The Road to Eden: a panfandom RPG

Bestiary

FAQ

Game history

Moderator contact

Housing

Suggestions box

Hiatus

Powers and Restrictions

Game calendar

Communication

Death system

Character arrival

Taken

Applications

Reservations

Rules

World Setting

Premise

December 2011

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:49:44 GMT

Relatively normal wildlife can be found in the wasteland outside; koi-like fish and insects inside the dome.Wildlife outside is scarce, though, and catching sight of thin scavengers or lizards will be the most common occurrence. Vultures, coyotes, scorpions, and geckos will be among the creatures you're most likely to encounter at first.

Special creatures or ones of particular note may be introduced via mod posts as events or world status updates.

The shadows also seem strange, almost like they're alive only out of the corner of your eye in ways that don't seem quite right, perhaps whispering like distant voices at night—but as soon as you directly look they'll appear normal.

For now.

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:33:49 GMT

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:30:46 GMT

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:29:57 GMT

Moderators may be contacted by either using the suggestions box, commenting to the FAQ, or by emailing edenmods@gmail.com with any other concerns.

The moderators are:

Boku: bokunenjin84 (aim), dichrous @ plurk
Cas: tiikyo @ plurk
Folded: snowclawx (aim), skyheron @ plurk

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:13:43 GMT

The only currently livable space for characters is the research facility connected to the biodome they initially wake in. The spaces are small and obviously not meant for more than a place to sleep and do some reading or light work as most of the building is set aside for observation and experimentation.

Living quarters, of which there are eight (8) with bunk beds, are furnished lightly, although there will be occasional personal affects such as photographs of what appear to be family members and journals full of indiscernible writing. You will find limited writing utensils and paper within and simple clothes in the bureaus; jumpsuits, plain shirts and pants, etc.

To claim a room, comment with your character's name and which room they will be staying in, as well as any time they permanently switch rooms. Characters can move around freely between rooms and change roommates at will.

Room 1	Room 2
Room 3	Room 4

Room 5	Room 6
Room 7	Room 8

Numbers are for OOC use only.

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 12:50:25 GMT

Have a suggestion? A comment? Want to propose an event or clarify something about the world environment? Ideas for how to make the game run more smoothly? Comment below.

All comments are screened and will be unscreened upon mod response unless the original poster requests otherwise.

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 12:47:35 GMT

Players may hiatus for up to two weeks. Any longer and they must clear it with the mods in order to not have it count against their activity. Unless under very special extenuating circumstances, players may not use hiatus to skirt activity two months in a row.

To declare hiatus, please copy and paste the following:

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:21:27 GMT

Powers restrictions

All characters upon waking the first time will be human or nearly human. During the application process you may request certain passive powers (heightened night vision, regeneration nerfed to only mildly advanced healing, etc. are examples of initial powers they might retain) they have be kept, but this is subject to mod approval. Powers that allow characters to fly, travel at superhuman speeds, most shapeshifting, or port/warp/or otherwise bend space or time will be either permanently locked or severely restricted.

However, as characters stay in the game (and muns meet activity checks), they will slowly regain their powers. It will take longer for more powerful characters to regain all of their unlockable abilities, and mods will be keeping characters power-balanced based on progression of the game. Certain abilities might be slowly phased back, such as characters that have a regeneration ability starting with only slightly accelerated healing and month by month regaining further speed of recovery. Other ways of controlling character regain may be allowing abilities back earlier, but if they have a canon tax on the character (appetite/fatigue, etc) then the cost of using their powers might have a much greater tax on them at first. Characters that suffer a penalty to counter using a power are more likely to gain said powers faster than those who would suffer no penalty.

At each monthly activity check, players that pass AC will be able to request their character regain a power or further proficiency in a current one. Mods will approve, deny, or modify a request based on the progression of the game and the powers available to that character. As such, weaker characters will likely reach their full or near-full power faster than super-powered characters like shounen protagonists, simply because the latter has that many more abilities to slowly regain.

The regain of powers is meant to be slow, and some characters might never regain their full canon powers. And in fact, muns can pass on regaining powers should they wish to play their character at a weaker or fully human level. The goal of the game is to restrict them to the point where the environment poses a suitable challenge.

As for why your characters seem to have something interfering with their powers, that's for them to uncover.

Humanization

Additionally, nonhuman characters will be humanized to a large degree. Cosmetic remnants of their canon forms such as dog ears, tails, and claws might be acceptable, or you can choose to fully humanize them. Only characters that at least qualify as humanoid and have a primarily human form will be considerable appable, though.

On a related note, players can opt for characters under 18 to be aged up appropriately, but such age-ups will be closely scrutinized and an explanation of the impact you foresee this having on your character and reason for aging them up is requested in the application process. Child characters are allowed, but obviously as the game is horror-survival situations can arise where muns would be more comfortable playing adults. Mentality and suitability still must be proven, and aging up is suggested to only be where the gap is of a few years.

Other restrictions
Characters will find themselves unable to physically kill other characters, at least directly. Should they try to shoot, strangle, stab, or perform any other task where a final movement would result in the death of another, they will find their body refusing to respond. In fact, it will lock up entirely for several moments.

Indirect methods, such as causing "accidents" or poisoning in advance will still succeed.

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 03:59:24 GMT

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:32:33 GMT

The device you wake with is not unlike a wrist watch, with buttons below the flat display screen (full, if small keyboard as opposed to the concept picture to the right). It's easy to take on and off, though extremely hard to have accidentally fall off. It is steamlined and lies flat against your arm, though the screen can be flipped up and towards you.

Comm functions

Video, voice, and text options are possible. Each individual wristcom, once imprinted on a character, has a unique ID other users can assign their name to (this ID is your Scribbld user ID). This number is identical to the one tattooed on the back of your character's neck, and even if they have to obtain another wristcomm later—the new one resets its number to theirs.

The voice and video comm functions more like a radio than a minicomputer. Broadcasts to the network that are not private to other users (multiple users on private or filtering is possible) will broadcast realtime over the comm like a radio message. As such they will hear all network chatter, so please keep this in mind when threading and keep it from getting too chaotic.

Characters may turn their wristcomms off via a power button should they not wish to be disturbed. If they receive a direct/private message while the device is off, a red light will pulsate to get their attention and if it is on their wrist they'll be compulsed to look at it as if they heard something.

Text messages are stored like email and characters can respond at their leisure. Video and voice is treated as realtime and, at the moment, does not appear to be stored anywhere. This means characters are ICly responding in realtime. If they miss something--they miss something because they weren't around their device, it was turned off, etc.

Hacking and programming is possible, but exceedingly difficult even to geniuses at first given the unknown language it seems to operate on.

Other functions

Map: a black grid showing all other active wristcomms within a mile's radius is accessible. They will appear as slowly blinking red dots. It is possible to expand upon this base program once an appropriately skilled character becomes familiar with the devices. Until then it works merely as a waypoint system.

Radio signal: if a character is appropriately (superhuman) sensitive to radio frequencies they might be able to detect something coming from the devices on a regular pulse. Check with mods before presuming they are able to.

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 11:59:17 GMT

All character deaths that come as a direct result of a game event or NPC will result in only one minor complication of mun choosing and no other penalties, nor will they count towards the number of "deaths" in terms of penalties.

Upon death, there will be a three (3) day minimum penalty before resurrection. Characters who die will be unable to apply to regain a power that month.

Characters will also find themselves waking back up in dome just as they had the first time unless otherwise noted.

Also, corpses will remain in-game and all items, save for the wristband communicator, upon a character at death will remain where they were left. Old communicators will become inactive and new ones will imprint upon characters upon reawakening in the dome.

It should also be noted that characters cannot directly kill other characters with their own hands or direct weapons. They will find their body unable to move to make killing blows, though they can still harm. Indirect methods such as causing "accidents" and poisoning will still work, though.

		Complications
		Minor	Moderate	Severe
Death 1	Suffers 1 minor complication for a week.	➔Migraines (at least 3 days) ➔Temporary hair loss ➔Nausea ➔Inability to regulate temperature ➔Severe light sensitivity ➔Joint pains
Death 2-4	Suffers 1 minor and 1 moderate complication for 1-2 weeks.		➔Loss of a sense (touch, taste, sight, etc) ➔Temporary amnesia ➔Temporary loss of one or more powers
Death 5+	Suffers 1 minor or moderate complication for 2 weeks and 1 severe.			➔Permanent loss of a power ➔Permanent loss of a significant memory ➔Loss of all powers for a month

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:35:59 GMT

Whatever you last remembered of your world—falling asleep, or vivid and raw in battle—it's fuzzy. You probably don't even remember the last few seconds, exactly.

All you know, as your eyes blink open, is that there is morning sunlight filtering through a heavy mist. It's soft and yellow; warm from the light and damp from the mist. With it comes just a slight chill from the dew-laden grass you're laying on.

—maybe a little extra chilly; you seem to be naked.

But just to the side of are your clothes, though they remain in the condition they were last in, as well as any immediate possessions you had, though some may be missing. If you remember being injured last, your wounds seem to be gone, though the old scars remain.

There is a device strapped to your wrist. It's almost a little warm to the touch, about the same as your skin. It would seem to be online, connected to something.

The other new addition, though it'll take you some time to notice it, is the series of numbers now tattooed at the back of your neck.

Within minutes, the mist starts to clear more rapidly, and your surroundings become visible. Thick, lush foliage. Tropical. Some are bearing fruit as well; a stream with fish runs nearby.

And overhead there's just a smooth glass dome.

A faint hssh in the distance might catch your attention, and should you follow it you'll find the one exit from the dome. A door that's ajar now that leads into a hall—and the facility beyond. There are no markings... at least none that make sense to you. There would seem to be words on a plaque, but they appear fuzzy or scrubbed out.

Save for one that's engraved clear and hard. This word that, for good or bad, is now the only thing you have to call a home.

This is Eden▒▒ .

Initial possessions:

Wristband communicator
Items allowed during application
A small chip embedded in your central nervous system (back of the neck, under the tattooed numbers), but characters without a superhuman ability to detect that will not notice it.

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:33:07 GMT

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:31:11 GMT

Reservations are currently: CLOSED
Applications are currently: CLOSED

APPLICATIONS WILL OPEN ON - - - - - AT 12:01 EST
APPLICATIONS WILL CLOSE ON - - - - - AT 11:59 EST

So you've read over everything, and you've decided that you want to join the game. Awesome. We're excited that you want to join us!

GUIDELINES

→ Make sure you review the rules, and the FAQ, as well as reserved and taken characters.
→ Recycled applications are allowed, although we do ask for new samples to be freshly-written. Everything must be in your own words. Should we find any plagarized applications, we reserve the right to automatically reject them.
→ Copy the application into a blank e-mail, fill it out, and send it to us at edenmods@gmail.com Please use CHARACTER NAME - SERIES - RESERVED/NON-RESERVED as the subject.
Note: For applications that are specified as reserved: we will compare contact information given in your reserve to the contact information given in your application. No cheating!
→ The mods will contact you as quickly as possible.

Player Name: What do you want us to call you?
Over 18?: We ask that all players be over the age of eighteen (18). Should we discover that you are under that age, we reserve the right to remove any of your corresponding characters from the game without warning. This is soley a precautionary rule; it is not to discriminate against muns under 18.
Player Contact: Your e-mail, Plurk, or AIM.
Personal Journal: A personal Scribbld is required for contacting purposes.
Current Characters: List those characters here, as well as their journals. If this is not applicable, please write "N/A".

Character Name: Your character’s name.
Age: There is no age limit for characters. However, muns are reminded that characters under the age of sixteen (16) will be heavily scrutinized for suitability for the game’s setting. Keep in mind, this is a post-apocalyptic survival-horror game; not all characters will adapt to the environment.
Note: Players do, however, have the option of aging their character up.
How will your character’s age effect them in-game? Answer this question only if you character is going to be aged up. Please provide a thorough explanation (at least one (1) paragraph) as to how the character’s new age will effect them in respect to the game and its setting.
Canon: Your character's canon.
Timeline In Canon: The point in canon from which your character is taken from.

Background: This does not need to be particularly long, and links to canon sources (ie: wiki links) are acceptable. However, we encouraged you to provide your own brief overview of your character’s history, especially if it is relevant to their character’s personality.
Personality: The most important part! Please describe who the character is, and what makes them... them. This section can be as long and wordy (minimum of three (3) paragraphs) as necessary in order to demonstrate how well you know your character.
Abilities and Power-Downs: Describe any special abilities and notes that are unique to the character, and specify which of those powers and special abilities you want your character to arrive with, which ones will be unlocked, and which ones will be permanently locked away. Note: All powers retained upon character arrival will be severely limited, allowing for a gradual return the longer that your character is in the game. While this is entirely at your discretion, we reserve the right to deny certain powers, or ask that they be further limited. See the POWERS AND ABILITIES page for more details regarding power limits.

Sample Posts: Provide a linked sample from a previous game, and/or write a new one. New samples must be written within the game’s setting; this is to demonstrate how well the character may or may not adapt to a wasteland setting in a survivor-horror game.

[First Person]
The character, and how they interact with the Network. This may be a video, text, or audio post. Try to use as little action as possible, and more voice.

[Third Person]
The character, and how they interact with the environment. This is more for how the character feels and thinks -- are they adapting well to losing their powers? Or not at all?

How do you feel this character will fit into the game’s setting? Provide at least one (1) paragraph to answer this question, and explain.
Additional Questions: Questions, comments, good stories, weird relatives, suggestions, concerns? List them here!

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:30:59 GMT

Reservations are currently: CLOSED.

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:16:50 GMT

Rules for Players

►Age Limit - Players must be at least eighteen (18) years of age. This is not to discriminate against younger players, but rather just to cover all of our bases. The game contains a post-apocalyptic, survival-horror premise, and it will have mature themes. If we find out that you are under 18, you will be removed from the game.
► IC & OOC - IC =|= OOC. While we understand that player disputes may arise, we ask that you try to reach a resolution keep it outside of the game. Under no circumstances will any form of harassment will be tolerated. Should a dispute arise , we ask that you try to work it out like adults. If no resolution can be met, please contact one of mods and we will reach one for you.
► God-modding - Will not be tolerated. Yes, we know, this is a given, but it's also obligatory. Do not assume control of another person's character unless explicit permission has been given.
► Info-modding - Will also not be tolerated; see above. Just because you know X-Y-Z doesn't mean your character does; this not only extends to character-info, but upcoming events, world information, so on and so forth.
► Activity Checks - Activity checks will be held once a month, at the end of the month. Any two of the following will count as passing:

► One (1) network post.
► Participation in one (1) log with six (6) or more comments.

► Character Limits and Caps - The character limit, for now, will be at two (2) characters per person, neither of which can be from the same canon. Furthermore, the game itself, for now, is soft-capped to twenty (20) characters. This is likely to increase later. No more than 20% of the cap may be taken up by one canon. During the application review process, liberties may be granted with the cap if applications of extreme merit are received and would be rejected based soley for those reasons.
► Acceptable Characters - Only canon, human/humanoid characters will be accepted. Previous game-canon is not allowed.
► IC Age Limit - There is no hard line, but characters under the age of 16 will be scrutinized for their suitability moreso than those older. There is an option for physically aging characters on arrival, but bear in mind characters will still be the same mental age. Suitability to a horror/survival environment has to be demonstrated with every application, especially for underage characters.

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:15:37 GMT

Immediate Area/Introduction

Characters awake in a miraculously tropical biodome full of tropical plant life, a pond with small koi-like fish, some insect life; nothing larger or more complex. Water is clean and year round various edible fruits and roots can be found. However, it is a stark contrast to the land around. It's connected to an abandoned outpost nestled in the foothills of an arid wasteland.

From the top of the observation tower in the outpost you can see a tall mountain range to the west and a flatter desert to the east. Terrain obscures anything further from sight, although the remains of a dirt road seem to lead from the facility to the southwest. It's hard to say; it's been washed out and disappears entirely shortly if followed. Occasionally you will see the ruined remains of a wall, an abandoned vehicle by the side of the road, or the battered remains of a windmill. There's probably more, but nothing within a day's walk of the facility.

Some shallow lakes are scattered nearby, but the water is questionable at best. Wildlife is extremely scarce at best and plantlife, except for growing up the side of the dome itself, is extremely sparse.

The one thing that might seem a little odd but harmless is how the shadows seem to sometimes move. Nothing direct, nothing recordable. Just out the corner of your eye they might sometimes seem a little not-right, and at night when it's quiet, sometimes a whispering sound at the back of your mind like distant—so very distant—voices.

But nothing is ever there when you look.

Dome

There is very little knowable about the domes, or if there even are any others (and thus--more like you?). The word (phrase?) Eden▒▒ on the plaque by the door leading to the facility inside is your first and one of your only clues. But it does accurately describe the lush vegetation and misty surroundings.

When first waking in the world it's always morning, right as the mist is clearing. In the middle of the night—around midnight—each night that heavy mist will start to fall, and characters trying to stay inside will find themselves in a sleepwalking sort of trance until they've exited the dome, at which point the door seals and locks behind them and they regain their coherency. The door will remain locked until morning, and no one can see inside through the mist.

While within the dome with its clear glass ceiling, you can find all manner of food and water you need to survive. Protein will be in short supply, and if you overfish the pond you'll certainly run out.

Research outpost

At the moment, the only intact building visible is the small research outpost attached to the dome characters find themselves first waking in. The building is made primarily of metal, concrete, and glass. Upon first discovery it will be dusty, rusty, and in various stages of disrepair. [See floorplan]

The living quarters are further expanded under living facilities.

There is also a shared kitchen (a small pantry stocked with a few mostly-edible things that survived who knows how many years--dare you open that can of beans, really) and dining area, as well as two bathrooms. All other rooms in the facility appear to half laboratories, most chemicals and specimens long broken and gone, and some antiquated electronics broken. There is also a library, and stairs up to a round observation tower with broken glass windows that whistle in a wind.

Lights function but are low and flickering, as if running on backup power. At night when the mist starts to gather in the dome all light in the building will dim briefly as well. A gas supply, with tanks out back, allow the stove in the kitchen to run and is what heats the building. Be careful, though--who knows how limited that gas supply is.

It should also be noted there is on-and-off running water for showering and cooking purposes (just don't expect it to be very hot--there would seem to be issue with the hot water heaters somewhere). The dome itself is the most reliable supply. (Toilets are not effected.)

The world is meant to be fully interacted with. If characters are likely to clean, fix, or poke around certain places for certain things--ask a mod how reasonable it is for them to do that or if there's something they might find. There will also be posts to the ooc comm from time to time for volunteer signups for uncovering new hints about the world they're in. If one thing is clear, though, it's that the place they are living now is not one they can continue to stay at without finding further resources.

1

60F | 30F
GAME START

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:15:09 GMT

You are on a world that is not your own.

No matter how extensive your knowledge of other planets, alternate universes, and things great and small in the history of worlds—this one, you have never heard of. You have never seen the language, but it is not like you would ever be able to read any of it; everything seems scrubbed out, or too fuzzy to read.

Everything, except one word: Eden.

And that is where you come in. You find yourself waking up in a biodome one misty morning, naked, save for a communicator strapped to your wrist and a small pile of your belongings laid out for you nearby. You have no idea how you came to be here, and if you or anyone else tries to find the answers--the mist only keeps you from finding out.

Save for others like you, you are all alone. There is only, for now, an arid wasteland, and an abandoned research outpost that looks like it has barely survived a war...

And the Dome.

It is up to you to find out what happened in this abandoned world; to find civilization, if it should exist; to find out how you got here, and if you can ever get home—and to survive.

Survival is the hard part.

If you had powers, no longer have them.

If you stray too long from the Dome, you will find yourself growing steadily more fatigued. Your life is seemingly connected to it, now.

Whatever has brought you here seems to be not quite gone; it lingers in the technology, in your mind, and perhaps even in the very air you breathe.

A civilization disappeared into thin air—almost literally. And it is up to you to uncover its past.

Just watch the shadows.