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Rules and Suggestions (According to Groot)

With the creation of the Roleplay section of these forums and a little mishap with a post, I believe that a set of rules and suggestions be established for the benefit of all RP'ers. The Rules I believe should be followed in most if not all cases, while Suggestions are what I think would be best but is up to those within the posts to decide.

Rules:
1. Obey the Starmourn Forum rules and policies. This shouldn't need repeating, but someone just might think that .

2. Keep the posts for SM roleplay. This isn't a space to discuss things like game mechanics, real life politics, etc.

3. This is a public space, so anything inappropriate to share publicly shouldn't be posted here (bathroom descriptions, soft/hard core, etc)


Suggestions:
1. Don't be a jerk. We're just trying to have fun

2. Only control your characters. If Gary plays as Bob the Engineer, only Gary controls Bob and no one else can say what Bob's actions or reactions are. This is to prevent a third person from hijacking a character and having them commit suicide, for example

3. Only say what your character does and react. If Bob and Steve are in a fight, Bob can say he punches Steve but can't determine that the punch knocked out Steve and leaves him unconscious for Bob to rob him. That's not playing a role and interacting with people, that's telling a story and making everyone else a spectator.

4. Give a basic description of your character when introducing them, either as part of the action or in a more ooc format with (parenthesis). This is to give others something to go on when interacting with you for the first time. If your character isn't being shown physically (like through a voice com) then you can give the description of what they look like when other people see them for the first time. It can be as simple as (human with black hair and dark eyes) or something much more detailed.

5. Establish the name of the setting with [brackets] when changing locations, so that people understand where their character are. Additionally, if characters are in multiple settings (like Alison is in a hotel while Bob is on the ship), use the setting name in brackets before your actions to establish that you're in separate locations without forcing people to read previous posts to know where you're at.

6. Use italics when a character is thinking to show that they're thinking. example: Bob wonders "Am I going to die today?" as he says "RUN!"

7. The more knowledge of Starmourn, the better. You don't have to know everything, but don't try to cast Magic Missle. C'mon man, this is sci-fi....

8. Make it your own. These suggestions are just to establish some order to the fun and if feel like you've got rules you'd like to use instead, go for it! Just make sure to inform people of them before you start yelling because people didn't bold their puns for extra emphasis.


If you think I missed anything or have some suggestions of your own to recommend, feel free!

Comments

  • Groot said:

    2. Only control your characters. If Gary plays as Bob the Engineer, only Gary controls Bob and no one else can say what Bob's actions or reactions are. This is to prevent a third person from hijacking a character and having them commit suicide, for example

    Just to be clear, I had what I had interpreted as the "bloodshot man" standing next to the main character commit suicide. I had thought the OP was actually just doing a collaborative story.
  • I love the way we have a couple threads centered on locations. I could take a character from one location, and post in the other thread arriving at a new location. :)
  • edited March 2018
    Aurelius said:
    Groot said:

    2. Only control your characters. If Gary plays as Bob the Engineer, only Gary controls Bob and no one else can say what Bob's actions or reactions are. This is to prevent a third person from hijacking a character and having them commit suicide, for example

    Just to be clear, I had what I had interpreted as the "bloodshot man" standing next to the main character commit suicide. I had thought the OP was actually just doing a collaborative story.
    Yea, but I think it was intended that people make their own characters to RP with and there was some confusion there. But that's also why Suggestion 3 exists, so that people understand that the RP is for interaction, not storytelling.

    That does reminds me of other suggestions I missed though.

    Suggestion:

    9. NPC's (characters intended to be extras and supporting cast and not Main Characters) are fair game for anyone to control unless otherwise noted, as long as it's not used to subvert other rules/suggestions. So everyone can control the bartender, but Bob's combat droid designed to only follow his commands can only be used by Bob

    10. Keep your characters to a minimum, including NPC's. For example, it's fine if someone rp's with Gary and his wife Megan, but having a clown-car of characters is just going to get confusing and messy. Fewer is better
  • Traveler said:
    I love the way we have a couple threads centered on locations. I could take a character from one location, and post in the other thread arriving at a new location. :)
    Interesting idea. I was imagining each post as sort of it's own story or arc, meaning that you can have the same character in different posts because they're located at different points of that character's life
  • Groot said:
    Aurelius said:
    Groot said:

    2. Only control your characters. If Gary plays as Bob the Engineer, only Gary controls Bob and no one else can say what Bob's actions or reactions are. This is to prevent a third person from hijacking a character and having them commit suicide, for example

    Just to be clear, I had what I had interpreted as the "bloodshot man" standing next to the main character commit suicide. I had thought the OP was actually just doing a collaborative story.
    Yea, but I think it was intended that people make their own characters to RP with and there was some confusion there. But that's also why Suggestion 3 exists, so that people understand that the RP is for interaction, not storytelling.
    I also think it's important that the creator of a thread gives others something to work with when creating their scenario, be it other characters or a location where other characters can be found (without going overboard, like Rule 10 states). For example: if I create a thread about Sabastion the Loner, and it's set in a bubble under the sea, it gets pretty hard for anyone to enter that scenario without hijacking the thread. If the thread is for one character and that character alone, it should be clearly stated.
    image
  • I think we could have different kinds of threads

    1. Cooperative story, about one character, who gets "passed along". Like those stories where people take turns adding a sentence or two.

    2. Location thread like Theograth's bar where people own their characters and visit the location

    3. Something like a DND campaign, where a group of players pursues a story arc across different locations, and other people could play NPCs

    Can do anything, really - just state the rules clearly in the beginning post and we're off!

    PS it's kinda funny, I was resistent to the "RP forums" idea at first, but now I'm really enjoying it.
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