Koloss17 She/They Posted February 5 Report Share Posted February 5 (edited) Hello and welcome to the Alleyverse! This is an extensive guide to the Alleyverse RP, and is mostly a collaboration from me and AonEne, with stuff being taken from other older threads. With the RP being active again and there being a lot of people newer to the written FFRP (freeform roleplay) scene, we're putting out this thread on rules and guidelines for roleplaying. We've taken and updated some content from previous guide threads, in particular this one - many thanks to the mods and members who have written or contributed to these over the years! Over the Eras of the RP, the format and rules of the Alleyverse have often changed - for example, if you read old guide threads, the duel format has been removed and character creation has been revamped several times. This should be the most up-to-date source of guidelines and worldbuilding and older ones may include outdated information (as may the Alleyverse Wiki on Fandom). This thread is meant to be fairly extensive, and hopefully of use to those currently RPing or those interested in RPing. If you have any questions, suggestions on what to add, or rules and guidelines that you are unsure or confused about, please let us know! The most active Alleymods are @Koloss17 and @AonEne, but questions can also be addressed to @Voidus and @ZincAboutIt, or to the Alleyverse community server on Discord. The Alleyverse Spoiler To newcomers to the Alleyverse roleplay, the first question that pops into your mind is likely "What even is the Alleyverse, and how does it work?" Simply put, the Alleyverse is a planet where all of the worlds and magic systems from Brandon Sanderson's novels can mix and interact with each other. People can travel to the Alleyverse through the Cognitive Realm like with any cosmere world, and things like perpendicularities, Epic portals, or cytonic teleportation could also get you there, but the Alleyverse also has a third common method of travel: the Alleys. Alleyways anywhere can be stepped into and exited to discover you're now in Alleycity. The Alleys can also be dangerous, as their own pocket dimension of horrors and nonsense, and are generally avoided by most who don't make their home there or know how to navigate their changing paths. The precise details can be left vague when describing how your character arrived (there's no specific direction it's in relative to other worlds in Shadesmar, for example), and they can find the Alleyverse from any time period of other worlds, so you can determine how your character wound up there. Did they fall in randomly? Did they seek it out? All is up to you to decide! The Alleyplanet contains other places and cities, but the main setting of the Alleyverse is Alleycity, a bustling city with numerous districts. Since people from all over can pop into or leave the city at any time, and due to a plot-born surplus of disasters and wars, the city is often destroyed to some extent or building new establishments, but it is far from unstable; it is still subject to (most) natural or magical laws (though the Alleys aren't!). It has a similar gravity to Earth and a similar climate to North America. Due to the Connection of the Worldspike, everyone in the Alleyverse is able to speak the same language and be understood. There is a storm called the Alleystorm that sweeps through regularly (at no set date, just agreed upon by the RP participants) and renews all Investiture, though much less destructive than Roshar's highstorms. The tech level of Alleycity varies wildly in communication, transportation, and so on, with everything from phones to spanreeds to seons being used next to each other. It tends to be modern at best, with sci-fi tech limited to things from Brandon's books. Alleycity has an extensive history, which can often be daunting, but most of the time you won't need to know it. For new players, you can figure out what the Alleyverse is about with your character, as a newcomer likely would also have no idea what is going on. However, if you feel so inclined, there are older posts that can get you acquainted with the places, history, and guilds of the Alleyverse - the whole subforum is open for reading! Recent History There's actually a pinned thread about this, which I recommend checking out! It'll be constantly updated as the plot progresses. Character Creation Spoiler So to make a character, you just need to fill out the character template and submit it for review. Well, alright. It's a tad more complicated than that. You can certainly do that, but the likelihood of it getting approved is not extremely high. The character thread has a template, rules, and recommendations to follow, and you should read that too, but as a rule of thumb, us approvers are looking at three main things: 1. How powerful is this character? This is a fairly straightforward one. Generally speaking, we don't want newcomers to be running around as gods or lerasium Mistborn crossed with Tenth Heightening Awakeners crossed with High Epics. That often leads to an environment where the lesser characters are kind of shoved out of the way, as in any sort of confrontation or group scenario, someone would rather have a Fullborn on their side than a Misting. Characters with fewer powers or skills are not irrelevant, but it becomes less fun to play when everyone is vying to be the smartest or most powerful character on the block. This RP isn't a competition. It's okay to have a strong power as your major merit from the get-go, as long as you've got flaws too; but it's not okay to power-game it, trying to make them more powerful than is reasonable for that character or the plot. If you do begin with a powerful character, the main thing you then need to consider is strengthening their flaws. If you have a paraplegic Mistborn, that could certainly help them be approved, as their power level is now much lower than they would be otherwise. You could also have them just now grappling with their powers. Maybe they recently Snapped and have no clue how to use them. Maybe for most of their life, they just assumed they were a Seeker, and only recently discovered their true potential. Feel free to get creative! Just keep in mind that by making an all-powerful or close to all-powerful character, it can easily lead to the lower-powered characters being rendered a hair useless at times, or make it hard for other players to have something to do in the plot. However, your character can become more powerful over time. Giving yourself room to grow is often far more interesting than your character starting off incredibly strong. Having them grow as a person, leading to an increase in powers, is a great way to display character development. Maybe your Radiant swears the Third Ideal. Maybe they get ahold of a bunch of Breaths from another character. Maybe your character gives in to the darkness, getting themselves Hemalurgically spiked. Once a character is approved, the world is your oyster when it comes to expanding its capabilities, as long as you write it well and it fits for them. However, generally your character would need to be re-approved. Though frankly, the likelihood of it being pretty much auto-approved is high, so long as the character development happens naturally, and not every post. Characters can be very high powered, generally called OP characters, but you need to be careful with them, and make sure everyone else is on board with them. 2. How well will this character interact with others? We often try to avoid approving characters that are generally lone-wolf types, given that this is a collaborative roleplay, and having a character who doesn't want to work with others isn't usually conducive to that. However, you can make it work. If they get wrapped into a plot, or are indebted to someone else, they would be forced to interact with others. But without extenuating circumstances, having a lone wolf character complicates things. In addition, someone who has no reason to be engaged in the plot can end up being awkward. If you have the owner of a plant shop that likes interacting with people but doesn't want to leave their shop, it can become a bit of an issue if the plot involves taking down a crime boss that is terrorizing the city. How your character would fit into the current plot, or even having a plan for a side plot, is always worth at least considering in character creation. 3. Does this character feel real? This is, in many ways, the most important part. A character that has a solid backstory, interesting traits, and a unique personality is wayyy more fun to roleplay and roleplay with! My biggest tip is to focus on personality and backstory just as much as, if not more than, their set of powers. If they are a Coinshot Awakener, maybe think about how they got to be an Awakener (or how they became a Coinshot, if you want!), and what led them to pick up those Breaths. Do they know the significance of Breaths? How do they feel about that? And frankly, just stating a powerset is is a tad bland. What do they do with their abilities? A Coinshot could be a skaa rebel in the reign of the Lord Ruler. They could be a hazekiller, specially trained to hunt down other Mistings. Perhaps they are a bank robber, specializing in using their abilities to break into buildings more than shooting people down. This is especially important when giving your character powers, a heritage, or a background from multiple different worlds. Worldhopping is fun and thinking about how different powers or cultures might interact is a large part of the appeal of the Alleyverse (and the cosmere in general), but that doesn't mean it shouldn't make sense. Try to make your character's history as plausible as possible. What happened to them or what abilities they possess might be fairly unique, but you should still be able to give a logical explanation of why they are the way that they are. Be creative! Ideally, your character would be good enough to be written into a Brandon Sanderson novel. Using some of your merits to represent skills that they have acquired over time, not just powers that they have, helps this significantly and is highly encouraged. And I'll let you all in on a little secret: we mods are much more likely to approve a strong character if they look fun to write with. The whole point is for everyone to enjoy collaborating and roleplaying with each other, and so if from your character alone, it looks like they will be fun to interact with, we'll be more likely to approve it. Roleplaying- The Format Spoiler Once your character is approved, you can get on to roleplaying. There are a few rules to this, which might be different than what you're used to. First and most importantly, there are no Dungeon or Game Masters. Instead, the role of the DM - guiding character interactions, providing exposition, worldbuilding, and controlling NPCs - is done largely by the players themselves. Because of this, a post should be more than just a line of dialogue. Adding what the character sees, hears and senses around them; how that connects to their life experiences; and their inner monologue, not just their outer monologue, is vital for making an enjoyable experience for others. The Alleyverse RP is much more of a collaborative storytelling experience, where you channel your inner author, than a D&D session, where all you have to worry about is the expressed actions of your character. The RP is in third person limited format, meaning that anything in your post should be something your character either already knows or is actively taking in. For example, you shouldn't reference a character by their name in your post unless your character has been introduced to them. It also means that your character should only act on information that they know. Narratively though, happy accidents are just fine. A character walks into a bar that other characters happen to be occupying? A-OK. The character then enacting precautions against someone else that would perfectly counter them out of nowhere? That gets a bit dicey. So long as you could imagine the thought process and reasoning of your character or chalk it up to a narratively satisfying coincidence to spur on plot or character interactions, you're golden. Other than the thoughts, actions, and dialogue of your character, worldbuilding is highly encouraged. Given that there is no DM to set the scene, the responsibility rests on you, the player. This can be in the form of a description of a person nearby, of the general area, or an offhand thought about some aspect of the city that your character saw offscreen. Overall, the world is your oyster in terms of what exists in the Alleyverse, as long as it doesn't contradict existing lore. Unless another person described the scene, it is fair game. You can even make up small locations - there's plenty of room for businesses, parks, or streets, especially with how much rebuilding Alleycity has had to do. The world has a rich history, and if you have any worldbuilding questions, there are resources to help you: you can always read previous threads or ask in the Chat Thread or the Discord. As for the actual format of the post, posts follow a fairly clear format. Character Name, General Area of Alleycity, Specific Location if there is one [Body text in third person limited form with their actions, their thoughts, and potentially the world around them as discussed; decently lengthy, but with no clear minimum or maximum word count] Quote Quote boxes are used for out-of-character or OOC comments - helping clarify something in your post, or communicating with the person you are interacting with. If you're responding to something another character did or interacting with them, quoting the other person's post can help notify them. [Tagging/pinging the RPers you're currently interacting with, or for whom it's relevant to know about the interaction, if they haven't been quoted or otherwise notified by following you or the thread] It is a simple, but a tried and true format. Pinging those you're interacting with in some way is important as this is a collaborative activity, in particular if you're in a scene where everyone would be expected to react to events. Other Rules All normal rules for the 17th Shard apply; for an extensive list please see the general Code of Conduct. The Alleyverse also adheres to the 17th Shard's RPG rating. If you're ever unsure if something is appropriate or allowed, just ask! We're always happy to address any questions or concerns. If you notice something that may be a breach of the site rules please use the report option on the post so that someone in the staff can look into it. The primary goal of this and any other RP is the enjoyment of the players. Don't be afraid to speak up if another player's actions are stopping you from enjoying the game, but keep in mind that the other players need to enjoy the game as well. Try not to railroad the entire story and make yourself the only hero or derail the story threads of other players. Communication is key here, make sure you talk to people if you're not sure about a major decision! No Godmodding Spoiler Godmodding is the practice of controlling another player's character. This could be direct control (eg. "My character shoots at Voidus' feet and then Voidus runs away screaming in fear."). This robs another player of their chance to accurately portray what their character does in a situation and creates an inconsistent narrative. Always ask for permission before assuming you know what another character would do. If the player of that character has given you a general guideline of how their character should react you may be able to incorporate it into your post, but try to leave the description of a characters actions up to that player whenever possible. Sometimes a player simply doesn't allow another player the chance to respond for their character (eg. "My character shoots at Voidus' head, causing it to explode in a shower of blood."). This denies Voidus' player the chance to dodge the bullet or attempt to stop my character from shooting. (However, exploiting this rule to allow your character to dodge every attack ever thrown at them is also considered bad form.) Finally, a player might simply presume the emotions of another player's character; this may be explicit ("My character pulls out a giant hammer with thirty spikes in it, all of which then burst into flame, causing Voidus to fear for his life.") or implied by godmodding other actions (eg. "My character watches the tears slowly well up in Voidus' eyes when I tell him the news."). Deciding the emotions of another player's character is no better (and arguably worse) than godmodding their physical actions. The trickiest form of godmodding is indirectly denying a character an opportunity to react. Say your character walks off, assuming the other character to follow, and treats it like such. This denies the character the ability to choose whether or not to follow. It's a tricky thing, but one to keep an eye on. These forms of godmodding and any others are highly discouraged and may cause other players to be reluctant to continue playing with you and your characters. Always seek permission before assuming any behavior from a character. If you have communicated ahead of time on how a character might react, it's worth putting that in the post as a little message saying "don't worry, this other person has approved of this 'godmodding' of sorts!" just to avoid confusion. As for NPCs, you can control NPCs in any way unless another player has created and has plans for that NPC. A random barkeep that is mentioned for the purpose of scenery can be controlled however is narratively satisfying. Be Patient Spoiler This is not always the easiest rule to follow, we know, but try to understand that players may have circumstances outside the game that limit their availability. This is a forum roleplay, which means that it is not a synchronous activity. Some of us may not have lives, but others do, and writing on a book nerd website is not everyone's highest priority. Where possible players should try to pre-plan for any extended absences and communicate their availability, but in the case where schedules or time zones don't line up it can sometimes be a while between posts. Try not to just ignore a character if they are in a different schedule, make allowances for other people to respond to you, or be open to editing posts if a player has been unable to react for an extended period of game time. If the people you're RPing with cannot wait for you to get back on the Shard, it's worth inviting them to work out a way to roleplay without you, whether in the form of a post ending your interaction with them or a carefully collaborated narration of how the scene wraps up. Forum roleplays are a careful balance of patience and communication, and it is very useful to use both when interacting with others. Canon Compliance Spoiler We try to be canon-compliant whenever possible, which includes steering away from incorporating unique canon elements of stories such as iconic items or people into your current character. If it makes sense in-world, it's fine for there to be backstory stuff that connects - for example, you might have a lighteyed general who's spoken with Dalinar Kholin before, or someone who owns a dagger they claim the Survivor himself dropped. However, you don't want to RP being Vin's sister, owning Nightblood, or Ascending to a Shard of Adonalsium. Guilds Spoiler Guilds do exist, but are sort of inactive at the time of making this post. New guilds can be created, but should be carefully plotted out. If you have questions regarding the creation of a guild and the currently established guilds, check out the guild thread! Further Worldbuilding These are the present-day city districts and some of the locations that have been established in Alleycity. Many other locations have existed or still exist but are not listed here. City Districts Keep in mind that these district descriptions have been pasted over from a much older thread, so the descriptions of the areas aren't necessarily accurate. For the time being, I will allow some alterations to the districts, and I will update them when larger events occur within them. Spoiler Nalthian District: New Hallandren Spoiler Description: A level of garish brightness bordering on an eyesore, New Hallandren is an assault to the senses of any non-Nalthians passing through. The scent of heavily spiced foods floats on the air and brightly colored silks are seen everywhere, both on the people and the places. Contains a disproportionate number of the city’s tailors. Scadrian Districts: Mistkeep Spoiler Description: An upper class district for the most part, Mistkeep was built predominantly by the nobility from Scadrial after the Seven Day War when their previous district was the center of the explosions that rocked the city. Mistkeep has a distinctly Second Empire style with the majority of its public and community buildings harkening back to the late 1800s of France. Individual nobles have diverted from the style, choosing to incorporate more foreign styles from other planets upon realizing that they exist. Smokestack Spoiler Description: The rebuilt non-noble Scadrian district, formed in, over, and around the crater of the devastating attack on the city. The Mistwarrens Spoiler Description: Less a district in its own right and more a descriptor for the sections of slums that wend through both of the other Scadrian districts, the Mistwarrens are one of the poorest areas of Alleycity. The buildings need repair, the inhabitants live in small rooms, running water and electricity exist but don't work everywhere all the time. Especially in the evenings, you can find many of the inhabitants outside, where they gather around fires and share stories about their original home worlds. The crime rate is high and everybody keeps an eye on their possessions. The inhabitants eye those not belonging in their district with suspicion and most of them only leave it in order to beg in the richer parts of the city. The Forge is near this area. Rosharan District: The Sphere Spoiler Description: Especially the older buildings in this district show signs of Rosharan architecture, with thick walls and no windows toward the direction where highstorms are expected on Roshar. Public buildings were built so that they could serve as storm shelters should the need arise. That changed over the course of years and the buildings started to look more symmetrical, although some of the bulky shapes were kept, the shelters now serving more as bunkers against some of the destruction regularly occurring in the city. Located near the Scholar's Court, the Sphere is home to a fair number of scholars who study the different kinds of Investiture and how they can interact with each other. Taldaini District: Drydock Spoiler Description: Built over the crater outside the city that was formed by Voidus. The now dry crater proved a convenient location for the keeping of sand. Selish District: Dominion Spoiler Description: This area of the city was designed early on by a number of Elantrians, and the ones that are still around don’t allow changes to be made easily. Because of this, it's one the oldest parts of the city. Furthermore, everything was supernaturally strengthened to allow for impossibly tall stone towers and keeps. Many of its structures look impossibly tall and ornate, due to normal stone not being able to support construction that size. Because of its age, it’s not designed with car traffic in mind. Most find it easier to park on the outside of the district and traverse it on foot. The large number of Tia teleporters makes it easier to do that than in other parts of the city. While the mazelike paths leading throughout the district are technically able to fit a horse and wagon, many don’t risk it. Notably, the rest of the city is only recently starting to catch up to the height of the towers and keeps that were built in the Dominion, and the district itself exists in three dimensions. The upper levels are populated with gardens and squares, while in the lower levels the only illumination that exists is a soft white-blue glow that permeates the district. The Bindpoint Spoiler Description: The centermost district of the city, the Bindpoint surrounds the Worldspike itself. At the center of the Bindpoint is a large lake surrounded by a huge park which combines flora and partially fauna from many different planets. The park is cultivated by a whole army of gardeners who try to create different scenes and landscapes, partially in growing houses, partially with the support of Aons, Forgery or other forms of technology. The result is a beautiful piece of art that serves a place to go to recover or to take a walk, but also serves as a place where you can study the different types of ecosystems. The Grand Hotel, an upper-scale hotel catering to some of Alleycity's wealthiest citizens, is located here. The Corridor Spoiler The corridor is a long, thin district that separates the two Scadrian districts from each other. Its inhabitants are a wild mixture of all the different cultures. Artists of all kinds have settled here and turned the former rather ugly streets into something beautiful. Most walls are covered by paintings or stickers, the street art regularly turning rubbish into something beautiful and unique. Most that live here are poor, but not desperate. People smile at each other and most know their neighbors well. They are welcoming towards outsiders, easily integrating those who move there or visit the streets. Small stands sell food during the day and some of the most renowned artists of Alleycity live in larger buildings near the center of this quarter. Look at pictures of Gänge Viertel Hamburg for reference. The Cauldron Spoiler Description: A melting pot of different cultures. The Cauldron is home to many of the Alleycity craftsmen and their families. They share the knowledge of their respective cultures in guild-like structures, craftsmen of the same kind coming together to work and learn despite their different origins. Most of these organizations own a larger public building for their members to meet, spend their free time or solve conflicts. They have many connections to the other districts and use the fact that they have access to knowledge about the different cultural backgrounds to their advantage. The district is usually a calm and peaceful one, the cobblestone streets lit at night by various types of lanterns and in good shape. Most of the buildings have a yard hidden behind large doors to allow for carriages or vehicles to pass through. Often families live above their workshops or stores. You can buy more or less everything here and if you know where to go, you can find goods for the more shadowy professions here, too. Be it an apothecary who offers poisons under the hand, or a smith who sells spring blades, with the right contacts you can obtain whatever you need. Charred Heights Spoiler Description: A district rebuilt over the swathe of the city destroyed by the Phoenix during the Seven Day War. Despite its name, the Charred Heights is a clean and well ordered place. As it was rebuilt after the Seven Day War, its streets were planned out and are therefore rectangular. The whole district is so new that it incorporates lots of technical devices by those who came from the cytoverse and therefore has a more sci-fi feeling to it. Scholar’s Court Spoiler Description: District holding the Alleycity University. Scholar's Court is, apart from the University, famous for its bars and taverns. From a classy place to have a tea in the afternoon, to a wine bar with carefully selected interior, to a typical tavern with wooden tables and chairs - whatever place you look for to go and have a drink can be found there. Other places offer shelves to read books in combination with large tables for groups of students who like to learn together in a nice cafè. Some of the streets are said to sleep during the day and only wake up after dark has fallen to entertain their visitors with drinks, food and the occasional music that can be heard even outside of a disco. Apart from that, there are more bookstores in this district than anywhere else in the city, as well as large buildings housing cheap, small flats for the students. The Underground Spoiler Description: Not exactly a city district, underneath Alleycity are a series of interconnected tunnels and caves. Many are claimed by TUBA; others have been explored or used for mining. There is also a walkable sewer system. Specific Locations Here I am going to include some of the newer locations to mark a newer era. Something to keep in mind is that you can almost always set up a new building, as things can change drastically era to era. In fact, worldbuilding is greatly encouraged! Spoiler Coppercloud Inn Spoiler A relatively friendly hotel in the Mistwarrens that is gang-controlled. While it is often used by travelers, it is also a hotspot for secret deals and schemes. It has recently been damaged by Perses, and is all over the news in the Mistwarrens, along with Pewter Ironworks. Pewter Ironworks Spoiler The now leveled Pewter Ironworks was a gang controlled facility for creation of steel and iron, used for infastructure, vials, and weaponry. It was Industrial Revolution-esque, with nothing particularly remarkable about it. The leveling and murders done by Perses' hand is what kicked off Era 6. Bendalloy Bar Spoiler A newly established bar in the Mistwarrens, looking much nicer than most of the buildings around it. The service is decent, but most come to gather in a safe, quiet space. Recently however, it has been burned down due to a freak accident involving one Alcatraz Smedry. The Silver Dagger Spoiler A large bar turned store, the Silver Dagger is the place to acquire any manner of Metalborn tools, from vials to metalminds to mistcloaks. It is located in the Corridor, and sells to just about anyone. Venser, the Thaylen shopkeeper, also runs a black market weapons smithing operation in the back room of the bar. New Urithiru Spoiler A recently established attempt to recreate the radiant community that the original Urithiru provided. The tower is only around ten stories high, but has many of the same features of the original. Spheres are used as lighting, with the walls made of stone. There are attempts to enstate a spren inside the tower, but the installment is quite controversial. Radiants of the Sphere that yearn for a traditional radiant hierarchy can find it here, and are provided room and board. The Secret Library Spoiler A secret library of hidden knowledge of all types, curated and protected by Sonyr. The exact mechanics of its secrecy is known only to Sonyr, but it is generally located around the Mistwarrens. The location of the Secret Library often shifts, moving locations on a whim. Few even know of its existence, and it is a well guarded secret. Dancing with Death Diner Spoiler A classy diner in the Corridor where both the upper class of Mistkeep and the lower class of the Mistwarrens intermingle, with drinks and smooth music. However, under the surface, it is a hotspot for shady deals and gang activity, as the diner is owned by members of the Tin Street Mafia. It has recently been the site of a massacre done by the one and only Perses. Interacting With Others Now, all of this formatting and such is nice, but it really doesn't mean anything unless you have someone to roleplay with. The Chat Thread, Collaboration Thread, or any of the guild threads are great places to talk about and set up roleplaying opportunities. When you've gotten in touch with someone, communicate closely with them, as you don't want to write up something that would be difficult for the person you are roleplaying with to add on to, or put in information that the other person (or people) would disapprove of. This is especially important for making major plot developments such as starting up a fight or moving locations. Now that you know the gist, get out there and make a character! Find a person or group to roleplay with! Discover the wacky world of the Alleyverse! And again, feel free to ask questions! I sincerely hope that you come to love the Allyverse and its world just as much as we do. Edited April 3 by Koloss17 Added a few new locations, as well as updating some old ones. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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