Note: I call it a free, open adventure roleplay, because there are almost no limits on your character. Only age is a limit but other then that they can be anyone.

Old tales and New Heroes

Introduction:
30 years ago
Evening Star 4th, E4 13
Winter, the snow of the Jerall mountains has crept down the slopes covering them in a thick layer of snow which appeared to take away all the sound in the vast mountainous lands of northern Colovia.
amidst the snow and occasional boulder lay a pearl white ruin whiter then all the snow surrounding it, and at those ruins was a stone doorway, the stone door was cracked and part of the entrance roof had collapsed.from the hole filled with darkness the screams from inside could still be heard even though the fighting took place far beyond the entrance hall.

Inside in the high hallways and large rooms the sounds of combat could be heard. The sound of metal hitting armour, the sound of flesh being cut and the sound of vampires hissing in fury and the battle cries of the adventures who were relentlessly driving the vampires back with swords, axes and crossbows, all enchanted with fire, when the last vampire fell with smoke and fire, a thundering roar went through the ruins, the patriarch had awoken, just as the adventurers had planned...

two weeks ago:
Hearthfire 20th E4 43
Pell's gate, one of the many settlements surrounding the Imperial City, offered home to only a handful of residents. But travellers often passed through the town when heading from Colovia or the northern cities towards Nibenay port town Bravil, there for the middle aged man living on the border of town did not wonder that much about the reason why two strangers knocked at his door that night, it often occurred that the inn was full and travellers tried their luck as the locals to find shelter. However this night was different, the two were clad in heavy armour and asked some strange questions, as if they were looking for someone.

the fire of that night scared Pell's gate and a small memorial was made for the man who died in his sleep from the smoke, nobody suspected it to be related to the violent robbery resulting in a murder that had occurred four days earlier in Bruma, only the closest friends of those two men knew the danger that had arrived.Too old themselves they needed help, but whom to trust? their children might be the only ones worth trusting in this crisis, so they sent a letter to their children, asking them to meet in the All Saints inn. There they would reveal the secrets behind the friendship of those men.


Background: 38 years ago a group of young men all living in the Imperial city, grown up and ready to head out in the big wide world ,chose a daring, dangerous and above all insanely well paying profession together. They took up the profession of adventurer: they became treasure hunters, dungeon raiders, salvagers and mercenaries. They went into the wild for riches forgotten by the rest of the world, and for years they all worked together in a group with such a high combat efficiency that it was on level with the MCI Division of the imperial legion. Because of their swiftness in battle the speed with which they would retrieve treasure from the wilderness was fast enough to earn a small fortune for every one of them in as little as 4 years, they could afford better equipment and pay for training of professional combat trainers. this brotherhood of adventurers would last for a decade before they took their earnings and sought a life of retirement, they remained good friends although with wife and eventually kids the friends never got to risk their lives in a godsforsaken dungeon or bandit ocupied keep.



Rules:
1) No character control
2) No plot twists without my permission
3) No all knowing characters
4) Be Realistic
5) No werewolves or special chars
6) Normal rp rules
7) Romances are welcome, keep it clean for the children
8) Secrets are welcome, big or small
9) This is my roleplay, in here you follow my rules
10) Please PM the sheets to Cirith before posting.
11) Your character has an age limit, between 20 and 28 is only allowed for now
12) Have fun

Character Sheet:[b]Name:[/b]Title, full name and nickname between first name and other names marked with "quotation marks" aliases at the end indicated with 'aka ...' remember that self-proclaimed names are dumb, dull and boring, specify in brief history how he/she got their names/titles and odd nicknames[b]Age:[/b] real age and how old they appear to be[b]Gender:[/b][b]Race:[/b][b]Birthsign[/b][b]Class:[/b] can be an existing one, keep in mind that classes are not character specific[b]Focus:[/b][b]Skills & Talents:[/b] (maximum of 7, mark the 3 best skills with *)[b]Class Description:[/b][b]General Appearance:[/b][b]Hair:[/b][b]Eyes:[/b][b]Notes:[/b]scars, tattoos and other notable things[b]General clothing:[/b]what your character normally wears[b]Additional clothing:[/b]Please specify for what situation/purpose[b]Gift from father:[/b] at the meeting your character's father will give one enchanted piece of equipment, it can be of any quallity up to ebony and glass[b]Weapons:[/b] I allow enchantments but you don't need to give specific charges, just describe how effective they are and how good the enchantments are[b]Misc. Items:[/b][b]Personality:[/b]includes habits[b]Brief History:[/b][b]Secret:[/b]

My Character Sheet: removed for construction work, better will be posted with a bump shortly

sign... is there somethign that I keep missing? I know some of you are busy with other roleplays, but can I ask to those who have enough time to join a new roleplay?
you don't know how bad it feel when yet another equivilant of a week's worth of planning, writing and rewriting in my spare time fades away in the dark corners of the forum?

for once just tell me what it lacks to make you join it, because obviously something has to be missing if nobody takes interest.

Hmm... I can't seem to come up with any character that would want to visit the Imperial City... much less grow up there...

However, I do have a new non-khajiit character that is actually an ex/import of the WCIII orc shaman I could mold to fit TES lore, but he'd have been a wilderness dweller all his life, not an ambitious city-slicker...

My other character concepts are already in use.

EDIT: Now that I've re-read the OP... the problem seems pretty obvious: You didn't really place the players... Initially, I thought we were going to be the first party, but that seems concluded... it didn't really stand out that we were the children of the first party...

I kinda like it, and was thinking of joining- I only just saw it now, didn't know it was failing. I think my main issue is I don't really know what kinda history to make. I usually fail at having characters or NPCs who are supposed to have known each other, and I guess I'm not really sure what this next group is supposed to be doing.

But, if you get enough players together and I get a char sorted, I'd be happy to join, if you'd have me. These things I've said are probably more my problem than yours (I am insanely tired), and I figure I can pick it up as I go along.

Don't give up hope with roleplays; you can make a million before folks actually commit to them, believe me.

Name:Kiel
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Race: Redguard
Birthsign The Steed

Class: Ranger
Focus: Combat
Skills & Talents: *Blade, *Marksmen, *Alchemy, Athletics, Sneak, Wilderness Skills, Light Armor
Class Description: Rangers are skilled in the art of combat and wilderness survival. Using there speed and agility for there survival.

General Appearance: He has a broad jaw, and well defined facial features. He is tall and is heavy due to his muscle mass, his body was hardened from years of training
Hair: Black
Eyes: Black
Notes: Has a golden piercing in his left ear. His body is covered in small scars from an adventurous life. He bears a tattoo of Yokuda on his right Bicep.

General clothing:Hard black leather boots and vest, over dark brown pants, a lighter brown shirt, and draqed in a green cloak. Under all of that is a suit of mithril chainmail.
Additional clothing:A white silk shirt, tucked into black linens, over that white shirt he wears his vest and his linens are tucked into his black boots that he shines, above all of that he wears a burgundy jacket. He puts this on for formal occasions.
Gift from father: Silver amulet of Chameleon
Weapons: Elven long sword, Elven dagger, and a set of an Elven Bow and arrows
Misc. Items: White horse named thunder, herbs, tacking equitment, animal traps

Personality:Kiel can be headstrong and tends to have a one-tracked mind, but he has great perseverance. He has a very dominant personality and tends to butt heads with others, especially those that try to take charge over him. His behaves rather calmly outside of combat, but in combat he lets his natural adrenaline take over.

Brief History:Kiel was born to a couple of Redguard pirates. They raised him on the ship, teaching him the tricks and trades of sailing, and little bit of training with a cutlass. They intended to teach him more of those. When he was age 10, they both died on a large raid. He was stranded in Valenwood; he spent a year wandering until he was taken in by a Wood Elf man named Delaeon.

Delaeon was harsh to Kiel at first, disciplining him strictly for the rude child he was. But eventually, Delaeon grew fond of Kiel, teaching him all he knew about being a Ranger. Kiel was a natural and became almost as good as Delaeon. At 18, Delaeon kicked Kiel out on his ass, giving him nothing but a bow, (in poor condition) 80 rusty iron arrows, and an iron short sword. Kiel wasn't happy, but it was what was best for him. He spent his seven years of being a freelance adventurer making his fame and fortune. He did this through various quests, looting dungeons, and he even did some work for the emperor. (Delaeon will serve as his father for in game)

Secret: His real parents are still alive, and he knows it. He is ashamed of them, so he does not go to them

Thanks for the input everyone, I always wanted to make this start with the one sentence that sparked the entire story
"Do you remember your old dad's bedtime stories? they were real" (insert epic theatrical movie teaser here)

I'll try to edit the OP first paragraph to make it more like a children's bedtime story or mold it in some other way to indicate better that the children of those treasure hunters are the characters we will be playing.

also try to be creative with your characters, you can keep it standard and stick to the known, but you could also try to play siblings with someone else, or make your character the child of one of the dead former adventurers. This is also why I put in the secret, to give every character a potential scene to explain more about your character (for example, a scene where one of the characters needs to explain a revealed secret like being member of the dark brotherhood)
this is a trump card in case of a boring moment, all that needs to be done is someone leave an opening IC for another character to discover a secret and voila, plot twist ready for your enjoyment to return the activity on.

here's my new character


My Character Sheet:

Name:Raylen Joseph Cirith
Age: 26
Gender:male
Race:redguard/imperial
Birthsignthe warrior

Class: Crusader
Focus: combat
Skills & Talents:Athletics, Blade*, Blunt*, Destruction, Hand to Hand, Heavy Armour, Restoration*
Class Description:A combatant who wields the power of brute strength and medicinal knowledge. Cheating death after every fight, they rely on their keen knowledge of restoration to fight yet again. Any heavily armoured warrior with spellcasting powers and a good cause may call himself a Crusader. Crusaders do well by doing good. They hunt monsters and villains, making themselves rich by plunder as they rid the world of evil.


General Appearance:
Hair:long brown hair, tied back in a ponytail
Eyes:blue
Notes:several scars of sword cuts can be seen on his left arm, fading bruises from a bar fight

General clothing:white shirt, brown vest, black trousers, brown doeskin shoes
Additional clothing:on duty or prepared for combat: Skingrad City Watch uniform, brown travel cloak and hood when travelling
Gift from father: a glass shortsword with silver decorations embedded in the hilt and handguard and a silver snake embedded in the core of the blade, the blade is called Venomrend and it produces a strong venom that blinds people, the more venom in your blood, the darker your vision
Weapons: Silver longsword, silver longbow & arrows (15)
Misc. Items:150 gold, map of Cyrodiil, camping supplies (tent gear, rations, bedroll )

Personality:a calm and proud man, Raylen an honourable watchman who tries to keep himself to daily routines. he may get impulsive when he is agitated.
Brief History:as a child Raylen was an adventurous kind of lad, exploring the places he shouldn't be or giving the people in the Market district trouble. at age 13 things changed however when he was taken hostage by a desperate criminal, a typical case of wrong place at the wrong time, he owes his life to captain James Derasius. since that day Raylen had more respect to the Imperial Watch and wanted to become a watchman too, his training to become one of the city watch took most of his time as he was not talented in all qualities of a watchman. at age 20 he was a full guard stationed in the Imperial City Temple district and worked as a normal guard stationed at the Avater of Akatosh memorial shine and occasionally patrolling the neighbourhoods. after a year he and a few other of the city watch were reassigned to other cities for a shortage of recruits and experienced watchmen. Raylen was sent to Skingrad, the pay was raised slightly and he had his own room in the guard house. Raylen hasn't had much contact with his family in the Imperial City, he rarely gets a letter from home and he hasn't heard anything from his sibling, but he did not care much for it either considering his position and his family's status.
Secret: In secret Raylen is a Daedric worshipper, and servant of Vaermina. He serves Vaermina in return for the blessing he received, but he has to use magic to spread nightmares among mortals, his blessing allows him to to learn and think clearly in his dreams and tain his skills in his nightmares, unfortunately this blessing also has a twist to it as he does not get enough rest from sleeping alone, every morning he has to drink a potion to restore his energy completely.



(and Tom B, post your secret so others know it too, it's part of the sheet)

we are still open, join in!

*kicks it to see of it's still alive*

People, the roleplay is still open and I'm still accepting charcters

IC:
Although it was just past noon the grey skies kept the streets of the imperial city shrouded in a grim atmosphere with little sunlight and the rain about to come down. The grim weather was reflected on the faces of most citizens out on the streets. one of those faces belonged to Raylen Cirith, who had arrived at Talos Plaza only a few minutes ago with a small group of travelling merchants who were grateful of being accompanied by a member of the Skingrad city guard. Now in the Temple district Raylen had little trouble finding his way to the All Saints Inn, located close to the gate separating the Talos Plaza from the temple district.
Raylen quickened his pace as he felt the first drops of water which foretold the coming rain, as he tried to reach for the doorhandle to enter the Inn he hit someone else's arm as he also tried to reach for the door
"oh, excuse me sir" he said immediately and took a step back to let the man enter first.

(OOC tip: here's the chance for a simple entry, the one to react can simply react, and possibly recognise Raylen as most of the characters would know each other from childhood, of course if you have better plans you are not obligated to use this hook)

Bahtiyar had never liked Cyrodiil. It was crowded, often cold, and full of unpleasant people. Granted, he had only been to Cryodiil thrice, this being one of the three occasions. The only reason for his coming this time was by invitation of his father- one he could not deny. The rain doesn't help, he thought as he looked up at the sky while making his way steadily through the Temple District. His trip to Cyrodiil had also been a difficult one. He had underestimated the cost of the journey and had to travel by foot from Chorrol, denying him his desired early arrival. Having not rested since, Bahtiyar was thoroughly exhausted. He inattentively reached for the door of the inn once he had arrived, but nearly collided with another man who was arriving at the same time.

"Excuse me," Bahtiyar began, also taking a step back, but he did a double take at the sight of the man. The face looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite put a name to it. He looked apprehensively at the man briefly before saying slowly, "Forgive me, please, you may go first," and he took a step back from the door, countering the man's own offer.

OOC: I assume this is the imperial city, then? In future, be a little more clear how we start. *looks nervous* I'm not sure exactly what is expected. I realise it was all in the story part, but it was hard to find, and still a little vague.

Also, in response to some of your earlier comments, there doesn't always have to be 'something wrong' with an rp for people not to join, or for it to die once started. People can make bad characters for it, they can be too busy to join or already in too many RPs, it can simply not be their genre. When that happens, you just have to let it go (hard, I know) come up with a new one, and then maybe try the one that isn't working at a later date.

Not the case with this RP, but I know you've tried lots of RPs and it must've been frustrating to feel like there was on reason for them failing.


IC:

A redguard strode through the Temple district purposefully, her long legs carrying her quickly through the crowds. People stopped and stared as she passed, weather because they liked what they saw or because they were afraid of it was unclear. Lillika, as a person, was usually unclear.

Her battered steel longsword bumped against her thigh, and her black attire bore the marks of hard wear and travel. As her grey eyes surveyed the city around her, Lillika's lip curled. It was unpleasant to be surrounded by so many people- particularly considering her solitary life as a widow.

She came upon the sign of All Saints, and she stopped, placing hands on hips as she stared up at it with wary eyes. Was she really going to do this? Did she really have any interest in meeting up with her father, only for him to be disappointed in what she had become. Her lip curled again as she thought of Raylen, her 'perfect' brother. Before she had left, her parents had always been talking about Raylen the watchmen, Raylen who was doing something with his life, Raylen who had a plan, Raylen who could be a hero one day...

It was clear that they had expected the same from her. But Lillika had shunned the life of a mage, leaving the guild with a great knowledge of magic and learning too the ways of the sword, a weapon she was enchanted with.

Her hand sub-consciously went to the hilt of her sword. Her only law was the blade, and she supposed she would die by it one day. There is no greater way to die... she thought, but her thoughts went to the scars at her neck and she frowned contemplatively. Perhaps... one other.

At any rate, she might as well go in and act the grieving widow for her father and give her brother the shock of his life. A small smile grew at that. Lillika wondered how he would face that, when he abandoned his little sister to find his own life, he'd given her up to a life of banditry... something he was paid to kill.

Two men were politing at each other and the door, and she rolled her eyes. She strode forward, ready to push through them and get into the inn while they inevitably 'after you'd and 'no, after you'd together. But just when she was about to nudge them out of the way, her eyes caught sight of a familiar face.

Her expression froze, her entire body becoming very still. And then... to her own great surprise... a wide smile broke out, a true smile, one that softened her steely eyes. "Raylen?" she queried, for she had not seen him in many years, but she did not doubt it was him. Her pleasure at seeing her brother was a shock: surely she was far gone from the innocent and enthusiastic child she had once been? But the sight of Raylen after so long seemed to wash all her cynicism away.

Her eyes flicked briefly to the other man; he seemed vaguely familiar, but she didn't know anyone with a beard. She decided he was unimportant, and her eyes- and her smile- turned back to Raylen.

As the man offered to let Raylen enter first as well Raylen smiled and wanted to enter but was interrupted by a redguard woman who said his name, for some reason a jolt of adrenaline surged through his body for the briefest moment as his body recognised the voice of the woman before he actually noticed it fully. As he turned to look at the woman Raylen found himself looking at the smiling face of his sister Lillika. Confused for the moment Raylen was left virtually speechless "wha...how..." He began before finally finding words that made sense to him "Lillika... good grief I haven't seen you in a long time!" a long time it was indeed, it's been almost a decade since Raylen had seen his sister for the last time.

At age 16 he had begun the training for City guard, naturally it took all of his time and he had even less time to visit family as a fully trained and quallified watchman. But for a moment the strong and direct watchman Raylen had been replaced by the Raylen of 14 years ago, still enthusiastic and carefree and not yet obsessed with doing the right thing. The moment of complete unpreparedness and surprise was broken as a raindrop hit Raylen's nose and he noticed the rain was coming down soon "I'm sorry lets get inside I should have known Dad would have asked for you to come here too" he quickly opened the door to get inside as more drops of water came down.

Lillika followed her brother in, not caring about the rain- bandits lived rough for too much of their lives to care much about getting wet. As she followed Raylen in, she wondered exactly what would meet her inside, exactly why her father had sent for her after all these years, exactly what he would expect her to do.

He'll be sorry when I laugh in his face when he asks me to do it 'for family'... she thought, but with less conviction than she had before- her own reaction at seeing her brother had put her off-balance somewhat.

OOC: Heh, from long post to short. What's the inside look like and who's there?