SHADOWS [Interest Check, Fantasy freeform, LF ALL!]

[Roen]

Here we go again!

Recruitment Status

Currently looking for characters of all genders and orientations.

The SETTING is my own, there are numbered names and terms you might not understand included down there. Maridion is the name of the world and the setting, New-Evergreen is the name of the kingdom, Madagasken is a different continent, Maneheim is the name of a different kingdom, and also of a royal dynasty, Upidrumus and Isis are two of the setting's gods. Talking about your basic classic fantasy setting here, additional information below.

"His royal highness, King Wartigen Lazaros Maneheim , wasn't an extraordinarily warm person. Neither his wife, Phauxia, his son, Angelo, his younger brother, Andrew nor any of his six cousins could have accused him of being overly kind to his fellow mankind. No, Evergreen's last king was a cold, cunning and calculated individual, who was more than capable to simple acts of sheer cruelty- much like most other self-fulfilled politicians. I should know; after all, I've been there to witness every calculation, scheme, thievery and rushed execution that our all mighty ruler has ever ordered. Ranging down from the poorest of men, throwing himself pitifully on the floor in front of him; Up to the cockiest of noblemen who would stride up to his throne, looking like he had not a care in the world (only to be dragged away shortly after, in shackles or with his head held in linen). My king obviously was not a kind one.
Nonetheless, I must say that, in spite all of his shortcomings, King Wartigen certainly was not the wickedest King in the history of Maridion.

For one, I know for a fact that the king was capable of love; after all, he loved me: his silly little court Jester. He loved me enough to throw a fancy shmancy funeral ceremony in my honor, the day after I died. So how did it come to pass that my dear king earned that most spiteful of titles? Funny story, so listen up, this is how it all went down:

It all started on the day of my funeral.

Every last Ass-kissing twat, who attended the ceremony, could tell how much my king loved me. You could tell from the day he picked for the ceremony- the very first day of the winter festivals; You could tell from the place, in which he ordered the ceremony to be held- The most luxurious royal Hall of Whispers, where only the most significant stiffs of the royalty got their shriveled respectable arses dragged to, for their last respects; And from the twelve hundred guests that were sitting their overly spoiled fats on the pristine chairs. Only the finest of the alliance nobility was invited- Kings and queens, princes and princesses, dukes and duchesses and all of their obnoxious little lords, all there to pay their respects to one lowly jester; An extremely unpleasant one at that, mind you, who never passed an opportunity to insult them to their faces (and then add a silly dance for good measure). You could see it in the two hundred choir boys and girls, ninety orchestra players, sixty professional mourners (all ready and willing to scream wail in the agony of my loss), fifty candle-carrying altar boys, twenty priests and priestesses to the various gods and goddesses of Maridion, eighty five new wall carpets spun especially to the colors of my clothes (black n' white o'course) and a fully assembled row of the royal honor guard- all dressed in black and white, carrying my luxurious coffin on their shoulders. Above all of the... well... above, was my king, who was sitting on his throne at the edge of the room, his face painted white with a single black star around his left eye. Yes, my beloved king did all of that, if only to entertain his last hope: That he would be able to hear, one last time, the sound of my hysterical laughter echoing from the heavens above. 

The ceremony itself went pretty smoothly, in spite of the guests, who were all pretty shocked at the display of inappropriately honest grief. My king's face didn't even flinch as the high priest for Upidrumus started his speech. However, he couldn't help but get distracted by the giant copper bell, which was hung high above the heads of the coffin carriers.

He remembered then the day his brother, King Andrew of Maneheim- Madgesken, presented him with that ancient artifact, which has been passing down their royal bloodline for generations upon generations. On each side of the great bell was the embossment of what probably was once a snow fox, the ancient symbol of the Manenheim bloodline, both positioned in a way resembling the traditional roaring lion- standing on their back feet. The moment I've seen the bell, I commented that they looked like they were trying to knock each other out and how frustrated they must have been feeling, at the fact they could never reach one another, to end that eternal brawl. To portray my very astute theory, I started boxing one of the metallic felines, calling out in pain every time my whiskered opponent laid one of his powerful blows. That day the ancient bell apparently found itself a suitable rival, a fact everyone could agree upon, witnessing the great crack I've created on its lower left side. It was my firm belief that my king has never seen his younger brother opening his eyes so widely.

Indeed, after years of knowing me, his trusted court jester, Wartigen Lazaros Maneheim has learned to expect the unexpected, to mock the appropriate and carefully planned and to find the humor in any full blown catastrophe. However, no disastrous trick or foolish jest could have ever prepared my king for what was about to happen then, on the first day of the winter festival.

I believe that it was on the middle of the high priestess of Isis-the dead god- speech, that the lightning storm started; but it wasn't until the mighty red lightning struck the east wall and sent its brilliant electrical flows all across the great windows, that the disaster actually took place. Nathaniel, the youngest of altar boys, got startled by the electrical explosion and fell back on his bottom, losing his grip on his candle and tossing it towards Lady Viviana's very long dress, setting the ugly assembly of feathers, silk and down on fire! The pale duchess jumped from her seat and started running around and screaming her lungs out, making all of her servants run after her in an idiotic chase around the hall. The newly weaved black and white wall carpets- of which rushed spinning process did not include the protective sap- were the first to catch flames- sending all hundreds of choir members running towards the exit, pushing all noble men, knights and priests out of their way.

At that moment, the entire honor guard simply left my coffin on the floor, rushing to protect their king, and Ol' Father Devenson hurried towards the exit. The old high priest somehow managed to open the great cedar doors, yet failed to notice the flicker of flame, which was already gnawing on the upper left corner of the right door. Thanks to him, the burning corner reached the very silk ropes that were stabilizing the great Pole of Whispers. The enormous iron pole, which bared the proud war tokens of the Maneheim dynasty, was unfortunately positioned next to the right door itself. So much win!

The panicked masses ran through the exit, screaming and crying, banging the great right-hand door against the now loosened pole again and again, slowly but surely tearing its foundations from the stone floor. The hall was halfway empty when the great iron pole finally gave, falling down fast- its end pounding powerfully against the giant bell, emitting this ears' bleeding, walls shaking, booming Gong! It was then when Wartigen raised his eyes upwards, as he heard a sound he thought he would hear again; not the unbearable ringing of the bell, but the distinctive sound of priceless and ancient silver irreversibly cracking. The old crack I once created widened and climbed up the side of the great bell, reaching the top and quickly going down, splitting the giant bell in two! Separating the two foxes once and for all. The loose half of the bell fell like a boulder from the mountain top, just like death's arrow, crushing my coffin under its outstanding mass.

You couldn't even see the wood chips flying out of the crushed sequoia coffin; actually, the only reminder to what was buried underneath the bell simply rolled away on the floor, right to the feet of the king's throne: that one king Wartigen easily recognized. It was my beloved wand- its head curved to the shape of a badger's head. Evidently, as the guards were trying to rush their king out of the burning room, he simply stood there, staring at the wand with tears falling from his eyes. For a moment there, the guards feared that their king was about to break under the burden of grief, but then the cunning old fox just burst out with roaring, heartfelt laughter, more hysteric and wild than I could ever master! His loud roars of joy were carried throughout and beyond the palace's halls. Evidently, they got as far as the streets outside his courtyard.

To this day, some still swear they could hear the king's mad laughter; all the while on the outside, his people were being slaughtered by the masses, as the streets became home to the most wicked and deadliest of advisories Maridion has ever known- marking the start of the most desperate war, which left very few to tell the tale. Finally, it was his laughter at that time of crisis, which ranked Wartigen Lazaros Maneheim, New-Evergreens' last ruler, as the wickedest King in the history of Maridion.

Which, to this humble and simple Fool, seems completely uncalled for, wouldn't you say?"

Additional Info

Alright, this game will be co-GMed by Nighteyes87 and myself. Nighty will probably post here below, so let me tell you a little bit about myself and this game. This is a reboot of a previous version of Shadows- which I've already tried to start on E. a couple months back. We're rebooting it since I didn't think it lived to its potential the last time around. Most of you don't really know me, and you don't have many past RPs of mine to refer to (my only ongoing one is Locdown), so I've decided to give you a little taste of what my writing and GMing styles are like.

This will be a high fantasy game, freeform. Point is- no system rules but our own, which simply means common sense. This is an adventurers' game, fit for 4-7 active players, going to be an exploring-journey type of plot, lots of room for character development and meaningful roleplay. So yeah, there will be sex scenes, but they will be plot driven, as opposed to a sex-scenes-driven-plot. We're not going to limit the types of sex scenes as well, you want to go soft- go soft, you want to go extreme- be my guest, look at my ons/offs if you want to see my own personal preffs (won't limit you to those, either).

So let's start with some of my basic rules and clarifications:

Characters/Players Selection-
We're not going to pick our players on a first-come-first-served base. PCs are very important to my games, I tend to create the plot and tune so it won't only fit the characters' backgrounds and potential, but also derive from them, so I'm picky about the players and the characters I recruit into my RPGs. That said, with time we will define a time-frame for character applications, and at the end of it I will decide which characters and players are in. Those that won't get chosen might get recruited later on as the game progresses, depending on plot-needs and different logistics.

Activity-
This is just for fun, we're not going to tell you that we want people to commit to 3 posts per day… But let's be reasonable and recognize that this game needs to be dynamic status, so I'd say… I'd be expecting players to do their best and post somewhere around once every 1-3 days. The game will keep people on their feet, so I would humbly assume that people would want to reply more frequently than that. RL needs will be taken into consideration, of course. What I'm not going to tolerate is players that just up and disappear without a word. I find that utterly disrespectful and irresponsible, as mentioned above- I weave my games around your characters, and when a single character disappears, it unravels my current and future plot and sometimes forces me to abort a plot-angle or the plot itself entirely. Only commit to this game if you know for a fact that you will be relatively available for the coming months.

Player-Godmoding-
Talking about players including stuff like the results of their actions, NPCs actions or items that I did not describe in my posts. So no, absolutely not, not ever, if you want to include anything in your post, you ask me. I realize in this site it's pretty common for the lines to blur out between players and GMs, having the players creating NPCs, controlling them, creating actual plot angles… I'm a classical GM, to me all a player should do is play his or her character and that's it, you don't touch mine- I don't touch yours* :) nothing else is really needed, to be honest. If you're not sure what you may or may not include in your posts, use the PM system, I would prefer IM though (All in the contact info). In Godmoding I would include other characters control, environmental control, NPCs control, or determine the results of your own actions (unless they are given…let's say, don't tell me 'I'm trying to tie my shoes' when there's no reason you won't be able to succeed, sometimes there are special circumstances, but I'll be informing you about those). In order to make long processes short, just ask for my permission. I rarely say no. I don't always say yes, but if I don't- I'd usually find the middle ground, which will benefit both yourself, myself and the plot(self).

*You will, from time to time, see us writing an intermission prompt, like a flashback or something of the sort, which will be focusing on one or more characters, to better introduce it and keep the game interesting. The moment we decide to do that with your character, we will contact you and have you play your character for us, either in IM or PM, afterward we will edit it into an interesting prompt, depending on your consent and authorization.

Character Names-
Character Names-
Probably the MOST IMPORTANT RULE here. Every GM has his own little peeves and quirks; this one is very dear to me. I want you to include the following tag at the start of each post:

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[u][b]Character's Name:[/b][/u]
[u][b]Location:[/b][/u]
[u][b]Tagging:[/b][/u]


Deaths and Injuries:
Adventure games sometimes have casualties in them, as well as injuries, sometimes serious maiming (something that would leave serious scarring, a loss of a limb, fingers, eyes, toes.. etc.) and rape. I'm about to make it very clear: NOTHING will happen to your character, without your EXPLICIT consent! If you want to be killed, you will be killed, if you want to be injured, yeah- ok, all the props to ya; and if you want to be raped, that also can be arranged. Sudden and pointless random things, especially death, will only happen to NPCs.

That said, there are three ways a PC (player's character) can die in my RPs, and I'm sure most GMs would agree:
1. The player is sick of his/her character and wants a new one. That's perfectly fine by us.
2. The player leaves the game. Sorry, it's your character, we're not about to NPC or replace you.
Both casualties will be respectful, maybe heroic, but definitely not pointless.

3. The player feels comfortable doing something that would otherwise obviously result in a character's death, feeling protected by the "you said you won't kill us!" law. I call this bit my 'stupid-safe' law. Guys, this is survival horror, the danger is there and it's extremely potent. If you're doing something outrageously stupid, which would logically get you killed, and you refuse to change it when either Caehlim or I PM you about it- your character will be hurt or die.
I can't even guarantee a meaningful or dignified death, because you'll die doing something stupid… it's all in your hands. 

Character Creation Info

Alright, so like I've said already- I got room for 4-7 players, will be GMing the plot in my own setting, which is called The World of Maridion, where you will have access to most of the classic fantasy types of characters, just need to ask me first if what you want is doable.

I do run a tight shift, but just because I believe that after true order is achieved, it is then that people can throw their coats, relax and have some fun without compromising their role-play or the flow of the game.


Now, let's move on to the Character Sheets' Formats:
Since we want to help you keep your characters' secrets, just to make things more interesting for the game itself, we're going to ask you to create two types of character sheets: one for public view, and a complete one for our and your eyes only (via PMs).

*I've been asked about this, so I'll clarify, the fact that the public version of the format has mostly sections about physical appearance and sexuality has nothing to do with the nature of this game. I'm simply allowing players to keep details about their characters' pasts and personality hidden, so to keep the group's dynamics forever changing with every time a piece of information surfaces up. This is not a sexually driven game, the focus is the story and the roleplay. sex will be there when the plot or the players require it to.

Also, I've been previously asked whether I want you to create "good" characters or not, so I'll answer that publically: I want this group to be as versed as it goes, create whatever the damn you like, all the better for the plot and your group dynamics.

Even if the game is all about fighting evil and saving the world, that doesn't mean "dark" characters won't have reasons to join such a cause. Just leave some room for flexibility, don't create a character that wouldn't be able to be a part of a group, even if it benefits him/her. Also, don't you all go dark, cause it might complicate things, a good thumb rule is to only go there if you have a great idea… Being good can be interesting and satisfactory as well :P

Public Sheet Format:

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[u][b]Name:[/b][/u]
[u][b]Pic/Description:[/b][/u] (whatever you think would describe your character more accurately. Both would be fantastic. Try to avoid anime drawings; it's somewhat anticlimactic to this sort of a game, which has a more classic western note to it. Also, if your character hides features of itself, like its race or anything else, don't include them here.)
[u][b]Race:[/b][/u] *unless you want to keep that a secret*
[u][b]Age:[/b][/u] (if you have a character that has a longer life span than humans, add a line for 'Human Equivalence)
[u][b]Sex[/b][/u]:*unless you have any roleplay related reasons to keep it a secret*
[u][b]Sexual Orientation:[/b][/u] * unless you want to keep that a secret *
[u][b]D/S:[/b][/u] [b]D[/b]' for a dom, [b]S[/b]' for a sub, [b]V[/b]' for a switch or [b]O[/b]' for do not participate.
[u][b]Do's and Don'ts:[/b][/u]


Full Sheet Format (the one you're to PM me):

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[u][b]Name:[/b][/u]
[u][b]Pic/Description:[/b][/u] (whatever you think would describe your character more accurately. Both would be fantastic. Try to avoid anime drawings; it's somewhat anticlimactic to this sort of game, which has a more classic western note to it)
[u][b]Race:[/b][/u]
[u][b]Age:[/b][/u] (if you have a character that has a longer life span than humans, add a line for 'Human Equivalence)
[u][b]Occupation/Social Status:[/b][/u] whether the character is of nobility or other statuses, is he a man of trade? If so, what kind?
[u][b]Class:[/b][/u] Here is where you define your character by skill, art or training, like a warrior, a knight, a warlock, a ranger etc.
[u][b]Bio:[/b][/u] Your character's bio, be as descriptive and as creative as you can, I'll be using your backgrounds to enhance my plot.
[u][b]Personality:[/b][/u]
[u][b]Sex[/b][/u]:
[u][b]Sexual Orientation:[/b][/u]
[u][b]D/S:[/b][/u] [b]D[/b]' for a dom, [b]S[/b]' for a sub, [b]V[/b]' for a switch or [b]O[/b]' for do not participate.
[u][b]Do's and Don'ts:[/b][/u]


My various IMs are always available for your convenience, so is my PM :)
Feel free to add me for enlisting and character development advisement. The best way to go at it is talk to me through creating your characters, this is my absolutely most favorite part of the RP preparations, so use and abuse me :P

My Main Characters (for the group)

Name: Angelo
Pic/Description: Angelo is a taller than average young male, his shoulders are broad by heritage, but he doesn't have much in the way of muscle mass, he is fit but slender. His face are fare, with noble and sharp features, and a hint of a strong jawline that still hasn't had a chance to take form, with his full rosy lips, sole (like the fish, with a steeper upper arc) shaped green-blue eyes and the perfectly well kept wavy dark-chocolate locks that frame his face, he is quite the attraction for men and older women. (Yep, he's a cougar snack XD)

Race: Human
Age: 17
Sex: Male
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual, though leaning towards males.
D/S: S and sometimes V.
Do's and Don't's:
Do's:
Romance
Dom/Sub
NC
Pain and Torture
VERY soft gore
Don'ts:
Scat
Vore
Crossdressing
Mutilation
Hard gore

Let's have some fun, shall we? (:
Ro, out.

[Roen]

Hey, since I was already approched by a player that required some additional clarifications, I'll post my answers here.

1) I think that your intro fiction gives a pretty good idea of the tone of the game, assuming that you want that same sort of tone to carry through to the roleplay. But it's not clear if or how it relates to the plot of the game. Are characters expected to tie into Wartigen Lazaros Maneheim or New-Evergreen in some way? Does the game somehow relate to the events in your intro story? Was this something that took place in the far past, or just yesterday?

The intro is a sort of prologue to the game, it's a single even in a long chain that would kickstart the grand game. The characters aren't obligated and mostly shouldn't relate to the king, although I will allow it if the concept is interesting and doable. Hopefully that answer was specific enough, I'm trying to avoid giving spoilers to the actual game.

2) Basically, I don't have a good idea of what the game will actually be about. It's cool if you're planning to spin something up based entirely on characters submitted, but in my experience having some central seed for people to build around is important. So if this is going to be a hunt for treasure, or a political game, or a player-vs-player struggle, or a travel to strange lands... that sort of thing. You're in trouble if you get six people coming in who all have different ideas, so best to clear this up quickly.

Well, I didn't say I'm going to spin it entirely on the characters *smiles* There is absolutely a core story and plot to the game, it revolves a greater worldwide event that Maridion will be dealing with. This game is the story about the character's individual experience with it, a single group of people, who are going to have a significant influence on the turnouts of the mentioned event. This will be a game of explorations, of journeys through land, sea and air, a great plot that will be assembled of smaller and more specific plots, each one completing a piece of the puzzle towards the greater goal.

3) Along those lines, what kind of power level are you imagining for the characters? Having Lord of the Rings level heroes or a bunch of Conan clones is a very different thing from having a bunch of newbie palace guards who stumble into something over their heads. There's no wrong answer, but again if you don't get everyone on the same page you're in for trouble. If you deliberately want a mix of all different power levels then you can state that too, but be warned it's going to make your job as GM a whole lot harder.

Basically, power balancing and power levels are things that I agree upon privately with each player. As a hands-on GM, I usually stay in touch with my players throughout the process of character creation, to answer any questions they might have and approve/alter anything that requires approval or alteration. Generally speaking, I like the characters of my-let's say-'epic' games to start small, and build their powers and versatility up while progressing.

That's probably enough for now. I guess what it boils down to is that I'm much more likely to be interested in a game if there's a somewhat narrow focus. "You will all play up and coming adventurers who are coerced by the Mad Duke into exploring the ruins under Castle Xaron to rescue his escaped pet basilisk" is a lot more interesting to me than "Here's a description of the world. Now what do you want to do?" In my experience, the first sort of thing is much more likely to lead to a common group vision, while the second sort of thing tends to result in games that run for about a week or two before running out of steam. So my advice is to show more of your cards, talk about what you're planning and rope people in with details about how that relates to the characters they will be creating.

Yeah, I don't usually do 'open-world' games without a clear goal, especially not for group games. There will be a purpose, whether it is situational or intentional, and one might birth the other (like a race for survival that leads to an actual quest).

Some additional clarification:
I chose not to disclose the said player's identity simply because these questions are pretty general, should he or she wish to identify themselves, they're more than free to. I always try to reveal as little as I can about my games, to keep the players in suspense and to allow myself the possibility of surprising them. That and the fact that I didn't want to overwhelm the readers with a massive block of information, led to this situations, where some clarifications need to be made. I prefer to not feed my players (or readers, for that purpose) with a spoon, and I avoid that to the point that sometimes I forget to make some essential points. Hopefully this mended the problem (:

[kingmaster1]

This looks awesome! ;D

Such a big world for possibilities, I'll  get on a character ASAP :-)

[Roen]

Thanks, King.
I've updated the Character Creation section. Still waiting for some votes of interest :)

[azzmeister89]

this looks really interesting but with the move comming i'm not sure if i'll have time, will it be possible to join later when life settles down again?

[Roen]

I willprobably add additional players and introduce new characters as the game progresses, yes.

[Countdown0]

Very interested. I always love a dark fantasy type of setting. I'd like to start working on a character now, but I'm not sure how to make use of the character sheets you have posted >.<

[CarnivorousBunny]

Interested as well!  I've been craving a good fantasy game! :D
Will work on a character sheet!

I was looking for a character picture for a hay-elf but came across this:


How cool would this be for a Nabati female ::)
Maybe I should create a run-away female Nabati. Hihhi!

[Roen]

That does sound extremely interesting, Bunny :)
Can't wait to see what you come up with.

[Sara Nilsson]

looks extremely interesting and i just adore the intro text you made there :) very well done

[Roen]

Unfortunately, there aren't enough interested parties at the moment to start up this game :/

I will keep all of you in mind when I try to reboot this thing in the future.