Beginner's Guide
Interested in joining but not sure how to role play? This guide may clear things up a bit for you. Be sure to browse through the rules, FAQ, and possibly the role playing assistance page (under ooc) as well if you're still unclear.
What is Beqanna?
Beqanna is a horse play by post RPG (role playing game) where you, the player, act out the everyday lives of talking horses. This is all done through a series of message boards connected together by the main web page of Beqanna. It's important to note that this game is not a SIM (simulation) game such as Neopets or Horseland. It's not an automated game, but rather, one where creativity is of the utmost importance, and where the players have a large amount of control over everything that happens.
Is it free?
Yes, it's absolutely free to play on Beqanna.
Is there an age limit?
No. We have players from middle school to those with their own children. We know that your age is not necessarily a true diagnosis of your maturity level. However, we do prefer players that have the maturity level of at least a late middle schooler or high schooler (ie, people willing to learn, friendly, able to figure out things easily by watching others and reading, etc).
How do I join?
First you want to make the stats of your horse. The stats are like the information about your horse - its name, gender, color, breed, height, stuff like that. First, though, I'd pick a name. The name can be any length; it can be Dawn on the Dead of a Falling Days Sunshine or simply Fawn. Once you pick a name, go to Begin and click on Members. Then go to Search and in Key Words under Search by Name type in the horse's name. If the horse's name doesn't come up, it means no one is currently using that horse's name. Someone may be reserving it, however, so you need to go to OOC, and then Name Reservations. You can browse through there to see if the name is taken. If the name is - just change it, look again. If it's not, congrats! You have your first horse's name! Next is the horse's gender, which is either male (stallion) or female (mare). Stallions mostly own herds, and mares mostly live in those herds. There are a few exceptions: we'll cover those later in the Kingdoms section. If you have lots of time and want to start a herd, join a stallion. If you don't have a ton of time and want to RP every so often, join a mare. Next comes the breed of horse, which doesn't matter. If you don't know horse breeds specifically, put mutt or hybrid, which basically means it's a mix of more than one breed of horse. Please remember that mythic horses are not breeds (ie. pegasus, unicorn, etc). Color depends on your personal preference, but remember, there are no yellow, pink, polkadotted, etc. horses! Be reasonable and realistic. Now you're ready to join! First, read all of the rules... they're very important in the joining process. Once you're done, go to Begin, and click on Join. Click Post a New Message with the name box as your horse's name, not your name. The subject can be anything - a quote, a song name, simply 'joining'. It's up to you! Inside the message box, you post the stats (ie. the information about your horse). Remember - you cannot join a mythic. A mythic is a horse with wings, mind reading, immortality, or any other sort of mythic trait. You can join blind, deaf, dumb, slow or fat horses, or even ones with different colored eyes. Let's pretend that my horse’s name is Fawn, here’s what my joining form might look like:
Name: Fawn
Breed: Hybrid
Color: Grey
Gender: Stallion
Age: 5
Player: Kortnee (your name would go here. You can always make up a fun one, like Deception or use your real name. I use my name with a different spelling, because it's unique and I like it.)
I joined a mare, now what?
Mares are, in the wild, property of males (ie. stallions). In Beqanna, such is usually the case. You can start by going to the Field (located under Explore) and post to a stallion. The field is like a big open range where homeless horses go to find homes. Mostly it's mares wanting homes, and stallions will come by and 'claim' them, making them go to their home to live. Just like in the joining board, we're going to start a new message. Click Post a New Message and put your horses name in the Name section. The subject can be anything, like "looking for a herd" or a song quote or something. Inside the message box is where you type your actually message, that is, your post. If you're not sure what to write, read other posts below. Basically, you write whatever you want about your mare. You can start with her history, you can start by describing the weather, you can make it short and sweet by just saying "She runs into the field to find a stallion to claim her." Within a few hours or a few days, someone will reply, either a stallion from a herd who wants to claim you or someone from a kingdom asking you to join their kingdom. A stallion can claim you one of two ways: by simply nipping you and telling you to go to a place, or they can carry on an actual conversation with your mare. Either way is acceptable, but you must go with the stallion who claims you. If you have two stallions at once, you may choose.
What about stallions?
Having a stallion is an important job. You can either join and go to a kingdom, or start a herd. First, you want to pick your stallion's orientation, meaning if they're good, evil or neutral. Go to Live and click on the place of your choice - good, neutral or evil. Don’t go into the mythic areas; unless you are a mythic, you can’t claim one of them. There will be a few different things you see: the name of a place, and then a bunch of names listed under North, South, East and West. The big name is the name of the Kingdom of that place - we'll get into that later. The other words are names of lands: these are claimable. To find an empty one, click on each one of them and read when the last post was. If that last post was two weeks from that day, then the land is claimable. You can claim it by clicking Post a New Message and putting Claim in the subject with your stallion's name in the name box. You need to have one mare first, so you can go to the field and browse around for a mare you like. When you find one, reply to the post with a claiming post. You can be forceful - nip them and chase them to your herd land - or you can sit and talk with them and invite them to join you. Once a mare agrees - or is forced - to join you, you can post your claim message with the mare's name in the message field. Once you've done that, go to OOC (Out of Character), click on Land Updates, and fill out the form. It's pretty self-explanatory and will make sure the land is yours. You can continue to claim mares, but don't re-use posts or clog up the whole board with posts. Beqanna members like to see posts that had effort put into them, that is, ones with more than two sentences. If that's absolutely all you can do though, that's okay too!
What now?
Tons! As a mare or a stallion, you can visit any of the following places:
The Meadow - The meadow is a lovely little place where anyone and everyone can go to meet another horse. This is the neutral ground where no one hates each other for anything. It's a nice place to make friends.
Adoption Den - Often times, someone may join foals with no parents or foals will dislike their family and go to the den. Whatever the case, this is where orphaned foals go to find a new family. You can adopt a foal here, or post with your foal if you have no family.
Beach - The beach is where your horses go to die. You can either do a quick, short post saying that your horse died (in character or out of character, it's up to you) or a long, elaborate one about the life of your horse. Either way is fine, and sometimes friends of your horse reply with a memorial.
Breeding - Every month from the 19th to the 23rd is Breeding Season, which is autumn in Beqanna time. This is where two horses may breed together to produce a foal. Rather than letting you chose your own stats, Beqanna has added a real life aspect to it. You post, in character or out, with your mare's name, breed, color, age, mythical abilities and the sire's name, breed, color, age and mythical abilities, along with the player of the foal and possible names for a male or female foal. Remember to go to the Member list and the Name Reservation to make sure that the names aren't taken already. A fairy will reply within a few days or hours, and give you the stats of your foal. It will give you the foal's name, gender, color, breed, mythical abilities, and when it's due. You cannot ask a fairy for one thing vs. the other; the fairy can give you a stillborn (unborn child) if you do. Everything is done at complete random, except for the color and breed. Dice are rolled to see if the foal is male or female, then the name is looked up to make sure it's not taken. From there, the fairies use a real color-chart that will tell the possibilities of a foal's color. The parents' breeds are put together to create the foal's breed, and depending on the day your breeding request was answered is the day the foal is born. Mythic abilities are by chance but can be dependent on the parents' traits. Want a mythic foal but have no mythic horses? Ask two people of Beqanna in OOC - we're nice, we could always find one we're not playing or offer the services of our mare or stallion to you!
Challenges - If you want something that someone else has, challenges is the place to go! Here, stallions can challenge for another stallion's land or mares, mares can challenge for freedom from a stallion, and horses can challenge for positions with a herd or kingdom. Basically, this is the place to go if you want something and someone else has it. There are two ways to challenge - you can role play a fight or you can dice roll. In a role playing fight, you write out everything that happens. It's like play acting the fight. Your first post will say who you challenge and what you're challenging for, as well as terms. Terms are the agreements to which you will fight, like the number of posts, the amount of times you can attack per post and defend per post. An example would be "I, Fawn, challenge you, Trish, for your land and your mares, Moonlight and Boise. There will be 2 posts each, 1 attack per post, 1 defense per total battle, no mythic abilities." This is common: no mythical abilities and no power playing (saying that an attack hit even if it didn't). There is always a three day rule (unless exceptions are made), basically saying that if the other doesn't reply within three days, the challenger automatically wins. Once the battle is done, you reply to the whole thread saying "JUDGES." A Judge will then declare a winner, as well as give you tips, hints and suggestions on the battle. The other way is the dice battle, or coin battle, and they can only take place on Saturdays. You post your name and who you’re challenging, and what you want from them if you win. If the horse who's being challenged doesn't reply in three days, the challenger automatically wins. Otherwise, a coin is tossed three times, heads = challenger, tails = opponent. Best out of three wins the battle. If you'd rather role play, then you can refuse a dice challenge and instead role play challenge.
Illumi Plains - The Illumni Plains is where all the big battles take place, like The Alliance or the wars of Beqanna. You won't have to worry about this place, but if you want some tips on challenging read the battle posts here. They're awesome!
Mock Battles - This is just like challenges, only this is for play. If you want to practice or get used to battling, come here and set terms. Someone will reply and you'll mock battle. There is no winner and no judge, as well as no results, you just get experience from it.
Quests - A quest is done by a fairy. Basically, a fairy will create a post saying "New Quest!" They will make the quest anything they wish: usually it's a test. The first person to reply with the highest score in a certain amount of days wins, usually something unique like mind-reading or teleportation, or depending on the quest, even magic or OOC items. These happen every once in awhile, so keep your eyes peeled!
Playground - The Playground is where all the foals play. They can make friends, enemies, etc. This is where young friendships are forged.
Stealing - Stealing is a big part of Beqanna. Stallions and Kingdoms often steal mares and foals from herds or other lands to create a bigger herd or kingdom. To steal a mare, you must make a riddle of some sort with clues or hints to a mare. The clues must be to the name of the mare and you may include tips as to the place she lives. After three days, you create a new post saying "success?" with the clues to the riddle if the steal was not blocked. Here's an example: Say I was stealing Fire from Jack Be Nimble. My riddle may say, "Jack is what? Jack is quick, he jumped over a candlestick. He definitely lights my favorite nursery rhyme by the fire." See how there are clues to Jack's name, as well as the fact his name is a nursery rhyme, and the fact that Fire's name is in there, as well as references to a candlestick, which has fire. In three days I'd start a new post that said, "Jack is what? [Jack be Nimble] Jack is quick, he jumped over a candlestick. [a line from the nursery rhyme Jack Be Nimble]. He definitely lights my favorite nursery rhyme be the fire [lights, fire = Fire] Fire from Jack, unstopped." Then a judge would declare if the steal was valid, meaning the stallion wasn't away or the clues were too shady. If you feel like you're being stolen from, reply to the steal with clues to the riddle that include you, make sure you post in character. This will stop the steal and the mare will remain yours. Only stallions may steal, unless a mare is in a kingdom and has permission from the king to steal.
Valley - The valley is for homeless horses or stallions who don't yet have a herd. Sometimes, all the herds are taken up, so they have to seek refuge in the valley until a herd comes up that they can claim.
What are the Amazons and the Bachelor herds?
On the Live area there are two names, the Amazons and the Bachelors, that don't quite fit into the other lands. The Amazons is a place of all females, where only mares can join. Depending on the queen of the time, it may be by invitation only (a mare will approach your mare in the field/meadow and ask you to join) or you can just walk in and live with them. In the Bachelors, it's the same, only it's all males. They're known as the elite fighting forces, and depending on the ruler, they either hate each other or like each other. It’s a type of kingdom.
What’s a kingdom?
A kingdom is like the kingdoms you see in the medieval times - there's a king and a queen, a lord and a lady and various other horses to fill up the peace or fighting side. The kingdom headquarters are Heavens Gates (Good), Dewdrop Deserts (Good Mythical), Dazzling Waterfalls (Neutral), Forbidden Dale (Neutral mythical), Chamber of Evil (Evil) and the Forsaken Valley (Evil mythical), each ruling over all the lands present in the kingdom. You do not necessarily have to be a mythic to live in a mythic kingdom, unless you are the stallion that claimed the land. In that case, you must be mythic. If you live in a herd, you can visit the kingdom and hold a position in it as well. Many do. You can either be a fighter (of war) or a lover (of peace), or something inbetween. Each kingdom sets their hierarchy a bit different. Some leaders are nice and know all their members, others are harsh and cruel. Sometimes, there are raids between opposing kingdoms to steal or overthrow.
What's a raid?
A raid can be preformed by a kingdom or a herd. Basically, a group of horses (five or more) invade another land and they fight for something. It can be mares, the throne, etc. they set terms for battling (like the challenges) on how many attacks/defenses per post, but there is no judge. The fighting goes until one side gives up. If the side simply ignores the raid, then the raiding party wins. For more information, see the FAQ.
How do you get those pretty pictures and stuff?
There are certain people who are very talented when it comes to making pictures, so if you go into OOC (OOC, then to Chat) and ask for a layout and a picture, chances are someone will help you. Help the person out: describe your horse physically and their personality: it'll help the picture maker make a good picture. You can also ask for HTML, which is the pretty colored text under it. There are people who specialize in this as well, show examples of what you like and don't like. There are also many studios that do this for free if you can't find a person in Chat. Some studios are on our Affiliates page in OOC.
Someone’s breaking the rules!
Don't take matters into your own hands! This is what the officers are for. Kindly get one of the officers' attention, tell them about the problem, and let them solve it. That's what they're there for.
Raping?
Yes, raping does happen in Beqanna. Around breeding season, some stallions will force a mare to breed, but the person who plays the stallion has to play the foal unless the mare's player volunteers. You can also ask around on Play Me Please in OOC. Otherwise, if neither of you can, you can tell the fairies to make the foal a stillborn. Don't get a foal if it's going to be unplayed.
The boards aren't working!
Beqanna's boards are hosted off boards2go and sometimes the site goes down and some of the boards don't work for a few hours or a few days. Just be patient. Sometimes the site goes down as well; just wait it out.
What if I have other questions?
Check if they're answered in FAQ and if not, go to Questions and Suggestions in OOC. Also, there is a role playing guidelines page in OOC you may be interested in.
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