Rules:Tough Crowd
Tough Crowd is a temporary OOC program designed to assist plot mechanics, which qualifying characters may become a part of. The program gives enrolled characters boosted starting allowances and a few additional rewards down the line in exchange for following certain guidelines while the program is still running.
This program is intended to build up the new, medieval land of D'hennex with powerful, story-rich characters and to give it a sense of history. This will help to make the plot in that continent more exciting and interesting.
Applicable Characters
All characters seeking enrollment in the Tough Crowd program must meet the following criteria:
- The character must be Human, Demihuman, Halfbred, or Elven.
- The character may not be a Declared Villain. The character MAY pursue villainous deeds normally, however.
- The character must be a native of D'hennex, and be currently located somewhere within that continent.
- The character must have a significant, acceptable backstory that details a past in D'hennex.
Characters may enroll when they are created, using the Tough Crowd checkbox on the application form. Make sure to include the character's backstory in the Background area of the application, or it may be denied.
Previously approved characters must be entirely re-applied as new characters in order to enroll in the Tough Crowd program. However, you are allowed to continue playing the character, after approval, as though nothing had changed. We do not offer free bonuses if reapplying a qualifying character as a Tough Crowd would end up being a drawback -- we suggest you find this out before reapping the character, and then simply decide not to reapply it.
Restrictions
Characters enrolled in the Tough Crowd program must constantly follow a set of restrictions, in order to maintain their status.
These characters may not leave the lands of D'hennex, deliberately. Entering the ocean up to 250 miles away from shore is acceptable. If a character is removed from D'hennex against his/her will, the character must make every attempt possible to return.
Every three months, starting at the date of character approval (or November 4th, 2007, for any characters approved before August 4th, 2007), the character must have doubled his or her total base power level. Temporary PL multiplying effects (such as transformations) do not count toward this goal.
Additionally, when a Tough Crowd character participates in Passive Training, at least every other PT day redeemed must be placed towards boosting the character's power level. It is acceptable to use PT toward PL at a greater frequency, but this does not give you permission to shirk this restriction afterwards, at all. You may similarly not avoid this restriction if the character has already exceeded the doubled PL restrition, above, for the given period. In summary, as long as the character is part of the Tough Crowd, this restriction is in effect.
If Tough Crowd characters participate in an RP that is being backdated, then those Tough Crowd characters still treat the scene as if it was done on the actual day of play. That is to say, backdating does not affect Tough Crowd characters. However, characters not in the Tough Crowd program may still benefit from a backdated RP, even if they are in it with a Tough Crowd character.
Failure to follow any of the above restrictions may result in the revocation of the offending character from the program, as well as your own suspension from applying for future Tough Crowd characters, depending on the severity of the infraction.
Rewards
The main reward of enduring the Tough Crowd restrictions and criteria is that, during the character approval process, your character will benefit from three times the normal PL allowance. This extra allowance may be kept as power, or invested toward techniques, as you see fit. This usually means that instead of having an allowance of 1,500 PL, a character will instead have 4,500 PL. In comparison, that's 500 tech days versus 1,500. A mage character with good tech bias could achieve 4,000 base tech days worth of techniques. That's more than ten years of technique research, right off the bat. Keep in mind, of course, that this would leave you with zero PL.
The other reward, however, comes when you, as a player, hold Adventures in D'hennex. If you have at least one Tough Crowd character when you hold and complete a skirmish or battle-level Adventure, you may automatically give any one Tough Crowd character you own 6% of his or her own PL (if it was a skirmish) or 12% of his or her own PL (if it was a battle). This is an excellent way to both quickly get your own Tough Crowd characters up to their PL goal, as well as helping others meet theirs, and to help flesh out the storyline of D'hennex, which is what this program is all about anyway.
The End of the Program
As previously mentioned, this program is temporary. All Tough Crowd characters will eventually lose that status, though not the gains given to them.
We will stop accepting Tough Crowd character applications on February 4th, 2008. Applications submitted with the Tough Crowd box after that date will be automatically denied.
On August 4th, 2008, or when the D'hennexian major plot ends (whichever event comes first), all Tough Crowd statuses will be revoked.
