FAQ / RULES

[calloperators]

You wake up in a motel room, the air conditioning unit rattling and humming quietly to fight off the haze of humidity and heat seeping in through the window. Neon light filters in from the buzzing sign outside. The day is lost to you; but that's the least of your problems. Despite the confusion, the panic, despite everything, all that matters to you is picking up the phone.

> You have one (1) new message.

FAQ
What is this game?
1-800-HOTLINE, or HOTLINE is a single-round murdergame inspired by the Hotline Miami series. Characters will find themselves waking up in a dilapidated motel in the ever-pleasant █████ , USA. Each character receives a mysterious package, a threatening note, and a phone call...turns out, somewhere out there knows exactly who they are - and most importantly - what they have done. These crimes, kept secret, are held over their heads in exchange for a single task: murder one of your fellow captives. Succeed, and the slate is wiped clean, and you're free to go. As the days go by, more mysterious messages arrive on their answering machines, and the situation just seems to keep getting worse...

Initially, characters will ICly not know that other characters have also been ordered to kill people. Up to 20 players can participate, with the game running with a minimum of 15 players.

It is important to note that this game deals with themes of unreality, paranoia, manipulation, violence/gore, and body horror. We ask that you please carefully consider this before apping.

So, how does this work?
Daily threading and tags will take place in a weekly mod-posted log. Players are both welcome and encouraged to put up their own logs for their own events. Every Friday, a murder will be committed, and a investigation log will be posted for the players to investigate these deaths. On Saturday, a trial log will be posted. After the players vote for a suspect, an execution will be posted for the culprit on Sunday morning.

It's important to note that there will not be a "host" in the traditional sense of murdergames, though there will be several important NPCs that will interact with the characters throughout this game.

How long will this game last?
Depending on how many people participate, we estimate that this game will last from 4 to 6 weeks. Murders will start on the first week. Please plan accordingly.

When are reserves/apps opening?
Reserves will open Thursday, May 23rd.
Applications will open Friday, May 24th, or, if reserve cap is hit, as soon as possible on May 23rd.
Applications and reserves will close Friday, May 31st, with apps being processed a day or two before.
The game will start Sunday, June 2nd. An intro log will be posted that day.

Is there a character cap?
There is a strict canon cap of two characters per series. We don’t want your character to be surrounded by too many familiar faces, after all! We will be counting different installments of part of the same series. For example, a Persona 4 character and a Persona 5 character would fill the Persona canon cap.

How do I app?
You'll need to put in a reserve, and then write an application for your character. Reserves will close if we hit the 20 character cap. As this is an invite-only game, you'll have to be on either Jeff or Everett's Plurk list, or vouched for by someone on their Plurk lists. If this is the case, you must put the player's Plurk vouching for you in your reserve.

Reserves are mandatory to submit an application. If all the reserves fill up before you can get in, message us and we’ll put you on a waitlist. If any spots open up before applications/reserves close, we will message you and ask if you still want to reserve. If you are somehow unable put in a reserve at the time they open, you can ask another player to post a proxy reserve for you. Within a day of someone posting your proxy reserve, you must reply to them to confirm it. Otherwise, we will open up the spot for other players to reserve.

Characters are first come, first serve. No exceptions. If a conflict occurs, we will ask the second person to change their reserve.

Are there any restrictions on characters I can app?

1. Due to the nature of this game, characters must be 18+. There is no maturity clause. We will also not be accepting “looks 12, is 1200” types of characters.
   
2. Characters must either have committed criminal act(s), or view themselves as a bad person. This is integral to the plot, and we ask that you please carefully consider your character choice and how they would fit within the setting before apping to this game.
   
3. However, with the above rule, we would like to request these acts are not in the nature of sexual abuse (e.g, the character is a rapist or a pedophile). This is out of consideration for the player comfort, and we would like to avoid these topics becoming plot-relevant.
   
4. Characters must be humanoid. Nonhuman humanoids are allowed, though in terms of heightened senses/extra functions, they will be nerfed to be on the same level as a human. Anything extra the character needs to survive that comes with their species will be handled on a case-by-case basis (on whether it will be provided for them or if they won't need it).
   
5. At this time, we will not be allowing OCs to be apped to this game. Sorry!
   
6. No cops. Yes, we're serious. The reason for this will become apparent later.

Are our characters going to get masks?
They sure are! Each character will be given an animal mask and a weapon, which will either be a melee weapon or a gun of some sort. Whether or not you use this weapon for murder is up to you, but each animal mask has an associated ability with it, though they will also have additional...effects. We encourage players to be creative with these abilities and to use them in interesting ways.

The abilities only apply to the characters when they wear the mask and the after effects tend to linger for a few hours. It's mostly psychology. Probably.

What does a general week look like?
This game operates on a unique IC day/night schedule in which each OOC day is equal to a twelve-hour period ICly. The following is an example of a regular week:

• Monday - Day 1 (6 AM to 6 PM)
  
• Tuesday - Night 1 (6 PM to 6 AM)
  
• Wednesday - Day 2
  
• Thursday - Night 2
  
• Friday - Day 3, Investigation
  
• Saturday/Sunday - Night 3, Trial/Execution

Because of this schedule, each location will also have hours that the player characters can access them. We encourage our players to take full advantage of the city night life!

What happens during investigations/trials?
On Friday, one or more bodies will be found by the players. An investigation will then commence over the next few hours in a search for clues that were laid out by the people involved in the case.

On Saturday, 12 PM EST, the trial will commence, and players will determine who among them is guilty of murder. Players will use the evidence gathered to determine who committed the crime. When the trial reaches a certain point, characters will vote on who deserves to be executed. Whether or not the characters vote for the actual culprit or "incorrectly", the person they've convicted will be killed. Unlike most murdergames, players do not automatically bad end when they do not vote for the culprit, leaving opportunity for player-directed justice. However, we still encourage people to create cases that can be solvable.

What does activity check look like?
Activity check will take place every week after every trial, and must consist of at least two six-comment threads with two different characters, or twelve comments total from your character. Additional activity can be used to regain items. We encourage players to go above and beyond this activity, as certain aspects of this plot will require more player participation. Failing activity check more than once will result in your character being killed off earlier. If you have any issues with handing in activity, please contact your mods!

Are our characters allowed to regain items?
Yes! Extra comments can be turned in to regain items from home as well as some select 80's...stuff.

In the corner of the convenience store, there’s a bunch of gacha machines with opaque, brightly-colored plastic capsules. A crumpled piece of paper has been taped to the front and reads in scrawled handwriting “OUT OF ORDER”. If you try to put in a quarter, it just eats it. But if you insert one of those weird tokens that you found in your room and turn the crank, it spits out a capsule that fits in the palm of your hand. Upon opening the capsule—


—You now have an item in your possession. The capsule is nowhere to be found. How lucky that the convenience store had this in stock.

Help! I’ve never participated in a murdergame before/reading large chunks of text is hard sometimes/I don’t know what character to app!
We have put up a test drive meme for people to get into character and practice interacting with other people at their leisure.

Additionally, there will be a canon mock week, with reserves opening Wednesday, February 20th, and the actual week starting Sunday, February 24th, complete with murder and trial. This is mostly to demonstrate how murdergame mechanics work and for players to evaluate if they want to participate in the actual round or not.

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to message us! You can contact either Blank @ blankblankity or Everett @ wolfnoir

RULES

1. Be respectful. Treat your fellow players the way you want to be treated. Although this game is based around a fairly gruesome concept and focuses especially on the characters being bad people, we also know that some people may be uncomfortable or even triggered by certain kinds of content. Please respect people’s boundaries, and if you’re unsure, always ask first if someone is okay with threading something. We expect our players to communicate with each other and treat each other in a civil manner.
   
   We will not tolerate harassment/drama/bigotry of any kind and we WILL kick you from the game if we see this behavior. If you have a problem with someone OOC, please report it to us. Nothing ruins a game like a bad attitude. Please feel free to contact the mods about any concerns, and we will do our best to take action.
   
   Keep in mind that your character is likely going to die, and we ask that you come into the game prepared to play with that possibility. There are only a small handful of characters that survive each round. As a result, please do not come into the game with the mindset/attitude of trying to "win".
   
   
2. Content warnings will be strictly enforced. Due to the sensitive nature of this game, it will be required for all players to warn for any particularly triggering content in their tags (i.e: suicide, sexual assault, abuse, body horror, pedophilia, incest). Ultimately, a murdergame should be fun for everyone involved, and we would like you to take consideration for your fellow players.
   
   
3. IC =/= OOC. You are not your character. Do not bring OOC drama into threads or be unnecessarily uncooperative or hateful because you do not like a specific player. In addition, comments and remarks about your character are not necessarily aimed at you, the player. Do not take things said about your character personally.
   
   
4. Don’t give out spoilers. If you were given a role or any sort of classified information, please don’t reveal it to other players. Part of what makes this game fun is figuring out what each character knows ICly or figuring out who the culprit is. This rule does not apply to information that is not known to everyone IC but is known to everyone OOC.
   
   
5. Don’t metagame. For those unfamiliar with the term, metagaming is essentially using external knowledge to influence the actions of an ingame character. For example, gathering information from characters who are supposed to be dead and using that information in a trial, or learning who the culprit is before the murder and berating that person IC. It’s not fair to the other players, and sucks the fun out of the game.
   
   
6. One character per person. Enough said. If we catch you trying to sneak in with another character, we will permanently ban you from the game.
   
   
7. Please remain active. Because murdergames rely on the participation of the players, we ask that you provide us with two six-comment threads that week for activity check. If you miss activity check twice, we will be forced to remove your character from the game. We know that schedules can get hectic, so if you have a conflict that otherwise prevents you from meeting this activity check, please let us know. If you find that you need to exit the game early, let us know and we’ll arrange to have your character killed off appropriately.
   
   
8. Players must be 18+ due to the nature and themes of the game. Additionally, no smut is allowed. Sure, you can get away with general discussion of sex/NSFW jokes/sexual implications, but leave any actual smut to PSLs outside of the game.
   
   
9. This game is invite only, so you must be either of the mods’ plurklists or vouched for by someone on them.



10. Do not force CR or ships. If someone doesn’t want to ship with your character, or does not want CR with them, this will be respected. We would rather any opt-outs with threading with characters be brought up to both the mods and the player in question, rather than just avoiding them. There will be no questions asked. Any players violating such requests will get a warning, and then a ban if it continues.
    Communicate with us! If there are any questions, concerns, or issues that arise, we want to know and do our very best to address them.
    
    
11. Mods get the final say. We are open to criticisms and comments, and will do our best to cater to our players needs. However, we reserve the right to reject applications for reasons other than writing quality. We also reserve the right to say “no” to any player plans.
    

Comments

[lovedanime]

1. LOVE THE NIGHTLIFE, BEST JUSTIFICATION FOR SUNDAY MONDAY ETC MOD TOP LEVEL COMMENTS EVER
2. Are characters' powers "nerfed"? If they would have significantly power items on them at their canon point, do they not have them?

[calloperators]

1. Thank you!! We're glad to hear it!
2. Powers are nerfed, and items from their canonpoint will be removed (save for the clothes on their backs). However, there will be the opportunity to acquire items in-game, and the masks given to the characters will provide powers also.

[ichimacchan]

1. Do characters wake up wearing their own clothing or do they wake up in 80's clothing or something like that?

2. What's the minimum 'criminality' that could be considered a criminal act that still makes a character appable?

3. Will there be a deadland or something similar?

[calloperators]

1. Characters will wake up wearing their own clothing, but they will have access to 80's clothing of the player's choice. Go ham.

2. There would be no minimum criminality, but we strongly encourage people to think about who they're apping and how they might apply to the setting. For example, someone who just littered probably isn't going to be as applicable to the plot as someone who actively stole or murdered someone. However, if, for some reason, the character is overwhelmed with their guilt for littering.....

3. There will be a deadland! More details will be revealed at the game start.

[ichimacchan]

Okay, cool! Thanks for answering!

[alphudo]

1. "Characters must be humanoid. Nonhuman humanoids will be functionally, and cosmetically, human."
Just for clarification's sake, does this mean that characters who are androids or elves or such are still appable? They just look and function like humans?

2. Can an apped character have committed a number of crimes but feel little remorse for it? I'm trying to gauge how strong the "or" is for that second character restriction.

[calloperators]

1. Yes that means they'll still be appable! We will edit that bit in the FAQ for further clarity, and also because, upon review, we have decided cosmetic changes won't be necessary. We just ask that you don't app anyone too large/small to navigate the setting! As for functionality: in terms of powers, heightened senses, robotic analysis, etc., they will be essentially human on that part. For things the characters need to survive/function, we will handle that on a case-by-case basis depending on what the character requires.

2. Yes, absolutely!

[technicallytechnically]

hey, ignore the account, this is javid!

i've never participated in a murder game before but i am SUPER INTERESTED, so i have some technical questions!

in terms of activity, i'm sure i could manage the base activity check, but since i work on weekends (Fri-Mon) and would be largely unavailable aside from the evenings, would this put a damper on my ability to contribute to the game due to the way the ic:ooc time ratio is set up?

i DO have the ability to rp while at work since dreamwidth isnt blocked, but plurk IS blocked (so no ooc plotting), and i wont be able to be quick with tags since every two minutes or less i have to put all internet aside to take a call.

ADDITIONALLY, as far as the no cops rule -- is this only CURRENTLY EMPLOYED cops, or would ex-cops be fine? I'M NOT 100% GONNA PLAY JUNO STEEL IM JUST SAYING I GOT AN ACCOUNT AND HE KINDA FITS but i have other ideas for characters i might try also kjfdgndkf

[calloperators]

Hiya! Glad to see that you're interested in joining the game!

Investigations take place at 12 PM EST on Fridays and trials go from 12 PM EST to 7 PM EST on Saturdays. In general, we understand if players are otherwise unavailable to participate every once in a while, but we do expect players to participate in trials, as investigations/trials are guided mostly by the player characters. If you'd still like to participate with the general week but find yourself unable to handle the trials, you could always volunteer as a victim.

If you have concerns regarding OOC plotting during investigations/trials, trials are usually quite quick and tend to have more improvisational aspects, barring mod supervision. Plotting for investigations/trials are usually done OOCly during the week by those involved with the cases, and usually should have enough detail that the mods do not have to excessively check with them throughout the trial.

Also, ex-cops are fine--Juno Steel is absolutely an acceptable character. As long as the character isn't currently being employed by a law enforcement agency, they are allowed.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask!

[technicallytechnically]

thanks for the quick response!

since i dont start work til 2 pm est, that DOES give me some slight wiggle room in the mornings as long as i wake up early! saturdays also are USUALLY my slowest days at work, so i think i can finagle it! (still a bit intimidated, but who isnt when it comes to new things... aha...)

thanks so much guys this game already looks amaze

[calloperators]

Thank you very much! Hope to see you in the game!

[silvertongueheir]

Hey, this is Gray. So, would Jared from Manly Guys Doing Manly Things be an acceptable character? I realize the crossover nature of the webcomic he's from might make things awkward, but he did get his trainer license revoked for having his Gyarados eat the opposing Pokemon and also became a cult leader and started an apocalypse at one point when society descended into anarchy.

Also, if he is acceptable, would it be possible for him to regain Mr. Fish? He technically doesn't have a Pokeball, but he could show up in one and Jared would probably just break the ball open. I'm also cool with him being shrunk to whatever size is necessary.

[calloperators]

Hello! Unfortunately, since Jared does interact with other characters from preexisting media, we don't want to cause unnecessary confusion in case anyone wants to app, for example, Ganon. Thank you for your interest in Hotline!

Edit: OH as a side note since your second question is most likely pretty relevant to a lot of players, we are not accepting living beings as regainables.

[rangerslayer]

hey, y'all it's ashley

so i am strongly considering putting older kim here, but her story-arc ends with next week's comic. my question is, can i take her from after that, even though it will be released...like, ridiculously soon? if anyone cares about spoilers (which i don't think anyone in rp does, at least in this game) i could mark for them! i just think it'd be nice to take her from the end of her run.

or maybe they'll do something horrific with her and i'll come back here in a week recanting EITHER WAY

[calloperators]

Hello!

Unfortunately, we ask that spoilery canonpoints be released at least three months prior to the start of the game. However, feel free to take her from an earlier canonpoint, if you so wish!