faderiftooc | EVENT ↠ IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

MOD EVENT: IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Short version: throughout the next month or so, a spirit we're going to call Clarence will focus its efforts on the Gallows. As a result, PCs may have strange, shared dreams over the next month or so.

DETAILS

WHAT SORT OF DREAMS?

Alternate universe dreams! The obvious template is someone wishing they'd never been born and then seeing the effects that might have had, but you can use other regrets/wishes as well: a character wishing they'd never met someone, that they'd never made a particular choice, that they were different in some fundamental way, etc.

Clarence's goal is to make people more content with their lives, so the dreams will be biased toward the change actually making things worse or hurting the people your character cares about somehow. However, your character will have some influence over the direction things take as well, so if you'd like the vision to indicate that things would actually have been way better for everyone if they'd never been born, or whatever else, it can twist that way—it will just be their own psyche and other Fade spirits ultimately responsible for that, rather than Clarence, who would never.

Unlike in the movie, Clarence himself will not actually be appearing in the dreams or otherwise interacting directly with PCs to explain what's going on. They'll never actually know a spirit named Clarence is involved, and he will leave as quietly and mysteriously as he came.

HOW ARE THE DREAMS SHARED?

Other characters may be drawn into your character's dream world while they're asleep to participate in the dream with them. Everyone involved will be able to remember it the next morning with whatever level of clarity you'd like, or can have no memory of it at all.

WILL THEY KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING?

If you'd like! Your character can know that the world is different than it should be and run around trying to figure out why à la George Bailey. Or they can completely believe this new version of themselves is who they're supposed to be. Or they mostly believe it, but have a weird feeling that something is wrong. The same goes for other participants. Whatever level of awareness is most fun for you is fine.

WHAT IF MY CHARACTER IS...

Some specific notes for different types of characters:

Dwarves: Thedosian natives who don't traditionally dream in the Fade can still participate, similar to how they can still be trapped in the Fade by the sloth demon in Dragon Age: Origins. Please don't make us cry by asking us to explain how that works. Clarence is just that powerful.

Mages & Somniari: Mages and Somniari can have their usual levels of awareness that they're dreaming, or Clarence can overpower them somewhat and make them lose some of that awareness. Whatever is fun.

Rifters: Rifters' dreams can focus on what would be different in Thedas if they were different/gone, or the dreams can focus on their homeworlds. It's up to you! If the dreams focus on their homeworlds, it's also up to you whether other PCs are AU'd into the homeworlds or sort of reverse-rifted.

IS MY AU REALISTIC ENOUGH?

It doesn't need to be. If you want to say that Thedas would be an apocalyptic wasteland (more than normal) if your character hadn't been born, that's fine—it's just a dream, not a game-canonical fact that the world would end without them, so you don't need our or anyone else's approval!

That said, Clarence's natural inclination would be to be believable enough that people will emerge from the dreams thinking they make sense instead of that they were bizarre. So he's most likely to focus on the direct ways your character's changes or absence would change the world or affect the people around them, rather than construct some Rube Goldberg machine of implausible connections where the whole world changes because your character sneezed ten years ago.

CAN MY CHARACTER HAVE MORE THAN ONE DREAM?

Sure.

CAN I OPT OUT?

Yep.

HOW DO I PLAY THIS?

There's an empty log post up for dream-based logs and a plotting form below if you want to work things out OOC first. The dreams can happen at any time from now through the end of Wintersend (January). No one is late.

WHAT ABOUT—

If you still have questions, there's a comment below where you can ask them!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Put ‘em here! But please note that we may be slow to respond due to travel and so on, and the answers will almost universally be some variation on "you can do whatever is fun for you," as long as it's within the general parameters described above.

Character: Athessa
Dream Concept: i'm pretty much only gonna do closed prompts for specific What-Ifs so hmu if you wanna do a thing. The first big What-Ifs that came to mind are

If she'd been with her clan when they got nabbed by slavers, and thus sold into slavery (this one can have multiple iterations, one of which will probably be closed to Benedict)
Clan wasn't gotten by slavers, but is wiped out by Corypheus, prompting her to join the Inquisition, same stuff happens but with less individual trauma
What if she was sold as a slave to shitty nobleman Devigny, kills him, and presides over his estate while putting up the facade that Devigny is still alive
What if she wasn't sold as a slave to Devigny but stayed in the brothel as a harlot (Closed to Laura)
What if she stayed in Rivain and didn't work for "the Qun" and became a bard of some renown?
What if she stayed in Rivain and after working for "the Qun" she became indoctrinated in the cult? (Closed to Deimos)

Thread Wishlist: I'm 100% down to clown with AUing Athessa into modern settings, Rifter worlds, different race (human, dwarf, qunari, elf from a different canon, etc), just COME AT ME, Y'ALL GIMME ALL UR BEAUTIFUL FACES

Also tell me if you want Skull in any of your dreams; he won't be having his own but he'll cameo into others.

Edited 2019-11-27 21:29 (UTC)

Character: Bastien
Dream Concept: Knuckling down and committing to the bard life instead of quitting when he did (and never growing a mustache, truly the darkest timeline).
Thread Wishlist: I want to do a closed/planned thing where he’s “joined” Riftwatch similar to the real timeline, but surprise-stabs one or several people in the back—maybe literally, maybe not, it can be something survivable or they can DIE depending on what people want to do—to steal something or destroy evidence for a secret employer. So let me know if you want in on that part.

And I’ll also make an open thing set post-backstabbing where Riftwatch people can be at a party/negotiation and he’s also there openly as Shady Asshole #7’s rental bard, but due to the setting it would be rude/detrimental for them to fight outright, and then.......... who knows.

Character: Laura Kinney!
Dream Concept: I'd like to do a lot of different ones, because /opens trenchcoat, ten thousand AUs fall out
Thread Wishlist: I'd prefer to do closed starters so that we can make them a little more specific, so please lmk if you're interested in any of this, and I can put you on the list!

• What if Laura'd had a normal childhood? - EERILY ORDINARY NEVARRAN ADVENTURES ideally with Significant Confusion when she uses more than two words at a time
• What if Laura hadn't been born at all? - Join a sad invisible Laura and talk about all these people who aren't dead
• What if Laura hadn't escaped her creator? - Be hunted by an assassin, or maybe you're both assassins, or generally Laura being a little killing machine who doesn't know what you mean when you say "Riftwatch"
• What if Laura wasn't the only murderbaby? - Join her for SEVERE FUCKING DEVESTATION when she tries to save her baby half-sister from certain doom and assassinhood. Or be the half-sister (you get one claw, perfect for flipping people off!), if you want.
• What if you were Laura's mystery!dad? - Be Wolverine for a night, complete with claws and awkward-ass talks with your very own feral child
• OR SOMETHING ELSE - I'd also love to foist Laura off on other people for all kinds of sleepy nights full of exciting dreams! Let's AU her into all your best bullshit. ♥

Character: Anne Bonny
Dream Concept: I think this event's basically a perfect way to do shit with Anne without her having to be active in the game outside of sleepytime stuff, so I'd definitely like to do some things!
Thread Wishlist: Similar to Laura, I'd like to think about doing closed starters so they can be a little more specific and manageable. Lemme know if you're up for any of these:

• Anne escapes her ratfucker husband on her own - Come drink at a tavern in Marnas Pell owned by a lowkey scary alewife
• Anne never escapes her ratfucker husband - A hell of a lot more depressing experience in a tavern in Marnas Pell
• Anne leaves Jack/Nascere and strikes out on her own - Pirate shenanigans in Antiva or Rivain, maybe?
• ????? My other ideas are pretty half-baked at the moment (come hang out with a lawyer's clerk in Marnas Pell, like if her real-world backstory had gone just a little differently????), so I guess watch this space for more
• ET CETERA - Like with Laura, I'm up for making other people deal with Anne, in whatever way might be interesting for you. ♥

Character: Sorrel
Dream Concept: I pretty much just want to do specific prompts for various AUs and I'm happy to do whatever, hit me up if you want to thread with me.
Thread Wishlist:
• AU where Sorrel was born an alienage elf
• what if Sorrel never stayed with Riftwatch
• Sorrel has a chest-shard like Sina did, and he's sickly?
• what if he were a circle mage
• idk what if he were human? or a girl?
• or obviously, never born
• basically anything, hmu

Character: Barty
Dream Concept: Barty is usually so wholesome and good, it might be fun to experiment with other things with him, in order to emotionally scar people or w/e
Thread Wishlist:
• What if Barty had never become a warden and was part of Riftwatch by some twist of fate as a member of the Legion of Death? (with sweet face tattoos)
• Barty raised as a proper duster, with knifes and cursing and being rude
• Barty if he were all the same but never became a warden because he is a big musical singing minstrel and composes poetry about everyone all the time.
• i will compose the poetry
• WHAT IF. BARTY HAD THE EMOTIONAL COURAGE OF A TURNIP. AND TOLD PEOPLE ABOUT IT WHEN HE HAD FEELINGS FOR THEM.
• or obviously, never born
• basically anything, hmu

EVENT ↠ IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

QUESTIONS

(frozen comment) PLOTTING COMMENT FORM

Plotting!

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Plotting!