Getting Started on Althanas: Character Registration Guide

[Ther]

Welcome to Althanas.com, one of the most exciting fantasy play-by-post role-playing games on the internet today. As a new member of the forum, we highly recommend reading through this guide as you register your character and explore the features of Althanas. If you have any questions about a topic covered in this guide, by all means post a reply to this thread and we'll be happy to answer.

If you haven't already registered an account on the forum - that is, a username to post with, please click on this link to open a window and get started. You will want to complete that process before continuing with this guide.

Your Character Sheet and the Realm of Greeting

After registering for the forum, your first stop should be to the forum near the top of Althanas, the Realm of Greeting. There you will be asked to make a thread (here referred to as a character sheet) detailing your character and the various skills he will be starting with. You will also be asked to provide your character's history and any basic equipment he is starting with. Once you have posted the thread, you need to wait for a moderator to approve your character.

Here is the suggested format of the character sheet along with some tips on how to fill it out:

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Name:
Age:
Race:
Hair Color:
Eye Color:
Height:
Weight:
*Occupation:

*Personality: Give us an idea of your character’s traits. How does he interact with other people? What does he or she think about themselves?

Appearance: Describe your character as he or she would first appear to someone else.

History: You should make your character's history as detailed and as creative as possible. The more history your character has, the more interesting stories you will be able to write about him when you begin role-playing. However, be careful not to use clichés, or other commonly used plotlines. It seems that every other character's parents were killed in some accident or murder, and that their death was what led the character to become a hero. Here at Althanas, we hear that history so many times that it can get awfully boring - try to create a history as fresh and unique as possible.

Skills: Please clearly define and list every skill your character has, such as swordplay or marksmanship. If he or she uses magic, list it here and tell us how it works. Describe your spells, but feel free to leave them 'open' so they can be used in several different ways (for example, having a spell that creates light, rather than a spell that can create an orb of light specifically used to brighten a dark area - this would leave room for the 'light making' to be used in any way you could think of). Skills like these often will not need to have restrictions on how often they can be used, but keep in mind that doing the same thing often in a battle will often hurt your writing.

Equipment: If you do not list it here, do not expect to pull it out of your pack. We must know everything you have on your character of importance. It is not necessary to list all traveling necessities, but if you have a broadsword that does nifty things, it would fall under this category.

*Familiars: A familiar is a minor adventuring companion, usually a small animal, demon, or humanoid of some sort. This section may be skipped if you do not have one.

*Note that these fields are optional, and you may be approved without them.

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Once you’ve filled out this character sheet, copy/paste what you wrote into a new thread in the Character/PG Registration Forum. That's all there is to it. Once you've posted the thread, one of our Approval Moderators will then read your character sheet, and if they feel it needs anything added to it or taken away, they'll ask you to change it. When a moderator determines that your character sheet is acceptable, they will then approve you and you may begin role-playing at Althanas. Remember that when your thread is approved, it will be placed in the Registration Archive - so if you're wondering where your profile is, it's in there.

Keep in mind that if you only have a half-completed registration, please don't post it. Save it to your computer and post it later when it is finished. It's a lot easier that way and doesn't create clutter in the forum. Also, please remember to run your profile through a spell-checker in any one of a number of common word processors, like Microsoft Word or Microsoft Works. This makes your profile easier for our moderators to understand.

Approvals are vital at Althanas because it prevents players from creating overpowered, unrealistic characters. Getting your character approved is usually a very short process, and you can expect a waiting time of usually only a few hours, or at most two to three days. Please remember that YOU SHOULDN'T START A BATTLE OR QUEST BEFORE YOUR CHARACTER IS APPROVED. If that rule is violated, then a moderator will close the thread until you’ve been approved, at which point the thread will be opened.

The Peaceful Promenade/Scara Brae/Introduction Forum

If you're looking to jump directly into Althanas role-playing, there is no better place than The Peaceful Promenade. The Peaceful Promenade is an in-character chat where you can introduce your character to other players, and have your role-playing there judged (and EXP and GP awarded of course!). Scara Brae is our training forum, where the Moderators will help new players learn about how Althanas works, and run them through the different parts of a battle. That battle will then be scored by a member of the Althanas staff, and players will be given tips about how to improve their role-playing. Finally, the Introduction Forum is an Out-of-Character chat where you can introduce yourself to the members of Althanas. Tell us everything that's even remotely interesting about you, because we all are dying to welcome you to our forum.

This completes the first half of the guide. For a brief introduction to some of the Althanas rules and forum features, plesae continue on to the next post.

[Ther]

Battles and Quests

The two most common forms of role-playing on Althanas are Battles and Quests. As you might expect, battles are threads where two different characters face each other in combat. Battles can occur in any of the Regions forums, as well as in the Scara Brae forum (as was previously discussed). At the end of the battle the quality of each character’s writing will then be reviewed by an Althanas moderator, and the winner of the battle will be the player who receives the higher score based on our judging rubric, a set of criterion used to determine writing quality. The player who receives the higher score and wins the battle will receive significantly more Experience Points than the loser. Keep in mind that it is possible that you may win a battle in-character but lose it in the score.

Quests, on the other hand, are not meant to be competitive. They are closer in form to what you might experience on other play-by-post games – collaborative writing where your characters adventure and find treasure, fight monsters, etc. Quests are also reviewed at their completion, but unlike battles, there are no winners and no losers. Instead, each player is awarded their own score, and EXP is distributed more equally than in a battle. Like battles, you can quest in any of the regions forums, and new players are exclusively invited to quest in the Scara Brae forum.

The Rubric (by Sighter Tnailog)

The judging rubric is, as mentioned above, a set of criterion used to determine writing quality here on Althanas. At the end of each completed battle and quest, an Althanas moderator will use the rubric to post a score for each player in the thread.

Here are the 10 different categories that make up the rubric:

STORY ~ A good score in the Story categories will require three things. First, it will need to be well-placed in time and location. Second, it will need to proceed with sufficient development to interest the reader without boring him or her at the same time. Most importantly, though, it will need to be original and creative.

Continuity (10) ~ Continuity situates a thread within a broader sheath of a character's storyline or personality. This should be done so that a moderator need not read any of a character's back story, yet can still figure it out readily based on the information provided. Does the player describe how a character arrived at the current location? Are there descriptions of past events? Continuity does not require a massive, epic storyline, or even keeping all threads in perfect harmony with another. Instead, continuity requires an explanation: Why is the story taking place?

Setting (10) ~ A good story requires both a place and a time. Closely related to continuity, setting asks another question: When and where is the story occurring? Setting will be scored according to how well these things are described -- do we get a sense of the landscape, do we understand where we are? -- and how well it is used. For instance, if a character describes a chair, is the chair used as a seat? Is the pen on the desk merely mentioned, or is it also picked up and twirled between a character's fingers? A good setting not merely describes the place, it also makes use of objects within that place. Setting is not simply canvass on which to paint a story -- it is a world in which you ACT a story.

Pacing (10) ~ If Continuity asks “Why?” and Setting asks “Where,” then Pacing asks "How?" Are your character’s actions clearly described? In scoring Pacing, the moderator will try to determine the author's intent. If the intent is to keep the reader from putting down the story, then a good Pacing score requires that the story delivered: it kept the tension high, releasing it in certain places and building it in others. It kept you guessing. If the intention of the Pacing is to develop a particular character, then the development of the plot must serve to provide the character with specific ways to grow. In other words, the thread’s story must keep you reading, but must also serve the intent of the author.

CHARACTER ~ There is one important factor to keep in mind when judging Character.
Do the thoughts, words, and actions of your character exhibit who they really are? If a particular character is doing something completely contrary to what they are normally like and do not justify that behavior in-character, then a low score will be awarded. If the character's actions truly illustrate who they are, then a high score will be awarded. Above all, a character should be BELIEVABLE. Does it make sense for an illiterate barbarian to talk his way out of a mess? No. Does it make sense for a dull-witted human to come up with a brilliant plan for ambushing the enemy? No. Does it make sense for a first-time lover to comprehend the depth of his emotions? No. In other words: simply because a character does something "smart" doesn't mean the player should get high scores. Sometimes, a stupid response to a situation can be just as important as an intelligent one.

Dialogue (10) ~ Dialogue must be sensible and believable. A fighter in the midst of a battle should not USUALLY break off the fight for a longwinded speech. A poorly educated human would not be able to converse with an extensive vocabulary. A quiet, withdrawn person would not speak at all, but might do more internal thinking. A dullard might not do much speaking OR thinking. On the other hand, a particularly flamboyant, arrogant, or witty character might indeed decide to pull away in order to deliver a speech he or she thought of on the fly. A poorly educated human might, in a moment of crisis, say a few words which, although short and unadorned, are elegant in their simplicity. A quiet person might do the same thing, or a dullard might assert their dignity with a few protesting, angry, halting words. The question with dialogue is not "How much talking was there?” Instead, the question is this: does it properly represent the character?

Action (10) ~ This can be explained in virtually the same way as dialogue. For an example, consider The Lord of the Rings. When the Witch-King of Angmar was slain, it was because he had ignored the hobbit Pippin, who was able to creep up from behind him and stab him in the heel at an opportune moment. This is entirely fitting with Pippin's character...he cannot block the attack of a man, jump backflips, or cast spells. But he can crawl quietly and wait for a chance to strike. His action made sense for his character. Similarly, a dullard might not come up with a battle strategy in the thick of things, but he might be able to appear at a lucky moment and swing a sword just in time to protect a friend's life.

Keep in mind that action is not limited to fighting! For example, a character might have a favorite book. A player could begin a thread with her reading it for a third time, and commenting on it as a friend walks in. Another example may involve a character who collects old coins - in a quest, one could come across a trove of them, and have the character go to great lengths to keep a hold of them as the quest progresses. Think of action as being just what it says: anything a character DOES. Just like dialogue, action is not defined by how cool a maneuver is or how intelligently the character planned and executed it. Rather, action is scored based on whether or not a character does what fits with the character.

Persona (10) ~ Persona refers to how well a character's emotions are depicted in relation to their personality. Emotions can be one of the trickiest things to talk about -- either one doesn't portray them enough or one does a bit too much. Characters, for the most part, do have emotions. They feel pain, they feel love, hate, anger, confusion. A few pointers can help with improving your Persona score. First, the characters should feel emotion, but not always know what to do with it. Most people feel emotion, but they often struggle with knowing the precise emotion they are having or determining how to act on the emotion. Whether a player portrays this conflict or not should determine the score. Second, is the emotion believable? Absent a specific reason, emotion should not be overblown. A lengthy description of how much love you feel for the person you just had sex with, for instance, can be rather obnoxious.

Keep this in mind, however: both these rules can be suspended if the emotion depicted is well-done in relation to personality. For instance, a character might be a warrior, used to pain -- used to not reacting with tears or cries if a dagger pierces them, for instance. Or they might have tried to harden their heart to love, or ignore feelings of hate because they think hate is a bad thing to feel. Or a character might be the clingy type, ignoring subtle emotions in favor of seeking that clear feeling of "I love her so much" that may characterize an adolescent boy. Or the character might merely be expressing emotions of an overblown nature as a way to mask their underlying uncertainty and fear. Persona is one of the hardest areas to judge; However, in a sense, it is like what Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about pornography: ""I shall not attempt to define the kinds of material I understand to be pornography, but I know it when I see it."

WRITING STYLE ~

Technique (10) ~ This refers to special literary devices, such as foreshadowing, allusion, symbolism, or other "advanced" forms of writing. This can be judged in a few ways, often interacting with the other categories (especially “Pacing”), in the sense that certain devices, such as foreshadowing, can be used to build tension and so forth. However, Technique can also be applied to how well a special device was used. For example, if someone does a battle in poetry, Technique can refer to whether or not the poetry was good.

Mechanics (10) ~ This should be obvious. Are your commas in the right place? Are your sentences actual sentences, and not fragments? Do you spell words properly? In other words: are you following the basic rules of English? As is said in writing style, these rules can be broken without detriment, provided they are broken INTENTIONALLY in order to MAKE A POINT. And, as always, the moderator will determine whether poor mechanics actually serves the purpose of enhancing the style.

Clarity (10) ~ Basically, this refers to whether or not it makes sense. For instance, read the following few sentences: "Becky was a rat. The billygoat jumped over the wall. "Oh no," said Allan, "I have no idea what to do with my life. The pretty penguins parked in their parkas while praying." These sentences were technically correct. The last sentence even showed evidence of stylistic touches, using alliteration. Yet, did they make sense? Did one follow from another? Was the narration clean and easy to follow? I think we can all answer this question. Clarity, in a sense, is a way of expressing what we used to express with Brevity, only without implying the need for a short post. Clarity, in the purest sense, asks this: do you say what you need to say using effective, clear, easy-to-follow language?

Wild Card ~ Wild Card takes into account any facet of writing that does not fall under the description of another category.

Each category, including Wild Card, is worth 0-10 points. At the end of the battle, the results of each category are tallied and your character is awarded a final score, from 0-100, for the thread.

Althanas Features

Other than the rubric, Althanas’s most unique features are its Tournaments and Power Groups. Tournaments are series of battles under unique rules and situations – teams of 2 characters battling each other, for instance, or battles where two player characters switch bodies. Tournaments oftentimes last for over a month, so it’s important to keep aware of their registration dates so that you don’t miss out on joining one. Power Groups, commonly refereed to as “Clans” or “Guilds” on other forums, are collections of players who band together to form an adventuring party or organization of some sort. Characters who join a PG will benefit by being able to create common storylines with their fellow members, and Power Groups are also allowed to host their own tournaments or large-scale battles, earning extra EXP then they would normally.

Out-of-Character Forums

Few people want to spend all of the time role-playing, so Althanas has several out-of-character forums to allow our members to cool down and talk about other things than writing. Any topic is open for discussion in the Flying Stone Tavern, but keep in mind that posts which are intentionally designed to hurt or attack another member are not tolerated and that players who engage in such activity will be warned. The Creative Endeavors forum is a place for players to share artwork, photographs, or any creative writing that is non-Althanas related. The Your Word forum allows members to post questions regarding any aspect of Althanas and to receive an answer form other members or one of the forum staff. Finally, The Role-Player’s Corner is where a player can ask for tips on how to improve their writing, or where recruitment for closed battles and quests may be done.