Human Roleplay Switches - Printable Version

I'd like to say that I think a custom map would still be easier to fit in different groups, with divergences in history and territory, with what would make logical sense etc. For example, if we stick to Europe it wouldn't be feasible for a group to be in America, even if the territory makes more sense there.

As for transportation I don't think we should allow cars, maybe scooters or bicycles, even motorbikes, but not something that will take too much horsepower or electricity. This links in to limitations of technology and powers/mutations. We could go with the same post-apocalyptic scene we've put together before, with perhaps a heat wave or natural disaster wiping out most of the Earth, and now that radiation (or some other dangerous substance) has cleared out, the people who are left alive are ... different, not quite human anymore.

With the post-apocalypse, cars and electricity would be difficult to find and acquire, though more stone-age weapons like knives and bows/arrows would be easy to make once you've learned how to carve wood, make use of stone etc.

The reason why I don't like basing everything off the real world is because it's hard to decide which bits of history to include, as some people's characters might be based off one thing or the other, and if we handpick certain events we might render some characters' backstories redundant. I feel like we should come up with a a custom, post-apocalyptic universe where each group can come up with their own history as to why/how they were formed, and there's more freedom to creating characters.

Of course this limits things, such as you can't have a character that is a reincarnation of a WWII solider, but you can easily get around this by having that character be a reincarnation of a solider from another war that happened in this universe.

To accommodate those who want a more general, human roleplay we can include general human board that is separate from the boarded groups, and therefore is in a different world where everything is more free-for-all, perhaps powers/mutations are not limited to shop options in that board, though that can go up to a vote.

Here's my two cents on the matter:
Maps & Realism; I do still think that real-world maps would fit the post-apoc human board better. With a custom world, it would take a lot to form a cohesive world that works - history needs to be completely remade from scratch unless you want a world that's patched-up and filled with tons of holes. This is a lot of work that can take years. Simply creating groups with their own histories of how they were created/formed would open up a lot of issues with cohesiveness within the world. Using the real world as a base, we have a cohesive timeline that we can base our associated groups and histories on. If there is an American group, as mentioned, that exists in the world - have them be moved to a location in Europe, perhaps in the UK/Scotland area. Nothing major needs to be changed. They can still have an Americanized culture, citizens, et cetera but their physical location would be in the habitable areas of Europe. For example, their ancestors could have sailed to Europe after discovering that it's less irradiated than US soil, and set up a village there - from then on, the subsequent generations would have grown up in a mostly Americanized environment and culture. As Impy said before me, the map of the world can be a custom map. Because most of the known civilization has been wiped out during the war, it's more than possible to do this.

Transportation; As mentioned in the discord, I am very much against vehicles and automotives in general. Cars, trains, motorcycles - perhaps bicycles could be allowed if there is a manufacturer who has discovered old-world blueprints or manuals but a lot of time would come into producing them (and producing them in mass would be very difficult). In a post-apocalyptic world, finding enough fuel or gasoline would be very difficult, especially considering there are locations that have been bombed - which would mean gas stations in those areas would've gone up in flames. There are other modes of transportation, horses and carriages, caribou, donkeys, mules - for me, these would seem more interesting and set the tone of the RP and the world itself. It's a little out-of-place to see a car driving down an irradiated freeway already backed up with cars that the old world left behind.

Mutations/Powers; I am all for having powers and mutations being explained by irradiation messing with human physiology and capability. Even in zones that were not bombed, radiation would still sweep through them because the winds would have picked these up and carried them around the globe - especially if several of the biggest continents like the Americas and the USSR were bombed the most. I like the term 'mutants' for the setting of this RP, and I like the way Griffingate and Blackfall have differing opinions on them. This offers up a lot of huge plots and opportunities. Have a group that looks down on mutants but allows them in as long as they serve the Crown in one way or another, have a group that doesn't oppress them and are more tolerant - hell, have a group made up of mutant refugees with the odd non-mutant or two or five in another location like the supernatural city in the unlisted territories (this would be so cool and personally I'd love to put a character in a mutant-filled neighborhood).

History; I definitely agree with the deviation from the Cold War. That allows us to have a set timeline prior to the bombs that we can all agree on. Starting from the Cold War, this is where reality deviates. As Cyan mentioned (lov u bby), the Cold War could have been the timeline were the world went to, quite frankly, shit. That gives us the clean slate we need to rebuild society. Civilizations that have survived look for less-irradiated zones and find themselves in the heart of Europe. Form there, they grew - they established their presence. Unofficial groups can pick their spot - hell, we could have a universal map that we can constantly updated and that would be really cool - Griffingate and Blackfall are flush against each other as the two biggest post-apoc super-civilizations, and of course there will always be smaller nations scattered around, settlements, cities, towns, villages that can all have their own culture. I'm deviating, I tend to get sidetracked and babble (RIP) but what I'm trying to say is - now, associating this with a real-world map gives us a static timeline up to a certain point: Cold War and onwards. From there, that's what we build the world in, and it's definitely gonna be easier than creating a world from scratch. One person can list down when each group was created and established, Griffingate and Blackfall histories need only a few touch-ups, and any other existing settlement can just add the dates as well. It will be much easier and more cohesive to base it on real-world events up to a certain point, and then start the rebuild from there.

General Board; I definitely agree that there should be a General Board for other roleplays that don't quite fit this realm (e.g. high school roleplays, college roleplays, PAFP roleplays, et cetera) to allow others to roleplay anything that their hearts could desire. Another note, I am personally a big fan of having a General Board because, back on FF, it was the first board I ever got into before I even made it to extended. I joined a lot of advanced roleplays here and really improved my writing - I met a lot of friends, some of which I still speak to now, and it holds a special place in my heart. I definitely, definitely agree to a General Board where people can post thread-based roleplays. Heck, I might even restart an old roleplay I was once a part of based around the PJO series.

I hope this all made sense! I'm definitely not good with words and I tend to babble - and when I babble, my grammar turns sideways REAL FAST.