Renewal Planning Sheet

[Akiyamasan]

To keep it short and simple I'm going to be heading up a little project in order to get this website back on track so that we can cut the waiting period short and get back to having a bit more fun as soon as we can. To that end, we're going to steadily be working upon one thing at a time so that we don't end up with a whole lot of clutter that doesn't ever get resolved. Since this has been a big concern with every iteration of the website, we're going to start off with renewing the character application process, and discussing just what we can and can't do with characters when they're freshly created.

One of the things that we recently discussed and agreed upon was that we wanted characters to start from the beginning and claw their way up to some sort of standing within this world. Having a powerful character is nice and all, but if you're powerful right off the bat you can't really build your character much further than they started, making it sort of a bust for us to have a Bankai/Shikai system to begin with. It is for that reason that I will start off suggesting that when we renew this whole business, we start our characters off knowing not much more than having awareness of their powers. Now, I'm not saying this has to be done, this is why we're sitting here having a discussion topic. But to further elaborate upon the idea, I also suggest that we create a sort of Ranking System to supplement that idea.

You know, the really obvious E-S Ranking system with characters situated in the E section being comparative to an average rank and file soldier and characters situated in the S section being quite legendary. What a ranking system does in comparison to like, stats, for example is that it gives the player a nice amount of leeway, while still limiting them so that we don't have characters that just started out being as powerful as say, Yamamoto Genryuusai. What it also does is that it means that the other races of characters are now more attractive, as now they don't have to worry about a Shinigami just deciding to trounce them one day. Furthermore, it's much more rewarding to earn a powerful status than it is just to be born with one, don't you think?

This will eventually lead into how we can have the canon roles operate (Captain, Espada, etc), because nobody wants a captain to be about as weak as the characters he's leading right? We'll discuss it later, but I have an idea about -that- too, which we can talk about when we start moving onto the site's plot.

Anyways, lets get the discussion started. How are we going to deal with Characters?

[Enjiiro Senboukun]

The way I see it, as far as characters go it would be easier for everyone to start from a lower rank and work their way up the chain of command. However, we do not have enough people to make that work because we would need to have the majority of Captain positions already filled to allow people to start making lower level characters. Generally though, if we were to have all of our members become active again, I think that it would be best to set guidelines for each character's ages and histories. That way it will be easier to have uniformity throughout the threads and plot of the site. I also believe that it is easier if there is a type of stat system, or at least a ranking system, put in place so that people will spend less time arguing over who is best in a certain area (I have had alot of past experience with this problem) and more time having fun RPing and trying to work there way up to a higher level of power.

[Captain Stelevein]

Alright...I have not much say other than I agree with both points. However; Enjiro we will start monitoring rp's so we don't have any of that "always dodging" crap and the like, I also believe that while doing this it'd also be easier if let's say someone gets hit with an attack or ability, we could actually state exactly how bad the injury sustained was, this is because even with stats no one would really allow their character to get hurt very bad even though some characters should, now I'm not saying to the point of death or anything that bad.

[Akiyamasan]

How the captain positions will be handled is probably something better to discuss whenever we get around to reformatting the plot's basic structure. Since they're canon positions, and honestly I sometimes feel as though people utilize their captain status to lord over other players (I've seen it in the past, not among those here in this topic though), I don't know if I want to let people just start out being captain tier. An idea would be to let people fill up Captain positions, start them off just a tiny bit more powerful than everybody else, and IMPLY the captain has a Bankai that they don't use. When that character gets up to speed (Gaining all the prerequisites and all that) of Bankai, then they're free to use it whenever.

Actually I thought about histories and ages a little bit, and figured that it would be better to do away with age entirely. Instead of putting a concrete number on your age, you'd instead list an apparent age. This basically means that in your head canon you can be however old you want, but what you write down in your profile is how you look to someone just glancing about you. Histories can then be long and varied as you please, while at the same time your flashbacks and all that could coincide with more people.

As for a power system, I personally dislike stats. It gives the admins more to keep track of, as well as limiting the player from playing a character the way they want to. I'm fine with a ranking system on the other hand, as they're far more lenient, and allow the admins to gauge growth and power in characters, while letting us place trust in the player to just not abuse it. If someone does abuse it, it's not very hard for an admin to drop and NPC into a topic and just slap them around after all, eh?

Now, for how people are going to start off. I'm actually thinking that we'll start every Shinigami character off with nothing but a zanpakuto and a few spells. Said Zanpakuto would be inactive until you undergo shikai training, which we have a price for in the shop actually. The exception of this would be the twelve people who are lucky enough to nab Captain positions before the rest of the world. Those twelve will start with Shikai, and only one ability related to that shikai.

It means that the captains get to start off just a tad more powerful, but! I'd actually say that we increase the prices of gaining extra abilities for captains, so that in the end they're as balanced as the rest of the site. It makes sense from my point of view, and only keeping track of those special characters in terms of other pricing isn't too difficult.

What do you guys think? Let's get the Shinigami cemented down before we move onto anything else, since they're the most popular character type here.

[Captain Stelevein]

Alright, I understand where you are going with the captain thing and it sounds fine in theory. However, you must take into consideration the plot...if we didn't have people starting out as captains then the plot would take longer to kick off and of course it'd end up like this plot did. With that being said, I believe that those who want to be captain (since they will be needed) should have to work for it, however I don't believe they should work as hard until captain position is truly acquired. This would allow us to began with the plot a lot sooner. However; this is of course only my opinion, if I'm out voted so be it. xD

One last thing, it might seem like a lot of work, but we could have people fill out an application that states why they should get to be a captain etc and do it that way, and if they play it to g-mod we could step in and potentially strip the position from them.

[Jachimaru]

Stele forced me to come over here and give my input on this, so here I go. ;P

Anyway, as for characters, I like them how they are because I'm lazy and don't wanna rework or delete any of my guys. >.> But there's really no choice with the way the site has gone and what not. I pretty much agree with what Super's saying about starting characters off low (or at least lower than what we've been making them at) and letting them work their way up. I'm not against stats or rankings, but stats are HUGE pain to keep track of and if they aren't done well it'd probably drive some potential members away. As for rankings, the typical E-S would work I think. I think we could also have maybe an overall rank and ranks for certain attributes like speed, power, zanjutsu, etc. It'd be kinda like having stats, but they'd be using the E-S rankings and work more as a general ranking so people know definitively which characters they can and can't take on. (Kinda like how Kubo made battle data for his own characters.)

Not sure how I feel on the history and ages thing, just because I like to have a concrete idea on those kinds of things for plot related things. I think it'd work alright so long as we have a set time for our plot with regards to the canon if we use the same universe. We could just put our site in a completely different universe and not have to worry about; however we couldn't mention anything from the canon.

For shikai, isn't pretty much every shinigami required to learn shikai to join the Gotei 13? I can't find anything online, but if I'm wrong then this could work. Also, for the captains, I think we should let them put any of the abilities and bankai they'll want to have in the future, but they could strikethrough any of the abilities they aren't allowed to use yet. That way we could just accept the abilities in bulk. (They may still have to pay for unlocking the abilities if we're going to do it that way, but this way it'll save time for the members and the staff.)

Also, I think we should be working on the plot before anything else, because if we don't have a plot, we basically don't have a site. >.> We can technically work things out in whatever random order we choose so long as everything gets worked out, but since there are questions of Shinigami characters with regards to the plot, I think we should at least clear those up and then get back to working on these guys. The plot is what will get people to come in, and it's the first thing potential members will see, so I feel like it should be worked on first. Mechanics (How characters work, profiles, stats or no, etc.) should be worked on second since a lot of it will have plot-related issues. But that's just my opinion. XP

[Enjiiro Senboukun]

I agree with what you said about having general rankings for the different areas of combat. I think it would be just enough to give people an idea of how powerful there character is, without the whole annoying task of keeping up with detailed stats.

As for whether or not Shinigami must have Shikai: no they must not have a Shikai in order to join the Gotei 13, but to be seated they must. (or at least, I think they must be on the verge of obtaining Shikai.)

As for putting all of a character's skills on the template before hand: I agree 100% with this as well; It would save a bit of time for staff. We could strike through the un-learned skills and we could use the gold to unlock skills as characters grow.

[Akiyamasan]

Glad to spot you out and about again Jachi.

Yes, Tier attributes is actually exactly what I was thinking, in-part because of something that Crazyogsothoth mentioned at a point in time. Kubo himself uses various tiers for every attribute of his character's statistics, a sort of 1-10 deal using base tens for Offense, Defense, Mobility, Reiatsu, Intelligence, and Physical Strength. Granted, we could probably dumb them down or even make them just a tad more complicated if we wanted.

As for how canons go, I was actually thinking we should probably have our game in a parallel universe entirely with no mentions whatsoever to the canon characters. I'm feeling as though it'd help people in planning out their histories, as well as allowing us to fill certain positions without having to worry about the person who vacated it prior. Nobody can write better than Kubo can about what happens to his characters you know?

Hmm, As Enjiiro pointed out, Shikai is only really necessary if you're to be a seated officer. Renji, Kira, and Hinamori, who had Shikai prior to joining the court guard squads were immediately placed into Lieutenant Roles because they were in the Advanced Class during the academy to begin with. (AKA: They unlocked their shikai around that time.)

Anyways, just paying attention to Ichigo's growth, he wasn't exactly the strongest nor sharpest tool in the shed when he begun his journey. Even basic hollow were an immense struggle for him to defeat right in the beginning, but as he fought and trained longer he got stronger and stronger, and now he's at where he is today. There's a reason everybody in-universe likes him so much, and it's not because he's kicking everybody's faces into the ground right off the bat. It's downright because he earned his status tooth and nail by training himself in ways none of the other shinigami could ever conceive.

Hmm yes, that works for Bankai. Good move. We let them purchase Bankai and get one of the skills to go with it for free, and all other abilities must be purchased as they gain the currency/exp to get them.

So, flipping the script and getting things to work around here, I suppose it's time to hammer out at least the beginning of the plot before we do anything else. A plot that runs fluidly and is affected by what the players do with it provides a feeling of accomplishment, as well as making things less super rigid and structured. I guess less than a plot, we should be establishing the setting and everybody's starting positions. At a set period of time (Probably every month or so) we can have a staff member throw up big events that change the game up every so often, probably eventually leading to a sort of culmination.

Once again, the best part about that is that it means what the players do is important, and overall affects the world as it should.

So, let's rock.


I suppose we should start out with the two major factions that everybody is aware of, the Shinigami and the Arrancar.

As we know from Bleach, without a Soul Society there is nobody monitoring the balance of souls in order to keep the worlds from collapsing. This basically means that Soul Society -must- exist, and -must- be working along just fine. Gotei Thirteen in order, Rukongai working right, and Shinigami Patrols out and about, looking for hollows and various creatures to smash.

As for the Arrancar, Hueco Mundo was pretty much destroyed. I would suggest simply saying the Arrancar themselves have for a very long time been inactive, steadily repopulating their numbers and trying their best to stay out of Soul Society's sight. Hollows, given that they're not the sort of beings that can be controlled or anything, are probably roaming around all the time in both the human world and hueco mundo, feeding off whatever souls they can find.

We'll allow players to get situated for awhile with their respective universes, and after awhile I suppose we can start setting plots and ploys and other nasty things into motion.

That's just my suggestion anyways.

[Jachimaru]

Alright, that makes sense. XP I don't remember ever seeing a shinigami that didn't have shikai in Bleach. (Or at least that was stated they didn't have it. XP)

As far as attributes go, I think we could go with something similar to how a video-game would name stats/make it more "complicated" than what Kubo's done. Mostly because categories such as "Offense" and "Mobility" cover pretty wide areas. So if a member would want to make their character strong with Kido, but weak with Zanjutsu, how would they rank their Offense? Or a character isn't all that fast, but very flexible or dextrous, how would they rank their Mobility? I think it'd be good to pick apart some of the categories Kubo's used and pull out more specific attributes within those. Not too much though. Maybe just split a few in two or something? We could also just say something like, for the character with strong kido but weak zanjutsu, rank their Offense normal, their Reiatsu a bit higher than normal and the physical strength a bit lower?

I like the parallel/alternate universe idea. If we are doing this though, then should we establish (rather obscurely probably) some big past events that may help push along any plots or things we could use to kick-start things should it start to get slow? >.>

Gonna just throw out a bunch of questions to bounce around. What about the current status of Soul Society? Are we gonna have enough people to play captains or should we let the Director play as "captains" until the roles are filled? And what about a Zero Squad? They probably won't be in any need for awhile, but when they do will we have people sign up for them when needed, or will there be no Zero Squad at all, and Captains (when the time comes) will be recruited into the position? I personally think the second one, or possibly a combination of the two would be a good idea. I don't have much input for the Shinigami setting/plot-wise other than the typical, "they need to kill Hollows" thing and then a super strong one pops up; but that would be one of those special event type things that could lead up to something bigger. >.>

I think since most people will be coming in knowing the basic workings and such of Soul Society, there isn't much to do to establish a setting. Maybe we could just change or add what each squad is responsible for. Or have them be responsible for nothing until the captain of that squad decides they want to head up something. Like, there is no research and development squad, but if a member wants to take charge of that role, then they can. Although, I think this may start arguments if captains don't choose this kind of thing the moment they make their character. >.>

As for Arrancar, I have a few ideas. Perhaps we could turn Los Noches into some ruins that had been destroyed for whatever reason. That could explain why and how the Arrancar had gotten so small in numbers. As for the Espada, should we have them or just have the members create some sort of organized group on their own?

And since we're talking more about settings than a set-in-stone plot; what about the Human World? We don't need to have "Karakura Town" and could make our own hub of spiritual activity if we want, or redesign Karakura Town however we want. And what about Vizards, Humans, and Quincies? We could easily use the Masked Society as the place Vizards have always existed. Perhaps a plane that they were banished to by Soul Society and they've only recently made a way to escape? And the Quincies have

SPOILER: Click to show

"Schatten Bereich"

which I'm guessing is their base or something? Should we add another area for Quincies or just have them blending in with the Humans?

[Enjiiro Senboukun]

As for creating new races. I'm all for that, as I think it will be good for the site to introduce new races into our RP's, especially if we are going to be an AU RP. I do think that we should wait to introduce any new races until we are at a slow point in our plot (whenever we think of what the new one will be) so that they could serve as a "boost" to get the plot going again. After they were introduced we could either keep them as part of the site, or kill them off to end the arc. New races are necessary if we are going to be an AU site, as they add some originality to our plot; give new members a reason to come here and RP with us. As far as using stuff from the manga....we need to be careful doing this, as not everyone is current with the latest in Bleach, and this could be a problem with those that didn't want to hear a bunch of spoilers. (then again, I think that if you have time to RP about something you should be up-to-date on it, at least.) I think that we should definitely keep the masked society and use that, as it has a AU sorta vibe to it. I'm not going to speak on the Quincy topic, because if it were up to me, we would just kill them all off and never mention their bloody names again! D:<

[Akiyamasan]

I actually don't know how to apply the Vizard properly without them being overpowered. Honestly, I'd probably just suggest Vizard characters would just be super limited in number...

[Jachimaru]

About the Vizards, would doing something like severely limiting their powers while outside the Masked Society work? Like, in order to get out of the Masked Society, whatever method they've invented has a cost of limiting their reiatsu to where it would make them unable to use Bankai and limit their powers while their masks are on? (Of course, in the future the method could gradually limit them less.) We could also force a huge downside to using their masks and Hollow powers or give them a post limit for using their mask, which can be upgraded through purchases at the store. Aside from that though, I think limiting how many we accept in the beginning could be a good idea. Or just fill the Masked Society with the "new-aged Shinigami" and let them become Vizards easier or something. >.> I dunno, just throwing out random ideas.

[Akiyamasan]

Maybe make their abilities cost more than everybody elses'? I don't really like limiting the power of players, but I guess even Shinigami have their powers limited in the real world by the people in the Research and Development Division. Or I suppose we can just not let people make Vizards in the first place and have them be something you have to RP to become...

[Captain Stelevein]

Alright, so it seems to be getting more complicated then what it's worth. So....here's the deal, when it comes to vizards leaving masked society their powers will be limited, however I wouldn't say severely limited, perhaps probably just halved maybe not even that much. But, as time goes by they learn how to keep their powers from being limited as much. With that in mind their main goal is to create a new soul society or rather co-exist with the one already there. This bring me back to masked society, the ideal of them being sealed there doesn't sit right with me, in fact I'd much rather the vizards to have created it all on their own, aside from that wouldn't you think the soul society would have been monitoring the masked society to prevent something like their escape from happening? Unless of course they are just that stupid, but I doubt it.

[Akiyamasan]

Hmm... I guess the alternative is when people create Vizored, the Vizored doesn't actually have access to their masks yet. I mean, even Ichigo wasn't able to use his mask from the get-go, and in truth the mask just sort of popped up at times to occasionally soak blows for him. I mean, even the Vizored that we're used to in the show weren't able to do it at first, and had to train for days in order to even activate it. From there we could probably limit how long the mask can be active, how effectively it increases your parameters and allow players to purchase additional time/effectiveness.

That way, a Vizored doesn't have to be limited anymore than any of the other races, and their additional power comes at a price.

Moving on, stop discussing the Masked Society. At the moment, though ideas could be flowing it honestly isn't as important as the plot surrounding the world that people are actually used to interacting with. We've basically cemented Soul Society as just working along as it always had, but what about what's going on in Hueco Mundo or even the Human World? Stuff like the Masked Society and what it's doing could be revealed later, and honestly I think restricting the place for now and opening it up for RPing later in the plot is an interesting way of handling it. (Judge receives credit for that.)

As Jachi said right off the bat, if we don't have the world and the basic plot cemented before everything else, we don't have an RP. On task.