Exploration
Another way to level up and participate in the world, here you can explore the world of Delvorina as one, or multiple, of your dolls.
To explore, you'll need to comment with all the information under "Necessary Info for Exploration." I would also check out "Optional but Important Info for Exploration" as, while not necessary, these are important things to have if you want responses to be accurate to your Doll. The more information there is about a Doll, the more responses will be accurate to them.
When exploring, you'll need to pick a goal and 1-3 Dolls to complete it. You can include additional Dolls and Companions, however they are not necessary and won't count towards anything. Custom NPCs are counted as additional Dolls. You'll need to write out/explain what your Doll(s) is doing. This should be kept somewhat short, preferably around 1-3 sentences. You can further describe what your characters are doing in a separate area for additional art or writing.
While exploring, on top of gaining Leveling Points you can possibly: gain rings, bits, and shop items, encounter NPCs, encounter other Players, be offered quests, and find things exclusive to pop-up events and community events. However, this doesn't mean things will always go positively, some NPCs or Players can be neutral and attack when provoked or outright hostile towards your Dolls, your Doll may get injured, or your Doll could end up permanently damaged or dead. You must opt-in for Player encounters and permanent damage/death.
Here's all the info you'll need to include in your exploration form:
You can make this as simple or detailed as you'd like.
This stuff isn't needed, but it is important if you want responses to be accurate to your Doll.
A lot of dolls have magic, and this can impact exploration in a variety of ways. If your Doll has magic and you want them to use it during exploration, you'll need to specify what they can do with their magic. Your Doll will need to have mana to use their magic, which depletes with each spell.
If your Doll depletes their mana fully, they'll have to go through a recovery period of 1 exploration. After depletion, they'll need 1-2 explorations with no magic use to completely recover. This can be changed with items, which can shorten the period of time needed to 0-1 explorations.
You can have a Doll attempt to use their magic after losing all their mana, however this must be stated along with in what situations they would do this. With this you run the risk of spells backfiring, extended mana recovery time, HP loss, and even the Doll being permanently damaged. Some of these often go together (ex. spell backfiring + hp loss). All of this will depend on what your Doll can do with their magic. Extended mana recovery time is typically 3-5 explorations.
Player encounters are when your Dolls cross paths with another explorer's Dolls. These can only happen if both parties have opted in to player encounters. It's not possible to control if you cross paths with another player and who the other explorer is, unless you're participating in certain quests or using Common Grounds to boost or guarantee your chances.
You must opt-in in order for a Doll to encounter other explorers. If you do not opt-in, your Dolls will not encounter other explorer's Dolls. Opting in gives you a Leveling Points boost.
You must opt-in in order for a Doll to be permanently damaged or die. If you do not opt-in, your Dolls will not die. Opting in gives you a Leveling Points boost and gives you access to exclusive items.
To die, a Doll must lose all it's HP. HP can decrease in two ways: 1. injury, 2. attempting to use magic after your Doll loses all it's mana.
Permanent damage will disable your Doll in some way. This also can be caused by injuries and attempting to use magic after complete mana depletion.
There's a couple options for death opt-ins, which are:
A Doll who dies can no longer be used in exploration, interactive events, or be traded/gifted/sold. Applying Restrung will revive the Doll and applying Worldwanderer Curse will turn the Doll into a ghost, both of which make them usable again (though Worldwanderer Curse does have drawbacks).
You can, at any point, opt back out of permanent damage/death, however it could come with a penalty. You can re-opt-in at any point. If you opt-out after 1-4 explorations, you'll receive a 5% increase in the possibility of hostile encounters, which will bump up to a 30% increase in the possibility of hostile encounters if you re-opt-in. If you opt-out after 5-9 explorations you'll receive a 5% increase in the possibility of hostile encounters if you re-opt-in. If you opt-out after 10 or more explorations you won't receive any penalties. If you opt back in after 1-2 explorations, you'll receive a 30% increase in the possibility of hostile encounters. If you opt back in after 3 or more explorations, you won't receive any penalties.
Response times can vary wildly based on how much available time a Guide has and the ideas they have for their responses.
If you don't get a response within 21 days (3 weeks) of posting your exploration form, you can contact your Guide to request an update (or ask a Staff Member to do so for you). If they don't respond within 7 days (1 week) of you messaging them asking them for an update, you can go to a Staff Member. They'll contact the Guide and get you set up with another Guide (temporarily or permanently) so you can get a response and continue exploring. If they give you a time frame and don't respond within that time frame, you can go to a Staff Member. They'll contact the Guide and get you set up with another Guide (temporarily or permanently) so you can get a response and continue exploring. Time frames should be 14 days (2 weeks) at most.
The current Season is: Clearsky
The current Month is: Nectophryne
The current Day and Lunar Cycle Stage are: Here
Until further notice, Exploration is currently closed! I've never run anything like this before and I want to work out some of the kinks first to be sure this'll run smoothly.
If you'd like to help with this/you want early access to Exploration, please DM me. I'll consider doing a test run with a couple people to see how things work out.