Post by pepsi on Aug 24, 2022 13:07:54 GMT
[attr="class","rules_container"]
To start playing on Buried Light, all you need to do is begin a New Thread in one of the sections under "Human World" or "Demon World" on site.
The new thread will contain your opening post. Then, another person can reply to this thread with their own post; this goes on, with alternating posts between participants, until every one of you feels like the story you have constructed has come to an end. There's no limit to the number of posts in a Thread, nor to the number of people that can participate. There doesn't have to be a moderator or a "Game Master" to further the plot and play the role of all the NPCs in the story; it can just be that every player adds their own input to the story's creation bit by bit, or one player can play their own character as well as the NPCs. The possibilities are endless.
When the thread has gotten to an end that everybody agrees on, you can post your grading submission as a new thread at the Grading Board. Your character will gain Red Orbs after Grading; the exact amount will depend on a few factors discussed below.
Your character can be in as many threads at a time as you want, but (word of advice) try not to open too many threads so you can keep your character's timeline consistent.
"Grading" is the act of getting paid in Red Orbs for completing a Thread.
When a Thread is Graded, every character who participated in the Thread gets some amount of Red Orbs; NPCs don't gain any Red Orbs, but Squads can - and by proxy Squadmates too.
A post will be considered valid if its word count is at least 100 for every Character you are playing as (not counting NPCs or Squadmates).
The exact number of Red Orbs gained depends on how many people (not characters, actual people) have participated in the Thread: the more, the better!
Finally, Squads receive Red Orbs depending on how they have been represented in the thread.
Finally, we want to give incentive to players who wish to play as "Game Masters" or otherwise only play NPCs for other people in a thread.
If you only played NPCs in a thread you can flag yourself as "GM" in the Submission. Then you will forfeit any Red Orbs
reward for yourself, instead gaining the same reward in Blue Orbs 
. You can give these Blue Orbs to any one of your Characters, even if they haven't appeared in the Thread, even if they didn't have anything to do with it.
When all the participants of some story feel like wrapping it up nice and neat, one of them needs to post a new Thread at the Grading Board.
Here's the template to follow when Submitting a thread: first, you preface it with the following:
Then, for every character (not NPC, not Squadmate) that was played, you add this:
Finally, for every Squad that appeared in the Thread, add this:
Sometimes, a Thread just can't go on. People can't find the time to reply, they lose inspiration for their character or the story, or it's just better for everybody to close it off and try again some other time.
When something like this happens, you can Kill a Thread by posting a Grading Submission and adding [KILL] to the title.
Killed threads follow the same exact reward rules as regularly submitted Threads, but they don't count as if they "canonically" happened on site and you can treat them as non-canon for your character as well.
[attr="class","rules_title"]Progression
[attr="class","rules_focus"]Buried Light is as much a role-playing game as it is a platform for creative writing. Writing stories, living the life of a character in a world filled with magic and danger, and most importantly doing all of this together with other like-minded players, is the core of Buried Light and the reason it exists at all.
It's also the only way to progress, as your Character gains currency by playing the game.
It's also the only way to progress, as your Character gains currency by playing the game.
To start playing on Buried Light, all you need to do is begin a New Thread in one of the sections under "Human World" or "Demon World" on site.
The new thread will contain your opening post. Then, another person can reply to this thread with their own post; this goes on, with alternating posts between participants, until every one of you feels like the story you have constructed has come to an end. There's no limit to the number of posts in a Thread, nor to the number of people that can participate. There doesn't have to be a moderator or a "Game Master" to further the plot and play the role of all the NPCs in the story; it can just be that every player adds their own input to the story's creation bit by bit, or one player can play their own character as well as the NPCs. The possibilities are endless.
When the thread has gotten to an end that everybody agrees on, you can post your grading submission as a new thread at the Grading Board. Your character will gain Red Orbs after Grading; the exact amount will depend on a few factors discussed below.
Your character can be in as many threads at a time as you want, but (word of advice) try not to open too many threads so you can keep your character's timeline consistent.
[attr="class","rules_focus"]About the content of the Threads, that is the kind of stories you can make, there's definitely quite a lot of freedom. We won't make lists here, as that would be pointless.
We just mention in passing that it's important to keep things from escalating too much. Murder sprees, wanton destruction, and cataclysmic events are something all characters can achieve especially after certain Rank thresholds, but they won't fly under the radar of the authorities of the region, the media and especially the Factions. Storyboards that would alter the site's balance, lore or geography are better suited as site-wide special events managed by Staff.
If Staff feel like intervention is needed, they may step in as an additional player and deploy NPCs too.
We just mention in passing that it's important to keep things from escalating too much. Murder sprees, wanton destruction, and cataclysmic events are something all characters can achieve especially after certain Rank thresholds, but they won't fly under the radar of the authorities of the region, the media and especially the Factions. Storyboards that would alter the site's balance, lore or geography are better suited as site-wide special events managed by Staff.
If Staff feel like intervention is needed, they may step in as an additional player and deploy NPCs too.
[attr="class","rules_subtitle"]Grading
"Grading" is the act of getting paid in Red Orbs for completing a Thread.
When a Thread is Graded, every character who participated in the Thread gets some amount of Red Orbs; NPCs don't gain any Red Orbs, but Squads can - and by proxy Squadmates too.
A post will be considered valid if its word count is at least 100 for every Character you are playing as (not counting NPCs or Squadmates).
The exact number of Red Orbs gained depends on how many people (not characters, actual people) have participated in the Thread: the more, the better!
- If you play with 1 other person, both of you will receive 120 per valid post.
- If you play with 2 other people, all of you will receive 150 per valid post.
- If you play with 3 or more people, all of you will receive 180 per valid post.
Finally, Squads receive Red Orbs depending on how they have been represented in the thread.
- If the Thread features at least one character and a Squadmate from the same Squad, the Squad will get 100 .
- If the Thread features two or more players playing characters from the same Squad, the Squad will get 200 .
Finally, we want to give incentive to players who wish to play as "Game Masters" or otherwise only play NPCs for other people in a thread.
If you only played NPCs in a thread you can flag yourself as "GM" in the Submission. Then you will forfeit any Red Orbs
reward for yourself, instead gaining the same reward in Blue Orbs 
. You can give these Blue Orbs to any one of your Characters, even if they haven't appeared in the Thread, even if they didn't have anything to do with it.[attr="class","rules_subtitle"]Submitting a Thread for Grading
When all the participants of some story feel like wrapping it up nice and neat, one of them needs to post a new Thread at the Grading Board.
Here's the template to follow when Submitting a thread: first, you preface it with the following:
[b]Thread Link:[/b]
[b]Participants:[/b]
[b]Summary:[/b]
- Thread Link: a link to the actual thread in the Forum.
- Participants: the usernames of the players that participated in the thread; if you want, you can also specify which characters, NPCs or Squadmates they played as. If any of them wishes to be flagged as "GM", you must specify it here.
- Summary: a (brief) summary of what happened in the thread.
Then, for every character (not NPC, not Squadmate) that was played, you add this:
[b]Character:[/b]
[b]App Link:[/b]
[b]Red Orbs:[/b]
- Character: the name of the character. You can also add which player controlled them.
- App Link: the link to the character's UPDATED Character App.
- Red Orbs: the total number of Red Orbs of the character at the time of the Submission.
Finally, for every Squad that appeared in the Thread, add this:
[b]Squad:[/b]
[b]Squad Link:[/b]
[b]Members:[/b]
[b]Red Orbs:[/b]
- Squad: the name of the Squad.
- Squad Link: the link to the Squad's thread in the Velvet Underground.
- Members: the names of the characters and Squadmates of this specific Squad that appeared in this thread. You can also add which player controlled them.
- Red Orbs: the total number of Red Orbs of the character at the time of the Submission.
[attr="class","rules_subtitle"]Killing a Thread
Sometimes, a Thread just can't go on. People can't find the time to reply, they lose inspiration for their character or the story, or it's just better for everybody to close it off and try again some other time.
When something like this happens, you can Kill a Thread by posting a Grading Submission and adding [KILL] to the title.
Killed threads follow the same exact reward rules as regularly submitted Threads, but they don't count as if they "canonically" happened on site and you can treat them as non-canon for your character as well.
