Things to follow
The Rules
NOTE: These are subject to change as the need arises. Notifications of any major change are always posted on the OOC board.
Last Revised: Oct. 4th, 2008.
Your life, and your Mod's life, will be made much more easy if you take the time to give this a read.
Opening Statement: This game is based on the combined universes of two TV shows: Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Angel. Both were created by Joss Whedon. Buffy may have finished before Angel did, but the game is set after the conclusion of both shows -- Angel, Season 5, was the last. Some people are dead. Some have gone through a lot of changes. Pretty much everyone has moved. They all have baggage -- you don't get a clean slate. At the same time, though, nothing is ever really a Tabula Rasa (ha ha, get it?), and we feel that using the backstory of the shows encourages our players to be dynamic, creative, and realistic. They've all seen things and done things; no-one is totally innocent anymore. And it's good! It makes them real, even in a world of demons, witches, ghosts, vampires, and alternate dimensions. Real characters was -- and still is -- something that Joss Whedon prided himself on, and it's why we fell in love with the world he created. We want to continue that kind of awesomeness here.
Section One. Bringing in a Character (Canon or Original)
1. Original characters are absolutely, totally, 100% allowed. Yeah, that's right, bring it on. The only requirements we have about OCs are the following: 1) Original. Don't just app for a Generic Buffy Clone and expect it to get in. 2) Balanced. Your character shouldn't have super strength, enhanced agility, telepathy, mind blasts, a link to the Powers, healing abilities and golden wings. Nuh-uh. Come up with a power concept that works. Make sure the powers are related, so they'll make sense. If the character didn't start off with these powers but rather acquired them later through other means, make sure you explain it and make it believable. Likewise, don't make anyone who's completely perfect at everything in terms of skills and social graces. Sure, everyone likes to be the cool kid once in awhile and do really interesting things, but the truth is that when you're perfect, you're boring. Really, really boring. Yawn!
2. We've said that some characters are dead. This is true; they died in the show. This doesn't mean that you can't bring them back. (People have. We have characters running around right now whose deaths were major plot points during the series.) What we ask, though, is that you make it realistic. Make it fit the show. Make sure that the way you do things makes sense, and that it doesn't make the people reading it want to bash their heads through a wall. The character should stay true to realism in terms of personality and the effects of having once died. We've heard that death makes you cranky.
3. Slash. We know that the show was cool with homosexuality and, conveniently, so are we! Sometimes it's fun to change the sexuality of a character everyone knows and loves, and there are many people out here who do this for the right reasons. Nevertheless, we ask you to please not alter the sexuality of anyone from the show who wasn't already bisexual or gay. If they were a minor character, then that gives you more leeway, but we still want it to MAKE SENSE for the character. If you want to take on that challenge, then we encourage you do to so. Just make sure you mention it and justify it in your application.
4. There is a limit on the number of characters any one person can have. Here it's generally two characters, both of which may be canon. This rule exists partly to keep someone from hogging the entire cast of major characters, and partly to keep everyone active. (We've seen people try to juggle ten characters in one game. They got worn out all the time, and their characters were never around when they were needed. We've also seen it where the mods played half the major characters of the game. It made other players unhappy, and rightly so. We want to avoid both these situations.)
5. It's written in the faq, but we want to make it clear that we do not allow crossover characters (ie: characters from other fandoms).
6. Please note that this is a Buffy/Angel game, so we want the focus to be on Buffy/Angel stuff. Ordinary people are totally cool. In fact, a huge part of why the series was so fun was watching everyday people confronted with very not everyday situations. Still, if you don't find a way to bring your Average Joe into the chaos that is normal life for the likes of Angel Investigations and the Scooby Gang, there's no point to being here. Playing by yourself is boring, and skipping out on all the fun supernatural plots that we do is going to get old real fast. App normal people -- we encourage this! -- but get them involved. Half the fun is watching brains melt as they discover that everything they thought they knew is wrong.
Section Two. Playing your Character(s)
1. Don't be a twink or Mary Sue aka "Perfect" character. Make sure your characters are balanced and have believable flaws, rather than being practically perfect in every way. Yes, your part-human part-demon part-vampire part-unicorn character who was Angel and Buffy's time-warped illegitimate love child may be the coolest thing you've thought up all year, but we're probably not going to agree with you that it's right for this game. As for twinkery, this comes into play where powers are concerned. Your character may be super cool and wonderfully awesome, but that doesn't mean they can automatically win any confrontation. When in a scene where you're in some form of combat or power-use situation, please only pose YOUR CHARACTER'S actions. Do not write the reactions of the other character, because you don't control that character. (Unless, of course, you've asked them beforehand and you've got their permission. That's different.) It is up to the other player to decide if your action was successful. On the other side of the coin, dodging every single attack every single time is just as twinky as godmodding, so just don't do it. Be realistic.
2. Sex happens, we know. Fact of life, beautiful and natural event, yadda yadda. If sex happens in your logs, please be tactful, okay? You must mark these using the LJ dropdown menu to say that it has adult content. Either fade to black, or use tasteful descriptions and make sure that it's behind a cut tag with appropriate warnings (Rating: NC-17). If you're in a scene with someone and they say that they're not comfortable with the level of steaminess and want to either stop the scene or fade to black, be mature and respect their wishes. Likewise, if you're uncomfortable with how a scene is going, tell the person you're in the scene with. Any players under the legal age of consent should not participate in scenes of an adult nature, and it is that player's responsibility to keep themselves from being in such a situation: we aren't your keeper.
3. Character Death. It's messy and ick, so please try not to do it. If you really want your character to sacrifice him or herself for the greater good -- it's not like this hasn't happened in the show (or the game!), so it is realistic in theory -- then tell us and we'll come up with a way to do it that fits with an upcoming plot or something. We do not often let you kill a canon character, because someone else may be interested in playing them. We want them around!
3b. If you feel you must kill another character (as in, one that isn't yours) then come talk with the mod. Tell us the NPC you'd like to introduce for you to kill off. (It's the Buffyverse. NPCs get staked, beheaded, or otherwise taken care of all the time. Trust us, we can find something for you to have your merry way with. We may even turn it into a big plot. Those are a lot of fun.) We do not let you kill another person's character without their consent (and even then, only if they're an original character). But, beating someone to an unrecognizable bloody pulp? Sure, that's allowed. The exception in this rule, is small-time demons or vampires. You can kill those off anytime you wish, if your character has the ability to do so.
Section Three. Rules for IC Posting
1. We ask that you make a IC post or be replying to an IC post at least once every week (per each character). Please do not apply as two characters if you can only handle one. Activity is what keeps a game alive. There are sometimes exceptions - if you play a character who is needed only sometimes, but this is rare.
2. Please do not post anything until you have at least one icon loaded. We want to put a face to the name! Nice, clear icons, please? Good quality gives us a happy.
3. Posts should be at least three substantial paragraphs. You're starting a thread off - give us something to work with. Use a lj-cut when the post is bigger then 3 paragraphs. This keeps things organized.
4. Log Format should be kept reasonably consistent. Scenes played out in journal comments can take place over the course of several days, so time is a bit of a fluid concept here. Your character can appear to be in two scenes at the same 'time', since they happened on different days (or different times during the same day) even if you're stuck writing them at once. This is why dating your scenes tends to be really important. People like to know what happened, and when, so that they can behave accordingly. (If the hotel exploded on Tuesday, even if you're still playing it out by the next day, people who have scenes for Wednesday need to know that their home is the equivalent of burnt toast.) Please use a header similar to this:
We ask that you try to bold this entire section at the top of your posts.
Who: Which characters are in the scene. (Wes and Cordy. Or Wes and Open. Like that.)
Where: Where stuff is happening. IE: 'At the Compendium magic shop.'
What: A brief summary of what will happen.
When: When it takes place. Remember the bit about this kind of being important.
Status:
4b. We also ask that you post your IM logs. This is a great way to show you're active. Please put these behind a LJ-cut, and use the header that is noted above.
5. Tags should be at least two substantial paragraphs. You need to reply with substance in order that someone else can reply with substance.
6. When threading, please comment back and forth to the most recent comment, until around 22 comments - by this time, the comments will be very far-left aligned. Then, the person who didn't start the thread, should 'zig' over by replying to the original post. That way, the comment will be e-mailed to them and they'll get the update. For threads with more than two people, do the same thing. We must note that sadly, when it's more than two people, e-mails are not sent to you when someone responds to your post. So you need to go back and check the post every so often. That's why tags can be especially helpful. You can click on your character's name and all of the posts that they're in will be brought up.
7. Tag in order. I.E. Buffy, Willow, Xander, Anya, (then) Buffy, Willow, Xander, Anya. This lets everyone respond at a fair rate.
8. You have a full week to tag back. That's 7 days. Please do not see this as an excuse to ignore your turn and slack off for days - or anything of that nature. You should tag back when you have the time. This rule is in effect for the devoted players who have such busy lives that they need this type of extension. Most of you should not be taking advantage of all of these days on a regular basis. We are doing this so that you may have the time to type up quality responses, and so that you don't feel pressured into writing something fast, or as though the game is a chore. But of course, the game cannot function without activity, which is why we feel it is important to have a tag-back rule in place.
8b. When there are more then two characters in a thread, you have three days to tag back. If you miss that 3 day time line? The person who is after you has permission to skip past you and tag.
8c. You have ONE MONTH to finish a thread. After that you move on. If the thread isn't done, to bad. We need to keep the game moving and playing the same thread for month's isn't going to work.
9. Apply your character's tag (characters name) when you make a post, or add to a thread. Every character's first and last name is their tag. There are a couple exceptions to this (like Oz or Anya). If you unfamiliar with tags, please see this link: Tags. Only a moderator can make the original tag, and they do this by adding a tag to one of your IC threads. Once it is made, you can use it anytime.
10. Spellcheck is your friend. And we don't expect you to be perfect, but grammar does matter.
11. Do not continually only play against the same person or couple of people. This is a group. While it's fine to have your character(s) have best friends, lovers, etc - don't forget about the other character's.
12. Keep your journal entries and community posts public, please. How will people see what the community is like if we lock everything down? The exception to this is any adult scenes that are too intense for polite company, or that contain contact information. And OOC posts with private information can always be friends-locked, of course.
Section Four. Rules for OOC Posting
1. This is all the stuff that we shouldn't have to explain but will anyway: Respect each other and don't be a brat. If you have a problem with a player in the game, keep it between the two of you, or bring it to a mod. The community is not a place to fight with each other, and the game is not a place to act out your personal vendettas. Use common sense, please, and be respectful. If you use racial, religious, ethnic, sexual, whatever slurs or slang in an offensive way, you will get one warning before you will be kicked out.
2. You must be 13 years old to have a LJ, therefore you must be 13 to play here. It is recommended that you be mature enough to handle violence, cursing and the prospect of adult situations. Everyone's different, but if you think you're the sort of person who would have a problem with any of this, please do not join.
3. Send in original quotes for your character. You should be a little picky about what you send in, as only want the best. But don't think your chars don't say great stuff! We will not necessarily use every quote you nominate. But that doesn't mean we don't like all of them, we just don't have room for every quote. While the mods will occasionally find quotes for you, please do not rely solely on them to find your quotes for you. Please send these to all three mods with the subject title: ADV quotes. Also, for specially great things that were not written out as a quote, but as a thought, you may submit it as a quote (just as long as this is something the character would say outloud).
4. Come with storyline ideas for your character, and for the group. Be willing to participate, offer suggestions, and occasionally help with things. But don't be afraid to ask for help with ideas, either. We're a community. We thrive when we work together.
5. Anyone can make an OOC bonding posts. The suggested format is to post the prompt in the main post, and then upload it to the OOC board. Then comment to the entry with your answer/s. Please, please, make sure to friendslock these entries. We also like to add the '!ooc bonding' tag, but if you forget anyone else can easily add that. Most OOC bonding threads get added to the Mod Account's memories.
6. Communicate with the mods AND with your fellow players. (This especially goes for NC17 threads - please communicate with your writing partner about this. None of us are mindreaders and it this will cut down on needless awkward situations. And this goes for needing a hiatus as well).
7. Please forewarn the mods of large plots that will affect many people, or alter something drastically important. You do not need to get an 'okay' for most things, but just use common sense. Don't change the game, or a major plot, without checking first. This eliminates confusion.
8. When you are handling a largescale plot, please send in a summary (when it is finished) to be posted on the Major Storyline Updates page. We like to keep records of the great storyline's we've all created. Please e-mail the Mods with the subject title: Attestatio storyline update.
9. When you need a hiatus, please post how long you'll be gone on the OOC board as this alerts everyone including both mods and whoever you were playing with. You can also say where you'll be. If you are going on hiatus for a personal reason, you can e-mail the mods directly and if needed (if you're in several threads) they will give a brief announcement about your hiatus, themselves, to cut down on people asking questions.
10. Whoever starts a thread should send in a recap of the thread (past-tense) as a comment to the weekly round-up. This way everyone can go to the round up post to check what's going on, who's where, and what thread is done etc. Major plot points will be taken from these and added to the major storyline updates.
Final Note Ignorance of these rules is not an excuse for breaking them.
Please address any questions/concerns to the moderator via e-mail: the.gang at chello dot nl