Hello again! I’m back on my BS and looking to start up another fantasy roleplaying adventure with you all. If you’re looking to add some Game to your text-based Role Playing, then buckle up and read on because I have just the opportunity for you.

This time around I’d like to incorporate a light TTRPG system known as ARC. If you’re not familiar or comfortable with fully fledged RPG systems like Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder, don’t worry. ARC is super easy to pick up, especially with some help from yours truly. And if you are a tabletop veteran, then even better!

In short, ARC focuses on how you as a player affect a “living world” and shape the narrative that we set up while maintaining just enough character building, stat tracking, and RNG insertion to keep things lively and choices relevant. Each campaign in ARC unravels in real time (more on that later) in tandem with the time spent in-universe. This means that each game has a shelf life from inception and there’s tension to unfold all you can before “The Doomsday” occurs. This is achieved through a side plot or “Omen” system that advances based on the aforementioned real-time element. Resolving an Omen will slow the coming Doomsday while ignoring these portents will mean our game ends rather abruptly.

To begin, you’ll need to create a Hero. After you’ve read the campaign story blurb below, start thinking about what kind of character you want to play. You’ll quantify their personality traits by assigning points into their approach styles (Creative vs. Careful vs. Concerted), their Blood and Guts hit points (physical fortitude vs. mental fortitude), their aptitude in certain Skills (categorized by knowledge, physical, social, etc.), and finally choosing some starting inventory items (if you have an idea for a relevant starting item that isn’t on the default list, let’s talk about it!). ARC is inherently a system about relationships so there will be 2 primary protagonists in this story, 1 that you’ll play as and another that I will control in addition to GMing the rest of the world. You can have as much or as little input on the protagonist I’ll be playing as you’d like: feel free to make them as a pair or have the two of them meet as little more than strangers.

In addition to hashing out the relevant RPG-ey things we need to get settled before playing, there’s also the matter of the more traditional stuff to talk about. I usually play these over Reddit Messages (NEVER chat) and use Reddit’s built-in word processing/formatting to distinguish between in-game text, meta game text, and personal player-to-GM text. Also, as with the nature of this full-scale RPG, expect most messages to be slow, once-per-day type things. Sometimes there won’t be much for you or I to add other than a couple of sentences before we need interaction from a character the other controls. In those instances it’ll be more likely that I can get back to you more frequently, but the majority of the time expect slower, longer replies as I fit everything into my life (OOC chatting I will likely have more time to slip in at work).

I’m sure by now you’re wondering “Hey, where’s the sex?” and my answer would be that, like all good porn, it comes from the plot. I’ve tried to craft a framework that can lend itself to be as light or dark as you the player want it to be. Likewise, the difficulty of the Omen system and how many responses constitute 1 Moment can be set to your liking, but I think 5 decent-sized back-and-forths is a good default. If you have worldbuilding tidbits you want to collaborate, please share! Along with your kinks and limits, all your preferences and offers can be easily folded into the narrative (my only limit as a GM is that you and all main characters aren’t minors).

Nefrea

Of all the continents in all the mortal realms, Nefrea was the most cursed. Many of the human inhabitants that called the landmass their home cursed their ancestors for settling all those centuries ago. The inhuman natives, on the other hand, thanked them night and day. Life on Nefrea was a struggle for it’s human inhabitants, not only for the cold, dark winters and the short infertile autumns, but because those that dared to travel out of their relatively fortified settlements would become susceptible to the myriad of creatures that stalked the forests and fields.

It was an open secret that horrors lay beyond the human villages on Nefrea. Undead vampires, savage lycanthropes, and mad cultists run out of their homes were the only ones that dared to live in the acres between townships. The gods had seemingly forgotten the place and everyone who lived there eons ago, from the humble fisherman along the shores to the relative elites of the largest towns. Still, they had made their peace with the dark things and learned to call Nefrea home in spite of it all.

Which is all to explain why the Inquisitor was most surprised to learn of their new assignment. A god’s Inquisitor was a champion of sort; a demi-angel both holy and flesh sent from heaven to carry out their divine will within the realms. This Inquisitor was tasked with deescalating some kind of conflict between the humans and the paranormal on Nefrea, and to do so quickly. Why this task was so important to their patron god remained a mystery of course: it is not the blade’s job to ask why they are being swung, only to cut true.

To navigate the godforsaken continent the Inquisitor will need a human guide; someone who can ground them to this world and lend some credibility to this quest, or even shed light onto why it might be that a god might care so much about such an infernal place. Ideally this mortal accomplice will be someone true of heart, noble of courage, skilled in battle, and eager to serve. But beggars can’t be choosers, especially with so little time and such little to pick from.

As the player, you will need to fill in some blanks here either on your own or together with me: Who are you in this dynamic, the angelic Inquisitor or the homely Human? What god does this Inquisitor serve and how zealous is their partner? Or, if you prefer to take a hands off approach with how the other hero will be shaped, what little do you have to say of them?

Of course if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer any and all of them. I know big blocks of text like this can seem intimidating but if this is of any interest to you at all then I want to try to make it work! I’ll be awaiting your messages <3