Hyperion Star Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
arkshiparchitects) wrote2025-07-14 03:47 pm
arkshiparchitects) wrote2025-07-14 03:47 pm
FAQ
FAQ
General
What's this game like?
Hyperion Star is a generally lighthearted science-fantasy game, with a focus on adventure and exploration, built-in mechanics to enable character studies and bonding, and the really baffling choice on the gods' behalf to have a techno-fantasy kingdom inside their intergalactic spaceship.
What's this game NOT?
Hyperion Star is not a digital world, your characters are not clones, they aren't their own souls caught in a simulacrum, it isn't all a dream, and the game does not have an underlying premise like any of this. Characters may believe otherwise, but OOCly you can be assured that we're not building all this up only to pull the rug out from under you.
What is the time ratio?
Events happen on a monthly basis, so an IC month happens between them. At any lower level than that, time is arbitrary, really. The arkship literally has a chaos field permeating it, so don't get too hung up on the details of what happens when -- just do what makes for good RP without worrying about deadlines.
Characters and Applications
Whom may I app here?
We do not allow player-made AUs, including CRAUs, or canon/fandom OCs. We have no restrictions by medium or material, and in general are pretty open to considering any character that has sufficient information available and is suitable (as determined in our application). Characters made under tabletop systems are allowed.
You may also app a setting-native OC.
How often will applications be open?
Once per month so long as the game is under our player limit.
What is your player limit? What is your character limit?
None at this time. One will likely be instituted when the mod team has a good understanding of how many characters they can work with without going the bad kind of insane. However, this cap will be announced before an app round and instituted after, so there's no squabbling over limited spots in that app round.
How many characters may I app here?
3 per player, initially. This may be changed as the game solidifies. You may app 1 character per application round, with the exception of the opening round, where you may app 2.
Must I have an invite or permission to apply?
No. Hyperion Star is not invite-only.
Must I reserve to apply?
Yes, you must reserve at least 24 hours before you apply. Reserves will remain open until 24 hours before applications close to accommodate impulse apps. We have this requirement so we can communicate with you prior to you applying, if we have any concerns about your reserve or if you need any information from us prior to applying.
May I app a character who is dead in canon?
Yes. As an extra special bonus, they can even be alive again. (They don't have to be, if your canon has an afterlife or undeath or something similar, of course.)
May I app a character from a recent canon or canon point?
We ask that you wait a month for recent canons or canon points, in order to give others the opportunity to appreciate the work unspoiled.
Are non-human characters humanized? Are large characters shrunk?
No character is humanized. Characters will only be resized if their size is absurd. (We're looking at you, Unicron.)
Is there an age limit?
Your character has to be old enough to think and speak coherently and capable of wielding a weapon or tool without hurting themselves. (Actually doing so is another matter.)
Are powers nerfed? How do powers work in this game?
Your character retains their powers, and they are not directly nerfed. Otherwise, you will rate your character's power on a 0-7 scale -- and gain levels of divine magic equal to 7 minus your rating. Or if your character is entirely too powerful, they get to be Class X. The X stands for eXciting! (it does not)
Wow! Do you explain this in more detail, perhaps on some sort of 'Powers' page?
What do characters arrive with from home?
Whatever they were wearing or carrying at the point they were taken from, and any creature or object that is both not eligible to be a player character, and bonded to your character's soul. You may also bring items that are iconic or identity-defining to your character, such as your character's unique Gundam, or a super-suit that the character might not be wearing at their chosen canon point.
Did you just sneakily permit us to bring giant robots and suchforth?
You're sharp, rhetorical Platonic ideal of a questioner! Yes, you may bring such things if they qualify under the above criteria.
Sharing is a bunch of bull, too. And helping others. And what's all this crap I've been hearing about tolerance?
Hmm. Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
In-Game Life
Where does my character appear?
New characters find themselves emerging from a door they don't remember walking through into the Great Hall of Castle Aquilaine, in the city of Verisol, capital of the Kingdom of the Divine.
...isn't this a game on a spaceship?
A spaceship created by gods, who apparently believe that if one is to travel through the stars in a massive spaceship, that ship should have a techno-fantasy kingdom in it -- that just happens to be fervent and devout in their faith in said gods.
Why do people appear like this? Is this normal?
The gods have selected people who they call 'the Marked' from across eternity to serve them here on the ship, and stored them away in extradimensional containment to be released for whatever reason suits said gods. This is common knowledge, so the monthly appearance of characters is a known and expected factor.
So I shouldn't make immediately make a network post asking where I am and what's going on?
As representatives of the kingdom and the gods will immediately explain this to you when you emerge from containment... well, we can't stop you, but it would be a bit disingenous.
Is anything different about me once I wake up?
You have an emblem of the god who favors you on some part of your body, most typically the back of the hand. The aforementioned representatives explain that you are chosen by them. (This is different for Class X characters; see the Powers page.)
Are the emblems animated?
Yep! Enjoy that.
What else do I know?
Almost everything available on the game info pages is also available for your character to learn immediately upon arrival, often in convenient pamphlet form waiting for you. (The tone is dramatically different though.)
Where does my character live? How do they survive?
Castle Aquilaine proudly hosts all Marked who wish to live there, providing free quarters and food. Marked are also welcome to find residence in the City of Verisol. So long as you can easily reach either the Dive Dock or the Chaos Field to perform your duties, you can set up camp anywhere in the kingdom if you account for environmental and political factors.
Must I work for money?
Marked may always get free food and lodging, though those that abuse the privilege often get a stern talking-to. For luxuries or more lavish needs, employment is indeed an option. We won't track this or anything, it's there for a character option, not a mechanic.
I can teleport! Can I go home?
Powers still work as they should... except the gods will use their power to stop you from teleporting away, escaping into a demiplane or the astral, flying out of the docks and away because you can breathe in space, mind-controlling everyone, etc. Their power exceeds yours and they want you to stay and not break the setting.
The Network
What magical or technological device gives me access to the network?
Do you consider 'an eldritch horror has already established an inviolate psychic connection with you' magical or technological?
WTF?
The mind and motives of a creature that drops physics to its knees weeping and treats space and time as mild suggestions cannot be fathomed by anyone. So why the imprisoned Lovecraftian abomination at the ship's heart has elected to pass its days as a psionic Nextdoor is a mystery to all but it.
So... how does it work?
With mild but deliberate mental effort, a character may connect their mind directly to another's, or to the collective unconscious. The connection can be rejected and cannot be forced on anyone.
What form does this connection take?
A connection can be audible, in which case it simply sounds like the voice of the speaker directly in your mind. It can be visual, in which case you picture the speaker as if imagining them in front of you. Or it can be text, in which case it pops up like a window in their view, with a nifty little icon of you as well!
What is the collective unconscious?
Messages that go to the collective unconscious dwell there to be listened to or watched whensoever another person wants. In other words, it's the mechanism behind open posts, and permits characters to 'read' old network posts as far back as they want.
Can I make an accidental post?
Can you accidentally make a deliberate mental effort? We're not inclined to think that's possible...
Can posts to the collective unconscious be private or locked?
No, only direct connections.
What exactly are you setting me up for with an eldritch horror in my brain?
In-character, that's up to you to decide. You weren't given a choice anyway. Out of character, though... We may use that as a hook or lead-in to events or similar, but we aren't going to suddenly go 'surprise! Yog-Sothoth ate your brain, you're a minion now!' or something like that. That's not what we want to accomplish in this game at all. Mostly we just think it's funny and we're clever.
App/Drop/Death Mechanics
I know I was chosen, but why? And why by a specific god?
The representatives answering your questions don't know. The gods aren't saying outside of 'you suit our purposes'.
How can I go back home?
When the ship's mission is complete, you will be restored to the exact time and place you were taken from. As the Gods of Time and Space number among those present, that isn't an issue in the slightest. You may also choose to stay on the Hyperion Star, however, if you don't want to return.
Can we believe that?
For this question, and no known other, the gods have pledged a sacred oath on their very power and nature. Should they break that oath, their existence ends. You don't need to believe this, of course, but OOCly it is a sincere and binding oath.
How long will this take? What if the ship's mission is never complete?
Of course it will be completed! The gods never considered otherwise! And if, uh, approximately 100 billion years pass without completing the mission and the universe ends in its entirety, then double bonus, you're either dead from old age or will be released from containment to live in the ship as the last bastion of baryonic matter-based life that will ever exist.
Wait, what?
Don't worry about it. Won't happen. It'll get fixed eventually. You're cool with being in stasis for a few billion years, right?
What happens to dropped characters?
They are returned to storage, to await either the moment they are needed, or to be returned with the rest at the end.
What happens if a character dies?
They awaken at a place of your choice with a scarred Mark. The god who resurrected them now may make one demand or requirement of them they (literally) cannot refuse; after completing it, the scar heals. (You have right of OOC refusal, of course.)
Game Philosophy
How much freedom do we have to run wild?
A lot. We have no problems with you creating NPCs, locations, or plots within the ship; we deliberately leave much of the kingdom within it undefined to accommodate that. The Chaos Field and the Chaos Control mechanics exist to give you the opportunity to set up all sorts of different things, even outside the Divinity Drop event logs.
Can I make up NPCs or use existing ones?
You may absolutely create NPCs for your purposes, and handwave or summarize general interactions with established NPCs without worrying about permission. (For example, if you want your character's marked god to give your character an assignment, they do so! No need to ask for us to play that NPC to do it!) We're quite willing to consider adding your NPCs to the setting permanently if you come up with someone interesting or evocative you'd like to share.
Should we use IC inboxes?
Recognizing that a post for every private text conversation is no way to run a railroad, we will ask for IC inboxes for those purposes. However, we also encourage any in-person interactions that result to be threaded out in the community. Centralization of logs, stories, and character development in the community makes for a better vibe of an active and thriving game.
What format should our logs take?
Aside from the standard log format pinned to our log comm, we would strongly like to encourage players not to use catch-all logs. We recognize the convenience and ease of use these logs provide, but our experience has led us to conclude that they discourage open and spontaneous interaction, pose a plurk-or-discord-friend barrier to entry, and give an impression of game stagnation when a month's worth of threads and prompts, sometimes across two or more characters, get congealed into one single location and the communities have little action for the rest of the month. We believe the downsides for the game outweigh the upsides of personal convenience they provide, and that avoiding these is better for the game's overall health. This is not a ban or prohibition, merely a strong preference and recommendation.
Does this game have a Discord server?
Hyperion Star does not and will not have an official Discord server, and we request you not make an unofficial one. We feel a Discord server would be detrimental to the game, consolidating plotting and CR development to those actively participating in it while walling out those who prefer to lurk or not participate. We also don't have the time or ability to moderate a server, particularly as we're using the royal 'we' at the moment to refer to just one person.
What's the Class ranking system about, really?
First, our answer to the age-old problem of 'writing an event that has meaningful impact to everyone'. By stating that X prompt is the appropriate challenge for characters of Y strength, we can put a bunch of basic war droids into the mix and give the higher-powered characters justification for not going over there and just wiping them out -- they have their own problems! Second, we want to be sure every character has their opportunity to shine, by providing more Divinity to characters with less inherent power. Third, and following from the first two, this framework helps us work with a wide array of characters overall without needing to implement excessive nerfs or powerloss. We want to incentivize, or at least not disincentivize, characters who don't possess extraordinary powers or skills; Hyperion Star should be a place where normal humans have as much chance to thrive as those with incredible gifts, and don't feel lesser for not having them.
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In relation to this question:
Would it be perfectly acceptable if someone, say, a knucklehead that does not listen, asked about this anyway because the handlers lost their patience?
I ask because the character I might be considering to bring to this game is that much of an idiot. (I'm so sorry for the headaches she creates for everyone onboard.)
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ICly, the representatives waiting for the Marked to emerge are very patient, very understanding, and very empathetic -- in many ways, much closer to therapists than anything, helping people deal with a shocking new situation with as much dignity and grace as possible. That being said, there's no reason they can't get distracted, have to deal with a louder or smashier emergency, or any number of other excuses that would end up giving a character less than ideal information. It isn't in their nature to get frustrated and give up readily, but they are indeed only human (or sufficiently humanlike xenoforms).
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Marked who reside in Castle Aquilaine will have no problems getting what they need, but those who choose to live elsewhere may struggle a little depending on how close a supply is to their demand. We leave that entirely up to player discretion.
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1. For entities that rely on magic conception - as it seems there's a lot of creative freedom given to the players so far, from what I have read. Are we allowed to assume the Gods have made it so that at least they can hold their form? I know you answered something similar here, I just want to know if that's allowed to be assumed! Essentially, fate servants need life force, which is effectively magic, but not magic - but we'll just call it magic.
2. Regarding abilities like JJK's Domain Expansion or Fate Reality marbles - better yet, something like Magnificent Mansion. Is it okay to force realities into one reality, have a separate pocket reality, or have a portion of the reality? With the nerfs that are requested to be in place, would you rather us have them, not have them, case by case? If characters who have them can't use them, do they realize it's because the state of the universe is very weak? Etc?
3. Is there any way to tell that other characters are of a specific class? Are they listed somewhere in profiles that are accessible? I wanted my character to pretend to be a lower class than the one she is given.
4. JK, one more question, for characters with association already with eldritch Gods, is there anything else that we should know or keep in mind? Like their associations are 'false ones' or 'copies' or etc? Or treated as real in their universe, as these Gods to be treated?
If anything was answered already, feel free to redirect me. I might have just misunderstood it.
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2. Extradimensional spaces and pocket realities are entirely acceptable, with the two caveats of not using them to somehow escape the ship, and the usual bag-of-holding-in-portable-hole explosions and planar tears won't happen due to an interaction between extradimensional fields.
3. Marks do not imply Class in any way, except for the individualized Class X marks. The primary disincentive to falsifying your Class is in Divinity Drops -- if the Class X people are all screwing around in the Class 4-5 challenges, then whatever the Class X people need to deal with won't get dealt with. That's bad. (It may have further IC consequences as well, depending; that's not a guarantee, merely a possibility.)
4. Aberrations, as the general term for such beings go, don't obey any of the rules, so the answer is that literally no one knows or is even capable of understanding what's really up with them, including gods and even other Aberrations. Dealing with the presence of them in other capacities, or acknowledging them in other situations, is just a giant shrug.
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2. Help, I feel like you've dm'd a dnd game before. Thank you!
3. Makes sense! Thank you for the answer!
4. Perfect cool, I love it!!!!
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The chances of this applying are probably super low and so it may not even matter, but since it's mentioned that there will be prompts locked based on a character's class so as to have appropriate challenge levels, I figured I ought to ask. Just in case.
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When it comes to prompts, we encourage looking at it the other way. We write out Class-based prompts not as "Class 6 people must do this Class 6 thing" but instead as "the challenges in these prompts are generally suitable for people at the Class 6 power level". But Classes are very general things. You can imagine that a Class 6 spellcaster would have very different strengths and weaknesses compared to a Class 6 mech pilot. The prompt, then, is just the baseline for the player to write a scene that satisfies them. So whether she's considered Class 4 or Class 6, you're completely in charge of what happens during the scene, and in either case you could write (for example) a desperate fight with a last-minute power-up to save the day. So what's most fun for you?
Additionally, we're not going to enforce "stay in your Class!" (unless things get really, really bad about it, in which case that'll be a last-ditch effort). Occasionally moving to a higher or lower Class prompt is just fine. We don't want it to become habitual, since that starts to fly in the face of theme and purpose, but we also recognize that in some situations a character might have a good reason to play outside of their Class.
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sorry, I'm starting my app early and I wanted to ask before I forgot laterno subject
If you have adjustments, you can put them there as well, though we're also happy to discuss ahead of time if you have any questions or specific concerns.
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