In a quiet, firelit room, papers shuffle. The opening and closing of books, flipping pages at a steadily increasing tempo, filled the air.
“No, that's not… right? How can it be wrong?”
Wood creaks as a figure rises from his chair. He makes his way across his study, legs trembling with an urgency never felt before.
The doors to the next room fling open, a library that stretched into nonexistence. The man begins pulling books off of the nearest shelf, one by one at first, skimming their contents; some books were garbled, text shifting before his eyes; some books' ink ran, blending together and seeping off the page; some books lost their shape in his grasp, a consistency like wet sand. As the issues mounted so too does his panic, driving him now to tear the books from their shelves in a desperate bid.
Two things were clear to him - something very terrible was happening, and he had no idea what.
~ "When love dies, all that remains are the facts." ~
Hello and welcome to Seekers Beyond, RPGuild's first(?) mystery-solving extravaganza!
For this roleplay you will be detectives - inspectors, inquisitors, sleuths, and any other names for it - from preexisting canon brought out of their home realities to do what they do best: solve mysteries. The kind of mysteries you might find out of penny dreadfuls and Friday night procedurals, with a crime, suspects, clues, all that delicious detective jam.
Proceedings will be split into two blocks - Cases and Interludes. Cases make up the brunt of the mystery-solving shenanigans, constituting their own distinct arc that follows a new plot, in a new setting, with a new cast. These cases will have little connection to one another, if any, besides the Player Characters themselves. They'll even be set in their own universes, be they from canon as well or made up wholesale (probably more of the former than the latter, but I like to cover my bases), meaning that in one Case you might be unraveling the complex politics weaved throughout 15th century Bohemia, and in the next you're hunting for whoever stole Granny Smith's Apple Pie recipe. Or vice versa, who knows!
The periods between each Case will be what I'm calling Interludes. Its during these moments where the scope steps back a little to let everyone, characters included, breathe. Cases are fraught with danger and high stakes in unfamiliar lands, after all. While in Interludes there will still be important questions to be answered, there will be less happening to force their hands; they can relax, socialize, enjoy themselves if they like, or simply investigate at a more leisurely pace. Maybe your characters can even improve themselves...
Rules, Mechanics, Etc.
~ "Elementary, my dear Watson." ~
Below are some things that you really ought to know if you want to join.
The rules of the Guild are in effect as always, though in the interest of making sure this experiment runs smoothly I'll be looking for some additional cooperation!
Respect Your Information! - your characters will be working together, but what information they gather, and how, will most likely be different. Some things will be obvious, while others might be uncovered through alternate means (the exact nature and way to differentiate will be explained further down), and some information may be easier or harder to pass along. In hindsight I'm really just reiterating to not metagame using stuff your character shouldn't be aware of, but considering how important knowledge is going to be I'd like to be on the same page about it. Acting on hunches is different, of course, just try not to abuse that!
Be Punctual(ish)! - for all parties involved, you and me, I want to try for one post a week at minimum. I say at minimum to try to keep momentum during moments where there isn't much happening; if you're in the process of investigating, for example, it wouldn't be much fun if you had to wait five-or-so days to get what you need out of it, right? So, my personal expectation is to try and get out multiple posts a week to respond to those sorts of inquiries and let you guys keep doing what you do! There's no pressure to keep up with that pace, of course, so long as you hit the once-a-week bell you should be a-okay.
Share the Spotlight! - this is another bit that's more for the sake of reiteration, but consider how singular a good detective story tends to be, how the intrigue and misdirection gets brushed aside as the detective makes his grand denouement. That's bound to happen a good few times here, and since your fellow players also want a piece of the action, try not to take up that role TOO often if it can be helped!
So. Mysteries. They're tricky to solve. Reading about someone else solving them is generally pretty fun, but trying to do it yourself, well, there's not really a GameFAQs you can turn to for it here. To help smooth out the process I've come up with two special resources for you to take advantage of: Clues and Hint Coins!
Clues denote anything you find during the course of play that you'll want to pay extra attention to, a way for me to get across which parts of narration are important so you won't have to go squinting at every post trying to figure something out. Clues will be written as such in otherwise ordinary sentences, be it description, dialogue, or on their own. There are two types of clues; "Gimme" Clues which any player character is bound to pick up on (specifics up to you), and personalized Clues, set apart by them being of a certain character's Clue Color (see the CS).
ex., two characters are exploring a scene of a break-in. They both notice the obvious signs of a struggle - a table on its side and a bloodstain on the floor. One of them has a very keen sense of detail and spots some misplaced dust on the windowsill that the other is not privy to.
Careful! Not all Clues will be relevant and could very well mislead you. Use your best judgment to avoid falling for red herrings. Or you could always use...
Hint Coins are, get this, used to receive hints! I mean, yeah I'm just ripping this from a game, so nothin' fancy here; if you're a little lost, confused, overwhelmed, or just feel like skipping some fluff, you're free to use any Hint Coins you have to get an upper hand. They can be used to point out when a Clue is a red herring, or reveal a connection between Clues you might have missed, or to help you figure out where you need to go and what to do to get further along... it's not really set in stone what can be accomplished with them! This is kind've a failsafe for the inevitable moment I fail to naturally lead players to a proper conclusion, to be blunt.
How do you get more Hint Coins? Everyone will start with 1 Hint Coin and gain more in a number of ways. Completing a Case rewards 1 to all player characters, solving additional mysteries (anything not tied to the main mystery of a Case) grants 1 to each participating character, and perhaps other ways that will be revealed with time... not because I don't have them thought out yet of course
Now onto just WHO you'll be playing!
As said before you'll be playing as canon-based detective-y characters. Any sorta sleuth-person across any sorta media, be they main cast or side. Some guidelines:
Viable characters can be "detective" in either name - anyone that comes with a title similar to Detective, ie Inquisitor, Consultant, Mindcop - or in role - meddling kids, journalists, true crime podcasters. So if you're say, a foxy inspector that spends more screentime shooting bad guys than solving crimes, you're good to go.
Duos are accepted on two conditions: they are both similar detective-types that share equal billing in whatever they're from, or as a sort of Sherlock/Watson relationship, wherein one supports the other and are borderline inseparable because of their connection. If you are going to join as a duo, modify the CS as demonstrated below, don't post them separately. Applying as two disparate detectives is disallowed.
Don't fret thinking you can only play the mundane sorts. There'll be plenty of danger, unusual circumstances, and violence that would do with people who can face it all! So while you could apply as someone like Sean Spencer, you're just as free to be a transforming robot or wizard detective! Go nuts!
If a character is adjacent enough without fulfilling either criteria exactly you can still run it by me on a case-by-case basis. I understand the niche is a bit restrictive so I wanna be accommodating if I can be!
CHARACTER NAME (CHARACTER NAME 2)
-- TITLE(S) -- ~ NAME OF CANON ~
Image Here
"Quote or Catchphrase" Clue Color Exemplary Shroud (D4D2D2) Doubly So (7EA8A8) pithy names are required
Sleuth Specialties Whatever your character's investigative capabilities are that set them apart, be they natural skills of deduction, advanced technological forensics, otherworldly feats, etc. No real limit to what you're allowed to do in theory, though we'll see how the cards play when we get to it. Feel free to leave this blank if they happen to have none - perhaps they'll learn a thing or two!
Additional Abilities Anything or everything else your character is able to do! Good with firearms? Have a unique physiology? Can turn invisible? Know how to put up your dukes? Immortal? Show off your moves!
Features & Foibles Their personality. What makes them tick, what keeps them going, what gets in their way, anything you feel worth mentioning about who your detective is as a person!
Backstory Laid Bare Your character's history, up to the point in which they will be pulled from their story. You're free to take them at any point in time, and you even have some leeway on specifics if you want a "full kit" that doesn't quite exist in-universe.
Tools of the Trade Whatever equipment, keepsakes, belongings, and suchwhat that you feel important to bring with them. You probably can't take an entire chemistry lab with you, but maybe some parts of it, or an alchemy set, for example, so you can utilize the breadth of your character. Don't go too crazy, of course!
Miscellaneous
~ "Oh, ahh, just one more thing..." ~
First off, thanks for taking the time to read the thread!
This section is for any remaining bits and ends, odds and bobs if you prefer, that I feel important to address in some way.
The first of which is a Trigger Warning. Being that this roleplay will involve many criminal elements that people can find upsetting, I want to be clear on what sorts of things might come up. Descriptions of death, gore, and violence being a major one, as this thread will focus on murder quite often, and while I have no exact plans there are other topics that have a high likelihood of focus somewhere down the line. I will update this when/if they come up, and try not to worry, I'm not going to delve into anything truly awful. We're here to have fun, not to revel in misery.
Secondly, to be completely transparent, I have zero guarantee that any of this will work! It's a kind of experiment I'm conducting here, with you as my test subjects - sorry about that. Everything here is subject to change, and most likely will change in some capacity since I have no idea if any of it will translate into something fun for other people. Please bear with me!
With all that said, I do hope you at least enjoy your time here.
Features & Foibles L is a strange, secretive guy with a love for sweets. He has plenty of strange habits and poor social skills (sits strangely with his feet on the seat, though he claims it boosts his mental processes; bites his fingernails, eats with his mouth open) due to his secretive and shut-in nature. Despite this, he is relatively polite and compassionate, though he prefers to work alone most of the time. Very monotonous and can come off as uncaring.
Backstory Laid Bare Before being pulled from his universe, L was in the middle of the Kira case. Specifically, he was working with Light Yagami and the rest of the taskforce to locate the third Kira. L had hand-cuffed himself to Light to monitor his actions due to the suspicion of him being Kira, though Light's suddenly personality change had rendered this mostly meaningless. He was pulled from his universe a day before cornering the third Kira alongside the rest of the taskforce. Pulled from around episode ~20 or earlier.
Tools of the Trade A portable laptop Encrypted flip-phone Lots of candy
This is what I got! Admittedly I wasn't exactly sure as to what I should put in tools of trade, since L mostly works in the taskforce building (with a bunch of advanced tech, security systems, etc), but I figured a laptop and flip-phone would be fine
@Auragreedia No complaints! Though to clear up any future confusion, you'd only need one color for clues. It's only both if you have two characters, I should've made that clearer.
