Horror of Horrors: Toastburner B GMs Again!
 

It's me again.

Yes, I know what you all are thinking. "Toastburner, you old fool! The last few RPs you claimed to have run were horrible, abject failures on your part!"

Very true, I admit. And honestly, I can do little to guarantee that this time will be any different.

However, should anyone of you be foolish forgiving enough to give me another chance, I'd like to give it another go. I've gotten some new RP ideas, and some new twists on some older ideas.

And forget this one or two titles stuff. I'm throwing out every idea I have, in alphabetical order. Quiet a few of these are old ideas, but considering that almost all of the sign-ups got lost when the forums got moved (and, of course, I'm not smart enough to save them as I go), I'll have to re-write the mechanics, which means that at least some things will be changed.

So, if you are willing to give me another shot, go ahead and vote. Or don't vote. Or pipe in and call me the hack that I am and tell me never to attempt to GM again, whatever floats your boat.


Agents of Death(redo):

There are no such things as monsters.

But there are things that go bump in the night.

They used to be human. But, one way or another, they defied Death. Unfortunately, there is no "clean" way to achieve immortality...it is always with the blood of others. Every monster in any given folklore is a kind of immortal.

These creatures do not have their own way. A handful of souls, handpicked by Death himself, remain in the world of the living. With the power to travel back and forth through the Veil, these agents of Death hunt down these immortals, bringing them the destruction they strived so hard to avoid.

In the RP, the characters are the titular Agents of Death. While it is in a modern setting, the agents can be from any time period, and have super-human strength, speed, etc, as they hunt down monsters/immortals who prey on others to prolong their unnatural lives. See the Agents of Death RP and sign-up for more information (they both survived the move!)





Big Bad Wolf Limited (redux)

To call Big Bad Wolf Limited a mercenary organization would be technically true, but it doesn't really define what the company is all about. Big Bad Wolf Ltd specializes in jobs that more traditional mercenary companies simple cannot handle or will not handle,either because they don't believe the job is real or because they don't have the specialized resources they'd need to handle it.

Jobs like taking care of a prototype military robot gone wild (and you don't want to call the military in because then you'd lose your contract), stopping amazingly elaborate heists that make the ones in the movies look like child's play, putting an end to psychic corporate espionage, clearing out that otherworld phenomenon that ate the team of paranormal investigators you hired...stuff like that.

Big Bad Wolf Limited has the equipment and the people (at least, as far as anyone can prove, their people) to handle these specialized (and not to mention very high paying jobs.

Truthfully, I came up with this idea while catching part of Die Hard with a Vengeance, as the baddies open the vault, I thought to myself "what would happen if when they opened the vault, there was a guy there waiting for them?" This RP will also take elements from Devil May Cry, 007 and Mission: Impossible (for gadgets and such), and the Die Hard films. This is generally intended to be a relatively light-hearted RP will over-the-top action.

Yeah, I know last time I tried this one, it had the popularity, but I blew it pretty hard...

...The idea has bounced around in the back of my head since then, and I believe I've come up with a much better selection of scenarios, not to mention a more concrete overall plot. I'd love to take this one for another spin and give it a good run. And think this time we won't worry about the whole chain of command thing.


Evil's Return (redux)

The Mother of Hell.

The Chosen.

Destined to be the mother of the savior or destroyer of the world: for her first born has the power to either open the Gates of Hell, or to seal them forever.

Her life is often short and violent. If she isn't being hunted by cultists or demons to want to grantee that her firstborn opens the Gates of Hell, then she's being stalked by people who want to kill her before she has children; take one life to preserve the life of billions.

There are always, however, a scant few that fight to keep her alive. Those who believe that the chance of sealing the Gates forever is reason enough, and the even fewer that believe that she deserves the chance to live her life as long as possible.

They are known as the Protectors.


Evil's Return is loosely based off the manga of the same name. The players play as the Protectors, who are out to keep the Mother of Hell alive and safe for any number of reasons. However, unlike my previous runnings of this game (since the old info was lost, I'll have to type up all the rules and stuff all over again! Gah!), this time the game will take place outside the confines of a high school environment. Still don't have a solid idea on the setting, but I'd like to try something different if we go down this route again. Other than that, everything will be (about) the same.


F.A.R.S.:

Fast Action Response Ship...it doesn't really being to cover it, does it?

F.A.R.S. are so much more than just the first ship to arrive, even though we are that. We have to be prepared to handle any situation, anywhere. One day, we'llplay the part of an old American west marshal and pick up a vicious criminal from an outlying world and drop him off at the nearest jump-station, the next day, we're neck deep in aliens who haven't evolved past the stone age, but happen to outnumber some colonist 10,000 to 1.

Normally, this would be the job a dedicated fleet, but for the time being, we don't have that option. Not only are we still trying to recover our strength from the last war, we have to convince our erstwhile allies that we aren't going to become the Thigians part two, and that means patrolling our borders with a handful of ships until they decide they can trust us enough to park fleets on their boarders. Basically, that means that a F.A.R.S. has to be able to hold the line by itself until one of the few fleets mankind has on hand can be assembled and deployed; a process that can take anywhere from a week to six months.

Yeah...it's fun to in a F.A.R.S. crew.

Obviously, in this RP, the characters will be the crew of one of mankind's Fast Action Response Ships: charged with keeping the outlying planets free of pirates, hostile aliens, and all that fun stuff that haunts the borderlands. This will mostly be a sci-fi RP, but I reserve the right to introduce elements from other genres as I see fit (after all, space is big.



From On High: As far humanity was concerned, the world was about to end. The few thousand survivors of the race found themselves making their last stand in their final stronghold, the city of Avalon.

When all hope seemed lost, a light broke through the gathering darkness. From that light, descended beings of incredible power. Single handedly, these newcomers from the heavens smashed the forces laying siege to the city, and began the counterattack against the Dark.

In this RP, you are the beings that descend to save the final bastion of humanity: in fact, other than you skill in battle, descending to save Avalon is the first real memory you have. Are you angels? Gods? Mortals granted amazing powers? You're not sure yourself, all you know is that the forces that seem bent on the genocide of mankind is your enemy, and that you have the power to wipe them out. This would be a super-powered brawler style. I'd be open to ideas as to how to keep this from turning into a bunch of posts that basically add up to "I swing my sword and a lot of people die." This RP was inspired by the game 'Devil Kings' continuing my odd practice of getting ideas from less than popular media.


Paradox(redux):

One second, you were just a normal human being. The second after that, you felt more pain than you thought you could ever experience. What happened after that changed your life forever...because you changed.

Into a monster.

Once you changed, you were overcome by a horrible hunger...and one way or another, you satisfied that hunger.

You've entered into a world where you know there are things that haunt the dark: you know because you are one of those things. Why have you started to change now? Is there a way to prevent the change? To control it?

Actually, the questions should be: can you learn to control soon enough to survive the coming storm.

While the basics and setting will be roughly the same, the plot will be new. No more 'Curse'...just the mystery of what the Paradoxes are, why they are popping up now.


The Return:

For ages, the Tanar'ri Armada has been the terror of the galaxy. They appear without warning, crushing lower civilizations and conquering their worlds to support an ever expanding Empire. Think of them as Rome on a galactic scale. The races they encounter are either enslaved or exterminated...there is no middle ground.

Of course, there are cases where a portion of a species escapes the grip of the Armada. While the reach of the Tanar'ri is long, they cannot be anywhere. However, these remnants have been too much of a concern. After all, they are but a bare fragment of their race...surely no threat could come from them.

However, what would happen if those remnants banded together with the single purpose of retaking that which was theirs: to come out of the night and take revenge on their oppressors. Surely such a coalition of races couldn't come to pass; surely their differences would tear them apart before they could become powerful enough to challenge the might of the Armada.

At least, that's what the Tanar'ri though before the appearance of the Return: a massive Terran refugee ship rebuilt as one of the largest warships in history...along with fleets of ships belonging to other Remnant races.

The War of the Return begins.


The Return would be a little more free-based than my other RPs...mostly because there are so many ways to go with it, which would be up to the players. Would you each control your own capital ship? Would you be the crew of the Return itself? Would be a squadron of fighter pilots? That would be up to you guys to decided, but the plot would be about the same regardless. You could be human, or make up your own alien race...within reason, of course.


Supernatural Investigations Division

Once upon a time, the Supernatural Investigations Division was an law enforcement agency on par with that of the FBI.

That time is long gone.

Now, the SID isn't even headquartered in D.C., but rather in the abandoned town of Centralia, Pennsylvania. It is a secret government organization, but it doesn't fit the stereotypical secret organization from the movies: the SID is underfunded, undermanned, under-appreciated, and overworked. The SID is a rag tag combination of wash-outs and screw ups from other organizations (such as the FBI, the NSA, the CIA, etc) and 'good' agents that where transferred because they ran into supernatural elements on the course of their jobs.

The Supernatural Investigations Division is called in when local police or other federal agencies run into something they can't explain. Of course, this means that by the time they are called in, things are already about to boil over. More often than not, the SID's job is to identify what is causing the trouble, figure out its weaknesses, and neutralize it.

In the RP, unsurprisingly enough, the characters would be Agents in the SID. This would be a more light-hearted RP...after all, the SID is mostly made out of misfits and such.


So, there you go. Those are the ideas I have bouncing around in my head at the moment.

Thank you for your time. Feel free to vote, discuss, tell me to get lost, or whatever in this thread. And heaven help us all if enough people are interested in starting a new RP.

Agents of Death: Resounding meh. Didn't that die in like... two pages or something stupid last time you tried it?

Big Bad Wolf: I'd sign up if you got this going again. Was cool last time, could be cool again, depending on players.

Evil's Return: I know I kinda disappeared on this last time, but I'd be willing to give it another go. Would prefer Big Bad Wolf, though.

F.A.R.S.: Ehhh, I guess I could go for a sci-fi thing.

From On High: Meh. Too much power makes for boring stuff. Prefer to write my awesomeness within limits, and to at least be able to pretend there's some risk. Don't get me wrong, the very ending of Heavenly Sword where I got to go all god on an army was cool, but I don't think I could put up with a whole game of it.

Paradox: Maybe. Was alright last time.

The Return: Ehhh... ship to ship battles don't really interest me too much.

Supernatural Investigations Division: Could be cool.

Willing to give you another chance, because no matter how bad things seem to have a history of being I am never not bored enough to haphazardly throw myself on another RP.

Giving support for just about everything Krylo does, interested to hear more about Paraxdox.

All of them look easy enough to have ideas for and I'm eager to play them all. Just one question...

Do I get to be the Mother of Hell again?

Man, you're willing to run Paradox again?? I loved Paradox! But only if I'm ok to play Ifrit again.

Throwing a vote behind the mother of hell one again (aka: Evil's return). That was fun last time, and since summers coming up, how can I get to busy to post?... Again?

...I swear, you keep running with it long enough and I'll end up back with you. *cough*

Big Bad Wolf, F.A.R.S and Supernatural sound the coolest

I'll throw out a vote for... well, whatever, really. I'm distracted enough by classes that I may not even be able to post very often, but that doesn't mean I can't try!

Although Paradox or Evil's Return is probably what I'd be a little more comfortable with just because I've been in those previously. Again, doesn't matter too much in the end anyway, so play whatever!

Evil's Return gets my first vote, because I enjoyed it last time, and Supernatural Investigation is probably second

He Toasty, might I point you here and here in regards to the "lost" Evil's Return stuff. All the dead threads are in the "Dead Threads" section, even if they were RPs.

Also, I'd be down for any of the above really, though if I am being forced to pick one I'll say Evil's Return.

Well, since you asked so nicely.

I'm going to say that most of your previous RPs have failed because you vanish when a GM action's needed. You really need to stop doing that. I mean, really, really, really need to, since the game's are usually reasonably engaging to that point, and its such a waste for the GM of all people to stop posting.

Few comments about those RPs in general, Agents of Death was incredibly plain in the last incarnation, so you probably shouldn't do that one. I wasn't particularly drawn into Evil's Return either (but that might be my fault, my character sucked), and it felt like it had balance and logistic issues right off the bat too. From On High looks like it'll be a real pain to balance between challenging and boring, so you might want to avoid it too.

Now, on a more personal level, I'm not too interested in F.A.R.S for thematic reasons and The Return, Big Bad Wolf and S.I.D. are all pretty vague in their descriptions of what kind of characters we could be, potentially, so I'm not sure if I'd get involved in any of them.

Paradox is the closest thing to get my vote, but that's more because I know about it then anything else. Only thing I'd worry about is a "Been here done that." Feeling from it.

Anyway, despite how critical that might sound, I'd look into anything you made, at least briefly.

'Cause I'm such a nice guy, Old BBW sign up.

I'd link the others you mentioned, as well, but I don't think they were run before? At least not that I remember. S.I.D.S. might have been, but I don't think it got very far if it was.

Well...dang. I wish I would of known that when I was working on the opening post. Would of saved me a lot of trouble in having to re-write my old pitches.

Honestly...that's a question I don't have an answer to right now. Some of the scenarios I have in mind involve trying to track down the Mother of Hell during the first part of the RP. If we end up doing ER again, we'll see if we work something out.

I'll say that my personal preference would be BBW, and I'll probably roll Nick again, though I'll also probably tone him down slightly. Not a lot, mind. Slightly.

After just skimming the opening there, I can safely say I'm interested in it.

I thought it was going to be a lot more tech-heavy when I first read the description, so I'm pleasantly surprised. I'll add a vote to it, since it looks decent and the psionic/paranormal components are more than enough to keep things interesting. Combat'll still be a little plain I suppose, but I think they're all like that.

Anyway, thanks for the Link Krylo - I'd have dug around for it myself but, well, I was feeling lazy.

Look out! There be Title?s among us!
 

If you'll have me, I'd be up for trying another one of these. I might even not get pulled away like last time!
I'd be game for just about any of them.

Well, I guess I did ask for it, and you didn't say anything I don't agree with. In fact, I completely agree with the with fact that I sucked horribly as a GM the last few times I've tried. And I daresay that the last Evil's Return RP sucked mostly because of me, since you were wondering about it.

I'd like to think I still have it in me. The first Evil's Return was run painfully close to the end, and Paradox had a good long run. But running counter to that is the fact that my last two RPs died young, mostly through my inaction. I would promise thing will be different this time around, but I said that last time, so my word is pretty much null and void when it comes to that. All I can say is I am determined to do better...which is, what...two chatpers? <_<;;

I've used the SID name and concept before, but it never had it's own RP. SID was the token government group from the Paradox RP. Maybe that is where you remember the name from.

Speaking of which, since people are digging up old RP sign-ups for me, here is the old Paradox sign-up thread. In this case, however, just ignore the entire "Curse of Tiamat and Summoners" stuff, as that isn't figured into the my new Paradox ideas.

Leave me alone! It copy and pasted from Word like that!

Seriously, I thought I had caught all those. You can't believe how many commas, apostrophes, and other such punctuation marks that got replaced by the now hated question mark.

It's a Title? of One!
 

...must be a new conspiracy, my Trademark got switched!

I blame my work PC. Or the new website if it does it to me again.

(Edit: IT happened again. Maybe a problem with the new vBulletin/forum.)

So...you weren't actively taunting me?

Well...good thing I didn't get all defensive or something, eh? >_>;;

Anyways, at this point, the front runners appear to be Evil's Return, Big Bad Wolf Limited, and Paradox. I'll keep voting open through the weekend.

If no one else votes, things are close enough that I think I'd run Big Bad Wolf Limited. This has nothing to do with the fact that I have this mental image of Whistler throwing a handful of glitter at Nick while declaring "Vampires are supposed to be sparkly now!"

No, sir. Nothing to do with it at all.

I wonder, could Paradoxes be used in Big Bad Wolf or Mother of Hell? The settings are all pretty similiar, and Big Bad Wolf's already got werewolves - Paradoxes aren't too far off from that.

Anyway, I'm interested in all three of them. To change the systems up (they're all rerolls of old games), maybe you could think about incorporating various elements of each into them?

Was just a passing thought of mine.

Well...maybe shapeshifters, but Paradoxes ported straight over would be pretty overpowered in both Big Bad Wolf Limited and Evil's Return, as they tend to be physically powerful, have magic-like powers, and are very hard to hurt.

Plus, there is that entire cannibalistic berserker monster that can go out of control at a moment's notice part.

Still...entertaining this idea for the time being...the cross over that would make more sense to be would be Big Bad Wolf and Evil's Return. Who better to guard the Mother of Hell than a bunch of eccentric mercenaries?

I retain the rights to say that this was my idea of it turns out to be popular, and to say it was Teal Mage's idea if everyone thinks it is stupid.

I support a potential BBW/Evil's Return crossover. If just to bring true ToastBurner's prophecy.

Why not just cross them ALL over.

Big Bad Wolf on a joint operation with SIDS has been sent into the far future by the Tanar'ri Armada (which was mistakenly believed to be supernatural), where they end up on a F.A.R.S. ship that is heading to earth where disturbances have been reported due to the mother of hell being born, meanwhile a strange alien parasite begins to transform the crew into paradoxes, and death sends his agents after the BBW because they were supposed to die millenia ago.

When they arrive they find they need to not only contend with the mother of hell and the hell gate, but also strange angelic beings with near godlike powers who have seemingly appeared out of no where to battle the encroaching demons.

Mostly because when you phrase it like that it sounds like a horrible crossover fanfic between Supernatural, Doctor Who and Star Trek.

Castiel mistakes Dr. Who for an angelic being or perhaps even God, and brings Sam and Dean onto the Tardis, where Sam accidentally causes the Tardis to bring them to the bridge of the USS Enterprise. Once there the Q collective notices the disturbance in space time and transports Sam, Dean, Castiel, Dr. Who, Picard, his crew, and Kirk and his crew all to the Q continuum, where Sam tries to convince them to help end the apocalypse in their world while Dean frees THE Q, who promises to help them if they can stop the continuum.

Meanwhile, The Doctor has a pleasant discussion with Picard, and finds that Q is not to be trusted, and tries to stop Dean with the help of Castiel, but Dean has already gotten Kirk on their side.

In hindsight, I really should of seen that coming

If you're actually considering it, Big Bad Wolf's magic system seemed more interesting than Evil's Return's rune system (not to mention more compatible across the board). Of course, there's no real reason why both systems can't operate in the same world, but it might take a bit of thought on your part to manage.

More two cents from me!

That's what, four?

Yeah, I figured if things went the way of the cross-over, most of the mechanics would be carried over from Big Bad Wolf Limited. The sigil system worked with Evil's Return because ER required a bit more tighter control. Big Bad Wolf requires a bit of a looser rein. So, if we go crossover, we'll scrap the sigils this time around.

Really, the main problem would be working demons into the BBWL system. Exorcisms and all that stuff would have to be justified, as well.

Wait...when did I start to take this idea seriously?

You got disoriented by Krylo's blindside attack of crossover summary and that made you easier to take advantage of for the rest of this idea.

Not to say it is a bad one, but if you needed a reason why...

I'd play it!

For some reason, I read Hawk's last post as "I'd hit it!"

I'm sure there's a compliment in that.

Does that mean it'll happen?

In any case, from where I'm sitting, there's a lot of options for working Demons in. For instance, you could do something like Supernatural people (Vampires, Werewolves, Catgirls) are other races that happens to live with humans, or that they're descendants of not-evil demons from way back when. Just toss the gate of hell in and you've got the world's set up. I don't think you need any help with Exorcisms really.

Anyway, there's actually a lot of routes to mixing demons in. Those are just the two most obvious I could think of.

I figure if you stick around the Evil Return central power structure being biblical you can always pitch the near-humans with the Nephilim. If you'd rather be vauge with their background and make the demons the sideways element the idea that Demons are a dimension off seem to make Exorcism work just about anywhere. To exist a demon has to exert its willpower onto the mundane world and exorcism is just the mental contest between the two parties.

I'm sure you'll find something, just give it some thought.

So, hypothetically, if you did cross them somehow, would it be BBW protecting the mother, or would the protectors still be in it? I'm not sure why, but being part of an organised unit puts me off an RP. Don't ask me to explain it, I've tried. Having both BBW and regular protectors trying to safeguard the mother sounds pretty interesting though...

You mean the things from the early bible that no-one knows what they are?

Well, they do have a cool name at least.

Edit: I second Steel's suggestion.

Yeah those things, you can stick pretty much anything you want in there and end up clear biblically.

Also I'm feeling Steel, but mostly because of, of your track record of guiding a group rather than an actual dislike of working in an organized unit.

Well, I wasn't so worried about the demons themselves, more the entire calling exorcisms and holy relics and the like as a different form of magic when people are rocking psionics instead of magic. It was a nice, easy way to have holy abilities without having to dabble in actual religion.

Well, I suppose the easiest thing to do would be just to call it a possible subsection of psionics and leave it at that. I think I made it sound more of a complex problem than I actually meant it.

And as for having Protectors in addition to Big Bad Wolf Limited, that would have to depend on how many sign-up for this trainwreck. It won't do us a lot of good to allow both if there isn't enough people to justify it.

...So, basically, it has gotten to the point that people want to do the ER/BBWL crossover, huh?

Looks like it.

So, turning into a Werewolf falls into that sort of thing too?

I think turning into a werewolf falls under being a werewolf.

I wonder if the Mother of Hell could become a werewolf?

Then again, that would kind of kill the whole defenseless part.

Maybe the Mother of Hell could be the Paradox. Ooh, plot twist!

What Krylo said, basically. Psionics was just a quick and easy way to have magic-like powers without the "WOOHOOMAGICICANDOANYTHINGWITHMAGIC!!!1!!1" mindset that some people tend to get and the kinda complex/hard to police stuff like the sigil system from ER. Werewolves, vampires, and the like don't need psionics to justify their ability because, hey, they're monsters!

Well, by and large the MoH is human, so, yeah, she could be a werewolf. I'm not saying I'm going to let that happen gamewise, but technically she could be a werewolf since she is human.

Bleh. Cross-over madness. Sooner or later someone is going to want to be an Exalted or have a gundam or something...

Really? a Gundam? Lunatics!

MoH could be a Werewolf-vampire!

Do we really want this to be heading into Axe Cop territory? Because that route leads to Vampire-werewolf-shark-ninja-wizards from the moon.

And that, frankly, is just getting ludicrous considering the Mother is supposed to be mostly defenseless. Although the origin story for THAT would be something else entirely, I'll admit.

Could... could I be an Exalted who IS a Gundam?

Introducing Alchemical Exalted to the world of Evil's Return can only end well.

I'm helpful!

Nick is no longer a vampire.

He's now abyssal.

Dusk Caste.

I hate all of you.

Hold that thought.

I have the abyssal book. I'll get you a list of charms soon.

Edit: And combos.

Edit Edit: Oh, and soulsteel artifacts. Maybe one of them thar mech things.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...I_Hate_You.jpg

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

Srsly tho, when the fuck are you putting up a sign up, Toast?

The natives are restless.

And hungry.

Sometime today, hopefully. I couldn't do my normal "stay up until 3 am to work on the sign-up" thing because I had to wake up and open the store today.

On the upside, I'll have time to ponder plot and stuff at work.

HERE IS THE PLOT!

MOTHER OF HELL IS AROUND!

SOME BITCHES BE WANTIN' TO MAKE A DEPOSIT IN HER BABY BANK!

BBW IS ON THE CASE TO MAKE SURE ANY DEPOSITS ARE UNTAINTED BY DEMONESES!

BAM!

I'm game for that!

Up for it