Middlebroke High School, on the outside, looks like a typical and respectable school; its grades are good, its facilities are good, and parents never have any complaints. However, underneath its calm exterior, one finds many organisations run by students vying for control of the school's underground crime scene. Apparently completely secret from teachers and parents, these groups war against each other simply for the power it lends them during their time at school; being in complete power would effectively mean being able to control the school. At the heart of these wars are dangerous battles and behind them, scheming and underhand politics.
This RPG revolves around the members of such groups, their relationships with each other, their wars with other groups in the school, and, if it lasts that long, even their wars with similar groups from different schools.
It will start at the beginning of a new academic year; lots of groups will be looking for new recruits to draft, giving a chance for players to interact with each other right off the bat. As well as my own PC, I'll also play various NPCs. I’m looking for, ideally, at least five or six members to participate.
I don't intend this RPG to be a generic "fighting in school" RPG, and hopefully it doesn't appear so. However, emphasis will very much be on the underground 'organised crime'-type groups, and almost none at all on the education aspect of the school (You'll never see a teacher or have to go to any lessons).
Also, I don't intend character development to play second fiddle to constant fighting, but neither I do I want it to be all talking and no action.
I'm going to have to put this RPG in the category of freeform because there isn't an immediate overall plot. Rather, it will consist of several arcs with differing plotlines, the first of which will begin to become apparent early on during the RP. That said, nothing is set in stone, and it will be as much up to Players to develop the plot.
Setting
The setting is completely modern. It isn't set in any particular country because it doesn't matter too much.
Physics can be stretched slightly (so unlikely things to happen may happen, including half a school being proficient fighters and possessing weapons of varying degrees of deadliness), but not broken entirely. So no jumping off rooftops or summoning of monkey gods!
About the School
-Middlebroke High caters for the last three years of a child's education, from age 15 to 18.
-Each year group has about 600 students, making it a very large school in all.
-The school is four floors high, with a basement beneath which is kept locked and cannot be accessed by most of the student population.
-It is also divided vertically into three sections, each painted and named a different color: pink, blue and green.
-It has everything a regular school would: classrooms, a teacher's lounge, a student lounge, labs, a cafeteria, a theatre, and a sports hall and swimming pool in a separate building.
-There is no uniform, and is generally pretty relaxed; students can do as little or as much work as they want, and usually get the grades they deserve accordingly.
(I'll post a map of the school before the RPG begins.)
-Monthly Battle: This practice takes place, unsurprisingly, once a month, as well as special battles taking place at the beginning of each academic year. It is a kind of set-piece exhibition match, which anyone can participate in. Battles happen around the school and anyone can turn up to watch. Most of the school goes to watch these, and is a good place to show off one's ability. Groups also take them as opportunities to do some scouting for potential members.
More details of this event will be given during the RPG.
NOTE: This won't be a large part of the RPG. It will only be featured once, possibly twice, and never in its entirety. All that will be shown is what's necessary for the plot or for characters to interact.
About the Underground Groups
-There are four main organisations in the school's underground. Three are the largest groups in the constant battles for power. The fourth is an unnamed group which works outside the battles.
The Upper Crust
-The largest and best-known group, since anyone can join. Many different cliques are members, notably almost all jocks and juvies. Many of its members are also just hangers-on who hope to rise up the social ladder by joining.
It is the least organised of the major groups, but its huge numbers (estimated at between 25-30% of the student body) make it the single most powerful group in the school. Some believe that if it were properly organised, it could destroy the other two most powerful groups.
Until a year and a half ago it was led by an intelligent and charming man who was very kind to everyone and never participated in or instigated any fights. In his third year, a few months before he was going to take his final exams, a student was found by the police, severely beaten by unknown members of the Upper Crust. Their leader was framed, but he willingly took the fall for his team-mates. Since then the Upper Crust has fallen into the disorganised, though nevertheless large and powerful mess that it now is.
Their base of operations is the whole school in general, though in particular the student lounge (3rd Floor), where only its most elite members may tread.
Omnia Veritas
-The second of the three largest teams. Smaller than the Upper Crust, but far more organised.
It concentrates on tactics over force or strength of numbers. All members are brilliant tacticians, in and outside of battle. They scout potential members from all other groups on the basis of being good strategists.
They also have a good intelligence division and a database of students, albeit a far less complete one than that of the Outside Organisation.
This group rose to prominence over the last year with the decline of the Upper Crust's power.
Their base of operations is a hidden room behind the library (2nd Floor).
Sanguerone
-The third major group. Like Omnia Veritas, it is smaller than the Upper Crust, but more elite. The team leader will ask anyone to join whose personality he likes, regardless of ability. As a result, many are just the leader's friends.
Its core members are its strongest fighters and its core supporters are the leader's closest friends.
This group also rose to prominence over the last year with the decline of the Upper Crust's power.
Their base of operations is the basement beneath the school.
Outside Organisation
-A group operating independently of any other, whose specialty is intelligence, and whose members are generally unknown. It organises the Monthly Battle match-ups, and has exact lists of the members of all Underground groups, as well as full information on those members. They are also responsible for covering up all Underground activity from staff.
Their recruiting policy and base of operations are both unknown, and they have no official name, but are referred to as the Outside Organisation by everyone in the school.
-There are also many other smaller groups, some working under the guise of a particular club or society. Some such groups act as mini-businesses, others as mercenary groups lending their services to whoever pays the most. Some are independent, while others may only appear so (particularly the mini-business), when they are actually run by a larger group.
"Rules"
-Within the school, there is a rigid code which all are honour-bound to follow, agreed upon by mutual consent. It mainly consists of the following three major rules:
1) No guns: No matter what other weapons are used, guns are forbidden.
2) No "assassinations" during school hours: This refers to surprise attacks. If fighting is to occur it must do so off the school premises, or else outside the hours of 9am and 4pm. This is to maintain secrecy from staff, but also so that people can walk the school corridors without constant fear.
3) Omerta: The most important rule. No one is to involve outside authorities, including parents, teachers or the police matters, of underground activity. If one is questioned or apprehended, they are forbidden from revealing a thing. This rule also means being forbidden from threatening or assaulting friends of enemies.
Breaking these rules means usually means losing all support from their group, and often results in the perpetrator being assaulted, either by his former comrades or by members of other groups.
Actual Rules
1) Posts must be fully literate and of a decent length (though not necessarily essay length).
2) Applicants must be willing to post pretty regularly. If for any reason you can't, tell me beforehand.
3) I reserve the right to refuse entry to anyone who doesn't seem up to it (though I hate doing this).
4) Three warnings are given for rule-breaking before I'll ask you to leave (includes god-modding and severe cases of illiterate posting).
5) No controlling other people's characters! You can control minor NPCs, but no PCs, and no NPCs who is integral to the plot.
Character FormsPlease fill in this form and post it here. Details on each section are found below.
You can be a student from any year, any group and any position on the social radar, even a leader of one of the main groups (provided you don't play a member of the first year).
User Name:
Character Name:
Affiliation: ie. What group they belong to. If they don't yet belong to one, but you plan to have them join one, mention the fact (and which one, if you have one in mind.) If you don't have any plans for them to join any group, mention that too.
Year of School: 1st, 2nd or 3rd.
Age: Their age depends on what year of school they begin the RPG in. (15 for 1st year, 16 for 2nd, 17 for 3rd.)
Gender:
Appearance: If you have a picture, that's fine. If not, please describe in some details.
Personality: Go into some detail here as well; you can't sum up someone's personality in three words.
Likes: Put two or three things; this bit is just for fun.
Dislikes:
History:
School Subjects: 3-4. Pick anything.
Weapons: Anything within reason, but no guns!
Skills: Include anything useful in the underground war, in or out of combat. And don't go overboard - please just a couple that are relatively realistic.
A few things to bear in mind while making your character:
When choosing a character's affiliation, remember the types of people each consists of - don't have a block-headed powerhouse as the leader of the group which specialises in tactics.
Also, although you can create your own groups, bear in mind the fact that if every single PC is part of a different group it will make it all that much more difficult for them to interact with each other.
Finally, although being leader of one of the three main groups will immediately give you character a central role, it doesn't mean that they'll be immediately more important than the other characters - they won't! And of course, if any of the spots as leaders are not taken, I'll provide NPCs to run them.
Character List:
Johan Marlowe (Tame/Sanguerone)
Jessical Wiles (Taunt/Upper Crust)
Yuji Takehisa (OriginalVampire/Unaffiliated)
Vorst 'V' MaFadden (Old-Schooler/Untamed)
Sissi 'Sis' Sellick (Kestrel/Unaffiliated)
Ivii Chua (Yume-chan/Unaffiliated)
Evee Chua (Suishoko/Unaffiliated)
Iven Chua (Seluna/Unaffiliated)
Tommy 'Riot' Groshong (neko_oni/Unaffiliated)
Ayalea Vermina (Dream of Purity/Omnia Veritas)
Anastasia Moreau (Dream of Purity/Unaffiliated)
Kichirou Masaru (Kiyoshi Roku/Unaffiliated)
Shaun Williams (neko_oni/Unaffiliated)
Mariah Deborah Burke (Kestrel/Omnia Veritas)
NPCs
Sanguerone:
Emaline Gates
Greg 'Quintus' Quinn
Kate
Alice Alban
Eric Copeland
Amadi
Upper Crust:
Jack Bailey
Belle Griffins
Juliette Francis
Billy Bawden
Thiago Yaritsu
Simon Darkin
Anna Dagsson
Saito Ayamine
Scorpio Madoor
Untamed:
Larry
Jake
Other/Unaffiliated/Unknown:
Frank the Bus Driver
Leo Smith
...And here's my character:
User Name: Tame
Character Name: Johan Marlowe
Affiliation: Sanguerone
Year of School: 3rd
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Appearance: A good-looking young man, 5’10” in height, and slim, even skinny in build. He has messy, medium-length brown hair, a square jaw and shrewd hazel-brown eyes, topped by thick dark eyebrows. He can always be found to be wearing straight cut jeans, a t-shirt, and zip-up hoodie, with feet adorned in Converse All-Stars.
Personality: Arrogant and charming Johan takes no prisoners and only tolerates those whom he can gain from. Having a rebellious and independent nature he enjoys solitude and very occasionally participates in social activities (though if there is a party he will most likely be there feeling far superior to all those around him). He doesn’t like to be tied down and anyone who threatens his independence will be got rid of quickly. Rarely a team player he looks out for himself and a handful people who are very dear to him, though if pushed he will cooperate in an emergency reluctantly taking orders from others. Though normally a relatively relaxed person he can get very agitated if hungry or tired, and when he is like this is best to leave him alone.
Held back by his severe desire to be independent, he has very few friends, however those he does have he is deeply loyal to and protective of. The people he becomes close to are able to see that he does have softer and funny side rather than his egotistical and narcissistic front that he projects.
History: In his first year at Middlebroke, he and his friends (with whom he had little in common) stooged for the higher-ups in the Upper Crust. Johan soon grew tired of this and scornful of his friends, however, and broke away from them and the Upper Crust. Becoming something of a social hermit, he spent his time observing the different underground groups and judging each. He also began to train himself in using tonfa, which he quickly found himself proficient at. After several months of training, he met and befriended the leader of Sanguerone, whose up-and-coming group he joined. Since then he has been a member of the inner ring of Sanguerone, and lends his fighting strength and knowledge to their course.
Likes: Himself, Crisps, Fighting
Dislikes: Most people
School Subjects: Philosophy, Economics, Politics
Weapons: A pair of twin black oak tonfa.
Skills:
-Tonfa jutsu: Is an expert wielder of tonfa.
-Sneaky sneak sneak: Habitually walks without a sound, often accidentally scaring people. Consequently wears squeaky shoes most of the time, except for when there is a call for stealth.
Final thoughts
I posted this RPG in another forum, though one with a barely existent RPG section. It received a little interest, but only one person applied, so it never got off the ground. I'm posting it here in the hope that it will receive more attention.

