Opening Post (forum game) [draft]

	Large groups of people crowded around the plaza of a city, looking up to the old, wooden stage with an empty podium. The city was rather dingy in its own right; some of the buildings were falling apart, but otherwise, the town wasn't necessarily in shambles. The groups of people stood at the stage in a stunned silence, seemingly waiting for something to happen at the stage.
	Then, in a dull flash of light, a man appeared on the stage. The man looked to be in his early twenties, or even in his teens, and faced the crowds of people. He wore a pair of lace-less dress shoes, a pair of black jeans too large for him, and a long sleeved, thin-cloth flannel shirt. His eyes were obscured by a pair of cracked sunglasses, and wore an odd, black helmet on his head. The helmet itself was partially exposed, showing the circuitry inside of it. The man lazily levitated a few feet above the floor of the stage, the circuitry of his helmet flashing about as he moved. The man finally spoke into the microphone, using a dull, quiet tone to address the crowds.
	"P-please, there is no reason to be so loud. I know all of you are excited, but please express your excitement by listening to my speech." the crowd immediately hushed, all of their eyes focusing onto the man, "Now, I'm glad that all of you are here today. I am here to tell you about something that your town has been waiting for, for years. First, let me introduce myself. I am known simply as β, and for about five years now, I've been the CEO of this first in the Gladitorial Fighting industry since the Roman Empire. These Gladitorial establishments have been shown to have many positive effects onto the town they are built in. They bring in more touristry, and establish a more stable economy for the town. The fighters have fun too, even if they are fighting to the death. I believe that this will be a great addition to the town of Spokane, and I'll be glad to announce that, not only have we started work on the building, but we have finished building this stadium as well."	β floated over the stage to show, about a block away, a large stadium stood, with a flashy red banner on it displaying the words "Spokane Tournament Grand Opening" in a golden print. Crowds had immediately rushed to the building, many of them signing up to spectate or participate in the gladitorial bouts.
	Fifteen years later, and the stadium is as strong as ever, if not more strong than it had used to be. Now it seems rather unnecessary for a town mayor after the stadium came in. With so much economic and political power, β had more of a say in what happened in the town than they mayor himself. Election year is coming up, and the past mayor, Vince van Castel, is having trouble winning the votes. His main political opponent is β, who seems to be getting the majority of the vote, it doesn't help the past mayor that the other two people running for mayor have more votes than he does, and they don't even have any political experience. Currently, β sat in his hotel room, looking over an array of flash cards for his next speech.
	"Gosh, I can't believe I'm getting all of the votes, I must be doing something right with these tournament things. At least I've found a town that can be so easily be manipulated by my speeches, I just hope that none of them find out my true motives with these tournaments..." β hovered over to another piece of paper resting on his desk. It was a world map, and a large, red X was drawn across a rather small, isolated island of sorts far from Spokane on the map.
	"Huh, that's Iceland. The leader there doesn't want my stadiums built there... It would be totally fair if I just, took Iceland by force. While I'm at it, how about all of those other countries that don't want my stadiums. Why not take over the entire EU so I can- no, not yet β, not yet..."
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	The Fate of Spokane is yet another boring tournament thread in the Roleplay section. The setting will start with the players recently entering Spokane during the β/Van Castel election. Spokane is not necessarily a town in shambles, but it's standing on a broken leg, with an unstable economy and complete dependence upon the stadiums that β had set up. Because of this, β has complete power over the town's economy and is even planning on taking over Spokane as mayor. "How can this be stopped?" a player may ask, worried about the fate of Spokane.
	The player's part comes in when the town is ready to vote for mayor. The player can choose to enter the stadiums either to become a famous gladiator, or find out more information about the stadium and use said info to close down the stadiums (which fighting will usually have to be done either way). Although in a general game, the goal would be to stop β, here, the player can choose to do whatever they please, and support any of the four candidates in any way they please. However, the closing/promotion of the stadiums would mainly effect β and Vince van Castel. The four candidates are as followed:

Name: β
Age: 20
Ruling Style: Authoritarian
Economic Style: Communism
Image: http://i.imgur.com/dSgeAxB.png
Vote: 50%

Name: Vince Van Castel
Age: 72
Ruling Style: Strict-leaning
Economic Style: Capitalism
Image: http://i.imgur.com/yRGga8k.jpg
Vote: 7%

Name: Zawadi
Age: 37
Ruling Style: Gentle-leaning
Economic Style:	Lionism
Image: http://i.imgur.com/mHHqnSo.jpg
Vote: 24%

Name: Mel Browne
Age: 64
Ruling Style: Gentle
Economic Style: Capitalism/Baked Goods Exchange
Image: http://i.imgur.com/DwOlNtt.jpg
Vote: 19%

	As you can see, the election isn't going very well for poor Vince Van Castel. Not only is an authoritarian tycoonist that specializes in the people-killing-each-other industry is winning, but the other two candidates are an old woman and a lion, and they both have more votes than he does.
	No matter who wins the election, β wouldn't be stopped from being able to invade other countries as he pleases, and perhaps would even take the world under his arms by force! The player can't rest until they either completely abolish β and his stadiums, or support him to the end.
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Gameplay:
	The player is allowed to do as they please in The Fate of Spokane, though they should keep in mind of any consequences (i.e: jumping off of a cliff would probably hurt). They can choose to speak to any of the candidates, merchants, any other NPC they may run into. However, the players should keep in mind that not everyone that they meet in Spokane is going to be friendly towards them.

	Fighting System-
	When in a battle, the player can choose to attack the opponent, check their stats, use an item, or participate in any other non-combat action. Though the paste for the battle system is https://pastebin.com/gw5PVsg0 here, I'll try my best to summarize it in a few sentences:
Per post, the player can choose to do two actions to speed up battle. They can do things like attack the opponent twice, attack them twice and use an item, check their stats, or do things such as taunt or flirt with the opponent. If the player attacks/acts twice, the two actions count as happening in two turns (e.i: a player attacks twice. They hit the enemy once, the enemy acts, then the player attacks once more).
	In battle, the player has access to 7 stats. Those stats include:
	[Health]{energy} - Self explanatory. When a player's health drops to 0, they are knocked out and are returned to the first area of the town, and lose 100% of their zenny (minus the Charisma discount). Unlike other stats, players can also increase their Health through items. A player gains 15% of their starting Health stat per level up

	[Special Energy]{weapon} - Used to measure how many times a player can use their special moves. If a player's Special Energy drops to 0, a player can't use any of their special moves until they recover their Special Energy. A player gains 1 Special Energy per level up, but can obtain more Special Energy through Energy-increasing items, and caramels.

	[Attack]{attack} - Used to determine how much damage a player can inflict with a physical attack. The equation used to determine attack is Power * (Attack/Defense). A player gains 15% of their starting Attack stat per level up.

	[Defense]{defense} - Used to determine how much damage a player will take from a physical attack. A player gains 15% of their starting Defense stat per level up.

	[Sp. Attack]{flame} - Used to determine how much damage a player can inflict with a special attack. A player gains 15% of their starting  Sp. Attack per level up.

	[Sp. Defense]{water} - Used to determine how much damage a player will take from a special attack. A player gains 15% of their starting Sp. Defense stat per level up.

	[Charisma]{crystal} - Generally used to determine how effective a player's attempt at charming an NPC is. Other uses of Charisma include:
Merchant Discount- C/20 = % discount (i.e: One with 120 Charisma has a 6% discount. The limit is 50%
Losing less money when knocked out- C/10 = % saved (i.e: One with 120 will save 12% of their zenny when knocked out. The limit is 70&)
Surviving a fatal attack- C/35 = % of living (i.e: One with 120 Charisma will have a 3.4% chance of surviving a fatal attack)
Zenny Yield- Z * [1 + (C/250)] (i.e: One with 120 Charisma will gain 48% more zenny when knocking out an opponent)
A player gains 15% of their starting Charisma stat per level up.

[Power]{neutral} - Not an inherited stat, but all weapons and armor have power stats for determining attack damage (i.e: a sword has 3 power. Armor may have -0.3 Armor, which means how much less power a weapon will have when hitting a player with said armor)

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[Weapon Classes]{electric}
When a player attacks with a weapon once, that weapon gains 1 exp for that weapon category. The weapon categories include: Sticks, Swords, Knives, Axes, Claws, Explosives, Instruments, Muskets, Whips, Textbooks, Crystals, Palm Gloves, Sewing Needles, and Syringes. A class will have an array of available weapons they can use, but only one category will be known as their "Signature Weapon" (they gain a higher boost per weapon class level up).

A player's weapon class will start at E, and go up to D, C, B, A, and S. It takes 30 experience to jump to the next weapon class (60 for A to S). A player gains a 1.05x boost (1.075x, if it's their signature weapon) per weapon class they jump up to, and they gain an additional 10% (15%) boost when jumping from A to S.

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[Classes]{wind}

Speaking of classes, the player has an option to choose from eight different classes! All of them have their own different pros and cons, and all have different playing styles:

[Peasant]{neutral}
-Balanced in every stat
-20% Zenny boost from enemies
-learns range of physical spec. moves
Can use: [Stick,]{electric} Knife, Sword, Explosive, Musket
More info: https://pastebin.com/w56Vshr3


[Merchant]{electric}
-Physically Defensive, with average Attack/Sp. Attack
-Can sell items to NPCs/players
-Strength of special moves depends on wealth
Can use: [Sword,]{electric} Stick, Knife, Claw, Axe
More info: https://pastebin.com/fFgjR9dd

[Musician]{laser}
-Normal attacks inflict damage on multiple foes
-Heals when using normal attack
-Damage multipliers depending on genre of music player chooses
Can use: [Instrument]{electric}, Sewing Needles, Stick, Knife
More info: https://pastebin.com/gjgH0BvE

[Teacher]{crystal}
-Can recruit opponents from stadiums
-Increase stat growth of recruits naturally
-Can scrap recruits for money
Can use: [Textbook]{electric}, Sewing Needles, Stick, Knife
More info: https://pastebin.com/7C0L6CM5

[Liontamer]{impact}
-Can recruit any type of enemy, except from stadiums
-Increase stat growth of recruits naturally
-Can use any equipment recruits may have
Can use: [Whip,]{electric} Claw, Sword, Explosive
More info: https://pastebin.com/iQPc2uMs

[Fortune Teller]{crystal}
-Learns many special attacks of varying types
-Can charge players/NPCs to 'predict' their fortunes
-Predicts how much damage an opponent will inflict upon them
More info: https://pastebin.com/vbgDWMeB

[Nurse]{energy}
-Generates lost Health after battle
-Can cure own status conditions
-Defenses boost at low Health
More info: https://pastebin.com/jhyYub50

[Frontiersman]{nature}
-20% more exp when fighting outside of stadiums
-Can tame/ride animals
-Gains Defense boost from animal steeds
More info: https://pastebin.com/QsNwNjgu