What is an "ARPG"?

ARPG is an acronym that stands for "Art Role-Playing Game". You can think of it like a roleplay with some RPG game mechanics like stats and leveling, or even like a tabletop game! In an ARPG, the primary method of participation in the roleplay is through creating artwork (or literature), and most ARPGs tend to center around an original closed species for that ARPG group as your main characters in the roleplay.

Dracovix ARPG is an ARPG that focuses on the original species known as dracovix.

To begin, it's recommended to check out the species lore to get to know the creature you'll be drawing or writing about!

EXP

Many art-based roleplay groups involve some form of drawing art or writing in order to fulfill roleplay based quests or prompts, but ARPGs take on a stronger RPG style aspect by turning all artwork and literature into "experience points" for the character being drawn or written. Your character gains experience points from artwork created by you as well as from artwork created by other people, so gift art benefits your character too! Like in RPGs, the experience points you rack up from creating artwork and stories of your characters will level up those characters, which will net them a variety of benefits granted by the ARPG to benefit them in other areas of the ARPG.

In Dracovix ARPG, these experience points are referred to as "Nobility Points", often abbreviated to "Np."

In an ARPG, your creative process is to tell the stories of your dracovix characters through lore, prompts, and game mechanics that canonize your characters' growth and progress. Your skill level has no affect on your progress. Only your participation in the ARPG does.

Character Creation

In most ARPGs and closed species communities, you can't just make your own at will! Permission to conceptualize an ARPG character of your own has to be earned through means provided by the respective ARPG the closed species is from, introducing an additional layer of value to the character. Common ways include buying or trading for a character.

After obtaining the permission to create a character of a closed species, you are restricted how you design that character by rules set by the ARPG group. These design rules are based off a set of fantasy genetics that the ARPG has created to define how each gene and marking works for the ARPG's closed species. These rules are set in place to encourage creativity and fun, not restrict it!! If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, that's okay, and maybe ARPGs are not for you. That's not to say you can't still participate by borrowing the ARPG's NPCs (if allowed) or creating entries (gift art) featuring other players' characters (with permission)!

You will design your character on the ARPG's official template base, so every character in the ARPG looks like a member of the same species.

After your design is approved, your character's design on the official template base will be uploaded by a designated NPC admin account, serving as the official registry for all members of the closed species. After this, your character is official, and you may begin roleplaying with your character and participating in any parts of the game that serve to develop your character!

Roleplay

A lot of ARPGs have their own species-based canon world lore or overarching plot, and in Dracovix, the official species lore exists just to give players a little something to work off of if they would like, and major group events will usually be related to the official canon lore. Players always have the option to follow the species canon lore closely, to focus on it, or to deviate from it to a degree in an AU-like fashion, such as putting their characters in a more modern setting or on a different planet. You are more than welcome to crossover the lore of your characters in the ARPG with your own OCs from outside of the ARPG!

Trading

Just like in MMOs, a very important aspect of ARPGs is the social side. Members in ARPG communities are free to trade and barter with each other for in-game loot and currencies, real life money, and even characters of the original species. The different things you can obtain in ARPGs are varied and vast, and one player's trash is often another player's treasure, so it is very common in ARPGs for players to trade with one another to obtain rare things, resources, and genetic traits for their own collection.

Here are some common terms you will come across in ARPGs as well as Dracovix ARPG.

Geno = a geno is an undesigned character that serves as the blueprint to its looks, based off its genetics. Genos exist as a written out string of words and codes, detailing all the information needed for the character to be designed and registered into the game. A geno is a character that officially exists conceptually in the game, but doesn't officially exist in the roleplay yet to be used as a character until it is designed, approved, and uploaded to the registry. In this form, genos can be traded to other players so that they may design and bring the character into the game.

Genotype = a genotype is specifically the string of codes in the second line of a dracovix geno that tell exactly what colors and markings the dracovix has. Genotypes always begin with the codes for the base coat, and are followed by all of the known markings that the dracovix has that will be present in its final design.

Phenotype = a phenotype is the written form of the genotype, and helps users skip the step of interpreting the genotype into a simple list of the dracovix's markings and base coat color.

Import = an import is the form a geno takes after they have been designed, officially approved, uploaded to the registry account's gallery, and are now a legit member of the ARPG's closed species. Their design has been "imported" into the roleplay game. In this form, character imports can still be traded to other players through ownership transfer of the character, but they can no longer be designed again like a geno.

Semi-custom = often shorthanded to just "semi's," this term is common between closed species of the ARPG variety or not, and refers to how some parts of the geno of your character can be custom selected by you, from a pool of options within the genetic limitations of the game and the restrictions placed upon the semi-custom you have. A higher value semi-custom will allow you to pick more or rarer traits for your character's geno.

Slot = slot is a shorthand for the phrase "breeding slot", and a breeding slot is one instance that a dracovix or a closed species character of an ARPG is allowed to be bred and bring more dracovix genos into the game. Dracovix have a limited number of breeding slots, that increase as they level up. You can't breed a dracovix if it doesn't have any unused breeding slots. You can give your dracovix's breeding slots to other players, so that they can breed your dracovix and keep the offspring. Once a dracovix has been bred, one of its total breeding slots will be used up, and it can never get that breeding slot back again.

AR = in ARPGs, "AR" is an acronym for "activity roll", which is an instance of a character performing a gathering activity that awards resources from a loot table, and getting loot "rolled" for its participation in the activity. The loot will go to the character's owner or leaser.

A lot of players will use activity rolls as an art-based form of currency when trading and bartering in the ARPG. For example, if a player is buying a geno for "2 ARs," then they are offering two loot rolls, which can be achieved by drawing two entries of the seller's dracovix performing a gathering activity, or by drawing two different dracovixen owned by the seller in the same gathering activity, allowing the seller to gain the rewards from the activity roll in addition to the Exp bonuses for their characters being drawn in the activity entry.

In Dracovix ARPG, you can receive loot rolls for up to 4 dracovix in a single gathering or expedition activity image, so as long as the player offers up to 4 dracovix characters for the artist to use in the AR payment, the artist can get all 4 ARs done in a single illustration.

Starter = a starter is an official import of an NPC dracovix owned by the group. They serve as "lineage starters of the characters of the game, and through quests and events, players can obtain slots to these starters so that they can breed them.

Collab = refers to the act of delegating some of the steps to creating artwork or literature to another player. For example, in an artwork collab, one player may handle all the lineart, while another player has the task of coloring. In literature, this can be simple play-by-post roleplay where each writer controls their own dracovix characters' actions.

Dracovix ARPG-Specific Terms

Stray = a stray is a dracovix geno that is not created through breeding or semi-custom, but as a rare loot drop from certain quests or activities. Their genotype, traits, and mutations are rolled randomly, and they can be designed and made into an official import.

Fledgling = a fledgling is a predesigned dracovix import with no owner, that can be won in a draw-to-adopt game in the discord server called "Fledgling Hunt."

Date = a relationship themed artwork or literature entry featuring two dracovix that is required to breed those two dracovix.

Proof of Self = a set of three prompts, one being a reference image, the other two being character lore themed, which must be completed for a dracovix to be allowed to breed.

Dragonscales (Ds) = the in-game currency used between players to purchase official game items from the marketplace. Dragonscales may be freely traded to other players and used as currency for in-game assets.

Embers (Em) = an in-game currency rewarded to players for creating gift art for each other and for participating in the ARPG's events or developing their characters by completing their Proof of Self. Embers may be freely traded to other players and used as currency for in-game assets. Embers may be used to create Soulgems which can be given to dracovix as large chunks of free Np.

Soulgems = these are in-game items that can be used on your dracovix to give them a big Np bonus. There are two tiers of soulgem: Regular Soulgems, and Prismatic Soulgems which give twice as much Np as regular Soulgems.

Nobility Points (Np) = this is the name of Dracovix ARPG's EXP system. When a dracovix has enough Np from artwork made of it, it can level up to the next title and unlock new benefits.

Title = this refers to the ranking system in Dracovix ARPG, and is applied to a dracovix that has leveled up by accumulating enough Np to reach the next title.

Ability Points (Ap) = these make up the stats of a dracovix, giving it an edge in combat and expeditions.

Phantasmal Spirit / Phantasm = this refers to the familiars of Dracovix ARPG. Dracovix can have up to three Phantasmal Spirits summoned to its service. Each Phantasm gives a different buff in a different area of the game's features, such as breeding or activities.

Expedition = this is an activity that is a little different from the three gathering activities that you typically do: Hunting, Foraging, and Mining. Think of expeditions like D&D one-shots focused on a single dungeon adventure. Your dracovix could bring back some super rare loot! But the perils are not for the faint of heart. Depending on the skills, classes, and titles of the party entering an expedition, your dracovix may likely come home with injuries, or even fail the mission altogether, forfeiting some of treasure they sought after, as the dangers were so great as to outweigh the risks of survival.

Servicing = this refers to the leasing mechanic of dracovix, allowing you to "hire" another player's dracovix like a mercenary to go on an expedition or gathering activity for you. If you hire the services of a dracovix and use them in a gathering activity or expedition, unlike how activity rolls normally work, the loot will go to you instead. In DracovixARPG, dracovix can only be leased by one player at a time, and while they are being serviced out to another player, they cannot perform activity rolls or go on expeditions for their own owner.

Since dracovix are a closed species, you can't just make your own Dracovix at will. But there are a lot of easy ways to get a foxderp of your own, even one with your favorite colors and markings, and none of which have to involve any real life currency.

Semi-custom

The easiest way to get a dracovix that you can choose the colors and markings for, within limitations, is by obtaining a semi-custom. Semi-customs can be obtained for free as a quest reward, or for real life currency, depending on the source. Semi-customs aren't always available outside of limited time special events, so grab one while you can, if you want!

In the alpha phase of Dracovix ARPG, every new member receives one free lineage-less semi-custom.

Breeding

Even if you don't own any dracovix yet, you can still get your own dracovix by breeding other existing dracovix and keeping the litter. Many players will sell the slots to their dracovix, which you can often pay for with art or literature or real life currency, allowing you to keep the offspring born from the use of that slot in a breeding.

A lot of limited time monthly quests and events will offer slots to starters as prizes, and you don't need your own dracovix to get the rewards for monthly quest and event quest entries. You can borrow another player's dracovix with their permission, or use a starter to fulfill the requirements of the quest prompt. After winning starter slots, you can breed the starters to get a litter of dracovix genos all your own.

You can of course also combine these sources of slots to pair starters to player-owned dracovix.

Trading

If you don't want to take your chances with breeding, you could see if another player has a geno or import that they are willing to sell to you for art or real life currency. Try shopping around the members' geno and import sales journals to see if there's anything that catches your eye - it could very well be yours!

Fledgling Hunt

Fledgling Hunt is a game that takes place on the group's discord server. The staff team will design a handful of dracovix and upload them as imports with no owner, referred to as "fledglings". If you see one you like, then you can call dibs on it, then draw some art of that fledgling for a chance to win the import!

With fledglings, you don't have control over the design, but if you like the designed import, and would like to skip the design and approval process and receive an import that is ready to be used and roleplayed with immediately, then this could be a fun option!

Strays

Strays are dracovix genos that you obtain as rare rewards from certain quests. With strays, you don't get to pick the genes since they come as predetermined genos - but it's all random! You could get a combination of genes that you might like, and you do get to design the geno yourself!