RULES

RULES General Principles Governing The DMLE RPG: 1. Age: 2. Game Structure and Mechanics: 2.1 General: 2.2 Role Playing Style: 2.3 Entries: 2.4 Owls: 2.5 Icons: 3. Number of Allowable Posts: 4. Characters and NPC’s: 4.1 Number of Characters allowable: 4.2 Playable Characters: 4.3 Non-Playable Characters: 5. Content: 6. Quality- Writing and Storylines: 6.1 Quality, Spelling, Grammar: 6.2 Bi-weekly Plot Posts: 7. Player Disputes and Rules Violations: 8. Time Allowances for Modly Decisions: 9. Amendments and Reconsiderations:

 

General Principles Governing The DMLE RPG:

 

The DMLE’s rules are designed to foster and encourage a creative and fun role playing environment. The community was created as a place where the players can expand their creativity with exciting, plot-driven story lines and engaging characters, as well as hone their creative writing skills through constructive criticism, suggestions, respect for all players and -- most of all -- fun!

 

With the implementation of a set of comprehensive rules and an open policy for discussion with the moderators, our goal is to foster creativity, quality story lines and writing, and good, strong character interaction in a friendly, stress-free atmosphere.

 

1. Age:

 

• a. All players must be at least 18 years of age.

 

• b. Any player found to be less than 18 years of age will be asked to leave the game.

 

 

2. Game Structure and Mechanics:

 

2.1 General:

 

• a. The game allows both general Journal style play, as well as Role Playing style play.

 

• b. Journal style play consists of players posting as they would in a personal Live Journal, using first person style. (e.g., Today, the cafeteria was serving mystery meat; I decided I wasn’t brave enough to try it.)

 

• c. Role playing style consists of actions and dialogue. Actions are encompassed within asterisks, while the dialogue does not need to have any special formatting. (e.g. *wakes up when the alarm sounds, and turns it off* It's way too early to be awake right now.)

 

2.2 Role Playing Style:

 

• a. Role playing style may consists of 'threads' in individual journals, with a main post and comments indicating each character’s actions or "Logs", which are role play in Instant Messanger). Logs and threads are to be posted in individual character journals under an LJ-cut named "rp link" and locked until completion.

 

• b. Once complete, all logs and threads must be unlocked from the individual journal and subsequently linked from the main community The DMLE.

 

• c. All main community entries must be tagged accordingly with the Episode number, the names of the characters involved in the thread and this including NPC's, the agency involved, the purpose of the thread, and whether the context of the thread relates to the game plot or to personal plot. For example:

 

episode 1, marcus flint, seamus finnigan, john smith (npc), hit wizards, witness interrogation, game plot

 

• c. Role plays MUST be in the third person style, present tense. (e.g. *greets her with a warm smile, and notes how good she smells when he hugs her*)

 

 

2.3 Entries:

 

• a. Entries can consist of either Journal style play or Role Playing style play.

 

• b. Journal style play entries are to be posted in the main community The DMLE unless they are marked 'private'.

 

• c. Posts may be public, private (e.g., (Private) ) completely blocked or partially blocked ("partially locked") from other characters. (e.g., (blocked from Seamus} or (blocked from Marcus) Insert text here (end blocked from Marcus).)

 

• d. A post may not block more than three characters at once (e.g. (blocked from Bill, Charlie and Ron) ).

 

• e. Players can comment in all posts, unless the post is indicated 'blocked' from that character or 'private'.

 

• f. Journal style entries marked 'private' are to be posted in the individual character journal with comments disabled.

 

2.4 Owls:

 

• a. Owls from character to character are posted in the main community The DMLE.

 

• b. Owls or correspondence sent from DMLE Dispatch, representing messages sent by mod controlled NPCs, will be posted in the main comm The DMLE.

 

2.5 Icons:

 

• a. Character icons with text, animation or any combination thereof are disallowed.

 

• b. All changes in a character's PB must be approved by the moderators, and will only be allowed in rare situations. Please take care in choosing your PB.

 

3. Number of Allowable Posts:

 

• a. All characters must post at least once every two (2) weeks in either their individual journal, or in the main community The DMLE. A warning will be issued after two weeks not posting.

 

• b. Once a warning is issued, the mods will give the player five (5) days to post with their character(s). If the player still does not post, a second warning and final warning will be given. After a second and final warning, the player will have five (5) days to post the character(s).

 

• c. Once a final warning has been issued and the five days have elapsed with no activity, the character(s) will become available for adoption.

 

• d. A player will be allowed three of the above "warning processes." If, after three instances in which a player must be reminded to make their character(s) present in game, a player misses the two week mark again, the player will be notified and their character(s) will become immediately available for adoption.

 

• e. If a player cannot post for whatever reason, they must make a contact post in the OOC community to advise of the reason and the expected date of return in order to avoid the above action.

 

• f. If you require an emergency absence, please contact the mods at the_dmle@livejournal.com .

 

• g. There is no maximum limit to the number of posts a character can make.

 

 

4. Characters and NPC’s:

 

4.1 Number of Characters allowable:

 

• a. A maximum of one (1) character every two weeks, up to a maximum of five (5) characters are allowed per player.

 

• b. When applying for any new character, a player’s activity history will be reviewed along with their application. If activity has been lacking, the request may be declined.

 

• c. Each character must fill out a character survey, which is to be posted in a locked entry in their individual journal.

 

 

4.2 Playable Characters:

 

• a. Characters must be canon characters found in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

 

• b. Only those characters who are alive by the end of the series (excluding the Epilogue) can be played. This means, all characters already deceased cannot be brought back to life for play. Yes, that means Sirius.

 

• c. If a player would like to take a House Elf character, they must apply using the standard application form.

 

4.3 Non-Playable Characters:

 

• a. Non-Playable Characters (NPC’s) are controlled by the mods. These include, but may not be limited to:

 

• i. Witnesses
• ii. Suspects
• iii Other filler characters necessary for plot function

 

 

• b. If necessary for plot function, players may request the use of an NPC for the purpose of role playing a scenario. In these instances, the mods will make themselves available to play the NPC for this purpose.

 

• c. House Elves are NPC’s controlled by players and may NOT post in the community, though they may respond where it is appropriate to do so.

 

• d. Family members not appearing in the books will be NPCs. Please contact the Mods for permission before introducing these characters into the game. The families of some characters were mentioned in the books, but did not appear in the books; these characters are regarded in the same fashion.

 

• e. Children not appearing in the books will be considered NPCs. Please contact the Mods for permission before introducing these characters into the game.

 

5. Content:

 

• a. Explicit sexual content is allowed, as long as it isn't the character's only purpose.

 

• b. Slash and Het are permitted, though no character or player will be expected or required to play out any romantic or sexual situation of any type, if they do not wish to do so.

 

• c. Character pairings will not be dictated by canon, nor can any player demand a certain pairing from any other player.

 

• d. All romantic story lines occurring or planned within the first two weeks of any new character's acceptance into the game must be approved by the mods.

 

• e. MPREG (male pregnancy) is strictly forbidden.

 

• f. Explicit sexual content featuring under-aged characters is strictly prohibited.

 

• g. All character deaths must be approved by the Mods.

 

• h. Suicide attempts do not require Mod approval--but the character must survive.

 

• i. Posts or plot concerning alcoholism, drug use, BDSM content, extreme violence or suicidal themes must be clearly labeled and placed under an LJ-cut to provide fair warning to players or readers who may find such subject matter disturbing.

 

• j. Godmodding is strictly forbidden. The definition of 'godmodding' is playing or puppeting the character of any other player without their explicit permission, or inflicting an action on another character without permission, including but not limited to tandem apparition, hitting, touching, or other physical contact.

 

However, these things are not considered godmodding and are allowed in this game --

 

• i. discussing another character, including postulating actions or reactions of that character.
• ii. telling lies, exaggerations or stories about another character.
• iii. accidentally or intentionally misrepresenting another character, either in a discussion of past actions, or in your character's memory of past actions.
• iv. being mistaken about another character's actions or intentions.

 

Any and all of these actions can be denied in play by the character being misunderstood or misrepresented, but our characters are human and humans will lie, misremember things, make mistakes and talk about each other.

 

• k. Character/witnesses can lie to the authorities and/or commit crimes, etc. at the discretion to the player. However, the player must recognise that there are consequences to every action and that, if the action is discovered, their character may face consequences such as criminal charges of obstruct justice. Players must accept the consequences of their character's actions.

 

• l. Off-stage scenes: Two or more players may agree that their characters have interacted in a chosen fashion without playing that scene out in game.

 

• i. Both players must be in agreement as to the nature of the interaction.
• ii. One player cannot say that their character and someone else's character engaged in any off-stage interaction without the knowledge and consent of the second player.
• iii. The same applies to multiple character off-stage scenes: All players must be aware of the intended content and agree to it beforehand.

 

 

6. Quality- Writing and Storylines:

 

6.1 Quality, Spelling, Grammar:

 

• a. A high degree of quality is essential, both in respect to writing and storylines.

 

• b. Constructive criticism and suggestions are accepted and encouraged to help develop these skills, and to make game reading enjoyable for all.

 

• c. All players are to be careful with respect to grammar and spelling. Mistakes are to be expected, but should be the exception, not the norm.

 

• d. Entries, role plays and comments must use British grammar, spelling and punctuation.

 

• e. Netspeak and emoticons are not acceptable.

 

6.2 Bi-weekly Plot Posts:

 

• a. Every two (2) weeks, the mods will post “Plot Posts” in the OOC community.

 

• b. These posts will set out the general, proposed plot for the following two (2) weeks.

 

• c. Characters are encouraged to use these posts to plan for short-term storylines for their characters, as well as to brainstorm/give feedback regarding the proposed plot.

 

• d. All characters must comment to the plot posts, to verify they have read the proposed plot for the following two weeks.

 

 

7. Player Disputes and Rules Violations:

 

• a. The following are NOT permitted within this community:

 

• i. Flaming
• ii. Harassment of fellow players or moderators
• iii. Threats towards fellow players or moderators (including, but not limited to, threatening to ruin someone's reputation on LJ or in RPing circles, get them kicked out of the game, RL threats, etc.)

 

• b. Only reminders with respect to minor violations of the rules (e.g spelling/grammar), constructive criticism and suggestions may be addressed by any player in the OOC community. Examples of permitted concrit/suggestions include, but are not limited to:

 

• i. Calling attention to slight grammatical errors, such as forgetting certain punctuation or mispellings.
• ii. Reminder to disable comments on a Private post.
• iii. Incorrect links

 

• c. All posts of the above nature must be respectful and in good taste.

 

• d. Any post found to be derogatory, disrespectful or of an attacking nature will be deleted.

 

• e. Any player found in violation of the above will be given a warning. If the behaviour persists, the player will be asked to leave the game.

 

• f. Any player found threatening another player/mod will be immediately asked to leave the game.

 

• g. Any major problem, violation or dispute with respect to the Rules, content, story lines, quality or player relations shall be dealt with by the Mods. They can be reached at the_dmle@livejournal.com .

 

 

8. Time Allowances for Modly Decisions:

 

• a. Mods must be allowed at least five to seven days to respond to requests of approval on plots, NPC creation and all other matters that fall under mod jurisdiction.

 

• b. Mods may take up to five days to review and approve or disapprove an application, regardless of whether the potential player is new to the game or not.

 

 

9. Amendments and Reconsiderations:

 

• a. The Rules are subject to change at any time.

 

• b. The Rules are not absolute, and are open for reconsideration upon player recommendations and suggestions.

 

• c. Feedback is welcomed and encouraged.