FAQ 3 - Everything Else
This is the Miscellaneous FAQ. It covers all of the questions that don't fit into the other FAQs.
Are first-timers welcome?
Yes! We're glad you've decided to join us. Just make sure you read through the rules and such and get in touch with a mod if you have any questions.
So how does this work, exactly?
Gameplay System:
-spiral_mods
This would be where all mod announcements such as newly-applied gameplay information, event announcements and such will come from.
-spiral_rpg
The community where logs are posted. This happens through an initial posting and the continuity through comments. It is suggested that one tracks the progress through the tracking function.
Logs can be backlogged or done in advance, to easily bend the rules of time and effort of having to wait for a log to finish before you can play with another character in another log when they're not related. Any suggestions on how to better explain this, please comment?
- spiral_chat
In-game communications network, also known as text/mail center.
- spiral_ooc
For all your OOC and player communications.
Journals are written in your characters personal journals and can be filtered as private or to specific characters based. Please be sure to specify if sections of your entries are to be filtered to specific characters. All private/locked entries are considered hackable unless otherwise specified. For more questions, see the 'computers' section of the FAQ.
For the sample posts on the application - are they supposed to take place somewhere before they get plucked from canon or right as they enter this one?
Whichever you're more comfortable with is fine with us. Most people seem to do the "my character is arriving in the city" thing because it's easier, but you're more than welcome to take it from a place in the character's canon.
Food? I heard there's not very much of it...
Aside from Church Events and Player Events, one of the major problems in the City is the food shortage. Hardly anything grows anywhere, and the only places you can find food is either the Church itself or Ricky's Bar. Some you can find by raiding the neighborhood stores or searching out things left behind in empty buildings.
Since computers do work, I'm assuming there's electricity?
Yes, there is. Although it may work intermittently in some locations.
How about things like radio or TV stations? Does one exist at all, or do radio and TV only transmit static?
Characters can get radio stations of some sort if they so choose, but they wouldn't transmit any actual information in the city. Characters may also choose to have their radios go static-only if they turn them on, or flip to bizarre stations in the same manner that the computers do odd things. Radios may also give characters misleading information on the City.
Is a character allowed to have a pet?
Yes, so long as you can figure out just how your character got said pet. There are, at present, no animals wandering around the City.
Is there any sort of monetary system that I'd have to keep track of?
Spiral does not have its own currency. Because characters often arrive here by wandering through doors, any money they have on them from their homes is fair game. Ricky (nightclub_owner) takes any form of currency and will also barter for goods and information. Characters may also trade currencies or items with each other if they so choose.
The Computers
The computers are not your friends. They are part of the City and everything wrong about it. The computers aren't entirely sentient, but they can reply to your character, cause your character to leave posts unlocked that they didn't mean to, and a myriad of other things.
To clarify - you may choose to have your character write a very personal entry and have it remain unlocked. This is up to the player. This does not apply to posts labeled "Private" or "Unhackable."
Unhackable entries may be hacked by Church Members if the entry has something to do with them. Private entries not labeled "Unhackable" may be hacked by characters with the appropriate hacking levels, as can filtered entries
Here's a short list of what the computers can do.
+ Talk back to your character.
Well, type back to your character. They would usually say things that appear to be helpful, but this may later escalate into saying mean things or something like that. I give you free reign, of course.
+ Drip blood from the screen.
+ Turn off in the middle of the post.
+ Make the lights in your dwelling - if there are any - turn on or off randomly.
PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO MAKE THE COMPUTERS ACT UP. Or suggest to us something that could potentially happen!
Now that that's been addressed, there is the subject of GLaDOS (the_cake_isalie) - she is an NPC who lives in the computer network. She is sentient and may comment to players journals.
Are first-timers welcome?
Yes! We're glad you've decided to join us. Just make sure you read through the rules and such and get in touch with a mod if you have any questions.
So how does this work, exactly?
Gameplay System:
-spiral_mods
This would be where all mod announcements such as newly-applied gameplay information, event announcements and such will come from.
-spiral_rpg
The community where logs are posted. This happens through an initial posting and the continuity through comments. It is suggested that one tracks the progress through the tracking function.
Logs can be backlogged or done in advance, to easily bend the rules of time and effort of having to wait for a log to finish before you can play with another character in another log when they're not related. Any suggestions on how to better explain this, please comment?
- spiral_chat
In-game communications network, also known as text/mail center.
- spiral_ooc
For all your OOC and player communications.
Journals are written in your characters personal journals and can be filtered as private or to specific characters based. Please be sure to specify if sections of your entries are to be filtered to specific characters. All private/locked entries are considered hackable unless otherwise specified. For more questions, see the 'computers' section of the FAQ.
For the sample posts on the application - are they supposed to take place somewhere before they get plucked from canon or right as they enter this one?
Whichever you're more comfortable with is fine with us. Most people seem to do the "my character is arriving in the city" thing because it's easier, but you're more than welcome to take it from a place in the character's canon.
Food? I heard there's not very much of it...
Aside from Church Events and Player Events, one of the major problems in the City is the food shortage. Hardly anything grows anywhere, and the only places you can find food is either the Church itself or Ricky's Bar. Some you can find by raiding the neighborhood stores or searching out things left behind in empty buildings.
Since computers do work, I'm assuming there's electricity?
Yes, there is. Although it may work intermittently in some locations.
How about things like radio or TV stations? Does one exist at all, or do radio and TV only transmit static?
Characters can get radio stations of some sort if they so choose, but they wouldn't transmit any actual information in the city. Characters may also choose to have their radios go static-only if they turn them on, or flip to bizarre stations in the same manner that the computers do odd things. Radios may also give characters misleading information on the City.
Is a character allowed to have a pet?
Yes, so long as you can figure out just how your character got said pet. There are, at present, no animals wandering around the City.
Is there any sort of monetary system that I'd have to keep track of?
Spiral does not have its own currency. Because characters often arrive here by wandering through doors, any money they have on them from their homes is fair game. Ricky (nightclub_owner) takes any form of currency and will also barter for goods and information. Characters may also trade currencies or items with each other if they so choose.
The Computers
The computers are not your friends. They are part of the City and everything wrong about it. The computers aren't entirely sentient, but they can reply to your character, cause your character to leave posts unlocked that they didn't mean to, and a myriad of other things.
To clarify - you may choose to have your character write a very personal entry and have it remain unlocked. This is up to the player. This does not apply to posts labeled "Private" or "Unhackable."
Unhackable entries may be hacked by Church Members if the entry has something to do with them. Private entries not labeled "Unhackable" may be hacked by characters with the appropriate hacking levels, as can filtered entries
Here's a short list of what the computers can do.
+ Talk back to your character.
Well, type back to your character. They would usually say things that appear to be helpful, but this may later escalate into saying mean things or something like that. I give you free reign, of course.
+ Drip blood from the screen.
+ Turn off in the middle of the post.
+ Make the lights in your dwelling - if there are any - turn on or off randomly.
PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO MAKE THE COMPUTERS ACT UP. Or suggest to us something that could potentially happen!
Now that that's been addressed, there is the subject of GLaDOS (the_cake_isalie) - she is an NPC who lives in the computer network. She is sentient and may comment to players journals.