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

[Sabre]

A novel, manga and recently animated series, Sword Art Online is the story of 10,000 MMORPG players who logged into the newest, most advanced online game of the day and, discovering the creator has psychotic delusions of grandeur, become trapped inside unable to log out for almost two years.  Whether you're fans of the series or not, this is a call for anyone interested in an RP setting combining fantasy elements with the knowledge of playing in a virtual reality game (but where death in game means death in the real world).  For a longer synopsis for those unfamiliar with the series, read here:

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Set in the near future where the latest in VR and neural link technology is married to create the ultimate gaming experience, SAO is the latest and most anticipated game yet.  A completely virtual and fantasy world that players can actually feel, smell, taste and touch.  Logging in is like diving in completely as the game is played not with controllers but with your own mind - the headset intercepts any signals sent to and from the brain and directs them into the player's avatar.  So immersion doesn't begin to explain it.

However, on launch day, when tens of thousands of players log on the first time and get lost in the new world, something goes wrong.  Soon players who are out of gaming time think to log out but find the option has been removed from their menu - without it there is no possible way for the body in reality to get the signal to take the helmet off unless a friend or family member does it for them.  Worse, everyone receives a terrifying and perhaps even exciting ultimatum from the game master and creator: there is no escape except through defeating the endgame boss.  That's 100 floors and 100 dungeons and bosses to clear, and each floor is the size of a small county full of dangerous wilderness, major towns and small villages.  And to complete the nightmare, the final threat is made: dying in the game and losing one's avatar will send an immediate signal to the headset in real life to fry the player's brain and kill him or her for real.  Trying to take the helmet off will trigger the same fate, so after the hundredth or so death by accidental helmet removal by family a state of emergency is called and the players now carefully watched, but no one is able to do anything from their side.  The players are on their own, and months go by as they continue to struggle in the virtual world.

So the setting is a less than traditional MMO with major consequences.  In the first month alone 2,000 die due to the difficulty in the game, and soon only 10-30% of players actually brave dungeons and the front line while the rest cower in towns trying to get by as best they can.  Players must sleep and eat even in this virtual world, and this costs money they can only make providing trade, services, or treasure and monster hunting in the wild.  There is no real magic system in the game either.  Instead it's a system built completely around Sword Arts - physical attack skills and combos unique to each different type of weapon and sometimes unique to singular weapons themselves.  There are an infinite number of sword arts and an infinite number of passive and active skills as well - blacksmithing, cooking, etc.  NPCs function with advanced AI parameters that let them slowly develop and learn over time and interaction with players, though they cannot die and respawn as blank slates if killed.

Now, I've got my own ideas on potential angles this game could tackle, but I'd really like to know if there are enough people here interested in the setting to play either a free-form group game or maybe something system-based (what system exactly I'm not sure, though I'm considering a modified Feng Shui).

[Matthew]

Ooh... a friend recently got me interested in this series, and I remember thinking it seemed like it could be a rather fun premise for an RP... Put me down as interested ^_^

[azzmeister89]

I'm so in!

[Cindred]

I'm in if you start this!

[Lithium]

I'll get in on this too :]

[MzHyde]

Sounds like a non-terrible version of .hack or something. I like it! If someone dies do they get to reroll? Will it be system based or freeform?

[Sabre]

One can think of it as a more action/adventure orientated .hack setting, where the focus will be more on survival and exploration of the epic castle of Aincrad slowly working towards the lofty goal of clearing floor 100 to escape back to the real world.  I don't see why a player couldn't roll a new character if their first or second dies of course, because why not?

Right now I'm undecided on whether this should be completely freeform, implement an unobtrusive system that simply keeps players from power creeping, or homebrew an original system altogether to deal with the fast paced action of SAO battles.

As for plot I'm leaning towards a very low level start near the beginning of the series, on floors 3-25 to begin with.  The players either form a party of friends that know each other in RL (everyone's avatars looks just like their real selves, making this easier) or they are desperate new recruits drafted into the ranks of the Aincrad Liberation Front, or the Army, which is a massive guild set up to organize the chaos that erupts after so many people die in the first few weeks.

[azzmeister89]

if your planning to add a system to the rp you will need a gm too play all the monsters and distribute ex points when a fight is over, that in itself for this game in particular will be quite the task so i advice make this free form but everyone can keep an eye on each other to stop people god modding

[MzHyde]

Or make it some kind of really simple system based on the dice roller here or something. I'd be willing to learn a system for this if someone wants to teach, though.

[azzmeister89]

that makes sense although someone will have to explain to me how the dice rolling thing works on here

[Matthew]

I'm not opposed to a system myself, I'm familiar with a few and I'd be willing to learn a new one for this :)

[Tom90]

I started watching this after seeing the thread, so... if it starts; sure I'm in.

[azzmeister89]

it is an awesome anime, based off of a light novel, shame how it ends but i wont spoil it for anyone

[Tom90]

Yeah, I am watching the second episode now and I think it is really good.

[azzmeister89]

just wait until the latest two episodes, now they are awesome

[Tom90]

Cool, I can't wait.

[Awesomesauce]

I'm in.

[Haztur]

sounds like a cool idea

and for freeform or simple systems Strands of Fate or other Fate system works very well.

[azzmeister89]

So when is the character sheet going to be up?

[Kaisude]

I'm in been following the anime it's awesome as crap. So I am definitely interested for sure. Also I would be willing to learn a system, I have no knowledge of it though.

[Vaulera]

I'm in, so in. Sword Art Online is awesome, I don't have any experience with system roleplays, but I would be willing completely if it were a SAO game.

[Cindred]

Ill be dropping out of this. I don't think I can stretch myself to that many RP's.

[NotoriusBEN]

I'd be interested in playing as well.

for a dice system it could be as simple as both players rolling a d20, highest roll wins.
-or-
a little more difficult. give the players a d8, a d10, and a d12 that they assign to stats like smarts, fighting, and grace.
depending on the conflict, the players roll their die in that respective stat. some people are better at fighting, others at smarts, but the die range still lets the disadvantaged person have a chance to win.

[azzmeister89]

A dice system like that wouldn't make sense unless were all planning to be player killers

[Sabre]

Personal interactions between players and NPCs probably don't require any sort of system to manage.  Maybe a simple dice roll, or just a flat stat requirement for success, for certain skills would suffice.

The real question is how do we handle battles against monsters, NPCs and, if it comes to that, each other.  If this is an open game where each of us is our own GM able to directly control what happens, we'd be responsible for keeping each other in line so that someone doesn't go overboard and become a second Kirito.  If there is a GM, then he controls monsters and NPCs at least only during combat scenes, and the outcomes could be decided by a system or by simple GM fiat based loosely on player stats and narrative direction.

[azzmeister89]

I do have an idea for a gm system if you would allow me to explain

Each character will start with the following stats
Health 50
Attack 30
Defence 30
Speed 30
Wit 50
Level 10

If you choose me to be game master i will control the monsters and right a list of monster levels and there stats and then control them and item drops, including chests. The outcome of a battle will purely come down to stats and then to avoid any godmodding i'll have a non combat character. With each floor monsters will get stronger and all the players willl need to do is keep an eye on there stats and those of the monsters

[Haztur]

something like that would work but that means every character is the same as the others, you could put a minimum, give some creations points and everone could just put the points were they feel accomodates more their kind of play (if someone wants to be more at defense than attack for example)

It also means that there are battles the characters would never be able to win just because of stats alone unless they get a bonus for equipment, weapons, armor, etc (we could make a list and make it random what people get when they win a battle or how much gold they earn so they can buy it in towns)

[Latooni Subota]

I highly suggest freeform, with some little benchmarks to keep people organized. After all, in Aincrad you only get a limited about of skill slots to fill with things ranging from weapon proficiency to crafting skills, and then however many Sword Skills you learn. Those should be the only things that need to be kept track of, and have a bit of GM adjudication for dealing with combat based on how your actions have been narrated. That's probably the best way to work SAO.

(Also, damnit Sabre. I was trying to get a SAO game going for a month on RPoL, and you suddenly decide to GM it here on Elliquiy? Argh! XD )

[evangel]

I am quite interested!

[Sylia]

I'm interested as well, so count me in!

[Sabre]

I am quite interested!

I highly suggest freeform, with some little benchmarks to keep people organized. After all, in Aincrad you only get a limited about of skill slots to fill with things ranging from weapon proficiency to crafting skills, and then however many Sword Skills you learn. Those should be the only things that need to be kept track of, and have a bit of GM adjudication for dealing with combat based on how your actions have been narrated. That's probably the best way to work SAO.

(Also, damnit Sabre. I was trying to get a SAO game going for a month on RPoL, and you suddenly decide to GM it here on Elliquiy? Argh! XD )

I can always count on you guys, can't I?

The more I wrack my brain over it, the more I think a freeform RP would be healthier for the RP in the long run.  We'll have a skills stat sheet to help define our characters and help the GM and player RP better, but I'm not sure number crunching any more than that is necessary unless people start trying to break the game.  And since it is an MMO regardless of the threat of death, I doubt anyone would care to roll-play daily farming runs against mobs, and would rather focus on interesting encounters and boss fights.

Maybe the best defense against god-moding is having a healthy disdain for it and thinking it would make for a boring game.  Though, azzmeister, a few simple numbers for players and monsters could help give everyone a sense of scale.

[azzmeister89]

sounds good to me, let me know what you need and i'll see if i can come up with something

[Vaulera]

Should we decide on the range of weapons allowed, because in SAO dual wielding one handed weapons is unique to the protagonist. Also, I must ask, will unique skills be included, or left out?

[azzmeister89]

i cant imagine they will but i can include a way of doing so if sabre agree's and then we'll work out a way to give them to people fairly

[pendarious]

im interested in this.

Iv'e  read the SAO light novel and basically ANY non magic weapons except for gunpowder type weapons appear to exist provided the character has the weapon skill.

[Sabre]

We should consider some world building - settings, NPCs, quests and monsters and bosses for levels 2-25.

As for weapons I think any kind of melee weapon that can be categorized simplistically should be fine for starting characters, and for special weapons maybe we can talk about an extra skill - like Klein's Katana skill - though these should rightly be rare.  No reason why some of our players couldn't be the other handful of players that gain these extra skills though!

As long as it isn't something god-like though like Dual Blade or Holy Sword, I doubt anyone else will have a problem.

Axes, spears, one/two handed swords, curved swords, maces, hammers, halberds, pikes, daggers and throwing knives, unarmed martial arts, claws and scythes, and even bow and arrow should all be game I think.

[pendarious]

that weapon set seems good though the extra skills arent always rare. Katana for instance is easily obtained by mastering One Handed Sword.

Dual Blades and Holy Sword were designed for one player period. Dual Blades  was given to the person with the highest Dexterity stat.

[Sabre]

Absolutely, though by Kirito's reckoning there were only about ten or so extra skill users per extra skill.  But PCs are always special, so by nature they'll likely be the ones to earn extra skills like these.

Maybe not katana, though, unless we change the bit about one-handed curved blade masters only.  We can get creative here, fortunately.

Anyone have ideas on the sort of character they'll be playing? Some party balancing and niche filling is always nice so we're not all the same type of player.

[pendarious]

eh i think ill take a heavily armored halberd wielder

[azzmeister89]

i'm going to be playing a character who has focused heavily on the smithing skill and like Kirito one handed sword skill (although not enough to do crazy stuff like unlock duel blades) he will have (with every ones permission unlocked a unique skill) "master forge" a unique skill that allows him to forge swords that are totally unique and even fuse ores to make new metal types to build these weapons, other then that his fighting style wont be anything spectacular.

[pendarious]

ok ive got no problems with that though i think it should apply to all weapons not just swords

[Vaulera]

I would want to play a character with skills that are limited to, in terms of weapons, claws and throwing knives, or a Warhammer and throwing knives. Something with throwing knives, whether it be using them at a range and swapping when necessary to a melee weapon, or throwing the daggers and then drawing a melee weapon, switching whenever. Whichever seems best. As for out of combat skills, I dunno, brewing?

[azzmeister89]

ok ive got no problems with that though i think it should apply to all weapons not just swords

naturally the skill applies to building all weapons types so don't worry

[Sabre]

If you take a look at Lisbeth's stats and skills: http://swordartonline.wikia.com/wiki/Lisbeth

Each class of weapon seems have its own stat to raise.

Edit: maybe we should consider a limited number of skill to start out with, if we start at a rather low level and assume people are still getting into the swing of things and learning new things about SAO every day.  That way we can RP into our desired character build rather than start with one mostly filled out already.

[azzmeister89]

that does sound better, so if you want to have a certain skill set you need to have your character work for it rather then already have everything, this will make things a whole lot easier

[pendarious]

I agree.

apparently  there are only about 12 skill slots

[Latooni Subota]

You already make unique weapons in SAO, as long as you have rare materials and a bit of luck. The Dark Repulsor is a unique weapon that Lisbeth made for Kirito with an extremely rare material and a lucky forging attempt. >.>

Fusing ores to make other ore types seems kind-of weird to me. Considering there's 100-floors worth of materials of various levels of rarity, is it really necessary to overcomplicate it further with materials that only a single person can ever make?

. . . No, I'm not bitter that azzmeister went with a similar concept to the idea I had . .  noo . . >.>;

But in all seriousness, I don't think it's something that needs a unique skill, when all that stuff can mostly already be done in the game by high-level blacksmiths.

[azzmeister89]

ok you make a fair point, hmmmm maybe a skill that increases the chance of building unique weapons then and with everything else just gives the weapons higher stats then normal?

[pendarious]

well whatever the case you'll be working hard to get that thing

[azzmeister89]

true, if the whole group ends up being part of a single guild i'll probably get all the practice i need building and fixing weapons and armor

[MzHyde]

I'm getting the feeling that I'm going to wind up totally lost because I haven't seen this show. I'm already pretty confused here. Think I may have to withdraw.

[azzmeister89]

its easy enough to follow and there are not many episodes in the series yet, i'll put up a link for anyone who needs to watch

http://www.animeseason.com/sword-art-online/

[Sylia]

hrm, I might wield something akin to two-handed swords or something to that effect. May consider going the zengar route..

[Sabre]

I'm getting the feeling that I'm going to wind up totally lost because I haven't seen this show. I'm already pretty confused here. Think I may have to withdraw.

Watching the first episode would be enough to catch you up to where this RP will start, as we won't be beginning very advanced into the general plot timeline.

[Vaulera]

Hey MZ, just spend a couple hours and watch the ten episodes that are out, it's a great show and it doesn't pull the punches when it comes to serious material, despite the lack of gore.

[azzmeister89]

-agree's with Vaulera- and they were quite tasteful with the latest episode at the end, considering how that happens in the novel

[Latooni Subota]

I had a thought: Due to the painfully small amount of skills we get, what types of blacksmithing are you going to specialize in, azzmeister? There's '7' different skills for blacksmithing alone, if you assume shields are a part of the armor-smithing skills. If you want to be able to fight on the front-lines, you might want to only specialize in making weapons or making armor, and use the rest of your skill slots for combat-important skills and the ability to use various types of gear. That and it would let you master the specific blacksmithing skills you chose easier, since you'd be focusing on those more rather than everything at once.

Edit: Oh, and leatherworking, if you count the leather armors, though that's sort of a stand-alone crafting skill >.>

[azzmeister89]

i suppose i would want to specialize in crafting blades then and then focus my other skills on combat and other useful skills

[Latooni Subota]

I had a decent idea, if you don't mind working together a bit on character background stuff! We could split up the work for blacksmithing skills, and help each other out.

http://i1027.photobucket.com/albums/y331/ReverseAdonis/ba245cbac4170be9e3ce5201ad0345e23b4aafa7.jpg

Maybe I'll specialize in crafting blunt weapons and some of the armor, and you can enjoy making swords of DOOOOOM and stuff?

[azzmeister89]

sounds good, so we'll be like a smithing pair? i'll focus on the sharp blades and leave the others to you then, i think swords, daggers knifes and axe's should be enough for me to keep busy

and that art work is awesome, nice job

[Latooni Subota]

Slash Weapon Forging
Thrust Weapon Forging
Blunt Weapon Forging
Light Metal Armor Forging
Heavy Metal Armor Forging
Metal Equipment Repairing
Metal Refining

Those are the blacksmithing skills that are known at the moment. I'll take Blunt and the Armor forging skills, you can take Slashing and Thrusting and Refining, and we'll both take Repairing? Maybe?

(Also, I clearly want to take a uselessly adorable animal as a Familiar, even though it wastes skill slots. XD )

[pendarious]

interestingly the "sword Skills" dont take up skill slots most skill slots  are used on equipment types and other specialized stuff like that

[Latooni Subota]

Yeah, Sword Skills are their own thing of attacks you learn. It's all the OTHER stuff, like being able to use certain weapons and armor, detection, crafting, etc that takes up skill slots. Lemme scrounge a bit here . . .

List of known Skills

One Handed War Hammer
Two-handed Hammer
One Handed Sword
Two-handed Battle Axe
One Handed Curved Blade
Katana
One Handed Dagger
One Handed Rapier
Two Handed Assault Spear
One Handed Mace
Bow
Long Bow

Hand-to-hand Combat
Martial Arts
Flash Hit
Embracer
Meteor Break
Escape

Parry
Fighting Spirit (Hate Skill/Aggro Draw)
Blade Throwing

Slash Weapon Forging
Thrust Weapon Forging
Blunt Weapon Forging
Light Metal Armor Forging
Heavy Metal Armor Forging
Metal Equipment Repairing
Metal Refining

Light Metal Equipment
Heavy Metal Equipment
Leather Equipment
Light Shield Equipment
Heavy Shield Equipment

Equipment Appraisal
Tools Appraisal
Purchase Negotiation
Sales Negotiation

Battle Healing
Emergency Recovery
Familiar Recovery

Spirit Light (hate skill/Aggro)
Familiar Communication
Acrobatics
Musical Instrument
Sewing
Cooking
Extended Weight Limit
Sprint

That's a list of known skills that a friend compiled for me. @.@

[pendarious]

there are also one for scan and one for listen too

[Sabre]

Plus more sinister ones like Eavesdropping or X-ray vision for seeing/hearing through walls.

[azzmeister89]

Slash Weapon Forging
Thrust Weapon Forging
Blunt Weapon Forging
Light Metal Armor Forging
Heavy Metal Armor Forging
Metal Equipment Repairing
Metal Refining

Those are the blacksmithing skills that are known at the moment. I'll take Blunt and the Armor forging skills, you can take Slashing and Thrusting and Refining, and we'll both take Repairing? Maybe?

(Also, I clearly want to take a uselessly adorable animal as a Familiar, even though it wastes skill slots. XD )

haha yea sounds like a good line up of skills shall we use pm's to discuss the rest of the details about our characters history together? that way this thread can be used to work out the rest of the game play

[Latooni Subota]

Whoops. I missed some. D:

Detection
Searching
Hiding
Weapon Guard
Knife-Throwing
Battle Healing
Tracking
Pursuit
Eavesdropping
Meditation

Also, iirc, Hand-to-Hand Combat IS Martial Arts I think. Some of the Sword Skills for Martial Arts might have gotten mixed in there :x

Edit for Azz: Oops, sure we can PM if you want, but I'm heading to work in a little bit anyways. Might as well chat here in the OOC. Maybe people will want to team up and make a guild? RIGHT SYLIA? EVANGEL? :3

[Vaulera]

I see some that I might want actually: Knife throwing, Hand-to-hand, Hiding, Light metal equip, Acrobatics, Musical instrument, Sprint, Battle Healing, Eavesdropping, Pursuit, Detection, Searching. I think I have just thought up the quick ranged type, rather than switch and draw another weapon, just don't draw another throwing dagger and engage in hand to hand. The embracer is also a favourite of mine, most badass moment in the show so far, fuck that other hand, eat the glowey one.

[Sabre]

Some visual flavor for those needing some help getting into the setting and haven't watched the show: UP.SJOE's MAD DIARY-V901-12.09.09.02 on Vimeo

We may have quite a few players by the time the game is open, so what kind of direction would you guys like?

A) Completely freeform.  Players are their own GM, and adventure and party according to their individual whim.
B) A GM with a structured plot but with plenty of freedoms.  Everyone is inducted into a party at the start, or at least works closely alongside it.  Likely as a unit within the Aincrad Liberation Front during its early days when it wasn't 'the Army' just yet.
C) Two GMs with two different but interacting parties, plots and adventures may or may not intertwine.
D) Other

[Vaulera]

I would prefer to leave it freeform, but depending on the number of people, it may be better to have to GMs to do different levels or quests at the same time. An interesting way of doing it would be to have the characters split into two parties, for example if we had six or eight, have two groups of three or four, each going to a different dungeon, run by a different GM.

[Sabre]

Now there's a thinking lady!

[Vergil1989]

I've heard of Sword Art Online but I haven't gotten into it until now after reading the background information you put up for it.  All in all it sounds pretty cool.  I was a huge .Hack and .Hack G/U fan, Rourini Kenshin, Samurai Jack lol, and many other shows with sword fighting and all that involved.  I even had a pretty big fantasy school RP story going a while back that myself and a friend had a huge monster list put together if you want some help there.  All I'm saying is that I'd be interested in trying this out.  I don't join just any RP that's put up but that aside, I'm watching the first episode now so when I'm done I think I could easily handle getting the gist of what's going on and what's expected.  Beyond that, I've always had a thing for either dual wielding scimitar blades or using a katana.  Yes, I'm a samurai at heart, what can I say?  :P  Joking aside, count me in as either depending on what other people are doing since I'd rather not copy someone else's idea is all.

[Vaulera]

COUGH COUGH R.A. SALVATORE FANBOY COUGH COUGH.

[Vergil1989]

Yep, and proud to admit it!  HAHA!  :D

[Vaulera]

You know that I love those novels almost as dearly as you do, I just hate Drizzt and Cat as characters, Artemis Entreri was my favourite. I felt like he had so much more room to grow as a character, and you know, fewer morals.

[Vergil1989]

Morals is what make Drizzt such a good character to me.  He is everything his dark kind, the Drow, are not.  Besides, while I agree that the whole thing with Cattie-Brie and Drizzt could have been better, I don't think it was a bad thing either.  Anyway, this is a conversation we've had before I think lol.

While I'm thinking about it though, here's those links I promised for the monsters and stuff.  The first one isn't my own by any means.

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=40017.0  Monster girl listings.

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=128066.0  This one is from my group game I mentioned.  Grimmjow had a major hand in this as well.

[Kaisude]

Slash Weapon Forging
Thrust Weapon Forging
Blunt Weapon Forging
Light Metal Armor Forging
Heavy Metal Armor Forging
Metal Equipment Repairing
Metal Refining

Those are the blacksmithing skills that are known at the moment. I'll take Blunt and the Armor forging skills, you can take Slashing and Thrusting and Refining, and we'll both take Repairing? Maybe?

(Also, I clearly want to take a uselessly adorable animal as a Familiar, even though it wastes skill slots. XD )

HAI! Is it possible that I could have light metal armor forging, repairing, and refining? Mainly just character related. Not a profiting skill.

[Vaulera]

I think if you want to be a light metal armour specialist, even if it's just for yourself, go for it. Because even if you do have some smithing, you'll still be more combat oriented than the smith. I imagine maintenance would be a dream if you could do it yourself.

[Kaisude]

Thanks. :) I'm definitely excited for this rp. The show is a necessary part of my life style. If anyone is looking for a friendly or other pairing (Rival, Lover, etc) run it by me and we can work something out for sure.

[ReijiTabibito]

I'm aware of SAO, but only through TV Tropes and various art pieces I've seen on DeviantArt.  However, I have found a possible character archetype I would like to play.  Beast Tamers (like Silica).  Do we have one yet?

[Vergil1989]

I don't believe we have a Beast Tamer yet but I could be wrong, at least not an established one yet that I'm aware of anyway.  And Kaisude, I plan to play a female character/avatar who lost her brother the first day so she could be a possible love interest, provided you can get her to open up again and all that lol.

[MzHyde]

I'm stepping out of this one. Good luck and have fun!

[Kaisude]

I don't believe we have a Beast Tamer yet but I could be wrong, at least not an established one yet that I'm aware of anyway.  And Kaisude, I plan to play a female character/avatar who lost her brother the first day so she could be a possible love interest, provided you can get her to open up again and all that lol.

Hai I'll shoot ya a pm sometime more later then sooner.

EDIT: Don't know if this was mentioned or not, but will there be beaters(Beta testers) or will everyone been new to the game? Or maybe I should just  go back and read. ><

[ReijiTabibito]

I was reading over the skills...there isn't a skill for beast taming or the like?

[Kaisude]

There is a beast taming skill most definitely. So no worries on that. Taming a dragon would be fun.

[Sabre]

Beast taming itself is not a skill.  It's mostly luck that gets you a familiar pet like Silica, not any skill check.

There are however a few skills that work off your pet.  One allows you to communicate with them so they understand your directions, and the other determines how much HP regen they provide.  There may be more related to controlling monsters, but beast taming itself isn't an ability.

[ReijiTabibito]

Especially if said player named their tamed dragon Paarthunax.  :P

[Latooni Subota]

Splashing Blacksmithing Skills: Nothing stopping you, just realize that the way it works, unless you're doing something A LOT, and regularly, your success rate/skill with it will be pretty bad. You'd have to be making and repairing a lot of armor to make it worthwhile to do it yourself.

Beast Taming: Getting a Familiar is basically encountering and not killing monsters repeatedly until one decides to join you, and from that point on you can get a few skills related to that Familiar (i.e. the examples with Silica and her healing mini-dragon). For example, I was planning on asking for that animal in my image as a familiar that instead of healing, searches out materials/items. So I'd end up needing slots for Familiar Communication and Familiar Searching. If it got approved :x

[NotoriusBEN]

I have an idea either for a spearman or an archer.

with the archer Im leaning way more towards Ashitaka and as far away from
Legolas as I can. Even then, I'm thinking of making my character a little thicker in the midsection compared to all the perfect 12pack abs that run around. He's overweight but not a fatty. He'd have a stronger draw to make the most of each arrow instead of plit'ing away with a rain of arrows.

Kinda like a howitzer :P

I think I'll go archer... all my spear men concepts keep coming back to 300 spartan supermen...

[Vergil1989]

I happen to like Legolas thank you very much lol.  Joking aside it sounds like a cool idea to me.  :D  Never heard of Ashitaka though, who's he and where is he from?  Ah anyway, just curious is all.  Hopefully Sabre will have a character sheet up soon so we can get to work on our people lol.  I'm all excited to get started since I started to watch this show online last night.  Heehee!

[Vaulera]

Either way, if my suggestion for the way dungeons/parties pans out, then I would love to see this get going quickly, seeing as interest only ever goes away with time.

P.S. Persona Proswagonist Yu, that is a fine portrait.

[Sabre]

Ashitaka is a character from Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke:
Princess Mononoke English Dubbed MOVIE !

As for character sheets, something basic like below should suffice:

Name:
Profile name:
Age:
Appearance:
Offline Bio:

Level:
HP:
Strength:
Agility:
Endurance:
Resistance:
Luck:

Skill slots:
Equipped skills:

Main equipment:
Items:


The question now is deciding on default values.  Level 7 seems a good place to begin with around 5 or 6 starting skills or skill slots.  Strength and Agility should be self explanatory and most weapons will favor one or the other (or do well with a balance), while Endurance will determine equip load, base HP, stamina/AP.  Resistance deals with a character's chance to avoid or shake off status effects and luck is luck.  I'm debating the necessity of an intelligence stat and how it will affect skills.

For items we can focus on special ones to save space and time, keeping track of healing items, crystals, and special drops someone means to sell, trade or refine later.  Main equipment involves primary weapon and armor loadout, complete with stats and information about the major weapon like range, durability, requirements, attack type, weight and attack power.

[azzmeister89]

All looks good, i'll write my character sheet tomorrow

[Latooni Subota]

So how far in are we starting then? What floor/how long?

Edit: Though, the stats thing throws me off for the sheet. Do you want us to make up arbitrary numbers, or what?

[azzmeister89]

Maybe we should set a limit to how many points we can use on starting stats and then let people set them where they want

[Latooni Subota]

I'm just opposed to numbers on stats in general, especially considering that skills will basically influence/limit what kinds of stats you'll end up with. You're not gonna be The Flash if you're using the heavy weapon and armor skills, and likewise you'll probably not be OHKO-ing enemies if you're using daggers and sprint and stuff.

[azzmeister89]

I see your point

[Vergil1989]

I don't do so well with stats either in a game, hence I prefer freeform far more often than not, but if we use stats simply as a bit of a plot device of some sort then it might be alright.  It's really up to Sabre and whoever he has as his Co-GM(s) to make that call but a good GM does listen to those they are trying to lead along with their idea though as well.  Either way I'm willing to adapt if it's within reason, but the weapon and armor list if not the actual stats I'm cool with since I like to know in a game like this what everyone's packing lol.

[Sylia]

Yeah, I'm thinking that we should at least be given a set amount of points to start off with, then go from there. Since we don't really want to just make up any number, that'll create confusion in the end.

[NotoriusBEN]

I think just picking our skills would suffice. The GM can just say we are low level ( raw hide, bronze armor and weapons, greens) mid level (leather, steel armor and weapons, blues) or high level (darkleather, soulsteel, all the epicz)

The skills just give us a direction our characters are going in for a decent freeform.

If you guys *have* to have numbers, dont follow SAO with its 1000 point systems, thats... painful to look at. stay between 1 and 10 per stat.

And thank you for the compliment about the avatar. It was a St. Patty's day alteration that I just decided to keep. I got halloween and christmas versions on a hard drive somewhere...

[Matthew]

Gonna back out I think... as much as I like the setting, I'm still just starting getting familiar with it, I'd rather yield to those who have more experience with the details of the world and such ^^

[Sabre]

That's alright, though you could always convincingly RP a total newbie who survived this far on luck!

So it seems most aren't very keen on a too-detailed stat list, which works too.

I'm thinking we begin this on floor 7 or 8, and will likely progress to around 25, but who knows what'll happen in the future.

[Matthew]

Heh, well, I'll leave it up to you, RPing a newbie could be interesting I suppose :P You'd likely have to help me a bit with character 'skills' and such then, though...

[Vergil1989]

I'm new as well to the show so don't feel bad on that regard Matthew, but on the other hand I'm quick to grasp new games and stuff so it might not be such a hard thing for me lol.  Joking aside, I think I'm gonna wait and see what someone else's profile will look like before I try to make my own, just so I don't screw up on anything and all that.  :D  Anyway, I like how our local Notorious put it in a sense, but again it's your call Sabre, I'm just along for the ride lol.

[NotoriusBEN]

I'll go ahead and make a character, lemme know what you guys think. I knew that looking for an image of an overweight archer was going to be hard, but this guy is the only one on the internet and I hate cats >.>
So yea... take these two images and mash them together and that's what my guy looks like... its hack knee'd but Im too tired to do a photoshop atm...

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

((Im going to indulge Saber a bit by filling out his chart, but Im not using numbers unless he really wants us to. I didnt have anything special when deciding on stat descriptors, but if others like it, just put down 1 excellent stat, 1 good stat, 2 fair stats, and 1 poor stat. The number for HP is arbitrary, but with a low endurance stat, i went a little low. an excellent endurance stat might be 180 HP. For Gear and Items, I just chose something that would be apparent in about 95% of MMOs at this level.))


Name:  Kirk Lawson
Profile name:   Inoshishi (Ino to those that know him)
Age:  22
Appearance:  Ino is a 5'10'' tall guy who's a bit on the husky side. His attire is rather plain and generic at the start of SAO like most other players, but as he's leveled, he has tried to keep his gear looking functional more than ornate. Unlike other archers, Ino disdains jumping around the battlefield like a grasshopper. He is the tower to which others look to in the battlefield, using his position to exploit the enemy and provide tactical quips to his fellow players. He is one of the few players that chose the longbow, others that were strength based chose heavy weapons. Just because he doesnt move around does not mean Ino is a liability. By timing the enemy's attack, he has successfully dodged and countered death blows.

Offline Bio: Kirk was in his senior year of college before the events of SAO trapped him along with everyone else. The first few days after the announcement left him terrified that someone in his fraternity would yank his cable like they did to Scott and Blake. Thankfully, they stopped doing so, realizing that Akihiko was in control. He was going for his Bachelors in Business at UW but like most 18 to 34 year olds, video games were a significant portion of his recreation time, sororities being the other portion of it.  He's been pining for a Strawberry Limeade from Sonic right about now...

Level: 7
HP: 800
Strength:  Excellent
Agility: Fair
Endurance: Poor
Resistance: Fair
Luck: Good

Skill slots: 7
--Sword Skills
Long Bow
--Arm Pinion
--Foot and Nail
--Ballista Strike
Daggers
Leather Equipment
Weapon Guard
--Charge Breaker
Escape
Battle Healing
Detection

Main equipment:  Oak Long Bow, Iron Dagger, Leather Armor
Items: Teleport Crystal, Antidote Crystal, Health Potions x3

[Vergil1989]

Name:  Angela Cross
Profile name:  Athena
Age:  23
Appearance:  (The 'Real' image I used, just age her appropriately and you'll have the right idea for what I was able to put together lol.)
('Real life image.')

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

(Former avatar image.)

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Offline Bio:  Angela Cross had a twin brother the day SAO went sideways, to put it one way.  To put it in her own words, Angela had a twin brother until the creator decided to play God and trapped ten thousand people in his virtual world which quickly became a living Hell for a lot of people, herself included.  She lost him the first day to the crazed mobs as soon as they exited to the fields, hoping things would calm down until he was PKed and she nearly joined him if not for a passing group of Blood Oaths guild members.  Ever since then she's been a loner, pushing everyone away that dare get too close, often times at a point of a sword.  She'd rather survive alone than have someone else die on her behalf considering the fact the thrown dagger meant for her was blocked by her brother at the last moment.  If she ever finds the one responsible again he will pay dearly, of that she swore long ago.

Level:  7
HP:  1010
Strength:  Good
Agility:  Excellent
Endurance:  Fair
Resistance:  Fair
Luck:  Poor

Skill slots:  7
Sword Skills

Flip Strike
Sweep Slice
Air Raid

Leather Armor
Sprint
Acrobatics
Throwing Weapons
Listening
Detection
Cooking

Main equipment:  Throwing Daggers, Iron Straight Sword, Studded Leather Armor
Items:  1 Teleport Crystal, Antidote Crystal, 4 Health Potions

[Vaulera]

Name: Kaede Mishima
Profile name: Akiko
Age: 19
Appearance: (Real world)

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Offline Bio: Akiko had been a regular girl in her first year of university, good grades, pretty average social life, but one of her friends was an avid Nerve Gear fan and player. She convinced Akiko to stay in line and get a copy, to play SAO with her on it's launch day. Little did Akiko know. When the announcement was made, her friend panicked, and along with many other newer players, was killed on the first level.

Level: 7
HP: 1200
Strength: Excellent
Agility: poor
Endurance: Good
Resistance: Fair
Luck: Fair

Skill slots: 7
Equipped skills:
Heavy Metal armor
Unarmed Combat
-Flash Hit
-Savage Blows
Embracer
Musical Instrument
Detection
Battle Healing
Sprint

Main equipment: Basic iron chain mail and cuirass (Assuming it's basic heavy metal)
Items: 1 TP Crystal, 1 healing crystal, Instrument (Unsure)

[Latooni Subota]

To my knowledge, unarmed doesn't actually use any weapons, it just goes off your Strength Final Fantasy Tactics style. Unless I'm misremembering. >.>

[Kaisude]

Name: Dante Salvatore
Profile name: Aoi Kishi
Age: 21
Appearance: (Real World)

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

6'2 184lbs.

Offline Bio: Dante was a beta tester before SAO came out, and outside of that he was really a normal guy. He did have a job at the grocery store. He had few friends and found that he made more friends playing video games. So being alone in the real world was just a click of a button away from being fixed. After getting a copy of SAO he didn't know he would be stuck in the world, but he really isn't at all saddened by it.

Level: 7
HP: 1100
Strength: Good
Agility: Excellent
Endurance: Fair
Resistance: Fair
Luck: Poor

Skill slots: 7
Equipped skills:
Acrobatics
Battle Healing
Parry
Leather Armor
One Handed Curve Blade
Night Vision
Sprint
Main equipment: Standard One Handed Curve Blade, Leather Armor and clothes,
Items: 1 TP Crystal, 2 Healing Crystals, 2 Antidote Crystals,

[Vaulera]

Katana is just an offshoot of curved sword, so it wouldn't hurt to write that. No, it probably is just like you said, I wouldn't be surprised, it makes sense, just writing it down just encase. I imagine bracers would be part of the armour anyway.

[Vergil1989]

I have no idea what to put for my armor skill.  Still, this is looking mighty interesting already.  :D  Anyway, so that's the guy I plan to hook 'Athena' up with then?  Looks good to me lol.  Joking aside, are you ok with that idea still or did I ever ask to begin with?  I can't remember at the moment Kaisude.

[Kaisude]

It's fine Verg we talked about it brief. There's no strong detail to the idea, but just that small bit is good. Gives us more room to work things out.

@Vaulera I get what you're saying. I did the research and it is part of curved swords. I am going to change it to make it correct.

[pendarious]

I figure that by making a stat low I could get two Excellent stats...however if no one else agrees with me I'll willingly change it.

Name: Yuuya Saitou

Profile Name: Kenjirou (Kenji for short)
Age: 19

Appearence: (real world)

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Offline Bio: A first year in university with a little too much time on his hands. Yuuya loved video games but found that SAO appeared to be the topic of most discussions. He thought that perhaps if it got this much of a stir before it's release then it would be worth checking out. So he got the game when it came out and signed on. Much to his surprise it was all just some project that would allow it's creator Kayaba Akihiko to play god. He was rather stunned after the announcement was made but then quickly regained his composure and went out to begin his journey through the 100 floors of Aincrad.

Level: 7
Hp: 1,300
Strength: Excellent
Agility: Low
Endurance:good
Resistance:Low
Luck: fair

Skill Slots: 7
Equipped:

Halberd (Off shoot of 2 handed Axe)
Heavy Metal equipment
Detection
Unarmed Combat
Listen
Combat Healing
Cooking

Equipment: Iron Halberd, Iron Plate Mail armor, sleeveless shirt, long coat, Iron Plate Boots, Leather Boots, Iron Gauntlets, cotton pants,Iron helmet, 4 healing potions,1 teleport crystal, 2 antidote crystals (Lucky drops), and materials for starting a fire.

[Vaulera]

Well, considering that poor is the same thing as low, just having one poor and two excellents is still more. I would say that you need to have the rest of them poor if you want two excellents.

[NotoriusBEN]

vaulera beat me to it  ;)
I just considered the types to let you shine in one stat, be crappy in another and let you be ok in the other three. The ''level'' of proficiency in those stats dont mean any tangible number. Oh yea, Kaisude probably needs to change one of his 'Goods' into a 'Poor'. That's probably where Pen might have been confused.

My character is incredibly strong, and lucky, pulling off amazing shots and counters, but if he gets hit, he's in a world of hurt. Looking at his dagger skill with those two stats? He's not fancy. He steps inside your slash and guts you like a fish before breaking your sword arm.

My initial impression of Akiko is that she's a straight up brawler. She's got the punch and the hp to back up whatever she has in mind. Her agility though? I'm thinking she just takes hits as she dishes them. (I wouldnt underestimate her, she probably punches weapons in half :P )

With Athena? She's pure skill. Luck doesnt factor into her fights, you know its a done deal with her around.

That's just how I view them. Their writers may think of it differently and even then, they may have a Sword Skill that's their own trump card. (Like my Charge Breaker. Enemies that rush my guy are in for a surprise as their quick close with me rebukes them.)

(Im not writing for anyone. Its just how I see your character. The unexpected assumption is great rp material.)

[Vergil1989]

You forgot the fact I plan to have her become quite proficient with either dual swords and/or a katana, otherwise you had her pegged pretty good lol.

[Acid Lips]

If I knew the system I would play, given that I have no idea what your guys using I guess I can't join. I would just like to say that I wish you luck and look forward to read it.

[Sabre]

There isn't any system we can use, and probably won't be using a system much at all.  Right now the 'stats' we're mulling over is just a conceptual discussion on how to balance our characters which will either be streamlined or just kept as reference for GMs.  We'll likely be playing this as freeform.

[Acid Lips]

Mmmm any code I need to follow if I decide to join?

[pendarious]

Well, considering that poor is the same thing as low, just having one poor and two excellents is still more. I would say that you need to have the rest of them poor if you want two excellents.

I see what your getting at there *shrugs* though the way I viewed it was splitting skill points from the one "poor" stat into the other two "fair" stats to prevent them from being in the poor zone though if you believe I should reduce one of those stats then that's fine I'll go ahead and do that.

[Sabre]

Nothing like a code, but a character sheet will be there just to give a good sense of the kind of character you'll be playing, to be aware of the limits and having specialties and quirks that set her apart from others.  Basically what is your character's strengths, weaknesses, weapon preferences, and specialized skills and/or hobbies?  A general idea is all that is needed, and the finite details can be fleshed out either by other people here in this thread or by the GM during the actual game as your skills and abilities are explained.

As we'll all be moderately 'new' players to the game, it's perfectly acceptable to play a character who doesn't really understand the world or its mechanics to the same degree as everyone else.

[NotoriusBEN]

If I knew the system I would play, given that I have no idea what your guys using I guess I can't join. I would just like to say that I wish you luck and look forward to read it.

--This ''MMO universe'' is a VR world like .Hack or the Matrix and does not have magic. There are no fireballs or healing spells. It's pure skill with a weapon. There are ''Sword Skills'' that are combos or signature moves associated with those skills. The TV show emphasizes them with colored ribbons of light. (It gets complicated later because higher level weapons and Sword Skills can have elemental attributes attached to them to give those ''magic effects''. It's still essentially your ability with a weapon.)

--There is no revive or resurrection. Mr. Akihiko (the lead engineer of the Nerve Headgear hardware and designer of SAO) has trapped us along with about ten thousand others within his MMO world for his own twisted jollies and whims. If we die in the game, we die in real life as the headgear microwaves our brains. The Headgear prevents us from moving our real bodies (hope you were in a comfy chair or bed). Anyone in the real world trying to remove it, activates the killswitch all the same. The only way out is to climb the 100 levels and win. It's WOW Hardcore mode. (Again it gets a little complicated because there are rumors of super rare resurrection items. The TV show had only one during a special event)

--Oh, another thing. Mr. Akihiko has revealed everyone's real world face. What you look like in the real world is how you appear in the game. No guys get to pose as girls (unless they are in drag). That 10 foot tall barbarian in any other game is actually 4'7'' and 16 years old.

--On page 3 is a list of something like 50 skills ranging from weapons, to armor, to crafting, to searching, etc.  just choose 7 of them for now.

--for your five stats of strength, agility, endurance, resistance and luck: there are no numbers. just put ''1 excellent, 1 good, 2 fairs and 1 poor'' into each stat. It's the only part with ''hard rules'' at the moment. These let us have a quick look at what your character is all about. your great in one aspect to let another person shine somewhere else and flawed in another, because having flaws makes characters interesting.

--For your Sword Skills, make 4 cool sounding names that a low level character would have and gives us an idea of what that Sword Skill is all about. We just started out, so we only know how to activate a few special moves. (look at my character sheet for reference). At level 7 an axe wielder would have Overhead Cleave or Pommel Smash not Diabolical Dice or Fire Sweep. A spear user would have Hard Thrust and a shield user would have Studdering Bash or Quick Block.  Anyone who looks at those skills has a good idea what to expect from them.

--The HP number. Arbitrary, but kind of base it off your endurance stat. Poor HP is 70, Excellent HP is 180 to give you an idea.  It's a trope of the genre.

--Same with equipment and items. Totally made up, but in tune with gear you'd associate as low level in an MMO. (You'd have Bronze or Iron, not Mythril or SpiderSteel)

That's essentially it. It's not hard. I had more trouble finding pictures and writing it all down than actually deciding anything.

[Latooni Subota]

You know, these amounts of HP are exceedingly low for level 7-ish. Shouldn't we be floating around between 500 (for poor) and 800 (for excellent)? After all, what game would start our HP in the double digits at level 1?

(Also did some random math involving Kirito's HP and level, giving me 192 a level. When you consider you probably gain more HP at higher levels due to higher Endurance stats, early game HP increases are probably between 50-100 based on how high your Endurance is?)

Edit: Also, I found a new image and was suddenly struck with inspiration. Instead of earlier concept I was working on, I am now going with a RIVAL WEAPONSMITH. Should be fun!

Edit2: I assume since we're such a low level, no Extra Skills yet, right?

[Sylia]

Well in that case, I'll hold off on marking down hp until we've got a solid idea of what we wanna start with for it. The rest.. is on its way!

[Vaulera]

That's a good point, maybe a changing of our HP would be in order, maybe set a poor endurance hp gain per level at 80 or 90 and an excellent person's to a solid 180 or even 200. To me, those 'stats' are fine, they are more of a way to visualize the sort of role your character would have in the party, combined with the sort of weapons they use and other such things. As of right now, we have no mace, axe, greatsword or other such weapon wielders. The only blunt is my character's fists, really.

[Sabre]

No extra skills just yet, we'll grow into them as we RP though.  Something to look forward to and work for.  I don't mind the HP changes, as long as everyone's on the same page once we agree on a simple stat mechanic we'll all follow for convenience and consistency.

And don't worry about party balance too much if you'd rather play a certain archetype.  If I make a character myself, if I have one at all and not just several NPCs, I'll just fill in any gaps there might be.

[NotoriusBEN]

that's fine with the hp thing. I intentionally kept it low when I was thinking about it so that it wouldnt hang people up or have a lot of variance between sheets.

[Latooni Subota]

I was GOING to specialize in hammers for my original concept, but my new one doesn't feel like using hammers as a weapon, only as tools. X3

[Sylia]

Name: Tsubame Nanaya
Profile name: Sanga Somvolt
Age: 20
Appearance:

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Offline Bio: Tsubame was one of the beta testers for SAO and stayed on when it was finally released to the public. She had no idea what was in store for her when the madman trapped them all in the game. But one of the first things people noticed about her when everyone's real self was revealed.. was that her looks didn't change at all. If anything it was just a little less makeup, but otherwise it didn't change. The reason being is because she never saw any reason to hide what she looked like behind an avatar and thusly always designed them after herself. While she herself noticed a subtle change in her body, Tsubame didn't fret too much about it. There was a way out and she was determined to get to it.

Level: 8
HP: 1440 (at 180 hp per level)
Strength: Good
Agility: Fair
Endurance: Excellent
Resistance: Poor
Luck: Fair

Skill slots: 7
Equipped skills:
--Sword Skills
--Great Cleave: A mighty leap and overhead chop. Very damaging for its simplicity.
--Stunning Flat: By smacking the foe's head with the flat of the blade, it is capable to stun them for a few seconds.
-GreatSword
-Parry
-Light metal equipment
-Meditation
-One handed Sword
-Sprint
-Escape

Main equipment: Iron Greatsword, Battle dress, Light metal greaves
Items: 2 teleport crystals, 9 Healing potions, 4 antidote potions

[Vaulera]

Again, with the two excellents, it makes me nervous because that means your characters two best attributes are both equal to and better than my own. I don't know what resistance even is, but it it has anything to do with armor, cloth or leather would be poor. I also count ten skills, not seven.

[pendarious]

Resistance is ones ability to quickly shake off poisons with a poor resistance one would absolutely have to rely on antidote crystals.

Math is my worst subject so i'm just going to ask someone else to calculate this for me.

If Sylia's character has 1,440 hp now with the 180 hp growth per level then how much Hp would she have at level 78?

the reason I asked that is because in SAO's side story "Black Swordsman" (Anime episode 4) Kirito states that he is level 78 with 14,500 HP

[Vaulera]

If she had 180 per level, at 78, she would have 14220, which is less actually. I think that's fine, Kirito is the protagonist. Depending on what luck does, having two excellent stats would be a bit lopsided, considering agility strength and endurance are the three that most strongly or simply affect combat. That is if these stats even really mean much in the roleplay.

[Sabre]

Around 14000, so it's close.

Maybe Resistance might benefit from having another effect.  Something like poise, the ability to resist being stunned from heavy blows (since there's no pain, it's all mental).

[pendarious]

ok as I said I suck at math so thank you for the answer.

well technically I think it's resistance to poison, stunning, and of course confusion which has been proven to exist in SAO.

as for the whole pain thing being only mental....well since the nerve gear enacts the neurological impulses of the body and focuses them all in use in the game world I'm pretty sure getting hit still hurts like a bitch it's just since the conciousness is cut off from the real body the only thing it actually does is hurts your character the physical body feels nothing. though thats not to say that since the character is your conciousness your not feeling it. It's just that now that in game is your reality the pain is a hell of a lot worse.

[Vaulera]

In the first episode of the show, Kirito explains to another new player that pain wasn't really the same in SAO. I think he said that he didn't feel it, but I wouldn't want to be quoted on that.

[pendarious]

but that was before they were trapped

[NotoriusBEN]

Indeed.

1 Excellent
1 Good
2 Fair
1 Poor

those are the choices for stats. I know its arbitrary in the end but it feels like min/maxing if people pick anything else.

If we gotta put a story element to this, beta testers have found that these amounts are the best available array for point distribution. Anything else is weaker because you dont have enough to purchase higher stats or you'd be leaving out points. (ie, even with three poor stats, its impossible to buy 2 excellent stats. -or- having 2 poor stats, its impossible to buy 1 excellent and 2 good stats. having 2 good stats, a fair stat and 2 poor stats wastes points because you cant buy a fair stat with what points are left, yadda yadda theory craft.)

tl;dr  dont try to shift stats.

For the skills, Sylia is ok.
7 of them are skills from the 50 list, but Great Cleave and Stunning Flat (the ones with two hyphens) are Sword Skills. The --Sword Skills is just the title for her skills in her character sheet.

[pendarious]

I find it rather arbitrary to complain when people choose to make their characters slightly weaker by using 1-2 excellent stats especially if the GM hasn't complained about it.

[Sabre]

I likely won't be the only GM, but let's stick to just one pattern when dealing with player stats.  One excellent and one good would promote more individual characters instead of two excellents.  We have two characters now with excellent strength and endurance, and it would be more interesting to have one with excellent strength with the other having excellent endurance instead.

[Sylia]

Just for the sake of not rocking the boat, I changed my strength to good

[Vaulera]

Thanks a bunch, I know it might seem like minor griping, but it makes me feel more at ease anyway.

[pendarious]

ah well I dont want to cause too much hassel so i'll drop my endurance to good. and boosted my HP to 1,300 to go with the gear and good endurance.

[Vergil1989]

So what would a fair Endurance rating net me for HP do you guys think if we're up to the thousand range now?

[Latooni Subota]

Well, if we assume that Sylia is our benchmark for TANKIEST OF TANK HP, then wouldn't this work?

Excellent = 1400-ish
Good = 1200-1300
Fair = 1000-1100
Poor = 800-900

I think it's a pretty decent arrangement, and should work fine considering it's just an abstraction.

[azzmeister89]

Name: Tetsuya Taiga
Profile name: Tetsuga
Age: 18
Appearance: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=anime+guys&start=196&num=10&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1440&bih=740&addh=36&tbm=isch&tbnid=X042jwI1j2LllM:&imgrefurl=http://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopic-597196/why-do-some-people-have-crush-on-anime-characters%3Fpg%3D3&docid=9R7gKrzkbTDF4M&imgurl=http://img1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire2/57738fd5260506669effe3467c5091a81263101505_full.jpg&w=401&h=300&ei=kfFUUNyiM8nO0QXKuIHADQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=937&vpy=184&dur=905&hovh=194&hovw=260&tx=174&ty=83&sig=111797263833808697974&page=8&tbnh=158&tbnw=231&ndsp=27&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:196,i:18
Offline Bio: Tetsuya had always been off school with bad health, and his parents found him to much of a burden and gave him computer games to occupy his time when his home tutor wasn't around, at age seventeen he was told he had maybe four years left to live so his parents bought him <SAO> to take his mind of things.

Level: 7
HP: 85
Strength: good
Agility: poor
Endurance: excellent
Resistance: fair
Luck: excellent

Skill slots:
slash weapon forging
thrust weapon forging
one handed blade
equipment maintenance
battle healing
light armor
parry 
Equipped skills:
sword arm change
arc slash
mirage thrust
under cut

Main equipment: steel plated right leg armor, steel plated left boot, steel plated right gauntlet, steel plated left arm armor full, steel plated breast plate, one handed long sword
Items: 1x teleport crystal, 1x Antidote crystal, 1x healing crystal

[Vergil1989]

Works for me.  Thanks Latooni.  Athena as I've called her is more rogue than tank, hence why I had her Endurance be only a Fair and her Agility an Excellent if I remember right.

[pendarious]

sounds good ta me latooni

[Latooni Subota]

A couple other things I've had people point out:

Crystals- Crystals aren't exactly common, or cheap. I can understand everyone saving up to buy a teleport crystal for those OHGOD moments, and MAYBE one of the cheaper ones like an antidote if they're a moneymaking class (i.e. the blacksmiths, and I think someone was a brewer?) but I'm seeing a LOT of crystals. We're low level guys!

Field Forge- I'd . . ask for approval on that. We've only seen forging inside actual buildings with whole rooms devoting to it so far, so I'd be hesitant to agree with an item to forge weapons in the field, no matter how useful it would be for me. x.o

[Sylia]

Not to mention that's the kind of thing people get ganked over. So no need for giving the pkers ideas, y'know?

[Vaulera]

Hmm, I didn't think of that Latooni, thanks, I'll go change that right now, cut out the antidote and reduce it to 1 and 1. It only makes sense, considering how almost none of the lower level players had this kind of abundance, and Kirito saying that the client paid a fortune for one tp crystal with a specific destination.

[azzmeister89]

fair point, i'll save field forge for a high level maybe even demon drop and put my healing crystal count down

[NotoriusBEN]

yea, I just have the tp crystal and an antidote crystal. I have health potions but Im going to assume those are health over time, not instant like a crystal.

[Vaulera]

Yeah, like those things that Asuna gave Kirito when he had been really badly injured by (Spoiler). His health went back up slowly while he drank it, unlike the crystal, which is a flat hp bonus when crushed.

[Latooni Subota]

Now it's time for me to beg- . . err . . nicely ask for things.

Leatherworking and Sewing: D . . do they really have to be separate skills? q.q

Skill Slots: ARGH! I NEED SO MANY SKILLS TO BE A MERCHANT CLASS! Since I'm FAR below everyone else's combat level, I don't suppose you guys would let me have more skill slots? Maybe Merchant classes have more starting skill slots? q.q

Appraisal: How do we want to do item appraisal skills?

[Vaulera]

Can you just write the things that you want to sell? I don't see why you couldn't be a higher level, as long as the vast majority are either mercantile or crafting. But blacksmithing should be the domain of the blacksmith. So keep away from crafting metal armours and weaponry. So, a list of what you want to craft would be fine, then the rest you would probably have to buy and sell.

[Latooni Subota]

Hey, I was gonna be a blacksmith, thank you very much! :P

Right now though she only crafts Leather and Sewing related items, and I'm DYING to give her brewing.

My basic plan with her is that she plans on being the 'ultimate' shopkeeper, buying and selling anything and everything she can get her hands on. When the game went into LOCKDOWN mode she was one of the ones who didn't panic (Due to reasons I'm working out in my backstory) and followed some of the Beaters to the other towns to get more exp/items that couldn't be found as easily by the newbies. She eventually heads BACK to town and makes a killing undercutting the NPC shops' prices and is one of the first people to buy a building and open up a real shop.

At that point she basically CLINGS to the front lines by offering great deals on gear and appraisals, so she can have an easier time gathering higher level materials to put in her shop. As floors are cleared she sells her old house, spends her savings, and opens up shop in the new floor so she can continue cheaply selling items directly to the front lines. Lather, rinse, repeat. She doesn't have the combat stats to rock solo combat, so she has to use her MERCHANT SKILLS to convince people to accompany her on quests and material hunting expeditions. Hell, she's probably the only merchant stupid enough to join the Boss Fight teams, dodging attacks and handing out potions on the fly. @.@

[Sylia]

Well Lat, you can always count on Sanga to be a loyal customer.. fufufu..

Not to mention she'll help you in gathering materials as well!

[azzmeister89]

haha, i can almost see the perfect scene having our characters to meet in Latooni

[NotoriusBEN]

Yea, you could be playing the auction house more than us. If you have purchase negotiation and sales negotiation you can get stuff for cheap and sell em for top dollar. As for appraisal... maybe just pick one for the moment. Equipment appraisal is pretty functional for looking at stuff in the field, but I doubt many new players picked tool appraisal, giving yourself a decent niche in the early game.

your other skills would be a weapon, and armor (or go shield instead and use cloth), and you'd still have two other things to pick.

That looks like a merchant to me.

My archer, yea, he excels at combat, but he's not one to find great items (save on pure luck) and if I want something in town, Im paying out the ass for it (not literally, but I can only imagine the horrors of a VR game ((O_o))  whoring yourself out for a health potion or that sweet looking armor...) or I ask one of my friends to spot me a couple items.

edit** oh, blacksmithing. Yea that could work. But yea since she wants to buy and sell things for mass profit (Im betting you played Reccetear) I still think Im valid in with my critique. Remember, we are just starting out so it's something she is aspiring towards. Its good to want more skills. (there are at least 3 people here that picked leather I think.)

[Vaulera]

My bad latooni, I thought we already had a blacksmith. I think NotBEN's suggestion is a good one. I'm just assuming that you could add more professions as you level up. But starting with the most important for a merchant, the mercantile skills. Sword and shield would be cool too, we don't have one yet.

[Latooni Subota]

We do have a blacksmith, I was just going to be the other one, since there's SO MANY blacksmith skills having a starting character do it all is insane.

[azzmeister89]

I'm the smith that lets you poke holes in monsters, latooni is the one who makes armor and weapons to smash like hulk XD

[Latooni Subota]

Remember Azz? I changed concepts. I now make the juice lets you keep poking holes in things. Also, clothing. And I MAKE ALL THE COL. :3

[Vaulera]

That means that I'll won't be getting much from your character! My character punches holes in things (Embracer, hell yes). By the way, was there some sort of restriction on instruments available? I was planning to go ocarina or clarion, but is it specific to lute or other more european instruments?

[Latooni Subota]

I don't see why not, since it's a Japanese-made game, and there ARE asian-style items in it (ala Klein's entire guild's theme.)

[Latooni Subota]

Name: Yoshizawa Megan
Character Name: Hime
Age: 16
Appearance:

The Greedy Blacksmith

Offline Bio: It's not fun being the bullied girl in school. As a little girl, the half-irish half-japanese girl was featured in advertisements for children's clothing and toys. Jealous classmates took it upon themselves to 'punish' her for 'being so uppity'. Upon realizing that Megan was a crybaby of the highest order, the bullying only escalated, and lead to the poor girl being the bottom of the totem pole amongst a group of girls her entire school life. 

Megan sought refuge in the world of MMORPGs, and sort-of developed a bit of a split personality. A weak-willed crybaby in the real world, and a jovial, socially adept woman online. Rather than focus on being amazingly powerful, she decided that being a merchant would be better, that way people would NEED her around. Warriors are a dime a dozen, but EVERYONE needs a constant supply of items and materials. She sadly missed the beta of Sword Art Online due to being locked in the girls' locker room at her school by her 'friends' during the sign-up period, but she managed to make it into the 10,000 players strong live version! While most people panic and are dying to return home, 'Hime' just wants to enjoy the game while it lasts. After all, the only alternatives are a world of being hurt by real people, or death.

Level: 7
HP: 1015
Strength: Fair
Agility: Good
Endurance: Fair
Resistance: Poor
Luck: Excellent

Skill slots: 7
Equipped skills:
--Sword Skills
One-Handed Dagger
--Triple Spin
--Sonic Leap
--Dashing Cut
Brewing
Sewing
Equipment Appraisal
Searching
Purchasing Negotiation
Sales Negotiation


Main equipment: Gold Dagger (Found, Rare, +5% Col Drop Rate), Battle Dress (Self-Crafted), Blue Jade Bracer (Found, Rare, Minor Agility Bonus), Spidersilk Boots (Self-Crafted), Spidersilk Undies?! (Self-Crafted)
Items: Teleportation Crystal, 2x Minor Healing Potion (Self-Crafted), 2x Light Healing Potion (Self-Crafted), Crafting Tools, Trail Bread, Various Items/Clothing (At Shop)




There we go, I guess! At the start of the RP she'll probably have just sold her old shop to open one on the new Floor, and needs to do some ADVENTURIN' to get some more stock. I hope you guys don't mind that I made up two rare items for her. I figure the dagger she found from SHEER LUCK, and the Floor 2 or 3 boss she somehow managed to get the last hit in when someone Switched her in to try and weaken it JUST enough for someone else to get the last blow, and she ended up getting a critical hit. XD

*BOSS DEAD. Everyone stares.* ". . . Teehee?"

I figure the fact that she's using cloth/etc gear, puts her pretty close to being one of the faster characters with high dexterity. Now if only she had room for Sprint and Acrobatics, then I could give Miss Fisticuffs a run for her money! X3

I figure having Brewing, Sewing, Appraisal, and the merchant skills makes her getting money pretty easy early on. After all, in the first few months I bet people COULDN'T GET ENOUGH potions just to feel safe, and everyone needs clothing and various sundry items to try and make the Town of Beginning livable. I was tempted to get Tool Appraisal, but I figure this early unidentified potions and crystal wouldn't drop as much as gear.

[Vergil1989]

I think I like your merchant better Latooni lol.  It will certainly give Athena someone to talk to if nothing else but I doubt she'd do anything romantic with Hime only because she's so young and all.  I'm kind of weird about anyone under 18.  Call it a personal preference but if any romance is to happen of any sort, the partner needs to be 18 or older.  That's just me though.  :P  That aside, as for your equipment, I'm not so sure Spidersilk is something even a Level 7 person could get their hands on, rare drop or not.  Maybe I'm thinking of the Forgotten Realms variant which is both softer than silk yet strong as steel but maybe Sabre will say otherwise.  Beyond that though I think my gal and yours will get along alright if not swimmingly lol.

[Vaulera]

Of course, Vergil, of course you would. It isn't spider silk like the Baenre's Compound fence. It isn't blade resistant. It's just a piece of silk that tears marginally less so than another piece of silk. Her armour might as well be a nice shirt or dress in terms of MMO stats.

[Latooni Subota]

Yeah, that's not what I'm thinking at all. 3rd level is Misty Forest, and deep in forests are traditionally areas in games you can find big spiders, so materials to make spiderweb cloth items should be found there, with spidersilk probably being a rarer material there. STRONG AS STEEL cloth items shouldn't show up for a while!

[Vergil1989]

My bad my bad lol.  I was thinking of the fence as V mentioned.  It's cool Latooni, and again I apologize for making the mistake.  :D

[pendarious]

latooni'll definitely have a loyal customer in me lol

[Vaulera]

Wow, that was quite a day of posting, was that all of us, character wise? Except for the GM, that is.

[pendarious]

ah well I had to change the number of crystals and potions and what not I have but other than that yeah I think so.

[Vergil1989]

I hope it was lol.  I'm excited to start already!  Joking aside, hopefully I am not going to end up overwhelming myself by starting a new group game of my own.  Eh, I'm sure I'll be fine.

[NotoriusBEN]

I changed my HP to reflect our new amounts (its 800 now). Im getting excited to start as well, and I know what my my first personal quest is gonna be.  Since Im all about strength in archery, Ino is going to be looking for super dense materials to make a bow out of.  And looking at the cooking and sword episodes, I'd think crafting can have a few, or many ingredients. Just because he has managed to get a bow created, now Ino needs a draw string that wont snap at full draw.  Kinda like a Ulysses bow, no one can draw it fully save him.  ;)

[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.

[evangel]

Pardon the double post, but are you guys still interested in this? Or did I come in at the tail end of everyone's excitement dissipating?

[Kaisude]

Hey guys gonna be without internet for a while, so have fun see ya around.

[NotoriusBEN]

still hoping this is a thing as well. I think we are waiting on sabre at this point, but Im not sure.

[Sabre]

Fate intervened, having some major internet issues that might take a week to resolve.  Stay tuned.

Edit: Found a solution for the moment.  We'll begin shortly.

[azzmeister89]

Sweet, i wont be able to start until tomorrow though, sorry if that makes any problems

[Vergil1989]

I'll be able to start today but I'll be gone for most of the morning and part of this afternoon but otherwise I'll be here later today.  I can't wait!  :D

[Vaulera]

My classes have hit a lull, I'm no longer up to my nose in work and people looking to study with me.

[Sabre]

Oh, I forgot something really important.

Where does everyone want this game?  Small group sections of Light, Bondage, NC, Exotic or Extreme?  Where does everyone's personal preference lie?

[azzmeister89]

my recommendations are light if were not going to descriptive on violence but then if we look at how some people would react to being trapped inside <SAO> in a more realistic manor then i would say extreme

[Vergil1989]

NC Human to Extreme seems the most appropriate to me.

[evangel]

I second what Vergil said.

[Vaulera]

From what i've seen, there isn't any blood, but there is still a lot of dismemberment and exploding into a shower of spark.

[azzmeister89]

i was mainly thinking about people raping and other such things, in episode four Kirito states that some people when in games take on the persona of bad evil people, i can imagine there would be a lot of people like that, hence the extreme

[Vergil1989]

Not only that but how would the monsters reproduce?  Besides other monsters wouldn't it make sense that some might have developed a taste for human bodies for their needs?  Just a thought.   >:)

[azzmeister89]

i doubt it would happen in a MMORPG but it would add a kinky twist

[pendarious]

yeah im with azzmeister on that one. and rape is rather difficult since there is a sexual harassment warning that goes off and if the person hits yes then the attacker gets warped to prison

[Sabre]

Let's say NC: Exotic-Freeform Small Groups.

Any objections?  We can have an IC, OoC and a thread for Characters.  That should cover most everything I think.

[azzmeister89]

sounds good, gaaah i cant wait to start

[pendarious]

no objections

[Sabre]

IC: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=152680.0
Character Archive: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=152682.0
OoC: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=152681.0

You're all standing outside the boss room of the Floor 8 dungeon. What do.

[Ember Star]

If anybody is interested in how sex would work, here's a missing xxx chapter; taptaptaptaptap.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/18-chapter-16-5/

I'm a big fun of the series myself. But already have an SAO RP on another site and I'm.not sire I wasn't take on anything new right now

[pendarious]

I've already read that chapter and i found it amusing.

[Ember Star]

LOL, so did I. I laughed when I read it.