Character Creation and Application FAQ
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CHARACTER LIMITS AND DETERMINING WHAT CHARACTER(S) TO PLAY
What kind of characters can I have?
Can there be more than one of the same character?
Can I play original characters?
How many characters can I have?
What about characters imported from other RP games?
How many characters can I have from a single fandom?
CHARACTER CREATION FAQ
Can my character have mind-reading abilities and other superpowers?
What about playing someone who's dead/terminally ill/disabled?
What if my character is a zombie / vampire / unholy devourer of souls?
Non-humans?
Am I allowed to play a kid?
What about shape-shifting or characters that can duplicate themselves?
What about abilities that let me summon/call forth other creatures?
What about Card Monsters and Battle Card Player characters?
What if my character "hears voices" or is comprised of multiple entities/personalities residing in one body that share/fight over control?
What characters are simply NOT allowed?
Equipment: what can characters bring with them?
Are Cars/Vehicles/Weapons/Giant Robots, etc allowed?
Sidekicks: summon monsters/pets/non-corporeal companions/inanimate items that talk, etc. Can I have them?
APPLICATIONS FAQ
What's the application process?
My application isn't finished. What if someone else jumps in ahead?
My application was rejected. What now?
What happens to characters who have been accepted but haven't begun playing?
How long until I can pick up more characters?
CHARACTER LIMITS AND DETERMINING WHAT CHARACTER(S) TO PLAY
What kind of characters can I have?
Nearly all character types are fine: characters from video games, anime, live action TV, comics, books, etc. To use characters from independent webcomics or other original web content, you need permission from the creators of said content (you may provide a copy of the permission notice in your application). Real people, alive or dead, are never permissible. Neither are religious figures. The only way these may be played is if they are based on an existing and clearly fictionalized story.
Example: while you may not play Ares, god of war and member of the Greek pantheon, you may play Ares as portrayed in the live-action TV show Hercules, or Xena: Warrior Princess, or as portrayed in the Disney movie Hercules, or as portrayed in the God of War video games, or as portrayed in any of various other fictionalized retellings.
Can there be more than one of the same character?
There can, but we take it on a case-by-case basis - the short version is, if your version of the character is sufficiently different to any we already have, it's fine. This could be a character taken from a different point in time (say, Harry Potter from Philosopher's Stone as opposed to Harry Potter from Deathly Hallows), alternate universes, alternate interpretations, alternate versions (say, the manga version versus the anime version), and so forth. However, no single player may have the same character more than once, regardless of how different the versions are.
Can I play original characters?
Yes. Note also that OCs will be scrutinized more carefully than most, both to ensure you have a clear grasp of your character's world, and to avoid Mary Sues/Marty Stus from slipping through the cracks. Your OC may be based on an existing fandom - a member of that world that's not seen in the canon story - or it may be from a world completely of your own creation. Whichever you choose, please pay extra attention to the 'Worldbuilding' section of an OC's application, and link to reference materials when possible.
How many characters can I have?
No more than one to start, but so long as your activity is at a reasonable level (by 'reasonable', we mean two posts or threads within the previous month), you can start to apply for more. You're allowed up to four characters in-game (plus another four in omphalotus_box, which do not need to be app'd). If you've shown you are capable of juggling all four of your characters, you may ask the mods for permission to app more, but these will be judged on a case-by-case scenario.
What about characters imported from other RP games?
They are welcome in Omphalotus.
How many characters can I have from a single fandom?
As many as character limits will allow, with one exception: characters whose stories are closely intertwined cannot be held by the same player. This is intended to curb the temptation to engage in self-cest.
CHARACTER CREATION
Can my character have mind-reading abilities and other superpowers?
Powers are (mostly) not capped. However, you must check permissions first before doing anything to another character, and any large-scale impacts (i.e.: anything that will affect more than three people) must be cleared with the mods first, and you must have permission from anyone directly affected, as well.
Indestructible or over-the-top powerful characters, such as gods, may have their powers capped at the mods' discretion. They'll still have the basic gist of their powers, but they'll be diminished to a more reasonable level (what's considered reasonable will be judged on a case-by-case scenario). You can blame it IC on the random energy fluctuations, or the spores, or on some side-effect of being pulled through the dimensional rift. Abuses of allowed powers may also result in mod intervention and capping of powers, either temporarily or permanently. Again, these are to be judged on a case-by-case scenario.
Large-scale alterations to the structure of the caves - such as causing cave-ins or blasting a hole through the ceiling or wall, or hunting any of the wildlife to extinction - MUST be approved by a mod before it occurs.
No powers that allow a character to outright leave the planet Omphalotus is set in are allowed. No powers that allow a character to summon or contact entities from off-world are allowed. For better or worse, your character is stranded with no apparent way out and no way to phone home.
Mind-reading will be limited to respect the other players' stated Permissions. Even if it is IC for your character to try reading everyone's minds without permission, for the sake of harmony, if a player says "no", the ability will fail (you can blame the energy fluctuations). Persistent IC attempts to read a character that is off-limits may result in migraine headaches for the character doing the reading. If you wish, you may also have your character experience headaches and other discomforts whenever new characters appear in the Cenote, as these are preceded by larger fluctuations that your character may be sensitive to.
In terms or range, even the most powerful psychic characters will be limited by the confines of the cave they are currently in. Topside, they can broadcast or scan across the entire desert, if they so wish, but the walls of the caves act as a natural barrier, preventing a telepathic call from Topside to penetrate below, and even preventing calls placed inside one cavern from successfully reaching into the next.
If you're trying to 'scan' your environments down in the caves, such as with the Force, you'll find only the expected life signatures of the local residents and wildlife, along with a loud mental static that tends to drown out other readings and may lead to headaches if the character is exposed for more than a few minutes at a time. Readings done of the environment Topside will pick up things such as the native fauna and flora, along with the crackle of wild energies in the atmosphere, which can similarly be unpleasant. As with telepathic abilities, attempts to scan in to the caves while standing Topside, or to scan from one cave into another cave, will yield nothing.
Note: We highly discourage scanning while standing inside the Cenote... unless you want your character to risk getting whumped by an energy fluctuation at Point Blank. Such a hit will most likely result in the character's senses being overloaded, and lead to the character blacking out. Even after waking up again, they may continue to experience a lingering headache or ringing in the ears for several hours. How badly your character gets hit is up to you.
What about playing someone who's dead/terminally ill/disabled?
This is fine. Previously-dead characters will find themselves freshly alive again, but slightly drugged up for a few hours and possibly with mushrooms growing out of their nostrils. There's also the option of bringing in a character at the point JUST before they die. Zombies and other Undead characters are acceptable, as well. Disabled characters may be brought in with whatever equipment they normally use to get around. Ill and even terminally-ill characters may find flora and fungus to help keep the symptoms at bay and keep them alive. However, failure to find and use them as regularly as needed will result in death. The good news is, dying in the caves simply means you'll be returned to life within a few hours. The bad news is, your character will be drugged up for the next 24 hours as a result of being revived by the spores and possibly have mushrooms growing out of their nostrils.
What if my character is a zombie / vampire / unholy devourer of souls?
As long as it can communicate with other characters and the player respects other characters' desire to not be killed or maimed, Undead characters are perfectly fine. We've even provided these unique characters with an equally-unique garden: Mushroom Kingdom: Nightmare Fuel Edition. Off in a hidden corner of the Mushroom Kingdom is a region that is a whole lot... darker, both in lighting and in content. Mushrooms that look like vital organs, twisting trees with blood instead of sap, and an endless supply of restless spirits inhabit this region. The strange flora are perfect nutritional replacements for the vital organs they mimic.
Non-humans?
Again, as long as they can communicate, they're alright. Over-sized characters will be shrunk down to human size or so upon arrival, however, to allow them passage through the caves. Sentient animals/aliens/monsters are acceptable, as well. Non-sentient creatures can NPC'd, but not be used as independent characters (see the section on Pets).
Am I allowed to play a kid?
Yes, but keep the following in mind: any scenes of a sexual/drug/alcohol-related nature - whether the under-aged character is a participant or observer - cannot be played out in detail in-game. This extends to any recounting of fantasies, memories, and/or certain dreams. You may imply such events or use a 'fade to black' method. You may also play out the scene in a private journal and link back to the in-game thread, but please warn appropriately so readers know what to expect if they click the link.
In order for your character to participate in any graphic sexual or drug/alcohol-related content in-game, they MUST be 18 or over, both mentally and physically. Because there may be characters that have either a child's mind trapped in an adult body, or an adult's mind trapped in a child's body, please use the lower of the two numbers (mental age vs physical age) to determine participation. For non-human characters, the minimum age for participation must be appropriate to whatever dictates adulthood for that character's species.
What about shape-shifting or characters that can duplicate themselves?
Allowed, with certain provisos:
For shape-shifters, please provide us a detailed physical description on your app for each form your character can assume. If your character's abilities and/or weaknesses change with each form, please detail that, too. If it's a free-changing character, clearly you can't list everything, but please describe for us what form(s) they are most likely to assume, and if there are any overall limitations to their shape-shifting abilities (for example: "they take on the strengths and weaknesses of the person/species they mimic" or "they can't mimic certain surfaces" or "they can only mimic inanimate things" or "whatever forms they assume will have the following traits in common: -list").
For characters that can make duplicates of themselves, you're limited to no more than half a dozen copies at a time, and you can only hold that many for half an hour. If you have fewer copies, you can hold them for longer; say, 3 copies will last you a full hour. IC, you can blame either the energy fluctuations or the process that brought them to Ompha.
What about abilities that let me summon/call forth other creatures?
Allowed, but only one summon creature per journal, and you must choose between a summon OR a pet/other sidekick. Sentient vs non-sentient summon creatures require slightly different treatment, as well.
Non-sentient summon creatures fall under the category of 'Pets', and therefore may be NPC'd. Your character is allowed to bring only one summon creature at the time of arrival, and you MUST give us a detailed description of its abilities, appearance, and general disposition in your application form. Basically, follow the guidelines for pets and other sidekicks.
Most sentient summon creatures, however, will require their own, unique character journal and application, separate from their masters. The sole exception to having a separate journal is when the creature is sentient but incapable of either manifesting or interacting with the outside world without its summoner, in which case you may use the same journal for both. In instances such as these, give both master and creature their own Appearance, Personality, Strengths/Skills/Abilities, and Weaknesses/Limitations sections, and provide information as to their backgrounds. The only sections that master and creature should share in most cases are Samples and Worldbuilding (and if they're from different realms/planets/etc, even that must include separate mention of their respective homes).
Note: While you can't bring in more than one pet, summon monster, or similar creature, there is nothing stopping you from befriending other creatures in-game and 'recruiting' them. Do not attempt to 'capture' another player's character without consulting them, however, and always leave the other player an opt-out clause. You cannot NPC someone else's character, of course, so the other player retains full control over his/her creature.
What about Card Monsters and Battle Card Player characters?
Your character may either be a card monster (sentient) or a user of a non-sentient card monster.
If you are playing a sentient card monster that has somehow stepped out of its card and become real, treat it as an original character and app accordingly.
Characters that simply use card monsters may NPC the monsters. These characters are allowed to have their full deck as part of their equipment, therefore having all card monsters available to them, alongside their land/terrain cards, spell/ability cards, item cards, and whatever else your character uses for their gear. However, please include a list of all the cards your character has and a brief synopsis of what they all do, when detailing your equipment (you can simply link to wiki and other sources, if you prefer).
Note: The caveat is that your card monsters cannot directly affect the physical world. The only place in Omphalotus where cards can spring to life is within the Room of Illusions. There, you may even have full-out card battles, if you so desire.
What if my character 'hears voices' or is comprised of multiple entities/personalities residing in one body that share/fight over control?
Because they're all sharing one body, please keep them as one journal. However, in your app, please detail very clearly how these characters work both together and as separate units: do their abilities change depending on who's in charge, do they share memories or awareness, how do they relate to each other, how do they handle sharing control of one body, etc. If their appearance changes when they switch from one personality to another, please describe each form in detail.
All personalities/entities must have their own Appearance, Personality, Strengths/Skills/Abilities, and Weaknesses/Limitations sections, and provide information as to their background. The only app sections that these entities should share, in most cases, are Samples and Worldbuilding (and if they're from different realms/planets/etc, even that must include separate mention of their respective homes).
What characters are simply NOT allowed?
Real people and religious icons/deities, unless you're playing a clearly fictionalized version, as characterized in an existing publication.
Equipment: what can characters bring with them?
Any character-specific inanimate gear, including weapons, special items, vehicles, etc, is fine, provided it can be carried on their person or ridden in. However, some 'modifications' may be required:
Any weapon capable of massive damage (multiple kills, explosions bigger than a single stick of TNT, etc) will be powered down, meaning energy weapons won't operate at full blast, machine guns will jam frequently, nuclear devices will find their power source magically depleted, etc.
Furthermore, any scanning or broadcasting device inside the caves will have a limited range (the confines of the current cavern or tunnel), beyond which they will only pick up static. No scanning or broadcasting equipment of any sort may breech the walls of the underground caves, whether you're Topside and trying to scan or broadcast into the caves, or even inside one cavern and trying to broadcast or scan into the next one. Needless to say, phones and Internet are moot, as even if you could launch a communications satellite into space, you'd get no reception underground. (Note that the range on these devices returns to normal once you're outside in Topside -- you just can't aim them down and expect the signals to pierce the walls into the caves.)
As for other equipment, any vehicles, magical, talking items, and battle cards, are subject to very specific guidelines in order to be allowed in-game.
Are Cars/Vehicles/Weapons/Giant Robots, etc, allowed?
If your character has a car, spaceship, boat, giant mecha (which counts as a vehicle), etc, these can be brought in, but, they will be scaled down to 'fun-size': whatever is the biggest dimension on your vehicle will now be no longer than 18 inches (about knee-high, for most characters). This means vehicles are now approximately scaled for an action figure or a Smurf pilot (or smaller, for very large ships). The good news is, there's a mushroom for that, too: growing randomly through the caves in a unique cluster of purple mushrooms with grow side-by-side, one being tall and thin, the other short and stout, but otherwise of identical color and texture. Eat the right amount, and you can fit right in that cockpit/driver's seat. Of course, any miniaturized weapons won't be as powerful, and vehicle speed and overall usefulness in certain terrains/inclement weather will be compromised, but you can still have fun zipping around and racing other mini-vehicles and the such. However, don't challenge anything much bigger than your mech and realistically expect to win.
Furthermore, no gasoline/batteries/electricity/etc are to be found inside the caves, so keep that in mind if your vehicle/weapon needs fuel or recharging. There IS a mushroom in the caves called a Russian Glowcap, which can provide a small charge (enough for a couple AA batteries). For anything bigger, you might need to catch strap some live eels from the lake to your engine, or otherwise McGuyver a replacement power source. Otherwise, we hope your vehicle's solar-powered.
Sidekicks: pets/non-corporeal sidekicks/inanimate items that talk, etc. Can I have them?
Yes, with some provisos: you may only bring ONE. Choose between a 'pet', a 'non-corporeal sidekick' (this includes Summon Monsters), OR a 'talking item', which your character will have with them at the time they're brought into Omphalotus. Also, because the tunnels that connect the caves are rather small, anything much bigger than a horse will get shrunken down to fit through.
Sentient pets are not allowed as part of the character's gear. If it can hold a conversation, it's sentient and therefore needs to have its own character journal and be app'd separately. If it can't say more than parroted phrases or gibberish, it's considered non-sentient, and can be brought in as a pet.
Sentient talking items and non-corporeal sidekicks can be NPC'd if and only if they are not autonomous enough to have significant effect on the physical world. If it can't move by itself, or communicate with others, or interact much with the environment, then it can be part of the character's gear. For all sentient gear and sidekicks, we need details on the application regarding what they are, what they do, how they communicate, their physical limitations, and what their personality is like.
You can choose to make a sentient summon-type monster that can function separately from its summoner, or a sentient item given autonomy, but these typically need to be app'd on their own. Sentient and autonomous creatures of any sort must be app'd and approved (please see the sections on "Original Characters", and "Summon Creatures" to help determine which best applies to you.)
You can also find pets among the wildlife of Omphalotus, or even team up with player-controlled creatures.
Native Omphalotus animals that you find and try to befriend can't be shrunken down. If they're too big to fit through the tunnels, then that's the end of that.
APPLICATIONS FAQ
What's the application process?
Fill out the application form on the Submit Applications page and post it to a journal, then link it to us either in a comment on the applications page above, or via e-mail to omphamods@gmail.com. The mods will look over it, approve the ones to be accepted, and go over the application areas that need to be improved with those that aren't quite ready for acceptance, yet. We will let you know with either a comment reply or e-mail reply, depending on how the app was sent.
We ask that you please make a comment on the Reserved Characters post before you submit an app; posts to the applications page are screened, so commenting to the Reserves is the only way to let someone else know you're working on an app. Should a case ever occur where an app and a reserve for the same character spot are submitted by different people at the same time, the finished app gets priority. Otherwise, first-come, first-served. While an app is being looked over, the character spot is assumed to be on Hold (we will make a note on the Reserves page).
If you have a character that requires more complex outlining, such as original characters, shape-shifters, multiple-personality characters, battle card monsters and brawlers, Summoner or Trainer-type characters, or if you have a pet, a vehicle, giant robot, or Weapon of Mass Destruction that you're bringing with you, your app may have special requirements, so pay attention to the unique set of criteria for those. For all others, just link to reference sources whenever possible, as we mods simply cannot be savvy to all shows/manga/comics/books/movies/etc.
An Approved notice will have specific instructions, but for your reference, here's the rundown of what it will ask you to do:
1) add the permissions post and contact post to the character journal, 2) join or ask to join all four comms (_ooc membership is automatic, and a mod will be by shortly to accept your request to _hmd, _rp, and _logs), 3) once able, make an HMD post in omphalotus_hmd (or add your new character's Permissions and Profile links to an existing HMD post by one of your other characters) and tag accordingly, 4) once able, comment to the Player Contact and Taken Characters posts, so we can add you to the list, and 5) reply back to the Approved notice comment (with your new character's journal) to let us know everything has been done. Be advised, there IS a time frame in which to get everything done, once you're approved.
A Denied or Decision Pending notice will be followed-up by details of what changes we need to see in order to approve the application. Which message you get depends on A) how many changes we need to see and B) if this is your third submission for the same app (an app that's not ready to be accepted by the third resubmission cannot be app'd by that player again).
You're also encouraged (but not required) to make an intro post in omphalotus_ooc. If you're a new player, this gives other players a chance to say hi, or just to let everyone know we have new characters, so anybody interested will be on the lookout.
My application isn't finished. What if someone else jumps in ahead?
You can reserve any character you want, but only put one on Hold at a time. Reserves are only held for seven days, so make sure you're actually eligible to apply for another in the first place, and that the maximum number of spots for that character hasn't already been met. The Reserves page can be found here. Once your reservation period runs out, if your app isn't finished, you can ask for ONE extension. However, if an app or Reserve for the same character is requested in the time between your own reserve expiring and your request for extension being submitted, you will have to wait your turn.
My application was rejected. What now?
The mods will work with you to make improvements so you can get in the game. We don't like rejecting applications, and we're more than willing to tell you what needs to be adjusted. After you've made your adjustments, you are welcome to reapply up to two more times. But, if it's not ready to be approved by the third submission, then we'll have to ask you to stop app'ing for this particular character, at least for the time being.
What happens to characters who have been accepted but haven't actually entered the game?
The mods understand that real life happens and sometimes things can be delayed, however, we can't place unused characters stay on Hold indefinitely. Therefore, after initial acceptance, players have one week to make a character journal and post the profile and permissions posts, and then another week after being accepted to request membership and make an HMD post. If those time limits are not met, then the character will be released back in to the wild for anyone to pick up, and you'll have to resubmit your application.
How long until I can pick up more characters?
So long as your activity is sufficient for the past month, you can pick up a new character whenever you want.
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