Rules

## Main Rules

###### 1. Enforcement of these rules is at the discretion of staff.

Staff is fully accountable for any consequences should they invoke this rule. Staff are also allowed to intervene in rounds when it is in the best interest of the playerbase.

Rule 1 Precedents.
###### 2. Don't be a dick.

Act in good faith. The spirit of the rules supersedes its wording.

Rule 2 Precedents.
###### 3. Bigotry is not allowed out of character. Do not use slurs under any circumstance.

Do not use slurs in either IC or OOC channels. Do not use in character actions to subvert this rule.

Rule 3 Precedents.
###### 4. Do not use information gained outside of in-character means.

I.e. metagaming. This especially refers to communication between players outside of the game via things like Discord, known as metacomms. Your character may only possess knowledge that they could reasonably attain, either through their background or through in-character events.

Rule 4 Precedents.
###### 5. Do not say in character (IC) things in the out of character (OOC) chat channel.

Do not say OOC things in IC either. Do not use netspeak or slang in character.

Rule 5 Precedents.
###### 6. This is a heavy roleplay server.

Roleplay is #1. Do not break immersion.

Rule 6 Precedents.
###### 7. Know and follow the lore.

Stay in character when playing a role that has a strong basis in the Fallout lore. Do not act counter to everything your character should stand for.

Rule 7 Precedents.
###### 8. Escalate before initiating mechanics.

Make it clear that you are transitioning from RP to mechanics with a /say with intention or a robust emote, and give your opponent ample time to respond before making that transition.

Rule 8 Precedents.
###### 9. Any violent action that penetrates past the gates of a faction or invades with the intent of mechanical stealth is a raid. This requires staff permission.

If in doubt adminhelp to clarify issues, different terms and conditions are explained in the precedents.

Rule 9 Precedents.
###### 10. In-game administration rulings are final.

Incidences of admin abuse, negligence or disputed rulings can be taken to the discord or staff oversight. If a staff member says something was 'looked into, handled, resolved' etc, regarding an issue, it is unlikely they will provide any further information. Staff are under no obligation to reveal IC information. Deliberately lying or misrepresenting facts in adminhelps will be dealt with harshly.

Rule 10 Precedents.
###### 11. You have to be over 18 to play here.

No underage players allowed. No exceptions.

Rule 11 Precedents.
###### 12. Consent is required before engaging in any type of erotic roleplay.

Erotic roleplay requires express OOC permission, whether through LOOC or flavor text OOC notes.

Rule 12 Precedents.
###### 13. Do not break the discord terms of service.

Any content expressly forbidden by the Discord terms of service is disallowed and should be brought to the immediate attention of staff.

Rule 13 Precedents.
## Precedents & exceptions: Examples and exceptions to the main rules

**Precedents give a non-exhaustive set of examples each rule may cover. Staff members have a wide discretion in applying the rules and precedents based on the context and severity of each incident. This discretion covers everything from issuing informal verbal warnings to full server bans. Punitive measures usually follow an escalation of punishments.**

###### Rule 1 Precedents

1. Rule 1 should only be invoked by staff when it is in the best interests of the server.
2. Staff has intervened before and will do so again in situations where a player has repeatedly shown to be a detriment to the community.
3. Staff may mirror bans from other servers at their discretion.
4. Staff may ban accounts linked to the use of proxies, CID randomizers, DLL use, or other similar things, at their discretion.
5. Staff may ask players in possession of multiple alt accounts to choose one to play on and ban the other accounts.
6. Staff may influence rounds with events at their choosing.

###### Rule 2 Precedents

1. Do not spam, troll, grief, or otherwise intentionally ruin the game for others.
2. There is zero tolerance for OOC harassment. This can range from guilting people to roleplay with you, to slandering by making baseless claims about a faction, player or the server. If someone expresses OOC discomfort, stop immediately and rethink what you are doing.
3. OOC metagruding players is strictly forbidden; it must have grounding in IC reasoning from the current round. Exceptions can be made in escalating to violent force over past rounds against characters who acknowledge escalatable situations from previous rounds in the current round. If we find you are explicitly targeting a player, the consequences are more severe.
4. Do not share conversations or player information from this server in any form without express permission from the player/players and only in appropriate channels. This is especially true when done in bad faith.
5. Do not attack first or give someone a reason to attack you ICly then complain OOCly (Either in ahelps or in OOC/LOOC) when they take you up on the reason you gave them. Do not let what happens in character affect how you treat others OOCly, especially in a negative way.
6. Do not hoard items: Take what you need, and leave the rest for other people. Selling them is one thing, but locking tons of weapons in a room and not using them is another. Factions are permitted to collect weapons for their other members within reason.
7. Do not utilize exploits, do not share exploits with other players. Report them privately to staff or our development team.

###### Rule 3 Precedents

1. Staff is encouraged to use rule 2 to deal with instances where """IC""" bigotry is excessive or designed as a mask for OOC bigotry.

###### Rule 4 Precedents

1. Do not abuse knowledge of game mechanics in a way that is counter to what is realistic and reasonable for your character. Your character should have strengths and weaknesses, and just because you as a player know how to do something does not mean your character does. Do not play a Mary Sue.
2. Characters who are related (i.e. siblings, parent/child, etc.) may not share info off-screen. This is still considered metagaming.

###### Rule 5 Precedents

1. Do not reference elements of modern culture in-character. Fallout canon diverges from real life around the 1950’s. Memes have no place in our setting.
	* "Bruh”, “femboy”, “soyboy”, “beta cuck”, “based”, “sus”, “sneed”, “cope and seethe”, “LARP”, etc. are all examples of terms that must not be used in-character. This list is not exhaustive; use your own judgement.

###### Rule 6 Precedents

1. You are expected to RP first and foremost, play a character that could believably be found in a Fallout game. Treat this server as a story to be told, not a game to be won.
2. Do not Godmode, do not play other people's characters through emotes.
3. Your character must behave like a mortal, fearing pain and death, and must have realistic flaws. Whilst ERP is allowed on this server, hypersexualised characters to the point of breaking immersion are not permitted. Ridiculous descriptions or looks such as neon hair or mutations are at the discretion of staff.
4. As a high roleplay server with a focus on writing, you must be able to meet a minimum standard of writing to play here, including punctuation and grammar.
5. You are allowed to play a character not able to speak english, but must be able to communicate in english OOCly and are required to make yourself understood with robust emotes during escalation in english.
6. Name your character appropriate for an HRP server. Reference names are not allowed. If it is recognizable from any medium it is a breach of this rule. Do not capitalize your name. Members of the Brotherhood of Steel and the NCR must have both a first and last name; no nicknames or titles. Legionaries must have Romanized names.
7. Do not explicitly reference OOC mechanics such as respawning, AHELPing, admin-healing,  round timers, etc. When in doubt, use LOOC, or obscure your language such that it fits within the setting and does not hurt immersion.
8. Do not respawn as the same character or anyone similar or related to them in the same round your character has been killed.
9. Player character deaths are to be retconned as serious injuries. Avoid referencing the fact that you have died in-character; approach it as though you were merely unconscious, comatose, or otherwise incapacitated. Players may opt to make their own character deaths permanent; it is their discretion. However, if a character voluntarily commits suicide, it will be considered a permanent character kill.
10. Dying and being revived incurs a memory loss of the circumstances of your death and the perpetrator.
11. Actions that would destroy a body or otherwise render it infeasible to revive for the entirety of the round MUST be accompanied by a roleplay scene, sufficient in-character motivation and be done in good faith, not out of spite or pure mechanical advantage. This also applies to bodily disfigurement post-death such as intentionally applying wounds/delimbing. Hiding corpses or hoarding corpses without the intention of reviving them within a reasonably timely manner is forbidden.
12. Do not powegame. Powergaming is readily defined as the prioritization of amassing mechanical advantages for yourself, to the detriment of the enjoyment of others or the creation of interesting RP situations, and is to be avoided in favor of methods that both encourage and promote the fun of all parties involved in interactions where such moderation is possible.
13. Do not exploit mechanics such as:
	* Reviving people using long-since decayed body parts.
	* Using gas grenades with reagents that instantly kill or stun other players.
	* Using the capacity of a QRPD to carry enormous amounts of ammo.
	* Rebuilding the R&D console to skip regular point gain.
	* Killboxes. Your defenses must be able to be reasonably escaped from.

###### Rule 7 Precedents

1. Insubordination or disobeying orders from superiors may be punished with IC demotion or removal from the faction that persists cross-round. If this persists in an LRP way it is punishable OOCly.
2. If you receive a punishment in character that would be enforced by the faction, such as a demotion or being imprisoned, you must respect that this has occurred. Do not spawn in as the rank you were demoted from, do not wander around free if you are imprisoned, etc. If you think the action was inappropriate you may appeal it ICly or, if you believe it is an OOC problem, talk to Staff.
3. Do not desert your faction because you are bored, or did not mean to join in the first place. Deserting your faction without proper roleplay and motivation will be handled with OOC measures. If your joining of the faction is accidental, ahelp and matrix.
4. You are not allowed to do dungeons as an Off-Duty role.

###### Rule 8 Precedents

1. Combat should NOT be a surprise to either party.
2. Both parties must have their combat indicator activated before they may switch to mechanics.
3. Turning your combat indicator off after combat has started is acceptable, however it is mandatory to have your combat indicator activated during faction conflict.
4. Do not shoot a player for not complying immediately, and do not draw and fire wordlessly simply because they have drawn their weapons.
5. Do not use countdowns.
6. Disarms, shoves, grabs, handcuffing, bolaing, throwing people, blocking people on harm intent and all other actions that are mechanically aggressive must be escalated through roleplay if fighting has not already started.
7. Visibly calling for backup, assistance or calling out the name and/or location of their opponent via long-range communication during an ongoing escalation is considered a hostile action and the opposing party may, at this point, engage them in self-defense.
8. If at any time another party attacks you, you may respond in kind. Do what is necessary to defend yourself. However, do not kill someone over a stray bullet.
9. If you have issued a valid halt order, provide a condition, or have begun to escalate and your target does not comply, runs away, or calls for help over the radio, you may use lethal force. **Pointing is not a valid halt order, and cannot be used as escalation on its own.**
10. Escalation is maintained between encounters. However, you must make it clear that you are re-engaging. You may not break away from an engagement, and re-engage wordlessly over 2 minutes later.
11. You may jump into an ongoing fight to assist one party only if you are either both wearing faction uniform, which has to be clearly visible on your sprite or if you make it perfectly clear to the participants which side you are stepping in on, and have a valid reason to do so.
12. Aiding one side of an ongoing fight (dragging their body away, healing them, etc.) opens you up to hostile action from their enemy. This does not apply if the fight is already over.
13. If you have captured someone, it’s expected that someone supervises and roleplays with their character unless they OOCly consent to being left alone either imprisoned or doing a repetitive task. Do not ghost or log out to avoid consequences after being captured. You may request execution or an alternative outcome in LOOC.

###### Rule 9 Precedents

1. The Wayfarer’s Village, Cog City, the Brotherhood of Steel Bunker, the Legion Camp, Khan Camp, Followers Hospital, and the NCR Base are all considered faction bases. **Any building with a locked door is a player base** and is subject to the same faction raid rules. This includes bolted airlocks. Locked doors inside of a faction base are still subject to raid rules, as long as any member of that faction is involved in creating that locked door
2. RAIDING PROCEDURE: If you wish to raid another faction and have sufficient reason to do so, you can ahelp for permission. Staff online will judge your request and grant it, sometimes with certain conditions or objectives attached to make things more fair and fun for everyone. Following the conditions and updating your faction on these is vital, it is recommended that the faction leader asks for permission. Raids should be planned away from the enemy gates.
3. BESIEGING ETIQUETTE: You may antagonize a faction at their gates, but you MUST receive raid permission from online staff before penetrating past the gates. If the faction escalates on you, you MAY NOT pursue them into their base without permission. This act is considered a SIEGE. Aggressively counter-attacking and losing does not mean the other faction has raided you; if your faction is outnumbered you are advised to tactically retreat into the base or risk the consequences.
4. INFILTRATION ETIQUETTE: You are permitted to walk into an open base when not under siege, but doing so you accept any consequences that are associated with this decision. In order to steal or vandalize a player base, the INITIAL action must have an escalated scene with a member of the faction or owner of the base, before switching to mechanics.
5. Examples of things that are fine to do:
	* The Legion captures an NCR soldier. The NCR asks for permission to free them. The NCR raids the Legion.
	* The Legion and NCR skirmish. The NCR retreats past their gates. The Legion continues to fight with the NCR at their gates in a siege, never penetrating past their defenses.
	* A Tribal has been taken prisoner by the City. A friend of the Tribal aks for permission to stealthily rescue them. They break into the jail without being seen.
	* An Outlaw obtains a faction ID and infiltrates the Brotherhood Bunker. They emote stealing an item in plain sight of Brotherhood faction members.

###### Rule 10 Precedents

1. If you want to contest a ruling, file a ticket on the server Discord.
2. Do not share your tickets, discord, dead chat, and ooc are not appropriate to talk about your ticket.
3. Staff do not have to share actions taken against other players.

###### Rule 11 Precedents

1. At any point you may be asked to undergo an age check. This is at the discretion of staff.
2. Your information will never be saved (besides your Date of Birth).
3. Being age checked is not a punishment, everyone will have to undergo one eventually.
4. To be age checked you must: Provide a photograph of valid government identification (ID, passport, birth certificate, driver's license, etc.) with everything censored except your date of birth along with a paper that has your ckey/Discord and current date written on it or or the Discord conversation in the background of the picture.

###### Rule 12 Precedents

1. ERP is permitted on Desert Rose; however, it is not the purpose of the server. ERP should be treated the same as regular RP. We are a HRP server first, and as such, consequences and canon from regular RP apply to ERP.
2. Do not knowingly interrupt an RP scene without valid IC reasoning. Any interruptions to roleplay must be roleplayed in kind and have a firm in-character grounding. Valid IC reasoning includes dereliction of duty, or having previously been involved in escalation.
3. Do not shame people for their kinks OOCly, equally do not force kinks on unwilling participants. If someone expresses they are uncomfortable in LOOC, do not make them more uncomfortable.
4. Enthusiastic IC consent waives the requirement for OOC consent, but it is highly recommened you still aquire it.
5. At any time, you may choose to opt out of a scene that contains sexual or sensitive content. This includes but is not limited to rape, cannibalism, graphic suicide, domestic abuse, and others. Players are expected to use this in good-faith and not as a way to escape consequences or avoid being antagonized by others. If a player requests to break off from a scene, do so IMMEDIATELY. Failure to comply will not be tolerated. If they do not end the scene immediately, ahelp the situation

#### Rule 13 Precedents

1. No under-18 or childlike characters are permitted under any circumstances. This includes pregnant characters.
2. You can find the guidelines here: https://discordapp.com/guidelines