Dreamers Roleplay Creation Guide
Welcome to Dreamers Roleplay forum. Here is the Incubation Section where new roleplays are to be posted, and the following guide is to help new roleplay creators (from this point on, to be referred to as GM, short for 'Game Master') create a roleplay suitable for our roleplayers.
Of course, it is highly suggested that members who are totally new to our roleplaying community to read some of the other roleplays (there are more in the RP Archive forum) and the
General Roleplay FAQ (which I took several explanations from) to see how things work here.
--- The Three Types of Dreamers Roleplays- In Dreamers, there are three general types of roleplays. The normal roleplay which has a more developed story and a lot more details for its background information. It requires both an OOC and an IC topic, but the IC topic can only be created after the roleplay is in the main RP forum.
The freeform roleplay which is more relaxed and easy to roleplay with only basic setting or objective. It also requires both an OOC and IC topic, and likewise, the IC topic can only be created after the roleplay is moved to the main forum.
The non-OOC freeform roleplay which starts completely from scratch, no setting, no objective, and requires only an IC topic. These are the only roleplays which are allowed to have IC topics in the Incubation.
The approval system is slightly different for the non-OOC freeform roleplays because of the lack of OOC topic, and all these will be elaborated further later.
- 'OOC' stands for Out Of Character. Which means when roleplayers are not roleplaying with their characters, but speaking as themselves. The OOC thread is the first thing created by the GM, posted in the RP Incubation forum, and it contains all the necessary background information and guidelines for character creation. Approval of characters, discussions about the roleplay and communication between roleplayers also takes place here.
- 'IC' stands for In Character. Which means when roleplayers are roleplaying with their characters. This topic is where the story, or game, is played out. It is posted in the main roleplay forum, after a new roleplay is qualified with three approved character profiles.
- What is a freeform roleplay? It is a roleplay where it is usually started without any set plot. Generally, it's more relaxed and easier for players to join at any time. It is to be noted that plots have sometimes been developed in freeform roleplays though.
- Are there some things not allowed in the roleplays? Yes, there are. Profane language is allowed to a limited extent, as well as graphic violence and sexual content. In other words, they may be touched on lightly, but not described in vivid details.
--- What is to be in the first OOC post?- The OOC topic has to have four decent paragraphs of information.For its first post, regardless of it being a normal roleplay or freeform roleplay. Background story is required, and has to be one paragraph long. A paragraph has to have at least four sentences of reasonable length (approximately around fifteen words), and the number of sentences can be judged flexibly while taking the number of words there are in the sentences into consideration.
Other things that can be placed in the OOC topic includes, but is not limited to, the Setting, Locations/Geography, Magic/Technology Systems, Gods & Goddesses, Character Species, and Rules.
- An example of a background story of decent minimum length:It was a sad day for the land of Juewl, for their beloved queen of thirty years have departed from the mortal world. The royal funeral lasted for a whole week, and rain descended for every minute of it, as though the heavens were grieving along with the people. Her only son stood solemnly before the statue bearing his mother's likeness, his grave blue eyes lingering on the beautiful face for one long time. Then he turned, and glanced at his childhood friend standing behind him.
"Duke Jamiele of Januar, please assemble the nation's best knights and magicians. I want my mother's killers found."- Normal roleplays must include a Character Sheet Template.Though freeform roleplays may have them if the GM prefers it. This is an example of a very basic Character Sheet Template:
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Appearance:
Weapon:
Personality:
Biography:- Advice on making the OOC topic good.Everything should be done with reasonably good English and spell-checked. Even more importantly, it should make sense and be logical to the GMs themselves and everyone else. It is best to have some basic plot or objective, even for freeform roleplays. And the GMs set the example for the roleplayers to follow, so it is better if the GMs put in effort into the roleplay being created so as to attract roleplayers who are interested and willing to stay.
--- Rules within the Roleplays- GMs can create their own set of rules for their own roleplays.As long as they don't collide with the
Dreamers Rules and
RP Forum rules. Minimum character (as in the 'abc' characters, not people characters) limit can be set if the GM wishes to, as well as the ability to godmod, use multiple characters, display signature when posting, etc. If the GMs need any help, please don't hesitate to approach the RP forum moderator.
- The GMs have the greatest authority in the roleplays they have created.Even the RP forum moderator cannot override them on whim. There are certain things the GMs cannot do due to permission limitation, such as deleting another member's post though, so please approach the moderator to help with these. However, all roleplayers, including the GM, must abide by the abovementioned two set of forum rules, or the moderator will take necessary action.
- Definition of Godmodding here at Dreamers. Godmodding is when acts that are impossible or illogical are done. Such as when a six years old completely normal girl can sneeze at people and they drop dead, and no reasons are offered at all. For some freeform roleplays, godmodding is allowed but only if the GM says so. It is
not the usage of another's characters, which is covered below.
- Using another person's characters or your character being used.It is generally allowed here in Dreamers to encourage interactivity. GMs may specify if it is allowed or not in their created roleplays. However, roleplayers use other people's characters when it is stated that it is not allowed, then it will be hijacking. Same goes for when the characters are not being used properly and behaves differently from their stated personality. Hijacking is considered rude and inconsiderate, and GMs may deal with the hijackers as they please.
- Double-posting in the roleplay forums.Double-posting is discouraged if there are no good reasons for the second post. Announcements and additional information are valid reason. Bumping the topic and posting things that are unrelated to the roleplay are not. Double-posting without reason is counted as spam, and if done again after being warned verbally, the second post will be deleted.
--- How to get the created roleplay out of Incubation?- What are the requirements?After confirming that the guidelines are met, it is time to get the roleplay approved. There are two systems to qualify the roleplays for the main roleplay forum, one for the normal and freeform roleplays and another for the non-OOC freeform roleplay. These systems are in place to prove that there are enough interest for the roleplays before giving them the chance to go further.
For normal and freeform roleplays, a minimum of three roleplayers must post at least one character profile each, and the GM has to go over and approve these characters. Profiles from the roleplay creator will not be counted into the required number of three profiles. Profiles from co-creators, however, can be counted. The second, third or more characters will not be counted.
For non-OOC freeform roleplays, a minimum of fifteen IC posts (not including the first post) in the IC topic is required before it can be moved to the main RP forum. OOC posts without IC content, and profile posts will be disregarded.
- Approving the characters profiles?For those not familiar with approving profiles, basically it is checking if the character profile fits the GM's own requirements. At the very least, the profiles should make sense, fit the setting of the roleplay, have commonplace logic (like for example, not having an expert swordsman at age four), and understandable language. It goes without saying that some GMs are stricter and many changes are required before profiles are approved.
Just a note to GMs, please don't approve the first three character profiles hastily to qualify the roleplay for the main RP forum, because ultimately it would affect the roleplay if those characters are poorly made.
- What happens after the roleplay is moved to the main forum?After the moderator moves the roleplay to the main RP forum, the IC topics can then be posted and the roleplay will then be officially recognized as a Dreamers roleplay. Of course, roleplayers are still invited to join the roleplays, unless the GM specifically closed registration.
--- When in the main roleplay forum.- The first post in the In Character topic.Writing for the first IC post is not much different from writing the OOC topic, except its main purpose is to establish the setting or the direction that the roleplay is going, or both. There are many ways of writing one but no matter what the content is, it should have a correct usage of the language and logic, especially since it will be the example for the rest of the posts.
There is a minimum character limit to be met, to assure a certain level of quality. For normal roleplays, the post has to have at least 1500 characters (again, as in the 'abc' characters, not people characters), which is approximately three to four decent paragraphs. For freeform roleplays, it will be 1000 characters, which is around two to three paragraphs. It does not have to be very precise, just not very obviously lower than the limit.
The following example has around 1000 characters. It is also the starting post of a non-OOC freeform roleplay.
- An example of a first post of an IC topic.In a brightly lit room, Seun set down the brush he was using and raised the piece of scroll on the table to examine his handiwork, a frown marring his good-looking face as aquamarine eyes scanned the elegant text. Satisfied, the corners of his lips twitched into a smile and he left the desk to stand in the middle of a glowing magical circle not far away.
Almost immediately, he started chanting, and the scroll started to emit a purple glow that was similar to that of the circle. The light soon extended onto Seun himself and his voice became louder and louder, and towards the end, it sounded as if an invisible choir was chanting along with him.
At the last word, Seun made a sharp gesture at the symbol of a pentacle in the circle that was directly in front of him, and a brilliant flash of light enveloped the entire cottage, blinding every being who happened to look in its general direction. It was a long moment before the brightness finally faded away, and Seun and his house were no longer there. The only thing left was a pile of dust.- How to check the number of characters in a post?Microsoft Words have a function that not only counts words but characters as well. It is under
Tools > Word Count. Most document processing programs have the count function, though not all do character count as well. And there are websites that have online words and characters counting, like these ones:
Website 1 .
Website 2 .
Website 3- Closing, or ending, the roleplay.There is a beginning, there has to be an end. When the roleplay has been completed or has sadly died from lack of activity or some other reasons, it will have to be closed. GMs can do it themselves since members of the forum are allowed to close their own topic, or they may request for moderators to do it for them. After a topic is closed, it will then be moved to the RP Archive forum after a day or two.
Roleplays also may be closed by the moderator after a minimum of two week of inactivity. This is to ensure there are spaces for new roleplays when the forum is experiencing high activity.
- The last time was horrible, let's do it again.Restarting a roleplay, which means closing the original roleplay and open a new identical one, for any reasons is not allowed. Even if, quite impossibly, all the roleplayers involved in the roleplay are breaking any of the rules of the RP itself, the RP forum or the forum itself, the thing to do is to report to the RP forum moderator. Not restarting the roleplay. If the same OOC topic appears in a new topic within the same month, it will be deleted.
If a certain roleplay has been attempted before, or is on-going, but it was not up to satisfaction and you wish to improve and try again, by all means. If that means closing the original IC topic, modifying the OOC topic for the better then creating a new IC, it is alright if the roleplayers involved are willing. However, it is not to be done too many times within a short period of time, because it shows how badly prepared the roleplay was.
Now that you have read the guide, if you still have any questions that were not answered, you may want to read the
General Roleplay FAQ. If you still have any lingering questions, or you have any suggestions on how to improve the guide, please don't hesitate to approach the moderator. Happy roleplaying!