Duality {forum-idea}

[Mindstorm]

So I hope no-one minds that I write about this in English, but like I said I already had a concept for an English RPG and I wonder what you'd think about it. If there're enough people interested in this I probably will make a forum out of it, but that's going to be quite some work and I don't want it to be done in vein, so I'll only make this if I can find more than 6 people interested in actively participating.

I would like to make clear that all of this is still a concept so pretty much everything can still be changed if you can convince me that your option will work out better (that might be tough in some cases because I can be very stubborn, but I always appreciate the input of other people).
Another thing is that I originally made up this concept together with another person. I am not sure if that person is still an active RPG-er, but in order to prevent conflict I believe that person also has to be included in the creation of the forum (unless for some reason I’d get a carte-blanche to make it on my own), but that’s something to worry about later.

As for the concept itself: the plan was to make a magic school-ish place, but not in the traditional way as most of you people know it, but I hope you’ll still be interested.
The name of the forum would be Duality and the story would be about two towers, standing next to each other: a white one and a black one. One teaches light magic, the other teaches dark magic. They used to work together, but as their fame spread throughout the world, their differences became bigger and bigger until this escalated in a conflict. At the moment of playing the two towers despise each other, but they still share the same rite of initiation: every few years all people who want to apply have to gather at the big square in front of the two towers. The teachers of both schools will walk through the mass at the square and hand out a magical stone (either white or black) to the students in which they see a potential magician. The stones give access to one of the towers, but only very few students are selected.
Both towers are divided in three levels. The difficulty and amount of courses increases with each level. For the beginning I would like to start by making only the first level of the black tower playable. If the forum becomes big enough we could open the higher levels or the white tower, but I like the idea to keep those things a bit of a mystery in the beginning.
As for some organizational matters, I dislike the idea of switching accounts every time you need to post, so instead every character will get a small students-pass, which you can put in your signature to prevent confusion.

Wow, this became quite a wall of text.. Feedback anyone?

[Lone Wanderer]

It sounds interesting! For now I've got two questions: what kind of magic is teached? I mean: the wand-waving-HP-kinda-stuff or more like the Lord of the Rings-magic... or something totally different from that? (Haha, I don't know why, but somehow Winx Club came to my mind XD)
Second question: is the Black Tower meant for dark/troubled/evil characters only or can even the kind-hearted become dark magicians?

Anyway, I think this idea can work out really well!

[Lacernella Rubra]

Sounds interesting! Oké, ik ga gewoon even in het Nederlands verder hoor, anders moet ik te veel nadenken op de zondagmorgen xd
In het begin kun je als RPG'er dus alleen de zwarte toren in: Zijn er bepaalde eisen voor tovenaars die de zwarte toren ingaan? Zegmaar: bepaalde eigenschappen die je moet hebben? Want ik neem aan dat de Zwarte en Witte Toren hun keuzes wel ergens op baseren. Of doen ze het puur op gevoel?

Goed idee trouwens, om maar één account te gebruiken zo at je niet steeds hoeft te switchen!

Goed, dat was alles wat ik op dit moment even kwijt wilde/wil weten, maar ik denk dat ik later nog wel terugkom in dit topic.

Edit: oh, Anja was me voor. XD

[Mindstorm]

Thanks for the positive feedback! And also for the good questions, here are some possible answers. (I hope you don’t mind I answer in English, but then I could copy-paste some of these things into the forum descriptions):

The magic that is taught will probably be more the LoTR kind of magic, although I recently took a class on medieval witchcraft, so I'm now thinking about also including some historically based forms of magic, like rituals, spells and chants that I found in medieval manuscripts.
I would like it if the black tower – which would be named Ashyn by the way - appeared evil at the first sight, but turns out to be not that bad when you take a closer look (and vice-versa for the white one). I think the towers select their students mainly on potential power and talent for a certain aspect of magic (because they will be teaching different subjects), but also on a certain mind-set, but this does not necessarily have to mean the distinction good vs. evil.

As for the courses: the original idea was to start with only three classes, and then there will be more on the higher planes of the tower. The subjects will probably be something like Esoterica/Rituals, Mythology/Ancient stories and Herb Lore. On higher levels more spectacular classes are planned such as elemental conjuration, telepathy and shadow magic.
Apparently we had already designed the first three teachers. (They would be Non-Player Characters, that everyone can use in his/her post, although it is also possible to take one of these NPC’s as your main character.) This is what I found:

Luna Jugendhart – Head Witch – Headmistress
Luna Jugendhart has been the headmistress of Ashyn ever since the tower was opened. She is the most powerful and feared witch of Ashyn. She only teaches classes at the higher planes and doesn’t come down to the first plane very often. When she does, this is usually a very bad sign..

Lidmilla Blavatsky – Head Witch – Occult Rituals
Lidmilla is one of the three head witches of Ashyn and therefore she is treated with a lot of respect. She is an expert on ritual magic and teaches her subject at all three planes. Although she likes to make a lot of digressions in her lectures, she never seems to reveal all her secrets. It is said that she knows many obscure spells, with which even Luna is unfamiliar.

Lathea Llewyn – Ancient Mythology
A very old woman who teachers mythology. She has mastered an incredible amount of old languages. There are rumours that some of that some of these languages were still alive when she learned them. Lathea loves telling stories in which she gets really caught up. Some of the students think her class is the perfect moment to catch up with some missing hours of sleep, while others are so captured by her stories that they cannot stop listening to her.

Jessica  – Canteen Cook – Herb Lore
Jessica is the canteen cook of Ashyn. She prepares lunch and dinner for all the students. Most of the time the food is quite edible (occasionally it’s delicious), but she likes to experiment a lot and these ‘experiments’ do not always work out well. She also teachers herb lore on the first plane, but because she does not teach the higher levels, most professors do not consider her as a ‘real’ colleague.

[CCDragon]

Because I had the same questions as A&A, I waited for some more info.

First of all, I must say I like the idea. The white and black tower, with their white and black magic, do suggest there is a evil and good side. But since you day it doesn't, I would like to know what devines black magic and how it is different from white magic.

It's a very good idea to play multiple characters on the same account, I've been playing around with the idea myself for a while to. You can easily show which character you are using bij putting their name on top of your post or by using postsheets.

The classes and teachers sound very interesting. Though, I have some questions about the world around the school. At which age could you apply for the school? In what time (midievel, modern, etc) is this played? And I don't have a very strong idea about the magic you would want to use. Is it used through objects (like Gandals wand/walking stick) or is it energy that you channel in the body?

[Lone Wanderer]

About multiple character on one account: it has its pro's and its cons. I myself like to judge a character by an avatar, so that I don't have to search for a description of the character. Also: if every character has it's own account, you can clearly divide them into seperate groups. If you have multiple characters on the same account, you can't do that.
So, I guess if you've things like a Common Room that is only visible for a certain group of people, it's easier to have different accounts per character.

Just saying.

[Mindstorm]

It's hard to explain the differences between the two towers, but I'll definitely keep that in mind during the process. I hope it will be more clear when the forum is actually there..
As for the multiple characters on one account: I am aware that in some occasions this can be more convenient, but I think the devision in two towers is already enough, so there probably won't be houses within the towers, which means there's no common-room problem. (Although it's indeed good to keep in mind)

As for the world around it, I didn't really think of that yet. I think it would be a world in which magic is not hidden, but extremely rare and therefore not many people know about it. I don't have a precise timeframe yet.. maybe the modern period, but not too modern, say somewhere in the 90's?
I think the age of the students should be over 16, so they are not too young, which might make the plots more interesting. Maybe somewhere between 16 and 21? (Also because I noticed that a lot of people tend to overpower 14 year old characters, so that they know too much and/or behave way to adult for their age..)

[Lacernella Rubra]

Maybe it's just because I'm listening a lot to some sci-fi-themed music lately, but the feeling I got when reading your idea, was some medieval theme, which is a bit of a standard "wizard-age" of course, so I think it's a good thing to pick a more modern age. If I were you I would pick the early 20th century though, because that way you're less related to Harry Potter. But that's just my two cents, I can imagine you rather pick the 90's because (for example) that's easier to write about, since you grew up in the 90's.

As for the ages: it's not really necessary to set an age for students, is it? I mean, it could be just as interesting to make the school open to all ages. Say: there's this thirty year old guy who realises at a point that he has magical powers and there's this sixteen year old girl who probably has magic powers because her dad's a wizard and there's this fifty year old woman who... well, you get the point, right? I think that would be interesting. But I would definitely stick to a minimum age, because you're totally right: you can't have overpowered 14 year old guys running around in you RPG, that would be just annoying. XD

[Lone Wanderer]

I see many advantages in making the students 16 years and older. However, that leaves me with a new question: do students finish a "normal" education (by which I mean lessons in English, Mathematics, Biology and the like) first? Because in that case, if I look at the Dutch system, some students (VWO'ers) would be 18 when they can enter the school and others (VMBO'ers) would be 16... But that's just a random thought and something that can be thought of much later on xD

Another question (yeah, I keep on asking questions xD): do the admins have special roles? You've been on the same HP-RPG's as I have, so you probably know what I'm trying to say, but anyway, what I mean is: is an administrator automatically a Headmaster?

(I'm getting more and more enthusiastic with every post, haha )

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Edit: oh, LR posted first xD Now that I think of it: Steampunk-like-era would be really awesome! That's the Victorian Age, right? But maybe that's too far back in history... hm... I didn't realize the importance of the time-setting until now.
Also: I kinda agree with the last thing LR said, about the age at which people can enter. It can be interesting to have old and young people mixed up. (Though it leaves less opportunities for love-stories and such, I guess)

[Mindstorm]

You're not the only one that's getting more and more enthusiastic in this process I like all the questions, because that forces me to think of things I didn’t realize before.

I LOVE the idea of some steampunk-ish kind of era, so maybe the Fin du Siècle would be an interesting period (end of the 19th century – 1914), although that would require the players to read some historical information, but I suppose a decent summery could help a lot there.
I agree to the ages. It would be a good idea to have 16 as a minimum, but no maximum (and I REALLY hope someone will be creative enough to take a 50-year-old woman as a character).
As for the admins/mods: they do not necessarily have to be teachers I think, because their tasks will be mainly OC and not IC. I do not really like a strict hierarchy (although for a bigger forum that is necessary). I do think one of the admins should take Luna as a main character, because that makes it more easy to keep the RPG running by introducing new plots and IC-rules and such.

[A Lion Of The Rock]

Woah you guys write a lot in such a short period of time.. I haven't read the whole wall of text that covers this page yet, but I am well on my way!

The storyline sounds very interesting and I have the feeling it sure can get active since it's kind of original:) Not a rip of from a popular book arc or movie series. With the right people working on it and you notice it's getting loved and active on Kickstarter I'd say it can get up and running in no time! Steam Punk is absolutely amazing, on that side note. I haven't seen much of those fora yet!

Another thing, the age difference makes me PUMPED to get started in your RPG! I'd definitely make a 40 year old who just found out he has magic powers. Just for the sake of the story xD Maybe it's an idea to also write a .. kind of history? How do people find out they have powers? How can they enter those schools? Are there dorms? Special wings for like .. elite students and stuff? [I am so sorry if this has already been mentioned .. I am still reading on it! Nearly at the end!]

Be gentle with me, I am intimidated by the profession and walls of text you guys write :c Just trying to give some feedback and maybe throw in some ideas n_n

[Mindstorm]

Especially for Lianne (and because I've been quite busy lately), I didn't post for a while so you could catch up!

I love all the enthousiasm I got here and I'm definitely going to make the forum, although it might take a while before it's finished (especially because writing proper english descriptions takes some time). I'm looking forward to your 40-year-old guy

I didn't really think yet of how people find out about their magic.. I think every mage has an emotional trigger that makes him/her show his/her powers the first time. This trigger can be different for every individual I suppose.

Students can sleep in the Towers, so in theory they do not have to leave the place while they're studying there (although they are allowed to). There are rooms on every plane of the tower and if a student's moves up a level in education, he/she will get a room that is a bit more luxurious. Maybe starting of with shared rooms and ending up with private ones? I hope this kinda answers all questions. Please ask me more if there's anything I haven't covered yet!

[Cricket]

Okay, I've been stalking this topic for a long while and I want to give some input now. I hope you don't mind ^-^

Oh geez, English on the late evening. xD Anyway, I would love to know if the subjects of the two towers will overlap (Like: with only a few specialities that'll differ) or that your student would do a completely different study overall? Or do the students themselves pick what subjects they will follow and what they want to focus on? And if so, what kind of specialities would be options? I can imagine that you don't have that sketched out really precisely, but some indications? ^-^

I also love the Steampunk idea, I don't know a lot about Steampunk, but I always thought it had a certain charm. I saw that you named the Enlightenment, so it would be in the time of the Industrialisation? It might be an interesting concept how people would take on magic in the times where people would focus more on human ratio instead of 'godly' powers. ^-^

At any rate, I might come back with some more things, for now my brain is too tired. xD Keep up the good work though. ~!

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