Policies

Last Revised: October 26, 2021

Minimum Age of Players & Characters

All players must be 18+. Any user determined to be younger than 18 will be removed. Upon their 18th birthday, they may return to BDI. Users who lie about their age will be permanently banned.

All characters must be 18+ in human years, or the equivalent of an adult in their given race. The only exceptions to this rule are constructs or creatures who assimilate maturity much quicker than the average race.

Community Rule: Don’t Be A Jerk

Players who are a nuisance IC and OOC, who stir up drama, who rumor monger and spread conspiracies, who are argumentative, offensive, or excessively snarky despite mods and others asking them to stop, and who in general are difficult to interact with or moderate will be given two warnings to improve behavior. A ban will result if problematic behavior continues after the second warning. In some cases, moderators may use their discretion to ban someone as the first or second step if the behavior is egregiously bad and discomforts many server members. 

Community is an important aspect of a public group RP like BDI, and the inability of some to positively contribute to the IC and OOC environment detracts from the overall experience of the server. While we’re all adults and should aim to resolve most conflicts on our own, some behaviors are untenable.

Players with concerns or complaints can bring them to the mod team by using #open-help-channel. Please alert a mod with screenshots if someone is being a nuisance to you in dms due to your shared presence in BDI.

No Politics

Politics are a rather divisive topic and tends to sour the OOC chat like nothing else can. We generally ask that political discussions be kept out of the OOC as much as possible. Mods will step in and direct a conversation elsewhere if necessary.

Nicknames & Custom Statuses

Nicknames on the BDI server must be pingable. Our bot, Murphy (YAGPDB) will automatically change names with special characters into a nickname that can be pinged by staff.

Discord custom statuses must adhere to the policies outlined above regarding content. Failure to comply, or repeat offenses will result in immediate action up to and including removal from the server or a ban.

Activity Expectations

At the time of this latest revision of the policies, we have no intentions to maintain an activity check. Lurking is an old past time of our IRC roots. We will revise this policy as necessary. 

Soliciting & Advertisement

Soliciting “private RP” or “adult themed RP” from our players is inappropriate. This is considered harassment and will not be tolerated. You will only be warned once to stop.

Do not advertise your Discord server in any of our channels. If you are interested in a Discord server partnership, please contact the Discord admins, denoted with a purple name on Discord.

This Is A Writing Game

As a game that utilizes guidelines over hard systems like diced combat or statted sheets, we want to focus on the storytelling aspect of our characters’ journeys. We encourage players to flex their brains a little when crafting their posts. Posts should be at least five or more complete sentences, be in third person, and have a basic grasp of English grammar and spelling. A complete sentence contains a subject and a verb, and it makes sense on its own. Dialogue tags such as “he says” or “he asks” are connected to a quote, since it “tags” who is speaking.

Example of five complete sentences: A knight enters the tavern in full plate armor. He heads to the bar and sits down. “Hello!” he says to a woman next to him. Smiling broadly, he turns his attention to the well worn bartender behind the counter. “I’d like a Ruthmarna red ale, please!”

We understand that typos happen and auto-correct is a smart ass for our mobile users. Players whose first language isn’t English should just try their best.

Unacceptable Content

No excessive sexual or violent content is permitted in #BlkDragon*Inn or its Wiki. Please keep it to a PG-13 rating or under. While fighting and romance are both key parts of any fantasy story, explicit descriptions of either are not welcomed here. 

We all know that romance is an essential part to a lot of stories, especially in RP. It’s been a staple of the BDI RP community for decades. But the single minded, high school-esque preoccupation with sex, who’s banging whom, and the contents of characters’ pants are not the goal of our game. If that’s all you’re interested in, there are definitely other games that fit the bill. Ours is not one of them.

In that token, it should be noted that prostitutes and courtesans are definitely accepted parts of the setting, provided that they pay their taxes. Solicitation is not allowed within the BlkDragon Inn itself, and Dulcina will unleash the Frying Pan of Justice if necessary.

Undesirable Behaviors

In BlkDragon*Inn, we define these three behaviors as follows:

• Auto hitting: The act of landing a hit on another player, usually without consent. All actions against another character should be treated as attempts, unless otherwise approved of by the other player. Players who have played with one another for a long time commonly will auto hit each other, but again, this is always with consent.
• God moding: The act of being virtually untouchable and indestructable both in combat, as well as avoiding any negative consequences or situations resulting from one’s own actions.
• God-PCs: God-PCs are not permitted in BlkDragon*Inn, either. This refers to actual deities being used as characters, or extremely overpowered characters. Massive, building sized demons razing the city or incredibly strong wizards who can summon a firestorm that destroys half the countryside are just two examples of what would be considered a God-PC, but are certainly not limited.
• Meta gaming: This term applies to the act of using out of character knowledge that the given PC (player character) shouldn’t have in character.
• Power gaming: The act of bringing in another character to either defend one’s first PC or to target another PC. This term can also mean attempting to overpower a scene with flagrant uses and abuses of excessive power. 

None of these behaviors are permitted in #BlkDragon*Inn.

These definitions are not absolute. Auto hitting, god moding, meta gaming and power gaming can take on many other forms than what has been mentioned. If you believe that another player is violating these policies, please bring it to a mod’s attention by opening a ticket in #open-help-channel. 

Combat, Injury, Death & Resurrection 

First and foremost, unless you’re a designated GM, all actions must be treated as attempts, unless previously consented upon OOCly.

If you’re just approaching a scene and were not there at the beginning of the combat, you must spend a turn assessing and reacting to the situation. No one’s going to know how to react to a situation until they’ve seen it up front. 

Now that you’ve assessed the situation, you can fight. Posts should consist of one reaction to the combat, and one action to further the combat. You dodge a hit, you strike back. You take a punch to the gut, you’re doubled over, but maybe you throw some sand in their eyes.

Bad things will happen to characters during the course of RP. There are times where a GM (usually a mod, but sometimes a designated player GM) will act and land actions without a player’s express permission. These actions are intended to serve multiple purposes. If a player is god moding and not taking any hits when they should, a GM can land an action. If a player is frequently dodging in character consequences, a GM or mod can levy an action against the offending player. If to further the sake of the scene or storyline, a GM can inflict an action on participating players. 

To prevent the use of resurrection as a cheap tool to reclaim a character from death, all resurrections must be approved of by the mod team. Resurrection should not be used as a consequence-free method of circumventing death.

Characters with methods of self-resurrection, such as a lich’s phlactery or other means are still permissible upon mod approval, but must fit the character’s concept. Tacking it on as a random, special ability is frowned upon.

Demons, Vampires & Other Undead

In the IC world of Drache, demons, devils, vampires, undead and other “parasites” of life are generally considered evil and have no legal rights. These threats to mortal life are not accepted by the regular townsfolk because they are grave threats to normal townspeople.

Most people will not react favorably to the presence of a vampire or demon. It falls on the player to exercise a bit of restraint and discretion in the matter when playing. Just be discreet! These races are NOT an accepted part of the IC world and should not behave openly as if they are.

All vampires are extremely vulnerable to direct sunlight.

Slavery

All forms of slavery are illegal under the IC (in character) laws of Drache, the city where the inn and main setting is located. The Drachean government does not recognize the validity of slave ownership, and considers any slaves brought into the kingdom legally free. Slave traders and slave owners can expect to find themselves in trouble with the Civic Guard and the magistrates, and face stiff penalties up to and including execution for violations of the law.

This is not to say that slaves and slavery are banned from setting, however. In fact, there are several other countries in BDI’s world where slavery is a legal institution, and there have also been plots involving illegal slave trading rings in the game in the past. The moderators have made it illegal within the confines of the RP server because we do not want to encourage Gorean-style sex slave RP in BDI.

Firearms

Firearms are not permitted in #BlkDragon*Inn. This is a stylistic choice, as we feel that firearms ruin the more common high fantasy tropes.

The use of cannons on ships and black powder in incendiaries and explosives has been grandfathered in and is permissible.

The Civic Guard & Magistrates

The Civic Guard is the in-character, PC law enforcement agency of the city of Drache. NPC guards exist, and are presumed at all times to be policing the city with regular success.

Only players with approved guard characters are permitted to play or NPC members of the Civic Guard.

The Magistrates of the Chancellery are the judges of Drache, empowered to hold trials in its courts of law.

Magic

Magic is a hot topic in BDI. While its usage is exceedingly common in Arangoth and used to fire proof buildings, light the streets, purify the river, and a myriad of other uses, there are some guidelines that we would prefer players adhere to. Restrictions on certain types of magic, like chronomancy or weather magic is common sense when considering how powerful a character has to be to pull off either of those stunts. Other prolific usages such as cure-all/solve-all styles of magical usage are detrimental to the story and provide easy outs for consequences or problems that we feel just do not adhere to the spirit of the game’s storytelling core.

For a more extensive outline on what types of magic or its usage are acceptable, please review our Magic Guide.

GM-Protected Tools

There are a number of items in the setting that we consider “GM-Protected Tools”. The Civic Guard has access to a number of them, but they are not limited to the Civic Guard. What this means is that these specific items are inviolable by players. A player cannot circumvent the outlined use of these tools without express permission from the mod team.

These items include, but are not limited to:

• Anti-Fire Charm – The Blk Dragon Inn is warded against fire and cannot be burned down, after multiple cases of arson 10+ years ago.
• Anti-Scrying Fields – Both Guard Houses, the Port Authority, the Chancellery and most governmental buildings, the Royal Church. and Castle Black are warded and protected against being scried upon. This is not an exhaustive list as some character residences or businesses are likewise enchanted.

• The Great Seal – A massive seal placed at the entrance of the Royal Church destroys any evil creature to cross over (or under) it.

• Magic-Proof Cells – Cells in both the main Guardhouse and the Wharf Guardhouse prevent the use of magic and are warded against escape attempts and break ins.

• Null-Magic Shackles – Shackles that when applied to a character, prevent the use of magic.

• Woolly the Dire Sheep – Woolly eats evil creatures and god moders.

GMing In BlkDragon*Inn

Players are allowed to GM (game master) most storylines that they’d like without prior approval. Please read over our GM & Player Expectations. 

Players can make non-governmental NPCs to run quests or adventures.

Exceptions include:

• Anything that destroys or damages the setting, in any part. This includes anything in Drache or the wider world.
• Anything that creates an area of effect that other players must know about.
• Killing or playing any government officials, members of the Civic Guard or other major NPCs that control setting institutions.

Out of Character

No Out Of Character (OOC) conversation is permitted in our IC channels and can be redirected to the OOC rooms #social for social topics, #nsfw-social for NSFW topics, and #rp-discussion for subjects pertaining to the current RP.

Please use common sense.

All rules are subject to change without notice.