polterguests

frequently asked questions.

mechanics

Do I have to keep anything secret OOCly in this game?
The only secret you need to keep this game, ICly and OOCly, is whether or not your character has been Spirited Away on CYOA for the week! We ask that you do not tell other players if you have been selected for the CYOA group and ICly, it will happen later in the week so your characters could not tell others even if they wanted to. Otherwise, there will be nothing in the game that is locked except for Activity Check and Curse Reporting mechanics. For those who are familiar with other short-term game types, this means that there are no Private Conversations this game. Have your heartfelt chats out in the open for us to read, thanks!

What if there’s a mechanic that I don’t want to engage in due to possible time constraints? Are they mandatory?
The only mechanics in the game that have strict time constraints are CYOAs and Reveals. If you aren’t able to make it to either of these, that should not dampen your game experience as long as you engage with our other mechanics and prompts! They are simply available for players who would like to participate. In addition, if we get a group of players who would like to request a slower-paced CYOA, we can also do our best to accommodate that so everyone is able to engage in the full experience!

Maze Runs are slightly time restricted in the sense that we ask that choices be made in a timely manner, just so you have time to play out the results! It would be tough to be making choices about the TDM maze a month later when the game calendar is already three mazes past that. So we’ll ask that your Maze Run choices also happen within the week period of that themed maze!

Is there a limitation to how many characters I can app?
At game start, we are asking every person to come in with only one character that they plan to play for the duration of Purgastory, start to finish. However, there will be a midway point in the game where we will allow players to bring in second characters if they would like to explore the setting more with another character. We ask that you be thoughtful about your application since we do hope that you’ll keep both of your characters until game end!

character-relevant

What type of character can I app?
Characters from canons such as games, books, anime, movies, comics/webcomics, TV, etc whose apps will be more than 75% canon (and thus 25% headcanon or less), and OCs. At this time, we are not accepting Game CRAUs. We’d like for everyone to start off on a clean slate! However, if this test game goes well, who knows what the future holds? OoooOoooOoOoOOo.

Does my character have access to their powers?
Sure! So long as it doesn’t break the game, why would we be the boss of you? To be more specific, characters can access their powers as long as it doesn’t a ) result in permanent alterations of the game setting, b ) allow for travel or communication outside of Purgatory, and c ) become so overpowered that it makes the game experience less fun for you or the other players. For those who would like to have a spicier experience, powers may glitch as you please—sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t according to Rule of Funny or the whims of fate (you).
The only exception to this rule is any types of powers that revolve around the resurrection of the dead or healing. Resurrection and revival are completely defunct in Purgatory. Sort of goes against the whole premise, you know? And healing can be cast on minor injuries (little booboos or perhaps even a sprain) but larger injuries will be unaffected by healing except for pain reduction, which would be the equivalent of taking a Tylenol.

My character arrived with a horrible injury or dead! What now?
They have been healed just enough to not bleed out upon arrival. Whether you’d like to heal them further or have them rough it up in the worst welcome ever, that’s entirely up to you. Do whatever your chaotic little heart desires.

Is there a healing mechanic in the game?
There will be! :) You'll See.

Does my character remember anything else leading up to arriving in Purgatory?
They will remember that there is something they are searching for in Purgatory, and they made the active choice to be here to find it. What is it? They don’t know! Did they have to die to get here? That’s up to you! It’s completely optional and freeform how your character made the decision to journey down to this nebulous plane of existence, so long as they chose to be here to engage in the search.

Are there any caps?
This game is currently invitation-only with a hard cap of thirty-five players, but we expect our numbers to be closer to thirty (30) to allow for a more personalized experience. Cast caps are limited to five characters per cast. Franchise titles (Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, Honkai Impact the 3rd) are considered separate whereas games that exist within a semi- linear timeline (Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Fire Emblem: Three Hopes) will be considered from the same cast.

Can my character bring along anything from home? Including pets?
Characters can come in with the clothes off their back, the items in their pockets at their canonpoints, and their pet if they were also present at the aforementioned canonpoint. Anything else can be regained over time.

have more questions?

Feel free to ask in the Discord in the #mod-questions channel or make a Discord Group DM with your mods! It's simply the fastest way to get our attention.

faq.