Server Rules

In short:

0. We'll ban you if you're an asshole.
1. Play in good faith.
2. Stay immersive and immersed.
3. Be interesting. Don't be boring.
4. Misc things that are common sense but you should probably actually read them.

Rules are enforced and interpreted by the staff of Ratwood Keep, not the user.

0. The rule of Community Wellbeing.

If you noticeably diminish the community's wellbeing with your presence, you may be removed from it regardless of the other rules.

The invocation should come rarely, and will be signed off on by the project host or head admin.

1. The rule of Good Faith.

Be the player you want to see.

Ratwood, in its principle of creating interesting and organic roleplay, relies on the basic concept of good faith and players working towards the common interest of keeping a believable and engaging story.

The following are examples of lack of good faith:

• Metagaming: using information that your character should not be aware of
• Metagrudging: using your out-of-character sentiments against another player to deliberately act detrimentally to a specific player's experience
• Metacommunicating: exchanging sensitive information about the ongoing round via out-of-character means
• Exploiting: habitually and knowingly exploiting a bugged feature to achieve an unintended and unfair advantage

2. The rule of Immersion.

In a perfect world, you would sit to this game and not need to think about anything else than the internal logic of your character, without the need to concern yourself with much else. However, this is an imperfect world with imperfect people, therefore an explanation is necessary.

• Your character should not look, speak or act like a modern world person that somehow ended up back in time.
• Your character should not break the fourth wall and use in-character means to convey your out-of-character sentiments to other players. (ie. a dying character throwing insults and saying "see you next week")
• The design and actions of your characters shouldn't be a reference to memes, jokes or modern popculture. This includes portraits and other character imagery.
• The names of your character shouldn't be directly pulled out of popculture books, movies or tv series - make your own character.
• Your descriptors and flavourtext should be written in a tasteful way and should not include nonphysical, nonsensory attributes such as backstory, the character's internal thoughts or your OOC preferences.
• The portrait/headshot of your character should be tasteful and something you would consider safe-for-work (risque is permissable).
• Many races have very rich and permissive customization options when it comes to skin, fur and other features. Do not abuse this to purposefully make jarring characters with clashing colors, whose aesthetics end at being an eyesore.

This rule is also your responsibility, players, so report instances you spot.

3. The rule of Interesting.

If you breed boredom, you will die from it yourself. Aim for your actions to bring more into the stories than they diminish.

Not every fight needs to be lethal. Not every conflict needs to end with somebody winning and somebody losing. Not every solution needs to lead to clicking somebody horizontal or trapping them in a place they will not get any further interactions in. Cruel fates for characters don't need to be delivered in ways that are frustrating for the players sitting on the other end of the monitor.

Act how your character would act, but also imagine you are an actor on a stage and your mission is to entertain the audience and craft a compelling story with other actors.

• Do not use mental disorders as shallow justification of amoral behaviour of your character.
• You do not need to be the main character of every story. You might find it quite fun to deliberately hand the spotlight over.
• A fight breaking out over something doesn't need to end in death. If ending somebody's life wasn't your express focus and objective, you should generally respect an opponent surrendering and yielding the way in whatever the conflict was over. Likewise, if you surrender only to betray somebody's good will, do not be surprised if they do not respect it the next time.
• Conflict is the spice of life, however never forget that it should be contained in-character instead of spilling over. Keep that in mind when you initiate it.
• Might makes responsibility: due to their stats, loadout or social standing, certain roles are more capable of affecting the course of the round, therefore they are magnets for people who desire to be THE main characters and undefeated heroes, even if it means they will have fun at everybody else's expense; make good use of your influence and freedom - seek to enhance the experience of others instead of diminishing it to benefit your own enjoyment
• Responsibility: Characters in leadership positions are responsible for shaping the narrative. Roles, especially those with limited slots, with clear and defined purpose and/or place in a hierarchy should not readily and routinely abandon their posts. Characters are not required to be perfect, but if you choose to be a knight just for the weapons, armour, keyring and combat prowess with no intention of ever caring for your lord, you will be politely but firmly made to choose another playstyle.
• Motive is everything: Senseless killings over unimportant reasons are not interesting. That does not mean you cannot kill anybody. Nobody will bat an eye if you hang a caught assassin or culminate a build-up of rivalry in bloodshed. However, if you lack imagination for a more creative solution, most minor transgressions can be resolved with a simple beating or a bath in the moat.
• Middleman is not responsible: In order for hired hands or subordinates to act in an efficient way instead of being worried about consequences beyond in-character ones, the responsibility for your orders lies with you. If you hire an assassin to kill somebody over menial reasons, it'll be up to you to explain how is that interesting. If you order your subordinates to slaughter everyone, it's for you to keep in mind what might result.
• Notoriety: if you're becoming notorious and increasingly disliked out-of-character due to your gimmick, it's time to take a break from it and think of a new one to expand your repertoire.

4. Miscellaneous

4.1. There is no continuity between separate rounds, therefore it's up to players if they want to continue some positive relation or an arc in their roleplay. However, you should not go around and loudly proclaim others' crimes from other rounds. That doesn't stop your character from having a bad feeling about things, if somebody is notorious enough for you to expect what exactly will happen.

4.2. You may steal from players who have been AFK or disconnected for an extended period of time, but do not murder or kidnap them without a very good reason, nor engage in ERP with them unless explicitly permitted by the player.

4.3. Your character may not look, sound or be underage. All character media should look unquestionably adult. Advanced pregnancies are not allowed either.

4.4. You may not violate OOC preferences pertaining to erotic roleplay. "Defiant" mechanic serves as a mechanical way to prevent usage of the ERP menu, and attempting to bypass it with custom emotes is likewise punishable.

4.5. The game allows players to engage with mature themes and content that some may find disturbing. With this in mind, players may disconnect should they encounter content which causes emotional and/or mental distress. If you frequently find the need to disconnect in the spirit of this rule, you should likely report it to the administration team. Do not abuse this rule purely to escape consequences.