Realistic or Modern The Open Road [OOC]

[Peace]

Cynescence
Sleepy Sleuth
SunMoth

Hi all! It was suggested that I pop together an OOC thread for discussion now that we're going to be running this as a group. Will have some more discussion points to pop in here soon.

 

[Cynescence]

Hello, it's nice to meet you all. I look forward to getting to know everyone as we map out this roleplay. ^-^

 

[Sleepy Sleuth]

Hello there! I'm looking forward to this as well.

 

[Cynescence]

Hello there! I'm looking forward to this as well.

A pleasure to meet you!

 

[Peace]

Yesterday evening ended up being busier than I expected, rest assured I'll have time this evening to layout some ideas. Feel free to brew any random world building ideas and pop them in here; could be locations, organisations, thoughts about where the powers came from, anything at all really.

 

[Cynescence]

Yesterday evening ended up being busier than I expected, rest assured I'll have time this evening to layout some ideas. Feel free to brew any random world building ideas and pop them in here; could be locations, organisations, thoughts about where the powers came from, anything at all really.

Sounds fine and dandy!

 

[Sleepy Sleuth]

Cynescence Any idea what sort of character you'll be playing?

 

[Cynescence]

Cynescence Any idea what sort of character you'll be playing?

I'm currently working on their sheet, but I can tell you a basic gist of them! Their name is Riley, and their special power is invisibility. They grapple with themes of identity, coming to terms with insecurity, and being uncomfortable in their own skin. They spend much of their time invisible and I'm playing with idea of them being non-verbal, so they communicate via sign language. This necessitates them wearing gloves so the others can actually see their signs. They're insecure and easily intimidated, but gravitate towards people who look out for them. Riley's whole story is them coming out of their shell and slowly turning visible again as a show of them accepting themselves.

 

[Peace]

Okay this is a bit all over the place but! Many thoughts and ideas here that people are free to dive in on; ask lots of questions!

⇒ Our characters have had their powers for less than three years or so. Happy to play around with that number! They’re still getting used to them, don’t have any idea what caused them, and aren’t sure if they’re the only people in the world who have them. Nothing in the media has hinted at anything major. We can build up to those sorts of society changing events over the course of the roleplay.

⇒ I haven’t thought too much about the mechanics of the supernatural stuff, but I’ve become kind of enamoured with the idea of a celestial event + ALIENS being the primary cause. Please do suggest other ideas for what the Big Supernatural Thing might be. I know Sleuth and I had talked about fae creatures at one point, which could also be the case and we could go down the magical/supernatural route as opposed to the sci-fi/supernatural route. Once we’ve hit on a basic idea we all like, out of character we can all agree that and then develop in that direction through improv, building up the lore as we go.

⇒ I’ve been assuming we’re all from one town, which I spontaneously named Hope, which Cyn completed by deciding that it's somewhere in Michigan. Going with North America as somewhere to start just because it fits in with my vision of the setting; big open roads, lots of unpopulated space and oodles of vibe. Happy to give something else a whirl though. We may end up with something seriously world changing happening as part of the story, so we could timeskip to a whole new world geography to play around in. I’d recommend banking good ideas for what that might look like if we do ever reach that point.

⇒ I’ve not given too much thought to the opening moments of the roleplay so help would be appreciated on coming up with some narrative tension to get us going. Food is a big thing they’ll need to stock up on, so it could be something like they’ve run out of food, but going into town is a problem for some reason? Maybe they decide to go at night to avoid being seen, have to break in, etc. That being said, if we go with that angle, we’ll be turning up the hostility of the world to 11 right away, which might not be what we want. It could be a bad weather event when our characters are finally making their way out away from Hope, instead?

⇒ In terms of long term arc ideas, me and Cyn have worked out some basic ideas around encountering a cult with a deep interest in the powers our characters have. Please go ahead and suggest stuff, even the vaguest of ideas are helpful. “Hey, we should totally sneak into an aquarium at night to relax!” That sort of stuff.

⇒ We should collectively decide on a method of transport and how we got it! I have a VW campervan in mind because they’re just so iconic, but please do suggest other ideas. Even better if someone’s character has a cute name for them and a backstory that ties them to it somehow. I’d be happy to do that with my character if people don’t see it fitting in well with their ideas. She’s called Elaine by the way! Telepath, tough… and possibly the mechanic who owns the all important car. I actually quite like that so unless anyone else wants to go for it I’ll tie it into what I write up in her character sheet.

 

[Sleepy Sleuth]

Hey, nothing stops the Fae and the Aliens from being the same thing...

 

[Cynescence]

Hey, nothing stops the Fae and the Aliens from being the same thing...

Oh, goodness. The Ancient Aliens dude is going to have a field day with this one.

 

[Sleepy Sleuth]

I like the rest of it, though. Hope, Michigan has a nice ring to it

 

[Cynescence]

I like the rest of it, though. Hope, Michigan has a nice ring to it

Right? I thought it rolled off the tongue really well.