Keep records

A character record is what your roleplay community writes about one of its characters: what they look like, and anything officers and clerks should know. Records belong to the character, never to the avatar that plays them, so an arrest in character never mixes with a warning or a ban out of character.

Every character of everyone in the community has a record page, and it starts empty. Each roleplay community keeps its own record for a character who plays in several.

Find a character

1. In your community, go to Records, under Roleplay in the side navigation.
2. Type part of the character's name in Find a character. Matches show as you type.
3. Press the character's name to open their record.

A community's records page lists 200 characters at most. Type a name to narrow them down.

The search box in the header finds records too, from any page: type a character's name, a plate, a property's name or a report's title, and pick a match to open it. See find anything with search.

The character's page also lists their arrests, the reports that name them, and the vehicles and properties they own. Anyone who can also see warrants sees the warrants open against them, and anyone who can also see citations sees the latest citations issued to them.

Write a record

1. Open the character's record.
2. Write in What they look like and What officers and clerks should know. Each saves when you leave the box.

Saved shows at the top of the page after each change. Every change is in the audit log, with who made it.

Vehicles

The Vehicles tab lists every vehicle the community's departments know about. Type part of a plate, make, model or color in Find a vehicle to narrow the list.

1. Press Add vehicle and type the plate. A plate is unique in the community, whatever the capitals.
2. On the vehicle's page, fill in the make, model and color, choose its status, and find the owner by their character's name. Each change saves as you go.

A vehicle's status is Registered, Stolen or Impounded. Delete vehicle removes it from the records for good; the audit log keeps what was written.

Properties

The Properties tab lists the community's properties by name.

1. Press Add property and type its name.
2. On the property's page, paste a link from SL's map (maps.secondlife.com) or type a region's name to say where it is, and find the owner by their character's name. Each change saves as you go.

Anyone who can see records can open the place on the map from the property's page. Delete property removes it from the records for good.

If the property is a rental unit, choose it in Rental unit on the property's page. The page then shows the unit's state, its tenant and when their time runs out, read from Rentals as it is now. Only people who can see rentals (and only while Rentals is on) see the Rental panel or can choose a unit; for everyone else the link stays as it was.

Arrests and bookings

An arrest record is also its booking: who was arrested, by which officer, when and where, what happened, the charges, and whether they are still in custody. The Arrests tab lists them, the latest first. Type part of a character's name or of the charges in Find an arrest to narrow the list.

1. Press Add arrest and find the character who was arrested. The arrest starts now, in custody.
2. On the arrest's page, set the day and time (in SLT), where it happened, the arresting officer's character, the charges and what happened. Each change saves as you go.
3. When they are let go, change Status to Released. The page shows when. Changing it back to In custody clears that time.

The charges are free text for now. Delete arrest removes it from the records for good; the audit log keeps what was written.

Report templates

A report is written from one of the community's templates: a list of fields, in order. The Templates tab lists them, with retired ones marked.

1. Someone with Manage record templates presses Add template and names it, like "Incident report".
2. On the template's page, press Add field for each thing a report should ask. A field has a label, a kind, whether it's required and a line of help. The kinds are short text, long text, number, date, choice, yes or no, and character. For a choice, write one choice per line (at least two).
3. Move fields up or down, or remove them. Each change saves as you go.

Changing a template affects reports started from then on; a report keeps the fields it was started with. Retired stops a template starting new reports without losing the reports made from it. Delete template removes it for good, and only while no report was made from it; after that, retire it.

Reports

A report is written from a template, by one person, and then filed. The Reports tab lists the reports you can read, the latest first: every filed report, and your own drafts. Type part of a title or template name in Find a report to narrow the list.

1. Press Start report, choose the kind of report and, if you like, give it a title. It starts as a draft only you can see.
2. On the report's page, answer the fields. A character field finds the character by name; a choice field offers the template's choices. Each answer saves as you go, so you can leave and come back.
3. When every required field is answered, press File report and confirm. Everyone who can see records can then read it, and it can't be changed.

The character file of everyone a report names lists it under Reports. A draft can be deleted by its author. A filed report can be deleted by someone with Manage record templates; the audit log keeps what was written.

Who can see and write records

Give a role See records to let its holders search and read records, and Write records to let them change them too; writing needs both. Manage record templates, which also needs See records, lets holders set the fields of report templates and delete filed reports. Writing a report needs Write records. Departments get them through the roles their ranks give: put See records on the police ranks, for example, and leave it off the ranks of a department that doesn't need it. See the guide to roles.

Anyone in a roleplay community can find a character by name when something asks them who it's about, but only people who can see records see who plays a character.