All of these rules have come out of years of playing, DMing, and Admining experience. They are intended to be brief and simple, not long and legalistic. Their purpose is to keep things fun, for everyone, DMs and Players, new and old friends, and to keep whatever problems may arise under control, or better yet stop them before they start.
More than anything else, this will prevent problems. If something seems wrong or violates the spirit of these rules, it almost certainly is. We are all adults here, and we should all expect to be treated like adults. We expect players to behave like adults - so there's not many excuses for not knowing better. Ask questions if need be, either via the Ask The Staff forum (click for link) or Support Channel on the server's Discord chat. Trying to rules-lawyer your way around the intention and spirit of any of the rules is a bad idea.
A part of this includes maintaining a healthy suspension of disbelief. While we aren't going to be hyper-strict about things, we do expect people to stay in character, and, as such, to try to not spoil immersion of your fellow players.
For example:
→ Gold. CD doesn't have a gold-limited economy. The gold you have is limited only by the amount of time you want to spend farming dungeons. Thus, ridiculous fortunes aren't meant to be taken into account ICly. Things like acting like gold has no value, or that you have millions and millions and could buy half the city, highlight this flaw, and should be avoided.
→ Locations & NPCs. Everyplace in the (FR) world (and connected inner/outer planes, etc) exists, even if it's not in the module. Generally we use generic stand ins, or specially created areas, if we need something outside the scope of the module (like traveling to Waterdeep, or such). It's conceptually there, and the limits are only a function of the module. This includes having NPCs populate a public area/city; due to lag, the actual population of towns and cities cannot be accurately represented.
→ Power/NPCs/Boss Monsters. CD goes to epic levels, but it's capped at 30 - and more importantly, active characters are not meant to outpace, or outflex, the Legendary Chosen of the Gods (nevermind the Gods themselves). If you want to try, that's fine... but it means retiring your PC. What we'd like to avoid is people hanging around, ICly dismissing powerful things like Demi-Liches, Dragons, Elminster/Szass Tam/Vangerdahast/Sammaster, etc etc... anything that a character (new or not) ought to take seriously, ignoring the game mechanics. It really destroys immersion if one person talks ICly about how dangerous the Ruins of Whatever are, and someone else chimes in, ICly, "oh, yeah, I've killed that demi-lich at least ten times now, he's not so tough."
Basically, act like your character takes it seriously.
Treat your fellow players and DMs with respect. We're all working together to try to create a vibrant world that's fun to play in, with a compelling storyline. Respect and courtesy breeds the same. If you're rude to someone, is it any surprise they respond the same way? Be civil and polite in any out-of-character dealings, whether in the game or on the forums. People who make everyone around them miserable are the sort that no one wants around. Also, keep your cool on the forums and in the Discord chat. We've more than once had arguments break down into fighting, name-calling, and the other usual online ridiculousness over in-game or interpersonal conflict. Nobody enjoys it; don't be that guy.
Respect also applies to situations concerning in-character adult content as much as player to player interaction. Cormyr & The Dalelands is an 18-plus server, which means that the staff generally does not police things that go on behind closed doors. Just as importantly, as well, is that stuff behind closed doors needs to stay behind closed doors. Just as some people have the sorts of "mature" play style they enjoy, others are not interested or may be offended by that sort of thing. Thus we ask that when such things occur that they not do so in a public place. We have lockable, non-bashable, non-bypassable-by-Dimension-Door-etc. inn room doors for a reason. Use them.
You're expected to be In-Character when in game (barring the AFK room and OOC arena). We're not going to smack people for the occasional bit of joking, or chatter (as this is a game and supposed to be fun). We merely ask that you be courteous of your fellow players, that may be involved in a serious bit of roleplaying. Try to keep it to a minimum, and out of public view.
Player to player interaction (out-of-character) should follow Rule #2. When referring to in-character conflict, actions have consequences. Keep the conflict in-character, whether it includes combat or not. If you don't intend to kill, use sub-dual mode (otherwise expect to face consequences). Remember that this is a roleplay/story server. It is not an action or arena server; don't treat it like one. The server should not be turned into a warzone.
Griefing or deliberate out-of-character bullying is not tolerated. Keep conflict story-specific and limited. PVP is meant to enhance stories, not to become the sole focus of a character's roleplay.
It is perfectly fine if players OOCly wish to avoid PVP, and they should always be allowed to make reasonable IC justification for the need to retreat from such, without further IC consequence for doing so, save in situations that they themselves deliberately provoked.
Note that some areas are marked No-PVP for various reasons (such as presence of IC guards). Conflict is allowed here, if appropriate, but must be roleplayed out (and guards etc must be taken into account).
Actions can and will lead to consequences, even in character. While we are here to have fun, there is also an element of realism involved with your character's decisions. In-character conflict is often unavoidable. It is our hope players will work together (out-of-character) during in-character conflicts and consequences, to minimize the level of disruption to other players. This level of out-of-character cooperation leads to appropriate in-character consequences without verging into out-of-character issues and griefing. This does not mean characters can always do as they wish and get away with it. Deliberately threatening people, indecent sexual conduct, and so forth will have in-character (and possibly out-of-character) consequences.
If there is a consequence for it in the real world, there is likely one for it in game. While we welcome people who play chaotic or evil characters, these characters still face consequences for their actions. Alignment is not an excuse for ones actions.
The relationship between players and Dungeon Masters is built on respect. No player should ever be ranting to a DM in the game, especially during an event. Players that act this way lead to DMs not want to do anything for anyone. If a player has an objection to something that a DM is doing, or an in-character consequence that a DM is imposing, the player may politely ask the DM to reconsider. If the DM stands by the action, the player may choose to appeal to Senior Dungeon Masters or Admins (preferably using the Complaint, Compliment, or Criticism form). This rule exists to protect both the players and staff members; however anyone who tries to abuse this rule to escape well-deserved in-character consequences will be dealt with severely.
Cormyr and The Dalelands is a server that exists within the limitations of the Neverwinter Nights game client. The server is not perfect; there will be loopholes, bugs, and exploits that exist due to the limits of the game. Problems with the game should be reported in the Bugs Forum (click for link) or the Bugs channel in the server's discord chat. Exploits should be reported privately to either a Senior Dungeon Master or Admin using private messaging.
The staff is not here to police the server constantly, nor should they have to. Use common sense; if something seems implemented wrong, then it is likely a bug. Abusing a bug to benefit your character is considered exploiting the game's limitations. Those who abuse bugs and exploit game mechanics, rather than reporting them, will be dealt with harshly. Those who play in good faith have absolutely nothing to worry about.
When enforcing the rules of this server, we will strive to keep punishments as transparent as possible--to demonstrate fairness and consequences. Generally, we operate on a three strikes policy. The first incident will result in a warning and possibly a consequence (such as level or item loss). A second incident will result in greater consequences, including loss of a character, levels, and/or items. After a third incident, the Admin team will discuss consequences such as banning. This policy is a guideline; the more severe or blatant an incident is, the more severe the consequence. Honest mistakes and minor errors may be brushed off, but repeated incidents of minor offences will eventually result in harsher consequences.
The staff is more than happy to work with new players on adapting to the standards of the server. New players who make honest mistakes are not moved into the three strike policy. It is only on repeated offenses, or a deliberate abuse of the rules, when this will happen. Do not take advantage of this policy; we eventually catch deliberate rules exploitation.
Any problems should be reported as soon as possible, to an Senior Dungeon Master or Admin. To report an issue with a fellow player or staff member, use the Complaint, Compliment, or Criticism form (click for link). Documentation (of all kinds, though screenshots are preferred) is needed when reporting problems with a player or staff member. (To take screenshots of your NWN screen to document the problems, hit the printscreen key, then alt-tab to windows and bring up paint, and hit ctrl-v to paste.) No matter who the person is, we cannot take word alone. We need sufficient evidence of reported problems in order to respond appropriately. This protects players and staff members from being punished unduly, without evidence.
If you have a problem with a specific DM, bring it to a SDM or Admin. If you have a problem with an Admin, bring it to one of the other Admins. If you have a problem with all of the Admins, then you probably shouldn't be playing here.
As the login message states, CD is a server that is 18+. As such, CD does not ban mature content, but that said, there are some limitations to this, that mostly revolve around the goal of respecting the fact that not everyone is comfortable with the same sorts of topics or content. Our policy has always been the following: "Keep mature content private, i.e., behind closed doors." What this means is that we want to keep mature content in limited settings, where the only people involved are those who are okay with whatever content is at hand. Everyone has different boundaries on these subjects, whether it be sex, torture, gory content, or anything else that might earn such a rating (18+) in the USA or most other countries.
To be specific, Public ERP is banned. Keep it in private*. ERP and other mature themes requires proactive/affirmative informed consent from the other players. Spying on other players involved in ERP (i.e., deliberately listening in without their knowledge or consent) is banned. And though we're not going to monitor ERP (in absence of a complaint), there are limits to what is considered acceptable, and extreme topics like forced rape, bestiality, incest, and pedophilia are not allowed to be played out at all whatsoever even in "fade to black" scenarios, for reasons ranging from legal concerns to overall community sensibilities.
The most important rule is that OOC consent is absolutely vital, and those violating this rule can end up banned without prior warning. We do not want anyone being pressured or forced into roleplaying mature content they're uncomfortable with. Enthusiastic, affirmative informed consent is the standard here. If you think something might be the least bit questionable, ask OOCly just to be safe. Different people may be comfortable with different topics, or different levels of detail related to those topics (such as playing something out, versus simply 'fading to black' and assuming that something took place). A scene played out between consenting players is generally fine (aside from exceptions in the preceding paragraph) so long as it does not force other players to deal with the roleplay, which includes informing them of it in-character**. Note though that we also ask that people respect the privacy and wishes of others, so sharing private details OOCly is something that should be done only with consent of those involved as well as the recipient. Spying (stealthing or otherwise remaining unseen) in order to observe private RP without the knowledge of the other players is against the rules for this reason.
Mature Content in Quests
Generally speaking, DMs are allowed to broach restricted/mature topics to a reasonable degree, although such quests will normally have an OOC warning beforehand if that is a planned part of the event. In all aspects, we expect that descriptiveness will be kept limited and tasteful, within discretion. If you believe that a DM has stepped over the line, please use the usual form to submit a report about it.
Note however that this explicitly excludes DMs playing out any detailed sexual/romantic/etc relations of any sort between players and NPCs (though it's fine to flirt with NPCs and such, in limited and reasonable amounts, as long as everyone involved is comfortable with it). Players are not allowed to romance NPCs (see Retirement rules for the sole exception to this), nor will/should DMs play them as such, in part due to the power imbalance inherent in such an interaction. Players are allowed to have pre-existing off-screen NPCs of this sort as part of a backstory, but DMs will not play them nor will the spouse/paramour be allowed to make an in-game appearance as NPCs without specific pre-approval from the Admins, and agreement of everyone involved.
Mature Content in Backstories
All of this said, mature content is okay in a backstory as long as it's not descriptive, with the exception of pedophilia/child sexual abuse, which should not be mentioned or referred to in any circumstance. Examples should be as limited and nondescript as possible. Saying "abused" or "ten years of torment in the hands of <insert name>" is preferable, but as long as people keep the details out of public view, it is good. Again, these are touchy topics that not everyone wishes to read about. Please keep the details of trauma in the backstory to an absolute minimum when it comes to describing childhood. Do not describe abuse scenes, and to reiterate, do not even imply pedophilia.
Character Age Requirements
Lastly, with an understanding that this is an 18+ server, comes with the obvious conclusion that all player characters *must* be 18 years of age or equivalent to their FR race, if not older, and the OOC players themselves must also be 18 or older. Additionally, play of deliberately childish-seeming or childish acting characters, even if ostensibly of age, whether in appearance or demeanor, is not allowed. This means no child or childlike characters. Your character must be a mature adult, regardless of what the numbers say. If they look / act like a child, they're a child, and won't be allowed.
*Privacy is considered to be a combination of location and channels. Behind a locked door, in a player-owned home, or in a rarely traveled remote location where no one is likely to stumble on you, are some examples of location - but it is incumbent on you to make sure, and remember that some locked rooms do not block sound for those outside, due to tileset limitations. Channels means don't use a channel where people are likely to overhear - for instance, party chat is automatically heard by any DM on the server, so it is not by definition private.
**The reason for this is that some mature content will by its very nature force a character to either react or break character, and some players may not wish to engage with such at all, such as in the case of extreme torture. It is incumbent on the player to get the okay before sharing such content, otherwise, it should be kept non-public or as vague as possible, such as "was injured" rather than "was tortured (descriptively) by (other PC).
As something of a specific corollary to these rules, please note that in-character enslavement or slave status of PCs does fall under mature content rules and the secret associations rules to a degree, because it is similar to torture/etc in that it's the sort of thing that forces players to react to it. In particular, this sort of thing is ICly illegal in Cormyr, and in most of the Dales as well, so it should not be brought up/must be kept quiet in those areas. Also, due to the implications inherent in such an event/story, existing characters cannot be made into slaves, even with OOC agreement, because this forces such an event on any number of other characters. As such, IC Slavery is limited to characters explicitly made for that purpose. If someone no longer wishes to play their formerly enslaved character, this requires retirement of that character, lest it provoke a giant PVP/drama situation that many unwilling players will inevitably get pulled into.
Please note that under 10.A, this is specifically limiting PC and PC interaction. A character may still have a background in slavery, and speak of it in general terms (Not explicit details), as long as the antagonist is an NPC. As said in the above rule - and that about backstories, trying to gather dislike or hatred towards a specific PC isn't kosher.
As a rule, the cities and towns on the server are populated by far more than what we can show in-game due to engine constraints. There are plenty of NPCs, guards among them. Said NPCs do no cease being there just because no DM is present to bring them to life. That said, the following rules should be observed while within any town/city/guard outpost etc. This rule applies to all towns and cities on the server including Arabel, Dalelands, Yulash, and the Underdark.
As this has recently come up we felt it pertinent to make an announced adjustment to the rules on the subject.
Dual-boxing - one person playing two characters at the same time using separate machines, keys, and GSIDs - is not allowed on C/D, due among other things to the problems this causes with the server design and leveling system.
Let's be fair, C/D and other online NWN servers are intended to be a multiplayer experience. If you want to play with yourself, there are many single-player campaigns I've heard are good to download. The only reason this rule wasn't written out in advance is because it's never come up before and because we figured it was covered under the "common sense" rule.
Any character concept that is not a base race of commoner background from Faerun/Toril requires an application, and approval from the admin team. This includes (but is not limited to) exotic races, planeswalkers, and nobility concepts.
Each loot item has a colored name tag that tell you roughly how powerful an item is:
You should not be giving or selling items of higher level to characters that are not the appropriate level. Items that are too far above their level can't even be picked up - and you ABSOLUTELY should not be "holding on to" items for anyone who's too low level to carry them.
And to be clear, you should never be giving items to other characters of your own, whether via multibox (see Rule #12 above) or by dropping them somewhere to log over and collect, regardless of what the item level is.
DM item rewards are personalized items with some abilities that are better than what may be found in loot. Since these items are unique, and have a separate color code that bypasses the ILR system, gifting them to characters other than the initial recipient has separate rules.
Heirloom Items: An heirloom item may be transferred to a new character only as part of the retirement of an existing PC.
Gifted Items: A DM reward item may be gifted to other characters with the following requirements:
Cormyr and the Dalelands is a roleplay, storytelling-oriented server. As such, we expect players to use setting appropriate names when creating their characters. This includes:
If a character uses an inappropriate name, we will ask that you submit a LETO request to fix the name. Continuing to use an inappropriate name may result in the character being archived by the Admin Team.
Usernames/OOC names:
Do Not, under any circumstances, reference another person or their characters with your OOC username, without the involved person's PRIOR consent and acquiescence.
Characters with an excessive amount of items in their inventory can cause a multitude of server script errors, as well as potentially becoming a source for undue lag on the server. A soft cap of 1400 items in player inventories is enforced on the server, with a further hard cap of 1600 items.
At 1400 items you will receive a message in-game in your combat log and next to your portrait that you are carrying too many items.
If you continue to collect items, you will eventually become be restricted from looting or buying items and will be required to reduce your inventory size before you can loot or buy items again. If you accidentally drop or sell an item whilst restricted, you'll be able to loot or buy it back.
If you happen to cross over the 1400 item threshold whilst dungeoning or through normal play, that's okay! Just remember to sell/reduce your loot/excess items before you log off.
Individual item stacks such as arrows, potions, scrolls, etc only count as 1 item.
For reference: A inventory can hold 360 1x1 items; so to exceed 1400 items would require you to fill many bags to the brim with more 1x1 items. It is very difficult to reach 1400 items without going out of your way to do so.
At times, additional subsidiary discord servers may be created for factions, social hubs, or DM plots to help facilitate roleplay, communication, scheduling and organization, and community growth in those spaces. All discord servers including the Cormyr and the Dalelands’ main community discord server are optional and players are never required to join any of our discord servers; though it is highly encouraged to join at least the main community discord server. All important server information, announcements, quests, and applications are always served through our forums.
Any subsidiary discord server created for Cormyr and the Dalelands falls into one of the following three categories:
Our main community discord invite link can always be found in the top menu of our forums, or can be joined with this invite link:
discord.com/invite/cormyrdales
Our Yulash and Moonsea social hub discord can be joined with this invite link:
Our Underdark social hub and faction discord can be joined with this invite link: discord.gg/Y7h4p8EEW3
Note that characters primarily based in the Underdark require application. The Underdark discord server is semi-private, with public channels provided for guests and for players curious about applying for a underdark character.
Faction discord servers can always find their discord server's invite link in their faction board. You can also ask either an admin or one of the faction members for an invite if you need to join the faction discord.
The rules are vague not because we're lax or lenient, so much as that we believe it's a waste of our time (and yours, the players) for us to draw up a massive set of precisely worded rules that you'd need a lawyer to properly interpret, nor are we interested in arguing over whether or not our rule was clearly worded enough to apply to a specific thing. We are a group of friends running a game, even if a rather large one, and we expect you all to conduct yourselves accordingly.
You are all adults (and if you're not, well, sorry, you have to be 18 to play here), and this isn't your first game, online or otherwise. You all know generally how the game is meant to be played, and what an exploit is. Just because we never said you can't specifically do X, doesn't mean we won't hold you to it if you should know better. Now, we're nice and reasonable people, and we expect that there will be honest mistakes at times, so if you're being generally straight with us, we will be with you.
Proving that they're not people we want to invite back to our game nights, for any number of reasons - one among them being that we can't trust you to not try and weasel around rules, argue with us over stuff, exploit whenever you think you can, etc.
Show respect to other players and staff.
Players who fail to do so are, despite common claims to the contrary, breaking the rules.
Furthermore, notice this line in that very rule: "People who make everyone around them miserable are the sort that no one wants around." It isn't often we reach this point, but it does occur, and when a player's presence is so dreaded that them simply being here begins to cause people to leave, the admins are forced to act.
We do not require everyone to get along. We do not expect everyone will get along. But when a player's presence is so disliked, so dreaded, that players simply cease playing in large numbers to avoid them, that is a problem. And specifically, it is a community problem. And one of the duties of the administration is to deal with problems that affect the community as a whole.
Long story short: we can't police every person-to-person interaction and, frankly, there are a lot of jerks in the world and we can't exactly tell people not to be jerks. But if you're so much of a jerk that a large portion of the server is unwilling to play if you are present at all, we may end up telling you that you're no longer wanted. This is not a decision we make lightly, and not without heavy consideration and consolidation between all four admins. But it is also not a decision we are unwilling to consider, should the situation call for it.