Welcome

Guesty

First off, I'm very impressed with the game so far, and I am considering joining. But there are a few questions that I have to answer.

First, what is the age range for your game? Would it be safe for children?

Secondly, I read the rules regarding graphics, do we need to have a model? Can it be someone from DeviantArt or a drawing?

How strict are you regarding the canons? Why are some of them limited to players with an approved character?

How do storytelling threads work? What do you mean when you say that VF is a 'storytelling RPG'?

Why the ban on plot-pages?

Rena

You've raised some very good questions. I'll do my best to answer them all one by one.

This depends. First of all, we are an unrated game, which means that we can potentially include some things that may be deemed "R" or "NC-17." We try to give players as much freedom as possible, which means that we also see some threads that push the envelope. This is fine with us because we're trying to create an immersive world, and we're not glossing over the fact that violence, sex, drugs, and cruelty happen. So there are definitely some adult themes on the board.

This, however, does not mean that we don't accept younger players, because we feel that maturity is much more important than age. Also, we request that anything that includes mature content should be tagged and marked in the thread title/description/tags, which gives people who don't want to read that kind of content fair warning.

So to answer your question, we are probably not the most child-friendly board out there, but we don't impose any age-limit*, and we trust that players can judge for themselves.

* The exception, of course, is the COPPA rules. We can't allow any minors under the age of 13, because they cannot legally agree to the terms of service. This is a federal law, not ours.

Let me say it up front: you are strongly encouraged to have a model. And that model is strongly encouraged to be a real public figure. We don't want to violate anyone's privacy, so we prefer if you don't take some random person's Myspace/Facebook/DeviantArt pictures.

But we also don't require you to have a model. We obviously feel that creating the image with your writing is much more important, but having a proper model gives us a great visual aid, and it's generally a good thing aesthetically.

Generally speaking, we are the least strict on canons with no asterisks. We obviously check to see if the applicant has captured the gist of the character. Keep in mind that these canon characters are around to give the realm life, so we definitely wish for them to play them accurately, because many of the causal relationships within our world depend upon them. If you mess up one link in the chain, you could potentially throw off entire plots or settings, and no one wants that.

That's also one reason why certain characters are more restricted than others. These characters tend to be further up the chain, and have more links tied to them. This means that the characters have to be careful when playing them, because they have potential to set huge things in motion. As a storytelling RPG, we try to think of the world as a big game of Dominoes. Things that one person set in motion can (and do) affect other people, even if they aren't there to feel it directly.

Certain characters, we feel, are just too central to this game of dominoes that we don't trust with just any player. We would definitely prefer if the player that picks them have demonstrated experience with the nuances of our world, and has shown that they respect and wish to add to our background lore.

Well, in some respect, every RPG is 'storytelling,' but we like to take this axiom a little further. We prefer to tell a more unified story.

Basically, we have added the extra dimension of having storytellers. These guys act like the gamemaster does in a game of D&D. They lead the thread that involves your character, they lay out the setting and push your character along, and you provide all the in-character acting. Basically, it's like a big game of "Choose Your Own Adventure," with your characters as the 'reader' and the world of Veritas Falsus as the book.

Furthermore, we like to integrate events together. If one person blows up a building in a thread that occurs simultaneously to another thread, a storyteller may mention that the characters in the other thread hear a sudden explosion nearby. If one person is killed in one thread, his body may show up in another thread. Basically, we want things to be connected, like they would be in the real world. This means that threads can merge, split, diverge, and converge, but it should make for a lot of fun.

Because we feel that they're counterproductive. For one, plot pages focus too much on the aesthetics of the text, and we prefer not to get into that. Rainbow colored text doesn't even show up that well on our layout background.

Secondly, planning out relationships beforehand is too coarse for an RPG that requires the level of detail and immersion that we do. Characters change; their sentiments change; their relationships change, and we don't want to box anyone in via these plot pages. We certainly encourage players to talk to each other, especially if they are trying to coordinate a thread together, but we also want things to happen organically and with proper direction.

Also, with how tumultuous our world is by design, we feel that players should be allowed to alter and change their relationship at will. We offer The Little Black Book for this purpose. You can post there with an introduction regarding your character, and it will serve as that character's OOC headquarters. There, you can request threads, interact with members, spam, post plots, and so on at will. These threads will be cleaned out when they get too long and cumbersome, so feel free to spam away.

We feel plot pages encourage too much of a "set it and forget it" attitude. At VF, we would like players to constantly talk to each and plan things out. Anything can change at any moment.

I hope that goes a way towards answering your question. Feel free to post again if you want anything clarified.