judgejudy: (Default)
Welcome to the graveyard, dead friends! This is a supplementary post to the IC graveyard post for the sake of providing an OOC explanation without cluttering up the graveyard post itself. After all, there's a fair amount here to cover—

So as you've read in the post, the graveyard takes the form of a quaint little cul-de-sac, but if you're familiar with a certain game franchise, this might sound familiar... Because welcome to Fallout! The complex is a Vault, one of many massive nuclear fallout shelters that was built before a cataclysmic war. However, it's never that simple, because almost all of the Vaults were built with a more sinister purpose in mind. All but a few Vaults were meant to house unethical experiments, and this Vault, Vault 62, is no exception. The exact nature of the experiment itself isn't something that your characters would know, nor would they necessarily know that all Vaults house these kinds of experiments, but they could certainly make a good guess after arriving here.

Remember, the location of the game is the twist, so don't tell your living friends that this game is taking place in a Vault! Don't ruin the surprise!

So, where is "here"?

Luckily for characters' sanity, they're not hosted in the horrific version of Tranquility Lane described in that link, but it's instead a quaint little neighborhood. It's impossible to leave the boundaries of it, since you'll simply walk through to the opposite side of the neighborhood like an old school video game. After all, this is just a simulation. Your characters are being stored as data on a server, and this is where the permadeath aspect comes in. There's no way for your character to be revived, since this technology simply doesn't exist in the Fallout universe. However, depending on how the living play their cards, there might be some hope for your characters to escape... In a century or so. This part isn't ICly known, so characters will likely think that they're trapped in the simulation for the rest of time/until the power to the servers fails. This potential revival mechanism will be discussed more at the end of the game, but for now, don't worry about it too much, as it's not ICly known to be a possibility, even by Judy.

However, characters will have the chance to at least spice up their idyllic life. Every time someone is killed (so, for each death, not for each trial), the dead will be able to expand their world. The dead can request one new building for each death, so by endgame, they should have a small city instead of a tiny cul-de-sac. Any kind of building can be requested, since this is a computer simulation where logic and reality don't matter, and the building itself will be fully and eternally stocked with the amenities associated with it. Hopefully this will give characters something to do and discuss during the week! These discussions can be handwaved if needed, but once there's a majority opinion on what to request, someone just needs to comment here with what they're requesting for the death(s)!

In addition, as a staple of the graveyards, there is a very basic way to communicate with the living. Though this area hasn't been opened up just yet, there's a media lab with computer terminals, and the dead have (very limited) access to these terminals. It's enough to send one email a week, so choose who you're sending it to wisely. These letters can be posted here, with further guidelines listed.

Finally, and for the meat of the explanation... Just how did your character end up in the Fallout universe?

Well, as it turns out, that's the experiment of the Vault, or at least part of it. Your character has always lived in this world, and they've had their memory severely altered to believe otherwise. Now that your character has died, you have the option of having them remember this. However, this is completely optional, as this game wasn't advertised as an AU game, since that kind of ruins the twist! You, the player, can decide on one of three options for how to deal with this aspect depending on what you're interested in playing:
  1. FULL AU — Your character will regain all of their memories of living in a pre-war Fallout universe, though they won't lose any of their canon memories. So, have fun with that! If you're interested in this option, the Fallout wiki is an excellent resource, and this page especially is a good place to start. In summary, Fallout is a futuristic, but 50s style world. Think the Disney visions of the future! You can also check out this link for more info on how the Fallout timeline differs and diverges. The only restriction for AUs is that your character must have lived in the continental United States, but otherwise, explore the universe and craft whatever interests you. You may find this writeup helpful to get started!

  2. PARTIAL AU — If you're interested in playing with some aspects of the AU, but not all of them, you can mix it up! What altered your characters memories is a prototype technology, so it wasn't great at doing so consistently for everyone. Your character will have some memories from their pre-war Fallout AU, but not all of them. These memories will seem just as real as their canon ones, but of course they're unlikely to fit. You can play with this conflict however you wish!

  3. NO AU — If you're not comfortable with making a pre-war Fallout AU for your character for whatever reason, you don't have to! Your character will never regain those memories, and they'll fully believe that they're their canon selves. They'll also regain all of the memories in their memory bank, whereas the other options will not. If you choose this option, there's no explanation for how the character actually got here, so this will just be something they'll have to try and explain for themselves.

Since Fallout does have a lot of lore, there's a special questions header for you to ask any questions you may have about the universe for help crafting your AU if you're interested. And if not, that's totally fine! This is absolutely an aspect that's completely optional to play with, so just go with whatever sounds fun to you! Once you've decided what you'd like to play, please comment here just to help the mods keep track of who's choosing what!

And finally, since this is a lot, there's also a place for general questions! We hope you're excited about being dead, so be creative and have fun!
judgejudy: (Default)




GRAVEYARD




You remember dying.

It's vivid and real, and you can absolutely remember taking your last breath. By all measures, that should have been the end.

And yet, like waking from a deep sleep, you awake in a comfortable bed in a quaint little bedroom, and outside the window, you can see an even more quaint little neighborhood. You can get up to explore, but before you leave the bedroom, the radio inside flickers to life.

"Good morning," Judy says, calm as ever, "Let me first say that I'm sorry that we've deceived you—"

Because indeed, the more you look at this little neighborhood, the more it may feel familiar to you. It's almost like this was the kind of life you had before you ended up in the complex. Though as Judy explains, it wasn't a complex at all. The complex was something called a Vault, and the Vault was meant to protect you from the cataclysmic war that nearly wiped out humanity on the surface. You were kept safe. In a sense. It seems that the Vaults ultimately weren't much of protection in the first place.

But Judy has done her best to ensure that your death in the Vault wasn't truly the end. Because of the nature of what was done to you, she was able to back up your existence in the servers that support the Vault. Strictly speaking, that's where you are now. You're a digital construct, and this neighborhood is Judy's idea of how to sustain you in the coming decades. That is the downside here, of course. All you can do is simply wait for someone to discover these servers, hoping they haven't failed by then. Perhaps there might be a way for you to return to the living then...

Though for now, that's a distant dream. The neighborhood is small, but clearly will allow every person their own little home when they perish. There's a chance to expand it to include whatever amenities you may dream up, and there may already be some here.

In addition, you can always watch the Vault to see how they're doing. There's a television in each home, and through it, you might understand how Judy can see so much. Flipping through the channels gives you a view of nearly every room in the Vault, at least until curfew falls. It's quality entertainment, since it gives you a way to keep tabs on the living.

So, how will you spend your time?

OOC Explanation

Profile

judgejudy: (Default)
mod journal for 62

Most Popular Tags