Dropbox (Y1 Archive)

[goosemods]

This is an archive.
Please see the new Dropbox HERE.

Dropbox

If you have any pressing questions about the game that can be answered quickly, please go ahead and comment here. All comments are screened, and we'll try to get back to you ASAP. If you have a question that requires in-depth discussion, please email us at gooseberryhigh@gmail.com instead.

Examples of What You Can Ask

• Details on teachers & staff!


• Details on setting!


• If your character is doing something late at night, and you'd like to ask if anything ~spooky~ happens to them! (The spooky thing may just be getting caught by a staff member.)


• If you would like to request an interaction/reaction from a staff NPC.


• Clarification of a rule!


• Permission for your character to do something you're not sure about!


• If you need to drop a character or leave the game! :(


• If email terrifies you as much as it terrifies me! :(((


• AND MORE!

Comments

[birdbrainy]

HEY COOL PEOPLE, I have a clarification questionnn. I will probably have lots of clarification questions as I write this app, enjoy. XD

BUT THE QUESTION: When do the students get assigned as prefects? Sophomore year?

[goosemods]

HELLO EXCELLENT APPLICANT! Ask as many questions as you like about any tiny details :)

Yes, prefects are assigned their badge sophomore year. They will have received a letter from their head of house congratulating them, along with a pin indicating their new position. During the back to school ceremony, the newly chosen prefects will be asked to stand up so everyone can applaud them.

[gdilevi]

Is it reasonable to assume that dogs aren't allowed as familiars? I was thinking he tried to take his dog because it's an ~indoor pet that doesn't need a large cage~ and was given an "um no".

[goosemods]

Sadly, yeah, he probably got an "um no" on that one. I think the other half of that rule is "must be able to poop inside."

[cecaelian]

Silly question! Since Chloe is new this year, were there only four Ribbonfin junior girls previously or did someone go to Hogwarts for a year OR DID SOMETHING MORE SINISTER HAPPEN???

[goosemods]

Our silly answer to anything pertaining to how it is that every cabin conveniently has exactly five people: don't sweat the details, it just magically worked out that way. That said, if it would suit yours or your roommates' purposes to say one of the above is true (i.e. there was a fifth Ribbonfin junior girl last year whom Chloe is replacing, or it was always four girls and now ugh the cabin is more crowded), you can go ahead with that!

Not the sinister explanation, though. Teachers and staff continue to insist that No Student Has Ever Died At Gooseberry High.....

[puphart]

Is it okay if Kurt has a history of working on homework (in particular, practising spells) around the stables and associated horses? He would have sought permission from the illustrious Mr. Covington early on, with the justification that the horses calm him down so it's easier to work on spoken spells. Kurt would also have offered to trade some tending-to-the-horses duties for the privilege of hanging around with them more, especially while practicing Charms and Transfiguration – only in harmless ways, of course!

& if that's alright, where do you stand on an accidentally-turning-a-horse-pink situation or something down the road?

[goosemods]

Cute!! Yes, that's totally fine! You can assume Mr. Covington is pretty fond of Kurt by now, since he's good with the horses and spends a lot of time around the stables. He'd definitely take the opportunity to get Kurt to help out with chores, but in a mentoring kind of way.

And that'd be fun, too! But Kurt's definitely getting a scolding from Mr. Covington afterwards, and a warning to be careful around the animals. I assume Kurt will feel bad, though, so Mr. Covington won't be too hard on him.

[gdilevi]

OKAY SO this is totally nitpicky but I wanna ask anyway:

I know the game is set in 2013 and we're following 2016's days of the weeks, BUT are we following 2013's holiday dates or 2016's holiday dates? For example, Jewish holidays follow the Hebrew calendar and not the Gregorian calendar that we use, so the dates of their important holidays are different on the Gregorian calendar each year.

I'm asking becauuuuse the first day of Rosh Hashanah is coming up soon and it's set on September 5th in 2013 but October 3rd in 2016 and I wasn't sure which one to follow. If it's on the 5th, he's gonna bitch about not getting labor day off but if it's October, he's gonna save his bitching until then.

[goosemods]

Totally not nitpicky at all! We're inclined to say follow everything in the 2016 calendar, including holidays. I've run into this issue before and it's honestly way easier to go with the current year rather than expect people to look up when cultural holidays fell in 2013.

Basically, this is 2016 with a "3" slapped onto the date, and without the horrors of a potential Trump presidency because we just... did not want people talking about that stuff in our pretendy funtimes game. Oh, but the memes are pure 2013, of course, for Levi's sake. ;)

[dank.insanejournal.com]

Are students allowed to decorate/customize their cabins? Like bringing their own blankets and stuff like that.

[goosemods]

Yes! But there are a few restrictions:

• No offensive or hateful messages/images. No images that would be considered pornographic. Things that are in a sort of gray area are images with swear words on them or drug references. In those cases, as long as your roommates don't complain and you don't rub it in the faces of the staff, you can probably get away with it.
  
• Nothing that might distract roommates. This means decor can't light up after curfew, and can't make excessive or constant noise.
  
• The ladder to your bed and path to the door can't be obstructed.
  
• Nothing can be stored/hung within two feet of the fireplace's mouth.
  
• The cabins lack electrical outlets (the desk lamps and overhead lights are magical), so anything that needs electricity to power it isn't going to be much fun.
  

I hope that helps!

[goosemods]

You know, we're a bit hesitant using this woman's personal Instagram as a primary source of icons. She's not really a public performer (whether it's an actor, musician, YouTube personality, etc.), so we worry that it might be a little invasive.

Is her being a cosplayer integral to the concept?

[goosemods]

We looked further into Monika Lee's work and her appearances on Heroes of Cosplay, and we don't feel she's a good fit for the game, sorry. :( But we looked around and found a few actresses who we think have a similar feel: Jillian Rose Reed, Allison Scagliotti, Ryann Shane, or Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

[language.insanejournal.com]

Hey ladies!

I was wondering about the status of media in magical America. What is their main newspaper/magazine? Is there a WWN America? If so, can they get the wireless at school? ARE THEIR WIZARDING IPODS TO GET SAID RADIO?

[gdilevi]

Do you guys have any game lore or at least a name for Canada's version of the Ministry?

[goosemods]

Sorry about the delay in getting back to you! Marin really dropped the ball on this one.

Given the size of the country, we assume there isn't just one dominant newspaper or radio station, so if you've like to make one up, you can! But to start you off, let's say the major West Coast newspaper is The Wizarding Times and the major East Coast newspaper is The New York Oracle. Both have nationwide circulation.

As for the wireless, it still works roughly the same as it does in the UK. You need a wizard radio to tune in, and while some models are portable, they're definitely not as small or slick as an iPod. From Gooseberry, the one radio station the kids will be able to reach is WZRD-FM, which primarily broadcasts the top hits in wizard music.

(Students can still use their muggle iPods and digital music players at school, but weirdly, the reception for muggle radio stations becomes terrible once you cross the anti-Apparition field that surrounds the school for miles around.)

And you can feel free to invent whatever wizard musicians or bands you'd like. :)

[goosemods]

Ohoho, a question for the Canadian mod.

Short answer: We don't have any particulars for the Canadian wizard government, aside from it being similar in function and structure to the British MoM. If you wanted to make up some details for your character's history, feel free!

Long answer: So my gut feeling is, given how Canada is a Commonwealth country, the government would actually be called the Canadian Ministry of Magic, and share EVEN MORE similarities with how the British MoM works than the MACUSA does. The MACUSA differences we've defined for our game canon mostly have to do with how much bigger the population is compared to the UK, and Canada's population is about half that of the UK, so... Canada probably doesn't need provincial representatives or anything like that. BUT, if you have some different ideas, we're pretty open to discussing that. :)

[gdilevi]

Perrrfect. Canada being similar to the British MoM makes it wayyyy easier for my lazy ass since the departments are already laid out for us.

OKAY, SECOND QUESTION:

For the character that I'm apping, I've written her mom as trying to climb the ranks of the ministry for about 34 years now with her sights set on becoming Minister. Would it be okay to have her mother as the Canadian MoM's equivalent of the Senior Undersecretary or is that giving this NPC too much power? Would that position even be called that?

[goosemods]

That would be okay! We discussed it and feel you can be trusted with that. :) Also, we're terrible at naming things, so you can go ahead with Senior Undersecretary, unless you come up with something better.

[goosemods]

1) It's totally fine to app for them now! You can just wait until after you've returned to intro him, and if you've put yourself on hiatus for your trip, he'll be exempt from AC. (Also, Italy!!!! Have fun. c:)

2) So, generally speaking, this game isn't very Pottermore-compliant, but we do want to maintain the magic rules established by JKR. That said, part of the conceit of Gooseberry is that students will be trying to invent "new canon" (spells, potions, devices, etc.), so... we are open to new things, and we do like the idea of incorporating some other magical traditions.

What this means for you is yes, you can pursue your Traiteur idea, but we'll need you to clearly detail in your app a) what your character is capable of doing right now that would be considered unconventional, and b) what your character hopes to be able to do in the future, as part of the Traiteur tradition. We will check that to see if it contradicts any standing rules about how magic works in HP, and may veto or ask for changes on things we think are too powerful. And then, once accepted, if you ever need to deviate from what you've written (i.e. he improves his abilities, or you want to add a new power or clarify how something works), you'll have to run it by us.

Does that sound fair?

[dank.insanejournal.com]

Are birds like macaws allowed or would they be too big?

[goosemods]

Macaws would be allowed, but they would have to reside in the owlery with the other large birds, which may be an issue for such social animals. But if a character is willing to make the effort to run down to see their parrot frequently, then it's within the rules. Birds smaller than a conure, for instance, are allowed to stay in cabins as long as they have an appropriate cage.

[cheerpowers]

Sorry to bug you lovely mods! Tis I, Callie the annoying, with a probably dumb question!

I'm writing Veronica, and she is a big time overachiever who has to be involved in ALL OF THE THINGS. I want to give her an advanced study, because she would take one even if it wasn't necessarily a smart idea, but the only one she would take is Animagus Studies. (Divination, well she doesn't want to be a Seer so I doubt she'd be granted permission to sign up. Occulmency, she doesn't take DADA so I don't see her being invited. She's in the Choir club, but is pretty awful so I doubt she'd be invited to music.) Any ideas on how to help? Although it's no big deal if I have to tell her that she can't do that thing lol

[goosemods]

Hey Callie! There are no dumb questions, so don't worry about it. :)

So, first of all, we're willing to grant Veronica an exception for Animagus Studies! We like how it works with her overachiever concept, and just have a few thoughts on that.

First of all, Advanced Studies are always challenging. Eight classes plus Animagus Studies is "I'm about to have a mental breakdown" territory, but not impossible. However, given the number of extracurriculars Veronica is into and how it seems like she is extremely involved in all of them, seven classes plus Animagus Studies seems like it'll be plenty taxing on her. We figure you do want to give Veronica an extremely demanding schedule, but still suggest you drop a couple of classes if you're going to take Animagus Studies for her.