04. Game Mechanics

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[attr="class","guidebooktitle"]Game Mechanics

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]In-Drift has its own way of doing things such as pack formation, breeding, hunting, etc that may or may not be what you're used to doing on other canine RPs. The staff at In-Drift strives to make the game as streamlined as possible, but also to give you maximum freedom to create your own plots.

[attr="class","guidebooksubtitle"]Table of Contents

[attr="class","guidebookbody"] Each subject is given its own post to be explained, just click on the links below if you want to jump to something specifically or simply scroll down the page to read everything.

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[attr="class","guidebookchapter"]I.Time and Seasons

Learn how time passes in this game.
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[attr="class","guidebookchapter"]II.Breeding and Aging

Learn the breeding mechanics as well as the different stages in your dog's life.
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[attr="class","guidebookchapter"]III.Hunting and Fighting

Learn about how hunting and fighting are done at In-Drift.
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[attr="class","guidebookchapter"]IV.Packs

Learn about how packs are run, formed, and how to join the different packs.
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[attr="class","guidebookchapter"]V.NPCs and the Events Account: Happenstance

Learn our policy with NPCs as well as our Events account.

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[attr="class","guidebooktitle"]Time and Seasons

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]In-Drift has an easy way of doing things: We define the season and the year, but we let you choose the time of day, weather, and month when you post. In the Rules, you may have noticed that a datestamp is recommended, but not required. If the season is Winter, put something like "January, 310" at the top of your post. It's completely optional to do this, but it can help sort out timelines.

[attr="class","guidebooksubtitle"]The Seasons

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Time passes so that every month in RL is a season in the game. The year changes in Winter rather than Spring, simply because only about ten days of Winter are in the prior year vs about eighty days in the new year. So Winter is the first season of every year.

[attr="class","guidebooktablefield"]RL Month	[attr="class","guidebooktablefield"]IC Season	[attr="class","guidebooktablefield"]IC Months
January	Spring	March, April, May
February	Summer	June, July, August
March	Autumn	September, October, November
April	Winter	December, January, February
May	Spring	March, April, May
June	Summer	June, July, August
July	Autumn	September, October, November
August	Winter	December, January, February
September	Spring	March, April, May
October	Summer	June, July, August
November	Autumn	September, October, November
December	Winter	December, January, February

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[attr="class","guidebooktitle"]Breeding and Aging

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]Breeding is very simple here. This post will discuss breeding mechanics including genetics and aging. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask!

[attr="class","guidebooksubtitle"]Mating

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]In In-Drift we don't have special rules for who can mate with who. You don't have to be mates and you don't have to have been in a thread with them several times. There are no special times of the year which dogs can mate. They can mate any time during the year, but can only mate a maximum of twice a year. Any variant can mate with any other variant. For simplicity's sake, gestation is one season (or three months IC). Your puppy can either grow to be played by someone else or become an NPC for your character (indefinitely or until adopted) or to be assumed to have died. It's all up to you. All you need to do is fill out a mating form.
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Now, please respect the freedom we have given you to plot with: If your characters aren't mates and they've only met once, then they probably aren't going to be raising the puppies together (but you can have them do so if it makes sense in your plot). If your dog has two litters in a year, her body is not going to be as fit and healthy as it was in the beginning of that year. If you decide to have a lot of puppies and have them all die, then your dog probably isn't going to have as good a reputation. Those are just examples. Again, just do what makes sense to your plots. In-Drift loves creativity!

[attr="class","guidebooksubtitle"]Genetics

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]As we mentioned before, any variant can mate with any other variant. They do not form hybrids, but the genes a dog has determines which variant they are. There are a few genes at work and you can see them in every profile under Genetics. The dogs are not aware of their genes. They understand that, most of the time, the puppies inherit whatever variant the parents are if the parents are the same variant. When you start to mix blood, things sometimes can get weird.
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Esper genes are dominant over Augments: Known with T^E and T^a and there is also tt, which is recessive and came from Basal variants. Basals have a gene known as N that masks the T genes. Basals are all NN or Nn. Dogs with nn are Espers and Augments, except for a special case. Dogs with both tt and nn are typically born with a pure white coat, pale gray eyes, pink nose and paw pads, and often sight and hearing defects. Below is a table organized by variant and factor (which means your dog carries the genes for a different variant) and genotypes which match them. Basal is assumed to be normal unless specified as lethal white.

[attr="class","guidebooktablefield2"]Variant	[attr="class","guidebooktablefield2"]Factor	[attr="class","guidebooktablefield2"]Genotype
Basal	none	NNtt, Nntt
Basal	Esper	NNTETE, NNTEt, NnTETE, NnTEt
Basal	Augment	NNTaTa, NNTat, NnTaTa, NnTat
Basal	Esper and Augment	NNTEta, NnTEta
Esper	none	nntEtE
Esper	Augment	nnTEta
Esper	Basal (Lethal White)	nnTEt
Augment	none	nntata
Augment	Basal (Lethal White)	nntat
Basal (Lethal White)	none	nntt

[attr="class","guidebooksubtitle"]Aging

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]The milestones below are going to be by months rather than weeks for ease of use. This is a general guideline as larger breeds tend to mature more slowly than smaller ones.

[attr="class","guidebooktablefield2"]Age	[attr="class","guidebooktablefield2"]Development	[attr="class","guidebooktablefield2"]Variant Notes
Birth	Born without hearing or sight	Lethal White Basals are born completely white, with pink noses and paw pads. Espers are born without horns. Augments' nanobots are not yet activated.
1 month	Eyes open, starts to hear, is beginning to be weaned	n/a
2 months	Weaned, starts to explore outside of den; quite uncoordinated.	Esper horns begin to bud. Augment nanobots are activated once puppy is completely weaned.
4 months	Teething (losing milk teeth), rapid growth, more energetic	n/a
6 months	Grows out of puppy coat, has adult teeth now; begins adolescence	Longer fur grows along an Augment's back as the adult fur comes in. Lethal White Basals start to gain true adult coloration.
8 months	Teenager, looking for a place in the pack. Now able to have puppies, though it's considered high risk.	Espers powers may begin to develop when horn growth is completed (any time between 8-12+ months).
12 months	End of long bone growth, start to build muscle now, some may join an adult rank	Basals may sync to Watchers now.
2-3 years	Considered fully adult, having puppies is no longer high risk, most dogs have joined a rank or become loners by now, can also lead a pack if they desire.	Augments stop aging when fully mature. Lethal White Basals have developed their true coat colors.
7-10 years	Body starts to slow down, having puppies is considered high risk	Augment's nanobots begin to lose their functioning and they start to age.
10-13 years	Considered elderly, body's functioning starts to deteriorate.	n/a

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[attr="class","guidebooktitle"]Hunting & Fighting

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]You have as much freedom as you need in hunting and fighting. You have different options depending on your preferences. All that we ask for is that you create plots that are engaging, fun, and make sense.

[attr="class","guidebooksubtitle"]Hunting

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]For the most part, the dogs here do hunting on their own. Small game (for example rodents and small birds), you can RP a single dog killing them. Larger prey are hard to bring down without injury. If you'd like a staff member to RP the large prey animal, then please just put [prey] on the thread title. However, you can RP a hunt on your own if you'd like as well. It's all up to your preferences.
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Below is a list of common prey animals by region. This list is more of a general guideline. Just pay attention to the climate and the sort of animals that should be present there. A lot of animals present are feral domesticated animals. There are enough small prey animals and such to support an ecosystem. Most large, dangerous predators like bears and mountain lions are not on Canaria and are instead replaced by rogue machines and mutant creatures, introduced by the Happenstance account.

[attr="class","guidebooktablefield"]Northlands	Rats, snow rabbits, small birds, reindeer, squirrels, cold water fish
[attr="class","guidebooktablefield"]Heartland	Cattle, sheep, rabbits, horses, fish, water birds, pigs, prairie dogs
[attr="class","guidebooktablefield"]Southlands	Horses, rabbits, deer, fish, rats, squirrels, small birds

[attr="class","guidebooksubtitle"]Fighting

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]Your dogs can fight for any reason. They can also use their abilities, but the brunt of a fight will be a dog's physical skills and fighting experience. We don't have any rules about the limits of hits or dodges. We just ask you to do this smartly. You can choose to plot the outcome of a fight before the fight starts, ask a staff member to judge the fight, or just wing it and see who comes out on top. If doing the last option, please come up with some sort of agreement for hits (how many times your dog lands a damaging blow) and dodges (how many times your dog completely dodges a blow).
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Again, feel free to use your dog's abilities. Espers can use their psychic abilities. Augments can use their upgrades. Basals can use their adaptations (if mutated) or their Watcher (if synced with one).

[attr="class","guidebooksubtitle"]Injuries

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]Scars tell stories and both hunting and fighting have risks of causing injury to the dogs. Hunters are at risk especially when going after big game. A deer never goes down without a fight. A dog can have a run-in with another predator and manage to take the beast down. Fights between dogs have higher risk of injury since the purpose of a fight is to maim and injure the opponent. Dogs cannot leave a fight without a scratch unless one dog is clearly outmatched by the other.
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Injuries do heal over time. For Augments with active nanobots--half the time as other dogs. However, all dogs heal better and nicer with the help of a gifted healer. Humans with a kind heart may pity a dog enough to help it.

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[attr="class","guidebooktitle"]Pack Information

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Being the leader of a pack is no walk in the park, but it is very fun. It requires you to be very active, creative, and organized. Now below are some tips and guidelines about how to run a pack on In-Drift.

[attr="class","guidebooksubtitle"]Creating a Pack

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Creating a pack is pretty easy. Just plot out starting a pack with a few other dogs (at least three), fill out a form, and pick out a territory, and write out the claim. In the end, it's very easy to start your own pack. You'll need to have a direction to take your pack which is different enough from the others that dogs would choose your pack over a larger, more established pack. New packs are very vulnerable to being absorbed into the larger, more established packs.
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When you create a pack, you'll need to create the pack summary, the pack rules, the pack ranking systems, and anything else. A plot thread is very recommended. Feel free to be as creative as you want. Please post all of these threads and information in the Pack Board. All new threads there will be looked at and added to the Pack Thread directory and the sidebar when ready. You can choose to make one thread with each topic in a new post or to make a new thread for each topic. You'll also need to decide if OOC joining is allowed or if you'll want the dogs to only join IC through posts. If you are less active or run out of "muse" often for joining threads, it's recommended you allow OOC joining.

[attr="class","guidebooksubtitle"]Being an Alpha

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]The Alpha of a pack (or Alphess) is the leader of the pack and so represents the pack as a whole. They set the tone of the pack. If you have a ruthless Alpha, you have a ruthless pack. If you have a kind Alpha, you have a kind pack.
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The job of the Alpha is to keep the pack active. You do this by posting regularly as your Alpha, generating several interesting plots for your members, and keeping the dogs involved in your pack "in the loop." If there is a birth, then everybody should know about it (unless the plot says otherwise). You can announce these things in pack meetings. Running a pack is a job that the RPer of the Alpha mostly has to focus on, but it is a team effort for all of the RPers whose dogs are in the pack. So, the main job would be to keep everyone's motivation up so the pack stays active.

[attr="class","guidebooksubtitle"]Tips to Run a Pack

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Below are several tips and hints to keep a pack active.

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Plotting - Keep plots interesting. If your pack is slowing down, think about how to bring conflict into the pack. The conflict can be something as simple as a pack hunt. Or it can be something much more involved like having a member of the pack becoming injured out of the pack's territory and needing to nurse him back to health. Be creative and get the members involved! [break][break]
Keep the Ranks Updated - If you never update the ranks, the pack won't seem as active. Members will notice that it is not up to date and would not want to join a pack that doesn't seem active or has an Alpha who doesn't like to update current information.
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Know Your Members - Learn the members of your pack. Take the time to read their character's biographies. It is almost guaranteed that the member's RPer has read the Alpha's bio. Return the courtesy. This can help flesh out posts and plots.
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For Pack Meetings - Don't ask the RPers to post hundreds of words to basically say "I'm present to the meeting." Make sure everyone understands that short posts are acceptable during these times. Change it up sometimes. If a pack meeting has been called for, perhaps have your Alpha show up to the already gathered members, make some announcements, and rank changes, and have a few replies and call it a day. I've seen Pack Meeting threads backfire and kill activity because they can be boring. Most of the "pack together" posts should be in pack plots.
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Reward the Most Active Members - The most active and faithful members of the pack deserve rank increases or else to be highlighted in a pack plot. Try to find creative ways to make active members of the pack feel important to the pack, even if they aren't in a high rank (or especially if they aren't in a high rank).
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Use NPCs Wisely - Feel free to use NPCs. You can use NPCs for simple bad guys or rogue dogs or humans. Just keep things realistic. Also, you can even make NPCs that are a part of your pack. This is important for unpopular, but important ranks. Just make a list of the NPCs in your pack somewhere to keep track of them. Read more about NPCs in the next post, here.

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[attr="class","guidebooktitle"]NPCs and Events

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]Consider NPCs tools to facilitate your plots and Events as a fun way to spice things up. The NPCs do have a few rules and guidelines to keep their use effective. Events happen regularly on the continent and are a fun way to interact with the world. Happenstance events are all completely optional.

[attr="class","guidebooksubtitle"]NPCs

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]NPCs are characters which don't really belong to anybody. They can be satellite characters to your main character. They can be a bunch of lower ranking dogs for the pack to use for plots. They are just extra bodies. The background characters. Depending on how involved an NPC is, they may or may not need to be fleshed out. We do have a board for keeping track of NPC biographies in the biography board.. They do not need to be as complete as a normal character. The only rule with NPCs is that you cannot RP out a romantic relationship or use NPCs to create a pack.
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Creating an NPC is easy. Just start roleplaying and roleplay them into your character's or your pack's (if you are an Alpha) plots. If they start to become rather important or a recurring character, please feel free to fill out a biography for them. If you decide to make them your character, just tell staff and complete their biography and we'll move it to the respective boards. You may also decide to adopt them out for someone else to RP. You can also choose to have one of your characters become an NPC if they evolve into more of a side character.

[attr="class","guidebooksubtitle"]Happenstance Account

[attr="class","guidebookbody"]Happenstance is the name of our Events account. Happenstance means "by chance" and we want these to feel like chance, coincidence, or fate in your plots. We also will play NPCs as requested through this account (for example, large prey or menacing bad guys). Happenstance will start threads sometimes and you may reply to them. Unless requested to (just make an OOC note on your post), Happenstance will not reply to threads.
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The most common threads Happenstance will start are:

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Encounters with Rogue Machines - The leftover machines of the by-gone era of humans. Sometimes they are dead and need a jumpstart to begin running again. Other times, they are still doing their jobs. Dogs can interact with them by studying them, destroying them, befriending them, as well as several other things.
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Finding a Watcher - The Happenstance Account will post the location of a Watcher for your dog to interact with or sync with at the start of a thread. Your dog need only reply to be a part of this plot. You can also request a staff member create a Watcher thread for your dog.
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Encounters with Mutant Creatures - Mutant creatures have pretty much replaced the large predators of Canaria. Some of them have sad stories attached. Some of them are just outright monsters and extremely dangerous. They are fun plot opportunities.
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Exposure to Mutagens - Happenstance also can open the thread in a location which has a high concentration of mutagens. This mostly affects Basals and can give them interesting adaptations. It can also cause Espers to carry mutations that may manifest in their young. Augments are largely unaffected unless their nanobots have been deactivated by something.