FAQ

[xenomods]

FAQ Main Community | Communications Community | OOC Community Premise | Rules | FAQ | Character Choices | Reserves | Applications | Taken | Hiatus | Drops Setting | Mechs | Upgrades | Merc Missions | Suggestions | Mod Contact General Do I need to know anything about Xenogear/Xenosaga/Xenoblade to play in this game? Not at all! This game is in the style of those works, but bears no direct connection to them. We have made every effort to present the information necessary to play on the information pages. What is the time ratio? Arbitrary. Generally it will proceed at 1:1, but we advise not letting the game time ratio get in the way of enjoying the game. It may also slow down for events or important occurrences. What language is spoken in the game? Understandablese. In all seriousness, Newase only has one language. Accents and regional expressions do exist, however. What are the most important points I should keep in mind for this game? Have fun with it. If it doesn't approach plot level? Write your own monsters, take on your own missions, make up some NPCs. Enjoy the setting. If it does reach plot level, submit it and we'll run with it. Physics isn't real. In the grand scheme of things, nothing happens without an ogre making it happen. On a daily basis this has no practical impact to your character... but without an ogre to make wind, there is no wind. Without an ogre to bring clouds, there are no clouds. Ogre are everywhere, even smaller than the eye can see, and the world is influenced by their presence. Heroic adventure. Willpower succeeds where strength fails. The darkest nights come before the brightest dawns. We'll beat them with the power of friendship. Characters and Applications Who may I app here? We do not allow AUs or CRAUs. Beyond that all characters are open in principle. However please read our Rules to understand what standards and principles are applied to applications of more unusual character types. What is your player limit? What is your character limit? 30 players who may app two characters each. We discuss our reasoning in the Rules. May I app a character who is dead? Only if that character explicitly still exists in some form in canon, such as a ghost, an afterlife, or similar. Otherwise you may app a character at their moment of death, in which case they will not have died for all intents and purposes. (We encourage you to consider apping such characters as Blade Eaters.) May I app a character from a recent canon or canon point? We ask that you wait a month for recent canons or canon points, in order to give others the opportunity to appreciate the work unspoiled. Are powers nerfed? How do powers work in this game? Your character's powers will become Arts and Specials, in a manner that depends on the choices you make for that character on apping. Humans, for example, have access to numerous arts and may set 8 at a time. Drivers have multiple arts spread across their Blades. Refer to the Application Guide for further details. Powers are flattened in Xenogame -- that is to say, every character's abilities are approximately equal. How do I make a setting AU character? Your character has basically grown-up in Newase instead of their home canon -- but aside from the inevitable logical differences that result, is otherwise much the same. Check our Application Guide for details. What does my character bring with them? Do they receive anything on arrival? Any items on their person comes with them. Non-Blades will wake up with a weapon (or Core Crystal if a Driver) and with a small sum of money to keep them fed and sheltered while they seek work. Their clothing may be of any design, including directly from canon, but will always be comfortable and resilient enough to adventure in. Blades will appear equipped to a Driver (or immediately have the opportunity to resonate with a Driver in-game), and able to summon their weapon. My character has unusual or special dietary, health, or survival needs; how should I handle this? We would suggest you consider a different race or subrace for your character as part of their becoming a Mirage. Uploads and Blades will not suffer from many conventional problems, while Blade Eaters may be that way to treat that specific condition. Do Blades enter the game with memory loss? If a PC Driver drops, will my Blade lose their memories? Blades enter the game with their full memories -- they essentially come pre-summoned. Therefore, they do not lose their old memories. Interestingly, their Driver will resonate with their Core Crystal as normal. There is probably plot significance in that. A Driver that drops does not count as dying, and that Driver's PC Blades will be immediately reassigned to another Driver (PC or NPC). Similarly, a PC Blade with an NPC Driver may request to be assigned to a PC Driver at any time without losing memories. All this may be waived by player choice. Ultimately, your Blade only loses memories if you desire them to. What happens if my character dies in-game? Characters in danger of their life are assumed to be rescued, managing to hold on long enough to be found and brought to safety. This calls back to the Xenoblade games, in which a defeat returns the party to the nearest checkpoint. Actual death is possible if you so desire that, but will interact directly with the metaplot; as such, any PC death should be treated as a plot suggestion and submitted to the Player Plots and Suggestions post for mod attention. Death is not without consequence, and plots such as these should not be undertaken lightly; no character will ever be rendered 'permanently dead' such that you could no longer play that character in-game, but they may change significantly. Communications What form does the communications network take? There is no one-size-fits-all communications network in this game. Characters may communicate with each other through many ways. The communications comm may be used for radio communications, letters and mail, postings on local bounty boards, Arts which allow for distant communications -- anything that does not directly involve a face-to-face talk. Characters wishing to reach a wide number of fellow Mirages may post on the Mirage Boards, gathering spots maintained at a large inn in each of the cities of Metta. This is purely written-on-paper posting, but offers opportunities for many people to see and write responses to the poster and each other. Terminology What are Arts? 'Arts' is the one-sized-fits-all system of special techniques, skills, abilities, spells, or powers more complex than 'hit with sword' or 'shoot with gun'. If your character is skilled at striking from behind, they might have a Back Slash Art as a Mirage. A wizard might have a Fireball art. Whatever your character could once do, they do it through Arts now. The number of Arts a character may possess and set are determined by choices made during the application -- see the Character Choices page. What functional change comes over a skill or technique when it becomes an Art? One major and distinct one: the only burden to using that Art is time. Arts, once used, must recharge. They do not cost an arbitrary resource like "MP" or "ki", or have a limitation per-day, or various other restraints that hold back techniques in other canons. What are Specials? Specials are the character's 'ultimate ability', one which strongly defines them and represents the pinnacle of their performance. The nature of a character's Special is determined by choices made during the application -- see the Character Choices page. Is it really important to track all of this? It's theme and style that count, not the nitty-gritty. Arts exist to enhance scenes, to add drama and power. Desperately holding off a powerful foe while your Special charges, realizing you should have swapped Two Strong Hits out for Five Weaker Hits, or trying to gain position on a monster so your Back Slash does greater damage are ways to spice up adventures (and thus, tags) and make for dramatic and dynamic clashes. No one will mind if your Drill Crush recharges in 2.47 seconds instead of 2.59; story, style, and fun should always supersede such concerns. code bases by tricklet

Comments

[weakahoshi]

Here comes the village idiot to ask several character specific questions!

So if I wanted to app this character as a Blade, would I need to find her someone to app as her Driver? Would she be randomly assigned a Driver character? Or would she have basically an NPC around her at all times? How autonomous are Blades?

Also if she were a blade, would she need to sleep or eat? Would she become invulnerable to certain types of damage?

And if I wanted to talk about potential Specials, the character creation thread in the tdm is the place to go, right? I have some ideas but idk if they're good ones.

Thanks in advance, mods!

[xenomods]

Given the intended small size of the game, I had no plans to set down any rules for Driver/Blade assignations. I am comfortable with random assignations, apping in as a pair or asking to take on an existing game member as a partner, or NPCing the other half of the pairing. Depending on potential applicants, this may be opened up for more discussion later.

Blades are entirely autonomous, except that they rely on their Driver's life for their own (barring Upgrade purchases). They can travel away from their Drivers and wield their own weapons if need be.

Blades do not need to eat or sleep but are perfectly capable of doing so, and may even feel obligated to depending on how close to human they are.

For character-specific questions, I do encourage the use of the TDM thread as you've suggested.

[violinsnbobbles]

A pair of questions regarding uploads!

Since Uploads can purchase upgrades, can they likewise receive appearance changes that might be simply cosmetic, such as the Upload gaining cat ears and tail (whenever if by their will or not)?

And I assume they are impervious to water damage?

[xenomods]

Uploads are welcome to start with minor cosmetic changes of this nature.

An Upload could voluntarily alter themselves in-game, but for various reasons could not find themselves suddenly altered cosmetically. Transformations of this nature are covered by the XP mechanic for plot purposes. However, that is an excellent idea for a universal XP expenditure, and I will add the ability to purchase physical upgrades that provide concrete benefits to the Upload upgrade paths.

Uploads are no more susceptible to water than a comparable human.

[violinsnbobbles]

Understood on both ends! Thank you so much!

[pellegri]

sorry if I missed this somewhere, but I poked around again to check, and didn't see it mentioned. I'm guessing since you can't app dead characters in, that death is permanent in game and there's not a built in resurrection system or something?

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

Hey, question about Blade paths. Can you only follow one, more than one, or is it more of suggestions?

[xenomods]

I am very sorry for the delay -- I did not receive a notification for this FAQ question. I will recheck my settings to verify that I should, in fact, be receiving them.

It is generally assumed that in any case where a character might die, they will be injured but rescued in some way. This loosely follows the stylistic conventions of the Xenoblade games, in which a party loss returns the party to a checkpoint.

Character death will be handled on a case-by-case basis, as it directly interacts with the metaplot of the game. To that end, planned character deaths should be submitted to the Player Plots and Suggestions post for mod attention and planning.

I will update the FAQ to include this.

[xenomods]

Speaking generally, the only limitation to Upgrade purchases is that you must go in order down a path. Beyond that, only those restrictions explicitly spelled out in the Upgrades apply. So you may purchase from as many paths as you want.

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

Sweet! Thank you for the information!