WTPR

Probity

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Probity

Mr. Tim Biddle, 38

Loyal Newsman

_{Tim is the newscaster of the Weather, Tunes, and Protestant Radio broadcast. It has been his sole profession and hobby for the latter half of Tim's life, and it is something he takes very seriously. He seldom attends events in town due to the time constraints of WTPR taking place from 6AM to 8PM, though he sends his young son Pat in his place as a de facto reporter. Aside from his passion for radio, Tim has a passion for culinary arts, inherited by a hotel chef father and a nervous-eating mother. He has a wide array of spices in his strangely fertile backyard, and a longstanding friendly relationship with the local butcher. Though Tim is a respected member of the community, much like his show, Tim is a very forgettable, love-or-hate kind of person. The biggest reason for this, aside from the nosiness of his investigative son, is the massive, ugly radio tower he was paid by the Federal Communications Commission to place on his property.}

Envious Loser

_{Tim is a very nice guy, and this is perhaps his biggest flaw. He is an introvert who has built a life around comfortable isolation in a broadcasting room, who comes home in time to get to bed early for the next day's broadcast, taking only Sundays off to spend time with his wife and son. Even then, this relationship is strongly strained -- His wife, who he married when the two were chubby nerds in high school -- has blossomed into a beautiful woman, where Tim has only grown softer and squishier. Furthermore, Tim has strong suspicions that his wife may be cheating on him, and though he has no solid evidence, it is an insecurity that pervades his subconscious as a quiet, gnawing fear. He distracts himself from this fear by putting himself into his radio show, which only holds a meager viewership advantage over the town's competitor with child audiences, something Tim is painfully aware of.}

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Tammy Biddle - Wife

_{Tamora Biddle met her husband at her high school science fair. He was the first boy to ever pay attention to her, the only boy to ask her to the school prom, and within a year, the first and only boy to ask her to marry him. Having grown up teased for her glasses, weight, and red hair, she was instantly smitten by Tim's humble but loving personality, and their first years were genuinely happy. Gradually, this changed. Tamora gradually started going by Tammy. Her chunky glasses were replaced by newfangled contact lenses, while Tim's eyesight eventually caused him to don his first pair of glasses. Tammy learned to perm her red hair. Tim grew a bald spot on the back of his head. Tammy wore a corset for years, and became a weekly spectacle of grace at church. Tim gained fourty pounds stress-eating over it.}

Patrick Biddle - Son

_{Pat is Tim's high-pitched, effeminate son who works as a reporter for his father's radio show. Although he has very little interest in being a reporter, it allows him to work on one of his biggest passion; Playing pretend. As Journalist Pat Piddle, an alter-ego he chose for its snappy alliteration, Pat's high-pitched voice becomes that of a high-pitched gumshoe. Aside from his love for doing voices and wearing costumes, Pat is an unexceptionally soft boy who buys dolls with his allowance to dress and groom them, before hiding them under his bed.}

Probity

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_{Welcome to Probity! As of the current year, this sleepy West Virginia town has a tight-knit community of nearly three thousand happy, healthy, God-fearing neighbors. It is a town where every elder is respected, every wife is starry-eyed and obedient, and every husband can take a load off at the bar after a hard day's work. A town where picket fences are all painted white, where pies are all apple, and all atop a backdrop of a purple mountain's majesty and amber waves of grain. A town where traditional American values are not forgotten. All that's missing from it is you!}

Inspiration

Moral Orel

Moral Orel is this roleplay's greatest inspiration, about the lives of devoutly Christians citizens in a fictional town called Moralton. Despite the fact that the first season is gross-out humor focusing on the titular Orel Puppington, I encourage you all to check out a few episodes, particularly Season 3, Episode 4. It's approximately ten minutes long, features a Christian radio broadcast, sets a similarly dark, realistic tone, and follows the lives of multiple citizens in the way I hope our roleplay will turn out. It's the episode that got the series cancelled, so if it makes you want to hang yourself, check this one out too. It features elder abuse, senility, jokes about punching animals to death, and a character who is unable to have children. It is also the happiest episode in the series.

Welcome to Night Vale

Welcome to Night Vale is another big inspiration in play, about a public radio broadcast in a supernatural town. Though Probity is not supernatural, the radio broadcast posts made by myself and the Co-Gm will be similarly personal to individual members of the town. This is to reinforce the idea that every player character knows each other in this small town, and that everybody listens to the broadcasts, making the information in them known to any character. If there's a resounding interest in it, I'll fully transcribe the radio posts to audio, but for now I'll just let you guys learn as much about WTNV as you darn well please. Also, like Moral Orel (and WTPR) it's got a killer soundtrack.

Honorable Mentions

There are a ton of minor thematic inspirations, but none as big as the first two. The Stepford Wives, for example, is a good idea of the caricature of WASP culture in Probity. Suburbicon and Edward Scissorhands have both provided suitable unsettling suburban backdrops, and Pleasantville is similarly tongue-in-cheek about the timeframe it draws inspiration from. Last but not least is Betty Bowers, who tells the same "Don't be a bigot" message as Probity in a slightly more hamhanded manner. Give them all a quick look-over if you've got the time, which you probably do if you've read this far.

Themes

Every good story has motifs that tie characters together. Most play-by-post stories don't have motifs that tie characters together, but then, most play-by-post stories aren't objectively good. They're fun to write. My goal is a story that is both fun to write and fun to read, and that requires a little bit of effort from both of us to follow the strict guidelines imposed by the world, and the loose guidelines imposed by the themes.

Faith/Religion
I'd like to get this section out of the way first, so people don't mistake this RP for a scathing criticism of religion; It's not. It's a story that praises religion, at its very essence, and criticizes humanity. Religion is a very prevalent theme within the roleplay, but more specifically, religious ignorance. Every character who identifies as a Christian does so in a way that benefits them, and distorts religion to embellish what they like and omit what they don't. The Sheriff focuses on the punitive aspects of religion, PBNN's radio host conveniently ignores parts of the bible warning against slander, and so on. It should become very apparent very quickly that nearly everyone in Probity is going to hell, and those who aren't are probably the ones who are being told they are.

Love
I know what you're thinking. This roleplay is set in a crapsack world, so we're going to drive home that love is an instinctual drive to breed, right? Wrong, dear reader. I would like to reinforce that love, much like religion, is purely good. Notice that word purely? Hold onto it, it'll become important. The issue apparent in Probity is that love is a little different to everyone. To some residents of the town, it means forgiving your husband after he beats you. For others, it means devotion to peering into the same bathroom window for years at a time. Everyone in Probity eats, prays, and loves, but their personal convictions pervert and tarnish their love in the same way that it taints their faith.

Purity
Remember when I told you to hold onto that purity? Now it's time to cash it in. Purity is a prevalent theme in Probity, from the all-white fences to the all-white church to the all-white neighborhood. People listen to music based on how "pure" the DJ says it is, and every wife in the neighborhood seems to compete with the other over how clean their kitchen is. The purity of Probity's citizens is only skin-deep, like a freshly whitewashed veneer over a visibly dilapidated crackhouse. The example I used is funny because in that situation, there's not an entire town of people claiming that the crackhouse is the best house on the block.

Corruption
Corruption is arguably the biggest theme in Probity, so I'm sticking the secret phrase necessary for the character sheet here; Turkey Sandwich. Glad we got that out of the way. Corruption is the reason nobody in Probity's prayers are answered, and the reason nobody in Probity is in a happy marriage. The thesis statement for this roleplay is essentially "Love and Religion are great, conceptually, but our collective cognitive dissonance makes almost everybody too corrupt to properly embrace either without misunderstanding or misconstruing them." Villains don't think they're heroes because they're willfully blind, they think they're heroes because they have corrupted senses of right and wrong tailored to their needs.

Character Sheet

Mr./Mrs. Firstname Middleinitial Surname, Age.

_{Nobody in Probity has a surname that is hyphenated, meaningful, or more ethnically identifiable than Anglo-Saxon. The only women unmarried past their mid 20's are considered either spinsters or whores, and the unmarried men of the same age are unanimously thought to be gay. If you are okay with being dysfunctionally married off to another character, italicize your name and age. Otherwise, make an NPC spouse or expect to be shamed for your abnormality.}

Goodadjective Profession

_{This is where you put your character's surface level traits -- Their profession, affectations, habits, quirks, hobbies, likes, dislikes, and general demeanor. This is only what your character will develop from, but I would still like to see reasonably three dimensional, realistic characters.
This is a Slice-Of-Life, so compelling characters are pretty much the biggest requirement.}

Badadjective Insult

_{This is where you either tell us about your character's secret or their worst traits, which they hide from society. Given that this world is painted in shades of gray instead of black and white, don't be afraid to make characters realistically flawed as they are realistically virtuous.}

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Family Member 1 - Relation

_{Describe your character's relationship with the person they are closest to, which is usually a parent or spouse. Repeat family relationships in descending order of closeness.}

Rules

1. Thou shalt not be impolite to each other. Not even jokingly. People don't know how to take jokes anymore, so just be nice.
2. Thou shalt not powerplay or _gasp_ God-mod. Interaction is encouraged, but don't break up scenes to walk into them.
3. Thou shalt take up issues with the GMs in private messages instead of flaming each other.
4. Thou shalt let the GMs know if you're gonna be missing for more than three days.
5. Thou shalt strive to write a well-developed character and a well-developed story we can all collectively feel proud of.

Hogwarts: Before the War

Very interesting premise!

Sum up your week in roleplaying in just 3 words

Nice meeting ya'll!

Does this count as godmodding or not?

If you are willing to give her take liberties such as a cooldown period for reincarnation and being "almost as strong" as Lucifer, a broad statement, why not take liberties other players would feel more comfortable interacting with your character with, like "can only be killed by a certain item" or "gets sent to hell if she's killed and has to make the arduous journey back to Earth"?

Music Appreciation Thread

Good stuff!

Ban the Person above you

Banned for not listening to WTPR's daily broadcast, Probity's rockingest rock station!

Men vs. Women Race to 1000

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