Omega Out of Character Comm

This is a SUGGESTED list of possible town roles for when you are considering applying for a character. You can have a townie that is already involved in one of these roles or simply keep them in mind for your fandom or OC character if he or she may want to join at a later date. If this is the case, they can just simply inquire with the head of each institution within the gameplay. By no means do you have to


LIBRARY

Simon St. James - Head Librarian/Town Historian
quiet_simon

Assistant Librarians
[OPEN] [OPEN] [OPEN]


POLICE STATION

Henry Browning (NPC) - Deputy Sheriff, now acting Sheriff
omega_npc

On-Duty Officers
[OPEN] [OPEN] [OPEN]
[OPEN] [OPEN] [OPEN]


THE CLINIC

Susan Schmidt (NPC) - Head Nurse
omega_npc

Volunteer Doctors and Nurses
[OPEN] [OPEN] [OPEN]
[OPEN] [OPEN] [OPEN]


THE CHURCH

Father Marty (NPC) - Pastor
omega_npc

Priests
[OPEN] [OPEN] [OPEN]
Nuns
[OPEN] [OPEN] [OPEN]


HIGH SCHOOL

[The principal, vice principal, and most of the teachers left the town, as school was out for the summer and they did not feel their presence was much needed in the town]

Teachers (one per subject)

Lilly Elliot - History
lilly_elliot

[OPEN] [OPEN]
[OPEN] [OPEN] [OPEN]

Quinn Mallory - not exactly a teacher, but he has since taken up in the science labs, so it is likely any visitors would run into him there.
q_ball

Students

(Teenagers make everything more interesting and their presence is encouraged, but please take care to present them as fully rounded characters. We don’t want the town overrun exclusively with jocks or emo kids.)

Clara St. James - currently missing, last heard of trying to get back to Normalville to see her father, Simon
clara_leigh


TOWN HALL

Mim Miller - town clerk, is now keeping track of all of those missing from and new to town
madmadamemim


The "Normal" Bar

Mac McGregor - new head bartender now that the owner has fled town
macattack


Especially for Visitors...
Need a place to rest your head? Pick between one of two prime locations for travelers in Normalville!


THE BED AND BREAKFAST

Run by a glamorous and adorable grandmotherly lady. Cozy rooms, free and delicious breakfast, and a sense of family. Maximum of six rooms occupied at a time.

Current vacancies:
Room 1 [OPEN]
Room 2 [OPEN]
Room 3 [OPEN]
Room 4 [OPEN]
Room 5 [OPEN]
Room 6 [OPEN]


THE MOTEL

Run by a snarky and uncaring teenager, but the rates are cheaper. It's also known for its disreputable clientèle, so it's perfect for the drug deals or sleazy anonymous sex you've been dying to have. Ten rooms available!

Run by Izzy Rinaldi
izzy_bella

Current vacancies:
Room 1 [OPEN]
Room 2 [OPEN]
Room 3 [OPEN]
Room 4: Edie Williams edie_williams
Room 5 [OPEN]
Room 6 [OPEN]
Room 7 [OPEN]
Room 8 [OPEN]
Room 9 [OPEN]
Room 10 [OPEN]







If you have other town roles you would like to suggest, feel free to inquire with the mods and we’ll get them added!

Breakdown of Character Types

There are three types of characters you may choose to play: Townie, Survivor, and Otherworlder.

Townies are usually residents of the town and the characters will tend to know each other and have a specific role in the town already. (If you’re not sure what kind of town role you want your character to have, please consult my list of possible town roles here.) A Townie can also be a visitor to the town for whatever reason, but essentially he or she was in Normalville before the bombs went off. Keep in mind someone who has lived in town his whole life will likely have a very different view of the world than someone coming in from the outside. Townies are OCs.

Survivors can be from anywhere, but for whatever reason, were somewhere in the vicinity of Normalville, PA when the bombs went off, and have been traveling looking for refuge. They will be starting off the game with both an advantage and a handicap: If your character is a survivor, he or she will be given a piece of information about what is going on outside the town that they may choose to share or hide from the other characters. The downside to this is that they will have radiation sickness, the symptoms of which can be found here, so a player will need to play that out and likely spend some time in the clinic. They can enter the town at either end of the route going through the valley, from the north or from the south, where there is a roadblock. This is how their entrance will be played out. Survivors will likely be OCs, but could possibly be a fandom character. (Please see the FAQ for this point.)

The chart for severity levels of radiation sickness and the symptoms are here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_poisoning#Table_of_exposure_levels_and_symptoms

If your Survivor is coming from somewhere close to Normalville, they would experience something in the 0.5 - 3 SV range. If they come from near a major city that has been bombed, we’re looking at something like 4 - 6 SV, so... choose wisely. :)

Otherworlders are fandom characters who, living on alternate worlds, are in the middle of experiencing a catastrophic event that would end their own world. Right as this is happening, a giant cosmic wormhole opens for several seconds, perhaps giving the character a choice of hopping in or accepting his death. The wormhole always empties out very violently into the basement of the town library, where Simon St. James dutifully works. This is how their entrance will be played out. In addition, if in this paralell world the character possesses any supernatural or heightened abilities, the trip through the wormhole may have shorted out some or weakened these abilities. (The true extent of this will be discussed between us mods and the player once you have applied. We think it’ll put a fun twist on things.)


Notes on How the Game Works

1. We're going for something a little different here. If you are familiar with the Dungeons & Dragons system, we’re trying to work off of that. With journals it’s not exactly as specifically itemized as D&D can be, but we want to have a directed game where we put storylines in motion for you and you can run with to your hearts’ content. We also want to give you puzzles and mysteries to unravel. This does not limit you from your own subplots within your own characters, but we do want everyone to actively participate in at least one aspect of the major story arcs we put in place (or at least acknowledge their existence :). Just keep this in mind. If this doesn’t seem like the kind of game you want, do not bother to apply.

2. The focus of this game is not saving the world; the world is gone. The focus is rebuilding and flourishing within the confines of the valley in which Normalville resides. Since this is a dark fantasy type game, keep in mind that you might find yourselves under attack by some... colorful things. Mods will warn you in advance of such an occurrance via the OOC comm at least a week in advance, to give players some time to prepare.

3. The main action of the game will be focused on the town of Normalville, PA. The mods have gone to great pains to make this town and its settings as immersive as possible. Please take the time to familiarize yourself with the map of the town and the general look and layout of the settings.

4. There are both main characters and NPCs set up by the mods that are designed to dispense information in-character. If your character has questions about where things are in the town or any town history, Simon St. James is your man, and he can usually be found in the library during the day time hours. If you need a law man, the police station is staffed by the slightly power-hungry Henry Browning. If you are in need of medical assistance, Susan Schmidt is head nurse at the clinic, and Father at the church could be your spiritual guidance if you want him to. All these insituations are in need of more help if you think your character would want a job here, as well.


Notes on How the Town is Set Up

1. The valley has a microclimate, which means it has its own weather patterns and radioactive contamination does not reach it. Leaving the valley at any point will put you at great risk for radiation poisoning.

2. There is electricity because of windpower but there is a town advisory not to overuse it.

3. If your characters want to write in their journals, the resident techie, Jimmy Jameson (who left the town to look for his family and won’t be returning) set up a townwide blog where anyone can post and comment. The local network he put in place is still up and running, but any actual internet surfing won’t get your character very far.


Any other questions? Feel free to email or ping the mods:
the.omega.mods@gmail.com

On AIM:
Heather - vampire emo kid
Shannon - suomynona kun

THE BIG BAD RULES SECTION

THIS IS A GAME. It is supposed to be fun and awesome and relieve stress, not cause it. If we find you in violation of any of the following rules and guidelines, we will politely ask you not to do it again. If you blatantly do not comply, you will risk expulsion from the game. We as mods deal with too much bullshit in our daily lives to tolerate it here. On the flip side, however, if you have concerns about your own gameplay or those of others, we are extremely approachable people, and would be more than willing to help you out or mediate on your behalf. You can either ping Heather at vampire emo kid or Shannon at suomynonakun, or email us at the.omega.mods@gmail.com.

That being said... These are the rules. If you're not sure why some rules are in place, please make sure you check the FAQ...We're explaining the method to our madness there. If it's not in the FAQ, feel free to contact us to ask, and we'll add it. :)


Rules for Character Application

1. You may now apply for as many characters as you wish, OC and fandom, as long as you don't take on more than you can handle, and allow the mods the right to say no if they don't feel you are keeping up with the characters you already have.

2. Fandom characters must be from the planet earth. They can be from any time, and travel through the wormhole with whatever they have on them at the time.

3. Please no mythical creatures such as vampires or werewolves at this time. This goes for OCs as well as fandom characters.

4. There are currently only two characters allowed per fandom. Check the cast list to see if the fandom you want is still available. This is so we can have a really good, ecclectic mix of people who will all interact with each other, not just their own fandom.

5. Make sure you read the Application FAQ as well before applying.


Post Formatting

1. The start of each posts should be as follows:

Subject Line: [In Progress/Complete] Some Fitting Title
Who: Characters in the Scene
Where: Location of the Scene
When: Timestamp
What: Premise of the Scene

(Body of the scene behind an LJ cut)

For example:

[in progress] Best Laid Plans of Mice and Man
Who: Simon St. James and Mac McGregor
Where: Simon's house
When: June 14
What: Hot gay sex (in Mac's dreams)

(Click here for more steaminess!)

This makes for good organization!

2. When using comments to post, please make each post a new comment, instead of replying to the comment above it. This makes for a nice even flow for the eye to read and the comments don't bunch up on each other.

3. Please put the names of the characters in the tags for the post.
That way if you want to pull up a past thread you were in, you can
pull it up by character name.


ROLEPLAYING RULES AND ETIQUETTE

You should know the drill, but it bears being said so that we’re all on the same page...

1. NO GODMODDING. That means your character is not invincible, and can’t determine the outcome of how their actions affect others either.

2. Proper grammar, please, and write in third person prose when interacting with each other. Journals can be first person. If the character is making a private entry, they must note it as such in the subject line or a cut tag. Otherwise, it is open to be commented on by other characters.

3. This is a dark fantasy end of the world type game. It is 18+ for a reason. We’re in a definitely sinister environment and bad things are bound to happen. Regardless, you are not allowed to play out a scene with someone who is not comfortable with the subject matter. It must be consensual. If anyone is abusing this rule, please contact one of the mods immediately. Also, warnings should be placed on threads with questionable content, just to give us all a heads' up.

Please make sure you read through all of this before applying!


APPLICATION FAQ



Why did you lift the character ban?

Now that we know how many people we've got to start out with, we're more comfortable with the dynamics involved and can give players more freedom to choose who they want to play. Yay!

If I'm a Townie, do I have to be one of the roles on your list?

Nope! Those are just suggestions for the type of characters that might be good to have around town, especially in the instance of an apocalyptic disaster. You should obviously keep in mind what kind of skills your character should have to contribute (or hinder) the cause of keeping the town running.

If I'm apping a Survivor coming from out of town, do I enter the game knowing any special information about what's going on out there?

If you decide to app a Survivor, you will be given some information by the mods about what's going on, which you can choose to relay (or hide) from the other characters. You will also have radiation sickness, which involves vomiting, hair loss, and possibly cancer someday, so decide if it's worth it. :) Keep in mind depending on where your character is hailing from, they may know more or less than other Survivors… not everyone would get the same information. We're keeping everyone on their toes here!

Can I app an Otherworlder who's an OC, but from a fandom realm (i.e. wizard from the Harry Potter universe, but has no relation to any characters in the books)?

Not as of right now. We fear it would make things too confusing, especially considering how specialized the game already is, and that we're just trying to get it off the ground. Perhaps we can reevaluate in the future, but let's just try to stick to completely original characters or existing ones, okay? Thanks!

If we're working with parallel earths here, can I app a character who has always lived on this world, but is an alternate version of his or her fandom persona (i.e. in the DC Universe Bruce Wayne is Batman, but in this one he's just a schmuck named Bruce Wayne)?

No. Because that honestly just makes my brain hurt too much. Sorry.

The PB for my fandom character is already taken by an OC! Does that mean I can't apply for him?

Nope! Just be aware we're going to be playing twinsies and chaos will ensue!

Why is the character application so hardcore?

Because both mods were creative writing majors. We know what is needed for good characters and good roleplaying and will settle for nothing less. Of course that doesn't mean we're not willing to work on developing your characters with you. We're friendly and love writing more than anything. If you want any help with your characters, feel free to ask us!

Why did you ask me to change stuff about my character? I love her the way she is!

Duly noted, but if the mods are asking you to rethink some character aspects, it's just so you can make her the best she can be and fit properly into the town. We would never ask you to change the essence of a character. We just want to offer constructive criticism to ensure YOU know your character well enough to play her realistically and avoid clichés.



GAMEPLAY FAQ

Will characters recognize characters from other worlds that are considered fictional in their own?

That depends on the character doing the recognizing. If you think your character would be familiar with whatever fandom he/she is from, then yes. More obscure fandoms might be harder for some less savvy characters to recognize.

What happens if my character decides to leave the town?

Different things, depending, but most definitely one this: radiation poisoning. There’s really nothing interesting out there at any given point, unless otherwise stated by the mods, and your character will just get sick, or die, depending on how long he’s gone. So you should really just stay in town until otherwise indicated. :) If you have a really good plot-driven reason for your character to leave, please bring it up with the mods and we can arrange for it to be played out.

I have to be gone for awhile. What will happen to my character?

Nothing. We can just say she has locked herself up in her house and no one has seen her lately. A head’s up to the mods that you will be leaving would be greatly appreciated, though, as well as an in-character explanation for your absence upon your return.

So like, why are all these people just appearing from other worlds in the library basement?

The concept we're working off of is this: there are countless universes with countless parallel earths. But some cosmic force has decided it's the end of all of them because everyone has screwed up their world so badly. So all the worthwhile ones are being rerouted to this one world to start over. Maybe it's God. Maybe it's the God of Chaos. Maybe it's just the laws of the universes. Who really knows? The characters in the game sure don't!

Hey, my fandom character I want to app is from Japan and that’s where he was when he fell in the wormhole. All he knows is Japanese. How is he going to communicate with everyone else in the game?

He best be learning English. Or hope someone else shows up to act as an interpretor. Or is really good at charades. The gentle townsfolk of Normalville, PA aren’t all that worldly and the primary language is, as Big Bird in China would say, American.

The mods seem like they’re crazy in control of this game. What gives?

Please don’t think of it so much as “controlling” as “well-guided.” We are truly not against free expression and want your character(s) to have as an immersive experience in Omega as possible. After a decade of experience in various roleplays, I am trying to create a journal-based game I have always wanted to play. Mods in some other games I’ve been in tend to do nothing but act cooler than everyone else, break their own rules, and then disappear without a trace. That is not our aim here. As previously stated, I am trying to bring these kind of games closer to a system like Dungeons and Dragons, where there is someone like a “Dungeon Master” setting things in motion for the players and they get mysteries and puzzles to solve without 100% knowing the outcome beforehand. As previously stated in the game set up info, if this isn't the kind of game you're looking for, you might not want to apply.

Normalville is a retarded name for a town. Can’t you be more original?

Well, I was trying to come up with something poignant and ironic like Rhapsody or something, but then I went on google maps and studied the area in Pennsylvania I wanted to put our fair game’s setting, and lo and behold, Normalville is the name of an ACTUAL town around there. It really doesn’t get more ironic than that. Although it should be noted that the fictional layout of the town is not supposed to resemble the real Normalville, PA in any way, shape or form.


Have a question you don't see answered here? Just ask us, we'll get it on here!