Hi there!

I'm a devout fan of the Fallout game series, and with the oncoming of Fallout: New Vegas, I feel now might be a good time to launch a Fallout-oriented role-playing forum. While I'm not an inexperienced player and moderator, I don't know if my skills and judgments are up to snuff when it comes to creating and running a forum as an administrator.

I've tried before, and while fun was had the site didn't last. I recognize my own mistakes now and I hope to do better this time around. Part of doing better is overcoming my shyness, and seeking the advice and perspectives of others.

I would really appreciate any advice offered, especially to my key areas of wonder (listed below). I have no set "deadline" to open my forum as of yet, although I have the forum created and on stand-by to experiment with. I also have dedicated co-admin to support the site.

Now is as good a time as ever to launch into that list I mentioned!

Appealing to the IF Crowd: I've chosen InvisionFree as my host of choice for the Fallout game. I am wondering if there are any specific standards and expectations connected to this forum host that I should be aware of. Anything at all!

Played-Bys: When I used IF for a host for another game I ran, I encountered a "problem" of sorts: several players left messages stating they were interested, but the lack of a played-by listing was their deciding factor in not joining the game. Now, I am fine for people using PBs if they desire, but it's never been a large concern of my own.

I would be completely fine to implement a reservation list for PBs for the Fallout game, but there is the problem that the game offers non-human races which won't have any PB options, or will have a highly limited list of options. My questions are: should PBs be mandatory or optional? Do you have any suggestions for distinct non-human PBs that could work for races such as super mutants, deathclaw, and ghouls?

Writing Expectations: Now, I certainly do not want to run a game riddled with chatspeak and poor characterization, but at the same time I do not wish to join the ranks of the presumptuous and elitist. I do not want to pressure players to write a dozen paragraphs per post, but a single line response would not be appropriate, either. Personally, I subscribe to the quality over quantity club. I would like my game to have standards concerning the quality of writing without frightening off potential members. Is there a happy balance between this? How could I go about writing up "post rules" to reflect my ideal? Is this ideal even realistic?

Offered Information: When creating a site focused around a dedicated canon universe, how much information should I have on site? I'm talking racial write-ups, a possible time-line, a regional description, faction write-ups, and a listing or two for the weapons, armor, chems, etc characters can use and abuse. In the end, how much info is too much info?

Layout: I am not a skilled coder. I can, however, slap a style sheet into the proper form, and edit side-bars with new information or a C-Box. So, in a way, problem solved! Except that I am not really sure what sort of layout would be ideal for the Fallout game. While the exact region has yet to be chosen, it will naturally take place in a post-nuclear Wasteland, which is filled with the remnants of cities and technology from a 1950's sci-fi culture. I've scoured the Skindex and while some layouts did look nice to me, I'm wondering what sort of layout/skin would appeal to others. If you have a suggestion, I'm all ears! (Or eyes, in this case.)

That about does it for the time being. If you have any other suggestions or advice unrelated to my questions, please offer them as well. I want to launch this site as polished as I can make it.

Preemptively, thank you, thank you, and thank you to anyone who responds to this message. <3

With regards to the offered information, I was thinking don't go too overboard with guns and armour. Most guns are based on modern earth weapons and a lot of armour is just assembled from whatever junk is available. So it'd probably be easiest to have one post for weapons and armour, say something about that, then take a moment to describe laser weapons, plasma weapons, power armour and any other weapons or armour that players might not really know about.

With regards to the layout, there was a phenomenal skin around in the skindex called Apocalypse or somesuch by Damien, I believe, which would have suited you very nicely. However, it seems to have been moved to a protected forum or somesuch. There is a skin called apocalypse still in there, but it's something else, more of a horror themed type thing. I don't know where the other skin's gone, but if it is still available somehow and you can find it from a member of staff, I'd totally check it out

You know, I do recall seeing that skin by Damien a few months ago, and I looked for it. Maybe I can track down where it is or something, it was very, very awesome...

Your suggestion for the weapons/armour seems very sound and sensible. I'll bear it in mind!

Had a couple more thoughts since I left for work this morning, just thought I'd pop on in my lunchbreak.

PBs
I say optional. I prefer them, but in the case of ghouls and supers, there's not much folks can do, so it'd be silly to try to enforce it.

Writing Expectations I'm of a similar mindset- quality over quantity and I'm moderately strict with my applications. I have a standard of writing I look for- reasonable spelling, grammar, overall coherence and I'm not afraid to say 'your sample isn't up to what we look for here, could you try again?' It loses me members, I have no doubt of that. But it means that the members I get are of the standard I want. I would rather have a small, short lived well written board than a long lasting board where the posting is pap. It's very much a personal decision though. You don't have to make any hard and fast decisions about what you will and won't accept before you start, just know it when you see it. I think my rules are pretty vague on this- something like 'We don't have a word limit, but do aim for entertaining posts that give other players something to work with.' Honestly, I'd find it hard to put into words exactly what I'm looking for, but would definitely try to avoid words like advanced or literate. They don't really tell anyone anything and may seem a little elitist.

You ask a lot of good questions. The size 1 font is a little hard to read, especially with all that text, though. :p

Invisionfree -- if you're comfortable with the software but you want something that's a little better than IF, I'd go with iPBfree or jcink, both of which I'm using right now for my forum(s). They look exactly like IF and their admin CPs function the same, but they provide different opportunities, such as skin and language selectors.

PBs -- I actually think you should make them optional and allow people to use artwork in addition to celebrities so that people who have less humanoid characters can still have nifty signatures. Be ye warned that this will turn off some people (because of the mixed, non-celebrity PB usage), but I find that many of these people don't lurk in the videogame side of the internet anyhow. Some do.

Writing Expectations -- be the example. If you want people to write well, you write well. If you want them to not use chatspeak, then you don't use chatspeak. (It also doesn't hurt to write in the rules to not use chatspeak.) Emphasize quality over quantity by telling people that their posts must have substance--not that they have to be 300 words long.

You're not going to be able to control everyone's writing, and anyone who tries to would be a fool. If you're lucky, you will end up with a wide variety of roleplayers--everyone from awesome, kick-ass writers to people who really aren't that good. The important part is that if you have the time and energy and there is someone who has the ability to improve, don't deny them because they're not awesome right now; they will get better over time.

Furthermore, if you have applications for your RP and you only want to allow people with high writing standards, don't allow in people who can't write. :/ Sometimes people will sit there and ask applicants to rewrite their apps because it's not clear enough or the grammar is bad, etc. But you must remember that when the member actually plays on the board, there won't be someone there asking them to re-write their posts so that they fit the level of the board.

That said, I don't have elite writing standards on my board, and I still get a lot of good writers. Plus, some of the lesser writers have been improving over time.

Offered Information -- it depends upon who you want on your site. If you only want people who play the game, then you don't need much information. But if you want people who have never played the game but are interested in that sort of genre, then you're going to have to explain more. This means everything from the world to the terminology to the people. Make sure that it's as clear and organized as possible. Concise is the key. Don't say in 10 words what you can say in 1.

Layout -- make sure it's readable and that the font isn't too small. The font colors have to contrast enough with the background color so that people can read it. If you use iPBfree, you can have a skin selector and upload multiple skins. I do this for my site so that people can choose whichever one they want. However, if you have multiple skins, make sure that people don't post in bizarre font colors or not everyone can see it.

Sorry for the font size! It's a habit I've picked up along the way, hahah.

IF/iPBfree: I will look into the site hosts you suggested! The option of having multiple skins to choose is both interesting and daunting, but if I can't figure it out I can always come here and ask for directions. (:

PBs: Definitely going to be an option, I've come to believe. My co-admin friend has come across a website with many portrait-images from the FO series, so she's going to make photobucket account and we'll have the images available for anyone to use. That solves some of the problems for non-humans, if they would like an icon for their character.

Writing Expectations: Thank you, Dabnor and December: you've helped me narrow down what I would like to say and how to say it, on the subject of writing. You both have very sensible points. I don't want to make a site that uses words like 'advanced' or 'literate,' and I don't want to deny those with blossoming skill because as was said, they will improve with time!

Substance instead of word limits is an excellent way of implementing this ideal as a rule.

Offered Information: We'll keep it somewhat simple, on-site, but link the Fallout Wikia as well--it's a great resource. (Aren't most wikis?) What the two of you have advised in this matter I'm going to remember as I look at the game, look at what it needs, and consider its potential player base. While I hope it appeals to Fallout fans, sci-fi/post-apocalyptic fans shouldn't be left out either. :3

Layout: If/when we switch to iPBfree, I will take a look at those skins. If we don't, I'll try to track down the Apocalypse skin mentioned by Dabnor, or find some alternative solution.

Thank you both very much!

Quick thought. Fallout has some... weirder story moments. The UFO stuff, the bridgekeeper from Monty Python and the Holy Grail showing up in Fallout 2, possibly other stuff I can't think of. Will you be taking stuff like that out? It might not gel too well if you're trying to write a coherent setting?

I think I had another point, but I forget what

Noooo, no nothing like that. We're actually thinking of setting up in the Oregon/Washington area, so we'll have a region of diverse terrain and the option of super mutants/deathclaw, but we won't need to include the politics of the Brotherhood of Steel and NCR (as we're setting it around 2280). A "clean slate," so to speak, but on a familiar coast.

All the silly Fallout Easter Eggs won't be included, I can assure you that!

I hope your other point comes back. : D

Nope. It's gone for good. I looked up the date on a fallout wiki earlier and was like whoa, 2080 is seriously early, that's right after the bombs drop. Then I came back here and was like ooooo, 2280. I'm catching up now. So, basically, 2280 is pretty much the now of the Fallout timeline? Got it.

I've played through Fallout 1 and 3, quite a bit of 2 and most of Tactics, but I just had no idea what years they were happening in until I went to looks stuff up here

there's a map on the fallout wiki that would be pretty useful. [: i've played fallout 3 so hours, it's a little unbelievable. XD one of my save files currently has over 100 hours logged on it. i finished all the dlc too. XD i'm a sad boy.

also, your name "abraxia" coincidentally reminds me of abraxo cleaner, from fallout. XD

i wanted to make a fallout-esque board, but i could either find no one to help, or my help got lazy and abandoned me. D:

Mmm! Fallout 3 was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it, but I still love Fallout 1 the most~ I just adored the story and the dark comedic aspects.

Actually, I just bought Fallout 3 for PS3 today, as my PC can't really run it so well... and I got it with the DLC. (:

Hahah, Abraxia is similar to Abraxo! I'd noticed that before but it always amuses me.

There needs to be more Fallout role-plays. I've participated in a few small, private forum-based ones, but I'm looking forward to running something more welcoming and open to everyone. I hope you'll check it out when it is done, even just for feedback. I love feedback.

Just be careful with the Fallout 3 DLC on PS3... It's crashed so many times for me and my brother... (Especially Point Lookout... it was like every 45 minutes it would crash. Operation Anchorage had a few crash spots, particularly if you died at the end against the area boss, when it reloaded I was stuck 3 feet in the air unable to move and the events wouldn't trigger. Reloading the save file was the only way to go.) But that's neither here nor there...

As for the issues at hand...

Host:
I say for a forum host, Jcink. I don't know quite all of what IPBfree offers, but I know what Jcink does.
Since you're looking at starting a Fallout forum, one aspect you'll want is a shop. Well, Jcink has one built in. (To enable it you just go to the system settings area in the ACP, then click the modification enabler, choose "Enabled" in the drop down by IBstore and it's online. From here you just refresh the page and then scroll down the sidebar on the left until you see the IBstore heading. Click the links to start configuring. )
And once you have the shop and bank system online, you can set up the bookie system if you want to allow people to bet on roleplay fights. (Sort of like in Fallout 3, the pitt fights. ) This way you can allow people to fight in the arena and have others bet on it.

Then there's the multiple skin thing, you can have up to... 20 (I believe it is) skins set up and stored for your members to select. As well it has xml imports so if you find a place that has a skin you want then you can easily add skins to your forum.

And of course, one of the things I like most about Jcink is the security options. Troublesome user keeps trying to return with proxies after you banned him? Enable the built in proxy blocker and it'll help ease the problems. Then it has built in links to Project Honeypot to help weed out spammers and the link.

Playbys:
As mentioned before, optional is best because how can you have a playby for a super mutant? I can't think of any celebrity that even remotely looks like one. And a ghoul? Might be a tough time finding one for a ghoul as well,


Writing requirements:
As for the writing requirements, what I do is just say something along the lines of:
"I recognize that not everyone can or will post huge posts all the time. The muse might not be there or they may be busy with their lives. And so long as it's more than a single line, it's fine. If you can't post more than a single line, you might need to consider another hobby for now."
And then I usually say about not needing absolutely perfect grammar because, to me, roleplaying is a hobby not a job and so it should be fun. But even though it's a hobby that doesn't mean I want to see chatspeak, instant message or text messaging like lines.


Offered information:
I think that it would be best to include your own write ups for it wherever possible. This way people know what you mean when you say, for example a super mutant. As well this also ensures that people aren't linking off your site and wandering away as much. (The more time they spend wandering away from your site, the less time they're actually on your site.)
Now the write ups don't have to be massively long, but just enough to explain what is needed. EX- if you were doing the write up on the alcohol, you could probably have it all in one post and just give a generic over view... "These are the types of alcohol a wastelander will typically encounter. They're mostly made from fermented yeast, they have a strong taste and if enough is consumed it makes you temporarily stupid but somewhat stronger and more resistant to injury... or at least you think so anyway."

Layout:
Maybe get a premade skin, then spend some time just playing with the settings trying to create your own. A site can feel that much more unique when it's your own skin you're using. Though if you're having issues be sure to ask for help. (I'm sure the friendly people here wouldn't mind lending it.)