General Rules & Server Conduct

General Rules & Server Conduct
We're all here to enjoy an experience of cooperative play. As such, it's expected that all who participate will treat one another exceptionally, with consideration and respect. Enforcement of these rules are always intended to ensure everyone is being treated fairly, and to ensure this environment of cooperation; all DMs are held to this same standard of conduct on an equal level to players

Remaining IC and IC Character Behavior:

 * Players are expected to remain IC at all times, beyond short OOC conversations for gamelay purposes. Long-term OOC conversations can be taken to Tells (which is considered to be always OOC). OOC chat is expected to be demarcated with appropriate symbols: ((OOC)), // OOC etc. Players should remain aware of metagaming, and should try and restrict their character's knowledge only to things they would have a reason to know.
 * Players are asked to remain aware of how NPCs might react to their character's actions in the gameworld. While DMs cannot always be present to provide reactivity, NPCs can't be ignored. Behaviors such as excessive running through towns, brandishing weapons or a flagrant use of magic would cause a reaction of suspicion or even panic in some situations. These kinds of actions need to have valid IC rationale.

Dungeoning and Exploits:

 * Farming or camping dungeons is not allowed.. Likewise, we ask players not to exploit or manipulate NwN mechanics for an advantage while dungeoning. Things such as drawing spawns through encounters in order to escape death, pulling large groups of enemies into one spot and trapping enemies through quirks in an area's tileset are considered OOC and are not permitted.
 * Stealth looting or leveraging the Invisibility Spell to loot a dungeon, is considered a form of farming and against the spirit of TDN. This can be further defined by using either of the above to avoid all forms of combat and only obtain gold.
 * While we provide some examples of exploits below, the list is not an 'end all be all', it is important to note that we expect the community to play the game with the mindset and intent that the integrity of the experience be maintained. Generally, we identify exploits as things that are done to take advantage of the Engine, a system, or the server. We're focused on the intent behind the action. When in doubt, ask!
 * List of actions that are exploitative in nature:
 * Taking Advantage of Poor AI "Pathing": The act of intentionally leading enemies to a spot in a dungeon or on the server where they are guaranteed to get stuck, and then killing those enemies from ranged/safety as they cannot reach the PC. Asking yourself "Would the NPC really act like this?" is a good checkpoint on these types of things.
 * Finding one or two enemies in a dungeon that get stuck and have to be killed is not exploiting.
 * In these instances, attempt to unstick the enemy by engaging from a different position. If one enemy gets stuck while engaging an encounter, it is permissible to take care of the group before attempting to 'unstick' the final creature. If you've made the effort, killing the NPC is fine. Please report these instances to the DM team with a Bug Ticket.
 * Pathing abuse as a process of clearing an encounter or dungeon IS considered exploiting.
 * Side-Stepping to avoid being Overburdened: The act of using keyboard commands to sidestep your character at regular speed, bypassing your PC's weight limit speed restriction.
 * Swapping Weapons mid-combat frequently to obtain higher APR: Using quickslots to swap weapons mid-combat, at times, can prompt another Attack-Per-Round. Swapping weapons in general during combat isn't naturally perceived as abuse, however it becomes obvious very quickly if someone is attempting to take advantage of the Engine in this way.
 * Pulling Single Mobs via Line-of-Sight: The act of approaching a group of monsters, avoiding line of sight for the majority, and ranged attacking one and only pulling that single creature. (In some cases, the other monsters that are nearby the attacked creature, will not engage the aggressor, despite the originally attacked creature charging forward.)
 * Pulling a group of creatures with a ranged attack, and then leading them to a choke point, or through a spot where you've established strategic advantages, is acceptable.
 * Note on Corner Re-Stealthing: This is defined by "The act of turning a corner while being chased by an enemy, and using the NPC's Line-of-Sight loss to immediately go back into stealth for purposes of gaining Sneak Attacks/Death Attacks on the enemy."
 * Corner Re-Stealthing is acceptable assuming that you have not violated the "Single Mob" process. If a PC opts to pull the encounter as designed, this tactic is acceptable.
 * We do not allow muling (passing items between your own characters) and twinking (giving powerful items to players that would have no way of normally obtaining then). Exploiting game mechanics is never allowed, and players are encouraged to privately report any exploits to the team.

Farming Dungeon Explanation:
"Some things to consider:""- Ultimately, we desire that players act in the best RP-interest of the server and the dungeons included. Building your PC's plan for the day based on mechanical respawn rates is the antithesis to our definition of 'best RP-interest'.""- We encourage players to explore, find new dungeons, and adventure!""- We feel that our efforts are best put into generating exciting new content, and not mechanical blocks on dungeons to mitigate farming.""- Please keep in mind that dungeons directly outside of towns are generally designed to appeal to newer players looking for adventure. More experienced PCs should do their best to search for adventure in new areas."
 * On TDN, our build team has done their best to provide a wide variety of distinct and interesting dungeons for the players to find across the map. Instead of repeating convenient nearby dungeons, we encourage players to explore the world and take new risks. Our concern is that some of the PvE experience may become absent of RP, and the suspension of disbelief an RP server requires gets shattered by repeated farming or grinding of dungeons. We advise players to consider even dungeons they've seen and done before as ICly novel experiences, rather than the same creatures in the same location, in the same layout; we are always limited by what we can realistically accomplish in NWN, and we need the players' help to make this an outstanding RP environment, including the PvE aspect of it.

PvP and Conflict:
Conflict between characters is inevitable. We ask that this conflict always remain IC, and to have sufficient RP to build up to any encounters.

PvP does not require implicit OOC consent from all parties, but does require OOC warning, communication, and very justifiable cause. Deliberate provocation of another character can reasonably lead to a decision to PvP, and a player cannot hide behind a wish to avoid PvP if their character has earned consequences due to instigation or other actions. Note, differences in alignment or faith are likely not valid reasons to engage in PvP alone.

If necessary, a DM can adjudicate an encounter to ensure fairness for everyone involved and to avoid abuse of the consent rule to get out of consequences for IC behavior.

In those cases where PvP is contested as being legitimate and there is not a DM immediately around, we ask that all the players involved take Screenshots to document the event and present them to us at a later time.

Killing PCs without sufficient provocation or RP is prohibited and a bannable offense.

Any form of OOC griefing or harassment is entirely prohibited, and may also be considered a bannable offense. If OOC feelings begin to leak into IC interactions, it's still considered harassment. There's a player behind the keyboard who is trying to have fun - we ask everyone to remember that and be considerate of the enjoyment of others. PvP does not have to be one-sided enjoyment if the players are amicable, communicative, and reasonable in their handling of the events.

Lastly, we on the TDN team have seen conflict done very well and done very poorly, and we have seen the outcomes of both. We treat a player's approach to PvP and conflict very seriously for those reasons.

Character Creation and Interaction:

 * All players are expected to follow the character creation guidelines provided on the forums. Likewise, we expect characters to RP only what is present on their character sheet. They can't use abilities they don't have, or faculties they may lack. They are expected to play their statistics as they're presented on their character sheet. As such, characters with a single digit in three or more stats are only permitted for play pending an approved character application.
 * While romantic interactions are perfectly acceptable, we do not allow sexually explicit RP in any capacity on this server. This includes any form of RP interaction in tells (if two characters are "afk" in an inn room, we reserve the right to break it up and remind you to log off). If a story is heading in that direction, players are to take all such interactions off-server. We aim to foster a mature environment in which sexual themes are not forbidden, but do not become the focus of idle roleplay.

Enforcement and Disputes:

 * While the rules and conduct expectations outlined above are meant to provide a general overview of how the team wishes the server to operate, the DM Team (Led by DM Silver), is expected to provide ongoing feedback to the community when necessary. In some cases these conversations will revolve around character stories and future events, other cases may be specific to roleplay processes and clarification of guidelines and expectations.
 * If at any time you feel that you are receiving unwarranted DM oversight, please first contact DM Silver and discuss your concerns. In the event that this cannot resolve the situation, please contact Aschent. As a Development & DM Team, we are open to feedback and ensuring we provide a place to play that is engaging for players while maintaining a consistent setting that does not bog people down with thousands of rules. These options and communication avenues exist to support the community, if you have suggestions related to systems or rules, please use Discord or the Forum to express those suggestions.

Roleplaying Stealth:
Stealth is a familiar DnD mechanic that has been a part of our NWN experience across multiple Roleplay servers. Unfortunately, the game's adaptation of Stealth, especially as it applies to RP, leaves much to be desired. We have seen the need to elaborate on the Roleplay surrounding the NWN Stealth mechanics to ensure that there is consistency and credibility in how it is represented.

1) Stealth is not invisibility. While the game mechanics allow this, a stealthed character cannot be "in plain sight" of individuals. Even if one's Hide and Move Silently scores are high enough that they will mechanically not be seen, this is not realistic and not an acceptable use of stealth. Spying and stalking is always acceptable, but we are going to make the ruling that the Hidden characters needs to be in a position where they do not have Line of Sight to anyone that may be able to observe them. Bushes, trees, walls, or other sources of cover are going to need to be used.

2) Corner-stealthing and re-stealthing is not an acceptable way to RP out the mechanics. Walking around a corner or breaking Line of Sight does not automatically render a character invisible. The same applies to stealthing through transitions. Note, these are less stringent in PvE and Dungeon situations than they are when other players are involved, but may still be considered abuse of the AI depending on the circumstance.

3) Being stealthed, and the stealth mechanic in general, is not a way to OOCly avoid conflict. If a character is caught out, they may not escape conflict by walking away and trying to re-stealth. Depending on the context, being caught out may be cause enough for PvP to fairly occur.

We would like to remind people that this is a primarily PvE focused environment, and so a "PvP" element like stealth mechanics is only of value when it adds to RP and when not abused.