FAQ 7

Joining X-Project

The Basics

Here I am, approved and ready to go. What now?

Now you go through the email the mods sent you, with the To Do list. Join the appropriate comms and mailing lists, get your Wiki user ID set up, introduce yourself to your fellow players.

Can I do my character's Wiki page before I bring them into the game?

Certainly you can. It's a good way to get into things slowly, especially if you have a complicated entrance plot. Your character won't appear on the list of characters, however, until they're actually seen in-game.

Is there a deadline for the Wiki page?

We'd prefer to have something up on your character Wiki page by the end of the month that you introduced your character. If you don't have it done by then, the mods may step in and post your application instead.

I've never used a Wiki before. Help?

The Wiki has a bunch of helpful links situated here. If you're still stuck, ask one of the mods or one of the other players for help.

How do I introduce my character? Do I have to have an actual plot?

Not necessarily. In fact, if you're brand new to XP, we'd recommend you keep your character's introduction to the school as simple as possible. If you do want to run a plot, we suggest getting an established player to help you, and to make sure you have plenty of time to organise yourself and your players.

How do I get people involved in my intro plot?

Ask for volunteers on the mailing list when you introduce yourself. If you're finding there's not much response, let the mods know and they'll help you out.

How often do I have to post?

At least once a month, you need to have some kind of activity on the game - character journal, log, xp_communication post, comments, whatever, as long as it's activity.

Contact Details

Do I have to provide my personal contacts on the contact details parts of pages?

Not if you don't feel comfortable. There is a player-only spreadsheet available for players to add their details if they don't want to share OOC details.

Do I have to have a personal DW?

Having a personal DW is not compulsory and we’re happy to use your character DW for the player-only comm.

Er, what’s this AIM thing you mention?

It’s a direct messenger service. Once upon a time, everyone used it to log. These days, people seem to prefer email or Google Messenger. Whatever floats your boat, basically - give us what you want us to know about.

Journals

I've got a brand new character journal. Do I have to friend _all_ these journals?

Yes, you do, in order to a) follow the gameplay and b) let other characters comment in your character's journal. Alas, DW has cancelled the mass Add Friends function, so you will have to go through by hand. However, most of the time the mods will have updated the friendslist/created the friendslist for you before handing you the password.

What if my character wouldn't use a journal to talk about their life?

For the sake of gameplay and the minimum activity requirement, some leeway in characterisation is encouraged in this area. Some characters use their journals to announce absences and returns, others make arrangements for meetings or social events. Some post their classes, be they students or teachers, or opinions on current events. There's a lot of options.

Can I do locked/private entries?

There are no 'friends locked' or 'private' posts - all posts can be seen by everyone. If you want to limit who can see and respond to a post, we recommend one of the communities - xp_generation_x, for example, is visible only to the members of the Generation X team - the students and graduates. Or you can have an IC email thread or SMS/text conversation on xp_communication. The Comms page gives a full explanation of the various communities.

Should I make my character journal open to anyone to comment?

All character journals should have commenting locked to Friends Only, to avoid spammers and to prevent accidental posting with OOC journals. It has happened in the past that we've had non-players troll journals, and to avoid issues, we encourage people to make their journal comments friends-only to post, but open for anyone to read. To do so, go to the settings page and go to the sixth option down; just set Enable Comments to Access List and you're set.

I've never used DW before. Help?

The DW FAQ is available here. A helpful hint from the start is to set your posting format as HTML, with the auto-formatting disabled. This allows you to use the normal journal coding without the rich text settings getting in the way. For those switching from DW to DW, please note that the lj coding for cut tags and the like works fine on DW.

I'm ready for my first post. How do I do it? Do I need permission?

If you're posting a log, make sure it goes in xp_logs. See the Logs section of this FAQ for details on formatting. If it's a post to the character's journal, just go ahead. No permission is needed before starting into the game - the mods will have covered everything with your welcome email.

Character Introduction Plans

Do characters have to live in the Mansion?

Voted on by the game June 17, 2011

Initially, yes. This allows for all players to ensure that their character is firmly established in the game, and to build strong connections with other players and characters. Also, IC the mansion is a sanctuary in a world that is dangerous to mutants - it’s the safest place for your mutant character to be.

It is possible that after a character has started in the mansion and has established themselves that they choose to move out into another location, such as District X or Salem Center. But it is strongly suggested that characters reside in the mansion or in District X where casual logging opportunities will be easy to facilitate and where connections to other characters can easily be maintained.

Exceptions may be made for players returning to the game or new players adopting well established, previously played characters. These exceptions will be considered by the mods on an individual basis.

So it's okay if my character eventually moves out and lives somewhere else entirely?

Part of XP is being able to have the chance for random logging, and characters living away from the school don't have those opportunities. Sometimes, in order to take a break or to pursue a particular character thread, people will move out, but the preference is for them to come back at some stage or settle in District X where random, casual logging opportunities also exist to a lesser degree. Many players find it difficult to maintain connections to other characters when their character lives outside of the already established areas of residence.

Does my character have to be on a team?

Part of the relaunch was intended to address the “floating” population of the mansion, those who lived there but weren’t part of any particular team. It was found that these characters, over time, had less involvement in the game and their players found it hard to connect. To address this problem, and to reflect the “dark new world” of Phase 2, characters have the following options:

Adults with full control over their powers/combat training/etc: to join the X-Men, X-Factor Investigations, X-Force, X-Corps, or become part of the Xavier Institute Staff (which may include teaching Generation X).

Teenagers, young adults and adults with no training or control: join Generation X, which is the training team which receives tutelage from the rest of the characters and provide manpower or skills to the other teams. From there, they can move on to one of the other teams, or become Institute staff (if they aren't already!)

Do I have to play a student or a teacher to be in the mansion?

No, the mansion is a sanctuary for mutants, although to preserve the cover of it being a private institute, we prefer adults have an on-paper reason to be living at the mansion. Graduate students attending college, for example, will live at the mansion because it provides a safer environment and extra powers training, plus caters to any special needs they might have, or they might be part of the Xavier Institute. Other adults may work with X-Corps, or on the grounds in a non-teaching capacity.

Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters

What does the school do?

Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters was founded in 1986 by Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr. It was created as a safe haven for young mutants to train in their powers, as well as attend high school classes. Charles is the current headmaster. These days it provides safe accommodation for secretly-mutant day-students of the Bayville Charter High, as well as powers and other types of training aimed at helping them survive in a highly unfriendly world.

How many students are there?

As a result of M-Day and the associated anti-mutant feeling, the School only teaches extra-curricular classes, as well as the Generation X mutant training program and numbers are considerably lower than in the past.

Who teaches the classes?

The extra-curricular classes are taught by those wishing to play that role, and the Generation X training is conducted by a variety of instructors from all of the teams. Those playing adult X-Men characters in the mansion can choose to teach if they want, but are no longer be required to as an explanation for their character's presence in the mansion.

Students

Can my character go to school somewhere else but learn about powers at the mansion?

Yes! Post M-Day, it was decided that in order to justify the small student population, that Xavier’s would move towards being a residential school for students attending Bayville Charter High. All students required to attend school by law go to Bayville. However, Xavier’s status as a mutant haven must remain a secret, and so students are encouraged to hide their powers as much as possible. Students unable to use an inducer for whatever reason, or unable to control their powers, are schooled at the mansion until they can attend Bayville safely.

What grade/year level should my student be? I'm not American and this stuff is confusing!

The American school year starts in September and runs through until June the next year. This link provides an explanation of American school grades and what ages students should be for which grade.

Are there required powers classes?

Yes, there are. It might not be shown on-screen often, but every student has two compulsory classes - self defence and powers training. Further details on the powers training can be found here. This is part of the Generation X program, which offers training to anyone of any age who needs it.

How do I get a room assignment?

Generally, the mods won't assign your character to a dorm room. You're encouraged to mention the need for a place to go when you do your "hi, I'm new to the game!" email to the mailing list, or to make a post when your student has arrived at the school and needs somewhere to live. Current living arrangements are listed here; things are also malleable, to provide the most options.

Teachers/Grad Students/Residents

Are all the teachers PCs?

No. Those playing adult X-Men characters in the mansion can choose to teach extra-curricular classes if they want, but would no longer be required to as an explanation for their character's presence in the mansion.

How do I get a room assignment?

Like the players of students, players of teachers, grads and residents are encouraged to discuss prospective rooming opportunities with the players, either one on one or via the mailing list or XPP. Current arrangements are listed here for the grads/residents.

Can my teacher character punish the students?

Yes, but obviously any such punishment would have to be discussed between the players beforehand and done by agreement. If agreement can't be reached, the mods can be asked to assist. No action should be taken that infringes on the playing ability of anyone else without permission.

Xavier Institute

What is the Institute?

The Institute was established to provide a wider range of options for characters who have graduated high school and remain at the mansion. It has two parts - the first is a foundation which funds various mutant-related programs under the guise of “developmental studies” and the second is an online college-level class in Mutant Studies.

What sort of programs will the Institute fund?

The Institute funds programs designed to improve understanding and harmony between mutants and baseline humans. These could include social, cultural and political programs, and could be initiated by individuals or groups. Again, because of the change in the world’s attitudes towards mutants after M-Day, these programs are funded anonymously.

Who can make an application for funding?

Anyone can submit a plan for a grant-covered program to the mods. Approval will be granted so long as it is ICly consistent with the ideology behind the Institute and Xavier's established worldview (as he will be the one funding it) and OOCly workable (does not duplicate or create conflicts with existing ideas, has sufficient interest from players, etc).

What about the Mutant Studies program? What is it?

Essentially, the Mutant Studies program comprises of distance education and accreditation opportunities for students wanting to attend college but not wanting to or unable to leave the mansion. The physical location of the Institute is hidden behind various 'fronts' and dummy corporations.

But if people hate mutants, why offer the program?

The reasoning is two-fold. One, it is to enable those who are more sympathetic to mutants to be able to learn about them without anti-mutant rhetoric. Two, those anti-mutant individuals who do take the class with the intent of "knowing your enemy" may learn a thing or two.

So the Institute is a recognised college now?

Not precisely. It's more of a cooperative system, where Xavier's students can study at the mansion, either through correspondence or distance learning classes, or with those teachers whose academic qualifications are recognised by other colleges, and in return, students from other colleges can do distance learning classes in Mutant Studies and gain credit for those classes.

Does my college-age character have to do this?

Not at all - there's a number of local colleges, both in Salem Center and New York, which students can commute to. But now there's a wider range of opportunities available for characters without them having to leave the mansion, which makes logging extremely difficult.

Snow Valley Research Center

What does Snow Valley actually do?

As a think tank, Snow Valley's primary role is in research and analysis of various mutant related activities around the world. Snow Valley releases numerous position papers, in topics ranging from the effects of mutation on the global economy to projections in mutant population frequency in the Third World. All of this material is actually produced by a highly secret group inside of Frost Industries, released under the Snow Valley name in order to provide a cover under which X-Force can operate. However, occasionally a specific topic or research project will either draw further scrutiny from the team, or be generated by an X-Force member if it falls into their specialty.

Can I work for Snow Valley, but not X-Force?

No. Snow Valley is a cover for their field operations and intelligence network, not a separate initiative associated with them. All of the player characters on the books as staff spend less than ten percent of their time doing Snow Valley based work. The vast majority of their time is spent working on maintaining and increasing the intelligence net, or investigations related to their field work.