Undead Lords
Cooperative Roleplaying Ruleset
Goal of this Ruleset
To provide a structure for roleplaying as a guild in a manner that builds upon and encourages participation from as many members as possible. To prevent conflicts and inaccuracies in Undead Lords canon and in the future plot lines. To ensure that at the end of each saga, the story is coherent and flows together despite having numerous authors.
Core Concepts
Saga: Many stories, set in a single storyline, open to all members to contribute to, that must be about the Undead Lords exploits in the metaverse.
Tale: A single story unrelated to any Saga, authored by one or more players, but with no formal intentions to allow uninvited contributions to the story. These still must be about Undead Lords in some fashion. Think of Tales as short stories that are not intended to be cooperative.
Chapter: A part of a Saga that includes the original post made by the Loremaster and all subsequent contributor posts. Each chapter begins when the Loremaster posts a story moving the plot point forward.
Loremaster: The architect of the story, and the only one authorized to move the storyline forward. Loremasters are responsible for knowing all relevant lore prior to writing about it! Not an officer position, selected by guild to act as “Dungeon Master” for the specific Saga.
Contributor: Someone who writes a story entry in response to a Loremaster within a Saga. Can write about themselves doing something adjacent or directly related to current events.
Canon: Official UDL history including the origins and foundations of Myrkulism. This cannot be changed or ignored without approval.
How It Works
On the official UDL Forums, all Sagas and Tales will be recorded for all history. Within the appropriate subforum, individuals may post Tales as frequently and without need for them to be sanctioned. These typically will be about a person’s character and experiences within a specific game or universe and will not dramatically alter the state of the Undead Lords, Myrkul or his Religious Tenets.
Sagas, however, are considered the epic turning points in the Undead Lords story. These stories include dramatic events that have significant meaning and impact on the guild. It is for this reason that all Sagas must be approved by the current officers before being allowed to progress. Examples of Sagas include; a new campaign into a new game is launched, major rules changes, change in leadership, conclusion of a game/campaign, and others.
In a saga, the Loremaster is chiefly responsible for kicking off each Chapter of the saga. These posts set the stage for others to contribute and include the timeframe contributors have to respond… Contained within the first Chapter are the core characters and an overall feel for the direction the saga will take. It is intended that all/most participants do not know what is coming next. Key plot points, reveals, plot twists, or actions made by main/core characters introduced in the opening Chapter can be written about only by the Loremaster.
Once the initial Chapter post is made, all guild members will have a limited time to respond with what their characters are doing and where they are at. Contributor posts do not need to build upon the one before it, and cant take place in a different setting altogether with new/du characters . Guild members are permitted to only write about themselves, unless they have permission from those they plan on writing about. The Loremaster’s post will indicate the timeframe that members can respond. Upon the conclusion of this period, the Loremaster will move the story along, potentially including pieces of the stories contributed by others into the Saga. At this point the Loremaster can reopen the Saga for additional replies, or ultimately the Saga concludes.
Note: What a Loremaster includes after reading through contributor additions is at his/her own discretion and will likely depend on a variety of factors. Chief among them should be the quality of content and if it is directly related to the Saga in terms of how well it integrates with the planned storyline. Even if they do not include you in the next step, you are still welcome to continue contributing in each Chapter
Roleplay Etiquette
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Don’t be a dick. Don’t write for others without permission
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You are not a god. Don’t presume to know what Myrkul says or does in your stories. This is reserved exclusively for Saga’s and why they must be approved and written by the one elected Loremaster (not an officer position, just a designated role per saga telling).
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When contributing to any Saga, do not write a novel (reserve those for Tales). Be concise in your replies, but typically 1-2 pages is the extreme end of the spectrum for length. Remember, there may be a dozen or more people writing contributions and dense walls of text make it difficult to follow the core storyline.
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Do not post your replies without basic editing. Spellcheck and grammatical errors show a lack of effort and bring down the overall roleplayed experience. Ask around for editing help if you suck at this step.
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If you for some reason end up in a fight with another member, you must have permission from the other to write how it goes. If neither of you can agree to terms, it doesn’t happen and don’t write about it.
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If you don’t like to be locked into someone else’s storyline, feel free to write your own Tale in whatever setting you’d like. These rules are mostly meant to govern what happens in a Saga.