ARS ARCANUM - Original Fantasy Based on D&D 5e

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Update to say that the project has taken on a new life. The dragon bonding proved to be too much of a problem to develop, and I don't think I can produce enough art on my own to fill up enough dragon species. Plus, running a Pern site and an original dragon riders site would be too much for my tiny little brain to handle, so we're going with a more simple Original Fantasy with an optional 5e system because I love the idea of character progression. HOWEVER you do not have to play with the stats and progression. There will be an alternate versions of the profile once I'm done with the skin that's JUST the basic bio and none of the stats and stuff, so you don't even have an ugly blank space on your profile.

Some aspects of the project we're keeping:
  • Open Race Creation and free multiracial characters - You can either use an approximate 5e race for your character (i.e. a leonin for an anthro tiger character or a high elf for a character that's half orc, half high elf), go statless, or use Tasha's Custom Lineage rules. Similar to Final Fantasy, all kingdoms are multiracial and there are plenty of opportunities for characters to have different backgrounds than the usual ones. There are orc magicians and paladins, and high elf barbarians. Note that we do allow players to play things that might not always be playable on fantasy sites, such as dragons or magical talking animals.
  • Religion is open and diverse - While we'll be using Faerun gods for some of the base worldbuilding, you're welcome to have communities worshiping different sorts of gods. Our only requirement is that real world religion not be used. The gods of Arcanum are not hard-confirmed as in some fantasy settings, so there's even room for atheists and agnostics to exist and not be immediately invalidated. Your character can even be considered a god if they're powerful or charismatic enough.
  • We're keeping the tech level as "fantasy tech" as considered in World of Warcraft. This is especially useful for transportation between the regions.
  • We'll stay lenient on powers for statless characters, provided the players are willing to play respectfully in the sandbox. In fact, even statted characters are expected to play nicely in the sandbox. Going around and randomly killing people's characters is not allowed, no matter how many cool magic items you buy and how high of a level you get.
  • FC rules will remain similar: any illustrated source is fine. Your own personal art, commissioned or self-drawn, is fine. We will also give the option to go without FCs in the event that you don't want to use them for various reasons. I'm already designing the skin with default graphics so profiles without graphics don't look ugly.
  • Jcink Premium, possibly still 16+ with 18+ boards for adult members. If we get enough people who join the project who do NOT want it to be 16+, we will consider making it 18+.


Some new aspects of the project I'm working on are:
  • 5e stats and progression. Build the craziest characters you can imagine. You can even forgo combat effectiveness for the more fun utility spells, because we're a RP site that rewards even non-combat RP so your wizard that doesn't know any combat spells never has to see a fight.
  • Players can start with one Level 5 character. This is so that everyone starts with at least one semi-strong character.
  • The Game Assistant Role, which is a non-staff role that exists to introduce new players to the 5e mechanics and help them build and level up characters. It'll be its own discord role with a channel where you can ask a Game Assistant for help and they can DM you to help set up a character; if you prefer to not have Discord, I will be putting a list of them on the site and you can put a help request in the board too!
  • Worldbuilding detailed enough to find a place to spring off of, but not so detailed that it stifles creativity. This is a hard balance to walk, but we're trying to make sure that people have room to tell stories while also providing a world that feels alive.
  • Canon roles that can be killed or replaced. Players can adopt site canons and play them as they please. These canons come with some basic story setup and some hooks and ideas for where they want to go.
  • A possible companion system for an alternate character progression; level up a powerful ally for your character and take them into battle with you! (this is low priority and I'll be hammering it out later, possibly well after the site opens, but for those attached to the original dragon riding idea: this is for you.)

For those curious about the site lore and plot, basically we're set on the continent of Arcanum. It was once mostly conquered by a yuan-ti empire, but 15 years ago a great calamity tore open the fabric of reality over the yuan-ti's island. Since then, strange things have been happening on that side of the continent. However, the rest of the continent seems to mostly be concerned with the empire's collapse and the socio-political-economic implications of its fall. Players are given the chance to play with the collapse and any adventures they might come up with, or play it like a slice-of-life.
last edit on Nov 11, 2021 19:43:05 GMT by illidan main

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pronounshe/him
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Dragons won't be required, no, and you can have powers without a dragon.

That being said I like dragons and dragon-bonding so it's gonna be a feature regardless, especially since the few other people I have interested are also asking after dragon hatchings and such. But the focus of the site will be on adventure and exploration, which anyone can do with or without a dragon.

I mostly just wanted to make a fantasy site that captures the essence of RP'ing in World of Warcraft without having to go back to my dying World of Warcraft server and deal with Blizzard's nonsense. The sort of "spur creativity, use lore as guidelines but not hard rules" kinda thing. And also leave room for players to tell their own stories, provided they're not actively ruining anyone else's.

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I'm interested. But are traditional animanga FCs allowed, or heavily frowned upon? I can't art to save my life.
Absolutely!

My only rule with traditional animanga art is that all art you use must be sourced!
last edit on May 26, 2021 17:08:42 GMT by illidan main

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Are characters only picking out of a select list of races?
No, while there'll be a list of pre-set races, I'll allow players to play more than just what I have set.

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whew that was a pause.

I'm sorry for those that were excited for this project. I got really busy over the summer and then went back to school, and had to drop some aspects of the original project. You can see some details in the OP. I'm actually making pretty good pace with this restructure, and it should be up before February of next year.

As a note, for those excited about the lack of a hard stat system, stats will be optional and you can still do important things without stats. DM adventures might require stats, or they might prefer to be played freeform; it's up to individual DMs. I'm including the stat and progression system because I personally find it fun, but I don't think it should be required for play provided everyone is acting in good faith towards their fellow RP'ers. Hell, the things I find intolerable are problems that arise even when stats are used, so I'm not going to be giving stat players special treatment in this regard. I am very open about the fact that I don't like when players simply join a RP to "win it" or prove their superiority to other players.

The discord is still open for those who want to see where the project is going. I'm just changing a lot of it. We're onto basic info and lorebuilding, and there's room to reserve canons and important roles before the site officially opens.

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Update: I've gotten most of the region lore done. I need to make boards and make a pretty skin. I'm working very slowly on things as I'm finishing up my semester in college. Projected January opening is pretty feasible.

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ars arcanum ad

Ars Arcanum is now in soft opening! I've finished the app format, and have pretty much finished the basic lore. There's still a lot of refinement to do, and the skin is still ugly in parts, but we'll Get There.

Some things to note: while you can build off the base lore, you can also play characters from other continents on the planet. There are many other continents and countries, and I am absolutely ok with members making those up. You can also play characters from other planes of existence, so long as those planes are mostly original in origin. Basically consider us now a sort of "fantasy panfandom but for OCs only."

Check us out here! Some of the lore is still in the discord so if you're interested, you'll have to join our discord to get all the information.

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