Spacebattles: The Last of the Airbenders (In-character only)

[tahu1809]

Hello and welcom to Spacebattles: The Last of the Airbenders. A Free Form Roleplaying Game. What is a FFRP(Free Form Roleplaying) forum all about? It's about playing a character in a universe or setting, with different threads in the forum representing different places within the universe or setting. You move your character from thread to thread to travel around.

These universes obviously cater to different audiences and employ different genres, moods, tones, and themes. But they do share a few things in common, these being the rules. Now, these rules aren't absolutes. Different universes, threads, and posters might be more or less permissive than these rules, and there is always room for a little variation.

The first rule of FFRP that we need to address is godmodding.

The Rules

Godmodding: What it is and How to Avoid it
Written by Vael

Godmodding: Taking control of someone else's character without their expressive permission. This term applies to any extent of control, especially including any reactions to something you have done.

Using this definition of godmodding condenses our rule ‘Do not Godmod’ to one very simple but inclusive rule: Do not control someone else’s character. This seems a simple enough thing to avoid, but in some situations (such as combat) people take control in a limited way without realizing it.
Still using combat as our example, here are three examples of godmodding. One blatant, one general, and one subtle in successive order:
(And yes, Vael is me. Darn my godmodding! )

1. Vael shoots a blast of energy at (PC) and the energy rends (PC) who falls dead with a wail.
2. Vael swings a sword at (PC) and strikes home, leaving a small angry red line of blood.
The third example is split into two posts by two separate people to show the entire situation:
3. Post (PC) – (PC) draws his weapon and readies himself for combat, going on the defensive.
Post (Vael) – Vael slashes (NPC), giving him a gaping wound and reverses the attack, striking at (PC)

The first example of godmodding is obvious, I attacked someone and killed them, usurping all of their control over their character, not even allowing them to describe how they died.
The second example is fairly noticeable as well. I attacked and rather than allowing them control over their character, I went ahead and said that they were hit rather than giving them a chance to respond.
The last one is a rather subtle godmod, though it is still there. I did not post a definite reaction for the PC, only saying that I attacked them. I did not kill anyone’s NPC without their permission, only using the NPC with general license. However, what I did do was presume that I hit the NPC. What if (PC), or another person nearby had wanted to prevent me from harming the NPC? I effectively denied them a chance to react to my attack, though my use of the NPC was okay.

Godmodding in non-combat situations is just as bad as doing it within combat. Some examples of non-combat godmodding are as follows:

1. Vael casts Heal and cures (PC)’s wounds.
2. Stealthily Vael picks (PC)’s pocket and steals (something).
3. Vael dodges the bouncer blocking the door and runs outside.

In the first example I did not allow someone the chance to say how grievous their injury was, or even if they had something that would resist healing spells. In short, they lost a chance to react. You would normally assume people like getting healed, but in town people are crazy, so you never know.
Second example. What if the character is sharp-eyed, clever, or simple lucky? Again, try to do something rather than succeed.
Third example. Now this seems okay, and perhaps in responding to someone else’s post it would be. But if someone says “I block the door” and you run past them without letting them respond, it is godmodding. This, perhaps, is not the best example, as it could be either godmodding or a reaction statement that is fine. I include it merely so that you can see that there are different levels to godmodding, and that it is complex to determine whether some things are godmodding are not. If you aren’t sure, don’t act, try to act.

Now that I have defined godmodding and given some examples, the question to answer is: How can I avoid godmodding by accident?
The answer is this: You can try to do anything to someone, but they control what actually happens to themselves. Never deny someone a chance to react, no matter what you do. Before you post, consider what you have written. Do you directly affect someone with it, adversely or positively? Do you block them off from some options that someone would normally have in their situation? If the answer to either question is yes, you probably need to revise your post.
Note, however, that the definition states that this is only godmodding if you do not have someone’s permission. If you obtain someone’s OOC permission to godmod, then feel free to godmod against them within their restraints. However, I recommend that you merely work out someone’s response before time, just in case something unexpected comes up (like another player interfering).

However, just as bad as taking control of someone else's character is making your own never get affected by them. As Regiji says: "The counter part to an irresistable force is an immovable object." Therefore, you should let people at least achieve SOMETHING when they attempt to affect you. You don't have to all the time, but if your character is continually "immovable" you will be godmodding, and people will be extremely likely to ignore you. So don't just "I dodge" everything, okay? Let people do something to you if they try.
Also note that there is another form of godmodding similar to the above, which will be known as ‘passive godmodding’ (kudos to Iames for the name). Passive godmodding is when a player ignores an entirely legitimate post for little to no reason. If you miss reading a post, that is one thing, but to ignore a post intentionally is very bad form. You are allowed to react to someone’s post in nearly any way you want, but ignoring it really should not be done unless they are godmodding or adversely affecting an ongoing plot without permission.

Threads

As stated way back at the beginning of this guide, in FFRP, a thread represents a location in which interactions take place. You move your character from place to place by moving from thread to thread.

There are a few different types of threads.

Out of Character threads are for discussion and banter not within the narrative of the roleplay. These should be your first stop when starting in an FFRP universe.

Public threads constitute the majority of threads in FFRP. These threads represent IC locations that are open to all characters. You can pretty much just hop in, get to interacting, and have fun.

Closed threads and plot threads are beasts of a different nature. Closed threads are private places, open to only a select few or only reachable only through certain IC means. Plot threads are usually created to contain the events of a plot, and are usually open only to those involved with that plot.

To find out where you can post you should read the first post of the thread to see if it contains any relevant information (which it usually does), ask in the OOC, or ask a participant or creator of the thread via PM or some other means.

Plot

Plot is a term applied to events or series of events comprising a storyline. Plots are either created by players deliberately or emerge out of natural, normal interactions. In plots, people sometimes mess around with the rules a bit. Godmodding of a limited form might be permitted if it aids the plot.

Also, plots can also be somewhat resistant to outside interference. While I personally encourage people to be flexible, to not plan for their plots to end in a certain way, and to be open to new influence, it is true that, for the most part, plots are resistant to interaction from people who are not participating in the plot. This will vary from universe to universe, plot to plot, and from user to user.

Deadtime

A deadtime is a state in which your characters cannot be harmed, but cannot interact with anything around them. You put your characters into deadtime when you are about to log off and stop roleplaying for a bit. A character in a deadtime cannot be affected by anything going on around it.

If a character is deadtimed, and a plot or series of events would likely evoke a reaction from that character, it is polite to wait for the character to undeadtime and react before advancing the plot or events.

Some verses might have IC explanations for deadtimes.

Tips For RPing
Written by Artemis97

Tips For RPing

And so, let's begin. In no particular order...

Character Speech

When someone is speaking, we need to know who! Speech colors help to differentiate speech from normal narration, and each of our characters from each other, but if other players do not know to who each particular color belongs, all we see are disembodied words. When two or three people do this over the course of a few pages, it gets very confusing. So tell us who's talking!

So, instead of: Hi! How's it going?

Try: Bob says, Hi! How's it going?

Also, I humbly suggest we all start using quotation marks. I will admit this is a pet peeve of mine, and not entirely necessary, but it is proper English and if you accidentally miss a color tag, or don't even want to use colors, your text is still understood.

So: Bob says, "Hi! How are you?"

New: Another thing, try to use your character's name every few posts. If all we see is 'he' or 'she' all we learn is the speaker's gender. And try and include a brief description when you enter a new place, or are talking with people who might not know who, or what, your character is. That way we don't spend ten pages having a normal conversation with what turns out to be a "Ten foot tall undead wookie."

Next up...


Location Tags

Some threads in FFRP are larger locations that may have smaller locations within them. Even a single building has many rooms. Using location tags helps us all know where your characters are and where the action is at, helps us know who and what our characters can and cannot see, and keeps things organized for those of us reading through large threads and following only one storyline. They're pretty simple, just put where you are at the top of your post.

Like so:

Streets

And then your post continues... blah, blah... you get the idea.

Some of us put brackets around the location, to further seperate it.

[Streets]

And some bold it to make it that much more noticeable.

Streets or [Streets]

Location tags are handy things. Even if your characters are just upstairs in the Taverna, it keeps us all from thinking they're in the middle of the common room.

Moving on...


Big Scenes

That is, scenes involving more than two or three players. Now, I know we're all bored and we all want to make our characters talk and do stuff, but we need to exercise a little patience and keep our fellow Players in mind. Especially during a big fight, give everyone a chance to respond. We all type at different speeds, and some of us might have a little more to say than others. In either case, if the situation we're responding to changes, we have to spend more time editting out posts to reflect the change. If this happens multiple times, it can make a player feel left behind and alienated.

This brings up another topic


Editting

If I edit, and you edit, then he edits, but I edit again.... it gets really confusing. Again, just exercise a little patience, maybe wait until your next post to reflect the change.


Lonely Characters

If you see someone put a character into a thread that isn't seeing a lot of action, throw a character their way. It doesn't have to be one of your regular characters, heck it doesn't need to be a character at all. A monster suddenly popping out of nowhere make things rather interesting and can cause some fun for both parties. Anyways, my point is, don't leave your fellow players hanging. When it seems like no one wants to interact with you or your character, it alienates you. We lose players this way. I know we don't mean to be unfriendly, but it really isn't a nice thing.

This goes double if the player in question is new to the sub-forums. Don't let us lose people before they even start to play. FFRP is a fun place, let's share it with them.


Well, that's about all I can think of right now. Like I said before, this is meant to be a discussion. Feel free to make your own suggestions. And I want to say again that none of this is meant to hurt anyone. This is done in a hope to help all of us.

Thanks for listening, and please do weigh in.

~Artemis

"Wow! FFRP looks like fun! How do I get started?"

Every roleplaying universe is different, and more may come to exist after this guide is written. So go to the OOC thread of the universe you're thinking of playing in and introduce yourself. That is the first step, and then the other players can give you the specific details on their universe. Have fun!

Credits for this FAQ:

Neon Knight for organization and writing
happyturtle for a guideline, feed back, and ending section
Shades of Gray for TOWN description
Kaelaroth for Metropolis description
Vael for her excellent rule write ups
Artemis97 for Roleplaying Tips Section

This explanation was brought to you by the Giant in the Playground Forums. Rules for playing this game to fallow in next post.
Disclaimer: I did not wright this explanation. I only copied, and edited it for this Form. Thank you.

[PsyckoSama]

Um. Remove the "The Curtain". The closest you'll get to that without getting banned is Fade to Black.

And honestly this crosses the line to the point it needs to be moved to SDs

[tahu1809]

(Sorry PsyckoSama I edited it out. We good?)


Rules for playing in SpaceBattles: the last of the Airbenders

1:Please post your Character profile in Spacebattles: The Last of the Airbenders (A BROB Production) {Our OOC/ Character Registry thred} first.
This will let help you work out all the bugs, and inconstancys in your character before coming hear.

2:Consider asking to join in fights before jumping in.
As a result of several flocks of people joining into fights in other games, and said fights becoming... unwieldy at best, and a complete cluster**** at the worst, please respect that all plots might not be open. Alternatively, if you yourself want to keep a fight cordoned off from other participants, say so in the OOC, at the beginning of your post, or both.

3:TALK major fights over with your opponent!
This is to keep arguments about who's the better fighter, who should win, blablablablabla, out of the OOC. Of course, talk these things over in PM, or some kind of IM service. While arguments might break out over said PM/IM... It keeps it out of the OOC. Which is what we're trying to do here. On that note...

4:Don't argue in the OOC!
That's the whole reason we were elected. To keep conflicts out of the OOC. They make the atmosphere oppressive, they make things less fun, and generally unpleasant and maybe even make the arguments larger than they need be. So, if you have a problem with someone, try to talk it out in PM or IM before using the OOC. And we highly recommend using one of the above listed mediators as a... well, mediator, via PM forwarding or shared IM chatrooms.

These guidelines/loose rules might be viable to change or be added on to as issues come up, but the bases are covered pretty well.

Note: please do not post in this thred untill the OK is give. We need time to build a cast of Character and to finsh working out some other deatellas. Thank you for your patients.

[PsyckoSama]

Rule 5: As the bastard who came up with this whole idea, PsyckoSama is the final arbiter of all things.

Rule 6: If anything is left in question, refer to Rule 5.

Someone needs to moderate this otherwise we'll end up with a mess like the Btech/Clancy round robin. Not happening.

[Tabi]

If anything, being PsyckoSama's self-proclaimed Co-GM, I can now openly say I detest you tahu

[PsyckoSama]

Someone close this thread. Its in the wrong place, there was no "what the rules should be discussion," and the idea of posting the rules in the beginning of the IC thread is a bad idea and amounts to massive thread clutter.

[CommanderRazor]

It's being worked. I can't move it as this isn't my AO. But yes, please cease posting in this thread unless it is moved over to SD. Thank you.