RPG RULES: Read this, please!

[Ciryaher]

Greetings all role-players! This manual is a general collection of some advice and rules regarding RP's in the RPG Forum.

First off, let me tell you what a Role Play actually is. An RP is a sort of turn based story. The person who starts an RP sets the basic foundation of the RP, but players are allowed a bit of freedom, as long as the rules are followed.

Secondly, I would like to instruct you to add your character's description to the RP Profile (http://www.thetolkienforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1699) thread before participating in the RP's. This allows others to see what your character is like and gives you a bit of background as well. Follow the general format shown in most of the profiles seen there; and if you wish to change your information, by all means do so (just no drastic changes).

Please read and follow these rules!!

#1 Permission

I. Before starting any role-play, any person wishing to begin an RP must send a private message to Ciryaher with a plot outline and request to begin the story. You will be answered as soon as possible with a verdict and any pertinant comments.

II. Any RP that has not been cleared through me will be deleted WITHOUT WARNING, THE INSTANT IT IS FOUND. Save yourself some embarrasment and heartache and ASK before you post a new RP.

#2 Thread Limits

I. An RP may have no more than two threads--one for the story and another for the discussion. They should be named using the following format where 'x' is the assigned number of the RP:

RP#x - <Title>
RP#x - Discussion

II. The story thread is for the story, and the discussion thread is for discussions about the RP for which it was made ONLY. All out-of-character talk should be in the Discussion, and it should pertain to the story ONLY. No chatting.

#3 The Story

I. STAY IN-CHARACTER!!!!! This cannot be stressed enough. There are no Coca-colas, Adidas shoes, Remington shotguns, M1 Abrams main-battle tanks, Lamborghini Countaches, Doritos, Titanium, etc. in middle-earth...SO DON'T PUT THEM THERE!

II. Do not kill, speak for, or manipulate another persons primary (the main characters a person uses) or secondary (supporting characters that have a large role) characters without their permission. Tertiary (characters that have only short appearances and minor roles) characters should only be killed, spoken for, or manipulated when needed.

III. Do not use ridiculous numbers, strengthes, or characteristics for anything. For example, an army of five million psychic orcs wielding sub-machine pistols. Make the story something that is believable.

IV. Do not make your character(s) invincible. Be willing to let them be harmed or influenced for the worse if the story would be made better for it.

V. Follow the storyline. Do not deviate severely without the RP author's permission.

VI. You may have more than one character, and in more than one RP.

#4 Other

I. If the RP author asks you to make a change, do so. If the change is questioned or wrongly imposed, either party may send a private message to Ciryaher.

II. If a moderator requests that a change be made (language, content, etc.), please do so. If the poster of the subject in question wishes to submit a reason for the content/language/etc., they are welcome to--but the moderator's decision is final.

III. All in-character arguments shall be kept in-character. If an argument becomes out-of-character, it should be restricted to the discussion. If this argument is severe, it shall be restricted to private messages. Any personal attacks or other matters that break the Forum Rules shall be swiftly and thoroughly dealt with.

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Questions, comments & suggestions are welcome! :)

[Ciryaher]

The rules have been changed, so PLEASE read them!!!

[Viewman]

Just wanna say thx :) it is a good rule page :=)

[greypilgrim]

As far other players go; what if a player is caught up in a situation within someone else's game, and they don't do anything? If they are DEFINATELY in danger of dying, what then?

Can they die/be killed in the game because that character didn't respond to save their own lives or something?

[Ciryaher]

Unless you know that the person who is playing the character is gone for good, try your utmost to avoid killing them. Drop them out of the story somehow, but don't kill them. That way when and if they come back and start whining, you can say that you had to move on, and you won't have broken the rules.

Player-killing (PKing) is highly regulated, seeing as it is a very heavily-impacting event.

And thank you for your rule-complimenting ;) It took a long time to try and make sure there weren't any holes, but if you see any or have a suggestion, I will certainly add it (and if it is a good enough suggestion, I'll put a credit in there for you :D)

[Wonko The Sane]

Why do we need permission to start an RP?

[Ciryaher]

Mainly to monitor what is going out into the RP boards. I ask for anyone asking permission to submit a short synopsis of their RP idea and base my approval on that.

In addition, I require requests to make sure that there aren't too many RP's going on at one time.

[Wonko The Sane]

Do you ever refuse an RPG?

[Ciryaher]

I've had to tell people to wait, or to give me more information (and not receive it back), but I've never received a request that was so bad that I declined it (not that I remember, at least).

[greypilgrim]

Will a moderator ever "pull the plug" on a game? For conduct, or anything?

[Ciryaher]

If the players consistently break forum rules, yes. Other situations (such as content of the rp) could result in a closing and removal.

[LadyDernhelm]

RPG question - this is different on every RPG site. Do you have to have the permission of the author to participate in an RPG, or can you join anytime? I LOVE RPs, so I was just wondering...

[Ciryaher]

Usually, the author will say whether or not you need to ask permission, or whether the RP is invite-only. If it isn't indicated, it is in good form to ask anyways.

[Wonko The Sane]

What IS permitted conduct wise in RPGs?

For example in a love story what kind of love scenes are permitted?

How far is too far?

[greypilgrim]

LOVE_STORY_RPG??????

I've seen some crazy things before, but.....
:D

[¤-Elessar-¤]

there've been tons of love story RPG's. They're all based off of Tolkien, and he was certainly not against love stories.

[Ciryaher]

What isn't allowed, I guess, would be along the lines of:

1) Overly explicit violence. Eating internal organs of someone still alive, things like that.

2) Explicit sexual scenes. No describing mechanics of intercourse, please. We have young members whose parents would object to such things. Describe it emotionally and abstractly, if you have such a scene.

I can't think of anything else that I'd have to moderate. Don't press it, though. ;)

[CelebrianTiwele]

just to let you know, the ignorant heathen rpg was moved here from the green dragon inn (not really sure why since it took place in the green dragon inn) so obviously we havent cleared it through you. just letting you know so you don't delete it. to others: ummmm please don't join. the members are: CelebrianTiwele, Calime Silvana, Jericho, and Chrys

[Wonko The Sane]

Originally posted by greypilgrim
LOVE_STORY_RPG??????

I've seen some crazy things before, but.....
:D

One of the best RPGs on this forum was one called FORBIDDEN. It was a love story.
So shhh.


And thanks for the info Cir. :) *evil grins abound and she runs off to e-mail Tar her plans*

[Ledreanne313]

Greetings. I am new to the site. I do not feel like getting envolved in stories that I have not see the start of. Since that, I was wondering if I may start my own RP story. I have many questions about this topic:
A. How do I submit my story to you?
B. Does this story need to envolve Tolkien's Middle Earth (and even if it does not, I probably will use his Middle Earth, yet I am curious)?
C. Can I join any RP at any time? Meaning make up my own character and just fix them into the story (without permission).

Thank you very much for the time put in to reading this, for I greatly apperiate it.

Anne

[Ledreanne313]

Oh yes, I forgot. How can I get an icon by my user name?

[Ciryaher]

a) All you have to do for permission is PM me by clicking -> Here (http://www.thetolkienforum.com/private.php?s=&action=newmessage&userid=3)

b) Yes, Middle Earth RP's are highly encouraged.

c) No, you have to have permission.

Once you have the prerequisite number of posts (I think 35 or 50...not sure) you go to your User CP (http://www.thetolkienforum.com/usercp.php?s=) and click the Edit Options button. Scroll down and there is button that will take you to change your avatar.

[YayGollum]

Yikes! Are you the only person we're supposed to be tossing RPG ideas at? Also, I always thought that you needed one hundred posts for an avatar.

[Ciryaher]

Yes, that's right.

And as for the avatars, I think WM changed it...or maybe it's just for titles. Not sure.

[Wonko The Sane]

Hmm...Yay, who else did you think we could submit ideas to?
Just curious...

And Cir, there are a lot of RPs on the list that don't have numbers and stuff by them. Might I assume they're unofficial? Are they going to be deleted?
*worries*

[YayGollum]

How's about any moderator? Or at least the scary Turgon or Gothmog people.

[Wonko The Sane]

I thought only Cir was ruler of the RPG area...

CAN we turn them into any moderator? *puzzled*

HELP! I don't want to send it to the wrong person!

[Ciryaher]

No, you can't turn them in to any other moderator. That's why I only put my PM and said "PM Cir" ;)

The reason being:

A) None of the other moderators except Turgon (and occaisionally Gothmog and Talierin) RP

B) I'm the only one whose chief section is the RPing section.

C) I like to do it :)

[Ledreanne313]

I am rather confused about the whole thing. Expetialy Gov't Councils RP. Questions:

A. In G.C. RP, it was talking about 'representatives' for certian places. What are those places, where did they come from, are there more??

B. Do you PM people to join a RP?
C. Back to G.C., when are there new people to be 'rep.' and how do you become then?

Please answer these questions. I am very curious. I wish I could of found this site earlier, so I would have more experience and know the beginnings of the stories.

Anne

[Ciryaher]

A. In G.C. RP, it was talking about 'representatives' for certian places. What are those places, where did they come from, are there more??

Government Councils are the closest thing to true role-playing on the Forum. Representatives come from the various provinces, kingdoms, and nations in TTF's Middle Earth, which takes place around 1000 in the Fourth Age. Read through some of the Government Council threads to get a better idea. I suggest the Senate of Atannore and the Senate of the Mornclaur Federation (seeing as those are the two most powerful factions in Arda).

B. Do you PM people to join a RP?

For most RP's, there is a "Discussion Thread" where out-of-character items are discussed, relating to the story, et al. The first post usually indicates whether you need to post on the thread, PM someone, or be invited to join.

C. Back to G.C., when are there new people to be 'rep.' and how do you become then?

Usually you have to show quality RPing and you can contact a leader. Other times, you are requested by a leader, depending on how much interest you show. All representatives are high-quality RPers, though (not to say that all the good RPers are in the Councils, of course). If you are interested in the Councils, you should decide whether you want to be on the side of the West, the Dark Lord, or perhaps one of the smaller nations/kingdoms in between. Read through more of the Council threads, if you are highly interested, and perhaps you can contact the leader of a nation as to whether they are in need of people.

Wonks:

Un-numbered RP's aren't unofficial, they simply haven't been given a number. The wars are not numbered, but every other RP should be. I will soon be going through and numbering all of the RP's that are still active. Inactive RP's will be left as is.

[Ledreanne313]

Thank you so much for the reply. I greatly needed help. Your answers may help me advance in the knowledge of this site, hopefully.

In addition, more of my story is imminent. I have been at hard work trying to complete it.

Anne

[Ledreanne313]

Oh yes, is there any more reference on TTF middle Earth? It seems strange to me, for I did not know about it. Are the Government Councils the only way for new members to know of this? Is there some place to learn more of this topic?

Anne

[Ciryaher]

There are a wide variety of thread in the Government Councils forum. There is a history of the TTF Middle Earth, also known as the Forum In-Character (or FIC), on one thread, as well as some maps and other events and oddments.

[greypilgrim]

Originally posted by Ciryaher
There are a wide variety of thread in the Government Councils forum. There is a history of the TTF Middle Earth, also known as the Forum In-Character (or FIC), on one thread, as well as some maps and other events and oddments.
Why is the GC set in the 4th Age 1000 years?

[Ciryaher]

Well...it just is...we had to make sure that we placed the RPing far enough ahead of the end of the Lord of the Rings to reduce story conflicts, and we just ended up deciding that the Forum In-Character started around 900 FA and has progressed to around 1000 FA.

[Wonko The Sane]

That's just for the Government Council and War RPs though right?

We can still play RPs in say...the 3rd age if we want right?

[Ciryaher]

Yes, of course RP's may be made in the 3rd, 2nd, or 1st ages, as well as the 4th. :)

[Wonko The Sane]

Yeah....I just realised now what a really dumb question that was. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

No more talking for me.

Thanks for the help though. ;)