KamiKahzy
Tectonic Nomad
The old ones talk of a time long gone. A time of greenery, and peace. And miracles.
They say it were 500 years ago when the Mountain first appeared. Speared straight through the plains and soared to the Heavens.
The Goddess Istitia brought the Mountain, and her peace shined from its peak like the sun.
The people were happy, the land was fertile, and war was a myth. Mortals forgave and forgot, and new marvels were crafted every day.
And then Istitia's sun turned cold.
Her brother Interix, God of Vengeance, cast down her Mountain and destroyed her peace.
The Mountain sank back into the earth, and kept sinking until the pit it left was deeper than the oceans.
The Depths were dug by his hand, and all manner of evil spilled out of it.
The sky went dark, the rivers ran dry, the ground cracked and bled.
Demons crawled from the Depths, and mortals were soon pressed under their heel.
This is the world we know, the world what was given us.
And against all odds, we're still here.
What is this RP?
This is a brain-baby I've had for a while now and I'm finally looking to see if it can generate any serious inquiries.
'Against All Odds' is a Fantasy themed Post-Apocalyptic story that will utilize the Genesys RPG system. The setting is a custom world that I've been developing off-and-on for several months, and while it does draw from a lot of established fantasy tropes, I have put my own spin on things so you can expect plenty of twists throughout the tale. Dwarves, Elves and Orcs exist in my setting, as well as plenty of other beings you might expect, but practically none of them fall into the normal conventions of modern fantasy literature. In other words: I will expect my players to actually read the lore and to not presume they know how the setting works before I consider accepting them.
What's the plot?
The story takes place in a ravaged world that has suffered through an apocalyptic scenario for nearly 300 years. As the opening riff stated, there was a time of peace before this. Istitia, goddess of Justice and Mercy, raised a great Mountain on a fertile plain. A grand city formed around the base of the Mountain, and an age of peace and prosperity came about because of it. Legend says that the people of Gods Heights were able to put aside their differences and create wonders that rivaled even the gods themselves. Legend also says that it was this hubris that brought the wrath of Istitia's brother to the world and caused the Calamity. The sky did indeed turn dark, because the sun dimmed and took on a sickly glow. The rivers ran dry because the sun's queer rays became a blight to all they touched. The ground cracked and bled because Interix's wrath shook the earth so violently. Plague swept over the land, demons appeared en masse, and the dead began to rise of their own accord. The Calamity killed the world as it was, and it has been this way for over 15 generations.
You, the players, will be taking on the role of freedom fighters. You will be led to gather under a common banner in order to slowly and steadily find the means to end this Calamity. You will have to claw and fight for every advantage you can get. Because, in this story, practically the entire world is against you.
Can you rise to the challenge? Can you end the Calamity, against all odds?
What can we expect as players?
First, you should expect that this is not going to be a pleasant story. Dark themes will be covered in the course of the narrative, and some of it may very well dive into territory that would make certain people feel uncomfortable. Death, torture, drugs, rape, slavery and other unsavory topics will likely be explored, and the characters may even be asked to commit some of these acts as circumstances arise. I personally do not condone such heinous acts, and I will avoid any overt details to stay within RPN's established rules. But rest assured, this is not a story for the faint of heart. If you don't feel that you could handle such content, or you feel that you could not roleplay a character that is willing to do horrible things out of necessity, then please reconsider applying for this story. I will not pull any punches, and I will expect the same of my players. That said, this story will not be completely devoid of joy and humor either. But those are the rare glimpses of humanity that you will strive for, and they will only be as abundant as your characters can manage them.
Second, you should expect that your characters will likely die at some point during the narrative. I won't say that I'm making it a personal goal to kill at least one character per 'arc', but I will certainly be making the attempt. I will be intentionally tweaking the Genesys rules against the players that tiny extra bit to make things more difficult and dramatic. I will be completely open about these tweaks so that all players are working with the same knowledge that I have. But believe me, you will likely have to make at least one or two new characters before the story is finished. Players that accept this risk going in will have a better time of it, and I feel it will heighten the experience for everyone.
Third, the bulk of this story will focus around overcoming extreme adversity and building up your resources in order to grant the players more options to utilize. By that I mean you will essentially be 'unlocking' options to use as the game progresses and you acquire new resources, find supplies and form alliances. For example: the players will only be able to create human characters at the start of the game. But other races will be made available as potential PC races should the players find and establish an alliance with that race. So until the players unlock new stuff for them to work with, they will largely be working with nothing more than their wits and whatever crude tools they can cobble together. Think of it as a pseudo rogue-like in that sense. If your character dies but your team managed to bring back supplies from the mission that grants you a better weapon, then your next character gets to start off with that better weapon. Win some, lose some. Such is life in the Calamity.
Finally, I will expect my players to be reasonably literate, but more than that I expect them to be fun, fair and creative. I put in a great deal of effort into my writing and world building, and I would like players that are willing to put in a similar amount of effort in return. I can forgive a lack of detail and slight grammar nonsense if the idea that a player is trying to convey is fun and interesting. I expect my players to be mature enough to work with each other and with me as the GM to create a compelling narrative and a fun environment for everyone involved. So basically, I'm looking for relatively experienced roleplayers that are willing to cooperate and will understand the hardships they're signing on for. It's the apocalypse man, aint no Stairway to Heaven here. Gotta make your own way.
Why Genesys? (Also, what is it?)
Genesys is a generic tabletop role playing system (hence the name: Gene-Sys) developed by Fantasy Flight Games that is designed to be plugged into any setting one could imagine. I chose Genesys because it's a fairly simple system that still allows for a lot of nuance and depth within its rules. Whereas a system like Fate Core is made specifically to just dive into a story and not worry so much about numbers and rules, Genesys gives you just enough rules to make things tactically interesting but is still simple enough that anyone remotely familiar with TTRPG rulesets can pick it up in a day. And while it may be a little weird to work around Genesys' unique dice system, I think we can prevail with a little ingenuity using RPN's installed dice mechanics. If you're unfamiliar with the Genesys system then I highly recommend doing a bit of research and seeing what you can learn on your own. But I will be writing out a quick primer on the rules and sticking it in a tab for reference if anyone needs it once the RP begins. So if you're not familiar with the Genesys system but still think the story sounds cool and you'd like to throw some dice with some cool people, then post up your interest and we'll get you settled in.
How many players will be accepted?
I think for this particular story I would like to cap my players off at 4 maximum. Part of the struggle will be in working around your character's limitations, and more people in the party gives you more options to work with. Also, I feel that a small player base will make this a much more intimate experience and it will allow me to control the flow of the story much better. So unfortunately I can only accept a few players for this, but if dropouts occur or if I feel secure in bringing in more players then more slots may become available.
How active will this RP be?
I'm honestly not sure, but I would like to keep the story going moderately quickly. Since this is Genesys there will be a good bit of dice rolling to resolve issues, so I will do my best to update the story with dice results as they're rolled. However, Genesys puts a heavy emphasis on collaborative storytelling so the OOC thread may be just as busy, if not more so, than the main thread itself. Unfortunately I will not have access to Discord and other such programs for certain months of the year, so we may need to look for alternative means if we want to discuss story events in real time. So, essentially, this RP will only be as active as we all make it, but I can't promise I'll be able to get out more than a single post a day given my work schedule.
When can we expect the official thread to be made?
That depends on the interest I get, but it won't be for at least another week or so. I still need to learn some of the Genesys rules and get a solid starting point for where the RP begins. But you won't have to wait too long, so any hopefuls can expect some responses from me relatively quickly.
Anything else?
Not that I can think of, but if interest generates enough questions I may end up editing this post to reflect that.
And that's it!
So bring on the questions and potential hopefuls! If I get enough interest I will post official rules on how you can submit an application for consideration of one of the four player slots.
See you in the comments!
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