Off Camera

[Moira Morley]

We've been talking about a no fourth wall thread where all of our characters can mingle, come and go as they please, and generally just cut up. Would this be cool or not?

[Heritage]

We've been talking about a no fourth wall thread where all of our characters can mingle, come and go as they please, and generally just cut up. Would this be cool or not?

I love this idea so much it's not even funny.

[quotemyname]

I agree whole-heartedly. It would solve the "You can't post because your character is involved in other stuff" problem. I am sure that there are plenty of comics out there that have been declared as not canon. why can't we have things that represent this?

[Geez3r]

A. I think the idea is totally sweet.

B. There might be a problem with it.

With it being off camera and all, with potentially every single PC being able to use it simultaneously, that's gonna be a bit of the problem for the refs counting everything. Also, in other threads, you can only post at the speed of plot. If you're off camera, there is by definition, no plot, meaning characters can post as much as they want, and be rewarded for it.

So if we do this, we might have to make off camera posts count less, because you can do more of them without consequence. I say 'might' because this is all quite untested. And to keep track of them better, there might wind up being an Off Camera sub-board like Downtown or Riverside.

[quotemyname]

why does off camera demand that it have no story? I was thinking of making threads that are considered "not canon" and therefore don't appear in the time line. everything else about them would remain the same as normal threads. (at least that's how I would do it). It just gives people a way to get into more threads if the current canon time line for their character is screwed up or bogged down *cough* Captain *cough*

[Geez3r]

Ah, I misunderstood. I though you were talking about like a coffee room thread. Where like all the character are on set of a movie studio or something, the director says cut and they all take a break and hang out discussing whatever.

[Moira Morley]

Ah, I misunderstood. I though you were talking about like a coffee room thread. Where like all the character are on set of a movie studio or something, the director says cut and they all take a break and hang out discussing whatever.

That's what I meant, but he does have a point :P

[angrydurf]

Well I think there are plenty of threads that are primarily RP that happen and they certainly can boost post counts. That seems to me to be less of an issue than the mess of trying to count posts in a really big thread like that might be worth it just to say that that thread didn't count towards post counts.

Non-continuity threads ont eh other hand really woudl be fine in general and woudl just be in a seperate forum that could be set up and called Dis-continuity or something clever . Nothing that happens there really happens but its a chance for people to try stuff out and do threads that wouldn't happen in the main timeline.

[quotemyname]

it could also be a place to try out stuff that would not normally happen. Ever wonder what it would be like if "those two heroes" fought each other? even though neither of them have any IC reason to do so? Or have every IC reason not to do so as the case may be? This could give us a chance to find out.

[Moira Morley]

Well, it could be used for more than fights. I was thinking adventures too. And of course the ubiquitous coffee room/porch/bar/whatever :P

[quotemyname]

All purpose "wreck-room" of sorts with little storyline limitations placed on characters or players. (the fight idea was just one example of how it may be used)

[Warmonger]

WEll that is intersting, I wouldn't mind though I see some hitches though.

One: Couldn't this be done in the chat room?

Two: I am curious how the languge would go. I mean after a while isn't it very likely that the characters end up being just mouth pieces for the player? Take away the IC reasons to be anywhere you sort of take out some of their personality I imagine.

[Ecalsneerg]

I actually like the idea of Elseworlds-style threads, where people have slightly different riffs on their characters, i.e. what if Avenger was a Star Knight. Of course, in some cases builds would need tweaked, but I'd probably just encourage players to self-enforce, not make up original material and stick to the builds as close as possible, with some ref intervention if needed. (i.e the Avenger example would probably have lower skills and possibly no vampire powers, but use the Star Knight Device as-is from the Freedom City book)

(This isn't me speaking as a ref, by the way.)

[quotemyname]

WEll that is intersting, I wouldn't mind though I see some hitches though.

One: Couldn't this be done in the chat room?

Two: I am curious how the languge would go. I mean after a while isn't it very likely that the characters end up being just mouth pieces for the player? Take away the IC reasons to be anywhere you sort of take out some of their personality I imagine.

IC posts should still be just that. It wasn't [my] intention to have this be a set of threads that allowed characters to break character. It also should not be used as an excuse for characters to break character.

the fourth wall should be left in tact

[Heritage]

To me this has so much potential for wonder and abuse that we need to make it happen; someone spoke of labeling is Discontinuity, which I like. It could be a sub-forum with distinct areas:

1.) Liberty Perk. This is what Moira first had in mind, a place for the characters to hang off-stage, so to speak. Not unlike the Party thread, but outside of continuity, and (possibly) a spongy fourth wall.

2.) The Wreck Room. A place for fights, jousts and challenges without fear of reprecussions; think of it as the Arena for the hero set.

3.) Otherwhens. A place to try out alternate versions of your character, just for fun.

These are of course just suggestions; no one has to go into a room they're not into, and we can always add or archive rooms as we (or technically the refs) see fit.

[quotemyname]

Seconded!

[Moira Morley]

Firsted? >.>

[Dr Archeville]

Hurm....

*retreats to the Ref Cave*

[Dr Archeville]

And, lo, there shall come... changes!

First, Moira's original idea -- "like a coffee room thread. Where like all the character are on set of a movie studio or something, the director says cut and they all take a break and hang out discussing whatever." -- is not going to be allowed. I am very opposed to this, it's far too Meta for what I'd like to see on this board.

However, all the other ideas will be done, at least on a trial basis.

The "Wreck Room" (for PCs to fight each other) can easily be done in-continuity: we can say the Freedom League/the Albright Institute/ASTRO Labs/A Wealthy PC/Some Mysterious Benefactor set up a big "play area" a few miles outside the city limits for any and all metahumans to come and work out & spar (possibly as a pre-pre-screening for future Freedom League membership). Known villains aren't allowed in (they have the Arena), but villains who can adequately disguise themselves could come in.

For the non-canon/out of continuity stuff, a separate forum has been made. Through a Glass, Darkly is where alternate versions of our characters can go, and Else Ifs and What Worlds wil host the actual non-canon stories (using either the existing characters or alternate versions).

There are two caveats:

1) To avoid the case of people posting more in there than in the regular, in-continuity forums (which should be making up the bulks of the board), we are limiting the number of active threads in there to ten.

2) Similarly, posts made in these non-canon stories count as only 1/2 for end-of-month post tallying purposes. That is, 2 IC posts made for a char in a non-canon story only count as one IC post for the month.

Also, those two forums are like Las Vegas: whatever happens there, stays there.

Which is to say, anything that goes on there is not to be mentioned or have any impact on stuff in the rest of the board.

[Ecalsneerg]

Are the alternate character versions going to be allowed at player discretion, as I suggested earlier?

[quotemyname]

Sounds GOOD! Can't wait to get started!

[Dr Archeville]

Are the alternate character versions going to be allowed at player discretion, as I suggested earlier?

Yeah. Since they'll be of such limited use, they won't need to go through the same approval process regular characters have to go through, but the Refs will keep an eye on them to make sure nothing too crazy is going on.

[Dr Archeville]

It seems that when I made those forums, I did not set it so anyone could post in them.

That should be fixed now :)

[quotemyname]

Would simply posting alternate versions / alternate features of your character be worth the 1/2 post?

[Dr Archeville]

No.