Mystery Mansion

For reference: the map pieces are here, here, here, and here.

Mystery Mansion

The Mansion has now officially ended. If you would like to know how things turned out, you can read the resolution of the story in my last post. Depending on how the moderators hash things out afterward, you may receive a PM with some questions about your experience in the next few weeks.

Mystery Mansion 2

Good mortereve! This year's Mystery Mansion will open in about a week, on July 1st, so now is the time to indicate your plan to participate AND the character you intend to use. You can indicate your intention to participate here. Feel free to use the Tavern to discuss the upcoming Mansion with other writers.

Once you sign up for the Mansion, please PM myself (Delia Death) with a short summary of your character. Please do this before you build a full profile, as this is designed to help the Mansion team succeed in surviving. Each writer is only allowed one (1) character. It is up to your character to survive as long as possible, but keep in mind that your character is likely to survive longer if he or she is able to be part of a team.

You may use a character you have already created, as long as you are willing to modify them to fit specifications here. Characters may select one primary and one secondary strength, as well as one primary and one secondary weakness, from the list below. If the gamemasters feel like the team as a whole is overly weak in a certain area, they reserve the right to change a character's secondary strength to best fit the needs of the group. For the purposes of the story, if a challenge requires a certain strength, it is assumed that the character will be able to complete the task. If the writer feels uncertain in this, they can request assistance from the gamemasters.

For example, using stargazer’s Dan Baxter: Dan’s strengths would be Mechanical/Technical and Wilderness Survival. His weaknesses could be Animal Handling and Cooking. If a truck breaks down in the story, Dan automatically has the power to fix it. If the horses get loose, Dan is only going to make things worse, so he should probably sit back and let someone else go after the horses.

Strengths selected should compliment your character’s role. For example, if your character is a computer geek, "martial arts" would be a poor choice for a primary strength, while "hacking" would be more appropriate. Your character's appearance, gender, backstory, and all other details are of your own design.

If you wish to post your character's profile, you are welcome to do so here.

Characteristic List:
- Acrobatics/Flexibility
- Hand-to-hand Combat
- Long-range Combat
- Weapons Proficiency
- Marksmanship
- Strategic Planning
- Sleight of Hand
- Stealth
- Escapism
- Morality
- Investigation/Observation
- Logic
- Etic or Photographic Memory
- Animal Handling
- Insight/Intuition
- Healing
- Herbalism
- Cooking
- Foraging
- Building
- Mechanical/Technical
- Invention
- Metalwork
- Perception
- Wilderness Survival
- Tracking

If you have any questions, feel free to PM a moderator or post them here. Thanks!

Mystery Mansion II

I'm in. I'll probably go with a completely new character as its been so long since I've written for any of my pre-existing ones... also, don't feel like digging through the archives to find them.

Mystery Mansion II

What? No Neal?

Mystery Mansion II

Not this time. Unless I *have to* under threats to my existence.

I'm playing. I'm making a new character named Dr. Valmai Dahktur. Her strengths are Healing and Escapism. Her weaknesses are acrobatics and cooking.

I'm in. I'll have to create a new character, but I'm thinking stealth/acrobatics as the strengths with morality/cooking as the weaknesses.

Mystery Mansion II

Against my better judgement I have decided to join, Ainsley is just gonna have to die in a rapid manner.

Mystery Mansion II

Just a little reminder: while characters having sidekicks is perfectly fine, please only bring one character to the Mansion party itself.

Have fun Mansioning!

Mystery Mansion II

Hey guys, time to start pulling it in. The official mystery will start on the 7th, so everyone needs to be in the Mansion at that point in time. Also, due to time constraints, be forewarned that we will not have time to RP through the party--once most everyone arrives, the story will start.

Mystery Mansion II

Just in case anyone was wondering, your mission at the moment is to catch a zombie. So go have fun and don't chance getting bit. If you aren't sure about a particular action, feel free to post here or PM me.

Mystery Mansion II

Hey all! So, couple things. First off, a quick reminder that you can discuss game strategy here in the tavern. This might be handy for planning. Secondly, the Mansion was originally planned to last for about six weeks--and we just hit the 3 week mark. If the plot is not finished in the next three weeks, you won't all automatically lose or anything, but some players may not be able to continue playing past that point, so keep that in mind.

Now, down to business. We have something new to introduce to the game: badges!

We have three badges to give out at this time:

Bookwyrm earned a red badge for being the first to arrive at the party.

PrinceCor004 earned a blue badge for organizing the first tracking party.

Anhun earned a blue badge for getting the other players to try to figure out how to cure/what caused the infection.[/list3hu1jd5u]
The way the badges work is pretty simple. There are three types of badges: red, blue, and green.
Red badges are worth 1 point and can be earned for simple things, like being the first to do something everyone is expected to do (in this case, show up at the party).
Blue badges are worth three points and can be earned for taking the initiative and doing things that move the plot forward (anything that helps the story progress when the story is stuck).
Green badges are rare, and are reserved for things that the gamemasters deem to be extraordinary. This might be something that is not necessary to the plot, but shows off your character's character, and highly benefits the group as a whole. A green badge is worth 5 points.[/list3hu1jd5u]
While in most cases, only one badge will be given out at a time, the gamemasters reserve the right to "stack" badges. For instance, if a character does something that moves the plot forward and simultaneously saves the lives of other characters, the gamemasters might choose to award both a blue and a green badge. All gamemaster decisions regarding badges are final.

The gamemasters keep track of the points awarded. Points can be spent to increase the chance of a positive roll. (Example: if your character's strengths are finger painting and basketweaving, and they get cornered by a horde of zombies, they would have to roll a 1 to survive the attack. If they have three points, they can use those points to up their chances, so they only have to roll a 1, 2, 3, or 4 to survive the attack.). In cases where there are more than two possible outcomes, the player may choose where they wish for the increase to go. Points can also be spent to manipulate the rolls of others either positively or negatively.

It costs 1 point to manipulate your own roll by 1 (max purchase: 5 points)
It costs 2 points to manipulate another player’s roll by 1 (max purchase: 4 points)[/list3hu1jd5u]
Because of the introduction of points, there will be a small amount of lag time introduced to rolls. Once a gamemaster posts the chances of any particular roll, players have 24 hours to to apply points or to decide not to roll at all. Character(s) may choose to roll immediately, rather than wait 24 hours. Only the character rolling may make this decision.

Mystery Mansion II

I wasn't 100% sure what to say with Aron's debriefing in my post here, so if anything I said doesn't work, please let me know! Melian_Maia, I hope it was okay that I posted first. If Austyn has anything to add, please feel free.

Thanks for writing with us, folks! We've got new writing threads coming out sometime soon. Stay posted in Ditto Town for further updates!