Ravenloft PotM Server Rules

[Talek]

Section 1: Main

Even if we would prefer if we could just rely only on the one rule of "using your common sense", diverse understandings of what online roleplay should be about requires some common boundaries, procedures and principles.

Here, all our rules are build around these three overriding rules:

1. Play how you like as long as you don’t impair the roleplay experience of others.
2. Be authentic to your character and the setting.
3. Always treat your fellow players, DMs and developers with respect.

What does this mean in a practical sense? Not that the DM "hand of god" will be waiting in the shadows to hammer down on people who at times choose soloing and fighting monsters over engaging in intricate roleplay. First of all because it would be a waste of our DMs' time that is much better used on creating roleplay for others, but also because we don't want to make playing here feel like being under constant monitoring, enforcement and strict control. Playing here is meant to be enjoyable and rewarding - and ultimately, we'd also prefer to put some trust in your own judgement. There are many ways and aspects of role-playing and we will not claim to always know better.

However, with regards to rule two and since this is a role-play server, always make sure that you do not compromise the stories, setting and IC experience of others - don't mention or use OOC terms and mechanism, such as game mechanisms, in IC action. Never spoil the atmosphere that your fellow players may be experiencing, but instead, always strive to enhance it. If you at times grow tired of interacting with others, go to secluded areas and avoid contact rather than slacking on acting IC and in respect of the roleplay experience.

If you're in doubt about rule two, confer to the roleplay manifest, as well as relying on rule one and three. We won’t stop you from playing an evil character, but alignment is no excuse for ruining other people's roleplay. In fact, it's partly your responsibility too that those you interact with have a rewarding experience - give each other due respect OOC even if your characters do not IC.

If you can adhere to the above principles as well as generally use your common sense, you should be covered in far the most cases. But whenever you think you might be doing something controversial or sketchy, potentially leading to conflict or being exploitive, it's always a good idea to confer with the rules below first. And if you are still in doubt, confer with a DM or a member of the Community Council.

[Zarathustra217]

Section 2: Character Creation

Character naming:

- Please use correct English, not "JOHN DOE" or "JoHn DoE" but "John Doe". Also, don't use colours in names.

- Using famous names from fantasy settings or other genres is not allowed, i.e., calling yourself "Count Von Zarovich" or "Drizz't Du'Urden" is a no-no.

- Regarding punctuation marks: apostrophes and hyphens, along with foreign accent marks such as the tilde ("~") are allowed, but please use them in moderation.

- No nicknames like "Paschal the Enchanter". If you want a nickname, give it out in-character.

- Don't decorate your character's name with symbols or letters that are not part of his/her name, i.e. no "-~Nadja~-" etc.

- Don't give your character a nonsensical or silly name like "Apple" or "Shoe." The name must be reasonable and believable within the culture that your character is from.

Character appearance and story:

- Some subraces will be allowed, but bear in mind that obvious non-human races will often draw undue attention, much of it negative. Also, many "traditional" subraces, such as drow, cannot be native to the setting, while Half-Vistani cannot be from outside Ravenloft.

- Certain ECL subraces require an application to play. The list of subraces requiring an application and the application can be found here: http://www.nwnravenloft.com/forum/index.php?topic=4659.0

- Regarding skin colors, again use these in moderation. A drow might have jet black skin, but a human will not.

- "Monstrous" type characters are available to proven roleplayers via an application. This application can be accessed here: http://www.nwnravenloft.com/forum/index.php?topic=4489.0

Deities

- All clerics should worship a deity and have cleric domains that are in accordance with this deity as per the setting of origin's official rules and lore (if present). If required by the setting of origin, paladins, rangers, and druids should also possess a deity. A list of common deities can be found here. If you are uncertain about a particular setting, please ask here on the forums.

[Zarathustra217]

Section 3: Character Story

- The mists of Ravenloft can reach into any world. You may choose any established D&D® origin for your player, including the Forgotten Realms®, Greyhawk®, Eberron®, and Dragonlance® campaign settings to name a few. Be true to their original setting in terms of names, appearance, and religious beliefs (i.e. domains and practices matching their god). You may also choose to make a character native to Ravenloft. Search our "About the World" section for information that a native character might have. And finally, you may also have your character origin from any other worlds (even those you make up yourself) provided that they make sense and do not break immersion by having exceptional features that differ from what the official settings contain (e.g. no characters from Cloud Cuckoo land.)

- No "children" characters please.

- When designing your character and his/her story, do not make him/her have any powers or strengths that your actual character will not have at the point he/she is created. Don't design your character's story to give him/her natural superiority to other players' characters. Let IC stay true to what actually is IC.

- If you want to play a native character, please research your character's homeland in our "About the World" section, or the appropriate Ravenloft books, if they are available to you.

- If you're making a native character, please use an appropriate name from your character's homeland in the "About the World" section. A character native to Tepest, for example, is not going to have a Japanese-sounding name.

- Characters may come from the Gothic Earth setting presented in the Ravenloft spin-off Masque of the Red Death, with one stipulation: they cannot come from Masque's "present day" of the 1890s, but instead must come from the Gothic Earth's past. The latest period in Gothic Earth's history that a PC may come from is AD 1650.

[Zarathustra217]

Section 4: Character Progression

Multi-classing/Prestige-classes:

- Monks cannot multiclass with other base classes. Paladins who multiclass with other base classes will no longer be able to progress as paladins and will lose all paladin abilities. However, both classes can multiclass to prestige classes.

- Classes must be no more than 10 levels apart when multiclassing.

- All prestige classes require an application. You may find the list of prestige classes and the prestige class application here: http://www.nwnravenloft.com/forum/index.php?topic=4659.0

- All prestige classes must have at least 5 levels in them

- All prestige classes are available, with the exception of Harper Scout and Purple Dragon Knight; Dragon Disciple can only be taken by outlander (e.g. non-native) characters and Hallowed Witch by native characters.

Character remakes:

- If you wish to remake and/or relevel your character, you must submit a request in writing to one of the DMs. You can find the remake application here: https://www.nwnravenloft.com/forum/index.php?topic=5587.0

Each request will be handled on a case-by-case basis. The DM team reserves the right to deny a request for a remake/relevel if we do not deem it necessary, but you will be informed as to why we decide to deny the request if that is the case.

- Characters will be not be deleted from the server vault. We ask that you please scroll down to select the ones you want.

[Zarathustra217]

Section 5: Interacting and Roleplaying

- Generally deteriorating, disruptive or disrespectful behaviour, both by OOC and the elements you bring into IC, is not permitted. Always consider the experience of those you roleplay with, and strive to avoid OOC aggravation or grief. If you experience someone that you feel is disruptive, deteriorating or disrespectful to you, contact them and inform them of this. If they fail to cease, report it to a DM, and it'll be evaluated.

- Always prioritize the OOC overall enjoyment of your fellow roleplayers higher than IC. This doesn't mean that you can't ever impose negative consequences or loss - a conceivable line of events and an element of risk can be in the benefit of the general experience - but remember that we as players and DMs decide OOCly what we bring into the game, so ultimately we are responsible for it too. Never use IC as an excuse to lessen the OOC experience of others. Don't create characters that will only become a nuisance or aggravation. And when going into conflict with others, strive to make it an enjoyable experience for the player, even if it's despair and frustration for the character.

- Conversely, try to be open to others' approach to the roleplay and remember that what may be unfriendly and unappealing IC can be quite different OOC. Being able to enjoy things that your character despises makes the roleplay much more enjoyable for all. Distinguish clearly between what's IC and OOC. Don't let a character's disagreement with your character become a disagreement between you and the other player. Keeping in check OOCly when playing out aggressive or provoking interaction ICly is always a good idea.

- If it should happen that you feel someone's actions IC is too much frustration for you OOC or ruins your roleplaying experience, contact the person OOC in a friendly manner and try to reach mutual understanding of the source of this aggravation and find a solution that both can agree to. In the same way, if someone contacts you concerning how your own character's actions frustrates them OOC, be open to suggestions and work to keep a friendly OOC environment.

NPCs:

- Attacks upon NPCs are expected to be handled in character and always under DM supervision. Killing an NPC needs to have a valid role-playing reason - being "evil" is not sufficient. And be aware that wholesale slaughter will likely get you executed.

- Interacting with the world is an essential part of every persistent world, that is interacting with both other players and with the environment. Ignoring NPC's and such aspects of the environment willingly during roleplay is detrimental to the realism and consistency of the setting. As such, it is considered akin to metagaming to ignore the NPCs when they from an IC perspective would be expected to react. For example, if your character is currently wanted by the city guard, it is not acceptable to ignore the guard NPCs simply because there are no DMs online to control them.

In-game chat:

- Please remain in-character when around others and try to keep "Out of Character" (OOC) comments to a minimum, preferably in tells.

- If you need to give a OOC message to multiple persons, and do not have time to send tells to multiple people, mark it by putting "//" or "ooc:" in front. Please try to do this only if it's relevant to all who will be able to see it.

- No profanity, racial slurs, cyber-sex, etc. is allowed.

- Anyone caught participating in "cyber-sex" on our server will be permanently banned. This is mainly because otherwise minors could witness or be sexually harassed, either intentionally or unintentionally.

Take notice of the ban of cybersex as we take this rule very seriously. Essentially, cybersex encompasses all scenes containing elements of erotic nature (both from the perspective of the players and the characters). This implies things such as roleplaying situations involving exposed genitalia or exposed female breasts, and also all activity that gives sexual satisfaction of any form to either participant part (innocent mouth to mouth kissing is acceptable). If the roleplay story entails such elements to naturally occur, simply let it surpass by a nondescript emote like [fades to black].

- No "Cheesing": "Cheesing" is the act of playing your character as if they have an ability or feat which the NWN engine would not otherwise allow them to have. "Cheesing" could also mean playing your character as being a race, class or otherwise that isn't applied to your character through the game. An example could be playing out a character as a vampire even if the character is not setup to be that.

Player privacy:

- Don't speculate others' identity or repeatedly inquire for it - show respect if someone might be wanting to remain anonymous. The only exception to this rule is if you suspect someone is using another account to circumvent a ban, in which case you should contact the DM team and leave further investigation to them.

Interaction with DMs:

- Always follow DMs' directives and respect the DMs' judgments in-game. If you feel you've been treated wrongly or unfairly and are unable to resolve it with the DM, either contact a Head DM, Assistant Head DM or the Community Council - don't break off or compromise anything IC as a reaction to the issue.

- If anything disrupts the current roleplay environment or the immediate roleplay enjoyment (such as grievers, getting stuck on an inaccessible tile, or bugged characters) please contact a DM in game and it will be dealt with immediately.

- Alternatively, if the issue is not urgent, then it is to be left for a forum PM. If you have any complaint or issue you need resolved, send a Personal Message (or "PM") on the forums to either the Head DM or one of the Assistant Head DMs. Do not complain to or argue with DMs or other players via tells in-game as it's simply too disruptive and takes up too much time from roleplaying. If you continue to complain by tells or otherwise in-game after a DM has directed you to the forums, it may be treated as a breach of our rules and dealt with accordingly.

- Don't play DMs up against each other ("Mommy-Daddying"). If you've asked one DM something and he/she said no, don't move on to the next to ask the same. If you disagree with the DM's decision, contact the Head DM or an Assistant Head DM on the forum and state clearly that you have already made a request to the specific DM and was denied.

Sharing of items and interaction between own characters:

- Leaving items/gold for one of your other characters is not permitted, and using one character to acquire the corpse of another of your characters is not allowed either. If you have more than one character on the server, remember they are two different people. Don't let what occurs to and involves the one character transfer to the other. This also includes any way of passing on an item and knowingly acquiring it later with another character.

Tag-teaming with own characters is not allowed. Don't use one character to clear an entire dungeon or parts of an area to then log in with an alternative character to roam the same place. Don't have your character in any way react upon or use knowledge acquired by another of your characters.

- Don't hand out items/gold based on OOC things. Don't give out items because of OOC based friendships. Don't give away items because you are abandoning your character.

Multiple characters and faction memberships:

- To preserve the suspense and better allow designing plots, membership of certain factions bars your other characters from active membership of factions having conflicting interests with the first. Your one character might still have multiple faction memberships however.

- Factions currently covered by this rule encompass: Ba'al Verzi, Gundarakite Rebels, The Nerull Cult, Red Vardo Traders and the Vallaki Guards. Other factions (including unofficial factions, i.e. player-run) may be added to this list.

- If you have characters that have faction memberships conflicting this rule, you may decide to make the one character inactive, temporarily removing faction forum access. While having a character being inactive in this way, you should also avoid playing the character.

[Zarathustra217]

Section 6: Player Versus Player

- PvP should always be done to further the positive experience of all sides and as part of a roleplay event. Turning instantly toward trying to kill each other seldom leads to more roleplay, and much more often just ends it. Try alternate methods in playing out the IC fighting first (for example, use emotes, rolls and subdual) before taking the other character's life, and never PvP to get a sense of winning, but always to further the story.

- When engaging in PvP, be responsible to the fact that it's a situation that can cause OOC grievance. Consider taking preemptive measures - possibly communicating with the opposing part OOCly to make sure they don't feel violated in their roleplay. If you during the conflict feel the opposing part isn't able to satisfyingly handle the IC consequence of their actions, seek advice with the DM team instead of pressing forward.

- Unless you have justifiable reason to assume that the counterpart is interested in the form of PvP and that it will enhance their experience, your character may not actively attack another character without overriding in-character reason and only when the victim has actively sought into the conflict. This encompasses extensive provoking, aggressive or confrontational behaviour by the victim, if they are intruding upon you and extensively refuse to withdraw, or if they are a member of a faction your faction is in conflict with. Retaliation of an attack of self or close ally is also legitimate reason to engage in PvP. In doubt, seek DM advice.

- Don't abuse the restrictions of the PvP rules to your advantage. Don't give the impression that you do not want to participate in PvP to later gain advantage by having the initiative.

- Guard PCs are always allowed to subdue suspected lawbreakers that resist or otherwise seek to avoid arrest.

- In terms of having IC cause for engaging PvP, MPCs do not need their victim to have engaged themselves in the conflict or consented to it. Equally, IC identifying someone to be a MPC can be sufficient cause for engaging in PvP with them. The PvP should still be done in accordance with all the other aspects of the general PvP rules - roleplay the hostilities before resorting to basic combat.

- Don't engage in IC conflicts with people you have OOC conflicts with or grudge. Make sure to have OOC conflicts resolved first, possibly by the aid of the Community Council or DM team. While any OOC conflict is ongoing, put the IC conflict on hold and generally avoid interaction.

- Anytime PvP occurs, an attacker must set the target of the attack to hostile as fair OOC warning before the attack. We suggest setting to hostile at least 10-15 seconds before the actual attack occurs.

- Abuse of OOC knowledge that an attack is imminent is not allowed.

- Ordering or paying others to attack someone counts as PvP from the one requesting the attack.

- Hiding, delivering irrevocable wounds or burning corpses falls under the general rules of PvP and is considered as such.

- The corpse/remains items should generally be treated as following the game mechanics. The corpse/remains item cannot be supposed to not be present in game when it actually is - you should not by roleplay decide that the corpse/remains item is somewhere else, like the bottom of the sea, the Shadow Rift, or in a remote region of the Core that is not actually represented anywhere within the game. In the same sense, you cannot dissolve/decrepit it beyond what amounts to the remains item.

- Whenever you feel you have been violated in relation to PvP, take your screenshots with your chat windows merged. To do this, right-click on one of your chat windows and select "merge" from the radial menu. This will help show the events in the order they occurred.

Stealing:

- Stealing is treated as an attack under the general rules of PvP, except if no living (i.e. not in spirit form) PC owner is present.

[Zarathustra217]

Section 7: Adventuring etc.

Death and dying:

- We generally consider "permadeath" as an OOC term, and as such, we prefer to avoid it as a consequence of the IC roleplay. Character stories can come to a "closure", but only by the decision of the player of the character. Nonetheless, in some situations it may still be very unlikely that a dead character should ever return to life, practically amounting for the same but is entirely IC.

- Any character that commits suicide will as such be considered "closured" with no possibility of revival, as per the 3.5 ed. rules.

- Once dead, a character can choose to return to the world as a PC spirit. These are static impressions of PCs and their attire/possessions at the moment of their deaths. They cannot attain any new knowledge or information in this form and everything experienced as a spirit is forgotten upon returning to life. They cannot speak nor can they understand speech, and are completely inaudible.

- PC spirits can wander the world, but they cannot interact with it in any physical way. Focused entirely on their death, they are driven only to mourn their demise and/or attempt to return to life. They can relive their death using emotes and try to lead others to the site of their death and/or mortal remains, but should only move from this location if it's to seek help or to follow someone possessing those remains. For more information on spirit RP, see here.

Parties and soloing:

- To reduce lag and heighten suspense, this server has code in place that prevents the formation of parties. Experience points will be distributed based on proximity to a kill so groups may still adventure together.

- Soloing is allowed, but the module is balanced for group play. You solo at your own risk on PotM and we generally encourage you to team up with people.

Bugs and game limitations:

- Exploitation of bugs or holes in the game engine will result in consequences, up to and including banning.

- If you experience a bug, please report it on our Bug Reports forum in the Feedback section.

- If you experience an exploit, please report it via forum PM to one of our developers.

- Logging out and logging back in to avoid death is not allowed.

[Zarathustra217]

Section 8: Contributing with content

- We do not make or support player housing and generally do not implement areas from people who are not members of the development team. If someone wants to build for the module, they need to apply to join the development team.

- In some cases, we might accept general purpose areas, but they cannot have personal advantages and must be discussed with the development team.

- It is more common that we implement player-designed items, though they have to submit to certain server established rules and limits.

- If contributing with an item template, you cannot expect your own character to freely receive it, and neither can you expect that the item will not be handed out to others or used in our loot tables.