Section #6: Roleplaying Guidelines and Procedures

General Guidelines

	You cannot see the names of people, if you don't know someone ask them their name.
	You cannot see guild tags.

RP Rules

	Remember that general chat is used for in-character (IC) speech. Out of character (OOC) comments should be reserved for tell, group chat, or guild chat. OOC comments can also be placed inside (( )), but these should be use only when necessary.
	All members involved in a scene should be invited into a group, when possible.
	Lower ranking members should use discretion when talking, or using emotes.

RP Forum Posting Rules

	Always denote in character "/ic" or role-play "/rp" from out of character "/ooc" or non role-play "/rp off" content. You can insert quick /ooc asides by using ((message)) in the middle of your thread as well. Save long /ooc comments for the end or beginning of your thread for ease of reading.
	Designate open or closed Story lines/threads in your first post. An Open RP thread denotes that anyone can join in on the story. Open RP threads also mean that the information posted is available in game for /ic knowledge, either through direct contact to the person telling the story or more ingenious methods of gathering the information. It is up to the participants how much they know or don't know. Closed threads/stories are just that, limited to the posting of the author or those that are invited to be a part of the story. If your thread is closed please name any co authors in your first post. Non authors enjoy reading the works, post /ooc encouragements but respect the closed status of the storylines.
	Do not write content about another player character that they may not like or be willing to participate in. If in doubt ask /ooc first, this saves angry comments and editing later.

Saluting

Following Orders

As outlined in the Code of Conduct ALL ORDERS ARE TO BE OBEYED, WITHOUT QUESTION OR PAUSE.

Roleplaying Guide

Definition of Roleplay

If you look up “role-play” or “role-playing” in Webster’s dictionary, you find a simple definition:

Pronunciation: 'rOl-"plA, -'plA

Function: verb

Transitive senses : ACT OUT "students were asked to role-play the thoughts and feelings of each character -- R. G. Lambert" intransitive senses : to play a role

There is one thing that is important to point out besides the definition itself. If you’ll note, role-play is a verb. As such it denotes action. It shows that in order to role-play (RP from here on out) you gotta do something.

So without further ado… into the world of RP we go!

1.0 Defining roleplay

Roleplaying a character means that you invent history and personality for your character and play out the life he leads. You react to things around you as your character would, not like you yourself would. Some people pick just a few pointers and start playing, some write a novel's worth of background. Neither is right or wrong it is whatever suits your style.

1.1 IC and OOC

IC means In Character, while OOC means Out of Character. Make a clear distinction between those two. In order to have fun people are required OOC to get along even if they would be IC mortal enemies. Conflicts should occur between characters, not between players.

1.2 Different flavors of RP

There's no one right way to RP. Everyone has the right to RP the way they like and are comfortable with. However, radically different ways may make it impossible for two players to play together. Remember that while you have the right to RP the way you like, so does everyone else, and if a community has adopted certain practices, you need to be able to play along those same practices if you want to play with that community.

2.0 Building the character

You are quite free to create as complex and detailed background to your character as you wish. It's your character, after all. However there are a few points to consider.

2.1 Canon - the accepted and approved universe

There is the so called official canon. It is everything that read in the Conan books. The canon is not something that you can contradict. In other words you can't be the king of Aquilonia.

2.2 Expanded Universe

There is also the Expanded Universe, all of the movies and other additional material written around the time period. Some people know a lot about this material, whereas others have never heard of it. If you find out that you are contradicting something, attempt to correct your background accordingly, either by change or reasoning why it is possible anyway.

2.3 Working with the world

Try also to stay within the limits of what can be reasonably deduced from the background material. Exceptions are always a possibility, but the less likely something seems, the stronger the justification is needed to explain the discrepancies.

2.4 Racial tidbits

It is advisable to research your cultural background a little, if that will be relevant to your character (and even if it won't it's better to know a fact about your race and decide not to use it than be ignorant). There is a lot of info available on the net, official and fan sites.

2.5 Keep it real and believable

Try to keep your character from being the best there is. Everyone has faults, and everyone has someone better somewhere. Our characters, just like thousands of others belonging to other players, are leading the more mundane life of Hyboria. Our characters don't much shape the destiny of the entire world, only their own, and those that they touch. If you want to be the nephew of some king or a reincarnated warrior from the past headed for big things, you must convince those that you want to play with that they should accept it. If your character is too influential, it is less likely that it'll be accepted.

2.6 Reputation

No one's going to take your claim to fame at face value. If you want to be a big shot syndicate leader, make it happen in-game. Do the things your characters would if they indeed are such hotshots and make the reputation you want to have. You must convince people IC that you have what it takes by showing them that you have what it takes. However, if you want to have it all, please check (2.5) and reconsider.

3.0 Playing the game

Remember that behind the characters there are real people with real feelings. Playing the game should be OOC fun for all. IC you can be the bastard you like, just be civil on OOC level.

3.1 Your character is your own, and only the player can make decisions regarding their character.

If you want to do something that involves another character (deciding that you are his long lost brother, breaking into his house, making a new character that is someone already mentioned in the other character's bio) you have two options: Either contact that player yourself and work it out with them, or ask a guild leader for help.

3.2 Death is permanent

We try to enforce an environment where combat hurts and death is permanent – but only you can decide if or when your character gets killed. No one has the right to emote ending your character's life without your consent. If someone does that, you have every right to ignore it. Still, if you go and die, that is it - unless you had a plan why you actually didn't die. Without a backdoor, dead is dead, because otherwise there would be no fear of dying at all.

3.3 Play it smart

On the other hand, try to avoid a situation where your character would realistically get killed or where you really would have to kill another character dead, or die trying. Discuss with the other player OOC about it if need be.

3.4 Hurting others

While in the guild, the chosen play style allows a great deal of gritty stuff (e.g. profanity, obscenity, torture, explicit sex, framing people for serious offenses), no-one can be asked to play a scene which makes them OOC uncomfortable (for example, some players prefer to handle in-game sex by just agreeing that sex is had). Ask for consent for intimate/unpleasant stuff ahead of time, otherwise you risk hurting not only the character, but also the player. In game if your character would want to rape someone or hack their hand off, ask for consent. If you get it, go right ahead and do it. If at any time a you are bending the limits of polite behavior and good taste, and are OOC asked to cease and desist – do it. Immediately. Roleplay is not an excuse to be an ass to people.

3.5 Consistency

Keep your character reactions and personality consistent from day to day. If you’re a timid fraidycat today and Mr. Bravado tomorrow, people will very quickly dismiss your character as a nutcase. Naturally moods change day to day, and outlooks change with time – but there’s a difference between growth and random spurts of boredom-induced nuttiness.

3.6 Consequences LOTRO is an RP environment where actions have real and lasting consequences.

We expect mature OOC behavior and tolerance for IC rudeness and malicious intent. The world is dark, the world is gritty - and if you kick up enough dust, the world is deadly. Attacking a law enforcer will make you a fugitive if you get seen doing it, and beating up someone may well get his six buddies to hunt down your character to retaliate. Nasty bastards are legitimate character concepts. However, you as a player will have to accept that being a bad-ass is inviting trouble, and may lead to situations where your character can’t come to town for fear of being beaten senseless on sight. If you make IC enemies, they will be your enemies next week too. Only way out of a sticky situation is making it better yourself.

3.0 Playing the game Cont.

3.7 There’s no win or lose, there’s RP

No one likes a munchkin. Your character will of course always want to win and achieve their goals. That's IC. While it's only natural for a player to also want to win, you always can't. Sometimes you simply meet the better man who kicks the living snot out of you. Accept it, cherish it, and enjoy it. It is a character building experience to see how your character reacts to defeat.

Don’t use OOC knowledge to your advantage. If your character would make a mistake, let him do it. Be your character and rely only on the info he would have. Don’t use radar to locate someone. Let them circle behind you if your char would not notice them in time. There is no winning or losing in OOC sense. There’s just RP.

Remember that even if you play against someone IC, you’re not playing against them OOC. Treat your opponents with OOC respect. Good enemies are hard to come by.

4.0 Defining the world

There are many aspects that need to be agreed upon in order to have a consistently working world. This is the way the we views things.

4.1 What is IC, what is OOC

As a rule of a thumb, if a player has a control over displaying something, it is IC knowledge when displayed.

OOC info: The most important piece of information that is not freely available is the character’s name. Unless you know the person or can guess the identity from context you can’t call someone by name. If people are wearing masks to conceal their faces identifying them becomes even more difficult. Guild tag is OOC info unless it has been agreed that a guild uses a visible sign to mark their members. Belonging to a faction is also OOC info even if you can identify all the people belonging to the same faction as you, unless you have direct IC knowledge. Exceptions of course would be a person walking around in a military uniform.

IC info: Character bios can be seen as entries in a Galactic phone book or WWW. Still, use common sense. If someone says they belong to Gondor in their bio and you’d like to act on that info, check to see if that info really is IC. It is of course possible to use (( )) with OOC bits in the bio too. Not everyone is experienced at writing a biography. Some prefer stories that give information that your character shouldn't know. It is always best to double check with a player first if you have any doubts.

4.2 Time

Time is tricky. A shortest conversation can take hours of game time whereas travel from one side of the Galaxy is pretty much instantaneous. Best we can do is to wiggle and hope no paradoxes occur.

Even if it produces some peculiar effects a 1:1 ratio of time makes most sense. One IG day equals one IRL day. In the game world we see four sunsets per each IRL day but that’s too fast. IG and IRL time occur on one-on-one principle.

5.0 Defining the RP community

This section deals how we behave and do things. People who come to our city should adopt or at least honor and accept these practices.

5.1 We play Age of Conan

We are playing in the "Age of Conan": this means respecting the lore. Backgrounds and characters can’t go against the7 lore.

5.2 Maturity

We expect OOC maturity from our members. That means tolerance for adult themes, acceptance of consequences, and commitment to the consistency of characters and world, and dedication to immersion.

‘Mature community' and 'adult themes' doesn't mean players spending all their IC time having sex, doing drugs and performing gratuitous violence, or going out of their way to do so. It just means that where it IC makes sense for this to happen, it will, and players are expected to be able to deal with this sensibly. Whether "sensibly" means just playing through the situation, or saying "(( This is getting a bit intense for me, lets cut here and sort the details OOC ))", is at the discretion of individual players.

Summarizing - "mature" isn't code for "cybersex here".

We don’t have any means to check on the physical age of any player. However people under the age of fifteen are asked to stay their distance. For the rest it is up to them to convince us that they have the required level of maturity to cope in our community.

5.3 Intense RP

In the guild the heavier aspects of life are present. People have sex, drink, smoke... They can act abusive. Some characters are nasty people who use physical force to get their way, use violence to make others obey, use foul language or act coldly towards others purely for their own reasons. There are also equally tight bonds of trust and friendship, of course.

The relationships between our characters are always based on something. In the beginning there is an empty slate. Anything that exists is based on developments. IC emotions carry meaning and weight and have their own consequences.

Mind you, while people might bend a little to accommodate a new face, they will act IC and respond as their characters do. If you’re IC rude, you’ll get it thrown back at your face. Use of possible lethal force will also bear consequences. If you want to play a hardass from the get go you can do it – just be prepared to have that ass handed back to you if you irritate the wrong people.

If an IC situation gets OOC uncomfortable the right thing to do is to call a time out and discuss it with the players involved or ask help from a GM. Feeling IC uncomfortable is ok, feeling OOC uncomfortable is not. If someone OOCly asks for a scene to not continue with their character the other roleplayers involved should take the hint and cease and desist the current action or allow the person to leave before continuing.

5.4 Immersion

As roleplayers immerse into our characters and into the world. We lead the lives they have with their own pasts, memories, motives and agendas. At the best of times we become the characters that we play and experience the emotions they experience. Maintaining the inner consistency of our characters and the environment where we live in is important.

People with different styles of RP might go lighter on the immersion or take less seriously their actions. They are quite free to do so, of course. We can’t impose our style on anyone, and neither do we wish to. We only ask that people who wish to engage in deep RP with our citizens respect our level of immersion. A good example of this is keeping OOC statements and commentary out of general chat. Also if you see roleplayers nearby outside of the city to respect their roleplay and keep your OOC commentary to tells/guild/group chat. Nothing ruins a roleplay scene more then someone talking local sports scores, etc. etc. next to you.

5.0 Defining the RP community

5.5 No pointless conflicts

All conflicts need to be based on IC reasons. We are quite willing to run plots where some sort of attack or disturbance occurs and has consequences. What we are not interested is the drive-by style of RP where someone wants to start a fight out of OOC boredom or because they think OOCly that a conflict between this and that would be OOC exciting. A baseless fight is a pointless occurrence that serves no other purpose than to entertain on a short term people who have difficulties with the level of immersion we strive for.

5.6 IC is default

We are by default IC. RP is not something we do every now and then when we decide that RP’ing would be a nice change of pace. There is no need to ask if we’re RP’ing or announce that you are there to RP. Just do it - be IC and let IC sort it out.

Sure we have our OOC moments for whatever reasons. There’s no rule that you have to be IC all the time or with every single action. Just be mindful that sometimes OOC stuff can break the immersion for others. Balance and consideration towards others is “the thing”.

5.7 Communicating

If you say something OOC, preferably use group or guildchat and use (( )) around it. That applies to general chat, city channel and groupchat. It’s not too serious is you lapse once in a while, no one’s going to bite your head off, but do make an effort.

If everyone you want to communicate to something OOC is in the same group as you, use groupchat for OOC. In groupchat you can also generate more ”noise” without people getting annoyed than on general chat. general chat OOC stuff should be reserved to handling IG matters, not general chitchat. You can use city channel for that.

5.8 Getting along

OOC problems with other players are AOCManualNormal in most large groups. Liking each other OOC isn't required, mutual respect and getting along is. If you have a problem, please do not let your steam out in the chat channel or on the forum. This only creates more friction and drags other people into the mess. If you feel the situation needs discussing, contact the other player directly via PM or /tell, or consult a guild leader about it.

6.0 Combat

In Age of Conan combat plays an important part. However bear in mind that weapons are deadly, so if you start a fight you risk a serious injury or death – yours or someone else’s.

6.1 Decide how to fight

There are basically to ways to interpret the fight. Either by dueling and using game mechanics or using emotes to simulate what happens during the fight. Emotes allow a far wider range of things to do, like hiding behind a table or taking a hostage whereas it ceases to be practical with more people than 2-3 participants. Also as a rough rule emoted fights tend to fit interiors better whereas mechanics fights work better in the open air. Before starting the fight, agree on the rules used. Most times for example DB is not allowed.

If you are deathblowed in IC fight and it wasn't malicious then you are expected to be the better player and accept that you died. If you don't wish to ever be deathblowed then do not engage in combat ICLy because we will not guarantee it will never happen. If you are afraid of decay on items then don't bring those items with you to a fight. It is best to keep them safe in your bank or house.

6.2 Be realistic

You can’t put your armor on in the middle of the combat. It’s just not sensible to be strapping a chest piece on when firing a blaster rifle. If you pack one big/heavy weapon it’s a bit difficult to carry with you another. Or at least five starts to seriously stretch the believability. Try maintain realism even in the heat of the battle.

6.3 Injuries

Suffering from injuries is natural. If you got incapped it means you took at least one serious hit and it should both hurt and require a doc to look it over. Unless there were emoted attempts to harm you directly you can quite freely decide what sort of injuries you suffered. Some may be countered with herbs and painkillers in minutes, some may require a day or two or maybe a week to heal, and some may follow you for months.

If you suffer a grave injury it will linger longer and be more difficult to set completely right than a mere flesh wound.

If you get DB'd by a mob, or intentionally by an opponent, you have been gravely injured. If someone DB'd you, that was an attempt on your life that just failed. Both sides should realize this as there will be consequences for such an action. After getting DB'd you can either clone to a facility or get a rez from a priest. Have it agreed with someone that they'll in some way will handle transporting you to the med clinic. If you clone move OOCly into the med clinic to receive treatment. If you get rezzed by a priest in the field they've managed to patch you up enough to prevent death. If the DB took place in an intense RP scene you should treat the wounds as almost fatal. If it was a fluke incap during a light hunt you can play it a bit groggy for the next while and recover after a bit. Whatever seems to suit the occasion.

The above guide was writen by Rowan Parrish for SWG, and is being used and modified with her permission.

DISCLAIMER: ALL GUILD POLICIES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE OR WARNING. IT WILL BE YOU'RE RESPONSIBLY TO CHECK BACK PERIODICALLY TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE MOST UP-TO DATE VERSION.

Page Last Modified: 05/04/08

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