cordibus: (Hearto)
cordibus ([personal profile] cordibus) wrote2017-04-16 12:37 am
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Frequently Asked Questions

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There are (what we think) are questions you may have about the game. If you have more, feel free to reply below with one!

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GENERALAPPLICATION GAME WORLD

General Questions
What is this game?
Recursion is about characters awakening to new powers while finding out the life they've been living is a lie, regaining their memories of their homeworlds, and fighting back during the night to find the answers to their many questions.

I know nothing about the Persona video games. Will I still enjoy this game?
You don't need canon knowledge since Recursion is a self-contained story. It's inspired by Persona 3, 4 & 5 and are a few reoccurring themes from the Persona universe (such as the Velvet Room and the Shopping Channel), but newcomers will be able to understand what is going on. Persona usage has also been modified from the games to be very simple and easy to play, with strong emphasis on group participation.

What does being Awakened or The Awakening mean?
Before characters regain their lost memories, they are more or less a clog in the city's system. However, once they remember their old memories, they become an Awakened. The process of regaining those memories is called The Awakening. Most Awakenings are very hard for the characters both physically and mentally.

What canon(s) can I apply from?
We accept canon characters and canon AUs (such as Cloud from Kingdom Hearts and so on). You may also apply an OC, a CRAU (with up to 1 previous game's history), or a Fandom OC (although these will also be judged on a case-by-case basis). Player-created main characters, such as the protagonists of Mass Effect or Dragon Age games, will be judged case to case basis.

What are the Activity Check Requirements?
There are two ways to make AC! One is an open network post, log, or top level plus 7 comments. The other is 10 total comments. You can use multiple threads for AC!

Additionally, there is a bonus system used to modify personas and gain new group skills and weapon upgrades. While these may be based on post count, this is not always the case. Typical bonuses examples are request to tag new players, starting threads with a specific prompt, or doing a log that is detailed in the Velvet Room Requests. These are changed slightly every AC month.

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Application Questions
What can my character bring with them?
Due to the game's premise, your character has nothing from their old world - no powers, no weapons, no clothing. As far as they know, they've been living in Eddan their entire lives. While it may be possible to regain certain items and powers down the line, essentially all characters start off the same with one Persona, one weapon and one gun.

Can I apply for a character that is dead in canon?
Yes! That will make for a very interesting Awakening.

I play a robot/pony/non humanoid. Will they keep their original form?
Not all the time. During the day, they will keep the human forms that they were given in this world, but after Awakening, they will revert to their original forms at night. Any character above eight feet will also be reduced to that height.

As a note: other Awakened characters can also catch glimpses of the character's real form during the day. The best way to explain it is that it works a lot like the anime Wolf's Rain, where humans see the wolves as humans only, but the wolves see each other as wolves. It can sometimes lead to comical situations. (How is that pony driving that car?? Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!)

My character can already summon a Persona. Do they have to start over like everyone else?
Yes. Summoning from the heart is different from other Persona summoning methods. Since their other Personas are 'locked up' in their mind, they will not be able to access them.

Can I apply as resident of the Velvet Room?
Yes. However, they will be unable to use their powers just like the other Persona canon characters.

Can I create my Persona by myself?
As part of your application, you will be asked to list your choice for your character's Persona's branch type, styles, and passives along with your chosen Heart Demon. Once this is approved by the mods and you're given your spells, you're ready for the next step.

Players are free to design what their character's Persona looks like when summoned.

What can a Demonic Persona look like?
Anything your heart desires. The demons can look humanoid or be based off objects and general descriptions are included on the Demons page for you to use (or not use) as inspiration. The maximum height of a persona is three times the character's height (but it can be tiny as well, if you like). Here is a list of various examples from Persona 4 to give you ideas.

Players can draw on their character's canon for inspiration for Persona design. A Pokemon trainer might have a Pokemon-like demonic persona, for example, or characters who had alternate selves in their canons might see traits of that form in their demonic Persona. Just keep in mind that it can't look exactly like something from canon..

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Game World
What is the city like? How come my characters never noticed anything wrong?
How come will be something characters will learn as the game progresses. However, for the most part, the city's populace acts normal and the city itself looks like any other city in the world. Citizens go to work, attend school, obey the traffic laws, browse the internet and post terrible memes... It is only when a character is Awakened that they notice that a few things are off - for example while there is an airport, no one ever seems to leave; the world news tends to be repetitive and almost...bland; and all the buses bound for locations outside the city seem to be indefinitely delayed. There is also an imposed curfew after nightfall due to some ongoing murders the news never seems to give much detail about...

Additionally, while their non-Awakened family are not their 'true' family, they will still feel like family. They may worry about them, warn them to be careful, and check up on them from time to time. Players are freely allowed to play and NPC their other family members once accepted, or even make plans with new players to form families.

Of course, this answer will change as the game progresses. The seeds of rebellion may need to be sowed in places beyond this city...

Can my character leave the city?
Currently, no. Again, planes and buses out of the city always seem to be delayed and vehicles attempting to leave will either break down near the city's bridges or accidents will happen, blocking traffic. Don't ask 'normal' citizens about it either, since they won't realize it seems weird. After all, there are plenty of people coming in.

Can my character create a stink about the situation or go to the media regarding the anomalies?
For the most part, they'll just get treated like a crazy person. It might draw unwanted attention and ire and paint a target on their back. Remember, it's a rebellion, but it's meant to be a stealthy, nightly one. Trying to force out the truth by shocking it into those who aren't Awakened can be extremely dangerous and highly lethal to normal citizens.

Where does my character stay and live?
They continue to stay with their families lead the same life they had in the city before being Awakened. Exchange students can live in student dorms. There's no specific area for players to live in. As long as it seems reasonable, we will let you do as you want. Planning at night for the rebellion tends to be done in closed homes and the main school, Green Valley.

Why plan at the school?
In part, as a callback to the Persona series. Story-wise, the school harbors many of its own secrets and areas to discover. Since there are 10,000 students from all grades aged between 4-30, a few more there won't draw that much attention. It is also where the two Telephone Viruses, Luci and Lily, lead the Awakened after their first full night.

Who are Luci and Lily?
They claim to be Viruses working with the Velvet Room. While themselves not residents, they have their own purposes to fulfill and are ready to help the Awakened in any way they can. Just don't expect them to explain everything. They enjoy riddles and making characters think for themselves.

What happens if I drop?
There are two options when a character is dropped. The most common is that a character's heart wasn't able to take on the task of rebellion for long and they revert to their 'sleeping' state just like they were before being Awakened.

Characters who are dropped that had relationships to other characters in the game (say they believed they were father and son before being Awakened) would typically lose that connection and the remaining Awakened characters would not be able to reawaken them and reestablish the same relationship. In simple terms, a dropped character would lose their old life and start a new one somewhere else in the city. There is some small comfort that they are out there, still alive. However, lately thiat has changed and the dropped characters can stay close with their family, they simply won't remember their time as 'Awakened'.

Which brings us to the second option: death. It is possible for a character to become a victim of the murders or fall to the Shadows in battle. However, an outright death should be planned with any close CR since it may be highly traumatic for whatever characters are left behind in the aftermath. If we find out that the character's death drop wasn't brought to the attention of close castmates or close city AU castmates or if we get a private complaint that they weren't contacted, the death will instead be treated as a normal drop. Note that their death does not mean that the character cannot be apped for again, however they will need to be a different version of that character and will not have the previous memories of being Awakened.




beastfang: (questioning)

[personal profile] beastfang 2017-04-23 11:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Regarding languages:

Considering the vague don't really know what country Eddan is in or if it even is on an actual earth, and the fact that everyone due to their AU lives speak this city's equivalent to D&D common. If say characters that know like Russian or Japanese, or even some fantasy language would they be able to use such to talk in secret to others? Or does something in this city render such obsolete or makes any attempts to speak another language useless?

I ask for serious plot reasons since some characters would do this due to paranoia, but also because if they can speak Eddan's Common/English and their canon language it would be funny for people to explain randomly slipping into another language when they shouldn't know it.

probablynoteren: (logic comes after e7 tbh)

[personal profile] probablynoteren 2017-04-24 10:47 am (UTC)(link)
OK, quick check since I believe I haven't seen this addressed anywhere, please smack me upside the head if I've missed something in the info at some point but!

If a character has an illness/ailment/encroaching deadly infection in canon, should I assume that that would be cured due to their AU status? What about when they Awaken? Long story short in canon this guy is suffering from a terminal illness with an expiration date of approximately 3 years, characterized by the gradual takeover of his body by an aggressive, devouring foreign cell type. It actually also grants him extra powers while killing him, and is due to him wielding a weapon-slash-monster made up of the same type of cell (but even when he isn't in contact with the weapon the disease progresses so huzzah for him).

Just wanted to doublecheck the hypothetical status of his health in-game, thank you!
nowprocessing: (Default)

[personal profile] nowprocessing 2017-04-25 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
To ask about this nerd - Boxer's personality would probably make him lean more towards a bruiser combatant persona, but I kind of want to keep what happened to him in canon, where he was sealed into the Transistor and played a support role for Red for the game's duration. Would you guys think he'd be able to work as a Navigator, or is it more specific?

Tying into that, I was also wondering if it'd be plausible for him to be locked into (or shift between) his sword form when shifted to his "true" form at night? It has weird reality warper properties that'd possibly allow it to float... or his persona could theoretically be his mode of transport without someone to properly wield him...

He still has a "human form" inside of the sword - think "sealed dimension where the sky is how he sees the outside world", with realistic damage, so he could still do the heart-rippy thing. I'm just wondering how silly he could get, and if I wanted him to nav, if I'd probably need him to be spectating or if he could play nav from inside the sword someone's swinging around, living weapon style.

EDIT: actually curious question: would it be plausible to have the Transistor be his Persona (it's a major godlike device in canon), where using it seals him inside of it until he disperses it, but it can be used like a regular sword and he acts as a nav from inside of it, ala the P5 nav's persona?

I'm just bouncing possible ideas I think'd be fun, so I'm looking forward to your response here. I also think it'd be a fun detail for CR/character growth if you guys do ultimate personas t b h
Edited 2017-04-25 02:02 (UTC)
chaoticdrifting: (2+2 =?)

[personal profile] chaoticdrifting 2017-04-28 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
So. A couple quick questions because I have peeps from Toku canon knocking around and they are so confusing even in canon, let alone to switch them to AU:

1 - Ankh can shift his form to whatever he wants, including taking on the appearance of his hobo, another Greeed, his Greeed form, and his human body's form. When he's Awakened, will he be stuck in just the monstrous Greeed form or can he shift from the Greeed to his human appearance since those are his two most-used forms out of all he wears? Or would it sound better for him to have the human with the monster bird arm while his Persona takes on a form almost like that of his Greeed appearance?

2 - During the daytime when he is playing at being human, is he going to keep the whole human senses/appetites/squishiness of the human body or is it like wearing a people suit to blend in?

3 - Would Ankh have access to his Medals - not for any power but more of a really weird trick or like a focus for his long range weapon? /tosses a Cell Medal at a shadow ala rock/bullet

4 - Regarding Tsukasa's dimensional warping nature, would he still have an offness about him regarding photography/image capturing? Everything that he takes a picture of - no matter with what device - he can never get a regular picture, only double images, or strange blurred effects and the like because he is able to cross dimensions. Will that still be in effect even if he can't access the power?
gardenofbuns: (Default)

[personal profile] gardenofbuns 2017-04-29 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
Hi! This journal has nothing to do with any character I may or may not be considering, but question regarding Personas and Demons and that stuff, as I am someone who has obtained some knowledge of Persona through RP osmosis (namely: Shadows, I know roughly how they work) but is otherwise canonblind.

Personas and Demons... are they the same thing? Or is there a difference? And is the Shadow a different thing, or tied into that? Could you clarify their relationship a bit, please?

...Also, would it be possible for a character to call up on their Persona/Demon/Shadow/etcetera to just talk to outside of combat? Even if it's just at night. (I have at least one option who would want to try that, is why.)
aceofalosthand: (carefully guarded reaction)

[personal profile] aceofalosthand 2017-04-29 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
What currency does Eddan use? I can't seem to find this on the world infodoc.
tacticianing: (Default)

[personal profile] tacticianing 2017-04-30 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
What is the culture in Eddan generally like (every city is different)?
Are there any city-specific festivals or events?
And what is the healthcare like there?
themortalhalf: ([Moon] ♞ let me play amongst the stars)

[personal profile] themortalhalf 2017-05-02 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
Question: Many demons have alternate names they are known by. As long as we keep the demon we chose to the list contained within the game compendium, can we use one of the alternate names. vs. the main one listed in the compendium?
transient_specter: (Default)

[personal profile] transient_specter 2017-05-05 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
What is religion like in the city? Are there any Buddhist/Shinto/etc. temples?
telecosmetic: (confused)

[personal profile] telecosmetic 2017-05-05 09:51 am (UTC)(link)
How big an influence can our character have as their AU self? Would something like being president of the anime club be okay?
tragedyinabottle: (down)

[personal profile] tragedyinabottle 2017-05-05 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Sayo here is the real world identity behind 3 or 4 (depending on who you count) characters in uminako, is she appable?
gottastaycalm: (15: Golden Truths)

[personal profile] gottastaycalm 2017-05-06 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
I am thinking of applying Lambo Bovino from Katekyo Hitman Reborn. He tends to be turn himself into his Ten Years Later form whenever he's scared or just trips into his Ten Years Later Bazooka. My main reason for playing him is I like to play his 15 and 25 year old self. However, I'm not sure if this would be allowed, nor do I know if a persona would allow him to do this.

My question is: Is he stuck at the age he is apped in?
probablynoteren: (smth's rotten in the state of crapsack)

[personal profile] probablynoteren 2017-05-10 06:13 pm (UTC)(link)
A couple of clarifications about the IC Character Survey for Arcana sorting!

1. "Do you think something is wrong with this world?": I assume this is answered from the perspective of their Awakened self? Should we keep it to simple yes/no, or elaborate?

2. I noticed that in "Is your life here a lie?", all the options are some variation of yes. What about characters who would be prepared to eventually accept both lives as some form of reality? If this has something to do with plot, though, I can roll with it.

EDIT: I forgot a question sorry, but I see that we're doing generic holidays so I hope assuming stuff like Valentine's exists is okay! Let me know if I should go with a more generic name like Lovers' Festival or something. :D
Edited 2017-05-10 18:24 (UTC)
sociallyarcward: (Default)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-05-13 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
Working on Jaune's AU family having a restaurant. Are there any districts that are KNOWN for that or what districts are closest to the school that a restaurant would "fit in" at. (I'm assuming the school is where the map says "Green Valley"?)

I guess related to that would be what districts are considered more residential, business, entertainment, etc?
heiring: (02)

[personal profile] heiring 2017-05-13 08:38 am (UTC)(link)
Does the school have a school idol unit?
forsteri: (Default)

[personal profile] forsteri 2017-05-13 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
forgive me if there's something stupid i'm missing, but: upon applying i chose dantalion as a demon for sakuma, but my persona grab code says haagenti. am i okay to just edit this?
withoutred: (✿ rule 8.)

[personal profile] withoutred 2017-05-14 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
So, uh.

In the hypothetical situation where a character breaks their phone and requires a new one, how long would it take the app to re-download? A week, a day, a few hours...?
transient_specter: (Default)

[personal profile] transient_specter 2017-05-15 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Can characters get canon updated? I know you can update to an AU, but what if you want to just drag your canon character through some mindbreak to the most recent canon?
sunderings: (no shadow of doubt)

[personal profile] sunderings 2017-05-16 12:56 am (UTC)(link)
Hi mods!

I didn't see it mentioned elsewhere, so I'd like to request information regarding what a typical school year might look like for students.

Do higher and advance cycle students have typical fall/spring/summer semesters? Do primary/lower/senior cycles follow a standard academic year? Are all cycles term-based, or do classes run year round? Most importantly, are we all on summer break?

Thank you!
lovelledup: (pic#11333317)

[personal profile] lovelledup 2017-05-16 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
A few questions about how AppleNET works pre-awakening.

1. It's pretty clear that showing the app to anyone who's in no way connected to it means it doesn't show up, but what it does around people with it is a little less clear. In the AppleNET info it says that other people who don't have it can't see it, but other sources have said that only people who are awakened can see it. So if two characters who both just got it showed it to each other would they see it because they both have it, or not see it because they technically aren't awakened yet?

2. If family members can ID each other on the chat, does that have any effect on the above?

3. Is there anything stopping people from talking about the app to each other in person? Presumably in most cases, people would avoid saying too much given the above because it sounds ridiculous, but assuming they're talking to their family or best friend who will definitely believe them even if it sounds weird or they really don't care about people thinking they've lost it, is there anything stopping them?

4. If there's something that somehow censors speaking, does that also extend to silent forms of communication? As in, does emailing or texting result in the same kind of [information blocked] behavior? Would anything get in the way if someone wrote things down on a piece of paper, or tried to use sign language?
Edited 2017-05-16 04:24 (UTC)
withoutred: (borrowed from a senior at theatre.)

[personal profile] withoutred 2017-05-16 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
Drive by question about Applenet since the above made me realize it-

Is there any way to "bookmark" posts on the app itself? Since (at least at this stage) any attempts to physically keep notes results in presumably migraines, since someone else could potentially see those notes.
catchthishand: (Chocolate Peanut Buttery Swirl)

[personal profile] catchthishand 2017-05-16 02:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Alright, time for another applenet question!

Assuming someone, for whatever strange reason, has two phones.

If they try to pull the app up on both phones, what happens, if anything unusual?
de_aru_ka: (They say survival's everything)

[personal profile] de_aru_ka 2017-05-18 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
Okay, question I probably should have asked earlier. I'm assuming that, Eddan aside, this world is basically parallel to the real one. So:

1) Do historical figures like Nobunaga here have the same names or are they off-brand versions?

2) If they are the same, how should I handle web searches and the like? The way I currently have Nobunaga's first flashback set up, it would be very easy for him to figure out that the flashbacks have something to do with historical Nobunaga if Binglevista gives the same results as Google, since Nagamasa's name is directly in it + context.

Thank you for your time. I'm really enjoying the game!
bulletbiter: (Default)

[personal profile] bulletbiter 2017-05-18 12:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Sort of echoing Lenka's question up there, I'm considering another character from this canon. At some point he transforms into a monster, so I was wondering if I would be able to play with this in the game.

In canon when he turns into a monster he constantly wavers in mental state between 'human' and 'monster' so could that be retained in the game? I was thinking something like having dissociation since it's similar to what happens to him.

Tied to this, if I app him from the canon point where he has become a monster, will he be able to retain the monstrous form or will he stay human instead?
Edited 2017-05-18 12:03 (UTC)
moonflow: (Default)

[personal profile] moonflow 2017-05-20 07:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Since the Personas in Recursion are summoned from the heart (and will look different depending on the Awakened summoning them) — and hearts are fickle in nature and subject to change (particularly the hearts of those suffering or recovering from mental illness) — does that mean that the appearance of a single Awakened's Persona can also change over time/with their heart?

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