Esper Shift: An Animesque Fantasy RPG - Sign-Up Thread!

[Ghost]

Welcome to the sign up thread of my RPG, Esper Shift. While I am aware that the set-up may appear very sci-fi, it will for the most part be a fantasy story. Though this is my first time GMing an RPG on a forum, I hope those of you who decide to join up as players will enjoy it. As I lack experience, I may play it a bit by ear starting off, but I hope this won't be noticeable.

Great thanks to Siriel for helping me with the technical stuff. As per his recommendation, this thread will remain up for a while before the actual game starts, so you can take your time with your characters.

A caveat, however: For plot-related reasons it may not be possible to join the game after a certain point.

NOTE: Character registration is closed.
________________________

The Story So Far:

The research of psychic powers -the superhuman abilities exhibited by certain exceptional individuals- were long considered nothing more then questionable pseudoscience. Telepathy, psychokinesis, clairvoyance; for the longest time these things remained unconfirmed hearsay and the stuff of fiction and fantasy.

However, in recent years the existence of psionic abilities have become accepted as reality thanks to the efforts of dedicated researchers. Foremost of them are Joseph Zener, a brilliant visionary who's work helped elevate parapsychology into an accepted field within the scientific community by proving the existence of abilities beyond those of normal humans. Those born with these abilities became known as ”espers.”

With the existence of the espers confirmed, the UN formed a research agency with the goal of increasing understanding of these abilities for the betterment of mankind. This enterprise, led by Zener himself, would become known as the Abraxas Project. The final stage of the project was the founding of the Zener Institute; a combined school and research facility located on an obscure Asian island.

As a candidate of this program, you have joined the Institute in hopes of learning more about the mysterious power you were born with. After much testing and training, you have gained a degree of understanding and control of your ability and has shown the potential to advance to the next level. In recognition of your talent, you have now been hand-picked to join the top students of the Institute in the Advanced Class, where you will receive further instruction.

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NPC

These are the non-player characters your characters will interact with at the beginning of the game. Many more NPC will appear as you advance along the storyline.

Joseph Banks Zener: Founder of the Zener Institute and head of Project Abraxas. Most likely the world's greatest authority on espers and esper powers.

Tyler Jackson: A senior esper employed by the Institute. He has the power of cryokinesis, allowing him to drastically lower the temperature of an area, freezing it. He is in charge of the psychokinetic and martial arts training of the advanced class.

Catherine Silva: A senior esper employed by the Institute. She has the power of psychometry, allowing her to gain information about people and objects via touch. She is in charge of telepathic and clairvoyance training, and also the chief counselor of the Institute.

Viir Ikine: A kanan noble.
________________________


Character Creation:

Please fill out the following character sheet:


NAME: The full name of your character.

GENDER: Your character's gender.

AGE: How old your character is. Should be between 13 and 19 years of age.

NATIONALITY: Where your character is from.

WEAPON DISCIPLIN: The weapon style your character has specialized in. Since dedicated martial arts training is known to improve esper powers to a degree, your character will have been trained in a weapon-based fighting style as part of the project. (Assuming he or she was not a martial artist to begin with, that is.) This can by any kind of weapon that isn't a firearm. Note, however, that the Zener Institute does not allow personally owned weapons, so your character won't have brought any along.

APPEARANCE: What your character looks like. Pictures are welcome, but written detailed descriptions are encouraged.

CHARACTER HISTORY & PERSONALITY: A basic description of your character's past and his or her more prominent character traits.

CHARACTER SONG (Optional): Music you associate with the character.

PERSONAL SKILL: Here you may chose one minor skill your character has. Nothing extraordinary – basically just an everyday talent which he or she happens to be good at. Cooking, drawing, singing, etc.

PHYSICAL STATS: Stats that determine the physical and mental abilities of your character unrelated to his or her esper power. You have 5 points to distribute between these stats.

Brawn: Concerns strength, endurance, durability and similar physical aspects.
Agility: Concerns dodging skills, acrobatics, reflexes and reaction time, etc.
Skill: Concerns fighting abilities and personal skills.
Perception: Concerns attention to detail, noticing the small things and being aware of ones surroundings.

ESPER ABILITY: This is the psionic power your character is born with. While the Zener Institute classifies esper powers in three rough categories: Telepathy, Psychokinetics and Clairvoyance, this is mostly out of convenience. In reality, each power is unique to the esper, and can take almost any form – even if two Espers have similar powers, they will almost always differ in some way.

When describing your chosen power, please be as specific as possible: I will want to know the ability, its effect, and preferably the mechanics behind the effect.

Observe that a few powers will be banned for plot-related reasons, either because I've already given them to important NPC or because I believe they might break the game. If you pick one of these powers, I will let you know. Also, as GM I reserve the liberty to impose restrictions to your powers or suggest alternatives.

ESPER STATS: Stats that determine the properties of your character's esper power. Note that since the exact nature of esper powers can very greatly, the stats may mean different things depending on the power. We will decide this on a case by case basis as required. You have 10 points to distribute between these stats, but note that you must have at least one point in everything except Range.

Power: Generally indicates the scale the power works on.
Skill: Generally indicates the quantities of effects the esper can manifest and/or the degree of fine control he or she has of her power.
Range: The effective range of the power. This is the only esper stat it is possible to have 0 points in, in which case the power only works on direct physical contact.
Time: Generally indicates how fast the power can be activated, the speed of which it can be carried out, and/or how long its effect lasts.

("Speed" is now "Time," but otherwise means the same thing. Hope that won't lead to any confusion.)

_______________________________


ESPER SHIFT CHARACTER ROSTER. (Thanks, Yun.)
Falcon's PC Quick Summary List.
PC and NPC Themes.
Map of Kana.

[Yun Lao]

NAME: Inoue Noburo

GENDER: Male

AGE: 16

NATIONALITY: Japanese

WEAPON DISCIPLINE: War Hammer

APPEARANCE:


CHARACTER HISTORY: Born into a rather large family, Noburo quickly found himself acting as the housekeeper in his mother's stead while she worked. While he enjoyed it and his life at home, he found his various attempts to socialize at school to be much more difficult due to his bizarre personality. His status as a loner was further entrenched when his powers emerged during an incident in which he was forced to deal with a group of bullies who had targeted his younger sister. Shortly after, a representative from the Zener Institute offered Noburo the chance to attend. While initially reluctant to leave his family, he eventually was convinced through their efforts.

PERSONALITY: Noburo's stern looks, usual quiet behavior, and his actions may give him the appearance of a stoic, however, once he opens his mouth, it becomes apparent that it is nothing but. Although not stupid, his tendencies as a Cloud Cuckoo Lander and the fact that he tends to speak long after his mind has wandered from the topic of the conversation he originally sought to add something to tends to give that impression of idiocy if not weird or simply insane. This, compounded with his extremely innocent and trusting nature, only serve to further make social interaction with him difficult. Despite all of this, he is extremely dependable and fiercely loyal and protective to those he cares for; unfortunately, his family are the only ones who know this side, perhaps because they are the only ones who can understand his train of thought.

FAMILY:
(Name/Relation/Age/Occupation) [Detailed Biographies Here]
Hideaki/Father/43/Carpenter
Sayuri/Mother/41/Office Lady
Shinobu/Eldest Sister/23/Professional Wrestler
Ayano/Second Eldest Sister/20/Seiyuu
Yuuka/Third Eldest Sister/19/College Student
Mitsuko/Younger Sister/13/Middle-School Student

CHARACTER SONG:
Shoji Meguro's "Electronica of the Soul" [Main]
MUCC's "Tsubasa wo Kudasai (Aishuu ver.)" [Combat]

PERSONAL SKILL: Housework

PHYSICAL STATS:
Brawn: 4
Agility: 3
Skill: 2
Perception: 1

ESPER ABILITY;
Name: "DESTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK"
Category: Psychokinetic
Description: A dual-purpose ability in which encompasses both offense and defense, Destructive Feedback takes the form of a surrounding barrier that absorbs outside energy. Once absorbed, this energy, along with the psychic energy that was used to create the barrier, can be converted into a projectile beam of energy. This barrier cannot usually been seen by the naked eye, with the exceptions of when it absorbs and energy and when fired.

Requirements and Weaknesses:
- While it can absorb energy such as the kinetic energy of moving objects, the results tend to be much weaker compared to when it absorbs "purer" forms of energy, such as natural energy (electricity, fire, etc) or abstract energy (psychic, magic, etc.)
- Obviously, should an outside energy source be too great for the absorbing barrier, it will shatter.
-In its initial state, the barrier can only cover one side (front, back, and each side) at a time, and must be actively placed up with each usage.

ESPER STATS:*
Power: 6 (Low kinetic energy attacks like arrows or punches need several direct strikes to wear the shield down. It now also resists stronger blows better, but melee weapons still pose a danger.)
Skill: 5 (Noburo can create two barriers with a maximum size of 1 X 1 meter.)
Range: 5 (Noburo's feedback beam has a range of 15 meters.)
Time/Speed: 5 (After firing his feedback beam, Noburo must wait 21 seconds before he can use his ability again, or seconds if the barrier breaks before that.)


*NOTES:
Power: How much energy the barrier can absorb.
Skill: How many barriers Noburo can create, and how large he can make them.
Range: The range of Noburo's feedback beam.
Time/Speed: How much time Noburo needs to regenerate the energy to use his ability again.

[Sound Silence]

Calling Hydrokinesis, if that's okay. Full sheet will be up...later.

[Siriel]

"I'm not good at speeches, and my truth isn't something that I know how to express."

NAME: Eli Asler

Titles: As a member of the Foretold, Eli is addressed as a noble 'lord' in the Kingdom of Kana. Unlike some of the others, he hasn't requested to be addressed without it.

AGE: 16

WEAPON DISCIPLINE: Double Kusarigama.

APPEARANCE:


CHARACTER HISTORY & PERSONALITY:
Eli joined the institute as soon as he learned of it, eager to learn more about Espers and their powers, both in the hopes of learning more about
his own ability and out of curiosity for what others could do.
Having learned his ability and it's limitations in his previous class, he does his best to memorize any individual objects that he sees, so that he may later be able to Separate them if needed.

While he is interested in the abilities of other, and wants to know as much as possible about them, he does not like to speak of his own, and rarely uses it in public. In other words, he doesn't actively tries to keep it hidden, but doesn't show off.

With the exception of his ability and one or two other sensible subjects, he is friendly and willing to talk to others if they open a conversation, but he isn't skilled at politely beginning a conversation.

After the group's travel through the Esper Shift, Eli seems remarkably unaffected by the different world they find themselves in, treating it as a welcomed change. Of those they've met, Viir Ikine is the person that he has felt the most respect and interest toward.
While he has since made little effort to engage his fellow Espers in conversations, he has tried to convince Tabitha to go easy on the others.

When questioned about himself by Dryden, he appeared puzzled by the question and changed the subject after a vague answer.

As Joseph felt angry about his mistakes in the battle with the vampire, Eli misunderstood his feelings and advised him to seek happiness rather than strength.

Sulin's Shroud and her identity as an esper from a different world has attracted his interest.


CHARACTER SONG:
Locked

PERSONAL SKILL: Visualization:
Eli has a talent (developed in the training of his power) to visualize objects and how they relate to each others in his mind.

PHYSICAL STATS:
Brawn: 3
Agility: 2
Skill: 3
Perception: 2

ESPER ABILITY:
(Note: As he does not like to speak of it and rarely uses it in a noticeable manner, Eli's power is not common knowledge beyond the fact that it fits into the psychokinetic class.)

Name: Boundary Edict
Class: Psychokinetic

Form:
Boundary Edict is an ability derived from kinesis thanks to which, by tracing the pattern of two connected objects with his mind, Eli can separate them.
Requirements:
1 - Eli must be able to trace the objects in his mind. As such, unless he is already familiar with the target, the power requires line of sight. (It is not, however, required that he knows what the objects are like inside.)
2 - Eli cannot control them once the objects have been separated. That is to say that unless the objects can float under their own power or are supported by something else, they will fall to the ground.
3 - The target must have been two objects initially or must be the sum of two objects. So while it would be possible to separate two sheets of paper that have been glued together(by separating one of the sheets from the glue), it would be impossible to break a rock in half, unless that rock had been artificially constructed from two separate pieces.
Visual Effect
When used on a single pair of objects, Boundary Edict is invisible. However, when used as (a) 'zone(s)', it appears as (a) discolored sphere(s).

ESPER STATS:

Power: 9 (180 CM)
Power indicates the scale on which Eli can use his power, as well as the resistance that can be overcome to separate two objects.
Skill: 3 (2 T)
Skill indicates the number of target areas
Range: 5 (15 M)
Range indicates the range at which Eli can separate things.
Time: 4

Sharp Comments

"You don't have to worry. I don't have anything like long-term plans."

[Ptrvc]

Sounds interesting.

Lets see if I can come up with a character concept.

[Eternal Torment]

NAME: Tabitha Kale

GENDER: Female

AGE: 18

NATIONALITY: Canada

WEAPON DISCIPLINE: Steel Gauntlets

APPEARANCE: A rather tall girl (6'1), with short blonde hair and red eyes. She's quite muscular, but she covers herself up to keep it as surprise for people who antagonize her. She wraps her abdomen and chest with a sarashi, which isn't apparent under the white dress shirt and black leather duster she wears. She also wears black dress pants, suspenders, black combat boots, and a silver tie.

CHARACTER HISTORY: Tabitha is a middle class girl with an upper class ego. She used to be a boastful and vicious girl that savaged anybody who ticked her off. The only people exempt from that were her family and her friends, as she had some ability to respect them despite her nasty personality. After she manifested her power, she started to mellow out slightly as the training required her to keep herself disciplined and in control of her emotions. Once she heard about this institute, she decided to join in order to develop her abilities further.

PERSONALITY: Extremely arrogant, although she does give credit where it's due. Tabitha relishes challenges to her 'dominance', believing that constant struggle is unavoidable and that it helps keep her sharp. She doesn't hesitate to cheat if she can get away with it, making her one really dirty fighter. She isn't a killer, however. While she isn't sickened by violence, murder is a line she refuses to cross out of disgust.

CHARACTER SONG (Optional): Kogane no Ou

PERSONAL SKILL: Darts

PHYSICAL STATS:
Brawn: 2
Agility: 2
Skill: 2
Perception: 1

ESPER ABILITY: "Majestic Aura". It's a psychokinetic field that covers her entire body, even extending to her clothes. She can use this aura to manipulate objects or she could shape it into simple geometric shapes. It's invisible to non-Espers, but appears as a golden light to those who are. The aura can affect living beings.

ESPER STATS:
Power: 4 = Tabitha's aura can move or lift 40 kg. As a defence, it now lasts somewhat longer against repeated light attacks and is more likely to resist powerful blows.
Skill: 9 = No noticable change.
Range: 3= The aura extends 2 cm from Tabitha's body. She can extend part of it to a maximum of 8 cm.
Time: 3 = Tabitha can keep her ability activated for a maximum of 3 minutes.

[Radioactive Zombie]

NAME: Dover Stone.

GENDER: Male.

AGE: 14.

NATIONALITY: British.

WEAPON DISCIPLINE: Crossbow.

APPEARANCE: A short boy (about 4'9), and it shows. Has messy jet-black hair that can easily cover his face (if the wind is particularly blustery). Somewhat pointed chin, small lips and nose, large-ish green eyes. Most people would peg him down as a 13-year-old just about to hit puberty - he's that young looking.

CHARACTER HISTORY & PERSONALITY: Orphaned at two years in age. Contrary to popular rumors, parents did not display any exceptional abilities, or had any affair in international relationships, militant or otherwise. Selected by a UK government program to cultivate physic powers in children aged one-through-ten for various purposes, most of them civilian in application (telekinesis for easier construction, mind-reading for criminal convictions, weather control for crop-growing and disaster control). Dover happened to be the sixth subject, and, contrary to expectations, developed powers more suitable for combat than the rest of his batch of subjects. Despite this, the government decided not to train him for military operations, due to moral and political obligations. He has had, however, some "unofficial" education by various government and military figures in politics, proper handling of weaponry, and useless tidbits of other countries.

Extraordinarily shy and timid, but tends to be rather talkative around people he considers friends. Tends to stammer when nervous - which is nearly all the time. At times, appears to be over-observant - and yet, can miss some of the most obvious things. Despite his shyness, he never runs from a fight that has the slightest chance of him winning, and is dependable - he will complete any given task given to him by anyone with sufficient seniority - in most cases, being older will do. He's also gullible, believing anything he doesn't know as a fact to be true with enough persuasion. Yet, at the same time, he is quite intelligent, and loves anything even vaguely educative, taking any and all opportunity to learn something new, be it astrophysics (even though he nearly had a nervous breakdown after going through a course), robotics, anything. One of the few who has read the entire current collection of the Encyclopedia Britannica without falling asleep or going mad. As such, is usually knowledgeable on trivia, factoids, and things that might be useful.

PERSONAL SKILL: Cooking.

PHYSICAL STATS:

Brawn: None.
Agility: Three points.
Skill: One point.
Perception: One point.

ESPER ABILITY: Speed. More accurately: time slows to a crawl (noticeable movement, but slowed down greatly), while others notice a significant increase in speed/agility and reaction time beyond normal human ability.

ESPER STATS:

Power: 2 = Dover can increase his physical motion speed by 6%.
Skill: 3 = Dover can increase his reaction/perception speed by 8%.
Range: 0 = This power only affects Dover personally, and thus has no range.
Time: 5 = Dover can keep his ability active for ten seconds at a time.

[Daiyoukai Ramza]

Placeholder post. You know the drill.

[mailedbypostman1]

NAME: Erik Child.

GENDER: Male.

AGE: 18

NATIONALITY: American

WEAPON DISCIPLINE: Quarterstaff

APPEARANCE: Has long-ish brown hair which goes everywhere. Skinny, but fit. Pale, doesn't get enough sun. Half-closed eyes, apathetic expression usually on face. Typical disaffected teenager.

CHARACTER HISTORY & PERSONALITY: Typical disaffected teenager. Grew up in a suburban household in the heartland of America. Kept to himself, spoke rarely to family and less to those outside. Didn't connect with the outside world.

Spending his entire childhood alone has rendered Erik an increasingly bizzarre and neurotic teen. Showing interest in subjects which few have heard about and fewer care about, he has a tendency to shut out those who have no interest in his hobbies, although he does make an effort to reach out now and then, at awkward intervals. Rarely speaks except on subjects which concern him. Trusts few and relies on nearly nobody, and of those few he trusts and relies too much on them. Moody, has ups and downs.

CHARACTER SONG (Optional): Music you associate with the character.

PERSONAL SKILL: Natural skill at melee combat

PHYSICAL STATS: Stats that determine the physical and mental abilities of your character unrelated to his or her esper power. You have 5 points to distribute between these stats.

Brawn: 2
Agility: 3
Skill: 2
Perception: 0

ESPER ABILITY:
"Expert Analysis",
Class: Clairvoyance.

With this ability Erik projects a field of energy which "scans" an object or area. After sufficient scanning the energy is reabsorbed into Erik and he now possesses great knowledge of the physical structure of the object or area, as well as various other elements, such as weaknesses, strengths, and possible methods of usage or attack.

ESPER STATS: Stats that determine the properties of your character's esper power. Note that since the exact nature of esper powers can very greatly, the stats may mean different things depending on the power. We will decide this on a case by case basis as required. You have 10 points to distribute between these stats, but note that you must have at least one point in everything except Range.

Power: 5- How exact/useful the information is: Poor effect. The information is general at best and sketchy at worst, but it does let Erik get the basic gist of whatever it is he's scanning.

Skill: 6- Amount of information he can gather How exact/useful the information is: Erik can process 3 distinct pieces of information at once.

Range: 2- How large the scanning field is: Erik's scanning field is a sphere covering four meters in every direction.

Time: 1- How long it takes to scan an area: Erik needs 13 seconds to fully scan an area.

[Ghost]

Oh, I forgot to mention: For physical stats, one point means "normal human average" whereas zero means "below average."

In other words, having zero in something means your character is somewhat deficient in that aspect. 0 Brawns means he or she is very weak, with low endurance and durability. 0 Agility means your character is clumsy and moves awkwardly. And so on.

[Cleric of Hell's Brigade]

NAME: Edan Ganymede

GENDER: Male

AGE: 19

NATIONALITY: Minnesota, U.S.A.

WEAPON DISCIPLIN: The weapon style your character has specialized in. Since dedicated martial arts training is known to improve esper powers to a degree, your character will have been trained in a weapon-based fighting style as part of the project. (Assuming he or she was not a martial artist to begin with, that is.) This can by any kind of weapon that isn't a firearm. Note, however, that the Zener Institute does not allow personally owned weapons, so your character won't have brought any along.

APPEARANCE: What your character looks like. Pictures are welcome, but written detailed descriptions are encouraged.

CHARACTER HISTORY & PERSONALITY: A basic description of your character's past and his or her more prominent character traits.

CHARACTER SONG (Optional): Music you associate with the character.

PERSONAL SKILL: Here you may chose one minor skill your character has. Nothing extraordinary – basically just an everyday talent which he or she happens to be good at. Cooking, drawing, singing, etc.

PHYSICAL STATS: Stats that determine the physical and mental abilities of your character unrelated to his or her esper power. You have 5 points to distribute between these stats.

Brawn: Concerns strength, endurance, durability and similar physical aspects.
Agility: Concerns dodging skills, acrobatics, reflexes and reaction time, etc.
Skill: Concerns fighting abilities and personal skills.
Perception: Concerns attention to detail, noticing the small things and being aware of ones surroundings.

ESPER ABILITY: This is the psionic power your character is born with. While the Zener Institute classifies esper powers in three rough categories: Telepathy, Psychokinetics and Clairvoyance, this is mostly out of convenience. In reality, each power is unique to the esper, and can take almost any form – even if two Espers have similar powers, they will almost always differ in some way.

When describing your chosen power, please be as specific as possible: I will want to know the ability, its effect, and preferably the mechanics behind the effect.

Observe that a few powers will be banned for plot-related reasons, either because I've already given them to important NPC or because I believe they might break the game. If you pick one of these powers, I will let you know. Also, as GM I reserve the liberty to impose restrictions to your powers or suggest alternatives.

ESPER STATS: Stats that determine the properties of your character's esper power. Note that since the exact nature of esper powers can very greatly, the stats may mean different things depending on the power. We will decide this on a case by case basis as required. You have 10 points to distribute between these stats, but note that you must have at least one point in everything except Range.

Power: Generally indicates the scale the power works on.
Skill: Generally indicates the quantities of effects the esper can manifest and/or the degree of fine control he or she has of her power.
Range: The effective range of the power. This is the only esper stat it is possible to have 0 points in, in which case the power only works on direct physical contact.
Speed: Generally indicates how fast the power can be activated, the speed of which it can be carried out, and/or how long its effect lasts.


Placeholder for now.

[Radioactive Zombie]

Oh, I forgot to mention: For physical stats, one point means "normal human average" whereas zero means "below average."

In other words, having zero in something means your character is somewhat deficient in that aspect. 0 Brawns means he or she is very weak, with low endurance and durability. 0 Agility means your character is clumsy and moves awkwardly. And so on.

Yeah, Dover's below average.

[Guy1]

Placeholder for power.
If available, Chronokinesis.
If not, Telekinesis.

[Ghost]

Yeah, Dover's below average.

Just making sure you understand that.

Now, about his power, could you be more specific about how it actually works? "Speed" is a bit vague. Does he physically speed up his reactions and movements, or does he literally slow down his personal time?

[Legato]

Screw it I'll do it. Just have to think of a power though