So you want to start a Warriors roleplay?
A guide to making Warriors roleplay forums.
Written by Sky.

So you want to start a Warriors roleplay? The roleplaying concept is very popular among Warriors fans. Try finding a Warriors fan online who hasn’t started a roleplay site of their own. It’s difficult, correct? Although thousands of roleplays are made, only a few survive. Others die, due to inactivity, lack of members, among other things. This article discusses and presents some of the important elements in a warriors roleplay forum, and offers helpful advice on creating and managing your own roleplay forum.

The Clans and Territory

Okay, so you’ve made your site, either on Proboards, Invisionfree, or another message board hosting website. Now you’ve got to choose the clans of your site. Many sites choose to use the canon/original clans. These include Thunderclan, Shadowclan, Riverclan, Windclan, and Starclan. Some sites also add the Tribe of Rushing Water or Bloodclan as well. If so, you also need to decide which territory the live in, either the old forest or the new. After doing so, you need to decide which territory areas will be used for roleplaying boards. For example, Thunderclan in the old forest might have territory areas such as Sunningrocks, Snakerocks or the Thunderpath.

On the other hand, many sites choose non-canon clans, such as Skyclan, Streamclan, etc. If you’ve chosen to do this, you need to choose the names of the four clans. My advice is to make the names sound realistic, yet still gives a good idea of the land. Some commonly used names are Leafclan, Streamclan, Stormclan, Iceclan, Fireclan, Moonclan, Sunclan and Hillclan. Which ever you choose, make sure that it appears realistic. Also, because you have changed the other clans names, be sure to change Starclan as well. Many site will use non-canon clans, yet keep the canon clan of Starclan. Come on people, remember Starclan too Some commonly used replacement names for Starclan are Dreamclan, Spiritclan, or Skyclan.

Skin and Graphics

The skin, or color scheme of your forum, is a major importance. It give a visitor, on an impulse, an idea of your forum. Good skins are skins that focus on one or two colors, and match together very nicely. Some sites have bright shades of green, purple, and red, which makes it sometimes impossible to read the text and makes the forum look sloppy. When making a skin, I suggest picking two or three colors and staying consistent with them throughout the skin. Make the text black, or a dark shade of gray, blue, green, red or brown, depending on the other colors of the forum. Remember, the skin is the vision of your forum, and can scare away guests if it doesn’t flow well.

Another part of the skin is the banner. This is also a big part of the skin. The banner shouldn’t be too large, but not to small either. I like banners to be about 700x250 pixels in size. The banner is basically the title to the forum, so it should give potential members an idea of what the forum is about, in a way. Sometimes, banners will have the site name, and sub-text that may say ‘v.2-Fading Trust’, or something similar to this, to show the current version and plot And last but not least of the Skin and Graphics, the affiliate banner. The affiliate banner is often a potential member’s key into your site. You want it to be eye-catching, neatly made, and say, “Come look at me ” When you affiliate with other roleplay sites, often the banner is put into a small, scrolling affiliate box at the bottom of the page, which means you have about two seconds for potential members to look at your banner before looking at the next one. So when making your banner, make it neat, but eye-catching. Affiliate banners are tiny, so don’t try to fit anything on it other than your site name, or it will just look sloppy.

Literacy

Literacy is very important in any roleplaying forum. Literacy is basically how advanced and detailed your roleplaying topics are. To make your forum literate, consider the following ideas.

Board descriptions- When describing your boards, roleplaying boards especially, it is important to have detailed, literate descriptions. Don’t just say, “This is where the cats of Snowclan sleep.” Instead, give it detail. Describe what kind of territory, where the camp is located, what the dens are made out of, what kind of prey can be found there, etc. It give your forum a literate, organized look.

The roleplaying- Also keep in mind the literacy level of your forum. Will it be semi-literate, literate, etc. Decide how long roleplaying posts should be. I prefer two paragraph post, but that’s just me. Set the standards for your boards. For example, if you have a literate requirement, one liners should not be acceptable. Neither should incorrect grammar and punctuation. Be sure that all members know the requirements for the roleplaying. Another aspect to thing about is OOC, or out of character. All forums should require some form of Ooc, to keep it separate from IC. (In character). Be sure members understand this as well.

Activity and Warriors

Ah, activity and members, the two main thing many dying roleplay forums lack. These two things are super-important in roleplaying forums. If a forum has no active members, how can anything happen? To get an active forum, you must have members first The best way to get members is to advertise. Tell your friends. Affiliate with other forums. Advertise on RPG listings sites, and on Warriors Wish. Whatever you choose to get members, DON’T SPAM. This can actually draw potential members away from your forum.

Once you’ve got some active members, keep the site active. This starts with you being active. After all, what’s a site without it’s admin? Update often, and remember to roleplay too! Other members will follow your lead and stay active too. But every site has those members who post twice, then disappear. To prevent crowding of inactive characters in clans, try holding activity checks once a month.