"The sleeping agent is wearing off now, so you will be able to hear my voice. Familiarize yourself with the layout of your holding cell: 33 inches long, 90 inches tall, 30 inches deep, made of obsidian black steel. We recommend that you do not attempt to escape, as extreme precautionary measures have been taken to prevent such an act. The claustrophobic nature of the room, coupled with the common anxiety response of not knowing where one is has commonly caused hysterical fits in previous subjects. Therefore we will wait for your adrenaline rush to wane before continuing."
...
"Now continuing. You are one of many random samples of the general population that we have chosen to participate in an experiment. The experiment will consist of several trials of varying nature that you will undertake with a small group of other test subjects. The purpose of this experiment may or may not be revealed to you in time, but suffice to say that we seek to ascertain your definition of the word 'human'.
"You will notice a slim steel band on your left wrist. The origin of its composite metals, though most assuredly foreign to you, is irrelevant. It is impossible to remove in your current state, so we recommend that you conserve your energy. The other subjects that you will soon meet have the same band. Your test group must relinquish one of its collective bands at certain intervals to continue the experiment. The band can only be removed from your body upon death. Therefore one of the subjects that comprise your test group will be required to die before the remainder can move forward.
"Be warned: it is expressly forbidden for any subject to directly kill another subject. Doing so will result in the immediate termination of this experiment as well as all subjects involved. Every trial within this experiment will contain a failure state. These failure states will determine which subject will be terminated.
"Despite your lack of control over the proceedings so far, do not think that your desires are irrelevant. In fact, they are the crux of the experiment. How you interact with your fellow test subjects will assist in determining who among you will survive, and may also influence the nature of certain trials to come. Whether you attempt to befriend, beguile or ignore the other test subjects is your decision. We are confident that your actions will provide us with adequate data regardless.
"The door of your cell will be opened momentarily. You will then enter the connecting room and meet the other test subjects that will participate in the experiment. From there your group will be given further instructions.
"Enjoy yourself."
This RP would consist of characters (normal human beings that one could meet in real life) striving to survive the experiment alluded to above. The trials comprising the experiment will require characters to either work with or trick one another to succeed and continue onward. Some of them may require certain details to be withheld from particular players, so private messages would be utilized in order for the GM to pass along secret information. Therefore, a certain amount of good faith may be required to preserve the integrity of the idea; though precautions will be taken whenever possible, any players involved may have to trust one another that secret information is kept secret.
Character death is mandatory. Which characters live and die will ultimately be decided by the players' actions. It then follows that character development, friendship and suspicion will be essential components of the RP. If a player's character dies, then that player's involvement with the RP will end there. I considered having some sort of second chance clause or allowing such players to create a second character, but I think doing that would undermine the consequences of character death and greatly reduce the desire to keep one's character alive.
This RP would require some amount of commitment from every player for the idea to succeed. I realize that real life always comes first, and that extenuating circumstances may keep someone from being able to contribute for a length of time. Regrettably, it would be very difficult to write around a character's absence if their creator isn't able to post for a long period of time, at least in the middle of a major trial. Therefore I would ask that one not apply unless they are reasonably sure that they would be able to keep up with the topic on a regular basis. Not necessarily every day, but at least often. However, I will definitely look into methods of structuring the RP that would minimize the impact of a missing player.
It should go without saying, but at the end of the day it's just a game. There will be absolutely no quarter given to anyone who gets angry or petulant at another player or myself because their character died. No character is spared the possibility of death, and if another player or players managed to beat your character in a trial that resulted in him/her dying, well, that's just the nature of the beast.
If this RP gets made it will essentially consist of two experiments: the one involving the characters, and another involving the players and myself. I want to see if this idea can work and be sustained by people who are more or less strangers. If you are interested and willing to abide by its (perhaps unorthodox) rules, I would be glad to have you.
Feel absolutely free to ask any questions you have.
