LEGACY - A Role-Play Event UPDATES COMING SOON!

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LEGACY
An Event inspired by
the greatest GM on Gaia, opaj
and presented on Gaia Mainstream.

Introduction

LEGACY... The remains of man and all sentient life. To be remembered through their legacy: their children, their empires, their literature, their feats, their inventions. They all live on as that man's legacy. But to destroy these things, to remove them from history - can we even be sure these men truly existed? Or were they nothing more than a figments of our wild imaginations?

As the echoes of the past creep back towards us, the players once more must rouse from their long slumbers to combat enemies old and new. Except now things are different, things are worse than ever before and it will take more than just Will and Power to succeed. To triumph here means to cement your legacy for all time.

Do you want to live forever?

Information

Legacy is a two week long roleplay event set to ignite in early 2010. This event, unlike many before it, aims to provide an equal balance in character progression (items, story, etc.), fighting, and puzzles. It is also the tribute to a man far greater than myself, who has shown time and again that he is the Godfather of Roleplay. Quite simply, I wish to give all of those who participated in his Events a taste of the old days, and those who never had the chance a small sample of what once was. So put on your nostalgia goggles folks and as Opaj says: "If you can RP, you can join. If you like entwining your character's story with the stories of others', we welcome you with open arms." Sort of.

opaj's Gaia Mainstream

This event takes place in what I call "Gaia Mainstream." This is the Gaia of the Commerce RP section, much of the Guild forums, and even some of the Barton Town areas. When you're character goes into a random tavern, they're in Gaia Mainstream. It's the pluralistic, chaotic continuity that flows from thread to thread.

What that means here: your character can be almost anything or anyone, so long as they're not overpowered or unbalanced. They can be from anywhere, from Gaia or Earth. It doesn't all have to fit together; we know that Gaia Mainstream certainly doesn't.

News

10/5 - Thanks to Steve for getting a hold of Rage for me, I will be able to access the official guild in short order and begin working on the Event threads, instances, bosses, etc. Also I will be updating/streamlining the rules and putting in more Story updates. One last note - Everyone I contacted earlier about being a GM if you still want to be a GM then let me know.

9/30 - Thread open. Feel free to converse, start on your profiles, make up teams, etc. All the blank areas will be filled in as we draw closer to the start date when it is established. Note. Do not send in any profiles yet, I will announce when you can do that.



Post 1: Introduction & News
Post 2: The Plot
Post 3: The Place Past
Post 4: Movers and Shakers
Post 5: How to Join & Conduct
Post 6: Players & Teams
Post 7: Rules
Post 8: Special Rules & Clauses
Post 9: Traversing the Land
Post 10: Prizes
Post 11: Blacklist

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The Plot

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Howard leaned over the desk he was sitting under and tapped a few commands into the keyboard. The 21" screen was covered in a red ceramic plate in order to keep the light being emitted from interfering too much with the delicate equipment behind him. After a moment there was a sudden hum as the observatory's tower began to turn in the right direction. Gradually it came to a stop before slowly raising the protective shield that would allow the telescope to see out into the night sky.

Satisfied that he would be able to observe the strange phenomena he had noticed over the last few nights at this area of space, he pushed back against the ground and allowed the chair to back towards the telescope. Howard came to an abrupt stop as he slouched to look into what light the sky was feeding into the five meter lens.

"That's... weird..."

The astronomer said the words slowly with a deep pause in between as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Or rather, what he wasn't seeing. That area of the sky was completely dark - devoid of any light, even though he was peering into some of the deepest areas of space. It wasn't the weather, he knew that much, no overhang tonight and it wasn't like there was a lens cap on the telescope.

After some slight adjustments he turned the entire system to a different patch of the sky and looked into once more. Stars, thousand upon thousands of stars and nebulas. He moved everything back to where he original had it before and nothing. Howard then set up the camera by connecting it to the telescope and took a snapshot of the night sky. He then wheeled back to the computer and brought up the same area of space from a month before.

Howard Nelson nearly crapped himself.

Everything was just gone.

As it had never even existed in the first place.

*****

"Read the news?" One voice said to another.

"About a whole part of the universe just up and vanishing? Of course." Replied the second.

"Think it was him?" Questioned the first.

"I.. do not know." The second hesitantly answered.

"Wasn't he dead?" Again another question from the first.

"Last time I checked." More surely from the second.

"What do we do?" Nervously implored the first.

"For now? Nothing." Said the second and there were none.

*****

Michael approached the receptionist's desk of the insurance agency. He knew it was a front, it had to be, but that didn't stop the place from wreaking of bad juju. Maybe that was why they picked an insurance agency in the first place. It didn't seem wholly out of line for a business that regularly denied thousands of people claims that might save their lives to give off a pretty terrifying vibe.

Or maybe it was that the receptionist was a zombie. He couldn't be quite sure.

"I am here to see..." She grunted and pointed toward the end of the hall with a broken index finger. "Thank you ma'am." Another grunt before the corpse went back to hunting and pecking for the right key to enter.

As he passed the rows of cubicles he couldn't help but notice that each one stank of formaldehyde worse than the one before it. Michael was quickly becoming increasingly more nervous as the door got closer, the hordes of living dead and the rank scent did not help alleviate his problem. By the time he reached the entrance, he was drenched in his own fluids and hoped that what they said about zombies being able to smell fear was just a myth. Michael moved to wipe the sweat of his forehead when the door opened inwards and presented him with a man in a gray suit.

"Ah, Michael! I was beginning to think you weren't going to show."

The man had a gray smile on his lips to match the gray suit as he ushered Michael inside and shut the door behind them.

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The Past

Some things are just better off left alone.

September 21st, 2003 - A mass of inexperienced and veteran roleplayers take to Grand Wish in full force, this was the first Event of its kind on Gaia. They roleplayed their hearts out, travelling the depths of a treacherous and mysterious temple before it vanished from the world of Gaia without so much as a whisper. It had left not only in-character but also out of it when the original threads were lost due to deletion.

December 17th, 2005 - Once more a mixture of players descended upon a new Event known as Broken City that told of city plagued by mysterious robot and the people after their cores. These new players were of a different generation, while many of the older ones had come from the same crop as those that had participated in Grand Wish. After a blistering exchange of combat and location changes, the Event ended in the destruction of Carter City. And once again, the tragedy went without so much as a whisper.

February 2nd, 2007 - Teams of three, squads based combat that had yet to be experienced by anyone on such a level on all of Gaia took place in the form of Triad. Some of the most memorable moments of all time happened in this Event. And although there were many new additions to the game, not as many showed up as they had in the previous years. Still it did not diminish from the fun and perhaps aided in stemming the already unbelievable End Game traffic jam. This Event ended with almost all of Gaia being wiped out from existence as a trio attempted to find their way home.

May 31st, 2008 - After a long awaited return, opaj created Unity in an attempt to get back to the roots of Broken City. This Event was a mystery based upon the disappearance of an entire city's population. Several teams from different organizations were sent in to find out exactly what was going on and why. After discovering the horrific transformations that had happened almost overnight and the cause of all the problems the entire city destroyed itself, sinking deep into the earth with no evidence left behind.

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Movers and Shakers

Everyone is moving so fast that they've forgotten how to slow down and smell the roses.

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How to Join & Conduct

Getting in was a lot easier than getting out.

So you wanna join Legacy? Well good for you! I am glad, but please I must insist that before you enter you at least read the two sections on Teams and Rules. You don't need to read the area on Special Rules & Clauses to send in a profile, but if you are accepted it is expected of you. This Event is also going to be pretty thorough in the grading process when checking for banned items/people. But as for actually entering a profile and what you can use, we are pretty lenient. One thing that always irked me personally about almost all Events is that the rank your character was given was based upon how well the profile was done. That does not necessarily indicate how good of a roleplayer you are by any means, nor does it make one character more powerful than the other.

Would you say that the guy in Power Armor who has a Minigun is stronger than the petite female with very little powers and no armor? In most cases, yes. Unless of course the girls power was the ability to rust metal. All the same, if the profile of the girl was better written than the guy who had all that equipment she usually would score higher. Some balancing issues were obviously done to insure that Mr. John Everyman could at least try to fight back against Lord Zeta of the Fifth Realm; hence why that the overpowered character always scored lower. Yet when judges were confronted with characters who were not only very powerful but also well written that whole concept goes to hell. I would know.

In any case, when Opaj made his first fighting tournament called the Brutal Underground he changed the ranking system from a typical 1-20 system to a 1-5 that was based upon how strong your character was. I liked this because it made a lot of sense, but due to a few reasons (see: Special Rules & Clauses) I decided to change it back to 1-20 while borrowing the idea of the more powerful characters being of a higher rank. Of course, there is a limit. If a character it too strong for one reason or another, we will send the profile back with a bunch of red text written in the margins. Kinda like English IV all over again.

Also, the profile sample below is just that. You do not need to use it, but it is required that you actually have everything listed below in its own little area. No mashing s**t together in hopes of trying to confuse the grader. That will just lead to us getting very annoyed and taking it out on you in RED TEXT.

[b]Username:[/b] Your username.

[b]Team:[/b] The name of the team you are on (FIVE PERSON).

[b]Events:[/b] Have you been in any past opaj Events?

If yes, name which ones and your character names along with the username they were registered under.

If no, ignore this area.

[b]Character Name:[/b] Character name goes here.

[b]Age:[/b] Age goes here.

[b]Gender:[/b] MALE/FEMALE/TRANS?

[b]Height:[/b] Height goes here.

[b]Weight:[/b] Weight goes here.

[b]Body Type:[/b] Mesomorph, Ectomorph, Endomorph

[b]Description:[/b] What does your character look like.

[b]Equipment:[/b] All of your character's equipment.

[b]Abilities/Traits/Skills:[/b] The abilities, traits, skills, etc. that your character has.

[b]Personality:[/b] The personality of your character.

[b]History:[/b] Your character's history.

Graders:

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Players & Teams

Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

Teamwork, like in many of opaj's Events, will play a fairly large role here. Several different methods over the years were employed by him; each with their own varying rules and degrees of freedom. But in order to keep GM & Judge workload to a minimum in order to focus on the plot itself and encourage players to work with themselves, this Event will use perhaps the most successful system. Some Event veterans may have already guessed which one I am talking about and you guessed it, this Event will be used a modified Triad system. Not for combos or stats, but rather how the teams actually functioned.

What made Triad unique in it's approach was that although there were overall factions involved every single team was out for itself. In other words, splitting up meant death. It also means that here, and it fits perfectly with the idea of passing through multiple trials in order to continue on. If you want a real world equivalent take a look at the TV show The Amazing Race. And it is with that sort of mentality do we rush straight into these rules:

#1: Under no circumstances are you allowed to split up your team across multiple threads. Every player on the team must be in the same thread, AFK or not.

#2: Each team must comprise of FIVE (5) members. Each team will have a name that your group can decide upon on your own. You can't suddenly join someone else's team because you feel like it, ask them first.

#3: Every team must have at least one person who can use the program Ventrilo (IP: vent13.light-speed.com Port: 8254). A microphone is not required but highly suggested.

#4: You are a team, therefore you are responsible for your team and making sound decisions amongst yourselves. Every person in your group can be held accountable for the group as a whole.

#5: Willful asshattery (Miss Cleoing, using unstated items/abilities, abusing mechanics) will NOT be tolerated under any circumstances. If you think what you are doing is against the rules, it probably is, but if you really want to do it ask a GM first. That is why we have a GM thread.

#6: If you witness said asshattery from one of your teammates and do not try to stop them OOC I will not hesitate to break my foot off in all of your asses.

#7: If one team suspects another of asshattery please do not hesitate to make it known to a GM. Seriously narc as much as you want.

#8: We will be scrutinizing and running thorough background checks on all players to see if anyone on the blacklist is attempting to sneak in. I am being deadly serious about this.

#9: Preferential treatment for profile grading and team slot taking will be shown to past opaj Event veterans. Particularly those who have been in more than one of his Events. Just follow the profile sheet in the How to Join section.

Team Slots -

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Back Up Slots -

1.
2.

Players Looking for a Team -

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Rules

You break it, you bought it.

First off, we follow the Anti-Munch Project, or AMP. We've lost the AMP thread to the sands of time; it's basically a list of common forms of Munchkins, people who break the limits of good/fair RPing. Learn the list, know the list, do not emulate the list:

The Anti-Munch Project

Here's the (unfinished) list of what we're against:
The people who never miss a single shot no matter how hard it is (Aimbotters).
The people who can't be hit or just shrug it off (god-moders).
The people who never are without a weapon and ammo (idkfa-ers).
The people who have absurdly strong powers (twinks).
The people who 'balance' thier characters by having a massive but irrelevant weakness and massive powers (min-maxers).
The people who use Out Of Character knowledge to get an edge (Miss Cleos).
The people who do things in hindsight (McFlys).
The people who RP other people's characters for them (Puppetmasters).
The people who RP completely irrelevant things (Daydreamers).
The people who RP actions and time against others while the others aren't presant (Shoe elves).
The people who ignore or alter RPs that they don't like (Revisionists).
The people who RP an absurdly time consuming sequence occuring between other people's actions (Speedhackers).
The people who play as characters that are completely impossible (Oxymorons).
The people who arbitrarily declare themselves the winner with instant death attacks (Baghdad Bobbits).
The people who've taken actions before they start RPing (Gaseous Snakes).
The people who pull-in elements that were approved in an unrelated RP (Augustines).
The people who use an existing persona and only RP them when it helps (Batmen).
The people who alter thier character as needed for the situation (Zoicite).
The people who gain abilities as they need them with no prior exposure (Trinities).

In these examples, A will be our Good RPer and B will be our Nasty Filthy Munchkin.

Aimbotters: Especially annoying when using NPCs, as NPCs don't get to argue about munch...
A: Three hundred seventy of my trained assassin gymnasts crest the hill, sight you, and rush toward you.
B: Luckily, I have three hundred sixty-nine bullets in my chain gun! I quickly mow them all down, each taking a single bullet to the head, and peg the last one with a rock in the sternum.

Godmoders: Obvious.
A: Now that you're strapped to the end of a naval cannon, I fire it.
B: Whoosh! I nimbly dodge, somehow forgetting the fact that I'm restrained by three-hundred-pound chain!

IDKFA-ers: Most likely people attempting to emulate Solid Snake or some other cheesy spy-novel hero.
A: You're all out of ammo for all five of your Ingram submachine guns, 501!|). Since you're buck-naked, I know I can now safely step into the open and begin returning fire.
B: Ha! Little did you know, I have twelve shuriken hidden within my pubic hair!

Min-maxers
A: I've successfully broken into the facility which gave you your incredibly 1337 power armor. Now I pull up the file on it. What does it say about weak points?
B: The metal of my armor is... um... allergic to praying mantis urine.

Miss Cleos: Obvious.
A: ((OOC: There's a secret switch hidden in the lamp.))
B: I suddenly think to myself-- why not check the lamp for hidden switches? Call me now for your free reading!

McFlys
A: Ha! Now that the force field is down, I run inside your evil lair!
B: Um... um... there's also a super-secret second force field which causes you to die instantly! I just didn't say anything about it because... um... I had to do my laundry! Not because I just thought of it now! Honestly!

Puppetmasters
A: I step carefully into the room, peering around for occupants.
B: Suddenly a dragon pokes you in the eye. You run screaming from the room, whereafter you go home, make a pickle sandwich, and call your mother to cry about how she ruined your life.

Daydreamers: Not exactly munch, per se, but it does get annoying.
A: In the middle of the intense shootout, I dash across the narrow alley, ducking and weaving in hopes to avoid getting hit. I'm unsuccessful; two bullets peg me in the shoulder, throwing me back into a Dumpster.
B: The bullets make me think back to my days as a youth, when I had to melt down tin soldiers to use as musket balls against the Redcoats... or was it redskins? I can't remember. Anyway, I had to walk uphill all three ways to school and back, running from glaciers all the while. It was torture, lemme tell ya. And then there's the story of how I met my first wife...

Shoe elves: Pretty obvious.
A: ((OOC: Well, gotta go to bed. Big neurosurgery test tomorrow.))
B: Ho, ho, ho! Now that the loser's gone to bed, I can strap his character to a cross and peg him with rotten fruit!

Revisionists
A: You chose the blue pill? Ooh, tough luck.
B: Red! I said red! Don't go pulling that "I can read your previous post" mind game crap, either!

Speedhackers
A: I walk to the door and step outside.
B: Suddenly, twelve men grab you, carry you off to my secret lair in Tibet, and torture you for weeks. When you finally die from the agony, we bury you in the frozen wastes. Hundreds of years later, arhcaeologists discover your frozen body and try to determine if you're another Lucy.

Oxymorons
A: I'm a farmer with a shotgun.
B: I'm a black hole which emits blinding pulses of visible light!

Gaseous Snakes: An advanced (or is that "dumb"?) form of McFlys.
A: I walk to the door and open it.
B: Being a fellow with a bit of foresight, I hooked that doorknob to a car battery an hour ago. You're thrown across the room.

Augustines
A: Given that this RP's technology base is midieval, I happily drive my cart to the market to buy some maggot-ridden meat.
B: Too late! I already got there in my Gundam and blew up everything with my insanely overpowered weapons! And don't start whining, because my Gundam's already pre-approved in the "This Is Not a Midieval Technology Base RP" thread.

Batmen
A: In this Fantastic Four RP, I'll be Ben, the gruff rock-man with a heart of gold.
B: I'll be Reed Richards, the living sex toy who hunts down innocent women to subdue with his incredible flexibility!

In addition, here are a few other general RP rules that we uphold:

Judging:

In the event proper, there will be a "GM Request" thread. Any time you need a judge for a fight, post in this thread and ask. Even if a GM doesn't get to you immediately, they will eventually, and they will retroactively nix the fight if they have to.


Don't's:

Now, for some basic don'ts.

Teleportation. For the purposes of this event, teleportation will not be allowed.

Flight. Two types of characters who can fly: winged characters (wings can include jetpacks and whatnot), and magic users. These two make perfect sense. People who shouldn't be able to fly are, for example, warriors. The whole "DBZ controlling one's chi" thing isn't going to work here.


Dos:

Well, that's about it for the don'ts. Here are some dos:

Detail. It's not a requirement, but it's greatly in your favor. If you simply write, "Chris slashes at ChikenBoi101," that leaves both ChickenBoi101 and the judge a lot of room for interpretation. It puts you at ChickenBoi101's mercy, because now HE gets to decide what angle you are attacking from; HE controls the flow of combat for that turn. Next time, at least you'll know to post "Chris swings his sword over his head, slashing down at ChickenBoi101's right shoulder."

More detail. This is really a continuation of the last paragraph, only for when you are fighting alongside others. It's just as crucial to be sure to explain where you are relative to your allies when two teams with multiple people on either side are fighting. Think of it this way... if everyone on your team just wrote, "I rush forward at ChickenBoi101," what's to stop ChickenBoi101 from posting, "ChickenBoi101 fires a single shot at the leader, the bullet flying through all ten of his attackers, as they were all conveniently moving at him in a straight line." "Chris rushes at ChickenBoi101, just behind and to the right of his leader," is much better. Which leads us to...

Tracking. Keep track of where the heck you are, and what sort of stance or position you are in. You aren't going to be able to punch ChickenBoi101 in the face, then kick the guy on the other side of the room in a single turn. Nor will it be an easy feat to block with your left hand when your right is extended forward, and your enemy is on your right side. (Possible, but certainly not easy.)

Stay true to your character. If we find you using abilities that you don't have, there will be consequences. Seriously. Only use abilities you've included in your bio. For reals, man. (I really wish I didn't have to emphasize this rule, but I do.)


Complete Immunity:

If you're completely immune to something, we just might have a problem. You can be resistant, but unless 1) you're otherwise completely weak or 2) you're immune to something unlikely to effect battle, like disease, it's got to go.


Instant kill attack:

We don't like powers that can instantly kill without offering a reasonable chance to avoid. Don't have them. Note: We do typically allow semi-automatic and lesser guns, with the understanding that, in the Gaia universe, a sword can deflect a bullet and the like. Which brings us to...


Ignoring something because it's LOLMAGIC or LOLSCIENCE:

We're not here to be realistic. You can deflect/dodge a single bullet, but a bullet is still really powerful, so if you're under heavy fire and not taking cover expect to get filled with lead. Likewise, if it's not in your bio, don't ignore things like psychic attacks and the like for no reason. Not as common a problem, but still, it happens.


Insta-healing:

Instantaneous, drain-free healing will not be allowed. You can heal using magic, sure, but the energy cost should be on par with the amount of healing done. You can't get stabbed, blink, and be healed right off.


GM Rulings:

A ruling by a GM on anything, anything at all is NOT to be ignored. I am being serious, if a GM tells you something it is probably because I told them to tell you. Ignoring that means you are ignoring me which translates into me kicking you out.

We have had a lot problems in past Events in which a few select players (usually repeat offenders) who went on ignoring GM rulings all wily nilly and were never punished for it. As a result, I have made an example of one of them and will make an example of anyone who also attempts to cheapen Legacy for other players.

This includes changing profiles and character information during the Event should you be abusing the system in any way.


NPC's:

Pretty much all NPC's will be GM controlled due to a number of reasons. Mostly because of their scarcity and importance to the plot. When you see an NPC do not assume you can one-hit kill it like a normal one, because again... GM controlled. Think of them as an actual player and not just some throwaway bot. Unless stated otherwise by a GM.


Electronic/Magic powered Devices:

Certain things like GPS's, two-way radios, cellphones, pocket electronic dictionaries/thesaurus, instant analyzers, all that crap will not work here. So please, keep this in mind. If you have a piece of equipment, no matter how small or unimportant you may think it is, it must be in your profile. And if a GM asks you what it does when grading your profile, what you tell them it does then is what it does for the rest of the Event. But please, if your character is privy to carry these around - feel free, because obviously they do not know they don't work yet. I am being serious. Don't suddenly gain knowledge of how your dormant radio just isn't working halfway through the event without even having tried them out. Ya dig? Good.

Otherworldly Powers

Powers from gods, deities, etc. are perfectly acceptable. So long as they are not used as an excuse to impart plot related information onto the player. Certain things learned from the teachings of these beings are fine, but when encountered with a problem in which killing a monster may not be so simple or faced with a puzzle do not go "OH I KNOW THIS BECAUSE MY GOD SAID BLAH BLAH BLAH!" It is wonderful you talk to the voices in your head, but I will cut your throat out for trying to use it here.


Telekinesis, Psionics, etc.

Guess what? They aren't liked by almost all mainstream Gaians so in a few cases they will be banned entirely or severely restricted. If you have ever roleplayed in the Organized/Military sub-forum or FFA sub-forum then the reasoning of Gaia brand psionics being banned should come as no surprise. After all, who wants to deal with people dropping dimensions on one another or tossing pillars of pure anti-matter like it is their daily exercise routine. Telekinesis on the other hand is going to be restricted in this Event. Why? Well to be frank, whenever TK is used people go a little overboard. Pressing a few thousand pounds upon a single point with your mind is a good example. Picking up and moving a hundred thousand different objects you aren't even looking at is another. Due to this, as themightyjello said: "There is only so much rub-stomach-pat-heading you can do." In order to use TK here, you must be able to see the object at all times. You must also be able to restrict whatever it is you wish to move/influence down to two or three items at a time. Sorry guys, but it is cheap. I think we can both agree on that.

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Special Rules & Clauses

There is no Aggro reset!

[ Enhanced balance area originally from Unity ]

A & S

Now, for the first time in an Event the aspects of Aggro and Stealth shall play a part in combat. Here are some ground rules on exactly what you can and cannot do:

#1: Each Team, no matter how strong or weak has a grade that determines its ability to use Stealth and Aggro.

#2: This grade is measured by adding the entire Team's rank together and then adding a decimal point in between the first and second digit. Therefore a Team with a combined rank of 74 is graded at 7.4 for the purpose of Aggro and Stealth.

#3: The "Rule of 5" dictates that any number greater than or equal to five means that the grade is rounded up. So if a team has a total rank of 5 and it is then 0.5 as a result, the number is rounded up to 1 and a team that is 2.4 is rounded down to 2.

#4: The grade slides from 1-10, with 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest (10-100 overall rank).

#5: Regardless if someone is AFK or not they will contribute to the total grade.

#6: Cover and Awareness may not be used once a fight has been committed. No single A&S move may be used two times or more during a fight.

#7: Only one person from each team may roll, the person rolling should be the person doing the A&S.

#8: Taking the initiative to use an A&S ability means that your team has the first move in the rotation and this also drastically changes how certain abilities work.

#9: If a Aggro/Stealth attack (not defense or awareness move) is used, the target must be specified before the roll. Should the attack fail, the previous specified character is the one who attacks in retaliation against the original roller.

#10: All successful (or failed) attacks from this system will force a -5 penalty upon who was hit. These attack will not kill the player, unless they are already Rank 5 to begin with and are reduced to Rank 0.

#11: Taunt is recommended for Teams with an overall rank of 70 and higher; while Investigate is recommended with Teams with anything significantly under that (Ranks 60 and under).

Rolling Procedure

- One team initiates either a Stealth check or an Aggro check
- All teams involved must roll a single ten sided die after the team calling for the aggro/stealth and then add their Grade (1-10)
- So where the random dice roll is x, and the grade bonus is y the outcome will be z. (x+y=z)

Aggro

Aggro is short for Aggression or Aggravation; it is commonly used piece of slang originating from Britain and since has been a staple term for many online games. Most notably MMO's. In essence Aggro is a measure of rage, hate, or threat that a player generates simply by dealing damage or merely existing. This system has been applied to the Event in order to represent the more offensive and literally straight forward half of A&S. An Aggro player is a power puncher, a boxer who goes in looking for a knockout in the first and so it is more suited for teams in the highest ranks, but that does not mean only those people can use it.

Essential Information:

Aggro literally consists of just three different moves. Two of which any team may use, but the third is restricted in order to present a unique gameplay experience. These are the three categories and how they work.

Awareness - Everyone, every character, every player has had that feeling of being watched. That sensation wreaking of bad juju where just being in a certain area seems off and surreal. Being able to determine and seek out just why this happens is called Awareness. This particular Aggro ability enables teams to better find hiding characters and teams. Simply Miss Cleoing this knowledge is no longer acceptable nor has it ever been but the fact that this ability exists means that it should be used for its purpose. Additionally, should your team fail the roll they MUST move away from that area of the thread (or leave the thread altogether depending on how large it is) as they were not able to discover the other team.

Awareness

● Team A enters a thread where Team B is located, Team B is searching for information in regards to their objective. Team A believes that they can hear Team B but are unsure, so they roll for Awareness. If Team A rolls a total number higher than Team B then they are now aware of Team B and have a good idea as to their location without having alerted Team B at all.

● Team B sees Team A (alternatively, they had been fighting and escaped with Team A following behind) quickly approaching, but Team A has yet to discover their exact position. Team B wishes to roll for Stealth in order to hide from Team A. In order to successfully do this Team A must do an awareness check and roll lower than Team B.

Charge! - Heading straight into battle is the Aggro way and coincidentally this is the only potentially harmful special ability from Aggro. It may only be used when your has line of sight on your opponents and close quarters fighting has not yet started. Charge! moves the entire team into a fight with the enemy but only one -5 Rank attack occurs from the person who made the roll after specifying on who. Also, if successful then the team who initiated the charge may keep their targets "entangled" in the fight for at least one turn rotation without the ability to retreat. Even if the team who initiated the attack fails, they are still moved within fist fighting distance of the targeted team. Charge! only works if the opposite team is within three seconds of sprinting distance of the team's slowest opponent. If not, then this ability may not be used.

Charge!

● Team A is walking down a road when Team B suddenly steps out of a nearby building and into their line of sight. Due to this now being Team A's post, they opt to Charge! In order for the Charge! to be successful Team A must roll higher than Team B. Should they fail to do this, then Team B is allowed to counterattack and damage the Aggro rollers rank by 5.

Taunt - RECOMMENDED to Teams with a 60 and higher total rank. Taunt is a roleplay ability that contributes to the storyline. It may only be used three times per day under the supervision of a GM who will decide if your team had done enough searching in the right areas of the Event in order to rouse forth unique mobs and minibosses. Bear in mind that just because you searched for hours in the same thread does not mean you looked in the right spots or were even in the correct thread to begin with. Do not be confused, though the need for a GM to search is not required, it is only when you believe your team has done enough or done the right things and wish to use Taunt. Also, although Taunt and Awareness seem the same; they are not interchangeable.

Possible Taunt Scenario

● Team A has entered a new thread after following fresh destruction. They know that something massive has recently gone through this area due to some of the rubble lacking the inch thick coat of dust and soot on nearly everything else in the area. Additionally the swathing tracks left appear as if some giant creature on skis had been trekking through ahead of them. Following these the vastly obvious pieces of evidence the team continues on until they disappear into seemingly thin air. Deciding to use one of their Taunts, they post in the appropriate GM request thread and make the post. After reviewing the efforts made by the team over the past several hours, the GM makes his own post.

"A burning rage fills the men and women of the party linking the emotional chains that each of them bears together and forcing out the red hot irons of anger into the physical world. It pierces painfully through the stomachs of each before slamming into the building in front of them. The chain rattles and burns the air around it as it gouges the structure's guts. An instant later the chain disappears in a spray of sparks and the rage of each team member disappears. After the harrowing experience is over their panting is overwhelmed by silence until a beastly roar echoes out in the distance..."

Stealth

While Aggro is mostly an Awareness and "face front" system; stealth deals with subversion and patience. If you are ever rolling against an Aggro roll, you are really rolling for Stealth. The whole idea is that if you stealth wins you were more sneaky, agile, lucky, whatever and now have the ability to strike back. Think of it like "counter-punching". When a boxer moves in for that power punch, the skilled counter-puncher can use superior footwork and head movement to evade the strike and come in with his own. That is counter punching.

Essential Information:

There are only three types of Stealth abilities just like there are only three types of Aggro abilities. Yet beside some minor differences (use, rolls, etc.) these abilities are very similar.

Cover - This form of stealth is the opposite of Aggro's awareness check. Instead of trying to find someone in hiding you become that person in hiding. Depending on the situation how this ability is rolled for varies. It really all depends on whether or not your team takes the initiative.

Cover

● Team A uses Cover before (initiative) Team B can use Awareness to see if there is any other teams nearby. Due to this, Team B must roll a total number lower than that of A in order to determine if the Cover attempt fails. If they (Team B) rolls higher than Team A did then they did not find Team A.

● Team B rolls for an Awareness check against Team A, before they were able to roll for Cover. In order to say hidden from Team B, Team A must roll a higher number than Team B.

Ambush! - Much like Charge! this is the offensive stealth attack but unlike the Aggro counterpart, the roll system and ways in which it can be executed are vastly different. Ambush may only be used in a non face-to-face engagement. Literally ambushing with trap or sudden attack that catches them by surprise. Running headlong into the face of an opponent does not qualify as a surprise attack.

Ambush!

● Team A passes by a dark alley, only to suddenly become ambushed from behind by Team B who have emerged from this same alley. Team A must now roll a lower number than Team B in order to route the ambush and counter-attack the roller with the -5 strike.

Investigate - Aggro has Taunt, which (as stated before) is meant to draw out special mobs from hiding and progress through the Event. However Stealth uses the ability known as Investigate to do literally that, this is also the potentially less dangerous route to take when searching in the Event. As a result it is RECOMMENDED to Rank 70 and lower teams. This mostly to encourage players who are more focused on thinking as opposed to breaking to choose this area of playing. Like Taunt, this also may only be used up to three times a day and require a GM request when actually performing the ability. Up until then, no one is needed and all normal searching is done on your own time. When used the Investigate ability grants the team to search the area they are at in an otherwise impossible manner to draw forth their own situation.

Possible Investigate Scenario

● Team B has been toiling away in the underground archives of a Museum for several hours after deriving possible hints from multiple locations related to their excursion down there. After finally discovering the massive unmarked box that holds the statue (or at least something similar to it) the notes of historians make mention of in journals found in other threads; they post in the GM request thread and ask for assistance. A little while later when the GM has finished reviewing their posts and confirming whether or not they have done anything relevant to the Event a post is made in response. Previously though, this same Team had made another Investigation attempt that had failed:

● Team B has broken into the ruined office of a Historian at the remains of the university, in it they find mention of a mysterious artifact that may aid them on their journey or better yet, allow them to pass through to the next area. Believing that they had done enough work to discover what is going on they call in for a GM. The GM promptly posts in the thread that 'while the Journals are relevant, they are not exactly the end of the road' and gives deeper information on them to the players so that they may have better luck later on as to where they should go.

● Now that they have found what they believe to the right statue mentioned in the Journals by the GM they call him back again and wait for his response which leads into this:

"The Mysterious power that binds the ragtag group together begins to pulse frantically from their bodies before blinking out and concentrating to a central point before them. Filling their minds with a sensation of writer's block, confusion, and paranoia all at once. This same light then begins to spread out across the museum archives quickly destroying all matter and leaving only a white glow in it's place. All but the statue and the people who came before it are gone when suddenly the sensation disappears and the statue has become seemingly animate. In the absent world this statue looks down upon the party before it and opens the stone mouth carved into its face before speaking...

'Answer my question true or face extinction in this infinitude.'

Double or Nothing

A few players may have noticed by now that in the rules it states that certain Stealth/Aggro abilities may not be used when a fight starts; however it makes no mention of other ones being disabled. That being said, should your team take the initiative on a Cover or Awareness check (and win!) then you may decide if your team wishes to either Charge! or Ambush! in a "Double or Nothing" situation.

This is not something to take lightly as the odds of winning a roll two times in a row are significantly decreased. There is also the consequences of failure, and whether or not they outweigh the pros of such an endeavor. What occurs, should your team win the first roll is that they can then state they wish to roll for the second. By doing this, they have LITERALLY made two turns without giving their opponents a single one as of yet. Meaning an engagement is forced and depending on which you used (Charge! or Ambush!) the ability to escape or keep your opponent fighting is now yours.

Additionally if the second roll is won, then the person rolling may now choose up to two people on the other team to hit with a -5 subtraction to those player's ranks OR a single -10 attack to one person. Of course, should you fail to win the roll then the other team gets to inflict the same punishment on you without taking damage. So again, when opting to use a DoN do not cry over losing the roll, that was your own decision to make.

[3POINT141592653589793238]

Traversing the Land

Why couldn't we just fly in on the eagles?

Moving across the threads will not be so "easy" as it previously has been in nearly every Event ever made. Mainly because this Event is founded upon the idea of searching for so and so monster/person/being and such and such item/thing/object in order to pass through to the next area. Of course combat between teams is highly encouraged, because after all... knowledge is power and a little bit of it can go a long a** way. But to say that this is a purely Player vs. Player game (like the majority of Triad) would be a mistake. This is more of a blend of Unity and Broken City. Basically to keep people from zooming around the maps and manically searching every thread that they can as fast as they can certain buffers have been put in place.

Each team can elect to use a "driver" if they wish to cross the land (more on this later) or just post normally and individually while maintaining every person in the thread. There is a procedure to posting in both instances, so please pay close attention to the following information.

In an older Event, a single player or team as a whole may have needed to simply post twice in a thread (one for entering and one for exiting) in order to continue on, without so much as a time delay other than the "You have posted too recently" message Gaia has. Or maybe even just a single post so long as no one from another group had posted in the thread within a certain amount of time. This Event combines a few of the techniques together and adds more in order to more closely match or rather press upon the importance of searching thoroughly.

● Each team member online must post a minimum of three times in a thread before they can post in a different thread. (Entrance, Filler, Exit)

● In order to post with the normal method at least three members of the same team must be online to make posts, any less than that number and a "driver" must be used.

● A "Driver" is essentially the designated poster (get it?) for a party. When using a driver only two posts needs to be made for the entire team but he/she must WAIT five minutes in between posts. This includes the entrance post for the new thread. All of this is done to insure at least ten minutes are spent in a thread.

● The driver can be anyone on a team, provided they can use Ventrilo. You do not need a mic but you must be able to connect to the server and hear the other people in order to respond via the chat room.

● The driver can also change at any time with no permission needed, so long as the new driver can also be in Ventrilo and wait the time between posts.

● And again, under no circumstances (other than character death, you obviously don't need to haul the corpse around) is a team allowed to split its members up into different threads.

● Additionally there will be certain threads or moments where the time limit does not apply. These will be clearly marked or made known to the players through other means.

[3POINT141592653589793238]

Prizes

Here's your gold star, Scooter!

[3POINT141592653589793238]

Blacklist

Only two people are in that book and one of them is still Al Capone.

Vintrict - Because I will not stand it. This goes for any and all incarnations of him and his characters.

Ortei - Uh... hello? I might as well let Ertai in while I am at it.

[Nihilistic_Impact]

Interesting.

[Arcturus Highwind]

There needs to be a ModeHard Team. I'd join it.

[Sey]

Another team thing~

Hm. I just skimmed it but here's a bump for Jak.

[Arcturus Highwind]

Still not sure if I'm going Aggro or Stealth though. Probably will wait to choose based on my character rather than my score.