Official Roleplaying Guide

Official Roleplaying Guide

Use this guide when roleplaying on our Official Server. For story background, settings and other detailed information visit our Reference Site instead. This page will grow as questions arise.

General Server Rules

General Rules
  • Be respectful of others and their opinions. Do not insult others.
  • Keep discussions of politics and religion to a minimum – no debates.
  • NSFW content is not allowed. Keep all discussion and shares PG-13.
  • Minimize swearing.
  • If a Director (staff) gives an instruction or makes a decision that is final.
  • Staff will discuss disciplinary action among themselves on a per-case basis up to and including bans for severe or regular offenses.
Roleplaying Rules
  • Characters must be approved by staff before you can join a story.
  • Characters must be realistic within the scope of the server lore.
  • See Clearance Levels (roles) below regarding how many characters you are allowed.
  • Request permission before joining active stories.
  • No godmodding, instead provide events and actions for others to react to.
  • Do not describe gore or other NSFW content except what is absolutely necessary for the story plot.
  • Some dinosaurs can be trained to understand basic words and all creatures can read body language and tone of voice but true communication between dinosaur and human should not take place.
  • Despite the Jurassic Park influence in this server, deaths should be kept to a minimum. We run a safe island!
The official Discord server is a literate-only roleplay
  • Turns must consist of no less than five sentences and be in the form of a paragraph.
  • Longer posts are encouraged.
  • Try to limit turns to no more than 4000 characters (2 full discord posts) unless longer posts are agreed upon by all involved in your story.
  • Characters are NOT story locked and you may use the same character in multiple stories as long as each has a different roleplay partner or partners.
  • Writers are NOT required to match their roleplay partner post length as long as these rules are followed.
  • Roleplaying operates in a post-when-you-can format. Quality of posts is preferred above quantity of posts.
  • Solo roleplay stories are permitted when a suitable roleplay partner is not present but you feel like writing.

Character Profile Templates

The following templates are to be used on the official Discord server for posting characters for approval. Character profiles may use multiple discord posts or link a Google Docs file for larger profiles.

Human Characters

Name:
Gender:
Age:
Job:
Alignment: (Optional)
Clothing/Accessories:
Physical Description:
Personality:
Likes/Hobbies:
Dislikes/Peeves:
Favorite Dino: (Optional)
Least Fav. Dino: (Optional)
List any family on island:
Backstory and other details
(Picture optional)

Dinosaur Characters

ID Tag:
Nickname: (if any)
Species:
Gender:
Age:
Alignment: (Optional)
Markings/Scars:
Description:
Personality:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Docile / Aggressive (List one)
Pack Member/ Herd Member / Loner (list one)
Backstory and other details.
Attach an image if possible. If not your art, be sure to credit original artist or add link to original posting.

How To: Humans

The island population can be compared with a small, self sustaining village…full of scientists. And their families of course. As you roleplay as a human character keep in mind the limits and activities of real life, as our story is essentially set in the real world about 9 years ago. The following guide will hopefully give you some inspiration and guidelines for this part of our world. If you want more specific answers feel free to contact the Directors.

What can my character be?

What can’t your character be? Although there are some limits to how many people can do the same jobs, there are many different types of jobs and characters to be had in this setting. Scientists and supervisors, veterinarians and geneticists, folks watching the cameras and watching the landscape from the observation towers and even people cleaning the baby dino pens would be the obvious ones… but don’t forget the daily life in the complex with vehicle mechanics, dock workers, warehouse organizers, gym trainers, lifeguards, doctors, drivers, groundskeepers, teachers, stay at home spouses, power plant employees, janitors & condo maintenance and mall employees. Sure, working at the Subway in the mall might not seem all that exciting…but consider if you were working that job part time and going out with the observation teams and taking photos or video of the veterinarians checking on the dinos? See? So many opportunities!

What can I do?

Well, depending on your character’s chosen job that varies as well. Daily social life in the complex would be similar to any town, except you never know if a brachiosaurus head might appear over the wall staring at you! Each job comes with its own activities…of course some people will be dealing with dinosaurs more than others.

You can of course enjoy the slice of life stories involving interaction with family and friends at home in the residential building or at work in the mall, labs, offices or other facilities. The island has a beach at the docks, a rec center with a gym, pool and departmental sports teams, a mall with restaurants, stores, an arcade and theater. Beyond the main complex are several observation centers where the behavioral team studies dinosaurs living their lives. Of course if you’re a troublemaker with connections you can always find a way to sneak past security at the gates with a jeep and go chasing dinosaurs for a thrill but expect to get in trouble if you do!

How To: Dinosaurs

The dinosaur species listed for The New World were selected for a combination of popularity and variety. The species list can be found at https://roleplayingatlas.com/newworld-resources/biological-assets/.

Why can’t I be a carnivore from the start?

Unless you are joined really early in the server’s existence, you will notice that you aren’t allowed a carnivore until you level up. This is mainly due to the popularity and danger surrounding carnos and the fact that there are a limited number of each species on the island by design.

Does this mean you can’t have a cool and dangerous character to be feared? Nope! If you look at many of the herbivore species they are far from the docile slow creatures you might be picturing. They can fight, they can move fast, they can claim territory, they can kick butt and they can be pretty fun to live as if you give them the chance. Herbivores will also be the species that the humans interact with the most. Plus if you can pull off a great herbivore character it will help to show your value to the server and help you level up!

How do I dinosaur?

When your character is first introduced, they will be released at a random grid location (the map to the right is the key to those locations)decided by the member of staff whose scientist releases your dinosaur. You also have the option of starting as a juvenile and being kept in the observation paddocks at the complex for a while before release. Unless otherwise decided and approved, your character will not know any of the other dinosaurs on the island and will be experiencing freedom, meeting new species and making new friends and enemies all for the first time.

Dinosaurs should be played and visualized very much like any other animal, yet for the purposes of roleplaying they may be treated as sapient among their own kind (herbivores may speak with herbivores, carnivores with carnivores, none with humans). In other words they may talk to one another and have more than simple thoughts. At the same time players should strive to also incorporate the influence of instinct and more basic animal like thought when it is appropriate. If you have never seen it before, consider watching the Disney movies “Dinosaur” for an idea of how this can be achieved.

Most herbivore species will likely roam in herds with some exceptions – either multiple families or single family groups. While we don’t want the details, the scientists permit reproduction of the dinosaurs on this island as part of their observational studies, unlike InGen’s amusement park which attempts to control breeding. As far as carnivores go, they should be loners, in sibling or mated pairs, or in the case of smaller species, packs.

What do dinosaurs eat?

This will vary by species and each profile on the Biological Assets page will give a general idea of each species’ food preference. In general herbivore species will eat grasses, fruits, leaves and water based plants. The island is known for its abundance of wheat, oat and rye which can serve as staple foods. Carnivores have been made accustomed to boar, deer, cow, rabbit and other modern game and food species brought to populate the island, however they will on occasion still hunt for herbivore dinosaur species or feed on carrion after fights.

“Clearance” Levels (Roles)

The following staff-assigned roles exist on the server: Stowaway, New Hire, Fresh Release, Employee, Dinosaur, Tenured, Alpha, Benefactors and Directors. The following list will examine how to get these roles:

Stowaway

This is the title of all new members who have not yet created a character.

New Hire / Fresh Release

Depending on the species of your approved character you will receive one or both of these roles upon character approval. These members may have one herbivore character AND one human character.

Employee / Dinosaur

After a member has been notably active for at least 3 weeks, the staff may decide to promote them to this role. Members in this role may have up to 2 human, 2 herbivore and 1 carnivore characters.

Tenured / Alpha

These are members who have proven over time that they are here to stay and want to be more active. This is an as-determined promotion decided by staff and there are no ways to speed up this achievement. The perks of this level include the ability to create unlimited additional human and herbivore characters, and up to three more carnivore characters. These members may also request permission to create hybrid dinosaur characters (at staff discretion).

Benefactor

These are the members who joined early in the server’s existence and/or have proven themselves of great benefit to server activity. These members are permitted unlimited human, herbivore and carnivore characters. They also receive access to a planning channel.

Director

This role denotes the server staff. If they say something be sure to obey!