The Masquerade: New York

I like vampires. That's an understatement. I love vampires, and this site seemed to have the dark sexy and blood-ridden atmosphere. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Teens looking for a vampire site that's not too brutal, join this site. Otherwise, I'm a little disappointed, but the site still has that pleasant atmosphere that should be revered by roleplayers.

Break The Masquerade and you will be punished and, kill the Kine you feed off of will result in losing a part of your humanity. Lose all your humanity and the beast with in shall take over, to which there will be no going back for you. - excerpt from The Masquerade: New York's plot.

I feel that this site could do much, much better if it had a looser rating. An R rated site is really a draw for vampire sites, just something to consider.

1. Design - 8/10 Welcome tables and the margin between the bars and forum are the only design flaw.
2. Rules - 9/10 Looks like a lot, but really easy to follow.
3. Plot - 7/10 Lotsa typos. 
4. Members - 10/10 Looks pretty active, always good.
5. Overall - 8.5/10 A decent site, I think it could do much better though.

To Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is something that I quote almost daily. It's one of the best books I've ever read and I hope that more people make sites based on such a site. Unfortunately, this site hasn't quite lived up to my expectations, but I'm sure that with a little work the site will be very successful.

The age of the Red and White Queens is over. Their servants are betraying one another, and even their queens. The race for power is on between a radical terroristic organization and a lunatic hungry for bloodlust. The time to choose sides is now! The rumored assassination of the Red Queen has failed, and her palace reduced to cinders. Could this be the work of the terrorists, or is an outside force acting upon the citizens of Wonderland? The White Queen is in hysterics, and her servants in fear that their palace may be the next target! Everyone is emerging from their hiding places since the Chess Game Wars, and is taking action, has Wonderland’s government finally come to an explosive end? The choice is yours, will you join the radicals? Or will you join those who seek power for their own gain? Wonderland is now a battlefield, and a rather crowded one at that! - To Wonderland's plot.

I like the site's skin. The colors complement each other quite well, and the background can work. The things that draw me back are the sizes of the welcome table and the side tables. The tables are too small with too much space between the main forum and the bars themselves, whereas the welcome table is too large and really just ruins the rest of the layout. Otherwise, this site seems like it should be joined by anyone who's ever wanted to go down the rabbit hole. Now for the ratings::

1. Design - 7/10 Just some sizing issues, should be easy to fix.
2. Rules - 10/10 Easy enough to follow.
3. Plot - 10/10 An interesting take on a classic book.
4. Members - 8/10 Low amount of members, but can be fixed easily enough.
5. Overall - 8.8/10 I'm sure that this site will do well, and hopefully it'll be improved soon enough.

Code Spot:: Side Tables

These days I find it hard not to come across a site that uses Side Tables. I think it's great that people have found a way to organize their Roleplays better thanks to Smangii's lovely html tables, and I love Smangii for this code among many others, but many people don't use this for correct design purposes. Here's a rule of thumb for side table (or any other code) usage: Don't understand it? Don't use it!

Now, I don't feel the need to go into detail on how the bars are used, that should be obvious after reading the instructions. If not, just use a different welcome table. I don't think I hit this home with enough people, and that'll be apparent in my next few blogs.

Now, I don't claim to be an expert on this code by any means, you know why? Because if I have trouble with it I just scrap it and find something else.

I apologize for my rant, but it needed to be stated. Please, keep sending in sites to review and thanks for all the support!

RE:: Chimera Academy

Chimera Academy is a brilliant site, I checked in on it recently and was happy to see it's improved since I last reviewed it.

Here's a link to my previous review.

Chimera Academy is a survivor, and with good reason! It's outlived many sites that I've seen, which I attribute to the great members, innovative staff, and workable plot. I can rave about this site for quite a while, but I think it'd better to just get on with the ratings::

1. Design - 9/10 Green is one of my least favorite colors do to how hard it is to work with. Leave it to Chimera Academy to make the colors work. I find the dark green very alluring, and it grows on my even more over time.
2. Rules - 10/10 I'm just gonna say what I said last time:: Easy, straightforward. Love 'em.
3. Plot - 10/10 Still good.
4. Members - 10/10 Nice, active, etc.
5. Overall - 9.8/10 I highly recommend this site.

Waverly Academy

So now that West End Academy is dead, I've been struggling to find a new site that catered to my standards in a roleplay. As luck would have it, I found just that in Waverly Academy, which I am proud to call my new favorite site.

Waverly Academy has been the home for teenage genius girls for over a century, and as of this year, it has opened its doors to teenage boys. At least that’s the story that started going around when boys where taken in from other prestigious academies, and some not so prestigious. The truth is that Waverly Academy is home to some of the most lethal teens in the world. The students of Waverly Academy are taught to be spies, and most of the student’s parents are CIA, MI5, or Interpol workers, among other intelligent agencies. -excerpt from Waverly Academy's plot.

Waverly is a great site with a brilliant plot. I can't really find much fault with it, as it's still just starting out, and I'm rooting for this RP all the way.

1. Design - 9/10 I'm not crazy about the logo, but other than that, the skin is really nice. The colors work well together and the background is elegant and yet has a punk sort of feel. I like it very much.
2. Rules - 10/10 Simple and easy to follow.
3. Plot - 10/10 I haven't found another site like this. Original, and easy to work with.
4. Members - 9/10 Active, just still growing in number. They'll get there soon.
5. Overall - 9.5/10 - I have high hopes for this site. I believe it will grow more popular than a lot of sites soon enough with a little help from the roleplaying community. Join it, play it, love it. Waverly Academy is amazing.

All Dead... RIP to a lot of good sites.

You may have noticed that a number of sites have been removed from my favorites list. This is because of inactivity, or dramatic changes in the site format so much that I no longer endorse the site as a favorite. This isn't to say that the live ones still aren't good, they're just not the best. I'm sad to say that the following sites have been removed from my favorites::

I know, this is a shame. Hopefully we'll fill the favorites up again quickly, though.

Rewritten City

My apologies to the owner of this Rewritten City. I neglected to review this site a while ago for some reason, and I'm kicking myself for it. Rewritten City is a great site and I fully endorse it, as it is one of the most pleasantly unique sites I've ever seen.

At Rewritten City, we give you the opportunity to rewrite the stories of old. Stories that stand the test of time. Stories that continue to capture imaginations. Stories about love. Life. Wealth. Power. Glory. La Bohème. Your imagination is the limit. - excerpt from Rewritten City's plot.

I've always had a place in my heart for classics, and the ability to portray one or more of my favorite characters really intrigues me. I commend the people who came up with this thrilling idea and this amazing site. It has got to be one of the best sites that I have ever seen. The reason my blog is so small thus far is only because I have no problems with it at all. So here go my ratings::

1. Design - 9/10 Pretty with its' gold and black contrast, giving an urban excitement while still capturing a classic Victorian feel. My only qualm is that I cannot open the page with my Opera browser. This shouldn't be a problem for most of you though, it works for everything else fine. ((Yes, I test sites on different browsers for design ratings)).
2. Rules - 10/10 Lucid, reasonable, and easy to follow.
3. Plot - 10/10 Extremely impressive. Every dynamic of the site is well thought out.
4. Members - 10/10 Active and plentiful.
5. Overall - 9.8/10 Nearly perfect, and nothing with any real problems. I love this site and hope it continues to do well, as it seems to be doing now.