RWBY Unofficial Tabletop RPG

[Revelation]

I'd say that's Florence and our DM's call, Florence kickstarted this and our DM is the one hosting it!

Though I have no issue with system or no system.

[Florence]

Hmm.

I'm curious, how many of you would rather use a system and not go freeform?

I'm asking 'cause I prefer freeform. I don't have a problem sticking with the system though, since this was originally pitched as using the system. :P

I'd personally prefer using this system as I really wanted to try it out, but at the end of the day I'm okay going with whatever the DM and the majority want.

I'd rather have an active freeform game than a system game everyone gets bored with.

[FarFetched]

I say we try the system.

[Atkinson]

It's what Florence, who started this whole thing off originally wanted, and there's no harm in giving the system a go.  If the system doesn't seem to be working for us, we can always explore other options after the fact.

[Revelation]

I'm basically gonna agree with the others. If the system limits us, we can eschew it later on.

[Florence]

I actually had that same thought after I'd made my post, but I figured I'd see what everyone else's thoughts were before adding it :P

So yeah, I think we're all in the same boat. We'll try the system and if we don't like it, assuming our DM is okay with it, we can switch to freeform.

I mean, its easier to go from system to freeform than from freeform to system.

Personally, what I like about the idea of the system is that it gives us some context for our abilities and limitations. With a setting like RWBY, it might be a little too easy to over-estimate how badass our characters can be and to just assume they can stomp anything that comes at them. A system makes it easier for us to gauge how strong we are vs our enemies.

Of course, ESPECIALLY in a setting like RWBY, the whole point is to have fun, so if we're having fun, good, if not, then we'll need to adjust accordingly.

[Revelation]

Hell! The whole point with RP period is to have fun! If we aren't enjoying it, we need to change it!

But so far, I feel high spirits for this game.

[Sain]

I don't much mind what we use either. Whatever works best for the GM.

[FarFetched]

(Also, Rob Berof Goldmann is definitely a disreputable customer. His name is literally "Robber of Gold Man" with spacing in different places!)

[ThisOneGal]

More images.

linky

Reworking my character 'cause I'm hitting a wall with her. Let me know what you guys think.

[Sain]

Lionel is damn cool :D

Well that Anubis faunus looks pretty cool too.

[Atkinson]

What aspect in particular is making you unhappy?

Iris has been pretty fluidly defined so far, so I think there's a lot of options to still explore!

Atlas is the most industrialized/technological city-state.  What if she isn't exactly rich, but one or both of her parents are cutting-edge designers, granting her access to high end technology without needing to be Schnee-calibre wealthy.  Perhaps her struggle could highlight the woes between Atlas' affluent and it's workers?

The idea of an armored suit is pretty neat as a weapon idea.  Assuming her stats don't change, with a high discipline it means she could load her suit up with a bunch of versatile effects?  It also frees up her Semblance for something else?

I 100% admit I could be biased on the twin front, but if you want to have another family factor, maybe not a twin so much as a sibling?  A younger one anxious to follow in Iris' footsteps?  An older one, resigned to their lot in (more conventional) life who disapproves of Iris' choices in life?

[ThisOneGal]

What aspect in particular is making you unhappy?

Nothing is exactly wrong, I'm just having trouble coming to grips with her. I can't figure out what the core of her character is as she currently is.

Atlas is the most industrialized/technological city-state.  What if she isn't exactly rich, but one or both of her parents are cutting-edge designers, granting her access to high end technology without needing to be Schnee-calibre wealthy.  Perhaps her struggle could highlight the woes between Atlas' affluent and it's workers?

That part was more inspired by this comment: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=244130.msg12137501#msg12137501

I'm mostly rolling with an Atlesian background because it's the one state I have a grip on; they're the high tech guys with an icy color palette.

The idea of an armored suit is pretty neat as a weapon idea.  Assuming her stats don't change, with a high discipline it means she could load her suit up with a bunch of versatile effects?  It also frees up her Semblance for something else?

I'm probably going to alter her stats. Leaning more towards this take on the suit simply cause being more humanoid stresses the ruleset less.

I should line up everyone's stats and see where the team is weak.

I 100% admit I could be biased on the twin front, but if you want to have another family factor, maybe not a twin so much as a sibling?  A younger one anxious to follow in Iris' footsteps?  An older one, resigned to their lot in (more conventional) life who disapproves of Iris' choices in life?

That could work.

[FarFetched]

Nothing is exactly wrong, I'm just having trouble coming to grips with her. I can't figure out what the core of her character is as she currently is.

Ah, that can always be a bit of a problem. My trick is to ask what I want the character to be, and then fill in the background around that. It works for me, because as long as you play that character, you know what sort of things you want to be doing with them, and therefore the best way to flesh out their backstory so it complements their place in the story.

Another idea I had; I noticed you expressed a lot of emphasis on an "Evil Twin/Sibling" counterpart. Instead of an evil twin, you could definitely make that person more... inward, like Jekyll and Hyde.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gGQ_hnx3Cc

[ThisOneGal]

Name	? ? ? (Shade, Noire, Eclipse)
Color	Black / Electric Blue
Emblem
Heritage	Atlesian Faunas
Age	19
Height	5' 4"

Attributes

Strength	0
Agility	2
Endurance	1
Perception	3+1
Willpower	5
Discipline	4

Derived Statistics

Health	6
Aura	14
Capacity	5

Background

From Atlas
Faunas
Black color scheme contrasts with Atlas white
DJ?
Family is wealthy, associated with weapons/robotics development
Siblings?

Reference

Character

Semblance

Weapon

Emblem

TBD
Likely based off of her helmet/mask

Theme

TBD
Daft Punk - Robot Rock
Daft Punk - Derezzed
Stamp on the Ground
Bullet For My Valentine - Riot
Archive - Bullets
Kill la Kill - Before My Body Is Dry (Don't Lose Your Way)
Ramin Djawadi - Pacific Rim Main Theme
Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
Jet

Semblance

Zone of Control
Telekinesis/Glyph Variant

Some sort of telekinesis
Can effect area around her
Visually manifests as electric blue streams/tentacles when active in an area
Buff/debuff
Grapple/trip foes, move/shield allies, act as distraction, redirect shots
At very high levels, make the environment go all Escher. Act as phase/teleport for others, maybe.

Possibly rename, focus more on music/DJ aspect
Discordia?

Pun

I'm tempted to make the name some sort of zettai ryōiki joke, especially given the visual references.

Weapon

Blackout
Anubis-class Support Armor
Weaponized Semblance Booster (Elegant STR+DIS / Energy AGI+WIL)

Custom variant
Folds/grows out of her scarf?
Designed to boost semblance, act as battle field support. Not direct combat focused
Melee combat is point blank energy blasting/whipping or clawing at people
Ranged combat is energy blasts/whips/drones
Dust reliant
Flight/hover capable
Uses light/sound dust to cloak allies, blind/deafen enemies, highlight targets, enact zone of silence
Possibly bend light to make laser/illusions
Turn battlefield into a rave

Modifications	Mobility, Mixed Capacity
Dust	Black (Light), Pink (Sonic)

[FarFetched]

Zone of Control
Telekinesis/Glyph Variant

Some sort of telekinesis
Can effect area around her
Visually manifests as electric blue streams/tentacles when active in an area
Buff/debuff
Grapple/trip foes, move/shield allies, act as distraction, redirect shots
At very high levels, make the environment go all Escher. Act as phase/teleport for others, maybe.

Possibly rename, focus more on music/DJ aspect
Discordia?

Pun

I'm tempted to make the name some sort of zettai ryōiki joke, especially given the visual references.

Hehe, that reminds me of Trafalgar Law's "Room" power from One Piece. That could be super cool to RP with!

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZA5sHP7EWA

[FarFetched]

Possibly rename, focus more on music/DJ aspect

Ooh! You could also call her Semblance something like "Base" or "Home Base", and every time she uses it she, quite literally, "Drops the base."
...Idk, just throwing ideas out there. Tell me if I ever come off as pushy about it.

EDIT: Since I cannot leave this RP alone today, I did an update and facelift for my character's Bio.

Outdated

 

^{*Clothing would be gold, instead of green}

Name: Lionel Bronto Goldmann
Color: GOLD!
Symbol: A golden lion with bull horns.
Age: Somehow only 18
Height: 7'5
Dust: Violet (Force)

Base Attributes:
6-Strength
4-Endurance
3-Willpower
2-Discipline
1-Perception
0-Agility

Heritage:
Atlas (STR +1)

Derived Statistics:
Health: 9/9
Aura: 9/9
Capacity: 3/3

Semblance & Dust Combos

Semblance: Immovable Object- Lion has the ability to make himself a fixed point, incapable of being moved or shifted by any force. Things that should be impossible to lift are easier to move, and if something like a massive boulder would crush him, he could use this semblance to resist being squished.

Semblance + Violet Crystal =
King's Presence (3 cap): Lionel infuses an entire violet crystal with his semblance, allowing him to extend the range of Immovable Object to resist any and all forces around him. People near him could be slowed, fires might die out, and gusts of wind can die down.
Charging Bull (2 cap): Lionel uses his hammer to propel himself quickly forward, then uses the properties of his semblance to make sure that he doesn't stop for anything.

Weapon

Weapon: Unstoppable Force- Unstoppable Force is a massive, two-handed Hammer filled with an extremely heavy violet dust. One end bears a rocket-like tube that can expel charges of Violet dust and launch certain swings even faster.  By reversing the hammer and pointing it away from him, the hammer can also expel forceful burst of energy with violet crystals. Lion crafted it specifically to suit his weight and semblance- anyone else wielding such a weapon would be thrown around by it easily. Ever the hubris fool, the side of the hammer bears Lion's own, beaming face on it.

Just in case he ever needs to monologue about how wonderful Atlas, His family, or anything related to him is, the pommel side of his hammer features a pop-out flag bearing the noble crest of his family: A horned lion. It has no other purpose than to aid Lionel in his efforts at grand-standing.

Weapon Properties:

Type: Aggressive

Modifications: Martial Arts, Immense Weight
Martial Arts::
As seen in Handbook.
Immense Weight:
EFFECT:  The additional defense threshold for targeted strikes is decreased by (?). All attacks with this weapon requires either 1 capacity and 1 action, or 2 actions.
DESCRIPTION: This weapon is heavy, and it shows. Do yourself a favor- do not get hit by it.

Personality

Lionel Goldmann is the expressive ham that other hams wished they could be, if they didn't already love themselves so much. Often, people know when he enters a room not because of his size, but because he declares his arrival exuberantly, using his whole name. Yes, even the the middle one.

Lionel is obsessed with being healthy, working out, and displaying his POSITIVELY SUPERB MUSCULATURE. He absolutely abhors junk food, preferring to eat only meat, vegetables, eggs and milk- classic healthy foods. Finding the food at beacon occasionally below his personal (occiasonally unattainable) level of healthiness, he's become a bit of Chef in his own right, and is known to occasionally cook his own meals when the cafeteria begins serving that dreaded, GASTLY deep-fried food. Working out is almost a basic state of being for him. He'd do jumping-jacks in the middle of class if no one stopped him. He begins every morning with 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, and 100-squats every day, followed by a 10-KM run in the evening. He gives his body a break on Sundays, and the look on his face for that entire period is a perpetual, uneasy restlessness. He's addicted to the healthy high of fitness.

The status of his muscles and the comparative musculature of those around him are always a very focal point in his mindset. This means that his shirts are mostly optional and incredibly form fitting. He's also made sure that each is tight enough for him to DRAMATICALLY TEAR OPEN if he flexes too hard. Just, you know, to drive the point home. He has abs. Behold abs. Despite having his head firmly lodged up his own, toned buttocks, Lionel isn't mean by any measure. Beyond the large amount of fluff he puts into his own self-worth, he has a very strong sense of Honor and always looks out for those less fortunate than he is. Though he has a positve nature, he's also quite compassionate (Perhaps... too compassionate), being known to cry manly tears when overhearing the sad tales of others.

That is, however, only half the man that Lionel is. Lionel sounds like an actor preforming onstage because that's just it- he's acting. Much of his true feelings is hidden behind that thick veneer of pride and patriotism. Beneath is his true self. A hurt, lonely boy with no home to call his own and a vengeful man who survives on a diet of spite and rebellion. He longs for his family's acceptance, but at the same time, he hates his family for denying him that very life. It's slowly tearing him up inside; and without an audience to bear witness, it occasionally shows.

Lionel- both the facade and the reality, has a deep-seated hatred for discrimination. It reminds him too much of his own "Impure" upbringing. He will go out of his way to start a fight if he notices anyone being discriminated against, especially with regards to race. It's actually one of the few things that can annoy him into dropping his act.

Background

Lionel's life isn't all the glamor, pride and glory that he makes it out to be. Deep down, he actually feels more like a mistake than anything else.

The Goldmann family line is just as proud and noble as Lionel makes them out to be (well, at least half, which is still quite something!), though, there is one small caveat. Most of his relatives would rather Lionel didn't exist at all! His family is widely known for vocalized, harmonic semblance known as "The Lion's Roar," which, like many hereditary semblances, has been honed over the generations to produce stunning displays of power and might.

The Crest of the Goldmann family isn't really a lion with bull-horns. In fact, it's actually a Lion standing in front of a bull. The horns are a reference to the Bronto family, a second family that has been subservient to the Goldmann's for over a hundred years. Unlike the Goldmanns, the Bronto family had never shown much aptitude for hunting. Occasionally, one would appear from their family with a semblance that made them stronger than normal, but that only came about once every few generations.

Lionel is a child of both these families, the bastard offspring of an already-married Goldmann and a Bronto maid, the latter of which sadly passed in childbirth. His father, while certainly unfaithful in every respect, wasn't so heartless as to leave young Lionel to fend for himself, and decided to take him in as a son, much to the eternal ire of his wife. This odd upbringing, wedged between a duty-driven father and a spiteful mother made for most of his early life.

On his thirteenth birthday, Lionel's semblance finally came out while playing sports with a cousin. It's appearance made for the largest scandal the family had ever known. The boy had bull horns, the hallmark of a semblance from the Bronto family. The two family had always been separate; mixing blood between them was incredibly taboo. Lionel's father had kept his ill-begotten son's origins to himself ever since the boy was born, but there was no hiding his semblance, or those horns.

The change Lionel saw in his family was immediate, and traumatizing. People he once considered friends and brothers wouldn't so much as talk to him anymore. Updated versions of family photos began replacing the ones that included him in it. The entire Goldmann's family, for all of it's Roaring pride, and loud pursuits, were brushing Lionel under the rug with the most deafening sound of all.

Silence.

Fearing his own excommunication from the Goldmann family line, Lionel's father sent the boy away to live with his Uncle, Rob Berof Goldmann, whom he lived with until he was accepted to Beacon. Rob, unlike Lionel's father, saw potential in the boy that could go beyond what both the Bronto and Goldmann families  could even imagine, and began training Lionel.

Rob's effect on Lionel was instrumental in making him the man he is today. His uncle gave him the courage to say 'No, I will not fall to your silence; You will never make me vanish silently into the night. I AM STILL HERE. LIONEL BRONTO GOLDMANN IS HERE, AND I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE. HEAR ME ROAR.' Spurred on by his own desire to leave a mark on the world, and to be recognized as someone to truly be remembered, Lionel put his body and soul into training with his Uncle. He ate, slept, and breathed physical effort. When it came time for the Beacon's entrance exam, Lionel had trained his body to the point where he didn't even need to use a weapon on the Grimm he was scheduled to fight. Instead, he was able to crush it's skull with his bare hands.

Lionel is done being silent, and done playing the victim. Quite literally, he has resolved to take life by the horns, and steer himself onto a journey so great and inspiring, even his family will be unable to quiet his existence.

Because one day, even if he has to say it at the top of his lungs, everyone will remember the name Lionel. Bronto. Goldmann.

Appearance of Semblance

Theme Music

When Cheery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6HM9QXnVdk

When... Not Cheery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igZbhVpF36E

[Sain]

He looks ready. I really should finish background too, but having problems. I don't think I'll wanna keep all parts of Vanilja's current personality as it is. Tinkerer bit especially seems a bit forced and not a good fit with the rest.

[FarFetched]

He looks ready. I really should finish background too, but having problems. I don't think I'll wanna keep all parts of Vanilja's current personality as it is. Tinkerer bit especially seems a bit forced and not a good fit with the rest.

Hmm- It doesn't have to be a conflict, not if you make the background right.  For example, you could have that Tinkering personality take on a more perfectionist aspect, where her need to figure out how something works can lead her to blow of social things that she happily promised to do yesterday! Sorta like a reflection of the two, heavily conflicted worldviews her parents each imposed on her. Her dad might've encouraged her to be the perfect hunting hunting machine (with an emphasis on 'perfect' and 'machine') while her mom put more emphasis on Vanilja just 'being herself'.

Or, something like that. It's kind of what I mean by my "Make the backstory around the personality" style of character creation.

[Leodran]

Morning everyone.

OOC thread is up here https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=245883.0

Feel free to post your characters there, but please send them to me in a PM as well and I'll consolidate things on the first page to keep it organized.

With regard to the system approach, I think we should use the system to give us some structure and keep the characters balanced.  I'm open to making small exceptions and house rules to accommodate good plot and general awesomeness though, so don't be afraid to ask if you're thinking of something that doesn't quite fit the rules as written.