Marti of Oz 
Posts: 130
(20/12/05 9:39 am)
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FAQ
I've compiled a list of questions and answers that should help people who are new to the site, and to roleplaying in general. Again, be sure to have a look, and check back for updates.
Q: Roleplay? Please Explain!
A: Roleplay is like acting. You take on a character other than yourself, and take them through various situations. The way we roleplay is called text-based, play-by-post role play. That means that we act via writing, and put one action per post on a message board. You develop a character (and the beautiful thing is they can be as crazy and different from you as possible), and then write what they would do if they were in a situation. Then other people write back with what their character would do.
Example:
Klaus65: Gina stalked into the room, making sure to check every corner for dust mites before she did anything else. Satisfied that she would no be attack tonight, she sat carefully on a hard chair.
HappyHippo: Dave grinned, watching Gina from a seat near the fireplace. He always enjoyed her nightly battle, though he didn't know why. Standing, he walked casually over to her. "Find anything tonight?" he asked with a grin.
Klaus65: Gina looked up at Dave, sneering at his happy demeanour. "Not yet, but the night is yet young," she replied, wary.
There we go, see what I mean? That's pretty poor quality, but it's about the gist of it.
Q: Okay, so what are these letter groups floating around? What do they stand for?
A: We use abbreviations, such as RP for role play, and OOC for Out of Character. They should be all in the glossary, but let an admin know if we've missed one.
Q: Alright, I get the role play thing, but this doesn't look like a normal Harry Potter role play. What's the deal?
A: That's right, we're not normal. We're a parody. That means that we've taken a base of Harry Potter, twisted it, inserted random humour, and allowed others to play with the result. You might have seen the Barry Trotter books by Michael Gerber. Although our site isn't based off those, it's the same sort of idea. It's pretty much anything goes.
Originally, this came out of a crossover with the Song of the Lioness books by Tamora Pierce. As a result, we don't restrict ourselves to the one fandom. Although the setting is in Hogwarts, and we follow Harry Potter Universal Rules, we do allow characters from other fandoms to populate the castle. Want to play a guy called Sam whose mission in life is to make things easier for Frodo? That's cool.
Q: So what's Goddmodding?
A: Goddmodding is possibly the most offensive thing you can do in the role play world. Is has various names, such as powerplaying or autoing, but they all mean the same thing: controlling another player's character. The golden rule of roleplay, one thing that makes it so much fun, is that you control your character, and ONLY your character. You MAY NOT, under any circumstances, say what another player character says or does.
Unfortunately, it's not quite black and white, yes and no. Like most things in life, there are different degrees of goddmodding, and you need to be aware of them.
Type one: All out Power
This sort of thing occurs more in chat-based roleplay, but it can happen here too. Basically a person introduces an incredibly powerful character, and begins to kill or otherwise attack other characters, while making themselves imperious to harm. Not only may you not kill another character without the player's express permission, you cannot do it in one sentence either. It should be a very dramatic thing, and you ruin the game by doing it. Let's get Klaus and Hippo back here to show you what we mean.
Example:
<Klaus65 has entered the chat>
HappyHippo: Dave was lounging by the window, waiting for his friends.
Klaus65: Gina kills Dave.
HappyHippo: ((Hey!))
Klaus65: *kills Hippo*
Klaus65: Muahahahaha!!!!
Type Two: Direct control
This is where you say exactly what another character does in response to your actions. This is really bad, because the player is the only one who knows what a character will do and how they will respond. Often it happens because the offending player just isn't thinking, or because they have a really good plot all worked out, but it will only work if the other character acts in a certain way. Neither are acceptable. I'll provide two examples, of extreme and mild control. Be aware of both.
Example 1:
Klaus65: Gina sat in the back of the class, carefully screwing up bits of paper, ready as ammunition. Momentarily, the teacher turned their back to write on the board. Quickly, Gina stood and hurled three paper missiles at the teacher's back.
The professor turned, but Gina was back in her seat before he saw her. "Who threw that?" he asked menacingly.
Dave, sitting next to Gina, said quickly, "It was her, sir."
Gina glared at Dave. "Goodie goodie," she muttered.
(That's saying exactly what not only Gina does, but Dave AND the teacher! Big no no!)
Example 2:
Klaus65: Gina sat at the table, serving herself a big plate of bacon and eggs. Flipping open her newspaper, she asked Dave, "Pass the salt?" As he gave it to her, she saw something in the paper that made her want to scream.
(Even though it's not the point of the post, you can't assume any actions. Who knows, Dave might have grabbed the salt, ran from the room and hurled it into the lake to prevent her from having any.)
Type Three: Indirect Control
This is saying what another character does, though not in so many words. Like in the last example, it is assuming an action that you could never really know. It happens mostly in competitions of some sort.
Example:
Klaus65: Gina sped after the Snitch on her broom, performing a spectacular dive. Before Dave could reach it, she grabbed it out of mid air, holding it up for the world to see.
Type Four: Too much, too fast
This is the most common type of goddmodding, and often it happens as a result of people trying to be good role players. People get so caught up in trying to make their posts nice and long, that they write so many actions the other character can't react to. Doing a lot at once is assuming that the other character DOESN'T react, which is almost as bad as saying how they do react. You've got to give people space to act, otherwise what's the point of the role play? You'd be better off writing a story or something.
Example:
HappyHippo: Dave walked up to Gina and sat down beside her. "Look, I know you're feeling bad about what happened..." he started.
Klaus65: Gina stood up, furious. Leaning down, she said in a low, deadly voice "You have no idea what I feel. You have no idea about anything. You're just an idiot." Straightening, Gina brought her foot down hard on Dave's toe, then stalked away, pausing to scoop up a huge ball of snow and hurl it into his face. "I hate you!" she screamed, before running indoors and up to her dorm, where she fell onto the bed and burst into tears.
(See, you can't know that Dave would just have sat there and let it happen. You're best putting just two or three actions at most per post, that way people can react to them easier.)
Type Five: Player Knowledge
This is perhaps one of the most infuriating types of Goddmodding. If you have a particularly well developed character, chances are you don't just type what they say, you type what they're thinking. Or your character might be very sneaky, and you take specific care to say that they are there, but they can't be seen. Or you might have been discussing your plans in an OOC area. It is very frustrating then, when a character somehow learns something that the player has, something they could never know otherwise. Player knowledge is taking something you know, and having your character know it, or work it out by extreme logic.
Example:
HappyHippo: Dave was very unhappy. He was sitting by himself, in a dark corner of the hall, his knees drawn up to his chest, his wand in his hands. Running his hands over the wand, he remembered the day he got it, how his father had taken him on that first visit to the wizarding world. They had both been so excited that day. And now he was gone. Dave had yet to tell anyone at the school what had happened to his father. He supposed he would, eventually, when this numbness he felt left him. If it ever did. But for the moment, he tried to be himself, just... a lot quieter than usual.
Klaus65: Gina entered the hall, and immediately saw Dave in the corner. Seeing him toy with the wand, Gina realised immediately what had happened to her friend. Something was deeply wrong, something to do with his father. Remembering how she had acted when her own father had died, she walked quietly over, and sat down next to him. "Was it quick?" she asked. "I mean, did he suffer?"
(See how she's just made such a leap there, when Hippo said that no one could tell? Bad bad.)
Okay, that's illegal goddmodding. But now, just to confuse you, there are some kinds that are acceptable.
Acceptable Goddmodding includes:
-An admin writing a quick death/leaving scene for a character that has been inactive for months.
-An admin finishing a plot with an inactive important character.
-Minor contol of a non-specific non-player-character (NPC). Example: Dave picked up a snowball and hurled it at a third year boy, knocking the boy's hat askew.
-Control of a crowds reactions (though not specific people within the crowd).
That may seem like a lot of things to remember, but it can be simplified pretty easily: Never assume anything. It's exactly like real life: you can only control yourself. If you could control everyone else, it would defiantly make things easier, but far less interesting.
Q: Who are the admins, and how can I contact them?
A: The admins, at this stage, are Biscotti17, Marti of Oz, and Pork97. All three can be contacted through their ezinbox, or through msn messenger. Biscotti17 is stormwing121@hotmail.com, Marti of Oz is myst_gurl87@hotmail.com, and Pork97 is pork97@hotmail.com.
Edited by: Pork97  at: 30/12/05 2:35 am
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