Rules! We Got Some Rules Around Here.

[The Informant]

-HOW TO SURVIVE CALIFORNIA IN 5 EASY STEPS-
(The Rules)

The following article is designed to educate new members of our community. Here, you will find five general rules we at The Informant find extremely valuable to new and veteran members of Santa Cruz County and its surrounding areas. We will also be publishing helpful Notes to the Editor offering additional advice.

(These are the rules of the forum. If any of them are confusing or unclear to you, please contact one of the Administrators, or post a reply to the F.A.Q.)

5 Tips to Save Your Life
(General Courtesy)

1. Make friends, not enemies.

It’s important that you respect the people you meet here. You never know whose help you may need in the future, so it’d be wise not to burn any bridges.

(Respect one another. Of course, in-character arguing and violence are expected, but please do not bash one another out of character. We’re all here to do the same thing: to tell stories involving some of our favorite characters and to have fun.)

2. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

That means us. We at the Informant, and all those affiliated with us, are here to help you. We are dedicated to making sure the truth is exposed, and people can sleep at night. Literally.

(Respect your Administrator and Staff. The Administrator has built this board for your enjoyment, and the Staff are here to help run things. Everything we decide is given serious thought and consideration, so please respect our decisions. If you have a concern or a problem, feel free to approach us through a Private Message and let us know. We’ll do everything we can to help.)

3. Help us help you.

If you have any information regarding strange happenings in the area, don’t hesitate to contact us. We want to know so that we can let others know.

(We’re always looking to improve the site. If you have suggestions, please let us know.)

4. Tell us who you are.

We have contacts all over the county, some of which have access to some seriously classified files – including a very big database that lists every being to pass through the area. If you’re here, you should have a file in it.

(Before you start RP’ing here, you have to fill out a character application. Please don’t post or reply to a thread until your application has been approved and moved to the Database. This is because we may ask you to make changes to your application while it’s under review, and we wouldn’t want these changes to confuse the roleplay. Also, if you apply for a canon character, we will monitor your first thread to make sure the character is a good fit for you.)

5.Leave the kids at home.

This is not a safe place for children, especially after dark. There’s a lot of violence, and most people are not who they say they are.
(This is at least a PG-13 RP, and it's possible certain threads could be R rated. Swearing and violence will most likely be present. We aren’t going to police threads for content, so if you don’t want to view potentially mature material, or if you’re under 13 years old, this probably isn’t the place you want to hang.)

[Whistler]

Who Are You?
(Character Creation)

Alright, I could get my ass fired for this – and, in my line of work, that could be a fate worse than death, so listen up. Before you jump into all the action here in sunny California, it’s important to figure out who you are and what side you’re on. That’s going to be easy for some of you and really hard for others. I’m going to give you a few tips to try to make it easier.

(This section explains how to apply for a character here, and gives a few tips on what we look for in an application.)

Let’s start with the basics. So there’s this law firm called Wolfram & Hart. Long story short, they’re kind of a big deal and their list of clients looks like an episode of America’s Most Wanted. But, they got one thing that really helps us out. Their database has a file on everyone walking the streets of California. You don’t believe me? Take a look at it. You’ll see what I mean.

(Wolfram & Hart's Database is just what we call the lists of approved applications and faceclaims. When your application is approved, it gets moved to this section, and when you claim a celebrity for your character's played-by, it gets added to the main faceclaim listing.)

Now, why am I telling you all this? Simple. If you don’t submit a file to them before you start going around killing people, or whatever it is you do, well, that ‘fate worse than death’ thing I was talking about earlier might apply to you. Do yourself a favor and fill out one of these forms.

(To apply for a canon character, or create an original character, just visit the New Files board in the Who Are You category, and find the character application form. Copy the code provided on the lower half of the post, paste it into a new thread in the New Files board, and fill it out. If you apply for a canon and are put on trial, your application will remain in the New Files section until you are fully approved.)

These guys are kind of picky about their filing procedure, so here’s some advice:

(Here are some tips to keep in mind while filling out your application.)

1. Fill out the entire form. Don’t leave anything blank if you can help it.
2. Don’t lie or leave things vague. You make these guys suspicious, you might as well hang a sign that says “kill me” around your neck. If you have powers or weird abilities, list them out in detail. Same goes for your history. Tell them where you’re coming from, talk about any important things that have happened in your life, maybe include some stuff about your family and friends. If you’re not from here, tell them what you’re doing here.
3. Don’t try to hide your strengths and weaknesses. Be up front and realistic about them. Nobody’s perfect.
4. Don’t try to be something you’re not. If you’re a vampire – hypothetically – make sure everything in the file matches your species. Don’t say you love watching the sunrise if the sun has a nasty tendency to burn you beyond recognition, or to the point where you fit nicely into an ashtray.
5. Proofread everything. These guys are real sticklers for spelling and grammar.
6. Include a photo. Sure, your description’s going to be in there, but putting a face to a name’s a lot easier when there’s a face to look at. There’s a separate database for claiming your face, so make sure to fill out the form over there so your photo can be included.

(Your faceclaim should be a real person. Models, actors, musicians. Profile avatars shouldn't be bigger than 100 x 100 pixels. Signature graphics should be no wider than 500 pixels. If you have trouble finding an icon or resizing a picture, let one of the Administrators know. If you don't want to have a faceclaim, that's okay. Just reply to the faceclaims thread and say you don't want one so we know you didn't just forget to claim one. If you want to use a non-human faceclaim, like an animal or a creature of some kind, PM one of the Admins to ask about it. We may allow this on a case by case basis depending on your reasoning.)

7. They really don’t like a person to have the same photo as someone else already listed, but exceptions can be made. It seems like they do that on a case by case basis, so if you want to use a photo that looks a lot like someone else’s, talk to the guys in charge.

(Because this is a multi-fandom board, it is possible that the same celebrity will have played more than one canon character. In some cases, there can also be two versions of the same character. In cases like these, we will certainly allow you to use the same celebrity claim as someone else. However, if a claim is already taken by a canon character we may not let the same claim be used by an original character.)

8. Some people look different depending on the day. If you want to include two different photos for the same person, they let that slide sometimes, but you should contact one of the people in charge before you try to claim two faces.

(We do realize that some actors who have played some of these canons don't have a lot of pictures online you can use to make graphics. If this is the case, let us know and we may allow you to claim a second play-by as your alternate faceclaim, provided they look similar to your true faceclaim. If someone wants to use your alternate faceclaim for their own characters main faceclaim, we may allow it.)

9. If you want to be a key player – you know, those real important people everybody talks about: slayers and all their pals – you gotta prove you’re up for it.

(If you apply for a canon character, you will be asked to complete a trial period. This means we will monitor your first thread to see how you play the character. This gives you a bit of time to get into writing that character, and lets us see your take on him or her. If we don't feel you're right for that character, it also lets us see your RP style so we can make possible suggestions of other canons you might play well. You have until the end of your first thread to show us what you got, but if we feel you play the character well, we may cut your trial short and approve you. Your trial thread can be anywhere you want with any other character you choose, provided the player agrees, of course. While you are on Trial Status, you cannot start or join other threads until your trial thread is completed. If you have trouble posting in your trial thread for whatever reason and you'd like to start a new one, let one of the Admins know.)

10. No matter who you are, you gotta tell us where your from and how you got here.

(Everyone's first thread should be in the Dimensional Bleed board. For canons, this'll be your trial thread. For original characters, it'll act as your RP sample. This thread should do a few things. It should give you a chance to play your character in their home environment, it should show us how you write and how you'll play this character, and it should end with the character somehow being pulled into the universe the rest of the board takes place in. This can happen in a lot of ways, and we'll work that out with each player individually. This board is not a part of the rest of the board RP, since anything that occurs there takes place outside the board universe. If you'd like to post with a canon character in this thread, that canon will be played by an Admin using the Stand-In account. If you're comfortable posting lone-wolf style and using NPC's in your posts, go for it. But, the actual pulling of your character into this new world has to be played out by one of the Admins. By pulling your character into this universe, we are accepting your character's intro. thread. Please do not join just to RP in the Dimensional Bleed board. That's not what this place is about, and that board isn't meant for long-term RP.)

Okay, that’s it. All the advice I can give you before you stumble into this wacky world. Good luck, and try not to get eaten.

Link to: How to Enter the Alternate Dimension

[Buffy Summers]

It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Dies…
or, you know, gets really, really pissed off
(Roleplay)

Okay, so when I came to this town there were a lot of things it would’ve been helpful to know before I got dropped into the middle of it. Like… Oh, I don’t know, the fact that Sunnydale lives on a Hellmouth and is a magnet for lots of things of the weird and hostile variety. But, that’s a long story and I’m sure there’s someone more qualified than me hanging around to tell it.

Here are some things I can tell you. Pay attention. I don’t get up on my soap box too often, and it makes me all uncomfortable and rambly.

1. Play well with others.

I get that some people are easier to work with than others, but if you jump into a job with someone, or decide to hang out with someone, give them something to work with. If they’re trying to have a conversation with you, don’t just give one-word answers. Things like that.

(Please don't give one- or two-line posts. You don't have to write a novel, but give the other people you're posting with something to work with. Also, don't be a passive RP'er - meaning don't just react to things without giving anything for your fellow players to work with. It's like if someone asks you, "How are you doing?" and you just say, "Fine." You're answering their question, but you're not initiating further conversation. Just try to give your RP partners something to work with when they're posting with you.)

2. Don’t take control of someone else and make them do things.

Hey, it happens a lot around here. But, yeah. The only person you control is you. Don’t move people around in a major way, and don’t beat them to a pulp without letting them react. Because, hello – rude.

(No God-modding. That's when you sort of take over a character played by someone else in your post. For example, if Buffy were posting with Xander, and in her post wrote something like, "Xander ran upstairs to grab the first aid kit, but on the way he was thrown to the floor and knocked unconscious," that's god-modding. Unless you're summarizing something already written in previous posts, you are effectively playing a character that isn't yours, even if it's only for one or two sentences. This is not allowed unless for some reason you get permission from that character's player to do something like that. If that's the case, please write a note on the bottom of the post to let us know so you don't get in trouble.)

3. Keep track of what you’re doing.

Everyone lives their lives differently. Some people like to stay in one place and do one thing at a time. Some people are all over the place doing a million things at once. As long as there’s a timeline to what you’re doing, and you can keep track of it, that’s fine.

(It's okay if you want to have more than one thread going at once with the same character. But, please make sure there is a timeline or sequence to them. Your threads should be like a story arc for your character. If this were a show, every thread your character was in would be an episode. If you do one thread at a time, or several different threads at once, that's fine. Just find a way to keep track of your threads so you know what the timeline for them is.)

4. Get a room.

No one wants to walk into anyone when they’re doing something private… or, maybe some people do, but either way it’s an awkward situation. If there’s mature content going on, do us all a favor and warn us so no one has any permanent mental scarring to deal with.

(The overall rating for this board is PG-13, but we understand sometimes things might happen that bring a thread to more of an R rating level. Excessive swearing, really detailed gore, and detailed sexual stuff can bump a thread up to R. If you notice this happening to your thread, please put a tag in the subject line that says something like "Rated R" or "Mature Content" to let people know. We may also create a password-protected board for threads that contain R-rated content.)

5. Be articulate

There’s nothing more annoying than dealing with someone who can’t string a sentence together. Don’t be that person.

(Please, please, please proofread your posts. This means re-reading them carefully once you've written it out. Watch out for mis-spelled words, grammatical errors, and typos. There's a handy Preview button you can use to see what your post will look like when you post it, and there's also a Spell Check button you can use to check your spelling. You're more likely to get active threads and RP partners if you're articulate.)

That’s all I can think of right now. I know this stuff might seem petty, what with all the apocalyptic stuff that happens around here on a way-too-regular basis, but it’s important if we’re all going to get along.

[Connor Reilly]

That Freaky Timeline Thing
(More about the timeline of the board, and its RP format.)

Alright. In case you haven’t noticed, the timeline for this place is a little weird. As far as we can tell, right now it’s present day – so, the year is 2010. But, not everybody that shows up here actually belongs in 2010. I know, it’s weird and pretty confusing for everybody involved, so I’m going to try to explain a little bit here and give you some tips for adapting quickly if 2010 is new to you. As far as I know, I’m the only one who’s jumped through time and space, like, a ridiculous amount, and trust me when I say it’s not fun. But, it is do-able, so don’t panic.

(This is a thorough explanation of how the timeline is supposed to work here, and how different characters can be brought into it.)

First, you should probably know that everybody here is dimensionally challenged. That means that this version of California isn’t anyone’s home dimension. Everyone has either been brought here, or accidentally stumbled in through a portal or something. People are coming in from all different universes and even different time periods.

(We’re RP’ing as if the California we’re playing in is an alternate dimension created by someone or something. Every character – even originals and civilians – has either been brought here for a reason, or has just stumbled in by mistake somehow.)

There are also some duplicates of some people walking around. That’s because in some dimensions, like Sunnydale’s Wishverse for example, there are alternate versions of pre-existing people.

Because everything’s so screwy here, making a journal or a log to track your experiences is extremely helpful. I’ll give you suggestions on how to do that later.

Alright, now that I’ve outlined the basics and the initial shock has worn off – hopefully – I’m going to get into everything in more detail step by step. Get a pen if you need one. This stuff’s pretty important if you want to stay sane.

1.Alternate versions of people.

Like I said, everybody here is from a different universe. But, some universes contain alternate versions of people from other universes. Usually all these people aren’t meant to be in the same place at the same time, unless there’s some kind of dimensional bleed – which means something’s very wrong. Like, ‘end of the world’ wrong. In this case, people are just being pulled from all different dimensions, so it’s very possible you might run into yourself somewhere. Don’t worry, it’s fine. You’re not going to die if you meet yourself, you’re not going to rip a hole in the space-time continuum… Though if that happened it’d be extremely helpful since it would mean we all could possibly blow this alternate reality popsicle stand. All that’ll happen is you’ll both look at each other, feel extraordinarily confused, possibly have a little celebrity death match of some kind… hopefully without the ‘death’ part, and go on your merry way.

(If you see that your favorite canon is taken, there may be another version of that character you can play. Because Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Charmed all introduce alternate dimensions and, in some cases, alternate versions of characters we know and love, we figure some of these alternates could easily end up in this dimension. Keep in mind that there’s a difference between playing an alternate character, and just playing the same character from a different time. For example, if Buffy is already being played, it’s possible to play Buffy from the alternate universe seen in the episode The Wish. It’s also possible to play Buffybot, the android robot created to look and act like Buffy. Although both these characters are Buffy, they’re not the same Buffy. However, pre-slayer civilian Buffy and post-series comic book Buffy are still the same character. If you want to apply for an alternate version of a character already present on the board, just clear it with an Admin first.)

2.Journals and logs.

Keeping a running log of where you’ve been and where you’re going can be really helpful in situations like this. When you’re constantly running into people from different times and universes, it’s very easy for your brain to have a little meltdown and get confused. You need to anchor yourself, and keep yourself oriented. Do us all a favor, and keep a journal.

(We know everyone has different RP formats they’re used to, and we really took the time to think through which format would work best for this site. We need to have a solid timeline because everything else about the place is pretty complicated and confusing as it is, but we also want the RP itself to be flexible so everyone’s comfortable with it. The way we’ve decided it’ll work the best is for members to RP in whatever way they’re comfortable, whether that’s random fun threads or intense story arcs. But, we’re going to require everyone to make a thread tracker so that each character on here has a story arc, whether it’s planned or not. Any thread you do can take place whenever you feel it fits best in the tracker, and you don’t have to know exact dates of when each thread takes place. You just need to know when a thread takes place in relation to your other threads. And you should work this out with other players involved in threads with you so your timelines don’t clash.)
---Suggested log set-up.

If you want your log to be of any real help, there’s certain information you should include about where you’ve been so you can keep it straight in your head.

Entry Title: (Enter the title of your thread here.)
Location: (Put at least the city, and if you want to put a specific location you can do that too.)
Others Involved: (The names of other characters involved.)

(The above form contains the minimum requirements of your log entries. If you’d like to add more information, or make your thread tracker look spiffy, go right ahead, as long as this information is still included. You can put a link to your thread if you like, but it’s not required. If you have the city and location, you should be able to find it. If we move your thread to the archives or something, we’ll let you know. Also, make sure to think about when a thread takes place. Did it occur before or after another thread? And remember to work out with other players when the thread takes place for all of your characters.)

[Faith Lehane]

You can talk the talk,
But can you walk the walk?
(CBox/Chat Box Rules)

Yeah, people talk right? Everyone always has something to say. Yadda, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah, right?

Well... Guess what? You're in luck. There is a place here that's all about the talk. The thing is called a CBox, a chat box or some people like to call it, *rolls eyes* the chatter box, which some people just don't know when to shuddup so that's probably appropriate.

Anyway, the point is... You wanna talk? No problem, have at it. There are just a few little rules you need to know. Yeah, yeah... don't give me that look. Who am I to talk about rules, huh? Let's just say I've learned the hard way that you gotta have at least a few rules or the world descends into chaos and you end up doing 25 to life in the pen. Trust me, a few little rules won't kill ya. So here they are:


1. Respect. Give a little, get a little. That's what I'm talking about. The box is a place where all are welcome, let's just say it's neutral territory, ya dig? It's not the place to throw down. Have a seat, chill out, and everything will be cool.

2. Chill. Now, we all like to do our thing right? Well... the box isn't the place to take on that big mission. Basically, it's a place where everyone can hang out, toss the casual banter back and forth and have a good time. It's not the place to tell your sob story or your life history. It's also not the place to call anyone out or be a snitch. If you got a problem take it out of the box. Use the PM system and work it out or if it's totally out of hand, notify one of the Slayers (An Admin) and they will deal with it.

3. Powers. Hey, we all know this place is a little on the crazy side. Some people have some wicked cool powers. If I do say so myself, it's nice to be a bad ass Slayer. But, that doesn't mean I can go around kicking people's asses in the box, dude. That's so not cool. We all wanna have a little fun, but let's not be flinging people against walls or squeezing the life outta someone with your Jedi mind tricks, OK?

4. Language. This is a tough one. You know, sometimes your words can get a little colorful. We got it. I'm with ya on that one. Swearing isn't a bad thing, but over doing it is just not necessary. Keep your mouth in check and we're all good.

5. PDA. Oh, so you don't know what that is? PDA = Public display of affection. Kind of like the swearing, let's keep it in check people. No one wants to see you slobbering all over each other. Yeah, we know we've got people that are in a relationship or hooking up or what have you. That's all cool. Just keep the serious stuff somewhere private. Now, that's not to say that people can't be affectionate. Come on, even I need a hug sometimes. *CRINGES* Everyone could use a flying tackleglomp on occasion and a bit of snuggling never hurt anyone. A little flirting now and then, it's cool with me. I think we all know what I'm talking about here. You wanna get busy with someone, the box is not the place for that, get a room!

(NOTE: The CBox will probably have a lot of in character chatter back and forth. Sometimes it's just a natural extension of the board. Keep it in check, no long drawn out RP'ing type episodes should be done in the CBox. The CBox should also be welcoming and not intimidating for new people who come along or for ANYONE that might have questions. Don't make us have to open a can of whoop ass on you for getting out of hand.)