As with any other RPG, we have a list of rules that we expect you to follow at all times. Yes, there are many, but none of these rules should be hard to understand. Read them thoroughly, and you should be fine.

out of character.
1. Respect all other players. Name calling, threats, arguments, and any other forms of harassment will not be tolerated at all. If you have a problem with another player, please report it to an admin; the problem will then be dealt with accordingly. If you had a problem with another player before coming to Cauldwell, leave it at the doorstep. Out of Character drama is just something we really do not need.

2. Be active! Lack of activity is usually the cause of death for most RPGs, and I'd rather not be seen burying Cauldwell anytime soon. If you are completely inactive for one month without any plausible reason, your character profile(s) will be moved to the archives and you will be taken off the roster. If you'd like to come back, you'll have to re-apply. (Copy your old profile, or make a new char, it's up to you.)

3. Read the other information threads in this forum before posting an application. It's helpful stuff, and it will probably answer any questions you might have. Plus, if you don't read it before applying, you'll pretty much be lost. :] I also suggest reading some of the other information we provide, which can be found on our website, cauldwell.awardspace.com.

4. OOC should not be brought into the IC forums. This doesn't mean that you aren't allowed to make OOC comments in your roleplaying posts. What it does mean that you should not start up an OOC conversation in an IC forum, nor should you stray off from IC posts and go completely OOC. Use the PM (private messaging) system, the cbox, or one of the appropriate OOC boards if you need to discuss a thread.

5. Do not start roleplaying until your character has been accepted. Once an admin accepts your character you are allowed to roleplay as much as you like. Otherwise, please don't post anywhere.

6. Use reasonable image sizes. Cauldwell is a very graphic-oriented site, but I don't want to see anything stretching out the board too much. If you can't resize a picture yourself, find someone who can; there's plenty of people here who can help you out. Avatars should be sized anywhere between 100x100 and 160x160 -- nothing bigger, nothing smaller. As for signatures, banners should be no longer than 550px, or else it'll end up stretching out the board. If I find your graphics to be unreasonably large, please resize them when I ask; we don't need any unnecessary conflict.


characters.
1. Register with a FIRST and LAST name only. No middle names, no crazy numbers, no annoying-as-hell chatspeak; just a name. "John Doe" will do. "johndoe3345klol" will not.

2. Characters must be of your own creation. Please, please, please don't take or copy other people's characters! The players here work hard on their profiles, and completely ripping them off is a big no-no, especially if you're going to be playing with them on the same board. Use some creativity -- it's what roleplaying's all about.

3. Don't make any major character-altering changes. When your application is accepted, it will be moved to the Character Profiles board, where you will be allowed to revamp the form of your character's application. Add information, move stuff around, but DO NOT edit the character itself; I don't want to see their personality, history, etc. changing for no reason.

4. No Mary-Sue's. Mary-Sue: It's the name given to the sickeningly flawless things we know as perfect characters. Really, no one likes to tolerate a Mary Sue, so give your character some flaws. It makes them more interesting, anyway.

5. Limit yourself. I'm not going to put any number on the amount of characters you're allowed to have, but here's the deal: play them all, or the inactive ones are gonna get tossed. If you don't play with a character at all for three weeks, I'll give you a warning. If you still don't do anything with it two weeks later, I'll archive it without notice. ( Archived characters can be brought back at any time. )

6. Be realistic. If we see your character doing supernatural things (walking on water, shooting fireballs from their hands, reading other people's minds, etc.), you're gonna get in trouble. Your character should not have any special abilities or be anything other than human. Also, characters, especially student characters, should not have the ability to cast spells that are considered too advanced for their age.

Note: Special canon types such as Occlumens (people who can block a Legilimens from accessing their mind), Legilimenses (people who can sense the thoughts of others), Werewolves, Metamorphagi, Animagi, Parselmouths, and Seers can only be played if you've been active for a reasonable time, approx. a month. So if you've never played here before and you apply with one of these types of chars, you will be asked to edit your application. Non-human or once human magical beings, such as vampires, ghosts, hags, banshees, trolls, giants, cyclops, centaurs, goblins, house-elves, mermaids, etc. will NOT be accepted at all, for obvious reasons.

roleplaying.
1. Post something more interesting than a two-liner. Much more interesting, please. Your IC posts should be no shorter than two paragraphs, which is at least five or six lines each. Although I urge that posts be at least a little longer than this, I won't be a Nazi when it comes to post length. Just try to be curteous; if someone writes you a five-paragraph post, it'd be nice if you tried to post back five paragraphs, too.

2. Use good spelling and grammar. How annoying is it when every other word in a post is misspelled? I don't expect you to be able to spell every single word found in the English language, but I do expect you to be careful about your mistakes. Same goes for grammar. It doesn't have to be perfect, but really, no one's going to want to roleplay with you if you completely leave it out. Use a dictionary; it is your friend.

3. No powergaming or godmoding. Taking control or assuming the actions of someone else's character is not allowed at all. An example would be having your character smack someone and stating in the role play that the other character was hit. Not fair, because it didn't give the other character a chance to dodge. If you do something like this someone will end up stabbing you in the eye. No trust me, they will. And take your hits like a man; you can't always dodge everything.

4. All IC posts should be in third-person and in the past tense. A good example would be, "He swatted at the bee." Not, "I swatted at the bee." or, "He swats at the bee."

5. All roleplaying material should be kept to a PG-13 rating, unless... It is tagged with a proper warning in the title or topic description, such as [EXPLICIT] or [MATURE]. The PG-13 rating usually means mild violence, partial nudity, harsh language, drug use, or mild sexual themes (making out, basically). Therefore, threads containing the following subjects must be tagged: sex, rape, or any other explicit sexual acts, extreme violence, explicit drug use, or any other sort of explicit material. If your thread is found to be above the PG-13 rating and has not been tagged, I'll tell you to tag it. If it's still not tagged, I'll just delete it, no arguments involved.

6. Bold and/or change the color of the dialogue in your roleplaying posts. Doing this makes it easier for other players to reply to your posts. And yes, it is mandatory. If you decide to change the color of your dialogue, try not to use a bright color that's going to blind everyone that reads your post.

7. Ask before joining a thread that involves two or more players. Suddenly jumping into someone else's thread without permission can be considered rude, especially if the roleplay has been going on for a long time. Ask first. If they say yes, go ahead and jump in, but take in mind what has already happened in that thread.

8. All threads are created equal. In other words, try to post equal amounts when participating in multiple threads. For example, you may not post in one thread every day while the other is ignored for a week. That's just not fair to the other player(s).


three strikes system.
Breaking any of these rules will get you a strike. Once you hit three strikes, you are removed from the RPG and are not allowed to re-join. You may be removed before getting three strikes, depending on the seriousness of the crime.


conclusion.
Well, that's pretty much it, as far as our rules are concerned. Read the other threads, and then fill out an application so you can get out there and play!

Oh, and the password is powder puff. Keep this in mind when you fill out your application; it should be inserted at either the top or the bottom of your post.