Player Submission Guidelines:
(Library Book / Recall / Song Scroll)
[Copyrighted works, in whole or in part, may not be submitted for consideration. All items submitted become the intellectual property of Simutronics Corp.]
NOTE: Mail submissions to both DR-Hoome@play.net and DR-Deryka@play.net. If you want to submit a Book that is not Bard related the following guidelines are standard, the only difference is that you mail your submission to DR-Cadaya@play.net.
Library Book Guidelines:
1) Each line should be no more than 65 characters in width (And yes, spaces count) and end with a 'hard return' (Basically, press enter -- none of that wordwrap stuff).
2) Don't bother with end-of-page breaks -- We'll put them in later.
3) Put in a blank line between paragraphs. Don't bother with indentation.
4) Avoid so-called high ASCII characters, like * and ~. The library system is a little wonky, and will crash the game if these are used.
5) Submit a textfile (.TXT -- as in what Notepad saves files as), not a file with graphically embedded characters (.DOC -- as Word does).
6) Keep it at least 1,000 words in length.
7) Avoid dialect. Dialect is fine in discussion, but you can pretty much assume that to get the book into print in a library the author (or whomever handled the submission) knew how to read and write.
8) Please, when submitting a book, mark the subject line as: "Book Submission: (book title)." We get alot of e-mail and this will help make organization for us that much easier.
Bardic Recall Guidelines:
There is a great deal unwritten history out there, experienced by those who have wandered the long, winding roads of the Realms. In order for you to share this information so that it may rest in the Bardic memory, we present you these guidelines for Recall submissions:
1) Recall messaging cannot be magical in nature, nor involve visions of any kind. It must be 'mundane', in the form of folklore, gossip, legends, or the like.
2) Messaging for Recall should be coached in a manner that portrays both the lore and how it was gained. An example of this messaging is:
As you gaze at the designs worked into the polished table, you recall hearing from the townfolk that the work of the carpenter who lives here is highly prized.
3) Messaging submitted cannot be more than 400 characters in length.
4) Please specify where this messaging would be. If it is a room, please copy and paste the room description into your submission. If it is on an item or person, please put a description of them and where they are into your submission.
5) Please, when submitting Recall messaging, mark the subject line as: "Recall Messaging: (Province / Area)."
Song Scroll Guidelines:
1) Song scrolls may be submitted by members of any guild or by persons of any level.
2) Each song submitted should have 'verses', or be sectioned into portions that can be more easily sung.
3) There are many lengths that a song scroll can be, so look to those song scrolls already in game for examples. Some general guidelines to keep in mind are:
-- verses must be at least three lines in length, but no more than twelve.
-- verses need not be the same length throughout the song, but it is advised that some consistancy is used (such as alternating verse lengths, each third one is different, etc.).
-- songs must be a minimum of six verses in length.
-- song may be a maxinum of fifteen short verses (six lines or less), or ten long verses (seven to twelve lines), or of some combination that falls between those guidelines.
4) Song scrolls must have a purpose. Whether it is to teach, record in history, entertain, or perform some other task, each song should have a reason behind it when it is written or sung.
5) Try to avoid dialect in your song scrolls when possible. Dialect is perfectly fine in speech and discussion, but since the song scrolls are translated to and from the bardic symbol language we can assume that the author had some decent writing skills when the song was distributed.
6) Songs may contain some very *few* actions, such as those used at a conclusion. A good example of this is the ending of Hamael's Song, or the middle and end of Itharr's Song.
7) Please submit song scrolls either in the body of an email or as an attached TXT file (what notepad uses). All other types of attachments will not be opened or read.
8) Please, when submitting a song, mark the subject line as: "Song Scroll Submission: (song title)."