apocalypsehowooc | State of the Game, July 2022

State of the Game

Welcome to State of the Game 4: Quadratic States! Once more, we have some updates to share with all of you that we hope will help the game run more smoothly, as well as some additions/updates to the FAQ, Setting, and AC pages based on player inquiries and in-game events. We also have a fond farewell to bid and an opening to fill.

Please note the following:

This month marks the beginning of Arc 2. Arc 2 is anticipated to run for about a year. You'll see some old and new faces crop up! For any new folks, we have a guide for at least part of the Story So Far here: LINK
Setting changes have occurred while the characters were away in Appalachia. First, portions of ADI HQ have been demolished to test whether the building itself is the draw for supernatural world-hopping. This has had no effect except that some arrivals now turn up in a rubble-strewn pit and office space is more limited. Second, Dogtown has been officially closed to the public. ADI is now working with local law enforcement to patrol it and keep people out, as best they can, while keeping an eye on what's going on in there from the fringes.
A final change that many may note is that while Reyes Amador is still working at ADI in the PR and Admin Departments, they seem to have been stripped of their rank as Warden Lehrer's lead assistant and the guide for new arrivals. That dubious honor now belongs to Rae Hargrave, whom a number of characters met during the Appalachia excursion. She is the opposite of thrilled to be here, but needs must. More about this change will be highlighted in this month's upcoming event.

A Fond Farewell and an Opening

With the end of Arc 1, we are bidding a fond farewell to Ilana from the mod team. We are incredibly grateful for all of Ilana's contributions to the story, the game content, and just the overall good vibes of our little horror game. Please join us in wishing her well as she tackles both other RP and life's challenges. Ilana will be assisting with the upcoming app round and will be continuing the NPC threads with Deepthi before bowing out.

(Ilana here: I'm so glad to have gotten the chance to mod for you all and play with some of you at the beginning! This is a fantastic little game with a fantastic playerbase and I will definitely still be peeking in to see the wildly creative things you all do with the sandbox we've given you. <3)

With Ilana's departure, we are opening the floor for players who might be interested in becoming a co-mod with Kathryn and Terri. Mod duties typically include:

Monthly application review.
Monthly advertisements posted to EMP.
Monthly brainstorming and event prompt write-up. Plus some larger brainstorming sessions dealing with the overall story arc every so often.
As-needed announcement preparation/review.
As-needed responses to players for questions, concerns, and player plot integration.
As-needed updates to info pages when we make changes.
NPCing (if desired) during events.

If any or all of these things sound interesting and you'd like to help shape the direction for the game and story, please fill in the form below and post under the MOD APPS section below.

PLAYER NAME: [insert] EXPERIENCE: Experience modding is not necessary, but if you have any, let us know. ROLES: From the list provided, are there any roles as a mod you would like to be involved in or any that you would prefer not to be? The only roles you MUST be willing to take on are application review (all of us do reviews), brainstorming, and assisting with responses to players, whether writing up communications or just reviewing them.

We have added the following information to various game info pages:

As of June 2022, an above-ground corner of the building that formerly contained mainly offices has been demolished, leaving an unsightly, rubble-strewn pit to mar the grounds. A chain link fence is in place to discourage entry into the construction (or destruction) zone, with tarps serving as temporary weather-proofing for the adjacent section of building. While those arriving in the demolition zone will find themselves in the open air, members of ADI's security team have been instructed to closely monitor this area for arrivals.
As of June 2022, however, Dogtown is officially and indefinitely closed to the public, with work ongoing to construct barriers around the entire park to prevent trespassing. Dogtown's borders are patrolled by Gloucester law enforcement as well as ADI employees from the Investigations and Security divisions, who document phenomena visible from outside its borders and actively keep people out.

Thank you again for taking this ~~horrible~~ journey with us. Please comment below with any additional questions or feedback. Comments to this post are screened by default to accommodate the potential mod apps being private. We'll unscreen any questions/comments and responses not related to that!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Can someone on the Investigations team score fence building work as a supplement to income and a way to start building a work resume that they can talk about/get other work with?

Also, is there any support within ADI for characters to get legit driver's licenses? George wants to actually know how to drive in the modern world. He knows how to drive stick shift anyway, but road rules have changed a lot.

ADI would absolutely facilitate George assisting with that kind of work. The people working that close to Dogtown are already at an increased risk, so having someone from ADI there to keep an eye on things would be considered strategically valuable. Not to mention it's making Gloucester safer.

In terms of a driver's license, yes, this can happen. It will require another month or so of ADI staff actually training George how to drive, but after that point, if he continues to be an upstanding member of the organization, they can facilitate getting him a license and allowing him privileges to operate the company cars, as-needed. We have updated the FAQ with the following information:

➥ Can my character obtain a real license and permission to drive ADI vehicles?
Characters will be required to prove that they are 'trustworthy' for this privilege. If they do not cause any significant trouble over the course of 3 months, they will be eligible to take in-house driver's ed so that ADI can make TRIPLE SURE they know what they're doing behind the wheel of a vehicle, and obtain a full driver's license and access to a company car at 4 months. If characters have a little more trouble behaving, it might take longer to receive these privileges, and they can be taken away as punishment.

Perfect, thank you! Then I'd like to have George on that construction crew for the duration of the fence building. He'd be reporting any anomalies and recording them as he sees them.

So far he has kept his nose clean and not gotten into any trouble, either within the compound or out in the city, aside from a fist fight with Owen that neither of them reported to anyone. He'll be stepping up to take those lessons and doing what he needs for the test.

Sounds good! Please feel free to proceed with that timeline for the license, then. No further approvals/checks needed.

Were there any (NPC) new arrivals during the time the team was off in Wolf Pen, or did the flow of people from other worlds seem to temporarily dry up?

The flow of off-world arrivals did, indeed, continue while PCs were away! There are haggard new faces that have seen a lot of trouble in just their first couple of months. They'll be from different universes than the PCs, but that's standard for NPC off-worlders.

State of the Game, July 2022

Questions/Feedback

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Mod Apps