General Regulations

## In Play/Out of Play

Players who are not in play should remove themselves from in play areas and refrain from any form of contact with players who are in play.

When leaving play, you should put on a white headband or place one arm over your head. If you leave play for any reason, you must return back to the same location before you can return to play except on the occasion when your character accepts "Fate of the Party" in which case you must return to play where ever the player responsible for your character's Life card is located.

Please keep in mind that while you are out of play, your character still exists in the world. If you go out of play you must leave your in play items at whatever location your character would be. For example: If you decide to go out of play and go off site to eat and you decide that your character is taking a nap in his/her cabin, you should leave your in play items and your Life Card on your bed. If another player breaks into the cabin while you are gone, he/she will have access to all the items and be able to kill your character.

All in play items must be left in an in play area. If you want to hide your items somewhere, they must actually be hidden there, you can not place them in an out of play area and claim they are in the woods or in any other location. If your items are in a alternative location such as at an NPC's keep, they should be kept at the Plot cabin. Also, if you are Monstering, your character is considered to be "On Patrol" and you may leave any items your character is carrying in play, such as weapons or armor, at the Plot cabin.

In play events should not be discussed out of play. This can lead to confusion about what a player knows verses what a character knows. It is especially confusing if someone else who is not participating in the discussion overhears a portion of what is said. There is too much conflict generated in debates that revolve around these confusions for the Staff to be able to discern what portions of every conversation were meant to be in play communications verses out of play discussion. For these reasons, any player can choose to take any information given to them by another player, who has legitimate in play knowledge of the event or situation, as in play information and may act on that information as his/her character sees fit.

***If the Staff discovers that a player is discussing any information he/she learned while out of play or while Monstering there will be sever consequences.***

## Holds

At certain points during an event you may here someone yell the word "Hold." This means that everyone in the area must immediately stop whatever they are doing. Holds are primarily used for three reasons: to prevent potential injury, to prevent additional injury or to allow a Plot Member to explain a situation or event to all the players. For the duration of the Hold, you should remain completely quite and still unless you are asked to relocate. Everyone is considered to be out of play during a Hold so no in play discussion can be had and no in play actions can be taken.

If you see a situation unfolding that may result in the injury of a player or of props, you should call a Hold and let everyone relocate to a safer area to resume play. For example, if combat moves to an area where props like fog machines, wires, and decorations may be underfoot, you should relocate. Alternatively, if a player's glasses get knocked off, you should call a Hold and no one should move until the glasses are located.

If someone falls or takes a hit that looks like it could have done real damage to the player, that player is responsible for calling a hold or choosing to continue fighting. While you should pause to give the player time to call the hold if he/she chooses, you should not call the hold for him/her unless he/she is completely incapacitated.

If Plot needs to describe an area you have just arrived at or if they need to inform you of something noticeable, like an explosion, that occurs during combat, they may call a Hold and describe the situation.

When the person who called the Hold believes that the situation has been resolved, he/she will ask: "Is there any reason this Hold should continue?" If there is no reason to continue the Hold, he/she will then call the game back into play on a three count: "three, two, one, Lay On." At this point you should continue with whatever action you were in the process of completing when the Hold was called. You can also then react to any new event that was described.

***You should not use the word "Hold" for any other reason during an event.***

## Change-out

Change-out is an out of play function where you exchange your coins for a written tag with your Scholars total written on it. Coins are a very limited yet vital resource for the game so we ask that all players perform change-out before they leave site each event. There may also be occasions when we ask for you to perform change-out during an event so we can continue to offer coins on as loot during combat. The change-out process is a completely out of play function. You should retrieve your coins, and return the Scholars chit equivalent back to where the coins where being held out of play before returning to where your character was when he/she left play.