Roleplaying

Role-playing = playing a role, just like a character in a movie or a play. On a MUD, there is no script. Its all improvised or made up as you go. You create a character, and turn it into a living, breathing entity with a past, a personality, and motivations. There is always a story or stories going on around your character. Your character becomes part of these stories as you guide it through the world of Rhia, deciding what your CHARACTER would do in each situation. The following are some guidelines that should be followed as you role-play your character and interact with other characters:

1. Before sending someone an OOC tell, ask them permission to go OOC first. If permission isnt implied (theyre an OOC friend that you go OOC with all the time, they've sent you an OOC tell, etc.) then permission should be obtained or you should keep your tells IC.
   
   
2. OOC says should NEVER be used on Dark Risings MUD, whether preceded by OOC: or put in parenthesis, or any other OOC indication.
   
   
3. Were creatures that are shifted should NOT use any type of emote or the like (scratching in the dirt, having a familiar speak for them, RPd magic, etc.) in order to bypass the inability to speak. They are limited to communication that may be employed by a particularly intelligent dog or similar creature (whining, growling, tugging at someones sleeve in a particular direction, etc.) Continued abuse of emotes in such manner can result in loss of emotes.
   
   
4. It is unrealistic to expect those who don't want to hear it to just turn off OOC since many IMM announcements are made on OOC. When anyone suggests that you take the conversation off the OOC channel, you should do it. Use OOC as sparingly as possible when it comes to arguments, debates, or negative comments.
   
   
5. If you are grouping with characters played by someone other than an OOC personal friend, GROUP TELLS (GT) should be kept IC.
   
   
6. Do not force RP. Use of the PMOTE command or anything else (other than charm-like spells and ventriloquate) to make it appear that a character has done something they have not may result in bad things and anyone doing it should be reported to IMM. Using emote to force RP such as "emote slaps you and you cower in a corner." is really bad RP.
   
   
7. You should be doing everything you can, short of revealing your own alts, to make sure that your characters remain separate. Stay away from making decisions with one character that benefit your other character or characters played by your OOC friends. Try not to influence the course of RP with one character in favor of another character or characters played by your OOC friends. If you find yourself in an awkward position, such as a guild war in which you have an alt in each guild, or having a Vermillion alt and another alt that is accused of a crime, consider not playing either one or the other alt until the war or case is over. This avoids the appearance of using one character as a note reader for your other character.
   
   
8. Do not reveal your own alts. Do not reveal your own alts. And, do not reveal your own alts. The whole idea of RP is to take on a new and different persona.
   
   
9. At all times, as a player of this MUD, you have a responsibility to attempt to maintain the role-playing atmosphere of this MUD. If your actions are ruining the role-playing atmosphere of this MUD for other players, you may find your ability to continue doing so abruptly cut short, along with certain appendages.

Guild RP

The following roleplaying guidelines apply to all guilded characters.

1. The guild channel is strictly IC, so please don't use it for any OOC discussion, OOC information about a spar or fight. Putting words in parentheses or prefixing your message with an "OOC:" doesn't change this! The best way to approach situations where you need to convey OOC information such as going AFK for a second would be to figure out an IC way to say it, or just use the OOC channel.
   
   
2. Notes to the guild should always be IC and should not use OOC terms to describe an event or situation. The only exception to this is when absolutely necessary, such as referring to meeting times or dates of absence. However, in these cases, the majority of the note should still be IC and the OOC section should be clearly noted as such! If you are going on vacation in real life, try to figure out an IC explanation for your character's absence during that time.
   
   
3. As a guilded character, newer players may look to you or your character as a role model. It follows that you should always adhere to all of the principles described in 'help rp' at all times.
   
   
4. When talking to your guild immortals, please remain IC unless absolutely necessary. As per 'help rp,' it is probably best to ask the immortal if you may go OOC via tell before trying to start such a conversation, and these conversations should remain strictly in tells unless the immortal specifies otherwise.

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