The Napping Cat's Dream
From WikiFur, the furry encyclopedia.
The forum began as the Mystical Messageboard in January 2000. In February 2001 it moved to The Nice, expanded to thirteen forums in March 2002, and moved to its current site in April 2003.
Master Zen-Dao Meow features anthropomorphic characters; not surprisingly, furry characters make up a sizable portion of The Dream's population, as well. However, there are many human characters (as well as other types of fantasy beings) amongst The Dream's denizens.
The Dream Rules state that there is to be no excessive profanity, graphic sex talk, or pornography. For the most part, violence is kept at a reasonable level for the thread it occurs in. Most threads would merit a "TV-14" rating on television, at worse.
The Dream is administered by Karol Luis, Furilius Pitch, and Krinele Fullin[1].
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[edit] Premise
In game terms, The Napping Cat's Dream is a multiverse of infinite realities inside the mind of a sleeping feline. Each player god ("PG", the player in real life) is represented by one or more avatars (characters). Avatars are required to be original creations; they cannot be directly taken from other fictional universes - e.g. you can play a psychic warrior with a sword of light, but not a Jedi with a lightsaber.
A PG can have more than one avatar; this condition is often referred to (tongue-in-cheek) as "MAD", or Multiple Avatar Disorder.
Each thread in The Dream is its own continuum; what happens to an avatar in a given thread does not carry over to other threads, unless the PG wishes it to be so. The threads are moderated by the PG who created them, referred to as the God Moderator (GM); as with any RP session, the GM has overall control of the scenario.
There is no set theme or genre in The Dream's role-playing threads, especially those in the PERFORM forum. Other types of threads are posted to their specific boards; threads with no particular forum set for them often wind up in MEET.
[edit] Forums
The main page of The Dream features the Master Zen-Dao Meow comic, and related side projects, animated in Flash.
The thirteen forums are:
- ENTER - this is where new players come in and learn the rules and customs.
- MEET - general discussion and light role-playing.
- FLIRT - romantic role-playing.
- LEARN - tutorial threads on various subjects, Dream or RL.
- CREATE - artistic endeavours.
- DEBATE - lively debate, mostly on RL subjects.
- PITCH - advertisements from members (webcomics, commissions, etc.)
- REFLECT - personal reflections and emotional discussions.
- FIGHT - currently closed; the (eventual) home of the Messageboard War.
- SETTLE - threads detailing the homes folks have created in The Dream.
- PERFORM - the main role-playing forum; in-depth role-plays.
- PONDER - features the Master Zen-Dao Meow comic in HTML; the forum for discussion of the comic is currently inactive until the comic starts up again.
- ESCAPE - messages from members leaving The Dream, temporarily or otherwise.
New avatars start their Dream experience in the ENTER forum, often with a personal thread describing how they found their way into The Dream. Once an avatar has posted substantially thirty times (in a start thread, or elsewhere in ENTER), they can be sponsored for full access by an already-authorized avatar who has over 100 posts. An authorized avatar is one that has been sponsored and approved for full access by the administrators.
[edit] Psychedelic Avatars
Over the years, the board's administration have awarded artwork in the form of "Avatar Cards" to various avatars who have made excellent contributions to The Dream as a whole through role-playing, art, or discussion. These avatars are referred to as Psychedelic Avatars.
Outside of the recognition, and the fact that PA with the lowest number in The Dream's official chat acts as moderator in lieu of one of the administrators or forum moderators, there are no other special functions assigned to Psychedelic Avatars.
The first thirteen cards (#0-12) in the series depict characters from Master Zen-Dao Meow; the first card awarded to an avatar was for Dork Lord, on April 8, 2001.
For the majority of the run, the cards were awarded by Val, also known as the "Dancing Yin", one of the avatars from the comic. Her announcements of new Psychedelic Avatars included a brief description of the avatar who was "ascending" to Psychedelic status, often in well-written verse.
The card series came to an end with Card #500, on December 31, 2004, as the cost of commissioning the artwork had started to become prohibative. There are no plans (as of August 2005) to resume the series at a later date. The last forum avatar to receive a PA card was #494, Thalamasa; the remaining six cards are characters or concepts in Master Zen-Dao Meow.
[edit] Adventure Cards
Whole threads are sometimes recognized for exceptional role-playing with the awarding of an "Adventure Card". The first Adventure Card was awarded for Tales of Rhiann, in 2001. This series continues, although not on a set schedule.
[edit] Crossovers
Avatars from other web comics appear in The Dream from time to time; for example, there have been crossovers between The Dream and the Gaming Guardians in the past, as The Dream is one of the "gaming systems" the Guardians defend.
[edit] References
