expiationmods: (Default)
Expiation Mods ([personal profile] expiationmods) wrote2023-08-30 03:07 pm

INFO / FAQ v2


INFO / FAQ

Questions asked from July-on on the old info page under the new mod team still stands. Whatever players have discussed with the old mod team from June and before please comment either here or in the mod contact page as a refresh for what you were told and any changes, if any, to the answers.



About Expiation

Expiation is a pan-fandom adventure game with science fiction, fantasy, and subtle horror elements that explore the concepts of crime versus innocence, definition of atonement, and reflection of self.

An overarching storyline will encourage characters to determine the truth about why they’ve been brought to this world and will be impacted by character discoveries and actions taken during the bimonthly events. Player-run events and plots are welcome during months where there is downtime.

Characters are mysteriously plucked from their world of origin, dropped into the white nothingness of disembodied voices, and told they’ll be treated as 'all of the others' have been. They awaken in this newer world largely pleasant to the eye in the close proximity of a populated town. In hand, they carry documentation and a tablet that accuses them of a crime, whether it be true or false, and they are instructed to simply wait until they face their sentencing.

Expiation is an environment meant to give characters the opportunity to analyze and reflect on their past actions in an effort to define and discover their own self-atonement. They may also perhaps seek forgiveness from others that they may have wronged, inadvertently or direct. It is not necessarily rehabilitation, but rather dissection of character motivation and evolution, based on individual dynamic and relationships with others.

Of course, not everything always goes as planned. The characters also have an opportunity to relish in and advocate for the chaos and destruction, making the world of the Expiation to be one that reflects their own sense of morality and image.

All characters in Expiation are being tested. Every single event, every single miniature event, just about every single thing that characters come up against is a test, including their interactions with the npcs. Every action matters.




Sentencing
We will leave a message on your character’s inbox with our NPC (link to expi account) to meet him at Courthouse for incarceration and to meet the council to get their punishments. If characters don’t go willingly, they will be brought by force by said NPC. Once there, he takes them into the court where they will meet The Council and receive their punishment. These punishments will be tailored to the crime committed or the crime characters have come into this world with. They will have until the Friday before the next event to complete these tasks, or it will result in punishment. Again, these will be tailored to the individual characters who have refused these crimes. While characters don’t remember seeing or talking to the council, they will remember their punishment as well as the reward for completing it: to change their crime to another on their “list of crimes”, or to be rewarded in another way. The other ways aren't specified, but they are:

- Regain a memory from a previous stay, or recover a memory from a memory-altering event
- Gain a small item, could be either theirs or someone else's
- Gain a small ability, or temporary supernatural ability (1 month)

Proof of compliance of the punishment must be threaded out and sent to the mods for characters to receive their reward. These threads don’t have to be complete, but there must be evidence that characters are working towards it in the thread(s) that are sent in. If real life comes up and you’re unable to make a thread, and it’s IC to finish it, please approach the mods and we will work with you on that on a case-by-case basis.

As always, this is opt-in. If there’s a player of a character that automatically is entered in the sentencing cycle via crimes in Aldrip that doesn’t wish to participate, please contact the mods and we will work with you on that as well.

Repetitive crime behavior will be handled on a case-by-case basis for other months. We would like for everyone interested in this mechanic to be able to participate, so there may be a month that an automatic character gets skipped if they commit a crime again. Ex: Vi completes her sentence in October, but if there are more crimes committed between now and the December cycle, she will only be added in if there’s a slot to be filled. That is to say, if there isn’t enough interest in those months to fill the slots assigned, they will be added back in if the player wishes to do so.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly section in the Activity Check comments are to help keep the mods aware of potential crimes oocly. The ic component is the NPC inbox that people may put crimes for Jerry to be aware of.

Sentencing will happen on TDM months as a way to incorporate plot-related nuggets in between event months. As of right now, that's how they will stay.





Arrival
Characters will arrive with inventory they may have been carrying, within reason. If they come with their own phones or other tech, it will power on but it doesn’t connect to any network. If they had anything in their possession that would be considered ‘world breaking,’ they will find that it is completely nonfunctional. Ex: an omni-tool from Mass Effect, that can hack, control devices, and replicate materials.

New arrivals will not always necessarily appear in the same location. They will, however, always be within a relatively safe, if not slightly exhausting, walking distance of a populated town where the locals will probably be friendly.

Probably.

In addition to their base inventory, characters will be provided with a tablet, as well as a parchment detailing the crime they’ve been accused of. To the touch, it feels like ordinary paper, if slightly archaic and out of place. But the parchment is completely indestructible. It cannot be cut. It cannot be burnt. It cannot be destroyed. If lost, the parchment will somehow make it back to its owner.

More information on the tablets and network will be on the page linked above.




Languages
Everything is auto-translated to the recipient's own language. If they try to speak their own language even as a joke it will be translated to the recipient.

Ciphers and codes, however, may be used.




Life in Expiation

Expiation is a large simulated world, consisting of different areas, cities and towns. The one that characters most often wake up in is called Aldrip. More information on the city itself is located on the linked page.

The people of Aldrip worship and revere something they refer to as 'Those Who Were There.' Very little is known of these deities. As for the government: there is rumored to be a council who watches over the law in Aldrip, working as judge, jury and executioner. However, no one has ever seen the members of council or truly know what they’re like. The way the locals and other NPCs react to The Chosen will differ and change depending on the in-game event.

The weather in Aldrip is usually suspiciously pleasant. Despite the rain being scarce it’s not dry or uncomfortable. It usually gets too cold during the nights and the moon is always full. There are some constellations in the sky, but none of them are ones that Chosens would be able to recognize, and every night is a full moon. There are four seasons in Expiation and the weather will change accordingly as stated in State of the Game posts.

The flora and fauna of the continent change slightly when new Chosen come in from a new series and world. After a few days, they may notice that some of their animals or monsters are there, as well as some of their plants. The list of what's here so far is here and here. Otherwise, various earth-like livestock may be found in the form of cows, pigs, chickens, etc.

There is a currency, as shown here. It's earned and spent as someone would with normal money, earned while working various jobs and quests for the locals. Player-run businesses can be found in the comments on Aldrip’s information page.

On arrival, characters may stay at the Inn, where their first month will be free of charge, or find an apartment, other communal lodgings, or have their own house. The initial house that they would move into is a one bed, one bath house with a basic kitchen and a living space. Details on expansion is here on the rewards page.





Death
According to the locals, death is a natural part of life.

All characters in Expiation are susceptible to dying, whether they are human or not. A character dies in Expiation will come back one week after their passing, awakening in their bed or in a familiar place, with their death wounds healed.

However, perhaps not all is as it seems. Characters who find their way back from death may find that something about them seems...off. Some characters may discover that they are missing memories, or that their memories feel wrong, thus making it harder to tell what is real and what has been falsified. Characters may also experience nightmares and emotional changes, such as paranoia and anxiety.

These changes are, for the most part, temporary, disappearing within a few weeks—however, if a character dies more than once, they may begin to find that these new developments become more permanent over time.

If you are planning for your character to die, please notify the mod team.




Rewards
Rewards with extra activity can be redeemed by using the rewards page. This includes approved inventory from home, the ability to run one’s own business, and other like ideas.

Please see the page for additional details, how to redeem, and other requirements.




Drops & Canon Updates
Canon updates and hiatus / drop page are now two separate posts. Please make sure you use them accordingly.

When a character drops, there is no great fanfare. They are simply gone, much in the way they arrived. The record of the crime they were accused of will remain since the parchment that contains that information is indestructible. Any inventory that isn’t on their person will also remain in the world or can be claimed by other characters with player permission.

Characters dropped and reapplied for later will not initially retain memories of their previous time in Expiation (if played by the same player). They can regain these memories by submitting extra AC on the rewards page.

Characters who are going to be updated in canon will be absent for a minimum of one week (or longer, depending on circumstance). Temporarily they will be extracted from Expiation, but upon return, they will not be assigned a new piece of parchment and will otherwise wake up in their lodgings. They will have no memory of extraction. It will be as if they simply had a long, extensive nap.




Applications & Reserves
This is a pan-fandom game, accepting monthly applications for video game, live action, book, film, and other related mediums, including original characters.

have a Player Cap of 70.
We have a Canon Cap of 10. (This refers to the number of characters per specific canon.)

Reserves are a first-come, first-served system and limited to two characters at a time.

Due to our player cap, note that we will only accept as many players as we have player slots, however, we will review all applications submitted during the cycle.

We will not accept child characters, though extenuating circumstances may apply (read: a younger physical appearance who may be thousands of years old, or a character who may be a construct in an age of single digits). Please consider the nature of the game and the age of your character.

There is a two month wait on applying for characters from a newly-released canon. For example, Fire Emblem: Engage released at the end of January 2023. We would begin accepting characters from it by the end of March 2023.

If your canon character has a lack of canon material / information and you are relying heavily and mostly on headcanon to the point where your character is likened to an OC, we will not accept the application.

We accept CRAU characters with the caveat that they must still accurately represent the character in their canon state. If they are too far removed from canon, we will not accept them, but we do understand the desire to move CR without having to completely rebuild it from scratch.

We accept malleable protagonists, such as the Warden from Dragon Age, Commander Shepard from Mass Effect, and the Warrior of Light from Final Fantasy XIV. That said, only one of these can exist [per applicable canon] and they must be applied for without preexisting relationships to canon characters aside from what base storyline dictates. (Exceptions will potentially be made for CRAUs and handled on a case-by-case basis.) We do not accept Fandom OCs.


We do accept duplicates: ex: Cloud from Kingdom Hearts and Cloud from FFVII, or Link from all 300 (/exaggeration) Legend of Zelda games so long as they're not sequels to each other. Ex: Link from BOTW and TOTK would be the same character, and Sora from the Kingdom Hearts series is the same character even with the 60 (/exaggeration) games there are in the series.

You can check the application and reserve pages for additional details, including cycle dates and other requirements.

quizpersona: (🕊️ xxxiv.)

[personal profile] quizpersona 2024-04-22 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey mods it's ya boy uhhhh me again. Back with another fuckass question.

What happens when someone else picks up a character's device and holds onto it when that character has died? When they respawn will they have a whole new device or are they going without the joys of the Aldrip internet for a while?

Asking for a friend of course.
spidermenaces: (Default)

[personal profile] spidermenaces 2024-04-24 03:31 pm (UTC)(link)
can characters have two different network accounts

example @ peterparker @ spiderman
spidermenaces: (Default)

[personal profile] spidermenaces 2024-05-01 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
also are movies available if so what kind
icequeenly: (❄️ P3 24)

[personal profile] icequeenly 2024-05-05 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Hi lovely mods!

I just wanted to check with regard to AC rewards whether it's possible for characters to combine their activity proofs together in order to get something they would own jointly? The specific example I have in mind here is obviously the existing business takeover but I suppose could also apply to stuff like house purchases or adding an extra room on to an existing house, things of that nature.

Thanks for your time.
chemex: (0349)

[personal profile] chemex 2024-05-16 08:18 pm (UTC)(link)
hi mods!! is there radio in aldrip? the RV akira has would... technically have a radio/probably tape or CD deck and i wasn't sure if he'd be able to pick anything up or if it'd just be static! :> ty!
opheliac: (⊙o⊙) (I gave you the benefit)

[personal profile] opheliac 2024-05-29 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
Hello, mods! This is a bit of an unique question.

With the AC rewards and being able to use them for business takeover or business from home and all, does this count for the AU event we had too? As in if a character owned a business in the AU life, can they submit extra AC to bring them to the reality they are in now or is that impossible and lost for good due to the system upgrade?
spidermenaces: (Default)

[personal profile] spidermenaces 2024-06-07 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
if peter tried to stick a gps on gwen as she goes in for sentencing, as well as trying to look in with infrared and x-ray and all the blablabla in his suit, what would he be able to pick up if anything at all

ps. blame kat
Edited 2024-06-07 23:18 (UTC)
spicemelange: (pic#17228412)

[personal profile] spicemelange 2024-06-08 08:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey there, I have been looking at apping, but I had a question regarding crimes and sentencing that I can't seem to put together from game info (though feel free to link me elsewhere if you've answered this before!). How exactly is sentencing handled? I can see the blurb above, but is this recurring on a monthly basis/an additional part of an AC proof re: the tasks mentioned? I can find plenty on picking out character crimes, but not much on the sentencing aspect beyond what's outlined above, so I was wondering if y'all could clarify that a little bit!
masculinitea: (Default)

[personal profile] masculinitea 2024-06-11 12:36 am (UTC)(link)
Hello! On the old FAQ I saw that very large characters are resized to be smaller. Are very tiny characters such as a fairy or a mouse resized to be larger? If not or if it's only to a limited degree, do they have appropriately-sized tablets?
luneminary: (Default)

[personal profile] luneminary 2024-06-15 10:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Hello mods! I have some questions with the skill regains:
1) is the limit for gaining skills applicable per category or is it an overall skill limit? e.g. Is it possible to gain two passive and one magical skill at the same time?

2) what's the difference between the "Skill Gain (magical)" and "Skill Gain (magical or non-magical)" categories? The descriptions seem to be the same but with different proof requirements and "Skill Gain (non-magical)" is another category altogether so I admit I'm a confused ;;
prillid: (pic#11420388)

[personal profile] prillid 2024-06-15 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
hello mods! i hope this hasn't been answered before, but i noticed this on the application page: "Please choose one crime, bearing in mind that there may be occasions in which the crime chosen could affect how a character interacts with certain events or situations."

would you be able to elaborate a little on this? how might a chosen crime affect interacting with an event, for example?
avitus: (Default)

[personal profile] avitus 2024-06-21 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
hello! i'm just wondering. if the amount of new player apps this round exceed 20, will the overflow apps be held in a queue or will those players simply have to try their luck again another time?
coolerjunpei: (Default)

[personal profile] coolerjunpei 2024-06-21 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Hi mods, I have an OC question, basically: Can I App A Ghost?

I know that there's a mandatory death mechanic and obviously a ghost is dead but my ghostly OC in question is, in his "canon," a ghost on purpose - it's one of his powers that he manifests himself as a ghost instead of properly dying for real. As such he can be ghost-killed for real, forced to fully 100% die, so does that meet death mechanic reqs? I have more ghost form deets all the way at the end of his egregious info post, here.

He has another temporary ability to manifest himself as basically a golem, and that golem body can be killed, if that helps.

I also noticed there are no spirits around native to the setting, so sub question of what that would be like for the natives, if apping a ghost guy is viable in the first place...
digthefuzz: (adorbs with popcorn)

[personal profile] digthefuzz 2024-06-28 03:02 am (UTC)(link)
Hello mods! I'm here passing along a question from a friend who is interested in apping to the game: would the same player be allowed to app two different mutant characters from separate versions of X-Men media (such as an animated character and a film character)?
endcaller: (Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit)

[personal profile] endcaller 2024-07-02 03:15 am (UTC)(link)
My favorite game in the world is this game called "Speed run making the mods regret accepting you to a game".

Okay no actually I hope you don't regret it but here's an awful question:

Given that the NPCs around Aldrip feel "off" in terms of not showing up with Force sight, being very biologically "normal" to a suspicious degree, etc can Fandaniel uh... start kidnapping some of them and running not-so-nice experiments on them once he has enough resources? He wants to know if he should consider them truly alive.

He is also a master at aether manipulation so he'd be experimenting on them to see if they have anything like aether...

Hello, guys, I'm sorry.
sinningtree: (Default)

[personal profile] sinningtree 2024-07-08 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Question about rewards.

If characters expand on a home in game and then later the players submit for a building from canon, would there be a way to plan ahead with the mod team to ensure the house and later building could be in the same space?

Specifically, we're thinking of expanding a house so everyone would be together under one roof in the immediate future. However, later, as a long term goal we might want to see about bringing in the Temple everyone inherits at the end of canon.

So, it would be really cool if the house could be somewhere that the Temple would reasonably arrive when that happens, (on the same or adjacent properties). Or even if additional rewards could be used to move them closer together once they're both in game.

I hope that made sense.
nuraridouman: (pic#17284855)

[personal profile] nuraridouman 2024-07-09 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
This is probably a stupid question, but would it be okay to use the unofficial shorthand for Douman's canon's ("yohaji", from the Japanese title Youkai Gakkou no Sensei Hajimemashita!) for his post tags?

Asking because "A Terrified Teacher At Ghoul School: Douman Ashiya" is a dang mouthful, and "ATTAGS: Douman Ashiya" isn't really any better.
telecosmetic: (hmm...)

[personal profile] telecosmetic 2024-07-16 04:13 am (UTC)(link)
Hi mods, quick CRAU question here: My character here had her CRAU game go into endgame, and I've developed a loose timeline that leads to a canon point 2 years after that endgame. Could I take her from that point, or do I have to take her from the end of her CRAU game specifically?
florescu: (Default)

[personal profile] florescu 2024-08-02 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
some of us have horrible memories idr if this was asked BUT

what if someone happened to app a vampire/human-eating character would they still have their diet in aldrip (npcs and pcs (with express plotting and permission) )
unprimed: (Default)

[personal profile] unprimed 2024-08-06 06:33 pm (UTC)(link)
hi guys i'm here to be a problem (spiderman pointing meme)

SO. it's been established that the moon is always full! some follow-up questions:

1. what happens if someone tries to chart the movement of the moon and sun across the sky? do they remain in the same position every day or do they move the same way Earth's moon does as months pass?

2. what kind of stars would someone be able to chart? any familiar constellations?

3. looking at those stars through a telescope: what do they look like? normal stars? are they detailed at all?

4. do the stars/constellations move across the sky over time, or do they remain in a fixed position?

5. is there anything unusual that one would be able to notice looking through the telescope at the sky/clouds/upper levels of the atmosphere?
Edited 2024-08-06 18:35 (UTC)
endcaller: (♠ Life as we knew it is over)

[personal profile] endcaller 2024-08-07 02:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Hi me again, I'm great.

So Rumpiturr is blocked off by angry guards. What would happen if someone who can both fly and turn invisible tried to go there?
followyourstar: (Default)

[personal profile] followyourstar 2024-08-12 06:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Question about the translation!

Dante here can only be understood by a handful of people in their canon -- the 12 Sinners of Limbus Company mainly (due to some odd thing that bound them to them at the beginning of the game), a kid named Demian, and some people who aren't exactly human anymore. To anyone else, their speech sounds like a clock ticking. They can write and type just fine.

So I guess the question is this: For the purposes of the game, would others being able to understand them despite hearing the ticking of a clock be all right?
Edited 2024-08-12 18:59 (UTC)
endcaller: (Ascians don't play dice.)

[personal profile] endcaller 2024-08-22 03:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Psi here with another fucked question.

Given that Fandaniel has a laboratory now he would like to uh.

How can I put this delicately

Start kidnapping NPCs and teleporting with them back to his lab so he can vivisect them and learn more about how the glitches are affecting them. He's also watching for near-death experiences to see if they have souls.

What would he find?

I'm sorry.
Edited 2024-08-22 16:19 (UTC)
shadeflower: ([moody lighting])

[personal profile] shadeflower 2024-08-23 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey mods! Asking about possession/two-characters-in-one-body kind of situation and how they're handled

For Kainé in particular, she's possessed by an entity who is keeping her alive after she was pretty badly injured. The shade, Tyrann, is his own character, but never does anything besides lurk in Kainé's head and give snarky commentary. They essentially have a deal that he'll take over her body and turn her into a monster when she stops amusing him.

Anyway since Tyrann is kind of his own character but he also never really does anything outside of Kainé, would it be possible to app her with him still hanging around, & keep all the powers she gets for that? Or would I be restricted to apping her to a canon point without him?

Thanks in advance! Sorry if this was confusing
digthefuzz: (head scratcher)

[personal profile] digthefuzz 2024-08-26 02:05 pm (UTC)(link)
WHAT YEAR IS IT

-I mean, is there any in-game way of referring to years and if so, what year is it?

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