"Let us partake in a gathering -- the entertainment is a game of life and death..."
Lucifer Van Bonaparte
Genre: Mystery, Psychological, Thriller, Drama, Horror, Supernatural, Contemporary Fantasy
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The Introduction
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The Plot
The year was 2012 A.D., and many believed that the end of the world was approaching. Despite that, people continued on their daily lives without concern. In this era, a mysterious individual by the name of Lucifer Van Bonaparte had become a living legend -- possessing enormous wealth and rumours of characteristics that were virtually superhuman. While he had been known as a man who lives in reclusion - away from eyes of the public - his charisma was noted as being otherworldly, and the rare events he had made a public appearance were considered major occasions. Many great deeds have moved society forward thanks to him -- his genius and resources having contributed immensely to a variety of fields and charities. Some had gone so far as to pass stories about how he is secretly behind many of the developments in the world and has played a massive part in society's growth across the board in unseen ways. Unusual occurrences are believed - spoken in small circles - to take place around him, though generally this had been dismissed by the common populace as urban legend and mass hysteria.
One day, a group of individuals received invitations to an exclusive gathering of people that would take place at the private residence of Lucifer Van Bonaparte, which was located in a remote area of Paris. Each of these people - who came from a variety of backgrounds and places around the world - shared one significant trait in common -- they all had something that they wanted so badly - a wish, if you will - that they would be willing to go to any length to achieve, and in many cases they were desperate to have these dreams come true. This made the invitation - which was written in their native languages despite coming from France - an offer that they could not possibly refuse, for the letter explicitly stated that those present would have a chance to have a wish granted -- any wish, even beyond the boundaries of reality. Whether or not these words were a fabrication was anyone's guess, but these individuals all found themselves drawn to learning the truth -- should those words be no hyperbole, their greatest dreams could be fulfilled.
The letter sent to each person included an all-expenses paid return ticket to the enigmatic celebrity's residence in Paris, including anything they needed in order to make the trip. Even more mysterious was the fact that each letter contained a strange tarot card, and information that indicated that the man who penned the letter knew not only the circumstances of each individual but also what they desired. While some of these people might have had their doubts about accepting such an enigmatic request of appearance from a man of whom society knew so little about, they were also unable to refuse a chance to have their innermost aspirations come true.
After the passage of time had moved forward, the moment of arrival fast approached... Their story was about to begin.
There's been some possibility of a timeline being added, but I've been avoiding it thus far mostly to avoid any possible spoilers.
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The Overview
While the premise of this role-play is fairly simple (an elimination game between the players), the story is actually deep and complex, with many facets and elements in order to make things more engaging. This story could go in a few directions depending on certain factors, and there are mysteries for you to solve beyond simply uncovering a murderer. It's in your hands - as the players - to make an active attempt to investigate your surroundings and the people you meet, using this information to piece together the puzzle through discovered knowledge and insight. Failure to do this could result in you not finding revelations that you would otherwise have learned, though I may reveal everything at the very end of the role-play if enough people are curious. Plot twists are always around the corner in this role-play, so never assume the story is entirely bound by its premise.
There will be more to do than simply compete against each other and engage in psychological warfare, as you are free to interact with each other and form allies or enemies. While the nature of this role-play is not inherently focused on romance - hence the decision not to include it in the genre, as it isn't a guaranteed plot element - you are entirely free to pursue it if you wish to do so under these circumstances -- love can be found anywhere, even in the most tragic of settings. Strong characterization and development are also encouraged, in order to make this more interesting than just a story about murder and deceit. Whether you choose to trust each other and work together or choose to doubt each other and hide in secret. Whether you choose to fight together or fight against each other. All of this is in your own hands. The plot might change depending on your intuition. How many of you die is up to you. There are multiple routes and endings.
Only you can discover the truth about Lucifer Van Bonaparte and his mysterious residence, and uncover all of the different intricacies of the narrative you are about to become a part of and give birth to. There is much more to the world than you know, and the story will take you beyond the reality you have believed to be all that exists and unlock revelations that most mortals would be better off not knowing.
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The Setting
The story takes place in the year 2012, in an alternate history that is virtually identical to our own outside of the existence of several fictional characters who obviously did not exist -- the most noteworthy example of this being Lucifer Van Bonaparte, a mysterious figure who has contributed greatly to society and is considered an enigmatic legend. Supernatural elements and fictional lore are also a part of the setting, but these are not known by the public and for all intents and purposes the world is indistinguishable to the real world of 2012 in an everyday sense.
Most of the plot takes place in the residence of Lucifer Van Bonaparte, in a remote location of Paris. This privately owned piece of land is home only to those who he has invited, and generally speaking the public cannot go there at all. While the opening of the story will include the characters reaching the residence - and possibly showing their events prior to getting there - once everyone has arrived the vast majority of the plot will happen there. The layout of the residence is similar to an extravagant mansion, or perhaps even a castle, and both the interior and exterior are likely to be used as setting for various interactions.
Outside of certain plot events, the characters will be free to move around this location either on their own or as a group. Certain measures will be taken to keep things clear as to where everyone is. During these events you will be free to interact with each other and with those in the location in whatever means you to see fit within the boundaries of the story, but for reasons that will remain unrevealed - until the plot begins anyway - you will be incapable of actually leaving the residence during the story.
I'll be taking the time to invest in having a map created for the primary setting, such as the interior of the place you'll all be staying. Nevertheless, it's not put together so I won't be including it yet.
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The Cast
This is a list of the main characters involved in the story, including those controlled by the players. Each of the player characters are listed with their status ('Alive' or 'Dead') kept in a hider -- a measure taken for the purposes of avoiding spoilers for anyone who wants to read this role-play without knowing beforehand who gets killed and when. Other characters besides the player characters are also included here (who may or may not also have status hiders). For more information about the cast, check the character tab -- it'll always keep spoilers in similar hiders.
- Player Characters
- ________
- ________
- ________
- ________
- ________
- ________
- ________
- ________
- ________
- NPCs
- Lucifer Van Bonaparte
- (more to come)
While the game currently lists seven possible slots for players (I know there's eight, but there's a reason for that), I've haven't set this as an absolute cap and I won't go into what the cap is for now. I'll go into how many characters we can have once I know how much interest this role-play garners, including how dedicated those wanting in will be. This is a very specific type of role-play, so we can't have anyone ruining it. Overall, just think of this as a minimum of sorts.
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The Rules
The following is a general list of the regulations for the role-play, alongside the site's overall rules. Read these rules before you decide to join, because I won't be letting you get off because you were too lazy to take the time to read the opening post.
- Failing to oblige with any of the rules will result in you being killed off, with me taking control of the character in order to make it happen. This is entirely justifiable because people are gonna die in this role-play anyway. Also, this includes the murderer themselves if they break any rules -- I actually have contingency ideas for this role-play planned out in the event that the murderer is eliminated - for whatever reason - prior to this role-play reaching a satisfying plotline conclusion.
- The GM is God. My word is basically law, since I'm running this thing. This should be obvious, but I'm saying it anyway -- if you try to argue with me then it won't take long before you're out. I don't consider myself a tyrant, and I believe I'll be just and fair, as well as be willing to listen to constructive opinions, but I'm seriously not the type of person who'll tolerate disrespect from anyone. Have you ever heard the phrase 'don't bite the hand that feeds you'? Take this warning into account, because if you cause me problems I'll eliminate you from the role-play. Those who'll be easily offended by my forthright nature or are weak-minded shouldn't join, because I don't plan on mincing words for people. If you've got genuine concerns or difficulties then I'll do my best to help. I'm not gonna be a jerk, but I'm also no pushover and I've got absolutely no tolerance for superficial, shallow, immature, or small-minded people.
- Be respectful to the other players. I'm not here to babysit anyone, so show some common courtesy or you'll be out of the role-play through a similar means to the previous rule. I don't see any reason why people can't resolve their issues peacefully, or why they'd need to have issues in the first place unless they're the type of role-player who also happens to be a troll -- I despise trolls, just for the record. When all's said and done, if you're an asshole to people OOC then you'll be out of the role-play pretty fast.
- Characters can (and most likely will) die at specific plot points, and can also die from other causes. If you haven't already worked it out, this is a role-play mildly based off an elimination game (this is a story at its core though, not an elimination game), meaning that any of your characters are susceptible to dying during the story. This can happen through the process of an elimination debating system where characters vote for who they think the murderer is, from the murderer killing people, or from other events. The first two won't be happening instantly or constantly, while the third only happens if your character screws up for the most part (or if I kill you off for breaking rules), and your characters will be given time between eliminations/murders to interact and develop whatever kind of relationships you'd like. Outside the situations listed previously, players aren't generally permitted to kill each other's characters, though exceptions might be made if both parties agree and discuss it with me privately -- we'll be avoiding this in general but if you guys come up with something interesting I'll probably allow it. A plot element will allow dead characters to remain in the role-play, but they'll have certain limitations and gimmicks involved in that, and characters that get killed off because their players broke the rules are excluded from this opportunity -- don't think you can loophole the system. If you're not okay with the idea of your character dying though, or you're the type who'd take it personally when other players vote you off or the murderer player chooses to kill you, then this role-play isn't for you. Those who'll be immature or petty about who they choose during the voting - rather than let the IC alone be the deciding factor, as it should be - are also not welcome here.
- One of the players participating is the murderer. This will either be selected randomly or be determined by whichever character I feel like making the murderer. I might allow someone who actually asks me to be the murderer to have this role, but only if they do so over PM. The player who is the murderer will be communicating and collaborating with me over the PM system, and telling me who they want to kill (if the system gives them this choice) using this method. Though this player will have a level of control over how the murders happen, it will be written by me in my IC posts and the killer won't appear 'on screen' during these events. I expect the murderer (assuming the system allows them to pick victims) to not be petty about things by selecting victims based off OOC disagreements or grudges. Also, keep in mind that being the murderer doesn't protect you from the other things that can kill characters off.
- No god-modding, controlling other people's characters (or the NPCs), or using OOC knowledge to gain an advantage in the IC. You're free to use the OOC to discuss and collaborate various aspects of your IC posts, but I don't want to see any sort of situation where the characters suddenly start gaining knowledge or insight that's unrealistic just because their writer has this information. It's a common rule of role-play -- the writers exist in the fourth wall and can see the fictional world on a grander scale, but the characters (under normal circumstances at least) must always remain within the boundaries of their own subjective experiences. Obviously, this includes trying to uncover mysteries or work out who the murderer is through means outside of activity within the IC -- you could get killed off if I have reason to think you're doing this. It doesn't matter if it's through the OOC, PM, or making the character notice something that character wouldn't. Any instance of this will be considered 'power gaming' and therefore not properly writing the character, and attempts to exploit some sort of 'meta' (outside of the character's knowledge) in general's no different. The same goes for characters suddenly cooperating with each other or gaining new insight into the situation when nothing in the actual IC activity justified it. In general, all relationship building and problem solving should occur within context of the IC, so don't let anything outside of it influence it or it'll be considered foul play. Naturally, your characters (including whoever's the murderer) aren't aware of anything in the IC that doesn't happen immediately around them, unless someone else explains it to them in the IC to get them up to date. The only exception to this rule is that the murderer and I will be collaborating over PM, but this will only involve their murders since they're in danger just like the rest of you.
- The role-play will be working on a timeline or sorts, with time passing occasionally and moving to day/afternoon/evening/night. Don't change the time of day yourself, because my posts will be giving dates and specifying what time of the day it is, so players will be writing according to those. I'll be trying to be fairly lenient with this and I won't suddenly shift the time in a way that interrupts the current player interactions, but it'll still be happening at various points.
- I expect you to post at the very least two decent paragraphs worth of content, and maintain an acceptable level of grammar and punctuation. I'm not expecting you to get everything perfect or write a novel, but the quality of the role-play will be sabotaged if people can't keep things coherent and reasonably detailed -- your fellow role-players can't give a realistic reaction without a decent amount of detail to respond to. Don't kill the immersion for the other players. In order to maintain coherency, make sure you post in the third person -- I know not everyone does this, but it's jarring to see one post in third person and then suddenly the next one shifts to first person. In general, keep in mind that this role-play has the 'Advanced' tag, and I consider there to be a lot more behind that tag than simply post length. Detail and quality are essential.
- Sexual content, or 'smut' as it's been dubbed by most people here, is prohibited from being displayed on the site outside of the PM system, and I expect you to follow that standard in this role-play as well. Don't go posting up that kind of scene in this role-play even if characters do end up becoming romantic with each other, because it's against the rules and isn't the focus of this role-play. Just for the record, it's perfectly fine for people to be flirty or romantic with each other - or even be sensual or become intimate - but no blatantly pornographic material here, m'kay? I'm not outright expecting a relationship here to grow that strong between characters, but it's realistically possible and I won't deny it existing due to that basis if it does happen -- just keep the explicit stuff 'off screen'. Hinting and insinuating is fine, and so is being seductive or mature to an extent, but actual sex scenes should be avoided entirely in posts. If you really want to do it, that's what PMs are for.
- Don't join this role-play if you're gonna be lazy or whimsical about it. I don't expect you to post every single day, but failing to do so within a week or so will likely result in you being killed off unless there's a very good reason. I don't want this role-play getting held up for everyone else due to you not posting, especially since this role-play requires all the players in order to function properly. I'm hardly expecting people to write too much, so posting regularly shouldn't be an issue unless people don't put in the effort. Make sure to earnestly keep up to date on the OOC (at the very least whenever you're given an [ @Mention ] by someone) and definitely the entire IC, and keep track of any important updates in the OOC's opening post. You're not obligated to read the entire OOC, but anyone who doesn't realize something's going to happen because they didn't keep up with the OOC will be held accountable for it -- I won't be blamed for other people not reading.
- Avoid tossing the [ @Mention ] feature into the IC posts, since everyone should be keeping up to date on the IC and OOC notifications in order to know if and when something demands a response from them. While this feature can be useful in certain role-plays, I want to avoid it here. Basically, keep IC and OOC where they belong in general. Considering people should be reading the entire IC, and will be getting notified in the OOC when they need to post, there's no reason to use this feature in the IC.
Some of the rules of the elimination system (such as the voting mechanic and the actions of the murderer) and other details will be confirmed in the official thread, but remain uncertain here. I need to know how much interest we have before determining which systems of elimination to use for the game, and I'm allowing people a chance to give their input too. Some of this might be rewritten too, even though the rules themselves won't be changing.
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Character Sheets Guide
The following is the information needed in order to get a character sheet accepted for the role-play. Use the template code given below and replace the '~' symbols with the appropriate data. Underneath the code you'll also find a guide for exactly what needs to be filled into each area. Make sure you fill in the information the way it's explained in that hider.
Note that there are two character sheets -- one of them 'Public' and the other 'Private'. I'm expecting you to fill them both out, but only post the 'Public' one in the OOC for registration (and copy/paste it into the character tab once accepted). The other one is to be sent directly to me through PM, and that's where it'll remain stored. This is because certain information about your characters will remain secret and have to be discovered through the IC, but obviously certain characters (such as Lucifer Van Bonaparte) know a lot more about your character than they seemingly should -- they invited you here for a reason, after all.
Keep in mind that providing all the information listed is obligatory unless stated otherwise. Also, both the 'Public CS' and the 'Private CS' must be accepted by me before you can post your 'Public CS' into the character tab, so don't do it before then.
Since people've brought up character sheet stylization - which I'm encouraging (within reason), especially since I'm likely not gonna use the default style in the code either - I've decided to include a brief list of regulations involving what you're allowed to do or not allowed to do, in a hider. Keep in mind that if the character sheet hurts my eyes in some way I might ask you do change it, so don't be too drastic (the rules should explain this fairly well).
Now for the character sheets themselves:
Public CS
[hider=<Insert Character's Full Name>]
[img]~[/img]
[b]Name:[/b] ~
[b]Also Known As:[/b] ~
[b]Birthdate:[/b] ~ ~, ~
[b]Place of Origin:[/b] ~, ~, ~
[b]Ethnicity:[/b] ~
[b]Gender:[/b] ~
[b]Height:[/b] ~ / ~
[b]Weight:[/b] ~ / ~
[b]Laterality:[/b] ~
[b]Occupation:[/b] ~
[b]Marital Status:[/b] ~
[b]Appearance:[/b] ~
[b]Synopsis:[/b] ~
[b]Trivia:[/b] [list][*] ~
[*] ~
[*] ~[/list]
[b]Theme Music:[/b]
[hider=<Insert Theme Music Name>][youtube]~[/youtube][/hider][/hider]
Private CS
[hider=<Insert Character's Full Name>]
[b]Personality:[/b] ~
[b]Biography:[/b] ~
[b]Wish:[/b] ~
[b]Secrets:[/b] [list][*] ~
[*] ~
[*] ~[/list][/hider]
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Discussion Points
I've decided to include a list of discussion points here, which will be the focus of conversation in this thread until the official one is created for the role-play. If you can contribute to any of the subjects listed, then go ahead.
- Glossary Details: The official version of this opening post will likely include a glossary or terms relevant to this setting -- a database for the lore of sorts that will be updated as more of the story is revealed. Any suggestions for information to be included can be brought up in discussion.
- Elimination Rules: We'll be talking about certain aspects of the elimination system, which can't be determined fully until I know roughly how many people actually want in on this thing.
- Tags: Besides those listed in the thread already, the following tags might be added. I'm primarily looking for opinions about whether these other tags should be included, since the tag system on this site is weird to me and my stories are usually too complex to put into a genre. Note that this isn't a discussion for people to ask me to alter the nature of the role-play to include the elements of these tags, since I'm not changing the plot I've got in mind. The discussion is about whether these tags are appropriate or not.
- Casual: This is unlikely to be included, but I've noticed role-plays listed at that level which I'm actually part of - and writing in at a level appropriate for this thread - so I've been sort of on the fence about including this. I don't want people to think they can post below the level explained previously in the rules.
- Arena: While players won't inherently fight against each other, I'm actually in agreement with Ailyn that this tag probably should be the most likely additional one included. This role-play is primarily a battle of wits between the players, since it's based on an elimination game and the murderer is actually one of you. With this in mind, I'll be adding it in unless someone presents a good argument not to.
- Fantasy: I don't think I'm spoiling anything if I say that there's gonna be some supernatural elements in this role-play, since I've already insinuated or revealed bits of it to a lot of you. I won't be spoiling the specifics, but I couldn't tell if this tag belonged in the thread due to that. The definition of the tag feels a little too 'LoTR-ish' to be appropriate, but I believe the genre 'urban fantasy' or 'contemporary fantasy' suits this role-play even if the player characters are basically normal people.
- Romance/Slice of Life: These were questionable for me. I don't consider this role-play to resemble what's usually considered 'Slice of Life' genre (at least given my understanding of it), but realistic character relationships and interactions are gonna be part of this role-play, so I've put it here as a maybe. I don't want people getting the wrong impression though and thinking this is meant to be like a television sitcom or something, since I don't think murder mystery thrillers are considered 'Slice of Life' even if they have heavy drama elements. I neglected to include the 'Romance' tag for the same reason -- there's certainly the possibility of romance occurring in this story, but it isn't the focus and isn't obligated to happen.
- 'Spoiler' Tag: There's one more tag I'm considering that pertains to specific routes the plot could go down depending on certain developments, and I don't want to include it here mostly because of its nature as a spoiler. I suppose the opinion I want you to give in this one case is whether or not I've made the right decision not including a tag if it spoils a possible plot twist and won't be significant to the role-play beyond said plot twist.
- Miscellaneous Questions: I'll answer any inquiries you've got, including information about character sheets and such. I'm also opened to input but I'll obviously not be putting up with attempts to just criticize my ideas or troll the thread. I won't be spoiling anything about the plot though, so don't ask. Keep in mind that this is for questions, not criticisms. If you don't like what you see in this opening post, you're free to use the exit.
