Post by Accio Troublemaker on Jul 12, 2014 18:24:42 GMT
Hello Everyone!
Prepare for another long announcement, because I think this one is going to end up pretty long, but that's just because we've got lots to tell you!
First of all, a HUGE thank you to everyone who came back during the Activity Check and have been posting and active again since! It's great to see everyone posting so much. As you know, we've reset the site back to September 1977, and as of July 1st we've officially 'started'. That is, lessons, phantom threads, etc started, and the months have started to roll. Like before, we're saying every 6 weeks OOC = 1 month IC.
Like before, the Phantom is causing mischief around the castle! At the start of each month we will start up some new Phantom threads, both Summoned threads and Open threads. Who's interested in joining Bethany in [this] Open Phantom thread!?
There is also a thread by Dumbledore in the Great Hall with the opening feast. The Marauders have been causing a little chaos at the Slytherin table! Regardless of your house, anyone can join in [this] awesome thread!
As well as this, our NPC account has started a 'Welcome Back' event on the grounds to celebrate the start of the school year! If anyone is interested in joining the [bonfire] dive right in!
During each IC month (six weeks) we plan to run 2 lesson threads. Every three weeks, keep an eye open for a new lesson. There will be 1 'core' class less, and 1 'elective' class lesson. Students from 3rd year and up are welcome to join in any of these threads. 1st and 2nds years, please only join in the core classes. For older students, even if you have decided what elective classes your character is taking, you can still join in the others. It's completely up to you! These classes will be running in the classrooms, which can be found in the different floor boards of the castle. Our first lesson is [Defence Against The Dark Arts].
Gossip Ghost will be posting rumors around the castle at regular intervals. The first rumor thread can be found [here]. Because of the placement of these rumors all over the school, it is likely that most students will have seen them. Take these into consideration in your threads, and when you interact with the people involved. This is a good way of creating a sense of community in the school, and keeping everyone in the know!
We will also be posting regular Daily Prophet posts in the Prophet board. The first of these can be found [here]. These will have news of events that are happening out in the wizarding world. Remember, a lot of students receive a copy of the Daily Prophet with the post over breakfast! Alike the Gossip Ghost rumors, the Daily Prophet will give you things that you can refer to in your threads if you want to, and they can create a sense of community across the whole board if everyone knows the same things. The posts will also be a great way to keep on top of everything that happening with the wizarding war!
We'll be setting up a thread soon - probably in this board - where links to all these kinds of threads will be posted so everyone can find them easily. Remember, joining these kinds of threads will earn you house points! As of July 1st, we're going to be keeping track of what students have earned the most house points. You will be able to see a list of top point earners by looking at the third slide of the banner. The top 10 point earners will be shown there (or more, if there are several characters with the same amount of points. There are a lot of names on there right now, but over the next couple of months as more more points are awarded they'll space out a lot more, and it'll look less cramped. If you want to see everyone's points, you can look at the individual points in the [House Points] board, where they're shown by house.
You can also use [this] spreadsheet to see how your post count has changed. There's a separate post in this board which goes into details and explains how it works, but basically, yellow is good, blue is not so good. We use your post count for Milestones, which is another way of earning points. When you pass certain numbers of post you get points!
Something else that was briefly mentioned in the last Announcement was our upcoming Advancement system. You can the Advancement board [here]. There are rules explaining how it works in the board, but to sum it up briefly, Advancement is going to be a system to advance your character from one year to the next, with the exception of key canon characters (eg, the Marauders, Lily, Severus, etc). Because our months work out at 6 weeks = 1 month, it would mean that each school year takes 18 months. Our advancement system will run during every IC Easter, Christmas, and Summer (approx every 6 months) and give you an opportunity to advance your characters year group during these times. If you feel as if we should run advancement opportunities more frequently, PM this accounts and let me know you opinion! Similarly, if you have any questions at all about how this system works, feel free to ask.
There is also a [Development] board which you will need in order to advance, but there is no time restrictions on this, and any character - OC or Canon, student or adult - can be involved. n. Again, any important rules/information can be found in the board. Development is basically a series of questions we ask about your character to make you really think about who they are and who they're going to be. Everyone who wants to advance will need to fill this in, starting from the first year board. Again, if you don't understand/want more information, PM me!!!
We're going to be running another Activity Check at the start of August, and like our old AC's, we'll be asking everyone for a link to a recent thread, so make sure you're active! Threads/posts made after the start of the AC will not be valid for someone who has not previously been posting.
That's about all I can think of to include here for now, so keep posting, get involved, and most of all - HAVE FUN!
Lots of love,
Accio Admins xXx
Edit: Forgot to add something about adults here! Because the main focus on the site is on the school and students right now, we're not going to be fussing over the activity of adults. For now, inactivity in adults is allowed, so you don't need to post an activity link for them in the upcoming AC. We would like to see activity in adults, but we understand it can be hard with so few around.
