Getting Started in the Game

Character Creation

Making a new character is easy in Shadow Realm.

All you need to do is decide upon a name, physical attributes, personality, history, and what kind of creature he or she is, human, vampire, demon, etc. (And then register your characters name on ChatFirst) All established rpg races are welcome here, so long as they fit in the general timeline setting of the game. No Guns, futuristic weapons, robots etc.

If you wish, you can even create your own rpg race, just make sure you develop if fully and not change it's attributes.

When you get all your character information together, make your online character bio. This is just taking all the information about your character that you have created and putting it in a webpage. As your nickname on ChatFirst may need to change as your character develops, so it may be best for webtv players to make this bio page on a server outside webtv, and not to put your personal page on it either, as you will lose your pages if you change your nick, and another thing to try to avoid would be putting parts of your personal page on your rpg nics, once again, as they will be lost if it needs to be changed.

Social Group Creation

Eventually, a few people might wish to create a group of their own. This has many benefits, listed on the social order section of the Shadow Realm webpage.

First off, decide what kind of group your are bringing into the game, you can bring in an actual historical group, such as the Celts, the Visigoths, Picts, Huns, etc... and attempt to recreate their social structure, government etc.

You can also create a group that is more fantasy based, such as a Dragon Clan, Goblin Horde... Each group needs a webpage, where they can describe themselves, have a history, and link to the bios of their members... Check the social order section of the game page to see what the prerequisites are for social groups, and post the url of the group page on the posting boards under announcements so it can be added to the groups page.

General Rules:

The Shadow Realm Role Playing Game Campaign is a RPG on ChatFirst chat service. Because this is an RPG on ChatFirst,, the ChatFirst rules MUST be followed. Failure to follow the rules of ChatFirst may result in our RPG rooms being shut down. Those who fail to follow ChatFirst's rules will be unable to participate in the Shadow Realm Cove RPG. Please visit the ChatFirst Standards page for more detail on the rules of ChatFirst: ChatFirst Standards.

• OOC (Out of Character) and IC (In Character): OOC and IC is defined as the separation between the player at the keyboard and the character being played. OOC and IC should and MUST remain separate at ALL times if you are to participate in the Shadow Realm RPG. We ask that OOC discussions be kept out of the RPG rooms. Please take any OOC discussions to whisper or one of the OOC rooms in Shadow Realm . If you MUST step OOC in a RPG room then please state you are OOC at the beginning of all of your statements. When returning to your character, please state you are now back IC. In NO WAY, SHAPE, or FORM should OOC play a role in the role play of the game. Killing or attacking another character for OOC reasons will NOT be tolerated and may result in banishment from the game depending on how severe the crime. OOC and IC should NOT and WILL NOT mix in any way. Please try to avoid going OOC in public, for whatever reason.

• Attacking and/or killing for no reason is UNACCEPTABLE in the Shadow Realm RPG. A character MUST have a reasonable reason to attack another character. Attacking a character because you don't like their nic, or because they have a similar nic, because of OOC reasons, because you are bored, or because they just annoy you are examples of reasons NOT to kill. Killing to avenge the death of a loved one and other SERIOUS reasons such as that are REASONABLE reasons to attack and/or kill another character. There is a fine line between killing without a cause and killing with cause. Killing without cause can result in punishment of the character depending on how severe the crime. Punishment can include anything from lowered hit points to banishment of that character from the game.

• MfD means "Marked for Death" in the Shadow Realm RPG. An MfD is used when a character does something very uncalled for while staying within the rules of the game. Lets say a character kills an innocent child, an MfD can be placed on the Killer. An MfD is an Order to the members of the clan that's Leaders issue it, but to all others it is a request, save that it was issued by the Gods. An MfD asks the characters to kill this certain individual should they find him/her. There MUST be a good reason for placing an MfD on someone. Placing a MfD on someone because they annoy you or for OOC reasons are two examples of UNREASONABLE reasons to place an MfD on someone. Placing an MfD on someone because they attack a clan member or killed someone innocent are examples of reasons to put a MfD on someone. An MfD can ONLY be placed on someone by a Lord, Lady, or God (Those being the highest ranks in the game by role play standards). If an MfD is needed, you must speak with one who holds one of the above ranks. An MfD MUST be posted in the proper posting section for it to be legal. An MfD stands until the person who placed the MfD lifts it or until the person who is on MfD is killed.

• Character Separation is defined as the separation of two or more characters played by the same player. This means that if a player has two or more characters in the game, neither character knows what the other character knows. They are played as if they are two different people... BECAUSE THEY ARE. Failure to character separate may lead to the automatic death of all of his/her nics.

• Doubling nics in the Shadow Realm RPG is allowed. What this means is that a player CAN have more than one nic in the game. Whether or not a player is allowed to have more than one IC in more than one clan is left up to the individual clans. Cloning nics is NOT allowed in this RPG Campaign. Cloning nics is to be considered a crime against the game. Punishment may result in lowered hit points for a certain period of time to banishment from the game. Cloning nics demonstrates a player's INABILITY to role play and lack of RESPECT for his or her fellow players.

• No Group may use the same symbols of an already established clan, recognized or not. If this happens, the clan who has copied the symbols of another will be asked to change them before they are able to become a recognized clan.

• No ONE person rules over this game. The rules of the game are meant to be stable and unchanging, However some small changes may be needed over time, thus we have a system of checks and balances to ensure it is done to better the game, and not one person or group alone. The rules of the game are made by the Gods The Gods are also the GM's of the game, with their Avatars helping them. They are appointed by the Goddess of Nature, and have duties to fulfill to help run the game smoothly. They can on rare occasion change a rule if it is absolutely needed for the Good of the Game and it's players, but the rules are not meant to change, so unless something is truly needful this shall not happen, The Senate (consisting of reps from the Games Social Groups), Enforces the Rules of the game when broken by giving Fair Trials and Sentencing the Guilty. The Senate meets on an as needed basis. The Gods and their Avatars enforce the sentencing.

This is the PEOPLE's game. The rules of this game WILL be ENFORCED.

Failure to follow the rules of Shadow Realm will result in you being unable to take part in role play.