Rules/Gameplay

[Admin]

Oh gross! It is THIS section of the Roleplay Forum!

Yes, we all know the rules are not a fun thing to read, and frankly? Many of them tend to be the same on most roleplay forums across the internet. However, as daunting as it can be, and as boring a read, much of this is tailored specifically to this website, and must be understood. To apply to this website, is to agree to abide by all following rules. You will be expected to follow them, and any breaches of conduct can have repercussions.

For starters, we are an intermediate to advanced RP group: that means that, while Players don't have to be English-Teacher-perfect, they are expected to write literate tags; to use a spell checker, correct grammar and write in complete sentences in their tags. In-Character (IC) Posts must contain more than dialogue, and be of at least a paragraph in length. Please do not write in text speak and do use full complete sentences, punctuation and grammar. A good rule of thumb is to always offer something new for others to respond to beyond words.

1. Conduct

How you handle yourself Out of Character [OOC] is very important. Be polite and respectful of posts, Private Messages, and the S-Box at all times. Your characters can be jerks, your character can be downright EVIL! But In Character needs to stay In Character. In short, be decent to others, this is meant to be a laid back and fun community where you can roleplay with others. Let's keep it that way!

2. Shout Out Box [S-Box]

The S-Box is our chat box, located at the very bottom of the website. It's our place for players and potential players to chat, talk, and have fun OOC. It's pretty easy going and we aim to keep it that way so please keep the following rules in mind while bouncing around our chat box.

• Please choose a name to represent yourself and stay to it. We request that you provide a handle/name in your app for this reason, so people can chat with you and know who is who. For non-members, feel free to say hi in C-Box under your online handle, whatever that might be, and stick to it as well so we can tell you from our other visitors.

• Keep OOC and IC separate. When you are IC switch to that handle in the S-Box and switch back out when you are OOC or give a very clear distinction that you are now OOC. If a mean character says something mean IC do not take that as an attack by the OOC player. This applies to in game posts as well as S-Box:

• Do not ever misrepresent yourself as another player in the S-Box. That is not tolerated.

• No racial, ethnic, religious, gender, s*xuality, ability/ disability based comments or jokes. No criticizing others beliefs or lifestyles. In general it is good to avoid said subjects, but if you think that you're capable of talking about them without taking offense or giving offense then that's fine. However, if someone requests that the conversation end, please do so.

3. No Godmodding, Puppetting, or Auto Hitting

This is a Roleplay golden rule number one! You will be hard pressed to find a forum that does not hold this as an absolute necessity, and we are no exception.

In regards to Puppeting, the only characters you may play is your own, and official Non-Player Characters, AKA NPCs. You may NEVER make a character belonging to another player do anything without permission. An example is handing them a cup, and in your post saying they took it from your character's hands. This may only take place with the other Player's permission, for example to speed up an action scene. To do otherwise will result in a warning from the Mods.

Auto Hitting is one that is a bit self explanatory. In short, if your character is coming into direct physical contact with another, or acting in a way that will impact the other, you need to allow for reactions. For example, in a fight scene if you intend to hit their character, it needs to be an attempt or have a possible 'out' set up, allowing the player to decide whether or not their character is affected. You should never ASSUME an attack will hit.

The last, and arguably worst of the bad RP behaviors is Godmoding, where you never allow your character to be caught or hit, including creating new abilities for them out of the blue in order to 'win'. Roleplaying isn't about winning; it is about everyone having fun together by telling an interactive shared story. It's your choice if your character does or does not get harmed or foiled, but you must remember that no one succeeds 100% of the time. If you wish to join to be the best of the best character that will trounce everyone who crosses their paths, and be a war machine on the battlefield that is incapable of being harmed? Than look elsewhere.

4. Episodes/Liquid Timeline

Every site handles its timeline differently. Some move in real time, others slow it down and have their own custom calendars; in contrast, we handle the timeline in Episodes. What this means is that each 'Episode' houses one to two months, and is framed traditionally in larger events to act as a climax. These are released when needed, meaning that if the site as a whole slows down, the story will not progress and leave everyone scrambling! In contrast if people are quick and chugging along, new story can be implemented and a new Episode posted.

It is your responsibility to ensure your character is not in two places at the same time within these Episodes. Everyone makes mistakes, of course, but if you set a date from your threads from the onset, you will minimize the need of having to relocate a thread. The Mods go to a lot of trouble to keep the Timeline (located HERE) organized and up-to-date, but we cannot do that without your help. If a scene has been omitted or placed out of sequence, please leave the Mods a note requesting that it be added or the position changed. If you do have to move a thread within the Timeline, always check with the other players involved – it affects their characters' timelines, not just yours.


The liquid timeline allows characters to be up to four threads at once, so you can have more time roleplaying your characters!

5. Making Posts

Titles for threads should be formatted in a specific way to help people understand where in the timeline it is, and who all may be involved within. The formatting for this is to list the Episode number, the name of the thread, and then a bracket with 'Closed' or 'Open' within it. An Open thread is one that any character that has access to that area may join in and interact at any time. Closed in contrast, is a set cast, and only individuals that are invited may join.

If a thread is set to 'Open' it is often courteous to still send a PM or ask in the C-box if your character may join.

When you make a new thread, it is a requirement that you post a Time Stamp at the top of the actual post so that the Moderators know where on the Episode Timeline (located HERE) to put your thread. This needs to include the Episode, week, and day number. You do not need to add a time of day, though it would be helpful for organizing multiple threads and make you a Mod's best friend!

Remember to always correctly place and identify your threads location. If the thread is going to change locales, you can either choose one thread, or split off to a new one entierly. If the thread is in a specific section of a larger area (for example, in Mirky Ponds within the Dark Forest sub-forum) specify that as well.

The one exception when labeling threads are Flashbacks. Flashbacks are threads that occur outside the normal timeline of Episodes and Inter-Episodes, and thus replaces the Episode number with 'Flashback'. They must still be placed under the correct location on the Board, and it is appreciated if an OOC note is included at the start to roughly state when in the past it is, so it can be applied to the timeline properly.

6. Posting Requirements

Every player has a responsibility to post regularly for their character(s) so as not to hold up threads (and plot) unduly to the detriment of other peoples' play. Activity checks are carried out behind the scenes weekly by the Mods to ensure that characters aren't left gathering dust, and are tagging regularly to engage with plot and fellow players. A 'tag' is defined as an IC prose post in a thread. It is not an OOC post (such as fanart), and posts not written in-character do not count in activity checks.

Inquiries are sent if the minimum tagging requirement is not met, and they're always sent via email from the Mod email account to the email listed in each character's bio. Only the players who have missed their checks or show bad habits will receive an email. If there is not a post made before the next check, a second and final warning will be issued. After these two strikes the Mods reserve the right to deactivate the offending account upon the third strike without further notice and put characters up for adoption or remove them from plot lines. In-game, this will either be through the death of the character or a complete ret-con if they had only minimal play.

When it comes to how many threads a character may have, we expect players to know their own limits. That means, don't overload yourself and don't overload other players. A good rule of thumb is maybe 3-4 threads per character for players at the four-character limit. Meanwhile, a 1-character player might want to have 6 or 7 active scenes if RPing full speed - or a player may drop to 1 thread per character if they are busy outside of the game. Generally we trust players to manage themselves.

7. Writing and Engaging other Players

As an intermediate to advanced RP site, much of the below information will be refreshers. However, a peek through this area will not hurt, and can acquaint you with what we expect here on this particular forum.

Online writing RPGs are a form of interactive community storytelling to create something as a team, and as such you should set yourself up to properly engage with others. The best ways to enrich a post to contribute to this is to describe your character's setting, thoughts and feelings as well as their actions as speech (though dialogue is not required in every post of course). This makes posts more engaging, and indicates to the other player(s) in the thread what to expect and how they might react. It also gives them more to reply to!

Within posts, always use quotation marks ("text") to indicate dialogue. Italics, underline and bolding can be used to differentiate comm. chatter, emphasis or recalled dialogue or events. However, coloring, bolding, italicizing, underlining, or anything else does not take the place of quotation marks and proper punctuation. Some forum members are reading on plain text mobile apps. Write it with proper punctuation first, then add in any bells and whistles.

This said, it is not necessary to directly quote any dialogue from the previous post. Another player may find it irritating if you break up their character's dialogue with your own by rewriting it in their own post.

All writing should be in the past tense (‘said' rather than ‘says').

Each player must write with a restricted point of view. - that is, from the perspective of their own character. You cannot claim knowledge of the thoughts of other PCs or NPCs if there is no reason to be able to do so. When writing your posts, pretend that your character has a little camera attached to their head that can see everything they do and can read their thoughts. You can't know the thoughts or actions of other PCs or NPCs unless your character can somehow see/hear them.

Another good tip is to always give other Players a chance to respond to your dialogue, rather than launching into sweeping monologues or presuming that they've answered in a specific way.

Lastly, mind the thread's Posting Order. This is the order in which player's first post in a new thread. It is essentially taking turns, and posting order should be maintained to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to play. It is your responsibility to keep track of your own place in the Posting Order. You can skip your turn if you wish to, or if it makes more sense to the thread’s action, but always notify your fellow players as soon as possible if you’re doing so. A player may also be skipped if they have not posted in a long time and are holding up the thread, but always PM them before you do so. They might simply have forgotten about the thread. If you are not sure whether a Player is inactive or not, always feel free to ask a Mod.

8. Consequences of a character's actions

Please don't bang up your characters just for the sake of it, and if you do, remember consequences. At the application stage, we weed out any statements of invulnerability or 'exceptionally high pain threshold' as these overpower characters and give individuals a very unfair advantage. If characters are getting injured and then are totally fine in their next (chronological) thread, then it's as if they have super-healing or invulnerability - which we spend a lot of time negotiating out. Damage doesn't mean anything if there are no consequences.

Significant damage sustained must be role-played out in threads that follow on the timeline. If you get injured beyond a 'mesh wound', you'll be bound to your respective base for a minimum of three days. If this disregard for the consequences of in-game action continues, then a rule will be brought in and enforced.

However, you don't need to write repairs in-thread EVERY time you're injured. They can happen off-screen, as repair threads get very repetitive for the players of medics. Figuring out the details and type of repairs can be done through PM's if desired. There are more to medic characters than the profession, and their players would like to reflect that.

9. Mature Content

Please please PLEASE take it to pm. Or, mark the thread mature. Anything above pg-13 to low-R material is not allowed!

10. Avatars

Avatars at a maximum can be 150/150 pixels large, and any shape in-between. Larger images may be used, but Proboards will scale it down automatically and sometimes squish them, causing the image to not look as nice as initially hoped. While animated avatars are not prohibited, please do not use anything too intrusive or distracting. A strobing image with bright colors may look nice for a moment, but trying to read your post with that in the corner of an eye can be a bit of a chore!

In addition, please try to keep your avatar's relevant to your character. We understand not everyone can make one themselves, and that people may not have pocket artists to ask for help, but we would like it if the avatar is at least somewhat relevant to your character. Whatever it is, just remember this is what everyone will see and associate with your character, and isn't so much a representation of you OOC.

You may request an avatar in the graphics section if you can't find one.

While we do not prohibit the use of colored text, sticking to the conventional default can be smart. Do keep in mind that there are several wildly different color scheme themes available on this forum and yellow text might look great on the default black background but be completely unreadable on one of the other themes. This said, uses of obscenely vibrant colors are banned. They will vibrate painfully on screen and be difficult to read.

This said, Postscripts are not permitted at this time. Postscripts are table containers including a header and footer image, with custom backdrop colors or textures, and custom font, font colors and text. It effectively makes a mini window inside the primary window, and bloats the page with needless graphics. It also can make it difficult to read, white Postscripts burning to the eyes on a dark website.

11. Additional Characters

Let's say you are a member of this site already, but you would like to apply as a second character. This is completely acceptable and encouraged! It can allow you to get involved with more plots and storylines on the site, as well as interact with people you otherwise would not have been able to. At this time we allow people to have a maximum of four characters to their name. This rule is generally enforced to the dot, but there have been cases of exceptional players being given a fifth when their activity is far beyond the norm with their current four. Do not count on this as being an option however.

After you have a character accepted, you must roleplay with them for one month's time before being eligible for your next. If you however have invested interest in a Show Canon, and fear it being taken in the meantime while your month is passing, you may send the application and have it on hold temporarily.

12. OOC Alias Account

Create an account to communicate with others separate from your IC account. Each character you make you will dedicate a new account to