Abandon all hope before you continue to read, lest you are dragged into a world of nightmares, rubber duckies... and other duckies. This shall be the stage of a horror/survival/GM-lead RP that is somewhere in between low advanced (as it has a GM) and high casual (because lax ruleset and situationally short post length). I am looking for between 4 and 8 players, with 5 being the ideal size. There will be puzzle solving, detective-work and likely some (very one-sided) combat. Additionally, there is a delicious twist to all this, that has to do with my name.


You are an average person, living an average life. Most of the time. An interest in - or a talent for - lucid dreaming has given you the power to shape dreams whatever way you want. Dreams are a refuge for you, a place where you are king, god, the creator of everything. Or so you thought, until someday, without warning, you find yourself in a horrific place of nightmares. You're perfectly aware that you're dreaming, but you remain powerless, alone, unsettled. Soon you will find out that you're not alone in this place, that there are others going through the same nightmare. Will you befriend them? Cooperate with them to uncover the secrets of this place? But can you really trust them?


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The story exists in rough drafts by now. I'm holding back on this a bit to adjust it to the participating characters, though I would mostly if not entirely work everything out before we start. Possibly share it with my potential accomplice... or maybe not. This is still a bit of a work in progress and your feedback may influence the way I'd set everything up.

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This RP is going to happen in two alternating phases:





Subsequent nightmare phases will start with the group being separated again, but certain "changes" done to the nightmare will be persistent, making it easier to meet up and/or progress past the point you reached last time. Depending on what you did, it could get more difficult as well. At any rate, the dreamers will become more familiar with the area and learn to traverse it faster. Day phase planning supports this as well.

Ultimately, the whole thing is like a game. Your goal is to end the nightmare by confronting the one responsible for it. You can, under certain conditions that may be revealed at some point, fail to achieve this goal. The exact conditions to win the game are being kept secret as well. This is inspired by oldschool P&P RPG.
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Your character can be anyone. From first-grader to college student to workaholic in their late fifties, everything goes. The only thing that has to be implemented in some form is an interest into lucid dreaming. That involves the possibility of someone being super knowledgeable about it yet failing to actually pull it off! As for the area your characters are living in, that is kind of...open. Since the important part happens inside those dreams, you could literally be living scattered across the planet. Physical proximity would make it easier to interact during day-phases, however. Since I don't need you to be anywhere specific, this is a choice I'll leave up to you.




In accordance with my wish to approve each character individually (primarily because of the power/balance issue), I want you to post your CS in the OOC first. I'll check them out asap, give feedback, suggest power adjustment if applicable or outright approve. After approval, you can post them in the actual characters tab. Also, as a basic brain functionality check, I need you to add a random fact about ducks at the end of the CS. These can be valiantly researched truths or completely made up!



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Finally, call-outs to the people who expressed interest in the interest expression subforum where interest is expressed.

@Sir Avita
@Makky
@Oni_
@malmshodes
@Fillet

Let the games begin.

Interactive map in its most current state is here, for your convenience...

I don't think I'll join, but I'm watching this with interest.

Hey, I'm new and actually really into lucid dreaming. I saw this and just had to jump at it. So here is my CS

Name: Shin Lyrix

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Appearance:
Shin Looks quite young for his age, with large dark eyes and a small figure he fits in with the average 16 year old. His casual outfit is nothing spectacular, normally some skinny-fit dark jeans and a graphic tee. Rarely seen without some sort of smirk or grimace, and always has a blue string tied around his wrist for good luck.

Dream appearance: His normal Day-to-day height being 5'7" his dream height is only 5'. Everything else remains the same, other than his blue string has an unusual glow.

Personality: To put it simple, he is a smart alec. He is normally very serious, stern, and entirely blunt. Even so, when put in a social situation he can be very quiet and soft-spoken. This being said, he has his moments of "comic relief" where he simply forgets to keep up his serious persona. During these small outburst he shows that deep down he truly isn't any stronger or smarter than anyone else, and has very real raw emotions. (Especially when he is in the dark... he is afraid of the dark.)

Dream personality: Same as always, but his persona can be breached slightly easier.

Background: From distant, unloving parents and no siblings, Shin grew up to rely on himself and his abilities. This makes it difficult for him to trust others. Once someone gains his trust, it is hard to lose it. Due to a traumatic experience being home alone when he was training himself to lucid dream, he despises being in the dark. All of the dreams he seeks to have are all clear and bright, but just incase he keeps his glowing string tied tightly around his wrist.

Power: While he is dreaming, he can make his blue string glow faintly. This glow is just enough to help him keep his cool in the dark.

Other: He is very creative and artistic, and normally sews in his free time to clear his mind, but would hate for anyone to find out about this.

p.s. Ducks are secret agent unicorns in disguise, using their fragile lives to try to save their close-knit cousin, narwhals, from extinction. All they can do is quack though, so their doing a pretty horrible job.

This CS meets all of my standards! This is exactly what I meant when I asked for creative powers that aren't game-breakingly strong. Fantastic, I can go places with this! Approving the living shit out of this. Welcome aboard.

However, I don't appreciate the slandering of ducks. "All they can do is quack"? Have you ever heard a duck quack with DETERMINATION?

Looks like I have a great deal to learn about ducks, haha.
Shall I add Shin to the characters or wait until there are a few more dreamers around here?

Deffo interested. Subbing.

Name: Finnian "Finn" Callaghan.

Age: 17

Gender: Male.

Appearance: A stout young lad with scrambled red hair just above his amber eyes. An audible Irish accent with just a hint of sarcasm laced between his words on occasion. Quite tall, at 5'11" and he doesn't care far too much about his clothing. He normally wears a comfortable flannel or tee paired with straight jeans or shorts.

Dream appearance: Same as IRL appearance.

Personality: Finn is an extrovert, he is always trying to become friends with others and normally everyone can easily trust him. Due to the loss of his father at a young age, and him trying to fill this void in his life, he tries to always be talking to someone, on the phone at the very least. He can be snarky and sarcastic when he feels it is appropriate but his normal nature is sweet and overly kind to everyone.

Dream personality: Same as IRL personality.

Background: Finn was always attached to his father since he was young, always depending on his wisdom. Unfortunately, when he was in middle school he passed away in an accident involving work. Now days, he lives with only his mother, Tonya, and cat, Sam. Because of his situation, he has been taking everything he has been given more seriously, this includes academics and become the programmer he wants to be. Finn hates to be alone, he has ever since the accident with his father. Due to this, he is almost always on the phone talking to someone he has managed to befriend. Finn doesn't quite understand lucid dreaming. He knows what it is, he knows he has a knack for it, but the whole idea is still very new to him.

Power: Finn carries around a small bear with a heart embedded on it's cheek. His father gave this toy to him when he was in elementary school, and when he lucid dreams this little bear talks to him to keep him company through the night. It's voice is that of a little girls, and only he can hear it.

Other: Finn is really into Tide Laundry Detergent. He is also into video games.

P.S. TIL Ducks can quack with determination if their hearts really feel it.

P.P.S. Lyrix was a HUGE help in the writing process, this application wouldn't be half as good without their help.

Shall I add Shin to the characters or wait until there are a few more dreamers around here?

Feel free to post it. I don't see why not.

@DaFrenchiestFry
Hnnng. I love it. You're hired!
Apparently my fear to receive all the dreamworld supermans and mutant badasses was completely unfounded.

As I was drawing for my CS, I took a look here. Something caught my attention. Looks like we're gonna have two rotund Irish teenagers here. Not sure if I should maybe edit or just roll with it. COINCIDENCE OR ILLUMINATI!?

Attack of the fat gingers! Damn it, -you- were supposed to be the ones getting terrorised, not me!

...by the way, is that the REAL FACE TRAINER?

Attack of the fat gingers! Damn it, -you- were supposed to be the ones getting terrorised, not me!

...by the way, is that the REAL FACE TRAINER?

Why, yes, sire. It's my very own power rangers he- device I use to talk to aliens.

Apparently my fear to receive all the dreamworld supermans and mutant badasses was completely unfounded.

He couldn't thnk of a power so I helped him out lol. A bunch of supermans wouldn't be any fun would they? Gotta be interesting.

Oh, look, it's a CS for another ginger kid.

Edit: That feeling when you realize you forgot about important things about your character's appearance.

Name: Dewey Byrnes

Age: 14

Gender: Male

Appearance: Dewey usually wears sweaters or jackets, along with cargo pants. He's also overweight, of all other things. And shoes. Can't forget shoes. He stands at a not-so-staggering 5'4. His hair is colored auburn, and littered with freckles. Oh, and, he has brown-colored eyes.



Dream Appearance: The same as in real life, but instead of modern clothing, it's a robe over another robe, pants, and boots.

Personality: Dewey is a pretty hot-tempered lad; he could be pretty happy in one moment, then extremely angry in another moment, especially if something ticked him off. All this aside, he is kind of loyal, and always happy to help his friends, even if he does sometimes get pissed at them. Quite insecure about himself. Pretty curious, and a pretty big nerd sometimes. Some might even say he's a snotty brat, but hey. Let's not judge him yet, right?

Dream Personality: Almost the same, except that his temper problem is no more, and he might be able to make friends easier. But he's slightly more rude.

Background: Born to a family of five, he was the youngest. He doesn't really get along with his siblings, either it's his temperament, or just because he's the youngest. That aside, everything's all right here. Except he lives in their basement, by choice. He likes to call that " My Room. " Oh, and, he overeats sometimes. He found out about lucid dreaming when one day, he decided to just maybe sleep early for once, and alas, he was able to control his dream as he faded into sleep.

Power: Because he's a huge nerd when it comes to stuff related to medieval fantasy, he dreams of himself being a mage. Common magicky stuff, like fireballs, teleporting, all that jazz.

Other: Cringes when he sees extremely muscled people. Mentioned before, but he's a very big nerd. Also a really heavy sleeper. Does actually enjoy talking with friends.

Ducks are part of an ancient alien race that formed the earth. They can do magic, and they actually quack rarely, and the reason for that is to keep their form we see today, so they won't unleash hell on earth.

The fat wizard nerd kid, eh? Well, as long as he doesn't run around shouting "Lightning bolt! Lightnight bolt!"...

Power: Because he's a huge nerd when it comes to stuff related to medieval fantasy, he dreams of himself being a mage. Common magicky stuff, like fireballs, teleporting, all that jazz.

Here's the deal: I don't have a problem with this as is, being fairly open and up-to-interpretation. I'm even gonna say that this'll make it more challenging for me to come up with fun little puzzles you can't out-wizard. But there's a catch. And you might not like it as much as I do:
Whenever Ron Weasley here swings his magic wand to invoke whatever spell he intended... I will decide how much of the intended result actually takes place, and what other side effects occur.

Playing with fire is dangerous, you know?

I'm really looking forward to this. There are some really interesting characters, and I get to stand out as the non-ginger, yay~

Name: Anya Sandrow

Age: 13
Gender: Female(No shit?)

Appearance: As not seen in the picture, she wears leather boots on her feets.

Dream Appearance: Same as above. Except. She wears leather gloved with metal plates embedded. She likes action dreams *shrug*.

Personality: Despite her clothes she's really more of a tomboy. She actively gets into fights and challenges her friends to feats of strength. Despite this, she's not a complete asshole. She's actually very nice and kind, she just likes fighting.

Dream Personality: Same as IRL

Background: Anya was a normal girl growing up, mostly. Ok, well..she wasn't really that normal at all. Despite liking cute clothes and other such things girls her age liked, she liked fighting and sports.

She quickly en-rolled in various MMA and Karate classes when she was 10, her parents of course didn't really like the idea, but she begged them until they let her.

She got into a ton of fights at school and in her classes, which got her into a lot of trouble at school and with her parents. Eventually, she figured out she could control her dreams. And ooh boy did she have fun when she did.

She usually dreams she's in some kinda arena fighting wave after wave of monsters and the like.

Power: Enhanced strength and stamina due to her lifestyle outside of the dream world.

Other: She likes pie.

P.S: Ducks like bread. Ducks will someday take over the worlds bread factories and rule the world. It's happening.

@Shikaru I can't find nothing wrong with this! Might be useful to have some muscle on the team too. Even when it's the youngest duckling, -and- the only girl (so far). You're...adopted? Child labor is illegal, sooo...

Also, this person knows what's going on. You better lock up your bread factories.

Something I want to add, specifically in light of little miss brawn here. Keep in mind that the stronger your power, the more dangerous it becomes under my influence. The more directly it is tied to your character functioning as a human being, the more difficult it becomes to do so when you lose control over it. Just food for thought.

PS: the cuteness factor of all our characters thus far is surprisingly high considering the dire horrors that await them. Like, everyone getting killed repeatedly. Incineration, spontaneous combustion, electrocution, impaling... We're gonna have so much fun.

@Traitor Kay. Also. What's this about adoption and child labor? O.o.

Well I can't say you're hired as your character is freaking 13 and even malicious nightmare-o-mancers don't want the FBI on their doorstep.