“The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky
"We're in the middle of a case... of scotch."
-Martin Riggs
"I promise you; whatever scum did this, not one man on this force will rest one minute until he's behind bars. Now, let's grab a bite to eat."
-Frank Drebin
Welcome to New Cottington PD, a crime drama where you get to write the life of a detective in the Serious Crimes Unit of the (seemingly) hopelessly corrupt New Cottington PD. You will be tasked with tracking down and bringing to justice a variety of strange and interesting gangsters and other criminals, a task which is made harder by the fact that half your fellow officers are on someone's payroll and the citizens don't trust you. Will you fall to corruption? Perhaps you go off the rails and become worse than the criminals? Or maybe you might try to be a light in the darkness who can bring some kind of order to the crime ridden city?
'New Cottington' is set in the fictional city of the same name that is more-or-less this universe's version of New York. Other than this one change you can assume that all technology etc. is more-or-less the same as it is today and other places still exist on the map. I have chosen to use a fictional city to allow a bit of creativity on my, and your part regarding places etc. Similarly, the NCPD is not a real police force with real procedures etc; this is a crime drama, not a police simulation so you do not need to go to police college to learn procedure before joining. Someone who I trust to remain active and not abandon the thread unexpectedly will be told their character is the 'Lead Detective' (yes I know that real police departments have grades etc.) though the Captain will be your 'quest giver'... and rip you a new one if you decide to shoot up the casino.
The tone of this RP will not be entirely serious at times. Expect outrageous villains who chew the scenery and big shoot outs, but also plenty of time to develop your character.
Finally, if the RP has started and you still feel like joining, that is fine, there is always room for a new rookie on the squad!
THE CASE
It's another cold, dark day in December. Snow is falling on the city. The Christmas lights up and the shop windows are lavishly decorated, glowing with the promise of festivities, luring you in to spend your hard-earned cash. You, however, are not going shopping. You have been called down to the river to take a look at the latest dead body that washed up. Throat cut, ear-to-ear, gall bladder surgically removed. Why? Nobody is quite sure, just that whomever did it knows how to handle a scalpel. It is also the third in as many weeks.
This one is different though. The first two were bums, but the latest victim is a mob enforcer - Frank 'the Lemon' Scavi. Nobody knows why he was called 'the Lemon'; it probably wasn't for selling lemonade. Either way, this one is going to be missed and people are finally starting to take an interest. Enough that they've called the Serious Crimes Unit in to investigate. You'll need to tread carefully. Scavi's boss, Tony Cardo has connections to the big players in the city who also have 'friends' in the Department. If you screw this one up you might end up igniting a gang war, or worse...
THE RULES
And while these seem totally self-explanatory, once in a while you get someone who really needs it spelled out:
- Decisions: My word and the word of anyone I appoint as a Co-OP is binding. If you don’t like a decision, you can, of course, ask for us to reconsider it. Once. If we made a decision you don’t like, complaining for pages and pages is not going to endear you to anyone. Not me, not the Co-OPs and not your fellow writers. On that note, I intend to run this thread as an anarcho-communist cooperative. This is an unnecessarily complicated way of saying that my word DOES NOT overrule theirs. If there is an appeal and a dispute amongst the Co-OPs we will take a vote on the matter.
- Post Quality: I don’t have a problem with short posts, I'd rather a short post than no post, but PLEASE use proper spelling (I don’t care what regional variant), grammar etc.
Ideally also try to include a 'hook' when you write a post, which is to say something that gives other people something to respond to. If your post is something along the lines of 'Bilbo Baggins stayed in his room and read a book while the world was ending', don't be surprised if nobody responds to you. - Posting Commitment: Nothing is worse than making an RP only for it to die. Please try to make at least one post every 48 hours or so. If you find yourself unable to post, please let me know in the OOC thread. If it looks like you've abandoned a character in the middle of a fight scene I might decide to kill them off if I'm feeling particularly malicious.
- Posting Speed: On the flip side, blitz posting can also be infuriating. So, especially during the important scenes, I recommend giving your fellow players a reasonable time to make a reply. We all have real lives. That being said, if someone leaves everyone waiting for over 48 hours, feel free to carry on the scene without them.
- OOC thread Manners: This rule can be summarised in four words 'Don't be a dick'. Nothing annoys me more than bad manners on an OOC thread. Swearing, passive-aggressive sniping or any other rude behaviour are not welcome on the OOC. I will warn you once. If you can’t control yourself I will ask you to remove yourself from the thread.
- IC thread Manners: Remember, we are writing a story together, not playing to win. You are all on the same side anyway. Sort of.
- Character Death: Player death is possible in this RP, though will be quite rare and easily avoidable. Please don’t write that you have killed another character unless you have OOC permission from the character's owner to do it. Beat them into a pulp or take them prisoner, but don’t kill them. Having said that, if someone does something really stupid, I reserve the right to announce your character has got themselves killed. Likewise, if someone goes inactive in the middle of a fight scene without explanation and cannot be raised, I may decide to kill their character off.
- Keep it PG13: Shouldn’t need to be telling you this really but keep the erotica and gorn off the thread. Hopefully you all know how to write forum-safe stuff. I will be extremely disappointed if the mods have to pay us a visit.
- Banning Players: I really don’t want to be doing that but reserve the right to do so if you cannot follow the (hopefully, rather simple) rules above.
CHARACTER APPLICATION
You will notice some things about this character application form aren’t normal.
First, I haven’t asked for equipment. It is assumed you can get what you need from the Police. Wouldn't be much of a Department if you had to supply your own gun and badge! There is a 'personal effects' section, but that is there for things to give your character a bit colour, not to list the contents of your pockets. You may put stuff there if you want, or not if you don't.
I also haven’t asked what your skills are. As I said previously, I’m assuming all characters are generally competent, however, what you’ve written in your background will determine whether I make things easier for you, or not, if you attempt something out of the ordinary.
Finally, there is no personality section. Your backstory should give a good idea of how your character is going to behave, but more importantly, I don’t want you to feel like your character is fixed. In a good RP, characters grow and develop over the course of the story and might end up being totally different from how they started.
All of this is intended to make it easier for you to write an app… while also allowing me to throw an occasional plot curve-ball your way!
When filling this out, delete the bits in parentheses - they are there to give you guidance.
- Code: Select all
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[size=150][b]Character Description[/b][/size]
[list][b]Name:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b] [spoiler](Feel free to describe with text or put pictures in here)[/spoiler]
[/list]
[b]Personal Effects[/b]: (Note: You are a detective. It is assumed you have a smart suit and, handcuffs, a badge, a Glock-19 etc, etc. etc. You do not need to list that stuff out. This is here for things that make your character unique. Maybe a gun you prefer using or a cool hat?)
[hr][/hr][size=150][b]Background:[/b][/size]
[b]Backstory[/b]:(How did you come to be here? Do you have a history before the police? Are you a fresh-faced newcomer or an old hand? NB. Since this is a stripped down app form I expect a decent backstory.)
[/list][/box]