Board Rules Registration When you register choose a name that you will be able to remember. After you register change the name in your profile to the name you will be known by on the board. Namely you need First and Last names! Names are not to contain: any numbers, Books, Movies, and other such forms, and/or Character names from said Movies, Books, and other such forms. Names should be appropriate! You cannot play a Canon Character, nor can you have any part of a Canon character's name (So no ----- Granger's, or Hermione --------'s and others)! Nor can you play a character from a different source (such as book, movie, or what not)! Board Rules: Be mature. Treat people as you would wish to be treated. Swearing is allowed to some extent, but keep it mild. No putting people down on here. Do not give out any of the passwords, if there are any. Only advertise in the Advertisement board found in Member Soriee Catagory. This way we don't have all these irrelevant messages telling people to visit a site every where on this entire board. If your role playing is going to take a mature content please make sure you mark it in the title of your thread, if you can't do that (as you're not the owner of that thread) then don't go post anything "mature." This is so people can be warned before hand as not everyone likes to read Sexual things. Do not spam the board. Signature Banners/Pictures, can be no larger than 530 by 250. This is to cut down on the amount of space they take up. It is annoying to always be scrolling past large signatures. Board Courtesy: Board Courtesy falls under the joining and leaving this board. Since we are trying to stay update with both the Student and Staff Roster we need to be informed of certain things. First off, we ask that you only join this board if you plan on being an active to semi-active member. That means, you are going to create a character (whether they be a student, staff member, ghost, whatever), develop said character, send in the application for your character, wait for said application to be approved (and if not, work to fix what needs to be improved), and then particapating in the the RPG. It's always disappointing to see people join but never go anywhere. We don't know if you're going to be a good member or not. So please, take time to think about if you really want to be a member of this board or not. Don't be afraid to just lurk around first. That is why almost all the boards are visable to guests. So you can see the atmosphere, read whats going on in the plot, and just get an over all feel for this place and if it is for you or not. If its not right for you, then you don't have to worry about informing an Admin about your leaving or deleting your username, as you didn't join yet. It saves time. If you have joined the board and find that you don't like it, it doesn't work for you, or that you no longer like your character and want to bring in a new one you need to inform someone on the Administration team! If you have already introduced your character, think up a way for them to leave, don't just have your character disappear without an excuse. Then PM someone on the Admin team, whether it be the main admin account, Owen, Adrianne, Vincent, Gabriela or who ever else joins the team. This way we know you are no longer with the board and we can correct the Rosters and open up the position for other members. After you have posted your character's exit and informed us of your leaving, we ask that you simply delete your username. This will decrease the member list and it will also keep you from receiving any future e-mails from the board that you don't want. ALSO IF YOU DO JOIN THIS BOARD, MAKE SURE YOU SAVE THE URL, YOUR USERNAME, AND PASSWORD IN SOME PLACE WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT EASILY. More often than not, people join and then forget that they joined. That is a Discourtesy, something we want to avoid. So please, think carefully being joining this or any other board. Even if you don't join this board, we thank you for reading this part of the rules and ask that you apply it to any other board you are thinking about joining. RPG Rules Character Development When creating a character to use on a site there are many things you need to take into consideration. Some of these things are that you have to create a character that you like. If you don't like your character you're not going to play them to their full potential. Not only that, but then people are probably not going to role play with your character. If you create a character you like chances are it will become easy for you to play said character. As you shall know how they think and respond, making your replying easier. Character development is the next step to take after registrating at this board. Hopefully when you register you already have an idea about your character, if not this is the time to start thinking about that. Once you have your character in mind go to the Character Development catagory and post your character's profile in the Directory. Your character profile will not only allow people to know more about the character they are role playing with but it will also help you keep your facts straight. It is much easier to have one place with all the information about your character than having to go back in previous role play threads just to find if one certain fact is correct. A profile template shall be provided for you to use in the Directory, but you do not have to use it. It is only there for those who are unsure what they should all place in their character's profile. If you choose to use it you may add or subtract to it as you wish. As it is only something to guide you. RPG Rules Role play is to be done in story format. This means that you are not to use any type of device, such as an asterick ( * ), two colons ( :: ), a dash ( - ), or anything else to show that your character is doing an action. This also means that you are to write in complete sentances, use paragraghs, proper grammer, and proper spelling. Story Format is most easily described as if you were reading or writing a book. When you role play keep that in mind. Role play is to be done in third person. This means that you are not to use any of the pronouns: I, We, Us, Me, and so on, unless your character is speaking or thinking. Role play is to be done in past tense. This means that you are not to role play in future or present tense. You are to role play as if it had already happened. You are not to God-Mode or the playing other people's characters. This means that when you make your posts you are not to write the other person's actions for them. Most people do not like it when other people play their character's responses. Most times it is because you do not know that person's character as well as they do. Example of the first four rules: Good: Karis walked into the castle. "Wow," she murmered to herself. Her eyes staring around her as she walked. Her shoes made slightly clicking sounds upon the floor as she walked. She jumped lightly when a fellow clicking joined her own. Turning around she noticed a another being "Hello," she said slowly. Bad: *I walks into the castle* Wow *I continue to walk in the castle. I hear another person. I turn seeing a young man* Hello *I say* Hello, what are you doing here?!? *he demands of me, his pace quicking as he comes over and grabs my arm* Characters are not to be all powerful. Your characters must have some sort of weakness. No one is all powerful and has no faults. There is always some way to defeat them. There is to be no mind reading. Mind reading has been allowed before on previous boards. But it was found that people abused this power and many seemed to have it. Do not do one line or two line posts. It is very annoying to come back to a thread to find that the person you are role playing with has replied and it only a one word to one sentance long. Be detailed in your posts. Do not be afraid to go over board. Share you character's feelings and thoughts at the moment. Describe what they are doing. School The school year shall have a total of four lessons in each year. Between the lessons there shall be a small break, larger one between the second and third, and then an even longer one between terms. One RPG Year Set-Up Example Beginning of Term 1 Week Lesson 1 (Length 3 Weeks.) 2 Week Break. Lesson 2 (Length 3 Weeks.) 3 Week Break. Lesson 3 (Length 3 Weeks.) 2 Week Break . Lesson 4 (Length 3 Weeks.) 1 Week Break. End of Term. 4 Week Break. Looking at the Term set up, Professors can see that they are expected to do 4 lessons total for the entire school year for one student year. Each lesson shall last about three weeks, this way you don't have to hurry your way through the role play, as not everyone can get on, or for the same amount as others. The main six classes there will not be any sign up, all students are expected to attend those lessons no matter what. The elective courses (third years and up) there will be a sign up list. Please try to space out the years and houses. I wont restrict what years can attend, but don't abuse this. OWLs/NEWTs Grading O - Outstanding E - Exceeds Expectations A - Acceptable P - Poor D - Dreadful T - Troll Restrictions To keep things as close to realistic as possible we have to set some restrictions on some things. The first restriction deals with the pets. Right now we are only allowing people to have: Cats, toads, rats, and owls. If you want a different pet you have to speak with the main admin. List of pets not allowed as pets or on school grounds: Acromantula, Ashwinder, Augurey (aka Irish Phoenix), Basilisk, Billywig, Bowtruckle, Bundimun, Centaur, Chimaera, Chizpurfle, Clabbert, Crup, Demiguise, Diricawl, Doxy (aka Biting Fairy), Dragon, Dugbog, Erkling, Erumpent, Fairy, Fire Crab, Flobberworm, Fwooper, Ghoul, Glumbumble, Graphorn, Griffin, Hippocampus, Hippogriff, Jarvy, Kappa, Kelpie, Knarl, Kneazle, Leprechaun, Lethifold, Lobalug, Mackled Malaclaw, Manticore, Moke, Niffler, Nogtail, Nundu, Occamy, Phoenix, Pogrebin, Porlock, Quintaped, Runespoor, Salamander, Sea Serpent, Shrake, Sphinx, Streeler, Tebo, Troll, Unicorn, Werewolf, Winged Horse, Yeti The next restriction is powers. Powers such as: being a metamorphagus, werewolf, animagus, Legimancy (mind reading) and Occulancy (blocking mind reading). We will only be accepting ONE metamorphagus. We will not be accepting anymore until that person has quit the board or if a certain amount of time has past. If we will accept another look for this area to update telling you so. If you wish for your character to be an animagi you must first petition to the main admin for your character to start training to be one and you character must be at least a third year. Consquences Like every site there are consquences for if you break one of the rules. Depending on the rule will depend upon the consquence. First Offence: Warning Second Offence: Banned for 2 Weeks. Third Offence: Banned for 1 Month Fourth Offence: Username(s) deleted. Consquences may Vary depending. Multiple Characters There is no limit as to how many characters a person may play here (but only one character per account, unless you talk to the Administration). However, do not abuse this freedom. As even though we allow you to have as many characters as you can possibly want, we have guidelines and expectations we expect you to follow with them. 1. Keep all your characters somewhat active. Meaning we want to see you post with them at the very least once every two weeks. Before making another character, you must take into account your own spare time and ability to take on another character. Do not just hop onto the bandwagon, as the phrase may go. It is difficult to juggle multiple characters. As you need to be aware of where you have your characters, when people reply to them, their own personality and history, and also playing them all equally or almost equally. 2. Be aware of the status of your characters. If you are finding you have not been playing a character at all. Either you lost ambition or what ever, you need to take the action and retire them [or get them moving again]. The Administration will not be watching your characters for you. They are your responsibility. Be aware that we have member list clean outs, and accounts that haven't been signed on or posted in over two months are deleted [there are exceptions to this rule]. Do not complain to us if we delete one of your characters. 3. It is possible to have a character that is background related. What do we mean by background related? Meaning they are not the focus of your attention, that you only play them occasionally. Characters who are: Ghosts, Shopkeepers, Plot Characters, and etc. are not and cannot always be played all the time. Meaning, a person doesn't need to pay special attention to these characters. They are an exception to the 2 Month activity rule, if the Administration knows about them. It is also possible to move a Professor character into a background position, meaning they are only played when Lessons are going on it. This is acceptable, but if you're going to do this you need to talk to the Administration and explain why you can't keep that Professor or Staff member very active. Such an excuse is if you have busy life outside of the board and you want to keep the character but don't have the time right now to play them to their full potential. We only ask in your characters that you keep them active and be aware of the fact if you handle them all or not. It is your responsibility to play these characters, not ours.