Post by Hawke on Oct 9, 2015 2:37:45 GMT
Hey guys I'm glad to see the forums progressing so well! I'm really glad that everyone has joined and that we're all writing together because honestly its fun and good and thats what these forums are for and about!
Its come to my attention that we have a real variety of writers here - some who are newer to RPing and some old hands as well. I thought I would update with some extra rules that will help with board flow and general continuity, as well as help everyone write together, better! I would like all members to check over this thread before going back to RPing as I think these extra rules are super important and necessary to keep things running smoothly, and to keep everyone happy. If you have any queries, conniptions or just general comments please do not be afraid to contact myself, Rivaini or Againststars as we will all be happy to help!
1. No one sentence replies! This is about maintaining some writing quality in the boards, as well as giving your partner something to go off. Its harder to keep an RP going if there are just one sentence replies flying back and forth. We understand if you're in a busy thread and a few sentence reply is all that is necessary to keep the RP going, just keep in mind this shouldn't be all the time, and at least 3 sentences is a good minimum to stick to!
2. Limiting characters in threads! This is something I thought the Chantry Boards would help with, but I think its important enough that it needs its own discussion point. As fun as an all in RP thread can be, as the saying goes, too many cooks can spoil the soup! Sometimes action gets confusing and dialogue limited when you have a whole crew scrabbling to pick up slack between characters, and it can become over cluttered and just difficult to navigate. If you think a thread is getting full, maybe start a seperate thread with a similar idea, or privately message someone about their specific character whom you'd like to thread with! This leads pretty well into the next point, which is...
3. If a thread has been progressing its courtesy to have your post interact w/ existing characters in the thread - commenting and not establishing your character derails the thread and stagnates it making other characters have to pick up your character and the slack with this introduction! if you wanna join a thread you have to consider how to introduce yourself in a way that progresses the story or doesnt interrupt the current thread - please make sure to read over it before jumping in! A good way to do this would to privately message the people in the thread and ask if its a good time to jump in! If you're stuck for ideas on an introduction, just ask the other players! I'm sure they would be happy to give you ideas how to easily establish your character and join in the fun. Also when considering joining a thread be mindful to consider whether its appropriate to jump in. If a thread seems to be winding down its probably not a good idea to jump in. Not to say people cant join any threads but also consider the other players first!
4. And finally, a note about godmodding - I'm going to provide an example of this so its super clear. Godmodding can be too things - when your character is supremely powerful and beyond measure with any other character, and when you start writing out the actions of another persons character! Pretending Cato and Lia belong to different people, a good example of this would be:
Person A:
As you can see, person B in this situation has left person A no room to manuever their character - they have dictated what has happened between them and left little opportunity for person A to give any input on how their character reacts, or moves! This isn't a good way to Rp as not only does it stifle your RP partners ability to reply, you could be writing stuff they don't agree with about their character! Instead of writing like this, Person B could write this:
Person A:
This gives both characters room to move, and Person B has in no way dictated how Person A's character reacts. This is a better response, and way more fun to reply to! Please try and keep this in mind while writing threads.
5. Please make sure to review your writing before you post it - just a quick once over to check spelling and sentence structure, as well as paragraphs and speech lines. None of us here are English teachers ( or, well, yet ) and we aren't trying to drill you or grade your work - as previously stated this is a forum for fun! But better structure, correctly spelled and just once over reviewed posts are always better and will help improve the quality of your writing! Hopefully these are just a few things to keep in mind, and not an individual call out to any one person in any of the threads!
Its come to my attention that we have a real variety of writers here - some who are newer to RPing and some old hands as well. I thought I would update with some extra rules that will help with board flow and general continuity, as well as help everyone write together, better! I would like all members to check over this thread before going back to RPing as I think these extra rules are super important and necessary to keep things running smoothly, and to keep everyone happy. If you have any queries, conniptions or just general comments please do not be afraid to contact myself, Rivaini or Againststars as we will all be happy to help!
1. No one sentence replies! This is about maintaining some writing quality in the boards, as well as giving your partner something to go off. Its harder to keep an RP going if there are just one sentence replies flying back and forth. We understand if you're in a busy thread and a few sentence reply is all that is necessary to keep the RP going, just keep in mind this shouldn't be all the time, and at least 3 sentences is a good minimum to stick to!
2. Limiting characters in threads! This is something I thought the Chantry Boards would help with, but I think its important enough that it needs its own discussion point. As fun as an all in RP thread can be, as the saying goes, too many cooks can spoil the soup! Sometimes action gets confusing and dialogue limited when you have a whole crew scrabbling to pick up slack between characters, and it can become over cluttered and just difficult to navigate. If you think a thread is getting full, maybe start a seperate thread with a similar idea, or privately message someone about their specific character whom you'd like to thread with! This leads pretty well into the next point, which is...
3. If a thread has been progressing its courtesy to have your post interact w/ existing characters in the thread - commenting and not establishing your character derails the thread and stagnates it making other characters have to pick up your character and the slack with this introduction! if you wanna join a thread you have to consider how to introduce yourself in a way that progresses the story or doesnt interrupt the current thread - please make sure to read over it before jumping in! A good way to do this would to privately message the people in the thread and ask if its a good time to jump in! If you're stuck for ideas on an introduction, just ask the other players! I'm sure they would be happy to give you ideas how to easily establish your character and join in the fun. Also when considering joining a thread be mindful to consider whether its appropriate to jump in. If a thread seems to be winding down its probably not a good idea to jump in. Not to say people cant join any threads but also consider the other players first!
4. And finally, a note about godmodding - I'm going to provide an example of this so its super clear. Godmodding can be too things - when your character is supremely powerful and beyond measure with any other character, and when you start writing out the actions of another persons character! Pretending Cato and Lia belong to different people, a good example of this would be:
Person A:
Lia draws her double daggers circling round as if to swing. She's fast as she darts forward, hoping to catch a glancing blow on Cato's arm.
Person B:
Cato dodges every blow thrown at him, moving like lightning made flesh. He was untouchable even as Lia dove at him with her knife, stabbing at him again and again he just did like 5 pirouettes out of the way before smacking her in the face with his staff and knocking her back. Then he picks her up by the throat and shakes her like a rag doll in a way which is very rude and probably impolite.
As you can see, person B in this situation has left person A no room to manuever their character - they have dictated what has happened between them and left little opportunity for person A to give any input on how their character reacts, or moves! This isn't a good way to Rp as not only does it stifle your RP partners ability to reply, you could be writing stuff they don't agree with about their character! Instead of writing like this, Person B could write this:
Person A:
Lia draws her double daggers circling round as if to swing. She's fast as she darts forward, hoping to catch a glancing blow on Cato's arm.
Person B:
Cato dodges back half a second in time, the speed of the daggers surprising him. He's breathing hard before the fight has even truly begun and he clutches his staff tightly, dancing lightly backwards using drills he learnt training acrobatics. Simple as walking a tight rope, his mind tells him, easy as balance and rhythm.
This gives both characters room to move, and Person B has in no way dictated how Person A's character reacts. This is a better response, and way more fun to reply to! Please try and keep this in mind while writing threads.
5. Please make sure to review your writing before you post it - just a quick once over to check spelling and sentence structure, as well as paragraphs and speech lines. None of us here are English teachers ( or, well, yet ) and we aren't trying to drill you or grade your work - as previously stated this is a forum for fun! But better structure, correctly spelled and just once over reviewed posts are always better and will help improve the quality of your writing! Hopefully these are just a few things to keep in mind, and not an individual call out to any one person in any of the threads!
