The Clockwork Games (Modern Fantasy, Action) OOC OPEN

[Atlannia]

IC

...Is fate like a clock? With each cog engineered for a specific role and predestined to fulfil only that role for the entirety of its existence, spinning in place and unaware of its purpose in the greater scheme of things? If fate is like a clock could one piece in such a vast and complex system somehow alter its position in even the tiniest of ways? Bend itself just a little out of shape or pull itself just away from its groove or off its hinge, loosen the smallest of screws just a little. If it could, what would the consequences be? For if each piece has a specific role to play and is connected to every other piece then even the slightest change could have far reaching effects that even those who observe the clock from the outside and comprehend the system in its entirety might find impossible to predict.
Whether you realise it or not, whether you will it or not, your life and your destiny has just been bet on the outcome of this strange thought experiment. You see you have died, at the exact place and time allotted to you by destiny. However despite dying you seem, to your own eyes to be very much alive and what’s more you have been granted strange powers and a mysterious clock hand. You are now a participant in the Clockwork Games and if you survive the next twelve days, if your will to live is strong enough, you may just be able to change your fate...


Your eyelids flutter open, still a little hazy you pick yourself off the ground. It at this point that you notice the beautiful blonde woman staring at you. Despite her beauty there is a faint otherworldliness to her features that you can’t quite pin down and the expression of concern she regards you with is oddly detached, as though you are a troubling news report rather than an obviously injured fellow human being.
“I was unable to prevent it, perhaps it was fated after all,” she murmurs. She is looking at you but you sense that she is not talking to you. “Still although the die has been cast it is still rolling for now, the outcome is not yet certain.” she kneels down next you and takes your limp hand in hers. “You will no doubt have many questions,” she says to you, her expression remaining distant. “None of which I can answer just yet, I can give you some information and some advice however. Firstly, you no doubt remember dying. That was not your imagination, or a dream or a hallucination. You are dead. You are also now a participant in the Clockwork games.”

Suddenly you feel something cold and pointy pressing into the palm of your hand. Looking down you realise the woman has presented you with a strange, ornately wrought metal item that looks like nothing so much as a clock hand.
“This hand is the proof of your entry, it is a physical manifestation of your will to live, each participant has one and if you can collect twelve before the games end in twelve days then your death will be undone and you will be free to continue your life. If this hand is taken from you by another contestant before then however you will die. To aid you in the coming trials you have been given power normally beyond the reach of mortals, the hand you now possess is the key to unlocking that power however you must discover for yourself how to wield it effectively.”

The woman breaks off suddenly and looks around as though searching for the source of some anomalous sound that you are unable to perceive.
“I have little time, there are others I must inform. I will give you one last piece of information and your advice and then depart. First of all this is not a fair game, the deck is stacked against you. Of the one hundred and forty four participants in these Clockwork Games exactly one hundred are confederates, allies joined by a nefarious cause. They will target you before each other for simply by being caught up in these events you have interfered with their plans. If you wish to survive I suggest you go to the abandoned theatre before dawn, I will be instructing the remaining forty three participants to make their way there, if all goes well you will be able to find allies there.”

The woman stands up elegantly and straightens her short, white dress. “That is all, I will be going now. I would wish you good luck but really, your fortune is in your own hands now,” she says, meaningfully looking at the shining clock hand you are holding onto. You look down as well and realise that the craftsmanship of this strange item is quite impressive, although you have never seen a clock hand that looked quite like this before. You feel a soft breeze and when you look up the strange blonde woman is gone. You stand up a little unsteadily and dust yourself off, wondering what to make of these strange events and how exactly to proceed.

• You Died. Sorry buddy. But hey on the bright side you're not completely dead, yet. A strange blonde woman has appeared, given you a weird looking clock hand and told you that you are a participant in the clockwork games. If you can gather eleven more clock hands like the one you have now from the one hundred and forty three other participants in the next twelve days you will be restored to life. If you don't manage that or you lose the clock hand you started with than you stay dead. Again, sorry.
  
• You have a super power! It's not too impressive just yet but you'll have ample opportunity to get the hang of it and upgrade it as time goes on. It's unique to you and seems to be tied to the weird clock hand in your possession.
  
• 100 of the 144 participants in the Clockwork Games are members of a shadowy organisation who seem to know a lot more about what's going on then you. These 100 people will be working together to hunt down the remaining forty four participants, including you! Uh oh!
  
• Your first port of call should probably be the theatre, there'll be a bit of a meet and greet and you'll find out a bit more about what's going on.

---

Visitor's Information Centre

Welcome to Sunset Gates!

"It is, in every sense of the word an average city. It is of average size and population density and neither a surprising number of, nor significant deficit of notable landmarks. In terms of historic incidents there were two large fires, one 47 years ago and one 156 years ago, both resulting in significant death tolls as employees appeared to have been trapped in the Welkynde building where the fire began. Sunset Gate's baseball team, the Sunset Angels, is currently ranked fifth in their regional league, which they have won three times, the seventh most out of the thirteen teams that participate. The city council has just this year earmarked a not insignificant sum for the improvement of the main street, which the residents hope will attract more small businesses. The city has perhaps slightly more cafes than one might expect for a city of its size, although it has only one really good Italian restaurant and its three Chinese restaurants are all mediocre at best.”
-A happy citizen-

Districts
Sunset Gates is divided into to four large districts, each with its own unique charms and facilities.

• Shining Hearts Park. An amalgamation of most of Sunset Gates suburbs and development projects, Shining hearts is a residential area that houses over 70% of the city's population. To support the families that live there Shining Hearts is home to two high schools, The well regarded but affordable J.R Valinwood High, named for the city's third mayor and the oldest school in the city. On the western side of the park is Western District High, an underfunded public school that houses lower income students and often accepts expellees from the other two schools, its students are frequently regarded as delinquents by the more conservative bodies of the populace.
  
  
• The business district. The bustling, beating heart of Sunset Gates, The business district plays host to several important company buildings, including the headquarters of the Welkynde group, the city's tallest building. The business district is also home to Main Street, a charming road that runs along the river and houses many delightful restaurants, cafes and specialist retailers. Whether its a shopping spree, a night out on the town, or just a bit of people watching and gossip, Main street is the place to be! The Grand Civic Theatre is also in the business district. Although no longer operational the theatre has been protected from redevelopment by its heritage listing and local pressure groups and remains an impressive example of art deco architecture.
  
  
• Arlington The second of the city's residential areas, Arlington is more upmarket, featuring plenty of beautiful riverside houses and several gated communities. It also plays host to the Welkynde manor, the celebrated private residence of Sunset Gates' wealthiest family. The manor is a draw for architecture enthusiasts and pictures can be taken from the entrance. Visitors are strongly urged not to enter the estate itself however as the Welkynde family do not habitually host guests. The city's only private school. the prestigious and highly ranked Werthords Academy, is located in the center or Arlignton. Originally an all-boys school, the academy became co-ed only 32 years ago, it enjoys a proud tradition of success in academic, athletic and extra carricular pursuits.
  
  
• The industrial zone Although now in decline, Sunset Gates once maintained a thriving manufacturing industry. Much of the city's industry has shut down or moved to cheaper locales however the zone is still host to a few small factories and a state of the art power plant, jointly owned by the state government and the Welkynde group. As large sections of the industrial zone are abandoned and in disrepair rumours abound that local hoodlums use it as a makeshift training ground, honing their combat skills for inevitable skirmishes with other gangs.

Transportation

Most citizens and visitors opt to take advantage of the well-developed road network and get about Sunset Gates by car. However an able bus network also serves the city, buses can be taken to and from most places in the city from 7:00 am up until 9:00pm. Taxis are also available at all hours from the Sunset Taxi Company and boating up and down the river remains a popular leisure activity.

TBA

---

Sunset Gates City Hall

Good afternoon Citizen! This is Linda Canewood Calling from the municipal records department, a recent break-in here has resulted in the destruction of a great many files, although rest assured no personal information has been compromised. In order to aid us in restoring our records to completion we ask that you fill out a short form which will be mailed to your place of residence within two to three business days. Thank you and have another lovely day in Sunset Gates!
-Message left on your phone a few days ago-

• Your Character is a ghost, or pretty close to one. Ordinary people can't see or hear you, additionally you can't touch them or affect them in any way. You can however interact normally with inanimate objects. Note this means that you can pick up or move things and ordinary people will see that, they'll just think the thing is moving on its own.
  
  
• Everything you had on your person when you died, clothes, wallet, backpack, contents of it, functions according to the same rules as you do, invisible to most people but can interact with inanimate objects. You will also be able to confer the same status on inanimate objects by touching them with your clock hand and concentrating. However that process is extremly draining and can take quite some time depending on the size of the object so I don't recommend doing it too often.
  
  
• the time you'll all be dying at will be 7:32pm. You may want to factor that in when deciding how your character dies as well as where they are when they die.
  
  
• Your stats are more guidelines than hard rules. I'll trust you to keep them in mind when planning what your character does and how much trouble they have doing it but I won't be rolling dice for you or anything. If I feel like your consistently fudging the boundaries of what your character should be capable of or blatantly ignoring their stats (A character with 2 strength breaking down a heavy locked door with a kick or a character with low intelligence instantly reading an enemy’s intentions or coming up with a brilliant plan I'll let you know and probably ask that you make a revision.
  
  
• This is an 'ordinary people in a very unordinary situation' deal, no special forces veterans or government assassins please.
  
  
• Some notes on your first posts: So your initial posts should probably be about your characters gathering their thoughts, taking in their surroundings and making their way to the theatre. You may and in fact I encourage you to flashback to their deaths if you want. If you want to meet up with other players along the way you can, take a look at the most recent map and see who's near to you and then work things out OOCly.
  PLEASE DO NOT have your character make it all the way to the theatre in your first post. There will be some... diversions along the way.
  A couple of people have asked about their bodies. Yes you can take a look at them if they haven't been moved or annihilated or anything. Actually if anyone's messing around with your body you can stand there and watch them for a bit if you like.
  
  
• Errm, I can't think of anything else, if I do I'll inform you in the thread and add it here.

• The usual OP is god stuff, votive offerings should be burned in a bronze brazier whilst chanting my name backwards. Do thusly and I shall curse thine enemies and ensure your harvest are bountiful.
  
  
• Play nicely with each other. Try to be civil and communicate with each other, especially if you’re going to post something that will affect other people’s characters. If you have any questions, ask. You can TG me if you want but consider posting your questions in the OOC since other people might be wondering the same thing, my actions frequently confuse multiple people at the same time.
  
  
• If you have ideas, especially for your own characters. Let me know. Want a figure from your mysterious past come back to haunt your character? Want them to face a heart wrenching moral quandary that will leave them forever scarred? Want an opportunity to show off their wicked sousaphone skills? I’ll try and work personal arcs and moments in where I can. Although I can’t promise everything will fit with what I have planned you lose nothing by asking.
  
  
• Have fun! or perish in eternal hellfire!

Code: Select all

[b][u]Application[/u][/b](delete everything in brackets)
[i]profile[/i]
[b]name:[/b]
[b]age:[/b](14 or above)
[b]gender:[/b]
[b]appearance:[/b] (You can use a picture from somewhere or describe them, whichever you prefer. Please ensure written descriptions are reasonably detailed.)
[b]Power:[/b](Your unique power and your primary method of defending yourself and defeating enemies. Although it will start quite weak you will have ample opportunity to upgrade it as the rp progresses. Ideally your power should reflect some aspect of your character and have room for several interesting upgrades.)
[b]Clock Hand's appearance:[/b] The clock hand each person starts with is unique to them. If you actually find a picture of one you want to use your more than welcome but otherwise a few brief dot points noting its unique features, for example colour, symbols, general shape and other decorative features will be more than sufficient.

[i]attributes[/i] (You start with 2 points in each stat and an additional 15 points to distribute as you see fit. The upper limit for any one stat will be eight however npcs may have stats up to 10. Players may encounter opportunities to boost their stats later down the track.)
[b]Strength:[/b] (Good for carrying things, breaking things, punching people and being punched. If your power involves hand to hand combat then this will be an important stat. A 2 in strength is equivalent to a sickly twelve year old and a ten is one of those people pulls tractors with their beard hair.)
[b]Agility:[/b] (Determines running speed and distance as well as reflexes and speed in combat, again fairly important for close quarters combat and dodging incoming fire. Outside of combat its good climbing, jumping and similar athletic feats. A 2 is the slowest kid in P.E at a school where the cafeteria serves everything deep fried. A 10 is an Olympic level runner.)
[b]Dexterity:[/b] (Good for anything that involves working with one’s hands with precision and care. In combat it mainly determines accuracy for ranged combat. Outside of combat it has a wide variety of uses, from threading needles and fishing baby ducks out of storm drains to picking locks and playing with explosives. A 2 is an average person with thick woollen gloves a size too large for them permanently attached to their hands. A 10 is a master watchmaker.)
[b]Willpower:[/b] (Good for being a shonen protagonist. Willpower is necessary to actually use your powers and functions a bit like mana, it also governs your resistance to attacks that don’t classify as strictly physical. Outside of combat it grants a slight bonus to most tasks that represents the benefits of sheer bloody mindedness. 2 is that guy who has “tonnes of great ideas for a novel” but has never written more than a page. 10 is…well a shonen protagonist.)
[b]Intelligence:[/b] (Good for being a shonen protagonist’s best friend or rival. Intelligence doesn’t necessarily affect combat but you should keep it in mind while planning your character's actions, if you put all our points into strength than no coming up with masterful ruses or employing devastating guerrilla tactics. 2 is a fairly dull eight year old. 10 is one of those movie scientists who is somehow an expert in at least twelve different fields as the plot demands.)
 
[i]background[/i]
[b]personal history:[/b] (a little bit about you're character's history, How they ended up in Sunset Gates and what they think of the city would be nice additions.)
[b]personality:[/b] (should be fairly self-explanatory)
[b]theme song:[/b] (strictly optional, note that those who do not select a theme song will be secretly assigned a random track from spotify's 'Hits of the 80's playlist.)
[b]RP example[/b] (Post to an RP you've been involved with before, if you have nothing you want to link to then just write something, if you have no idea what to write about make it about dragons. If I've RP'ed with you before you can probably skip this.)

Registry of Citizens
Plzen / Jan Pavel Syrovy
Shyluz / Elaine 'En' Deedrick
Castle Crashers / Alexander Parker
Zarkenis Ultima / Arthur Blood
Charlia / Charlotte Noble
Italios / Ella Magellan
Saleon / Victoria Malange
Cruxa / Will Arkham
Videssos / Kaari Järveläinen
The Templar High Council / Chase Harwick
Equalsun Empire / Navita Vielia
Tracian Empire / Julius Frederich von Meisner
Land of the Risen / Dan Green

• Raised total number of free stat points from five to fifteen. Raised stat cap from seven to eight.
• Added a brief description of Werthord's academy to the Arlington section of the 'the city at a glance' tab.
• Added exact time of death for all characters (7:32 p.m) and a note regarding interacting with inanimate objects to the "misc info." tab
• Established IC, added link in the OP
• Added some notes on the parameters for first IC posts.
• updated map to include extra locations/landmarks.

[Atlannia]

-reserved-

[Apple-Loosa]

Tagged.

[Shyluz]

Consider this a first app, as well as a tag.

Application(delete everything in brackets)
Profile
Name: Elaine 'En' Deedrick
Age: 14
Gender: Female
Appearance: Clicky
Power: Mass Transformation -- That's just the overarching ability, to be more precise, she can simply will matter to change into a small knife. As for upgrades, I imagine later on she can support more than one, and possibly propel them through the air.
Clock Hand's Appearance: Clicky

Attributes

Strength: 2
Agility: 4
Dexterity: 4
Willpower: 2
Intelligence: 3

Background

Personal History: WIP, sorry, I has an appointment. I can give you this - Likes the city, arson, and a derailed train.
Personality: Quirky, overly logical, and only slightly moe.
Theme Song: Clicky
RP Example FR&R Invited

[Atlannia]

wow you actually found a clock hand. Nice to see you.

[The Templar High Council]

Can't be bothered to read OP on my phone.

But yes.

[Atlannia]

Well at least you can admire the pretty banner.

I'll be catching some shut eye the next few hours, I'll be back on later though.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

I'm here. -nods-

Also, I love how it says "If you don't know what to make your sample about, make it about dragons."

[The Burning Sun]

You called, and I hath come.

Prepare to be cheesed.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

If the text explaining the stat point equivalences is for real, then we're all pretty pathetic.

I shall have to justify this to make it less obvious. -nods-

[Videssos]

Yay, another new interesting RP just before I'm away for a week.

[The Templar High Council]

If the text explaining the stat point equivalences is for real, then we're all pretty pathetic.

Yeah, for real. I think we may need a slight buff to the number we can add, but limit it per stat at this point. Like maybe bumping it from 5 to 10-12, but saying we can't put more than 5 into one stat.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

If the text explaining the stat point equivalences is for real, then we're all pretty pathetic.

Yeah, for real. I think we may need a slight buff to the number we can add, but limit it per stat at this point. Like maybe bumping it from 5 to 10-12, but saying we can't put more than 5 into one stat.

12 isn't a good number, you get to max 4 things.

If you wanna cap it at 5 I'd say 8 isn't a good number.

But anyway, I'd rather suggest making it so that not adding points in intelligence won't immediately make you a 8-year-old mentally. That's my main problem with it, to be honest. This kind of thing is why I don't exactly like intelligence in stats.

So yeah, my opinion is that the starting point (so, 2 points in I guess) should be an average rather than negative.

[Buildingsbio]

Buildingsbio is searching a RP place to be lived Buildingsbio also like to make A RP so if you can accept it I'm ready

[Saleon]

teeg

[Indo-pasif archipelago]

This is not a tag, this is a placeholder for an app.

[Atlannia]

Revealuating what I roginally put down I'm inclined to agree with you guys, the numbers you have to play around with are pretty low. THis mostly due to that fact that I was messing with it a lot and didn't really give it a final once over before I uploaded everything.

I'm bumping the number of stat points you guys have to distribute to 15 meaning you can put 3 in every stat for an even five across the board. The new max cap for any one attribute will be 8 and the minimum for any one stat will remain two.

But anyway, I'd rather suggest making it so that not adding points in intelligence won't immediately make you a 8-year-old mentally. That's my main problem with it, to be honest. This kind of thing is why I don't exactly like intelligence in stats.

So yeah, my opinion is that the starting point (so, 2 points in I guess) should be an average rather than negative.

I sort of see where you're coming from I like having an intelligence stat personally because I feel like it's an easy way for people to get into character. WIth the increase in stat points it's now a lot less punishing to bring your character up to an average score of five and the other thing I'll say I'll allow people to be fairly creative in terms of what a low or high intelligence score actually means. It may be a character who knows a lot about one highly specialised area and has very little general knowledge and practical skills. It might be someone who is poorly educated or someone who is of average intellignece but tends to panic and make bad decisions in the heat of the moment. IT could be someone whose persona history gives them a highly warped view of the world that causes them to make bad decisions. It doesn't have to be tied to an IQ score or anythin is what I'm doing.

Thanks for the feed back guys, please continue to bring up any issues as you experience them.

Apologies to Shyluz who will have toredo their stats when they finish off their app.

Hello to all new Taggers! I hope to see an app from all of you at some point.

And lastly:

Buildingsbio is searching a RP place to be lived Buildingsbio also like to make A RP so if you can accept it I'm ready

I...um... I beg your pardon?

[Zarkenis Ultima]

I sort of see where you're coming from I like having an intelligence stat personally because I feel like it's an easy way for people to get into character. WIth the increase in stat points it's now a lot less punishing to bring your character up to an average score of five and the other thing I'll say I'll allow people to be fairly creative in terms of what a low or high intelligence score actually means. It may be a character who knows a lot about one highly specialised area and has very little general knowledge and practical skills. It might be someone who is poorly educated or someone who is of average intellignece but tends to panic and make bad decisions in the heat of the moment. IT could be someone whose persona history gives them a highly warped view of the world that causes them to make bad decisions. It doesn't have to be tied to an IQ score or anythin is what I'm doing.

Alrighty then. I still don't like Int but, this is much better.

So an average human stat would be five, then?

[Atlannia]

yup

[Zarkenis Ultima]

yup

Alright.

One thing I noticed: you never really say anything about Werthords Academy or the Civic Theatre.

[Atlannia]

There is a brief sentence about the theatre under the 'city at a glance' tab, that notes that the theatre is no longer operational but has been protected from redevelopment or demolition by its heritage listing and local pressure groups because it looks nice. The theatre will be serving as something like a base of operations for you guys so it'll be described in more detail furhter down the track. There should be a similar note for the academy in the same spot. There isn't because I forgot to write it somehow, it will be added shortly.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

There is a brief sentence about the theatre under the 'city at a glance' tab, that notes that the theatre is no longer operational but has been protected from redevelopment or demolition by its heritage listing and local pressure groups because it looks nice. The theatre will be serving as something like a base of operations for you guys so it'll be described in more detail furhter down the track. There should be a similar note for the academy in the same spot. There isn't because I forgot to write it somehow, it will be added shortly.

Oh, oh what. I completely missed the theatre bit. >.>

Anyway, last few questions for now: if the character had some sort of disability, does it remain with them after death?

How far does the semi-intangibility extend? I understand that the ghosts can phase through humans normally but otherwise are completely tangible. Wouldn't that mean that going out clothed would be a really bad idea because normal people would see a bunch of floating clothes? My take on this is that the intangibility should extend to worn/handheld items but not stuff like doors or public telephones, though of course you may want to differ here.

[The Burning Sun]

Buildingsbio is searching a RP place to be lived Buildingsbio also like to make A RP so if you can accept it I'm ready

Is this guy trolling or what?

[Castle Crashers]

Possible tag.

[Atlannia]

There is a brief sentence about the theatre under the 'city at a glance' tab, that notes that the theatre is no longer operational but has been protected from redevelopment or demolition by its heritage listing and local pressure groups because it looks nice. The theatre will be serving as something like a base of operations for you guys so it'll be described in more detail furhter down the track. There should be a similar note for the academy in the same spot. There isn't because I forgot to write it somehow, it will be added shortly.

Oh, oh what. I completely missed the theatre bit. >.>

Anyway, last few questions for now: if the character had some sort of disability, does it remain with them after death?

How far does the semi-intangibility extend? I understand that the ghosts can phase through humans normally but otherwise are completely tangible. Wouldn't that mean that going out clothed would be a really bad idea because normal people would see a bunch of floating clothes? My take on this is that the intangibility should extend to worn/handheld items but not stuff like doors or public telephones, though of course you may want to differ here.

Yes, they'll physically be identical to however they were the moment before whatever kills them happens to them. So if you get stabbed to death or something then you'll be identical in every way to the instant before the knife touches you. It's a little bit more complicated if whatever is killing you is a long term process, a terminal illness or maybe a slow acting poison. In that circumstance the games will wind you back physically up to a maximun of twelve days, enough time to complete the games. This would make playing someone in that situation a unique challenge and also comes with an interesting moral dilemma to consider at a later stage.

I had to really think through this one, it turned out to be mroe complicated than I had thought. The short answer is that everything you had on your person when you died, clothes, wallet, backpack, contents of it, functions according to the same rules as you do, invisible to most people but can interact with inanimate objects, if you take off your shoe and throw it at someone it'll go through them, but knock over the glass of water behind them. You'll also be able to confer the same status on inanimate objects by touching them with your clock hand and concentrating. However that process is extremly draining and can take quite some time depending on the size of the object so I don't recommend doing it to often.