Basic Rules of Role Play Knowing Names - Characters do not now each other until they've been introduced. Much the way you don't know somone until they or another tells you that person's name. Detecting and Seeing - Your character can not know of things they are not phycially or magicaly able to know about. For example, a human can't sense someone watching them from the Spirit Realm. Nor can they see around corner or through walls without spells. Forced Hits - There are no forced hits in Nepherasta. Everything can be dodged. Even if you have the other character silenced, chained, and gagged, you must still attempt any action against them rather than stating. That is unless they give you permission otherwise beforehand. You can not say if something you do affects another character or not. You can only attempt an action that would directly affect or harm another character. Action -A character can perform one major action a turn. They can do other little things along with that action, but only cast one spell or make one attack. Things like that are major actions, unless the spell is just a command word to operate an enchanted item. Speaking, drinking, eating . . those things are examples of minor actions. The other character has the right to respond to anyone of those actions however. For example let�s say Character A does actions 1, 2, 3, and 4. The last three are minor actions, but Character B responds to action 1 and their response would have voided 2, 3, and 4 if Character A had given them a chance to respond properly. But now Character A can�t respond to Character B�s single action because that player has already declared what happened next, it was 2, 3, and 4. Let�s see this in play. Character A smirks at Character B, �Yeah, your mom didn�t think so last night.� He chuckles lightly as he takes a drink from his mug, leaning back in his chair a little. Character B grows angry at the remark and throws his mug across the table at Character A. Now as we see here, Character A has no choice but to get hit, because he was being laid back, off guard, and had already said what his char did next after the remark, and it wasn�t dodging a thrown mug. Of course this is a very simplistic version of what I�m talking about and if it was this simple it most likely wouldn�t be a big deal anyway. One of my favorite examples and the reason I have this little rule is Sunet Realms once entered the Screaming Banshee, stopped and looked around after shutting the doors, walked across the fifty foot dance floor, ordered a drink at the bar, took a drink from her mug, then turned around and watched what was going on in the tavern. Now that might not sound bad, but the flamboyant Matt Shikara was at the door already when she entered and they were good friends so he held his arms out wide to offer her a hug while yelling her name. He then followed her across the fifty foot dance floor repeating her name over and over, followed her to the bar still repeating her name, and by the time she�d turned around with her mug and all that he was pouting and sad at being ignored for so long by her. The moral of the story? You don�t always know where the other characters are or how they are going to respond to your first action, but they have the right to. Not giving someone the chance to respond is the same as an auto. Turn Based - The first person to post becomes Player One for that session, the next person becomes Player Two. The numbers go up as people make their posts, always staying in the same order. If Player Four comes along a forum page later and jumps in between Player One and Two, then Player Four will always post in that session between those two players. You can insert your character at anytime into the order, although you can't insert your player between posts that have already been made. The forums wouldn't allow that anyway. Meta Gaming and OOC Crossing - This is what happens when a player makes their characters do things based on player knowledge rather than character knowledge. Someone once asked me if Kayos would have chosen Creselda over Synderix if Creselda had been actively played at the time rather than an NPC. The answer is no. He'd have done the same thing. Kayos doesn't know which characters are NPC and which are Played. People are people to him. As should it be with all characters. Character Crossing - This is very similar to the one above, but it's a player taking knowledge from one character and applying it to another character. The best example I know if this is from way back when. The pirate queen Arachne had a situation where a woman claimed Arachne�s first mate was the father of her child. Arachne sided with her first mate against the woman. Seems perfectly logical, yes? Well the player of that woman had another character that was married to a different character of the player of Arachne. The player of the woman started acting funny with all her characters toward all the characters played by the other person. She actually was breaking both this rule and the one above at the same time. She was giving her characters information they shouldn�t have had, and was taking it too personally as a player. It�s a game. Nepherasta is a game and a story. You enjoy, you read it, and you write it. You don�t live it.

Where Play Happens Where to play is very simple. Some of us use Yahoo messenger and will play our sessions in instant messages before posting them on the forums. If your session is closed to other characters (i.e. behind locked doors) then I don�t mind this method at all. Not all players can be on messenger at the same time though and not all use the same messenger. You don�t have to use Yahoo to play here. The method I prefer and would like all players to use is the Nepherasta forums. You can view the forums as a guest, but you have to register to post on most of them. It's free and easy to register, so you have nothing to lose. By using the forums it gives everyone a better chance to join in on the role play. You can say a door is locked (for the behind locked doors example above) but that still gives others the right to try and pick the lock, or break the door down. Of course that won�t work unless the player who owns the location (i.e. a character�s house is owned by the character�s player) accepts your attempt on their door. They can not deny you the right to try and break the door down, and you can not deny them the right to accept or deny the attempt.

Character Making Most people like to make their own chars, and most players prefer to play with original characters. Here in Nepherasta we also prefer original chars, though taking a few ideas from various games, stories, or movies is fine, as long as no one can tell which famous character you based your character from. This is commonly referred to as a rip-off char. Appearance How tall is your char? How big? Decide if you want a tall thin character, or a short fat one. Those aren't the only two choices, a character can be as vast and different as a real person. The size and shape of your char will affect some of the things they can or can't do. A bigger person with more muscles is stronger, where a smaller person is faster. What about hair, eyes, and skin? You must decide all these things to have a well rounded character. Background Your characters past is important because the reasons for everything your char does can be traced to his history. If your char's love was slain by vampires then your character would most likely have a great hate for the undead and want revenge. The events of our past dictates how we act in the future. Making a background for your character is easier than it might sound. Did you give your character a scar when you made their appearance? How did they get that scar and how do they feel about the event? Decide things like where your character grew up, what their life was like. What kind of jobs or adventures has your character been on? How do they get along with their family? Personality What type of person is your char? Are they lighthearted, dark, moody, fun loving, or some combination of these things? If you can describe your char with only one adjective they might not be too well rounded. Chars should be as complex and hard to figure as people. They too can be misunderstood, or misunderstand the actions and words of others. You're background will help a lot in creating a personality, because of the things that your char has gone through in the past. Power and Abilities. What kind of power, abilities, and skills does your character have? Are those powers and skills innate or did they have to study hard and long to learn them? Is your character a seasoned warrior, a novice, or something in between? It's suggested that unless you're trying to get involved with the High Power plot line that you keep things toned down a bit. Weaknesses are good, no one else wants to rp with your invincible char. Extra Details and Rewriting You really don't need much more than I gave you above. If you can fill out the template, than you should be fine. Some little stuff gets changed or made when in playing your char for the first time. Things like favorite colors, foods, and wines can be made up as they are needed. You might want to wait to determine idiosyncrasies as well. That type of stuff can be made up on the spot or changed at a later date. You can always rewrite a bit of your char. Most the people in Nepherasta will go along with it if you only warn them. Even if it's something like changing base race or hair color.

How to Join To join all you must do is make a forum account with the name you want to use for your character. You can change the display name later if you don�t like the first name you use, so don�t worry too much about that. Although if you start making posts as a character under one name, we ask that you make a new id for any other characters you want in the future, even if you no longer play the older ones. You can have as many accounts as you need. While you�re at the forums please read our forums rules in the Rules and Guides section of the forum. With your account made and activated and the rules read, simply post on the Character Submission board with the character you intend to play. This is more for courteous and to make sure people know how to make characters rather than a pass or fail thing. You won�t be denied if you�re playing nice. In fact you can start role playing right away, go ahead and pick a setting and make a post. If you�re brand new, I suggest Serenity or Hana�Var. Any character from almost anywhere can get to those locations. Or if they�re too fantasy or medieval for you, try Kayosia under the Kelosh board. It�s a high tech futuristic city full of tech. There is no place in Nepherasta without magic of some sort.