We're a pretty laidback group of people. But no rules in a game quickly lead to chaos, so we find it necessary to institute some simple rules governing how the game is to be played. Please follow them so that we can have fun and interactive gameplay.
GENERAL RULES AND GUIDELINES:
1. Players will need to post at least once every 1-2 weeks to either their personal journal or the community journal. Exceptions are circumstances in which real life interferes with gameplay, in which case players must post to the OOC Community to let other players know they are taking a leave of absence. It is suggested that they put their characters out of narrative action during this time, for example, putting a character into a coma or away on Holiday.
2. Players should respond to comments received at least every few days in order to keep current plotlines moving.
3. Posts should generally be relevant to more than one player in the game, or something more than one player can build upon. This does not mean every post has to be totally open to community participation; ie, characters can write personal diary entries, but posts should generally contain something on which to build plot.
4. It is therefore suggested to keep lyrics posts and one-line non sequiturs to a minimum. Please.
5. Muns MAY NOT control another mun's characters in ways that may drastically affect plotline without permission. However, if a character is currently interacting in a storyline with another mun's character, anything not drastically affecting or completely out of line with the puppet's character is acceptable. Please, PLEASE confirm with the other mun before writing a storyline in which Character A suddenly decides he wants to kill Character B and all his or family.
6. NO SMUT/SLASH/HET. If you must get your Frodo/Sam fix, there are plenty of places on the world wide web for that. This is not one of them.
7. Swearing is allowed, but please use your discretion when doing so. Nobody wants to read a gratuitous post in which every third word is the f-word. Of course, if your character has Tourrettes or if it is a character trait because they are just plain nasty, that is understandable. Please alert the mods, though, if you decide to do this to your poor puppet.
8. Players must be 13+ to play in compliance with COPPA State Regulations.
9. Large images, chat logs, etc. should be placed under LJ-CUT. To do so:
<LJ-CUT TEXT="Text you wish to be displayed as a link">
Stuff you want to post
</LJ-CUT>
10. Players are kindly requested not to post memes, quizzes, or surveys in their journals.
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BASIC CHARACTER GUIDELINES
1. NO ORIGINAL CHARACTERS. Sorry, this is to eliminate the appearance of multitudes of Elven Vampyre Princesses who are all inexplicably related to one Legolas Greenleaf...OH WAIT! THEY'RE ALL MARRIED TO HIM. Yeah.
2. CURRENTLY PLAYERS ARE ONLY ALLOWED A MAXIMUM OF THREE PUPPETS TO DISCOURAGE CHARACTER MONOPOLIES. As the game expands, players will be allowed more. Before starting a new journal for a character, muns must alert the mods through email or through the OOC journal.
3. Although most of the characters do in fact have some basis in Canon for their personality traits, we're very loose with what we expect as "Canon." For example, characters who are married in the books start out as still being married, although as the game progresses you will be free to divorce/legally separate if you want.
4. Please find an avatar for your character, as it makes gameplay a little more interesting if there is a face to the character. However, please do not use the person in the avatar of another character (except in the case of Elladan and Elrohir), for obvious reasons.
5. Dead means dead. If you kill your character, then they stay dead in the game, so don't go killing off your characters gratuitously. Dead Canon characters may "return from the grave" due to Mandos's revised emigration laws, but if your character dies in the game, that's it. Finito.
6. Leike omgwtfe n00b, ABSOLUTELY NO GODMODING. This should be obvious.
7. "Pregnancies" are currently not allowed. This may change in the future.
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BASIC PLOT GUIDELINES AND PLAYER COMMUNICATIONS:
1. When you have a plot idea, post it to the OOC community. Communication is very important, so that everyone can keep track of what is going on. Plots should also be open to the involvement of at least two more players (not just characters).
DEFINITION: By "plot", we mean "things that affect the game as a whole, and other people's characters." If your character pulls a muscle, bumps his head getting up in the morning, or is cranky because she's out of coffee, these are not things that need anyone's foreknowledge, that is just called RP.
2. Post suggestions at least 24 hours before you intend to put them into effect. This gives everyone else a fair chance to comment on them. If it's possible, please give us more time, but we know that sometimes things happen quickly, and we don't want the game to stall on something good because someone thought of it less than 3 days ahead!
3. Please DO comment on and offer suggestions regarding plots. If they will interfere with something you have planned, or involve your character acting OOC, or if you have any other problems with it (powergaming, cheesiness, timing, whatever), speak up. Discussion is important.
4. If you don't speak up, you can't complain. We understand that sometimes people are gone for periods of time, especially during the holidays, so everyone please keep an eye on the list, know what is going on, and try not to post things that will interfere with what is already there.
5. Please play nice. If you have a problem with somebody in the game, please talk to them directly.
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Any other questions/concerns may be directed to your mods.
