The Hitchhiker's Guide To Roleplaying

[twylight]

The one with rules and links

Welcome! To the SuperheroHype! Role-Playing Game Forum! AKA Hype RPG's!

Please take a moment to look around as see what we have too offer!

For a complete and -mostly- up-to-date list of all the RPG's offered please click -under construction-

Master Bruce is the forum 'gardener', he is not here to rule/moderate you, he expects you to be mature enough to do that yourself. He is here to help sort out issues and prune a bit if need be. Please don't hesitate to PM Master Bruce if you need help of any kind.

RPG Courtesy Rules

There are a few courtesy rules and guidelines to go along with the SHH! Rules and Regulations.

• Please be respectful towards each other. No snappy, slurring, flaming, impatient, cruel, mean or otherwise 'un-nice' comments too each other. Yes, this is an internet forum where you can slur people as much as you want and they can't find you! However, this is a 'community' what you say to someone is not easily forgotten and you'll probably be around that person for day's, weeks, months and years too come as well as having too play with them.

• Respect each others creative property. Since we have the Create-A-Hero, and the Gods & Men RPG it's important to realize that the characters created within them are the sole property of those who created them. Respect this. While we can't monitor the entire internet do not take their ideas and use them on another forum as your own. If you see an identical character on another board, of one here, please PM the mods with the link. All Comic book/Video Game/Anime/Movie/Television characters are trademarks of their respective companies/owners, however the stories created with them, within the RPG's are the creative property of the players.
  
  This includes any copy/pasting you might do from wiki for application data. Please link back to where you got the information from. If you do not, it is considered plagiarism, and like your friendly High School and Higher Education establishments, we do not allow this.

• Respect your Gamemaster. These are player owned RPG's, which means that while your GM might not have a red name, he is still in charge of the RPG you are playing in. Each GM reserves the right to 'kick' from their RPG's anyone who has become overtly difficult and flamatory towards the other players. They also have the power to moderate disputes within their own RPG. Respect his/her choices, and do not argue, if it is so horrible a request you think it's unbearable, unfair and down right smarmy, then contact your friendly neighborhood mods.
  
  Gamemasters: It is your responsibilty to watch your players and see to it that they follow these guidelines/rules. If there is any issue with your players acting contrary to them, please contact Master Bruce if the situation warrents it.

• Respect your game. Keep all of your game chatter, planning and OOC comments in the respected OOC thread for the RPG you are in. People in the Gods & Men RPG are probably not interested in Tony and Dinah getting married in the One Universe RPG.

• Respect Fun. This is the most important, anyone caught violating this mandate will be found guilty of anti-fun and action will be taken to ensure the culprit lives out a life of indentured servitude in twy's house of terror.

Important Links and Resources

Harlekin's Manifesto
Written by one of the original RPer's, Harl's Manifesto is pure gold and required reading. If you read nothing else, read this.

Wiki Wiki Wiki!
We have an ongoing project titled "The SuperheroHype! RPG's Wiki" Be sure to check it out. If you're a current player, or one who's played a character in an RPG here, register and make sure your characters are up to date. Thanks to our own JRK for getting it started for us!

How to play in a Hype RPG in 10 minutes.
Basic principles of how most people RP in the games here.

RPG Etiquette al la twylight
It goes more in depth as to how to behave in an actual playing circumstance and addresses bunnyinh, god-moding and other sundry things

How to apply your own RPG.
Gives rules that must be included for all RPG's, list of GM expectations and how apply for your own RPG.

The Bulletin Board.
If you will be gone for an extended amount of time from various RPG's, this thread makes it easier for you to just post in to let people know you'll be gone.


Enjoy your stay at the Asyl-----RPG games!

An Addendum of thanks

Much thanks goes out to:

Drakon - Admin, gamer and cross dresser extraordinaire! Without whom we would not have this forum in the first place and people would still be throwing rotten eggs at us. Were he not miles away, totally disinterested in me and lacking a girlfriend I'd totally take him! He does everything a mod/Admin should do, except in a dress and backwards with one leg!

[twylight]

The one with RPing on Hype 101

This is a post or rather a set of posts I wrote...oh..a while ago >.<; And it's BACK! By popular demand and at no extra fee! I do suggest you read all of it..yes it is 'long' but I'm sure you can force your attention span.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

This is an informational post(s) on how what a Role Playing Game is, how to pick your character, how to write your character, how to post, about Storylines and also some Role Playing Game term’s, general rules on player interaction and etiquette.
Some of this is for newer player’s, but it’s a great review for the older one’s as well. Even I was reminded to do certain things.

What is a Role Playing Game?

“A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game where players assume the roles of fictional characters via role playing. In fact, many non- games involve some aspect of role-playing; however, role-playing games tend to focus on this aspect of behavior.” en.wikapedia.org

There are several different variations on RPG’s, this one is a play-by-post RPG, or a Message Board RPG.
Basically you are writing a story in conjunction with other people, each of which has their own character, this is also sometimes called ‘interactive fiction’

“The first message posted onto a thread of that nature is usually one person laying down the scenario, starting a story about their character, and inviting others. If successful, the thread then becomes an ongoing story in which players periodically advance the plot by reading the latest reply, and typing a short paragraph or two about what their character does and how the environment changes in response. These replies are often open-ended so that other players can continue.

Depending on the rules set down by the Message Board Administrator, role-playing and story can be pushed forward through moderation by a Game Master, by mutual agreement between players, or by 'free-form' writing which normally erupts in flaming and disagreements between players. Role-playing of this type does not rely on statistics or visible die, and this can sometimes render combat situations difficult for players used to such props. Any combat is usually written in entirety by one or two players; and in some systems will be allowed to include the actions of another player in their post. Commonly this practice is considered cheating in more established games.”

- en.wikapedia.org

So, there are several variations within the Message Board RPG variation, which one is this?
This one is a Mutual Agreement one. It’s a check and balance situation, so far we haven’t had a need for an in-thread moderator, because we watch ourselves, and many people know their characters inside and out.
Some Message Board RPG’s are a ‘create your own’ character ones, this one isn’t,. In this one you choose your characters from characters in the DC Comic book Universe.

*What is this Gamemaster mentioned?

In role-playing games, the game master or GM is the organizer, storyteller, and arbitrator. He or she prepares the game session for the players and the characters they play (known as player characters or PCs).

- en.wikapedia.org

The description is longer, but just that much is what our Gamemasters do. Our Gamemaster’s never get involved in shaping the arcs of individual characters. Towards the end of the season the Gamemasters will be more involved in the way the story is heading, but only so the season ends in a way that it can be followed easily by the next season of play.*

As in most Message Board RPG’s there are two kinds of characters.-
PC’s = Player Characters, which is what you are if you take and play a character.
NPC’s = None Player Characters, characters that no one is playing. NPC’s can be played by someone if that particular character is important in the arc. When you used them, use them SPARINGLY, because someone might want to play that character sometime. I’ve used the NPC’s Speedy (Mia Dearden), and the Green Arrow in my arc’s with the Black Canary, because they are closely connected to her. But more on them later…

The actual game play of this RPG is normally a few different arcs with a few main ones, this is DC comic based, so an example would be the Justice League, made up of the characters that were in the JL in the comics. The Justice League has one big storyline or ‘arc.’ With the members of the JL having their own little storylines.


So now you know what a RPG is, and little bit about what kind of RPG this is, let’s get into the Character choosing and character writing/development.

How to pick a character.
Most people don’t need help with this, but a few suggestions if you do are to, pick a character you love. A character you know the in’s and out’s of, if you don’t, research on line, or through Graphic Novels at the yes..Library. Turn the Internet off and go out in public. Believe me, the sunlight doesn’t hurt as much as people say it does.
Research will help you understand your characters History and personality, which will become important in how you write your character.
Which, is our next topic, imagine that.

How to write a post for your character.

This is for fun! Not only for you, but for the other players to read. It’s like a great big story! With YOU as the character, don’t you want the perfect character? Yes of course! You want to do them justice and ‘be’ the character.
The perfect portrayal for the perfect character.

The ground work of a perfect character is it’s development, and the groundwork for development is a perfect post, and the ground work for a perfect post is...perfect grammar.

Let’s face it, correct grammar, capitalization and punctuation are easier to read, and holds people interests.
But let’s face it, no one is perfect, we all make mistakes. But a suggest– Write out your post in a word processor, like Microsoft Word or Microsoft Publisher and spell check it. Then all it takes is a simple copy and paste into the thread.
Also, Hype is know for it’s glitches….okay maybe not ‘known’ But they do happen, and there is nothing worse than to spend an hour pouring out your character only to have it vanish irretrievable because the site crashed during the process of posting it. So typing it up on a word processor and saving it is a good precaution.

Punctuation is a MUST! Don’t overdo it and don’t under do it.
CAPITOLIZATION! It’s a powerful...powerful concept. Use it wisely.
Another thing which isn’t ‘technically’ grammar, is spacing.
Use spaces between paragraph’s, it just makes the post’s easier to read.
*When you write dialog, give the dialog it’s own paragraph! This makes it easy for people to read.[ COLOR=red]*[/COLOR]

Okay, now we know the basic’s of the basic’s.
The second ground work is the perfect post and character development, the two go hand in hand...like Babs and Dick, or Ollie and Dinah..The ‘perfect post’ is what carries the perfect character development. So let’s go through the do’s and don’t’s.

Why it’s not just about action.
As much as it may hurt some people. I’ll say it again. It’s not about action. Yes, Comics have action in them, but you can’t have action without a reason. What are they thinking while their fighting? How do they feel? Peter Parker would be nothing without his backstory, or all the things he’s been through. There would be no ’reason’ for him to fight. You have to have a back story to all of this and you have to tell it! Why? Well, I’ll tell ya!
While action is an important element in Comic Book Characters lives. Action should be secondary, ‘grow’ your character and the action will follow. Make your character feel, bleed, hurt, cry, yearn, long, lust, make yourself the character. I was Black Canary, last Season, I made myself her, I loved the same people she loved, I was the one who’s mother disliked her choices, I was the one who’d been cheated on and dumped, but still had feelings for the man. Sounds crazy, it’s not. Because for all intensive purposes, to the reader you are that character. If you can’t do that then think of how you felt in similar situations. Use your own experiences for the tough scenes, remember when you’re dog died? That car crash years ago? You finally got promoted? Got an A+ on the math test? Passed College Exams?

Use your Characters established history.
You also have to take into account your characters history, since this isn’t a create you own character RPG you need to take into account your characters personality and history. I can’t stress this enough. Remember what I said about picking your character?
“Research will help you understand your characters History and personality, which will become important in how you write your character.”
You have to remember who your character loves, who they hate, who are their friends, who aren’t.
The lesson from this? Know your character so you can, be your character and make it come ’alive’, make it ‘feel.’

Explain it.
If you don’t explain it, then no one knows, you can have your character swear, which is slightly out of character, but they swore because they had a bad day. No one’s going to know that’s why they swore unless you explain or describe the characters feelings about having a bad day and why she had a bad day. Explain and describe EVERYTHING, right down to the pimple which started her bad day, to the Villain who smashed into her classroom.
Okay, so you have a character, you know you need to make it ‘live and breath’ build it’s character. It’s easy to write now, let’s see…

Dinah looked at Ollie, she’d loved him so much. It had never changed, and neither had he. She thought back to Roy. Yes, Ollie was distant, but it hadn’t changed anything. It had never changed anything. She’d changed though. She’d gone from an impulsive young woman, to a strong lover and fighter, to finally a broken down mess. Since she’d been with Babs she’d changed again. This time into a woman who know what she wanted.

Bravo! The perfect back story, right? It comments on her feeling’s now, a little about her past..but..something’s missing. It’s kind of ‘blah’

How do you fight Bad Language And Handling?

Be descriptive.
“Well, haven’t I been” you’ll ask. Yes, you have you described her feelings and history, but what about where she is? Is she just in a non descript room painted in olive green? Or outside? Is there a breeze?
Be descriptive, describe the air, sun, clouds, dirt, grass, the little girl standing in the distance picking her nose, the Ice Cream man’s truck.
Why is this important? Because it’s not a movie. People can only ‘see’ what you tell them to see, what you show them.

If the air brushes her hair across her face, tell it. If you want people to see how your character feels or exactly what it looks like you have to describe it vividly. You don’t have to use big word’s, just use the word’s you know and the writing style you like. The sentences can be short and too the point, reflecting either the character, or just the way you write.

Be suspenseful.
Think of this as YOUR comic..your writing, not only are other people playing character’s their reading the RPG. It’s pleasurable to see what people playing as their favorite characters do with them. Keep secret’s, I have a few of my own planned. *Season 4 anyone?* Don’t tip your hand too quickly if you don’t want to, even if it’ll cross over the Seasons. But never keep secret’s at the cost of compromising someone else’s characters. More on this in Storytelling.

Let’s try it now:

Dinah looked at Ollie, the soft breeze tugged at her hair causing it to flutter across her face. She pushed it back, letting it flame up behind her in golden waves.
The sunlight reflected off of Ollie’s own blonde hair turning it tones of gold, and the green of his costume blended with the park’s green grass. Children ran and played in the background. Their giggles and shouts wafted on the wind, finding their way to Dinah’s ears.
Flitting around the playground and tree’s in various games, their bright clothes caught Dinah’s eye for a while as she watched them, before turning back to Ollie, Her heart tugging a little bit, she loved him so much. That hadn’t changed, and neither had he, the same man with the same outfit and piercing blue eyes. Maybe a few more wrinkles than before, but in essence the same. She thought back to Roy’s drug problem, and how Ollie had reacted to it. Ollie had always been distant, it had never changed. She’d changed though.
Dinah looked away gazing at a tree in the distance, it’s green leaves shivered in the breeze, She’d gone from an impulsive young woman, to a strong lover and fighter, to a broken down mess. Since she’d been with Babs she’d metamorphed again, this time into a woman who knew what she wanted.

Much better, I kept all of the same element’s of history and personal feelings, but I’ve added a description of the surroundings and a little bit of a hanging ending...is she going to kiss him? Hate him? Remember we all have distinctive writing style’s so while we all use the same guideline’s we’ll write them differently’
Not everyone uses as much description, some use more, some use less, some not at all in certain situations.

Here is another example:

Rudy raised the gun, tilted his head and smiled
“Good-Bye Lex” BANG!

With more description:
Rudy raised the gun, the afternoon sun glinting off the barrel, and aimed it at Lex. He tilted his head and smiled, his eyes gleamed enjoying the moment, savoring the fear he could see coming from Luthor’s eyes.
The city noises echoed in the background, car’s, sirens, cell phone ring’s, the bustle of the city though right at their side sounded distant and far away as the situation enveloping the two men like a bubble, separating them from the world.
Rudy’s voice broke through the silence causing the bubble to burst.
“Good-Bye Lex”
The city noises rushed back into his ears as he pulled the trigger, caressing it gently till it fired.
The gun recoiled in his hands like a snake as the report from the gun echoed in his ears, causing them to ring slightly,

Notice that in both of my posts I never ‘move’ or make the other people say or do anything, why? Because it’s not my character. I can’t make a character do something if it’s not mine.
RPGing is a fine balance between being reactive and proactive. You need to react to other peoples posts, and then you need to be proactive in how you act.

What about pictures?
So you noticed that huh? Some people in the RPG use picture’s, this is something fun to do and adds an extra bit of ‘spice’ to the post they are in. IF they are used correctly. There IS too much of a good thing.
Make sure that the picture you want to use match’s what’s going on in the post. A Picture of Hal Jordan kissing Carol is a really bad idea if Hal is turning into Parallax in that post.
Make sure the picture isn’t so large that you have to scroll more than three clicks over.
And the most important? Don’t let the Picture tell the story. A picture is NOT a cop out for a good, descriptive post.

Okay, We know what the RPG is, we have a character, we know how to write a post for our character with good grammar, lot’s of feeling, description, history, we know all about pictures in posts and how to NEVER move another person’s character, without expressed permission from the person.
We also know that people are more likely to join a storyline with you if you write well.

What is a Storyline or ‘Arc’?
So basically...we’ve learned how to write a good post for our character. But what about this character development thing? Sure, we can develop our character by how we describe things, but how do we ’grow’ a character?
THAT comes with interacting with other player’s and their characters.
Which you aren't going to get by isolating your character in one spot. You need interaction with other player. Thus, enters the Storyline.
Storylines or since this is a Comic based RPG, we call them ‘Arcs’ are important in developing your character, so far we have a character, and we’ve gone over how to write them, wonderful.

How do we ‘use’ them?
There are two kinds, of arcs, I’m not sure about the technical terms for them, but I’m calling them Multi-Player Arcs and Self-Involved Arcs.
A self involved arc – One in which it is just you or with permission an NPC. These are pretty boring if that’s ALL you do. Most people start out in a Self involved arc before joining another arc someone planned, or as a setup for going into their multi-player arc, a ‘back-story’ so to speak. They spend a few posts building a back story and their characters…well, character before launching into a Multi-Player Arc.
Multi-player arcs – these can be large scale, or tiny. Most of the time there is one large arc involving from 4 - 10 player’s, and then several tiny ones, involving 2- 4 player’s.
Refer back to the Structure of the RPG. Now you can start a Multi-Player arc by creating a storyline and then asking people to become involved with you. Most of the time if one or two people start an arc, other people join in, hardly any large multi-player arc’s are ‘exclusive’ though the smaller ones are ‘exclusive.’
*‘Exclusive’ meaning two or more players are working in tandem with their characters. Most of the time this means they have it all planned out. Their characters are going to do this...and then this…in this timeframe. *

If this is you’re very first time RPGing, or you have no ideas for an arc. No problem, just tag along with someone your character knows, or an association your character is involved in. This applies more towards people playing heroes than Villains. In the Hero’s case, there is always more than enough Justice Leaguers and Justice Society Member’s running around to team up with.
In the Villain cases, well, takes someone devious to be a villain, and normally they forge their own arcs.

BUT always ask before you join an arc, don’t just ‘jump in’ to a fight. Because it might be an important plot point in the player’s involved arcs, remember what I said earlier? “But never keep secret’s at the cost of compromising someone else’s characters.”
Never keep a secret involving someone else’s character from them. *If you’re going to join an arc or a fight ASK in the OOC thread FIRST! It might and most likely is an Exclusive Arc. Those people have worked up to that fight, don’t ruin it for them.*

If you are creating an arc, then you understand the value of ‘secret’s and suspense, Comic Book empires were build on suspense. Why do you think we buy comics every week? To see what happens! Why do you think people who are playing are going to read posts that don’t effect them? To get a story, what will make them keep reading? Suspense.
Bottom line? A good arc will last a season if it’s well thought about and can actually ‘end’ a season.

What’s so great about arcs?
The arc’s are storylines that pressure you to move you’re character, your character is going to have to deal with personal issues, death and pain, because of other character’s decision’s. How you write your posts and character in reaction and pro-action to these things is character development.
THAT is the key.

Happy RPing!

UPDATED on 9-15-05. New additions are between * .

[twylight]

The one with RPG Etiquette.

Again..more retro-y goodness! This one is 'required reading' and not like the kind you get in HS/College
where you can Clif Note it.. Read it all! Religiously! Tattoo it upon your heart, hands, your babies forehead.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

RPG Term’s, General Etiquette and Player interaction.

RPG Term’s (some of the word’s you’ll hear around and in the RPG threads are)-

Bunnying/ Bunny/ Bunnied – ‘Bunnying’ a character, is when you move someone else’s character, make another person’s character talk, or describe the feelings, facial expressions another players character is feeling/having. This is a No-No, at the least you’ll be called on it. At the worse well….you’ll get called lot’s of bad names and people hate you behind your back.

IC- In Character, used to distinguish OOC posts and IC posts, see below.

OOC- Out Of Character or Out Of Context, this expression is used in the In Character/IC thread, for Out Of Character posts. OOC posts are often used to make a comment on a post, whether to point out an inadequacy of a characters Power, a wrongly portrayed character, or to cuss out people who bunnied them.

NPC- None Player Characters, characters that no one is playing. NPC’s can be played by someone if that particular character is important in the arc.

PC- Player Characters. Characters who are being played.

* Gamemaster- The Gamemaster of a Role-Playing Game = Moderator on an Internet forum. That’s the simplest way to explain it.*


General Etiquette towards people and their characters-

1)If you have an arc involving another character, please PM the player of the other, IM them or post a post in the OOC thread to let them know.

Originally Posted by RPG 101

Never keep a secret involving someone else’s character from them.

If you want to kill another player’s character you ask in the OOC thread:
"SuperFerret, can I kill you?"


*2) If you want to join an arc, you ASK!

Originally Posted by RPG 101

BUT always ask before you join an arc, don’t just ‘jump in’ to a fight, because it might be an important plot point in the player’s involved arcs,

If you do want to join an storyline/arc/fight, you ask in the OOC thread:
"Hey! Question, Cori, Twy, Harle, can I join?"

Let’s face it…some people don’t ask. How do you prevent this?

If you're in an ‘exclusive’ arc/fight/storyline all you have to do is say so in the OOC thread:
"Cori, Question and I are fighting/playing with/building a storyline with Harlekin, please don't butt in."

Then, even if people still butt in, you can look back, point to the post where you asked them not to interfere, and post a “Pwned” picture aimed at the interferer. *


3)Never EVER bunny ANYONE without their expressed permission. Why? Because you are making the other person’s character react to what your character did. This can do two things.
One, it can make you a ‘God’ you can slaughter their character.
Two, it causes the player you bunnied to have to be reactive all the time, instead of proactive. NEVER BUNNY AT ALL. If you do, lot’s of swearing will ensue and you might not be the one hearing it…but someone will, so please, have pity on the unknown person who soldiers the load and don’t bunny anyone.


4) If you absolutely HAVE to bunny someone ask the person you want to bunny, maybe they can write their person’s part out and you can stick in your post. Remember the comment on suspense? Don’t do that at the expense of bunnying someone’s character.


5) If you’re going to use picture’s in your posts, make sure they are within the limit’s of the normal size of the thread.


6) If something happens in the RPG that would effect another character, WAIT for that player to post. Don’t EVER rush.
If you do, you are robbing people of character development. You are ALSO forcing their character to be REACTIVE instead of Proactive. Characters can’t always be proactive, but you at least need to let other people be reactive, if they are in a situation that the character would know about and can react. Move only as fast as the slowest regular poster. (Exceptions are of course there, but as a rule, try to include everyone.)


7) When using NPC's as cannon fodder, be careful, don't just kill them for fun. We don't want a dozen dead NPC's, that means there are a dozen potentially playable characters dead.
To improvise on what I said in RG 101 "When you kill them, kill them SPARINGLY, because someone might want to play that character sometime."


8) Use the NPC's sparingly. Not only because someone else might want to play them some time, (a) but because if there is too much use of them the line blurs as to which character you are REALLY playing and (b) too many NPC's in play can engorge the RPG. As mentioned in the Arc section of RPG 101 Use the NPC's either with (a) permission from one of the Gamemasters, or (b) sparingly, as is not in every post for 20 pages.

• One NPC can be used by many people in the same arc. In Season III Bart Allen (Kid Flash) was controlled by four people involved in the arc, and it was done sparingly, nothing that couldn't be explained in 5 sentances to someone who might want to play him.

9)Don’t be overly critical of other people. Point out their inadequacies in the way they play their character gently and kindly, with the best intentions.


10) BE PATIENT! People can’t post 24/7, don’t post “Where is everyone?” over and over in the OOC thread or the IC thread, it’s annoying and honestly, stupid. People here do have lives…even if it’s just a once a week outing to the Comic book store we DO have lives.


11) Don’t EVER post “I don’t know what to do.” If you do, you shouldn’t be playing, because you don’t know your character good enough to do something with it. Don’t waste perfectly good RPGer’s time.


12) Be moderate, I’ll let you figure that one out by yourself. But see point 4 and 9.


13)Have fun, if you don’t, we’ll knock on Spectre’s door and run away, leaving you there to face da ‘man’ alone.



REFERANCES, RESOURCES and MORE INFORMATION-
None of which work now but the links remain as a sober reminder of the circle of internet websites life. *bows head* May they rest in peace and be forever remembered

Writing That Has No Detail Has No Punch-A Brief Guide to Better Posting
Commas - Friends or Foes?
Grammar and you
UPDATED on: 9-12-05 updated sections detonated by *
& on 11-29-07 updated sections detonated by red writin'.

[twylight]

The one with RPG's on Hype and How to Make One!
***This post is a work in progress and subject to change and prettify itself in the near future***


How RPG's on Hype are run.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

The RPG’s run on the Hype RPG Forums are not the usual play-by-post forum RPG’s, in that they are not technically ‘lead’ by a Gamemaster who’s planned out the storylines. Rather they are run through mutual agreement between the players, each player is responsible for their own character, and the character storylines. However solo plots or ‘arcs’ generally turn out to be nothing more than fan fiction so we encourage that the players communicate with other players to be in large arcs or storylines together. This makes the RPG community on SHH A very close community of cooperative players, most things within the RPG’s are somewhat democratically decided upon. And when we were blessed by our own boards, with no mods to control us, the democracy stayed. Therefore we 'rule' ourselves with respect and courtesy.

All games are player lead in that there is no one 'Grand Gamemaster to rule them all' to oversee all the RPG's. This allows for greater creativity and attention to be paid to each game.

While the SHH! Admin’s and Mods’ have pretty much left the RPG’s to thrive on their own and settle their own conflicts there are a few forum rules, RPG rules and guidelines to follow. Read them all please, it seems like a lot, most of them are already used within the games of RPG as common sense, we just wrote them out to clarify. If you have anything else to suggest or add just give us a PM

SHH General Rules applied to each and every RPG and person in the forums:

• PG-13: Nothing graphic, obscene, or against SuperheroHype! Boards own rules and regulations.
  
• No by-passing the censors placed on the boards.
  
• No flaming, should a conflict become a flame war then SHH! Mods will take action.
  
• No multiple screen names.
  
• Please read SHH! Rules and regulations

There are many Genre’s or RPG’s and many types of RPGer’s so there’s always room for more. In an effort to keep the quality of the RPG forums up we do ask that you fill out a simple form for review before we accept the RPG. This might seem a bit ‘confining’ for a few, however there have been many tried and failed RPG’s on the forums and they do nothing but clutter the forums up with their dead carcasses of threads.

The RPG Application form and process is here to ensure that the RPG presented is well thought out and the GM in charge is competent and responsible to avoid any conflicts within the RPG as it goes along. This maintains the fun atmosphere for the players.

Guidelines for Hype RPG’s

These are a collection of practices that have been found to work in previously established RPG’s. Not using them will not result in Moderator action, though you might lose some brownie points with your peers.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

• All RPG’s MUST be fun!
  
• All RPG’s should have respect of players and characters as priority. Remember something that happens in one RPG will effect all other RPGs with the players involved.
  
• Ongoing RPG’s must switch to another thread before or upon reaching the length of 20,000 posts *this will be no problem for most of you*, they’ll then title the thread with the name of the RPG followed by the ‘season’, ‘issue’ ‘volume’ etc, number.
  
• Please keep any RPG banner's, title pictures within 800 pixels wide.
• Each RPG must have a minimum of 5 ‘active’ players. Active is someone who posts more than twice in a two week period of time.
  
• Certain RPG’s have specialized screen names. These screen names are shared accounts for the GM’s and AGM’s to use to help keep the RPG up too date. If, as GM, you forsee that you will be taking long absences from the RPG or procrastinate *guilty here* you might think of making one for your RPG.
  
• Each RPG is granted a ‘thread set’ i.e. an In-Character thread and an Out Of Character Thread;
  Titles should be laid out thusly to make the forum look consistant * and to help lazy people like myself to find out RPG’s quickly * :
  
  “[insert name]” RPG [insert season, issue, volume or other marker form threads] [insert number of previous marker/thread numbers] IC”
  
  “[Insert name] RPG [insert season, issue, volume or other marker form threads] [insert number of previous marker/thread numbers] Sign-Up & OOC ”
  
• The first or second post in each one of the threads in the thread set are to be used for the General RPG rules and the individual RPG Rules as well as the roster. A good idea some use is to list the Roster only in the OOC thread and then link to that post in the first post of the IC thread. The roster needs to be kept up to date as much as possible.

Expectations for GM’s

• Each GM is responsible for their own rules in their RPG’s, but must include General RPG rules above.
  
• Each RPG’s GM and AGM’s are responsible for fair, and bipartisan sorting out of all player conflicts within their own respected RPG.
  

Acceptance Overview
Rules for what not to submit, how to submit an RPG for review and what to expect.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

• No Character Specific RPG’s are allowed.
  
• Ongoing RPG’s need never reapply for acceptance.
  
• Any RPG inactive for over a month will be considered ‘dead’ and must request to be restarted.
  
• The RPG needs to gather 8-10, shown commited players, before being seriously thought of for acceptance.
  
• Each RPG is given 2 weeks to garner 5 commited players, which would equal active interest. Should the 5 commited players not step forth themselves and commit to it the RPG idea will be shelved until the interest is there, upon which the RPG idea will be 'alive' for another 2 weeks. Rinse and repeat.
  
• Master Bruce and twylight are the ones who will give ultimate approval on an RPG being accepted. *but if you have 5 interested and committed players, you'll probably be accepted lickity split.*
  
• Master Bruce and twylight have a real life's. By day she is a meek secretary, by night a pool lounger watching her cabana boys. By day he is a quiet receptionist, but night a wild god of a man. Even with the five players, acceptance will NOT happen right away, it may be a few days before he can review the RPG.
  
• All RPG's are open for approval for an indefinite period of time or until they have the 5 committed players needed.
  
• If you post and no comment has been made about it by either MB or twy, please send them a nice PM with a linkie in it. $10 via PayPal doesn't hurt either.
  
• Not all RPG's will garner the attention and interest needed to get 5 player committed, the first time, thus the RPG will be shelved an should the interest be shown at a later date it will be revived.
  

Building your own RPG:

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

Chances are if you’re reading this you already have some idea for an RPG, however you need to decide which one of the layout’s your RPG will use. *and yes, we made the classifications up ourselves*

‘Ongoing’ – These are open ended RPG’s, in which there is no foreseeable end, but contain a myriad of self contained and player cooperative ‘arcs’ within them. All the RPG’s on Hype, so far, are this type.

‘Seasons’- Many RPG’s use the ‘season’ system, for on-going RPG’s that grow and form their own lore or history ‘Seasons’ are an easy way to break up the RPG in manageable threads that comply with SuperheroHype!’s thread length rules. However ANY name can be used, issues, volumes, etc for easy numbering of the threads. Many seasons of RPG’s are actually formed around one main arc with other smaller ones framing it for each character.


Fill out the Application
Self explanatory, many of you will ask ‘why fill out an application, can’t I just tell you what I want too do?’

Yes, yes you can. However it’s easier to read a multitude of things if they’re organized and laid out the same way.

Post an application as a thread.
Looking at the forum page, it’s the “new thread” button in the upper left.
Title it with the name of your RPG and there ya go!
Post Icons WILL get you bonus points, ‘cause…we love ‘em…LOVE ‘EM!

Wait for feedback and acceptance.
It’s an open system, meaning the more people who like your RPG the better! *Democratic, see? * That doesn’t mean spamming ‘Post in my thread! Post in my thread!’ it means being willing and open to taking criticism and friendly feedback on how you can make your RPG better or more appealing.
After a weeks time you’ll be accepted or denied *doubtful*.

RPG Application Sample

As each part of the forum is important we’ll go over what we expect to see in from the person proposing the RPG.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

Screen name of the proposed RPG’s Game Master: Self explanatory.

Do You Have An Instant Messenger that we can reach you on for better conversation? (i.e MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ect.) And if so, what is your screenname?: If we don’t already know you, we’d like too! We’re a close community, but we’re not closed to making new friends! However it’s hard to befriend someone over the PM system of the forum.

Gamemasters/Assistant Gamemasters already chosen: Do you have people you trust and who compliment you (that doesn’t always mean they follow you blindly) to help you run the RPG?
We try not to call them ‘Mods or Moderators’ given that title is generally saved for the ‘official’ SuperheroHype! Board Moderators.

How will the overall lay out of the RPG be?: How many GM’s? Will it be GM lead and guided? Will it be an ongoing RPG?

Premise of RPG: This is the single most important part of the application. If it’s a comic based RPG we’d like to know about the comic universe, what the limitations will be in the RPG, etc. What do you hope to accomplish with it?
If it is a user created RPG what is the backstory/lore of the world the characters will be entering and playing in? For user-created we also ask for race, class and power stats within the game. For one shots, a general outline of the story will do.

What will this RPG bring to the RPG forums: If it’s another comic book based RPG, what qualities or interest do you think it brings to the RPG forums? How is it different from the other ones already established?

Title of the RPG you would like to propose: Just curious, well thought out names tend to show the quality of the RPG (Don’t want something stupid like “Porno Zombie ZOMG! RPG”)

Example of Characters Application: Something small that shows a lot about the quality of the RPG, the layout and questions on the application mean a lot to the quality of player’s you’ll get. Generally the more watered down the application the more casual players you’ll get. While the serious players don’t mind filling a small book with information about their characters.

RPG Application

Screenname of the Proposed RPG’s Game Master:

Do You Have An Instant Messenger that we can reach you on for better conversation? (i.e MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ect.) And if so, what is your screenname?:

Gamemasters/Assistant Gamemasters already chosen:

How will the overall layout of the RPG be?:

Premise of RPG, if it is a user created RPG see below for applicable additions to this Applicaton, (Must be a paragraph or longer).

What will this RPG bring to the RPG forums? (please write two complete sentences):

Title Of The RPG You Would Like To Propose:

Example Of Characters Application:


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Addendum to RPG Application if it’s user created

Classes within RPG (if applicable):

Character Races within RPG (if Applicable):

Power layout of the game (powers for classes, races, age, height, etc):

[Harlekin]

And now for something incredibly pretentious: You guys know me by Harlekin, which becomes Harl or Harle to most of you. The characters I’ve played have been quite varied. In fact, I’m almost as bad as SuperFerret in switching between characters but all of you just haven’t noticed. For those of you that don’t know me, I’ll give a little résumé: Deathstroke (DC S2), Superboy (DC S3), Deadshot (DC S4), Per Degaton (DC S5), Cannonball (Marvel S2), Multiple Man (Marvel S4), Quasar (Marvel S4) and the Swordsman (Marvel S4). Currently, I play Captain Nazi and Crispus Allen over in the DC RPG and Longshot in the Marvel RPG.

By now, you’ll probably be wondering where the hell I’m going with this. The subject title of this post already kind of betrays its function. It’s a manifesto, one I’m specifically gearing to the RPG section of the Hype. As you may or may not know, I’m probably one of the more opinionated posters and I’m putting it all out there in this post. Yes, it’s incredibly pretentious to think you even want to read this, but I’d like to think it might contribute something to the RPG’s.

So let’s get started:

01. First come, first serve
I think this is the most ignored rule in the entire RPG section. Too often I see people calling dibs or reserves. You don’t get dibs. You can express the desire to play a certain character, but it shouldn’t be held for you. Then you should’ve just posted an application. Otherwise, if someone gets there first, tough luck. It’s like virginity, you can’t take it just a little bit, you either take it whole or you let some other guy or gal pop that cherry.

02. Know the rules
We have some great introductory guides to RP’ing, as kindly supplied by twylight. Make use of them. They have handy tips, most notably about RPG etiquette. Knowing just who you can bunny and how to go about it if you do doesn’t seem to always come naturally. I understand this mostly goes for the newer RP’ers, but even veterans have their occasional pitfalls. Excessive bunnying can be one of those.

03. Don’t whine about every little bunny
Bunnying is ultimately, an integral part of any RPG. We’re storytellers, and a certain amount of freedom should be applied to that. So don’t get bent out of shape when it’s not really that big of a deal that someone portrays your character slightly out-of-character. Most of the players don’t always have their characters down to a pinch, so you shouldn’t expect the same of other players.

04. This is not fanfiction
We follow that up immediately with a little pet peeve of mine. If you want to plan out every detail of what you’re going to do and say, and plan that for the other characters as well, you’re better off writing fanfiction. RPG’s are bout interaction, and half of the time, they’re about improvisation as well. If Josie Bob shoots out your kneecaps, deal with it, don’t ask for a retcon or an edit. The beauty of RP’ing is that, since you’re playing with more than just yourself, unpredictable things can happen. Allow them to happen. Lord knows it’s a lot more fun than playing yourself.

05. There’s a reason for the application form
People get accepted on the basis on their application, not their person. Or at least, they ought to be. If the application does not ask for a sample post, then you really don’t have any business asking for one, exempting of course the under 50 posts players. I know this is a rare occurrence, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be pointed out. Players should not be judged on things from the distant past, because then we'd all be ****ed.

06. There is no such thing as “someone else’s” character
Unless you’re actually trying to play a character at the same time as someone else, no one owns any character. I know there are RP’ers here that have played characters for a very long time (Keyser/Bullseye, MB/Nightwing, Spike/Parasite, Twy/Black Canary etc.) SuperFerret used to be synomous with Superman, then LibrarianThorne made him his own and now Master Bruce is kicking ass with him. So, y’know, if you want Roy Harper to snort coke from a hooker’s ass, go for it. All that can be expected from you is that you properly explain yourself, because you WILL be called on out-of-character behaviour. Doesn’t mean we should pre-emptively keep people from playing certain characters.

07. Bandwagons are bad things
I’ve noticed some odd trends lately in the OOC threads. One of them is the *****ing on Master Bruce, now done by the newbies as well. Going for a real-life parallel here, you know how you joke around with your friends, right? Calling them all sorts of nasty things if that gets a rise or a laugh out of them. How’d you feel if some strange kid came up to you and did the same thing? You’d deck him, most likely. *****ing on someone because all the cool kids are doing it is about the most counterproductive way to be accepted. Now, I know MB is relatively okay with all that, but quite frankly I’m not. Newbies, you have no business “dissing” a respected RP’er just because you think it’s funny or gets you anything. Heck, I even think I have no business doing that, because I simply don’t know him or other people (with a few exceptions) to do that. Word of advice kids: Half of the time, “dissing” someone? Not that funny.

08. Love your NPC’s, hate your character
It’s a trend that’s been coming to the forefront again in comics. Kill. Kill. Kill. All in the name of developing the character. The supporting cast of any book are characters too though, and this is especially true. I know it’s highly unlikely that anyone will ever want to play Robbie Robertson, but even if they did, y’know, he’s dead. Death is often an easy thing to write. Having the consequences of death reverberate through your character for the rest of his history is infinitely more trying. Before you go off and kill an NPC, think to yourself: Can I get from A to C, without violently murdering B? Can I maybe take another path, to the same effect? Why am I saying this? Because often, you won’t stay on a character indefinitely and there needs to be some consideration for those to come. Rather than each player having to kill off an NPC to get his development in, get creative and find another way, because it won’t be long until your character has only person left: him/herself.

09. Have fun
Have fun, dammit!