Please familiarize yourself with the following guidelines. Remember, all general forum rules also apply. All rules listed here are enforced and interpreted at the discretion of the RPG moderators.
General.
1(a). Only join a RPG if you can commit to taking part in it. That means getting on every day or every other day and being able to RP. Do not simply sign up and walk away. If you join a RPG, you are expected to participate in it.
1(b). When posting an RP, please ensure that it advances the RPG in terms of action, story, or character development in some way. No pointless one-liner RPs that add nothing to the RPG.
2. If you join multiple RPG's you are expected to continue playing in all to an equal extent.
3. Unless specifically stated by that RPG's Game Master, you can sign up for an RPG at any point even if it's in progress, so long as you follow all the guidelines and procedures spelled out for joining that RPG (usually found in the first post of its Sign-Up Thread). Also, if your character dies (as could very realistically happen, as we're all RPing mortal humans in wars), you are free to join the RPG again as a new character if you so wish.
4. In addition to the Game Master, RPG Section Moderators are allowed to approve characters for an RPG in addition to any custom units.
5. Calling hits is generally frowned upon, unless the RPG is set in a large scale battle (Examples of large scale battles where hits may allowed to be called are the Battle Of Solomon or the Battle Of Gryps 2). In battles of larger scales such as those, hits may be called on generic NPC units. However, please use your best judgement when it comes to called hits and do not abuse that power and call too many hits. Calling hits on other players, at any time, is not allowed unless the other player has not responded within 48 hours (See next rule).
6. When one player attacks another in a RPG, the second player has 48 hours to reply to the attack before the first player is allowed to call hits. The first player must wait at least that long before calling hits, but may wait longer if they so choose.
7. If you are going to be unable to post for a period of time longer than 48 hours, please try to inform the other players in the discussion thread for the RPG you are in. If you wish for another player to take control of your characters, either ask them in the discussion thread or with a Private Message. If, for whatever reason, you need to drop out of an RPG permanently, please announce so publicly. It will make everything a lot easier on your fellow RPers. If necessary, make arrangements for someone else to adopt your character. Otherwise, he/she/(it?) will be made into an NPC. If the circumstances are right, you can even have your character killed off, but that's up to you.
8(a). If a player does not respond to a RPG for more than five days (120 hours), their characters may be placed on 'Death Row'. When placed on Death Row, their characters will be considered NPCs in that RPG. The player will receive notice roughly 24 hours before being placed on Death Row. You have that much time to return to the RPG or to the Green Mile ye goes.
8(b). Any character that has remained on Death Row for 20 consecutive days without being killed can be claimed for adoption by any other player without contest. If a member is banned from the forums, any characters he/she controlled are immediately available for adoption.
9. If an RPG reaches its planned ending without being closed (for low participation, GM/member abandonment, etc.), then the GM of that RPG has the option of setting up a sequel game without the need for a section vote. If the GM exercises the option to start a new game it must be directly related in some way to the one that has just ended. If a game ends in such a way that a sequel is impossible, this rule does not apply. Use of this rule may continue as long as there is an acceptable level of participation.
Enforcement.
The rules will be enforced with warnings sent by the section Moderators. Warnings may be given in the section itself, by PM or in both. Warnings may result in Probation and/or Banning from the RPG section.
Probation.
Players may be placed on Probation in the RPG section. A player may be placed on Probation for repeated violations of the above rules or being a general annoyance to the RPG community. Being placed on probation will limit the type of character you may have in a RPG and thus your impact in the RPG. Some of the limitations are:
1. The player is limited to one (1) RPG and is only allowed one (1) character in that RPG.
2. The players' character must be a relatively inexperienced pilot. No ace, veteran, or otherwise experienced pilot.
3. The player has to choose a stock grunt suit. Not necessarily the weakest one the particular RPG has to offer, but a low one nonetheless. No high-performance, unique, or limited-production units for you. The player is limited to the weapons that unit is known for using and cannot add, take, or use other weapons. The RPG Moderators will determine which units in a particular RPG are available to those on probation.
4. No personalizations for your machine. This includes insignias and color schemes (unless you're allowed into a player-created squad/team that's differentiated by such things).
5. Where applicable, you can't be a Newtype, Cyber Newtype, or any other such human born with (or given, thanks to weird science) special abilities. You have to be a normal, unaltered, human. If it's an RPG set in the Cosmic Era, then a Coordinator can be allowed if you're playing ZAFT, since that's how that universe works. Otherwise, you're an average, unaltered Joe.
A player may be taken off Probation by the Moderators if the player follows the rules and shows they can be trusted with an increased role in a RPG. Once taken off Probation, all the limitations are lifted.
Banning.
Players may be banned from the RPG section. Players can be banned for extreme violations of the rules or after multiple Probations. This ban may be for a period of time, from a certain RPG or permanently, depending on what caused the player to be banned.
These rules will be enforced. Do not try our collective patience.
Selection of games.
When it comes time to select a new RPG, the RPG Trinary (meaning Red in this case) will start an Idea Discussion Thread. In this thread, members can discuss possible game ideas with each other. After a suitable period of time, the ideas will be officially submitted via Private Message to the Trinary. The official submission of an RPG should include a basic backstory to the RPG, information on the factions, and other details that players may be interested in. In order to preserve the creator's intent, the ideas must be in "Code" tags.
Once the ideas are submitted a voting thread will be created. This thread will contain a poll as well as the official ideas, so that the members may vote on whichever idea they are most interested in. After a period of time the idea with the most votes wins and becomes the new RPG, and may be started as soon as its GM wishes. In the event of a tie, a tiebreaker voting thread will be created pitting the tied choices against each other.
All new RPG ideas much be mecha-related. That guideline is subject to wide interpretation. In addition, the RPG Trinary may place certain restrictions and/or guidelines on idea submissions, depending on the situation and what area of the RPG section the new RPG is intended for.
Please do not reply to this message. Direct questions to one or more RPG Obergruppenführer (Fritz Ashlyn, Cardi Doorl, mcred23, Wedge14 or wonton bob) via private message, or in the appropriate RPG discussion thread.
RPG Rules - updated 2-23-11
- Fritz Ashlyn
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