Beginning Role-Playing
World Administrators: Dragonlands Administrators
Dragon Lands Training Guide, v2.1
Developed by Alton Reich
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World Administrators: Dragonlands Administrators
1.0 Orientation
First step in joining DragonLands (DL) is training at Venture Warren. Training is designed to take approximately six weeks or less from start to finish.
TO START: First, you need to develop a bio for your character. That bio has to be reviewed by at least two unit administrators (Admins) and approved for play. It is a give and take process and there may be several revisions before final approval.
Second, you will join a "training" group where you will practice roll playing your character and interacting with others.
While you are in training the Admins will discuss where your character will be sent after training. In most cases this is based on the availability of open roster slots at the warrens, but sometimes a character fits better in a certain location. Once you complete training, you will be sent to your unit.
2.0 What is Training?
During training, you will write a few posts involving interaction with one or more Mentors and perhaps one or more other new players. The goals of your training session are:
3.0 Subject Lines (and Why We're So Picky About Them)
The subject line of your post tells everyone at a glance what warren you are writing for, and what kind of information it contains. It is, therefore, very important that you get it right.
Most posts you write will relate to the story line of the game. They will contain the actions and dialogue of your character, other characters, and non-player characters (NPCs). Posts of this type are called role-playing (RP) posts. The subject line of all RP posts should indicate that it is a DL post, your unit, and the title of the post. Each unit is abbreviated using the
first letter of the unit name. For example, a post for Venture Warren might have the following subject line:
The other type of post you may write contains only information that is not RP material. You may have a question, or comment. You may be sending out an updated bio file. All of these things are purely non-role playing game (NRPG) material because they do not contain additions to the story line. The subject
line for these posts is similar to an RP post, but the NRPG designator should be at the beginning of the subject line. For example:
This indicates that the post contains NRPG information for Cleft Warren and is the bio file for Warrenlady Cynthia (my character).
While you are in training, your subject line should begin with: [DL-V] for Venture Warren.
4.0 Post Writing Style
DL posts are written in the third person form, which is the form used for most books. (Except, as I recall Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, which I also recall hating. The Muppet version wasn't so bad, though.) In this form you write from the perspective of an omniscient narrator. An example of this is:
H'nry saw the man come over the top of the hill, and draw his sword with an evil grin on his face. He paused at the crest only long enough to call back over his shoulder to his companions before plunging down the hill.
H'nry backed up a few paces to be closer to Dalanth. The dragon raised his head over his rider and hissed warningly at the approaching bandit.
[Should I flame him, my rider?] Dalanth thought to H'nry.
*No,* H'nry replied, *I really am looking forward to this.*
The bandit slowed and swung his sword in a wide arc at H'nry. The rider brought his stout wooden club up quickly and deflected the sword blade. He turned his wrist over and swung lazily at the bandit who stepped back out of range. H'nry stepped forward and brought the club back the other way. The bandit parried the blow, but H'nry's massive arms knocked the blade aside. The club contacted the side of the bandit's head, and the man tumbled to the ground.
"That felt good," H'nry said to the unconscious bandit.
[More are coming,] Dalanth informed H'nry.
H'nry looked up to see two more of the bandits at the crest of the hill. He quickly turned and swung up into the saddle strapped to Dalanth's back. *Let's go,* he thought.
Dalanth launched himself into the sky and quickly teleported away.
Here are a few things to notice about the post segment above:
* The post segment begins by letting you know where it takes place. This information is contained in square brackets right at the top. Unless it is very obvious, you should get in the habit of giving place and time information at the beginning of each scene you write. That kind of information makes it
easier for other players to determine the order in which events occur.
* The dragon dialogue uses brackets instead of quotation marks, and human communication with his dragon uses *. These delimiters are also used for other types of non-speech communication, such as sign language and telepathy, and are not necessarily consistent from player to player.
* It is written in the third person form, from the perspective of a narrator. You can use other forms when necessary, but most posts should be written in the third person.
5.0 Mailing Lists
Most units are using our mailing list group managers. If you are assigned to one of these units, your mailing list will consist of a single address for the mailing list. The remote server then takes your incoming post and sends it out to the entire mailing list (including you). The unit Admin is responsible
for keeping the list up-to-date. If members of your unit change addresses, you may need to send to their new address separately until the mailing list is updated.
Other units rely on mailing lists maintained by the individual members of the unit. In one of these units, you would need to create and maintain a mailing list that contains one or more addresses for each of the other players in the unit, including the address for Even if your unit uses a mailing list server, you should still maintain a good, old-fashioned mailing list just in case the server experiences problems or you wish to contact individual writers.
In addition, RPG posts are now sent to the WeaversFiction mailing list at Yahoogroups. This list is an open forum for outsiders to read and enjoy the creations of World Weavers. This list will also be used to link for award nominations and winners. The World Weavers Club archives can be found at:
6.0 Interactive Writing
Another key point is to not express other players' characters' opinions, thoughts, feeling, or point of view (POV), as well as, human-dragon conversations, or private conversations to which your character is not privvy unless you know the character well *and* it forwards the storyline. It helps to avoid problems if you consult the other character's creator. So, remember, "Avoid an insult... always consult!"
During interactive writing, 'tags' are often left in one post to another writer for follow up on a storyline. Be careful of interrupting a 'tag' if the event is a private climactic event between two characters-- interrupting such a tag may show disrespect for others' storylines.
A final point to mention, always respect the other writers' storylines with their characters. Never kill, maim, make major life-changes (like having them become parents), or create backhistory for other people's characters -- PCs and NPCs -- without their permission. Likewise, do not start a romantic or sexual relationship with another player's character without permission. This includes not only long-term relationships, but also one-night stands, mating flights, seductions, and rapes. These are sensitive topics. Treat them with respect.
7.0 Have Fun
* To teach you the proper subject line format to use.
Seems straightforward enough, so let's dive right in.
* To ensure you use a third person form for your posts.
* To teach you about mailing lists.
* To teach you about interactive writing.
Subject: [DL-V] Facing the Monsters
At a glance you know that this post is for Venture Warren, and will probably contain some action. The other reason we're so picky about the subject line is that all posts get archived in a semi-manual process. The unit needs to be correctly identified, so that archivist will know where to save the post.
Subject: NRPG [DL-C] Cynthia's bio
[On an isolated hillside]
Mailing lists are at the heart of DL play. If you don't have the correct mailing list, other people in your unit don't know what you've written and, therefore, can't interact. Your unit Admin will provide you with your unit's mailing list when you complete training and are assigned to that unit. The Admin will also periodically update the mailing list.
Interactive writing, also known as interactive fiction roleplaying, involves writing your own character(s) interacting with other writers' characters through various storylines, or threads. One of the keys to doing this successfully lies in "doing your homework." That is, reviewing past posts and bios to get a sense of how various characters would act and react in different situations.
That's the bottom line here, isn't it? As the Admins of DL, we have to lay down some basic rules, or there'd be complete chaos. You've now seen them all, and they're really not so bad. Once you finish training, you should be an expert at them all. Now go forth and have a good time! (For complete rules see the DL World Guide.)
Revisions were made by Arlene Jacobs and Dana Zuhlke
-AR
See A Manual For On-Line Role Playing in the DragonLands Universe
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