New Roleplayers' Guide

Welcome to the New Player Guide. By the time you reach the end of this page, you should know absolutely everything you need to know to get started on Massivecraft. The information on here will help you dip your toes into the lore, create a character, and step straight into roleplay as quickly as possible. Sometimes it is difficult to broach a new canon, so things are kept as brief and comprehensive as they can be. Do not be afraid to ask questions in the community discord, which is linked later in this guide. Other players or staff members should be able to help clear up any confusion.

What is Massivecraft?

Massivecraft is a factions, survival, and roleplay server. This guide is for the roleplayers specifically. In the context of Massivecraft, roleplay is an activity based on portraying fictional characters in a setting where they interact with other fictional characters. If you have not roleplayed before, imagine it like a collaboratively written book where every character is played by a different person. Sort of like a play, but all the actors are acting through text instead of speech and motion. We use Minecraft as a medium to give visual aid and immersion to the roleplay, as sometimes a purely text-based setting can be hard to mentally picture and difficult to focus on.

Important Concepts

• IC: In Character. This encompasses everything in-universe, from the viewpoint of your character. Anything that is IC stays IC, such as how your character feels, what they are thinking, what they are doing, et cetera.
• OOC: Out of Character. This encompasses everything that isn't inside Aloria or a thing in roleplay. When players are aimlessly jumping around and not roleplaying they are OOC. Gameplay mechanics and systems are mostly OOC.
• Powergaming: Powergaming is the act of taking control of other people's characters in emotes or doing things you realistically cannot do. For example, typing out that someone else fails to block your sword-swing and gets cut is considered powergaming.
• Metagaming: Metagaming is the use of OOC knowledge, IC. Your character does not know everything you know OOC. There are lots of ways that people can metagame, some conscious, some not conscious. We have a longer Metagaming page with some examples if you are curious and want to read further.
• We have a Roleplay Rules page with more rules, but they can basically all be understood by understanding these terms.

The Setting

Massivecraft is set in a world called Aloria, in a nation called the Regalian Empire. Its story begins after an apocalyptic event called the Cataclysm, which brought an end to an equally apocalyptic demonic invasion. In the Cataclysm, many lands were wracked with natural disasters, such as flooding, earthquakes and volcanoes, while governments collapsed and many died. The demonic invasion and Cataclysm destroyed the main world power of the time, the Allorn Empire, which was reliant on Magic. Its former slave populations, now liberated, broke free and scattered across the known world as Kingdoms established themselves elsewhere and the Allorn successor states did their best to rebuild. One powerful state which emerged was the Regalian Empire, controlled by a people called the Ailor. Unified under their Emperor, they quickly established themselves as a military power. Over the three centuries following the Cataclysm, the Regalian Empire would become a world hegemon, annexing lands on multiple continents. As it expanded, it became increasingly diverse and nuanced, and in the modern day every race and creed can be found in Regalia.

But as powerful as it is, the Empire is not alone in Aloria. Its many wars have made it a number of enemies, and in recent years it has fought a number of increasingly strong rivals abroad. The server itself is set within the capital city of the Regalian Empire, aptly named Regalia. It sits on an island at the center of the continent where the Empire originally arose, and is a metropolis millions of citizens strong. Everyone can be found in Regalia, from the long-lived and haughty Nelfin, to the proud and martial Eronidas, to the ever-present and numerous Ailor majority, and everyone in between. Every niche is playable in Regalia. Sorcerers with magic at their fingertips, chivalrous Knights clad in thick armor, and dark Cultists sacrificing to fickle Gods, all have a reason to come to the Imperial Capital. It is recommended that as a new player, you play an Ailor, because their lore is the easiest to understand, and most Regalians are Ailor.

Getting Started

The first thing you are encouraged to do is to go ahead and join the RP Discord, because it is where most roleplay-related OOC communication is done. Once you hop in, it takes ten minutes before you can speak, so don't get dismayed if you have to wait a little bit. Once that is done, you can get to making your character. Massivecraft has a concept called Character Applications. These are basically profile pages that describe what your character is capable of, who they are, and where they are from. This guide will quickly walk you through how to do that so you can get to actually roleplaying as quickly as possible with a lore compliant character. If you have trouble at any point, say something in the Roleplay Community Discord, and someone will help you.

• First, make a forum account. You have to have logged on for that, so go ahead and log into Massivecraft at the IP massivecraft.com, and then hop back off. Then go onto the forums and make an account that shares a username with your Minecraft username.
• Then go to the Character Applications section and read the template. Remember that you do not have to do the optional parts marked in blue.
• Make sure you are logged into the forums. In the Character Applications section, there should be a Post New Thread button above all the listed posts. Open one, name the thread after your character, and paste in the template.
• Also make sure to change the tag (little box to the left of the title) to Needs Reviewer so staff know to pick up your application.
• The first thing to do is to pick a Race. Skim the Races section here on the wiki and find one you like. Try not to get lost in the details, just pick whatever fetches your fancy and come back to it later.
• Fill the template out until you get to Skill Information. You will need to read the Proficiency page to understand how to do this part. Proficiency is the DND-lite system we use to determine characters' skills. Come back when you are done with Proficiencies.
• Languages are pretty self explanatory based on the Template. Pick what fits your character.
• Special Traits and Mutations are a result of Aberrancy. Not all Aberrancies are available at character creation, so if you want one, pick one that is noted as not requiring a Special Permission. Vampire, Werebeast, Archblood, and Sorcerer are types of Aberrant- blood-drinkers, were-animals, Dragon-servants, and DnD Wizards respectively. Read a bit about them if you want something like this for your character. Clockwork and Alchemy, steampunk-tech and potion-making respectively, don't go here if you want those. They're either on the skin (Clockwork) or things you carry around and emote when you use them (Alchemy). If you're reading someone else's app and it has a bunch of Abilities you can't make heads or tails of, they probably have a Special Permission. Don't worry about it, move on.
• Fill out Visual Information and Personality. If you do the long-form Personality section, it might be good to come back to some questions after doing the next part. If you are doing the short-form Personality section, it might be better to let the Religion part sit for now.
• You selected a Race earlier. Go back to their page and read through it. Follow any links you want, go deep-wiki diving. This might take a while.
• Go back and sort attitudes and religion. Now you are free to move on to the Backstory. The Backstory should summarize your character's life and explain how they got their Proficiencies, and should be based in the lore.
• When that is done, post the thread. Eventually you will get a notification that says it is under review, and a staff member will clear it or tell you what to change to make it clearable. Feel free to hang out in the Discord while you wait.
• Things like getting a skin and figuring out how to enter roleplay can get settled in there. Ask around, plenty of people are willing to be helpful. Saying "I am a new player making a Vampire" will probably attract some Vampire community members to come help.

The Chat System

Channels

When you first join MassiveCraft you are already viewing a few channels by default. A single letter followed by a colon typed in the chat is used to switch between channels.

l: Local, this is the Roleplay channel

g: General, this is a server-wide chat

t: Trade, mostly pertinent to Factions

r: Recruitment,

h: Help, ask for help here

You can leave and join channels through /ch join or /ch leave Doing /ch leave g will make you leave general for example. This is important to reduce chat clutter during roleplay.

Roleplaying

Things typed in the Local channel, entered by typing l:, are words stated or emotes performed by your character. Some chat modifiers help distinguish between, say, shouting a command, and jumping from a ledge. Local OOC chat is also accessed from within l:. You add a modifier to what you are typing in Local channel by adding the modifier after what you type. For example, "Is this scene private?))" typed into local chat will make "Is this scene private?" send in local OOC chat, while "Is that door locked?" typed with no modifiers will come out as "CHARACTERNAME says: "Is that door locked?"". You should use modifiers in your roleplay. Make sure to use "/nick use CHARACTERNAME" before you start roleplaying so that the chat plugin can work properly. For example, after using "/nick use Walter Raleigh" and typing "Where are the horses?" into Local channel with no modifiers, "~Walter Raleigh says: "Where are the horses?"" will appear. It is also important to set your name to your character name so that people know you are IC and not just running around.

Modifier	Name	Range
No modifier	Say	11
+ (Important)	Emote	20
* (Important)	Whispering	3
)) (Important)	OOC	20
?	Ask	11
!	Exclaim	12
!!	Yell	26
!!!	Scream	35
#	Environment	20
$	Mutter	5
_	Mutter range emote	5
@	Announce	70
=	Announce Emote	40
>	Sing	26
&	Command	26
+1-9	Colored emote	20

Favoriting

A key tool to both see when your friends are logging on and coloring the names of your friends a different color (Or even your own!) is the favorite command.

• You can add a favorite by typing: /fav add USERNAME
• Access your list of favorites by typing: /fav list
• And finally, remove favorites by typing: /fav remove USERNAME

Jumping Into Roleplay

Getting started with roleplay can be a little intimidating if you have no one to ease you in. There are two main ways to get started.

• Just log on and start talking to random people. Great way to get out a few natural interactions and ease yourself in. Run around until you find someone.
• Look for a business to open in the #business-openings section of the Roleplay Community Discord. Then go to it. Guaranteed roleplay with the business owner.

As a rule of thumb, if you are on at a strange hour or are having trouble joining, talk about it in the Roleplay Community Discord. Someone will help you. There are roughly four main 'circles' of roleplay.

• Civilian: slice of life, shopkeeping, everyday light sort of things. Generally easy on the lore and stay out of most major plotlines.
• Guard: Guards enforce Regalian Law. They often get into conflict roleplay with criminals, but also blur into the civilian roleplayers they hang out with in their downtime.
• Crime: those who live in the slums away from the law. They do a lot of combat roleplay and are mostly Aberrants, but also have a domestic civilian atmosphere.
• Noble: the rich and those who work for them. They get most roleplay out of Progressions, which are big world events. Politics are found here.

Hopefully this guide is of use getting you started in Regalia!

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Accreditation
Writers OkaDoka	Last Editor OkaDoka on 04/14/2021.

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