PLAYER RULES

Violation of these rules will result in marks on the Player Penalty System and can result in loss of characters, rights to make characters in certain splats, temporary and permanent bans. The staff also reserves the right to look at situations that occurred in the past and assign PPS marks for them when the situation comes to light.

GAME PLAY

1) Metagaming. Accidents happen. And when it's clear that it was an unintentional slip? We'll be forgiving. But if you repeatedly "slip" or if it becomes clear that you're intentionally metagaming? Not ok.

But Metagaming covers more than just using information your character doesn't have yet. It can also be manipulating your character or their reactions to things based on things you know, or conversations you've had out of characters. And while this is harder to prove, we will treat it just as harshly if we find that you're doing it.

Examples to help you know the difference?

• Susie plays two characters. One knows Bob's character has a safe behind a painting. Her other character breaks into it. Bad, and not an accident.
• Bob and Susie had a scene that made Bob angry. Bob logs back in with his more powerful character and attacks Susie.
  Bad, and not an accident.
• Susie and Bob have characters that are in a relationship. Joe knows about it, and his character mentions it in a scene.
  Bad, possibly an accident.

And a final note on Metagaming, planing things OOC with other players is inevitable. We do it when we're looking for reasons for our characters to scene, etc. But you have to make sure you back up what your character does or knows IC, otherwise it's still metagaming.

2) We're not cool with God-Moding here. You know: Being untouchable. Ignoring wounds. Ignoring Disciplines/Gifts/Contracts/Rotes/Psychic Powers that were rolled successfully against you. Or stating that something never happened when it did. Or...yeah. You guys get the gist.

3) Also, acting outside of the confines of your character sheet. If you have no Athletics, don't attempt a somersault off of a three-story building. Not without an awesome roll and a whole lot of luck. And someone with Resources 1 can not afford a sub-machine gun. They just can't. Players with no dot's in Haven: Security do not have booby-traps to keep intruders out.

4) Players are not allowed to ignore scenes and wait for them to go away because they don't like the consequences. This is a form of a metagaming. If something honestly comes up and you aren't able to come to the site for a while, let us know. We're happy to work around real life. We aren't happy about just trying to dodge responsibility.

PLAYER CONDUCT

1) Keep IC and OOC separate. This can be difficult at times, but it's important to keep perspective. Don't drag your OOC drama IC and don't take IC drama as personal attacks. Players are not their characters, and just because Susie plays a character who talked smack on your character doesn't mean that Susie talked smack on you. Keep it in perspective.

2) You know that saying "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all?" It's probably a good idea to keep to that. Seeing as we're all here to have a good time, ooc insults, flaming, and any other derogatory thing that makes someone feel about three inches tall will not be tolerated. If Bob thinks Joe is a tool, he needs to keep it to himself.

We will not tolerate the harassment of players.

3) Right, so....private matters. Sure, we all have them. Lets do our best to keep our private matters just that: Private. Bringing our dirty laundry into the OOC Chat, or in public is kind of awkward, and not only for those involved.

4) Keep things moving along. Susie, Bob and Joe are all taking part in a forum scene. Suddenly Joe doesn't log on for two weeks and the forum scene fades into the ether and is forgotten. We've all been there. On both sides of this matter.

So the best rule of thumb is to give 48 hours for a player to respond. If, for whatever reason, they have not posted by then you may skip their turn for that round. But give them the chance to jump back in on their turn the next round.

You are also welcome to PM a player to remind them that they are up, but keep it polite and only send one. Do not bombard a player with reminders about your scene. The same holds true for asking for scenes in the first place. Be polite, do not hound or harass players to get them.

5) Off site scenes. If you decide to do any writing off site, which is acceptable, you must submit the log or a summary for the scene to become part of canon. It is no longer acceptable to just mention something IC and have it become canon. The ST for that splat must be made aware of the scene and what took place in it, or it did not happen.

6) With our new staff system, there are methods in place to deal with situations as they arise. Because of this, passive-aggressive comments will not be tolerated. First of all, if you have a problem there are ways to address it. Even if that problem is with a staff member. Secondly, it serves no purpose. Comments like that only stir up drama and annoy people.

This rule includes using these sorts of comments to convince other people to scene with you. It's more than fine to ask for a scene, but it's not ok to badger other players. And when you try to manipulate players, they tend to avoid you.

ST/PLAYER RELATIONS

1) Debating an ST ruling is welcome. After all, we're human too, and when running a scene are more than likely trying to keep up with three to four different characters' [sometimes more] actions. Sometimes we miss things. Sometimes we're wrong.

So if a perceived mistake is made, a single Private Message via the chat is perfectly reasonable. After that, the Storyteller's, Narrator's, or Moderator's ruling stands. If there is a further issue, a Private Message via the Forums to the proper Storyteller or Narrator, explaining the situation, along with a Chatlog of said situation, would be appreciated.

However, any technical decisions made after the fact will not affect any scene that happened before the House Rule or House Precedent has been set.

Continuously arguing with a Storyteller or Staff Member while in the scene, or becoming irrate or verbally abusive, will not be tolerated. At the end of the day? You don't have to like a story teller's ruling, but you do need to remain respectful.

2) Complaints. Sometimes things happen. Disputes between players or between staff and players arise and need dealt with. And we want you to bring those to the staff where we will do our best to mediate the situation or otherwise address it. But please do so in PM. Don't air dirty laundry to make your complaint. You also never have to worry about IC retaliation for making a complaint. If you feel that either a staff member or other player is punishing you for coming forward, let the staff know.

In our new staff system we will be taking each complaint to a vote among staff. This helps eliminate concerns of favoritism or of situations being ignored. This also means each complaint will take a bit longer to sort through as it is discussed and voted on.

Each complaint will be given 1 full week of discussion before a vote is taken on it. Particularly sensitive or complicated issues will take longer.

IC SITUATIONS

1) Sex is part of life. But there are some rules to keep in mind when writing it here.

Try--at least make an effort to be tasteful about it. Especially if you're writing a mood-post. Frankly, we could care less how graphic you get in a chat scene, but mood posts need to be rated PG-13 or R [rather than NC-17 or XXX]. Pornography has it's place, and it's not here.

And characters must be of legal age to be written having sex IC. No minors.

2) If at any point a player feels uncomfortable, fade to black. Some players like to write the details, others are fine with just knowing the sex happens. And in this situation? You always go with whoever wants the least amount of details.

If Susie likes to write the full on details of sex and Bob likes to fade to black? Susie should never pressure Bob to take it farther than he's comfortable with.

3) Rape and torture, etc. It's a touchy subject, but it happens in the real world and it certainly happens in the world of darkness. Based on past situations there are a number of rules in place regarding these topics.

1. Rape in character history is acceptable.
2. Referencing rape that took place is acceptable. Going into detail while "remembering" the rape is not acceptable.
3. If you feel that you need to write the details of the event (and some players do for character growth) this writing must take place off site and the log of the event should never be posted. A ST still needs to be informed that it took place, but a simple pm of 'character a was raped by character b' is all it takes.
4. No incest.
5. No pedophilia.
6. No necrophilia.
7. No bestiality.
8. At any point, player comfort comes first. In situations of any sort of torture, which is allowed PC to PC, you fade to black when one of the players becomes uncomfortable.
9. Any situation involving rape or torture of a character of any kind must be agreed to by both players before it takes place. It is not ok to just walk into a scene and rape or torture someone else's character. In situations where a character is held prisoner by another, this rule still applies.
10. Any scene involving a sensitive subject such as rape or torture must be labeled clearly at the start of the scene so that players know what to expect and can choose not to read further if they think it will bother them. Even though the details are left out, label everything.