Prismatica is a role playing forum that caters toward people who love magical girl anime, whether it be a classic, like, Sailor Moon, something more obscure like Magical Girl Site, or my personal favorite, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, and who want to explore the magic within these realms as their favorite fictional characters! It doesn't matter if you're an experienced role player or somebody who is just beginning this fantastic journey. Let's begin by getting through some basic lingo found within Prismatica.
Website Layout:
I've set up Prismatica to be the playground for multiple anime role playing games because in the past, I had a site that was dedicated to a specific fandom, however, as the years passed, people became interested in other anime, and moved on-- which is totally fine, but I didn't want to fall into the same trap, because I know that I've also expanded into other anime. while you're navigating Prismatica, you'll be exploring Realms. In boring forum terms, these are nothing more than separate categories, or groupings of boards. Each realm is a separate role playing game (with the exception of the first realm-- that's general Out of Character discussion about Prismatica. Each realm follows a basic similar structure:
A Guidebook, or introduction to what the realm or role play is about.
A character database to keep track of all the characters in that particular game.
An Out of Character board for discussions related to the plot, mechanics, and anything else relevant to that specific game.
One or more Spaces, or In-Character boards that host all the role playing activity.
A Space is nothing more than a specific location within a role play. For example, in the game Magical Lyrical Radiant Strike Force, there are multiple places for your characters to interact with one another. One of which is the Central HeadQuarters, another is Uminari City, and yet another one is one of the several Inter-dimensional Cruisers, The Arthra. Using a set up like this has a the advantage of surviving player abandonment, or when a group of players are waiting for another player to reply to the current scene, but can't reply until said player replies. (If that made any sense.) Basically, it prevents the game from dying. Having multiple locations available makes it possible for a player to hop into another location, either with their character (via something like teleportation), or bring in a different character to explore with.
Multiple Games:
As noted above, Prismatica has been configured to host multiple running role playing games simultaneously. Just because our flagship game, Magical Lyrical Radiant Strike Force uses the anime setting of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, does not prohibit you from starting another Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha based game. Each game is going to have its own unique plot and be contained within its own time setting. the goal here is to have fun! And there may be times when one particular game is feeling played out, or maybe the Game Master is struggling with Life. The point here is that multiple games for the same anime are welcome here.
Visibility Levels:
Each realm has one of three different accessibility levels.
Public: Everybody in the world can view all the content of the realm. One reason you, as a Game Master, would select this access level is for maximum advertisement and transparency. Magical Lyrical Radiant Strike Force will always be a publicly available realm. The only restrictions placed upon a public realm is the RPG Rating and the specific rules the Game Master of that realm has set forth.
Member's Only: Only registered members who are logged into the Prismatica site will see this realm. This is useful if you'd like to run a game without being overly concerned by the ever-watchful eye of, well, everybody on the planet!
Private: Only selected members will have access to these realms. Games that use this visibility level grant individual members the privilege to access content based on assigned member group. Members must voluntarily petition the Staff for access to a Private game (and also know about said game) or, have the option of purchasing one of the premium member groups (valid for a one year duration) to participate in one of these content sensitive games.
Role Playing Ratings:
Finally, there's the RPG Rating to consider. Every realm has a rating. Ratings are a standardized method to ensure player comfort and safety regarding various trauma-inducing events that could take place within a fictional environment. Because we're playing withing the Theatre of Mind and most of us our relative strangers toward one another, the RPG Rating system helps to ensure that some scenery is omitted from game play. Some Game Masters and Players, like myself, aren't too affected by foul language, but have experienced various cruelty during childhood, that could result in flashbacks or other detrimental thoughts to occur. Therefore we can negotiate a comfortable game setting that ensure that anything that could be triggering is avoided.
The Visibility Level enhances the RPG Rating on Prismatica. At no time will any game with a rating for Sexuality or Violence be Publicly available having a rating above a two (2). Games that have a Sexuality rating of three (3) will be mandated to being a Private access game.
Listed below is a general guideline about what these numbers mean:
Category
Level 0
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Language:
No swearing permitted.
Infrequent, mild swearing is permitted.
Swearing is permitted, with some limitations.
Swearing and mature language are permitted.
Sex:
No sexual content is permitted.
Mild sexual innuendo and references are permitted.
Sexual content is permitted, with some limitations.
Sexual content may be described in detail.
Violence:
No violence permitted.
Mild violence is permitted.
Violence is permitted, with some limitations.
Explicit violence is permitted.
Joining Prismatica:
If you have read this far, and are all this sounds interesting, then I invite you to join our cute little role playing community! I've tried to make Registration as painless as possible. You can create an account using the typical manual process by supplying a username, email address, birthdate, gender, and whatnot...I think that's everything, or you may use on of the following Social Media Platforms to create your account. Using these alternative methods does not grant any of the Staff or Members of Prismatica access to your content/profile information, other than what's already been listed as required to create an account.
Why do we want your email address? Because sometimes we need to communicate with you regarding urgent site changes, or we're just checking in to ensure you're okay. You can always opt out of any Prismatica notifications.
Why do we want your birthdate? Because some of the games here may be of a mature nature. We have to follow the laws of the United States of America (even though it may currently be a cesspool...) Although we don't outright restrict anybody from becoming a member, unless your younger than 13 (that's a XenForo legal matter), the Staff needs to ensure that younger audiences aren't accessing content that could irreparably damage their mental or emotional growth. Failure to provide a complete birthdate will result in your inability to upgrade your account to participate in Private access games. You can choose if other members can see any of this data in your Member Profile. Also, maybe we're just really awesome, and want to offer you some birthday cake on your special day?
Why do we want your gender? This is just for mutual respect. Not only do we request your gender, but on the Player Application Form, we also would like to know if you have any personal pronouns. We honestly support and like diversity here! I believe I listed all the mainstream genders used within Society today. However, if you don't see one to your liking, feel free to message me, and I'll get right on it! Of course, you could always just choose the option for Unspecified.
Once you get all your digital paperwork in order, feel free to modify your Profile, make an introduction reply if you want, start creating posts, and a Staff Member will usually approve your account within 24 hours. Please be advised that Prismatica does use anti-spam measures, so if you have attempted to register for an account but haven't received any email within a few minutes, double check to ensure your email isn't blacklisted. Also, be sure to check your own Spam/Junk folder within your email before reaching out to me.
How to Role Play?
Once you become an official Magical Girl (regardless of your actual gender identity), you may embark upon grand adventures with awesome and newfound powers that may only truly exist within your imagination! But role playing on a forum is a different beast than face-to-face, or even using other online mediums, such as Discord. This page will hopefully help you get the hang of playing a digital persona. So let's get started!
Character Concept?
The first thing you'll need to do, after you familiarize yourself with the layout of Prismatica is to have an idea of what character you'd like to play as. (Actually, you'll probably end up with multiple characters, but we'll dive into that in a bit.) Anyway, most of the characters found here will be of the Magical Girl trope. Seemingly ordinary young girls who lead normal, boring lives. Attending school, doing chores and homework, attempting and failing at dating. But these girls are truly special, for they have heard the cry of help! Each girl, a true heroine in her own right-- has the ability to transform into a superpowered version of herself, to wield powerful magic, to fight for love, justice, and equality. Please note that non-Magical Girls may also participate in the Prismatica playground. Depending on the realm you're playing in, you'll decide upon a canon (somebody from an anime) or original (somebody that you create) character. Creating the concept of your character is actually pretty easy! Just jot down a list of personality quirks, any special abilities and magical attacks that your character would possess. Once you create this listing, format it into a cohesive description, and send a copy to the Game Master of the game you want to participate in.
Role Playing Game Systems?
The next step is going to be building your official character template. Prismatica is a fairly open-minded playground. Game Masters have the choice to use a predefined game system, like Dungeon's & Dragons or Big Eyes Small Mouth or just use more of a free form template. Check with your Game Master for specifics regarding any game systems, expansions, and modules that may be in use. If your Game Master has opted to use a freeform format, you can still use any game system you own to generate your character. Just be sure to reformat your character into the approved template format. In fact, you may find it useful to use a game system when initially constructing your character, especially if you're creating an original character because you may find some interesting quirks or special abilities that you may not have originally brainstormed for your character concept.
Player Immersion?
One thing to think about when submitting your character to Prismatica is that we offer Sub Accounts. As a Registered Member, you have three of these specially linked accounts that are for the purpose of creating characters for your role playing. If you want or need ore Sub Accounts, you can purchase 10, 25, or 50 total Sub Accounts for your role playing pleasure! Feel free to completely customize these member profiles as the persona of the character you've created, then formally submit your role playing character using the appropriate form or dedicated character board for the role playing game you wish to participate within.
While you participate in character using your character's Sub Account, you'll be generating in game credits that you can use toward making purchases for virtual assets within the Shop, such as a cell phone, school uniform, vehicles, transportation, even lodging for your characters! Prismatica has the ability to use different virtual currencies, in addition to our primary website credits, called Lumina. You can always convert Lumina to specific realm currencies, in fact, you can not only earn Lumina, you can purchase additional Lumina with real world currency! (Don't worry, it's super cheap.) However, it's easy enough to earn Lumina just by adding content to Prismatica. Typically, you'll earn more Lumina by creating topics than you will by just replying to topics. You can also earn Lumina by liking and following other members. Finally, remember that you'll earn additional Lumina based on the length of your posts. We want to encourage about a paragraph's worth of content-- a minimum of 45 words in most cases. Please note that there is no minimum word count enforced on posts.
While I'm thinking of this, I should mention there are actually two different types of Sub Accounts on Prismatica. Player Characters and Non-Playing Characters. As a Player, you create a Sub Account for each of your characters that you control. But recently, I've also added non-playing characters, that you as a player can use in your posting. Both of these Sub Accounts count against your account limit. If you're going to be using an NPC heavily for your role play, I encourage you to adopt that particular character into your Linked Accounts area. The password is the word blank for all of these NPC's. You may play around on the Prismatica site as these characters, but modifying their profiles is considerably restricted. Also note that multiple people can link to these NPC accounts. I'm not sure what would happen if two members are logged into the same NPC account at the same time, but I'm eager to find out! If you're playing a game that uses NPC's and the character you want to use is not listed, then request that character be added for everybody to use. Include a proposed full name, gender, birthdate, and avatar (using the standard XenForo avatar resolution guidelines).
Character Actions?
Sometimes you may want to add a bit of randomness to your playing experience. Prismatica has a few options available to help you achieve adding this chaos into your character(s) lives. We have a Dice Roller that allows you to roll preconfigured sets of dice to be added into your post. These dice rolls may not be manipulated after you've rolled them. We also have various Oracle, Tarot, and Playing Card Decks available. These are randomized cards that contain various details that can be added to your creative writing. To use these, you'll want to open a second tab in your browser. Eventually, I'm hoping to add a method of embedding a card into your posts, so you can just click a button and go from there. But first, I need to figure out the inner guts of XenForo!
Alright! Enough with the boring mechanics of Prismatica! You wanna play, right? But how? Operating a multi-local roleplaying board like this is a bit different that the typical role play you may experience on a standard discussion forum about anime. With the typical role play experience, the Game Master creates a topic in a dedicated board, and the Players take turns posting in succession. And while this is simple and effective, it does have a couple of pitfalls, the biggest one being when a Player isn't responsive in a timely manner, and this causes the game to stall, and perhaps even end in form of stagnation. To combat this most dreadful event from occurring, I'm experimenting with a newer multi-local system. Each game is housed within a separate category that can be collapsed or expanded, and inside each category are a number of boards. Each board contains a role playing space defined for a specific location. Time does not necessarily flow linearly within Prismatica. Within each Board, you as a player have the ability to create a new Sub-plot. Your characters may be involved in multiple sub-plots simultaneously. Your characters could even be in multiple locations at the same time! As I mentioned, this is an experiment, and we'll play around with it for a while. I appreciate your input as a Player (or other Game Master) to tweak this experience by creating a rule set that allows for the flexibility needed to avoid complete chaos, but yet remain easy to adapt to.
Core Resources
Prismatica offers a number of resources available to enhance your role playing experience. I know that not everybody has seen the anime that are featured here, which is why I'm hosing at the very least, the first season of every anime title that has a dedicated role play as its setting. These anime are located in the Media Gallery and only Registered members have access to them. You don't even have to waste your time and bandwidth downloading these episodes first. Please feel free to add any commentary or suggestions. I'm also going to be offering soundtracks and music, as well as various images and wallpapers to assist with your avatars.
Another resource I hope to eventually offer, exclusively to members are core rule books for various role playing systems. Most of these books that will be offered are for games that offer a primer version of the full game, are games that are completely free or are totally out of print and impossible to purchase. I highly encourage you to purchase these resources from their respective owners of the games you use. This feature will be rolled out when I can finally afford the Resource Manager (a $70 initial expense).
Extra Miscellaneous Information?
Ha Ha! Made ya look! There's nothing here just yet!
Welcome to Prismatica! Read the Rules, Learn the Site, Explore the Fun!
