First of all, welcome back! Here's hoping this time it sticks and we're here for good. xD
Now, onto the info!
Rules that have Changed
1. Names are no longer so strictly limited.
There are too many rabbits (we have nearly or just over a thousand!) to continue monitoring as we once did. Plus it is super limiting to people and their characters, and above all the shop should promote fun rp for people to enjoy. However, we do ask that you -try- to name them something that makes sense, or have a reason for them having a human sounding name.
We also won't cert a rabbit with a name against Gaia's TOS, or similar vulgarity. Also, we ask that if you're going to name your rabbit a name another rabbit already has, it is polite to ask that rabbit's owner if it's ok, if they're active.
2. Ranks and Roles can no longer be bought.
Ranks and Roles in the warren were always meant to be perks to those that rp'd and made the events in the shop memorable. From time to time an event would have a ranked bun as a grand prize of sorts, but over the years this has caused there to be a severe swelling in the numbers of ranked rabbits. To help combat this, everything beyond standard lines, and the marli and hlessi lines must be earned to promote activity. However, we also are doing away with demotions. There is no way we can expect people to be here to rp their rabbits all the time, and it feels very unfair to punish someone that worked hard to move their rabbit to new lines just because life happened. From now on rabbits that earn their rank will stay there unless the owner requests a rank change.
3. Breed type, hutch background, and pet background are now completely up to the owner.
We used to limit the number of dwarfs, giants, and ex-pets that a warren could have at any time to keep a sense of realism to the shop; but that has become overly restrictive to the creativity of the players and serves little purpose in a semi-realistic shop. We want more people to enjoy themselves with rping and character creation. We want people to want to rp their rabbits and feel welcomed here, and this rule got in the way of that. However, if there comes a day where suddenly we notice half of the warren is made out of giant breeds and it just no longer sounds even remotely feasible, we might have to come up with another solution. Like maybe a more giant-centric warren.
Actually... That's not a half bad idea! It could be a farm that used to breed giants for meat, and something happened to the humans and they abandoned the place. Over time the rabbits escaped and took over. Giant breeds would need the extra flayrah from the overgrown garden, and living in the abandoned farmhouse might not be a bad notion. The only problem is location. It would have to be quite a journey from Watership. Maybe down river... If there's anyone that wants to get in on this idea and post it in the Warren IT threads in the guild, I'd be happy to help and endorse such an endeavor. Who knows, could be the next new warren.
4. This shop is moving to a Pay What You Want model.
Gaia inflation is insane. I can't keep up. Nothing makes sense anymore. Instead of trying, now people have the freedom to decide whether or not to pay or tip their colorist. It is obviously a kind gesture if you do, and trades should me sent directly to the colorist.
5. Colorists will have their own threads for customs, breedings, etc.
And each colorist will have their own rules and methods for what they're willing to do, and when. Some colorists can choose to open slots, others will keep their thread open all the time and pick and choose as they desire. On that note, people are welcome to post a form for a breeding, custom, etc in as many different colorists' threads as they like, or just the one or few they really want to do a particular thing. They should then include whether or not the request has been cross-posted somewhere else. And also, it should be noted that people are limited to one custom a month. Breedings are currently unlimited due to the nature of rabbits, but may be capped at a later date.
Because of this, Colorists will have the freedom to run their thread and their workload the way they see fit. We are all getting older and adult life means maybe we can't do so much this month, but can take on more that month. It also gives us the opportunity to -enjoy- our work and pick what we'd like to do. If you find you've been waiting months for something and no one's picked it, there will be events to address that.
6. The way staff earn credit has changed.
Instead of points and who the hell knows what, we're going to keep things clean and simple. For every 4 of a certain thing they do, they get to either do one for themselves, or open up a bribe slot for it. Example, I open my colorist thread and take on 4 breedings. I -finish- all of the stages for those breedings. Now I can choose to open 1 breeding bribe slot OR color 1 breeding for myself.
What about roles and ranks? For every 4 rabbits that a colorist recolors on new lines for people that have earned it, they get to forgo one of the line requirements such as an rp. OR they may give one of their rabbits the the minimum stat points needed to meet a role or rank. This also encourages more games and events, since when you succeed, we succeed! Example I run 3 races, and because of those races people now have enough to request a line change to runner. 4 rabbits apply, and I color and drop all 4 rabbits on their new lines. Now I can either claim this as one of my rp requirements for a rabbit to change rank, OR I can give a rabbit enough stat points to equal up to 5 to speed to make them runner, or enough points to fortitude to make them Owsla.
What's going on now?
The front page has a calendar going three months out with the outline of the plan.
During August we will catch up with reworking threads, cleaning up the guild, catching up with any owed work, and filling out the owner's list.
By September we should be ready to rock! We will finish off the Meta, reveal the rank and role lines for the new warren, now named Oakvale, and give an opportunity for rabbits to migrate from Watership to Oakvale if they participated in the meta and want to.
In the meantime there might be a few games here and there, maybe a breeding or a livestream, while we work behind the scenes getting everything ready. Worst case, we push back the meta date by a week, but as of right now we're on track!
There might be more and I have forgotten... I'll edit it in here if I remember!
OMG I may actually make an effort to have some sort of presence on Gaia with this place coming back. Huzzah! How exciting!
DAE! <3
Yes! Welcome back biggrin
We're mostly on discord, there's a link in the first post on the first page :3
But yea! We're back and it's awesome to see you heart
Two more rule changes were added to the announcement above, as I remembered them before going to bed and quickly added them in xD If you already read the announcement, take another look!
100
500
500
Roserain rolled 1 6-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-6)
