Creative Role Play Rules

Justice is a mod on Harvest Dreams, and I kind stole his sticky, here. Sorry Justice ^^'
I copied and pasted this, so I did not write this. Just putting a disclaimer here. Although, I did make a few modifications. Any modifications will be marked by "MM" which means, "Moon Modifications." I also did backspace some things if it applied to the modification. Once again, ALL CREDIT FOR THIS PRETTY MUCH GOES TO JUSTICE.


New to Rps?
Glossary
RPG: role playing game
GM: game master, creator of the RPG
Profile: Your character profile. What you fill out by the GM.
Canon: Characters in the game, anime or story that already exist (ex: Raguna in Rune Factory)
OOC: out of character. Discussion, talking about the rpg, etc.
OC: original character that you made
IC: In character. Where you RP

Now to the important stuff!
-Role Play Basic Rules
-being a GM
-How to Not make a Gary Stu/Mary Sue?
-How to Create an RPG
-Tips/Guidelines


Basic Rules:
Newly added! Stick to creating/Gming only up to maximum 2 RPs!
MM: Since this site isn't very active,I will allow three role plays. Any more then that might be too much for one person to handle.
We don't really want the same person making so many new Rps and then leaving their other one behind. I hope you understand. Can you imagine one person being allowed to make 10 or 20 new Rps? It'll be a mess for us and there will be so many empty Rps. You understand right? Thanks.


Newly added! Keep the dice/event rolls outside the IC topic if it's a separate topic for neatness.
Use them in your OOC thread instead. The only exception is if you made only one topic for all three of these categories: character sign up, OOC and IC in which some of you do.

Four lines minimum (not including skipped lines)
This is to prevent one or two line posts that go on for 50 pages! We can have less pages and better quality this way.

Do not post in the GMs IC (in character) topics if your character is not accepted by him/her.
Sign up in his/her character profiles and wait for approval. If not approved, ask why and fix it. Maybe he/she stopped accepting characters.

No Godmodding: Very IMPORTANT!
Don't go off killing other players' characters without GMs agreeing or from a arrangement! Don't be invincible to all situations and events. Don't make random things appear that is not in your character profile unless it's explained and makes sense for the RPG. Your character can't suddenly have a random skill or item to save himself in a bad situation when it's not in their profile. To not god-mod, make your character realistic with faults and flaws.

There are two god-mods that seem to happen more often. I'll attempt to explain them. Click the spoiler for Controlling Characters and Appearing Out of Nowhere explanations

1.)Controlling characters:
Godmodding is controlling anyone else's actions, or even how your actions affected them, and it's tougher in scenes with fighting. This including having your sword stab and giving another character a fatal wound instead of the intent to give him a wound. This includes casting magic and having them hit someone dead on, and hurting them badly instead of throwing magic at the person with the intention of hurting him/her. The other character has the right to dodge.
Best way to avoid this, let the character react to your actions (let them decide how they got hurt to avoid trouble), pm them or use the OOC thread.

Reminder for fighting scenes: At the same time, your character cannot dodge everything! Your character cannot counter every attack.

2.)Appearances out of nowhere.
Adding on to the " Don't make random things appear that is not in your character profile unless it's explained and makes sense for the RPG." I have to explain this. When someone is far away from where you are...
you cannot just obtain skills ,book a sudden flight on a plane, rush to that place, and appear out of nowhere. You can't appear in that scene suddenly which makes no sense with you being there in the middle (or end) of it. Basically, you magically knew what is going on and you are there, even magically knowing where the secret fortress is and what happened.

Spoiler:

Last words
There are times that different people have different ideas on who is god-modding or not. Use the RPG's OOC discussion topic to talk and come to an agreement. There are also RPGs that use overpowered characters which can be okay if done properly. There can be a RP where all the characters have very strong magic and skill. This depends on the RPG and plot the GM creates. It can backfire or be very well done.

Try to not talk in OCC often in the RPG. MM: (meaning don't talk about OCC things in the IC thread)
Most RPGs should have their own OOC topic for explaining, how to continue the plot, have fun talking about the RPG, etc.

Keep it Clean.
Romance is okay but no adult themes. Blood is fine but stay inside your RPG's rating. Try to use your best grammar. Don't use emoticons, videos or anything in the IC thread. It's all written. Keep those in OOC.

Respect.
Respect the GM, the rules, and the players. Arguments in the OOC happen. Discuss, come to an agreement on why things should happen. GMs have the final say. Report the GM if they are breaking rules or being abusive/unfair!

Being a GM?
GM's are like unofficial mods of their RPG. When you create a RPG here, you're the GM.

GM responsibilities:
- Creating the plot
- Creating character profile forms.
- Making up rules special for your RPG (and following your own rules).
- Deal with the RPG. Answer OOC questions and deal with arguments about your RPG in OOC (A mod will take action if things get too out of control for the GM.)
- Pay attention to your RPG and get it moving if it gets "slow"
- Making sure your RPG and your players follows the forum rules. Last resort, you can "kick them out" if they keep god-modding or break rules.
- If the player is absent for a long time, only the GM has the right to take control of that character if needed to.

What the mods will do if the GM cannot handle it?
-step in, lock topics as a last resort if things get out of control.
-close threads or enforce rules if the RPG itself is breaking too many rules. .

All members should respect and listen to the GM. If not, GMs are allowed to take them out of the RPG, or report it to a mod. It's your RPG, your rules, but don't break forum rules. If you don't like the RPG you joined, don't join or
stop playing.

How not to make a Mary Sue or Gary Stu

What is a Mary Sue/Gary Stu?
Characters too perfect, loved by everyone they meet, very multi-talented, center of attention, flawless, always gets what they want, all-powerful, and get out of danger easy! Sometimes they are the player's own self, but without any flaws they have in reality. It's what the player wishes they were.

Why are they so bad?
Can't imagine it by now, really? Dealing with a super perfect and flawless character can be annoying and boring. No matter what your character does, a Mary Sue will easily manage to avoid your character's actions with little effort. Mister and Misses Perfect always gets things done by themselves so nothing interesting will really happen in the RPG. If you want a good story, don't make or let them in your RPG!

Tips to Avoid Making them:
-Don't make instant popular and loved-by-all characters! Characters will meet people they don't like. It's not bad. It can be very good! It makes your character grow and you have more ways to write in the RPG.
-Give your character flaws it makes characters more interesting.
- Try not to put yourself as the character, if possible. It's ok if she/he has flaws, otherwise it can be trouble for the RPG. Know You're using a character, not yourself. It's more fun if you make your character is different from you.

How to Create RPGs and Keeping it
Make sure you know what a GM is first.

Making it
-Your RPG topic names should be the same and clear! MM: Not really sure what he means by "clear," but you get the point.
-Remember your responsibility as a GM
-Detail your RPG with plot, history, setting, etc. If it's too short, it's not going to work. Try using this.

Spoiler:

-Make a character profile form. Use name, gender...etc. You can make your own, or use the HD character form. MM: This obviously isn't HD. Also, I wouldn't recommend using one of your RP diaries characters, but you can if you really want to. I just think it's more fun to create new characters for that topic. You can add your own stuff.
-While you can decide how to make your RP even if it's one topic for everything, it's recommended MM: required to have 1 topic for IC (where you rp) and one for OOC (where you discuss things) and 1 for character profiles for organization. MM: I would just recommend putting the character profiles in the OCC, but you may create another topic for character profile creation if you like. Link your topics to each one so people don't have to find it.
-If you don't know if people want to rp with your idea, you can make a topic to see if they are interested.
-If you have trouble getting started, see the Ancient Master's Example here below or pm me! I am this place's mod.
Ancient Masters RP Example MM: for examples, just follow this link.
http://www.harvestdreams.net/creative-rp-f78/


Keeping it Going
-You're responsible for your RP and make sure your own rules are followed. If there's spamming (one word posts, too short of posts) then a mod may close your RPG.
-Every time you argue about your closed RPG, the time it's closed will be longer. You can lose it permanently this way. It shows you are not able to be a GM just yet.
-If you do not report problems in your RPG, you may lose your RP. As the GM, you should be reading every post. MM: Justice is right about this, but I don't think we'll have a problem with it yet so I won't enforce it.

Tips/Guidelines more might be added later
- Not everyone will post as fast as you. Respect the other persons pace. Sometimes they can't respond or they post only once or twice a day.
- Character flaws makes your character more interesting and more fun to rp with. Perfect characters are annoying and boring.
-try to use your best grammar. The more descriptions you write (feelings, thoughts, actions), the better the other roleplayers can respond to you!
-Stick to the storyline and ask the GM if you have questions. That's what Gms are for.
-You don't have to be very good at english. Just use ideas and try your best!
-Be careful with any relationships with canon characters even if it's just friendship or a best friend...if your character is OC (an original created character). It's not fair to others that only you get to be someone's long lost brother. It's technically "not really against the rules," but it's really a picky picky subject. Avoid if possible.
-Be careful with romance. Romance is a very touchy subject, especially with canon characters. Just because you like a certain character does not mean your character has to be with them. If you do want to add romance, build it over time. Your character isn't going to instantly hit it off after a few meetings! Just like in real life, romance takes time.

Reminder for fighting scenes: At the same time, your character cannot dodge everything! Your character cannot counter every attack.


Those are pretty much the rules. :-D It seems complicated, but it really isn't that tricky. You'll get it over time. If you have any questions or concerns, please PM me. Until then, have fun!