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mayfield_ooc2012-01-02 03:47 pm
mayfield_mods) wrote in mayfield_ooc2012-01-02 03:47 pm
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Life in Mayfield
Life in Mayfield
Welcome to Mayfield: The Greatest Little Town in the entire U. S. of A! What do you mean you don't remember? You've been here your whole life, and Mayfield wants to be quite sure that you have your memory straight. Here's a run down of how daily life operates in our wonderful little town!
Events
OOC Contact
ARRIVAL & HOUSING
or OH GOD HELP I'VE WOKEN UP IN SOMEONE ELSE'S UNDERWEAR.
Yes, you have. In fact, none of the clothes you wake up wearing are yours. New arrivals in Mayfield are stripped of any superhuman powers (i.e. any power or ability outside the range of a normal human), scars, even your glasses – anything that ties you to any world outside of the town. Items like glasses would be replaced with a set that is not your character's own. Exceptions to this- such as if you feel that you cannot play your blind character as sighted- can be made, and will need to be run by a mod for approval (for more on this, see the FAQ page).
Your character wakes up in the bedroom of the house he or she has been assigned in your acceptance notice. If they are an adult, this will be the same bed as their assigned spouse – drone or not.
→ Characters in Mayfield are sorted into houses by gender and apparent age – meaning an 800-year-old that looks 13 will be sorted as a child. If their apparent gender is different than their sex, then it's up to the player how they will be sorted.
Over 18: Will be assigned either a husband or wife slot, and treated like an adult by the NPCs.
Under 18: Will be assigned a child slot, and treated like a child by the NPCs. They will also be required to attend the school, or risk punishment.
Non-Humanoids: Will be assigned a pet slot, and treated like a dog or cat by the NPCs. They will not have a “bedroom” within the house, and will instead wake up in a dog house in the yard.
A house has one husband, one wife, a max of 3 child slots, and one pet slot. To request housing, you must make a good faith effort to contact all players of characters currently in that house and put the request in your application. Current players may also reserve spots in houses for 2 weeks with a request on the housing page or a message to the mods. You don't have to get permission before reserving but it's polite if you aren't sure, and a player in the house can remove the reserve if they wish. Moving housing is only done for extenuating circumstances, and we will often require you to provide a canon update or reapp to do it – though we are more lenient if the character has not be introduced yet.
If you were sorted into a house still with drones, don't worry! Mayfield gets pretty high traffic and more often than not your character's house will gain family members quickly.
NPCs
or I DIDN'T EVEN REALLY ENJOY “THE STEPFORD WIVES” ALL THAT MUCH.
The NPCs (or Non-Player Characters) are the original residents of Mayfield, and it's obvious to anyone that they act a bit... strange. They are often referred to as Drones for their general lack of emotion or reaction and constant state of “brainwashing.” The drones react mostly to things they consider “immoral” or out-of-the-ordinary for a 1950s town – which is to say, probably most of the things your character's will do. Aside from this, Drones will react in a stereotypical display of 1950s politeness – all the time. Drones will not attack, nor will react to being attacked. They do not show pain or fear, unless this is specified in an event post by the mods.
Characters who can read souls, life force, or similar will be unable to detect any sort of reading from the drones; whether they are truly lifeless or their humanity simply hidden remains unknown.
For more information, see our All About Drones post!
+ Mod-NPCs
Many NPCs are Mod-played and will occasionally come to interact with your character in certain situations. The known information about them will be listed here!
Pay careful attention during events to which NPCs participate! It's often important or a hint at the plot behind Mayfield. Posts done by the NPCs can be found on the mod journal or under the Events tag on the main community.
If you would like to play with a Mod NPC, or want to request one to show up at your post, please see our plot page here for more information.
BRAINWASHING
or I THOUGHT THEY GAVE UP ON MK-ULTRA.
I know, I know, we all try our best, but even the greatest make mistakes sometimes. You've killed your neighbor in the street or you've blown a wall out of your house or you've forgotten to mow the lawn for 6 weeks and broken neighborhood code and now you've gotten the attention of some of the less forgiving higher-ups in the town. You'll have received a message along the lines of
“Congratulations! Your character has been brainwashed for # of hours!
During this time you are free to continue playing as a drone, and have
a good day!”
This means your character will act like a drone for the number of hours the punishment has been assigned for. Different NPCs have different punishments – some more severe than others, so be sure to pay attention to your message for any specific instructions.
Characters that have been dropped do not simply disappear, but will be permanently brainwashed and marked as NPC on the housing. Droned PCs will be moved out of the housing they are currently assigned only after they are replaced with another player character. These characters will remain in the town as drones until the foreseeable future in all NPC housing on streets that have yet to be revealed.
COMMUNICATIONS
or WHY DON'T YOU CALL YOUR MOTHER MORE OFTEN?
Most posts in Mayfield are done by telephone. There will be at least 2 phones in any house, and calls can be broadcasted to the town or between individuals. Unfortunately, Mayfield's phones are managed by an operator who sometimes misdirects your important calls. This is why some private conversations might accidentally made public or 'hackable.' Additionally, phone calls can be intentionally hacked by tech savvy characters. Of course, an entry can only be hacked if the player says so in their post, so keep that in mind. You can also try filtering from the drones, but does it really work? I suppose that's for you to find out! Other forms of communication are letters or in-person meetings. This is the 1950s! None of your fancy communicators here.
NPC announcements will often take place either over the radio or the (black and white!) television, both of which are completely controlled by the Mod-NPCs. In non-event times they will play only typical 1950s music or television shows.
Any newspapers or news programs on the television will show mostly stories related to minor in-town events (such as NPCs have a bakesale or rescuing kittens from trees) or vague Cold War era news items. Specific out of town events will not be mentioned.
TOWN LIFE
or WHAT'S COOKIN' DADDY-O.
Mayfield is everything you could expect of a 1950s suburbia - little white houses for acres and acres and a small, idyllic downtown. Your home probably looks something like this, and your neighborhood looks rather alot like this. Any major damage to your house or property may stay for a while, but if you are brainwashed or an event occurs, your home will revert back to its original state. Complete destruction will revert after a day.
Streets are set up on a grid, making the town extremely uniform. Each home has a small yard, but each plot is rather small. Better get to know your neighbors!
Mayfield has a small downtown shopping area, which will be listed on the Locations page. Occasionally, locations are added with events. Any addition to the locations will not be reacted to by the NPCs, and they will simply act like it has been there all along. The town is bigger than just the housing post, but many of the streets are entirely drones, and will remain so until they show up on the housing page
Attempting to leave town will result in your character looping back to the beginning of the street. If you attempt to leave by flying, you'll be able to keep going up and up, but the view won't change except for the oxygen running out. If you try to tunnel, you can keep digging down and side to side as long as you want, but you'll always come back up somewhere in town. But while you're so focused on escape, have you ever considered what's actually out there? If this isn't your home, then what's out there probably isn't either. Even so, certain NPCs have made mention of a certain town called Westport...
JOBS
Players of adult characters in Mayfield have the option of choosing a job from the Jobs page on the profile! These will be typical 1950s small town work, and often sorted by typical gender-expected roles. For example, a man could work as a doctor or mechanic, while a woman has the option of nurse or secretary. The entire list can be found here. You are also free to suggest jobs in the comments as long as that job would be available in a typical 50s town and your character is qualified to take it.
When the player chooses a job for their character, NPCs will treat them as if they have had the job the entire time. Missing work for an extended period of time (over 3 days without calling in) makes your character subject to brainwashing or further punishment by the town. Don't we all have to work together to make Mayfield a great place?
→ Work hours are daily Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm for adult jobs, except for teacher hours which follow school hours and retail jobs, which are more flexible. Characters can call in sick, but doing so for longer than 3 days at a time will result in droning.
The following days are work holidays:
Labor Day (September 5)
Veteran's Day (November 11)
Thanksgiving Holiday (November 24 and 25)
Christmas Holiday (December 24 and 25)
New Year's Eve (December 31st)
Washington's Birthday (February 20)
Easter Holiday (April 6)
Memorial Day (May 28)
Independence Day (July 4)
SCHOOL
Characters under 18 will have compulsory attendance at the local school from August to June, where they will learn all about maths and geography and the evils of communism and chemistry and ... that history sounds a bit strange, doesn't it? Funny how you never really talk about "Modern" eras, isn't it? Of course it isn't, though. Mayfield believes in a complete understanding of our past to work for a better all American future!
Missing school for an extended period of time makes your character subject to brainwashing or further punishment, just like having a job.
→ School hours are 9 am to 3 pm Monday through Friday for elementary and 8 am to 2 pm for high school. School begins the day after Labor Day (September 6) and ends after the first Friday in June (June 3). School will take off the following holidays:
School Holidays:
Veteran's Day (November 11)
Thanksgiving Holiday (November 23, 24, and 25)
Christmas Holiday (December 19 through January 3)
Lincoln's Birthday (February 17)
Washington's Birthday (February 20)
Easter Holiday (April 2 through April 13)
Memorial Day (May 28)
WEATHER
Weather in Mayfield is always mild and pleasant, the sun is always shining, and flowers bloom year round, except for when it's snowing. Temperatures and specific weather varies by season. Weather that is specified in event information takes precedence to what is described here.
Fall: Cool, crisp weather in the high 50s and 60s during the day. Mild breezes are common, as well as occasional light rain. The leaves on trees begin changing color in September, and will have mostly fallen by late November, leaving piles of bright red and gold leaves on everyone's lawn perfect for jumping in.
Winter: Chillier weather begins in December, generally in the 30s and 40s. The first snowfall of the year happens one night right around Christmas, covering Mayfield with snow about a foot deep. This weather will continue through February, with occasional very light snowfall during the day. No matter how warm the weather and how sparse the snowfall, when you wake up in the morning there's always a fresh blanket of snow on the ground. Better stay diligent about clearing snow off your driveway, because it will pile up every day.
Spring: All the snow on the ground vanishes overnight on the first day of March. The weather also warms up, beginning in the 50s in March and gradually warms up to remain in the 70s by May. Light rain is common in the spring, but it never lasts long, and the downpour is never heavy. There seem to be more flowers than usual, in brighter colors, but there aren't any wildflowers. Be sure to keep your gardens healthy and weeded.
Summer: Summer weather is warm, ranging from the high 70s to the 80s and 90s. The sunshine is especially bright during this time. There's no breeze in the air, but no humidity, either, and nights are cool and clear. In August, there will be occasional thunderstorms at night.
DEATH
Not that anyone could die of unnatural causes in our perfect little town, but just in case it does here's how it goes! Any expired character will respawn and wake up in their bed the next morning, barring usage of the revival delay effect - just like their first day here. There is no limit to the number of deaths a character can have; however, following the destruction and subsequent rebuilding of the revival machine, being brought back from the dead can now be a little...wonky. Anyone who dies will revive with one or more of the following effects:
Incomplete revival - Symptoms may indicate a character is only partially alive; in extreme cases they will physically appear to be a reanimated corpse.
- Weak pulse and low blood pressure
- No pulse, heartbeat or blood movement
- Wounds are still present, but blood has congealed
- Extremely low body temperature
- Inability to eat or drink
- Inability to breathe
Incomplete healing - Characters have been revived, but the cause of death has not been removed.
- Wounds and physical effects (i.e. poison, illness) are present but reduced to non-fatal levels
- Characters retain a pre-death emotional state: heightened adrenaline levels, fear and anxiety, shock, etc.
- Characters will suffer phantom pain: although the physical wound will have been healed, it will still hurt as badly as it did in the moment of death
Emotional changes - Characters experience emotional changes from the process. In extreme cases, characters may be brought back, but without their memories, personality, or ability to feel emotions.
- Dimished capacity to feel emotion
- Loss of the ability to feel emotion entirely
- Heightened feelings of anger, violence, and despair
- Short term memory loss, particularly relating to the character's death or of Mayfield
- Full or partial amnesia
Nightmare state - Characters will experience disturbing hallucinations, visions, and nightmares. In extreme cases, they will be in a constant state of terror.
- Memory of death; characters will feel as though they were conscious for the entire time they were dead, and were trapped in an empty void for what seemed like an endless amount of time.
- Hallucinations; characters will hallucinate disturbing and terrifying visions.
- Nightmares; characters will have incredibly disturbing and terrifying visions that may occur whenever they attempt to sleep, or every time they close their eyes.
- False reality; characters will feel as though they are still dead, the reality they've returned to is false, and everyone around them is to be distrusted.
Droning
- Characters may return as drones for a period of time
- 'Drone' emotional state; character is not droned, but will only experience artificially positive emotions.
- 'Glitching'; character will only be able to cycle through a few stock drone phrases.
Revival delay - respawning will take several days to a week instead of the usual overnight revival. (If you'd rather not have your character revive with any of the above effects, you can simply delay their respawning by a day or so and have it be an otherwise normal revival.)
The effects from reviving will not be permanent and will wear off in anywhere from an hour to a week.
Death and injury are extremely likely to come up during Mayfield events! Of course, this is not mandatory by any means, but that means if you have problems with your character experiencing or witnessing these sorts of events, he or she may not be the right one for this game.
EVENTS
Mayfield runs monthly or more events, many of which are tied to our overarching plot! Events often relate to the "psychological horror" elements of the game, meant to cause your characters to react in a certain way or to advance the storyline. While many events have an "opt-out" built into them, please keep in mind we cannot exclude characters from certain events because of the nature of the RP. As of right now, the most powerful NPCs have nearly complete control of the town and are thus able to affect the whole town at a whim - meaning some game-wide events will affect your character regardless of involvement. Events often need heavy player involvement, and the mods will try to include your character the best they can! So don't be afraid to volunteer and get into it!
Which events we run are based heavily upon the actions of the characters currently in-game, so be sure to pay attention to get extra clues.
To get a good idea of what kind of events we run, you can look at the tag "Event" on the main community page.
+ Player Run Plots
Players are also welcome to run their own mini-plots! Some of these plots in the past have included organized attacks on the town, a book club, school dances, a villain's gone wild night of mayhem, and a character going on a brainwashing spree.
Small scale plots don't require any approval, but for larger plots, you'll need to get the mods to sign off. Many players have made use of Junefield for plotting and sign-up purposes, and you're welcome to, too. Players in charge of running some plots may get some unexpected results from the game.
For more information, or to get mod approval, see our Plot Page.
REGAINS
Often after events the town will award "Regains" - please refer to the Regains page for detailed information!
JUNEFIELD
Junefield is our "crack" community, meaning people generally use it to post memes and plotting requests! Watching or joining is not mandatory, but it can be a good place to watch for advertisements for volunteers for player-run plots and to goof off in one of our bazillions of memes.
RULES!!
1. Golden Rule, bro. Treat others how you would like to treated, don't be a jerk, don't start wank, etc.!
2. If you have an issue with another player or something in game, please talk to the mods. We aren't here to play favorites or argue, and as long as you are polite, we will never get angry at you for bringing a concern to us. We're here to listen and resolve the problem as best we can! We have an anonymous contact page, but players are encouraged to contact us by PM or IM at any time. We don't bite!
3. Generally, if you cause a problem or break a rule, the mods will give you a warning before consequences. However, we have a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism, harassment, hate speech, and threats. If you're caught doing any of these things, you will be automatically banned from the game. If a player requests no further OOC contact from you and you are contacted, we consider that to be harassment.
4. We are a panfandom game, and we also accept Original Characters. We do not accept Canon OCs (i.e. original characters from a non-original work), and we do not accept AU characters unless the AU itself appears in canon. If you're unsure about the eligibility of a character, please ask. For OCs and characters with very limited canon appearance, we will require a longer and more in depth application establishing their personality and background.
5. Explicit content (anything that would be above an R-rating) should be behind a cut and preferably f-locked, with a warning for content. Please use good judgment as to what is appropriate and what requires a warning, but if the mods request a cut, lock, warning, or removal of content, please listen. Please be sensitive to other players. If you aren't sure, ask the mods.
6. We strongly encourage every player to have an anon-enabled "How's My Driving" post in their character's journal!
7. Remember that In-Character =/= Out-of-Character. A character's opinions are often not the same as the player's!
8. Likewise, In-Character Actions cause In-Character Consequences! Your character's in-game behavior may cause others to react, even if you don't wish them to. You need to allow characters to react ICly.
9. Godmoding in all its permutations is against the rules. If another player does this to you, you may ask them to stop or inform the mod of the problem. Likewise, while you are allowed to react ICly, you should ask before doing something that will greatly affect another character. Please use your judgment on this, but persistently breaking these rules could eventually lead to a ban.
10. Players are required to meet certain monthly activity standards to remain in the game. If you cannot meet these standards for a month, you may hiatus to avoid being dropped. However, even meeting this standard, if the mods feel that you are consistently barely making activity, we may contact you, after which you will not be able to apply for new characters until the activity situation improves.
11. If a character is idled out of the game through the Activity Check, you may not reapply that character in the next application cycle without mod permission. You must either wait for one cycle, during which time someone else may apply for that character, or contact the mods to get permission to reapply right away.
12. The mods have the right to prevent you from applying new characters if concerns are brought to us or we have serious concerns ourselves, during which time we will closely monitor your playing. Once we see improvement, we will re-evaluate and discuss with you. We want to see good characterization, grammar, and spelling in-game, as well as in applications!
13. You may not app from the movie The Human Centipede. ETA: Or its sequel.
Welcome to Mayfield: The Greatest Little Town in the entire U. S. of A! What do you mean you don't remember? You've been here your whole life, and Mayfield wants to be quite sure that you have your memory straight. Here's a run down of how daily life operates in our wonderful little town!
ARRIVAL & HOUSING
or OH GOD HELP I'VE WOKEN UP IN SOMEONE ELSE'S UNDERWEAR.
Yes, you have. In fact, none of the clothes you wake up wearing are yours. New arrivals in Mayfield are stripped of any superhuman powers (i.e. any power or ability outside the range of a normal human), scars, even your glasses – anything that ties you to any world outside of the town. Items like glasses would be replaced with a set that is not your character's own. Exceptions to this- such as if you feel that you cannot play your blind character as sighted- can be made, and will need to be run by a mod for approval (for more on this, see the FAQ page).
Your character wakes up in the bedroom of the house he or she has been assigned in your acceptance notice. If they are an adult, this will be the same bed as their assigned spouse – drone or not.
→ Characters in Mayfield are sorted into houses by gender and apparent age – meaning an 800-year-old that looks 13 will be sorted as a child. If their apparent gender is different than their sex, then it's up to the player how they will be sorted.
Over 18: Will be assigned either a husband or wife slot, and treated like an adult by the NPCs.
Under 18: Will be assigned a child slot, and treated like a child by the NPCs. They will also be required to attend the school, or risk punishment.
Non-Humanoids: Will be assigned a pet slot, and treated like a dog or cat by the NPCs. They will not have a “bedroom” within the house, and will instead wake up in a dog house in the yard.
A house has one husband, one wife, a max of 3 child slots, and one pet slot. To request housing, you must make a good faith effort to contact all players of characters currently in that house and put the request in your application. Current players may also reserve spots in houses for 2 weeks with a request on the housing page or a message to the mods. You don't have to get permission before reserving but it's polite if you aren't sure, and a player in the house can remove the reserve if they wish. Moving housing is only done for extenuating circumstances, and we will often require you to provide a canon update or reapp to do it – though we are more lenient if the character has not be introduced yet.
If you were sorted into a house still with drones, don't worry! Mayfield gets pretty high traffic and more often than not your character's house will gain family members quickly.
NPCs
or I DIDN'T EVEN REALLY ENJOY “THE STEPFORD WIVES” ALL THAT MUCH.
The NPCs (or Non-Player Characters) are the original residents of Mayfield, and it's obvious to anyone that they act a bit... strange. They are often referred to as Drones for their general lack of emotion or reaction and constant state of “brainwashing.” The drones react mostly to things they consider “immoral” or out-of-the-ordinary for a 1950s town – which is to say, probably most of the things your character's will do. Aside from this, Drones will react in a stereotypical display of 1950s politeness – all the time. Drones will not attack, nor will react to being attacked. They do not show pain or fear, unless this is specified in an event post by the mods.
Characters who can read souls, life force, or similar will be unable to detect any sort of reading from the drones; whether they are truly lifeless or their humanity simply hidden remains unknown.
For more information, see our All About Drones post!
+ Mod-NPCs
Many NPCs are Mod-played and will occasionally come to interact with your character in certain situations. The known information about them will be listed here!
Pay careful attention during events to which NPCs participate! It's often important or a hint at the plot behind Mayfield. Posts done by the NPCs can be found on the mod journal or under the Events tag on the main community.
If you would like to play with a Mod NPC, or want to request one to show up at your post, please see our plot page here for more information.
BRAINWASHING
or I THOUGHT THEY GAVE UP ON MK-ULTRA.
I know, I know, we all try our best, but even the greatest make mistakes sometimes. You've killed your neighbor in the street or you've blown a wall out of your house or you've forgotten to mow the lawn for 6 weeks and broken neighborhood code and now you've gotten the attention of some of the less forgiving higher-ups in the town. You'll have received a message along the lines of
During this time you are free to continue playing as a drone, and have
a good day!”
This means your character will act like a drone for the number of hours the punishment has been assigned for. Different NPCs have different punishments – some more severe than others, so be sure to pay attention to your message for any specific instructions.
Characters that have been dropped do not simply disappear, but will be permanently brainwashed and marked as NPC on the housing. Droned PCs will be moved out of the housing they are currently assigned only after they are replaced with another player character. These characters will remain in the town as drones until the foreseeable future in all NPC housing on streets that have yet to be revealed.
COMMUNICATIONS
or WHY DON'T YOU CALL YOUR MOTHER MORE OFTEN?
Most posts in Mayfield are done by telephone. There will be at least 2 phones in any house, and calls can be broadcasted to the town or between individuals. Unfortunately, Mayfield's phones are managed by an operator who sometimes misdirects your important calls. This is why some private conversations might accidentally made public or 'hackable.' Additionally, phone calls can be intentionally hacked by tech savvy characters. Of course, an entry can only be hacked if the player says so in their post, so keep that in mind. You can also try filtering from the drones, but does it really work? I suppose that's for you to find out! Other forms of communication are letters or in-person meetings. This is the 1950s! None of your fancy communicators here.
NPC announcements will often take place either over the radio or the (black and white!) television, both of which are completely controlled by the Mod-NPCs. In non-event times they will play only typical 1950s music or television shows.
Any newspapers or news programs on the television will show mostly stories related to minor in-town events (such as NPCs have a bakesale or rescuing kittens from trees) or vague Cold War era news items. Specific out of town events will not be mentioned.
TOWN LIFE
or WHAT'S COOKIN' DADDY-O.
Mayfield is everything you could expect of a 1950s suburbia - little white houses for acres and acres and a small, idyllic downtown. Your home probably looks something like this, and your neighborhood looks rather alot like this. Any major damage to your house or property may stay for a while, but if you are brainwashed or an event occurs, your home will revert back to its original state. Complete destruction will revert after a day.
Streets are set up on a grid, making the town extremely uniform. Each home has a small yard, but each plot is rather small. Better get to know your neighbors!
Mayfield has a small downtown shopping area, which will be listed on the Locations page. Occasionally, locations are added with events. Any addition to the locations will not be reacted to by the NPCs, and they will simply act like it has been there all along. The town is bigger than just the housing post, but many of the streets are entirely drones, and will remain so until they show up on the housing page
Attempting to leave town will result in your character looping back to the beginning of the street. If you attempt to leave by flying, you'll be able to keep going up and up, but the view won't change except for the oxygen running out. If you try to tunnel, you can keep digging down and side to side as long as you want, but you'll always come back up somewhere in town. But while you're so focused on escape, have you ever considered what's actually out there? If this isn't your home, then what's out there probably isn't either. Even so, certain NPCs have made mention of a certain town called Westport...
JOBS
Players of adult characters in Mayfield have the option of choosing a job from the Jobs page on the profile! These will be typical 1950s small town work, and often sorted by typical gender-expected roles. For example, a man could work as a doctor or mechanic, while a woman has the option of nurse or secretary. The entire list can be found here. You are also free to suggest jobs in the comments as long as that job would be available in a typical 50s town and your character is qualified to take it.
When the player chooses a job for their character, NPCs will treat them as if they have had the job the entire time. Missing work for an extended period of time (over 3 days without calling in) makes your character subject to brainwashing or further punishment by the town. Don't we all have to work together to make Mayfield a great place?
→ Work hours are daily Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm for adult jobs, except for teacher hours which follow school hours and retail jobs, which are more flexible. Characters can call in sick, but doing so for longer than 3 days at a time will result in droning.
The following days are work holidays:
Labor Day (September 5)
Veteran's Day (November 11)
Thanksgiving Holiday (November 24 and 25)
Christmas Holiday (December 24 and 25)
New Year's Eve (December 31st)
Washington's Birthday (February 20)
Easter Holiday (April 6)
Memorial Day (May 28)
Independence Day (July 4)
SCHOOL
Characters under 18 will have compulsory attendance at the local school from August to June, where they will learn all about maths and geography and the evils of communism and chemistry and ... that history sounds a bit strange, doesn't it? Funny how you never really talk about "Modern" eras, isn't it? Of course it isn't, though. Mayfield believes in a complete understanding of our past to work for a better all American future!
Missing school for an extended period of time makes your character subject to brainwashing or further punishment, just like having a job.
→ School hours are 9 am to 3 pm Monday through Friday for elementary and 8 am to 2 pm for high school. School begins the day after Labor Day (September 6) and ends after the first Friday in June (June 3). School will take off the following holidays:
School Holidays:
Veteran's Day (November 11)
Thanksgiving Holiday (November 23, 24, and 25)
Christmas Holiday (December 19 through January 3)
Lincoln's Birthday (February 17)
Washington's Birthday (February 20)
Easter Holiday (April 2 through April 13)
Memorial Day (May 28)
WEATHER
Weather in Mayfield is always mild and pleasant, the sun is always shining, and flowers bloom year round, except for when it's snowing. Temperatures and specific weather varies by season. Weather that is specified in event information takes precedence to what is described here.
Fall: Cool, crisp weather in the high 50s and 60s during the day. Mild breezes are common, as well as occasional light rain. The leaves on trees begin changing color in September, and will have mostly fallen by late November, leaving piles of bright red and gold leaves on everyone's lawn perfect for jumping in.
Winter: Chillier weather begins in December, generally in the 30s and 40s. The first snowfall of the year happens one night right around Christmas, covering Mayfield with snow about a foot deep. This weather will continue through February, with occasional very light snowfall during the day. No matter how warm the weather and how sparse the snowfall, when you wake up in the morning there's always a fresh blanket of snow on the ground. Better stay diligent about clearing snow off your driveway, because it will pile up every day.
Spring: All the snow on the ground vanishes overnight on the first day of March. The weather also warms up, beginning in the 50s in March and gradually warms up to remain in the 70s by May. Light rain is common in the spring, but it never lasts long, and the downpour is never heavy. There seem to be more flowers than usual, in brighter colors, but there aren't any wildflowers. Be sure to keep your gardens healthy and weeded.
Summer: Summer weather is warm, ranging from the high 70s to the 80s and 90s. The sunshine is especially bright during this time. There's no breeze in the air, but no humidity, either, and nights are cool and clear. In August, there will be occasional thunderstorms at night.
DEATH
Not that anyone could die of unnatural causes in our perfect little town, but just in case it does here's how it goes! Any expired character will respawn and wake up in their bed the next morning, barring usage of the revival delay effect - just like their first day here. There is no limit to the number of deaths a character can have; however, following the destruction and subsequent rebuilding of the revival machine, being brought back from the dead can now be a little...wonky. Anyone who dies will revive with one or more of the following effects:
Incomplete revival - Symptoms may indicate a character is only partially alive; in extreme cases they will physically appear to be a reanimated corpse.
- No pulse, heartbeat or blood movement
- Wounds are still present, but blood has congealed
- Extremely low body temperature
- Inability to eat or drink
- Inability to breathe
Incomplete healing - Characters have been revived, but the cause of death has not been removed.
- Characters retain a pre-death emotional state: heightened adrenaline levels, fear and anxiety, shock, etc.
- Characters will suffer phantom pain: although the physical wound will have been healed, it will still hurt as badly as it did in the moment of death
Emotional changes - Characters experience emotional changes from the process. In extreme cases, characters may be brought back, but without their memories, personality, or ability to feel emotions.
- Loss of the ability to feel emotion entirely
- Heightened feelings of anger, violence, and despair
- Short term memory loss, particularly relating to the character's death or of Mayfield
- Full or partial amnesia
Nightmare state - Characters will experience disturbing hallucinations, visions, and nightmares. In extreme cases, they will be in a constant state of terror.
- Hallucinations; characters will hallucinate disturbing and terrifying visions.
- Nightmares; characters will have incredibly disturbing and terrifying visions that may occur whenever they attempt to sleep, or every time they close their eyes.
- False reality; characters will feel as though they are still dead, the reality they've returned to is false, and everyone around them is to be distrusted.
Droning
- 'Drone' emotional state; character is not droned, but will only experience artificially positive emotions.
- 'Glitching'; character will only be able to cycle through a few stock drone phrases.
Revival delay - respawning will take several days to a week instead of the usual overnight revival. (If you'd rather not have your character revive with any of the above effects, you can simply delay their respawning by a day or so and have it be an otherwise normal revival.)
The effects from reviving will not be permanent and will wear off in anywhere from an hour to a week.
Death and injury are extremely likely to come up during Mayfield events! Of course, this is not mandatory by any means, but that means if you have problems with your character experiencing or witnessing these sorts of events, he or she may not be the right one for this game.
EVENTS
Mayfield runs monthly or more events, many of which are tied to our overarching plot! Events often relate to the "psychological horror" elements of the game, meant to cause your characters to react in a certain way or to advance the storyline. While many events have an "opt-out" built into them, please keep in mind we cannot exclude characters from certain events because of the nature of the RP. As of right now, the most powerful NPCs have nearly complete control of the town and are thus able to affect the whole town at a whim - meaning some game-wide events will affect your character regardless of involvement. Events often need heavy player involvement, and the mods will try to include your character the best they can! So don't be afraid to volunteer and get into it!
Which events we run are based heavily upon the actions of the characters currently in-game, so be sure to pay attention to get extra clues.
To get a good idea of what kind of events we run, you can look at the tag "Event" on the main community page.
+ Player Run Plots
Players are also welcome to run their own mini-plots! Some of these plots in the past have included organized attacks on the town, a book club, school dances, a villain's gone wild night of mayhem, and a character going on a brainwashing spree.
Small scale plots don't require any approval, but for larger plots, you'll need to get the mods to sign off. Many players have made use of Junefield for plotting and sign-up purposes, and you're welcome to, too. Players in charge of running some plots may get some unexpected results from the game.
For more information, or to get mod approval, see our Plot Page.
REGAINS
Often after events the town will award "Regains" - please refer to the Regains page for detailed information!
JUNEFIELD
Junefield is our "crack" community, meaning people generally use it to post memes and plotting requests! Watching or joining is not mandatory, but it can be a good place to watch for advertisements for volunteers for player-run plots and to goof off in one of our bazillions of memes.
RULES!!
1. Golden Rule, bro. Treat others how you would like to treated, don't be a jerk, don't start wank, etc.!
2. If you have an issue with another player or something in game, please talk to the mods. We aren't here to play favorites or argue, and as long as you are polite, we will never get angry at you for bringing a concern to us. We're here to listen and resolve the problem as best we can! We have an anonymous contact page, but players are encouraged to contact us by PM or IM at any time. We don't bite!
3. Generally, if you cause a problem or break a rule, the mods will give you a warning before consequences. However, we have a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism, harassment, hate speech, and threats. If you're caught doing any of these things, you will be automatically banned from the game. If a player requests no further OOC contact from you and you are contacted, we consider that to be harassment.
4. We are a panfandom game, and we also accept Original Characters. We do not accept Canon OCs (i.e. original characters from a non-original work), and we do not accept AU characters unless the AU itself appears in canon. If you're unsure about the eligibility of a character, please ask. For OCs and characters with very limited canon appearance, we will require a longer and more in depth application establishing their personality and background.
5. Explicit content (anything that would be above an R-rating) should be behind a cut and preferably f-locked, with a warning for content. Please use good judgment as to what is appropriate and what requires a warning, but if the mods request a cut, lock, warning, or removal of content, please listen. Please be sensitive to other players. If you aren't sure, ask the mods.
6. We strongly encourage every player to have an anon-enabled "How's My Driving" post in their character's journal!
7. Remember that In-Character =/= Out-of-Character. A character's opinions are often not the same as the player's!
8. Likewise, In-Character Actions cause In-Character Consequences! Your character's in-game behavior may cause others to react, even if you don't wish them to. You need to allow characters to react ICly.
9. Godmoding in all its permutations is against the rules. If another player does this to you, you may ask them to stop or inform the mod of the problem. Likewise, while you are allowed to react ICly, you should ask before doing something that will greatly affect another character. Please use your judgment on this, but persistently breaking these rules could eventually lead to a ban.
10. Players are required to meet certain monthly activity standards to remain in the game. If you cannot meet these standards for a month, you may hiatus to avoid being dropped. However, even meeting this standard, if the mods feel that you are consistently barely making activity, we may contact you, after which you will not be able to apply for new characters until the activity situation improves.
11. If a character is idled out of the game through the Activity Check, you may not reapply that character in the next application cycle without mod permission. You must either wait for one cycle, during which time someone else may apply for that character, or contact the mods to get permission to reapply right away.
12. The mods have the right to prevent you from applying new characters if concerns are brought to us or we have serious concerns ourselves, during which time we will closely monitor your playing. Once we see improvement, we will re-evaluate and discuss with you. We want to see good characterization, grammar, and spelling in-game, as well as in applications!
13. You may not app from the movie The Human Centipede. ETA: Or its sequel.