Sweet Dreams Corp., Sign-Up/Interest Check

From the journals of Andrew Wincrest, circa 1692.
...[we were] all aghast as She burned fore us, howling and choking on her own fumes, and was there that her voice rang out into our very bones, 'the fears of man shall drive them forth, shall consume them and all their ilk'. Not a night passed since that I sleep....our people are not safe, our land no longer brings joy, but sorrow.

. . . Tyler Kent phone call with Margaret Kent, approx. 9:00 p.m. on June 9th, 2011

Margaret Kent: Hello?
Tyler Kent: Mom, something's happened.
M: Tyler? Tyler, what's wrong?
T: I don't know, we were at the hill, and Casey had these firework things and we were trying them out, we set the tree on fire, and then something was coming out of it (ongoing)
M: Are you okay? Tyler, calm down, do you need me to get you? Did you call 911?
T: (unintelligible) —smoke, it sounded like some woman, everyone passed out. They're still up on the hill, the fire's getting worse. It's, it's green. I don't know what's going on.
M: Tyler, honey, stay where you are, stay away from this fire, I'm going to get help, okay? (silence) Tyler? Are you still there? (silence) Tyler?

. . . "Ladies and Gentlemen, it's my pleasure to announce that Wincrest is officially quarantined. The 'Sleeping Sickness' will be contained within the city borders for the time being until we can find the cure for it. As always, I thank and appreciate my colleagues in this... Okay, you know what? Fuck this. There's no cure, there's no disease or any real explanation for it. It's cursed. The city is cursed! It's honest-to-god magic! How the hell am I supposed to stand up here and talk about this thing like it's something we know, something tangible and fixable, when it's a fucking witch, from beyond the grave, turning everything into monsters?!"
- Dr. Derrick Lingard, 2015.

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Hello, forum goers, and welcome to the brand newest roleplay, Sweet Dreams Corp.! It is, essentially, a mashup of the mental landscape weirdness of Psychonauts, the eldritchian uncertainty of SCPFoundation, and a dash of the more paranoid-inducing Monster of the Week plotlines. Bottom line, things are going to be pretty freaky.

The roleplay takes place in the fictional Wincrest, New Jersey, a rather large city stretched along a major highway that used to be a simple pit stop for most of its visitors. For the past 9 years (from 2011 to 2020) though, Wincrest has fallen under the curse of a nameless Witch, one that traps citizens in their own personal fears or, even worse, brings them into reality. You will be playing as a member of the Sweet Dreams Corp., a specialized force made to do the footwork/policing/dangerous stuff involved in stopping and containing the Nightmares that plague Wincrest. Not to worry, though: you have years of scientific research and bizarre magical powers on your side!

All important and relevant info will be in the folders below, and I will gladly answer any questions about the setting or structure or etc if you have them, but outside of that, the exact history and nature of Wincrest is purposefully vague for the time being, so that players are able to flesh out their characters more naturally than if trying to fit them into a rigid 'canon'.

Anyways, without further ado...

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Info

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Character Sheet For the record, I should note that your character should have a reason for being in the Sweet Dreams Corp. Are they an ex-military member who was drafted in? Did they manage to fight off a Nightmare, maybe even their own? Are they a Daydreamer to begin with? That sort of stuff!

• Name, Age, Gender: The most basic of who your character is.
• Appearance: Pictures, words, both, or neither, if you can get away with it.
• Personality: The good, juicy meat-stuff that is your character.
• Backstory: Be sure to include how or why your character is part of the Corp.!
• Powers/Abilities: If your character has powers, you can lump it here or make a separate node. As for abilities, whatever is relevant to them that's still a fairly mundane thing.
• Weapon(s) of Choice: It'd be boring if you all shot the same gun, so what is your character exceptionally good with?
• Equipment/Possessions: What your character has, of course! Both the things they usually keep on hand, and what - if anything - they own that can't hang from their belt loops.
• Misc: For anything that doesn't fit with any of the above, but still feels important or fun to include.

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Accepted Characters

Edited by TruthHurts22 on Mar 26th 2019 at 12:45:05 PM

Declaring interest!

I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.

DECLARING INTEREST

"DIO is the ultimate being! The being of the future! Dare you not to rival me!"

Tentative interest. I'll judge based on signups so I'll get a better idea of what this is aiming for.

bork

Consider My interest Declared, I'll work on making a character sheet soon, also quick question, aside from the magic the Day dreamers can use and the nightmareish transformation that the Wakers experience, can people experience other side effects as a result of the curse that gives them powers or is it just limited to the Wakers and Daydreamers?

Here's a Godmodder. Please Kill him before he fucks up everything. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15527074470A62989200

Glad to see all of this interest! If any of you have questions about anything, don't be shy about them.

@medievalParadox , I originally planned it so the only form of magic people can have would be if they're Daydreamers. I was toying with the idea of people being capable of controlling the curse's effects to an extent as an alternative, similar to Daydreamers but aesthetically nightmarish. You're free to go with that concept if you like! "Daydreamer" is just a piece of the world rather than a rule, if that makes sense. Or if you have other ideas, you can bring them up either now or in your sign-up, and we'll see if it'll work.

Though on the topic, I think I made things a bit too vague there! So let me say this: since Daydreamers are an inherently opposing force against the Nightmare Curse (name pending), their powers therefore take the form of their good dreams and hope instead of their fears, anxieties, and nightmares. It's still dependent on the person, but it means that a Daydreamer's power should reflect the good things about their character, or what they like, or etc. Does that make sense? I hope that makes sense.

How feasible would it be to have a child as a player character? I figure a child's imagination would make them powerful Daydreamers, but on the other hand the organization would probably be hesitant to actually bring a kid on board... but on the third hand it seems like under the situation they might just take who they can get especially with regard to people who have powers.

Alright Well to be more specific I was wandering about weather someone could get Telepathy, and Heightened Empathy as some sort of weird side effect from the curse, good powers to help find, other affected with the curse, and used as a defensive mechanism when confronted with it, but not quite useful for any offensive maneuvers taken against it. If this deosn't seem like it can fit just let me know and we can try and workshop it into something that can.

Here's a Godmodder. Please Kill him before he fucks up everything. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15527074470A62989200

I was wondering the same thing as Kayube up there.

I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.

I think it would be one of those, "this is just a kid but he's pretty good and he's proved himself" situations. They'd need to have something more to them than simply being a Daydreamer, like that they willingly volunteered or been in a fight before, but they would still be on watch because, you know, kid. Just be aware that because of that, they should act and react like a kid still.

@medievalParadox, I don't think that'd really work. Mostly because a part of things is how you don't know when something bad is about to happen until it's already happening, and having a person with telepathy ruins that a little. You could probably work it with a very limited capacity for mind-reading and general "awareness" of their surroundings, but I'm still not too sure about that.

Got it.

Here's a Godmodder. Please Kill him before he fucks up everything. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15527074470A62989200

Name, Age, Gender: Marsh, Jason. 26 years old, Male

Appearance: Standing at 5'11" with black hair and Brown eyes,Jason normally wears Brown pants along with Green shirt when not on the job.

Personality: Jason Marsh is a stern and focused man, always trying to find the right mix of being lawful, and being good and mostly succeeding at it, He dislikes those who subvert the laws for their selfish ways, and will put keeping the people around him alive at the top of his priority list.

Backstory: As a young age Jason was always into the idea of helping others through Upholding the law, and as he grew older that ambition of his didn't change just his outlook. what once was an optimist became a realist,this was because of several reasons,mainly the eventuality of moral ambiguity of some parts of the job,being witness to some internal corruption, and more than one instance of seeing more criminals pop up after the WPD has already jailed one, is understandably disheartening. He first joined CRIPT in February 29, 2016 with his Daydreamer powers later Manifesting a few weeks later.

Powers: Shield of the Law (Marsh summons a shield around others to keep them safe from harm, can be broken by a strong enough attack),Civilian Aid(Marsh can try to heal someone)

Abilities: Brawler(Can hold his own in a fight), Marksman(He knows how to aim and shoot with his gun), Driver (This is self explanatory), Medic (he has basic healing knowledge, mainly on the physical end of things.)

Weapon(s) of Choice: Guns(Pistols), Clubs(His Nightstick), and Fists(When all else fails, good old Fisticuffs normally are good choice.)

Equipment/Possessions: Phone, Handcuffs, Handheld Radio, Swiss army knife, Police Badge.

Misc: He considers the curse to be some sort of new kind of terrorism. one people should put a stop to as quickly as possible.

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Edited by medievalParadox on Apr 4th 2019 at 9:45:10 AM

Here's a Godmodder. Please Kill him before he fucks up everything. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15527074470A62989200

So I don't have a problem with Jason exactly, but there are a few things I'm worried about. For one, he seems a little bland to me, and while that isn't a problem by itself, you didn't put much towards him as a character. Fleshing out his personality and backstory would help, like explaining why he grew away from his optimism. The powers should be narrower as well. Like, focus more on the aspect of helping people rather than giving him enhancements.

The other issue is one that's not your fault, but mine: I realized I never defined the order or events as well as I could have. So! For all involved, here's a quick timeline of things:

And with that comes a new thing: Curse Research, Inhibition and Prevention Team (CRIPT) is the major organization made by Behdlam to deal with the curse at "ground level". CRIPT subsequently made the Sweet Dreams Corp once the effects became too much to handle without diverting resources and attention.

Hope that all helps one way or another!

• Name: Wilma Printer
• Age: 10
• Gender: Female
• Appearance: Wilma is a (5 ft. tall, 100 lbs.) stocky 10-year-old girl with brown eyes and light brown hair in two thick fishtail braids reaching down to her lower back. She wears a white button-up long-sleeved shirt and a dark brown knit vest under a light brown trench coat (that is always open), a knee-length black pleated skirt (with knee-length bloomers underneath), knee-high thick woolen socks, and flat-heeled knee-high leather boots. She also wears a newspaper hat and black rectangular wire-rimmed glasses.
• Personality: Upon first glance, Wilma is a Cloudcuckoolander through and through. However, under all the strangeness lies a startlingly bright intellect that doesn't hesitate to lend a hand, should she be needed. She is secretly very scared of Nightmares (and of real life in general), but she doesn't think that will stop her from doing the right thing, whatever that may be. She dreams of publishing her stories of Kant when she grows up.
• Backstory:
  • Wilma's parents were killed in a car crash when she was very young, leading her to make Kant as a form of escapism. She fell deeper and deeper into the fantasy, neglecting her responsibilities in real life in favor of a blissful catatonia. Ultimately, however, it was her drawings which convinced her to withdraw from her dreams of Kant and focus on reality, though they didn't want her to "leave." They promised to visit her through the drawings she made of them.
  • Before she could do so, however, she fell into the grasp of the Sleeping Sickness. Some of her dear friends were twisted into nigh-unrecognizable monsters. Now angered by her beloved dream's defilement, she embarked on a quest with the friends who remained to resolve her inner turmoil about leaving her fantasy—and succeeded after many, many hardships.
  • Once Wilma "woke up," she worked hard to pick up the slack that she had previously left neglected in reality. She saw the products of Nightmares and Waking Terrors causing havoc, and one day, she became determined to help people, resolving to become like the heroes that she so ardently writes about. That dream came true when she received a call from Sweet Dreams Corp, who had identified her as a Daydreamer.
• Powers/Abilities:
  • Wilma's powers are based on the constructed fantasy world in her head (called Kant, since it "Kant" be real). She has loads of notebooks about its lore and characters, complete with drawings. If she puts enough effort into making a drawing, she will be able to summon it off of paper as a minion or as a small (ordinary, though well-crafted) tool. She can either summon a horde of small, weak monsters or summon a few more powerful characters at a time. Trying to push her limits leaves with a splitting headache and nosebleeds. If her drawings stay out of their pages for too long (a few hours for monsters and a day for characters) or become too damaged, they will disappear entirely until redrawn. All of Wilma's drawings of her characters are sentient, but will obey Wilma under all circumstances (though they will warn her when she is making unreasonable/dangerous commands).
    • In the waking world, they merely appear as ghosts with little substance to them, unable to interact with physical objects or stray too far from Wilma, though they can still provide advice. They are only corporeal within the bounds of Nightmares.
    • Paintings can be destroyed with paint thinner, pencil drawings can be destroyed using erasers, etc.
• Weapon(s) of Choice: N/A (Wilma hasn't learned to use any weapons yet, as she is a child. She mostly relies on her summoned characters to fight for her.)
• Equipment/Possessions: A backpack, her notebooks, various pre-packaged snacks, a canteen full of water, a Swiss army knife, and a flashlight
• Misc:
  • Wilma's characters are actually the fractured pieces of her subconscious given physical form, so she could save her mind (and therefore herself) from the trauma that broke her in the first place. If one examines the details Wilma writes about her characters closely, they give crucial hints about Wilma's psyche.
  • Wilma fears having her memory erased in any way. Since Kant exists only inside her head right now, if her memory were to be erased, parts of Kant (and herself, see above) would also be lost without hope of recovery. Therefore, Wilma guards her notebooks jealously.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Apr 1st 2019 at 9:43:08 AM

I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.

Alright, a couple of notes:

First, Daydreamers specifically can't be under any effect of the curse, so Wilma wouldn't have been in a Nightmare. Second, I might be missing something, but I don't quite see the powers working out well, with them being only able to function within a Nightmare in any actual capacity. Not to mention how loose the term "characters" is, which I'm mostly afraid might end up acting like a slew of PC-like entities you'd control besides Wilma even if that's not your intention. And third... it could just be me but the entire concept feels off. Like, sure, it's not a great time to be in Wincrest for anyone, but to have a child character that's so deeply rooted in trauma and torment just doesn't seem right to me. "Her imaginary friends represent her fractured psyche" is a tad too dark, don't you think?

1) Sorry. I didn't see that part in the OP, that's why I wrote it that way.

2 & 3) Sorry about that too, Wilma's an import from some esper RP that I modified for this because I'd thought that she'd fit. Her backstory was the way her powers awakened. I also didn't realize the seeming PC overload would affect things too much, since it was fine in that other RP.

I may have misjudged the tone you were aiming for as well as thought that just because Wilma was fine for that other RP, she would be fine for this one. I'll have to drop out unless I can think of another idea, then, if you don't mind.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Apr 1st 2019 at 9:43:14 AM

I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.

I changed Jason up a bit, hopefully it's fixed up enough to be better inserted into your world.

Here's a Godmodder. Please Kill him before he fucks up everything. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15527074470A62989200