Rules
Students
Fights
Trainers
Quests
Locations
Groups
Messageboard
Links
Introduction: Welcome to Toudou Academy!
Toudou Academy was founded in Edo during the Tokugawa Shogunate to train military officers and to allow the children of noble families to improve their skills in the martial arts. Since the abolishment of the feudal system, however, the school’s focus has changed. No longer is it dedicated to training soldiers. Instead, Toudou and its students concentrate on their study of the martial arts.
Now, it is known to produce the greatest fighters in Japan, possibly the world. Several of the best professional fighters spent their youths on these hallowed grounds and some of the children of the best noble families in the country are sent here because, for some odd reason, the ability to kill eight men in three seconds in very valuable in the corporate world.
Joining: How to Get in on the Action
In Toudou Gakuen RPG, you begin as a freshman at Toudou Academy, a high school in Tokyo. Please fill out the following form and send it in, in a Word document if possible. Not only is it easier to copy and paste, if you’re typing a history and your computer dies, you won’t lose it. Anyway sending in a document in Notepad will not be allowed in the RPG. Ever.
Please note that you have twenty points to distribute into stats. You need at least one point in each stat. Please also note that while specialization can be the secret to victory, pouring all your points into one stat will get your ass kicked. Repeatedly.
Name: Japanese and Japanese style. That is, family name first.
E-mail: Pretty simple.
Height: Centimeters. One inch is equal to 2.54 centimeters.
Weight: Kilograms. One kilogram is equal to 2.2 pounds.
Strength: Your physical power and how much force you can put into a technique.
Dexterity: Your hand-eye coordination and your ability to hit with techniques.
Fortitude: Your ability to take hits.
Stamina: Your endurance. Especially important in long fights.
Intelligence: Your ability to adapt and use strategy when fighting.
Wisdom: Not to be confused with Intelligence. Your ability to use techniques and internal force (“Ki”) correctly.
Spirit: Your fighting spirit and mental fortitude. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
Group: Please note if you’d like to join an already established group. If so, you must use the style of that group. For example, if you want to join the Kendo group, your style would need to be Kendo or some other form of swordsmanship. We encourage you to not join an establish group and form your own AFTER YOU ARE ACCEPTED INTO THE RPG. YOU MUST ALSO HAVE A MINIMUM OF FOUR (4) PLAYER CHARACTER MEMBERS TO BEGIN WITH.
Style: This is your personal fighting style. It can be a real art but we encourage you to create your own. In the event you do, please describe it in as much detail as possible. The more, the better. Please also describe your character’s preferences and characteristics while fighting.
Character History: Possibly the most important element of the joining form, this explains your character’s past and his or her reasons for coming to Toudou. The longer, the better.
E-mailing:
The RPG e-mail is toudou_gakuen@yahoo.com. All joining applications, actions and comments should be directed there.
Fighting:
The heart of the RPG because, after all, this is a… Fighting Paradise!
Sparring: Light, practice fighting between you and another character. Although the gains may be small, it allows you to try out new techniques and you won’t take any damage from it.
Duel: Serious fighting with the intent to, at least, injure. The rewards are higher than normal sparring but so is the risk factor. If specified by both participants, they will fight to the death or incapacitation.
Ambush: One or more characters launch a surprise attack on an unsuspecting character. Not exactly honorable but if you need someone out of the picture, this carries the least risk. Gains are less for the attacker than for whoever is being ambushed.
Please note that you can only fight once a day and that you can’t make any other actions, except purchases.
Training:
And where would we be without methods to improve our fighting skills?!
Solo Training: You train for a day to raise one stat a single point. Boring and lonely.
Trainer: You go and train under a specific master to learn a new technique. Different techniques will have different requirements and you may have to train for several days to learn it.
Let it be noted that you can’t do anything but make purchases while undergoing any kind of training.
Fighting Experience:
By engaging in fights, you gain experience. This is, not surprisingly, called Fighting Experience. You have a stat for it on your profile but it’s not one that you can begin with points in. It can only be raised through fighting. The experience you gain defines all of what you’ve learned from past battles and can make the difference in future ones.
Part Time Jobs and Buying Stuff:
Because Japan is a capitalist society, you need money to buy stuff. You get money mainly by taking part time jobs. The money you make at a job is dependent on your stats.
Construction Workers: Strength, Stamina
Tutor: Intelligence, Wisdom
Waiter: Dexterity, Spirit
Crime: All
While Crime is the most profitable, it also carries a risk. Depending, you have a 10-20% chance of getting caught. If caught, you’ll have a choice between jail and a heavy fine.
Groups:
Many of the martial artists at Toudou divide themselves up into specific clubs and groups. Most often, these groups are based around a specific style or ideal though they are often just circle of friends who work and train together.
Chief among these groups is the Enforcement Group. Elected every year through a tournament, this group regulates the students of Toudou and keeps everyone in line. Generally, the most powerful fighters in the school are members though there are exceptions.
We encourage you to create your own groups. They don’t need to be centered around a style or an idea or anything but you should have a good name and possibly a symbol. You’ll need club jackets, after all!
Quests:
Often, people need things done. Certain things. Things that they can’t do for themselves or they can’t go to the authorities for. Things that require a certain kind of person. That is, things that require a Toudou student.
These “quests” can be exceedingly profitable and exceedingly dangerous. The risks are often high but the potential rewards may be even higher. A successful quest could make its winner a master or wealthy… or both.
Items:
In this game, there are items that you may purchase from the Locations page. Some of these items will give certain stat boosts, usually listed on the page along with the description of the item. However, things are not so simple as to allow any character to collect all the items he or she wishes and live off of that. So to prevent that, your character can only equip a maximum of six items that actively affect your stats. Items are not stackable, so that means only one stat-boosting item of a single type. That means you can't run around with two copies of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
As for non-stat boosting items, the rules of logic apply. There are no true limits placed on them, however, unless your character practices a double sword style, or has learned shadow weapons, it's pretty useless to carry more than one.
Player Created Techniques:
So as not to limit our players creativity, we do allow player created techniques in this game. However, it is slightly more complicated, for obvious reasons. First, the technique you wish to create must be e-mailed to the webmasters, preferably labeled "PLAYER CREATED TECHNIQUE", so as to grab our attention. Thomas and myself both have ADD, after all. After the technique is recieved, we will review it, and assess learning time and requirements we believe are required. After that, you can simply begin learning the technique. This also allows for greater options in your roleplay.
Role Playing:
Arguably even more important than fighting is role playing. Essentially, acting out your character on the message board. It's the bread and butter of any RPG, especially when you figure that it's a Role Playing Game. Heheh.
Moreover, role playing is a good way to get ahead in the game. For example, a good post accompanying a fight may increase the gains of one or more of the fighters. It all depends. Developing relationships with other characters can be to your advantage as well. In a battle with multiple participants, characters you're friendly with are more likely to help you and vice versa.
So, remember: Not only does role playing affect your gains during battles and quests, it affects how you act during events and such.
Now, some of you may be worried about role playing as a Japanese person. Here's a secret: Japanese teenagers are a lot like American teenagers. Especially the kind of kids that attend Toudou Gakuen.
The basics of the suffixes and forms of address used are as follows. Please note that you're not required to use them but it can add an extra level of fun. Sort of.
-san: Something of a catch all suffix. Means along the lines of "Mr" or "Mrs" but used more frequently. If you're not close to someone, you would generally use -san.
Family Name: Used much more than in the West. Often used even between friends, the family name (Read: Last name) is fine to use with friends and acquaintances.
-kun: Generally used with boys only, this is a familiar, almost affectionate form of address. While boys of the same age won't use it with one another (they would use their last names) girls and older people might use it. Can be attached to the last name or the first (which would imply a closer relationship).
-chan: A "cute" suffix that implies a friendship, at the very least. Although usually used with girls, it can be used with boys as well, but usually in a "cutesy" almost patronizing way or as a pet name. Also used with animals and children.
-rin: Used the same as -chan.
First Name: The final level of familiarity. If you use the first name, chances are, you've slept with the person. Well, maybe not quite that, but it's only used between very good friends and family. If you use it with someone you don't know well, you could appear "creepy"- at best.
-sama: Not used too often, it's simply a term of adoration. Royalty will be addressed as such, as well as anyone else the speaker admires and adores.
-sensei: Used for teachers and other learned professionals, such as doctors, authors and lawyers.