The Maiden Voyage of RMS Mystic
The sinking of the
Titanic was a blow from which the White Star Line – owners and operators of the doomed ship – never seemed to be able to fully recover. As the Roaring Twenties began, the company found itself falling deeper and deeper into debt, even as other corporations suddenly found themselves flush with riches. As a last-ditch gamble to reverse their fortunes, the White Star Line commissioned a new ship to be built – one bigger and grander than even the
Titanic and its two siblings, the
Olympic and the
Britannic. Called the
RMS Mystic, work on this 60,000 ton luxury liner began in March 1925, and was completed in May 1928.
White Star did not dare to tempt fate and call
RMS Mystic “unsinkable” … but they did proclaim that the newest luxury liner in their fleet would be the most grand and opulent ship ever to sail in the Atlantic. Interest around the ship’s inaugural voyage began to build – would it be cursed, as many believed the
Titanic to be? Was White Star indeed tempting fate? Or would this be a return to glory for White Star?
Regardless of its outcome, on September 12, 1928, the RMS Mystic was scheduled to sail from Southampton to New York City. For better or for worse, its maiden voyage would become part of history. Many rich and powerful people made a point to take passage on the ship, if only to become a part of that history … and hoped that RMS Mystic would not suffer the same fate as
Titanic.
Want to come aboard?
OOCThis group RP game is a fictional scenario based on some historical events in the 1920s – specifically, the fortunes of the White Star Line of ships. In reality, White Star commissioned the building of a ship called Oceanic III that would’ve served a similar purpose to RMS Mystic in this RP … however, in reality White Star went bankrupt and Oceanic III was never completed. In this RP, RMS Mystic is finished and ready to sail.
As events aboard the Mystic’s maiden voyage unfold, there will be some supernatural elements incorporated into this RP. If you’re familiar with the show “Twin Peaks” … well, think of that show being set aboard a 1920s luxury liner, and you’ll have an idea of what this RP will (hopefully) be like. If not … suffice it to say that weird, creepy strange things will be happening from time to time aboard the ship. Nothing overly gory or disgusting, but definitely disturbing.
This is
mostly a sandbox setting – characters will be free to do, for the most part, what they like about the ship for the duraction of their five-day voyage. Certain events will unfold during this time; however, what the characters decide to do in reaction to those events is entirely up to the players. This
could be a RP completely filled with smut, or have almost none at all – again, it’ll be up to the players. As GM, I intend mostly to lay out a few plot threads that players may choose to follow, or not, and occasionally nudge things in a given direction … but for the most part, I plan on being hands-off in regards to what the players choose to do.
This RP will be placed in the NC section of these boards primarily because of potential horror-based story elements that I intend to introduce as the story progresses. I would prefer that NC actions not take place between characters; however, if they do, all I would ask is that all players be in full agreement about what’s to take place before posts are made … and that all GMs are looped in as well.
StructureThis RP is freeform, and doesn’t utilize a system of rules. Characters would be expected to abide by the rules of polite society, as least in the public areas of the ship … within their cabins, though, they might have more leeway. The ship’s captain and crew are the authorities aboard the ship, and their rules are the final say on what’s permissible aboard the ship. The rich and famous aboard the ship may find themselves able to persuade the crew to allow certain activities, but even that would have its limits.
CharactersCharacters should all be original. If they are based upon real-life people, that’s fine, but no actual historical figures should be used as characters. All player characters should be over the age of eighteen, and should be believable in the context of Roaring Twenties history – no futa or non-human characters, for example, or time-travelers from the 22nd century, or other outright anachronisms. I’m happy to work with people on character concepts that fit the setting, but please try to think of something that fits into the setting first. Starting players will be allowed no more than two characters to begin with – let’s see how things go before introducing any more than that. (Characters that join the game after the Mystic sets sail will be assumed to have been aboard the ship the whole time, just not part of the action that previous characters have been part of .)
Three different types of characters may be played in this RP:
Crew Members work for the White Star Line, and their duties are first and foremost dedicated to keeping the ship running smoothly, and keeping its guests happy. Crew members ranged from deck hands to navigators to the bartenders and waitresses on “B” Deck.
First Class Passengers are the crème de la crème of high society. Silent movie stars, oil magnates, politicians, royalty … these wealthy individuals are the social elite.
Steerage Passengers are ordinary people, usually immigrants seeking a new life in the United States. They have access to less areas aboard the Mystic, but that doesn’t mean their voyages would be any less interesting.
PostingI’m looking for players who can write a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs per post – more is fine, but less probably isn’t going to work. All posts should either be in first- or third-person, using past tense. All posts need to begin with a bolded tag indicating who your character is, exactly where they are and who they’re with, and what they’re doing. For example:
Name: Captain Nelson
Location: Navigation Room
With: First Mate Smith and Mrs. Jones
Activity: Talking About the Weather
… you get the idea. And abiding by the
Oath of Drake is always a good idea as well.
That’s it for now. If interested, please PM me or post here. Should this RP prove to be interesting to enough people, I’ll provide a character template for everyone to use. (And if you’re interested in possibly co-GMing with me,
definitely let me know!)
Edit 1: Well, enough people have expressed interest in this RP to where I think a character template is needed! Here it is - if you've expressed interest in playing, by all means, please post a character for approval!
[floatleft][img height=150 padding=10](link to Character Image here)[/img][/floatleft]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Position:[/b] (Crew Member/First Class Passenger/Steerage Passenger)
[b]Sexual Preferences:[/b] (Dominant/submissive, straight, bi, etc. Can also include kinks.)
[b]Appearance:[/b] (Brief written description in addition to picture)
[b]Personality:[/b] (How they act, quirks)
[b]Background:[/b] (What their job is, what relationships they might have, what they’ve done prior to boarding the RMS Mystic)
As of right now, this RP is
closed for new characters. If you expressed interest in the RP either in this thread or by PM and didn't get around to submitting a character yet, you're fine - though please do send me your character concept ASAP for approval. Anyone else wanting to play who hasn't previously expressed interest ... sorry. This ship, so to speak, has sailed.
The OOC thread
is now open. Please use this to discuss anything you want about the game, and to ask any game-related questions you might have.
Do not post questions/suggestions for the game in this thread anymore - I'll be using it to wrap up some character approvals, and then I'll be shutting down this thread until/unless recruiting becomes necessary again.
The Cast of Characters thread can also be found
here.
Please, don't post anything there yourself. I've learned from the experience of others that while it's more work for the GM, it's easier if a character thread is maintained by as few people as possible. That way I can maintain formatting and bookkeeping in a way that works more easily for me. The first post in that thread features Branwen's overview sheet - I'll be adding other characters to it as they get approved.
I'm currently working on opening game posts, deck plans, and more character stuff. We should be on target to start this coming Monday (March 11) - hope to see you all then!
