GROUND RULES: An RPG Primer

[PmTick]

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[artful]

Thank You

Hey folks...I've been kinda hiding out in the shadows, just watching your stories progress along, and I see that recently it's been asked for a few ground rules...okay.

I can understand the need for such, although at heart I'm a pretty flexible, stretch the envelope, think outside the box type of guy...so, in my opinion, the fewer rules we can have in here, the better off everyone will be. That being said, I also understand that not everybody is automatically going to grasp the concept of what this is all about, and not everyone that comes into this forum is going to come here to play nicely with everybody else. So a few basic "Rules of Society", so to speak, are in order.

I'll lay down a couple and a few guidelines here to start off with, if more become necessary I'll look into adding to the list, and if anybody else can think of some they would like to see, I'll gladly take them under advisement.

First off, I think everyone would be well advised to follow what Triatic referred to as:

The First Rule of Improvisation; You can never directly invalidate what someone else has said. Example:

Player 1: That's a nice hat you're wearing.
Player 2: I'm not wearing a hat.

pretty simple to follow actually...notice Player 2 directly invalidates player 1's statement...a no-no...much better to say:

Player 1: "That's a nice hat you're wearing."
Player 2: ::snaps fingers and says in a loud voice:: GRIZLO! ::causing hat to vanish:: What hat? I'm not wearing a hat.

If everyone tries to follow this rule, you'll all find that things tend to go a lot smoother...
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Secondly, when typing in your responses, try to differentiate between actions and dialogue...in the previous example I did this by surrounding the action with a double colon {::} which makes it easier to tell where actions end and dialogue begins, or vice versa. Other ways to do this are with an asterisk {*} before and after actions, or the more time honored use of quotemarks {"}before and after dialogue...just try to make it so others can understand exactly what actions you're taking as opposed to what actions your characters are talking about taking...another simple one actually.
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Thirdly, try to keep your posts involved with the main storyline. Nothing is more annoying than to see the flow of a story interrupted...that's not saying that sideplots aren't good, because they are, but still things should keep moving along as if you're reading a novel. Think of it this way, Stephen King may randomly introduce a character that seems to be out of nowhere, and with no relevence whatsoever to all that has gone before in the book you're reading, but you know that before the character has gone to far, he or she will have some sort of relevence to the main plot, be they a victim of the villian, a minor character aiding the villian or aiding the hero, or the real villian or hero to be...so let's focus, and keep the stories flowing...
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Fourthly, try not to stray out of character too much...and when you do always let everyone know that you have, example:

OOC: Hey guys, sorry I've been away, can't wait to get back into this...

IC: *Slowly shaking his head back to consciousness, Bordo opens his eyes and looks around for his companions* Hello? Anyone still around? *realizing he is alone, Bordo figures the group must have travelled on, thinking him dead. Muttering to himself about fair weathered friends, Bordo casts around for a moment to find the groups obvious trail* Leave me to the crows will ya...*he mutters and begins to follow them*

In this example OOC stands for Out Of Character, the players words to all of the other players, and IC stands for In Character, the characters words and actions, the storyline once again evolving...

If you're playing more than one character, always try to clearly define which player you are acting and speaking for. This is easily done by putting the characters name before their actions like this:

Bordo:
*Slowly shaking his head back to consciousness, Bordo opens his eyes and looks around for his companions* Hello? Anyone still around? *realizing he is alone, Bordo figures the group must have travelled on, thinking him dead. Muttering to himself about fair weathered friends, Bordo casts around for a moment to find the groups obvious trail* Leave me to the crows will ya...*he mutters and begins to follow them*

this method can also be used instead of putting IC before the post...but it's always a good idea to let everyone know what character you're starting with even if you have no OOC comments to make....and it's always best to make as few OOC comments as possible...
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Finally, but most importantly....READ ALL OF THE POSTS!!! Especially before you begin to add to a storyline, and always try to read all the posts in a storyline since the last one you posted...once again it's all about maintaining an even flow, a storytelling quality, continuity...and besides you'll find other's that are already established in a thread respond better if you have read and know what's going on in their tale before you begin to add to it...
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Okay, that's a pretty fair primer I would say...a good enough place to begin with anyway...now then *pulling out my Demi-God hat, and placing it upon my head*, let me say something about enforcement of these rules and guidelines...

I will delete and edit posts that I think are out of bounds, out of character, or are just annoying to a storyline...I have no qualms about it whatsoever...but I'd rather that I didn't have to. I will also move posts to different threads if I feel it is necessary, or close a thread down so it can't receive more replies...I have the power to delete whole threads outright, but I quail at the idea of doing that actually, as I'd rather just close a thread down with a final post of why I'm doing it, so that it can remain as an example of what isn't going to be allowed in here...I've already done some of these things...

That's all for now I guess...questions? comments? gripes? agreements? Let me know what you all think...and now if you'll excuse me...I have some more "house cleaning" to do around here...*snapping fingers and disappearing with a POOF*

Havoc
BTW...PAMFAM stands for: Pimp Ass Mo Fo Activities Moderator *wink*

[Edited by Havocman on 07-06-2000 at 10:04 AM]

I am a newbie at LIT,and I wish I had been able to read this post on my FIRST day.Please collaborate your suggestions and helpful guidelines to other responsibles,and see if we cant get this posted in MORE obvious places.Hell,I have been locked into SRP forum,and stumbled onto this by accident.Again,thank you very much.