Getting started

If you are new to roleplay, or new to the INSILICO setting, this will help you get started; if you familiarise yourself with the setting, then your experience will be much richer.

  1. Background - the setting, technology, history, government, society, law and order
  2. The Solar System - space travel scope and technology, exploration
  3. Classifications - human, fabricant, artificial or "mutant"?
  4. Roleplaying System - INSILICO only supports the INSILICO Roleplaying System. Find out more about it here
  5. Paths of Introduction - are you an ambitious corporate ladder-climber, or someone rebelling against the system?
  6. Businesses - short on credits and need a job?
   

 

Introduction and scope

This is a document for new players - not necessarily new to the genre (though it applies to them too), but new to the INSILICO setting. Whilst you might find parallels between INSILICO and other sims, or tabletop systems, there are some nuances you should be aware of before you really get started.

Firstly, this doesn't act as a replacement for reading the official lore and rules. Checking these out comprehensively is likely to avoid a lot of trouble.

Terms

  • IC: in-character --- used to indicate something that applies only to your character
  • OOC out-of-character --- anything that is going on beyond the scope of your character's interaction with INSILICO

A good example is assuming everyone is in character if you see them in the city. If you are unsure, then when writing in open chat, enclose your sentence within double parentheses:

(( like this ))

In some viewers (Firestorm, for example) this can be accomplished automatically by using alt+enter when you post your message, rather than just enter.

Rule zero

If you aren't sure about something, and you've read through the lore and rules, and still have questions, please speak with a moderator to double-check.

Rule zero point one

Communication is key. Almost all issues players have are rooted in communication. Don't be afraid to talk to your fellow players to clarify, and if something isn't clear, talk to the moderators. If you have an issue, talk about it - if nobody knows you have a problem, nobody can help you with that problem.

Things to be aware of

There's no rush!

Of course you want to get your character all sorted out straight away, but you might change your mind a few days or weeks later. And of course you can ditch your character and start again, but at that point there might be some other cool stuff going on you're already involved with. Instead, think carefully about the basic questions asked right at the start in the welcome center, and develop your character later on in specialisms.

INSILICO is a player-driven sim

INSILICO is not run purely off moderator-developed storylines. Moderators do run their own storylines, and you are welcome to get involved, but players themselves are encouraged to get involved at a more fundamental level; there is nothing stopping you from creating your own storyline, even if it feels big (or small!) --- and the moderators can provide you with support for this.

The HUD is your friend

Many aspects of your INSILICO experience will be enhanced by ensuring you have the I1 HUD equipped, after creating your character in the welcome center. The HUD will keep track of dice rolls you've made, provide access to messaging, track your vitals, offer help, provide the ability to send credits to other players, amongst other things.

If you want to learn more about using the dice in an encounter, there is an excellent post on it.

Veteran players

When you see an entry in the wiki or a reference on the site to "veteran players", it means INSILICO veterans --- players who have been on the sim for a significant amount of time, and who the moderators deem able to handle the complexities of a situation that calls for this.

You are not alone

INSILICO is the oldest airborne city, approaching two centuries since it first floated. The venerable superstructure is capable of supporting huge structures both above and below the principal level. A testament to this is the enormous population of INSILICO, almost four million. The lofty spaces in the corporate penthouses is a far cry from the near-claustrophobic conditions of street level, where cyborgs, artificials and mutants live cheek-by-jowl with humans.

If you go into a bar or club, or are walking on the street, it is very likely that it is crowded with people no matter what time of day or night it is. Your roleplay should reflect this situation — walking into a bar with just a couple of people in it is unlikely!

Your character

You should probably be an augment

Augmentation is commonplace in the 25th century, and if you character has a neat cyber arm or a cool synthetic eyeball, chances are they're an augment. Pure humans are rarer, but would be a good second choice.

That's not to say you can't be a clone, mutant, fabricant or artificial, but please understand what the subtleties are and any restrictions that might be in place around that character class.

Your character has a neural net

The neural net is mentioned quite a lot. The gist is that every character would have one of these implanted prenatally, or be otherwise able to access the resources provided by the neural net (e.g. an AI type character). If your character does not have one, then there will be restrictions to their capabilities

Your character is not pregnant

Whilst it isn't impossible for a character in INSILICO to be pregnant, it would be incredibly unusual to find a character carrying a child. It is restricted to veteran players only (see Veteran players, above). This kind of storyline must absolutely have approval from moderators before it commences. Failing to heed this is very disrespectful of your fellow roleplayers, as it risks voiding the RP they have invested in your character in good faith.

The IC reason for this primarily is that population control in INSILICO and indeed in most places in the 25th century is a cause of concern. Conception happens only in limited circumstances and with the approval of the ruling corporation. There are no "accidents"; contraceptives are part of the ambient environment, and 100% effective --- if you are organic, if you breathe, then you cannot get "accidentally" pregnant.

Your character is not a bigshot

You probably don't have a bunch of money. You probably aren't famous. You almost certainly don't own a giant corporation. As above, these things aren't impossible, but you can't realistically show up in a city as the "new guy with enough money to buy the place". Any celebrity type character does require that moderator approval as in Veteran players above.

Your character is not an illegal fabricant or a rogue artificial

If you want to be an "illegal" character type, this might be possible, but it will be restricted to veteran players (as per Veteran players above). This is mostly for your protection --- these classes can be justifiably terminated on sight by almost any other player.

Players wishing to be these restricted classes must have a proven track record of being able to accept very long term and permanent consequences of not only their actions, but their very being.

Your character's fate is only determined by you

Of course, every action your character makes carries a consequence, and it's your responsibility to carry that consequence. But, you often have quite a lot of latitude. There's sometimes a misconception amongst some players that if the health bar on their meter reaches zero, they are dead. This is not necessarily the case: you could play it as though you were dead, but more probably you would play it as though you are simply unconscious, or badly injured to the point you can no longer participate in the live combat until you have received some sort of medical attention.

The severity of your actions will determine the severity of the consequence, and this is a two-way street. If your character is found guilty of some petty crime, then the penalty should be similarly "light": it wouldn't be sensible to have to RP that you're imprisoned for five years, or executed, for such trivia. On the other hand, if you've been serially kidnapping other players, pulling off big heists against corporations and then you get caught, then you're going to be in big trouble.

There might be ways to handle the consequences with a little more panache. Perhaps your character has a silver tongue, and can negotiate a good deal with the authorities. Or maybe you can talk your way out of it entirely --- but of course, whether those players would fall for it is up to them.

You don't have huge guns

Or grenade launchers. Or rail guns. Or indeed, anything like that. No military grade weapons. If you have a weapon, it is nicely understated.

Those weapon types aren't excluded from roleplay but they would have to be earned. Their acquisition would want moderator guidance.

Locations

When can I get a rental?

The answer is twofold: first, when you're a participating member of the roleplay community, and second, when you have ICly earned the required credits from the HUD to pay for it.

By "participating member" there's no definitive timeline involved for this, but rest assured the moderators know the difference in seeing people wanting a "free" rental, and those that sincerely want to be part of the roleplay and earn one. Think a few weeks, rather than a few hours.

What's the deal with rentals?

All rentals are considered in-character and if you can't pay for it with your in-game credits, then well, I guess it's time to call in the movers, because it's eviction day!

Riowyn (Resident) handles rental enquiries, but there's a whole team behind this. If you've read this far and think you meet the requirements then feel free to contact her, but please note that she gets the same questions about rentals three times a day.

I just blew up this big defensive thing with my gun. What now?

Tell the person that owned it, as this was an IC action, and probably quite a big one. If you're not sure who owned it, find a moderator and show them where. They can help you out. Once you spoken to the person that owned it, then they can tell you what the next steps are. And no, getting away with no interaction at all isn't one of the steps. If you do get away with it, that was because the owner let you, perhaps because of your IC sweet talking, or your lucky dice roll.

I totally hacked (or lockpicked) into a faction door. What now?

Congratulations. You opened the door! Now you can walk through it. But, that was only one part of this. What if they have security footage of you? What if you touch something that hurts you? Things are always a little more complicated than they seem.

Again, this is an IC action: your hacking (or lockpicking), even if successful, is likely to carry some consequences. Tell the person who owns the door, and tell them too about any unsuccessful rolls you might have had trying to get in. Most automated hack rolls will notify a moderator of the result irrespective of the outcome, and moderators in turn will alert the door's owner. If it was a genuine IC mistake, then play it out as such!

You absolutely must contact the owner of the door - via a moderator - to find out the result, ideally before you act this out. If you don't, you are risking having your scene voided and that of your fellow roleplayers. If nothing else, don't you want to know what you achieved for your efforts.

Breaking and entering has its own wiki entry here for your reference.

I just flew to Mars and back

Fantastic, you're quite a bit older! A round trip to Mars from INSILICO is likely to take a couple of weeks, and your roleplay should really reflect this (and make it at least two or three days). Remember too, that on Mars as a city player, you will have no standing with any of the major groups there; all factions are principally hostile to you, and you can be quite reasonably shot at.

If you do get shot out there, who is going to help you?

Where's this thing I heard about?

Go and find out in-character. Roleplay. Ask questions IC to get to the answer. If you can't find the answer this way, then you don't have it.

Right, but it's really important I find it

Then it's really important that you roleplay your way to success.

Can you give me a clue?

A moderator might point you to the first breadcrumb in the trail if you're really stuck.

OK, just tell me where the prestige terminal is already

No. Not a chance.

Why? Some parts of your character, especially the nuances of your specialities, will want you to soak up the atmosphere a little, and roleplay, to figure it out. Remember that you can't undo point spends on your character's attributes. In exceptional circumstances a moderator may allow you to redistribute some points.

If you decide on day one that you're going to be a cool sniper or an awesome negotiator, and spend all your points there, you had better be certain that you want to play as an unemployed sniper or negotiatior if there's no demand for sniping and negotiating right now. Or maybe you'll be really busy, but until you've found all that out, you don't have much of an idea.

Plausibility

Your character can't teleport

Whilst you might find it convenient to zip around the sim, remember that just walking from place to place is a lot more immersive. Sometimes it is convenient but!:

The teleport was not an in-character move. If you must teleport to join a scene, teleport ``round the corner and then RP as though you walked in (or whatever your mode of transport was).

There are no aliens

There are no aliens. There are no R2D2s, no Threepy Yos, no ewoks, no Krytens, no Robocops, no tentacle beasts or Terminators, no polymorphs, no tribbles, no Klingons or Klingoffs, no Vulcans or Vulcan'ts, furries, no anime-headed Lotharios, and no "Ponecows" (seriously).

(If you want to play Talkie Toaster though, I might make an exception.)

If it is likely to be recognised from pop culture, then it's probably not a good idea. If you aren't sure, please check with a moderator before you start playing that character, or roleplaying with a character who is making claims like this.

Is this sci-fi?

No. It's cyberpunk.

Technically isn't cyberpunk a sub-ge...

I've stopped listening now.

Useful links

There's a lot you might be looking for on the site in places you might expect, and some you won't. Hopefully this will help your navigation. Note that the wiki is definitive but always evolving, so please check back frequently to brush up on new articles and developments. If you find that the wiki contradicts something someone has said, then please bring it up maturely with the player, then a moderator if necessary.

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