wildermods | GAME MECHANICS

GAME MECHANICS

COMMUNITIES

wilderlands: is the game's magical mirror network, used for communication between characters.

wilderlogs: is where the game's main quest logs will be posted.

thebrugh: is where logs set in the Brugh will be posted.

wilderooc: is the comm for ooc communication.

wildermemes: is the game's meme comm.

[TOP OF PAGE]

MAGICAL MIRROR NETWORK
Upon entry to the game, characters will find themselves in possession of an ornate handheld mirror, a small eraser, and a box of crayons. These magic mirrors allow characters to communicate between different places in the Wilderlands in the main quest, between different places in the Brugh, and between the Brugh and Wilderlands proper.

The mirrors are capable of video, audio, and text. Text must be written on the window itself with the crayons. Due to mirror conversation not allowing for anything to actually be recorded anywhere, characters can not ICly go back to re-view old conversations. For ease of playing, players can threadhop on the network in the same way they would at any game, and the ability to interrupt conversations will simply be handwaved as being possible.

The mirrors can be set in the air to hover so a character can talk handsfree, and can expand in size to up to 3 feet in diameter. So that Brughed characters can sometimes see certain events or participate in certain conversations, characters on the main quest can potentially leave their mirror on hover mode so it can broadcast events to the characters in the Brugh. Characters can make their mirror invisible if they need to hide it and will automatically know the necessary spell, but to cast it takes a minute or so.

If the magic mirrors are broken, they will eventually re-form and fly back to the hand of their master, but can take anywhere from ten minutes to an hour to do so.

For information on inboxes, see this page.

[TOP OF PAGE]

FAERIE SWAPS
Barring certain special events or plots, players may only have one character in the main quest at a time. All of a player's other characters remain trapped in the Brugh.

Except when announced during certain plots, players can "faerie swap" their characters back and forth between the main quest and the Brugh at any time.

These swaps usually have a little warning, around half a minute. When the swap starts, a sparkly effect surrounds a character, giving them a chance to stop any activities that would be awkward and/or grab their belongings so that their gear is swapped along with them.

[TOP OF PAGE]

QUEST BOND
The characters in the main quest are magically bound together into an adventuring party, meaning that anyone who tries to leave this fellowship will find themselves magically teleported back to the others before long. This teleportation mechanic also kicks in if the majority of the group (or the largest chunk of the main fellowship) starts moving. Anyone who attempts to leave by staying behind or going in another direction will also be teleported along.

This bond can potentially relax if the characters are separating without the intention to leave the group for good. For instance, if someone is trying to leave the group in the forest, they might find themselves only making it the length of a football field before being teleported back, but if characters are splitting up to undertake an adventure and plan to meet again later, they may get as much leeway as several miles.

[TOP OF PAGE]

MAGIC AND TECHNOLOGY
Due to the crossover nature of the game, almost every form of magic works within the game universe. This means that an Alchemist from Fullmetal Alchemist could use their alchemy if they were in Mordor from Lord of the Rings. Characters will come across many different forms of magic, and if characters use magic in their home canons, the players have the option of adapting it to the game's power rules.

Thanks to the magic in the setting, some advanced technology won't work. Any weapon more advanced than a crossbow will cease to function. Even guns will jam and mysteriously malfunction. Advanced tech like power armor will be completely dead. Even the most tech-savvy characters won't be able to repair or build technology that bypasses this limitation.

Translation devices and technology will also break down, but fortunately the Wilderlands has a magically-imbued common language.

Less harmful, small forms of technology that aren't weapons can potentially still function. I-pods, laptops, and handheld computers will still work, though they'll eventually run out of charge and will have no networks to hook up to. Devices with limited sensor capabilities can potentially still work.

Technological implants, prosthetic/robotic limbs, and robot/android bodies will also continue to work, as long as the technology does not convey superpowers or as long as these superpowers have been approved as part of the power rules.

If you'd like your character to bring in some technology with them, put this by the mods in the appropriate section of your app for it to be approved or denied.

[TOP OF PAGE]

LANGUAGE TRANSLATION

Please note: Language translation in this game does not work like the direct language translation of many other RPs. Please pay attention to this fact, as the characters not understanding other fantasy languages may be an occasional plot point or be used for atmosphere.

SPOKEN LANGUAGE

Translation devices won't work in the setting, but fortunately the magic of the Wilderlands provides a way for characters to communicate despite having different languages. When characters arrive in the Wilderlands, they suddenly gain the knowledge of a common language native only to the Wilderlands itself. While this language has different names in many lands, most call it Sylvaen. The characters will find themselves completely fluent in Sylvaen as if it's a native language.

Sylvaen has equivalents for most things and ideas in most languages, but some terms, like those for types of technology or particularly culture-specific concepts, might only come across in a vague and general way, or might not have translations at all.

Characters will retain their native language(s) alongside this new language, and these will not be translated, so they can sometimes opt to speak in a native language that others don't understand.

When a character first arrives, it sometimes takes a little bit of time for their knowledge of Sylvaen to kick in. Making a social or emotional connection with someone else without using language sometimes helps make this process go faster.

WRITTEN LANGUAGE

Unlike spoken language, which sometimes goes untranslated if the individual involved uses a native language instead of the Sylvaen, written language will always translate.

The magic of the Wilderlands will cause the character to see a Sylvaen translation floating just slightly above the original text, and as they've magically been given knowledge of Sylvaen, they'd be fluent and able to read it.

[TOP OF PAGE]

CHOICE AND CONSEQUENCE
Wilderlands has a low player cap and a limited number of characters allowed on the main quest so that player choice can have a greater influence on the plot. Characters will be able to make multiple choices on major decisions, including what leads to pursue and what places to travel to next. There will often be no "right" choice at these junctures, because even moral choices will sometimes still have certain negative consequences to go alongside the positive ones.

So that all characters can participate in major choices, the mods will have one of their PCs or will tap a player volunteer to have their PC start a discussion about whatever issue the group is facing, so they can all have a say and debate it. After some discussion, the mods will set up an IC poll the characters can use to do a final vote on the issue. Characters that disagree with the decision can potentially work against it, but will face certain consequences for it, especially among their CR, and these actions will need to be plotted out ahead of time so everyone can get an outcome from the plot they enjoy.

Negative consequences to certain choices may include characters losing gear at an inconvenient time, failing at tasks, or sustaining injuries. If the latter case is in play, the mods will let the game know the range of severity of the possible injuries and players will have a choice on how their characters were hurt. The mods will make sure that any negative consequences have enough wiggle room so that players can work out something they don't mind working with.

[TOP OF PAGE]

GEAR
Characters will have a chance to pick up clothes and mundane belongings in the game universe. The mods won't track things like money or what belongings individual players receive, but at different locations where characters can gear up or scavenge, the mods will provide writeups on what gear, clothes, food, and/or weapons are available. For larger or more important items, the mods will specify that characters can only have the potential to carry one. It is up to players to decide what their characters carry with them on their journey, and players do not have to seek mod approval as long as an item is on the list.

While characters that haven't opted for the magic weapons power option can't have enchanted weapons, they can pick up mundane weapons in the setting. If they don't know how to use them, they can learn from other characters, or can be handwaved as obtaining lessons in populated game areas.

The mods will provide a place for players to ask questions about gear, weapons, and other travel items when the fellowship is about to leave each location where they can be obtained.

For code to keep an optional inventory list, see this page.

[TOP OF PAGE]

NPCS
There are many, many NPCs in the game world that the characters will come across. While some will be enemies, others will be potential allies. How characters treat the NPCs will determine if they're helpful or not, and many of the NPCs will return later in the game, meaning that how players treat the NPCs will have longterm consequences.

There is no "wrong" choice with the NPCs, as all the different choices will have positives and negatives, but there will be consequences to each choice. For instance, stealing a magical item the characters need from a hero protecting his village may allow them the positive consequence of being able to progress easily through the plot they're currently in, but a negative consequence might be that the hero may return later and hunt them for revenge because their village was destroyed as a result.

Certain interactions with the NPCs may need to be limited to only a few characters if it would be too difficult to maintain a conversation with the whole fellowship over the issue. In cases like this, the mods will run a signup and potentially RNG which characters handle the interaction.

For more information on major npcs, see this page.

[TOP OF PAGE]

PLOT STRUCTURE
Plots will have a variety of different structures, with mods setting up NPCed threads or players doing "starters" and prompts, but the game will have one special plot mechanism for some action or fighting-based plot posts, called a "free-for-all" post.

Free-for-all posts are meant to have fast-paced, prose-light, threadhop-friendly threads, much like network threads tend to be. The mods encourage players to keep these posts moving and to stay in touch with the other players in their threads so that issues like needing to skip a character for a tag round can be resolved quickly.

These posts will most often be used during plots where characters are on the move, trying to fight their way free and escape an area.

[TOP OF PAGE]

WRITING FORMAT
To keep plots brisk, mod plot logs will be posted in bracketspam format, and players are expected to follow it.

The network will also be in bracketspam format, but if players move to action in a non-plot network thread, they can either keep using bracketspam or switch to prose based on preference.

For non-plot logs, players can use either bracketspam or prose, based on preference.

[TOP OF PAGE]

CANON UPDATES
Players can contact the mods to request canon updates. In-game, the character simply gets zapped home, experiences the new canon, and is zapped back, no time having passed in Wilderlands. Players may choose if the character remembers their Wilderlands experiences while experiencing the new canon.

[TOP OF PAGE]

HIATUS AND SLOWATUS
When players hiatus or slowatus, they can send their characters to the Brugh to take them out of the action. For a slowatus that leaves the characters available for some light interaction, they can simply be in the Brugh as normal.

If a player wants to take a full hiatus, characters can be handwaved as being in a strange alternate form of the Brugh where the other PCs are frozen in time just like the Elves of the Brugh. The hiatused character will also not be able to contact anyone with their magic mirror during the hiatus. When the hiatus is over, they'll either be zapped back to the normal Brugh (where only the Elves are frozen and the PCs are moving) or back to the main quest.

The hiatus page is here.

[TOP OF PAGE]

OPT OUTS
Players can opt out of plots in the main quest by using localized opt out methods provided for plots (such as keeping guard at camp while a nearby adventure happens) or by putting all their characters in the Brugh until the plot is over. Players may also opt out of plots by running or participating in player plots set in a different area.

[TOP OF PAGE]

INTROS AND DROPS
When a character intros, after undergoing the events in the welcome/arrival post, they'll appear in the main quest before ever experiencing the Brugh. The sole exception is if the intro coincides with a plot that is particularly difficult to drop a new character into. In that case, the player can opt to intro their character in the Brugh and then swap them into the main quest when the plot is over.

The mods are happy to work with new players to help them introduce their characters and work around plots.

When a character is dropped they're simply sent back home. Magic folds in the air around them, making them disappear, and briefly creates a fractal view of their homeworld beyond.

The drop page is here.

[TOP OF PAGE]