Short and simple! BE SURE TO READ THESE!
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"Admins have the final say. Cross this at your own peril."
Combat requires proper escalation within the VANDERLIN town map and the MURDER WOOD. There is relaxed escalation inside DUNGEONS, the TERRORBOG, and MALUM'S ANVIL MOUNTAIN maps, unless there is an established settlement. Venture out at your own risk. Non-combat roles should expect trouble. You are recommended to hire guards if you must leave the 'safe' areas.
Relaxed escalation may take the form of a one-line threat before attacking. You should not be attacking immediately after dropping your one-liner. See proper escalation defined at the bottom of the rules page.
Ghosts are canon within the universe. "Even after death, you must maintain your character's consistency."
What'ye think yer doin' ye filthy knife-ear!?
If you express hatred or hateful sentiment toward any minority group out of character, you will be permanently removed from the community. This includes racist or sexist remarks made on Discord or in OOC. Nazis and/or any form of extremist/supremacist hate groups are not welcome here.
IF YOU USE A REAL WORLD SLUR WITH A SINGLE LETTER REPLACED, YOU WILL BE BANNED. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE IC SPECIESISM. The fact we have to explicitly mention this is sad.
No ERP (erotic roleplay) "If that's what you're looking for, go elsewhere. For the love of The Ten, keep the server focused on its intended themes." -Ook
Do NOT make nor reference actions of nonconsensual sex, sexual actions between adults and children, etc. by ANYONE. We should not have to specify this. DO NOT JOKE ABOUT THIS.
Vanderlin is a roleplay-first server. You should look to engage in a story- whether comedy, tragedy, or something in-between- and NOT to 'win.'
In Vanderlin, you are expected to be playing a character at all times. This is a place to learn the atmosphere of HRP, so you are not necessarily expected a several page long backstory for your characters, but you should be acting as a character in their selected position/role.
Admins reserve the right to decrease PQ (player quality) at their merit if you do not engage with the world and characters around your own with thought, acting, and good faith. In the inverse, admins reserve their right to GRANT PQ for outstanding or remarkable roleplay in some way or another.
An example of what we are looking for vis a vis 'drama' given a 'friendly werewolf' incident:
ACCEPTABLE:
A werewolf with a prior drug addiction retains a slim connection to their humanity when exposed to their favoured substance, rendering them relatively harmless for the drug's effects. This creates a dilemma for the town- do they continue to fund and guard this creature that could break out and murder at any given moment, or do they execute the creature as soon as it returns to its humanoid form?
UNACCEPTABLE:
A werewolf joins the town guard, speaking unbroken Imperial, for the sole reason of 'because they could.' There is no drama here, it is uninteresting, and now a powerful creature has joined the ranks of the watch to bolster them against other round engagement drivers.
In order to make this situation acceptable, there should be prior roleplay, attempts made by church and townsfolk to commune and engage with the creature. Attempts and performance of the creature itself to retain its humanity rather than it being an innate skill, demonstrating at least some level of internal struggle. An alliance should be the finale, the conclusion of a round, rather than its initial premise.
IN THIS HYPOTHETICAL: The town is not at any point required to grant the werewolf mercy as their conclusion, given that they have some level of engagement and back-and-forth. It is a danger, a wild creature, and quite possibly their doom. This section exists only to cover a chronic issue of thoughtless alliegiance of antagonists.
Antagonists should not be teaming up with each other to murder the population. Antagonists are held to higher standards involving their lethality versus the general population- a bandit does not profit from murdering everyone, for example.
This section exists for clarification. If you are skimming the rules and are confident in your escalation skills, feel free to skip over.
A lot of players may be first entering the higher roleplay sphere with this server. That's okay! We're happy to have you!
You may be wondering about this 'escalation' concept mentioned several times in our rules. Escalation is an arbiter of drama, put simply. Think of an intense movie scene between a villain and a hero. It rarely jumps straight to battle, right? They have a back-and-forth, voicing gripes, monologuing, throwing insults or declaring 'THY END IS NOW!' They fight whilst conversing, throwing quips back and forth...
The latter is much harder to pull off with the mechanics at play, admittedly. It takes at least two people fighting a battle where neither cares more about winning or losing over creating a fun scene. That is largely unrealistic as an expectation within the medium of Vanderlin- though not impossible.
So, what do we expect?
Fundamentally, we hope that the victim can enjoy the role as much as an assailant. At the very least, part of it. "Losing is fun," when it comes to roleplay involves being allowed at least a chance to look death in the eyes and respond before it hits. All players should try to engage with their environment, whether antagonist or not.
You should approach a player you intend to attack with an indication, whether verbally or with an emote, of your intentions. You should give them time to respond, either verbally, with an emote, or an action, before engaging.
Pulling out a weapon in response to someone threatening you in the aformentioned ways is escalation. They can and will kill you, justifiably.
The following are example situations of proper escalation. Your escalation does not need to look exactly like this. This is more of an inspiration than anything.
A werewolf stalks its prey in the trees. It watches a guard patrol below.
The wolf jumps, crashing down atop a man, howling in triumph.
The guardsmen scream, reaching for their blades and moving forward.
Battle commences.
A werewolf stalks its prey in the trees. It watches a guard patrol below.
The wolf jumps down in front of the guardsmen. It screams in rage, uttering the gutteral growls of Bestial. It jumps back up into the trees.
The guardsmen shout, calling the others to form around in a circle. The wolf could be anywhere!
The wolf jumps down again, emoting snarling and dripping drool down its gaping maw.
The guardsmen emote clutching their weapons with white-knuckles, yelling, "The beast! It's here!"
The wolf approaches, one pounding step at a time. It emotes how it hungrily eyes the exposed neck of an underequipped woodsman.
The woodsman gulps.
The wolf lunges, and attacks!
As a noble turns the corner into a dark alley, they see a cloaked figure behind them.
The figure emotes a sinister smile glistening in faint torchlight.
The noble slowly backs away, backwards strafing and pixel shifting against a wall. "Who are you! What do you want from me!"
The figure responds, "Your coin pouch. Lose it, or your life." They draw a dagger, holding it threateningly.
The noble, perhaps foolishly, pulls out their own. Combat starts, and the figure attacks!