[Boundless Ideas; Infinite Worlds]
Hello there! If you're reading this, we're going to go ahead and assume that you're curious about what, exactly, this monumental roleplay is. The following will provide all the necessary information, including details that will indicate whether or not Myriad Reality is for you.
What is "Myriad Reality," Anyway?
Myriad Reality is a multiverse RP. You may have seen those scattered around this site, but they exist in many different forms—one setting, characters from different universes; larger scale, all OCs. Myriad Reality, however, is a bit of both. We allow both OCs (the majority of the characters) and established characters from other fictional settings (
all of which, by the way, are represented in MR). But instead of throwing them all into one single world, Myriad Reality has a massive scale. We do our best to make full use of the near-infinite world we have at our fingertips.
Arguably one of the most prominent examples of that is our casual treatment of extremely "overpowered" characters. We exceed planet busting here—it can get as far as exploding stars and taking all that energy for oneself, or even farther. The interactions in Myriad Reality are worthy of the scale they're set in, by far.
Okay; How Does it Work?
Myriad Reality is a multiverse for thinkers. We don't follow one predetermined plot that must always go so-and-so. Instead, we all get to create our own stories, but we can't expect that our arcs will go exactly the way we want them to—because, here, it all relies on what the characters involved actually do. Here, you have to be willing to adjust—that's vital. If it doesn't go the way we want it to, we keep calm and roll with it.
Because of this, we've developed a sense of urgency and involvement in Myriad Reality. Because the RP isn't predetermined, we can't be sure that everything will work out perfectly. Arcs here rely entirely on the characters. If we're not willing to work to save Existence, then Existence won't be saved. It's as simple as that. Of course, someone else could always take the
place of our characters, but do we really want Existence in the hands of those potentially less capable?
The Infamous Requirements
Perhaps you're thinking it's too good to be true. There's got to be some catch. And yes, we're not ashamed to say that there are some important requirements that you must be sure you can meet before you can effectively participate. First of all is adaptability: we've already mentioned it a couple of times, but you
need to be flexible. MR is different from "conventional" RPs in many aspects, which we consider a good thing. We're not going to change for you.
Secondly, we do enforce grammatical standards. If you can't grasp basic capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure, then this RP isn't for you. A firm grip on the English language
is important, even with our sparse posting style. (To be expounded upon.)
Thirdly, you need to understand how to show. You may look at our IC posts and think that this RP has no "meat" to it. In Casual (or even Advanced), you may be used to lots of description—exactly what your character is feeling, what they're seeing, everything you can think of. Here, however, we create immersion by showing only what the five senses can perceive. That's it. Nothing else. But, paradoxically, this requires even more thought than describing it directly. If you want to convey something, you have to convey it in a way that other characters can see, as if a camera were recording interactions.
Finally, you must have dedication. A lot of it. There was a time when we posted
at least once every five minutes. We're not quite that prolific anymore (we could be and plan to reach that point again, but that is entirely dependent on those within the RP), but we still post a substantial amount every day. This is not like most casual RPs, where you can check every few hours or even every hour. You'll get left behind if you're not always up to date. In fact, were it not for our own dedication, this RP would not have survived for very long. Myriad Reality didn't begin on
roleplayerguild.com or even a roleplaying website. It actually began in the comments section of a photo sharing app, thrived for six months there (while attaining our original six members), and moved to this website after an update made the comments section unusable for our purposes. During GuildFall and other RPG related issues, we moved to other sites, yet never lost a single member in the process; we even figured out how to communicate with each other without any forms of contact information (we all independently decided to visit our Wiki [link provided at the end] and find each other there, which was nothing short of a miracle). Even now, all six of our original members are still participants in Myriad Reality, four being active daily, one on military duty, and another on hiatus. In addition, every player who has spent more than a month with us has stayed to this day, through whatever obstacles life has thrown—we currently have eight members and six regular posters.
Perhaps you're reading this now, after all that, and it seems... perhaps daunting. Well, you can trust us when we say that it is—one of our newer members took a substantial amount of time to really get into it, but he doesn't regret it, over two years in—he writes this sentence even now. So if you think you're up for it, then keep reading.
Rules, Guidelines, Entry, and Extra Info
Besides those requirements we talked about, there are still some rules. They're pretty simple and easy to follow.
- We have no limit on maturity of content, including plot darkness, violence, life issues, etc. However, the one restriction is that there can be nothing sexual. Relationships, kissing, dates, and anything else on the PG-13 level are fine in this case, but no implications, nor any "fading to black." In addition, please keep the cursing to a minimum, if you use it at all—most members of MR don't curse at all, and we prefer to keep it out of the RP because it easily skews intelligent discourse.
- Please, no homosexual relationships or activities of the sort. It'd be easier for all of us if it's not mentioned at all without creating a huge ordeal.
- Be respectful of other RPers and their characters. OP does not equal godmodding, so don't force control of the plot progression, and (because this is a reality), characters will often work against that. When one of us tells you to stop doing something, stop. (It's okay to ask why, but don't keep doing it in the meanwhile—a lot of confusion can be caused, even when it's simply a misunderstanding for both parties involved.)
Now, a guideline or two:
- We have a special posting style, mentioned previously, that we believe makes for the greatest immersion possible. Any direct text is assumed to be speech. Actions are written in first person, inside action symbols—that is, asterisks. If you're using multiple characters, you can use "NAME: " (without the quotes) to refer to a character you're switching to. "-" (without the quotes) also denotes that the original character, the character that the account is currently associated with, is speaking. Here's an example:
Hi there! *Waves*
Jack: *Waves back* How are you?
-Doing great, thanks!
Black Knight: Fine, unless you were me.
- You might have noticed that the first line has no marker to tell you who's speaking. This is because of another important guideline—we ask you to change your title, avatar, or (preferably) both to reflect which of your characters is most important. While not a hard-and-fast rule, this is greatly appreciated and makes it much easier to distinguish between characters.
Character Creation
There are several things to note when it comes to creating a character. Keep all of it in mind.
- Personality and biography are not too important to us. We usually want to find that out IC, not OOC—the fact that we know does not imply that our characters do. So you don't need to come up with some complicated description; just make sure you have your character straight in your own head, and we're happy.
- That said, be creative! Although all works of fiction are represented in Existence, and you're free to take ideas or even characters from them, the possibilities are practically endless. Do whatever you want, in vague, reasonable constraints, as follows:
- Make your character powerful—or, at least, make them worth helping save Existence. If their powers and/or abilities aren't strong enough to be useful, then they're not going to be useful.
- Don't make your character too powerful. Even here, there's a point where it's just too crazy. If your character has more than one power, then their control over each must be weaker, or there must be some diminisher. For example, a character might have special control over two powers, but might be easily superseded in other areas. Or maybe they can only use one power at a time. Don't confuse this with techniques—a character can use an ability in as many ways as you can imagine (that make sense), but we realize that two powers that make up for each others' weaknesses create an invincible character. So if a character is perfect in one aspect, keep it to one aspect, or give him two that he or she is half as proficient in.
- Don't expect that your character will immediately be able to take other, more established powerful characters one-on-one. We like to see development, and if you start at the top, there isn't much room to ascend until everybody else does (though, the character could easily be a match for less high-end characters. Think: Top four of each RPer).
- These guidelines aren't very specific, but you may still have trouble figuring out what's too much or too little (usually the latter, we've seen). If so, just tell us the skill set you're thinking of and we'll be happy to tone it down or scale it up to fit.
- We would heavily prefer you to have a picture for your character. It can be in any form, although graphics are preferred over real life. Even if you don't want to change your avatar, we'd like one to remember, anyway.
- We don't have a specific format for a character sheet. All we want is that, in the OOC, you give us a name, picture, and description of all their abilities. Anything else is optional. We'll study it and comment if necessary, and then once it's approved, you're good to go. After you become established in Myriad Reality, you will not be required to submit any more character sheets.
Entering the IC
So you've gotten your character approved and you're raring to get involved (hopefully). How, then, do you get in? What's going on in the IC at the time may not be very clear if you don't know the context and location, so just ask and we'll explain. If we're not currently battling for the fate of Existence, we'll be inside a secret base high up in a mountain on a barren, uninhabited planet on a backwater universe in the outskirts of Existence, none of which provides any reasonable amount of safety.
So, how on Earth (or "how in Existence," as we like to say it) do you get your character there? Well, that'll take some figuring out depending on the circumstances of your character. There are a lot of factors which go into this, most of which only matter to us, but the most important thing is the great danger of travelling between dimensions. The first time a being tries travelling between dimensions without any outside help, then if they succeed, they will be placed under extreme strain and rigor—if they don't have a strong enough will, they'll most likely spontaneously combust.
Above all things, remember that this is a
reality. Everything within the IC is expected to be consistent with real science, possible, and realistic. Characters cannot and should not be influenced by the knowledge of the RPer, nor should the RPer try to influence the tide of the IC. Consider yourself a viewer instead of a writer; you are simply observing the world that you have had placed in front of you. Or better yet, consider yourself a "channeler" of sorts, having the information of what is really happening in universes and dimensions outside of ours placed immediately in your mind for you to write in the forum. The whole purpose of MR is because it is a world outside of ours, a world of adventures that are actually taking place far from us.
So, as a matter of course, it'll be a bit complicated to get your character in for the first time. But, once again, we'll be happy to help work it out with you.
And that's it! Other than the following extra information, with what you've read here, you're all set to start the process. We still suggest you read the extra information, just in case.
Extra Information
- We have a sparse wiki containing some info on the RP. We don't update it very often, and it doesn't have very much inside, but there's definitely some useful information scattered about. myriad-reality.wikia.com
- Existence consists of two types of dimensions: Path and Source. Source Dimensions and Path Dimensions go hand in hand. Each Path Dimension represents one of the multitudinous paths that the Source Dimension (the main version of the dimension) could take. Source Dimensions can take any path, but Path Dimensions are set on their course. Don't mistake Paths for alternate dimensions--those are totally different, and each alternate dimension has its own Source and Paths.
- Keep in mind that most of Existence is unaware that there's a near-infinite multiverse around them. This does not count out the dimensions that are multiverses in and of themselves (think: Marvel or DC), but as a whole, travel throughout Existence is known only by a (relative) handful of dimensions.
