Dark Side of the Moon
Unlimited Creativity Works => Doujin Projects => Topic started by: Alice on October 16, 2013, 10:45:05 PM
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Alright, so, let's do a VN project together, because VNs are great and awesome and we should make our own.
So here's the rundown on things, and who's doing what. Once we designate someone (or multiple someones) for each role, their name(s) will appear next to the appropriate heading. Also, if we end up having multiple projects, instead of just putting the stats here, I'll just make this OP an index for all the currently running VN projects.
"Name of Project"
Writer(s):
Artist(s):
Programmer(s):
Editor(s):
Music/Sound:
Play-testers:
Basically, first off we need to decide on the nature of the project. Honestly, it sounds a bit odd, but I think an otome wouldn't be a bad idea. Bishojo-esque vns are a dime a dozen. We need something to separate us from the crowd, so to speak. Plus it's nice to have something that caters to the ladies for a change (I'm certainly not biased in any way in this regard. No sir.) Whether it's Type Moon based or not is also a matter for debate.
I may take the position of writer, though I'll leave that open for now too. I can also serve as an artist if we absolutely run out of options.
Other than that, take it away!
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Quick question. Would the game be an eroge? Or would we need to wait before we make those?
No, I have nothing against Otome games, but I never played one either.
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Otome can be eroge, though it doesn't tend to happen as frequently. I think that'll depend on the writer (or writers), the artist (or artists) and what direction we take with it. We'll see what happens, once we get more feedback and the like. :)
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Well... consider me interested. It doesn't mean that I'll be writing this as an eroge, far from it, I'd like to see what this would be like without the erotic content for now.
I vote that we don't turn this particular game into an eroge.
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Making a porn game? Nah, I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face writing the damn thing.
An Otome game sounds like a decent pitch, but we could easily go with more of a horror/mystery thing with it.
Here's an idea pitch - You're a necromancer/exorcist, trying to figure out who killed your old mentor, and the circumstances surrounding his death. His spirit was apparently destroyed, so there's no leads there. Basically, you're going to need to rely as much on your ghost sources as you will on good old fashioned detective work. Colorful characters, both dead and living are simultaneously your only sources and primary suspects. Good luck!
Fun fact, Necromancy was originally a concept based around asking the spirits of the dead about the future. Could lead to some fun stuff.
Or you want to know something? I haven't seen a good classic sci-fi story in a while. Blade Runner style Cyberpunk anyone?
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Huh, that's an interesting idea. :D ...Really, that reminds me, if we have enough cool ideas, I don't mind creating separate projects for each of them. Programming a VN isn't nearly as difficult as programming other types of games is, so it's possible they could even share a coder, enabling work to be done on multiple projects simultaneously.
Really, we could even fuse the OP pitch and Magos's idea and try having both in the same game. A girl protagonist would be fun regardless for it, really, otome or no, since we don't see female necromancers running around too often in these things.
In other words, I like it. :3
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Agreed. I have to say, Magos, you got a great idea there.
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Huh, that's an interesting idea. :D ...Really, that reminds me, if we have enough cool ideas, I don't mind creating separate projects for each of them. Programming a VN isn't nearly as difficult as programming other types of games is, so it's possible they could even share a coder, enabling work to be done on multiple projects simultaneously.
Honestly, I would imagine that the coding would be the same for any possible VN project, so doing multiple projects would be no issue for a coder. Writers, editors, artists etc. would require more work, though.
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Loving the Female Necromancer idea, really was trying to be as gender neutral with this idea as possible. I relish the challenge of writing/editing such a work.
Art is what I see the biggest trouble in obtaining though. I submit that a 'Sin City' style of artwork for this VN idea would likely work the best, mainly black and white with some color thrown in for example, on the Spirits and other such things.
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Yeah, getting artists is likely going to be the hardest part. I can draw, but I don't have a ton of confidence in my abilities (though I can at least serve as a concept artist or a back up or something). KAIZA might work, though I'm not for sure if he can replicate the art style you're going for, though I think he definitely has the potential to. We can only see what the man himself has to say about that though.
We can always have someone do some sample art, then try to find an artist to hire and do a Kickstarter or something similar. Now that the forum's public though, we can also try asking around in relevant places and the like.
It depends on what people think is the best approach though. What do you guys think? I could definitely be wrong about how to approach the artist thing after all. ^_^"
Also, if there's any artists lurking around, feel free to speak up! We want you! :3
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Honestly the style is more a practical choice; its simpler for an artist to do IMO, but I'm not certain.
That and the style just looks friggin awesome.
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So... any way for me to help out? Or am I gonna need to do something else in this thread?
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No idea; we're still bouncing ideas around.
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Thanks for letting me know about that.
Still... is there anything against us working on more than one game as a forum community?
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Not at all. I wouldn'tve said that I was willing to make multiple project threads otherwise. :) But yeah, working on multiple VN projects is perfectly fine. We may have a coder doing that for sure anyway, so there's no reason to restrict anyone else in that sense if they're up for it.
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Ah, okay, wanted to be sure.
So... while this could be an Otome mystery game with a Necromancer protagonist, I have an idea for something of a Sci-Fi game, one with a war story involved. I'm still thinking of how to get the details fleshed out, so I'll leave the idea open for people to help flesh it out, though I'm not gonna make this a Muv-Luv knock-off.
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You know, if you're doing an otome game with a female necromancer protagonist, one of the love interests should be a vampire.
And I mean real vampire, not sparkling idiot like Edward Cullen. Like Angel, Spike, or Damion Salvatore.
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That's always a good point.
By the way, Elf, what are your thoughts towards Sci-Fi? I'm asking because I want to write a combination Bishoujo/Otome game that's Sci-Fi (spoke with Alice on Skype earlier about it, and she gave me the idea to make it a combination of Bishoujo and Otome, so kudos to her)... and I don't know if it'll have sex in it or not.
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You know, if you're doing an otome game with a female necromancer protagonist, one of the love interests should be a vampire.
And I mean real vampire, not sparkling idiot like Edward Cullen. Like Angel, Spike, or Damion Salvatore.
I was thinking throwing in a Revenant as well; and a red herring token normal dude who SEEMS like the killer but isn't.
A Dullhalan is another idea I have. Think Celty with a Harley instead of a little road bike. And also absolutely massive. Another Necromancer or maybe some normal every day mage would be a fun idea.
Also, if this goes full on Eroge, I vote Elf does the scenes.
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For that matter, I don't exactly trust myself as a writer enough to pull this entirely off convincingly; writing in first person from the female perspective is something I have never done or attempted to do before, and I'm afraid I'll fuck it up as I don't possess the necessary equipment to have first hand experience. So if we're doing this, I'm gonna need help if I'm doing the script in between classes and shit. For that matter, I'm going to need to go beyond the premise and start putting some concrete shit together with everyone.
Vampire route is in, no question about that. Spirit/Revenant route should also be in.
Should this have bad ends? Because I think this needs bad ends.
And getting an artist on board early on should be a priority IMO; help us to ground the characters.
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Yes to the bad ends. Simple as that.
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I'm think I like where this is going. :3
If you're worried about the writing from a girl's standpoint thing, Elf or I could take point (well, if she has the time or is willing of course). That definitely doesn't stop you from potentially becoming a co-writer though, or even all three of us writing. :) It's up to Elf and what she wants to do though.
And aye to the bad ends. Though we should also have an ending tracker of some kind too- it's fun to check out just what endings you've gotten. :3 Maybe even add a little unlockable treat or something for anyone who's found them all.
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Beefcake scene Easter Egg?
Koori would approve.
Anyway, for Easter Eggs I say we need an Eclipse style thing, a little wrap up of all the routes. Maybe a hidden screen series that explains how we made the game with copy pasted avvies and nasu style porn scene writing jokes. This time involving skeletons instead of seafood.
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Still... is there anything against us working on more than one game as a forum community?
There's no reason we can't, although we have to be careful not to end up making two half-VNs instead of one complete one.
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Good thing you warned me about that.
I don't want this to be two half-VNs either.
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Well, that doesn't mean we can't make more than one, we just need to make sure we don't end up with two teams that are both too small to do anything.
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That's what I want to avoid... the small teams thing.
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Well, speaking of teams, it's not a bad idea to start trying to set those up. If it's OK with him, for now I'm assuming Cherry's going to be our programmer. Art I'm leaving up in the air for now, but I'll take the slot if we absolutely can't find anyone else.
Writer is open to anyone that feels confident writing from a female protagonist's perspective, has decent to good writing skills, and has the time to do so. I'll either ask for feedback from people in the thread about how confident they feel about the writer's skills, or put up a poll with the applicants for people to vote on. It's likely though that we may take on multiple writers, depending on how things go, so don't get immediately discouraged if you don't get the most praise or votes. If people are unfamiliar with your writing skills, expect to have to write something to show your skills (...I'll have to do this too, so don't feel too bad about it ^_^").
Prime candidate for writing is Elf. If she's willing to write for this project, she gets added on automatically, no votes necessary, because I have that much confidence in her.
Anyone else interested about any of these roles, please speak up. Also, in regards to skill levels and stuff in regards to various things, please keep it drama-free in here.
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Just reviving this to try to get interest up again. Looking for writers, artists, show us your stuff, blah blah blah.
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I can still do the engine, although I have a job starting soon so it might be a bit slower.
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School is kicking my ass but I can still write.
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I can help... in some way... I think.
Well, if anyone's interested, I can do some of the dialogue programming (meaning, I can translate the story to VN format, if needed).
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Right, time to revive an old thread after freaking ever, wheeeee~
So yeah, this is about that one Otome idea that was being tossed around, the one with the Necromancer protagonist. I'm still interested in it. And I've started to figure things out about it~ ...Whether these are good things that I have figured out I'll let you guys decide. ^^" But hey, potential progress! That's always good, right? ...Right?
So, here's general idea thingies that I have. Well, less ideas and more potential character profiles. Sometimes I'm better at just showing this stuff rather than typing big ol' profiles like this, so apologies ahead of time if any of this seems dumb because of that. So far I have the protagonist, two of the love interests, and two of her friends figured out, as well as maybe a potential plot starter thing in the loosest sense.
...I do worry that it may be too much inspired by other things (not intentionally, but thinking about it, I can see things that certain things resemble perhaps a bit too much for comfort, but I could be worrying too much over stuff yet again) so if it seems that way, please tell me. ^^" Also, suggestions for other love interests, other characters (species and professions is mostly what I mean), etc, would be good. I'll see if I can maybe draw up some potential character designs too. ...They might not look spectacular, since I'm not the greatest artist, but hey, it's a start. ^^"
So yup, feedback of the constructive sort would be much obliged. ...Also, if there's anything you guys want me to do to make this less text blocky and more readable, also tell me. And now to the actual content!
Potential Characters Thus Far:
Protagonist: Young lady, aged somewhere between 18-20. A necromancer, but not in the strictest sense, and can do a few other neat things too, some of which make her more viable in combat in places where there ain't no materials to make a skeleton army out of. One of her abilities, possibly more unique to her, is the ability to see the final moments of the dead. This makes her useful naturally in homicide investigations, so she would collaborate with the police department to help solve murders. She does other odd jobs too, and these things combined is a lot of how she makes her living.
Her personality is somewhat deadpan. She regards the world with weary exasperation. She knows her powers are regarded with apprehension and distrust, and she lives with it. While not exemplary at physical combat or anything like that, as expected from a squishy mage type, she can take care of herself. As expected from a squishy mage type, is intelligent. Somewhat to the point. A bit of a snarker, but not excessively so. Is the type to stand her ground when she's made a decision about something. Is perhaps a bit too serious, and sometimes even stern.
Dave (Not a Love Interest): The most consistent familiar the Protagonist has, and also her oldest and dearest friend. Most of the time he's just a skull that gets carried around with the Protagonist, but she can bring back a body for him when it's necessary.
In contrast with the Protagonist, he's more of the cheerful, optimistic sort, despite being dead. Dave's soul was trapped within his remains, but the Protagonist reanimated him unintentionally, to Dave's relief (not being able to talk to anybody was terrible, you see). He's more often than not the one to try and compensate for the Protagonist's lack of people skills. Oddly enough, despite being a skull, he's not fond of seeing remains unless they're nice, clean bones, as he was somewhat of a neat freak in life.
Love Interest 1: The Vampire. Is thousands upon thousands of years old, but looks somewhere in his early to mid 20s. Tall, handsome, intimidating in an aristocratic, charming sort of way. Is also a moron with a strong sense of justice who also almost acts more like a superhero (a slightly evil superhero) than a proper vampire. But with a more noble, aristocratic air of course. Is able to say things with a straight face that would make most either chuckle or groan. Is also the type to make loud declarations on a whim. And is also somewhat hotblooded, just in a quiet, aristocratic way. Noble demon that he is, he tends to help the Protagonist with her cases and side jobs, wanting to keep his fair city clean of crime and corruption.
The Protagonist, despite often groaning at his lack of common sense and his silliness, appreciates his morality and helpfulness. If either one is attracted to the other, neither one of them realizes it at this time.
Love Interest 2: The Werewolf. 22-25. Taller than the Vampire, possibly with a more tanned complexion. In contrast to the Vampire, he has more common sense and is more down to earth, but is also a bit looser morally. While more primal than the previous love interest, he's more cunning and cool headed. The Vampire exasperates him, while oddly enough, said Vampire has no real gripes against him, other than giving him the occasional lecture. He helps the Protagonist with her cases and side jobs more out of finding the cases themselves interesting as well as wanting to find out more about the Protagonist and her abilities rather than because it's the right thing to do. May be planning something.
The Protagonist doesn't always know whether to trust him or not, but she usually ends up letting him tag along in the end. They're more alike, so they have more natural conversations than she and the Vampire do, but their senses of Right and Wrong don't always agree. The Werewolf seems to have some interest in her, and she may have a bit of interest in him, but not much, given that she still regards him with caution.
The Cop/Possible Token Same Gender Love Interest: Tough and straight forward, and yet has more of a sense of humor than our protagonist. She's also somewhat more easy going. Is pretty much a more normal, sane person that just happened to get caught up in the supernatural somehow, she might have pissed off one of her bosses at some point, I don't know. Hates paperwork. Is a homicide detective, but is the one usually shunted to these cases. They couldn't even bother to make a separate division. Handles all the weird shit she gets assigned with a wry smile while imagining herself flipping the bird at her superiors. Is the type that likes to just kick back some nights, watch some tv, and maybe munch on some pizza rolls or something. Likes finding peace for the various crime scene victims, but wished it didn't have to involve so much weird shit.
Likes the Protagonist well enough, though wishes she'd develop more of a sense of humor. Groans at the Vampire, trusts the Werewolf about as far as she can throw him.
The Forensics Monkey/Possible Token Same Gender Love Interest: One of the fine folks down in the forensics lab. Hates it that she has to keep the cool stuff she finds so hush hush. Is more cheerful and exuberant about things than The Protagonist and the Cop, but is also more shy. Is a nerd, and likes video games. In other words, she's One Of Us. Unlike the Cop, she freaking LOVES all the weird shit, and hates that she doesn't get to go out into the field more often.
Finds the Vampire hilarious and adorable and finds the Werewolf really cool, and perhaps trusts him way more than she should. She's good friends with the Protagonist, though not quite as close as Dave and the Protagonist are. She's proud that she's the one that got the Protagonist into video games, even if it's more of an occasional thing.
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DAVE BEST NAME BEST CHARACTER MAXIMUM SWAG #YOLT
Must the opposite gender love interests all be mutants and beasties, though? I vote we have a human runecaster as a love interest, for the folks who don't want to fuq da vampire/werewolf.
People like me, whose first instinct with these guys is to whip out the flamer in the name of the emperor. Purge the unclean!
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Dave best character~
Also, yeah, certainly, we can have a human caster guy as a love interest. :3
Hell, let's see if this works:
Love Interest 3: The Mage/Runecaster. Human. Age 19-22. Still on the taller side, and also good looking of course, but not as tall as the Vampire or the Werewolf. A workaholic. At least in terms of his spellcasting things. He's a serious, somewhat deadpan, snarky sort, and he tends to go "Holy Shit!" at some of the weird shit he sees, unlike the protagonist, who just tends to shrug it off and try and deal with it. He's more organized than she is, but his place is a mess of spellbooks and candles. Odd, considering that otherwise he's the type that's all too fond of planners and the like.
He loves them spells and spellbooks, perhaps a bit too much. He tends to geek out about magic, while the Protagonist doesn't so much. He wants to learn more about the Protagonist's magic, and the various phenomena around him, even if he does freak out at the freakier things. Has a sort of love/hate it relationship with technology and video games, but secretly loves him some Role Playin'. He also tends to harp on the protagonist for not studying enough, both in terms of magic and school. He's the type that tends to obsessively study at both, but tends to favor the former more. He does have his weaknesses in this department though. There's certain sports he'll forgo his meticulous studies to catch the game for (for school at least).
He and the Protagonist like each other well enough, birds of a feather as they are, though the Protagonist wishes he'd stop freaking out about things, and stop lecturing her about studying so damn much. He thinks the Vampire is a moron, and he doesn't trust the Werewolf and thinks he's manipulative (which he is). The Cop he's mostly ok with though he wishes she'd stop teasing him all the time. The Forensics Monkey gets on his nerves at times, but secretly he's totally cool with being friends with her and lecturing her on magic things, he'll just never admit to it.
And for the fun of it:
The Mage's Twin (also possible opposite gender love interest): The Mage's twin sister. Same age, about average height. Is a lot like her brother, but likes to tease more than he does, and also likes to yell at him for not focusing enough on his school studies in addition to his magic studies (ironically enough. Naturally, our Protagonist finds this highly amusing, and gets a certain smug satisfaction when this happens. A secret sort of revenge, that sort of thing). She does better at him in both, which he resents and she likes to rub in his face. She's a good enough person though, just kinda a know-it-all, worse than even her brother.
She and the Protagonist get along well enough, though there's a bit of a rivalry. Also, the Protagonist wishes the Mage's Twin would be less of a Know-It-All, while the Mage's Twin wishes the Protagonist would focus more on her magic and stop being so nonchalant about things. Ironically though, she cuts the Protagonist a lot more slack in this department than she does her brother, to the Protagonist's significant relief.
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Ohoohoh, because I love half breeds, what about a Dhamphir?
He's hunting the Vampire because, you know that's what Dhamphirs do.
He's in his early twenties, a little above average height, taller than the protag, but not as tall as the vampire or werewolf. Very intelligent, but also a bit of a sociopath because he doesn't know how to fit into society. He was born of two worlds but belongs in none, a real outsider. He's quiet, thoughtful, and soft spoken.
He also loves his weapons and is a master of hand to hand combat.
And he's incredibly gorgeous.
Oh, and combating his bloodlust.
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Works for me~ :3 Also a nice contrast to the Vampire. :)
I think we have something going here! :D
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Hmm, yeah, this looks pretty well-worked-out so far. The characters certainly seem like they would work.
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Works for me~ :3 Also a nice contrast to the Vampire. :)
I think we have something going here! :D
Plus in this sort of thing, you have to have a monster hunter somewhere.
Also, I think the Cop Lady Love Interest should be either Asian, Indian, or Native American decent.
Oh! Maybe the forensics tech could be black.
Also, what about Fae? Any thought about including them or not?
So, you know, it's not just white people.
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Well, I don't think the race of any of the characters has been specified yet, although I guess it is something that does need to be worked-out, since we're going to be actually drawing them....
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Well the reason why I'm thinking of it was because I read this really intriguing blog/review site talking about exclusion in Urban Fantasy.
Then the more and more I thought about it, I was like, "Holy shit, Urban Fantasy is really full of white people!"
Like for example, The Dresden Files, which I dearly love, takes place in Chicago.
Every major character is white. Seriously, the only reoccurring characters that aren't are a Knight of the Cross, and three members of the Wizard's Council. And that's it.
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Hmm... For Cop Lady, maybe Native American? :) Always need more representation there. :D
Asian we could maybe hit by making the Protagonist herself Asian. :3
As for the Forensics tech, that reminds me I need to actually think up personalities for more of the Forensics Team. ^^" After all, you can't run a lab with just one scientist. :3 So we'd probably need at least two more prominent people there minimum, one of which could easily be black. :3 ...Mostly the first lab tech is the only one listed because that's the only one I came up with a personality for. ^^' ...Hmm....
High Level Forensics Tech: Human of course. Age 28-32. Black, about average height. Very pretty. Has the burden of having to work with and manage a bunch of weirdos all while having to hide tons of weird stuff from the general populace. Plus forensics work on top of that. Not exactly the most relaxing of jobs. But she handles it well, all things considered. Like the Cop and the Mage, she's weirded out by all this stuff, but like the Protagonist, she just looks at it all with exasperation. Thankfully she's both brilliant and knows how to handle people, so she's prepared. Though it takes her a lot of coffee and a lot of sweets to help her get through the day. There's sometimes some awkwardness in terms of her relating to the others, given the slight age gap, but she gets along well with everyone.
She often worries about the protagonist, wondering if it's right to endanger someone so young like this, but she's come to accept it, albeit with some reservations. Though her magic still weirds her out. As does Dave a bit, though he's growing on her.
How's that? :)
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Blah, and as soon as get all excited with this, thinking about it, I lose faith again. ^^" Worried that the characters are possibly too derivative and not that creative (and this is beyond Mage. Mage is what you get when you give me two minutes to come up with something in a hurry :P). Or even stereotypical in some cases (see the Mage). Plus general lack of feedback.
...Help?
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Well, they seem OK to me. I think it's difficult to make a character seem creative in a one-paragraph description....
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Well, the real way to make characters stand out is how their personalities and stuff are fleshed out.
A really important thing that a lot of writers don't do is make their characters sound unique and individual from each other when they're talking.
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Yeah, I'm probably worrying to much about it again. :P To be honest, I do a better job actually writing the characters than giving descriptions for them. The descriptions part I've never been quite so great at. ^^"
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Well, that's definitely much better than the opposite problem :P
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About the mage, my biggest gripe is that reading about him felt like I was reading "The protag, except not as gud in this & this,"+exposition wizard.
And exposition wizard is always bad and makes me cry. Exposition should not be one person only, the audience will learn to skip a few pages when he shows up(Totally guilty of this, Bob is the only exception).
It would probably help if you knew that a rune-caster is more like a druid than a "gandalf-mage". Hell, old anglo-saxon rune users call themselves Drymann, which literally translates into "druid". Old norse Gothi were more like priests and spiritual leaders than anything, too, despite having full knowledge of the runes.
The point being that a Drymann or Gothi would believe in something bigger than themselves. While they use "magic"(It's iffy), they'd be more likely to fulfill a priest's archetype than the wizard archetype or the old guy from buffy with all the books archetype.
I think his name was Nigel?
Anyway, the only 100% magic thing runes (as in, the letters themselves) were ever 100% related to anyway (Divination is still iffy if you ask a historian, and he'll also tell you what was written on amulets and charms was the magic instead of the letters themselves) was raising the dead, something Odin used them for, which is why I thought a rune-user would fit seeing the necromancer protag grill.
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Ahhhh, gotcha. :) So it seems part of it was me being terrible with descriptions like normal, the other half not quite getting the concept you were after. ^^"
The mage wouldn't be exposition guy. He'd probably nerd out on some things (which would likely be blanked out for the most part), but probably most exposition would come from the protag herself if there's any direct exposition (via internal monologue. Expect snark.). Again, most of it's my bad with the description being awful. Basically, what I meant to go for there is that he's more of a School Prefect to her "I don't really give a shit." He's the guy who actually studies who's the type to shoot his hand up *way* too fast in class, she's the one that's smart but too bored with her classes to pay attention other than to the stuff she deems important.
So what I'm going to do is this (not right away, but soon enough). First is to separate the Mage and the Runemaster into two different characters, the latter hopefully *much* closer to what you were aiming for, and of course being an entirely different person. Second is to give Mage a non-crappy description (or at least less crappy) and make it more obvious that he's not meant to be Stereotypical Wizard so much as Male!Hermoine Granger. And maybe take some of the stereotypical edge off him while I'm at it. Have him have a not-so-secret passion for sports or something.
...Again, as I said, I suck at describing this stuff, I'm better at actually writing it, and sometimes it's easier for me to hammer out finer details when writing the thing rather than just via the base. ^^" In other words, again, my bad.
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by the way, chuuni/midlife crisis vampire is great
remember to keep the ham hammed up to ham central
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Thank you~ :3 And he shall have all the ham~ Maybe even have him chew the scenery a bit from time to time. :3
Anyway, here's a (very rough) concept for the runemaster. I'll try editing Mage's profile in a bit.
Runemaster: A young man carrying a long, sacred, and secret tradition over the centuries. Runemaster that he is, while he has skill in the magical arts due to some of said runes, he is really more of a jack of all trades in this regard. He can heal, he can do your offensive magic, he can do your divinations, and your Detect Evil spells, maybe some crushing of the undead, you name it. And boy would you not know it from looking at this guy. Or hearing him.
No, our Runemaster is very true to his Viking lineage, in that he is quite fond of drink, his pantheon, and the joy that is smacking another guy in the face. Boisterous, full of voice, and rather muscular, he can hold his own in a brawl every bit as well as he can set things on fire using his runes. Talk shit about the Norse pantheon btw, and expect to lose a few teeth.
There's one thing he can't really do though, and that's raise the dead. But he can maybe do that too. His feelings are conflicted, but he wants to see if he can aspire to what Odin himself could do, and our Protagonist holds her own interests, considering that this is something she cannot truly do herself. Her cases make a great venue for him to get fights in anyway, so he's cool with tagging along.
Gets along surprisingly well with the Vampire. He and the Werewolf aren't so fond of each other though, mostly due to the latter being too cloak and dagger for his taste at times. He likes the mage alright, though the Mage often gets exhausted or exasperated by him. The Protagonist herself is just friends with him, but who knows? Perhaps she can find his hidden, more complex side and find out that there's more to him than meets the eye?
EDIT: Edited the Mage's profile a tiny bit on the last page, and that of his sister. Hopefully that's a bit better.
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So you're going Gothi(norse) rather than Drymann(anglo-saxon)?
That's cool. Probably can't help as much with him though, seeing as I know more about the anglo-saxon sorcerer/runes than the old norse customs and runes (close, but different all the same).
Don't get me wrong, I still know some and more than most, but less.
One thing to note however is that a gothi was a leader as well as a spiritual honkadonk. Translate that into modern times and the feel this is setting up to, and you have the guy who knows everyone, that everyone owes or owns a favor to. The street man. Kinda sounds a little like it from the drinking and party stuff, but just wanted to emphasize.
Perhaps she can find his hidden, more complex side and find out that there's more to him than meets the eye?
You mentioned divination. In routes other than his, make him find her for the teamup, and keep up the viking hooha level of depth. In his route, make us find out that he sought her, because divination divining something or other bad and he was keeping an eye on her or something because she might have accidentally ragnarok or something like that, I dunno.
basically, secret side should have to do with divination, because DIVINATION IS FUCKIN RAD
As long as it's cryptic and tells the diviner very little, that is. Seeing a map of the future is boring and sucks.
Anyway DIVINATION
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He should totally look like Chris Hemmingsworth's Thor because sweet god is that man perfection.
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@Nachos: Looks like, though more because I was an idiot and didn't think about that rather than anything. ^^" ...We can definitely roll with this though. :3
And ooohh, I like that idea. :3 The boisterous bruiser type isn't usually the first one you think of to be contacts guy. I can definitely work with this~
As for the divination thing, yeah, I can roll with that. :3 And you have my guarantee that his divination will be cryptic. Because the gods are dicks.
@Elf: Yeeeeeeeeesssssssss. I kinda had Thor pop into my head when making up the guy anyway, so I'm down with that. :3
...You can tell I'm writing this half awake, wheeeeeee.
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Alright, we have our gorillion love interest characters, we need to figure out some more stuff.
Character jobs (GOTTA EAT):
MC: Odd jobs: No official job or title, but maintains a reputation in the supernatural part of society as the person to go to with "stuff". Most of her income is from the police though.
Vampire: HE OWNS THE CITY FROM THE DARKNESS. Basically magical landlord the mayors pay rent to to keep the place safe and clear of supernatural trouble. He handles the building's plumbing, you could say.
Werewolf: Mechanic? Plumber? I dunno lel, something that screams normal, for added sheep-in-wolf's-clothing effect
Mage: Still in university in (?), or college (if 19)
Mage's sister: something I dunno, I guess uni or last year of college (If 19)
Viking McGothisson: FUKKEN SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW, Maybe he owns a creepy magic shop or something
NON-LOVE INTEREST CHARACTERS(Friends, antagonists, minor characters to remind the reader that the world is bigger than the small character cast):
The cop(s) who doesn't believe
The contacts
The schoolmates
The person who thinks they can magic but actually can't and keeps getting in trouble for it
The person whose building the vampire lives in
Fuckin' NAMES(I hate this one):
Dave McDaversson
David
Davy
Dav
Daver
John Smith
Who killed da mentor? (Basically, the thing is about who killed surrogate daddy, so who killed surrogate daddy? An antagonist? Tweest, one of the love interests? Why did they do it? What was the trail that led the protagonist to finding them out?):
The Vampire, because her mentor was going to the apocalypse/raise Hel/something i don't know
The MC's real parent(s), because they wanted their baby back for their nefarious plans
ur mum lel
I don't fucking know
Ages (SET IN STONE)
MC: 20
mage/twin: 20
Vampire: Fuken old
Werewolf: 24
Tyr McVikingsson: 23
Cop: 27
Forensics lady: 26
Come on, someone help out. Everything is malleable here
Also I think we should have MC be a full-time odd-jobber, and have her be a drop-out of school. Then she can know the mage from before she dropped (and he can bug her about it) and know the werewolf and viking from once she started jobs(being notorious people), while the vampire was an old friend of her mentor's. Cop and forensics they met on ONE SPECIFIC JOB that kinda made her "that specialist" for them.
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You guys are missing the obvious killer-
Biker Dullahan/Headless Horseman who's goal is to call a wild hunt down on the city, and wipe it clean of all the filth (humans). The Mentor character had caught wind of his plots, but trying to stop him ended up pretty damn dead. And the clock is ticking down, to discover exactly why this series of murders he committed are going to cause this, and how to stop it.
It's part of a ritual to summon one of the great Fae into the city, which would cause everyone to go fucking crazy because it's a thing that should not be in our reality and warps the minds of mortals around it with it's very whims. It's damn powerful, but it really doesn't give a shit about the Horseman's plans. He just wants to have fun, and by fun he means doing everything he wants to do. The real danger is from the link to the realm he comes from, one of the many focused around fae who do enjoy a good hunt, and the last time they had one, the Black Death happened.
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fae are lame
...Okay some are cool I guess. But still.
Anyway, what kind of vampires/werewolves are we using? WoD/Dresden style, where there are many kinds with different attributes? Straight up Dracula, right down to the garlic? Buffy, where they're hopelessly boring? Twilight, completely out of the ballpark for anyone who knows anything about vampires to recognize them?
I vote the last one and we make them turn into cheese in the sun.
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Sorry, no cheese vampires. :P For I am Alice, spoiler of joy!
Hmm... probably for the vamps, somewhere in the WoD/Dresden-ish ballpark? Though possibly more generalized? But yeah, that's probably most likely what I'd be shooting for there. Chunni vamp would probably be closest to a mix of Venture and Gangrel I think. All while being quite elegant. And also quite hammy.
As for the werewolves, I'm not sure whether I'd want the cycle to be the traditional by the moon or more voluntary/influenced by emotion or not. Probably with sentience, but at the same time, crazy animal instinct sort of thing all intact, enough to still make our werewolf a potential threat to our allies if he loses his shit. ...Basically it makes it so our werewolf's kinda scary. Big, huge, hulking thing, big wall of fur and teeth and sharp claws and ohfuckrunit'sgoingtokillusaaahhh.
That's about my reckoning anyway. That fair enough?
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For vampires I'd say a blend of classic, though with a few more nonsense stuff.
They can survive in the sun, but it causes their, well, corpselike pallor to be shown, and if you look closely, you can tell it in their eyes - red tinted pupils. They also hate being in the sun, it's a last resort, because it hurts the hell out of their eyes. Look into the sun, they're blinded permenantly. Their reflections are slightly clouded, and they seem a little out of focus in pictures. Enough to be noticed but not enough to arouse too much suspicion if they're careful. Holy Symbols CAN hurt them, but they need to be actually held by an ordained priest or whatever of that religion. So your average shmuck with a cross is something to laugh at. Garlic is something they're just slightly allergic to. Stakes hurt like fucking hell, and do kill them - but you know how hard it is to drive a wooden stake through the ribcage? Let alone through the ribcage of something strong enough to rip your head off like a teddybears? Not easy. The counting and all that other stuff is bullshit, but sometimes when they go crazy over the centuries, things like that happen.
For werewolves, I'd go like this - It's emotion based, but the moon plays a major, major factor. The fuller the moon, the easier it is for them to shift, and the more likely they are to shift. It isn't a voluntary thing either - get too angry, get too into, well, survival instincts, and the change will trigger. They are fast, strong, and insanely tough - the stories of them being able to fight a vampire are pretty much 100% true, and they'll usually win because they don't give a shit about injury while in this change. The only instinct the wolf form has is to KILL. KILL. KILL. They are 9 feet tall wrecking balls of destruction, and the werewolf usually can only guide it slightly conciously. Werewolves aren't the only shifters like this, but they're the best known.
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One thing I insist on: Vampires can do the whole dracula "Transform into a swarm of bats" thing. Or at least some can. Because that it FUCKING RADICAL
Hell, let's mix what you two said: the weaknesses Magos presented, but vampires have different attributes, traits and abilities as well, but instead of there being races it just depends on a)The vamp itself, somewhat influenced by who/what (MUHGIC) turned it and b) its age. What it can do falls into the vampire ballpark though(Think WoD ballpark, or some from the van hellsing movie). They won't start up farting fireballs or stuff, if they want to do that shit they can learn magic in their long lives and become castlevania Dracula.
So like a youngster would be able to turn a finger into a bat to use as messenger or to pet if they feel lonely, while chuuni vamp would be not givin a fuck and BEING A SWARM OF CREATURES OF THE NIGHT all night around.
As for the werewolf stuff, I think Magos hit the spot.
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One thing I insist on: Vampires can do the whole dracula "Transform into a swarm of bats" thing. Or at least some can. Because that it FUCKING RADICAL
Hell, let's mix what you two said: the weaknesses Magos presented, but vampires have different attributes, traits and abilities as well, but instead of there being races it just depends on a)The vamp itself, somewhat influenced by who/what (MUHGIC) turned it and b) its age. What it can do falls into the vampire ballpark though(Think WoD ballpark, or some from the van hellsing movie). They won't start up farting fireballs or stuff, if they want to do that shit they can learn magic in their long lives and become castlevania Dracula.
So like a youngster would be able to turn a finger into a bat to use as messenger or to pet if they feel lonely, while chuuni vamp would be not givin a fuck and BEING A SWARM OF CREATURES OF THE NIGHT all night around.
As for the werewolf stuff, I think Magos hit the spot.
Dracula actually preferred to transform into a wolf IIRC - werewolf and vampire legends are very closely tied.
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What's that one picture say?
It depends on the myth.
And there are a gorillion different draculas running around so, that's a lot of myth.
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OH SHIT DOUBLE POSTING CALL THE COPS
New info that got created on skype.
MC-Chan: Korean American, named Emily Moon (Moon is korean). To her parents' disapproval started learning magic of the necromantic variety in her teens. Her teacher died of natural causes while she was 17 though, and without supervision she kept up self-study because she felt she had to. Weeks later she attempted to bind a lingering spirit as a familiar, and in a colossal fuckup ended up partially spiritually killing herself and binding the spirit to its dead, bony body instead of to her. The mistake left her with close to no magic and unhealthy-looking white hair: not white as snow, but filthy white as a corpse's. She compensates for her weakened magic by capturing spirits to perform the equivalent of magic tasks for her.
Three years after her accident, she ended up helping a police officer (lady cop) with a case where a wraith was the culprit. Following this she dropped out of college to start an odd-jobs business, a front for those seeking mystical help.
Eldest daughter of a Korean father and American mother, born with mystic talent. The family disappointment, as a practitioner with a shady job who dropped out of school. Once she started her practice with her teacher her parents got a second child, a boy, who was raised extremely strictly.
The Werewolf: Name not chosen: A cherokee who moved to the big city. A plumber. Looks like the kind of guy you'd peg as a gym guy: takes care of his appearance, is muscular, has a tattoo, short black hair and reddish-brown eyes. Friendly and outgoing. Someone you wouldn't even look at twice, unless you were in a club and ready to mingle. Hides a scheming, darker personality behind it all and an anger at what's been done to his people. Keeps people at arm's length. A wolf in sheep's clothing, in more ways than one.
The Rune caster: Aaron Adamsson: Looks like Thor. Is owner of a successful bar and barkeeps occasionally, while leaving most things to his manager. Has an uncle called Bardo who left him the bar after his death. OKAY
Dave: Dave is the spirit Emily fucked up with, binding him to his body and more closely to his skull. Amnesiac in his new state, Dave was a police officer in life and elder partner to the lady cop who doesn't have a name yet. He got too close to a mob boss with supernatural ties in life which got him first demoted to beat cop and then killed, and his ghost hung around because of the grudge.
As an Amnesiac he didn't know what the fuck was up, so decides to stick with the person who raised him for better or for worse. She hasn't smashed his skull yet, which some other surprised person might. It's not like he has much choice, with just a head.
Chuuni vamp: Enjoys the opera.