Post by Sofia on Apr 8, 2014 19:42:40 GMT 1
In this Holt we use these symbols:
"Example" means ordinary speech in the elfin/troll language.
**Example** means open elf-sending.
~**Example**~ means locked elf-sending.
::Example:: means animal-sending (elf sending to bond-friend and bond-friend sending to elf).
*Example* or Example means the character’s own thoughts.
<Example> means speech in the human language.
OOC: means Out Of Character. When you’re writing OOC you’re writing as yourself, not as your role-playing character(s).
IC: means In Character. It’s mostly used to show that you’ve switched back from writing OOC.
The Basics
Some suggestions that hopefully will help the RPG run smoothly:
Avoid omnipotence! This might seem obvious, but it's easier than one thinks to make one's elf sound all-knowing without meaning to. There is a fine line between describing what your elf is convinced they know about other elves and what they know for sure. For example, the word "knew" (as in: elf X knew elf Y was upset) can create "false omnipotence". Other players will think your elf is reading everyone else's minds. This is easily averted by changing "knew" to "believed s/he knew" or "was convinced". You still convey that your elf is sure of something, but that the truth isn't set in stone.
Be polite. Basic manners get you a long way. If you're having trouble with another player that you feel you can't solve on your own, PM the admin (Sofia).
Capital letters on names and words such as Recognition. This is to avoid confusion.
Example: If your character says that they've recognized someone, the other members might think your elf simply knows who the other elf is, instead of you two just having become soulmates.
Don’t ignore others! If the elf next to yours is choking, have your elf react in some way (if only to laugh at them). If someone tags you or just wants someone to roleplay with and your character has nothing to do, reply. We’re all here to have fun and watching your elf be left out of the game is a terrible feeling. The same goes for Out Of Character questions. If someone asks a question directed to everyone or to you, reply - if so only to say that you don't know the answer.
The group/the majority has the final word. Used to be "admin has the final word", but it's more fun if we're all in agreement about something. If you have a plot idea that involves something big happening to your elf, make a post in the Out Of Character-RPG Planning section of the forum and we'll all discuss it and/or vote on it.
Language: Elves don't use modern swear words, nor do they pray to a god or say "okay". Make up your own greetings, swear words and expressions; it's part of the fun!
Leave room for others, but take up space too. If your elf reacts to things that happen to others they will do the same for you. Also, there will be moments in the RPG when the story will revolve around one elf or a few elves. When that happens, don’t try to steal the show. Just because you aren’t the center of attention it doesn’t mean your character is meaningless or that you'll have less fun playing. And don’t worry, your turn will come. If you’re feeling left out, say something! We want everyone to have fun and if you're feeling ignored that needs to be remedied.
Magic and skill use. Although this is no dice RPG, choose realistic magic and skill levels and act them out accordingly. If your elf is a poor fighter going up against a seasoned warrior, your elf will probably be defeated in a few seconds. No invincible elves! Power-gaming is boring for all players involved.
NPCs. The Non-Player Characters are everything from villains to friends. Basically they’re anyone who’s not part of the survivors’ tribe. Example: Attacking trolls or members of other tribes. Some NPCs are so important to the plot that only the admin plays them; others may be played by anyone, be put up for adoption or just be played by one player. If you're unsure if you should be moving an NPC around, just PM the admin (Sofia).
Recognition will work like this:
1) The admin (Sofia) informs the group that a Recognition is pending.
2) Members send private e-mails, listing their elves and if they want them to Recognize or not.
3) The admin either chooses a fitting couple or throws dice, with the willing elves as selection.
4) The "winners" are then told who their partner is through private e-mail and are left to act out the Recognition in-game.
Starting "Small RPGs". This can be done at any time, by any member for any reason. You can invite all members to play or play in smaller groups. You can play in the "Side-Plots"-part of the forum or by private e-mail, as long as you end up posting the finished game in the Game Archive. If the plot of your Small RPG involves something big (such as attacks by humans, trolls or the death of a character other than your own), please bring it up in RPG Planning so the group can discuss it.
The major plot is planned out by the admin (Sofia), but it's always open to ideas! If you have an idea that would mean a bigger change in the plot (ex: Recognition, troll-attack, finding humans, exchanging soul names…) you need the group's approval to act it out. Chances are good that you get to do it, if it doesn’t completely go against future plot ideas. Small plots (such as fur-, love- and lifemating, going hunting, picking berries, injuries due to accidents…) don’t need anyone else's approval. If you’re not sure if your plot idea is a big or a small one, PM the admin (Sofia) to make sure.
Time-jumps. There will be time-jumps in the RPG to avoid threads like this: And they walked. And they walked some more. Still walking. Stopped to eat and sleep. More walking. “Oh look, a funny frog!” A time-jump can be anything from a few hours to years, all depending on the situation in the RPG. If you feel something about your character has been overlooked or that you want to play out something that happened during the time-jump, you're always free to start side threads and play that parallel to the current RPG.
Try to keep up to date with what’s happened and what’s happening in the Holt. Check up on the Holt’s timeline, old RPGs and things like that. If you feel you don't really understand what's happening in a RPG, ask and other members will help you catch up
Wanderers. No more spots left this RPG-year!
Players are always allowed to create elves that aren't originally from the Tall Tree Holt, but wanderers can only join the tribe three times each RPG year (otherwise it would be hard to explain why no other wanderers than the bird-bloods ever happened upon the Tall Tree Holt). If you really want to play a wanderer but all the slots are filled for the current RPG season you can still post a CIS of said wanderer to be approved. You will then be allowed to play this elf as soon as there’s an opening in the RPG. In the meantime you can either chose to wait or adopt an elf and begin playing as them.
Where your wanderer comes from and why they've left their tribe is important. The better the character's reasons for wandering are and the more information you've thought up about their past tribe, the better the chances for approval get.
Try to keep the number of elf tribes down. This world did have more surviving High Ones than in canon, but elves are still much fewer than humans. Therefore only three tribes of the same sort of animal-blood can exist and these three tribes should preferably have ancestors in common, at least way back in time. There are, however, no limit on the number of pureblooded elves (simply because it was rarer for High Ones to be able to shift into animal form, so making a pureblooded tribe is 'easier').
For example: The only elves who're allowed to have wolf-blood are the elves from Tall Tree Holt, High Stream Holt and Riverbench Holt. No more suggestions for wolf-blooded tribes will be accepted.
If you really want your elf to have a certain type of blood, but there already are three tribes with it, you can always have your wanderer come from a tribe that already exists. If you do that, talk with the players' of the other wanderers from that tribe. That way you get to know what that tribe was like, historically important events and if your elf should have any knowledge of their elves.
Currently, tribes that count as wanderers are:
- Elves of the Frozen Lands (fox-bloods and elk-bloods, original home of BrightStar & ClearIce) INFO LINK TBA
- High Stream Holt (wolf-bloods, original home of Sunsleaf & Sureshot) INFO LINK TBA
- Riverbench Holt (wolf-bloods, destroyed Holt, original home of Bloodcut, Firecry & Rainblossom) INFO LINK TBA
Write in past tense, third person. Right: Dawngazer walked over to Branchwalker with a smile on her face. Wrong: I walk over to Branchwalker with a smile on my face.
"Example" means ordinary speech in the elfin/troll language.
**Example** means open elf-sending.
~**Example**~ means locked elf-sending.
::Example:: means animal-sending (elf sending to bond-friend and bond-friend sending to elf).
*Example* or Example means the character’s own thoughts.
<Example> means speech in the human language.
OOC: means Out Of Character. When you’re writing OOC you’re writing as yourself, not as your role-playing character(s).
IC: means In Character. It’s mostly used to show that you’ve switched back from writing OOC.
The Basics
Some suggestions that hopefully will help the RPG run smoothly:
Avoid omnipotence! This might seem obvious, but it's easier than one thinks to make one's elf sound all-knowing without meaning to. There is a fine line between describing what your elf is convinced they know about other elves and what they know for sure. For example, the word "knew" (as in: elf X knew elf Y was upset) can create "false omnipotence". Other players will think your elf is reading everyone else's minds. This is easily averted by changing "knew" to "believed s/he knew" or "was convinced". You still convey that your elf is sure of something, but that the truth isn't set in stone.
Be polite. Basic manners get you a long way. If you're having trouble with another player that you feel you can't solve on your own, PM the admin (Sofia).
Capital letters on names and words such as Recognition. This is to avoid confusion.
Example: If your character says that they've recognized someone, the other members might think your elf simply knows who the other elf is, instead of you two just having become soulmates.
Don’t ignore others! If the elf next to yours is choking, have your elf react in some way (if only to laugh at them). If someone tags you or just wants someone to roleplay with and your character has nothing to do, reply. We’re all here to have fun and watching your elf be left out of the game is a terrible feeling. The same goes for Out Of Character questions. If someone asks a question directed to everyone or to you, reply - if so only to say that you don't know the answer.
The group/the majority has the final word. Used to be "admin has the final word", but it's more fun if we're all in agreement about something. If you have a plot idea that involves something big happening to your elf, make a post in the Out Of Character-RPG Planning section of the forum and we'll all discuss it and/or vote on it.
Language: Elves don't use modern swear words, nor do they pray to a god or say "okay". Make up your own greetings, swear words and expressions; it's part of the fun!
Leave room for others, but take up space too. If your elf reacts to things that happen to others they will do the same for you. Also, there will be moments in the RPG when the story will revolve around one elf or a few elves. When that happens, don’t try to steal the show. Just because you aren’t the center of attention it doesn’t mean your character is meaningless or that you'll have less fun playing. And don’t worry, your turn will come. If you’re feeling left out, say something! We want everyone to have fun and if you're feeling ignored that needs to be remedied.
Magic and skill use. Although this is no dice RPG, choose realistic magic and skill levels and act them out accordingly. If your elf is a poor fighter going up against a seasoned warrior, your elf will probably be defeated in a few seconds. No invincible elves! Power-gaming is boring for all players involved.
NPCs. The Non-Player Characters are everything from villains to friends. Basically they’re anyone who’s not part of the survivors’ tribe. Example: Attacking trolls or members of other tribes. Some NPCs are so important to the plot that only the admin plays them; others may be played by anyone, be put up for adoption or just be played by one player. If you're unsure if you should be moving an NPC around, just PM the admin (Sofia).
Recognition will work like this:
1) The admin (Sofia) informs the group that a Recognition is pending.
2) Members send private e-mails, listing their elves and if they want them to Recognize or not.
3) The admin either chooses a fitting couple or throws dice, with the willing elves as selection.
4) The "winners" are then told who their partner is through private e-mail and are left to act out the Recognition in-game.
Starting "Small RPGs". This can be done at any time, by any member for any reason. You can invite all members to play or play in smaller groups. You can play in the "Side-Plots"-part of the forum or by private e-mail, as long as you end up posting the finished game in the Game Archive. If the plot of your Small RPG involves something big (such as attacks by humans, trolls or the death of a character other than your own), please bring it up in RPG Planning so the group can discuss it.
The major plot is planned out by the admin (Sofia), but it's always open to ideas! If you have an idea that would mean a bigger change in the plot (ex: Recognition, troll-attack, finding humans, exchanging soul names…) you need the group's approval to act it out. Chances are good that you get to do it, if it doesn’t completely go against future plot ideas. Small plots (such as fur-, love- and lifemating, going hunting, picking berries, injuries due to accidents…) don’t need anyone else's approval. If you’re not sure if your plot idea is a big or a small one, PM the admin (Sofia) to make sure.
Time-jumps. There will be time-jumps in the RPG to avoid threads like this: And they walked. And they walked some more. Still walking. Stopped to eat and sleep. More walking. “Oh look, a funny frog!” A time-jump can be anything from a few hours to years, all depending on the situation in the RPG. If you feel something about your character has been overlooked or that you want to play out something that happened during the time-jump, you're always free to start side threads and play that parallel to the current RPG.
Try to keep up to date with what’s happened and what’s happening in the Holt. Check up on the Holt’s timeline, old RPGs and things like that. If you feel you don't really understand what's happening in a RPG, ask and other members will help you catch up
Wanderers. No more spots left this RPG-year!
Players are always allowed to create elves that aren't originally from the Tall Tree Holt, but wanderers can only join the tribe three times each RPG year (otherwise it would be hard to explain why no other wanderers than the bird-bloods ever happened upon the Tall Tree Holt). If you really want to play a wanderer but all the slots are filled for the current RPG season you can still post a CIS of said wanderer to be approved. You will then be allowed to play this elf as soon as there’s an opening in the RPG. In the meantime you can either chose to wait or adopt an elf and begin playing as them.
Where your wanderer comes from and why they've left their tribe is important. The better the character's reasons for wandering are and the more information you've thought up about their past tribe, the better the chances for approval get.
Try to keep the number of elf tribes down. This world did have more surviving High Ones than in canon, but elves are still much fewer than humans. Therefore only three tribes of the same sort of animal-blood can exist and these three tribes should preferably have ancestors in common, at least way back in time. There are, however, no limit on the number of pureblooded elves (simply because it was rarer for High Ones to be able to shift into animal form, so making a pureblooded tribe is 'easier').
For example: The only elves who're allowed to have wolf-blood are the elves from Tall Tree Holt, High Stream Holt and Riverbench Holt. No more suggestions for wolf-blooded tribes will be accepted.
If you really want your elf to have a certain type of blood, but there already are three tribes with it, you can always have your wanderer come from a tribe that already exists. If you do that, talk with the players' of the other wanderers from that tribe. That way you get to know what that tribe was like, historically important events and if your elf should have any knowledge of their elves.
Currently, tribes that count as wanderers are:
- Elves of the Frozen Lands (fox-bloods and elk-bloods, original home of BrightStar & ClearIce) INFO LINK TBA
- High Stream Holt (wolf-bloods, original home of Sunsleaf & Sureshot) INFO LINK TBA
- Riverbench Holt (wolf-bloods, destroyed Holt, original home of Bloodcut, Firecry & Rainblossom) INFO LINK TBA
Write in past tense, third person. Right: Dawngazer walked over to Branchwalker with a smile on her face. Wrong: I walk over to Branchwalker with a smile on my face.