Aaaas everyone here should know by my signature...along with Justin, Jason's, and Jess'...we're kind of enormous fans of Gen Urobuchi, particularly his magnum opus, Puella Magi Madoka Magica. More than that, we're all kind of fans of the idea of magical girls--y'know, those young ladies in froofy outfits who wield unimaginable cosmic powers. And so in that spirit, I present to you an RP themed after those very same young ladies: Garden of the Maidens.
Wait a minute, is this a Madoka RP? Oh my God, you're going to turn everyone into witches and--
>_>; No, no it is not. While Garden (does that work better, or GotM? hmmm) is very, very inspired by Madoka Magica, it's not an RP in that universe at all; chiefly because, as Jason noted, "we all know how that universe works and we'd basically just be playing DESPAIR: THE RPG until everyone died." Which really just is not that fun.
Horse puckey, you're the Dark Monarch of the Throne of Tears, you live for this shit
D: Look, I'm all for angst and character depth and being hard on the characters you love, but even Uro-butcher himself knew when to stop in PMMM (before we got to Evangelion levels of psychological agony), and I actually have a limit (SHOCKING!) that's less than said illustrious creator.To put it simply, I believe in the "Earn Your Happy Ending" trope, not the like...one where everyone dies and sadness reigns forever. >_>;; That shit's aggravating and boring after a while.
So there's not going to be a system of constant suffering in place?
No, the suffering will not be...constant. However, we are following the Madoka tradition of everything being more than it appears to be. The Archons, I think, aren't quite as bad as Kyubey, but they're not exactly the Magical Friends of All Humanity, like they like to represent themselves. If things seem suspicious when you read the information posts, they probably are meant to be. However, you should absolutely ignore your urges to bring your meta-knowledge suspicions into your characters, because personally, I believe you'll have a lot more fun if you just let yourself experience the world that's been built here.
Also note that I said there won't be constant suffering that is guaranteed. But there will be some suffering. This is a dark magical girl RP, not Magical Witch Detective.
I don't want to play a magical girl, or I do but I also want to play a dude. Is there room for dudes?
Yes! That's where the Paladins come in. They're almost but not quite Magical Boys. Check them out in the info post.
I remember Age of Steel, that kind of died pretty quick.
How will you prevent that happening again?(〃艸〃) Age of Steel makes me sad inside, because that failing was pretty much completely my fault. I want to pick it up again, maybe, but...one of its primary problems was it was very driven by like, one central storyline, and when I faltered on that central storyline, it was like a trainwreck. It also was rooted in canon pretty heavily.
I believe--I believe very strongly, in fact--that Garden is different. For one thing, I want to go back to our DDT/DU roots of an overarching metaplot but a wide-open world. Just because there's an Ahriman fight going on in one thread doesn't mean another thread can't be going on elsewhere with just as much story relevance. I also want to let the players shape the world more than I ever have before--that's sort of a theme of Garden's, "let's see what you do with this".
Finally, there's the fact that this, like DU before it, is something almost all our own. ^^ So.
This Angra Mainyu place sounds horrifying in just the right way!/I really like these fluffy little Archon guys. Can I play an Archon/an Ahriman?
You can submit a design for an Ahriman, but you cannot play one. Ahrimans aren't sapient the way Hollows were in Soul Reflection; hell, they're not even quite as sapient as the Rectifiers. >_>; As for Archons...eeeehhhh, again, I'd rather you submitted a design and I'll play them, though if there's really extenuating circumstances we'll talk about it. This is a topic that we can discuss further.
I don't know magical girls/the sort of atmosphere you're trying for that well. What should I watch to get a feel for this?
As mentioned up there, I really, really recommend Puella Magi Madoka Magica and its third movie, The Rebellion Story; they capture a lot of what we're trying to get at. I also recommend Kamen Rider Gaim, another Urobuchi work--especially if you wanted to play a Paladin. Other good Kamen Rider series rife with inspiration include Ryuki, Faiz, and even possibly a bit of Wizard.
And Fate/Zero to a degree for some stylistic elements and even more Urobuchi.
For straight-up magical girls, watch Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, possibly some Sailor Moon or Magic Knight Rayearth, Fate: Kaleid liner Prisma Ilya, etc. (I will add/remove recommendations here.) For just kids with magic powers, the vast arching online multimedia nonsense odyssey that is Homestuck might help, though the vibe is very, very different.
Finally, for more magic powers and how Cyan is in Garden I recommend A Certain Magical Index and/or Strike the Blood.
All right! I'll post again here when Garden is officially open. Hope to see you there! ^^
In the beginning, I'll be playing an antagonistic Celia (similar to how she started in DU, but also very, very different. Also, loli.) as well as Frey, who will probably remain a civilian until I decide its a proper time to Paladin him. X3
