The Official RPG Planning Topic

[The Lorax]

Although some player-run games have had up to four topics: discussion, characters and two different RPing topics. How those two relate to each other is up to you. See Cradle of Civilisation and Masquerade.

[silo]

Idea:

 

The basic premise is that your character(s) are on board the Red Star, trapped. The Star is a little smaller than Metru-Nui and is overrun by...well basically zombies of all the former inhabitants of the MU.

 

More will be added to the story such as the main threat (other than overpopulation) when I think of them - I have a few ideas, but suggestions would be welcome.

 

The playable races: all the MU races including some of the more obscure ones and makuta....and also Kestora of which I will create a few verities like elements for MU beings.

 

Elements for Matoran, toa, skakdi etc: all sixteen standard MU ones, plus a few of my own such as poison, kinetics etc

 

Just in it's very early stages at the moment, but any suggestions or critique you have would be much appreciated 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       -Silo

[The Lorax]

Playable Makuta, huh? That's not something that is often done, just because of how much more powerful they are than (almost) every other species there is. If you have ideas for how to make them work though, then props to you.

 

If you're looking for ideas on a Red Star-based game, you might want to check out Reborn in Red, from contest 28, and look at how that was set up. It was originally created by Zakaro, with later contributions from Canis Lycaon and myself.

 

(Since it is an older post and the formatting has decayed, copy-paste it into the post-box of an active topic and hit the code switch twice (top left hand corner). That should fix most of the issues.)

[silo]

Oh right, didn't realised that idea was taken... back to the drawing board I guess 

[The Lorax]

Taken? No, certainly not. Just because the setting has been used before doesn't mean it can't be used again. You could just tell a different story about what is going on up there, using different characters and setups.

 

Making a game from your own take on something in BIONICLE is no barrier to success. We have had more than one successful game based on the Toa/Dark Hunter war on Metru Nui, for instance.

Edited August 12, 2014 by The Lorax

[silo]

OK, well I've got another idea, but thanks anyway...

 

THE MAZE

 

This is the Maze.

No-one remembers how they got here.

No-one knows how to get out.

The maze is always changing.

The maze is getting smaller.

 

The setting:

 

This is set in a huge (possibly infinite) maze, possibly inside a planet, possibly a pocket-dimension - nobody knows.

Beings arrive overnight with no memory of their past lives.

 

Gravity is localized here; when a turn in a path comes, a common sight is the path turning not left or right but instead up or down - when a being steps into that passage, the gravity will take hold and the "down" for that tunnel will become the "down" for the being (for someone standing in an adjacent corridor, it may seem as if the being is standing horizontally or even upside-down).

Because of this, the maze is not simply flat, but instead three-dimensional, adding a whole new dimension of difficulty and confusion.

 

Some have speculated that the maze is in the shape of a cube, but the maze is almost impossible to map given it's 3-D nature.

 

Passages look up not to sky but instead more sections of the maze, hanging impossibly above and to the side. Sometimes, it is even possible to see other beings wondering around above or to the side, appearing to stand horizontally or upside-down.

 

Some passages open out into much larger rectangle areas that can house camps or even settlements.

 

The substance the walls are made of is seemingly indestructible - a smooth but non-glossy grey material. Using flight powers to escape upwards is impossible - the localized gravity is impossible to navigate and in any case, the maze's 3-dimensional layout is disorientating.

 

Strange silver plants grow from some walls, which you can eat.

 

Every day, the ambient light everywhere is somehow dimmed for 12 hours (which is strange since there is no actual source of the daylight) causing night and day.

 

Where do you come in?

 

*Message from a toa near the settlement of Tuanga*

 

It's gone...the whole village...disappeared.

I was keeping watch just outside the Open that housed it...when I turned, there was a wall and nothing more.

The maze is getting smaller! Soon there will be nothing! 

 

You heard him - the maze is getting smaller. Where paths and settlements once stood, there are blank grey walls.

And it's happening fast.

 

The only clue of how to get out is an ancient message carved in a wall in part of the maze (The only wall anywhere that has been scratched in any way):

 

When the maze becomes deleted

When the systems are depleted

Go to the centre-heart

For your real lives to start

 

The only way to escape the maze is to find it's centre - a feat that most consider impossible, as the maze seems infinite.

 

--------------------------------------------------

 

You wake up with no memory of your previous life somewhere in the maze - it may take you a while to meet others or you may be near a settlement.

 

You must escape the maze by finding it's centre - the place where there is the only hope of escape.

Many different species of the matoran universe are here, none with memory of life before the maze. No-one can remember how long they have been here - days, months, years, centuries, who knows?

But one thing is certain: the maze is getting smaller, as if its furthermost reaches are being deleted.

Sometimes a blank wall will replace where a tunnel once was, or sometimes a tunnel that once led somewhere will lead you back to somewhere else, in an endless recursive loop that defies logic.

Strange stones dubbed "Shifter Stones" appear all around the maze.

When a being holding one wishes them to do so, they will teleport the holder to a random place in the maze...

But there's a catch:  the stone stays where it was, meaning that once a being is teleported, there is no way back other than finding the place again, a near impossible feat.

The maze has no rahi, but since the maze has started to be reduced, strange grey beings have appeared instead of MU beings, killing anyone they see.

 

So...dare to enter the maze?

 

So there you have it...it's in its very early stages of development, but any feedback you can give would be much appreciated, especially since this is the first RPG I've done   

 

 

 

Edit: Goodbye screen-stretching text.

-Wind-

Edited September 12, 2014 by GSR
Editing out page-breaking formatting.

[The Lorax]

It's a decent concept, if not a particularly original one and it's a bit light on the story side of things. Still, so long as a bit more of that gets revealed along the way (the characters' lives before the maze, how they got there, what happens once they escape, etc), then I won't complain too much.

[silo]

Does each contest have a theme? ( I noticed that a lot of the ntries for the last one were "city" themed)

[Silvan Haven]

Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. We get told if there is one or not at the start of each contest.

 

Going off of some stuff that Black Six said earlier, I think we might be switching to a judging system after the time runs out for this contest cycle.

[The Lorax]

That is true. To expand upon what Silvan said, themes are only occasionally applied to contests. There was no official theme for the last contest, it just happened that most of the games that people came up with took place in cities.

 

I'm not sure how a theme would work under a judging system as opposed to the current contest model, but if the themes were to continue, we'd be about due for the next one to come up. Contest 28 was themed for RPGs taking place underground, and contest 28 games featured villains who would turn out to be puppets of someone else. That was about a year ago, so if themes continue, I would not be surprised to see one soon.

[The Lorax]

Well, the next contest/judging/whatever-it-is-that-decides-on-which RPGs-we-play-now is coming up soon, and since I didn't get any response last time, I'm going to re-ask this question.

 

 

I've got a bit of spare time to be writing things up for RPGs before term goes back, so I'll put this out there now as a question for future contest entries:

 

What do people think about playing canon characters?

 

Obviously we all like a few BIONICLE characters. If we didn't, we wouldn't still be here playing BIONICLE RPGs. And since we like them so much, we might want to play as them. On the other hand, we are very protective of our character customisability. Any game that tries to take that away withers under a hailstorm of negative comments. I've tried to put the option to play a few selected canons into a few of my recent games, but I wonder about taking things a step further.

 

What about a game with (nearly) a whole faction made up of canon characters? They would be the characters we know and love, but not quite themselves, like they had been imagined by someone viewing the real ones personalities through a warped lens. There would be a storyline reason for this, and I think it has the best chance of getting the best of both worlds: customisation of our favourite characters while keeping their cores. There could also be an option just to play them straight and unwarped, but in a different faction. Original characters would, of course, have their own parts to play in the game, just not in the faction of twisted canons. How much this version of the character deviates from the usual is up to the person playing them, so there is still a certain degree of customisability.

 

So yes, I'm really wanting to discuss two things here. One, your opinions on playing canon characters in general, and the game setup I've roughly outlined.

 

Since I've put more time since into developing this concept, I can say that the story reason that this is possible involves quite a bit of dimension-hopping and time travel, something that will not be confined to the game's backstory, but continue through IC play. More coming later, but first I'd just like to talk about the canon characters thing with anyone who has an opinion.

[silo]

Sounds good - another reason for not playing unwarped canon characters (as well as to maintain customization) is that people might think that the player is making the character do something that that character wouldn't really do. For this reason, players of the unwarped canon characters would have to know the character very well in order to make them perform an action realistic to what the canon character would actually do in that situation.

-Silo

[silo]

I've got a bit of a new game mechanic that I want your opinions on...

The setting this could be applied in is a fortress or sealed area that a group of characters are defending from a group of zombies/beings infected with a virus/under an evil curse/under mind control.

 

The basic premise is that when you make a profile, you send a pm to the gm (Hey that rhymes ) with a title like "Virus [your characters name]". Then the gm will use a random number generator to determine whether your character gets the virus to start with (it'll be about 10% chance). If they do, the player is not allowed to tell anyone IC or OOC in the topic (or maybe they are, but if they do, it's a bit of a risk because if the person they tell isn't infected, they will try to kill you). These players are allowed to kill other characters, but instead of dying, the "killed" characters are also infected with the virus (the "killer" sends  a pm to the "killed" telling them that their character was killed by an infected character, and therefore their character is also infected).

 

Thus, the virus spreads secretly, with the players not being able to trust anybody, for risk of the person they're trusting being infected by the virus. All the infected characters will be working towards a goal, and all the uninfected characters will be working to stop the completion of that goal. I haven't decided what the goal will be yet, but it might be the recovery of a powerful artifact somewhere within the fortress or it might just be the conversion of all the players to infected/mind controlled characters.

 

Infected characters will not turn into "zombies" that the player has to make stupid or can't ply as well - they will still retain all intelligence, but their goal will have simply changed, meaning that, if they wish, the player can continue to play them almost exactly the same as before. Also, no physical change (growing spikes, eyes turning red etc) will happen, unless the player wishes it (however, doing so will advertise your infected-ness and so non-infected players will try to kill you as soon as they see you).

 

Later in the game, a cure for the plague might be created, but it might have a catch (e.g if you give it to non-infected beings by accident, it kills them/infects them).

 

Anyway, that's the basic idea of this new game mechanic - feedback would be much appreciated: tell me whether you think it will work or any changes that you think should be made.

Thanks

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

Lucky that today was a "check BZP" day.

 

Anyway, that's the basic idea of this new game mechanic - feedback would be much appreciated: tell me whether you think it will work or any changes that you think should be made.

 

So I'll give it to you straight - this sounds more like a "Mafia" game than it does an RPG, as of the current moment. The action of a TBRPG plays out in-topic, to ensure that everything is tied together as a coherent story; while letters and the like may appear via PM, especially with the GM being involved, the majority of events shouldn't be kept behind the scenes.

 

That being said, I'm not completely adverse to new ideas. If you're going to throw in "Mafia" ideas, go all of the way. Having simply characters who are infected and those who aren't can lead to quite a stagnant setting. Throw in your "Detective" and "Medic" style characters who can either help out or deal with the infected, once they get suspicious of a person. All sorts of special characters, really. Have the setting done in such a way that characters have motivation to split up, and utilize the environment as best you can. An old, trap-infested ruin of the Great Beings, perhaps? It would certainly explain any mind-control aspects.

 

If you haven't already, I'd suggest watching "The Thing" for ideas. One thing which comes to mind immediately is the number of infected individuals at the start - just one. Depending on the number of players, of course.

 

Final note - I'd recommend piecing together your main plot and setting before working on game mechanics. Think of it like the special effects in a movie; they help tell they story, but they aren't themselves the story. If you wish to utilize this mechanic, or any really, do so only if it enhances your telling.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

Edited September 4, 2014 by Toa Levacius Zehvor

[GSR]

Since we're now requiring RPGs to be posted here before getting passed along to the judges, up to the top of the forum this goes!

[25K Now!]

Yay, coordinated planning has returned.

[Ghidora131]

All righty, here's my pathetic second attempt:

 

 

 

12th countdown

 

 

12th countdown is a RPG heavily based off of the lorax's City in the dark, which was very successful. I'm not going to say much about it, because the players should figure it out for themselves.

 

What 12th countdown is really about is this:

 

(Dramatic entrance music)

 

You were once a citizen, living on the planet of Spherus magna, after the great spirit Mata nui finished Makuta teridax off for good. Then, for no reason, an unknown force known as the Scientific training and operating program (stop) abducts you for there "scientific" work, attempting to turn you into a super soldier for unknown purposes. You will be faced with finding a way to sneak to the command bay, and discover who is really behind all of it, gaining friends on the way, or eliminating rivals. Eventually, the real threat will come to you, and it will be a stunningly powerful foe in disguise. It's all aboard the orbiting battle station and training field, VEXOLL, where your character will be pushed to the limit to find out what's at play... And can you survive to the 12th countdown?

 

You will start off in you room, a small, slightly futuristic room with everything you could ever "need". You have a raised cot, a separate restroom, and a fridge. In other words, an overly glorified cell. You will have no memory of what previously occurred, and will be stuck there until training begins.

 

The characters allowed will have to be one of the following species:

 

Matoran (1 bio/ 4.5 feet)

 

Matoran will be the smallest beings in the scientific prison, and they will always be lowly regarded. There will be lots of matoran/agori around, and mostly be filling as the crowd. Of course, the one you play has smartened up.

 

Agori (1.1 bio/ 4.7 feet)

 

Agori are the other filling I mentioned earlier, and they will be more strong-willed than the Matoran, yet only choose an Agori if you wish to become beaten up, as Agori are much more hot-headed and often attack or charge in without thinking twice.

 

Toa (1.6 bio/ 7 feet)

 

Toa are strong protectors of Matoran and the servants of Mata nui. They are the most trained and pressed beings in the entire base, yet there should not be a lot of them. Matoran can randomly turn into a Toa, yet I have to agree to it or announce it. If a Matoran Is chosen to become a toa, then it becomes a toa, no matter what. It will also be given a random mask.

 

I will allow something new: You may use other characters from different RPGs, even if they exist in different time zones. Just make sure they at least temporarily disappear from the other RPG.

 

Also something else: The super-soldier process can work two ways:

 

1 You can be trained, beaten, suffer substantial wounds, and almost die, and then it has a 50% chance of working.

 

2 You can jump to the process, and get a 5% chance.

 

Having it fail means you end up as a slightly stronger, hideous monstrosity with no mask changes whatsoever.

 

And now, the main characters played by yours truly(and maybe more by someone else):

 

Crew and Guards:

All super strong mechanical super computers with no vulnerabilities, these mechanical entities are always alert, constantly watching prisoners. Certain events in the story will leave them or certain areas vulnerable.

 

Borag the unthinkable

 

Borag is a being who appears to be the main villain is most likely not, as he tries to make everyone at home In the place(or at least sound like it). He is responsible for many deaths inside the station, yet he says he is a soft-hearted, generous being who only wants to help all aboard. Borag is almost as tall as a Toa, and is from an unknown species. He has a red mask, which is a de-powered Kanohi nuva, Mask of speed to be specific.

 

Montrok

 

A kind an generous being, Montrok was mutated rather than improved, turning him into a hideous outcast, enlarging his hands while fusing his legs together into a fat, wormlike tail. He is very intelligent, and almost came to the required strength level for soldier employment. He is light green(with shades of dark green, thanks to the mutation) and wears the mask that Tanma wore in that 2008 set.

 

Drenmtro

 

Drenmtro is the only character whose pronunciation I do not know. He hides In the shadows, and appears to be a underling, though he is the only one allowed into the reactor, not even Borag. He wears a fully functional Pakari, and is dressed in all Black, from head to toe. he is also an unknown species, and is taller than any toa (about two bio).

 

Now, the sections of the ship are all attached to each other with walkways, but they are heavily guarded and not easily found. Each section is massive, but only the three main ones are you allowed access to, but if you want to be sneaky....

 

1st section is the rooms, in which you each live. 2nd room is the main room, where you can get prepped for training, where public beatings occur, and where you first arrive after all cells unlock. The 3rd and biggest area is the training yard, where all the trainees go now and then, for "training".

 

And finally, the biggest threat to your survival is the countdown. The countdown is where any captured traitors are put into the underground section of the base, called "the gore", and for good reason. The horrors that are performed there are so horrific that it will constantly remind you "Don't get caught, EVER". Each countdown occurs after a set amount of time, and in between different times. But the worst part is: Get to the 12th countdown, and you all DIE, no matter what.

 

In the meantime, though, Remember: Borag is watching you closely, and he loves you so very, very much.

Edited September 11, 2014 by ghidora131

[AuRon the champion]

With respect, this sounds like it won't work. What you have here isn't a general overview for an rpg, it's a dungeons and dragons campaign with the dice removed and no nice pictures. It's a great scenario, but there's not enough meat to make an rpg. Add more areas for a player to go to, other than just forcing them all through a preconstructed plot.

 

Also, how the heck does anybody become a super soldier when they're beaten almost to death?! =?

[The Lorax]

Add more areas for a player to go to, other than just forcing them all through a preconstructed plot.

 

Quoted for truth. If I were to go back in time and run City in the Dark again, I would try to allow much more flexibility and payer-determination for how the mystery gets solved, rather than following my own, too-rigid plan for what gets discovered when and how. This is something I've tried to move away from with my next RPG (expect to see that appearing in this topic some time in the next few weeks. I'm excited to share it with you guys, but for now I'll say this: there will be lots of dimension-hopping, time-travel, massive diversity of character options, plenty of action and adventure and literally everything at stake.)

 

To add another pointer, try not to spoil too much of the plot in the intro. Plots twists should really be surprises. This kind of takes that away.

Eventually, the real threat will come to you, and it will be a stunningly powerful foe in disguise.

Edited September 11, 2014 by The Lorax

[25K Now!]

What seems to be the theme that's in vogue these days in RPGLand?

[NorikSigma]

my next RPG (expect to see that appearing in this topic some time in the next few weeks.

Can't wait!

[shadow pridak money gang]

might squat out something creative here if bzprpg staff are allowed to do that again idk

 

-Tyler

[Ghidora131]

Wow, a handful of answers I must deliver.

 

First of all, thanks for saying your thoughts so kindly, not trying to be harsh at all. Secondly, I did state that the three areas are the ones you are allowed to. As time goes on, the personality of Borag shows(I hope) that he will become more flexible as time goes on, allowing beings to enter larger portions of the ship, until the full layout is revealed.

 

Something I probably should have mentioned is the main characters aren't the only ones that are present. More entities will be discovered in places like the gore, the training field, and (spoiler alert) the hangar bay, ones which are all equal suspects.

 

And don't think I'm out of plot twists yet. You only get a teaspoon of the twenty million gallons that will occur(Hyperbole).

 

And how the heck does someone become a super soldier after being beaten half to death, you might ask? well, as Montrok set the example, it is created with a substance known as Unium, one some will remember in my previous MOCs. It has the ability to wreck a person's life, or make them stronger than Axonn. The suffering, beating and death that occurs is just a test, to see if the person is really that strong enough, both physically and mentally. It also is a time saver, as each being will have different tortures & tests to see if they are enough, saving them the waiting around for something to happen time, and giving opportunities to each player.

 

And finally: I see your point, Lorax, and I have prepared. Everything is sitting around, waiting to be discovered. In this RPG, the players control almost every event. They say when stuff gets discovered, and how. It's up to them to find the people, places, items, etc, I just say what it is they find, control my key characters, and initiate the countdown.

[AuRon the champion]

Those are pretty good refutes, however...

 

This still sounds like a scripted story. Which had been proven not to work in this environment. Continuing on this point, you've also been promising "plot twists" and other engaging things, but I personally don't feel interested in exploring an environment that sounds like its based off an "escape from the room" game.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

This still sounds like a scripted story. Which had been proven not to work in this environment. Continuing on this point, you've also been promising "plot twists" and other engaging things, but I personally don't feel interested in exploring an environment that sounds like its based off an "escape from the room" game.

 

From observation, the current climate consists primarily of players who depend quite heavily upon their game-masters to provide structure to the story [insert vaguely political joke here]. Assuming the switch in format does as promised, and brings in new players, it's possible that we might see a resurgence in a greater number of proactive individuals attempting to take initiative (don't quote me; if a current GM can shoot me an example to the contrary, I relinquish the point).

 

That said, while a heavily GM controlled story may be feasible (assuming the GM is capable of constancy), I agree with you that a "scripted" story is a recipe for disaster. Railroading is cheap in the best case scenario.

 

To further elaborate upon the RPG itself -

 

The RPG, as it is at the moment, is incomplete. First off, from a writer's perspective, I recommend against employing such heavy use of the second-person with regard to the characters - especially when writing from an unlimited, OOC perspective. Your point of view can be a powerful tool in prepping an RPG, acting as an easy way to distinguish between in-game knowledge, and in-game mechanics or rules.

 

On a similar note, your RPG topic should provide only information which is new or changed. If Toa are now four-armed monsters, that's changed  If you're providing lore relevant to an underdeveloped species, that's new. In City of the Dark, it's primarily the latter which applies. Alternatively, you can utilize a species list with regards to the local culture (Toa will be treated far differently in a Toa/DH War RPG than in a Destiny War RPG, after all). I recommend you remove it.

 

Now, on a lore note, Toa in-story are transformed as a result of having residual Toa energy within them, which is activated through the use of a Toa Stone. If transformations are random, there needs to be a reason for that (note: change). I would recommend removing that entirely. Further, a thematic note on the masks - they're not random. The mask a Toa wears is meant to be a reflection of themselves in some way (ex. Tahu acting as a shield, Gali being bound to the ocean, etc.).

 

Characters from RPGs doesn't really work. People reuse characters frequently.

I apologize for mostly focusing upon the mechanical notes, rather than the narrative itself, but at the moment the RPG is really too incomplete for me to comfortably analyze that. The big things you need, though - gameplay/rules, a profile form of some kind, something which details the physical setting, a hook at the opening (optional, though barely), and more detail where it counts - devoted to the story and characters.

 

Final note - Everything which is "meta" (pointing out plot points, hinting at the future blatantly, and the like) should be avoided like the plague. It breaks immersion, and takes away from the professional feel.

That aside, I'm not put off by the basic concept, and can see a lot of potential if the right changes are made and more time is put into it. I look forward to seeing what you come up with later down the line.

 

What seems to be the theme that's in vogue these days in RPGLand?

 

Cities, really. Cities in time, cities in the dark, cities underwater, cities under cities, cities that swim, cities that fly, cities that skydive (note: somebody needs to set an RPG on a spaceship city which is only twelve hours from crashing), cities in volcanoes, cities within cities, cities that are also guns, cities that are also cities, city civil engineers, cities that go on for too long, and regular cities.

 

It's a matter of practicality more than anything else. Cities keep the plot tight and focused, and the setting manageable but diverse. Anyone not setting their RPG in a city better have darned good reason these days.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor :Flagusa

[The Lorax]

It's a matter of practicality more than anything else. Cities keep the plot tight and focused, and the setting manageable but diverse. Anyone not setting their RPG in a city better have darned good reason these days.

 

 

This is actually a really good point, and not one I had considered before. Even though both of my (winning) games have had City right there in the name, I hadn't consciously realised the game-mechanic benefits to city-based settings. It also makes me want to include the word City in the titles of all the games I submit from now on.

 

But that's not going to happen. The new one isn't based in a city and when you're voyaging far and wide in an attempt to save the multiverse, you can't afford to confine yourself to one city. There's just too much world, and too much to do.

[shadow pridak money gang]

OK, well I've got another idea, but thanks anyway...

 

 

hey um could you do me a huge solid and edit this post because it's stretching my entire screen due to whatever weird formatting you used to make the line

 

thanks

 

-Tyler

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

hey um could you do me a huge solid and edit this post because it's stretching my entire screen due to whatever weird formatting you used to make the line

 

thanks

 

-Tyler

 

Fourteen posts until the pain goes away.

 

This is actually a really good point, and not one I had considered before. Even though both of my (winning) games have had City right there in the name, I hadn't consciously realised the game-mechanic benefits to city-based settings. It also makes me want to include the word City in the titles of all the games I submit from now on.

 

But that's not going to happen. The new one isn't based in a city and when you're voyaging far and wide in an attempt to save the multiverse, you can't afford to confine yourself to one city. There's just too much world, and too much to do.

 

Do you think the player-base is large enough to support that, at the moment? Unless you intend to keep players together on their quest, it just seems like a way to spread everyone thin, and eventually deflate the RPG.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[The Lorax]

Definitely keeping players together. The plan is to form them up into groups early, and then keep those groups together as they move through the game. The multiverse may be wide, but the places where anything interesting is happening will be confined to small bubbles around wherever the groups happen to be.

[Silvan Haven]

I doubt that you are going to want any more than two groups, if that.

[Parugi]

Hey, guys. It's been a while. Like, a long while.

 

Regardless--the idea popped into my head a few days ago that a refreshed attempt at Masquerade might be fun, and it's a thought that has been buzzing around ever since. So much so, in fact, that I actually looked through the caches at everything that went down in the game when it was running, which I haven't done since it was initially erased. I don't know when it would come back (assuming there's interest in it doing so), but does anyone have any thoughts on the possibility?

[Silvan Haven]

It would certainly do better in a long term run like it would get from the judging system.

[The Lorax]

Parugi: Yes, please! I've got all the cached stuff as well, and remarkably little was actually lost. If you and the other players are up for resurrecting it, then count me in!

 

Silvan Haven: Two to three groups, yes. There will be two different factions, so I'm hoping for a core group from each, plus maybe a second group from the first one, who have different priorities and want to do things differently to the main group. The third group wouldn't be plot essential, but it would be nice to have them nonetheless.

 

Actually, I'm just going to put up what I have now. Just because I'm not going to submit it to the judges yet doesn't mean that I can't get public feedback, and means that people can asks questions while knowing more about the game. So, here goes.

 

 

 

 

 

Vezon walked between worlds.

 

At least, that's how he saw it. Lately, it seemed like every step he took left him somewhere completely different. One moment, he was out in the sunshine, seeing Matoran and Dark Hunters working together in perfect harmony (granted, they were building a giant cannon, but they were still getting along well). The next moment, everything had shifted and he was in a quite different place. Here, a group named the Great Beings had built a 40 million foot tall mechanical being they named Makuta. Unfortunately, his brother, Mata Nui, was plotting a rebellion against him.

 

How had this all begun? He tried to remember, never the easiest thing for Vezon to do. He had donned a kanohi olmak, the mask of dimensional gates, which he had found on Destral. A portal opened up in front of him then. Eager to escape the island, he stepped through it – only to find himself facing an oncoming tidal wave. It washed over him, but he did not drown. Instead, he fell through another portal, winding up in the middle of a swamp.

 

The world shifted again, and he was in a wide expanse of verdant jungle. Its canopy was thick and obscuring, except where it was broken by a gigantic nui-rama hive. Thousands of bugs buzzed angrily around it, locked in combat with the army of toa, Matoran Skakdi and Vortixx arrayed before the hive. As Vezon watched, a large explosion ripped through the clearing, taking a large chunk out of the hive wall. A wave of heat washed over Vezon, and then the world shifted, taking him to another place and time. And then another, and then another ...

 

Vezon’s feet found soft sand. He was on the bank of a wide, slow-flowing river. Away in the distance, a group of Ga-Matoran were hard at work, constructing a building of some kind. With them were workers of another species, one Vezon was unfamiliar with. They looked similar to Matoran, only different. Vezon couldn’t quite put his finger on what the difference was though. Were they made of different stuff?

 

What he could put his finger on, though, now that he turned to look behind him, was an ancient-looking stone archway. Feeling an odd sense of reverence, Vezon walked forward to put his hand on the rough stone. Surprisingly, it was warm to the touch, despite the morning chill still hanging in the air. A pressure was building in Vezon’s stomach, and he knew that his time in this dimension was growing short. It was a pity, really, not being able to stay anywhere for too long. This one had been quite nice, really. Boring, but nice.  In his final seconds before being whisked away, Vezon walked through the archway.

 

There was a terrible feeling of disorientation, much different from his usual interdimensional hops, and it felt like Vezon’s insides were being ripped apart. As quickly as the pain had appeared, it receded, leaving Vezon standing on soft sand once again. And then he was gone.

 

 

 

Background:

 

Vezon’s lunatic rampage through realities took him to a universe that diverged from the canon one right after Mata Nui reformed Spherus Magna. The canon events after this point never occurred here. Instead, the Matoran, Toa, Glatorian and Agori went to work building their own peaceful and prosperous nation on the new world. There were hurdles and bumps along the way, but they were largely successful. Other species and groups travelled further afield and formed their own states.

 

Vezon entered this reality two years after the Reformation, on the bank of the River Dormus. He encountered the Spirit’s Wish, a device built by the Great Beings to teleport beings to wherever they wanted to go. The archway sent Vezon to a place where the Olmak was not (two feet to the right, as it happened) ripping his fused essence apart in the process. This left the olmak’s essence torn and unstable, and it latched itself onto the closest thing it could: the Spirit’s Wish itself.

 

The fusion of the two magical devices greatly enhanced the archway’s power. Now, it was no longer limited to sending beings through space within the same dimension. By the olmak’s power, it could reach out to any place at any time in any dimension. With a near-infinite array of destinations available, it could send any being to a place where the desires of their heart had come true. The first to experience this new power was Vezon, who was still standing within the archway where he had been sent the first time. It took him to a pocket dimension where his insanity caused him no troubles: reality was just as strange and broken as his mind, and he was king of it all.

 

It wasn’t long, however, before others discovered the archway’s ability. Word spread throughout the planet that all of one’s deepest desires could be realised simply by walking through an archway. The second great emigration began in earnest, with every being who could walk or get their friends to carry them making their pilgrimage to the River Dormus. They gladly left behind their lives for a place where their close friend had not died, where their side had won that war, where they had had the courage to speak their mind or where their greed was satisfied. One by one they stepped into their spirit’s wish and within four years of the Reformation, Spherus Magna was inhabited only by rahi.

 

For a time, the travellers were able to enjoy their wishes, but it was not to last. Every time one of them moved between dimensions, two strands of time were brought close to one another. Overlapping so many timelines in such a short time tied a knot in the dimensional fabric, and the tapestry of time groaned under the pressure. Time had to march forward, and it strained against the knot, bent, warped, tore and finally sprang free. As the knot burst, each and every traveller who had walked through the Spirit’s Wish was ripped from their new dimension and catapulted back, not to their original home on Spherus Magna, but to the place that had started it all: Vezon’s insane pocket dimension.

 

 

 

Settings:

 

Vezonland

 

Vezon art by Krekka01

 

As much as Vezonland can be described in words, this is it. But for one who has not truly experienced it, it deifies all explanation. The only being who might give a full account is Vezon himself, and he describes it simply as “paradise”. He wanders through it, remaking things as he goes according to his insane whims.

 

Vezonland consists mainly of a series of rough stone caves, similar to the ones he knew on Artidax and Voya Nui. The caves have no ceiling, just a swirling, solid purple and black cloud that provides the upper limit. Why? Because this is Vezonland, that’s why. That is the only reason for anything around here.

 

The cave walls are lined with heads, all of which are alive and talking. You don’t want to know what they talk about. Sometimes drawings and grass mats are present too.

 

Since Vezonland is an outward reflection of Vezon’s mind, many of the caves contain various memories of his, all distorted by the lens of his twisted worldview. Others contain his desires, fears, emotions, senses and other, less well defined aspects of his personality. Those who go into the last ones aren’t often seen again, or if they are, they aren’t the same.

 

The best hope for all of those trapped here in Vezonland is a cave that no one has yet found, but must, theoretically, exist. Vezon spent some time bonded at the deepest level to Tridax’s kanohi olmak, so it must have left an imprint on his mind, somewhere. If they could access this place, they could access the power of the mask and escape into the rest of the multiverse.

 

Vezonland is where all the PCs will begin the game.

 

The Multiverse at Large:

 

 

It was a bright day in Metru Nui, but instead of the usual air of celebration, a dark cloud of foreboding hung over the coliseum. With the Morbuzahk’s attacks and the disappearances of Toa, what new tidings could move Turaga Dume to call this city-wide gathering? The Ta-Matoran tool maker clung anxiously to his seat, as did many others around him.

“Do you have any idea what this might be about, Takua?” he asked the blue-masked Matoran sitting next to him.

“No” came the reply. “But Jaller, I think that if you could get me off work this afternoon and I had a poke around in Ko-Metru…”

“Don’t even think about it” Jaller replied. “This is no time to just go wandering off instead of working, you could get hurt!”

 

Takua was about to protest when Turaga Dume’s deep, soothing voice came on over the loud speaker.

“It is with deep sorrow” he announced, “that I must inform you of the disappearance of our beloved Toa Lhikan! But, with the help of the Vahki, order shall be maintained! Trust in me, and soon all your concerns will be laid to rest.”

 

The ground shook, and the air was filled with the noise of a thunderclap that bent and screamed and resolved itself into the tearing of metal and the shouts of Matoran. A sort of double-vision descended over Jaller’s eyes, like he was watching two different things happening at once, overlaid onto each other. The coliseum he knew was still before him, filled with Matoran looking around in surprise and shock, but superimposed over this in a sort of blurry haze was another scene of the same place. The coliseum here lay in shadow, the sunholes were closed, thick webs covered everything and the place was swarming with spiders twice as large as Jaller himself. In the centre of the coliseum were five tall beings, though Jaller couldn’t see them clearly.

 

What occupied his attention was the massive green beast standing right over where he was in the second scene. Its red eyes shone in the darkness and its pincers clacked together with increasing frequency. And then it stepped out of the vision and into reality. The invisible barrier that had been between them popped like a soap bubble as the two scenes merged into one. The Keelerak’s eyes snapped onto Jaller and it lunged at him with the strength and speed of a being bred to kill. Jaller was caught between its sharp front legs, its pincers came together and he knew no more. The last thing he heard was Takua’s yell as he tried to tackle the beast off his friend.

 

 

 

This encompasses every place and time in BIONICLE that ever existed or ever could have existed, so there’s a lot to explore: various alternate universes and pocket dimensions from the BIONICLE canon and important events in the main universe, places that the wishers went and even some fan-made universes. The problem is, the multiverse is in pretty poor condition. The tapestry of time and dimensions is torn and scattered. Strands have frayed ends, cross where they shouldn’t and the whole thing is littered with holes.

 

These holes are known as Falls, roving dimensional tears that move across the landscape, sucking in beings, objects and events and throwing them out into another place and time. Falls range from a mere bio across to over 50, and are visible as rippling distortions in the air, like a heat mirage that is constantly changing its shape. While they aren’t much to look at, the sound of them is immense. It is the thunder of crushing rocks within the earth as the Fall turns them back in time or accelerates them forward, bringing in new material and swallowing what was there. It is the sound of things at the edge of the Fall being violently torn apart as parts of them are sent into other dimensions while the rest remains. Any being who has the madness of misfortune to enter a Fall will be whipped away through a broken timescape and spat out into another dimension. There is no way to control their destination, but those who enter together will arrive in the same place.

 

Worse, Falls’ ability to fold time back on itself and bring timelines together will eventually destroy the multiverse altogether by creating more and more knots, which burst to create more Falls, which tie up more dimensions and break time even further which makes more Falls…You get the picture. These things need to be stopped.

 

The only place that is not ravaged by falls is Vezonland.

 

 

 

Factions

 

The Lost

 

 

This is not so much a faction as a catch-all for those beings who walked through the Spirit’s Wish and ended up in Vezonland. They come from all walks of life, but now have one unanimous goal: escape.

 

When they came to Vezonland, the Lost were dispersed widely throughout the caves. Due to the strange nature of Vezonland, its sheer size and its unpredictable layout, they have been largely unable to regroup much into the communities, teams and organisations they had in their previous lives on Spherus Magna. Groups usually form and stick together only because they are the only ones they have met who aren’t insane, and it pays to keep some company to keep from becoming so.

 

Since this includes every being on Spherus Magna who survived having their wishes fulfilled, many canon characters will be playable within this group.

 

 

The Shadows

 

Picture by Amiralda

 

The native inhabitants of Vezonland were created out of Vezon’s fascination with Tridax’s idea for an army of shadow toa to do his bidding. Vezon dwelled deeply on the idea, and so, in Vezonland, he has his own. Every person Vezon ever met is represented in Vezonland, just like his other memories. Like them, they are not quite themselves as they were, but themselves as Vezon saw them. And, thanks to the seed Tridax put in Vezon’s head, they all have control over elemental shadow and immense strength, though their other powers have been lost. They can all use kanohi, even if they could not before becoming Shadows.

 

All Shadows are fanatically loyal to Vezon and will obey any order he gives, but strangely enough, he doesn’t often give them many. About the only one they observe is that none of the Lost are allowed to leave Vezonland. Vezon has commanded them thus because even though he cannot imagine why anyone would want to leave his glorious kingdom, he knows that some people are insane, and if that happened to everybody and they all left, it wouldn’t be very enjoyable for him to rule a kingdom with nobody in it.

 

Since this group includes twisted, shadow-versions of everyone Vezon ever met, many canon characters will be playable within this group.

 

 

 

Characters

 

Characters in this game can be Lost (any being living on Spherus Magna at the time of the Reformation) or Shadows, so the range of choices is pretty wide. More options may become available as the game progresses, such as inhabitants of new dimensions that the characters may visit. Both original and (most) canon characters are playable. To create a character, fill out the profile form below. The layout is not set in stone, so fell free to change it by adding or removing fields if you wish. I’m not fussy, so long as all of the important information is in there.

 

Name: Make it BIONICLE-sounding.

Gender: Male, Female, unknown, neither, somewhere in between.

Species: Something from BIONICLE, or create your own custom species.

Faction: Lost / Shadows / Other?

Powers: If applicable to the character’s species.

Kanohi: If applicable to the character’s species.

Appearance: What do they look like? A MoC, drawing or description will do.
Equipment: What do they have with them?
Biography: About their life.
Personality: What are they like? How do they act?

Spirit’s Wish: For Lost characters. This may have changed since they first left Spherus Magna, but what was it then?

Skills/Strengths: What are they good at?
Weaknesses: What are they bad at? What hurts them?

 

Disallowed masks are:

The mask of conjuring, because it is ridiculously overpowered, even for this game.

And that’s it! Anything else is fair game if you can get your hands on it through IC play (and with a bit of work and interdimensional- and time-travel possible, you probably can).

 

Canon characters and Shadow characters will be approved on a first-come-first-served basis.

 

There is no limit to the number of characters a player can control.

 

Rules

 

• All BZP rules apply, obviously.
• In general, don’t do anything that detracts from other peoples’ enjoyment of the game. All the usual RPG fallacies fall under this, such as god-modding, meta-gaming, bunnying, auto-hitting and the like. For more on these, see the BZPRPG, where you will find some great descriptions and more details on the subtleties of these.
• Use IC and OOC to separate what your character(s) do from you talking to other players.
• Unusually, there is no rule about wrecking huge destruction on the landscape. The multiverse is going to in a handbasket anyway, so a couple of nova blasts more or less won’t make much of a difference.
• Do not kill or injure somebody else’s character without permission.
• GMs have the right to do anything they see fit in the IC world. This includes punishments for rule-breaking and rewards for making positive contributions to the RPG.

 

Appendix:

 

Beings Vezon has Met, or, Candidates for Shadows Characters:

 

Hakann

Vezok

Zaktan

Thok

Avak

Reidak

Jaller

Hahli

Kongu

Matoro

Hewkii

Nuparu

Umbra

Zyglak

Brutaka

Roodaka

Takadox

Carapar

Spiriah

Lariska

Steltian Trader

Tren Krom

Miserix

Trinuma

Tridax

Various Rahkshi

Shadow Takanuva

Tobduk

Mazeka

Enlarged Fenrakk

Kardas Dragon

Various beings briefly encountered during his dimensional voyages.

 

Beings Vezon knows through Vezok’s memories:

 

Numerous Skakdi

Turaga Dume

Lhikan

Tuyet

Naho

Other Toa Mangai

The Shadowed One

Ancient

Kraata-Kal

Airwatcher

Amphibax

Charger

Conjurer

Darkness

Devastator

Dweller

Eliminator

Firedracax

Gatherer

Gladiator

Guardian

Krekka

Lariska

Lurker

Mimic

Minion

Nidhiki

Phantom

Poison

Primal

Prototype

Ravager

Savage

Seeker

Sentrakh

Shadow Stealer

Silence

Spinner

Subterranean

Tracker

Triglax

Tyrant

Vanisher

Vengeance

 

 

Banner made with help from Click.

 

P.S. To anyone who recognises where the inspiration and name for Falls came from, good for you, but don’t tell me! I haven’t read the last book yet, and will set Vezon on anyone who tries to spoil it for me.

[Silvan Haven]

Interesting idea. Not sure if I would play, but the base idea is a good one. A couple things caught my attention though, I'll try to go through why.

 

First Thing: The entire planet went through the arch? Several problems with that bit. How do they know that the arch will send you to a place where your dream comes true? I doubt that many of those people were coming back through. From the view of everybody else all it did would be to make people vanish.

 

Assuming that somebody came back and told everybody else what happened to them I find it very difficult to imagine the entire planet going through no matter what the time frame was. To go through would mean leaving behind your entire life. All your friends and family, that great job you just landed. Stuff like that. Even then you would have people who stayed because they don't like the idea of some fancy arch by a river giving them everything they ever wanted.

 

Also I'm surprised that nobody started a war over the thing. Control of the thing pretty much gives you the keys to an infinite army, what with the dimension targeting aspect.

 

Second Thing: More of a mechanics thing. You should probably have a mask of banned starter masks. Otherwise I could just make a guy with an Olmak, Something that kind of breaks the game.

 

All in all a good idea. Just with a somewhat shaky premise.

[The Lorax]

Second thing: Good point, I'll work on putting something together.

 

First things: Yeah, it's a weakness. I couldn't spend a lot of timing going into depth about all of that stuff, because it isn't really important to the playing of the game. The exact method of how all this stuff happened isn't that important, only that did. Still, here are my best explantions. They aren't as rock solid as I'd like, but they're at least plausible.

 

They knew either by some kind soul coming back to tell them, or by somebody discovering the arch, recognising it as GB-magitek and waving their magic staff of what-do-it-do? over the thing or employing some other analytical method. Again, the how isn't really important for the story, but there are several ways that it might have occurred.

 

As for wanting to go through, having good things in their present life shouldn't be a barrier. If those things are really important to the person, they will almost certainly exist in the dimension where they would end up after going through the Spirit's Wish as well, except better. Those who thought that using the arch was "cheating" would probably have come around pretty quickly once most people started moving. The alternative would have been having most to all of their friends leave and being left alone in a ghost town. When that is the alternative, the Spirit's Wish looks even better. Maybe a few loonies really would have stayed

 

I don't see a war developing over the archway because staying around to prevent others from using it would also mean not going through yourself. Also, once you had gone through to get your army, you would probably stay where you ended up and enjoy it, rather than coming back just to deny other people.

[Silvan Haven]

Most people would not look at interdimensional travel quite like that. Sure everything in the new place might seem the same in every way, but you still went and left all the people that you actually knew in the old dimension. All these other people are practically clones that have been formed out of the dimensional ether to suit your every need.

 

The people who don't like things being given to them would simply head towards the nearest/largest group of people still there. When you have an entire planet of beings that can add up quickly.

 

There is also the people who figure that their life is already good enough, why bother going to another dimension?

 

The idea behind getting the army is to go to the perfect dimension, take the army from there and then bring them back to conquer this one. That way you get two plents of being to serve your every whim.

 

A pretty simple fix would be to say that not everybody left, just a whole bunch.

[The Lorax]

 All these other people are practically clones that have been formed out of the dimensional ether to suit your every need.

 

I can see where the confusion comes from here, but the Spirit's Wish does not create a new dimension for each person that walks through it. That would be beyond the power of an olmak. The way this works is that there have been an awful lot of beings all making decisions for an awfully long time and influencing each others' decisions, so by now the number of possible alternate timelines and pocket dimensions is so large as to be effectively infinite. Rather than creating a dimension designed to meet a person's desires, the archway just selects the place that is already like that and sends the person there.

 

This means that the people in the destination dimension are not robots deigned specifically to bring one person pleasure (that truly would be creepy and repulsive), but those real people that the person knows, living in a place where they had all had happier lives (or sadder, depending on what the wisher desires). If the wish is that they be truly the same, then they will be. They're still the same people that the wisher knows and loves.

 

(I know this makes it a little difficult to explain Vezonland already existing, but here goes: Sometime, in some universe, somebody created a pocket dimension that would be a reflection of the mind of the first person to arrive there, but then it was never used. This is where Vezon got sent, and so we got Vezonland).

 

The people who don't like things being given to them would simply head towards the nearest/largest group of people still there. When you have an entire planet of beings that can add up quickly.

 

 

They could congregate, true, but a person who would turn down their deepest desire only because it hurt their pride would be one in a million. There truly wouldn't be that many, and then they would have to find each other over the entire planet  When faced with that and all of the other people they know leaving them, I think most would reconsider. I suppose it is possible that the few who stayed and survived in the ruins of a departed civilisation, but just for completeness I'm going to say that they didn't. It doesn't affect the story of the game anyway, and just makes for an awkward loose end. It's much cleaner to say that the only beings left behind were rahi.

 

The idea behind getting the army is to go to the perfect dimension, take the army from there and then bring them back to conquer this one. That way you get two plents of being to serve your every whim.

 

 

If they wanted to rule two planets, they wouldn't have to come back and conquer the original dimension. They would end up in a place where that was already the case just by walking through the arch the first time. If, even after that, they decided that two weren't enough and they wanted to go conquer some more, that would be possible. Maybe it even happened, but they went back to timelines other than the main one of this game. Again, it doesn't really matter, unless someone is playing a character who did this. The point is that a bunch of people were able to leave Spherus Magna and ended up in Vezonland.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

I can see where the confusion comes from here, but the Spirit's Wish does not create a new dimension for each person that walks through it. That would be beyond the power of an olmak. The way this works is that there have been an awful lot of beings all making decisions for an awfully long time and influencing each others' decisions, so by now the number of possible alternate timelines and pocket dimensions is so large as to be effectively infinite. Rather than creating a dimension designed to meet a person's desires, the archway just selects the place that is already like that and sends the person there.

 

This means that the people in the destination dimension are not robots deigned specifically to bring one person pleasure (that truly would be creepy and repulsive), but those real people that the person knows, living in a place where they had all had happier lives (or sadder, depending on what the wisher desires). If the wish is that they be truly the same, then they will be. They're still the same people that the wisher knows and loves.

 

(I know this makes it a little difficult to explain Vezonland already existing, but here goes: Sometime, in some universe, somebody created a pocket dimension that would be a reflection of the mind of the first person to arrive there, but then it was never used. This is where Vezon got sent, and so we got Vezonland).

They could congregate, true, but a person who would turn down their deepest desire only because it hurt their pride would be one in a million. There truly wouldn't be that many, and then they would have to find each other over the entire planet  When faced with that and all of the other people they know leaving them, I think most would reconsider. I suppose it is possible that the few who stayed and survived in the ruins of a departed civilisation, but just for completeness I'm going to say that they didn't. It doesn't affect the story of the game anyway, and just makes for an awkward loose end. It's much cleaner to say that the only beings left behind were rahi.

 

 

There are a two things which make this difficult to believe.

 

First, people tend to have suspicions against things like that, and the vast majority are more clever than they're often given credit for. Responsibility is another factor, and regardless of whether or not the people on the other side are "real", they're still not the exact same people, and you are still leaving people behind. Most people wouldn't just "swap in" their friends and loved ones just for a little happiness. Indeed, it's not that they're too proud to enter, but that few people are so self-centered that they would cast aside their entire life for a quick one-up.

 

Second, there's the matter of authority, which requires some adding onto the war-related subject Silvan brings up. If a device like that popped up in the middle of the States, I'd give it maybe two hours before some agency carted it off to never be seen again and cut it out of the media. And based on portrayals of Mata-Nui, Matoran governments are even more paranoid, and much better prepared to guard the thing. Someone in charge would either block off access to the Wish, or destroy it, before things went too far. Other groups might opt to fight over it. High chaos would be a best case scenario.

 

Now, with regards to the RPG -

 

As much as I enjoy some good backstory, I don't think it's appropriate to the RPG, and takes away from any kind of "mystery" element. Don't tell us about how this universe differs from the canon one, because really, there isn't much of a canon for after the Battle of Bara Magna (and that which exists is often disconnected, and tells very little about anything aside from a couple of characters). It would be better for you to simply present the Gate as a mysterious relic which was discovered, without detailing how it was created.

 

Knowing this, rather than state objectively what the Gate does, describe how stories about it grew, and how the locals came to understand it as some sort of ticket to paradise, and the social repercussions of such an object supposedly existing. The characters, rather than being just people who came too late, are instead presented as having been screwed over.

 

Vezonland, like the Gate, shouldn't be explained. It's simply a bizzaro-dimension which Vezon just happens to inhabit. The Shadows certainly shouldn't be playable; it just adds another thing which needs to be explained, taking away from yet another mystery, and further serving to divide the players up, rather than keeping them together. I've certainly noticed that, over the last few contests, fighting has generally been out-shined by role playing in any case, so there's not much lost there. And really, considering how different everyone would be, leaving conflicts as natural results of opposing personalities seems a much better option.

 

On a related note, you can drop the multiverse, up until the point when players manage to find a way to escape Vezonland. And don't just hint at the cave - give options. Should players pursue a cave? Or try killing Vezon? That sounds like a much better way to form groups than multiple factions to me. Letting it happen naturally and all that.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Ghidora131]

Well, while I wait for more feedback from the first RPG, i'll try again....

 

 

 

 

Eternal war: Doomsday

 

 

Now, before you go hatin' this one too, let me explain:

Eternal war involves a completely different storyline, but revolves around the same time zone. There will be a lot of similar elements involved, but it's not the same.

Here we go again:

 

This game revolves around the largest city ever constructed, even bigger than Metru nui. The city is known as Spherus nui, and is the main target of most of the remaining major forces on the planet. Despised by the order, and hated by the hunters, this city is filled  to the brim with Defenses, Weaponry, Energy supplies, and Hidden threats. Not to reveal too much data on this, but there is a completely new villain in this storyline, so don't expect to see Teridax any time soon(sob).

 

The entire city is lead by the Turaga council, and really controlled by Turaga Kihohiki. He is a stern, hot-headed intelligent Turaga who is famed for being the most powerful sound Toa history ever recorded. Even though his power is lowered, he is still strong enough to create near-inpenetrable sound shields of any size. He is the only one who knows what real threats exist against the city, and which ones are the most dangerous.

 

Now, the layout of the city is almost entirely accessible. You have the entire city's border, protected by a strong energy field created by generators inside the city. Then there is the Industrial District, in which the most massive amounts of steel are produced. The public area consists of all homes, parks, the well*, and much more. And the city center has the skyscrapers, all other businesses, the City shieldscraper(the tallest building in the city), and a little bit more. The one unprotected building in the city lies just on the outskirts of the energy field, which is the Ridicculum estate. It is by far the fanciest building in the entire city, and is one of the most important story-wise. Characters that enter the story start on the Outskirts, and can re-enter them to visit the Mountain, but it is very dangerous venturing so far, with ambushes that could occur, and possibly being stuck out until attacks on the city have temporarily ended.

 

Now, the story characters:

 

Turaga Kihohiki

Previously explained above.

 

Rinozz du calprius velienticulo

He is one of three Matoran to be infected with the super soldier virus, Unium, and succeed. He is incredibly stingy, and is a kind of a hideous appearance, thanks to his mask warping into Radiak's mask from that '08 Bionicle set. He always goes around wearing fancy clothes, and his ego stretches farther than the skyline. He Is as strong as Axonn, and has several Doctoral degrees, including Surgeon.

 

Iok

Once an ordinary officer, now the most powerful officer. This Matoran is the second successful attempt in making a super soldier, and was one of the best, not besting Rinozz's strength, though. He was unfortunately homeless, due to an early bombing strike on the city, costing him his home. He now lives with Rinozz. He is kind, caring, and is often regarded as the example of a good Matoran. He wears a Tohunga matoro-blue Kanohi Akaku, non-functioning of course.

 

Tarinia

A scholar, this Po-Matoran got injected with Unium as well, and is grieved by what happens to the faliures of the procedure. She is not as strong as the others, but she has a stronger will, getting her into uncomfortable situations. Being the third and final successful attempt as a super soldier, she is not only smaller than the others, but feels a need to stay toghether, like a family, for safety's sake.

 

Montrok

This Matoran's concept originally came from this idea. As I mentioned a while ago, He is the largest of the Matoran in the estate, mainly because of his mutated, cylinder form. He is a brilliant scientist, and is at the same strength level as Rinozz. He finds the urge to create devices to destroy the menaces attacking the city, and find a cure for his current form.

 

Vosyth

A quiet and cowardly Matoran, Vosyth is more powerful than he realizes. His back took a spiderlike form, and he gained a bit of height thanks to the Unium. He is shy, rarely speaking to anyone, even Tarinia, who he has a special bond with. Ironically, he is courageous during interrogations, and when being faced down by much tougher opponents. Being mostly an annoying piece of baggage, this Matoran is not too critical to the main storyline.

 

Makuta ???

Villain to be revealed.

 

The ???? ????

Also to be revealed.

 

The ????

Big surprise. Whoopee.

 

 

 

The characters you can play go as follows:

 

Matoran: Obviously.

 

Toa: Of course you need the protectors.

 

Glatorian: They're allowed in this as well.

 

Skakdi: Just because they're so annoying:P

 

Vahki: Remember: Robotic entity only. No emotion whatsoever.

 

Now, the rules on the mask powers is simple:

State the mask power on the character description, and I may approve it. When describing the mask power, describe it plainly. Something I think may be overpowered I will consult with the appropriate BZP staff to see what it is. No faking.

 

And, that's about it. Hope to have this one posted!

 

 

 

 

*About the well: It's not a well, and there's a Matoran deeply involved with it. No one is allowed to access it for any reason, and only Kihohiki can come close to it. It is the most critical location of all, and I-   I can't reveal that yet.

[The Lorax]

Most people wouldn't just "swap in" their friends and loved ones just for a little happiness. 

 

 

There is no "just" or "little" about this. People went to it because a spirit's wish is a person's deepest desire, the thing which, by definition, they would give up anything else to have. Also remember that the wishes need not always be selfish, and that the destination dimensions would probably also contain a wisher's loved ones. They would be the same people that they care about, just with a few different experiences. Finally on the selfishness point - is it not worse to ask your friends to stay along with you, and deny them a shot at their deepest desires?

 

Anyway, this is all in the backstory, not int the actual play of the game itself. That bit is where the important stuff happens. The whole wish granting thing gives an  interesting insight into characters, but its main function is to get the characters all to a point where the gameplay can begin. So on to that.

 

(But first, a quick stop-off on the war/control point - there is no point in any group controlling the archway. The characters who might get control of the archway would, by definition, want whatever was on the other side of it more than they would want to stay and control the wish, so they walk though. Then they are gone, and no longer controlling who has access to the archway.)

 

As much as I enjoy some good backstory, I don't think it's appropriate to the RPG, and takes away from any kind of "mystery" element. 

 

 

You're quite right, I haven't put much effort into making things mysterious here. This was on purpose. It was not meant to be mysterious. I am now coming to the end of RPing four months of mystery in CitD, so I've had my fill of that, and there will always be other places I can get mystery when I want it and can handle it better. This game is not about exploring mysteries, it is about travelling through the BIONICLE multiverse, constantly running from reality-destroying calamities while trying to find a way to combat them along the journey. And dealing with whatever gets thrown at them in the dimensions that they travel through. Adventure and action and the key words here.

 

Don't tell us about how this universe differs from the canon one, because really, there isn't much of a canon for after the Battle of Bara Magna (and that which exists is often disconnected, and tells very little about anything aside from a couple of characters). 

 

 

This is exactly the reason why I had to put those three sentences in. The end was messy, and saying it never  was the quickest, cleanest way to deal with that and move on. Stating very briefly and generically that all that stuff in the serials never happened frees us from having to wonder how all those unresolved things might affect our characters and opens up the characters involved in those for PC-ification and involvement in the game plot.

 

It would be better for you to simply present the Gate as a mysterious relic which was discovered, without detailing how it was created.

Knowing this, rather than state objectively what the Gate does, describe how stories about it grew, and how the locals came to understand it as some sort of ticket to paradise, and the social repercussions of such an object supposedly existing. The characters, rather than being just people who came too late, are instead presented as having been screwed over.

 

 

As stated above, this stuff is not the point of the RPG. It is just background to the backstory, so I don't feel the need to go into huge depth on exactly how it all happened. Who cares what repercussions it had on Spherus Magna when those are now all irrelevant. Everyone left that world and the only repurcussions that matter now, for the game, are that everyone ended up in Vezonland and the multiverse is deeply broken. Those, I explained in some depth.

 

And what? The characters have all been massively screwed over! They got a short amount of time getting exactly what they wanted (or thought they wanted), only to have it all torn away from them by something they had no idea was coming and couldn't control. I'm not sure what you mean by them being "too late".

 

 

On a related note, you can drop the multiverse, up until the point when players manage to find a way to escape Vezonland. And don't just hint at the cave - give options. Should players pursue a cave? Or try killing Vezon? That sounds like a much better way to form groups than multiple factions to me. Letting it happen naturally and all that.

 

 

 

The multiverse bit is outside of what any character knows about for the moment, but I think it needs to be there all the same. It is, after all, where most of the game will take place, so players need to know about what they would be getting into, and judges need it to be able to evaluate the game. Not having that section included would be like writing up a game set on Mata Nui and then having the action move to Voya Nui a week into the game with no prior hints at that.

 

The Shadows certainly shouldn't be playable; it just adds another thing which needs to be explained, taking away from yet another mystery, and further serving to divide the players up, rather than keeping them together.

 

 

As I said to Silvan above, I think a game can handle 2-3 groups if they are managed properly. One group of Lost that leaves, one group of Shadows to chase them, and another group of whoever is left in Vezonland, to try and kill Vezon or whatever. Who ends up in what group can be determined by, as you say, differences in the characters' priorities and ideals, clashing personalities and all that good stuff. That doesn't preclude conflict within the groups either. In fact, I expect it. Since it will be almost impossible for PCs to reunite in Vezonland with the people they knew and associated with on Spherus Magna, they may be forced into teaming up with people they don't totally like or agree with. And that will be fun.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'll work on clarifying the backstory and how and why everyone got to where they are for the beginning of the game.