a Phoenix Lament

Rules

+ Basic Rules
+ Roleplay Rules
+ Canonicity
+ Miscellaneous

Basic Rules

• Respect! This rule is almost always first and possibly one of the most important at any RPG. Respect everyone here! There is no reason not to respect anyone here. If someone is, however, bothering you do not hesitate to PM me - or any of the other admins - right away!
• This board is unrated. However watch your language and content of posts. I don't want anything over PG-13. Not only must you follow these rules but InvisionFree does not want anything indecent on their forums. So, watch your post content, in and out of character.
• Be kind to everyone. I don't think I should have to say anymore. Everyone should be treated kindly. Period.
• No spamming! I can't stress this one enough. One-liners are absolutely forbidden, in or out of character. In character, I expect at least a few paragraphs. Out of character, at least three lines.
• No netspeak! Do not use net/chatspeak. It is hard to read and grammatically incorrect. We would love it if you atleast tried using correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling all the time, RPing or not. Try using Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and if you use Firefox, turn on the spellcheck setting. Using a word processor would probably be the best thing to do, however.
• No political, religious, or anything similiar types of threads. They can cause controversy and sometimes hurt other people's feelings. Just watch what you post in the OOC board.
• Do not ask to become a staff member. If you constantly beg us to become a staff member, then just... no. We will pick you if we find that you are a good, active roleplayer and can help our community in some way. But, do not beg to become a staff member. That's just annoying and shows that you do not have the maturity to become a part of the staff team.
• Be active! This is a roleplaying board, we expect you to be be active and roleplay! It is the point, you know. If you know you're going to be gone for a while, please post it in the Vacation Board.

Roleplay Rules

1. No God-Moding
When you are in a RP, do not control another person's character. It is unfair, and seen as the worst kind of rude in a RP.

2. Grammer and Spelling
Bad grammar and spelling can be very annoying! When others encounter such a post, they often do not want to join. Use a word processor and paste in the RP! It will take little more than five minutes to fix errors that way. Even I do it!

3. Use 'OOC' and 'IC'
If you post in a RP thread, but you aren't adding to that RP, please use 'OOC' at the beginning of whatever you are going to say, so that people know it is 'Out Of Character'. When you are going to add more to that RP, in the same post as when you used an 'OOC', please star by using 'IC', or 'In Character'. Example:

4. Realistic RPs
When you post a RP, please keep in mind what you would do in real life. Make your RPs as realistic as possible. And, remember, we start out as eleven-year-olds! They're immature and little kids! Don't make them super-mature or super-smart. Being realistic is one of the most important things to rememeber.

5. No One-Liners!
When you are posting in an RP, do try to stray away from posting one lined additions! These are incredibly annoying, and very hard to reply to with a satisfying post. If you are having trouble adding body to your RP, try and adding in what your character is thinking at the moment, what he/she is doing, what they think about who they are talking to. There is a great deal you can do with one post, and it's not very hard to accomplish with the right positioning of words.

6. No "Bored" Posts
"Bored" posts are you RPing a character that is bored. So, an example is.. naming your topic "Bored and Lonely" and then writing paragraphs and paragraphs of how bored and lonely and angsty your character is. Even if you RP well, a "bored" topic is just boring. No one wants to RP with some "bored, lonely, angsty" character. The topic itself becomes boring and angsty.

7. No Colors!
I'm not a big fan of this... but some people are fine with it. Using colors in your post can often be annoying unless you always use the same color, and the color is dark and doesn't clash with the background color. Otherwise, just don't use colors in your RP posts.

8. Fonts
The only fonts I will allow you to use are: Arial, Tahoma, Times New Roman, or the default font (Verdana). End of story.

9. Smilies.
No. Just don't do it. Smilies in your RPs is just annoying. It is okay OOC but never IC!

10. All RP posts are done in third person.
No second person, first person, or whatever. Third person and that's that. XD

11. About "Special" Characters
Do you have a character that is blind? Mute? Deaf? Physically or mentally disabled in anyway? Well, then, at PL we do allow it... to an extent. I don't want millions of blind kids running around at Hogwarts. No, it is not probable. Every month, I will allow one, or two if I'm in a good mood. If, however, you astound me with a great and worthwhile sorting application with a well-rounded character, then you will definitely be accepted. Otherwise, sorry, no, edit your character.

12. Accents
Okay, well, you can't have an French accent if you have never lived in France. Um, no. Maybe if you never left the confines of your home and your parents are French.. maybe. Having an accent other than British, depends on your character's history. I can't really answer this question here. Please don't PM me or post this in the Questions forum. Just finish your application and I will inform you then, as this depends on the character him/herself.

13. Other Countries
Yes, I will allow students from other countries. However, this means that your character moved to the United Kingdom at some point. You cannot come to Hogwarts if you live in Australia. That's insane. You must live in the United Kingdom, end of story.

Canonicity

As a Harry Potter RPG, remaining canon is very important. You must at least try to remain canon at all times. Don't know what 'canon' is? Dictionary.com can be very helpful. ;o

According to Dictionary.com, canon means, 'the works of an author that have been accepted as authentic'. So basically, to be canon is to be true to the Harry Potter books.

HP-Lexicon.org is always very helpful but for your convenience, I posted 'HP Lists' that I found from the RPG-Directory here.

Here are the canon lists for reference.



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However, remaining true to the Harry Potter books isn't the only thing. You must remain realistic to your age and gender. For example, girls mature faster than boys. Unless your male character grew up in a certain environment, without other male contact, he's most likely going to be immature in some way. Actually, even the female characters should be immature. They start out as eleven-year-olds after all. When was the last time you met a very mature eleven-year-old?

This also means: NO MARY SUES/GARY STUS! I can't even begin to describe how annoying Mary Sues are. We don't care how tragic your Christina's life is and how beautiful and silky her long, golden tresses are. Nor do we care about Arcturus's hard, tragic life and how angsty and sad he is now. Um. No. I don't know about everyone else, but I really don't like "perfect" characters. They are not perfect. They are annoying. So, when making your application, please be realistic and put some thought into it!

Miscellaneous

• Signatures must not be larger than 500x300, including words. They stretch the forum and are just horrible-looking.
• Avatars must be 150x150 or smaller.
• You cannot post advertisements. You may, however, PM an admin to request an affiliation. But, please, no advertisements.
• Someone bothering you? PM an admin or staff member and they will get back to you as soon as possible.
• If you have a problem with the board, something on the board, etc. please let us know in the Suggestion/Help Forum and we will help you immediately!

LAST EDIT: May 28th, 2007.

These rules and guidelines are copyrighted to a Phoenix Lament. Please do not reproduce them in any way, shape, or form. We will find out.