You hammer out the final rules, knowing that even if you don't keep to them, they'll at least keep the players in line. Strict time limits mean you won't have to deal with people going on, and on, and on, and on. Honestly, it's kind of interesting, in a sort of clinical onlooker way, how absolutely incestuous Night One syndrome can get in other,
lesser games. The entire game just getting together in a single bar, or restaurant, or random dock, talking at each other for weeks on end, always going just a little bit far enough that the GM would feel unreasonable cutting them off. Well, not you. Those who don't post, die. Those who don't wrap things up get cut off. Honestly, a part of you is excited to cut some dumbass off in the middle of his grand argument with some other player. Too bad, so sad, 'Moon Cell set you in Day mode and reset everyone's locations to the starting point'. Or, well, it'd be something else, wouldn't it? You'll figure it out anyways.
Hopefully, though, only allowing Masters will weed out the worst complainers. People who really,
really want to live out their power fantasies won't bother applying unless they can play as Servants. It's just as well, too, since you're going to be limiting applications. You know that there's going to be a bunch of people horny for a Fate game, and while you probably wouldn't have enough to staff a whole-ass Moon Cell war, you're pretty sure there's enough to do a chunk of the Masters. You add those to the recruitment post and watch people roll in. For, like, an hour, then you get bored and watch old men yell at movies like they're demented on YouTube. Which, honestly, they may be? Some of the jokes on the videos seem less intentional than is comfortable.
The next few days pass without issue, but eventually you decide that you do, actually, have to start reading through people's applications. You skim through them, and most seem pretty acceptable - not offensive enough to reject, not interesting enough to like, but good enough fodder for the NPC Servants to kill to up the stakes. I mean, they don't think you're just going to sit there and care about most of these people, do they? All that matters is that you have enough people. A few of them, however, stand out. For good or for ill, you'll have to decide whether or not to accept their applications as they are.
Choose how many applicants to reject and who
[ ] Reject [X] number of applicants
[ ] Daedalus applying as Felicia Flemming
- Daedalus is an old friend of yours, which means you can see a half-assed application when you see it. He obviously doesn't think this is worth putting REAL effort in, which is why it's just some paper-thin character that's an excuse to be a buff punch wizard. Who does he think he's fooling with this? The character is practically wearing a french flag as a cape and screaming "I wish to be Napoleon the Fourth!!!". You mean, not that you can blame him, it is kind of a cool idea. You just wish he'd have like, a little more class in pandering to his blatant tastes. Who uses a fleur-de-lis as a polearm?
[ ] Beyond The Boundary applying as TOHSAKA
- "TOHSAKA" is a Counter Guardian version of Tokiomi Tohsaka, who Beyond The Boundary is describing as a tall, dark, and handsome character in a suit and fancy hat. BTB is going heavy on the description of TOHSAKA's stellar gem magecraft, general knowledge of the mystic arts, and money. Actually, he put "Money: EX" on the character sheet as a skill, which is kind of odd considering what you know about the Tohsaka's from Carnival Phantasm. You're not really sure how BTB plans on having TOHSAKA be summoned in the first place, but he says he's going to summon another Servant once he's there because Counter Guardian's are different, or something. Honestly, it seems like there's a lot of narrative chaff that he's laying down to justify summoning an actual Servant. Apparently TOHSAKA is possessing...the actual Tokiomi? Or something? Honestly you don't really like the dude in general but you've never seen something specifically bad about his writing, so he might deserve at least a shot.
[ ] MiamiVice98 applying as Tomoko Yamatashi
- You've never heard of this MiamiVice guy, but they've written a pretty good character. A Japanese Master, because of course they are, but for once it's actually pretty thoughtful. It's obvious they've put a lot of thought into the folklore of Shintoism, and made a point of trying to keep everything as thematically tied together as possible. A magic shrine maiden is not particularly original, as an idea, but the depth of research that's gone into this honestly makes you feel kind of bad, knowing it was an application to something that's just people fighting on the moon. Your only real problem with the character is that MiamiVice has made a point of how aggressively traditionalist the character is, and you're worried they're gonna get too far into the character and something bad'll happen.
[ ] Daggerfall applying as Alberta Gregorsdottr
- Another friend of yours, Daggerfall's actually put thought into her character. A dark, brooding loner, filled with eldritch magics and longing for a chance to use them. The ancient power of warp and weft, sewn together into a patchwork of magecraft that is not good for much except putting herself back together and taking other apart. A deep malice in action and cold demeanor, hiding the fact that Alberta is a deeply damaged individual who cannot, fundamentally, relate to others. Honestly, your main worries are that the character is, while narratively speaking great, a bit underpowered, and the fact that you kind of doubt the other people in the game are actually going to be capable of talking on the same level as her. You get the feeling it's going to be a bit like sending a shark into a goldfish tank, so to speak, and while it'll be a fun read the system doesn't reward the better writer by definition.
[ ] RokurokuXxX applying as Sirno
- You're pretty sure this is just a reference to some anime bullshit you've never heard of. Why is this red haired girl with diamond spikes flying around here? Why does this person have like, 20 reference images? What the fuck is going on? Anyways, they've got like, fire powers, or whatever, and they fly around and shoot like, fireballs and shit. You're pretty sure this Roku guy is a high schooler, considering they're both writing reams of text while also having awful prose and not great spelling.
[ ] David applying as Bowser
- Okay, this is just, literally Bowser. Like, transported to another world. Deadass it's just...Bowser. You're not sure if-did they apply to the wrong game? Did they misread the thread?? You've asked them for clarification but they're just saying that like, it's an interpretation of Arthurian myth, maaaaan. You really don't understand it. Anyways, you know this guy has like, a swarm of fans, and he takes rejection real harshly, so you're gonna have to be careful if you don't let him in. Otherwise, it's gonna be, uh, messy.
[ ] Homerian applying as Grey
- Being honest, you really don't like this guy. They've blatantly cheated in previous games, but the guy running just let it slide, so she got off scot free. Now, they're applying to your game as uh...that one character that hangs out with Waver and looks like Saber, you guess. You could just publicly dump on them and reject their application...or you could let them in and see if they cheated again. Now, kicking them out then would be really satisfying.
[ ] Biggles applying as Che Guevara the IVth
- This guy...this guy really grates on you. Dude is a legitimate neo-nazi that has managed to stay on the board by keeping all his vile stuff on private discord servers and private messages. On the site itself, dude is clean as a whistle, and while not super well-liked by anyone that actually knows him well does decently enough. Normally you wouldn't want to deal with his shit, but maybe just not inviting him to the discord will make things easier. You mean, how bad could he be if he can't talk to the other players where the Mods can't see him? It might work, right? Just...ignore the fact that it's a weird genderbend clone thing.
[ ] EveryDayUntilYouLikeIt applying as Shinji Matou
- Now this guy has some serious commitment to the bit. On the other hand, they're applying as Shinji Matou. Not even the tiny gamer Shinji - it's just, Shinji Matou. Seaweed and all.