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Private/Closed Danganronpa: Cold Steel (Discussion)

How should the daytime/nighttime system be edited?


  • Total voters
    4
  • Poll closed .
The time skip/progression post is up. I'm so sorry.

After someone investigates I'll post the body drop and the entire investigation on the blog. If no one does within the next hour or so, I'll just edit the discovery onto my own post and drop the investigation anyway. We can't really afford to waste any more time, after all.

Regarding this entire situation, I've decided that I need to contact everyone involved immediately after the roll instead of waiting to drop the motive, etc. etc. etc.
Again, apologies for that, folks. This first case has been a bit of a trial and error on how to run this thing, not going to lie, but it should be much smoother sailing from here.

EDIT: The post was edited to reflect who the victim was. The entire investigation has been posted, as has the Monokuma File (although nothing is linked together, so I wish you the best of luck with navigation).

EDIT 2: Apparently everything posted out of order, so I'm now in the process of linking everything in the investigation tab. This might take a hot second though, because tumblr hates links for some reason.

EDIT 3: Alright, everything should be good. A couple of things posted out of order, but there's not much I can do about that.
To access the investigation/Monokuma file without having to scroll though the entire blog, go to the student handbook > investigation > Monokuma file/pick any room. I didn't add a back button to the investigation rooms, however, so you're going to have to use the back button on your computer/device (boring, I know).

Here's how investigations are going to work, if you guys are wondering (once again, pre-written. That's why the tone is so weird):
We made it! It's investigation time. Someone had to die to get here, but… that's the way it goes, I guess.

Investigation will function on a different system than open exploration did. As of now, the Cold Steel blog has been updated with an investigation system, and the Student Handbook has been updated with the Monokuma file (which has fairly bare bones information—anything that would immediately put the culprit into the spotlight is, as in the games, omitted.

All students automatically have access to the information in the file, but everything else you're going to have to look for yourself. The investigation system is a bit different from the exploration system, but it operates under the same principle. While the open exploration system required a wait time for me to explain the contents of the room, the investigation system simply has everything you'll need to know (and won't need to know) explained from the get go. So essentially, all you'll need to do is write out a post as you would had I been describing it in real time.

Example (this has nothing to do with the current case, I hope, anyway):
Honoka wandered into the library, examining the second shelf—the G's, specifically. She took note of the scattered pages that lay around this section. Considering this was the scene of the crime, some sort of struggle had probably taken place. Either that or someone had a serious grudge against John Green.

Judging by the blood that had stained the textbook's cover, this was likely the cause of the bludgeoning trauma that had struck the victim. The killer had certainly done a poor job of hiding crucial evidence—that was for sure.

Of course, there are a couple of rules here:
  1. You may only use evidence in the Class Trial that your character has personally examined: Obviously, but it's still worth noting. If your character did not investigate the library, then you aren't able to use the scattered pages as evidence.
  2. Knowledge on a certain subject that your character wouldn't feasibly have shouldn't be used: While I can't really police this, as character talents and skills are taken at face value for the most part, but please be realistic. For example, Honoka is a taxidermist. She'd have experience with certain chemicals, taxonomy, and possibly some methods of death considering her family's hunting trade, but she would have absolutely no idea how certain locks function. Therefore, even if she explored that area, she wouldn't be able to gain much additional knowledge out of it other than the fact that the door doesn't appear to have a handle. Ryuu, however, is a Pyrotechnic who likely would have worked with something similar in building a rig. Therefore, he'd be able to infer that such a door is an electronic lock fail-safe system and therefore the only way to get it open without the pin would be to unbolt it from the frame and then re-assemble it or to cut its power supply. TL;DR: Common sense is key here, for the most part. If your character is the SHSL Artist and has no combat history, they're not going to know how a rocket launcher works in order to tell that the victim's death was rocket launcher related.
  3. Consider your character's current state: This isn't really a hard and fast rule (neither is rule two, really), but just something to keep in mind. If your character is currently screaming and breathing into a paper bag, they're probably not going to be concentrated enough to retain all of the information they've obtained while investigating.
  4. Please, go into more detail: Don't write out "[character name] investigated everything then went back to sleep," describe it a bit more. It doesn't have to be super long (see the sample for examining one room. Even that's somewhat lengthy), but don't just say "Wow I'm done!" and throw your hands up. We're all busy people, I understand that, but I ask that you take time to investigate evidence you need instead of one catch all sentence. We are a bit pressed for time though this first case, so if you use one sentence to investigate an entire room that's fine, I guess.

Anyway, that's basically it. This turned out a lot longer than I wanted it to You guys have... just Friday at this point to write out investigation posts before I take the descriptions down from the blog. The trial will begin this weekend. Happy hunting.
 
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The only thing that managed to wake her, actually, was the (rather girlish) scream coming from the.. well, coming from somewhere.
Nathan awoke to the manly scream in the morning.
…hmm
Seq nailed it on this one. Sorry, Ryuu. Swearing loudly doesn't make your shrieks any less high pitched.

Jokes aside, seeing as we're approaching Saturday and very few actual attempts at investigation have been made outside of observing the corpse, we have a couple of choices.
I can either push the trial back (again) until next weekend, or we can simply timeskip and assume everyone has investigated what they would have—regarding the investigation rules—and jump to the trial. Or we could go somewhere in between the two and I'll give part of Saturday to investigate and then start the trial. Once again, it's a decision between immersion and functionality.

Once again, the time crunch here is entirely a fault on my part, so please let me know what suits everyone here best.
 
Mmm, I feel another timeskip ahead at this point would be counter productive. We just got everyone to post concerning the body itself. Most the characters haven't even gotten over the shock yet much less figured out that they need to investigate.

If we jump to the trail now interest might wane. If we keep jumping ahead with no real content between characters to keep it entertaining, it feels less interactive and more just reactive (regardless how fun the prospect of a murder mystery is)
 
Alright. I agree with Kitsune on this point (and it seems the majority does as well), so we're not timeskipping through the investigation.

I don't know exactly how much time you guys will need, but the kangaroo court can certainly wait. We can't exactly have a trial (fair or not) without anyone having a ghost of a clue as to what's happening, after all.
 

Paeon Kanetsu

Previously Markus Daymo
Because currently... I'm completely clueless. So far, I know Honoka is dead by multiple stabs? Is that right?

There's so many posts I need to look over...
 
Because currently... I'm completely clueless. So far, I know Honoka is dead by multiple stabs? Is that right?

There's so many posts I need to look over...
Monokuma didn't really give much information in the Monokuma file, but that can be found here.

As for... literally everywhere else, the investigation can be found here (click the links of the rooms and scroll through the tags to read the posts, then you can have your character respond to what they find, similar to exploration. Some of the posts are out of order though. Sorry).

If you have any questions regarding mechanics, where to find information, or the case itself (I may not be able to answer certain things regarding cases), feel free to PM me. This goes for everyone. Certain characters would be able to discern certain information better than others, after all.
 

Fire Mana

Previously Top_Smug_
Aaaaand I'm behind again lol
I love it when I stop getting notifications ;w;

(Also, as a side note, I noticed Parker is like the only one without "Likes and Dislikes" filled out in the Student Handbook? Should I have told you about those?)
 
The likes and dislikes thing was mentioned a while back when I first reformatted the student pages on the handbook (here and here, I think. It's been a while, so don't worry about it). I'm pretty sure Parker, Arata, and Joseph are the only ones without them. Feel free to PM them to me if you'd like and I'll edit Parker's page accordingly to include them.
 
At this rate, I'm going to put the deadline on the investigation on Wednesday (that's… still probably a lot more time than this needs but I'm not about to scream "deadline is in two seconds" at everyone involved).

From there, the trial can either start immediately and be a bit longer than what it'd usually be (that sure seems to be the theme of this chapter, doesn't it… my bad), or we can all just put the roleplay on pause until late Friday and start the trial up then, having it run the amount of time it would normally.
 
A conclusive update because my last post was… pretty vague. I haven't forgotten about this roleplay, I promise.

The class trial is back on for this weekend! Investigation will end some time Friday afternoon, so I'd get your post in if there's anything else you'd like to explore (although I'm pretty sure most everything has been touched upon; this investigation didn't have piles and piles of potential evidence to sort through).The next investigation period won't be nearly as long and sluggish, apologies for that.

That's all, thanks for reading. Carry on with your day.
 
I did mention that I would post the trial late Friday night, so I intend to stick to that. The trial post is up now.
As of now, we are under assumption that everyone got into the elevator and is at their respective podiums. My initial plan was for everyone to make a post regarding such, but that would take far too much time.

If you're curious as to how the podiums are set up, they're all in one circle with Monokuma at the head, so you can assume that the people next to your character are those of the adjacent numbers (number 3 would be between 2 and 4, etc). If you're number one, you're stuck with Monokuma at your left (I apologise).

As with any other post: here's your partially pre-written trial rules in a really weird tone of voice… woo…
That's right, folks! We're officially at our first trial!

Oh? What do you mean you didn't get any time to grieve? The trial came too soon? Ah, well. Justice* waits for no one.

Having said that, allow me to quickly go over how trials will work in this role play.
  • Any given person will start the trial by bringing up any part of the murder in question. Stating the obvious? Hypothesis? Suspicions? Anything (somewhat relevant) goes.
  • All subsequent players will attempt to refute any claims against them, clarify evidence, agree with other players, etc. Essentially, every character is simultaneously a lawyer, a witness, a detective, and a suspect.
  • Player cooperation is key here. Starting from the trial's beginning, you all have a 72 hour trial, with the final 24 of those hours dedicated to voting and the execution of the culprit (or at least the person voted as the culprit). That leaves you with 48 hours to get to some sort of conclusion, and if no one cooperates… well, it's anyone's game, really.
  • Remember, as stated in the website rules, you may not post any one liners. Even if your post is just agreeing with another character's claim that the victim is indeed dead, you can still describe what your character is doing at the podium, or bring up a piece of evidence of your own. That being said, don't make your posts too long (otherwise trial progression will take… a while). Keep them long enough to not fall into one-liner territory, yet short enough so that there won't be hours in between replies.
As with the other posts, here's your sample. It, of course, has nothing to do with the case at hand; especially considering that Honoka is dead and Ryuu is… flipping out. (This will probably be the last you see of the sample characters, by the way. I think all of the gameplay aspects have been covered).
Person one:
"Alright, if no one else is gonna say anything, I'll start." Honoka pulled her Monopad out of her back pocket, dropping it less than gingerly onto the podium in front of her. She pressed a few buttons before holding up the device and dramatically pointing to the text box below the victim's personal information. "According to the Monokuma file, the victim was found in the kitchen at 11:37 PM, sitting up dead as a doornail in one of the booths. The cause of death isn't listed—probably meaning it's damning evidence—but the burn marks on her neck and torso say everything that needs to be said, don't they, Ryuu."

Person two:
"Hey! We just started, you can't start pointing fingers yet!" Ryuu stammered, wringing his hands. "Just because I'm the Ultimate Pyrotechnic doesn't mean I go around setting people on fire! I make fireworks. That's like saying that just because you're the Super High School Level Taxidermist you gut and stuff everyone you see!" He grabbed a note pad out of his back pocket, flipping to a full page. "Plus, you shouldn't be the one, uh, convicting me… I should be doing the same to you!" His notebook trembled ever so slightly as he tapped at a line of hastily scribbled notes. "When I investigated the crime scene myself, I saw that there was a cup of coffee on the table in front of her. And who was the one who used the coffee machine last? It was you… I think… but anyway, you could've laced the beans with some sort of poison, then after she drank it, she could have spilled the coffee and burned herself!"

Person 1:
"Well, that certainly is a possibility, I guess." Honoka shrugged nonchalantly, swiping to a new part of the file. "However, that explanation doesn't cover the fact that there was no liquid found on or near the victim's body, bar for the coffee still in the mug. If she had spilled hot coffee on herself, causing the burns in the process, we'd find a bit of the stuff staining something, wouldn't we?"

Person 2:
"Oh… yeah… you're right," Ryuu frowned, drumming his gloved fingers on the podium. "But I'm still not the culprit! I have an alibi!" He pointed to the student standing at his right. "He was in the library with me when the body discovery announcement went off, so it couldn't have been either of us!"
One thing I ask you not to do is to include much, or any, internal dialogue during this time. Why? Well, it's because problems such as this arise:

[The killer] gave a thumbs up to his friend at the podium across the way. I am not the murderer, I simply wish to find the culprit, after all. He thought, once again going over the evidence.

Lying via dialogue is one thing, but lying via a character's thoughts is another. The first one is entirely feasible: no one wants to be next up on the chopping block, after all; but the second is just plain deceptive OOC as well (obviously characters can't read one another's thoughts, but then again, your character wouldn't be thinking that if they had committed a murder).

That being said, any other kind of lie is fair game. Falsifying evidence, claiming you have an alibi, any sort of "I'm not the killer, and here's why" speech: all of those are fine. Anything you can to get your character off the hook.

* Can you really call it justice if you choose the wrong person to be executed? Probably not. Oh well, them's the breaks.
Essentially, the most important rules there are to not include any internal dialogue and to keep your posts fairly short, but not so short as to fall into one-liner territory.

Alright, with that out of the way, the trial is officially on. Starting now, you all have just over two days to reach a conclusion.

Trial: Start!

EDIT: The investigation has been taken down as well. I feel that's probably important to mention.
 
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Paeon Kanetsu

Previously Markus Daymo
Oh boy... One second... I got this...

Can my first post for the trial be the dramatic trial start that happens at the beginning of each trial?
 

Paeon Kanetsu

Previously Markus Daymo
ok then...

As the camera panned around the room, everyone is in their position until the camera landed on the picture of Honoka.

Honoka Kurosawa, the ultimate taxidermist. While she may have had a cold exterior to others she was one of the few trying to keep us together. However... that cold exterior seemed to burn her in the end. Someone went behind our backs and took away our friend... and now we need to find out who. For Honoka's sake, we will find the killer and get through this.

This... is Our Class Trial!
 

Shen: King of Digimon

Previously Shen: King of the Mist
ok then...

As the camera panned around the room, everyone is in their position until the camera landed on the picture of Honoka.

Honoka Kurosawa, the ultimate taxidermist. While she may have had a cold exterior to others she was one of the few trying to keep us together. However... that cold exterior seemed to burn her in the end. Someone went behind our backs and took away our friend... and now we need to find out who. For Honoka's sake, we will find the killer and get through this.

This... is Our Class Trial!

Okay, that was pretty cool XD
 
Yeah… I highly doubt it (unless someone suddenly solves the entire case within the next couple of hours and somehow manages to get all of the other characters to agree within that same time span). Needless to say, I'm willing to extend the trial. I'm not about to cut it off with the characters currently at the conclusion of "It could literally be anyone, we have pretty much no idea."
 
Yeah... I have my own hunch, so does Jason, but damn this case is a lotta layers. You sorta gotta wait for everyone to unpack everything before we can actually get anywhere.
 
Technically, yes, but the trial time was intended to be divided up with the first 48 hours for debate with the last 24 hours still technically being a part of "trial" time, but more for logistics (voting/tallying votes, execution/reactions to such, updated Monopad information). Therefore, going off of that system, the debate portion of the trial would have to be over by 11:59PM, which isn't going to happen at this rate.
 

Crimson Sun

Previously Crims0n
Here’s my opinion on this:
The class trial and verdict and stuff should have a max limit of one week.
If the trial finishes early, then we just cut that week and we can use that time for some filler or extra the next trial and investigation or whatever.

that’s what i think we should do, max time limit: 1 week. but if everything is finished early, then we just cut off the extra days and use that as another starting point for another week or use it for filler

again, entirely the majority and Riverrunner’s opinion on what we should do
 
Here’s my opinion on this:
The class trial and verdict and stuff should have a max limit of one week.
If the trial finishes early, then we just cut that week and we can use that time for some filler or extra the next trial and investigation or whatever.

that’s what i think we should do, max time limit: 1 week. but if everything is finished early, then we just cut off the extra days and use that as another starting point for another week or use it for filler

again, entirely the majority and Riverrunner’s opinion on what we should do
That system seems good to me; the time definitely shouldn't exceed a week. In which case, if everyone else is on board with this, the trial's deadline has been bumped to next Saturday (unless some kind of verdict is reached early).

Once again, a blunder on my part for not taking into account the nature of Charms as a platform when determining hard deadlines/due dates for things such as trials, day/night, etc. Chapter two onward should be better paced and run much more smoothly.
 
....this is the first notification I've gotten in awhile. I have a hunch I wasn't getting notifications from the RP...again.

EDIT: Holy fudge, yeah I've missed everything apparently... I will catch up and write a response before the night is over
 

Paeon Kanetsu

Previously Markus Daymo
I'll say this, the thing I find stressful is that there are no 'Truth Bullets'.

If we had them, this might be a little easier since I'll be honest... I don't know who the killer is.
 
I'll say this, the thing I find stressful is that there are no 'Truth Bullets'.

If we had them, this might be a little easier since I'll be honest... I don't know who the killer is.
Truth bullets will not be added as a mechanic. This is an open-ended discussion between the characters, not a game of selecting a proverbial dialogue option and hoping it works.

Granted, this case did end up being pretty tough, especially for a first case. It is not unsolvable, however. As a rule, I will not write out an investigation for a murder that is, for all intents and purposes, a perfect crime. If a case does become completely unsolvable due to other factors unrelated to how the investigation was laid out (such as the murderer's player refusing to participate in the trial, for example), I'll find a way around it. This case isn't supposed to be extremely easy, either. At this rate, I'm not sure I would even be able to write an open and shut case because everyone would think it was suspiciously easy.
That being said, there is some pretty damning evidence that has been investigated by multiple characters, but hasn't been mentioned at all yet. On the other side of the coin, there was important evidence that probably wasn't deemed important enough to actually record, but would limit the suspect pool considerably (if unwrapped correctly). There's also something pretty major that's being interpreted incorrectly, but I really can't say anything more on that.

An important concept that I should probably reiterate is that any time during the game, anyone is allowed to PM me any question about… pretty much anything. Of course, I can't answer certain questions, but if it's information your character should probably know—such as Jane being able to determine certain things about the corpse that the Monokuma file didn't offer—feel free to ask. By this rule, you guys are allowed to ask for certain room descriptions if your character explored them. I'm not PMing you the entire investigation, of course, but specific details that may have been lost but your character may have picked up on, go ahead. You may not get a straight answer, but you're allowed to ask me anything related to the RP.

Remember: the verdict you reach doesn't have to be the correct one, it just has to be a verdict. Whichever (student; you guys can't vote for Monokuma) character gets the most votes will be punished. That's that.
 
Just getting to the facts and beyond the bickering stage seems a ways off at this point, lol.

We are three suspects out of the question, and I’ve been trying to narrow down another with ralph’s question

Yeah, nice try. No one is out of the running as far as I can see. Just because three characters claimed to take actions together, doesn't mean that any one of them couldn't have acted alone or without the others knowledge. But let's save that argument for the characters complete naturally. :p
 
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