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GamePlayLG

Gameplay is, of course, important to any ARG. Without players discovering new secrets and updates, the story would not progress. This page contains the multitude of ways one can play Johnisdead.

General

Below are various different ways of interacting with the ARG.

Checking for Updates

There's no sure-fire way to know when an update will happen. They're likely to happen on important dates such as November 11th and April 23rd, but that's about it. It's important to check the various canon sources of information often. For a full list of these sources, check the Canon Sources page.

Also, make sure you know how to check the page source. This can be done on most browsers by right clicking and selecting "View page source". Doing this will show you the raw html used to create the page. The GM's will often hide secret messages in the html. This is also an easy way to see all of the images and audio used on a page.

/key592/

This page has been an important place for gathering information during updates, as well as letting us know if we've gotten something wrong in the past. Updates often, especially during gameplay, and is always wiped clean shortly after discovery.

pididoip@johnisdead.com

Also known as "K", this email account can be used to ask questions. It should be noted that there are an untold amount of entities that respond to emails sent to "K", it is difficult to get the same one twice, and not all entities posses information.

Song Powers

Just like in Jadusable's ARG, players can submit various Ocarina Songs from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. These songs will have various effects on the ARG and its characters.

Oath to Order

Oath to Order

First song used in the ARG, started the game. Presumably killed Doug because it was submitted too early.

Song of Storms

SongofStorms

Used to make it start and stop raining.

Song of Time

SongofTime

Used to rewind time, allowing us to "start again. This was used several times during The Truth Arc to repeatedly reset the three day cycle of Youshouldnthavedonethat.net.

Epona's Song

EponasSong

Used to stabilize Patrem's communication with us on Within Hubris. It also later let us contact Helper on the lunar children forums.

Bolero of Fire

BoleroofFire

Used by the Lunar Children to set Tyler's work station on fire.

New Wave Bossa Nova

New-wave-bossa-nova

When used by the players, this song brought forth new characters in the game.

Mask Powers

Mask powers can effect the ARG and characters just like Songs can, usually displaying the same effects they did in Majora's Mask.

Mask of Truth

Mask of Truth

When used, it made Doug speak to us in a "trance like" state.

Bunny Hood

Bunny Hood

This mask allowed us to hear corrupted audios clearer.

Kamarao's Mask

Kamaros Mask

When used, it gave Mason a strong urge to dance.

Stone Mask

Stone Mask

When used, it made Doug invisible to his schoolmates. It also made Tyler invisible when escaping from the Lunar Children.

Item Powers

Item powers can effect the ARG and characters just like Songs can, usually displaying the same effects they did in Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time.

Lens of Truth

Lens of Truth

This item allowed us to see things hidden in images.

Ciphers

Ciphers are codes that hide secret messages. There are various techniques for solving ciphers. Most ciphers simply require decoding with the appropriate settings.

Decoding

The basic act of solving a cipher. This is simply posting the cipher into the appropriate decoding tool and getting your answer. Sometimes the cipher will solve into another cipher, which you will then have to solve as well.

Garbage Deletion

Some ciphers contain 'garbage', which is extra text that stops the cipher from solving correctly. The best way to get around this is to simply familiarize yourself with how each type of cipher should look so you can easily spot anything that looks out of place. For example, the following OCT cipher has some garbage in it:

21667557 31020152 423 33661054 10074557 35220163 33666166 31262040 32272056

If you post this in an OCT solver, you won't receive a solution. However, if you delete the random '423' in the middle of the cipher, you'll get the following:

Good job, you solved it.

Some garbage is difficult to spot, so if you cannot solve a cipher look through the text carefully for anything that seems out of place.

Replacing

This technique is fairly self explanatory and very similar to garbage deletion. Sometimes when you see out of place text in ciphers, it needs to be replaced with something instead of being outright deleted. Take the following, for example.

31333111 31131111 31131111 31133133 33133333 31131313 31131111 31133313 33131133 33133333 31111331 31131111 31113131 33133333 31113311 31131111 31131133 31113113 31133131 31133133 33133333 31131331 31113133 33131113

This is obviously a binary cipher, but all of the zeroes have been replaced with threes. All we need to do is replace the threes with zeroes, which can easily be done in most text editors.

01000111 01101111 01101111 01100100 00100000 01101010 01101111 01100010 00101100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101100 01110110 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00101110

Now we decode it...

Good job, you solved it.

And that's all there is to it.

Reversing

This is a very simple way of obscuring cipher solutions. Some ciphers have been reversed, meaning you'll have to post the cipher in reverse in order to solve it. The binary cipher below has been reversed:

01110100 00101110 10010110 00000100 00100110 10100110 01101110 00110110 11110110 11001110 00000100 10101110 11110110 10011110 00000100 00110100 01000110 11110110 01010110 00000100 00100110 11110110 11110110 11100010

If you try to post it into a binary decoder, you'll get nothing. However, if we reverse the text before decoding, we'll get the following:

Good job, you solved it.

The easiest way to know when to reverse a cipher is to, once again, familiarize yourself with how ciphers should normally look. Binary ciphers usually have each binary character begin with zero, so if you see it beginning with a bunch of ones like above, it most likely needs to be reversed. Another easy one to spot are Base64 ciphers, which usually end with an equal sign. If you see a Base64 cipher begin with an equal sign, it most likely needs to be reversed.

If you are having trouble with a cipher, sometimes simply reversing it will help immensely.

Example

Let's put all these techniques into action. The below is a cipher from a video description on Lostmemory423.

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

If you're familiar with ciphers, you will immediately recognize this as a Base64 cipher. Something stands out, though - the 'EQUALEQUAL' at the beginning. Since most Base64 ciphers contain one or more equal signs, we should know to replace these with actual equal signs.

==wMyQDIwcDNzMDMwMDI3UTMzYjMwIDIzITNycDM1IDI0YDMzQDMxIDIxUTM1MjN1EDIxATMyUDM1IDI2QDM1MDNwIDI3ETMxcDM3EDIyUDNyQDNwMDI3UDMwYDM0MDI0ATMzYDM0MDIzUDMyQDMwIDI3ITN2IjM0EDIzQDN1IDMxIDI0UDN0UDM1EDI0ATNzIjN0EDIxYTMzMjMwIDIzETN0UDN2IDIxUDMzQDMwMDI2ITN1IDN2EDI0ATNyYDN2EDI0UDMzMDNwIDI3ETMxcjN2EDIzYTNwQDN0IDIyEDN2ADM1IDIyUDM2YDMwIDIxYTN2UDN0IDI1UTNwQjM2EDIxUDNzMjMwEDI1QDNwMjN1EDIzQDN1YjMwIDIzETM1UDN0EDIxYDMyQjM3IDIyUTMxIDM2EDIwATM2MDMzMDI3UTM1MjNxIDIxATMxMjNzEDI0YDN1IjMxIDI2ITN2MjN1EDIxATN1QDN2IDIzQDN0IDNxIDI1ATN2QDN1IDIxATNwQDN0IDI0UTN3YDM1MDI2ATM2MjNxIDIzMTMyQjNyEDI0ATM3MDNyIDIzUDNyIjM0EDI3YDN3IDNyADI1EDMwcjNyEDI0ATM2YjN1EDIyYDMxQDMyIDI1ITMycjN0MDI2ATNwIjNyEDI0YTN1IDMwIDIzcDN2UDN3IDIwUTNwQDMzEDI0IzM

However, Base64 ciphers always have their equal signs at the end, so let's try reversing this.

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

Now, if we put this through a Base64 decoder, we get the following:

324 13040550 27456473 20025564 12620506 34672125 22041062 15666104 12670015 02427467 14222453 22437104 12642133 21636106 35067554 24440501 25446505 21424443 26445501 15636526 21225464 13631101 21635157 33036100 16021152 27242061 14455113 20265443 15630445 10233451 16240555 24456561 20066052 25006412 24440563 16671117 20433054 16462504 16425526 30043051 26454513 20233161 14623504 15054454 21025443 14226527 20042053 34063104 34060057 30442452 17071117 20435046 25052101 15635151 21043064 25072523 20263157 30033470 423

Once solved, we get new cipher, this time in OCT. However, the problem this time should be obvious - the 423 and 324 are the beginning and end of the cipher. Let's delete those...

13040550 27456473 20025564 12620506 34672125 22041062 15666104 12670015 02427467 14222453 22437104 12642133 21636106 35067554 24440501 25446505 21424443 26445501 15636526 21225464 13631101 21635157 33036100 16021152 27242061 14455113 20265443 15630445 10233451 16240555 24456561 20066052 25006412 24440563 16671117 20433054 16462504 16425526 30043051 26454513 20233161 14623504 15054454 21025443 14226527 20042053 34063104 34060057 30442452 17071117 20435046 25052101 15635151 21043064 25072523 20263157 30033470

...And now put it through an OCT decoder.

,Ah^];@+t+!FstUHB27lD+p
/71%+J>D+D[G<FtolRAAVMEF)#ZKA7=VE+4/2AG:ol<@8"j]D12ZKAk#71%!7)9AmR]q@l*T
RAs;rOB6,:eD:+V`F)ZYKA6q3'D4Y,D+#1-W@D+pfDp`/bE*<rOB:&TTA7:iDF4TuSAfo`78

We get yet another cipher from doing this, this time in ASCII85. If we try to decode it though, we get nothing, meaning we'll have to alter the cipher somehow. Reversing the cipher does nothing, and there's no garbage text that needs deleting.

Sometimes the solution is simpler than you might think. All we have to do here is put the entire code on a single line. Currently it is cut up into three separate lines.

,Ah^];@+t+!FstUHB27lD+p/71%+J>D+D[G<FtolRAAVMEF)#ZKA7=VE+4/2AG:ol<@8"j]D12ZKAk#71%!7)9AmR]q@l*TRAs;rOB6,:eD:+V`F)ZYKA6q3'D4Y,D+#1-W@D+pfDp`/bE*<rOB:&TTA7:iDF4TuSAfo`78

Even after doing this, we get nothing. Time to use a few of our other tricks. Let's attempt reversing the code...

87`ofASuT4FDi:7ATT&:BOr<*Eb/`pDfp+D@W-1#+D,Y4D'3q6AKYZ)F`V+:De:,6BOr;sART*l@q]RmA9)7!%17#kAKZ21D]j"8@<lo:GA2/4+EV=7AKZ#)FEMVAARlotF<G[D+D>J+%17/p+Dl72BHUtsF!+t+@;]^hA,

...And now let's solve it using an ASCII85 decoder.

He went to get the precious book from the house of the dead children
one who plays with time returned it to him
so much has changed

And there it is. The steps to solving this cipher were as follows:

  1. Replace the out of place text "EQUALEQUAL" with "=="
  2. Reverse the cipher.
  3. Solve the cipher using a Base64 decoder to receive another cipher.
  4. Remove the out of place text "423" and "324".
  5. Solve the cipher using an OCT decoder to receive another cipher.
  6. Put the cipher entirely on a single line.
  7. Reverse the cipher.
  8. Solve the cipher using an ASCII85 decoder.

Keep all of these techniques in mind while tackling unsolved ciphers.

Links

  • Paul Schou - An incredibly useful website that can solve most ciphers.
  • OTP22 - A good site that can work as an alternative to Paul Schou if, for whatever reason, Paul Schou happens to be down.
  • Cryptii - A more in-depth decoding website that features more options.
  • Rumkin - A decoding website that features more obscure ciphers, including keyed ciphers.
  • Quipquip - A brute force method of solving ciphers with varying results.
  • Text Reverse Tool - A simple tool that reverses your text.
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