The Highland Mists MLP RPG - READ 1: The Rules

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Nov 21, 2009, 3:33am

The Highland Mists MLP RPG :: Out Of Character :: Guidebook :: READ 1: The Rules

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Topic: READ 1: The Rules (Read 1,212 times)

Game Master (Silver Shadow)
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READ 1: The Rules
« Thread Started on Mar 29, 2005, 5:26pm »

General rules for game policy.

READ. FOLLOW. If you ask me a question that is clearly answered in the rules, my only response will be to link you to this thread. If you break the rules, you will be warned at first, and eventually banned. My patience is thin--if you break the rules consistently, even if it's just because you keep forgetting, I will ban you. You need to pay attention to this stuff.

The rules are not here to make everyone's life more complicated or difficult. They are here for a reason. Please respect them.

Please also note that the Highland Mists MLP RPG is not for beginners. We expect you to work on your characters and gameplay.

1. This game is rated PG-13. Act accordingly. This game may include topics not suitable for the youngest pony-lovers out there, such as violence, insanity and slavery. Most of us are adults and we can deal with adult topics, but if you can't, this is probably not a place for you. However, do not go too far into the adult--we do not tolerate NC-17 type of stuff here. Too vulgar or otherwise undesirable posts will be hacked into pieces with my claymore.

2. Behave. No flaming of any kind or hateful, racist etc messages. NO harassing other players in any way. This includes attacking other players verbally on the board, hostile PM'ing (indirectly or directly), continuously nagging at someone to post, etc etc. Please don't make it your personal quest to provide examples of what might constitute as bad behaviour. If you have a personal problem with someone in the game, keep it out of here, thanks. If you feel like you are being harassed, contact a moderator (Crescent, Silver Shadow or Jewel).

3. When in gameplay, please avoid long OOC (=Out of Character) conversations. Remarks I can tolerate. I do them myself. But threads that are all or half OOC will irritate me to no end. The Lounge is for off-topic-ness.

4. You may not kill or badly maim other people’s characters without their permission. Nor may you play other people’s characters without their permission. However, with permission, a player may temporarily or permanently adopt another player's characters.

5. NPCs can be played by anyone at any time anywhere. If you do not know what an NPC is, look into the Guide to New Players.

6. Your character can not be in two places at once unless it is his or her special power. NOTE: Exceptions to this rule can be made only under special circumstances (such as when some players have an unfinished scene while the entire board is being jumped forward in time). Any threads that happen in the past should be played on the Library board.

7. Mark your rp threads with a time stamp in the first post of your thread. If your thread spans for several days, make a new time stamp during every time jump. The time stamp should include a mention of the day and month in relation to the Belenian Calendar relevant to the Game Timeline (to be found from the Game Discussion). Pay attention to the time stamp when entering threads. Please note that you are not allowed to pass the "Main Storyline Gameplay Point" until the entire board moves to that point. This information can be found in the Game Timeline thread.
Example:
[[TIME: MONTH 12, DAY 30, YEAR 6000, NIGHT]]

8. Follow the RP guidelines below when you post in character (IC) for your characters.

Post content is a must! Describe your character's actions but don't just report shortly what your character is doing; try to get in his thoughts as well. What is he thinking? What is he going to do next? Any memories might come up in his mind? Elaborate as much as you can.
Stay in character.
Pay attention to grammar and punctuation in your RP narration. Mark dialogue clearly, with quotation marks. Use paragraphs. We'll all be happier. You are allowed to use accent etc effects in your characters' dialogue.
Try to avoid one-liner posts at all costs. Construct your RP posts as carefully as you can, like you're telling a story. Each IC post is expected to be at least one paragraph in length. As we all have differing views of how long a paragraph is you have some leeway here.
No chat-room type of posting - use capital letters, don't use acronyms and whatever you do, don't use spellings like plz for please etc.
Please write in the past tense and third person. (Such as "Milly walked down the road" rather than "I walk down the road".)
Separate OOC comments in your IC posts with brackets--for instance [[ ]]--and an empty row in between your OOC and IC paragraphs. Again, avoid OOC conversation in gameplay.
NO one-liners!
When you start off with a new character, either find a thread which is open and welcomes new characters to join, start your own thread or post on the Game Discussion board to look for someone who might like to start a thread with you or have ideas on where to start. Do not PM the GM for advice.
When you move from one thread to another, mark the thread from which you leave with an OOC comment like [[Cont. in the town]] and the thread into which you enter like [[Cont. from the moors]]. Add names of the threads and links to them if you can. If you have no idea where your character is going next you can just say "cont. elsewhere".
Mark your threads either as [[OPEN]] or [[CLOSED]] in the OOC comments in the first post of the thread. An open thread means anyone can join in, a closed rp means that only those given permission by the players may enter. Closed rps should also include a list of players who are allowed to enter at the beginning (it is presumed that if people are involved in a closed thread, they will know which characters to bring).
When a thread is considered ended, add an OOC comment [[END THREAD]] to the end of the last post. These threads will be locked by the moderators.
Check OOC markings (time stamp most particularly) before joining in a thread.
For information on storylining (=what do do with your characters), see Storylines.
This should go without saying, but before entering ANY thread, make sure that your character has a justification to being there. Some locations, for instance, are restricted partially or fully. Always check the location information (Lands and Locations board). Even with a new character you can't just jump in anywhere on the board, you must have a reason for your character being there (for example, Castle of Mists is highly restricted and ponies don't just wander in there randomly).

See the Sample RP post for an example of correct markings on a thread. (It's a silly story, but you get the idea.)

9. Never post in an RP for an unstamped character. (Unless it's an NPC.)

10. NO posting on other people's character threads on the Character Profiles or the Gathering board unless you are a stamper (Crescent and Silver Shadow), for the simple reason that it will get messy. If you have something to say about a character, please PM either the person or myself - or if you just want to throw in a friendly comment, you can always post it at the Lounge. Let's make us stampers' life a little easier, shall we? Thank you.

11. You must be a registered member logged in before you can post anywhere on this forum. The only exception is the Game Discussion board.

12. All unused accounts will be deleted within a month of their creation if they are not activated/used regularly. In other words, if you register an account at this RPG but you don't activate it or create a character and start playing within a month, your account will be deleted. If you want to return later, you are very welcome to create yourself a new account. Similarly, all accounts apparently used for any other reason than roleplaying will be deleted--such reasons may include advertising, spamming or just to gain access to the forum or one or more of its members.

13. In order to keep ourselves organised a little better, players are divided into three member groups with their own status which affects their character limits. Moderators will change your status when they see it fit. Please do not pester them about it.

Absent player. Both temporarily and permanently retired players belong in this category. They are (obviously) allowed no characters.

Normal player. The normal player status, with normal rights.

Moderator. The moderator status, with moderating rights. Includes the GM.

14. If you don't respond to a Roll Call within the given time (usually about two weeks) your characters will be archived, which means your character profile will be moved to the Character Archives and all characters you might have in gameplay will be treated as temps and removed from any plots they were involved in as convenient, after which they will not be available for gameplay. You will have to contact the Game Master to have them back and reintroduce them to the game.

15. Make note of the Game Concept before creating any characters and while playing them.

16. Post all general questions about the game and its background on the Game Discussion board instead of PMing them to the GM. That way, if anyone else wonders the same thing, they will see the question and the answer from there. If your question is relevant, it may lead into new information added to the Game Background. (Plus, this makes it easier for the GM to keep track of these questions and possibly construct a FAQ one of these days.)

17. Mind the Game Background. Do not play or build your character contrary to the established background information. When uncertain, check the background boards for info. If you want to do something with your character that is not outlined in the Background, post a question about it on the Game Discussion board.

« Last Edit: Apr 15, 2008, 2:34pm by Game Master (Silver Shadow) »

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