Topics

1

Role Play Theater / Into the Fray. (OCT) Sign-Up and Rules.

« on: June 10, 2014, 03:09:28 AM »

SIGN-UPS CLOSE ON TUESDAY, JUNE 17th AT 11:59 PM CTU (Central Time)

The hall is dark, with what little light there is filtering in from the windows of stained glass, long since broken, shattered, and faded. Miniscule beams of light stream down from above through the bastion of fog outside, allowing only barely for one to see the markings on the floor of rock, obscured by dust, debris, and shadow. A figure sits upon an age-worn throne of tarnished gold and burned iron, elbow on knee and chin on hand. He cares neither for the torn tapestry behind him, nor the scent of decay.

He sends out a message, to all who will hear. It is a simple invitation, to those who will fight, or wish to seek the rewards he will offer. Wealth more than any one soul should have. A weapon made to bring peace at its brandishing. A tool to craft the finest creations unlike any others. Knowledge of that which is unknown. Perhaps even more.

As he sits there, stoic and still, he wonders who will answer. He grins with teeth bared.

Here's a little thing I thought of running, and I finally decided to follow through, mostly to see who would respond and take up the challenge. I would offer a drawing for the winner, but:
A) I'm not that great at art right now.
B) I feel that's a bit unfair, as it only rewards '1st' place.
This is just a thing for fun, and keep that in mind.

Now, onto important things. Like rules.

This will be a competition where each opponent combats the other through his or her desired art form.
This means that, each round, people will go against each other by writing a short story (or drawing a comic, or otherwise) and then that work will be judged to determine the winner. If you do not wish to do a story, it might to smart to run your idea on what you're going to do through me.

All stories are to be submitted through the attachment of a text file to your post in each round.
This is to save people from having to struggle through having to scroll through giant walls of text. Also, this includes the example required for character sign-up.

There is only one judge.
I determine the rules for this. If you have any questions, ask me. If you are unsure about something, ask me.
And remember, I decide who wins.

Stories are to be written with information and respect.
A duel with no background can be pretty dull. For each round, opponents will be given a certain 'arena' that they will fight in, and they will be informed who they will be fighting (duh). I expect you to use the information you are given wisely, and to treat other characters with respect, as they are going to (probably) be just as competent as you.

Stories will be judged on quality.
I will be judging based on what I think of your story. I will not choose a winner by favoritism. Flashy, excessive moves will get you only cookie points.

Each round has a due date. No extensions. No exceptions.
When a round starts, you will have at least a week to create and post your work in the appropriate round topic. As a reminder, I will have the due date for each round written in each topic. However, and I cannot emphasize this enough, when it is due, your work is due. If you do not produce your work in time, you will forfeit the round. I will not be giving extensions to anyone, for any reason. This is done for the sake of fairness, as you should not get extra time if your opponent does not as well. This is also a reason that I am not offering a prize, as some unfortunate bad luck could very well rob a person of victory due to this rule.

If there is an odd number of opponents, you will still fight.
I will determine whether you fight an NPC or multiple fighters.

Keep the narrative and your character in check.
A back and forth fight where it is nothing but sword-hits-sword is boring, dull, and uninspired. Likewise, a wooden character with no personality is only good for fueling a fire. You will be required to keep in mind the personality of your character, and make them act accordingly, as well as making the fight interesting. Remember the personality of your opponent's character, too.

Your goal is always to make your opponent unable to fight, without killing them.
Be creative, and know that killing a character is bad.

Character Sign-Up

Characters will require the following to join:

1. A name.
2. A description of their personality.
3. A physical description.
4. A list of what equipment (weapons, armor, etc) that they have.
5. A brief summary of how they fight.
6. A short bit of history about your character.
7. An example of the character fighting. (Also acts as a warm up for your story-writing.)
These do not need to be provided in this exact order.

Please, no outright toon or toy characters.
While I understand that some people very much like being overly toony, squeaky, toyish, and the like, I would ask that you please refrain from this if you wish to join. It makes it easier to have a general theme of characters if they're all humans or anthros (or possibly even ferals), and I feel that throwing in ink, vinyl, stuffing, and such really ruins it.

Characters must be reasonable.
Nobody is perfect, and I hate Mary-Sues. You might want to run your character by me, personally, before you post, if you want to be sure that I believe your character is reasonable.

Be ready to explain.
I may deem part of your character questionable, and may ask you about it. In most cases, if you are able to explain it, and I'm okay with it, it's okay.

Be creative.

All Character Sign-Ups are to be submitted by 11:59 PM on June 17th. I would like to have all characters ready by the morning of the 17th, so please, if you want to sign-up, do it early so that I can check your character over and make sure everything checks out okay. However, if you do submit a character on the 17th, I expect you to have everything for them ready.

Please remember that Virmir runs this forum, and likes it PG.

I will try to be available as much as possible.
If you want to contact me, either send me a message through the Crimson Flag Forums, or try to speak to me directly through the online Crimson Flag Chat.

Keep track of this thread, as rules may be added or changed, depending on circumstances.

2

Role Play Theater / TEST for an RP

« on: September 16, 2012, 08:08:19 PM »

A small red fox approaches the Grand Hall of Crimson Flag, holding a letter and multiple gemstones.

"HEEEEELLO everyone! I have come to address you in a simple matter of this letter, shall I read it to you?

 Yes? All right. Here we are. Ahem.

Dear Travelers,
               You have been selected to embark on a simple quest. A small purge of a city of cursed undead. All gear you request shall be given, as well as supplies, and you may keep anything you might find during this event. HOWEVER, I must implore you to not ask of too much, as magical items can NOT be provided. Potions can be supplied. You will be rewarded handsomely for the completion of this purge. Should you accept this invitation, please use the summonstone provided by the courier.

"

The fox then offers up the gemstones in his paws to any that would accept.

ALL RIGHT. This is merely a TEST for an RP idea I've had going on for a while. I will NOT make this fancy for now, but I will tell you that in the final product, if I even get to that step, will be using the 3.5e Pathfinder DnD rules (Or at least a modified version of them). Until then, however, I do not expect dice to be rolled to determine things. This is merely a test to see how well I can put the environment together.

No Godmodding
Know your limits
Custom mods are allowed, IF THEY ARE OKAY'D BY ME PERSONALLY.
Character Sheets are NOT required.
*EDIT* Time period restriction is: Dark Age to Sub-Future. (PM if uncertain what I mean.)

This will likely procede later tonight, or if not, tomorrow. Please put your character (or a description of yourself if you wish to use yourself) and all relevant information in this thread.
*EDIT* It will go into action when I declare a static date, as for now, feel free to join.

I think that's all, so.... GO!

3

Art Gallery / I want YOUR ideas!

« on: July 09, 2012, 10:28:30 PM »

Hello everyone. Yes, please. Sit down, sit down. I have called you all here today to address a serious issue. A collective of Writer's and Artist's Block. But fear not! All I need is.... inspiration, if you will. So here's what I need you to do.

Post an idea here for me to write about or draw! I want to note that this isn't a request thread, so I may not do it, but with how much practice one needs to become decent.... Well, let's just say your chances are high as long as you post it here.

HOWEVER, THERE ARE A FEW RULES.

1) Nothing mature. Seriously. This is a place of PG.
2) I cannot do comics, or backgrounds. At least not well. Post such ideas at your own risk.
3) Have variety and imagination! Don't say something generic like "Draw a fox" Gimme some detail, eh?
4) If I do not like your idea completely, I am free to change it. I am the one drawing/writing it, afterall. And I am merely asking for ideas to get my own works going. This does NOT mean I will not credit you for help with the idea.
5) Obligatory rule #5.

Gimme your best, and help a stuck fox!

4

Role Play Theater / Four Realms Chapter 1 Sign-Ups.

« on: July 17, 2011, 09:44:42 PM »

Ello all. Here's a new little event for you. It's an RP! And it follows these rules:
 
== Theme ==

A Steampunk world littered with magic. This is a medieval world nonetheless, but some firearms will be allowed. No fully automatic or semi-auto though. Think flintlocks, muskets, and the like. Blackpowder guns can be permitted. Further specifics will be at the end of this rule set.

There are two types of people in the RP: characters and NPCs.

=== Characters ===

You can now have any number of active characters, just don't go overboard. These are your characters and your characters alone. No one can control them but you.  Guidelines for creating your characters are at the end of this rule set.

=== Character Groups ===

Each chapter focuses on a group of characters. You do no thave to join every group in every chapter. Future chapters will go back to other groups.

=== NPCs ===

NPCs are more flexible. Often you’ll see some soldiers, villagers, monsters, or other non important characters. Generally, anyone can create and use these characters. But if someone is using a NPC in a character like fashion, it’s probably best not to control it for them.
Occasionally an important character will be marked for shared use (such as a leader of a group of NPCs). These NPCs, while they can be used by anyone, should only be controlled sparingly.

==== NPC Groups ====

Large bands of NPCs with similar interests are "Groups".  Some examples include the villagers of a particular town or the soldiers of an army.

Groups can be controlled en mass much like a single NPC, however much more description is expected.

Groups are SLOW.  The larger the group, the slower it is.  For example, a large advancing army will take several posts to arrive at its target destination.  If the said army is attacking a village, the villagers will be SLOW to organize and react, unless it is made clear that they have been preparing for the attack beforehand.  If another army is called in to defend the village, it will take a while to arrive, etc.

Groups will remain in context.  Soldiers will very readily fight in an organized manner.  Villagers will not because it is not what they specialize in.  Merchants will always be interested in money and profit, etc.

Group sizes should remain reasonable.  An army in the tens of thousands is very large.  A hundred thousand is unfathomably huge, and would require very many posts to set up.  A million will likely get you a polite request to edit your post.
As a rule of thumb, it's best to run any intention to use a group of more than a few thousand by me before using it.

=== Actions ===

Each character is limited to three "actions" per post.  An action is something your character does. Some examples:

* Attacking another character
* Defending an attack
* Charging/preparing an attack (i.e. for bigger than normal spells)
* Starting to walk/run/fly from one place to another
* Arriving on the scene
* Picking up an item

... etc. Basically use your own judgment. Conversation with other characters doesn't count (so you can talk as much as you want).  This is a maximum and not a required value.  Remember to keep the fluidity of the story above all else.

Note that both starting to travel to one location and arriving at a location are each considered one action, but it is a bad practice to have your character leave one area and arrive in another in the same post.  See the 'travel' section below.

=== Charging Techniques ===

An action is "charged" if it requires more than one "set up" posts to execute. Each of these posts require a description of the action charging or being set up. If a post does not contain description of the action being charged, then it does not count as charging that specific action. Furthermore, the length of (real world) time passed and the number of posts by other players in between the beginning and execution of an action have no effect on how much the action has been charged.

Basically,  if a character "charges" an attack, honor that attack as more powerful than normal.  This is furthered generalized by the following.

=== Rule of Proportional Effects / Proportional Posts ===

This is more of a guideline than a steadfast rule.  Think about what your character is doing and how many people (other characters and NPCs) his/her action is going to affect (cause them to take an action, or make them do something completely different than what they currently are, etc.).  The number of posts describing your character taking that action should be proportional to the number of people that are being affected by it.

In other words, a simple fireball attack might affect 1-3 people-- just one post for that.  Some sort of shockwave might blow apart a large section of a town-- better take two or three posts, the first an elaborate description describing your character preparing the spell, the last for the character executing it.  Need to rescue your friend from 30 armed NPCs?  There's no way that can be done in one post.  Probably should go for three or more.  What your character actually does during those posts doesn't matter.  He could fight through all the guards, sneak around them, prepare some elaborate plan, etc.  Some sort of event that involves an entire city, say, should be detailed through probably ten or more.  Some event that involves the entire planet?  Probably an entire chapter.

=== Story events and nature of actions ===

As far as the story goes, anything can happen as long as it's in good taste and doesn't disrupt the flow of the RP or its medieval setting. The only restriction is that you don't control other players' characters. i.e. If you throw a fireball at someone, you let them decide whether they get hit by it or not.

=== Travel ===

Try and be realistic in the amount of time it takes to get to one place from another. You should never leave one area and arrive in the next in the same post. Places that are farther away should take more posts to get to. I'm not going to spell out the distances between each place we've been to so far, so use your own judgment.

Be descriptive! Especially when you're entering a place of your own design. Try and build off of other posters' descriptions as well. This is important, as it’s easier to tell what’s going on if you know where you’re at.

=== Posting ===

There is a limit of three ’updates’ per day.  An update is a post that contains any actions for any of your characters.  The only exception is a post that contains only dialogue,  i.e. if your character is just talking to another character.

On the other hand, try and stop in to update at least once a day!

==== No one-liners ====

No lame one line "Character A followed Character B" posts. Let us know what they're thinking, what scenery they're looking at, etc.

==== Three day rule ====

If you are fighting someone and your opponent doesn't post for three days, assume they were hit by your attack and knocked unconscious.

==== Location  ====

Most posts should have the location name at the top of each group of characters you are updating like this:


 ''- Location name A -''
 
 Update for character A here.
 
 ----
 
 ''- Location name B -''
 
 Update for character B here.


When you'd like to keep the location secret, use '? ? ?' or the equivalent.
This helps keep track of where everyone is at.

==== Comments ====

Comments not part of the flow of the RP should be made obvious by placing them in between parentheses or slashes, etc.  Try and keep commenting to a minimum.  Major questions should be asked in the current chapter's signup topic, rather than in the middle of the RP.

Try and refrain from quoting other posts unless absolutely necessary, since they just look bad and disrupt the flow of the RP.

Comment-only posts are discouraged.  If you want to discuss something, post in the signup topic.

=== Limitations ===

No unbounded instant teleportation.  If they have the ability, characters can only teleport for short distances, and even that should be used sparingly.  No instant transmission from one place to a totally different one.  And traveling at the speed of light is the same thing... so don't!

No character is allowed an off-the-wall "sensing" ability. Nobody has tracking devices on their person, magical or otherwise - unless you explicitly place one on their person during the course of the RP. Limited sensing is allowed, such as sensing general things like life within a few dozen feet and sensing a specific person within a few feet.

=== Story Integrity Guidelines ===

The following amendments are added to keep the basic story and RP world on track, and to prevent things from getting out of hand.

==== Dimensions ====

A "dimension" is defined as any place that cannot be reached through normal means of travel (e.g. walking, flying, etc.).  

Characters cannot "control" dimensions.  Dimensions cannot be destroyed, time flow cannot be changed,  the fate of a dimension cannot be linked with character's life, etc.

Sanctium: The normal realm of all living things. It could be considered "Earth" if you would wish to call it that. This is where technology has evolved and civilzation has been achieved.

Infernium: One of the two planes of death, Infernium is where those who committed acts of evil arrive after being judged for the afterlife.

Celestium: The second of the two planes of death, Celestium is the plane where those who have only done acts of good end up after death.

Arcanium: The Arcanium is the dimension from which most beings of magic origins come from. It has a large link to the Sanctium, and portals between the two open quite often.

==== Dimensional Travel  ====

Each player may have his/her characters cross into another dimension only once per chapter.  There can only be one crossing, and the number of characters involved does not matter.  Once the crossing occurs, none of that player's characters can change dimensions until the next chapter, even if they didn't take part in the crossing.  (Exceptions can be set up if need be.)

=== Reading ===

It is important to read every post of the RP since your last post. In order to create a coherent world, we all need to know what is going on  with everyone else, even if what other characters are doing on the other side of the world do not immediately affect your own.

If you get totally lost, just ask in the sign up topic and one of us will be happy to give you a short summary of what's going on.

Though the rules are long, they will probably not be as long as the collective posts the RP receives on a good day.  
Chances are if you've just skimmed though the above rules and  jumped to this line you are not cut out for this RP.

== Character Signup ==

=== Specializations ===

Characters only are allowed to have a specialization in a few areas, which will be described in the character's biography.  Specializations can be very specific (e.g. "Fire Magic", "Sword Techniques"), or more broad (e.g. "Destructive Magic", "Bladed Weapons").  The broader the specialization, the less effective the character's talents should be in that area, but on the other hand, the character will have a wider variety of skills.  Think of this as sort of a "class".

This is to prevent characters from suddenly using uncharacteristic abilities out of nowhere.  This does not mean that characters cannot have hidden abilities, just that those abilities need to be added to the character's specialization once they come out.  Try not to make the list of specializations too long or unreasonable, though.

A side note, your characters can learn things through out the RP, but you need to show that they are learning it.

=== Bio ===

Post your character signup right in this topic.  I will look it over and then give you the okay if it's fine. Though to be honest, I doubt there's anyone here I won't okay.

=== Character Design Guidelines ===

Please remember that this is a medieval world. Please try to make your character fit that.

No army-killing abilities. If you do, it needs to have an extremely large consequence to using it.

Inventors are allowed, this is a Steampunk world afterall.

Gun-wise, do not go past blackpowder guns. Flintlocks and the such are very common, and blackpowder guns should be rare.



I will post an example reference (As well as it being my character for the first chapter) here.
(P.S. Thanks to Virmir for letting me use his rules for this, as well as letting me modify them a bit.)

Also, This is the world map for the first chapter. http://crimsonflagcomic.com/forum/index.php?topic=868.msg9613#msg9613 The first group will start in Greenmill, as townsfolk defending against the monsters that have appeared in Riverwood Forest.

Sign-Ups will close after a week. when I say.

ATTENTION: As of now, Zavier has control over this thread and RP equal to mine.

5

Random Topics / What is your favorite mythological/magical/fiction creature?

« on: June 10, 2011, 10:02:00 PM »

I'm been wondering this for awhile now, but I am just too lazy to ask everyone personally, so I made a thread about it. The question is exactly as the title says!

What is your favorite mythological/magical/fiction creature?

Edit: I can't believe I forgot to put this in...

My favorite would have to be the kitsune. I like foxes, but why not add in the powers? More than one tail can be cool, and I really dig the shape-shifting, trickery, and the aspect that some are just plain evil.

Don't get me wrong though, I love most mythological stuff, but the kitsune is just at the top of my list. I will state now, it's followed by a few rare things many of you have probably never heard of.

6

Writer's Guild / In Defense of the Bloodstained Fortress

« on: May 08, 2011, 09:17:39 PM »

In Defense of the Bloodstained Fortress
Chapter 1

    A black fox vixen sat in her chambers with only a single candle to provide light. She looked at her clock, it was almost time. Two past midnight. The vixen looked over at her rifle sitting in the corner, propped up against the wall. She reached for it and pulled on the bolt. A single casing flew out, and the black fox reached for her ammo box. Inside the box was a cache of 7.62mm rounds, all on easy to load magnetic strips. Each strip had five shots on it.

   The vixen took a single strip and loaded it into her rifle in preparation. The five bullets fell into the open gun easily, and then the strip was discarded. She released the bolt, arming the rifle. The black fox turned around and grabbed her cape-like cloak and a helmet, then dashed out the door as her sharp ears caught a faint sound in the distance.

   The girl's toeclaws clicked on the cold stone floor, as she wished she had remembered to grab her boots. She slung her rifle over her shoulder to make running easier as she rounded a corner. The black vixen burst through a door, out into the open cold air. She was atop one of the keep's many high walls. Her rifle fit comfortably into her shoulder as she brought up her sights. The first outline from the dark swamp stumbled towards the wall, followed by many others. The vixen focused her crosshairs on the outline's head, then squeezed the trigger...

______________________________________________________________________________

   "We are completely lost!" a voice said in the middle of the murky swamp. The voice belonged to an emerald feline, with a hooded cape and unique weapon known as a LongBo. "We are not lost! I'm just not exactly sure where we are." said a small figure back to the cat. A third person stood and stared at the two arguing animals with a look of annoyance on his face.

   "Dray, admit it. We're lost." The cat said. "No Zavier, I just need to look at the map again...." The small one said. He wore a simple cloak, only enough to cover one shoulder, and a necklace decorated with a single gem. A war maul on his back, that seemed almost too big for the small island fox. He flicked his two tails as he spoke. "Just trust me... We're close."

   "You said that an hour ago!" replied Zavier. "You have no clue where we are going!" The green cat spoke with a noticeable amount of anger in his voice. Zavier picked up the tiny fox by the scruff of the neck, continuing to scold him.

   Suddenly, Zavier's voice was interrupted by a loud gunshot, followed soon after by another, then another, and another, and one more.

   "You hear that, Zavier? I told you we were close." Draykin said with a grin. "Shut up." Zavier said, dropping the fox. "I assume we will be arriving shortly?" the third traveler said. He was only an inch taller than the cat, wearing a pair of goggles and a light brown trenchcoat. His obsidian longsword sheathed at his side.

   "Yeah, Unreal. We should be getting there soon. Just follow me!" Draykin said, picking himself up and walking in the direction of the gunshots.

______________________________________________________________________________

   The black vixen took her shot, then pulled back her rifle's bolt for another one. The outline in her sights dropped, but immediately got back up. Her target had just survived a near headshot, veering off slightly to impact the shoulder. She re-adjusted her sights, and then fired again and again and again until all five shots had been spent. Only then did the figure fall and stay down.

   As she reached for an extra strip of ammo, a tall, burly anthro wyvern came up to her. "I thought I heard your rifle, Amber." He said, putting a few metal plates onto his basic chainmail. "Late as per usual, Seraphim?" Amber said back, not taking her gaze away from the approaching figures.

   The wyvern stood about six foot two, and was covered in very dark cyan colored scales. His plate and chainmail armor colored maroon with a hint of bronze. The only parts of him left without armor would be his wing-arms and tail. The tail itself had no need to be armored, since if anyone got close enough to swing at it, Seraphim could easily spike them with one of the barbs at the tip.

   "Any sign of Albion, Amber?" he asked, putting on and securing his left pauldron. Amber shook her head. "I only just got out here myself, no sign of him so far. Strange, he's usually first out there..." she told the dragon. Seraphim scoffed, "He's probably still at the tavern from last night, drowning his troubles wit' some of Samantha's homebrewed Fire Ale." Amber rolled her eyes as she took a shot at another figure in the swamp. "He better be sober enough to fight."

   "Any news on when those hired arms will be arriving?" Seraphim asked. "You would know before I did." Amber said, locking on to some movement in the swamp, before firing once. "Hey, you're getting good! That one went down in one shot." Seraphim pointed out. "Oh fuzz..." Amber said, letting her rifle lossen from her shoulder. "THEY don't go down in one shot.."

7

Art Gallery / Webcomic in the making, need ideas and help.

« on: May 08, 2011, 01:42:45 AM »

Right, so I've stated once or twice in chat I've wanted to make a webcomic, and I was told it might be a good idea to make a thread about it so...

I wish to start a webcomic anywhere between a month from now to a year or two, depending mostly on how confident I am on my art. I have a few ideas, but that's where you guys come in, I need some help here.

I need ideas/support.

My current list of characters:
N/A
(Sub-Idea, One based off of myself)

My current list of theme ideas:
Steampunk Medieval
Mecha
(Sub-idea, Schizo-tech-mecha [This means basically Guns, Swords, and Magick])

(EDIT) World Ideas (Added because of much thinking after Dragyn's comment.)
A Utopia
A Civil War
An Alien Invasion
World War Three
The Past
Alternate History
Modern Time
Apocalyptic Future

Anything is appreciated! (Save those annoying comments that are only here to make me angry or discourage me. I hate those.)

8

Art Gallery / Weapon/Armor Requests

« on: April 03, 2011, 12:16:50 AM »

Ello all! I felt like going on a drawing spree, so I thought I might as well let you all in! I'll be drawing a weapon of your choosing, or possibly some armor.

 Please note, I will not be making full suits of armor, only bits, like greaves, or a breastplate, or even gauntlets. Requests are open until I say they are closed, so feel free to post your requests below until I yell at you to stop.

1 request per person please, unless you want both weapon AND armor bit(s).

Requests will be done in order posted.
If you can't think of a design, just tell me so and I'll do my best.
Also, these weapons and armor bits don't even need to be used, it's really just practice and a bit of fun. You are, however, free to use them as you wish.

Well... Have at it!

EDIT: I will most likely be starting these tomorrow, so STOP ASKING TIRIEN! *ahem*

Well, I feel like being a nice little foxie, and opening this up a bit more...

Now, you may post one more request, but there's a catch.

Previous rules about posting do not apply. I will do full armor sets.

Have at it so I can get some good karma!