Snowponies RPG - looking for players · 6:05am Apr 10th, 2015
For those of you who are unaware, I am, in addition to someone who enjoys reading and reviewing pony fanfiction, a huge nerd.
Because, you know, writing reviews of fanfiction isn't nerdy at all.
Anyway, one of the things I enjoy doing is playing tabletop roleplaying games; however, these days, with friends strewn across the country and my general love of setting nearby villages on fire (seriously, why do people even build their houses out of wood?) I mostly play these games online these days.
Presently I'm involved in three such games. One of these games is a pony-related game, which we have dubbed "Snowponies". We have had players filter in and out of the game, and have been on a hiatus in it for the last few months because we had two players dropped out of the game simultaneously.
As Bribri had no idea where to advertise for new players, I offered up my blog. Here's what he had to say:
We’re currently looking for TWO NEW PLAYERS to join an ongoing Chat-Based Pony Role playing game called Snowponies. It is presently running on Wednesday evenings at around 8PM Eastern time. The setting, rules we’re using, and the current cast of characters can be found HERE. That said I’d recommend reading the shorter intro bellow as a ‘quick look’. The party presently consists of 4 long time players and it’d be quite nice to bring that back up to 6 again.
Introduction
Welcome to Koniksburg, a mining community in the far northeastern reaches of Equestria. Expect LOTS of snowball fights, evergreens, maple syrup, stylish scarves, and fetlocks unshorn, just as nature intended. The town is surrounded by the Crystal Mountains, a place where many a wondrous adventure and mystery can be found. This is a game about ponies doing what ponies do: having fun with each other, a mix of slice of life and adventure, all with the backdrop of a magical world. The game focuses on interpony interaction, light comedy, and problem solving, going back to the basic theme of the show and avoiding all the more grimdark or hyper-silly themes that have taken over many pony role plays.To keep it familiar yet new; the game will take place in the same Equestria of the show, but will revolve around a different group of ponies in a different place. More Detailed information about the area can be found HERE.
I am presently looking for TWO additional players for this game (Which would make it six total). Reliability is a must, as is some basic experience in role playing or writing.
Unlike most games, Koniksburg will have TWO parts to it.
The Sessions
The primary part of the game will be the sessions or ‘Episodes’. These will be much like a traditional D&D campaign, with the players getting together once a week on IRC to play a Chat-based-game in real time for 3-5 hours. These will be run somewhere around 8PM Eastern time on WEDNESDAYS. We will play through a short story or ‘Episode’ with their characters using a simple version of the FATE RPG system which can be found HERE. This will allow the characters to go through adventures at a far faster pace than the thread alone, allowing for moments of drama and adventure. I’ll note memorizing the rules above is not required and I will gladly guide any new players (particularly those new to using systems like this) through the rules, and character creation.Don’t take us using a system as a sign that this will be some sort of “Mares & Monsters” combat based game. Encounters will be solved through PROBLEM SOLVING and TEAMWORK, using the environment and your abilities in interesting ways much like the show itself.
Unlike most games like this players will take turns being the ‘Game Master’; running 3-7 sessions, telling a story, before passing onto the next. The game will still be run even if players are missing; simply running an episode with a smaller cast for the time being just as the show often focuses on a few select ponies. These rules will allow us to avoid many of the scheduling problems that often grind games like this to a halt.
While experience in role-playing is a must, experience in gaming mechanics and rules system is not. As mentioned above:I will gladly help you with character creation, and explain the rules which are fairly easy to grasp once you’ve gotten the hang of things.
The Thread
The second part of the game: a simple role playing thread/forum area which I will see about setting up once we have a full 6 players again. Play by post rather than real time. A simple place to have your characters interact casually between episodes, with no real rules or restrictions outside of keeping the setting intact. Time will be treated as very fluid here and players will be free to occasionally retcon things, fast forward and shift stuff about to suit the story at hand.Notes to interested players
-Reliability is a must, as is some basic experience in role playing or writing. I’d prefer the players be in their late teens at a minimum or twenties if possible.
-You don't need to decide on your character now. Once we have our two players we'll setup a date where we can discuss character ideas with you and help you with your sheets.
-Try to come up with 3 or so vague characters ideas to bring to the table, picking whichever suits the group best, and fleshing out the chosen concept from there. Feel free to mention other ideas you have if you wish~
-The characters will mostly be young-adult ponies (ages 18-29 in pony years) with above average ability. Think the mane 6 in the early parts of Season 2 more or less. Capable, lots of potential, but by no means unstoppable.
-While this game is taking place in the same world as the show players should AVOID characters with direct links to any of the main cast. Everyone should be an original creation; something like Rainbow Dash’s cousin or Vinyl Scratch aren’t viable PCs here. I would also avoid ANY references to things like Equestria Girls, or other alternate realities as they have no place here.
-While things will occasionally reach a higher level of maturity or seriousness then the show I will say now that it will never go TOO far. There will never be blood and guts on the screen, and sexual topics will not be touched upon. The occasional ‘Below the radar joke’ is fine of course, just show a little moderation here, hm?
-On a similar note: Shipping and romances between PCs is a thing that will be allowed, just keep it reasonable. No one-night stands, or falling madly in-love with each other after a day. Let it develop, make it a friendship before anything else.
At present, the group has three characters (one of the existing players is also creating a new character):
My own character is Doctor Snow, a unicorn pediatrician with a sweet tooth. He does house calls and acts as a family doctor and frequently has to deal with just about everything the town throws at him. Born in Koniksburg, he attended medical school in Canterlot before moving back to Koniksburg to practice medicine. He seems to think that candy will make everything better, and that if a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, how much better must it be for folks to be given suckers and lollipops all the time!
Including adults, at times.
Doctor Snow dealing with one of his little patients.
Bribri's character is actually a double character of sorts - Rosetta Stone and Rose Bud. Rosetta is an archaeologist who moved to Koniksburg in the last year or so in order to get Rose Bud away from the snooty ponies in Canterlot, who were a terrible influence on the impressionable young thing. Rose Bud, for her part, doesn't really understand what is wrong with the snooty Canterlot ponies, and has a certain tendency to be a rather bitter little being about having to move up to the frigid north (and having to deal with the overly-helpful Doctor Snow, who seems to be a little bit too interested in Rosetta for Rose Bud's liking).
Rosetta and Rose Bud posing for a family picture. Rosetta is the older pony, Rose Bud is the little bundle of joy who clearly doesn't want to be there.
Barnstromer is the third character in the group. Born in the nearby griffin-filled town of Terre Nichoir, he gained something of their mentality - flying hard and aggressively, and to constantly push his own limits, not be a herd animal. A stuntflier, he is clearly the best there is... in Terre Nichoir. And something of a local hero who probably has earned a few colts, fillies, and chicks a few bruises trying to imitate his stunts.
You will never, ever see his mane.
A few examples of the sort of mischief we get up to:
Tarnation, one of the local mine owners, got himself in a spot of trouble as a spirit who claimed to be "Prince Sombra" chased his miners out of his mine and kidnapped another local mine owner, the (self-proclaimed) Lady Shimmer. The group went in to investigate and managed to drag her back out, but never figured out who was behind the "ghost's" appearance. The Mystery Gang they are not, apparently.
A while later, Rosetta moved to the north and the group had a run in with two local shysters, Ming Vase and Shady Bargain (he claims his name is Good Bargain, but no one calls him that). Bargain has a long record of various get-rich-quick schemes which never quite panned out enough, while Ming Vase was new to the area, a slick pony with a slicker mane. Ming Vase and Bargain tried to sell some ancient statues to Silk Road, a unicorn merchant from Canterlot who sold works of fine art and historical artifacts to the Canterlot elite. The group discovered that while Ming Vase and Bargain had come across a few genuine antiques, they were creating fakes based on the genuine antiques in order to sell them to Silk Road at marked-up prices.
Other adventures have included some diamond dogs kidnapping crystal ponies to find their king a bride, magical pixie breezie dust causing mass hallucinations in Koniksburg, a high-class ball where the group was trying to gather evidence that Lady Shimmer was being ripped off by some of her business associates (who also happened to be her old friends), a local competition between Terre Nichoir and Koniksburg, and trying to sell the land that a local farm sat on as the location for a new winter resort to a Saddle Arabian.
If you're interested in this, shoot myself or Bribri a private message, or give me your contact information in the comments. The goal is for the game to restart by Wednesday, April 22nd, though it may restart on Wednesday, April 15th if everyone is available by then.
And no, you don't have to have art of whatever character you're playing as. We're just the kind of dorks who have commissioned art for our characters. From one of the former group members, who happened to be an artist.
Would that I could! This sounds really fun. But timezones and time in general is a bitch.
Still though, seems fun.
Mmmmmmreh.
2967338
If I'm converting right, that's about 9 am for me the next day, just about the time I go to work. Much fun!
Hey, TD. You done inventing that time delay machine yet?
2967342
Time flies keep getting sucked into the intake valve and gumming up the works.
If only I was good at these things and writing,
2967351
2967344
Well, I won't even be around for the dates you want to start, so unfortunately I'll have to pass. But either way, if you ever get those flies sorted... well.
Too bad, though.
I would have played a beautiful belle named Sooty, a secret night-time arsonist and sheep fancier. She would collect doll heads with the eyes poked out and enjoy tormenting wildlife. So not so different to my real life.
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(I'm really enjoying the new season reaction images. )
Seriously though, as much as I'd love to join a pony RPG, that's 8 AM Thursday where I am. Ain't gonna happen for me.
Maybe I need to join a game with 2967338 and 2967342 , although chat-based games and me tend to have a poor history, mainly due to having to deal with kids.
If I was good at coming up with ideas... well, I wouldn't be able to join anyway. Trying my best to micromanage a lot of things in life at the moment.
Sounds fun, though! :3
Hmm. I'm in the eastern timezone, so I could potentially do this. Any idea how long the game will run for?
2967866
It typically trends more towards 3 hours than 5 hours, but that means from 8 pm - 11 pm to 1 am Eastern time (or 5 pm - 8 pm to 10 pm Pacific time).
2968075 I meant more "how many weeks?"
2968094
Err well it isn't really that sort of game that focuses on some big overarching plot where some big conflict is eventually beaten and everypony lives happily ever after. As the description says it takes on the themes of the show:Focusing on individual episodic events with real no planned ending. This is not to say a story like that CAN'T happen, and the players as a whole decide it would be a good time to work towards an epilogue... but anything like that is a good whiles off, and more likely the game will just end when too many players lose interest at once, or schedule changes are in such a way that shifting to a new date just isn't an option.
So.... short answer? There is no week limit, though I doubt it'll last forever.
2967344 Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana. Try decoying them with a few well-placed two-thirds-triangles!
This looks like fun, but I work Wednesdays on night shift...
Neat, I always thought FATE and MLP would go great together.
Is there still openings? I won't sign a contract until I know a few more details but - you had my curiosity at pony roleplay, and had my attention at FATE.
Aww man, this sounds so cool! I really wish I knew how to roleplay
2967344 Is there an arrow in the intake valve?
... I hear time flies like an arrow.
3221360
That must be the problem!
Darned bow hunters. "Oh, it is so much better to shoot the deer with arrows!"
Can no one ever consider the environmental consequences of their actions? Leaving arrows all over the place... they should know it attracts flies.