All your half-baked RP ideas that you've just never gotten around to developing

[Paramount]

Personally, I've always been mulling over an RP that takes place in a major late-medieval king's court, or even more recently than that. Players would start as minor members of the king's court: small-time knights, assistants to diplomats, guardsmen, roles like those. Most of the RP would be spent in the castle, and focus on political maneuvering, gaining and giving favors to others, and making the best of whatever situation you have as you try to climb the ranks of the king's court. The castle would periodically be struck by things like plagues, unrest, murders, maybe even sieges, and the players would have to ensure their own safety while simultaneously attempting to use the situation to advance their own standing. 


I always liked the idea of an RP based around intrigue and subtlety rather than outright killing. Sadly, I also know it would be very difficult to make legitimately interesting to the players and very hard to run. 


How about you guys? What are some ideas that have been flying around your head that you don't think you'll ever fully develop?

 

[fluticasone]

A roleplay wherein four friends get transported to a magical world. Each question they ask, no matter how innocuous it is, has a serious consequence. A simple query on what time is it could unlock one of the keys to the cage of the beast. Unfortunately I don't have the time to run such a GM/DM heavy roleplay. :'D I had a lot of stuff written out though, from the tokens and what they represent + their powers as well as some common queries and their resulting effects.


I've also once thrown around the idea where everything in the roleplay is done by a random generator, from the scenario to your very own character. But I'm lazy + I don't trust many people to be on board with it.

 

[call me rae]

Saturday Morning Craziness.


The world is under threat by the evil Dr. Furby and his brain washed Disney Princesses.


The only hope for humanity? That D-List magical girl group the Defenders of Justice


Featuring :


Rose from Golden Girls


Squidward from Spongebob


Dick Grayson from DC Comics


Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter


aaaand Edward Cullen from Twilight.

 

[Shin Positron Laser]

Suikoden RP


That took off then crash landed fairly fast. members abandoned it


The Principle Journey 3.0


same deal as Suikoden but I managed to revive it to 4.0 version


Fate Stay type RP


I was going to have 8-10 players


1x1 IC for master and servant private convo's that could be done at anytime with no specific dates or times added.


Group IC for when battles would occur or alliances formed etc.


I got bored of writing out the various game systems I wanted to implement.


Hack Sign type RP


The amount of detail I put into the game system of the RP was so big and ridiculous that I gave up on it.

 

[Bone2pick]

I wouldn't know where to start.

 

[AtlannianSpy]

I keep circling around this idea of really commercialised super heroes. The original concept was like a heroic temp agency, unpopular, under powered heroes doing things like children's birthday parties and security gigs when some sleazy club's bouncer calls in sick.


The heroes would all be various levels of disfunctional and unlikeable and the rp would focus on their repeated attempts to finally break into the bed time.


A second spin on the same idea was to focus on a future where super heroes are superstars with major corporate sponsers who are basically crime busting advertisements. The trouble is that the super heroes are so high profile that nobody wants to commit crime unless they are like desperate muggers, which doesn't drum up enough attention so the corporate sponsers also hire other people with super powera to be pretend villains for their heroes to fight.


The plot would centre on a group of these fake villains as they try and reach supervillain status with a possible twiat where some legit super villains sneak in, actually beat up a bumch of heroes and our fake villains have to step up and save the world instead.

 

[Kylesar1]

I had an idea for a Realistic mystery RP about a friend who came up missing, then they find her ghost 2 years later at the place where they held her vigils. Her ghost asks the group to find out who her killer was so she could be laid to rest


Instead of Dice, the RP would've used things like word puzzles that lead to a question to be answered


The characters would would have specialties that enable them to do special things that'd get them access to certain places and unlock different clues. It'd also take a small dip into the supernatural


The RP was highly developed, the suspect list 75% complete. I just simply couldn't past the interest check.

 

[Noivian]

I wanted to GM a Quest Log focusing around a mother (animal) trying to protect and raise her offspring, a la Shelter series. Each choice was going to have significant impact, but I didn't feel like putting the effort into researching animals and environments, nor did I feel like mapping the choices (or actually finishing Shelter 2 after losing my first cub).


I could have also made it a human mother trying to protect her two children in a war-torn fictional country, but again I didn't feel like putting in the time and effort. Maybe some day. 

 

[Abendrot]

I've been playing with the idea of a high fantasy RP set in an early 1900s era. It'll start out as a regular urban fantasy with the characters prancing about the city and stopping evil and whatnot. Eventually, as they become more powerful and the plot thickens more, it'll morph into full on epic fantasy as a war breaks out on World War proportions. 


I haven't gotten around to making it, but maybe someday.

 

[Pashpu]

i had this idea:


imagine a significant amount of years in the future, dolphins have evolved flippers that can function as arms and hands, and even higher-capacity brains. The dolphins were then able to create their own civilization, building underwater cities and stuff.


relationships with the humans aboveground were fine until there are several incidents of human ships attacking dolphin citites, and vice versa. Tensions escalate, and eventually it's a full out war between Humans and Dolphins


so basically "Rise of the Planet of the Dolphins"


EDIT: or even better, the dolphins and humans have to work together to fight off an alien invasion


I have no time for it though. If someone would like to steal my idea, please do

 

[SimpleGuy]

Mercenaries in a dark fantasy world. Real original lol

 

[KAmber]

a fandom thing where Gaster traveled to Gravity falls and stuff

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

I have this idea about a superhero roleplay, but basically, the ideal of the superhero has kinda been crushed by the reality of capitalism. Superheroing becomes a job for most people, and if you're not good at that job, you don't get paid very well. And in this particular "job market," there's really no way to move up the ladder, and you're not allowed to do something else if you have powers, so class systems are very rigid.


So, there's an entire underclass of superheroes with terrible powers who are more or less oppressed by the upper class of supers who are supposed to be...you know, protecting the weak, but the supers are sort of blinded by the fame and prestige so that they can't or won't see what's happening to the hero underclass. And the underclass is trying to figure out a way to beat the system, or undermine it, or protest it, or destroy it, or just say to hell with it and go full supervillain. : P


And there's exploration of what it means to be a true hero...or something.

 

[AtlannianSpy]

I have this idea about a superhero roleplay, but basically, the ideal of the superhero has kinda been crushed by the reality of capitalism. Superheroing becomes a job for most people, and if you're not good at that job, you don't get paid very well. And in this particular "job market," there's really no way to move up the ladder, and you're not allowed to do something else if you have powers, so class systems are very rigid.


So, there's an entire underclass of superheroes with terrible powers who are more or less oppressed by the upper class of supers who are supposed to be...you know, protecting the weak, but the supers are sort of blinded by the fame and prestige so that they can't or won't see what's happening to the hero underclass. And the underclass is trying to figure out a way to beat the system, or undermine it, or protest it, or destroy it, or just say to hell with it and go full supervillain. : P


And there's exploration of what it means to be a true hero...or something.

Oh hey, great minds and all that.

I keep circling around this idea of really commercialised super heroes. The original concept was like a heroic temp agency, unpopular, under powered heroes doing things like children's birthday parties and security gigs when some sleazy club's bouncer calls in sick.


The heroes would all be various levels of disfunctional and unlikeable and the rp would focus on their repeated attempts to finally break into the bed time.


A second spin on the same idea was to focus on a future where super heroes are superstars with major corporate sponsers who are basically crime busting advertisements. The trouble is that the super heroes are so high profile that nobody wants to commit crime unless they are like desperate muggers, which doesn't drum up enough attention so the corporate sponsers also hire other people with super powera to be pretend villains for their heroes to fight.


The plot would centre on a group of these fake villains as they try and reach supervillain status with a possible twiat where some legit super villains sneak in, actually beat up a bumch of heroes and our fake villains have to step up and save the world instead.

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

@AtlannianSpy Ha, they are really similar! Maybe it's the universe's way of saying it needs to happen.  : P


Actually, I feel like superheroes and classism is an idea that's been touched on in media, but I've never really seen explored all the way. Or at least enough to feel satisfying to me.

 

[Noivian]

I've been world building with a friend for a bit, and by a bit i mean slowly over the course of several years, about a futuristic world. Androids just recently gained sentience, and were legally granted citizenship, thus outlawing the entire robot fighting industry. Giant robot fights, however, still occur underground (literally underground) in the city of Mecha, and the role play I was thinking of turning it into would be focused around a small group trying to win first prize (literally billions of dollars). But there's also a guy trying to sabotage everyone so he can win and accidentally alerts the authorities about the existence of Mecha and then it becomes something like a military standoff where everyone in Mecha is fighting against the military to escape and not go to prison and all that.

 

[GreenBirdie]

A zombie outbreak where instead of turning the victims into mindless monsters, all of the infected are fully conscious and aware. A parasite would infect the victim and through the victim's personal choice, would advance the infection in a variety of ways. If they try to avoid eating flesh, the parasite begins to slowly feast upon them, causing at first a dull pain before it slowly increases to a significant, constant pain and eventual death. Upon the victim eating human flesh, the parasite(s) would rush to the stomach to feast there, and then they would stop eating the victim's flesh for a time. As it continues, the infected find themselves less and less capable to resist as the parasite wears away at the brain, making the victims less and less interested in their humanity and more and more obsessed with doing what the parasite wants; to feed. If somebody constantly eats flesh to avoid feeling pain, the parasites would first wear away at the brain quickly to make them aggressive against anybody who isn't infected, and then reproduce and leave eggs on the outer part of the skin that pop open once the human detects others. If the brain is worn away first but the parasites haven't reproduced, the host would have a surge of strength, speed and rage when they are attacked by an uninfected. Once the threat is incapacitated, the parasites would break out of the host (usually killing it in the process) and enter whatever attacked through any orifices, or scatter. How would a host detect who is a host and who isn't? The parasites have a specific pheromone that other parasites can sense, a trait a host would inherit in their later stages. Worms outside of a host can live for a long time. Worms outside of a host can also bite onto a human and inject eggs into them, killing the worm in the process. This would render a person infected if they don't cut off a large chunk of flesh near the infection site within a short period of time.


I have the stages of infection in my head, but I don't think an infection like this would be a simple "the world's gone to hell, nothing works anymore, survive on your own or in a small group" and I feel like there would definitely be a story for it, but I haven't thought anything up yet for a story. I have thought up a cure for the infection, but I need something to keep to myself! 

 

[AceMasterShady]

Kinda just came up with this, but I was thinking of maybe an rp about a dystopian future where two different viruses began to run rampant. One gave people vampirism and the other gave people lycanthropy. This would also be similar to the movie Priest, in which basically there would be a branch dedicated to controlling both species of monsters. Plus, there would be 20 total districts. 10 would be inhabited, this section would be the "Sun" sector. The other set of districts would be derelict districts and this would be called the "Moon" sector. These two sectors circle around The Sanctuary, where the rich basically live the high, luxurious life. In the center of The Sanctuary, there resides "The King's Castle" and in the castle resides the Grand Council, who basically run the entire areas surrounding The Sanctuary. The people that live in each of the districts in the Sun Sector are middle class to poverty stricken citizens. The poorest district being 1 and the "richest" being 10. The Moon Sector contains people who have been infected. This is the poorest set of districts, and the set in the worst conditions. Outside of the districts are ruins of a once prosperous world. Vamps and Werewolves run rampant in these parts. 

And that's all I got so far. Will probably return to this comment later on with more ideas.

 

[Sinny The Fool]

Oh god where would I start with this, I've had a lot of ideas come and go from me that I probably wouldn't even be able to go over them all again that I've either ditched because I've lost the heart to go through with it or feel that I wouldn't be fit for hosting such Rp's and keep them running for long periods of time (Like I've struggled in the past with lol.)


One of my very first Rp concept idea's surrounded a fantasy medieval/steampunk setting (Think steampunk machines but a medieval architecture and setting), based on a country known as Aurora (Or something like that, I forgot) in dispute over land it was meant to be divided up into different empires or kingdoms right down to small armies of unique valour and tribes. While it was made as more of a sandbox Rp there was a common goal amongst everyone which served as a main plot focus. Taking heavily from the concept of Oblivion in the elderscrolls series there is basically a demon-verse living inside yet outside of the human world and for generations kept the human race from ever truly thriving, having heavy dealings with mishief and almost anything that goes wrong in the country aside from the war-mongering humans with either sword or magic demons generally look the part but also came in different variations as well as differing ranks that represented their threat level to a kingdom or army unit. While that was the story going for it, I focused a lot more on the fantasy elements of the Rp and what I'd do for magic etc which ended in me making up a thing called 'Aura', everyone has the capability of using this (Demon/Human alike, however there a race that can't use it) but not all have access to it until a certain condition of both physique and mind is reached. Essentially, Aura can form in different ways, represented by a color that is reflected by the character's personality they would gain a certain set of abilities and certain attributes that others may not have. At first this started with simple sets of colors, for example blue was the most common within humans due to being developed from a good & faithful heart (I also made up a religion for the Rp which I forgot but was heavily influencial on certain human factions that you could choose from), blue aura allowed someone to morph things from thin air to take the form of anything physical they can think of - which in return they gain a harder than steel blue 'conjured' weapon of steampunk mecha suit, it's all down to the users capacity of imagination. Others such as Green which develops from intelligent & logical minds that give enhanced mental attributes as well as semi-flight that allows them to move at inhuman speeds. I won't go through them all, but it was all very much down to how someone made their character. These base auras could also then be developed further through extensive training to withstand the trials of 'Aura Shards' which were basically what allowed one to reach their speciality with aura, developing it from say blue to aqua. (Basically just various versions of their color, Black which represents a sadistic, and purely evil soul can evolve into Onyx.) Races that people would have been able to choose from varied from your average human to variations of demons or playing the middle-race known as 'tainted'. These are half humans and half demons which can occur through either injuries from a specific, powerful demon that can infect it's enemies if they fail to protect themselves these people were cursed and all suffered from serious split-personalities, being able to go from kind to a raging titan being (That was their only power, being able to turn into a demonic-titan like creature of enhanced size & physical attributes). 


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Another one of my Rp concepts was based in a semi-victorian era (try think dishonered with this one.) that focused on a more supernatural setting. In this fantasy would everything is controlled by Vampires (My concept of them) which means they don't kill all humans on sight and actually do things very diplomatic compared to the general idealogy of them - they would rather seduce humans to be their food source rather than take them out (Which gave reason for humans to resistance), beings of full bloodlust each of the individuals are distinctly different from the other with their own strengths & weaknesses however all show a similar trait that differs them from anyone else. Blood red eyes & the nightly lust for blood, these creatures run most of the world and the humans who resist while gathering numbers are severely at disadvantage in supplies & firearms. With little more than skill alone, those who resist are known as 'Vampire Hunters' in general but are divided into three factions; The Eternal Cross, Judgement & The Outcasts. Each of these factions work together and both the Outcasts & Judgement are branches from the Eternal Cross (And thus, serve it's idealogy). What makes these factions different from eachother are based from roles in the fight against the Vampires. Judgement are the most active, and most publically popular factions who have been responsible for some of the greatest victories against the Vampires yet - while their primary role isn't out on the field, they are those who take heed of the Councils word and turn that into a fully-fledged plan, they are the recruiters & the court if a member of any faction steps out of line and are even given permission to judge a council member despite being technically lower in status. While many believe they essentially hold the most power out of factions, this isn't true as they are merely the most active unit completely made of humans; they also take in any information, data or supplies gathered by The Outcasts and put them to use by turning them into something - Judgement members are often described as 'high inventive, intelligent & logical but lack much moral'. The Eternal Cross while smaller than Judgement are the pinnical of the Vampire Hunter order, they are made up of the wise and all-rounded independence of differing types they are in control of everything that goes on and are the holder of all operations & secrets. While having their own research operations, these are often kept secretive and carried out quitely - they are essentially stealthy and deal with mostly political issues with Vampire establishments around their area and are the only faction that will consider working with Vampires to achieve their goals. The outcast faction were basically the enforcers & scavengers, they were the ones who would take the fight right to the vampires with relentless force and gather any information or useful supplies they can get to work for their cause and while they are the smallest faction they are made up of the most toughest individuals (As well as some of the most intelligent). In the chain of faction command however they are on the very bottom, and are subject to whatever Judgement tells them to do; this is for one reason. They are also made up of the only Vampiric force on the Hunter's side (Albiet their could be a human or two as well if they could stand working with them); made up of either members who believe humans deserve better living (While also supporting Vampires still thriving through alternatives to survive; animals don't work.) or those who the Eternal Cross have made deals with and essentially use for insight on their enemy and the edge humans need to even the odds. When Judgement carry out objectives, you'll bet that despite their harsh ideals against vampires it is the Outcasts who serve the front-lines, either dying or taking home the victory for humans.


The setting is what I liked the most about this concept though, it's dark and broody filled with different exotic & horrific creatures of the night, I was essentially going to base the story on the Outcasts for main protagonists (Since they will be doing most of the interesting stuff and get to explore more than other factions which would be reserved for side chars that aren't central to the plot.) giving people the chance to either play human or vampire since I really wanted to focus on the human resistence side if the story to make a direct focus. Most of the rp would be exploring through towns, uncovering it's secrets and the lands strange but magical nature there would be witches, alchemy, strange dark magics & other strange diety's occupying the unpredictable world. 


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I was going to write more but I've spent a lot of time with the post already going over the ideas I had so I'll just leave it at there~

 

[Shmuel]

I've actually decided to make a d20 about angels and demons fighting over the souls of mankind. If anyone wants to read my blog about it, it's here:

 

[welian]

I kinda want to do a cheesy vampire/werewolf RP, but revolving around the cheerleading teams of rival high schools. The vampires attend some big fancy high school in an upper class neighborhood, and the werewolves attend a crappy school in a poor neighborhood near a trailer park. I just want nothing more in life than trailer trash wolves butting heads with yuppie vampires.

 

[CupAndCough]

An rp based on confront corrupted versions of Monomyth heroes that basically goes full Berserk and Shonen Manga where the world basically ends up becoming shit and lots and lots of disturbing aspects of stories being cranked up to 11. Though it would look like it would start like a High-School Academy rp, it would eventually devolve into straight Horror and Fighting. 

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

I have this idea about an alien culture whose main goal in life is to learn (whether as a cultural aspect or a religious sect, I'm not sure). They choose something of interest to them (pretty much anything, academic or aesthetic) and basically devote their lives to studying and/or perfecting their chosen craft, and they have super long lives, so they can do that. But then there's this shift where this is considered an outdated idea, then something generally disapproved of, then downright persecuted. The remaining adherents make plans to escape to another world, but a raid forces them to flee early with minimal supplies and no idea where they're going. They eventually find a habitable planet that happens to be Earth, but decades after any human activity. The idea would be for them to learn to survive on an alien world, to learn about this missing culture through the ruins and remains that survive, and to build a society of their own until they can return home. I have ideas about time-travel coming around in circles to answer questions about the humans and what becomes of the aliens, but I haven't figured it out yet. I also only have a very vague idea about why they're being chased out, just your stereotypical dystopian government thing, which doesn't explain a whole lot. I like the idea, but I don't know how to lead it or where exactly I want it to go. I've toyed with writing a couple short stories or excerpts, but ehh...

 

[Lemon Boy]

My idea is a Warhammer Rogue Trader Rp. This one I haven't done not really out of laziness, but good lord the amount of effort, planning and time needed to run it would be astronomical and those are all things I am running low on at the moment; especially time. Oh and the 40k Community on Rpn seems ridiculously small, I've personally looked through nearly all 40k interest checks old and new, and It's the same people each and every time showing interest. That and I'd need like two Gm's who have just as large amount of enthusiasm and time to help me run the Rp not only for logistics & admin reasons but so really fucking important and pivotal roles can be filled out so the Rp can even get off ground first. Someone here is probably gonna so "But Starryyy, why don't you get some new people who don't know about 40k and teach them?" 


In which I would respond "You might as well ask me to read to a six-year-old child the entirety of the Wheel of Time." 


There's just so much lore in 40k, that that's the reason the community is probs pretty small here in the first place. 


This is excluding the fact that given the amount of exploration and adventure in this Rp, I would literally need to design entire Worlds, Systems, Races, Cultures, Religions and Technologies which also all have to be linked and make sense.


Yeeeeeaahh, that micromanagement might just give me a brain aneurysm. 


Of course, If I did find such a dedicated and loyal group to run such a Rp, It would probably rival the Wheel of Time in length and detail with ease. 


Would be insanely fun, but alas, It shall most likely remain a distant dream of mine. 


Of course, my thirst for 40k cannot be withheld and I do have an Imperial Guard Rp idea brewing that might actually work......


I also have numerous other tiny idea's, but listing them all would be absolutely disgustingly ridiculous. 

 

[CastoffCaptain]

Well, I'd really like to get this medieval priest who becomes a werewolf and then struggles with his own theological/emotional reactions to being turned into an "evil" and "cursed" beast, but I can't find anyone who'll do it with me that I want to stick with/will want to stick with me.