The festival, obviously, is going to give people about a hundred opportunities to start a thread. Since it's supposed to be a big deal at Garden, it'll give everyone a chance to think of LOTS of things their character might be doing that weekend.

But to keep things somewhat organized and not !!MASS CHAOS!! I figured the easiest way would be to give everyone a week for "group" threads. So, for example, the pancake dinner. Anyone who wants to be there can start the thread and whoever else joins, joins. Then, after a week, we'll just close it. I'll put up a warning like a day before, so everyone has a chance to make any last comments they want to get in.

Like I said, that's just mainly to keep things from being totally nuts. If I start a thread for EVERY SINGLE event, we might not use half of them, so anyone can start any thread they want. If someone wants to do more than one game of laser tag, then they can; if we don't, then we don't have empty threads.

And, this stuff could go on FOREVER, especially the more people that get involved.

Of course, if you make up your own "extra" things that happen this weekend, you don't need to finish those in a week.

1) I never really made this clear before but, if you need to use a character who is around Garden but isn't being played, that's fine. I mean, we all assume they're there somewhere, so go ahead and use them. Just try to not do anything totally strange to the poor, defenseless character....and speaking of that-

2) I'm going to start playing as Cid. He will only pop in and out as he's needed, but if anyone needs to talk to him, now you know he's there.

3) I thought it'd be kind of fun to post some questions every week that we can answer as our characters. You don't have to do it, it's just for fun if you're interested. I was in an RPG that did this (it's from 

thefridayfive

New map!!  

Do we want our characters to age? Every time I've played an original character before, they've gotten older every birthday. But in this game, there's canon characters too..do we want them to stay forever 17, like they were in the game (well, most of them), or get older? 

What do you all think?

Also, please be sure you have joined and "watched" (aka friended) both the OOC community and the RPG community.

 Here is a list of all the players and their characters:

This will be updated as I think of more and people suggest new ones..it's very rough right now.

About the education at Garden: 

Anything not clear?? Let me know..I'm trying to be specific without being confusing...

Some basic info on the Garden. This turned out to be SUPER LONG so it's divided into two posts. This one is  more about the layout and areas of the Garden, the second one is more specifics on "how Garden works".

The Garden is the same as in the game. The layout is the same, a sort of half-circle shape that starts with the infirmary on the left, then the quad, then the cafeteria, dorms, parking garage, training center, and library. The elevator to the second floor is in the center, in a line with the infirmary and the library.  I'm not going to go into too much detail because I assume you guys know it, but I can clarify if it's needed.

Front desk: A student or employee is on duty at all times here for security reasons. Students have an ID card that can be swiped to open the front door. If they forget their card, the person on duty can let them in, but random strangers don't have access to the building. This is also where guests to Garden sign in (more on the "Garden cont.." page)

Infirmary: Dr. Kadowaki is the resident physician of the building.  She is in the infirmary from 9 a.m. til 6 p.m. A second staff member is on duty from 12-8.  After 8, the infirmary is closed. In case of emergency, there is a buzzer on the door. If a student needs assistance after 8, they can use the buzzer and one of the other staff members will respond.

Quad: The quad is where most student activities take place. It is something of a "rec" room. There are benches, tables, a pool table, several couches, a large TV, and vending machines. It is open at all hours.

Cafeteria: The cafeteria opens at  9 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m. Students ID cards are also used to purchase food. At the start of each semester, they are given a "meal plan" and all the food they purchase comes off the balance on their card.

Dorms - The dorms are in the same location as in the game. The hallway leading to the dorms is the same, but the dorms themselves are two stories, and SeeD apartments are in a separate area.  The dorms are in an "H" shape on both floors. The guys are on the left, the girls are on the right, and are connected by a hallway.  There is a bathroom in each hallway, and the residents of that hall must share. The connecting hallway has an elevator and janitor's closet. There are also stairs at the end of each hallway. 

Dorm layout - Students share a dorm. It is a basic square with two beds that can be bunked. They can arrange the room however they like. There is a long desk built into one wall which the students have to share. They can decorate the rooms however they like, but flames, heat, etc., are not permitted.

SeeDs and instructors have their own apartments. The SeeD apartments are attached to the same hallway as the regular dorms, but have a separate extension. It would look like this:

                  Dorms
SeeD----- | hall |                                                          
                  | hall |
                  | hall |
Does that make sense? So the SeeD apartments and the dorms sort of come together in an "L" shape. The SeeD apartments are singles, meaning everyone gets their own. The only time they would have to share is if there is a shortage of rooms. Each apartment has a small living room/kitchen/dining area (picture a square with a sink in the corner and maybe a mini-fridge and microwave, LOL), a bedroom and a bathroom. These are NOT high class living, but they're better than the dorms. 

Parking garage - students can sign out vehicles in the parking garage for Garden related business. SeeDs and faculty can sign out vehicles for any reason.

Training center: It's the same as in the game. It's open at all hours, but there's no staff on duty so it's "at your own risk". The secret area  in the back of the center is a popular after-hours place for students.

Library : The library is open from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. It is primarily run by students on the library committee.

For our new players who have just been accepted, here's what to do next:

1) At the moderator's journal

balamb_mod

, there is more information on how the game will be played, the Garden rules, the character journals, etc. Please read over it all because it's pretty detailed.


2) Set up a journal like it describes in the mod journal. The format is bg_firstname_lastname . Ex- bg_irvine_kinneas . If the entire name does not fit, just put as much as you can. For example, Selphie's journal might be bg_selphie_tilmi  .  Have fun with it! This is your character's journal so you can really play around with it if you want..

3)  With your character journal, join/watch the community. Also please friend the mod journal

balamb_mod

  and join/watch  the OOC community

balambrpg_ooc

  . All out of character stuff will go in this community.

At some point, you can get in touch with me (or I'll get ahold of you) about your character so we can work out details like who their teacher is, their dorm number...all that fun stuff!

Wait for the other player's info to be posted by the start date of April 15th - that's when the game officially starts.  Be sure to check for updates in the meantime, because there's a lot of info still coming!

Questions? Just leave a comment or get a hold of me at balamb_mod@yahoo.com . All this info will come down on the 15th, or be moved to the mod journal, or something. 

Most of all, HAVE FUN!