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I was planning to just wholesale import basic historic reality (more like... um... well, as if it were a tv show - sometimes veering into exploring darker themes, sometimes just handwaving the troublesome aspects, depending on how much anyone wants to focus on them and what fits into the story) and alter whatever needed to be altered to fit the setting. That includes the the rebel remnants, ex-confederates, recently freed slaves, the encroachment of the settlers on First Nations lands, the Army carrying out its campaign to clear the "savages" from the lands... But as WickedCadrach said, as background unless it becomes useful to the plot

My preference would be to lean away from vampires. A vampire implies someone who turned them into a vampire, which implies other vampires, which implies hunters, which implies more than I personally wanted to include. But, a note to consider: the players don't all have to be friends. They have Relationships with each other, but they don't have to be good relationships, they just have to involve strong feelings. Consider that the original game setup for the Smallville game this system was originally designed for included pre-generated characters for both Clark Kent AND Lex Luthor. Dramatic entanglements between rivals can be even mo

-Balls; I love the idea of that divide between the fringe or frontier, and the civilised folk or even those trying to emulate them on that same Frontier. The working men and women contrasted with the rich land and business owners holding events like they're in the centre of civilisation, far from the frontier. -Heists?- a complicated plan with little to no chance of going off correctly. -Horses; Maybe unnecessary to add, but the Frontier can't be all trains and zeppelins (though I love them both, especially with our aesthetic.) I imagine civilisation being incredibly reliant on the technology and industrial side, while the frontier/

The geography's actually super easy. Just remember two rivers and California. The Mississippi runs north to south and cuts the USA in half. In 1880, everything east is 'civilization', and everything west is wilderness, homesteads, and one-street towns (basically). The Rio Grande runs from the north-west to the south-east and divides the USA from Mexico. Mexico used to own a bunch of stuff north of the Rio Grande but lost it after people decided they'd rather be part of the USA, mainly because that meant they'd get to keep owning other people as property. The USA changes its mind on that idea a while later anyway. California i

Okay, so far I have... INCLUDE Ashborn: Prudence to have existed in our past and to have left her legacy of defending love in all its forms. With that comes the oppressive social and religious pressure that drove Prudence to condemn her lover. gunfighters in dusty streets Airships aesthetically, I would prefer zeppelins! and hot air balloons government agents in luxury train cars with odd, clockwork and steam-powered gadgets magic being a thing in the setting in the right, mystical, unobtainable doses (The big bad dabbling in something they don't understand and we won't either) automatons, or at leas

Whew. Busy day over. I love both takes on how we could get slightly animalistic featured peoples in this setting. They should be limited, at least to some extent, and leaning into the exploitation and prejudice against them (and possibly reverence in certain cultures) is definitely a great idea. Even if they are a very small population that still allows multiple players to take on that role, should they wish. It would make more sense after all that a small population facing prejudice from the rest would try to stick together when they do find one another, after all. As far as airships goes in a steampunk setting I'd always visualize

As we build the worlds, if one goes in a direction that appeals to players in the other group, we can change groups. I can accommodate up to 6 players per game, so there's room for movement to/from either game. That's the risk you take with any TTRPG, really. Finding a group willing to commit to the long term game is difficult. I've started more online games than I can count on multiple sites and I've only ever finished a handful. That's just how it goes. But I'll never stop trying.

She's good at that.

It might be too early for the Golden Dawn, but it was inspired by Masonic organizations and I think the Rosicrucians... or was it the other way around? I get my esoteric orders all mixed up. Regardless, if those organizations didn't exist til later, perhaps this character was an inspiration for them, a practitioner of secret thaumaturgic sexual arts, a coitamancer or something...

Oh god, who would want to get mixed up in that! Is it too late to change my character?

I think you can see why I want to play someone like him. Sex so good it's literally magic.

I know it sounds like a silly, obvious thing to say, but we ofc have the OOC here to discuss anything if there's any discomfort that DOES arise. <3

I agree with this notion. It's a touch early for the Golden Dawn to be a thing, but it feels like Hermetic and Thelemic magic might be an aesthetic choice that makes sense for a character like that. EDIT: Oh! Also, if you want to go nuts with it, Google 'Thelemic sex magic'. Crowley was just... if I read about this man in a book, I'd say the author was stretching believability. EDIT 2: Eroto-comatose lucidity - aka, slow, tantric sex until you see the gods and spirits of the invisible world. Like I said... wild stuff.

@IsabellaRose I think you have great handle on everything, I understand you idea of not explaining were magic comes from but I just want to make sure if I do play a deviant British aristocract with some semblance of magic that I won't unwittingly be a servant of Cthulhu and go insane. I also don't want to use native American source partially because I don't know anything about it but it also feels like appropriation.

All of those character options sound like they'd fit pretty seamlessly! For the vampire-esque character, you wouldn't even need to retain any of the actual weaknesses of a traditional vampire. You just "look" like one, so superstitious common folk assume you must be one. You're just an eccentric inventory/scientist who has fled persecution in Europe/back east and setup shop in this town, because you can get anything you need via the railroad in town, and you get the privacy to conduct your experiments without someone looking over your shoulder. But of course, rumors abound about what exactly it is you do in that big house all alone, and

I think there's room for everyone to have a presence in town. I'm imagining the various factions being sort of like the warring powermongers in Deadwood (the HBO series) - they are all in town, all trying to establish themselves in positions of power due to (resource) being abundant in the area and this being the main railroad stop closest to the mine, ruins, spring, or whatever source of (resource) we decide is nearby to create a gold rush feel. They need the people to follow them, to see them as the power in the area. I can imagine the schism church trying to exert its power, to spread its influence back east. I can also imagine other

Agreeing with this. The feeling of exposure and self-reliance when there's one lawman for your town and sometimes not even that (I'm thinking of Bass Reeves, the US Marshal who was the only lawman covering a frontier territory roughly the size of South Dakota and the real-world inspiration behind The Lone Ranger).

I want to preface what bellow that nothing is a deal breaker for me, and what I put in sections are just personal preferences or suggestions. I WANT - Saloon, balls, horses, trains, these in my opinion are vital for that western feel. - Automaton horses, zepellins, promiscuity these are things that other people have suggested and I second them, in particular I think zeppelins would be an easy way to bring characters from Europe, Asia and the like into our location, and for us to travel without much friction. And promiscuity and debauchery are my bread and butter. - Alternative history, I think this is a good idea. - S

Just want to second @StarlitSiren's ideas of Balls and Horses. A gala ball filled with frontier opulence and barely obscured debauchery sounds delicious. And while I think planes go a bit too far, I think @Chiyako's idea a few cars as novelties of the wealthy or eccentric inventors fits well.

This is an important thought. What kind of story are we thinking about telling? Are we a band of outlaws running from hideout to hideout? Are we the folk who inhabit some frontier town or or the area of little villages, small farms that have cropped up around a fort or mission? Isabella had suggested a couple of traveling groups, a circus, refugees of a caravan of settlers pushing forward into the unknown? I personally kind of favor the idea of a slightly larger town, perhaps built up around the church, with a sheriff and their deputy, a few shop owners, two saloons and a brothel that draws in enough visitors to the town from the ne

Unfortunate it is impossible to create polls in the middle of topics on EcchiDreams. If it was, might have made one to test interest in what I should read (preparing either as a GM or player) and maybe see how practical it would be start/help start. Not something that would happen anytime soon, but maybe a someday project. Though if I do find myself with a free slot again, may someday recreate the Star Wars club.

I guess one more thing worth clarifying there on this thread. Guessing the groups are permanent then, barring any unexpected emergencies forcing people to drop out (hopefully everyone there is committed to sticking through it, unless something like that comes up)? Assuming it isn't trouble for you, two worlds could work in that case. Don't have a problem with it if that is the case. Just figure someone getting shuffled around is the most important reason we might want to keep it to one world.

Absolutely, I concur. Zeppelins. This precisely gets to the kind of technological tension and kind of struggle to forge a better future in the frontier that I most associate with westerns. Leaning so heavily on Izzy's Prudence Lawton as my character concept does, I'm voting this is whoever Prudence broke from. Are the Unbound analogous to the early Protestants and Unitarians? How violent is the schism?

I like this group

Hi, everyone! I'm alive. Sorry I wasn't around most of the week, but I'm back. Okie-dokie, first up, I want: Airships : aesthetically, I would prefer zeppelins and hot air balloons over anything more scifi or fantasy. Automatons : I think it could be neat to treat automatons the way trains are often treated in Westerns. They are emblematic of the blight of progress, pushing out simple folk and making their lives harder while the wealthy robber barons control their manufacture and use from distant cities. I'm thinking *The Octopus* but with clockwork track-layers, coal shovelers, and even steam-driven oxen pulling Union-P

@IsabellaRose Thank you for putting what I was just working out how to express so cleanly and clearly.

I feel like we could still explore a post-Civil War era without the civil war having been started for the same reason. The introduction of strange steampunk technology could result in the same sort of divide between the industrialized north and the plantation focused south. Perhaps we could use automatonized people instead? Or perhaps an inbalance in the existence of the special blue-coal type resource? It could be shifted instead into a war created mostly from a class disparity, perhaps one which existed much more heavily in the south. Maybe they instead shifted closer to neo-feudalism, and it wasn't a specific set of peoples but more a gene

I think we need to talk about this. The story seems to be taking a long, hard look at the human condition and the weight of expansion, technological advancement, wealth and power - slavery and its echoes are certainly part of that. I, for one, think if we're going to talk about the Army and the First Nations, enslaved people also need to be included.

I'll see what I can do. Itching to write a silly little preamble for Millie back in the city!

I like the crazy blue mineral/crystal. Two names to put forward: Luminite, or Cyanthium. Though that's what the smarty pants call it. The common folk might refer to it as 'Bluefire' or 'Glowstone.' @WritesNaughtyStories I'm with you on the promiscuity, and it makes sense that it being a taboo absolutely does NOT stop people. @IsabellaRoseI'm on board with the list pretty much as is and I like the summing up there. Given we're working in an Alternate History of the real world, you'll all have to forgive my geographical or historical blunders (although I know we're not using real figures.) Ignorant Brit over here.

I won't do a classic Vampire then, that is fine. Like I said, I do have other ideas as well. That said (and maybe someone already brought this up but I was too tired last night to notice), maybe the being a weird Human thing would work. Sort of like the weirdo from another culture like @WritesNaughtyStories combined with the Dr. Frankenstein angle. Maybe they look a little vampiric, and they have a bad reputation of being a Vampire (for people who don't know them, sort of like @WickedCadrach's idea of weird being called, for example, "The Werewolf of ____"), and part of their looks and such were due to nature and/or experiments they have

Sorry for slow response- stuff to add but working, will poke this when home <3

So I'm thinking about Prudence and her Ashborn, and given the setting... Prudence would very likely still be active. Perhaps her protection is a sort of frontier legend. Some people who say they've been protected by her have spread her legend, and some directly affected have now started a new faith, one of love and protection. This new faith draws all sorts of followers and is rapidly growing. Perhaps one of their first, or their very first, chapel is in the town where the players are based... Just a thought, given her wild west themed origin.

Okay, so... not a lot of discussion going on here. I'm going to post my lists of what I imagine for this setting and you guys can work from there. Things I Imagine Being in an 1880s/Wild West/Steampunk/Weird West Flavored Game Dusty boomtowns, saloons, and lawless frontier towns. Railroads, train robberies. Airships. Cursed mines. Traveling carnivals and bizarre expositions. Mad scientists in brass-and-copper laboratories. Automatons and clockwork men questioning their humanity. Creepy experiments. Tesla coils, pneumatic weapons, and steam-powered contraptions. Strange inventi

The way the system is built is why I want to hash out what the worlds look like first, then settle the players in the worlds that sound most interesting to them. If Group 1 decides no animal hybrids or a very specific implementation of them that doesn't appeal to the some players, and group 2 decides to include JRPG style animal hybrids who are there for reasons, then I want a player to have the opportunity to move to the group that contains the themes and elements they want. Which is my nice way to say: "get cracking, Group 2!"

Not to be on the nose, but I'm also very on board with the tone of promiscuity as a theme throughout, in whatever way we work it with your system. The idea that that might or might not be promoted by different sects/factions of faith is equally fun

@WritesNaughtyStories I like the slightly larger town setting. Settlers follow the 'gold' rush and the promise of new lands to colonise, and in this case it's sort of a success and the town does a lot better than most of the small settlements on the fringe. Now, this doesn't disqualify a world where a bad end means the town is destroyed/lost/we're branded outlaws, etc, and then we end up on the run, but as a baseline I like the town idea. The stability is a nice safety net to potentially begin our story depending on how it goes and if things work out in whatever which way. In that event, Millie absolutely has a workshop. Only as fan

I've seen the pathway thread... It definitely sounds complicated by my standards. It doesn't exactly tell me much about what would be an actual "start point". Whether we start together or separate would change how my character appear in the story, whether she is an engineer in a train that somehow carries other people who are supposed to meet and fate brought them together OR the team is already in a bar together at the start and drinking before leaving on some insane adventure. Just example but you might see what I mean. I may have found some potential (human) ideas that I could use but I just still don't understand how the setup will b

Not giving up is good. By the way, I did my deeper search on moreau and what takes people have on the internet (And what adaptation I could find through images and media). Now, I know it depends on the RPers' tastes here but it does seem like anthro characters COULD work in the setting. The issue is that in that story, they are locked to their own city for people to see them. (Like a zoo of sort, I guess?). So one of the anthros COULD be stuck in that city. Now, whether she manages to escape or somehow finds her way out is debatable. The real question I have though is about the setting itself. I know what the theme is about, how dark we

Figured I would check. The system as I seem to understand it does seem to be built around characters sticking together, and it not being as easy for a character to wander from one group to another, but figured I would check before group 2 really gets to figuring out its world and if/how different it is.

Meanwhile in the Starwars world: Lop. Nuff said. Even Star Wars is trying to appeal to me with furry characters and I'm all there for it. (Not a huge fan of Star wars otherwise, with how bad the last movies were but the general idea of the good old movies are fun.) I would totally go Lop mode on that if it came to it. Gotta enjoy them nice anthros.

I know I am not planning to leave anywhere unless something goes terribly wrong. Sadly, from what I saw, a lot of stories, especially multiplayer ones, die pretty fast. I don't want to be a sour apple but I've been on Ecchidreams for years now. Long enough to see things rise and fall many times. I'll help however I can and we can hope for the best.

Honestly, I could see this working as an almost Jekyll/Hyde formula type thing. Injected with "Essence of Bear" for strength, "Essence of Wolf" for tracking/pack hunting, etc. The effects are initially temporary as the experiment begins, a boost to the soldiers for a single offensive, something that wears off. At the same time, the effect is designed to be used as a gas, dispersed over a large area to affect multiple targets at once. But these were things more like a drug, designed to weaken their opponents... "Essence of Tortoise" to slow them down, "Essence of Rabbit" to make them skittish and more likely to run than fight. Obvi

I love this idea. Maybe not a war wound - maybe a gunfight they barely won? Either way, this is gold, in my estimation. I figured out a way to create the mostly human kind of fur-folk Warning was hoping for. I think the idea of the Army performing horrific and unethical experiments to better combat the First Nations should be included, But that particular thought does not seem to resonate for some reason.

I would like to see automatons, or at least clockwork cybernetics of sorts. And/or maybe some minor supernatural stuff. More classics like werewolves, vampires, etc. Or, if people want to play something with, say, bunny ears for example, perhaps having been created by some sort of experimentation. Not a one-off, so multiple people could go down that track, but probably a limited amount in the world. I imagine they would be, at best, treated like freaks or below Human by a majority of the populace, if not at least feared. I haven't completely decided what I will make yet. It will depend on what sort of rails we want to set. I fine wi

Start with this. Tell me what you want to exist in the setting. If you want people with bunny ears, now is the time to mention it. Also, tell me what you don't want. If anything I put in my last post about what I imagine and what I don't imagine for the setting runs contrary to what you imagine, we need to work it out now, not when we're a couple weeks into a roleplay.

Well yes we're meant to be fleshing out the world, seeing what sorts for the players and whatnot rn. What I listed are details I definitely think would make the game world more interesting and would really like so we can discuss and all that so anything you really want you can list, and anything you don't as well but definitely what you might want. Helps keep the players on the same page and of course see what works for Isabella.

@IsabellaRose How are we handling player wealth? I am thinking my character could be part of the British aristocracy but not sure if that would work well.