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If you have any questions about the site at all, ask the Outreach team!
The below assumes you're familiar with forum roleplay as a general concept. If you're totally new to forum roleplay or play-by-post, please read the "What is roleplaying?" section of our Roleplay FAQ.
Valucre is the name of the site, which includes everything including OOC and Alternative, as well as the name of the planet, which includes Lagrimosa, Genesaris, and Cierno. The continents are represented by name. You pick the area you want play in, create a new topic, come up with a title, and post it. You now have a roleplay that you can invite others to, or that you can advertise in the water cooler (see below).
This is Valucre in a nutshell.
Before we go deeper, I want to talk about two vital pieces of information which help us set expectations for the community and their characters.
Code of Conduct: The formal set of rules governing conduct between members on Valucre. Although very detailed you can boil this down to "don't cheat", "don't be a dick" and "remember Valucre is for a range of ages".
Mild Powers: The formal set of rules governing practical abilities and limitations of characters within the world of Valucre. This essentially puts a ceiling on powers to prevent any single character or interaction from being overpowered. Exceptions can be made with approval and collaboration.
Now that you know a little bit about how members and characters are expected to act on the site, we can dive deeper into Valucre's layout.
The Water Cooler
The Water Cooler is where the community goes to post and browse for roleplay interest checks (or "looking for group", if you're more familiar). Here members can see what kind of plots are actively recruiting or can propose their own. As a freeform site with a large, active memberbase, if you find that Valucre lacks something you like to see in roleplay, we actively encourage you to introduce it yourself.
The Water Cooler employs the use of tags to quickly highlight the kind of play a member is looking for, and includes things like: group size, response pace, and type of roleplay.
Introductions
The Introductions board is where new members can post a thread to introduce themselves to the community and give the community a chance to welcome them, answer questions, and introduce themselves in turn. Although not a requirement, introducing yourself is highly recommended, as Valucre's community is one of the best parts of the site.
Tavern of Legend
The Tavern of Legend is a first stop for many players that are either new to roleplay in general or new to roleplay on Valucre. It is a sandbox designed for members who have been registered on the site for 90 days or less, and by staff members that help answer questions and develop roleplay experiences. This is a great starting point because it puts you in touch with other members who are also new.
Approaches - Lore versus Roleplay
Although you are in no way limited to the below approaches, these are the most common methods by which most members have made sense of the site and feel works for them.
- Roleplay based (recommended): The "action" approach. Players basically use or create a character that is as new to the world of Valucre as they are. This could be anything from a character from another world to a character born on Valucre that has never stepped outside of their village, just woke up from a cursed slumber, or anything that stimulates your imagination. You learn as you go.
- Lore based: The "research" approach. Keeping in mind the lore is there to enhance your immersion, not make barriers between you and roleplay, some readers prefer to read a lot of lore before even making a character. You can learn general information about the world in the Overview page, and find a location from there. Most people that start with this approach will focus their play in a specific area until they get more familiar with the rest of the world, and then they branch out.
