Starting Guide

We understand that making a character in Ransera can be a large undertaking! To that extent we have compiled this helpful guide in order to better assist you on your way! We hope that this proves to make the process easier whether you’re a newcomer to writerRPG formats or a veteran.

Know the Rules

It’s important to know what you’re signing up for when you register to play on Ransera. We recommend that you take the time to familiarize yourself with the rules we have established for the community. In registering on this website, you agree to those rules already in place as well as any future policies and procedures that the staff deem necessary. Please take a look at them!

They are located here.

Moderation and Guest Moderation

Moderators on Ransera are referred to as "Authors" as they are the authors of the world in which the general story of Ransera takes place. They are given the authority to preside over a given domain of play in order to cater to the needs of the players. They are as follows:

Chief Author - The Chief Author of Ransera is the creator of the world. His profile username is denoted in red. He has oversight of the entirety of Ransera in terms of development, moderation and the implementation of rules and the adjudication of those rules. The Chief Author has the final say on all matters concerning Ransera and its associated platforms.

Regional Author - Regional Authors are directly subordinate to the Chief Author and have oversight of large portions of the development and creative direction of the world. Their profile usernames are denoted in blue. They coordinate teams of Principal and Associate Authors that preside over the subdomains in a given region of play.

Principal Author - Principal Authors are directly subordinate to Regional Authors and have oversight of specific domains as the lead moderator and developer of that domain. A domain of play can be a specific city, a country, or a geographical location in the world of Ransera. Their profile usernames are denoted in green.

Associate Author - Associate Authors are general assistants to the other team members. They provide support to either a specific domain or assist at large depending on the needs of the team as a whole. Their profile usernames are denoted in purple.

Guest Author - A Guest Author can be anyone. These are players who have approached the Support Forum for permission to oversee a specific story or plotline for another player in the community. These are not members of Staff but players who have been granted permission to act in the capacity of a Game Master for the duration of the plot submitted to the Support Forum.

Moderation Rewards

Rule Adopted on March 14, 2023.

All those who moderate threads for others, be they the varying type of Staff Moderators or players utilizing the Guest Moderating system will acquire rewards for their IC posts from a moderated perspective. These rewards will be added into the review once the thread is finished. These rewards can be used by the Moderator to apply to any of their PCs or can be banked to use for a future PC. These rewards can be claimed retroactively from the moment this is implemented. For rewards being claimed retroactively, please create a single Support Forum ticket with all relevant threads listed.

Rewards Skill Points (Magic or Non-magic) - 2XP per post

OR

Skill Lore x1 per post

These can be mixed or matched per the moderator’s preference, so long as they match the posted total from the moderator.

Moderation rewards must be requested in the Support Forum and the Support Forum only.

Creating Your Character

Referred to as the Player Character, this is your avatar within the world of Ransera. They are yours to shape, to put upon whatever path you decide for them. Whether it’s a humble farmhand turned adventurous warrior or a noble in the high courts of the many sovereign states of Ransera, your character is yours. The following is information that is compiled and written to be posted to what is called a <Character Sheet>

Character Name

Accounts registered on Ransera must be the same name as that of your character. This may include a first name and a surname if so desired. Numbers and special characters are not allowed (i.e. !@#$% 12345).

• Proper: John Smith
• Improper: J@3hnSm!T#

Race, Age, Gender

This is perhaps one of the most important decisions you’ll make! The character’s race determines a lot of things about them! From special abilities, to small bonuses applied to the character at the start of play. Each of the races from your garden variety human to the oddest and most otherworldly offers something that may be of interests. Be sure to read the details of the races that catch your interest as some of them have specific requirements!

Race List

Mixed-Bloods

Players of a mixed race take on a rough blend of the physical attributes of their parent races, but can appear more of one race than the other. Additionally, rather than having dampened, diluted or mixed racial abilities, they may choose one of the racials of their parent races and utilize it with full proficiency, as if they were fully a member of that race. If a player wishes to intentionally dampen or dilute their racial ability, this is also allowed. As a requirement, in order to access a racial ability, one must have at least 50% of their genetics come from that race. This means that if you have several races, with no majority, you cannot have a racial ability at all.

Appearance

Once you have chosen your character’s race, be sure to read up on the specifics of the species in order to have an idea of how most members of that race look. Please be sure to stick to the general guidelines of what members of that race tend to appear as. Ask yourself these questions:

How tall are they?

What is the color of their: skin, eyes, hair?

Do they have any distinguishing marks?

How much do they weigh? Why? (i.e. malnourished, a well-fed knight, a plump aristocrat etc.)

And anything else that accurately represents how you see your character in your head! We love details so be as descriptive as you desire!

Personality

You don’t have to know everything about your character. Having a basic idea of how they view the world is helpful when it comes to writing them however. It will give you as a writer a foundation for how to approach the various circumstances they will be presented with in Ransera. What are some of their moral beliefs? Likes and dislikes? Do they adhere to the rigid precepts of a knightly order? Are they a rogue vigilante? A inquisitive troubadour? The possibilities are endless and while characters grow and change from their experiences, it is helpful to know where they began to serve as reference. What are their virtues? What are their vices? Ransera, despite being a high fantasy world, values realism in its characters.

Magic vs. No Magic

Ransera is a high fantasy world where most of its inhabitants will have encountered magic in some form or another during the course of their lives. Indeed, very low forms of magic are commonplace in everyday society. A fisherman might have a trinket that helps keep him dry when out on his boat. A traveler might possess a tool that can either light a fire or keep them warm. When it comes to actually wielding magic however, those individuals who can do so with any level of proficiency are decidedly less common.

Wizard, sorcerer, mage, whatever the term used to describe them these are individuals who either possess one of the Cardinal Runes of Magic or practice one of the various Schools of World Magic. There are many different forms of magic in the world of Ransera. If you as a player decide to bestow magic upon your character it is strongly advised that one understands the consequences and expectations that come with such a decision.

• Magic List
• Magic
• Personal Magic
• World Magic
• Wild Magic

Skills

All players begin with a pool of 100 XP points to distribute across various skills. Please abide by the following stipulations with regard to starting skills.

• Please annotate on your character sheet which skills are part of your starting package. This can be done by placing (SP) next to the skill on the roster.
• Starting skills cannot begin with less than 5 XP.
• No skill may be placed above 25 XP at start.
• If you begin play with a Personal Magic or a World Magic, you must explain in your history how your character came to study or be initiated into the magic.
• A player can take up to three magics to begin with, though we would recommend less. In addition, the maximum amount of each type of magic (ie Personal vs World) that can be taken by a starting PC is 2. This means you cannot begin with 3 Personal Magics, but may begin with 2 Personal and 1 World Magic. Regardless, less is recommended as a result of the risk that comes with initiation, as well as so that you may gain a clear understanding of how magic works in Ransera. Please note that you can only learn up to three magics from NPCs after this, and with permission from a local moderator for each. After that, you'll need Support Forum approval with a valid line of threads associated, with more scrutinous moderated approvals. Or, you can learn from a PC.
• If a player wishes for their character to acquire more than 5 Magics (Personal or World), they must make a request in the Support Forum for every additional magic. Their character arc and relationship with magic may then be assessed by a moderator, who may also ask questions of the player before rendering a decision as to whether the character is able to receive additional arcane abilities.
• Rune initiation is an agonizing experience that is taxing on mind, body and soul. As such, a player character may only assume one Cardinal Rune every two seasons (6 months IRL). Exceptions may be made with moderator approval, but such requests should be lodged in the Support Forum.

Skill Debt

Skill Debt must be approved by the Support Forum.

If your character is sufficiently aged, typically from early-middle aged to that of an elderly individual for their race, they may begin with higher lever skills so that their age does not make them appear to be exceptionally unskilled for their level of experience. The XP allotted to fulfill this function is known as Skill Debt.

For a standard Skill Debt, a player may add up to 300 points of additional XP, as long as it makes sense for their character's age and backstory, to their starting amount. This additional XP may be utilized to bring up a variety of skills. The player may take as many skills as they want among Expert, Journeyman, Apprentice, and Novice skills, with a maximum skill level of 75.

Skill Debt must be paid off. All XP earned until a character's Skill Debt is paid off must be put into paying it, without any exceptions. Additionally, while a character has Skill Debt, the player may not make a new character with Skill Debt until it is paid off.

Skill Debt can be as low as 50 points, and as high as 300. You do not need to specifically apply for it, and can include it in your Character Sheet during creation, so long as you mention it in the 'Skill Debt' area of the Skills section. A moderator has the ability to deny Skill Debt or negotiate it with a player if it is seen as excessive or nonsensical.

Skill Debt may not exceed the sum total of XP you have actually earned in-game with your highest level character. That is to say: If you have more than one character, only the one that has earned the highest XP will count toward the Skill Debt you can access. For example: If you have two characters, one with 200XP and the other with 80XP, you may not take on more than 200XP in Skill Debt.

Any game as complex as Ransera requires time to absorb. Therefore, Skill Debt is only available for players in good standing who have posted regularly for a period of six months or more. Players brand new to Ransera will not be able to use the Skill Debt feature with their first character or characters made during this probationary period. After their first six months of play have elapsed, they may make a Skill Debt request in the support forum. Staff will review their posting activity, and if they are found to be active players in good standing, they will be able to apply Skill Debt to an eligible existing character, or may utilize this feature for future characters moving forward.

Competency Review

On July 17, 2023, Ransera did away with its Lore accumulation process wherein players were required to accumulate individually specified sets of knowledge that displayed competency over a given skill. To ensure that characters are progressing appropriately in areas of mastery over their chosen skills, the alternative of the Competency Review Process was instituted. The intent behind the Competency Review Process is to ensure that characters are displaying adequate competency in a given skill actually to progress in that skill. It is required for all skills to progress beyond the rank of Journeyman.

Players can accumulate experience points and write according to their interests in any given set of skills up to the rank of Journeyman (L3). For every tier of competency above Journeyman (L3), players must request a Competency Review with the Support Forum.

(L1) Novice – No Competency Review required.

(L2) Apprentice – No Competency Review required.

(L3) Journeyman – No Competency Review required.

(L4) Expert – Competency Review required.

(L5) Master – Competency Review required.

(L6) Grandmaster – Normal Grandmaster request process, which includes an assessment of competency.

Requirements

When submitting for a Competency Review, the player must include in their submission a minimum of (3) completed threads wherein the character in question displays that they grasp the fundamentals, boundaries, limitations and implications of their current and the next skill tier. Here are some guidelines to consider when requesting and assessing a Competency Review:

• Has the character explored all of the fundamentals of the given skill or at least shown that they grasp a majority of the fundamentals?

• Has the character applied the understanding of those fundamentals in a manner that shows they have progressed in their actual competency of the given skill?

• Has the character displayed sufficient application of understanding of the higher tiers of mastery to actually be considered either an Expert or a Master in their given skill? Simply using the skill repeatedly and in large numbers does not in itself actually display a grasp on the finer points of that skill.

• Does the character actually display that they possess knowledge of how to use the skill to the full extent of the tier being requested?

Moderators should carefully scrutinize whether these things apply to the character making the request. Do not sign off on a Competency Review if this criteria is not reasonably met. This should be especially true with regard to anything involving magic, doubly so for those seeking to obtain the rank of Master in anything magic related.

Languages

Players all begin play with fluency in the Common language. Additionally, they may also choose another fluent language, as well as one conversational language, so long as it makes sense within their backstory that they would know this language.

At start:

• Fluent in Common
• 1 Other Fluent Language
• 1 Conversational Language

Bonus Experience and Lore

Upon having their Character Sheet reviewed by a moderator, players can be awarded Experience Points and Lore beyond the initial starting amount. This is at the discretion of the moderator reviewing the character sheet. This bonus XP and Lore will be awarded for displaying in-depth creativity and is a reward for characters that go above and beyond the bare minimum of what is required to play.

Starting Package

Please refer to the Starting Package guide once you have hashed out the details of your character!

The Starting Packages are located here.

Choose a Starting Location

Where a character begins their journey can often define them just as much as where they came from. In the link below is a list of locations to be found across Ransera and a brief synopsis of some of them. Some of these locations may not be open for play as we have a limited number of staff members to oversee them. While your character can be from anywhere across the continent of Ransera, they can only be active in the locations marked as “Open for Play”. Currently, these locations are: Daravin, and Atinaw. Lorien and Kalzasi are also available for character creation, but have minimal mod support.

Begin Playing

Players do not need to wait for their character sheets to be approved to begin playing. They must however make any corrections brought to their attention by a staff member in order to continue playing. If at any point in time you feel lost, have questions or are confused you are more than welcome to post in the Discussion Forums or reach out on our friendly neighborhood Discord chat!

Discord Chat

Once you decide where you want to begin playing, it’s a good idea to research the general lore of the location. Each area of play has lore forums where players can read up on what life is like in that particular area. We encourage every newcomer to read up on these articles as often as they feel the need! Sometimes the information contained within them can change depending on the progress of on-going plots.

Be sure to make your first post in that particular area’s Character Registry. This lets people know that you’ve brought your character to that place to begin writing. Once this is done, you can make your first post and either join or begin your very first thread!

Thread Tags

Tags are used to notify players and staff members of the type of thread that is being written either by an individual or by multiple people. The following are the most common types.

Solo- A thread consisting generally of at least 1500 words wherein the only writer is the individual player. They may incorporate NPC’s but they are the only actual contributor to the thread.

Open- A thread that is open to any who desire to participate in it.

Closed- A thread that is open only to specific individuals.

Dream- A thread wherein the characters are asleep and the activities taking place occur in the dreamscape of the Land of Nod.

And that’s that! Go forth and have fun! We hope this small guide for how to get started has been helpful! Please feel free to reach out whenever you feel the need if you have questions. Our community is more than happy to assist you!