Welcome to Obsidian Butterfly. Here you will find the general rules and guidelines of our board – from our posting standard to our graphics rules. You’ll also find the code word in here, which is essential in order to be approved as a member of our community. Most of these rules are simple enough to follow, and make sure that you do. The staff has the final word on all rules, and we reserve the right to change them at any time, be it for the enjoyment of the community, for functionality, or for our amusement some other unforeseen circumstance. Check back often!

Board Rules
Bio Rules
Posting Rules
Graphic Rules
Cbox Rules
Plot Rules

So there's been some confusion on basic plot etiquette, and now that the Wild Hunt is over and people are less likely to freak out and think this is aimed entirely at them because THE STAFF IS EVIL AND HATES THEM (protip: we love you guys), I'm going to provide this as a basic "Do" and "Don't" list to try and help everyone enjoy plots more and, y'know, not result in your entire staff going on sabbatical for a few weeks afterwards.


Do

Have fun. That's what the plot is there for.
Ask questions if you're confused on how the plot works. We're usually happy to answer and it will save you time.
Communicate with us. If you're signed up for a plot and you have a family emergency, we'll be sympathetic.
Prioritize plot posts. Seriously, we saw several people making their plot groups wait to post to individual threads. That's inconsiderate, guys.
Be proactive. We're not going to scold you for going above and beyond in your posts so long as you don't spotlight hog (so give other people things to do, too!)

Don't

Nag us to send you new prompts/update the plot/etc. Seriously.
Get impatient with the staff for not posting. Guess what? If it's a board wide plot, we're probably trying to work with everyone on the board, not just you, and we do have lives outside of the board. Give us a little leeway here; we're going to be slower than you guys, because we're the ones running the back end of stuff.
Complain bitterly in the cbox that you didn't like your prize or your group or the way your group treated your character etc. If you have a problem with how the plot is going for your character, contact a staff member, voice your concerns politely but with as much objectivity as possible, and we'll see what we can do to work with you to make it more enjoyable for you. But if you're publicly complaining, we're much less inclined to play ball; it makes us feel like our plots aren't good enough for you.
Expect a ton of prizes. We'll give them out, but every plot's base prize is tokens. If you get more, excellent! If you don't, well, maybe next time. It's not bias; it's that we tend to randomize our rewards. Some people get more prizes than others.
Procrastinate. If you wait til the last possible day to post on a prompt, you're going to hurt your group and make people unhappy. It's inconsiderate. We get it if you're not here, but if you are, it's really not cool to just be like "Oh I'll post later, I'm looking at Imgur right now!" Y'know? Would you like that?


A lot of this is just "be considerate to others, including the staff." I can speak for all of us when I say that when we see people complaining that their prizes aren't good enough in the cbox, or that their staff member isn't fast enough, or that they're not getting posts quick enough from us, it really kills our muse. We work hard to give you guys fun, cool plots that can involve everyone, but they're not perfect. If you have ideas for how to improve, please let us know - but don't make a public spectacle of bitterly complaining. It just makes us feel inadequate and then we don't want to try for you anymore.

Okay guys?

This isn't aimed at any one person in particular because, unfortunately, most everyone on the board is guilty of at least one of these offenses (including the staff!) but this is just a way of trying to make things more fun for everyone.

So let's work on that for the future, mmkie?

01. Staff is the law of the land. Be respectful.
-- As a rule, we're not going to come down hard on you, but arguing with us (and we mean arguing, not simply trying to present an alternate point of view) is unacceptable. And because some people don't understand, a clarification: arguing semantics solely to be pedantic is not the same thing as trying to pose an alternate viewpoint. That said, we don't make rules simply to inconvenience you, we make them to help make Obsidian Butterfly run smoothly. If we ask you to change something, giving us lip isn't going to make us like you more or back down, so try to understand: we're asking you because of how the site works. Not because we dislike you.

02. You must be fifteen older to enter the land of Mordor join Obsidian Butterfly.
-- I know, I know. We get a lot of 13 year olds who are excited to join. But we push our PG13 rule hard - and our cbox is definitely not "child friendly" at all hours. If you're 13 and you want to join us, check back in two years. We'll still be here, and we'll love to have you.

03. Accounts must be active. Failure to log in and post after 30 days will result in deletion.
-- On rare occasions, if you communicate with us, we will be understanding of your circumstances and save your accounts, but if you're gone for a month, there's a good chance your account will go bye-bye. This doesn't mean you can't come back: we save profiles! But it does mean you lose your face-claim and will have to repost your profiles, which will require going through character approvals again as well.

04. You may have a maximum of 14 characters total.
-- Relax! You don't have to have 14 characters! This is just the maximum. And we're flexible. If you can keep these active, we'll consider lifting this rule for you. Plot characters and NPCs do not count toward your character total.

05. All characters on Obsidian Butterfly must be original.
-- In other words: No, you can't play Jean-Claude or Anita. We don't allow Anita Blake or Merry Gentry canons, but we also do not allow (knowingly) characters from other universes to be transplanted here. So, no, you can't play Ron Weasley, the magical Wiccan werewolf. You can bring characters from other roleplays over here, though. That's okay, as long as you convert them to fit our universe and profile template.

06. Our species are static. You may not make something not listed.
-- Unless you win a challenge or purchase a special species through tokens (which are a unique feature on Obsidian Butterfly and you can learn more about them here once you've registered), you may not make a species that is not standardly available on Obsidian Butterfly. Our species are humans, fey (of either Court), shades, vampires, werefoxes, werehyenas, werejaguars, wereleopards, werelions, weretigers, wererats, werewolves and swans. Anything listed on our sidebar under "Special" requires admin approval.

07. You may only have a maximum of four played fey characters, two per court.
-- Strictly speaking, this means you may have up to 2 Seelie fey, and 2 Unseelie fey, for a total of four fey altogether. This is to avoid a lot of confusion and overlaps, particularly with group threads. You may purchase extra fey slots using Tokens (they fall under 'Banned Species') if you feel you need more, but as a rule, this is to avoid a lot of confusion in major plots. Sorry, folks!

08. Your FIRST ACCOUNT must be your ooc alias.
-- Jcink offers "sub-accounts." From your main account, you'll be able to log in all of your secondary accounts. For this reason, your characters will all have their own accounts, and you'll be able to access them through the account switcher. Make sure your first account (and primary one) has the name you intend to use in the cbox! THIS IS ALSO THE ACCOUNT ALL PROFILES WILL BE POSTED ON. Once you post the profile, we'll sort your other accounts! (Yes, it's confusing. But we prefer it this way so that people can see who plays who.)

09. You should post...
-- We get it.You're excited about a plot, or a thread you have going right now, what we don't need is you hounding people to post. Everyone has a life outside of OB, you need to remember that, and we live in different timezones, so you need to be more courteous when your're waiting for people to post. I know that when you hound staff, that thread tends to get left last on purpose. One PM to the person to see what's going on is sufficient. Do NOT use he cbox to hound people into posting. Similarly goes with bios too.

10. Be nice.
-- Yeah, yeah, we know. You're always nice, right? Well, we won't tolerate people picking on one another (beyond the normal friendly teasing) or bullying each other. Characters may not get along and that's okay, and players might not either, but we're all adults here -- if you're not fond of someone for one reason or another, just avoid them. Bullying is not something we'll accept, nor will we put up with people being mean to each other in any way. This is a fun community for everyone, and we're not going to let anyone ruin that.

01. Profiles must use the Obsidian Butterfly template.
-- And we do mean we want it coded in a way that we can easily read it. This might make you cringe a little, but there's a nice coded spine you can use. Please double space between paragraphs and leave the bolds. If you change things around, odds are, we're going to ask you to change them back. So just save yourself some time, eh?

02. Please use third person and past tense histories.
-- Anita Blake is written in first person, so sometimes it's fun to want to write your history as if your character is telling it. Please don't. We'd rather it be in third person, like our roleplay is. The same goes for using past tense in your history. You can use present tense in your appearance and personality sections, but history needs to be past tense. So does roleplay sample - which should follow our roleplay guidelines, too.

03. You have a week of joining to post a profile.
-- Like every roleplay, we get a lot of accounts that join and never post a profile. We delete them after a week. The codeword is godobye. If you put a WIP up, we'll hold you for two weeks, but you're expected to try and complete your profile as quickly as possible in order to get involved. Communicate with us if something comes up right after you join and you need to be gone. We're understanding.

04. Face Claims/Character Reps must be real people.
-- You're not required to choose a face claim. Encouraged, but not required. We have a list under Records. However, you may not use someone in use, and you may not use anime characters. You also may not claim someone for your character until your character has a WIP up. We'll delete your request if you ignore this rule.

05. Code words are not optional.
-- Every bio needs to include the code word. You'll find it here in the rules hidden. You need to have it to be approved, and if you forget it, we will make you come back and read the rules until you add it!

06. You may not create a psychic shapeshifter or vampire.
-- Pause! Relax! Wait a second! Yes, we'll let you make a psychic human, and yes, we'll let you make a shapeshifter or vampire. The catch? If you want a shapeshifter who is telekinetic, for instance, you have to start out as human and be turned in character at 100 posts. Don't worry, though, it's not that hard to get 100 posts - we promise. And this only applies to people who want psychic abilities! Normal vanilla shapeshifters or vampires are fine.

07. Alphas, necromancers and masters are 'special' and require admin approval.
-- As a general rule, you will not be allowed to start as an alpha shapeshifter, a necromancer or a master vampire. You will have to apply through our portfolio system. We're pretty easy-going on it, so don't worry too much there. Animators apply to become necromancers, while normal shifters and vampires can apply to become alphas and masters.

08. Character accounts need to be made when you post your bio on your OOC account.
-- There's nothing more frustrating for the staff than trying to hunt down people to make their character accounts. So because of this we ask you to make your character account when you post your bio. This way you can get going straight away. It's also easier for the staff to do everything at once rather than changing totals one time and activating account another time!

09. Unattached child characters are strongly discouraged.
-- We've never addressed this in the rules because we assumed it was semi-obvious, but - Obsidian Butterfly doesn't have any school boards, or anything catered to children. The reason for this is simple: this roleplay is 'adult' character focused. We won't tell you no, you can't make a child, but when you come onto the board with kids who aren't attached to anyone else, odds are, they won't be roleplayed with much or at all by other characters on the board simply because there's very few reasons why a grown man or woman is going to talk to a child. We're sorry if this discourages you, but that's just how our roleplay works. That being said, we're certainly not saying "No, you can't do that." But the site is what it is - and we have no desire to boost our child population in order to help fix this. There's a lot of cool school roleplays with supernatural themes where such a character would be more well-received than on OB. <3

01. No Godmoding.
-- Big surprise there, right? You can't play someone else's character unless you have their permission. Use your best judgment here; most people are understanding. This also means you can't respond to the other player's introspect -- your character doesn't know what the person they're interacting with is thinking. Unless they're a telepath, and even then, please use discretion.

02. No Mary Sues/Gary Stus.
-- Yeah, this goes with #1. Every character has weaknesses, every character has flaws, and not everyone is going to always win. Accept it and embrace it. Our flaws are what make us different from one another, what make us stand apart as individuals. It's completely okay to play a klutz or someone who is socially awkward.

03. Posts should be a minimum of 300 words.
-- Don't freak out! If you're new to roleplaying, we'll help you improve. Most of us post around 500-800 words, and sometimes this is intimidating, but we're definitely not elitist. We accept everything from beginning roleplayers to people who have been doing it for years and we'd love to have you. Just let us know you want help and we'll do our best to help you improve, if you're new and aren't used to the word requirement.

04. Posts should be PG13.
-- This is a requirement. If you have a need to roleplay something past that, get in touch with the staff to take it off of our site, but we'll expect you to be over 18 when you do it. Usually this won't come up that much, though. If you're unsure whether your content will go over our PG13 requirements, contact a staff member for help.

05. Posts should be in past tense, third person and writing format.
-- Please don't write in present tense ("Hello," she says.) or in first person ("Hello," I say.) or in chat speak, (*waves* Hi!) in the actual roleplay. This is fine in the OOC section, but we're a literate RP and we expect things to be proper English, in past tense and third person. That means no chat speak like "How r u?" on the actual IC boards as well.

06. Do not change the size or fonts of your posts.
-- OOC notes in size 1 is fine. Writing the whole post in size 1 is going to blind us. We also request you not write your whole post in fonts like Amaze or Porcelain. It's hard to read for those of us who are running either huge resolutions with tiny text to start with, or just flat out bad eye sight.

07. Please don't RP with yourself.
-- Double posting is not necessary. If you make an open thread, you can post it under our classifieds and someone will reply. Or just shake people in the cbox. Someone will eventually get to it. Replying to your own posts is bizarre - unless it's in the Further Development board. Um, similarly, if you play multiple characters, please try to avoid a huge amount of interaction with your own characters. The point of a roleplay is to RP with other people, after all.

08. IC is IC. OOC is OOC. The two don't mix.
-- If you dislike a roleplayer, don't roleplay with them. There is never an excuse to take your dislike OOC into an IC format for all of your characters to dislike that person's. The same goes in reverse: if someone's character dislikes yours, it in no way reflects on the player disliking you. Please understand that these are two different platforms and that the player doesn't necessarily think the same thing as the character involved. In some cases, the opinion is actually exact opposites. If you're a little concerned, just communicate with the other player and voice your questions. Communication will get you a long way through misunderstandings!

01. All images must be PG13.
-- You can upload your images to www.imgur.com for free, or to www.tinypic.com, or even www.photobucket.com. There's never a reason or a justification to hotlink from someone else's server and use their bandwidth. Save your images and reupload them to your own space!

02. Все картинки должны быть с рейтингом PG13.
-- Как и все детали The Name of the Wind, подписи, аватары, заголовки и прочие графические работы должны быть с рейтингом PG13. Пожалуйста, не надо использовать откровенные исходники, а то будете наказаны, негодяи. Намек на что-то сокрытое - это интересно. Прямая демонстрация - нет. Будьте артистичны! В интернете итак полно порно, но здесь это не допустимо.

03. Размер аватарок должен быть 180х320.
-- Этот размер выбран как наиболее оптимальный и эстетически приятный в реалиях данного дизайна. Можете заказать аватару в соответствующей теме, а участники ролевой, которые хорошо управляются с графикой, покажут свои способности. О да, некоторые участники ролевой могут действительно приоткрыть свой волшебный плащ и показать...ой, рейтинг PG13 же.

04. Подпись-картинка не должна быть больше 350х120.
-- В общем и целом, мы бы предпочли, чтобы вы оформляли подпись по специальной форме - это смотрится очень эстетично и аккуратно. Но здесь не армия, поэтому стиль оформления выбираете сами. Кстати, не стесняйтесь попросить помощи с созданием подписи.

01. Старайтесь правильно расставлять приоритеты.
-- Ясное дело, что иногда хочется поучаствовать в разных квестах, попробовать всего, но по чуть-чуть, и это с какой-то стороны даже похвально, однако старайтесь помнить, что основной сюжет важнее нежели отыгрыш прошлого персонажа (флешбек). Так же убедительно просим отписываться хотя бы раз в два дня, а то сюжет будет продвигаться крайне медленно.

02. "Я не могу запоститься, потому что жду нашего..!"
-- Не надо. Единственный, кого вы должны ждать - автор темы. Как только тема готова, вы можете отыгрывать, когда вам угодно. Долгие паузы не приведут ни к чему хорошему, а мы ведь не хотим, чтобы наш любимый проект начал терять игроков?

03. Участие в сюжете это не только удовольствие, но и 3-4... токена!
-- Да, мы действительно поощряем игроков просто за то, что они отписываются в ролевой. Вот так просто! При этом хотелось бы заметить, что при помощи токенов вы можете усилить своего персонажа особыми способностями, купить ему недвижимость или ценные предметы, оформить артефакт и много чего еще! Но просим вас не забывать о качестве игровых постов, так что не надо заниматься "отпиской" ради наживы!

04. "Я не знаю, что мне делать!"
-- Каждая такая фраза делает администратора грустным. Вопросы - нет. Если вдруг вы растерялись и действительно не можете сообразить, чем занять персонажа - обратитесь к администрации и вам помогут. Честно-честно.

05. Лидеры рас/групп/организаций и т.п. обязаны участвовать в сюжетных мероприятиях.
-- Итак, правила просты: если идет война (для примера) и вы являетесь лидером, скажем, эльфов, то вы либо отыгрываете в надлежащей теме, либо теряете свой статус. Это касается всех ранговых персонажей - вы не просто так носите титул. Вы являетесь предводителем своей собственной команды, так что нельзя просто сидеть на попе ровно и говорить, что у вас нет времени (систематически). Если вы слишком заняты для отыгрыша, то вы слишком заняты для такой ноши как титул лидера. И это не обсуждается.

В заключение хотелось бы добавить, что ролевая "The Name of The Wind" является проектом для удовольствия и только. В текстах и изображениях на форуме вы можете увидеть отголоски к Ravine от автора Nebezial'a на Девиантарте и, конечно же, замечательной серии книг Патрика Ротфусса "Хроники Убийцы короля", однако, большая часть информации придумывалась именно владельцами проекта. Администрация форума и его участники очень стараются сделать сообщество уникальным в своем роде - местом, куда бы хотелось заходить снова и снова, поэтому мы очень ценим всех наших игроков и с радостью слушаем и используем все интересные идеи по улучшению нашей с вами FRPG!

Спасибо за внимание!