RULES: Read this first!

by **Giratina** Sun Dec 24, 2017 1:52 pm

What is Outbreak?

Outbreak is an online, play-by-post roleplaying game where members take on the roles of Pokémon and human characters as they fight for survival in a world were a terrifying pandemic has created a zombie apocalypse.

- Our roleplay posts resemble segments of a story rather than one sentence responses.
- Blood and gore is allowed, and, due to the setting, it is also encouraged.
- Cursing is permitted.
- Multiple accounts are not permitted. One account per member.
- Explicit sexual content is not permitted.
- Godmodding/Godmoding is not allowed.
- Embedded videos are not to be posted anywhere in the main forums. Freedom Corner is okay.
- Each member is required to have an avatar. This avatar must come from the list of images we provide in our avatar gallery.
- Signatures: Banners, links or sprites are to be Outbreak exclusive; they should not link to outside sites. Your signature should be no more than 200px tall.
- Character Sheets: There is a slot in everybody's profile sheets for a character sheet. A character sheet is a mandatory thread created in the Signature Threads sub-forum, and it is to contain all of your characters and their respective team sheets, profile links, and RP team links. A couple of prime examples of team sheets can be found HERE and HERE.

Above all, respect others.
Respect is required both in the public forums as well as private messages. If there are any issues that occur between members, please contact a guardian to resolve the situation.

Character Creation

The characters of Outbreak consist of various species of Pokémon and humans, and the roleplay itself consists of the stories that tell of their survival (or demise) as they travel around their now-apocalyptic world. Making a character that is truly your own is encouraged, but there are some guidelines that must be followed.

- Shiny and oddly-colored Pokémon will only be accepted with a shiny character ticket. A shiny ticket is required for shiny Pokémon or Pokémon that have different coloration on more than 25% of their bodies.
- Characters should not be overpowered.
Make sure you balance your character's abilities. If they are capable of some great feat, they should have a weakness that balances it; even if they have been trained they should not know all the most powerful TM moves.
- Pokémon Character Level Caps: A level cap indicates the maximum level any character you create can be upon creation. However, these caps only affect your characters when they are first introduced/created. You character can still level up during rp.
No badges: Level 70 and under

Character Tickets

On this forum, members have the ability to possess multiple characters in the roleplay. The amount of characters they can possess is represented by what are called "character tickets". If a character ticket is filled out, then it represents an active character, while a character ticket that is blank represents an opening for a new character to be created.

How Character Tickets Work:

Every member receives several character tickets when they first join; one Living ticket, and one Undead ticket, two shiny and one fakemon. These tickets are given to you blank when you first begin. When a character is submitted by the member to Profiles it may be approved by an Guardian, and a character ticket will be filled out with your character's name. Note that in order to create a character that falls under special tickets, you must have both a living/undead ticket as well as the special ticket.
These tickets can be found on your profile page, so you can keep track of how many tickets you own.
Every member can gain additional character tickets as they progress.
Tickets can be traded between members and purchased by going to the Department Store.
Though character tickets are given out often, it is discouraged to make too many characters if you do not have the time to manage them. Only create what you can handle.

Dual Character Profiles:

- Dual character profiles provide an opportunity to roleplay two of your own characters together on the same team (and in one post).
- To create a dual profile, you must have two available tickets as the characters are treated as two separate characters even though they are roleplayed together. Even though dual characters count as two characters and take up two character tickets, they only count for one character slot in team placement.

Trading tickets:

- Tickets used in character creation, excluding those required to make Legendary or Canon characters can be exchanged for other character creation tickets of equal or lesser value.
- You may combine the value of tickets when trading them in; for example trading two living character tickets at a value of 150 points for a human ticket at the value of 100 points.
- However, the excess value will not be refunded, so you should be very certain that you wish to exchange your tickets before doing so."

Killing Characters

- You are permitted to kill off your characters in order to be refunded a character ticket. However, please note that if you character is killed by an Omen, no ticket will be refunded.
- You must post on your team character sheet if you kill one of your characters so we can refund your ticket and take you off the team roster.
- You cannot kill another member's character unless both parties explicitly agree. Conversations dealing with killing off another member's character should be dealt with through private messages.
- No bullying other members to kill their characters if they decline. Such behavior is not acceptable, and if you are found doing such the consequences will consist of a potential banning.

Required Formatting and Rules

Outbreak is a 'turn-based' roleplay, meaning that everyone in each thread must post in an established cycle to ensure no one gets left behind. In addition this key rule, there are some other guidelines that should be followed while roleplaying on the forum.
- When posting in any roleplay threads, you should format the top of your post like this:

[ your character's centered image here ]
Location | Time of Day | Post Count

The content of your post can then follow.
Do not change the font or font size size of your post text.

RP Rules:
- The characters/players are listed in the order they should post in in the team character sheet of the team that particular character is a member of.
- Characters are only to follow the character preceding them, and are not to post out of turn unless the character they normally follow has been listed as Away or Idle.
- It is recommended that each player posts the day of their turn to keep the team's RP flowing at a steady pace, but they should wait no longer than three days to respond. Waiting more than three days to post on your team could result in death by an Omen.
- Posts must consist of at least one well-written paragraph.
- Make sure you use proper grammar!
- Use out of character (OoC) notes where applicable. This goes for if you need to make an out of character comment about the roleplay.
- All members must add an OoC note to the bottom of their posts whenever they are granted permission to harm or kill another member's character or when they give permission for another member to harm or kill their character.
- Every official RP thread is member-moderated concerning content. If a member sees violations of forum rules (be it godmodding, one-sentence posts, or otherwise), they are to notify the member. If the violations persist, it will be reported to one of the Guardians.

Team Rules

- A team is made up of the other characters your character will be interacting with. The team you choose to place your character in will essentially become your roleplaying "group," and any and all roleplaying will take place in the team thread.
- Each member's character will be assigned to a single team. A full team consists of six individual members. It will start with at least three members and will grow until it reaches its limit.
- Teams that are open and available to join can be found in the team character sheets.

- The team leader will determine where the team's journey will start. The leader's only responsibility is to monitor the length of each of their team members' posts. Posts must be at least 1 paragraph and not excessively long. Leaders are to warn members if they do not follow this rule. Other members of the team can report posts that are too short.
- Teams with two members or less will have the users consolidated to another team. A team needs a minimum of three members to begin RP.

Z-Rings and Mega-Rings

Z-Rings:
- Z-rings are now allowed, but have strict rules that the survivor must follow.
- Your character has to have been to Alola at some point.
- Your character is a trainer of some kind.
- A Z move can only be used once every time your character sleeps for 6 hours or more. As it is a last-ditch effort, and takes a toll on both the trainer and the pokemon, using it excessively would cause intense fatigue and even comas.
- Z-rings will be available in the League after you attain two base badges.
- On Z-Crystals: while it is acceptable for a trainer to have a full elemental set, they may not obtain exclusive Z crystals.

Mega-Rings:
- The trainer must have been to Kalos.
- The character must be a trainer of some sort.
- The trainer must have gotten Korrina's gym badge.
- The trainer may only have ONE megastone.
- Mega evolution can only be used once every time the trainer and pokemon both get 6 or more hours of sleep.
- Mega Evolution causes damage to the pokemon, and can not be used more than twice without healing at a center, or with potions/herbs/berries.
- Using Mega-evolution has more detrimental effects to the trainer and pokemon using them, and will even potentially strain the pokemon and trainer's relationship because of the pain mega evolution causes.
- Mega-rings will be available in the League after you attain four base badges.

Omen Attacks

- A character/member is given three days to post, starting at the moment the team member before them posts, which begins their turn.-
- A warning will be posted in the Omen warning thread in the Nexus for members who haven't posted by the third day. On the fourth day, if the member hasn't posted by 1200hrs (approx. US Mountain time), the character will be killed by an Omen!
- Please note that the times are based off of Outbreak's forum time, which everyone's should be set to Mountain Time, also listed as Denver, Edmonton UTC 07:00 in Preferences.
- If your timezone is not set to the correct timezone, go to your Profile > Preferences Tab.
- Posting after a death warrant has been issued is strictly forbidden. Approximately ten minutes are allotted after the death warrant has been reached, but no longer than within that timeframe are you allowed to post. Do not chance going over the forum time, as your characters' lives may be at stake.
- If you plan on taking a leave of absence, notify the White Forest Guardians.

Once you read this, reply to this thread stating that you accept the terms of our forum.
We reserve the right to ban anyone who does not adhere to these rules.

Your next step after accepting the terms is to go to Professor Oaks' Laboratory to create a character profile.

As always, we wish you the best of luck!