Well, as I said last time I’d check through all of the Rules FAQs and do what I could to make them a little more intuitive. In my opinion, I think it would be best if all the rules were laid out in one large “uber” FAQ so that new players would have a clear and simple source to refer to regarding the server rules. Thus, I took the posts regarding server policy and other related things and pieced them together into one more cohesive whole. In addition, I amended the phrasing on a few topics in order to clear up some possible ambiguity and provided more examples to the players so that they can understand what to expect. My suggestion would be to add a link to the rules FAQ on the front page itself and make it a sort of “required reading” for all new players. I have added parts to some previously written by the staff and provided some new additions as well. The following is a list of Rules in place on the Layonara Servers. This list is subject too change at any time and is not exhaustive. Senior GM’s controls all interpretation and punishment for breaking these rules. We are always willing to discuss infringements and do not wish to come down hard on people unless absolutely necessary. In cases when the rules may not provide all the necessary answers, it is up to the player to exercise their own common sense and do what they feel is correct. If it “feels” wrong, it most likely is. Trust your instincts. PVP, Pk'ing and Griefing Here on Layonara it is a well-known fact that we do not tolerate PvP, PK'ing or Griefing. I personally am not against PvP but I am against the attitudes, heated tempers, etc. that come from it. So I will make it known again, and in a post. PvP, Player Killing (PK'ing), and Griefing are NOT tolerated on Layonara. PvP is the act of a player attacking another player in any form. Do not attack familiars, companions, the character etc. Doing so will get you a warning and a perhaps a three day ban on the first occurrence. The second occurrence will be an instant ban from the server. PK'ing is the act of killing another character and the first time it happens you will have a very stern warning, and a seven-day ban. If it happens again you will be instantly banned from the server. Griefing is the act of intentionally causing another player emotional harm by a verbal assault. It is also the act of intentionally causing players to not be able to have fun in the world (following them and being a nuisance, blocking doorways, pick pocketing/stealing, kill stealing when asked not to, camping when asked to leave an area, being rude and obnoxious etc.) Doing so will get you a warning and a three day ban on the first occurrence. The second occurrence will get you a seven-day ban and the third will get you banned from the server. Another form of griefing is the act of attacking NPC's or stealing from them. This is not tolerated. It will get you a three-day ban the first time, a seven-day ban the second time and then a perma ban on the third. Do NOT attack or steal from NPC's. Remember, the goal of everyone here is to just have fun playing his or her characters. We are all entitled to an environment that is free of harassment or unnecessary tensions amongst the players. Be respectful to your fellow players and always remember that there is indeed a person on the other side of the character. Remember to take into consideration that fact and always use common sense when dealing with others. Muling on Layonara is not allowed. What is muling you ask? In my opinion it is when a character gets something for nothing (or when people are trying to beat the system then it is something for very cheap). Muling is when you have items (in the bank, in your inventory, in your house, etc. that you have earned or fairly traded for) and then you give those items to a newly created character (usually your own character or a friends) for free. People are using characters to gather items for other characters that they control and it seems to have gotten out of control. Remember we should not be muling for other characters under the same players control. It is fine to RP a "sales person" or whatever you may want to call it but from this point forward please do not let that "other person" be another character under your control. Also, from this point forward: NO TWO CHARACTERS on the same account can belong to the same trading company or group (or whatever you want to call it). If you want to pay others to gather skins, fine. But it should be as a single character on a single NWN account, not two characters on the same account. You need to TOTALLY separate your other characters from this business. That is not RP and it is pushing things too far. This is now considered muling on Layonara. Also, do not trade raw CNR materials between other characters on the same account. Finished good and raw materials are very different and I do not want raw materials traded (in any way) between to characters on the same account. It is definitely not in the spirit of RP'ing (however efficient or okay to do you may think it is). It’s just abusing the spirit of muling. Start treating your characters like any other player character out there, that is RP'ing and not abusing the spirit of this rule. Remember, your new characters should be treated as entities that are entirely distinct from your other characters. They should not be treated as simple extensions of your other characters’ bank accounts and should represent a fresh start. A large part of the fun is developing your new characters and fleshing them out, and to simply stock them up with loot right from the start would be detracting from that experience in a way. Persistent Oxen are a wonderful thing, making mining trips and transportation much easier. However, many players are using them for persistent storage of valuable items, e.g. swords, rings, and armor. These items should be kept on your person; you can buy weight-reducing bags from the many skilled tailors in Mistone. Another option for persistent storage is the chest in the bank, which has a limited capacity but is secure. Houses are another viable option for storing your valuables, and more housing will be available soon. From this point forward, any item lost on an ox that is not a raw CNR item will need to be approved by Leanthar before being replaced. Do not expect this to be approved if you should decide to approach Leanthar to get items replaced from an oxen death. Most assuredly, it will be a tough sell. Character Stats and Min/Maxing Due to people getting carried away and min/maxing their stats and then not being able to RP them properly, I have been forced to make this ruling. It applies across the board. Anybody that has a character prior to this post can continue to play his or her character but if it is not RP'd well we will make you create a new character and you will start over from level one with that new character. Please, everybody, this is not a server for powergamers and min/maxers if that is your style it is time to leave the world. We are an RP server that has a lot of action but I do not want this world to be the home for min/maxing powergamers. From this point forward, you can no longer have more than one stat below an 8, in addition you can only have two stats of an 8 or less. As well, no stat can go below a 6 and that includes with subrace adjustments so keep that in mind--no exceptions. This means that one stat can be an 8 and another stat can be a 6, or two stats can be an 8 on any single character. I really hate making this rule as I wanted the players to police themselves but it is crystal clear that a few (and in this case the few ruined it for the many) do not know how to RP their character and continue to try and min/max and powergame. We (the GM team and I) cannot catch everybody so the best way to stop this from happening in the future is to just make this rule. Logging Off Versus Dying Recently, there has been an increase in players logging off at inappropriate times. When you are running from a battle that you know you just can't win or in a dungeon that you know you can't make it out alone; it's not okay to log out. You need to remember that you put yourself in that position in the first place. Logging out in these instances is not allowed. This is also referred to as “death logging” by some, and doing this can and will earn some type of punishment if witnessed by a GM or reported by another player. I would like to stress that logging off in cases like this is not keeping with the RP environment. It would make very little sense in an RP context if your character suddenly just ups and vanishes while he or she is surrounded by a horde of angry trolls only to reappear seconds later healed to perfect health. Use of Internet Lingo and “l33tspeak” Layonara is a world all about RP, and players should remember to refrain from using what has come to be known as “l33tspeak”. Use of such lingo really serves to detract from the overall immersion of the environment and world for other players involved, and can be a real headache at times. For instance, it would be quite jarring to be in the middle of an epic quest and return to town to see someone using l33t. The effect is more often than not annoying to most players, but for many it can be downright offensive. Take the time to play your character and immerse yourself in the world, since it makes it that much more enjoyable for all involved. In addition, most GMs find it especially frustrating when the chat windows are flooded by reams of lingo while they are in the middle of planning a quest or event. This is of course by no means asking all players to speak using “thee” and “thou”, but everyone should remember that no one would use language such as “plz” and “ph4t lewt” even in real life. Again, use your common sense! Exploiting enemy A.I. and Game Mechanics While the NWN engine is indeed quite capable of creating interesting worlds to explore and providing a decent translation of the D&D rules into a digital medium, it definitely also has its flaws and drawbacks. Most of these come in the form of engine limitations and gaps in the artificial intelligence itself, and this can often be exploited by players in a way that would be inconsistent within an RP environment. A common example of this would be exploiting gaps and quirks in monster A.I. in order to maximize the amount of experience gained from enemies and thus “farming” exp. For instance, a map could feature a large assortment of enemies that will tend to swarm the players because of their A.I. scripts. Using powerful area of effect spells such as Fireball or Hammer of the Gods after herding all of them together into one concentrated mass would considered to be an exploit of the enemy A.I. in this case. Herding is just that, the gathering of large masses of enemies into one large mob in order to set them up for an easy kill. Players should refrain from doing this, and repetition of it in a single area would most definitely be construed as an exploit. In addition to this common example, there are many others such as the use of “chokepoints” to effectively trap monsters and render them helpless. There is a fine line between the use of tactical chokepoints and actually getting monsters stuck, and it should be quite apparent to the players just which is which. Remember though, this is by no means an “end all, be all” list of all possible exploits of the game engine as there are always new ones cropping up from time to time ranging from monster A.I. to such things as item duplication, etc. As before, it is ultimately up to the players and their own common sense. If it feels like an exploit (I.E. too cheap and easy) then it most likely is just that. Camping Camping is defined as waiting continuously at a specific area for the monsters to spawn, thus resulting in a “farming” of the spawns in that area for continual experience and loot. It is abusing the spawn system and is by no stretch of the imagination considered RP’ing. Camping is not allowed in Layonara. It’s a bannable offense, but that usually happens if you are asked several times not to do so. Camping a boss area for the XP from it is wrong... in no way can you RP this. Plus it’s nothing but bad taste. Camping CNR materials is okay, as long as it doesn’t last over 30 minutes, and you don't weigh yourself down silly, like 300 lbs when you can only carry 150. GM's have the right to drop whatever monster they want at anytime, and trust me, they’ll drop a hydra or two on you if you get caught--but they try to give small warnings before going to that extreme. And if you can not run away due to being weighted down that is a player/character problem, not a GM problem. Think and play smart. I want to remind everybody[/b] We are all about RP on this world. I want players to know that each and every character that has something has in some way earned it. This is an important staple to the community here and I ask that it not be cheapened. This server does not allow inappropriate language. I want to make sure that all that like to RP, including families can enjoy this server. Please make sure you do not use such language when "speaking in,” say; PARTY mode, or GM mode.
