Applying the Rule of Cool
This rule is not specific to Furcadia's
"official" source material and background
(the "Furre!"/Dragonlands game). It's
usable in any Dream labelled "Cool1",
"Cool2," or "Cool3", to enhance that
Dream's own Continuity. Here are the
principles of the Rule of Cool:
1. Continuity.
A Continuity is a "world" or "universe" or
"dimension". Every Roleplaying game has its
own Continuity, and what happens in one is not
valid in another. Every Continuity is
independent of all the rest. Several Dreams
can share one Continuity, if its owners agree.
2. Acceptable Character Types Are Limited
You agree to not make up your own character
classes, races, or major traditions. The Rule
of Cool isn't free-form RP, but rather, playing
in a shared world, with its own history already.
Surprises are great, and creativity is wonderful,
but too much can seriously hurt Roleplay.
3. The geography is mostly established.
Under the Rule of Cool, you agree not to
invent IC locations outside of that Continuity.
In the Dragonlands, this means the Olde World,
Kasuria, and the Dragonlands. It's okay to
make up the name of a village but you couldn't
just invent the name of a capital city, because
larger places already have names, for example,
the capital of Kasuria is Malgrave.
The purpose of this is to remove ownership
of these places from the control of any one
Furre; established locations are shared parts of
the Continuity.
4. The Guiding Theory of Roleplaying: ICA=ICC
The guiding theory of Roleplay is this:
"In-Character Actions lead to In-Character Consequences." This
is abbreviated as "ICA=ICC". It's considered very "uncool" to start
a conflict without facing up to its natural results, for example.
Suppose that Liago the Lion throws his beer in the face of
Grendilla, a powerful warrior. Under the Consent Rule (Persona
Play), Liago can merrily run away or ignore it when Grendilla
poses trying to punch him or attacking Liago with his sword.
Under the Rule of Cool, Liago is expected to respond to what
Grendilla has posed. Liago may not just walk
out casually. If Liago logs off (either by accident OR on
purpose) Liago is expected to re-schedule a time when all the
characters involved can meet and finish the brawl.
5. Show your respect for other players, OOCly if not ICly.
To show respect for the Continuity is to show respect for others.
Your OOC reputation as roleplayer is quite important, and if you
don't follow ICA=ICC, other players will very quickly spread that
info about you. On the other hand, things that encourage others
to RP with you are 1) speaking in character, 2) not using
abbreviations like "u" instead of "you", 3) being careful to
capitalize and punctuate, etc., and 4) showing through your
interactions that you're aware of what the other characters are like.
When you multiworld, your ability to visualize the other character's
appearance in your head is EXTREMELY poor, and to all but the
most novice players, it shows. One of the easiest ways to
show disrespect is to lag for four minutes between poses
while you play another character in another scene. It might
be just fine in Persona Play; in RolePlaying it's disastrous.
DESCRIPTIONS
As a fine point, any information that could not be guessed just
by looking at you, should not be in your description. If you
must put in OOC info, enclose it in parentheses. Under Persona
Play it's great to give people around you a helpful clue as to
how to interact with you but in RP-- they're on their own!
Be sure to leave out anything like the following:
(Friends with: Corrie, Mark, CG DJ, and Dogmaster)
(vampire)
(Member of Club D2D)
(looking for a mate)
A Roleplayed conflict can be handled many different
ways. Some are not compatible with others, so, to
avoid arguments, it's important to agree to one style
*before* a conflict arises. Everyone actually has their
own style, but to play in a large group, everyone has to
make small compromises, to play the way *enough* other
people happen to want to play. Here are detailed rules
for handling conflicts, divided up into three stages
of "seriousness", to accomodate the three most prevalent
philosophies of Roleplay.
under the different levels of Cool: |