I was referred to this site by word of mouth from a friend who was told about it at his work, and I've been poking through the site. Just yesterday I read through everything, and it got me to thinking of characters I would like to use, or make. However, my character concepts are a bit extraordinary at times, most likely due to my anime inspired cinematographical (word?) imagination. Now, I don't mean forty foot pink hair, but rather bizarre powers, or (melo)dramatic executions. I've also got quite the penchant for interesting inventions and creations, and applying them to combat and roleplaying situations. The questions I have are a little more based around characters and their abilities, and how they would be able to work.

For starters, as a pyromancer innish, it says they must have eye contact with a target. Now, would that require a direct line of sight, or could a reflection be used? While to myself, I consider the fact that maybe a direct line of sight would be needed for proper targetting, a mirror or other reflective surface, as long as it gave a clear image, would also be albe to be used for them to estimate or at least somewhat approximate the target. Would one be able to use their ability on a target seen in a mirror, or would they have to make direct visual contact?

Second question I would like to ask is less of a question, and more of an opinion. I've always wanted to make a character who had a wide array of powers, but no direct way of using them. The only time the powers become active is when they're listening to music, and the power only depends on the feelings the song inspires, and in turn the powers are used for their purposes. A few notes is that the person would know they have these powers, but even if they were unnish previously, even with knowledge of magic and powers, they wouldn't be able to find a way to fully or effectively control even one power. A few power play counter-balances I've devised is that to even use the powers, they must be listening to a song, and for that they need a CD palyer or some other device, which would mean the need to either be close to a stereo or carry a CD player. As well, not every song has an effect, only songs that are specifically their favourite (which would in turn correspond with my playlist), and they don't gain the power immidiately at the start of the song, to prevent quick switching, it takes a few minutes to wind up to the song. Effectively, they must be 'grooving' to be able to tap into the power. The powers themselves can sometimes trigger themselves sporadically during the song, but most of the time they would be able to define what aspect they want to use through a motion, or a string of them. As it is, their song-specific ability is utilised through their dancing, and in the exemption of random expulsions of power, the only way to manifest the powers is through the dance. It's also noteworthy that I will be gauging battery power in the case of CD players, as well as anti-skip, so every once in a while the batteries will need to be changed, and sudden impacts could cause the CD to skip or stop, which would result in a disruption of the abilities. Now, as you can see I've put a bit of thought into this character, but I'm not exactly sure how or if it will work in Once. Anyone have any comments on how I would be able to make it work as intended, or will I have to make drastic changes?

Third question is about psychics and the limits of their powers. Recently I've picked up a copy of Phantom Dust for X-box. If you don't know about it, in an apocalyptic future, humans have moved underground to escape a memory erasing dust that has covered the Earth, and mysterious creatures that have appeared along with it. In some people the dust creates special powers, and these people are known as Espers, and they can use the dust to fuel and power psychic abilities. Now, I realize that the 'Nature' school of skils would be distributed mostly to dryads and elementalists, but the remaining four, Psychokinetic, Optical, Ki and Faith, would they be applicable to the abilities and skills of psychics? I realize that having 4 different variants of powers would be munchy, so I would assume that there would be a selection of one school, though I wonder if I were to be able to choose one of the schools, would they still operate as would be assumed? Psychokinetic is fairly self-explanitory, Optical would be the control of light and illusions, Ki would be more physical, augmenting one's martial arts with psychic energy to deal extra damage and effects, and Faith would be centered more on creating effects based on divine legends and mythos. I realize this might be pushing it a little, so if it's not acceptable, then I understand, I'd just prefer to use something based off something I'm familiar with myself, so I'm less likely to make mistakes.

That's all I really have for now, if there's anything else I want to know, I'll ask again here.

as you may also have noticed, we don't generally allow for anime influences.

as for your first question, the species and powers listed under Species And Class Ideas are for the most part only guidelines. however, according to the class reference for fire-related powers, it's pyrokinesis and not pyromancy which would most likely require eye contact. pyromancy as opposed to pyrokinesis is something closer to magecraft, probably. again, bear in mind that the section is just ideas, and relatively flexible. you can probably use mirrors.


on a personal level, i'm not too keen on your second idea. it has no grounding at all in the setting and point of this site, and if you're really attatched to it it might be much better used elsewhere. i'd PM ||| about it, though, just in case- if you flipped it around somewhat, instead having an innish character with just one or two specific powers who is then cursed with an inability to use those powers unless listening to the right music, it might work.

the third question is indeed pushing it a little. you may use psycho- or telekinesis, you may use illusions, but 'ki' and 'faith' have no basis in the Once universe, as this is not a battle-centric roleplay and, more importantly, the divine legends and mythos is up and walking around. you may be a supplicant or follower of a god, and depending on the circumstances you can have powers related to that god, but not otherwise.

if those answers made it really difficult or anything like that, PM myself or Jack (|||) and we can work something out.

Was the friend Nathan? I was hoping to see him around.

Anyhow, hi, admin-person here, responding.

What cami said about the first basically goes-- the species and classes list is full of ideas, suggestions, stuff you can base it off of. Once is an amorphous sort of site, all-goes within the parameters of theme, so while one character's power might be limited to sight directly, another could use mirrors, and another just their mind... et cetera. Words are just words, made by humans to describe certain phenomena. Like in sociology and psychology, there's a bunch of words and everyone uses different ones to describe the same things.

Second question-- idea, rather. I actually liked it. It sounds interesting. my concern is that it sounds a but like you're under the impression we do fighting stuff on Once... which, um, we don't really. Fighting is purely plot-based, moves decided on by players for what would be funnest for the plot involved.

Music-based powers that go off in the middle of a school dance or whatever, though, could be fun. A CD player as an instrument of magic sounds kickin'. Tympan would love this kid.

As for the third... it's words, again. The question you need to be asking is how your character would categorize it in order to understand it. There's no set system-- some mages call stuff one thing, others another. We prefer you pull (if you must) from mythology rather than something like video-games or books and movies, though.

However, you could work it into a character. They've been playing such-and-such a game a lot, they suddenly find out about their powers, they incorporate the game into their understanding of this new power. Could be interesting, depending on how it's played.

Anyhow, Cami's first point stands. We're not really fans of pulling from anime sources, however, from reading your questions you don't seem the 'typical' anime fan that we have certain... objections to. Se we'll see, aye?

Yes, the friend would be Nathan. I don't think he does much for roleplaying anymore. I've asked him about it before, I think he said something like 'been too long' or something. Meh. I can talk to him today.

I understand that this isn't a combat oriented roleplay site, but as most sites I've been around have had mostly quest or war related roleplay threads, over the last nine years, I tend to create more for their needs. Still, I'd rather be prepared for something than to be caught off guard if I ever became involved in a fight-centric storyline. That's why I think the second idea would be interesting, it has very questionable application to actual battle, and has a 1:100 chance of randomly activating, which could lead to a disaster if something like 'Running Fire' was playing.

As for pulling sources from games, I would take more from mythology, but I find it much easier to find a source of information on a game rather than the legend it might be based on. For example, I understand that the summons in the Final Fantasy series are mostly based off of mythology, but I have yet to find a site that can give a background into the legend they're based on rather than information pertaining to the game's version. I like to create my own original content when I can, but if I find it's much like something already, like a game for instance, then I rework it based off of that. ometimes I only base things or liken them to games to make it easier to explain with a reference.

As for the anime point, I can't really control how my mind works at times. While I am a fan of a wide range of anime, most of them wouldn't be the greatest for character creation. It's kind of odd to explain how I picture things in my mind, there's a very cinematic feel to it, and it sort of reminds me of the directing style of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series. Camera angles, colours, effects, such like that. A lot of the time as well the combat I envision is exaggerated in aspects, whether speed, or execution of moves, techniques and spells. With it though, the characters don't tend to be over-exaggerated, they just tend to have powers that work different than normal, and the big moves are mostly exaggerated for dramatic effect. I haven't really had much trouble co-existing in a semi-realistic modern environment, so I don't think I'll have much trouble here.

I was thinking that, yes. It could also make for some interesting scenarios with the god of music, were he around.

As for the mythology, there's sites like theoi.com for greek and a bunch of others, if you really wanted them.

Aaaand as for anime, the objection we have is that it does tend to ahve a sort of surreal effect, like it doesn't focus on real character/real reaction as much, and that's what we'd ask of you. To basically think about character psychology-- if all else fails, think "If I, me, the person typing this, were suddenly presented with magical powers activated by music... how would I react?"

>_> *Sneaks in*

Well, Jack, -I- would react as in "HOLY CRAP." and then later, "I'M GONNA BE A ROCKSTAR!"

I'd be a little worried about grooving to music, myself.

Well, for the most part I'd have them be fairly oblivious to the power randomly activating, as it would catch them off guard and they wouldn't realize they were the cause of it. I'm theorizing how they would be able to figure out that there's definately something out and how they would test it effectively. I'm not much for carrying over an anime tone to character behaviour, it's mostly in the creation stages. More simply, it's more like what American superheroes would be like 90% of their superpowers weren't some kind of genetic mutation, and their creation process was a little more imaginative. More or less, American comics influenced by Japanese affinity for bizarre.

That's kind of how my characters work, trying to stay in touch with the reality presented, while their combat and other 'action' sequences work out more like action movies, only with a good deal more flashyness. For example, rather than simply hopping over a railing and falling on top of a group of baddies to break their faces, they'd cartwheel or flip over the railing and land in mid combat. It's mostly unlikely, and that's the part that's exaggerated mostly, action and combat plays out more like kung fu movies, or the more serious anime, such as Cowboy Bebop, for example. The majority of the time, there's nothing different to how my characters work. I think the only real concern would be how I handle combat, but since that's for story purposes, then there really shouldn't be any troubles.

The main thing that pains me is being stripped from my wonderful high technology I love so much to play with. Maybe if it's not too outlandish, I might be able to conceive of a plotline later where a group of people work together to make a decently controllable, magically animated walker of a sort. After all, the technology currently exists, though it's pretty much experimental and prototypical. The future is now.

Another few questions I have that I wanted to ask as well.

A character of mine I created previously uses Elemental Seals, Runes, and Glyphs inscribed onto business card sized slips of paper, and uses them either singularly as a single burst of magic, or arranges them on a Power Circle to create larger effects. Seals, alone, create small bursts of magic similar to the weakest variant of the spell available, while Runes have the same effect, but are placed against a surface to give the object the properties, and Glyphs act as 'Runewords', and are generally used to create larger, specific reactions, such as summons, or transmuting matter. I'm not considering using this character here, as he's intended mostly for battle purposes, but what I want to know is what would a system like this be considered as, witchcraft, magecraft, a combination, or something completely different/undefinable, using cards as a catalyst to magic.

Another thing I was wondering, would a magically animated/possessed man-sized sentient marionette be an applicable character if there was good enough reasoning? Like Pinocchio, for example, only minus the 'real boy' part.

what you're describing is a golem. yes, golems are feasible.

what you seem to be missing is that the reason we don't encourage cinematic, comic, or anime traits or concepts is because frankly we don't allow them. the way you play out battle scenes does not change the fact that this is not a combat-centric rp.

part of the point of this site is that if a character requires research, one does the research. the idea is that you don't pull sources from games.
your cards system, for instance- i haven't an inkling what that would be, especially as seems like a source pulled from a game. the rpers here- we make most of this stuff up as we go along. names are flexible. and you've got a specific system with specific rules and you're asking us to name it for you? witchcraft and magecraft sound rather the same to me- aside from the fact that the term 'witchcraft' is misused, overused, and often in game-terms mistranslated, too.

See, even original ideas sound like they're pulled from games.

I'm not trying to change what this roleplay is, I am just simply explaining what areas may be a concern in relation to the rules. I thought the way I was explaining it was pretty clear, so it's either a fault on my end, or you just don't understand what I'm writing, which isn't new either.

I was just asking what the system would be considered in the way it works. I'd think witchcraft due to its 'tarot' style system, or magecraft because it's using specific cards as a catalyst for spells.

I'd call it object-based magecraft, myself.

If you're describing what I think you are, I think it'd be okay. The best way to see is to, well. see. To go at it.

As for the animated marionette/golem thing, sure. That'd be insteresting.