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[Tamte]

I'M TOTALLY INTO GETTING ONE OF THESE STARTED HERE, BUT I HAVE NEVER DONE ONE BEFORE. I COPIED THESE RULES OVER FROM THE APEDOG FORUMS


Introduction

ArtPG is an activity where we design an RPG world as we play. You design a character and have it gain XP (eXperience Points) as you draw or paint things, such as your character, enemies and new locations. It's up to you which style you want to use and how much polish you want to put into things. It's not a contest though, so there is no point in posting scribbles just to power level. It will be more fun for everyone if the drawings/paintings are somewhat polished.

To accommodate all, the setting is a mix of fantasy and sci-Fi. It's really up to us where we take it. If you like you can design a robotic character which is equipped with a sword. It's also possible to just let your character explore specific fantasy regions of the world (e.g. you could play a vampire slayer roaming the wastelands).

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Gaining XP

There are a number of ways which you can gain XP for your character. All of them involves drawing or painting something.

Character
Draw your character. This should be done when starting out and when entering a new tier (level up).
Format: Pin-up. A full body view with a quiet background. Include text and data if you wish.
XP: + 15

Battle
Draw a monster.
Format: Pin-up. A full body view with a quiet background. Include text and data if you wish.
XP: + 15

Exploration
You explore the world. Draw an environment (not populated by characters or significant creatures).
Format: 2 units wide, 1 high (widescreen-ish).
XP: + 20

Adventure
Draw your character interacting with an environment.
Examples:
- Running from a giant rolling boulder.
- Swinging across a pit of crocodiles.
- Walking on a log across an abyss.
- Fighting or socializing with another character (PvP).
Format: Any. It can even be a comic page with several panels.
XP: + 25

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List of tiers

Tier 0 (Start here.)
XP requirement: 0 - 99 (Next: 100)
Design feel: Rusted, worn, feeble, unimpressive, noob.

Character example: Guy in rags, some old armour bits, carrying a rusted short sword.
Enemies examples: Slime, Bat.
Environment example: Red sands of Ghuul - A somewhat plain desert.
Environment examples: A small village. A once modest, now ruined church. An abandoned warehouse. Countryside.

Tier 1
XP requirement: 100 - 224 (Next: 125)
Design feel: Standard, ordinary, nothing special, run of the mill.

Character example: Standard infantry soldier.
Enemies examples: Ork, Gasmask trooper.
Environment example: Gate of Ghuul - A desert with two large cliffs forming a geological landmark.
Environment example: A town or small city. An aqueduct.

Tier 2
XP requirement: 225 - 374 (Next: 150)
Design feel: Ornamented, elaborate, impressive, buff.

Character example: Jugend style ornamented robot with a heavy plasma gun.
Enemies examples: Large intimidating cyclops. Demon.
Environment examples: A Metropolis. A great Gothic castle. Large statues buried in grass. A forest with great swirly trees.

Tier 3
XP requirement: 375 - 549 (Next: 175)
Design feel: glowing, magical, epic, possibly surreal.

Character example: Floating angelic guy with glowing halo.
Enemies examples: Titanic thing. Epic flaming demon.
Environment example: HyperScape of Krull - Fantastic floating islands.
Environment example: The bones of a gigantic beast, housing an entire city.

Tier 4
XP requirement: 550 - ...
(Ascendence. Start a new character.)

Basically, the higher the tier, the more amazing stuff gets.

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Bonus XP

To solidify the ArtPG universe, you get a bonus from interpreting already existing designs (made for ArtPG by others or yourself... the line might get fuzzy). By interpreting I mean that if you draw Mario in your style, it should still somehow look like Mario. There can be slight variations in equipment though. Perhaps only the pose is different. Mario is just an example. Existing non-ArtPG designs, like Mario or Gombas, are not bonus eligible.

You can also get a bonus for making a character based on (parts of) someone else's character. You can draw inspiration from a larger piece of the the design. It could be the species, armour, weapon, etc. However, you can not get double bonuses for using character A's Armour and character B's weapons. Also, the design will have to be sufficiently distinct and not a minor part of the character. You can not get a bonus for 'my guy also has a sword'. It would have to be a pretty massive and elaborate tier 2 or 3 sword then, or at least a particularly interesting mechanical design.

A bonus eligible enemy, character or environment gives your character a + 5 bonus.

Bonuses are not inherited, meaning, if you draw a bonus eligible design several times, bonuses won't keep stacking. They only apply once when you do the design.

If you combine two designs into one, your character still only get a +5 bonus.

While you can gain a bonus from drawing your own enemy design, you can never gain a bonus from drawing your own character. The reason for this is that since you have to redraw your character when it levels up a tier, the + 5 bonus cap rule above would make it meaningless to go for any other bonuses.

So, If you level up a tier and draw your character again, this won't give you a bonus unless you choose to include, say a new riding animal from a bonus eligible character (or maybe even one of your own enemy designs). Just drawing a regular, more buff version of your character will not give you a bonus.

Drawing an Adventure scene (+ 25) including someone else's character (+ 5) as well as a bonus eligible environment (+ 5) gives you a + 10 bonus (+35 total). This is because you included both a character and environment, which are different things. A tea party with 20 characters does not give you a 20 * 5 bonus. You will not get a bonus for the (mandatory) inclusion of your own character into the adventure scene. It is included by default.

You can gain an additional + 5 bonus from a weekly topic. If someone else has drawn a design adhering to the weekly topic guidelines (+ 5), and you make a design based on that (+ 5), you will get a +10 bonus. If you're a week late, the weekly topic bonus no longer applies.

Hypothetically, you could draw an elaborate Adventure scene (+ 25) with a bonus eligible character (+ 5), enemy (+ 5) and environment (+ 5). On top of that you could use the weekly topic. However, this bonus only applies once and is never larger than + 5. The package would total at XP: + 45.

edit// Drawing a standalone illustration of a weapon or armor will be worth +5 XP, as long as it's well thought-out and is a finished piece, e.g. no sketches or lazy speedpaints.

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Tier boundaries

Your character can only grind on things which are in the same tier as itself, be it enemies, environments, or other characters. Your character is simply not strong enough to take on things from tiers above itself, and it won't learn anything significant from say, going back to fight low level monsters.

However, you can gain bonus XP (+ 5) from importing and reworking a design from one tier above or one tier below your character. Perhaps small Mario turns into Big Mario or Mario on Yoshi.

After you have posted your drawing or painting, your character gains the XP. This means that you level up a tier only after the drawing have been posted. For clarity you can post your XP count after the image.

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How to get started

Look through various ArtPG threads to get a feel of the setting and how the thing works. Then it's time to design your character. It will start as a tier 0 character, so it won't look very dangerous. When you have some character art to show you can post a new thread. The thread will work as a diary of sorts, and it's also a place where people can comment on your stuff. If you're in a mood for writing text which goes with your design you can do that too. Posting WIP's is fine, but XP is only gained for finished pieces.

Then it is time to decide what your character will do next. It may be a pioneer, out to uncover new domains and battle never before seen monsters. Perhaps it's more of a tourist, speeding along the already established roads.

In addition to posting new stuff in your character's thread, you can also post in the archive threads.

Examples of presenting XP gain in a post.

Quote:
Hey all I'm starting on a new character! He will have awesome spiky hair and a tattoo across one eye.
(CHARACTER SKETCH)

Quote:
I'm making it so the eyes are glowing!
(CHARACTER SKETCH)

Quote:
(FINISHED CHARACTER PICTURE)
This is my character Pringles Deathraven. He will become a Super Saiyan one day! His family was killed by emperor Magnus. Pringles will not rest until he has gotten his revenge.
XP: + 15
XP = 15

Quote:
(NEW FINISHED ENEMY PICTURE)
One day when Pringles was out in the forest he ran into a Dreebo skullbeetle. Pringles defeated it with a an awesome dropkick. This large beetle is, despite appearances, a very good folk singer. It rarely gets the chance to show it though, because of awesome dropkicks on its head.
XP: + 15 + 5 (weekly "Bugs" theme)
XP = 35

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Legal stuff

I am not a lawyer, so I don't know what to type here. However, since we might be doing designs derived from one another here, please note that:

Don't be surprised and upset when that happens.
When cross-posting an ArtPG image and you're not quite the author of a design, it's nice to inform people about that.
Slightly altering someone else's drawing is not good manners and it doesn't give you any XP either.

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Art requirements

Do not 'power-level' with scribbles.
The design must be made for ArtPG and not be something which you have previously posted or are currently cross-posting. Please be aware that people may create new ArtPG pieces derived from your stuff.
No XP or bonus can be gained from slightly editing a single image to make several. Preferably all images should be made from scratch.
While it is allowed to poke fun at non-ArtPG designs, such as Giger's Alien, these kind of designs are not bonus eligible.

[Tamte]

I didn't really think the location of this through...could we get a sub-folder or something going?

[Matt Dalluhn]

This is a thing I did for the artpg but I don't think we should host it over here. It started over at apedogs and I think we should post over there. only seems right. I am totally down with it though