# Online: The Zodiac Paired - Collaborative Fiction Game (Seeking dedicated players)



## Chairman (Apr 11, 2010)

Hello!  

NextGen RPG has a new game that is casting for  characters.  It's an excellent chance to get into a new game with a  committed GM.  The posting style is a bit different, we use shared  documents (similar to google docs - but using work flow collaboration  tools), but it's very simple to learn and really helps support a story  based game.

Please note that I'm the administrator of the site, and not the GM,  but am happy to help answer any questions that you might have.  If you'd  like to submit a character, all of the info you need should be in the  casting call that follows.    The GM's handle is 'artexercise', so  feel free to send him a private message at www.nextgenrpg.com,  or if you don't want to go through the hassle of an account, send me  your questions, and I can do my best to answer them.

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http://www.nextgenrpg.com/content/zp/zodiac-paired

The  year 2012 was normal to every single human being on the earth.    At Midnight on the first day in the year 2013 for each time zone, for   some people across the globe their eyes were opened, something had   changed.  The advent of the superpower was here.  What was formerly the   realm of movies, stories, and comic books had entered into the lives of   everyday man, and not smoothly, not easily.  No one strapped on tights   and saved the world.
 This game is about the birthing pains of supers coming into the   world.  Not in the hospitals as babies, obviously different from one   another, but in the middle of life, established lives with school,   friends, jobs, loved ones.  Make it what you will.  This game is about   the learning curve of discovering that the limits of some aspects of   life have been removed and higher caps have been placed.  For good or   for bad, the day and sign of your birth never predicted anything as   strange as this. . . or did it?

*Game Call*
  I AM ArtExercise:
 Usually wordy GM seeking players who like long walks on the beach  with  soliloquies,  who are as comfortable in a character who works a 9  to 5  as they are in a character that can leap tall buildings with a  single  bound, who is capable of walking the fine line of hero or  villain as the  situation demands, who isn’t afraid to be in the dark  about what they  can truly do, and who gives great dialogue.  Obviously  there is some  subtle undertones of humor as well. 
 Seeking normal people.  As normal as any individual human being can   be in this world.  Normal can be anyone from a playboy centerfold to the   average Joe who works for regional dog pound.  Famous people are not   fair game, but the everyday no name certainly can be.  During the course   of the game you will discover that you are suddenly not like everyone   else.  There are rumors in the world, but nothing confirmed.   Supposedly  the world now has superheroes, or rather people with usual  powers that  are beyond the average human's capacity.
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 THIS IS A GAME: 
The Zodiac Paired is a game in which normal people discover that they   have superpowers and the issues that follow afterward.  You create your   character without the superpowers.  I assign you random superpowers  that  through the course of the game you learn of/about.  This game  loosely  incorporates elements of "the pool" and "the window" but is  otherwise  generally freeform.  Knowledge of the aforementioned systems  is not  necessary, as almost all conclusions will be drawn from the  character  sheet and the powers themselves.  The game is more of a  campaign in that  it will take a while to get through the three phases I  have planned.
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 THE OVERVIEW OF THE SETTING: 
The year 2012 was normal to every single human being on the earth.  At   Midnight on the first day in the year 2013 for each time zone, for some   people across the globe their eyes were opened, something had changed.    The advent of the superpowers was here.  What was formerly the realm  of  movies, stories, and comic books had entered into the lives of  everyday  man, and not smoothly, not easily.  No one strapped on tights  and saved  the world.
 This game is about the birthing pains of supers coming into the   world.  Not in the hospitals as babies, obviously different from one   another, but in the middle of life, established lives with school,   friends, jobs, loved ones.  Make it what you will.  This game is about   the learning curve of discovering that the limits of some aspects of   life have been removed and higher caps have been placed.  For good or   for bad, the day and sign of your birth never predicted anything as   strange as this. . . or did it?
 * This is a mature game, not an adult game.  Keep the language at a   minimum, and nothing that forces me to go to the adult rating.
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 YOUR CHARACTER WILL LOOK LIKE: 
This is a supers game of discovery in with a special backend system.  To   Join this game you will need the following.  Fill in the curly braces.
 Character Name: {name}
Character Occupation: {occupation}
Character Date of Birth: {mm\dd\yyyy}
Skills:
 - 1 ... is EXCELLENT at {skill}
 - 2 ... is AVERAGE at {skill}
 - 3 ... is AVERAGE at {skill}
 - 4 ... is OK at {skill}
 - 5 ... is TERRIBLE at {skill}
 Background: {~50 words -> no more than 75}
 Relationships: * Should mostly pulled from the words in background,   some inference allowed.
 - 1 ... has an EXCELLENT relationship with {activity, person, place,   thing}
 - 2 ... has an AVERAGE relationship with {activity, person, place,   thing}
 - 3 ... has an AVERAGE relationship with {activity, person, place,   thing}
 - 4 ... has a GOOD relationship with {activity, person, place, thing}
 - 5 ... has an OK relationship with {activity, person, place, thing}
 - 6 ... has an OK relationship with {activity, person, place, thing}
 - 7 ... has a TERRIBLE relationship with {activity, person, place,   thing}
 Items: {normal stuff, please. No one is carrying nukes and time   machines.}
 * Note that TERRIBLE is better than having no relationship or no   skill at all.
* Note that You will have 5 skill lines with 1 skill per item, and 7   relationship lines with 1 relationship per line.
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 OTHER STUFF YOU NEED TO KNOW: 
Posting Requirements.  – Minimum of 2 updates per week though more will   be fine.
Submission Information.  I’m looking for about 5-7 players.  Fill out   the character sheet and send it to me in a message on NextGen, I’ll take   it from there.
Deadline.  I will stop accepting submissions April 24th.
Where the game takes place:
This is Global, so anywhere in the world is fair game as a starting   point, Obviously I don’t know everywhere in the world, I hardly know my   own backyard, but I use the intarwebs to do some research and give it  my  best.  If however you want to have a chance to interact with one   another much sooner, then there is one fictional city in the upper   Applalachian Mountains of the United States called ADENA GORGE.
  - Adena Gorge has a population of about 30,000 people.  It has Cold   Winters and Temperate Summers.  Crime isn't the biggest issue they  have,  but enough that people lock their doors at night.  It’s a growing  town  which brings other problems.  The most exciting additions have  been the  SHALE GAS MINING company that moved in and the GAMING INDUSTRY  company  building that was finished just north of town.  The Adena  Gorge Caverns  and Adena Burial Mound are tourist attractions that bring  in small  amounts of revenue for the town.
 STAGE / Emphasis:
 - Ex - Town of Adena Gorge
 - Av – Shale Gas Mining Company
 - Av – Game Industry Company
 -  G - Crime not a big Issue
 - Ok - Cold Winters
 - Ok – Tourist Attractions
 -  T - Growing Population


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