System: Dungeon World Play by Post.
Setting: Two years after young link opens the way into the Sacred Lands in Ocarina of Time.
Time Zone: American, East Coast, Afternoon-Evening.
Disclaimer: I don't own the world we are playing in, and I'm not a king of Lore. In fact, I haven't played OOT in over a decade. Either way, the world will be a bit different, but anything that you specifically love, I will do my best to work in. Any inspiration is good inspiration. Even the stuff I say no to :p
What you need to know: Dungeon World is heavy on player interaction, both with the DM and the world. As such, the most active timeframe for me is listed above. If you fall outside of that for your availability, you may feel left out or left behind. You're free to join anyway, but bear that in mind. I'll be as inclusive as I can. Likewise, Dungeon World is driven by the narrative, so being able to communicate beyond dice rolls is very important.
Players: Looking for three to five more.
Classes: All base, aside from bard (already selected by a friend), Grim World, and anything else you can get me a playbook for that I do not feel is completely broken. I may also want to tweak some abilities, I'll let you know. Remember, only one of each class.
Races: Human. This includes the Sheikah, Gerudo, and Hylian. Goron, Kokiri, and Zora. Each has at least one move. This will generally replace your typical race move... though we can discuss keeping it.
Humans, consisting of the Gerudo (you must be female), Sheikah (there can be only one), and the Hylians are the most diverse amongst the races, but the least specialized.
Choose One:
Reputation: Choose one question covered by discern realities. When you Discern realities, succeed or fail, you may ask that question for free.
Eclectic: You may exchange any starting move from your class for any move that you meet the requirements of from another class. Either this move, or the move you gave up becomes an advanced move (2-5) for your class. Treat this as a multiclassing move in all other ways.
Kokiri, essentially being children, are tiny by comparison to the other races. By leaving the forest, you have also essentially given up your immortality. (In fact, you may be surprised you didnt die!) From a narrative standpoint, you can fit into smaller places, and the forest is more friendly to you.
Choose One:
Fairy: You gain a companion that grants +1 ongoing to discern realities.
True Friend: When aiding or interfering, treat your bond as one higher.
Gorons are huge and heavy, built of sturdier stuff than the other folks. Unlike most Gorons, you can gain sustenance from something besides rocks. From a narrative standpoint, you are immune to extreme heat, and have no need for oxygen... but you sink straight to the bottom of most liquids.
Choose one:
Sturdy: You may ignore the clumsy tag of equipment.
Sustained by Earth: Rather than eating food, you instead may eat rocks and stones, meaning that you do not require rations.
Zora are lithe a swift. They glide through things with practiced ease. From a narrative standpoint, you may breathe water or air, and water doesn't slow you a bit.
Choose One:
Regal: The other races recognize you as the exotic being that you are, as such, your deals seem all then more tempting. You gain +1 ongoing to Parley.
Platinum Scales: Your scales carry an aura of magic that extends to all who touch you, should you will it. You may share your amphibious traits with anyone besides a goron.
Backstory: Legends told of a hero that would come during Hyrule's darkest hour... And one indeed came. But when the time came that the world needed him most, he vanished. Two years have passed since the King of the Gerudo began shaping the land in his image, and there's no more time to wait for a hero. Regardless of who you are, or where you are from, a mysterious blonde-haired stranger with red eyes has approached you and informed you that you must leave your home. You were instructed to meet them at the bridge outside of Kakariko Village. The world, and your people, need you.
Always interested in Dungeon World stuff :) Dotting while I look around for something that inspires me to this setting!
Neat. :) The main things you need to know is that Zelda as a whole is a dungeoncrawl with a strong emphasis on cool items and puzzles. As an added benefit, it has a ton of interesting lore (including several goddesses).
For others that are looking, dungeon world is super simple. You stat up a character (which won't take long), then use those stats to perform actions. Same as DnD, but very much simplified.
For those wanting other parts of Zelda... Ocarina of Time is simply the newest one I've completed. As I understand it, stuff from twilight princess and majora's mask are happening alongside (and down the line) from OOT. Either way, they're parallel, and I could totally see pulling things from those settings if that's more interesting to you as a player. My knowledge just won't be as great.
That being said, for treasures, I plan to be pulling from every Zelda game and more. :)
Are you familiar with Inverse World? It is a setting and source book for Dungeon World.
Not at all, no.
Alright, there is a link that I will post soon that has a massive amount of playbooks.
Here is a link for a giant archive of playbooks.
I guess that works. Again, I'll have to read anything you ask to play. And may feel the need to modify it.
Would a dark and creepy element, such as blood or bone, work as an element for a channeler?
Totally. Just remember that you're going to be dealing with dark and creepy generally meaning bad. You know, like in most worlds. Just also bear in mind that some Channeler abilities don't make as much sense with some elements. Gaining armor against 'blood' isn't going to do you much good. Likewise, Blood and Bone bending used on a living target doesn't really seem even remotely reasonable. :)
@Mogthrasir: SPOILER WARNING: The important plot points are fairly simple up to this point in the story: This Gerudo dude decided to improve his people's standing in society by seeking out a legend. He goes around causing havoc to the people who won't give him what he wants (the Kokiri, Goron, and Zora, most specifically). A kid from the forest fixes the problems and is rewarded with the things the Gerudo guy wanted. The kid uses the objects and goes to retrieve the sword that will let him defeat the guy. But for plot purposes, he isn't -old enough- to have the sword. So he's locked in place for 7 years. The Gerudo guy (ganon) follows him into the room he unlocked, and steals part of a legendary treasure (he tries to grab it all, but he isn't 'pure of heart' so it splits, and leaves him with the part he desires most. The treasure has three components: Courage, Power, and Wisdom. Wisdom flies off to the princess, Courage joins the Hero. Seven years later, the hero runs around and does things that allows him to defeat Ganon, who over the course of that time has transformed the world to suit his desires. The group will be active during the time that the hero is missing.
@Nohwear: Are you planning to join this RP? What have you decided to do about the other RPs that you joined and left recently?
Ok, here's a concept for ya, see if it flies:
A Goron Dust-Eater
I think Goron would be a perfect fit as they seem to balance hardiness and wisdom in a powerful way. They also seem to have an air of tragedy about them, which is pretty core to the Dust-Eater concept.
Let me know what you think of it, and if approved I'll push further with some background, name, etc.
Ha! And I just realized this was Tofa/Talks! The DW players seem to be a common batch.
@Nohwear: Also, I messed up on my response a -little-. I was specifically referring to using 'bender of the elements' on a living target. Ripping blood or bone out of someone is fine. Holding someone by their skeleton in a very particular pose as you rip them to pieces... not so much. I'd be cool with using 'Bender of the Elements' on an elemental! That's totally the Channeler's Forte. But being able to do that to anything made of flesh, or blood, or bone, that you ever meet is hugely limiting to what I can do as a DM. :)
@Mog: Mmhmm. And that's why I knew them! I figure he's probably had to answer the question a dozen times, so putting it out there publicly saves time! :)
As for Dust-eater: I love the flavor of 'The Hunter' and there are a -ton- of viable things to choose. The gerudo, the sheikah, the hero... maybe even someone you came up with!
The concept fits really well for the Sheikah and Gerudo as well. In this time, specifically, the Sheikah were mostly wiped out less than a century ago (or banished to another world, depending on who you ask).
Specifically it also works really well with how the game played out, you had two guides: Navi, a fairy who wouldn't shut up, and Saria, a Kokiri you could call to ask for help; you were also gaining the blessings of specific people to take down Ganon.
Some of the abilities you'll get a ton of value out of. Others, not so much. At least not early.
The basic idea is that, depending on your outlook... your characters are kind of doomed to fail. But that's depending on your outlook. Ganon hasn't completely locked the world down in 7 years. Maybe that was because of you and your allies. Maybe you're still alive at the end. Who knows! :) It's a period that doesn't get any love in Zelda Lore... because it technically never happened. :p
Indeed, Sheikah could be pretty cool as well. I had initially envisioned a more wisdom based character in this role, but would go more Dex based if going the Sheikah route. Both could work well with the class.
Also, I don't know if you've ever looked into World of Dungeons (a simple game based on the thought: "If Dungeon World was the latest edition of a franchise, what was the first edition like?"), but it's kind of an OSR style Dungeon World, stripped down to basics.
On the Dungeon World G+ page, someone posted a World of Dungeons in the Zelda Universe player sheet. I saw that today skimming through old posts and thought of this campaign!
I'll have to find it again and link it.
Internet informs me that that means old school renaissance. I have no idea what that means in practical terms. I -can- say that I haven't ever played anything earlier than 3e D&D. Which might help understand where I come from as a DM/player.
And yeah, I probably shouldn't use the acronym as I'm sure I could be schooled on the proper concept behind it. But there's a pretty big push right now for RPGs that feel like that old school concept, before there were so much crunch and extra stuff. Where you kinda made stuff up together.
So World of Dungeons was put together by Jon Harper to be released with the Dungeon World kickstarter, as a retro-clone (what would it have looked like back in the late '70's, ya know?). It's 2 pages of content, super simple, but apparently chocked full of awesomeness.
I've never played it, but would love the opportunity to do so with someone who really gets it, because I was never a part of that old school gaming either (I started just as 3e was coming out, same as you) so it all seems pretty nebulous to me.
You can find it here if you ever want to check it out.
I definitely appreciate what they're doing, and ironically enough, I feel like they actually add a bit of complexity that Dungeon World is missing in some ways... and do so in three pages. Including character sheets. The problem I'm running into right now, is that I only have two players. Making what is apparently niche (who knew Ocarina of time was Niche) even more niche by taking an obscure (but super easy!) system and swapping to even more obscure rules may well make it more difficult to gain players. If others are more interested in your option, though, I'll suggest it to my friend and see what they think. (in fact, I'll do so now, on principle :P)
Don't worry, I wasn't pushing for that system, just pointing out a cool character sheet I ran across. And yeah, WoD adds in skills, which I believe others have tried to port into Dungeon World in the same manner (pick a handful, get more per level, having a skill just means that a 6- becomes a 7-9 result with slightly greater fallout).
Hm. That's actually -conceptually- what I was going for with the racial moves. Giving you something that made you a little better at one type of basic move. I alternated how they worked a little in between each option. Like the Kokiri and Humans both have very different ways of being 'better at discern realities'. One effectively never entirely fails (unless there's simply nothing to answer that question with), while the other has a significantly better chance of getting the information they specifically want.
I thought about giving gorons Defend and Spout Lore... but it seemed awkward. I also thought about letting a Zora see what someone 'respected' with Parley, so they knew whether they were going to bark up the wrong tree before they spoke.
I'm interested! You're fun to DM for, let's swap up the roles. Only catch is that I haven't played hardly any of the Zelda games. I beat OOT and I played like the first 25% of Wind-Waker, but that's it. It looks like it'd be pretty fun to play a Zora though! Let me think on the concept.
You're in roughly the same position as me! Except you played more windwaker! I've also played 4 swords, a link to the past, Zelda 1, some of Zelda 2 (never beat that fricking dragon, who puts that in a game a 4 year old is going to play!?), Links awakening, a sizable chunk of Majora's mask... and watched some stuff from Twilight Princess.
In short, I've let most of Zelda fall off my map in the last 10 years. Mostly because I became a computer gamer, and while I love nintendo, Shelling out half the cost of a brand new computer to play like 5 games, just doesn't seem worth.
Even still, you have all the information you -need- from having played OOT and then some!
Alright, my first concept was this sort of tragic sage, and Goron race really embodied that. But you brought up a cool twist with the Sheikah! I'm hesitant, because I don't want to fall into the "lol I'm ninja" fanboy thing, I think it might be able to really work well here.
So I'll pursue that route if you're good with it.
I'm perfectly happy with it. I think to say that the Sheikah are Ninja is really -really- far from the truth. The character Sheik, sure. But it pulls a lot away from them to say that they're just that one thing. Take Impa: She's much closer to a Spartan than a Ninja in her role in the game. :) The race has basically been subjugated by the Hylians into playing a bodyguard role, though... which may include slipping around in the shadows.
Great. The bodyguard role is one I can get behind much easier!
I'm thinking a Zora Priest would be a fun class to play, but I don't know what Zoras worship. Perhaps priests are just community leaders? What're your thoughts, DM-with-a-body?
Alright, since there are now two other players I will make this one of my few games. What are other people thinking of playing? My current thoughts are some sort of arcane or ranged support/control. Just to know what all of my options are, can I make a class using Class Warfare? If not that is fine, there is plenty of good stuff to be found already.
Like I said before, if you can hand me a playbook, I'll look it over, and let you know what I think is broken. :)
Priests are insanely easy... for Hylians. And Gerudo. And Sheikah. For the other races, it'd be more about their element, I'd say. Kokiri are heavily tied to the forest, Goron to stone and flame. Zoras are very much attached to the water. From recollection, the spiritual leader of the Zora was the princess, soooo... a community leader definitely fits! :)
I have finally settled on an idea. A human thief who is obsessed with poisons.
Also, I am thinking of trading something out for Signature Weapon in the form of a chain.
No problem. :)