General Applying Rules:

1. Use The Forum
   You don't make it in, so you whine and complain and wonder why, thinking you application was SO great and SO wonderful and blah blah blah. You finally hop on the forums after long last and flame us. We ban your IP and are black-listed. So, what went wrong? Mayhap's it was because you were a bit overly confident, but here is an insider's tip: use the damn forum and don't freak out on us if you don't make it in on the first attempt.
   
   They are there for a reason! Go there and get acquainted with us, mingle, congregate! We want to get to know you first, you know? If you are some stranger who we have never heard of before and you go on the forum simply to apply, we're going to scrutinize you more and probably give you shit if you have obvious mistakes.
   
   Ask questions in the Help section, get in with our meaningless conversations, BE INVOLVED. So what if you don't get in on the first or second attempt? We might tell you to try applying for another character that suites your tastes a bit more after getting to know you a bit. Besides, you can throw out suggestions and crap like that to us and we'll get back to you with some feedback.


2. Don't E-mail The Council Unless..
   Well, we have our e-mail addresses available on the council page, so does that mean you can e-mail us with questions and such? Yeah, but we'd prefer you use the forums instead. Can you e-mail us your applications? No. We don't need to explain why, just don't do it. If you do we will scrap it and hiss at you. It is suggested that you only e-mail us if it's something dire. Like, for instance, it's something that for some odd reason you don't want to be publicly seen.


3. No "Dickbagging"
   Again, if you aren't accepted don't be a dick and harass us. If you do, your IP will be banned from the domain all together, meaning you will be blocked off entirely from ajreaper.com and possibly its affiliates as well.


4. No E-mail Stealing
   Don't go through the cast area and nab e-mails and screen names then spout them out all over the internet. We will find out and we WILL kill you.


5. Be Patient
   Depending on how busy we are, the people who review your application might take from a few days, to a week, maybe even two weeks--it all depends. So, sit tight. Don't be all antsy about it because if you proceed to harass us about it we'll just toss your application in the bin.


6. Mary Sue's, Gary Stu's, Scary Loo's, Lame Dwane and Insane Jane's = NO!!!
   Please, for the love of your god or gods and ours, please, please do not make our eyes bleed with this blasphemy. Go here to see wikipedia's article on the Mary Sue.
    ~Mary Sue: Loved by all, all talented, all beautiful, etc.
    ~Gary Stu: Same as above only male.
    ~Scary Loo: Typical "goth" who hates the world and was mistreated as a child.
    ~Lame Dwane: A character that is dull and acts dull and is not interesting.
    ~Insane Jane: The typical "madman" that is crazy for an unjustified reason.


7. Keep In Character & Be Able To Play Them Well
   You make a personality for that character, work hard, and you not-knowingly write him or her as a totally different personality. What do you do? A character can grow and go through some developmental stages, but this takes time. When apping, make a character with a personality you can work with and write for. Some part of you, the author, is in that character. We suggest reading The Writer's Journey for information on not only character creation and development, but also storytelling and story pregression.
   
   

Character Rules:

You may only have one character when you join. When and if you are comfortable in the game and have been around for a while, then we'll see if you can take on another character. The maximum amount of characters a player may have is two (2), except for moderators who may handle as many as they please.

Writing Fight Scenes:

As with everything fair in the world (or as it should be), there is to be no god-modeing of any kind. Take your hits and do not use force hitting on anyone. This rule however can be altered slightly depending on a player's NPCs. If you have the NPC's owner's consent, do with what you will under what you both discussed. When a character is about to try to attack another character, it is suggested that you prompt them before hand by PM, IM, or e-mail beforehand to quickly discuss what will occur. For example, let’s say you are on the boards you typed something like:

Lestat bared his teeth and stared Mina down to the ground. The very moment her limp body down fell upon the soft earth, he motioned his body so that his fangs would gouge into into her flesh, and slowly begin to tear at away at her, bit by bit, inch by painful inch.

This is one of those extreme cases in which this post must be discussed with the other character’s player. When an offensive or defensive maneuver is performed in a story one should discuss it with the opponent (or opponents) first before posting it. In all fairness a character cannot always dodge or say no to a hit. Some hits must be taken. In a situation where the other player feels that their character will dodge the attack or at least be injured slightly, then the two should discuss how they would go about describing that in either the attacker’s post of the victim’s post.

There are other methods to dealing with combative situations, however discussion amongst those involved is essential to creating an interesting and dramatic fight scene where both (or all) parties are happy with the end result. There's an excellent article on writing fight scenes located here and here and here.

Killing Other Characters:

This is a definite no-no in the RPG and grounds for expulsion from the game. The killing off of other people’s characters is not permitted, as it would be very unfair to the person who created the character. The only exceptions to this rule are:

*Resurrections: A character can be killed off and then resurrected later on. This requires both the permission of the owner of the character being killed as well as my permission. This is still frowned upon and many requests for this will still be rejected.

*Leaving the RPG: (explained below).

Relationships Between Characters:

Relationships are fine, be they heterosexual or homosexual, after all this story does take place in San Francisco. The rules for relations are restricted to PG-13 and as such are confined to that rating. Also remember relationships in general much be something agreed upon by both parties (player-to-player); nothing forced or assumed. If you are not mature enough to get a grasp of this, do not join this game. If you do anything of this nature you will only be warned ONCE. After that, you will be kicked out, no ifs, ands or buts.

In addition, if you are into side stories with pairings that aren't actually apart of the story, but are just for fun that is fine too. It'll go in the same place, but somewhere in the description you should mention that it's more of a "what if" kind of story.

Lack of Participation:

If you don't participate in writing for the game, then an e-mail will be sent to you after someone notifies us or we take notice of your absence. We will send a total of two e-mails, one every two weeks. If you fail to respond to these e-mails and/or still don't participate in any stories in four (4) weeks, your character will be open for play by someone else. In other words, you'll be kicked out and someone else can apply for what was once your character.

Quitting the Game:

If you want to quit and don't plan on coming back, then you can either kill your character off or leave her/him open for someone else to fill in and play. If you kill her/him, then decide you want to come back, then it *might* be possible to resurrect him/her if, and only if, that character slot is not taken. Even in this situation, you should give us a very good reason why you want to get the character back as well as explain to us why we should even bother resurrecting the character.

Leave of Absence:

If you're planning to commit yourself to this game, then you'll need a fairly good excuse if you want to take some time off. Tired of the game isn't an excuse worthy of time off. Family problems or something "big" occurring within your household is. If you're granted time off, then we'll either work it so someone will fill in for you, or your character will do something to put him or her out for a while. When and if you do need that leave (and have a good reason), please go to the Answering Machine on the forum to drop off a leave of absence message. We will GREATLY appreciate it.

Plot:

The plot is pretty well set. If you wish to create a mini storyline, then talk it over with the GM, as well as any other players you may want to involve. Only if everyone approves you may you start the mini storyline. Please do not conflict the main storyline with a major storyline you might have in mind unless you have permission from the GM. "What if's" are okay too (as a Side Story of course) as long as you label it as such. This pertains mostly to coupling, but can also be used for alternative stories for characters.

Please note that unlike many of the games out there, this game creates outlines of "episodes" or sessions, constructed by a member with suggestions made by other members edited by the council for finalization. All members typically participate in a story unless said otherwise.

Content Rules:

Freedom of speech is a good thing, however there is a 'too far' boundary. Try as much as possible not to say anything offending. Racial and sexist slurs in the case of this story-writing community toward characters (in a character-to-character situation within the story) can be within the nature of the character. However, such things are not to be said personally to other players (player-to-player or player-to-character). Such things should not be said and shall not be tolerated. So please, be sure to mind what you say.

Violence is fine as long as you don't go crazy with it. Like with relationships, be at least somewhat tactful with how you word things and describe them. A full page of how this one man's arm was torn off including the ripping and tearing of the ligaments and muscle is a big much. Cursing? Well, mother fucking cunt sucking bitch ho, yo! Yeah, we allow, we like, but not player-to-player, comprende? Don't go crazy with the cussing unless it is in your character's nature to.

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