Forum Guidelines

By joining our RPG and roleplaying with us, it is assumed that the player agrees to these rules and guidelines. Be aware that this document may periodically change, either with additional rules or to clarify wording as questions come up. All changes will be announced; however, it is ultimately your responsibility to remain abreast of any updates.

RPG Rating 3 3 3

• Swearing and mature language is permitted.
• Sexual content may be described in detail.
• Explicit violence is permitted.

Roleplay Rules

Respect

Respect your fellow RPers and be kind, above all. Do not purposely behave in a manner that is unkind or abrasive. Likewise, although we sometimes need to be direct in our communication to get the point across, be mindful of the motivation and reasoning behind what you want to say.

Maturity

This community is primarily for adults capable of self-policing. The admins are committed to building and maintaining a healthy and open atmosphere. Not everyone has the same point of view, and we do not expect our member base to be all the same. Discussion, friendly disagreement, and constructive criticism are all permitted and welcome, but all members are expected to act with maturity if they engage with one another this way.

Communicate

Keep an open line of communication with your partner via Discord, with the #plotting channel set aside for discussion around threads. Respect your partner's boundaries and expect them to honour yours. While it may be uncomfortable broaching the subject, don't try to force yourself or anyone else into a situation you're uncomfortable with in threads. It is also important to respect your writing partner's time and input, so checking in, especially if you're unsure, is encouraged.

If someone crosses a line, is harassing you and ignoring your stated boundaries, contact the staff with screenshots of these exchanges. Starting a Support Ticket in the Discord Server will open a private exchange between you and the staff. Be straightforward and specific, being vague in situations like this will not help anyone. Generally, we recommend all forum related chatting happen in the server, allowing for open communication and a safety measure should a miscommunication or an incident occur.

Play Fair

It is always important to stay within the constraints you have defined for yourself and your character. Do not manipulate your post to make a situation work out in your favour if it goes against common sense and the flow of the thread. Some of the ways someone might not play fair is through godmodding, powerplaying, metagaming, or retconning.

• Godmodding is godmoding specific to character creation, skills, and certain situations (e.g., combat).
  • For example, you give your character an advantage they otherwise don't have.
• Powerplaying is godmoding by controlling another roleplayer’s character without permission.
  • For example, you define how much damage or what someone does, without this being supported in their post.
• Metagaming is godmoding specific to the use of OOC knowledge in roleplayed actions, behaviors, thoughts.
  • For example, using you, the players, personal knowledge of OOC and IC events, when the character would not know.
• Retconning is godmoding specific to erasure or alteration of past events.
  • For example, in a previous thread, your character made a social faux pas. To retcon this would be to pretend it never happened.
  • It is not retconning to roll back a few posts in a thread if the players discover they've written themselves in a corner and they all agree, without any coercion, to edit their posts to get the most out of the thread.
• Stacking is including so many actions or so many dialogue fragments that another player has no hope of responding.
  • For example, having your character do five actions at once, while also talking at the same time, leaves the player opposite requiring to ignore or simply write around what's been written. This hobbles their own actions or dialogue in the response.

Activity

Ultimately, we're all in this for the hobby, so our activity requirements are passive, and we take a relaxed approach to those 'checks.' If we are aware that someone is busy, we won't bother them unless it is clear that they do not intend to return. We generally check activity bi-monthly, but sometimes once a month.

• When we do not hear from a player for a month, we may deactivate their accounts.
• If a player posts a notice in the #leave-of-absence channel, we will wait two months of no word before we deactivate their accounts.
• Players active in Discord but on a LOA will not have their characters deactivated.
• There is no limit to how many characters a player can have, but they are expected to actively post with all accounts.

Inactive in a Group Thread

Should a player not post in an Event thread for two or more weeks and others are waiting on them, then the waiting players may choose to skip them, although they are invited to rejoin the thread when they are ready. This is reduced to one week for timed Events. This does not apply to social non-event threads, but communication is key!

Reactivating Accounts

To reactivate an account, just tag @admin in #mod-request with the link to the a post in the account/thread reactivatiation thread with the relevant account and associated threads. We don't require anything else other than a notice that you're back! If the Strike & Cinder dice or Paths have changed since then, we'll inform you.

Feedback is Welcome

This isn't necessarily a rule, but we feel that our interest in feedback and constructive criticism must be made explicit. All players are invited to point out errors on the site (layout issues, typos, etc.), inconsistencies in the lore, or ask questions to clarify rules. This is especially important with the dice mechanics. Although we did our best to make it game-ready with playtesting, the dice system is likely to be in alpha for some time.

While we invite exploration and don't mind minor exploitation to find something enjoyable, strange, or unique, having the opportunity to fix game-breaking mechanics before they become rooted issues is in everyone's best interest. We don't want to end up in a situation where we're forced to make a game-breaking overhaul, so please be open about balance problems you may encounter!

Game Master Fiat

It is inevitable that we will encounter interactions within our dice system that break other mechanics or don't seem to hold true to the world's established lore. We cannot account for everything, so we reserve the right to pass GM fiats. We strive always to make these rulings in the interest of fun, world-building, and balance, and the intention is to keep them consistent, updating the rules as decisions get made. During play, please feel confident in developing your creative interpretations of things such as keywords, dice rolls, and other events that engage the dice system.

The mechanics are written to invite broad interpretations within the bounds of the rules and the established world-building. You don't need approval on minor details during play. For example, how your character uses a keyword may be completely different from another character with the same keyword and both are valid. However, if you discover something truly contrary, don't hesitate to ask. We are not interested in depowering a character concept, so we will do our best to work with you. While a discussion is welcome, final rulings are expected to get accepted with grace and maturity.

Mature Content

Mature Threads

Three on a Match has a rating of NC-17 or a RPG rating of 3-3-3 . Threads with mature content can be marked with a mature tag with a checkbox in the first post. Posts with mature content that you may wish to read to warn readers about can be marked with [note]Mature[/note] or [note][M][/note] at the top of the post. You can do each one, or you can do it at the start of the scene within the thread. You could also note where the mature content begins and ends in the first post to give readers an idea of what's going on. Gore, violence, and sexual content are all permitted so long as all players involved are comfortable and consenting.

Open communication and consent are important, especially around mature content. Do not pressure your partner into a mature thread, whether explicit sexual content or violence. These kinds of interactions involve a degree of trust. Everyone involved must be comfortable and willing to participate. With such things as love potions able to enter play, roleplayers must thoroughly discuss potential dubious consent issues with their partners. If you don't feel that you or your partner can handle these situations maturely with open communication, it would be best to avoid such content altogether.

Content Warnings

Posts describing at length or in detail (or both) difficult or traumatic content should be marked as necessary with a content warning at the start of the post. Keeping it simple with a note at the top of the post is enough.

Adding [note]Mature or M[/note] to the top of your post is enough for a content warning.

Mature content or things that need a content warning includes but is not limited to rape, assault, suicide, child abuse, or similarly traumatic and violent events. Players are expected to exercise sound judgment and act in good faith, but admins reserve the right to ask a player to add content warnings if it's deemed reasonable and necessary in context. Admins may also add a content warning to a post themselves, with reasons given. Since people have various comfort levels, having this happen is not considered a mark against a player. Still, if a player consistently neglects to add content warnings after discussing what is deemed appropriate, admins will take further action.

Guidebook Navigation

General Information	Forum Guidelines ⁂ Discord Guidelines ⁂ At-a-Glance ⁂ FAQ ⁂ Style Guide ⁂ Custom Codes
Character Creation	Creation Guide ⁂ Paths ⁂ Mundanes ⁂ Arcanists ⁂ Cursed ⁂ Possessed ⁂ Half-Bloods ⁂ Shifters ⁂ Undying ⁂ Spirits ⁂ Face Claims ⁂ Character Census
Magic Information	Magic Summary ⁂ Archetypes ⁂ Wards and Protective Materials ⁂ Codes of Conduct ⁂ Rituals ⁂ Enchantments ⁂ Keywords
Setting Information	General Setting ⁂ Easthaven ⁂ City Map ⁂ Owning Locations ⁂ The Exchange ⁂ Existing Groups ⁂ Events Timeline ⁂ Beyond Easthaven
Game Mechanics	Strike & Cinder Dice ⁂ Dice Pool ⁂ Dice Mechanics ⁂ Difficulty Class ⁂ Success Range ⁂ Encounters ⁂ Advancement ⁂ Reputation
Site Information	Credits ⁂ Help:Archive ⁂ Help:Dice Tracking ⁂ Help:Dice Rolling ⁂ Help:Forum Templates

Strike is the die pool of physical abilities of a character.

Cinder is the die pool of mental and magical abilities of a character.

A rolled die of 4 or more.