FAQ

[extinctmods]

• OOC GAME MECHANICS

You say this game is AU. How so?

Since De-Extinction operates on the basis that the characters can be randomly picked by a company residing on our fairly normal planet Earth, it would be hard to incorporate Legolas from Lord of the Rings in OU version - he simply wouldn't have the mail box to receive an invitation.

Which is why we ask our players to come up with an AU for their characters set on the normal Earth. It can be literally anything in every country. Just choose whatever suits your character best. It does not need to be an attempted replica of their canon history, but it's recommended to incorporate aspects from it so that the character's personality stays fairly close to the original.

For characters who come from normal Earth universes anyway, e.g. slice of life series, AUing isn't necessary. They can just come from any canon point in their ordinary lives. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that the game is set in the 90s so your character's technology knowledge can't be quite as advanced as it'd normally be.

If you are apping after the original game opening you might want to check here, for details in other people's AU backstories that your character might know about (e.g. big companies, celebrities etc).

Then there are no magical powers and no non-human characters?

Yes. You may apply for any non-human character with a distinctive personality but they need to be AUed as a human.

As far as superpowers go, they can't exist. No character will be able to transform or shoot lasers. Smaller powers are fine and can be judged on a case-by-case basis. E.g. a fortune-teller may keep a good feeling of future events. They may not foresee anything concrete, however. If you want your character to keep a small ability, think about something that wouldn't feel too out of place and not give them an unfair advantage in survival. Some characters will naturally be more skilled than others, but nobody should get to go easy-mode.

Likewise, robot characters are not applicable as robots. Still, if you can logically connect it to your AU background, they may keep an electric prosthesis for example.

I missed the game's opening but I'd still like to app another character. What now?

Obviously characters apped after the time things got messed up in Jurassic Park cannot get in via invitations. There is no set way for them to arrive at the island. In your app's AU history, you need to specify a way for them to arrive. Be creative with it! Most obvious would be plane crashes on the island, but you can come up with anything else as well.

The ocean dinosaurs are a lot more lenient letting small incoming boats through for the magic of new character handwaving.

Is there any kind of character that isn't applicable? What about OCs?

I'd rather not see child characters under the age of 8 around. De-Extinction is a survival game after all and characters need to be able to at least vaguely handle themselves. 8 is the age of the youngest Jurassic Park character up to date, so we'll take this as the minimum.

Otherwise, if your character has a canon personality, you're good to go. As far as 'canon personality' goes, silent protagonists are applicable if the basic personality can be read from their role in the plot.

You are free to app OCs! The only condition is that they don't have any close ties to a character AUed from a canon. For example, you can app an OC that went to the same school as Harry Potter, but you cannot app an OC that was within his circle of friends.

What about Jurassic Park characters? Can I app those?

Kind of. Since almost all characters from the Jurassic Park franchise automatically have a close connection to the plot, we can't let them in as normal player characters. However, that isn't to say they're not allowed.
We offer the option for you to app them as an NPC.
This means that you need to coordinate their plot-heavy actions with the mods a little or a lot, depending on how major the character's canon role is. E.g. an InGen employee would face more restrictions than the Kirbys from Jurassic Park III.

If you are interested in playing a character from Jurassic Park, please send a PM to the mod journal about it. We'll discuss the matter with you on a case-by-case basis then! This also applies to those novel characters who've never been in the movies.

The only issue is that you can't app for a character that died in the first movie, since that is in the past for the game timeline.

Is the game based on the movie series or the novel version? Do the dinosaurs keep the paleontological inaccuracies from the Jurassic Park series?

The game is not based 1:1 on either of these versions. While elements from the novel will probably be touched upon, the main source of inspiration is the movie version. In fact, the game is loosely set past the events of the first movie. The characters can ICly discover more about that. Check the In-Game section of the FAQ for more. The only major difference to the source material of the first movie is that Hammond is a little more like his novel version - and does not come to the conclusion that Jurassic Park in general was a bad idea. Just that version. So he rebuild it to what is in the game.

And yes, the dinosaurs will mostly be as described in the series. Since the game is based specifically on the Jurassic Park franchise, it is most logical to keep the title creatures accurate to that.

Obviously we have more dinosaurs than just those though, e.g. the ocean dinosaurs surrounding the island, so these will be based more on recent scientific results.

Generally, all Dinosaurs to be found on the park island, Isla Nublar, are movie accurate. Characters may find out an in-game reason for this in the future and it's likely you will get to see more and more accurate dinosaurs. (Note though: the mods are not paleontologists so please pardon any errors and inform us about them asap!)

Is it necessary to have seen/read Jurassic Park to play in the game?

No, it's not. The setting page should hopefully be enough to go on even for people who've never been in contact with the franchise. If there are any questions, contact a mod and we're happy to help out!

How do I even play? What communities are for what?

Interactions in De-Extinction are a mixture of network and action, with focus on action. The main RP stuff takes place in the main comm deextinction. You can post all of your network entries and all 'open to all' action posts there. The log community is solely for closed interactions - threads where you know only a few specific characters will be in.
Everything that is not RP goes in the OOC comm - Intros, Drops, Hiatuses (don't forget to reply to the Hiatus post as well), plotting stuff, memes.

In both the main and the log community, please tag any entries your character is involved with (be it in the post itself or the comments) with your character's name in Western order, followed by their canon name in brackets. For example Hermione Granger from Harry Potter would have the tag hermione granger (harry potter) and Usagi from Sailor Moon would be usaki tsukino (sailor moon).
In the OOC comm there are no specific rules for tags. Tagging intros as 'intro' and  hiatuses as 'hiatus' etc is recommended, but not mandatory. You're free to use tags liberally and be creative with them otherwise.

Are there events? How does the plot happen?

There are mod-run plot events - there will be more of them at the starting time of the game, when the plot needs to get moving and less of them once characters get into gear and act on their own.
Generally, this game relies on the characters ICly interacting with their environment. The basic plot will be given but what characters make of it and how much about the background they find out is entirely up to the IC community.

So you say IC actions are important? What do you expect of us players then?

Nothing more than what you normally would do! Jurassic Park is a very very interactive setting - anything you do in it might affect the further gameplay. So just by reacting ICly, characters shape what will happen.
Do they all invest their energy in leaving the island? Do they try to start living with the dinosaurs? Will they build a good community among themselves or will they spend a lot of time fighting among each other? Will they stay in the Visitor Center or try to make more areas safe for humans? How will they interact with the NPCs and the computer program? How will they treat the non-lethal dinosaurs?
All these are questions that will be naturally answered as the game goes on - and then we'll base the further plot off that.

Is there anything I need mod-permission for then?

If you are planning something that would affect and/or endanger the lives of many characters in the game (e.g. bringing a raptor to the Visitors Center or breaking the computer system), please quickly check if it's okay with a mod.
These plots are absolutely encouraged, but in order to make De-Extinction a comfortable experience for everyone, we need to be aware of what's happening in-game.

What is the Activity Check like?

Easy. We don't want this game to drain all your energy after all. High activity is lovely, but to pass AC what you need is either one open post made by your character or 10 comments by your character on other people's posts (or a log) from at most 3 different threads.

How many characters can I play in the game?

Currently you are allowed to play up to 3 characters in the game. This limit may go up in the future, but for a start we're keeping it low.

Are challenge apps allowed?

No. If a character has been reserved or if an app for that character is in, you may not apply for that character. In case the other player fails to put in an app after the reserve runs out or their app is rejected, you can send in your own reserve or app.

• IC GAME MECHANICS

When is this game set?

In the year 1995, two years after the original Jurassic Park incident. Keep that in mind so that the technology and pop culture knowledge of your character vaguely matches up with it.

Where does my character even live when they get here?

Characters can live in the Visitors Center and the Safari Lodge hotel that is located next to it. These two buildings form a kind of safe zone within the Park. With the exemption of special events, there will be no large dinosaurs within these buildings.
The safe zone is at least fairly safe, because it is surrounded by an electrified fence that runs with its own power source. Even when the main power is all off, the safe zone will still be protected. Furthermore, most of the dinosaurs have set territories and the safe zone is in none of them. Even with the fences off, most of the species won't attempt to go there without reason.

Within the Safari Lodge, there are nice hotel rooms for characters to live in. The rooms aren't pre-assigned so characters are free to live wherever they'd like. There is a housing list for OOC organization purposes, but all living arrangements are chosen ICly.

For more details on the living area, please head over to the Setting post!

What prevents characters from getting off the island?

Well, for one thing there are no boats. There just aren't any, oops. And somehow none are coming for you either. Is nobody looking for you? Is InGen preventing that? Well, as long as you're stuck on the island you're not going to find out.

If characters happen to build a boat, the first thing they notice is that there will be dinosaurs in the water. Dinosaurs that absolutely hate anybody trying to cross their territory. It's unlikely you'll get very far with any sort of self-made boat.

My character does not speak English! Is there a language barrier? What can they do to work around that?

Since we try to not use too many magical plot devices, there is indeed a language barrier. Generally, the NPCs will talk in English and characters who know English are encouraged to do so as well. NPCs can also speak other languages though, if approached in them.

If your character does not share a language with another character but they wish to talk, there is help in form of a small pocket translator. These devices get handed out along with the below mentioned Satellite Phones. They look a bit like calculators and they show instant translated text of what other people say. They can also work in reverse and translate things from your characters language into another. 
The only issue is that in dangerous situations there may not be enough time to use them properly. But don't worry, basic English should be easier to pick up when everyone around is speaking it.Your character is not stuck speaking only their language forever, you can let them learn.

The translators run on the same batteries as the Satellite Phones. For a few days they will not need to be recharged, then you will need to pick up a new battery from the Visitor Center's large stock.

Aside from that, as the game is already AU, you can always incorporate a reason for your character to know English into your AU.

What about food and clothes?

The Visitor Center Café and Kitchen as well as the Safari Lodge all have a ton of food stored so you need not be worried about characters starving. This goes a little into It Works Because It Does territory, so characters can survive for as long as the game runs.
Nobody really knows why the food doesn't go bad when the freezers are off - maybe it's genetically manipulated food? In any way, the scientists won't answer and you'll have to live with it. The only disadvantage of freezers and fridge not working is that all your normally cool food will always just be warm. Unpleasantly warm.

When you head away from the safe zone, you better take some food or know your way around wild plants, otherwise you might end up very hungry.

As far as clothes go - you brought your luggage, right? So there, that's your clothes supplies. Feel free to swap around among visitors as much as you like.
Otherwise you can get a few clothes from the gift shop, but they'll all be with the Jurassic Park logo somewhere on them - if you want to be a walking advertisement for the Park, go for it. They're not for free, but when the whole island sinks into chaos the guards may not notice that you take one or two of them.

You keep mentioning scientists and guards - what's up with the NPCs around here?

In the safe zone, you'll find quite a few InGen employees but they're not main characters - you are. As such, they will appear rather blank. Sure, they're people but they're people very busy with their jobs. No time to form personal relations with player characters. Why would you want that anyway? They'll be first to die if a dinosaur comes around. Somehow there's never none of them though. Huh?

The scientists will only be around the lab and sometimes heading out to get a coffee. Permanently a little stressed.
A few guards are stationed around the Visitors Center but they're not very useful.

The only NPCs you can hold a real conversation with are the ones listed on the NPC page - those will be plot relevant.

What about the dinosaurs? Can I handwave things with them or are they always mod-controlled?

There are way too many dinosaurs for them to always be under mod control. We have a dinosaur account (ingeneered) but it's only for special cases, e.g. one dinosaur around a huge amount of characters so that handwaving could get messy.
Generally, you're free to make up dinosaur behaviour based on their descriptions in the dinosaur directory. If you need a specific dinosaur played by a third person in a thread, alert a mod and we'll make good use for that dinosaur journal.

Can the dinosaurs be killed?

Yes. It just won't be easy - the thing about dinosaurs is that they are very very durable and die slowly. So don't expect to be able to kill dinosaurs left and right. If you do, Hammond might develop a real dislike to you as well.

Be reasonable here - you may kill a compy easily, but a stegosaurus? Unlikely. If you manage to take down one of the larger dinosaurs, please alert a mod so we can adjust the number of that species on the dinosaur page. If you plan to kill a one of a species of which there are only under 5 animals in the park, please ask a mod first.

Can my character have heard of Jurassic Park?

Actually, they can. Seeing the game is set after the end of the first movie, both Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm have gone public about their experience. Alan Grant, a paleontologist, mentioned the events on Isla Nublar in his new book and Malcolm, a famous mathematician, has spoken about the horror of their island stay on TV.
However, they weren't believed by the public and InGen made very sure it stayed that way.

It's reasonable to say that characters who'd have been following that kind of news might have heard of it before going to Isla Nublar themselves.
However, characters knowing any single thing about Jurassic Park and InGen is not a must. You're very free to send in somebody who's entirely oblivious.

(For anybody who's never seen the movie: Grant and Malcolm have been part of a group of scientists that should originally have checked the safety of the Park. It ended up awful survival horror for them.)

So be concrete here. What can my character find out about InGen before they get to the island?

InGen is short for International Genetics Incorporated is a bio engineering company founded by John Hammond in 1983. Hammond funded a part of it himself with his Hammond Foundation, but also received help from various investors, mostly in Japan. 
The InGen company slogan is 'We Make Your Future'.
This Hammond Foundation also funds various paleontologist digs up in the north of America. Otherwise, not much is known about it. 

If you research John Hammond you will find him to be a business man with a remarkable history of financial success. Starting out as the manager of a flea circus at Petticoat Lane of all things, he quickly came to wealth by expanding his business. He now owns or partially owns a variety of theme parks around the world. 


What happens when my character dies? Is death permanent?

Yes and no. Characters will likely die in this setting but death does not mean the character needs to be dropped. Revival is entirely possible, but it is not unconditional. Because this is a survival game, it would be too easy for characters to realize they come back no matter what.

In De-Extinction, revival is unreliable. When a character dies, they and their loved ones can never be certain to meet again. So better don't die and don't risk it.

OOCly, you get to decide whether or not your character stays dead. If you feel like a death followed by a drop is a good way for them to go out, go for it. If your character meets an unfortunate end but you do not want to stop playing them, don't worry about it.

To revive a character they need to be brought back to the science facilities in the visitor center. It's only possible to bring a character back to life when their body has been recovered from the park - the condition it is in does not really matter, as long as they're not in 50 parts.

The scientists of Jurassic Park are tough guys who brought dinosaurs back to earth. And in this game they can not only bring back dead species but also dead people. Give them some time and do not bother them - no spectators! - and they'll patch the dead back together.

Dead characters stay dead for two more days from the time their corpse has been brought to the Visitor Center. Then they can leave, almost as good as new. The body parts that sustained the mortal injuries may still hurt some and scars will be kept, but their bodies will be functional.

Note that the two days grace period really only starts counting from when the body is brought to the scientists. The corpse could have been out in the woods for a week before that, who knows. With that in mind, the length of death period is all for you to plot out and possibly use for hiatusing purposes.

You don't need to ask a mod if your character can die, but you should inform one when it happens just so we've got an over-view on the life-death situation in the game.

What about injuries? Will the scientists fix those as well?

No, they have their hands full with the park. They can't be bothered with any injuries unless it is certain that they are terminal. If the wound is not going to kill the character within the next 24 hours, they can't rely on the scientists and need to be treated by other characters or treat themselves.

So when I drop a character, what happens then?

A dropped character can either die or disappear mysteriously. If you feel like you have a good death for them to go out permanently, you can go for it! If you don't want to be as cruel, you can just let them disappear without a trace. Remaining characters can assume about that whatever they will. Your character will be be like a Schrödinger's Cat at that time. It's fair game to assume they somehow escaped unless they are being reapped someday.


So I can re-app a character that's previously been dropped?

Yes. If you are the same mun coming back, we can just say the scientists finally, finally got to reviving the body of your characters - so they can go back into action like after a normal revive, wondering how so much time has passed.
It's a bit more tricky if you are a new mun. The character you apply for is dead. So dead, they cannot be brought back. So InGen makes use of their handy powers and manages to somehow clone your character. They're now a living breathing person, entirely unaware they have been cloned and did not exist this way until a while ago.
Waking up in the Visitor Center they'll have to wonder how they got here - they will have no memories of Jurassic Park at all. Generally, memories will be weirdly foggy. They might only remember their past lives vaguely (depending on how much you, as a new player, want to really work with from the old AU backstory).

Other characters will probably assume they have been revived normally and somehow suffer side effects, but it's likely going to be possible to find out about the cloning sometime later in the game.

How do characters communicate? Is there a network?

InGen provides each test visitor with a beautiful yellow Satellite Phone. The video screen is tiny while the phone may seem large and bulky, but that's okay because it at least has a network. Features include:

• Text Posts: Honestly, we do not know why you'd want to go through the effort of texting on this thing, but if you somehow feel like it, it provides you with the option of making text network entries and sending private texts.
• Voice Posts: Probably the most effective way to use them. Again, network posts and private calls are available.
• Video Posts: The screen is really tiny and the video quality is not exactly perfect, but you can indeed hold video calls and post video entries with your phone.
• GPS Tracking: The phone gives you your own coordinates so if you're in trouble, you can at least tell people where you are.
• Custom Ringtones: Neat, isn't it? You get to throw together your own 8-bit-quality ringtone by entering the melody over the number keys. Each number's a differently pitched tone, so try and get together a nice little tune just for yourself.

However, these are Satellite Phones. If you've ever seen Jurassic Park, you know that they mean nothing but trouble. Here's a handy list of disadvantages characters will have to deal with:

• They're unreliable. You never know when you're out of range and when you're not. That's the opposite of what a Satellite Phone is supposed to do? Yes, it is. Maybe InGen spared some expense after all. In either way, sometimes your connection might just cut off for a while. Oops. (With the exceptions of some plots, when and if the phone lines cut off for a character is up to player choice.)
• They run on battery. The battery lasts a few days, so you won't have to worry at first, but if you're out in the wild for too long, the phone might completely die on you. Batteries are provided in large number in the visitor center, so better grab a few extras before you head out for long.
• If you lose them, you lose them. This isn't the kind of game where your communicator reappears in front of you again and again. You have to take good care of your Satellite Phone, because it may not find its way back to you. Better find somebody to share a phone with then. If the phone can't be found again even after a few days, the InGen employees might be convinced to hand a new one out to you - this is expensive technology though, do not expect them to be too lenient. (If such a situation comes up for your character, contact a mod about this!)
• They cannot call outside the Park. Didn't we say they were Satellite Phones? Yeah, but they're not quite the real deal. InGen decided it was witty to make them this way - you sure will find you cannot reach anything that isn't on the five Costa Rican islands known as Los Cinco Muertos.

As far as normal phones go, should your character have brought one, they will be out of range. You're in the middle of nowhere, what did you expect?

Anything you wanna ask that's not covered here? Take it to the comment section!