The Bear and Barnacle

Characters/Setting
* Characters here can be from any fandom so long as it's fictional. You can play historical characters if they are rooted in a fictional universe (ie Charles Dickens from Doctor Who or Henry VIII from The Tudors).

* You can play up to four characters. Of these, you can have two characters from the same fandom, provided they have no significant interaction/relationship with one another canonically (ie, For HP, you cannot play Teddy and Harry, but you could play Quirrell and Teddy). Each character must be approved by the modding team, and our decision in part will be based on the activity of the player (ie, if we've not seen you or your James Bond in months, we will be less inclined to approve you to play further characters).

* Each incoming character will be from their own idiosyncratic universe, even if they are in the same fandom as another existing character. This will account for personal canon. If you want to have your incoming Jack Sparrow be from the same universe as the existing Elizabeth Swann, you must discuss that with the player of the pre-existing character (and get their consent).

* Don't be a Mary-Sue. We understand that some characters maybe be such in their original canon, but the point is give them life and interest. Make them human-- providing that they're human to begin with. Otherwise make them a realistic ghost or alien or whatever. Mary-Sues are annoying and ruin everyone's fun- unless we get an immortal one we can "kill" over and over. (Ayla from Clan of the Cave Bear anyone? :D)

* The game is set in present-day Margate, Kent. Most of us have never been to Margate so Google is your friend but our Margate is a rather fictionalized setting- and not only with these crazies coming in and out. Familiarize yourself with the basic geography of the location and remember it is in England.


Monthly Posting
* Each month the pub owners/moderators will provide one Topic Post and one Event Post. For example, we might give a Topic Post about a singular issue such as "Siblings" or perhaps a quote or such- we may or may not provide further information/guidance on these. An Event Post may be Dora throwing her fancy dress party or "Margate is invaded by a plague of flying jellyfish". Topic Posts occur on the first of the month, Events on the fifteenth.

* Depending on the nature of the event or topic, threading/RPing can occur in response to the mod post OR as individual character posts to the community. We'll indicate in the original post if we'd prefer one or the other type of play on a given topic, just to make things saner.

* One of your characters should respond to either or both of these per month. In other words, if you are playing three characters, you can rotate months/posts between them. If you're crazy- feel free to post for everyone every month. We won't stop your fun.

* The game is set up to center around the Pub, but this is just a starting point/central location. Responses to the Topic or Event posts must be posted to the community but can take place outside of the pub! For example, if we ask about hobbies, you could either have your character tell someone next to them or the pub at large about painting model airplanes, do a post showing your character painting model airplanes in Margate, or write a "memory" of their previous experience of it. Art responses are also grand!

* If your character has nothing they can respond with to either the Topic or the Event post for the month, they can pay their monthly dues by providing the cook with a new recipe for the pub. This needs to be posted to the comm then tagged with "Recipe".

* Topics and events will range from mundane to extraordinary, serious to pure crack. Some will build on earlier plotlines, others will be completely out of the blue. Additionally, there will be a screened "ideas" post where players can suggest events or topics of their own. Warning: Some of these topics or events might be the 'brainchild' of Dora, the 5 year old adopted daughter of the pub owners.


Anal Retention
* You must use our standard Header Format of "Character: Topic/Event/Other: Summary/Title". For example, "Severus Snape: Event: Flying Jellyfish".

* Please use appropriate tags on your posts, including tags for any significant threads. Everyone has two set tags for their character: a "namepost" tag and a "namethread" tag. For each post, you will have a minimum of three tags: a name tag; a 'topic', 'event', or 'other' tag; then the specific tag we give for the month's post. So on Mr Darcy's response to the "Bananas" topic where he shags Sam Vimes, his player would theoretically include the following tags: "darcypost", "topic", "bananas", "darcythread", and "vimesthread".



Other Posts
* Moreover, we prefer all play to be shared on the community rather hidden/miss-able in personal journals. This will make life simpler and keep players sane. So, if your character Peter Pan is dating Princess Leia, feel free to do a post to the community for your RPing of that date. Simply use the Header Format of "Character: Other: Title/Summary" (Peter Pan: Other: Date Night with Leia).

* Posting links or fake cuts is to your character journal is fine. Just use the proper header and tags, or risk having the chef chase you around with chopsticks.

* These "Other" posts do not count for/as the monthly requirement.

* Please focus your play in the community. We understand that characters can be pains in the ass sometimes and will refuse to RP important things where others not involved could see. This is fine- but we ask that you not get carried away with RPing in F-locked posts. IMing is fine if you post the chatlogs to your journal with a link from the community. The comm is here for a reason- and we want to see tooooooo!


Interaction/RP

* In the case of these "Other" posts, simply indicate at the beginning in italics "Private" so people know whether or not you wish involvement of other characters. If a post is marked Private, do not crash it without invitation from the poster. This is why we have email, IM, and small text OOC comments.

* Posts taking place in public places (like the pub) will typically be treated as public. As such, threadcrashing is permitted within the boundaries of logic. If your character threadcrashes every conversation between Kara Starbuck and Maria Von Trapp, the ladies have every right to assume your character is a stalker.

* Players can choose to respond or ignore threadcrashing as they see fit. We remind you that interruptions are realistic and we encourage you to go with the flow of the game, but a small text acknowledgement and refusal of a threadcrash should not be given or received as insult.

* Do not godmod anyone other than our NPC, the man-eating she-wolf chef Ivonka. The one exception two exceptions to this are Dora and Val- by permission of their players, you may godmod them as out of the pub if having a 4 or 5 year old restricts your play in a particular post.

* Wankiness will not be tolerated and will result a boot in the ass. *shines pointy boots*


Any questions can be directed to one/all of the mods:
Dora's Player via preraphaelite1 at gmail dot com
Iago's Player via thegildedmagpie at gmail dot com