PL - The OOC Page



Welcome to our OOC Page.

PL is a multi-genre role play found in the Portal to the Multiverse (P2TM) forum on NationStates.

Gaming Environment
PL is a place where new players can learn the basics of RP. We mentor through gameplay. The majority of our members are people looking to advance their skills or to learn more about RP in general. We offer RP workshops on our OSF. Veteran players are always welcome as well.

We provide players with a safe haven. We have minors ergo our IC and OOC are kept PG-13.

We are a diverse group comprised of agnostics, atheists, Buddhists, Christians and other faiths. People of all sexual orientations and gender associations are at home here. We have members from all political affiliations and ideologies. We have mixed ethnicity as well as minorities. We respect each other and we respect each person's right to hold their beliefs.

About the PL Family
We have our own Region (The Apartment Block) and an off-site forum that's dedicated to role-playing. You must be a member of our Region to partake in the off-site forum. Our Region does accept *ACTIVE* puppet nations for that purpose.

Guidelines
These are the basic things that people do to keep the game running smoothly.
 * You can play your characters as either serious or light. We're a mixed group.
 * Got a problem with a player? Take it to that player in TG to resolve it.
 * It's a fast-moving thread. It's okay to ask "where is everyone and what happened while I was gone?" in the OOC thread. Just tell us the last thing you remember and we'll update you.
 * Please save earth-shattering adventures until the weekends. Earth-shattering would be any side-story that affects the entire house (blowing up the building, planet-wide invasions, world destruction, etc). Minor stuff (zombie attacks, localized plagues, genderbenders, etc) can be ignored by players who are offline.
 * What kind of character can I play: We have anthros, velociraptors, gods, demons, angels, cyborgs, robots, magic users and mystical beings, warriors/soldiers/super soldiers, average mortals, A.I.s, thieves, spies, emperors, mad scientists, and whatever Bones and his brothers are. Anime seems to be a big theme, followed by offshoots of various pantheons and fiction.
 * Please don't be a God Mode Sue. We have several powerful characters. They've evolved over time. They will kick your ass if you come in like gangbusters and try to dominate the thread. Look through the character tabs in the post below to gain an understanding of everyone's characters.
 * Please message Swith Witherwward or Cerillium if you plan to play a god. There are specific guidelines in place to keep things in balance so non-god characters are treated fairly
 * Act out your violent fantasies and sexual tensions elsewhere. We keep it PG-13 here. Questions? Answers
 * We have minors in our thread. Save sexual harassment for General or F7. The OP (Cer) doesn't tolerate some shit.

Rules
These are the actual rules all players must abide by.
 * HAVE FUN!
 * OP is GOD. Co-OP are GODS.
 * NO godmodding.
 * There will be NO structural changes made to the city without full permission of OP and Co-OP. As you can see by this Wiki, a lot of effort goes into worldbuilding. Nothing pisses Swith off more than players fucking with that world without first asking if something already exists, if something won't work, or killing off established NPCs.
 * Citizens of Bielefeld are not there to be spindled, mutilated and torn apart. City officials (to include police and military) are OP/Co-OP NPCs.

Plot
PL does have an over-arching plot that has slowly built over time. It's an undercurrent rather than an overt objective. Most players unknowingly contribute to it; some players are fully aware of it.

Events
Our RP is best described as "a series of unfortunate events".

Major Event - affects the entire thread.

Minor Event - only affects the characters that are part of that campaign.

Overarching Concept
Daily life, peeps!

Characters go about their life just as people do in real life. The problem with life is that SHIT HAPPENS!

We can't always predict when shit will happen. It sometimes happens at the worst possible time. When life throws you lemons, make lemonade. When life throws you Eldritch Abominations and evil forces attempt to invade, pull yourself up by the bootstraps and go kick some ass.

Freedom of Play
PL allows players to play any genre that's near and dear to them. They breathe life into that genre, finding balance with other genres already in place.

PL allows you to play whatever a player's imagination dreams up (other than godly, overly powered beings which serve little purpose except to masturbate the player's ego.)

PL's longevity is due to the OP and CoOPs allowing people to be creative while helping them adapt that creativity to fit in with the world setting.

Some Genre in Use
The RP allows just about any genre, within reason. Some currently found in PL include: Some characters hail from their own nation; your character does not have to be the embodiment (personification) of your nation. We need to know: species, a bit of background, what sort of abilities or powers, and reason for moving into the Building. Do not sign up to play a god or god-like being without first talking with Swith Witherward.
 * Ace Combat
 * Cthulhu
 * Cyborgs (40K themed)
 * Cyborgs (Drones - somewhat like Borg, Innovators)
 * Judeo-Christian Pantheon
 * Metro
 * MLP:FIM
 * Star Wars
 * Time Cops (including Chronos and Fate)
 * Vampires and Werewolves
 * Velociraptors
 * Vikings (Norse)
 * Warhammer 40K

Powers and Skills
PL is balanced. We like to keep it that way. It eliminates "my genre is more powerful than your genre" fights in OOC.

Character Unique Skills
Unique skills are what set the character apart from the mundane. Is he a master swordsman? Is she an excellent pilot? Does he speak multiple languages? Is she excellent at diplomacy or negotiations? Unique skills such as languages, piloting, master swordsman do not cost points if they are something a normal person would have if they applied themselves to learn. That's why they're LEARNED SKILLS.

Powers and Superpowers
These are nifty things that set someone apart from a normal mortal character. Increased endurance, time manipulation, ESP, forming fireballs, resistance to toxins, etc are all special abilities that normal mortal characters don't have. This includes "mana manipulation" for spell castors.

Obviously, a character's species can be confusion. A pony character doesn't need to spend point to fly (wings are natural) but will need to spend points if a unicorn (mana manipulation). A dragon doesn't need to spend points to have a tough hide because he has... drumroll... scales. You get the picture?

Power Scale
In an effort to even things out, characters with powers/magic are allotted 12 (twelve) points to spread through whatever powers they desire. A listing can be found here. A more in-depth guide to what some powers are can be found here. You can not have more than 8 in any one power. You don't have to use all your points. You don't have to have a character with any powers at all, if you so wish.

Balancing Power
Why is it important to balance powers? It rounds out the character and prevents you from trumping everything else. Remember, some characters belonging to the OP and CoOPs will always be more powerful than the average PC.

Example
Super Power: Enhanced Strength

Power level 9 - Type II: Being able to lift heavier structures from battleships to massive aircrafts. Power level 10 - Being able to throw those objects. Power level 11 - Type III: Ex: Being able to lift skyscraper size structures and being capable of moving mountainous figures at top strength. Power level 12 - Being able to throw those objects.
 * Power level 8 - Being able to throw those objects (rather than lift, walk a few feet and drop them.)

But that's tempered by limitations :

- Strength does not equal durability. If a user were to attempt to lift something extremely heavy over their head, their bones and joints could snap. - May damage environment/other people without meaning or noticing. - There may be a limit to how strong a user can become before it's dangerous for themselves to use. (Ex: Gentle.) - May be limited to certain limbs.
 * - Users are still susceptible to Newton's Three Laws of Motion.

That's where other powers come in to assist the character. Structure Weakening, for example, allows for a bit less effort (and lessons risk of injury for larger structures). Enhanced Durability allows the character to pick some things up without bones snapping.

People tend to want to user powers without putting thought into them. That's a no-no here.