You've been accepted to the game- congratulations! But now what do you do? Joining a new game can be an overwhelming experience, particularly when the game is large and has been in progress for a while like OSI has. But never fear, we're here to help you get settled! If you have questions at any time, or need some help getting started, please feel free to contact one of the mods to assist you. We've also put together this handy player's guide that will answer some of your most common questions about getting started in the game.

The first thing you need to do is post an OOC Intro Post in the OOC community. This post is important as it lets folks know that you have joined the game and that your characters are available for play! Here's what your OOC intro post should contain:

• Your name or nickname so folks know what to call you.
• Your character's name and journal
• Your AIM and/or email contact so other folks know how to reach you for scenes.
• Info about your character - a brief snippet about who or what you are playing.
• anything else you want! Link in your ooc journal, tell us about your cat, etc. Helps folks get to know you.

Now that you've introduced yourself in the OOC community, you're ready to start playing! There are five ways you can do this:

1. Reply to any existing post that is marked OPEN
2. Start an open post on the community
3. Message a player and ask to do a scene with them over AIM or IRC
4. Message a player and ask to do a play by post scene with them
5. Drop in to the chat room and play during an open play session

Posting is the main way the game plays out. We play by Live Journal, in the Sunnydale OSI community. All posts made in the community should be third person interactive scenes. An occasional third person solo scene may be done if desired to illustrate something the character is doing 'off screen' where other players aren't involved. Posts may be as long or as short as you desire, but please use an LJ-Cut if they are more than five paragraphs or so.

The subject line of your post can be anything you like! Be descriptive or funny as you please. But for ease of understanding what is going on, the body of every post should begin with a post header that consists of the following:

• Who: Who is involved in this post. You can use the abbreviations OT to indicate 'open to'. Example: Anna OT All would indicate a post being made by Anna, open for everyone who cares to reply to it. Malone OT Wolf would be a post by Malone which can only be replied to by Wolf.

• Where: Where is this post taking place? Check the Locations section to see what the town of Sunnydale has to offer, or make up your own (within reason- there is obviously no space station!) Example: Alex's Apartment, UCSD campus, Sid's Diner

• When: Remember that the month and year in game is different than in real life. Check the time tag in the OOC if you are uncertain of the current game month. Days vaguely correspond to our days- but you can feel free to have your post take place on a day that isn't the current day as long as it is in the correct game month. So for example… today is July 14th, 2008 - but in game it is December 14, 1998. You could make a post taking place on December 11th, or December 18th - but not one taking place in June or January. If you just want to list a day of the week the post takes place on, that's fine too. You might also want to indicate a time of day.

• Example Header:
• Who: Alex ot Frankee
• Where: Their apartment
• When: Saturday night

When you make your very first post, you won't have a tag for your character yet. One will be created for you after you post - no worries. Help us to keep the game organized by filling in appropriate tags for your characters, locations, and any plots you might be using in the post. You can see a complete list of tags used in OSI on the tag page. If you don't know how to tag an LJ entry, learn how to tag an entry.

If you have logged a chat over AIM or IRC, please clean up the log before posting it. This includes removing any SN and time stamp information, and separating paragraphs by speaker so the reader can clearly understand who is speaking when. Please place the majority of the log under an LJ-Cut. Use the post header and tag appropriately.

To reply to an open post or a post for your character, just use the comment function. Choose an appropriate icon for your character, and respond to the post in a third person in character manner. We do not have any length requirements - your reply can be as brief or lengthy as you feel it needs to be to get the point across. Just be sure to give your fellow roleplayer something to work with so that they can reply to you and keep the post flow going.

Our chat is hosted on IRC, on the server irc.darkmyst.org . The rooms are #The_Loft (our ooc room for hanging out) and #OSI (the IC room for playing scenes).

Many free programs are available that allow you to use IRC, such as mIRC and Trillian. If you do not have one of these programs, you can use our Java Chat Applet to reach the IRC chat rooms through any web browser.

This is the IRC chat applet for our game. It signs you in automatically when you go to that URL.

Your two rooms are:

#The_Loft , our OOC room for hanging out.

#OSI , the IC room for playing out scenes.

Click on the name of the room in the bottom bar to switch between the two rooms. You can send people private messages by clicking on their name in the room list. You can view your private messages in the Private Bar (under the Public rooms bar)

To change your nickname in the chat, use /nick name (where name is whatever you want to change it to, like /nick Bob )

To emote, use /me and an action ( /me runs around like a chicken without a head )

Generally, the goal of Sunnydale OSI is to provide an entertaining game in which characters can grow and interact with each other and their surroundings. We love character development, and feel that it is in the best interest of every player to develop a well-rounded character. These are just some general guidelines to give you an idea of what we're like in our game.

Everyone has a different play style, and in many ways we support that. That being said - here are some things you will not see at Sunnydale OSI, and that we prefer you would not do while playing with us:

• Purple Prose:

If you've ever caught yourself saying 'azure orbs brimming with limpid tears' or described something as 'dark as the miasma in her wretched soul', chances are you're guilty of writing purple prose. Purple prose is florid description that adds little to the scene, and actually winds up detracting from the story. Please don't use it in our game.

• Contemplating Your Navel:

Years ago a college English professor warned of the dangers of 'contemplating your navel' - that is, a story which has pointless introspection that leads nowhere. It's fine to have a bit of introspection in a post to let others know what the character is thinking or feeling, or letting the audience know about a relevant background issue- but don't have so much that it takes fifteen paragraphs for you to stop contemplating your navel and cross the room.

• Passive Voice:

This is another big one for the English buffs out there. Don't use passive voice. 'The door was knocked upon by her unsteady hand' … no. The door didn't do anything but sit there woodenly (hah, get it?). The woman does the action, with her hand, upon the door. 'She knocked upon the door with an unsteady hand.' Get it? Got it? Good. If the door actually takes action - for example, growing teeth and ripping her arm off - that's another story. If the door actually takes action - for example, growing teeth and ripping her arm off - that's another story - and probably a scary one.

In OSI, we love well-rounded original characters! Please create a character who has a good balance of abilities and flaws. This isn't a game about whose virtual power penis is larger - please don't get carried away with the powers. There are some great characters who are just ordinary folks with neat personalities. On the other side of the coin, don't create a character whose life is a never ending series of tragydies (We threw in the Y there because it's extra tragyc) who can't do anything well but only exists to be a victim. Every character has some things that they are good at - and some things that they are not-so-good at. It's all about the balance.

Please try to keep consistent with your characterization. We realize that all characters do change as they develop, and that's a good thing - but don't suddenly have Bob get over his paralyzing fear of hamsters overnight without an explanation, particularly if it's been a major game point in the past.

Please make an effort for your character to get to know and play with other characters. It's no fun to be alone and have no one to play with!

No pointlessly evil characters, please. Villains are for plots, not for PCs.

Characters may be of any sexuality - gay, straight, bi, lesbian, transgender, pansexual, monogamous - whatever floats your boat. They may likewise be of any religion, race, or creed. We do not discriminate or espouse one type of character lifestyle choice over another.

We provide some character development questions and drabble topics from time to time. These are entirely optional, but we hope that you will find them fun to complete and that they will give you insights into your character.

Please feel free to develop your character, and have your character interact with the world in ways that will challenge and change him. That's half the fun of a good game!

If you have any personal storylines you wish to pursue for your character, go for it. As long as they do not affect the world in a big way, or as long as they don't defy the rules of the game or the laws of physics - we support your ideas.

For personal plots between characters, you do not need to consult a mod unless they have a large in game effect (ie: blowing shit up, turning someone into a vampire, opening a new business ).

Pregnancy and marriage does not need to be pre-approved - but they are realistic. If your human character is pregnant, she's going to be knocked up for nine months of game time. Men don't have wombs, so don't even think about MPREG.

Plots that have official plot tags are overseen by mods, and are plots that affect the game at large. To get a character involved in one of these, show up in an open post that is tagged with that plot tag - or contact a mod and ask them how to get involved with that particular plot. You can always identify plots in the tag list because the plot name is preceeded by plot:

We love it when people get involved with the plots- that's what they're there for- so don't hesitate to volunteer your character for plotly fun.

If you have an idea for a game reaching plot, please contact a mod and discuss the idea - we might be able to use it!

• L(aura)

Music journalist who hails from the NJ pines. Founded Lab Arc Designs with husband Aus in 1997.

* Contact for: General game questions, plot questions

• Aus

Programmer /Database Admin from the NJ pines. Founded Lab Arc Designs with wife L in 1997.

* Contact for: General game questions, plot questions, technical support

• Nikki

Model/actress from VA. Long term player and awesome friend.

* Contact for: General game questions, plot questions, applications issues

• Jim

Guitarist and cool guy from VA. Long term player and awesome friend.

* Contact for: General game questions, plot questions

• Nathan

Nathan is everywhere, and watching you. Long term player and awesome friend.

* Contact for: General game questions, plot questions, new player orientation

Any questions that you have that aren't answered by this guide, or any time a situation arises in which you have a question - please feel free to contact the mods. We're here to help you!

We are usually available over AIM, or in the chat room. Drop us a line.

If you have a problem with a player or mod, or a situation in the game arises that you do not know how to handle, please contact one of the mods to mediate the situation. We try to keep our game drama free and running smoothly - so if there's anything you have a problem with, just bring it to our attention and we will handle the problem discretely.