Ironworks Gaming Forum - Newbie here!

Welcome to the RP forum Whacky [img]smile.gif[/img]

Although there are no strict general rules covering all the RPGs, most of the games require you to roleplay a character you created, instead of acting yourself. Of course, you can model a character after yourself if you like, or adapt your posting style to have that character play from a first person perspective. There are also games where it is the other way around, and you are assuming the role of, say, a commander of an army ;)
Game settings range from modernday restaurants to medievil fantasy towns to futuristic science fiction space ships, and include everything else you can come up with. Activities range from questing for an item through wandering aimlessly in the desert or jungle, to sitting and chatting and possibly even telling tales by the campfire.
In-game rules differ from thread to thread, some closely follow the DnD rules, complete with a dungeon master rolling dice behind the monitor, others are only roughly guided by them. Still other games trust players to use common sense in deciding what can and cannot be done. Then there are those with home-made rules which are usually explained in the first post, the list goes on.
Some games follow a closely designed campaign, others are partially or completely freestyle.

As you can see, there are countless ways of playing and setting up games.
As a new player, the best way of getting experience is to just dive in and watch what others do, before designing your own style. Imitation can be good, stealing the best ideas and throwing in some of your own is better.

Aside from game rules, there are some forum rules. Ask Larry or Cloudbringer to give you a full list if you will, but here are the most important ones.

1) Whatever is in the TOS applies in this forum too. For example, you must mind your language, even when you are playing someone else. In your actions, remember that this is a family forum, meant to be suitable for readers of all ages. And so on.

2) The originator of the (original) thread is gamemaster by default. Much like a moderator on the Ironworks, his or her decisions are final. If you disagree, you may try to convince him/her through PM, but otherwise you must accept what they say.
In addition, the originator may assign another player to act as gamemaster for the duration or part of the duration of the RP.

3) This is a roleplaying forum, therefore almost any thread not meant to be roleplayed in doesn't belong here. Exceptions are non-roleplay threads by one of the 'local' mods, threads approved by them, and threads in which you recruit and store information on characters for one of your RPGs.

As I said, watch others and experiment to learn how best to roleplay here. To start in a thread, either write yourself in straight away, or PM the originator for permission.

On creating your own adventure, it is basically very simple. In your very first post you should provide the setting or introduction to your adventures, and maybe suggest some motivation or classes to potential players. More importantly, you should state the 'rules' you are using. If you don't provide rules, then people will post using common sense instead. These rules can be anything from the full DnD rules, with or without DM, to allowing only certain classes to play, to forbidding magic. Entirely up to you. One common rule is that you are not allowed to play with or kill another player's character without his or her permission.

I'll end with four terms used a lot in this forum. First are two kinds of thread. You have the open threads, which are threads anyone can join in without asking permission first. If they misbehave, the originator can still forbid them from playing or just ask them to change their character or playing style.
Second are the closed games, which are limited to certain or a certain number of players. You can usually see if a thread is open or closed by looking at the title. If nothing is mentioned, you can assume it is open, although it is politer to PM the originator first.

The other two terms are used within the RPGs. They are OOC and IC, meaning Out Of Character and In Character. They are used to determine when the poster is acting and when he's giving his own opinion. For example, someone might post something like:

OOC: That was a good post, player Y (player X was overused ;) ). Now let's go kill some more goblins!
IC: Tartanman drew his claymore, using both his hands to keep the heavy thing in the air. As the first grinning goblin approached, a heavy swing removed it's ugly head from the body, but several gallons of blood sprayed over Tartanman's kilt.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO," he screamed. "Not the kilt! Anything but the kilt!"

Enraged by the desacration of his garment, he jumped forward to kill some more of the foul scum.

Do enjoy yourself [img]smile.gif[/img]