Joined: May 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 751 Location: North Carolina, USA Karma: 23
Rules « Thread Started on Feb 21, 2009, 3:52pm »
Halt's Playground is a play-by-post roleplaying game based on John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series. The staff of this website are not claiming credit for Flanagan's work. The banners and skins are property of Aya and Tandar, respectively. They are not to be used, reproduced, or redistributed without permission. This forum was created on the Eighth of January, Two Thousand and Eight by Halt, also known as Ragergnawer. The current head administrator of Halt's Playground is Tandar.
Joined: May 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 751 Location: North Carolina, USA Karma: 23
Re: Rules « Reply #1 on Feb 21, 2009, 4:09pm »
General
Material on the boards and the Cbox should be kept at a rating no higher than PG-13. This means keep profanity to a minimum, refrain from posting pornography or sexually-related material, and display a mature attitude. Discrimination (including racism and sexism) and stereotyping is not tolerated. Do not harass, threaten, or insult others. Please do not post spam on the boards. If you wish to advertise your own website, you may post on the Advertisements board or apply to be an affiliate. Plagiarism is not tolerated. Do not copy another person's work without their approval. If they give you permission, do not forget to give them credit. Please respect the staff. Decisions made by the staff are to go undisputed. Only an administrator can overrule a moderator or a global moderator. If a staff member abuses their power, report the incident to an administrator.
Joined: May 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 751 Location: North Carolina, USA Karma: 23
Re: Rules « Reply #2 on Feb 21, 2009, 4:18pm »
Roleplaying
Members may have a maximum of ten characters at any given time. Keep all of your characters on the same account unless an administrator gives you permission to do otherwise. Your character's attributes, age, and profession should be kept realistic and match the time period. Characters that appear in the Ranger's Apprentice series (cannon characters) cannot be created. However, you may control one if your character has a relationship (with the cannon character) that requires it. After applying for a character, you must wait until it is accepted by a staff member before roleplaying with it.
Joined: May 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 751 Location: North Carolina, USA Karma: 23
Re: Rules « Reply #3 on Feb 21, 2009, 4:39pm »
Posting
Do not use chatspeak on the boards. Using it on the Cbox is fine. Please do your best to avoid errors in your posts. There is a pop-up spelling checker on the forum. Use it if your browser doesn't have one built in. The minimum length for in-character posts is three lines of text. Do not join a thread with more than ten posts unless you have permission. Doing so disrupts a story that has already been developed. Powerplaying and godmoding are not permitted. Powerplaying involves anticipating another character's actions before they post. This includes forced movements, expressions, and dialogue. Godmoding is making your character invulnerable, possessing or inflicting damage beyond what is humanly possible. Essentially it is creating a perfect character. Each of your characters can be in multiple threads at the same time as long as you do not forget the details of each topic. If you need to post out-of-character, use a format similar to this: [OOC: your message here]
How to Title your threads:
Please use the following format in the subject line when you create titles for a new thread;
Type
Example
Standard
Hunting Gauge
Open (beyond 10 replies)
Hunting Gauge (Open)
Private
Hunting Gauge*
Self-Roleplay
Hunting Gauge (Read-Only)
Place the name of the board you are posting on in square brackets in front of the title. If a private thread, place an Out of Character (OOC) note at the beginning of the first post identifying the characters in the thread.
Refrain from making posts on a person’s character on the character creation board. Comments about characters should be posted on the “Chatter” board, not in the character board. Posts on a person’s character in the creation board should be limited to staff comments only and the responses of the member who created the character.
For those who are the leaders of the “special interest groups” (Assassin’s guild, Araluen Guard, SWC, etc.), please do not post “accepted” on the character creation board under a new character. (See the rules concerning “Special Interest Groups” for guidelines on approving a character for your group.) Only the staff has the right to “accept” a character.
OOC Posts (Out-of-Character) Guidelines
Please limit your OOC posts to a bare minimum within the character boards. OOC posts should be used only to clarify information about that thread or character. All non-related topics should be dealt with in the “Chatter” board.
Once you have made an OOC post and the others in the thread have read it and responded to it, go back and DELETE the OOC post; unless you think it needs to remain to help someone understand what is happening in the thread.
The staff reserves the right to go in and modify your posts and delete OOC posts they think are slowing down or interfering with the flow of the story in a thread. They will do this only after the OOC posts have been read by the relevant players and responded to them.
Joined: May 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 751 Location: North Carolina, USA Karma: 23
Re: Rules « Reply #4 on Feb 21, 2009, 5:03pm »
Player vs. Player Battles
When you attack someone else's character, use the attack function (the button with crossed swords) to place a random injury or result in your post. This is the damage inflicted on the opposing character. If you do not wish to utilize the attack function in your battle, you may seek the consent of each member participating in the fight. Upon receiving said consent, the battle may proceed by by freestyling--roleplaying the incident freely by making your own injuries and results. Be aware that freestyling is more open to godmoding and powerplaying. Please use out-of-character (OOC) chat to get the consent of other roleplayers. This allows staff members to easily see if an agreement has been reached. Please do not modify your post in an attempt to change the injury or result. Staff members can detect this. Also, do not forge an injury. The attack function may be used in fights against NPCs, but it is not required under such circumstances.
Joined: May 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 751 Location: North Carolina, USA Karma: 23
Re: Rules « Reply #5 on Feb 21, 2009, 5:14pm »
Death and Relationships
Characters are allowed to get married and give birth. Please do not roleplay graphic scenes. If you wish to have a child, both the mother-to-be and the father-to-be need to PM an administrator. The profile of the child will be posted on the noticeboard a few weeks later. A character may die if the owner kills him or her, the owner agrees to let someone kill the character, or an administrator kills the character via random event (for breaking the rules). If you are unhappy with a particular thread or a relationship your character had, you are allowed to "sever" it. This means it never happened.
Joined: May 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 751 Location: North Carolina, USA Karma: 23
Re: Rules « Reply #6 on Feb 21, 2009, 5:29pm »
Plots
Anyone may propose a plot, providing there isn't one already in progress. Plots are initiated on a first come, first served basis. An administrator or global moderator must approve a plot before it can be initiated.
Other Information
The administrators, being the overlords of Halt's Playground, use their own discretion when dealing with infractions. Consequences range from a warning to a temporary or permanent ban. Their decisions are final. The affiliate websites are not owned by the administrators. Acceptance of advertising on this website is not necessarily an endorsement by Halt's Playground. All characters, images, and plots are property of their respective creators.
Joined: Jan 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 1,901 Location: Eastern Virginia, USA Karma: 23
Re: Rules « Reply #7 on Oct 13, 2009, 11:54am »
Concerning Religion
John Flannigan has kept religious references to a minimum in the Ranger’s Apprentice books; we would like to keep it that way in this site too. However, since religion was a big part of life in the Middle Ages, we must allow some religion here in order to make it believable. Please keep it reasonable and only where it is part of the story or your character’s background.
Characters may practice any religion that was practiced in the 600’s, particularly in Europe. If you have a question whether a specific religion is allowed or not send a PM to a staff member prior to posting about that religion.
Characters should not go around preaching to other characters and trying to convert them or be in any way obnoxious about their religious practices.
Members should refrain from Out of Character posts and discussions on religion as much as possible. This is not a forum for religious debate – take it elsewhere.
Members who try to convert other members to their religion will be given one warning. Upon second offense, they will be banned from the site.
Do not trash other people’s beliefs, no matter what religion they practice. Do not make any derogatory comments in the chat board, cbox or in OOC posts or by using your character to do so. Any person who disrespects another person’s beliefs or religion will receive a warning. Second offenders will be banned from the site.
Joined: Jan 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 1,901 Location: Eastern Virginia, USA Karma: 23
Re: Rules « Reply #8 on Oct 13, 2009, 12:23pm »
Concerning Magic and Sorcery
Magic and Sorcery do not exist in Halt’s Playground. Do not attempt to ‘cast spells’ with your character.
You may try to fake some kind of sorcery as was done in Book 5, but it must be believable and have the science to support the attempt to make something look like it was magic.
Witches and Warlocks and Sorcerers do not exist, however characters who behave suspiciously may be accused of being one of the above by other characters.
Joined: Jan 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 1,901 Location: Eastern Virginia, USA Karma: 23
Re: Rules « Reply #9 on Oct 13, 2009, 12:35pm »
Concerning Explosives (explosives, steam power, black powder, experimental armor or weapons, modern weapons, etc.:)
The use of “high yield” explosives in the game is prohibited. You may NOT blow up entire cities or villages with one bomb.
Generally explosives are not allowed, except as was allowed in the Ranger’s Apprentice books.
You must gain permission by the staff to use explosives. Not everyone knows how to make black powder or grenades, so you must convince the staff that your character has the skills and knowledge to do so, or knows where to get them.
Because there was Black Powder in the RA books, it is allowed here, but on an extremely limited basis. You must gain the permission of the staff to use Black Powder. (Research the origins of black powder and when it was developed and used in Europe.) Justify your character being able to use it to the staff, otherwise it is not allowed.
Any non-standard, non-medieval type weapons or armor must be approved by the staff. You must prove that they could have existed in the 600’s in Europe and justify why your character has them and how your character came to be in possession of them.
Generally steam power should not be used; however, since the concept of using boiling water to produce motion has been around for two millennia, some exceptions to the use of steam power can be made. You must gain approval from the staff to use steam power to do something specific. You must convince the staff that it was possible and that your character would have the knowledge and skills to build it and use it. All uses of steam must be approved by the staff prior to posting them in character. Designs should be primitive because sophisticated steam engines have only been in existence for the last 300 years or so. Do your research before presenting the idea to the staff.
Use of steam powered trains, cars, or tractors are prohibited. They did not exist in the 600’s, so they do not exist in HP.
Use of modern weapons, armor or vehicles is prohibited. Keep with the setting of 640’s Europe as described in the Ranger’s Apprentice books.
Joined: Jan 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 1,901 Location: Eastern Virginia, USA Karma: 23
Re: Rules « Reply #10 on Oct 13, 2009, 1:51pm »
Creating Guilds and Special Interest Groups
All Guilds and special interest groups must be approved by the staff prior to posting them on the site. Send a member of the staff a PM explaining your idea for a guild or special interest group. The PM should include the name of the group, type or profession of group, information specific to the group such as rankings, special weapons, secret information, etc. and why you want to form it or why you think it is needed.
No information should be posted about your group until approved by the staff.
Once approved, post the “public” information (that you want everyone to know about) in a PM to the staff for editing. Once you get the staff’s approval on that information you will need to post it on the Apprentice Guide board under “special interest groups and guilds” thread.
As creator of your group you may post “invitations” to join or accept or decline requests to join on the Arrangements board so that the staff can see an arrangement has been made. Do not post in the character creation board that you accept a character.
You must list a “second in command” that can take over your group should you need to be away from the site for several days or weeks. If you become “inactive” your second in command will take over as the leader of the group.
No changes may be made to the structure of your group after the initial approval unless you get approval from the staff for the changes. (In other words, you cannot add stuff to your group after it has been approved without notifying the staff of the changes you wish to make.)
In the event that you, a guild or group leader, do not log on for a month and have not given an excuse, then a staff member will send an email to you. If you do not reply within two weeks, you will be relieved of command and your Second in Command will take over. Repeated incidents (2 or 3) of disappearing without warning will also lead to the removal of a group leader.
Guilds and Special Interest Groups:
Currently we have the following groups in existence with the leader/creator of that group in parenthesis:
Banished Brethren (Tandar) Find more information: (Send a PM to Tandar)
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