Rules, Guidelines, and Other Information

Role Player's Creed

1. I will maintain the illusion of the game by staying in character whenever possible. I will withhold out of character comments until absolutely necessary and even then I will whisper or ICQ them to the other players.

2. If I discuss the game with other players out of character, I will not allow my character to be influenced by this knowledge without express permission of the other players. I will take the time to allow my character to learn these things on his or her own during the course of the game.

3. I will separate myself as a player from my character as much as possible. While I understand that a lot of myself goes into my character and because the game is so very intense often real emotions will be drawn from me as a player, I also understand that my character is not me.

4. If I am not in the mood to play, I won't interrupt other people's games by coming into it out of character. I will find others who are not in character and go somewhere meant for out of character discussion.

5. I will not use my character as a vehicle for racism or bigotry. I will not use my character to promote child pornography or bestiality. I, as a player, understand that there is no room in the real world for such things and will, to the best of my ability, not let it seep into the virtual world as well.

6. If I, as a player, feel that my character has been treated unfairly or that another character has overstepped the bounds of their abilities, I will approach the other character's player privately and discuss the situation in a calm adult manner and try to come to a resolution or compromise.

7. I will accept the hand that is dealt me in the game, understanding that it is a game and it's not about winning or losing, but about playing.

8. I will not allow setbacks in the game to be blown out of proportion. If I am overly emotional about what is happening, I will step back and not play until I can compose myself.

9. I will not carry grudges against fellow players. My character might not like another character, but again, I am an adult and understand that they are 'characters' and not the player that portrays them.

10. If I find that I simply can not get along with another player, I will avoid playing with them. But I will do so in a way that does not draw attention to this and I will not badmouth or otherwise slander the other player as such actions only makes myself look bad.

11. If my character is killed, I will obviously grieve for the loss, but I will also view the situation as an opportunity for me to grow as a player. By starting anew with a fresh identity, I will be able to leave all the negatives of that character behind - any grudges, dislikes or just plain bad habits- and take away the good, thus making my next character even better and more interesting.

12. I, as a player, will keep an open mind and allow people to play their characters the way their imagination leads them regardless if their interpretation matches that of some book, guideline...or creed.

Rules

Pausing a Fight:
Because real life tends to take precedence over events happening in real life, it may sometimes be necessary to put a battle on hold until a more convenient time comes.

All characters involved must agree to a time to continue the fight. Once the time is agreed upon, the setting and characters are then “frozen,” meaning that they cannot move, deal damage, or otherwise be interacted with in any way. This ensures that the fight can be resumed at the time chosen without fear of having one character become more powerful without the other RPers present.

If a fight has been paused, then any story lines involving the character can continue as normal, regardless of the character’s status in the fight. This can be done by assuming the fight has not yet occurred, or that the fight is already over, whichever lends itself to smoother role playing.


The Death of a Character:
Nobody likes seeing a character they have role played with for an extended amount of time meet their demise. However, fights bring on the challenge of keeping your character alive while trying to end the fight in whatever manner your character sees fit. This can result in the death of one or more characters.

Ultimately, it is up to the player how they want to handle the death of their character. Within reason, resurrection is an option, as is simply using a “clean slate” of sorts to start a new plot line. We do ask that a certain degree of realism be maintained, however. Simply stating that a character is resurrected on the spot is not only unfair, but highly unlikely, no matter what the circumstances.


Ignoring a Harassing Player:
Not every person you encounter will always be fun to RP with. At some point, you may have to deal with a player who doesn’t know when enough is enough. It’s best to let moderators handle this kind of situation, but on the off chance a moderator is not present, you can use the ignore button in certain special cases. The ignore button is called for, and allowed use in the following situations:

A player is flooding the screen with constant one-lined posts in an attempt to drown out everyone else.

A player persistently attempts to auto your character in any fashion.

Another player is harassing you ,out of character, after you have repeatedly asked them to stop.

A player is disrupting the in character playing taking place.

The ignore button is not allowed to be used in the following situations:

Attempting to avoid legitimate role play. We are a free-form community, and as a result we have many different kinds of characters, a majority of which have sinister capabilities or personalities. You may not always be able to avoid fights or confrontations when you are in character, this is part of role playing; the unpredictable nature of the main room that allows our stories to grow and change.


Turn-based fighting system:
DE operates on a turn-based fighting system called T1. It’s a system we’ve used for as long as many tavern-goers can remember. It’s a very basic set of rules created to eliminate the guess work and the arguments from the fighting aspect of role play, and it works as follows:

Player one begins the fight with an initial attack post. For example…

Player One:* He runs at Player two, his sword pointed at Player two’s stomach*.

Then Player two responds with a post that is part defense against Player one’s attack, and a follow up attack of his own. For example…

Player Two: *Seeing Player one run at him with the sword, he spins to the left at the last minute so that Player one runs straight by him. He continues to spin so that his own sword comes around with him to stab Player one in the back.*

This continues until one character or the other is killed, until a peaceful resolution is come to, the players agree to terminate the fight, or it’s paused until another time.
Prepping your post:

An attack requires what we call a “prep” this is basically a detailed description of what your character intends to do, as he/she attacks, or defends themselves, as well as a valid description of the kind of damage inflicted, or received at any given point. The rules apply to hand to hand fighting, magic fighting, modern based fighting(guns and any modern weapon), and any other type of fighting individuals might come up with. It is considered common courtesy to not avoid every single attack, nor to make your attacks so detailed, so complicated, that another player has no chance of escaping them. Though this is a fantasy game, we try to stick to a sense of realism, so that the game is fair for all players. When in doubt, contact a moderator for help.
Regarding autoing and god-modding. (i.e. Determining that a character other than you has ‘automatically’ taken damage from your attack.):

There is no autoing allowed. The extent and severity of damage a character receives is solely in the hands of that character’s player. There are no exceptions; you can NOT kill a character, unless the player of the character agrees to be killed. On that note, there is no god-modding allowed either. If you choose to battle someone (keyword: choose) then it’s only reasonable that your character will sustain some sort of damage. For instance, the kick they aim at your head, in order to decapitate you could instead hit your shoulder, making it difficult for your character to use their arm properly the next few times you play them.

Guidelines

Character Creation Guidelines: Setting defines the character. What does this mean? Simply put, so long as your character idea fits within the setting guidelines, you can be just about anything you can image. Pharos Station is a sci-fi setting. You can be a space jockey, a businessman, a space cowboy, an actor, a station rat, a mob boss, a cyber-girl, a bounty hunter, a robot, a mercenary or just about any other sci-fi character you can imagine. Because it's sci-fi, you would naturally avoid creating a dwarven swordfighter, a pixie, a dragon, a vampire, a werewolf, or an elven mage since these character types are more at home in the open-ended fantasy based setting of the Red Dragon Inn.

Character History: You Decide. Your character's history is up to you. You can make it detailed or leave it vague to be discovered during the course of the play. You can create your own background with worlds, societies, species all of your own making or you can utilize the information offered by the setting. It's your choice. Deciding on one or the other does not make you a better or worse player than your fellow player, it is simply the way you decided to make your character.

Character Growth: You Control The Potential. Your character can grow and change as you think your character should as your character experiences things during the course of play. You decide if watching a certain event or experiencing a certain thing will have a lasting impression on your character or if your character will even remember it the next day.

Character Interaction: Give and Take. There are no written rules that determine action or the resolution of character exchanges. There will be no dice or Storyteller to determine the outcome of a situation. There is only player cooperation. If there is a 'rule' in Free Form Role-Play, it should be Cooperation Between Players.

Yes, you decide if your character takes damage or not in a fight. Only YOU decide if your character dies. But remember, the other player you are interacting with has the same right for HIS character. YOU do not get to decide what happens to any character other than your own.

This is why mutual cooperation is so very important in Online Free Form Role-Playing.

Mutual Cooperation: Perfect is Boring. How would you like it if you knew that no matter what happened, your character would never achieve his or her goal? It's doubtful you would expend the creative energy to create the character. This is why it is important to have a character with flaws. This is why, when two (or more) characters get into a fight, that all characters play fair and take damage when appropriate. Nobody likes to have their precious character be the whipping toy of the 'Perfect Hero' or 'Almighty Enemy.' How boring would it be if two characters fought and nobody took any sort of damage? Would the fight ever end or would it dissolve into swings, misses and a boring exchange of line after line of how wonderful each character was? YAWN! Drama is when there is a possibility that a character will suffer… maybe even die.

The Story-Line: It is what YOU make it. Since this is a largely unstructured story-telling exercise, the only objectives to be met are those you decide your character needs to accomplish. The setting itself and the staff of the area do not control the role-play for you. They do not tell you what your character needs to do and they do not control when your story ends. It is your story. You decide.

The Staff: Not your Storyteller. Free Form Role-playing is dependent on the creative and collaborative give and take of the players themselves. This interaction and willingness to compromise and work together during play allows a wide range of adventure possibilities to take place. It is not the job of the chat room staff to create your adventure for you. Like creating your character, you have control over the adventures you decide to create and participate in with your character.

There are times when multiple players want some sort of plot or goal to achieve together. Sometimes it is fun to look to another player or group to "loosely" provide plot structure and story-line. Even if the story is yours, sometimes someone else can offer something interesting that can make the story better. Group story lines work best when there's give and take, with no one player working to outshine the rest.

Slang

IC--In Character. When a chatter is IC then they are writing as the fictional creation they have made, not as themselves. This is shown by dropping the use of the brackets that denote being out of character.

OOC--Out Of Character. When a chatter is talking as their normal self, and not as the fictional character they have created. This is shown by putting brackets around everything they say in the main chat room.

Brackets--The set of symbols used to show the difference between someone who is IC and someone who is OOC.

i.e. (I am speaking out of character) Now I've dropped my brackets and I am speaking IC.

Some common brackets used are ( ), [ ], { }. Though people like to use variation on the type of brackets they use, it is best to stick to this set because changing it up can get other chatters confused, mistaking OOC brackets for the action marks used when role playing.

Action Marks-- The set of symbols to denote the difference between a character speaking, and a character acting out a movement.

i.e. *She walks across the room* Hello

The action is put inside action marks. Some common action marks are as follows: ~* *~, * *, - -, :: ::. And many more. People get creative and use action marks as part of a special style in their posting, just make sure that it is very clear that the marks you are using are for action.

Character-- The fictional being that you will be role playing as.

NPC-- The term for a temporary character role played in addition with the character you are currently using.

i.e.(The NPC will be in bold) *She walked across the room and sat down the bar. The bartender looked over at her and smiled, politely asking her what drink she would like.*

NPC's are commonly used as bartenders, in role play solo's(When you do not have a partner to role play with and so role play by yourself) and for many other things. There are rules for NPC's when used in battle, please refer to the rule page to find out what they are.

God Modding-- This is the term for a person who created a character that is unbeatable in battle, and that claims to have powers or some sort of control over other characters; claims to take away their free choice. This is illegal.

Auto-- The term used to describe when one player tries to force an action upon another player. This is against the rules. In free-form role play each player is entitled to decide what happens to their character. In battle turns must be taken. One player may not force injury, or action upon another player.

Creating a character.

1. First things first, what -kind- of character do you want to play? Race can impact everything, from the character's name, to their temperament, to their looks.

2. Okay, now you know what your character is going to be, let's name him/her. There are many ways to do this, you can come up with something right off the top of your head, or if you want a race specific name, here is a list of generators, or websites with names common for that particular race. Lastly, if neither of these options are good for you, and you'd just like a random name, here are a few online name generators that could help you out.

3. You've got the race, you've got the name, what is your character going to look like? Remember, you're building a fictional person here, you can go as tame, or as wild as you like, but you want to pay attention to the basic details that will breathe life and dimension into your character. Such as hair color, eye color, skin color, build, is he/she skinny, fat, medium? Muscular, or slight of build? Does your character have any defining marks? Tattoo's, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, armor, weapons, etc. What kind of clothes does your character wear? Any special facial features or other body flaws or improvements that are worth mentioning? The key is to give a general idea of what your character looks like, not a blow-by-blow of where every single hair is place upon their body. This is much like writing a book, you could go into painful length and detail trying to make everyone around you see the -exact- picture inside your own head, or you could give them the general feeling for a character and let them fill in the minute details, let them see the character through their own eyes and therefore create a symmetry and flow to the story that draws not only the player, but the reader deeper into it. Much like reading your favorite novel.

4.So you've built the body, filled in the blanks, we now know what your character looks like, what their name is, and maybe even a basic idea of where they might be from. So what comes next? Well, what's a body without a personality? You could have the most gorgeous or interesting shell imaginable, but that wont get you very far unless there is something to back that up. Temperament is an important aspect of role playing, and many things come together to make it up. It's help to create a back story for your character, perhaps a reason why they're coming to Mystic, a story about where they're from, -reasons- for who they are. Personal quirks can add to the illusion as well, your character could be afraid of mirrors, or have a nasty temper, dislike a certain color, or just be completely insane, whatever you feel comfortable acting out. But you can't really role play your character through interaction and the situations that will come up, without some feel for what things have occurred in your characters life that would impact the remarks, gestures, and emotions they could, or will, feel at any given time.