Basic Server Standards
Relevant Community Rules Apply
- You must be 18+ to play here.
- You must be courteous to others in OOC and LOOC.
- You must not provoke others.
If you noticeably diminish the community's wellbeing with your presence, you may be removed from it regardless of the other rules.
Standard Server Standards Apply
- No Metagaming: using information that your character should not be aware of
- No Metagrudging: using your out-of-character sentiments against another player to deliberately act detrimentally to a specific player's experience
- No Metacommunicating: exchanging sensitive information about the ongoing round via out-of-character means
- No Exploiting: habitually and knowingly exploiting a bugged feature to achieve an unintended and unfair advantage
- Low Pop Exploitation: do not exploit times of low population to rob or break into high-value or protected locations (keeps, churches, vaults, government buildings, stores, etc.) when those locations cannot reasonably be guarded (No owner is available).
Standard Character Standards Apply
- Your character must be unquestionably adult. They may not look, sound or be underage.
- Your character must fit the setting. Avoid resembling a modern individual, either in appearance, speech, behavior, morality, or beliefs.
- You should not be a reference to a meme, joke, or modern sub-culture. You should not be pulled directly from pop culture.
- You should not break the fourth wall, i.e. use in-character means to portray out-of-character sentiments.
- Your descriptors and general flavor text should be written in a tasteful way and should not include elements that cannot be seen such as backstory, preferences, and internal thoughts.
- The artwork of your character's portrait should be relatively tasteful. While it can be risqué, avoid being too much.
- Avoid making characters that significantly clash with the aesthetic of the setting. We are flexible, but we have limits.
Rule 0 - Admin Discretion is King
Our rules are meant to be interpretive. Instead of having specific rules for everything, much is left to administrative discretion. Admins can take action against players who degrade the server quality, even beyond specific rule violations. Those who are deemed boring or unfit for the server will be removed after discussion by staff.
Players must respect the setting and contribute to immersion. Staff may guide you on staying within the setting’s boundaries. Staff also reserves the right to remove anyone engaging in malicious behavior, such as griefing or metagrudging.
Rule 1 - The Rule of Interesting
The Rule of Interesting is the expectation that you act in ways that give others something fun, meaningful, or dramatic to play off of over quick and boring resolutions. One should be focused on creating engaging and dynamic narratives. Instead of focusing solely on winning or immediate resolution, players are encouraged to build compelling stories and character interactions with motives that justify their action.
Outside of rules in regards to player conduct and requirements, this is the most important rule when it comes to dictating the flow of the game and it often takes precedence.
What's the Point?
The point is not to win, rather it is to make an interesting story. Even in the most grimdark servers, they say: "Murders - Often, this is the easiest and quickest way to resolve a conflict - and therefore very boring. Don't breed boredom, or you'll die from it yourself."
- Avoid Quick Fixes Whenever Possible: Instead of resolving conflicts through swift actions like execution or violence without roleplay, players should seek opportunities to add depth to their interactions whenever it's allowed by their circumstances. For example, a knight should explore the motivations and background of a captured intruder, rather than resorting immediately to execution. After all, what if there is a mastermind behind all this?
- Earn Your Quick Fix: Killing should be narratively earned; senseless killing, or offering a thin ultimatum, i.e. "do or die", which is immediately acted upon, does not make a satisfying narrative by itself. This holds particularly true for enforcing a clearly impossible ultimatum.
- Be Engaging with Others: People should feel like they're able to interact back in a scene, unless a position of authority needs the room. You should not be spamming mechanics outside of combat. Furthermore, you should actually interact with what happens to you, i.e. not ignoring pain or what's happening around you.
- Be Proportional: Mechanics must be proportional to the weight of the situation. Ex: Amputating every limb off over the slightest of slights is not proportional nor interesting.
- Be a Good Loser: Most importantly, be prepared to lose. The rule does not exist to protect you from consequences, i.e. death, punishment, etc. If you do everything in your power just to win and only that, you are not interesting. Furthermore, making a big fuss and reporting a player every time you die is neither interesting nor fun. You will be removed if it becomes disruptive.
Examples:
- A Beggar disrespecting the Nobility should be met with proportional violence: a beating, public humiliation, or tongue removal, not the amputation of their limbs.
- A Kingsman should explore the motivations of a captured intruder, not immediately resort to execution.
- If you are too busy to interact with a prisoner, allow another individual who is available to take over handling the prisoner.
- An antagonist should focus on causing distress, chaos, and disorder, not mindlessly kill everyone they see.
Practical Applications
Note: This list is not comprehensive, but seeks to address the majority of popular issues to ensure consistent enforcement.
Roleplay First
This server prioritizes roleplay above all else. Your behavior in each round should clearly reflect that your primary goal is to roleplay. You should be hesitant to dish out the quickest and easiest, therefore most boring, solution in a round if possible, **i.e. murder**. After all, this is not a team deathmatch server. If you do not engage in roleplay, you will be removed.
Conversely, this server is not a chatroom experience either. Conflict, consequences, and action are all core parts of roleplay. Death can be part of the story, and players are expected to accept character death when it occurs. Consequences are what give roleplay weight and meaning.
On Engagements
There are no rigid rules governing engagements. When no prior context exists, you should generally attempt to roleplay and establish it first. However, some situations reasonably require no prior interaction due to existing context. For example, silently rushing someone who has repeatedly evaded you may be appropriate if done within a reasonable timeframe of one another. Likewise, if a Duke openly declares an assault on a rebel village, battle may occur without additional roleplay.
Ultimately, if your intent to roleplay is clear, and your behavior in the round and your history support that, you will be given the benefit of the doubt. Abuse of this trust, however, will be met with severe punishment.
On Yielding
Yielding should generally be respected if possible. However, it is not always reasonable or possible to do so. For instance, taking the lich as a prisoner may not be of interest whatsoever. If you betray the trust of your captor once by trying to escape, it may not make sense for them to respect your attempts to yield a second time. Other times, it may just not be practical, but players should not abuse this.
If you refuse to yield or surrender when given the opportunity, do not expect administrative intervention if you get killed, unless some other rule-break happens. Your actions have consequences.
Mechanics Spam is Boring
Spamming mechanics, especially for torture, is boring. Repeatedly twisting limbs on someone already incapacitated shows a lack of creativity. If you're only spamming mechanics and can't roleplay or engage otherwise, you're dull and will be removed from the server. Focus on creating interaction through dialogue and emotes, allowing the other person to respond and engage.
Ignoring Everything is Boring
Don't act like an SS13 player or a rock—be engaging. Ignoring pain or torture (e.g., shrugging it off) is fail RP and should result in your in-game death, unless your character has a class trait resembling that.
Asking the most revered character for a heal while casually showing no sign of distress is boring. Furthermore, unless you're a zealot, Templar, or tough warrior like a Veteran or Barbarian, don't act fearless with no regard for your life.