TEST DRIVE MEME (4)

[trainmasters]

test drive meme

Your character wakes up in a neat bedroom in their team carriage, in nondescript underwear. They might be missing their memories, or their special abilities, or they may just feel a little queasy. Next to them is what seems to be a smartphone, which they know how to use even if they never had before, even if they don't know if they have before. On the screen is a simple message:

Welcome aboard the Aurora!

You have been selected by the Star Prince as a potential hero, tasked with saving the universe from Malice. As a passenger I, your Construct and Conductor, will attempt to provide you with quality lodgings and safety. In return, we ask that you join your fellows in making bonds and doing your utmost to bring joy back to the Stars.

Due to the process of restoring your body, you may find some things are missing. We apologise for the inconvenience and hope to return them to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your cooperation.

★ One
Upon investigation, you'll find some basic clothes matching your team's theme in the storage provided in your room. Or, perhaps, you're wandering out of the room still undressed. Either way, downstairs you'll find someone has left a tray of cups of hot tea on the living room table. Drinking it may be simply pleasant, or it may cause you to feel a sudden need to warm up to the others in your carriage -- emotionally or physically. Welcome to the team, newbie!

☆ Two
Shortly after your arrival, you find yourself wrapped up in some monster NPC's Game. You're inside what appears to be a stone temple, with a massive golden scale on one wall. Suddenly, on one side, a heavy metal weight is dropped. As the scales tip out of balance, the floor begins to slowly disappear, brick by brick, ready to drop you -- and whoever is with you -- into an abyss. Your only hope comes in the form of an inscription on the altar:

How much do your secrets weigh?

Every secret you tell causes a weight to fall onto the other side of the scale. The bigger the secret, the bigger the weight. If you can collectively tip the scales, the floor will quit dropping bricks and a door will appear to allow you back to the train. If you can't, you'll fall, seemingly forever, til you pass out. When you wake up you'll find yourself unable to lie.

★ Three
You've been in aurora for awhile -- long enough to have recovered a memory/power or two, if you lost any. And it's lucky for you: today, the area around the train has been surrounded in a strange mist that makes you feel dizzy and overly warm. Left alone, your condition will slowly degrade, with increasing lethargy and shortness of breath until you lose consciousness. The cure is easy enough, though -- touch another person and they'll see one of your memories, experiencing it as if it's their own. The effect is mutual -- you now have a piece of eachother, and you're safe from the illness... at least until you take another big breath. Good thing there's no mist inside the train!

☆ Four
Wildcard. Make up your own prompt! Check out the setting and team pages for info on the train. If you have any questions, ask on the q&a page. Otherwise, apps open on February 8! In the meantime you're free to join us on Discord.

Activity Check

[trainmasters]

Hello everyone!

It's time for this month's Activity Check. In order to pass, your character must have participated in a public Bond, a Game, or an event post. There are no comment counts, but threads should have some kind of significant threading (no 5-comment smalltalk threads). There will be no warning lists -- you must reply to AC during the alloted time. Any players seen to repeatedly idle will be asked not to app again. If you'd like to drop, you can help the mods out and avoid idle penalties by using the drop post.

AC is open through February 7th. Idles will be processed when apps open at 12:00am PST on the 8th.

To submit AC, reply to this post with the following form:

<b>Player:</b> <b>Discord:</b> (are you in the Discord server?) Yes/No <b>Character Name:</b> <b>Journal:</b> <b>Thread:</b> <a href="LINK">Game/Bond/Event</a>

ANNOUNCEMENTS + IDEAS JAM

[trainmasters]

Hi everyone!

Mods here with general announcements. Activity Check is up and will be a standard AC! Responses are due by 11:59pm pst on February 7. Please let us know if you need an exemption for any reason!

The TDM is up for this month as well. Apps are open from 12:00am pst on February 8 to 11:59pm on February 14, and placements/an intro event are on the 15th as soon as apps are all processed.

Tomorrow afternoon/evening, Youji will be running some guided monster threads in the current event. The Alien is running a trauma trial on February 9 at 4pm, which should last 3-4 hours. The Hermit is running a non-trauma trial on February 17, which should go for 3 hours. As a note please remember we've switched the name of Links to Bonds and, unintentionally, Trial has stuck as lingo for Games, so we'll make that all nice and official as well.

Finally, in this post we're having our first Ideas Jam! This is basically the modteam asking for your input on events for the future. Please use this post to tell us which events/games so far have been your favorites/least favourites and what kind of events/games you super want to play with. This can be status effects or something more complicated. Are you itching to see the Prince? Do you want a sexy mingle? Would you kill to get your character zombified? Or do you just want to have a pillow fight? We're aware we've had a lot of trauma recently so there should be some downtime this month, but please let us know if it's been too much or the right amount of crazy for you.

You can also use this opportunity to give general game feedback if you feel something needs to be addressed by the mods or discussed by the playerbase. Thank you, and as always if you have any game questions please direct them to the q&a!