campmods | FAQ

FAQ

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Is there really a monster in the lake?
Who told you that.
Your mother did.
YOU LEAVE MY MOTHER OUT OF THIS.
What kind of characters can we apply for?
You can app any fictional character as long as the canon is substantial enough to give some sort of personality. If you're unsure if the character you want to app is suitable, feel free to ask us before submitting an application. We're currently not accepting OCs, however.
How many can we app?
Character slots are capped at four. Only one Counselor and Junior Counselor per player, however you can have however many campers for your slots as you want.
Can we app more than one from the same canon?
No. Mainly because this game has a capped overall character limit and we want to keep the casts diverse without having one overtake most of the roster.
Can my character be a counselor/junior counselor?
Yes! Before applying for a counselor, please see this post. To be a junior counselor you simply need to have eight out of thirteen merit badges. Think of it as the promotion up before you make Psychonaut. You're tasked with working under an already trained Psychonaut to help run camp sort of like an apprentice. In addition, you also work as a middleman between camper and counselor.
Can I play someone from the Psychonauts canon?
Yes! As long as it's not an already taken NPC, or course. Some of the canon characters are being used for important plot and game reasons, so they'll remain as NPCs. You can app anyone else, so long as you take into account the game's setting. Make sure they have a good reason to still be hanging around camp. Come talk to us, if you're interested!
Can I play a Psychonaut without having them be a Counselor?
Yes! As long as your character has a good reason to be there, it's fine. We'll probably keep a close cap on how many of these characters we have as well, so be on the look out for when their apps open. They'll be expected to pull their weight around camp just like everyone else, they just won't have all the responsibility of a counselor.
My character isn't human, what do I do?
Whispering Rock is an AU game so non-human characters should be translated over to the setting. No robots, aliens, or talking animals unless you turn them into humans.
How old do you have to be to be a (---)?
Junior Campers: 8-13 Senior Campers and Junior Counselors: 14-18 Psychonauts: 19+ Of course there are some exceptions so this is more like a guideline than anything. Just remember not everyone can be Agent Gets-All-His-Badges-In-A-Day Razputin Aquato.
Do we have to know anything about Psychonauts to play here?
You don't have to! It probably doesn't hurt to give it a go, though, it's a pretty cool game. For those of you who haven't, the wiki is pretty thorough and we will provide the necessary information on this journal. For further reading SEE HERE.
How do characters communicate in-game?
Through phones/bulletin boards/computers in the lodge. Camp has a forum for posting in! It's locked down to its own network, though so, you really can't get any other kind of outside internet. That's the trouble with government training facilities. If you need more mobile communication, the camp also issues out walkie-talkies so you little maniacs don't get lost in the woods without some kind of communication.
Can characters leave the camp?
Unfortunately for the campers, that would be a no. Leaving the grounds is against camp rules, as the government would rather not have a bunch of little psychic hellions running around unsupervised. Psychonauts, Counselors and Jr. Counselors (with permission) are all allowed to leave the camp if they choose.
What happens when Summer ends?
To put it simply, the game 'ends' until next Summer. There will, however, be a musebox in which you can play around in until the camp reopens for the next Summer.
How does death work? What happens if you die inside of someone's mind?
Death is permanent! However, dying inside of a mind isn't, as you're only an astral projection inside of their subconscious; dying within a mind only causes you to get kicked out, where you'll wake back up in your own body in the real world. That doesn't mean it's exactly recommended, though, considering how disorienting that may be.
What happens if my character breaks the rules? What kind of IC punishments are there? Can they get kicked out of camp?
Your character would have to mess up really, really badly to get kicked out of camp. Punishments depend on the level of severity for which rules have been broken. Low to moderate punishments typically include picking up trash, cleaning the outhouse, and that sort of thing. Really severe punishments could potentially result in a character's merit badges getting revoked. If that happens, they better not be caught using that power before earning it back, or else it would lead to even worse punishment.
What about villain characters? Can I play a villain and work for the bad guy?
In the future, we might look into incorporating villainous characters into plots. However, you are allowed to app a Psychonaut with secretive evil tendencies. This is a case by case basis, though, and they need to be very good at hiding it. We can't have too many of these types of characters running around; someone is bound to notice eventually, after all. Campers with a more villianous sway is a little more likely though. Kids can be jerks and if the canon's roster of campers is any indication, you can still have some pretty bad apples in the bunch. So basically apping Voldemort probably won't fly in this game, but Tom Riddle? Way more doable.
What happens when I drop my character?
They pretty much just fade into the background until such a time as someone else apps them.
Is romance and/or smut allowed?
Of course romance is allowed! They are teenagers, after all. Smut is also allowed, though please be sure to put warnings and such in your log and lock it if you're going to play it out in game. We ask that you refrain from doing anything too graphic involving younger characters to prevent making anyone uncomfortable. 15 and up is fine, but any lower we ask that you fade to black or simply not do it at all.
Is there a limit to how many psychic powers my character can use?
If this is your first year, you get one power to start with that you're most proficient in. You can use any power that you have the badge for once you've acquired it. Just... don't burn down the camp, and you're good.
The game's layout looks familiar!
That's because it's a slightly modified stylesheet from vigils. Check them out!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What's the IC day to IRL day ratio?

One RL week = Two IG days!

Power Questions Time!

So I'm considering a counselor for Telepathy, and to appropriately mirror his canon I'd like for him to have been accidentally using telepathy from a young age and basically drowning in people's thoughts for a little while. (He's since, of course, learned to control it.) Is this something that could be considered feasible in lore, or should I try and go another route to make the AU stick well?

Edited 2013-01-04 21:59 (UTC)

That sounds perfectly reasonable to us!

Hello! :3
If I were to app Agatha from ParaNorman, I assume she would be alive and no longer a ghost, but would it be possible for in addition to the Mediumship (which she has in-canon, or had when she was alive) have a sort of emotion-driven Electrokinesis power to compensate for the electrical powers she had as a ghost? Basically whenever she's angry/sad/upset/etc, she might start sparking. She probably wouldn't go full electrical form, just be psychically generating electricity, unless the electrical form is something she can learn to do later down the line?
Psychonauts is one of my favorite games ever and I see you guys already have a Norman, so I thought I would ask since my desire to app Aggie here is quite great. UvU Thank you! <3

This question was answered elsewhere already but I'm going to put the answer here, too.

The answer to electrokinesis is no for right now. We want to work with the abilities we've already set before adding anything else to the roster. However, Aggie is free to spark and cause unintentional fires with her emotions in a way to parallel canon!

Also as said before, this is a great solution! Thank you so much!<3

Out of curiosity: Would characters have to be apped in as their actual age in canon (or an approximation of their "normal human" age, if the character isn't human), or can an older character be apped as a teenager so as to make them a camper?

We leave character ages entirely up to the applicant, though older characters being apped as younger is totally encouraged since there's more space for campers than there is for counselors.

How's the pet policy? The character I want to app (practically) has a duck for a life partner, it'd be really sad if I had to write her out! If it makes any difference, he's going to be a Psychonaut, not a camper.

Pets are allowed, to a certain degree. The duck would be totally fine!

if my character is, say 15-16, can they still be a junior camper? say they joined in late, or found the camp as a last resort at a later age to help them get their powers under control?

As long as it makes sense for them to have waited that long, that is completely fine!

Hello! I have a question about taking liberties with powers. I'm thinking about apping this little lady here from Giana Sisters. The series's main gimmick is that Giana is in a dream world where she can change her appearance to her 'punk' persona, which makes her look and acts tougher than her normal one. I was wondering if it would be permissible for her to have this ability when running around mental worlds, explained away as her just being really good at astral projection, and it not being much more than a cosmetic change (it doesn't give her extra powers or anything). And of course, she wouldn't be able to do it in the real world. Would that be OK?

(PS I love Psychonauts and I'm excited that this game exists)

Sorry for the slight delay in getting back to you on this, but it sounds perfectly feasible for the game, and actually a really neat take on the mental worlds and astral projection. Totally okay!

Yay! Thank you!

Specific to my app: Link canonly has prophetic dreams so I'll be giving him the precognition badge, but in his canon he also has access to masks that change his appearance physically. I was wondering if I could have clairvoyance be something that he is also strong in but not yet able to control, so that he'll randomly see himself as others see him. In line with this, could his physical appearance during astral project change to be thematic with these masks he wears (like when he's learning levitation and the ball rolls around, instead of others seeing the levitation ball, they see him as a rolling goron; when flying via levitation he takes the appearance of a deku scrub holding two flowers that helicopter him around, etc)? These forms would be reflective of his inability to control his own appearance when on the astral plane, as well as be a visible sign of how differently he views himself from how the world sees him because of how he grew up (as an orphan and being wiser than his years due to harsh experiences and having to care for himself when the few adults in his life passed away or left).

Hi there! Sorry for the wait, but we're still discussing your question. We just wanted to drop you a message to let you know that we've gotten it and we haven't forgotten you.

We'll get back to you as soon as we can!

Thank you for the update.

For the first question: Clairvoyance doesn't quite work that way, so we're going to have to say no. Clairvoyance is limited to ones own perception and it wouldn't bleed into a physical manifestation.

For the second question: Alternate astral forms are allowed provided it's how they truly see themselves and should be limited to one or two alternate forms.

I think there may be some confusion on the Clairvoyance question. I was asking if it could happen randomly despite being untrained in it - like, he's talking to someone and it kicks in and suddenly he's seeing himself however the other person sees him for a few seconds.

Using Psychonaughts game as an example, Raz is walking past the milkman and without initiating Clairvoyance, he still gets a glimpse of himself looking like a bottle of milk to the Milkman.

We think we understand your question now (Sorry about that.) Are you asking if Clairvoyance just switches itself on and off without his control?

If that's the case then that shouldn't be a problem.

That was the question, yes. Thank you. :)

Hi there! I was wondering, if you want to app a character as a junior counsellor, do they have to ICly work for the badges in game before they can be one? Or do I just reserve a character to be a junior counsellor and handwave the badges OOCly?

Sorry for the wait! If you are apping a character in as a Jr. Counsellor then they should already have at least eight badges by the start of the game. That means they would have attained them prior to game start and are hand waved. Did that answer your question?

Question for applying for a Jr. Counselor!

Is it only full fledged Counselors who have a Counselor's lab, or would we include that in an application for a Jr. Counselor as well?

Apologies for the wait!

Only fully fledged Counselors have a Counselor's lab, so it's not necessary to fill that part of the application out for a Jr. Counselor.

Question - was skimming the test drive meme; would it be alright for a character to be around 12-13 and "first year here/new arrival"? (Partly "background adapted to AU includes family not being horribly helpful" as a reason there probably would be delays, partly "I am a horrible person and if I do this I'd want to make the most of the awkward-turtle period".)

Sorry for the wait, and that's perfectly fine.

I want to app Cassie here and in her canon she's already a precog. I was wondering if it's okay to come to camp for the first time with a power already present? Would she automatically get the badge or does she have to work for the badge even though she already has the power?

Also for her AU I'd like to keep it so that all of the events of the movie happened and afterward she happens to hear of this place and decides to check it out because she's been on the run for being psychic and a safe place sounds good to her. Something like that. Would that be okay? The AU is not as elaborate as I've seen in some of the apps so I was unsure.

It's perfectly fine to have an ability that a character is pretty proficient in, walking in the door. They won't have the badge, however, and still have to earn it. The specialty is more to denote what your character is best at. (An example: Norman is coming in as a first year and he's been using mediumship for years, he doesn't have the badge for it walking in, but he'll probably get it first because he's already really good at it.)

As for the AU, that's fine as long as it makes sense in the Psychonaut's universe. Just bear in mind that Whispering Rock is a government funded training facility.

Villainous tendencies question!

Lyrl here is a bit of a teenage supervillain, so I was wondering if I could play it that he was forced to be back in camp as part of an attempt at rehabilitation/keeping a close eye on him. He would have tried to steal a bunch of info by threatening to blow stuff up but didn't succeed or hurt anyone. (His dad has connections, too.)

Also, is mad science acceptable in camp?

That sounds just fine! He'll be kept a close eye on by the other counselors, and stepping out of line will likely earn him stronger punishments than the others, given his already tarnished record.

He might also need to re-earn all of his badges.

Mad science is acceptable! What did you have in mind?

Lyrl wants to gather knowledge, so aside from trying to steal data from the counselors he'd want to collect it from the local population. He'd want to experiment on the wildlife and their powers, and he'd offer to "upgrade" campers if they could convince him of their loyalty or if they'd be willing to let him put a control chip in their head. (He canonically kills someone off and brings them back MORE POWERFUL THAN EVER!! ...yeah, I doubt anyone would agree to this. Or to him adding extra limbs or whatever. Even though they're so useful.)

He is willing to use his genius for the benefit of others sometimes, though that'd depend on what people wanted from him.

Would I be allowed to app a character who CURRENTLY doesn't have any psychic powers but was able to get in anyways, say because their dad was a famous psychic who pulled some strings and because they probably were going to get psychic powers eventually?

Also if I did this how much of the game would I be missing out on by having no powers?

EDIT: (So sorry. so many questions) Since this character's canon power is teleportation but that's not one of the merit badges, would I have to change it to something else? Like, levitation or something?

Edited 2013-02-15 12:36 (UTC)

Hi, we just wanted to let you know we are VERY SORRY for such a long wait. We've all been busy with various in real life things, but that isn't any excuse and we deeply apologize.

The mods feel that it would be best if you didn't go the path of having her not be psychic; it would severely limit what you can do in the game, and would make playing and getting involved too difficult.

As for your second question, yes. You would have to change it to something else. Whatever that may be is your choice.

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