Lands of Myth and Magic Rules

Rule One:
Respect! This is the number one most important rule for play in this forum. Respect other players, respect the Staff/GMs and respect the work and property of others. Absolutely everyone is welcome in Lands of Myth and Magic RPG regardless of their background elsewhere! In this game you will be judged solely on your actions within this forum. I ask only that you leave the past at the door! If you have problems with someone outside this game, please shelf it when you enter. Flaming of any kind will absolutely not be tolerated! The most important part of this RPG is FUN! I want absolutely everyone who enters this board to have, first and foremost, a good time! In order to make that a reality for everyone, I ask that you always remember the first rule of Lands of Myth and Magic; RESPECT!

Rule Two:
No Godmoding! In order to be absolutely clear on this, Lands of Myth and Magic defines Godmoding as any In Character (IC) action that puts another player at an unfair disadvantage and/or seizes control of a character that does not belong to the player making the action. As a baseline here are some basic guidelines to follow: Avoid closed actions; a “closed action” is any action that cannot be avoided (Bob slashes into Lula’s shoulder drawing blood). Likewise it is polite to avoid taking multiple actions before an opponent has had a chance to respond (in battle situations). Avoid using Out Of Character (OOC) knowledge about characters or events in In Character (IC) situations. Most importantly: Do no seize control of a character that does not belong to you. Only the creator of a character can dictate their IC actions. Only a character’s creator can declare their character dead! There will be no forced PC deaths in Lands of Myth and Magic!

Rule Three:
Absolutely no plagiarism! All characters must be originals! You may not use characters taken directly out of books, movies, anime, or other media sources. More importantly, you cannot take a character or idea directly from another player and use it without permission. If someone posts a nice race that you think is very interesting, feel free to ask their permission to use it, and feel free to use it when you have that permission, but you may by no means use anything posted by another player without their direct permission! On the flip side of this, however, be careful to whom you grant permission to use your personal creations. Once granted permission cannot then be retracted! I will not allow this rule to turn into a weapon for people's personal feuds. Decide before permission is granted whom you trust. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. You will be asked to remove or edit any characters directly ripped from an outside media source. Don't even ask to play a character from an old mythological story because it would 'fit the setting.' You cannot be Hercules. You cannot be Beowulf. Etc. You will face dire consequences that could result in a banning if you are caught stealing from other players. This is your one and only warning about Plagiarism!

Rule Four:
You are required to post a character bio if you wish your character to receive PC status. A PC (player character) is any character that you wish to play at this board on a regular basis. Characters that will be appearing only once to move a thread along, or random characters needed to populate a scene that have no real significance do not require approval or PC status to be used. Your character's bio should be posted to the section to which you wish them to belong. For instance if you are going to play a Nordic warrior, you should post the bio to the Norse section. An Egyptian Priest would go in the Egyptian section, etc. All characters must be approved by a member of staff, however, you may begin to play your character while you await approval. GMs will do their best to be prompt; please do not endlessly nag the GM for your section, we all have lives outside this board. There's nothing wrong with posting a reminder if you have been waiting a few days, but it is rude and annoying if less than 24 hours have passed and you are insisting on the GM's attention immediately. The approval process is required to ensure that all characters present in the game fit into the setting: this is NOT a D&D forum. Characters built for a D&D type play setting are unlikely to fit here. There is potential for a character to become very powerful in a game of this type; just look at people like Hercules and Beowulf. However, the section GMs will more than likely ask that you start out at a lower level of play and work your way up to higher levels of power. Even Hercules had to earn his status by performing a number of great feats. Remember that most of the fun in the game is learning how to go from Joe Schmoe to a hero. The GMs for each section will work with you until your character fits the setting. Once your character has been approved by the GM for the section to which they belong, they are not limited to play in that section. Character approval is universal throughout the board and characters inclined to travel to other lands are more than welcome to do so. There is a bio template provided and while I ask that you provide all the information it asks for, you are not required to use any set format as long as it includes all the relevant information. For more information please read the Character Creation Rules found here. The bio template can be found here.

Rule Five:
This forum has a PG13 rating. Please keep all public content at a PG13 level so that players of all ages may enjoy the game. Swearing is fine within moderation (as long as you or your character aren’t dropping the F-bomb every other word you won’t get any flack from me). Due to the terms and services of Invision boards, there is currently no Adult Only section. Please do not post scenes of a sexually explicit nature. I don't care what happens behind closed doors. In other words: I don't care what you want to do with your characters in the privacy of IMs, but there is currently no place to post logs of that nature. Please use good judgment with violence and gore. Obviously violence is to be expected; epic fantasy is never lacking for its fair share of war and bloodshed. However, if you think something is too over the top for the board, it's probably best not to post it. If something is particularly gory and you think it approaches the limit, please include a disclaimer of some kind in the subtitle of the post so that people can chose whether or not to pass over it. The same will NOT work for sexually explicit scenes. If I catch anything with the subtitle 'warning sexual content' it will be deleted IMMEDIATELY and without warning. THIS is your warning.

Rule Six:
No Spamming! No Flooding! These are just little things, but they will keep the board uncluttered. If you are a regular and you wish to share a URL you think is kewl or advertise a place of your own you are proud of, please feel free ^^ you don’t require any form of permission! However if you have never been here before and all you post is a URL to some outside place, it will most likely be deleted. I think it’s great for regulars to share fun things with others, but this will not become an advertisement dumping ground. Similarly, please don’t flood the boards. Flooding is simply posting the same message repeatedly, usually for the express purpose to annoy or seek attention. Flooded messages will be deleted from the board. This is especially true if you are trying to get your bio approved. Flooding and incessant nagging will not get your character approved any faster, in fact it will probably slow the whole process down. The GMs have lives and jobs. They have NOT forgotten about you. When they have the time, they will approve your bio.

Discipline:
As far as this goes, I’ve always been a fan of the Three Strikes System. You get three chances to play here after you break the rules. You get ONE warning. I will handle board wide discipline personally. GMs will handle discipline for each individual section. The GM has control in his or her domain; please do not come to me to reverse the decision of another GM. They are GMs because I trust them; I will honour their decisions for their game areas. No GM from another section will over-rule the decision made by another GM in their own section so don't bother asking.

I know this may seem like a lot, but please keep in mind that the point of all of this is to ensure that everyone can have fun. I don't expect most of these problems to arise. In the unlikely case that someone appears to try to cause trouble or drama, the rules stand as a warning. It will not be tolerated here. I want everyone to have a good time, so please, have fun! Ideas and suggestions are always welcome, simply contact the GM for the proper section.

~Striker