Style Guide for In-Character posting

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ShadoWarrior
Dark Lord of the Sith
Posts: 5315
Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2017 4:22 pm
Location: Florida Space Coast

Style Guide for In-Character posting

#1

Post by ShadoWarrior » Mon Aug 21, 2017 3:39 pm

I really don't care what color is used by players in the games as long as the player (1.) uses it consistently on the same character (IOW, don't keep changing the color, pick one and stick with it) and (2.) the color has good contrast and doesn't hurt my eyes when reading it.

I have a system for characters that I control in the games in which I play or GM:
  • darkmagenta for face characters (such as Ari and Tasha Chance).
  • maroon or darkred for engineers (such as Hass and Rico Solari).
  • darkgreen for healers (such as Rath Argent).
  • darkgoldenrod for rogues (such as Rob Locke).
  • darkblue or indigo for major friendly NPCs (such as Captain Vedij).
  • blue for minor friendly NPCs.
  • A variety of other colors for bad guys, none of whom any of my players have yet to encounter in my games.
Please note that all colored text is boldfaced, because without boldface the contrast is usually insufficient for the colored text to be easily distinguished from normal text, especially against the tan background.

I've noticed that too many players aren't consistent in the color(s) that they use, and way too many of them fail to boldface their colored text. Even more annoying to me is when a player posts colorized spoken text and because they've colored it they think they no longer need to wrap the text in quotation marks. A parallel problem is people using quotation marks on internalized dialogue (IOW, a character's unspoken thoughts), which is wrong. Such text should be italicized.

Below is a sample of a "properly written" IC post:
Kira raises an empty hand in a gesture of greeting and fixes her attention on the leader of the tribe, "We wish to pass through your lands peaceably. We were told by other travelers that your people have been struggling with a shortage of food and clean water. As a gesture of goodwill and of our friendly intentions, we are willing to share with you a portion of our supplies." We should really teach them to fend for themselves, but we don't have the time for that.
Spoiler:
Kira's Charm check would go here
"I would also like permission to look at any of your sick or injured. I may be able to cure them, or at least try to ease their suffering," adds Aron Lightbringer. These people have been treated roughly by the Empire. We need to show them that not all humans are evil.

"That rocky knoll over there would be a good location to set up a weather monitoring and comm relay station."

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ShadoWarrior
Dark Lord of the Sith
Posts: 5315
Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2017 4:22 pm
Location: Florida Space Coast

Re: Style Guide for In-Character posting

#2

Post by ShadoWarrior » Thu Oct 05, 2017 2:25 pm

Another issue of style, or rather, proper grammar in posting is that the In-Character (IC) topics are narrating current events (in the third person for the narrative and the first person for internalized thoughts). As such, the use of present tense is required. A post should say "Kira raises an empty hand ... and fixes her attention..." instead of "Kira raised an empty hand ... and fixed her attention...".

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