Astral Apartments
(please ignore the cut off title of the thread)
The building that is now Astral Apartments presumably held much more grandeur before becoming an apartment building, but in its conversion to a residency became run-down and badly battered.. With that said, it is rumored to have been host to some... Interesting events, once upon a time.(please ignore the cut off title of the thread)
With that said, most of the residents hold no knowledge of those rumours, or at least willfully ignore it. However, regardless of what other reasons they may have, all of them share a single factor in their decision to live in Astral Apartments;
The rent is dirt cheap.
However, the building still holds traces of its past, and a handful of individuals are out to exploit it... But Astral Apartments seems to have switched its old secrets for new ones, and as the residents are soon to find out, none of their neighbours are quite as normal as they thought they were.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Welcome to Astral Apartments. The rent is cheap, the pipes are faulty and occasionally the creaking when you step on the floorboards are so loud you're worried it'll break from beneath you, but it never does. With that said, enjoy your stay!
This roleplay is an experimental attempt at a mechanic that I had described [link=[URL='https://escaperestart.com/forum/threads/a-roleplay-idea.21064/]in']https://escaperestart.com/forum/threads/a-roleplay-idea.21064/[/URL]] in a previous thread[/link]; that is, players who sign up are given a background and possibly skillsets or inventory to work with, rather than have them make an entire character by themself. I tried to make each role open and vague enough that there's a wide range of allowance in changing or adding to what is given as well as freedom in characterization, but some of what you get is set in stone and cannot be changed. Some people also get a better deal than others in receiving their role. (Sorry about that.)
Here's what you'll need to know of the set-up;
What's Going to Happen In-Story
When the roleplay starts, it'll be starting at around a period of midday to evening. This period of time will be used so that characters are able to establish a dynamic between each other that they can work off of later on. This will probably last around five to ten pages.
When the night starts, that's when the antagonists come in. They wreck everything, banter with your characters and then they'll send the apartment to the astral plane to find what they're looking for. Now all of you are stuck there, and have to work together to defeat the villains and return to the mortal realm. Unfortunately, the layout of the apartment and the tunnels beneath it got warped in its move to the astral plane, so no one knows what's where. Good luck!
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Handing Out The Roles
The roles with their backgrounds and initial inventory are, indeed, given out. However, as they are simplified, lots of liberties can be taken with characterization, appearances and the like, so you will still have to essentially make your character using what traits I set for you and your own imagination.
Most of the roles come with special abilities that cannot be changed due to their connection to your role. I may also, however, recommend some other skills based on your background, though they are not required. Some of the special abilities come with heavy limitations and use the Luck of The Draw mechanic described below because they would be to overpowered otherwise.
Due to the importance of the most of the inventory items I give out, you are not allowed to opt out of owning whatever you are given. You may, however, add different items to your inventory. Some of those inventory items also use Luck of the Draw.
I will have the final say on any decisions you make with your character, however, so they aren't overpowered or have too much stuff on their hands than they should.
There are 9 people living in the apartment, and thus 9 roles you might end up with- there's the landlord, and then there's the 8 other people the landlord managed to get as tenants. All of them have somewhat interesting backgrounds or abilities, some more than others. I need at least 6 to sign up to start the roleplay, but there are three other spots that can be filled up at any time. Unlike past roleplays, I won't be playing as one of you- instead, I'll be playing as the three antagonists that will pop up later on in the game, as well as any other characters or events that might pop up. I may also throw in curveballs at random.
Some of these characters may have past interactions with each other, and thus require shared PMs so the players of those characters can figure out the relationship beforehand. Otherwise, some people may know things about their neighbours, but don't interact too much.
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Luck of the Draw
When you encounter something new (like going into a new room), use an ability or item with this mechanic in place, or go into combat (whether fighting antagonists or you, for some reason, attack a fellow player's character and both of you want to win), I will be flipping a coin. Heads says you win, tails says you lose. I will then roll the dice to see how well or how badly it went.
That's about it. It will most likely be modified in the future.
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Leaving the Game
Whether permanently or temporarily, if you choose to leave the game we'll still have to deal with it in the roleplay instead. There are three choices to go with, from there;
Death: Your character dies. The only way to continue playing if you decide to come back after something so permanent happened to your character is to play as a zombie.
Unconscious: Your character gets knocked out for longer than usual. The other characters will have to relocate yours to somewhere safe. You are able to continue by simply having your character wake up later on. You may also choose to have your character stay unconscious for the rest of the game if you don't want to come back, but don't want to have something so dark occur either.
Captured: Your character gets captured by the enemy. The other characters now have the goal of retrieving you from their clutches. Depending on the role, it may cause something else to occur, as well. If the other characters manage to retrieve yours before your return, the character will be unconscious. If you come back before your character is retrieved... Well, I guess you'll have to facilitate your own escape.
If you are inactive for too long (I'll give it two weeks to a month), your character will be knocked unconscious one way or another. You may return to continue at any time.
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Endgame
Unlike my last two roleplays, this one has an end goal. Certain characters may have goals of their own, but the main plot is to foil the villains' plan and escape the astral plane together. There are a variety of ways you can achieve this, but the game basically ends upon the escape of all 9 characters, though you may continue roleplaying afterwards, like an epilogue. (I'm hoping this'll prevent the roleplay from ending midway, basically ^_^")
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Rules
- You may discuss what you are given in public. There is nothing stopping you; you do not have to keep it a secret, and can even copy-paste the info I give you to right in this very thread or send a PM to a person involved in the info you're given (though in the latter case you will have to involve me in the PM). The excitement of not knowing what's going to happen is fun, but theoretical discussions are also fun, so I won't mind if you ask a fellow player outright 'hey, what's going on with you and [insert whatever here]' and will most likely find it really entertaining instead, so do what you wish.
- You may discuss this game outside the thread, but please let me know what you're planning to do if it affects the roleplay.
- Common roleplay code of conduct applies- that is, please make sure to discuss among other players when it comes to big decisions, to see if they're okay with it.
- Though I set up this roleplay with a skeleton of your backgrounds provided, everything else is otherwise vague so that you can make stuff up. You could make up the existence of multiple supernatural organizations of varying purposes if you so wished- other than those already described. I'm not saying they exist... But they could
Just make sure whatever you make up doesn't contrast with the info I provide. I'll let you know if they do.-No one is allowed through the trapdoor. Not even the landlord.
-Mostly, have fun!
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-o-o-o-o-o-
As I'll be giving out skeletons of the backgrounds later on in PMs, you'll be making your character there, so you don't have to worry about that just yet. Instead, I'll need you to answer a question- are you okay with angsty elements in your backstory? Most of the roles could go either way; a bright, sunny character, or a dark and brooding person with a sad past. There are a few of these roles, though, that have definitely dark elements in their history, and though you can still characterize them to be many kinds of personalities that's still something they'll have to deal with later on, so I'll need to know if you're okay with it. You can also list down your preferences, but I might not be able to comply with all of them; sorry about that!
Here is a basic format you can go with;
Name:
Possible Name of Character*:
Are you fine with dark elements in your character's backstory?:
Preferences:
*You don't need to stick with it, of course! Or answer right now. Question's just there for fun.
List of people who signed up;
1. Toiletprincess
2. Catcocomics
3. CaffeinatedKitty
4. Danni122112
5. Infected_alien8_
6. anonymous
7. anonymous
8. anonymous
9. anonymous
[Sign-ups full, no more entries for now]
After some discussion, the roleplay is being held on Discord. Those who sign up will be sent an invite to the Astral Apartments chat there.
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