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The Chima RPG Collab Contest-esque Thing (Contesque?)


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The Chima RPG Collab Contest-esque Thing (Contesque?): Let's All Go to the LEGO Zoo Together

The month of Chima is halfway through, but that's no reason to let things slow down before we roll into the somewhat-less-Chimish month of May. So we'd like to open up to you all a chance to collaborate on an RPG set in the Chima universe!

We won't beat around the bush: the Lego RPG community is smaller than many others on BZP, and so rather than split ideas into competing entries, we'd like to collect users' best ideas and work them together into a cohesive whole. Setting, species, strange powers and stranger monsters - we want to hear what you've got. On top of that, we're not setting any hard limit on "person(s) X will host the game/define the overarching story" - don't be afraid to throw out ideas for plot events that might take place, not just a setup!

Since saying all this and providing nothing else to go off of is kind of like throwing a printout of a Lego lion into a room and yelling "CREATE!" at the confused people there, here's an example RPG to use as a base, thought up by JustZakaro:

Legends of Chima:
The Forgotten Tales


In Chima, land of the animal tribes, there are many great tales and stories of strife, battle, and Speedorz. The most well known of those is the Great Story, the tale of the noble Legend Beasts that did not drink of the waters of Mt. Cavora and instead chose to leave Chima and live in the Outlands, never to be seen again...
But there are other legends that have been forgotten with the tides of time, traveler..
And this is but a few of them.

Introduction
Welcome to Legends of Chima: The Forgotten Tales!
This RPG is set in Chima, before that thousand year peace which held Chima together until one power-hungry Crocodile decided to give her brother a little push into war... (I'm looking at you, Crooler. )
Here you'll take on the role (s) of a warrior (or perhaps something more..) and fight for your Tribe, and Chima itself!

What's going on?
Chima is at war. A fight between the Lions and Minority Alliance has broken out, with both claiming seemingly valid reasons to fight. The Lions feel that the Alliance goes against the rules of Chima as a whole, that more than one Tribe working together in close company isn't right. The Alliance reasons that they're all small Tribes, and so only together can they stand against the more powerful Tribes.
Both sides vie to gain the help of other Tribes, with most torn at the decision.
Which side will you choose?

Locations
Chima is a large place, with the terrain varying enormously in the area that it covers. Mountains, jungles, plains, swamps, and deserts are all a part of Chima's landscape. Here's a few of the more notable spots:

Mt. Cavora: The name given to both the floating mountain from which the rivers of Chi flow and the mountain below from which it was ripped, Mt. Cavora is located in the direct middle of Chima. Respectively, the floating piece is "Ascended Cavora" and the lower "Shell of the Ascension". It's surrounded by the Plains of Chi and the Jungle Arm. Strangely enough, for whatever reason, Eagles and Ravons cannot fly within 25 feet of the Ascended Cavora. In fact, nothing can get within 25 feet without being shot backwards by an unknown force. The only thing that can actually touch it is Chi, which dissipates at the touch and flows into the Chi Falls.

Plains of Chi: A large plain that covers most of the northwestern half of Chima, with Mt. Cavora forming the lower right-hand corner. It wraps around Cavora until reaching the eastern side, where the Jungle Arm connects. From there, the Plains encompass the Lion Temple and lots, and lots, and lots of grass until reaching the Northern Mountains. This is where most Speedor races and jousts occur, with the Golden Chi Tournament taking place right in front of the Lion Temple, which lies on the southern face of Mt. Cavora.

The Jungles: Dominating the east and southeast are the Jungles of Chima, large and imposing. Home to many different Tribes such as the Wolves, Gorillas, Foxes, Skunks, and Bears, they're diverse and fruitful. The Jungle Arm is the unusual section that reaches out to touch the foot of Mt. Cavora, while the rest of the Jungles happily reside further away.

The Swamps: Land of the Crocodiles and a few Rhinos, the Swamps are mucky, gucky, and splucky. Luckily, that's just what the Crocs love. Located in the northeast between the Plains and Jungles, and fed by a small stream coming from Liku Lake, the Swamps are wet all year round. The Crocodile Fortress is built here.

Liku Lake: The main source of water in Chima, Liku Lake is the perfect place to have fun in the sun. ..And in the water too, of course. The Beavers prefer to live here. Located in the western side of Chima, the Plains thrive to its north and the Avian Spires feed it with runoff of rain and snow.

The Falling Forest and the Spikes: Two dangerous zones of Chima both in close proximity to one another. The Falling Forest is made up of very fragile trees; so fragile in fact that any sort of vehicle causes them to just fall down all around. The Spikes are dangerous because of the extensive cave systems beneath them, and the tendency of vehicles to fall into potholes and crash into the caverns, never coming back to light again.

The Avian Spires: Home to the Eagles and Ravens, these are very steep, thin mountains that point towards the sky. The air near their peaks is cold enough to form snow, but the slopes are so steep it all just slides down into the canyon systems below, which eventually feed into Liku Lake.

The Crags: Much like the Plains, but with many large rocks, all moss-covered, settled all over the area. A popular place to train with Speedorz because the crags and hill provide obstacles and ramps for Speedor riders. Located in the south of Chima.

The Quarry: A indentation into the earth where the Rhinos mine for gold, silver, and just plain rocks in general. Placed between the Crags and the Jungle.

What lies beyond: The Northern Mountains, The Great Desert, and The Outlands: Surrounding most of the Northern Half of Chima, the Northern Mountains are large, impassible, forever snow-covered, and just plain not a good place to spend a day. The same goes for the Great Desert, which is hot, sandy, hot, dry, hot, barren-- have I mentioned hot? The Outlands are more of rumors than anything else, a place beyond the Desert and Mountains where the Legend Beasts live.

Tribes
Even among the Tribes themselves there are divisions, sub-Tribes and combined-Tribes all together in Chima. Lions, Eagles, Wolves, Crocs, Ravens, Rhinos, Gorillas, Bears, Skunks, Beavers, and Foxes. Many to choose from, many to fight with.

Lions
They've made the rules, they're going to follow them. No matter what. Despite this they can still have a good time as long as they're not breaking any rules to do so. Strict but peace-loving, the Lions constantly look for a diplomatic solution rather than to fight. However, as of now they feel that this new 'Minority Alliance' has gone too far over the line, and with refusals to talk war is the only option.
They're based in the Lion Temple, a grand structure at the southern foot of Mt. Cavora into which the Chi Falls flow. Their leader is either a King or a Queen, with their mate being a second in command. The firstborn child of the pair inherits the duties of a King or Queen when their parents die, although they can opt to hand the throne to another.

Eagles
Smart yet absent-minded describes most Eagles in a nutshell. Given enough time, and space to write, they could figure out how to fling a single pebble and get a snowball to your hands, directly from the Northern Peaks. They're currently in debate over which side to support.
Based on the Eagle Spire in the Spires, with multiple nests on spires nearby. Lead by the Council of Eagles, who talk more than get things done. That's been fine until now, when action is needed. New Council-Eagles are chosen by election when one dies.

Crocodiles
Always the ones to enjoy a good competition, the Crocs are one of two Tribes in Chima to spend a majority of their time in the water, and are proud of it. Actually, they're proud of anything and everything they do, really. They're also cunning, able to strike a good deal and negotiate over fighting, unless influenced by a certain flower found in the Falling Forest.
Based in the Crocodile Palace, surrounded by the Swamps, the Crocs are quite at home. Lead by a King and Queen, with roughly the same throne mechanics as the Lions.

Wolves
They're pack animals, with most packs being able to reach the same decision without speaking within a couple of minutes. The 3-4 packs all live throughout the Jungle, they live seperate but have been known to come together to fight as a group. One notable thing is that their fur color often corresponds to their personality and skills: The darker, the stronger and more bad-tempered, the lighter, the kinder and faster.
Based all over the Jungles, walk around aimlessly long enough and you'll meet one. No guarantees on the friendliness, though.. Lead by Pack Leaders, with the position being switched off every so often through duals of various sorts to determine who is leader.

Ravens
Sneaky, crafty, and silk-tongued, the Ravens are thieves through and through. The more one steals, the higher-regarded they are and the less they have at home, as they're being stolen from while they're away. A few are gifted in math, which allows them to keep track of who's stealing more or less. The 'Thief of the Month' award is highly sought after, and rarely stays with the Raven it was given to.
Based on Raven's Peak in the Spires, the location provides a secure place to hide the things they steal. Often, stuff gets lost and so many Ravens just spend a day wandering the Spires around Raven's Peak looking for shiny things. Lead by a Grand Thief Master, who has shown great leadership, deal-making, and snatching skills.

The Minority Alliance: Gorillas, Bears, Rhinos, Skunks, Foxes and Beavers
Recently formed among the Tribes who are lesser-known and often only the size of one Wolf Pack, the Alliance was created to protect these smaller Tribes from being pushed over by the larger ones. The Lions, however, have protested, saying that this has made them too powerful and goes against the laws of Chima.
The Gorillas are hippies, the Bears sleepers, Rhinos miners, Skunks are just kinda there, Foxes doing the same as Skunks, and Beavers builders.
No true base, as they meet in each Tribe's base in a rotation. Led by a Council of Chiefs, who each lead their own sub-Tribe.

 


Now, pretty much this whole thing is open to suggestion and change, so don't hold back on saying "hold on, I've got a better idea for the setting" or "hold on, what if we added..." But if you'd rather get onto the plot and the characters, feel free to take the setting above as a given and start knocking on those.

Here's how we'll play this: we'll have open season on discussion through the end of April. If people have managed to hit on some popular ideas, we'll go ahead and round them up, with maybe a poll or two if there are two really competing ideas people like. Then we'll put it all together in a new RPG opener post, put out a call for folks interested in putting in a little extra time to help the game run smoothly, and kick things off.

That's all I got. Let's hear some ideas!

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I suppose I'll open things up by stating, at the least, that this from Chima's first 6 months, which means much of it is out of date. The main thing that struck me was that at the least, the Gorillas could be separated into their own, true Tribe, away from the Minority Alliance. The rest of that group, however, is probably better off staying as one.

Secondly, as I admit I don't keep up with the story as much as I should, perhaps this conflict could be based off when the upcoming Ice n' Fire Tribes were first sealed? Add them to the mix, while doing some other things as well?

I think the biggest question is that of scope: Just how large are we willing to make this? How many factions, people, can really be made before things begin to dissolve?

While it would be a large change, it would be possible to focus things down into 3 main groups of sorts: "Good" Guys, Lions, Eagles, Gorillas, some others, "Bad" Guys, Ice Tribes? Outcast Tribes? Crocs, Ravens, Wolves? and then a third group, maybe built off the Minority Alliance?

I'm just tossing ideas out there, so *shrugs*

Zakaro

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I suppose I'll open things up by stating, at the least, that this from Chima's first 6 months, which means much of it is out of date. The main thing that struck me was that at the least, the Gorillas could be separated into their own, true Tribe, away from the Minority Alliance. The rest of that group, however, is probably better off staying as one.

Secondly, as I admit I don't keep up with the story as much as I should, perhaps this conflict could be based off when the upcoming Ice n' Fire Tribes were first sealed? Add them to the mix, while doing some other things as well?

I think the biggest question is that of scope: Just how large are we willing to make this? How many factions, people, can really be made before things begin to dissolve?

While it would be a large change, it would be possible to focus things down into 3 main groups of sorts: "Good" Guys, Lions, Eagles, Gorillas, some others, "Bad" Guys, Ice Tribes? Outcast Tribes? Crocs, Ravens, Wolves? and then a third group, maybe built off the Minority Alliance?

I'm just tossing ideas out there, so *shrugs*

Zakaro

 

Well, I'm pretty sure that lego's pushing the first six month's bad guys as good guys now, and it would only make sense to use them as such seeing as we have both outland and ice tribes for baddies. :P

 

I think it would be kind of interesting for the third group to be a "secret order" type group that fights for the balance of nature in chima.(or something like that) They could be a multi species group that attacks one side or the other, depending on who has more power. (in the interest of keeping the war balanced, if we make that their motive.)

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True, true. Thing is, yes, we could flip the RPG into being more directly based of the current Chima series, and that's fine, just the initial draft, at the moment, is based in the deep past from the TV series. What's going on then doesn't need to have any relation to the current conflict and visa versa.

Eh, perhaps, but I feel that the Lions would really be the ones pushing to end the war, not have it balance out. One of the plot points that I was going to have occur were earthquakes and other natural disasters hitting Chima, showing how the fighting and Chi misbalancing was causing disruption in nature.

Of course, this is totally out of my singular hands at this point and so everything's up for discussion. :)

Zakaro

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True, true. Thing is, yes, we could flip the RPG into being more directly based of the current Chima series, and that's fine, just the initial draft, at the moment, is based in the deep past from the TV series. What's going on then doesn't need to have any relation to the current conflict and visa versa.

Eh, perhaps, but I feel that the Lions would really be the ones pushing to end the war, not have it balance out. One of the plot points that I was going to have occur were earthquakes and other natural disasters hitting Chima, showing how the fighting and Chi misbalancing was causing disruption in nature.

Of course, this is totally out of my singular hands at this point and so everything's up for discussion. :)

Zakaro

Well, when I'm talking about secret order, I wasn't thinking lions, I was thinking more of a multi-species organization.

 

Also, what about a sort of anarchy setting where instead of there being the current tribes(grouped by animal), creatures of different species have to get together and form their own "tribes"?

Edited by ~garnira returns~

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I've had to do a coverage with the guys over at The Three Virtues of nearly every episode of Chima so far, so something I'd like to make mention of is that the first season does not really deliver. There's a bunch of lore that works, but the television show's execution was kind of less than stellar for various reasons. So maybe a kind of alternate history for the first season could also work? Keep some of the stuff that works, but rework it into something that's much more fleshed out and makes more sense from a plotline perspective. We could keep the "Forgotten Tales" thing, of course, but maybe have ramifications that carry over into the "main story"?

 

One of my main complaints is that there's way too many dumb races. There's the hippie-dumb race (Gorrilas), the sleepy-dumb race (Bears), and just the dumb-dumb race (Rhinos). I don't think we need to wipe everything about them entirely, but maybe stop having them be idiots for idiocy's sake. The Bears, for instance, could perhaps function as one of the strongest/ferocious races, but their strength and ferocity is directly proportionate to the time they spend sleeping, hence why using too much of it has them drop off into sleep. Or maybe something along those lines, something that makes sense rather than just be used as a brunt of a joke all the time.

 

Also, one thing I'd like to get into is how individual tribe's government/society works based on their values. For instance, I've felt that the Lions would function more like a democratic-based constitutional monarchy, with a lot of things being put to vote by majority rule and emphasis on following on what the votes come out on. The Eagles, on the other hand, would be a debate based system and function more like a courtroom (with open forums being their national pastime). Ravens, of course, would be strict capitalists. And so on.

 

Not any of these ideas need to be directly applied, of course, but the idea for expansion should remain about the same.

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I've had to do a coverage with the guys over at The Three Virtues of nearly every episode of Chima so far, so something I'd like to make mention of is that the first season does not really deliver. There's a bunch of lore that works, but the television show's execution was kind of less than stellar for various reasons. So maybe a kind of alternate history for the first season could also work? Keep some of the stuff that works, but rework it into something that's much more fleshed out and makes more sense from a plotline perspective. We could keep the "Forgotten Tales" thing, of course, but maybe have ramifications that carry over into the "main story"?

 

One of my main complaints is that there's way too many dumb races. There's the hippie-dumb race (Gorrilas), the sleepy-dumb race (Bears), and just the dumb-dumb race (Rhinos). I don't think we need to wipe everything about them entirely, but maybe stop having them be cool dudes for idiocy's sake. The Bears, for instance, could perhaps function as one of the strongest/ferocious races, but their strength and ferocity is directly proportionate to the time they spend sleeping, hence why using too much of it has them drop off into sleep. Or maybe something along those lines, something that makes sense rather than just be used as a brunt of a joke all the time.

 

Also, one thing I'd like to get into is how individual tribe's government/society works based on their values. For instance, I've felt that the Lions would function more like a democratic-based constitutional monarchy, with a lot of things being put to vote by majority rule and emphasis on following on what the votes come out on. The Eagles, on the other hand, would be a debate based system and function more like a courtroom (with open forums being their national pastime). Ravens, of course, would be strict capitalists. And so on.

 

Not any of these ideas need to be directly applied, of course, but the idea for expansion should remain about the same.

 

I certainly like the idea of fleshing out the tribes' governments. Could be interesting. Also, for play ability's sake, we had better make the "dumb" tribes less dumb, or nobody will want to play them. Perhaps the rhinos should stay on the "dimmer" end of things, but instead of being dumb in the cartoony way that they are on the show, they could be sort of tough and thugish, but not educated. Not incompetent, just not well informed.

 

For the gorillas, we could keep their "close to nature" motif, but instead of hippies, they could be more like "savages". Not savage as in vicious, but savage as in a less developed society. I imagine that they would use a barter and trade system(to the ravens' delight). For leadership, they have a sort of faith in nature where they would wait for a chosen one(the chosen one would be the silverback).

 

The crocs would probably have more of a classical monarchy than the lions, having a ruling family that intermarries or marries aristocrats of the tribe. It would just be up to chance whether the leader is good or not. I assume they would have a capitalist economy for trade with other tribes, if nothing else(The only big tribe with boats. Crocodile shipping companies would have quite the monopoly on the shipping industry).

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As great and as much as I'd love to just world-build these tribes into all something unique, we do have to consider if it's worth doing that with the amount of players this will bring in, likely no more than 4-5 I'd say. Perhaps I'm totally wrong on that, but focusing in on the little things of the tribes shouldn't be a priority, I don't think.

Changing them slightly to be better? Yes, totally. I mean, the Gorillas can just be more connected to nature like garnira said, and such, perhaps the Rhinos have a more straight-forward way of doing things that's not too complex, but that doesn't make either tribe dumb. They just have their own way of doing things.

 

One thing that I think should really be decided on now is the setting, completely and totally. We can have it way before LoC, an alternate LoC, or something else, the main thing is just finding a time and saying that's what we're doing. From there the world can build itself up, but we've got to start from one place or another.

Zakaro

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As great and as much as I'd love to just world-build these tribes into all something unique, we do have to consider if it's worth doing that with the amount of players this will bring in, likely no more than 4-5 I'd say. Perhaps I'm totally wrong on that, but focusing in on the little things of the tribes shouldn't be a priority, I don't think.

Changing them slightly to be better? Yes, totally. I mean, the Gorillas can just be more connected to nature like garnira said, and such, perhaps the Rhinos have a more straight-forward way of doing things that's not too complex, but that doesn't make either tribe dumb. They just have their own way of doing things.

 

One thing that I think should really be decided on now is the setting, completely and totally. We can have it way before LoC, an alternate LoC, or something else, the main thing is just finding a time and saying that's what we're doing. From there the world can build itself up, but we've got to start from one place or another.

Zakaro

 

If there's one thing that Chima has done well from the start(even in the show), it would be the world building. I think they've done a really good job with the world, so we probably don't need to tamper with it all that much.

 

Also, now that you mention players, I'm a little concerned about the number of people that will actually play this. Honestly, Chima isn't the most popular line among folks on BZP, so I'm not sure if there will really be all that many people playing...

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As great and as much as I'd love to just world-build these tribes into all something unique, we do have to consider if it's worth doing that with the amount of players this will bring in, likely no more than 4-5 I'd say. Perhaps I'm totally wrong on that, but focusing in on the little things of the tribes shouldn't be a priority, I don't think.

Changing them slightly to be better? Yes, totally. I mean, the Gorillas can just be more connected to nature like garnira said, and such, perhaps the Rhinos have a more straight-forward way of doing things that's not too complex, but that doesn't make either tribe dumb. They just have their own way of doing things.

 

One thing that I think should really be decided on now is the setting, completely and totally. We can have it way before LoC, an alternate LoC, or something else, the main thing is just finding a time and saying that's what we're doing. From there the world can build itself up, but we've got to start from one place or another.

Zakaro

 

If there's one thing that Chima has done well from the start(even in the show), it would be the world building. I think they've done a really good job with the world, so we probably don't need to tamper with it all that much.

 

Also, now that you mention players, I'm a little concerned about the number of people that will actually play this. Honestly, Chima isn't the most popular line among folks on BZP, so I'm not sure if there will really be all that many people playing...

 

 

Actually, I'll disagree with you on that first one, but only around your definition of worldbuilding. The world looks great, and there's a lot of great design that went into the villages (the Eagle spire, for instance, really stands out). But I honestly don't count it as worldbuilding. To me, worldbuilding means literally building your world: seeing how your world functions, how the mundane things about society work. Politics, economics, education, social interaction, what each society values, how parents bring up their kids, things you don't really bring up all the time but flesh out beforehand so the world actually feels like a living, breathing society (or a bunch of them, in Chima's case).

 

Think of Bionicle. For me, the biggest amounts of worldbuilding didn't come from the books or movies, it came from MNOG and MNOG II. Especially MNOG II, because one of the big things that they did was make Mata Nui living and breathing. You didn't just go on an adventure, you swam and collected seaweed. You spun the seaweed into flax, you made that flax into string, you traded that string for widgets, and then used those widgets to buy other things and so on. You met a ton of other villagers who weren't just there, but they had jobs and they had hobbies and they made their society work and you could see, witness and be a part of that. Combined with the location design, I believe that's what made Mata Nui and by extension 2001-2003 so alive. It wasn't the fact that they had adventures there. Compare Mata Nui to, say, Karda Nui or Mahri Nui and it's pretty clear which one was more well built.

 

Obviously, we don't need to go into such great detail as MNOG, but because Chima doesn't have everything completely fleshed out, a few sentences on how each society works would (I imagine) at least help out any of the players as to what to expect. I wrote up some real quickly as an example; see if you like them:

 

Lions

Constitutional monarchy government with emphasis on fairness and true democracy (majority rule); communist (aka government-run equal distribution) economy; society promotes altruistic values (selflessness, bravery, etc.) but also revolves around things like Speedor racing, seeing as Chi is their main "export" and the Speedor races always seem to be right outside the Lion's city

 

Note: the economy is communist because the Lions distribute the Chi this way (the government is in charge of equal distribution of Chi among the other tribes), so it bears to reason that they would take this approach internally to their economy

 

Eagles

"Monarchy" but mostly for show, with no real power attached to the monarch and mostly constitutes as a oligarchy; socialist economy with an implied abolishment of public ownership; society is based on learning and knowledge, with scholars and philosophers being the ideal Eagle citizen's dream career

 

Note: The TV Show explicitly states that the Eagles are socialist and have no concept of private ownership, but Eris is also somehow the princess even though that never seems to have any clout except maybe when the Lions call the leaders together. Presumably, the Eagles more than likely have an oligarchy with a council of people that rule and have a king as a spokesperson. The Lions have a council too, but they only advise the King, as opposed to the Eagles who have an active role and can even overrule the king as necessary.

 

Crocodiles

Traditional monarchy, the King is always in charge and makes decisions; capitalist economy, but with a lot of implicit tax laws to inflate government profit; strength-based society, with emphasis on national pride.

 

Note: Crueller and Cragger could have not have made all the decisions and acts they did if there were a constitution, it's implied that they did whatever they want because they were the new King. Also, this is not to say that crocodiles do not value such things as bravery/selflessness/etc. under Cragger's dad's rule, but obviously they went along with Crueller/Cragger without much struggle, so it's not as valued as national pride. Conversely, if Laval tried to lead the lions in an all out war in his father's stead, most of them would oppose or not follow his rule.

 

Wolves

Traditional monarchy; communist society; warrior-based society with emphasis on ferocity/physical strength/determination, but also with a strict honor code

 

Note: The honor code is visited several times in the TV Show, with the wolves willing to honor an agreement that they made years ago with the crocodiles. The economic is communist because presumably the Pack Leaders are the one that controls the finances for each pack.

 

Ravens

Constitutional monarchy; capitalist society, but with private ownership with certain objects being equated with skill instead of previous ownership (if you are able to steal something protected and valuable, your skill makes you the new owner); society with emphasis on cunning, manipulation and profit

 

Note: The Ravens are seen as the most conniving salesmen, that seem to value profit over all others. But they do have a strange honor system that functions on thievery. For instance, they only seek to steal the choice things from each other, as opposed to just going into someone's house and taking everything they own (if they functioned purely on stealing everything, the society would fall apart; so there is some area of honor left). Ravens take care to hide their precious valuables in safehouses, but stealing something not as valuable/something needed to survive from other Ravens will result in being humiliated by the rest of society because it took no skill to do so. In fact, being a salesman and cheating someone out of a good deal is seen as the highest form of skill, because you not only stole something from someone, you made them like the fact that you were doing it.

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Could we add a new tribe or two? For example, one tribe I'd love to play but is not official is a Dragon tribe. Also, (and feel kinda stupid for suggesting this) could there be some more advanced technology? For example, we've seen they have mechs and what appear to be energy-based weapons. Would it be to much of a stretch to say that a tribe (like the Dragons, let us say) had experimented with integrating technology with their bodies? Basically, I'm asking (and feel stupid for doing so) can we have a biomechanical, cybernetic Dragon tribe? Or at least a Dragon tribe that experiments a lot?

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@Kahi: That's exactly the world-building I had in mind. Chima's setting is already amazing and can easily be taken from the show, replacing the crude locations in Forgotten Tales I made before the show really came about.

Fleshing out the Tribes, if even with a few sentences, is perfect. The ones you have look good for now, I'll pop a few more in for a look-over.

Gorillas

They exist as a loose monarchy, with the Gorillas simply gathering when the king wishes and existing throughout the forest, protecting and living on it when they're separate. Chi, when received, is usually a reason to call a meeting and discuss any possible problems or things that they need to do to help the forest continue.

 

Note: As far as I know, the Gorillas just live in a forest area, so I presumed that they were more loosely tied together and only gathered as a whole when the king needed. Personal items and such would just be carried with the individual as they traveled the forest, along with the daily allotment of Chi.

 

Rhinos

Monarchy government that's almost set up like a company of today, with smaller, close-knit groups of mining teams, a guard group, and craftsman group each with a leader reporting to a head with his attendants. Most things are communal, with a focus on large meals between the entire tribe or a group and armor, weaponry, and tools being given to those who need it. Personal items are crafted or bartered for with rock carvings or distributed Chi.

 

Note: I get the feeling the Rhinos are best interpreted as miners, so they lead a simple life revolving around the mining of rock and trading raw and carved stone to the other tribes for what they need, providing building materials and pretty statues. Economy is communist, just giving what's needed to each Rhino as necessary, and like I said they almost function as a company, with divisions of Rhinos for each type of work staying and living closely together while still interacting with the whole in Speedor races and other events.

 

@avmatoran: While I do admit that a Dragon Tribe would be cool, I'm hesitant to add yet another Tribe to Chima's already expansive... 18+ worth of Tribes, some of which will need to be omitted already or combined into one. :/

 

Tribes like the Outland Tribes should probably be considered one, the Fire Tribes should be one, the Ice Tribes.. There's 9 down into 3, and that still leaves us with 12. Lions, Wolves, Crocs, Eagles, Ravens, and Gorillas are definitely main, there;s 6 that can't be combined into others. 9 accounted for. Rhinos, Foxes, and Skunks... Rhinos are perhaps the most on-the-line Tribe in terms of whether we want them combined into something with the Foxes and Skunks or separate.. I've thrown a description for them above because I like them, so yeah.

Zakaro

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So no to the dragons? Darn. They're the only ones I'd really want to play as... except for, perhaps, the Phoenixes. As for the cybernetic augmentation of a tribe or tribe members? What about that?

76561198084608045.png


 


Γαρ επιστιμη!


 


Для науки!


 


For science!


(Literally, it means "For knowledge", but it can be taken as "For science")


 


 


 

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I'm not so sure that the whole government thing is as relevant as allowing people to play as different tribes. So I could be an Eagle, Zakaro could be a Gorilla if he wanted to, etc. That way any other tribes that members don't want to play as could just be in the background.

 

EDIT: There's a dragon tribe?

Edited by fishers64
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There's another good point, fishers. We could just have the RPG be set as perhaps the beginning of the tribes, with the players perhaps being the first Eagle, Gorilla, Rhino, Lion, etc. working to unite their people for a greater cause. That could actually be really, really interesting when you think about it. Actually building a tribe and civilization of sorts from the ground up, leading them to victory. I'm honestly truly intrigued on that possibility. :P

 

And av, cybernetics would probably be possible with Eagle tech, as they seem to be the most advanced in that regards, although it would likely still be very crude and not allowing for much more than the replaced limb itself.

 

@Dragons: Well, not canonically. Have Dragon Tribes popped up in fanon? Well, duh. There's just not currently an official Dragon Tribe form Lego.

Zakaro

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I definitely want a Dragon tribe now. Perhaps as a Fire Tribe, or the remnants of an old Dragon tribe, and different dragons have scattered among the other tribes? Cause I want to be a dragon, but I kinda want something cybernetic as well.

76561198084608045.png


 


Γαρ επιστιμη!


 


Для науки!


 


For science!


(Literally, it means "For knowledge", but it can be taken as "For science")


 


 


 

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I definitely want a Dragon tribe now. Perhaps as a Fire Tribe, or the remnants of an old Dragon tribe, and different dragons have scattered among the other tribes? Cause I want to be a dragon, but I kinda want something cybernetic as well.

 

So a chima version of this? :P

Lego_ninjago_nindroid_mechdragon.png

 

Anyways, I don't think new tribes are the way to go. Too much time and effort for an RPG that I estimate will have 20 people MAX. And hey, there's no rules against being of a normal tribe and wearing dragon-like armor(or masks), and having robotic wings/tail. In many cases, strange and vibrant characters are what give RPGs (and stories, for that matter) life!

 

Also, I don't think that fleshing out the governments will do any harm to individuality. If you want to be a certain animal, but don't agree with the tribe's government, you can just be an outcast, an exile, or perhaps just on the rebellious side of things.

Edited by ~garnira returns~

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I don't really think we need new tribes, but in the TV Show some animal races just "pop up" without an actual tribe. Peacocks, skunks, foxes and the like are active members of the world, but they don't actually have on-screen tribes. I can see the merit of people playing the characters/animals they want, although a dragon might be pushing it.

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This seems interesting, and while I'm not a big fan of the show, (They portray the Eagles as horrible in combat with the exception of Eris and a couple others, and show that their jets are super-weak in comparison to a heli that was dreamed up in a matter of weeks by a tribe that isn't usually displayed as mechanically competent and can't even natually fly...), I like Chima, especially when you build out from the TV show's lack of coherancy and make it into something good. So I'll be popping in to see how this goes, and offering ideas now and then.

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Alright, unless people'd like to start working on separate drafts and then combine them later, if we're going to make one draft we do need to focus in here.

The main ideas I've brought up and heard are pretty simple:

A: TV series Alt-verse: More fleshed out, mature version of the TV series, and based directly off there. Things would likely progress much in the same way.

B: Forgotten Tales: The setting from the draft, a time before the Tribes with a different conflict. Main plot would revolve around how misuse of Chi leads to Chima's instability.

C: Tribe-Building: The idea I just brought up a post or three back, where players would be able to be the ones starting up the Tribes, uniting the people and forming the Chima seen in the TV series. Would provide a more sandbox style while allowing for things like B's main plot point to be used as well.

 

If anyone's got others or an opinion, feel free to share it. We need more discussion here. :P

Zakaro

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So technically Chima month is over now, but I've never been a stickler for rules. :P

 

It sounds like the idea of world-building with the tribes, be that through telling their origins or otherwise, is a popular idea, as is maybe making use of non-standard animals be that ones that don't have a tribe or just ones that don't stick to the stereotype of the tribe the show presents.

 

Fleshing out the tribes' cultures seems like a natural way to go to make good characters (which I think are the basis of good RPing), so I'm liking this direction so far. If people want to vote on Zakaro's ideas, I do like the sound of C the most - but as always, if folks have stuff to add onto those or other ideas, don't be afraid to say them.

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Hmmm... While I would prefer Alt-verse, Option C would make sure everyone's RPCs have something to do and would help increase activity. The problem is that we need to make sure we would have enough players to start the tribes. And yes, non-standard animals would be very good.

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I think we can allow for one cybernetic dragon. :P

 

But we can't have like ten of them. Otherwise it's no longer the Chima RPG, it's the Cybernetic Dragon RPG. Perhaps we can make an in-world rule that only dragons have access to cybernetic technology and are extremely rare, to keep this from getting out of control.

 

Other than that, the tribe-building idea has one problem - the Outland and Frozen tribes aren't sapient until the time of the TV series, so we (probably) would have to limit the players to the Season 1 tribes to start. Unless we have a way around that?

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We could do an alt-verse tribe-building thing.

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 Kopaka, the coolest(Pun intended) Ko-Toa ever:

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"If the fight had turned, Exann might be the one on the floor with Antidermis spurting out of him. This is how battle is. This is how life is." -Mar'jik, Corpus Rahkshi                                       

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I just had an interesting idea concerning the rhinos. The show always portrays them as having "pet rocks", so perhaps instead of eliminating that entirely, they could be animists? (Wikipedia page for those unfamiliar with Animism is found here.) It would be a bit more of a "serious" take on an otherwise goofy plot device!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, this topic has ground to a bit of a halt. Part of that is on me - between getting bluer and the end of the semester, I haven't had the time to do what I'd really like, which is to round up all these ideas and rewrite an RPG opener post like the one up top.

 

Since I'm still going to be pretty darn busy for the next week or so, I'd like to make this as plain as I can - I would absolutely love if someone gathered these ideas and came up with a good RPG base post like the one up top. I can give it a whirl if nobody else can, but given you've all had a bigger role in shaping this than me (and given it's finals week), it'd probably be best for this topic if someone else put it together soon.

Hey: I'm not very active around BZP right now.  However, you can always contact me through PM (I have email notifications set up) and I will reply as soon as I can.


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I'll try my hand at it if nobody else wants to. It looks like an alternate beginning is what we're looking at, with the Tribes getting built by the players and practically any animal being open for creation and beginnings. Sounds like a plan, then. :P

I'll see what I can do sometime. Any suggestions are welcome, as usual. :)

Zakaro

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Don't knock on him, Canis. He seems to be quite determined on this, and we need all the players we can get.

 

I was thinking of having a "legendary dragon tribe with one sole survivor" or something like that to preclude cybernetic dragon encroachment. I'd like to see your version, Zakaro, unless someone else wants to write it up.

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I was thinking more along the lines of "We won't have many players, so introducing new tribes will spread us too thin and we could end up with tribes of one"

That's a legitimate concern. But in this case, we are allowing for one tribe of one player to ensure that the player is retained. We're not allowing a "infinity tribes free for all". I mean, this guy has brought this up six times - he's pretty determined to have his cybernetic dragon. I'm trying to negotiate a compromise here.

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Alright, I've got this so far, but at this point I'm kinda tied up doing school and the impending BioRPG deadline, which I'm probably going to enter, and since this doesn't have as much of a deadline priority goes to the Bio. :P

So yeah. It's just an intro, but honestly the setting will be created by the players, and all that's really left after that is rules and the profile form.

I think. :P

Long before the time of Laval, Eris, Cragger, or even Lagravis, Chima was formed.
Great quakes shook the land, and a mountain, having been blessed by some supernatural means, rose into the air. And yet waters began to pour forth from it, spreading life where they touched, seemingly unending in the flow. The deizens of the forests, jungles, plains, and mountains came and drank of the water, and they were transformed. Inteligence blossomed, they came to stand on two legs, and they shrank in size. This was the beginning of Chima, where things all began. The Lions kept careful watch over the pools where the waters' powers were strongest, making sure that no one animal took too much or too little. But disagreements were rampant, and with no clear leaders the animals of Chima would fight daily for whatever they wished.
There were no Tribes. Order was, at best, determined by the mood of the Lions guarding the pool.
This is where it begins. This is where you come in, to take control or carve out your own niche. It's your choice.
Build your Tribe. Bring order to Chima.
Start the Legends.
Stuff you need to know:
First off, welcome to the Chima RPG! Glad to have ya here, and good day. Here's the rundown: This RPG is set long before the TV series, where the animals have just evolved not too long ago, at most a generation or two. Things are unstable in this world, with no true Tribes yet established.
Zakaro

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Don't knock on him, Canis. He seems to be quite determined on this, and we need all the players we can get.

 

I was thinking of having a "legendary dragon tribe with one sole survivor" or something like that to preclude cybernetic dragon encroachment.

Thank you, fisher.

 

Yeah, I'm not thinking a big army of cybernetic dragons. I was thinking more along the lines of "there used to be a dragon tribe, but they did one experiment too many and wiped most of themselves out, leaving a small remnant, about a hundred dragons scattered throughout Chima, mostly in small groups. I'd just be one of the remnant.

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Γαρ επιστιμη!


 


Для науки!


 


For science!


(Literally, it means "For knowledge", but it can be taken as "For science")


 


 


 

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  • 2 weeks later...

And again, my bad for letting this slip.

 

Zakaro - that's a decent 'premise' post, but we could still use a few hard locations so the players aren't totally wandering sans direction. We can probably adapt some of the locations from canon/the post up top, with a general sense of them being wilder due to the fact they've yet to be fully settled/etc. It might not also be a bad idea to (initially) have everyone start in roughly the same area - given the number of players, trying to spread everyone out across Chima from the get-go seems like a great way to stifle player interaction before it starts.

 

In terms of rules, the standard RPG rules (see Exo-Force) seem appropriate enough.

 

There's also the question of - who wants to staff the game? Staff being a relative term, since this was a collaborative effort, but it's probably not a bad idea to have one or two people who can nudge things along if need be.

Hey: I'm not very active around BZP right now.  However, you can always contact me through PM (I have email notifications set up) and I will reply as soon as I can.


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  • 3 weeks later...

Double-posting (as a staffie? Scandalous) to re-check folks' interest in this. It's coming up on two months since the initial post, so if we're going to get this up and running it should be sooner rather than later.

 

Again, if you have interest in playing or staffing, please post to confirm that. Even if we don't quite pull together more detail on Zakaro's proposal, better to fix up a live RPG on the run than never get one off the ground at all.

Hey: I'm not very active around BZP right now.  However, you can always contact me through PM (I have email notifications set up) and I will reply as soon as I can.


Useful Topics: The Q&A Compendium | The Official RPG Planning Topic
Stories: Fractures | An Aftermath | Three Stories | LSO 2012 Epics: Team Three | The Shadow and the Sea | The Days They Were Needed | Glitches | Transformations | Echoes | The Kaita and the Storyteller | Nui

BZPRPG: Komae · Soraya · Bohrei

Blog: Defendant Lobby no. 42

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I'm interested in playing, though I probably don't have the time(Or experience) to staff.

Edited by Ahktu

 Kopaka, the coolest(Pun intended) Ko-Toa ever:

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"If the fight had turned, Exann might be the one on the floor with Antidermis spurting out of him. This is how battle is. This is how life is." -Mar'jik, Corpus Rahkshi                                       

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