𝐅𝐀𝐐 + 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎

[fenmods]

This page is a work in progress. Feel free to ask your questions below, though!

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▷ WHAT'S THIS GAME ABOUT?

Hotel Fen is a sandbox inspired by the novel of the same name, in which characters find themselves trapped in the hotel and they'll have to survive its horrors and get out. The hotel is a remote resort in the Scandinavian Mountains, a four-hour drive from the city of Oslo in Norway. It's a luxury hotel with a vintage feel and a Norse mythology theme, and it's a popular place for long vacations and for those who simply want to get away from the world for a while.

▷ WAIT, WE HAVE TO READ A BOOK?

Not at all! Characters are trapped in a magical Norse-themed hotel that's out to kill them. That's really just it.

▷ SO WHEN YOU SAY SANDBOX...

This whole thing started as a PSL idea, then we decided to try having a group PSL with some friends, then with some encouragement after the attempt stalled and fell off, we've opened it up for everyone else. We're still hoping to keep up the lowkey way of doing things, though, hence why there's no AC and no complex app process and we'll take basically everyone. We just want to be able to chill with other people and write something that adheres to an overarching plot even if we're slow and challenged with real life, okay.

▷ IS THERE A CAST OR PLAYER CAP?

Maximum of 3 characters per player, and the hotel layout sets up a natural cap of 50 since there are five floors with ten rooms each. While we're not imposing a cast cap per canon, please just keep in mind that we'd like to avoid certain groups (especially canonmates) dominating the place and/or the story, or cliques forming up in a manner that isolates the rest of the playerbase, and, well, in this hotel we like crosscanon. This is a jamjar setting, after all.

▷ HOW LONG WILL THIS GAME BE RUNNING?

We honestly don't know, though we're estimating a year OOCly at least, since this is the place where (most of) the slowpokes go. There's an overarching plot and we'll be pacing it, but we know characters can be surprising. (Like, if the hotel is destroyed on the first month because the guests can't get along...)

▷ HOW DOES TIME RUN IN-GAME THEN?

Time is a lie, you know that right?

Kidding aside, an OOC month equals an IC month — but there's that overall feeling that time isn't running right in the hotel. Did your character wake up excited for Friday only to find out that it's still Monday? They might not be wrong. And, well, the monthly log going up on October 1st will be ICly dated May... so...

▷ HOW DO THE CHARACTERS UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER?

The hotel is magic! It sees all, hears all. Everything will be magically instatranslated to your character's main language... but if they pay close enough attention, they might perceive languages they are familiar with and realize that everyone else is using another language that they just miraculously understand. So everything at first will be just peachy! Unless, you're like, from Earth and you know you shouldn't be able to understand these guests, and yet you are.

As for any runes they might come across in the vicinity of the hotel, characters who might reasonably know them will be able to recognize them. Whether or not those runes mean anything, or activate anything, or give the characters magical powers... that's for us to know and for you to find out. For now.

Still, we'll be happy to give you the leeway you need and want in this regard! You don't want your characters to understand most people? That's fine, the hotel's magic may just not be working for them! Or they got cursed because they tried to poke a tree. Or the hotel's playing a prank on you so everyone else sounds like a Minion. Babababa? Bababa. Bananaaaaaaaa.

▷ BUT WHAT IF I WANT TO PLAY MCU THOR OR LOKI?

Okay, so generally Norse mythology characters are ineligible because of how the hotel and the plot is heavily influenced by the mythos. But, after some discussion, we've decided to allow these characters, provided that the players agree that they will not be recognized as Norse characters and thus they are unable to influence or control anything in the hotel or the plot at large. Yes, MCU Thor can have his hammer, and the other guests can try lifting it. No, it's not the real Mjolnir. Yes, MCU Loki can make a statue of himself in the courtyard (the hotel will find it funny and let him). No, he can't teleport himself out of the hotel premises.

When in doubt, talk to us! We're easy and we'll help you make it work.

▷ WHAT'S THE HERO VALUE FOR?

We'd tell you, but we'll have to kill you.

▷ I GOT MY 666 NOTICE! DO I NEED TO JOIN THE COMM?

For now, no. We intended this to be a lazy, lowkey sandbox, so instead of multiple logs and having to track them for popcorn plot purposes, there'll be a "catchall" monthly log for everyone to thread in, with the accompanying OOC/plotting post going up a few days earlier. You can subscribe to the comm though! We'll also announce new posts both via Plurk and Discord.

However, that's also experimental, so if that approach doesn't work, we'll switch it up as we progress! Suggestions are always welcome.

▷ I LIKE HORROR, BUT WHAT IF I DON'T LIKE THIS PARTICULAR BRAND OF HORROR?

Everything is opt outable, really. If something doesn't work for you or is particularly triggery, your character can steer clear away from it and we can let them do something else. Just let us know and we'll work something out together!

Permission posts aren't required but honestly we're kind of already expecting everyone to have them since this is a horror sandbox, in the spirit of good RP etiquette. (The first OOC/plotting post will also be a CR meme, and we'll make room for that.) We'd also like to request content warnings for your tags, and should things get steamy, please take them to your character journals or museboxes instead.

▷ CAN MY CHARACTER DIE?

Only if they're dropped, and only if you want to! We'll have a screened post up sometime where you can volunteer your character as tribute too.

▷ SO HOW DO WE BEAT THE HOTEL?

Why would you want to leave a place that provides for everything you might want and need to enjoy yourself? RUDE.

▷ NO REALLY, HOW DO WE BEAT THE HOTEL?

The hotel is magic. It won't let you. It's also self-healing. Like sometime in a 24-hour period, when no one is looking, any damage is suddenly fixed. Because a hotel has to be nice and fun so the guests will fully enjoy their vacation! Also, please don't forget to leave a 5-star review on your travel website of choice.

▷ BUT MY CHARACTER IS THE CHOSEN ONE AND THE MOST POWERFUL PERSON IN THE MULTIVERSE!

Generally we're leaving it up to the players to decide the extent of their characters' power nerfing, especially those that are a little OP. We're trusting you to keep them within reason — because the idea and the plot we're all playing out here is the whole escape from the magical horror hotel thing. Let's keep it fun for each other!

▷ IS THERE ANYTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THE ELEVATOR?

It's old and slow and cranky. It's prone to stopping — especially if you snark about the Norse deities — and won't start up again unless you apologize. (Or offer a human sacrifice.)

▷ I WISH TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER!

Just PM this account, or send a PP to hotelfen, or ask us over at the Discord server.

▷ OTHER QUESTIONS

Names and memories for characters arriving post-death
Limits for characters with sensing abilities
Communicating and getting updates on the outside world
Items and special needs
In-game death, pregnancies and hammerspace items
Befriending the hotel and its ghosts
Cellphones and Google searches about the hotel
Rooftop access

Comments

HERO VALUE TRAITS/ATTRIBUTES

[fenstaff]

Pick the top 10 traits applicable to your character! These will be used for the calculation of their HV.

Altruistic	Articulate	Aware	Beautiful	Brave	Can't Swim
Confident	Coolheaded	Covetous	Cowardly	Cute	Dense
Devoted	Distracted	Drinker	Egotistical	Elegant	Emotional
Empathetic	Flashy	Flirty	Focused	Foolhardy	Fragile
Frivolous	Giving	Graceful	Hates Men	Healthy	Lawless
Lecherous	Loves Dad	Loves Mom	Loves Sibling	Maternal	Modest
Moralistic	Naive	Narcissistic	Never Lost	Nimble	Non-Drinker
Obtuse	Optimistic	Outgoing	Perceptive	Pessimist	Precise
Prideful	Prudent	Realist	Reckless	Reserved	Robust
Romantic	Sacrificing	Selfish	Serious	Shallow	Sickly
Snobbish	Stout	Stubborn	Swimmer	Tenacious	Tongue-tied
Unlucky	Weak-willed	Wise	Withdrawn	Worrier	Yearning

[poorlycopingstrategist]

Hi! For characters arriving post-death, would there be anything lying around with simple information on it like their name, or are there staff around who would call them anything? Would they retain memories of how to read (either their native language or ones they've learned) or perform specialized skills like operate machinery, etc?

[fenmods]

Hi there!

The hotel staff will definitely know and call them by name, and if they have multiple names, we leave that up to you which one the staff would know. The hotel records will also show their name and contact information, though the latter may or may not be accurate; you can also choose to have the staff know more than they should. There should also be a welcome note in the room that will have their name, and as many of their things can have labels with their names on it. The hotel is magic and will provide them whatever they need, even clothes that are of their size and preference... as long as it's reasonable and won't break the game, we'll give you that leeway to do what will be most fun for you.

As for the memories, it's mostly the identity ones that are missing. Who they are, their family, the major events of their lives. Skills? Totally up to you. Freak them out that they have weird abilities, why not? It really all boils down to what would be fun while keeping to the premise that they're a hotel that won't let them leave.

Hope this helps, but feel free to ask any more follow up questions! :)

[ruthlessclarity]

1 - is any death here perma-death or is there a revival mechanic in place? General question.

2 - For Ishtar characters who come in (unknowingly) pregnant, would that progress as normal, or somehow be paused or just not there anymore?

3 - Actually there, just stored in hammerspace things, ie: a character's bag of holding, or pokeballs, would still work, yes?

[fenstaff]

1. Any in-game death will be permanent, unless death has a particular effect on your character (like what you said about Ishtar taking a different form if she dies). That said, we might throw in a few resurrection opportunities... maybe... 😉 I mean there are canons that legit have resurrection after all, like Star Wars and Game of Thrones.

2. General answer is yes, the pregnancy will progress as normal based on the OOC time that passes... but since the hotel is magic, at player discretion it could speed up or slow down or even pause. Up to you!

3. Yes, hammerspace things should still work. But it could also not work. Whatever works for you and the plot.

[sizes]

can the hotel and/or its ghosts be befriended? or will they take any act of dad-ness as a threat?

[fenmods]

Who says there are ghosts, Scotty?

Carving up mystery trees, assaulting the vending machine and peeing in the pool are what the hotel would consider threats. And maybe causing an ant infestation.

[conceivedeceit]

Hey! So I hadn't thought of the nerfing for Loki too in depth before because I wasn't sure I'd be joining but since I am now here, would just like to run some ideas by y'all.

Physiologically, I'd like the hotel to have nerfed him to a normal human being for that sweet, sweet irony. So while he still retains reflexes/muscle memory, he has none of the abnormal stamina, strength, etc of canon. Regarding magic, since the MCU is extremely inconsistent wrt to Loki's abilities, I'm thinking of keeping his ability in this setting restricted to accessing hammer space, notably for knives; some ice magic to acknowledge his frost giant ancestry without his bias so he can become more accepting of it (if it comes up in play); and general magic? The last is vague because I do like writing magicky stuff but keep it pretty limited due to the aforementioned inconsistency... small things like conjuring lights, the fireworks and insta-drying as seen in the d+ series... minor things like that. Does that sound reasonable?

EDIT: forgot to include retaining illusion magic for hijinks but I'd like that to come up only after he regains memory of doing such

[fenstaff]

Hi hello! This all sounds great for what you want to do with him. The magic nerfing sounds incredibly reasonable and within the realms of one of our only rules, don’t break the hotel. :)

We’d even be okay if you wanted to have him gain some of his teleportation back later - he just wouldn’t be able to leave the grounds and hotel with it. He’d just keep reappearing at THAT tree if you gave it to him and he tried.

[conceivedeceit]

Cool beans, thanks! And yep, I'm not here to "win" and neither will he be, I suspect, given that he kind of died so the hotel is like a second chance. A second chance full of horror, but beggars can't be choosers, ayyy

[abracafuckingdabra]

Hi! Sorry to be a bother if I missed this somewhere, but are the any immediate consequences for hotel/tree/general damage, especially through magic use? Also, can spells in general be used against the staff?

[fenstaff]

There are not immediate consequences for doing damage to the hotel or the tree, etc. small things might happen in the wake of damage - I.e. if you damage the elevator - the next time you try to use it once it’s fixed, it might be even slower than it already is or never show up at all and you’ll be forever to use the stairs for a while. Larger consequences might show up in the next monthly log (so for the TDM, in the October log when it goes up on the 1st.) pending the action and how deeply the hotel takes it.

The staff are for all appearances humans just like you. They bleed if cut, they char if burned and they die of mortally wounded. They are not impervious to magic (though if you’re trying to use like a spell to get answers let us know so we can slide you the staff’s response officially). Any pending consequences, like the actions above, would show up in the next month’s log. Though if you use magic and are caught the immediate responses from the staff would be wariness for your character and potentially an unwillingness to help with requests like helping you procure those cigarettes you love to smoke John, since the store does not carry them.

[abracafuckingdabra]

Thank you so much! He's got some bad ideas, but hasn't acted out too much so far. This information really helps, though. He's only got so many packs on him he's gonna suffer.

[the_widow]

The televisions in the rooms will have access to stations I assume. Like HBO? Or other modern things like streaming movies, music and the like?
I ask for specific reasons.

[fenstaff]

Oops, we actually missed to put the answer to this in the room info on the locations page! But per the movie room and library write ups, there should be modern things to stream and all, only there won't be any movies or shows or games for the canons of the characters in the hotel. If any players want to get close to 4thwalling, the most they can have is a weird off-brand Norwegian parody of their canon that is eerily similar but the names are off, the details are wrong, the subtitles are inaccurate, etc. :>

[ronstadt]

This reminds me of an old, dead game's practice on 4th walling: the title and media YOUR character remembered would always be a little different. A game wide favorite was the time they screened the hit horror movie "Mandibles" in the theater room. ;)

[fukiishi]

Hiya!! c: I pitched this at modling Kazie already, but I'll formally put it here: when it comes to clothing available at the hotel, are there laundry services else or "normal" clothes for purchase in the gift shop, or is it just all the gimmicky touristy sort of stuff?

Ty!