Rules
These rules are not meant to restrict your creative writing, but to provide more opportunities to enhance your writing and role-play experience. The object is to build up a character within our role-play system so, in theory, the older your character is and the more role-plays the character has participated in, the stronger and more powerful the character becomes.
The second objective of these rules is to help make each of you a better writer and role-player by providing assistance and opportunities to participate in varying levels of role-play.
Contents
Posting Rules
Anyone may start a role-play (RP) post in Titan's Palace Rantings forum. There are two types of role-play posts: Open RPs and Closed RPs. It is recommended that you write "(Open)" or "(Closed)" in the title of the RP so that others know whether or not they can join in.
Open Role-Play Posts
Open RPs are always welcome. Anyone can start or join in an open RP. Open role play posts are good for people looking to gain more experience.
Closed Role-Play Posts
Conversely, Closed RP's are by invitation only. This means if you want to join in but were not invited, you cannot participate. These types of role play posts are generally posted by the more serious RPers.
If you have a RP post that's obviously a closed RP and someone who was not invited makes a post, please let a moderator know so the post can be removed. In the meantime, it's advised you continue your RP as if the person had not posted.
Long Stings of Short Posts
Any possible long strings of short posts in a story should be done through email then included in one, big post. This is to alleviate problems of 2, 3, or 4 pages of just one line of dialogue per post (most commonly found with character dialogue in new RPers posts).
Short posts are frowned upon in Titan RP because they generally do not contribute to story lines. "But what if we're having a conversation and my character is asking questions," you may ask. Well, in that instance, get together VIA email OR, as an alternative, you can post a general outline of what your character talked about with SOME dialogue and leave it up to the other RPer to respond.
"How do I make my posts longer?"
A lot of people don't realize how much depth there is to each character. Every character has unspoken thoughts. What your character thinks is just as important as what they say. The internal battles characters face can even be as interesting as the main story line. There are also little actions that can help distinguish personality too-- like fidgeting, grumbling, scratching one's head, etc. Reactions to things other characters have posted also help lengthen posts. You can draw upon other senses as well. If another character is dirty, they probably also smell. Your character can react to the other character's smell or the smell of an object. Little things like this can make your character more three-dimensional and improve the length of your posts.
In Character (IC) AND Out of Character (OOC) Rules
When you write, you are either posting as yourself or as the character. Text written from your character's point of view is considered In Character or IC. These are things that your character says or does based on what your character knows.
When you write as yourself (the author), you are posting Out of Character or OOC. (Some also call this Out of Context.) Posts made OOC are usually coordinating posts, compliments, or posts made by you in other areas of the forum. OOC posts in active role play posts often times detract from the role play, so it is recommended a separate thread be posted to help you coordinate your OOC thoughts with others or post comments on a particular role play. YOu can also send a personal message (PM) if you'd like to comment on someone's role play.
It is VERY important that your post can be easily identified as being an IC or OOC post.
Write As Your Character
One of the most commonly broken (usually unwritten) rules of role play is confusing what you (the author, OOC) knows from what you (the character, IC) knows. If you're reading a role play in which another character's thoughts are being written, you (the author) knows what they're thinking... but you (the character) doesn't know. If something is happening in the tavern, but your character is out on the street four buildings down then they probably don't know what just happened in the tavern without asking another character who WAS there to see what happened.
Language
The number one rule when posting is to refrain from improper language unless it is a necessity or part of an In Character monologue.
Character Rules
Action Rules
No character actions of another character cannot be done without the permission of the owner of the character in question.
God Modding
The basic definition of god modding is to make your character invincible or give them god-like characteristics. This could be either during offensive attacks or defensive actions your character makes.
God modding on an offensive action would be something akin to your character performing a move so jaw-dropping awesome that no-one can hit them. A good way to take a strong character or a powerful and awesome move out of the realm of god modding is to give them some weakness or vulnerability. For example, if your character performs a move called "The Kiss of Death", wherein they are able to slow time to throw a poison dart with such accuracy and precision that they can hit a moving target anywhere they want, their weakness could be that they can only perform the move if they remain completely focused. This way, an opponent could write up a distraction. For example, an opponent could blow in the character's ear to prevent him from performing "The Kiss of Death".
If your character is facing a skilled opponent, but manages to dodge EVERY hit, that could be considered defensive god modding. Even the movies have started letting the heroes like James Bond take a few hits. It isn't god modding to allow the hit to be minor, but sometimes letting the other person win can lead to extraordinary fun.
Just remember it's not interesting if your character is invincible. People generally don't want to role-play with someone who is constantly pulling maneuvers that are super-spectacular or who can't get hurt. When you write, make sure you consider your opponent-- leave them a few options to strike back and you'll have more exciting fights in your role-play posts.
Magic Rules
General Notes and Suggestions
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- No character actions of another character cannot be done without the permission of the owner of the character in question.
- Any possible long strings of one story should be done through email then in one big post. This is to alleviate problems of 2, 3, or 4 pages of just one story
- Make sure you identify whether you are In Character (IC) or Out of Character (OOC), especially if you are not participating in the story.
- Open RPs are welcome. They don't have to be done through email because anyone can join.
- Refrain from improper language unless it is a necessity or part of an In Character monologue.
See also: http://clantitan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=949
