+- Goonstation Forums (https://forum.ss13.co)
+-- Forum: Discussion (https://forum.ss13.co/forumdisplay.php?fid=6)
+--- Forum: RP Discussion (https://forum.ss13.co/forumdisplay.php?fid=39)
+--- Thread: RP Rules and You (/showthread.php?tid=11957)
Pages:
1
2
RP Rules and You - Flourish - 04-10-2019
There's been (justified) concern about the RP rules and how they're too vague about certain things. This means that oftentimes there's nothing concrete to point to when trying to express issues with other players' behavior. Server culture and unwritten expectations influence how a lot of players try to play, but when those things aren't made explicit, it can be confusing and unclear as to how to properly "RP". What would you like to see made more clear or apparent in a rework on the RP rules? What would you like to add or remove?
For reference, here are the RP rules as they currently stand.
This is a brainstorming thread, so feel free to share any of your ideas or suggestions, even if they're not totally formed.
Additionally, I'd appreciate it if anyone could share their thoughts on any of these things:
- What your ideal RP interaction would go like
- How much, or what kind of RP constitutes "enough" or "good" RP, in your opinion
- Your experiences with the RP server in the past few weeks, and what you think has been positive or negative
- What sort of role you'd like to see admins take on the RP server, whether with regard to ahelps or events or something else
RE: RP Rules and You - Podrick Equus - 04-10-2019
I'm relatively new to the rp station (and the game itself!) and though I've been having a ton of fun, one thing I have noticed occurring is that when one person starts breaking the rules, others tend to follow. I was guilty of this myself; on my second day playing I got a warning from an admin for attempting to hijack the station A.I. on a very chaotic Extended round. Due to my inexperience I had figured it would have been okay since people were stabbing each other left and right.
Perhaps a rule like "Others breaking the rules doesn't give you an excuse to" would be in order.
RE: RP Rules and You - Avack - 04-10-2019
So I'd like to firstly begin with answering the questions presented to try and illustrate my future points:
So, as for the rules themselves:
I have a few minor issues to pick. For instance, the reiteration of points from the main rules: It's unnecessary and bloating, and I think we want to be succinct and to the point to minimize confusion. I also think we could benefit from an addition to the rule that requires you do your job ("you will be expected to try and do your jobs, [...]") that attempts to enforce higher standards heads of staff, particularly the captain, as I've found in the past that it can be difficult to respect authority if they, more often than not, goof off and do their own thing instead of their job.
However, there is one part I think absolutely needs rewriting: The section on antagonists. Or, rather, the section on traitors - that may seem like petty semantics, but I fear it may be important. In general, disputes of antagonists, whether their actions or actions directed towards them, seems to make up the largest part of the arguments that constantly rock RP1. Based on that, I suggest the following:
- The antagonist rules should be stricter in relation to rampages in particular, and, perhaps, bombings. Normally I'm against strict rules for RP1 - that's not what we're here for! - but on this occasion they can really impact a round. It should be clear that these should come as a dramatic dénouement, if at all, rather than a first effort, and that they should always come with an attempt on the antagonist of getting the crew involved with words and, generally speaking, making it exciting. Perhaps, of course, it may be easier to ban it altogether. I'm keen to try and discuss this point.
- The antagonist rules should stress that they apply to all antagonists. Many antagonist types have mechanics or lore that are murder-oriented, and I fear confusion arises.
- Clarify objectives. As it is, the rules only imply that objectives should be followed, while the given information from the admins, and, I think, the preferred approach of many of the players is that they are purely optional. Particularly difficult is that the current rules allow you to rampage if you think your objectives would benefit; the problem therein is that random rampages are forbidden because they aren't fun, and they do not become fun if the person performing them has been assigned a random number by the game. It would be better if the rules indicated that objectives are optional and can be ignored.
- Finally, and I think this is important: Antagonists don't play in fun ways if they can't expect the crew to play along; at the moment, however, and throughout my time playing, there seem to have been many cases of antagonists simply getting killed or otherwise shut down without any adequate reason. I suggest the rules should say that the crew should generally attempt to play along with antagonists when possible rather then killing them (edit: more strongly; it's already mentioned, but off-hand in another rule rather than being a major point). More specific wording - for instance, to solve the problem of people reacting to the first sign of weird alien-ness with yelling "ling!" and getting out the blood tests - may also be advisable, but this is another point I'd like to discuss.
RE: RP Rules and You - EristheSlackWyrm - 04-10-2019
GoonRP has a very wide range of roleplaying "levels" that varies from player to player, and I think this is a good thing. We have people like Avack who i personally see as very in depth and talkative. Longer sentences, defined characters with a trade mark of authority and order. Then we have players like me, who play primarily a very impulsive clown with barely cohesive sentences and the attention span of a clown main.
Having a server where these wide range of roleplay preferences can interact is fun for me at least. A minimum "level" of effort should still be in place, and for me it would be the same as avacks. Don't respond with problems with a toolbox, instant perma-brig or spacing. Spacing traitors being one of my most hated things to do or happen to me. Especially by non sec/random staffies trying to be heroes.
Another thing to add to that is "Let people do their job instead of you bursting in and doing it for them" The easiest example would be medbay.
Not Good: Random crew mate is injured, hacks the doors and heals himself then leaves when fully healed.
Someone wants robot legs and does self surgery, so on.
Is Good: Yell for medic before reaching Red, lets medics heal major injures, treat minor ones yourself with public medkits, inject ephineprine pens in an emergency.
The main problem that arises here is what if no one is doing the job you need done, or if they don't know how. I haven't formed a full opinion on that myself. Im both for the "Go a head if it really must be done" side and the "Roleplay that it wont happen and that you are stuck cause no one is doing the job oh no" side.
As for admin interactions. I think it's a gigantic plus that admins like azungar is holding events from time to time. I also enjoy that admins on rp1 have been quite open to event ideas from players, via prayer or ahelp. A good thing would be if more players both new and old got into praying and getting some of their ideas realized. Roleplaying a fun traitor is much much easier and effective with minor or major help from admins. Since most traitor gear is focused more on murder, silent murder, mass murder, rather than drama.
I had a talk with azungar about the role of "actors". Admins want to run some event, they can pick players who will roleplay a role given by the admin. It's not a new concept, but it would be neat to see it more. An Actor could get some minor or major insight into what the event is and what they need to do to cause the most drama.
Enough words I am tired.
RE: RP Rules and You - Spoodle - 04-10-2019
A lot of this Avack's already said, but these are just my basic thoughts. Also, brain no good words right now so this isn't exactly a beautifully written essay :P
“Roleplay and have fun!”
I think some parts of it ought to be bolded, because playing along with other people’s gimmicks and such is very important.
“If you are a traitor, you make the fun!”
It might as well be clarified by replacing “traitor” with “antagonist”. Also, this part of it irks me-
“don't try to go on a homicidal rampage unless your objectives require you to do so!”
Admins have stated time and time again that objectives do not matter. And homicidal rampages are only fine if people actually roleplay them, right? This misleads people in a way that’s very damaging to player mentality.
“Don’t be an awful person” and “Remember that this game relies on trickery, sneakiness, and some suspension of disbelief.”
These sections are already covered by the normal rules. All they do here is bloat the RP rules.
“Play out your role believably.”
This section most certainly should be put closer to the top as it’s an extremely important section, discussing anti-vigilantism and character knowledge expectations.
“Keep IC and OOC separate.”
There ought to be something about how revealing absolutely any information about the current round is strictly prohibited, and there ought to be something about how the hivemind is IC, since literally the only way for a new player to know that is to either adminhelp or get talked to.
Also, I agree with Eris about how there ought to be a part of the rules on how you shouldn't burst into places to do whatever you want when there are people already there.
Basically, I agree with everything Avack and Eris have said.
RE: RP Rules and You - Ficik - 04-10-2019
As most things I have issue with, were already mentioned. I've got some technical suggestions.
The RP rules cannot be just linked from the main rules, they have to be on the same page as the main rules.
Today I went reading through all the rules again to know exactly what they are, and I almost missed the RP rules even though I was looking for them.
And as I'm writing this, I wanted to check again, I go to wiki, click rules, I already know that RP rules are either in the "footer" or at the end of one of the sections. Footer was too much scrolling... So I spend about a minute looking for them... Again...
Other problem is, how do the sections of the rules interact? Are RP rules extension to basic rules? Are they completely disconnected? Just because they're #10 in basic rules I guess they extend them. But in what way?
Is BR suggestion "Being a jerk to people is expected and almost necessary in this game" overwritten by RR "Play out your role believably.", which would basicaly allow only clowns to be jerks.
I know that even normal workers can be jerks, but how many would steal important things, which is one of the "jerk" examples. And people usually imagine much worse things when they think about being a jerk in game vs RP situations.
I think the best way to do this would be making the rules "splitscreen". Vertical split, one side Basic, other side Roleplay. Some of the rules would be put into both sections (Don't grief, listen to admins...), because this is a case where repetition doesn't hurt. And rules that are different or have slight changes, wouldn't need to be guessed.
Having them both go from the top of the screen ensured that people know there are different rules on different server, and they wouldn't get bored of reading, without reaching the RP rules.
And again, I know that not knowing the rules isn't an excuse, but that can be dealt with only after 20 people had a ruined hour of playing.
RE: RP Rules and You - Khea Hyena - 04-10-2019
Hello! I signed up just to comment here, cause it seemed like a nice thing to do when it was requested!
Now it will follow something I kinda just tossed onto the keyboard. So if you want to skim through it, I kinda separated the topics for "easier" reading.
Gameplay
When I play on the RP server on Goon I'm expecting at the very least two things. Serenity and a bunch of silly behavior. It's intrinsic to Goon! A flip there, a fart over here, it's regular, it's a part of it. But this not to say that I'm not expecting a Firm Head of Staff sometimes! "Fart again and I'll have you removed from the Department and cleaning toilets" Yikes! It's part of the RP now to tone it down and do my job properly! It's my boss after all and I could ruin my career! Maybe talk crap on his back too and expect my coworkers to not rat me out for some extra credit bonus. Well, to compensate our Captain never has less that 50u of Ethanol in his bloodstream and proceeds to type on the PA Announcer as drunk as he currently is. Or don't, and suffer the consequences! Which should feel real, and other players (other Head-of-Staff basically) should help on it.
I like these mixes, and all we have to do is adapt a bit.
Some servers (even the ones that say they're Light-RP) are actually pretty neat when it comes to dialogue and playing in-character. It's not forced, and action will take precedence, but there's this nuance I really like. Playing bartender with players like these is AMAZING. They ask for drinks, share current round's concerns and worries, etc...
I'm expecting the Goon RP to reach this at a certain level, while maintaining some of it's silliness, but to know when to tone it down and play a bit more serious, remembering that action should be down played where possible but not completely forgotten. Problem is, how do you do it?! Some people will play all silly and forget about the Roleplay element completely, some will instantly pull Action moves on you to get the upper-hand, and then it becomes like another Goon Server.
High-RP servers are slow and completely focused on dialogue and their jobs. It's immersive, calm, all about the roleplay experience. The so called Medium-RP is a mixture, RP and action. And then the Light-RP vary between the players really (even on other Goon Servers). I think the Goon RP fits on this MRP spectrum. Some action, but a lot of dialogue as well. Perhaps a bit more! When the Antags are amazing and engaging! I think the idea is, a good measure of clicking and typing, perhaps a bit more of the latter. And paperwork? Well, in Goon I feel we barely make use of it because we don't have any Pre-made ones. I kinda like them to be honest. Bureaucracy is forever our plague!
Now, I'm not even mentioning New players, the Greytide or anything like that, those will always present themselves as a nuisance (like the awful self-antaging). And it's a problem everywhere, but my main concern is on How to Play on Goon RP. I'm expecting a player to don the Owl Suit and say that Station needs darkness for the Vigilante and proceed to destroy the bulbs on the Main-Halls, but not going hammering everyone, stealing Sec equipment or going onto Workplaces and bother the fek out of people (and their lights too). The bartender can expect a person to take a couple of sips and proceed to stealthily pee on the glass and completely deny doing it when questioned about it (this happened to me, it was so silly I couldn't stop laughing; bartender is a lonely job sometimes if nobody comes along to have a drink so silly things keep it going), a short silly thing is fun, but proceeding to spread urine all over people's drinking glasses while they're chilling at the bar is stretching it a bit too much... This little quirky and annoying behavior keeps the round interesting for some and Sec a bit more busy (gotta keep those trigger fingers occupied) and I don't find them too detrimental in good amounts. But this is still the same problem, when is Too Much, uh, too much? I can't exactly say how to express this in rules though.
On an extra point, I usually like to drink alcohol\grab a bite just to use my meters, seeing as sometimes they get pretty tight on their levels for the entire round. Shouldn't drinking be more of a requirement? Like, when it gets extremely hot, you get thirsty. When you get hurt, you could really use a bite to eat. Just pumping a bit your needs in according to events, rather than reducing it's timers. I guess those are a bit hard to balance without becoming too annoying, but they're a part of the RP too and can promote interesting interactions of "I NEED TO TAKE A WHIZ GETOUTTAMYWAY!". Well, since you can actually die of thrist and hunger they're extra hard to balance, but if they could affect other stats (speed, etc) it would be more compelling to keep them filled up. Maybe I'm looking at the mechanic too much, RP after all means you're the one who should act when to grab a drink and a bite.
Also, f$@% players that barge in Medbay and take medkits at random because they believe to be better Doctors!
Also f#%£ Doctors that believe they can operate you like there's no tomorrow.
Although truthfully I'm not completely bothered by it, it's mostly off putting and\or annoying sometimes.
Game Modes
I think some players fail to realize what the Round is about sometimes.
Extended: It's for chilling, experimenting things, it's where the Roleplay is actionless (for the most part) and more prone to playing your character and role. The Research Director should employ explorer's to go on the Teleporter, get new players onto it. Geneticists should gather and activate some mutations on volunteers, perhaps some extra mutations too, heck, why not a bunch of them? If they sign the liability Form with the well informed fine print stamped by the CMO himself that is! Willing Staff Assistants should be employed as cadetes, trainees and scrubs! Or even new and gimmicky jobs! No Antags means more relaxation to not fear falling asleep near an armless schizophrenic and learn all the tricks.
Intrigue\Secret\AdminEvent\Etc: ... heck, it's the RP server, you should kinda do the same! But we're still a LOT more wary than usual, even panicky... Probably because some Antags just play their role a bit TOO well.
I've observed a whole round on the eyes of a Changeling, and it was very short on dialogue. It's hard though, the Changeling is required to absorb DNA, so he picked easy Offline Players for extra points, stang people that were chilling on their workplace and used minimal conversation just to not raise suspicion through silence. It's the players fault not questioning why the heck the Security Officer didn't have a helmet , Sec-Glasses or a Security belt on... then again, that whole round was a disorganized mess, but not the Antag's fault!
The idea is that the Antag was very focused on it's current objectives and in the end, nobody proved organized\educated enough to fight against it. No proper mobilization either (like I've seen from experienced players on the other Goon Servers, it's insane). The Changeling didn't adapt either, he just went on to do what he's meant to do. Sting and absorb.
At the start it was kinda dull, but when certain targets were made, the round became more stressful\obvious for the Security and the Antag got to shine that way. The Final Showdown proved to be the most interesting part, it felt the Players needed it because the Antag was just too "stealthy" for them.
This leads to the question: Should the Antags play it down a bit when they're too effective? Imagine a bomber. If a single bomb could lead to a panic, nobody knows who's to blame and they can't even cover up the breaches without calling the shuttle, should the Antag proceed to do something even worse? Maybe trying to call off the shuttle and cut the Comms to keep an early panicky round going would be the most interesting effect.
Antags are truly the directors of the Round (even if puppeteered by Admins!), the hidden writers of the upcoming drama-play, completely responsible to where it will lead. Perhaps their objectives should be tuned a bit?
AI/Cyborgs
I'll keep it short in this one. If some people have a hard time Roleplaying, they definitely have a TERRIBLE time knowing what their laws are and how to follow them. It's beyond silly. Some players are EXTREMELY silly\chaotic and not obedient at all. It's a hard role for sure, but hardly an excuse. Sometimes they're so silly, they forget that RP also means serious business sometimes, specially when an Antag is about, and is currently known that it's not Human at all!
The AI plays a big part in ordering them, but if sometimes they don't even follow humans to the letter when they're face to face, the AI can do much less! This when the AI itself isn't dumbfounded itself, and doesn't open doors to save people being murdered beyond the glass.
Just like Heads of Staff, this is one integral role for Roleplay, where silliness should have a very very very good balance. Heck, even with a drunk Captain I'm expecting them to do their job right, and coordinate everything well, and never to downplay any act of mutiny or contempt against them. Whenever I play a silly gimmicky robot, you can damn well expect me to be listening in on the Radio for calls for help, orders and doing my job properly. Nobody's perfect (I'm definitely not lel), but extra attention is needed for Important roles for sure. I personally love it when a Head of Staff checks on their crew and engages them. They announce themselves, remind everyone they have an experienced person leading them and someone to fall back to if things get crazy. Of course, this needs that the players know how to act properly with them as well, and the same goes for interacting with Borgs themselves.
Traitoring
The concept of actors or even the upped Traitor objectives into something more fun being directly supported by Admins is super! I never thought of the praying thing honestly and I do get stumped a bit when I get to be a regular traitor. I don't want to just mess everything and everyone (not the point of the RP server and I'm not extremely experienced as some other players), but sometimes I just don't know what fun RP thing\gimmick I could pull off sometimes. Should try that next time!
Most that happened to me, was becoming a werewolf and claiming my first early victim. Immediately an Admin expressed concern about a rampage. I wasn't really interested in doing one but the concern and tips given by the Admin were very nifty and cool! And most definitely prevented me from thinking of doing so too. I immediately pulled a gentler werewolf with a background that others could interact without instantly killing me\be killed on the spot. I also returned the body like a good doggo so the player didn't feel left out so early in the round. Even Sec came to round me up but I didn't want to hurt anyone at that point so I just bouted a bit until they handcuffed me (knowing fully well I could break them instantly, but I can only imagine their faces when I did so while incarcerated in my cubicle). It was fun for me and for them too, even if I spent most of the round in quarantine! Heck, I even got to be escorted by my newly made Sec buddy to the kitchen to get a raw meal that gave me Food Poisoning!
But!
Before that happened, some people IMMEDIATELY thought to dispose of me through an incendiary bomb. A scientist went there like a hero to try to kill me while I was gnawing on monkeys (and getting a bit pummeled by them I admit). It... was really silly, why was a scientist there? Alone? With incendiary bombs? This is the other problem with Antags in the RP server. People will instantly think they have a green flag to murder them when they're not showing themselves as a major threat and go super hero which also ruins the RP part. Basically, less dialogue more metagaming.
Another time I was a simple traitor, thinking of silly things to do, when another antag forced me to sign an Infernal Contract and I nearly died, though I had the clearance and knowledge to save myself in Medbay. I vouched to chase him down, and seemed like a nice thing to do, I mean, Medbay was filling up with half mummies and formaldehyde filled peeps like I was. I found him, nobody was doing anything, so I first showed an aggressive stance, pushed him around, threatened, he knew I was aggressive and eventually pulled a saber from the PDA and slashed him dead with a bystander next to me (I probably should've used more dialogue and chase him down a bit though). I was immediately tasered (I don't know why a Medical Doctor had a taser), saber stolen, and the medical Doctor promptly, without talk, questioning or threat, decided to murder me. I ran, screamed for help at a passing Sec Officer but I got killed and murdered and left to die in Crit in the middle of the hallway... eventually another and cool Sec came, tried to save me, and pushed my ass to the morgue afterwards where I got revived. After cloning I thought about killing that Medical Doctor with a more intrusive way but I let it slide, I wasn't in the mood. I wasn't expecting lack of retaliation, I mean, that was pretty aggressive and made very obvious that I was Syndicate! But that instant outcome of a Medical Doctor promptly wanting to murder a fellow human being without question? Not really. He's the one that had the saber when Sec found me running away too. And leaving me to die afterwards?
Heck, nobody even cared to file a report or inquiry about all this event...
Lack of RP or experience aside, this happens a lot, Antag immediately have Red Flags, and I know very well why. On the other Goon servers they do have the rule to go on rampages so people defend promptly as best they can.
But on the RP server? I honestly didn't even want to hurt that Doctor. If he questioned me I'd just toss his question aside. I'd rather have Sec come to me, question and arrest me... Then again, it's not the first time I see Sec going on Killing Sprees (or ignoring dead people, blood all over, corpses in Space) because they have guns and committing people to borging just because. Some higher RP server consider Borging without Trial\Consent\Permission from HeadStaff to be akin to murder. It's pretty off-putting on the RP server. I personally play here because of its more relaxed tone. I'm all fine with silliness and quirky behavior, but these moments just make me, well, "sigh". Like that one time I got shotgunned to death by the barkeep while trying to heal him as a borg... first shot was fun, but as I tried to talk he just wanted to use his big gun so he emptied it on me until I blew up. Nobody flinched or cared. Borgs being expensive and a valuable asset to the Station? Nobody gave a damn.
sorry, I'm still salty over that but thanks for the adminhelp\respawn Florish!
I guess that Antag roles need to be reminded to make Drama, make it intense, let the mix of both action, murdering, bombing, dialogue and emoting be a part of it. Otherwise, it's just like the regular Goon Servers. But same goes for the regular folk, they also need to pull less of the Super Hero. I'm expecting the Janitor to come to the rescue with the mop, not pulling a shotgun out of his pocket and proceed to spout out "They Live" quotes (though that'd still be pretty cool, but that's a job for the Detective\Sec and totally the Captain. Unless it's a Sec that wanted to play undercover, hmm...).
Using another example that could maybe enhance the experience a bit in RP here, in other servers Traitors get code words to use\exchange as to identify themselves to each other. This makes public spaces interesting to start conversations between Antags that want to team up. Though not particularly necessary (or even often used), I like that it's there. Something like using the Listening Post itself to call out Traitor PDA's could also be interesting. This could in the future lead to multiple buddies using their Walkie-Talkies while they sabotage both Comms and Power, which would be really panic inducing cool. Or we could always just leave that to Admin tricks.
Extra
I personally feel very confused when seeing all the names in the Chat Channel. I don't know who's who! The AI could be talking and I barely notice it. The Captain himself is screaming for help and we just expect it to be a crazy chemist that dropped a beaker that lit his foot on fire. Wouldn't it help to have specific\important roles more preeminent? Even the Robotic talk gets strangled a bit sometimes. People do spam the Common Channel a bit too much, but that's kinda normal I guess. But when there's action spams? Oh boy... I find myself using the PDA just to get people to know they received something but... even the damn PDA's doesn't tell me who's who! The crew manifest is too hidden beyond a console\network and I don't really know why.
End
Sorry for the WoT, but it was mostly chaotic brainstorming. Perhaps something good can come of it.
RE: RP Rules and You - Flourish - 04-13-2019
Thanks so much for the input! It's really appreciated and shows how much you all care about RP 1
With all your concerns in mind, we drafted up a revision of the RP rules.
Roleplaying Server Rules
1. The RP rules are an extension to the base rules, not a replacement for. Do not use roleplay as an excuse for rulebreaking behavior, such as bigoted language or sexual content. No, your character doesn’t get a free pass to be racist just because you’re roleplaying as a racist.
2. We're all here to have a good time. Going out of your way to seriously negatively impact or end the round for someone with little to no justification is against the rules. Legitimate conflicts where people get upset do happen; however, these conflicts should escalate properly, and retribution must be proportionate. For example, this means you shouldn’t immediately escalate to murder when someone refuses to leave a certain area or give back something they stole.
3. Keep IC and OOC separate. Do not use the OOC channel to spoil IC (In Character) events, such as the identity of an antagonist. Even if something seems minor to you, as long as it pertains to the current round and characters, you should not be mentioning it in OOC. Likewise, do not treat IC chat like OOC (saying things like ((this round is great)) over radio, etc).
4. Don’t use OOC information or knowledge that your character would not reasonably be aware of just to give yourself an advantage. In other words, don’t powergame or metagame. This includes things such as shouting “LING!” right after you as a player realize that you’ve been stung, or rolling captain every round just to do genetics.
5. Deadchat is considered OOC, and so you should not be using the information you learned from there to inform your IC decisions. Conversely, a changeling’s hivemind is considered IC, and so you should not be bringing in OOC content or information.
6. If you are unsure if something is allowed or not, first consult the base rules of Goonstation; if you are still unsure after doing so, feel free to adminhelp for clarification.
General Roleplaying Rules
1. Play as a coherent, believable character that you enjoy portraying. Real life realism is not required, and you are allowed to be silly within the context of the SS13 game world. (Clowns, farting on people, people spontaneously combusting and exploding are all non-serious things but yet a vital part of the game world.) At the end of the day, it is very likely your character wants their employment with Nanotrasen to continue. As such, they should act like it. Playing as a violent or otherwise psychologically unstable character is not a valid reason to cause harm to others or damage to the station unless you are an antagonist. Only minor criminal activity is permitted (more about that in antagonist specific rules).
2. Chain of command and security are important. The head of your department is your boss and they can fire you; security officers can arrest you for stealing or breaking into places. The preference would be that unless they're doing something unreasonable, such as spacing you for drawing bees on the floor, you shouldn't freak out over being punished for doing something that would get you fired or arrested in real life. This also means that if you are someone in the chain of command or security, you are expected to put in effort and try and do your job.
3. While you are capable of doing anything within the game mechanics, allow those who have selected the relevant job to attempt the task first. As an example, busting into medical and self-treating would be a very strange real-life event if there are doctors literally standing there, and while a janitor mixing up some more space cleaner is believable, if there are scientists working in chemistry you should consider asking them to make you your space-cleaner beaker bombs.
4. Self-defense is allowed to the extent of saving your own life. Putting someone into critical condition is considered self-defense only if they attempted to severely harm or kill you. Preemptively disabling someone, responding with disproportionate force, or hitting someone while they are already downed is not self-defense. Minor assault and fistfights are acceptable, assuming that both players have a reasonable justification as to why the fight started. Assault without any provocation or warning is strictly disallowed under a majority of circumstances.
5. Please be considerate of other players, as their experiences are just as important as your own. If you aren’t an antagonist and yet you really want to play out a hostage situation, or deep-fry someone, or be a rude dude in whatever way, confirm with the involved and affected players either IC or in LOOC first. If everyone agrees to being subjected to harm or terrorization, then you’re good to go. Please keep in mind that this rule does not protect you from IC consequences, such as getting arrested by security. If you are going to RP as a rude dude, given that your victims have given you the okay, you still have to own the responsibility that comes with your decision. This means, no, you can’t kill a security officer because they tried to arrest you for murdering the clown, even if the clown agreed to being murdered.
Antagonist Roleplaying Rules
1. If you are made an antagonist, it’s your responsibility to create interesting, fun experiences during the round. You are not required to do anything nefarious if you choose not to (though in that case, you should probably turn antag off). However, you are required to interact with other players meaningfully, and you should try your best to create engaging scenarios for the crew. As an antagonist, certain objectives may direct you to go against the whole station; this is not a valid reason for you to go on a rampage and murder the whole crew and bomb the station without roleplay or interaction. However, you are free to antagonize and murder specific people who will help you complete your objective or who are hindering you from completing your objective, given that you roleplay things out. You are also permitted to defend yourself with lethal force if another player attempts to capture you or hinder your plans.
2. Treat your role as an interesting challenge and not an excuse to destroy other people’s game experience. Your actions should make the game more fun, more exciting and more enjoyable for everyone; you can treat your objectives as suggestions on what you should attempt to achieve but you are also allowed to ignore them if you have something more enjoyable in mind.
3. It is security’s job to stop antagonists. If you are not part of the security team (HoS, Sec. Officer, Detective or Vice Officer), you should not go out of your way to hunt for potential antagonists. You are allowed to defend yourself and others from violent antagonists, but you should not act like a vigilante if a security force is present. The exception to this rule is when rare game modes such as blob or nuke ops appear on the RP server - you are free to fully engage with these antagonists, as they are considered stationwide threats.
4. Because antagonists are often the primary driver for rounds, some amount of goodwill should be extended to them. This means you should try to interact and communicate with antagonists and try to create an exciting narrative, rather than, say, immediately laser them to death when you see them. Communication and dialogue is expected on both ends.
What do you all think? Thoughts and opinions are greatly appreciated!
RE: RP Rules and You - Adhara In Space - 04-14-2019
i think this got around to clarifying a lot of things that needed to be clarified in the old rp rules. i also kinda like how even though the rules are a bit lengthy, they really clarify stuff i couldnt point to in the rules before. i also really like that you integrated some of the like... stuff that everyone tskes for granted that wasnt explicitely in the rules.
RE: RP Rules and You - Spoodle - 04-14-2019
What Adhara said! These rules are SUPER good, but I still don't think that it's made clear that antagonists objectives are optional. Maybe include something in the end of the 1st antagonist section that says something along the lines of "If you have your own idea for an objective, feel free to do it"?
RE: RP Rules and You - Avack - 04-14-2019
All looking very good! I owe a debt of gratitude to all those involved in writing them. Quickly, though, I have one nit to pick:
At the end of General Roleplaying Rule #1, it says this:
Quote:Only minor criminal activity is permitted (more about that in antagonist specific rules).However, there doesn't seem to be a corresponding section in the antagonist rules. Perhaps something that was nixed in editing?
Apart from that, I'm excited to see them in action, hopefully!
RE: RP Rules and You - Flourish - 04-14-2019
(04-14-2019, 07:34 AM)InternetDweller Wrote: What Adhara said! These rules are SUPER good, but I still don't think that it's made clear that antagonists objectives are optional. Maybe include something in the end of the 1st antagonist section that says something along the lines of "If you have your own idea for an objective, feel free to do it"?
What about an addition like this?
If you choose to follow your (completely optional!) objectives, certain ones may direct you to go against the whole station; this is not a valid reason for you to go on a rampage and murder the whole crew and bomb the station without roleplay or interaction.
And then rule 2 in this section should (hopefully?) cover the rest and cement the idea that objectives are optional?
(04-14-2019, 08:02 AM)Avack Wrote: All looking very good! I owe a debt of gratitude to all those involved in writing them. Quickly, though, I have one nit to pick:
At the end of General Roleplaying Rule #1, it says this:
Quote:Only minor criminal activity is permitted (more about that in antagonist specific rules).However, there doesn't seem to be a corresponding section in the antagonist rules. Perhaps something that was nixed in editing?
I'll remove that part, thanks!
RE: RP Rules and You - Spoodle - 04-14-2019
(04-14-2019, 09:49 AM)Flourish Wrote: What about an addition like this?
If you choose to follow your (completely optional!) objectives, certain ones (...)
Yeah, that looks great! Having it in bold would be preferable too.
RE: RP Rules and You - Clean Your Teeth - 04-14-2019
Meant to reply to this earlier, but the new suggested rules look good to me!
The only other thing I can think of that might be worthwhile is highlighting some details of Space Law in the rules somehow / recommending that people familiarise themselves with it as assumed IC knowledge? I don't think you really get a view of Space Law in game unless you're a Sec Officer / Lawyer & decide to read the book, but making it more widely known that, for example, the recommended punishment for clone-able murder is 4 minutes in the brig, not summary spacing, (and that spacing a suspect without a trial is a crime itself that should be cared about on RP1) might help discourage valid-hunting/vigilantism, or at least tone it down a bit, and help set expectations/norms. It might also make antagonists a bit less wary of interacting with the crew, and less inclined to go on a rampage vs. being arrested if cornered.
Also, I'll stick it in here but can split out as a separate suggestion if it'd be better: a few of us were spitballing on the discord about antagonist objectives on RP1, as they can sometimes encourage rampages etc. which go a bit against the server ethos, and had the idea of giving people the option to reset their own antag objectives for the first ~5 minutes of the round (I know nothing about the code so completely in the dark on how easy/difficult this would be).
That'd let antags set up their own challenge for the round that aligns to any RP ideas they have, means people don't get locked into rampage objectives, but still let people lock in goals in at the start & be judged against it by other players at round-end, which might help encourage more RP-aligned antagging. (Especially for wolves / vampires etc, where the standard objectives tend to boil down to Kill X people & don't get caught).
It'd probably make sense to make this optional, as it might be a bit much for a new players, so maybe hide it behind a commands button instruction like the 'set DNR' option?
(Though server 1 seems to be on extended most of the time now, so no antags - I assume that's on purpose to try and weed out griefers more easily? Is this likely to be a permanent change? Personally I like a mix of extended/conspiracy/intrigue to spice things up occasionally without getting to server 2 levels of chaos.)
RE: RP Rules and You - Adhara In Space - 04-15-2019
(04-14-2019, 01:36 PM)Clean Your Teeth Wrote: (Though server 1 seems to be on extended most of the time now, so no antags - I assume that's on purpose to try and weed out griefers more easily? Is this likely to be a permanent change? Personally I like a mix of extended/conspiracy/intrigue to spice things up occasionally without getting to server 2 levels of chaos.)server 1's usually on intrigue. it got shifted to extended when the population ballooned, and is usually only on intrigue when there are admins on to supervise.