FAQs

Q. What's the story?

A. Our story is presently taking place approximately a year or two after the events of Sonic Adventure 2. Though we do not heavily base our story off of it, we have taken the events of Sonic X into account, up until episode 52, and use them primarily just to set the scene of the Sonic world--A world devoid of humans, filled with contrasting locales, ranging from futuristic, to rural, gritty industrial, and even pristine wilderness. The story itself largely sticks to series conventions, usually holding a conflict between Sonic and Eggman as a very central plot element, though with more depth, and often new characters, posing new threats. We do have original characters (player-created characters, or "fancharacters," if you will), and they do take center-stage from time to time, but the official cast is still held sacred, and for that reason, you'll never see Eggman get killed by some gothy two-gunning hedgehog fancharacter, or anything stupid like that. I, the creator of the group, can't control every post, but I've got a pretty good stranglehold on the story itself, and I won't let anything too ridiculously deviant from the heart of the series occur.

Q. Where is this RP set?

A. Though this question is mostly answered by the above entry, I'll be a bit more specific: Earth. It's not the same Earth we know, but rather the Sonic Team rendition (meaning the continents are not as they are in real life and you won't find a United States of America, Japan, or any other such place). It's not Mobius. None of the official games are set in Mobius. That was allegedly just a bad translation that became popularized and eventually used in DiC's Saturday Morning "Sonic The Hedgehog" cartoon series, the Archie "Sonic The Hedgehog" comics and several early English game manuals.

To be more even more specific, most of the action revolves around South Island. Other locales are occasionally thrown into the mix, however, as the past has shown with Westside Island, Resort Island, Cocoa Island, Neutrogic High Zone (Known in America as "Carnival Island") and Little Planet.

Take note that since this RP takes place after Sonic X, Station Square, Capital City, Space Colony ARK and everything else of the sort is gone and there are no humans except for Dr. Eggman. Also, Central City from Shadow the Hedgehog and Soleanna from Sonic 2k6 are not included, either.

Q. Are any of the Sonic animated series or comics counted as part of this RP's back-story?

A. None of them, save for some select details from Sonic X. Nothing else applies, whether it's DiC's many TV series, the Sonic OAV, Archie, or Fleetway. Below is a list of productions considered to have influence on our story's history, in order of timeline appearance (not release):

Sonic The Hedgehog (MegaDrive/Genesis version only)
Sonic The Hedgehog CD
Tails Adventures
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (MegaDrive/Genesis version only)
Sonic The Hedgehog 3
Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic Advance 2

Sonic Adventure 1 and 2
Some of Sonic X - Season 1 and 2

The productions listed above are only the ones that had a substantial effect on the overall story. The following fringe games are included, though their storyline placement is of minor importance.

Sonic Drift
Sonic Drift 2
Sonic R
Sonic & Tails 2 (AKA "Triple Trouble" in USA)
Sonic Advance

Q. How long has this group been around?

A. I started recruiting in April of '02. We had our first session on May 13, 2002.

Q. Is [insert character here] taken?

A. See the characters section, accessible from the menu on your left.

Q. Can I submit an original (self-created) character?

A. Yes, as long as it meets the requirements presented in the rules section.

Q. What about an Archie or Fleetway Sonic comic character?

A. Neither Archie nor Fleetway crossover characters are permitted.

Q. How many characters can I have?

A. There is no set-in-stone limit. Just refrain from overdoing it. You should preferably have only one official character, since there is a limited number of those, but you may have as many original characters as you can get approved (within reasonable bounds). I should note that it's actually strongly recommended that you have two characters if your primary one is a villain or one of Dr. Eggman's robots. It's hard to interact in low-hostility role-plays if your only character tends to try to blow up everything that crosses his or her path.

Q. Why don't you allow people to use their custom hedgehog characters?

A. We don't allow it because there are far too many half-baked, fan-made hedgehog characters out there. At one point when we allowed them very early on we had in excess of seven in the RP, I kid you not. Besides, there are certainly enough official hedgehogs without adding more to the mix. Just use some originality. Note that this rule may be flexible if someone formulates an exceptionally original hedgehog character--It's just that no one has done so as of yet. Feel free to try, but don't expect the character to be accepted.

Q. Well, why don't you allow us to use our fan-made echidna and fox characters?

A. For foxes, it's the same reason as hedgehogs--There are far too many of them. Feel free to take a crack at it, though. If your character is original and interesting enough, it might still be accepted, though it's highly unlikely. For echidnas, however, it's because Knuckles is the last of his race. There are no more echidnas. There cannot possibly be any more. There will never be an echidna in this group that isn't Knuckles.

Q. Are there word limits for attacks and dodges?

A. We don't have any, and we do not allow any of our role-players to enforce personal limits. Things should be played as descriptively as necessary, no more, no less. Once you start enforcing word limits you create a need for fluff (unnecessary filler text). It's just pointless. The amount of text that goes into an action shouldn't determine its effectiveness--It should all be the character's skill, abilities, limitations, and the role-player's creativity that determines what happens and what does not. Still, that does not mean that grossly short or vague posts will be tolerated. Also, more detailed posts will usually better explain why an attack would be effective, so it's a good idea to be descriptive where possible.

Q. What is the average length of an in-character action?

A. It varies greatly between role-players and situations. In a simple action where my character is only doing dialogue, or something otherwise simple, I might do a one or two short-paragraph post. If it's combat or an otherwise complex action, I might do closer to the neighborhood of two, three, or four, or maybe even more moderately sized paragraphs. Or if it's something that requires a great deal of information (which usually in my case has something to do with setting the scene and explaining major story details), it could be as long as eight paragraphs or more.

Of course, not all role-players are this way. Some prefer to keep it short and concise at one or two paragraphs most all of the time, and that's perfectly okay. As long as there is enough detail to know what's going on, then it works.

Q. Are there any applications to fill out when joining?

A. Check the Join section to find the application. Don't worry--We're not going to light up any flaming hoops for you to jump through before you join (such as by doing a "test" character action, or what have you). This is just to give us a better idea of who you are, aid in organization, and give you, the role-player, a better idea of what this group is about.

Q. Do I have to put anything in my AIM profile after joining?

A. No. That's not to say we wouldn't appreciate a shameless plug here or there to increase traffic, but the last thing we would make you do is advertise.

Q. At what times do you role-play?

A. We don't have any specifically set dates or times. Since we switched over to forum role-playing, things generally just happen whenever they can happen. Still, when possible, I do try to IM as many people as possible, get them to gather in an AIM chat, and contribute to the story at the same time to give more of a session-like feel.

It should be noted that when we do RP continuously, it's sometimes fairly late at night, even on weekdays. If you're not in a position to set your own bedtime, this might not be the group for you.

Q. How many members do you have?

A. We're in a major, major membership dip. It used to be that we regularly had fifteen or more members, but now, we're somewhere below ten. Our "permanent," stable group is probably somewhere around five.

Q. cann i jion ur rpg???/ i wud liek 2 plya tehis carictor i maed u wna c?

A. I don't want to be overly offensive to those not so greatly endowed with grammatical prowess, but if you intend to join this group, I advise that you have a talent for writing. Otherwise, your chances of getting in are very poor. Typos aren't a problem--Sheer laziness and illiteracy is.