Frain Breeze

[OOC: Phil the Time Wizard and Tacobob should reply first. Anyone can join after the first round of posts] It was a bright morning in the mountainous regions surrounding Canterlot. Lady Lanceguard was leading a small group of other ponies through the mountain wilderness to find a suitable area for jousting practice. They were all ponies she'd only met earlier that day, all interested in the same thing- Jousting. Some came to take on Lanceguard herself, and others just wanted to see the show. Shortly after crossing a narrow river, they came to an abrupt clearing in the vegetation, a wide area with nothing but grass. The field was mostly flat, perhaps with a slight dip toward the center. A keen eye would notice that all the trees immediately surrounding this clearing were tilted inward toward the center, but it wasn't particularly obvious to the average pony. Lanceguard surveyed the area, then turned to group behind her, "I think we've found our spot!" The unicorn set down her saddlebags, retrieving a round-tipped horn cover and face mask from within. She fastened the gear in place, looking toward the group. "Who shall be first to challenge Equestria's current jousting champion?" she spoke loudly, with a cocky grin. She gave her mane a flip, and began walking toward the center of the field. However, something felt... odd... about walking in this field. The ground felt somewhat spongy beneath her hooves, but she couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong. She shrugged it off, unwilling to let just a weird feeling get in the way of a good match.

Rappatat watched in awe as her reflection took on a shocked expression, then reached forward. It reached further and further... and then landed in a heap when it lost its balance. Rappatat gave a long pause, then opened her mouth with a silent laugh before putting her hoof to her mouth to hold back a snicker. She finally realized what was going on now! Rappatat gave a playful little wave, then reached a hoof out to help the other, incredibly similar pony, up.

Rappatat continued aimlessly down the halls, just having fun with her reflections. She tilted her head as she encountered a simpler mirror that only seemed to swap a few colors around- the eyes were more of a purple shade, the mane was brown, and the saddlebag green. She gave a shrug, then started to turn to continue on her way. Now, however, something drastic happened- the mirror image didn't move! Rappatat halted her movement, placing her hoof back on the ground as she looked harder at the reflection. They surely must be upping the ante this year- this was the first time she'd seen any tricks like this in the hall of mirrors...

It was a beautiful, cool evening at the Fillydelphia carnival. There were bright lights, games to play, trinkets and toys to buy, rides to go on, shows to see, and overall just a lot to do. Rappatat had come down for a night of fun, leaving a friend in charge of the lighthouse. There were of course tons of non-Fillydelphia ponies around at the carnival, so she couldn't really expect anypony to understand her normal horse-code communication. To make up for this, the voiceless earth pony brought a pencil and paper with her to "speak", keeping them in a small blue saddlebag at her side. The mute pony explored the carnival at first, making a "hit list" of things to check out before the night was over, but something soon caught her eye- The hall of mirrors! It had been forever since she last saw one of those, and she didn't want to miss her chance. Rappatat eagerly ran inside, making faces and playing with the distorted mirrors much like she did when she was a filly.

Sturmmann: Rappatat's lighthouse is in Fillydelphia, but I could have the RP for the Strand in general. I'm picturing most of the story revolving around fighting off the storm as it hits and trying to prevent or manage the resulting damage. How many players do you think should be involved?

Sturmman: I don't know how much focus could be given to one lost cloud as the beginning point on this, considering I don't have a pegasus character. Maybe we could begin with the large cloudmass being spotted offshore? sevofthesands: Sorry, I think I've found enough RPs for the moment. (I had another person PM me as well shortly after I started the thread)

I've actually been tossing around this idea: When pegasi move the clouds, they occasionally lose track of one. Clouds that have drifted out over sea, out of most pegasi' flying range, begin to converge with other drifters. Now enough of them have joined together that an immense and very powerful storm threatens the area.

Phil the Time Wizard, tacobob: Sounds good. Where in Equestria do you two think the RP should take place, and what underground area should it drop them into?

sevofthesands: Which characters do you have in mind? Phil the Time Wizard: Radiant Steel and Steel Dagger both seem like good fits (leaning a little toward Steel Dagger though). Is there anything specific you want to happen?

Could we get a note in one of the RP guides about "this character needs a RP" threads in the OOC forum? Lurking around, I've seen quite a few that say "Char X and Char Y need to be in more RPs" and don't give any detail beyond that. I just think it should be a common courtesy to give at least a tiny bit of background on the characters or hint at what kind of RP you're looking for.

I want to be more active with my characters. Does anypony have any ideas for either of these two? Rappatat, the mute earth pony She was my first character, and... I barely have any idea what to do with her now. She's a friendly one and tends to help out search and rescue teams by signalling from her lightnouse. She isn't afraid to take a more direct role if necessary though. Lady Lanceguard, the jousting unicorn I actually have a couple of ideas for Lanceguard. Anyone wanna go with either of these, or have another fun idea of their own? A. While out training with or demonstrating for somepony, a sinkhole opens up beneath them. I don't have anything specific lined out after that, as this could drop them quite a few places. We could do cave exploration, abandoned mines, underground ruins, diamond dogs, or just a rescue mission. B. A joust gone wrong has left Lanceguard in the hospital in another town. After being released, she finds she's missed the train ride home and doesn't have enough money left to stay at a hotel and still afford the next ride. She must instead rely on the kindness of a stranger to get her home or keep her safe until she recovers. If you want an added twist, the one offering help could be the same unicorn that hurt her, now trying to make amends. C. While normally eager to recruit new jousters, this time she encounters somepony that shouldn't joust. A unicorn whose horn is too important to risk, but wants to try it out anyway. Cue a rather odd battle when she gets stuck in the arena against an opponent she doesn't want to hit.

"A few spectators are always welcome, ..um..." Lanceguard spoke, but then hesitated in her reply to Dodger, realizing she hadn't heard his name. "Oh dear, we haven't had any proper introductions yet, have we?" She rolled her eyes and shook her head, then took a step back to address the group. "I am Lady Lanceguard of Canterlot. I am one of Equestria's finest jousters, buuut I suppose you might have picked up on that by now" she said, finishing with a smirk. She stepped behind Fate and motioned for her to lead the way. "I've been trying to get more ponies interested in the sport, and a match at the park may be just what we need."

Have you ever had a great idea for a pony character, but don't feel you'd have the time or skill to do it justice? Or did you simply like brainstorming the idea, but would never want to use the character yourself? Share the idea here and see if anyone else wants to use it. Anything is fine. It can be a name, a specific trait, or even a (hopefully summarized) bio. As a courtesy, if you want to use any of the ideas from this thread, let the poster know (either by post or by PM) so they can mark it off the list. Names: -Sun Tzhooves, author of The Art of Warhorse (parody of Sun Tzu / The Art of War) - Character Concepts: -An archer pony whose cutie mark is a target with an arrow at the center. S/He has found out that this is not a nice cutie mark to have when one is at the archery range. Several arrows to the flank later, this pony has become very, very paranoid and is quite good at sneaking around. -

Lanceguard returned home from her errands and the meeting with True Strike, pondering what he mentioned earlier. A charity could help, and she was sure she'd heard of other events there giving to the needy. As for the pre-game events, she was on the fence. The whole battle scenario would be fun to see, yes, but she felt it would steal the thunder from the mane event. Perhaps with some more check-ins with True Strike, she could devise something that plays to the prince's strengths - assuming he actually has any - rather than trying to simply hide his weaknesses. True Strike's last comment before heading back inside had Lanceguard curious. Could she train him in a disguise? Her comment was originally a joke, but now it had her thinking. She was born to a family of powerful spellcasters, and she could immediately think of a few who knew illusion spells. So, technically, yes, she could. As for whether or not she could stand being around him long enough to make an impact... that would be an entirely different matter. As she arrived at her door, Lanceguard spotted an unusually official-looking letter waiting for her. She picked it up to look closer, dismayed as she recognized the royal seal on it. Lanceguard hurried inside and put down her bags, opening the letter. A summons from the princess herself?! Was this about the joust? What in Equestria did Blueblood do to get her into this? Glancing at the clock and then at the letter, she realized she didn't have time to dwell on the issue and would just have to see for herself why she was needed at the palace. With a sigh, Lanceguard took a moment to make herself presentable. She fixed up her mane and tail the best she could, and would go without her caparison- she didn't want to look like a brute in front of the Princess, now did she? The unicorn hurried to the palace, hoping her anxiety didn't show when she arrived.

If you want something knightly without the character having to be "on duty", they could be a jouster like Lanceguard. Due to a lack of interested unicorns, pony jousts may open up to accept any pony-likes that want to compete.

I know, but the discussion is what is allowed, not how often it occurs. A stab doesn't necessarily mean an attack. Mistakes and pointy things just don't play together very well. I agree that this stuff would be extremely rare, but it might as well be asked while we're on the topic of injuries. Thank you for the fast reply.

I've been wondering about the limits on injuries too. Here's roughly where I think the limits are, but please correct me so I know. 1. Old Injuries. - Stuff that happened before they were app'd (or otherwise out of the RP), and has long since healed over. Would it be correct to say anything can happen as long as it's reasonable for the setting? Acceptable: Stunt failures, accidents, natural disasters Unacceptable: Psycho-ponies, violent crime, self-mutilation Don't know: Monster attacks, animal attacks, infection 2. Offscreen Injuries. - The character shows up in a thread with these injuries, but the incident that caused them was not seen. Acceptable: Simple fractures, most cuts, burns Unacceptable: Compound fractures, anything that shows organs or bone Don't know: Puncture / stab wounds, nerve damage, and "How much blood is too much?" 3. Onscreen Injures. - Injuries that actually happen during the RP. I'd expect this to be similar to offscreen injury limits, but may have to be a little stricter due to pain and such. (Example: Think of the difference between "burned" and "burning") 4. Not injured, just faking it. This last point is off on a tangent, but I've been brainstorming a prankster character lately that can make sections of herself invisible just to scare other ponies. Part of me thinks having any guts be seen this way wouldn't be allowed, but there's also the point that there isn't any actual injury or blood loss, so she would be almost like a walking medical diagram. Anybody remember the old "Inside-out Boy" shorts from Nickelodeon?

Chronological order: 1st on Atari 2600: Chopper Command or something like that 1st on PC: Doom 1st on Sega Genesis: Aladdin 1st on GameBoy/GBA: Pokemon Red 1st on Gamecube: Soul Calibur 2 (store demo) / Metroid Prime (at home)

I don't know how feasible it would be, but perhaps Lady Lanceguard could interest him in the noble sport of jousting? Whether he freaks out right away or ends up performing unexpectedly, well, I'm sure it would be entertaining.

I know some RPers make 1-2 paragraph posts and others type up full pages, but.. do they mix? Do the long-posters get annoyed by somepony joining in to make paragraph posts, or are they totally fine with it? I avoid any thread with super long posts just because I think the people in it will see me like the same type that makes a misspelled, 1-sentence post and calls it a RP.

I'm pretty sure you can

Alright then. Thank you for the quick response.

Just a random thought that crossed my mind the other day. How far can we go with throwaway gags in the main RP areas? For example, would it be alright for somepony to make a passing reference to a "Leoneighdas" or a "Battle of Thermopony", even though we have no supporting lore or canon for it?