[02] Role-playing

[Ander]

ROLE-PLAYING

Minimum Role-play Requirements

Each role-play must follow a couple of very simple guidelines to qualify as an acceptable role-play. First of all, each post must be a minimum of 300 words. Second, they should have good grammar and spelling. It doesn’t have to be 100% perfect, but it should be understandable enough to be read. Third, there are two kinds of posts: IC (In Character), and OOC (Out Of Character). IC posts are done in the IC forums, and OOC posts are done in the OOC forums. Role-plays cannot be OOC posts, or contain any form of “OOC tag” whatsoever, and doing so will result in an Infraction as well as an XP penalty. If you have a note or comment to add, find a way to do that in the OOC forums. This includes song lyrics. You are more than welcome to use the RPG Discussion forum for OOC commentary on role-plays.

Lastly, in your role-plays, your custom is required to be the central or “main” character. You may not give NPCs (Non-player Characters) or other characters excessive “face time,” and by that, an NPC or other character may not be the primary focus of your role-plays to the point that your character has less involvement than they do, or is less important.

All role-plays are also required to follow the General Conduct rules.


Godmoding

“Godmoding” or “powermoding” and any other terms it may be known as is expressly forbidden in this RPG. Godmoding is making your character insanely powerful: possessing limitless energy, being unbeatable or untouchable, “owning” every single one of your opponents and hitting them with overpowered attack after overpowered attack, or any similar concepts. Also, godmoding is considered to be the magic ability to miraculously get out of any difficult situation with impractical ease or be instantly recovered or healed after traumatic incident. Godmoding can be full on, or done to a lesser extent. You must role-play your character within realistic range of your stats or abilities, especially against other characters.

There is a similar concept to godmoding commonly known as “bunnying,” which means taking control of somebody else’s character and using them to affect a storyline according to how you want it to go, or excessively role-playing another character’s thoughts or point of view. If you do not have someone’s permission for the liberty to affect or influence his or her character’s storyline, it is considered bunnying and is not allowed. There are various degrees of bunnying, and it is generally assumed that when you voluntarily role-play with multiple people it is required to have some kind of participation with others.

Another similar concept is known as "metagaming". When used in the context of RPGs, it refers to using Out of Character knowledge inside of your roleplay Essentially, we do not allow you to overhear a conversation on AIM or to read a private conversation between two characters in a roleplay and suddenly your post has them informing your character of all of this information without the writer's permission. This includes having an NPC make a "big reveal" about the secrets of another character against their permission. It violates the intentions of the writer and we do not allow it.


Activity

When you become a member of Chubbs, it is expected that you will role-play. We understand that you have a real life with real life priorities outside of this online world, but when you come here, you have to be ready to write. If you don’t want to write just for the pleasure of writing, keep in mind that your character’s growth depends solely on how much you role-play: no writing, no XP!

Being that we are an all-custom RPG, and nobody is allowed to take your custom character, there is no need for a minimum activity requirement to keep your character. There is, however, a minimum activity requirement to do certain things, such as transfer money or items. This is to ensure fairness for all players.

We also encourage people to role-play in groups, or finding a role-playing buddy. Most people have found this is not only enjoyable and makes for more interesting stories and character development, but helps keep them more active than if they were to role-play by themselves. You’re certainly welcome to solo it, but try running with a partner if you have difficulty motivating yourself.

If you will for some reason have difficulty posting in general (and will subsequently be unable to role-play) for one week or more, please make a courtesy post in the Stepping Out thread in the Updates forum stating that you are leaving, why, and when you’ll be back (if you don’t know, give an estimate).

There could be many reasons for this, and we’re very understanding of them, because more than likely we’ve gone through one or two of them before ourselves. If you can’t post yourself, have someone do it for you. If it’s a personal reason you don’t want to post, PM a staff member and we’ll make sure you’re excused. If we don’t know, we can’t do anything about it.

DO NOT post in this thread if you are going away for the weekend or will be away for a couple of days or anything like that. If it affects someone you’re role-playing with, tell them or post it in a saga discussion thread or something. The whole RPG doesn’t need to know. All posts of this nature will be automatically disregarded or deleted.


Sagas

These are what everyone lives for. Sagas are group role-playing events, often spanning across the Chubbs universe and involving most or potentially all of the member population. Some of these sagas are yearly, like our ever-popular and unique Dante’s Abyss tournament. Most of them are staff-run, but our members are also more than welcome to create their own mass storylines. Whether staff or member operated, sagas are enjoyable because it gives everyone a chance to interact with other characters and improve their writing skills on a much greater scale than solo role-playing. Large sagas being run by one person may have a member cap due to overwhelming participation, although this is rare. If you’re into rewards, these are good opportunities to earn them, but don’t expect one, because it’s not an automatic given!


Fluid Time

Fluid timing essentially rearranges chronological time and allows your character to be in two places at once. For example, your character is in a quest on Earth. You’re not finished with the quest, but a saga is starting on Vegeta-sei. Fluid time allows you to role-play your character traveling to Vegeta and starting the saga, while at the same time you role-play finishing your quest. Chronologically, your character finished the quest and then went to Vegeta-sei, but you used fluid to get the quest done while starting the saga. Confusing? It can be if you don’t understand it. It can also be used to explain how two people can be in the same immediate area at the same time, and do not acknowledge this OOC fact in their role-plays.

Fluid timing isn’t something that’s used in everyday role-playing and requires staff permission every single time. Its purpose is for major sagas when people have things they need more time to wrap up, or for people who are trying to complete the same quests at the same time that do not want to have other people involved (this does not include dragon ball hunting), but there comes a cut-off point. It isn’t meant so people can be in a saga and do a personal role-play alongside the saga, or be used to ignore every single person around you.

This section is intended to explain the concept, and inform people that it is not a “free pass” whenever you have two things you want to do or to exclude all other role-players in quests and the like. Do not expect to be an exception. Staff members do not have to do this, but offer it occasionally to be considerate.


Updates

You will probably see this mentioned many times, but we just can’t say it enough. For things that require grading, such as quests, spars, judgments, or anything of the like, you make a post in the Updates forum stating what the update is for, and make sure you provide a link to the thread(s) in question that needs grading or judgment. A staff member will respond to your update within 72 hours (3 days). If a staff member does not respond within 72 hours (3 days), you are allowed to “bump” your update, or post a reply reminding us we haven’t taken care of you yet. Please do so in a polite and respectful manner. You are allowed one bump per 72 hours (3 days), and no sooner. Anyone who bumps their thread before 72 hours will receive a verbal warning, and then Infractions for continued non-compliance.

All updates are to be considered as Staff Only posts, meaning only a staff member and the member who created the thread can reply to them. Commentary is not necessary on this forum. If you have something in particular to say to a person, use the PM system. If you have a similar or even identical issue to a thread already posted, make a separate thread. Do not post in somebody else’s! Any non-compliance will result in an immediate Infraction.

Manners are appreciated; so don’t forget “please” and “thank you.”