RP thread guidelines
The following are guidelines. You are encouraged to use common sense when interpreting them.
[HEADING=3]Guidelines for game hosts.[/HEADING]
A role-playing game requires someone in control of the direction of the thread whether it is a storyteller, a Dungeon Master, a Keeper, or whatever you want to call it. That means there needs to be a person directing the story. You may have multiple hosts if you coordinate your efforts into a cohesive story.
Do a search before posting a new RP thread. Has this been done before? Be polite and ask people before borrowing their ideas within reason. That is to say a "Ghostbusters RP" is not copyrighted, but having two going at once is a little much, don't you think?
You should refrain from hosting too many games. Obviously, we don't know how much time you have to put into a game so we'll leave that up to you. Be sensible, if you're already pretty busy, hosting a bunch of RP threads is probably unreasonable.
Make commitments! Don't walk away from your thread for a week without saying anything. You owe it to your players to tell them what's going on. If you have bitten off more than you can chew, there is no dishonour in admitting it. Users who repeatedly make RP threads and walk away from them will be treated as spammers.
Remember that you are on a forum, not a chat program. Adjust your mechanics accordingly.
Hosts should encourage interaction over mechanics. Posts like ?I try to hit him with my mace of goblin hitting +1? are not as interesting as fully-fledged interaction between players. If you?re struggling for a diceless role-playing system I suggest ?Amber?s rule-set? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Diceless_Roleplaying_Game]. There are lots of ways to provide players with mechanics without dice. Do some research, the tools are out there!
If you want your upcoming RP event listed on the community map please feel free to PM me with details about the sort of story you are telling, when it begins, and how many players you need.
[HEADING=3]Guidelines for players.[/HEADING]
Please limit ?OOC:? posts. Instead use the forum?s private messaging system, IM or IRC to other players to see if they are online, convey things that shouldn?t be read by other players, or communicate outside of a group. If you need to communicate with multiple people at once our private messaging system allows for up to five users to be mailed at once by separating their names with a comma. (example: Darth Mobius, Eggo, Alex_P)
Don't bite off more than you can chew. You are responsible for part of the story, if you don't show up when you say you will you are not only hurting the host of the game, but all the forum members who are participating.
Create interesting, believable, characters that aren't just badass assassins/ninjas/horny toads. Your character is not his weapons, clothes, or Gucci sunglasses.
Self-Moderation in Forum Games and RP
The issue of moderation in Role-Playing and Forum Games is a tough one. It's too difficult for a moderator to tackle an infraction without clear context (bar the very obvious stuff). As a result we encourage the GM to exercise a degree of self-moderation over his game.
Self-moderation is a neverending job, like looking after a child. When accepting players you should be familiar with their posting history in the forum before you accept them. As a GM, the screening process is the foundation of how well your RP will run, so don't be lenient when picking players. A veteran roleplayer who has a penchant for derailing threads will never be as fun to play with as the newbie who hasn't played much but delivers everytime.
In the actual RP itself it comes down to good co-operation between GM and Players to maintain a flowing storyline. If a player gets off-topic then nudge them back, if they do it consistently send them a PM before calling the Mod Squad. Having a user group set up to deal with moderation matters and OOC chat is very effective and a method used by some of the more successful roleplays we've had over the years.
If a user hijacks the RP and tries to join in then the best option is to ignore him and continue playing after messaging a moderator. The moderator will delete all posts by this person and deal with him/her appropriately.
The report button should only be used when a user comes in and starts breaking normal forum rules (flaming users, posting porn, etc.). These will be treated as normal infractions and dealt with immediately.
Maintaining a roleplaying game is not an easy job and you should be committed to it before you create it. It's a case of "What you put in, you get out." so please put some effort in from the beginning in controlling your games.
Have fun ~Sevre90210
Special thanks to Higurashi for playing consult.
Q&A
Q: Can I tack an "OOC" message onto the end of a character interaction post?
A: Sure. As long as it doesn't make the thread harder to read in general.
Q: Does this mean that I can only have one RP going at a time?
A: No, you may have as many as you can run effectively. Though we warn you strongly that having many failed RP's may result in you being treated as a spammer.
Q: Can we RP adult situations?
A: Depends on your definition of adult I suppose. There will be absolutely no NSFW content role-played here. Take that to PM if you feel you must.
These guidelines are open to suggestions and comments. Also, feel free to ask questions here or via PM. We will post them and their answers if they are pertinent.
The following are guidelines. You are encouraged to use common sense when interpreting them.
[HEADING=3]Guidelines for game hosts.[/HEADING]
A role-playing game requires someone in control of the direction of the thread whether it is a storyteller, a Dungeon Master, a Keeper, or whatever you want to call it. That means there needs to be a person directing the story. You may have multiple hosts if you coordinate your efforts into a cohesive story.
Do a search before posting a new RP thread. Has this been done before? Be polite and ask people before borrowing their ideas within reason. That is to say a "Ghostbusters RP" is not copyrighted, but having two going at once is a little much, don't you think?
You should refrain from hosting too many games. Obviously, we don't know how much time you have to put into a game so we'll leave that up to you. Be sensible, if you're already pretty busy, hosting a bunch of RP threads is probably unreasonable.
Make commitments! Don't walk away from your thread for a week without saying anything. You owe it to your players to tell them what's going on. If you have bitten off more than you can chew, there is no dishonour in admitting it. Users who repeatedly make RP threads and walk away from them will be treated as spammers.
Remember that you are on a forum, not a chat program. Adjust your mechanics accordingly.
Hosts should encourage interaction over mechanics. Posts like ?I try to hit him with my mace of goblin hitting +1? are not as interesting as fully-fledged interaction between players. If you?re struggling for a diceless role-playing system I suggest ?Amber?s rule-set? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Diceless_Roleplaying_Game]. There are lots of ways to provide players with mechanics without dice. Do some research, the tools are out there!
If you want your upcoming RP event listed on the community map please feel free to PM me with details about the sort of story you are telling, when it begins, and how many players you need.
[HEADING=3]Guidelines for players.[/HEADING]
Please limit ?OOC:? posts. Instead use the forum?s private messaging system, IM or IRC to other players to see if they are online, convey things that shouldn?t be read by other players, or communicate outside of a group. If you need to communicate with multiple people at once our private messaging system allows for up to five users to be mailed at once by separating their names with a comma. (example: Darth Mobius, Eggo, Alex_P)
Don't bite off more than you can chew. You are responsible for part of the story, if you don't show up when you say you will you are not only hurting the host of the game, but all the forum members who are participating.
Create interesting, believable, characters that aren't just badass assassins/ninjas/horny toads. Your character is not his weapons, clothes, or Gucci sunglasses.
Self-Moderation in Forum Games and RP
The issue of moderation in Role-Playing and Forum Games is a tough one. It's too difficult for a moderator to tackle an infraction without clear context (bar the very obvious stuff). As a result we encourage the GM to exercise a degree of self-moderation over his game.
Self-moderation is a neverending job, like looking after a child. When accepting players you should be familiar with their posting history in the forum before you accept them. As a GM, the screening process is the foundation of how well your RP will run, so don't be lenient when picking players. A veteran roleplayer who has a penchant for derailing threads will never be as fun to play with as the newbie who hasn't played much but delivers everytime.
In the actual RP itself it comes down to good co-operation between GM and Players to maintain a flowing storyline. If a player gets off-topic then nudge them back, if they do it consistently send them a PM before calling the Mod Squad. Having a user group set up to deal with moderation matters and OOC chat is very effective and a method used by some of the more successful roleplays we've had over the years.
If a user hijacks the RP and tries to join in then the best option is to ignore him and continue playing after messaging a moderator. The moderator will delete all posts by this person and deal with him/her appropriately.
The report button should only be used when a user comes in and starts breaking normal forum rules (flaming users, posting porn, etc.). These will be treated as normal infractions and dealt with immediately.
Maintaining a roleplaying game is not an easy job and you should be committed to it before you create it. It's a case of "What you put in, you get out." so please put some effort in from the beginning in controlling your games.
Have fun ~Sevre90210
Special thanks to Higurashi for playing consult.
Q&A
Q: Can I tack an "OOC" message onto the end of a character interaction post?
A: Sure. As long as it doesn't make the thread harder to read in general.
Q: Does this mean that I can only have one RP going at a time?
A: No, you may have as many as you can run effectively. Though we warn you strongly that having many failed RP's may result in you being treated as a spammer.
Q: Can we RP adult situations?
A: Depends on your definition of adult I suppose. There will be absolutely no NSFW content role-played here. Take that to PM if you feel you must.
These guidelines are open to suggestions and comments. Also, feel free to ask questions here or via PM. We will post them and their answers if they are pertinent.
