9.37.4 CRAFTING GUIDELINES
OVERVIEW
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Appearance Description:
Should not begin with a capital letter and can NOT end with a period.
Also the appearance should be kept short (around 5 words max).
Dropped Description:
Must begin with a capital letter and must end with a period.
Dropped description should be kept to about one line.
Examined Description:
Must begin with a capital letter and must end with a period.
Examined description should be a few sentences long describing
what the item looks like.
DETAILS
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1. Don't take liberties with the pattern.
This means that if you are using a shirt pattern, don't make your sketch a
vest. The main noun in the "appearance" field of your sketch must match
whatever the pattern is a pattern of.
Keep in mind pluralisation. That noun is what will be capitalised so if
there is more than one your appearance should still make sense. 'a plate
of eggs and toast' plural '2 plates of eggs and toast'. While the noun
would still be in 'fried eggs on a plate' it would not work in plural
form as '2 fried eggs on a plates'.
2. "Appearance" format.
This is what people see when you look in your inventory or give an item to
another person. Some rules:
a. Don't make a sentence out of it.
b. Don't make it too long or try to cram too much detail into it. That is
what the examine description is for. More than one line is definitely out
and even that is excessive.
c. Don't write about any actions or reactions the item is having. Something
like "a cloak blowing in the wind" would not be accepted as it is not
always going to be blowing in the wind.
The simplest way to see if you have set an appropriate description here is
to put it in this sentence: You give <appearance description> to Lupus.
If your appearance description makes a proper sounding and looking sentence
there then you're probably ok.
3. "Dropped" format.
This is what people see when an item is in a room and they type "look."
Some rules:
a. It must be a complete sentence, with a period on the end. No exclamation
points, no question marks, no multiple periods.
b. The main noun in the sentence must be the same as the pattern name so
that people know what to call it when they want to pick it up, without
having to type "info here."
c. Keep this to one line or less.
d. Things like "A cloak is hanging from a peg here." are not acceptable. If
it were dropped on the highway there is no peg to hang from.
4. Format for examined desc.
This is what people see when they examine an item. Some rules:
a. Use full sentences. Multiple sentences are fine.
b. Be descriptive.
c. Do not try to format your descriptions in the editor. When
using the editor put your entire description on line one. The
editor will properly format it for you.
5. Suitability
We will only accept designs that are suitable for a tailor working in a
medieval-ish environment to create. Some rules:
a. Nothing that a tailor could not reasonably create. For instance, a
tailor could not create a baby in a baby blanket or a suit of chainmail.
A tailor can't weave something out of the essence of darkness or create
something that is lighter than air.
b. Use appropriate materials. You can't make a shirt out of living skin or
pure gold. Achaea also does not have "modern" materials and clothing
features like velcro, denim, polyester (or any synthetic fabric),
zippers, sweatshirts, and so on. Metal that may not be used is
mithril, orichalcum, and bloodsteel. The one exception we permit here are
undergarments. Yes, they are a decidedly modern invention in the real
world but in Achaea we are lucky to have a Creator who finds that
support can often do wonders for a woman's bosom.
6. Affiliated items
Items claiming to be "official" representations of affiliation with an
organisation or person will be rejected. No making "the official tunic
of the Occultists" or "the tunic of Tu'eras."
COMMON MISTAKES
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1) There should never be a period at the end of the appearance
description. Doing this will make the item have a double period
when seen in your inventory.
2) Watch English usage: putting in the dropped description "A pair of
rugged leather boots lay here." This should be "lies here." Lay is an
action. Be careful on spelling. A spell checker wouldn't hurt, though
it doesn't catch things like their/there/they're or here/hear.
3) Another common misuse of words is compliment and complement.
Complement means to complete. Compliment means to praise.
This belt complements the dress better than that one.
A belt compliments the wearer's waist.
4) Another common misuse of words is that vs which.
That - defines a variable. Which - defines a constant.
The ring that has blue pearls. (a ring that can be identified by blue
pearls)
The ring, which has blue pearls. (all rings have blue pearls, so this one
does too)
5) The examined descriptions should not contain reactions. Don't do:
"Visions of lollipops are evoked in you as you look at this cloak." or
(much worse) "You gasp in awe as you gaze upon this dress." It's up
to the viewer to react. If you tell them how to react, your designs
will be rejected.
6) Remember you are crafters not enchanters. As crafters you have
no way to do anything magical in a design. You cannot, for instance,
magically embed diamonds into something or cause an item to have a
magical glow. (Yes this goes for magi class crafters as well!)
7) Organisation names should be capitalised. "A tunic of a Runewarden novice
lies here." You are not able to capitalise things in the appearance
description. These will be set prior to the approval of the pattern by the
Delosian Crafting Council. If it is something not obviously in need of
capitalisation you can message Lupus advising of this pattern.
8) The examined description is there to describe the clothing not the wearer.
The examined should not contain words such as you, your, etc. Should be
the wearer's.
9) The Appearance and Dropped descriptions must contain the name of the
design. If you are crafting a hat it has to say it's a hat. Example:
a beanie is not a hat, so use the same term in both descriptions.
10) When making lists of three or more items standard rules apply of using
the Oxford comma. This means that correct usage is red, blue, and yellow.
11) An item can not be something that it is not. In other words a blanket
is a blanket it is not a tapestry or a banner. Those would be separate
items than a blanket.
12) Initials and insignia are fine to put in your examined description.
Emoticons and other forms of random symbols are not considered an
insignia. (i.e. ^.^ ^-^ ;) etc.) Such symbols spoil a good
description.
13) When using numbers in your descriptions you should always spell it out.
Reading through an examined description a 2 will draw the eye away from
what is written where as two will blend in and not be a distraction.
14) If you are writing a message on an item this should not be in the
description. Tailors have the ability to embroider and jewellers can
engrave for a reason.
15) There are children in Achaea. Keep your designs tasteful.
It is possible to be sexy and tasteful, without being disgusting.
Use UK English
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Use UK, not US spellings. Listed below are some of the most commonly used words
in crafting. This however is far from being a complete list. The one major
exception to the UK rule is when it comes to measurements. Achaea has decided
to use inch/feet/yard as the standard instead of millimetre/centimetre/metre.
Incorrect Correct
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Bejeweled Bejewelled
Center Centre
Color Colour
Cozy Cosy
Favor Favour
Honor Honour
Jewelry Jewellery
Jeweler Jeweller
Karat Carat
Luster Lustre
Matte Matt
Mold Mould
Odor Odour
Recognize Recognise
Stylized Stylised
Symbolize Symbolise
Tantalize Tantalise
Traveler Traveller
Traveled Travelled