Gameplay
Premise
It's as simple as daydreaming. One minute you're experiencing your normal life, the next, after only a moment's inattention, you're tugged into a world unlike what you've seen before. All around you is a white plane with a sky filled with clouds in colors like cotton candy, going on and on for as far as you can see. And, as you take in your surroundings, four people greet you. Well, one is a purple unicorn.
But you can leave whenever you want, and return to your normal life. The catch? You don't remember the strange other world while you're in your own, and as soon as your mind starts wandering again--and it will--you will find yourself back, remembering the previous time you spent there.
Your life continues normally when you are in your own world. But when you're inside--you're at the mercy of the rulers of the Collective Imagination.
Coming and Going
Arriving for the first time in the Collective Imagination is simple enough--your character is sleeping, or daydreaming, or otherwise not paying attention to their own world, and they are pulled into the game that way, with no explanation. It's a feeling akin to sliding through a stream of water. From there, they are free to explore all they want.
To leave the Collective Imagination, one simply has to imagine a way home. A door will open, and through it will be their world. New characters, however, will be unable to do this for approximately fifteen minutes as they adjust to the new setting.
As characters cannot remember the Collective Imagination when they are in their own worlds, they will not return until they again drift off, either via a daydream, sleep, or being pulled forcefully in by the NPCs. A character can agree to meet someone at a certain time or arrive in the Collective Imagination at a certain date and have it succeed; if they decide this, it will remain in their minds subconsciously, and they will be pulled into the Collective Imagination at the proper time.
Mindscapes
Each character has their own, unique mindscape that can be accessed through the Collective Imagination via a long line of doors that can be found with a bit of exploration of the Collective Imagination. Imagining their door can also call it to them, once they've been inside once.
At first, the only door that will open is their own, and they will be drawn to it. Once they have accessed their mindscape, they can enter those of others, unless they are locked. A locked door is not a guarantee the mind inside will remain unseen, though it does make things more difficult.
The landscape of a mindscape depends on the state of mind of its owner. Its default state is the default mood, and it can be forced to retain this look with practice, barring particularly strong emotions. It will reflect the tastes, mood, hopes, and imagination of the character.
Mindhacking
Just as the header says, this is hacking into the mind of another character--specifically, the mindscape. This can be done in several ways: if the lock on their door is weak, brute force might even work, although a character is likely to garner a lot of attention attempting to break down a door. Generally, however, hacking requires a stronger use of imagination than the one used to lock the door.
Events
Often the four NPCs will grow tired of simply watching the characters interact and will impose various curses, games, and absurd situations on them. The events vary by NPC, and are voluntary, although if the mods see a character who never takes part in the events it will be brought up. Events generally last one to two weeks.
Character Death
If a character is killed on the Collective Imagination, they will be bounced out of it and unable to return for 24 hours. If they die in their real world, they are trapped in the Collective Imagination, and death leads to them disappearing for 24 hours before they reappear in their mindscape. Please do not kill characters recklessly.
Communities
sidestories - The main community. Most of the roleplaying will take place here, first person comment-spam style. This means something like this:
Words words words. [actions actions actions] Words words. [actions]
sidestorieslogs - If you want to write out a third person log with another character, this is the place to go. Logs are not required for activity, but they count double if you have one: one log = two comment spam threads. Please use this format for your posts:
[Title, Active/Complete, Open/Closed]
Characters: (characters in the thread)
Time: (Either a specific time of day or a link to another thread, as in "after this thread")
Summary: (summarize what's happening/going to happen in your thread)
Warnings: (self-explanatory)
Your post goes here.
[include tags]
When posting in a log, please maintain a posting order. Example: A,B,C,A,B,C. If someone new arrives, adjust the order. Example: A,B,C,A,D,B,C,A,D,B,C.
sidestoriesooc - Out of character discussion takes place here. This includes introductions, both of muns and new characters, polls, plot information, and activity checks. In general, this is an option for communicating with other muns.
sidestoriesmods - The mod account. Used to place game information (you're reading something on the mod account right now) and also for the mods to moderate the communities.
Chatroom
We have an aim chat room, if you're interested. Stop by sidestoriesooc and say hi!
Tags
Posts must have tags, to make things easier to find. There are different systems for the two different communities.
sidestories - Tag your post with the name of the character who makes the thread only.
sidestorieslogs - Tag the post with the name of each character involved in the log.
Character tags must be made by a mod; poke one if it's been a while and yours hasn't been made.
NPCs
Princess Aislanna/"Sparklebutt"
Energetic and imaginative, this unicorn-pegasus-thing (or if you want to get technical, a purple unicorn with a pink mane and tail, silver horn and eyes, shimmery translucent fairy wings, and cat paws) is very much willing to interact with the guests--and mess with them. She treats everything as a toy, which isn't much surprise, as she acts like a five-year-old. She'll fly into tantrums if she doesn't get her way, doesn't quite have a hold on empathy yet, and while she understands people need to eat and sleep, doesn't quite get that people want to eat more than cotton candy and sleep on something other than grass.
CAPTAIN AWESOME
Captain Awesome is a red-blooded American Hero in the classic Superman sense, with blonde hair, blue eyes, a statuesquely tall and muscular build, and ruggedly masculine, mature features. His superhero outfit (and powers) change frequently, but usually take blue and orange as the color theme. He's loud, loves teasing Sparklebutt (and he almost always calls her that, as she hates it), and always wants to be the hero. He loves superheroes and villains, especially when heroes defeat villains, and is quick to label visitors accordingly; villains will be discriminated against.
Macy Scarlett
She's a gorgeous, dreamy teenager, obsessed with romance and stardom (which is a bit difficult given where she is). She loves posing and putting on a show, and thinks true love is right around the corner. If she can be convinced something is for the sake of love, she'll be a willing participant in various schemes. Being a teenage girl though, she is prone to all that this typically implies, including the occasional dose of emo, pettiness, and gossiping.
Donovance
The down-to-earth, sensible one; Donovance is a pale, bald, painfully thin looking young man of about twenty years old, with very pale grey eyes and casual attire. He's the one to go to for actual decent food and lodging, for solving things when the others mess up, and for solid advice. He generally just advises and talks to the guests, as he seems to genuinely be interested in them and enjoy their company, but when he gets fed up, he can unleash a lot of terrible things.
Activity Checks
Once a month there will be an activity check. This is just to make sure you've been playing, and doesn't count for players on hiatus at the time of the check. When an activity check comes up, simply reply to it with the name(s) of your character(s) and a link to the last two posts they've made/the last log they've participated in, with the date included. Examples will be given in the activity check post if you're not certain.
It's as simple as daydreaming. One minute you're experiencing your normal life, the next, after only a moment's inattention, you're tugged into a world unlike what you've seen before. All around you is a white plane with a sky filled with clouds in colors like cotton candy, going on and on for as far as you can see. And, as you take in your surroundings, four people greet you. Well, one is a purple unicorn.
But you can leave whenever you want, and return to your normal life. The catch? You don't remember the strange other world while you're in your own, and as soon as your mind starts wandering again--and it will--you will find yourself back, remembering the previous time you spent there.
Your life continues normally when you are in your own world. But when you're inside--you're at the mercy of the rulers of the Collective Imagination.
Coming and Going
Arriving for the first time in the Collective Imagination is simple enough--your character is sleeping, or daydreaming, or otherwise not paying attention to their own world, and they are pulled into the game that way, with no explanation. It's a feeling akin to sliding through a stream of water. From there, they are free to explore all they want.
To leave the Collective Imagination, one simply has to imagine a way home. A door will open, and through it will be their world. New characters, however, will be unable to do this for approximately fifteen minutes as they adjust to the new setting.
As characters cannot remember the Collective Imagination when they are in their own worlds, they will not return until they again drift off, either via a daydream, sleep, or being pulled forcefully in by the NPCs. A character can agree to meet someone at a certain time or arrive in the Collective Imagination at a certain date and have it succeed; if they decide this, it will remain in their minds subconsciously, and they will be pulled into the Collective Imagination at the proper time.
Mindscapes
Each character has their own, unique mindscape that can be accessed through the Collective Imagination via a long line of doors that can be found with a bit of exploration of the Collective Imagination. Imagining their door can also call it to them, once they've been inside once.
At first, the only door that will open is their own, and they will be drawn to it. Once they have accessed their mindscape, they can enter those of others, unless they are locked. A locked door is not a guarantee the mind inside will remain unseen, though it does make things more difficult.
The landscape of a mindscape depends on the state of mind of its owner. Its default state is the default mood, and it can be forced to retain this look with practice, barring particularly strong emotions. It will reflect the tastes, mood, hopes, and imagination of the character.
Mindhacking
Just as the header says, this is hacking into the mind of another character--specifically, the mindscape. This can be done in several ways: if the lock on their door is weak, brute force might even work, although a character is likely to garner a lot of attention attempting to break down a door. Generally, however, hacking requires a stronger use of imagination than the one used to lock the door.
Events
Often the four NPCs will grow tired of simply watching the characters interact and will impose various curses, games, and absurd situations on them. The events vary by NPC, and are voluntary, although if the mods see a character who never takes part in the events it will be brought up. Events generally last one to two weeks.
Character Death
If a character is killed on the Collective Imagination, they will be bounced out of it and unable to return for 24 hours. If they die in their real world, they are trapped in the Collective Imagination, and death leads to them disappearing for 24 hours before they reappear in their mindscape. Please do not kill characters recklessly.
Communities
sidestories - The main community. Most of the roleplaying will take place here, first person comment-spam style. This means something like this:
Words words words. [actions actions actions] Words words. [actions]
sidestorieslogs - If you want to write out a third person log with another character, this is the place to go. Logs are not required for activity, but they count double if you have one: one log = two comment spam threads. Please use this format for your posts:
[Title, Active/Complete, Open/Closed]
Characters: (characters in the thread)
Time: (Either a specific time of day or a link to another thread, as in "after this thread")
Summary: (summarize what's happening/going to happen in your thread)
Warnings: (self-explanatory)
[include tags]
When posting in a log, please maintain a posting order. Example: A,B,C,A,B,C. If someone new arrives, adjust the order. Example: A,B,C,A,D,B,C,A,D,B,C.
sidestoriesooc - Out of character discussion takes place here. This includes introductions, both of muns and new characters, polls, plot information, and activity checks. In general, this is an option for communicating with other muns.
sidestoriesmods - The mod account. Used to place game information (you're reading something on the mod account right now) and also for the mods to moderate the communities.
Chatroom
We have an aim chat room, if you're interested. Stop by sidestoriesooc and say hi!
Tags
Posts must have tags, to make things easier to find. There are different systems for the two different communities.
sidestories - Tag your post with the name of the character who makes the thread only.
sidestorieslogs - Tag the post with the name of each character involved in the log.
Character tags must be made by a mod; poke one if it's been a while and yours hasn't been made.
NPCs
Princess Aislanna/"Sparklebutt"
Energetic and imaginative, this unicorn-pegasus-thing (or if you want to get technical, a purple unicorn with a pink mane and tail, silver horn and eyes, shimmery translucent fairy wings, and cat paws) is very much willing to interact with the guests--and mess with them. She treats everything as a toy, which isn't much surprise, as she acts like a five-year-old. She'll fly into tantrums if she doesn't get her way, doesn't quite have a hold on empathy yet, and while she understands people need to eat and sleep, doesn't quite get that people want to eat more than cotton candy and sleep on something other than grass.
CAPTAIN AWESOME
Captain Awesome is a red-blooded American Hero in the classic Superman sense, with blonde hair, blue eyes, a statuesquely tall and muscular build, and ruggedly masculine, mature features. His superhero outfit (and powers) change frequently, but usually take blue and orange as the color theme. He's loud, loves teasing Sparklebutt (and he almost always calls her that, as she hates it), and always wants to be the hero. He loves superheroes and villains, especially when heroes defeat villains, and is quick to label visitors accordingly; villains will be discriminated against.
Macy Scarlett
She's a gorgeous, dreamy teenager, obsessed with romance and stardom (which is a bit difficult given where she is). She loves posing and putting on a show, and thinks true love is right around the corner. If she can be convinced something is for the sake of love, she'll be a willing participant in various schemes. Being a teenage girl though, she is prone to all that this typically implies, including the occasional dose of emo, pettiness, and gossiping.
Donovance
The down-to-earth, sensible one; Donovance is a pale, bald, painfully thin looking young man of about twenty years old, with very pale grey eyes and casual attire. He's the one to go to for actual decent food and lodging, for solving things when the others mess up, and for solid advice. He generally just advises and talks to the guests, as he seems to genuinely be interested in them and enjoy their company, but when he gets fed up, he can unleash a lot of terrible things.
Activity Checks
Once a month there will be an activity check. This is just to make sure you've been playing, and doesn't count for players on hiatus at the time of the check. When an activity check comes up, simply reply to it with the name(s) of your character(s) and a link to the last two posts they've made/the last log they've participated in, with the date included. Examples will be given in the activity check post if you're not certain.