The Quest Giver [Einmal Mod Account] (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thequestgiver) wrote2018-10-11 07:19 pm
thequestgiver) wrote2018-10-11 07:19 pm
FAQ
What is the premise of this game?
The Kingdom is in peril. For years a forest of massive thorns has crept across the countryside, spreading out from a gleaming white tower. The thorns choke out light and life crushing trees and smothering fields. The thorn forest harbors untold terrors, and its presence has displaced and enraged touchy creatures like dragons and the nastier fairies.
Your character has been brought to The Kingdom as part of the search for a champion to free the Kingdom. The book your character found is one of countless magically created books scattered to the worlds beyond The Kingdom. They show themselves only to people they consider to be the perfect champion. Except the wizards didn't count on the spell being a little... loose with the definition of a perfect hero.
Is your character actually the champion? Well, possibly. Some people will even say it's probable, depending on their opinion of your character. The unfortunate fact is that, when you're casting your net to a sea as wide as every world reachable by the spell, you're bound to catch several old boots. Not everyone's going to be a great hero, but everyone is encouraged to try.
What is a Quest?
Quests are story-driven events, sometimes big and important, sometimes big and ridiculous, sometimes even small and importantly ridiculous, and often ripped from the pages of fairy tales, fractured or otherwise. For a bit more on Quests, check out the All About Quests (tm) page.
What is a Role?
Roles can be thought of as similar to classes in tabletop RPGs without the emphasis on numerical statistics. Your Role is based on your character's skills and personality, and is decided at your discretion since you know them best. Roles determine what sort of part your character plays in the little fairy tale world the Kingdom has going on, as well as imparting equipment and (sometimes) abilities. For more about Roles and a list of common roles, please see this post Also, TV Tropes.
What is a Role Type?
You can think of the role type as a trope modifier. Some roles have this built in, like mages. Their type is the element they have affinity with. Similar, for non mages, the type is what trope they have affinity for. For example, A Foundling Prince, or an Oath-Bound Knight, or an Unreliable Sage. The type is basically a modification of the Role. It's totally optional, so feel free to leave it blank if you'd like, but also feel free to have fun with it and use it to customize your characters Role.
Can I change my mind on the Role or Role Type I want my character to have, or am I stuck with it?
Roles are not set in stone! If you decide a few months in that you want to change the role for your character, PM the mod account to discuss it, then head over to the Taken Page and fill out the Role Change form. Role changes are to be given thought and not to be done very often, much like canon updates.
Who can I play here? Can I play a version of my character from another game?
In a nutshell: Canon characters, most AU characters, and most OCs are allowed. You can import/transfer a character with a previous game history as long as you include that added history in your app.
You can also app a character from a non standard pull point as long as they were shown at that pull point in canon. If they exist in flashback, or had their personality talked about in canon, they are appable. Please note that just a 3 second image or passing mention is not enough to base personality on and those characters should be flagged as AU.
Non canon-AUs are allowed, but will face a little more scrutiny than canon AUs if they deviate a too far from canon. You may be asked to file the numbers off and make them an OC if they seem far too AU to be recognizable.
OCs are allowed, as are canon-insert OCs in some cases. Canon-inserts with excessive histories with the main characters of the canon they're inserted into may have it requested that the serial numbers be filed off to be regular OCs. (Harry Potter can only have so many bestest friends from childhood, after all)
What you can't play are real people and characters with no demonstrable canon personality are forbidden. Examples:
Real person: Chelsea Clinton, Mel Brooks, Mr. Rogers. [**See note]
No canon personality: Steve? from Minecraft, Pac-Man, Figwit.
Note: In a case where a character is vaguely based on a historical figure, an exception may be granted if the source is clearly fictional or fantastical, and if the characters are far back enough in history to obtain a "mythic" quality. For example: Characters from Rurouni Kenshin would be allowed, as would Geoffery Chaucer from A Knight's Tale. However, characters from Frost/Nixon would not be. Feel free to PM or comment to ask after specific characters.
My character is the past life/alternate world double/complicated twin to a character already in the game. Can I still app him/her?
If you can prove that this variation on the character is different enough from the canon character to be considered a separate person, yes. For example, for Homestuck, Dave and Davesprite, while in origin are the same, they would still be considered separate characters since they are from different timelines.
Similarly, canon AUs can co-exist, providing the AUs are different enough. Adam West version Batman and Frank Miller!Batman can coexist, but Movie!Harry Potter and Book!HarryPotter are the same basic character and thus cannot. As this will be something that will differ series by series, please take time in your app to explain the differences.
What about characters that aren't human?
Those are fine! Given the fairy-tale like nature of the game, non-human characters may maintain their form upon arriving in the Kingdom at your discretion. However, exceptionally large characters (giant robots, dinosaurs, etc) will have to shrink down to a more manageable size while in the city limits to avoid collateral damage.
How about characters that died in canon. How are those handled in this game?
Since a dead Champion wouldn't be very helpful in freeing the kingdom, if the spell encounters someone that it wants that just so happens to also be dead, their spirit or soul will be pulled in and a new body will be provided for them, magically constructed to be just like their old one, just minus that pesky thing that caused their death. For characters with a terminal illness, it is the player's choice if that illness is utterly gone, or just rolled back enough to not instantly kill the character again. Just be sure to note it in your app.
Alternately, you can use the Ghostly Mentor or Avenging Spirit Role if you prefer your character to stay dead.
My character is kind of a two-for-one deal, Can I app them both?
Yep! Call it a combo app and just make a note as to their situation. Examples of this cover characters who are possessed/have a spirit friend/etc, (ie, Yuugi and Yami Yuugi from Yugioh!) have a parasite-type "friend" (Stan and Ari from Okage, Shadow King) or just an alternate personality who is their own separate person. Basically any time the plus-one is their own person with a seperate history/personality/what have you, but shares a body or is somehow conjoined with another character, just copy paste the relevant sections of the app and call it a combo.
If you're going to use two seperate accounts for the character, just list them in the app as well.
How many characters can I have?
All players can have up to four characters, with an option for a 5th if they've proven that they can be properly active with the 4 they already have.
How do we post?
You can use the comm to post either Logs or Party Line posts. Logs have a template you can find in the comm's profile, at the bottom.
Party Line posts?
Party Line posts are where your character uses their Apple Eye-Crystal (tm) to functionally call every other Apple Eye-Crystal (tm) for a group chat. (More on this in the "Welcome to the Kingdom!" page. Once that gets written.)
So can my posts be private/filtered/hijacked/etc?
By default, due to the way the Apple Eye-Crystal (tm) are enchanted, all posts are open to all people who have one. You can ask nicely that only one person answer, or just make it so only one person would answer, but it's about as private as a phone call made in a dorm room hallway.
However, NPCs cannot use the Apple Eye-Crystal (tm), as they are enchanted to only work for the summoned heroes. Give your thanks to the original hero who created them for that perk.
How's the tagging system work here?
There's no real formal tagging system here. Tag em if you wanna, but don't sweat it if you forget.
What about languages? How do we talk to PCs and NPCs who don't speak our language?
Residents of the Kingdom (NPCs) can understand you perfectly well, as you can understand them. This is the effect of an enchantment on the book that the Kingdom's wizards sent out to bring you here, since it was entirely possible that the Kingdom's champion could come from some far off place where they communicate only in obscure metaphor.
This thankfully also extends to your fellow heros. Unless, of course, you make the effort to swear in an obscure language to get around the censors.
Where the heck is my character gonna sleep?
New arrivals are encouraged to find somewhere other than the receiving room to spend their time. The castle has a few spare rooms, and the town beyond the castle has plenty of space, as does the countryside outside the town walls.
More can be found on the Housing page. You can check out the Locations tag for more information on places you might (but probably won't) want to live.
What about weapons? If my character had a weapon before, does he/she get to bring it?
That depends. If the weapon was something like a sword, or a bow and arrow, or something similarly low-tech, yeah, you can keep it as is.
Otherwise, it gets 'translated' into a weapon that's more appropriate for the world. Your new weapon will retain some of the appearance of the old, since it's the same item transmuted into a different form. How the weapon looks is up to you. If you previously had something like a lightsaber, you may now have a magic sword that occasionally glows the same color as the old blade.
Can my character bring his/her pet?
Yep! If said pet character is a character in their own right and not just someone's dog or pokemon, you'll want to add a second personality section to the app to cover them too and make sure that the history section mentions them.
My characters pet is... large. Is that still OK?
For the most part, yes. Someone's Noble Steed that is horse shaped and/or horse sized is totally fine. There are stables on the Hero House grounds for actual houses and similar mounts and there can always be a bay door added for any pet that wants to come inside.
Something bigger will be magically shrunk down to a more manageable size by the spell to avoid any accidents involving squishing things that should not be squished.
What's the ratio of time in game and out of game?
Time is kinda funny here. Not even the locals can really agree on how long a week is, and don't even get them started on years! (Noone wants the argument about how old that horse really was to start up again-- or so they say.)
Which is to say that time is pretty flexible and can basically be manipulated however you'd like. Your character can get caught in some micro-enchantment where they were hucked ahead a week because that one thread you were doing took forever and it feels silly not to react to it after it happened. You also can backdate stuff as well.
So what's activity check like?
At the moment, AC is an informal "hey, I saw you haven't posted in ages, you still around?" poke every now and then. We'd like to avoid AC stress causing fluctuations in posting if at all possible.
Can I canon update my character? How does that work?
For a canon update, contact the mod account with the new pull point and any changes to role or powers, or just fill out the form. Once approved, your character will encounter another book, this one of their own story, holding the events that they will be updating with that will envelope them in a bright light. When it fades, they will be as they are from the new pull point, with all memories of their time in game intact.
For a canon rewind, it is treated as if the character returned home, and then the new version of them was pulled in as a totally new character. However, there are two options for this: One, the character is a clean slate from their new pull point, or, alternately, moments after they arrive, the memories left behind by their former self will return to them. Please note that this does not mean that they can just pick up when they left off, and it is expected that if this option is used, careful consideration will be given to the effects of receiving memories of a future self's actions in a different world.
Can a character die/be killed? And do they stay dead?
This entirely depends on the character, the situation, and the level of appropriate story-book level drama going on! But for almost all Heroes, being Dead just Won't Do. Dramatic, last minute saves are common, especially if one of the hero's companions is there to dramatically yell their name.
For those who lack such a companion, they will find themselves waking up back in the Room of Summoning - or possibly in the Hospital at the monk's quarters, having been found by a passer-by and hurried to where the good monks could work their special brand of magic known as "medical knowledge."
Unless, of course, you want to have a properly dramatic drop from the game, in which case, find your hero a Noble Sacrifice to make of themselves and have fun! If you change your mind, there can always be some Epic Quest to restore the Tragic and Noble Hero back to life. (This is also a viable route for a "I'm gonna be away for 2 months" hiatus)
Have other questions not covered in this list? Leave it in a comment and we'll get you an answer!
The Kingdom is in peril. For years a forest of massive thorns has crept across the countryside, spreading out from a gleaming white tower. The thorns choke out light and life crushing trees and smothering fields. The thorn forest harbors untold terrors, and its presence has displaced and enraged touchy creatures like dragons and the nastier fairies.
Your character has been brought to The Kingdom as part of the search for a champion to free the Kingdom. The book your character found is one of countless magically created books scattered to the worlds beyond The Kingdom. They show themselves only to people they consider to be the perfect champion. Except the wizards didn't count on the spell being a little... loose with the definition of a perfect hero.
Is your character actually the champion? Well, possibly. Some people will even say it's probable, depending on their opinion of your character. The unfortunate fact is that, when you're casting your net to a sea as wide as every world reachable by the spell, you're bound to catch several old boots. Not everyone's going to be a great hero, but everyone is encouraged to try.
What is a Quest?
Quests are story-driven events, sometimes big and important, sometimes big and ridiculous, sometimes even small and importantly ridiculous, and often ripped from the pages of fairy tales, fractured or otherwise. For a bit more on Quests, check out the All About Quests (tm) page.
What is a Role?
Roles can be thought of as similar to classes in tabletop RPGs without the emphasis on numerical statistics. Your Role is based on your character's skills and personality, and is decided at your discretion since you know them best. Roles determine what sort of part your character plays in the little fairy tale world the Kingdom has going on, as well as imparting equipment and (sometimes) abilities. For more about Roles and a list of common roles, please see this post Also, TV Tropes.
What is a Role Type?
You can think of the role type as a trope modifier. Some roles have this built in, like mages. Their type is the element they have affinity with. Similar, for non mages, the type is what trope they have affinity for. For example, A Foundling Prince, or an Oath-Bound Knight, or an Unreliable Sage. The type is basically a modification of the Role. It's totally optional, so feel free to leave it blank if you'd like, but also feel free to have fun with it and use it to customize your characters Role.
Can I change my mind on the Role or Role Type I want my character to have, or am I stuck with it?
Roles are not set in stone! If you decide a few months in that you want to change the role for your character, PM the mod account to discuss it, then head over to the Taken Page and fill out the Role Change form. Role changes are to be given thought and not to be done very often, much like canon updates.
Who can I play here? Can I play a version of my character from another game?
In a nutshell: Canon characters, most AU characters, and most OCs are allowed. You can import/transfer a character with a previous game history as long as you include that added history in your app.
You can also app a character from a non standard pull point as long as they were shown at that pull point in canon. If they exist in flashback, or had their personality talked about in canon, they are appable. Please note that just a 3 second image or passing mention is not enough to base personality on and those characters should be flagged as AU.
Non canon-AUs are allowed, but will face a little more scrutiny than canon AUs if they deviate a too far from canon. You may be asked to file the numbers off and make them an OC if they seem far too AU to be recognizable.
OCs are allowed, as are canon-insert OCs in some cases. Canon-inserts with excessive histories with the main characters of the canon they're inserted into may have it requested that the serial numbers be filed off to be regular OCs. (Harry Potter can only have so many bestest friends from childhood, after all)
What you can't play are real people and characters with no demonstrable canon personality are forbidden. Examples:
Real person: Chelsea Clinton, Mel Brooks, Mr. Rogers. [**See note]
No canon personality: Steve? from Minecraft, Pac-Man, Figwit.
Note: In a case where a character is vaguely based on a historical figure, an exception may be granted if the source is clearly fictional or fantastical, and if the characters are far back enough in history to obtain a "mythic" quality. For example: Characters from Rurouni Kenshin would be allowed, as would Geoffery Chaucer from A Knight's Tale. However, characters from Frost/Nixon would not be. Feel free to PM or comment to ask after specific characters.
My character is the past life/alternate world double/complicated twin to a character already in the game. Can I still app him/her?
If you can prove that this variation on the character is different enough from the canon character to be considered a separate person, yes. For example, for Homestuck, Dave and Davesprite, while in origin are the same, they would still be considered separate characters since they are from different timelines.
Similarly, canon AUs can co-exist, providing the AUs are different enough. Adam West version Batman and Frank Miller!Batman can coexist, but Movie!Harry Potter and Book!HarryPotter are the same basic character and thus cannot. As this will be something that will differ series by series, please take time in your app to explain the differences.
What about characters that aren't human?
Those are fine! Given the fairy-tale like nature of the game, non-human characters may maintain their form upon arriving in the Kingdom at your discretion. However, exceptionally large characters (giant robots, dinosaurs, etc) will have to shrink down to a more manageable size while in the city limits to avoid collateral damage.
How about characters that died in canon. How are those handled in this game?
Since a dead Champion wouldn't be very helpful in freeing the kingdom, if the spell encounters someone that it wants that just so happens to also be dead, their spirit or soul will be pulled in and a new body will be provided for them, magically constructed to be just like their old one, just minus that pesky thing that caused their death. For characters with a terminal illness, it is the player's choice if that illness is utterly gone, or just rolled back enough to not instantly kill the character again. Just be sure to note it in your app.
Alternately, you can use the Ghostly Mentor or Avenging Spirit Role if you prefer your character to stay dead.
My character is kind of a two-for-one deal, Can I app them both?
Yep! Call it a combo app and just make a note as to their situation. Examples of this cover characters who are possessed/have a spirit friend/etc, (ie, Yuugi and Yami Yuugi from Yugioh!) have a parasite-type "friend" (Stan and Ari from Okage, Shadow King) or just an alternate personality who is their own separate person. Basically any time the plus-one is their own person with a seperate history/personality/what have you, but shares a body or is somehow conjoined with another character, just copy paste the relevant sections of the app and call it a combo.
If you're going to use two seperate accounts for the character, just list them in the app as well.
How many characters can I have?
All players can have up to four characters, with an option for a 5th if they've proven that they can be properly active with the 4 they already have.
How do we post?
You can use the comm to post either Logs or Party Line posts. Logs have a template you can find in the comm's profile, at the bottom.
Party Line posts?
Party Line posts are where your character uses their Apple Eye-Crystal (tm) to functionally call every other Apple Eye-Crystal (tm) for a group chat. (More on this in the "Welcome to the Kingdom!" page. Once that gets written.)
So can my posts be private/filtered/hijacked/etc?
By default, due to the way the Apple Eye-Crystal (tm) are enchanted, all posts are open to all people who have one. You can ask nicely that only one person answer, or just make it so only one person would answer, but it's about as private as a phone call made in a dorm room hallway.
However, NPCs cannot use the Apple Eye-Crystal (tm), as they are enchanted to only work for the summoned heroes. Give your thanks to the original hero who created them for that perk.
How's the tagging system work here?
There's no real formal tagging system here. Tag em if you wanna, but don't sweat it if you forget.
What about languages? How do we talk to PCs and NPCs who don't speak our language?
Residents of the Kingdom (NPCs) can understand you perfectly well, as you can understand them. This is the effect of an enchantment on the book that the Kingdom's wizards sent out to bring you here, since it was entirely possible that the Kingdom's champion could come from some far off place where they communicate only in obscure metaphor.
This thankfully also extends to your fellow heros. Unless, of course, you make the effort to swear in an obscure language to get around the censors.
Where the heck is my character gonna sleep?
New arrivals are encouraged to find somewhere other than the receiving room to spend their time. The castle has a few spare rooms, and the town beyond the castle has plenty of space, as does the countryside outside the town walls.
More can be found on the Housing page. You can check out the Locations tag for more information on places you might (but probably won't) want to live.
What about weapons? If my character had a weapon before, does he/she get to bring it?
That depends. If the weapon was something like a sword, or a bow and arrow, or something similarly low-tech, yeah, you can keep it as is.
Otherwise, it gets 'translated' into a weapon that's more appropriate for the world. Your new weapon will retain some of the appearance of the old, since it's the same item transmuted into a different form. How the weapon looks is up to you. If you previously had something like a lightsaber, you may now have a magic sword that occasionally glows the same color as the old blade.
Can my character bring his/her pet?
Yep! If said pet character is a character in their own right and not just someone's dog or pokemon, you'll want to add a second personality section to the app to cover them too and make sure that the history section mentions them.
My characters pet is... large. Is that still OK?
For the most part, yes. Someone's Noble Steed that is horse shaped and/or horse sized is totally fine. There are stables on the Hero House grounds for actual houses and similar mounts and there can always be a bay door added for any pet that wants to come inside.
Something bigger will be magically shrunk down to a more manageable size by the spell to avoid any accidents involving squishing things that should not be squished.
What's the ratio of time in game and out of game?
Time is kinda funny here. Not even the locals can really agree on how long a week is, and don't even get them started on years! (Noone wants the argument about how old that horse really was to start up again-- or so they say.)
Which is to say that time is pretty flexible and can basically be manipulated however you'd like. Your character can get caught in some micro-enchantment where they were hucked ahead a week because that one thread you were doing took forever and it feels silly not to react to it after it happened. You also can backdate stuff as well.
So what's activity check like?
At the moment, AC is an informal "hey, I saw you haven't posted in ages, you still around?" poke every now and then. We'd like to avoid AC stress causing fluctuations in posting if at all possible.
Can I canon update my character? How does that work?
For a canon update, contact the mod account with the new pull point and any changes to role or powers, or just fill out the form. Once approved, your character will encounter another book, this one of their own story, holding the events that they will be updating with that will envelope them in a bright light. When it fades, they will be as they are from the new pull point, with all memories of their time in game intact.
For a canon rewind, it is treated as if the character returned home, and then the new version of them was pulled in as a totally new character. However, there are two options for this: One, the character is a clean slate from their new pull point, or, alternately, moments after they arrive, the memories left behind by their former self will return to them. Please note that this does not mean that they can just pick up when they left off, and it is expected that if this option is used, careful consideration will be given to the effects of receiving memories of a future self's actions in a different world.
Can a character die/be killed? And do they stay dead?
This entirely depends on the character, the situation, and the level of appropriate story-book level drama going on! But for almost all Heroes, being Dead just Won't Do. Dramatic, last minute saves are common, especially if one of the hero's companions is there to dramatically yell their name.
For those who lack such a companion, they will find themselves waking up back in the Room of Summoning - or possibly in the Hospital at the monk's quarters, having been found by a passer-by and hurried to where the good monks could work their special brand of magic known as "medical knowledge."
Unless, of course, you want to have a properly dramatic drop from the game, in which case, find your hero a Noble Sacrifice to make of themselves and have fun! If you change your mind, there can always be some Epic Quest to restore the Tragic and Noble Hero back to life. (This is also a viable route for a "I'm gonna be away for 2 months" hiatus)
Have other questions not covered in this list? Leave it in a comment and we'll get you an answer!