1920s AU Planning Post: Part Deux
AU EVENT 2011: 1920s NOIR
First, new players! Let me call your attention to the most recent Moon Cycle post. This will help you understand a little of what's going to happen next week. As for this week, your characters are affected in the sense that they will find themselves in 1920s fashion within hours of arriving, if not immediately.
Now, for the event itself. We're now just days away from the upcoming 1920s AU Event, and here is the promised plotting post! Use this post to formulate your character's backgrounds and try to make connections and future CR with other characters.
As a quick reminder, these are the dates to remember:
Event Start: Wednesday, April 20
Event End: Saturday, April 30 [with possible extension if necessary]
Most of this is a repaste from the previous plotting post, however there are some changes, so make sure you reread this again!
As mentioned before, this is the plotting post for the event. use it to create the AU history, family, occupation, etc. for their characters. We're still open to any suggestions with event, including twists to throw at characters and other such things. Just comment under the Questions/Suggestions thread so it won't get lost with all the other comments and we can see it.
To keep things organized, we suggest keeping your character information and ideas to one thread, and allow others to bounce off of your ideas. That is to say, list your characters in one comment.
This is the final AU plotting post, but we'll make a reminder when it comes closer to the event. Even after today and tomorrow, keep checking this post! Some people might not see it until later, and we want everyone to get involved.
Also, we'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of the IRC chatroom that we have. It's actually not that active right now, so this is also some shameless pimping on Laena's part. Anyway, this is going to be a very involved event, so the chatroom may prove useful for those in large groups or want to meet the other players! If you need help, just refer to the IRC Guide. We highly suggest that first time users try entering the chat with Mibbit first, just so you can get a feel of what the chatroom is like.
HAVE FUN, FOLKS, and we look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for this year's AU.
First, new players! Let me call your attention to the most recent Moon Cycle post. This will help you understand a little of what's going to happen next week. As for this week, your characters are affected in the sense that they will find themselves in 1920s fashion within hours of arriving, if not immediately.
Now, for the event itself. We're now just days away from the upcoming 1920s AU Event, and here is the promised plotting post! Use this post to formulate your character's backgrounds and try to make connections and future CR with other characters.
As a quick reminder, these are the dates to remember:
Event Start: Wednesday, April 20
Event End: Saturday, April 30 [with possible extension if necessary]
Most of this is a repaste from the previous plotting post, however there are some changes, so make sure you reread this again!
- So how does this work? Basically, Somarium as a whole will regress to a single point in its history. This time, it will be the equivalent of the Roaring 1920s in the United States. That means that the Jazz Age is in full flourish, with debauchery, gangsters, flappers, women out to prove their equality to men, and free-flowing liquor. But the gangsters will be slightly more sinister than their real-world counterparts. Most will undoubtedly have some involvement with Nightmares and her minions...
- What the heck does this mean for my character? Like last year's AU event, it will be up to you, the player to decide whether or not your character will be consumed by Somarium's apparent time regression. Should your character participate, they will become completely integrated into Somarium's 1920s environment. They will dress in period-appropriate clothes, they will have a new set of memories to suit the environment, and they may even have a Somarium family of their very own. This event is meant to give you a chance for a complete change of pace from your Regularly Scheduled Somarium Game-Playing, so remember above all to have some fun!
- Please do not use this as an excuse to go hog-wild. Even though this is an Alternate Universe event, we must ask that any 'new' backgrounds written for your characters "suit" their canonical backgrounds and experiences. A well-done AU should still retain the same character personality as their canon counterpart, despite differences in history. We won't be very strict about this, so please don't freak out. This is also an opportunity to give your characters things they could never have in their normal lives, so don't be too fearful to experiment.
- Fashion is all the rage...and mandatory. Since this is an AU, the fashion trends of the 1920s will be mandatory. Girls, sorry to say but unless the character is purposefully growing it out, their hair will be cut short. Guys, same deal. This affects both affected and unaffected characters. There is some more leniency with unaffected characters since they aren't considered as "part" of the AU, but 99% they will be forced into the fashion style.
- What if you don't want to AU? Well, your character will simply be able to observe how effin' crazy everyone else is acting. Perhaps they will even question their own knowledge about themselves and the people around them. But they will not be able to ignore that most other people in Somarium have suddenly begun to believe they have lived in this Dream World all their lives. Affected characters may look at unaffected characters a little strangely, but don't worry. They're used to strange visitors dropping in.
- Wait, visitor? What do you mean? For unaffected characters, they will be considered as visitors to Somarium and not actual residents. Think of them as tourists. So keep that in mind when unaffected characters are interacting with affected characters.
- Still "sane." As mentioned before, unaffected characters will remain the same. There should be no changes made to unaffected characters except for dress. They will retain all of their normal memories and experiences and will be able to recognize everyone. (There's a reason why "sane" is in quotes.)
- Powers: Off or On? Read carefully! Only unaffected characters will retain any supernatural abilities they had prior to the AU event. This means that characters who are affected by the AU will not have any of their supernatural abilities. Any special natural skills, such as being an ace marksman or great physical strength, can be kept. But no magic or anything like that from those who are affected. Think of those characters as becoming normal Earthlings.
- Dreamberries. How will they work? Dreamberries still exist and function about the same as they do currently. The only difference is that there is no video communication. So, basically think of the Dreamberries as normal cellphones instead of special smartphones. Also, dreams can still be broadcast over the network, though this may happen less often.
In terms of the period, the Dreamberries are considered "common" devices, so there shouldn't be too much surprise there. - Exchanging the floating mountain for the floating castle. You read that right. For those who are new to the game, before the floating mountain there used to be a floating castle. For the AU event, there will be no floating mountain. In its stead, the floating castle will return. Affected (and unaffected characters who already know about this) will be familiar to those who live in the castle. Please not: characters cannot reach the castle. Even if they used flying powers, they will be repelled back by an angry army of pegasus. There's no getting around them no matter what you do.
- What about military or research personnel? We're still fleshing out those areas, but there is as sign-up thread for those interested in having their characters with Military or Research background.
- Characters WILL retain full memories of AU occurrences when this event ends. Whatever happens in AU, whatever background each character gains, whatever interactions they engage in will be fully remembered by the character at the close of the Alternate Universe. This is generally accepted as mind-bending and maddening, but it also gives each character ample opportunity to reevaluate their current situation and/or become embarrassed at how they carried on in a 1920s speakeasy.
As mentioned before, this is the plotting post for the event. use it to create the AU history, family, occupation, etc. for their characters. We're still open to any suggestions with event, including twists to throw at characters and other such things. Just comment under the Questions/Suggestions thread so it won't get lost with all the other comments and we can see it.
To keep things organized, we suggest keeping your character information and ideas to one thread, and allow others to bounce off of your ideas. That is to say, list your characters in one comment.
This is the final AU plotting post, but we'll make a reminder when it comes closer to the event. Even after today and tomorrow, keep checking this post! Some people might not see it until later, and we want everyone to get involved.
Also, we'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of the IRC chatroom that we have. It's actually not that active right now, so this is also some shameless pimping on Laena's part. Anyway, this is going to be a very involved event, so the chatroom may prove useful for those in large groups or want to meet the other players! If you need help, just refer to the IRC Guide. We highly suggest that first time users try entering the chat with Mibbit first, just so you can get a feel of what the chatroom is like.
HAVE FUN, FOLKS, and we look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for this year's AU.