First, be aware that this site is constantly under LIVE construction. I don't have a local test site or any of that professional dohicky stuff. I hack it, often daily. You WILL come across errors and such. Feel free to file a bug report in the forum. I am pretty reactive to them and if I am tearing bricks out of the citadel I will quickly reply to any forum thread. I don't give warnings, I just do it.

Second, I love hearing what you want. I have a list a mile long but my mood is finicky and not even I know what I will feel like working on next. So if you have a suggestion, use the forum to let me know what you think!

Third, Let me clear up a (somewhat) common misconception. Strolen's Citadel, on it's own, is not a game, per se. It is more of a facilitator for games. People who attend this site are GMs or players of RPGs in real life, and we use this site for ideas for our games and game worlds, and to game online with others. The purpose of Strolen's Citadel is to be a site for the inspiration and discussion among GMs, as well as players, if they so wish.

Fourth, a quick Strolenite survival guide if you are super new.

• Remember to make an effort when you create a post. If you create something that takes less than 15-45 minutes of work, you should probably not submit it at all.
  
• Remember proper grammar in general. Nothing screams I don't care than submittting someting with lot erors!
  
• Remember not to lose your temper. Stay cool and respectful and we will become great friends! 
  

The rest:

What is this XP thing?

OK, experience plays a pretty big role. Experience points decide if/when you get to vote and what 'powers' you are given on the site. Each level will give something extra for the user to do on the site. As users participate and vote on the site they will gain experience points. As their experience points grow and they write submissions they will gain levels and more features and options will be accessible to them.

Experience

Experience is gained and lost through submissions, comments, and votes on and from other people. For each positive vote on one of your submissions or comments you earn some experience. Same for when you vote on somebody else's submission or comment, the author and you both earn some experience from the vote. If you vote negatively on a submission, the author that you voted down on will lose experience while. Experience points are not hard to earn with quality submissions and they can add up fast. 

XP Distribution 

We all know getting XP during a real roleplaying game can be a mysterious, confusing, and arbitrary form of reward. The site needs to have moods and quirks as well so that everything about the gaining of XP isn't already a known and defined thing. 

Here is a quick list of some different ways you can earn XP. This is NOT all inclusive and may not even be up to date, but it gives you a taste of where you can get it.

• You gain extra experience points for logging in during each 24hr period. 
• Each submission can give you multiple XP. 
• Each comment can give you XP. 
• Each positive vote on your submission or comment has a chance to give you XP. 
• Each deleted submission or comment removes XP. 
• Adding a suggestion to another's submission can give you XP 
• The author or admin removing your suggestion will penalize above what you earned for suggesting in the first place.
• Bonus XP during Quests. (explained below) 
• Bonus XP for your submission nominated to Hall of Honour. (explained below) 
• Bonus XP for Freetext Friday submissions (explained below)
  

What you may earn with Experience 

The main things you gain through Experience and you Level Advancement (Click on your level in your profile for a list) is the increased number of available votes. You also gain the abililty (and more votes) to promote submissions to the Hall of Honour. You will be able to Challenge Submissions, vote for Golden Submissions, and other little things that will pop up as you advance. Take all the fun out of it if you knew everything that you could do! 

Here is the most current list, which is not 100% accurate, just the most current. See disclaimer #1 at top.

Level Advancement 

Both experience and minimum submission requirements must be accomplished. Posting submissions / comments just to meet that number requirement could also hurt you in experience from other's votes, which is why both are required to level up. Once you gain the required XP and submission count to advance to the next level it will not take affect until the following day. There is a nightly script that runs and tallies up all this and updates levels and votes.

OK, I got this stuff, now what?

Ok, that is all fine and dandy, but what is the point? 

Votes

The main power gained through experience is the ability to vote. After you register you will have to wait till the following day to gain this ability. There is a nightly script that runs that reissues out XP and updates levels and such. 

For each level, you are only allowed a finite amount of votes per day. As level increases, so does the amount of votes you are allowed to cast. Votes not only include voting on submissions, but also a + or - vote on comments. Because at the lower levels you only have so many votes, you take the vote more seriously than before. At first you will probably only use your vote on submissions, which is the point, and later as you gain more and have voted for many submissions you may branch out and start voting on comments that are helpful...or vote down flame/rude/useless comments and take XP from the comment author. 

I still don't understand why you limit new user's votes! Justification is that voting is a privilege and, for an author, receiving votes affects their XP so allowing just anybody to vote might not be a great idea. Having voting as a privilege turns it into a perk for registering and even if the voter turns sour, there is only 1 vote available to that person per day. Once you get a good number of votes, you have done some good submissions and comments and you have _earned_ this benefit and after all the work it is doubtful that the system will be abused. The integrity of the votes is higher and those that may not respect the system cannot just come in 'off the street' and affect the voting. 

Each person will only be allowed to vote on each comment/submission one time. In the case of a submission, if it is updated, the voter has the ability to delete their vote and recast it reflecting the updated submission. In the case of the comments, the + will not disappear after you voted, however you can click on it forever and it won't accept more than one vote. 

Nobody can vote on his or her own submission or comment.

Hall of Honour

Hall of Honour recipients are submissions that somebody chooses to highlight. Hall of Honour submissions are instantly transported to the top of the index of the site and are also at the top of their respective categories. The submission will remain in this place of Honour for 24 hours per Hall of Honour vote they receive. This is a way for people to bump up submissions that may be deep in the Citadel and bring them back out for public view. They are also used to reward authors for submitting something that another user finds useful. The author cannot vote for their own submission. 

At a certain level users will be granted the power to add submissions to the Hall of Honour. Nominating a submission for the Hall of Honour gives an instant bonus XP to both the voter and the author. Hall of Honour choices will be permanently identified with a list of who nominated them viewable from that submissions view page. 

Any number of people can nominate the same submission. You can nominate as many different submissions as you have Hall of Honour points. A user can put a Hall of Honour vote on the same submission as many times as the level they are. So 6th level you can vote on the same submission 6 times if you so desire. Choose your Hall of Honour recipients carefully as you will always be identified as choosing them. 

Golden Submissions 

The highest honour a submission can be granted is the Golden Submission. It is given out only by the highest level users and administrators. This is the page of chosen submissions that are in the top of their category and something to aspire to. Each Golden Submission must be unanimously voted on by a certain number of admins/power users. Not much more to say about them except these are the posts to aspire to. 

Favorites 

Every registered person in the Citadel has the the ability to collect Favorite submissions. Each submission will have an 'Add to Favorites' button in their stat box. Simply click this and it will save it for you and show you a list of all Favorite submissions in your right menu. By choosing favorites, you also anonymously add it to a list of Favorites that compiles everybody's Favorites and anybody can view. Just another way to share things we like.

I was going to put in a Submission. What is all that stuff?

Well, there have been a lot of changes for this version. They may sound a bit complex at first but once you jump in (don't be bashful, experiment) you might find how stuff starts coming together. I am also always open for new ideas so feel free to tell me what is and what is not working! 

Ideas (akaScrolls)

Lets go ahead and start with the easy one and build up logically. 

You have submissions and you have normal comments that people make on them. That is all fine and dandy, but what if you have an idea that requires other people to help build on. A submission that encourages actual content from other people. Well, comments work fine but how do you divide the 'Hey, cool' comments from the ones that hold actual content? 

The Idea is meant to be the solution to this problem. An Idea allows a physical separation between the gee whiz comments which provide nothing and the Idea comments that enhance and reflect the main submission. There is a link that says 'Add an Idea' directly under the submission.

Suggestions and Link Backs 

So, that is handy, what if I want to let people know about another submission I think they could use with this one? Well, that is where suggestions come in. You can suggest any number of other submissions to be associated with any other submission. In all these cases, the author has final control over what goes on their submission. So, anybody can suggest a submission (gain XP) but the author and admins can just as easily remove it if it is inappropriate (lose EXTRA XP) so don't abuse this to get clicks to your own stuff. 

What it does is give a direct link to the suggested submission and pulls in the summary. So under your submission there can be a list of other submissions and their summaries that others might find useful. 

In addition, it also automatically creates a 'Link Back' in the submission you just suggested. So, lets say I wrote the submission 'Fruit' and I think the other submission 'Apple' would go good with it so I suggest 'Apple' on 'Fruit.' So now there is a nice link and summary to 'Apple' when you view 'Fruit.' In addition, when you visit 'Apple' on the right menu you will now see a Link Back to 'Fruit' so now they are interconnected in a web of suggestions.  Additionally, any links you put in your submission when you write it will automatically be grabbed and added to the suggested list.

If you are having trouble adding this, try just the numerical ID of the submission you want to add. Sometimes special characters interrupt the search and it can't find them. 

Codices

So, Ideas are handy and Suggestions might be pretty useful but what if you want even more? Well, Codex is the Godfather when it comes to submission linking. The word we want to use is Codex and that is what we are trying to do with this one. Great, we have Ideas but lets say I have an idea for a submission and there are already other posts similar to it that would go well with mine. So, if you wish, you can use the feature of the Codex and use it to bring all the submissions together in one handy, readable place. 

So what it does when Codex is enabled allows for those 'Suggestions' that are inputted against the submission to be actually pulled into your submission. So your submission is on top, which we have been calling the King for clarity's sake, and all the other suggestion submissions are fully visible along with it. It can get a little messy if you go overboard but we hide the comments by default and add a nice little table of contents to try and make it controllable.

Freetext 

Now, before you get carried away with the Codex (which may not be the ideal organizational method) there is yet another option to tie together various submissions. Every submission is allowed a small area of Freetext is for the author to once again tie together relevant submissions. A Freetext link is provided with every submission on the top right menu. This text will link to all the other submissions that have the same Freetext, and it does have to be identical. So if you are building a town or adventure, you can use the town's name as the freetext and by clicking that you get to view the summaries of all those submissions. 

May not sound like much at first, but there is a lot in store for this little feature and it is very useful for bringing things together without the bulk that comes with a Codex or Suggestions. 

If you are building a World I HIGHLY suggest using a single Freetext word to keep all of your World together. In the next version World Building will be very prominant and the freetext will help us pull it together. 

Other Options

• Categories. Please do categorize your submission as best you can in the categories provided. We know we couldn't think of it all so try and work with us and get it close. Click on 'Explain Categories' to get a pop-up explanation of each category.
• Open / Locked ONLY affects Ideas and Codices. If you want Ideas or a Codex that nobody else can add stuff to then you can use this to keep other people's grubby suggestions off your submission. They can still comment and vote though, nothing you do can stop that.
• Submission Options are described pretty good on the input page (as are the others) but this might be for those that haven't registered yet.
  • Normal Submission: Um, yeah
  • Private (hidden from all users): This is your own personal work space that nobody else can see. Work on submissions at your leisure and only submit them once they are finished. These are available through your Profile Page.
  • Draft (Collaboration Requested): If you have an already FINISHED submission that you want a review of before you submit it to the wolves, then use this. It is NOT for asking for help with an idea that you haven't fully thought through. If you need help building an idea please use the forum. Viewable by the public through your profile or the Advice Requested link.
  • Draft (viewable): This is anything you are in the process of creating that you wouldn't mind if other people saw. Viewable by the public through your profile or the In Work link.
  • Stub (Short with no Voting): This is a random factoid or something else that you feel you need to add but don't want it critiqued. It is almost a freebie submission but it doesn't do any of us a whole lot of good. However, it does come in handy sometimes. 

Is there anything else I should know about?

Quests

Occasionally we can have a time period where certain types of submissions are worth bonus points if submitted during the allotted time frame. For instance, if NPCs have been neglected for a while, we offer a 'Quest' for NPCs and give bonus XP to those that input a NPC during the time frame of the quest. Quests can be for certain submission category or for certain types of submissions in those categories. Quest for Agricultural NPCs or a Quest for Shields for instance. Quests will be announced on the index page of the site with the category described and the dates the Quest runs for. Past quests will be available for view along with any submissions that met the Quest's requirements. 

Freetext Friday

Every Friday, give or take, Dragonlordmax submits his will to the Citadel and anoints a weekly freetext that is worth exta XP if you use it in your Submission.

Submission Guidelines

I hate this crap so this is the most I feel like doing. I wrote it all years ago so will just copy and paste it. Bottom line, don't do anything stupid please, thanks!

There are no submission guidelines per se, but I do want to reiterate that we greatly prefer generic submissions, not game specific. Our aim is to provide submissions that are more universal in their application and easy to port to different games. Submission made using, for instance, AD&D descriptions and stats are not what we are looking for. If you wish to submit something that is game specific supply a full, generic description first. Then you could add a description at the end with specific stats if you so desired. But I would rather have the submission usable by anybody playing anything from FUDGE to Ravenloft. 

For the most part, these plots and other submissions are for game masters that are looking for something new or out of the ordinary. We all hit slumps were all we need is a good adventure plot to create the spark of an idea, or a weapon or character that will fit into the game without the game master having to extra brain work to think of something original. The plot or item may not even be used in the game, but hopefully it was at least a catalyst that formed an idea that the game master can go with. That is the real goal of the site, to provide a creative kick start for the talented game master. We know game masters already have a great imagination; they have to be to be good game masters. So the plots and items don't need all the specific details or a step-by-step walk-thru, just overall ideas that will give the game master something to work with.

Submissions Disclosure/Disclaimer/Whatever

The purpose of this site is to disseminate ideas and tools to anybody that needs them. The main goal is to provide plots, adventure hooks, weapons, characters, etc. for personal use of game masters or players. Because of this, submissions here must be made in the understanding that once submitted, the submission will be available for anybody to read and comment on. The intention of this site is for them to be used by anybody for private game use only and permission is granted to distribute these submissions in any way or form provided they are not used for profit and they retain the author's name and a link back to the original submission. The authors will retain their copyright so if you want to use anything, and you need permission, you need to contact the respective author. 

Further, I will retain the right to edit, delete, modify, etc., all submissions inputted on the site. In most cases I will not judge the quality of the submission, but I may correct blatant spelling errors or anything else that may cause difficulty in reading. As long as it is in good taste and is a sincere effort then it will remain. If the submission is of extremely poor quality, or is blatantly not a serious submission (funny submissions are obviously welcome, serious as in not a valid attempt) the submission will disappear as soon as I review it. Every submission that gets inputted into the database goes straight to my in-box where I can take a look at it. Once submitted, the author of the plot will still have full access to their submission and will be able to modify, delete, edit, and whatever.

Site Disclosure/Disclaimer/Whatever

I guess there is some law somewhere that I actually have to tell you that the site uses cookies. Hey, noob, EVERY SITE USES COOKIES. Anyway...

There are two separate cookies that this site uses.

• The forums use a cookie when you log on to make life easier for you when you put in messages in the message board. That way you only have to put in your pass once and can add as many comments as you like. The only thing disabling cookies will do with this is cause you to put in your name and password whenever you want to input a message. Hopefully the next version will use PHP4's session handling.
  
• The Citadel pages use cookies when they are enabled for the same reason as the forums. To keep you from having to put in your name and pass whenever you want put in a submission or edit your previous submissions. Cookies are not required because session handling is taken care of in php, but without cookies you would have to log in more than once depending on which pages you visit. Cookies will allow you to stay logged in the entire time.

Email Notice

Any email given here is for use only with Strolen's Citadel and will NOT be given out to third parties under any circumstances. We respect your privacy and value your trust and will in no way forfeit this trust by giving out any email addresses submitted.  I have adopted SMF for the user database. Using this we are able to use the forums email form and/or their private message system for communication. In that way your email address is never shown on the website and therefore unavailable to email harvesters and web spiders. I will take great pains to make sure it stays that way. The only time you will receive an email from me is if you asked for it by making your selection in the user preferences page or I send a rare email out to all registered members. 

Legal Disclaimer

D&D, Dungeons & Dragons, AD&D, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, TSR, Dragonlance, Greyhawk and any mention of any other of the millions and billions of corporate products on this site is not intended in any way to infringe on copyright laws that may be in place. I accept no responsibility if submitted material mirrors or closely mirrors existing game products. If anything does appear to be plagiarism and it is brought to my attention with specific sources then I will immediately remove it from the site.