<div align="center"><strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">RULES OF PLAY</span></strong></div><br/>I keep saying in my posts in the OOC that there will be nothing onerous here, nothing draconian. I have asked that everyone read them and post to say they have and are in agreement.<br/><br/><strong>IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH SOMETHING HERE, <span class="bbc_u">PLEASE TELL ME!</span></strong><br/><br/>All rules except two are negotiable!<br/><br/><strong>The Red Sand Box Of Mars</strong><br/><br/>This is a sandbox roleplay. What that means is that I as GM provide you the players with an environment to have fun in! You can explore it, you can fuck each other senseless, you can sit in the bar and mope, you can go crazy and blow up the reactor.<br/><br/>I don't mind what you do, so long as you do<em>something</em>!<br/><br/>ALL my previous group games have ended because people simply stopped posting. With a sandbox RP, it's down to you guys to make the story, not me. Oh, I have a few sub-plots I am going to throw at you, to see how you react, but other than that, it's your game guys. Do with it what you will...<br/><br/><strong>RULES:</strong><br/><br/><ul class="bbc_list" style="list-style-type: decimal;"><li>The GM's word is law. This does not mean I'm not open to discussion, but if it comes to an impasse, if a decision needs to be made, or a discussion is getting out of bounds, I will render a decision that I expect to be abided by. I will do this based upon context. Example, the thing about marriage!</li><li>Respect other players ons and more importantly, their offs! <strong>This is NOT negotiable.</strong> Ons and offs are there for a reason. If you feel someone has broken this rule, please PM them first to talk about it. If they will not change their post, then contact me via PM and I will deal with it. Please note that persistently ignoring another players O/Os is grounds for reporting to staff!</li><li>Try to post at least once a week. If you know you will be unable to post for a while please let us know in advance in the OOC. it is a good idea to create an Apologies/Absences (A/A) thread so everyone you are RPing with knows where you've gone.</li><li>If you know you are going to be away for a considerable time (more than a week) please bring any story-arcs you are involved in to a conclusion , or extract your character from them.</li><li>If you find your character is sitting around doing nothing, post something to the OOC, or PM me. If you wait for someone to interact with you, you will wait a long time. Let me know and I will create a NCP for you to interact with.</li><li>If you have any questions about anything in the game, ASK! The only stupid questions are "how many beans make five" and ones that aren't asked!</li><li>The OOC thread is here for people to chat. I have no problems with you guys discussing the latest football results if you wish, (although I'd rather you didn't), because it means you are getting on as a group. However, please try not to interject random discussions into serious game related ones if possible? Other than that, use this thread as you see fit!</li><li>Please tag all IC posts using the code supplied below, editing the details as appropriate. This will enable other players and myself to track where everyone is. Also, please use thread links when moving from thread to thread. an example of this is given below too</li><li>There is no rule 9.</li><li><strong>HAVE FUN!</strong> This too is non-negotiable. If you aren't having fun, I would like to know why, so I can change whatever it is that is stopping you having fun!</li></ul><br/><strong>Code to tag your posts:</strong><br/><br/>Tagging posts is important, because when we have a lot of players many of whom have multiple characters, and they are in the same thread but in different locations, things quickly get confusing.<br/><br/>The code works in exactly the same way as the character sheet. Paste it in at the top of each post, and fill in the details. You can if you wish copy the code from a previous post you have made, but please remember to update it when things change.<br/><br/><div class="codeheader">Code: <a class="codeoperation" href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="return smfSelectText(this);">[Select]</a></div><pre style="margin: 0; padding: 0;"><code class="bbc_code">[floatleft][img height=100 padding=5]Paste URL of character avatar here[/img][/floatleft]<br/>[table]<br/>[tr][td][b]Character name:[/b][/td] [td]Name of your character[/td][/tr]<br/>[tr][td][b]Location:[/b] [/td] [td]Where are they WITHIN the area covered by the thread[/td][/tr]<br/>[tr][td][b]With:[/b] [/td] [td] What PCs and NPCs are they currently with[/td][/tr]<br/>[tr][td][b]Doing:[/b] [/td] [td] What are they doing[/td][/tr]<br/>[/table]<br/><br/>[hr]<br/></code></pre><br/>Completed example:<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/5/53/Louise_Cotter_Avatar.jpg)</div><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Character name:</strong></td><td>Louise Cotter</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Location:</strong> </td><td>Base Commander's Room</td></tr><tr><td><strong>With:</strong> </td><td>Alecia Hicks</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Doing:</strong> </td><td>Bonking like bunnies</td></tr></tbody></table><br/><hr/><br/><br/>If you want to provide your own 100px high avatar, you can, or you can let Atlas or myself know and we will create you one. You can if you wish put your pic base in there but it will be horribly compressed.<br/><br/><strong>Cross thread links:</strong><br/><br/>Cross thread links look horribly difficult but are really quite straight forward once you get the hang of them.<br/><br/>First, create the post in the thread you are leaving. End it with a line like:<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">And with that, we opened the airlock and stepped outside onto the Martian Surface.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div>or<br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">I made my way into the Science Block, heading for my lab.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Basically, include the name of the thread you are moving to in the last line of your post. Save the post and re-open the thread, then find the post you just made.<br/><br/>In a new tab/window, open the thread you are moving to and create a new post.<br/><br/>Some people like to save a dummy at this stage, while others will type the entire post. But begin it witha sentence indicating which thread you have come from.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">We stepped out of the Maintenance block airlock onto the dusty, red ground.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div>Or<br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">I left the Main Dome and made my way to my lab.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Save the second post and re-open it.<br/><br/>Now comes the tricky part. In the "to" thread, click the blue Post Header (directly above the reply number). This will put the URL of your<em>POST</em>in the navigation bar of your browser.<br/><br/>Edit the "From post" and put URL tags around the location moving to, then paste the post URL in. It should look like this:<br/><br/><div class="codeheader">Code: <a class="codeoperation" href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="return smfSelectText(this);">[Select]</a></div><pre style="margin: 0; padding: 0;"><code class="bbc_code">And with that, we opened the airlock and stepped outside onto the [url=http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=148583.msg6733545#msg6733545]Martian Surface[/url].</code></pre><br/>(Note: I have use the post URL of my char sheet)<br/><br/>Repeat the above for the second post, so that you have a backwards link as well as a forwards one.<br/><br/><strong>IMPORTANT:</strong>Please test your links. If they don't work as expected, PM me (or someone who seems to have got the hang of it) to ask for help.<br/><br/><strong>And Finally:</strong><br/><br/>This is purely optional, but players who wish may use a signature button to link to this thread (which links to all the others).<br/><br/>If you wish, simply copy one of these code blocks into your Signature:<br/><br/>To put the button on the left of the sig:<br/><div class="codeheader">Code: <a class="codeoperation" href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="return smfSelectText(this);">[Select]</a></div><pre style="margin: 0; padding: 0;"><code class="bbc_code">[floatleft][url=http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=148593.0][img]http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/1/1b/Mars.jpg[/img][/url][/floatleft]</code></pre><br/>To put the button on the right of the sig:<br/><div class="codeheader">Code: <a class="codeoperation" href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="return smfSelectText(this);">[Select]</a></div><pre style="margin: 0; padding: 0;"><code class="bbc_code">[floatright][url=http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=148593.0][img]http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/1/1b/Mars.jpg[/img][/url][/floatright]</code></pre><br/>To put the button in the middle:<br/><div class="codeheader">Code: <a class="codeoperation" href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="return smfSelectText(this);">[Select]</a></div><pre style="margin: 0; padding: 0;"><code class="bbc_code">[center][url=http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=148593.0][img]http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/1/1b/Mars.jpg[/img][/url][/center]</code></pre><br/>That's it...<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>CROSS THREAD COMMS</strong><br/><br/>Please notify the player you are contacting by PM or other means as they may miss a post in a thread they haven't posted in yet.<br/><br/>Obviously we need to have "pone calls" between characters in different threads.... It's tricky I know, but it's doable.<br/><br/>Does everyone know how to quote someone else's post?<br/><br/>Here is the recommended procedure for posting cross thread comms:<br/><br/><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Thread 1</strong></td><td><strong>Thread 2</strong></td></tr><tr><td>Character A posts a call to Character B in thread 2</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Player B quotes the post that Player A made, copies the full text, then cancels the post he is quoting to</td><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Player B pastes the quoted post into a new post.</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Player B edits the quote to remove everything except the quote tags and the content of the call. He then adds what Character B was doing prior to getting the call from Character A in front of the quote and his reaction to the call after the quote, including what he says back. He then saves the post</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Player A quotes player B's post and copies the quote, then cancels his new post</td></tr><tr><td>Player A creates a new post and pastes the quote in</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Player A edits the quote and removes everything except the quote tags and the actual reply to his call. He then adds any reaction he might have including the next part of the conversation...</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table><br/><br/>Repeat<em>ad nausium</em><br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>RPing With Another Player</strong><br/><br/>Well, that's what it's all about, isn't it?<br/><br/>A few points on this:<br/><br/>1) If you find your character is sitting doing nothing, have a look and see iuf you can find another character doing nothing, and go up and talk to them...<br/><br/>2) This is important:<span class="bbc_u"><strong>Send the other player a PM to let them know your character has spoken to theirs. </strong></span><br/><br/>This is a HUGE game and posts get missed. Also the other player might not be checking the threads because they are so busy, and they might be overwhelmed. A friendly PM to say "Hi, fancy a little chat between X and Y?" might be just what they need to get into the game!<br/><br/>3) If you spot a post that may involve you, don't pass it up. React to it... Even if it's only to laugh at someone running past without any shoes on, or notice the Commander's snazzy new uniform!<br/><br/><br/>