Note: #hashtag links will take you to the linked room in our Discord server.
(!) First, ensure that you meet our criteria for joining. If you are not 21 years or older, please come back when you are.  Step OneAotM has a large focus on world building! That means it has a lot of lore, and that can seem pretty intimidating for first timers. Try to think of it as a lego set though. To start playing with legos, all you need to know to begin with is how to put them together. If you want to expand into further sets later, then you can do so! All you really need to read is our base information and then whatever information pertains to the specific kind of character that you want to play. Everything else is very easy to pick up as you go. Here's what you need to read to get started here:
Once you're ready to make a character or submit a sample post:
Once you've done that, any further reading really just depends on where you want your character to live and work. We've done most of the leg work for you there in our character creation guide here. Step Two Hop into our Discord server here! We don't require than anyone roleplay specifically in either our server or our forum. Pick which style or mix of styles works for you! However, many of our important mechanics are run through Discord, like our event alerts and important news, so you do have to join us on the server, even if it's only for OOC purposes. Once you're there: ✔ Ensure that your server nickname matches your RPR name if you have an account. ✔ Make sure that staff can send you private messages. ✔ Sign up for your roles in the #roles-and-alerts room! Just click the buttons! ✔ Come say hi if you'd like! Step Three Time to decide a your first character! If you don't already have something in mind, or you're not really sure what goes into each character type, check out the info over in the character creation side of this guide for a breakdown of what's available. When you know what you want to play, head over here and click on the dropdown that reads: (Please click me to see character sheet requirements!) There you'll find everything we need in order to approve your character submissions. The list itself isn't a character sheet, just a list of requirements, though you can certainly use it as such! Many people prefer to use one of the templates provided or to make their own that's unique to their character! You can make things as fancy or as simple as you'd like though, as long as that information has been included. You can host your character sheet anywhere that's publicly accessible. Here are some suggestions!
Step Four If you're reading this guide, this is likely your first character. If this is so, then you'll need to submit a few additional things with your character sheet in the #applications-room on the Discord. If you're re-visiting this guide, you only need the character sheet. Newbies, make sure you're including: ✔ A sample post. You can post it directly to the application room or host it on your character's sheet. It doesn't have to relate to that character. We're simply checking that you can meet our game's writing requirements. Please make sure you're checking the pins in the #application-room to see what we're asking for. You'll only ever need to do this once. ✔ Your age. We're a 21+ server. You do not have to give a specific age if you'd rather not. We just need a confirmation that you're over 21. ✔ A confirmation that you've read our community rules. Once you've submitted what you need to, hang out and staff will get back to you! Give us about three days (we usually get to things much sooner though) before you poke us. Sometimes accidents do happen. Once we've read through your submission, we'll contact you through DMs about it to let you know if you're good to go, if something needs to be changed, or if things aren't quite a match. Step Five Once your sample post and character has been approved, come join us in #the-chatterbox and introduce yourself if you haven't already! We've got a handy ice breaker pinned in that room (and reposted here to help you) if you would like to use it. (CLICK FOR PROMPT!)
**HI! I'M NEW!** **__About me__** What should we call you? What're your pronouns? How did you wind up here? Do you have any pets? Give us a lil bio blurb here. Pretend it's your author's page on the back of your best selling novel. **__Hobbies, Likes__** Do you have any fandoms you're a part of? Shows, movies, or games you like? Do you enjoy drawing or writing or any other creative pursuits? How about a favorite food or animal? Tell us a little about some of the things you enjoy! Your final steps are:
FUN EXTRAS AotM has a Supply Store where you can use points you earn doing stuff around the game to buy fun extras like your own discord channels! We also have an achievement system. Both of these parts of the game are completely optional. |
Ready to get started with character creation? If you've already got a general idea of who you want to play, keep reading! If you need a little inspiration, check out our:
We also have arrival prompts for those who need a little extra help figuring out how their characters got here! Character sheet details are located here in the dropdown on the first post. You're welcome to design your own character sheet using that information, or use one of our many templates. Note that some of the information you'll come across in our guides is intentionally written in character to help with immersion.  Want to play an Interdimensional Secret Agent?While Civilians mostly stay put in either Sanctuary or Harbor unless they have their own means to hop about the multiverse, AotM agents have Key Gauntlets that allow them to access portals called Gates and travel to other worlds! They spend a lot of time fighting our game's main enemy, the Corruption, but they also do work securing allies across the multiverse, studying the flora and fauna of different worlds, and reclaiming and revitalizing Corrupted places. The AotM have two main branches-- Field Agents, who actively go out and deal with the Corruption, and the Home Team, who focus a lot more on tending to whoever comes back or on less direct dangers. You can find professions such as healers, psychologists, chefs, animal handlers, and researchers on the Home Team. Most agents are the adult versions of their respective species. However, skilled and determined enough minors are also accepted as agents under the AotM's Chaperone Program. They are generally highly supervised. Interested in playing a character like this? Check out the Guide Links in the drop down below! (CLICK TO EXPAND)
The Traveler's Handbook Your character will receive one of these upon joining the AotM, both a paper and an electronic version. It acts as an orientation guide for anyone joining the AotM, and will help you know what your character knows. New Agent Supplies What's a spy story without spy gadgets? Your character will be given special gear and resources upon joining the AotM! This page helps you understand what those are. Codes of Conduct These are the in character rules and requirements for AotM agents, and they'll help you know what your character can and can't do while at home and on missions, as well as what the consequences are for breaking those rules. Active Threats Active Threats is all about the Corruption, which your agent will likely be actively fighting. It also lists any player controlled enemies of the AotM in case you would like to plot with them. Specialists & Ranks This page details the different jobs your character can do within the AotM and how to progress in them. It also details security ranks. Security levels will determine where your character can go in the Omphalos and elsewhere and what missions they can take part on. Most areas aren't OOCly rank locked, but some places have IC security requirements, and if your character bypasses them and goes somewhere they aren't supposed to be, it may land them in hot water with security. This page also has some additional info that you will need to submit in order to sign your character up as an AotM agent. The Omphalos's World Page Your character is welcome to live anywhere that their security rank allows them to (this info is detailed in many of the world pages). Most agents choose to live within The Omphalos itself though, as they are given a free apartment in exchange for their services (though sometimes they have to share with a room-mate). The Omphalos is in a space separate from Harbor, Sanctuary, or any of the other worlds to protect it from attacks and location by the enemy. It rests upon a chunk of land free floating in a mysterious pocket dimension. This page will give you an idea of what it's like and what can be found there. Some new agents also choose to live in Sanctuary, though they'll have to pay for and locate their own housing if they do. There are other residential options located through some of the Gates, but they are not typically accessible to brand new agents. ★ When you're all set and you know for sure that you'd like to make an agent, head over here and visit the dropdown that says, (OOC Notes & How to Register). Submit that to staff via a DM and you'll be on your way! Entering your character as an official agent ensures that they're listed as such in the #personnel-database and lets other characters know where they're allowed to be within the Omphalos. It also enters them into our Mentor Program if they're new, which pairs your character with another player's Mentor Character when available.  Want to play a Civilian?Not everyone has what it takes to be an agent, and many people who the AotM wind up rescuing from dead and dying worlds wind up in the organization's refugee city, Sanctuary. While this unnamed world is protected from the Corruption, it poses plenty of challenges of its own. Sanctuary is surrounded by impassable mountains on three sides, and a sea full of monsters on the other. Nobody is going anywhere, anywhere fast, and the winters here can be harsh and even deadly. To make matters worse, mutating magical storms known as Cracklers or Crackle Storms for the noise they make, often sweep through the area, twisting and changing things in unexpected ways-- especially technology. The city itself may be safe from the storms, but they make building and living outside of the safety of its barriers a challenge. Still, for many Sanctuary is the only option they have, and most do their best to improve upon their new home in the ways that they can. Some settle here permanently, hoping for a way back home, while others make the most of things while they wait to be placed in a new universe. Want to play this kind of character? Check out the guide links in the drop down below! (CLICK TO EXPAND)
The Relocation Program If your character was rescued from a world taken over by the Corruption or arrived through a rift (a gap in their own world-- Sanctuary is a Nexus), then they will likely be in this program. It will tell you what to expect for them and what resources they get upon arriving. If they arrived through their own power, then they will likely not have access to these resources. Sanctuary World Page If you would like to play a civilian who interacts a lot still with the main story, they will likely be living in Sanctuary. This page will help you get an idea of what the area is like and what dangers it presents. The Omphalos World Page Civilians can use the public transport Gate in Sanctuary's main square to visit The Omphalos. This is the only way for non-agents to access this location unless they steal a gate key somehow or have considerable power. Deities may be able to simply let themselves in, for example, but they risk drawing the interest of the powers that created it if they do. Sanctuary citizens are welcome to utilize the public parts of the facility, and many have family who are agents within the AotM. Any area with a clearance level of 0 is considered public. Areas higher than that are off limits to non-agents without an escort. You can see which areas civilians can access by checking out the #setting-and-lore area on the discord. Other Locations You are welcome to play as a civilian in any of our listed worlds that allow it. Keep in mind that outside of special circumstances or select worlds, characters who are non-agents cannot utilize world Gates, and therefore their interactions may be limited to their own worlds. Consider creating a character capable of traveling through dimensions on their own power (Doctor Strange, for example) if you plan on playing a character who lives in a universe that does not have public Gates available.  Want to play a Villain?Though the AotM side of the game has a main focus on the hero or hero adjacent characters, there's certainly room for bad guys in our story too! Double agents, enemy of my enemy situations, or pure ambition are scenarios that might come up if you'd like to play a villain in the agency itself. Maybe your bad guy is pretending to be on the side of good to turn on them later, or maybe they think they know best and plan on trying to take over by climbing the ranks? Or perhaps having their world Corrupted was enough to make them want to ally with the good guys, just long enough to get home again. In many of these scenarios, your villain will be assigned another agent to keep an eye on them until they can be trusted. This is something the AotM calls the Leash Protocol. Other villains prefer to set up shop with a little more freedom in Harbor, a city found through secret tunnels through the mountains. They exchange snow for mosquitos and Crackle Storms for uncannily intelligent dinosaurs, but the ability to do exactly whatever they want is worth it for many. The AotM and the majority of Sanctuary as of yet remain unaware of the existence of this growing den of villains. Alternatively, you may opt to play a Big Bad for one of our missions! We're always looking for ambitious story tellers! Want to play this kind of character? Check out the guide links in the drop down below! (CLICK TO EXPAND)
AotM's Leash Protocol If your villain plans on sticking with the AotM and their crimes or villainous behaviors are discoverable, then they will likely become very familiar with the AotM's 'Leash Protocol' until they can be trusted. Please note, the Leash Protocol is usually reserved for violent crimes and dangerous individuals rather than things like theft. If the AotM has reason to believe that your character is not dangerous, their pasts may be overlooked in the face of a common enemy. Harbor World Page Want your baddie to have a bit more freedom? They'll likely be living in Harbor. Though Sanctuary is another option, it lies under the watchful eye of the AotM, and its citizens are very much for frontier justice when it comes to trouble makers. The lucky ones are the ones actually caught by the AotM. Most people of the less than sterling persuasion tend to prefer Harbor for this reason (it's also warmer.) In Harbor, you keep what you take, and the only rules are the ones you make. Creating Missions Anyone can create and run a mission! Want to play your terrible, city stomping monster or your all powerful lich? Consider offering them up as a Big Bad while you DM a story for AotM's agents! This page details how you can go about doing that. You can also check out #the-bounty-network on our discord server for jobs that need to be done, or bounties your character might want to place. ★ If your character has enough of a reputation, someone from Harbor (NPC) will automatically seek them out and show them how to get there, as the city is actively trying to swell its ranks. Your character is expected to keep this a secret from the AotM and other people who might 'spoil the fun' however. OOCly we expect you to follow this rule, at least until Harbor can hold its own against the good guys. |
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