As a part of TV Tropes we are naturally bound to follow The Forum Rules. In addition to those, since the RPG section operates very differently then most the forums, we should establish certain guidelines that everyone can agree to and abide by.

Most of these are pretty obvious, but if anyone can think of something that would be beneficial to our board, by all means please suggest it.

Rules:

1. No Godmodding. It's not funny, it's not fair, and it disrupts the game. That means no playing unbeatable characters and no taking over other characters without permission. Don't assume you can write things in for other people. You have your own character and no one else's. Likewise, don't kick off events without the approval of the GM or other players. If everyone is in a bar, you can't just go and write in a dragon burning the place down. Be especially careful when fighting other people's characters. Give them a fair chance; rather than writing "shoots That Troper's head off", consider, "fires gun at That Troper's face". The line between Godmodding and regular fighting in some instances can be somewhat nebulous, so please exercise your common sense and personal judgement. But if everyone else says you're godmodding, then back off.

2. Listen to Your GM. When you sign up for a game and are accepted, you are doing so with the understanding that they make the rules for their game and you have to follow them. By not doing this you are derailing the game and making it suck for everyone else.

3. Take Your Drama Someplace Else. Role plays aren't the place for that. We're here to have fun, not start a Flame War.

4. Don't Be a Pest. Don't bother games you aren't in or have no intention of joining. Don't hang around to complain in games you dropped out of. Let people play their games and be on your merry way. It's better for everyone.

5. Concerning Sign-ups. If the GM takes issue with your sign ups, listen. If your sign up was misunderstood, you can try to politely explain. More often that not though, you have missed a bit of background or did not understand what the GM had in mind for the tone of the game. If you're signing up for a Dungeons & Dragons fantasy game, don't make your character Superman and expect to be let in.

• Amendment Clause to this Rule: When opening Signups, the GM has the right to establish any acceptance criteria for the applications to be submitted as long as they are not related to sexuality, gender, religion, race or nationality of the player presenting them. However, these criteria must be presented in the Signups, otherwise the Signups will be considered open and then only the suitability of the presented character can be put into question. However, another thing must be taken in mind. Don't be a dick. A GM running a restricted RP has the right to deny anyone entrance to their game, however, if they are being dicks about it, they will face consequences for their behavior. Treat your fellow players with politeness and respect.

6. Keep Discussion to the Relevant Thread: The Main RP thread is for Roleplaying, the Discussion thread is for Out of Character Discussion and the Sign Ups are for signing up. If you are wondering if a game is accepting new players, ask in the Sign Ups thread for the relevant game. If you are wondering how/whether your or someone else's character can/have performed an action, post in the discussion, not in spoilered text.

7. What Happens in a Game, Stays in a Game. If you find yourself in conflict with another player or a GM, try to discuss it with them or if that fails holler a Mod. Do not export this drama into another game and turn the board into a theater for your personal drama. Doubly so for the rest of the forum.

8. Changes in GM: Sometimes a GM can't go on running a game, either because real life issues have to take precedence, because the game does not hold their interest anymore, because they feel they can't cope for whatever reason, and so on. In this case, they need to clearly state that they are ceding control of the RP to another player, with said players' consent.

Terminology:

Here are some words and phrases often tossed around that a role player should be familiar with.

• Metagaming: The use of out-of-game information or resources to affect one's in-game decisions.
• Ghosting: Dodging everything.
• Autohitting: Hitting everything.
• Sueing: Creating and writing character that are unrealistically perfect in every way or just flat out don't fit the game's tone.
• OP: Short for "Over Powered". A character with abilities or equipment that is vastly greater than what the other players have and would disrupt the game.

edited 19th Sep '13 3:06:02 PM by Parable

I think it would be a good idea to define all those terms that usually come up in the rules of RP's, since some people might, somehow, not know what, I dunno, "ghosting" or "autohitting" are.

Aside from those two, what other terminology can you think of?

Ummm.... metagaming? Munchkin?

You wanna provide the definitions?

Well, for Munchkin, there's a page about it. Probably won't be used too much in most freeform roleplays, but who knows.

Metagaming is where you try to, I guess I'd say cheat, by going around in the discussion page and, actually, you know what, I'm going to do a good job of fumbling the words around if I keep at that, so I'll use Wikipedia's definition: The use of out-of-game information or resources to affect one's in-game decisions.

edited 4th Jul '12 5:20:46 PM by nman

Pinning as requested.

Thank you, blackcat.

Terminology section has been updated.

I am Colonial1.1, and I approve the present rules.

New rule up for consideration, proposed by the Troper fauxlosphe:

What Happens in a Game, Stays in a Game. If you find yourself in conflict with another player or a GM, try to discuss it with them or if that fails holler a Mod. Do not export this drama into another game and turn the board into a battlefield for your personal drama. Doubly so for the rest of the forum.

edited 6th Jul '12 10:02:29 PM by Parable

Conspiracy! I am clearly both uncredited for rule suggestions and a hack.

Also, I endorse all listed rules thus far. The definitions are stodgy though.

Another one (copied from Sullen, since he phrased it way better than me):
No dropping out without warning; it tends to greatly inconvenience the other players if you just vanish off the face of the earth without explanation, and leaves the rest of us in an awkward position as to how your abandoned character should be dealt with. If you plan on leaving or know that you will have to give the game up at some point, please, tell us so that it can be incorporated and dealt with in terms of plot and characters.

edited 7th Jul '12 3:33:46 PM by desdendelle

To add to that, if banned, find a way via friends, pm's, etc.

Isn't that ban evading?

Not if you're informing them you've been banned, and you're just trying to tell them what to do with your character before leaving.

I think Irene meant to inform everyone that that person was banned. Most Forum bans will leave your PM system on. You can use that to get in touch with the GM and tell them you're out.

Ninja'd by something that taste like strawberries.

I'm hesitant about this rule though, because it doesn't seem particularly enforceable.

edited 7th Jul '12 5:08:26 PM by Parable

and This.

It's about simply informing you are banned. That's not ban-evading.

However, it would be nice to give some information. People do wonder these things, and you should be able to simply inform them as is.

edited 7th Jul '12 5:08:23 PM by Hydronix

I approve of these rules. Nice to have a quick reference place to link to in new threads.

Maybe add something about not controlling other peoples' characters unless you have permission to from them? Or permission from the GM in the event that a person drops out and their character's still involved in what's going on or something.

I think there should be some rule about waiting for people to respond to your posts if your character(s) interact with theirs and not rushing off to do something else.

Maybe you should mention the watchlist feature, too? There's always those people who you suspect are just refreshing the RP forum, until eventually they forgot to check for the one you're in anymore.

Does that really really need to be codified into rules though? I thought that would be common sense. Has it been a problem before?

I think that it's covered under Godmodding anyway.

@Parable: A lot of these rules could easily fall under common sense. I thought that was the point though; some people just don't seem to have any.

As for your question; I'll admit I don't see it often, but I have seen it at least once.

@Faux: It overlaps with godmodding in a technical way, since declaring that another player's character is dead without giving them a chance could be seen as controlling that character.

But I mean even in non-combat scenarios. It could be as simple as writing a line of dialogue for another character or straight up controlling their actions.

edited 9th Jul '12 6:10:27 PM by FirockFinion

Perhaps the Godmodding rule should be rewritten to make it clear those actions fall under it as well.