Post by Malum on May 11, 2010 14:14:59 GMT -5
I'm going to assume you already know how post-by-post roleplay works while writing this. If you don't, please read the thread in the general Roleplay board. Click ':: Roleplay ::' above this text, right between where it says ':: Fleeting Dreams::' and '::Forum::'. Then, click 'Wtf is RP?'.
Fleeting Dreams is a science-fiction story about Earth far in the future. There are two moons, floating cities and almost no land masses. Our RP takes place on a city floating just feet above the raging ocean below. This city is called the Port of Angels and is the central trade center of the hemisphere. People from around the world visit and live in the city. Your character is one such person.
This RP is a character-driven story. You, as the player, write what happens to your character and (to a limited extent) the environment around her. Because there is limited interaction from myself (the GM) your story is created by you and the players your character interacts with. That means it's up to you to make your own plot.
The point of Fleeting Dreams is to write in conjunction with other writers to make a collective story that is moving, deep, thematic and purposeful. You should do your best to write your posts in detail and make them fun to read. We want this to look like a book would once it's all compiled.
Fleeting Dreams is a mature RP. If you are going to join you should be willing to accept strong language, gritty realism and sexual themes.
Some Basics
Everyone makes their posts in the same thread, which will be archived and replaced by a new thread every so often. Currently, you'll want to post in: Part 1.
Though everyone is posting in the same thread, the story takes place in and around the Port of Angels; all over. So be sure to describe exactly where your character is so someone a hundred miles away doesn't try interacting with you.
Since each post may take place over a different course of time, we (the writers/players) can never really be sure what time it is in the story each time we post. So thing will never be perfect. But use some common sense. If someone says their character is cleaning their gun at home for two hours after 2PM then went for a walk alone and your character just woke up at 4:10PM and went to visit the gun-cleaning character, they obviously won't be in their home cleaning their gun.
To prevent things from being too confusing, please post the time and the beginning of each post you make. In addition, please post the location of your character, even if the location is mentioned in the post itself.
Also, to keep things from being too confusing, you're welcome to post your character's speech in a specific color. Just don't take the same color as someone else. Read the Profiles thread to see what colors have been taken.
And finally, when replying to someone, please make sure they know who you are talking to. Add 'Re: <Their Name>' to the top of your posts when replying to a specific person.
For Example:
I post:
Re: Paul
4:23 PM
The Blue Balls Tavern
He eyed Paul up and down. "Hey there, big man."
Paul posts:
Re: Malum
4:23 PM
The Blue Balls Tavern
Paul blinked, turning to the sound of the stranger's voice. He looked the stranger up and down before hesitantly replying, "Uhh... big man?" Suddenly, Paul noticed the name of the tavern written on the wall. Wrong tavern! He made a bolt for the door!
There are several common languages spoken in this RP. See: The Port of Angels (setting) for information on them. You must also clarify what language they are speaking in if they say something in the post. If you like, you can write what the language sounds like then translate. Please keep to the general guidelines on how the languages are spoken if you do this. Those guidelines are written in the Setting thread.
For Example:
I post:
Re: Paul
4:24 PM
Outside The Blue Balls Tavern
Speaking Simple'Ku
He ran into the streets, searching for the big, hunky man he had met in the tavern. He sniffed the air... the man's scent hadn't yet left the vicinity. "Ju knik ta!" <I'll get you!>
Please italics and surround translations with <>. Note that you do not have to write the spoken language as it is when your character speaks a common tongue, only the translation to English. It's just an option. If your character is speaking an obscure language (one you made up) that other characters won't know, you're free to offer no translation at all, as it adds more mystery to the story.
Cheating
I would like to mention 'godmodding' and 'metagaming' as they're called will not be tolerated by the community. This means you control only your character and their immediate environment. You, as a writer, have no control over other writers' characters. You also need to keep in mind that your character doesn't know everything you know!
Bad:
Re: Malum
4:26 PM
The Alleys Around the BB Tavern
Speaking Simple'Ku
Panting, Paul looked around the alleys. The man had come bursting out of the tavern after he left. Suddenly, the weird man ran by, shouting about 'getting' Paul... whatever that meant. Paul laughed, "Got away. Phew!"
This is bad because Paul didn't explain how he knew I came chasing him out of the tavern. He didn't read my post carefully enough to see that my character said he was going to 'get' Paul before he started running, not after. He also wrote that my character came running by the alley he was hiding in. This eliminates the entire purpose of post-by-post roleplaying and turns it into Paul's story with some commentary by me. This kind of posting will not be allowed.
Good:
Re: Malum
4:26 PM
The Alleys Around the BB Tavern
Speaking Simple'Ku
Panting, Paul looked around the alleys. Just as he had left he heard the weird man say something about 'getting him'... whatever that meant. He rested his back against a wall, listening carefully for any sound the man may have made.
This time, Paul explained that he heard my character speak, and left time for me to respond how I choose. Next, I might find him, since he's not carefully hidden. Or, I might miss him entirely, since the city is such a maze. Either possibilities makes sense. You should always have a logical reason why things happen as they do.
RP Conflicts
In RP fights, this can be especially difficult. Everyone wants to win. But there often can only be one winner. In such events, think logically. How much time does your character devote to his physical skills? How much time does his opponent? Is his opponent trained? Is he?
It isn't about winning. It's about writing a realistic, character-driven story together. Your character is one piece of the entire story. No one will get anything out of a story which always glorifies your character and never touches on anything deep or meaningful.
If there is a conflict where both writers think their character should win (or lose) after writing out a few posts about it, take it to OOC conversation via PMs or the OOC board. If, through civil discussion, the dispute can't be decided, we'll allow the community to decide with a poll. Remember: logic and story-focus.
Environment
I've mentioned a few times that, as a writer, you are allowed to describe the environment around your character to some extent. Again, you cannot alter anything already established in someone's previous post or the Setting information. This, of course, is unless your character physically does something to change the fruit stand Paul described in his last post, for example.
You can describe the immediate setting around your character to help fill your story. The smell of a room, the decorations on the lavish captain's chair their sitting on, even the background characters (or NPCs; see below) to an extent. Note that this is for the purpose of adding color to your posts or making plot devices, not so you can have more influence then your character already has over the story.
Bad:
2:50 PM
The Sewers
Speaking Yex'Ku
The young girl was covered in muck, as always. The normal stench of her own dirty skin was nothing compared to the overwhelming waft of the warm, sticky smell of the sewer.
Footsteps echoes from a corridor behind her. She gasped, running down a corridor to hide. Two maintenance robots were coming her way! Just as she ran a few feet she saw a shining object. Gasping, she picked it up. Power coursed through her body! She turned to the robots and fired lazrz from her eyes!!!!! ZZAP!
Setting aside the... embellishments at the end, this is still a bad post. The writer broke setting continuity by having robots as the maintenance in the sewer. In the setting post it is described that AI robots are used only by the elite. She also broke the general setting of the game by having an object of great power/technology suddenly appear. There is no magic in Fleeting Dreams and technology is certainly not advanced enough to make lasers shoot from one's eyes. Plus, what would such an object be doing in a sewer?
The writer obviously cared more about making things extreme and less about writing a good story.
Good:
2:50 PM
The Sewers
Speaking Yex'Ku
The young girl was covered in muck, as always. The normal stench of her own dirty skin was nothing compared to the overwhelming waft of the warm, sticky smell of the sewer. Ahead of her she could see the massive filter, where the sewer water was recycled back into the populace. Down a hall to the left was another filter, this one sucking up and filtering sea water for drinking and reuse.
Footsteps echoes from a corridor behind her. She gasped, running down a corridor to hide. Two maintenance workers were coming her way!
The writer described the environment and used it to color her story and give it purpose. She even added to the world by explaining that the Port of Angels recycles its water. This is perfectly okay, since it's not extreme and very logical.
NPCs
NPC stands for Non-Player Character or Not-Playable Character. It's a term used mostly in RPG video games and tabletop games such as Dungeons and Dragons and World of Darkness. In a post-by-post RP like Fleeting Dreams, it simply means the background characters and those characters who the GM (Game Master) controls.
In your posting you are allowed a certain amount of control over NPCs. If your character is selling fish to someone, you can play as that someone. As always, be logical. They aren't going to give your character a zeppelin or devote their life to fighting by her side for a fish.
In general, you should only write for an NPC or group of NPCs while they are interacting with your character. Two or three posts max.
Posting Frequency
This is possibly the most basic but among the most important things to note. We, the writers, expect everyone to have a certain level of devotion once they join the RP. Every time you post, you are impacting everyone else and their story. Eventually, you can become a very necessary part of everyone's story.
That said, if you suddenly disappear, or only post once every week, the story becomes weak and other people are forced to wait on your next post, maybe missing out on other events happening in the story. This can also through time continuity out the window.
We ask that you post at least once a day in the roleplay. You can post more, but if you post less for too long we'll be forced to retcon (aka: pretend it didn't happen) everything your character has done recently, and come up with an excuse why they've suddenly disappeared.
If you don't know what to post, you can describe the environment around your character, their thoughts, their current feelings, anything about them you want! Just. Post. Something. Otherwise, your lack necessary contribution leaves a hole in the story.
If you are unable to post for several days or weeks due to whatever reason, please let us know in advanced on the OOC board and come up with a reason why your character is missing from the story.
Thank you for reading all of this! If you have questions ask me via PM or post on the OOC board.
Fleeting Dreams is a science-fiction story about Earth far in the future. There are two moons, floating cities and almost no land masses. Our RP takes place on a city floating just feet above the raging ocean below. This city is called the Port of Angels and is the central trade center of the hemisphere. People from around the world visit and live in the city. Your character is one such person.
This RP is a character-driven story. You, as the player, write what happens to your character and (to a limited extent) the environment around her. Because there is limited interaction from myself (the GM) your story is created by you and the players your character interacts with. That means it's up to you to make your own plot.
The point of Fleeting Dreams is to write in conjunction with other writers to make a collective story that is moving, deep, thematic and purposeful. You should do your best to write your posts in detail and make them fun to read. We want this to look like a book would once it's all compiled.
Fleeting Dreams is a mature RP. If you are going to join you should be willing to accept strong language, gritty realism and sexual themes.
Some Basics
Everyone makes their posts in the same thread, which will be archived and replaced by a new thread every so often. Currently, you'll want to post in: Part 1.
Though everyone is posting in the same thread, the story takes place in and around the Port of Angels; all over. So be sure to describe exactly where your character is so someone a hundred miles away doesn't try interacting with you.
Since each post may take place over a different course of time, we (the writers/players) can never really be sure what time it is in the story each time we post. So thing will never be perfect. But use some common sense. If someone says their character is cleaning their gun at home for two hours after 2PM then went for a walk alone and your character just woke up at 4:10PM and went to visit the gun-cleaning character, they obviously won't be in their home cleaning their gun.
To prevent things from being too confusing, please post the time and the beginning of each post you make. In addition, please post the location of your character, even if the location is mentioned in the post itself.
Also, to keep things from being too confusing, you're welcome to post your character's speech in a specific color. Just don't take the same color as someone else. Read the Profiles thread to see what colors have been taken.
And finally, when replying to someone, please make sure they know who you are talking to. Add 'Re: <Their Name>' to the top of your posts when replying to a specific person.
For Example:
I post:
Re: Paul
4:23 PM
The Blue Balls Tavern
He eyed Paul up and down. "Hey there, big man."
Paul posts:
Re: Malum
4:23 PM
The Blue Balls Tavern
Paul blinked, turning to the sound of the stranger's voice. He looked the stranger up and down before hesitantly replying, "Uhh... big man?" Suddenly, Paul noticed the name of the tavern written on the wall. Wrong tavern! He made a bolt for the door!
There are several common languages spoken in this RP. See: The Port of Angels (setting) for information on them. You must also clarify what language they are speaking in if they say something in the post. If you like, you can write what the language sounds like then translate. Please keep to the general guidelines on how the languages are spoken if you do this. Those guidelines are written in the Setting thread.
For Example:
I post:
Re: Paul
4:24 PM
Outside The Blue Balls Tavern
Speaking Simple'Ku
He ran into the streets, searching for the big, hunky man he had met in the tavern. He sniffed the air... the man's scent hadn't yet left the vicinity. "Ju knik ta!" <I'll get you!>
Please italics and surround translations with <>. Note that you do not have to write the spoken language as it is when your character speaks a common tongue, only the translation to English. It's just an option. If your character is speaking an obscure language (one you made up) that other characters won't know, you're free to offer no translation at all, as it adds more mystery to the story.
Cheating
I would like to mention 'godmodding' and 'metagaming' as they're called will not be tolerated by the community. This means you control only your character and their immediate environment. You, as a writer, have no control over other writers' characters. You also need to keep in mind that your character doesn't know everything you know!
Bad:
Re: Malum
4:26 PM
The Alleys Around the BB Tavern
Speaking Simple'Ku
Panting, Paul looked around the alleys. The man had come bursting out of the tavern after he left. Suddenly, the weird man ran by, shouting about 'getting' Paul... whatever that meant. Paul laughed, "Got away. Phew!"
This is bad because Paul didn't explain how he knew I came chasing him out of the tavern. He didn't read my post carefully enough to see that my character said he was going to 'get' Paul before he started running, not after. He also wrote that my character came running by the alley he was hiding in. This eliminates the entire purpose of post-by-post roleplaying and turns it into Paul's story with some commentary by me. This kind of posting will not be allowed.
Good:
Re: Malum
4:26 PM
The Alleys Around the BB Tavern
Speaking Simple'Ku
Panting, Paul looked around the alleys. Just as he had left he heard the weird man say something about 'getting him'... whatever that meant. He rested his back against a wall, listening carefully for any sound the man may have made.
This time, Paul explained that he heard my character speak, and left time for me to respond how I choose. Next, I might find him, since he's not carefully hidden. Or, I might miss him entirely, since the city is such a maze. Either possibilities makes sense. You should always have a logical reason why things happen as they do.
RP Conflicts
In RP fights, this can be especially difficult. Everyone wants to win. But there often can only be one winner. In such events, think logically. How much time does your character devote to his physical skills? How much time does his opponent? Is his opponent trained? Is he?
It isn't about winning. It's about writing a realistic, character-driven story together. Your character is one piece of the entire story. No one will get anything out of a story which always glorifies your character and never touches on anything deep or meaningful.
If there is a conflict where both writers think their character should win (or lose) after writing out a few posts about it, take it to OOC conversation via PMs or the OOC board. If, through civil discussion, the dispute can't be decided, we'll allow the community to decide with a poll. Remember: logic and story-focus.
Environment
I've mentioned a few times that, as a writer, you are allowed to describe the environment around your character to some extent. Again, you cannot alter anything already established in someone's previous post or the Setting information. This, of course, is unless your character physically does something to change the fruit stand Paul described in his last post, for example.
You can describe the immediate setting around your character to help fill your story. The smell of a room, the decorations on the lavish captain's chair their sitting on, even the background characters (or NPCs; see below) to an extent. Note that this is for the purpose of adding color to your posts or making plot devices, not so you can have more influence then your character already has over the story.
Bad:
2:50 PM
The Sewers
Speaking Yex'Ku
The young girl was covered in muck, as always. The normal stench of her own dirty skin was nothing compared to the overwhelming waft of the warm, sticky smell of the sewer.
Footsteps echoes from a corridor behind her. She gasped, running down a corridor to hide. Two maintenance robots were coming her way! Just as she ran a few feet she saw a shining object. Gasping, she picked it up. Power coursed through her body! She turned to the robots and fired lazrz from her eyes!!!!! ZZAP!
Setting aside the... embellishments at the end, this is still a bad post. The writer broke setting continuity by having robots as the maintenance in the sewer. In the setting post it is described that AI robots are used only by the elite. She also broke the general setting of the game by having an object of great power/technology suddenly appear. There is no magic in Fleeting Dreams and technology is certainly not advanced enough to make lasers shoot from one's eyes. Plus, what would such an object be doing in a sewer?
The writer obviously cared more about making things extreme and less about writing a good story.
Good:
2:50 PM
The Sewers
Speaking Yex'Ku
The young girl was covered in muck, as always. The normal stench of her own dirty skin was nothing compared to the overwhelming waft of the warm, sticky smell of the sewer. Ahead of her she could see the massive filter, where the sewer water was recycled back into the populace. Down a hall to the left was another filter, this one sucking up and filtering sea water for drinking and reuse.
Footsteps echoes from a corridor behind her. She gasped, running down a corridor to hide. Two maintenance workers were coming her way!
The writer described the environment and used it to color her story and give it purpose. She even added to the world by explaining that the Port of Angels recycles its water. This is perfectly okay, since it's not extreme and very logical.
NPCs
NPC stands for Non-Player Character or Not-Playable Character. It's a term used mostly in RPG video games and tabletop games such as Dungeons and Dragons and World of Darkness. In a post-by-post RP like Fleeting Dreams, it simply means the background characters and those characters who the GM (Game Master) controls.
In your posting you are allowed a certain amount of control over NPCs. If your character is selling fish to someone, you can play as that someone. As always, be logical. They aren't going to give your character a zeppelin or devote their life to fighting by her side for a fish.
In general, you should only write for an NPC or group of NPCs while they are interacting with your character. Two or three posts max.
Posting Frequency
This is possibly the most basic but among the most important things to note. We, the writers, expect everyone to have a certain level of devotion once they join the RP. Every time you post, you are impacting everyone else and their story. Eventually, you can become a very necessary part of everyone's story.
That said, if you suddenly disappear, or only post once every week, the story becomes weak and other people are forced to wait on your next post, maybe missing out on other events happening in the story. This can also through time continuity out the window.
We ask that you post at least once a day in the roleplay. You can post more, but if you post less for too long we'll be forced to retcon (aka: pretend it didn't happen) everything your character has done recently, and come up with an excuse why they've suddenly disappeared.
If you don't know what to post, you can describe the environment around your character, their thoughts, their current feelings, anything about them you want! Just. Post. Something. Otherwise, your lack necessary contribution leaves a hole in the story.
If you are unable to post for several days or weeks due to whatever reason, please let us know in advanced on the OOC board and come up with a reason why your character is missing from the story.
Thank you for reading all of this! If you have questions ask me via PM or post on the OOC board.