Well, if you want to roll up a new character, be my guest. I had tried to set it up such that the current batch would sort of "wake up" and realize they aren't in the Equestria they went to sleep in. This would let ponies be in the game without hanging very much and would give the party a sense of kinship (since they all remember a world that didn't exist), but I'm not sure I've put it together well enough just yet.
Grimdark? Well, it could be, aye. I fear that may be the language choices I made however.
Ambiguity was intentional; I don't want to nail something down and have to undo it later.
Currently, there are big dragons such as in DragonShy and Owls Well That Ends Well, that are able to eke out large territories or "kingdoms". It's an in-game reason to have a place that isn't just over-run with moon monsters.
The smaller dragons, like Spike, would work specifically with their close pony friends. And while the Bluebloods of the world would rather just have a bunch of ponies fawn over them, the Trixies of the world have no problem publicly humiliating those who would rock the boat. Like, say, putting them in the stocks? Except where do you get the stocks? And how do you keep ponies in them? So we need guards and labor. But how do we keep the guards loyal? Why, bribery, of course! And so a web of greedy pony politics formed in my head.
As for resources, I believe some parts of the moon are hospitable (I could see Fluttershy specifically making a niche for herself, growing food and bringing culture to the moon monsters). And even if supplies could only be transferred dragonto dragon, all it takes is a banished noble writing one heartfelt plea for a good home-cooked supper, before they realize there is an items-only fast trade route back to Equestria. Pocket black markets would spring up in no time.
Makes sense. As I said, ambiguity is a future for me right now. I'm allowing the chance for grim stuff very specifically, for two reasons. The first is a nod to the source material (Dungeons and Dragons). The second, more important reason is leeway. As things stand, the setting is like
the Nightmare Before Christmas; it's an ostensibly dark setting, full o undead and demons. Yet cannibalism, being fired on by artillery, treachery, and kidnapping are still horrible atrocities.
Similarly, the setting is potentially horrible; banished to a far off realm, having to create a society amongst the criminals and the naive both, tyrannical dragons using diamond dog hit men to enslave ponies... But these are ponies. They don't
do that sort of thing.
In the end, I'm not going to have some royal pony slap around the hired help while the heroes watch if they spend there time being show-accurate and heroic, because that's horrible. But if the party decides they want to run a black market smuggling ring, I'm not going to keep the rest of the world all cartoon-y. It's as broad as can be so the players can set the tone.
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Okie doke, so I realize that the pieces I've written up imply a setting to me, but I can't just leave it at that, aye?
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I needed three things for the game. Dungeons, dragons, and banishment. Dungeon was easy; it followed banishment. But only Celestia has that power, so why not banished to the moon?
I like the setting concept because it displays the best of both dungeons and dragons, and ponies. Adrift in a strange land, how do they adapt? The ponies colonize, trade, and bolster. Some are perfectly fine, finding the moon to be just like Equestria, though in need of some terraforming. Others desperately want to return home, and seek the means to do so. Others are just biding their time until something gives, living their lives as best they can. There can be normal pony cities, metropolitan areas with many different cultures, dungeons with reclusive loners, and all of that stuff. It's also of note; how do earth ponies survive without equestrian soil (earth)? How do pegasi live when clouds are a rarity? What do unicorns do without Canterlot, the societal center that is their home territory?
The moon is a strange land. The sun ne'er graces the height of it's skies, and with good reason; Equestria doesn't appear as a round world, but as an impossibly large disk superimposed over the sky. As the moon rises, the western edge of Equestria sweeps across the lunar surface, rotating; at midnight when the moon is highest, Equestria is a flat place, seemingly hundreds of miles above the moon, and finally, it starts to tilt again, the eastern side falling towards the moon's surface like a huge see-saw1
Additionally, Nightmare Moon was banished here as well. She certainly doesn't want to be here! Now if only somepony could actually find her, they'd have a powerful ally, who could maybe get them back to Equestria. after all, canon NMM was alone on the moon, with no society or friendship to draw from.
I also decided to include some stuff from the thread for a laugh. Why is everything so different? Leo followed Starry Notions through time, into the past, and true to his expectations it mucked everything up. And of course he is unable to find Starry (or Whooves) to fix it.
I can see how it's too grim, indeed. But to me, it's no worse than any port adventure, where there is the possibility of a seedy underbelly. Every D&D setting has these details, I'm just listing the for the sake of completion.
Obvious weaknesses are that I need more of a planned story for PbP, I need to not spread things so thin, and I need to decide on the final touches.
Another note is lethality. I
really want it to be non-lethal, but I've had some bad experiences with perceived player immortality...
That's my hand, as far as I can remember it. Any pointers, suggestions, questions or critique appreciated.
1: it makes sense if you envision it like an amusement ride; your flat disk is on an invisible arm, and goes around another disk which is stationary. At the zenith, you're looking "up" at a flat plane. As you move, the edges "tilt" towards you.
Even better, I figure the dark side of Equestria are where all the monsters are, jumping to the moon and then jumping to the surface afterwards.