Game Structure
From Gotham: Year One Wiki
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Where and How the Game is Played
This page functions as a brief overview. For comprehensive information, please read the linked pages, particularly those on Character journals, YO_comms, and YO_Gotham.
Character Journals
Character journals are used for blogging, journaling, any kind of personal record-keeping whether locked or open for comment. They are not to be used for OOC material. OOC material can be put in the wiki on character pages or on specialized pages for that purpose, or posted to the yo_players comm if it's canon rather than character related.
Email and IM
Email and IM can be used to thread (called "logging") anything that you would put in a comm post. These should be in narrative form with the verb tense agreed upon between the players in advance.
Game Comms
This is a very brief overview of what the comms are used for. Please see the linked pages for expanded information about what and how to post.
yo_gotham
YO_Gotham is where private threads, semi-public (locked) gathering posts and all other forms of narrative based (as opposed to first person or communications like phone calls) live. Gathering posts will be made by moderators, plot-runners, or players and may be plot-related, incident-related, or locations for play and will not be character-centric. Thread and logs may be locked to certain players. There should be minimal OOC notation on any yo_gotham posts.
yo_comms
YO_comms is (a) where any electronic communication - alert, email, IM, phone, text, etc is posted. If for some reason you have an IM or email log of a phone call or something like it, it gets log-dropped to the comm, but this should be rare.
yo_players
yo_players is for hiatus or slowtime notices, OOC memes, canon-pimping, sharing music, begging for graphics, making graphics, asking for input on plots, etc. You name it. It's not moderated and there are no rules, except that no gameplay occurs in this community.
Posting and Threading
A brief overview. More information can be found on linked pages. Please see Glossary for definition of terms.
Debuts
A debut is a character's entrance into the game. Debuts may be handled in one of the following ways:
Some pups may not want to debut because they are sneaky and hide-y and generally paranoid. They can - by arrangement with the mods - avoid the checkpoints and simply begin showing up, giving whatever story they like about where they've been since the cataclysm.
- Private Post - ie, a post is made to yo_gotham and, by arrangement, one or more pups - in a single thread - will find the pup and introduce them to the city.
- Gathering Post - ie, a pup simply arrives in the middle of a plot-related or regular gathering post and gets a top-level entry tag. As above, however, debuts occur in real-time/strict continuity. Only one person or a group together may be the first to find a debuting pup.
Threading
A thread is a series of comment responses to a post, or to a top-level comment in a gathering post.
- Private thread - This would be an EP posted to a YO_Gotham for live-action RP. It occurs in strict continuity, and usually will be locked to one or more persons. Threads should begin with a summary of the action and should have the first post's text itself behind an lj-cut.
- Log - A log is a private thread done in e-mail or IM that is then dropped to the YO_Gotham community when completed. The verb tense should be decided on in advance by the participant players and adhered to for the log, for the sake of preventing whiplash. Logs should begin with a summary of the action and should have the log text itself behind an lj-cut.
- Gathering Post - a location or event post occurring in the YO_Gotham comm. It will most likely be posted by a mod, but it may be posted by someone else with the approval of the mods. A gathering post is open for new top level tags or threads until a closed tag appears in the post.
- Journal post - This would be a post to a private journal that uses the journal as a journal. Ie, blogging or social networking in some form in character. It might be locked to a group of pups - ie, [flocked] and only readable by the character's friendslist (you'll need to list the people who are included in an OOC note). Or it might be an open post and anyone can comment on it. There is no OOC commenting on character journals.
- Communications Post - This would be a post to the YO_comms comm to invite play. It might be locked to one or more people or it might be wide open. It could be an e-mail, a bulletin, an IM, a phone call, etc. These are directional - ie, intending to provoke communication - rather than personal - ie, intending to provide commentary on the state of the world.
Locking
In a city of the size of Gotham, it is assumed that not everyone in play will know each other. It may not be possible to get from where a pup is to where a post is occurring. Or a pup may for reasons of plot, personal privacy, or expediency may want only to interact with specific pups on a post or tag within a gathering post.
This is entirely accepted, expected, and explicitly permitted by the rules. However, locking is not be used as an excuse for cliquish play. While it's entirely natural that the Capes might want to gather without the interference of civilians, we ask that everyone remain open to requests to join plots, IC play circles, and also to be on the lookout for ways to expand your pups' horizons characterwise.
To lock a post, include a tag on the subject line. Ie, [Locked to Winchesters] or [Encrypted Private Email]. If your lock isn't specific by a group, ie, it's locked to people who know your pup already, then include an ooc note at the bottom of the post explaining who is included.
To lock a thread within a gathering post, include an ooc note in a top-level tag. Ie, Dick tags into a park post to sunbathe. [ooc: locked to pups over 18 years of age] or [ooc: locked to Stephanie.]
Adult Content
Let's face it. Romance is a huge part of any RP. Smut will happen. Adult behaviors will happen. We'll go so far as to say "god, we HOPE it happens!" But if it happens, it shouldn't happen in the main comms without being locked and tagged with a NSFW warning for content.
Always use the appropriate adult content flags and friends lock a post that contains adult content.
