Pre-existing connections to other characters can be a quick way to get reasons to get in on the action. Being an outsider means having less reading to do. Read about Getting Started for pros and cons of both.
To be a member of a game-owned organization or employee of a game-owned business, simply mention it in your application.
Employees of established businesses
As an alternative to having your character run their own business (described below), your character could be an employee in an existing business. Player-owned businesses/organizations currently hiring are:
To work for a character-owned business, please contact that player first to find out if they're open to employees.
Researching Glimmer and the Veil
Having an active interest in Glimmer and the Veil is not a character requirement. Curiosity and certain skills are a good combination, though, when it comes to getting involved with the stories that are told in Gray Harbor. Some explorers try to map the Veil (a fairly endless endeavour) and record the creatures that inhabit it. Others take an interest in Thin Points, their histories, and the events that tend to come with them. Reality is very fluid here; there are endless possibilities, and reasons to research them.
It is not understood how Glimmer works. Gray Harbor draws in people with this power, and many are trying to learn more about the hows and whys. What causes people to Glimmer? Is it hereditary? Are some people more likely to gain this power than others? Do hauntings, ghosts, and other supernatural phenomena relate to Glimmer, and if so, how?
Toss a few points in Research if your character likes going through records and files or doing academic research.
The Veil Lore skill represents understanding of the Veil. The Glimmer Lore skill represents understanding of Glimmer and its three Aspects.
Veil and Glimmer Lore can be taken during character generation, but can also be learned on grid as your character becomes familiar with the concepts.
Business Owners
Businesses can be pitched in your app, or you can ask to become the owner of a game-owned business if any are open. To do this:
You can also ask to become the owner of a game-owned business, if one is available. Please make certain that your character's concept and reasons for running this business is included in the application. The following list is all the game-owned business currently up for grabs; if it's empty, then they're all taken.
Staff reserves the right to revert businesses to NPC control if the players owning them go inactive (idling out or proven to be not actively playing by not sharing a scene for six months or longer).
There are a few restrictions on character-owned businesses:
We're closed for businesses located downtown proper, but you can have your business in the Strip Mall, or on Spruce, Maple, Elm, or Bayside, even all the way to the outskirts.
Your character must be 25+ years old in order to be a business owner.
A number of business types are currently unavailable to be character-created (typically because a small town cannot support an infinite number of them) or restricted (meaning that you will need to provide us with a good reason or an interesting twist to make your idea stand out from the existing, similar businesses).
Unavailable businesses
Bars, coffee shops, diners - Other kinds of restaurants are still open.
Dance clubs, dance studios - Consider giving classes at the existing studio or the community center.
Newspapers - The town has one already, which you can work for, but it remains NPC owned/operated.
Strip clubs - Consider working at Platinum; bartender and DJ types might also consider working at the Firefly.
Sweets shops - Bakeries, candy stores, ice cream parlors, etc.
Restricted Employment Types
Private investigators - Consider looking into GHPD instead.
Special agents - Glimmer is closer to a massive conspiracy theory than anything any government is actually taking seriously, which is intended to explain why there's no 'government involvement' going on (i.e. no National Guard rolling out, no sudden arrival of the Marines). As a result, any special agents looking into Glimmer will be the Mulders of their agency: shunned, not believed, sent here because whew that got them out of our hair, unable to provide proof to superiors, struggling for funding.
Banned Concepts
The following character types/concepts are banned:
Non-Human Characters - All PCs must be humans. No animals, no vampires, no ghosts, etc.
Under-Age Characters - The minimum age for all PCs is 21 years old.
Real People - No recreating your favorite real-life person. If it is or was a real person, you can't be that person
Restricted Concepts
While not outright closed, restricted concepts are ones we have in excess, or for which we're looking for a little more explanation on how you see it fitting in. Applications of these kinds will be scrutinized to meet these requirements.
Famous - Celebrities, influencers, or well-connected people find their name- and face-recognition fades drastically upon coming to Gray Harbor. (Note, a brand or business would be fine, eg. Calvin Klein, but people wouldn't remember who Calvin Klein himself actually is, or might suspect there's no such person.) We ask that these kinds of characters to have a plan for handling this in the application.
Independently wealthy - Since Gray Harbor is a modest, small town, we need an interesting and good explanation as to why anyone with a lot of money is here and not in Seattle, Portland, Vancouver BC, etc. We're not particularly interested in checks being written to solve all problems.
Baxters & Addingtons - You can be one, but make sure to address your history as a member of these families--why the locals might not know you, or, if they should know you, in what capacity.
Closed Until Further Notice
The following concepts are closed until further notice:
Sheriff's Department - We're only accepting police-type characters who are members of the Gray Harbor PD.
Jobless Street Urchins - The homeless camp under the Boardwalk is looking pretty full at the moment.
Asylum Characters - The Asylum plot is concluded, so no new characters who worked there or were patients there.
Characters without Glimmer - Due to the nature of Glimmer and how it erases the memories of those who lack it, we ask that all PCs have at least the baseline amount of Glimmer and Aspects (Glimmer 2 and at least 1 Aspect Skill dot). Your character can still be ignorant of their Glimmer, and learn of its existence on grid--or refuse to acknowledge it, even--but they must have a minimum amount to not have their memory wiped.
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask on the Questions channel or page a staff member.