The Shadow Over Ponyville – Writeup, Chapter 1

Howdy y’all! Today, I’m feeling roleplayish, and after reading the Nightmare Moon arc of Friendship is Dragons, I’ve decided to do a writeup/summation on one of my first (successful) pony Roleplays. This writeup contains spoilers. Not that it really matters, we (meaning the players and I) have decided that the RP is basically over (and it happened at a time that I lost a good chunk of my internet access, so that had something to do with it).

So, without further ado, here’s the story. Just sit back, relax, and just…take it all in. Director commentary will be shown in Goldenrod.

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Characters

This is going to take a little explaining: The character sheets are based upon a game system that was created by Eight Star for use in tabletop gaming. He introduced me to the system not too long ago, and I picked it up rather easily. Using this system, the players don’t roll stats. All of that is chosen for them based on their character’s race and class. Each character sheet will be posted here, with explanations where I believe they are warranted:

The first character to sign up was Silver Shield, played by Legionbrony:

Race: Unicorn
Gender: Male
Cutie Mark: Silver kite shield
Special Talent: Defensive and Protective magic, especially barriers/force fields
Class: Student (Student is one of the base classes. They focus on Knowledge and Technology. They are capable of casting spells but aren’t nearly as good at it as the Apprentice class.)
Aspect: Aspect of the Defender – Bonus Starting Spell (Arcane Shield, Level 0). As an added bonus, this spell costs only 1 MP to cast. If the spell fails to cast (player rolls <50), the spell activates but gives half defense. This spell can be trained up by successfully casting it (but does not count toward normal accumulation of Class Points) In Eight Star’s system, a pony’s aspect is a representation of their special talent as defined by the game’s mechanics. An aspect usually gives bonuses to abilities and skills, but can at times give them spells or abilities.)

CR: 3 (Challenge Rating: This is how difficult the character is to defeat. 3 is pretty respectable for a level 1 character)
HP: 10 (Health Points: How much damage a character can take before they die. For a level 1 character, their total HP has to be at -10 for them to truly die.)
MP: 6 (Mana Points: You need these to cast spells.)
WP: 5 (Weapon Points: These represent fatigue. You can spend WP to use certain abilities. When you lose all of your WP, you pass out.)
SP: 3 (Soul Points: When you lose all of these, your character dies for real and can’t be revived.)

I was originally going to add a stat for Sanity, but I couldn’t think of a good way to implement it into the game, so I scrapped it.

Strength: 8
Endurance: 14
Magic: 10
Willpower: 2
Speed: 4
Stealth: 0
Perception: 8
Knowledge: 2
This game system uses a 100-sided die to determine the outcome of encounters. When you roll to perform an action, such as casting a spell, you add the relevant stat to your roll.

The second character to sign up was Grey Mane, played by Dark Shine:

Race: Unicorn
Special talent/ Cutie mark: Sneaking in the shadows/ A shadow of herself
Occupation: Student
Class: Rogue
Aspect: Aspect of the Shadow - +5 to Sneak, +10 to Sneak when in dim light/darkness

CR: 3
HP: 6
MP: 6
WP: 3
SP: 3

Strength: 8
Endurance: 12
Magic: 11
Willpower: -2
Speed: 8
Stealth: 5
Perception: 8
Knowledge: -2

Up next was Professor Follia, played by Tyro The Fox:

Race: Earth Pony
Special Talent/Cutie Mark: Study/ The outline of a wolf.
Occupation: Professor of Magical Creatures
Class: Adventurer
Aspect: Aspect of the Eternal Student - +5 to Knowledge based skills, +8 to Knowledge Rolls (Identifying Magical Fauna)

CR: 2
HP: 8
MP: 8
WP: 4
SP: 4

Strength: 10
Endurance: 14
Magic: -4
Willpower: 0
Speed: 6
Stealth: 2
Perception: 6
Knowledge: -2

Then, Mystic Heart, played by Eight Star:

Race: Unicorn
Special Talent/Cutie Mark: Mystic Heart has a talent for artifacts and enchanted items. She can, given the time and effort, put her enchanting knowledge to use and put permanent effects onto trinkets. She's also a little better at understanding what kind of effects an item may have WITHOUT putting it on first. Her cutie mark is a glowing ring.
Occupation: One of the students. Artifacts 101.
Class: Apprentice
Aspect: Aspect of the Enchanter - +5 to learn Enchanting Skills, +5 to using Enchanting Skills, +5 to Knowledge (Appraisal and Identification)

CR: 3
HP: 4
MP: 12
WP: 2
SP: 6

Strength: 8
Endurance: 12
Magic: 18
Willpower: 2
Speed: 4
Stealth: 0
Perception: 6
Knowledge: -2

And finally, a late-comer, Toxic Rain who was played by Psychopunk:

Race: Pegasus / F
Special Talent/Cutie Mark: Her cutie mark is a toxic symbol in neon green. She has an insanely high intellect and can understand and morph the chemical substance of things, but only as limited as she can understand. Due to her intelligence, she seems a bit strange to the other ponies, and can seem a bit melancholy.
Occupation: She is the alchemy professor
Class: Student
Aspect: Aspect of the Alchemist – +5 to Chemistry/Alchemical skill rolls. +5 to Knowledge for identifying Chemicals/Potions

CR: 2
HP: 10
MP: 6
WP: 5
SP: 3

Strength: 8
Endurance: 14
Magic: -6
Willpower: 2
Speed: 4
Stealth: 0
Perception: 8
Knowledge: 2

You might notice that the character sheets aren’t uniform. That’s because I copy/pasted their signups. These are basically the sheets as I received them. Stay tuned for Chapter 2, where I’ll explain the setting and introduction!