold for millions of yen, and she became a critically acclaimed young painter and author. It would not, however, be long, before she vanished on a school-trip abroad, in America. Suspected by many to have died, with the evidence leaning that way, things took a turn for the worse. 

His mother spent increasing amounts of time working, and staying elsewhere, whilst his father became depressed, mentally erratic, and often drunk, with his mother eventually divorcing him. Showing increasingly poor judgement, he became involved in the criminal underground, black market trade and dodgy dealings, as well as gambling in the more literal sense, using contacts abroad in an attempt to gain wealth from illicit trade of various things into Japan, including guns. Yūki also became a target for abuse. At some point, his father was involved in a deal that resulted in being apprehended by the police. More and more of his past was revealed, and he committed suicide shortly after. His mother elsewhere, and unwilling to take custody of him, he was unknowingly given into the care of one of his father's associates, someone who claimed to be his aunt on his mother's side, going by the name Haruna Rokujō, yet had only happened to have met him a few times during meetings between her and his father.

After that, he was essentially kept at a remote house in the mountains of central Japan. It was better than nothing. He had food, drink and shelter, and clothes, ignoring that they were usually those worn by women. He was drugged, molested and violated by his "aunt" and her associates. He was also indoctrinated, too. He would be taught how to deceive, and how to kill, becoming an assassin of sorts, who would manipulate and kill those who were seen as obstacles to the one who owned him. He would work his way into their trust, or at least a situation in which he could kill them and escape.

Yūki came to target numerous individuals, officials, reporters, judges and the like, who had holier than thou attitudes, and a desire to stamp out the likes of the crime, Yakuza and terrorist networks in which his master was involved, a network that also manipulated and profited from the conflicts going on. He also eradicated those the network saw as rivals. One failure to properly kill a target resulted in a reward of imprisonment and torture, upon his return. Unsurprisingly, he never failed again. During his training, at what was essentially a terrorist training camp, he excelled at long-range shooting, whilst also coming to have a trademark means of closer assassination, utilising wires to choke, or slice through vital parts of his victims.

Nonetheless, whilst making a message to those who opposed his "aunt," it would also come to bring the attention of the Japanese authorities, as well as CIA in America. Though his name, appearance and gender remained a mystery for a while, the chaos being wrought brought their attention. Eventually, they caught wind of the place in which he resided, which had at that point become a safehouse on the west coast of Japan. At the same time, as armed police and counter-terror squads were sent in, a group of nearby Yakuza were manipulated into attacking the area, which also housed a number of guards who had been ordered to stay behind. Abandoned by his master, he was drugged into a state of insensability, and as the three-way battle commenced, was thrown onto a fishing boat.

Unmanned, the boat was left to drift, and managed to end up somewhere in the South China Sea, making it past the coasts of Taiwan and Indonesia without being investigated. It just so happened to be, that at that time, the Lagoon Company were on a mission in the area. Whilst they were taking over a freighter, the boat he was on, emerged from the distance. To sum things up, they found him on board, learnt of his talents after the drugs wore off, and decided to include him in the team. Something along those lines, anyway.

Personality:
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Quiet and generally seeming apathetic, it can be difficult to tell whether he's simply good at hiding his emotions, or doesn't care. He has something of an inferiority complex, as well as a darkly twisted, nihilistic philosophical view of things, being somewhat aware of the common concept of morality, but regarding it as foolish, flawed and inapplicable to the real world. He lacks much in the way of social skills, and in some ways is naïve, of almost childlike ignorance in regards to society and people, yet at the same time pessimistic and jaded, ruthless to those that get in his way, yet also expecting others to grind him into the dirt, or attempt to do so. Accordingly, along with his experiences, he also developed masochistic tendencies, though whether he may have already had elements of that to begin with, is uncertain.

Whilst often cold, he can at rare times be remarkably fearful and eager to obey others, should he be cornered or overpowered. On the exceptional occasion, an older self of his can appear, which seems friendly, cheerful, good-natured, and tends to acts very carefree, masking many of his real feelings with a smile. Yūki is usually emotionally distant, refusing to allow anyone to become too close to him, though he may not always succeed, and tends to come off as shy rather than harsh, a demeanour supported by a lack of experience in anything approaching a healthy relationship. Of course, he might be quite a nice person, even if he wouldn't be the best at expressing it.

Appearance: Yūki is rather slim and feminine in appearance, with long black hair and brown eyes. He is 5'9" and whilst not underfed, weighs fairly little. Fitting his appearance, he is quite elegant, though when fighting, also possesses a ruthless precision. His clothing varies, though it is often of a kind that worn by women, even if he considers himself male. He has two bells tied to his hair, which serve to store the thin wire/strings he often utilizes in combat, though he also keeps more wire elsewhere.

Image gallery here we come

Weapon(s) of choice: Barrett M82, garrote wires/stuff like that, and some explosives. Two Vektor SP1 pistols.
Fighting style/tactics: Uses guns for longer range, or traps from a distance, utilising explosives and wires. He uses stealth, speed and agility to best effect, lacking much in the way of strength or endurance. In melee combat, he uses razor sharp wires to trap, disarm, maim and generally dismember enemies. Unarmed, his techniques involve previously mentioned speed and agility, whilst also attempting to turn the attacks of opponents against them, and avoid getting overpowered by individuals that can often be bigger and stronger. When fighting, he's quiet and focused.

Well, if I had to give a reason for my actions, I guess it's because I love people. I guess I wanted to see the faces that mankind has to offer.

Sessha

Quote from: Sorrow Singer on July 06, 2015, 02:02:18 AM
For people who haven't read the manga or watched the anime this setting is somewhere between firefly and the pirates of the Caribbean.

So does that mean Dutch is suppose to be Mal, Revy is suppose to be Jayne, Benny is Wash and Rock is suppose to be...Book?  ;D ;D ;D
Locked, cocked and ready to rock!


Daril

Okay, I've got a bit of a problem here. I'm getting some interesting characters, but most of them aren't a good fit for the crews I'm trying to assemble.  :-( Sorrow's character wasn't quite what I was looking for but I thought I could accommodate her.  But a second Japanese assassin character is a bit much for one pirate crew, and the medic type someone proposed via PM would be out of place as part of a small crew as well.  Perhaps I should go with my third proposal -assemble a crew of independents for some kind of job.  (That, and maybe give people more information about what I'm looking for with the pirate and mercenary crews.)  A temporary assembly of independents wouldn't be the greatest option for a long term RPG, but at least it would allow some of the interesting characters I'm getting to be used.

Rel Mayer

Is it for sure going to be a fast paced game? I am possibly interested in even playing a character that doesn't appear very often, but I can't keep up with daily posting.

Daril

Realistically, I doubt we're going to manage daily posting.  But in general I want to keep people from having to wait very long for replies.

GardenoftheDead

"I am you. I am a shadow, the true self."

Daril

Okay, this might be a good time to clarify what I'm looking for with the different scenarios.

If we're doing a crew of pirates/smugglers, then I would like to start with three or four characters.  I would like the crew to have more than one male to avoid a harem scenario.  :D  One character will need to captain the boat.  It would probably be good to have a mechanic as well (I would really like to get a cute girl for that particular role  :P).  A sort of helmsman/navigator might be good to have as well, as would a driver for on land segments (though that can probably be combined with another roll).

If we're doing the merc crew then I'm looking more for straight up soldier types.  Again, I would want to avoid a harem situation so I'd want at least two males (or possibly none -that's another way to avoid a harem scenario  :D ).  For that scenario I would probably be playing the "Sara" character I did up a profile for.  I'm not quite as sure what to do plot wise for this scenario as I am with the boat one but it is an option.

The "independents gather for a job" scenario is the one that offers the most freedom with regards to character types as it can accommodate characters who wouldn't fit well as part of a pirate or mercenary crew such as the medic character someone PMed me the profile for (a great character, but a quartet of pirates or mercs isn't going to permanently employ their own medical professional).  Unfortunately this is also the scenario I'm least enthusiastic about GMing.

So who's up for which roles in which scenarios?  It's possible we could end up doing more than one of them.

Sessha

Locked, cocked and ready to rock!


Sorrow Singer

Aya's Initial design is that of an enforcer type, but because of her ill defined limitless plot training she could double up as a navigator or driver.

Vex

Glad to see this is picking up in interest. I didn't have a specific idea back when I first saw this thread, but if we're interested in running with the pirate/smugger idea, I'd be happy to pick up the cute mechanic role. I've always enjoyed playing support characters that perform utilitarian roles, so the ass-kickers of the group can focus on what they do best. I'm thinking of an enthusiastic, geeky techie sort with some unorthodox engineering training, has a playful personality and adorkable appearance, but hides a bit of a cynical perspective on society that endorses a bit of a cold, impersonal view of the universe. Doubles as a hacker,  and kind of a high-tech communications and intelligence officer. Could triple down and make her a pilot and/or driver as well, but I'm not gonna force that one unless there's no-one else interested in that role. I figure a diplomatic captain-sort could take that role instead.

Naturally, that kind of character might not work for a merc-crew, if you decide to go that route. I'd be willing to redesign, if that's the case. I enjoy the sort of mature, serious setting the series brings, so I'd be interested in sticking it out, in either case.

Daril

I'm not sure I want to get into hacking too much, but the rest sounds pretty good (if you want her to be an intelligence source, maybe she trades info with the people she gets her parts from).

I'd kind of like to get a couple guys for the boat crew.  Alternately I guess we could go with an all female crew -it would be a bit skewed but at least it wouldn't be a harem situation.  :P


Izaya Orihara

Quote from: Daril on July 09, 2015, 05:55:32 PM
I'm not sure I want to get into hacking too much, but the rest sounds pretty good (if you want her to be an intelligence source, maybe she trades info with the people she gets her parts from).

I'd kind of like to get a couple guys for the boat crew.  Alternately I guess we could go with an all female crew -it would be a bit skewed but at least it wouldn't be a harem situation.  :P

Well, my currently posted character (Yūki) is a guy, though he doesn't look it. A trap, in other words.  :P
Well, if I had to give a reason for my actions, I guess it's because I love people. I guess I wanted to see the faces that mankind has to offer.

Vex

Quote from: Daril on July 09, 2015, 05:55:32 PM
I'm not sure I want to get into hacking too much, but the rest sounds pretty good (if you want her to be an intelligence source, maybe she trades info with the people she gets her parts from).

I'd kind of like to get a couple guys for the boat crew.  Alternately I guess we could go with an all female crew -it would be a bit skewed but at least it wouldn't be a harem situation.  :P

I'm not suggesting we do get into hacking much. I just thought it fit the character idea well. If you want to avoid it, I'm okay with that. I could write it off, or we can just have it as a list of her skills, and keep it in mind, should the need ever come up. No need to bring it into major focus. That she's a girl of science and mechanics, and has a head for engineering is more important, so either way's fine with me. I don't have her down solid yet, but either way, I could see her as the type to gossip and trade useful information with other mechanics and suppliers she comes across, so having her pick up the occasionally bit of Intel that way would work out fine, I think.

And like Izaya pointed out, Yūki is a guy, and thinks of himself as one. He just happens to be an androgynous cross-dresser. So, if you want to avoid a "harem" situation, I'd say the best fourth-man would be a male captain, a leader, officially or unofficially so. It could help if they could double as a negotiator of sorts as well, or at least the face of the group, so to speak. That's not to say we couldn't split those roles up, or that they couldn't be an ass-kicker as well, but that seems like it would fill the hole you're looking for.

In the mean time, I'll see what I can come up with for a character write-up on my end. I can't necessarily promise you I'll have it by tonight, but I should be able to have one up by the weekend.