Quadrophenia

All the same, ain't it ballin' a concept or what? Thanks!

I can't decide whether it should be a novella or a short story. Or even full lengthed. Depends how deeply I want to get into its world... and which format would better serve the story.

Also, fun fact, I based Camorr's name... off the Camorra crime syndicate, an organization so infamous and brutal it makes the Mafia in the states look like Japanese schoolgirls. Just to reinforce the idea he's a criminal.

It's also hilariously raunchy and quotable. “... It's perfect! Locke would appreciate it.""Bug," Calo said, "Locke is our brother and our love for him knows no bounds. But the four most fatal words in the Therin language are 'Locke would appreciate it.'""Rivalled only by 'Locke taught me a new trick,'" added Galo."The only person who gets away with Locke Lamora games ...""... is Locke ...""... because we think the gods are saving him up for a really big death. Something with knives and hot irons ...""... and fifty thousand cheering spectators.”

Ever heard of a little thing called Les Miserables? Although, if I were to be honest, the biggest influence? Locke Lamora, protagonist of Scott Lynch's awesomely named Gentleman Bastard Sequence. It's a series of low-fantasy novels set in Ersatz!Renaissance Italy, and they're awesome. It's like Ocean's Eleven, but in a world of mage-like mafioso and Venitian waterways.

Kelsier meets Nightcrawler meets Aladdin with a dash of Jean Valjean.

Also, character pitch... Camorr is, on the surface, an utter scoundrel: he cheats at cards, steals from just about everyone, he's brash and reckless and cocky, and he's more or less convinced of his intangibility. After all, as an Elsecaller, he can just vanish one moment and appear somewhere else, consequences for theft be damned. But as Elsecallers were reputed for their prodigious benevolence, beneath it all... he's really more of an Aladdin-esque thief; a rogue with a hidden heart of gold. What he steals, he shares with the less fortunate. He can relate, after all, for he's a darkeyes. As a youth, he and a dear friend were caught for stealing a loaf of bread by the authorities. They were forced into prison... for a few torturous, hellish, years. Sadly, that dear friend died in prison. Sunk to rock bottom... that's when he awakened his Surgebinding powers. In his moment of grief, he suddenly found himself... outside. He tasted freedom. But without his friend, it was a sour taste. In the fear and confusion, he teleported _back_ into prison... to get his friend's rotting corpse and bring it back aside. He deserved better than to rot in a cell. Our Jean Valjean here could never go home again, in the village where they grew up. The shame compels him away... but whatever he steals, he sends back most of the profits to his friend's family. He always keeps tabs, even years later. Nowadays, he uses his powers to get back... albeit, non-violently, most of the time... at the authorities that gave him hell. So, he uses his abilities to spy, steal and overall live the life of a king no darkeyes had ever truly experienced before. It's a bit of a charade, mind; poor guy's still processing his grief. While he's charming and affable, he doesn't keep close friends. He's afraid of losing anyone ever again, having to deal with another familiar face rotting and melting before his eyes... The closest thing to a friend he has is his spren. Camorr is unsure whether it's the real McCoy or just a figment of his traumatized imagination; either way, he calls it Fig, for Figment. Figment is his Jiminy Cricket, or tries to be; poking his conscience, persuading him not to-say-steal that nice watchman's coinpurse so he can go back to the bar for a night of booze and women- "And if you must, give the money to that blind one-legged beggar. He needs it more than he does, I would think." "Heh, I like the way you think, Fig."

But how will I know my AC, physical stats and such?

Would you like recommendations for a sort of refresher course on how D&D works?

So should I wait for AiB in creating the character?

See, with d20, there have been numerous variations and "updatings" over the years. New editions of D&D revamped or retooled or outright tweaked the entire system into something barely recognizable by fans of so and so edition. Sure, there's plenty of overlap that conversion is easily possible between models, some of us are more comfortable in one than the other. I'm a 3.5 gal, for instance. And I wouldn't worry. Once you get past the math, it's pretty easy to understand. Almost every RPG video game owes something to D&D.

So, here's my first of the four novel projects... THE DYING BEAST Here's the pitch by way of "X Meets Y." Ahem... imagine this as a rich blend of Antz, Attack on Titan, Animal Farm and a dash of George R.R. Martin's Sandkings short story.Yeah. Crazy, right? But it gets better~ The premise here follows an entire civilisation, a mass colony, of anthropomorphic insects who thrive on the back of a titanic beast whose species will never exactly be identified by the narrative. This is not a world set on Earth; this is an all-around original fantasy world... that happens to focus on insects living in what is, to them, a country-sized literal beast of burden. For years, the Colony has prospered gloriously. Settlements are built into tumour mounds of flesh on the beast's back, they dine on flesh and blood and other bodily liquids, with the more refined... "stuff" a thing for the higher echelons and tier of this rigid colonial caste system. Still, everything is fine... Until, one day, a rancid smell permeated the Beast. No one knows where it came from or what is causing it. ... They do know, however, that it's attracting them. The Carrions. In this setting, carrion birds like crows... might as well be dragons. They attack the flesh cities, picking at the insects for the grub. The insects fight back with wave after wave, sacrificing many to drive off so much as one bird. The main throughline here is that that rancid smell? It's the smell of decay. As the title not so subtly suggests, the beast is dying. The insects have overused their natural "resources," the poor thing is on its last legs, barely a husk of the magnificent creature it had once been. This is why the Carrions are attacking with increasing ferocity- with the beast too weak to fight back, it's abuffet on legs. The main plot will be one of survival, following a lower-caste bug as it finds itself embroiled in conspiracy and revolution and a journey of survival. That's the bare bones of it, really. What do you guys think?

Also- I'd like to play my character as a bit of knife nut, wielding two long fighting daggers and a bandolier of throwing knives. Is that possible or should I stick with the long sword for simplicity's sake?

Best intro to Moorcock? Either get your hands on a collection of The Elric Saga or a collection of Moorcock's short stories.

Hail and well met! Looks like I'll be joining on this grand adventure, huzzah! It's a pleasure to work with you all. I'm working on the backstory for my rogueish character Camorr... Should I make the full sheet here or create it elsewhere and just provide you all the link? And which specific system of d20 are we playing under? I got the distinct impression some of y'all are more familiar with 4e or 5e than I am with 3.5, but that's okay, I pick things up quickly.

Incidentally, if you've never heard of my the above mentioned influences? You need to check out the works of Lovecraft, Moorcock (the father of alternative fantasy, the anti-Tolkien), Mieville (author of new fantasy, which refuses to pick up anything from the Tolkien toybox), Jim Butcher (author of the astoundingly fun Dresden Files and Codex Alera series, the latter of which can best be described as Ancient Rome having a classic Roman orgy with Starcraft, World of Warcraft, Pokémon and Avatar: The Last Airbender), and Sergio Leone (he directed The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!). As for the non-named authorial presences: Shadow of the Colossus is a PS2-era classic set in a minimalist fantasy world where you play a young man forced to kill sixteen peaceful giants in order to fulfil a pact with a dark god. Watership Down is Lord of the Rings, with rabbits. The Last Unicorn is more or less the ur-example of feminist fantasy... And did I mention one of the authors wrote a series that has Romans fighting alongside or against Pokémon like creatures? Yeah. Because that's a thing.

I'm a very talkative person, I like meeting new people AND I'm just bursting with ideas!

Heh! I think I slightly overestimated the overlap, heh. Oh well, it can still be done! All ideas are good ideas here!

Hm... if only I were more familiar with 4e... I've been playing 3.5 and Pathfinder (which, really, is 3.75) all this time, have to say.

I've been a member on this site for roughly 24 hours now... and I felt almost floored by how shockingly welcoming and friendly you guys could be here. When I asked for help about writer's block and procrastination, I received very thoughtful and empathetic advice. Part of the reason, I think, for my difficulty in following through on my projects is how unpracticed I am at balancing tone... and maybe, just maybe, it's keeping my ideas so close to the chest out of a paranoid fear someone might steal said ideas from me that has... really stunted my ability to write them in the first place. That said, someone pointed out rather astutely that no novel is ever the same as it started out in the rough sketches. A legit point! And again, it's nice to meet wonderfully nice people around here. So, bearing that in mind... With some of the good new friends and acquaintences I've made here in the last day, could I share the rough outlines I have for my current project(s)? Off the top of my head, they're each my attempts to write... New Weird fiction in the vein of Michael Moorcock, H.P. Lovecraft and China Mieville. Urban Fantasy/Dark Fantasy following in the vein of Brandon Sanderson and Jim Butcher. A melancholic, bittersweet, Studio Ghibli/Shadow of the Colossus/Watership Down/The Last Unicorn-inspired tale about the fading twilight of wonders this fantasy world will never see again... (cheery, I know) A seemingly standard high fantasy yarn... except it's written in the style of a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It's a fusion of the genres, blended, certain tropes married together til death do they part. Is it safe to share?

Does it matter? Ha! Classic cosmic nihilism at work!

Because we are meat puppets of Yog-Sothoth?

Another thing I'm reading is the bleeeeeeeeak Second Apocalypse series by R. Scott Bakker. If his writing style is indicative of anything, that man is sort of like if Brandon Sanderson were raised by the Marquis de Sade and Friederich Nietzsche.

I feel obliged to tell you nearly every D&D game I've ever run has included at least one Lovecraftian nightmare.

Aww, that's too bad- But, let's stay on topic: personally, how would you approach converting Stormlight Archive into d20 mechanics?