Rhodos Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rhodosmods) wrote2031-07-28 11:14 am
rhodosmods) wrote2031-07-28 11:14 am
Entry tags:
FAQ
FAQ
•Players must be over 18.
•Treat the other players and the mods kindly and with respect.
•Stay in character.
•Respect the IC/OOC divide. IC actions do not equal OOC opinions.
•Tag content appropriately, warning where necessary.
☞ Is this actually Rhodes, Greece?
Yes and no. Rhodes in Greece is the primary setting inspiration. Rhodos is the Greek name of the island and the main large town on the island. Many of the game setting locations are actually in Rhodes and many reference photos depict Rhodes. People who have visited the island will find many familiar references. That said, this is a horror game, not an interactive travel guide. Liberties will be taken.
☞ What kind of network is there?
Each character receives a smartphone sort of device which can be used for photos, videos, and text. It never needs to be charged and can be used at all times, even in the Nightmare World, though characters may want to keep it turned off or at least silent while in the Nightmare World as it can certainly draw attention. The network has no other applications or usage other than communications between characters. There is no other information on the device, and no external satellite, internet, or radio signals.
☞ What is the technology level?
Aside from the network devices, all technology in town seems to be from the 1990s or earlier. Televisions and radios can be turned on, but they provide mostly static. Occasionally you might imagine that you catch a glimpse of something in the television static. The radio is little better—now and then you can hear scraps of some old folk songs, grainy and faint.
☞ Are there vehicles available? What if my character brings a vehicle in their inventory?
In the city center, there are very few roads that are wide enough for cars, since the medieval old town was built for wagons and carriages at most. Please reference this image showing some cars and the large main roads. Outside of these large main roads, the smaller streets are of variable size, and if you're trying to speed away from a monster down a smaller street, there's a very good chance that the road will narrow suddenly and you'll be losing your side mirrors or getting jammed between stone walls. A few abandoned cars can be found around town that can be hot-wired or siphoned for gas. As of November 1st, Kolona Harbor unlocks and there are many more cars parked around the harbor, quite a few of which have keys hanging from the ignition. The cars that are available are no larger than moderate sedans and a few small and slow delivery vans. There are no motorcycles available, but there are scooters. Unlike the cars, the scooters can fit through the streets of the old town without a problem, but keep in mind that their top speed is 26 mph / 42 km/h, and anything above 15 mph / 24 km/h is dangerous, especially on stone-paved streets that may be slick with rain or blood.
☞ How does the universal translator work?
Everyone now speaks English as fluently as a native and defaults to it without thinking. They can still speak and read any languages they already knew. Official signs around town are in both Greek and English, whereas tourist items are predominantly in English. Illiterate characters will be able to read English but will not be able to write it without lessons or assistance. Hard of hearing characters will find themselves defaulting to American Sign Language (though they can still use any additional languages they know) and other characters will be able to understand their ASL but not able to replicate it (or understand other non-verbal languages) without being taught. Similarly, all characters will be able to read any English braille writing they encounter, but only characters who already know a braille system will be able to write in it without lessons.
☞ Are characters able to keep track of time?
Characters are certainly welcome to try. There are no clocks in town. Timekeeping devices brought with a character will continue to work, but they are completely useless for any amount of time longer than an hour. An hour marked on a watch will "feel" approximately like an hour in real life and you can watch the seconds tick by at what looks like the right speed, but if you look away for what "feels" like fifteen minutes, you may find that the watch marks that three hours have passed--or only three minutes. Even if you diligently re-sync your watch with the sun every day at noon, you will find that even though the day feels like a normal length of day, by sunset your watch will be insisting that it's still 3pm or that it's 8am the next day.
Days can be tracked, and you can even find calendars in town--they're all marked "1996", but no matter how cleverly you try to work out the days, the monthly cycles just don't seem to correctly line up to the calendar days you've tried to work out. Characters will be able to notice the monthly cycles, and they will even be able to track and anticipate that the fog descends every month 20 days after a cycle reset and the nightmare world always starts on the 28th.
Time cannot be tracked in the nightmare world. Watches stop and there is no change between night and day. Time spent in the nightmare world "feels" anywhere between one to seven days, and different people may experience different lengths of time spent there.
☞ What happens upon each month's reset?
On the 1st of each month, the world is "reset" back to the normal world. All monsters and NPCs disappear unless an event states otherwise. All minor wounds healed to scars and moderate wounds half healed (still gonna have to be careful with those stitches or that broken leg), and major wounds stabilized (but body parts still missing or nonfunctional). Damage done to buildings is magically repaired, food in restaurants and supplies in shops are restocked.
☞ Is there a meta-plot?
Not really, no. There is a backstory that spans thousands of years, with plenty to discover about the world of Rhodos and plenty of buried secrets to uncover, and new areas will be unlocked as the game continues, but that's intended to serve as color to make the world a rich place to explore. There's no central puzzle or win condition for the game. Rhodos is a sort of purgatory, and the primary focus is on a character's own sins and fears, so the only win condition is for a character to come to terms with their issues. Aside from that, the game is designed to be ongoing.
☞ What's this about a Manifestation?
Each character has their own personal monster, which represents the character's fears, guilt, trauma, repressed issues, etc. Players create their character's Manifestation as part of the application process, and from then on it is an NPC that each player controls, subject to certain rules. If you're curious about what makes a good Manifestation from a gameplay perspective, you can have a look at these examples from our player base which we think show a great concept and interesting RP potential as well as being clear and straightforward to read:
Manifestations seek to hurt or haunt their character. They do not speak and cannot be reasoned with. They can be tricked, but only in terms of visual or auditory distractions. They cannot be tricked through logic or persuasion or dissuaded in any way with words: their intelligence should be about equivalent with a video game monster, following a set pattern of behaviors but incapable of independent thought. They are less interested in characters that aren't tied to them: it will take any opportunity to attack any player character they encounter, but it will not go out of its way to pursue player characters unrelated to the character it is tied to. Most Manifestations will go out of their way to pursue and harm characters that are important to the character it's tied to, but this is subject to the Manifestation's traits (a self-loathing Manifestation, for example, would have no interest in hurting other characters unless they got in the way, whereas a Manifestation that represents the feeling that a character doesn't deserve love would pursue and try to harm the loved ones of a character even more viciously than they'd try to hunt the character themselves).
A Manifestation can be "resolved" if a character faces their own issues or trauma and emotionally resolves it. A resolved Manifestation dissolves away into dust. If a character resolves their Manifestation, it can only be done as part of the Drop mechanic or if replaced by a new Manifestation that represents some other issue or trauma of the character. Manifestations must be held at least 6 months before being replaced, and resolution or replacement must be approved. This is meant to be a rare occurrence, not every six months. If a first Manifestation is held for less than 9 months, then the second Manifestation must be held for at least 9 months. Conversely, if a first Manifestation is held for more than 9 months, the second Manifestation needs only to be held for at least 6 months, and so on.
☞ How do I resolve a Manifestation?
The specific situations are up to you and your character's time in game, but for the mechanics please check out the Resolutions page and fill out the form there.
☞ What happens if my character dies?
Characters who die in game stay dead until the 1st of the next month, at which point they wake up in the fountain square like they did upon arrival. They keep all memories up to their death. See below for how wounds are handled after death.
☞ How do wounds and healing work?
For the most part, wounds heal at a normal rate. Moderate wounds (things requiring immediate first aid and stitches, broken limbs) and major wounds (missing or nonfunctional body parts) may be healed through regains. When you die, you wake up with all minor wounds healed to scars and moderate wounds half healed (still gonna have to be careful with those stitches or that broken leg), and major wounds stabilized (but body parts still missing or nonfunctional).
☞ What happens if I drop my character?
If you would like to drop a character, you may specify whether they resolve their Manifestation or whether they are subsumed by it. If it is not specified, it is assumed that the character is subsumed. Characters who are swept in the Activity Check cycle are subsumed. This means that they have failed to overcome whatever underlying issues created the Manifestation, and they have gone to some subconscious realm or Hell even worse than this one.
If you think you might re-app your character it is highly recommended that they be subsumed. Subsumed characters may return without penalties in the next app cycle. They retain their memories and their Manifestation and may reclaim their housing, property and such.
Dropped characters who resolve their Manifestation are assumed to go back home or on to some pleasant afterlife. They have dealt with their issues and get to transcend the purgatory state of Rhodos. This makes for a lovely happy ending if you're done with the character or the game, but if you change your mind and re-app a character who dropped on this condition, the re-app process will be more stringent in regards to the Manifestation, regardless of whether the character takes the previous Manifestation or if you replace it with a new one.
☞ What are the activity requirements?
Activity check runs from the 1st to the 5th of each month. It closes at 11:59PM EST (GMT-5) on the 5th. AC is any one of the following combinations:
•Ten log comments from your character (you may combine two or more threads within reason)
•Twenty network/inbox comments from your character (you may combine two or more threads within reason)
•Five log comments from your character (in ONE thread) and ten network/inbox comments from your character (across no more than two threads)
Important note: In Rhodos, a character's first month will be check-in only, regardless of when you arrive during the month. For example, if you arrive September 5th, you will check in for AC October 1st, then you will provide full AC starting November 1st.
☞ Can I use threads from the TDM for activity?
Yes, subject to the same rules as in-game threads.
☞ Is there a date limit on when threads can be used?
Threads can be started during any month, as long as the activity submitted is from the current month and the thread has not been previously used for AC.
☞ Can I take a hiatus?
You can take a hiatus once every three months. For more information see the Hiatus page.
☞ What happens if I don't make AC?
Please post to the Activity Check indicating that you're taking a strike. If you take a strike, you must make double activity in the following month with any one of the following combinations:
•Twenty log comments from your character (you may combine two or more threads within reason)
•Thirty network/inbox comments from your character (you may combine two or more threads within reason)
•Ten log comments from your character (in ONE thread) and twenty network/inbox comments from your character (across no more than two threads)
If you take a strike one month, you cannot hiatus out of AC in the following month.
☞ What happens if I don't reply to the AC post before it closes?
You will be automatically swept from the game.
☞ What characters are appable?
Allowed: Canon or original characters age 16+. Characters who are chronologically younger (artificial intelligence or magically created beings) but who have a mental and physical age of 16.
Not allowed: CRAUs, canon AUs, malleable protagonists, fandom OCs and fanon AUs. You may not play more than one character per canon.
☞ Are multiple versions of the same character allowed?
Multiple versions of characters are allowed as long as there is an appreciable difference in characterization and canon material. At this time multiples of a character are capped at two, but that cap will be raised as the game grows. For example, Loki from the Marvel Cinematic Universe could be apped, and Loki from American Gods could be apped, but then the cap would be met and Loki from Norse Mythology and Loki from Marvel Comics would not be able to be apped until the cap was raised or an existing Loki left. A character such as Sylvie from the Loki Marvel TV series who is a Loki Variant but not "Loki" within her own canon will be considered on a case by case basis.
☞ How are powers and non-human characters handled?
All characters are depowered and humanized upon arrival. Powers and inhuman forms may be acquired through the Regains System. Character sizes are capped at a max height (or length if relevant) of eight feet. Vehicles or animals are capped at a max size equivalent to a large truck, but please keep in mind that most of the game takes place in the medieval town center, and anything larger than a golf cart will only be able to access the fountain square and the castle within the town walls.
☞ How many characters can I play?
One character may be apped per round, up to three. For a fourth character, you must meet double AC that month for your existing characters.
☞ Are there cast/character/player caps?
Right now the cast cap is at five, but that cap may be raised as the game grows. A player cap may be implemented depending on the interest in the game, but right now it's not necessary.
☞ Can I app a character that was played by someone else before me?
Yes. Your version of the character would be treated as a different version than the previous character, and it doesn't matter if their character was resolved or subsumed. You make up your own Manifestation and effectively start from scratch, aside from the possibility of the previous character's CR "recognizing" your character. You are not obligated for your character to have the same Manifestation as a previous player's version of that character.
☞ What kind of content is allowed in the game?
In theory, all content is allowed as long as all players involved are consenting not only to the content but to any reasonable in-character fallout that may occur. Adult content (sex, drugs, violence: anything that would get an R or NC-17 rating slapped on a movie) should be tagged appropriately and under a cut.
Sexual content with NPCs is not allowed. Successful violence against non-combatant NPCs must receive mod approval. Non-sexual violence against combatant NPCs is limited only by character capability (kill as many monster dogs as you want, stick a monster's head on a spike, go wild it's a horror setting) or plot (major monsters, including Manifestations, can only be killed or temporarily banished through specific circumstances provided in certain events).