The Legend of Cylindia [Heavily Stat-RP]
 

As said in the topic, this RP isn't quite for the easily confused. It deals a lot of stats, though it still gives much way for RP. But, just to note, if numbers scare you, you might not like this RPG. Anyhoo. This comes from an idea I had 2 years ago, when I was a wee 13-year old. Yeah, yeah, my writing's bad. But I never got to fixing it, so, without further ado..


Welcome to the kingdom of the Cylindia.

In this land, most power revolves around the mastery of the elements of existence. This would mostly only concern mages, but warriors must also be able to harness the powers given by the elements. You, as one of the few Cylindians who live in this wonderful, prosperous, but also dangerous land, must learn to control these elements. To survive - to be able to wake up the next day, feel the sun shine on your face, and be glad that you are alive. This, opposite from what the land suggests from a bird’s eye view, is not easy. Many have died from the denizens of the hidden that attack Cylindians here and there, but other was always able to adapt to their difficulties and live, destroying these evil entities and surviving again and again over time.

However, the false security that the Cylindians held in their minds for so long was shattered. It was not by the dark monsters that plagued the land, but by something far more deadly, something that was so powerful that it destroyed everything in a fell sweep.

It was war. War has erupted all around the world, not including the Cylindians… But, nevertheless, the Cylindians eventually got dragged into it, as other, less forgiving, less caring people rushed into Cylindia, thinking it was empty, thinking it was safe, thinking it not anymore as a paradise, but a strategic location, and a battlefield. Many Cylindians died in the early days of the war, hunted down by people using forces they did not know about, and did not know how to counter. Deadly machinery invaded the magical land, machinery that could devastate villages in only minutes, and weapons that could mow down people, snuffing out their sparks of life in but only seconds. Many apprentices died, and only the strong survived. However, this scale of death was greater than any other, and the Cylindians knew that they were no match for the technologically enhanced people. Therefore, they retreated to the bowels of the element earth, to the underground, where Gaia guarded them, the master of the element earth. You were born in the start of the war, and after your few months of light, you were moved to the underground. From that time you rarely saw sunlight ever again.

17 long years have passed from that day, and the war above the surface rages on, while the Cylindians had made their dull but safe life below. Many times you have questioned your ancestry; why you had to be hidden below, why was there shockwaves in the ceiling of your bedroom while you slept, disturbing your sleep, and mostly – where was the sunlight that you had loved so when you were young, and why did it go? The elders of the underground colony shook their head at the questions, and never gave answers. But now you have been freed of your childish bonds, and now is an adult. Now you may make your own decisions to an extent. Now, you decided, was the time to find out why the sunlight was kept from you. Armed with magical skills and also skills in weaponry, you seek to venture out into the world... but the first problem is, how will you get past the Cylindians, who eye the surface with fear and contempt?
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I expect only seasoned RPGers and those who prove to be active to be in this RPG. I will NOT tolerate people who try to snake out of things using excuses. If they are not active, then the rest of the party will suffer from it. I do not want to, and probably will not, give replacements; It is quite hard to give the party a deus ex machina in a middle of a boss battle, and have it make sense. Therefore, I expect, and hopefully, that all the players expect also, a stable stream activity out of each other. If the accepted players cannot choose, then I’ll choose myself who I will accept. There will be four people in this RPG.

First of all, I will inform you that the battle system is map-based. If you don’t like it, then you don’t have to join. If you don’t like it but you still want to join, then tough.

Anyway, the character creation is quite simple, but with a twist in it. Note that I will accept characters with ‘crazy’ stats, though the consequences of having such stats won’t be my responsibility; after all, I didn’t make these stats.

First of all, the stats used in this game include HP, MP, AP, STR, MAG, DEF. You may rename these stats to whatever you want, but make sure that they make sense, and that I can tell which is which.

HP – Hit Points. Measures your life.
MP – Magic Points. Measures your usage of magic, both in spells and in skills.
AP – Action Points. This is something that I don’t see that much, and mainly, inspiration of this system came from the game series ‘Exile’, made by Spiderweb Software. Basically, Action Points determine what you can do and what you can’t in each combat round. Movement of one space costs 1 AP. Using an item costs 1 AP. Equip/De-equip actions take 2 AP, unless it is armor, which you cannot change in combat. Physically attacking takes 3 AP, and attacking with a projectile weapon costs 2 AP. Casting an offensive or a non-beneficial spell costs 6 AP. Casting a curative or a beneficial spell costs 5 AP. Special skills and techniques have an AP cost determined by me.
STR – Affects your physical attacks and skills unless said otherwise.
MAG – Affects your magical attacks and skills unless said otherwise. Also reduces damage from magical attacks by MAG / 2.
DEF – Reduces damage from physical attacks, and reduces damage from magical attacks by DEF / 2.

Character Creation!

1 – Set basic information. This part should be obvious. Your name, class, bio, description, all that. It doesn’t HAVE to be complex, but with a good story comes better character development, and this won’t be the only RPG like this if it succeeds, if you know what I mean.

2 – Choose your element. There are 4 elements that your character can initially master from, and that is Fire, Ice, Wind, and Earth. Instead of using opposing elements, I intend to use a circle. This circle goes in Fire -> Ice -> Wind -> Earth -> Fire in terms of weaknesses, and Fire -> Wind -> Fire, and Earth -> Ice -> Earth in terms of strengths. To easier word this..

Fire is strong to Ice, weak to Earth, and has little effect on Wind.
Ice is strong to Wind, weak to Fire, and has little effect on Earth.
Wind is strong to Earth, weak to Ice, and has little effect on Fire.
Earth is strong to Fire, weak to Wind, and has little effect on Ice.

Note that other elements do exist, but require more masterful control of the first 4. However, the advanced elements aren’t always the most powerful.

3 – Set advancement points. Every character starts with 6 advancement points and gains one every 3 levels. These points will determine how fast your stats grow, thus giving a higher level of customization of your characters. Let’s take a look at the stat point formula.

1 SP = 2 HP = 2 MP = 1/4 AP = 1 STR = 1 MAG = 1 DEF.

This is the BASE formula for stat points. After advancement points are set, this formula would be different for all. Let’s see the advancement point formula for changing the stat point formula.

1 AdvP = +1 HP/1 SP = +1 MP/1 SP = +1/4 AP/1 SP = +0.5 STR/1 AP = +0.5 MAG/1 AP = +1 DEF/1 AP.

To simplify it; 1 AdvP put in HP would let you gain one more HP per stat point you put in it. Same with MP. 1 AdvP put in AP would let you gain ¼ more AP per stat point you put in it. 1 AdvP put in STR, MAG, or DEF will let you gain ½ more STR/MAG/DEF per stat point you put into it.

All fractionalized stats are to be rounded down in damage/movement equations.

4 – Spread your points. After setting advancement points, you are to spread your stat points. Your character starts with 45, and follow the formula above, applying the changes made by your advancement points, to spread them.

5 – Equipment. All characters start with a weapon that gives +1 to 2 stats of their choice, or +2 to one stat of their choice, and an armor that also gives +1 to 2 stats or +2 to one stats. You start with 150 Gold, the universal currency for the world, and 300 Cynos, the currency specialized for Cylindians. Weapons and armor are improved by blacksmiths and armorers throughout the game.

6 – Techniques and Spells. All characters will also start with a technique, which will be seen and approved by me, and a first level spell of their chosen element, which I will provide through IM; there are more than one first level spell for each element.

7 – I believe you are done. Pat yourself on the back.

Combat System

Combat System is like any other with a twist.

Combat priority is ordered by AP used. Least AP used goes first, and so on. Note that leftover AP will not carry on into the next turn. Also, AP can be used even if it makes AP count go under 0. You just won’t be able to make any actions afterward. Like you can still cast a spell at 1 AP, and so on. The commands are listed below.

Movement – Moves 1 square. May move diagonally. – 1 AP
Switch – Switches position if switcher and switched are adjacent. – 1 AP for both.
Item Usage (Self) – Uses 1 item on self. – 1 AP
Item Usage (Other) – Uses 1 item on other targets. – 2 AP
Equip/De-equip – Equips/de-equips your equipment. Armor cannot be de-equipped but can be equipped. – 2 AP
Physical melee attack – Attacks with a melee weapon. – 3 AP
Physical projectile attack – Attacks with a projectile weapon. Note that projectile weapons has a 10% accuracy penalty for each square more than 1 that the target is away from the shooter. – 2 AP
Casting offensive magic – Casts damaging or non-beneficial magic. – 6 AP
Casting defensive magic – Casts curative or beneficial magic. – 5 AP
Skills – Uses a skill from one’s repertoire – Varied AP
Spirit – Recovers MP by 2X, where X is AP used. – All remaining AP
Meditate – Recovers HP by 2X, where X is AP used. – All remaining AP
Defend – Halves damage from physical attacks until the next turn. Can only be used as the first action in a turn. – All remaining AP
Shield – Halves damage from magical attacks until the next turn. Can only be used as the first action in a turn. – All remaining AP

Other abilities may be learned by the characters as the game progresses.

Dying – Getting your HP down to 0 makes you unconscious, in which time your base defense is set to 0. If HP becomes negative (max HP/2) while you are unconscious, you die and must be revived. Being unconscious at the end of a battle will still net you EXP, and you’ll wake with 1 HP, or however many HP you were given while in KO’d state. Being killed will not get you any EXP.

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Anyway, sorry if some of the stuff above is harsh, but meh, this was in a fast-moving board once, where days of inactivity meant a purge from the forum.

Either way, I will admit that the system is quite difficult to grasp. Thusly, I can help you in making your character - just call on AIM Van MacDougal or MSN DZY351378@hotmail.com, and please speak in proper grammar and in words that I can understand. AOLspeek and such, though tolerable, serves to add to my impatience.

Either way, let the game begin, if it ever gets enough players through. ;)

Jeezus H Christ on a surfboard, that is one complicated system.

What do you mean by active? How often must people post to beconsidered active? My (aggravating activity necessitated by reason of need to generate lucre for nourishment, accommodation, maintenance and entertainment) gets in the way too much, and there are a few others here who ahve to work/study too, so don't expect too much.

As the other patron of a stat RPG. Stat sytems can bog you down. I limit mine to combat or reasonable situations only.

Eh, activity is probably not needed as much here, because I do not think threads on these forums have to fear the purge. But, still, inactivity for a week or two without an excuse is a fair reason to incur suspicion, no?

Yes, that system is mostly for combat, though the attributes would likely affect RP.

Hey, at least I didn't make a Adv/DisAdv system and a Skills system. THEN you can say that I'm carrying it too far. ;)

Alright, this is from someone that is knowledgeable on many RPG systems... This is a damn complex RP...

However the concept is somewhat interesting, so I might wade through it and make a character.

Those help to more personalize the characters. And I didn't make it I just transcribed it.

Ah, yes, but more often I see those systems taken more for the purpose of roll-playing than role-playing. Thusly, I will allow people to make their own histories and descriptions. From there, realize that I have allowed characters to contrive their own special skills based on the combat system, which may or may not help their personification, depending on their creativity with such things. There are many behind-the-scene things that I'll be keeping track of which will change certain things, and while complex, it gives a tremendous potential in customization.

And, remember, I DID note that it was a heavily stat-oriented RPG, though that doesn't fringe much on the possibilities of freeform. ;)

Ahh, I disagree, but that is a topic for another thread. However, I will work something out and get a character up possibly.

Remember, if any help is needed, I can provide help via AIM (And give the OK on your skill at the same time) or PMs on the forum. Later, I may post an example of character creation for helping, but right now, I uh, have some homework to get done, heh.