Activity

Posting

• Our minimum word account is 100 words.
• We currently have three types of trigger warning icons: Violence/Gore, Sexual Content, and Substance Abuse. Please mark your posts accordingly! A suggestion is also to utilize the 'attn' field in the starter post of the tread, writing e.g. "TW sexual content" or such.
• Avoid clutter in titles (such as a tag), please place them in the ‘attn’ field.
• Select the appropriate prefix when making your thread. Here's an overview of what the different prefixes mean and the general etiquette around them:
  • OPEN: This thread is not earmarked for anyone in particular, and open to one other character. If you're dying to join an "Open" thread someone else has already joined, ask the players involved for permission.
  • OPEN+: This thread is not earmarked for anyone, and open for multiple characters to join.
  • PRIVATE: This thread is earmarked for specific participants. Please respect this, and do not post to it unless you are invited or given permission.
  • CORE QUEST: This prefix is for when you start a core quest (pilgrimage, tournament, etc) for leveling up.
• No OOC posts in IC boards or threads.
• When your thread is complete (IC ending), use the archiving tool.
  (Please make sure all parties participating have finished the thread too!)
• Please wait 48 hours before asking someone if you can skip them in the posting order. It’s also considered polite to not break posting order.
• Activity checks run on the 1st of each month. If your character has not been posted in the previous month, they will be marked as Inactive, which protects them! (There is no penalty for being marked Inactive.) In order to reactivate a character, go to the User CP > Manage Characters on your OOC account and select which one/s to reactivate.

Absences

• If you are busy or absent for any reason, please utilize your OOC account’s “I’m Away” feature in User CP. This will keep your characters safe. Away characters will still be removed in activity checks if they don’t meet the activity requirements; this is largely to protect your characters and their ranks by placing them in the Inactive storage.
  (Please note that you are not allowed to make posts while ‘away’.)

Getting Started

OOC Account Creation

The first account you register on the site should be your OOC account - just check "Yes" on the question of whether or not it's your OOC account, and it'll be set up properly for you!

In order to register your first character account, you'll have to log out again. Please use the same email when registering all of your characters, otherwise the tally of your total IC posts won't work! Once you've registered your first character, link them in the Account Switcher. It is important that you attach the character's account to your OOC account, making the latter the master account.

Character Creation

Character Account Creation

You will want to log out of your OOC account and register for a new account. This time, don't check yes for an OOC account.

The character accounts username should be your character's first name.

To understand the rest of the options you have for your characters, please click here for state information for where they came from and here for vocation information to figure out what better suits them!

Age

This site has auto tracking for ages, which means the Time/Season will reflect when you pick their birthday. (If it's currently Tanul and you pick High Drenak, because it hasn't been that season yet, it will choose the age your character would be at that point in time. Ex. You want your character to be 25 but their birthday hasn't technically happened yet, pick it for a year earlier otherwise the system will make your character 24 to allocate for the season change to age them up.)

Once you've updated the profile, it won't allow you to change it again. (Don't worry if you mess up, one of our Admin's can help fix it for you!)

Choose your face

A character’s face claim should be a public figure. While not required, face claims are strongly encouraged to help other players have an idea of your character’s appearance. Players are also allowed to use art for their character, as long as it is properly credited whenever used. A list of in-use face claims is available here.

Not vibing with your chosen face? Players can change their character’s face claim for up to one month after their first post. After that all appearance alterations must occur IC.

Applying

We have an automated application that you fill out when you apply for the character. Within it, if you plan on playing a mage, you get one basic spell at tier 2 so in the notes section, please mention which starting element you'd like as well as what spell you wish to start with!

Add Ons

Kotoll has quite a few features strewn around.

Extra profile options

The profile options are accessible from the User CP, on the Account Settings page.

For heights, there is a built in system to convert between metric and imperial. Please choose your preferred and each character’s height will auto adjust for you! Imperial is the default.

The time zones section in profiles works off of the time you choose when you make your profile. If it reflects the wrong time, please double check you've set the time zone to the correct standard time and that it auto detects DST.

We have two different styles of profile views. One is a tabular system much like our guidebook uses, while our second option lists everything out in one long spread. You can choose which you prefer to view profiles as with this option. If a profile was created in the view that you're not using, you will be notified about it on their profile and offered to view it in its original state. Tabular view is the default.

Posting Tables

Posting Tables is a plug in used to keep all of your character’s posting tables handy and easy to use. To get to the space to input tables, go to User CP, then check under the Kotoll option, then click “Posting Tables”. Next, click “Create New Table”.

To create a new posting table, the plug in will automatically add text into the table for you. All you have to enter is the table header, the table footer, speech color, and a name. The plug in will do the rest for you! Then hit “save” to make sure you don’t lose it.

When it comes to using tables, to activate the speech color in your posts, place the following around your quote: [say]”Hi, this is speech![/say]” and it will automatically apply the color for you.

If there's a table you're not actively using and don't want it to show up in your list, you can check the option to "Hide" it. Hidden tables can be reactivated at any time.

If you prefer not having tables at all, go to Account Settings. Under Thread View Options there will be a checkbox you can mark which will disable tables on the forums for you.

Tagging & shortcodes

Tagging someone in a thread will cause them to receive an alert, stating that they have been tagged in the thread. In order to tag someone, simply write @username - if it's a complicated username with spaces or apostrophes, enclose the username in double quotation marks; @"username"

Account Switcher

With your character accounts connected to your OOC account, you can easily switch between them without having to log out and log back in. As long as your characters are connected to your OOC account you should be able to see their names underneath the account you’re currently on. All you have to do is click on it and it will swap you over to that character.

Likewise, if you accidentally post a reply with the wrong character account, there is a Switch Author button above the post. Click this and then choose the account you had meant to post with and it will switch.

Kotoll Pulse

The Kotoll Pulse is Kotoll's largest news outlet. If you have any IC developments you want to share, you do it through the Pulse. Just type in a quick summary of what you're sharing, put in the thread ID (those numbers at the end of the thread url), and hit send! There's no limit on what can be shared or not - anything goes, from your character petting a lovely stray cat to assassinating the head of a house and causing massive nation-wide upheaval. If anything - the more you use it, the happier we'll be! The Kotoll Pulse page also features some game stats, such as the most popular places to thread in, and total IC posts, threads, etc.

Rumors on the Pulse aren't really things you have free rein to know about IC - it's mostly just an IC-flavored way to keep other players in the loop of what's going on around the site. You might hear the gist of it "from a friend of a friend who knew a guy", but generally, it's anonymous. Breaking News, however, are considered known and public IC events. If a rumor you submit is about something that was very public and features well known individuals it may be bumped up to Breaking News.

Thread Features

Bookmarks: All threads offer you the option to bookmark them. With this, you can create a unique collection of threads you like to have handy. Your bookmark collection is linked from the sidebar, and can also be found in the User CP. Bookmarks are acccount specific.

Love: IC threads can be loved - it's essentially just a like system. You can view the most loved threads here, and manage/browse the threads you have loved from your User CP. While which threads you have loved aren't publicly visible anywhere, the players in the thread receive a notification that their thread has been loved. Normally this alert states who loved it, but if you want your love to be anonymous there's an anonymity setting in the User CP under Account Settings. This setting is only visible on your OOC account, but it toggles the anonymity on/off for your entire account cluster.

Archiving

When you and your writing partners have finished a thread, please hit the archive button at the bottom of the thread. This will archive your thread. It also prevents any further posting within the thread. If a thread has accidentally been archived, please let one of the admins know and we can put it back for you!

Coding Resources

We have a small collection of pre-made resources, such as a guide to style your profile with a custom banner and colors, a guide to making tables, support for collapsible/expandable content, splitting text in columns, and much more. Head on over to the Resources forum and take a gander!

What to do next?

You've been accepted! Awesome! So now you're probably asking yourself; what now?

Well, we know it can be a little bit overwhelming so we’ve gone ahead and broken it down into a few different categories depending on whether you’re stuck in Ok’Kotoll currently and whether you’re traditionally from there! And from there, broken it down between the classes for some ideas on what you guys can get started working on or what you can build your characters around from here on out:

Currently Residing in Ok'Kotoll

Aristocrats

• You’re likely living on POINT or as part of the POD Plate. It’s up to you to decide how you want your living situation to be, but you’re likely going to be fine during the lockdown.
• You can work for the business that your House is in, either by working adjacent to it or figuring out how to get into it deeper with shops and the like. (Example being, Sunjata’s a Bratena which means he’s working as an Enforcer currently, so I have threads of him doing his job which also helps with his leveling being an Informant!).
• You can work on combining it with your vocation! Maybe you’re from a House that isn’t located in Unk’Kotoll, perhaps you’re a guest on POINT with one of the current heads or maybe you’re living in the hotel or a condo for the time being and decide now is the time to work on bettering yourself. Mages can always train and work their elements, Informants can try to get information, Militants can train others or take part in tournaments, Artisans can focus on picking up things for their craft and crafting them, and Survivors can learn from the medical center if they’re medical side or work on their scavenging skills both on the Plates or in the Drench.

Bourgeoisies

• Not quite Aristocrat levels of freedom within the Plates, but you are more likely to be able to traverse between it and the Drench without so many questions. Because of this, you can work on having shops Plate-side that get their items from the Drench, or doing some secretive work with the Drenchers as spies on Plate-side.
• You’re likely living in POD as well, own a condo or an apartment feasibly well. You might not need to worry about money too much. You’re pretty well off in comparison to the rest of the classes (aside from the Aristocrats).
• Plenty of options for jobs, though choosing something relating to your vocation might be up your alley. Maybe you work with the military or enforcers. You can work in the stores or cafes or restaurants on the Plate. Maybe you work with the Aristocrats on POINT and take care of their houses?

Specialists (Plate Side)

• This one is more about proving yourself, so your character might be more driven into their jobs and vocations or simply getting an idea of what the Plates are like. This class is focused more on mercenaries, so feel free to get to know some Platers and work on training and honing your skills.
• It’s reasonable for you to have plenty of contacts with the Platers, but the availability of knowing a few within the Drench as well.
• You likely have an apartment on POD.

Specialists (Drench Side)

• Seen as slightly higher to the Drenchers, you’re got one foot up top and one down below. Similarly to the Specialists of Plate side, you’re likely working as mercenaries or proving yourself as a decent militant. It’s totally reasonable for you to have a few Plate contacts for training, though far more options with the Drench.

Proletariats

• Because Proletariats are basically completely in the Drench aside from jobs that would take them top-side, it’s up to you to decide what you want to do with your Drencher! You could be someone that works strictly down below, working with the community down below during this lockdown event, or you can be one of the Drenchers that works up top (warehousing, restaurants, train workers, etc) – even so much as in POINT for the noble houses if you’re trusted enough. If you have ideas, we’d love to hear them!

Immigrants

• This one is about making a life for yourself here. You likely live in the Drench and will need to focus on getting a job to get some money flowing as well as working on your vocation. You could do any of the jobs within the Drench; maybe you’re a worker for a café within it or maybe you’ve brought a unique thing/experience only your previous country has in the hopes of showing it off to Ok’kotoll to support the next chapter of your life.

Stuck in the Lockdown

Aristocrats

• You could be visiting from another state and gotten trapped in the lockdown. You would either be living in POD in the hotels, crashing with a friend in their condo or apartment, or lucky enough to live with the houses on POINT as their guests.
• You’re free to work on your vocation as well as finding small, menial jobs to make the time go by (anything from working/running a shop on the Plates or lounging and thriving with the houses that could be hosting you). (Or maybe you decide you want to be a conspirator for things, given the tension here?)

Bourgeoisies

• You’re more than likely just visiting from another state and got stuck here. Similarly, you’re likely living in the hotels or motels of POD or crashing on a couch with some friends.
• You don’t have to worry about funding the stay for the hotels that much, unless you have issues getting money from where you came from.
• You can work on your vocation and/or find jobs to help pay the difference or make friends with those higher up that might be able to help out the funding.

Specialists (Plate Side)

• You’re probably just visiting and weren’t intending on staying here for a long period of time. Money is likely difficult to come by once you’ve run out of the amount you initially thought you needed.
• You could be taking up smaller jobs on the Plates such as working at a cafe or bar, working in the shopping district, helping out in POD, etc. You can also continue to work on your vocation with the potential of being noticed by the higher classes.

Specialists (Drench Side)

• Again, you’re likely just visiting and have gotten trapped with the trains being blocked from leaving. You’re probably living in the tourist section of the Drench (think Light’s Edge). It’s expensive, however, and you’ll likely run out of funding quickly unless you pick up a job in the meantime.

Proletariats

• A little worse off than the Drench Specialists, you only have the potential of being able to afford the cheaper housing and motels within the Drench, able to pay by working or bartering with the place you’re staying in.
• Things can be difficult, but Proletariats to Proletariats, regardless of whether they come from Unk’Kotoll or are visiting, are often quite friendly amongst one another.

Immigrants

• You’ve likely spent quite a bit of money to get here and get stuck in the lockdown. You’ll have to decide if you wish to stay here permanently, or until you can get enough money to leave once the lockdown lifts.
• You’ll need to find work and are likely living in the more difficult spots unless you’re crashing with a friend.

Vocation Activity and Employment Ideas

Mage

• There’s always something for mages to do. Perhaps you’re working your ass off at your daytime job and don’t have much time to study, or perhaps you’re a lucky noble with all the time in the world to dive into it. Odd jobs are always available, but more permanent positions are rare during the lockdown as the currently employed mages cling to them.
• Training/study options are good, if you’ve got the money.

Militant (Plate Side)

• If you’re a local, chances are you’re already employed by the Enforcers, or a smaller, niche security firm.
• If you’re not a local, you have two broader options. One would be to seek employment unrelated to your vocation, the other would be to try to break into the local market.
• Training options are good.

Militant (Drench Side)

• Regardless of your origin, lawful work related to your vocation is incredibly difficult to come by. Unlawful work for the Drench Kings, however, is more lucrative (and dangerous) than ever.
• Training options are good.

Informant

• You’re in paradise, baby. Whether you seek lawful or unlawful vocational employment, informants - especially field agents - are hot property at the moment. One side is racing to figure out who did the deed, the other is racing to prevent it from getting out.
• Training options are so-so, but actual missions are being carried out everywhere, all the time.

Artisan

• Generally speaking, employment options are very good. However, if your particular craft or store specializes in goods that are difficult to source in Ok’kotoll, you are likely to fall on hard times - unless you want to contract a smuggler, of course.
• Artisans active in the Drench might suffer a bit more, simply because their clientele has fallen on harder times.
• On the Plate side, many Artisans have taken to hosting overpriced workshops to keep the Aristocrats entertained.

Survivor (Doomsday Tree)

• Unlawful employment in the Drench is plentiful, but dangerous. Frequently, smuggling operations are run by both Militants and Doomsday Survivors, with a sprinkling of Informants or Mages thrown in to grease the wheels.
• Lawful employment is scarce. A small, well-off group of Survivors Plate-side have taken their booby-trapping skills and experience into creating escape rooms.

Survivor (Medic Tree)

• Employment generally remains good, both in the Drench and the Plates.
• Drench side doctors, however, may suffer a shortage of medical supplies thanks to the lockdown. Their patients may struggle with paying the fees.
• Training options are good..if you have the money.

Business Ideas

This is a work in progress, but as more ideas come to mind, they'll get added in!

Smuggling

• Want to take charge of a smuggling operation? There’s many ways to do it, and many characters to involve! For example, Informants for information regarding guard movements or to escape with small deliveries, Militants as convoy guards, Artisans to make clever gimmicks and devices to ease operations, Mages - especially ones that can affect surroundings - to make smugglers less likely to be noticed, etc.

Medical Fields

• There's quite a variety of options when it comes to entering the medical field in Kotoll that aren't entirely related to being a survivor medic tree vocation. They will need informants to deal with any legal trouble, they also need artisans to help create new machinery and other important parts within the hospital walls.

Stores

• You can be a part of any kind of store, whether it's clothing or technology (like phones or radios, televisions in some instances, maybe you live on the Plates and you want to sell cars?) This would also require a variety of people. It's a good spot for informants to get information from patrons entering their stores. It's also a good place for Artisans to sell their items or gain inspiration for new ones. Maybe you're a mage that wants to sell magic infused items eventually?

Of course, if you have any other ideas that don’t fit in these slots and aren’t sure if it’s a feasible option, please reach out to us! We’re happy to help you get some direction for your characters!

Credits

Kotoll has its roots in a fictional world created by Smitty, in the form of a country called Korofi. Kotoll has since been lifted out of that fictional world, renamed, and put into another. The expansion and changes upon this original idea were, for the most part, made by Jyawnie and Skylark. At a later stage, both Shark and Neowulf helped out.

All photos used in the skin - board images, background texture etc - are from Unsplash.

Hosting by the lovely and amazing Kaonsdesigns.