Darkness Rises: Heralds of Valdemar

Name of Board: Darkness Rises: Heralds of Valdemar
Link to Board: http://darknessriseshov.b1.jcink.com/index.php?act=idx
Short description of Board: This is a Fanbased site, built around the world of the Heralds of Valdemar by Mercede's Lackey. It is set two hundred years in the future from where most of the books are set.
Analysis Notes: Nothing in particular, just give it a good lookin' over. I want to make this site rock.
Link to profile on the Board: Flame

Hi @Flame

First, kuddo's for checking the copyright and other legal and moral issues involved with this setting. It is under a creative commons license now, which is good news for the fandoms.

I'm always ruthless in my criticisms but I'd never speak up if there is not plenty to like to start with, with potential for more.

First Impressions: Pretty, though I'm not getting the wow factor on the skin (more on that below).

Colour Scheme: It is far better to have a light skin than a dark skin. Which presents a problem when you have a theme like Darkness Rising. Combining forms of purple and violet is a good choice. I just find the white too contrasting. I would go for something a little milder, like a very pale violet background so it "melts" more.

Graphics First off, not bad for a starting board. The Banner is pretty, though I'm not sure how the pretty lady fits. Would have loved to see a Herald. Overall the rest of the graphics either are too commonplace (the buttons could be more specialized) or give a bit of a chaotic look to your skin. It lacks integration somehow. It could be that simply adjust the colour of the background to something a little closer to violet might help. You might want to ask for a specific review of your skin from some of our coding experts. Not entirely sold on the bulletpoints in your sidebar. They add to the chaotic feel.

Lay Out: careful with font. I would stick with 11 as a minimum, with an option to go to 12. Your special fonts read okay though. I would put your plot summary above the links (sell first, pull in later) and then make the plot summary shorter. In your links I want to see a starter guide/ newbie guide and a direct link to the application.

Another important point about your layout: IC goes above OOC. I know the majority of boards do it differently, but trust me on this. You want the focus of your game to be IC. Have only a welcoming or newbie forum on top and put all the rest of the IC forums on top. This will also help your community focus on writing.

Empty forums don't sell, so try and get some traffic going between you and staff, or just between you yourself and you in different guises. A little posterbation goes a long way of enticing new players, as you show them what kind of game you plan on writing. Consider starting with less forums. About five IC forums is ideal. You want all forums to be active and only expand to more when there is more than 10 topics per forum.

Lovely wiki, enjoy the layout (You are using copyrighted images though, are you sure the copyright notice of lackey allows it? You are also directly quoting from her books instead of using her own words, are you sure that is covered? I'm being so careful because in the past fans were burned and while I don't think Lackey will do that to her fans, better be save than sorry)
However, the wiki needs a better navigation. Things you want to know as a starting character are things like
What class can I be?
What race?
What skills?
All of this can be in a character creation guide. You also want to cover notes on the education system, the geography, the economy, the history including a clear timeline.

Content Your rules section seems to cover all setting questions etc, in fact that stuff I expected to find in the wiki? For some of the rules you might want to read up on the D. For instance saying you have no word count, but saying "match your writing partner" is still word count. Activity checks are not always considered effective (they promote OOC posts to save characters rather than writing IC). For Myself I would separate IC (setting/game system)and OOC rules. Nice graphics is in the eye of the beholder and I can guarantee that it is a recipe for drama. What precisely are you going to do with a player with "not nice" graphics without insulting her to the core?

Oh yeah, and cute notes of copyright and don't you dare steal seldom work. Like a thief will be impressed?

Summing Up A very good start. You've done a lot right. The graphics are pretty, the setting is well thought through. Now, it needs to be fine tuned and become more of a whole, while also projecting the aura of an active site.