About the Game

Questions you might have....

So what is Orphans? What's the concept here?

Orphans is a semi-free-form forum-based online RPG. The game is centered around the idea of a variety of individual attempting to survive in an unfamiliar environment with no clear path home, no support, and no idea what the hell is going on.

Hey! [Lost in Space / Lost / ST: Voyager / SG: Universe / Robinson Crusoe / Gilligan's Island / some other work I saw/read/heard/watched] already did that.

Yeah, so? What's your point?

So how do I play?

First thing you need to do is port over a character. Then get yourself registered at the forums, where we do all our roleplaying

How do you track events?

Game events are written on the boards as threads. Threads may either be single-player (writing about your character's solo adventure) or multi-player (writing about whatever shennanigans your character gets up to with other players).

Game time is divided into time-frames, usually about 30 days long, but special events may have smaller time windows. Each time-frame has an associated board, where players may post events happening at any point within the time frame. After a certain period of time (usually two to three weeks, depending on how much is going on both in-game in in real life) the mods will announce a time-shift, with a deadline for entering events. Players will need to finish any events before the deadline. After the deadline, the mods will shift the game to a new time-frame with a new board. The previous time-frame will be locked down (to prevent player ret-conning) and archived. The mods will then sort out the chronology of the events as best they can and update the timeline. Note that game-time is somewhat of a fourth-wall concept. Your character's Day Zero might be someone else's Day Thirteen, depending on when they arrived.

The mods feel this system allows for free-form writing and flexibility for player entries, while encouraing players to stay active and still retain the ability to have a semi-centralized plot for the game. The mods understand that not everyone may be able to make a post for a time-frame. If this happens, barring unusual circumstances, the player's characters are simply assumed to be engaged in the mundane labors involved with staying alive.

Why do I have to follow a posting style?

To avoid confusion that can result from players with multiple characters and chronological manuervability, each thread / post needs some certain details to make sorting them out less of a head-ache for the mods (you really won't like mods with head-aches). Thread titles should include the starting in-game date and location. Posts should lead off with the name of the character in italics. If a thread extends across multiple days, the first post to kick off a new day should include the day number in the title. For an example, see this thread.

What happens if someone writes something the contradicts something I've written?

With people writing whatever they wish, some odd continiuity issues are bound to pop up sooner or later. Most of them can be hand-waved (with in-game explanations at times), but sometimes two sets of events cannot be reconciled to easily. If this should happen, players are encourage to sort it out amongst themselves first. If no resolution can be reached, contact a mod who will then use their awesome powers of mod-lyness to try and sort out the mess. When an arrangement has been made, the mod will temporarily open up the archived logs to the parties in question for them to ret-con the events into something more easily understood. Sorting out the plot threads is the only instance where ret-conning is allowed.

Our Top Four Rules

1. Maintain a sufficient level of maturity and common sense: The open-ended and free-form nature of this game requires players to use their heads and behave (somewhat) sensibly. Without that, the game becomes to unruly to run and we go bye-bye. (Ironic, no?)
2. Do not god-mod, character-jack, or attempt to plot-hammer other players. In slightly more explicit terms, ye shall not inure, harm, maim, molest, teleport, transport, mind-warp, or kill another player's character without their consent. Additionally, ye shall not inccessantly attempt to browbeat, badger or otherwise force other players to integrate their characters into your storylines (or vice-versa). Breaking this rule is the fastest way to get bring down upon yourself in the infernal wrath of the mods.
3. Seperate fiction from reality. This is a game. It is not real. While some character might be player-avatars, this does not mean those character actions have real-life meanings. For example, if Character A and Character B are flirting, neither player should assume that the other wants to get in his/her pants. Refer to Rule 1.
4. Don't be a tool Fairly self-explanatory. The mods reserve the right to use this rule as a catch-all for suspending or outright banning players that can't seem to play nice with others. Yes we're aware it's subjective. We don't care.