Game Rules

Below is a list of our rules for the roleplaying game specifically, which are also available on our game board's site. If you're looking for other rules, regarding our Wiki or our Discord server, you'll find them at the bottom of this list:

Section 1: Registration
Only members will have access to post on our forums. Registration is mandatory to post threads, but not to read them. To become a member, you can register for the game by clicking here: Thedas & Beyond Registration. Proboards, the network host for our game, has a feature that allows for multiple accounts using the same login. This means you will not need to register more than once and, after our 3-month rule for additional characters (see Section 4), you can easily switch between multiple character accounts using the same email address.

Section 2: Usernames vs. Display Names
We prefer you register using your intended character’s name as your username, however it is not mandatory. Changing your display name, however, to your character name is 100% mandatory prior to posting as your character. You can change your display name in your profile settings. Profile > Edit Profile (it is a button on the right, not in the tabs) > Personal tab > Display Name field.

Any inappropriate display names will firstly be requested, by an Administrator or Moderator, to be changed. Keep in mind Admins have the power to make changes in your profile such as this, so try to obey our display names rules as well as pick a name that is on-theme for this game and your character. If a member continues to select inappropriate display names, they will be promptly banned.

Inappropriate display names include, but are not limited to: real world slang, your real world name, well-known / trademarked / copyrighted names from non-Dragon Age sources (i.e. you cannot be Geralt of Rivia, Nathan Drake, Kratos, Commander Shepard, Big Boss, etc. sorry – they're all badass though), gibberish (e.g. 5fyyy4), leet speak (e.g. n00b5layer), or vulgarities.

Section 3: Application Process
After registration, members must fill out an application form for their character profile. They need to thereafter post it in the Characters > Applications section where they shall await approval prior to being locked and moved, by an Admin or Mod, to their appropriate thread in either the Canon or Original Characters sections.

To jump to this form now, you can click on this link: Character Application Form.

Players may not begin posting as their characters until their character profile has been approved by a member of staff (either an Administrator or a Moderator). Potential players may be asked to make revisions if their profile does not align with the game's canon lore. Our lore differs slightly from the game and the books.

While you’re waiting for your profile to be approved, you can still post in our designated OOC (out of character) boards. These OOC sections are a great place to introduce yourself, talk about gaming, or to ask questions about our game specifically.

'''Do not contact Admin directly with your application. Post it in the defined thread, as directed.'''

Section 4: Roleplaying Additional Characters
We have a 3 month waiting period for new players whenever they want to request an additional character to role play in our game. This applies to new members only, as we really want them to get the hang of the ins and outs of the game before they take on too much narrative responsibility.

While, as mentioned in Section 1, our network host does, by default, allow for multiple account registrations using the same email – we also want to make it clear that even if you attempt to bypass our 3-month period by signing up with an additional email address, staff are able to see member IP addresses (the numerical identifier for your own, personal computer). If we see someone abusing our forum by registering via different emails, yet coming from the same IP address, or even if we suspect this is the case given other evidence, that member will be banned and blocked and their characters will be deleted.

Existing players, who have held a membership for over 3 months, can apply for multiple characters – but each new character is subject to the same application process as their first character. That’s right, you’ll need to fill out a form and wait for approval each time. Even for canons.

Section 5: Player Etiquette
Respecting fellow members, moderators and admins is as common sense as it is mandatory. Regardless of your real world views, our game is here to be a game and not a digital stage for individuals to post hate speech, tirades regarding real world politics, or sexually explicit and offensive content. We have zero tolerance for these kinds of posts, and a zero tolerance policy for the harassment of other players.

Harassment includes, but is not limited to: flaming (i.e. hostile and/or insulting interactions) and doxing (i.e. searching online for and posting private or identifying information about another member on any of our boards for the purposes of malicious intent).

Likewise, we ask existing members to treat new players with a bit of patience while they try and figure out the boards. Instead of berating someone for not using our correct posting processes, try and show them the ropes.

Members can report other members and/or offensive posts by using report features. This will flag the member and/or post to Admin, without that member knowing it was you. Only Admin will see who filed a report.

To report a member, click on their profile and select the “Report” button on the right hand side. To report a post, click on the gear symbol of the post itself, it should be the last of 4 buttons on the right-hand side at the top of any post, and use the drop down menu to select “Report Post”.

Section 6: Character Etiquette
A lot of games blur the lines, or are unclear about, when it comes to what a player says versus what their character says in the game. Hopefully this note provides some guidance. We do have a censorship feature in place, which forbids certain words on our site (see Section 7 for more). That said, our game does deal with a lot of fantasy (i.e. make-believe) political and social issues.

For example: Elves are generally treated as a minority race, so if you’re playing a character like this and another character insults or rebuffs your character – try to remember that’s part of roleplaying, and let your own character react accordingly as opposed to taking it personally as a player.

Another example: Characters who are on opposite political sides, let’s say fighting on opposite sides on a field of war, will likely react to one another with hostility. Again, this is the characters’ world view, and not necessarily the players’.

Essentially, if another character makes you mad? Step back for a moment and don’t post a response right away, ask yourself if they’re really being inappropriate or if it’s roleplaying. Some of the most villainous characters are played by the most kind, and often silly, players. We do want to keep player vs. player drama to a minimum, so try to lead by example whenever possible. If, however, a player is using their character to harass another player under the umbrella of roleplay - please flag this to an Admin for review.

Another important thing to remember is that your character can only control his or her own environment and reactions. As a player, you cannot respond and/or react for another player-run character. If your character casts a sleeping spell, it’s up to the other player to decide whether or not their own character will be affected and, as such, to what degree. We do encourage the old improv rule of “yes and” however. But, in this instance, even if the other player really doesn’t want their character to fall asleep they’re still obliged to meet you halfway creatively speaking. Their next in-character post will have to explain why they were immune or resistant to the spell and how that immunity or resistance affects their character physically or mentally. There’s a give and take process here and we do take godmoding seriously, which you can read about in Section 9.

Section 7: Game Rating (PG-13 / Mature)
This is a tough one to pin down. Ultimately, we’re a PG-13 mature game. Our game will deal with scenes of violence and implied intimate, though not outright sexually explicit, scenarios. Swearing is a bit moot because we do have a censor in place for a lot of harsh or belligerent words (e.g. words that discriminate against the LGBT community are banned). The censor is in place to uphold the integrity of Section 5 of this list. That said, there are some allowances. Essentially, if it can be said or shown on cable morning television – you’re good to go.

Our censor does not just block out words, but replaces some. If you try to harass another player with horrible vulgarities a lot of those commonly used insults will be converted to fantasy or medieval themed words or phrases. Name calling will automatically translate to “unicorn” in the threads. This was intentional. We’re all unicorns here.

Finally, as per Proboards “Terms of Service”, you have to be at least 13 years old to take part in any Proboards forum, inclusive of our game, regardless.

Section 8: Posting
We do expect players to write with a little finesse. Repeated use of real world or digital slang, refusal to use proper spelling and grammar (i.e. do not write things like “Wut u do dat 4?”) will, straight up, get you banned. This is a storytelling game; therefore, consistent narrative is crucial. Try to keep your in-character posts at least a paragraph long, as well.

Using third person narrative is mandatory when in-character. It’s not required when speaking OOC, but so long as your character is interacting with another character there will be no “And I caught your coin purse with my left hand, effortlessly! Huzzah!”. The correct format would be thus: “Alaric caught Mina’s coin purse with his left hand, effortlessly, and proudly exclaimed, “Huzzah!”.

We have a 7-day grace period for other players to post their replies to your character’s post. For more information on the mechanics of actually posting, please jump to our player resource for such: Posting Guide.

Godmoding
We all want to enjoy the game. To do so, we all have to have a balance of strengths and weaknesses in all our characters. Also keep in mind, mentioned in Section 6, you only control the reactions and movements of your own character and not the reactions or movements of another player’s character. Your character can try to stab another character in the back but it’s up to that other character’s player to decide if the dagger hit its mark or if they moved away just in time.

This gets tricky with magic, because we all want to cast our spells without limit. To keep the game a bit more balanced we included some strengths and weaknesses to the canon magic systems in our world.

There will be no unlimited fire balls, be a responsible storyteller. Either the fire balls get smaller or begin to fizzle after too many of them have been cast, or your magic users exhaust themselves. Think of it the same way you would any real life task, after a while there’s either room for abnormalities and error or human exhaustion.

Real world example: Your friendly neighbourhood Admin does a lot of coding behind the scenes to make the forum function and to make the game look cool. After a while, all of that coding makes your Admin very tired (sometimes hangry), and admittedly, sometimes mistakes are made (e.g. broken links, spelling errors, etc.).

New magic systems will not be accepted.

Metagaming
Players are sometimes guilty of reading another player's character profile and noting information in there that, for the purposes of roleplaying, is supposed to be a secret or is simply just knowledge about said character that would be impossible for the offending player's character to know about. Using said information in-game without clearing it with the other player first is not allowed. It is considered poor sportsmanship to roleplay as a veritable know-it-all or psychic.

Psychics are actually not allowed in our game anyway.

Section 10: Crediting Artists For The Use Of Their Work
No character profile pictures, content-related or location-based images will be placed on the public forum without an artist credit. Below the image you use, you must credit the artist by their name in small text font along with a link back to their website or portfolio.

For avatars, you need to make a note of the artist's credits in your signature and/or make a note that said credits are available in your Thread Tracker.

Remember, a lot of art is copyrighted and used for things like video games and comic books. While our game is free to play, and does not make any profit, a lot of artists still don’t want to find their work used without their permission.

When you’re looking for art, keep an eye out for an artist’s disclaimer with regards to using their work. A lot of them will make a specific note about it in their profiles, journals, descriptions or comment sections of their websites or portfolios. Respect their craft.

Staff-Run NPCs
NPCs are “non-player characters”, which usually means that they’re played by a Moderator or Admin for temporary or occasional plot-driving purposes. We have a system that allows for the majority of major or frequently used NPCs to be played by anyone on our staff, this gives staff a bit of wiggle room if there needs to be two separate “castle guard” interactions in two different locations. It also lets whomsoever is available among staff to respond to regular players’ characters’ a bit faster. Staffers all collectively pick up the slack here to drive stories forward. You can check out our canon list here: NPCs.

Player-Run NPCs
Non-staff members are allowed to have no more than three minor NPCs, like sidekicks or family. Do not treat them as additional characters (see Section 4, i.e. they cannot roleplay on their own without your main character) as that is bypassing the rules of the game, which is just unfair for others.

Players are permitted to have animal NPCs like an animal familiar, a loyal steed, etc.

NOTE: non-staff NPCs can be assumed by other players if needed, for the purposes of driving dialogue along (players doing this must still respect the original creator's vision/intent for said NPC, however). Please let other players know if you do not wish this to be the case. You can make a note of your NPCs in your Thread Tracker as well, with brief notes about their appearance and/or availability. You can also list them for adoption if you want another player to consider taking them on as real characters someday, but they will have to go through the regular Application Process first.

Section 12: Prohibited
The game has its own canon for a lot of things, like Races for example.

At this time, none of the following will be permitted in this game:
 * 1) Anything outside of the Dragon Age universe, such as, but not limited to: anthropomorphic characters (cat-girls, centaurs, lizard people, etc.), non-humanoids, robots, orcs, angels, etc.
 * 2) Though canon to the Dragon Age-verse, we will not allow the following to be playable characters due to the possibility of godmoding: Archdemons, Broodmothers, Deities, Demi-Gods, Darkspawn, Demons, Dragons, Fairies, Firesprites, Giants, Golems, Spirits, Titans, or Werewolves.
 * 3) While membership via the Proboards “Terms of Service” states that members (i.e. players) must be a minimum of 13 years of age, characters (NPCs excluded) younger than 18 will not be approved. You want to role-play as a little boy? There are dark web chat rooms monitored by the FBI for that. Good luck in the system. By good luck, we mean the opposite. By in the system, we mean prison.
 * 4) Modern concepts are not allowed. That means no steampunk, not even gunpowder.
 * 5) Characters “from the future” will never be allowed in this game, because that's godmoding and metagaming combined.
 * 6) Anime / manga. The art for this game, while illustrative, leans towards realism. Comic book style is okay (Dragon Age graphic novels are good examples), but nothing cutesy (No big-eyed Sailor Moon-esque art).
 * 7) Celebrity photographs are not allowed as character portraits or avatars. We informally have "Headcanons & Face Claims" from time to time, but we don't use real life photos in our character profiles/avatars.
 * 8) Additional "realities".