Insight The Outer Sanctum Rules and Roleplay Q&A

[The Narrator]

Who starts a Sanctioned Story thread? Can anyone start one and a Narrator will jump in, or do we wait for Narrators to start one and then apply?

Sanctioned Stories are run by The Narrator and are a bit more like a "DM run story". These will be announced when we have one and characters may be eligible to participate.

Would it be rude to just send a message to the Narrator account with a roleplay request?

You can message The Narrator regarding roleplay requests, but the account serves largely as a tool to help facilitate stories for players or to move the plot forward. The Narrator cannot be a "traditional roleplaying partner" if that makes sense.

 

[Rimechapel]

When a sanctioned story begins, will there be some form of announcement? If our character is currently embroiled in a non-sanctioned story, (ex., far away in a dangerous situation that isn't simple to get out of, like exploring subterranean ruins, or sneaking around in a bandit camp trying to rescue a princess) will they still have the opportunity to participate in a sanctioned story?

 

[The Narrator]

When a sanctioned story begins, will there be some form of announcement? If our character is currently embroiled in a non-sanctioned story, (ex., far away in a dangerous situation that isn't simple to get out of, like exploring subterranean ruins, or sneaking around in a bandit camp trying to rescue a princess) will they still have the opportunity to participate in a sanctioned story?

Characters that are currently in another story will still be able to participate in a Sanctioned Story.

There will be an announcement.

 

[The Narrator]

Two questions asked regarding Sanctioned Stories:

Can I participate in a Sanctioned Story if my character is currently in another thread?

Yes. Sanctioned Stories are the only case where a character is "in two places at the same time". While this can create a very specific issue, the two stories can be roleplayed at the same time.

What happens if I die in a Sanctioned Story, what happens to my other story?

You are welcome to continue the story until it is completed. When the story is completed, the death from the Sanctioned Story takes place and the character is retired. Characters killed in a Sanctioned Story cannot start new stories once they have been killed.

 

[The Stranger]

I just noticed that there is a Sanctioned Story going on. It seems like the players were already chosen. I'm a bit sad I missed it.

Was there a recruitment thread I missed somewhere? Is there a way to be notified when threads like that are posted?

 

[The Narrator]

Was there a recruitment thread I missed somewhere? Is there a way to be notified when threads like that are posted?

The Sanctioned Story was teased over several days. Last Tuesday we announced that signups would be opening up at 8 p.m. that day and the first story filled on the following day. So there wasn't a great deal of time to sign up as other people did. The players were not selected in advance.

Sanctioned Stories will be an ongoing part of the Outer Sanctum, so there will be more to come in the future. We will, as we did this time, announce in advance when they will be coming. Please note that in future Sanctioned Stories, players who have not participated in a Sanctioned Story before will be given priority over those who have participated.

Unfortunately, the only way to know that they are coming is to pay attention to the forums and/or following The Narrator account.

Hope this helps.

 

[The Stranger]

I thought something like that happened. That does help. Following the Narrator sounds like a good solution. That might be something you want to suggest to interested parties. Perhaps in the thread about Sanctioned Stories. I see it's suggested in the Narrator profile itself, but that would only reach people already following the profile.

Where was it announced that signups would happen and where was the signup thread posted?

 

[The Narrator]

The announcement thread was the thread that then went on to be the story. You can find it here.

It was announced in the abovementioned thread, on the Narrator account's wall, in General Chat, and alluded to over some time now. The next Sanctioned Story will likely follow a similar pattern though we will take your thoughts into consideration and look into other avenues for announcing the next story.

 

[The Stranger]

Those places sound like good places to announce the thread. Just needed to know which areas to watch. Maybe, just make it known to others who would be interested that these are the places to look.

 

[Nobilis]

I have a few questions that I figured people might want to know about:

1. What is the time-frame of the setting? Is there going to be an end? Or does it continue forever?

2. Will the cap on characters ever be lifted?

3. Will there ever be multiple sanctioned stories going on at the same time?

 

[The Narrator]

1. What is the time-frame of the setting? Is there going to be an end? Or does it continue forever?

The Outer Sanctum has two primary components. It is a persistent world, in that players can participate where they want, when they want, and there is no plan for the setting to be "ended" at any time in the foreseeable future. But, there is a narrative storyline which players can participate in should they want to. These do primarily get impacted by Sanctioned Stories, but as more of the story becomes clear, this may bleed out into other RPs. The current plan is for the setting to have "Chapters", and we are currently in "Chapter 1".

2. Will the cap on characters ever be lifted?

It is our hope that this will be the case, though we are doing our best to make sure that initially the setting is established consistently and logically so that any new player coming into the setting can "just start" their character without any confusion. Many RP sites that featured persistent worlds (Ayenee, Realms, Valucre, etc.) were occasionally inconsistent which led to problems when characters interacted, and we hope to make sure that all players have a sensible and logical progression to character growth. As such, we feel that 3 characters is a good number for the time being. As mentioned though, we hope that at some point we can open up character creation to "as many as players feel they can manage".

3. Will there ever be multiple sanctioned stories going on at the same time?

We are currently running our first Sanctioned Story, which in part aims to "test" the system to make sure that it works as we intended and hoped it would. It was very important to us to make sure that Sanctioned Stories feel special and a little bit different from a standard RP. As such, they take a little bit more time to run. As we will be going in to the general holiday season soon, we will not be running more than one Sanctioned Story at the same time in 2024. We are hoping that this is something we can do in 2025, however.

 

[CyanCheetah]

Since I already placed my OS character in an RP will they be stuck there until that RP is over? Just wanted some clarification. Also if they are not engaged with other characters, do I simply end the thread I made? or could I let it stay as is?

 

[The Narrator]

Since I already placed my OS character in an RP will they be stuck there until that RP is over? Just wanted some clarification. Also if they are not engaged with other characters, do I simply end the thread I made? or could I let it stay as is?

Characters are only "stuck" when they're engaged in a story. Characters that are doing "solo" stories can end those stories as they see fit. If they're in a scene with another character, they would need to "leave" that scene. Please note that characters who are engaged in a story with other characters in a story are rarely stuck. Your character can simply leave the story in the same way that you, yourself, could leave a party you're not enjoying.

 

[CyanCheetah]

Characters are only "stuck" when they're engaged in a story. Characters that are doing "solo" stories can end those stories as they see fit. If they're in a scene with another character, they would need to "leave" that scene. Please note that characters who are engaged in a story with other characters in a story are rarely stuck. Your character can simply leave the story in the same way that you, yourself, could leave a party you're not enjoying.

So that would say, we must make an in RP post for the character to be leaving/ending the story?

 

[The Narrator]

In a thread with other parties? Yes, that would be the sensible thing to do. Your character does not just "poof" out of existence in once place to appear in another.

 

[chap]

Hola! So, putting together a first post for Yancey and I have a small, logistical question, just to make sure I'm doing everything right. My plan right now is to make a few introductory, solo posts just to set the story I have in mind into motion. He'll be starting in Khare and ending in Tethis, in all likelihood. The first post will take place entirely in Khare, but the majority of the narrative will be taking place in the wilds between the two cities. To avoid creating multiple threads telling fragments of the same story, where would be the best place to put the thread?

I'm guessing The Infinite Wilds given that that's where the majority of the story takes place, but since the starting point is Khare, I wasn't positive.

Sorry if this has already been covered and thanks in advance!

 

[The Narrator]

Hola! So, putting together a first post for Yancey and I have a small, logistical question, just to make sure I'm doing everything right. My plan right now is to make a few introductory, solo posts just to set the story I have in mind into motion. He'll be starting in Khare and ending in Tethis, in all likelihood. The first post will take place entirely in Khare, but the majority of the narrative will be taking place in the wilds between the two cities. To avoid creating multiple threads telling fragments of the same story, where would be the best place to put the thread?

I'm guessing The Infinite Wilds given that that's where the majority of the story takes place, but since the starting point is Khare, I wasn't positive.

Sorry if this has already been covered and thanks in advance!

When you are moving between locations, it might be impossible to avoid the creation of multiple threads. Having said that, I don't think that having multiple threads is a bad thing. It creates a sense of time and place that I think actually works very well.

When we wrote one of the plot stories, it started in Tethis and wound up in Sha'Yogeth.

Geographically, the Infinite Wilds is the region to the east of both Khare and Tethis, and traveling between the two cities doesn't cross (not really anyways) though the Wilds (unless you wanted it to).

You can do as you see fit, but starting your thread in Khare and then starting a new thread to indicate "arriving" in Tethis might be one way to go about doing it?

 

[RangerKes]

I'm considering reworking a character from my request thread for this setting and was wondering if a history of slavery would be setting-accurate or if it should be changed to something like indentured servitude or an unconventional apprenticeship?

 

[The Narrator]

Slavery is banned in Tethis, very much frowned upon in Khare, but otherwise, you can simply write that into their backstory. This is a fantasy world, and there is inevitably slavery in most settings of this type. All site rules, however, would still apply and you'd need to make sure that depictions of such slavery didn't violate either the Inner Sanctum rules, nor those of the Outer Sanctum.

 

[RangerKes]

Ok thank you, I'll work with it to fit the setting then.