I think I can do an RP where I don't have to worry about crafting a character and his extended family for three generations back all in at least enough detail that I could write a series of young adult novels about any of them, only to have it all rejected for not fitting the setting because someone's grandma has an allergy to walnuts which were wiped out centuries ago by an arcane plague. In fact, to show you how in I am, here's one entry for every table. They are all ice cream.
World Settings
-Ice Cream Rules Everything Around Me: Frozen treats are the greatest power in the land. One who controls the ice cream controls his destiny. Those without ice cream are on the edge of society, unfit even to mention in polite conversation. Day-to-day, ice cream is both the commodity and currency of choice for everyone, everywhere.
-Humans, Saints, and Devils: The worlds of the divine, profane, and humanity overlap and co-exist for a very simple reason: they are all populated by what is or once were humans. By extreme hatred, selfishness, and cruelty a human being can become a devil, with the strength to sin even harder than they could as a mortal. By self-discipline, tranquility, and the control of desires, one can overcome the physical needs that cause desires, transcending humanity to become an immortal Saint of something or other. Devils must remain cruel, spiteful, and selfish to remain devils, and, likewise, saints must remain aloof, tranquil, and detached to remain saints. Losing one's divine or profane status means a return to humanity in a few cases or, more likely, disappearing from the world entirely. Devils make life hard for humans. Saints... saints can't help much, given the spiritual requirements for becoming and remaining a saint. Saints do have some levity, however, in protecting whatever they are the saint of from defilement, though humans are just as likely as demons to be the target of their wrath. It's not total war between the three groups, as everyone keeps an admirable check on their general disdain for the others in the name of co-existence.
Actually being a good person is the path to neither sainthood nor demonic powers, much like in real life.
-It's Raining MMO Slime Monsters: The world is host to an extra form of precipitation: monsters. Occasionally the clouds will gather and tiny, bouncy monsters will plop into the ditches and lawns of the populace. Individually, they're not much of a threat (and they're pretty cute). However, if enough gather in the same place, they will fuse into something more dangerous. And if these greater monsters gather... it's Godzilla time but without the camp.
So, we've all got to do our part and go squash'em before they become a problem. This is just another aspect of day-to-day life, like garbage day and raking leaves. Luckily, squashing even the greatest of monsters results in a quickly evaporating goo instead of a corpse.
-The World is Clutched in a Cotton Fist: One madman rules everything. This man–dramatic pause–is a sock puppet. No one has ever seen the man behind the hand inside the sock, and those who claim to disappear more quickly than those who claim the Great Sock Overlord smells like old laundry. Sock puppet soldiers roam the streets, enforcing the Great One's will. His reign has lasted as long as anyone can remember, and seems like it will never end. His motivations are unknown, his origins a mystery. Maybe he just likes making people miserable.
-High Score: Everyone has a score. If you look at other people, you can see their score. Points are earned for doing stuff, with more points for cool stuff. If you earn enough points, you get a prize at the end of the yearly High Score Festival, a week long celebration in the middle of summer with fireworks, music, games, and people doing risky things to get those last few points before everyone's score is reset for the year. The prize is usually something pretty cool, but not, like, a car or a trip overseas.
The rest of the year, score is just something to compare with your friends and isn't that big a deal, though some people look down on those with a low score. Those guys are jerks, though.
Plot Hooks
-Dropped ice cream: A young person has dropped his or her ice cream. CAN WE MAKE IT RIGHT?!
-Through the looking glass, down the rabbit hole, and flung through a portal in time: Wherever we are, isn't where we're from. How do we get home and why is everything stupid?
-Angel Assault: Humanity has to go, and the angels of the apocalypse/Telethia are here to make it happen. BUT SCREW THAT!
-The Year Without a Satan: Satan has gone missing, and now we must go on a musical adventure to find out where he went or, in case of the worst, crown a new Prince of Hell.
-Escort Mission: There's a thing or a someone at Point A, and it/they need to be at Point B. Problems arise.
-Everything is Adorable: The world has become soft and cuddly, at least in appearance. Do we even bother fixing this? I like it this way, personally.
-Stolen Crown: A threatening letter is threateningly threatening to steal the king's crown, symbol of his divine right to rule! If it were to fall into the wrong hands, we might end up with a constitutional monarchy or worse! A socialist democracy! For some reason, the king has chosen our group of mecha catgirl wizards to protect it and catch the thief.
We may or may not actually be mecha catgirl wizards.
-We Need Money: The most basic plot hook; food costs money, and we ain't got none. But, there are rumors of a big job/a dungeon full of treasure/gold slimes in the sewer/etc.
-Weekend Group Unity Training Camp: We just can't get along and work together! Without the power of teamwork, how will we ever defeat the very concept of evil itself/win the local cookoff? Luckily, there's someone ready to forge our bonds of unity with trust falls, rope courses, and dubious combat drills maybe?
Locations
-Ice Cream Buffet: All you can eat ice cream for $6.95. All the people who would be drawn to such a deal.
-Mystery Shack! Come see the "Real-Life" Hole to Hell!: A shady establishment just off the highway. There's a rope around a hole big enough to chuck a car down. A slight smell of sulfur and burning something waft through the air. Five bucks to throw something down the hole.
-Super-Prestigious Private High School: It has gardens and stuff. Only the children of the elite attend, plus whatever loser snagged the protagonist ball. Uniforms and conspiracies are a given.
-Island of Four Seasons: By some trick of the winds, ocean currents, geography, and probably mostly magic, this island constantly experiences all four seasons, with winter in the north, summer in the south, autumn in the east, and spring in the west. The inhabitants are pretty used to it and manage to be mostly self-sufficient, but tourism is a big part of the economy, since it's the only place in the world where a week's vacation can contain the charms of an entire year.
-Steam-punk Ninja Castle: A brass pagoda in the middle of no where, filled with secret passages, steam, traps, gears, and ninjas. Tea is served at three; one cup is deadly poison. Getting poisoned builds character, after all.
-Giant's Ruins: Stone ruins of unknown age, obviously built and inhabited by something much larger than humans in the distant past. There's totally treasure. Maybe ghosts.
-An Unspecified Bar: A bar is many things. It can be a place to look for leads, the scene of a fight, a dark blanket around the stooped shoulders of a drunk, or somewhere to catch up with friends. It can be all those at once, even, as long as the fight isn't too big.
-Corn Maze: A maze formed from dried up corn stalks. It's vaguely unsettling and smelly in the day, and can be straight horrifying at night. This particular corn maze is really, really big, and there are probably monsters in it. Corn monsters. You never know what to expect in the corn maze.
-Robot Factory: The factory that makes the robots. Lots of stuff moving around and sparks and blinking monitors. May or may not be a super secret facility, depending on the rarity of robots.
-The Beach: Not to be confused with the ocean, the beach is full of sand, food stalls, and tourists. Expect goofiness and/or teamwork training.
-The Ocean: An endless expanse of water, where days slide by like you're just a speck on a big, wet ball hurtling through space or something. It's rumored that there's not a drop to drink out there. Here be monsters, big ones.
Powers and Abilities
-Supertaster: Experiences the sense of taste with far greater intensity than average. Useful for a career as an ice cream taste-tester.
-Speak with spirits: SPIRITS ARE ALWAYS WITH YOU! And they've seen some stuff, I'll bet.
-Inner Weapon: Your soul is a weapon and you can manifest it with your will. It can only be used by you and responds to your desires. Your psychoanalyst would probably have something to say about the shape your weaponized soul takes.
-THE FUTURE IS OURS TO DECIDE!: You sometimes have visions of what might happen. These visions will come to pass if you do nothing to stop them or if you are prevented from stopping them. It's usually something important.
-Swap: You can instantly swap two things. Limiters to be determined by IC at the powerlevels step or me if he'd rather I do it.
-Powerful Hands: One of your hands has a special power or something, taken from the following list as the dice gods decide.
Code:
Bear Hand: One hand is a bear's hand. The corresponding arm is strong like bear.
Cursed Hand: One hand is super strong and sometimes does magic bullcrap you have no idea how to do. It is also a spiteful jerk who hates you and is only juuust helpful enough to not let you get killed. It looks funny.
Fire Hand: One hand is fire.
Hive Hand: One hand is full of swarm animals.
Invisible Hand: One hand is invisible.
Robot Hand: One hand is a robot. It has gadgets and maybe can go run around for a bit on its own.
Scissor Hand: You saw the movie, right?
Skeleton Hand: One hand is skeletal and has necromantic powers.
Slime Hand: One hand is made of slime-monster. It produces slime and can change shape.
Snake Hand: One hand is a snake. It might be venomous, watch out!
Items
-Ice Cream: ice cream.
-Hammer of Justice: Wielded by one of pure heart (or not; one could say "justice" is a pretty word for "revenge"), this hammer can change in size and weight as the owner pleases. The head is clear, with large, colorful globes swimming through the interior.
-Robot Tiger: It's big for a tiger, but not that big for a robot. You can ride on it. It folds up into a cell phone because that way we can sell more toys.
-Staff of Winter: A shiny silver-colored rod topped with glass-like snowflake. It comes preloaded with a sleep spell, a darkness spell, and a cold spell; and powers up similar spells. It makes noises like hanging bells when swung.
-Rod of Summer: A shiny green staff topped with a golden fireball. It comes preloaded with a haste spell, a light spell, and a heat spell; and powers up similar spells. It sounds like a timpani when swung.
-Maid Outfit: A dark blouse and skirt. A white apron. Polished shoes. Stockings. A frilly head band thingy. These are the essentials of the maid outfit romance. When wearing this, one becomes more skilled at domestic housekeeping tasks ranging from cleaning the priceless junk rich people keep to balancing an estate's finances. No one knows why. If you lose one part, or if the uniform becomes excessively dirty, this power will fade, leaving you clueless as to how to polish silver spoons. May also impart martial arts useful for guarding one's master.
-Pickle: A pickled cucumber. It's cold and delicious.
-Laser Gun: It's like a gun, but with lasers.
-Drill Fist: It's a drill weapon you wear on your hand. Magic means it doesn't immediately wrench your hand from your wrist in a bloody cyclone.
Backgrounds
-From the land of snow and ice (cream): Grew up in a cold, dark land of harsh beauty. May or may not like ice cream, depending on whether one's memories of the cold are fond or bitter.
-Pure-hearted Amnesiac: Whatever his past, he currently exists as a pure, blank slate; full of pep and vigor and blissfully unaware of all the pictures of dead bodies on the internet.
-Homunculus: An artificial human, created by some rogue magician or scientist for reasons. May or may not be the perfect human.
-Cat Person:
Exhibit A. Exhibit B.
-Science Major: You have a Bachelors of Science, dual majoring in Applied Science and Theoretical Science, with a minor in Science Studies. If there's science afoot, you're the one to call!
-Farm Hand: You grew up on the farm, and know how to do farm stuff. You're probably cool with killing animals. If there's someone from the city, he will view himself as your intellectual superior.
-Afraid of Water: Something bad happened a long time ago involving you, water, and the uncaring shroud of death. You didn't die, but you're now afraid of any body of water larger than a puddle.
Names
-Vanilla
-Mint
-Neapolitan (not to be confused with "Napoleon")
-Sorbet
-Softon
-Maid McFightsalot
-Koto
-Sparkles
-Forge
-Tasteeo
-Waspinator
-Crab Rangoon
-Psy
-Spritle
-Chim Chim
I
might will almost certainly add more ice cream to this post as it occurs to me.
Other ideas will go in a different post, yet to be made. Wait, this is my sign-up, right? I'll just add other things here, then.