Roleplay Rules
The second category of rules for ✦Talus ✦ are the roleplay centered rules. ✦Talus ✦, at its heart, is a game. It’s a game with far more freedom than your average MMO, but it’s still a game, and a game has rules. If you aren’t following the rules, can you really even be said to be playing the game? These rules have been written to make sure that everyone is playing the same game.
1. IC vs OOC
- In character (IC) actions and Out of character (OOC) actions are naturally separate things. This is the separation of the character’s brain from the player’s brain. In character actions and out of character knowledge should be separate while making in character decisions as much as possible. That being said, there are some situations where OOC reasoning may affect an IC story, such as when two players have a dispute that cannot be resolved.
- In most circumstances it is not reasonable to use OOC to dictate IC actions, unless removing oneself from a situation (i.e. leaving a scene for Real Life (RL) reasons). Metagaming, powergaming, godmodding, and otherwise using OOC knowledge to affect a situation are forbidden.
- If someone accuses you of metagaming, you may be asked to produce logs or witnesses to how your Player Character (PC) became aware of certain information.
2. Consent
- Consent is defined as the approval of a player for an action that is about to happen to them. Consent should be given prior to an action being taken. Consent is required in order to cause major harm (i.e. killing, maiming or raping a character).
- Consent can be revoked at any time and for any reason. Players have a right to not come out of a situation that they initially consented to feeling distraught. Attempting to override consent can lead to a voiding of the scene alongside any other action according to the enforcement guidelines.
- Pressuring someone into consenting to actions or consequences they aren’t comfortable with is not allowed. People feeling pressured into consenting to something they don’t want to do should contact a GM.
3. Appearance
- Races, clothes, and weapons should conform to the Star Wars universe so that it is convincingly a part of the Star Wars galaxy. If players can’t perfectly represent a race, attempting to at least make a convincing attempt (as judged by mentors or GMs) is still required, but nitpicking an avatar is not encouraged or acceptable. All characters are expected to be original content for SWRP, and canon characters are not to be used as Player Characters.
- While SW has a lot of varying races, each race has a set theme. Your characters appearance should fit that theme, for example Zabrak have horns, Twi'lek have Lekku, Amarans have tails. While the marketplace can be difficult to navigate, the staff are here to help you to match your avatar to the race you wish to play. Things like exaggerated/ anime eyes and paws, bright fur colors that aren't natural to the race, etc. should be avoided.
- Races that require admin approval include hybrids of races that could not normally mate, any shapeshifting species, any original race, Gen'dai, Gorax, Rakata, Whill, Whaladon, Sith, Gree, Gurlanin, Taung, Massassi, and the Yoda race.
- Some types of races or characters (i.e. Celestials and other “god” races) are never available for anyone under any circumstance.
- If there is a questionable avatar it can be requested that the Admins evaluate it, but no faction is allowed to exclude based on species/avatar if said avatar has been approved by the sim. Exceptions to this are ICly "racist" groups such as something like an "Alien Liberation league" that wants to rid the galaxy of those oppressive humans! Groups must receive sim approval to have such a policy as it must be firmly rooted in IC rather than OOC.
4. Realistic Portrayals
- Players are encouraged to remember that in character actions will have in character consequences. Walking into a group of stormtroopers and insulting their mothers will likely result in being attacked. If your character takes unreasonable actions and then unrealistically escapes without any consequences, you are hurting the integrity of the game we are all partaking in. Taking even minimal efforts to RP realistic actions should be enough to cover these (for example, a total avatar change should not be required for a disguise, but some reasonable IC actions should’ve been taken).
5. Recording and Spying
- Assume that any public gathering place has at least one holo-cam.
- If your character has clearly posted methods to disrupt said recording device a GM should be informed. That GM may ask you for a tech roll to see if your technique works.
Suggested Tech Roll:
Intelligence to beat 10 for regular tech.
15+ to slice expert/ high end tech.
- It MUST be in your post that your character is using some method to record, even if that method might be obvious. The actual recording may be implied, but the method must at least be noted. (i.e. A droid hovering with a camera should still be emoted and have attention called to it, but whether it is recording or not does not need to be stated for it to be doing so).
- You must post into a scene. Any recordings gathered before your character officially enters a scene is void. Said post must be in range of anyone your recording.
- Your device may be subject to detection.
- If you intend to spy, you MUST inform administration that you are joining with the intent to spy of your intentions. It is up to administration if you will be allowed or not.
6. Use of The Force
- In a Star Wars galaxy, it is natural that some beings will be “force sensitive” and that some will even be more powerful than others. This naturally can lead to some interesting roleplay, but can also lead to situations where a force user would reasonably be able to do things that would violate certain other rules. In these situations, the rules trump the players’ abilities. Consent must still be given for situations where using the force would cause major harm (such as reading someone’s mind without their permission) or would introduce knowledge of an event that a character couldn’t have gotten (such as prescience of an event). Force skills that are consented to may still require a roll of dice to see whether they succeed or fail.
7. Assets
- Players are welcome to have personal ships and money, but large ships (bigger than a freighter) need to be approved by administration. Larger ships may often be required to be held by a faction rather than a single player.
- The consent of destroying or obtaining assets is up to the Admins. Storytellers are often given generous leeway with being able to utilize them but a player cannot run up to X Faction Base and randomly declare they have beat up all guards of X Faction base.
- For bigger things they will likely discuss it amongst themselves before utilization. Faction leads will often be consulted but this is not mandatory as Non-Player Character (NPC) assets are seen as necessary to be under sim control for story progression.