We all just one day woke up like this in this endless labyrinth of a child's play place from McDonalds not just gone wrong, but gone nightmarishly wrong. Its said that everyday more people are introduced into Daedalus, this jungle of cheap plastic and painted metal and everyday more people die or go insane, their minds reaching a breaking point no longer able to grasp their new reality.
Of course, not all of us have gone insane, yet. Some of use have managed to carve out a little bit of the old world in places where the hell opens up into a wide open stage, big enough for a small settlement amiss all the insanity and chaos. Even more have tried to fortify their own small section of the labyrinth into makeshift camps from which to attack others for food, supplies and for captives.
No one knows where we are or why; some ramble that its the work of the great old gods, some rave of the work of scientists in the middle of a grand experiment, others desperately try to convince themselves its all a dream, something they can just wake up one day and forget. But its no mere dream.
Tis a nightmare.
A nightmare which has become our new reality.
And so it begins
Greetings and welcome to And So Daedalus Laughed, an RP based on this wonderful spam post ironically enough where people are trapped on a plane of endless McDonald-styled play places with slides, ball pits, rope bridges, etc called "Daedalus". Of course me being me, I decided to make it grimdark and ended up getting myself interested in making an RP. As for inspirations besides that post, I take from Mad Max, Lord of the Flies, Walking Dead, Fortnite, Fallout, basically survival and post apoc stuff.
The RP itself will be based around the day to day lives of a group of lucky (or unlucky depending on how you see it) people just trying to get by in Daedalus and not die horribly. Of course, that's all easier said that done seeing as Daedalus quite literally gives zero craps about the people who are trapped within it. Some might even say it does it for laughs.
Rules
-- Standard Guild rules, I'm okay with violence and swearing and all of that but if there's any smut I am obliged to tell you to keep it in PM unfortunately.
-- GM and co-GMs are gods/monarchs/deities/glorious leaders/etc, our word is law and rules are subject to change without warning.
-- As GM I reserve the right to break my own rules if I deem necessary.
-- Please do make some good characters but you don't need to over do it, they can literally be normal people as I suspect much of the cast will be those lifted out of their daily lives; its character interactions that will come to define your character, not the character themselves.
-- Chars tab is for finished Characters only, keep all WIPs OOC and always put your edited CS in a new post rather then editing your old one since I do not want to have to fish through stuff.
-- Keep all drama IC or in PMs, I'm fine if the OOC get filled with shitposts, giggles and dank memes but there are better places for needless arguments. Also, don't be a dick.
What I'm looking for
I personally feel that this is more of an advanced RP as I expect players to be able to somewhat accurately portray insanity or the slipping of the mind. I'm not asking for a 100% medically accurate interpretation (as I myself would probably fail at that), but I'm also expecting something more than someone just shouting out random shit. As for post length, I'm thinking some more along the lines of a casual RP's worth. Take that as you will.
For that reason I'm asking for something of a more skilled RPer (especially those who are good with character development). I am going to be honest with you that I will probably end up being pretty strict GM wise and may induce railroading so if you dislike any form of that, I advise you not join. Not saying that's a 100% chance, but its always a possibility.
World Info
The main stage for our little show, Daedalus's appearance takes heavily from play places seen from McDonalds and family fun centers. However, its not a direct copy, many walk ways are wider and more things larger, slides are longer and ball pits deeper. The entire realm is a criss-crossing maze of walkways and paths that go on infinitely in all directions, some having something resembling supports while most are completely free floating. Stair, ladders, slides, rope bridges and ziplines provide means of going between going between the myriad of levels without having to jump down or climb up.
In some places, Daedalus's path ways link up into "Stages", large relatively open areas where most people attempt to set up camps or even settlements; not that some people just hunker down on a certain section of the play place.
However, not everything is quite the same and uniform in Daedalus, some part are clearly less maintained at least appearance wise, despite the fact there is no one to actually maintain it. Some parts are old and rusted and weak, while others are overgrown with nature that springs from somewhere in the endless void, providing people precious natural wood and sometimes fruit which could only other wise be obtained by Gifts. Stones have even been found on the uncommon occasion. Like wise, there are some places which are overrun with Savages who use Stages as a sort of hive breeding ground.
Beyond the plastic and metal is the endless void which has never been reached as Daedalus has no end. But yet there are still time of sun and times of moon with stars that never stay in the same place for two nights in the row. Its said that many stay relatively sane by finding solace in the beauty of Daedalus's dawn, twilight and star-lit sky.
As stated above there are people within Daedulus who believe this abstract plane of existence to be the work or gods or part of some elaborate experiment. This is partly due to the fact that everyone in Daedulus has lost their mind to some extent and that there are these "Gifts" which appear in places.
Gifts are basically from the beings beyond which contain things that would not normally be in play places and is basically what has allowed things like settlements and tribes to crop up. They contain the strangest of things most times, only rarely ever giving something of direct use like a combat knife or proper food, instead often being random bits of junk like wooden pallets, letter opening knives, bead necklaces, plaster of paris, a lot of random crap basically of the strangest nature. And because of the otherwise crude, ramshackle and cobbled-together nature of many of the creations within Daedalus, however, crafty individuals have managed to make some pretty spectacular things.
Gifts will always "spawn" on top of or next to wooden pallets in a place out of sight but nearby, sometimes there is no gift near a pallet meaning the wood itself is the gift. For this reason, some see these pallets as holy symbols.
There's two types of foods within Daedalus, three technically but the two main ones are Fafo and the natural food.
As we all know, real fast food can make you obeseness and all that fun stuff, but in Daedalus, it does more than that. Consumption of "Fafo" will turn you into one of the many beasts that wonder the painted metal jungle if eaten in great enough quantity. Everyone has eaten some Fafo, often thinking its a "safe" food source when they first arrive, however once they begin to feel something unholy within them, most stop eating it but there are those who continue to down it because they don't want to become monsters who eat human flesh but in turn become true monsters themselves, Savages.
For that reason, places that can produce their own food without relying on the machines that mysteriously produce a Fafo meal completely with drinks, sides and a tray, are very popular. That said, the Fafo machines commonly used as a source of easy materials, bar the "food".
Now the third option for many is cannibalism, the act of eating your fellow human. To newcomers, this is seen as a barbaric act of the worst degree but to those who've stayed in Daedalus, its just another part of life; you have a perfectly good source of meat and it ain't going to do much besides stink up the place if you leave it be. There's something of a debate between if eating the monsters counts as cannibalism as they are basically human under all of that.
They go under many names in many places, but the most common is "savages". These are beasts who were once human before the hellscape of Daedalus had its way with them, corrupting and mutating them into beasts with Fafo and insanity. That said, there are Savages who are clearly not human, even more animalistic in nature.
As is the norm in Daedalus, there are many stances and outlook on the Savages; some say they are beasts which must be killed and can be used for food, others go to great lengths to capture one and worship it like a living deity, the rare few "Tamers" have learned how to tame such creatures and bend their wills to their own, but those people are few and far between.
Of course, there are Savages who do not come from humans and instead seem to be a wide variety of animals, some of which have actually been tamed to a degree to be used by some (this is different than Tamers who can fully control the Savages). These tamed Savages are still dangerous and deadly, however they are domesticated to some degree by places with enough resources and those who are reckless enough.
Now for the part that a good deal of you have the most interest in. The equipments of war or "war gear" as its more commonly known in Daedalus is all of crude construction. Much of the things built are ramshackle and consisting of many different parts all attached with rope or glitter glue or some variation of those. They're also equally strangely decorated in an almost tribal fashion, feathers and bead necklaces adorn weapons along with colored marks of paint of some sort.
Armor wise, the most common material is plastic trays as metal is at a premium, especially seeing as forging is something almost nonexistent because many have no knowledge of metal working. Other common materials used include wood and bone although other more exotic armors are worn by certain individuals.
Ranged weapons are an uncommon sight; the most common of which are crude composite bows and even cruder arrows. Simple crossbows are used by the craftier bunch but large ballista-like machines used for defense are more common as they require less small pieces. While guns do exist, they most exist as crude cannons, unwieldy matchlocks and rough Eoka-like guns, almost exclusively used by the strongest of warlords and leaders given the rarity of ammunition.
((If you need help with weapon ideas, I'm more than willing to give some ideas. An important point here is that most things will not be typically "post apoc"-like given the lack of metal, adhesive, tools and other materials that things like Fallout have given the fact that we're all living in a glorified jungle gym from hell and the only way of getting other materials is through the Insane and even then you might not get what you want; basically think literally homemade and you're half way there.))
Sanity and Will are two major parts of both character creation and development. Sanity is the mental condition of your character at the outbreak of the RP and Will is something only for those who haven't slipped off the deep end.
Sanity works in a way that if you have higher sanity, your character will be able to have more rational thoughts and logical thinking but they will be unable to "see beyond the veil" and will be unable to see the more... supernatural elements of Daedalus. Low sanity works the opposite way, your rational thinking is greatly decreased as your character becomes something of a madman but can also gain insight onto the true nature of the plastic prison that surrounds them. It is said that the Insane will be preferred in the eyes of the creator with gifts while the Sane will be able to use those gifts more efficiently.
The levels of Sanity are: Sane, Slipping, Insanity, Lost.
It should be note that Insanity is the lowest you can go and still be considered "human" as being Lost means that you have become one of the Savages that roam the tunnels and bridges of the play place.
Will is something exclusively for characters who are not at the Insanity level and determines how fast your mind slips and how much you can mentally take before breaking down. Things that would normally shock someone (ie brutalized corpses out in the open, the Savages, the general feel of how much life has to to hell for them, etc) will take its toil and everyone in Daedalus will loose their mind at some point, the realm just naturally corrupts minds.
The levels of Will are: High, Average, Low
Both Sanity and Will have no "stats" behind them, instead I'm relying on the players to accurate portray and honestly play the two out.
Character Sheet
[center][h1]<Name here>[/h1] [img]<Rough appearance here, realistic photos or art only, please no anime/cartoony art, don't need to be exact, you can expand on things>[/img]
[ hr][ hr][/center] [h3][sub]Name:[/sub][/h3] <The name you have within Daedalus, not your character's real name. This will only apply to characters who've spent a good deal of time within the realm> [h3][sub]Real Name:[/sub][/h3] <The name of your character in the real world, if they can even recall it> [h3][sub]Age:[/sub][/h3] <Just be reasonable> [h3][sub]Gender:[/sub][/h3] <Self explanatory; male or female, mayonnaise is not a gender ppl>
[ hr][h3][sub]Sanity Level:[/sub][/h3] <Sane, Slipping or Insane; newer people will be Sane for the most part while people who've spent a great deal of time will be Slipping or Insane> [h3][sub]Strength of Will:[/sub][/h3] <Only counts for characters who are Slipping and Sane, High, Average or Low> [h3][sub]Time in Daedalus:[/sub][/h3] <How long have you been in Daedalus, days, weeks, months, years... do they even remember? A quick note is that the RP starts about 3 days after everyone meets by miracle, doesn't mean you got here 3 days ago, you could be in Daedalus for much longer, wandering around by yourself> [ hr][h3][sub]Personality:[/sub][/h3] <How your character acts in most cases, this section along with how well you RP the personality will be a huge deal, I expect insane people to act mentally unstable but in something close to a realistic fashion> [h3][sub]Bio:[/sub][/h3] <What did your character do before being dragged into this hell? Write it down here, if they can even properly recall it> [h3][sub]Appearance:[/sub][/h3] <What do they look like/what are they wearing at the outset of the RP? Greenhorns should be wearing something like their day-to-day clothing while those who've stay in Daedalus have a much rougher appearance. [h3][sub]Inventory:[/sub][/h3] <Basically what they currently have in their possession; once again new people should really only be having their day-to-day stuff, the length of time you've spent in Daedalus has a connection to what kind of stuff you may have on you or how much of it you have.
[ hr][center][h2]Writing Example[/h2][/center] <A sample of your writing, namely you're character's first day in Daedalus. Normally I wouldn't ask for writing samples in my RPs but I want to see how people writing about some of the themes within in this RP. Write this as seriously as you would write an actual post.>
o-o contest-mod-sama is gracing us with his presence??
*fangirling intensifies*
I'm kidding, please don't flense me or stab me or torture me or disfigure me or kill me or take me off of the contest staff or any or all of the above. Glad you're here, Terminal. Seriously.
o-o contest-mod-sama is gracing us with his presence??
*fangirling intensifies*
I'm kidding, please don't flense me or stab me or torture me or disfigure me or kill me or take me off of the contest staff or any or all of the above. Glad you're here, Terminal. Seriously.
Indeed, I have been sitting on a stockpile of impetus for a while now that needs to be burned.
As for the flensing and the torture and the permanent disfigurement and death - there will be plenty of that IC. Patience.
Well in that case, I'll get started on a character tonight. :D
Trying to decide which end of the insanity spectrum I'm gonna go on...either a strong character that's already been broken down, or a mentally weak character who is quickly getting there.
Has anyone else given much indication as to what they've got in mind?
More specifically I am playing a High-Willpower character who, through a diet consisting mostly of Fafo has nonetheless been driven to the brink of becoming Lost. I do not mind if you have something similar planned, but if you wanted to go for something different feel free.
Hmm... No one actually has made a character sheet yet. I believe it may have to do with how large and complex you made the character sheet.
I understand having a "IC post trial" section, but the fact we have to start the RP already having met everyone for three days sounds really constrictive in terms of creative freedom. Meeting coincidences will happen either way because RP, but I was hoping to progressively develop my character IC in isolation before meeting other people for a few posts and that now seems impossible.
However, the big inhibiter is in the way you formatted the app sheet that is a bit painful to work with due to all the sections you need to fill out.
Does the sheet need to be so complicated? Why not something like this?
Name(s): (What name or names does your character have?)
[if you just have to use a picture, use it here]
Appearance: (What does you character look like/wear? Details like age, gender, height and any deformities should be included here)
Biography: (What is your character's life story? Any peculiar mental traits? Has your character only recently woke up in Daedalus or has your character been here for a while?)
Psychology: (What mental state would you describe your character in as a result of being in this realm? Any insecurities/irrationalities worth noting?)
Writing test: (write about your character's entry into Daedalus and their first moments in this peculiar realm)
