Rules of Engagement

The shard Rules of Engagement are created in combination with staff and players and are reviewed on a regular basis. The RoE applies to combat between warring guilds on the World Map. Failure to adhere to the rules may result in players being "banished" to Summer Isle for a period of time.

We consider ourselves to be a role-play shard with PvP, we are not a "PvP Shard". PvP is intended to be part of the shard storyline progression. Players are expected to role-play before PvP conflict and followed the documented rules of engagement. For an overview of PvP on Sanctuary please read more ..

Rules of Engagement

It is the expectation of this community that all role-players will:

1. Practice sportsmanship
2. Give others the benefit of the doubt

With that said we have the following guidelines established by alliance leaders and staff.

General

Turn on your logs

Please make sure to turn on your Journal logs right now. Please. No really ... right now.

PvP Needs a Reason

We assume that those playing on our shard expect that another player has a good role-play reason for wanting to start a PvP fight. We assume those reasons have to do with the shard storyline and have depth to them.

While two guilds being at war is nearly enough justification for PvP, it does not include using the at war status for unmotivated murder without role-play. Two warriors, at war, can face off in the street and fight, but running into the bank and stabbing some random guild member you've never even RP'd with in the back just because your guilds are at war, is not.

Calling for Moderation

Players are welcomed and encouraged to request staff moderation at any time during a PvP or RP Conflict scene, even before it begins. Put a page in game, let the other house leaders know you are requesting a moderator and if necessary tag staff in the discord urgent channel (#staff-attention).

Limits

Players are encouraged to put any OOC limits into the OOC tab of their .look. Limits should be things that you the player have a real life "hard no" stand on or would prefer to fade to black rather than role-play out. Examples are torture, multination and rape. If topics such as being wounded, captured, attacked or adult language is a personal trigger for you, reconsider playing on the world map.

It's fine to use this tab to give other players other information about likes and dislikes, but they can not be used to avoid in character consequences for your own in character actions.

Role-play vs Game Mechs

With the exception of our WYSIWYG rule, players factual emotes trump game mechanics. Example: If a spell turns you into a frog, you can *emote* it's a toad because the details between frogs and toads are hard for any normal person to determine, but you can't *emote* a dog is a cat, or a ferret is a beaver. You can *emote* that a curse weapon spell is a bless, but you can't *emote* Lich Form is a lovely stranger. (Players might want to consider adding emotes to such game mechs via razor or another tool to help people remember this.)

The World Map is In Character

Your actions on the world map should always be in character actions. Events scheduled on the world map are in character events. Do not disrupt role-play or events with OOC actions or even personal IC drama that isn't relevent to the scene. If you feel that the introduction of RP conflict is appropriate, necessary, or even crucial then reach out to the event organizer and have a conversation.

Guards

Players are obligated to role-play the presence of guards immediately upon their arrival on a scene but have 2 posts before they must again role-play guards for new arrivals. Those with level 2 castles may role-play up to 4 guards. Level 1 estate owners may role-play up to 2 guards. No more then 8 active guards may be role-played in a court/throne room during publicly posted engagements. Any use of more guards then this must be diced with a GM or the host of the event/scene. Combat between guards must also be diced.

Conflict RP against "owned" property or NPCs NEW!

We believe role-play is shared storytelling. If you want to engage in role-play that directly effect another player's property you are obligated to ask them to participate in the scene. This includes, but is not limited to, stealing from a player's home or damaging an estate owners city, land, buildings or NPCs. A player's response can be in the form of them playing one of their own NPCs, such as a guard, simply observing the scene and dicing the various possible outcomes or just a requirement for some useful clue they are able to follow up on. If you feel a scene is urgent, or if there is significant time zone discrepancies, an admin can choose to act on behalf of the estate owner. Any admin can be brought in by either party to make final calls or moderate a scene as per normal rules.

Conflict Role-Play between Players NEW!

If you have time to plan a conflict role-play between you and another, you have time to at least give the estate owner a heads up and make an effort to include them if they ask, consider any fiction they provide, or request an Admin/Seer to supervise.

If the conflict is unplanned, as we hope spontaneous RP will happen, you should know that there may be unexpected consequences, as all IC actions = IC consequences, even if you "didn't know"

See Also: Role-Play Conflict Resolution (Rules)

RPCSS Rules of Fair Play

All guild/alliance meetings and planning sessions should be on Cuiviénen.

The shard storyline is intended to be played out on Cuiviénen, aka The World Map. While Summer Isle and Underhill are fictionally apart of the world, they are RP and PvP safe zones. It's perfectly acceptable for characters on Summer Isle and Underhill to be aware of what is happening on the mainland, and even to discuss and gossip about it.

However, it is not acceptable to use Summer Isle to avoid RP Conflict, PvP or spying. Continually, it should go without saying that using any other out of game means to actively avoid in game responses is unsportsmanlike. If you are forced to make any RPCSS plans with players in out of game medium due to time constraints you are obligated to post a reasonably accurate rumor to the News and Rumors page at least 24 hours prior to end of turn.

Communication restriction

If your player character is unable to get to the post master in game because they have been constrained via role-play or game mechanics you should assume that your player character can not submit their actions in RPCSS. If you feel that you have a reasonable work around, please contact a staffer for approval/permission. A staffer will investigate the situation, speak with other guild leaders, and let you know if you have IC access to sending orders to your NPC army, spies or factors. (Please note that player leaders can submit actions on behalf of individual role holders.)

House Rules

House Ban

The use of banning from your home is considered an OOC action and should not be used to resolve in character conflict.

Detect Hidden in Houses

It is not our intention to provide any zero-check solution. Consequently, houses on RPCSS do not provide an instant success when using detect hidden. Players will need to take the skill.

Combat

Guards. NEW!

Only players can call for the guards. If NPCs call for guards the guards do not respond. However, when the guards arrive they are insta-kill. It behooves players staging PvP scenes inside guard zones to discuss the calling of guards before beginning.

Shapechange

Players should not use smaller than human shape changes in PvP, it is considered unsportsmanlike.

Fast Boots

Fast boots will be disabled on the world map when in combat mode against a player.

Looting

Guilds at war can loot each other. Looting is restricted to weapons and stackable such as arrows, bandages, potions, reagents, and gold. House keys may not be looted. Houses may not be looted.

No Res-Killing

Once a character has been (game mech) killed they should not be attacked again unless they re-engage in RP. Characters in death robes should be allowed to gather items off their corpse and exit the scene.

AFK or Inactive Players

Do not attack AFK or inactive players. Players who have to go AFK on the world map should really make use of the .AFK option that creates a journal entry.

Honor the death

If you loose you should respect that you have lost and exit the scene quietly without IC or OOC commentary. If you re-engage then you are open to being attacked again.

Binding/Capture

Only alive characters can be bound or captured, once they have been killed they do not need to honor your attempt to capture. They must have no reasonable method of escape, such as trapped in a room, paralyzed, drained of stamina, or effectively "surrounded". (We may find the need to implement nets or knockouts, for now let's use RP.)

Three lines of text are required for a capture/bind. If you intend to use an item to get out of a role-play bind, the item must be an in game item in your pack, or listed on your .look. No pulling hairpins out of your butt. Players must name the items or locations they search or confiscate specifically.

NPCs

At this time NPCs can not be killed by players as NPCs are blessed. You are required to follow the rules for Conflict RP against "owned" property or NPCs above.

Conflict Scenes

After Attack Scene

There is excellent role-play to be had in an "after attack scene" as long as the goal is role-play and not another PvP battle. Healers should be allowed to tend to the wounded, and leaders should be allowed to negotiate for the release of prisoners, safe passage, or other realistic role-play options in such situations. (Please note that IC or OOC smack talking will likely get you smacked again.)

Healer Rule

We have a "white robe safe passage" option for those who are playing priests and healers. These characters must refrain from all actions during a PvP battle. They would be required to stay out of war mode and have no weapons in their hands. These characters would then be allowed to resurrect/revive/heal after the battle so as to allow an "after attack scene" to continue.

A special white hooded robe is craftable by players. This robe will restrict players from going into war mode when wearing it. Obviously this doesn't restrict players from casting magic while wearing it, but it should reduce it being worn casually by the player base.

Throws down weapons

If a player actively indicates that they are "throwing down their weapons", has no weapons in their hands and is not in war mode, attackers should take this to mean that the player prefers to RP out a capture and not be killed. Accidents happen but an alternate resolution should be offered immediately.

Recall

It is considered unsportsmanlike to recall out of a scene. When this becomes a community habit, other players feel forced to kill and loot regs instead of engaging. As this is not what we want to happen, players should only recall out after they have left the screen/scene.

Getting Help

Fair and reasonable role-play effort must be utilized to bring help back to a scene. Use of OOC methods such as .msg or discord are unacceptable methods for getting help. Game mech tools such as recall and gate should not be used to exit or enter a scene. If you are going to run to get help, you must exit the scene and only then use magical means to leave the location. Others may not enter an on-screen scene via methods such as gate, recall or logging in. If you discover that you have accidentally entered a scene via one of these methods, you are to excuse yourself and take no further IC action.

If a scene appears as if it's going to be prolonged, it is advisable to ask for a staffer to help moderate participation. Players may be asked to produce logs to prove them have received valid IC requests to enter a scene.

Capture Rules

Fair and reasonable capture rules should be used when kidnapping or capturing another player. We have no hard rules on this at this time, here are some general guidelines for consideration. Rules will be added as necessary.

• Begin by having a clear idea of what your goals are when you capture another player. This will help negotiate the role-play between you.
• Provide opportunities either via role-play or dice for players to escape, be rescued or ransomed.
• Communicate your normal role-play schedule with each other and seek to resolve any discrepancies by involving other players or agreeing to a narrative offline.
• Use dice or involve a staffer when necessary to negotiate.