Veil of Dreams :: Citizens' Code

Seems easy, no? You've already created a game character, so why not just jump in and RP? Well, that's one way to go, but ask yourself; who am I, where am I from, why did I leave, do I have enemies? These and more questions should be asked of your character and answered to give your character greater depth and clarity.

However, for simplicity sake, one could just follow the basic pattern needed for a character in order to begin RPing and then develop more of your persona later.

• Character Name:
• Race: (Stick to the available races provided by the game, unless the unnamed race is widely used).
• Age:
• Sex:

• Personal Appearance: (How do you look? What do you normally wear? Any physical scars?)
• Personality: (What's your character like? Short Tempered? Obnoxious? Evil? Generous?)
• Homeland: (Where are you from?)
• Reason(s) Left: (Why'd you leave?)

• Goals: (Following 'Reason(s) Left', since you left, your seeking to do something)
• Weapon of Choice: (Be it your weapon type your skilled at or a special weapon with a name)
• Items: (Don't be batman. You don't have everything in your pockets just waiting for the moment that for some reason, just happened! Limit yourself. You can buy things later in RP.)

• Strengths: (Strong against fire, Telepathy, Immune to sickness, anything that gives you an advantage)
• Weaknesses: (Be realistic. If you have strengths, you have weaknesses. No one likes a super character. Usually your weaknesses are the opposite of your strengths. If your strong against fire, your weak to water. Have Telepathy, then your probably open to mental attacks from others due to your hightened sense. Immune to sickness, brittle bones isn't a sickness. Such things like these. Balance yourself)

-IC and OOC-

Alright, now you have a character, now what? Well, first I will cover the issue of IC and OOC. What are these, you may ask. IC, meaning 'In Character', refers to when a player(you) are speaking for your character in RP. OOC, meaning 'Out Of Character', refers to when a player(you) are speaking for yourself and not in RP. The two are very separate and RP gaming should not fall into OOC comments as this voids the reason for having a separate method of speaking. Use these in context.

Examples:
[Taplar] Bartender, hand me a brew! <-- That statement is IC.
[Taplar] OOC: Hey Joe! Where you been? <-- That statement is OOC.
[Taplar] I said get me a brew, bartender! OOC: That's cool. Good to see you back! <-- Up until the OOC: the statement was IC, but after the OOC, it is all OOC.

It is hardly the case that people use OOC and IC together in one statement, but if they do, each part is IC or OOC until you see it declared again. It may be a bit confusing right now, but you will get used to it. In Hiddenworld, OOC is given a unique color background so this will help distinguish it from IC. NOTE: IC is default and does not have to be distinguished before each comment.

- Actions -

- Environment -

RPing in Hiddenworld takes place in the Tavern or the Inn. These two places are one in the same as the Inn has a bar in it, also called the Tavern. Rping in any other environment is not proper. If your RPing in Hiddenworld, do not say your out on a mountain or beside a stream, or next to a deep cliff. The environment is the Inn and if you leave the Inn, your in a city. Creating new environments just causes confusion with your fellow patrons, and thus should not be played.

- Telepathy -

Ohhhhhh, we have a psychic one! Telepathy is a thorn in alot of people's sides, because few understand that it follows similar rules to OOC and IC, except instead of determining who is speaking, it determines who IC actually hears it. Telepathy is signified by many ways. '(...)' are popular, however my choice method of defining telepathy is '*<...>*'.

Now, the problem with this is.....who's hearing it? Hate to break it to you, but in the two previous examples, everyone in the room would have heard me speak to Joe, even Kim. *blush* In order to avoid this, you MUST declare who you are sending the telepathic message to if you want it to be private IC.

In this example, only Joe can hear it IC. Everyone can read it OOC, of course, but the serious RPers will know that this was only for Joe and their character didn't hear it IC. If they give you flack about this saying they did hear it, don't RP with them.

- Powergaming -

Yay, the formalities are out of the way. Now we can deal with actual RPing. However, with RPing with others, it is essential that you learn to avoid one thing; powergaming.

What is powergaming? Powergaming involves a character which tries to take control of his or her environment to put everything in his or her favor. Such things involve finding needed items out of no where, knowing everything everyone says, being able to solve every problem that comes up, being indestructable in battles, and such. These things and more are powergaming and ARE NOT legal in RPing.

-- How Do I Know If I'm Powergaming? --

The essential way of keeping from powergaming is to know your limits. As a character you have knowledge of certain things:

Stay with these things and do not try to control another persons ability to control their own character in any of these areas. Do that, and you will do fine.

- Fighting -

How do we fight? Keyword for you to remember in fighting, or other interactions with other characters which could effect them; ATTEMPT. When interacting with a character, all your actions towards them, if they could be harmful, are attempted. However, nice things such as patting them on the shoulder, bumping them playfully, and such can be done with out an attempt.

-- Attempts --

What do you mean by attempt? Well, say that Urganon just entered the Inn and is picking a fight with me. ANY ATTACK THAT EITHER URGANON OR I USE TOWARDS EACH OTHER IS AN ATTEMPT. Only the character recieving the harm from the action has the ability to DETERMINE if the attack is successful.

But that sucks! If they get to decide, they will never let me hit them and try to say they are to quick to be hit! In such a case, DO NOT RP WITH THEM. Role Playing involves having fun, and being realistic to a sense. If a person is engaging in fighting and will not be fair about the fight, they are engaging in Powergaming, and you should stop RPing with them. They will eventually get the point, or leave.

[Taplar]: *stands up and raises his hand* I warn you, I am no easy prey.
[Urganon]: *laughs* Pathetic mage. *raises his sword and rushes Taplar, slashing at his chest*
[Taplar]: *begins chanting and backs away from the sword, its blade slicing through the outer layer of his cloak* Elathros Tos! *a vortex opens behind Taplar and arcs of fire begin baraging towards Urganon*
[Urganon] *raises his shield above his head to defend against the attack, his shield getting steadily hotter* Bloody magic! *hits out a flame which had lit on his shirt*

Notice, in each comment, neither of us said we hit one another. Urganon slashed AT me. My magic began flying TOWARDS Urganon. These are attempts. Only the one recieving the blunt of the attack gets to decide the success. Remember that.

ADDED NOTE: Some times you may be in the Inn and see two people, or more, fighting and it seems that they are powergaming. If none of them seems to be complaining about it, it either means that they are new to RP and are playing with themselves, *chuckle*, or are talking in another form such as MSN Messenger or Yahoo! Messenger and predetermining the fight from there. This is not against the rules, and in fact makes for better fights usually. If you see such things, just watch, or try to join in. However, don't be offended if they ignore you. Most likely, their plot is already determined and adding a new person would be very complicated. Wait until it dies down or Scribe them about joining in.

- Creating a Character -