Role Playing Guide to Kaerwyn
(Scroll down for the FAQ)

     Before you can RolePlay on Kaerwyn, you first need to know how to Role Play on IRC, and proper RP etiquette.

      The operators (aka, ops @) are the moderators of the channels. They will watch to make sure that people are RPing correctly and within the rules of Kaerwyn.

      Keep in mind that Kaerwyn is not hack and slash, mission based, or even campaign style role playing. Kaerwyn is Creative Group Writing. Naturally this means that you are writing a story with other people. This means that you must work with these other people. The majority of issues that present themselves in this environment is player to player problems.

      So the first thing you need to understand is that our players come here to relax and have a little fun. You must also understand that the ops are here to try to maintain the fun for everyone. One might think it’s fun to play a character with godlike powers. Most of the other players would completely disagree. We call this “Funkilling”. The ops are constantly on the lookout for “funkilling” situations. If you’re called out, chances are you’re funkilling or contributing to it.

      What you want to do is work in harmony with your fellow players. You’ll find certain players that you’ll enjoy RPing more than others. Some players prefer to simply sit in the tavern and chat. Some players prefer fighting, action or plots. It’s best to keep in mind what style of RP others are looking for, and to try to work with them.

      The first thing you need to consider, as a new player to Kaerwyn, is the creation of a character. Please note that for brand new players, we require your first character to be as mundane as a typical Real Life human or animal. You can make an anthropomorphic animal character, or hell even an alien, but you can’t give them special powers or abilities (Or items with special powers or abilities). Keep in mind that this is just for your first character; afterwards you can make whatever character types you’d like. We do this so you can quickly get a character through the approval process and start playing. Experience helps quite a bit when it comes to getting a character approved. The more powers and abilities the longer it takes the character to get approved as we check the logic.

      Now let’s go into Logic for a moment. You’ll see this come up quite a bit in Kaerwyn. A lot of people confuse logic and realism. Kaerwyn is a fantasy based RP, where the rules are the limiting factor, we try to leave your imagination fairly unlimited (Within reason of course). When we use the term “Logic” we refer to a system of reasoning. Bad logic is a system that doesn’t make much sense. Thus Good Logical Flow (The progression of said reasoning) is very important to this RP so that everything makes sense together. We require all characters, their worlds, their history and their participation in Kaerwyn to follow a reasonable Logical Flow. By forcing players to consider their characters, their abilities, their histories and homeworlds, we can better mesh the RP with other characters who are from completely different systems, with different abilities, histories and homeworlds. Realism on the other hand means that we’d be holding Kaerwyn to strict realistic standards. While we do like to see realism, as long as the Suspension of Disbelief holds up, we’re satisfied with an unrealistic, yet logical, explanation.

•Example of Logical Flow and the Suspension of Disbelief for an Unrealistic Subject:
My character is a human with wings. Because he has wings, he can fly. He has a twenty foot wingspan. Because he has wings, his agility is severely limited on the ground.

      While it’s unrealistic for a human to have wings, and it’s impossible to even scientifically explain how they can fly at all (Esp. with such a small wingspan) the suspension of disbelief holds. Thus we allow winged characters to be flight capable in many circumstances.

• Example of Illogic that does not hold the Suspension of Disbelief:
My character is a normal human. But he can fly. There’s no magic on his world, but he can fly anyway.

      In the second example, the character has the ability to fly… but it’s not at all reasonably explained. How can he fly if there’s no magic on his world? Why should we let this character play here if the player cannot give us a reasonable explanation for this ability.

      How to fix the second example? Simply rewrite it and include and explanation for how and why the character is capable of flight. The ops and other players may offer suggestions for broken logic. Do consider their advice, it will get you in faster.

      Basically you need to be able to explain your character’s abilities and attributes. This is very important to make sure they are approved in a timely manner, but also in play itself. If you can’t explain your character very well, players won’t know how certain plots may affect them. That makes it difficult to include you, and many won’t bother.

      Things you want to keep in mind are the character history, age, build, and abilities they have. If your character is 10 years old, he’s probably not going to be an exceptional fighter. If he found himself on the streets at the age of four, he probably won’t survive very long. If he’s a “self taught” anything, he’s probably not very good at it - without years and years of practice - and still not as good as the properly trained.

      You might ask yourself, why is this important? Because of the logical mesh on Kaerwyn. If you score a fighting character that is “self taught” the same as a trained soldier, there’s going to be a problem. You need to logically explain why that character gets the same score (Enhanced abilities? Racial trait? Magical or Tech Augmentation?) And the more you delve into that, the more logic you have to apply to those explanations. The best option is to keep it simple. If you want a fighter, make them a trained soldier, not a self-taught street punk. If you want a mage, they need to have spent most of their life studying magic, not some kid that found a book and got a magic wand that does whatever.

      Kaerwyn does not allow the “It just does” mentality. If the explanation is “It just does” or “The player says so” then the explanation is not good enough for this RP. You will be required to do some research for your characters. This goes for mundane things such as where a character is from (Climate, social, customs, etc) to fantasy elements such as magic or sci-fi technology.



      Once you get a character approved, there are some things you need to know about RPing here.


      Kaerwyn is very loosely considered a “turn based” RP. Basically one person makes a post, then the next person, then the next. It’s “loose” because turns can be skipped as long as the flow of the RP isn’t interrupted. You want to make sure that you can keep up. Some players can type very fast, some others take a few minutes between posts. In general, you don’t want to hold up the RP. If you’re having difficulty keeping up, you might have to try creating a different character, learn to type faster, or try to figure out the character’s responses faster. You can always ask other players to slow down for your benefit, but they won’t necessarily comply. In some cases they feel waiting a few minutes between posts is unacceptable. This goes back to finding players you enjoy RPing with, and in this case, can keep up with.

      The turn based style is very important during fights, which are coordinated between players. Fights are actually fairly rare on Kaerwyn, but you can imagine that they do happen. They’re one of the most difficult parts of the RP to play out, as your characters put their money with their mouth is – and the skills listed in the CS come into play. During fights, your characters will still be limited to the turn-based style, because it’s not fair for your character to get several hits in while the other guy is trying to type out his response. Many players will ask that you use a dice-based system to decide hits, misses, and the amount of damage done during a fight. Generally speaking, most of us prefer simple, well coordinated fights that don’t require a lot of math skills and actually end with some kind of relevant, or plot conducive point. Character strife is great for plots, development and interaction. Fights for fights’ sake are not.

      When you do play out any kind of interaction with another character, be it fighting, or passing the biscuits at the dinner table, you’ll want to write it in an “attempt to” style. To say that you did something outright to another character is what we call Proacting. This is generally not allowed unless an agreement has been made between players.

•Example of Proacting a Throw: *Lorelei throws a dagger at NPC’s head, which impales itself in his temple.

You cannot hit a character with an object outright. The other character plays the reaction of the throw.

•Example of Properly Playing a Throw: *Lorelei lobs a dagger at NPC’s head.

You can throw an object at or towards a character. This way the person on the receiving end can decide what action to take.

      Logic determines the flow of the RP. While we leave a lot up to the players, IC actions will lead to IC consequences. If you stand in front of someone’s shotgun and they pull the trigger, there’s not many logical options you have other than getting shot. While we don’t want to see characters die, this is just the nature of the game.

      So to summarize, Death, Injuries, Alterations and anything that affects another character is determined by Logic, the CS stats, and the affected character’s player. We will help players try to find a way to keep their character’s alive, but only if it can be managed in a /logical/ manner.


      Now here’s a suggestion that you’ll see on just about all RPs. Do not “metagame”. Here on Kaerwyn we call this “munleaking”. This means that the information, that you, the player has, is leaking into the character. You might know that Kaerwyn is the etheric plane nexus world. The character absolutely would not know this. The character should only know what they’ve been exposed to, or theorized on their own BASED on what they’ve been exposed to. If they suddenly have the answer to the question, or know the secrets of the plot, that’s munleaking. That’s very much a funkiller, and /no one/ likes a munleaker ruining their fun. Best way to avoid munleaking is to ask yourself, “How would my character know this information?” If you can come up with a justified, logical reason, then you’re probably safe. If you can’t, you’re probably munleaking.

-=+ Character Creation Tips +=-

Before you do anything else in Kaerwyn, you need to make a character. Thus the question arises, "What kind of character do I want to play?" Please keep in mind some things when you create your new characters.

1. You'll want your character to be well rounded, for every up there is a down. Make them equal, if you have to, ascribe certain attributes points to them. They won't mean jack shit once you start RPing, but at least you're more likely not to have "the lame character." Every character should have certain advantages and disadvantages, and they should work in harmony with each other. For example, if you have a huge 300lb human fighter type, you cannot make him stealthy and quick. Disadvantages for fighters would be slow and clumsy, Advantages would be strength and better aim. If your character is the classic "Thief" type, then they would be Quick and Cunning, but at the same time weaker and make less an impact. Any character that is strong, quick, nimble and a marksman is likely to get ignored, if not removed by the ops.

2. (Personality and morals) One of the biggest mistakes RPers make is the lack of personality. They put a lot of effort into fighting, weapons, history and other character attributes, but they completely forgo the most important part, the personality. What does your character like? What does your character hate? Is there something that really pisses them off to the point of irrational thought? What about intelligence? Any common sense? What about willpower, do they give up easily? And most importantly, WHEN you RP, keep ALL this in mind. Your characters actions and reactions should be based on their personality attributes. If your character has high intelligence, but you allow something stupid to happen for a plot, then you are playing them out of character. Example: Jane hates Anthropomorphic animals. If I one day decided I wanted Jane to meet another character (who is an anthro) and become friends, I would seriously be playing her out of character. HOWEVER, if that character did something on his own merit to earn her trust (which is possible), it would not be considered "lame."

3. (Abilities) People are all about their characters special abilities. While this is an important part of a character, it's really insignificant in the RP. This is also the part where players become the most unrealistic, and I mean beyond suspension of disbelief. But in any case, certain characters would have certain abilities. Please keep your attributes and personality in mind with your abilities. You want your characters to have somewhat "realistic" abilities with "realistic" limits. That does not mean you cannot make your characters have supernatural or extraordinary fantasy powers. What it does mean is to put some effort and somewhat explain why your character can do what it does. Remember, you can’t really disarm a character’s abilities, and that will make others ignore you. Here's a list of popular abilities:

-Shapeshifting is a popular character ability, and it is also the one most abused and unrealistic. Often characters will change back and forth without expending any energy or whatnot. In addition, players often don't put any effort into an explaination for why their character is a shapeshifter, what their limits are, and what they can do as a shifter. The werecreature is a classic "lame" example. They are extremely overused and generic. The "Generic" werewolf is the most common "lame" character. The standard FFRP "lame" werewolf is one that gained the ability through a bite/attack, are extremely affected by the full moon, and become bloodthirsty beasts when they change (but often still have some if not all cognitive abilities). Put some effort and explain WHY your character gained the curse from a bite, why the moon affects them, and why they'd become bloodthirsty when they shift. Good limitations for shapeshifters are as follows: inability to control the change, don't gain uberstrength, don't gain a lot of mass/size, can't change back and forth on a whim or instantaneously, et cetera.

-Telekenesis (TK) is another abused character ability that RPers GROAN about everytime they see it used. TK is one of the most annoying attributes another character could have, simple because they don't have to have direct contact to something to move it, lift it, throw it, et cetera. Other players also specifically hate TK because there's really no real way to dodge/fight it. If you use TK to pick up another character, you've effectively taken them out of play as far as actions go. You could also possibly ruin plots by making something fall, catching something that should fall, or moving something out of a character's reach. Good limits for TK would be: only affects small objects, must put all their concentration in it, only within a given range, easy to thwart, et cetera.

-Magical Abilities are also very popular, and very much abused. We often frown on magic users for the simple fact that players think they can do or get away with anything using their magic. Magic is not an "end all" godlike solution to everything. Magic, like TK, is also very hard to dodge when you try to use it 'on another character. Magic users MUST have limits, period, otherwise you are playing a minigod that's got no use other than to ruin plots and piss off other players. Good limitations for magical abilities would be: can only use one type (fire, ice, healing,etc), weak magics, must put all their concentration in it, weakens the character, only within a given range, easy to dodge, etc.


4. Character history is an important part of a character that's often overlooked. The history of the character is what makes them what they are. Ideally you should be able to explain all your character's aspects in the history. They say our experiences make us who we are, why we react certain ways, and why we have certain attributes. This is VERY important for characters to insure they are not "lame" or often called "two dimensional." A character should not be "A name with stats", no, a character should be a well rounded individual with a colorful past that explains why they are the way they are. Many players never bother to focus much on the character's history, thus the character appears dead, dry, and stale.
The character's background should be the largest, most in depth part of the CS. 


5. (Weapons and Equipment) Sometimes people have no interest in playing a character with special abilities or powers or whatnot. However, they make up for their lack of supernatural abilities with weaponry and trinkets. Now the well rounded character wouldn't be a mage AND an uber warrior, so this is not normally a problem. The issues arise when people unrealistically equip their characters. Often times people want their characters to have powerful weaponry. In classic FFRP groups, guns and other similar "high tech" firearms would /not/ be allowed. In Kaerwyn, however, we don't wish to limit your characters like that. If you're playing a space faring military guy, there's a chance you've got a high tech weapon. Now, here's the problem. You can only keep what your character can EASILY carry on their person. This does NOT mean you go out of your way to prove to the ops that in fact, all your uber weapons can be held on your person. No, we don't want to hear that. It's unfair for us to complain about magic users when your "walking armory" can do much more damage. So when you make a character, keep in mind what weapons and equipment your character has on you. Does s/he have a sword and two daggers? Does he have a scanning utility and a phasor? Does he have a berretta with a single clip of 9mm rounds? You need to keep up with what your character has and what your character has used.

6. (Character Homeworld and Background) Again, History is very important for a character. It explains everything that makes up a character - from personality, to knowledge, skills, and other abilities. The homeworld  also helps to lay in the foundation of a character.  You don't need to go into too much detail about the homeworld. We're not really interested in the overall population, the weather, how many moons it has, etc (Unless any of those are significant to the character's backstory).  Having a firm foundation for your homeworld will come in handy later when your character discusses their home, and even allows you to set up plots there. 

7. (Character Descriptions) Next you'll want a physical description for your character. Now technically you only need to write one description, however when you post this on IRC, you're limited to about a paragraph. Often times that's not enough for many players to adequately describe what their characters look like. This is where the Character Sheet (CS) comes into play. In the CS, you can be as thorough as you wish, make it several paragraphs, go all out! You can also post a picture of your character in your CS if you have one available. A picture is worth a thousands words afterall.

8. (Kaerwyn Arrival) - Finally, before you can play your character on Kaerwyn, you need a reason they got there. Many players make their characters fall through a rift during some kind of stressful period, or when they are near death. Characters don't often see the rifts when they enter Kaerwyn either, some just walk down the street and suddenly they're in the middle of the woods. Just remember that if your character is aboard some kind of vehicle when they enter the rift to Kaerwyn, that it will be removed from Kaerwyn by the dragons when no one is looking.

-=+ Creating the Character Sheet (CS) +=-

Download: Formatted Character Sheet
Download: Basic Character Sheet

     Approved Character Sheets are required for characters on Kaerwyn. Writing the CS isn't too terribly difficult. Getting it to pass the approval of the ops is generally what gets people in trouble.  You need a two-op approval for your CS. So read this carefully and hopefully you won't have any issues. 

     If you think you're going to need help with your CS, feel free to post what you have in the Chaos Rift forum. That's the forum specifically for Character Critiques. The other players can help you whip your character into shape without putting more work on the backs of the Ops.

     First, if you're a brand new player, your first character must be 'mundane'. We have a very nice post on the forums with specific information on the Mundane Rule and what we consider to be "Mundane" for CS purposes.  Remember, what is considered "mundane" is based on our interpretation, not yours.

     Essentially, a 'mundane' character is one that is comparable to a vanilla human. This means no special powers, skills, weapons, etc. It might /sound/ boring, but it will get you into the RP very quickly.  Many of our players (who bemoan the mundane rule) find that playing a normal human character in an abnormal environment to be quite fun.

     Now, to the CS itself.  All fields are required for the CS.  One of our players has created a program that will let you fill in the fields and it will create the CS for you. You can find the Character Sheet Generator (CSG) thread on the forums.  For people who don't want to use the CSG, you can simply open the CS into your favorite text editor and work on it from there.  Save often!

Keep in mind that the CS should be filled out from a Third Person Omnipotent Point of view. It should not be filled out from the character's point of view. This means that all the fields need to be filled out with accurate information, even if it is unknown to the character(s).  In addition, certain fields should be filled out in Imperial System of Measurement (Such as height and weight). 

-=+ Frequently Asked Questions +=-

2. What is Creative Group Writing Role Playing (CGWRP)?

 It's basically how it sounds. This is not a hack'n'slash RP, nor is it combat oriented, or based on a bunch of stats.  CGWRP is about immersing yourself in a story, either one we're running for everyone to enjoy, or for you to make little stories on your own. The point is that it's "group writing" so you're involved with other players at all times.  This also means that Kaerwyn doesn't have a traditional GM. We usually allow people to freely decide their actions, and let logic dictate the consequences.


3. What am I allowed to do as far as character creation goes? Do I need to know a system like Vampire: The Masquerade or D&D?

We do not restrict characters based on systems, but by how well they mesh up with our expectations and our general rules.  Most pre-created characters have difficulty being 'ported' to Kaerwyn.  Many D&D and White Wolf characters are considered 'overpowered' or 'twinky' by Kaerwyn's standards.  However, that doesn't mean you can't try. As long as your GTS is within the rule limits and your explanation is reasonable and logical, you'll make it in. (Of course that's often easier said than done).

4. I have a character from another RP/Story/Comic/etc. May I use them in Kaerwyn?

Yes, we don't care if you use a character from your own creations, so long as they fit Kaerwyn's setting and rule standards.  You are also allowed to submit characters from other popular media (Such as characters based on video game worlds, other comics, TV shows, etc).  You are not allowed to play a named character from the media, such as Harry Potter, Locke Cole, Captain Picard, etc). Do keep in mind that Kaerwyn is copyright to Jakkal and she will not allow people to use it in their stories, comics, or anything else. If you are planning to use your RP in your stories, you should probably find somewhere else to RP.

5. How do I start playing? Do I need to talk to a channel op or have my CS preapproved? Do I need to register my character in some way?

All played characters (PCs) must have an approved CS on the forums.  This means you need to go to the forums, read the information available there, pick up a CS, fill it out, and post it. You'll be required to take the GOD test and list your answers there as well.  All brand new players must submit a 'mundane' character as their first. We suggest you first post your characters in the Chaos Rift Forum so you can get help from the Kaerwyn playerbase in general. Then you can post it in the Wayside Forum to see if it makes the cut.  Once your character is approved by the op staff, you can start playing immediately.


6. Am I allowed to watch the RP first, to see if I'd enjoy RPing here before I put the effort into a CS?

New or prospective players are allowed to watch a session one time to get a feel for the RP, so long as no players object.  We do not allow players to watch the RP unless they are actively involved with the RP.  We often compare the RP to a skating rink. Once you're in, you're in and involved. If you walk out on the rink, you'll ruin it for everyone else.


 7. I Noticed you guys have a comic based on your RP, will my character be allowed in?

No. To put it simply, no. The characters currently in the comic are long standing friends of the artist, and she doesn't want to have to go to any extra effort adding new characters, nor does she want to spend her free time and effort drawing other people's characters for free. To be blunt, the answer is No.  The comic and the RP are completely separate.
 

8. As a brand new player, once I get a mundane approved, are they allowed to grow? Can I start posting less mundane characters?

Mundanes are allowed and expected to grow. One of the parts of the CS is "Aspirations for your Character". That's basically where you list what you'd like to have happen to the character over time on Kaerwyn.  The other players and ops will try to work with you to make this happen. Just do keep in mind that we still follow the logical flow - mundanes aren't going to instantly know magic. They aren't going to become shapeshifters with complete control. These skills take time to build.   Once you've gotten your feet wet on Kaerwyn and you better understand the nature of the RP, you can post a less mundane character.  This time usually takes about two weeks to a month, depending on the player.  There is no hard/fast rule about when you can post a non-mundane.