Rules for the Fantasy Fiction World Free-Form RPG: The Talisman War

Rules and Ettiquette for the Fantasy Fiction World Free-Form RPG:
The Talisman War

1. Character Limits: There are limits to the types of characters you can play. In terms of races, please stick to the native Nemedians. Races that are not native to Nemedia are allowable by moderator approval on a character-by-character basis. For more information check out the People of Nemedia page.

2. In a similar vein, there are to be no Gods, wardens, Xan or half-god characters. Gods and Wardens are to serve in advisory roles under the control of the moderators, not as characters. Half gods are acceptable as villains, or as NPCs.

3. For this RP to work, we need characters that are REAL! For tips on how to accomplish this I suggest you take a gander at "The Gamer Chick's" OOC section (http://www.geocities.com/poetess47/gamerchick.html). This rule is especially important for the moderator, who in light of their use of many NPCs must abide by this rule at almost any cost.

4. There are to be NO OMNIPOTENT/GOD CHARACTERS! No one is all-powerful, least of all characters. Consider giving your characters vulnerabilities, or flaws; at the very least it will make them interesting.

5. NO OMNISCIENT CHARACTERS! Unless iy is appropriate, your character should not know what another group or faction is doing. Example: If the club has a plan, unless there is a spy in their midst, the Xan should be completely unaware of this plan. Let me repeat this: Allow your characters to be ignorant of actions they wouldn't pivy to!

6. There are no eternalt mortal characters allowed without prior approval from a moderator. This requires you to have a fairly good reason, as presented in your profile, as to why your character has a long lifespan. You must provide a plausible reason why he or she is still alive.

7. Everyone will be allowed a maximum of two characters and one antagonist. An antagonist is a character who may interfere with the club's business at the time, but is not necessarily a villain. They can be more powerful than a regular character, as long as it does not violate rules four or five. You don't have to create all of your characters at once.

8. Characters will not possess the ability to teleport or create portals, unless given prior approval by a moderator.

9. Earth is off-limits. There are to be no additional human characters beyond several NPCs as determined by the moderator. There will be no contact with Earth either. Earth has been sealed off since the Exodus. Nothing will happen there, and no one will go there.

10. There is no fate, no prophecy, nothing of this sort. In other words there is no pre-ordained fate, chosen one, apocalyptic battle foretold. Nor will such cheap plot tools be used. If youtre caught using anything of this nature, prepare to kiss that particular post good-bye-Period. It should be noted that there is nothing wrong with a character that believes in fate, just so long as fate itself is not used as a plot tool.

11. Fill out a profile and e-mail it to [email protected]. Not only will it help the moderators by providing a character history, but it'll also help you to get a good grip on your characters. Your profile will only be seen by the moderators, so feel free to put what ever you wish in it.

12. Make sure the moderators are following the rules! If we goof up, or go overboard, tell us!

To give you a hand I'm also providing some tips on free-form ettiquete to help members. Special thanks to Lea, a veteran of many Yahoo message boards, who created the basis for this list.

Because there are fewer rules in free-form message board RPing compared to table-top RPing, it's much easier to get screwed over by other players. To avoid this all niceplayers have a personal code they follow:

Have the courtesy not to enter your character into the game before presenting a profile and receiving approval.

Don't bring in the same standardised character to every RPG. Your characters don't have to be limited by who you are. Feel free to have characters that are different than you, such as being the opposite gender, different personality, etc.

Please take a moment to ask about the plot.

Do not sneak a peak at anyone else's profiles.

Using someone else's character without premission is called "autoing" and is generally frowned upon. However, if the autoing is small, it probably won't be a big deal, especially if you later say "I autoed, hope you don't mind, we can change it if necessary." or something similar. Moderators will at times use autoing, but only if absolutely necessary, and only the minimum amount they feel is necessary. Members and moderators cross the line when they do something that violates another player's control over his or her character, or rig their actions so they can't be countered, like "Bill punched Hannah and then ran away really fast so she couldn't hit him back or catch him."

You can not kill characters at all, unless it's approved by the prson whose character is in question.

You can create and destroy small background characters for functional needs, just so long as they don't overtake and swallow your original characters because you get so engrossed in them you stop posting your "real" character.

Don't leave other people's characters hanging. This is not to say you never get a break from this place if you have a trip, a vacation, or just a busy couple of weeks, but disappearing without notice in the middle of a scene leaves the other character you were interacting with hanging. This is a situation everyone should try to avoid,mwhether by providing warning, or asking someone to cover for you while you're away. Of course, if a scene has to be suspended, a scene has to be suspended. It happens, sometimes. You'll find message boarding can, at times, be frustratingly slow.

Plot-twists are good. In fact, in a lot of RPGs the main plot is simply a facade behind which hides the true plot. And the true plot is, of course, the characters. The thing is, that's characters, plural, not singular. Don't let your character become the sole focus of the plot, and certainly don't do this on purpose. The RP is not here to cater to you, just as you don't want to cater to anyone else. Because plots usually involve conflict, eventually someone will lose, and it may be you.

And with that out of the way, let the RPing begin!

Updated August 16 2002
By Moderator/Group Owner Senidel - [email protected]