Age of Intrigue - historical RPG in England's 17th century Restoration • Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Login and Registration Issues: How do I join the game? Is this an active game?; Why can’t I login? Why do I need to register at all?; Why do I get logged off automatically?; How do I prevent my username appearing in the online user listings?; I’ve lost my password!; I registered but cannot login! I registered in the past but cannot login any more?! Why can’t I register?; How can I ask a question of you in person? Do you have a cbox?; What are you looking for in your game? How do I make an application?; What kind of name do you want me to register?; What does the “Delete all board cookies” do?

User Preferences and settings: How do I change my settings?; The times are not correct!; I changed the timezone and the time is still wrong!; My language is not in the list!; How do I show an image along with my username?; What is my rank and how do I change it?; When I click the e-mail link for a user it asks me to login?

Posting Issues: How do I post a topic in a forum?; How do I edit or delete a post? Is it even a good idea if I do?; How do I add a signature to my post?; How do I create a poll?; Why can’t I add more poll options?; How do I edit or delete a poll?; Why can’t I access a forum?; Why can’t I add attachments?; Why did I receive a warning?; How can I report posts to a moderator?; What is the “Save” button for in topic posting?; Why does my post need to be approved?; How do I bump my topic?

Formatting and Topic Types: What is BBCode?; Can I use HTML?; What are Smilies?; Can I post images?; What are global announcements?; What are announcements?; What are sticky topics?; What are locked topics?; What are topic icons?; The BB code I want is not available on this board

User Levels and Groups: What is the Privy Council?; What is the account Charles Rex?; What are usergroups? What are circles?; Where are the usergroups and how do I join one?; What is the Supporter Usergroup?; Why do some usergroups appear in a different colour?; What is a “Default usergroup”?; Where is “The team” link?

Private Messaging: I cannot send private messages!; I keep getting unwanted private messages!; I have received a spamming or abusive e-mail from someone on this board!

Friends and Foes: What are my Friends and Foes lists?; How can I add / remove users to my Friends or Foes list?

Searching the Forums: How can I search a forum or forums?; Why does my search return no results?; Why does my search return a blank page!?; How do I search for members?; How can I find my own posts and topics?

Topic Subscriptions and Bookmarks: What is the difference between bookmarking and subscribing?; How do I subscribe to specific forums or topics?; How do I remove my subscriptions?

Attachments: What attachments are allowed on this board?; How do I find all my attachments?

phpBB 3 Issues: Who wrote this bulletin board?; Why isn’t X feature available?; Who do I contact about abusive and/or legal matters related to this board?

Login and Registration Issues

How do I join the game? Is this an active game?: You start by emailing us a charactersheet, also known as application and email it to admin@ageofintrigue.com. You can read more about the process in our Wiki or just follow the join link in our side bar.

Do not register and start to play without being approved by the Privy Council. Your posts will be caught in the moderation queue and deleted. Please remember you need to be 18+ to be allowed to play this game.

Age of Intrigue is a very active game, but with a small memberbase spread all over the world so that we are never active all at once. We hope for a posting rate of twice a week, but often it is more. Because the Privy Council members discuss your application in depth it make take several days before you have feedback on your application. Meanwhile check out our IRC chatroom at darkmyst.org in #ageofintrigue, or use the login button of Mibbet's webchat.; Top

Why can’t I login? Why do I need to register at all?: There are several reasons why this could occur. First, ensure your username and password are correct. If they are, contact the Privy Council to make sure you haven’t been banned. It is also possible we have a configuration error on our end, and we would need to fix it.

If you created an account with us before submitting an application to the game your account may have been marked as spam and as a consequence was removed. Please contact us at admin@ageofintrigue.com.You need to register to be allowed to play our game and post messages. You do not need to register to post an advertisement in the special advertisement forum.

Registration will give you access to additional features not available to guest users such as definable avatar images, private essaging, emailing of fellow users, usergroup subscription, etc. It is recommended that you register with your characters full name. No OOC accounts please.; Top

Why do I get logged off automatically?: If you do not check the Log me in automatically box when you login, the board will only keep you logged in for a preset time. This prevents misuse of your account by anyone else. To stay logged in, check the box during login. This is not recommended if you access the board from a shared computer, e.g. library, internet cafe, university computer lab, etc.; Top

How do I prevent my username appearing in the online user listings?: Within your User Control Panel, under “Board preferences”, you will find the option Hide your online status. Enable this option with Yes and you will only appear to the administrators, moderators and yourself. You will be counted as a hidden user.; Top

I’ve lost my password!: Don’t panic! While your password cannot be retrieved, it can easily be reset. Visit the login page and click I’ve forgotten my password. Follow the instructions and you should be able to log in again shortly.; Top

I registered but cannot login! I registered in the past but cannot login any more?! Why can’t I register?: First, check your username and password. If they are correct, then you may have to activate your account. This information was present during registration. If you were sent an e-mail, follow the instructions. If you did not receive an e-mail, you may have provided an incorrect e-mail address or the e-mail may have been picked up by a spam filer. If you are sure the e-mail address you provided is correct, try contacting us at admin@ageofintrigue.com and we may activate your account for you.
It is possible the Privy Council has deleted your account for some reason. If you have been absent for more than a month without informing us we may do so.

If you created an account with us before submitting an application to the game your account may have been marked as spam and as a consequence was removed. Please contact us at admin@ageofintrigue.com.

Your username, Ip address or email account may have been banned by the Privy Council. If you do not know why please contact admin@ageofintrigue.com; Top

How can I ask a question of you in person? Do you have a cbox?: We do not have a Cbox, but we do have an IRC chatroom over at the servers of darkmyst.org at #ageofintrigue. You can use the button in the sidebar to login with Mibbet Webchat.

Please understand this is a very international game. Some timezones might be asleep as you visit.; Top

What are you looking for in your game? How do I make an application?: Please go to our Wiki and read our template and the minimal rules of our game system. Age of Intrigue is a plot intensive, intermediate literate creative writing game. We will judge your application not so much on period correctness or level of writing as on originality of content. We also enjoy a fair amount of realism.

This game works better if the character you submit has a reason to interact with the court, which is the focus of our game. That means preferably gentry or if you must a commoner who has a lot of contact with gentry. Our wiki is up to date as to what kind of characters we are currently looking for. Please remember to submit original characters, not actual historical persons.

Please use our wiki to research the period of the Restoration in England. We have many so called "opt in" articles about life in the 17th century. We also warmly recommend wikipedia and historical sites.; Top

What kind of name do you want me to register?: Please use the name of your character, not an OOC account. One character per account.; Top

What does the “Delete all board cookies” do?: “Delete all board cookies” deletes the cookies created by phpBB which keep you authenticated and logged into the board. It also provides functions such as read tracking. If you are having login or logout problems, deleting board cookies may help.; Top

User Preferences and settings

How do I change my settings?: If you are a registered user, all your settings are stored in the board database. To alter them, visit your User Control Panel; a link can usually be found at the top of board pages. This system will allow you to change all your settings and preferences.; Top

The times are not correct!: It is possible the time displayed is from a timezone different from the one you are in (our default is London). If this is the case, visit your User Control Panel and change your timezone to match your particular area, e.g. London, Paris, New York, Sydney, etc. Please note that changing the timezone, like most settings, can only be done by registered users. If you are not registered, this is a good time to do so.; Top

I changed the timezone and the time is still wrong!: If you are sure you have set the timezone and Summer Time/DST correctly and the time is still incorrect, then the time stored on the server clock is incorrect. Please notify an administrator to correct the problem.; Top

My language is not in the list!: Age of Intrigue only uses British English, as described in our Terms of Service.; Top

How do I show an image along with my username?: You can upload an avatar in the UCP hosted on our server. We prefer a period correct painting or movie still, aprox. within a 100 years of our timeperiod. You can ask for assistance from the Privy Council in finding an appropriate avatar.; Top

What is my rank and how do I change it?: Your rank appears below your username. At Age of Intrigue we use it to indicate how in every day use your character should be addressed. We might also add something descriptive that helps other players identify your characters main benefits and challenges in as far as they are public. You may petition the Privy Council for a change in the wording of your rank if you feel it is warranted.

Note that there is a custom profile field which indicates your rank in society (e.a. commoner, gentry or a title). This is also set by the Privy Council. Another custom profile field indicates to which circles your character belongs.; Top

When I click the e-mail link for a user it asks me to login?: Only registered users can send e-mail to other users via the built-in e-mail form, and only if the administrator has enabled this feature. This is to prevent malicious use of the e-mail system by anonymous users.; Top

Posting Issues

How do I post a topic in a forum?: To post a new topic in a forum, click the relevant button on either the forum or topic screens. You need to be registered and approved (added to the player user group) before you can post outside moderation queue. A list of your permissions in each forum is available at the bottom of the forum and topic screens. Example: You can post new topics, You can vote in polls, etc.; Top

How do I edit or delete a post? Is it even a good idea if I do?: It is considered bad etiquette to edit your posts. It is even worse to delete your posts without permission.

Unless you are a supporter or Privy Councillor, you can only edit or delete your own posts. You can edit a post by clicking the edit button for the relevant post. We do not have a time limit to edits, but ask that you only do so for grammar & spelling corrections, not changing the content substantially. Never edit content outside your compendium without moderator permission after other players have reacted to your post.

If someone has already replied to the post, you will find a small piece of text output below the post when you return to the topic which lists the number of times you edited it along with the date and time. This will only appear if someone has made a reply; it will not appear if a moderator or administrator edited the post, though they may leave a note as to why they’ve edited the post at their own discretion. Please note that normal users cannot delete a post once someone has replied.; Top

How do I add a signature to my post?: To add a signature to a post you must first create one via your User Control Panel. Once created, you can check the Attach a signature box on the posting form to add your signature. You can also add a signature by default to all your posts by checking the appropriate radio button in your profile. If you do so, you can still prevent a signature being added to individual posts by un-checking the add signature box within the posting form.

You are allowed to use modest graphics in your signature. Some players prefer to have their character's coat of arms in their signature. Any graphics in the signature must be hosted on your own webhost. Please do not hotlink.; Top

How do I create a poll?: Only moderators can create a poll. If you want to create a poll in a forum where you can't, please ask the Privy Council to do it for you.

When posting a new topic or editing the first post of a topic, click the “Poll creation” tab below the main posting form; if you cannot see this, you do not have appropriate permissions to create polls. Enter a title and at least two options in the appropriate fields, making sure each option is on a separate line in the textarea. You can also set the number of options users may select during voting under “Options per user”, a time limit in days for the poll (0 for infinite duration) and lastly the option to allow users to amend their votes.; Top

Why can’t I add more poll options?: The limit for poll options is set by the Privy Council. If you feel you need to add more options to your poll than the allowed amount, contact the board administrator.; Top

How do I edit or delete a poll?: As with posts, polls can only be edited by the original poster: a moderator or an administrator. To edit a poll, click to edit the first post in the topic; this always has the poll associated with it. If no one has cast a vote, users can delete the poll or edit any poll option. However, if members have already placed votes, only moderators or administrators can edit or delete it. This prevents the poll’s options from being changed mid-way through a poll.; Top

Why can’t I access a forum?: Some forums may be limited to certain users or groups. To view, read, post or perform another action you may need special permissions. Talk to the Privy Council if you don't have access to a forum you think you should be able to access.; Top

Why can’t I add attachments?: Attachments are allowed at Age of Intrigue, but have a size limit. Contact the Privy Council if you are unsure about why you are unable to add attachments.; Top

Why did I receive a warning?: If you received a warning it was because you were in violation of the letter or the spirit of our Terms of Service. In general you will receive a PM, or a communication in the Player's Compendium if you have broken one of the rules. We do not use the board feature for warnings.

Please note that this is a Privy Council decision, and the phpBB Group has nothing to do with the warnings on the given site. Contact the Privy Council if you are unsure about why you were issued a warning.; Top

How can I report posts to a moderator?: You should see a button for reporting posts next to the post you wish to report. Clicking this will walk you through the steps necessary to report the post. However we prefer a PM or a communication in your Players Compendium if a post has upset you.; Top

What is the “Save” button for in topic posting?: This allows you to save passages to be completed and submitted at a later date. To reload a saved passage, visit the User Control Panel.; Top

Why does my post need to be approved?: If you are a guest, or a newly registered user, your posts will be in moderation queue. This means that posts you are posting require review before submission. Posts in the Advertisement forum are checked for spam and when appropriate will be approved within 24 hours. Please contact the Privy Council for further details at admin@ageofintrigue.com; Top

How do I bump my topic?: While in some cases we might allow the so called double posting, we prefer if you do not bump topics without renewed content. If you feel a thread has stalled please contact the Privy Council in your compendium so we can address the issue.; Top

Formatting and Topic Types

What is BBCode?: BBCode is a special implementation of HTML, offering great formatting control on particular objects in a post. The use of BBCode is granted by the Privy Council, but it can also be disabled on a per post basis from the posting form. BBCode itself is similar in style to HTML, but tags are enclosed in square brackets [ and ] rather than < and >. For more information on BBCode see the guide which can be accessed from the posting page.; Top

Can I use HTML?: No. It is not possible to post HTML on this board and have it rendered as HTML. Most formatting which can be carried out using HTML can be applied using BBCode instead.; Top

What are Smilies?: Smilies, or Emoticons, are small images which can be used to express a feeling using a short code, e.g. :) denotes happy, while :( denotes sad. The full list of emoticons can be seen in the posting form. Try not to overuse smilies, however, as they can quickly render a post unreadable and a moderator may edit them out or remove the post altogether. The board administrator may also have set a limit to the number of smilies you may use within a post.; Top

Can I post images?: Yes, images can be shown in your posts. We have allowed attachments, so you are able to upload the image to the board. Otherwise, you can link to an image stored on a publicly accessible web server, e.g. http://www.example.com/my-picture.gif. You cannot link to pictures stored on your own PC (unless it is a publicly accessible server) nor images stored behind authentication mechanisms, e.g. hotmail or yahoo mailboxes, password protected sites, etc. To display the image use the BBCode [img] tag.; Top

What are global announcements?: Global announcements contain important information and you should read them whenever possible. They will appear at the top of every forum and within your User Control Panel. Global announcement permissions are granted by the board administrator.; Top

What are announcements?: Announcements often contain important information for the forum you are currently reading and you should read them whenever possible. Announcements appear at the top of every page in the forum to which they are posted. As with global announcements, announcement permissions are granted by the Privy Council.; Top

What are sticky topics?: Sticky topics within the forum appear below announcements and only on the first page. They are often quite important so you should read them whenever possible. As with announcements and global announcements, sticky topic permissions are granted by the Privy Council.; Top

What are locked topics?: Locked topics are topics where users can no longer reply and any poll it contained was automatically ended. Topics may be locked for many reasons and were set this way by either the forum moderator or Privy Council.; Top

What are topic icons?: Topic icons are author chosen images associated with posts to indicate their content. We prefer topic icons to be used in the OOC area of the game only.; Top

The BB code I want is not available on this board: Feel free to submit a request for particular BB code to the Technical Questions forum and the Privy Council may consider adding it if it fits the format of our game. This might take some time to accomplish though.; Top

User Levels and Groups

What is the Privy Council?: The Privy Council members represent the owner of this game and board. They have full moderator capabilities. They have the authority to edit or delete posts and lock, unlock, move, delete and split topics in the forum they moderate. Age of Intrigue is a plot intensive moderated game, meaning that the moderators decide on the success of actions, assign consequences and determine what is the game reality. They represent the entire setting and environment in their posts, including Non Player Characters and locations. They may provide specific stories or plots, but you can also create your own.

The Privy Council also provides the setting material in the wiki and keeps it up to date. Players may add their own material to the wiki, but the Privy Council can at any time disallow submitted material.; Top

What is the account Charles Rex?: The somewhat tongue-in-cheek account named after the King in this game is not an IC account. It is the site administrator account used by various Privy Councillors to for tasks associated with the daily administrating of the site, including being its webmaster. The tech-in-chief is Fluff, so if you have technical issues please PM her directly. Any non-technical issues will be addressed by the Privy Council as a whole, also using the Charles Rex account.; Top

What are usergroups? What are circles?: Usergroups are groups of users that divide the community into manageable sections board administrators can work with. Each user can belong to several groups and each group can be assigned individual permissions. This provides an easy way for administrators to change permissions for many users at once, such as changing moderator permissions or granting users access to a private forum.

Circles are specific usergroups that have been designed to represent the IC circles that a character moves in.; Top

Where are the usergroups and how do I join one?: You can view all usergroups via the “Usergroups” link within your User Control Panel. They require approval to join. It is not possible to become a usergroup leader unless you are in the Privy Council.
If you want to join a circle, please understand that the members of that user group vote on new members. You need to work on admittance IC.

If you want to join the supporter group to work on the wiki for instance, please contact the Privy Council in your Player Compendium and ask to be added.; Top

What is the Supporter Usergroup?: Supporters are users that have signed up to do volunteer work for the board, like working on the wiki, or writing up locations. If you want to join this User Group please contact the Privy Council.; Top

Why do some usergroups appear in a different colour?: It is possible for the board administrator to assign a colour to the members of a usergroup to make it easy to identify the members of this group.; Top

What is a “Default usergroup”?: If you are a member of more than one usergroup, your default is used to determine which group colour and group rank should be shown for you by default. The board administrator may grant you permission to change your default usergroup via your User Control Panel.; Top

Where is “The team” link?: This link normally available at PHPBB has been removed by the webmaster. Due to our settings all players are also moderator of their forum. Not all players want to reveal who their other character is. You can find an alternative set of links to the team in the sidebar.; Top

Private Messaging

I cannot send private messages!: There are two reasons for this; you are not registered and/or not logged on, or the bPrivy Council has prevented you from sending messages. Contact the Privy Council for more information.; Top

I keep getting unwanted private messages!: We have a very small community and this nearly happens. However, you can block a user from sending you private messages by using message rules within your User Control Panel. If you are receiving abusive private messages from a particular user, inform the Privy Council; they have the power to prevent a user from sending private messages.; Top

I have received a spamming or abusive e-mail from someone on this board!: We are sorry to hear that. This is a very small community so that such instances are very rare. We do like to know immediately if you have been spammed though. The e-mail form feature of this board includes safeguards to try and track users who send such posts, so e-mail the Privy Council with a full copy of the e-mail you received. It is very important that this includes the headers that contain the details of the user that sent the e-mail. We can then take action.; Top

Friends and Foes

What are my Friends and Foes lists?: Because Age of Intrigue is a very small board, and you will have to interact with all users whether you like them or not we do not recommend using this feature. You can use these lists to organise other members of the board. Members added to your friends list will be listed within your User Control Panel for quick access to see their online status and to send them private messages. Subject to template support, posts from these users may also be highlighted. If you add a user to your foes list, any posts they make will be hidden by default.; Top

How can I add / remove users to my Friends or Foes list?: Because Age of Intrigue is a very small board, and you will have to interact with all users whether you like them or not we do not recommend using this feature. You can add users to your list in two ways. Within each user’s profile, there is a link to add them to either your Friend or Foe list. Alternatively, from your User Control Panel, you can directly add users by entering their member name. You may also remove users from your list using the same page.; Top

Searching the Forums

How can I search a forum or forums?: Enter a search term in the search box located on the index, forum or topic pages. Advanced search can be accessed by clicking the “Advance Search” link which is available on all pages on the forum.; Top

Why does my search return no results?: Your search was probably too vague and included many common terms which are not indexed by phpBB3. Be more specific and use the options available within Advanced search. If you are looking for a post before 15th of July 2010 the post might currently not be indexed. You will have to manually look for the thread in the archives.; Top

Why does my search return a blank page!?: Your search returned too many results for the webserver to handle. Use “Advanced search” and be more specific in the terms used and forums that are to be searched.; Top

How do I search for members?: Visit to the “Members” page and click the “Find a member” link.; Top

How can I find my own posts and topics?: Your own posts can be retrieved either by clicking the “Search user’s posts” within the User Control Panel or via your own profile page. To search for your topics, use the Advanced search page and fill in the various options appropriately.; Top

Topic Subscriptions and Bookmarks

What is the difference between bookmarking and subscribing?: Bookmarking in phpBB3 is much like bookmarking in your web browser. You aren’t alerted when there’s an update, but you can come back to the topic later. Subscribing, however, will notify you when there is an update to the topic or forum on the board via your preferred method or methods.

While you can use the New Post link or the Your Posts link to check out your favourite threads, we recommend the use of the bookmarking feature to keep track of all threads were you owe posties.; Top

How do I subscribe to specific forums or topics?: To subscribe to a specific forum, click the “Subscribe forum” link upon entering the forum. To subscribe to a topic, reply to the topic with the subscribe checkbox checked or click the “Subscribe topic” link within the topic itself.; Top

How do I remove my subscriptions?: To remove your subscriptions, go to your User Control Panel and follow the links to your subscriptions.; Top

Attachments

What attachments are allowed on this board?: Each board administrator can allow or disallow certain attachment types. If you are unsure what is allowed to be uploaded, contact the board administrator for assistance.; Top

How do I find all my attachments?: To find your list of attachments that you have uploaded, go to your User Control Panel and follow the links to the attachments section.; Top

phpBB 3 Issues

Who wrote this bulletin board?: This software (in its unmodified form) is produced, released and is copyright phpBB Group. It is made available under the GNU General Public License and may be freely distributed. See the link for more details.; Top

Why isn’t X feature available?: If you want a feature added to the board of Age of Intrigue, please post your request in the Technical Questions forum and it will be considered by the Privy Council. It may not be technically possible. This software was written by and licensed through phpBB Group. If you believe a feature needs to be added not yet existing in phpBB, please visit the phpbb.com website and see what phpBB Group have to say. Please do not post feature requests to the board at phpbb.com, the group uses SourceForge to handle tasking of new features. Please read through the forums and see what, if any, our position may already be for a feature and then follow the procedure given there.; Top

Who do I contact about abusive and/or legal matters related to this board?: Please contact the Privy Council at admin@ageofintrigue.com.

Please note that the phpBB Group has absolutely no jurisdiction and cannot in any way be held liable over how, where or by whom this board is used. Do not contact the phpBB Group in relation to any legal (cease and desist, liable, defamatory comment, etc.) matter not directly related to the phpBB.com website or the discrete software of phpBB itself. If you do e-mail phpBB Group about any third party use of this software then you should expect a terse response or no response at all.; Top

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