How do all these Different Genres Co-Exist?

[Imp]

Here we discuss how exactly all these genres can co-exist with one another. Are they all separated via dimensions that only warpgates/portals can give access to? Is it that the planet of WoRPA just lives in harmony with equally balanced equipment whether lasers or spears and that some cultures favor higher tech than others? Or is it that the planet just lives in such a manor for no real reason?

[SikstaSlathalin]

I think having a planet would be best less tricky Science and stuff to deal with but maybe have some floating cites and walled off country and stuff.

[Mary Sue]

How would we account for modern real life aspects? :/

Or do we just cut them out excluding Earth all together?

[SikstaSlathalin]

They could be the floating cities no?

[Mary Sue]

I suppose.... I think the Sci-fi high tech cities would be the ones to float really.

modern and fantasy can live side by side pretty much. Kingdoms and whatnot can hide with magic or seclusion... etc.

[SikstaSlathalin]

Ay and we can have an Elder Council keep it all in check.

[Imp]

Another thing to add, I believe it was Lady of Silk that had the idea, maybe not. Someone was saying how certain cultures could dislike the new technology and find it deviant so they stick to the blade for their business but are equipped with weapons and shields that are useful against the modern and sci-fi's tech. The 'modern' tech find the medieval tech too old while the future tech is too complicated for them and not very industrial friendly in some ways. The industrial culture also has resilient armor and weapons able to fight against both sides.

Some cultures could also be mixed perhaps. Like Medieval-Industrial cultures or another combination.

[Mary Sue]

I like that. :) We could have three heavily condenced regions of "pure" genre qualities... and the farther away you get from one and the closer to another the towns and cities start to blend.

[SikstaSlathalin]

I take it these mixed areas will be the neutral places you talked about?

[Xanthuss]

I know I'm not involved in this but I do have one suggestion:

If any of you have read the book Lady of Mazes, you'll know where this comes from.

In Lady Of Mazes, the world of the story line is an ancient Ringworld (Google that term, if you must) and it is segregated among many communities, all of which live in their own idea of the perfect world. Some of these live in communities comparable to today, others live in communities that wouldn't have looked strange in North America before the White people arrived, while some live in Houseboat-cities. Etc.

All of these communities are kept apart by a 'technology lock', which makes the idealised technologies of their communities possible, but which stops technology more advanced than the technology in theses communities stop working when it enters them. Etc.

How does this sound?

For example, this tech lock could make magic exist in one city or kingdom, and super-modern technology in another, yet make it so that people with magic would be unable to practice it in the modern-technology kingdom, while the super-modern technology would become useless in the magic world... Etc.

[GraftRaven]

Well, in a world where one nation will be invading or fighting in another area I don't think that will quite work Anj... maybe with some tweaking.

[Imp]

Good thinking, Mary Sue and correct, Siksta!
On the continent the first chapter covers, we'll have 3 major cities/kingdoms which will have one of the techs as their 'pure tech'. We'll also have 3 smaller cities that are a hybrid of the 3 techs. So one could have Industrial-Futuristic, another Medieval-Futuristic, and lastly have Industrial-Medieval.

I also like Asvaldr's idea with tech locks. Some cities could have these while the remaining area doesn't have a tech lock. This way, during battles in fields, everyone is able to use whatever they have.

Another point to add, Player controlled Kingdoms will obviously be way smaller than these cities and thus maybe shouldn't have tech locks. That way, when a battle reaches the castle, it remains a free for all. OR we could include tech locks that the leader(s) of the castle may wish to have to give them a slight advantage since it is their home turf.

[SQJ]

I think I'm with Siksta.
I love the idea of portals but I much more like the idea of a single planet. A single planet is super cool, thought I do think it would make perfect sense to have portals that open to different parts of the planet.

Portals to these floating/regular cities could be how small groups move from location to location especially if they are super far and they can be used as a tool, which does not have to be Sci-fi I love how Avatar explained the floating locations and the Navi were not futuristic in any way but just as strong.


I'm super confused right now.

It sounds like the Tech tree is moving forwards from what was originally talked about in Imp recruitment thread.

Industrial-Futuristic, another Medieval-Futuristic, and lastly have Industrial-Medieval?

What? I thought this was a fantasy thing?

You know elves, horse riding and shit like that? Ancient kingdoms, Knights fighting for their king. Dragons being vanquished, maidens beings saved, brave groups going on side quests to add to their person armour kits and raising their person stats and power through IC quests they've requested and created to amp up main quests.

Also if everything is balanced should it matter at all how they live together realistically? If everything is supposed to be balanced then a tribal army should have just as much power as a cyborg army. Otherwise shouldn't a cyborg army be removed from the game or shouldn't the tribe be allowed to have massive individual numbers to match the strength of the borgs(Also since it's an ancient world there shouldn't be that many borgs in the first place right right?)?

I mean if a bushman can fight a cyborg and stand an equal chance of winning then it shouldn't MATTER how they logically fit in together. I mean the reason could be as simple as choice. Cultural groups rejecting tech because it doesn't suit or fit tradition.

I feel like this is turning into WarHammer 40K(Awesome game but I generally group it with Sci-fi at work). Why's this turning so Sci-fi? I thought there was a sci-fi persistent world already? I mean if you're going to have a ninja cyborg shouldn't you make it in the Sci world not here? I mean don't you think you're all being just a little too accommodating? I mean you could just say no to futuristic tech? Maybe?

O_O

[Imp]

I just decided to put medieval instead of fantasy just for that part.

As for balancing issues and how they live together.
I think it also doesn't need to make complete sense, rather like what you said
"Cultural groups rejecting tech because it doesn't suit or fit tradition."
Was seen as a simple and workable answer. Plus there is the involvement of deities so perhaps on a mystical manner, the Gods said "Hey let's make things even" and allowed for certain metals to be mined that would be useful on all sides. We could play that card.

I'm also drawing inspiration from what Deadmind said...
"...I wouldn't be quite worried if players have lasers,they're like deadly magic for non-magical users. A shiny shield or sword can reflect those things with ease and a good spear can fairly pierce through any advanced armor.^^
Or maybe that's just what I imagine when medieval clash with advanced technologies,still epic though. "

I feel the best kind answer we should be resorting to is simplicity. However, using what ideas everyone has put forward can be optional for certain locations and cities. Maybe a metropolis doesn't like being open to enemy siege weapons and so they made a portal to get to them? Who knows...

In the end, what defines fantasy/modern/sci-fi depends on each person's experience with it. We see in Warhammer 40k they use advanced medieval weaponry besides the ballistics and electronics. In Final Fantasy 12, we see flying craft almost superior to our own but they maintain the medieval/fantasy feel to it.

Remember, this first chapter only envelopes a single continent of the planet. We can always change things for later.

[StormWolf]

if we are worried about the meshing of sci-fi and fantasy, we could always cut it in the middle and do a Gas-lamp Fantasy. Knights in massive armor powered by steam and magical crystals with broadswords that are chainsaws and piston-powered hammers. This would add some more variation to character classes (technomancer, anyone?).

Conversely, if you look at games like Warcraft, there are 4 story tall machines that wander the Outlands powered on weird energies. What we could do is have certain races live on certain dimensions. If anyone has ever played Rift, tears would either be opened or randomly tear open, acting a gateways to these other dimensions. These dimensional rifts could be threatening the stability of the world or something.....

I had something better planned to say but my roomie put on Adventure Time and that show always kills my train of thought :/

[Imp]

Well like spoken of before, we have an entire world to have all these differences with. Perhaps the current continent has something different compared to another. This way we can keep all of the ideas but spread them out onto the entire planet.

SO
Let us all clarify our ideas and we'll vote on it for what idea goes first. Sound good? I'd also like there to be a bigger group of members seeing as some are busy with school atm and won't post until the coming weekend most likely. So anyone willing to help recruit/remind others then feel free to do so.

Until then, let's sharpen these ideas down and prep them for a voting thread.

Sound good, everyone?

[Mary Sue]

Different continents sounds much better. More organized. ;)

And yes, sounds good.

[Imp]

Good! So whoever wishes to write up their detailed idea, go right ahead! This way we can complete this portion of the RP. I seem to doubt any others will concern themselves with this part. Thank you all for your contributions to this!

[Mary Sue]

I will write up an idea based off the continents theory. I'll send it to you later.

[Lady of Silk]

Perhaps this all takes place on a hostile and irradiated world that's too harsh to support life. WoRPA could take place in the wake of a great thermo nuclear war that destroyed that planet. The current denizens of the world would know it only as some ancient happening. They all live in completely sealed off domed continents, each with a unique biosphere, flora, and fauna.

These domed continents would have no contact with each other and would each exist within their own time line, which would cater to one domed world being more technological than another. They each have their own flora and fauna which would explain why the fantastical domed continent has unicorns and faeries or what have you.

Each sealed off super continent would represent a genre and would generally be cut off from each other except for portals controlled by over watchers. These portals don't allow ANYTHING through; no clothing, weaponry, books, technology, food, or anything at all would be able to get through in fear of contaminating one of the other biospheres.

Just a thought...Might be a bit convoluted for our purposes.

[AngelicAsylum]

I think that's a good idea because it allows everyone to be completely unique from one another. It'd also let people be really creative about their surroundings. And it'd be REALLY cool if a lot of the inhabitants didn't even know these other places existed buuut that's just me. >__>

[Imp]

Lady of Silk, Grand idea! Mainly since I believe this is RPA 2.0 or something around that.
Anyway! As for every continent being domed, that would be interesting and workable. Perhaps certain areas of the planet could be domed and our continent is the forgotten world... or lost land for Turok fans. =D

Ahem... That way in chapter 2, we could discover a domed area and carry on from there. But let's see what everyone thinks!

[SikstaSlathalin]

How will the domes be there and how will the more primitive elements of our world work with them since they don't have the techno knowhow?

[Imp]

Good question.
We'll let Lady of Silk answer that one fully but I'll add an idea.

First off, anyone play Fallout 3? Eh we'll save that for later...
Perhaps in this version of the history of WoRPA, before this nuclear winter came and passed, some places built domes to protect themselves, seeing as they were the reasons for the incident and were targeted. However, not everyone was hit by the blast-waves since the planet is so large. So really the nuclear assault did occur but only certain areas were hit, leaving most the world unscathed. This way the technological advancements continued but the domed areas fell short of some certain aspect we'll later uncover.

[SikstaSlathalin]

I've played Fallout 3 and I guess what you say makes sense.

[Imp]

I'll give a larger explanation in attempt to absorb everyone's ideas and make as best of sense I can...


So We can presume this place is going through the same ordeal as Earth in the evolution of technology. In some midpoint, there was a critical point in the mindset of all which caused some parts of the massive planet to shift in various directions. Some chose sword over gun, mysticism over material, chose coal-plants over efficient and clean plasma based energy. There is no direct knowing of what occurred but the mindset-rift on the planet enabled the many continents to become abstract in design from one another via a technological and architectural manner.

Overall, everyone had adapted the same, just that some were heavily guided in one genre than another but still just as fierce in combat. On one continent, an impending nuclear winter caused several great cities to lock themselves in massive and impenetrable domes which shielded them from the onslaught of nuclear strikes that had followed. Many populated areas on that continent were completely destroyed, those who survived would slowly suffer in attempt to rebuild while the domed communities continued their lives inside, free of radiation poisoning and starvation.

Another continent found that the mixing of genre techs was forbidden and put tech locks in all the territories including their major cities. When passing through these locks with the forbidden tech, the items would cease to work or be confiscated. The only way for one to travel around is the means by portal transportation.

Where many parts of the world glorified the use of sophisticated mixed-technology, another zone was strictly based around the ways of magic. A laser meant nothing to them since they could produce the same power from spells. Two other locations were also keeping a strict tech-line. One looked upon crude oil as the most dependable fuel source and 'industrial tech' such as diesel trucks and M60 machine guns. Another place of interest and often gawked at, was the location of where future tech reigned supreme above all else.

The great planet itself has since been watched over by Gods and other extraterrestrial beings.

As for the rest of this, check the history thread for more info. (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20116)

Does this sound like a good course to take?

[SikstaSlathalin]

I still say we should have an Elder council type thing it'll make things a little easier because you can list treaties and war and deals that the Elders decide.

And what will be in the areas between these cities just tribes of various races, wandering Merchants, rebels and Robbers? I mean there will be land between it all right? We might have a few more classes and skills to add if there will be.

[Imp]

Yes, open land is a must for iconic epic field battles. There will be random structures everywhere in the places a great metropolis isn't. Such as Player-controlled Kingdoms, ruins, possible dungeons/caves, outposts, massive relics/points of interest, and small communities.

I agree on the Elder council (pardon that I didn't include that) mainly because in times of strife within the RP, we ourselves could vote on the situations in the ooc, OR include those not in the rp like the RPA community and have them vote! That would be neat.

[SikstaSlathalin]

Will there be extinct races that left behind the relics and such. Like in the Elder Scroll games Dwarfs are extinct but their armor and weapons are everywhere.

And maybe keeping it inside the RP will be better less things to worry about and better ideas as to what's going on for the polls to be up.

[Lady of Silk]

How will the domes be there and how will the more primitive elements of our world work with them since they don't have the techno knowhow?

Self sustaining drones could run maintenance on these domes. there could also be a group of overseers, the advance race that sees everything in working order and they could operate from the most advanced dome or even from a space station. This would meld in a science fiction aspect with that possibility of story arcs that take place on an inter stellar scale.

[Wattz]

Having a "real" Elder Council is a potentially awesome idea. It be sweet if we could get a set number of people to be members of the council. Or, if set people had characters of the council, they could act on behalf of their characters so that it still retains that "RP feel". The potential for change within the RP would be excellent, especially if a new character gets introduced to the council halfway through or if council members get killed off.

[Imp]

Siksta, sounds ideal to me! Loved the Dwemer artifacts and ruins. So having lost relics and extinct races/civs would help the plot in various aspects, I'm sure.

Wattz, grand addition to the previous idea!
We should further expand on this here (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?p=741163#post741163).

[Imp]

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END RESULT
The mix of tech-genres will be displayed as the RP carries on through chapters.
As for now on the first continent, there will be 3 major Pure tech-genre cities: Modern, Fantasy, Sci-fi.
3 mixed cities will be Modern Sci-fi, Modern Fantasy, Sci-fi Fantasy.
What fits in between their locations will differ as Player controlled Kingdoms may fill the spaces but we will see about those as they may be put on hold.
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