The Personal Board

[Samanosuke]

So, I'll start off our first discussion topic.

Years before I ever even knew about forum roleplay, I was a member of the City of Arabel. This was a roleplaying server for Neverwinter Nights. (This was back in 2004 or so.)

The server only allowed 55 people to join at a time. And they came from all over the world. So it was hard for some people to connect with others.

The server had it's own forum, and on that forum there were a few special features.

--The Diary/Journal Board--
This board was for In-Character diaries or journals. They were for members to chronicle the things that had happened in their life, including recent events.

Nobody but the player could post in the diary, but everyone could take the time to read it, if they chose to do so. (Reading it was considered as Out-of-Character knowledge, and merely for pleasure.)


--The Letters Board--
This board is for sending in-character letters to someone else, and for them to reply their response.

--The Bulletin Board--
This was a notice board posted up in a promising spot in the city, and anyone could read stuff posted there. It was primarily requests for specific items, or help doing stuff.


I want to do something like this here. Only in a single board, known as the Personal Board.

Members could create threads for the various things above, using this formula:

Letter: From Link to Zelda (this is the title of the thread)

The thread itself would have a single post, written something like this:

Dear Zelda,

There is a party in Skyloft near the end of the week. Would you like to go with me?

Signed,
Link

And that's basically it. The letter is posted in the board, and it is assumed to have been written by Link, and placed in one of the mailboxes. The postal service of Skyloft will then take the mail and deliver to Zelda. (Not literally, but when she reads the post, she can have assumed it was delivered to her.)

Zelda can then reply in the same thread with her response.

Dear Link,

I would love to go with you. Thanks for the invite!

Signed,
Zelda <3

Other things to be posted in the board can have their own title format, so you know what they are.

Journal: Link

Using this for a title would let everyone know that this is Link's Journal.

Bulletin: I need Old Amber!

Using this for a title would let everyone know that the person needs Old Amber. If you have some, perhaps you could respond and maybe sell some of your Old Amber.


It's kind of a social element for the forum. It adds in more depth to things.

[Dark Link]

Sounds like good idea. I like the letters and bulletin. The journal is always nice to help you remember what you are doing especially if you leave for a bit.

[Samanosuke]

Yeah, and it is generally a nice thing to read for fun as well. Especially for the well written journals.

If you want to see how they do it on CoA, you can use these links to read some. I'm pretty sure you won't need to register.

coa.ender.com/viewforum.php?f=26 <- Bulletin Board
coa.ender.com/viewforum.php?f=27 <- Diaries
coa.ender.com/viewforum.php?f=25 <- IC Discussion (has letters and stuff)
coa.ender.com/viewforum.php?f=287 <- This one is rather new to me. It's for economic stuff, like selling gear and things.

[Dark Link]

That is interesting.

The bulletin board is more like announcements and general calls for help. Might be interesting for quests announcements. Dairies are personal and letters are between two people or more depending on the content. The only thing I'd do different is take those rumors and leave it either to npcs that appear occassionally or place it in the bulletin.

The last broad can be used for trade or request for items. Since everything is customized here, I can't see selling the armor or weapon to another not unless it is between the same class or to a shop that buys modified weapons and such ran by npc. Still I really see this board for raw material or weapons not modified at all, but that is just me.

[Samanosuke]

Yeah, if anything these would all be merged into one board. And you'd just alter how you wrote the Subject of a thread.

Like you could use the following:

Bulletin: <text> (for news to spread wherever, and whoever wants can read it)
Letter: <to/from> (for only the people listed, from the mail service)
Wanted: <item> or For Sale: <item> (this is for buying and selling stuff you own)
Diary: <character> or Journal: <character> (Stuff that only your character would know, but others involved could know as well.)

The Diary and Letter part is strictly out-of-character knowledge. Unless you were involved in whatever was going on. Like if three people get attacked by Bokoblins, and one writes about it to a friend, then all four would know about the attack. But only the friend and the person writing the letter would know about the letter. Unless they told their friends.

[Dark Link]

Fair enough. It would definitely keep it simple and clean on the board. I say go for it. So with the item for sale we are talking about things that have not been modified and only between people of the same class unless it is something shared yes?

[Samanosuke]

Well, you can ideally sell anything. But given that you only get one per item, I don't see you wanting to sell your only one, and then have to struggle to get a new one.

Players selling stuff is primarily for items required for upgrades. Like the Skull Pendant, Old Amber, things of that nature.

There would be little reason to sell anything else.

[Dark Link]

Ah. I understand now. Just making sure we were on the same page.