Epics Rules And Guidelines

[Hahli Husky]

Epics Rules and Guidelines

 

 

Welcome to the Epics Forum! To ensure that your enjoyment of stories, and the writing thereof, goes smoothly, please take note of the following rules, requested in addition to the BZPower Rules and Guidelines.

 

 

NOTE: This topic's tag will always reflect the date it was last updated. The "Edited By" line at the bottom of this post will describe the latest changes made.

 

 

1) This forum is for stories that are told in chapters. Please note that stories requiring one post belong in Short Stories, while humorous and "goofball" stories go in Comedies.

 

2) Only BIONICLE and LEGO stories are allowed. If your story is completely unrelated to Bionicle or LEGO, put it in Off Topic Culture.

 

3) Authors must create a review topic for others to reply in. This way, all clutter is removed from the story topic, and readers can enjoy the story without being interrupted by comments. Authors, please post a link to your review topic in your story topic. If you don't do this, I will do it for you without warning.

 

(Don't know how to link? Copy the URL (the web address of your topic, found at the top of your browser) of your story topic, go to your review topic and edit your first post. You'll see a button that looks like a chain link with a green dot. Press it, and paste the URL. Simple!)

 

4) Round Robin and other types of add-on stories are not allowed. Having co-authors is fine, and there is no limit there. However, running a story that any member can add on to is not allowed.This is due to the fact that they all eventually meet the same fate: confusing and full of spam.

 

5) Only the author(s) of a story is/are allowed to post in the story topic. Here, we require separate topics for reviews.

 

6) Topic revival is allowed. If you've not updated your epic in a long time, don't worry. You are still allowed to post a new chapter! If you want to review a story, and the last post in the review topic is over a month old, you are still allowed to post!

 

7) No flaming or shaming. Don't forget the site's zero tolerance for flaming and trolling. Please refrain from posting hurtful replies like "This was stupid!" or "Wow, this is awful." If you don't like a story, please respectfully share what you didn't like, or walk away.

 

8) You may have one topic that is a collection of all your fanfics in the BZP Library, and it must be in Short Stories. Even if you haven't written any short stories, please keep all collection topics in that forum. Said topics may contain links to stories on both the old and new forum versions. You can have a story collection topic in the BZP Library for your LEGO works, and a separate collection topic in OTC for your non-LEGO works.

 

9) Plagarism is not tolerated in the BZPower Library. It's obvious that you shouldn't copy another member's story and paste it into your own topic. However, taking a member's story and changing the character's names, rearranging the sentences, and/or replacing words the member used is not allowed, either.

Please note that each complaint of plagiarism will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes a member is ripping off of your plot ideas and sentence structures, and other times you two may have just conceived similar ideas. The forum leaders will be glad to help you figure this out.

 

10) Double-posting in review topics by the author is allowed when a new chapter has been added.  Pretty self-explanatory! Please don't constantly bump your review topic without updates, though.

 

 

Useful links:

 

The Official Epics Library

Epics Contest History

 

 

Thank you for abiding by our "house rules". Happy writing, everyone! If you have any questions, please post in this topic or contact the current Epics Forum Leader:

 

GSR

Edited April 16, 2016 by -Windrider-
Updating list of active staff

[Timelady Gallade]

Are we allowed to make one that everyone can add on too?

[Velox]

Are we allowed to make one that everyone can add on too?

Nope, sorry, that would be considered a "Round Robin" which isn't allowed (rule #6). What you can do, though, is start an RPG, in which case anyone can participate, but it's not quite the same thing as a collaborative epic. If you do decide to, make sure to follow the rules in the specific forums, though -- Bionicle RPGs need to win a contest, and COT RPGs need to be approved by a panel of judges. =]

[Nerus]

I am not sure I understand rule 7. Can you elaborate?

[Hahli Husky]

I am not sure I understand rule 7. Can you elaborate?

People like to create topics where they give links to all their stories, in one convenient place. We call them personal libraries or collection topics. Personal libraries must be in Short Stories, even if they contain links to only comedies or only epics. Most personal libraries have a mix of epics, short stories, and comedies, but it depends on what the member has posted. Here's an example of a personal library.

[LockmanCapulet]

Quick question: I plan on having two epics and a two-chapter short story, which is sort of intertwined with one of the epics. Do I still need to make a thread in Short Stories for all of them, or what?

[Hahli Husky]

Quick question: I plan on having two epics and a two-chapter short story, which is sort of intertwined with one of the epics. Do I still need to make a thread in Short Stories for all of them, or what?

 

 

 

Just put each epic in its own topic like normal. As for the short story, the two chapters will either have to be merged into one post or you'll have to make two separate topics for each, like a Part One and Part Two. You don't have to make a thread in Short Stories for all of them unless you want to make a personal library collection topic.

[Lady Kopaka]

I'm assuming we can't post anymore in the old website, yet a epic of mine (I think due to being hacked/server crashing/I forget) is missing some chapters and are all squeezed in just a few posts. Is it a possability to repost here on the new site? I'm pretty sure I knew the answer once, but it's been well...quite awhile since I've been here.

Edited December 6, 2012 by Lady Kopaka

[Hahli Husky]

I'm assuming we can't post anymore in the old website, yet a epic of mine (I think due to being hacked/server crashing/I forget) is missing some chapters and are all squeezed in just a few posts. Is it a possability to repost here on the new site? I'm pretty sure I knew the answer once, but it's been well...quite awhile since I've been here.

 

 

You can totally still do this.

[Sybre]

So, I want to make an epic based off a comic series I made, but I have a question. Let me give you the back story.

 

Alright, I released the said comics, but abandoned it after a few days and two comics even though it was potentially popular. Months later (over a week ago), I asked my friends if I should just make an epic based off the series, and a friend named Axilus Prime who was a co-author of the series suggested that we make it a multi-author epic. Later another friend, JiMing, wanted to be an author, but I told both friends that I had to run it through the epic library moderator(s).

 

So, can we make my epic, which will be named Superiornatural, have 3 authors, me, JiMing, and Axilus Prime?

 

However, if your answer is no, JiMing had suggested that he and Axilus could just write their chapters and send them to me to post. Or could we just make multiple topics so my co-authors could freely write their own story-lines?

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I will understand if your answer is no.

 

EDIT: The member named The Forgotten One possibly wants to be in on the epic, too.

Edited January 26, 2013 by Sybre of the Green

[Hahli Husky]

So, I want to make an epic based off a comic series I made, but I have a question. Let me give you the back story.

 

Alright, I released the said comics, but abandoned it after a few days and two comics even though it was potentially popular. Months later (over a week ago), I asked my friends if I should just make an epic based off the series, and a friend named Axilus Prime who was a co-author of the series suggested that we make it a multi-author epic. Later another friend, JiMing, wanted to be an author, but I told both friends that I had to run it through the epic library moderator(s).

 

So, can we make my epic, which will be named Superiornatural, have 3 authors, me, JiMing, and Axilus Prime?

 

However, if your answer is no, JiMing had suggested that he and Axilus could just write their chapters and send them to me to post. Or could we just make multiple topics so my co-authors could freely write their own story-lines?

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I will understand if your answer is no.

 

EDIT: The member named The Forgotten One possibly wants to be in on the epic, too.

 

Yes, that's fine. Having co-authors is totally cool, and there's no limit to how many you can have. You or any of your co-authors can start the story topic, and each author can post their own chapter in said topic.

[Sybre]

So, I want to make an epic based off a comic series I made, but I have a question. Let me give you the back story.

 

Alright, I released the said comics, but abandoned it after a few days and two comics even though it was potentially popular. Months later (over a week ago), I asked my friends if I should just make an epic based off the series, and a friend named Axilus Prime who was a co-author of the series suggested that we make it a multi-author epic. Later another friend, JiMing, wanted to be an author, but I told both friends that I had to run it through the epic library moderator(s).

 

So, can we make my epic, which will be named Superiornatural, have 3 authors, me, JiMing, and Axilus Prime?

 

However, if your answer is no, JiMing had suggested that he and Axilus could just write their chapters and send them to me to post. Or could we just make multiple topics so my co-authors could freely write their own story-lines?

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I will understand if your answer is no.

 

EDIT: The member named The Forgotten One possibly wants to be in on the epic, too.

 

Yes, that's fine. Having co-authors is totally cool, and there's no limit to how many you can have. You or any of your co-authors can start the story topic, and each author can post their own chapter in said topic.

That's great! Thank you so much! We all agreed I would start the topic as it was my idea.

 

And I'm guessing that we're all in on the epic, we can post notices of new chapters in the review topic too, right?

[Hahli Husky]

So, I want to make an epic based off a comic series I made, but I have a question. Let me give you the back story.

 

Alright, I released the said comics, but abandoned it after a few days and two comics even though it was potentially popular. Months later (over a week ago), I asked my friends if I should just make an epic based off the series, and a friend named Axilus Prime who was a co-author of the series suggested that we make it a multi-author epic. Later another friend, JiMing, wanted to be an author, but I told both friends that I had to run it through the epic library moderator(s).

 

So, can we make my epic, which will be named Superiornatural, have 3 authors, me, JiMing, and Axilus Prime?

 

However, if your answer is no, JiMing had suggested that he and Axilus could just write their chapters and send them to me to post. Or could we just make multiple topics so my co-authors could freely write their own story-lines?

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I will understand if your answer is no.

 

EDIT: The member named The Forgotten One possibly wants to be in on the epic, too.

 

Yes, that's fine. Having co-authors is totally cool, and there's no limit to how many you can have. You or any of your co-authors can start the story topic, and each author can post their own chapter in said topic.

That's great! Thank you so much! We all agreed I would start the topic as it was my idea.

 

And I'm guessing that we're all in on the epic, we can post notices of new chapters in the review topic too, right?

That's fine. Just make sure that none of you double-post in the review topic (double-posting in the epic topic is fine.)

[Makuta of Time]

So, I want to make an epic based off a comic series I made, but I have a question. Let me give you the back story.

 

Alright, I released the said comics, but abandoned it after a few days and two comics even though it was potentially popular. Months later (over a week ago), I asked my friends if I should just make an epic based off the series, and a friend named Axilus Prime who was a co-author of the series suggested that we make it a multi-author epic. Later another friend, JiMing, wanted to be an author, but I told both friends that I had to run it through the epic library moderator(s).

 

So, can we make my epic, which will be named Superiornatural, have 3 authors, me, JiMing, and Axilus Prime?

 

However, if your answer is no, JiMing had suggested that he and Axilus could just write their chapters and send them to me to post. Or could we just make multiple topics so my co-authors could freely write their own story-lines?

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I will understand if your answer is no.

 

EDIT: The member named The Forgotten One possibly wants to be in on the epic, too.

 

Yes, that's fine. Having co-authors is totally cool, and there's no limit to how many you can have. You or any of your co-authors can start the story topic, and each author can post their own chapter in said topic.

That's great! Thank you so much! We all agreed I would start the topic as it was my idea.

 

And I'm guessing that we're all in on the epic, we can post notices of new chapters in the review topic too, right?

That's fine. Just make sure that none of you double-post in the review topic (double-posting in the epic topic is fine.)

 

So that's why a post was merged in my review topic. It's not allowed in that topic, strange because the last I saw it said you can. I must have read wrong.

[Velox]

So that's why a post was merged in my review topic. It's not allowed in that topic, strange because the last I saw it said you can. I must have read wrong.

 

You may be thinking of the new Off-Topic Culture rule, where authors are allowed to double post in review topics, announcing new chapters. However, for as long as I can remember (and at least since last June), there has always been a rule in the Epics forum that double posting is not allowed. Also, depending on how quickly you double-posted, the board may have automatically merged your posts.

 

[Kanakalackin]

My epic is a three-parter. Do I post my epic in chapters in different topics? Or compress them down into one topic? Or do a media share link with my file in it?

[Velox]

My epic is a three-parter. Do I post my epic in chapters in different topics? Or compress them down into one topic? Or do a media share link with my file in it?

 

It depends what you mean by "parts"--if you mean only three chapters, then you'd post them all in a single topic. However, I assume that's not what you're asking, and that you have multiple parts of your epic, each part with multiple chapters. In that case, it really just depends on you, and how you see it. Think of an epic like a book. If your three different parts would be three different books, then post them as three separate epics, in three separate topics (with review topics, of course). If, however, it's a single "book" but with multiple parts, then it'd probably be best to post the three parts all in one topic.

 

For example, the Lord of the Rings is broken up into three "parts"/books--Fellowship, Two Towers, Return of the King. And each of those parts is a separate book (usually; occasionally published as one volume). However, each of those three books also has two parts. So you can see how one book can have multiple parts in a single book, and/or one story can have multiple parts in multiple books, if that makes sense.

 

Hope that answers your question. =]

 

 

[Kanakalackin]

Part one of my Epic is finished, do I ask if the topic should be closed now?

[Dual Cee]

Part one of my Epic is finished, do I ask if the topic should be closed now?

Well thats not needed at all, you can of course, but that'd be kinda annoying if you wanted to make changes or something, no need for it to be closed, I'd leave it open...

[Kanakalackin]

Thanks.

[Click]

Quick question: If I wanted to make a separate post containing a Table of Contents (since it's a pain to scroll through tons of pages, and I don't want to risk messing up my formatting of my first chapter), could I still post the first section of the epic right afterwards, or would that count as posting twice in a day? Or would this even be allowed?

[Hahli Husky]

Quick question: If I wanted to make a separate post containing a Table of Contents (since it's a pain to scroll through tons of pages, and I don't want to risk messing up my formatting of my first chapter), could I still post the first section of the epic right afterwards, or would that count as posting twice in a day? Or would this even be allowed?

Totally fine. You can post as many chapters as you want in a day, too; I got rid of that rule a while ago.

[Kanakalackin]

I got a review from the ECC, but Steelsheen couldn't post it because it was apparently too big. Is it alright if I post it i separate parts? I know that this would count as bumping, but I'm just curious.

[Hahli Husky]

I got a review from the ECC, but Steelsheen couldn't post it because it was apparently too big. Is it alright if I post it i separate parts? I know that this would count as bumping, but I'm just curious.

Kinda surprised that an ECC review would be that long, but Steelsheen can post it in parts as long as he mentions at the top of both posts that he has my permission to double-post in that one case.

Edited May 9, 2013 by Hahli Husky

[That Matoran with a Vahi]

I'm not sure this is the place to ask, but I can't see anywhere more suitable either.

 

What if I wanted to write a Bionicle epic, but one where the characters were depicted as humans rather than bio-mechanical creations, and existed in a variation of the canon timeline? Would that be allowed in this forum? Or since the characters are no longer technically 'Bionicle', even though they are still canon characters and locations, did it ought not to be placed here?

 

I'd just like to make sure that I wouldn't be posting something I'm not supposed to if I went ahead with this idea.

Edited June 20, 2013 by Darth Jaller

[Hahli Husky]

I'm not sure this is the place to ask, but I can't see anywhere more suitable either.

 

What if I wanted to write a Bionicle epic, but one where the characters were depicted as humans rather than bio-mechanical creations, and existed in a variation of the canon timeline? Would that be allowed in this forum? Or since the characters are no longer technically 'Bionicle', even though they are still canon characters and locations, did it ought not to be placed here?

 

I'd just like to make sure that I wouldn't be posting something I'm not supposed to if I went ahead with this idea.

 

Yeah, you can post that here.

[Lemony Lepid]

My old epic was full of flaws, is Remaking your Epic allowed?

[Hahli Husky]

My old epic was full of flaws, is Remaking your Epic allowed?

Yes, but please send me a PM with the link to your old epic and its review topic so that I can close them.

[Lemony Lepid]

sure thing

[ZOMBI3S]

Did the epic critics club go out of business? I've already had two reviews from them, but I was hoping to get another sometime in the near future as my epic has gone a long way since the last one. Just to see how I've improved I guess.

[Hahli Husky]

Did the epic critics club go out of business? I've already had two reviews from them, but I was hoping to get another sometime in the near future as my epic has gone a long way since the last one. Just to see how I've improved I guess.

Yeah, everybody working in it was either too busy or fell off the face of the Earth, so they asked me to close it. The critics' clubs in the Library have been dying off lately.

[Kanakalackin]

Hey Hahli,

 

I'm working on rewriting my first epic on BZP. It already has a topic, but I'm not sure if I should reboot it in a new topic, or just edit the old one extensively.

 

E: Never mind, after reading Loganto's question, mine was answered.

 

These two topics may be closed, as I will be rebooting the story. TAoS1, TAoS2, and here is the review topic if it needs to be closed.

Edited April 16, 2014 by The Phantom Terror

[Akavakaku]

I just started an epic with a prologue, and since I already had the first chapter written I decided to add that too, but the two sections got merged into a single post. Do I have to wait a certain amount of time before I add a new chapter?

[GSR]

Yes - IPB will automatically merge two posts made in quick succession.  I'm afraid I'm not sure what the the time limit is off the top of my head, though. Just wait a little while and re-post.

Edited March 31, 2015 by GSR
Got my wires crossed on what is and isn't possible - editing for correctness. Sorry!

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

so uh, what exactly is the humor-serious ratio that dictates epic from comedy? i'm wondering 'cause i naturally gravitate towards lighter/more humorous writing styles, but what i'm writing still has a pretty substantial plot element. :0

[fishers64]

so uh, what exactly is the humor-serious ratio that dictates epic from comedy? i'm wondering 'cause i naturally gravitate towards lighter/more humorous writing styles, but what i'm writing still has a pretty substantial plot element. :0

The rule of thumb as I understand it - if your story is just a vehicle for your jokes (i.e. the jokes are most important) sent it to comedies. If your jokes are there to support the point of your story (i.e. the story is most important) it goes in epics. 

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

 

so uh, what exactly is the humor-serious ratio that dictates epic from comedy? i'm wondering 'cause i naturally gravitate towards lighter/more humorous writing styles, but what i'm writing still has a pretty substantial plot element. :0

The rule of thumb as I understand it - if your story is just a vehicle for your jokes (i.e. the jokes are most important) sent it to comedies. If your jokes are there to support the point of your story (i.e. the story is most important) it goes in epics. 

 

 

well then seems it generally fits epics a bit better, time to show my poor writing skills to the world! :U

 

(thanks for the response. uou)

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

Ok, I understand that this is the Epics section and Epics are multi post Sagas told in chapters.

 

I have an idea to write, but I just want to be sure of my format and such:

So I have a group of 4 or 5 (haven't decided yet) beings for Okoto and the 6 Toa/Masters encounter them multiple times. There isn't a huge plot scheme, it's basically my added subplot/addon to the official canon story. The way I think it'll read is like a collection of short stories, but they're all related encounters. Would it be best to post it as an epic in which each encounter is its own chapter or as individual short stories?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Naota Takizawa]

I think a epics planning and discussion topic would come in handy for those that want to get into writing fanfiction, but don't know where to start and people that have ideas for their next story that they want to discuss and receive feedback on.

[Daniel the Finlander]

I think a epics planning and discussion topic would come in handy for those that want to get into writing fanfiction, but don't know where to start and people that have ideas for their next story that they want to discuss and receive feedback on.

This is a great idea, I just hope some staff member will notice this.