welcome.
Hello, honored guest/member, and welcome to
HOLLOW LEGACY, a Mass Effect RP. As always on any respectable forum, there must be rules, and it seems that you've found them! Congrats. Rules are fun, right? No, not really, but they're necessary. Probably more necessary than anything else on the site. Just read these, check the plot, and check the canon list before you start to apply, and all shall go well. Assuming you heed what you read, which rhymes every.......times. Yeah. Rules can and will change from time to time, but changes will warrant announcements, so you'll be sure to see them.
getting started.
You can register with whatever name you want to. 'iluzturtles' for all we care. But, once you decide what character you want to apply for, you should change your Display Name in your profile to your character's official name (Garrus Vakarian, Samara, Jimmy Buffet, etc.). Same goes for original characters, but we allow a bit more leeway with them, since they're your characters anyway.
Ah, yes, speaking of originals. You can apply here for a canon or an original, whichever you prefer, but you cannot have more than two characters before you have to ask an administrator to allow more. If you've been active, you might get several characters, but we ask that you do not hog main canons as listed in the Canon List- you start doing that, and we might have to cap you. Two of those should be enough.....maybe three if you're really dedicated.
No Skyllian Blitz over characters. Those who have reserved characters get every opportunity to attain said character over that week. If you choose not to reserve, the person who started the application first gets the first look, whether they finish first or not. No competitions, people.
Please fill out the application properly. We've seen people screw up applications way too many times in our day. Also, if we ask you to change something, don't take it personally- we just like for applications to be up to par. Once you've finished an application, you can ask us in the c-box to check it. Once. Don't go Jack Russel terrier on us. Both admins need to skim over the app and approve you before you can post in-character, but if you do a good enough job, it won't take long at all.
Once you've had your application accepted, please leave a link to the application somewhere in your character's signature where it can easily be seen. Similarly, if you have more than one character, please list your other characters in your signature, as well, though you don't have to have each profile listed.
ooc.
OOC, for those of you who don't know, stands for
Out
of
Character. On many sites, most of the comedy and such happens within the OOC section, but there's also the parts of an IC (
in-
character) post where people like to herp-a-derp around and say fun things. Here are a few limitations, though.
For one, no sexually explicit images, text, or links are allowed on the board, as this may result in
HOLLOW LEGACY being shut down for good. Another thing to consider is that there is no excessive swearing anywhere at all. Sure, the occasional "damn" is acceptable, but don't use the big Fs and Ss every fifth word. People will turn away from the site if that happens.
the cbox.
It's lovely and sparkly to talk to other members in the cbox. It's fast, fun, and doesn't involve giving a potential stalker your e-mail or IM addresses. Winning all around, right? Wrong. Cboxes are great things but they're kind of like fatty foods: Great tasting but only good for you in moderation. While we encourage cbox conversation, dominating the cbox between a small amount of people or for an obscene amount of time is just pretentious. Try to give everyone their ten minutes of fame in the cbox and spread the love. And while it dovetails into other ooc rules, be considerate. Don't be disrespectful to other people or staff in the cbox. You will receive a nice pm from one of us asking you to cool your jets the first time, but after that, we're no nicer than NYPD.
pp & gm.
Ah, powerplay and god-modding. The two go hand in hand, do they not? Powerplaying is acting as if you control the other person's puppet. Which you don't. For example: "Bob held Jane's hand and pulled her away while she laughed and danced around like a clown." See what's wrong? The one controlling Bob could not also control Jane at the same time. It's just not right. For all we know, Jane could have pulled out a gun and shot his face off. But we don't, since Bob's puppeteer decided that it was okay to control Jane. Any reports of powerplaying will be investigated, and you
will be punished accordingly.
God-modding is a tad bit different. Let's say that Jane
did pull out a shotgun. "Jane pulled a gun out of it's holster, and Bob tried to punch her, but his hand broke the instant it touched her." Who sees the problem? Yes, you, sitting in front of your computer with your hand on your cheek. That's right! She acted as if she was invincible, and poor Bob never had a chance. You are not God. I am God. You are a puny mortal (bwahahaha)." End of story. No puppet is allowed to be unkillable.
This site is heavily based around playing characters in a way which is pleasing to the player. You can get permission to hit someone or some such, but don't assume things, especially not things involving canons or important groups such as the Citadel Council. You can toss NPCs around all you wish too.
role-play.
We here at
Hollow Legacy do not have a word minimum for posts, though more is
waaaaaay better. IC posts are allowed to be in third-person, past tense ONLY. (meaning no "Bob poke
s Jane." It should be "Bob poke
d Jane.") Also, don't make a ton of spelling or grammar mistakes, because we
are a literate site, and we dnt wnt ppl 2 tlk lik dis. It's annoying, and if you want to do that, do it somewhere else. We do not like people who do that kind of thing.
We are an intermediate-level roleplay site. That means no posts that you could fit in a toddler's shoe. We'd love at least three paragraph posts, but we know that sometimes that isn't possible. As long as you get two paragraphs of at least five sentences (each of which shouldn't be 'See spot run. Spot ran quickly.') in each post, we'll be fine. Fail to meet that, and we might just have to ask you to add more.....but we'll give you suggestions of how to expand.
Grammar is fun. Please use grammar that at least makes you seem literate.
images/style.
You already know the restriction on sexually explicit images, but did you know that there's actually more than porn on the internet!? Me neither, until now! Anyway, gory, offensive, or otherwise unsafe images are banned from the forum for obvious reasons. Also, no rapidly blinking images, as we want to respect our members who have epilepsy and other disorders that may be triggered by those images. Images found to be within violation of that will be removed, and (depending on the offense) a ban may be implemented to ensure member safety. Another thing is, please do not stretch the board. If you know an image will stretch the board wider than normal, please post the link rather than placing [IMG][/IMG] tags.
As you can see,
Hollow Legacy has the ProBoard Enhanced codes set in place for the enjoyment of our wonderful users. With these codes in place, you can do a variety of things with the tables, post classes, and even use CSS coding within the tags! If you know anything about CSS, you know that the coding can really mess things up, so don't stretch the board with these codes. It's rude. Also, give credit where credit is due! If you're using a template someone made for you, make sure to tell everyone who did it! I'm sure they'll appreciate getting the word out there that they're
awesome! So keep that in mind. You can ask the admins where you can go to find some templates with the enhanced coding, though Caution is one place you can go for them, so check that out!
pm.
There's always been a huge conflict with PMs. No, not pre-menstrual syndrome,
Personal
Message
s. As is obvious, there is no sexually explicit/offensive/unsafe images in PMs, blah blah blah. But there's also no advertisement via PM. Unless the person in question actually requests a link to a site,
you are not to send advertisements through PM. If you really want to advertise, there's a
n app board for that. So do it there. Please note that any violation of the PM rules will result in your PM privileges being revoked.
tolerance & flaming.
As you should have already guessed by now, we have a very strict rule on intolerance and general rudeness. In essentials, you will
not ridicule your fellow members by the color of their skin, sexuality, lifestyle, or otherwise. Violation of that rule will result in immediate and (if necessary) permanent termination of your account. On the subject, rudeness towards Staff, members, guests, or any other member of our society will not be tolerated, and will result in termination of your account.
staff.
You really have to love the Staff, correct? Well, think about this; they have jobs to do, and any impediment on how well they can perform that task depends on how the members act. Don't disrespect the Staff at all. I don't care if they killed your goldfish. Don't. Do. It. Keep your personal issues out of here.
On a separate note, do not expect to just come here and immediately become a Staff member. Be patient. There's a chance that I'll recruit you myself if I see that you're active in the community. So follow all of the rules, and you may be rewarded. If you're not rewarded, oh well! It gives you a higher social status in my mind, and in the minds of other members.
Accounts and characters.
Here on
Hollow Legacy, we have a rule that each different character you apply for, you have to have a different member account as well. Otherwise it looks tacky and definitely not to professional. So please adhere to this!
As for the amount of characters you have, we don't have a limit,
however, here's how it's going to work! You get two 'free' characters when you first join the site. That means that you can have two right off the bat. After that, however, you must ask
both admins, Kent and Taiya, for permission to take more. It's not that we
want to limit you, but we do want to keep the site active in posting. This way, we can assess who seems to have the ability to handle more and still keep active. But don't you worry your pretty little head over it, we're awfully nice, so you don't have to worry that we're going to bite your head off or be unreasonable if you ask for more! Feel free to ask one of us and we'll talk it over with the other!
When it comes to canons, we will ask for you to do a five hundred word audition for the character to show us how you will RP them. This can be posted in the same place you would your application. It will then need TWO staff approvals before you can go ahead with the application for that character, which can just be posted as a reply to that original thread. Once started though, you have ten days to complete the application before it will be moved to the archives. If you want it back out, ask a member of the staff, but if someone else has taken that canon in the meantime, you will not be able to take that canon.
As for the actual role playing of canons, they are canon for a reason. Keep it in character. That means that Joker won't all of a sudden stop wise cracking. If you start playing a character like that, we'll take them away from you, simple as that.
explicit rp
Now there's a few rules when it comes to the actual role playing on this forum. First of all, let's have 'the talk'. When it comes to sex, take your explicit moments into some other place, for example, an IM, E-mail, PM, etc, but KEEP IT OFF THE BOARD. People do not want to be wandering around and come across things like that, so if you feel like it must occur, as was just mentioned, take it SOMEWHERE ELSE. Inferring that two characters had sex is allowed. Actually roleplaying out the sex is definitely not, so once again KEEP IT OFF THE BOARD. We follow Proboards rules and do not want to be deleted. Thank you!
Activity
Please try and stay active, this includes all characters/accounts. You are expected to at least make one in-character post per week, but by all means make many more. After two weeks, we PM you (unless there's been a recent activity check) to check up. After three more days, we have to put your characters up for adoption. We can't run a site with inactive members, I'm afraid. This all goes to pot as long as you post an absence. We know you have to occasionally leave for certain things- just let us know when you do.
We will have monthly activity checks. Should you fail to post in the Activity Check canon characters will be reopened on the site for other members to take, and your other accounts will be deleted. Characters must have at least one thread post in the past week for them to count in the activity check. That can be in basically anything but the games, as they do not count as showing that you're adding to the site. You may reclaim your characters if they aren't taken already in the example of a canon. If you miss the activity check, please message a staff member in regards to your lost character(s). If you are going to be gone for THREE or more days, please post a hiatus in the Hellos and Goodbyes board so staff and members are aware of your absence.
Mass Effect-y Rules
Non-asari original characters cannot be biotics unless they have a darn good reason to be. Biotic powers are usually granted by bombardment of the character's fetus/otherwise unborn form by Element Zero. Cybernetic implants also apply from time to time, and we're always open to new ideas, but be sure to come up with a good reason for your character to possess biotic powers.......and please, don't have every character you create be a biotic powerhouse.
Likewise, most characters that are strong biotics would be focusing sharpening those biotic abilities. They wouldn't be terribly great engineers, snipers, or the like due to their biotic talents. If a biotic is an excellent soldier, chances are they aren't terribly powerful biotics.
Your original (or canon, in some cases) character cannot instantly be a Spectre upon registration unless you talk to the administrators first, and even then we might not allow it. Once your Spectre-aspiring character accomplishes certain feats that the Council deems worthy of Spectre status, we'll send you a PM to ask if you'd be interested.
Mixed races are typically a no-no. We don't want krogan/human mutants running around. Asari often mate with other races, but the child asari only gains facial markings, typically. Keep these hybrid children to a minimum, since other races rarely intermix.