FAQ

[cancrymods]

PREMISE & BASICS

What is Can Cry? So glad you asked! Can Cry is a semi-private panfandom game based on the PS4 RPG Crystar. It takes elements from teamnesia games, murdergames and other types of jamjars while mixing in lots of unique mechanics of its own. Characters have their canonical powers replaced with setting appropriate ones and will have to use them to dive deep into the game's setting, battling lost souls, bosses and their inner demons along the way. Fun for the whole family! Story-wise, in Can Cry, characters awaken in Purgatory following their deaths and find themselves missing huge swathes of their memories, identities and even their names. As they investigate their circumstances, they are recruited as Executors to give them the power needed to descend the seven floors of Purgatory and uncover the secrets lingering in its depths. This FAQ is intended to answer player questions about the running of the game – you can find the IC FAQ right here which will cover much more about the character side of things. Can Cry is run by Claire (superorbital). Hi! I'm going to make you cry over a bunch of fictional dead people. I'm also assisted behind the scenes in a limited capacity by Lynsey (beastiiil), who will be an emergency point of contact if I'm ever unavailable. Since Lynsey is not involved in the day to day running of the game, please don't contact her unless I'm completely unavailable. Leave Lynsey In Peace. This sounds sick as hell, but I don't know anything about Crystar! Not to fear! Can Cry borrows things like aesthetics, setting and plot details from the game, but is its own story. You don't need to know anything about Crystar to play. Think of Can Cry as a sort of fun AU spinoff of the original story and just enjoy yourself! Hold up, you mentioned murdergames. Is Can Cry a murdergame? Nope! Can Cry is absolutely not a murdergame. If I tried to run a fourteen-plus-month murdergame, I would die for real, in real life. Players should not come into Can Cry with the expectations of being able to play it like a murdergame, or expecting things like weekly logs or trials or anything you usually get from a regular murdergame. Players will be expected to make their own logs and engage with the setting in a manner similar to any other comm-based jamjar game. While there are memloss mechanics and multiple endings possible for the plot, there will be no "everyone gets all their memories back" moment and even the best possible ending will not be a traditional "golden end" that some murdergames feature. If this would be disappointing or unsatisfying for you, then Can Cry is probably not the game for you! So, how will Can Cry run? Can Cry's plot progression is split into two halves: Layers and Undersides. Layers are primarily for for character development, building CR and allowing players room to run their own smaller plots within the greater scheme of Can Cry. There is a small amount of mandatory plot and investigation during each Layer, but they are primarily for downtime. Undersides are the dungeons that characters will be diving into, which are unlocked during successful investigations on the main Layers. Undersides are when the majority of the game's action will take place, so while they're not mandatory it's highly encouraged for players to be active during them! While exploring Undersides, players will have multiple small tasks to clear, ICly and OOCly, to clear the dungeon and then they will face a boss at the end, who must be defeated for the characters to progress further into Purgatory. By and large, Can Cry does not enforce hard deadlines when it comes to plot progression or dungeon completion. The pace of the game often varies depending on in-game occurrences, but is most often on the medium to slow paced side of things. More details about the mechanics on the Dungeon & Combat FAQ – this is just the basics! How long is Can Cry expected to run? The initial prediction is fourteen to sixteen months (ICly and OOCly) LMFAOOOOOO REMEMBER WHEN I STILL FUCKING BELIEVED THIS. Can Cry does not have an estimated end date but the game is not intended to go on indefinitely! The game reached an approximate halfway point shortly before its one year anniversary, however, so the game is anticipated to last another year to two years depending on things such as the Speed of Plot.

RULES AND CONSIDERATIONS

Rule Zero The number one (and uh, basically only) rule is quite simply: Please Don’t Be A Dick. While we understand that not everyone is going to be bosom buddies by virtue of being in the same game, we do want players to keep in mind that roleplay is something we do for fun and therefore, we would like to be sure that everyone does, in fact, have fun! For that reason, we ask that you treat your fellow players and the mods with the same amount of courtesy and respect that you’d like to receive in turn. You don't have to be joined at the hip, but please at least be civil to everyone. Keep in mind the basic rules of etiquette in RP and refrain from godmodding, infomodding or otherwise going out of your way to make other people’s experience in the game an unpleasant one. If we find players to be in violation of this rule, or otherwise contributing to making the game an unsafe or unfun environment, then we may issue a warning or in extreme (and hopefully rare!) circumstances, we may issue an outright ban. If you’re having issues with another player you’ve been unable to resolve among yourselves, please don’t hesitate to come to the mods. We’re here to help! Expected Content & Warnings While it has a slightly gothic tone and aesthetic, Can Cry is not intended to be a continually grimdark experience, nor do we want or intend for the game to consistently stray into disturbing, upsetting or NSFW territory. Due to the nature of the premise, players should expect to encounter themes of death, loss of memory and identity, unreality, mild to moderate existential horror and mild to moderate body horror and violence. Additionally, discussion of the reincarnation mechanics of Purgatory may touch on themes of suicide and/or suicidal ideation. Logs and events will come with additional content warnings where appropriate and players will never be forced to take part in aspects of the game they might be uncomfortable with. Additionally, the nature of a memloss panfandom game may mean that there will be potentially disturbing material from other canons introduced to the game setting from time to time. We don't intend to excessively restrict what players can discuss and play out, but we do expect players to appropriately warn when instances of disturbing or upsetting content come up in threads. We trust you guys to use your own discretion and basically just be courteous to anyone who might be wanting to avoid discussions of things they may find upsetting. This is optional, but we also encourage players to include opt-out posts in their journals if their character or canons involve content they know to be upsetting. This is so people can give you a heads-up in advance if they’d like to avoid this sort of subject matter. If you run into any problems with this regard, don’t hesitate to let the mods know. Timezones & Availability Because your spicy and delicious head mod lives in England, Can Cry's dates and times run on UK time. All times given for deadlines, event posts, apps, etc will be given in GMT or BST depending on the time of year. If you're from outside of the UK, you can use a website like The Timezone Converter to check what time things land in your area.

APPS, DROPS AND ACTIVITY

Okay, I'm sold. How do I app? HOLD THAT THOUGHT, BABY! As mentioned in that first paragraph up there, Can Cry is a semi-private game. This means that if you're interested in apping, you must be on the plurklist of a mod (superorbital or beastiiil) . However, we will also be accepting plus ones – that is, if you are not currently an eligible player, but you happen to be on the friends list of one, you may request that player vouches for you, at which point you may app to Can Cry. Please note that plus ones are accepted at the mod's discretion! I've got my invite! Who can I app? Whoever you like! Can Cry has very few limitations on appable characters. We accept characters from all types of canons and all types of media, though we do have a few caveats that are listed below. Due to the nature of the premise, there is a very soft age cap of thirteen but any characters below that are still welcome to the game – you will simply need to fill out a suitability section in your app. As well as characters straight from canon, we also accept: ⚝ AUs (Canon AUs, player created AUs, CRAUs) ⚝ Original Characters (Original universes and tabletop – please note that fandom OCs are judged on a case-by-case basis) ⚝ Canon OCs (Silent/customizable protagonists) Characters who require a large amount of headcanon to be playable (one-off side characters, characters with a small amount of screentime, characters from unfinished canons, etc) are allowed and will generally be judged on a case-by-case basis. Characters who are fictionalized versions of real people are also judged on a case by case basis – but the long and the short of it is that something like Fate or Eternal Sonata is fine, but something like (gags) The Nostalgia Critic is not. Players may only have one character in Can Cry at a time. We do not allow duplicate characters in the game. One is all you get! You are free to drop the character you currently play and app someone else at any time, however. In addition, Can Cry does not accept: ⚝ Characters without a mostly human level of sapience and/or ability to communicate. ⚝ Characters from canons that are exclusively sexual/pornographic. ⚝ Characters from canons that have not been translated into English. Finally, we also ask that players keep appropriateness for the setting and tone of the game in mind when testing out potential picks. Characters who are hell-bent on racism, homophobia, transphobia, misgendendering or other such instances of Uncool Behaviour will likely not be accepted into the game. Are there any kinds of character caps? Can Cry has an overall character cap of twenty eight characters, meaning that twenty-eight players can be in the game at any given time. Additionally, due to the small overall character cap, we have a franchise cap of three characters per franchise. As mentioned above, each player can only have one character in the game at a time. Enough talk! Just tell me how to app! No problem! It's a pretty simple process! Apps at Can Cry are always open, unless the game has hit its character cap. When applying, use the appropriate form on the app page and post your application in the comments. Apps are screened in case you have any sneaky secrets you want to keep from your fellow players. Once posted, your app will be judged and you'll receive one of three responses: ⚝ Accepted: You got in! Your acceptance form will have some housekeeping for you to do, such as joining the comms and being added to the taken list. Get all that done within the timeframe listed in the acceptance form and you’re ready to go! ⚝ Revision Request: Almost, but not quite! Revision requests mean that there’s something about your app that needs fixing before we can accept it. Your revision request will outline what needs fixing and how soon you need to get your revisions in. Once that’s done, you should be good to go! ⚝ Rejection: Rejections go out in the event of a character not being an appropriate fit for the game or because there are too many things that need fixing with your app for just a revision request. Generally, we will not publicly disclose our reasons for rejecting an app just in the interest of discretion, but players will be free to PM us to receive a fuller explanation of our judgment. Please note that while apps are always open, if the game is currently going through a dungeon month or similar plotty things are happening, newly accepted characters will have to wait until the next log before they can intro into the game. How can I drop from the game? Can I app back if I do? Simple as pie! We do not have a formal drop page, but if you plan to leave the game, just contact your wonderful and humble head mod (Claire) and let them know. You can hash out what happens to your character at that time, or are also just free to handwave it and not think about it too hard. If you’re dropped from the game and are now looking to app back, that’s easy too! Comment to the app page with a link to your previous app and some notes on how you would like your character to re-enter the game and once you get a mod response, you're good to go! What is the AC in Can Cry and how does it work? During the last week of the month, there will be a "check-in" post for you to stick your head in and tell us you're still kicking. As well as checking in, we ask that you provide two threads with separate characters, of any length just to show that you're active. You can also use the check-in to let the game know about anything cool your character did this month you'd like everyone to know! Once AC has been processed, a post will go up on the first day of the new month outlining the AC results. Characters who have failed AC due to insufficient activity will be issued with a strike and listed in the AC results. You can clear your strike by checking in with sufficient activity for the next month. Failing to meet AC requirements for two months in a row, without taking a hiatus or otherwise speaking to the mods, will result in the character being swept from the game. What happens if I can't make activity for a month? As listed above, characters who do not meet the monthly activity requirements will automatically be issued a strike. Said strike will be cleared the next month, so long as you meet the AC requirements. Otherwise, you will be swept from the game. If there are extenuating circumstances around you not being able to make AC then please speak to the mods and we will do our best to work with you! I need to take a break! How do I go on hiatus? Just contact one of the mods and let us know that you’re going to be gone and how long for. You’ll be given a pass on activity for your hiatus period, but only as long as you let us know what your expected hiatus timeframe is. Unless you have other plans, it is presumed that your character will be on autopilot til your return. Please note that if a player is found to be abusing the hiatus system to skip out on activity check and squat on their character then the mods will discuss their activity with them and issue a strike. In extreme circumstances (extensive abuse of hiatus and extended squatting), a player may be permanently removed from the game.

Comments

[shewhocompels]

I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS:

AMNESIA: Do characters still remember general knowledge about their home world? For example, would a character from Earth still remember what, say, Europe is? Would a character from Mass Effect still remember what a Krogan is?

POWER LOSS: If your character has a "power" that is just part of their biology because they're not human, how does that work? IE would a robot character still not need to breathe? Would a character who has physical wings still be able to use them to fly?

[cancrymods]

Amnesia: Sort of yes, sort of no. Since characters in Purgatory are rebuilding their identities more or less from scratch, this sort of thing is purposely left a little flexible for players to experiment with. The keywords though are "missing context" – so, a character might have said information but they would have no idea why or if/how it actually relates to them, if at all.

Power Loss: That depends on the power! As outlined on the IC FAQ, a character's body will function how they "expect" it to function. So, a robot character will still function like a robot character, etc. As for actual power powers, that would be something to be handled on a case by case basis rather than as a blanket judgement – for example, Quirks in My Hero Academia are powers that exist because of the biology of their holders but they are an example of something that would probably be lost to a character in Limbo.

[edgevassal]

TWO MONTHS LATER piggybacking onto this, if the character is a famous figure in canon would they know of their own existence? Like, if Beyonce ended up in Purgatory, would she know Beyonce exists and just not know that Beyonce is her, or is there no Beyonce at all?

[cancrymods]

Just to clarify! Would that be to start with, or are you talking about the memories they would eventually gain down the line? Just because the answer would be a bit different depending on which one it is!

[alcahest]

claaaaaire i have a regains question!

so memoria can be any character aspect but obvs the main things are skills & memories. my question is, can you have a skill regain with an attached memory relating to it? i.e. the character regains a memory of learning or being taught that skill, and that's how they remember how to use the skill.

[cancrymods]

Yes, you absolutely can! Obviously, depending on what kind of skill it is, this may need to be a thing you run by me beforehand if it's something that would edge into being a power, but generally you can just go for it.

[alcahest]

sweet, thank you!!

oh quick q no. 2, can we static out our character's name in memory regains if we don't want them to remember their real name yet

[cancrymods]

You can, but it shouldn't be necessary! Characters won't retain the memories of their real names regardless unless it's something you specifically go out of your way to have them regain.

[beknights]

I looked through all the pages and I don't think there was an answer for this? so like I would like to ask just to clarify, as Person Who Never Plays Normal Humans Ever I'm So Sorry:

do inhuman characters lose their forms as part of dying or do they just...have that body still? if they do turn human is regaining their inhuman form something they CAN regain or do they just have to...deal with it? IS IT WEIRD FOR EXECUTORS TO LOOK INHUMAN, I KNOW THERE'S A LOT OF WEIRD MESSED UP MONSTERS BOPPING AROUND PURGATORY

[cancrymods]

Nope! A character's form in Purgatory will be however they expect themselves to look. So for characters who have an inhuman body, or otherwise look A Lil Bit Weird, they can simply manifest with their regular form. There's no forced humanization or anything like that!

[beknights]

EXCELLENT, thank you very much for your prompt response o7

[yes_im_kawaii]

Okay, so I'm probably going with Anna because her app's already done, but just in case I go with Makoto: what's the maturity ruling on someone who is
-Physically 15-16;
-Technically 7 (weird magic stuff);
-Very immature and dumb as a post;
-From a sad canon with sad things?

[cancrymods]

Since Makoto's canon already deals heavily with themes of death, she would be appable to Can Cry!

[callbacks]

So liiiiiiiike, time travel is blanket banned for playability purposes, absolutely get that. Are there any applications of time manipulation that would be okay down the line? Like, for example, minor time reversal over a single object to restore it to an earlier state (fix a thing what broke) or fast-forward it a bit (rust a thing to make it easier to what broke)?

Asking for a friend, wink wink

[cancrymods]

Yep, those are all totally fine! Time manipulation is totally okay in a smaller scale, it's just hopping back and forth in time that I had to pre-veto.

[ordinarythings]

Hey, this isn't the character I'm planning on bringing, but the one I'm thinking of is from a really garbage and horny canon that has a lot of TWs but I love the characters anyway. Most of those wouldn't impact the character I'm bringing because she's 12 and the author had the basic decency to not bring most of the real bad horny shit near her, but I'm still kind of worried it'd be A Lot. Would it be okay to privately plurk/DM a mod to discuss this, since I don't really want to spill a bunch of TWs in the public FAQ?

[cancrymods]

as a fate player this is a whole ass mood lmao

You can contact my main plurk at superorbital to discuss it!

[calculated_risk]

So when listing memoria in our app, is it okay if we make up some headcanon background information? Susie doesn't really get any flashback moments, so we don't really know anything about her life before the death game she was in, but I'd like to give her some non-death game memories anyways.

[cancrymods]

That's totally fine! It's also worth keeeping in mind that you aren't strictly limited to just concrete memories of moment to moment events as part of her Memoria – if she has a certain set of skills you'd like her to remember or other aspects of her identity you'd like to include with her memoria, those are also good to list!