The Horror Returns...Again... - Toastburner Attempts to Run an RP Again...Again
 

Those of you with a sharp memory may remember this.

After all, I did just do this back in March..

Well…something came up.. At first, it was just that I didn’t want to open against a new Avvy RP, as they tend to draw everyone in the forum into them. Then I ended up running the thing for one reason or another.

However, it appears that I am the first GM to successfully make an Avvy RP unsuccessful. I can now say with full confidence that Avvy VII was cursed, and I hope all the evil mojo stays in those threads where it belongs.

On the plus side, however, this means that I am open run my own RP, which I have been chopping at the bits to do since…welll…March.

Theoretically, I should just run FARS since that (technically) won the vote last time. However, seeming as five months is a dang long time to wait I have decided to you…the people…another chance to pick your poison. Again.

Not to mention I had some new ideas in the meanwhile.

As is my style, the RPs are listed in order of “readiness”. Those at the top are fleshed out and ready to roll. Those towards the bottom are concepts I like, but need work to be a proper RP, and as such, will take longer for me to start.

And before anyone says “this is like that” or “that is almost just like this”, let it be known that I am well aware that I don’t have an original bone in my body, and I freely admit that most, if not all, of these were inspired and take elements from other things, and are not solely my own unique ideas/plots.


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’ll play 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 an F.A.R.S. crew.


In this RP, the players would play the part of the strike team aboard one of the new FARS being sent out into the Outer Colonies to reestablish communications with lost settlements and reestablish order in a sector of space which has basically been lawless for the last century and a half. Strike teams are relatable to the “away teams” or Star Trek fame...except for the fact that strike teams aren’t made up of bridge crew, but rather of professional soldiers. Veteran redshirts, if you want to stick to the analogy. As crew members of a F.A.R.S., the character will be charged with keeping the new re-conquered Outer Colonies free of pirates, hostile aliens, and all that fun stuff that haunts lawless borderlands. As you might suspect, this will be a sci-fi RP…though I reserve the right to throw in other elements as I see fit (it is a big universe out there, after all…)


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) / Baneslayer

Throughout history, when the stars are aligned and the prophecies fulfilled, one girl becomes the Chosen. Through this unfortunate soul is the fate of the world decided, for her firstborn child is destined to become either a savior or a destroyer…the child will either open the Gates of Hell, or seal them for all time.

Around this woman, the forces of good and evil fight, for both seem to save her or destroy her for their own causes. As such, when a Chosen is discovered, a cadre of guardians, the Protectors, surround her and protect her…or, as has often been the case throughout history…kill her to prevent the end of the world.

Such is the life of the Chosen…the Mother of Hell.


Some of you old-timers might remember a little RP called Evil’s Return, that I ran two years ago. The RP was pretty popular, and came within a hair’s breadth of being completed.

For some reason, I’ve been playing with the idea of taking this concept for another spin…but I’ve got a few ideas to go with it.

If I went with Evil’s Return (redux), it would be retelling of the original Evil’s Return RP. It would be similar in plot and mechanics, but with enough story elements changed to keep things fresh.

Baneslayer would take place in the same universe, but not in the same time-frame, and wouldn’t necessarily revolve the plot around the Mother of Hell. I’m thinking of somewhere in the time-frame of the 1920s to the 1940s Its an area of history that, I think, would make for some interesting twists in a modern supernatural setting. Depression-era demon hunting just sounds cool to me for some reason. This would retain the same mechanics as Evil’s Return, as that seemed to work out nicely last time.




Agents of Death

What if I told you that…technically…there are no such things as monsters, but at the same time, there are things that go bump in the night? Well, it’s true. Monsters do exist, but they’re all humans. Or were, at any rate. They are those who sought desperately to escape death…so much so that they twisted the natural order to try to escape it. Some are those who are already dead who cling to the illusion of life, often at the expense of the living. Others are those who have found one of the many secrets of immortality…secrets that are better left undiscovered.

As you might imagine, Death…is not too thrilled when this happens, and he’s simple too busy to handle all these cases himself. So from among the dead, he choses a select few to serve as protectors of the natural order. Destroying angels. Reapers. Agents of Death. They are those who return to the world of the living to claim those who have eluded Death. Sometimes…the dead must deal with the dead.


This concept is the evolution of the original concept I was working on when I came up with my Devil Arms RP. As you might imagine from that, this RP was inspired by the Devil May Cry series, as well as a old TV show called Brimstone that I vaguely remember watching. I suppose it’s rather similar to Reaper, but I never managed to catch an episode of that show.

The characters would be the titular Agents of Death, hunting down monsters, which are basically humans who seek to avoid death so much they either remain on the mortal plane after dying or find other nefarious means of prolonging their life. Of course, some sort of hijinks would ensue…but I’m not quite sure what yet. Hence, it being at the bottom of the list.


So…there is, folks. A list of train-wrecks waiting to happen.

And now, a list of the list:

F.A.R.S.

Big Bad Wolf Limited (redux)

Evil’s Return (redux)

Baneslayer

Agents of Death

Evil's Return. Definitely Evil's Return. Being the Mother of Hell was really cool.

I like F.A.R.S. as well.

Oooh!!! I vote Evil's Return!! I loved that game!

Angels of Death takes second place.

Evil's return it looks like fun so it is first and Agents of Death is a close second

I love all of them. For reals. I'm not sure I can pick one. I'm gonna give it some more thought but I'm still posting to let you know I plan on joining whatever you run.

I'd say F.A.R.S first, and evil's return as a second.
I haven't really done much with this board, like at all, so I don't think you should take this as a vote, but as a suggestion that may or may not be ignored.

Evils return, definitly.

Of the options, Evil's Return/Baneslayer sounds like the closest thing I'd be into. Though, I really can't be sure until I see what sort of mechanics the game has.

In any case, Evil's Return (preference: Redux) has my vote. The last RP I remember playing in that you ran turned out decently, so, I'll at least look into whatever the end result is.

After one day, the voting looks like this:
(Note: I'm counting "1st" vote as 1 point, "2nd" vote as .5)

Evil's Return(redux): 5.5
FARS: 1.5
Agents of Death: 1
Baneslayer: .5

...Yeah...so far it's not even close.

I'll at least keep this open at least through tomorrow, as I won't have time to whip up a proper sign-up thread until Sunday evening.

L o o k h e r e.

Gah! It hurts to look back! So close to the end! The horribleness of the pacing at the end!

On a side note, if you worried about spoilers, don't be. If we end up doing Evil's Return (redux), the plot will be pretty different from the original.

...Well, not the main plot (Mother of Hell and all that), but the events will be different.

I know it won't change anything, and I'll join Evil's Return if I can, but I want the record to show that I'm voting for BBW, seconding FARS.