Hello everyone, I know it hasn't even been a day since I first posted the story, but with the flood of questions being sent to me through DMs, I figured I'd post a chapter to the story. This chapter will explain the premise in further detail where I couldn't in the first chapter due to story circumstances, as well as answer every question I get in DMs! If you have a question that I don't answer here, send it to me, I'll answer it personally through DMs, and then I'll add the question and answer here to help everyone else out! This should help push the process of sending characters in tremendously!
JUNE 10TH WILL BE THE FINAL DAY I ACCEPT CHARACTERS!
Escape Parameters is a Danganronpa SYOC, where you the readers can send in characters to make a diverse cast, go through a non-standard Dangan Ronpa killing game!
The premise behind this story is that Hope's Peak Academy, which is a global organization dedicated to studying talent, has created a facility to help push along the more troubled talented individuals they scout for their school! Not wanting to waste talent, but also not wanting to cause problems with the public for accepting known criminals into their class, they came up with a solution that could help everyone involved out! The public would be at ease, the students themselves would receive help and be allowed to continue with their life despite any trouble they were previously in, and the school would get to study the talent of the individuals who would grace their halls! A win-win-win situation for everyone!
Everyone sent to the Hope's Peak Correctional Facility, also known as the HPCF, will be put through a month-long stay where they'll go through 'vigorous training' and 'rehabilitation to be ready to become Ultimates when they return to society. While in the facility they, who haven't been given their monikers yet, will be labeled as Future Ultimates! For Example, Suyin Xu, my own OC, is labeled as the Future Ultimate Undercover Agent. A title which she hates with every fiber of her being, which is also something we will focus on further on into the story!
I'd also like to point out, that your character's talent doesn't have to be related to a crime to be accepted into the story! For example, the other character that's been accepted into this story is the Ultimate Video Editor and his talent isn't criminally related. For your character to be accepted into this story, they either have to have been caught doing a crime that gets them jail time or falsely accused of committing a crime that got them thrown in jail, have done something else along the lines to get them thrown in jail with a criminal record, have something on their permanent record, or gotten the attention of the HPCF.
Upon arriving at the HPCF, they are put through an interview and given an extensive Background Check, both of which will happen off-screen! These interviews will be used to craft what is known as the 'Escape Parameters' to the outside world. The Escape Parameters are a series of tasks they must complete to leave, tailor-made for each person who enters the walls of the HPCF to rehabilitate them for return to the outside world.
While this may have been an interesting twist upon the introduction of the game, I think it's important for you all to know the true meaning of these Escape Parameters, for you to fully grasp what they are, and how to choose them! These Escape Parameters have been twisted for this game, and are meant to be nigh-impossible tasks for your characters to complete. Not impossible as in, it can't be done by anyone, impossible as in, your character can't or won't want to do them. These Escape Parameters were created during the interviews, tailor-made for each person to be as upsetting and problematic for each character as possible. They are tasks that your character must complete to escape, that go against everything your character stands for as a human being! They are made to cause problems among the group, make your character flat-out uncomfortable and anxious, and designed to push them to their very limits!
And a small addition on top of all of that, if someone else finds out all of your character's Escape Parameters, the Parameters will be null and void, and that method of escape will be forever closed to them. Meaning Parameters will be kept secret amongst the cast, for fear of losing them!
Doing these parameters is one of the two ways of escaping, the other being the good old-fashioned killing and getting through a trial without being found out!
As for other details about the lore and plot points of this story? Well, you'll have to either send in a character or read on to find out!
FAQ
Q: In the summary of the world, you explain that there's a Hope's Peak Academy on every continent. Since Suyin was in a Chinese prison, does that mean the Hope's Peak that this story takes place in is also located there?
A: No it isn't! The HPCF is an organization that accepts candidates from every Hope's Peak across the world, annually! Just because Suyin would be going to the Asian Hope's Peak, doesn't mean that every other character has to be from Asia as well! They could be from any of the other Hope's Peak branches as well, and would end up at the same facility as Suyin at the start of the story!
Q: Is the talent of Thief taken?
A: Sadly yes it is! Even though Suyin's talent isn't technically thief-related, from what she thought and said in the first chapter of the story, she very much is! She wishes to be the Ultimate Phantom Thief. I can't explain much about her reasoning here without going into spoilers about her character, but I hope you can understand why I'll have to say no to any other Thief-related talents!
Q: Would it be possible to Age my character up or down for this story?
A: Yes it would! I put the age of 15-19 out there because that's generally the age I see High Schoolers as, but should you come up with a creative enough reason for your character to be above or under that age range, I'm more than happy to accommodate them into the cast! But you have to have a pretty good reason for that, with a somewhat satisfactory reason behind that! Skipping grades or being held back are decent reasons, but should you choose either, I'd like to know why that happened to your character!
Q: Is it ok for me to submit my character to your story if they were in another story that died?
A: Of course! I completely understand that pain, not to knock on other authors out there, but a lot of SYOCs end up dying before they end! I understand why that might happen, life gets in the way, and other such problems arise, but I get the frustration of sending a character in and having the story die before anything happens.
Q: Would (Placeholder Talent) work?
A: I'm fine with most any talent, as long as you can give an accurate reason as to why they'd be invited to Hope's Peak, or why Hope's Peak would want someone with that talent in the first place! If you're unsure, don't be afraid to shoot me a DM asking about a character's talent, I might even help out and shoot a few ideas your way about it! If you want help that is!
Q: Can we send our application in the form of Google Docs?
A: Yes you can! And if possible I'd prefer it that way! You don't have to, of course, it'll just be saving me a step when I go to transfer any apps I get to google doc pages, to better keep things for me down the road!
Q: Are transgender characters ok?
A: Of course! :D
Q: Do the characters have their ultimate talents yet?
A: No they do not, but they have been scouted! They just aren't scheduled to officially receive their talent until they make it through their time at the HPCF!
Q: Since this is an international thing, do we have to worry about language barriers?
A: Honestly, I normally like to go for realism when it comes to stories, but I'm just going to have everyone speaking English IC when the story starts! Of course, everyone will also be able to speak the language of their home country, but I'm just going to take the liberty and say they learned English while in school or something! That way we won't have to worry about language barriers causing problems in the story and not allowing certain characters to shine because of their country of origin! So to answer your question, most everyone will be Bilingual in this story, except for anyone who happens to specify otherwise!
Q: Could you give examples as to what the Escape Parameters would entail? How far can they go, what are their limits, what kind of stuff will be included in them? That sort of stuff.
A: For the Escape Parameters, the ones you put in the form might be used in the story, but there's a huge chance they won't. The part of the form is just giving me an idea as to what they would hate to do, and would hesitate to do! However, I'll give you a few examples of Escape Parameters I've come up with in the past when testing out drafts of this story! Parameters can be pretty elaborate, and involve other characters!
Escape Parameters for a Paranoid Character:
1. Fail to arm yourself from the moment you see this parameter, until the moment you finish your last.
2. At any given point at your discretion, do not lie for an entire week straight. If you lie during this time period, the week will reset.
3. Knock out three different people.
Escape Parameters for a Pure Character:
1. Cause problems among the group. During your stay here, cause and be a part of at least five different group arguments or fights!
2. Attack someone and blame someone else for the attack.
3. Bully (Placeholder Name) until all of your other parameters are completed! You aren't allowed to say anything nice to them throughout your time here!
Escape Parameters for a Therapist Character:
1. Divulge something you were told in confidence, to the entire group.
2. Be the first person to discover a body, and not report it to the group. Twice.
3. Expose your darkest secret to the entire group.
Escape Parameters for someone with a Strong Moral Compass:
1. Kidnap someone a bring them to a certain area of the facility. Once there, follow the instructions, if you fail to comply, this parameter is forfeit.
2. Find out all of someone's parameters, disqualifying them from the Parameter section of the game.
3. Fake your death, and don't be found for three days!
Things such as those should be good examples, but should you want more ideas, or want to run parameters by me, feel free to ask, and I'll be more than happy to confirm or deny any possible parameters!
Q: What is the deadline for sending in Characters?
A: I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO MENTION WHAT THE DEADLINE IS! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... June 10th will be the last day that I'll accept characters, I'll be reading over characters as I get them, and will probably have a skeleton of a cast chosen, but that should probably be the day that I finalize things and get a full cast ready! I however will, be releasing another chapter before then, showing just a bit more of the lore I've got prepared for this story! So be on the watch for that!
As of now, that's all the questions I've received! However should any more make their way to my DMs, I'll come back here and update this page with every answer I give!
Once all characters have been accepted, and the story is on its way, I'll delete this chapter to keep the story nice and neat!
Anyways thank you all so much for taking an interest in this story, I look forward to seeing the characters you all send to me! :D