rowyn

Update: Game is currently full! Feel free to email if you would like to get on the waitlist should any spots open. n_n

It's been a long time since I ran a play-by-email roleplaying game, and I want to do so again.

Here are the core ideas for the new game:

* The main plot is ROMANCE and RELATIONSHIPS. This will be a game about characters falling in love and forming strong personal bonds with other characters (PCs and NPCs).
* The game will have subplots that revolve around other things -- defeating bad guys, averting disasters, rescuing people from danger, etc. -- but these will be (a) subplots and (b) not serious threats to the safety and well-being of the PCs. Players will never be required to come up with brilliant plans or solve mysteries or unravel puzzles in order to overcome obstacles.
* Nobody has to pick Just One Significant Other: polyamory is fine. Monoamory is fine too if you want to go that route.
* Queer characters of all flavors are encouraged.
* PC vs PC actions are generally discouraged and actively trying to harm other PCs is prohibited.

My PBEM games tend to start strong and then peter out over the course of a few months, so this is something to bear in mind. The purpose is to enjoy the ride, not to get to a particular destination. n_n

PCs:
* The PCs are all extra-dimensional aliens
* Players get to make up the species and culture for their own character (or you can make up a species/culture to share with other players, as you prefer.) You can be a dragon or furry or shapeshifter or whatever you like. Looking exactly like a human is discouraged, but elves or Star-Trek-alien looks are fine.
* Do bear in mind this is a romance-oriented game. Making a PC that would be repugnant to you is discouraged.
* There is no need for PCs to be perfect or flawless, but they should be generally well-meaning and sympathetic.
* Each PC gets unique powers. These should be thematic (eg, "all my powers are connected to electricity" or "I control plants in various unnatural ways" or "I am a shapeshifter", etc.) and versatile. Themes should not be overly broad (eg, "I cast magic spells, which can do whatever I think would be useful in a given situation" is too broad.)
** Powers can have combat effects but your powers should be more versatile than just fighting. Fighting will not be played out in detail or with die rolls. This is a romance game; any combat is just going to be to provide drama and backdrop.
** Players will make up their characters together to avoid unwanted overlap in abilities and so that everyone has roughly the same power level.
** Alien species are, in general, much tougher and harder to hurt than humans.
* The PC species/nations are members of the Interdimensional Alliance, a group designed to promote peace, stability, and inter-species cooperation across the interdimensional network
** Historically speaking, "promoting peace, stability and cooperation" has not gone as well as the IA would like. But they are all working VERY HARD ON THIS OKAY
* The PCs are a small group of good friends who have been attending the Interdimensional Alliance University. IAU has secured an internship for them on a world that is a recent addition to the IA: Earth.
** Earth is considered a kind of paradise by most of the IA worlds.
*** It's full of humans, who are regarded as natural experts on bonding, forming strong relationships, cooperating, and maintaining peace.
*** Humans will make friends with anything! Animals, aliens, computers, rocks, whatever, they just want to be friends. SO PURE.
*** There are BILLIONS of humans living on JUST ONE WORLD and they haven't wiped each other out! It's AMAZING.
*** Humans are also super-adorable, just the cutest things
*** And they are SO HUMBLE! They have no idea how great they are! (Typical human: "Literally the most terrifying thing about the aliens is that they think WE are a good example of international harmony.")
*** One theory on humanity's unusually cooperative nature is that they're so fragile they can't risk getting into fights with each other. Or maybe it's that they're too cute to fight each other? SO ADORABLE.
* The IA has been trying to protect Earth from being overwhelmed by (a) interdimensional visitors who are eager to experience HOW COOL humans are and (b) interdimensional invaders who might hurt humanity and/or convince humanity to wall themselves off from the IA. So the PCs all consider themselves very fortunate to secure visas to Earth.
* The PCs are ambassadors, on Earth to show humanity that other dimensions have people who are good and helpful.
* Despite the IA's wish to shield Earth from the worst of other dimensions, Earth does have some aliens already. Several years ago, Earth took in a number of refugees during an interdimensional crisis. ("See how wonderful humans are??? They'd barely even discovered other dimensions and they opened their world to help other sapients!")
* Players are encouraged to provide the GM with their character's goals, the conflicts their characters might have while on Earth, and challenges that would interest the player. This is a game about relationships, so conflicts exist just to give PCs an excuse to meet people and interact with them in a fun framework. Conflicts can be things like "my anti-social younger sibling has followed me to Earth and now I have to keep them from causing trouble" or "I want to defend Earth from evil extra-dimensional enemies" or "I want to work with humans in search-and-rescue" or "My power makes solving mysteries easier so I want to do that".
* PCs should pick a role/job on Earth. You might be attending classes at an American university, or you might be working with a charity, or a first-responders team, or doing engineering, or some other job that your power set makes you well-suited to. Your PC's role is another place to find people with whom to build relationships.
* Although the PCs are all on internships courtesy of an academy, PCs are not required to be young adults. You can be a non-traditional student.
* If players have particular preferences -- "I want to play a catgirl who falls in love with a dragon" -- do let the GM know. This applies to tropes that you like, too ("I want to do 'enemies-to-lovers'" or "I like hurt/comfort" or "can we have them check into a hotel and they have to share a room but there's ONLY ONE BED???"
* In the past, my PBEMs have all been "post whenever you like, as much or as little as you like, try to check in at least once every day or two". I will probably stick to this unless all my players want a different format. If players know that they are likely to have a certain response rate, you may think about baking that into your character concept. "I tend to respond furiously for a few weeks and then fall completely out of the loop for a week, so I will play a hyperactive ferret with bouts of narcolepsy." Or "I am going to respond every other day, consistently, no matter what everyone else is doing, so I will play an Ent-like character who doesn't understand why this hyperactive ferret is in such a rush all the time." Or "I'm afraid I might have to drop out partway through, but I want the option of rejoining if so, so I will start my character out with 'potential for family emergencies that may recall them home for an indefinite period'."

Setting
Alternate Earth, aka the World of Lightness
Differences from the Earth we all know and are stuck on:
- No global pandemic
- No terrible politics
+ Occasional problems with rogue extradimensional aliens
+ In the early 2000s, humans in general gained a very low-grade psychic power of "empathy". Humans are now unusually good at both distinguishing and valuing the feelings of others. This led to decreases into xenophobia and generally made people kinder to one another. No one knows for sure what happened or how or if it could be done again; the prevailing theory is that an avant-garde social-networking experiment turned really WEIRD at some point.
+ In 2012, Earth took in ~150,000 extradimensional refugees, who were escaping from a war that laid waste to seventeen worlds. Most of these refugees are now living in the American midwest, although there are some spread through the rest of the world. These refugees represent many different species and different cultures within those species. They've integrated with human society much better than one would expect.

~

I will run for 1-5 players. More specifics about the game will evolve from interaction with the players -- I want to know what kinds of characters and subplots and suchlike people are interested in within this framework. If you'd like to play, drop a comment / private message / email. My gmail account is ladyrowyn.

Thanks!