I'll go ahead and try now, I'm super nervous though

so this setting idea began as a way to try and make the "forest RP" of olden Gaia times into a legitimate setting

so it starts with this demiplane, pocketplane, whatever

where very powerful magic-users isolate their experiments

eventually they abandon the place but there's so much random magic running around in it that it develops an intelligence of its own

and this intelligence has access to copies of all the memories in the multiverse

it (well I'm gonna call it she from now on 'cause it's a girl) likes the stories she gets access to because of this

but eventually that's enough for her, she doesn't want to just passively consume completed stories, she wants to watch them unfold in real time

so she makes people, perfect clones basically, using the copies of memories she has access to

(so yes in this game you wouldn't be playing "your actual character", you'd be playing a "memory clone" of them)

but yeah you can see how the imprint system would go well with that right?

(I don't think I'd call them imprints though, maybe "echoes" would go better with the setting)

other ideas: I think memloss would go well with the whole memory theme?

like characters would start with almost nothing and regain memories as the game goes on

the in-story justification for this could be that their memories are being used to keep their body stable, but their body becomes more stable the longer it exists, so the memories can start to be used as actual memories

*that's NOT enough I accidentally a word

and anywhere where there isn't bits and pieces of characters' worlds would be the location's original form of "foggy forest" I think

just to keep it its own thing, as a nod to the original forest RP idea, plus the fog is a nice mechanic for hiatus

character gets lost in fog for what seems like minutes/hours to them but is actually (length of hiatus) on the outside

I've got other mechanic ideas but I'll let it rest for now to get some feedback first

Aw don't be nervous! I was getting ready for bed so I almost didn't see this.

Im unfamiliar with the gaia forest inspiration, since although I was on gaia I was oblivious to most it's social things

I can see how a tabula rasa esque setup would interplay with the stray magic nicely

The characters likely wouldn't even be aware that they were only memories of actual persons, nor what was causing it all

yeah it's one of those mystery things that would come out slowly as the game progresses

Nice! So building up the suspense too

Some more mechanics things; I think I'd make the AC easier, and possibly tie it into a monthly memory regain thing

so like when you submit a memory to be regained at the beginning of september you'd include your activity from august, that kind of thing

(getting a memory back every month would also give people something to post about!)

if they can't think of anything

and I think instead of using a points-based system for "echoes" I'd just have it where there's a game-wide "echoes plotting" post every two months where people talk about what echoes they want to bring in, and brainstorm on how to combine them with others

like it doesn't reward extra activity and it'd grow a bit faster than tabula rasa but that's offset by it being easier and offloading a bit of the creative work onto the players

finally, an idea I slightly stole from genessia:

incentivizing villains

one of the big problems with villains doing villainous things in DWRP, I think, is that what is fun for villains is not fun for everybody else?

like after their big villainous plot you can't jail or permanently kill them because that would take away their ability to RP, so they kind of don't face consequences

so the idea I had was "temporary villains"

players can play a villain that doesn't count against their character max who comes in for a couple/few months, does their big villainous plot, and then dies/goes away

and they get to keep their memories at the cost of having unstable bodies (because as I said before, the memories are being used to keep their bodies stable)

like it would go with the forest's desire to watch an interesting story unfold

and yeah obviously this would be a OOC plot thing, players would come to the mods and go "I want to play X villain doing Y villainous things"

and things don't go to plan and they get redeemed somehow they can become a regular character at the cost of their memories

*IF things

I'm also thinking of a dark green/light grey color scheme for coding and such?

green for the forest, grey for the fog

I can't code/make things look pretty though, I'd need someone for that

and I THINK dark green/light grey is a legible combo?

(like there's a difference between "just a jerk" that antagonizes other characters, and a "villain" that kidnaps and kills people, etc)

Also thinking of making it like "semi-invite-only" just so it doesn't grow too fast?

Like you go to the test drive and thread with people, and then someone invites you based on your test drive threads

Probably with the first month being fully open to get some numbers to start with and then semi-invite-only after that

or just have it where you have to post to the test drive to app? idk

Oh it ks hard to encourage villains, I agree. I used to play some

The invite system being linked to the tdm is an interesting one, but not everyone likes to tdm first leaving their fresh intros for in game

(it likely wouldn't be an issue for me because I tdm quite often, but I know people)

Kinda hard* (phone error)

I just want something in place to keep it from growing too fast without just making a straight-up player cap

since it would be my first game modding and all

but then again I notice a lot of people put "no memloss" on their ads on ATP so idk maybe it'd be even more niche than tr

but yeah considering the big ideas involved (not the little stuff, just the forest/memory stuff/worldbuilding) do you think people might like to play in it?

like I would, the first step to making anything is to make something that appeals to you, right?

I think there might be an interest. I know a lot of people that are in the market for new games right now