miragemodage

FAQ

General

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. Reach out to your mod team if you want your actions to have rewards or consequences, or if you're feeling stuck.

Newase is animistic. Everything material has a corresponding spirit; those spirits are collectively called ogre. On a daily basis this has no practical impact to your character... but that tree you cut down, that house you slept in, even the grolf you let pass by all had a spiritual side to them, an ogre. 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.

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.

Characters and Applications

Whom may I app here?

We do not allow player-made AUs or canon/fandom OCs. We do allow CRAUs and, if eligible, setting AUs. We have no restrictions by medium or material, and in general are pretty open to considering any character that is suitable (as determined in our application). Characters made under tabletop systems are allowed.

We may, however, add exceptions to this limit. At this time we have the following exceptions:

•Malleable protagonists. This includes any canon where the protagonist varies vastly depending on character choices (e.g. Shepard Mass Effect) or is the central protagonist with a player-defined personality (e.g. The Warrior of Light from FFXIV). We have no good way to reconcile the fixed NPCs of these settings with a main character they all have a connection with yet their players know nothing about, and as such have elected to render that problem moot.

How often will applications be open?

After the opening round, applications will be open once per month so long as the game is under our player limit.

What is your player limit? What is your character limit?

The game will not have application rounds if there are 30 or more players in the game. Please see the Rules for further details.

May I app a character who is dead in canon?

Yes, so long as they weren't explicitly slain by a soul-eating attack. If they were, they should be apped at moment-of-death.

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 powers are changed; they become Techs and Unleashes. Briefly put, a character will have access to canon powers, but only be able to use so many at a time, and only one at a high power level. Characters who lack powers will gain them, while characters with immense numbers of powers may not be able to access them all.

Powers are flattened in Mirage -- that is to say, every character's abilities are approximately equal, before in-game growth is taken into account. Please refer to our character guide.

How do I make a setting AU character?

If you have or have had a character in Mirage, you may make a character a setting AU. Your character has basically grown-up in Newase instead of their home canon -- but aside from the inevitable logical differences that result, should be 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. They will wake up with a weapon of their choice 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. Companions such as pets or support characters who would otherwise be ineligble to app (e.g. a talking sword or a summoned familiar) may come with your character. Any power or ability they have becomes one of your Techs or your Unleash.

My character has unusual or special dietary, health, or survival needs; how should I handle this?

If this trait is central to their identity (such as a vampire or an alien race that needs tungsten to live), they retain it, and must find a way to address it. No inherent compensation exists, although Newase has a sufficient blend of fantastic powers and technological ability that you can most likely find a way without much difficulty. If the trait is not central to their identity (such as a peanut allergy or a low vitamin D level), it no longer exists.

What about other physical characteristics, such as scars, tattoos, etc.?

The same answer: they remain only if they are core identity traits.

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 somehow. This game does not punish failure, but encourages players to look at it as a means to advance character growth and development.

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.

What about us brain-dead slobs?

You'll be given cushy jobs!

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, Techs 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.

How are plot-critical actions and revelations communicated? If a character learns something, may they keep it secret?

All characters will learn all plot-critical information. If a pair of characters discover a ruin that has an Ancient Machine of Plot-Devicery, all characters will semi-consciously learn of the ruins and that machine within a month. An IC reason exists for this.

Quests, Adventures, And So On

How do I do anything in this game?

Every player has full freedom to do pretty much whatever they desire. If you want to take on a job to kill 10 $CREATURES or obtain twenty $CREATURE_ASSES, you get one. If you want to find a ruin, you find one. If you want to rough up a kid in an alley and take his candy money, you're awful, but you can do it. So long as your desires are within a reasonable scope, you have blanket permission to create locations, monsters, towns, caverns, and NPCs to interact with.

What if I want the mods to give me a kickass quest? What if I want my kickass quest to have kickass rewards that wouldn't normally be reasonable to find without input?

The monthly info post will give you a chance to take on an adventure! Simply comment in the appropriate place and we will give you the basic structure of an adventure, and what reward you might get for completing it. To complete an adventure, you must thread it -- you cannot handwave it -- but you have as long as you like to do so.

What if I'm feeling really, really adventurous?

You sound like you're asking for a faceful of a mod-run adventure. By request, the mod team can participate in your adventure log, throwing challenges and twists your way. This is an excellent way to come across remarkable rewards or plot information, but it has two caveats. First, you must have at least one other PC participant; the mods will not run solo adventures. Second, this mod attention comes with the possibility of failure or even worse consequence. We will not seek to punish you or inflict woe on your character without your direct input, but we do ask you be prepared for an adventure to not go the way you might have wanted.

Terminology

What are Techs?

'Techs', short for Techniques, is the one-sized-fits-all system of special 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 Backstab Tech as a Mirage. A wizard might have a Fireball Tech. Whatever your character could once do, they do it through Arts now.

The Tech system exists to facilitate character equality, increase challenge and conflict in adventures, and balance the Experience Point system.

What functional change comes over a skill or technique when it becomes a Tech?

One major and distinct one: the only burden to using that Tech is time. Techs must recharge after use. 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 Unleashes?

Unleashes 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?

In a broad sense, yes; access to Techs and Unleashes serves to keep characters roughly equal, encourage fair expenditure of Experience Points, and offer avenues for a character to improve (for example, the perennial question of learning a cross-canon power? Buy a Tech). But in a thread or a scene, the details don't matter, the style does.

Techa and Unleashes exist to enhance scenes, to add drama and power. Desperately holding off a powerful foe while your Unleash charges, realizing you should have swapped Two Strong Hits out for Five Weaker Hits, or trying to gain position on a monster so your Backstab 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.