Rules of Role Playing

 

Generally, I would not put these up, but it has come to my attention that I need to, as all people do not role play the same. And I don't want to try to limit things -- only put up a few general rules and barriers that should be followed.



 
General Rules

  • You may not play other people's characters. Never. Not unless you have the direct permission of the person whose character you plan on playing. This means:

  • No talking for people. Not even one word. I supposed it's okay if the same person is playing two characters, but even then I prefer if they're spoken in different posts. Try to keep your indentity a secret, even if it's totally obvious! Ex: "What do you think?" said so-and-so, "I like it!" said blah blah.

  • No moving for people. Ex: *goes underground, and so-and-so follows*

  • No assuming things, unless you put in your post that your character is assuming. Ex: *knows that the Rah will go along with so-and-so's plan*


    • The last rule can be bent more than the others, but please try to follow these. If I see a post that breaks any of these rules to a large extent, then I will remove it. No questions asked. I simply just don't agree with people playing other people's characters. Simple as that.

     
    Knowledge

    There are limits to how smart a rabbit can be.

  • Rabbits and humans cannot understand each other.
    • Most players realize that a human cannot understand when a rabbit speaks, but the reverse is also true -- rabbits cannot understand humans. A rabbit may be able to figure out an human's intent by scent, sight, and perhaps the tone of voice, but never from the meaning of the words spoken.

  • Rabbits cannot count beyond four.
    • This was a limitation in the book, and it's still valid for this RPG. Perhaps the smartest rabbits will have a concept of five, but those that do should be few and far between.

     
    Abilities

    I would like to commend players on how imaginative they make their characters, but some things are beyond the realism level of this RPG.

  • Rabbits cannot use tools.
    • Rabbits may stand on their hind legs occasionally, but they are most often on all four. As such, they would not be using their forepaws in the same way that we would use hands. Also, given the lack of a thumb, a rabbit would not be able to hold an object for very long. Added together, it means that a rabbit would not be able to use any sort of tool. They may be able to hold an object by trapping it between their forepaws, but they would not be able to do anything more to it.

  • Special powers are limited.
    • In the book, Fiver had the gift of premonition. Powers in this RPG are going to be similar in scope to that. Powers are going to be limited in strength; no healing with a touch, no soul-destroying avatars. Examples of what we would allow:
    • Premonitions
    • Insight (such as knowing how another character feels, beyond what the senses would reveal)
    • Discovery (such as finding the best flayrah or finding a lost kit)
    If you want to come up with your own power, run it by the admins first to see if it fits in with the power level that is listed here.

     
    Fighting

    This is basically a take off on the rule posted above. But I figured that I should elaborate more to avoid confusion.

  • Try not to play other's characters, like I said above. But this is extra sensitive, because when fighting, it could determine permanent injuries that a character might not welcome, or death, or other such things. Examples:

  • If someone attacks you like this: *lunges at so-and-so, ripping out his throat and scratching one eye out*, then you have the ability to not follow that. This is how an attack should occur: *lunges at so-and-so*, this way, the character that's being attacked has a choice, and may decide what happens to them.

  • If someone you're attacking repetedly avoids injury, then that's fine. It may be incredibly annoying, but there's nothing you can do about it. Perhaps you can simply ask them to be realistic. No rabbit/elil/anything is a super hero. Role playing is supposed to be taking on the role of something/someone else. If it's not realisitic, then it's no fun. This also means that if someone attacks you repetedly, don't be silly and play superman. Even if it means just getting a little scratch. It doesn't have to be anything life-threatening.

  • Remember that we are rabbits here. Rabbits are very low on the food chain, and that will influence their actions when dealing with other animals. If you're going up against elil, a rabbit's first instinct is to run. However, if you decide to fight you should remember a few things:

    • Rabbits against canines (foxes, dogs, wolves, etc.): Realistically the rabbit would lose. There's a reason that they prey on rabbits.

    • Rabbits against cats: A more even match, but not one that would not last long. Either the cat will get the upper hand and finish off the rabbit, or if the rabbit is winning the cat will likely run off. There may have been mention of rabbits killing cats in the books, but that would be a rare case.

    • Rabbits against hares: Hares are bigger and stronger than rabbits, so a rabbit should think twice before taking one on.



    Also... here is another listing of the rules, stated beautifully by a fellow Rah:



    "Well, an RPG is basically an ongoing interactive story. Every member of the RPG has their own character(s) and can only write, or post as we sometimes say, for their own character(s). Playing other people's characters is a no-no and it can get you kicked out of an RPG. Sometimes you may have to write a little something on someone else's character. Say your character was talking to another person's character, and the plot was beginning to advance, say all the rabbits are heading into the warren because it starts raining. If your character has been outside talking to the other person's character and in the story it starts to rain, and you want to post but the player of the rabbit your character has been talking to hasn't posted in awhile, you can do a tiny bit of playing their character. It's all right to post that your character headed on into the warren with the other person's character. Usually the person that plays the other character won't mind, they may even be glad you wrote in that their character went inside for them, but some people are really picky about these things and might get ticked off. To add a bit of sugar to the post, right after you write that the other person's character is going inside with your character, put SFL in double parentheses, something like this: "...and Mallow came in right behind her ((SFL))." SFL stands for "Sorry For the Liberty", basically "Sorry, but I needed to do this one tiny thing to keep things moving along." This brings us to abbreviations commonly used in RPGs. Here are all the ones that I know of:

    OOC: = Out Of Character. Use this when you need to post something outside of the RPG, for example if you need to let everyone know that you'll be gone for a couple days or if you want to ask a player a question about their character.
    BIC: = Back In Character. If you use an OOC: at the beginning of a post, then you should skip a line first before using BIC: to show that the next part is being written as part of the RPG, "in character." Some people use IC: instead of BIC:, the two basically mean the same thing; it shouldn't matter which you use most of the time.
    TBCB: = To Be Continued By. Use this at the end of a post to show who you'd like to continue with a response. For example, if you were talking to Mallow, at the end of the post you'd want to put "TBCB Mallow." "TBCB: Mallow" is fine too; it really doesn't matter wheather or not you use a colon. You can ask more than one character to respond; there are many possibilities for many different situations. TBCBA: = To Be Continued By Anyone. Use this if you don't have anyone specific in mind that you'd like to respond to your post. Many people use "TBCB Anyone" too.

    As far as how to write things out in an RPG, most people just write their posts as if they'd write a story, with quotes around speech and actions written out ("Mallow looked up" for example). However, some people use astericks, or double or single colons to show actions, and speech just hanging out in the open with nothing around it. (For example "*Mallow looks up* I don't know. Perhaps soon... *says quietly*") I personally find this a little awkward and sometimes cumbersome if you're reading through posts in a hurry because you've been gone a couple days and you need to catch up with the story. The best way to do it is just to write things out as you would if you were writing a story.

    Perhaps the biggest and most important rule in any RPG is this: DON'T KILL ANYONE ELSE'S CHARACTER UNLESS THEY GIVE YOU DIRECT PERMISSION TO DO SO!! You can't post that your character Red the fox has ripped off Mallow's head if Mallow isn't your character. You'll definately get kicked out of any RPG for doing something like that. In addition to being totally innapropriate, a post like that would be just plain ridiculous. Stick to the topic of what's being played, in this case, Watership Down. Keep in mind what the rabbits can and can't do in the book. So, pink rabbits with wings aren't allowed. You get the picture. Also, try not to make any of your posts too graphic, and don't post anything that might make other people in the RPG uncomfortable or upset. The rule for this at Ivylush Warren is nothing worse than what you'd see in a PG-13 rated movie. This means I only allow mild swearing if for some reason you find it necessary for you or your character to swear. In different RPGs the rules for this are different. It's always good to find out what the guidlines for this are at each different RPG you join.

    And remember, it's a sort of game, so have fun!"

    ~Gelphi-rah, AKA Ally





    These are just some general rules that you should know and follow. I may add more with time, so keep checking back for updates.



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