Pony's Bizarre Adventure - Backstage (PT / PbP / Recruiting)

Pony's Bizarre Adventure is a PT PbP game inspired by the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series. In it, players will gain a supernatural power known as a Stand. Stands are powerful manifestations of one's willpower which protect and empower the user, while only being visible to other Stand Users (with some rare exceptions). Think of it like having superpowers that are tied to a spirit bound to you. You can control your stand to do things, and it will instinctively try to protect you. In the game you'll be dealing with other Stand Users trying to use their own stand to accomplish their own goals, which may be nefarious in nature. I won't be using any JoJo characters in my game, so don't worry about being too unfamiliar with the series. This game is basically "What if Ponies had Stands?"

There are a number of custom rules I need to outline before you start making a character though...

Players start at Level 2.
You do not gain any combat stuff. If you do fight, you will fight through your Skill Checks, Abilities and Stand Powers...
Instead of Boons, you gain an additional +3 ability points to spend.
You can take the following ability whenever you want:
Toughness (1)
You gain +5 HP. You may take this ability multiple times, up to (Your Level x 3) times.

You will also gain items during your adventure. You can carry three of these at a time, and they can be dropped and given away. Items can do a wide range of things, including providing abilities, passive bonuses, and generally impressing people with how they look. Some items, when found, will need identification before you know what they can do. Generally, Arcana, History, and Mechanics checks will identify relevant features of items you find. At the start of the game, each player starts with a Bag of Coins item, which can be used to trade (you don't have to use it to purchase food or necessities, you have money aside for those, this is for larger purchases)...

I also have a rations and hunger mechanic, but that won't be needed until you are about to spend time away from civilization...

I will be creating each character's stand. Stands will basically have their own powerful homebrew abilities, and you won't have to sacrifice any of your ability points to give abilities to your stand. Focus on building the Stand User (which is your PC). Once you are done, send me the name of one of your favourite musician or band, it will influence the kind of stand you'll receive. Then I'll provide its abilities and stats, and we will work on the specifics of your stand (such as what you can do with its abilities, and how you gained it in the first place) together. While I can't make any promises to what kind of ability you will get, I will actively avoid giving you negative abilities (because some stands can do that to those unfortunate to get them)...

Expect an element of lethality in this game. While I, as a GM, don't aim to kill, you may find yourself against very powerful foes even from the early stages, since you too will be powerful. Acting recklessly or stupidly could backfire in unfortunate ways...

Finally, I'm aiming for only a small pool of players. Like, really small. Ideally, I only want two players, but if there's a third player with an interesting character sheet, my arm may be twisted. The reason I want such a small group is because I keep seeing games lose a lot of momentum because everyone is waiting on one player, which may cause decreased interest in the other players, worsening the problem. Also, a smaller group size means less waiting between posts, which means smaller and quicker response-based replies from both players and GM can be made in conversations, as opposed to having posts several paragraphs long responding to everyone...

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask...

*WRYYYYY's incoherently*

Yes please

I'll be submitting something as soon as I can manage.

(God bless you paper shadow for running this)

Same here. I might even try and bring someone with me who is new to the PT system.

Well, if you only want very few I'll save slots for someone else, but the mechanics you have in mind look really interesting, even without combat.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17dk037zh2CpPj-FgTAnrM9fQ8_7POr010sb5Y85GmJ8/edit?usp=sharing

Shrinking Violet the Earth Pony. I tried not to minmax too much this time, stating her out in accordance to what makes sense.

Do I PM the music choice or should I post it here?

Dusk Raven wrote:Well, if you only want very few I'll save slots for someone else, but the mechanics you have in mind look really interesting, even without combat.

Hey, if you want to roll up a sheet that's fine. We can try for three.

AleneShazam wrote:Do I PM the music choice or should I post it here?

For those still curious, either PM or post will do, or Skype if you have me on that...

As amazing an idea as this Rp is, I think I'm going to have to step back. Got a lot on my plate at the moment and another Rp might just be a little too much right now.

Senshuken wrote:As amazing an idea as this Rp is, I think I'm going to have to step back. Got a lot on my plate at the moment and another Rp might just be a little too much right now.

Oh... well, I guess I might be needed after all?

Spiracle is a bit work-in-progress, but there he is anyways.

Well, if Crystal finishes his sheet, we'll have two players and I'll start the campaign shortly after. I think I'm more open towards a third person than I was when I first made the thread in case someone still wants to join, but I don't think I'm gonna wait around for one...

Update: I'm almost ready to start the game. I've written down each player's stand and what they look like and what they do, and am ready to share them with you and sort out the details of how they manifested, and ironing out the details of your backstories and how you ended up at the game's location (which shall be Tall Tale, to the middle left of this map. I would do this right now, but it's almost five in the morning here. I'll send everyone a PM containing the writeup of your stand now, and start contacting you tomorrow about any questions you might have and about the rest of the details. Hopefully we can have the game started by tomorrow, or Saturday...

Also, Dusk has told me to go on without him, and that if there is an opening later he might join...

Been a while since the last post, I'm gonna make a new post tomorrow and move the plot forward if no one posts by tomorrow, and possibly if they do depending on what they post...

So, how far away is the tree from the action exactly? Wondering what sort of range I'm working with.

Let's say, assuming you are at an equal height to the action (which does mean you are pretty high up but you are at the edge of the forest on an old tree so its possible), it's approximately fifty feet to Splendor, and a bit more to the enemy stand user...

So just so I'm reading the room right, you guys are letting the pony hunt down the changeling in the house right?

Violet has determined it's the safest course of action, yes. The stand user is clearly quite powerful and while Violet has no doubt that she stands a chance in a fight she doesn't want to risk it.

Splendor has demanded that he undo the house ice, but otherwise doesn't care if he hunts the changeling or not.

A1C Bronymous wrote:Splendor has demanded that he undo the house ice, but otherwise doesn't care if he hunts the changeling or not.

Well his point is that he doesn't want to unfreeze the house until he has the changeling, so are you letting him keep the house frozen until he gets the changeling, or are you demanding he undoes the ice now, even when he believes that'll cause him to lose the changeling?

(Not trying to push you one way or the other, but I just want to make sure I understand what your intention here is...)