Roleplaying Rules

Character Creation Rules

• When making a character, please abide by the following rules. If your character violates one of these rules, a GM will assist you in making corrections.

Characters must adhere to the game world's setting and lore.

• You must roleplay your character as the race you selected during character creation.
  • You cannot use a 'custom' or 'original' race.
  • Do not, for example, pick the Elf race and roleplay your character as if they were a Corbie.
• Your character's name must be appropriate; no profanity, no single noun names (IE; no 'Shadow'), no names based on existing media (IE; no 'Jon Snow').
  • Your character's name cannot have numbers or special characters such as symbols. (IE; no 'Duke Nuk3m 123')

Your character's origin must fit with the setting.

• Origin means how your character came to be in the world. This typically means being born into it, or created in the case of Mechanations, Vampires, etc.
  • Your character cannot be a time traveler, or come from a different world or dimension.
  • Your character cannot be the offspring or have any significant relation to Gods or other NPCs. For example, your character cannot be Risu's long-lost older brother, or the Tennou's son, etc.
• You may, however, make characters affiliated with certain noble houses without approval; check this topic for details: Playing characters affiliated with noble houses
  • For other exclusive factions, such as The Agency, etc. please post an application in the forums.

Your character should be unique.

• Playing characters from existing media is not allowed. No Gokus, no Vegetas, no Narutos, etc.
  • You are permitted to use images of characters from media to represent your character in their profile, etc. (so called 'play-bys'). However, please ensure your character's backstory, name, aliases, personality, motivations, and so on are not overly similar (based on common sense and GM discretion). You are meant to create YOUR character and not play a copy of a character you like.
• Do not make a copy of another character which already exists in the game, including NPCs, characters played by other players, or copies of a character you already have. (Note: This does not mean using the same 'play-by' as someone else. This does include clearly copying someone else's character even if there are small differences.)

No meme characters.

• Creating characters with no other purpose but to amuse yourself or others OOCly is disruptive to the RP environment and is not allowed.
  • This means no Count Chocula vampires, no Sans liches, no spooky skeleton liches, etc.
• This includes using disruptive, disturbing, annoying, or otherwise inappropriate face-icons, profile pictures, etc.

Uploaded materials should be Safe For Work.

• This includes face-icons, profile images, songs used in profiles or battle themes, and so on. Please ensure that there is no excessive cleavage, and so on.
• Furthermore, make sure your character sprite is properly clothed.

Some character concepts, or characters of certain physical features, require GM approval before creation.

• Characters of age 13 years or less, 300 years or more, or heights outside of the range of 4'5" to 7' tall are some examples.
• Characters seeking an exception to rules listed here or in General Roleplay Rules also require an application.
• See this topic for full details: Character Concepts Requiring Approval

For Korvara Characters Only

• Your character CANNOT be from, nor have knowledge of any location outside of Korvara.
  • This means your character cannot be from Sigrogana.
  • It also means your character cannot have knowledge of events that have occurred outside of Korvara, such as Heaven's Contention.
  • Your character also cannot have knowledge of races that do not exist on Korvara, such as Vampires.

For Sigrogana Characters Only

• The same rules that apply to Korvara are applied to Sigrogana characters, but in reverse.
  • This means your Sigrogana character cannot be from Korvara, and so on.

Metagaming Rules

What is metagaming?

Metagaming is, generally speaking, any number of actions where knowledge that you (the player) are aware of is used to determine your in-character (IC) actions, when that knowledge is not known by the character.

• Metagaming, excluding examples mentioned in the exceptions list, is not allowed.

The reason for this is simple; this is a roleplaying game. Breaking character or acting in a way that undermines the roleplay aspect of the game is not allowed.

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Examples of Metagaming

• This list is not all inclusive, but should serve as a guideline if you're unsure.

Knowing someone's name, history, etc. without learning it IC.

• Just because you can see someone's name in their profile or by mousing over them does not mean your character knows it. The same goes for information in their profile (excluding appearances, which your character can see); just because you can read the history tab does not mean that information is public knowledge or that your character magically knows it.
• This is a common problem for roleplaying beginners, so try to be careful if you are one!

Utilizing the game environment in abusive ways.

• While we, the player, know this is a game, that does not mean that your character does. Do not refer to things such as stats or other game mechanics in their specific terms. For example, your character should not say in-character how they once took 251 Darkness damage from a Necromancer boss once, or that their Gigantys has a +6 Power upgrade.
• A more serious transgression is utilizing the game to try and avoid RP consequences. Logging out of the game, or using things such as the Town Map, to avoid RP conflict or consequences is never permitted, and will likely result in punishment.
• Utilizing game behavior also falls into this category. For example, if you are locked in a cell, but 'escape' by joining someone's party and 'teleporting' out of the cell. This is another serious offense which will result in punishment, so do not do it.

Using knowledge of a character's player in abusive ways.

• Do not attempt to harrass or bother people 'ICly' based on you knowing who their player is OOCly. (This also applies for friends or factions related to the person even if not done to them directly.)
  • For example, do not attempt to insult or attack a character because someone you dislike is playing them; as always, you need an IC justification. Even with IC justification, if it is found to be lacking, or that your primary goal is to bother a player instead of create RP in good faith, you will likely be told to stop or be punished.

Disregarding or assuming the actions of NPCs.

• NPCs are not just game objects and you should not ignore them. For example, performing a crime in front of an NPC guard is metagaming, because you are acting ICly on the knowledge that the NPC guard has no player and cannot move to stop you (without a GM).
• The same applies to interacting with NPCs. Attempting to attack, touch, etc. an NPC is metagaming for the same reason as the above.
• Do not assume that an NPC will act in a certain way for that matter. For example, do not assume Air will sell you forged passage papers. For any interactions with an NPC that you may need, please contact a GM.

Relaying information between characters you play.

• If you play multiple characters, passing IC information learned on one of them to another is not allowed. (For example, one of your other characters learning that someone is a vampire because another of your characters had their blood sucked by them.)
• Although this may seem like it isn't metagaming at first glance, it is rife for abuse, which is why this restriction exists.

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Exceptions List

Using OOC/LFG to set up parties for PvE or roleplay/events.

• This is permissable on the assumption that it is a purely positive interaction.
  • An example of an allowed use of this exception is to use OOC or LFG to try and find other players to do dungeons with.
  • Another example of an allowed use of this exception is if someone is using OOC or LFG to notify others of a roleplay event, such as a festival or party, going on in a certain location. However, in this case, it is preferred that you utilize LFG with IC 'hooks', IE; 'Fliers hanging on boards all over Cellsvich tell of a masquerade ball taking place in [player house] in the West Cellsvich District.'
  • An example of how this exception may NOT be used; someone asking for help OOC because they're being robbed or arrested.

Gatekeeping

Attempting to prevent another player from pursuing their role, goals, etc. through exclusionary acts facilitated via OOC means or through primarily OOC motives is forbidden.

In general, this is an act of exclusion through mostly OOC means or from OOC intentions. It is a subset of the larger metagaming rule.

• While we tend to allow people in general to moderate their roleplay spaces (unless asked to do so ourselves), where we do intervene is in the roles of high importance, such as leadership roles. The reasons being;
  • These roles tend to affect the player base at large.
  • These roles, by their nature, are subjected to the dynamics of RP, meaning that the character in that position can be removed from it via RP.

Example:

Risu and Air have characters that are advisors to Maria's, who plays the leader of Meiyei.
Risu and Air often discuss important matters of Meiyei in their own private Discord server which Maria is not a part of, and thus she is not really informed of their actions or what is going on.
Later, Risu and Air ICly stir up support against Maria, saying things like 'Maria didn't even know we made that deal with the Gelagrads. They don't do their job!'.

This is gatekeeping, as Risu and Air have intentionally left Maria in the dark OOC, and are attempting to use it to as a means to depose them.

• There are similar situations that could come about through genuine IC intrigue. Or, where Maria is given the opportunity to be informed IC but does not (such as refusing repeatedly to do meetings, etc.) But going about it in ways which aren't 'above board' OOC will only cause problems and potentially lead to punishment for metagaming.

Roleplaying Rules

While you are encouraged to roleplay in a manner you find fun and engaging, please keep in mind there are rules for how you do so.

Roleplay should be interactive when possible.

• 'Godmodding' is not allowed. This behavior includes scenarios where you attempt to force a reaction from another character, or attempt to shutdown another character's actions without sufficient roleplay justification.
  • For example; 'Ren Brown casts a magic spell that forces Lucia to fall in love with him instantly.' In this case, Ren Brown is clearly 'godmodding', because they are uninteractively attempting to dictate Lucia's actions.
  • Another example; 'Ren Brown instantly slices Yut in two in the blink of an eye.' In this case, Ren Brown is 'godmodding' (and probably violating other rules, too) with this uninteractive attempt to kill another character.
  • A third example; 'Ren Brown is hit by the sword in the neck, but it does nothing to him.' This is a 'shutdown'. There is no justification for why Ren Brown's skin cannot be cut, thus it is 'godmodding'. Please see the Roleplay Etiquette section for more information on interactively roleplaying.

Roleplay should not contain anything excessively offensive.

This rule mainly depends on who you are roleplaying with, and where, and as such is flexible in a few cases, where everyone is fine with what is happening. In public settings, you should assume these rules apply.

• Disturbing roleplay scenarios, such as torture, should not take place in public areas.
• Adult RP, including ERP, must be kept strictly off the in-game channels. GMs will often browse chat logs and do not wish to see this sort of thing.
• Do not advertise or solicit such things in-game publicly, including using OOC notes in profiles, etc.
• Any disturbing content, including the above, involving characters that are under 18 years of age (or physically appear to be) is NOT ALLOWED, even if it occurs outside of the game.

In-character channels should be used for in-character interactions.

• OOC discussions in the in-character channels are not allowed. These actively disrupt the roleplaying environment for others.
  • This includes jokes or memes tagged with (omit). (In private areas around players you know will be okay with it, this rule can be relaxed. However, you are encouraged not to do so, regardless.)
  • If you need to discuss something with the player, and they are not responding on the LOOC or OOC channels, you may ask them in an IC channel to turn on one of those channels so that you may have the discussion there.

You should always try to be in-character.

It is generally discouraged to have your character be in an 'OOC' state, where you are in-game but your character is not 'actually there'. While it is fine to an extent, you must observe the following if you do so:

• Do not loiter around areas where roleplay is taking place. This is confusing, especially for newer players. (If there is some sort of event going on and you have permission to observe from a GM/Event Staff/player running the event, you may do so.) Go to the OOC corner instead.
• Do not take any actions which disturb the roleplaying environment for others. This includes disruptive behavior such as running around someone, repeatedly using items to 'spam' messages such as prayer tools, etc.
• Characters which have taken antagonistic actions recently and may be facing retribution (IE, arrest, bounty hunting) cannot be in an 'OOC' state.

Pet Kits, and similar items, are not to be used as 'spies' that can gather IC information for your character, or garner any other RP 'advantage'.

• This item is mainly intended to be for vanity, not for an RP advantage. Please do not use it in this fashion.
  • If you have received permission to do so prior to spying from the player(s) you are spying on, then you may do so, but only in that specific instance.

Roleplaying Etiquette

See main page: Roleplaying Etiquette