Game Guidelines and Rules

[watchtower_editorial]

Welcome! watchtower_ooc is the OOC (Out of Character) 'backstage area' for the members of watchtower_rebirth, a free-form, play-by-post role-playing community. We use this community to coordinate plots and scenes. This post is necessary reading before joining the community - ignorance is no excuse and will not spare a violator from the ban-hammer!

Our guiding principles are as follows!

1. Real Life Comes First - Everyone has families, jobs, personal illnesses, crises of the non-infinite variety. For that reason, we have chosen to be a laid-back community in many ways. There are no posting minimums. That said, if you wish to add on another character after your first, we will take your level of activity into consideration. If you cannot be active in the community for the foreseeable future, we expect people to post a note to the OOC community here to let folks know that they'll be gone. If an emergency happens and you can't do this, that's okay - just let us know when you can.


2. Don't Be a Jerk (Part One) - We cannot emphasize this enough - this game should be a stress release, not a source of stress. To that end, it is expected that you will ask the scene poster's permission before joining a scene that isn't labeled as open. You will respect the choice of any players who do not wish to directly interact with you or your character. You will not engage in god-modding - write your posts in such a way that the respondant can decide what happens to their character, not you.


3. Don't Be a Jerk (Part Two) - No, seriously - minimum stress. We also ask that if a scene contains or is expected to contain sensitive topics like (but not limited to) rape, torture, or child abuse, that the community be warned via the OOC community and by appropriate tags on the post in question. We also do not tolerate harassment - if a player tells you to stop communicating with them, take them seriously. If we hear about a failure to respect boundaries, we will be upset.


4. Canon and Continuity - Canon is a double-edged sword - we love it, but sometimes it's hard to keep track of nuances. And sometimes, everyone has a different favorite version of a character. Ditto, continuity. We expect characters played here to be based on the comics continuity - though they may incorporate elements, stories, and supporting characters from other sources, and we are certainly open to considering alternative comics continuity on a case by case basis. We are using the framework currently suggested by the DC Rebirth line - IE, a naked blue atomic wizard did it - to allow for every character to remember things a little bit differently. There was stolen time, now it's fixed, but some things are slightly askew. We will try to keep our own continuity going forward, but just in case a player leaves after really tying a character into a continuity knot? We are not above invoking a residual 'time burp' to accommodate a new player who doesn't want to deal with it.


5. Sources - Expanding on that last point, we will consider characters from any version of DC's 'Earth Zero' universe. The Justice Society, prior to Flashpoint? Fine. Vertigo or Wildstorm characters integrated after the New 52? Great. Sugar and Spike from the Legends of Tomorrow anthology? I might actually pay you to run them. Similarly, if you pick a character like Firestorm, you have a lot of versions - Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond? Jason Rusch? Whatever floats your boat. The only catch is that if you want to bring in an alternate version of a character already being played, you will require not only moderator approval, but the approval of the player who has the 'core' version of that character, and neither will be given lightly.

These rules are subject to the interpretation of your friendly team of moderators. Attempts to wheedle around them with "But you didn't technically forbid exactly what I did.." will be frowned upon. We are not lawyers. This is not a contract.

Beyond those guiding principles, here are some additional specific rules and best practices that expand on, or wholly extend, what came above :

• Tag Your Posts, Please - Most of us are in the habit of tagging posts with character names (as specific as necessary), plot names, and / or content warnings. You may also tag a post with 'open post' if you are willing to invite any player to participate.


• It's Not HBO, It's Dreamwidth - I think most of us are content with a PG-15 standard as followed by the Marvel Netflix shows. We're not going to sweat a few swears. But if things in a scene are getting steamy, consider fading to black - or relocating to private journals, if you and your writing partner are into that. No judgment!


• OOC vs. IC - Stuff on watchtower_ooc is out of character. Most of it should be posted to be visible to Members Only. Stuff on watchtower_rebirth is IN character. It should be posted such that anyone may view it, but only members may comment on it. Stuff posted to your character's private journal or to other communities is outside of our concern or control.