[Submission/Preparation time for assembling characters/profiles: two months estimate.]
Alright, guys. I have a whole schlew of stuff typed out on my Persona RP involving how to submit characters, the base premise of the story, and so on. However, there's a very fundamental part that it doesn't cover! The character's everyday lives!
The great part about Persona is that everyone in the world can have some sort of consequence; your party members only cover about a third of the arcana out there, and leave potential for twice as many equally key characters. So here's the deal:
If you are interested in playing in a modern/realistic high school and/or city setting, please read on. If you are looking for the actual, main, battle and dungeon crawl story it is further below.]
By night, they are heroes in an alternate universe nobody knows about. By day, they meet and befriend people, who spiritually build them up by their friendships; sometimes, someone doesn't represent an arcana, but due to some busy style of life unwittingly give you quests. "I've been looking for a... _____"
Not all characters need to be highschoolers and teenagers. This is just for the central "loop" that the characters see 5-6 days a week as soon as they walk in or out of their classroom. Sometimes, those who do not go to war are still what wins it, so to speak. Morale means everything.
So, I'm looking for as many as 14 characters that are NOT initially in the adventuring party. Ideas on how to place them can vary greatly. Part time jobs the teenagers go to, school clubs, even celebrities they manage to run into. It could be as simple as the bum on the street they walk by 20 times before deciding, hey, I might talk to him, learn something.
PM me with your ideas for a character, and we can work out what Arcana, if any, they represent. Day by day you can easily play them, without GM interference or anything, as they interact with the day to day world and not big, creepy dungeons. Basically, a high school setting anyone is welcomed into, as long as we figure out what kinda' card you are!
Now onto the main course!
Base Premise:
The world of the collective unconscious still broils in unrest. Though heroes have battled back entities that have come to feed on the negativity of humanity (our discontent, our anger, hated, depression, the will of many for the world to simply stop, to fade away, and so forth), not all humans have come to terms with their darkest selves and in such, in a central core this darkness of humanity has been sealed (see “main character”, Persona 3). In segregating Death and Nyx from the dark impulses of mankind, so too has the human mind become fragmented. This unusual and, in a way, unnatural structure in the collective subconscious reflects as an enormous castle. In many ways, it is defensive. The opening of this structure is beautiful, as if prepared to hold a great masquerade. The grand windows come in varying types, from stained glass, to reflective, to broad and open to see the mended world outside: those thoughts and ambitions that need not be sealed reflect in the “shadow realm” as a broad, open and natural world parallel to the garden of eden (persona 4). However, in deepening levels of the halls, different aspects of human discontent churn. While Nyx is not capable of accessing them any longer from the cellar it is confined to in this endless mansion, a twisted maze of the collective human heart, shadows still arise from those humans unwilling or yet to face themselves.
You are to play one of seven heros. Your hero has no inkling of that which waits on the other side, as it is for almost all of the world. If someone wanted to, say, play a spiritualist we could imagine they have their qualms with humanity, and how they live, but everyone has a shadow. There is no man perfect; no, not one. Also we are not limited to the main cast of heros. The amazing thing about persona is that while demigod heroes at night, their day to day lives and interactions with those who even do not go to war are very important. Once all main cast member roles are filled, the remaining arcana will be listed for availability, as well as what personality types they represent, for players who want an engaging, deep story but don’t feel comfortable fighting. And, by the end, I feel it very possible that by different means of awakening, even these characters can have place in a final battle.
In the city of (Sippar), deaths begin to raise alarm. The first begins just before (lead) arrives into the town in early January. It is considered a secluded case of an unfortunate death and the world moves on. Approximately one month later, another death occurs; a similarity arises between the two victims: they disappeared on their birthday, and were dead within a few weeks.
We will begin the story with the “Wild Card” character, The Fool, he who is able to craft all dimensions and is always he who opens the door to the underworld. I will, however, be introducing a new method in which other characters will be capable of summoning alternate personas so as not to be left behind by a single RPer. This is covered below.
On his birthday, the lead character is to vanish. Whoever claims the lead character has the rights to sculpt the family, the reason for moving, and whatever other situations encircle it. However the Fool’s player will have the greatest responsibility in needing to discuss and work with me, the GM, so we can solidify the rest of the story for the other players. The Fool will basically be my co-GM: still having much left to mystery for them, but co-operating to provide a full experience to the other players. The base circumstance for disappearance, however, is staring into a large bathroom mirror stretched over a counter on the night of his birthday, returning home from whatever party or otherwise he indulged in that day. It is late, nearing the witching hour (or dark hour, Persona 3, but witching hour is anywhere between 12-3 AM, when the Van Allen Belts are active). In the mirror he sees a twisted version of his new friends. Assuming he is tired he brushes it off and looks away, only for new events to unfold that I will not divulge to not spoil my evil plans! Many of these interactions that are strictly individual will be dealt with in PM, and it will be up to the character to inform other characters as to what happened.
Unlike in other persona stories, this protagonist must face himself. It will not be a battle as with the others, and the protagonist will need to accept the dark reflection of the world and vow to change it. Controlling his shadow with ego, he gains the Persona Shamash, Lord of the Rising Sun. Exhausted, he returns home. Passing out, he is introduced to another world which still haunts of imagery of what he just left. Greeted by a disturbing man named Igor, he is informed of the mystery that is unfolding, the contract he has unknowingly made that allows him to enter the room and so on as per Persona basics. He remembers nothing of the night he gained his persona, and is actually only informed of it by Igor. The sheer shock of it and being alone left no one to reinforce the events.
And so begins the mystery of what seems to be a birthday serial killer in their city. Building friendships with characters strengthens the power of the fool arcana and so on. The introduction of characters is mostly up to the players at hand.
Players designing a character of this setting will need to submit the following:
Basics such as name, age (the majority should be highschoolers, 1-2 year, but I would like one old character (40+) and one young character (child) to balance out the dynamic and feed into other ideas.
Birthdate, and zodiac sign correspondingly. No zodiac doubles unless someone wants to be weird and play twins, in which case you’re stuck with Gemini. If possible try to pick a zodiac that caters to the type of personality you want for your character. If you don’t know much about zodiac, google can help out. An emotional character could be a Cancer, a stubborn character could be a Taurus, a passionate character could be a Leo, and so on. The Serpent Bearer zodiac, that is, the “hidden zodiac”, is off limits. You know, that oddball 13th zodiac? None of that. Clearly there will be spare zodiac. That’s okay. I want to use that.
Any other details you feel will fulfill a personality, as well as picking a persona from a provided list. The list will name an entity, list card I feel they coincide with, and talk about the entity in a blurb. Obviously you won’t need to play the deity itself, but picking one you feel congeals with your ideal vision of your character’s subconscious is a great way to build them up!
The Fool Arcana holds the potential for all arcana within himself. The only personas he will not be able to get are those that are the staples of his friends/party. However, the method I am introducing of letting all characters grow will begin to unlock the potential for other characters to begin using personas of their arcana type. That is to say, if you picked Marduk as the Magician, through plot device and visiting other places, they could also wield Hermes, Jiraiya, Mada, Jack Frost or whatever is unlocked for them as Magician cards available.
List so far (this is going to be larger; if nothing out of this list calls to you, feel free to look into the pantheon to find something that does, or wait until I provide a larger list! However, I mentioned seven heroes and am giving seven bases. If these end up unwanted, I can add in another part of the list.)
Also, arcana is on a first-come-with-good-profile, first serve basis. Since some might end up as shared potentials, if someone builds a profile with, say, the Priestess for Ishtar and another character can also wield it or another, the first approved profile claims that card and the next closest will be chosen.
The lead/fool needs to pick Shamash. Sorry.
1- Shamash – Fool – Also called Emmeduranki. His name means “Chief of the powers of the meeting place of heaven and earth” or “bond of above and below”. Emmeduranki was, in fact, a human who drew a strong bond with Shamash and eventually was corresponded to him. Taken to heaven by Shamash and Adad, he learned secrets of heaven and earth: divination, inspecting water, discerning divine secrets. Shamash himself is, in fact, a solar god who’s power rises in the east in the morning and passes from the world of the living at night, at which point he descends into the underworld. Also called Utu. God of Justice. Identified with Saturn. Lord of the shining house. Evolved form Anu. Countered by Antu, Father of the Gods. Possibly wind magic?
2 - Marduk – Magician, Emperor – “Calf of Utu”, “the young bull of the sun”. Patron of the city of Babylon. Connected to water, vegetation, judgment and magic. Identified with Jupiter. Ice magic, and in a final form (to be decided), Almighty damage. Anyone the character could be a good mentor and yet close friend to, someone he might even share traits with.
3 - Bunene – Chariot – He who drives Shamash’s chariot. Must be a forward figure, headstrong but always one to drive forward the story and progression. Someone the main character can depend on to look for future progress. Not much is known beyond that, so if you can find more to work with that’s fine, otherwise, just take typical chariot traits if you like that arcana. It’s a perfect fit for anyone who enjoys the chariot, and easily sculpted. Fire magic.
4- Adad – Strength – Also known as Ramman, “Thunderer”. When Enki distributed the destinies, Enki was inspector of the cosmos. Sometimes brother of Shamash and Ishtar. Consort Shala, a goddess of grain. His position as a storm god makes him both of fertility and destruction. Pictured with a horned helmet, lightning and thunderbolt in the form of a spear. Electric. Lord of Divination. (character may be able to see enemy attributes with the right skill, think Libra) Final form Ramman, Thunderer. Elsewise it’s all very flexible.
5 - Ishtar – Priestess, Empress, Lovers – Queen of the Night. Goddess of fertility, war, love and sex. Counterpart of Sumerian Inanna and Semitic Astarte. Courtesan of the gods, but known to bring woe to her lovers (someone who has a habit of breaking hearts would do). Could be an interesting entanglement for the lead, since she is known to build pitfalls, even unintentionally, for her lovers. Her love felled Tammuz – that is, Saturn, and Shamash, in other cultures. Symbolized by lions at her gate and an eight pointed star. At one point Ishtar approaches the gates of the underworld, demanding entrance, “If thou openest not the gate to let me enter, I will break the door, I will wrench the lock! I will smash the door posts! I will force the doors! I will bring up the dead to eat the living, and the dead will outnumber the living!” Erishkigal let her enter according to ancient decree. Between different cultures her reasons vary; as Ishtar, she descends to save Shamash/Tammuz, and as Inanna, she went to that world for another unknown reason and couldn’t come back without sending someone back; all she saw on her return in that version were friends and found that Tammuz/Shamash had gone on just fine without her. Angry, in that version, she returns him to the underworld. This could make an amazing romance potential, while still being very open to the players! Planet Venus. Mudo skills and good physical. Asked Gilgamesh to marry her once and refused, “Listen to me while I tell the tale of your lovers. There was Tammuz (Shamash), the lover of your youth, for him you decreed wailing, year after year. You loved the many-colored roller, but still you struck and broke his wing. You have loved the lion tremendous in strength. Seven pits you dug for him, and seven. You have loved the stallion magnificent in battle, and for him you decreed the whip and spur […] You have loved the shepherd of the flock; he made meal-cake for you day after day, he killed kids for your sake. You struck and turned him into a wolf, now his own herd boys chase him away; his own hounds worry his flanks.” This role would need to be adopted by one who is willing to play a character making conflict within the party due to unintentionally selfish or poor decisions, but also one capable of rising to a very great event. I have many, many ideas for potentials for this kind of character, and anyone interested should PM me so I can give the broad list of potentials. See what you like and roll with it!
6 - Erishkigal – Empress or Tower – Lady of the underworld.
7 - Nergal – Emperor or Death – god of war and pestilences.
These two are an connected pair. A lone example of a successful love story in the world of the dead. Two lonely individuals unite, each set in their ways and should be naturally opposed. Players looking for a conflicting romance should involve themselves with these characters. She is an outcast and he, an outsider god. The underworld she rules is of dead and ancestral memory, and Nergal is war and pestilence. Both open up, and bond to become mighty rulers. Once proud, they surrender their pride for each other Nergal will not kneel to the gods and is made to make amends. Nergal gains demons of plague to escape his judgment, and thus Nergal could be best used for status afflictions (enervation, exhaustion, fear, poison, etc).
Reserved Arcana: Sun, Moon; These will be the arcana of the main character’s parents through which he will need to forge an even stronger bond, learning secrets of the past I have intended. Nannar-Sin, for my own notes.
GM Character: This will be my “helper” character, like Teddy in 4, or Mitsuru/Fuuka in 3. While the group is young they provide backup from the back row, and even later they act as a guide through the world. Namtar. Still working on it.
Anyway, for the evolution of all characters and not just the lead, I am drawing further on a subtle reference in persona, that is, “The Masque of the Red Death”. The Fool will have full access to the Velvet Room from the beginning, allowing use of his wildcard powers. However, there are seven total rooms (hence seven leads). Depending on the personality types I identify in each character at a start, each will be able to access different rooms, each representing different phases of life.
The cliff’s note of the rooms are:
The rooms represent phases of life, and go east to west like the sun (will use Shamash as the lead, the rising and setting sun.)
Blue room first, represents birth. The color suggests the unknown from which a human being comes into the world.
Green next is the spring of life, youth.
Orange, summer and autumn of life
White, next, age, hair, bones.
Violet, combination of purple or blue “Velvet room”, represents darkness and onsetting death. Found by the Fool first.
Black and red windows is death. Erishkigal would be best suited to have earliest access to this room. Nergal the next to find it.
The points the rooms are available to the characters will be dictated through story advancement. Each character has potential to be a very pivotal storypoint in each room, uncovering pieces of the mystery piece by piece.
If there is a room that is unascribed to a particular role, but you feel represents your character’s personality, include that in your submission!
That’s about it for right now. I’m still working on the full expansion of the story, and don’t want to divulge much about it. The great part about these stories is unwrapping the mystery. I do however have a pretty solid idea in mind.
Feel free to start posting rough character drafts as you’re possessed to. This will be a few months before I make it an active affair, but something like this takes a lot of work and time for everyone to get on the same page.
So, who’s up for a run?";
Alright, guys. I have a whole schlew of stuff typed out on my Persona RP involving how to submit characters, the base premise of the story, and so on. However, there's a very fundamental part that it doesn't cover! The character's everyday lives!
The great part about Persona is that everyone in the world can have some sort of consequence; your party members only cover about a third of the arcana out there, and leave potential for twice as many equally key characters. So here's the deal:
If you are interested in playing in a modern/realistic high school and/or city setting, please read on. If you are looking for the actual, main, battle and dungeon crawl story it is further below.]
By night, they are heroes in an alternate universe nobody knows about. By day, they meet and befriend people, who spiritually build them up by their friendships; sometimes, someone doesn't represent an arcana, but due to some busy style of life unwittingly give you quests. "I've been looking for a... _____"
Not all characters need to be highschoolers and teenagers. This is just for the central "loop" that the characters see 5-6 days a week as soon as they walk in or out of their classroom. Sometimes, those who do not go to war are still what wins it, so to speak. Morale means everything.
So, I'm looking for as many as 14 characters that are NOT initially in the adventuring party. Ideas on how to place them can vary greatly. Part time jobs the teenagers go to, school clubs, even celebrities they manage to run into. It could be as simple as the bum on the street they walk by 20 times before deciding, hey, I might talk to him, learn something.
PM me with your ideas for a character, and we can work out what Arcana, if any, they represent. Day by day you can easily play them, without GM interference or anything, as they interact with the day to day world and not big, creepy dungeons. Basically, a high school setting anyone is welcomed into, as long as we figure out what kinda' card you are!
Now onto the main course!
Base Premise:
The world of the collective unconscious still broils in unrest. Though heroes have battled back entities that have come to feed on the negativity of humanity (our discontent, our anger, hated, depression, the will of many for the world to simply stop, to fade away, and so forth), not all humans have come to terms with their darkest selves and in such, in a central core this darkness of humanity has been sealed (see “main character”, Persona 3). In segregating Death and Nyx from the dark impulses of mankind, so too has the human mind become fragmented. This unusual and, in a way, unnatural structure in the collective subconscious reflects as an enormous castle. In many ways, it is defensive. The opening of this structure is beautiful, as if prepared to hold a great masquerade. The grand windows come in varying types, from stained glass, to reflective, to broad and open to see the mended world outside: those thoughts and ambitions that need not be sealed reflect in the “shadow realm” as a broad, open and natural world parallel to the garden of eden (persona 4). However, in deepening levels of the halls, different aspects of human discontent churn. While Nyx is not capable of accessing them any longer from the cellar it is confined to in this endless mansion, a twisted maze of the collective human heart, shadows still arise from those humans unwilling or yet to face themselves.
You are to play one of seven heros. Your hero has no inkling of that which waits on the other side, as it is for almost all of the world. If someone wanted to, say, play a spiritualist we could imagine they have their qualms with humanity, and how they live, but everyone has a shadow. There is no man perfect; no, not one. Also we are not limited to the main cast of heros. The amazing thing about persona is that while demigod heroes at night, their day to day lives and interactions with those who even do not go to war are very important. Once all main cast member roles are filled, the remaining arcana will be listed for availability, as well as what personality types they represent, for players who want an engaging, deep story but don’t feel comfortable fighting. And, by the end, I feel it very possible that by different means of awakening, even these characters can have place in a final battle.
In the city of (Sippar), deaths begin to raise alarm. The first begins just before (lead) arrives into the town in early January. It is considered a secluded case of an unfortunate death and the world moves on. Approximately one month later, another death occurs; a similarity arises between the two victims: they disappeared on their birthday, and were dead within a few weeks.
We will begin the story with the “Wild Card” character, The Fool, he who is able to craft all dimensions and is always he who opens the door to the underworld. I will, however, be introducing a new method in which other characters will be capable of summoning alternate personas so as not to be left behind by a single RPer. This is covered below.
On his birthday, the lead character is to vanish. Whoever claims the lead character has the rights to sculpt the family, the reason for moving, and whatever other situations encircle it. However the Fool’s player will have the greatest responsibility in needing to discuss and work with me, the GM, so we can solidify the rest of the story for the other players. The Fool will basically be my co-GM: still having much left to mystery for them, but co-operating to provide a full experience to the other players. The base circumstance for disappearance, however, is staring into a large bathroom mirror stretched over a counter on the night of his birthday, returning home from whatever party or otherwise he indulged in that day. It is late, nearing the witching hour (or dark hour, Persona 3, but witching hour is anywhere between 12-3 AM, when the Van Allen Belts are active). In the mirror he sees a twisted version of his new friends. Assuming he is tired he brushes it off and looks away, only for new events to unfold that I will not divulge to not spoil my evil plans! Many of these interactions that are strictly individual will be dealt with in PM, and it will be up to the character to inform other characters as to what happened.
Unlike in other persona stories, this protagonist must face himself. It will not be a battle as with the others, and the protagonist will need to accept the dark reflection of the world and vow to change it. Controlling his shadow with ego, he gains the Persona Shamash, Lord of the Rising Sun. Exhausted, he returns home. Passing out, he is introduced to another world which still haunts of imagery of what he just left. Greeted by a disturbing man named Igor, he is informed of the mystery that is unfolding, the contract he has unknowingly made that allows him to enter the room and so on as per Persona basics. He remembers nothing of the night he gained his persona, and is actually only informed of it by Igor. The sheer shock of it and being alone left no one to reinforce the events.
And so begins the mystery of what seems to be a birthday serial killer in their city. Building friendships with characters strengthens the power of the fool arcana and so on. The introduction of characters is mostly up to the players at hand.
Players designing a character of this setting will need to submit the following:
Basics such as name, age (the majority should be highschoolers, 1-2 year, but I would like one old character (40+) and one young character (child) to balance out the dynamic and feed into other ideas.
Birthdate, and zodiac sign correspondingly. No zodiac doubles unless someone wants to be weird and play twins, in which case you’re stuck with Gemini. If possible try to pick a zodiac that caters to the type of personality you want for your character. If you don’t know much about zodiac, google can help out. An emotional character could be a Cancer, a stubborn character could be a Taurus, a passionate character could be a Leo, and so on. The Serpent Bearer zodiac, that is, the “hidden zodiac”, is off limits. You know, that oddball 13th zodiac? None of that. Clearly there will be spare zodiac. That’s okay. I want to use that.
Any other details you feel will fulfill a personality, as well as picking a persona from a provided list. The list will name an entity, list card I feel they coincide with, and talk about the entity in a blurb. Obviously you won’t need to play the deity itself, but picking one you feel congeals with your ideal vision of your character’s subconscious is a great way to build them up!
The Fool Arcana holds the potential for all arcana within himself. The only personas he will not be able to get are those that are the staples of his friends/party. However, the method I am introducing of letting all characters grow will begin to unlock the potential for other characters to begin using personas of their arcana type. That is to say, if you picked Marduk as the Magician, through plot device and visiting other places, they could also wield Hermes, Jiraiya, Mada, Jack Frost or whatever is unlocked for them as Magician cards available.
List so far (this is going to be larger; if nothing out of this list calls to you, feel free to look into the pantheon to find something that does, or wait until I provide a larger list! However, I mentioned seven heroes and am giving seven bases. If these end up unwanted, I can add in another part of the list.)
Also, arcana is on a first-come-with-good-profile, first serve basis. Since some might end up as shared potentials, if someone builds a profile with, say, the Priestess for Ishtar and another character can also wield it or another, the first approved profile claims that card and the next closest will be chosen.
The lead/fool needs to pick Shamash. Sorry.
1- Shamash – Fool – Also called Emmeduranki. His name means “Chief of the powers of the meeting place of heaven and earth” or “bond of above and below”. Emmeduranki was, in fact, a human who drew a strong bond with Shamash and eventually was corresponded to him. Taken to heaven by Shamash and Adad, he learned secrets of heaven and earth: divination, inspecting water, discerning divine secrets. Shamash himself is, in fact, a solar god who’s power rises in the east in the morning and passes from the world of the living at night, at which point he descends into the underworld. Also called Utu. God of Justice. Identified with Saturn. Lord of the shining house. Evolved form Anu. Countered by Antu, Father of the Gods. Possibly wind magic?
2 - Marduk – Magician, Emperor – “Calf of Utu”, “the young bull of the sun”. Patron of the city of Babylon. Connected to water, vegetation, judgment and magic. Identified with Jupiter. Ice magic, and in a final form (to be decided), Almighty damage. Anyone the character could be a good mentor and yet close friend to, someone he might even share traits with.
3 - Bunene – Chariot – He who drives Shamash’s chariot. Must be a forward figure, headstrong but always one to drive forward the story and progression. Someone the main character can depend on to look for future progress. Not much is known beyond that, so if you can find more to work with that’s fine, otherwise, just take typical chariot traits if you like that arcana. It’s a perfect fit for anyone who enjoys the chariot, and easily sculpted. Fire magic.
4- Adad – Strength – Also known as Ramman, “Thunderer”. When Enki distributed the destinies, Enki was inspector of the cosmos. Sometimes brother of Shamash and Ishtar. Consort Shala, a goddess of grain. His position as a storm god makes him both of fertility and destruction. Pictured with a horned helmet, lightning and thunderbolt in the form of a spear. Electric. Lord of Divination. (character may be able to see enemy attributes with the right skill, think Libra) Final form Ramman, Thunderer. Elsewise it’s all very flexible.
5 - Ishtar – Priestess, Empress, Lovers – Queen of the Night. Goddess of fertility, war, love and sex. Counterpart of Sumerian Inanna and Semitic Astarte. Courtesan of the gods, but known to bring woe to her lovers (someone who has a habit of breaking hearts would do). Could be an interesting entanglement for the lead, since she is known to build pitfalls, even unintentionally, for her lovers. Her love felled Tammuz – that is, Saturn, and Shamash, in other cultures. Symbolized by lions at her gate and an eight pointed star. At one point Ishtar approaches the gates of the underworld, demanding entrance, “If thou openest not the gate to let me enter, I will break the door, I will wrench the lock! I will smash the door posts! I will force the doors! I will bring up the dead to eat the living, and the dead will outnumber the living!” Erishkigal let her enter according to ancient decree. Between different cultures her reasons vary; as Ishtar, she descends to save Shamash/Tammuz, and as Inanna, she went to that world for another unknown reason and couldn’t come back without sending someone back; all she saw on her return in that version were friends and found that Tammuz/Shamash had gone on just fine without her. Angry, in that version, she returns him to the underworld. This could make an amazing romance potential, while still being very open to the players! Planet Venus. Mudo skills and good physical. Asked Gilgamesh to marry her once and refused, “Listen to me while I tell the tale of your lovers. There was Tammuz (Shamash), the lover of your youth, for him you decreed wailing, year after year. You loved the many-colored roller, but still you struck and broke his wing. You have loved the lion tremendous in strength. Seven pits you dug for him, and seven. You have loved the stallion magnificent in battle, and for him you decreed the whip and spur […] You have loved the shepherd of the flock; he made meal-cake for you day after day, he killed kids for your sake. You struck and turned him into a wolf, now his own herd boys chase him away; his own hounds worry his flanks.” This role would need to be adopted by one who is willing to play a character making conflict within the party due to unintentionally selfish or poor decisions, but also one capable of rising to a very great event. I have many, many ideas for potentials for this kind of character, and anyone interested should PM me so I can give the broad list of potentials. See what you like and roll with it!
6 - Erishkigal – Empress or Tower – Lady of the underworld.
7 - Nergal – Emperor or Death – god of war and pestilences.
These two are an connected pair. A lone example of a successful love story in the world of the dead. Two lonely individuals unite, each set in their ways and should be naturally opposed. Players looking for a conflicting romance should involve themselves with these characters. She is an outcast and he, an outsider god. The underworld she rules is of dead and ancestral memory, and Nergal is war and pestilence. Both open up, and bond to become mighty rulers. Once proud, they surrender their pride for each other Nergal will not kneel to the gods and is made to make amends. Nergal gains demons of plague to escape his judgment, and thus Nergal could be best used for status afflictions (enervation, exhaustion, fear, poison, etc).
Reserved Arcana: Sun, Moon; These will be the arcana of the main character’s parents through which he will need to forge an even stronger bond, learning secrets of the past I have intended. Nannar-Sin, for my own notes.
GM Character: This will be my “helper” character, like Teddy in 4, or Mitsuru/Fuuka in 3. While the group is young they provide backup from the back row, and even later they act as a guide through the world. Namtar. Still working on it.
Anyway, for the evolution of all characters and not just the lead, I am drawing further on a subtle reference in persona, that is, “The Masque of the Red Death”. The Fool will have full access to the Velvet Room from the beginning, allowing use of his wildcard powers. However, there are seven total rooms (hence seven leads). Depending on the personality types I identify in each character at a start, each will be able to access different rooms, each representing different phases of life.
The cliff’s note of the rooms are:
The rooms represent phases of life, and go east to west like the sun (will use Shamash as the lead, the rising and setting sun.)
Blue room first, represents birth. The color suggests the unknown from which a human being comes into the world.
Green next is the spring of life, youth.
Orange, summer and autumn of life
White, next, age, hair, bones.
Violet, combination of purple or blue “Velvet room”, represents darkness and onsetting death. Found by the Fool first.
Black and red windows is death. Erishkigal would be best suited to have earliest access to this room. Nergal the next to find it.
The points the rooms are available to the characters will be dictated through story advancement. Each character has potential to be a very pivotal storypoint in each room, uncovering pieces of the mystery piece by piece.
If there is a room that is unascribed to a particular role, but you feel represents your character’s personality, include that in your submission!
That’s about it for right now. I’m still working on the full expansion of the story, and don’t want to divulge much about it. The great part about these stories is unwrapping the mystery. I do however have a pretty solid idea in mind.
Feel free to start posting rough character drafts as you’re possessed to. This will be a few months before I make it an active affair, but something like this takes a lot of work and time for everyone to get on the same page.
So, who’s up for a run?";
Alright, what I made here is an example template. The person who picks the Fool doesn't HAVE to use it, I just want to show people a nice form of submission.
Name: Joebob
Arcana: Fool
Persona: Shamash
zodiac: Sagittarius
Likes: dogs, spending time with friends, keeping busy, Eternal Punishment Online, being able to be depended upon.
Dislikes: Slow days, underachievement in self or friends, rash decisions or personalities.
Jobs: Wild Duck Burger cashier, Babysitter
Clubs: Football, Science
Activities: TV Book Club.
Voice, Appearance, Personality: How does your character, talk, sound, look, and act?
History: Divorced family? Childhood friend? Feel free to talk to other players as they show up and even co-op stories. It's perfectly fine for some of them to have known each other before the fantasy stuff happens.
Knowledge:
Expression:
Understanding:
Courage:
Diligence:
Athletics:
Charisma:
All of these start at zero, and at level one a player can choose to put one star (*) into one field. I'm going to run a very, very rough stat system through these attributes, which is going to be used to help give people bonuses, but rarely if ever a negative. (For example, if by level 20 you never put anything into Charisma, NPCs at school may treat you lke a pariah, even if your Athletics ends up letting you win all the school races/sports games.)
Part of the day to day life for characters is deciding how to spend your time: hanging out with your friends, going to work, going to after school clubs, you name it. Attending any of these let you put a an extra point immediately into an interest you attend, rather than waiting for the GM to decide your attendace has raised the statistic by proxy. Your AP (Attribute Points) build according to your level; level 1 gets 1, level 2 gets 2, 3 gets 3 and so on. The GM will tell you when a level comes, which is going to be based off defeating certain numbers of enemies.
Don't think that just because you don't have AP you can't grow a characteristic by visiting your job or other activity. Point the GM to any RPs that you play at work, or otherwise if an unplayed and inferred day (boring day at work), just say they go to work/whatever. The GM will tell you when you earn bonus points.
This is to help ensure everybody's character stays individual and have their own perks. A character with high Charisma can get lots of information out of NPCs, a person with high diligence gets better pay for their part time jobs because of how well they do their job, a person with good Knowledge may be given GM hints about the mystery, about the mysticism everyone has to figure out, and so on. A character with good Understanding may be given hints on how to approach difficult to approach personalities better, and how to choose a good path. A Character with good Expression will be able to convince groups of people of things better, and might excel in art and other things. A character with high Athletics has the best chance of winning school races, pulling off cool stunts in battle that the GM might deflect from other people, etc. These aren't the complete reasoning behind the attributes and how I intend to maximize them, but you can get a good idea of what to look into.
The list of jobs that are available depend on who all wants to join this as side arcana; any not filled I'll pick up as a GM tool, but it'd be really cool to let people play even these individuals.
In example,
in Persona 4, the Temperance Arcana was a young stepmother struggling to understand her new husband's son, while he was away on business. You got this card by going to your Day Care Job.
In Persona 3, your Emperor Arcana came from the head of the student council you join, and his struggle to maintain an idea of control.
in Persona 4, You can get other jobs such as Hospital Janitor (raises courage and introduces the Devil Arcana, a nurse and Death, an old widow, but you have to be really diligent), a tutor (introduces the Tower arcana, raises Expression, but you have to be really understanding.) Others just raise stats and make money, like home jobs of folding envelopes, translating, and so on.
In any persona, your school club activities, from art, band, photography, home ec, basketball, soccer, kendo, swimming, and more open up new friendships and raise certain Attributes. Give your character some sort of direction and aim for boosts and new friendships.
As a GM I'll also just watch everybody's other activities that are performed regularly and see where everyone can get a boost. Someone might read books a lot, or have other personal hobbies that are worth giving boosts for, so every personality can really individualize.
Even use this template for non battle characters.
Also, I have some concept art I've done out of boredom. If you can't think of what exactly to do with a persona, ask me and I'll see if I can scratch something up.
Name: Joebob
Arcana: Fool
Persona: Shamash
zodiac: Sagittarius
Likes: dogs, spending time with friends, keeping busy, Eternal Punishment Online, being able to be depended upon.
Dislikes: Slow days, underachievement in self or friends, rash decisions or personalities.
Jobs: Wild Duck Burger cashier, Babysitter
Clubs: Football, Science
Activities: TV Book Club.
Voice, Appearance, Personality: How does your character, talk, sound, look, and act?
History: Divorced family? Childhood friend? Feel free to talk to other players as they show up and even co-op stories. It's perfectly fine for some of them to have known each other before the fantasy stuff happens.
Knowledge:
Expression:
Understanding:
Courage:
Diligence:
Athletics:
Charisma:
All of these start at zero, and at level one a player can choose to put one star (*) into one field. I'm going to run a very, very rough stat system through these attributes, which is going to be used to help give people bonuses, but rarely if ever a negative. (For example, if by level 20 you never put anything into Charisma, NPCs at school may treat you lke a pariah, even if your Athletics ends up letting you win all the school races/sports games.)
Part of the day to day life for characters is deciding how to spend your time: hanging out with your friends, going to work, going to after school clubs, you name it. Attending any of these let you put a an extra point immediately into an interest you attend, rather than waiting for the GM to decide your attendace has raised the statistic by proxy. Your AP (Attribute Points) build according to your level; level 1 gets 1, level 2 gets 2, 3 gets 3 and so on. The GM will tell you when a level comes, which is going to be based off defeating certain numbers of enemies.
Don't think that just because you don't have AP you can't grow a characteristic by visiting your job or other activity. Point the GM to any RPs that you play at work, or otherwise if an unplayed and inferred day (boring day at work), just say they go to work/whatever. The GM will tell you when you earn bonus points.
This is to help ensure everybody's character stays individual and have their own perks. A character with high Charisma can get lots of information out of NPCs, a person with high diligence gets better pay for their part time jobs because of how well they do their job, a person with good Knowledge may be given GM hints about the mystery, about the mysticism everyone has to figure out, and so on. A character with good Understanding may be given hints on how to approach difficult to approach personalities better, and how to choose a good path. A Character with good Expression will be able to convince groups of people of things better, and might excel in art and other things. A character with high Athletics has the best chance of winning school races, pulling off cool stunts in battle that the GM might deflect from other people, etc. These aren't the complete reasoning behind the attributes and how I intend to maximize them, but you can get a good idea of what to look into.
The list of jobs that are available depend on who all wants to join this as side arcana; any not filled I'll pick up as a GM tool, but it'd be really cool to let people play even these individuals.
In example,
in Persona 4, the Temperance Arcana was a young stepmother struggling to understand her new husband's son, while he was away on business. You got this card by going to your Day Care Job.
In Persona 3, your Emperor Arcana came from the head of the student council you join, and his struggle to maintain an idea of control.
in Persona 4, You can get other jobs such as Hospital Janitor (raises courage and introduces the Devil Arcana, a nurse and Death, an old widow, but you have to be really diligent), a tutor (introduces the Tower arcana, raises Expression, but you have to be really understanding.) Others just raise stats and make money, like home jobs of folding envelopes, translating, and so on.
In any persona, your school club activities, from art, band, photography, home ec, basketball, soccer, kendo, swimming, and more open up new friendships and raise certain Attributes. Give your character some sort of direction and aim for boosts and new friendships.
As a GM I'll also just watch everybody's other activities that are performed regularly and see where everyone can get a boost. Someone might read books a lot, or have other personal hobbies that are worth giving boosts for, so every personality can really individualize.
Even use this template for non battle characters.
Also, I have some concept art I've done out of boredom. If you can't think of what exactly to do with a persona, ask me and I'll see if I can scratch something up.
I'm in, I will start on it ASAP.
yay! Also the dude who introduced me to persona by loaning me his game a few years ago may join rpr for this. So, so far, interest is you, derek and Z. Still got a lot of slots. also hoping to see some extended social links, not party, come up. I'm giving a month on that or so before i start self designing part time jobs for people and whatnot. I'll also allow more than one character played, just a limit of 1 party member.
ps: mygod i hope you can visit this weekend before i lose my mind in boredom. We could watch craploads of persona. :o
How did I miss this? Count me in.
As a fan of the SMT series, I can't really ignore this... so I'll hop aboard too.
...*reads profile* you... Like slayers too? Did somebody clone me? You and I, deary, could get along swimmingly. For a second I thought you were an old friend but you don't seem to have Crysta's art style. Allo. I am a huge persona fan, and a slayers -fanatic-. Like it's retarded what I've translated of it... Or the fact that I spoke to some of the novel production cast (u.s.). :x too bad my slayersesque rp is over... Anyway! On topic! Three people on board so far, drayle chose to withdraw for personal reasons and maximus hasn't posted here yet. I believe max is doing the "older character" especially if nobody else is gonna. Either post or pm your base profiles and we'll see what we need to do from there.
also! I just talked to Max and he's willing to try to come up with at least 1 custom theme. Usually battle, "main character", impacting moments and ending share a theme song with different tempos and instruments. We'll see if we can really personalize this to make our own. Elsewise i suggest the persona 4 soundtrack. Music is always good thinkjuice for me in RP. :x
If you haven't noticed, I've checked this place out. I like it.
I haven't played Persona yet, though, but that may change soon. I started playing Mass Effect just because Ivan was into it and I wanted to know what the hell he was talking about. This may follow the same trend.
You don't intend to start this right away, correct? Or did I read that wrong on the Facebooks?
I haven't played Persona yet, though, but that may change soon. I started playing Mass Effect just because Ivan was into it and I wanted to know what the hell he was talking about. This may follow the same trend.
You don't intend to start this right away, correct? Or did I read that wrong on the Facebooks?
roughly two months from now. I -do- suggest the games but if you wanna save some time at a start, check out "persona 4 the anime"... Pretty sure it isnt licensed in the u.s. Yet so animetake.com 's torrents for it should be fine. Instead of 90+ hours of gameplay, it's 25-26 (true ending only on bluray in japan atm) episodes at about 23 minutes a pop. Still like a lot of hours but not near as many. 4 is my favorite, though 3 has its perks. 3's anime was kinda crap though.
I have a pertinent question: are we going to be in Japanland?
notice the city's name is in brackets. I am honestly leaving the fate of whatever country it occurs in to whatever player decides to make a nifty history that assigns a locale. If it was in japan, i could have fun overlapping with previous cities from the games. However, if i bust my ass i could overlap with the u.s. Cuz some translation genius thought making the first games americanized would be cool (ie they even redrew characters and turned one into an ebonics speaking homeboy.) so honestly, whoever submits areaspecific history first probably defines whereabouts we are. Whoever is like "go widda flow" is gonna get whatever someone else decides.
I just threw this together: http://www.rprepository.com/group/group.php?gID=173&page=382
I intend to have a lot more ready to be posted up before or after work on Friday... unless I come into town sooner. Just to organize us a bit. I'm gonna fill out zodiac and tarot to make it easy to browse and aid in character construction.
I intend to have a lot more ready to be posted up before or after work on Friday... unless I come into town sooner. Just to organize us a bit. I'm gonna fill out zodiac and tarot to make it easy to browse and aid in character construction.
I have an excellent character to play, but she does not fit in any of the main tarot cards. So I will have to join this game to supply the Hermit~
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