Your first mission, should you choose to accept it, is to fill out our handy application. Please follow the instructions on the application carefully. Once you are satisfied, email it to the mods using the addresses included on the application. You will either be accepted or rejected. Rejection is not a no forever -- it is likely we had some small issue with it, and we will tell you exactly why we said no. Fix the problem and you can be accepted. If your application is rejected 3 times, however, you need to start a new application from scratch. Having to start over will not prevent you from applying again.
Once you are accepted, create a personal journal for your character. This is a very important element, as diaries and letters are central to this rpg. Paste your application information into your character journal's user info -- this is very important so that other players can find your character's basic information! You will not be allowed to join the community until your profile is in your user info. While you're at your journal, please put up at least 10 user pics of your character's PB.
With all that done, you may now join the community, and the mods will let you in. Congratulations! You're now a full member of the game!
You may play only four characters at a time. For each 3 months you play with us in which each of your characters has been active at least once every 2 weeks, you get another character slot (up to 8 slots). Each character must have its own application submitted to the mod team and approved before you may begin using it in the game.
We require the use of PBs (Played Bys-- a real person who represents how your character looks) as avatars in the community. Please do not use drawings or cartoons as PBs, or those that would be considered distracting or irritating to others, such as Britney Spears or Paris Hilton. Also, please keep modern images (headphones, cars, etc.) to ooc icons only. Don't post modern image PBs on logs. Your PBs do not necessarily have to be in period costumes, but their hairstyles or what they are wearing should not be too modern either. For example, a man in a suit is fine, but not a man in jeans or with piercings.
Game Play:
You are expected to make an effort to include detail, but we don't have anything against it if you need some help now and then. This is a "slightly AU" rp, meaning that if you don't know something, you don't have to spend hours scouring wikipedia to figure it out. We think that's a bit too much trouble for a game, though any effort to include historical details is appreciated and sometimes rewarded! You can make things up, including locations and historical events, within reason. No inventing space ships out of the blue, please, or killing off Queen Victoria prematurely. Be reasonable. Also, please do not shout or get rude with people who know less about the setting than you do. If they choose to make something up, and something real would suit better, do not lecture. Offer them a link if you really want to use the real location, but if they insist on the made-up place they may have an rp-qualified reason, so let them have their turn for the scene and when your turn comes, use your location.
If you feel that someone's lack of knowledge is extremely detrimental to the game, please let the mods know and we will settle the matter.
Keep in mind that social codes and standards are extremely strict for this time period, and we consider navigating (and breaking) them part of the fun! An important note about sexuality: During this time period, male homosexuality was ILLEGAL (there was no corresponding rule for lesbianism). It was possible to go to jail for what they termed "indecency". There were also strict rules about what people could do in public, or else face social ostracism, loss of job, and etc. This is not to say you can't do these things. Just don't get caught ICly, if you get what I mean. Anyone having a make-out session in public is a surefire way to get caught. So shut the drapes and lock the door.
Posting:
We want to use a standard 3rd person paragraph format. Quality is important! In the spirit of making logs go smoothly, there will be a minimum post size of 1 paragraph (at least 4 sentences) in logs, even over AIM. This will be enforced. One-liners are very difficult for others to respond to. This does not apply to journals or letters, however.
All logs that involve more than one character go in the IC community. They should have the AIM screen names replaced with the character's names (use your word program's find and replace features to do this quickly), be under a cut, and have this form with them above the cut:
Who: (Names of the characters involved) What: (A brief description of the scene) Where: (Setting) When: (Game timeline) Warnings: (anything you think people should be aware of, especially sexual content! Make sure you mark things that aren't safe for work.) Summary: (a short summary of what went on, so people who don't have to time to read it all can still be on top of it)
In addition, please put the names of the characters involved and a brief description of the scene in the subject line of the thread in the following format: Post Title (Name and Name)
Example: Fun at the Bakery (Joe and Bob)
Finally, all logs posted in the community need to be tagged with all the character's names.
Example: Joe White, Bob Green
Logs of things such as diary entries should go into your character's personal journal. There are no special requirements for posting things in diaries, except not to post memes in your character's journal. Journals are considered private. Other characters are not allowed to know what is written there unless they rp finding your journal in a log, and have your permission. Letters to other characters go into the community under the cut "Letter to (character's name)", "Invitation to (character)'s Ball", etc and may be addressed to more than one character, multiple copies assumed. Memes are appropriate IC as paper chain letters.
Rating and Explicit Scenes
You must be 18 to join The London Confessions. You are also allowed to post explicit scenes, but they must be under a cut and posted with a warning. If you forget the warning or the cut, you get one warning from the mods before you're banned. Sexual material involving any character under the age of 18 may NOT be posted in the community! This is grounds for instant banning.
Keep in mind that we are very serious about having well-developed plots and characters. That means that if you cyber sex to the point where you aren't contributing to the plot or character development in any way at all, your character may "go to jail" for "indecency", which means you will be temporarily banned. Your character will be in jail for one OOC month. At this point you may rejoin the group, but if you once again contribute nothing but sexual logs for a time period of one month, you will be banned.
Note for prostitute characters: It is understandable that your character will have to be involved in more sexual material than others. This will be taken into account for you. However, we still want you to develop your character and you are not exempt from having to do so.
Character Relationships
We want to encourage you to interact with as many other players as possible. In that spirit, this is not necessarily a rule but we have a suggestion for politeness. Please make sure that you rp with others in a diverse manner, not always playing with the same person. Especially, we want you to be considerate when creating romantic pairings. If you already have more than one or two characters in romantic relationships with one player's characters, please consider having a pairing with someone else. If any player ever does get obsessive about it and only plays with one other player in the entire game, we reserve the right to take action on that.
GMed Plots and Special Events
This RPG will feature plots and events run by a player (mun). Muns who are running a plot are called a GM (game master, like in Dungeons & Dragons), and such plots are called GMed plots. GMs are responsible for setting a scene of a plot in such a way that characters are able to react and figure out the problems organically. GMs are not required to disclose any part of their plot out of character. Repeatedly attempting to find out the details of a plot behind the scenes is not allowed and may result in disciplinary action being taken. If you are interested in GMing a plot, contact the mods with a brief description of your plot idea for approval.
Another special event we want to have is a regular IC newspaper. This may include mod events, GM event announcements, character or setting news, reviews of characters' artistic performances, or GOSSIP. Ooo, gossip. Anyone is free to submit things for the newspaper, and just for fun you can use a fake pen name to disguise who you are, if you want. For the artistically inclined, a popular addition in newspapers was caricature, sometimes very similar to a political cartoon. People and events drawn in funny ways so everyone can laugh. That's the basic purpose of the newspaper. Do keep in mind that if someone makes fun of your character, it is a joke. It's not a jab at you.
General RPG Rules
Obviously godmodding and killing or maiming a character without the mun's permission are not allowed. Additionally, do not godmod NPCs that are not under your control. These rules are common RPG courtesies and will be enforced in this game.
These rules are in place because we want The London Confessions to be a fun and drama-free game for everyone to enjoy. Any questions or clarifications of the rules should be directed to the moderators via email or AIM.