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Bionicle RPG Forum Rules


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RPG Forum Rules
 
Last updated 9/07/2014
 
The RPG forum is the place to post and participate in text-based role-playing games (TBRPGs). For an explanation of what Role-playing is, scroll to the bottom of this post.
 
Topics not allowed in the RPG Forum include:

  • Any unapproved Text-Based RPG (see below for details).
  • Any thread asking for ideas concerning RPGs, other than the ones approved by the forum staff.

All of BZPower's forum rules apply, such as no spamming, flaming, linking to unapproved forums, and all the other rules that you should know already. If you don't, visit this topic immediately.
 
Text-based RPG Rules
 
Text-Based RPGs are role-playing games using text as the only medium. Participants describe the adventures of their characters via writing. There is an official BZPower text-based role-playing game, commonly called the BZPRPG, which is described in greater detail later in this post.
 
Members may not post a TBRPG without staff permission.  Aside from the BZPRPG, only four member-run TBRPGs are allowed in the RPG forum.
 
TBRPGs are now chosen via judging.  Please see the following notices before submitting an RPG:

  • Your RPG must be posted in the RPG feedback topic before submission.
    • If you receive feedback, we would like to see you address it, either by publicly responding to the person who gave the feedback or by adjusting your RPG.
    • Please allow at least seventy-two hours between posting your RPG there and submitting it to the judges.
  • We expect GMs to make an effort to keep their games active.
    • If your game becomes very inactive, we reserve the right to close it so that other RPGs can run.
    • If you are contacted by staff about your game's activity, please take it seriously and take the initiative to reach out to your players.
  • If four active RPGs are in progress, you may submit one for approval, but it may not run immediately.
    • If there are no inactive or long-running games, but the judges like your RPG, it'll be placed in a queue to run once a spot opens up.
  • If the judges reject your RPG, you must make changes as recommended by them and open it up for public feedback again.
    • Once you've done this, the judges can take another look, but there's no guarantee of being accepted then.
  • If an RPG has run for one consecutive year and many RPG submissions are queued, we may ask the creator to temporarily close it.
    • This is not a hard-and-fast rule, and things like activity and player satisfaction will be taken into account.
    • After a period of time, you may resubmit to be reopened.
  • If the creator or members of a winning RPG break the RPG forum rules, that RPG will be closed.
    • A queued, approved RPG will take its place.  The creator may not resubmit the RPG in the near future, and any resubmissions will be subject to extra scrutiny.

...I realize that all that sounds pretty scary, but the point is we're trying to keep things active and high-quality.  As changes in the forum happen, expect us to tweak some of the rules here or the limit on TBRPGs.
 
BZPRPG Rules:
 
Note: The BZPRPG's main topic can be found here. The head of the BZPRPG is Nuju Metru. He and the other BZPRPG staff members have full authority over the game.
 
Update 7/10/2014:  Though we are generally more lenient in the BZPRPG when it comes to PG-13 rated content than BZPower at large, please use common sense and remember that many of BZPower's visitors and members are minors.  If your post contains inappropriate content or circumvents the word filter, we will ask you to edit the offending section out, or do it ourselves. If you are concerned that your post may be inappropriate, feel free to run it by a BZPRPG staffer before you publish it.
 
When Role-Playing, always start with with an 'IC:' before your actions. IC: means "In Character". If you wish to talk out-of-character with somebody else or the whole group, simply type in 'OOC:' and enter your message. OOC means "Out Of Character."
 
Do NOT spam! No posts under 2 lines long! (Approximately 30 words, not including emoticons.) If you post less than this, your post will be deleted.
 
Your character must be original, not an official one from the Bionicle universe like Tahu or Vakama.
 
You are NOT allowed to recieve or transmit "Telepathic Messages" that reach out of the region your character is currently in.
 
No god-modding! You cannot kill massive amounts of enemies in one shot! This will result in a no-questions-asked banning from the BZPRPG.
 
Being unrealistic will also result in a no-questions-asked banning.
 
You can RP temporarily as an Official Bionicle character, such as Toa, Turaga or Matoran if you wish, such as in a case when your character is speaking to the official one, but remember, it is temporary!
 
Before you temporarily RP another person's character, make sure you get their permission first. This only really applies if two characters owned by two different people battle, or if a life-changing event is going to take place.
 
If the area you are in is very quiet and people other than yourself post very rarely, you have permission to post up to three times in a row IF you wait for 12 hours between each post. This gives somebody else time to post in the topic or allows you to leave the region.
 
There is a warning system in place. Everybody starts out with 3 warnings. This system works like Proto energy, but you cannot earn a warning back. Once you are warned 3 times, you're banned from the BZPRPG.
 
What is Role-Playing?
 
Role-playing is getting together with some friends to write a story. It’s joining around a campfire or a dining room to spin some tall tales. In our case here at the BZPRPG, it is over the Internet. Quite simple, role-playing is being creative and having fun with friends.
 
Role-playing games are stories. You create one or many characters, and you create a story around your character/characters. The rest of the players also create stories around their characters, and then their characters meet and stories become intertwined-creating an artificial world where anything is possible.
 
In most role-playing games, one person plays the "referee," who can be thought of as the "Editor" of the story. The Editor will, with input from you if you desire to give any, describe a world or setting - in the case of the BZPRPG, Mata-Nui and its many regions. You and your friends, as Players, will take a character and protagonist in this world. You will guide your character through the story that you and your friends are creating. Each player takes a different character, and each character interacts with each other character.
 
Role-playing, in this sense, is very much play-acting in the mind. You imagine what the Editor describes. Then, you imagine your character’s response to these surroundings, and describe that to the other Players. They, in turn, each do the same with their characters. In most games - board games, card games, and dice games - there is a clearly defined way to win, and a clearly defined way to lose, and winning is the goal of the game. In role-playing games, the concepts of "winning" and "losing" do not exist. Your goal as a Player is to help create a story and to have fun. You may give your character other goals, but the success of your character does not determine any sense of "winning" or "losing." Like life, it’s not so much whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.
 
That’s all well and good, you say, but what actually goes on? What do these "characters" do? Most of the time, characters are involved in adventures, adventures of the type that are immortalized in adventure movies and serial novels. In one game, the characters might be a group of secret agents trying to save the world from nuclear destruction. In another, you might play a rebel force, trying to overthrow an evil star-spanning empire. You might play a group of warriors in eleventh century Europe, or King Arthur’s knights, or Superman, or Batman, or an original character you create, in any world you choose. The world of the BZPRPG is the Bionicle universe (or close enough), and the character you choose is one of its inhabitants.

Edited by GSR
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