Revision as of 11:43, 31 March 2016

Frequently Asked Questions

The following sections discuss questions which staff has either been asked already or, being ever so very wise and gifted with foresight, anticipates being asked in the future.

Staff Policies FAQ

These address questions which have come up based on players (and testers) reading the policies page.

Characters

What makes a character an "antagonist" people cannot play?

• Staff has no interest in, nor desire to say that characters cannot be dicks. If you want to play somebody universally reviled, a source of IC (note, IC) antagonism, that is fine. That doesn't make you an "antagonist" per the rules. An "antagonist" is someone actively working against the other players. An "antagonist" could be an active loyalist or a True Fae, a privateer, a military man sent to capture or experiment upon the masses, a Hunter who hopes to eradicate the supernatural, and many other archetypes along these lines. You're free to say that you used to be one of these people, but for whatever your reasons, you are no longer a Bad Guy.

So...how much of a dick is a dick? What happens if I play one?

• If you are interested in antagonizing other players, you are very likely going to have a communicative relationship with staff. Hopefully a long one, because hopefully you will be wise enough to keep your negative behaviour on the IC end of the spectrum. See the rules on 'harassment' on the main policies page...
• Staff will not protect you from the consequences of your own actions. If you are an IC bully, cheat and liar, and someone decides to ICly ban you from an event they're throwing for the sphere, they are fully within their rights to do so.

I really don't want to die, like, ever. Is there any way I can set my character un-PKable?

• In short? No. There is no command or flag which will prevent you from dealing with the consequences of your character's actions. Consequences are a major theme. That said, you can make it 99.9% likely that you will never have to deal with this particular consequence by A) keeping yourself from offending anybody badly enough they want to murder you, B) keeping your Wyrd down, if you're a changeling, and C) by avoiding dangerous events.
• The game is not a PK free-for-all. Character death sucks. Staff plans to be VERY stingy about which actual PK requests they grant people permission for, but certain things (say, you're a Wyrd 9 changeling who thinks he's a god and goes around murdering children for power...) will heavily weight matters in the potential killer's direction.
• STAFF will never murder you in your sleep without appropriate warning (say, you're in a VERY DANGEROUS event and decide to take a nap in the Hedge, alone, with no one to watch your back, and staff asks, "...Are you sure you want to do that? This could go very poorly for you."). That is bad staffing practice and abuse of our players' trust.

This is a game for high powered stuff, though. Why make a place which invites high Wyrd, then say you're going to kill people for having it?

• Our stance on consequences is not an automatic, "You have High Wyrd and are therefore deathkibble." Fate's Harvest is, frankly, a place where changelings with High Wyrd CAN find some measure of welcome, can watch each other's backs, since there are so many of them around, and they ARE so very tempting for the Fae. If anything, the area is more accepting of the idiosyncrasies such deep connection to the Wyrd creates -- it is the context which matters. A Wyrd 8 character who is a relatively harmless, but utterly obsessed philatelist is much less likely to have problems than, say, a Wyrd 8 character who thrives on torturing NPCs to death in his murder basement.

XP/TIX Policies

Why do you give people so much xp? Won't they all just twink and bitchslap the True Fae?

• Fate's Harvest MUX is designed to focus on the end-game of a Changeling's life. It's a truth that you need a lot of xp to get yourself up to that point, and more xp than that if you want to be able to do anything except look shiny. True Fae will be addressed elsewhere, but let's just say that bitchslappability varies.

Why do we have tiered xp? Why not just give everyone 900? They'll take it anyway. ...and... What's up with the alt limits? Why are they xp gated?

• In short? To balance out the gameworld. Staff knows that, given a choice, most people will choose the higher xp option, whether or not they really need it. Mortals, for example, will very likely never spend even half of that xp. There just isn't as much for them to dump it into.

To be more specific, this game is about the consequences of power, and even more specifically, it is about the consequences of having more or less power than somebody else. If everyone has the same amount of power, stagnation, boredom and lack of contrasts will be the name of the game. Staff believes that a system of enforced xp differences, and unlimited low-xp alts, will help to promote the culture the game is designed to work around.

But eventually, I'll go up a tier. Doesn't that make the tier difference kind of pointless?

• Nah. You'll always be below the folks with more power than you, and if you've been playing long enough to get that far (woo! almost a year!), you've probably discovered that there are more paths to power than xp alone.

Why do you give out tickets? Why not just let people get extra xp?

• The weekly xp is capped at 5 for all approved characters as a purely artificial limitation on just how fast you can zip up toward the next tier level. The tickets are a way to reward you for activity without bloating the game beyond its already hefty xp level.

What ARE tickets? What do they get me?

• Check the Arcade page for more details, but in short, tickets, or tix as they are often called, are a form of currency very like xp, which you can spend on items in the Arcade just off the Game Room in the OOC area. Most often, the items you buy with tix cannot be purchased with xp, and will need staff help to set up.

Miscellaneous Policies

I know we get a lot of xp, so replacing an alt isn't hard, but I really like this character. How can I tell if an event is going to get me killed?

• Staff will warn you if you are following a path which could end in your imminent demise. If you choose to continue roleplaying, it is with the acknowledgement that you were warned. Events typically follow the "stop light" grade of danger ratings: green are no physical danger, yellow are moderate danger, red are highly likely to injure or kill you.

Setting FAQ

These address questions regarding the world itself, the types of places in it, and what players are likely to encounter there.

Geography

Why is it set in Vermont?

• Vermont was chosen because Annapurna spends time there each Summer and Autumn, out in the middle of fumbuck nowhere, and has on several occasions reflected that, really, for places where it would be easy to steal people away, Vermont is pretty darned good. So much wilderness! So many wild animals! Examples about how rotten gravel is to walk on barefoot after dirt roads are freshly graded? Yeah. Personal experience.

Were Fort Brunsett and Tamarack Falls inspired by real places?

• Yes and no. Basic geographical information, population densities and a few aspects of Stowe were adopted here and there, along with state history and general feel, but by and large the pair is purely a byproduct of Annapurna's imagination.

Is anything in the setting real?

• Why, yes! The Green Mountains in the distance are real. So is I-89, though in Annapurna's imagination, it takes a bit more of a northward jaunt before it turns west. Our area isn't quite where Stowe is. Vermont's laws are, by and large, preserved, though this being the World of Darkness, staff may well relax certain of them to accommodate more entertaining RP if they ever interfere with it.

Supernaturals

Are there other Supers here?

• Yes. The area is home to Werewolves, Vampires and Mages.

Will we ever get to play them?

• No. The only supers players will have access to are Changelings. Playing Lefevre Proximi is as close to an extra-spherical template as there will be.

Why not?

• It is staff's choice to keep this game Changeling/Human focused. It's a great big world out there, however, and interaction with other forms of Supernatural creatures will occur. The other book lines are an established and deeply woven facet of the gameworld's storyline and structure, and have been from early in the planning stages. Don't worry. If you know where to look, you'll find them.

How do the True Fae fit into all of this? Can players play them?

• Outside of very specific circumstances, no, players cannot play True Fae on Fate's Harvest. Those very specific circumstances currently include:

A) STing someone's Becoming into a Changeling or Fae-touched

B) Becoming a True Fae yourself, at which point you will promptly be permafrozen and rendered an NPC

Will True Fae show up a lot in my RP?

• The answer to this varies. Just what do you intend to RP? No, there will not be True Fae casually walking about town every night trolling for players to reality-rape and drag off to Faerie-land. If your concept is based around searching for them or interacting with them, you're certainly more likely to find them than someone who prefers coffee-shop casual RP.
• That said, certain Fae do have an interest in this area, and most especially in the changelings they can find here, precisely because so many of the changelings ARE wearing bright flashing neon lights saying, "I have power! I could play a SUPER cool role in your games with other Keepers if you caught me or convinced me to 'Come Home'!"