The Lion Guard

[Lyonize]

Everyone was thinking it. I'm just the first one to say it.

We play as members of the Lion Guard several generations before or after TLK. If we do it this way, we could use OCs. Or we could say Kovu/Kiara have two cubs and, in that way, we could still play with some canon characters. These are some details I'd like to leave up to discussion. There are so many possibilities with this, we could reasonably create an entire section for different generations of Lion Guards. But I digress.

I'd love to play this out and create characters with the Lion Guard traits, fiercest, strongest, fastest, keenest of sight, and bravest.

I don't want to lay it all out here though. I'd like to let us discuss it rather than just create the scenario and hope people like it enough to join the world/scenario I made up.

Thoughts? Ideas?

[Tamber]

Love it, DJ. Thanks for throwing this out there

I'm hesitant to play during Scar's generation because there could still be interesting canon information on that from the series.

We could go a generation before that, and create a younger sibling of Ahadi (Scar and Mufasa's father) or Uru (their mother), depending on which one we think the heir to the throne was.

Or we could move into the generation after Kion, with Kiara and Kovu's kids. Some things that could be cool: (1) a young lioness leading the guard, and (2) a set of three siblings, with the youngest not having a role like Heir or Guard leader.

I've thought about what Kion's guard would be like once they become adults, but we still know so little about those characters.

[cheezeegriff]

I agree. I'd like to do this. I don't think we should limit ourselves like the TV show has though. We could also have the smartest, or the keenest of hearing, keenest of smell, or the most silent. It should definitely be some time post TLG because it'd be best to have a variety of animals, given that before Kion, the Lion Guard had always been made of lions.

But I'm really just keen for any roleplay that lasts outside of a week, and where players post more frequently than once a week.

[Leto]

Well you know the idea I proposed on Skype.

But I'll recap it here.

I say we could play during the reign of Mohatu which would leave a lot of creative freedom for us yet still leave us with familiar characters we can run into, and have a adolescent Uru being the leader of the Lion Guard as the second born of Mohatu that has a first born son, elegible as heir. Though I'd advice that she'd be kept as an NPC, which we would hardly meet unless necessary for the plot, as she'll have her own squad/duties but we won't be part of that directly. However this first born son ends up dying at some point in the far future(which won't impact our story) leaving Uru as heir; giving the Pridelands not only its first Queen but also a Queen with the Roar of the Elder's power. Cuz ya all know that's badass. Uru aside from being the first female leader of the Guard, might also be the first to actively recruit lionesses, as somehow I imagine the Lion Guard in the early days being an entirely male-run affair, as most second born leaders up until that point were Males.

Perhaps the fact that she had the Roar was the reason she wasn't bypassed in the succession line by a male cousin or potential uncle, as I kinda like the idea of the Pridelands back in those days having only related males being elegible for succession to give a more sense that though yes this is the Pridelands but not Mufasa/Simba's Pridelands. But Uru comes along and changes that rule, through political tactics and using her Lion Guard position/power as a way to prove her merit.

Another thing is that we could play a squad within the Lion Guard itself, that is large enough to incorporate enough lions to divide them all into squads(a team of 4-6 lions per squad) each assigned a particular stretch of the Prideland border in which to supervise, some stretches of borderland being more dangerous/contested than others; like the Outlands/Elephant Graveyard border, as supposed to say the Kube riverlands or the northren frontier. (I always wondered how the Hell Kion and his small band were supposed to protect the /entireity/ of the Pridelands, it's a huge swat of land and they can't be everywhere at once.)

So Yeah those are my couple of cents. I already have a character in the works. And as such I take dibs on being 'bravest/courageous' because I can

[Tamber]

I like your ideas, Leto.

You were thinking we would have Uru as an NPC? I'm not sure I understand why.

But I'm feeling partial to playing back rather than forward in time. When we play forward things can get pretty far from canon - I like the idea of exploring deeper history so we can engage with characters we already know.

[Zorayda]

oooo I'd love to be a part of this! It doesn't matter which one I am, I'd probably make a character just for this

[Lyonize]

Nov 28, 2015 0:06:57 GMT Tamber said:

We could go a generation before that, and create a younger sibling of Ahadi (Scar and Mufasa's father) or Uru (their mother), depending on which one we think the heir to the throne was.

Or we could move into the generation after Kion, with Kiara and Kovu's kids. Some things that could be cool: (1) a young lioness leading the guard, and (2) a set of three siblings, with the youngest not having a role like Heir or Guard leader.

I think we should stay away from adding unnecessary siblings to already canon characters just for the sake of making it work with the concept. But in the case of Kiara and Kovu having cubs, that'd work because nothing past TLK2 is known.

Nov 28, 2015 1:14:54 GMT cheezeegriff said:

We could also have the smartest, or the keenest of hearing, keenest of smell, or the most silent.

I think it's already mentioned in the show that every generation has the fiercest, strongest, keenest of sight, fastest and bravest. I'd rather not complicate things with unnecessary headcanon.

It should definitely be some time post TLG because it'd be best to have a variety of animals, given that before Kion, the Lion Guard had always been made of lions.

I like that idea a lot. But the leader of the guard has to be a lion. It's always the 2nd born of the royal family so that can't be changed.

But I'm really just keen for any roleplay that lasts outside of a week, and where players post more frequently than once a week.

To be honest, so am I. lol

Nov 28, 2015 23:54:37 GMT Leto said:

I say we could play during the reign of Mohatu which would leave a lot of creative freedom for us yet still leave us with familiar characters we can run into, and have a adolescent Uru being the leader of the Lion Guard as the second born of Mohatu that has a first born son, elegible as heir. Though I'd advice that she'd be kept as an NPC, which we would hardly meet unless necessary for the plot, as she'll have her own squad/duties but we won't be part of that directly. However this first born son ends up dying at some point in the far future(which won't impact our story) leaving Uru as heir; giving the Pridelands not only its first Queen but also a Queen with the Roar of the Elder's power. Cuz ya all know that's badass. Uru aside from being the first female leader of the Guard, might also be the first to actively recruit lionesses, as somehow I imagine the Lion Guard in the early days being an entirely male-run affair, as most second born leaders up until that point were Males.

Perhaps the fact that she had the Roar was the reason she wasn't bypassed in the succession line by a male cousin or potential uncle, as I kinda like the idea of the Pridelands back in those days having only related males being elegible for succession to give a more sense that though yes this is the Pridelands but not Mufasa/Simba's Pridelands. But Uru comes along and changes that rule, through political tactics and using her Lion Guard position/power as a way to prove her merit.

Another thing is that we could play a squad within the Lion Guard itself, that is large enough to incorporate enough lions to divide them all into squads(a team of 4-6 lions per squad) each assigned a particular stretch of the Prideland border in which to supervise, some stretches of borderland being more dangerous/contested than others; like the Outlands/Elephant Graveyard border, as supposed to say the Kube riverlands or the northren frontier. (I always wondered how the Hell Kion and his small band were supposed to protect the /entireity/ of the Pridelands, it's a huge swat of land and they can't be everywhere at once.)

So Yeah those are my couple of cents. I already have a character in the works. And as such I take dibs on being 'bravest/courageous' because I can

These are all cool ideas, but like I said before, we should definitely stay away from jamming too much headcanon into this. The more we complicate this, the worse it'll turn out. I think we should just set up the characters and a scenario and go from there. No planning, just spur of the moment, something happens and then characters react. The simpler we make this from the start, the more freedom we have to decide what happens next. Otherwise, we'er just rewriting a story we already have in our heads.

Nov 29, 2015 19:54:38 GMT Tamber said:

I like your ideas, Leto.

You were thinking we would have Uru as an NPC? I'm not sure I understand why.

But I'm feeling partial to playing back rather than forward in time. When we play forward things can get pretty far from canon - I like the idea of exploring deeper history so we can engage with characters we already know.

I think all the members of the lion guard should be played by us.

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These are all great ideas but I want to keep things simple. I don't want to add siblings to already-canon characters just to make the concept work. I don't want to force this into a specific timeline. I want to put this RP into a spot that will work with what we already know. So jamming tons of headcanon into this is only going to complicate things. 

As for the timeline, I like the idea of doing this after TLK2/TLG with Kovu and Kiaras cubs. We'll have canon characters to interact with but we're not limited by future events. We can also use cheezeegriff 's idea and open it up to multiple species, though, the leader has to be a lion. I don't think that's debateable. 

For the scenario, I really like Tamber 's ideas of there being a female leader and having three cubs with the third not having much of a role in the kingdom. This gives us an opportunity for an antagonist. 

So here's what I propose:

This takes place, say, a year after TLK2. Kovu and Kiara have three cubs. The first, a male, the 2nd, a female, and the third, another male. Fast forward to them being adolescents. It's at this point that the 2nd born discovers the Roar of the Elders and Kion passes the title of Leader of the Lion Guard down to her. Then, she choses the members of her guard. (Kion merely discovered the Roar when he was younger because the Pridelands had gone without a guard for almost 2 generations. The Circle of Life needed a guard sooner rather than later.) It's from this point that we begin. To whoever wants to play the three offspring, I leave their personalities and motivations up to the player. The third-born could follow Scars pawprints or he could be chosen as a member of the Lion Guard. The first born could turn out to be the bad guy. Who knows? That's what makes this fun. Nothing planned. Just action-reaction. Let's just watch this story develop as we play it out. 

[Tamber]

Nov 29, 2015 22:37:16 GMT Lyonize said:

This takes place, say, a year after TLK2. Kovu and Kiara have three cubs. The first, a male, the 2nd, a female, and the third, another male. Fast forward to them being adolescents. It's at this point that the 2nd born discovers the Roar of the Elders and Kion passes the title of Leader of the Lion Guard down to her. Then, she chooses the members of her guard. (Kion merely discovered the Roar when he was younger because the Pridelands had gone without a guard for almost 2 generations. The Circle of Life needed a guard sooner rather than later.) It's from this point that we begin. To whoever wants to play the three offspring, I leave their personalities and motivations up to the player. The third-born could follow Scars pawprints or he could be chosen as a member of the Lion Guard. The first born could turn out to be the bad guy. Who knows? That's what makes this fun. Nothing planned. Just action-reaction. Let's just watch this story develop as we play it out. 

This sounds good to me!

I propose one amendment: whoever wants to play the first and third siblings - gender, motives, etc. should all be up to those writers. I think that would lend to the open-ended goal we're setting here.

Though I'd like to hear more from the others about playing in the past. I'm not sure I understand the hesitation to involve headcanon, given the fact that this is a canon-style roleplay. I'm still open to playing during a Mohatu reign, and Leto had a lot of ideas about that.

[Leto]

To be fair, there is literally /no/ canon-source information regarding Mohatu's rule, except that story Mufasa tells Simba in the TLK6NA book series, about the reign of his great grandfather, and how Mohatu through wisdom and compassion brought the Pridelands and its resident animals through a period of severe drought. So I am not sure what you mean with 'headcanon' cuz everything pre-TLK/TLK2 or post-TLK/TLK2 is just this, so even what you suggested Lyonize will be headcanon lol. Just putting that out there.

I just proposed putting it in the distant yet-still familiar past gave a lot more freedom than in the future, cuz we don't have to deal with characters that are set in stone half as much as Kovu, Kiara, and Kion is. We only know their names, Mohatu, Ahadi, Uru etc... and that's it really, their personalities and even backgrounds are a wast unknown.

I meant keeping her as an NPC so she can be played when necessary we want the story to be about our characters' escapades right? It's to keep the canon characters there but they're not the centerpiece of the story; cuz that involves our characters. Or that was the impression I got anyways.

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As for your idea Lyonize I like it, even if parts of the plot is rather and I'ma be blunt here, cliche; I have a bit of a dislike for plot structures involving the past repeating itself, it comes of as lazy to me. In the sense of this 3rd cub being evil and following Scar and all that jazz, just because they're the 3rd wheel of the Family with not much clout, that's a lazy excuse for going evil and frankly makes them come off as nothing more than a petty, jealous and whiny child and not an interesting or developed villian. So if I was to play him, which I could do but I prefer only to play one character which means I'll have to scrap my OC(which isn't a big thing), I would make him more like someone that takes advantage of position as third wheel, cuz lets face it; he has no responsabilities(besides being bethroted off to cement political alliances I suppose); he's free to do what he wants, when he wants to in contrast to his older siblings who both have heavy duties laid on their shoulders. He in contrast is practically free.

Hrm yanno, this makes me wanna play the third cub lol, I can has dibs?   I like Zulu's idea of the gender being up to the player as I kinda want to have my trans character in this but I could transplant that onto the 3rd cub, but they'd have to be female for it to work.

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I do recognize that we do perhaps need a villian, however I propose the proper villian to be someone external rather than internal in the Lion Guard. Ofcourse one of us could turn out be an infiltraitor, sent by said external villian to gather intel on the Lion Guard. I can imagine the surrounding pridelands wouldn't be too happy to see the Pridelands mustering a veritable army to guard it's borderlands; from a political standpoint, it makes neighbours rather nervous when you're bolstering military-esque forces. And we're in the Lion Guard so technically all our buisness is with the Prideland border and what Kingdoms/lands that lie beyond it.

As for incorporating other animals, I am a bit iffy about this; if we are to allow it hope it's animals that yanno can hold their own in combat this time around. Maybe a rino or an elephant character, the bird could be a Marshal eagle, a leopard character maybe, perhaps even an hyena character could join like a striped hyena. This ofcourse would be up to the players that don't wanna play a lion.

[Lyonize]

Nov 30, 2015 1:12:27 GMT Tamber said:

This sounds good to me!

I propose one amendment: whoever wants to play the first and third siblings - gender, motives, etc. should all be up to those writers. I think that would lend to the open-ended goal we're setting here.

That works. Honestly, I couldn't decide if the third should be male or female because it doesn't really matter. I mean it doesn't matter what either of them are, just whatever we think sounds the coolest and so far it's been pretty much unanimous that a female Lion Guard Leader would be awesome. lol

Though I'd like to hear more from the others about playing in the past. I'm not sure I understand the hesitation to involve headcanon, given the fact that this is a canon-style roleplay. I'm still open to playing during a Mohatu reign, and Leto had a lot of ideas about that.

The concern I have is that not everyone knows about all of that. I expect everyone to know what happens in TLK1, TLK2, and TLG for this but I can't expect everyone to know about the books. I mean, for the love of donuts, I can hardly keep straight everything that happens in the books. I frequently confuse fan-made characters with those in the books. So I'd rather stay away from all content in the books. It causes some people confusion and not everyone has read them. Which is why I proposed either doing this after TLK2 or several generations before Mufasa. 

Nov 30, 2015 1:35:52 GMT Leto said:

To be fair, there is literally /no/ canon-source information regarding Mohatu's rule, except that story Mufasa tells Simba in the TLK6NA book series, about the reign of his great grandfather, and how Mohatu through wisdom and compassion brought the Pridelands and its resident animals through a period of severe drought. So I am not sure what you mean with 'headcanon' cuz everything pre-TLK/TLK2 or post-TLK/TLK2 so even what you suggested Lyonize will be headcanon lol. Just putting that out there.

Maybe headcanon was a poor choice of words. What I meant is that I don't want to change anything fundamental to the idea. Like the idea of having little squads within the guard. To address your previous concern about the pridelands being too big for one small group to defend, if we need Kion to know about something happening on the other side of the pridelands, we can always have a gopher pop up like in TLK1 or a random bird.

As for your idea Lyonize I like it, even if parts of the plot is rather and I'ma be blunt here, cliche; I have a bit of a dislike for plot structures involving the past repeating itself, it comes of as lazy to me. In the sense of this 3rd cub being evil and following Scar and all that jazz, just because they're the 3rd wheel of the Family with not much clout, that's a lazy excuse for going evil and frankly makes them come off as nothing more than a petty, jealous and whiny child and not an interesting or developed villian. So if I was to play him, which I could do but I prefer only to play one character which means I'll have to scrap my OC(which isn't a big thing), I would make him more like someone that takes advantage of position as third wheel, cuz lets face it; he has no responsabilities(besides being bethroted off to cement political alliances I suppose); he's free to do what he wants, when he wants to in contrast to his older siblings who both have heavy duties laid on their shoulders. He in contrast is practically free.

All of those ideas were hypothetical. I didn't intend for for them to be seriously considered. I was reiterating my intent for this to be totally open and subject to change in the middle of the RP.

I do recognize that we do perhaps need a villian, however I propose the proper villian to be someone external rather than internal in the Lion Guard. Ofcourse one of us could turn out be an infiltraitor, sent by said external villian to gather intel on the Lion Guard. I can imagine the surrounding pridelands wouldn't be too happy to see the Pridelands mustering a veritable army to guard it's borderlands; from a political standpoint, it makes neighbours rather nervous when you're bolstering military-esque forces. And we're in the Lion Guard so technically all our buisness is with the Prideland border and what Kingdoms/lands that lie beyond it.

I'm just trying to keep things simple. Think small initially and let things develop. We'll cross all these bridges when we get there. If someone wants to go rogue in the middle, great! If half the guard goes with them, that works too! That's what makes this fun. Not knowing what's going to happen and having the ability to throw a curve ball because nothing is planned. I don't want to know who the bad guy is until *insert character here* actually does their first evil deed. I want to experience this with my character. 

[cheezeegriff]

I don't think we're all going to agree on everything, obviously. Here's hoping we can work something out.

Leto: why would other animals not be good at combat? Surely if they fit the criteria (strong, brave, fast, good eyesight) then they'd have something to contribute.

As for a villain, we can introduce a 'main' one later. One might even develop from our roleplay.

Here's a quick character I just dreamed up. Maybe he'll help get the creative juices flowing: Jono

[Tamber]

This is what I'm thinking:

1) We go with the future option - after Kion - since there doesn't seem to be anyone explicitly opposed to that.
2) We stick to 5 Lion Guard members so we can simplify the list of characters.
3) We do three siblings: one heir, one guard leader, one wild card
4) We use non-lions in the guard, since this would be after Kion, and most of us are on board with that idea.
5) We establish nothing more than what Lyonize established here (with changes):

This takes place, say, a year after TLK2. Kovu and Kiara have three cubs. Fast forward to them being adolescents. It's at this point that the 2nd born (a female) discovers the Roar of the Elders and Kion passes the title of Leader of the Lion Guard down to her. Then, she chooses the members of her guard. To whoever wants to play the three offspring, we leave their personalities and motivations up to the player.

All villainy, plot twists, etc. will develop as the story progresses. Sound okay to you guys?

[Leorgathar]

I said it already on Skype, but I would really love to be part of this I miss having a big RP working on.
I don't have much to say right now in regards to ideas, and I don't really mind if we do it before or after the TLK canon events, but I do like the idea of having more freedom and exploring the story and potential conflicts while the RP goes on.
On the villain subject, well, I think Lyon's idea could work. I know the overview he planted as a general "could be this" sounds kind of cliché, but nothing is really set in stone, I think it's a good start. The villain might not end up being this third offspring, but someone/something else entirely.
Then again, I don't really mind either way xD

I was thinking I could use one of my characters, Zainab, for this, but I might consider making a new character instead, either as part of the Guard or one of the non-guard lions. We'll see x3

[Lyonize]

Nov 30, 2015 4:48:11 GMT Tamber said:

This is what I'm thinking:

1) We go with the future option - after Kion - since there doesn't seem to be anyone explicitly opposed to that.
2) We stick to 5 Lion Guard members so we can simplify the list of characters.
3) We do three siblings: one heir, one guard leader, one wild card
4) We use non-lions in the guard, since this would be after Kion, and most of us are on board with that idea.
5) We establish nothing more than what Lyonize established here (with changes):

This takes place, say, a year after TLK2. Kovu and Kiara have three cubs. Fast forward to them being adolescents. It's at this point that the 2nd born (a female) discovers the Roar of the Elders and Kion passes the title of Leader of the Lion Guard down to her. Then, she chooses the members of her guard. To whoever wants to play the three offspring, we leave their personalities and motivations up to the player.

All villainy, plot twists, etc. will develop as the story progresses. Sound okay to you guys?

This all sounds good to me but I want to point out one thing for clarification. You can use non-lions in the guard if you want to. I think a mix of lions and non-lions would be just as cool.

[Leto]

It all sounds good to me Zulu.

I guess I'll get cracking on making the character as we seem to have agreed on a time period to place it in.

Does anyone mind me taking dibs on the 3rd sibling? I already have a design I can work with for them. Albeit they'd be a female.

Should have a profile up by sometime today.

[Lyonize]

I've got a "fastest" character ready to go so I'll start up the signup thread soon.

[Leto]

I'll got a "bravest" character in the works. If it isn't already taken.

[abalancedbreakfast]

I would like to sign up Feroz, my character, as the strongest. Those of you on the skype chat will be familiar with him. Basically, he's a lion who is a sort of religious zealot for the Circle of Life, and intends on making it a fully fledged church and organized religion.

[Zorayda]

Guess I'll go with "keenest of sight" if that's all right ;P

[Leorgathar]

Oh well, since no one has claimed him yet, I think I'll roleplay as the first born, the future king
I don't know what his role will be interacting with the Lion Guard, but we'll figure it out.
I'll work on his profile today, but I think his name will be Khari.

[Zorayda]

I'll be playing as a Steppe eagle

[cheezeegriff]

Leto and Zorayda, my character Jono can be either bravest or keenest of sight, but not really anything else (I suppose he could be fiercest but shouldn't that be the chosen one's job?). Please don't take them both:). There's a link to him on my previous post. I'd make a new link but copying and pasting is tricky on an iPad.

If we're running out of positions, we can do either of two things: 1 - create more 'virtues' for the lion guard. Keenest of hearing, smell, most agile. smartest. Or 2 - other players could occupy other positions outside of the lion guard. We will need other people to round out the story.

[Tamber]

I'll take second sibling, Guard leader, Roar bearer, CHOSEN ONE.

Working on a character.

To clarify: Are we starting with Kovu/Kiara's offspring as cubs or adolescents? I'm partial to adolescent, myself.

[Zorayda]

Nov 30, 2015 21:10:06 GMT cheezeegriff said:

Leto and Zorayda, my character Jono can be either bravest or keenest of sight, but not really anything else (I suppose he could be fiercest but shouldn't that be the chosen one's job?). Please don't take them both:). There's a link to him on my previous post. I'd make a new link but copying and pasting is tricky on an iPad.

If we're running out of positions, we can do either of two things: 1 - create more 'virtues' for the lion guard. Keenest of hearing, smell, most agile. smartest. Or 2 - other players could occupy other positions outside of the lion guard. We will need other people to round out the story.

Could have more than one of a certain virtue. The Lion Guard's gonna need more than a handful of members if they're gonna properly handle problems, anyways.

[Leorgathar]

Nov 30, 2015 21:41:26 GMT Tamber said:

To clarify: Are we starting with Kovu/Kiara's offspring as cubs or adolescents? I'm partial to adolescent, myself.

I'd say adolescents, it works best for all

Nov 30, 2015 21:59:01 GMT Zorayda said:

Nov 30, 2015 21:10:06 GMT cheezeegriff said:

If we're running out of positions, we can do either of two things: 1 - create more 'virtues' for the lion guard. Keenest of hearing, smell, most agile. smartest. Or 2 - other players could occupy other positions outside of the lion guard. We will need other people to round out the story.

Could have more than one of a certain virtue. The Lion Guard's gonna need more than a handful of members if they're gonna properly handle problems, anyways.

Agreed on this. I don't really see a problem with including one or two more virtues.

[Lyonize]

Signup thread is live!

[Lyonize]

Nov 30, 2015 21:41:26 GMT Tamber said:

To clarify: Are we starting with Kovu/Kiara's offspring as cubs or adolescents? I'm partial to adolescent, myself.

They're adolescents in the story.

Also, if you, Leto and Leorgathar are ok with it, I'd like to write a short "preface" in the initial post with the three siblings as cubs and then fast forward to them being adolescents, at which point, the story actually begins.

[Leorgathar]

Sounds great to me

[Deleted]

Sounds cool :zorsilly:

[balto]

Oohh? Hmmm that would be interesting. Does anyone have dibs on the bad guy? I like to be the bad guy minor or major.