Survive the Shōnen! - Sign Up

You gaze upon St. Nishiyama High, your average prestigious and weirdly influential japanese high school. It is the premier school for everybody in the Hanayama Prefecture, you typical, non-descript japanese state that for some reason has both wild mountains, picturesque rivers and wild biker-gangs. Nevermind the plethora of corrupt authority figures, nebulous conspiracies and metric-ton of weird, unexplained phenomena.

It is, indeed, just your average shonen life.

On the way to classes, you will have to dodge blade-wielding girls dueling gun-toting jocks in the hallway. Your teacher seems to be possessed by a ghost, that wants to kill you. Oh, and did I mention the unreasonably powerful student council? Surely that won't lead to any plot-driving incidents. Oh, look the wall just exploded because someone summoned Bahamuth. Oh dear, that is a problem.

As you can see, things are quite hectic. But thats nothing new to you, now is it? Probably a year down the line you will fight demons in a fantasy-world or have to dodge lasers, as you fly through the neon-skies of a cyberpunk-esque Tokio. You lost an arm, but thankfully that evil sorcerer won't mind if you borrow his, right? Watch out against people trying to challenge you to an unreasonably high-stakes childrens card game. Oh, and beware of your rival with the dark backstory, he has that tendency to listen to the monologue of the Final Boss.

Go ahead and survive. Because as long as you stay alive, the plot keeps going. And as long as the plot keeps going, you get stronger. And when you get stronger, you go to new places, meet exciting new people and occasionally save the school/town/country/world.

Sounds like fun!

Hello and welcome to Survive the Shōnen!

This RP is a lighthearted, easy-to-get-into game inspired by Kill The Godmodder and 90s shonen anime. You know the classics, be it Yu-Gi-Oh, Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2 or Yu Yu Hakusho. It is meant to invoke a tropey, fun and fast-paced story that starts out small and then eventually escalate into all manner of zany and awesome directions, where even the biggest problems can be solved just by punching them really, really hard.

As such, this game is meant as a fun side-project for me and to allow people to experience fun without having to write two pages of text for a single post. The aim to generate an emerging narrative and have your characters evolve from their humble beginnings to eventual world-beaters and/or beam-spamming heroes, that eventually and inevitably go and kill God.

Obviously, all this is based on a clear rule-system. Please read this carefully!

Aside from that, there are also some clear etiquette-rules

1. No Godmodding! - Please respect each others boundaries and do not control another players characters without their wishes. If you feel the need to do so for a fight-scene, please discuss and coordinate this with the player beforehand.

2. No Ghosting! - Players that ghost will have the characters written out of the story or turned into NPC. Prolonged absences are okay, if the GM is informed beforehand. But vanish without notice or refuse to post without reason and you will be removed from the game. No discussion.

3. Be Civil. - This is meant to be fun and there are not stakes other than what we decide. Everybody is expected to behave in a civil manner. In the end, this is a game and if you are on a losing streak it is not the end of the world. Do not attack other players or engage in anti-social behaviour. If you do so, you will be removed from the game.

Keep to these simple rules and there will be no problem with me or the other players.

Keep in mind, that this is a Play-by-Post game with RP-elements. The aim is to have an emerging narrative and for basic characters with a few traits to develop, get stronger and more complex as the story goes on. As such, it recommended you start out with a simple base, rather than trying to begin already with a heavily detailed and fully developed character.

The first Arc of the Game will have the Theme Urban Shōnen Highschool. Please keep your character in line with that Theme. New Arcs will have different Themes, allowing you to alter existing characters or introduce new ones.

There is also a Discord-Server for discussions, coordinating and chatting. Every accepted player will get an invite from me over PM.

Other than that, I wish you all a lot of fun and lets...

Survive the Shōnen!

Edited by TheNohen on Oct 27th 2023 at 8:02:01 PM

Interest.

I have an interest in this RP, but I have a quick question: are powerless characters alright? The sole character idea I have for this happens to be a Muggle and doesn't have any supernatural abilities nor at they good with non-magical combat.

Badass Normal is a trope for a reason and you are under no obligation to make a character with overtly supernatural powers. However, this is a game focused on action. You don't have to focus on fighting specifically, maybe he has someone that does that for him, but completely powerless might be difficult with this premise.

Edited by TheNohen on Oct 27th 2023 at 8:54:59 PM

Intriguing

Interest

Interest! Here’s my signup

Name: Kubo Kou, the great summoner!

Age: 15

Theme: Summoning Exchange Student

Appearance: Kou stands at a towering 5’3, and has Shoulder-length, curly brown hair, and big bright blue eyes. His build is fairly average, with no real muscle tone or definition. His outfits tend to be very over-the-top, with nonsensical decisions such as wearing a trenchcoat, a hoodie, multiple belts, and/or a cape at the same time in an effort to look like a “Badass wizard!”

Personality: Kubo is friendly, energetic and optimistic, often to the point of it being overbearing or unintentionally obnoxious. Having been raised mostly alongside family with barely any interaction with the world outside the small village he’s lived in his whole life, his social skills aren’t the best and he often comes across as nosy when he’s actually just desperately trying to get to know people. He often speaks before he thinks and can often come across as arrogant or rude.

Backstory: The most recent birth in the Kubo family of mages, Kou was trained from a young age in their ways of summoning magic in order to help protect the innocent villagers of Misono, who the family’s been guarding for generations. While he loved his family and village, his natural curiosity and wanderlust led him to constantly beg the elders to allow him to explore the outside world. Eventually, he was able to convince them it was necessary for him to get experience with the rest of the world and his family enrolled him in High School at St Nishiyama.

Abilities:

Summoning Magic: The Kubo family’s summons come from an alternate dimension known as “Ark”, inhabited by sapient, magically-empowered animals. While less powerful ones are fairly easy to summon, the strongest among them must be either bargained with or impressed enough by a summoner in order to be called upon via magical rings that the summoner can use to control them. The stronger the summon, the more energy it takes to summon them. Kou has 4 currently.

Kou’s Summons (as of now)

Teruko- A Russian Blue cat. Teruko may look like a perfectly ordinary house cat but she has the ability to summon multiple clones of herself that can be dispelled if hit hard enough. A smartass and insubordinate creature, she will often disregard Kou’s orders, but is smart enough to know flaunting her powers too openly will result in “filthy humans” asking too many questions. Kou tends to explain her cloning as “Oh look at that she had kittens!”

Tatsuo- A seemingly-ordinary Bearded Dragon, Tatsuo is secretly the strongest of Kou’s summons, capable of launching fireballs from their mouth. The tradeoff being using their powers makes them extremely tired. In addition, they’re incredibly spacey and don’t always instantly comprehend Kou’s orders at first. Kou dismisses their fireballs as “He really likes peppers and this is what happens when you feed bearded dragons peppers!”

Gina- A Tortoise. While Gina’s attack power might not be great and their speed abysmal, their special power allows them to create a shell-shaped barrier around Kou, which he dismisses as “just a really cool hologram!” The shell, though it slows Kou down, is incredibly durable. Though she may not be one for combat, Gina is incredibly loyal and understanding with Kou.

Taka- A 12-foot-tall Green Conure, Taka’s specialty is speed and their sharp, fire-able feathers. They are Kou’s longest held summon, and the two have a special, trusting bond. Swiftwing is also strong enough to carry Kou in case he needs to get airborne. Swiftwing is also capable of shifting down to regular-conure size, with Kou dismissing his supernatural feats as “just hallucinations!”

Equipment:

Summon Rings- While Kou can summon the creatures of Ark, these rings are necessary to control them. Each bears a symbol of the creature they control, and while they are durable, they can also be broken if hit hard enough. Once a ring is broken, the contract between summon and summoner is terminated and the summoner no longer holds any control over them.

Edited by bestmand902 on Oct 28th 2023 at 5:18:08 AM

• Name: Susan Leones
• Age: 16
• Theme: A Foreign Student with a Powerful Father.
• Appearance: Lithe, tanned and with hair practically white, Susan is an obvious outsider in both the school and probably Japan at large. Her fashion sense goes through waves, over the course of the week shifting from "I need to be the most stylish person in the room" to "could be incredibly mistaken for a boy with how casual her jeans and T-shirt is" and back again.
• Personality: A little clueless, but kind of heart. Susan doesn't really get much of the wacky hijinks happening around her or even that her own childhood wasn't exactly normal, but she tries to be friendly to people and help where she can. She aspires to the role of 'alpha bitch' in the school hierarchy, not quite understanding that not only would such a role require being far meaner than she actually is but also that such a role doesn't really exist in Japanese schools.
• Backstory: So cards on the table, Susan's father is a Mafia boss and her mother died in childbirth. Susan grew up in a practically palatial villa in sunny San Francisco, home-schooled and kept away from the crime part of her father's life to keep her safe. However, recently, after a number of threats and the beginnings of a potential West Coast Gang War, Susan has been sent away to attend high-school in Japan to get her well away from her father's enemies.
• Abilities:
  • Sicilian Serpent Knife Style: Back home in the West, Susan has what could be considered a Sensei: a man called Vintorez bound by honor to her father was teaching her to knife-fight before she was sent away to Japan. She's still a beginner, but one day she hopes to return home and duel Vintorez to show how she has mastered his teachings. Even though she's only a beginner, she's already developed a unique Super Move based on both Vintorez' teachings and what she has picked up in the East called the Fang Of Two Dragons Strike.
• Equipment:
  • The Boxcutter Blades: A pair of retractable knives forged by the legendary Western knife-smith Gerber that Susan keeps in her pockets ready to use should a fight break out. She probably should have them on school premises but hey there's other students with more dangerous gear.

Edited by Pentigan on Oct 30th 2023 at 9:24:54 PM

Thanks for the interest and the character sheet. You clearly have put some thought into it. ^^

Unfortunately, I can't really accept that character as it stands right now. I like the concept, but the Theme doesn't really mesh with the "Shonen Highschool" Theme of the First Arc. But I like the idea and the style you put into it.

I would propose toning down the Combat style a bit, as you got a lot of powerful summons for a LV.1 non-upgraded Character. The Theme could be tweaked as well to "Summoning Exchange-Student" or "Awkward Student, Who can Summon" or something like that, to make it fit. Secondly, I would remove the Kubo Wand as its a tad too powerful for the start of the game.

The rest is good with me.

I recommend joining us on Discord. I send you a link over PM. We can then work together on your character and I can more easily answer any questions you might have.

EDIT: Sheet got changed and looks good. Character is now accepted!

Edited by TheNohen on Oct 28th 2023 at 11:16:38 AM

• Name: Tatsuya Umeki
• Age: 16
• Theme: Aloof Top Student
• Appearance: The top of our school◊. Stands at 5'8.
• Backstory: Ever since he could walk, Tatsuya Umeki's parents pushed him into academic success. And academically succeed he did...at the cost of any social life he could have had and any semblance of a stress-free existence. Why he stays at this school instead of going to somewhere more prestigious is a mystery.
• Abilities: When Tatsuya does anything, he has to be the best at it. Even if that "anything" is kendo taken up primarily to blow off steam from how wound-up he is all the time. He rarely makes use of it, never really needing to, but he can.
• Equipment: Can draw his sword at a moment's notice. Don't ask me where he keeps it.

Edited to fit better:

Name: Acrylic

Age: 15

Themes: Nerf Arm-wielding Strangely-Skinned Student

Appearance: Acrylic is seven feet tall with purple skin, rippling muscles, broad shoulders, Barbie Doll Anatomy, and a tail just longer than his legs. He has no hair anywhere on his body, but offsets his baldness by always wearing some sort of headwear, usually a tactical helmet. His eyes have blood-red irises.

Personality: Acrylic is loud, proud and boisterous, hammy and extroverted by nature. He tends to not understand introverts, as though they aren't part of his culture. Though he can come off as pushy or insensitive, and you definitely don't want to be in the same room as him if you have a headache, he isn't malicious or mean and usually stands up for those weaker than himself.

Backstory: Acrylic was found one day as a child in the middle of a forest by a humble and lonely scientist. Not having the heart - or resources - to run invasive tests on this strange child, the scientist instead decided to adopt and raise him as his own. He seemed to be drawn to combat, so the scientist often allowed the oddly-skinned child to play with the collection of toy blasters and foam swords he'd amassed in his own teenage years. After what seemed like the right amount of time, the scientist decided to send Acrylic to a nearby school so he could get the kind of worldly experience homeschooling didn't provide.

Abilities: Toy Swordfighting Style: Acrylic fights using plastic, wooden or foam swords, wielding them with strength, speed and skill to have the potential to K.O. even a serious opponent by tagging them enough.

Acrylic's Special Move is Tailing Sword, where he wraps the end of his tail around the hlt of his sword and battles his opponent with his back turned to them. This is mostly for style and intimidation, instead of giving Acrylic any real combat advantage.

Equipment:

• Foam Sword: A yellow foam jian with a plastic hilt, made by some company that specialises in plastic toy guns and has little regard for safety. It's surprisingly durable and heavy for a toy.

• Tactical Helmet: Acrylic's favourite helmet. It's army green and covers the head with a retractable visor for the eyes, providing moderate protection.

Edited by TheGoldLeaf on Oct 28th 2023 at 6:27:26 PM

• Name: Akari
• Age: 16
• Theme: Mysterious Teenage Delinquent, Relentless Rival
• Appearance: Don't screw with her. Stands at 5'0. Her small stature is partly responsible for her inferiority complex.
• Personality: Akari is bold, cocky and arrogant to a fault. She has no shame and does whatever she wants when she wants. If she thinks someone's strong, she'll always pick a fight, no questions asked. If she wins, she'll brag about it until the cows get home, but losing only fuels her inferiority complex. If she loses to anyone at anything, she'll become obsessed, challenging them again and again until they win. Her unwavering resolve and generous assets (another source of embarrassment) have made her popular among the student body, but her refusal to back down is dangerously unhealthy.
• Backstory: Not much is known about Akari. One day she wasn't there, the next day she was, a bolt from the blue. She quickly established herself as a force to be reckoned with, taking control of the school's gangs and beating down anyone who thought they were stronger. She continues looking for strong opponents and new recruits, challenging anyone so much as looks at her funny. Her motives are unknown, but her raw strength and fury are present.
• Abilities:
  • Bare-Knuckled Brawler: Akari is a natural brawler. Her style is sloppy and unrefined, but it works. Every punch and kick comes hard and fast, hand tailored to deliver the maximum amount of pain. She focuses more on kicks, using her strong legs to her advantage.
  • Like a Truck: Her special move. Akari summons her reserves of strength, pouring it one tremendously powerful punch. That's what she tells people at least. Whether she really is using her last reserves of strength or if she's been holding back are hard to say.
• Equipment: Akari has a pair of brass knuckles, her name spray-painted across each. She carries a small bag around her shoulders, but doesn't let anyone take a peek.

Edited by kkhohoho on Oct 31st 2023 at 7:55:55 AM

Tatsuya, Acrylic and Akari are accepted.

Name: Yukiko Natori

Age: 16

Theme: Lucky Card Game Afficionado

Appearance: Yukikio wears colors of white and yellow. She ties her black hair back into two loose pigtails, and has bright green eyes.

Personality: Due to her mysterious luck, Yukiko never has to put much effort into anything. Because of this, she has a reservoir of unused energy that overflows into an exuberant personality. The card game she plays, called "Miraculous Menagerie" or just M.M., is the peak of this passion; she is highly dedicated and seems to know everything about it. She also enjoys messing with people, which her luck helps her out with. Yukiko is optimistic and carefree and not without reason, since her problems tend to solve themselves. If a problem does come up, her preferred solution is to try dueling it in her card game. Actually facing challenges isn't something she normally deals with; she's uncomfortable if she ever has to put real work into a problem. Whether Yukikio actually understands her luck or if it only subconsciously affects her is ambiguous. Sometimes she seems oblivous to it, other times her luck feels intentional. Regardless, it's never crossed her mind to feel guilty about her advantage.

Backstory: Yukiko happend to be born into a wealthy, though not ridiculously so, family, and has enjoyed an easy life so far. Where her luck came from is unknown, but she obtained it early in life, if not at birth. She got into Miraculous Menagerie sometime in her teenage years and quickly got invested into it, quickly winning tournaments with a combination of luck and genuine skill. Opponents and spectators have accused her of cheating in the past, but she's lucky enough that none of their allegations stick. A naturally excellent academic record allowed her to get into St. Nishiyama High with ease, where she's quite amused by all the chaos in its premises.

Abilities: "Accidental Victory:" Yukiko hasn't seen to grasped what an actual fight is and instead tries to duel her opponent in Miraculous Menagerie in the middle of the battle. Since she's so lucky, however, she might fluke her way into winning the fight regardless, often in a way that strangely reflects her cards. For example, she may play the Chariot Tarot card, and her opponent happens to get run over by an actual chariot. It's unknown to everyone but herself whether or not Yukiko knows what she's doing. Her special move is the "Windmill Mill Infinite," which draws all the cards in her opponent's deck. This wins her the game of M.M, and often happens to win her the real battle too.

Equipment: Yukiko carries an optimzied and maybe magical deck of cards for Miraculous Menagerie, though she occasionally mentions how she doesn't have "the missing piece" for it. She also has a collection of cards outside of her main deck, a gigantic tome of rules for M.M that only she seems to have memorized, and a black cat at home.

Misc: Miraculous Menagerie is an incoherent, chaotic card game with enigmatic origins. It mashes together cards and mechanics from just about anything involving thin rectangles. Using Pot of Greed to draw a Five of Spades and your opponent's debit card is entirely possible. While it's said to have logical rules for its madness, the Doylist explanation is just that the rules are whatever is funniest at the time.

Character accepted

EDIT: Pentigan's character is also accepted.

Edited by TheNohen on Oct 31st 2023 at 10:52:24 AM

Signup:

• Name: Ryota Watatsumi
• Age: 16
• Theme: Foreign Transfer Student, with Sinister Powers. Manic Pixie Dream Guy
• Appearance: A lanky teenager with black hair and burning red eyes. His skin is slightly tanned from being out in the sun for long periods, but not enough for him to look like a delinquent. He is always moving and always has a smile on his face no matter how dark things get. Even when he's sitting still, there's something about him that attracts people's attention, though no one can really put their finger on it.
• Personality: Ryota is a perpetually cheerful and curious person, expressing wonder in even the simplest and most ordinary things you can imagine. He asks everyone a lot of very obvious questions, which makes him come off as a bit dense to everyone he meets. Ryota is also very honest and straightforward, to the point of causing trouble for him and his friends. Ryota is pretty bad at reading other people's emotions, but is good at spotting lies and attempts at deception. Adventurous and bold, Ryota faces even the most dangerous and depressing of events with a smile on his face.
• Backstory: A transfer student from overseas. Ryota's past is completely unknown to everyone at the school. The teachers and principal seem to know something, but they're pretty secretive about it. He seems to live alone, but spends most of his time wandering the city surrounding the school and getting into fights with the local gangs.
• Abilities:
  • Iron Skin: Ryota is pretty tough, able to take several punches to his face and keep going. His pain tolerance is sky high, often causing him to push way past his limits and take more damage than he initially assumed. It's almost like he expects his body to be tougher than he actually is.
  • Hellfire: Ryota can conjure spheres of flame the size of a baseball, which he can then throw to cause small explosions. The spheres deal about as much damage as a stray firework, causing minor burns and scorch marks. Some people, especially those who've had traumatic experiences with fire have reported hearing and seeing strange things in the fireballs that Ryota conjures—charred corpses and ruined buildings and the like.
  • Burning Maw: Ryota's special move. He manipulates his flames into a massive jaw that swallows the target whole, apparently incinerating them to the point where not even ashes are left behind.
• Equipment: Ryota seems to own a lot of money and antiques lying around. He also has an apartment all to himself.

Edited by drearyArchon on Oct 31st 2023 at 10:26:42 PM

Character is accepted

Rescinded signup, please disregard. Decided I wasn't vibing with the concept as much as I was and wasn't confident I could devote my full attention.

Edited by PresidentStalkeyes on Nov 2nd 2023 at 10:06:24 AM