Role-Playing Guidelines

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Before you can get stuck into the midst of role-playing on TSW, you will need to know exactly how role-playing works and precisely what we expect from you on this forum. Please take a few moments to read over this guide before you get started with your role-playing. We want all of our members to be on the same page when it come to interacting with one another in character. If you're unsure of something or have questions, please head over to our Support section and ask for help. We are always more than happy to help any members in need.

What Is Role-Playing?
Basically, role-playing, or RPing, is the process of writing out a character's actions, thoughts, and dialog as if you are really doing/saying/thinking them. Most often role-playing is done in the third person. Here on The Shimmering Wand, third person role-playing is the only form of role-playing that is acceptable. Examples of dialog/thoughts/actions are below.

Role-Playing Thought
I should have known that something would go wrong. Something always goes wrong, Hannah thought to herself angrily.

Role-Playing Action
Hannah snatched the broom from on top of her trunk and head toward the stairwell. She needed to get out of the stuffy Gryffindor tower before she went mad!

Role-Playing Dialog
It wasn't long before Hannah found her friends in the Great Hall. Sitting down beside them she said, "Hey guys, what are you talking about?"

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Follow The Forum Rules
All posts and RPing should follow the General Forum Rules. If you are unsure of what those might be, please read over the rules immediately.

Spelling/Grammar/Punctuation
Because we here are TSW put so much time and effort into creating this amazing site, we expect people to take posting/role-playing seriously while still having fun! We are a literate group of people and as such we expect everybody to use proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. That being said we know that not everybody is perfect. So just do your very best! We aren't crazy sticklers, but we expect you to do your best. Make sure you proof read and spellcheck your work before posting. Commas, periods, quotations, question marks, exclamation marks, semi-colons, and any other punctuation should be in place before you reply to anything. 

Role-Playing Post Length
When in a role-playing board/thread on the site, you are expected to post while you are in character. That means you act out what your character is doing/saying/thinking as if you are that character. However, this must be done in the third person, as mentioned above. While role-playing, we expect all of our member to write at least three hundred(300) words per post. You may, however, write as many after that point as you would like. Keep in mind that other members are working hard to write their own posts so that you can role-play with them. So, we expect you to respond with a similar post in length. If somebody responds with a post that is four hundred words, you should try to match their four hundred words with your own.

Acceptable Role-Playing Posting Formats
When you are role-playing on TSW, we expect all of our member role-playing posts to share a similar format. Please read carefully so that you fully understand want we mean by posting formats. Style formatting is how your text looks once it is posted. On Proboards, we have the option of making the post text bold, italic, underlined, strike through, superscript, subscript, different sizes, justified left, right, center, full, different fonts, and different colors.  However, when you are in character, we expect you to use the following formats:

• All actions carried out in character should be in a normal style formatting.
• Thoughts should always be written in italics.
• Dialog must be within quotations! As long as it is in quotations, you can use normal text, bold, colored, and bold/colored text.
• All in character posts must be written in the default font size.
• You may use whichever font you would like to as long as it is listed in the Font Face drop-down menu. The Font Face drop-down menu can be found beneath the subject line while creating a thread/post.

Samples of acceptable RP post can be found below.

Role-Playing Thought
I should have known that something would go wrong. Something always goes wrong, Hannah thought to herself angrily.

Role-Playing Action
Hannah snatched the broom from on top of her trunk and head toward the stairwell. She needed to get out of the stuffy Gryffindor tower before she went mad!

Role-Playing Dialog 1(Normal)
It wasn't long before Hannah found her friends in the Great Hall. Sitting down beside them she said, "Hey guys, what are you talking about?"

Role-Playing Dialog 2(Bold)
It wasn't long before Hannah found her friends in the Great Hall. Sitting down beside them she said, "Hey guys, what are you talking about?"

Role-Playing Dialog 3(Colored)
It wasn't long before Hannah found her friends in the Great Hall. Sitting down beside them she said, "Hey guys, what are you talking about?"

Role-Playing Dialog 4(Colored/Bold)
It wasn't long before Hannah found her friends in the Great Hall. Sitting down beside them she said, "Hey guys, what are you talking about?"

Person Specific Role-Playing Threads
When creating threads you have a few different options. The first option is leaving it open for anybody to join. If a thread is open to everybody, please put one of the following in the title: (OPEN), [OPEN], {OPEN}, (O), [O], or {O}. Putting one of those in the title lets everybody know that it is open for all members. If a thread is closed to everybody, please put one of these: (CLOSED), [CLOSED], {CLOSED}, (C), [C], or {C}. If a thread is only open for a specific person, please put their name/nickname in the title in the following manner: (NAME),[NAME], or {NAME}. This will let others know that the thread is for somebody specific. When a post is dedicated to a specific group of people, please make sure you put the group name in either (), [], or {}. For instance, if it is only for Hufflepuff girls, put (HUFFLEPUFF GIRLS). You get the idea. 

Plot Things Out
Before you begin role-playing, unless you plan on RPing by yourself, you should plot out how you want things to go. This could include fights, relationships, accidents, character reproduction, character death, and many other scenarios. If you want to have somebody RP with you, we suggest starting a Plot Page and/or a Wanted Ad.

Stay Consistent
This really applies to all role-playing and character development on the forum. Each shop, classroom, and location should have a description post giving detail to each place that you can role-play. Please read the description for wherever you're planning on role-playing and stick to it! If you're in the Ravenclaw common room, don't RP that it is filled with red and gold furnishing. That wouldn't be consistent with the description. Also, when RPing with somebody, please make sure you read each post relevant to the role-playing scenario and stick with it. If one person is RPing that their character is sad, don't describe them as being happy. If a character is lying down, don't RP that they are standing. Easy-peasy, right? Right.

Describe Things
When you are RPing, make sure you describe things in detail! It makes for an interesting read for everybody following your character's story line. If it is raining outside and your character is grumpy, don't just put:

It was Raining. Hannah was so grumpy.

Describe it! Say something like the following:

Rain fell steadily from the dark clouds cloaking the afternoon sky. Hannah might not have minded the rain any other day. In fact, Hannah usually loved the rain. But, with the afternoon she was having, it did nothing but darken her mood.

See how much more interesting the second description was? That is exactly what we expect to see from all members on our forum.

No God-Modding
Unless another member allows you to making something happen to one of their characters in your post, it is absolutely unacceptable for you to post that it does. That means that you can't make another member's character do or say something unless the owner of that character has agreed to it before hand. This all ties in with the plotting things out with other members. So, no controlling other people's character or what happens to them unless you are given permission.

Make It PG-13
We don't allow any content here on TSW that is over PG 13. Not only is it against TOS, it is against the rules of our forum. If it isn't consider PG-13(material allowed for persons thirteen or older) you aren't allowed to post it. Things that are allowed:

• Hinting At Sexual Activities
  This means that you are allowed to hint at more mature content, but you are not allowed to describe things in detail. For instance, say you have a man and a woman character who are going to bed together. If they are doing anything more than kissing/making out, you must hint at their suggestive behavior, but not describe what they did. Example:
  
  Hannah grabbed RJ's hand and pulled him toward their bedroom door. She sashayed provocatively before him as she led the way, knowing exactly what it would do to him. With a smile on her face, Hannah turned and pulled RJ through the doorway. "Come on handsome, let's have some fun," she whispered, before closing the door behind them.
  
  End scene! See? There was a suggestion of more mature behavior, but there no description of what happened between the two characters after their bedroom for closed.
  
  
• Light Violence
  You are more than welcome to write about duels and fights between characters as long as you keep it from being too gory! So if a character looses a finger in a cheese slicer, don't go into a vast amount of detail about wriggling bloody stumps. Sure, you can describe the scene where somebody loses the finger, just don't make it the main focus.
  
  
• Suggested Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Use
  As with the sexual content, you may hint at drug and alcohol use. However, you may not describe somebody doing drugs, drinking alcohol, or smoking tobacco if the character is under the age of eighteen. Describing drug use of any kind is not permitted, though you may hint at it.

Flaming/Bashing/Harassing/Stalking
Neither of these things are allowed on this forum. However, if you plot out bashing/flaming/harassing/stalking with another member, we will fully allow you to role-play all four of these otherwise unacceptable issues. All parties involved in the bashing/flaming/harassing/stalking must be in agreement before said role-playing takes place.

All Forms Of Abuse
Physical, mental, emotional, and child abuse are real things that we do not promote here on TSW. However, you may RP being mentally, physically, and emotionally abused in your posts as long as you aren't overly descriptive. As mentioned above, violence is allowed as long as you are not going into gory detail. You can also reflect on your character being physically/mentally/emotionally abused as a child as long as you don't going into heavy detail. Hinting at abuse is fine. Sexual abuse is definitely unacceptable. End. Of. Story.