State of the Game, August 2021

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State of the Game

First of all, the mod team would like to thank our players for a great first two(ish) months! You've really jumped in and engaged with the story, and we're excited to keep sharing it with you as events unfold. We appreciate your patience as we worked out a few glitches and adjusted a few mechanics in our first month. We have several updates for you today based on questions and feedback we've received, as well as things we hope will simply make things a little clearer and run a little smoother.

We have added the following information to the FAQ (full text of the new FAQ entries can be found at the bottom of this post):

• The information we shared regarding Avatars and Entity-aligned characters and how to "charge up" one's powers earlier this month has been added to the FAQ. We also adjusted the text of the Lore Page to clarify the matter a little better.
• We have also officially noted that players are welcome to make up small supernatural occurrences and ADI-assigned fetch/delivery missions around Gloucester, Dogtown, and the surrounding area without consulting the mods. Small occurrences and missions that can be kept to a single thread do not need to be submitted as player plots; please refer to the FAQ for the factors that might make such an event significant enough to qualify as a player plot.
• More information is now available about the actual consequences of straying too far from the ADI fold; characters who ignore ADI's warnings about attracting the attention of monsters will find that not only are they in danger themselves, but they attract danger to any uninvolved locals with whom they spend too much time.

There are also two updates to setting information:

• We have updated the Locations page with information on ADI's research library, as that is a resource many characters have already drawn upon. The new text should clarify the scope of the research collection and available resources for characters conducting research on historical events, people of interest, and so on. Brief information about the library has also been added to the Arrival page; as that room is in the above ground portion of the building it is one of the places new arrivals may appear.
• We have added a note to the Housing page regarding private housing. OOCly, we would like characters to at least start out in shared housing to help them make CR and get tied into the plot, and ICly newly arrived characters lack the documentation and resources to find private housing right off the bat. With those considerations, we have implemented a rule that requests for Private housing are considered on a case-by-case basis, and players may only apply for private housing after at least two months in-game.

Finally, with our second event, Circus, Circus, we have adjusted the event posting schedule in response to a player suggestion. OOC event posts with basic prompt information will now be available for several days before the IC event post with full prompt text goes up in order to give players time to discuss the event and make plans together.

Thank you again for taking this horrible journey with us. Please comment below with any additional questions or feedback.

New FAQ Entries:

➥ What is an Avatar or an Entity-aligned character, and what does that mean for my character?
For the sake of gameplay, a PC who has powers (with a few TMA canon exceptions) will enter the game as Entity-aligned. They are not an avatar. We are delineating those groups thus:

Entity-aligned - Your character has powers that are much weaker and more inconsistent than in canon. In some cases, they may not even work at all. In order to strengthen and stabilize your powers enough to use them, you must feed your Patron Entity with fear from other people, not just your own character. The feeding must happen before the power stabilization/access to powers. It's an upfront payment required to this Entity to grant you something. These characters will feel a greater or lesser pull to commit acts of terror in service of their patrons, but it's something they could, in theory, ignore. At player discretion, the instincts may be more powerful and there can even be negative consequences for not feeding your Patron.

Avatars - Your character has made the conscious decision to serve an Entity. It may not have seemed like much of a choice (maybe it was to serve the Entity and let them and their power save you or you will die), but it will have been a choice. These characters have access to their powers consistently (still at a non-game-breaking level). They will have them whether they feed their patron or not, but not feeding your patron has much more severe consequences on your body and mental health. You are now a main snack for these Entities, and you can either feed them other people's terrors, or they will feed directly on your character, which may result in physical deterioration or mental instability, such that you are more vulnerable to monstrous instincts that urge you to cause/feed on fear.

➥ How can my Entity-aligned character fuel their powers?
You can generally think of your character feeding their Entity in terms of charging a battery. Once they've 'charged' their powers they'll be able to use those powers as they please for a while, but the longer they go without causing fear the weaker their powers will become until they fail completely. There's no hard and fast rule for how long that takes; we just ask that players be reflective about the proportion of fear their characters have caused in relation to their use of their powers. Many small scares can add up, but it will take a long time to "charge up" if your character never causes any bigger scares. Characters will find they can jump-start their terror battery if they are using their powers to actively cause terror and/or horror.

Practical Examples - An Entity-aligned character with telekinesis wishes to lift a car to save the passengers from a flooded area. Because this is a non-terrifying use of their powers, the character will be unable to lift the car if they have not fed their Entity (flavor-wise, they may be able to rattle the car with their telekinesis, but the attempt to lift it will be unsuccessful). However, if they have previously fed their Entity enough fear to power such a feat, they will be able to lift the car even though it's a "nice" use of their powers.

Conversely, a character with telekinesis who wishes to lift a car in order to throw it and its terrified passengers into a river would be immediately able to do so (assuming that level of power is within their established limits). Actively malevolent use of powers charges those powers while they're being used, so that kind of terrorization serves as a jump-start for their "battery."

➥ Can I invent small supernatural encounters and missions without mod approval?
Yes! Players are welcome to make up small supernatural encounters and fetch/delivery quests assigned by ADI. Cursed objects and strange happenings pop up fairly frequently in Gloucester and the surrounding areas, with the highest number of odd occurrences happening in or near Dogtown. An example of the type of basic mission ADI might assign to one or more character can be found in the Sticky Wicket prompt within the For Sport event post. Small supernatural events and missions contained to a single thread can be invented and run without mod approval; please refer to Player Plots, above, for information on what constitutes a larger plot that would require mod approval.

➥ What happens if my character ignores ADI's warnings about staying around Gloucester and sticking together for safety?
Characters who stray too far from the safety of ADI's greater numbers or spend too much time integrating into the local population may find themselves attacked or stalked by supernatural beings, but there will be even worse consequences for those not in the know that they've interacted with. Those people you met at a club and hung out with all night? You might see a newspaper article a few days later about them going missing or being found dead under strange circumstances. The people of ADI are not lying when they say that the Fear-touched tend to draw the attention of other Fear-touched things, and the potential harm only spreads outwards from there.

New Setting Information:

Characters who wish to conduct research using ADI's resources will be able to use ADI's library, which is in the above ground section of the building. The library is small, set up with a few computer terminals with easy access to online resources (ADI has subscriptions to several academic databases, Ancestry.com, and other things one would expect to be able to access at an academic library). The actual library collection is small, perhaps surprisingly so, with a focus on books containing local legends, as well as a collection of historic maps and phone directories from Gloucester and the surrounding areas.