Roleplaying Rules

1. Absolutely NO names or characters from the Harry Potter Series.
-INCORRECT
Ron Potter danced a jig to impress his professor Minerva Snape.
-CORRECT
Headmistress Marnett glanced around Cascade Hall in search of John Doe, a fellow professor.

2. All posts should be in the third person past tense.
-INCORRECT
I am picking up a book off my bed and reading it.
-CORRECT
Out of boredom, Headmistress Marnett transfigured a few Teppenpaw students into mice.

3. Absolutely NO Power-Playing, also known as God-Modding. Power playing occurs when you control someone else's character without the other author's permission. You may only write for your own character. Please do not write for other roleplayers' characters.
-INCORRECT
"Hi Dave," Headmistress Marnett exclaimed while waving at Professor Martin. Dave turned around and ignored her gesture.
-CORRECT
After a long day of paperwork, Headmistress Marnett flopped into her seat at the faculty table. "I'm exhausted," she said to the nearest person that would listen.

4a. Keep your posts realistic. This means do not write about things that would not normally exist at Sonora Academy. This includes telephones, computers, CD players, and other electronics. Also, your characters are not infallible. They make mistakes like normal people. Please try to keep your part of the story within a realistic level for your character.
-INCORRECT
Headmistress Marnett called the president of the United States on her office telephone. She checked her e-mail and read a message stating she had won one million dollars. Out of joy, she leapt out the tenth story window and landed unharmed on the ground below.
-CORRECT
Headmistress Marnett pulled a book on charms from her massive bookshelf.

4b. There is only one character in the Harry Potter books whose eyes have changed and that was a permanent change, not one that only happens under certain conditions. Tom Riddle, AKA Lord Voldemort had to rip his soul into pieces and do other unspeakably evil acts for this to happen. Eye colours tend to be realistic in the Harry Potter universe.
-INCORRECT
Headmaster Bulla felt the rage build up, the anger grow. His eyes, usually a deep purple flickered before turning bright yellow.
-CORRECT
Headmaster Bulla rubbed his brows, his blue eyes showing the anger that he kept from the rest of his expression.

4c. There should be absolutely no Metagaming. Metagaming can be defined as any out of character action made by a player's character which makes use of knowledge that the character is not meant to be aware of. You should never use what another person has said OOC or in their IC internal thoughts in your own posts as this information would not be something your character would be aware of.
-INCORRECT
*Post One* The Headmistress had thought about adding a new elective for students to take, but had not mentioned this to anyone. *Post Two* Professor Smith knew that the Headmistress had been thinking about offering a new elective and wanted to give his input.
-CORRECT
*Post One* The Headmistress had thought about adding a new elective for students to take, but had not mentioned this to anyone. *Post Two* Professor Smith had a couple of thoughts regarding classes and really wanted to get the Headmistresses take on them.

5. No foul language or extreme violence. All posts should have a PG rating, just like the Harry Potter series.
-INCORRECT
"#$#%#*#$! You #$%#$#$!" screamed the Headmistress. Taking a fork from the table, she gouged the student's eyes out in revenge.
-CORRECT
Headmistress Marnett grimaced at the sight of the one student she hated.
NOTE: As in the Harry Potter books, as students grow older, they will likely encounter heavier topics. These may certainly be explored but please avoid graphic descriptions of violence or adult activities.

6. No special powers or unrealistic acheivements for your character's age are allowed unless approved by the Headmaster. Special powers include speaking parseltongue, telepathic abilities, seeing the future, and any other abilities that would be rare and unusual in the magic world. Unrealistic acheivements may include animagus transformations or full patronus manifestations prior to advanced classes. Only one character with a special powers or skills will be allowed per author at any one time, unless characters are related and share a genetic trait (e.g. part veela).
-INCORRECT
Using her mind reading powers, Headmistress Marnett discovered exactly which student was telling the truth.
-CORRECT
"Now, I want the truth," Headmistress Marnett said, crossing her arms over her chest in a forceful gesture.

7. Please note that Quidditch has its own separate set of rules that should be followed.
You may find these rules here. If you do not follow these rules, you will at minimum lose points for your team and at worst may be banned from playing Quidditch.

8. Remember to write detailed posts.
Not only are detailed posts more interesting to read, but they also give other role players more to work with when replying to your posts. As a rule of thumb, posts should be about 200 words, or at least two paragraphs, which is about eight to ten lines when displayed on the screen. If you are having trouble writing this minimum, try to imagine what your character is feeling, thinking, his or her facial expression and actions, and past events that would affect their current situation. This will provide the detail needed for an interesting and creative post.

9. There is a limit on how many characters you can apply for in any given year.
Two is the cap although, in some circumstances, three will be considered. Characters already at the school will also be taken into consideration with applications. Please remember that more characters might seem exciting, but each needs time to develop, and time to be written. A neglected or abandoned character is no fun for anyone.