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So, in honour of the fact that ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
omg_alchemist is recruiting new members again (which links to the proper advertisement, because it sells things better than I do with my strikethrough asides and randomness), I started writing up a bit of a Beginner's Guide... which, after a while, sort of stopped being one so much as me writing down everything that's ever confused me in the slightest and trying to make it sound like it made sense. So (cough) those of you from the rp on my friendslist: care to look this over? Throw things at me? I have a feeling bits of it start to sound more like rules than... well, whatever I was intending to do. Then it sort of turned into... random. But, I mean, it was me writing it, and that's basically how things go with me anyway.
And since I feel the need to mention this now, though it has very little to do with anything else, the amount of Animorphs canon that I can still recall at a moment's notice sort of scares me...
A Beginner's Guide toomg_alchemist:
So... you've just joined the rp. Or perhaps you're just lurking around, watching usyou stalker. But a few things aren't clear. Or perhaps everything isn't clear. (If that's the case, perhaps the FAQ is a better idea.) I'm not much for seriousness, so anything useful you accidentally pick up from this is your own fault. There's likely a lot of obvious stuff in here. In fact, everything is rather obvious, but you know what? This is for beginners, and as this is not only my only LJ rp, but my only rp at all, I am going to point everything out that has ever crossed my mind as the slightest question. If you wanted OMGA 20100 Omg_alchemist for Advanced Beginners, you should've signed up for that instead.
1) How do I keep up with everyone?
There's always the contact info, of course. Hitting people up over IM is usually the easiest, and there will (hopefully) always be the OOC room, "weroll" on AIM (just invite yourself in). Though we occasionally give the impression of being a large, strange cult, that's not quite the case, and we're nothing if people aren't keeping up with each other.
2) ... I'm irrationally afraid of [insert harmless mun here], how do I IM them for a log?
If I had a dime for every time someone has asked me this... well, I'd have at least ten cents, and that's something. (I get nickels for when it's implied, so I think I'm somewhere near a quarter right now.) This is simple. "Hey, if you're not busy, I was wondering if you wanted to do a log." In fact, I know I wouldn't mind if you just copy-and-pasted that, and I doubt any of the rest of us would, either. There's always the more indirect approach, which I tend to use, which involves all the pleasantries of "Hey, what's up?" and then asking to rp. But that can lead to distraction, since you'll find that we all tend to be nuts in very similar ways.
3) What's with all the plot?
It makes the crack crackier. You try taking people seriously as ponies without laughing.
4) What's up with those universes?
The fun of them is that we don't know either. Major shifts come down from above. Minor shifts started as an excuse when the mun has to be away for a while, and pretty much continue that way. In general, the trick to these appears to be imagining one of your charcter's worst nightmares and throwing them into it... but they are entirely up to you, since some of us are meaner to our pups than others. Additionally, there's the trick of the main IC and OOC universes, which can be switched between naturally as long as the character knows which one they're aiming for, and has a good door (unless they're well-practiced in switching back and forth). Most of the action, though, takes place in the IC universe, for convenience. There's actually a lot on this in some earlier logs (and thereabouts) if you have the patience to wade through them. It's probably an almost unconscious thing for most characters, which mean they end up wherever they need to be without thinking about it much. It's almost entirely possible to ignore the difference between IC and OOC universes, physically, most of the time.
5) Which reminds me... posts? Where are those taking place?
Most of us treat any post to the journal itself as a sort of open note to everyone... Which means most of us don't specify a place they're in, which leads to a sort of void as far as where the comments are taking place. This isn't much of a problem, though, as place rarely matters for them, and if they do, it's easy to anchor them by a quick reference to the surroundings, either in speech or through action--that's the nice thing about not having comments take place anywhere specific. However, a character can, in the post, set out specifically where they are... as long as it's clear, people are good on playing along.
There is another, possibly more reputable, theory that, perhaps, "it has something to do with our RPverse spending too much time developing these completely useless journal-network-thang technology... like a computer that does nothing but LJ. [Powered by] magic, plus some alchemy, plus some more magic." This seems amazingly likely, considering the amount of universal instability likely to be caused by this kind of system. Since this is possibly part of the reason for the broken universes, no one talks about this thing. At all. Ever. It is just there. Possibly until it breaks.
6) How about when?
It's in real time! Except when you look closer and realize that's a lie. Posts take place in real time (at least as far as what day of the week it is), comments take place near that time, or when they're actually posted, unless the character commenting says something that implies otherwise. ("Sorry I'm late", "Happy Belated Birthday", "Did you see that flying moose Wednesday? I think it had a message for you that was due to explode by now.") Logs, since many of us take a bit longer with those, are generally back-dated as far as the "When" category goes, even though time passes normally otherwise. It's all relative.
7) Back to the universes. Any special tricks to alchemy here?
Ah right. As the universe problem is, possibly, a malfunctioning set of Gates to other worlds caused by an unfortunate, infinite cascading reaction that is perhaps taking its power from the universes itself (which could be proven wrong at any time, and replaced with a model involving an infinite number of monkeys pedalling a bicycle backwards on Arrakis), alchemy can be a bit of weird thing. Thankfully, it isn't. It works just like normal alchemy. And, as far as the characters being constantly thrown back and forth between odd universes through these Gates having any effect on things... the short version of the story is that it doesn't. There are a few exceptional cases when certain characters, say, from Germany arrived and saw the Gate on the way. That's up to you. The day-to-day brokenness, however, involves very little Alchemical Mind-Rape. Oh, and apparently in this canon, alchemical ability has to do with an innate ability of the body, as well as the mind. Which finally gives a reason that I like why, even though in my warped version of things, Hughes studied it at one point, he isn't able to do it.
8) What happens to the character when someone drops them?
Generally, they are carted off into an alternate universe. However, a few that weren't actively involved in high-level plots seem to stick around being NPC'd incidentally (Hawkeye, though she's only had a player on-and-off through the history of the rp, seems to always be able to threaten Roy to do his work).
9) How do NPCs work here?
The general, unspoken un-rule is that any character, IC or OOC, likely to be picked up by someone else isn't to be NPC'd, except in completely stereotypical actions. Other than that? Whatever you need. And you can tag other players to NPC for you... I, for one, especially don't mind.I still think my Jack Skellington is one of my proudest achievements.
10) And of course, there are always the day-to-day random questions that don't seem to stick in your mind like:
Where am I?: You Are Here.
Where would I have been at the end of October, 1915?: Over there.
What is the currency?: Cens, which are approximately equal to yen. I think some of us take it into account that it was the 19-teens and deflate it a lot, but there isn't much precedent.
What year is it?: 1916
So that means...: As far as the main IC and OOC!verses are concerned, right now Ed is 17, Al is 16, Hughes is 31, Roy is 30 (and will turn 31 this year if he ever has a birthday), Hawkeye is going to be 27, and the rest is up to you to figure out? This is based on some sort of highly-advanced cobbling of the manga and anime timelines that looks like this... because of... timelines. As far as we're concerned, Elysia was apparently born in 1911, because she's five. I'm not sure how that happened, but it probably has to do with me being bad at math.
When is Elysia's half-birthday?: July 21st
Who has a crush on me?: Everyone.
WTF is happening?: Could be the apocralypse. Could be something else.
11) Oh, and then there are random odds and ends! Just so you know they're there:
-Somewhere in the multiverse, possibly still with Izumi, is the One Ring, as well as a key that opens up a void universe that leads to--among other places--the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
-There are possibly five blue morphing cubes, copy-protected to give their owners (OOCs!Winry, Noah, and Havoc; ICs!Movie!Al and Hughes) the ability to share with three other people.
-Time travel is possible, however, the only known time machine is only accessible at the Restaurant, and it is impossible, in most ways, to change anything in the past.
-An entire society of turtles exists somewhere outside of Central. Mr. Pokeylope, belonging to OOC!Movie!Al, is an emmisary from it.
-ICs Roy, Hughes, and Armstrong still have turtles that may or may not be members of the turtle mafia: Sparky, Misty, and Jerry.
-The members of the turtle mafia that we've met are: Peppino, Cappi, Guilio, Alrigo, and Fabio.
-Central has a slight infestation of Flying Moose, most of which are now cared for by the Royal Amestrian Mounted Police (founded in honour of Cowboy!Hughes, who was slain in the line of duty).
-Incidentally, C!Hughes' hat is still hanging in IC!Hughes' office, while Alchemist!Hughes' watch and Pirate!Hughes' cutlass are with Maes-san.
-It's pronounced "Froy-line"
-There are police call boxes on the streets of Central in case of emergencies... there are not necessarily police there to answer.
-All official documents from OOC!Central Headquarters are in blue in. IC are in black. There is still no extradition treaty, so anyone from the OOC!verse who commits a crime in the IC!verse tends to be able to get away with it (this is not, however, public knowledge).
-There is currently a conflict with Drachma in the North that consists mostly of build-up of border controls, though it may have something to do with trade with Xing as well. Liore, for some reason, appears to have skipped the whole revolt thing.
-Apparently it is possible for one half of a pair of doubles to be able to sense when the other has been seriously injured.
omg_alchemist is recruiting new members again (which links to the proper advertisement, because it sells things better than I do with my strikethrough asides and randomness), I started writing up a bit of a Beginner's Guide... which, after a while, sort of stopped being one so much as me writing down everything that's ever confused me in the slightest and trying to make it sound like it made sense. So (cough) those of you from the rp on my friendslist: care to look this over? Throw things at me? I have a feeling bits of it start to sound more like rules than... well, whatever I was intending to do. Then it sort of turned into... random. But, I mean, it was me writing it, and that's basically how things go with me anyway.A Beginner's Guide to
omg_alchemist:So... you've just joined the rp. Or perhaps you're just lurking around, watching us
1) How do I keep up with everyone?
There's always the contact info, of course. Hitting people up over IM is usually the easiest, and there will (hopefully) always be the OOC room, "weroll" on AIM (just invite yourself in). Though we occasionally give the impression of being a large, strange cult, that's not quite the case, and we're nothing if people aren't keeping up with each other.
2) ... I'm irrationally afraid of [insert harmless mun here], how do I IM them for a log?
If I had a dime for every time someone has asked me this... well, I'd have at least ten cents, and that's something. (I get nickels for when it's implied, so I think I'm somewhere near a quarter right now.) This is simple. "Hey, if you're not busy, I was wondering if you wanted to do a log." In fact, I know I wouldn't mind if you just copy-and-pasted that, and I doubt any of the rest of us would, either. There's always the more indirect approach, which I tend to use, which involves all the pleasantries of "Hey, what's up?" and then asking to rp. But that can lead to distraction, since you'll find that we all tend to be nuts in very similar ways.
3) What's with all the plot?
It makes the crack crackier. You try taking people seriously as ponies without laughing.
4) What's up with those universes?
The fun of them is that we don't know either. Major shifts come down from above. Minor shifts started as an excuse when the mun has to be away for a while, and pretty much continue that way. In general, the trick to these appears to be imagining one of your charcter's worst nightmares and throwing them into it... but they are entirely up to you, since some of us are meaner to our pups than others. Additionally, there's the trick of the main IC and OOC universes, which can be switched between naturally as long as the character knows which one they're aiming for, and has a good door (unless they're well-practiced in switching back and forth). Most of the action, though, takes place in the IC universe, for convenience. There's actually a lot on this in some earlier logs (and thereabouts) if you have the patience to wade through them. It's probably an almost unconscious thing for most characters, which mean they end up wherever they need to be without thinking about it much. It's almost entirely possible to ignore the difference between IC and OOC universes, physically, most of the time.
5) Which reminds me... posts? Where are those taking place?
Most of us treat any post to the journal itself as a sort of open note to everyone... Which means most of us don't specify a place they're in, which leads to a sort of void as far as where the comments are taking place. This isn't much of a problem, though, as place rarely matters for them, and if they do, it's easy to anchor them by a quick reference to the surroundings, either in speech or through action--that's the nice thing about not having comments take place anywhere specific. However, a character can, in the post, set out specifically where they are... as long as it's clear, people are good on playing along.
There is another, possibly more reputable, theory that, perhaps, "it has something to do with our RPverse spending too much time developing these completely useless journal-network-thang technology... like a computer that does nothing but LJ. [Powered by] magic, plus some alchemy, plus some more magic." This seems amazingly likely, considering the amount of universal instability likely to be caused by this kind of system. Since this is possibly part of the reason for the broken universes, no one talks about this thing. At all. Ever. It is just there. Possibly until it breaks.
6) How about when?
It's in real time! Except when you look closer and realize that's a lie. Posts take place in real time (at least as far as what day of the week it is), comments take place near that time, or when they're actually posted, unless the character commenting says something that implies otherwise. ("Sorry I'm late", "Happy Belated Birthday", "Did you see that flying moose Wednesday? I think it had a message for you that was due to explode by now.") Logs, since many of us take a bit longer with those, are generally back-dated as far as the "When" category goes, even though time passes normally otherwise. It's all relative.
7) Back to the universes. Any special tricks to alchemy here?
Ah right. As the universe problem is, possibly, a malfunctioning set of Gates to other worlds caused by an unfortunate, infinite cascading reaction that is perhaps taking its power from the universes itself (which could be proven wrong at any time, and replaced with a model involving an infinite number of monkeys pedalling a bicycle backwards on Arrakis), alchemy can be a bit of weird thing. Thankfully, it isn't. It works just like normal alchemy. And, as far as the characters being constantly thrown back and forth between odd universes through these Gates having any effect on things... the short version of the story is that it doesn't. There are a few exceptional cases when certain characters, say, from Germany arrived and saw the Gate on the way. That's up to you. The day-to-day brokenness, however, involves very little Alchemical Mind-Rape. Oh, and apparently in this canon, alchemical ability has to do with an innate ability of the body, as well as the mind. Which finally gives a reason that I like why, even though in my warped version of things, Hughes studied it at one point, he isn't able to do it.
8) What happens to the character when someone drops them?
Generally, they are carted off into an alternate universe. However, a few that weren't actively involved in high-level plots seem to stick around being NPC'd incidentally (Hawkeye, though she's only had a player on-and-off through the history of the rp, seems to always be able to threaten Roy to do his work).
9) How do NPCs work here?
The general, unspoken un-rule is that any character, IC or OOC, likely to be picked up by someone else isn't to be NPC'd, except in completely stereotypical actions. Other than that? Whatever you need. And you can tag other players to NPC for you... I, for one, especially don't mind.
10) And of course, there are always the day-to-day random questions that don't seem to stick in your mind like:
Where am I?: You Are Here.
Where would I have been at the end of October, 1915?: Over there.
What is the currency?: Cens, which are approximately equal to yen. I think some of us take it into account that it was the 19-teens and deflate it a lot, but there isn't much precedent.
What year is it?: 1916
So that means...: As far as the main IC and OOC!verses are concerned, right now Ed is 17, Al is 16, Hughes is 31, Roy is 30 (and will turn 31 this year if he ever has a birthday), Hawkeye is going to be 27, and the rest is up to you to figure out? This is based on some sort of highly-advanced cobbling of the manga and anime timelines that looks like this... because of... timelines. As far as we're concerned, Elysia was apparently born in 1911, because she's five. I'm not sure how that happened, but it probably has to do with me being bad at math.
When is Elysia's half-birthday?: July 21st
Who has a crush on me?: Everyone.
WTF is happening?: Could be the apocralypse. Could be something else.
11) Oh, and then there are random odds and ends! Just so you know they're there:
-Somewhere in the multiverse, possibly still with Izumi, is the One Ring, as well as a key that opens up a void universe that leads to--among other places--the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
-There are possibly five blue morphing cubes, copy-protected to give their owners (OOCs!Winry, Noah, and Havoc; ICs!Movie!Al and Hughes) the ability to share with three other people.
-Time travel is possible, however, the only known time machine is only accessible at the Restaurant, and it is impossible, in most ways, to change anything in the past.
-An entire society of turtles exists somewhere outside of Central. Mr. Pokeylope, belonging to OOC!Movie!Al, is an emmisary from it.
-ICs Roy, Hughes, and Armstrong still have turtles that may or may not be members of the turtle mafia: Sparky, Misty, and Jerry.
-The members of the turtle mafia that we've met are: Peppino, Cappi, Guilio, Alrigo, and Fabio.
-Central has a slight infestation of Flying Moose, most of which are now cared for by the Royal Amestrian Mounted Police (founded in honour of Cowboy!Hughes, who was slain in the line of duty).
-Incidentally, C!Hughes' hat is still hanging in IC!Hughes' office, while Alchemist!Hughes' watch and Pirate!Hughes' cutlass are with Maes-san.
-It's pronounced "Froy-line"
-There are police call boxes on the streets of Central in case of emergencies... there are not necessarily police there to answer.
-All official documents from OOC!Central Headquarters are in blue in. IC are in black. There is still no extradition treaty, so anyone from the OOC!verse who commits a crime in the IC!verse tends to be able to get away with it (this is not, however, public knowledge).
-There is currently a conflict with Drachma in the North that consists mostly of build-up of border controls, though it may have something to do with trade with Xing as well. Liore, for some reason, appears to have skipped the whole revolt thing.
-Apparently it is possible for one half of a pair of doubles to be able to sense when the other has been seriously injured.
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From:
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Jack Skellington for the win!I tend to think of most of the stuff in the game as perfectly normal by now, and therefore don't even blink at mention of the Turtle Mafia. Somehow I forgot that new players wouldn't understand that one AT ALL. XD;;From:
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It is? When did that happen?
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It's got to be interesting not to be eased in to the idea of the turtle mafia. (-; Or, well, any of the extremely odd things that have slowly become normal in the rp. There's got to be other stuff that I missed, though... I know I was mostly rounding up random details that Hughes had to deal with.
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Now, my 2 cens. Re: number 5.
I've been thinking about this, aaaand thinking about it, and reeeeaally trying to figure out what in the world are these journals as it is a bit of a huge plot hole that no one cares about and I'm content to be a loser. With the already existing time-shift between the RPverse and the Animeverse... I think it has something to do with our RPverse spending too much time developing these completely useless journal-network-thang technology.
Yes. It's like a computer that does nothing but LJ.
*cough* How? Um. Magic, plus some alchemy, plus some more magic.
It works.
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This also explains P!Hughes' facebook profile. Because obviously his universe did the same. Only for facebook.
And somehow he attends the UofC</>.From:
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Ugh, I'm currently annoyed with facebook for disabling my account and not telling me. >: It's dumb. Fixed now, but still dumb.
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It was kinda annoying.
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I think the part I don't understand is where no one's been disabled for being a fictional character. I'm pretty sure those are ineligable for facebook, too... so I definitely had the impression that it wasn't moderated at all... That is rather annoying. (However, given the fact that everyone's been going on lately about how potential employers will check your facebook account, I think from now on I'm going to give my e-mail address as piratehughes on any job application.)
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It is in their ToS. No impersonating blah blah blah. But no one does aaaanything about 'em, because they're pretty freaking funny. Every school has a Jesus, and that's really amusing.
I should probably friend P!Hughes. ;D
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P!Hughes always enjoys
harassinggetting new friends. ^_^