"This list is subject too change at any time and is not exhaustive. Senior GM's control all interpretation and punishment for breaking these rules. We are always willing to discuss infringements and do not wish to come down hard on people unless absolutely necessary. In cases when the rules may not provide all the necessary answers, it is up to the player to exercise their own common sense and do what they feel is correct. If it "feels" wrong, it most likely is. Trust your instincts."

-Leanthar

Adult Situations

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Area Level Restrictions

The following is a guideline for what each area is designed for danger wise, so that players may knowingly choose their destinations.

• Travel to Central server, generally, is meant for those level eight ( 8 ) and above.
• Travel to north of Miritrix, Isle of the Glittering Mists, and all underground areas on Belinara is meant for those level seventeen (17) and above.
• All caverns north of the Thunder Valley Crossroads is meant for levels seventeen (17) and above.
• Travel on Voltrex is meant for levels seventeen (17) and above.
• Travel beyond K'halziras is meant for levels seventeen (17) and above.

See also: Special note on the lifting of area and party level restrictions.

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Camping and Looping

• Camping is not allowed in Layonara. It is a bannable offense, but usually only after a few warnings are ignored or if one is trying to work around the system and claims innocense a few times.
• Camping CNR materials is acceptable, as long as it does not last over 30 minutes, and you don't weigh yourself down silly, like 300 lbs when you can only carry 150. If you are camping CNR GM's have the right to drop whatever monster they want at anytime. If you can not run away, or fight it due to being weighted down that is a risk you and your character should consider before getting into a situation that leaves you vulnerable. Think and play smart.
• When one is harvesting/gathering items in the world it is not acceptable for one to log out after they have reached the 30 minute mark (or close to it) near the resource(s) and then log back in some time later just to rinse and repeat. This is a person that knows the rules of the server and is trying to work around the rules so that it seems like what they are doing is RP and/or acceptable, it isn't. It is a blantant abuse of the rules as clearly the player knows what they are doing. Keep the spirit of the rules and server in mind please.
• Think and play smart. If you think it is pushing the line and/or would be frowned on then simple do not do it.

Looping is defined as going through the same few areas in a short period of time in order to keep continually harvesting CNR, reaping XP and loot from killing the creatures there, etc., and then repeating this sort of thing over and over in a given span of time.

We ask the community to limit any looping behavior through a small number of areas to sixty (60) minutes. We ask the community to limit any camping behavior in a single area to thirty (30) minutes. In the case of logging in, harvesting and logging out, we ask that you simply do not do this more than 3 times in a row over a twenty-four (24) hour period.

The GM Team understands that not everyone has a lot of play time. Sometimes there is only a small amount of time to log in, take care of a few things and then log back out, and we do not wish for people with limited time to feel like criminals. However, we also believe that players should exercise some degree of self-restraint when doing such things. While we will not be actively policing for camping and looping behavior, if we observe such in excess of the stated guidelines, we reserve the right to intervene and inform the party that they have pushed the boundaries of what we would like to see.

Unless taken to the extreme, the GM Team will not be applying in-character or out-of-character punishments to any groups caught looping or camping in excess, however we may remove the group from the situation if our requests are not respected.

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Deity/Character Interactions

Clarifications:

• Of course at times, what characters believe themselves may have little to do with reality. A character may believe that in a drunken haze Vorax visited them and gave them a holy mission. However, the player, not the character, must keep in mind, that unless this is approved by a GM it was only a drunken haze and it did not really happen.
• A character praying to a deity or interpreting things as signs from a deity could be considered contact with a deity, and a character may strongly believe that their every prayer is heard and that every odd occurance is a sign. Again, keep in mind that only a GM has the authority to say whether a prayer was heard, and if there was any reaction, and whether any of these occurances are truly signs from a deity.

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Exploiting enemy A.I. and Game Mechanics

A common example of this would be exploiting gaps and quirks in monster A.I. in order to maximize the amount of experience gained from enemies and thus "farming" exp. For instance, a map could feature a large assortment of enemies that will tend to swarm the players because of their A.I. scripts. Using powerful area of effect spells such as Fireball or Hammer of the Gods after herding all of them together into one concentrated mass would be considered exploiting the enemy A.I. Players should refrain from doing this, and repetition of it in a single area would most definitely be construed as an exploit.

Another example is the use of "chokepoints" to effectively trap monsters and render them helpless. There is a fine line between the use of tactical chokepoints and actually getting monsters stuck, and it should be quite apparent to the players which is which. Using tactical chokepoints is acceptable and often a good idea. Getting monsters stuck on terrain features is not. Getting creatures stuck on terrain to kill them, repeatedly would be considered an exploit.

Invisibility, sanctuary, greater sanctuary and similar spells should also be used appropriately, and never used to exploit creature AI or bypass spawns when it does not make sense to do so. Players should refrain from using these spells to bypass a number of spawns in an area only to engage the last spawn guarding CNR, etc., especially when the creatures in those spawns would have other means of detecting your character (e.g. listen checks, visible footprints, and so on). Players should use common sense, refrain from doing anything that does not "feel right", and ask the GM Team for clarification if they are unsure whether a use of these spells is okay or not.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of all possible exploits of the game engine as there are always new ones cropping up from time to time ranging from monster A.I. to such things as item duplication, etc. As before, it is ultimately up to the players and their own common sense. If it feels like an exploit (i.e. too cheap and easy) then it most likely is.

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Forum Etiquitte

• Do not post flames or make personal attacks, this can be a bannable offense depending on severity.
• Please do give well thought out, constructive feedback and input. However, please make sure that your comments are not personal in nature, i.e. something that could be perceived as a specific attack on one person or their efforts. In other words, if you are or recently were frusterated about the event that you are posting about, save the post in notepad and look at it a day later and see if it's really constructive or if there was a little bit of frustration and venting still there. The Layonara team wants constructive feedback and it is much more likely to lead to a change than an angry post about a topic
• Do not feed the trolls.
• Do not be a troll (in the case that the reader does not recognize this term see: Wikipedia: Internet Trolls for more information.)
• Do not post CNR locations publicly on the forums or anywhere else that would make them generally available in an OOC manner.

"When things turn personal [a discussion] is no longer constructive. A player should always strive to be a valuable, or at the very least non-hostile, member of their given community."

-Leanthar

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Inappropriate Language

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Internet Lingo and "l33tspeak"

This is, by no means, asking all players to speak using "thee" and "thou", but everyone should remember that no one would use language such as "plz" and "ph4t lewt" even in modern day life.

Again, use your common sense.

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Intentionally Logging Off at Inappropriate Times

Use common sense. If it feels cheap, it probably is.

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Min/Maxing Character Stats

"Due to people getting carried away and min/maxing their stats and then not being able to RP them properly, I have been forced to make this ruling. It applies across the board. Please, everybody, this is not a server for powergamers and min/maxers. We are an RP server that has a lot of action but I do not want this world to be the home for min/maxing powergamers."

-Leanthar

Characters may not have more than one ability below an 8 and no more than two stats that are 8. No ability may be lower than 6. This includes subrace adjustments so keep that in mind when creating your character.

• Allowed Examples:
  • Two 8's and all others higher than 8.
  • One 6, One 8 and all others higher than eight.

• Disallowed Examples:
  • Any combination including 6, 8, and 8
  • Any combination including 8, 6, and 6
  • Any combination including three 8's
  • Any combination including 6, 7, and 8

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Muling

"What is muling?"

"In my opinion it is when a character gets something for nothing (or when people are trying to beat the system then it is something for very cheap). Muling is when you have items (in the bank, in your inventory, in your house, etc. that you have earned or fairly traded for) and then you give those items to a newly created character (usually your own character or a friends) for free. This also applies to having a character you control gather CNR or other items for another character you control. It is fine to RP a 'sales person' or whatever you may want to call it but from this point forward please do not let that 'other person' be another character under your control."

-Leanthar

Transferring goods or raw materials between two characters played by the same player is muling and not allowed. As Leanthar stated, you may sell something to a character with one of your characters, which another of your characters may at some point end up buying. This is fine. However, there must be another character not under your control who handles the sale. Any such transactions must be handled in an RP fashion. Create a way for your character who wants to buy the item to know that the middle man is selling it. Handling this in an RP and non-abusive fashion is the only way this will not be considered muling.

It is illegal to enter houses in which another of your character(s) (or friends/guildmates) has storage just to equip items and/or take items/true from a chest. This is most certainly muling and it is a blatant attempt of muling. In other words, you have a level 5 character and you have another character that is level 15 and that character has a house and/or is a member of a guild. The level 5 character should not gain the "benefits" of your other character, they are different characters and they need to be RP'd that way. To push this line is muling, and there can be no other explaination, so please do not do this.

Your new characters should be treated as entities that are entirely distinct from your other characters. They should not be treated as simple extensions of your other characters' bank accounts and should represent a fresh start. A large part of the fun is developing your new characters and fleshing them out, and to simply stock them up with loot right from the start would be detracting from that experience in a large way.

New characters are just that, new characters.

Official Definition as of April 23, 2009:

"Muling is when you have items (in the bank, in your inventory, in your house, etc. that you have earned or fairly traded for), and then you give those items to a newly created character of your own for free. This also applies to having a character you control gather CNR or other items for another character you control. It is fine to RP a 'sales person' or whatever you may want to call it but from this point forward please do not let that 'other person' be another character under your control."

To put more plainly, it is muling to give items, gold or any other assets from one character under your direct control to another, whether you have multiple Bioware accounts or not. You, as a player, are the common factor between them, and giving one character an advantage that another has earned is not something we tolerate.

If you must transfer goods between two characters under your control, then do so through a third-party and conduct the exchange like a business transaction, meaning exchange goods or coins in trade. This applies as much to unassociated characters as it does to characters who are directly related (i.e. parent/child relationships).

We believe all characters deserve to accumulate equipment and wealth in line with their own accomplishments, and it is unfair to the rest of our Community if some take it upon themselves to give benefits to one of their characters by the work of another. We ask everyone to respect this philosophy for the good of everyone in the Community.

Credit
While offering "credit" to a character is not against the server rules it can easily be pushed over the line and can quickly be classified as muling. Be VERY CAREFUL about the way you credit/loan items or True/Gold.

For example, a level 12 character who has been active for several months (or longer) borrows a little bit (but fully intends to pay it back) in order to buy a diamond amulet. This would be acceptable as it is not muling and indeed can pass for RP.

However, a level 5 character gaining a full set of good gear or a large amount of True/Gold through credit or association (such as a guild) is not acceptable in any way. A level 5 character is "new" to adventuring and thus will take a long time to find/make friends (via RP). Most certainly "guilds" would not loan a lot of True/Gold to the character because he/she is not proven and/or is not well known.

Guilds
Guilds should not be fully (or even mostly) equipping people without some sort of valid return, be it CNR collected, crafting for the guild, or whatever the guild needs, so long as it is realistic. Guilds also shouldn't be willing to extend lucrative amounts of credit to "strangers," nor should they push the boundries of what may be acceptable on the muling front.

However, a line per line, coin by coin accounting of items or gold is not needed. Guilds should be responsible and aware--nothing more, nothing less. Guilds do exist for the good of the many. Guilds having a combined resources/items pool is expected, and can be maintained without having to charge members for every item. Guild members should be granted access to the pool as long as each member contributes to the whole in their own way.

House Keys

"There is really no reason to have more than 1-3 house keys in your possession. I can come up with reasons to have up to three (yours, a guild you belong to, and your in-game spouse or acquaintance) but more than that really is pushing the line. When one has more than this it tends to raise red flags with the team and the player community. Nobody likes to have red flags as it wastes time and effort and it ruins the fun for all involved and acquainted. I am asking that you not carry more than three house keys please. While it is not a rule (and I don't want to make it a rule) it is a request that helps the team and the community."

-Leanthar

Loans
It is okay to "loan" (True and/or items) but use some common sense and keep it reasonable. Since "loaning" is a two way street (it takes two or more players) all players involved need to be aware of the situation and the character and loan in question. Loans can (and do) quickly become a way to mule. Both sides will be held accountable. Please keep that in mind.

Quest Completion Items
A quest completion item is any item that is turned in to an NPC in order to complete a quest (so heads, ears, or other items that are turned in to get a reward or completion). Do not store quest completion items in chests. If you have these items in a chest, remove them and finish off the quest within the next few days. If you have already finished the quest[s] (which begs the question of why are you storing the item[s] at all) then please trash the items ASAP.

True/Gold
Do not store gold in chests. Banks can be accessed from any server. Please use them. If your bank account has a few thousand gold but you have hundreds of thousands (or millions) of gold stored in chests it raises red flags with the team and the community. Gold may be placed in chests for use with guild transactions, but use it for those purposes only (not as a long term storage unit).

Operation usage is fine (and supported), storage is not.

"I want to remind everybody, we are all about RP on this world. I want players to know that each and every character that has something has in some way earned it. This is an important staple to the community here and I ask that it not be cheapened."

-Leanthar

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Party Level Spread

Special note on the lifting of area and party level restrictions:

While we are effectively removing all restrictions regarding character levels, we are hoping to encourage better grouping, better roleplay, a greater sense of adventure and an environment where roleplay is not unduly bounded by out-of-character issues such as level and arbitrary lines on a map. Having said that, the GM Team maintains a single request that can be summed up briefly as:
“Don't drag, and don't kite.”

It is possible for a low-level character in a group of higher-level characters to contribute in some form, whether by flinging spells, tossing potions, firing arrows or any number of other contributing things, even if they're not terribly effective. The important part is that they attempt to contribute. Similarly, a high-level character can escort a group of lower-level characters without doing all the work for them. So, in this spirit, we ask for the Community to respect this and to keep these things in mind when going out and about. We're not going to break up a party on Dregar that contains a 5th level character just for that fact alone, nor will we go on hunts when we see a wide party level spread.

However, if we see little or no roleplay among the party, if we see non-contributing lower-level characters or we see a high-level character being the primary application of force among a group of otherwise lower-level characters, we may request a modification to the party's behavior. If the behavior persists, we reserve the right to disband the party.

We want everyone to have fun, to adventure and explore, and we no longer feel it appropriate to keep these restrictions in place. We ask only that the Community enjoy this expanded freedom and request that it be used responsibly.

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PvP, Pking and Griefing

• PvP is allowed on Layonara but in restricted form and it is heavily logged and watched closely by the GM Team and community as a whole. At no time is one allowed to grief or PvP without an RP reason and all RP should be exhausted before PvP has been initiated and agreed upon.
• At no time is PK’ing or Griefing ever allowed in Layonara and it is grounds for instant and permanent banning from the community.
• There is no soul strand loss or XP loss when players engage in PvP. That is how it stands currently but it could change over time.
  1. If a player wishes to engage in PvP they must initiate a PvP request via the PvP Widget that all characters have in their inventory. You use the widget and click on the target character. At that point all members of the party of the targeting character (if he/she is in a party) are not notified that a PvP request has been made. The targeted party leader then must click their PvP Widget on one from the party that targeted them in return. This gives the targeted party leader a conversation where he can accept or deny the PvP request. Should he accept, all members of both parties will be notified that PvP may begin in 60 seconds, giving all party members a chance to set their enemies to hostile in the player window (They can also leave party within the 60 seconds to avoid being involved in the PvP). Both PvP’ers must set their selves to hostile in the player window, this is important and it allows for the PvP to happen. After your character dies or after 15 RL minutes the PvP action is over. No character involved may engage in PvP for 60 RL minutes—this is a cool down period. All of this is logged and monitored by the GM Team.
     OR
  2. A GM supervises the PvP event. For this to occur there must be a valid, in character reason for the PvP, a GM must be contacted to request PvP (via a tell or the DM channel) and the GM must approve, and witness the PvP. All characters involved must be willing to engage in the PvP and must express this to the GM before PvP will be approved.
     OR
  3. A World Leader (WL) supervises and authorizes the PvP event. If a WL believes that PvP is warranted they will target both (or all) participants and you will be able to PvP for 5 real life minutes. The WL has the final say of defining if PvP is warranted. A WL may not target him/herself for PvP, that must happen from another WL or GM. This is a update on the PvP rules.
     OR
  4. You may have PvP with the Dicebag at any time and without GM or WL oversight. It must be consensual and can not be forced on a player that does not want to interact. It must be in character and Roleplayed at all times.
     OR
  5. You are using the PvP Arena in Fort Vehl to RP sparring, training, or some other purpose. Deaths in the PvP Arena will incur no death penalties (see Death and The Layonara Death System Explained.)
     OR
  6. At some point down the road we will have frontier zones where keeps or resources will be able to be battled over and controlled. In these frontier zones (they will be marked as such) open PvP will be allowed without any form of initiation between players, GMs, or WLs for the PvP action. These zones/areas will be out of the way locations and will never be a required or travel through location for normal players that do not wish to engage in PvP or this sort of game system—it will never be a requirement to play and enjoy Layonara.

• Do not attack characters, familiars, companions or summons without prior permission from a GM, WL, or the direct player involved. Doing so is considered griefing and could lead to an instant banning from the server.

"I personally am not against PvP but I am against the attitudes and heated tempers that inevitably result from it."

-Leanthar

PK'ing is the act of killing another character. The term carries the connotation that there is no RP basis for the event.

• Unlike PvP, which is allowed under strict conditions (see above) PK'ing is never allowed on Layonara. PK'ing will result in a very stern warning and a ten day ban on the first occurrence, perhaps a permanent ban. A second occurance warrants a permanant ban.

Griefing is the act of intentionally causing another player emotional harm by a verbal assault. It is also the act of intentionally causing players to not be able to have fun in the world (following them and being a nuisance, blocking doorways, pick pocketing/stealing, kill stealing when asked not to, camping when asked to leave an area, being rude and obnoxious, etc.)

• Griefing is not allowed on Layonara. Doing so will result in a warning and a three day ban on the first occurrence. The second occurrence will warrant a ten-day ban and the third a permanant ban from the server.
• Another form of griefing is the act of attacking NPC's or stealing from them. This is not tolerated. The consequences listed above stand for this form of griefing as well.

"Remember, the goal of everyone here is to have fun playing his or her characters. We are all entitled to an environment that is free of harassment or unnecessary tensions amongst the players. Be respectful to your fellow players and always remember that there is indeed a person on the other side of the character. Remember to take that fact into consideration and always use common sense when dealing with others."

-Leanthar

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Stealing from Other Player Characters

• Violating this rule may result in immediate banning on the first offense.
• The spirit of the rule:
  • To protect players items from being stolen in situations where the game mechanics make it is much easier to steal items than it really would be in character. examples:
    • Character A is standing 5 feet from his ox pack, which he just unloaded from his ox. Character B walks up, stands next to Character A's ox pack, says hello, then walks away. This is all Character A sees in the game. However, Character B just looked through the entire ox pack and took the stuff he liked. In character it would have been very obvious to character A what was happening.
  • To remain true to the no PvP rule. Pick pocketing and stealing in other forms is essentially PvP. It would be considered akin to a physical attack on the character and the character would respond appropriately whether merely to regain his items, or for retribution. However they cannot due to the PvP rules. Essentially, you cannot have one form of PvP without the other, as a character would have no IC recourse to regain his or her items.

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Telepathy

"There are no exceptions to this rule. I have seen too many abuses of telepathy."

-Leanthar

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XP Storing

"Reasonably feasible" means that you do not need to stop in the middle of combat to level your character, nor do you have to interrupt a quest to do so. However, as soon as there are no pressing demands on your character, you must complete the level up process.

For those characters who wish to stay beneath a given level (seeking to avoid rapid levelling, or waiting on the outcome of a CDQ), GMs will remove XP from characters upon request.

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Conclusion

• It is each player's responsibility to read and know the server rules.
• Any character submission is an official acknowledgement and acceptance of these rules.
• At no point will there be in-character consequences to the breaking any of these rules; no effects, no spawning of creatures, no going to jail or being tersely corrected by NPCs. There will only be out-of-character actions, which can range from simple warnings to banning, the latter being the most severe of course and only at the extreme abuse of the rules. Please do not associate in-character consequences to out-of-character actions as they are completely separate. In-character choices will generate in-character consequences and likewise for out-of-character choices.

If you have any questions or concerns about these rules, please direct them to Leanthar in a private message.

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