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The Hallowed Alliance of Role Players
H.A.R.P
Rules Of H.A.R.P
Originally created by Morthoron
These commandments are not arbitrary, you can't pick and choose which fit your style. To join H.A.R.P., one must make a conscious and consistent effort to abide by the rules. So without further ado...
1. An adherence to the lore of Middle-earth.
To make every effort to stay within the parameters of Middle-earth as set down in the books of Tolkien. To consistently question whether your story maintains the principles and lore characteristics as found in the Sil, Hobbit, LotR, UT, HoME and BoLT.
2. A mutual respect of other poster's characters.
Respecting each other as writers and the characters we create is the only way to make a successful roleplay. If you are using another person's character in context with your post, make sure you stay within that person's guidelines for the character. Do not use dialogue that the other person's character would not use. Do not kill or injure another's character without their prior consent.
3. Additional respect to the story itself (for instance, pm'ing the originator before entering a story).
Respect the originating poster's story. Do not enter a story without receiving prior consent via a private message. Do not alter the story to suit your own ideas without discussing it first.
4. Care given to grammar and spelling.
If you cannot spell, type your post first in a word processor (such as Word or WordPerfect). You will also find that word processors contain a grammar check that finds run-on sentences, incorrect verb usage and other grammatical errors. Surprisingly, you will find that the use of a word processor will help improve your writing skills, as you will learn from your mistakes.
5. A desire to increase one's writing skills.
You will never become a better writer if you make one sentence posts. Let me reiterate, you will never become a better writer if you make one sentence posts. Writing is a skill and an art that must be practiced. If you do not go beyond a sentence, do not stretch your imagination, you will be stuck in a rut and never improve.
6. Concentrating on just a few stories and making them the best possible, rather than spreading oneself too thin over several stories.
Creating five or six stories of one sentence chat disrupts the board. It clogs the forum with uninteresting and poorly written garbage that forces better stories off the front page. People here (including me) like to read well-written stories. They do not like to wade through a cesspool to find anything well-written. Stick to a couple stories that you can write several paragraphs per post, rather than ten tales of single-sentence trash. Again, it's a matter of respect for other forum members.
7. The use of e-mail or pm's to discuss story matters, rather than the distracting use of OOC (out-of-context) posting within the story.
Do not use OOC text in stories. OOC posting disrupts a story-line and throws off its rythmn. Many people use a separate thread for discussions regarding a story, but even these tend to clog the forums with unnecessary tripe. Often the discussion thread devolves into mundane chatter, so it's really better to use pm's.
8. A minimum of planning before and during stories to assure an immersive tale.
Talk about where you want to go with the other posters in your story. Let them know your overall plan. I am not saying iron out everything in the minutest detail prior to moving ahead, rather let everyone know the general outline before proceeding. There will be far less annoying u-turns and totaly off-base posts that must be ignored or glossed-over if you let everyone know your expectations.
9. Developing believable characters that are in context with Middle-earth.
This goes hand-in-hand with point #1. Make your character lore appropriate. Write a character history that is believable and in context with Tolkien's cosmology and history. There were no hobbit-mages, Trolls were not even remotely intelligent, the Istari were wizards and you shouldn't be one, and Elves are not named Jesse Custer. Additionally, refrain from making your characters ridiculously Uber. Stay away from making characters that are relatives of one of the major characters in the books. Saying you're Galadriel's daughter or Aragorn's younger brother is asinine and only ends up making you look immature to other writers.
10. The use of multiple paragraphs in postings, rather than single sentence chat, as a means of developing plot, characterization and immersion in the story.
This backs up point #6. Having read many threads that contain posts with only one, two or three sentences, I can say without hesitation that they are second rate, boring, and are so alike to the previous one that they are a waste of space. They serve no purpose but to clog the forum. You cannot adequately build a plot, describe the geography, have a dialogue or create tension and conflict in just a few sentences.
Paragaraphs usually contain at least three or four sentences each. Try to type at least two or three paragraphs per post. Describe your situation and your surroundings. Use your head as more than a place for a trendy haircut. On the other hand, do not type twenty sentences in one block, it is impossible to read. Like I said, a nice paragraph has perhaps three or four sentences. Use that as a rule to start.
If you can honestly say that you agree to these principles, then you can join the alliance. Do not bother to put the H.A.R.P. logo in your sig line if you are not going to follow the rules (and please, get rid of prolonged character information in your sig line, it's a waste of space) . The good thing about joining is that, at the very least, you will know other folks in the alliance agree with these basic principles. This will aid you in chosing posters for your next story.
To show that you are a member please put this in your sig line:
Supporting Role-playing community through H.A.R.P
Inserting “H.A.R.P” at the end of a title of your roleplay shows that your thread follows the rules. For example: In the Wake of the Nine (H.A.R.P). You may also chose to restrict your Role-Play to H.A.R.P members only!
Please note that this is for Middle-Earth Role-Play
Members
1. Menelmacar[/b]
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