Rules

From Edge of Darkness Wiki

Latest revision as of 19:59, 16 July 2020

General

These are the general rules for the site, that apply to the forums and chat.

• Players must be 17 or older.
• Players are expected to have read and understand the core books of their chosen venue and any house rules pertaining to that venue.
• Keep explicit content in public posts to a minimum -- suggestive writing and 'fading to black' is preferred. Absolutely no rape.
• Do not take liberties with other people's characters, especially in narration. The other player should be consulted and give their permission first.
• Respect the Storytellers (STs) and their rulings. If you disagree, or the STs made a mistake, please handle it through Private Messages or in some other OOC medium rather than derailing a Scene.
• Review the Help topics. They'll answer a lot of questions.
• Posting frequency is typically 2-3 times a week at minimum
• Only four characters total are allowed per player
• Avatars / FaceClaims should be appropriate. Please don't pick a Victoria's Secret model or World's Sexiest Man if you haven't purchased Striking Looks. It's not fair to those that have. If you haven't paid the toll, then your character should be average. Also, please use/find a real-life picture for your primary (i.e. Mask for Changelings) avatar.
• Willpower sacrifices (Bloodline activation, Spell relinquishment, etc.) will require the immediate repurchase of the Willpower dot (8XP).
• And, please, generally Be Excellent To Each Other!

No FoBs (Fresh Off the Boat)

As entertaining as it might be for you, it's not very fun to explain to someone else what a phone, or car, or Harpy, or Interfector is. If you want to explore your character's education, you're free to do so in historical Glimpses, but not to inflict that burden on others.

• No Anachronism Flaw
• Characters are required to be aware/familiar of modern technologies
• Characters are required to be aware/familiar with their splat societies. At the bare minimum, this means all material (titles, organizations, dos and don'ts) from the core venue sourcebook.

Posting

Generally posting in a Scene is done by taking turns, at whatever speed the parties involve manage. However, in some cases people are delayed from posting, and guidelines need to be defined.

Posting Rate in Narrative

• Please do not get more than 2 posts 'ahead' of the slowest poster in a Scene. **This '1 ahead' allowance should be the exception and not the rule** -- it should only be used to facilitate things like breaking off scenes or to keep things moving if, say, a character whose turn it isn't has been asked a direct question that everyone else is waiting for the answer on. This should never be done 'just because' or out of impatience or to gain some advantage. Be polite. Be considerate. Wait your turn.
• If a player whose turn it is to post has taken more than 48 hours to respond, the other players/characters are free to move on, without IC consequences/repercussions. If someone does not reply for more than 96 hours after their last 'at bat', you may proceed as though they had left.

Posting Rate in Combat

If the ST informs you that for combat the 48 hour rule will be exchanged by "Combat Posting," Please be aware of the following:

• You must post within 24 hours of the turn before your own or be considered to have Held your action.
• Held = Dropped from initiative to return with missing actions
• Delayed = Initiative lowers to whatever the player decides or when they remember to post within the same turn

Posting Key

Narrative describes what your character is doing, and should be in plain, unmarked text. Bold or italics can be used sparingly for emphasis.

• Damn, look at that. Jack eyed the new hottie, Jill. "Hey girl, you want to go up on the hill with me?"

Speech describes what your character says and should be surrounded by quote marks ("), and can be colored.

• Damn, look at that. Jack eyed the new hottie, Jill. "Hey girl, you want to go up on the hill with me?"

Thoughts describe what your character is thinking (directly, in the first person) and should be completely italicized, and can be colored.

• Damn, look at that. Jack eyed the new hottie, Jill. "Hey girl, you want to go up on the hill with me?"

This is the standard posting key. Alterations to this, even if noted in a signature line, rely on the goodwill of other players to respect. If there is a question of content, these rules take precedence over any individual customization. Please also refrain from 'dialect' or other such styles like repeating characters for stutters if it is a constant characteristic. Every now and then is fine, but wading through word salad is no fun for anyone. Just use a descriptor:

• "Sure thing, no problem," Richmond Valentine lisped.

Scenes

These are the specific rules for how we handle Scenes and keep continuity from getting snarled:

• Normal: A public or private Scene which is not a Sticky thread.

Normal Scenes 'happen' when the thread closes/Scene ends

• Sticky: This is a Scene which is typically mandatory attendance (Court, etc.), an event/party that people might want to attend, or a thread that will take longer than normal (combat involved, etc).

Stickies 'happen' on the day the thread begins

• Glimpse: A short narrative of the character's past or present. These can be used for blue-booking, introspection, history, sharing, etc. Glimpses are not interactive and do not involve other characters.
• Personal Plots: Whether these are 'personal plots' or exploration of something like the Twilight or Shadow, there's always been a question of players wanting ST(s) to run something for them personally. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but ST time is a resource that has to account for all players. To put a definitive answer on the books for what might be reasonable, a player can request a single Scene every three months.
• Please review each venue's house rules on Scene limits and monitoring. Further, this is an overview and the complete topic on Scenes needs to be read.

Chat

These are Scenes done in real-time in the Chat rooms.

• Chat Scenes should be logged and posted
• No 'cybering'
• Private Crossover Scenes (involving two different splats) require (all) ST approval
• Please refrain from talking about inflammatory topics or topics that may lead to arguments. For example:
  • The Validity of other games / sites.
  • Politics
  • Religion
• Any recruiting for In Character organizations, such as Covenants or Courts, need to be done In Character.
• Recruiting for other Play by Post sites is absolutely prohibited. This includes 'soft' recruiting by making leading statements which encourage questions.

Private Message

These Scenes are typically between two characters with positions and in-character responsibilities, allowing for character development and so that other characters don't get 'stuck' waiting.

• PM Scenes require (all) ST approval
• PM Scenes should be logged and posted

Communications

These threads are typically phone calls, text messages, emails, or letters.

• Comms happen in real time; once posted, the message is sent/delivered.
• If there is a question of continuity, the originator's time-line supersedes the recipient's.

Social Groups

These are private forums which contain Scenes visible only to the member of the group.

• Group creation requires ST approval
• Adult (NSFW, explicit, etc) content is allowed if mutually agreeable to all group members.

Beginning Play

Your character is not approved until a Storyteller says something to that effect. Once that happens, a few more things are necessary before beginning play. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask, either on your character sheets or in Chat.

• Getting Started and Entering Play Guide

Tracking Scenes and Expenditures

Some venues have limits on how many Scenes (threads) a character may be in in -- these are found on the individual House Rules pages. Additionally, some abilities in nWoD require expenditures: Willpower, Vitae, Mana, etc. For your sanity and ours, we have a system for keeping track of both.

• Tracker will record your Scenes and expenditures
• Power Icons will note when you make an expenditure and feed the info to Tracker.

Please read these carefully. Using them is mandatory for play.

Rolling Dice

• Always note the character's name, complete dice pool, and any modifiers. Please spell out the source of your dice pool and indicate modifiers, rather than state the type of action. Feel free to abbreviate if necessary. Example: Gnosis3+Life4+HS2 (High Speech)
• If you unsure about a dice pool, check the books, then ask your ST. It's best not to assume and please don't approach an ST without doing some foot work yourself.
• Use the ROLL BBCode to record your roll in your post. Include any point spending and the mechanical outcome in the same spoiler. Label that Spoiler clearly and warn if you think it should remain unseen by players.
• Mage players should remember that Paradox rolls always come before the spell roll because successes on the Paradox roll are deducted from the spellcasting spell roll.
• Willpower is added on by clicking the Willpower box on the right side. The Dice Roller adds it for you.
• If you roll the dice, you attempted the Action. Rolling dice and excluding the results (for example, on a failure) is strictly prohibited.

XP Reports

In the last week of each month, please fill out an XP Report, accessible from the drop down menus of each venue, with details of what your character has accomplished in the last month. These must be submitted before midnight, Central US time, of the month for which experience is to be awarded. This is the only way your characters will receive regular experience.

House Rules

We've got a lot of House Rules. Please take the time and make the effort to go through them -- especially at Character Creation. Some are made to balance the game, some are made to address issues particular to the play by post format, and some address crossover issues. They exist for many reasons, but the primary one is to fix a problem that was encountered -- the HRs have a purpose, and are not arbitrary.

• Please play the game for six months before suggesting additions or alterations. That will give you plenty of time to see them in use rather than guesstimating in a vacuum.

Character Accounts

Players should make secondary accounts to post under for their characters. Please note that it's also the player's responsibility to ensure that all accounts are maintained and updated and to stay on top of their OOC business. Reading OOC posts, private messages directed to the player account, notations on the character sheet -- these are all your responsibility. Not logging in to your player account isn't an excuse.

That said, we hope it's an easy and fun process. Here's how to get started:

• Register a new forum account after a character is approved.
• Link Accounts to your user account by going to Settings (top right of page), then the center page under your thread subscriptions will have your Linking options.
• Be sure to fill in your "main" (player) account info in your Profile Settings.

Double Posting

Lastly! If you forget which account you're using and post with your player account DO NOT re-post / double post with your Character Account. It clutters up the thread, throws off the various counters, and just annoys everyone else. Just live with it. And if you do? Make sure your signature and minisheet is set up on your Player Account :P

See Also

• Vampire FAQ
• Werewolf FAQ
• Banned Content