Phantom of the Black Parade
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Post by Kuroya on Nov 28, 2014 15:18:29 GMT -8
I've had this idea bouncing around in my head for a little while now. More like going on two or three years off and on. *coughs* But I've never had the motivation to work on it much more than thinking until now since I've always had other sites to try to keep up with or I've not been in the mood to try to deal with it. Heck, I'm still not entirely 100% sure I'll go through with it. But I'm considering it far more than I have in previous occasions. Which is huge considering that I've had it going for this long and not even attempted it.
I'm going to lay out as much of what I know I want to do as what I have. It's probably going to be a lot, at least for the moment, so. *cough* Really I'm looking for feedback as to whether or not this is a good idea or not or if the whole system is bad or what. (Also "I'd like to join" and "I'd be up for helping staff that" would be fantastic too). Ample use of the spoiler tag will show up here since lmao I have a lot to put here.
Basics
The site would be mainly based around Twilight Princess and the themes in that game, though I'd also borrow elements from other games (Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword, Link Between Worlds). Animanga FCs, 150 word count, basic human decency type rules. No canons would be on the site, naturally, and what few do exist would be entirely run by staff. And while there might be "site canons" in the form of an occupation list or something of the sort once later areas open up, but there'd definitely be no Link or Link-like spots. Everyone can be a hero, no matter who they are or how big they are.
The site would also be really big on being fair to all the races and to old and new members alike. New people aren't given extra bonuses, but older members aren't going to be handed perks in big things either. Events are going to be repeatable whenever possible, boss rewards aren't going to be anything you can't get otherwise, and rewards are going to be things you can get through normal RP as well.
Plot
The basic background to Twilight Princess would happen as per usual (Zant partnered with Ganondorf and overthrew Midna, Zelda surrendered to Zant and put Hyrule into Twilight rather than let her people die, Twilight would spread across the land until it reached Ordona). But unlike the actual game, Midna and Link attempted to challenge Zant early on. The fight began to turn when Ganondorf came in and began to interfere, so the three heroes sacrificed themselves to kill Zant and seal Ganondorf temporarily. But in doing so, they shattered the magic of the Triforce, which dispersed among the residents of the land, giving them a more "human" appearance and the ability to survive as beasts within the Twilight. But Ganondorf would still be strong enough to begin freeing himself, and as he fought his chains, Twilight fell over the Ordona Province. The last act the Goddesses (and remaining Light Spirits) could do to protect "good" was to warp those with a strong enough pull to the Triforce to the City in the Sky, which is the last remaining stronghold of Light, and hope that they could purify the lands once again after collecting enough Tears of Light to do so.
The plot would then be progressed through clearing first Twilight over a region (which would be done via a massive site buy), and this would then unlock new races for creation as well as a new dungeon. Dungeons would be defeated via explorations (meaning that basically members would explore the first "half" of the dungeon, defeat a subboss to unlock a new shop item, explore the second "half", and defeat a boss for goodies and a new region) and result in an update to the plot via a "chapter". The overarching end goal is, of course, to eventually clear Twilight from the land and defeat Ganondorf once and for all, returning the Triforce to the people - or at least, that's the plan at any rate. Whether or not that happens, well... the site would have to reach that far first.
Races
The actual "normal" races for rp sites that are also available in Twilight Princess are Fairy, Goron, Gerudo, Hylian, Human, and Zora. I would also be adding Twili to that list. Oocca would not be on that list since they were acknowledged as a dying race to start and I would assume that if confronted with further adverse conditions (read: larger and smarter groups of enemies prowling around the City in the Sky) they would die off, though that is up for debate should interest be shown in them. Yetis would also be unavailable since only Yeto and Yeta appear in the game and they seem to be exclusive to Twilight Princess anyway, though again this also is up for debate. Screw it I'm including Yetis. Sheikah would not be an available race since Impaz is highly insinuated to be the last of the Sheikah and would have passed; any with Sheikah blood would be only a quarter at best and firmly human or Hylian. I would, however, add Kokiri since they would have gone into hiding when something (read: the background for Twilight Princess) started going down as well as give something for Fairies to do besides just be Fairies.
As far as faceclaims would go, I'd probably be way more flexible on this than most LoZ sites go. I mean... I've seen way too many where the faceclaim has to be exactly xyz to be the character, and that's just... not really how I roll, not to mention that it seems really extremely nit-picky for me. I'd personally disregard skin tones and eye color to more of a "this would be nice but it's no big deal if you can't" type of thing since yeahhhhh good luck finding a lot of certain races. Instead I would probably roll it more by hair colors and general look since, after all, the Triforce did generalize the appearances when its magic entered the people. Light hair (blond or a very light brown) and a bit more bulky? Goron. Red hair and a bit fiery? Gerudo. Blue/green/purple hair would be Zora while pink/white/light hair would be Fairy. Hylian and Human would both be anything considered "normal" in appearance for hair colors. Twili would have red or white/pale blond hair while Kokiri would be earthly colors like browns, golds, and green. Yetis would only have white hair.
Progression
Now for the important mention of progression. As insinuated up higher, certain races and items would become more available as the storyline progressed. I do have a tentative timeline for things being released, so I'm going to lay that out. And I'm aware I'm distorting some of the map to even things out, it was sort of necessary so the beginning of the site wasn't too empty. "Freed" means that the area is released from Twilight, though it would be playable both in and out of Twilight. But yeah, here's the really basic rough layout for what would be released that I'm being entirely open and honest about since why would I want to hide this from people I mean really.
Site Start - City in the Sky is the only playable area in "human" form. Humans, Hylians, and Twili are the only available groups and you can "purchase" a sword from the start (rather, you're automatically given a basic weapon). You would be able to buy a shield from the start as well.
Ordona freed - The Sacred Grove and Ordon would become available. Kokiri and Fairies would be playable. Slingshot would be immediately purchasable and lantern would become available as the Temple of Time dungeon was explored.
Faron freed - The Faron Woods and Castle Town would become available. Gorons would be playable. Bomb Bag would be immediately purchasable and Gale Boomerang would become available as the Forest Temple dungeon was explored.
Eldin freed - The Death Mountain and Kakariko village would become available. Zora would be playable. Heavy boots would be immediately purchasable and bow would become available as the Goron Mines dungeon was explored.
Lanaryu freed - Lake Hylia and Zora's Domain would become available. Gerudo would be playable. Zora's Armor would be immediately purchasable and hookshot would become available as the Lakebed Temple dungeon was explored.
Desert freed - Great Desert and Cave of Ordeals would become available. Yeti would be playable. Shadow Crystal (allowing for beast transformation in non-Twilight areas) would be immediately purchasable and spinner would become available as the Arbiter's Grounds dungeon was explored.
Snowpeak freed - Snowpeak and Sea of Ice would become available. Double Hookshot would be immediately purchasable and ball and chain would become available as the Snowpeak Ruins dungeon was explored.
Twilight "freed" - Dominion Rod would be immediately purchasable. Palace of Twilight dungeon would be explorable. This is just about the end of everything folks.
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Phantom of the Black Parade
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Post by Kuroya on Nov 28, 2014 15:19:23 GMT -8
Now to resume hell this site building in a second post specifically for the more combat/system oriented part.
Heart Containers and Magic
Everyone starts with three heart containers. You can purchase more in the shop, yes, but half of the cost would go towards the site buy (which can straight out be donated to). And they get progressively more expensive with each one you buy. They would also be distributed via events with pieces of heart or from significant participation in boss fights (ie a legitimate boss fight with a legitimate struggle versus the fun of "hey look I'm dodging every blow and smiting the boss LOOK AT HOW POWERFUL I AM"). So yeah you can buy as many of these as you want, but at some point the cost-payoff benefit sorta just... reaches a level where it all levels out. I'm tentatively thinking of a "the cost of the last plus half again" system but IDK for sure, so I'm not going to toss out any numbers for hearts.
I am not incorporating magic. Sue me, but I'm so over LoZ sites where only certain races can use magic or you can only use it if you meet certain conditions and just... no. No. I am really not open to budging on this unless I think of a really good system. But that's not likely to happen, so I'm just not going to include it. Period. End of story.
Weaponry and Damage
Everyone would start with one default weapon. I don't really care if it's actually a sword. Have fun with an ax, a lance, a scythe, what have you. I really don't care what weapon you pick as long as it's not a long-distance weapon - that's for the bow. From there, if you want, you buy a shield, but it's not required.
Each starting weapon would do one half-heart of damage. You can, however, put money in to upgrade it to do an additional half-heart of damage, and you can do this multiple times. I might impose a cap at some point, but only if people are upgrading it massively and abusing the system (aka to like... six, seven, eight hearts of damage). These upgrades would, like heart containers, cost money and the more you upgrade it, the more expensive the next will get until the cost-payoff benefit really isn't worth it. Half of this purchase would also go towards the site buy as well. While in beast form, you would do the same damage you would if you were in human form with your weapon.
Additional damaging items include the slingshot (quarter-heart), bombs (heart and a half), bow and arrows (heart), hookshot (half-heart), spinner (half-heart), and ball and chain (heart).
Additional Items and "Death"
Rather than put in bottles and flutes and the like, I'm just going to allow for hawks and horsegrass and horse charms to be used at will, as well as "bottle items" be purchasable with the bottle. You would have to purchase a horse, but that would be the only one and based off the idea that there are so few horses in Hyrule that it should be purchasable.
Fishing bait is assumed to be carried with you at thus would not be sold. Fish with what you wish. Just make sure it makes sense. Similarly, lantern oil would be redundant and thus not be a purchasable item. Your lantern will never run out of oil. Go nuts.
Purchasable bottle items would include milk (four hearts), red potion (eight hearts), blue potion (twelve hearts), and small fairies (all hearts or revive with half if "killed"). Any Chu Jelly would be instead converted to a potion. These bottles items can be used whenever and removed by staff.
Death would exist as a concept in the game, however, ghosts would not be playable characters. Similarly, there would be no deaths when a played character dies without permission; instead, where someone would die, they instead "black out" and wake up in a nearby safe location (ie the start of a dungeon). If you had a small fairy, however, you would instead feel faint for a moment before the fairy would spin around you and revive you before disappearing.
Bestiary
The bestiary would, naturally, expand as the roleplay progresses. Beginning monsters would have to be nerfed to fit the new progression, but I'm not too worried about that since it would be adjusted according to the average players on the site, not the highest player. Though I might be "mean" and spawn higher health boss and subboss monsters for those higher leveled players to battle.
But yeah obviously the starting monsters would be Twilight Monsters like the Shadow Kargarok, Shadow Vermin, Shadow Keese, Shadow Deku Baba, Shadow Bulblin, Shadow Insects, and Shadow Beasts. From there, I would slowly add in the Bestiary since putting in things in Arbiter's Grounds makes no sense if it's not available to start and not reasonable for people to take on at first. Monsters would be grouped according to where (and when) they appear and thus be relatively the same on difficulty.
This is also a bit easier on the staff since hey writing up even the sixty-nine monsters that appear in just Twilight Princess might sap out a lot of muse, never mind the additional bosses and subbosses.
Twilight Realm and Beasts
The immediately next area in Twilight is available but not the others (for example, if the Lanaryu area is the one most recently purified, the Desert area would be available for play but not Snowpeak). So thus people can be exploring this area even as they explore the dungeon as well. They just simply cannot purify the next area until the dungeon has been defeated.
While in the Twilight Realm, the characters revert into the forms of beasts, much as Link did to Wolf Link. However, these forms can be anything from a housecat to an elephant as long as they make sense - think of it sort of like the person's spirit animal. When going between the Twilight Realm and the Lightened Realm, they can alternate between their "human" form and their beast form. While in beast form, characters can talk to other animals and use their senses to pick up things they may not have noticed in human form, but they are also unable to do certain things they might have otherwise done before (ie swing a weapon).
Exploration System
I'm just gonna be really basic and say that there's gonna be no rules for this. You can solo if you want. You can go in groups if you want. Groups will naturally be safer and give better odds in fights, but yeah, if you want to be the lone hero (and die a lot and get fewer rewards) be my guest. After a certain amount of time has gone by and a good amount of progress has been made (aka there's enough "Legend of Zelda type problem solving"), signups will be put out for subbosses. After the signups have run their course, two or three threads will be started for the subboss and members are expected to post back and forth on defeating it with a 48-hour limit before they are skipped. Following defeat of the boss in all threads (or just all of the members are no longer able to continue) the members who participated will get money based on their contribution and the dungeon can be further explored with the new shop item.
Similarly, after the dungeon has been suitably "explored", signups for the boss will start. From there, likewise, there will be two or three threads, but unlike with the subboss threads, staff will occasionally poke their heads in and play the boss. Following the defeat of the boss (who is given heart containers to track its strength) in all threads, rewards are distributed and the dungeon cleared while the next area is then able to be purchased from the shop.
Shop and Money
Shop plugin will work for probably 99.9 percent of this. The .1 is, of course, the site buy. So that will be used with the donation system to a dummy account that all the staff can access and accept donations to. Once the Rupee count reaches a certain point, the area under Twilight will be marked as "cleared".
The exact money system would take a bit of work while I explore what I have to work with, but I'm tentatively doing that IC posts are worth five Rupees while other posts are worth either one or none at all. Staff would not be able to spend the money on their staff accounts for anything but the site buy.
Items can also be sold back to the shop for half of what they were bought for.
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Phantom of the Black Parade
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Post by Kuroya on Nov 28, 2014 15:19:48 GMT -8
placeholding this post since it may very well end up being needed.
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Post by Ginger on Nov 28, 2014 17:13:47 GMT -8
-lurks thread for updates-
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Post by Magical Flying Kite on Nov 28, 2014 18:35:18 GMT -8
Oooh you're going with the idea. I'm totally willing to join whether you want to have me or not vUv~ I like the whole idea after having some time to read through things and stuff, don't really see much I can criticize on, then again i'm pretty much a novice when it comes to these things (i'msorry:c). Anyway i'll probably be glancing in and out for updates and stuff c:
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Post by Hiro on Nov 28, 2014 20:48:14 GMT -8
I'm gonna... just... settle here and wait... and totally not just post so I know where the hell this thread is.
.... and offer up my life to staff for you. Again.
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Phantom of the Black Parade
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Post by Kuroya on Nov 28, 2014 20:53:02 GMT -8
You always do, Jae. I mean.
Give me site name suggestions cuz I literally have nothing and I'm too tired to brain. *brick'd, crawls out for bed now*
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Post by Ginger on Nov 28, 2014 20:59:33 GMT -8
-saves post for site name ideas-
Broken balance
Mighty rangers power force go!
No fight, no life
Spiritually strong
These are awful.... minus poer ranger joke
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THIS HAND OF MINE IS BURNING RED
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Post by middy♥ on Nov 28, 2014 21:09:47 GMT -8
*cannot help with site names because I'm awful at them but wanted to let you know I'm so joining when it's open because LoZ RP is like my life ok*
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Post by ROGUE on Nov 28, 2014 21:44:13 GMT -8
I so desperately want to join and potentially help staff.
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Post by Jacob on Nov 28, 2014 22:47:05 GMT -8
Although I could not aid in staffing duties due to longstanding poor health, I would be gladly willing to join the prospective site when and if you open it. I do have several inquiries. Concerning word counts, most venues who advertise themselves as being bereft of them truly bear staff and/or members who henpeck those persons that write more than two-hundred. This has been my general self-experience about the ProBoards circuit, a dreadful matter. Would players who like typing out lengthier messages be openly received?
I would ask about the status of face claims, but they appear sublime! (Mine from a previous locale surrounding the franchise is a human with red hair and red eyes.) The second question, then, is could members be allowed to contribute lore? I have hoped to introduce partially and/or thoroughly sung musical dramas to The Legend of Zelda fandom, given the gross importance of music. Several gentlemen expressed interest in a performance concerning Hyrule's creation before the role-play we were stationed at was closed.
It was during the Medieval to the early Romantic eras that males portrayed both genders on stage, even where females admissibly could. My lad was to have acted and sang as the goddess Din; the administrator's one lass, Nayru. (I had started on another sacred opera regarding the story of the goddess Hylia). She preferred original librettos, sacred and/or secular; they were allegorically modeled after the culture of sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe as opposed to well-nigh direct translations of realistic works.
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Phantom of the Black Parade
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Post by Kuroya on Nov 29, 2014 5:03:05 GMT -8
Okay guys. Jae will probably give me some good names. But. I'm tossing around Light That Never Comes, I See Fire, and Falling Inside The Black. Another couple I'm toying with are Immortal Lament / Immortals' Lament and Shattered Mirrors. All but two of those are song names.
Jacob - it took me a few moments to try to decipher what you were getting at. A plus vocabulary and diction. But uh... if I'm understanding this correctly, I never said the site would be without a word count. 150 minimum, and while I'm not the sort to kick butt for under, I will ask someone to go higher if they aren't consistently getting there and it's becoming a problem for others. Going over I have no problems with as long as you're not, y'know, just right out ignoring what other people wrote or trying to OHKO (or one post KO) things. I myself consistently hit at least 300 and Jae up there around 500 or so in the three years I've known him. I've never come across something like what you mentioned, but I'm more of a "live and let live" kind of person. As long as it's not negatively impacting the site as a whole (which, in my experience, longer posts don't even when most of it is fluff), I'm not really going to shame or bully anyone, and letting others do it sits poorly on me.
Original lore I'm pretty okay on? When I run sites, I usually do character approvals by "if it doesn't break site lore or major canon lore (ie "I can fly on the back of a dragon!" on a site with none in sight) and makes sense in context, go for it" since yeah. Granted, something like what you proposed for what seems to be a performing opera troupe would be more than welcome, but it also wouldn't be something on, say, a site canon list since there isn't going to be one. But if you're up for putting one together, go nuts.
Okay. While I puzzle out names though, I also need to start laying out what I need. I have Jae here as more or less co-admin who can help me run things and another friend has privately volunteered to take on general maintenance. But I know I may end up needing another admin and at least two or three mods. Basically what I'm looking for staff-wise for needs is:
Maybe one more general mod for approving apps, handling shop purchases, archiving things, updating claims, etc. Minor work.
One to two mods who would do that plus keep up with advertising and/or running the dungeons. They'd also be working with the bestiary and helping to try to keep the systems there reasonable. (I might possibly hire someone just for advertising, but if no one's interested, I can split the duties.) This is the mega uber important one I'd need since even allowing for any staff to poke in and handle the boss and subboss is going to slowly murder me from all that. And poofy/inactive staff here will literally make me flip a table since these will be probably the most important.
Lastly I would probably tentatively like an "admin" who would work on the skinning side. I'm fairly okay at editing a skin when I have it, and Jae makes some really amazing graphics when left to her own devices, but I'm bad at skinning from scratch so if someone could handle that side of the spectrum I'd be happy. I might run this just as a skin mod and that's more what they do and make their duties only be to change the skins every once in a while. Idk, depends on if they would want to stay on or what have you.
Point being: I think this can be run with four to six active staff managing their resources right. At the start, it'd probably work just having the four, but I'm more worried about after the first site buy, how is that dungeon going to screw the staff over. And making that bestiary since I'm already dreading it.
Anyway yes who wants to volunteer as tribute?
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Post by Ginger on Nov 29, 2014 5:28:52 GMT -8
Throw me to it, I will do it.
-Should be new catchphrase-
Sacrifice my soul
Except. Advertising, Captcha/video ads kills it for me... i could update linkbacks. maybe affies with permission. But flat out first linking, ehh im still working on doing that for another site for a pretty cbox name... understand really want that name, that's s how much I hate captcha/video ads.
-Please forgive bad mobile typing, so so awful at it...-
Added:
If it wasnt song would totally love, Falling Inside The Black.
As for light one, kind of iffie the characters are trying to fix it, which eventu as lly purify evrry board, so not mpossible... unless were aiming for different darker meaning.
Then again you could plan to have pieces of ganons soul attatch itself to characters to force the purified parts to be twilight again. Like antiLight purifying light areas to shadows, almost kingdom hearts on these boards.
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Phantom of the Black Parade
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Post by Kuroya on Nov 29, 2014 5:35:45 GMT -8
... You dork, you do realize that if you advertise on mobile, most of the captchas are really easy and not video ads? At least for Proboards anyway. You'd still need to do Jcink and Invisionfree from a computer. But Jcink uses nice captchas so.
And Jae and I would do affiliates. I'd just like someone to drop ads and do the linkbacks since while I can do them (I try to never ask my staff to do something I'm unwilling to do myself), I'd prefer to throw my time towards making the boards, running the dungeons, keeping up with the bestiary, etc.
Edit: I'm fond of FItB myself but I'm also thinking it's a bit too wordy, same with LTNC. Even though I love the song for LTNC. And the idea of the song fits. Not to mention that the way the site is set, the name fits... but more for the Twili, who consistently are never saved by the light.
Also I think since the fact the purification process is via a site buy in and of itself, the need for an anti-purification group is really moot.
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Post by Jacob on Nov 29, 2014 5:38:33 GMT -8
I appreciate the kindly comment! My sincerest apologies if anything was vexing. I have tried bringing the subject to most sites concerning the fandom which have arisen during the past three years. The result was me being bedeviled every time, so I now feel need to inquire whenever I display interest towards a locale.
It's splendid to know that such cultural possibilities can be allotted. Indeed, I wouldn't think associated figures would be found on many canon lists; your prospective one, of course, no exception! Thank you for clarifying these particular items. They're wholly worth seeing become reality, I should merrily opine!
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Five years ago, the Pokemon League formed Lux to create a new world order of peace and harmony. A rebellion formed, under the name of Nox, cries tyranny at Lux's new microcosmic control. Their civil war now tears the Pokemon world apart. The world hangs in the balance of predormitum. Which side will you choose?
is a high stakes RP set in a dystopian Russian society recovering from an apocalyptic war between the armies of Heaven and Hell. Greater Russia now stands free from the influence of God and the Devil, and all non-humans run the risk of execution. Outside the safe zones lies the contained wasteland of Moscow, where demons and mutated shadowbeasts continue to terrorize the remaining human survivors who have been penned in with them. As of late, increasing evangelic disturbances threaten the peace that has ruthlessly maintained by the secret police.
