Phantasmal Rift Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
phantasmods) wrote2018-01-17 11:54 am
phantasmods) wrote2018-01-17 11:54 am
GENERAL FAQ
Are non-human characters appable?
Yes! While characters at a particularly non-human scale (very large or very small) may find that the warping of reality around their arrival has adjusted their size, there are not limits on what kinds of beings might fall into a Fissure!
Are OCs/AUs/CRAUs appable?
As a general rule, yes! Mods reserve the right to decline fandom OCs or fandom AUs on a case-by-case basis, but otherwise whatever you want to app is appable!
What if my character is dead at their canonpoint?
App them anyway! Characters who are dead at canonpoint will wake up with fatal wounds healed (though they may still possess other injuries at player discretion). Characters who have a canonical afterlife can also be apped from there. If there are further unusual circumstances regarding your character's death, please feel free to ask a mod!
How many characters can we app?
There is a maximum of three characters per player in Phantasmal Rift! However, please note that there is also a cap of two applications per player per app cycle - so you can app your first and second characters in one cycle, or your second and third, but not all three!
What's the game's spoiler policy?
We ask that players withhold major spoilers for one month after major releases for ongoing or newly released canons. You can still app or canon update within this period, but don't go waving blatant spoilers in other players' faces.
What's the game's 18+ policy? What's the rating?
Roughly, PG 16 to R - while sexual implications are welcome, full out smut or similar scenes are not. We encourage players to utilize fade to black for sexual scenes, as well as scenes of extreme violence.
How do characters enter the game? Are there intro logs?
Characters arrive via Fissures - expeditions typically turn up at least a few lost souls to be brought back to the station. Often, but not always, they are brought back to the station before getting an introduction to what's going on.
OOCly, test drives are based around the same dungeons that PCs enter, and are potentially game canon. They can also usually participate in the last day of the dungeon log (boss battles and so forth). Intro logs take place in the aftermath of the expedition, and are focused on getting the new arrivals settled in as well as letting members of the expedition teams get some rest after all their hard work.
Do characters keep their existing powers?
Yes! Existing powers are not removed or nerfed unless they fit into one of the following categories -
-> Powers that require a connection that only exists in a character's home reality will not work. For example, summoning abilities that rely on contracts to entities in the character's home world will not function.
-> Powers such as time travel or prophecy are not exactly nerfed, but function very erratically on anything more than a day or so in the future.
-> Upon arrival, all characters receive a blanket request to not use any power that could destabilize reality any further than it is. There's nothing forcing them to abide by this request, but... is that really a risk you want to take.
Additionally, characters with powers that have the potential for growth can further their own abilities with AC rewards.
Can we canon update? How does that work?
Sometimes characters, like anything else from a Fissure, will flicker in and out of the reality of the station. When they return, they may find themselves with new memories or even other traits.
OOCly, characters can either be updated while within a Fissure dungeon or while outside it. In either case, they vanish for at least three days and return with their updated memories and statistics. Characters cannot be updated to a different patch of a branching canon or to change events within their canon (unless otherwise noted) but can be updated from canon to CRAU.
My character has an illness or disability! What happens?
Generally speaking, this is left up to player discretion. The station has, or can produce, medication for nearly any condition, and will prioritize medication required for life-threatening ailments. Surgery and magical treatments are also available, but take more time to arrange - characters can typically expect some form of follow-up about possible treatments within their first three days of arrival.
Major disabilities, such as blindness, will be left to character IC discretion - no one is going to force a blind character to suddenly have vision. Likewise, characters with prosthetics can go on using them, get an upgraded version, or have the limb/etc magically reconstructed, at their preference.
Finally, characters with unusual or magical diets - such as a vampire requiring blood - will find that the androids at the station do their best to accommodate such needs with magical substitutes. These are not always perfect, but they're a great deal better than starving.
Are app challenges allowed?
At this time, we are not accepting application or reserve challenges.
Are doubles allowed?
This is handled largely on a case-by-case basis, and we encourage potential players to talk to both the mods and the player of the current version in game!
What's the IC:OOC day ratio?
With the exception of dungeon events, IC:OOC days are 1:1! Fissure time, however, can be very strange, so please check dungeon information posts for more details, as the exact length of dungeon explorations ICly can vary wildly.
A game calendar can be found here.
What's the technology level of the station?
Very high! Keystone Station had the very best technology available when it was built, and the androids have only been working to improve it since then. Of particular note is the biological technology used to provide characters with food, which is essentially molecular 3D printing, and the hologram technology used for many of the interfaces around the station.
Oh, and the androids themselves, of course. There are six androids responsible for running the station, each named after a type of quark. Though they are technically magitek androids, they tend to fall much more to the technology side of the divide (save Charm, their magic expert).
How does magic work in this world?
Magic is a manifestation of intent. While there are various ways of making that intent manifest, it is all ultimately about will. Expending more energy makes it easier to make that will manifest - whether via expending one's bodily reserves of energy (causing exhaustion) or through ritual.
Potentially, the only limits to this magic are what one can imagine, but in practical terms, characters are limited to their own physical energy and willpower reserves. These grow through repeated use.
What's up with the division between magic and technology? What's up with magitek?
Historically, magic and technology were used by two opposed philosophies - think of the divide between Western individualism and Eastern collectivism on Earth and you get something of the idea. The magic-users had a belief that the more effort you put into something, the more worthwhile it was, whereas the technologists had a focus on automating as much as they could in order to free up their minds for more worthwhile pursuits.
The two didn't attempt to truly integrate until after the Fissures became apparent, and more obvious as a problem that neither approach could solve alone. Thus, magitek is incredibly new to the world, and still in very much its infancy.
How do our characters understand each other?
A magical field over the station serves as a sort of translator - while characters will still hear each other speaking in other languages, the intended meaning will overlap what they hear on a conscious level and allow them to understand each other. (Unless, of course, the intent is to not be understood. Magic's like that.)
This also extends into Fissures and on the network! How handy.
How is Activity Check handled? What are AC requirements?
Activity Check is handled entirely through AC Saviour by the mods! No need to fuss with messy calculations and linking threads. (With thanks to the amazing Prof.) AC is handled one week after the intro log (to give new arrivals some points to play with immediately) and does not include the test drive.
To pass activity check, you must have made at least 5 current comments (since the last activity check).
Additionally, every comment earns you one (1) point that you can spend on items and skills at our points page.
How do hiatuses and drops work?
Sometimes items from Fissures phase out of existence for a time. Sometimes that time is forever. This also applies to people pulled out of Fissures.
ICly, your character just... disappears, with a brief burst of magical activity that registers as the same as whatever Fissure they came from when they entered the game. For characters who leave for a hiatus or canon update, this energy persists in such a way that the station's instruments can tell that there's the possibility they could return. For dropped characters, the burst is there and gone.
Yes! While characters at a particularly non-human scale (very large or very small) may find that the warping of reality around their arrival has adjusted their size, there are not limits on what kinds of beings might fall into a Fissure!
Are OCs/AUs/CRAUs appable?
As a general rule, yes! Mods reserve the right to decline fandom OCs or fandom AUs on a case-by-case basis, but otherwise whatever you want to app is appable!
What if my character is dead at their canonpoint?
App them anyway! Characters who are dead at canonpoint will wake up with fatal wounds healed (though they may still possess other injuries at player discretion). Characters who have a canonical afterlife can also be apped from there. If there are further unusual circumstances regarding your character's death, please feel free to ask a mod!
How many characters can we app?
There is a maximum of three characters per player in Phantasmal Rift! However, please note that there is also a cap of two applications per player per app cycle - so you can app your first and second characters in one cycle, or your second and third, but not all three!
What's the game's spoiler policy?
We ask that players withhold major spoilers for one month after major releases for ongoing or newly released canons. You can still app or canon update within this period, but don't go waving blatant spoilers in other players' faces.
What's the game's 18+ policy? What's the rating?
Roughly, PG 16 to R - while sexual implications are welcome, full out smut or similar scenes are not. We encourage players to utilize fade to black for sexual scenes, as well as scenes of extreme violence.
How do characters enter the game? Are there intro logs?
Characters arrive via Fissures - expeditions typically turn up at least a few lost souls to be brought back to the station. Often, but not always, they are brought back to the station before getting an introduction to what's going on.
OOCly, test drives are based around the same dungeons that PCs enter, and are potentially game canon. They can also usually participate in the last day of the dungeon log (boss battles and so forth). Intro logs take place in the aftermath of the expedition, and are focused on getting the new arrivals settled in as well as letting members of the expedition teams get some rest after all their hard work.
Do characters keep their existing powers?
Yes! Existing powers are not removed or nerfed unless they fit into one of the following categories -
-> Powers that require a connection that only exists in a character's home reality will not work. For example, summoning abilities that rely on contracts to entities in the character's home world will not function.
-> Powers such as time travel or prophecy are not exactly nerfed, but function very erratically on anything more than a day or so in the future.
-> Upon arrival, all characters receive a blanket request to not use any power that could destabilize reality any further than it is. There's nothing forcing them to abide by this request, but... is that really a risk you want to take.
Additionally, characters with powers that have the potential for growth can further their own abilities with AC rewards.
Can we canon update? How does that work?
Sometimes characters, like anything else from a Fissure, will flicker in and out of the reality of the station. When they return, they may find themselves with new memories or even other traits.
OOCly, characters can either be updated while within a Fissure dungeon or while outside it. In either case, they vanish for at least three days and return with their updated memories and statistics. Characters cannot be updated to a different patch of a branching canon or to change events within their canon (unless otherwise noted) but can be updated from canon to CRAU.
My character has an illness or disability! What happens?
Generally speaking, this is left up to player discretion. The station has, or can produce, medication for nearly any condition, and will prioritize medication required for life-threatening ailments. Surgery and magical treatments are also available, but take more time to arrange - characters can typically expect some form of follow-up about possible treatments within their first three days of arrival.
Major disabilities, such as blindness, will be left to character IC discretion - no one is going to force a blind character to suddenly have vision. Likewise, characters with prosthetics can go on using them, get an upgraded version, or have the limb/etc magically reconstructed, at their preference.
Finally, characters with unusual or magical diets - such as a vampire requiring blood - will find that the androids at the station do their best to accommodate such needs with magical substitutes. These are not always perfect, but they're a great deal better than starving.
Are app challenges allowed?
At this time, we are not accepting application or reserve challenges.
Are doubles allowed?
This is handled largely on a case-by-case basis, and we encourage potential players to talk to both the mods and the player of the current version in game!
What's the IC:OOC day ratio?
With the exception of dungeon events, IC:OOC days are 1:1! Fissure time, however, can be very strange, so please check dungeon information posts for more details, as the exact length of dungeon explorations ICly can vary wildly.
A game calendar can be found here.
What's the technology level of the station?
Very high! Keystone Station had the very best technology available when it was built, and the androids have only been working to improve it since then. Of particular note is the biological technology used to provide characters with food, which is essentially molecular 3D printing, and the hologram technology used for many of the interfaces around the station.
Oh, and the androids themselves, of course. There are six androids responsible for running the station, each named after a type of quark. Though they are technically magitek androids, they tend to fall much more to the technology side of the divide (save Charm, their magic expert).
How does magic work in this world?
Magic is a manifestation of intent. While there are various ways of making that intent manifest, it is all ultimately about will. Expending more energy makes it easier to make that will manifest - whether via expending one's bodily reserves of energy (causing exhaustion) or through ritual.
Potentially, the only limits to this magic are what one can imagine, but in practical terms, characters are limited to their own physical energy and willpower reserves. These grow through repeated use.
What's up with the division between magic and technology? What's up with magitek?
Historically, magic and technology were used by two opposed philosophies - think of the divide between Western individualism and Eastern collectivism on Earth and you get something of the idea. The magic-users had a belief that the more effort you put into something, the more worthwhile it was, whereas the technologists had a focus on automating as much as they could in order to free up their minds for more worthwhile pursuits.
The two didn't attempt to truly integrate until after the Fissures became apparent, and more obvious as a problem that neither approach could solve alone. Thus, magitek is incredibly new to the world, and still in very much its infancy.
How do our characters understand each other?
A magical field over the station serves as a sort of translator - while characters will still hear each other speaking in other languages, the intended meaning will overlap what they hear on a conscious level and allow them to understand each other. (Unless, of course, the intent is to not be understood. Magic's like that.)
This also extends into Fissures and on the network! How handy.
How is Activity Check handled? What are AC requirements?
Activity Check is handled entirely through AC Saviour by the mods! No need to fuss with messy calculations and linking threads. (With thanks to the amazing Prof.) AC is handled one week after the intro log (to give new arrivals some points to play with immediately) and does not include the test drive.
To pass activity check, you must have made at least 5 current comments (since the last activity check).
Additionally, every comment earns you one (1) point that you can spend on items and skills at our points page.
How do hiatuses and drops work?
Sometimes items from Fissures phase out of existence for a time. Sometimes that time is forever. This also applies to people pulled out of Fissures.
ICly, your character just... disappears, with a brief burst of magical activity that registers as the same as whatever Fissure they came from when they entered the game. For characters who leave for a hiatus or canon update, this energy persists in such a way that the station's instruments can tell that there's the possibility they could return. For dropped characters, the burst is there and gone.
no subject
Coriander Bliss: She actually started out as a normal girl in "our" world who knew nothing about Pokemon until she was contacted in a dream and given a Pokemon partner and a mission from Professor Oak. Later on in the game, she would meet Looker and Zinnia. Even later, they would meet Celebi, and at the climax Arceus himself came to congratulate the team on what they'd accomplished. I can rewrite the canon characters to just mention their professions, since it doesn't matter that much for the plot except for a bit where Cori's boyfriend was able to recognize Looker/Zinnia while they were trying to be undercover. Also, Cori's first Pokemon companion could talk, due to the plot being a reference to Digimon Tamers, so I assume she couldn't be brought along initially, since sentient companions cost more as regains?
Nathaniel Berger: In the backstory of the game, which takes place 10 years after B/W, a group of villains called the God-Hunters came to power and tried to kill all legendary Pokemon, and in some cases succeeded. In game, Nathaniel joined a group called Quan's Hope, which was meant to protect the remaining legendaries and try to resurrect the ones that had been killed. As a result, he has interactions with multiple legendary Pokemon, as well as several Gym Leaders he challenged during downtimes. I'd usually assume that would be fine, but in a few cases he received special battle items from them due to his position, and I'm not sure whether that counts as having a special relationship. He also became the trainer of a resurrected Zapdos, and I was wondering if he'd be allowed to still bring them along if they got transformed into a baby form with limited power.
whoops this is late I'm sorry
Nathaniel: I'll say the same rule here for Zapdos; he can bring the Legendary or a normal team, and must get the other through regains. Interaction with Legendaries is fine, as they're the same as any equivalent godlike NPC in another canon.
As for their PTU system powers, I have no familiarity at all, and would need you to go into more detail!
no subject
She could also use the Pokemon moves Light Screen, Reflect, Lucky Chant, and Safeguard. In PTU, they create a "Blessing" effect that can be activated 3 times by any ally, and can only be used once per battle/Scene. She also knows Sing, Baby-Doll Eyes, Round, Hidden Power (Dark), and Calm Mind, which mostly work as in canon, except Sing can only be used once per battle/Scene, and even if it fails still creates a "drowsiness" effect in enemies. She has resistance against Dark, Psychic, and Ghost moves, and once per battle/Scene can nullify a status effect caused by such a move. Once per battle/Scene she can also heal an adjacent ally of all status effects.
Last, she has musical abilities that allow her to play a song that boosts either attack or defense of allies. If she stays still and doesn't move, she can play both songs at once, but the songs don't stack with themselves and only last for one turn. She also has a Crest marking (yes, her original game was loosely based on Digimon Tamers) that allows her to Mega Evolve her Pokemon.
Nathaniel:
He throws Pokeballs good.To be more precise, he can throw a Pokeball hard enough to hurt an enemy, and at the same time send out any Pokemon inside or make a capture attempt on said enemy if it can be captured. Furthermore, all his Pokemon have the unique ability Pack Hunt, which allows them to get a free attack on any enemy hit by an ally's melee attack. Nathaniel's Pokeball throws count as melee attacks for his Pokemon's Pack Hunt as well.He can designate a target as his Quarry, giving him and his Pokemon an extra edge in accuracy against it. He also has increased accuracy with throwing Pokeballs in general, although this is merely sufficient to offset the increased AC to hit with a Pokeball. He and his Pokemon also deal extra damage against incapacitated or trapped targets, and when ambushing a foe by throwing a Pokeball he can either make an attack that would miss hit or make a hit Flinch the foe.
He knows the moves Leer, Mean Look, Scary Face, and Confide, and can use the first three immediately if he hits a target with a Pokeball. Metaphysically, he is also considered the King of Shepherds, and has a sort of intimidating presence that's especially effective on pack Pokemon, as well as Electric-types.
In General: Pokemon in PTU can have multiple abilities, up to three from leveling up and more from training and such, and PTU has several custom abilities that don't exist in the games. Nathaniel is the only one capable of doing so, though, and in-game fluff actually says that it's actually one of his Pokemon doing that training. However, a lot of times those abilities are nerfed to some degree by lowering the frequency with which they can be activated. Would this be allowed in general, or should I limit it to one ability per Pokemon?
no subject
no subject
Firstly, I have a character who already has magic in her own canon and uses it differently from how you've described above. Will she have to change the way she uses her canon magic in this world?
Secondly, is it possible for characters to learn magic/gain skills during their time here?
no subject
Second: That is literally the entire reason this game exists. (Well okay like 60% of the reason, But Still.) The Points Page has more general information on skillgains.
no subject
Secondly, you can see that I hadn't read about Points yet when I asked my question lmao
Character question
Penric shares his head with a demon (in this setting. a chaos spirit) he named Desdemona. Des has her own personality and memories, but cannot exist physically outside of someone else's head. (Pen gained Des when Des's previous host suffered a fatal heart attack on the road and Penric stopped to render aid to the collapsed elderly priestess. If Des hadn't had a human or animal to jump to when her last host died, she would have dissolved.)
I know games tend to have rules about when sentient companions are allowed. (Des's interactions with others outside of things like gods are limited to the fact that she has to use Pen's voice, and Penric doesn't always disclose that he has a demon riding along. Either way. she can't go anywhere except where Pen's body is. She's also not really app-able without a host, and we only see her previous host briefly, or hear Desdemona's accounts.)
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Is there an age limit on who can be apped? Would a 13 year old be okay?
He's seen some shit, man.In regards to the size 'adjustment' - what if a character can change sizes as one of their abilities? (I'm bad at judging sizes but he's at least ten if not twelve feet tall.)
Can characters find vehicles in the rifts or no? I assume a large vehicle (like this) would be either not findable or require an insane amount of points to get?
no subject
No, just be aware that ICly there may be things that are adult-only (don't bring him to Drinking Games Night etc). There's no age limitation on characters, only on players.
10-12 feet isn't a problem! Size changing is more for character like... Transformers, who can pick up human-sized characters in one hand. Ten feet might bonk their heads on a few doorways, but they'd fit in the station, which is the main concern.
Potentially, yes! But anything larger than a motorcycle would be point-buy-based - they wouldn't find it by default.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Hell on my taken list, but fine.no subject
Would I be allowed to app a character from this au, if I kind of wrote out my own timeline for the AU? (I totally understand if not, I just wanted to ask!)
no subject
no subject
no subject
Thing is, he also has a couple of other things in there besides notebooks and mechanical pencils. Specifically, one repair kit, one sewing kit, and one password protected USB containing a 5 minute anime that will stun anyone who watches it (Thanks, Mitarai.). Is it okay to let him have that on him, or should he have to leave all that stuff at home?
no subject
no subject
no subject
Are test drive meme threads still game canon if the character is only apped and accepted in a subsequent app cycle?
TYIA!
no subject
Test drive threads are only canon for the app cycle in which you apply. This is due to the internal logic of how they work as an arrival method - you can't show up in the world twice!