Rules V:1.3

[-The Mods-]

..::THE RULES::..

Forgive the huge list, A lot of these rules shouldn’t really need to be mentioned, but we’d rather be safe than sorry.[/center]

..:::Conduct:::..

• 1: First and foremost - Respect your fellow Role-players.
  IC (in character) snark/bigotry/nastiness is more than fine. In fact, we encourage you to play your characters to their fullest extent and not hold back if you think that they would react to a certain situation in a particular way, even if their reaction happens to be the epitome of cruel.
  However, any OOC nastiness/sexism/racism/bullying will lead to a hefty warning and potential booting from the group if you don't learn to hold your tongue. This is a game, not a war-zone, k? We all want to have fun, and anyone making it difficult for other group members, will have the mods to deal with.

• 2: You must Post regularly.
  If you have not been seen nor heard from in a two week period, you will be given a warning. If that warning it not acted on within an additional two weeks, you will be kicked from the group unless you have a damn good reason. If you are going to be absent for any length of time, there is a board where you can let us know.

• 3: Not so much a rule, but a good thing to mention while we have your attention.
  We want you to have fun! That's the entire point of this group. So if you have any suggestions, comments or ideas on the general running of the group, please let us know. We're here for your benefit as well as our own, and we will do all in our power to make this a fun gaming environment for all. We're an easy going bunch and aren't going to bite your heads off for contacting us if you have any concerns; so feel free to do so whenever you need us. We're only a PM away

..:::Writing:::..

• 00: First things first, remember that this is an RP set in the UK. Any Americans caught excessively typing 'Mom' will be likely shrieked at by myself or a fellow brit... It should be common sense that we Brits say mum, without an O, and therefore I'm not going to even make it a rule rather than an assumption that you won't screw that part up... Anyone wanting to brush up on a bit of Brit-speak, head to The Best of British.

• 1: Anyone caught speaking in excessive net-speak, either in or out of character, will be kicked from the group immediately. It's a pet hate of mine and of most Internet users with half a working brain, so lets try and speak in proper sentences using real (and properly spelled out) words that don't contain any numbers, shall we?

• 2: Now, we're not exactly grammar Nazis - I'm sure you'll see the odd run on sentence, or profuse or missing punctuation from some of the mods, it happens even to the best of us, right? But that is no excuse to not try and get your shit together in such a sense of writing properly. We're not going to boot you for the odd typos, in fact, we'll likely laugh at them in an ooc capacity at some point. But consistent bad writing will be penalized - And yes, that means No One-Liners either - there is a minimum word count in place for this very reason. If you cant hit the post button, you haven‘t written enough to warrant it being pressed. If, however, any characters slip through this system and are posting lame responses consisting of a brief bit of speech and no narrative whatsoever, they will fall under the spork wielding wrath of our mods and likely be booted before they can string together another bad sentence. You have been warned.

• 3: Define your role-playing! We are accepting of two systems here; encase your speech in “quotation marks”, or your actions in *asterisks*. Simple as that.

• 4: Please keep your narrative in third person; as long as it‘s easy to read, we don‘t mind about tense; as long as it's in third person (i.e. "Draco walks into the room, sitting down next to Pansy" / "Draco walked into the room and sat down next to Pansy"); this makes it a lot easier to follow, and a lot nicer to read back. Just to clarify: this means no first person narrative. i.e. no "I walk into the room and sit down next to you." This simply wont do.

• 5: No Mary-Sues! If your character is related to Merlin; can speak parceltongue as well as being an underage animagus; is a metamorphmagi who is related to Tonks and is far smarter than Hermione despite being a mere first year; or who goes on for ten paragraphs at a time about the stunningly odd quality of their eyes/hair/etc. - it's pretty safe to say that it's not even worth wasting your time applying here, for we will simply mock you without question and then dismiss your application with a chuckle and a shaking head. Any characters found descending into Mary-Sue-dom over the course of the RP, will have their name changed accordingly and be given a warning for such.

• 6: No God-moding - this is, acting for another person's character without their express permission to do so. Now, this rule does not mean an outright blanket ban per say, more a proviso to use at your own discretion. At times - especially during lengthier posts when - it can be quite helpful to be able to write in a minor action for another character, or equally to have another person act for your character as long as there is a mutual trust of one another to do so. Although, such a thing takes time, effort and, most importantly, a good understanding of not only the other persons character but the person behind the character. If someone does act for your character and you are unhappy with it, simply comment and ask they change the relevant part. If they refuse, get in touch with one of the mods. Also - although this should really go without saying.. - you CANNOT kill/injure someone else's character without their express permission.

• 7: Whoever started the thread, is in control of its status.
  A thread that either has no status message or is stated as (Open) May be joined by anyone online at the time.
  A thread with specific character names in it - i.e. (Draco, Pansy, Blaise) - may only be entered by the characters mentioned, and if you do not wish to state the characters names in the title, you may simply state it as (Closed).
  A thread stated as (Narrative) is a personal account of a characters day/week/feelings/thoughts/etc.
  If you see one of the above status’, bear it in mind and do not enter threads that you are not supposed to. Try not to only post closed blogs - this detracts from the gameplay as a whole, and is just rather selfish.

• 8: Multiple characters are fine and dandy, as long as you keep them all active and as long as you're not stealing up all the good canons just for the sake of having them all under your belt. Additionally, each character must have its own individual account and that account may only be used by that one character.

• 9: Keep your characters age in mind when role-playing! First years are not all going to be instantly adept at levitation charms, nor are they likely to know all the ins and outs of unforgivables even if their father/cousin/great uncle twice removed IS a hardcore death eater. Let's keep things in perspective.

• 10: We do allow students to come up with their own spells in this RP, if you can think of a plausible way that they could have come across the spell to begin with, or alternatively a spell that could be added in to a certain year's syllabus to fit in with canon classes. House points may even be awarded for well crafted canon-esque spells. Member created spells will need to be approved by the mods before they can be used in the RP, so bear that in mind when you are creating them and do not use them without approval. Anything we deem too outlandish or excessive for your characters age/skill level/persona/etc. will be vetoed immediately (i.e. a third year Hermione would not be playing around with a spell akin to Sectumsempra).

..:::Graphics:::..

• 1: Avatars/pb’s for characters can be changed from the canon actor/actress if you see fit to alter it, but only if the choice is both age and appearance appropriate to the character (for example, Lindsay Lohan would be a passable [although rather dismal] Ginny, Nicole Kidman would not.). Also, I really do not want a school populated by too many emo boys and scene queen types, so please choose wisely or be prepared for a vicious eye rolling.

• 2: We not only don't mind, but we encourage you to post graphics of your character - it's always nice to have a mental picture of who you're interacting with, right? - but please do so in the appropriate place. The place for this is under your induvidual character thread in the Character Information section.
  

• 3: Avatars must be no larger than 100x100.

• 4: Graphics are also welcome to be used in your signature. But please keep them under 500(width) x 200(height) in size.
  

• 5: You will probably also notice the 'Member's picture' option available in your mini profile. Please keep graphics for this section under 850(width) x 400(height) in size.

..::Are we done yet?::..

Yep. That’s about it. You can pretty much do anything you like as long as it's not breaking any of the above rules.
You can maim, you can swear, you can screw, you can abuse drugs/students/potions/the giant squid etc.
Although, if you're going to get really explicit with anything, add a warning in the title (There is a 'Mature' message icon for this very purpose - please make use of it.)

I think that's about the it for the rules.. Hope they weren't too lengthy for you, and even more so, I hope you still want to join

If you've read this and agree to abide by the above terms, please type 'Leonard! Half Kitten, Half Monkey!' as the 'I Read The Rules' code on the application sheet.[/size]

...Your Mod... . .
...T<3bey.. . .

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