Moon Cycle 40: 10/22 - 10/31: New Moon - Halloween Nightmare
❖ MOON CYCLE 40 ❂ 10/22/10 - 10/31/10
Phase: New Moon. The skies are not quite pitch black; in fact it has a strange orange hue. Even the stars emit strange orange tint. It's a slight coloring, but still noticeable.
Weather: Variable. The weather changes from chilly to humid, from dry to raining. Some parts of Somarium will experience colder temperatures while others may experience more humid weather.
Effects: IMPORTANT: This event is a little bit more complex than past events in that we essentially will have two events going on at the same time: Reliving Nightmares: Personalized Fears and Haunted Castle of Nightmares.
Therefore, please read the following sections detailed under the cut, carefully. Due to the depth and length of the events, it's a bit long, so you have been warned. This is the very basic bullet list summary of this New Moon to give everyone an idea:
We do ask for players to sign-up for which event they choose to go for. Details will be provided under the cut.
If you still have any questions, you are more than welcome to ask.
This event is essentially two-in-one, with some overlap between both of them. You will have a choice in which event you will want your character to participate in. The event based in Somarium will be more relaxed while the one in Noctaerium will be more extensive. If you're wondering what the heck "Noctaerium" is, keep on reading. For now, just know it's another place outside of Somarium.
The details are divided into the following: General Effects, Somarium, Noctaerium, The Overlap, Sign-Up Directions, Final Notes.
general effects
These effects will carry over to both events and start Friday, October 22.
There will be a signal post to signify the start of the event.
somarium: reliving nightmares: personalized fears.
These effects carry over only to those who stay in Somarium. This is in addition to the general effects listed above.
Phase: New Moon. The skies are not quite pitch black; in fact it has a strange orange hue. Even the stars emit strange orange tint. It's a slight coloring, but still noticeable.
Weather: Variable. The weather changes from chilly to humid, from dry to raining. Some parts of Somarium will experience colder temperatures while others may experience more humid weather.
Effects: IMPORTANT: This event is a little bit more complex than past events in that we essentially will have two events going on at the same time: Reliving Nightmares: Personalized Fears and Haunted Castle of Nightmares.
Therefore, please read the following sections detailed under the cut, carefully. Due to the depth and length of the events, it's a bit long, so you have been warned. This is the very basic bullet list summary of this New Moon to give everyone an idea:
- Everyone is in a costume that grants them extra magical powers.
- Characters have two options:
- Stay in Somarium and experience being a Dreamwalker and invade other character's nightmares about their worst fears; OR
- Visit a new place, Noctaerium, and run through a twisted haunted castle while fighting monsters and reliving nightmares.
- Stay in Somarium and experience being a Dreamwalker and invade other character's nightmares about their worst fears; OR
We do ask for players to sign-up for which event they choose to go for. Details will be provided under the cut.
If you still have any questions, you are more than welcome to ask.
This event is essentially two-in-one, with some overlap between both of them. You will have a choice in which event you will want your character to participate in. The event based in Somarium will be more relaxed while the one in Noctaerium will be more extensive. If you're wondering what the heck "Noctaerium" is, keep on reading. For now, just know it's another place outside of Somarium.
The details are divided into the following: General Effects, Somarium, Noctaerium, The Overlap, Sign-Up Directions, Final Notes.
general effects
These effects will carry over to both events and start Friday, October 22.
- Costumes with bonus abilities. On Friday morning, characters will wake up in a costume of the Player's choice. They will be unable to take the costume off, so choose wisely. Characters can add to the costume, and if the costume has small removable parts or comes in layers, they will be able to remove most of the outer layers. There will be a point during the event that will allow players to change the costumes, but until then, characters will be unable to change. Exception: Exception to this is for any hygienic purposes, like showering or using the restroom. Those are the only times the costumes will fully come off. But once the character is finished doing their business, they will automatically come back in.
- Note: The costumes also give the characters extra abilities related to the costume, so PLAYERS! When choosing the costume, we highly suggest choosing costumes/outfits that would give the character some power or ability.
However, we do request you to use discretion. For example, if you choose to have your character be Superman, you may want to limit the extra powers that would come along with that. If you're not sure what to pick, going to the basic RPG Job Classes like Knight, Archer, Mage would be a good idea. (Need a list? Try Ragnarok Online job classes.) The reason for this will be explained below.
If your character already has special abilities, they will still have access to their powers. So try to pick just one or two new abilities so they don't become too overpowered.
- Limited Fourth Wall. It is possible for characters to cosplay have costumes of other characters from outside their canon. So Ace could dress up as Darth Vader from Star Wars. The only thing is that the costumes should be more like bases than an exact copy. This might be easier for some than others so don't sweat too much. It's also possible for characters to have costumes of characters from their own canon, so it's possible for Cid Highwind to find himself dressed similarly to Cloud. Wigs and light accessories can be included.
If your character dresses up from someone outside of their canon, unless they have fourth wall knowledge about the canon/character, characters should not recognize or immediately know who they are. Characters who could recognize the costume still can. So if Javert was stuck in a Barney the Purple Dinosaur-esque costume, Javert would have no clue he was Barney. All he'd know is he's stuck in some weird, purple dinosaur-like costume. But someone from the Big Bang Theory cast would be able to be like "LOOK IT'S BARNEY" and it would be fine.
- Need help? If you need help with costumes, head on over to the Costume Planning post. If you're still stuck, Laena will be more than happy to come up with a random costume just for your character.
- Note: The costumes also give the characters extra abilities related to the costume, so PLAYERS! When choosing the costume, we highly suggest choosing costumes/outfits that would give the character some power or ability.
- Dreamberries work everywhere. Dreamberries will function normally, and characters in both Somarium and Noctaerium will be able to contact one another. Reception might be a little wonky at times, but they should work.
- Ghost Town. All the decorations will have disappeared and Somarium's setting will revert back to how it was when the very first characters arrived into it: run down and almost post-apocalyptic. Everything will still function, but utilities may be prone to break down more. Some buildings may seem abandoned and even crumbling. All new landmarks such as the lake and the floating mountain will remain, but even they look gloomy and empty. There is a significant lack of wildlife, and those that are around will be more hostile and reclusive. All the NPCs will have turned into ghosts. They will still continue to act like they had before, however they will seem more frightened and some a little crazier than usual. The scarecrows will also be more hostile to any who come near the fields. They may even stalk the characters or just randomly peer into their windows...
There will be a signal post to signify the start of the event.
somarium: reliving nightmares: personalized fears.
These effects carry over only to those who stay in Somarium. This is in addition to the general effects listed above.
- Reliving Nightmares: Personalized Fears. Starting either Sunday, October 24 or Monday, October 25, characters in Somarium will experience strange nightmares. The character will dream of any fear that the character may have. It could be something as simple as a fear for spiders or something deeper like the fear of a specific person or event happening. However, these nightmares will be different than normal dream posts.
- Dreamwalking. Some players may recall a past event that involved something called Dreamwalking. Basically, dream posts became interactive posts that functioned similarly to logs. The same rules from the original event will apply, with some slight changes:
- All INTERACTIVE DREAM posts should be made in the main community, somarium. They should not be made in the personal journals. Normal, noninteractive dream posts can still be made, and those should be in the journals. Note: If you mis-post the INTERACTIVE DREAM in the journal instead of the main comm, no sweat. As long as the post is clearly labeled as an interactive dream, characters can still respond to it as Dreamwalkers.
- The dreamer will make a dream post labeled INTERACTIVE DREAM in the main community. The initial post will essentially be a 'set up' for that character's dream world and scenario. It will look very much like the first post of a log, and can be as open-ended as the dreamer wishes. Because this being made in the main community as a log, it needs to be clearly marked and standard log header conventions apply (Who, Where, Style, Status: OPEN). There should be no closed interactive dreams.
- The Dreamwalker may invade any INTERACTIVE DREAM at will. However, they will be unable to manipulate the dream environment, nor are they able to change the scenery. They will be able to interact with the dreamer his or herself as they wish. For example, say Inspector Javert is in the woods with an axe, and he's about to axe himself to death. A DREAMWALKER can stop Javert from swinging the axe, but he can not turn the axe into a flower, nor can he change the scenery from the woods to a desert.
- Your character will not be able to invade or possess another person through the dream. The dreams do not act as some kind of a soul gate to the other person and there is no way to enter another body. Your character is a DREAMWALKER, not an actual ghost.
- All of this is completely voluntary. Interactive dreams are done by the player's and the Dreamwalker's choice. Dreamwalkers are not permitted to invade dreams that are not labeled as Interactive.
- All INTERACTIVE DREAM posts should be made in the main community, somarium. They should not be made in the personal journals. Normal, noninteractive dream posts can still be made, and those should be in the journals. Note: If you mis-post the INTERACTIVE DREAM in the journal instead of the main comm, no sweat. As long as the post is clearly labeled as an interactive dream, characters can still respond to it as Dreamwalkers.
- Costumes. Dreamers do not wear costumes in the dream. They will be dressed however they would be in the dream, so depending on the setting, they may be wearing something else completely different, but only to fit the dream.
Dreamwalkers will still be in costume and will retain any abilities they may have.
- Note: Until further notice, characters in Noctaerium will not be under this effect. That is, while a character could have a nightmare about their greatest fear, it will not be as realistic as those who dream it in Somarium. Also, until further notice, they will NOT, we repeat, NOT be able to be a Dreamwalker. This is only available to those in Somarium. This may change later in the event, however, so please keep an eye out for further announcements.
Note: These effects are optional. You do not have to have your character experience the nightmares, nor do they have to become a Dreamwalker. It is possible for characters to make and watch a dream like normal.
noctaerium: haunted castle of nightmares
(These effects carry over only to those who choose to go to Noctaerium)
First, due to the nature of this event, we'd like to say this is optional. Characters will have an IC choice whether or not to go into Noctaerium. Just note that characters who stay in Somarium will not have a way to travel to Noctaerium later (subject to change).- Train Ride. On either Sunday, October 24 or Monday, October 25, the desert statue will begin to move, the sink hole will open, and a mysterious haunted looking train will appear. An announcement will be made through the network about its arrival. Further details will be in the actual signal post. Just know there will be a train and characters will be riding it. The train ride will not be actually logged, and will be assumed in that signal post. This is just a heads up of what is to come.
- Haunted Castle of Nightmares. Eventually, characters will find themselves locked in a very twisted castle. There will be a variety of rooms that players are free to make and create. The more twisted, horrific, etc., the better. This is not a fun place.
- Separation. Though the whole train group may enter in at the same time, everyone is separated into different parts of the castle at random. We won't delegate who goes where, so we'll leave it up to the players on where they want their character to end up. Details will be provided in the actual signal post. However, it is possible for characters to find and meet with one another. They may even land in adjacent rooms.
- Party it up. Characters can either group up together or go it alone. How that's played is up to you, though we suggest everyone to try and mingle with one another.
- Nightmares. Characters will experience a slew of nightmareish events, including seeing their very own nightmares playing out right before their eyes. These nightmares will be more intensive and horrific and nature than any of the interactive nightmares that are experienced back in Somarium.
- Other characters will be able to see whatever hallucinations or nightmareish elements that the character sees, so we highly advise players to communicate or make note somewhere in the opening log post of what could appear in the threads.
However, only the character that spawned the nightmares or experiencing the fear of that nightmare will feel those effects. While other characters can interact with the nightmare, they will not feel whatever the creator of the nightmare is feeling.
Example: if Character A's worst nightmare is having a giant spider attacking them, a group could enter a room and lo and behlod, there's a huge spider waiting for them. Unless someone else in the group is terrified of spiders, only Character A will feel an extreme fear of the spider and start becoming delusional that it's completely real and it ate all of her friends and whatnot. All the other characters will just be like "KILL THE SPIDER" or "RUN AWAY", but they won't be experiencing whatever Character A is experiencing. They may notice that something is wrong, with Character A, but they are at least more aware and able-minded.
- Characters are able to snap out out of the nightmare illusions. That is to say, they will be able to eventually realize that what they are seeing is not real. It is only that initial shock and experience that will seem as if it were real. Third party characters can also help to try and snap a character out of believing what is happening is real. However, the nightmare will continue on even after the character has realized that it is just something like an illusion.
- Other characters will be able to see whatever hallucinations or nightmareish elements that the character sees, so we highly advise players to communicate or make note somewhere in the opening log post of what could appear in the threads.
- Noctaere. Noctaere will be lurking around. However, characters will be able to damage and even kill them. But it won't be easy. No matter how strong a character is, the Noctaere are still the horrible creatures that some characters will remember them as. They are tough and should be considered as, in video game terms, strong as super high-leveled haxed boss monsters and as weak as normal mid-leveled boss monsters. They can be godmodded/NPC'ed for threading purposes.
- Costumes + Abilities. Characters will still be in their costumes and will also retain their abilities. Note: There are no power restrictions. They're in Noctaerium, so all power restraints are off except for any super god-like powers. No world creations or anything like that. Also no instant KO/death hits. It should also be noted that no matter how powerful a character is, they will not be able to destroy the castle. Blasting through walls, roofs, ceilings, sure. But they will not be able to go outside. Imagine it like one of those warped spaces that never ends.
- Death. It is possible to die. However, death works very differently here. Should your character suffer a fatal strike, they will be revived within an hour or two with all injuries halfway healed. There are no death penalties, but the character will feel weaker and become more vulnerable with each death. We highly suggest there be a medic in the party.
- "Get Out of Castle Free" Card. It is possible for characters to "escape" the castle. If you want to bring your character back to Somarium, a mysterious card will just appear right next to them that they can voluntarily use or keep for later. However, this card will only work once, and once a character is out, they're out. So choose wisely. (Note: This may change in the future, but for now assume that it's a one time only deal)
- Somarium effects revisited. In case you skipped the Somarium event section, we'd like to repeat that characters in Noctaerium will not be able to experience being Dreamwalkers and will not have such realistic dreams/nightmares. However, on Wednesday, October 27, there will be a slight change, as explained before
- Separation. Though the whole train group may enter in at the same time, everyone is separated into different parts of the castle at random. We won't delegate who goes where, so we'll leave it up to the players on where they want their character to end up. Details will be provided in the actual signal post. However, it is possible for characters to find and meet with one another. They may even land in adjacent rooms.
Please make it clear that any open logs set in the Haunted Castle is marked to help prevent confusion and accidental tagging.
the overlap
Remember the Personalized Effect from the Somarium side of the event? And how we said in each section that the Noctaerium side wouldn't be able to experience that particular effect until October 20?
On Wednesday, October 27, those personalized fears will bleed over to where the characters in Noctaerium are. All the details will be provided once it gets closer to the date, but we can assure you that everyone who went to Noctaerium is going to remember to never take a ride on a mysterious, haunted train.
To make sure we don't have complete and utter chaos, we're going to ask you, the players, to provide us with some suggestions of fears that we'll choose from. Keep in mind that these fears should be ones that on characters in game should be experiencing. Characters can be in either Noctaerium or Somarium at the time.
So in the FEAR SUGGESTIONS THREAD, please use the following form and comment underneath it. Please post underneath the thread. This is to help keep everything organized.
Fear: Give the name of the fear here. It doesn't have to be anything too complicated. Example, Fear of Spiders
Description: Brief description of what would happen. Example, an army of spiders appear out of nowhere and chase after everyone.
Character: The name of the character that would experience this. NOTE: This does NOT have to be your own character, but it should be a character IN GAME.
Once we have our list, we'll make another announcement once it's time for this segment of the event to happen.
sign-up directions
To help other players see who all will be where, as well as to serve for plotting purposes, we will be providing two threads that players should comment on: SOMARIUM and NOCTAERIUM.
NOTE: Signing up does not necessarily bind you to your decision. If you change your mind before the start of the event, that's perfectly fine. This is not an official sign-up. You can still participate in either event at any time, whether or not you sign up. The sign up only serves for plotting purposes and also gives us mods a general idea on how the game is going to be split. There is no limit.
final notes
We will have some kind of ending for this event, but we'll make an announcement regarding that once it comes closer to that weekend (probably around Friday, October 29).
There will be a signal post for both the Somarium and Noctaerium events. What will most likely happen is we'll either combine it all into one signal post, or make them separate and have one occur on one day, and the other the next. As you may have noticed, we listed both Sunday and Monday as the event start dates. The event will start on one of those dates, so keep an eye out on what happens.
Also, there will be two event tags. For those in Somarium, the tag will be !moon: cycle 40 - somarium. For those in Noctaerium, the tag will be !moon: cycle 40 - noctaerium. There will also be an additional !location: noctaerium tag. If you're in Noctaerium, please use these tags and make it clear that your character is in Noctaerium so that players won't be confused and accidentally tag characters they shouldn't. The default location is Somarium.
We realize this whole event may be a little confusing, particularly since there are two locations. This is our first time trying to pull something like this off, so further suggestions and feedback will be greatly appreciated. For those who are worried about having their character dragged into something very heavy/dark intensive, we highly suggest the Somarium route. Having the nightmares and experiencing the Dreamwalking is optional. One of the reasons why there are two different events is to help accommodate those who may not want to be pulled into such a dark event like Noctaerium. The Somarium route is still nightmare based, but we believe it's on a lower scale and should still allow players to have fun interaction.
Also, all effects are temporary. Everything will revert back to normal after the end of the event.
Wow, that was a lot longer than anticipated. We realize it's a lot, and may require several rereadings. But just remember the basic concept of the event:- Characters stuck in costumes that grant them additional powers.
- Characters have two options:
- Stay in Somarium and experience being a Dreamwalker and invade other character's nightmares about their worst fears; OR
- Visit Noctaerium and run through a twisted haunted castle while fighting monsters and reliving nightmares.
- Stay in Somarium and experience being a Dreamwalker and invade other character's nightmares about their worst fears; OR
If you have any additional questions, feel free to comment in the QUESTIONS/FEEDBACK thread and we will try to respond ASAP. You are more than welcome to contact either of the mods as well. - Dreamwalking. Some players may recall a past event that involved something called Dreamwalking. Basically, dream posts became interactive posts that functioned similarly to logs. The same rules from the original event will apply, with some slight changes: