Lately, I've just really wanted to do something laid-back, slice-of-life, that is not set in Japan. I mean, don't get me wrong -- I love the Japanese setting and it's definitely a popular and expansive setting, but to me, it has just been so overdone. With its recent over-abundance plus the fact that it may become the potential go-to for my Sailor Moon rp at some point, I thought it would be fun to explore an original setting with minor Japanese influence instead.

The roleplay itself will take place in a fictional small town somewhere along the eastern coast of the U.S., and will take inspiration from Harvest Moon. It will be focused on all the love, fluff, hate, beauty, uncertainty, daily life, and development that comes along with the general genre. However, I did want to put a slight spin on things, seeing as slice-of-life rps can get boring or repetitive kind of quickly without something else in the mix, so all the characters in the rp will be the personification of an object and connected to that object in an ethereal/unexplainable way -- whether that be a flower, a mirror, a flashlight, etc, -- which could either help/hinder them and others in their daily lives. Such embodiment could endue them with special skills, a running theme, or even minor abilities depending on their object (from being able to produce a small orb of light with the snap of the fingers, to being able to "reflect" the feelings of others, to being able to help others 'grow' from painful experiences). I thought it would make things more interesting if characters were unique in their object personifications; so that only one character is allowed to be affiliated with one object, and no other characters can be affiliated with the same object.

I mentioned this in the 'interest checks' board, but idk if this is anything anyone would want to see come to life. This is what I'm hoping to create, or what I would like to come out of this rp:

• proboards. I only know how to code in Proboards, since JCINK is hard for me to maneuver around and has a weird control panel. I'm sorry if this thing alone turns you away, but I hope it doesn't!
• pg-13, but mature. the site would fall under the pg-13 umbrella since it will be hosted by Proboards, but I still plan on letting certain mature themes be referenced or lightly described. some include alcohol and tobacco use, possible emotional/physical abuse, and attempted suicide, rape, or murder. I realise that some of these are triggers for people, and there will be a "trigger" tag available for topics that have such content. However, I did not want to omit such themes completely since a lot of them are what make characters who they are and are commonly depicted in the slice of life genre in general. we will unfortunately not be allowing sexual interactions or description/images of pornographic material on the boards, since that directly defies the TOS.
• literate, but no word-count. it will be laid-back, no word-count, only-one-paragraph-required-per-post roleplay -- which I think is easy enough.
• lenient activity. in the past, I have been kind of strict on activity. I know it's what makes a site thrive and what makes a site alive, but I have faith that people will be interested enough to post, so I'm only recommending people post every two weeks at the very least. Real life is capable of getting in the way and sometimes we don't always have muse, and that's okay.
• no progressive story plot. a lot of rps focus on a story-line plot, or something for everyone to overcome. While those types of plots aren't bad, we want this to be a place where you don't have to worry about participating in site-events or over-arching sagas. this site will just be a place where you can just chill. we will have site events occasionally, but they will mostly focus on getting everyone together for more interaction or having characters overcome outside challenges. any plots you partake in are between you, your character, and whoever you are plotting/posting with.
• diversity between characters. in the slice of life genre, and especially rps, there seems to be a lot of the same tropes, or the same types of characters. by introducing a personification aspect and an original setting, we hope to influence and encourage all different types of characters, which would make the rp more interesting and allow different dynamics to emerge.
• creative freedom. besides the restrictions of the genre, i'm hoping that the affiliations with objects can help people create characters easier, and more freely. If they can get an idea of a character from the image, usefulness, or figurative phrase of an object, then perhaps it will help shape their character more profoundly, and perhaps even provoke a goal from the character that the mun will like to see through. along with the object personification and the 'theme' of the character that could be applied with it, some characters could even have minor abilities or setbacks from their affiliations that they could want to overcome. others would maybe want to try to understand or inspire themselves and others more using the small skills or minor gifts they have have been given. despite the small twist, there is still so much more that could be done inside the walls of the slice of life genre itself, with so many possibilities pertaining to the character's backstory and personality, and where both could lead the character. Not to mention that the site would be an original setting, so ethnicity, gender, age, and orientation are all up in the air.
• real, deep character development/struggle/achievement/drama/intrigue. a lot of roleplays say they are character-driven and relationship-focused, but with all the 'powers' there are and the likeliness of magical battles, at one point or another, people just tend to center more around races and abilities and grinding, and how to make their character more powerful or what kind of race/power they have. Somewhere in that bubble, I feel like the "character-driven" aspect gets lost. I just want to write characters and like really dive into their feelings. I want them to form relationships with other characters -- yes, romantic relationships ftw, but also like platonic sibling-ships and teacher-student bonds and just friendly chemistry. Between all of this, I want my characters to struggle with their dreams, struggle trying to impress their crush, or struggle to become the best baker the world has ever seen because they do not know how to measure things accurately. I want them to be able to achieve certain things, like happiness and the social barrier that is human interaction. I want them to be slapped by in-character drama and intrigue, and be faced with the choice of choosing one toxic family member over another, or deciding that they should walk away from an affair, or whether it's okay to stab their friends in the back for the sake of their goals. I miss when rps explored all these different character relationships and scenarios -- when character-drivenness meant character-driveness.. i'd like to see that come to life again.

Please feel free to reply below and/or like this post if you want this idea to become a reality, or have ideas of your own. Thank you for reading <3 Any input, questions, or criticism is welcome!