Conventions and Etiquette

The following rules that won't get you banned alone, but we'd be happy if you followed them.

Third Person Only
Please do not write in first person. It makes your character's perspective sound more important than everyone else's if we think of the scene as a narrative. Third person allows the story to flow continuously through the posts, much like a book.

Do Details
Keep in mind that other people will be replying to your posts.
 * Zoey's Bad Post
 * Zoey was obviously very mad at Sam and turned into her near-wolf form to bite him.

How would Sam know that Zoey is "obviously" angry? Does she bare her teeth, her face twisted in a bestial rage that foreshadows her transformation, or does she study Sam with cold hatred, her eyes discerning the tenderest parts of his body as she pictures the imminent destruction of his flesh beneath her fangs? Do her fists clench without her notice? Does her face flush red at Sam's wrongdoing? Does she snarl, or is there a sudden and menacing silence? What about the transformation? If Sam wasn't familiar with the near-wolf form (and there's a chance he doesn't OOC if he's not a werewolf player), how would you describe it to him?

A scene can be defined as a "view or picture". Not only is your writing more engaging and immersive when you show rather than tell your readers what's going on, but it brings your character to life and makes your posts fun to read as well as respond to.
 * Zoey's Good Post
 * The words hit remorselessly, and the pain of betrayal knotted up in Zoey's gut like a rattlesnake. Her eyes narrowed at Sam as his past wrongs crawled through her mind, each image magnifying her wrath until her entire frame trembled beneath the weight of it all. Her face drew up, baring her teeth despite her human form, and she could not suffer Sam to live another hour on this Earth.
 * The fury wrenched inside of her, forcing her down on all fours to howl like the beast she rapidly became. A bristling mass of black fur sprouted as bone and sinew twisted, muscles growing at an unnatural speed. In an instant, a massive, dark wolf stood where a woman once did, now a hungry, fanged monster from some primal nightmare, more the size of a horse than a canine. Zoey's grey eyes stared down in judgement from the face of her more powerful form, and she grinned her implacable hatred. Where to bite first?

Don't Parrot
Parroting is a type of cheating that bloats replies with already stated information. For example:
 * Zoey's Post:
 * "Prepare to die!" Zoey snarled at Sam as her body contorted into a beast's.


 * Sam's Bad Reply:
 * "Prepare to die!" Sam heard as he turned to hear the snarl and watch Zoey's body contorted into a beast's...

This can be very boring. It interrupts the reader's internal narrative to have to read the same thing happening twice, and it's quite jarring to be forced to switch perspective in this manner to review the same event in the same words. Imagine how bad a movie would be if it constantly replayed the same scene from the perspective of every character involved before moving to the next.
 * Sam's Good Reply:
 * Sam turned at Zoey's unexpected, wild sounds, and the sight of her made his eyes widen and his jaw drop. Holy Crap  was all he could think, his brain unable to process the sweet-seeming girl suddenly becoming something else entirely...

This method subtly matches up the timing of the two posts without plagiarizing and adds its own spin to the previous events without flashing us back to them.

Post Length
If you're not sure how long your post should be, aim for around 250 words. Examples of 250 word posts

50 words is almost always too short and may come off rude or lazy unless there are extenuating circumstances (e.g. your character is dominated and is just carrying out orders, your character is tied up and can't do anything about it, etc.)

At the same time, you probably don't want to go too far over 500 or 600 words. Forum roleplaying is a series of actions and reactions, primarily, and too often a projected action can be interrupted by the action of another.

Story First
This is a roleplaying site, and while it does have game aspects, these are secondary. "Winners" and "Losers" aren't represented by combat here. In fact, players who write out their characters' deaths with skill and finesse will find more favor than players who run around the map killing others with little storyline justification. The former makes a better story.

Let Other People Write About Their Characters
The site defines Minimodding as using the narrative voice to subtly (or in severe cases, overtly) generate or alter the attributes, actions, or reactions of characters other than one's own.
 * Example (Severe):
 * Raven narrowed her eyes as Sam's bitchy ex-girlfriend revealed her true nature. "A lupine," the dark-haired siren began in a tone that would get the angry whore's attention and no doubt turn her blood to ice. "They told me your kind went extinct around here. It seems they missed one. That's easily fixed."

The problems with this post are:
 * "Sam's bitchy ex-girlfriend": This case is a gray area. While one could argue that the post is written from Raven's point of view, the statements characterize Zoey instead of revealing anything about Raven's thought process. This can be inflammatory, especially when the player does not agree with the characterization.
 * "a tone that would get the angry whore's attention and... turn her blood to ice": This is bad because these statements are preemptively wresting control of Zoey's reaction away from her player, forcing her to contradict or negate sections of the post if she wanted to take a different course of action. This is bad for the narrative.
 * A better way to make the same statement: "...the-dark haired siren began in an arresting tone, her voice like the touch of winter to the blood..."
 * Example (Slight):
 * The vampire leaped forward with surprising speed and reached into the bitch's open, snarling mouth and ripped her tongue out by the root.

The problems with this post are: Remember to read others' posts carefully and to avoid writing anything about characters other than your own. Even with small details, writing about other people's characters removes things for those characters' players to write about.
 * "Open, snarling mouth": Zoey's previous post (under the "Do Details" section) never mentions her mouth being open. If a detail like that is unstated or unclear, it's best to ask the other player in a PM or chat message if you are correct before building a post off of it.
 * "ripped her tongue out by the root": Confirming a hit is bad form, even if it was an exceptional success and you see no way your opponent could dodge, because until the other person confirms her character taking the hit, even as unlikely as a dodge of some sort may seem, there's a chance of the post being negated if something happens to prevent the tongue from being ripped out, and negation weakens the narrative.
 * A better way to make the same statement: (After confirming with Zoey that her wolf's mouth was open): The vampire leaped forward with surprising speed, her hand seeking the beast's tongue to rip it out.

Please Possess the Book
"Genius: The Transgression" is allowed as a splat primarily so that people who've not yet bought the book can have something to play. If you don't have the core book for the splat you wish to participate in, please be sure that all of the storytellers and assistant storytellers of that faction approve.

Resources
Writing Tips: Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin Writing Center