A place for all out of character conversation.

Hello, fellow deities!

Hey. Looking forward to playing together.

Yoo I got a another character named Anastaria! Good name there :P

Hello one and all, glad to be aboard alongside you! Let's have some fun c:

Hello all! Looking forward to this game and to having fun with you all! It's been a while since I've both done theo and a Talon game!

There were a lot of really strong concepts in this group and a lot of unique Domain ideas.

The prelude to the proper opening of the game has begun. As this is a game about beginnings and creation, it felt appropriate to add a touch of randomness to your worlds. Here you'll be selecting a lingering trace of creation that'll remain on your realms. Apparently our World Tree really likes fire as I rolled it up quite a few times on the random table I made.

This affinity won't change your vision for your Realm, it'll just give it bit of a unique flavor. Something that worlds formed after the initial creation of the world won't have since your worlds were among the first.

Sounds like it will be a lot of fun with many different strong dynamics! I wonder if we will get any more coming in.

The prelude opening is great. I love the added extra element that the realms hold to go with the world tree's birth and first branches. As well the randomness to it. Definitely seems as if it was one birthed in the flames! I was really tempted for Space personally. Bring all of the added flavors and ideas!

I think he was aiming initially for 2-4 players in his ad. He normally likes to keep things more manageable and less overwhelming.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:20, Mon 13 June 2022.

Hey all.

I have updated my profile so it has some extra information tidbits as well as visuals for you guys. I have two pictures of my character, one from a scene in his realm, and one of a sample member of the Kitsune race.

Looks good! I would need to find someone to draw my character personally. I should however be able to find a decent picture for my mortals

The time jumps will be a bit more common at the start of the game. Partly to get players used to the idea of them and partly because it takes ages for stone age level societies to see much change. Plus it's interesting to think carefully about what sort of example you're setting for your new fledgling people and see how that plays out!

Edit: Those skill advancements also apply to yourself as well as your growing societies. You'll want to add your characters to your character sheet and keep track of your skills there.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:49, Tue 14 June 2022.

I like!

I added descriptions for Star as well as a picture of her true form and one of her people.

Can you start a thread for pictures of our worlds, Talon? I'd love to show what Aeon looks like and see the other worlds we've created.

I like the idea of more time movement, especially through the early ages. It makes our actions a bit more precedent.

I love the pictures and descriptions I've seen so far. I'll have to try to find some in my time off to add. I usually am hands off on pictures, but I'll have to give it a better try!

I think we can make that happen.

Cheers!

I got a few questions and they really applied to everyone so I'm posting up the answers here:

Can gods get new divine powers?
1) Yes, gods will be able to get new divine powers. I'm still deciding how those'll be acquired though.

How do gods gain stat increases?
2) Yes, stat ranks can be obtained by using Essence. Or by just working on bettering oneself, much like with leveling up basic skills.

Are there divine ranks in this game like in other Theogenesis games?
3) Nope, no divine ranks. They felt too artificial and didn't really measure anything besides how old a god was since power is too nebulous a term in this world where gods can make most anything of themselves.

Are subs going to get sub-skills? (As I've done in other games.)
4) I'm probably going to give skills their own sub-skills for each rank. I'll likely do that over a weekend in the future. I didn't want to bog down the start of the game since those are initially a lot of work with everyone have 1-6 skills all needing sub-skills.

Ye I definitely see how that many sub skills can be much for just starting out! I like the idea of no divine ranks for the game as well! So color me excited c:

Also, neutral realm will be coming it seems. The time of interaction is nigh!

Much interaction shall be had. Alliances struck, friends (maybe foes) made, and worlds shaped!

Indeed so!

I finally got some pictures up in my description if anyone is interested. Had a lil time to do a bit of diving for em. May have to find someone to commission for a drawing of Serek. I'll have to see about that one though

I'm an artist of no small talent though I am a wee bit out of practice. Send me what you need/want and I'll see what I can do.

You'll have a one-of-a-kind piece by Heather^TM which may be worth the price of the paper I sketch it on one day.

Our realms look similar, Serek. I see mine as something of a cross between Pandora and the Ancestral Plain as shown in the MCU.

OooO, thank you for the offer! I really appreciate it. My sisters are pretty talented artists but I literally can never convince them to draw any of my OCs even with money lol. So you've saved me a bit of time in going through commission wait lists for the few artists I know and would ask offhand. So count me in for that Heather™ piece!

I'll shoot you a dm with a couple reference pictures of things I want or would like. We can discuss it there.

Also, that is pretty on spot to how I see my realm as well tbh. I didn't even consider the Ancestral Plains from Black Panther. That probably would have made it a bit easier as I ended up sifting through a lot of Pandora images lmao.

Brilliant! I look forward to seeing what I can do for you. Good chance for me to get back to my art and I don’t ask for money. I love creating so that’s payment enough.

Aaaaand, no waiting lists.

The Flickers thread at the top of the Notices wasn't intended to be locked. Got that corrected now so anyone can post any art there as they're so inclined.

In reply to Talon (msg # 25):

Cheers!

It would appear some of our brothers and sisters desire to visit hijinks upon our lands. Perhaps even shenanigans!

Yes indeed! Something is about to experience first-hand what sakura petals that can slice through a cliff feel like. *scowl*

Oo, I am going to get a large time lapse! I can't wait to see how things will change and turn out c:

For anyone who was waiting on me to update the Astral Lounge before posting, I encourage you to keep interacting with each other. Updating that thread is a much lower priority for me, while there are a couple of NPCs there, the real purpose of the Lounge is for players to interact with one another. Nytal and the other resident god will speak up again eventually, but they're not the main attraction.

Duly noted!

Well unexpected outcome considering my realm, but one I should have foresaw. Population overgrowth in small bordered lands and the extinction of all other life but the Guise.

Whelp gonna have my work cut out for me

Talon, we're waiting to learn about ambrosia in the lounge.

Sorry been a bit busy, my posts should either come later tonight or tomorrow night.

No worries, it's been a busy week for me too.

Be sure to update the Weekly Souls thread in order to get credit for you distribution of souls/advancement. A quick clarification, the weekly allotment of advancement % only applies to your god not your realm as it reflects learning your god has personally obtained.

We're starting to hit the interesting part of the game now that initial setup is done and all the realms are starting to get their own unique problems. For those looking for some more action packed and traditional threads, the adventure currently being proposed in the Astral Lounge will be up your alley.

Soon as I get off work later tonight, I'll make sure to get my souls post as well inside the Astral Lounge n Shezmu.

Currently enjoying seeing everyone's realm posts and how they have been progressing. We all definitely have different on goings that is for sure. The Astral Lounge proposition works pretty good for my problem clean up too. I can invest some Guise out of my realm.

Yes rl has been scattering my focus all over the place and my head has been perpetually up my ass. But such is life and adulting.

Sarek: And I'm glad, Serek, you're liking my ideas. I was just trying to think of a hook that could also take advantager of ways my domain and god could be useful for your problem. :)

GM: The adventure proposal is indeed an interesting one!

Another belated response from me, should be sometime tomorrow after work. I was supposed have it off and tonight but no c:

In celebration of the 4th of July, every god may have two free Special Units. The only catch is they have to be either colorful or loud, in proper spirit of colorful explosions!

Happy 4th to all who celebrated! I'll have to really try to think colorful for my special units!!

I'll be posting late today as well, by the time I read the updates I was half-asleep last night >~<

Special units! Would elite arcanists who blow things up really loudly and colourfully count?

Yep you certainly can. Special units can be almost everything. They're very flexible, but they're also relatively cheap so they're not going to solve every problem, but still useful. You can make them at any time for 50 souls per the rules, these two are just free for the holiday.

Right! Exploding Arcanists who explode loudly! I have spoken.

Just a heads up, I'll be out of town Friday-Monday, I may get a round of updates in on Saturday morning, but overall it'll be a quiet weekend.

Okidoki! Thank you for the heads up ^~^

Only updating the Labyrinth adventure for today. I'm still beat from too much driving this weekend. I'll be prioritizing the personal realm threads tomorrow.

Welcome back. :)

I can understand how that is. Infact I am going on a 3 day driving trip here soon after work then right back into work.

Welcome back! Though, take your time as needed c:

I was giving some thought to sub-skills and decided we'll go a different route this game given the new games focus on beginnings.

Just to confirm, I believe everyone has gotten at least 1 skill to 100% and hit a new rank correct? Once I know that I'll bake it into the next round of updates.

Sounds good, interested to see what comes along! I know I have one skill already to 2 atm

Yes I am rank 1 in several skills now as well and looking forward to seeing what happens with these as they hit level 1 and beyond now!
This message was last edited by the player at 05:02, Thu 14 July 2022.

In reply to Talon (msg # 48):

Yeah I have a Rank 1 skill gained.

Tonight I'll be updating the Labyrinth thread to keep up the momentum. Anyone who hasn't posted yet it will be assumed kept their plans to themselves.

Posts will be late today, my apologies for inconveniences

No worries, I'm working late today putting together a presentation for work so it's not a bad time for things to be on the quiet side.

I'll probably end up having late posts through weekdays sadly. If they come earlier it is out of luck on free time and internet service while working.

That's alright, seems like it's been a busy week for everyone. The nice thing about there being personal threads is that it means some events can continue at the players more comfortable pace, whereas the group adventures will move more briskly. Not that there's currently a group adventure, but I'm sure another will unfold before too long.

Sorry I've been very busy in rl this past week. I am hoping to get back into the proper swing of things soon!

On the Weekly Soul Distribution messages, I forgot that you should also add +2 HP to your message as you heal each Wednesday. It's now relevant since everyone got cooked from their brief foray into the Labyrinth!

Hopefully things pick up for you Annastarria!

Yee, definitely gonna need that +2 hp lmao

Those Realms that are undergoing dormancy periods will be closed until Sunday, at that time I'll start working on reopening them. This is both to reflect that downtime and also allow more focus to be given to the Feast and Astral Lounge.

We're now starting to officially move out of the introductory phase of things. Everyone has gotten a chance to fully familiarize themselves with their realm, gotten a chance to start seeing whole the World Tree is composed, had stakes established with another god dying. Now it's time onto the bigger picture.

Sounds good, I can't wait Talon! Time for the next phase c:

Feeling a bit under the weather right now but hoping to feel better and become more active again soon. I'll catch up when I can.

Hope you're feeling better soon, Anna! No worries about taking it slow for a few days, that's the nice thing about having some private threads.

I'm probably going to get to 1 or 2 of the personal Realm threads today, but for the next few days I'm going to be prioritizing non-personal realms when it comes to updates since theoretically anyone can be taking part in any of those events.

I hope you'll get through it soon and feel better as well! Remember to focus on relaxing and recovery

Sounds good Talon! Thank you for the heads up

And this makes the 500th post!

In honor of the milestone everyone may have +50% skill advancement that they can distribute as they see fit across any skills they've already been practicing!

Lots of interesting things going on, the tree certainly has gotten busy!

Thank you!

Woot Woot post 500!!! Thank you Talon for the great game so far, been loving every post!

Outstanding game. One of my all time favourites here!

I have enjoyed every single Talon game I've ever been in, starting with Patchwork Kingdoms!

TALON: Will you allow me to put the 50% into architecture since he is technically working on it in the divine city thread? It will really help me get my projects there going a bit faster.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:16, Sat 06 Aug 2022.

Glad everyone is enjoying themselves so far! I always enjoy how fresh and varied these games are with the wildly different scenarios and the freedom players have to pursue wildly different goals.

Yup you can put that towards architecture since you had the opportunity to start working on that a couple of days ago.

The game is definitely intriguing. For instance I'm anxiously looking forward to seeing where the prince ends up after slipping through the prison crack for example. Even though it's such an open setting I think as long as the players keep driving it with their energy you'll be able to keep coming up with more and more content for the game and setting.

I do have to say I am heavily curious on the clashed realm in Aeon and the dark cracking the Labyrinth! As well Typh's connecting pool portal to where the monsters come out of and retreat into from the Night of the Hunt. Exploring and expanding the Fields of Death is definitely a big goal of mine for Serek's own discovery. Everyone's views and play is definitely lively under the blanket of your freedom. I definitely will have more to pull out my bag as it continues!

Magic rank 2 now! **happy dance**

Thanks Ana! I worked literally for ages to get that and I'm hoping to use it to help my Realm and people survive a fiery cataclysm that is coming within the next few ages.

I'm also looking forward to seeing what the Rest of the PCs continue to do in coming ages as well!

I'm rooting OOC for Serek against Graug as well. Even if it somehow ends as a stalemate or he withdraws I just hope he survives!

Rank two for both of us! I posted that for me but na that you’re there too….**happy dance for us both**

Kill that war god, Serek! Kill her a lot until she dies from it!

Oh I had no idea you hit rank 2 as well! Congrats!

In reply to The Prince of Blossoms (msg # 76):

Cheers!

Congratulations on rank 2 for the both of you! Can't wait to see those legaciess!

Thank you for the good luck wishes, maybe I win the battle! Hoping for at least a stalemate if I can.

Updates may be a little slim for the next couple of days. I'm training a new person at work and it's taking up some time. I'll try to get an update or two in a couple hours from now.

Talon just pace yourself as best you can. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 23:40, Mon 08 Aug 2022.

I was actually working on that this very moment as you can see.

The challenge of wits between Zelia and Graug is also due to commence, but there may be delays due to a forecast of violence.

Agreed, balance as you need to c: Thank you for the updates while having to deal with work!

Hehe, yeah I may be holding up a participating party there. Nothing like getting the blood pumping before a competition ^~^

Hoping to be more active in general and in common threads.

I hope that means life is getting less hectic for you Typh! This week has been pretty slammed over here, but getting this new hire trained up should make things quieter in the long run.

I'll be updating threads tomorrow morning. It'll be morning updates for all of next week with my work schedule.

I wish we would get two new hired where I work but that won't happen lmao

Hopefully things will smooth out over time for y'all. Morning updates sound good, I'll probably still have evening to late replies as usual

Sorry may couple days inactivity. May have some late posting this evening. Been helping my friend move after work

It's ok. Talon has slowed down a bit too so it's fine. I'm sure things will settle for both of you guys soon in real life. But you got to do what you got to do you know what I mean?

I entirely forgot about the Watering Hole. That's definitely the danger of gods spreading themselves too thin. Threads with more players in them will get prioritized, especially over solo threads where gods are involved in other current activities, so accompanying another player always has some benefits!

No worries Serek, life gets busy. Don't worry, your trials will still be waiting for you when you get back!

I had vacation this last week and thought I'd find more time to squeeze in updates, but so much for that!

I'm going to update the ongoing encounter on Hot on the Trail and then the Astral Lounge. I should be able to get back to more comprehensive updates on Wednesday.

Going on holiday is a good thing! I hope it's been nice and relaxing. :)

Whoops, it’s supposed to say that destroying the World Harvester will cost two Essence, not create two.

Holy Mother of essence. My heart just cried missing out on that, good job y'all! Seems we may have more enemies that lay in wait now, and they do not seem to have an issue with trying their hand at harvesting our realms and lives.

Also it may be a little metaish (so delete it if you feel, Talon. No hard feelings taken!), but I wanted to clear up my thoughts on Graug. I think I may aim for an enemies to friend dynamic, maybe even a rivalry. However I wouldn't uphold either of you ic or ooc to follow me through with that decision as I feel it out.

I just believe that there is strength in numbers, especially if it might take numbers to bring just one down. "We have an army" "We have a Hulk Graug."

Serek isn't what I would call a good aligned character anyway, more so a twisted anti-hero or frienemy type villain (don't worry about any kind of betrayal from me, I would give a lot of clues, signs, and ooc messages regarding that). So I can see past amaranth considering Serek would and will probably partake in it, though his reasons and views on doing it are different than outright power or defilement. Rather than just outright slay Graug or come up with a plot to overcome them, I'll try to see past their differences and come to understand Graug + their ways. If I have to hold it down with a permanent blood war with her I will. If it comes down to it, slay them should it threaten me and my realm too much. Gotta weigh the risks plus I get to give my mortals actual experience which is needed.

Afterall the gods are all right in their own way with their Domains, some will naturally oppose others. Ontop of it clashes of personality, plans, and certain aligned aspects to their domain. War is going to be inevitable. IC we are aware of death but not multiple lives or seen an Heir raised to godhood. So why not have a powerhouse on your side than wait for our enemies to pluck them up.

I'm letting Anna choose if we each get 1 or 2 essences. If she wants 2 essences, I'll seal the machine up in my realm for now and create a sacred sealing site for it.

Talon...I'm just writing here to poke you about the fishing hole. :P

I think that's just about all the threads. I'll work on getting Irani reopened tomorrow most likely.

One thing that you'll find is that conflicts between gods are a big deal. My philosophy is that NPC gods are just as powerful as PC gods, that doesn't always mean they're good at fighting, violence is only one facet of conflict after all, but it does mean they'll have other tricks. Serek has gotten to see it first hand with his fight with Graug, Annastarria and the Prince will see it play out in other ways.

That isn't to say one should avoid conflicts, it's rather inevitable given the big personalities of gods, but just be aware that they too have Essence, souls and schemes. Every conflict with other gods will leave lasting scars, whether that's on the landscape, on the gods involved, or the world tree itself.

Choices and consequences, those are the fun bits, whether for good or ill ;)

That's ominous...

I didn't get much sleep last night so no updates this afternoon. Tomorrow morning I'm going to try and do a full round of updates across all the threads, we'll see how far I get!

Oh nuu, get your rest and take it easy! We'll be around tomorrow (hopefully :P)

Sorry about the late update, it turns out I wasn’t tired yesterday but starting to get sick. We’ll see what tomorrow looks like

Take it easy and don't push yourself. I always love your updates but not so much I want you sick over them!

Agreed! Rest, doctor's orders.

Indeed, take time to relax and drink lots of fluids too. <(>w<)

I think I'm mostly over the bug. The fever actually broke on Saturday but I had some major fatigue for the rest of the long weekend. I've got it on my schedule to get back to updating tomorrow assuming it continues to improve.

I'm glad you're feeling better. :)

Continue to take it easy and rest up! We'll be here when you finish catching up on energy and sleep. Glad to know you kicked its butt, make sure to eat something tasty once you feel all better ^~^

Just hitting the realm threads today, I'll work on doing the auxiliary threads tomorrow. I may expedite some scenes due to the several days lost.

It's about time to introduce the end game threat since our game does have an expiration date of 12/10.

EEP!! Expiration date?!

Talon? Is The Prince able to do other things in his realm while that spell is being learned, or am I stuck unable to take action for 3 weeks?

The Prince can still do other things. The mortals will be busying themselves to figure out that spell, no divine intervention necessary.

And yup, the game will be working on reaching a conclusion in December. I'm having a baby at New Years so I'd rather cleanly wrap things up before my window for mostly consistently updates closes.

I'm out of town till Saturday evening.

I didn't realize y'all were expecting! Congratulations Talon!!!

In reply to Talon (msg # 109):

Congratulations Talon.

I also had no idea talon was gonna be a daddy-talon soon

Thanks, it's going to be exciting!

For anyone who wants to see a live action version of a Theogenesis style world, I'd highly recommend The Sandman on Netflix. It really does an excellent job portraying the sorts of gods that exist here in Theogenesis.

Many huge congrats, Talon!

Sandman is brilliant. :D

Most welcome! I'm very happy and excited for you, Talon!

Sandman has been really great so far, I'm only on episode 4 right now >~< I've been loving it every second for sure!

I completely binge watched sandman LOL. And also if people don't think cats are scary you will by the end of the episode 11.

Quick heads up as I realized I hadn't let you guys know, I'm on a business trip this week, so posting will resume on Friday!

I’d say have fun but it’s work. :D

Agreed!

I've been really busy and caught up irl right now. So that work trip really works out for me currently. I hope you can enjoy the trip in the downtime!

Made it back from Alabama. Sounds like good timing with a hurricane heading that direction now. I'm getting settled back in and am planning to get back to updating tomorrow.

Welcome back!

Welcome back!

Just the two realm updates for now, I'll ease back into the swing of things as I've got quite a few things I'm still getting back in order at home. Luckily the Shezmu thread update should give most of you something to do in the meantime!

No worries, Talon. It’s nice to have you back. :)

Talon I am a bit behind on claiming souls since the game slowed down for a couple of weeks, and I'm trying to give you a chance to get back into the swing of things before I go nuts with my expenditures. :P

Definitely take your time getting everything into order at home and relaxing. We'll be here when your settled and ready, I'm glad you made it back safely <3

Sorry I've been slow this week. Head has been up my ass lately.

I feel that, it has been pretty busy lately for everyone across rpol I've found tbh. Even the game I co-gm in I've been slacking a bit.

However today I am going on a vacation to Kentucky. So gonna be able to really relax and get to post across all my games. Also really get to do my process for working on my own games too.

Hey Serek. Could you please do me an ooc favor and refresh us on the mechanics of how the blood vial works? As it's probably gonna come into play in the myopic fields eventually.

One vial is +5hp

Got it. Thanks for that.

No problem at all!

I'm hoping I can help kickstart the skill knowledge: Death for y'all when I craft these realms.

I was doing one for good souls n one for evil souls. Afterwards we can go parading about the realm of death like kids in a clover field lmao.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:35, Sun 09 Oct 2022.

Well with your blood vials and my regeneration power I'm hoping it gives us an advantage there. We might even be able to weaponize it or at least make a sort of bolthole or something against our enemies in the future too.

I have thought about dumping enemy gods in there to kill. However ic Serek wants to shy away from bringing anyone he doesn't trust here yet. So it would be more of a last resort action from me personally as he didn't even do that with Graug. Also gotta have a reliable way to port someone forcefully.

I'd prefer keeping the sub realms we discover secret as well.

Baby stuff is really starting to pile up! I'm going to work on getting things updated over the next couple of days. Rather than a big face off with Unity the finale will probably be everyone getting to finalize their image, solidify their realm into what they're envisioning for it and solidify their new pantheon, if everyone is still working towards that goal.

Take it as you can! You got a lot of work and things to take care of with a little one on the way getting closer every day!

I'm definitely not ready for a unity show down yet. I still have some ideas I'd like to implement.

Ello all. I’m moving so I’ll be spotty for a wee bit. I’ll post as I can and check in when I can’t. :)

Gonna be gone the weekend, got some shifts at an old job to help out on top of helping my sister finalize her move.

Leaving town tomorrow and coming back sunday evening.

So...are we still going?

Hello? :(

Talon probably just caught up with irl. Wouldn't be surprised if they need a bit of a break on top of it. We are coming round one of the busier times of the year, as well they are getting ever closer to a little one coming about. Just hoping that everything is okay personally

Hey there. Sorry for disappearing again, life became something of a whirlwind with the baby being born. I should have still dropped a line, but it was all getting a little overwhelming. A year later though with the baby now starting to go down for consistent bed times and daycare during work hours life is starting to get back into a reasonable rhythm.

Now that life is settling down I'm getting a creative itch. I wish I could say I knew I'd be consistent going forward, but that's definitely not certain. If anyone feels like gambling, I'm thinking of starting up a new game. Other than keeping it freeform, I don't have any firm ideas yet so I'd be open to input if anyone was passionate about any themes or settings.

Congrats on the baby. Always glad to see an update from you old friend. I'd love to say consistency was in my corner as well but no such luck unfortunately. That said if you are willing to run something I'm willing to play.

Good to see you're still around!

I'm turning over ideas in my head. Really I'm just working on the central theme to kick things off.

Mechanically I'll stick to the Patchwork model, I feel that there's more flexibility there with rewards and themes, plus maintaining the different realms sounds like a big ask after taking a long hiatus. This means it would be freeform, but I might throw in an occasional d6 roll to add some danger. I'm also thinking of adding some descriptors to the character creation portion, but that's really just a matter of giving more focus to character creation.

Thematically, lots of ideas of running through my mind, but nothing is leaping out at me. I want to keep it similar to the original Patchwork in that the world is a big unknown and built as we go. That way I don't have to frontload a lot of world building on my part, players don't have to study up on anything, and it makes exploration half the fun.

It's just a question of what sort of universe the group is going to explore:

Fated Chosen Ones - You are the sole survivors of some great cataclysm, you awaken in a temple which is the sole remaining bastion of existence which you then rediscover and salvage piece by piece?
Tone: This would likely be pretty the closest to the original Patchwork Kingdoms.

The Escaped Experiments - You were captured by an evil overlord and experimented upon, then through some stroke of luck you've escaped. Now you need to remain free and fight back.
Tone: Dark, gritty, fights would be more dangerous. The world to discover would be evil and overrun. Likely a stronger narrative than I usually run.

Colony Ship Arcane - You're one of the mages on a team within a tower that's been teleported to unformed plane. Your mission was to prepare the plane for colonization by your homeworld.
Tone: Bit of a sci-fi tone while fantasy themed. Your wizard tower is like a spaceship, your mission is to cobble together islands of reality. This game would have stronger emphasis on player drive, as I expect mages to have personal projects.

Behind the Veil: Urban fantasy. Not our own world as I don't really want to unpack that can of worms. This would be a game of the players forming a new secret society so they don't get swallowed up by the intrigues of the hidden world.
Tone: This game would have more politics and intrigue than the others, a lot of the conflict would be the result of interactions with other secret societies. This is probably the concept I'm least certain of as I feel like urban fantasy is surprisingly difficult to pull off.

Hey Talon! Nice to hear from you. It's been ages!

As for your proposition... I normally don't like most freeform games but I really like yours because you actually don't do free form, so much as you do guided freeform or mechanics backed freeform or benchmark backed freeform however you want to put it. And things like patchwork as well as that cute little game where we were fantasy heroes in a kingdom... I thought those were some of your best and most successful.

Of your four proposed concepts I and most interested in the experiment one and in the mage Tower whatever one. The first one feels a little too similar to patchwork. I would also be interested in doing something similar to that Kingdom heroes one that we did before... I felt like that had a lot of promise but it got cut short.

It has been a very long/fast year! Feels like just yesterday and also ages ago at the same time.

Glad the style was appealing! It'll be the same for the next game, free form by and large, with some numbers to provide measurable growth and ways for me to make determinations about the action. I'll make some tweaks to the rules as I usually do, but nothing too dramatic. For instance, I'm going to toss out the concept of trading. The idea of haggling and negotiation is fun in theory, but no one ever did it. Instead I'm going to layer in a rule to add some unpredictability and danger, while still keeping things lite so rules don't slow down pacing.

Typing out the thoughts helped. The concept of arcane colony ship is bubbling up some ideas. I'm going to start tentatively typing up some character creation rules. If anyone else has thoughts feel free to weigh in, nothing is set in stone yet.

Hi there Talon! Colour me interested. I fancy all of the ideas but I'm a sucker for urban fantasy. That said, I'll play in anything you run.

I threw together some ideas for rules for the magic colony ship game.  They can be perused here:

link to another game

The idea of everyone being mages appeals to me because I feel like it requires the players to get more creative. In D&D it's easy to just say "I'm a wizard in a pointy hat" and let the define them. In a game where everyone is a wizard it means they have to put more thought what makes them unique. But magic is entirely cosmetic, a fire mage can heal, an plant wizard can rewind time. The school of magic would be purely cosmetic. That again sounds more fun to me than making magic fit into stereotypical boxes.

Having everyone be mages also let me have fun with the core stats since everyone has magic I could really tailor the stats around that idea.

The rules thread itself is a bit of a jumble, I think most of the ideas made it onto paper though they'll likely need some refining.

The other ideas aren't off the table, it was just a slow work day so it was nice to do some creative noodling during downtime.

Well, as there don't seem to be strong feelings against the rules, I'll pull the trigger and start putting this game together formally. I'll throw out a players wanted ad, without the personal realms I can probably handle 5ish players so there would be room for a couple more bodies.

Rules-light-I approve. Plenty of room to grow.

Glad that sounds good! Feel free to drop me a message at the link above. For the RTJ all of you can disregard the other questions on the application and instead just give me the character name and the description of what sort of character/mage you're looking to play. Obviously everyone here will be accepted. I've posted a Wanted Players ad since I should have bandwidth for up to 5, maybe 6, players to add some fresh faces to our mix. We'll see if there's much interest, freeform games don't tend to draw a lot of interest.

Talon, check your PMs in the other game. I made a character sheet for you, and also dialectic-method questions to help clarify some char gen rules and my RTJ.

To all of you wondering, I am hoping to Create a mage whose specialty is Celestial Magic, or failing that Astral is the next closest thing.

In reply to The Prince of Blossoms (msg # 157):

Celestial Magic is what I was thinking for my character but Celestial as in space, not divinity.

I was thinking of a mixture of holy but mostly astrological themes. However I'm not absolutely married to this concept so if you wanted to go that route I am okay with choosing something else.

Because I'm equally interested in astral and maybe interpreting astral as a type of light magic.

I also have my eye on time magic as well.

Got the PM and the questions and responded to that!

Funny that you were both thinking Celestial with two separate meanings. Perhaps Divine and Cosmic might be more apt descriptions of what you're both looking for? I hadn't considered a holy-mage, but definitely there's room for it. I had an outside applicant this morning who wants to know if they can join as a non-mage entirely and I'm open to that too. the beauty of freeform is it makes for a big tent, it's easy to say yes to a lot of things.

My list of spell schools is certainly not comprehensive, it was more to inspire folks about the potential options. Having two people with the same school wouldn't be out of the question either, though it would be extra work for them both to differentiate themselves from each other and bring their own flavor to their fire mage or necromancer.

I don't really want to bring in like worship or anything tied to being. While something like light or holy could be a thing I don't want to make it connected to deities or anything like that. Like maybe magic and be used to commune with higher beings but I don't want a mages innate power to necessarily come from them like a cleric

In reply to The Prince of Blossoms (msg # 159):

I could just as happily go more along the lines of the Sun Summoner from the Grishaverse. Either idea works for me. I was going to specialise in Attack in any event.

It's ok. If anything, I think that the fact that we both wanted to be cosmic mages basically just means that great minds think alike!

So with that said, I am going to change my spell school here and just go with time.