SIGNUP STATUS: CLOSED, waitlist open
Introduction
There is more than what is readily apparent in this world. Anyone with a gram of intelligence realizes this. What is not often realized is the world that now exists in the shadows of our own, a world of legends and magic. In it, individuals and groups defend the unknowing mundane from the threats of the supernatural - magical beasts, born from the emotions of humanity, ranging from simple animals endowed with unnatural strength or size, to crafty lurkers, sowing misery and misfortune from the shadows, to truly awesome monsters straight from the legends of the ancient world. Of course, as in any situation, some of the beasts take a decidedly familiar form. . .
This game will be running on the
Magical Burst system, in a setting of mine adapted for the game.
Humans
Need I explain? Your run-of-the-mill people of the world. Most of them live their lives blissfully unaware of what goes on around them. They might remark about a freak accident that destroyed a home, or a sudden spike in the number of unexplained deaths in the city, but most will move on to their own concerns. A select few, however, have begun to connect the dots, and power rarely goes unnoticed by those who already hold a form of it.
Magical people
Whether they are referred to as magi, sorcerers, gifted, contract holders, or even superheroes, these are people who have been introduced to the world in the shadows. Their individuals talents and powers vary widely, but all possess a few traits: minor powers on the order of short-range telepathy, somewhat increased physical strength, and most importantly, strong emotions. This and one other ability is shared between every single one, with exceptions being so rare that most do not believe they exist. This other ability is to transform into a much more powerful version of their normal selves, which is where their true talents show themselves. This transformation is performed at will, and endows the individual with massively increased physical speed, strength, and toughness, along with the ability to manipulate energy in a variety of forms, including but not limited to materializing weapons and armor as bounded fields of energy, enhancing existing objects with similar methods, or attacking with sheer power. Each individual is unique, with no two sharing the exact same appearance and set of powers.
Youma
These are not ordinary animals. They are the primary reason that magical people continue to exist, as they are the only ones that are capable of efficiently and effectively managing the threat that they pose to humanity. While the many of them are not actively malicious, they are essentially super-powerful wild animals that have a tendency to spontaneously appear in the middle of crowded cities, and as such must be dealt with somehow. How this is done is a major point of contention in the magical world, much like in the mundane one. Most of them are not easy to fight, and they are the biggest cause of death for magical people, especially inexperienced ones.
Tsuikama
Tsuikama are a mysterious race. No one really knows where they originated, though there are several theories, and the tsuikama themselves are unwilling to share. Despite this, however, they are welcome among magical people for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that they are the primary source source of new blood, unlocking the potential latent within some in exchange for ensuring said potential is used to keep them safe as well, as they possess little in the way of direct offensive or defensive power. They live among humans, and rely on stealth, diplomacy, and an innate shapeshifting ability to take on roles in society. Their other primary magical ability is infusing objects and living beings with energy, though in the former case a power source must be provided for the enchantment to persist.
Half-breeds
Tsuikama-human crosses. Not much is known about them, even less than tsuikama, because they are extremely uncommon. The reasons for this are not entirely clear, but the main theories are biological incompatibility between the two species and tsuikama culture and attitudes preventing any interbreeding. What powers they may possess are unknown.
Factions
In the magical world, there are three principal factions of magical people, each with its own techniques, motives, goals, and ethics. There are also those that lie outside this system for one reason or another. These may sound quite organized, but the reality is that those with the right potential are rare and death is not uncommon. A faction's presence in a large city may never reach 30 individuals, and a group of Loners or Deviants will rarely, if ever, reach a dozen.
Protectors
Protectors operate on the principle that humans must be protected from magical beasts and one another. They regard youma as a threat to the normal world, and almost always use force or the threat of force to drive them away, going for kills when possible. Contrary to this seemingly reckless and violent approach, they typically try to minimize collateral damage to the more mundane segments of the population. They tend to be somewhat larger than the other factions, since they often take in more loners than their counterparts. Many of them view themselves as the natural guardians of humanity, given their abilities, and as such think themselves above others. They try to avoid conflict with magical people, however.
Primary Talents: Raw damage output and direct attacks, with a preference for melee engagement.
Supporting Talents: Damage mitigation abilities and healing, with very few control abilities.
Preservers
Preservers are the park rangers of the magical world, focusing their energies on safeguarding magical beasts from those that would do them harm. They also try to protect humans, but given the choice between saving a person and saving a youma, they will choose the youma. When they stumble into the world of humanity, Preservers will do their best to distract them or divert them away rather than using force. As a result, however, damage to the surrounding area is not minimized and a Preserver operation can easily result in large amounts of destruction. Some are willing to fight and even kill others who do not agree with their views.
Primary Talents: Ranged assaults, with some preferring wide area effects and others leaning toward precision.
Supporting Talents: A wide array of effects meant to cripple or disable opponents without direct damage, and damage redirection.
Peacekeepers
A rather small group, Peacekeepers tend to be highly selective. They keep the other factions in line, interfering with disputes if it puts too many at risk. Most of their time is spent policing the other two groups rather than dealing with magical beasts; they almost never have the numbers to effectively manage youma populations, and it is not their primary focus besides. If they are forced, youma will be dealt with in the most convenient manner possible. Other groups see them as a necessary evil for the most part. Some Peacekeepers view magical power as unnatural or even evil, and use it with a sort of "fight fire with fire" mentality. Their primary role is to protect the mundane world from that of the magical, and the magical from the mundane.
Primary Talents: Highly effective single target attacks to the exclusion of almost anything else.
Secondary Talents: Powerful single target enchantments meant to lock an enemy in place or prevent another kind of action. Increased magic resistance.
Loners
Loners are not a faction in any true sense. Its simply a term applied to any magical person who is not associated with a faction yet. The reasons for this vary, but are typically due to isolation from the rest of the world (magical and otherwise) and/or being a newborn magical person who has had no time to make connections. As a result, their powers and ideologies vary widely, though the former tends to be more limited and less refined than a member of a faction.
Deviants
Deviants are not associated with a faction, much like loners, but are in such a condition due to choice, whether it be their own or one forced upon them. Many are former faction members that have been outcast for one reason or another, while others simply grew dissatisfied with their factions and left voluntarily. A few are simply longtime Loners that never joined a faction at all. They tend to be more experienced than others, and have a sort of consistency in their values in that they almost always differ wildly from those of an established faction. Their skillsets usually, but not always, reflect their former life, but are more refined than a Loner. Unlike Loners, who are sometimes sought out by a faction seeking to bolster its numbers, Deviants are mistrusted and occasionally even hunted.
Tsuikama
The Mediators compose their own faction in a sense, not working parallel to the goals of any one group other than their own ends. The other factions will defend them with swift and decisive action, however, for the services they provide are exceedingly valuable. The ability of a Mediator to infuse objects with energy allows them to create powerful enchanted arms and armor for the magically gifted to use. This power, as already mentioned, can be used to unlock the potential of a previously normal human, endowing them with the ability to transform and access their latent powers freely.
Lets get down to the explanation of how all this stuff fits together, plus information that thus far has not slotted itself into a convenient category. The short version is this: In the world there are magical people. Their purpose for existing is to safeguard humans and tsuikama from magical beasts, which are generated from the emotional energies of humans. However, there is some disagreement about how this is to be done. The main two arguments, the Preservers and the Protectors, are thus: The first, from the Preservers, is that magical beasts, while dangerous, are like any other rare animal; they should be protected and conserved, even if humans lose. The second, from the Protectors, is that human safety takes priority over the protection of dangerous and unnatural magical beasts, and as such beasts should be eliminated at every opportunity. The Peacekeepers are simply there to prevent the others from doing too much damage to the magical world as a whole.
Now, you're probably wondering about these magical people. As mentioned earlier, they possess quite a few supernatural abilities. These abilities vary wildly from person to person, and can be obtained in one of three ways, assuming the individual is, in fact, capable of wielding their own emotional energies. The first is a contract with a Mediator; the individual is endowed with power and sometimes paid in some other way, and in exchange they agree to use their abilities to safeguard the Mediator. The specifics may vary. The second is the collective effort of several existing magical people each using some of their power to unlock the potential of another. This is uncommon for a few reasons, not the least of which being that many lack the ability to perform that sort of infusion at all. The third - and least common - is encountering a shard.
Shards are essentially energy that has collected from the environment in a solid form. Shards can have various effects, depending on the user and their level of skill. A single magical person could potentially manipulate one to infuse another with the energy within and activate their innate abilities, but such a technique would be exceedingly difficult to perform due to the volatile nature of the shards. They are more often used as an extra source of energy, whether expended in a short burst or used for storage. However, if an inexperienced or nonmagical person contacts one, the shard will either remain inert or disperse itself into the environment. This dispersion can be relatively slow and peaceful, or quite the opposite. If it disperses into the right person, however, their potential will be unlocked, though wilders, as magical people created in such a manner are referred to, tend to have difficulty learning how to use and control their powers.
Power and Transformations
Your character has a finite amount of power to use at any one time. This amount is much like physical strength and stamina; its difficult to measure precisely, but it should be kept in a general range. A newly created magical person does not have a lot of power at their disposal, though their reserves will grow quickly for the first couple of weeks, and continue to grow at a slow rate over time, moreso if one frequently uses their powers. Initially, as a rough estimate, you'll have enough power to transform and remain in such a state for a bit less than five minutes. Transformation uses a burst of power, and remaining transformed drains a small amount of energy, though these amounts get a bit smaller with experience. Feel free to get flashy and over the top, but anything that would take more energy in real life takes more energy in this setting. (Do try to create an interesting picture, though; some concessions will be made to the Rule of Cool, meaning that good writing leads to in-character benefits.) Mechanically, this -should- never be an issue, but it's how power works in-universe.
Player Characters
The players involved in this RP will take the role of an individual who will soon gain magical powers.
Name: If you cant figure out how to do this part, you should probably find another hobby.
Gender: If you're not male or female, people might have a hard time figuring out how to refer to you, but I'm certainly not restricting this. Sex optional.
Age: The RP starts on May 1st, 2015 in-universe. Calculate from there. I will not accept any characters under 13 or over 18. (Keep in mind that high school age is 14-17.)
Appearance, normal: What you look like as a normal human. Feel free to work on anime logic: if you want hot pink hair and yellow eyes, go ahead, though if anything screams Sue here then Ill have words for you, like antidisestablishmentarianism.
Appearance, transformed: What you look like when you transform and use your powers. Feel free to go a bit over the top; this is a magical girl (or boy) game, after all.
Personality: Be brief, to be honest. Only list things that someone would know after spending an hour or two with your character; deeper aspects of ones personality, like in real life, should be either kept to PM or yourself entirely and only revealed through interaction with others.
Weapons of choice: Longswords, pistols, bows, spears, muskets, rocket-propelled you name it. No weapon is inherently stronger than another. A character can manifest their own weapons using energy, or infuse objects with power to boost their effectiveness.
Backstory: Where did you come from? Magical people tend to come from the edges of society for one reason or another. Did anything happen to drive you out of modern society entirely? New characters start out powerless. The story takes place in a fictional, "anime-ized" city in Japan so keep that in mind. Feel free to suggest characteristics of the city, whether it be general descriptors or specific landmarks. If you want to do anything really wonky with this, let me know.
Faction: All new characters start factionless, but you can put your preferred faction here, if you want to join one at all.
Resolve: You start with 18.
Normal Attributes
Values between 2 and 7, 14 points.
Charm:
Insight:
Tenacity:
Magical Attributes
Stat Name - Combat Stat - Number (Overcharge). 18 points, values between 3 and 9.
Heart:
Fury:
Magic:
Magical Specialization: Knight, Witch, Priestess. Basically Defense, Attack, Support.
Magical Talents: All characters have Boost and Recover. They also get the starting Talents of their specialization. Then, they can choose 1 talent from the Common list, one from their Specialization list, and a third from either list.
Type of action, uses (per scene or per episode, if limited use), Overcharge (if any). Description.
Boost
Free Action, 3/Scene, 1 Overcharge
When making a magical challenge, you can take 1 Overcharge on the magical attribute you’re using for the challenge to roll an additional die and add it to your result. This die will give you another die and another point of Overcharge if it rolls a 6 as usual, and if you use it for an attack it gives +2 to the attack’s damage as usual.
Recover
2/Episode
While out of combat, a magical girl or boy can use this to regain 1d6+2 Resolve.
Relationships will be filled out when sheets are chosen.
NPC Sheets:
Takeshi
Note: Takeshi is much higher level than the PCs to start. His stat totals won't add up correctly if you try to use them as examples. Everything else works, though.
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Appearance, untransformed: Blonde hair a few inches past shoulder length, with the occasional curl. Somewhat lean facial structure, angular without being particularly harsh. Bleached blonde hair, with brown eyes. He possesses a fairly average, somewhat lean build, and is neither particularly athletic nor particularly out-of-shape. His features are fairly expressive, and emotions on his face are rarely difficult to perceive. Often dresses in fairly plain clothes, with a fondness for layers; he feels exposed without at least a jacket on. Usually spotted wearing well-worn jeans, with a combination of a solid white tee, sweatshirt, and jacket, with variances depending on the weather.
Appearance, transformed: Long, thick silver hair that defines part of his silhouette, with almost winglike layers, descending to just over his hips. Facial structure remains the same, but eyes turn an unusual (and recognizably unnatural) shade of teal. He gains several inches in height, and his build becomes far more athletic. Like everyone with a contract, his wardrobe varies based on his emotions when he transforms, but many elements remain fairly consistent. Black predominates, as all basic elements of the wardrobe are black with silver accents. He wears a long black cloak, occasionally with even longer tails. When exerting magical power, a bright teal color shows, trailing the relevant motions and any objects or attacks manipulated with this power.
Personality: Overemotional, like most people selected for contracts. Has good ideas, but rarely takes the time to quite think them through. Quite impulsive. Somewhat naive. Loyal, but not overly friendly. Can be harsh at times.
Weapons of choice: Normally a ridiculously long sword, with a light machine gun for less energy-intensive offense.
Power: Hovering. As in midair.
Element: None in particular, though all of his magic glows a lurid teal.
Backstory: Takeshi was a ward of the state for as long as he could remember. The entirety of his life prior to gaining his powers was spent bouncing between foster homes and occasional run-ins with the law, though he never did anything more malicious than graffiti or petty theft. He was nearly killed when a beast attacked the vehicle he was riding in, only surviving due to the intervention of a passing group of Protectors. After the incident, a Mediator approached him, offering a contract. Leaping at the opportunity, he dropped out of school and embraced a new life completely, and has spent the last two years hunting beasts and otherwise minding his own business.
Power Origin: Mediator contract.
Changes: Unstuck in Space (Permanent)
Faction: Loner.
]
Resolve: 21
Normal Attributes
Values between 2 and 7, 0/14 points.
Charm: 5
Insight: 3
Tenacity: 6
Magical Attributes
Stat Name - Combat Stat - Number (Overcharge). 18/18 points, values between 3 and 9.
Heart: 5 (Support)
Fury: 10 (Attack)
Magic: 9 (Defense)
Magical Specialization: Knight, Witch
Magical Talents: All characters have Boost and Recover. They also get the starting Talents of their specialization. Then, they can choose 1 talent from the Common list, one from their Specialization list, and a third from either list.
Type of action, uses (per scene or per episode, if limited use), Overcharge (if any). Description.
Boost
Free Action, 3/Scene, 1 Overcharge
When making a magical challenge, you can take 1 Overcharge on the magical attribute you’re using for the challenge to roll an additional die and add it to your result. This die will give you another die and another point of Overcharge if it rolls a 6 as usual, and if you use it for an attack it gives +2 to the attack’s damage as usual.
Recover (Advanced)
3/Episode
While out of combat, a magical girl or boy can use this to regain 1d6+2 Resolve.
Guardian (Free Action, 1 Defense Overcharge)
If you are in the same position as an enemy and they attempt to move out of that position, you can make a Support vs. Support
challenge. If you win, they are unable to move out of your position.
Reflector (Free Action)
Once per round, if you successfully attack a target, you play put a Reflector effect on yourself or an ally within a range of 0-2.
The reflector lasts until the end of your next turn. While it is active, any time an enemy successfully attacks the bearer, they
ignore up to 3 points of damage from the attack, and the attacker takes those points of damage.
Hex (Minor Action)
Place a Hex on a target within a range of 0-2. The target takes 1 point of damage at the start of each round until the end of
the scene. Damage from Hexes is not considered an attack. You can place multiple Hexes on the same target, but you can
only place one Hex in a round. On your turn, you may remove all or part of the Hexes you’ve placed on a target as a free
action.
Inflict (Free Action, 1 Overcharge (Attack), 1/Scene)
Use this after making a successful basic attack. Apply the Bound, Bleeding, or Stunned status to the target of that attack.
Teleport (Minor Action, 1/Scene, 1 Support Overcharge)
You instantly move from one position to any other position on the battlefield map, regardless of whether there are enemies
present in your current position. This teleport may not pass through magical barriers. This action is not considered movement
for rules purposes.
Aura of Strength
Any time you succeed on a defense roll you emit an aura that inflicts 2 damage to all enemies in the same position as you.
This aura is not considered an attack action.
Desperation
While your current Resolve is half of your Base Resolve or less, you get +2 to attack challenges and +2 to the damage you
cause with all of your attacks.
Angel of Blades (1/Episode, 1 Attack Overcharge)
Make a basic attack targeting two adjacent positions (or one enemy with +2 to attack and damage). Add 1 to the range, and 1d6 to the damage.
Musical Themes for the RP
Intro: The Wayfarer
Battle - Youma
Battle - Magus
Outro: Lagoon
More will be added as more events are triggered.
Apologies for the mediocre/bad formatting, this was pasta'd from another site for the most part.
Sheets will be chosen on the basis of quality, with priority going to those not in Twinwolf's Magical Burst game. That means it is NOT first-come-first-served, and I will additionally take into account activity levels and overall tendency to vanish for days or weeks at a time. If you submitted a character and they were not accepted to the other game, feel free to reuse them here.
Accepted/Active Characters:
Yuko Hiiragi (Twinwolf) [
0 1 0]
Tsukiko Hoshi (SentientBowtie) [
0 0 0]
Rairi Hinode (DigitalDemon) [
0 0 0]
Morwenna Garrison (Kansa) [
0 0 0]
Erina Nanami (IamanElfCollaborator) [
1 0 0]
Waitlist:
Insanegame
Bluexdog
Dropped:
Enzo (Sl4cker)
https://discord.gg/nJ7hkpV - Discord link. When it expires, let me know.
Author
Topic: [5/6+] Of Shadow and Flame - A Magical Burst Game (Read 9129 times)