[hr][center][b]First and foremost, by design this interest check is to encourage the reunion of a cabal of writers from 2024/early 2025 and provide an opportunity to write together again within an original setting and story. These writers are tagged below, and they will have: a) a weightier vote in which setting they'd prefer to play (if at all) b) priority position on the roster if they want to apply.[/b][/center] [center][@Lord Wraith] | [@Rockette] | [@Qia] | [@Melissa] | [@webboysurf] | [@Skai] | [@Hound55] | [@Stormyx][/center] [center][img]https://media1.tenor.com/m/8V1MTujw1uUAAAAd/band-back-together-getting-the-band-back-together.gif[/img][/center][hr] Hello, and welcome to an Advanced Interest Check with options! As mentioned above, I'm primarily looking to put a group back together that I enjoyed writing with very much last year in an original setting with original characters again, seeking an interaction- and character-driven experience guided with a careful hand along a loose background plot, while also encouraging players to pursue their own personal arcs and stories within the setting as a whole. To this end however I have brought two potential settings (one very graciously borrowed from Wraith), which you can find in the below hiders. [b]I won't be running both at this juncture[/b], so it's up to YOU, THE PLAYERS, to decide which enthralls you more, and that's the one I'll go with! I'm looking for a group no bigger than 12 at the absolute maximum, myself included, and as mentioned those above will have priority placements in eventual applications - however any slots they don't fill may be open to the teeming masses who might like to participate! [b]This is not a guarantee I will accept up to 12 characters even if priority slots remain un-filled.[/b] It might just be that we end up with a strong core roster and I decline further applications for the health of the game. I'm laying this all out on the front line so as to avoid disappointment and perceived slights as best I can; if I accept 12 for the sake of it, I'll only be making things more difficult for myself and be doing the other players a disservice. With that said, on to the settings! [hider=Fashionably Late][center][sup][h3][b][color=black][sub] A C R I M E T H R I L L E R R O L E P L A Y[/sub][/color] [sub]A C R I M E T H R I L L E R R O L E P L A Y[/sub][/b][/h3][/sup][/center][hr][center][sub][h1][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019b6212-5ad7-77f0-8c93-ef4b93fef103.webp[/img] [color=black][b] F A S H I O N A B L Y L A T E[/b][/color] [color=white][b]F A S H I O N A B L Y L A T E[/b][/color][/h1][/sub][/center] [indent][COLOR=silver][sub][sup][h3][b][COLOR=BLACK] C O N C E P T:[/COLOR] C O N C E P T:[/b][/h3][/sup][/sub][/COLOR][/indent][hr][indent][color=gray]New York City, New Year's Eve. On the cusp of 2026, the city's upper echelons attend an exclusive penthouse party overlooking the city. Anyone who's anyone - or wants to [i]be[/i] anyone - is here; if your name has graced the news, it's on the guest-list, and the bouncer's strict on plus-ones. The lights are low, the music is loud, and the bar is open - it's "hashtag party-vibes" until the clock strikes midnight and then some, with drinks flowing and pills popping. The celebration is in full-swing, and everybody's getting stuck in. With New York swelling with its own festivities below, the entire city is pulsing, and the energy surges through every building and every attendee. Of course, there's always the dark heart of any good-natured gathering; those that take it too far, those that see opportunity for mischief, those who are interested only in networking. A blacker half that keeps the rumour mill churning, the stories printing in the papers, the blogs posting and the podcasts recording - and NYE25 is no exception. Amongst the throng of dancers, drinkers, dopers and drug-takers lurk reporters, tabloid writers, surreptitious paparazzi, where anyone is a target and nothing is off the table. An inevitable presence as much maligned as it is accepted. If anyone asks you a question, you have no comment; if anyone takes a photo, you get security to seize their camera. But above all, you don't stop partying. Until a very loud and disturbing shriek quite [i]un[/i]like the exultant screams of the night's revellers pierces the air and brings the music to a halt; until the police turn up and lockdown the penthouse until they've taken witness statements from everyone attending; until you watch a body-bag wheel past you as the crowd parts to give the gurney access to the elevator. And then, all of a sudden, you're involved in the first big story of 2026: the New Year's Eve Murder.[/color][/indent] [indent][COLOR=silver][sub][sup][h3][b][COLOR=BLACK] P R E M I S E:[/COLOR] P R E M I S E:[/b][/h3][/sup][/sub][/COLOR][/indent][hr][indent][color=gray]Maybe you're an actor, or a popstar, perhaps a world-class DJ, a New-York-Times-Bestselling author, a multi-million-views viral-phenomenon influencer. Maybe you race cars or boats or jets or all three; maybe you grace the world's most prestigious catwalks. Maybe you made your name on YouTube or Twitch, or maybe you're the Next Big Thing in the rock'n'roll scene. Whatever you're famous for, adored for, wealthy for, here you are: New York, 31st December 2025, celebrating New Year's Eve on the Skydeck at Manhattan's most exclusive party. Dancing, drinking, networking, drug-taking - it's all happening, and there's no taste or attitude un-catered for. But when a distressed scream interrupts the festivities to reveal a fresh corpse harshing the vibe, the party quickly becomes a crime scene, and you're sucked into a murder investigation concerning the celebrities of modern Manhattan society. Even worse, you're implicated, along with a cabal of others who were also in attendance, and suddenly it's not just about laying low until the inquiry blows over - suddenly, you've got a name to clear and a reputation to claw back, lest you lose everything. After all, being tried by judge and jury is one thing; but the court of public opinion will eat you alive. As the investigation spirals out into further conspiracy, there's only one thing left in mind: survival. But what cost are you prepared to pay?[/color][/indent][/hider] [hider=The Wild Hunt][center][sup][h3][b][color=2c2c2c]▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅ [color=black][sub] A H Y P E R H U M A N R O L E P L A Y[/sub][/color] ▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅[/color] [color=lightgray]▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅ [sub]A H Y P E R H U M A N R O L E P L A Y[/sub] ▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅[/color][/b][/h3][/sup][/center][hr][center][sub][h1][img]https://i.redd.it/djxdluxyb80a1.jpg[/img] [color=black][b] T H E W I L D H U N T[/b][/color] [color=white][b]T H E W I L D H U N T[/b][/color][/h1][/sub][/center] [hr][sub][sup]Gracious thanks extended to [@Lord Wraith] for permissions to use the Hyperverse setting.[/sup][/sub] [indent][COLOR=silver][sub][sup][h3][b][COLOR=BLACK] C O N C E P T:[/COLOR] C O N C E P T:[/b][/h3][/sup][/sub][/COLOR][/indent][hr][indent][color=gray]In 1984, Autumn Miracle, AKA The Crestwood Ripper, would make her indelible mark upon the public consciousness with a spree of killings across the sleepy New Hampshire town Crestwood Hollow. A short decade later, at the turn of the millennium, the self-styled Prophet and Savior of his own kind, Hyperion, would further wage a dire campaign of domestic terrorism across the American continent. The response from the fledgling Bureau of Hyperhuman Equality, Logistics, and Protection in both incidents was swift and decisive, successfully apprehending the perpetrators and putting a stop to their schemes, mitigating collateral damage as much as possible, and attempting to assuage public concern as the world began to reckon with the single greatest phenomenon of contemporary times: [b]Hyperhumans[/b]. In the three decades that have followed, H.E.L.P. have successfully forged a strong image as a committed and well-regarded instructional, rehabilitative, and benevolent force for continued harmony between humanity and this burgeoning new evolution. Through endeavors such as the Pacific Royal Collegiate & University, co-operation with international governments, and leading cross-continental research into, and education on, Hyperhumanity, H.E.L.P. are now the foremost international authority on Hyperhumans and Hyperhuman; subsequently, many of the world's governments consult with, or entirely defer to, the Bureau in matters concerning Hyperhumans - particularly when it comes to criminal, or otherwise dangerous or high-profile individuals. With both indicted and convicted Hyperhumans often remanded into H.E.L.P. custody - and additional programs in place around the globe for voluntary submission into the Bureau's guardianship - there is, of course, a need for facilities wherein to house these individuals. Thus came to be H.E.L.P. Detainment & Rehabilitation Centers; based off the blueprints for the Bureau's notorious 'Black Site', a combined research/detention facility on Zayas Island near H.E.L.P. Alpha Base off the Canadian coast, the Centers were new facilities constructed with a more rehabilitative purpose in mind, but still with the capability of containing the more volatile residents. It is to these Centers that those under H.E.L.P.s care are transported; via land, air, and sea, each arrives, gets processed, and begins their next chapter under the Bureau's careful supervision. [/color][/indent] [indent][COLOR=silver][sub][sup][h3][b][COLOR=BLACK] P R E M I S E:[/COLOR] P R E M I S E:[/b][/h3][/sup][/sub][/COLOR][/indent][hr][indent][color=gray]Thirty years on from Hyperion's terrorist campaign, the Bureau of Hyperhuman Equality, Logistics, and Protection has successfully repaired their image and that of Hyperhumans world-wide, growing to become the foremost authority on Humanity's next great step, known across the globe for their world-leading research and education programmes, as well as their academy, P.R.C.U., and global presence as a calm and level-headed mediator in Hyperhuman-related affairs. With the world's governments trusting their counsel, they have in recent years become the custodians of certain criminal or otherwise dangerous individuals, utilizing their Detainment & Rehabilitation Centers to great success in helping anti-social Hyperhumans pave their way back to a fulfilled and purposeful life - whether back amongst the public, or within the Bureau's myriad branches and departments itself. There are, of course, still those who believe [i]all[/i] Hyperhumans should be segregated from the general masses, and further still those who would see this new branch of Mankind's future pruned entirely and wiped from the genetic record. H.E.L.P. is no stranger to these adversaries, but they are no stranger to safeguarding themselves or their wards either. So when a routine Albatross convoy transporting fresh intake detainees to one of H.E.L.P.s Centers is shot down unexpectedly several miles off the northern coast of Canada, a four-way struggle swiftly ensues: H.E.L.P. trying to find the surviving escapees and remand them back into the Bureau's custody; the underground cell responsible for the attack seeking to finalize their work; the survivors themselves, now forced to forage and fend for themselves amidst the hostile northern Canadian wilderness while fleeing their pursuers; and an altogether different entity, something dark and ancient and evil, roused from a slumber the old world had hoped would never be broken, stalking those responsible for its disturbed rest. [/color][/indent][/hider] Please feel free to ask questions, spitball potential character concepts (I'll supply the CS code in the eventual OOC based on the chosen setting for official applications), provide feedback, or even offer suggestions for either setting that may be conducive to a better scenario for the players. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to chatting!