The Rule Book

[Chibi Magician]

THE RULE BOOK

Like most sites, The Train to Paradise has a set of rules for all members to follow. Some of this may be the basic run-down for those of you who are RP Veterans, but please make sure to check for rules that solely apply to our site. For those of you who are new to the world of RP, please make sure to read over all the rules so you don't break any on accident. We would greatly appreciate those of you who take your time to read the rules. If you have any questions, you can currently refer to the site's Support Board or you can contact a staff member with your questions. Have a great day!

- The Staff

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GENERAL

1. Be Respectful

Members, guests, and staff should be respected by all site users. If someone is acting rudely and disrespecting others, they will be dealt with by staff. Members who see someone acting disrespectfully to another person should report the thread, or message a staff member immediately. Threads also fall into this category, which means that if someone puts a higher word count on their thread, please do respect their wishes. Nasty retorts or complaining about staff decisions to an extreme degree will not be tolerated. Disregarding this rule multiple times can result in warnings or a possible ban.

2. Bullying & Flaming.

The Train to Paradise is a bully free zone and the staff would like to keep it that way. This site is suppose to provide a safe environment for people to entertain themselves in the art of RP, which means bullying is banned. People who see bullying going on around the site should message a staff member and tell them the problem. Racism, sexism, etc. will not be tolerated and will be considered bullying. Similar to the respect rule, disregarding this rule can result in warnings or bans. You are forbidden from picking fights or flaming other members in order to cause them.

3. Spamming.

Spamming will not be tolerated here, seeing as it can easily annoy others. Making a post that is less than three words and double-posting will be considered spam. However, double-posting will be allowed to style plotters and journals since it adds simplicity to the creation. You can also use double-posting to get staff attention on your character application while it is still in pending. If someone is being constantly spammed and have already told the person to stop, they should message a staff member. Breaking this rule multiple times via private messaging or chat box can result in said person being banned from messaging others as well as the chat box.

4. Cussing.

Cussing, cursing, swearing, or whatever you may call it is allowed to a minor degree. We've found it's common for sites to have characters that range in the teenager to young adult age, and since both teens and young adults swear, we won't completely ban it. Some swears will be automatically censored, these swears will be ones that are considered more intense. If there are any swears you believe should be censored, feel free to message an administrator. Censored swears can still be used in role-play if you feel your character would still use them.

5. Appropriate Content.

All content that is used on the site should be PG-13. This means that pornography, extreme violence, sex themes or extreme drug themes are prohibited. People who have these themes for avatars, signatures or thread themes will be warned and possibly banned. Avatar and signatures that follow these themes will be removed immediately and threads will be locked or deleted. With extreme drug themes we simply mean don't go overboard and describe each section in excruciating detail. We would prefer if the threads do not have disgusting descriptive wording since it could bother some members. Hard core or illegal drugs will be off limits for role-play. Any drugs that are meant to work as medicine will be allowed if the character has an illness that needs to be treated. Characters may consume alcohol and smoke in threads if the member playing them desires such.

6. Personal Information.

Personal information that puts you in danger should not be shared on The Train to Paradise. The staff here wish to keep members safe at all times, which means making sure you're not in danger. If you need staff to delete a message that contains personal information, feel free to message them.

7. Impersonating.

There will be no impersonating, since this can get others people in trouble. People who find someone acting strangely and have an impersonation theory should message staff. It is best that staff deal with these matters immediately to make sure that the person behind it gets the punishment they deserve. Those who impersonate others may get banned from the chat or personal messaging or banned from the site entirely depending on what damage is done.

8. Accounts.

Each character you make must have their own account and the display name should be their first and last name. We prefer this method for the sake of how we organize the site. To switch between accounts, you can find a small icon on the bottom right-hand corner to do so. Please note, this won't work on some mobile views due to the way our chat-box functions.

9. ProBoards Terms of Service.

Since ProBoards hosts the site, their terms of service must be obeyed by all people who arrive to the site. For those who haven't looked it over, the Terms of Service can be found here.

10. Copyright.

Nobody can take or use content that doesn't belong to them or that they have no permission to use. This includes images, short stories or any other mediums that are under a copyright code. Members and guests can contact staff if something of theirs is taken without permission.

11. PG-13 Rating.

Everything on The Train to Paradise should be PG-13, since the ProBoards Terms of Service proclaims this. We also have younger members on the site who have no desire to see inappropriate content that goes over this rating. There is also the fact that guests who view the site can be under 13. Please message a staff member if you see any content that isn't PG-13. All members must be 13 or older to join and role-play here.

12. Images.

Inappropriate imagery shouldn't be used on the site, this includes extremely violent, drug-themed and lewd images. Please make sure all images that are used in signatures and posts are 550px by 400px. Any larger will be automatic shrunk down to that size. Members are forbidden from using images that are hosted by Imgur since their Terms of Service prohibits using them on a forum.

13. Politics.

Discussing politics in the chat or anywhere else on the forum will be forbidden since it can make people feel awkward or cause fights. Thus, politics will be banned altogether just to keep the peace here.

14. Activity Checks.

Activity checks will be a bi-monthly occasion used to clear inactive characters from the claims. If a member doesn't post on an activity check, their characters will be whipped from the claims and given the rank "Inactive". This means the character's face claim could get swiped during inactivity. If your face claim is taken, it's your responsibility to find a new one or simply get rid of it and find a generalized picture of your character's looks. We don't mind if two characters have the same first name as a result of this since in life there is a chance someone could have the same name as someone else. Upon possible return, you will also have to message a staff member asking for your rank to be given back as well as your biography returned to where it was. If the god you were using is taken, then it's once again your responsibility to find one similar or change the character's rank to gifted or monster. Accounts will not be deleted in case the member returns. If you have to leave for a period of time and wish for your character(s) to not be labelled as inactive, you must post in the absence board. Other members may post your activity check form for you if they know that you're an active member who doesn't have time or is briefly away due to unforeseen circumstances. If there is a staff member in the chat-box than you may leave a message there to inform staff of your inactivity.

15. Religious Discussions.

Members should only discuss religious ideas in a civil manner. Nobody should be discriminated for the religion they follow and should be respected for their choices no matter your opinion. Please cease from preaching your religion in the chat, personal messaging, or in site threads. The last thing we want is members getting infuriated by the preaches of another site member and we would prefer to avoid any verbal feuds. Since we believe some religious topics can be discussed in a civil manner, this topic of discussion will not be outright banned.

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ROLE-PLAY & CHARACTERS

1. Power-Playing & God-Modding.

Similar to a majority of role-playing sites, power-playing and god-modding are forbidden. Power-playing can only be allowed if given permission from the character's owner, and is basically when someone controls a character. This can include saying an attack managed to hit them when the owner wasn't given the chance to decide on it. God-modding is completely forbidden, and it is when your character is all powerful. Examples of god-modding include taking no damage in a fight and having abilities your character does not possess.

2. Word Count.

There is no word count here, however members may place word counts on their threads if they please.

3. Role-players.

No matter how experienced of a role-player you are, you're welcome here. We ask that all role-players help each other out, whether it be kindly making suggestions or joining the thread of someone who hasn't had a response yet.

4. Liquid Time.

Members are allowed to use liquid time if they please. Basically this means you can have multiple threads at one time and say that they take place after or before another thread's events. However we do ask that no one goes too far back in role-play years.

5. Permission.

All members planning to have a pregnant character or to kill off one of their characters must get permission from an administrator. This is solely because the staff don't want random people getting pregnant or dying all at the same time. Having several girls pregnant at the same time or over half the site's characters dying at once would cause for some extreme disorganization and chaos, which won't be tolerated. We must also be notified so we know to change the claims. Large plots that can change the site's plot aren't allowed.

6. Gifts & Monsters.

All characters should have a gift or be considered a monster. There are a maximum of four gifts (powers) per character, but each gift must have their fault or weakness. Types of gifts may vary, but at the end of the day, staff have the ability to decide if your gifts are too powerful. Animals may not have powers, this includes pets. We'll make an accepted to familiars, but the familiar's power should only be a single element and the power and control should be minor. Monsters work a little bit differently and they may have gifts, but all gifts related to the monster must be listed until they may list something that branches off from the species. For example, a werewolf would have to list things like shapeshift, super strength and/or speed before they could add something like breathing underwater. If you don't add super strength or something similar then its position may be used for a gift instead. There can be no half-blooded/hybrid monsters. If two different monsters have a child then the child will either be the mother or father's species. Mutants are humans or gifted with deformities, like having multiple arms or eyes. Gifted characters can not be transformed into monsters by being bitten by a vampire, scratched by a werewolf, or any other means that may exist. All characters that are monsters should be somewhat humanoid.

7. Demigods & Gods.

Demigods are half human, monster or gifted and half god here on The Train To Paradise. Each member can have 2 demigod characters at most since they should also be a rare case here. Demigods must have one god parent, which can be any god the person chooses. However if the god character is already made and you want them to be the god parent, you must message them and get permission, then inform a staff member via chat or PM. This will work same for if a demigod has a god parent that someone wishes to play. Before you create a god character you must message a staff member. Each member may only have one god character, which means if you want a new one you would have to kill off the current one. Gods don't have to be their original genders, have their original name or even the god's original lore. If you really desire to go with the originality with gods, then you may do just that. Gods should not be invincible!

8. Mary Sues & Gary Stus.

Mary Sue and Gary Stu characters are completely forbidden. These characters are those who are perfect and lack any flaws. These characters often get boring in role-play since they miss the essential flaws to ones personality, but that doesn't mean characters have to be all flaw. Characters that are perfect will not be accepted.

9. Applications.

Each person who registers and creates a character must make an application (biography) for said character. This helps staff monitor how powerful characters are as well as find characters who are labelled perfect. You may not begin role-playing until your character has been accepted by a staff member and you've filled out the required claims. All paragraphs in an application should be at least 4 sentences long before it is considered a paragraph and all sections should be filled out. However, we are lenient with the image section and it does not have to be filled out if you lack a picture of the proper size or simple do not want an image in the biography.

10. Names.

We ask that members try to pick realistic names for their characters. Abnormal names like Shadow, Jupiter, etc. are not that common. However, this doesn't mean we are limiting you to names like Tom and Mary, be creative, just don't go overboard. We mostly just ask that you don't call your character something ridiculous. Your character may have a very abnormal name if it's a commonly used nickname or a god's name. Please do not use the names of famous people/characters or the name of your face claim when making a character, we want creativity.

11. History.

Despite the fact that all character have been essentially kidnapped and taken to a secret island, not all characters should be abused, criminals, abandoned or anything similar. As we all know, everyone in the world has not had these dramas in their life. In other words, be creative and sometimes having a character with a simple history can be fun. Everything listed in the first sentence is not banned by any means, but are simply examples.

12. Gender Considerations.

Genders will not be banned, since we do understand that certain people prefer playing certain gender roles, but we do ask to be considerate over it. If you notice a lack of male characters, maybe consider making a male character and same vise versa. We're also very open when it comes to genders and don't limit our members to playing only male and female characters.

13. Activity.

We ask that all members try to keep most, if not, all their characters active. If you're going to be away for a certain period of time, please make a thread in the absence board to let us know. There will be bi-monthly activity checks for members to fill out in order to flush out the claims and organize biographies.

14. Posting.

Please refrain from pestering members to post, not everyone can post immediately. However, you will not be in the wrong for kindly mentioning it to a member after two weeks.

15. Aging.

Each year in real life will be one year in role-play. Humans and monsters will age according to the years, but gods can have immortality, decelerated aging, or other powers that make the god unable to age. People who play god characters will not have to declare immortality or decelerated aging as a power. The immortality can not prohibit them from dying or getting injured. Immortality here should only cease the aging process. If your god character ceases aging in a different way, please mention it in the list.

16. Face Claims.

Face claims are by no means mandatory, if you wish to draw your character or use a non-face claim photo, that is fine. Face claims can be from any sorts of anime shows and movies along with mangas. We also allow anime versions of cartoon characters. Your character shouldn't have the same name as the face claim's name. Their histories and personalities should be different as well.

17. Communications.

Most communications should only occur with people who live on Paradise and if you know the other character's phone number/username/e-mail. Video games will be given an exception since people could end up in games with anyone. This board will be exempted from the spam word count since some messages may become rather short. These posts should mostly be dialogue based, which means you don't have to say what you're character's doing to text someone, call them, etc. If it's plot based and the person is supposed to hear gunshots, various abilities or whatever else then you can describe what's happening. These descriptions can be more vague since it's unlikely the character being messaged about it can actually see the actions. Anything with a face cam can have description of facial features or background movement. Video games will be a little bit different, since you should describe what the game avatar is doing. For pictures sent via communication you can describe them or find a picture to use and add it to the post. Most communication posts are meant to be rather short since it mostly focuses on dialogue alone. Characters can still use these messaging systems outside the communications board to invite characters they know to the thread or if they're beside each other.

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NON-PLAYABLE CHARACTERS (NPC)

1. NPC Spamming.

Please refrain from using too many NPCs in a normal thread. It's fine to have a dozen or more small enemies, like mutant rats or something, but flooding the thread with human NPCs just gets confusing. Please keep your human NPC interactions to 1-4 at a time, if one walks away you can of course bring in another.

2. NPC Power Levels.

All NPC should be beatable by the members on the forum. Like characters, a NPC can't be immortal to the point that they never die and heal obsessively fast. The reason for this is simple, we would prefer to avoid someone having an unbeatable protector and protective NPC friend, thus no overly powerful NPCs. Hard to beat is fine, but invincible is not okay.

3. Cloning.

Once you have an NPC who does a specific job, they cannot suddenly become something else. John Morris cannot be a black smith in one thread, a fletcher in the next, and miner after that. At most an NPC may have two occupation and a few hobbies, but please refrain from going overboard on these ideas. Just remember that one person can't do everything within Paradise.

4. Pets.

Pets are always a NPC and will be treated as such. This means there will be no obsessive pet hoarders on the site since each pet they have would have to be accounted for. There is no limit, but we would prefer each character to have three pets at most.

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CHAT

1. Advertising.

There is an adverting board for a reason, thus there will be no advertising in chat. If chat moderators see this, they may banned said person from the chat. Members who witness this should report it to a staff member.

2. Drama.

Dramatic events should not be discussed in the chat box since there will most likely be people who don't wanna join in the conversation. If you wish to get consolation or converse about a dramatic event, please do so in the Members' Lounge so it's more private and those who wish to join can.

3. Guests.

Guests are free to talk in the chat-box in order to ask questions or get a taste for what the community is like. A chatango account is not require, and you can join in with an anonymous name if you please.

4. Chatango Accounts.

Members and guests are not required to make a Chatango account to speak in the chat. You can set an anonymous account or pick a name for well your in chat in order to ask questions or just to converse with other members and staff.

5. IC Chat.

The IC chat (or in character chat) is a role-playing area that allows members to meet random characters who join. However all messages and activities will not count as experiences that the character has actually done unless it's later done in a thread. In the IC chat it isn't necessary to be serious at all times, which means that you can do silly things if you would like.