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Your character
- We don't yet have a set cap on the number of characters you are allowed to play however we expect you to start with one character. Once you have played for a while (just so we know you can answer posts within a reasonable time and you won't have a difficult time playing more characters), you're welcome to take on more. Send an administrator a private message to clear this as we need to know who is playing which characters so, if you are absent for any reason, we know which characters will be inactive. The writing sample part of the character application isn't neccessary for players already active on the board.
Please note that not having a set cap doesn't neccessarily mean the characters are unlimited. If every player wrote a hundred characters each, it would be impossible to keep up with the plot, never mind what would happen if someone went on holiday! It simply means there's no generic across-the-border limit on characters so those able to keep on top of more can play more and those who feel happier with only a few characters don't feel they have to get their knut's worth and take on more for the sake of it. You can apply for as many characters as you feel comfortable with. - We will consider special characters such as werewolves, vampires, veela, parseltongue, etc., on an individual basis but remember within the canon of this game there are already four animagi and a werewolf at Hogwarts alone and if there are too many running around, it stops being interesting and unusual. There are more ways to define your character and to make them unique and memorable without giving them a gimmick.
Writing
- There isn't a set word limit for posts and we understand that a short response is sometimes more effective than one cluttered up with unneccessary prose however, on the whole, your replies should be of a decent length. We expect you to use respectable grammar and spelling as well -- this is, after all, a school.
- Please write in the third-person and the past tense, for example: 'Minerva walked into the room and sighed' instead of 'I walk into the room and sigh'.
- To help keep track of events, please place the date and rough time your thread takes place at the top of your post, for example: Wednesday, 1st September, 1976. Evening. This is to help keep track of the flow of events and character development. McGonagall might, for example, react differently to seeing a student run in the hall if she had just spent four hours lifting a hex from Mr. Pettigrew which switched his head for that of a large halibut than she would had she just had a tall firewhiskey and a payrise. Important dates with events for your characters to react to will be marked on the calendar.
- All players should be writing threads roughly set around the same time. There's no hard rule for this but you shouldn't be starting new threads mid-February if the majority of threads are in November. The current timeline is being played up to the end of December. If the month is in the Unfogging the Future calendar, it's playable!
- You cannot control another player's actions -- this is known as 'god-modding' and it's greatly frowned upon. We especially ask that you keep this in mind when you're duelling: you cannot dodge every single spell that's thrown at your character just because you don't want it to happen. This is unrealistic and it stops the game from being fun for other players.
If you want to establish that something has happened which involves another character (for example, saying a particular teacher set homework), make sure it's all right with the person playing them first. Even if it doesn't seem like much to you, it might go against something someone else was planning. It only takes a quick private message or a line in the Chat Box to clear things up. - Similarly, your character does not, will not, and cannot know everything about other characters. While you as a player know that Remus Lupin is a werewolf, for example, your character should not unless Remus Lupin or someone else who is aware of it tells you in the game. Check the list of well-known information or send a private message if you're ever unsure.
- You cannot severely injure or kill other characters without ensuring their players are happy for this to happen first. You should work out these big plot details on the 'Relationships and plotting' forum or through private messaging in advance.
- Remember to keep your writing time-appropriate. Britain in the 1970s was different from America in the 2010s! Clothes, slang, and public opinion were very different. We don't expect you to be experts on the time, just to use some common sense!
Etiquette
We can't always get along. Sometimes, you just want to cast a Sticking Charm to keep Mr. Black's bottom in his seat, or a Tongue-Tying Curse at Mr. Potter to get him to stop talking out of turn! If you have a complaint about another player, please contact an administrator instead of battling it to the death. At the end of the day, it's just a bit tidier.
See the notes on the etiquette you should observe while role-playing here.
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Activity
- Real-life is a far more vast and important thing than role-playing! We understand that you can't always reply instantly and you may be away for long periods of time -- just let us know about them! If you are unable to play for a while, let us know on the 'Absences' board.
- If you are inactive for long stretches, don't let us know when you're going on hiatus, or are posting on the 'Absences' board more than on any other forum, we may choose to give your characters to a player who has more time, especially if you are playing canon characters or characters integral to the plot. We will give you a warning before this happens.
- Similarly, logging in or chatting in the out of character forums or CBox is not the same as role-playing. We may consider you as inactive if you aren't role-playing, even if you are online.
Signatures and graphics
This is a writing game and the writing should be the most important part of it! If you would like to use a graphic in your signature, it cannot be taller than 130px. This is to stop the graphics from taking up more room in a post than the writing itself!
Graphics can be used as part of your post, showing diary entries, letters, photographs, or something being described in your prose. These should be uploaded to a service like PhotoBucket, which hosts images for free, rather than directly linked from another site online.
Your avatar should depict your character and should be as accurate to the time setting of the game as possible; remember goth, emo, grunge, and Japanese fashion weren't big in 1970s Britain!
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Adult content
Purebloods Only is a literate, adult role-playing game. Please be aware before joining that there may be violence, swearing, and adult scenarios -- this doesn't mean we're encouraging you to write full-blown pornography or detailed how-to guides on drug abuse, however. In fact, please don't! We ask that you keep the adult content in your posts to what you would see in an 15 or R rated movie and don't write any adult scenes which are superfluous to the story. (No smut for the sake of smut, for example!) If you think it's important to establish that your characters are up to no good, please spare us the nitty gritty details of it and use a tasteful fade to black or else take any naughty scenes you want to write blow-by-blow, so to speak, to private messaging.
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