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.: FAQ :. |
Q: What universe does Deus Ex Machina take place in (616, Evo, Movieverse)?
A: The answer is somewhat confusing, as it is actually “all and yet none of the above.” DEM resembles all canon storylines, in that they all have the same starting-point premise of Charles Xavier’s dream, his school, his assembled team of heroes, and his archenemies, especially Magneto and the Brotherhood, and their own ambitions and goals. The departure of DEM from all of these universes is on a character level. Because we keep the story base so simplified that it never breaks down into 616, Evolution, or Movieverse, we are able to welcome characters that are either elementally structured along one universe, or a combination of them, or a total departure from them. It’s just one more way in which we can invite players to take full possession of their characters here, with limited restrictions on playing to canon expectations. It also leaves the door wide open for original characters and allows us to construct totally new storylines and new directions for our characters while still remaining true to the original concept.
Q: What time frame does this RPG use?
A: DEM is played without timkeeping on the threads. We have a very loose concept on how things are structured, and can slide the timing of things around as needed to create a coherent sequence of events. If you do have a thread that depends on ocurring after or before something else, just put it in your post somewhere. If we need to work out the timing of something, we'll talk about it as a group, and if we can't agree on a sequence, I'll make a decision.
Q: How can someone's character be in two places at once?/Can I start a new thread before I've finished the old?
A: We allow players to move on from a thread that's still in progress to play in other threads. Handle this carefully or we will not continue to do so. Make sure that you post in your threads that this scene happens after the original thread, and alert people so that they know what's going on. If this becomes too confusing and problems arise, we will discontinue this practice and you will only be able to have one thread at a time for your characters.
Q: Can I play any Marvel canon character?
A: No. Only X-Men. No Spider-Man, no Blade, no Hulk. Sorry.
Q: How close to canon do I have to play?
A: Like DEM itself, I expect the broad concept of your character to resemble the basic elements of your character in any canon incarnation. Rogue would be beautiful, spirited, powerful, untouchable, and somewhat mysterious, not exactly forthcoming about her past. The departure is in the details. A slightly goth Evo Rogue with a thing for Cyclops? A younger Rogue still feeling her way around her powers? A vaguely twisted Rogue who never quite escaped Mystique’s control? That’s up to you. As long as we can identify Rogue as Rogue by those essential markers, it’s okay. Don’t submit a Rogue who is stable, well-adjusted, quiet, submissive, and plain. That is not Rogue.
Q: What kinds of exceptions are acceptable with regards to the rule about using non-player characters in bios?
A: This is a very subjective thing. As an example of an exception, our Gambit has kept the details about the Morlock Massacre in his bio. For that, he had to use Sinister, even though Sinister was not being played at the time. My criteria for allowing this was that guilt over this incident is a strong component of the canon Gambit, that this plays to Sinister’s type and keeping this detail in canon would not seriously harm the concept of anyone who wished to play him, and that anyone playing Sinister in the foreseeable future would have to be working very close to me anyways, as I am tetchy about super-villains. That was definitely a special case. Another example, in an original character bio we recently took in, the character had dealings with Moira McTaggert. I don’t see anyone playing Moira anytime soon, and the involvement was close to type, so I went ahead and accepted it. In both cases, the players gave me a heads-up before they submitted the bio, which is the best way to deal with any departure from the bio guidelines.
Q: How do I show a canonical family relationship between my character and another?
A: A perfect example is Havok and Cyclops. Havok was not being played, but could have been in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, Cyclops mentioned his brother in his bio, and related some of their mutual past. Unfortunately, this is a case in which first come is first served, and because Cyclops picked his character first, he gets to decide a lot of the major details. When our Havok player picked him up, he had to take Cyclops's version of events. But since this was a case where someone else could be effected, I did not allow it to deviate significantly from the canonical version of events that orphaned Cyclops and Havok.
Q: Will someone come pick up my character if I drop her at the train station/airport/front gate of the mansion?
A: Not unless you are very lucky and someone is very bored. Don’t bring in any character, original or canon, if you don’t have a plan for their initial introduction to the game or their main storyline. Otherwise, you’re just going to end up plopping your character down somewhere in game and wondering why no one is playing with her. I wish that wasn’t the case. But 9 times out of 10, everyone will be busy with their own storylines, and the major storyline, and we just don’t have the time or the will to go pick up every mutant that happens to show up in New York, no matter how great your initial post is. Another problem with this is that every time we’ve been faced with someone who does this to their character, they tend to quickly lose interest in the game even after they’ve been brought in. It’s just that the kind of player who does that sort of thing isn’t the kind of player who will work well in DEM, and there’s no point in dragging ourselves away from the story to look after someone who isn’t going to hang around. Take yourself to the Storyline Planning forum first and try to work out a solution to get your character into the game, instead of just waiting for people to come to you in game. Bring ideas to the table. Don’t just ask people to volunteer to come get you.
Q: Who is Charles Xavier, and what’s this place all about?
A: Unless they were brought there unconscious and for some reason left unattended, no character should ever be wandering the halls without knowing anyone else there, wondering that. If you’re in the mansion, or for that matter with the Brotherhood, it’s alright to assume that you have a fundamental understanding of the place and what goes on there, and a basic grasp of who’s who. Xavier is active in his search for mutants in need, and for members of his team. He should have contacted the majority of people that show up on the doorstep in some form or fashion. Once contact has been established, Xavier would have explained the school (if not also the relationship of the school to the X-Men) to the person in question and any guardians charged with their care. Only then would the person be invited to stay at the mansion. The idea of just showing up with no knowledge of who owns the place or what it is (school for mutants) just isn't plausible.
Anything that saves us from pointless meet-and-greet posts is a good idea. They’re boring and they don’t move the story. Watching people introduce themselves or worse still being caught in one of those posts is like watching paint dry. There’s lots of mansion gossip, and it’s okay to assume you heard enough to at least have a meaningful conversation with someone else there. Also, Charles is not an NPC in this game. He's an active, dynamic character with his own problems and concerns, and it's unfair to demand his player deliver the same speech three hundred times to all the different mutants who walk through his doors. If that was what we wanted, we would've left him an NPC.
If you don't have a plan for your character, DO NOT BRING THEM IN.
Q: Roll the dice to see if I'm getting drunk!
A: I hate to break this to you, but the Mansion is a school. If you are a member of the X-Men or a student, you are not going to just find alcohol lying about. If you have a secret stash, that's fine if your character is over 21, but underage drinking would not be tolerated. The same goes for smoking. The school is not a smoke-free environment, though Xavier does strongly discourage smoking within the school walls. It's his house and he doesn't want any part of it to reek of Marlboro. The occasional cigar during poker night with the adults is excused.
Q: What do we do with character journals?
A: Character journals are for spillover ideas and thoughts that don’t work into the storyline, a good place to just fool around with your character for a bit, string together episodes of their lives, or update what they’re doing when they haven’t been doing much. Journals are written in first-person, and you can post to them as little or as often as you like.
Q: How often do I update my character bio?
A: As often as anything major or life-altering happens to the character. Did you join the X-Men? Great, change your bio. Fall in love? Change your bio. Suffer a major injury with lasting damage? Change your bio. I don’t mean every time the wind blows, just whenever anything happens that will affect someone’s interaction with your character. Let the people coming in know your character.
Q: Why was my username deleted without any explanation or warning?
A: Probably because you failed to post or even announce any intention to post a bio, and DEM has a no-lurker policy. Come back when you're really ready to play.
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