BASIC RULES
🦇 be respectful of other players
🦇 keep interactions collaborative
🦇 follow community guidelines for posting
🦇 avoid god-modding or taking control of another character's narrative
🦇 have fun and embrace the mystery of hawkins!
SPOILERS
please be mindful of spoilers. with the final season on the horizon, and several leaks making their way to social media, have the social forethought not to spoil things for people that don't want it. any public plot requests that require spoilers for support will be denied.
ACTIVITY RULES
🦇 this is a low-pressure gpsl. while we intend to keep the plot progressing forward, there is no time limit on participation. did you miss an event? no worries! we can work you in.
🦇 show some signs of activity at least every other week. understanding that real life comes first, please try to communicate extended absences.
ooc vs ic
as seen on TV, this group of characters is prone to interpersonal conflict. such is the case when saving the world time and time again, right? the premise of the game sets the stage to further these conflicts. it is unlikely to be sunshine and rainbows in character all of the time. don't take it personally! we are big fans of OOC collaboration to keep everyone aligned and on the same page, even as issues arise.
additionally, by nature of the setting, you may be aware of information OOC that your character is not aware of IC. keep them separate.
APPLYING
every applicant must have a bio. it doesn't have to be extensive, but fill in some blanks for us. what has your character been up to since 1986? if they're one of the returned, do they remember anything from their death or resurrection? feel free to include any thoughts you may have on how they were brought back, and any experiences they may have had since their return.
please backdate your bio/screened post, and your ic contact post.
Rules
history
in the wake of the "earthquake" that sundered hawkins in 1986, life slowly returned to normal for most. at least on the surface. first, the town split. long-time residents moved on, away from the gaping fractures of hawkins, indiana. the loyal stood firm, vowing to rebuild. and they did, the remaining loyalists and the national guard. by 1990, things were looking, for better or for worse, normal in hawkins on the surface. welcoming new businesses and new faces, scars of the past were carefully paved and painted over, hiding the nightmarish whispers of the past beneath the makeover.
then, the impossible began to happen.
december 24, 1993, patrick mckinney was returned safe and sound to his family home's doorstep. confirmed dead in 1986, yet somehow alive and well. he was just the first. those who were lost, those who were killed, started to return. billy hargrove days later. eddie munson after him. barb holland. one after the other, fed to the community like a miracle.
people long presumed dead are walking the streets of hawkins, seemingly unchanged by the passage of time or rot of death. they look the same. they sound the same. but are they? for some, the returned are little more than nightmare fuel. for the unaware masses, the resurrections are celebrated, rejoiced with loved ones and family reunions. but for those that have faced death themselves and lived to very pointedly not tell the tale, they know there's nothing good coming from hawkins' own zombie apocalypse.
Premise
one group, one common enemy. that's the goal, anyway. will the group ever get there? the news and those unaware paint the resurrections in a positive light, but those in the know can be damn sure there's nothing good afoot in hawkins with the dead rising.
this is a collaborative, story driven gpsl where the group decides their fate. mostly.
each character gets a shot at glory, but whether they choose to take it or squander it is up to you. through unique, chance-based plot progression, character-led and game-led events, we'll all work through the plot together with equal weight from anyone that wants to be involved.
PROJECT LAZARUS
those meddlesome government entities are at it again.with the national guard trawling hawkins in the aftermath of the earthquake, it only seemed right that government aid would fund the relief that roane county so badly needed. one money-sucking disaster after the other had to warrant something… right? it definitely wasn't just 3 letter agency bank rolled hush money… right?? behind the facade of hawkins’ rising lies a sinister truth: someone, somewhere, decided that the residents who had already been unwitting victims of experiments causing irreparable damage had nothing left to lose.
in 1990, as the town finally settled into stability again, hawkins national lab was quietly (silently) reopened. government agencies, power hungry, began work on project lazarus. with an abundance of dead to experiment on, and a comfortability with operating in the gray, the entities set out to weaponize the interdimensional waste, pushing the dream of a regenerative army. infallible, indestructible, always coming back better and stronger. at least, that was the surface-level goal.
by methods both scientific and supernatural, the dead were resurrected, each one brought back through different, horrifying means.
as the fabric of life and death frays, hawkins becomes a battleground, once again, between those who seek to control the living and the dead and those who will fight to protect their souls. trust is scarce, and truth is even rarer.
surely to no one's surprise, people aren't returning from the dead by some series of miracles. if anything, it's a bit more day of the dead-esque. by various means from chemical cocktails to physical retrieval, they're building an army of the dead. or undead. or newly re-alive. whatever.
what is the purpose? how do they stop it? should they stop it? help us figure it out!
THE TECHNOLOGY
welcome to the future! cell phones aren't widely available yet, and social media is probably just a thought in someone's mind in our timeline. but continuum is bringing us the next best thing.continuum swept into roane county in 1993, promising to usher them into the new wave of technology. the internet had arrived in hawkins. of course, the internet wasn't much use without a home computer, so thankfully, the department of educated (it is that DoE… right?) had about 30 units free to a good home.
sit through approximately 7 minutes of screeching and whining, and you'll be connected to the world wide web. assuming you find your way off the continuum message boards.
for the sake of the era, digital communication is almost exclusively done through the continuum message boards and email. be mindful what you say and who you say it to, you never know which three letter agency is keeping an eye out.
PLAYABLE CHARACTERS
all characters must be canonically 18+ years of age in 1994, and all pbs must be over 18.anyone within the stranger things universe who is not employed by a government entity such as the DoE, CIA, FBI, NSA, etc. seeing as the government is the big bad for the overall plot, best to keep them as npcs.
THE WANDERERS
the smart souls that booked it out of hawkins around or after the events of 1986. have they been back since? are they back to stay, or just scoping out the strange happenings? what have they been up to since they left? are they carrying any new baggage?
THE LOYALISTS
the brave ones that stayed. or the unlucky ones that got stuck. whatever the case may be. are they happy to be there? obligated? what role do they play in hawkins in 1994?
THE RETURNED
those confirmed, suspected, or presumed dead who have mysteriously found their way back to hawkins, seemingly alive and well. they haven't aged a day but have no memories of the living world since their deaths. suspicious, right?
HOW DID THEY RETURN?
that's up to you! was it scientific resurrection? brought back to life with some cocktail of naturally and/or unnaturally sourced revive juice? was it a supernatural rebirth? seemingly plucked from one dimension into the other. perhaps they were retrieved, physically removed from the upside down, and revived in the rightside up. do they remember any of their return? you tell us!
WHO CONTROLS THEM?
the government. maybe. and vecna. also maybe. it's up to you! returning from the dead comes with a healthy amount of risks, not least of all the possibility of being a puppet in the worst way. do they have a kill switch? thoughts that aren't their own? nightmares that feel too real? how's their free will feeling? is it a side effect of death, or something even more sinister? the degree to which their mind is meddled with is up to you!
ARE THEY REALLY ALIVE?
well, it sure looks like it.
RETRIEVAL METHODS
RESURRECTION METHODS
ADDITIONAL SERVICES
RESOURCES