Things Betwixt: A Journey Beyond [OOC | Open] (Fantasy)

by **Lazarian** » Fri Mar 31, 2023 11:43 am

A Journey Beyond

Art Credit: Tom Lopez, Artstation

As you awake from your slumber, you stare upwards into a purple sky, filled with twinkling stars.

To the south lies a sea of rolling hills - and behind you? A steep cliff, falling into…nothingness. The light slowly fades to a black void, as far as your eyes can see…

A voice calls behind you. Turning, you see a man wizened with age. A hunched-back elder with a beard that scrapes the ground stares at you, milky grey eyes scanning the depths of your soul. And then he speaks.

You’re searching for something, aren’t you.

Oh, there’s no need to answer. Everyone who comes here is. There is a curse to this place - one that pulls seekers and dreamers through the cracks of reality and into this realm. Whatever it is you seek…there is something here that can grant it.

But beware - this is not a place of honor.

This is a broken place, a fallen land, a place in between places. There are many dangers and toils on the path that awaits you…and few who set off on this journey return home.

But this realm would not have taken you from your home if you were unwilling. Whatever it is that drives you is worth every trial and peril you may face. For you see…your wish, whatever it is? It can be granted here. There are gods, men, and creatures that can lift you from your despair.

Most likely, you’ll die trying. But you’ve got just as good a chance as anyone else. Welcome to…

THINGS BETWIXT

IC

Welcome to Things Betwixt, a fantasy exploration RP!

All players begin with a party of five adventurers. Your characters have landed in the Things Betwixt, a land beyond time and space itself. Pulled here by an ancient curse, they shall chart a course based on your direction and decision in search of a power that shall grant their wish.

You may gain or lose members of your crew over the course of the adventure, depending on both the fickle whims of fate and the choices you make. Things Betwixt is not a slasher film, but neither is it a power-fantasy - your heroes may fail, your quests may go awry. But within adversity lies glory - those who survive the trials shall emerge in glory and splendor indeed.

You should expect to make an IC post once every 48 hours or so. These posts correspond to one day’s time in character, and will be resolved by yours truly to chart the course of your journey.

Your adventure will consist of many things, but first and foremost, your adventurers. These brave men and women will forge beyond into new frontiers, uncover mysteries, and fight against overwhelming horrors.

YOUR HEROES

Code: Select all: [b]Application For The Chosen[/b] [b]Party Name:[/b] (A short name.) [b]Party Members and Classes:[/b] (Who makes up your group? Are you vagabonds, fleeing from the law? Wizards in search of an arcane power? Knights on a mission to save their kingdom? Provide names and a short (or long!) backstory for each character. Any backstories, species, or realms are acceptable, although original backgrounds/settings are preferred. Things Betwixt pulls from all places.) [b]Mission:[/b] (What are you searching for? Everyone who is brought here is called for a reason. Some seek to bring back a fallen loved one. Others wish for riches beyond imagination. Others still strive for the power to save their falling kingdom, or to drive back the darkness that plagues their lands. So what are you here for?) [b]Starting Equipment:[/b] Pick two Common Relics from the pool. You may have a combined total of 30 Rations and Wealth - it is up to you to balance these two resources. Your party will consume 1 Ration per turn.

A guide to understanding your heroes is as follows: Their stats, their classes, and their traits.

STATS

No two men are sculpted alike - all creatures, whether great or small, have their strengths and flaws. Each man has attributes and aptitudes, talents and shortfalls.

CLASSES

You and your fellows were something before you were taken to this place - who, and what? Perhaps a wizened elder? Or a talented chiurgeon? Or a battle-seasoned veteran?

TRAITS

A man is more than his mere origins - and more also than his profession or circumstances. It is abilities beyond these - some bloodied, some learned, all mastered - that give faith and flavor to those that walk the Lands Betwixt.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: How does it all work?

I know this OP looks lengthy - but I promise that this isn't all that complicated in nature. Every turn consists of the following actions:

First, the MOVE action. Decide which direction on the map your team is going - North, North-east, East, South-east, South, South-west, West, or Northwest. They will move to that location at the end of the turn, encountering whatever event or location that may be on that tile.

Second, the INTERACT action. Most turns, your team will run into an obstacle, a ruin, a curiosity, a pass - and you’ll have multiple presented options. Choose the option or lay out an additional option of your own - and then it’ll be resolved at the start of next turn.

If there is no INTERACT event - or, if you choose to ignore the INTERACT event, your team has the following options:

#1) SCROUNGE: Search the region for useful resources, treasures, or rations.
#2) RECUPERATE: Everyone pitches camp, plays cards, and tends to their wounds. This provides an opportunity for Stability and Vitality healing.

That’s it! Once all six players have posted, all events and movements are resolved in an Update Post (from yours truly), and the game moves on to the next day.

Despite everything, the game is rather mechanically simple. Combat is run behind the scenes, as well as the rolls for success and failure. Written lore longer than twelve sentences will add a 5% chance to your success in any action, however, as I’d love to have roleplay in the roleplay. React to what happens! Explain your plotting! Describe how your heroes put down the foe! The dice may decide what happens - but you detail how it happens.

by **Lazarian** » Fri Mar 31, 2023 11:44 am

List of Common Items (Starter)

Example Post

Here's an example of an update post and a following response.

Rules, Hints, & Addendum

1. A Common Relic is worth approximately 2 Wealth.
2. TRANSPARENCY: I'm using Dicecord and labeling the roll beforehand. If you think I'm deliberately screwing you, I'll provide the rolls on request.
3. FREQUENCY: I'm targeting one update per week, and preferably more frequently than that. I understand that life happens, and I'm willing to retroactively run 1 turn behind. Any more than that? Your fellows are making a long camp.
4. LORE: Please write lore. I will be adding a small positive modifier to posts with at least a few paragraphs - and debuff to raw actions with no lore.
5. MOVEMENT: The map is based on a square tile grid - you can move North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, and Northwest. When travelling to Unexplored Tiles, movement is limited to the single tile. When backtracking over previously visited land, movement is limited at 5 Tiles per turn.

by **Lazarian** » Fri Mar 31, 2023 11:46 am

The Chosen

A glimpse of places to come...

by **Elerian** » Fri Mar 31, 2023 12:05 pm

Hey Laz, I'll start working on an app shortly.

by **G-Tech Corporation** » Fri Mar 31, 2023 12:21 pm

We stand ready.

by **Cybernetic Socialist Republics** » Fri Mar 31, 2023 4:04 pm

I feel like I'm missing something with the 'common relics from a pool' thing

by **Lazarian** » Fri Mar 31, 2023 4:08 pm

Cybernetic Socialist Republics wrote:I feel like I'm missing something with the 'common relics from a pool' thing

Oh, sorry, that's on me - I was going to have a list of Common tier relics to pick from. That'll be up soon. The OP isn't 100% done - each Class should have 6 exclusive traits, but some are undergoing some last minute workshopping.

G-Tech Corporation wrote:We stand ready.

Welcome, welcome! I eagerly await Gregor and his lads - or whoever you'll toss into the arena.

Elerian wrote:Hey Laz, I'll start working on an app shortly.

Splendid! Happy to hear it.

by **Talchyon** » Fri Mar 31, 2023 9:36 pm

Lazarian -

I'm kind of in retirement now, but an RP like this makes me want to come back. I'm swamped right now and wouldn't be able to start making a character if I decide to join until at least a few weeks. I will think about it though.

Kind of like the idea of a seer, only from a high tech society. Something like a contingency specialist who gathers data and make good educated guesses based on the analytics of the probability of it all.

by **Ovstylap** » Sat Apr 01, 2023 3:02 am

I'd be honored to partake, I'm in the process of onboarding tasks ready for a graduate job after the summer, and moving, but hopefully can crack out an app on or by the 5th at the latest. It looks absolutely grand!

by **Ralnis** » Sat Apr 01, 2023 5:01 am

Time to settle a broken world. Weather the inhabitants, or the world itself, wants it or not.

by **G-Tech Corporation** » Sat Apr 01, 2023 7:56 am

Application For The Chosen

Party Name: The Lost Patrol

Party Members and Classes:
Lieutenant Nikolai Zakharov - The Sorcerer, Great and Terrible | A father to his men, a commander of some education and prodigious battlefield experience, it was Zakharov who was deciphering the banishment rituals when their position was submerged beneath the Horrors, and his connection to the Eldritch persists as a grave and dread power in this new place.
Senior Sergeant Kravchenko - The Surgeon, Battlefield Medic | Kravchenko saved hundreds of lives from Fascist bullets before being sent east as the Horrors overran more and more villages and factories. Hardened, hard-bitten, but still a fundamental believer in the socialist cause, he plays an impressive accordion despite having lost two fingers on his left hand to frostbite during the Winter War.
Junior Sergeant Okhchen - The Scout, Hunter | A Mongolian tracker attached to Zakharov's squad to hunt down the barrows where the Horrors shelter during the day, Okhchen is more comfortable atop a horse than on foot, preferring the shaggy mountain ponies to more supple breeds. He is a short man, squat, and taciturn, but implacable in combat and with hunting prowess of impressive depth.
Corporal Pogodin - The Soldier, Unshakeable Warrior | A boisterous brawler drawn from Sevastapol before she came under siege, Pogodin is loud and brash and handles the high explosives the team uses to collapse barrows upon the slumbering Horrors within. For a giant man he can be uncannily quiet on his feet, a survival trait of not waking the sleeping monstrosities, and he acts as the teams machine-gunner in better times. All but fearless, he claims the darkness in men's hearts is darker than even the foulest creature, and wears a non-regulation silver cross close to his chest.
Private Kaminksky - The Soldier, Quick Reflexes | Another body thrown on the pile, Kaminsky specifically requested to be assigned to Zakharov's squad out of a conscript platoon, when the rest of his unit was encircled near Kiev and the Lost Patrol managed to sneak through the Hitlerite lines with him in tow. Young enough he can barely grow a proper beard, he lacks the experience of the rest of the squad, but is learning at speed.

Mission: Zakharov and his squad were part of the People's Patriotic Front, defending the Motherland against the Horrors in the undeclared war of 1942 against the barrow-dwelling fiends which infested the Siberian wastes. An elite squad, dispatched into the wilderness along with other combat veterans to hunt down and destroy the lairs of the night-dwelling fiends, they fought for over a year before stumbling upon the ancient Tsarist bunker where the foolish sorcerers of Command 131 summoned the Horrors in the hope of turning them on the Fascist foe. Before they could decipher the ancient blood-soaked rituals to return their enemy to undeath, however, they accidentally breached a barrow of immense size below the bunker, and were overrun by their foes... and yet, they live, here, Between. The men of the Lost Patrol are hardy and committed still to their goal, to end this secret war, and return home in glory. If only they survive long enough to do so.

Starting Equipment: Scholar's Studies - ancient tomes of lore about the Between, scavenged from the ravaged corpses of the Cheka's failed sorcery.
Shortbow - a clever thing of horn and bone, Okhchen bears it on his back much as his ancestors did, and it is just as deadly.
20 Rations, 10 Wealth

by **Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States** » Sat Apr 01, 2023 9:07 am

The problem with this is that, because of the many cool possibilities you have created, I am now torn between various ideas that would all be fun to play. Yes, I do blame you somewhat for this.

A question on mechnics: for the three skills (might, insight, dexterity), is there an advantage in mechanics in having two or more party members with the same high skill? Or are the rolls made off of the highest skill in the party?

by **Ovstylap** » Sat Apr 01, 2023 10:40 am

An interesting app from G-Tech there- what sort of tech-level is happening in this world? Are we more of a LOTR, more of a Darkest Dungeon sort of thing?

by **G-Tech Corporation** » Sat Apr 01, 2023 11:07 am

Ovstylap wrote:An interesting app from G-Tech there- what sort of tech-level is happening in this world? Are we more of a LOTR, more of a Darkest Dungeon sort of thing?

My impression is that Laz means literally anything to get pulled in, but folks should have a level playing field. Unreliable gunpowder, intermittent magic, all that jazz.

by **Lazarian** » Sat Apr 01, 2023 11:26 am

Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States wrote:The problem with this is that, because of the many cool possibilities you have created, I am now torn between various ideas that would all be fun to play. Yes, I do blame you somewhat for this.

A question on mechnics: for the three skills (might, insight, dexterity), is there an advantage in mechanics in having two or more party members with the same high skill? Or are the rolls made off of the highest skill in the party?

Both! There are certain events which check the stats of every party member, and others where you pick a single individual.

by **Lazarian** » Sat Apr 01, 2023 11:44 am

G-Tech Corporation wrote:
Ovstylap wrote:An interesting app from G-Tech there- what sort of tech-level is happening in this world? Are we more of a LOTR, more of a Darkest Dungeon sort of thing?

My impression is that Laz means literally anything to get pulled in, but folks should have a level playing field. Unreliable gunpowder, intermittent magic, all that jazz.

+1. Thematically, anything goes, from cavemen to future tech. Mechanically, it’s all the same. I will say that when the characters are pulled in, their equipment may or may not get pulled in with them.

In the place itself, technology levels vary dramatically.

by **Lazarian** » Sat Apr 01, 2023 11:58 am

G-Tech Corporation wrote:
Application For The Chosen
Party Name: The Lost Patrol

Accepted, of course. Splendid application.

by **Ralnis** » Sat Apr 01, 2023 3:52 pm

Application For The Chosen
Party Name: The Cackling Refugees
Party Members and Classes:
Matriarch Donsol(Seer/Attuned to Reality): The spiritual and physical head of the Refugees in the land. She is the oldest of them by at least a year but is the most attuned with the shifting reality that they have been thrust into. It's by her magic that they get divination on their journey.
Milk-Eye(Soldier/Sigil-Ridden): The younger sister to the Matriarch and the second in command of the Refugees. She was a test subject to enhanced their demonic blood and had been discarded as she was considered a failure and blind in one eye, hence her name. However, she had became unable to age and the magic of the land attracts all sorts of chaos for the Rest of the Refugees, forcing Milk-Eye to take on the fighting role of the group.
Askia(Scout/Stealthy): A clanless hunter and expert infiltrator that managed to escape the destruction of an army before meeting Donsol and her sigil-ridden sister. He has become the head scout going forward into this new world with his sharing of a practical mindset and reclusive nature that is uncommon to his race, and a death sentence in the making.
Marwl(Surgeon/Battlefield Medic): A widower and former butcher, he was conscripted into becoming a surgeon as the war went on. He continued his work as his wife died in a siege from humans and elves while his daughter sells her soul to the Butcher to become one of his Fangs. He never wanted that to happen but as their race was being purged from their world, he grabbed his daughter and went with her friend Milk-Eye to a new world where they could find a new life.
Moon-and-Star(Sorceror/ Twice as Bright, Half as Long): Daughter to Marwl and a mother who was a soldier in the demonic horde. She lost her at a young age and saw her father be conscripted to tend to bodies as their village got burned down. It turned worse for her that she had been sought after for she had a higher concertation of demonic blood in her system, allowing her to become a Fang of the Butcher. Such training allowed her to become a magical berserker, one who has the mightiest rage at the expense to her body. Her explosive power had seen her under the care of her father more than once and so when her friend Milk-Eye told them of a way to leave this world and try a new one. Now she is in such a place, becoming the Fang of the Matriarch and swears to protect her father the same way he has for her.

Mission:
The Cackling Refugees are Gnolls, large hyena beastmen made by the Lord of Butchery to be his instruments of destruction in their world. Known for their butchery and savage nature beyond even Orcs, they are a bane of many races. However, such worship of their demon lord had brought about an end-time event, one that brought about demons to cross into their world and seek the destruction of all other life. By the grace of the gods, a team of blessed adventurers banished the demons back to their world and drove their servants back. It was during this time that Gnolls had started to break free from the clutches of the Lord of Butchery, but they were seen with disdain no matter where they go.

But evil doesn't stay down forever, and the Lord of Butchery was not done sating his insatiable hunger for violence and blood. The Gnolls, like so many other monstrous races and followers of the demons, rose up 3 more times in their name. 3 Times, they were cast down. But, the peoples of the free world decided that there won't be a fourth. So a grand army of humans, elves, dwarves, and anyone who follow good to begin a global extermination against all of the demonspawn. This genocide was considered for the good of the whole world as they burned down Orc settlements, slaughter mutated children, and scatter entire tribes. The Gnolls were one of the main targets, being hardy survivalists of the wastelands and savannahs, were hard to pin down but were dying all the same.

The demon gods summoned up their forces for one last great war as they resisted this blantant counterattack. However, not everyone wanted this. Among them, five Gnolls who had grown up and been scarred by the great war decided to follow a strange calling from a seer, one that had managed to find them all and be transported somewhere else by the night of a blood moon. Now, sent into this strange world, shifting and in-between all worlds, they seek a new home for themselves. Believing themselves to be the last Gnolls in all of the multiverse, they must make do with the mysteries of this world and see if they can rebuild from the genocide.

Starting Equipment: Common Relics:
Shortbow: Askia's own weapon, looted from a dead human he ambushed during his escape. He uses it as his only means of survival as he learned to craft makeshift arrows to use. Now, in this world, his will is tied to survival and a trusty bow is better than nothing at all.
Lucky Dice: Monsol's Lucky Dice that were made of demon bones. Once owned by Monsol and Milk-eye's mother, who was the former seer of their clan. Using the demonic magic of all seers, she was a good gambler before she died of a fireball from an elf. However, a piece of her magic had seeped into these dice and are used as a focus for Monsol to navigate the Betwixt as they are forever severed from the demon lords and their magic forever changed by the world.

Rations and wealth:

As the war went on, Gnolls focused on their adept scavenging on trying to make it to another day. As the Refugees continued on their focus survival, more needed food but also whatever trinkets that they could find to trade to the demons or other evil races. As of the time of their start of the journey into the Betwixt, they have accumulated 20 days/turns worth of food and 10 trinkets worth of wealth.

by **G-Tech Corporation** » Sun Apr 02, 2023 5:26 pm

Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States wrote:The problem with this is that, because of the many cool possibilities you have created, I am now torn between various ideas that would all be fun to play. Yes, I do blame you somewhat for this.

A question on mechnics: for the three skills (might, insight, dexterity), is there an advantage in mechanics in having two or more party members with the same high skill? Or are the rolls made off of the highest skill in the party?

I certainly feel that. Choice paralysis is a cruel mistress.

by **Cybernetic Socialist Republics** » Sun Apr 02, 2023 9:42 pm

I don't know, choices don't seem that hard when the combat system/value of wealth is pretty mostly a black box.

Application For The Chosen
Party Name: MERCY
Party Members and Classes:

Mission: MERCY come from a world united under an idealistic structure known as the 'Confederation of the 5 Palaces. Despite the palatial name, the realms are not monarchies, but each palace is lead by a committee of judges that then coordinate with each other. Together these palaces closely rule most aspect of society, forming a largely peaceful global society.This peace is kept by millions of teams of five 'Marshals', magically trained keepers of the peace, who track down defeated rogue elements that tried by illegal means to pursue personal gain and/or bring down the confederation. Most of these Marshals are magnanimous and genuinely committed to using the minimum nessecary force to accomplish their aims. MERCY is and has always been a little different. They take a far more bombastic and aggressive approach, if they are justified in killing a target, they generally will, without remorse.

Sometimes marshals will, for entertainment and recruitment purposes, show off their skills against eachother in tournaments, MERCY frequently and enthusiastically participates in them. While the venue forces them to tone down their aggression, they always make a point of getting as close ato the line as they can get away with. This has lead to them has contributed to a fraught relationship with their peers.One day a rift to another world was created after someone followed an ancient ritual that purported to lead to a place where one could gain a relic that capable of making one's dreams into reality if it is so commanded. MERCY was informed of this by other Marshals probably with the hope of getting rid of them, but MERCY took it as a opportunity.
Starting Equipment: Waiting on the common Relics List / 30 Rations

by **Ceystile** » Sun Apr 02, 2023 11:16 pm

My WIP

Application For The Chosen
Party Name: The Plague Rats
Party Members and Classes:
Rastaban "Ras" Belfour (Sage/Alchemist/Steady Mind): The magic-less son of an imperial wizard, Ras channeled all his considerable talents into The Black Art. Before his dive into alchemy, the years spent apprenticing under his physician mother (and nearly dying of the plague himself) have given him an aversion to death that would rival a cat's hatred of water. Now that a second wave of pestilence has hit his beloved country, time is of the essence to create the Philosopher's Stone and put an end to Death once and for all.
Ansel Smith: (Soldier/Paladin/Precise Striker): A devout member of the Church of Scintillating Fire, Ansel's just spirit and upright heart are as large as the man himself. Sworn to serve his goddess in battle, he has decided to accompany his childhood friend Rastaban on this quest to fulfill his duty of protecting Her people from a dangerous but unseen villain...one that comes silently and kills slowly.
Grigory "Greylock" Volkov (Sufferer/Alchemist/Substance Abuser): A very brilliant but very unhinged alchemy student from the Northern kingdoms that was thrown out of his academy for dangerous and illegal experiments...he believes scientific progress is worth nearly any price and enjoys finding unconventional solutions to conventional problems (mainly as an excuse to blow shit up). As well as help his friends fight the pestilence, he also sees a chance to lift his own banishment.
Alicia von Norn (Surgeon/Bedside Manner): A determined, free-spirited young woman and the heiress to her country's throne, as future queen there was no way to stop her from lending her own medical skills to save her people, and thus she provides a morale-boosting and steady presence to the party (well, everyone except Rastaban seems to think so at least, due to the grievances that lie between them). Nonetheless, the two have agreed to put the tension aside for the sake of the objective...though if they can keep that up remains a mystery.
Cassandra Seagrave (Soother/Diplomat) Alicia's partner in battle and in life, this young poet and bard-in-training has a wit as sharp as her favorite pen and a tongue silver as the strings of her lyre. A mission to another world is the perfect thing to write an epic ballad about that folks will sing for generations to come (somehow the two-hundredth madrigal about Alicia's eyes was "played out"...ugh. Uncultured swine have no taste), and she could hardly let her fair damsel go on a dangerous quest without her could she?

Mission:: When the first wave of the Scarlet Pox, a disease that manifests with a burning red pox and severe hemorrhaging hit the kingdom of Norn, the physicians worked tirelessly to find a cure, but to no avail with thousands of lives lost. The second wave seems set to be even worse, in desperation a young Rastaban turned from his medical studies and devoted himself fully to alchemy in order to create the Philosopher’s Stone. The Stone is known for two things, turning base metals into gold and the Elixir of Life, which can not only confer immortality on those who drink it for prolonged periods but cure any diseases. Unfortunately, the only known alchemist who ever created the stone was Hermes Trismegistus, who is said to have written down his codex in an ancient alchemical text known as the Emerald Tablets, and it’s these tablets that Rastaban and his party are seeking.

Starting Equipment: 1 Scholar’s Studies, 1 bottle

Rations: 15
Wealth: 15

by **Lazarian** » Mon Apr 03, 2023 7:17 am

Very nice apps, folks. Cackling Refugees, Plague Rats and MERCY are all accepted.

On an unrelated note, I'll have the starting item pool up by tonight, and a target for the IC is probably this upcoming weekend.

by **Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States** » Mon Apr 03, 2023 8:22 am

A wip, I decided that finishing this on my phone would be too much hassle

Application For The Chosen
Party Name: Apostles of Antares
Party Members and Classes:
Paul the Riverman
Lucas Stellarveil
Mary the Heretic
Mary the Wise
Peter of Alpha Centauri
Mission:
Starting Equipment: 20 rations, 10 wealth

by **The Empire of Tau** » Mon Apr 03, 2023 9:32 am

I'll get an app out soonish.

by **Lazarian** » Mon Apr 03, 2023 9:54 am

Alright, folks, the starter items are up, right at the top of the second post of the OP. If there's a category or type of item that you think I'm missing, feel free to telegram me and make a suggestion.

I've also added a small Rules addendum - if you have any questions about how things work, just ask and I'll put an answer there.

Things Betwixt: A Journey Beyond [OOC | Open] (Fantasy)

Things Betwixt: A Journey Beyond [OOC | Open] (Fantasy)

Who is online