Rules

[Redkitebait]

THE RULES

It may seem like a lot to take in, but a lot of it is mere common sense, and are easily followed! Please take the time to read through the rules throuroughly before applying.



GENERAL


Respect Staff :: Simple enough to follow. This goes the same for fellow members too!

Rating :: As per the Proboards Terms of Service, BerksDragons is rated PG-13. This means you cant write anything of explicit sexual nature, extreme violence/gore, and other things that fall into 18+ territory.

Flaming :: No flaming, bashing, cyber-bullying, trolling or whatever. It's not friendly and obviously not appreciated. Offensive behaviour is intolerable.

Questions :: If you have any questions at all, great or small, don't hesitate! (First letter: L) There is plenty of information around at your disposal that can also help you with any queries you may have.

Complaints :: If you have any issues, dont hesitate to contact staff! If you have any suggestions that could help make the site a better place, go ahead and put a post in the Suggestions Board, we'll be more than happy to discuss with you, and get feedback from fellow members!

Register :: Please register before making an application, we don't accept guest members! You may RP only once your character has been approved by staff.


THE CBOX


NO SPOILERS :: This is a very very annoying one. It's really not fair on other members if you discuss about a franchise in which they're not up to date on. (Second letter: I) They might be watching it and they might not want to know who dies at the end or who ends up falling in love with whoever or 'omg did you see jimmy suddenly stab bob in the back when he was like his childhood friend and all' and that sort of thing. It makes everyone sad and it's really really not cool. Make sure everyone's up to date or shout spoilerwarning before blarbing.

No Spamming :: No filling up the cbox with meaningless jibber-jabber, it makes it hard for others to have a correct conversation if someone is spamming in spaces or @@@'s or whatever.

No Advertising :: We have a category for that, you can find it HERE.

No pestering staff :: The staff only need to be told once to get working on reviewing an application. (Third letter: T) If it takes too long you can give them a nudge via PM or Cbox, but constant yammering to get them to look at your app isn't very nice. Don't ask to be staff.

No Drama :: If you have issues with something or someone, shoot the Admins a PM and they will be sure to help you out! (Fourth letter: E) On that note, try not to start flame wars, etc. If someone has an opinion that differs to you, they are completely entitled to that opinion!


THE IN-CHARACTER CBOX


OOC :: Use your OOC name instead of your character's when speaking out-of-character. If your OOC name is the same as your character's, then make it clear you are now speaking OOC.

Actions, Thoughts and Dragonese :: Actions should be placed between asterisks (*). (Fifth letter: R) Thoughts should be made clear, such as in brackets or italicised. Here Italics is optional for Dragonese, since we know only those who speak Dragonese would be able to understand (also code gets annoying to type in all the time!)


CHARACTER CREATION


First-Time Applicant :: As of July 11th, 2013, all first-time applicants *must* make a Viking character. You may make a dragon as a character after 25 In-Character Posts. Attempts to make a Dragon character despite this rule will be sent to the 'Denied' section until a Viking character is made, until the Dragon character is eligible for review. This is to help you out, the applicant, as Wild Dragon characters are hard to play, with limited interactivity. If you have an issue with this rule please contact RKB or Pime, and we can explain, or see this discussion.
**Note, Vikings characters can have dragons, you just can't play a dragon by itself until you get those posts. The 100-post rule is still in effect**

Setting and Time Period :: BerksDragons is set 300 years after the time the movie takes place. The site is however 'time-locked', which means any means to invent a future weapon or device will instantly fail regardless of what happens. The time skip is designed to avoid the existence of canon charries and the prevention of 'relatives-of-canon' characters. The lands accessible on this forum are Berk and Hysteria.

Characters :: Characters can be anything - old, young, Berkite, Hysterian, dragon... The choices are many! We encourage creativity, but we must remind you not to go into the Sues!  To see if your character is Sue-ish, try our very own Sue-Test, it's only 15 questions long! Click here!

Hysteria :: Due to Hysteria's past, only Hysterian characters over 30 years old are allowed to be secretly pro-dragon. (Sixth letter: A) The younger generations have been brought up on a diet of 'Dragons are evil, kill on sight', so they won't be as easily convinced. Allow me to remind you at the beginning of the movie, even Hiccup himself was anti-dragon.

Canons :: Absolutely no canons whatsoever. All the canon characters we love and know are all dead, and only the stories of Hiccup and Toothless remain as legends told to children.

Rare Dragons :: As of the 24th of January 2016, ,You must have 100 IN-CHARACTER POSTS with ONE character to apply for a rare dragon. Then face the judging of your profile. We expect a lot from these applicants. (Seventh letter: T) Not everyone is going to have a rare dragon! It's perfectly fine to have a normal dragon! Sometimes the more common dragons are much more enjoyable to play with than the awesome-rare ones!

Titan Wing Dragons :: These powerful variants of regular dragons are Titan Wings non-rare dragons come under the category of rare dragons (so 100 posts required). Also, we will outright reject any application for the Titan Wing, regardless of who you are or who many posts you have. Rare dragons are already OP enough. 

Custom Dragons :: If you try and create a custom dragon that bypasses getting a rare dragon, like a Night Fury subspecies, or looking similar to a skill or stormcutter, etc... We will make you change the design/traits or it will be denied. To see which dragons are rare or not, be sure to check out the book of dragons, you can find it HERE.

Training Dragons :: When your character has a dragon, you need to write in the history section of your application how they met. When I say 'how they met' it does not mean your character and dragon bump into each other, and immediately decide to go home together as best friends as if they've been partners all their life. That's not really in the essence of "how to TRAIN your dragon". (Eighth Letter: U) A dragon is *never* going to suddenly be nice to you straight away, no matter how kind-hearted the dragon is. A dragon is not going to blindly trust a human it has never met before in it's life, even if it's on an island full of dragon-loving vikings. Some dragons may have come from elsewhere, and not know that Berkians are friendly. Half the time, dragons might not even see the need to spend it's time with humans, because they're weak and stupid.  Long story short - you need to legitimately TRAIN your dragon. It won't suddenly become your friend on the first encounter. It's on the same basis as the relationship clause, almost.

Night Furies :: Night Furies are designed to be invisible when flying at night to avoid detection and helps them be efficient killers. For this reason, we don't allow Night Furies with any bright markings or biolumiescence. If the are to have markings they must be dark, like how even Toothless has a darkish mackerel-like markings on his back if you look close enough.

Plaigiarism :: Don't. Also, don't try make any Hiccup-wannabes, lookalikes or anything of that sort. We won't accept it and will ask you to change it. Be original!

Display Name :: After making your account, please change your display name to that of your character. (Nineth Letter: R) If your character has more than one dragon, please refrain from listing them all in the display name, if you choose the Human&Dragon display name format.

Balance :: When making your character, try and make them as even as possible. If they have one huge advantage, be sure to give them many weaknesses to compensate that appear frequently. Don't bother putting weaknesses if they're never going to show up in RP's. This also goes with personality.

Multiple Characters :: If you are RPing two characters in the same post-thread with other people, please post separately per account. If you are RPing with yourself, you may give a post for each in the first account, but then your response (at least 12 hours later) should be on the other account.


ROLEPLAY


Word Count :: An RP post should be at least 200 words minimum.

Be Literate :: Please be literate when RPing. We don't tolerate chatspeak, chat abbreviations or smileys in posts (unless there are OOC notes).  Keep an eye on your spelling and grammar, we'll let you know if your text is difficult to understand. If English isn't your first language, that's fine! We will encourage anyone willing to learn another tongue and will help you out if you have any linguistic issues!

Weapons :: We're playing with Vikings, so swords, axes, bludgeons, chain-balls, hammers, etc. are all accepted. Ranged weapons include bows, crossbows, spears/javelins, catapults, and so on. There is no magic in this world. For available metals, Vikings are able to forge iron, bronze, silver, and gold. (most likely to least likely) We don't accept jewels encrusted into weaponry, or coloured/stained weapons.

Relationships :: A considerable amount of time should pass before two characters can become a couple. You wouldn't start kissing some complete stranger on the first day you met them, would you?

Posting Order :: Keep a posting order! If the RP has more than two characters in it, you can't just post after every new reply, you should establish an order and stick to it.  If you are using two characters in the same RP, please allow at least 12 hours before posting with the other, to let other people have a chance to get their character into the fray, and so the RP doesn't dwindle into a solo-game.

PG-13 :: As mentioned above, the site is PG-13 so anything more than kissing should really be avoided. Otherwise you MUST put a warning at the start of the thread or post. Anything explicit must have a 'fade to black' or the RP's should be conducted via PM.

No God Modding :: Unless you are controlling an NPC, you cannot control what other people's characters can do. Your character is NOT invincible, nor has sudden incredible super powers. (Tenth Letter: E) Your character can't be overpowered. You cannot kill or gravely wound another person's character without their EXPRESS permission.

Dialogue and Thoughts :: Dialogue and Thoughts should be able to be distinguished from narrative text. The common example on this site is Bolded for Common tongue, Bold-Italics for Dragonese and Italics for thoughts. An Example is as follows:

"Hello, I am a human speaking Common Tongue"
"Hello, I am a Dragon speaking Dragonese."
I am currently thinking about my choices.

Humans can learn Dragonese, but Dragons cannot learn Common.

Taming Dragons :: If you and another character start out with one of you as a wild dragon, and the other as a dragonless viking, you MUST have a thread between the two of you dedicated to meeting, bonding, etc. If your human starts out without a dragon, please ask me before claiming a dragon that you will play yourself. For example, I would expect a great application for someone who will eventually go after a rare dragon.

Tense :: Posts are to be in the third-person past-tense.

GRAPHICS


No Stealing :: Don't claim artwork as your own, unless you legtimately made the picture. RKB will be mad if you do.  Credit the author or give a link somewhere to the original source of the picture. Even better - ask permission of the artist themselves of approval before use!

Stretching :: Images in posts and signatures should not exceed 500 pixels wide. Any more causes the site to stretch and it's irksome for everyone.  Signatures should also not be too long. It becomes a problem if the signature is longer than a simple post!

No Mature Content :: Easily enough understood. Proboards ToS states all forums must be kept at a PG13 rating.