General Rules and Policies
No chat-speak is allowed in-character, or within the RP. Use correct grammar, capitalization and punctuation. We are looking for quality more than quantity! One to two paragraph, with 4 - 5 strong sentences each is more than enough in our books. Purple prose and one-lining are equally less acceptable.
❖ No God Mode, Powerplay, or Sharking
Don't make characters who are god-mode, i.e. they are omnipotent, stronger than everyone else, etc. Also, there will be no power playing, i.e. taking control of someone else's characters - but don't be afraid to interact with them. Saying you did an action to them is fine, they can react to it. Saying they did an action is not okay. On that note, keep an action open ended so that they have a chance to do something with it. On these same lines, sharking (i.e. playing just for romance, and ignoring other important aspects of the RP) is disallowed as well. We try to keep things fun and fair, and if you only want to RP with a spceific character to fall in love, and to hell with the plots they or others are in, the setting, whether he has a mate, and any other players that are trying to interact with you well, that just won't fly.
❖ Player Profiles
Do not sign up as a character, just as your OOC self! If you scroll over your avatar (or a red box where one should be), you'll see a Member Group, your post count, and your personal title/quote. Below that is your Chatbox name, and a place for links to each of your accepted characters. This will make it easy to access by yourself and other members.
❖Rating Limits
Most things are allowed, i.e. romance, some violence, and in-character language - but please keep it to a PG-13 environment as per proboards terms of use. We're going to ask that if things start down the extreme/explicit road that you fade to black, or take it into private, or ask the staff about an unaffiliated site where such things are allowed.
❖ Respect Everyone
Respect is important for sites like these, and we hope you guys know how to treat other people appropriately. Do not post things that you know will stir up controversy, and be fair to other people on the site. If there is a conflict between you and a moderator that you feel is treating you unfairly, don't fight them. Just contact the admins (most likely Danse). It's what we're here for. This is a private site, and we will take down things we find offensive or distasteful, as this is not a public forum. Hate speech, giving out personal contact information like phone numbers, and extreme audiovisual materials like pornography or very violent footage will be removed, and the posting of it punished. So keep this in mind, as things of that nature are of a bannable offense.
❖ 17 and Above (Mostly)
We have a 17 or older policy as a general rule of thumb. We're looking for more mature RPers who have been at this longer and have a better grasp of the english language, though we all know that this is never an end-all, be-all of good grammar. If you really think you know your stuff, don't lie to us and say you're older - just send in a character applicaton, and we'll give you a chance! It is important that we know your real age so that we know what we can and cannot RP with certain players.
❖ OOC Fighting
If your character doesn't like a character while in-character and on the boards, it's fine! Feel free to fight and bicker with them. It's hilarious and makes for good scenes, plotting, and etc. What we don't like is out-of-character fighting, bickering, whining, rudeness and complaining about others you 'just don't like', especially in the forum, or the cbox. Take it somewhere else, or grow up and settle it like the adults you very well should be, or need to learn to be. Defaming others or posting hurtful threads about particular players is a punishable offense.
❖ Third Person, Past Tense
All RP taking place in CoM should be in the third person, and in past tense. Do not use first or second person, or "Conditional Tense", which is identified by using the word would when roleplaying an action - this is an incorrect form of allowing others a chance at receiving an action, and is a pop-RP tense created for chatplay. We know that you might like it, and that you might think it's easier, but it's not how we do things here, and it's definitely incorrect grammar.
Character Rules
❖ Wolf Aging
Wolves of this era age a bit slower than feral wolves of the past, which lived for up to 11 years. Evolved wolves called Wolf-kindred , are the form of wolf we use on the site, and they have ages that are doubled. Fluctuation is welcome, and 22 is not a cap, but merely a suggestion. Immortality and slow aging are not allowed, however. RP seasons change with RP events and can fluctuate from as short as a month, to as long as 3 or 4 if people are enjoying themselves. Community polls may be held to move forward with each season.
● 0 - 2 Year: Pups/Cubs
● 2 - 7 Years: Adolescents
● 7 - 18 Years: Adults
● 18 - 22 Years: Elders
● Deceased: The Sleepers
❖ Stay Away From Cliches
Try not to fall into the cliche traps like the, "completely black wolf named Shadow with a troubled past", or the, "white wolf named Snow who has beautiful blue eyes and wants to be the prettiest Alphess ever". We've all seen these types of Mary-Sues. Be original. While you can have these sorts of wolves, try to make them have a little more depth than the usual suspects. This makes things a lot funner and unique in the RP as well!
❖ Keep it Semi-Realistic
Think about your wolf, and the gifts you've given it. If you took all of the gifts away, would they look pretty much normal - maybe they wouldn't have a tail, or have a rather odd eye color - but overall they look pretty realistic with normal colored pelts and bodies? That's the feel we want here at CoM. Normal, but with gifts. your wolf may, however, have tribal paints made from various natural plants and clays for more vibrantly colored markings.
❖ Character Limit
We ask that you only keep enough characters to actively play on the site. We will not give an upper limit, but unused characters may be up for archiving if they are in no RPs, or only in dead threads for 3 months, and will remain archived for a year.
❖ Gender and Pack Ratios
Sometimes genders can get very polarized. It will not be necessary unless the site has become very lopsided, and there will be a notification regarding pack or gender balancing. For the record, making specific characters will never be mandatory for acceptance or registration, but is appreciated.
❖ Colors, Shapes and Sizes
Wolves on CoM will be semi-realistic looking as far as coloration of the fur and skin. allowed eye colors are:
● Natural: Grey, pale green, dark brown, gold, or amber.
● Abnormal: Blue, dark green, heterochromia.
● Disorders: Pink, red (albino), coal (melanistic), cataracts, polycoria (blind)
Eye that are completely black are an RP element for possession. Completely white eyes are for psychic or elemental use. If you are unsure if your idea is okay, ask a mod.
As for sizes, adult wolves can range from 3 to 4½ feet tall at the shoulder. This is quite a size variation, so please keep within these. Younger wolves should be 1 to 2½. The Wolf-kindred are no larger than normal wolves, which already stand at 6 to 7 feet on their back legs. However, Wolf-kindred don't stand on a normal basis, as they may find it clumsier than feral movement, and use it only as a means of escape, climbing, reaching, and carrying things. They won't use it for fighting solely bipedally, hunting, or traveling long distances. When it comes to bodies, very small/lithe to very broad/muscular wolves are allowed, but keep in mind their pack and lineage. They may have thin or thick tails, very long or short ones, or even no tail at all. Wolves may have tufts or manes, and extra fur, but please no 'scene' wolves with coon-striped hair and rainbow flip bangs. Think tribal, not punk/apocalypse/radioactive/emo.
❖ Gifts of the First Ones
Now this is where things get into the fantasy. The Gifts are powers, and on a basic level, certain packs have access to certain gifts through lineage. Some gifts are transcendant of packs, and so they'll be on their respective pages. Some gifts may crop up in wolves that seem surprising, and others may not have any at all. Most gifts are either due to supernatural intervention or genetic polution from radiation, and probably have hands in both.
The Chat Box
❖ Where is the Chat Box?
The chat box is in the last tab in the navigation menu on the top left corner of the site. It will have scrolling ticker text and a small speech bubble icon. Clicking it will expand the chat box into the bottom left corner.
❖ Friendly and OOC
For those who use the chatbox, please do not create drama, spam or advertise. Don't talk about things that will antagonize others, and if you choose to use the custom fonts, keep them legible and between 10-12px. Failure to do this will get your posts deleted as spam.
❖ Chatango Accounts
Chatango is our Chat Box provider because of all the benefits of using one. However, it requires a different username and account from CoM. After making an account, it's recommended to change your user settings by hitting the "chatango" button on the bottom left, and then hitting "private messaging". Under the "account" dropdown in the top, right-hand corner of chatango's main site, ideal changes are as follows:
□ Allow anons to message me.
☑ Show my idle time.
□ Email me when I get an offline message.
□ Show my profile in meet people.
□ Open last chats at start up.
☑ Save Conversations.
This should disspell any unwanted messages from users not on Children on Moon. If you would like to download their message catcher, feel free to do so, but the CBox does not require it.