[Rail] Academy City OOC I : Biribiri.

[Shades of Gray]

What is Academy City anyway?

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So what is this game about? It’s about a place called Academy City, close to Tokyo, where some of the most amazing people science has discovered are sent once their unique gifts are discovered. And just who are these people? Pyschics, Espers, telepaths, pyrokinetists, telekinetic users, teleporters, and the list goes on and on, but no matter what they are called they are all one simple thing. A person capable of using psychic powers in some fashion or another, able to do extraordinary things once put through Academy City’s all-but unique psychic development programs. From things such as creating fireballs to manipulating luck itself, these people have demonstrated a wide array of capabilities after being gathered into the most advanced city on earth. The majority of espers (we’re talking 98-99% percent here) can barely be considered psychic before being ‘refined’ to the point they can manifest their abilities, but there are the rare few who manifest psychic abilities before being put through the program as well, almost literal gemstones of the world. These espers range from the almost powerless Level 0s to the awesome power possessed by the rare Level 5 espers.

But what about Academy City? Well, it’s a large city that is almost thirty years ahead of the rest of the world in terms of science and development, with numerous nations having a stake invested in the city’s unique residents. Almost sixty percent of the residents at Academy City’s schools, from the prestigious Azabu Academy and Tokiwaida Middle School to the more…’normal’ Onizuka Middle School…though how ‘normal’ any school can be when they are populated by a mix of psychics and normal people is up for debate. Though by far is it’s greatest asset is one of the satellites orbiting above, which continues the Tree Diagram program that can accurately predict the weather up to a month in advance, though those with the proper connections can ask it other things as well…Not that to say that everything is candy and sunshine in this sovereign city, there’s a darker underside to Academy City that most of it’s residents don’t even know about. Dangerous Skill Out gangs, those without powers who target espers for fun or rights, roam the streets and a person can disappear without a trace depending on where they stick their nose. Rumors of illegal research or weapons research are rampant, though Academy City is such a touchy place that such matters are never really investigated seriously by the Board of Directors in charge of Academy City.

This game is based on the setting of the To Aru no Kagaku Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun) light novels/anime/manga series. Watching/Reading the series is OPTIONAL, but they are rather good.

Okay, but how is it different from, say, Nexus?

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It differs in several important ways.
First, it is a lot more uniform that the Nexus. Academy City has espers and science, not, say, kitten snipers.
Second, the plot of Academy City is going to be more directed. There are the good, the bad, and the ugly, and they are mostly organized. As such, most plots and stuff will be interwoven into one big plot. Or at least that's the intention.
Third, Academy City is NOT in any way connected to the Nexus. i.e. you cannot have a character travel between the two. If you want a character in Academy City, it is for Academy City. You can have a version of the same character for both the Nexus and Academy City, but they are different characters.

How do I start?

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Well, you want to post a character in this thread, and the character registry when it goes up, so everyone can find information on your character and so people can give you helpful criticism on it.
To prevent a pattern that is all too easy to fall into, it's good to point out the fact that passive actions don't tend to get much attention.
With that in mind, make a post and begin!

What abilities have been taken?

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http://railgunitp.wikidot.com/powers-list

There are rules, right?

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Yes, there are.
Firstly, no godmodding (or godmoding). A far better explanation of godmodding than I can give is here.
Second, please remember that we plan to have a far more directed plot than Nexus. Please run any major spanners in the works past guys on this thread first.
Third, don't ruin anyone else's fun. I can't stress this enough.
Fourth, have fun!

New and Improved (but loose) Rules v.1.1!
These "rules" are more loose guidelines that serve another FFRPG very well so I adopted them into this one, because they work.

1. Consider asking to join in fights before jumping in.
   Please respect that all plots might not be open. Alternatively, if you yourself want to keep a fight cordoned off from other participants, say so in the OOC, at the beginning of your post, or both.
2. TALK major fights over with your opponent!
   This is to keep arguments about who's the better fighter, who should win, blablablablabla, out of the OOC. Of course, talk these things over in PM, or some kind of IM service. While arguments might break out over said PM/IM... It keeps it out of the OOC. Which is what we're trying to do here. On that note...
3. Don't argue in the OOC!
   They make the atmosphere oppressive, they make things less fun, and generally unpleasant and maybe even make the arguments larger than they need be. So, if you have a problem with someone, try to talk it out in PM or IM before using the OOC.

These guidelines/loose rules might be viable to change or be added on to as issues come up, but the bases are covered pretty well.

Disclaimer #1: This game is going to have several moderators to mediate IC and OOC disputes (if they require them), but are not moderators in the GitP sense (Like Roland or the Giant). Aside from mediating disputes, they'll be keeping an eye on characters to watch for intentional/unintentional abuse. If they ask you to change something, it's a good idea to consider it. If they tell you it needs to be changed, then it does but this sort of thing is for important matters only. Disruptive players will be asked to leave if they insist on causing trouble.

Disclaimer #2: If you want to make a level five, make up a character and the community will decide if it shoud be or not.' That way we keep the number of level 5's down and everyone will agree on them. Remember that in canon, Academy City had only seven level fives, and a population of 1.8 million.

Important Links

The Wiki (The wiki password is "biribiri" (sans the quotation marks))
Toaru Majutsu no Index wiki.

OOC's
You're looking at it.

Banners

[Kasanip]

To post interest.

[Innis Cabal]

I...didn't think we were posting this yet...

[Shades of Gray]

Callos gave me permission. We will not be starting the IC threads right away, this is just a way to get started on gauging interest and writing up characters.

[Mina Kobold]

Oy, oy.

This thing is already starting? I may be a fast reader but I'm not that fast.

Unless... Do I have to read the original to understand what's going on or can I just read the spinoff?

[Shades of Gray]

As I just said, we're making the OOC thread to get everything organized and have questions asked/answered.

And what do you mean spinoff? If you read/watch Railgun, good. If you have read/watch Index then just keep in mind that magic will be off limits, we are instead focusing on Academy City and the schools for Espers.

Just knowledge of Railgun will be sufficient to play the RP. Even if you do not know it you can ask us for help. I have not watched a single episode of Bleach yet I know tons about it from Bleachitp.

To start, I'd suggest you make a student character at one of the three schools. (Prestigious academy for girls, Prestigious academy for boys, or average school that is co-ed.) Come up with a good concept, and some sort of power (Canon examples can be anything from classics like teleportation and lightning control to obscure stuff like "making objects thrown by you move at the speed they are thrown at no matter what unless I stop them.")

There will be plenty of time to get a good start into the manga or anime by the time the RP starts.

[Mina Kobold]

As I just said, we're making the OOC thread to get everything organized and have questions asked/answered.

I don't ask questions about stuff I plan on reading/watching, spoiler-phobic.

Plus this means I need to finish reading it sooner so that I can actually keep up with this thread, no matter whether it's neccesary or not. I'm crazy like that

And what do you mean spinoff? If you read/watch Railgun, good. If you have read/watch Index then just keep in mind that magic will be off limits, we are instead focusing on Academy City and the schools for Espers.

Tvtropes say it's a spin-off centered on a character named Mikoto. I was just asking whether I need to read the main manga to get what's going on (Like why they are where they are, have what powers they have and how everything works) but I can gather that I don't

Just knowledge of Railgun will be sufficient to play the RP. Even if you do not know it you can ask us for help. I have not watched a single episode of Bleach yet I know tons about it from Bleachitp.

See first part of this post, it's no fun being told how awesome it is by you guys. I want to watch little pictures telling me it

To start, I'd suggest you make a student character at one of the three schools. (Prestigious academy for girls, Prestigious academy for boys, or average school that is co-ed.) Come up with a good concept, and some sort of power (Canon examples can be anything from classics like teleportation and lightning control to obscure stuff like "making objects thrown by you move at the speed they are thrown at no matter what unless I stop them.")

See, I could do that but I now this about those for now: They're schools.

Making a character on that basis would be unacceptable! (Unless I was really, really bored) so Archive binging here I come!

[AmberVael]

Tvtropes say it's a spin-off centered on a character named Mikoto. I was just asking whether I need to read the main manga to get what's going on (Like why they are where they are, have what powers they have and how everything works) but I can gather that I don't

I watched the Railgun anime first, and it made perfect sense to me. You'll be fine, I'm sure.


Anyway, I've been thinking about a character for a bit now, and I'm settling on a character who has light generation as their ability. I'd like to go high level (probably 5) with it, as I think it would best fit the concept. I don't have any desire to really usurp usefulness from other characters, and have narrowed and specified the ability to light generation rather than control because of that- it allows her some crazy capabilities, but people with different powers, even of much lower level, can still be useful around her.

[Maximum Zersk]

Aha. You guys thought you could open an OOC without me knowing, huh?

Well, I do have an idea for a character, but I don't know if it's okay. Would weak time-travel be okay?

[AmberVael]

Well, I do have an idea for a character, but I don't know if it's okay. Would weak time-travel be okay?

Well, I don't really have an official approval/disapproval behind my words, but I'd imagine time-travel would be a really touchy issue. Simply because it is terribly confusing. Going backwards, I'd imagine, is out of the question. Small jumps forwards might be okay, but it'd be a really limited ability. Kind of like teleport, but without moving anywhere. More just like disappearing for a few seconds.

[Maximum Zersk]

Huh. So the main thing stopping it is every time-travel plot out there? Mainly Primer? Hm....

[Mina Kobold]

Aha. You guys thought you could open an OOC without me knowing, huh?

Well, I do have an idea for a character, but I don't know if it's okay. Would weak time-travel be okay?

In schools for the supernaturally gifted time-travel is only allowed to those who have a M tattoed above their eye or a talking dice. NO EXCEPTIONS

@Vael/Shady: I'm not going to use it as a power but what about time-stopping?

[Shades of Gray]

Time travel/alteration should be off limits. Unless you put them under a ridiculous amount of restrictions, as I did with my own time controller in Bitp. (To the point that it hardly made sense)

The limitations were something like that she could not affect any living organisms while having time stopped, and that she could only speed up time, not aging or the like. And more of them, I forget them all. But they were numerous, arbitrary, and confusing. It is far easier to say that unless we can somehow make them A) make sense and B) be balanced, time powers are off limits.

As for time stopping, it might be okay if s/he cannot stop people (only non-living things.) Or if s/he cannot harm a being while stopping time, and that is requires concentration. But again, time stopping/travel/alteration is really skirting the lines of what is balanced.

[nothingclever]

Posting interest for now.

[Mina Kobold]

As for time stopping, it might be okay if s/he cannot stop people (only non-living things.) Or if s/he cannot harm a being while stopping time, and that is requires concentration. But again, time stopping/travel/alteration is really skirting the lines of what is balanced.

If time is stopped for everything but the user then affecting anything is impossible anyway, no time passes so nothing can affect the target.

But just that would be game breaking since they could just carry something heavy around, stop time and drop it just above somebody's head and start time before it hits... Limiting the amount of mass that can be non-stopped at once might fix that, though.

That way they can still drop a glass of water on someone or doodle on their face, which is most important

It would need a time-limit, for a lack of better word, you are right about that. It being time-related could be fixed by making it speed-related instead, though

[13_CBS]

Posting interest, though many of you knew already.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Time Travel...would be best left alone, if only because it causes so many troubles to make useful yet not hax or to explain how it happens. The Railgun setting fudges science every now and again, but it remains fairly truthful in most cases so even locally doing a 'time stop like' effect in a localized area is difficult.

Slow down/speed up perception of things going on around you? Sure, it's kinda neat and useful.

Put objects/people in stasis for a short amount of time? Also nifty.

Full on time-stop? Problematic.

@Keveak: Check out the wiki that Shades linked to. It contains information pertaining to the setting, terminology, and groups within the setting (and other stuff!) without giving spoilers....though don't click the links in the terminology section, they do lead to the occasional spoiler.

[13_CBS]

Do we have a character registry thread?

[Prime32]

Do we have a character registry thread?

You have something better.




EDIT: By the way, Callos, I put some stuff on the top bar for you, along with a threads index. Hope you don't mind.

[Maximum Zersk]

Ah, hm.

Well, I'll think of something else then. What about animal empathy?

[Mina Kobold]

@Keveak: Check out the wiki that Shades linked to. It contains information pertaining to the setting, terminology, and groups within the setting (and other stuff!) without giving spoilers....though don't click the links in the terminology section, they do lead to the occasional spoiler.

But I already read eleven chapters, I can't take the easy road now

Just. One. More. Chapter...

*Falls asleep*

ZzzSee Ya tomorrowzzz

[13_CBS]

You have something better.




EDIT: By the way, Callos, I put some stuff on the top bar for you, along with a threads index. Hope you don't mind.

Oh.

...but I like having a Character Registry thread.

[Prime32]

Oh.

...but I like having a Character Registry thread.

*turns off lights*

THUD THUD

*turns on lights, CBS is nowhere to be seen*



What kind of restrictions are there on character abilities? Can they create physical objects?
EDIT: Here's a thought - multiple RPs could potentially be hosted on one wiki by making use of page tags. There could be different sidebars and everything.

[Innis Cabal]

Just posting my proposed power now.

Power: Continuum Shift- Takeshi's power acts much like a reality singularity, intersecting all possible infinite worlds that exist from every action. Takeshi’s power acts either subconsciously, or he can exert his control to shift the reality he exists to take on aspects of another possibility. Most times the effect is random on how it helps him, whether it be a bullet narrowly missing a vital organ, to getting a straight flush in poker. With concentration, Takeshi could shift a section of reality in place where a door was in fact left unlocked, or the milk he was drinking wasn’t expired.

[Prime32]

Continuum Shift

Been playing BlazBlue, have we?

[13_CBS]

*turns off lights*

THUD THUD

*turns on lights, CBS is nowhere to be seen*

Come and see the violence inherent in the system! X.X

What kind of restrictions are there on character abilities? Can they create physical objects?

IIRC, there was a Realty Warper character in the canon material. However, he was portrayed as being extremely powerful and, more importantly, he was a mage. Another fellow could create an unknown substance that he could use for attacking, but that's about it. No ESPer has demonstrated the ability to create an actual, mundane object, organic or otherwise.

[Maximum Zersk]

Just posting my proposed power now.

Power: Continuum Shift- Takeshi's power acts much like a reality singularity, intersecting all possible infinite worlds that exist from every action. Takeshi’s power acts either subconsciously, or he can exert his control to shift the reality he exists to take on aspects of another possibility. Most times the effect is random on how it helps him, whether it be a bullet narrowly missing a vital organ, to getting a straight flush in poker. With concentration, Takeshi could shift a section of reality in place where a door was in fact left unlocked, or the milk he was drinking wasn’t expired.

...Okay, screw Animal Empathy (for now, at least), I'm making a Physics-based character.

[13_CBS]

An FYI on Psychic Powers:

Most Psychic Powers in canon material tend to lean more towards relatively simple physics tricks used in creative ways. Mikoto's power is essentially bumping around electrons, AFAIK, for example, while Accelerator simply redirects velocity vectors of particles. More complex tricks include mind control and teleportation.

If the character's ability is not a simple physics trick like the above examples, then I might suggest giving the power another thought, if only because if the power requires too many complicated physics tricks to work, then in terms of flavor the power may not fit too well with the setting.

[Prime32]

An FYI on Psychic Powers:

Most Psychic Powers in canon material tend to lean more towards relatively simple physics tricks used in creative ways. Mikoto's power is essentially bumping around electrons, AFAIK, for example, while Accelerator simply redirects velocity vectors of particles. More complex tricks include mind control and teleportation.

If the character's ability is not a simple physics trick like the above examples, then I might suggest giving the power another thought, if only because if the power requires too many complicated physics tricks to work, then in terms of flavor the power may not fit too well with the setting.

I have the power to control DARK MATTER! This lets me turn into a demon.

Or not.

[Maximum Zersk]

But Animal Empathy is basically mind control, but with animals, right? I could keep it defined to one species. That might work.

Prime: :P I'm not an expert on Astrophysics, but I'm not sure Dark Matter is literally dark.