"The Game of Life", or TGoL, is a semi-realistic, post-by-post, wolf roleplay site based around a chess metaphor for a war between two packs: Light and Dark Pack,
respectively, to match the light and dark pieces on a chess board. The wolves themselves don't know anything about chess of
course, only that they are locked in a seemingly eternal battle for the rights to their thriving yet limited land. Tensions are
high, blood has been shed, and all must be careful which move they make next, for it could either ensure a victory for them or the end of everything. You, as a player, may either play a wolf
from one of the packs, directly involved with the war in some way, or a loner on the outside, either looking in, taking advantage of the distracted packs, or staying out of
it all together.
RIN
Owner
STAFFER NAME
POSITION
STAFFER NAME
POSITION
STAFFER NAME
POSITION
SPRING 01
The ice and snow of winter are finally starting to melt away as things warm up, making way for budding flowers, returning prey, and spring showers. Mating season is no longer in effect, but those whom did get pregnant should expect to give birth within the season, towards the beginning of Summer. Prey is steadily becoming a little more plentiful, which is good news, but all of the melting snow/ice and the spring showers are causing The Divide and Flatlands to flood, coaxing both packs to stay on their respective sides... lest they wish to get swept down stream.
4.26.2018 -
A new announcement has been made in regards to major revisions/additions to the site! Read here.
4.2.2018 -
An "Activity" section has been added to the Rules thread, since I realized this was never clearly defined. In addition to this, a thread for making characters inactive and a thread to take an offical abesence have been added. I've also enabled guests to be able to view the IC and Player Record Book boards in their entirety so you can get a feel for activity/characters before joining the site!
4.1.2018 -
The theme's been changed to have a little more color and to be a bit more visually appealing!
3.4.2018 -
TGoL has offically been completed and is now open to new members, so feel free to join and submit your characters for acceptance! We have many high rank positions open in both packs and would like to get those filled as soon as possible. Also, please advertise us to anyone you think might be interested!
Your wolves will age as the game progresses, and you are expected to keep up with this in your profile (NOT your joining app; the age there shouldn't change). IC time passes at the same rate as IRL time, so the seasons and years should change at the same time unless we feel the need to shorten/lengthen a season for plot reasons. You can find the current season and year number in the header. You will measure your wolf's age according to the season they joined in. So, for example, if Luna joined in the summer of year 01, she will age another year during the summer of year 02.
Since wolves typically live up to 10-ish years in the wild, we'll just say 1 human year = 7 wolf years, therefore: wolves reach sexually maturity at about 1.5 years, wolves are considered adults at 2 years, middle aged at about 7, and elderly at about 9-10. Wolves cannot live past 12 years old. if your wolf is 11 and hasn't been killed before turning 12, they will instantly be moved to the Deceased board when they do, all of their active threads will be locked and moved, and you will no longer be allowed to play them. Females lose the ability to reproduce at about 7, and male will lose it at about 9.
Pup aging is below.
MATES & PUPS
OOC, in order for wolves to become mates, they simply have to have at least one completed thread together to prove they met, and one thread to show their decision on becoming mates. These can both be the same thread, and this process does not require any ceremonies, leader approval, etc. Once you have this, submit the info here and they will be added to the official mates list, as well as have their info changed in the appropriate places.
IC, this process varies. If they are pack wolves, they more than likely need the King's approval, or to at least let the Alpha know they'd like to be mates. Depending on their rank and desires, there may be a wedding, or it may be as simple as the King/Queen announcing it to the pack. Obviously, mateship between a pack wolf and a loner is a bit frowned upon, and mateship with two wolves from different packs/rogues is illegal, resulting in severe punishment for either party. How this works out is simply up to the players, and is most certainly grounds for some interesting plots.
Now, onto pups. Remember, this site is PG-13; you are not allowed to role play anything graphic, which includes breeding and birthing. Breeding season is in the winter (Nov-Jan), and to keep things simple, we will just say all fertile she-wolves of age (1.5-7 years) are in heat throughout the entire season. Be aware that a female can only get pregnant during the breeding season; it is not possible for this to happen at any other time. In order to apply for a litter, you must have one thread between the two wolves where it is clear they bred. Fill out a form here, and within two weeks, you will know if the breeding was successful. Different things can determine whether or not it was a success; including the female's pack status. If she isn't in a pack, chances will be lower. If she is of a rank that eats more than the others, chances will be higher.
If the female is pregnant, she will stay as such for two months. You will be informed of her birth date on your litter thread. From that point onward, you will be expected to role play your female like she were pregnant, including mood swings, needing more food, morning sickness, etc. Her scent will change - meaning everyone else will be able to tell - about a week in, and at a month in, she will be noticeably rounder. Once the two months is up, you will have a final post which tells you how many pups were born and how many successfully survived. Again, this is determined not only by your female's status, but also by what she did while she was pregnant. If she was attacked in any fights or hunts while expecting, the number of surviving pups will be decreased. Females may only have up to 6 pups max, and you may choose their fur colors, eyes colors, builds, etc.
When the pups are born, either parent may have one (if there are even two to begin with of course), but the rest must be put up for adoption (if there are anymore). The pups themselves cannot be role played until they are three months old (you may rp the parents taking care of them, but not from the children's perspective), so you have until then to find owners for them. If three months passes and they haven't been claimed, you may either keep or kill off the rest. All pups can be put up for adoption as well; you don't have to play one from the get go if you don't want to.
Pup ages work as such; at 1 month old they are weaned and are able to see, walk around, make noises, and speak a few words. At 6 months, they will have grown to basically look like mini versions of their adult selves, and will begin to learn how to operate in the pack, including learning how to hunt and fight. They will be fully grown at 1 year, but won't reach sexual maturity until 1.5 years, and won't be considered adults (as in fully fledged members of the pack) until 2 years.
PACK LAWS/CUSTOMS
Pack laws and customs may change depending on whom is in charge. Generally speaking, the only important laws that should be observed are:
Any fraternization with members from the other pack is strictly forbidden.
Only the King and Queen may decide when someone within the pack is deserving of death or severe injury. Any serious harm done towards your fellow pack mates is unacceptable unless it was either an accident (there must be witnesses to prove this), or in self defense.
Unless defending the territory/yourself/your pack mates, do not engage with members of the opposite pack. The King will decide when it is time to make an offensive move.
Children (wolves under 2 years of age), the elderly (wolves whom are 8+ years old), and pregnant females are not permitted to fight. They must stay at camp or seek shelter in an emergency location in case the camp is being threatened.
In the colder months, when prey gets scarcer, only eat to stave off hunger. Do not eat more than you need.
Do not breed without the King's blessing. The first time this happens, the couple will be placed under punishment, but will still stay in the pack and be able to raise their pups (provided the pack can support them). The second time, one or both of them may risk banishment, and the fate of their children will depend on the pack's ability to raise them.
The pack always comes first. If you can spare that last bite of rabbit to someone who needs it more, do it. If it's a choice between your life or keeping the pack safe, sacrifice your life. If it's a choice between someone else's life and keeping the pack safe, sacrifice their life.
Protect the King at all costs.
These laws apply to the Light and Dark pack; should new packs arise in the future, they may not necessarily apply. Any additional laws/customs will be determined by the players of the packs' leaders, and can be found here (Light Pack) and here (Dark Pack). (These are Google Docs which will be available for all to see and will be shared with the packs' leaders so they can write freely on the document)
FIGHTING GUIDELINES
When your characters get into a fight with another wolf, there are certain rules you need to obey to avoid power playing and other forms of unfair role playing.
Firstly, you are only permitted one definite hit per wolf per fight, which means you are only allowed to make one offensive move that definitely connects with the other wolf. Because it is definite and can't be avoided, this hit cannot be fatal or anything that would permanently cripple the other wolf, and we prefer it isn't anything that will prevent the other from continuing to fight, thus automatically making your wolf the winner. All other attacks your wolf makes must be attempted, meaning it is left up to the other player to decide whether or not it was successful. As an example, instead of saying "Luna bit Markus's shoulder", an attempt would be "Luna attempted to bite Markus's shoulder, aiming to draw blood if it was successful" or something along those lines. If there is any move you'd like to make that is definite and more severe than what is permitted, you can always just ask the other player OOC and see if they'll permit it. To make things easier on the mods/admins, it's preferred that the player you got permission from expressly states in their post before or after the power playing that you were given permission to do so. You are not permitted to kill anyone's characters unless given expressed permission from the other player, and mods/admins will check in with that player to make sure it's okay.
Now, because war is a major focus of this site, the outcome of fights between the Light and Dark Packs are very important to the plot. Any fight that takes place between members of opposite packs must be marked as Battles in their title, subjecting them to being officially judged by an Admin/Mod. All this really means is that your thread will be put under higher scrutiny than a regular fight thread, having each post being combed through to ensure both players are fair and the outcome makes sense. In major battles that are considered pack events and incorporate large numbers of players, new guidelines may be posted to properly guide the plot and make sure everyone acts accordingly, and it is possible that in some cases, players will be permitted to kill without permission to reflect the mortality of war. However, if it has not been stated that this is allowed, don't do it.
When judging and planning the outcome of a fight/battle, members should keep in mind: the physiques of their characters (i.e. small, strong, slim, etc.), the age of their characters, the condition of their characters (i.e. blind, sick, malnourished, etc,), and the experience level of their characters (i.e. how many fights they've been in, whether or not they were professionally trained, etc.). If an admin/mod looks through your fight/battle and thinks the outcome was too unrealistic (for example, a feeble, sickly, old wolf beating a younger, larger, much more powerful wolf with brute "strength" alone), you will be asked to rework the ending, and will be given options to choose from on how to do this (i.e. having the stronger character show mercy and forfeit, having the weaker wolf flee/surrender, having the weaker wolf get injured to the point of not being able to fight, etc.). You don't need to restart the role play or anything; you can each just make one post describing how things went differently. If after two weeks you don't change it, a mod/admin will make the choice for you and post the new ending, then message the affected parties about the changes, in case their characters sustained injuries or got involved in other plots as a result of the fight. So, in closing, just try to keep your outcomes realistic and plausible.
For any kind of fight thread, there must be a posting order.
HUNTING GUIDELINES
There are fewer guidelines for hunting, as this is primarily left up to the players. Our main concern if just role playing realistically, so here are some things to keep in mind:
It would take at least three fully grown wolves to take down something as big as an elk. This picture isn't the best for size comparison, but it should still give you a pretty good idea of how much bigger elk are than wolves; obviously, one wolf couldn't ever hope to overpower that creature, even if it goes straight for the jugular. Also bear in mind that elk have sharp hooves and some have deadly antlers, both of which could prove very dangerous for a wolf, not to mention the threat of getting trampled. While calves would be easier to take down and could be hunted by a single wolf, the mother won't be too far away, and she will be very protective of her young. Hunting something as large as a moose would easily take three times as many wolves, at the least, and is even still a pretty foolish endeavor, making them more predator than prey.
Now large prey like ungulates (elk, deer, moose, etc.) are the only creatures that should typically get their own hunting threads/be a several-post-long event. The hunting of smaller prey can simply be done in one post and doesn't really need to be monitored by rules. The only thing I'll say about this is please don't have your wolf hunt like... 10 rabbits in the span of five minutes. They are much faster and much more agile than a wolf, meaning hunting one would take an hour at least, not to mention the others need to be tracked down first as well.
As a final note, please be aware of the prey count. In the season section of the hover header, you will see whether or not prey is plentiful, average, or scarce. If prey is scarce, we don't want your wolf being able to hunt an entire feast in the span of one day.
Again, the primary concern with hunting is just to stay realistic.
