I really like this! I've always been a big fan of any manga or comic that takes place in 'border' areas between realms, and to have ghibli-ish themes sprinkled in sounds like an amazing bonus tbh! Usually the mangas or w/e focus on a bar/inn/bathhouse because it serves as a great centerpiece, but a small town would add variety but not too broad a scope in my opinion. 

I just watched Spirited Away again recently, and I've been itching to work on bringing back my old site based on it, but reading this has diverted my interest because it seems like it could be even more fun. If I can help in any way, let me know? 'u' I actually enjoy making and helping to make sites. 

I'm not getting any ideas atm for a storyline aside from the more obvious ones of murder mystery or rips popping between the worlds more frequently and letting in some gnarly fungus/parasite that is corroding areas and needs to be fixed or err---yeah, I'm hitting a blank wall right now where ideas should be. Hahaha.

I do have a recommendation for the races: let it be very open in what constitutes a spirit or demon or whatever. I know on yokai sites it always bums me out when I see there being a set few yokai you can be like kitsune, tengu, and bakeneko instead of letting people look through a yokai encyclopedia and make something obscure like a Sunekosuri or something lol. 

Of course that's just my opinion! People might like things more restricted, I dunno. But you mention wanting variety so maybe I'm rambling for no reason.

I am wondering if you could say a little more about what you mean by spirit and demon? My brain automatically went to yokai, but that's probably just because of my previously mentioned Spirited Away mood. 


And just saying a witch delivery service = adorable.

Nov 29, 2018 2:53:28 GMT kappaccino said:

I really like this! I've always been a big fan of any manga or comic that takes place in 'border' areas between realms, and to have ghibli-ish themes sprinkled in sounds like an amazing bonus tbh! Usually the mangas or w/e focus on a bar/inn/bathhouse because it serves as a great centerpiece, but a small town would add variety but not too broad a scope in my opinion. 

I just watched Spirited Away again recently, and I've been itching to work on bringing back my old site based on it, but reading this has diverted my interest because it seems like it could be even more fun. If I can help in any way, let me know? 'u' I actually enjoy making and helping to make sites. 

I'm not getting any ideas atm for a storyline aside from the more obvious ones of murder mystery or rips popping between the worlds more frequently and letting in some gnarly fungus/parasite that is corroding areas and needs to be fixed or err---yeah, I'm hitting a blank wall right now where ideas should be. Hahaha.

I do have a recommendation for the races: let it be very open in what constitutes a spirit or demon or whatever. I know on yokai sites it always bums me out when I see there being a set few yokai you can be like kitsune, tengu, and bakeneko instead of letting people look through a yokai encyclopedia and make something obscure like a Sunekosuri or something lol. 

Of course that's just my opinion! People might like things more restricted, I dunno. But you mention wanting variety so maybe I'm rambling for no reason.

I am wondering if you could say a little more about what you mean by spirit and demon? My brain automatically went to yokai, but that's probably just because of my previously mentioned Spirited Away mood. 


And just saying a witch delivery service = adorable.

slkjldsakjdfladskfa was not expecting to generate this sort of response cause i'm a pleb but ty for all your kind replies! i'm slow as heck so i'm gonna take my time to reply to each of you individually!

i know you said murder mystery is obvious, but honestly i think that'd make for a lot of fun events! if you'd be interested in helping me with the brain dump i'd really like that!! ;A; if there are any ideas from your spirited away site that you think would fit well with the site and you'd be willing to let me incorporate into this rp, i'm very open to ideas and would give you full credit! i totally agree with your recommendation for the races too. i just decided on those three to help categorize uses and to give the site more structure cause i don't want a sandbox rp, but i fucking love obscurity.

honestly, i'm using spirit and demons pretty loosely because this is a multi-dimensional setting. so for a demon i had my thoughts anywhere from a yokai to more western-like devils and goblins. as for spirits i was thinking their powers/aesthetics would be more fairy/sprite like. if you have any suggestions as how to better categorize the races i'd be open to it! i was actually thinking i might group witches/wizards off separately as well tbh.

Nov 29, 2018 4:30:36 GMT tiefling said:

chirp   doing my civic duty of harassing u for anything ghibli related

generic ooc questions:

• board host?
• face claims?
• discord?
• im happy to make you buttons and tinker with things if you need a hand
• for reals i'll talk up a storm and bug you just ask Kuro lol
  

Seconding Kap's worry about how open the titles demons and spirits are/will be. Do they HAVE to be human/oid, does it have to be Japanese rooted, can I be gross and play a penanggalan, what about playing a dragon the size of a house?

Which I guess leads into: why does this place need any systems/racial traits/stats? How would this encourage variety instead of mix/maxing? If stats or perks of some kind are involved, how do you balance that against having 'canons' like gods or bigwig shop owners?

I don't really wanna ramble too much since you already said you're fleshing things out aha, but also i like words, so here's some potential points to play with?

• nature vs development: the Bordertown is drawn to touch parts of realms that are struggling to balance nature with industry. Every few months the focus rotates to a new area and the problems present there, events occur to either tip or restore the balance. A town overlogging. An overzealous forest god destroying villagers. Humans who have forgotten magic trying to reconnect with nature spirits.
  
• personal growth: the pocket dimension is a place for those questioning their beliefs, self worth, the lost and the damned looking for a way forward in life that will make them happy. Some characters are permanent residents/helpers, other characters have a story that gets completed and the character leaves Bordertown since this part of their story is over. Characters appearing in the area could come from many different areas - the far flung future, a world where everything is underwater, the one where it rains donuts.
• light, dark, inbetween: struggling against the concept of light and order is always good, dark and chaos is always bad. The Bordertown sees "evil" and "good" entities living together after their original realm becomes too bright or too dark. An exploration of grey areas, and learning how to be flexible and open.
  

late edit: i remembered the ni no kuni game exists and there was a second one, you could play around with those too, what with the two worlds and heart stuff

boardhost i prefer boards but i can't code for shit so this is open if anyone wants to hop on and help me staff.
faceclaims anime/manga fcs.
discord i-i don't have a group set up for it but if you want to bug me spanky#3240
you are so sweet and thank u for offering to help ;A; i'm fairly ok at graphics but i will not (at all) hesitate to ask you for help if i'm struggling!

just to bring up the point about the races again, i'm using them very loosely. my one concern is that members may lean towards one race ie yokai for the aesthetic so that's why i thought adding racial bonuses might be a good means of adjusting this problem. if you can find a penanggalan fc pls lmk. i would love to have one in this rp.

i really like the idea of nature vs development! it is also reoccurring plot device in many ghibli films so i definitely would like to incorporate tht in some way! ty so much for the suggestions ;A; i'm gonna go read the ni no kuni game wikis because i never played them for myself lmao.

Nov 29, 2018 9:20:27 GMT @iota said:

Aside from what the other two had to say (good points), I'm curious because "Harvest Moon" was mentioned. Is this meant to be an idyllic setting/plot/RP without any sort of social or physical strife? In other words, no setting-encouraged prejudice or feuds? Or would those be things?

Inuyasha, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited away both showed some sort of feuds as well as prejudice. (Prejudice towards humans [Spirited Away], prejudice towards half-demons [Inuyasha], iron bullets vs mountain gods [Mononoke Hime], etc.)

ah, you bring up a good point about that. i think when i was saying harvest moon, i was thinking more along the lines of rune factory. that's my mistake! honestly speaking, i don't want the site too action packed but i do like the themes of exploring and adventure. as a rule i imagine the bordertown has to be quite neutral, so in a sense there's no setting-encouraged prejudice/feuds. if this was something people were really interested in though, i wouldn't mind working it into the plot? this may be arc based though.

i hope i managed to answer some of your questions! sorry i had a hard time with this one.

Nov 30, 2018 3:58:01 GMT spanky said:

slkjldsakjdfladskfa was not expecting to generate this sort of response cause i'm a pleb but ty for all your kind replies! i'm slow as heck so i'm gonna take my time to reply to each of you individually!

i know you said murder mystery is obvious, but honestly i think that'd make for a lot of fun events! if you'd be interested in helping me with the brain dump i'd really like that!! ;A; if there are any ideas from your spirited away site that you think would fit well with the site and you'd be willing to let me incorporate into this rp, i'm very open to ideas and would give you full credit! i totally agree with your recommendation for the races too. i just decided on those three to help categorize uses and to give the site more structure cause i don't want a sandbox rp, but i fucking love obscurity.

honestly, i'm using spirit and demons pretty loosely because this is a multi-dimensional setting. so for a demon i had my thoughts anywhere from a yokai to more western-like devils and goblins. as for spirits i was thinking their powers/aesthetics would be more fairy/sprite like. if you have any suggestions as how to better categorize the races i'd be open to it! i was actually thinking i might group witches/wizards off separately as well tbh.

You got a big response cause it's a fun idea! <3 

Sure, I'd love to help. Pm me anytime if I don't pm you already before the day is out. As for the spirited away thing, I'd been jumping around between just a directly inspired bathhouse murder mystery, a more sandboxy site I'd made in the past, or bringing back my yokai reform school. So nothing that's easily co-opted, but if you like the murder mystery aspect, I also think it could be a fun arc, but I've never actually been on a site with that set up so I'm not sure how helpful I'd be. But I'll do my best to brainstorm with ya. It might be good to narrow the scope of the town down if that were to be a big part though, since it would add a sense of intimacy and immediacy to characters for that kind of plot? I dunno, haha.


If it's on proboards, I know the basics of skinning and have a couple ideas for a skin for a site like this if you're interested. But I'm still heavily trying to self-teach though. I need to learn miniprofiles/board list remodels the most, but there are already such nice options for those available I've been lazy lol.