Interactions Reminder.

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The GrumpyCat
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Interactions Reminder.

Post by The GrumpyCat » Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:21 pm

A gentle reminder that IC stories are not to be IC interactions. No Roleplay should happen on the forums.

This means that Player Characters should not be exchanging letters to other Player Characters on the forums. If you wish to exchange letters, use the In Game methods to do so.

If you want to 'write letters home' to nebulous npc members of your characters family - that is of course completely fine. But you shouldn't be writing, and recieving replies from, other Player Characters.

Thank you.
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(I now have a DM Discord (I hope) It's DM GrumpyCat#7185 but please keep in mind I'm very busy IRL so I can't promise how quick I'll get back to you.)

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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by triaddraykin » Fri Jun 22, 2018 3:33 am

Out of my own curiosity, what if it's a character that's no longer on Arelith, a character that's been mechanically rolled, but isn't dead, that you're sending the letter from?
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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by Queen Titania » Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:08 am

triaddraykin wrote:
Fri Jun 22, 2018 3:33 am
Out of my own curiosity, what if it's a character that's no longer on Arelith, a character that's been mechanically rolled, but isn't dead, that you're sending the letter from?
Definitely no. It will definitely be as the above guidelines without such an exception.
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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by The GrumpyCat » Fri Jun 22, 2018 2:50 pm

I'm going to expand a bit on the situation, and the answer to the above , so that people can understand our reasoning for making such calls. Because I find a 'No and here is why...' works better than a simple. 'No.'

'So, why ain't we allowed to do forum roleplay? Why can't active characters send each other letters and such on the forums? Other servers allow it.'

Forum interactions are by nature, a form of meta gaming. The server has extensive tools (speedy messangers, ic letters, ect more so than any other server that I know of) that enable players to communicate to one another. Using the forum (or indeed any other off game medium) making a space where information and interaction can happen in an environment that is separate from the server, and cannot be overseen, or interfered with.

To put it another way – a group of thieves planning to rob the Cordor bank could be discovered by scrying, or by someone sneaking in to one of their meetings. Letters can be intercepted, speedy messengers overheard, ect. But if they, for example, planned the entire robbery solely via forum letters then there's no way that anyone else can ever, In Character, know what they're doing without it being metagaming. It provides an entirely invulnerable way of communication and interaction – and that's not fair on other players.

A small exception might be made for organizing times for events and such sure. But any other form of IC communication really should remain In Game, and certainly should not occur on the forums.

'Alright, but what if one of the other characters is not available In Game?'

In the case of players of deleted characters, or banned characters, there is additional considerations.

When you delete a character over level 16 you get a reward roll. That reward is the repayment for ending your characters existence on Arleith. There is an unspoken agreement with that reward roll, that you are no longer to play that character. That's why we make people de level to below 16 if they want to remake.

Taking the award, and then roleplaying that character on the forums, is really a violation of that agreement, in addition to issues of having one character (the deleted one) basically untouchable. And all the other points made above.

If your character is banned, then the situation is twice as important. Players are banned as punishment for poor actions on the server, a punishment that means not taking part in In Character activities. So trying to roleplay via the forums can be seen as a breach of that ban.

Add into the fact that players are often banned for actions that are harmful to the community, and you bring in another reason why they shouldn't be trying to continue their characters influence via other platforms.

If, for example, we ban a player for cybering we don't want said player just to switch to posting their cybering roleplay all over the forums.

'What about on other platforms?'


We can't really control what happens on discord/email/other mediums, but I would very strongly recommend against it. And if we do notice deleted/banned characters holding a active influence in game via other characters as proxies, we'll be talking to the players involved seriously.

'What if said character has links with an existing character? Is no ounce of interaction or knowledge permissible in any way, shape or form?'

We're not unreasonable. If you want to ask a little information to give yourself an idea of what said inaccessable character would be up to in a general sense, where they would be, just some vauge stuff to mention that's fine. But you shouldn't be exchanging information that is prescient to events on arelith.

For example:

“Hay Bob, you're playing my characters father. Can you give me some information on what you've been up to these last few years, for when people ask about you?'
“Sure Joe. Bob's been off tending bee hives and rearing horses on his farm in Cormyr.”

This is absolutely fine.

However:

'Haya Bob. You know about these demon incursions all over the isle. What would my character's father think of that? What advice would he give? I know Henry wants to use the Golden Sword to fix the problem, but I'm not sure that'll work...”
“No problem Joe. Your father would say to stand tall, and not to trust Henry. He did kill a kitten five years ago after all, so he isn't to be trusted. As for the incursion – you could try contacting Celestia for help? Here, this is how you would do it...:”

This is NOT fine.

I hope this clarifies why these rules exist.
This too shall pass.

(I now have a DM Discord (I hope) It's DM GrumpyCat#7185 but please keep in mind I'm very busy IRL so I can't promise how quick I'll get back to you.)

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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by MoreThanThree » Sat Jun 23, 2018 3:10 pm

Furthermore, can a post in this forum represent a tangible document that exists in character that other characters can interact with, to serve as a reference for what's on the document?
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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by The GrumpyCat » Sat Jun 23, 2018 3:23 pm

When done by a forum modorator, to ensure the rules of the forum are obeyed? Yes.
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(I now have a DM Discord (I hope) It's DM GrumpyCat#7185 but please keep in mind I'm very busy IRL so I can't promise how quick I'll get back to you.)

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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by Iceberg » Thu Sep 06, 2018 8:58 pm

So for example, if my Wizard wrote a journal entry detailing an offscreen experiment, and stuck that journal entry on a writing paper held in a notebook in her inventory, that would be forbidden from being posted here unless I sent that same journal entry to a forum moderator for express approval?

And conversely, if I wrote the same journal entry and posted here, does that mean that I would then be forbidden from pasting the same journal entry that was written as part of an IC Stories forum post onto a writing paper item and handing it over to another wizard interested in my wizard's private study notes?
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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by The GrumpyCat » Thu Sep 06, 2018 10:39 pm

In the first case - No, nothing at all forbidding you from writing what's in an in game journal here, as well as In Game. That's fine.

For the converse case: if you want to point other characters in the direction of your writing on the forums... well... honestly I'd probaly keep it In Game anyway - just to be safe? We've lots of ways of doing that after all. But at the same time, for something like that it's not the worst thing in the world.

If you want to then have a discussion or feedback IC on your writings, then it should definatly happen In Game.

Does that clear things up?
This too shall pass.

(I now have a DM Discord (I hope) It's DM GrumpyCat#7185 but please keep in mind I'm very busy IRL so I can't promise how quick I'll get back to you.)

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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by Iceberg » Fri Sep 07, 2018 2:03 am

Yes, that does! Thank you for the clarification.

My concern was that if I wrote a character's journal in one place, I couldn't post it in another. I understand now that the main goal is to prevent back and forth forum RP and metagamed information.
Y'all need Lathander.

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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by Aelryn Bloodmoon » Wed May 01, 2019 7:21 pm

DM Titania wrote:
Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:08 am
triaddraykin wrote:
Fri Jun 22, 2018 3:33 am
Out of my own curiosity, what if it's a character that's no longer on Arelith, a character that's been mechanically rolled, but isn't dead, that you're sending the letter from?
Definitely no. It will definitely be as the above guidelines without such an exception.
Please update this with a more case-by-case wording. The current wording forced my character and another person who rolled their character (retirement, not death) to conceive a child without the mother being allowed (OOC'ly) to tell Cev IC. 20 IG years later, WOO< full grown child that Cev wasn't allowed to be a part of the upbringing for (which is a HUGE personal thing for him given his own history) because an OOC ruling prevented us from exchanging information IC (that was in no way relevant to anyone else's story or fun).

The spirit you intend the ruling in is fine, but the wording is prohibitive in matters that have absolutely nothing to do with metagaming, and forced a very awkward social situation that neither I nor the other player wanted to endure- we simply had no choice, because communicating is metagaming.

Edit: Took out the quotation marks; they're not really appropriate since I'm paraphrasing. Two hours of sleep is not enough.
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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by The GrumpyCat » Wed May 01, 2019 9:30 pm

'What if said character has links with an existing character? Is no ounce of interaction or knowledge permissible in any way, shape or form?'

We're not unreasonable. If you want to ask a little information to give yourself an idea of what said inaccessable character would be up to in a general sense, where they would be, just some vauge stuff to mention that's fine. But you shouldn't be exchanging information that is prescient to events on arelith.

For example:

“Hay Bob, you're playing my characters father. Can you give me some information on what you've been up to these last few years, for when people ask about you?'
“Sure Joe. Bob's been off tending bee hives and rearing horses on his farm in Cormyr.”
You're perfectly fine, indeed encouraged, to contact Cev's player ooc and say 'Hay this is going down, are you ok with it?' and then maybe work out some vauge details. That's fine.

What Isn't allowed is to do detailed communications off server, especialy not on the IC forums. Some vauge 'legacy' isn't a huge deal. But there shouldn't be ongoing, details roleplay of a deleted character, especialy not where it effects the server in any details and/or meaningful fashion.
This too shall pass.

(I now have a DM Discord (I hope) It's DM GrumpyCat#7185 but please keep in mind I'm very busy IRL so I can't promise how quick I'll get back to you.)

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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by Wethrinea » Mon May 04, 2020 5:34 pm

At the risk of commiting thread necromancy: I am a relative new player to arelith, so perhaps the answer to my question is obvious but I just don't know where to look.

I recently created a mercenary-type who turned out to have a lot more interesting conversations with other characters than I expected, and this has given him the idea that he is something of a philosopher that should look into writing as an alternative source of income and reputation. Now, I know it is possible to write on in-game message boards and even edit book descriptions, but they are hardly suited for longer arguments and their rebuttals. My question then, is if this subforum can be used to publish longer texts, and have replies from other characters concrning those texts? Or does this fall foul of the "No IC interaction on forums rule"?.
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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by The GrumpyCat » Mon May 04, 2020 5:44 pm

Haya

Honestly? I'd actually just do that In Game. Using books, notes ect. And also just face-to-face rp. Not only do I think that's more within the rules, I think it'd be more suitable.
This too shall pass.

(I now have a DM Discord (I hope) It's DM GrumpyCat#7185 but please keep in mind I'm very busy IRL so I can't promise how quick I'll get back to you.)

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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by ReverentBlade » Tue May 05, 2020 3:45 am

How do you 'intercept' a traded letter...?

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Re: Interactions Reminder.

Post by xanrael » Tue May 05, 2020 7:03 am

A character could be present to notice that the two PCs met and draw conclusions or act on that by interacting with one of them.

If the PCs want to be all secretive and setup a dead drop or something instead of meeting up then it still could have outsiders being involved.

If they are getting someone else to carry the message like a messenger Hin/Goblin, they're not subtle at all. If another PC is involved, then obviously a third party has direct access to the letter.

Is it likely for stuff to happen, no, but it's possibly and could lead to some spontaneous RP interactions as opposed to a scripted story.

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