Thanks for your interest and your name suggestions, SuperTacticalDerp! I might use one of those. (Edit: I really liked the first one, so I used it. Thanks much!)
It is a gloomy Fall day, and you watch the rain slide listlessly down your window as you contemplate the age of that Chinese takeout in your refrigerator. Just as you are about to throw caution to the wind and finish the last of that General Tso's chicken, you are roused from your comfy armchair by the sound of the front doorbell ringing. You move to the door and open it gingerly, wondering who could be calling at this hour. Looking down, you see a weasely-looking man in Coke-bottle glasses and a smile too wide for his face thrusting a slightly greasy envelope into your hands.
"Special Delivery!" he says, and disappears around the corner as you grasp the envelope.
You look at the envelope and your name is stamped crookedly on the face, but next to your address is a garish green and pink palm tree and a fairly smug-looking sun with aviator sunglasses. Above the sun, in what appears to be some sort of speech bubble, are the words "YOU'VE WON!!!!!!!!" in bold, red font. Maybe it was the slight hope of escape from this darned rain, the egging-on from that smug-looking sun, or just simple curiosity, but you decide to open the letter right then and there:
Dear Sir or Madam,
Congratulations! You are one of the few very lucky winners to have been selected for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! You have won an all-expense-paid trip to our tropical island corporate office and will be given the chance to use our state-of-the-art virtual reality technology! Ever wanted to be practically transported into another world? Your days of ignorant daydreaming are over. This fantasy is now a reality for you and you only! (Participants may not inform loved ones or relatives about this opportunity, or risk being disqualified).
Our spies representatives have done their best to select the "winners," but we're only...human. Some mistake may have been made. We want to make sure you get your well-earned prize, so make sure to read the official rules at the bottom of this document to ensure that you qualify!
To claim your prize, please respond with your personal information. A form showing the information we require is below. You will be contacted by a representative shortly with details and your prize!
Name: Age: Gender: Appearance (Written description will suffice, or enclose a photograph): Personality (A brief description, please):
IMPORTANT NOTE:This is in no way an organ-harvesting scam!
Official Rules:
The company, Agnam Lupus Ovina Co., and affiliated companies (collectively, the “Company”), will conduct its contests substantially as described in these general contesting rules, and by participating, each participant agrees as follows:
1. Prize(s): The prize(s) that may be awarded to the eligible winner(s) are not transferable, redeemable for cash or exchangeable for any other prize. If a winner cannot be contacted or is disqualified for any reason, the Company reserves the right to eliminate the candidate and determine an alternate winner, in its sole discretion. Winners who cannot be contacted may or may not be kidnapped and taken to the "winner's circle" to claim an alternate prize.
2. Eligibility and Limitations: Participants and winner(s) must be over 18 years of age to participate. Participants over the age of 20 will have a slight advantage in the contest due to the matured neural pathways of an older brain. Participants will preferably not have children or other dependents. Participants must not inform family and friends about the prize, or will be disqualified.
3. Safety Disclaimer: By participating in the Contest, each participant and winner waives any and all claims of liability against the Company, its employees and agents, the Contest’s sponsors and their respective employees and agents, for any personal injury, loss, discomfort, accidental dismemberment, irreversible psychological trauma, or nightmares about Sea Monkeys which may occur from the conduct of, or participation in, the Contest, or from the use of any prize. In order to receive a prize, participants must sign an official waiver form provided by the Company.
4. Participant Disclosure Agreement: By participating, the participant agrees to not disclose any information about their winning, the prize(s), the company, or the island corporate office to any individuals. Participants not obeying this simple rule will be disqualified.
5. Disqualification: Participants may be deemed unfit to claim the prize for reasons stated in the attached document. If this occurs, the disqualified person will be [REDACTED], [REDACTED], given a [REDACTED], and thrown in [REDACTED].
6. Eye Ownership Agreement: By reading this document, you inherently agree that you own your eyes and brain and that you have absorbed this sensitive, Company-owned information into your brain through the vehicle of your eyes. The Company thereby reserves the right to confiscate your brain and/or eyes at any time.
There is some small print at the bottom of the letter, but you can barely read it. Reading it would break the 4th wall, so you decide not to. Still, you feel as if another person connected to your consciousness reads the text. That's odd.
Since the above info may not be enough, here is some explicit, simple, and OOC descriptions of the plot.
This RP is intended to be a comedy. The goofier, the better. It's very very loosely based on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Let's Plays, I suppose.
A group of evil scientists, masquerading as a legitimate company, want to study how advanced virtual reality and particular environments and stimuli affect the human brain. They contact a group of people whom they have been investigating for some time. These people are the perfect subjects, they feel, as for one reason or another they probably will believe the invitation to be legit and will come to their lab with no questions asked.
Once at the "tropical island," (which may or may not be a shady back-alley warehouse with palm trees taped to it) the participants will be hooked up to virtual reality machines. These machines are unlike any others currently in production, as the person is completely immersed in the digital world. Their real bodies are transferred into an inactive state and their consciousness lies completely within their digital representation. The VR machine simulates all of the five senses, so a person really feels as if they are "there."
Once hooked into the VR, the participants will be placed in various environments together, through which they must traverse and go through obstacles or solve puzzles. People in the VR environments, henceforth called "players," cannot die in said VR environments. Their actions in the environment may "kill" their digital representation, but they will simply return to the beginning of the course when this occurs, or "respawn." Players can feel free to "kill" each other when stuck, if a glitch occurs and they get physically stuck in the world, or just when the mood strikes them.
There may be other threats introduced into the plot, since death is not one of them. We can work on this, if the need arises.
For most of the environments in which players are placed, their digital representation is simply a digitized copy of their own body. They look and feel the same. At times, they may be placed in different forms, like those of an animal or another person. This will vary based on the digital world they are placed in at the time.
This is just kind of a starting idea I have. It can evolve over time. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and of course let me know if you are interested in participating! Also yes, the title of this RP is kind of shitty. Feel free to suggest a better one.
It is a gloomy Fall day, and you watch the rain slide listlessly down your window as you contemplate the age of that Chinese takeout in your refrigerator. Just as you are about to throw caution to the wind and finish the last of that General Tso's chicken, you are roused from your comfy armchair by the sound of the front doorbell ringing. You move to the door and open it gingerly, wondering who could be calling at this hour. Looking down, you see a weasely-looking man in Coke-bottle glasses and a smile too wide for his face thrusting a slightly greasy envelope into your hands.
"Special Delivery!" he says, and disappears around the corner as you grasp the envelope.
You look at the envelope and your name is stamped crookedly on the face, but next to your address is a garish green and pink palm tree and a fairly smug-looking sun with aviator sunglasses. Above the sun, in what appears to be some sort of speech bubble, are the words "YOU'VE WON!!!!!!!!" in bold, red font. Maybe it was the slight hope of escape from this darned rain, the egging-on from that smug-looking sun, or just simple curiosity, but you decide to open the letter right then and there:
Dear Sir or Madam,
Congratulations! You are one of the few very lucky winners to have been selected for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! You have won an all-expense-paid trip to our tropical island corporate office and will be given the chance to use our state-of-the-art virtual reality technology! Ever wanted to be practically transported into another world? Your days of ignorant daydreaming are over. This fantasy is now a reality for you and you only! (Participants may not inform loved ones or relatives about this opportunity, or risk being disqualified).
Our spies representatives have done their best to select the "winners," but we're only...human. Some mistake may have been made. We want to make sure you get your well-earned prize, so make sure to read the official rules at the bottom of this document to ensure that you qualify!
To claim your prize, please respond with your personal information. A form showing the information we require is below. You will be contacted by a representative shortly with details and your prize!
Name: Age: Gender: Appearance (Written description will suffice, or enclose a photograph): Personality (A brief description, please):
IMPORTANT NOTE:This is in no way an organ-harvesting scam!
Official Rules:
The company, Agnam Lupus Ovina Co., and affiliated companies (collectively, the “Company”), will conduct its contests substantially as described in these general contesting rules, and by participating, each participant agrees as follows:
1. Prize(s): The prize(s) that may be awarded to the eligible winner(s) are not transferable, redeemable for cash or exchangeable for any other prize. If a winner cannot be contacted or is disqualified for any reason, the Company reserves the right to eliminate the candidate and determine an alternate winner, in its sole discretion. Winners who cannot be contacted may or may not be kidnapped and taken to the "winner's circle" to claim an alternate prize.
2. Eligibility and Limitations: Participants and winner(s) must be over 18 years of age to participate. Participants over the age of 20 will have a slight advantage in the contest due to the matured neural pathways of an older brain. Participants will preferably not have children or other dependents. Participants must not inform family and friends about the prize, or will be disqualified.
3. Safety Disclaimer: By participating in the Contest, each participant and winner waives any and all claims of liability against the Company, its employees and agents, the Contest’s sponsors and their respective employees and agents, for any personal injury, loss, discomfort, accidental dismemberment, irreversible psychological trauma, or nightmares about Sea Monkeys which may occur from the conduct of, or participation in, the Contest, or from the use of any prize. In order to receive a prize, participants must sign an official waiver form provided by the Company.
4. Participant Disclosure Agreement: By participating, the participant agrees to not disclose any information about their winning, the prize(s), the company, or the island corporate office to any individuals. Participants not obeying this simple rule will be disqualified.
5. Disqualification: Participants may be deemed unfit to claim the prize for reasons stated in the attached document. If this occurs, the disqualified person will be [REDACTED], [REDACTED], given a [REDACTED], and thrown in [REDACTED].
6. Eye Ownership Agreement: By reading this document, you inherently agree that you own your eyes and brain and that you have absorbed this sensitive, Company-owned information into your brain through the vehicle of your eyes. The Company thereby reserves the right to confiscate your brain and/or eyes at any time.
There is some small print at the bottom of the letter, but you can barely read it. Reading it would break the 4th wall, so you decide not to. Still, you feel as if another person connected to your consciousness reads the text. That's odd.
Since the above info may not be enough, here is some explicit, simple, and OOC descriptions of the plot.
This RP is intended to be a comedy. The goofier, the better. It's very very loosely based on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Let's Plays, I suppose.
A group of evil scientists, masquerading as a legitimate company, want to study how advanced virtual reality and particular environments and stimuli affect the human brain. They contact a group of people whom they have been investigating for some time. These people are the perfect subjects, they feel, as for one reason or another they probably will believe the invitation to be legit and will come to their lab with no questions asked.
Once at the "tropical island," (which may or may not be a shady back-alley warehouse with palm trees taped to it) the participants will be hooked up to virtual reality machines. These machines are unlike any others currently in production, as the person is completely immersed in the digital world. Their real bodies are transferred into an inactive state and their consciousness lies completely within their digital representation. The VR machine simulates all of the five senses, so a person really feels as if they are "there."
Once hooked into the VR, the participants will be placed in various environments together, through which they must traverse and go through obstacles or solve puzzles. People in the VR environments, henceforth called "players," cannot die in said VR environments. Their actions in the environment may "kill" their digital representation, but they will simply return to the beginning of the course when this occurs, or "respawn." Players can feel free to "kill" each other when stuck, if a glitch occurs and they get physically stuck in the world, or just when the mood strikes them.
There may be other threats introduced into the plot, since death is not one of them. We can work on this, if the need arises.
For most of the environments in which players are placed, their digital representation is simply a digitized copy of their own body. They look and feel the same. At times, they may be placed in different forms, like those of an animal or another person. This will vary based on the digital world they are placed in at the time.
This is just kind of a starting idea I have. It can evolve over time. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and of course let me know if you are interested in participating! Also yes, the title of this RP is kind of shitty. Feel free to suggest a better one.
Greetings, future director of Glaxo pharmaceuticals and epic astronaut dragon slayer.
Have as many characters as you want, have an army of them if you want. In fact, you could create so many that you could lead them through the wormhole and invade the alien world and take it over. Take that, sci-fi cliche!
That is quite a nice title! I am impressed at your ability to pick up my innate skills and future job title at a casual glance. That is quite a skill, my friend. I've never told anyone of my secret plan to take over a pharmaceutical company, and I thought my invisibility motocross jacket hid my intergalactic dragon-slaying bouts. Well, I guess you get what you pay for. Stupid infomercial lied to me.
Ah grand! I think two characters shall suffice for me, unless Gerald and Chester find some way to clone themselves. Personally, I don't think the world could handle that much idiocy, though. It might implode.
I am not sure if I should post here, or in the character tab...but what the heck. Here we go.
Name: Gerald Neil Calhoun
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Appearance: Gerald is a 5'10 white male with a slimmer-than-average build. He has a long face with his brown eyes too close together, and all his facial features seem to be too low on his face, leaving a large forehead. He attempts to cover this with his wavy brown hair that he wears slightly brushed forward in an Ivy League cut. His mouth is very wide and he has a rather long chin, giving him a gangly, almost comical appearance. Gerald usually wears the typical white lab coat over his blue button-down shirt and black slacks, though he never wears a tie. He honestly thought that scientists got to wear super sick power suits, which was part of why he wanted the job. He was decidedly disappointed when he learned he had to wear the stuffy lab coat all day.
Weapons: Gerald managed to pick the lock on the locker next to his. Previous to the infamous salad incident, he would just swipe granola bars and put incriminating/rude notes in the unfortunate sap's jacket pocket, but he had recently swiped some nifty gun-looking object. He is not sure what it does yet, but it looks like it is made from the coffee-maker and springs from the downstairs vending machine. So this is the bastard who deprived the place of coffee for three weeks. He deserved to have his things swiped.
Despite having the coffee gun, Gerald is constantly looking to gain entry into the security rooms to obtain a real weapon. Guns are easy to use, right? Just aim and fire. He is fairly certain he could kick these aliens' backsides as soon as he gets the feel of cold steel comfort in his hands.
Known Skills: - Has a "theoretical" degree in physics...meaning he took a correspondence course in physics once, skimmed the material, got bored, and never looked at it again. The textbook did come in handy to prop open that darn broken upstairs window, though. - Charisma. After all, he did get himself and his buddy Chester a cushy job as research scientists at this crazy lab when neither of them know jack shit about real science. - Resourcefulness. While he's not great at engineering, he often finds some way of solving problems when under pressure. Most of them involve violence and swearing, but hey what ever works. - Being a really sarcastic asshole
Name: Chester "Ches" Garrett
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Appearance: Chester is a white male, about 5'11" with an average build. Despite his age, he has a rather fleshy, youthful face with pronounced lips and hazel eyes. His brown hair is cut short in a buzz cut. Ches, unlike his buddy, legitimately loves his white lab coat, as he feels it gives him an air of intelligence and superiority. He usually wears grey or white shirts, tan or black slacks, and a black tie.
Weapons: Ches is currently carrying a small modified cigarette lighter of his own design that is somewhat of an idiot's Swiss Army knife. Besides the lighter that now shoots flame a little over two feet, the tool includes the ever-useful Spife (what he feels is one of the most useful inventions, despite Gerald's protests), a hairpin, some Duct Tape (that's always useful, right?), and several exploding caplets.
Known Skills: - Ches is known to tinker a bit and comes up with some stupid, often impractical creations. He likes to think of himself as a modern MacGyver. - Bickering with Gerald. - Coming up with idiotic insults. - Being cowardly and unobservant
This sounds like the next literary masterpiece, Sir Sentient Shed! As an aspiring author, looking to write the next Hamlet, I'd be honored to have a hand in this glorious undertaking. I can just picture our rise to fame! All the adoring fans, the money, the awards, the free popcorn chicken.... I'm in 100%!
I do have one question, though. Can we have more than one character? I have a jolly good idea for two characters that play off of each other. So I'd like to know if I can use both of them, or if I have to deprive them of each others' company.
EDIT: I made up character sheets of my two characters. I'll go ahead and post them here.
Name: Gerald Neil Calhoun
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Appearance: Gerald is 5'10 with a slimmer-than-average build. He has a long face with his brown eyes too close together, and all his facial features seem to be too low on his face, leaving a large forehead. He attempts to cover this with his slightly wavy brown hair that he wears slightly brushed forward in an Ivy League cut. His mouth is very wide and he has a rather long chin, giving him a gangly, almost comical appearance. Gerald usually wears the typical white lab coat over his blue button-down shirt and black slacks, though he never wears a tie. He honestly thought that scientists got to wear super sick power suits, which was part of why he wanted the job. He was decidedly disappointed when he learned he had to wear the stuffy lab coat all day.
Weapons: Gerald managed to pick the lock on the locker next to his. Previous to the infamous salad incident, he would just swipe granola bars and put incriminating/rude notes in the unfortunate sap's jacket pocket, but he had recently swiped some nifty gun-looking object. He is not sure what it does yet, but it looks like it is made from the coffee-maker and springs from the downstairs vending machine. So this is the bastard who deprived the place of coffee for three weeks. He deserved to have his things swiped.
Despite having the coffee gun, Gerald is constantly looking to gain entry into the security rooms to obtain a real weapon. Guns are easy to use, right? Just aim and fire. He is fairly certain he could kick these aliens' backsides as soon as he gets the feel of cold steel comfort in his hands.
Known Skills: - Has a "theoretical" degree in physics...meaning he took a correspondence course in physics once, skimmed the material, got bored, and never looked at it again. The textbook did come in handy to prop open that darn broken upstairs window, though. - Charisma. After all, he did get himself and his buddy Chester a cushy job as research scientists at this crazy lab when neither of them know jack shit about real science. - Resourcefulness. While he's not great at engineering, he often finds some way of solving problems when under pressure. Most of them involve violence and swearing, but hey what ever works. - Being a really sarcastic asshole
Name: Chester "Ches" Garrett
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Appearance: Chester is about 5'11" with an average build. Despite his age, he has a rather fleshy, youthful face with pronounced lips and hazel eyes. His brown hair is cut short in a buzz cut. Ches, unlike his buddy, legitimately loves his white lab coat, as he feels it gives him an air of intelligence and superiority. He usually wears grey or white shirts, tan or black slacks, and a black tie.
Weapons: Ches is currently carrying a small modified cigarette lighter of his own design that is somewhat of an idiot's Swiss Army knife. Besides the lighter that now shoots flame a little over two feet, the tool includes the ever-useful Spife (what he feels is one of the most useful inventions, despite Gerald's protests), a hairpin, some Duct Tape (that's always useful, right?), and several exploding caplets.
Known Skills: - Ches is known to tinker a bit and comes up with some stupid, often impractical creations. He likes to think of himself as a modern MacGyver. - Bickering with Gerald. - Coming up with idiotic insults. - Being cowardly and unobservant
