Retirement, Death, and Alternate Characters (Alts)


Below are the Rules regarding Alternate Characters (aka Alts). These are a different Player Character that a Participant may choose to play instead of who they usually play.

— Progression: Whenever a Player Character (PC) is awarded Experience Points (XP), it is applied to all of their Characters, current and future.  

— Main and Alt only: A Player Character may only have two Characters -- a “Main” and an “Alt”. A slain or retired Character does not count against this limit.

— Visually Distinct: A Player’s different Characters must be visually distinct.  For example: differing Stigmata, vastly different costuming, etc. A Character cannot disguise themselves as a PC of the same Participant.

— Sharing Items: A Player may share items or funds between their own Characters, though the two may not interact with each other except indirectly. Some items may be usable by one Character but not another, depending on that item’s requirements. This may be true for some plot-related or plot-specific items.  

— Game Staff Suggestion: Players with costume/makeup/prosthetic heavy Characters have an Alt that is far less costume/makeup/prosthetic intensive for those months where they want to focus more on their roleplay and their action.

Permanent Death and Retirement

— Permanent Death: When a Character has died and is beyond Resurrection, they are considered to have “permanently died” (aka OOG: “Permed”).  Players also choose to voluntarily Perm their Character, for whatever reasons they wish. 

— Retirement: Making a living Player Character permanently leave play is called “Retirement”. Retired Characters:

  • NPC: Are no longer in that Player’s control 

  • Staff Control Optional: Can be granted to the Game Staff for use in plotlines and the like. A Participant may also request that their old Character be exempt from plotlines, which means that they will vanish into obscurity and peace.

    • Promotion and Death: When thusly granted by Game Staff, Retired Characters may still die according to the dictates of the storyline, but they may also be promoted and achieve official positions while “Retired”. 

    • Cameo Appearance: Similarly, the Game Staff may also ask a Player to play their Retired Character as an NPC if a scene or an Event requires said character’s appearance. 

Permanent Choice: Once a Character is Retired, under no circumstances can they be “UnRetired” -- this decision is a permanent one.

Options after Retirement/Permanent Death:
During an Event, a Player who has been Permed or Retired their Character has several options:

  1. Perform an NPC shift for the remainder of the Event (and grant the rewards for doing so to another of their Characters)

  2. Leave the game area

  3. Play as their Alt Character (or their Main, if their Alt was the one that Permed)*

  4. Create a new Character and play them*

*Option 3 and Option 4 are the only way for a Player to play as more than one Player Character during an Event. 

New Characters after Permanent Death or Retirement

Creating a new Player Character follows the game rules outlined when normally doing so. New Character benefits: 

  • These Characters will enter the game with the XP that the Player has accrued thus far.

  • If they have the Components necessary, they may expend as many Components and XP as needed to enter the Event with additional skills. 

  • If they enter the Event after learning these skills, they may do so without expending Attunements as self-teaching normally requires. 

  • Take note that Permanently Dying may involve the theft or destruction of one’s equipment and Components.

BONUS LEGACY XP

After our 10th Event, all Participants that come in with new Player Characters are awarded with 30 Legacy XP (unless they already have 30 or more Legacy XP). 

Those without Legacy XP (LXP): You now have 30 LXP. LXP can be spent at this Event or afterward as per below. If you don’t know what LXP is, you likely have 0 LXP and are therefore eligible for this.

New PCs: You can choose to spend up to 30 LXP **during Character creation** with the restrictions below.

1) You can only spend LXP on Basic Skills from your own Class. 

2) Spending LXP chronologically happens after you have made your Perk and Skill picks. Therefore, you cannot spend a Perk to gain a Complex Skill from skills you learned via LXP.

If a new PC does not have LXP, then they get 30 LXP as per above. 

If a new PC decides to spend their LXP after Character Creation, then it can be used on non-Basic and/or Cross Class skills just like regular XP (see below)

LXP Expenditure: LXP is similar to XP except for the following restrictions:

1) LXP may not be combined with XP when used to learn a Skill. It's either one or the other. 

2) Legacy XP does not count when determining whether a PC receives a Milestone.

New Players and Returning Players

To ensure BTF’s progress and growth, Game Staff has incentivized the recruitment of new players/participants and the return of current players/participants. This program begins on May 2024 (Event 14) and continues onward until otherwise stated.

Recruiter Awards: Recruiters are individuals who have been designated by a new PC (aka a Recruit) as such. A Recruit may only designate one person as their Recruiter, although the Recruiter themselves may be responsible for more than one Recruit’s introduction. 

  • +5 Minor CMP (or 1 Basic CMP) per Recruit

  • Every 5 Recruits grants 1 Basic or Complex Skill training ATN


Upon a Recruit’s 3rd Event, their Recruiter can request the following “Recruiter Bundle”: 

  • +5 Minor CMP (or 1 Basic CMP) per Recruit

  • +5 XP per Recruit (+5 LXP if beyond the XP threshold)

Recruit Awards: Recruits are individuals who have never been to a BTF Event before. They receive the bundled awards below upon Sign in.

  • +10 Minor CMP (or 2 Basic CMP)

  • Verdant Lore (3 Events; 1 ATN): +1 to HP

  • Training ATN in 1 Basic or Complex skill

Returning PC/Returner Awards: These folk have missed the past two Events, regardless of whether they registered for them or bought them back. They receive the bundled awards below upon Sign In, to help keep them current.

  • +5 Minor CMP (or 1 Basic CMP)

  • Verdant Lore (1 Event; 1 ATN): +1 to HP

  • Training ATN in 1 Basic or Complex skill

Developer’s Note: The primary purpose of the bonuses is to allow new Players and returning Players a measure of in-game power and progression when they enter or re-enter the Game setting.

Established Players may feel that such measures are diminishing their own accomplishments. However, it is the hope of the Game Staff that Established Players will find that their own unique and onsite only achievements during Game Events offset this feeling so that newer Players and returning Players can find the same enjoyment they do.