Role Playing Rules

Well, I am here to finally give an official ruling on whenever a GM has the right to deny people Signing up for their R Ps for reasons other than just the character presented.

When opening Signups, the GM has the right to establish any acceptance criteria for the applications to be submitted as long as they are not related to sexuality, gender, religion, race or nationality of the player presenting them. However, these criteria must be presented in the Signups, otherwise the Signups will be considered open and then only the suitability of the presented character can be put into question.

Thus, a GM might create Signups for a private RP by saying only X,Y and Z will be participating, or they may state that they reserve the right to accept players into their RP. Thus this RP becomes restricted and the applicants know the reason for why they might not be taken in before they write their characters.

This rule is established to protect the right of the GM to run their game with those they wish to play with and know that will mesh well with their style while at the same time protecting potential players from suffering bait and switch with a Signup only to be denied for extraneous reason that have not been established beforehand.

However, another thing must be taken in mind. Don't be a dick. A GM running a restricted RP has the right to deny anyone entrance to their game, however, if they are being dicks about it, they will face consequences for their behavior. Treat your fellow players with politeness and respect.

If I'm sure of something it's that I'm not sure of anything.

So, basically, if I want people to write prose in my RP (as opposed to script), I need to mention it in the signup thread?

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

Given that prose is standard, you would not need to mention it in the Signups. This rule merely concerns criteria to allow or deny a player entry to your RP as a GM.

Now if you plan your RP to be written in Script or Verse, then you would be advised to include mention of that in the Signups, though that is not covered in this new rule.

If I'm sure of something it's that I'm not sure of anything.

Small thought. Could we add a rule/suggestion saying that if an RP hasn't been active for 3/4/6/12 months, don't post in the sign up/you shouldn't post in the sign up?

Most people who post under those circumstances do so by accident.

Mé féin ag daṁsa faoin ngealaċ seanrince gan ċeol leis ach ceol cuisle. DS FC: 4141-3472-4041, feel free to add me.

I thought it was one of the unspoken rules, one that is so well known that everyone knows it.

edited 17th Feb '13 1:46:33 PM by Psyga315

Well, maybe recommend checking first, at least. It's a small thing, but it does bug me sometimes.

...especially when it looks like an RP I'd actually be interested in... <.<;

edited 17th Feb '13 2:09:25 PM by Starbound2

Erm... How's this for a rule: No killing off characters without their PC's permission? That's a pretty unspoken rule.

I guess this could also be a rule: if you add an "Anyone Can Die" rule to the rules, then the above is null and void?

That's not really a RP forum-wide rule and more of a rule that depends on the RP.

Hrm... Okay, well, it was worth a shot

It is a very common and often unspoken rule in most roleplays, to be fair.

But I agree it that it should actually be noted among the roleplays specifically.(as in each roleplay should stay that)

...It's weird having so many websites and no way to properly display now, lol.

I think it should be a circumstantial thing.

I tend to fudge dice when players make efforts not to be killed but if someone gets sort of warned that they are doing a dumb thing and continue to, then I feel like I should be allowed to roll a dice with a failure resulting in either serious injury or character death.

Having to go into discussion thread to outright say "If you do this, there is a slight chance your character will die" ruins immersion while having to post "In this game, P Cs might die" discourages membership who expect that if they join their characters will die, rather than being limited to a small chance.

I think if there is a PC death that seems arbitrary and unfair, in particular one which was caused by player-favouritism or some other violation of the rules, then you might report it to the RP Mod but otherwise, I don't think it should be made into an absolute rule.

edited 17th Feb '13 7:23:24 PM by Fauxlosophe

Mé féin ag daṁsa faoin ngealaċ seanrince gan ċeol leis ach ceol cuisle. DS FC: 4141-3472-4041, feel free to add me.

Any rules about how much effort you can put into your posts? I hear people frown upon one-liners, and then I hear people frown upon there being too much text, like paragraph after paragraph of text.

I assume it goes from RPG to RPG.

It depends the roleplay.

The sign-up sheet should explain what kind of game it is.

There's no need for a specific rule of how much to say since it completely varies. It seems silly to force a GM to put up a note about what to expect, but there hasn't been a huge amount of related problems beyond once in a blue moon, so...

...It's weird having so many websites and no way to properly display now, lol.

I don't think you can really make a rule about that. I've made posts that were long before, I've made posts that were maybe three words before*

, for me a post eventually feels like I've written exactly what I need to get a point across, and there's no need to pad it out. The rules of an RP are supposed to be how you deal with and prevent problem behaviors, and short/long posts aren't really the problem by themselves. It's what someone does with it.

I would think that from what I've seen I'd categorize problems that show up with extremely long/short posts into three groups:

• (Long/Short) Doing nothing.
  • Whether you write "Bob thought about X", or write a two-thousand-word post about Bob reminiscing about his time on the green fields of his home, you're not interacting with anyone in either case. Though at least, for the person writing four words, I didn't have to read their novella to know that their character is doing nothing
• (Long) Doing everything. (Which is usually just Godmodding. Also see Timelording).
  • When you actually decide to make that long post have someone do something, sometimes doing more than one or two things starts to be a nightmare as a person assumes all the other characters are going to do nothing and their post becomes one long chain of assumptions. Most common one I've seen is someone assuming people are okay with sitting patiently by and you doing your Character Filibuster where you kick a puppy and torture an orphan For the Evulz. Another sad possibility is that if the player characters are supposed to be on the same side and you try to do everything, you're making it harder for anyone else to contribute to the situation
• (Short) Not being descriptive.
  • If you aren't descriptive enough to make us certain what your character is doing, it creates trouble for everyone. Take "Bob shoots Jim". Well, that's cool. Except Bob has at least four vastly different guns in his Hyperspace Arsenal. We don't even know what part you're shooting at. And there's two guys named Jim.

Anyway, I've distracted myself way too long thinking about problems rather than solutions, but to sum it up, I don't really think you can make a general rule about anything relating to post length. After all, the words are the messenger, and you know what they say.

edited 9th Mar '13 9:13:07 PM by nman

A slight pet peeve of mine is short posts that contain nothing but speech.

Is it really so hard to add "[Your character's name] said to [whoever they're talking to]" onto the sentence?

So yeah, that would be a rule I'd consider supporting, though I know we have a large sum of players who just... Don't seem to care.

You are reading this.

A rule to clarify who the character speaking is is something I support.

I got no issues with short posts, as long as they have context and content, we're good.

...It's weird having so many websites and no way to properly display now, lol.

I also agree with Firock. Another option for that rule is to request either in-sentence context or tags, though the tags makes more sense in RPs like Fate/animus logia where people control two or more characters.

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

Personally I think that sounds like sloppy role-playing but that it should be the responsibility of the GM to make sure their players are playing on the same level as everyone else. If the way they are posting is annoying the other players then it is detrimental to the game and it's the GM's responsibility to see to it.

"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim

I'd fall with Parable and say this is implicit in listen to your GM; as GM you are responsible for setting the individual tone of your campaign which should be as close to a blank slate as you can get and use the formatting to your advantage.

This thread should be saved for fundamental problems that lead to booing and hissing and stratching. Insufficently long posts, incorrect citations and potholing RP posts are common pet peeves but not worth putting in the big book of rules. Instead, if you are the GM, bring it up with the player and if you are another player, bring it up with the GM. If you get ignored completed or even met with hostility, then call it a violation of rule 2. If they listen and promise to try but still screw up posts once in a while, I don't think it's an offence worth getting a mod in on.

I think the other rules should mostly be used either for things that clarify fundamental and universal matters to the players or set some limits on what a DM can do. I find formatting and even writing style varies as much from RP to RP as much as player to player, so we should get by alright keeping the rules notice brief and obvious, lest we get into a minutae and start looking like pedants.

Mé féin ag daṁsa faoin ngealaċ seanrince gan ċeol leis ach ceol cuisle. DS FC: 4141-3472-4041, feel free to add me.

I think it's really a matter of personal opinion and writing style. Keep in mind that people RP for all sorts of different reasons - some don't want to spend all that much time on a post, because they might be seeing it as more of a D&D/video game style thing, whereas some people might use R Ping as a way of honing their writing and characterisation skills more seriously, in which case they're going to spend more time writing longer posts.

Despite my own personal biases, I'd say that both kinds of post are legitimate as long as someone isn't breaking any of the other rules. Sort of like what Fauxlosophe said.

Besides, for people who do prefer things one way or another - shorter posts are over quickly, and longer posts can usually be skimmed for the things relevant to your character (dialogue and actions).

Anyway here's Blackwall

One concern I've had was that sometimes people are playing in, or managing, too many at once. And realistically it doesn't turn out well, because sometimes they understandably get too busy to post in all them.

It's fine if they can handle it... I just don't agree with it if it gets too many. Sometimes I'm busy enough to take a break from posting in one.

Maybe not a rule, but just a guideline that you shouldn't swallow more than you can chew. Roleplays have a sense of commitment compared to quasi-RP threads in Forum Games, and so it's important to think ahead before joining one.

IMO that's up to the RPers' common sense and the GM's judgement, and I do not see any reason for the rules to reference anything like that.

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

I'm mentioning this because I've seen roleplay-hopping going on. Before an RP gets to really set foot, another one begins. People that were eager to start the first one quickly lose interest and move onto the new one. The old one gets forgotten and dies out, and probably wouldn't have died out if the people stuck to it.

My point exactly. If people had some common sense, and, as you've said, thought before signing up, that won't happen. Though, if my two years of experience role-playing here, some RPs simply can't hit the ground running.

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground