rp: extra information Roleplaying in Black City - Where do you start?

[Aura]

As expressed on the homepage, Black City is a sort of hybrid between public and private roleplay. Which type of roleplay it leans more toward depends solely on the user's individual preferences. For some users, private messaging may be used exclusively for sharing and secrets, while other users might prefer to act out entire side stories in ecchitexts. Ideally, players will be able to switch back and forth between public and private roleplay in order to show two sides of their characters. The way said character behaves in public and the way they behave behind closed doors where the secrets are in play. In this thread, I will be explaining the general process of how roleplay will work within this club. Note, while doing private roleplay involving a blackmailer or onlooker, that character may just send recordings or photos to a member of Ghost to be documented and held against a victim or an onlooker (who decided to turn victim from their player's decision).

When you first begin, you will have to create your character profile in the Citizen Database. There, you will specify your character's role: Onlooker, Victim, or Blackmailer. For all roles, you will either jump into the main thread and begin roleplaying, or introduce yourself in the OoC thread to discuss your plans with other users! You may want to head to the OoC thread before starting your character profile so that you can get an idea of what type of character you want to play!

Roleplaying as an Onlooker

Onlookers serve the purpose as a sort of control variable. They are supposed to live their lives with freedom from such horrors as blackmail. Of course, they'll find themselves in any number of conflicts, but ultimately they won't have the constant threat of their secrets being exposed. If you are nervous about committing to a victim or blackmailer role, this may be the easiest place to start as you can easily transition into one or the other based on your preferences. An Onlooker doesn't necessarily have to have a dark secret, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they won't. Onlooker's secrets will be kept in Ghost's databases just like victims, although they cannot be purchased by blackmailers. Often, these characters will be interacting with victims and reacting to their odd behavior as blackmailers give them commands in secret. Maybe they'll be turned on by sudden flirtatious attitudes or maybe they'll be horrified by something the victim is made to do. They might find themselves in a position where another character confesses a secret to them, or where they develop their own secret with someone they think they can trust. These situations among many others just might lead to a change in role~

Roleplaying as a Victim

Victims will be forced to accept commands from blackmailers who know their deepest darkest secrets. These secrets will either be confessed directly to a member of Ghost, volunteered by another character who may have found out, or uncovered through roleplay. In order to play a victim, that character must have at least one dark secret in the Ghost's database that hasn't been publicly revealed. However, a character does not have to be publicly labeled as a victim in order to be blackmailed. If a character has no unrevealed dark secrets, they can no longer be blackmailed and will become an onlooker or a blackmailer unless another secret is either confessed or brought up. All secrets within the Ghost's databases are secured. Only members of Ghost and ED Staff will have access to them.

If a blackmailer is being too forceful or demanding and making you feel uncomfortable out of character, please send that blackmailer a private message, and/or post a complaint in the OoC thread explaining your problem. If necessary, staff will take action. That said, please keep in mind the implications of accepting the role of victim. If you have agreed to let somebody blackmail you, and that somebody makes a command for you that fits with your roleplayer preferences, the best we can do is request that they rewrite their command. Please make sure to keep your RP preferences updated, or to openly discuss your limits with your roleplaying partners, to prevent this situation from happening.

Roleplaying as a Blackmailer

Blackmailers will be invited by a member of Ghost to purchase secrets about any character labeled as a Victim. It will be suspicious for a blackmailer to request too much information at once, so each blackmailer may only purchase one secret at a time and must wait anywhere from 1 day to 1 month depending on severity before purchasing another. As such, it is imperative that the user discuss ahead of time if it would be okay to blackmail another user's character. However, secrets may also be discovered in ways outside of purchasing them from Ghost. For example, they may be retrieved through private conversation with the character or they maybe be created through clever use of commands, such as forcing a character to take a nude selfie. Secrets obtained in such ways can be kept between just the two characters, or they can be sold to Ghost in exchange for secret involving another character.

No character may be blackmailed without consent by their player. Any attempts to do so will be considered non-canon unless said otherwise by the victim. These characters are blackmailers in roleplay only.

Blackmail

As the central focus of this roleplay, it is important to establish how blackmail will be handled. It's really quite simple. Once a Blackmailer has learned a secret about a specific character, and that character's owner has given permission, that character may be blackmailed in any number of ways. It is ultimately up to the blackmailer to decide what exactly that means, but generally, this will involve either sending messages to the character (through ecchitext or ecchichat) in order to issue commands to that character to affect their behavior during whatever is going on, or having your blackmailer character physically meet with their victim in order to issue a more physical command.

A blackmail command may look something like this:

Quote

Victim A,

I have that photo of you and him three years ago. If you know what's best for you, I suggest you find a quiet place nearby, strip down, and send me a nude.

-anonymous

 

Of course, the actual contents of the message depends on what your blackmailer character is like and how much information you're willing to volunteer. The victim will receive this message through ecchitext or ecchichat. In their next post for that character, that player would have their character check their phone at some point to read the message. The victim would then have to make the decision to respond to the message in any way they see fit. They don't necessarily have to play along with the command, but if they choose not to, it is up to the blackmailer whether they want to reveal the secret, or continue to press the character into obeying. 

When it comes to commands requiring "photographic evidence," it is enough to simply roleplay the character snapping a photo and sending it to their blackmailer. Although, if you want to go the extra mile and seek out an actual reference photo of your character naked, it would be more than appreciated!

Edited August 2, 2018 by Aura