Hello! We have an announcement regarding future application rounds: the August application round will be Snowblind's final application round. We are entering into endgame content, so applications will close to allow us to focus on this, as well as to prevent people from accidentally apping into a game without the amount of time they'd like to build CR. The final two application rounds will be run as normal, and activity checks will continue to run as normal. In this case, if you idle out, you will not be able to return to the game at all, so be careful!

Hello, everyone! We hope you've been having a good day! Since there has been a bit of confusion about how long the game will be running since we extended its length, and now there's enough of the map uncovered that we can be more sure about this, we're going to give an estimate that you can tell your friends who might be interested in joining and use to judge if you want to app new (or old) characters yourselves.

We believe the game will be ending in summer or fall of this year, although this will be flexible based on exactly how quickly you guys are moving through things. As a whole, the game will have had a three to three-and-a-half year runtime. We are not in endgame yet. We will post an official announcement when this happens, and it will be accompanied by information as to when applications will close and what to expect. For now, you can carry on as usual!

Hello, everyone! We just wanted to apologize for the delay on wrapping up the player plot. Mel, our head mod, has just started college away from home and has been adjusting to a new schedule. Cee has been trying to work on threads in her absence, but Cee is currently ill and has been having trouble keeping up. We will be focusing on finishing up threads for the player plot in the next few days so that everyone can move forward definitively.

If you have an unfinished thread and would like to let us know when you will be around to tag, we will do our best to accommodate your schedule and be present at one of your given times so that we can finish up your thread! Just leave a comment below. Additionally, if you do not see yourself being available or simply don't wish to continue your thread, let us know here and we'll help with handwaving if necessary! Again, we're very sorry for the lulls in responses to the player plot. It was an oversight in timing and we take full responsibility.

I'm sure a lot of you have seen this on plurk, but Mippins will be stepping down from the moderating team. She helped out a lot (I'm sure you guys saw some of the items she did, for instance), and we really appreciate her contributions! Good luck in whatever you do in the future, Mippins!

At the moment, we will be maintaining the moderator team as is. However, we will be keeping a very close eye on our productivity levels, and if necessary, we will look into adding a new moderator to the team.

Hey, everyone! Following the discussion, we've put up two new search pages for you guys. Character movements will be where you put all basic movements and location changes, like marking the day your character was there on the walls. You have to put up a comment for your character here. It works much the same way as the old search request page worked. This is also where monster rolls will take place, so if you run into a monster, it will happen here.

The second page is the new search request post, where all plot-related requests will go from now on. This is sorted by location: much like the item page, there's a comment for every building, and to do a search request, you simply post under the building your character is searching, filling out the form on that page. There are also several general area comment threads for when your character is searching unexplored squares or other areas that aren't in a building, or when they're trying to contact @ADMIN or another NPC.

We hope this will be more efficient for everyone! Search requests should be placed here for day 197 onward, but you do not have to submit any already submitted requests again; all outstanding search requests will be answered as normal!

Hey everyone!

As it's been mentioned before, there's going to be a new search request post going up fairly soon in order to reduce the exaggerated load time that the current one is suffering from. However, due to other concerns that have been made clear to us (that we're all very aware of), we as a team have been putting our heads together trying to figure out if there's a better way for us to streamline movements and search requests. We want to make it more feasible that you all get responses ASAP, but we're struggling to figure out how to pull off a new system that meshes with our work methods. In our discussion, we've come up with a potential idea, but we'd like your help before making any sort of official decision. A lot of you have always had great ideas, and we don't want to implement anything new without getting a feel first for how it would potentially affect you in the long run.

We're considering splitting the movements and search requests into two different posts. As some of you know, Mel's the only mod that address search requests due to plot knowledge. This solution would allow the rest of us to tackle standard movements, monster encounters, and miscellaneous location alterations without search requests getting lost in the mix or overlooked. Theoretically, this would streamline the process for both parties, making it easier and less daunting to tackle them on a much more regular basis and helping prevent players from getting stuck waiting for answers. Of course, on the flip side, this would mean that players would have another page of mechanics to keep track of when we realize there's already plenty of that to go around.

We're by no means sold on this idea yet. If possible, we'd like to keep movements and searches to a single page for simplicity's sake, but we've been unable to come up with any ideas that would accomplish this. If you have any ideas of your own or suggestions, we'd ask that you please present it in the comments below! We'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the matter, and we'll read everything with equal consideration.

Finally, regardless of whether or not you comment or have any new ideas to offer, it would be really helpful if you could vote in this straw poll just so we can have a visual reference for player preference!

Thank you so much!

Hello, everybody! We have some news and a reminder for you all!

First, the reminder: if you're going through an unrevealed square, even if you're not searching the square, you have to use the Search Request form. If you use the movement form, we'll assume you already know what's in the square, and this means we're likely to miss when a square needs to be revealed! Make sure you're using the search request forms when necessary, thank you! An example of how this should look is here.

Second, we've added a new assistant moderator to the team: please welcome Mippins! She'll be helping us with list work, the item spreadsheet, and other similar duties. This should allow us to speed up our response time.

Thank you for reading!

Hey, everyone! We've noticed you've been having a lot of fun murdering people lately--which is totally fine, of course, you get your bloodlust on. However, these often incite extremely widespread response and pull attention away from prescheduled mod and player plots. Therefore, we would like to make it clear that publicized murders count as player plots and should be submitted to the player plots page beforehand. This will allow us to better schedule around the goings-on of Norfinbury and make sure that no player who has already scheduled something gets overshadowed by what should in all rights also count as a player plot. Nothing that has already gone down or is already in the works will have to be edited--this counts from here on out.

What counts as a publicized murder, you may ask? Basically, anything where the crime, its nature, and its perpetrator are revealed over the network, be it via a live killing, a witness, or the murdered character returning and announcing who killed them to everyone. You may have noticed that this sort of thing causes a lot of dramatic manhunts, and while manhunts are great and provide many opportunities for dramatic orchestral accompaniment and/or Yakety Sax, we do want to be able to schedule around them.

This information and what counts for this rule has been added to the player plots page! Thank you for reading!

Hey, guys! We've got a couple of things to announce, so (metaphorically) listen up. First up are the mod application results. Thank you to everyone who applied! After some thought, we have decided to take Danielle on as an assistant moderator. She'll be helping us out with keeping everything moving at the appropriate speed, so hopefully things will keep rolling around here. Please be kind to her as she gets the hang of how everything works! Danielle will not be a plot mod, so please don't PP her with plot-based questions.

Announcement number two is in regards to a small change in our canon cap: the canon cap has been set to five characters. The reason for this is simple: our cap of ten characters per canon was based on our cap of 100--we don't want any cast to make up more than 10% of the game at most. However, since we've been hovering around fifty characters, the cap of ten would be a bit too much for a game of that size. If we consistently remain above fifty characters, we'll push it back up to ten per canon, but for now, this is what we're going with. Our overall character cap remains at 100 characters.

Thank you very much for reading!

Hey, everyone! A couple of changes today: the exposure effects page has been edited to include changes to making dealing with them easier. We've added a second physical effect, so even without having the beacon on and never removing any effects, a character could go a year before ever having to take a mental effect. The comment requirements for bonus activity have been lowered to ten, twenty, and thirty, and we've added an important character moment option. This ranges from simply making friends to unlocking areas and doing things of plot relevance. It's detailed on the page itself. We've also added an option to submit activity/character moments whenever you want and to "bank" exposure effect removals, allowing you to collect some for later use. Finally, you can use multiple lesser levels to add up to a higher level, as detailed on the exposure effects page.

Secondly, we have a squicks page. This is the page for you to submit anything you want to either be warned about or completely avoid playing to us. Comments are screened by default, but if you'd like, we can unscreen them so other people will be able to see them and warn for the situation in their own posts as well.

If you have any questions, please let us know!

The event ends with a surprising lack of something: there is no paralysis in the morning, no mysterious injection. Instead, the effects characters suffered from fade but do not vanish. All effects are now at level one. And, well--they don't go away. At least, not easily. The Exposure Effects have begun. It's dangerous to stay for too long in a place like Norfinbury. Every other month, characters will be expected to choose either a new effect or to level up an old effect. These can be combined as much as you'd like--in theory, someone could be level three in all six, if they were in Norfinbury long enough. But all hope is not lost! As explained on the exposure effects page, bonus activity can be used to lower and eliminate these effects. Of course, they're constantly threatening to come back...

...Of course, some of you aren't having quite this many issues. For some of you, the progression is much slower. Anyone with their beacon on will only have to add an additional effect or level every four months. Whatever the beacon is for, at least in this one instance it's doing something useful.

Please come to us with any issues you're having with this game mechanic. Once we see how the game is actually handling it, we may adjust the numbers/how often the effects grow worse if people are having difficulties.

Additionally, on night 051, due to the efforts of Jim, Quark, and Hiro, the Data app appears on everyone's tablets. This app collects found SD card information. While it has all information found before it was unlocked, any new information will only be added with the permission of whoever found the SD card. Additionally, the SD cards of anyone who drops from the game will be automatically added to the Data app. Note this only gathers information and files in SD cards. It doesn't collect programs or non-digital findings. If we forgot any old SD card data, let us know and we'll add it!

Hey everyone! We wanted to make something about the new search method clear. This is on the page already, but there might have been some confusion during the switch over to the new search method, so we wanted to clarify here. You have to give us your search movements every day. While we will make some allowances for group movement provided someone in the group posts the movement, we do need to know where characters are. This is to prevent characters missing out on things that they might have noticed otherwise and to make sure no one is teleporting around, of course, but it's also because we need to do monster rolls. Monsters are not opt-in, and are not based on what you're searching for. Every time your character/the group your character is traveling with enters a building, we do a monster roll, no matter what they searched for, or even if they didn't search the building at all. Please make sure to keep us updated with where your characters are! Thank you!

Hey, everyone! We're pleased to present the new search method, now split into two parts. Basic Item Availability is where you'll go to see what basic items are available. Starting today, you'll be able to pick items off of the spreadsheet and just say you're taking them instead of waiting for us to give you back results. Item restriction was a very important part of the foundation of the game, so we are keeping items limited, but this is essentially 100% autonomous.

You'll still need to report your characters' movements to us, though (although we won't need to reply back usually), as well as search for plot-relevant items and reveal map squares. And we, of course, need somewhere to give you horrible monsters. That's why we have a new Search Requests page. Everybody must create a top level with their character's name and canon in the subject line. The forms have changed, and we won't need to reply to nearly as many things (basically only when you run into something really unusual or do a specific search request), so things should be a lot more streamlined this way.

Make sure you read both of those new pages! While some of the information is from the old search requests page, there is new information there.

Now, regarding search requests before IC day 34, you have a couple of options. If you want, you can keep replying to the old search requests page, and we'll finish those up for you. However, if you don't want to do that, or you have a lot to catch up on, then we're offering a quick lane option.

To use the quick lane, you will reply to a comment in this post letting us know how many days your character was traveling around, their starting location, and their ending location. We will give you a generic set of basic items that you can assume your character has found. You will not come across plot-relevant items, monsters, or anything unusual this way, and the items will not be customized to any houses, but you'll have stuff to work with and you can go right to the new system without worrying about any outstanding old searches. If you have not submitted search requests that are from earlier than August 15, you will have to use the quick lane.

We hope this is a more satisfactory system for everyone!

Okay, everybody, we've spent time readjusting the search mechanism. This should allow you guys a lot more autonomy while still preserving item scarcity and making people move around regularly. While we have a general idea, there are a few options we've been considering that we would like to get player opinions on.

Our overall proposal is to have a search hub where basic, non-plot-important items are already listed per building. Everyone would be able to simply announce what they're taking on this hub--we would regularly update the list of available items, and we would limit the amount of items that could be taken per search based on the type of search, but aside from that, once items are gone from a house, there would be nothing else to find there until the next month, when items would be refreshed. Items not taken from a building may be moved around or vanish.

You'll still need to reply to the search request page for a few reasons. First, you need to keep us updated on your character's movements, although that shouldn't necessarily require a response from us. Second, if your character is looking for something plot-important, you would have to reply and mention that, as plot items will not be listed, acting as hidden items. Third, if your character is doing something unusual to alter the setting/look in an unorthodox way, you should let us know.

There are a couple of special situations where we have two options for how to proceed that we'd like to hear back from you guys on. The first situation is in the case of the monsters. Currently, we've been rolling per house explored during search requests. Of course, this wouldn't be possible while most searches done were via the search hub, so there's a couple of different ways we could handle monsters under this system.

Option One: We roll per search day based on when you come back to us and let us know your characters' movements. We would then tell you that your character ran into a monster that day, and you would be able to select where they ran into this monster. This provides more control for you guys, but lessens the surprise somewhat.

Option Two: We roll per building searched based on when you come back to us and let us know your characters' movements. We would let you know the specific building your character ran into a monster, as we do now, and if your character dies or is otherwise delayed, you would have to adjust and return items accordingly. This preserves the surprise and tension but doesn't allow as much control for you guys.

The second special situation is in regards to searching unexplored areas. Again, there are two ways we've considered to handle this.

Option One: Searching unexplored squares is done as it is currently, where you report to us all your movements and we reply filling in the map. This allows the suspense of not knowing entirely what's ahead, but will mean that we have to keep the current system in part whenever new areas are introduced.

Option Two: We give you the filled in map ahead of time--not counting any special orange buildings. For example, building 58 would only have shown its green locked half until it was unlocked, when it would be updated to show how it passes through to the tunnel area. This means even new areas can be searched quickly, but takes away the surprise of uncovering areas.

We'd like to hear back from all of you on what you think of this system and the provided options! Of course, if you have other ideas on how to fine-tune the system or other options for special situations, let us know about that, too! Thank you!

Since it can be difficult to keep track of where everyone is and when you might run into them, we've set up a player-updated character location spreadsheet. You can enter your character's movements into the appropriate places and then use it to easily check to see where everyone else is and if you've crossed paths with anyone!

This should have most of the characters already included on it, but if your character isn't there, you can add them to the character row yourself. I hope this is useful to everyone! The link will be going onto the search page for anyone who might need it later.