General Rules & Server Conduct

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Foreword

We're all here to enjoy an experience of cooperative play. As such, it's expected that all who participate will treat one another exceptionally, with consideration and respect. Enforcement of these rules are always intended to ensure everyone is being treated fairly, and to ensure this environment of cooperation; all DMs are held to this same standard of conduct on an equal level to players. Keep in mind that the spirit of the server triumphs over the letter of the rules - behavior that doesn't align with the server's culture and values won't be tolerated.

The following are themes of TDN's rules:
  1. Authenticity to the setting & your character is expected.
  2. Those who play on TDN should aim to roleplay and operate on any aspect of the server's platforms (Forum, Discord, In-Game, etc), with a high regard for maintaining the integrity of our community.
    1. When your personal fulfillment begins to come at the cost of other player's experience, it is time to reassess whether you are truly adding to the setting and server, or detracting.
  3. Understand that everyone involved with this server is human, and therefore, fallible. The admin, staff, DMs, and players will all make mistakes at times. Be respectful to everyone in-game, give them the benefit of the doubt, and encourage one another to be good to one another.

Rules, Warnings & Bans

In an effort to trim down and streamline our approach to rules prior to launch so that it’s a little bit more digestible for players to read, we are going to break up rules into two categories:

The first category will be more of a case-by-case basis where we look at the individual player, whether it’s a repeat offense, if we can see that the player has made some reasonable adjustments, the circumstances around the offense and have some discourse with the player. Some examples of things that fit into this category are as follows, though be aware it is not an exhaustive list:
  • Mechanical exploits
  • Griefing, harassment or discrimination to fellow players or DMs, OOC or IC
  • Excessively sexualised / explicit joking or references (some crude IC remarks are acceptable in moderation)
  • Direct verbal attacks on TDN developers, players or other servers
  • Overtly excessive descriptions of violence for shock value or otherwise
  • Consistent use of immersion-breaking language, real-world references, emoticons written in chat or IC behaviour which egregiously disrupts other players roleplaying experience
  • Player vs Player combat that’s initiated with little or no roleplay leading up to it - particularly attacks from stealth/invisibility with minimal text involved or no text involved
This first category can result in anything from a warning to a ban, depending heavily upon the circumstances and what can be gleaned by the DM(s) investigating the situation. In first time offenses we will try to lean more towards leniency and a warning, however circumstances will always be the major deciding factor in how rule breaks in this category are handled.

Anything that isn’t covered in the first category will be covered by the second category. Whatever falls into this category will result in an immediate and permanent ban if there is sufficient evidence to find the player guilty of these rule breaks. Things that fall into this category are as follows:
  • Erotic Roleplay (ERP)
  • Any kind of hate speech (racial/ethnic, political, religious, sexuality, etc)
  • Corpse-camping players in PvP or repeatedly killing them in a short space of time in an effort to permanently kill them
  • Attempting to log into another players account
  • Fake reports, i.e if you’re discovered to be attempting to fake evidence to get another player banned
If the staff have any particular reason to expand these lists due to issues that are perceived to be a recurring problem, the community will be notified and asked to read these rules again.

Finally, if a member of staff approaches you about a particular point or piece of behaviour, please act respectfully and try to adhere to the direction given. If for some reason you feel the staff member approaching you is singling you out or asking something of you which seems unfair, you may escalate this with the admin of the server to review. Please try to provide screenshots of this conversation and the issue surrounding it.

Staff are expected to adhere to all these rules and more, as they are in a unique position of responsibility and to some degree authority in the server. Any rule breaches from a member of staff will be treated with the utmost seriousness, as they are meant to represent the server and its values.

Transparency & Suspension / Ban system


When a player is identified for misconduct, they will be subject to a suspension. When this suspension is decided upon, it cannot be repealed except by the admin of the server (Aschent), as the 30 day suspension will not be given in the first place without careful consideration of evidence. Once the suspension is issued, players will be notified that the player was suspended for misconduct. No one will be able to see the reasons for the suspension unless given express permission by the person who was suspended.

Following this, the player who was suspended will not be able to make an appeal for the suspension until this period ends. At any time post-suspension but pre-appeal, those associated with the suspension - whether given permission to see the reasons or not - will be able to submit their own case or evidence supporting the persons future appeal. This information will be stored and taken into consideration if and when the suspended player appeals the decision, which can take place any time after the 30 day period ends.

If the suspended player makes an appeal and it is rejected, they will be considered permanently banned from the server, as they will have not provided enough of a compelling case to be re-established into the community.

In some circumstances, if the evidence is overwhelming and the situation is severe enough to warrant it, a permanent ban may be issued with no option to appeal. Such permanent bans will only be issued by the admin of the server. Any bans that are enacted this way will be brought to the attention of the server, but again, no explicit details will be shared except for those given permission to view them.

PvP and Conflict
As we’re constantly striving to adapt the server and create new ways to improve upon age-old problems with certain systems or features in Neverwinter Nights roleplay servers, we have devised a new system we believe will help make player vs player conflict feel much more impactful with permanent death scenarios while not impacting the enjoyment of those who potentially may not want to worry about such situations. For details on Roleplay, Rules & Guidelines related to PvP, please visit: PvP & Conflict.

Enforcement and Disputes
  • While the rules and conduct expectations outlined above are meant to provide a general overview of how the team wishes the server to operate, the DM Team, is expected to provide ongoing feedback to the community when necessary. In some cases these conversations will revolve around character stories and future events, other cases may be specific to roleplay processes and clarification of guidelines and expectations.
  • If at any time you feel that you are receiving unwarranted DM oversight, please message Aschent_ with your concerns. As a Development & DM Team, we are open to feedback and ensuring we provide a place to play that is engaging for players while maintaining a consistent setting that does not bog people down with thousands of rules. These options and communication avenues exist to support the community, if you have suggestions related to systems or rules, please use Discord or the Forum to express those suggestions.

Appendix


Character Creation and Interaction
  • All players are expected to follow the character creation guidelines provided on the forums. Likewise, we expect characters to RP only what is present on their character sheet. They can't use abilities they don't have, or faculties they may lack. They are expected to play their statistics as they're presented on their character sheet. As such, characters are not permitted to have a character with over two of any attribute below the value of 10. This is considered an illegal build on TDN.
    • Use proper English with Character Names.
    • Do not use obviously unique, famous, or infamous names (Darth Vader, Drizzt, etc).
    • Do not use coloring codes on your PC's name.
  • While romantic interactions are perfectly acceptable, we do not allow sexually explicit RP in any capacity on this server. This includes any form of RP interaction in tells (if two characters are "afk" in an inn room, we reserve the right to break it up and remind you to log off). If a story is heading in that direction, players are to take all such interactions off-server. ERP (Erotic Roleplay) is not tolerated on TDN.

Dungeoning and Exploits
  • Farming or camping dungeons is not allowed.. Likewise, we ask players not to exploit or manipulate NwN mechanics for an advantage while dungeoning. Things such as drawing spawns through encounters in order to escape death, pulling large groups of enemies into one spot and trapping enemies through quirks in an area's tileset are considered OOC and are not permitted. (Please note that funnelling enemies into a doorway or other strategic play is acceptable, this rule only applies to obvious defects in the game)
    • Stealth looting or leveraging the Invisibility Spell to loot a dungeon, is considered a form of farming and against the spirit of TDN. This can be further defined by using either of the above to avoid all forms of combat and only obtain gold.
  • While we provide some examples of exploits below, the list is not an 'end all be all', it is important to note that we expect the community to play the game with the mindset and intent that the integrity of the experience be maintained. Generally, we identify exploits as things that are done to take advantage of the Engine, a system, or the server. We're focused on the intent behind the action. When in doubt, ask!
  • List of actions that are exploitative in nature:
    • Taking Advantage of Poor AI "Pathing":The act of intentionally leading enemies to a spot in a dungeon or on the server where they are guaranteed to get stuck, and then killing those enemies from ranged/safety as they cannot reach the PC. Asking yourself "Would the NPC really act like this?" is a good checkpoint on these types of things.
      • Finding one or two enemies in a dungeon that get stuck and have to be killed is not exploiting.
        • In these instances, attempt to unstick the enemy by engaging from a different position. If one enemy gets stuck while engaging an encounter, it is permissible to take care of the group before attempting to 'unstick' the final creature. If you've made the effort, killing the NPC is fine. Please report these instances to the DM team with a Bug Ticket.
      • Pathing abuse as a process of clearing an encounter or dungeon IS considered exploiting.
    • Side-Stepping to avoid being Overburdened: The act of using keyboard commands to sidestep your character at regular speed, bypassing your PC's weight limit speed restriction.
    • Swapping Weapons mid-combat frequently to obtain higher APR: Using quickslots to swap weapons mid-combat, at times, can prompt another Attack-Per-Round. Swapping weapons in general during combat isn't naturally perceived as abuse, however it becomes obvious very quickly if someone is attempting to take advantage of the Engine in this way.
    • Pulling Single Mobs via Line-of-Sight:The act of approaching a group of monsters, avoiding line of sight for the majority, and ranged attacking one and only pulling that single creature. (In some cases, the other monsters that are nearby the attacked creature, will not engage the aggressor, despite the originally attacked creature charging forward.)
      • Pulling a group of creatures with a ranged attack, and then leading them to a choke point, or through a spot where you've established strategic advantages, is acceptable.
      • Note on Corner Re-Stealthing: This is defined by "The act of turning a corner while being chased by an enemy, and using the NPC's Line-of-Sight loss to immediately go back into stealth for purposes of gaining Sneak Attacks/Death Attacks on the enemy."
        • Corner Re-Stealthing is acceptable once per enemy encounter - that is against a single or group of enemies that are close to each other - either to run away or simulate 'tricking' an enemy. It is not permissible to continuously restealth around corners to exploit enemy AI.
  • We do not allow muling (passing items between your own characters) and twinking (giving powerful items to players that would have no way of normally obtaining then). Exploiting game mechanics is never allowed, and players are encouraged to privately report any exploits to the team.

Remaining IC and IC Character Behavior
  • Players are expected to remain IC at all times, beyond short OOC conversations for gamelay purposes. Long-term OOC conversations can be taken to Tells (which is considered to be always OOC). OOC chat is expected to be demarcated with appropriate symbols: ((OOC)), // OOC etc. Players should remain aware of metagaming, and should try and restrict their character's knowledge only to things they would have a reason to know.
  • Players are asked to remain aware of how NPCs might react to their character's actions in the gameworld. While DMs cannot always be present to provide reactivity, NPCs can't be ignored. Behaviors such as excessive running through towns, brandishing weapons or a flagrant use of magic would cause a reaction of suspicion or even panic in some situations. These kinds of actions need to have valid IC rationale.
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