FAQ

[whimsicalism]

OOC FAQ

What is this?

This is the second round of Castle Whimsical (or Castle W, for short), a murdergame meant for younger characters. This time around the setting is the Ira Academy, a boarding school for children to learn how to be proper members of society.

Okay, so what's the premise? Who's running this?

Ira Academy, a strange new boarding school, has been drafting students from various places for one purpose: to try to make sure the youth of today are the upstanding adults of tomorrow! The Principal of the school is dedicated to such a noble purpose. He only wants to make sure the best of the best make it to the closing ceremonies of the semester. If that means that some don't survive through their education... well. He's a resourceful man, our Principal. The Academy is his castle, after all, and he's not about to waste anything. The setting is based on the roleplaying game Little Fears. No prior knowledge of Little Fears is needed for playing at Castle W.

Out of character, your mods will be Yue (savingdaisydiva) and Shay (antiquating).

Before I start asking more questions, are there any content warnings I should know about before heading into this game?

As a murder game centered around younger characters, child endangerment and death will happen. Any extra gore will be warned before hand as will specific warnings will be given out during the game if they come up during a case. As the mods, we will try to respect any touchy subjects that come up during the game.

If you have any specific content warnings you'd like to warn for, please let us know! This will be entirely confidential.

What about Round One? Will I have to know anything about the first round to apply during Round Two?

We welcome all players, returning and new! No knowledge of the previous round is needed. The Castle Whimsical series has a loosely overarching plot line but any connection to Round One or the Mastermind will be revealed through the game itself.

For those familiar with Round One, here are some differences:

- There will be no memory loss. Memory loss was the purview of the Round One Mastermind.

-"Round Zero" was an important part of Round One. There will be no "round zero" in this round.

- While exploration will still be rewarded and reveal ongoing information, it will not be as involved or intensive as it was during Round One. There will be still be plenty of opportunities to get involved!

Anyway, who can I app?

While there's no minimum age, due to the nature of murder games we strongly suggest choosing a character who you think will be fun playing in highly stressful situations.

There is a maximum age of seventeen. However, there are a few situations that can change whether a character can be played here or not. If the character is human, that rule is still in place. If they aren't or magic is in play things can get tricky. Here's a few guidelines (all of these are just guidelines, as we can't predict who everyone wants to play so feel free to ask on specifics in the comments) :

1. Let's say your character physically is under the maximum age but is a clone, robot, monster, homunculus, etc. Yet, they physically look like an adult and other characters in their canon believe this to be true. This character probably isn't probably suitable for this game.

2. The opposite. Your character is older than the maximum age but for whatever reasons passes for a younger person. For the sake of clarity for this point and the above situation, I do mean they are mistaken in canon. The reasons for this is that they are supernatural in nature (elf, dragon, vampire, etc), are under a spell, are just short or have a baby face, etc.

This is a tricky situation. If they're supposed to be older, probably not unless there is some mental regression in play. Supernatural beings that are physically over the age is also a tough call.

Are they parents or can they become parents in canon at the point you're taking them from? That means they really aren't suitable. Are the majority of them sort of supernatural beings and compared to the rest they are considered a child? Then, they certainly can be. Such as the canon is about a group of centuries old goblins but you want to play the child of the main character who, despite being 36 years old is considered to be young compared to other goblins.

3. Your character is an animal in a canon that doesn't use human ages or similar creature (like a Pokemon or Digimon). This one is simple: if they are a 'young' animal/non human being, then they can join in on the 'fun'.

Age aside, characters can be from any canon or medium, with some conditions.

Original Characters are allowed! They will require more write up in the application to explain their history and personality to us. Think of it as you're applying a character that doesn't have a wiki. Fandom OCs are also allowed, given that they are completely unrelated to the main canon.

Silent (or maybe not so silent) characters that are shaped by player action or have personality in spite of having no dialogue, such as the protagonist from the first Devil Survivor game. Just provide the world state in your application.

Characters based on real, alive people aren't allowed. No internet celebrities, regular celebrities, or actors. Characters that are based on historical figures, such as in the Fate/ franchise are allowed.

No characters that are already in the same round. No playing baby Simba from the live action Lion King and someone else playing him from the animated version, for example. You can apply for characters that were NPCs (such as Alice or Nursery Rhyme from the Fate/ franchise) from the previous round or from the 'round zero' that came from it. However, you can take them from canon and not have to worry about anything that happened in that round.

Finally, no CRAUs. This, unfortunately, means that playing characters you played during the first round isn't allowed. There will be an IC reason for this explained during the game.

Is there a character limit? How many can I play?

Each player can only play one character. Only two characters are allowed from a canon. Depending on interest, the cast cap will be 25. The game will run if we have at least 20 players.

What about powers?

For the sake of making sure that everything is more evened out, characters will wake up without their canonical powers.

What if my character isn't human? Or dead?

As long as they have at least human level sentience and are able to communicate, they're probably fine here. Yes, even if they normally wouldn't leave behind a body! For the sake of the game, the Principal has provided a body. If they have a non-normal diet such as blood, the Principal will reluctantly provide for them.

You can take them from the second before they die or take them after their death. The Principal is very dedicated to his cause, after all.

Will there be memory loss in this round?

Unfortunately, no, there won't be any memory loss this round. There might be things that seem fuzzy about how they came to the Academy but there won't be direct memory loss.

Are there any other mechanics I should know about before we get to questions about the trials? (Beyond things like the regains, etc)

Yes, in fact--there is one thing! We like to introduce something we're calling the 'Seven Mysteries of the Academy'. This mechanic will involve both the alive player base as well as any dead characters in the Graveyard who are interested in participating. There will be no Graveyard AC for dead characters; however, we wanted to involve our dearly departed students who are interested in continuing play after their term has ended by giving them things to do week-by-week. Remember that the Principal abhors waste!

While the specifics of these events will be revealed later, here are the basics: Every Monday, a mini-event that spans into the motive reveal on Tuesday will take place. We'll be tapping those involved with the cases for some inspiration for the odd happenings in our lovely school. ICly, these events will seem rather random. A sudden banging on all of the windows, shadows imprinted on the walls that they can't get rid of... These events will serve as an alternative mode of exploration and may even involve some secrets that players and characters will be expected to keep!

How many of these events will take place?

There will be seven, one for each week of the game. The first week's will be a tutorial to introduce these elements into the game. Other than these scheduled mini-events, there will be ample opportunities for our poor departed to make their wills known.

Do I have to participate in these events? What if I'm chosen for a case and want to focus on that instead?

You don't have to participate in these scheduled events. These are purely optional. While killers and victims might be asked to weigh in on ideas about the mystery for the week of their case, no one's obligated to participate in this planning or to play in the mystery events. Any further involvement will be voluntary. Planning a case is stressful enough as it is, so we'll help sort it out. We want to give our players a chance to play a bit with this setting, but more traditional exploration and interaction will be encouraged as well.

While the tutorial mystery will allow anyone who wants to investigate it, the others will be narrowed to up to four characters. While there will be information rewarded in these investigations, you won't be left out if you aren't able to investigate them. There will be a separate page that'll give summaries and keep track of the information learned.

I heard something about mysteries being tied to cases and I wasn't picked for a case! What can I do to get on this if I want to?

While there's a limited amount of mystery events that we're able to run, there are plenty of strange things happening in Ira Academy all the time! If you have ideas for smaller scares, let us know your ideas and we'll see what we can do. When the game starts, we'll have a post for suggestions. There's no guarantees that all suggestions will be used or that characters will investigate activities that their players suggest, but we're excited to get your input for these events.

As for why those who are involved in cases are the ones asked for inspiration for the mysteries, that has to deal with the mechanics of our graveyard for this round. The living will also feel the fallout of these mechanics, but that's all we can reveal before the game opens. We hope you enjoy solving these spooky mysteries with us!

My character is in the graveyard, you said that my characters will be able to influence things even after they're gone?

Why, yes, we did say that. We can't say too much on that currently but there will be a FAQ with explanations for those in the graveyard.

When and how long will Round Two be?

The round will be seven weeks long. Game start date is Monday, August 15th.

When will be reserves and applications be opened?

Reserves will open on Sunday, July 31st at 12:00 PM EST and run until all slots are filled or until Saturday, August 6th at 12:00 PM EST. Applications will be open from Saturday, August 6th at 12:00 PM EST to Saturday, August 13th at 11:59 PM EST.

What will AC be like?

Every week you will be expected to have at least ten comments from your character spread over no more than two threads. Any extra will be able to count to regains. More information will be found on the regain page.

When will posts go up? What about investigation and trials?

Every week, a post for exploration and mingling will be posted at 12:00 PM EST on Sundays. This doesn't apply for the first week of the round, where the mingle post will be on Monday at the same time. An opening post will be posted at that time, however.

Our special mini-events and motive reveals will be at 12:00 PM EST on Mondays and Tuesdays respectively. On Fridays there will be an investigation post for the crime scenes at 12:00 PM EST and then a proper trial will start on the following Saturday at 12:00 PM EST. The first week is an exception to this, too, since there won't be a trial on that week.

Note: Times may change between now and the official opening based on player preference.

How will setting up a case work? How about the trial and investigations?

On Fridays, we will randomly choose at least two people to be involved in the next week's case. We'll contact you two secretly and start planning out the case in private. This will happen after the investigation of that week's case is over. This should be kept secret from the rest of the game. There will be five player cases this round. The final week will have a FAQ of it's own when it happens.

Investigations will involve trying to find clues for the murder that has taken place and the trial will be for trying to solve the case. While we can't stop private talk, open theorizing and trying to push theories should wait until the trial so more of the game can be involved.

Trials will be watched over by the Prefect with the Principal making sure that everything happens correctly. Both of them will be available to supply mod help if needed. While there's no end time for trials if six hours have passed and the trial seems to stalled, the Principal might step in to offer up hints when needed. This will be discussed by the mods and the people involved in the case to decide if this is needed.

After a reasonable culprit is discovered, the Principal will call for a vote. If the right culprit is voted for, congratulations! The culprit will be executed and you can go on to a new week. If you don't, well, your mods will have a way to negate this happening once.

Will there be a Discord?

Yes! If you'd like to join it, we'll have a link for it when the game opens for you.



IC FAQ

Where am I?

You lucky youngster! You've been enrolled into the Ira Academy, a school for helping children to become properly adjusted adults.

Properly adjusted? That sounds awfully suspicious!

Does it? Maybe the fact that you're questioning the mission statement means you're not ready to be released yet! The staff at the Academy are dedicated at making sure children don't cause mischief. There's nothing wrong with that.

You kidnapped me to give me a lecture on manners; I'm out of here!

Not so fast! No one leaves early without the Principal's permission. He's a difficult man to please so you'll have to be ready to get your hands dirty.

What, do my homework and he'll let me go?

Something like that! You see, sometimes adults have to do difficult things like murder. If a student were able to get away with such a crime he might reconsider their position at the Academy.

Murder?! What if I don't get away with it?

Then disobedience will be punished. That's the way of the Academy, after all.

Who is the Principal? Where can I get my hands on this jerk?

He's the headmaster of the Ira Academy, of course! He has an office so you may talk to him but he's a very busy man. It might be easier to talk to his assistant, the Prefect.

Who the heck is the Prefect?

Your guide to the Academy, of course. She's not a student, but she'll be there to help you along your journey to re-education. She'll have an office for you to contact her to help you along your journey.

This sounds like brainwashing!

Then we suggest you try to impress your Principal if you want to leave.