f.a.q What is the difference between the trailblazers and the greenhorns? trailblazers • Members who joined denizens at its inception (before July 2009). The concept was that these members would join with few to no pre-planned storylines, and create them organically through playing. As such, the Trailblazers are at the heart of the storyline in Rycade. greenhorns • Members who join denizens during or after July 2009. These members are required to join the community with a minimum of two connections. Trailblazers and Greenhorns are just categories used for organization. Being a Greenhorn does not mean that the character is new to the town, they are just new to the game. Likewise, all characters will be treated equally. The only apparent difference are the update requirements: Greenhorns Are required to update at least every three weeks Trailblazers Are required to update at least every four weeks How will the activity checks work? • Greenhorn journals will be checked on the penultimate (second to last) Monday of every month. I.E. the Greenhorn journal check for July 2009 will be on July 20. • Trailblazer journals will be checked on the last day of every month. We will be checking to see if there has been any activity in the journal within the given time frame (three weeks or four weeeks, depending on category) and whether a substantial journal entry has been posted in that period. Members are allowed to post one-liners, blurbs, videos, etc. in their journal but these do not constitute lengthy, substantial entries. There is no word count to aim for, but use good judgement on what "substantial" means and what a real person's diary entry would look like. Lack of activity and/or lack of a full journal entry are grounds for removal. What if I've been really active in the sub-communities/in threading/on AIM? We certainly don't want to remove active members. However, journal entries are the most accurate way to judge activity - for instance, a mod cannot be online 24/7 to see who is playing online. However, all activity is rewarded an encouraged. If you are an active member with extenuating circumstances, contact us prior to your activity check and explain your situation. Can a greenhorn character ever become a trailblazer? If a Trailblazer character leaves/is removed, an active Greenhorn character with the most storylines in-play will be considered to move up into the vacant Trailblazer spot. What are ways to make connections? • Use grassroot to post information about your character and possible storylines and respond to the posts that other members have made. May I have multiple characters? Effective July 1, 2008 - all members may have a maximum of two characters in play. Any characters added after July 1 start off as a Greenhorn by default. Players must also demonstrate that they can balance both roles effectively. If a second character appears inactive in journaling/scenes/AIM or is consistently close to being removed, the player will be asked to chose one. If a trailblazer leaves the community, will they be able to re-enter as a trailblazer if they return later? A Trailblazer that leaves willingly or is removed due to inactivity has four weeks to re-enter at their former spot. If the player re-enters with their former Trailblazer character and a brand new character, the new character will be a Greenhorn. If the Trailblazer has dropped their first character for a new character, the new one will be Trailblazer, though they would still have to make all new connections. To put it simply - a player will *not* be able to have two Trailblazer characters. What are lagniappes? Lagniappes are activities created to boost activity, get characters mingling together, and rewards active, adventurous players. There are two sorts of Lagniappes - characters mixers and contests. Some current and future character mixers include Long Distance Dedication night on 101.9 KXTX Rycade Radio, Karaoke Night, and Freaky Friday. Some current and future contests include the Rycade Lottery and the Pimp Olympics. In these contests, winners may receive Update Immunity tickets, free icons, or points that maybe redeemed for Immunity tickets. There are eight different Lagniappes planned for the community as weekly/biweekly/monthly events. I still have questions! You can contact the moderators at the dropbox or on AIM at rycade ranger