Rules and Guidelines

The rules of the RP Society of Tarlach have been decreed by the founders and senior membership. They are to be followed whenever reasonably possible.

Rule One - Literacy is not optional.
The letter "u" is not a valid replacement for the word "you". You would do well to read the Writing Tips page.
Amendment One - Slack will be given to characters with noticeable accents. Ya can't expect uh good ol' southern gal t'fix all uh her punctuation 'n spellin' 'n stuff all th'time! HOWEVER, if you chose to portray a character with an accent, please try to be consistent, readable, and be prepared to offer "translations" for those who have a difficult time understanding your character.
[*] Amendment Two - Slack will be given to players who have a first language other than English. We know that English is illogical and has one of the largest vocabularies in existence.[/list]Appended April 20, 2009 by the RPS Council

Rule Two - 'Psychic Powers' do not exist.
If you're not close enough to see it in the 'All' viewing window, or unless you've come to an agreement with your fellow party members to use party chat for roleplay purposes, then any other long-distance messaging is not part of the roleplay.

• Amendment One - Sending messages by doves and owls is within the ability of the legitimate Mabinogi world, therefore, you can send a private message to someone over a distance by bird using the Whisper function. It is expected that both the sender and receiver will make it known in an open channel that they are sending a message by bird, and receiving a message by bird, if other roleplayers are nearby. Sending a message by bird cannot be done covertly in front of others. If you are sending messages by bird to a large group of people, you may utilize the Guild or Party chat functions. Please use this sparingly.
  
• Amendment Two - You may use the whisper function to whisper to others without being overheard by others nearby. Please make it known in an open chat that you are whispering to someone if it cannot be done in complete secrecy. Use this sparingly; nobody likes to be excluded from discussions.
  
• Amendment Three - To let others know what a character is thinking for sake of depth to a situation or event, thoughts may be placed into text. However, these "thoughts" are not to be responded to as if a person were able to read their mind. To make it clear that this is a thought action and not speech, players are recommended to use "( )" or "< >" at the opening and closing of a thought. As a courtesy, players using this should also be sure they do not leave the other person without something to go on by making up for a thought with something more noticeable, be it body language or speech.
  - Mabinogi's thought bubble emotes are acceptable as well, though these are a harder to pick up on and not everyone understands how to use them.
  - Also, to avoid further confusion, these are not to be used with "[ ]", which is something more commonly used for OOC.

Appended April 30, 2009 by the RPS Council

Rule Three - Do not try to force your RP onto others.
Not everyone in Tarlach is fond of roleplaying. If RP does not suit your current situation, especially in battle, do not hesitate to drop it and sort out the matters at hand before picking up again.


Rule Four - The Guidelines of RP in Mabinogi thread is extremely important. This is the thread that ties all basic roleplay together. If your character follows these guidelines, then their back stories and styles will most likely not clash with other roleplayers in or outside of the guild.


Rule Five - The Guild chat channel is for guild communication.
We are here for the purpose of roleplaying and having fun, with the secondary objective of helping each other out in our various fields of interest within the game.

• Do not insult others.
  
• Do not bring up subjects that may offend others (religion and politics are best avoided for this reason).
  
• Do not complain and vent (this is not a LiveJournal).
  
• If someone politely asks you to stop carrying on a conversation, that means you should either take it to private message, to Secret, or to party chat.
  
• NO and we mean NO Swearing - even as an abbreviation or you mixed in symbols or spelled it wrong and it makes it past the filters. We know what you tried to say. See amendment below.
  
• No Real World Racism
  
• No Arguments / Fighting - especially those over personal opinions
  
• NO harassment in any way shape or form
  
• We expect the members of the RP Society Guild to carry themselves with some degree of decency. (maturity is an option)
  

Amendment One
1: Absolutely no use of the following words; Fuck, cunt, d*ck, and shit in any form of the swear.
2: Filter Bypassing to say words like hole is acceptable.
3: Other words that are considered swears are acceptable if they are caught by the filter only. Words like damn, ass, and hell.
a) If another member requests that you stop using a certain word(because they are offended by it) then you are to stop saying it.
4: Absolutely no swearing at a person; even using the "white list" words. For example "go to hell" is unacceptable.

Final draft of swear rule revise.
Appended September 24, 2011 by the RPS Council


Rule Six - The "proper name" discussion is closed. There will be no further arguments concerning character names. We understand that some people are not comfortable with numbers in character names, but the RP Society will give any talented roleplayer a fair shot, regardless of their name. If this means you're roleplaying with a person named 'Mikey32156', just call them Mikey. If this means you're roleplaying with someone named 'GeorgeDubya', just call them George. No further debate will be tolerated on this subject.


Rule Seven - Members are expected to use the forums regularly and stay up to date with the news and rules posted here.
Try to log in at least once every couple of days to make sure you are aware of any changes. All members must use the name of their primary guild character as their forum username to avoid confusion. You can change your username through your profile controls available at editprofile. Appended July 22, 2008 by the RPS Council

• Amendment One - While it is fine to have alternate characters to play as, there are to be no alternate accounts held on the RP Society's forum. All Members of the RPS are limited to one account per member due to guild limitations - having more than the individual limit will require the removal of all but one, without exception.
  
• Amendment Two - All who create an alternate account are to notify the moderators and/or councilors after making it with the account(s) in their possession that they wish to have removed in exchange. Failure to do so will result in the loss of all but the original account. Mentors, councilors, and even moderators who fail to comply will not only face the same purge, but be returned to Member status.
  

Appended March 11, 2010 by the RPS Council

Rule Eight - Policy changes put to vote in the Councilor Forum stay open one full week, or until all active councilors have voted, whichever comes first.
Any councilors who have not placed a vote by the end of that week will be assumed to have abstained from voting. Appended October 2, 2008 by the RPS Council


Rule Nine - Any person wishing to join the RPSociety guild must submit an application in the Registrations Forum.
The exact content of the application is detailed in the "Read This First" Announcement in that forum.

The application will be passed to the mentoring program when it meets either of the following conditions:

• The application receives the approval of a majority of the active Councillors.
  
• A period of one week has passed since the application was last edited with no major outstanding objections or concerns.
  
• A mentor will contact the applicant in Mabinogi (by note and friend list request if possible) as soon as it is decided which of the guild mentors will take the applicant's case as co-ordinator.
  
• The mentor team will work with the applicant in Erinn to teach them our basic expectations and tactics.
  
• When the mentor team feels ready, he or she will make an evaluation report in the Mentor Forum. The applicant will be informed right away of the mentor's decision and fully admitted to the guild if the mentor approved.
  
• If the applicant fails the evaluation, the applicant may appeal once to try the mentoring process again under a different mentor's care. Changing mentors before an evaluation does not use an appeal.
  
• If any Councillor objects at any time prior to the applicant's admittance into the guild, then the applicant is rejected without appeal until the objecting Councillor reverses his or her decision.

Appended October 2, 2008 by the RPS Council

Rule Ten - I will live by the Spirit of the Role Players Creed.

• 1 - I will maintain the illusion of the game by staying in character whenever possible. I will withhold out of character comments until absolutely necessary and even then I will whisper.
  
• 2 - If I discuss the game with other players out of character, I will not allow my character to be influenced by this knowledge without express permission of the other players. I will take the time to allow my character to learn these things on their own during the course of the game.
  
• 3 - I will separate myself as a player from my character as much as possible. While I understand that a lot of myself goes into my character and because the game is so very intense often real emotions will be drawn from me as a player, I also understand that my character is not me.
  
• 4 - If I am not in the mood to play, I won't interrupt other people's games by coming into it out of character. I will find others who are not in character and go somewhere meant for out of character discussion.
  
• 5 - I will not use my character as a vehicle for racism or bigotry. I, as a player, understand that there is no room in the real world for such things and will, to the best of my ability, not let it seep into the virtual world as well. (despite what some of the story lines may portray)
  
• 6 - If I, as a player, feel that my character has been treated unfairly or that another character has overstepped the bounds of their abilities, I will approach the other character's player privately and discuss the situation in a calm adult manner and try to come to a resolution or compromise. If not I will pass it into the hands of the GM.
  
• 7 - I will accept the hand that is dealt me in the game, understanding that it is a game and it's not about winning or losing, but about playing.
  
• 8 - I will not allow setbacks in the game to be blown out of proportion. If I am overly emotional about what is happening, I will step back and not play until I can compose myself.
  
• 9 - I will not carry grudges against fellow players. My character might not like another character, but again, I am a mature person and understand that they are 'characters' and not the player that portrays them.
  
• 10 - If I find that I simply can not get along with another player, I will avoid playing with them. But I will do so in a way that does not draw attention to this and I will not badmouth or otherwise slander the other player as such actions only makes myself and everyone else around me look bad.
  
• 11 - If my character is killed, I will obviously grieve for the loss, but I will also view the situation as an opportunity for me to grow as a player. By starting anew with a fresh identity, I will be able to leave all the negatives of that character behind - any grudges, dislikes or just plain bad habits- and take away the good, thus making my next character even better and more interesting.
  
• 12 - I, as a player, will keep an open mind and allow people to play their characters the way their imagination leads them regardless if their interpretation matches that of some book, guideline...or creed.

Appended April 20, 2009 by the RPS Council