Adventures in Teal Cove

Teal Cove is a private modern-day RPG set in a fictitious town in Texas in the year 1982. This is a mystery/drama game set around a small group of friends over the course of a summer and their adventures. We do not accept any unsolicited players (in other words, if we don't specifically invite you to apply please do not ask to join). The in-character forums are public and anyone is welcome to lurk (read along without participating).

Here are the rules and expectations if you are invited to join. Please read this information carefully and thoroughly read the background information before proceeding. If you are invited to apply, your acceptance will depend on your ability to demonstrate the following. We have a very high standard for participation and do not want to take on any players that will not be a good fit for the game or who we feel will detract from our efforts.

You must be an exceptional writer to participate. That means you must have a good command of grammar, spelling, punctuation and be able to express yourself well in writing. This is not a one-liner game. You are expected to write articulately and include details about the setting, characters and inner thoughts and feelings. It is advisable to study some of the past game posts so you have a good understanding of the level of depth we are looking for in this game.

You must be collaborative and be a team player. That means you must be open to plotting and working with other writers to make the best possible story. We do not make rigid outlines that can't be changed. Planning is simply a roadmap and is fluid and subject to change as the game unfolds or we get new ideas that change our previous plans. Players must be adaptable to change as things progress.

You must have a strong understanding of what living in 1982 in the United States was like including an understanding of current events at the time and pop culture. The world was a very different place from today and technology, particularly the internet, is very limited. The World Wide Web we know today has not been invented. There are no instant messages, apps, or streaming video. In fact, most computer screens are monochrome green and capable of only the most primitive graphics. Only the very tech savvy use computers for much beyond word processing and video games which are not much better than the Atari 2600 in quality.

People are not so quick to get offended. While we do not wish to discriminate against the gay community, many modern-day issues like "gender identity" and "pride events" were non-existent in the public eye. There are no mobile phones and people use payphones to communicate when out of the house. There are no ATMs to withdraw money on the go. Few people have personal computers and what they are capable of is fairly limited. The very tech savvy might dial into a Bulletin Board System or BBS. Any potential participant that is invited to apply to our game must demonstrate and high level of knowledge about this particular time period.

Players need to be able to post weekly with a maximum of 7 days between posts for each character they control.

We write in a third-person, past-tense narrative form. Your posts should read like a novel. If you can't write in the correct tense, you will not work out.

Anyone that is invited to apply will be added to the game on a trial basis only and during that time can be removed for any reason if the existing players feel that you are not working out for whatever reason.

This is not a children's game. We are adults. No one under 18 will be considered. We are not likely to consider players that were not alive during this time period.
Experience has shown time and time again that younger writers struggle to portray living in this time period accurately and are unlikely to be accepted unless they can show extensive proof that they are intimately familiar with the 80s. Most successful players will be 30 or older in age.

There is strong language and potential violence. The game may go up to rated R although for the most part, we strive to keep things at a PG-13 level. We do not allow NC-17 posts. Sexual encounters will fade to black and not be written out. Additionally, certain themes such as rape, torture, sadism and other extremely violent content that exceeds an R rating is not allowed, particularly due to the fact that many of the characters are minors. The moderator of the game is the sole determiner on what is and is not appropriate.

This game has a soap-opera type feel although we strive to keep things reasonably realistic. For example, a character might be kidnapped multiple times over the course of the game (something that most people will never experience once in real life). At the same time, explanations behind any mystery plots must follow real-world constraints. You may not use technology that does not exist in 1982 nor should there be any sci-fi or fantasy elements such as supernatural occurrences, spell casting, superpowers, artificially intelligent robots, aliens, etc. This is not a Batman or James Bond game.