GREAT POLITICAL HOUSE OF FORSTANDER
GUIDELINES FOR MODERATOR TRAINING,
ADVERTISEMENT, RECRUITMENT AND NEW MEMBER INTERVIEWS
Ever catch someone searching for family in a group chat? or somewhere?
Make sure to join as many Gorean family finding groups in your main account or an alt. Please obtain posting rights and send notices every once in a while.
PROSPECTIVE NEW MEMBER FOLLOW UP
Step 1: Contact the person who is interested in joining the family and let them know we are recruiting. Send them an application and link to our website.
1.2 Once they submit the application back to you, revise the application, IF it is interesting, then reply to them and schedule an OOC interview.
1.3 Go to an OOC sim like the family land, somewhere you won’t be disturbed. Use the Library at the Palace or another calm place. Let the person know this interview is totally out of character, they can remove their meter and there will be no RP.
tips: drop them several IMs to let them know you are following up with them until an interview can be scheduled or rescheduled.
Feel free to let the person now...
NEW TO GOR: All new to Gor members will be offered an OOC RP Mentor that will teach them about Gor, through chats, websites, notecards, or by recommending a NTG class at the Gorean Campus.
Guide this person through the Gorean Knowledge pages on our website.
Main purpose here is to help them and to not judge them. Everybody has been new!
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Step 2: There is a series of questions we need to ask the applicant in order to determine which Forstander, Vaes, Baelish or any other character this person is going to be able to roleplay.
Open their application and just discuss these topics with them. Go through their answers. Take notes!
tips: Try to have fun during the interview, get to know them, share your SL experience if you like. The good part is we have so many characters of High and Low Castes that are available in many of our houses. You must be familiar with our Great House and all Minor Houses, their names and background history.
CHARACTER SELECTION
Step 3: Now that you have a better idea of what the person is looking for, it’s time to talk about characters. Make sure you open the page of available characters in our website to see them all.
Step 4: Explain the different houses, high and low caste characters that we have, as well as a brief of Forstander history if they ask for it. Explain the difference between the Great House and the Minor Houses! (very important). Our website a great tool prepare yourself with to handle knew members. The history of the House of Forstander is also on a video in the website.
Try to offer new members an idea of what each family expects, but focus in helping them choose a character that is more convenient to them and they will enjoy roleplaying the most. The important part here is that they have fun roleplaying their character with us! Check the online available character cards with them.
tips: If there is a house or several houses that interest the applicant then talk to them about the physical traits, numbers of members already on the house, predominant Castes, expectations...see if they have any common interests with the people in the house as roleplayers. Also offer them any of our new houses that have yet to have members and they can run and start from scratch! Especially if head of the house position is available!
FAMILY BACKGROUND HISTORY EXAMPLE (As seen on the page of Minor Houses):
Minor House of Solberg
Words: A coward dies a thousand times a warrior only once
Heritage: Northerners
Banner:
Location: Torvaldsland
Hold: Skjern
History: allies to House of Forstander for over 500 years
Other Alliances: Vancius, Baelish, Vaes
Available Roles:
Brandon Solberg, (any High or Low Caste or Trade), age range 342 years old - Head of House
Erik Solberg, (any High or Low Caste or Trade), age range 100+ years old -Son of Brandon
Astridr Solberg, (any High or Low Caste or Trade), age range 50+ years old -Daughter of Brandon
Dagna Solberg, (any High or Low Caste or Trade), age range 30+ years old -Daughter of Brandon
+unlimited role creation+
Step 5: If you already have a character in mind then recommend it to them! Once they pick a character, it’s time to talk about physical traits.
+unlimited role creation+: means you can add more roles to this family on the spot. Please stick to their historical storyline!
CHARACTER APPEARANCE
Step 6: Each family comes with a list of traits, expectations, behavior characteristics, ages, hair colors, eye colors, skin colors, weight and stature depending on the heritage and culture of the family.
For example: the family can come from the North or the South, Tuchuck or Torvie, Taharian tanned skin or pale, tall or short of height.
Our houses are always connected to the heritage of their characters which varies per the place of birth of the family. This determines the appearance and the traditions each family has and what makes them different from the rest :)
QUESTIONS TO ASK APPLICANT:
So these are the physical traits of this house; what hair, eye or skin colors would you like to have from these?
This is house tall the character is supposed to be thus far. How tall would you like to be?
tips: try to stick to the way the family is supposed to be while at the same time giving the roleplayer an opportunity to choose an appearance they like. Win win here...
EXAMPLE: description of family physical traits as seen on family lists on the page of Minor Houses.
FAMILY TRAITS:
Eyes: light blue, green, gray
Skin: pale white
Hair: golden blond or ginger red
Height: 6'1 to 7'11+
Body: Most women are slim and tall, although there are those who are voluptuous and short. Men are strong and tall, they are masculine and appear dominant.
Age Range: 30+ to 50+ to 200+ to 345+ years old. It varies between fathers, sisters, daughters and brothers...aunts...uncles.
STORYLINE CREATION
Step 7: When it comes to storyline creation we need to refer to the storyline that has been bullet pointed or written underneath each available character, sometimes there will be a brief description of the family history included.
If the character chosen by the applicant does not have any bullet points and no background story then ahead and make up it up!
Definition: A storyline is basically the background story of a character, whatever events happened in their past that brought them to where they are now.
Please keep in mind the following details when considering creating storylines:
1. The storyline needs to match our current roleplay time line and that specific family's roleplay timeline. Which is basically the current RP we are all having between the Great House and the Minor Houses. You have to fit in with what happened in the past of the family and what is happening now in the present. It MUST be BTB.
2. In order for you to do this you must be familiar with the history and lore of the Great House or the Minor House your applicant has chosen.
We often learn about history through roleplaying and some of it is explained on the listing of that family. You need to know which families are related by blood to the Forstanders and which families have simply sworn or contracted alliance to the Forstanders. These is very important. Sworn allies and contracted allies are not the same. Please study. The website puts it all at your fingertips.
3. The most important part here is to make sure the storyline can connect to the storyline of the other characters, that aunts know nieces and sisters were writing to each other through the years. Connection matters a lot.
4. The input of the applicant is encouraged. Maybe they want to add some details from their previous character to the new one?
Maybe they want to add a personal touch?
Sometimes we have to fill in the blanks so to say. Characteristics and personality traits...to ensure the character background story is intriguing and exciting!
EXAMPLE 1: A character with a bullet pointed storyline, as seen on the character Quick View.
Cecilia Forstander, Caste of Physicians (available role) 339 years old
-third eldest daughter of Maximilianus and Aurelia
-In a surprising short amount of time she rose from an Apprentice to High Physician of Turia
-Praised for her excellence, refined values and dedication in Gorean Medicine
-She usually travels to many Cities to give classes and evaluate Infirmary layouts and organization
-Since the moment she was allowed to change her Caste; Cecilia motivated her younger sister Claudia to do the same and together reinvent the healing arts and medicine through Gor
EXAMPLE 2: A character storyline that has been created according to the bullet points, the family lore, the applicant's preferences and details from the past of their previous character and some personality changes have been made. A background story was created and parent’s legacies included.
Note physical traits are not listed on this one. I think people should find out traits of a person's character through roleplay. And profiles are Out of Character. So I personally do not put that information in there. At this moment you should be creating a notecard with a story for your applicant.
☼ Cecilia Forstander ☼
Caste: Physicians
Age: 506
History: High Physician of Turia, Traveling Physician, Physician Envoy, Physician of Svago
☼ Family ☼
Father: Maximilianus; Former Ubar of Turia, Former Administrator of Turia, Captain of Port Kar
Mother: Aurelia (deceased); Former High Magistrate of Turia, former Ubara of Turia, Lady Matriarch to the House of Forstander, Matron to the House Servarius, Scribe of Schendi, Scribe of Rarn, Record Keeper of Port Cos, Scribe of Port Thassa, Inn Keeper of Port Thassa, Scribe of Hesius
☼ Background ☼
One of the daughters of the Greatest of Ubars, unique in her own personality and peculiar style. Cecilia was born in Skjern, during a congregation of clans Max and Aurelia attended.
In a surprising amount of time she went from Apprentice to High Physician of Turia. A woman praised for her excellence, refined values, wisdom and a dedication to Gorean Medicine and serum improvement. Once she was permitted to change Caste; Cecilia motivated her sisters Althaea and Rhaenys to follow her.
Known to travel to many cities during the year, she trains Physicians in the healing arts and herbal medicine. During one voyage she Companioned; she bore two children to Kazrak of Port Kar, then Captain of the Council. Kazrak was killed short after her son Aerys and daughter Aecilia grew up to age and their own aspirations, Cecilia knew there would come a day to leave Port Kar and move to Svago to live out her days as a widowed woman.
Svago was her home home for a little. But she found herself coming back to Hesius in no time to be back with her sisters.
Step 8: I would appreciate if all followed the format above, but you can get creative! Go ahead and write your hearts out! You do not need to use the sun emoticons. I used that because the Forstander symbol is the sun. A pierced sun.
Step 9: Once you have written the storyline send it to the applicant and tell them they can put it in their Profile Picks if they like. They can also put recruitment information about their family in their Profile Picks. Or information about HoF.
Now its time to talk about name changing.
NAME CHANGES & TRIAL PERIOD
Step 10: Applicants are given a 7-day week trial to RP with the families and see if they enjoy the RP.
During this week they are not required to change their SL names to the character if they don't want to. They can simply put it in their GM meter label. If they change the name to the new name right away, then that's awesome!
If they are not satisfied they can leave and the character that was given to them is restored to available status. Notify an Admin to post it back online.
Please include the storyline you created or was already for the character when reporting to an Admin.
GROUP INVITATION, TAGS, NOTIFICATION & GO!
Step 11: Whether they have changed their names or not is time to invite them to the Forstander family group and the corresponding group of the family character if such group is available.
Right now we have two main HoF Groups. Sent the corresponding invitations.
House Forstander La Casa del Sol, for friends and slave friends
Great House of Forstander (Active), for family and slaves of family members only
FOR OTHER HOF GROUPS
Give them a "Kith" or "Kin" tag corresponding to the relation their character has to the family. You may encounter Kith and Kin tags that are worded differently in each group. Possibly on a different Gorean dialect too...
Kith: Friend
Kin: Blood related
Step 12: Once the person has been invited to the groups, go ahead and send a notice about the new roleplayer that has joined the group through Great House of Forstander (Active), include any of your thoughts on the person. Or any important details!
Make sure to attach the character storyline you created on the notice for all group members to see which character is going to be played now. Always wish happy roleplaying to all!
Step 13: Once the notice has been sent, the person is all set to begin roleplaying the character and is able to talk in group chat and get to know the rest of the members.
IMPORTANT: Make sure you notify the rest of the OOC Admins and Mods about the person you have accepted by notecarding the whole interview and sending it to them for a review. Attach application.
BTB SIM RECOMMENDATION
Step 14: At this point you can talk to the new member about the family land (Skydome), if they want to donate towards the skydome by renting a globe. You can talk to them about the sims we roleplay at so they can choose where they want to get started. Send them a LM to the family land.
You can send them notecards with sim rules, laws and websites, tell them where the majority of us roleplays at and recommend any sims.
All members are allowed to go to any BTB sims they like and roleplay there, build their families. We visit each other and keep in touch! Cross-sim RP is always the best!
tips: Plot an RP where your character or the WHOLE family can pick up the new family member at the docks, meet somewhere, get roleplaying!
YOUR JOB IS DONE!!