The Seven Realms (Shovel Knight)

[DJFlare84]

((IMPORTANT NOTE: This will be an RP with it's own separate forum with different areas and a place to store character information which can be referenced by others, not a group thread RP here in Iwaku.))

~THE PLOT~
Of the Seven Kingdoms, one in particular is of interest to everyone at the moment: The Indigo Realm, hidden deep within the Misty Marshes.

Their Lord has always been an advocate for the study and research of Dark Magic, believing that understanding it is the key to avoiding future catastrophes. He opened up an Academy for the Dark Arts, where only the worthy few are allowed to study. Those who stray from his teachings and attempt to use this knowledge for evil are mercilessly hunted by his elite guardsmen, the Shadow Watch.

A few of the other rulers have recently become directly opposed to this idea, but will hesitate to act as long as the Lord of the Golden Realm remains allied with him. But with talks among the rulers and their people become increasingly more and more suspecting of the Indigo Kingdom and it's aims, there is no telling how long our peace will last.

It is shaky ground we walk on these days. We'll need heroes now more than ever!​

~THE GAME~
If you're new to Shovel Knight, it's a somewhat medieval world with magic and swords but not without technology, as Alchemy AND certain levels of engineering are both seen and thus possible in the world of Seven Realms.

Many types of creatures exist there, not only beasts to fight, but also various races that co-exist alongside humans, such as anthropomorphized animals, and even the undead.

And it's all based on a goofy little sidescrolling platformer that you can get on Steam with 3 whole game's worth of adventures awaiting you!

~WHAT WILL THE RP BE LIKE~
For the most part it will be a very structured roleplay with rules concerning what your characters can and can't do, enforced by a profile system of limited stats and abilities. Profiles will follow a format, and adventurers will have freedom to improve over the course of the roleplay using a ranking system that grants more stat points and ability slots to show tangible growth.

Due to the whimsical nature of the world of Shovel Knight there are 4 main races that your character can play as. They can be a Human, of course, but they may also choose to be an Animal-Person (furries and scalies, basically), an undead creature (corpses/ghosts), or a more mythical creature such as a dragon-person (what I'm calling "Mythose"). A planned 5th race (constructs) will be coming later (not because they need work, but because I prefer to introduce them later after the site has been active for a while).

I plan for there to be systems in place for adventurers of a certain high enough rank to be given their own Lairs, with a full complement of soldiers at their command to defend it, and host their own mini-raids where they challenge other adventurers to breach their lairs and do battle with them deep within.

So, what do you think? Would you be interested in something like this? If you have any questions, feel free to ask here. I'll be watching this thread! You can PM me too I suppose!

 

[DJFlare84]

This post will keep tabs of any questions I've been asked, and my responses to them.

QUESTION: How are limitations for character abilities decided?
I and my (future) staff tackle these on a case-by-case basis. There is currently no system in place that dictates what kind of abilities you can and can't have or how they are limited in their usage. We come up with this as we go along. It's very personal!

QUESTION: What stats are you usin'?
Currently each character's abilities are defined by six character statistics: Endurance,
Power, Skill, Wit, Logic, and Reputation.

No stat may have less than 1, or more than 10 points. And at rank 10 you have a max of 30 points to divvy up between them.

ENDURANCE is your character's HP, basically.
POWER is your character's BASE DAMAGE OUTPUT.
SKILL is your character's overall dexterity and mobility. Primarily it will give you ACTION POINTS with which to perform actions during your turns.
And the last 3 stats are more lore-based that define something about your character's personality and intellect.

QUESTION: I heard something about leveling up. What's that about?
Adventurers have "ranks" which are basically an indicator of their overall fighting strength. There are 10 ranks. Any new adventurer can be created with a rank anywhere from 1 to 3.

QUESTION: So how's the EXP system work?
There isn't one.

QUESTION: Wait, what?
No EXP system.

QUESTION: So... how do?
We leave it up to you! Do a bit of posting. Think of something your character could do that feasibly increases their stats somehow.

QUESTION: Then... just... edit my rank?
Probably ask me (or one of my future staff) first. Long as you put in SOME effort, I won't see any reason not to say yes!

QUESTION: Do they have to be big posts?
Well they can't be SMALL...

QUESTION: Can I play as Plague/Tinker/King/etc Knight!?
At the moment, the answer is a vague "yes". We want to enable this, but this RP takes place quite a bit into the future so we have to pull some... magic.

QUESTION: Time-travel bullshit?
Yes. Time-travel bullshit. Something like... "They mysteriously vanished and nobody knows why", but hey it was actually because someone here in the present summoned them. Go figure!

QUESTION: Do ALL my characters have to start at low ranks?
If you've been playing with us for a while and have a decently ranked character we wouldn't mind letting you start your new characters at higher ranks. Just, uh... make sure you ask us. Yeah?

 

[DJFlare84]

UPDATE: Important note at the top of the thread. Also updated the FAQ with some questions I have not actually been asked but which I thought might pop up anyway.

 

[Kiririn]

First of all, love the concept, I'd be more than down to join an RP like this. But I ain't here just for compliments, aye gat questions.

So here they are!

1)
If the last three skills, Wit, Intellect, and Reputation are "lore based," does that mean no benefits will come with them? If so, why not split up the stat points one can use for those 3 lore stats and combat stats? The problem I see with the current stat system as you've described it is that certain people are just gonna stack stats in Endurance, Skill, and Power if there's nothing to gain from the lore-based stats.

2)
How exactly will combat work? Will there be dungeon crawling, will there be boss battles taken down by teams? Will there be ways for combatants to support/debuff each other? How will special abilities play into combat? Will the IPhone Knight have a skill that lets them use their IPhone in a way that uniquely affects the mechanics of combat? Or will every OC have a set of skills to pick from? Furthermore, how will the turn-by-turn of combat even work?

3)
Oh my god can I make an IPhone Knight? Can that be a thing, would I be allowed?

4)
If this Shovel Knight RPG forum actually gets up and running, I have to ask, how do you plan to scale up? Like, what if you get soo many new members that it's simply impractical to judge skills and stat point increases on a case-by-case basis with such a small staff? Would you increase your numbers or change the system up?

5)
How much detail have you put into the lore/plot/world building stuff? How much do you want to have?

 

[DJFlare84]

First of all, love the concept, I'd be more than down to join an RP like this. But I ain't here just for compliments, aye gat questions.

So here they are!

1)
If the last three skills, Wit, Intellect, and Reputation are "lore based," does that mean no benefits will come with them? If so, why not split up the stat points one can use for those 3 lore stats and combat stats? The problem I see with the current stat system as you've described it is that certain people are just gonna stack stats in Endurance, Skill, and Power if there's nothing to gain from the lore-based stats.

THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION. In fact, not even a day ago I was going over that idea with my two friends (who will also be playing on the site), and we ultimately decided that yes, we will separate the lore-based stats so that people can adjust them however they want without being constrained by their rank limits.

2)
How exactly will combat work?

Allow me to copy-and-paste my rule post on the flow of combat.

[font color="White"]~THE FLOW OF COMBAT~[/font]
Combat in Seven Rhealms takes place in "Events", "Turns" and "Rounds".

An "Event" is the thread where the action is taking place.
A "Round" is a full set of player turns within the event.
A "Turn" is each player's individual post within the round. Each player may only post once per round, and the round ends when every player has had their turn.

Now that you understand that, let's talk about R&R, or "RESOLVE and RESPOND", the two phases of every turn!

[font color="Silver"]~PHASE 1: THE RESOLUTION PHASE[/font]
The Resolution Phase is the most important phase of your turn, it's where you give the results of your opponent's actions!

When players attack each other in Seven Rhealms, barring special circumstances, they can't just say "it hit you!". Whether or not an attack hits you is left entirely to your discretion! You may choose to have your character get hit, or you may choose to have your character spend ACTION POINTS to DENY them! It's up to you!

If you're the first person to attack you'll obviously skip this phase since you've nothing to resolve!

[font color="Silver"]~PHASE 1: THE RESPONSE PHASE[/font]
The Resolution Phase is the most important phase of your turn, but the RESPONSE Phase is the real meat of your turn!

This is when you ACT! Use moves to help yourself and/or hinder/damage your opponent! Attack! Attack with GUSTO!

As you can see, combat is going to be one of those "I throw attacks at you" kind of things, and then it's up to the opponent to decide if your attacks were successful.

SKL being the stat that determines your character's reflex and agility, will also be the stat that awards you ACTION points. ACTION points will be spent in order to do just about everything. Allow me to quote you our Action Point rules!

[font color="White"][font size="3"]~ACTION POINTS AND HOW TO USE THEM~[/font][/font]
Depending on your SKL stat, you have a certain amount of ACTION POINTS afforded to you, with which to perform ACTIONS. ACTIONS are pretty much EVERYTHING you do.

Running off to the left so that you can circle your opponent? Any planned route from Point-A to Point-B consumes 1 Action Point.
Swinging your hammer down at your foe's head? Any attack you launch consumes 1 Action Point each. So if you're going to follow that up with another swing, be prepared to consume another!
Casting that recovery spell to keep yourself alive? That'll cost you an Action Point!

I hope you're beginning to understand how important Action Points are! Let's go over the ways Action Points are used in detail.

[font color="Silver"]~DENIALS~[/font]
A DENIAL is any action you take prevents you from taking incoming damage, such as moving out of the way, or blocking the attack with a shield.

In order to perform Denials, you have to have DENIAL POINTS. Denial Points are generated when you have leftover AP from your previous turn. These leftover Action Points become DENIAL POINTS, and vanish at the end of your RESOLUTION Phase, whether you've used them or not!

"But, Haze Knight! If my opponent launches 4 attacks and I only have 2 Denial Points, won't I be screwed?"

Not so! If you're clever about how you do it, it's possible to avoid multiple attacks with a single point! Be clever! That's what your WIT is for!

"But... WIT is my [a href="[URL="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DumpStat"]Dump Stat - TV Tropes[/URL]"]dump-stat[/a]..."

Oh, well... hm...

... [a href="[URL="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThisIsGonnaSuck"]This Is Gonna Suck - TV Tropes[/URL]"]sucks to be you[/a], then!

[font color="Silver"]~MOVEMENT~[/font]
As I mentioned before, any planned route from one point to another consumes an Action Point. So what if you make several movements in a turn?

You can combine movements under a single action point as long as they aren't separated by other actions!

For instance, if you circle around your opponent to get behind them, make an attack, and then continue circling back to where you were, that's 3 Action points! Because you performed an attack, and then began an additional movement!

But if you were simply going to circle your opponent all the way around and back again that would just be 1 AP.

[font color="Silver"]~ATTACKING~[/font]
Launching ANY attack (except a CHARGED ATTACK) consumes an action point! Even if it misses! So, too bad!

"What about if I do something like... leap at my opponent for a jump attack! Does that cost 2 AP?"

A good question! NOPE! As a special rule to help make things easier for you guys, Any AP you spend to perform an attack will also account for any movement you make to facilitate that attack.

So if you circled around behind your opponent, and then performed a leaping attack at them, you'd only spend 1AP for the initial circling, and then another for the combined Leap-Attack!

Isn't that handy!?

[font color="Silver"]~CHARGED ATTACKS~[/font]
While we're on the subject of attacking, let's talk about CHARGED ATTACKS.

All characters can perform a CHARGED ATTACK with their weapon! Charging involves spending 1AP to initiate the charge, and then focusing your power into your weapon for the rest of that turn. Note that if you launch an attack of any kind while charging, you will lose your focus and the charge will cancel (although you can try again after). In order for a charge to be successful, it cannot have any attacks after it.
(NOTE: If you 'accidentally' cancel your charge attack, you get back that AP you spent to attempt it.)

Once you have met these conditions, end your turn with leftover AP. These leftover Action Points (which are then converted into Denial Points) will determine the damage of your attack, which is calculated as a +1 to your base damage for each of them. On your next turn, after your RESOLUTION Phase, you may proceed to launch your Charged Attack at no AP cost!

Charged Attacks can also increase the range and appearance of your weapon attack, and this can be described in detail in the "CHARGE ATTACK" field directly underneath your weapon's description.

[font color="Silver"]~USING ABILITIES~[/font]
Using moves such as your MOVEMENT ABILITY, or SIGNATURE MOVES MAY or MAY NOT cost AP. This will depend on whether or not you've managed to have some of them be approved as FREE ACTIONS.

A FREE ACTION is a move that doesn't consume AP! Depending on the nature of what your ability can do, we may or may not allow you to designate it as a FREE ACTION.

[font color="Silver"]~TALKING~[/font]
What? Didn't you know?

[a href="[URL="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TalkingIsAFreeAction"]Talking Is a Free Action - TV Tropes[/URL]"]Talking[/a] is a [a href="[URL="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin"]Exactly What It Says on the Tin - TV Tropes[/URL]"]FREE ACTION[/a]!

[font color="Silver"]~NOT SURE?~[/font]
If for any reason you're not sure whether actions you perform will require you to spend AP or not, or how much they'll require you to spend, you can always ask me or a member of my staff!

Hopefully this gives you a really keen understanding of how the battle system will work. Abilities to buff and support allies (or debuff and debilitate foes) will absolutely be allowed and encouraged here! One of my friends is playing a support-heavy character at the moment!

Will there be dungeon crawling, will there be boss battles taken down by teams?

THESE ARE ABSOLUTELY PLANNED! I don't have any concrete rules and formats down yet for how they'll be carried out, or even if I want special rules for doing it (although I'm danged certain I do).

How will special abilities play into combat? Will the IPhone Knight have a skill that lets them use their IPhone in a way that uniquely affects the mechanics of combat? Or will every OC have a set of skills to pick from?

Every character will be allowed to have a number of "special moves" and "natural traits" based on their rank. We don't have a list of abilities you pick and choose from (although I'm considering doing something like that with artifacts, but I'll only bother you with the details if you really want me to), so you have creative freedom to have your characters do just about whatever you like. Of course, these abilities will be looked over by staff before approval and we'll just kinda use our best judgment to decide what's good, what's bad, and what can work with a little tweaking.

We don't have set guidelines and rules for what makes an ability passable, so we just take it on a case-by-case basis.

Furthermore, how will the turn-by-turn of combat even work?

Hopefully I covered that in the earlier quote!

3)
Oh my god can I make an IPhone Knight? Can that be a thing, would I be allowed?

You CAAAAN...

... but android knight is superior ya dang hipster...

... okay okay but in all seriousness... I guess it depends? Technology in 7R isn't quite THAT far along. You could describe it as technomancy mimicking the functions of an iPhone as best as it can, probably!

But yes, if you want to be silly and absurd we're certainly not going to stop you! That's part of the fun of Shovel Knight, isn't it!?

... I might turn my nose up at the mere sight of you though but that's just my reaction to all you plebs in general...

4)
If this Shovel Knight RPG forum actually gets up and running, I have to ask, how do you plan to scale up? Like, what if you get soo many new members that it's simply impractical to judge skills and stat point increases on a case-by-case basis with such a small staff? Would you increase your numbers or change the system up?

I will definitely be sizing up my staff if and when we grow that large. I've already got some friends I can count on to be my eyes and ears if I need them to. At the moment I'm running it pretty much by myself with no need for extra staff but I'd promote them in a pinch if I had to.

Seeing the general demand for Shovel Knight RP's being so low, though, I'm not really getting my hopes up... lol

5)
How much detail have you put into the lore/plot/world building stuff? How much do you want to have?

Let me quote another thing for you.

[font color="White"][font size="3"]~THE STORY SO FAR...~[/font][/font]


[font color="Silver"]~CHAPTER-1: IN THE BEGINNING...[/font]
Long ago, the lands were untamed and roamed by legendary adventurers...

One day a chilling, black tower appeared and the cursed magic within beckoned to all who would lust to possess it's limitless power. Many knights were lured into it's service, and with this unstoppable army it nearly choked our world to death in it's clutches, as it sought to consume all.

It is said that it was only when things looked their grimmest that hope arrived, in the form of a small blue clad knight who's name would be sung about in taverns for centuries yet to come.

Shovel Knight.

A warrior wielding an unconventional weapon stepped forth to oppose this dark power, and with his great courage and strength, he ended the dark power rightly, returning it to the shadows from whence it came.

[font color="Silver"]~CHAPTER-2: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN...[/font]
As most stories go, many years of relative peace followed afterward. Adventurers still boldly ventured forth into the untamed wilds to do battle with great beasts, leagues of bandits, and occasionally each other! It was truly a shining era of Adventure.

But, as most stories ALSO go, this peace would not last. The dark power returned, but there was no tower to identify it. No ominous structure with which to pinpoint as the source or cause of this creeping darkness. Instead, the power seemed to well up from the ground itself and seep throughout the very land itself, poisoning the rhealms.

This time it was a team of seven heroes who tracked the source of the evil to an artifact deep underground. And shortly upon finding it, they sealed it away and took it somewhere safe. These heroes went on to become the rulers of the Seven Rhealms of the world as we know it.

[font color="Silver"]~CHAPTER-3: PRESENT DAY - THE WHISPERS OF WAR[/font]
And now we come to today. Only a few years have passed since the seven heroes began their rule. Peace once again reigns in our world thanks to their efforts.

However... there has been unrest among the rulers. Whispers of discontent, and a lingering cloud of war...

When the seven heroes sealed away the Source of Darkness, it was The Magician who took it and kept it sealed away deep inside his fortress, the Palace of Mirrors. Now the Indigo Lord, he devoted himself to the study of Dark Magic, determined to prepare the next generation to better deal with the threat of Darkness. He created The Academy of Dark Arts within his Palace, and began to teach any who were curious how to understand, wield, and control Dark Power. He firmly believed that the key to vanquishing dark forces was entrusting the knowledge of Dark Magic to those who were deemed worthy.

Not all among the seven agreed with this idea. The Orange Lord in particular insisted that the "spread" of Dark Magic would only hasten the next catastrophe, and secluded himself in his fortress in the Salmon Sands.

And now we stand on the edge of a shaky truce. The only thing preventing this from becoming an all-out war is the fabled Gold/Indigo Alliance.

The ruler of the Golden Rhealm was once the leader of the seven heroes, and a longtime friend of The Magician. Despite the others' misgivings he stands firmly beside his friend, trusting that the Indigo Lord has not yet been seduced by the power of Darkness. As long as he stands beside the Indigo Lord none would dare lay siege to the Palace of Mirrors. Even the mighty Red and Orange kingdoms hesitate to take up arms.

But every day the other rulers attempt to sway his favor. And who can say how long before the Golden Rhealm decides they can no longer stand beside the Indigo Lord and his ideals...

 

[Kiririn]

Cool! I like! How do I find the link? :y

also im like, totally making iphone knight. deal with it, the smartphone crusades begin.

gonna make this backstory conky as a wonky.

 

[Kiririn]

Also, FYI, I'm pretty sure that with the combat system how it is, tank builds are weaker than skill builds. We'll have to see tho.

 

[DJFlare84]

Cool! I like! How do I find the link? :y

I'll be putting up a link somewhere when the site is in a state I'm comfortable with and I see some more interest in it. I've had too many RP's die from only having a few members join it and then lose interest due to lack of additional newcomers...

I'll probably put up a page in the off-site ads area when I'm done. :D

medieval steve jobs is dead and so are you! Lord Win of Dows for LIFE!

 

[DJFlare84]

Also, FYI, I'm pretty sure that with the combat system how it is, tank builds are weaker than skill builds. We'll have to see tho.

I THINK I've got a pretty good system going here. I might have some kind of... "open beta" test when we get enough interest where a few of you can come in, make some profiles and try it out to see what you think, give some feedback, etc.

 

[Kiririn]

medieval steve jobs is dead and so are you! Lord Win of Dows for LIFE!

HAH! THERE YOU ARE WRONG! THE GLORY OF THE APPLE MAN LIVES ON HIS HIS LEGACY, AND I, IPHONE KNIGHT, SHALL CARRY THE BURDEN OF FATE FOR ALL WHO NEED SALVATION! I SHALL BRING PEACE, AND I SHALL BANISH THE DARKNESS WITH A SELFIEEEEEEE.

 

[Kiririn]

I THINK I've got a pretty good system going here. I might have some kind of... "open beta" test when we get enough interest where a few of you can come in, make some profiles and try it out to see what you think, give some feedback, etc.

I'm 'vailable for that, FYI, the more IPhone Knight the world can get the better. :y