General Roleplay Rules

**Dos and Don'ts of Rolepay**

Whether you are very familiar with text-based RPing or are barely dipping your toes into the process, there are a handful of basic rules that keep the process uncomplicated.

1. No "godmoding". Or, no moving any other character, or manipulating the environment in such a way that pushes the autonomy of YOUR character alone. In a chess game, you would never move another player's piece or change a black square into a white one- the principal is similar here.

Examples that would fall under godmoding:

Writing a character's response to your actions- "The centaur chuckled at my joke."

Adding elements to the environment without consulting the DM- "Over in the corner I see a rope that I hadn't noticed before."

Assuming that your actions towards someone else are successful without checking with them/allowing a DM turn- "I punched the goblin full in the face, knocking him out cold." -or- "Holding on tightly to the rope, I swept my companion up in my arms without warning and we safely swung across the chasm."

2. No "metagaming". Or, not assuming knowledge that you have as a player that your character wouldn't have in the game.

Some examples that would highlight metagaming-

Never being surprised by things that should surprise you- "Somehow I knew that the assassins were creeping up behind me."

Granting your character full knowledge of all creatures even though they shouldn't have it. "Even though he had grown up an illiterate peasant, the fighter knew the exact weak spot of the sailback and targeted it immediately."

Not being tricked by a DM's character by using knowledge in the post you couldn't have known yet. "As if reading the vampire queen's mind, I ignored her fake attack heading towards my face and turned just in time to block the blade coming towards my back."

3. "Finish" your turn. During your turn, make sure that you have responded to all that your character could reasonably respond to. Do your best to leave off at a point where it would make sense for someone else to respond, not in the middle of something that would make it hard for them to respond to.

Examples of an incomplete turn-

Not responding to everything- 1st person "Who are you and what do you want?" 2nd person "I bought a necklace from the stall, admiring its pink sheen, and then decided to head back to the inn."

Leaving off in the middle of an action that would make it hard to reply to without creating a very weird and awkward situation- "After making sure that all the doors were locked, I settled down to read a book." (A note on this- yes, someone can knock, but you've essentially relegated them to writing a post of just knocking or adding in a bunch of fluff. Just do your best to give your fellow players something more to respond to if you can.)

4. Follow turn order. Once a turn order has been established do not change it unless otherwise directed by your DM. Do not skip someone else's turn or try to add in more character turns before the DM's turn in an attempt to respond more fully to a threat.

5. Focus on having fun while you are writing! This is not a game you "win" by beating your DM! We all win together by making a great story.