Here you can find answers to questions about how the board works. Use the links or search box below to find your way around.
Valucre is an all-encompassing "play by post" forum roleplaying game. Inside of that we find two major options available to us, as players. Valucre the canon world, and Valucre the site as a whole. The canon world is non-denominational fantasy, with specifics calibrated to each major continent (you can read about them in their Lore pages), that can range from knights and robed wizards to high-tech and everything in-between.
Disparity is reconciled by allowing individual characters, if drawn from the history of the character, to possess technology that the continent they're on may not have. As a Martian, I might have my own spaceship (which is how I got to Valucre) despite none of the nations yet having a space program (as an example).
Creative people who want to help shape the world, either through roleplay or by developing Valucre's many locations and settings, are welcome with open arms.
As a site, Valucre offers a lot more options. Though the canon world is tolerant to many types of characters, technologies, and ideologies, there are still limits which can't be rationalized in time or properly against the real-world setting. For players that want to roleplay in a modern setting, for example, or run a Zombie survival campaign (as has been done before) or any of a million dollar options are invited to explore the Other section.
Valucre is home. Home to the creative and the inspired, the poet and the artist, the scientist, philosopher and the writer inside all of us. Valucre is the home of imagination and this home is built atop the written word. The limitations are only the ones inside your mind. The options endless and the expressions of them infinite.
If you can't find what you're looking for, you can always make your own.
1. Valucre is strictly non-profit.
We do encourage member donations but none of the donation money is used for any personal means. The primary goal is to have Valucre pay for itself. After that is completed, we can use any excess or continued donations to continually improve the site.
2. Valucre is about fun.
I've said it before, I'll say it again, and you should take pains to learn this motto yourself: roleplay over mechanics. First and foremost, the Valucre canon has no stats and doesn't require that you start off at any particular "level" in your character's development. That is, if you want to make a character with bad-ass weapons and armor, with this or that power, you can. If, on the other hand, you'd rather start a character from scratch and earn all of your power legitimately, and make a dozen dynamic character connections and engage in a dozen sweeping plots, that's encouraged as well. We have plenty of places and settings in place that allow for just that.
Do not be afraid to do things "off stage". Not every tedious detail of your character's life, or your group's plot, need be written out.
3. Valucre is freeform and is an "open source" system.
If you put in enough hard work and creativity, you can accomplish anything you want. You can make a beggar that fakes his way into a noble's inner circle, rises to power off by way of unexpected shrewdness, only to again fall into the depths of iniquity because he could not control his greed. You could become an officer of the law, a judge, a carpenter, a blacksmith, a statesman, a general or soldier and so on and so forth. Depending on how you present yourself and who you talk to, ie the board leader of any given section, you could also integrate yourself into that section's main canon.
This forum is plug and play; in as much that you can make a character and just run with it.
4. Player impact is critical.
Every player can make an impact on Valucre, whether epic or minute. If a PC wants to destroy a town and conquer it? They can. If a player wants to go into a town and become its mayor/viceroy/whatever through political intrigue? Also possible. If a player wants to introduce new schools of thought/philosophy/technology? They can! It's all about the roleplay.
The settings are plastic, so mold away. The NPC's are expendable, kill or manipulate or marry as you like, this getting necessarily more difficult the more important the NPC (a bum is easier killed than a mayor). All of the plots are member-made! Some of them are admins, some of them are board owners, but most of them are just everyone else's. You can join in as available or start your own.
5. Big scenes, big hopes.
The simple adventure affects your character, and maybe a small group that your character belongs to. A more involved adventure can affect a town or a setting. And the grandest of adventures are felt world-wide, from nation to nation and echo throughout the whole of Valucre. Though the site is perfectly tolerant of the simple adventure, as some might argue it makes up the core of any roleplay site, but Valucre is equally tolerant to the grand, sweeping, dramatic plots and larger-than-life characters. As long as you're willing to put in the work, your beggar could become a king.
To add or affect canon, use this form: Adding or affecting canonicity, and follow the instructions detailed in the form itself. An example of an addition is making a small, personal town for a brief character interaction that's not big enough to justify updating the map). An example of affecting is destroying a large part of town or assassinating a town's mayor.
6. Nothing is fixed.
There are no simple good versus evil struggles to be found in Valucre. One nation calls a man a hero, another nation calls him a monster. The relationships are dynamic, they're interesting, and ever-shifting. Orcs are customarily foul smelling and stupid. Do you want to play one that practices hygiene and reads books? You can! Do you want a Minotaur that owns a china shop? Do it! Simple dichotomies, that of a hero against a villain, leave little to the imagination and lead to predictable characterization. Explore the shades of gray!
Administration is always, always, always open to fresh and new ideas. Understand, however, that administration is intelligent and always thinking about how to innovate the forum. Chances are that an idea brought forward is already in the stages of implementation, or has already been discussed. If your idea takes a while to get integrated into the forum, if at all, don't be discouraged.
Valucre is the culmination of a shared vision, one of sweat and of love. We hope that you enjoy it as much as we do.
7. Administrative enforcement
The customer is not always right. The staff-member is not always right. The only person that is always right is whoever is being the most rational and making the most sense, and this can be seen at a glance.
Most of Valucre staff are players as well, often times deeply involved in the in-character aspects of the site, and as such we want to minimize administrative involvement to the minimum degree necessary to keep the gears well oiled and moving. We are kind, polite, rational, well-reasoned, experienced listeners that have true faith and genuine interest in the welfare of the site.
The community is, by and far, automatically self-correcting. This is a product of directed design and progress as much as it is a consequence of mature, intelligent, dedicated writers. If you're an asshole, you'll find you'll have people less willing to play with you, and without other people to interact with, there's only so far that you can go in this game. If you're helpful, proactive and serious about your characters, about storylines and plot, then you'll find a new world of opportunities opening up to you. It isn't magic, it's just the way it is.
The official complaint process can be found by clicking this sentence. The simplified version of the complaint process is as follows.
I have a problem with USER.
1. Contact offending user before contacting an admin to see if issues can be worked out civilly.
2. Failing the first, put the user on ignore.
3. Failing the second and being harassed, warn them once that that continued harassment on their part will be met with contacting an administrator.
4. Failng the third, contact an administrator and have all your files in order. Screenshots, transcripts, links to instances of misconduct. This will help the admins make a quick and logical decision. We refuse to act on hearsay and gossip, as personal experience has taught us time and again that rumors are and such are often just that. We are firm on this.
