The Newcomers' Handbook

[Lilith]

THE NEWCOMERS' HANDBOOK
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This section includes a listing of basic how-to guides for all new & potential members. Should you have a suggestion for a helpful guide that has not been featured (but would benefit all members), please send a PM to a Storyteller and pitch your idea!​

THE BARE BASICS​

1. Get started with reading about our current SETTING and STORYLINE. More detailed information can be found here: The MYTHOS.​
2. Familiarize yourself with the Site RULES.​
3. Register your account with your Character's First and Last Names.​
4. Check out the Applications section and get started on character creation!​
5. Ran out of steam to finish your character application? No worries - you have two weeks to get it completed. If you require more time, just drop one of the Storytellers a PM - thanks!​
6. Once your application is finished and is approved over by the Staff (pending any edits), stop by FACE CLAIMS and MEMBER DIRECTORY to have your Play-By and Character added to both listings.​
7. You are now ready and set to write. Feel free to brainstorm with others for ideas, or if you have something in mind already, start a PLOTTER and see if anyone is interested in what you have in mind.​
8. Need a specific character to interact with? Let us know in the WANTED area.​
9. Do you foresee yourself being a prolific writer? Check out the THREAD TRACKER for listing all your ongoing or completed stories.​
10. Now that you are finished with taking care of the character 'paperwork', you may want to consider sprucing up your PROFILE page. Head over to your ACCOUNT DETAILS and get creative with the "ABOUT" section. If you need some ideas for making it look good, take a peek at our Character Profile Guide.​

CHARACTER PROFILE GUIDE​

1. Changes can be made by clicking the little avatar icon in the upper right hand corner of the site. Then choose: Account details’ from the drop down menu.​
2. Avatar size may not exceed 192 x 192 pixels. Please refrain from using animated GIFs; otherwise any PNG, JPEG/JPG or GIF file may be used.​
3. User Customizations - clicking your avatar icon in the upper right hand corner of the forum will open a drop down menu. From there, click "account details" and start playing around with all the options given. Custom Username Color and Custom Title are just the start! Have fun with the page and get as creative as you like.​
4. Your ABOUT section uses a full WYSIWYG editor, so you can spruce it up with cool headers, images, music, and the like. Here is an example of Profile About Me page: CLICK - just be aware that it is a work in progress!​
5. Cover Page - clicking your avatar icon in the upper right hand corner of the forum will open a drop down menu. From there, click YOUR NAME to the top right of your avatar, and look to the top of the page where your avatar resides (top left). From there, you should be able to see 3 buttons: Find, Profile Cover and Cover. Ignoring the 1st button, click Profile Cover and using the 'Browse' button to navigate (to a saved image file somewhere on your PC), upload your picture. After it has been submitted, it will show up on your profile page. You can change your profile cover as often as you like.​

 

[Lilith]

NAVIGATING THE SITE ​

The main 'meat' of the Erebos community are its forums. These are grouped under 5 distinct categories and broken down as follows:

1. THE ESSENTIALS [OOC]
2. THE CREATION OF MONSTERS [OOC]
3. NEW BABYLON [IC]
4. ADDENDUM [IC]
5. UNMASKED [OOC]

Let us break them down for you, and hopefully make it a little easier for everyone to get around!

The first section deals with News/Updates to the Site, Calendar Events, Leave of Absence threads and most importantly, the EREBOS LORE (The Mythos). The Mythos forums contain ALL the information you need to familiarize yourself with the Vampire the Masquerade universe as well as Erebos House Rules, setting, plot, etc. The Mythos forum should be your FIRST stop if you are considering creating an Erebos character.​

The second section, aptly named - is used to store submitted application. Those players who need more time to work on their character concept can do so here, once they have submitted their APP and it has appeared in the PENDING section of the Character Dossiers forum. Once approved, you can file your Face Claim there as well. Next door, sits the "Tangled Web" forum which is used for brainstorming, wanted ads, trackers for your storylines, canon listings and a regularly updated Member Directory. This whole area is meant to be used as a Discussion venue for character plots, ideas, relationships, organizing groups, and any related development(s).​

Sections 3 and 4 are purely IN CHARACTER forums. This is where you conjure up your narrative magic and bring your characters to life. While section 3 is pretty straightforward - and is divided up among the 3 main factions, each of which lays claim to a significant portion of the city - the ADDENDUM is where things may get a little more confusing because it contains not only the IC 'peripheral areas' of writing, but also a fan-fic section for sharing AU stories and a special forum for keeping character journals. Want to take off to a different part of the world and get a breather from the far-reaching gaze of our vampire mafias? Look no further and simply take off to Japan, Italy, Brazil - or wherever you envision your character letting his or her hair down and just plain having fun!​

Finally, Section 5 is a place housing an OOC chat (about anything and everything), all archived RPs, an Affiliate forum and a place for the Storytellers to congregate and pitch forward ideas about future plots and special events. This last forum is open to Moderators and Administrators only, as all discussion within takes place behind so-called 'closed doors'. But no worries - the results of their insidious RP schemes shall be revealed, soon enough!​

Hope this guide helped if only a little. If you have any ideas as to what else should be added to this small directory, we are always happy to hear from you!​