Banned

Some concepts are unobtainable at Multiverse Crisis MUSH. This is an overview, not a comprehensive list. The second half of this file is dedicated to concepts that are Restricted; difficult to acquire but not strictly disallowed.

1. Real People: Unmodified portrayals of real persons. Fictionalized versions are fine.
2. Self-Inserts.
3. Comedy/Gag/Adult Source Materials: Duke Nukem, Futuarama, Space Balls, Family Guys, Simpson, etc.
4. Litigious Copyrights: A-List Disney, Mercedes Lackey, Steve Jackson games, George R. R. Martin, etc.
5. Compliance to Interactibility: If you, as a player, can't wrap your head around a character being defeatable, you don't get to play that character.
6. Character/Source Material+1: Alternate takes on source materials or their characters which render alternative takes obsolete.
7. "Correct" Source Materials: Source materials that present and validate a way of life as objectively correct in a demonstrable fashion. Approving these source materials endorses a state of all other source materials being objectively wrong for differing. Typically exemplified by children's shows and moral lesson properties.

Restricted

A restricted source material has a higher bar of execution than normal. Applications from restricted source materials are required to answer 5c. Why? on a character application, and provide the otherwise optional Section E, which can be found below.

This is divided into three sub-categories: Hard Restricted are materials we know to have endemic problems we wish to control for; Soft Restricted are known to have problems but don't always suffer from them; finally, Noticed Restricted have elements we want downplayed.

Hard Restricted

1. Cosmic: Source materials which require massive scale of influence or power to engage. Exalted, The Culture, Nobilis, etc. Also includes Cthulhu or Lovecraftian source materials, White Wolf properties, GameS Workshop properties, and similar source materials.
2. Static Source Materials: Source materials that resist player attempts to engage or change them by a core conceit of their design. White Wolf game lines, Eclipse Phase, etc.
3. Tone Mismatch: Any source material sufficiently non-compliant with our tone, such as My Little Pony, Carebears, Undertale, etc. These must be edited for tone to be restricted; they're otherwise banned.
4. Mental Health: Realistically portrayed psychological or behavioral problems.
5. Unbending Jerks: Characters whose primary method of interaction is overtly derogatory or hostile. Handsome Jack, Gregory House, Dr. Cox, GlaDOS, etc.

Soft Restricted

1. Deliberately Dense Source Materials: Source materials that create a sort of clubhouse effect by using a lot of opaque jargon or otherwise being obfuscatory. Type Moon-verse, In Nomine, White Wolf games, etc.
2. Time Travel: Self-explanatory.
3. Child Characters.

Noticed Restricted

1. Gatekeeping: Settings which require specific entities or specialist powers to interact with its problems. Includes settings progressed by 'middleman' theme exclusive concepts which players may universally interact with, but typically have no choice in the matter, such as Homestuck.
2. Wear This Mask And Don't Do Anything: Source materials where a Masquerade, or requirement of apparent total normalcy, are important to theme integrity, and which isn't self-enforcing. To be clear, this doesn't relate to settings where people 'just sort of forget' weird stuff happening.

Restricted Application Section

This is the section you append to your application if you are applying for a Restricted concept. For more information on Restricted concepts, see the Banned page's sub-headers for Restricted.

This is an extra application section for Restricted concepts. If you are applying for a RESTRICTED or BANNED concept, you must answer 1e and 2e.

1e. Intention: What do you intend to do with this character or theme? Be broad - we're looking for you to have a good handle on why the concept is Restricted (or complicated) in the first place, and what you're doing to avoid that.

Erase this line and begin writing here!

2e. Tone: What tone do you intend to use with the character or theme? Why is this tone "Good for MCM', and how does it broadly fit in with the themes and other characters of the Multiverse? If you have (or must) adjust the tone to work with MCM, what have you done to address these concerns?

Erase this line and begin writing here!

Revision Notes

Updated November of 2025

1. Cosmic Scale and Cosmic Horror compressed to a single entry in Hard Restricted.
2. Mash-Ups removed from Hard Restricted.
3. Forever Characters removed from Hard Restricted. Our policy on these hasn't changed, but they're such a specific issue that we don't need a sign to tap, and are heavily vibes-based.
4. OC Relatives of FCs removed from Hard Restricted. Our policy hasn't changed much, but this is another vibes thing where what makes it acceptable or not is a bit subjective.
5. Compressed Nasuverse and Deliberately Dense into the same entry.
6. Removed 'The Mouse Again' from Soft Restricted because Disney owns too much media to reasonably be referenced that broadly.
7. Removed MMORPGs because they're mostly a legacy problem.
8. Removed Impenetrable from Noticed Restrictions because it falls neatly under Deliberately Dense Source Materials.
9. Removed Status Quo-Yo, as it more-or-less falls into Static Source Materials.