Rules And Regulations
Don't be a dick.
Now that that's out of the way, let's get down to our more specific rules (which were largely grabbed from Block by Block).
- A GM's word is final - This is a very straightforward rule… what the GM says, goes. If you have an issue with a rules call or anything like that, please approach the GM privately and calmly to have the situation sorted out. Disobeying the ruling of a GM will result in temp-bans to start with. Punishments escalate from there.
- Do not power-game - This is probably the most basic rule in any well run RPing community. This covers the following things:
- Min-maxing — Dumping as many skill points as you can in a certain area at character creation. Real people are rarely gods at anything, and are at least nominally talented in a variety of areas.
- Mary Sues — Playing your character as the absolute best at everything. Good characters have personality flaws and things they are not good at.
- Hogging the plot — Getting involved in all plots and then keeping them to yourself. You do not always have to find an excuse for your character to be involved in something, particularly if it's mostly for someone else.
- God-modding1 — Having your characters doing things they should not be able to. If your character is wounded, role-play it out and make sure your attacks are realistic to the weapon you wield and the character that does the wielding.
- Social Roll Abuse — Players are not required to have their characters act in accordance with social rolls made by other players. If someone wants to have their character persuade someone else's character to do something, and they don't like it, it doesn't happen.
- Do not meta-game - Keep in-character discussions in-character and do not confuse IC and OOC drama. Don't let things you've been told out-of-character influence how your character acts. While the GMs cannot be the thought-police, meta-gaming takes away from the overall roleplaying experience. Use your judgement as players to determine what you should and should not discuss OOC with other players — typically, anything a GM sends you over private message should not be shared with other players until it comes up in-character. While this rule really only applies to 'hard' (GM-run) roleplaying, keep this in mind for soft RP as well.
- Is this good for the story? - This is a big one… in fact it is THE big one. Every action you take in a roleplay should be prefaced with this very question. All players should always ask themselves "Are my actions good for the story?" The same thing should be asked before taking issue with another players actions. We may not agree with one another's actions, but sometimes you need to run with what the others give you. This is also not a player-versus-player environment: the characters are not here to defeat each other. Consider Origins player vs. the plot, and remember that we're all here to have a good time and tell one amazing story.
- RP what you want - It is the player's right in any roleplaying game to step away from scenarios they are uncomfortable with. Origins is no different. All cast members have the right to say public or privately to the GMs that they are not going to participate in a given scene for whatever reason. This also extends to soft RP scenes. No player can force another player into a plot/scene they do not want.
- If you're doing a scene with someone, pay attention! - This goes doubly for plot. If you're not present enough to keep up with events happening in-character, it's probably a good idea to excuse yourself until you can focus.
- You can retcon some things, but not others.2 Sometimes, because humans make mistakes, it is necessary to retcon something.3 As a player, however, there are limits to this:
- You cannot retcon anything the GM says you cannot retcon, and this is final.
- You may not retcon anything because you don't like the consequences that an action had, even though the action was possible and reasonable at the time.
- You may not retcon another character's actions — if you believe that a player made a mistake, talk to them. If they won't budge, talk to a GM. If the GM does not budge, consider the possibility that you are wrong.
- You may not retcon things that happened an appreciable amount of time ago unless they involved a factual error. If it was long enough ago, that might not even be good enough.
- There are, of course, some basic acceptable reasons to retcon:
- Factual errors. Either a character is shown knowing information that they had no way of knowing, or they're doing something that they can't do, due to personal ability or location. Alternatively, they give information that directly contradicts with established fact (and they're not lying).
- Characterization errors. A character says or does something that they would not do. These should be caught quickly — it's hard enough to justify a retcon without needing to undo significant amounts of dialogue.
- The GM says so.
- Be coherent: Adurrr! If there's ambiguity in what your character is doing, where they are, or who they are talking to, fix that. And no gibberish.
- Ask for things you want: If you want something to happen for your character, it's not going to happen on its own. You NEED to ask a GM. The flip-side is, if you can't find anything on the site saying that your characters would have access to something, it's better to assume that they do not and contact a GM to ask.
- Anomalous activity isn't everywhere: Only GMs, or persons with GM approval, may GM occurrences with anomalous phenomenon
- NPCs aren't for everyone: NPCs can only be played with permission from a GM, either at the time of it being played or at a previously agreed upon time. Contributors may be allowed to run their own NPCs with their own rules.
- PC suicide and self-harm are banned: Given the upsetting and disturbing nature of the topic, suicide and self-harm are not to be undertaken in this RP.
- Age Minimum: You have to be this tall to ride the rides; 15 years old minimum and act like it in chat and on the site.
- Avoid sexual content: The characters in this RP are adults living together, and as such, romantic/sexual situations and relationships sometimes occur. However, sexual content or encounters should never be the focus of the RP. If a scene could contain sexual content, please reconsider the scene. Explicit sexual RP is not part of this game.
- Whistle-blowing: Players will never be penalized if their actions led to or coincided with any sort of abuse against the player. That is to say, if a player is breaking a rule and that results in some abuse being committed against them, they will not be penalized for whatever rule they broke. We as a GM team do not want players to ever feel as though they can not bring forward complaints of abuse for fear of reprisal for related infractions.
- PCs with mental conditions: Characters with mental conditions have been created and used in the past. These characters are always under very heavy scrutiny from the GM team to ensure that the subject matter is being portrayed in an accurate and respectful way. Any character with a mental condition must have it clearly stated on the character sheet at the time that the character is sent for soft-approval. As with anomalous characters, first-time players are not permitted to make a character with a mental condition.
- Treasonous PCs: Any Player Character who willfully betrays the Foundation and is discovered to have done so by Site Administration will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the GM team regarding their fate. Betraying the Foundation is no laughing matter and it should be assumed that if a PC is caught betraying them there is a very real chance of consequences ranging from IC charges to OOC forced retirement. Again, actual consequences will be done on a case-by-case basis. Please note that it is required that the GM team is aware and approves of this aspect of your character, it cannot be invoked out of the blue.
- Retirement: Retirement is a permanent process and cannot be undone once a character is retired. However, there is a three-day waiting period before said retirement, to ensure people have adequate time to think over their choice. Always talk to a GM first about retirement.