Eagle Mountain Boarding Lodge; OOC

[Goldmarble]

The old school bus seems loaded with unfamiliar faces as it drives up a dirt road in the middle of the Rocky Mountains of Idaho. The suspension jounces over a washed out pothole, causing the chassis to creak and rattle out of indignation at this abuse it was suffering, many of the other faces seem to share the discomfort with the bus as a sympathetic reaction or simply because they were uncomfortable with the situation. Perhaps the only familiar face was seated at the front of the bus, Mr. Korneff, though perhaps “familiar” is not the best term to describe the mid sixties man with warm smile, though his teeth were mildly stained from his life long vice of coffee. You’ve met him a few times, all in the preparation for this trial run of Idaho’s “New Take on Foster Care.”

Looking out the window, the world is green and brown from the dense, second growth forest that loomed over the road, like hundred and thirty foot sheer canyon walls. The sky is clear though, a cheerful shade of blue on this Tuesday, of August 24th, 2012. A few tufts of pale fluff hover in the atmosphere, but otherwise, the sky is clear. From an open window ahead of you, the warm air is circulating in the bus, it perhaps struck you a while ago, just how different the smell of the air is here. Having been in the cities for so long, the clean, pure mountain makes you realize just how badly scented all of those commercial products touting themselves as “fresh scented” really are. You can hear birds chirping and singing in the trees, in the breaks of the trees, you’ve seen squirrels, chipmunks, and deer.

Since the gate near the start of this road, or driveway, there hasn’t been a sign of the man beside the road itself, until ahead, the canyon walls of the forest peel back a little to reveal the lodge that was on the front of the info sheet that Mr. Korneff had provided you. Weathered stones that were shaped and fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle rose up from the driveway, creating a large terrace with stairs leading to its level. Around the terrace, the rock walls thrust up like square pyramids that were lopped off at half height at regular intervals, square timbers fitted between the posts of stone to make a sturdy railing. Behind this all, rose the bulk of warmly weathered wood that looked as though it had been here since the dawn of time. Squared timber framing with massive frames leading up to support the peaked roof that stood well above the ground. The facade of the entrance was a great door built with three planks of timber held vertically by the wrought iron hinges that spanned the four foot width. Flanking the door, stood two multi-framed windows, reaching to the height of the door and nine feet. Beyond the entrance, the building sprawls, the southern half on the right seeming to sink into the rock outcropping, while to the North on the left, the ground gives way to more puzzle-work of stone, through the trees to the left, a clearing can be seen, a brilliant space of green grass, shining in the sun.

As the bus pulled up to the front of the building, Mr. Korneff stands turning to bend one knee to the seat he was in, and smiles. He’s wearing the typical neutral grey suit he always has whenever you’ve seen him, although today he chose not to include the tie which has typically been a suitably neutral colour as well. His voice is deep, rich, and inviting, “Welcome to Eagle Mountain, make sure you have everything with you when you get off the bus.”

Welcome to the OOC thread for the Eagle Mountain Boarding Lodge RP. Here, you will find the rules, the information for the character sheet, and information about the lodge, and the grounds of the lodge itself. Please wipe your feet at the door, but keep your head’s messy; a messy mind breeds new ideas.

Now, to go over a few things if I didn't make it clear in the interest check or if you skipped it entirely: I am looking for a strong thread of "realism" to be running through this. I tried to make the premise seem logical and realistic. I want to convey the notion that these characters are like people in this world. If it happened in our past, it's happened in the character's past.

The Lodge was built originally in 1902, by a wealthy land owner looking to make something of a luxurious retreat for himself. The building was constructed using local materials found on the property, lodge pole pine, and quarried rock. It was built as a two story, six bedroom retreat that backed onto a natural hot spring. Using the landscape as inspiration, the architect and owner quarried out a section of a bluff, and built into the bluff, conveying the sense that the lodge grew from the Earth itself. When the owner went bankrupt during the great depression, the property was claimed by the bank, which then sold it, just after the depression to a wealthy investor who saw the potential of the property as a Hunting Inn, or Lodge, where people would come, to hunt the local game of the area. To this end, he renovated the North wing of the building; removing two of the bedrooms, and a sizable portion of the old rear wall of the building, building a radically elegant curved wall of stone, wood and glass, that flowed from the old house, to the renovated wing which was expanded into to great a great hall. Inside the main structure, he walled off the new hall, and created a smoking room behind the sunken living room. Then, with a bit of careful landscaping, he lowered the bluff above the Lodge, and sloped it down the back, while building a line of cozy cabins that climbed the bluff, looking over the hot spring and main lodge.

Yet the concept of the Luxury hunting lodge failed, and in 1943, the Eagle Mountain Hunting Lodge was forced to close its doors, and the property was sold to the Government who used it as a training facility for Park Wardens and Police Officers in on and off again bouts until it was finally sold to the Idaho Department of Social Services, due to a project idea proposed by Mr. Barry Korneff, to trial an experimental and radical change to the not only the care of Foster children, but also their education.

Layout of the main Lodge:


Rough location of the Lodge, and an outline of the property:

Please read the rules. I know many people skim over the rules, think they won't apply to them, or that they will never have an issue with them. Just please, read the rules.

These are Corporal Lance's Rules, that I have adapted. Thank's again Corp!

I might sound like a Nazi in the following list, but I just want to be crystal clear exactly what is and what is not okay.

1. All of the normal forum rules apply here. Don't flame and belittle, debates are alright. I am the GM and I make the rules. JurassicHole is the Co-GM and he will help enforce them. If you don't want to play by the rules, you don't have to play. You'll get one warning and then get kicked out. Past that it's a site admin referral.

2. This RP will be mature, but don't overdo it. Personally, my character will have a foul mouth, but keep your curses to an appropriate level. Blood and gore is perfectly fine with me, but if anyone has any objections or problems I'll ask you to tone it down. Romantic situations will be limited to R. Anything in detail will have to continue to PM, just allude to it or fade to black.

3. If two or more characters are fighting, keep it fair. You won't auto-dodge, auto-hit, and overpower everyone you fight, especially if you're outnumbered. Fights are messy, and you're almost guaranteed to take a hit and feel it later unless you have a very obvious advantage. It's alright if it makes sense, such as superhuman reflexes vs. a normal punch to the jaw, but it's best to work out how the fight will go in the OOC or through PM before you actually do the fighting. If you can't come to an agreement, I will decide the outcome.

4. If you plan on being gone, please let someone know. If you don't plan on being gone but disappear due to complicated things, we'll give you a reasonable amount of time waiting for you to come back depending on how badly and how many people you're holding up. After that time is up, someone will ghost write for you until you do come back. If you don't agree with what your character has done or how they've been represented, I can come up with some excuse I'm sure for why your character wasn't themself. If you have just lost interest and don't feel like playing anymore, that's fine too. You honestly won't hurt my feelings, sometimes the interest goes. We've all been there. Just make sure that you tell me so that I can kill of your character or make them disappear or give them to someone else. This goes almost the same for if you plan on being gone for a long time, but we'll just ghost play you and force your character to disappear until you come back.

5. I'm going to have to be strict on a minimum post length, just so that we can get a clear picture on everything. This entire experience is a story, a grand tapestry of intertwining descriptions and actions, not a newspaper. Of course, sometimes it's okay to violate this rule, but do it too often and I'll tell you to step it up. This is an example for close to bare minimum post length:

Jimmy was pretty shocked. He honestly hadn't expected her to say that. Why on Earth would she have that idea about him? It was a little absurd if you asked him, and such rudeness wouldn't be tolerated. He decided to speak up about it. "Y'know, there's no need to rustle me up like that. That was a little uncalled for, dontcha think?"

That's pretty fair, right?

On the other hand, there is no maximum post length. If you like writing novellas for a post? By all means, go for it. There will probably be at least one person that does the same. That person is frequently me.

6. Spamming. Don't do it. Be polite and wait for the majority of the group. If someone's being left behind, let them catch up. I know how everyone can get excited, especially during an event, but the entire experience is so much better if everyone is on the same page. Post as much as you wish in one response, but not like 5 posts out of the page.

7. Read the rules. Most people don't. They just make a CS and jump in. That's why I'm mentioning this here. In the CS I make, there will be a section for "Blood Type". Leave it completely blank. Put absolutely nothing in that section. That's why I hid this here in the middle of the rules and didn't make it obvious. If you mess up, I'll tell you your CS has a problem, but I won't say what and you'll need to figure it out. Anyone can point out what it's missing and then whoever just says "Okay!" and does that without reading the rules anyway. Don't be that guy, and don't be the guy that points it out, either.

8. Be consistent. Pay attention to details that people give out. You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes and pick out every little thing and give it attention, but if someone happens to comment about the sunrise and you walk up to them asking to get lunch, shows how much you pay attention. Let's keep the times and events straight, please.

9. Do not let your character know OOC knowledge. They will not know what is going on. In the same vein, please try to limit your OOC knowledge from influencing a character's actions. This will become rather important, and will be enforced. Jurassic and I have seen the results when someone lets OOC knowledge affect a character. It was quite aggravating.

10. I'm not always gonna be here, alright? There are times when I will be busy, there are times when I will be here. It's why I chose a reliable Co-GM in Jurassic. I know his style, he knows the idea behind this. Hell, in a way, Jurassic is a big reason I started this game in the first place.

11. Enjoy yourself! Have a good time! If you're not having fun, why do you continue? I expect this to evolve from what it starts out as, into something much more grand. There is no set "end" for this game in mind.

Character Sheet Thread

[U][B]Personal Information[/B][/U]

[B]Name:[/B] (Character's real name)
[B]Alias:[/B] (What they're known as if they hide their identity. If they don't have one, just put "None")
[B]Gender:[/B] (Male, Female, or Other. Please, [I]please[/I] don't go into detail with Other)
[B]Age:[/B]
[B]Height:[/B] (In whatever format you want, metric or 'Merican)
[B]Weight:[/B] (See above, but how heavy instead of how tall)
[B]Blood Type:[/B] (Blood type here)

[B][U]Appearance[/U][/B]

[B]Hair Color:[/B] (The hair color everyone recognizes. If they dye their hair, give that one)
[B]Eye Color:[/B] (If they have two different eye colors, give both. Please avoid that cliche...)
[B]Physical Description:[/B] (This is where you will mention their features, such as body type, skin color, facial features, hair style, identifiable marks such as tattoos and scars, and the like. Pictures can go here too, but they are completely optional. THIS IS NOT WHERE CLOTHING GOES. GOD HELP YOU IF YOU PUT WHAT THEY USUALLY WEAR HERE)
[B]Manner of Dress:[/B] ([I]This[/I] is where clothing goes. Just give a brief description, you don't need to outline a specific outfit. This is a fairly realistic world and your character will most likely change clothes every day like a normal person. If they've got a crime-fighting outfit or "supersuit", that would also go here)

[B][U]Psychological Footprint[/U][/B]

[B]Innate Personality:[/B] (This will be who they are as a core being. It will be basically who they are in most situations and when alone. Give us a good baseline to judge this character before you post)
[B]Outward Personality:[/B] (How do they act around people? This can actually be radically different than Innate Personality and possibly show insight on who your character really is deep down)
[B]Favorite Thing:[/B] (Something for fun. What do they value most? Is it an activity or an object or anything else?)
[B]Theme Song:[/B] (Cuz everyone wants to give their character a theme song...If you don't, don't worry about it)
[B]Occupation:[/B] (Does your character have a job?)
[B]Hobbies:[/B] (What do they do for fun?)
[B]Bad Habits:[/B] (Everyone has at least one. That's just the way people are)
[B]Favorite Color:[/B] (What's their favorite color?)

[B][U]History[/U][/B]

[B]Background:[/B] (Give me a concise record of your character. I don't need more than a paragraph or two, but I do need to know anything significant that happened in their lives and who they were as a person as they entered different points in their lives)

[B]Past Relations:[/B] (You have the option to work out with other RPers if you and someone else's character have had any interactions in the past. It's understandable. You may have been in the same Foster Care facility before.)

[B]Miscellaneous:[/B] (This is where any extra crap goes that doesn't belong anywhere)

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Character sheets in this thread please.

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Yes, this OOC is still under construction. I will be adding to it tonight, and probably tomorrow.

Please. Put down the pitchforks!

[JurassicHole]

Co-GM here, just making a post in case some of you don't know or just barely skim over rules like I normally do.

[AAB]

How did you get an HTML box like that?
Oh, you're including blood type. I found this. It may be more fun than choosing something randomly.

[JurassicHole]

Where is the character sheet thread?

Coming right up, Gold will have it up soon, if not already.

[AAB]

My CS is finally complete.

[Base Four]

Reporting for duty!

I'm always slows on Css so bear with me please? I'll have it done in a day or two.

[LetterA]

*puts pitchfork down*
I'll try to have my CS up soon, but heaven knows I'm slow with those things. = w =

[Vocalia]

My CS is complete, straight out of The Sims 3!

...

...

...

Yes, Jenna Fallhills is my character in TS3... Slapped her into Moonlight Falls with Clumsy and Unlucky as two of her traits...

[Corporal Lance]

I know I'm none too vocal, but my character sheet is finished. If someone wants to claim a spot as his childhood friend (the little girl his age) when he was eight until eleven, it's open.

However.

Although I put up a CS, I won't be playing right off the bat until I can get a feel for the RP in general. Talked to my good buddy Goldmarble about it and I want to see how people are playing before I decide if it's for me or not.

[Base Four]

Sometimes I decide what gender I play in an RP according to existing character sheets. Curiously 9/10 times when I use that method I end up making a female CS. Someone explain.

I know I'm none too vocal, but my character sheet is finished. If someone wants to claim a spot as his childhood friend (the little girl his age) when he was eight until eleven, it's open.

I might just do this. Although, I would need to consult you about past interactions and character traits before I can decide-if you're okay with it, that is.

PM'd.