For all Rollspelskra members and all non-Rollspelskra members that wish to join in the roleplay, roleplay etiquette must be followed in order to participate. The following rules define what roleplay etiquette would look like:Golden Rules of Roleplay: Below are the quintessential rules of avoiding bad roleplay. These rules must be followed in all scenarios.
No holier-than-thouing: No supernatural, sacred, or divine forces may be used to severely alter the plot of the roleplay within a player’s action. Magic itself is not necessarily banned and it can be used in ways equivalent to non-magic tech. For instance, a firebolt spell can be used as an equivalent to a pistol. However, magic cannot be used in a way that unquestionably surmounts everything else.“I summon my goddess to blow up your capital” X, holier-than-thouing
“My king uses his fire magic to attack the leader of Cheesistan” ✔
No plotreigning: The roleplay cannot be determined by any participant further out than their next action, including any reversals of roleplay actions done by themselves or other participants. A roleplay is designed to be flexible and to give ample opportunity for all participants to influence how the plot is laid out. Thus, to interfere with another player’s action is denying them the ability to participate in the roleplay in a meaningful way.
“You cannot attack us, since we have already destroyed your nation ” X, plotreigning
“I travel back in time with my technology and prevent your attack” X, plotreigning
“After your attack against our nation, we retaliate.” ✔
No godmodding: Do not control characters, organizations, or anything else that does not belong to you. Just as using something someone owns without their permission is rude, the same idea can be applied for roleplay. If you do want to control something that belongs to a different player (such as taking control of their armies during an invasion), ask their permission first. With this permission, it is admissible, but otherwise, it’s not polite.
“The leader of Cheesistan surrenders to my nation” X, godmodding
“My leader sends a peace treaty to the leader of Cheesistan” ✔
No powerplaying: Only roleplayers that are in control of their characters, organizations, or anything else can determine how much damage they receive from any form of attack. It’s an extension of the godmodding principle to not mess with something that is not yours. Let the other player determine how badly they are hurt from an attack (which is made reasonable by the overpowering rule).
“Cheesistan’s army is decimated from my army attacking” X, powerplaying
“My army launches an attack against Cheesistan’s army” ✔
No overpowering: Characters/Organizations/Technology/etc aren’t perfect. Attacks won't always land, blocking attempts may fail or won't block all damage, and characters may struggle with skills. Chances are more likely characters will take damage in a fight and will have to work on skills. You may occasionally be very lucky and dodge a bullet, but more likely a bullet will hit and it will hurt.
“My army was unharmed from your attack” X, overpowering
“My army suffered some casualties, but was then able to find cover from the enemy fire” ✔
No metagaming: Characters, organizations, or anything else cannot know or act upon anything that they cannot reasonably know. During a participant’s turn, their roleplay may involve discussions or actions that cannot possibly be known by other characters in the roleplay. To suddenly act as if that action is known, even in an indirect manner, therefore breaks this principle.
“We destroy Cheesistan’s weapons manufactory that was being built in an undisclosed location” X, metagaming
“We invade the shores of Cheesistan, just as we originally planned” ✔
No retconning: The roleplay is linear, so once your action has been submitted, it cannot be deleted, revised, or unreasonably added upon. To modify your previous action after it has been responded to by other participants disregards their rightful influence over the roleplay. Omissions in details do happen, so editing the post to add those, depending on their significance, is permissible, but anything that’s already responded to will be a lot harder.
“Actually, you never killed my leader, since I had them evacuated before you invaded my city” X, retconning
“While the city is being invaded, the future leader is smuggled out by some soldiers” ✔
One action per turn: In each action taken, do not commit to more than one action. This allows participants to respond to all components of an action without any potential for breaking the golden rules. Furthermore, it ensures that the roleplay does not progress too quickly or end short, allowing for longevity and therefore more enjoyment for participants.
“I attack the enemy forces and then retreat to my ships and depart for my homeland” X, more than one action
“I attack the enemy forces” ✔
Keep it comment-able: To prevent the roleplay from becoming dry, all actions must be at least a paragraph -four or five sentences- long. The more detail/narrative you provide about your action, the better. This way, the roleplay is not only enriched with your detail, but it allows other participants to respond to your action in a more personalized way.
“I attack” X, not detailed enough
“From our harbor, hundreds of ships sail towards the shores of Cheesistan, armed and prepared for a deadly encounter…” ✔
Alternate reality assumption: unless explicitly stated by the roleplay host, roleplays are assumed to be alternate reality. This way, nations or characters that a participant wishes to not be historically changed can remain untouched, thus encouraging more participation from more people.
Have patience: In order to promote equal and ample opportunity for everyone involved in the roleplay to participate, spam posting is not allowed. Once an action has been submitted, all other participants must respond, or 24 hours pass, before another action can be submitted by the same participant. In collaboration with the “one action per turn” rule, it helps to extend the roleplay for a longer amount of time. More importantly though, it allows everyone the equal chance to respond without a scene being rushed through.
Tag it: For all Rollspelskra-roleplay actions, make sure to give your topic a header. This way, it is far easier to differentiate between each of the roleplay topics. Official roleplays, such as special events and monthly roleplays, will have the following fixed format:
*month or event prefix here* Rollspelskra Roleplay: *insert title of roleplay here*
Member-created roleplays, however, need not follow a format, only to have their topic titled after the name of their roleplay.
Further specifications: Any additional rules, prohibitions, or regulations specified at the beginning of a roleplay must be respected. Breakages of these additional rules shall be determined by either the Grandmaster (for offcial/event-based roleplays) or the hosting member(s) (for member-created roleplays).
