¶ A note about Life over LARP
We love that so many of you are so eager to engage in online RP, and we encourage this! But to be clear, real world considerations always take precedence, and a lack of response in any channel should not be taken as an in-character offense or being left on read. It's fine to poke someone after a week or so and ask if something is being left on read IC, but this should NEVER be an assumption.
Further, if you've been posting a bunch in a group chat, it's worth taking a break sometimes and giving a chance for someone else to post. This is less a concern in 1-1 chats with someone, but make sure everyone has a chance to have their say. Online play is fun, but ultimately, optional.
We do ask that people with court positions engage to a certain degree in online play, and you can read more about that here.
¶ Discord Posting Guidelines
WHAT WE ASK OF YOU: Be kind to people. It's pretty basic, but it works. We have a fabulous community and don't expect this to be a problem for anyone. But since we might get random drive-by's from time to time, more specifically:
- Don't attack people based on their gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability, or any other aspect of a human being that is just an inherent part of who they are. Don't deliberately deadname or misgender people. Don't make shitty jokes that punch down at people who already have enough problems. That's tasteless, cruel, and will get you booted from the server.
- Do not try to verbally intimidate or threaten physical or emotional violence. You're better than that. We all are.
- Don't judge what you don't know. We're all on different paths, and trying to shame someone for their lifestyle choices just makes you look like a dick.
- Do not post anything that you damned well know is illegal. We won't argue about it…we'll just boot you off the server and from the game.
¶ Public Channel Posting Etiquette:
If you are posting in a public channel, please be considerate of others, and be sure to spoiler tag anything that crosses commonly held phobias and anxieties, such as insects/spiders, transphobia, homophobia, etc. (with a label, so others know whether they want to engage). A list of all currently submitted lines and veils from all players can be found below for quick reference. Also…even if it's not on this list, please use common sense and spoiler anything you know most people will find upsetting.
Also, please note the channel names, and endeavor to keep posts relevant to the purpose of the channel (conversations will inevitably veer off course here and there, but we try to bring them back around to the channel topic as quickly as we can so people know where to go to look for specific things).
¶ Current Gamewide Player Lines and Veils:
| Lines | Veils |
| Drug Overdose | Claustrophobia |
| Domestic Violence | Drowning |
| Isolation from collaborating with others | Extreme Body Horror |
| Spiders | Homophobia |
| Sexual Assault | Menstruation |
| Transphobia | Mental Health Ableism |
| Needles | |
| Non-Consensual Restraint | |
| Open Drunkenness | |
| Racism | |
| Suicide | |
| Violence to Children | |
| Violence to Animals | |
Also, please note that while our World of Darkness is in many ways a reflection of the Real World…it is not an exact duplicate and you should not assume that Real World events are necessarily represented in game (natural disasters and politics may be mitigated, for example).
¶ Private Channel Posting Etiquette:
- Please keep all communication between characters that does not happen at game on the server (so we can reference it if there's ever any confusion).
- If you are posting in a private channel with another player, please check whether that person has listed Lines and Veils before describing a scene. Each player's personal Lines and Veils can be found in the Who's Who right here. Bear in mind that by definition Lines are topics the person does not wish to have come up in a scene at all, whereas Veils can often be references, but should not be the focus of a scene. If you have any doubts regarding whether something would be appropriate, talk to the other player(s) about it and figure out where the boundaries need to be.
- Character intimacy of various sorts is allowed in private channels, with the explicit and stated consent of all involved parties--do your check-ins before you go there. This consent can be revoked by any party at any time. Also recognize that if you're gonna get frisky in a private channel we won't stop you…but the STs will absolutely be reading it. Possibly rating it amongst ourselves. It's inherently not private. If you're cool with that, so are we.
- Please limit editing and deleting of posts as much as possible in private and in-game channels. And if you do need to edit or delete a post, adding an OOC explanation of what has been changed or why it needed to be deleted is appreciated.
- Please do not post screenshots of IC conversations in IC channels with other players. Faulty memories and miscommunications are part of IRL interactions, and they should be part of your characters' interactions, as well.
- If you feel any of these guidelines have been violated, please contact the STs immediately and be assured we will address it.
- When beginning a scene, please establish setting, whether it's in person at a particular location, over the phone or telepathy, or via text or other method of written communication.
- When completing a scene, please try to remember to do scene summaries and @Storytellers so we know to come see it. We know it's often hard to say where a scene ended, etc...but please do your best.,
- If there is an obvious plot point being discussed (Praxis overthrow, murder plots, I just figured out the answer to the silver in the water, etc.) please @ us. Y'all love to chatter (and bang, but carrying on) and we support it. But plot points go better when we're prepared for them.
- When you find yourself talking about Plot Things in a Discord scene, please pause other relevant scenes with Plot Things so that you can establish an order in which they happened. This prevents clusterfucks. Everyone hates clusterfucks.,
- If you are going into PVP in your channel using Disciplines, even if all parties are consenting, please @ us. Just so we can keep half an eye on it.
¶ Gaming Channels Formatting
Some types of formatting have become customary over time to differentiate what is happening in a scene.
- Scene Description: Bracket with asterisks (*), resulting in italic. Example: *Tucker leans down to watch the ants crawl across the flower.*
- Things said in character: Bracket with quotation marks ("). Example: “But I can't eat ice cream!”
- Things said out of character (such as player check in's or any other player to player communication during a scene): Bracket with double parenthesis (()). Example: ((Hey, I just did a thing…are you good to continue?))
- Things said in telepathy: Bracket with hard brackets [ ]. Example: [Are you sure we're safe here?]
- Example of all four in one paragraph:
|
Jenny walks into the bar and looks around speculatively. She raises her pistol in the air. She lets two bullets fly into the air while grinning like a maniac. [Hey, are you about at the back entrance? I'll be there in less than five minutes.] |
¶ What you can and can't do on the Discord server between games:
ST clarifications. If you're confused about something that's public info, please drop it in your channel. We might go, "yeah, it's IC confusing," but we might also clear up a misconception.
Scenes with other PCs that do not involve throws. You can have soft-RP scenes with other PCs set at locations! We highly encourage you to only have one "political" or "plot" related scene happening at a time. You could text other characters in this scene, or maintain telepathy to deliver information during it, but keep track of your characters timeline and how many telepathic channels of communication they can maintain at a given time. Running multiple scenes at the same time can get confusing, so try to keep your timeline straight. That said, if you're just having a fluff background scene for something like having your characters watch a movie, etc, don't worry about that. What we're concerned about is information spread
Lore/Academics checks. Sometimes, questions of "do I know this?" come up between games. We cannot promise a fast response, but we allow you to drop requests for lore in your channel in moderation. Treat this as "this came up, do I know this?" rather than a "I want to investigate this, can I get information?" Searching through ancient tomes for esoteric answers is a better past time for a downtime.
Writing NPCs. Correspondence with an NPC outside of WNC requires both having a means to contact them IC, and a downtime. Spending a downtime does not guarantee you will get the response you want. Additionally, even a one-sided update to someone outside WNC will require a downtime (this is to enforce the theme of Isolation). That said, local NPCs in the WNC area can be communicated with by dropping a message in your storyteller channel, just like you could message or have scenes with PCs. We reserve the right to respond or not respond according to both the NPC you are messaging, and ST time and resources. We have a lot of channels, and will tend to be honest about whether we have the spoons to have an NPC scene with someone local, or whether we need bullet points. We also reserve the right to say a major happening with local NPCs, such as a cross-sect summit, will require a downtime, even if all the NPCs are in the local area.
Powers of the blood/rituals/abilities. These can be used in a downtime or at game. These can be narratively described in scenes, but using your powers to unearth plot information or affect another PC in a hostile or plot relevant fashion cannot be achieved without a downtime or being at game. If you are going to use Disciplines in a way where all players are consenting, please @Storytellers so we can keep an eye on it.
Information gathering merits. Merits like Malkavian Time, Oracular Ability, Parley, and Method to the Madness can only be used at game or as part of a downtime. That said, if you know you are going to use a merit like this as soon as game starts for something, please tell us in your channel ahead of time so that we can prepare. We may in this case in order to streamline game give you the answer in your downtime to save at-game stress. In this case, treat it as if you used the power the moment you stepped on field.
Backgrounds. You cannot use influences, contacts, allies, or resources (to produce an item that requires an item card). Please put these in your downtimes, or use them at game.
Investigating plot. Look into things in downtimes or at game. Between games is a time to share information, not gather it.