Formal Q and A

[supernal]

Off topic:
This will be a combination of questions pulled from the informal thread, brought here so that new members can read through the questions without having to pick through the chatter, and any other questions that come to the minds of Valucre staff.

Question: How do I change my login name?
Answer: The police used to be by request, but since adding the Market to forum features you can now change your name at will for the price of 80 valbullion. Valbullion = experience points that you get from posting in-character, in case you didn't know. 4 per thread made, 4 per post made. You can find the option to do so right here: Valucre Market

Question: How do I acquire materials in-character to forge a weapon?
Answer: You can acquire materials by roleplaying it out, such as going to a site and mining it out yourself or stealing it from a depository or even another character, as long as the amount that you are taking is of modest amount. Do not plan to supply an organization like this. You can also purchase it from the board-owner with VB. Some areas have a black market.

Question: What's the plot?
Answer: Valucre has no central storyline, which is where the term "open-source" you've no doubt seen mentioned around comes into play. To be clear, there are a number of events that span multiple continents or that involve characters of considerable influence in-character, there is still no central storyline. We have dozens of large and involving plots. If you want to find one, just ask around and keep your eyes open. They're literally everywhere.

Poet asked: How do people typically improve their characters, around here? Just train under someone, in story?

You can train under someone IC, but it's not as efficient as working with people to develop as a whole, in my personal opinion. Build a story or a goal for your character and then work toward achieving it, and then move to the next.

Utilize player quests. The Quests tab is a great place for this! Jump in and be unexpected. Try new plots, new things, as you might learn to totally love and enjoy something you never knew about.

Utilize the Market tab. There's weapons you can quest for. Items. Treasures. Whatever. Just go wild with it and expect nothing, but enjoyment.

There's tons of resources for any person, all you gotta do is just know where to look and who to ask!

Poet asked: Do people often build their character's power throughout r/p's here, or do most people make a character that's fully-developed?

It really depends on the person. I'd like to think of it as a Time-in-Service sort of gig really, as a lot of beginners to forums, or writing want to make something seriously bad-ass and rock it hard and sexy-like, but then they grow disinterested and fail to follow through a lot of the time, because there isn't much left to work for.

As Valucre is Free Form RP, no one is forced to create a bare-bones character, but a lot of veterans to forum RP would definitely agree that starting from scratch is usually extremely rewarding in the long run, because you've got years of progress with a character available, and the sky is the limit.

My recommendation would be to start with some simple powers. Something basic. I always enjoy working a Final Fantasy-style character sheet where you give yourself a class or two in various areas and then work out from there. Enough to get your ass kicked hard by someone experiences, and tons of room for development and growth.

Take on some Market quests for specific weapon types. Learn and grow with that item. Then find another. Move on. Work for a goal. Just have fun with it and find people you are compatible with to do so!

[supernal]

Question: What do I do if someone takes too long to post?
Answer: My (Carlos) personal wait-time is approximately 3 days. After that, I assume that the person I'm about to skip understands why they're about to be skipped and that they can integrate themselves back into the story whenever they're ready. You can agree to a shorter or longer wait period with the people in question, but 3 is my standard.

Question: What are the posting orders or patterns available on Valucre?
Answer: Good question. The following are available post patterns, not just on Valucre, but anywhere that hosts roleplay I imagine.

Spoiler:

Strict order: Exactly what it sounds like. Threads follow a strict posting order. ABCD will always be ABCD. C cannot post until B does and B cannot post until A does. The customary wait time before skipping a person is three days.

Once per turn: The order is fluid, as in not fixed, but each person may only post once per turn/round. So, ABCD one turn could be ADCB the next turn and BCDA the third turn. The advantage of this pattern is that if A talks to D, D doesn't have to wait for B and C to post before D responds to A.

Nested: Even more fluid than the above post. A loose sense of order is still adhered to with the exception of character-to-character interaction. So, example using ABCDE. The five players are in a tavern. A approaches E and they engage in a dialogue and get to know one another. So BCD engage in customary post order to do whatever they're doing, and inside of this A and E are going back and forth at their own pace and internal order.

The advantage is obvious; no waiting just to talk. The disadvantage is that the nested pair or trio cannot really move the story forward without the remaining characters. It makes no sense for A and E to talk and have a 7 hour adventure in a thread where BCD are still engaging in a single hour's time.

No order: Self-explanatory. Chaos, but not always unproductive. Some internal or nested orders are bound to crop up, but they don't usually remain throughout the course of the thread.

Question: What are "posrep" and "negrep"?
Answer: At the bottom of every post you'll notice a few icons, one of which is a star and one with a little lightning bolt or something like that. The bolt allows you to report a post, to draw administration's attention only when there is a serious issue. The star allows you to give negative reputation or positive reputation as you see fit.

Question: How do I check who left reputation for me, what post, and if they left behind a message?
Answer: Click Settings, next to My Profile, and scroll down.

Question: How do I make a Group?
Answer: Community > Groups > Create a Group

[supernal]

Question: How do I give another player ValBullion (for items/trades/deals)?
Answer: You go to the user's profile and click on "find all started threads" or otherwise find a thread started by the user. Click on the name of the very first post of the thread, which should be the user you want to send VB to, and this will bring up a context menu where "send ValBullion?" is an option. Then you put the number you want to give away, in only one field, and your points will be transferred to the other person.

Question: Where can I find an open role play?
Answer: You can check the Water Cooler for interest checks, quests, and advertisements for specific character types or the like. You can also check Open Threads for a list of role plays that are currently open.

Question: Can I play a single character in more than one thread?
Answer: Yes. By taking advantage of something we termed "flexible continuity", you can play a single character in more than one place, but not more than one place at one time. Meaning that if you can order it in your head that one thread takes place before or after the events of another, your character can participate in both at different points in his or her personal timeline.

Question: Why aren't my sent messages save?
Answer: The option is available. You can either do this on a case by case basis by making sure that the appropriate box is checked in the Private Message window before sending it (Save a copy of this message) or you can change your settings so that every sent message is saved. Here's how to do that.

Settings > General Settings > Scroll down to Private Messaging > Sent Private Messages > Save a copy

Question: How powerful can my character or his/her abilities be?
Answer: On Valucre the goal is less about reaching "level 99" and more about the writing involved. Making a master telepath for meta-gaming or other asshole purposes is fruitless; unimportant and will be treated as such. Making a master telepath to explore the world through that character's eyes, to experiment with your writing and character experiences, is another matter entirely.

On fitting powers into the "mild powers" limitation of Valucre, it's more about the volume of a power than it is about the ability. A character that can fly is one thing, a character that can fly fast enough to escape the planet's gravitational pull and be in the neighboring planet in time for lunch is another. A character that can transmute materials at a touch (like Full Metal Alchemist) is fine, but one that can turn a town to dust by snapping his fingers is another.

[supernal]

Question: When I post to a thread, I automatically subscribe to it. How can I control this behavior?
Answer: Settings > General Settings > Default Thread Subscription Mode