BZPB: Heat the Soul



BZPB: Heat the Soul was an RPG started by Zev in 2011 and hosted on bzpb.forumotion.co.uk. It died two months later due to forum drama.

Taking place on the planet of Rhadan in its own universe, this RPG had many more defined functions for gameplay than the main BZPB RPG or Subnixus - The Changing Planet. In fact, the first post of the RPG has about as much information as a traditional page on this wiki. On the planet of Rhadan, technology has advanced separately in different locations. However, they are all closely descended from the Thurapi, who ruled this and innumerable other planets with benevolence prior to an event which lead to their retreat. It is believed that this event was tied to stretching their resources too thin and running afoul of some unknown evil.

Among the functions that one could utilize in Heat the Soul were Professions, Vehicles, and NPC Recruits. A character's Professions were bought with eight points and eight points only on creation, and could not be changed once they were completely set. There were Main and Secondary Professions to choose from. Examples included Mechanic (a main profession) and Artisan (a secondary profession). As well, one's characters could collect scrap metal to construct their own vehicles for use. With enough money, they could even buy pre-made vehicles and customize them. In addition to a player's personal characters, by accumulating Glory or Infamy Points, one could recruit minor NPCs to serve a single main character.

While Heat the Soul only ran for three pages before dying due to forum drama, it served as the springboard for several characters who would later go on to be introduced in the main BZPB RPG (such as Jarvis, Kensa and Etende), as well as inspiring people such as Klak to make RPGs of their own. It had an unusually high level of organization which was useful for finding what a player is looking for and keeping things on-track.

Objectives
According to Zev's main post:

''"The game is simple. We'll be following the same course of action as the BZPB RPG. However, for the time being, we are limited to one planet - Rhadan. A small planet, Rhadan is mostly deserts other than the oceans, but to the equator are lush plateaus and rainforests. The natives make their living largely by scavenging from the rubble. That is to say, Rhadan was once populated by a great civilization which spanned an entire galaxy and further - The Thurapi. For unknown reasons, they were forced to retreat from many of their foothold planets - Including Rhadan. All that remains are their strange forms of technology and magic. In addition, besides humans, Rhadan is inhabited by Niflings - Almost-human creatures which result when Thurapian wells of magic are exposed to a desire for lost loved ones to return. They generally resemble anthropomorphic animals. You don't have to make frilly-fancy profiles or forge elaborate plans. Just survive. Quite a wild world and many secrets wait you.'' "

Setting
As mentioned, Heat The Soul takes place on Rhadan - A mostly-desert planet with rainforests encircling the equator and unknown environments to the poles. It was once ruled by the highly-advanced Thurapi, but all that remains of them are scattered technology in dangerous ruins. As well, the Ars Magus technology they developed to fight an entity known as the "Beast" is still being used and improved today.

See Rhadan for the full list of locations on the planet.

History
The RPG was launched on May 30th 2011. It died on July 16th due to forum drama and lack of ideas moving forward, so it was sent to the RPG archives.

The Cast

 * Jimmy Pop, a bounty hunter and captain of the Sky Card.
 * Kat Vance, a catgirl bounty hunter.
 * Viin, a weary wandering girl.
 * Chirrup, Viin's carefree companion.
 * Kokonoe, the greatest scientist in Sector Seven.
 * Kensa, a laid-back engineer.
 * Etende, a young woman who reaches for the stars.
 * Jarvis, a mysterious companion of Kensa and Etende.
 * Kalvin Taylor, a bounty-hunting blacksmith.
 * Skyla Summer, a daydreaming medic.
 * Gregory Isaac Reilly, an alchemist and mechanic.
 * Setsuna F. Seiei, the protagonist of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 with a deadly secret.

Players
Zev, Shroom, Kon, Ynot and JS all played this RPG, with Zev and Shroom being the most regular posters.

Trivia

 * Kokonoe is the only character native to the BZPB RPG to appear in Heat the Soul after their introduction in main.
 * While the Soulverse versions of Kensa, Jarvis and Etende first appeared in Heat the Soul, their OBM versions were later introduced in the main BZPB RPG.
 * While Kalvin Taylor first appeared in Heat the Soul, his OBM version was introduced three years later in Mysteries Unlimited as "Calvin Taylor".
 * Heat the Soul was originally attempted on the BZPower Forums, but died out before it could come into its own there.