Mayfield Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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mayfield_ooc2012-01-02 03:50 pm
mayfield_mods) wrote in mayfield_ooc2012-01-02 03:50 pm
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does my app need to be?
-We don’t have a set limit, but we’re looking for a decent length for the personality section. On the other hand, try not to murder the mods with a giant app. Generally, we want at least 4 good-sized paragraphs on the personality.
In the past, some players have linked their applications from their journals, but we now require players to post their applications to the application post. We're aware this may involve multiple comments, but we prefer to have all applications available for future reference, and journal entries can be changed or deleted.
For the same reason, please do not delete or edit comments on the application post after a character has been accepted.
My character is totally strong enough to break out of this stupid town!
-First of all, all powers are taken away when the character enters the roleplay. Secondly, any powers that would allow them to escape or defy the town will typically not be restored and, if they are restored, will be hindered in some way.
So is Mayfield magic, or…?
-This question, along with most others concerning the plot and setting, will be answered over the course of the roleplay.
If nothing linking them to their canon is allowed in the roleplay, what about scars or other non-removable items?
-They, um, get removed. Scars and such will disappear completely and be earned back just like other items. The characters have absolutely nothing linking them to their home world aside from their own memories.
But there's something that I'm not comfortable playing my character without! Can I bring them into the game with that?
-This will be treated on a case-by-case basis. If you're truly uncomfortable playing your character without a regain whose disappearance would necessarily involve emotional trauma on the part of the character that you do not wish to play out, we'll allow the regain to be kept. This applies to things like disabilities, scars, or personal issues that would make the character uncomfortable or difficult to play without. As an example, we have made this exception before for blind characters, a character in a wheelchair, and one with severe burn scars. Obviously this does not apply to everything; as a general rule powers and objects do not apply- so your character can enter the game with her deafness preserved, but her magical amulet will need to be regained. If you're not sure about what may or may not be okay to keep, ask us here or contact a mod!
If you are apping a character to which this rule may apply, please contact a mod and let them know who the character is and what the aspect you would like to keep is to have it approved before you apply. After that, please include an extra note in your app- e.g. 'I talked it over with Mod A, and Character will be entering the game with her deafness preserved.'
Do you accept OCs?
-Yes, but the apps will be examined a lot more closely. Same goes for AUs and OCs from canon fandoms. With AUs, we require at least four paragraphs explaining the difference in personality from their canon incarnation, and we require that the personality be substantially different. Our goal with this is to avoid "duplicates" of canon characters. With canon OCs, we no longer accept characters who have never appeared or had any mention in canon.
What about original characters from non-original settings such as World of Warcraft or Dungeons and Dragons? Could we app those?
In the case of original characters from settings that actively encourage the creation of original characters, this would be allowed. They would not, however, automatically know non-original characters from that setting unless that character is already in Mayfield and the player has given their consent.
What about silent or customizable protagonists?
These are appable, but we'll expect you to stick as close to canon on their personalities as possible. (Crono from Chrono Trigger likely isn't an alcoholic leather fetishist and aspiring go-go dancer, for example.) Obviously this can be a bit of a grey area, so we'll likely take it on a case-by-case basis. In the case of customizable protagonists, such as Commander Shepard from the Mass Effect series, these are appable as well, though we'll expect you to coordinate with any other existing castmates. In this case, the one thing you're not allowed to do is to automatically expect or demand castmates to conform to your character's version of canon: you're free to app the character without castmates' consent, but they are equally free to ignore your character's version of canon and have their character remember things differently.
Where do characters arrive?
-They awaken in their own beds, in their own houses, much to their own confusion.
My character breaks the fourth wall a lot. Is that okay?
-Yes. Just don’t expect them to be taken seriously. If characters would be aware of the events of other characters' canons, always be sure to ask the player's permission before having them ICly say or spoil anything.
What’s the deal with the NPCs?
-They are not real people, and mostly serve as emotionless foils to the characters. The mods will have them introduce the character to Mayfield, and they will thereafter harass the PCs whenever they see “immoral” or “strange” behavior. It is generally very unwise to catch their attention. Characters who can read souls, life force, or anything else like that will be unable to detect any sort of reading from the drones; whether they are truly lifeless or their humanity simply hidden remains unknown.
What happens if I pick up someone else’s ejected or dropped character?
-You may either continue playing that character with their relationships and regained items intact, or reset them if you wish.
What happens when characters die? What if we try to transplant drone organs into non-drone characters?
-Killed characters remain as such until the clock strikes midnight, at which point the body disappears in the blink of an eye; at the corresponding moment, the deceased character appears asleep in their bed at home. Because of the destruction of the revival machine, the respawning process may now take anywhere between an overnight revival and a week, and characters 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.
Transplanting drone organs results in the transplant patient becoming "infected" with drone-hood. The infection starts with the hands and arms: women will find their hands attempting to stitch clothing and bake food against the infectee's will. Men, meanwhile, will find themselves constantly tying and re-tying their own ties and polishing shoes, while kids will find themselves playing with toys or dolls as applicable. The infection soon spreads to the rest of the body; before long, the characters will be droned from the neck down, their bodies refusing to obey their mind's commands. After 12 hours, the infection is complete, leaving the character completely droned.
The droning will continue for another 12 hours, or until the transplanted organ has been removed. If it is not removed within 12 hours, the organ/limb will rip itself out of/off of the character's body and roll/crawl/hop back to its original drone owner.
What do I do when my child character turns 18?
-That's your choice. They can either stop physically aging and remain in a child slot, or they can be moved to an adult slot at some point. If you want to go with the latter, just contact one of the mods.
I have an idea that could shake the very foundations of roleplaying as we know it!
-Please check with the mods before doing anything that affects the roleplay itself, and get permission from anyone before doing something that involves their characters. This is pretty basic stuff, people.
This whole RP seems awfully familiar to that one segment in Fallout 3.
-No it doesn’t. You’re stupid, and also smelly. And that's not even a question.
Is this a horror game?
-It's a game with horror elements. It won't be blood and death and terror all the time, but sometimes it will be. Check the event tag in the main community to get a feel for some of what we've done.
What if I need to go on hiatus?
-Comment here. Please note that you must comment to the hiatus page for your hiatus to count.
What if I need to drop a character?
-We're sad to see them go, but fill out the form here!
What's your policy on non-human characters, and how does it affect their housing?
-We try to be pretty flexible on this! We allow for humanization of non-human but humanoid characters (Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc.), whereby they would be placed into human slots for housing purposes. Their original appearances would constitute a regain; the same goes for any character that is basically human save for slight differences (elf ears, for example). For non-human and non-humanoid characters (talking dogs, cars, sentient houses, animate scones, etc.), humanization is not an option: they would be slotted in a pet slot, with their appearances intact from the start. Drones react to characters according to their slot regardless of their actual appearances, with the pet slot being the exception. If the character in the pet slot is organic and treated as a "pet", drones will always react to them as if they are a dog; otherwise, characters such as sentient houses, cars, or scones will be treated as they are. (Which is to say ignored.)
What's your policy on clones, alternate timelines, or alternate universe characters?
-These are generally handled on a case-by-case basis. We do not accept fanmade AU versions of canon characters; you could not, for example, app an AU Atticus Finch who joined the Space Marines before becoming a magical girl, no matter how many times BF asks to. When it comes to canon alternate versions of existing characters, our goal in evaluating these characters is to ensure that the changes in their background have significantly altered their personality such that they could be considered fully separate from their "original" even if the two were to be together in Mayfield. Essentially, we're looking to avoid having multiple versions of the same character who are so similar that it's nearly impossible to tell them apart. When apping these characters, be sure to include in their personality any traits that set them apart from their original, and if you're not sure whether your character would be appable or not, simply ask the mods.
What about genderswaps, such as Nyotalia?
-Again, fanmade AUs are not acceptable, so unless the genderswap has canon support behind it, it would not be an appable concept. In cases such as Nyotalia, where there is canon support, we will accept the genderswap provided that the existing version of the character is not already in the game. We'll accept one or the other, but not both; again, our goal is to avoid having two characters in the game with the exact same personality, regardless of what's going on in their pants.
Why shouldn't my character drink the milk?
-Do they have a death wish? If not, they probably should not drink the milk. Mayfield's Milkman takes a particularly strange attitude towards his job, and often slips little "surprises" into his daily deliveries of milk. The milk bottles delivered to your character's house may contain such "surprises" as poison, spiders, razorblades, human teeth or eyes, drain cleaner, cyanide gas, broken glass, and occasionally milk several days older than its expiration date. These "surprises" are not constant, however: about 60% of the time, the milk is actually perfectly safe to drink! For reasons why this is the case, please consult this comic.
Is there a sushi restaurant in Mayfield?
-No.
How many characters can I app?
-We don't have a restriction on that! As long as you can consistently meet activity for each of your characters, we don't limit the number of characters you can play. Only two from each canon may be apped, however, in the interest of avoiding playercest.
Someone is giving me a lot of OOC trouble, or their character's behavior is making me uncomfortable. What should I do?
-Come to the mods. There are some OOC conflicts that we don't have the power to resolve, but in general any player whose behavior is making other players uncomfortable needs to be talked to by us at the very least. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment; if you have requested no further contact with a player and they have violated it, they will be banned.
What happens if characters try to divorce or otherwise leave their household?
Any characters who have not spent at least three hours in their household within three days will be droned automatically for 12 hours. Attempting to get a divorce will upset the NPCs involved, but they will reluctantly grant the character's request for the paperwork. Upon having it signed and returned to them, nothing will happen; if asked, the drones will simply say that the paperwork was lost and you'll need to sign it all over again. This process repeats an infinite number of times. The same goes for children who attempt to transfer custody to a different guardian. Essentially, there is no IC way for characters to escape their households.
OOCly, of course, you are free to canon update or to use this post to transfer their living arrangements.
Seriously, just admit this game is based off of Tranquility Lane already.
NO IT ISN'T. SHUT UP. NOBODY LOVES YOU.