PPC Lounge

Also known as the PPC chatroom, the PPC Lounge is a hangout for PPCers and a great place for oldbies and newbies to meet up and discuss Sue-slaying. The current chatroom is a Discord server.

There is also a Lounge in Headquarters, usually called the HQ Lounge or just the Lounge to avoid confusion. Parties and gatherings often take place there. It is frequently subject to accidents, such as being set on fire.

The Discord Server
The PPC has a Discord server. It is owned by Delta Juliette and adminned by Akrinor, Maslab, and Thoth.

Joining is easy: just ask the mods or the owner for an invite. (If you're not sure how to reach them, you can ask on the Board.) Registering your handle on Discord is easy and recommended, both to ensure that your handle stays unique to you and to reduce clutter in the user list of the channel; however, it is not strictly required as long as you have an invite.

The rules are simple: abide by the PPC Constitution, respect the blacklist, and don't be nasty. There are mods that will enforce those rules; they can manage the channel and kick misbehaving members. Bans, however, are only enacted as a community-wide ban and are only implemented by the owner of the server.

There are six main channels on the server:


 * #generic_channel: General conversation and daily talk about pretty much anything.
 * #recs_n_plugs: Exactly what it says on the tin. Mostly music plugs, but there have been book recommendations, funny clips and other such things.
 * #generic_salt: The channel for heavy, personal issues for when you want to vent.
 * #pics_and_spam: SPAM, GET YOUR PICTURE SPAM HERE.
 * #current_events_salt: For venting or otherwise talking about current events, such as the local political scene.
 * #foodstuffs: As the name suggests, the channel for talking about or sharing pictures of food.

There are also eighteen additional channels, including four voice channels, sorted into four categories:

Administration:
 * #intro_and_rules: An introductory channel for newbies. The invite link above will drop you here. It also contains the blacklist, an appendix to the rules listing topics that should be hidden and warned for (rot13, spoiler tags, and so on).
 * #notice_board: A channel for announcements.
 * #the_open_door: A channel for messages when new users join.
 * #upstairs: Publicly visible moderator channel and a record of moderator action.

Words, words, words:
 * #writing: A channel to talk about your own works, or the works of other writers.
 * #badfic: Discuss the most recent scourges on the fandoms.
 * #goodfic: A place to recommend and discuss goodfics.

Games and RP
 * #rudis: First HQ RP channel, set in Rudi's pub. No Permission is necessary to join, because the RP isn't canon unless it is integrated into a canon piece. #rudis is sometimes used for RPs set elsewhere in the PPC.
 * #courtyard: Second HQ RP Channel, set in the PPC Courtyard. No Permission is necessary to join, because the RP isn't canon unless it is integrated into a canon piece. #courtyard is sometimes used for RPs set elsewhere in the PPC.
 * #tabletop_games: Also exactly what it says on the tin: the de facto channel for Dungeons & Dragons and other TTRPG talk. Also a channel for RPs that aren't related to the PPC at all.
 * #gaming_salt: The channel for playing games, split off from the #generic_salt channel.
 * #fate_salt: Because discussion of Fate/Grand Order was clogging up #gaming_salt.

Bot Stuff:
 * #starboard: Messages that receive five :star: reactions appear here automatically.

Voice Channels:
 * #generic_text: For when voice chat needs writing instead of speech.
 * 🔊generic_channel: Like the earlier one, but for voice chat.
 * 🔊rpg_chat: Usually paired with #other_rp for playing Tabletop RPGs like DnD.
 * 🔊cards_against_hq: For the occasional game of Cards Against Headquarters.
 * 🔊the_salt_must_flow: For playing games cooperatively.

Notes on the Discord
This section contains information that people new to the Discord may want to know. These aren't rules, but more a guide to some aspects of the mechanics and culture of the chat.

In the Discord, badfic quotes are typically posted in bold, which can be created **like this**.

Spoilers, things than are Not Safe For Work, things on the blacklist, and other things that need to be hidden can be masked in several ways. ||Spoiler tags|| are an option. Another is running text through rot13 (https://rot13.com/ is a good website for this)—repeating the process of rot13ing restores the original text. If a link itself is fine but its contents shouldn't be displayed (Discord automatically includes link previews in many cases), you can surround the link in <>s like so: . In any case, unless it's clear from context, please indicate why the content of your post is hidden.

The Discord has several custom emoji, and uses some of the standard ones in ways that are worth noting. This is a list of the most common ones (as of mid-2019):
 * :Maslab: is used as a reaction to puns, because Maslab is famous for his puns.
 * :this: is a custom emoji for expressing agreement of the +1 variety.
 * :thonk: and :SOthonk: are used for some particularly facepalm-worthy things, with the latter being more typically used for badfic.
 * :portal_out: and :portal_in: can be used to mark when conversation moves between channels.
 * :PippinFace:, a cropping of a game screenshot, is sometimes used to suggest something is (probably inavidently) innuendo.
 * :star: (⭐) is used to save a message to the starboard.
 * :x: (❌) is a request to delete/hide/spoiler your message as soon as possible since it's stepping on bad brain stuff for someone. Please respect this, it's in the rules.

Finally, a few notes on RP. #rudis is the main RP channel. RP there doesn't have to be set in Rudi's Pub, but that's the typical setting. Unlike in many other parts of the internet, RP is conducted in third-person past tense. Out-of-character comments are marked with double parentheses. (( For example, this would be considered an OOC remark in #rudis. ))

If nothing's going in on #rudis, you can just ask there if anyone's up for RP. If there is a currently ongoing RP, please ask before joining. If #rudis is busy or full and you want to start something different, #other_rp can be used for the overflow. As a note, in practice, four simultaneous RPers seems to be the limit for chat.

The HQ Lounge
Often used as a setting in the old chatroom, the exact details of the HQ Lounge are largely subject to the needs of whatever role-play or random silliness is taking place there. It is not a Room of Requirement, but it is known to sometimes manifest objects according to unknown principles. However, based on various agent journals, word-of-mouth, and one actual story, a few details seem generally consistent.

For one, it contains a bar, which may or may not have someone behind it to run things; if not, it's self-serve, and its contents may be hazardous if reached into blindly. It stocks itself. It is constructed of an attractive dark wood, inlaid with patterns of dentures and dead Mary Sues.

The Lounge also has a variety of comfortable couches, bean-bags, and other seating, and possibly a pillow-fort. The furniture is often subject to accidents, such as being set on fire, and has to be replaced frequently. (At one time it had a nice couch, but it was later replaced with a demonic one, which was exorcised and then set on fire.) The Lounge was once rebuilt to Swedish specifications by Techno-Dann.

It has high rafters, which serve as a refuge for the shy or just a handy perch for people who like high places, particularly those with avian or feline dispositions. It isn't quite clear exactly how high the rafters go up, or how people without wings get up there in the first place.

There may or may not be attached rooms for those who desire privacy, bathrooms, and/or a kitchen with a self-filling fridge. The doors seem to come and go.

It is also riddled with plotholes and destination-shifting Doors, capital D, to other dimensions, so just about anyone can turn up there, from agents to authors to canons.

At some point, the Lounge was abandoned and left to gather dust for "years," according to Agent Apollo. At some other point, it was rediscovered and restored by Agent Ginger's moms, Rosemary and Mary Dill, with Apollo's help. This was definitely prior to 2004, when the Lounge is known to have been in regular use, but how much prior is impossible to say.

The IRC Chatroom
Before the Discord, we had the PPC IRC chatroom. It is no longer in use, but can be easily found through here if you want to poke your head in anyway. The main channel is #PPC on irc.sorcery.net, if you know how to use IRC.

The Bravenet Chatroom
Before the IRC, we had Bravenet. The Old PPC Lounge is unfortunately gone, but it was used in the past to celebrate PPC anniversaries, birthdays, and plain old bacchanalia.

Where the old PPC Lounge used to be can be found here.