~GRAND OPENING~

Today is the official opening of WoFRPG! It's still a work-in-progress, but with the help of fans, we can make it big!
Soon, we hope to have chosen our queens and constructed their castles. Apply to be queen here!
Feel free to introduce yourself and make suggestions below!

ok, i've got a lot of concerns, but i like what i'm seeing! i've got a good amount of experience with both running roleplaying boards, and being a regular member. you're free to take or leave what i've got to say, but i'm just gonna say what i think since you're inviting suggestions!

1. i see that forms are required for queens! i don't see any place where forms are required for regular dragons, which i think would be a good idea. even if it's just a matter of posting your app with no approval process, it will make keeping track of the amount of dragons + who's playing who.

2. make a public set of rules. link them everywhere. you'll really, really want a set of rules. they don't have to be 300 pages long, just set down some guidelines for behavior. i'm getting the idea that you want a laid back environment with relatively low expectations for IC posting, so you really won't need too many. you'll want to state that you have to buy animus dragons & mindreader dragons as well as some abilities in hybrid dragons- i almost missed that before writing this!

3. i also suggest rules about handling traumatic backstories as well as disability. you'll want to make sure that people don't write about these insensitively, like saying that a dragon deserved to be mistreated by their parents because of (x circumstance), or give them disabilities and treat them like weird accessories vs. actually writing a disabled dragon. i DON'T suggest banning/making people pay for disabled dragons- that will alienate disabled players (me!) i would suggest having some sort of guideline about research and respect. banning traumatic backgrounds i think is give or take, i assume you want this environment to remain child friendly so restrictions about the severity might be something to consider, but i really think that any option as far as that goes has pros and cons.

4. time frame. i see in the section about the nightwing village about the village "still being under construction," but there's an option to make your own queen. exactly what time in pyrrhian history is this taking place? i'm assuming it's some time in the future, after the nightwings have been assumed into rainwing rule. how far is actually pretty important- are any of the current canon characters still alive? if the nightwing village is still under construction, that heavily implies it's been under ten years. if that's true, there will need to be an explanation as to what the current canon characters are doing, especially the queens. however, it's not too late so change the desc and say that this takes place after the current canon cast is dead and it's a completely new generation. it'll be important, as at least i would like to know how much i can reference current canon characters. also, with the queens, it will be important to put some guidelines as to how queens are made. do dragons still kill the current queen? do they still have to be closely related to her? or have they moved on to some other method, like the rainwings?

5. lore. we don't know a lot about what the average dragon's life is like, except the rainwings, and even then it's not comprehensive. i don't suggest you come up with pages of information about every aspect of dragon life for all the tribes! that would be a little much. (however i'm not stopping you, that would be pretty cool.) i do suggest making a note somewhere that players can come up with lore themselves, like what kinds of sports sandwings play, or where skywing commoners live. it might be good to record this as lore as accumulated.

also, gender lore. i'd suggest putting somewhere that gender non conforming dragon characters are welcome, as it would suck and be pretty alienating to gender non conforming humans to not be able to play them! it's implied in pyrrhia canon that dragons are assigned male/female genders based on reproductive capacities, so perhaps pyrrhians would have their own words for transgender/nonbinary dragons. (i'd advise against simply having them be called transgender/nonbinary because i'm a nerd and think it's cool when non human species have their own unique concepts of gender.) pyrrhia doesn't seem like the place that would care about transgender dragons, as none of the dragon kingdoms seem to have any kind of strict gender role beyond the "only female dragons get to be queens" rule.

with the recent book it's also implied that it's unremarkable every day stuff for dragons to have same gender attraction, so i doubt dragons even have unique words/concepts for persay, a girl dragon that likes other girl dragons. i'm sure players will want to give their dragons a sexuality label outside of IC stuff though.

6. mature content. i grazed over this topic when talking about traumatic backstories. wings of fire is book series directed at like.... 10-12+ year olds? while i think you need to be at least 13 to make an account most places (i dont pay attention anymore because i'm 16 lol) kids much younger are using the internet and there's a chance they'll see this place and join. you can make a rule stating that you need to be x age to join. with whatever age decision you make, you'll need to adjust your mature content rules accordingly. i'm kind of a potty mouth, but i don't plan on swearing IC, unless it's dragon swear words lmao. if you're willing to let very young children join (as in like 10 years olds) you can consider making a rule against swearing as i know it tends to make small children uncomfortable to see a lot of curse words. if not, i'd advise against an "no cursing" rule as tbh it's a little patronizing to be told that you can't swear if there's not a reason like "there will be small children around."

curse words are kind of the basic thing though. i suggest banning sexual allusions beyond the very very mild (mild being stuff like "Mango blushed- she hadn't realized how hot Fern was until now!" like that implies basic sexual attraction.) i doubt banning sexual things will majorly cramp anyone's style- wof is pretty PG. violence is more of a mixed bag- i'd suggest allowing IC fighting & mild gore mentions, like mentioning bleeding wounds or prey killing as dragons are huge animals with claws and teeth....

ok that's all? sorry for throwing this all at you. i'm willing to help you write & organized all of this stuff. i'm not really sure i want to be a staff member at this point, but if you're organized enough you won't need help while you're this small! btw with all of this i'm not saying you HAVE to do any of this- i understand that if i want things a certain way i'll need to make my own forum. i'm full of opinions, but i understand you're the admin and can keep my gosh darned opinions to myself.

Thanks for the feedback! Also, it doesn't matter much that you're a regular member, since I will be accepting mods once more members have registered. I might be making a form for that.

1. I've thought about this. I'll get working on that very soon.

2. Thought about this too, except for a rule about magical powers. Thanks for mentioning that. I'll also have a small summary/guideline topic about what's going on in this timeline and your freedom in creating characters.

3. Ah, yes, the Vicky Holmes attack. Thanks for mentioning this, I'll see what I can do.

4. I was sort of thinking an alternate timeline where everything is the same but there are different characters, though then we would have to make characters based on the dead SandWing queens... maybe I should delete that description and and a few other things to make it way in the future, though I would have to have a little help from people who have read the books a bit more recently.

5. That's a good idea! I didn't think about that (or is this like the summary thread i mentioned in 2?). I'll make a thread and try to edit it often by observing what roleplayers can come up with. This universe is a bit hard to roleplay, since there isn't a book that explains everything.

That's an even better idea, wow! Maybe I should have thought about that. Of course I want that sort of diversity, but I didn't even think of telling the users it's okay, which is pretty stupid. I'll make sure to put that on the character guidelines topic.

This too.

6. Of course I expect this to happen, since it is aimed at a younger age group. I will definitely make a rule about this. Based on your suggestion, probably something along the lines of "no NSFW content, minor cussing allowed out of character, no cussing in character".

I would really enjoy someone to help me out, since I am a bit of a lazy writer. I'll get right on your suggestions ASAP! They're all great!

you seem dedicated! i'm definitely decent at writing stuff like this. if you want/need input, or want me to help with writing this stuff, absolutely feel free to ask.

you mentioned that you'll be setting up some info on what's going on in this timeline, which is really the only question/concern i have left. once you've got some area where i can submit characters i'll go ahead and do that.

Allll righty, I've decided it's just going to be far in the future. I'll get working on the character guidelines as soon as i stop procrastinating. Do you have any suggestions for the terms for transgender and nonbinary dragons? My mind's a bit blank at the moment, and it's probably better for someone who's actually nonbinary to think up something.

i'm thinking a catchall term for dragons that aren't male/female might simply be "none?" like a dragon would say "oh i'm a none," as a quick way of explaining that they aren't the gender they were assigned at birth AND that they also aren't male/female. i'd say that lore wise, this term would probably be a little obscure, and many dragons would have to have the concept explained to them by the none dragon, vs. just knowing it because it's a part of their culture. when writing this it's probably a good idea to emphasize that most dragons won't react strongly negatively to this as they wouldn't have a reason to.

thinking more about pyrrhia gender roles, i'm doubting that dragons that are transgender and strictly identify as male/female would have a special word, as again, pyrrhian dragons aren't very gender essentialist and probably wouldn't think anything of it beyond initial confusion. like, there aren't social expectations or ramifications based on whether you're male or female, so transgender dragons aren't really breaking a lot of conventions.

EDIT: sorry, i tried to wait but i'm pretty stoked to start writing so i need to ask. is this set far in the future with the players dictating the history? i'm starting to write mini-bios for my characers so those are ready to go when regular character submissions open up. also, i'm curious: do the nightwings live in the rainforest, but still retain sovereignty over themselves? i see that they get their own queen.

Okay, thanks for the suggestions! And yeah, for now the history and lore and such is pretty open, just do what you want. Roleplayers of the queens can basically govern the tribes, though the mods and admins should help out a bit.

I have a suggestion! If you have ever read the 'Warrior Cat' series, you'll notice the Erins write out a list of each cat in every Clan. Maybe we could do our own allegiances but with the dragon tribes? We could have seven separate topics each under the analogous tribe.
Each time someone makes a character for a tribe, we put its name and the corresponding user beside it, so it will be simpler to tell how many OCs each person and tribe has ^^

True, though I'm worried that if the site gets any bigger that will get a bit messy. I'll make the thread, though!

As long as you dont make more sub forums than necessary, adding stuff is good. Having lists of characters is good for new players so they can get acquainted easily and see what roles are taken

Sorry, I'm mobile otherwise I'd just edit my previous post. I strongly suggest adding a small archive where players can post bios of commoner dragons. Its not just queens that people will want to read about! I, personally, like to read every characters bio of the group is small enough, and this on is pretty small. You can link to the bios from the allegiances page. Also, if a confused player submits a character that conflicts with the rp, like making a princess of a queen whose player says she has no heirs, mods can catch it quicker and set the player straight.

This may seem like a lot, but if can keep track of this stuff your rp will run a LOT smoother and there's less confusion for everyone. In short, I suggest making a sub forum somewhere, directing players to post sma summary bios of their new character before they play them, and link to the rules + have a small easily customized template like in the queen auditions thread.

I agree with Evilbaby on the character Depository. (It actually exists too! I think...) It's always good to have a place to go and reference, as well as simply learn about the characters in the world. (and the site by extension.) The question also stands though, Are we playing characters of Our own make? Or pulling from a depository of pre-existing ones?

Regardless of answers for that, Non-binary and Transgender terms are a hot topic that kinda need to be pressed. For transgender you could just use the "Zhe, Zhim, Zher". I'll throw that much out there. Unless you're just going to stick with the simple 'Male, Female' And stress that people spell out in their descriptions which way they go.

Also, perhaps there should be a clause in place just in case things get a little too much out of control? When things get large it's going to get a little hectic... and when things are factioned off the way they are you can be sure things are going to get a little rough. So maybe something to just... restore the order?

That's All I really have at the moment, wanted to bring it up. I also apologize if any offenses were rendered. Not really good at talking when it comes to some subjects.

@Starsight
1. You'll be making your own characters!
2. Sorry, this sort of confuses me. Is there another way you could put this?

@evilbaby
I was thinking about this. I'm going to make a sub-board under Roleplay Resources for biographies and make a thread for a biography template.

Okay, I'm going to apologize before hand, because I always worry when I talk about this sort of thing.

The common Pronouns (from what I've been lead to believe) have been/Are Zhe, Zhim, and Zher. I'm pretty sure however that they aren't used because they're rather off putting. So what tends to happen (Once again, from what I've been lead to beleive through simple observations) Is that transgender Females (Woman in a mans body) simply refer to themselves using Female pronouns. and the vice Versa for Transgender Males.

They Identify with the opposite gender than the one they were assigned at birth.

Once again. I'm terribly sorry. I'm trying to explain a subject I don't really know much about and don't want to be/ come off as rude and what have you.

well, the only thing i'd say is that transgender people don't have the wrong bodies unless they say that they do. a transgender woman can have a woman's body, even without any kind of medical transition. it's a matter of self labeling, simple as that. :-) i understand that you might not have the right language to talk about this and that's fine.

they/them pronouns are completely acceptable for people who don't identify strictly as male or female, and they're the ones i like to be referred to by myself, as a genderless person. many different nonbinary people use different pronouns- some even use he or she, simply because they like those best. so don't worry about setting down a specific canon set of pronouns. most dragons will probably use they/them, unless their player specifies otherwise.

Aye. I just thought it was worth bringing up, knowing that it's a rather hot topic at the moment. And you never really know if it applies to just the character or the player as well. But yea! That's all I really had to toss out onto the table at the moment, if anything else comes to mind I'll PM people if need be.. or bring it up here. In nice big fancy wall of text if need be.

Best of luck to everyone. Adieu.

Do the rules say anything when character making about Transgender?

The rules say it's fine to make a transgender character. Is that what you were asking?

Okay then. :3
Oh and yes, that was what I was asking.

Oh yeah, before I forget, I'm going over to my dad's house in less than an hour, and I won't be back until Sunday, so try not to spam me with questions!

have fun! i'll take care of anything that comes up, unless i think it's best left to you.

All right, good news guys! There's been a change of plans and I'm staying at my mom's for the night. I still have to leave tomorrow, though.

See u until then