Futuristic The Hunt for the Codex

[Uncultured]

The year is 2237, just under 200 years ago, the bombs fell, leaving the world in ruin. Those who survived slowly emerged from underground vaults or survived in what untouched pockets of earth remained habitable, slowly rebuilding society in a way not seen since the fall or Rome and the emergence of the Dark Ages.

This story begins in Ohio, in a small settlement near what was once Columbus. Our characters have been cobbled together by an arms dealer only known as Teague, to retrieve an item shrouded in legend named the Codex. It's location, Nevada, and between our guns for hire and this goal is hundreds upon hundreds of miles of wasteland, feudal governments and fiefdoms, technologically advanced holdouts hell bent on the cleansing of the genetically unpure, bounty hunters, bandit holdouts, mutant hordes and militaristic kingdoms held together by iron and blood, and perhaps a religious cult or two. With nothing but willpower and a set of skills unmatched, our characters will traverse this rough and broken world in order to retrieve this item for the enigmatic man who has hired them, or potentially blackmailed them, into embarking on this adventure.

This RP will be episodic in nature. The story arches will be short, each one consisting of maybe 4-6 pages of posts taking place in a different section of the USA. Between each episode there will be a timeskip that brings our group closer to their goal. RPing an entire journey from Ohio to Nevada would take an extremely long time, and ain't nobody got time for that (see what I did there? Should have done a meme....)

Within this RP there will be a skillpoint system and dice rolling to some limited extent. Characters cannot die without your explicit permission, but they can be wounded and de-commissioned from combat for a period of time.

Mutations will also be a thing, but these are semi-realistic in nature, not superpowers. Scaled, slightly armored skin would be alright, but pyro-kenisis wouldn't be acceptable. Gills on the neck, enabling underwater breathing, would be acceptable, while super speed would be rejected, (you get the idea). These mutations have drawbacks though, those with visible mutation are commonly discriminated against, often lumped in with the savage mutant beasts of the badlands by ignorant onlookers. Many hide their mutations, while some brave few stand in the face of society and the dangers of

persecution, and flaunt them at their own peril.​

 

[Uncultured]

bumppppppp

 

[StoneWolf18]

Interesting...


(Oh and hello ^^ Haven't seen yah in awhile.)

 

[Oapboap]

Sounds good and cool.

 

[Uncultured]

@StoneWolf18 @Oapboap


Awesome to see some interest!


Also, what sup Wolf, long time no see!


If you guys have any questions, feel free to fire away, otherwise I'll keep tabs on this and bump it regularly until we have 6-7 people to get this going.

 

[Yang Xiao Long]

I want in.

 

[Uncultured]

That makes four of us (^U^)


My goal is to have 7-8 people so hopefully we can start this up by Tuesday or Wednesday. Also, if you guys have any suggestions for anything, feel free to bring them up (in terms of settings, locations, possible enemies, lore etc.).


I do have a loosely tied together universe that this takes place in but there is a lot of room for everyone to get involved in the world building.

 

[Fenris]

Make that five


Plot and semi realistic mutations definitely sound interesting. I'd love to hear a bit more about the skillpoint and roll system though, since those tend to make me a bit cautious.

 

[StoneWolf18]

Make that five
Plot and semi realistic mutations definitely sound interesting. I'd love to hear a bit more about the skillpoint and roll system though, since those tend to make me a bit cautious.

I would agree, roleplay as with dice/skill systems tend to get complicated and turn people away.

 

[Uncultured]

Make that five
Plot and semi realistic mutations definitely sound interesting. I'd love to hear a bit more about the skillpoint and roll system though, since those tend to make me a bit cautious.

I try to not limit people as much as possible, unlike some GMs my job isn't to make your life as hard as possible lol. So when I say a skill point system, I really mean something basic like.


Assign 20 points total


Hand to hand combat - 5/10


Firearms combat - 5/10


Melee weapons combat - 5/10


Defensive ability - 5/10


I generally like having skill points (even if they're no dice) to create characters that have well balanced abilities. I don't like having demigod-like combatants who are masters at everything, so the skill points are more or less a limiter of character creation (jack of all trades or master of some).


Dice rolling might be part of this, but it's unlikely, I feel like it might be a hindrance in this RP, that being said, if it is involved, it's usually a very straightforward and simple system without a lot of complexities or frills. Dice rolling in my RPs generally takes a few seconds per post.


An example of my dice system would be


1 = Epic failure (self damaging sometimes, i.e "trips over a rock as he moves to punch Mike"


2-3 =Regular fail ("Mike blocks the punch")


4-5 = Neutral outcome ("The punch lands but it doesn't even stagger the iron chinned Mike!")


6-8 = Solid success ("The punch crunches Mike's nose back, sending him reeling for a moment as the pain sets in")


9-10 = Amazing success ("Mike is down after the first punch, completely knocked out!")


Any skill above five leads to a buff, any below four lead to a drop. So if my firearm skill is seven, I get a two point boost on any shots I take with a firearm, so a three becomes a five.


If my defensive skill is only a three though, if I roll a four I end up with a three. So if I implement this system, choose wisely (B').


All that being said, I probably wont put in dice for combat, the only thing I guarantee I'll have dice for is the loot we get after a battle (A limited inventory system will exist, only money will be counted, and stores will exist, don't worry, I'll do the tracking)

 

[StoneWolf18]

I try to not limit people as much as possible, unlike some GMs my job isn't to make your life as hard as possible lol. So when I say a skill point system, I really mean something basic like.
Assign 20 points total


Hand to hand combat - 5/10


Firearms combat - 5/10


Melee weapons combat - 5/10


Defensive ability - 5/10


I generally like having skill points (even if they're no dice) to create characters that have well balanced abilities. I don't like having demigod-like combatants who are masters at everything, so the skill points are more or less a limiter of character creation (jack of all trades or master of some).


Dice rolling might be part of this, but it's unlikely, I feel like it might be a hindrance in this RP, that being said, if it is involved, it's usually a very straightforward and simple system without a lot of complexities or frills. Dice rolling in my RPs generally takes a few seconds per post.

I feel like it's possible to create well balanced character without a point system seeing as I've down that many, many times. And having to roll every post for small things such as finding food, then again to see if it's good to eat, than again to see if we can open it if it's canned, but we had to roll before that because we had to check if our knife was sharp enough.


I may be exaggerating a bit but stuff like this tends to get tedious. That and you seem to think that no one cannot create a character or roleplay well unless you use your system.


I'm sorry but now I'm a bit on the fence about joining.... >.<

 

[Uncultured]

I feel like it's possible to create well balanced character without a point system seeing as I've down that many, many times. And having to roll every post for small things such as finding food, then again to see if it's good to eat, than again to see if we can open it if it's canned, but we had to roll before that because we had to check if our knife was sharp enough.
I may be exaggerating a bit but stuff like this tends to get tedious. That and you seem to think that no one cannot create a character or roleplay well unless you use your system.


I'm sorry but now I'm a bit on the fence about joining.... >.<

I don't micromanage that much with dice, you'll never need to roll to find food lol (I'd hate that myself tbh)


Things like food, water, bullets, etc. will be infinite.


I see what you're getting at, because some people run their RPs that way, but I'm not one of those people.


The only items we will be rolling for is the amount of money/valuables we get from dead enemies, which will go into the money tracker (a post that I'll edit over and over again with the current amounts) to be then spent in stores at settlements (you can buy temporary boosts for a skill, maybe a weapon modification, or some nice new threads, and for those who save up, a weapon that gives a permanent buff to a skill)


The system for character points isn't there because I think no one can make a character that's balanced, it's because some people can't or won't make a balanced character, and those people are why we can't have nice things. I've seen too many "is an expert krav-maga user, a flawless marksman, agile enough to dodge a bullet, sword master" characters in my day.


If I give everyone full freedom to craft their character's skill sets, we will inevitably get some game breaking characters who are combat prodigies without weaknesses, I know that's not you but there are people like that on this website and I'd rather box them in with guidelines than have them write up a god of war and then get mad when I tell them to tone things down.

 

[Fenris]

I try to not limit people as much as possible, unlike some GMs my job isn't to make your life as hard as possible lol. So when I say a skill point system, I really mean something basic like.
Assign 20 points total


Hand to hand combat - 5/10


Firearms combat - 5/10


Melee weapons combat - 5/10


Defensive ability - 5/10


I generally like having skill points (even if they're no dice) to create characters that have well balanced abilities. I don't like having demigod-like combatants who are masters at everything, so the skill points are more or less a limiter of character creation (jack of all trades or master of some).


Dice rolling might be part of this, but it's unlikely, I feel like it might be a hindrance in this RP, that being said, if it is involved, it's usually a very straightforward and simple system without a lot of complexities or frills. Dice rolling in my RPs generally takes a few seconds per post.


An example of my dice system would be


1 = Epic failure (self damaging sometimes, i.e "trips over a rock as he moves to punch Mike"


2-3 =Regular fail ("Mike blocks the punch")


4-5 = Neutral outcome ("The punch lands but it doesn't even stagger the iron chinned Mike!")


6-8 = Solid success ("The punch crunches Mike's nose back, sending him reeling for a moment as the pain sets in")


9-10 = Amazing success ("Mike is down after the first punch, completely knocked out!")


Any skill above five leads to a buff, any below four lead to a drop. So if my firearm skill is seven, I get a two point boost on any shots I take with a firearm, so a three becomes a five.


If my defensive skill is only a three though, if I roll a four I end up with a three. So if I implement this system, choose wisely (B').


All that being said, I probably wont put in dice for combat, the only thing I guarantee I'll have dice for is the loot we get after a battle (A limited inventory system will exist, only money will be counted, and stores will exist, don't worry, I'll do the tracking)

Seems simple enough to keep me from worrying too much. Since you'll be tracking the inventory and cash there's really no reason for me to complain about that either


Guess we'll get to see how this way of setting down guidelines works. For my part, I don't feel overly limited yet.

 

[StoneWolf18]

I don't micromanage that much with dice, you'll never need to roll to find food lol (I'd hate that myself tbh)
Things like food, water, bullets, etc. will be infinite.


I see what you're getting at, because some people run their RPs that way, but I'm not one of those people.


The only items we will be rolling for is the amount of money/valuables we get from dead enemies, which will go into the money tracker (a post that I'll edit over and over again with the current amounts) to be then spent in stores at settlements (you can buy temporary boosts for a skill, maybe a weapon modification, or some nice new threads, and for those who save up, a weapon that gives a permanent buff to a skill)


The system for character points isn't there because I think no one can make a character that's balanced, it's because some people can't or won't make a balanced character, and those people are why we can't have nice things. I've seen too many "is an expert krav-maga user, a flawless marksman, agile enough to dodge a bullet, sword master" characters in my day.


If I give everyone full freedom to craft their character's skill sets, we will inevitably get some game breaking characters who are combat prodigies without weaknesses, I know that's not you but there are people like that on this website and I'd rather box them in with guidelines than have them write up a god of war and then get mad when I tell them to tone things down.

Buy boosts, spends at...what?


You're trying to treat this like a video game where all this stuff would be calculated by the computer. This all sounds like it would make the experience a bit less enjoyable.


That and how do you say IC "Oh yeah I just bought a thing that increases my DPS." I'm trying to think about it like Fallouts chems though it's not making that much sense.

 

[gogojojo331]

hmm

 

[Uncultured]

Buy boosts, spends at...what?
You're trying to treat this like a video game where all this stuff would be calculated by the computer. This all sounds like it would make the experience a bit less enjoyable.


That and how do you say IC "Oh yeah I just bought a thing that increases my DPS." I'm trying to think about it like Fallouts chems though it's not making that much sense.

Not like a video game with potions haha (though that I will save for another rp in the future) this is more like real life things you can buy to make yourself more effective.


You can buy hollow point ammo and get an increase to firearm combat for a story arch.


Or buy a bullet proof vest and get single point boost to defense for a story arch.


Or pay a guy to sharpen your blade to increase melee combat by one for an arch.


Or buy a bayonet and add on to melee for an arch.


Btw one arch should end up being 4-7 pages.


Also I want to clarify something about the skills, the skills are on the scale of weakling to combat master.


A 1 (lowest) would be someone who has no idea what they're doing and is a walking fail.


A 2 would be your average untrained human.


A 3 would be someone with limited experiance, or a naturally inclined untrained person. These are above average regular people.


A 4 would be slightly experianced, theyre passable at the skill but not standout


A 5 is a practicioner, able to perform most/all tasks within a skill but not so much as to be elite/prodigy level.


A 6-7 is highly proficiant, well above average but not masters.


A 8-9 is an expert, able to bewilder normal people with their skill mastery.


A 10 is someone who comes along once per generation, a true legend of the craft. If your character has a ten in a skill, they should be well known for it, ala "The fastest gun in the east" or something like that.

 

[Yang Xiao Long]

Seems legit. How big do you expect posts to be? I'm not great at doing detailed posts. But I am trying to improve.

 

[Uncultured]

[QUOTE="Revan The Courier]Seems legit. How big do you expect posts to be? I'm not great at doing detailed posts. But I am trying to improve.

[/QUOTE]
I would like a couple paragraphs for most posts at the least, they don't need to be massive paragraphs but a solid 10 sentence post is fine by me, although a little less won't kill me and I'd be happy to see more. I do have exceptions to this rule though. There are going to be times (dialogue usually) where the only option is maybe 3-4 sentences max (sometimes less even). In those cases, feel free to drop a quick dialogue post with whatever length you're happy with.

 

[Yang Xiao Long]

Thanks sounds good to me.

 

[StoneWolf18]

Not like a video game with potions haha (though that I will save for another rp in the future) this is more like real life things you can buy to make yourself more effective.
You can buy hollow point ammo and get an increase to firearm combat for a story arch.


Or buy a bullet proof vest and get single point boost to defense for a story arch.


Or pay a guy to sharpen your blade to increase melee combat by one for an arch.


Or buy a bayonet and add on to melee for an arch.


Btw one arch should end up being 4-7 pages.


Also I want to clarify something about the skills, the skills are on the scale of weakling to combat master.


A 1 (lowest) would be someone who has no idea what they're doing and is a walking fail.


A 2 would be your average untrained human.


A 3 would be someone with limited experiance, or a naturally inclined untrained person. These are above average regular people.


A 4 would be slightly experianced, theyre passable at the skill but not standout


A 5 is a practicioner, able to perform most/all tasks within a skill but not so much as to be elite/prodigy level.


A 6-7 is highly proficiant, well above average but not masters.


A 8-9 is an expert, able to bewilder normal people with their skill mastery.


A 10 is someone who comes along once per generation, a true legend of the craft. If your character has a ten in a skill, they should be well known for it, ala "The fastest gun in the east" or something like that.

Mmmm, alright though it still seems unnecessary for a system like this.

 

[Dano]

Im interested in this

 

[Uncultured]

@Dano


Awesome!


Once we get one or two more I'll grind out the thread and have it ready for character applications.

 

[Dano]

@Dano
Awesome!


Once we get one or two more I'll grind out the thread and have it ready for character applications.

Maybe it's just me but I like the idea of rolling dice for things... makes it more interesting than "I slash the bandits body in two..."

 

[Garden Gnome]

Some interesting! I'm keeping an eye on this.

 

[Uncultured]

@Garden Gnome @Dano @StoneWolf18 @Oapboap @gogojojo331 @Fenris @Revan The Courier @P U R I T Y


The thread is still being developed, but the CS is up as is a basic overview. In the overview section there is the stuff I have in this post (in the OP) but underneath that there is a new section that I'd like everyone to go over, it includes the list of chapters in the RP and the rules. Just scroll down underneath the stuff you've already seen and check that stuff out. As I said, the CS is up so feel free to fill it out whenever. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.


Hunt for the Codex - A future western RP - Always Open!