Roleplay Utopia: Official Guide

[Toffee]

Roleplay Utopia: The Official Guidebook

Basic Terminology

RP – ‘Roleplaying’, essentially. Just a shortened word, like how GFX is short for ‘graphics’.

Turn – A turn is basically a post in a roleplaying thread, which follows another post.

OOC – ‘Out-of-Character’. Basically, free discussion. Sometimes “OOC:” followed by a message to another player is added after roleplaying turns. In this forum section, there is an OOC Exchange subforum, where players can discuss about their characters and RP events without roleplaying them.

IC – ‘In-Character’. The opposite of OOC. Roleplays are considered ‘IC’ moments.

Godmodder – A person who makes their character overly powerful or invincible.

Meta Gamer – A person who uses OOC knowledge while in character. For instance, knowing another character’s thoughts or name before meeting them in character.

Power Player – Someone who controls another person’s character without their prior permission.

Mary Sue / Gary Stu – A stereotypical character without flaws. The worst sort of character any roleplayer could create.

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Permanent Rules

1. This system vaguely follows a play-by-post message board roleplaying format, though roleplays here do not take up the space of the entire forum, but are instead split up into specific threads of their own.

2. No godmodding. Your character is bound by whatever limits are set by the roleplay. If your character is a typical high school kid, he shouldn’t be able to run at the speed of light. Don’t make an invincible character; nobody likes that, and it isn’t realistic. Don't be shocked if everyone else leaves the RP because of you.

3. No power-playing. Basically, no controlling characters that do not belong to you. No moving another person’s character during your turn. Some people might not mind, but it’s best to avoid it altogether. If someone corrects you for accidentally doing it, don’t be offended and simply fix your turn.

4. No meta-gaming. Don’t use OOC knowledge while in character. There are some things that should be kept separately; and meta-gaming can ruin a lot of things, and bounce realism out of the picture.

5. The standards here will be maintained, and if moderators miss out on something that needs moderation, please do feel free to contact us. We will not tolerate one-liners here. Roleplay creators should maintain their standards here (as well as ensure that the standards of their players rise above things like one-liners), or run the risk of having their roleplay moved to the Freeform Roleplay section. We’re not demanding for any specific standards like “Inter-Advanced” quality or such, but we do expect all roleplays in this section to be “Literate” in terms of quality. This means that spelling and grammar should be spell-checked before turns/posts are posted to the site. A minimum of at least one-two paragraphs are required per post as well.

6. Communication is everything here. If you don’t like something another player wrote, please discuss it with them, and be ready to make changes where necessary. Roleplaying is all about interactive communication; clashes are bound to occur at least once during your lifetime. Be prepared to compromise and change things; do not turn any disagreements into a flame war. If you cannot compromise with another player, turn to the roleplay creator. Should that fail, contact a moderator. Trolling will not be tolerated here.

7. All rules pertaining to DreamFlummox forums apply here.

8. Roleplay creators have the right to reject an application or ask for revisions until they are up to standard. Should a player cause problems in a roleplay, the roleplay creator has the right to kick that player out from their thread. Should the player choose not to leave, the incident should be reported to a member of staff.

9. Hentai/pornographic content should not be found here. There’s a mature section on these boards; roleplay there instead.

10. We’ll assume that the content here should be maintained at a rating of PG-13. No excessive violence, gore, drug usage, or nudity should be portrayed here.

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FAQ

Q: What’s wrong with one-liners? We just want to have fun.
A: I’m sorry, but that doesn’t fall into the category of roleplaying as much as it falls into the category of spam. There are beginner-level roleplays out on the internet that maintain better standards than constant one-liners. They attempt to be ‘literate’ by posting as much as they can to complete their turn. The goal of roleplaying is to improve, writing-wise, through elaboration and interaction, as well as character development and control. You don’t have to be able to write like William Shakespeare before you’re considered to be a very good roleplayer; so long as you get your point across without violating the rules of roleplay, you’re on the track to improvement already. If you want non-serious roleplay, then go to the Light Roleplay Section in The Battlefield.

Q: How about during action sequences? It’s hard to avoid one-liners, and I don’t want to write about how sweat is falling from my character’s forehead just to fill in the space.
A: What about your character’s thoughts? His/her footing? The reaction to the last turn and the next move can hold a lot of detail in them too. Action sequences are significantly shorter than conversational roleplay turns, but it’s not hard to write a single paragraph about it.

Q: What if our roleplay becomes inactive?
A: You may either a) choose to attempt a revival, or b) choose to end/archive it. If your roleplay has a sudden revival in the future, that’s fine too.

Q: Our roleplay creator is missing. What do we do?
A: Assuming you’ve been searching for the leader and there is no willing co-leader standing in line to take over, you may choose to a) start over, b) end/archive it until the leader returns, or c) find someone to take over it, preferably from within your own ranks.

Q: I’m fighting with the roleplay creator. We can’t compromise. Now what?
A: Contact a member of staff. Do not argue in the thread itself. We don’t want to have to clean up any flame wars.

Rules provided by, yet again, ♥ Aya ♥ from Mangafox