Posting Guide

If you have not yet read our Game Rules section, please do so prior to posting anything on our boards.

## Thread System

Our threads are date-based, and most are closed storylines.

Please consult the Calendar System for canon, in-game dates. Every new thread should be marked with the date, and time of day, that it occurs. Players are encouraged to track their own threads via Thread Trackers.

## In-Game Travel

We don’t allow characters to time travel over the boards. You cannot post in Kirkwall and suddenly show up in Redcliffe without either a detailed journey, reflected in the threads, *or* time gap in between. See the section below, "Reaction Time", for notes on frequent posting.

Also remember that travelling by foot, horse, carriage, or boat will all have different trials in addition to how long it takes to arrive at a destination.

## Writing

We do expect players to write with a little finesse. Repeated use of real world or digital slang, refusal to use proper spelling and grammar (i.e. do not write things like “Wut u do dat 4?”) will, straight up, get you banned. This is a storytelling game; therefore, consistent narrative is crucial.

Lastly, using third person narrative is mandatory when in-character. It’s not required when speaking OOC, but it is so long as your character is interacting with another character there will be no:

“And I caught your coin purse with my left hand, effortlessly! Huzzah!”.

The correct format would be thus: “Alaric caught Mina’s coin purse with his left hand, effortlessly, and proudly exclaimed, “Huzzah!”.

## Reaction Time

We have a 7-day grace period for other players to post their replies to your character’s post. Allow other players time to respond to your character’s actions before going ahead without them. Play by post games typically do not have a set time schedule. Many members are in different time zones, so it’s important to be patient.

While you’re waiting for a reply, you can hang out in the Player Lounge where you’re free to start and/or contribute to OOC conversations. Or, if you're already an approved member, join the conversations over on our Discord server.

If you don’t get a response after 7 days, try contacting the player directly (either via direct message or post a thread in the Player Lounge) *only if that player has not already made a note of their absence*. If you don’t get a response and are eager to move on, typically we encourage players to continue by writing the other character “out of the scene”. You cannot speak for that other character, however, but you can choose how your character reacts to, say, a long silence. Be clever about and exit the scene gracefully, as opposed to burning bridges over another player’s disappearance, because oftentimes players do return after a week or two when their real world life has calmed down a bit.

If, after 2 weeks a player has not returned and has made no announcement of their absence – that player is considered “missing in action” and we will move their character profile to our MIA board.

We don’t kill other players’ characters’ off because 1. that’s rude and 2. we do understand that real life can get REAL sometimes. We will often welcome players back after an extended hiatus and return their character’s profile to the appropriate board upon their return. However, if this appears to be repeatable behaviour – we will ultimately be forced to ban the player.

## Length

We do not have a "word count" in this game. Try to gauge your in-character posts appropriately for the given situation. A lot of "solo" storylines have posts that run longer than usual because the player is not waiting on another player to respond, and that's perfectly fine. When responding to other players, however, try to give their characters something to work with rather than simply reacting to what they have offered.