InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I love planting my seed..."

crossover moderators (

xovermods) wrote,
@ 2009-03-01 12:00:00

FAQ.

faq

1. Where is the game set?

In New York City. Your characters doesn't HAVE to live there, but for ease of interaction, it is advisable. The Crossover headquarters are located there.

2. So how does the reincarnation work?

Every person in the game has inherited the essence of a character from comic book lore, and are the recipient of said character's memories--and sometimes, their personality traits. How this influences your character specifically, as well as how and when they discover this about themselves, differs from person to person, and depends a great deal on the comic book character in question. For instance, while the Joker might choose someone he could corrupt, Superman would probably choose someone a little more wholesome.

After the first incarnation, the process gets a little more fluid. Typically, the essence of the comic is drawn to someone in the real world. They do not necessarily have to be literally reborn to find a new host, and may simply jump to another person, particularly if their current host dies suddenly and unexpectedly. How the characters choose a new body is a very organic process: sometimes they are drawn to people that are very similar to either themselves or to the person with whom they just shared a body, and other times it will be someone completely different. There is no hard and fast rule about how this process occurs, and is entirely up to you! For example - the first host for Superman was Martin Schaffer, who died at the age of 66. Not long after his death, a young music major from Michigan started gaining the memories and powers of Superman, as well as many memories from the life of Martin Schaffer.

Please note that your character can not have gained the memories of your comic book persona before they appeared in print - instead your character was born with the potential for the archetype of the character book persona. For instance, although Miranda Turlington was born in 1944, and exhibited a personality strikingly similar to Dr. Pamela Isley's, she did not inherit Poison Ivy fully until the character's first appearance in print, in 1966.

3. How does my character find the Crossover community?

In the beginning, Martin used a rare Kryptonian device (which found him in a similar manner as other comic artifacts found members of Crossover) that allowed him to find the newly reincarnated comic characters and discern their identities. After his death, Martin's successors fudged their way through things, using a combination of telepathy, internet research and intuition. As one might expect, this led to some deadly cases of mistaken identity: through pretending to be Sue Storm, Dr. Doom was able to get close enough to Reed Richards to influence the community and bring about his death.

4. How does my character participate in the Crossover community?

Before the days of the Internet, an elder member of the community named Georgia Bradford (also known as Aquaman) circulated a newsletter called 'Kerpow!', composed on her typewriter and sent en mass to those Martin had discovered.

Once the Internet was firmly established as a means of communication, a secure network of message boards was set up (think something ezboard-ish, if you remember that). As the internet progressed, and more people were drawn into the network, the boards were moved into the journal system we now enjoy. It is a very basic journal system (but completely impregnable) that has your character's name as the username (e.g. Daniel Ward, Asher Frey), and the ability to filter posts and comments to individuals or groups. The system does not know which comic character your journal belongs to, so while you could filter a post to Anne, Asher and Wally, you could not filter a post to Black Canary, Rorschach and Magneto. If requested, your username can be your comic character rather than your 'civilian' identity, but it can not be both.

It is important to note that, while filters may be accidentally mis-coded (and thus be shown to the entire network), the journals will be unhackable. If an entry or a thread is marked private, nobody else can read it, even if they have considerable technological expertise.

5. Who knows who my character really is?

In the past, this knowledge has been restricted to the heads of the community, and to whomever your character chooses to tell. With things currently in a state of chaos, it is theoretically possible for this sensitive information to fall into the wrong hands. Ultimately, this part is up to you!

6. What character can I play?

With a few exceptions, if they've appeared in a comic, they're fair game to app. No holds will be accepted on characters you might see in the Sunday Times, for instance--no Garfield or Charlie Brown--, but otherwise, have at.

The other major caveat is that we won't be allowing any player to apply for more than one character from the same "family," (such as Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner) or for two characters that are particularly close, canonically. For instance, one player will not be able to play both Superman and Batman, both Professor X and Magneto, or both Sue Storm and The Thing.

If you would like to play a character printed by an independent comic, the reincarnation will only have happened fairly recently. They're a new phenomenon!

7. What canon history do I use for the comic character I wish to play?

Only history from the printed comics will be allowed. You may not use the history from tv shows, movies or any other continuity other than the main comic continuity. For example - you cannot play the Superman from Kingdom Come, the Batman from the DCAU or the Jean Grey from the X-Men movies.

Within the main comic continuity, you can decide what history your character knows - and how much of it they know. It's also up to you whether their memories change as the comic writers change your character's history and if they gain the memories of what is currently happening in the comic books.

8. Is there a way to tell if another person is a comic book reincarnation?

It's definitely possible! Sometimes a person can recognise another reincarnation, sometimes they can't. There might just be a moment of connection between comic books characters who had some sort of relationship, you might get a tingle in the back of your neck, who knows. You may have also grown up with someone who is also a comic book reincarnation and neither of you knew it! With some help of past magic, the heads of the community are able to recognise a comic book reincarnation without a problem, including which character they are. That said, while some people may be able to recognize the presence of another reincarnated character, the heads are the only people that will be able to discern that person's exact character identity.

9. What's the deal with the heads/councils/etc?

After Martin died, he passed on the responsibility for the Crossover community to two people. The reincarnation of Mister Fantastic looked after the Marvel characters, and the reincarnation of Wonder Woman took care of the DC side. After Mr. Fantastic's murder by Dr. Doom, the reincarnation of Professor Xavier took over the Marvel community. During their tenure, Diane (Wonder Woman) and Ryder (Professor X) established councils to help them in the running of the community, consisting of a mix of hand-picked volunteers. The concept and membership of the councils has been quite controversial, and now, with Wonder Woman dead and the old Crossover offices destroyed, it remains to be seen how they will re-form.

First head: Martin Schaffer [Superman]
Past heads: Marvel - Bryan Hickman [Mister Fantastic], Ryder Quince [Professor X]. DC - Diane Green [Wonder Woman].
Council members: Marvel - Wally Kirezi [Magneto], Moira Huntington [Moira McTaggert], Katie Santos [Siryn], Emily Pearson [Jean Grey], and Ashley Wroughton [Rogue].
DC - Georgia Bradford [Aquaman], Fitzwilliam Grant [Superman], Anne Gardener [Black Canary], Rose Bloom [Lex Luthor], and Veronica Banks [Troia].

Current caretaker council: Georgia Bradford [Aquaman], Fitzwilliam Grant [Superman], Anne Gardener [Black Canary], Veronica Banks [Troia], Moira Huntington [Moira McTaggert], Ashley Wroughton [Rogue], Caro Smith [Emma Frost].

10. So what's the deal with having superpowers?

The longer a person has been part of Crossover, the greater their potential for developing the same powers (and weaknesses) as their comic book counterpart. This process builds up over a very long period of time, and is very inconsistent. If your character has only been around for a handful of years, please don't expect to have a great deal of their powers, or at any level of potency. Your character will also never be as powerful as their comic book counterpart, nor will they ever develop the physical manifestations of their character's powers (e.g. wings, a tail, fur, purple skin/blue hair, etc). Crossover is a very character-driven game, with much of the emphasis placed on how ordinary people might respond to suddenly sharing a brain with supposedly fictional characters. Be creative! But remember, this is not your average comic book game.

(Read comments)

InsaneJournal

Post a comment in response: