a rp about roommates and also superpowers

[moon]

>> roommates wanted

A slice-of-life/supernatural RP where a group of strangers probably aged 20-30 or so need a place to live for various reasons. They all come together in a big house owned by an odd figure. Before too long, each and every one of them discovers that they possess strange abilities, superpowers if you will. They'll have to learn how to deal with it. That includes deciding whether to keep it a secret or telling somebody... And if they choose the latter, will they tell their family, their roommates or their workmates? How will these powers and the new relationships they make in the house affect their everyday life as they go about pursuing their goals in life? The cause for all of this is for the players to find out by developing their characters and relationships together, while they explore the world that is thrown at them through events and other characters.

In summary: sitcom/soap opera/thriller + superpowers

- Does this sound interesting enough to develop?
- Should it be set in a fictional city or be at least loosely based on a real location?
- Would you sign up?

 

[johhny03]

-Yes

-Maybe you can base it on my city in Tel Aviv it is very big and epic!!

-If you will accepting me yes I will :D

I love superhero in fact my favorite superhero is superman, I love his muscles and flying power :DD

 

[Afterglow Ampharos]

Huh. Interesting, but I don't really see where a GM comes into play here -- from the premise you set, it kind of sounds like only the players would be the ones posting, since they're interacting solely with each other and the apartment. Could you explain what the GM would be doing in this setting?

If the restrictions on player characters aren't too narrow, I would join. I mean obviously you would have to throttle the breadth of superpowers that your PCs have so that things don't go amazingly overboard. But. Like, what kind of people we can have in the roleplay. For example, I'm already pondering some kind of superpower that would allow me to play something other than a human character.

 

[Foxrally]

Despite being outspokenly against non-exciting and not action-oriented RPs and writing (mostly because I'm terrible at them) I actually think I would really enjoy something like this! The mundane setting of someone looking for a roommate could be expanded on in so many ways, like giving the apartment a mysterious or horror-movie-like backstory, or doing the same for the landlord. It would also be super fun to see how people put a superpowered twist on real-life situations, rather than the extraordinaire settings we all see in most RPs (not that I'm against them!)

I think the only doubt and fear I'd have going into this is drive. Something like this needs not only a dedicated GM to whip players forward, but also an objective or storyline so that the RP doesn't slow down to a crawl after the first few weeks. Players need to feel like they're working towards something whatever the RP genre, and slice-of-life is no different. So, uh:

- yee
- doesn't matter much to me
- 70% yee

 

[moon]

Huh. Interesting, but I don't really see where a GM comes into play here -- from the premise you set, it kind of sounds like only the players would be the ones posting, since they're interacting solely with each other and the apartment. Could you explain what the GM would be doing in this setting?

If the restrictions on player characters aren't too narrow, I would join. I mean obviously you would have to throttle the breadth of superpowers that your PCs have so that things don't go amazingly overboard. But. Like, what kind of people we can have in the roleplay. For example, I'm already pondering some kind of superpower that would allow me to play something other than a human character.

I'm thinking loads! Either, the GM can participate as a player too, or control the landlord and send other NPCs and events at the house.

Despite being outspokenly against non-exciting and not action-oriented RPs and writing (mostly because I'm terrible at them) I actually think I would really enjoy something like this! The mundane setting of someone looking for a roommate could be expanded on in so many ways, like giving the apartment a mysterious or horror-movie-like backstory, or doing the same for the landlord. It would also be super fun to see how people put a superpowered twist on real-life situations, rather than the extraordinaire settings we all see in most RPs (not that I'm against them!)

I think the only doubt and fear I'd have going into this is drive. Something like this needs not only a dedicated GM to whip players forward, but also an objective or storyline so that the RP doesn't slow down to a crawl after the first few weeks. Players need to feel like they're working towards something whatever the RP genre, and slice-of-life is no different. So, uh:

- yee
- doesn't matter much to me
- 70% yee

Ah, you'd like more plot to write towards than "where thef do these powers come from"? I see, good advice.

 

[Junier]

Yeah, based on what Fox said, I think it'd be especially important to a solid backbone that the casts' separate interactions can branch off of. Creating intrigue through the landlord is probably the best way of doing this.

The other most crucial thing is crafting an interesting backdrop via setting, and an original city would encourage that the most.

If I could contribute a bit suggestion-wise:
Start with the characters' discovering their powers rather than with the cast first moving in to get the ball rolling as soon as you can. Delaying the inevitable, as well as your roleplay's biggest selling point, could be fatal, especially to a "slice-of-life" story bound to have its slower moments.

But yeah; I'm entering a minor RP binge so I'd personally be interested in signing up, and it looks like you've attracted some significant interest already, so I'll definitely encourage you to develop your idea!

 

[moon]

I've been considering whether to start it with everybody moving in or with them already having lived there for a while. I've never been a big fan of creating many characters that are supposed to know each other already when the RP starts up - it can be very tricky to write imo, as opposed to having your characters getting to know each other (and the player getting to know their own character) more naturally. Even if we did start with the moving-in, my plan was basically to let their powers appear only a day or so into it, as yes, the ball should start rolling properly and the "biggest selling point" shouldn't be at risk of never even appearing due to bored players c:

Hmm, original city. Some world building then! That's always fun. Probably I'd be pretty vague on details in the initial OOC and let players say through their SUs what they think the city should be like. I mean, to suit their characters. And after the players have been accepted, we'd define the city better.

 

[Junier]

That's fair; I understand where you're coming from, especially with developing character relationships. I'm was mostly worried because of instances like Persona: Devil's Game where the Personae themselves weren't introduced IC during the RP's lifespan, despite players having determined them in their apps. But I'm sure it's more in how organized the GM is over one starting point being objectively better than the other!

And I love the idea of players working together on the setting, as long as there's a foundation covering the basics we could go off of.

 

[Foxrally]

I'm more on Rika's side here, I think starting off with everyone knowing each other would be pretty weird to write, because all of the first interactions would have to be thought of OOC (which is a much less natural way of doing it). "Getting the ball rolling" doesn't necessarily have to be in terms of the powers, it can be in the interactions themselves.

But I do agree that we should get our powers fairly early, so that the cool stuff happens as soon as possible. CMON RIKA DROP US WITH SOME LORE

 

[Afterglow Ampharos]

I assumed the superpowers would be in our backstory and the meeting each other/becoming roommates would be on-screen.

 

[moon]

I assumed the superpowers would be in our backstory and the meeting each other/becoming roommates would be on-screen.

That could be one way to do it, but then it'd be a tad bit too convenient that we all just happened to move into the same house. Unless the landlord specifically made sure that these people found the ad and were offered rooms, because the landlord knew that they had power...

It becomes up to me to decide then whether it is the landlord/house that causes the powers to appear, or if the people had the powers already in secret and the landlord chose them because of it. Was that how you meant?

 

[GanguEevee]

That's fair; I understand where you're coming from, especially with developing character relationships. I'm was mostly worried because of instances like Persona: Devil's Game where the Personae themselves weren't introduced IC during the RP's lifespan, despite players having determined them in their apps.

Oh god, don't remind me. I'm still bitter about the RP's early death sorta no thanks to Z.
...Yeah, that's all I can say here. All I can say is that this sounds really cool and stuff.

 

[Afterglow Ampharos]

That could be one way to do it, but then it'd be a tad bit too convenient that we all just happened to move into the same house. Unless the landlord specifically made sure that these people found the ad and were offered rooms, because the landlord knew that they had power...

It becomes up to me to decide then whether it is the landlord/house that causes the powers to appear, or if the people had the powers already in secret and the landlord chose them because of it. Was that how you meant?

Yeah! Sure! That's what I meant!
You actually had a smarter answer to that than what I actually meant! So let's just go with what you said, I like it!

 

[Foxrally]

I'd personally prefer if the powers were 'given' when they actually reached the house, rather than the powers being 'awakened' like we're all some sort of Skyrim-type chosen ones (and I'm kind of tired of seeing that trope anyway). Would allow for some more variety, because if we went with the awakening path, all the characters would need to have some predisposed connection. I'd prefer it to be like, completely random people, most of which have nothing in common, suddenly getting powers from the house or landlord.

 

[moon]

Yeah! Sure! That's what I meant!
You actually had a smarter answer to that than what I actually meant! So let's just go with what you said, I like it!

XD <3

I'd personally prefer if the powers were 'given' when they actually reached the house, rather than the powers being 'awakened' like we're all some sort of Skyrim-type chosen ones (and I'm kind of tired of seeing that trope anyway). Would allow for some more variety, because if we went with the awakening path, all the characters would need to have some predisposed connection. I'd prefer it to be like, completely random people, most of which have nothing in common, suddenly getting powers from the house or landlord.

Yeah I think I prefer that too, also because otherwise there's not at all as much mystery about it.

We could basically start it off with a GM-recap/intro of the moving in process and then kick the actual RP up the next morning when everybody has their stuff in place and is preparing to go to work/uni/wherever they spend their days. Perhaps doing it for a day with no powers and make the powers appear after the second night. I'll have to make sure the first day doesn't get dragged out, is all haha.

 

[Songbird]

I agree with Fox on the matter of how the powers are acquired—given rather than innate. Having "destined" superhumans screams major antagonists and saving the world.

If you need some ideas: assuming the landlord is a genuinely "odd figure", signing the lease could be equivalent to making a deal with the devil.

It may be interesting if the powers acquired weren't entirely inherent, either. As in, they could be influenced by the landlord's dialogue, commentary or something like a unique trigger phrase (whether or not it's understood by the character) before the power itself comes into play. That would turn things further away from the idea that these people were supposed to be here, and more towards a god playing Sims. ^{[[Slight edit to make this hopefully easier to understand, because I seem to be the opposite more often than not: this is not saying to remove player choice.]]}

 

[metroid711]

- Does this sound interesting enough to develop?
A. definitely
- Should it be set in a fictional city or be at least loosely based on a real location?
A. fictional would be cool due to world building
- Would you sign up?
A. yeah

Edit: haven't ever really rped on here. so this seems like a cool first start

 

[moon]

Well, I'd still like to let players decide their power for themselves. We're not talking Superman with x-ray vision, levitation and super strength here, but rather more like X-men, something odd they can do that could be seen as a power (or mutation). But yeah, contrary to how some superpower style RPs have done it, the individual powers could be seemingly unfitting for each person rather than suit their personality!

 

[metroid711]

Well, I'd still like to let players decide their power for themselves. We're not talking Superman with x-ray vision, levitation and super strength here, but rather more like X-men, something odd they can do that could be seen as a power (or mutation). But yeah, contrary to how some superpower style RPs have done it, the individual powers could be seemingly unfitting for each person rather than suit their personality!

yeah i honestly like the idea of the players picking it.
another way to put it would be like Quirks from Boku no Hero Academia

 

[Junier]

If the roleplay is ultimately about fantastical abilities affect characters' lives, then I think permitting player choice is the right way to go. How the powers are the way they are seems more like underlying intrigue.

Might players be able to choose powers after Day 1? This can allow players to focus on creating a character first, rather than a vessel for a cool ability. And it'd prevent cheesy foreshadowing, a character getting visions of their future ability in a dream, before it even happens!

Shout out to the devil deal parallel Birdy made, I'd love to see that set-up implemented. I'm impartial on how direct the landlord's link to the powers is, but It'd be great if the cast had an inclination, however vague, of what they were getting into; it indicates they were active enough to take a risk, too, which minimizes the chance of passive, "strung-along" characters (the sort that don't really further anything; I remember a pretty old RP I was in here, the cast just stood around in a circle for a few posts, lol.)