RP Guidelines

[Melisizwe]

The following is a list of suggestions given by the Staff to not only help our players in their RP threads, but to also help our new players navigate the site and some of its unique quirks. Some of the following are merely suggestions, though for uniformity's sake, the Staff would like to see these guidelines followed. Thank you.

• One guideline that must be strictly followed is that there will be no twinking, power-playing, or God-moding anywhere on Mnara. All of these are essentially different names for the same act. If players RP themselves as being untouchable in battle, or unstoppable by another player, this is twinking. RP is, essentially, reactionary. Player A poses their character charging at Player B. It is then Player B's choice to decide whether or not their character is hit, or manages to avoid the attack by Player A. Threads labeled [DYN] for dynamic (more on DYN and other labels below), have a little more leeway when it comes to twinking. For example, Player A can pose that his character hits Player B in the face, but it is up to Player B to choose how much damage the hit causes. In a non-DYN thread, Player A would have to pose trying to hit Player B. There is a small difference, but it is an important one. If you're not sure whether or not your pose is pushing the boundary of twinking, first ask the other player involved if they're okay with what your character is planning to do. If there is still an issue, feel free to ask the Staff's opinion.
  
  
• A second guideline that must be followed and will be strictly enforced, is that there will be no TS anywhere on Mnara. TS, or Tiny-Sex, according to Mnara's guidelines is the act of writing animal pornography. If a player posts this anywhere on the board, they will be banned. Again, there is no three-strike rule, here. Now, the act of mating is not banned, but explicit detail is. It is okay for a character to act on the instinct, but keep in mind animals do not mate for pleasure. They mate to produce off-spring. Keep it tasteful, and do a fade to black if necessary, and continue the pose after the act. Along the same lines, affection between characters does not fall under this category. Again, if you're not sure where the boundary lies within you post, feel free to discuss it with the Staff beforehand.
  
  
• Mnara has no character limit, meaning a player can apply for as many characters as they would like, but for now the Staff has come up with a recommended maximum of 3-5. The number of your characters can depend on your comfort level, skill level, and whether or not you know you have the time to devote good, solid poses in multiple threads for multiple characters. Again, there is no imposed maximum, and 3-5 characters is a suggestion.
  
  
• While a player doesn't have to keep their characters separate from one another, try to avoid having them be in the same RP thread at a time. If this happens it is not the end of the world, but keep in mind that it can get complicated with multiple characters in the same scene. On the same note, please try to avoid playing your own offspring. That really gets tricky.
  
  
• Similar to the above, try to keep one character in one RP at a time. Meaning, Melisizwe should only be involved with one thread at a time before he moves to another area to interact with other characters. This is mostly to preserve Mnara's carefully planed time line. If a character is in two threads at once, it starts to become difficult to know which scene took place before or after the other one. After all, a character might find out something important in one scene, but if it took place after another one he's already in, in-character and out-of-character perceptions can get mixed up.
  
  
• The Staff at Mnara have devised a (hopefully) easy set of labels for our RP threads so that people know if they can, or can't, join in on the RP. The following is a short list of thread labels that can be put at the end of a thread's subject line:
  
  
  • A Day in the Life [OPEN] : This indicates that a player is starting a brand new thread that anyone else is free to join. The player that starts the thread is responsible for deciding if and when to close the thread to new characters (for example, if the character list gets a little large).
    
    
  • A Day in the Life [CLOSED] : This indicates that enough characters have joined the RP thread. The RP is still active, but is not available to be joined.
    
    
  • A Day in the Life [FINISHED] : This indicates that the RP is finished. Please ask the Staff to lock the thread at this point.
    
    
  • A Day in the Life [PRIVATE] : This indicates that the players involved do not want other characters joining in besides an already predetermined set. This is generally reserved for dynamic scenes, or scenes between two to three characters to advance a particular plot.
    
    
  • A Day in the Life [DYNAMIC] : This indicates that the players involved have chosen to forgo a bit of their safety net and are allowing one another to take a few more liberties in their poses. This was discussed above along with twinking. This label does not give characters the right to twink, but it does loosen the boundaries a little bit. For example, Melisizwe might be attacking a stray hyena and pose swinging a paw and clubbing the creature in the head. In a non-dynamic scene, Melisizwe would have had to have posed swinging at the other character, but not directly hitting him. Even in a dynamic scene, it is still up to the other player to decide how hard the blow hits. Dynamic is not just reserved for fight scenes, but it is the most common use of the label.
    
    
  • A Day in the Life [PRIVATE/DYNAMIC/FINISHED] : Keep in mind, multiple labels can be used at one time.
    
  
  
  
• Within all RP threads, keep out-of-character chatter to a minimum, and avoid it at all possible. Let's try to keep our RP threads strictly for RP, and use our out-of-character threads at the bottom of our forum for any chit-chat. If necessary, feel free to create an out-of-character thread for a current RP that's going on to discuss any details with the group involved, or keep it to PMs if it's just between a few players.