Code: PIRULUK
-
Posts
1612 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Reborn Development Blog
Rejuvenation Development Blog
Starlight Divide Devblog
Desolation Dev Blog
Posts posted by Code: PIRULUK
-
-
13 minutes ago, ElfCollaborator said:
Yes, avoid the stares, Hikari. Avoid them.
Ignore the rather entranced Sachi watching you do your warmups in your swimsuit. That's right.
The expression on Sachi's face is mixed between entrancement and utter confusion. Mainly the latter.
As Sachi continued to be entranced by Kagari and Hikari's butt-waving display, unbeknownst to her, a small part of Kagari's constituent slime fell off, hitting the floor and crawling along it, largely unnoticed. It snuck behind Sachi and, in a single, great movement, formed itself into a lithe arm and started groping Sachi's butt.
-
1
-
-
There are a few sighs from the audience stands. As the song draws to a close, a murmur of disappointment passes through the audience. In general, the audience looks unimpressed.
However, at literally the last second, just before the music cuts, everything stops. The audience stops moving or talking. The lightsticks stop waving. The world loses its colour. Looking over the audience, you notice that all of them are completely still, some even frozen mid-utterance. You can't even see the telltale rise and fall of breathing. It's as if they're frozen in time. If you turn to look at backstage, you see a similar phenomenon. It seems that time has been completely frozen for everyone except the five of you.
-
"Private? Why?"
Kagari raised an eyebrow as she continued to move her hips in a rhythmic, steady fashion.
"If you're going to be a real Keijo player, you're going to need to learn to deal with stares. We deal with it on a daily basis. It's a lot of pressure, not everyone can handle it. But it's the bare minimum if you want to be a pro. This is good practice."
Concluding her reasoning, Kagari started to accelerate the pace of her warmups, if only to pressure Hikari a bit into joining in.
-
The audience let out a sigh of relief when Yuki didn't fall flat on her face, as Ayaka had done. However, a good many of them were starting to chatter among themselves, speaking to those around them while pointing at the stage. You're quite sure you can see a few smirks of derision. The number of waving lightsticks, few though they were, start to decrease even further.
There's time for maybe one more Appeal before the song ends - will you take the chance?
-
Single-minded in her purpose, Kagari ignored the rest of their allies in the Ballroom, dragging Hikari by the hand. She had a mission to teach this young lady the fine art of Keijo, and while they had been interrupted previously by the angel's request, this was a prime opportunity to resume their training. She turned to Hikari.
"Well then, we can begin with warmups. 100 counts of hip-8s. I'll do them with you. Let's go!"
Without waiting for a response, Kagari launched into a series of absurdly quick hip-figure-eights. She wasn't expecting a human to keep up with her, of course. This was her own warmup. 1600 counts of Hip-8s. At her regular speed, she should be able to finish at roughly the same time as her aspiring protege.
-
Prei readied her lance again, swinging it to the side after having rushed and impaled the smaller creature. She set her sights on the remaining opponent, then dashed off towards it.
Basic Attack on Kracko
-
Yuki's Appeal attempt ended in failure!
-
A wave of laughter is heard from the audience, courtesy of Ayaka's cute mistake. A number of people pulled out their phones once they saw her spinning out of control, snapping a (flashless, of course) photo of the face-fallen Ayaka.
All throughout the audience, a number of guests stand up and leave with looks of clear disappointment on their faces.
-
The song goes into a brief intermission of pure instrumentation; perfect timing for performing an appeal.
A quick glance at the audience reveals that while there are a few waving lightsticks and generally smiles all round shows that the excitement just... isn't really there.
-
The curtains stand before you, drawn. You hear incessant chattering from the other side, indicative of the mass of people waiting to listen to your first performance as a group. This is your start line, your launchpad. Do well here, and your career launches into a stellar (literally) start. Do badly, and it all comes crashing down before you even started. This is the do or die moment for you, as well as the four girls who stand at your side.
There's just one tiny problem: you're all strangers. You were told nothing. You were given no warning. You know the song and dance, at the very least - it's the same you were told to sing for the audition - but most of you have never met each other before today. And now you're supposed to go out there and perform. This session has apparently been marketed as "The First Live of the Next-Generation Miracle!" - advertisements had been sent out all over Earth, though somehow none of you had read anything about it, presumably due to being too worried about the audition. It's perfectly normal. You should perhaps have suspected something when you were told to arrive in your idol outfits, but even if you had, it would have been too late to prepare anything, lest you miss the chance of your lifetime.
So this is that chance. A chance to make your first big splash. There's still a couple minutes left till the curtains open.
Reviewing your audition, you recall that you're supposed to perform the song Bon Bon Voyage. You go over the song in your head, recalling the unique dances each of you did for the audition.
Then time's up. The curtains open. The stage is yours.
Audience Count: 10,000
Bond Benefits: None
Stage Type: Cute
Song Type: Cute
((Instructions: Write up your performances. EZ. Once everyone has a performance post in stating their emotional state + Thoughts + How they're dancing, I'll cue you in for Appeals, then y'all can decide who does each Appeal in which order. For this performance, there is no Center.))
-
Prei prepares to fire [Unerring Judgment of the Dragon Maiden: <<Myriad Execution>>]
Damage = STR + 2SYN +2*(Total Damage Taken)
Current Damage: 10 + 10 + (2)*2 = 24
Will fire at the end of this round.
-
Auditions have ended! Here are the lucky Five, along with the abilities I've decided to grant them! For those of you listed here, please add the abilities listed to your sheet.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Yuri Akiyama (Twinwolf)
Ability: [Sibling Bond] - Yuri and Yuki's Bond starts at 30 and can never fall below this number. Any time an event would occur that would cause a drop below this number, they each receive one Strain point instead. When they hit 3 Strain points, their Bond is damaged and broken, and cannot be fixed without a special event.
Yuki Akiyama (Pyon)
Ability: [Sibling Bond] - Yuri and Yuki's Bond starts at 30 and can never fall below this number. Any time an event would occur that would cause a drop below this number, they each receive one Strain point instead. When they hit 3 Strain points, their Bond is damaged and broken, and cannot be fixed without a special event.
Lucinda Wada (DragonRage)Ability: [Soul of Rock] - Lucinda gets a +10 bonus to Impact when performing a Cool-type song, but a -10 when performing any other song.
Yoshida Ayaka (Adamance Ascendant)Ability: [Nerves] - If Ayaka's Appeal is the first or the last of the performance, it gets +1 Complexity - higher chance to fail, but also higher bonus if she passes.
Azusa Kumon (ElfCollaborator)Ability: [Bancho] - If Azusa is the Center, she gets a +10 bonus to Impact, but her intimidating aura makes it harder for teammates to pull off Appeals (Additional 1 point needed for pass)
-------------------------------------------------------
Now then, the IC will go up this weekend, so look forward to it. Brush up on your descriptive skills and idolling, because we're going to launch into a concert right off the bat.
-
Prei Continues Charging [Unerring Judgment of the Dragon Maiden: <<Myriad Execution>>]
Current Damage: 10 + 10 + (0)*2 = 20
Turns left before firing: 1
-
2 minutes ago, UrbanSamurai said:
I see, the future is SUPERCAPITALISM (Sponsored by Coca-Cola[TM]), which is certainly not an unrealistic path to go into. So does this mean that there are regional cultures left in the world, much like how Japan has it's own regional culture? Like is Japan-America different from Japan-Germany and Japan-South Africa, etc. Or is technology and communications so advance that everything is a Japanese hegemony?
You mentioned that there are a multitude of cultures and planets across the galaxy that consume Idol music, correct? Do the idols have universal appeal over these various peoples? I'd imagine that do the variety of human cultures, exasperated by the colonization of far-reaching planets, there's every kind of culture from the most prim and proper conservative folks, to war or chaos based societies.
I understand agencies not wanting to take on someone too controversial, because their agencies, and like you said a bigger audience = more $$$. (Unless of course, they see something new and innovative that gives them the edge in their competition.) Aren't 12-27 year old people of both sexes the ones that would be most attracted to someone raunchy, obscene and in general rebellious? I would think that it's once you start hitting people +45 years of age that you have to worry about that image.
There are still regional variations, but mostly everyone's about the same. It's like the differing prefectures in modern-day Japan, just spread out over a wider area.
Idols have universal appeal, yes, because idols are the heart and soul of the human race. It is nothing but the love of idols that unites humanity as a single entity. If idols were to vanish from the world, why, humanity as a species would fracture and collapse!
Most parents of children aged 12-16 don't want them watching concerts by raunchy, obscene and rebellious. And these kids usually don't have the cash to pay for their own tickets.
-
2 minutes ago, UrbanSamurai said:
I realized that Japan had effectively colonized all of us, though I figured that each region of Japan-World would retain some aspects of the local culture, like how when two culture interact, both of them exchange or take aspects of each other and create I hybrid. For example, one Idol is from Old Norway, which I would think would have traditional aspects of Norwegian culture intermixed with the incoming Japanese population. I should have clarified that it wasn't literally Texas, merely the area of North America that was Texas, maybe even just the area in the Southwest U.S./North Mexico, since I'm assuming that state borders don't exist anymore. (Called something like Tekisasu, perhaps?) If the Japanese did their best to suppress previous cultures though, I think I could work with that.
I can change the dress, and even the profanity if that would be more fitting. In any musical genre there's going to be challengers to the traditional and conservative aspects of the craft, whether it's classical music or hip-hop. Rodeo is from this school of counterculture, and her style exists to go against the grain. If "Idols are wholesome performers, not raunchy", she's a challenger in (at least attempting) an emulation of people like Elvis, The Beatles, etc., were are beloved and staples now and a part of "proper" culture, but at the time were viewed as obscene and inappropriate. Then again, if the galactic culture functions under the reign of some sort of censoring authoritarian government, that's also interesting. Do they work to make sure that no Idols outside of the norm can thrive? Or do they spread so much propaganda that the idea of a nonconformist idol is met with disdain or even hatred? I'm imaging a conservative 1940's time where profanity or anti-establishment themes in your music would either end up with your career being destroyed, or society as a whole turning you, sometimes violently.
If the whole Hip-Hopista Bad Bitch vibe in the vein of Beyonce or Nicki Minaj is incompatible with the tradition of Idols, what if I made her more of a sensual Shakira type? Sexual, provocative even, but much more subtly. Looking back on her career, Shakira is effectively the Latin version of an Idol, especially her earlier work.
Japan didn't colonise anyone, everyone left the planet. There was nobody to colonise. There was no culture to interact with. It was empty land.
If she's raunchy and non-wholesome, then no agency would take her on. The target audience age range for idols is 12 - 27 of both sexes, and a raunchy idol would eliminate access to about a quarter of that revenue. Going against the grain is fine, but this agency is looking to recruit for a group targeted at a mass, mainstream audience.
-
1 hour ago, UrbanSamurai said:
"I wanna' welcome errybody' down to the Dirty South
Disrespect Texas and get smacked up in the mouth
Try to walk through the border with some weak idols
Whole crew coming through, shoot up ya' dance recital
We're still tippin' on 4-4s, Sippin' on lean woes
Rodeo's whole flow keepin' hoes up on their toes"
Name: Jacqulyn "Rodeo" Webb
Age: 19
Type: Sexy
Appearance: Rodeo has deep olive colored skin, and despite her darker complexion she's labeled as fair-skinned on a relative basis to her native Texans. She has long, straight black hair that reaches the middle of her back, though its color is subject to frequent changes. Her eyes are smoky and dark, shielded by heavy eyelashes and flanked by thick, curving eyelashes. Her nose is slender and narrow, coming to rest symmetrical above her plump, full lips. Petite is the last word that could describe Rodeo, who stands at 5'6 and has a curvature to her body to the point that some people consider it excessive, but she's more than happy to accentuate it. On a regular day, something like a pretty pink dress, casual, cute and comfy, will do the trick. On stage she's prone to wear something that borders on the obscene, such as a midriff blouse over a super-short skirt, fishnets and high-heeled black boots.
Stats
Beauty: 1
Stamina: 1
Vocal: 0
Dancing: 2
Facade: 0
Popularity: 0
Backstory: Jacqulyn was born to a working class family in San Antonio, Texas. From a young age, the virtues of Texas were instilled into Jacqulyn, such as self-dependence, ruggedness, competition and nonconformity. She was also exposed to what the outside world, and world beyond her own, had to offer in terms of their own culture. While Jacqulyn enjoyed the Idols of the galaxy, she never could relate to their image or lifestyle. Texas had its own Idols, but with the infusion of its own local culture, whether that be Purple Drank, lowriders or cowboy hats, it never spread beyond state borders. Others thought it was too brash, profane and barbaric. Jacqulyn resented this notion and engrossed herself in the local Idol scene. The more outsiders told her not to do something, the more she would do it. In the end, she produced a controversial persona for herself, someone who willingly embraces debauchery and believes that Idols should compete viciously, though instead of with swords or guns it could be done on stage with words and moves. This rowdy persona is named "Rodeo", inspired by Jacqulyn's Texas pride. She firmly believes that she will be the best Idol, and in doing so will finally earn her people the respect they deserve.
Special Abilities:
Appeal Repertoire
Drop It Like It's Hot - Rodeo stands up straight and then does a cartwheel into a split. Once she hits the ground, she twerks while saying something teasing and feisty to the audience, "Oooh ladies, you better keep a leash on your men before they run up on the stage, hehe~"
FIrst off, if you'll read the setting, all Earthlings are Japanese now. Texas doesn't exist.
Secondly, "On stage she's prone to wear something that borders on the obscene, such as a midriff blouse over a super-short skirt, fishnets and high-heeled black boots." Is too raunchy. Idols are wholesome performers, not raunchy performers. The Sexy-Type should be done in a high-brow, tasteful fashion. Watch the reference video for an example. Your clothes should accentuate your figure and accent your feminine charm, but trying to show off as much skin as possible isn't the way to go.
-
1 hour ago, Pyon Pyon Kyuu!~ said:
Woah first sheet
Name: Yuki Akiyama
Age: 19
Type: Pop
Appearance: Yuki has a cute, girly face. She has round wide brown eyes that seem to sparkle constantly. Smoothness of her face leads to her cute nose. Her hair is more towards the long side, going down to her back. She ties it up on her right side. making a small ponytail while keeping the rest of her hair straight down. Relatively short, she is about 160 centimeters tall. She is thin, with not very well defined features but cute in her small stature. Her casual wear is a black and white long sleeved shirt with stripes along the sleeves under a pink shirt with black stars decorating it. She wears a black mini skirt and stockings. On stage her dresses are always frilly and cute but with a down to earth vibe and pink as it's main color.
Stats
Beauty: 1
Stamina: 0Dancing: 0
Vocal: 0
Facade: 3
Popularity: 0
Backstory: Yuki Akiyama, the twin of another girl named Yuri Akiyama. They lived in a small village, with only 5 houses. The village being self sustainable, didn't bother naming itself. After all it was so far away there were no travelers to the point the village often doubted the existence of an outside world. Rumor around town was that Yuki was actually a boy, and that the Akiyama twins weren't really twins but the general population believed Yuki to be a girl. Yuki and Yuri were inseparable doing everything together. The community was also incredibly close, most people not having jobs and simply doing everything the village needed to survive. In their spare time, Yuki and Yuri sang and danced. Yuki herself loved the attention she'd get from the population, and especially loved her Grandma who was a sort of mentor for the both of them and would make cute clothes for Yuki to wear. Which made it all the worse when she passed away from old age. The village being such a small community naturally fell into a depression at the loss of a loved family member. Yuki and Yuri themselves were saddened, but they realized it wasn't how their Grandmother would want to see them, and in response they put on a show for the village. The show was just what the village needed, and everyone mourned the death of Grandma with a good old fashioned Idol concert. It was then that Yuki became intoxicated with the stage, wanting nothing more than be the best idol she could, wanting people to see her and her sister perform.
Special Abilities: Being cute.
Appeal Repertoire
I'll Do My Best! - Yuki takes a deep breath, closing her eyes and stopping for a moment then she twirls twice, taking two steps forward extending her arms towards the audience and then out. She hypes up the audience by calling out to them, and then she poses with one hand on her hip and the other making a peace sign as she smiles gleefully. Her holo projector would explode in pink starts showering over her.
>Double Spoilers
Not sure if Touhou reference...
-
Added some reference videos to explain what appeals and idol types are.
-
1 hour ago, ElfCollaborator said:
this
also limited player slots kills the man
There were originally more slots but I cut down to 5 so as to make the load manageable for myself. Also because the system is experimental, so I'm not confident in doing a large-scale RP. As time goes by and I get more comfortable I may open up more slots, but idk. We'll see.
-
Just now, Zarc said:
yeah ,
and now Pirukuk is the number 1 suspectB-but I'm a Kawaii Anti-Viral AI Virtual Idol! See?
<<<--------
-
More Things
Brands
Dresses are an idol's best friend, and the best dresses come from the best designers. Here are the brands that currently exist, by category:
Cute: Sweets Fantasy (Fluffy-Cute), Crown Smile (Princess-Cute)
Cool: Fashion Next (Techno-Cool), Glass Chord (Rocker-Cool), Crescent Victoria (Elegant/Gothic-Cool)
Pop: 7th Style (Casual-Pop), Rainbow Corner (Quirky-Pop)
Sexy: Rosette Masquerade (Elegant-Sexy), Orient Dream (Exotic-Sexy)
Throughout the game, you will each need to find a way to get your own Dresses. Dresses come in 4 rarities: Normal, Rare, Premium, Star Premium and Unique. Higher rarity dresses naturally grant better bonuses and Premium or higher dresses may even have special effects! Of course, higher rarity dresses are harder to get, you'll have to find some way to win over the designer of the respective brand if you want one of their Premium/Star Prem/Unique dresses. All starter dresses have Normal rarity.
Brands and Battle Skills
Every 3 stat points gained, characters will learn a new skill at the conclusion of their next Live/Mini-Live. Characters can also choose to defer the decision, which will cause it to resurface at their next Live/Mini-Live instead. The skill learned will depend on the brand of the dress they are wearing when they go through with the upgrade.
Additionally, some higher-rarity dresses will allow for characters to attain unique battle skills in their respective trees.
The brands and what skills they unlock are as follows:
Sweets Fantasy: Healing
Crown Smile: Damage Mitigation
Fashion Next: Speed Offense
Crescent Victoria: Magical Damage
Glass Chord: Physical Damage
7th Style: Stat buffs
Rainbow Corner: Non-Stat buffs
Rosette Masquerade: Status Ailments
Orient Dream: Stat debuffs
Bonds - the Power of Friendship!
The life of an idol isn't easy. But with your friends' help, it might just be easier! Bonds are your connections with your fellow idols. A higher Bond value between you and another idol means you two are closer. Bond is a hidden value, that I'll keep track of; but you'll want to track changes, too, because it's going to be important!
When you perform a Live, your Bonds with other people grant several benefits (these are still WIP, I might add more, but I won't take any away):
Spoiler- Once per Live, if you have over 50 Bond, you can cover for each other in the case of a failed Appeal - your friend can take over the Appeal for you and reroll the Appeal check at a lower success rate. If she succeeds, your failed Appeal is covered up and you get the points for a successful Appeal instead!
- If you have over 90 Bond, you can do a duo Appeal, which grants a growing multiplier on the bonus, starting at 1.5x. So if your Bond is 90 and your Appeal would add 100 points, the duo Appeal adds 100*1.5 = 150 points instead! The multiplier increases by 0.1 per 10 points, capping at 2x. Plus, Duo Appeals still only take up one of your three slots per Live!
- If you have over 210 Bond, the overflowing chemistry between you and your partner will awe the crowd just by having both of you on the same stage - You'll get a Score multiplier at the end, just for being such good friends!
- If you manage to reach 300 Bond, you might just unlock a special event, or a special ability. Who knows~
So how do you build Bonds?
Simple: do things together! Taking on jobs together builds Bond. Hanging out together builds Bond. Rehearsing together builds Bond. Helping each other out with something builds Bond. Even just performing as a group builds Bond. You can get Bond for doing literally nothing special.
But you can also lose Bonds.
How? If you exclude an idol from a group activity. Say Idol A goes catch a movie with Idol B on their Off day. But Idol C also has an Off day! Unfortunately, nobody invited Idol C, so she decides to go watch a movie on her own. Alone. With only popcorn for company. While exiting the theatre, she spots Idol A and B laughing together - but they didn't invite her! Hurt, she drowns her sorrow in ice cream. -30 Bond. Just an example, but events like these will drop Bond. If a pair of Idols lose too much Bond in a short amount of time (secret number), their Bond is frozen, and won't go up anymore until they each take an action to resolve their differences. Sounds bad, right? But there's a silver lining! Sometimes, the best friendships are forged after a misunderstanding. Additionally, participating in a Difference-Resolution event might just net you something special... might. Depends on my mood, really. Fear the GM.
Lore Tidbits
Stella Kiseki, the legendary Idol
The Universe now is at peace - the human race, scattered across the stars, operates under a single Federation government, with each colony having a representative in the Universal Senate, and each seat granted equal voting power. There is no proper Executive, and all colonies are bound by the Miracle Accords of 2655 to respect the Senate's authority. Trade and interplanetary travel is flourishing, and intergalactic benefits systems ensure that while people are living in varying levels of comfort, none are wanting for food or shelter.
But it wasn't always this way. Just a short 5 years before the Miracle Accords, in 2650, the Universe seemed to be on the verge of a terrible war. Colonies snapped at each others' throats, some began to display imperialist desires, small disputes and disagreements erupted across the Galaxy. People felt unsafe. People felt unsure. It seemed like the biggest war humanity had ever known - one fought across space - was about to occur. And in the midst of this chaos, a single name started to make the rounds: the name of an idol, one who travelled around the planets and hosted free concerts, inviting all to attend.
Nobody knew much about Stella Kiseki, except that she was Japanese, and had therefore come from Earth. But even the Earth authorities didn't know much about her - Stella Kiseki was only a stage name, nobody knew her real name. But they didn't need to know about her past, or to even understand the language she sang in, to move the hearts of all who heard her song. Idols at that time were a strictly Japanese phenomenon, and Stella's actions were what caused a resurgence in the universal love for idols - wherever she went and sang, people were touched by her voice and feelings, and without fail, each colony she visited avowed peace. For five long years, she toured the colonies, making sure to visit every colony. She had no manager, producer, or agent - she handled the logistics and planning of every performance on her own. As her song - and consequently her fame - spread across the colonies, more and more of the colonies' leaders began to vie for peace, in a miraculous reversal of the high-tension situation they had experienced to that point. In September of 2655, the leaders of all the human colonies convened to establish a binding covenant - what would become known as the Miracle Accords. In honor of the woman who made this possible, the location of the convention was decided to be Earth. Additionally, in these Accords, it was decided that the official language of humanity should be Japanese, again in honor of Stella's efforts. These Accords established a set of rules for all the colonies of humanity, solidifying humanity into a single, unitary Federation. It was a historic occasion, watched by billions across the cosmos. For the first time, humanity stood as one - and what united them was their love for idols. In particular, for a single idol.
It was thus unfortunate that the woman who made it all possible was never able to see the fruits of her labour. En route to Earth for a big concert intended to commemorate the signing of the Accords, Stella Kiseki vanished. It happened the same day as the signing. Her ship simply disappeared. Nobody knew what happened to it, nobody knew where she had disappeared to. She was never seen or heard for again. And so it was that her appearance and sudden disappearance quickly became the stuff of legend - she had appeared when humanity was in its greatest hour of need, and disappeared when this need had passed. Truly, as her name Kiseki meant, she was a miracle. Her legend inspired legions of young girls to become idols, starting an idol boom which has lasted to this current day, never fading, never waning. It is said that she lies sleeping, awaiting a day when humanity is in an hour of dire need again, whereupon she shall rouse from her slumber and lead her fellow idols in securing a brighter path for humanity's future.
-
Would you like to become an idol?
Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/mRAmzQf
Background
As some of you may or may not remember, around three years ago I started an Idol RP that fell flat. I've spent the time to look over it and refine it, and this is the result. You'll notice I skipped the Interest Check, that's because 1) I already know there's a modicum of interest and 2) Interest Checks are intended to check on forum response before starting to properly flesh out an idea - This idea is already reasonably fleshed out, so w/e.
Explaining the Title
SpoilerWhat are idols?
Get out.
...
Just kidding. If you don't already know what idols are (in which case you seriously need to educate yourself), idols, or アイドル, are Japanese pop stars, usually between the ages of 14 and 27, who go on stage to sing and dance and wear cute costumes. They're also the bringers of dreams and the ambassadors of smiles etc. etc. For some research material, I recommend watching Love Live, Love Live!! Sunshine, The iDOLM@STER, The iDOlM@STER Cinderella Girls, Aikatsu! and Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live. In that order.
tl;dr they're cute little blobs of dreams and friendship who sing and dance while wearing sparkly dresses.
What does Monster-slaying have to do with anything?
Eh, everyone knows you gotta have combat in cute stuff if you want it to sell to an audience addicted to Game of Thrones and Attack on Titan and Fate/Whatever and other grimdark edgy shows out there. Simple marketing. Also it's just funny to have superimposed themes like this. Just look at the Persona series.
In Space?
For plot convenience. So that I don't have to come up with an explanation for cool performances and why cultures differ so greatly from each other.
The Setting
SpoilerThe year is 29XX. Mankind has colonised the stars, with the various colonies developing vastly different cultures and traditions, resulting in humanity becoming a largely heterogeneous species. However, despite the many cultures fracturing in as many different ways, one thing had held constant throughout all the human colonies in the universe, a single, unifying trait that ties together the entirety of humanity as a dysfunctional family: a love of watching cute young women singing and dancing in costumes that border on the inappropriate. Yes, the love of idols is what truly makes us human.
The galaxy today is populated by numerous idol units hailing from all sorts of planets. Alongside the large galactic agencies with tons of big-name idols signed under them, there are also numerous locally concentrated idol units, units that perform largely within their galactic sector, earning loyalty and love from their diehard fans, but never quite reaching the same galactic appeal as their more prominent contemporaries. And then we have you.
When the great colonisation happened, all the other countries left Earth, leaving Japan alone on the mother planet. Why Japan was left behind? It's because the citizens were busy attending idol concerts and missed the evacuation order. Yes, Japan was the country that pioneered the Idol Revolution, truly the forefathers of humanity!
But anyway, when they were left behind, they started to look into ways of conserving the dying planet. They pioneered sources of renewable energy, they reduced their carbon footprint, etc. etc. All possible because they no longer had to fight for resources with other countries. Mother Earth had grown too frail to support all her children, but her bounty was more than enough for a single nation. As the centuries passed, the Japanese migrated across the planet, setting up small enclaves and villages - villages with very advanced technology and robots that did most menial labour, but villages nonetheless. However, through all this time, the proud Japanese never forgot their heritage, and kept their love of idols alive and burning. However, for almost 800 years, there have been no great Idols born on Earth.
You are an idol, recruited from Earth. The agency - also Earth-based - recruited from Earth because they had no money to do scouting on other planets. They're hoping to strike it big with you girls, and have staked all they have on this venture, aided by numerous donations from the Japanese left on earth. They pooled together their money and purchased a single starship, and you now embark on your journey to be the greatest idols in the galaxy.
Oh, right, and technology level: Sci-Fi-y. Hyperspace travel yes, advanced medbays yes, teleporting no. Anything else is mostly fair game, but if you have any doubts, feel free to ask me.
The System
Right, time to get down to the mechanics. These mechanics are HEAVILY inspired by Aikatsu. Deal with it.
The game will be split into 2 phases per live. The Prep phase, and the Concert Phase. Do note that I'm still experimenting around with this system, so it is liable to change.
Prep Phase
In this phase, players perform their preparations for the next concert. This phase will occupy a time period of 2-3 weeks IRL (depending on availability). Within this time, players can take up to 2 actions per week from a list (that will be disclosed at the start of each Prep Phase) These actions include, but are not limited to: Rehearsing, Searching for work, taking on jobs, doing research about your next concert venue, having happy idol bonding moments etc. Not all actions will be available in every prep phase, but this phase will have a large impact on the way your performances turn out. Additionally, in this phase, players will select, by democratic vote, the idol in the group they think should be the center for the upcoming live.
Concert Phase
In this phase, players will write posts describing their concerts and performances. This part is heavily player-directed, and the GM(me) will be solely responsible for scoring the performances, indicating audience response, and prompting Appeals (we'll get to that in a bit).
Scoring
SpoilerScoring in the live itself comprises 3 components:
Impact: The visual impact of the performance. Affected by individual members' beauty, their dresses, the set design and other visual effects.
Technique: Technical ability of the idols. How well they sing and dance and catch the audience's attention. Affected by technical prowess and execution.
Coordination: How well the performance works as a whole. Whether idols' dresses match the stage choice, whether the choice of center fits the stage, how well idols work together etc.
Each idol will be scored individually for technique and impact on a scale of 0-100. The average score of all idols will be taken as the group score for these components. Coordination will be assessed as a group, also on a scale of 0-100. All three components are then added together, leading to a total score out of 300, known as the Hype meter. Various (hidden) multipliers will be applied onto this Hype meter, which will result in your final score. You don't know what these multipliers are, but maybe if you ask the locals (and/or your manager) you can figure them out.
Appeals
SpoilerUp to three times per performance, a member of the group may perform an appeal. An appeal is a special action that you take in the middle of a performance, usually during an interlude, that serves to hype up the audience. It's generally some visually impressive feat, such as doing a triple axel turn into an upward flip and ending suspended midair amid a wreath of flowers. Each character will have access to a unique repertoire of Appeals, and can learn new ones eventually. The more complex an appeal, the more impressive it will be, but the higher the chance of failure.
Yes. Appeals can fail. Whenever your character attempts an appeal, I roll a dice against the complexity of your appeal. There are ways to increase the success rate, such as stats, or performing certain actions, but I'll not elaborate on those yet, in the interest of brevity. Anyway, if your Appeal succeeds, you get a flat amount - based on complexity - added to your hype meter. If your Appeal fails, your current score gets cut by that same flat amount.
Also, the three times per live rule applies to the group as a whole. i.e. throughout a performance, the entire group may only perform three Appeals in total. So, for instance, 3 idols doing 1 Appeal each, or 1 idol doing 3 Appeals. Consecutive Appeals from the same idol give a larger boost, but also have a higher chance of failure - and a larger penalty.
Combat
Yes there's combat. No I'm not going to tell you how it works, other than that it's stat-based and uses hidden stats related to your character sheet. Also your performance scores will drastically affect battle outcomes.
Character Sheet
SpoilerName: [Self-Explanatory]
Age: [17 - 21. Pick a number.]
Type: [The type of idol you are. Cool, Cute, Sexy, Pop (Basically a friendly, girl-next-door feeling type of idol. Wears shorts and denim.)]
Appearance: [What do you look like? Leave out your stage dress - that goes in the "Wardrobe" section below]
Stats (Each of these is assigned a numerical value from 0 - 15. 0 refers to an average person's level. 15 means you're basically the best in the universe. You have 4 points to assign as you will.)
Beauty: [How pretty are you? 0 for average Jane. 15 for Aphrodite.]
Stamina: [How long can you perform without taking a break? 0 for the average, untrained person. 15 means you can perform for a month and be fine.]
Vocal: [How well can you sing? 0 for average person, 15 for a voice that can make an inanimate object burst into tears at its beauty]
Dancing: [How well can you dance? 0 for average person, 15 means you can tapdance a planet into another planet.]
Facade: [How well can you act? 0 for average person, 15 means you can convince another person that you're the real them and they're a genetically engineered clone of themselves.]
Popularity: [A separate stat indicating how popular you are. Leave this at 0 for now.]
Backstory: [You know what to do. Things to include are why you want to be an idol, what your end goal is, what your childhood was like.]
Special Abilities: [Things I'll assign based on your backstory. Leave this blank for now.]
Appeal Repertoire
Appeal Name - Appeal description [Describe your first appeal. Keep this one realistic. You're a fresh new idol with no training and no experience. Something simple, yet individualistic is best. Keep it to a max of 2 acrobatic moves, if possible. You have a holographic projector, so feel free to get creative with the VFX, but keep in mind that using too much will draw attention away from you.]
Wardrobe
[Starter Dress] - <Describe your character's stage outfit here.>
[Dress Name] - <Dress Description>
Funds: 0
And that's all! I know it seems like a lot to take in. That's because it is. I've put in quite a lot of work into this system, and I think it distributes the burden evenly among players and hosts. The burden of writing the posts lies on the players, while the burden of keeping track of stats/numbers falls on a GM. Anyway, that's all for now. There are a few more intricacies in the system, but this is pretty much all you need to build a character. Let me know if you have any questions~
References
Okay so it has been brought to my attention that not everyone knows what I'm talking about when I say "Appeals", or "Idol Type". So here are a few references for you to look at.
1:35 to 4:07 of this video shows a range of Appeals that increase in complexity/score
SpoilerThis video is an example of a Cool-type Idol in a Cool-type Dress performing a Cool-type song. There's also an appeal.
SpoilerThis is an example of a Pop-type Idol in a Pop-type Dress performing a Pop-type song. There's also an appeal.
SpoilerThis is a Cute-type Idol, wearing a Cute-type Dress and performing a Cute-type song
SpoilerSexy-type Idol wearing a Sexy-type Dress and performing a Sexy-type Song
Spoiler -
Serene glanced toward the distance and sought out the enemy commander. Finding the thunder mage, she wrinkled her nose in disgust.
Moves to K9.
-
Kagari performs Hip Gatling on the Shoggoth Wrengler. DEX/2 (5) hits of 1d3 + DEX (10) damage.
[IC] I Wanna Be the Best Monster-slaying Idol in the Galaxy! (Intro Chapter)
in General
Posted · Edited by Code: PIRULUK
As if to answer Yuki's question, you see a series of cracks appear in the air above the stage. As these cracks grow and spider out, you begin to feel a sense of dread and apprehension - something is coming.
Then, all at once, a part of the world shatters into dust, revealing a swirling mass of color that's painful to watch. As you shield your eyes from the raging lights, a silhouette appears from within the crack, a vaguely humanoid silhouette. It stays on the edge of the crack for a couple of seconds, but then leaps downward, landing casually and lightly in front of you, allowing you to get a better look at it. Her form-fitting body armor accentuates the fact that she is a woman, and her face is hidden by a black visor which grants you no visual on what her features might look like. The visor covers most of her face, ending at her hairline, where long, white hair tied in a single braid trails behind her, its length longer than her height. A sharp-looking knife is looped through the endmost braid. Her right hand carries a sinister-looking dagger, one that she spun lazily around her fingers.
The figure walks slowly toward the five of you, its boots clinking against the ground of the stage. It would be a fearful, sinister scene were it not for the fact that the armor the figure wore was coloured a warm pink, with red streaks running across its breastplate. Still, even with the unexpected colour choice, you feel a hint of fear as it approaches.
"Dodge!"
A voice, a woman's voice, calls out to you, reverberating throughout the field. Moved by some kind of premonition of danger, each of you runs, rolls, jumps, or generally takes some sort of action to vacate your previously inhabited space - which turns out to be a good idea, as without her seeming to tense up or move in any way, her braid flies out without warning and strikes each of the spots you had previously been standing in, leaving a number of deep punctures along the ground in rapid succession. Without missing a beat, the braided woman pushed off the ground and swiped forward with her dagger, targeting the closest of you; in this case, Ayaka.
Just before the blade hits, Ayaka finds herself pushed to the side. In her place, another newcomer - someone armored in blue body armor - receives the attack on the flat of a flamberge and slashes out, forcing the assailant to retreat. As she speaks, you recognise it as the voice which had told you to dodge.
"Hm... that should have been a kill... Ah. I see. There's not enough Hype... We'll have to make do. It's been a while since I've had to fight on fumes, but..." The helmeted figure turns her head in Ayaka's direction. "I saved you, but now you have to save yourself."
She took up a ready stance.
"You five. Fight if you want to live. Sit still if you want to die."
Combat Stats
Now that we're finally entering combat, we can assign combat stats. On each of your sheets, please add another section titled "Combat Multipliers" and record the following values:
HP = (Stamina+10)
Str = (Vocal+1)
Mag = (Beauty+1)
Agi = (Dancing+1)
Def = (Facade+1)
Whenever we enter combat, take your combat multipliers and multiply every value by the encounter's Hype score - that's your statline for that encounter. So for example, if you have a Mag multiplier of 4 and the Hype score for this encounter is 100, you get 400 Mag for this encounter. Simple, no?
Weapons/Outfits
Each of your characters will now be able to materialise a weapon/combat outfit by thinking about it - it comes naturally as long as they are in the Timeless World. Go wild with designs, the weapons and outfits are purely aesthetic and have no impact on battle.
Combat Skills
Each of you now gain combat skills based on your Type, as well as a Basic Attack and Basic Defend:
Basics:
[Basic Attack]: Do STR damage to one target
[Basic Defence]: Take 50% damage for one round
Cute:
[Healing Note]: Either heal 3x MAG to one target, or heal 1x MAG to all allies.
[Cleansing Tone]: Either remove all status ailments/debuffs from one target, or remove one status ailment/debuff from all allies.
Cool:
[Heavy Sweep]: Deal 3x STR damage to one target
[Dancing Pierce]: Deal 2x AGI damage to one target. Ignores 50% DEF.
Sexy:
[Slowing Twirl]: Reduces enemy AGI by 50% for three turns
[Weakening Kiss]: Reduces enemy DEF by 50% for three turns
Pop:
[Faster, Faster!]: Raises all allies' AGI by self MAG for three turns
[You Can Do It!]: One ally does 1.5x damage this turn.
Battle Information
Hype: 41
Enemy Info
[FOE] Scourge Knight SCORPIO: ????/????
Player Info
[COOL] Yuri: 410/410
[CUTE] Yuki: 410/410
[COOL] Lucinda: 492/492
[CUTE] Ayaka: 410/410
[SEXY] Azusa: 410/410
[CUTE] Blue Knight: 820/820