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Shard Rules
General Rules Khaeros has simple rules for all of our out of character (henceforth, OOC) interaction. Basically, everything revolves around common courtesy and respect. We know that things will often need to be moderated by Overseers, but we hope these rules will cut down on that. Remember: the most important rule, again, is that of common courtesy and respect. Beyond that, we require a few things before you can be eligible to play here. First, a working knowledge of English is required. We realize that often English is a second language for many people, but this is an English speaking shard and will always remain so. Be mindful of how you write: capitalize letters that should be capitalized, such as to start sentences; use punctuation and please do not abbreviate words such as "you" as "u". We will not necessarily ban people for this, but enough warnings and some actions will be taken simply to prevent migraines. Secondly, applicants must be eighteen years of age to play. If you are very interested in playing and do not meet this requirement, please contact the administrators.Furthermore, we require that you agree not to hold us responsible for anything that happens in-game, regardless of the reason. The Staff reserves the right to change these rules at any time and enforce them. By playing the game, you agree to all rules established here and on the forums and IRC (when announced as rules). Ignorance of rules is no excuse, as you are expected to read them before applying and whenever they are updated. Roleplaying Khaeros is an enforced roleplaying shard. This means that, instead of just playing a game, like you may be used to, here you assume the role of a character inside a fictional world, much like what happens in a theatrical play. Your character is not you –- it has its own wants and needs, its own dreams and beliefs; it speaks and acts according to its own psychology and social background. Roleplaying involves taking all those things into consideration and playing the game not just for the mechanical aspects of it, but more so to create and contribute to an on-going story, changing other characters' lives and letting them change your character's as well. For all that, we use the UO engine, because of its ease of customization and familiarity. Most roleplay (henceforth, RP) happens inside the server, where your character is free to go on about his or her life as any normal person would. However, we also have a forum and IRC chat for various things such as announcing events or writing in-character (henceforth, IC) depictions of stories. The IRC chat also serves as an out of character hub for players to talk about things other than the game.Metagaming The separation of character and player is, indeed, very important. Information you gather OOC either by the forums, IRC, or simply by piecing things together without RP justification should never be used in game. This use of OOC gathered information is often called metagaming and is considered an offence. In short, if your character should not know something, do not RP your character knowing it. For example, you may know OOC that your friend's character is an Assassin by class. However, if your character has not seen your friend's character doing anything of the like, there is no justification to have a biased attitude towards them. On the other hand, announcing things OOC via the forums or IRC to gather people to RP is acceptable and even suggested, as long as it is done in a reasonable way. For example, some players agreeing that their characters should meet by chance at a nearby tavern is perfectly fine, but a bunch of people randomly arriving at a distant cave at the same time for no real reason goes beyond what can be accepted –- even more so if that is done to help some buddy who is going to get his ass kicked by other players for some reason.Lore & Character Development Sometimes people fail to realize that their characters have lived in Khaeros for a minimum of eighteen real years –- real to the characters, anyway. You should familiarize yourself with the history and culture, that is to say the lore, of your character before attempting to play him or her. A person's history shapes who they are and the people of Khaeros are no different. A character's class is also more than just a set of skills and abilities, it is a huge part of who they are. A crafter's class is a trade that they have learnt after years of teaching and practice. A warrior's set of skills and feats determine his fighting style, possibly one passed down to him by his mentor. Sometimes it is alright to RP a class as something it is similar to, such as a Thief being a Treasure Hunter, or a Weapon Specialist as a Pirate. However, Clerics and Mages are exceptions to this rule as they should always be played as what they are (and not demi-gods, avatars or anything of the like). The best characters are those that are believable. No one is truly good or evil; people are painted in shades of gray. However, characters with conviction who believe in things strongly are just as amazing in Khaeros as they are in real life. Any character that is too perfect, too evil, too quirky, or too intense that he cannot be believable will always fall flat over time. Just like real people, characters should change over time due to their experiences. This way Khaeros becomes a living, breathing world and not just a collection of larger than life archetypes. A very important thing to remember for new players and veterans alike is that Khaeros is not a competition. A separation must be made to distinguish characters from players. While your corrupt knight and another player's patriotic guard may fight to the death when they see one another, it should always be the characters that hate one another not the players. Khaeros is not a game that can be "won" in the sense of most games. It is an on-going story written by all the players and brought to life by their characters in real-time. Sometimes your character will win, other times, they will lose. Regardless of the outcome, we encourage players to accept what happens to their characters and use that victory or defeat to further their personal plot. Failure and defeat drive a storyline, sometimes even more so than victory –- they cause a character to grow and develop. No story is memorable without obstacles and trials for the protagonists. Good roleplayers take failures in stride and seek to overcome them. You must always remember that even if you, as a player, could solve a problem or shine in a situation, if your character is not as qualified to handle that situation, they should fail. The barbarian that decides to use that old tome he found in the nearby ruins as a replacement for firewood, albeit possibly losing vital information, is acting in accordance to its persona and, by doing so, displaying good RP. Finally, the real goal of RP on Khaeros is to enjoy the gaming experience and help write deep and memorable storylines for your characters. Watch your character grow and develop, react to the world around them, even shape history with their actions. While it may not always be realistic to survive 15 arrows or the club of a giant ogre, the game is to be taken seriously. The characters should be rich and detailed with their own (sometimes odd or poorly formed) thought processes. In the end, that's what should be remembered above all, that your character is a living (albeit fictional) person.Gameplay Limitations Khaeros is a game built within the UO engine. Because of that, we have customized and scripted dozens of systems to make the game more accommodating to RP. Scripts are not always going to work perfectly; there will be bugs and glitches. An important thing to remember, however, is not to exploit those bugs to unfairly benefit yourself or others. If something seems too easy, such as leveling up at a ridiculous rate or acquiring mountains of gold coins every day, it is probably not intended and should be reported on our Bugs forum, so that they can be fixed as soon as the shard's scripters find the time for it. Khaeros also does not allow the use of third party programs, such as Razor, for macroing. Those caught unattended macroing are normally not warned, just simply banned. It's unfair for some to have to work hard to develop a crafter while another just sets a macro and goes to do something else. It is the spirit of fair play that is the basis for all of our IC rules.Theft & Looting Players must remember that you are not playing a game against other players. Your characters may be enemies but we are all on the same side. For that reason, special care must be taken when playing most rogue characters. Even though game mechanics may allow you to steal everything inside someone's house and never be caught, you must remember that the person you are stealing from is a player who plays Khaeros for the enjoyment it brings, just like you. Thieves should only ever take things they can easily use or fence, and never take more than they could realistically carry in one trip while still being able to quickly run away. Be mindful of what you steal, as you are required to give the players a chance to recover large quantities of materials (more than a hundred of a material) or any item above exceptional quality. By giving them a chance to recover the items, we mean never keeping them somewhere unreachable, like inside a safe. If this rule is not followed, the Overseers may aid the victim, via NPCs or some other way they deem fit, in finding their stolen goods. Also never delete a character that is in possession of important or stolen items. Furthermore, we currently require that a player actively plays the shard for at least four months before applying for a Thief or Assassin, to prevent problems. Looting follows the same rules as theft. Only take what you can easily use or a single trophy item (something you may not be able to use, personally) from the fallen such as their weapon or helmet. Never destroy items you loot or steal from enemies (or from houses) via smelting or trash cans. This is considered griefing and is grave offence.Griefing Griefing can be defined as abusing mechanics or rules to ruin another player's enjoyment or progress on Khaeros. This is why OOC talk in Party before engagements is so important. Never let another player get into a situation that could ruin their character without prior knowledge. Tricking or lying to a player OOC to grief them is considered an offence. Player versus Player The rules for Player combat, or PvP, are simple and specific, to remove any confusion. Before combat, both characters must initiate RP. It is also a good idea to join party chat and alert the other player that combat may happen (again, remember that behind every character, there is a human being who is playing the same game as you are and who has the same right to enjoy their time on the shard). An alternative option must be offered to give the characters a chance not to PvP, so that the situation can be resolved with just RP. The most common alternative is to just tell them to leave immediately or fight will ensue. Any other kind of reasonable demand can be made, as long as it is within RP. For example, if you are hunting down someone who kidnapped your lover, it would be reasonable and completely acceptable to demand that they show you where she is or else you will hurt them. However, making demands that cannot really be met is something that obviously falls short of being reasonable (for example, asking for something that goes against the shard's rules or that the other character has no control over, such as when it rains and when it does not). Once the fight commences, any others who engage or help either character in any way are considered to be in the PvP whether they witnessed the start or not. If one side of the PvP retreats from combat the other may give chase. No extra RP is required during the same encounter (defined as ten minutes from the last attack to the next) and ambushes may be acceptable. If both sides retreat and a stale mate occurs or one of the combatants successfully escapes for more than ten minutes, the PvP rules reset and the process has to restart. Muling is another concept that should be understood and never performed. Abusing OOC information to transfer equipment from one character to another is unacceptable, even if you have a middle-man to deliver things. There are acceptable ways for one of your characters to use equipment from another, such as placing an order in a shop and picking it up or buying it off of a vendor you own. However, in both cases market price must be paid, and when buying from a vendor you must leave items on the vendor at market price for twenty four hours before purchasing it on your other character. Never make RP excuses such as "I heard you neededGuilds Guilds and factions are groups of players recognized by staff (and the cities) for their RP and devotion to a purpose. These are not OOC high quality item factories where one or two players play several crafters to outfit an entire army of warriors. Any such behavior will be dealt with harshly. For that reason, you are only allowed a single character involved with each guild or faction. Note the word "involved" and not "as a member." This means that your other characters cannot do free business, be an employee of, or ally of the faction that you have a character in. Please keep this in mind, any and all behavior that even appears to be OOC motivated to help one of your characters with another will be dealt with harshly to set an example. Specific rules for applying for guilds are available on their respective form, along with additional rules for Houses, Clans, etc. A special case is that of boats. Staff oversees the sale of boats, and witness the transactions of market price between the boat maker and the recipient. Boats are rare and rarely sold, so this will not be often. But we will not allow free boats being muled by any crafter. While these rules seem harsh and prohibitive, they are to protect good players from the countless bad players that plague UO shards. These and all rules on Khaeros are in the spirit of fairness and hope to maintain both order and common courtesy. While there may not always be a rule for every situation, the Overseers are here to protect players and see that everyone has a good time and has the opportunity to allow their character to grow and develop.Sexual Roleplay Sexual roleplay is allowed as long as it is kept in private. It can only take place if both players agree to it OOC and cannot be used against anyone's will. The staff reserves the right to warn players if their sexual roleplay starts bordering on distastefulness. Please be very mindful of this kind of interaction, as some players have no wish to roleplay anything overly sexual (such as someone groping their characters). Again, anything of this sort requires OOC consent and going against this may very likely result in you getting banned. Characters are usually at least eighteen years old, but, at times, we allow players to make younger characters for specific reasons. Minor characters are not allowed to have any sort of sexual roleplay. If you feel you are being forced into a sexual situation of any kind against your will, you are free to just walk away, regardless of any RP limitations, and report it immediately to the Overseers. Jailing At times, criminal characters will be captured by cities. Or, alternatively, a rebel faction will detain one of their enemies. In any similar situation to these two examples, the same rules must be followed. A captured player can only be held for three real-life days. During these three days, they must be RPed with every day, and for a good period of time. They can be punished for their crimes in the manner of taking one LP per day (for a maximum of three for the entire length of capture or jail time). Remember to, as always, consider the player that has just had their character taken away from normal RP and is now at the mercy of their character's enemies. It is vital that discussions go on OOC to at least warn the player of what may happen. Worth noting, however, is that jailing should be scary and terrible to the character. If, say, you capture a rebel who knows the location of your enemy's base, and they refuse to give the information, feel free to beat it out of them, as long as you respect the aforementioned rules. Maiming Maiming, that is any physical action that permanently changes the appearance of a character, must have OOC permission before it can be carried out. This is a simple, powerful rule. Players cannot be intimidated into giving OOC permission, and should they refuse it is the responsibility of the captors to RP accordingly. Of course you may want to take the tongue of any who slanders your name in game, however consider how devastating to RP that could be. Khaeros is, at its heart, a game and everyone must be on level ground when it comes to their characters. However the most important opinion when it comes to someone's character is their own. Character Traits Please be mindful of your character's traits, especially its height, weight, age, appearance, and any handicaps such as being mute or deaf. All these things are incorporated in the system and should be roleplayed as they are. Roleplaying your character as something they are not is against the rules. For example, roleplaying a character with the Disfigured flaw as someone gorgeous who has a disfigured foot that no one sees. Coming up with excuses to ignore your character's problems or downplaying handicaps is an offence. For example, using party chat to overcome a character's muteness or deafness –- those flaws are meant to be roleplayed. If you pick the Mute flaw, be ready to express yourself via emotes. The aid of writing on books is acceptable in societies that have a written language, but should not be used for Alyrians or Mhordul, as they are oral cultures. Forums & IRC Be respectful of players for the most part and try not to mislead new players who may not know that you're being sarcastic. If you know something bothers someone, try not to do it. Be mature and respectful. Arguments and disagreements will happen sometimes, and, when they do, the Overseers will be there to settle things. The forums follow the same rules as all OOC interactions on Khaeros, with a couple of small changes. The forums are a great resource for players and staff members to organized events and meetings, to look for updates and post bugs to be fixed or suggestions to be considered. Special care has to be taken to keep the forums easy to navigate and to nip any OOC fighting or misbehavior in the bud. Firstly, the naming of topics should always pertain to what the topic is about. Ridiculous forum titles make it impossible to search for specific threads and are counter-productive. Derailing a topic with unrelated posts, however humorous, is not allowed and will simply get those posts deleted. Finally, respect and courtesy should always be paramount when posting -– never call out another player or staff member on a post and be mindful of what information you leave for prying eyes. Beyond that, the forums are a great place to further your character development. Story posts in the IC forums can still have artsy names, and a little more leeway is given when replying to them in-character if you play a character who would reply in a humorous way. The Overseers will remove or edit posts that seem disruptive, but you are allowed and encouraged to write the way your character would write or feel about topics.Staff Interaction Players should always respect the staff. If you have an issue that should be brought to staff, always PM an Overseer first. The Administrators should not be bothered with things that Overseers could handle. Scripting or mechanics questions should almost always go to the forums first and all staff members retain the right to simply ignore players who bother them for the same issues more than once. Also, a staff member's word on an issue is final. Please do not bring up an issue to a second Overseer after one has already dealt with something. It is the staff's responsibility to never show favouritism. This is very important to the shard. Players who request special treatment are basically wasting a staff member's time.The Quality Control Rule If something goes on that is not necessarily against the rules but is bad enough that it should either stop or be changed, the Administrators reserve the right to remedy the situation for the good of the server. That is to say things that are not necessarily against the rules can still be punished if the Administrators agree that it is detrimental to the quality of RP or OOC environment. This is always handled on a case by case basis and is not negotiable. No set of rules can ever cover everything, and the Administrators should be trusted and respected well enough to deal with any situation that comes up.Accounts Applications are added via a form on the website and are normally checked within twenty-four hours. If your application is not checked in that time, please be patient and wait in our IRC room. You do not have to remind our Overseers that your application is pending. Applications are being screened with a few things in mind. They are: a knowledge of the English language, ability to follow directions, and a knowledge of Khaeros' lore. Please tell your friends about Khaeros, but mention these facts. Also, the minimum age requirement for character's age is eighteen and maximum age is forty-five. To have a character younger or older than those limits, special authorization is required. Each player can have one account with an initial maximum of two characters. Donations can be made to unlock two additional slots. Information on donations can be found on the main site. The account name is chosen by the player after an application is approved. Upon approval of your application you will receive confirmation of your account name and a temporary password which you can change upon entering the server via the .Password command. You, the player, are the only person permitted to log on to your account and access your characters. Never share your account information or password. If someone else logs on your character and breaks rules you are still at fault. This is not negotiable and both players will be punished. Never log in on another person's character for any reason.Names Naming conventions are listed in the lore pages of every race. They are listed here for simplicity: Khemetar: no surname. Egyptian or Arabian influenced single or hyphenated names. Note: this only allows a single hyphen. Mhordul: no surname. Savage or tribal names. Azhuran: no surname. These names have a tribal influence, but think Aztec, Incan or Mayan. Tyrean: requires a patronymic. Norse influence. The system for patronymic surnames is basicallyAdditional Characters Very soon, you will need to apply for your additional characters. There are several reasons for this. 1. It has come to our attention that numerous characters are being created for the sole purpose of crafting and muling. This meaning the new c rafters are made specifically to benefit a player's other characters or their OOC friends. There's been little to no valid RP for these characters and this is unacceptable. 2. This will eliminate the need to have players rename their characters, since the Overseers will have to approve the names before the characters are made. 3. Having to put effort into creating an application, and by that creating your character, will help the development and commitment for characters we expect at Khaeros. We are also hoping to minimize the amount of characters that show up for only a week and disappear. 4. It can be used as a reference to the player and player base for building RP scenes and for the staff to possibly play stories around the character. It can also help determine when a character is acting against the RP concept posted in their application.Rules for Staffers Our staff members follow specific rules and are subject to punishment as much as any player should they fail to abide by their Code of Conduct. |
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