∞ FAQ ∞

[cruciblemods]

So we're in space?

Yes! The Crucible is a spacecraft currently traveling through an unknown region of space. Your character will wake up in a cabin with their name on the door, in a ship-issued jumpsuit (please see Mod icon for example; burnt orange is such a lovely color, isn't it?), with a barcode on their left palm. The cabin will looked lived in and, if you'd like, contain a few personal objects that belong to the character; knickknacks, clothing, books, and so on. This can include ONE weapon or pair of matching weapons: Cloud's Buster, Link's Mastersword and Hylian Shield, or Aoshi's double kodachi.

What about magical weapons? Or magic in general?

The rule for this is that if it's not a part of the character's body/mind/spirit/item they have in their pocket, it won't work on the ship. A character from Final Fantasy VII can arrive with a few Materia to their name and the spells in them, but a character from Final Fantasy VIII will have no magic whatsover unless they draw spells from another character. Along that vein, outside helpers can't be brought to the ship, either, except under special circumstances: Yuna wouldn't be able to call Aeons and Naruto wouldn't be able to perform a summoning jutsu. The rule of thumb is that if a character's magic requires something inherent to their world, it won't work on the ship unless under specific conditions, which will be announced when they are in effect.

Magical weapons that are a part of or are 'stored' in a character's body or on their person (or in their hammerspace) can be brought along. For example: Hikaru Shidou's sword, Sora's Keyblade, etc.

Where does my character get everything else, like clothing and food?

They don't call her a luxury ship for nothing. Purchasing a ticket has entitled all characters to use all the facilities on the ship, from entertainment to restaurants to the communication system to room service. A full list of the facilities, what they contain, and how they are used, as well as housing assignments, is in the Locations post. All cabins have access to room and laundry service; need anything in the middle of the night? Call room service! The character's cabin will be periodically cleaned up by laundry bots once a week, though a character can try and get them to stop if they really don't want them throwing off their groove. A character doesn't have to do a thing to earn it! Isn't that nice?

Of course, there are a few kinks that still need to be worked out; at times the facilities may start charging, but charging for what and how is something that's left up to chance.

Okay, so what about this barcode?

The barcode serves as both a ticket and a pass to characters. All ship facilities, from public bathrooms to their own rooms, come equipped with a scanning plate next to the door/merchandise/tampon dispenser. By simply pressing their hand against the pad and telling the computer what they need, they gain access to all the entertainments and resources available on the ship. Abuse of this is, of course, discouraged by security.

You mentioned it lets my character use some kind of communication system...

That would be correct! Journal entries will basically be a means of holographic communication, private or public; what other people will see is your character from a perspective that they choose, either close or far away. They will see everything that a character is doing, as well as a little of the background, and hear everything they say, with occasional background noise. The character will do this via a small Sphere that came with their cabin; simply toss it in the air near their person and it will hover around, recording what it sees and hears. Sphere's can also record and re-play video and sound and come with an array of stored music for your listening pleasure! The appearance of every Sphere reflects the personality of its owner. This means that if your character is a real downer, their Sphere might be a cloud with a sad face! If they're a murderous psychopath, it could very well have knives and chainsaws sticking out of it. Players aren't really required to pick an appearance for their Sphere if they don't wish to. This is just for fun!

The Sphere network can be considered a completely open public forum unless labeled as a locked post; this means characters can see each other talking! This also for threadhopping, provided a player is okay with threadhopping to begin with.

Think of them as super-advanced cellphones that you don't have to charge or pay for. When posting, regular journal entries are viewable on all character's Spheres. To use the ship holograms - which will appear as heads floating in any big, open spaces a la Wizard of Oz and heard by all - please have your character post in the main community. The captain will be communicating with the passengers in this manner for the duration of the voyage.

Additionally! For those characters that are considered 'handicapped' by the ship - as in, they cannot speak to communicate through the system - there is a holographic keypad function that translates typed words into a simulated voice (you get to sound like Stephen Hawking, yay! Or whatever voice type the character chooses to speak through, like the voice feature on your computer). It basically looks like this. However! This is for totally (as in, they are physically instead of by choice) mute characters only!

What was that about security? My character's super powerful! A few robots can't stop him.

But sound can! With the exception of the deaf, Crucible's primary security response is to barrage the brain with sounds of specific frequencies, which will cause pain, disorientation, unconsciousness, or render the character docile. Failing that, the body is the next target; gases will be released into the air to achieve the same effect. So unless your character can cause havoc while running around with their fingers in their ears and holding their breath, security will be keeping the peace. The ship is highly advanced and can adapt to all manner of humanoid physiology, so expect a response should you cause enough trouble.

What this means in terms of the roleplay is that players are allowed to write the ship responding to their fighting or destruction-causing, with mod notification and approval if it affects a large area. For example: if your character breaks their door or punches a hole in a wall, the ship notifying them in a pleasant voice to stop can be written in by you. If your character is blowing up storefronts or setting fires, a mod must be notified and security WILL deal with your character via a mod.

So my character can never use their amazing powers?

Not at all! Fights can happen, things can get roughed up; security's all-seeing eyes aren't EVERYWHERE in the ship and if a fight between two characters needs to be one-on-one and uninterrupted and doesn't damage the ship or endanger other characters, then by all means, beat the crap out of each other! That's why there is a hospital level.

What if they want to use their powers to escape? Can they teleport/fly through space/build a Gundam?

While Gundam-building could be a fun and interesting pastime, the truth is the passengers will now be inexplicably tied to the ship. Teleport or bust out through the windows if you really wish! A moment later the character will be back in their cabin, exactly how they arrived, any damage caused during the escape mysteriously repaired.

What's this hospital like? Does this mean my character will always get patched up and never die?

Unfortunately, no. Injuries, from a scrape on the knee to the rupture of organs, can be taken care of on the hospital level. It's your standard white-walled, clean-smelling operation with holographic novels to read in the waiting room and a staff of one multi-purpose robot to patch characters up and administer medication. Think Star Trek's sickbay, only with a doctor that looks like R2-D2. Serious injuries could require a character staying overnight or longer. Of course, a character has to choose to check in; they can dodge the doctor and seek help from one of the other characters.

BUT death CAN happen on the ship. It is advised, however, to try to avoid playing a character's death until later in the cycle; deaths do not reset until the third month, or the start of the first month. What that means is that if your character dies in the middle of the second month, they can come back at any time during the third month. If they die during the third month, they can come back any time during that month; any characters not revived by the end of the third month will all be revived on the first day of the new cycle, no exceptions. Their condition is up to the player, but these wait periods are mandatory.

Death requires a mod approval and players are asked to use their common sense; having a character dying over and over diminishes the impact of a very serious event, so please don't overuse it!

Huh, cycles? What are you--HOLY TIME PARADOX, BATMAN! I just read the Premise! WTF?!

Now you know Crucible's dark secret! The ship is caught in a timeloop, going through the same three months over and over again, with slight differences each time. The type of events will follow the same pattern: the first month nearly harmless, the second month bordering on dangerous, the third having all hell break loose. Time in-game follows real time; 8 AM in the real world is 8 AM in the game. The game's official TimeZone is CST, but if you live in a zone more than two hours off, you'll want to adjust your character's perception of the time while posting.

What does NOT match up is the exact days of the month. Due to calendar changes and the start date of the game, the 'month' won't match the real time month. Instead, the game will follow the same number of days each cycle. Thirty days from the start of the first month, thirty days from the start of the second month, and then thirty-one days for the third month. The current month and day will be present in the sidebar of all communities when at all possible; players are encouraged to check now and then to keep themselves up-to-date.

As for the conclusion of each cycle, it will follow the same basic pattern as well. During the last three weeks of the third month, restricted levels of the ship will open up to characters; which levels, their condition, and the order they open up in is will change with every cycle. The bridge, however, will always open up, without fail, during the last week of the third month. The captain will always be dead in his chair. From the bridge - and ONLY from the bridge - will characters be able to view what's directly in front of the ship, aka just where they are heading.

That just happens to be into a black hole. The instruments on the bridge are all destroyed and, if characters explored the escape pod bay or the freight dock when they opened earlier in the month, they will know that all the escape pods and smaller craft are gone. Characters can attempt to stop the ship from entering the black hole, but it will happen at the same time, every three months, like clockwork.

Oh man, does this mean they're stuck like that forever? Won't they try to stop it during the next cycle?

Yep, they're stuck. If they weren't, then the RP would be over, now wouldn't it? Additionally, characters might not remember things about the previous cycle when the new one starts. This is up to the players: if you'd like your character to remember everything, only part, or nothing at all of the last cycle, then go right ahead! For convenience, if your character has forgotten events, please note it either in a separate entry for memory loss, or in their first entry after the start of the new cycle.

The only mandatory memory loss is from the last week: characters will not remember that they're heading towards a black hole. They can remember that something REALLY, REALLY bad caused the cycle to start over at the end of the third month, but what, exactly, that thing was will always be forgotten. There IS a way for a character to leave themselves a message for them to find during the next cycle, but how to do that is currently a secret. As for attempts to get back to the bridge before it opens up on its own, security will be doing everything in its power to stop characters from proceeding and the way to reach the bridge will have changed since the start of the cycle, so it's very nearly impossible.

Wait wait wait...I just looked at the rules and it says there's a time limit! What's up with that?

It's exactly what it says: crucible_rpg is a roleplay that has an ending. From March 25, 2009 and onwards, the game entered its second half of it's predetermined lifetime and started working towards it's ultimate end. Now, this doesn't mean that applications are closed just yet! Incoming players just need to understand that this roleplay is not indefinite, nor is it about to be over suddenly. The plot here just happens to have an ending, one which all characters have choices and decisions ahead of them that will effect what kind of ending the game will have. All interested applicants should be aware that what characters do and the choices they make will determine what happens in the game, when it happens, and how.

UPDATE (06/07/2009): APPLICATIONS FOR crucible_rpg ARE NOW PERMANENTLY CLOSED. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR INTEREST.

Alright, what if I have more questions later?

Feel free to post them here! If necessary, that information will be added to the FAQ. This is also an open forum for suggestions!