> The RPM Writer's Guide

Written by CyberCat

There are only three basic rules to writing stories for "ReBoot: Project Metaverse":

1. No killing off other people's characters.
      This isn't Star Trek or Marvel Comics; if a character dies in a story, that character will stay dead for the rest of the series. And, for the most part, dead guys aren't much fun to write about. Therefore, killing off a character that belongs to someone else is frowned upon. However, if you want to kill off one of your *own* characters, then that's your perogative.

2. Respect other people's characters.
      This sort of goes hand-in-hand with Rule #1. Every character in Project Metaverse is considered to be the property of its creator, and should be treated as such. If you want to use someone else's character, e-mail the character's creator and tell him or her what you plan on doing with said character. If he or she says okay, then you're all set.
      Things other than characters that someone else has created (locations, Anthro species, etc.) are considered public-domain unless specifically stated otherwise. You need not e-mail the author to use one of these items in a story, but they should also be treated with respect. Which leads us to the third rule:

3. Be consistent with what has already been written.
      The point of a shared universe is that we use each other's ideas, so try to avoid contradicting existing material. This mostly applies to the public-domain material mentioned in the previous rule. For example, if you create a character who's a Khatran, that character should follow the model of a Khatran that was initially set up in "And So It Begins." The Reference section of the Metaverse website catalogs all the facts laid out in the series, and a few that haven't been specifically stated in any story. This should make it a bit easier for new writers to know who's who and what's what in Project Metaverse.

In general, anything hasn't been specifically stated in an RPM fic (or on ReBoot itself) is open to speculation, and the first one who specifies it in a fic of their own defines what it will be for as long as the series lasts. So be careful of how you define this reality, 'cuz we're all gonna be stuck with it for a while. ;)

There is also a fourth, smaller rule--keep your fan-fics rated PG-13 or less, please. There will be no hentai fics in the Metaverse.