( PREMISE AND FAQS. )

[silentspringmods]

Premise & FAQs


Hey, neighbor! Welcome to Silent Spring, an atomic-age suburban horror game based loosely on the likes of We're Still Here, Holly Heights, and similar. Characters wake up in the uncannily idyllic early 1960s suburbia of Sweetwater, Maryland, an integrated bedroom community of Washington, DC - in the same household as a complete stranger to whom they have apparently always been married, at least according to the eerily and unwaveringly chipper neighbors who seem to know a little more than they should.

Arrival

Characters in Silent Spring are sorted into one of three categories—husband, wife, or child—and placed into an artificially arranged nuclear family. Characters wake up on a sunny morning, wrapped in Sears Catalog bedsheets on a queen bed bathed in light—beside a total stranger wearing a coordinating 1960s pajama set and a wedding band or engagement ring to match the one that's mysteriously appeared on their own finger.

Looking around the house they've awoken in, characters will notice that it appears lived in, as though they've always been there. Family portraits of them posing with strangers they don't know, dressed in era-appropriate clothing, sit propped up on flat surfaces or hang on the walls. The clothes in their dresser fit their measurements; the shoes in the mudroom are exactly the right size for their feet. There is a car in the driveway beside a bright green lawn, and on the pavement beside it, a rolled newspaper with today's date... prominently featuring the year 1960.

Welcome to your new life in Sweetwater, neighbor.

Genre

The horror and suspense in this game are inspired by a combination of the most pathological collective anxieties of the time, 1950s/1960s film and novels, and real events of the early sixties. Some of the horror is science-fiction in nature, based off of the growing presence of science and nuclear power in the average American's life; some of the horror is social, steeped in the fact that characters arrive in a highly conformist society living in daily fear of a communist overthrow and nuclear war. Supernatural horror (ex: ghosts, demons, spirits) and transformation will not play a role in the Silent Spring storyline.

This game is not set to have a finite end, though there is a main plot arc and mystery to be solved. The major themes (and horror elements) of this game are as follows. Nuclear panic, the Red Scare, conformism, sexism and restrictive gender roles, heteronormativity/gender binarism as it relates to being forced into a 'nuclear family', surveillance, gaslighting, brainwashing/propaganda, disinformation, pollution/contamination, poisoning, loss of control, and uncanny valley. These are core to the plot, so it is not recommended that prospective players apply to the game if they are not comfortable engaging.

The point of this game is atmospheric horror, not SOL, found family, or domesticity. This is not to say that there aren't moments of levity or genuine bonding even in horrific situations, or that the characters in an assigned family can't get to know each other and become a cohesive group - but if players are found to be repeatedly going against the spirit of the game/ignoring setting shifts for the sake of sandboxing nuclear family AU/domestic/found family threads, they will be warned once and then asked to leave so that their spot can be occupied by someone who wants to engage with the game's premise. There is room for more than one forced family/1960s game in DWRP and the mods encourage you to create your own if you want to use a similar backdrop for SOL things, but please do not occupy a slot someone else could have in this game if you do not in goodfaith intend to engage with most of the plot. The horror in this horrorgame is not optional.

Further Warnings

Though this game is not a slasher, there will be a lot of blood and likely at least one violent prompt per event. Many of the men in town and some of the women have lingering trauma from WWII and the Korean War, and events may feature flashbacks to combat zones, death, and the polio epidemic. Depending on player choices, the storyline of this game may feature a fictionalization of a lesser-known historical figure from the 1960s. Punishments for subversive behavior involve sleep deprivation enforced by electrical shock, nonconsensual drug administration, brainwashing, and abduction, and cannot be opted out of. Do not app to this game if you are not comfortable having the consequence of subversive behavior happen to your character.

More optional consequences for very serious infractions may get progressively more... torturey (although not overly gorey), though the exact nature is something that will be revealed depending on player choices.

This game will not feature dog/cat/horse death, bury your gays*, eye/nail/dental trauma, trypophobia-triggering images, sexual assault of any kind (harrassment, however, up to the potential point of unwanted manhandling, may be depicted), pet animal neglect/abuse, or child abuse beyond outdated parenting/teaching practices that were typical to the era. There is a suicide in the backstory of this town.

*NOTE: No NPC in this game is invincible or immune from dying and plot consequences. I define bury your gays, speaking as someone in said group, as only/predominantly gay characters dying, or all gay characters meeting a similar end.

Role Assignment

If a character is 13-17, they fall into the ‘child’ role regardless of gender.
Characters who identify as female are placed into the ‘wife’ rule regardless of gender presentation or assigned gender at birth.
Characters who identify as male are placed into the ‘husband’ role regardless of gender presentation or assigned gender at birth.

Genderfluid, agender, and nonbinary characters who do not identify as masc or femme are arbitrarily assigned roles based on the length of their hair alone. This is to avoid players having to make a call as to whether their character is more feminine or more masculine when, as is the case IRL, they may be truly neutral or neither. Instead, if they have short hair, as is typical of the male NPCs in Sweetwater, they are assigned the ‘husband’ role and referred to as such. If they have medium or long hair, as is typical of the female NPCs, they are assigned the ‘wife’ role. For characters with natural hair kept in an afro or a similar style in which hair grows out instead of down, their sorting is based on how people in Sweetwater with the same type of hair would perceive and gender their style.

While hair length of course means different things to different cultures, and even the same culture at different time periods - for instance, in the cultures of the Navajo Nation and ancient China, long hair on men is not seen as feminine - the masculinity/femininity of specific hairstyles are being gauged by the standards of a largely WASP and US-born African American community in the 1960s.

With role assignments comes the treatment typical to that gender role - for instance, male NPCs will at varying degrees of intensity still speak to an AMAB nonbinary character with long hair using demeaning diminutives like “sweetheart” and “honey”, and they will have the same social expectations (for instance, primary responsibility for childcare) as female wives. All trans characters are perceived and treated as though they are passing by the townies, even if in their homeworld or their own canon they don’t pass or don’t pass all of the time. The townspeople generally turn a blind eye to same-gender relations, though overt displays of affection between two people of the same gender that cannot be written off as affectionate friendship (eg: kissing) will be met with a hushed, urgent “you shouldn’t do that here”. ANY *non-discreet* romantic interaction outside of the assigned family will be met with rumors, ostracism, staring, or worse - the townspeople value the warmth and stability of a traditional American household, and that most certainly does not include adultery, although they are much more likely to turn a blind eye to it if the husband is the offending party.

Do not change canon characteristics like hair length so that your character is put in the role you'd rather play.

Caps, Apps, Invites, and Acceptances

Player cap: 35 | Cast cap: 5 | Max characters per player: 2

Silent Spring is a capped, invite-only game. Players may obtain an invite by being on bluehellgazette's friendlist or requesting an invite via this page. Having an invite does not guarantee acceptance into the game.

Some holds may be placed/empty spots preserved for a future app round - not all of the people who have helped me with this game, and whom I have been planning with from the beginning, are able to app during this season, and a big part of the appeal of running a private game is to have a good time with friends. A lot of people have looked over things for me, offered feedback, etc. behind the scenes!

The mods reserve the right to decline any application from anyone for any reason, and the mods are not obligated to create an opening for argument by disclosing that reason. Members of the general public are welcome to request an invite if they participate on a TDM, but nobody is entitled to an invite just because they asked for one. This is a curated space and player writing styles, past ooc behavior, and character personalities are just a few of the things that are considered in whether or not a character will be a good fit for the atmosphere we the mods are trying to cultivate. This game isn't public, and not having done anything "wrong"/not having anything wrong with your app is the bare minimum, not all it takes to get accepted into the game. Modding is a lot of work, and it is the right of the people putting in the time and work to make a game to decide who plays in it.

Timing

Events and TDMs are on an alternating bi-monthly schedule: one month will have an event, the next will have a TDM, then an event, et cetera et cetera. The events in this game are meant to be fairly plot heavy, so this allows players who have real-life commitments and weekend taggers a chance to engage with the storyline before it's already time for the next event. Applications happen once every two months during TDM months.

Network

Upon waking in Sweetwater, characters will find their very own IBM messaging device on the bedside table - pretty neat, huh? The device doesn't have a voice or video feature, and can't include pictures in the messages - only text, public or private. If a character wants to have a spoken heart-to-heart, they'll need to ring their friends on the tappable telephone every family in the neighborhood owns.

Mechanics

All characters arrive as powerless, completely normal humans, and there are no powers or regains. They will find that any injuries they sustained, or even death, have been either completely healed or have left only bruises, excepting permanent changes to the body's function such as limb loss, serious eye injury, and spinal cord injuries. Anachronistic items (ex: Star Wars plasma bolt blaster) cannot be brought with them; weapons can as long as they are from 1960 or earlier, but weapons that aren't understated won't be allowed—for instance, a handgun is fine; a machine gun isn't. One normal pet (ex: no unicorns or other fantasy species, no pets with abnormal intelligence) per character is allowed, with the exception of horses and livestock.

There is no permadeath in Sweetwater - the punishment for death is the pain and trauma of dying. After death, characters wake up not in the comfort of their bed but in the shallows of the Sweetwater Atomic Energy Plant's cooling pond, healed of their wounds but still quite stiff/sore. For a few days after returning to life they will experience brain fog and mild flulike symptoms.

Characters cannot become pregnant.

Appable Characters

Yes: Canon characters, original characters, characters inspired by historical figures who weren't major figures in the 60s, animal characters, characters over 13.

No: CRAU, canon AU (ex: rule 63, x canon event never happened, evil character is good, non-canon disability), malleable protags (ex: WOL), non-fictionalized real people alive OR dead, fictionalizations of currently living people, characters under 13, racial/ethnic caricatures (ex: the Mammy archetype), low-effort/minimal information OCs, aged up characters, drawn medium characters with racially offensive artwork icons (a playby must be used in these instances), adults in a child's body/children in an adult's body, loli/shota*, Nazi/KKK characters, Harry Potter franchise characters*.

Case-by-Case: Possessed characters/characters with another personality living in them.

*Regardless of whether or not you personally agree with JKR’s views or your reasons for playing a loli or shota, it’s a source of conflict and player discomfort I don’t want in a game I’m responsible for modding.

FAQs

How does language work?

Characters residing in Sweetwater will find that they can understand any other character who wishes to be understood, and that anyone speaking a language that person is fluent in will sound like a native speaker of the listener's first language without any accent. However, if the speaker is using a language they aren't fluent in, the listener will hear their accent and grammatical mistakes just like they would in the real world.

Characters who share a language can choose to speak that language together without the universe translating it for the people around them. This allows them to have a private conversation, but could also come with very grave consequences depending on which language it is and whether the townspeople would associate it with communism. Townspeople, in general, can be assumed to think conversations in a foreign language are about them most of the time. Where sign languages are concerned, the translation mechanic or lack thereof is left to the discretion of the player with the character who signs.

Characters will not come into the game knowing any languages they don't already speak.

What happens if my character doesn't conform? What if they run afoul of the HOA?

So glad you asked, neighbor! The people of Sweetwater prioritize a harmonious community based on all-American, anticommunist values. Characters who jeopardize that with their subversive behavior will wake up in a basement interrogation room in front of an era-appropriate television screen. There they will be subjected to 48-72 hours of sleep deprivation watching a brainwashing 50s educational video about the Red Threat and the joys of the nuclear family on endless repeat to really drive home why it's so important for everyone that they simply blend in, with the duration of the video matching the severity of the offense. If characters resist or fight back, the town doctor will inject them with a high dose of the brand-new, not-yet-FDA-approved drug haloperidol, which modern characters might know by the brand name Haldol. While this drug can be very beneficial to some patients at the right dosage, characters will be restrained and given a massive non-therapeutic dose that leaves them in an almost zombified stupor for the next week.

Here are some physical and mental effects to expect:

At 48 hours of sleep deprivation, characters will experience brief lapses in consciousness (microsleep), severe fatigue, possible depersonalization, impaired judgment and coordination, brain fog, and possible hallucinations.

At 72 hours of sleep deprivation, characters will experience hallucinations, high anxiety, confusion, erratic behavior, and possible psychotic episodes.

Characters injected with nontherapeutic doses of haloperidol may experience: sluggishness/stupor, severe brain fog, shuffling gait, a mask-like face, weakness, uncoordinated movement/muscle spasms/shaking, blurred vision, and severe fatigue.

What happens if a character tries to leave?

The town of Sweetwater is encased in an invisible boundary that repels characters more and more forcefully as they get closer to it - imagine pushing two magnets together with the wrong poles aligned. The magnetic repulsion is exactly how their bodies will feel as they struggle to push past whatever invisible force is holding them in; eventually, even the strongest characters won't be able to push any further toward whatever is exuding that energy. They can see beyond the field and everything on the other side looks completely normal, but interestingly, they will never see any cars, wildlife, etc crossing that border.

What prejudices do the townspeople have? What does it look like on a daily basis?

The people of Sweetwater are pretty unilaterally centrist. For the sake of creating an enjoyable environment for all players, era-typical racism is not included - in fact, there's a noticeable absence of the aggressions and slurs characters might expect of the era, which may be one of the first things that tip them off that something isn't quite right, and that this isn't a 1:1 representation of the real 60s they've found themselves in.

Being that this is a centrist American suburb at the height of the Red Scare, however, the townspeople are very anticommunist and Russophobic. Left-wing characters, Russian or Slavic characters, Cuban characters, and (God forbid!) openly communist or Marxist characters will be regarded with extreme wariness, and the townspeople will make it clear that they don't fit in and don't have any real chance of assimilating. Characters from these groups won't receive as warm of a welcome from the NPCs, and may not be invited to neighborhood events, or invited begrudgingly. They can expect whispers and stares in the supermarket, their 'children' being treated a little differently, the 'wives' being alienated in their social clubs.

What does a drop/sweep look like IC?

The next morning, their space in the house they were occupying is simply... empty. The NPCs seem to have no memory whatsoever of the family member who has left, and if a character insists on their presence too emphatically, they may be reported to the hospital for a psychiatric disturbance...

What if my character tells the townspeople about the future?

They won't believe them, and will laugh it off as though they've been told a joke. If your character persists, however, it may be seen as subversive...

How are disabilities, illness, and Deafness handled? What do disability aids look like?

At Silent Spring we try to strike a balance between era realism and not disincentivizing players from playing disabled, ill, or Deaf characters. All characters’ adaptive devices, including glasses, will be automatically converted to their early 60s equivalent upon arrival. The exception to this rule is situations in which a modern version of a device is needed for survival or playability - for instance, a character who uses a powerchair in canon because of lower limb paralysis will have a wheelchair standard to 1960s life, but a character with neck-down paralysis who needs a powerchair with a sip/blow movement system simply to move at all will have their powerchair so that they remain playable. NPCs will not react to anachronistic necessary adaptive devices or medications/medical treatments as though they are anachronisms and they will be handwaved as readily available - a character who needs antiretrovirals to suppress HIV will be readily able to obtain them at the pharmacy, but the townspeople will simply think that HIV is a rare disease that they haven’t heard of and won’t know anything about the epidemic or the social changes that came with it. This includes modern antidepressants and other drugs needed for mental stability and similar. If a character is on a medication in their canon, they will be provided with that medication in game, and the only reason they would be stuck with the 1960s alternative to that medication is personal choice, not lack of access. This is plot relevant!

Part of the playability measures is the inclusion of accessible architecture that didn’t actually come about until much later. The homes in Sweetwater are two-story with staircases, but characters who cannot climb stairs will find that a low-tech chair lift is installed. All sidewalks have wheelchair ramps, and while accessible parking spaces aren’t marked as such, there will always be an open parking spot available close to the front of a building when a character who needs them has to park. All multiple story buildings in the town have elevators or (in rarer instances/instances of small businesses) chair lifts. Braille signs are standardized as they are today, and the network has an option for speech-to-text and a rudimentary, monotone screenreader. NPCs, if asked, will say that these things have been there as long as they’ve been in the neighborhood.

Visible disability and hearing loss/Deafness are slightly more common in Sweetwater than they are in most characters’ worlds. There are a handful of high school students (and younger) who require stability braces/walking aids or have partial paralysis as a consequence of the polio epidemic that slammed the DC area when they were children, as the vaccine was only created six years ago. Many of the men who are of the right age to have fought in WWII or the Korean War are hard of hearing and a few are fully Deaf; because of the two wars, prosthetic limbs are also a little more common in the men of Sweetwater.

Disabled, ill, and Deaf characters will still face ableism and dated language, but most of the ableism comes in the form of still-typical microaggressions. The abled and hearing townspeople are slightly less ignorant than they would be in another time period simply due to exposure, but this is still a centrist, socially conservative town in which conformity is valued.

What's the TV programming like? Any local shows/channels that might stand out (hypnotic commercials aside), or deviations from typical '60s fare?

Programming is 60s typical... mostly. Sometimes during the evening news the screen will go offline, and no amount of adjusting the antennae will bring the picture back...and then it'll return, right at the beginning of another news segment. There aren't any left-leaning talk shows or news programs available to be accessed, and the selection of channels is fairly small. Overall, it would give the impression of having been doctored.

Do the homes in Sweetwater have a standard layout/type of rooms that are in them?

Yes, although they're not cookie cutter identical. Each house is two stories and has:
— master bedroom, upstairs
— upstairs bathroom
— attic
— basement
— downstairs bedroom
— kitchen
— dining room
— living room
— downstairs bathroom
— small mudroom connecting garage to side door of house

What happens if a character tries to dial out/dial a number outside of Sweetwater?

Characters who try to dial an out-of-town number will reach an operator at a switchboard. When they share the number they're trying to reach, the switchboard operator will tell them that number doesn't exist - is it possible they got one of the digits wrong?

Comments

[rostova]

Hello! As you may be able to tell, Miss Rosa here has bear ears. These are vestigial and serve no purpose in her home canon, a bit like a human appendix. Upon arrival, will she still have them, or will they be removed? Also, upon arrival, will her surname change, and will she be informed? (I ask only because she is from a fictional version of Russia and I'd like to know how early she'll start thinking about "blending in", as she speaks her world's version of English with a noticeable Russian-equivalent accent.)

When it comes to characters inspired by historical figures, are we limited to portrayals in historical fiction, i.e. Anne Boleyn from SIX, the Natalie Portman role in The Other Boleyn Girl, the 1997 book The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, etc? Or could one simply apply as Anne Boleyn herself? The character I'm thinking about has a few fictional depictions in modern media, but I think I'd want to play him as himself, as faithfully as possible to what historical records we have of him, as I think he's much more interesting when his motives aren't filtered through a work of fiction.

[silentspringmods]

All characters will be ordinary humans upon arrival - so even kemonomimi traits would be removed. She would have her canon surname.

You are indeed limited to portrayals in historical fiction, with the stipulation that fictional portrayals of characters who were important during the 50s/60s may not be apped.

[littlemissfutility]

Apologies if I've missed where this has been answered - If a character is coming in with injuries, will those remain or be healed? (For the sake of hypothetical 😉 let's say cuts with stitches in them and a wrist injury in a cast.) Is it possible to arrive post-death?

[silentspringmods]

Oh jeez I totally did not get a notification for either of these! Not sure what's going on there but sorry for the delay! To answer your question, they will be healed, and arrival post-death is absolutely fine.

[spaghettimonster]

Since some characters are from very much Not Around Here, I was curious what sorts of information they might find by checking out places like the town library, the high school library, or any historical societies that might be around. Some specifics I wanted to check on are:

- Maps. Could characters find a "modern" world map, as a globe or atlas, at the library or a general store? More specific maps of the country, state, or town?

- History. Would there be any history texts, whether a particularly patriotic overview of American History, or the town's local history, or such?

- Manners. Could any guides to manners or etiquette be found, like McCall's book of everyday etiquette (1960) or another less recently published book? I mention the specific only because it amused me that it came out the right year, but I'm really only checking if there'd be something available generally.

- Driving. Are there any So You Want To Drive A Car books floating around, or classes available for characters who haven't had that opportunity? Would an adult man asking be seen as Subversive?

[silentspringmods]

Maps: Absolutely. Characters from the modern era may note that it looks a little different from the names and borders they're used to, especially in Africa and Eastern Europe.

History: There is a standard section of American History books in the library, and one or two books on the area. All history texts about this part od Maryland (Sweetwater included) stop at 1900. For the most part, these texts would just outline that Sweetwater's development has always run parallel with DC's.

Manners: Absolutely! Marjorie would also be very willing to share her expertise as a hostess for any characters who show interest.

Driving: Yes and yes! There are also buses Papyrus can use until he gets that license.

[ribticklers]

So, since Sans and Sokka are in a house together, do the NPCs react as if Sans were a single father raising a kid? How do they treat that, generally?

[silentspringmods]

They would! They'd generally talk about how unfortunate it is that he has to raise a son all alone, but there wouldn't be any judgment. Interestingly, none of them ever specify what they think "happened" to his fictional wife.

[spaghettimonster]

How do drops look from an in-character perspective?

I'm partly wondering whether the world seems to retcon them out of existence - personal belongings, changes made around the house, evidence from formal paperwork like schoolwork or taxes, any mention or acknowledgement from the NPC neighbors - or whether signs of them linger, but as if they'd suddenly moved away?

I'm also partly wondering whether a drop looks the same to PCs as a kidnapping does, leaving characters worrying about whether Norman's warm and happy feelings basement has another tenant now.

[silentspringmods]

It would seem almost as though they'd been abducted by aliens - everything exactly as they'd left it. However, this is not the case in instances in which a character lived alone. If a character who lived alone leaves the game, the characters who move into that house next will find it lived in by themselves, any evidence of the past inhabitant gone. This seems to happen overnight.

[frauseufzen]

(this potentially goes into non-event exploration, but I figured I'd throw it here to be safe)

If Agathe tries to make a phone call to someone outside of Sweetwater, is she successful? Obviously she isn't able to reach anyone she knows, but would she be able to dial a random number in, for instance, Baltimore or NYC if she learns their area code?

[silentspringmods]

Nope, you're in the correct location! She would reach an operator at a switchboard, and then she would be told that number doesn't exist - maybe she got one of the digits wrong?

[tedandroses]

Reposting from on Plurk:

Is it possible for characters to test out of non-technical (or technical, for that matter, but that might get answered on Plurk) classes at the college?

For example, Teddy has a Master's, and an OC I'm pondering will have at least a BA (albeit a very different one). If either wanted to get a degree, could they skip past the freshman obligatory prereqs and whatnot? I don't expect their transcripts are suddenly available (...unless!) but if they can prove proficiency in certain skills, is that possible?

[silentspringmods]

If a character wants to enter a career that requires a past credential such as a BA or a certification, they will find that they are able to do so without problems if they had that credential.

Characters are able to test to get credit for very basic introductory level classes, but their prior degrees are not recognized. The highest degree the community college awards is a 2 year associate's degree, and there wouldn't be more advanced coursework than what Teddy had already taken for their masters available.

[coefficiently]

Regarding invites: if a player (aka me I'm asking for me) is already in the game with one character, do they need to secure another invite for a second character or can they just go nuts and submit an app when applications open?

[silentspringmods]

For a second character players would TDM the second character and then just app without obtaining another invite, although as always an invite does not guarantee acceptance. Sorry this wasn't clearer and thank you for bringing the ambiguity there to my attention!!

[ribticklers]

Are there unmarried adult NPCs or are they all sorted into little families?

[silentspringmods]

There are a few unmarried NPCs (such as Norman) scattered here and there, but it's definitely not common, especially as characters increase in age.

[aperturesubject0001]

A couple of questions about new arrivals and TDM events!

1. I think I know the answer to this one but in the spirit of over-communicating, do newbies arrive at the beginning of February (the month they apped in and TDMed) or March (the month after they were accepted)?

2. Assuming they're here for the events of the TDM: do you have a preference for how to handle TDM threads if one character is now in-game and the other isn't? Specifically for Chell, I need to figure out if she got in a fight with someone other than Joan at Marjorie's party and got re-educated as a consequence, or if that whole event is retconned out of existence. I think it's fun for Chell to have come in and immediately gotten in trouble, but I'm happy to do what works best for game continuity and group storytelling!

[silentspringmods]

Sorry for the delayed answer!

I tossed up an explanation of how the TDM canonity works on the event, and as for the fight, I'm going to say she could have gotten into a scrap with a townie if you would like to maintain that premise, however any fight with a townie would be more of a onesided attack on her part as the townies are conflict avoidant. Normally this would carry a heavier punishment but in this instance I'm going to say it would be the punishment she got on the TDM for continuity if you decide to go this route.

[lestercraft]

Presumably the barrier goes all the way around town in a neat circle? What would happen if someone were to try and follow along its perimeter (including climbing any fences/barriers/entering private properly like the fields) in pursuit of this?

[silentspringmods]

It does indeed go around the town in a neat circle. It mostly goes through the woods/agricultural areas that surround the town - so nowhere is really cut off mid-neighborhood or anything like that. The whole town is neatly contained.

Characters with vision will note:

- No birds or animals pass into or out of the area.
- There are large bootprints dried in the mud at some points at the barrier where it passes through the forest, but no hiking trails nearby. Characters with canon proficiency in tracking may be able to glean more from the prints.

[rimingcouplet]

Hey! I'm interested in trying for an invite the next time they're open since I don't think I can put together a sample I'm happy with in the space of two days, but I have a question about character suitability that I'd like to resolve before the next window.

According to the FAQ, characters "with another personality living inside them" are acceptable on a case-by-case basis. What information would you need to make that judgment? I wouldn't want to show up to the TDM with Alice & Ace and get turned away because I didn't check with you whether they were a fit for the game on that basis.

There's also some weirdness with their age that I should run by you. Ace is an android that was engineered to be an eternal teenager. While the Machias twins have been in their mid-teens for at least a decade (sorry that I can't give you an exact timeframe, Metallic Rouge is vague on the details), they're not adults stuck in a child's body since their mental and emotional states have been a teenager's the entire time. Their behavior and mindsets are indistinguishable from human teens, and there's a conversation in the last act of the show that indicates that both of them still think of themselves as such.

Part of why I want to bring them here is to explore how both of them deal with growing up and human puberty while in a social environment hostile to any deviation, including their plurality, which adds stakes and an additional wrinkle that would make a "being a teen and growing up" arc more interesting than if they were humanized in other games. All that being the case, I want to make sure that they're okay to app since they fall into a grey area in the "mismatched age" clause of non-appable characters.

[silentspringmods]

Hello!
Unfortunately, these characters would not be appable, but thank you for your interest in the game!

[spinoff]

Hi hello I've had an itch to play this girl here for a while, wondering how invites work. Can and will wait if needed. Tara is your run of the mill baseline human, with the added caveat of being a two times champion final girl, not that she appreciates that.

[silentspringmods]

Hi! Sorry for the delay, I've been going through some things IRL. To get an invite to app you need to either be on my friendlist (less common option) on plurk (bluehellgazette) or apply on the invite requests page with a link to a thread or toplevel on the TDM. I haven't sorted through invite requests yet/there won't be an invite round month after next as per usual because May is going to be a no event month for the game due to limited modding capacity, so if you or anyone else would like to squeak one in before midnight on the 29th of this month I'd allow it given the special circumstances.

[mandrakeflower]

Hi! I just wanted to ask, when someone arrives in an occupied home (in this case John end up with his ‘father’) does stuff change to make it look like he’s always been there? For example, photographs showing them there/this bedroom has always been occupied/there certainly is some who’s going to school here?

Thanks!

[silentspringmods]

Sorry for the delay! The setting does indeed morph overnight as though they've always been there.

[aperturesubject0001]

Hello hello!

What kind of athletic facilities does the community college have? Are they accessible to residents? (Specifically I'm wondering about tennis courts or maybe basketball. Or a swimming pool!)

[silentspringmods]

Sorry for the delay on this, it slipped through the cracks!

The community college has a full athletics complex, but it's only accessible to students. It has an indoor gym, a track area, an indoor pool, and tennis courts.

[firstgreenisgold]

Heyo!

I see that after a drop, the character will disappear like they were never there... so what's John been doing since Numbers dropped? Was he in an empty house every night? Did NPCs show up? Just want to be clear!

[silentspringmods]

The morning that Numbers disappeared, John would be alone in the house - and then the morning after that, he would wake up in bed in the downstairs bedroom of his new "family's" house, in this case the Smiths (Sans). His room would look as though he'd always lived there, and in the day he was alone in the other house, there would be no trace at all of Numbers. He also wouldn't remember any dreams that previous night.

[execu2able]

Just a couple of quick questions! Apologies if they’ve been answered somewhere I couldn’t find

1) How are names handled when they are nonstandard and would clearly not fit in? In this case my character is an android named “2b” which is a far cry from a normal name. Would characters be given another name to conform more, or are name oddities just ignored?

2) If characters have a weapon/object that at its base could fit, but have extra powers, could they be “powered down” and brought? 2b has some swords that have vague super future tech that allows them be summoned at will, but would they be able to be brought in as… just normal swords?

Thank you in advance!

[silentspringmods]

1) Name oddities, like strange hair colors, would be ignored. However, 2B would be given a generic surname such as Smith, Doe, Brown, etc.
2) 2B would be able to bring one completely normal sword.

No problem, thank you for your interest!

[longwillows]

Hello! I had a question along the lines of 2B's above, though pertaining to pets instead of weapons.

If a character has an animal companion which has unusual mental abilities, but otherwise takes the form and physical ability of an allowed pet animal (dog, cat, rat, etc.), would they be allowed to bring a standardized and depowered version of that companion?

In this specific example, a character has a familiar that has taken the form of a pink rat and has a telepathic link to the character within a certain range, but the rat is otherwise constrained to the normal limitations of a rat; it's not super strong, super smart, or capable of magic on its own. Would it be all right to bring this companion in the form of a nonmagical white rat, as the characters themselves are depowered?

Thank you in advance!!

[silentspringmods]

The rat would be allowed but completely ordinary - it would not have any more cognitive or emotional abilities than a regular rat, would not remember anything from any sort of telepathy or memory sharing, etc. It would be like getting a rat from the pet store in this universe, but the rat is already familiar with her and friendly towards her - but only on a level as though it had been an ordinary rat for her entire history.

[longwillows]

Hello again! Apologies if this has been answered somewhere before, I couldn't find it here or in the TDM/event posts I checked, but I had a question regarding family assignments and TDM canon!

If a character TDMs and arrives that month (July), and then is accepted into the game the next month (August), does their official housing/family assignment apply retroactively through July? Or are they shuffled to a new "family" upon official acceptance into the game in August?

[silentspringmods]

It applies retroactively, and their arrival date would be the first of the month of the TDM they posted on, unless players want to make all TDM threads non-canon and start afresh with an arrival in the month of acceptance.