Rules and roleplaying

Rules

Avendar is a MUD that supports and encourages roleplaying, player versus environment (PvE), and player versus player (PvP) modes of play. This page will discuss what that means and what our expectations with regards to behavior are. These standards and guidelines apply to players and staff alike. Individuals that violate these guidelines will face penalties ranging from uncomfortable conversations to denial to removal of all privileges and access to the game entirely.

Avendar is meant for adults. You must be 18 or older to play.

Conduct

We expect users to approach Avendar as a hobby which we invite others to enjoy with us in a space we curate. The atmosphere we want to cultivate is that of a group of acquaintances coming together at a person's house to play a tabletop adventure game with a big roleplaying aspect, such as Pathfinder. Even as our characters may engage in conflicts both along and against one another, those should not influence how we treat one another. We don't have to be best friends, but we expect civility and for people to refrain from behavior that is malicious, harmful, or unsportsmanlike. If you aren't sure whether something is going to be a problem, ask. If something genuinely bothers to you, politely bring it up either directly or with a staff member. This applies to every space within the locus of our control, including the Avendar game itself, the official Discord server, and this website.

We have no interest in developing an exhaustive and specific list of things you can and cannot do and instead advise you use all of the above as a guideline. That said, this is a short list of activities which are egregiously unacceptable, and will get you immediately denied and/or banned:

• Expressions of real-world bigotry including but not limited to racism, homophobia, or transphobia
• Pedophilia or explicit child sexual material of any kind
• Depictions of rape or sexual assault enacted against non-consenting players
• Out-of-character stalking, harassment, or bullying, regardless of where it happens

In general, we emphasize remembering that there are real people that will be reading whatever you write within the game. As we detail below, we do not shy away from scenes or stories about difficult subjects, but we do expect it to be approached in a way that is responsible and respectful of others.

Every part of the game will always be free, and we do not accept donations to assist Avendar in its operation costs. If inclined, we encourage you to spend your money on portrait or prose commissions from artists and writers about your characters or your adventures, and share those with us and the community instead.

Roleplay

Players are expected to remain in-character and avoid out-of-character speech or references at all times while playing. The only exception is the OOC and Newbie channels, or PRAY when being used to seek staff assistance. Note that any and every interaction you have in the game will be logged and most likely read by staff, and any of it may potentially be on the table for interaction or follow-up.

Storylines in Avendar may include nearly any subject matter, including violence, death, sex, sex work, drug use, body horror, gore, spiders, demons, demonic spiders, depictions of slavery, setting-specific bigotry, etc. Some scenes or storylines may involve losses of agency and players should not expect to have full control over the destiny of their characters. As storytellers we will do our best to signpost when difficult subject matter is coming up and no one will be compelled to participate in any scene or storyline, whether player- or staff-run, nor will someone be penalized for tapping out. Please communicate these preferences clearly through an OOC channel.

While Avendar is not a "sex MUD" we do not prohibit consenting players from engaging in sexual/erotic roleplay as they choose. Please note that if an interaction is brought to the attention of staff as problematic, the burden is on you to prove that a sex scene was in fact consensual on an OOC level; we encourage clear and direct communication around this and all potentially sensitive scenes with the OOC command. This is taken very seriously. Second chances will not be given.

More on how to roleplay in Avendar is on the Roleplay page.

Player versus Player

While PvP is uncommon, whenever you are logged in there is a chance you will become engaged in PvP with another player which may result in the death of your character and the theft of that character's items or carried coin. Murder and theft are permitted and encouraged forms of play. We encourage you to seek revenge. Staff will not intervene in or adjudicate in-character conflicts between player characters.

That said if you are PvPing a lot, please be sportsmanlike about it. If we notice you tend to only pick on new players and like to mulch all their items, for example, you will not like what happens.

Quitting after a fight

Quitting less than 15 minutes after an attempt was made upon you or after looting a corpse, or less than 30 minutes after you began a PK attempt, is poor sportsmanship and roleplay, and a pattern of it will not be tolerated. Even if you observe these waiting periods, you may still be called up if you show a pattern of quitting as soon as you can. Quitting to escape any other in-character consequence of your actions, such as a pending attack or a spell, is likewise poor roleplay.

If real life intrudes and you have to leave sooner, tell the other players involved over OOC. Such situations should be rare exceptions, not the rule.

Gameplay

The game environment including the world and mechanics of Avendar are provided to you as-is to enjoy and may be incomplete or buggy. Knowingly abusing an exploit for any reason will result in all of a player's current characters being denied and, depending on the severity, being banned from the game entirely.

If you find something that appears to be a bug, report it to the staff with the bug command.

While searching the public release, you may encounter exploits, testing mechanisms, or undocumented features which had been hidden or (hopefully) disabled. Should you discover one, inform staff and do not attempt to use it, even if your intention is simply to ‘test’ it. Use of any discovered exploit is regarded as cheating and/or bug abuse and will be dealt with accordingly. Consequences begin at a warning and escalate from there.

Multiplaying

No two of your own characters may ever be in the world at the same time, and nothing one of your characters does may benefit another. This is called multiplaying, and will result in the loss of your characters and the characters of any accomplices. Multiplaying includes:

• Helping your own characters with other characters you own. This includes dying with one character, then coming on with another to loot the corpse or altar, as well as dropping items or selling items and then getting or buying them with another of your characters.
• Transferring equipment between your characters, whether by handing it over, leaving it to be found later, or passing it through a friend.
• Mixing character knowledge: one character cannot know things only another of your characters would know. This includes locating items or people with one character for another, scouting with one character for another, and information heard over privileged channels such as housetells.
• Playing two characters concurrently that know each other or are related.

Do not let anyone else play your character or use your password. It is fine for two different players to play from the same IP, but we may ask about the situation.

A good rule of thumb: if you are doing something with one character to benefit another of your characters, stop.

Out-of-character information

Secrets are an important part of Avendar, and we want discovery, exploration and the unexpected to stay fun and challenging. Out-of-character information should not be abused in the game. This includes telling people to log on a character because you are in a PK situation and need help, or acting on secrets one character knows on a different character.

Descriptions and backgrounds

All characters need a complete description by level 10 and a complete background by level 25.

Backgrounds may vary widely in content or style, but should be appropriate per our rules about conduct and setting. If you have a question as to whether something is acceptable, please ask, or err on the side of caution.

It is never acceptable to have a placeholder in your background or description. This includes but is not limited to “.”, “space”, “will have this soon”, and so on. Consequences for violating this begin at requiring the offender to clear the placeholder and escalate. Repeated offenders may be forbidden to play until the background is inserted. If you are made to clear your background and continue leveling tasks after this has been done, you will be removed from play.

How to write a good description and background is covered on the Roleplay page.

Bots and spam

Spamming or otherwise filling up communication channels is forbidden, as are advanced scripting and automated grinding. Any character found busily performing actions while no one is at the keyboard will be denied.

Roleplay

Roleplaying is required in Avendar. Any time you are logged in you are expected to remain in-character and respond to things as a character within the setting of Avendar would. This page will go over some of the basic commands, etiquette, and suggestions.

All areas of roleplay, including backgrounds, are subject to our rules; please ensure you are familiar with them.

Any time you are logged into Avendar, you consent to your communications being logged and potentially read by staff; see privacy for more information.

Interaction Basics

Communication

Communication is the most essential part of your interactions in Avendar. You may communicate with others in a number of different ways, to express yourself in the role you have chosen. All communication should be in character (in other words, in the role of your character), unless you are using the OOC chat channel.

Unless noted, being asleep will block most communication channels, barring the use of certain skills or traits.

Speech Commands

Actions

In addition to verbal communication, you can use various emotes to convey actions or motion. Like speech, you may freely use these in a variety of ways to express yourself in your chosen role, including performing minor magical or supernatural acts such as levitating a small object or making a flame dance on the tip of your finger. Actions may not force behaviors or feelings on other characters unless everyone in a scene has agreed upon this result. All actions must be in-character.

Other characters in the room will see all actions unless they are blinded or sleeping.

Action Commands

Socials

Socials are pre-written emotes or verbs that may be used to interact with other characters or objects. These are intended to be useful shorthand and inspiration.

Description

When you create your character you will also be asked to write a description for them. Your description is what people see when they look at you and should physically describe your character's appearance. They should be as general as possible, so as to be appropriate in the widest possible range of situations, perspectives, emotional states, etc. Descriptions must be appropriate for the setting and the lineage you are playing; please see those pages for more details.

You can also add keywords to your description, allowing people to look at a particular thing you reference. This is called an exdesc, short for "extra description"; please see that page for more details.

A description is mandatory by level 10. If you do not have a description by this time, you will cease being able to gain new experience until you write one. Entering a placeholder (e.g. "desc goes here", "will write later promise") in order to bypass this is not acceptable and may result in your character being denied.

Tips

Start with the basics of a person's appearance: their height, build, skin/scale/feather/hair/eye colour, facial shape, etc. Get an idea of what the distinguishing features of each species are and how those would be incorporated into a person's overall look. Then you may consider what kind of cosmetics, jewelry, tattoos, dyes, or other accessories may be appropriate. All of these things together will allow you to convey something personal about your character to those who look at them.

Descriptions should not tell people about your character's history, background, thoughts, current emotional state, what actions they are currently performing, etc. As a rule of thumb, if you could not infer it about a person who is standing across the room from you and not looking at you, you should not include it in a description.

Background

Your background is a brief summary of your character's past and origins. It can be anywhere from a few sentences to a couple of paragraphs, and may be nearly anything provided it conveys salient information about your character's history and personality. Only staff can read your background.

The purpose of a background is twofold: to prompt yourself to give some thought to your character's past and motivations, and to provide staff with a brief overview of what your character's vibe/deal is so we may better incorporate your character into staff-run storylines.

You are required to have a background by level 25. If you do not have a background by this time, you will cease being able to gain new experience until you write one. Entering a placeholder (e.g. "bg goes here", "will fill in later") in order to bypass this is not acceptable and may result in your character being denied.

Tips

Backgrounds are great for hooks, but they should not be the most interesting thing about a character; the most interesting things about your character should happen in play.

Your background can touch on family or important relationships but should primarily focus on your own character.

People come back from the dead in this setting. You should probably avoid backgrounds about parents dying tragically and orphaning your character unless you're prepared to answer questions about why they didn't come back for you from the altar.

Player Character Roles

In Avendar we wish to extend as much freedom as possible to players when crafting their characters and take a "yes, and" approach to interaction. Player characters may come from nearly any background and aspire to nearly any goal they wish (though no one is guaranteed to succeed). We enjoy and encourage players improvising and extrapolating new facts about the world, and if a concept is interesting and fits, we are likely to accept it as canon. There are three restrictions we place upon player characters:

• Your character concept must fit and make sense within the established setting, lore, and genre of Avendar.
• You may not assume a role that requires or demands exceptional development effort or resources from staff.
• All player characters are adventurers that have graduated from the School of Heroes.

Within the boundaries of those restrictions, your character may be as mundane or exceptional as possible. Your character may be a figure of destiny whispered of by Kyanans or an impoverished soul from Var Bandor that decided they would write their own legend instead of being next in a line of shopkeepers. The School of Heroes accepts those of any background, from simple farmboys to Harrudim princesses, and makes them into adventurers.

Play toward your character's goals rather than your own. Your character shouldn't act against their beliefs to gain an advantage in the game, though some characters care about little but their own advancement.

Staff-run Storylines

At any given moment there are likely to be one or more staff-run storylines happening in Avendar. These storylines may be focused on a player or group of players, a Great House, a deity or religion, a city-- whatever one or more people has taken an interest in and where we feel like a fun story might be able to happen. Anyone of any skill or knowledge level is welcome and encouraged to participate. You do not need to be an incredible writer or know tons of things about the lore and setting of Avendar, you just need to be willing to lean in and have some fun with us. Some basics to keep in mind:

• Only characters who are hero-level will be approached for or integrated into storylines. Sub-hero characters may still participate in scenes (happily!) but further or more in-depth engagement will wait until you reach level 51.
• Players may have only one PC at a time involved in a staff-run plotline.
• Players who show a tendency to churn through PCs quickly or delete/shelve their PCs upon running into setbacks will need to demonstrate a commitment to not doing that.
• Any and all plot and character development must take place in-character and in-game.
• This is a fundamentally cooperative medium. There is no such thing as a solo storyline.

Expectations

Storylines are run for the benefit of both players and staff; we also enjoy roleplaying, storytelling, and crafting mechanical challenges to delight and torment our players. Storylines require dedicated staff time and often involve receiving in-character mechanical rewards. We expect players to reciprocate through engagement with the game and story.

Here are some examples of what we consider engagement:

• Interacting with other PCs, both cooperatively and antagonistically
• Interacting with an NPC actively being played by staff
• Interactions that explicitly involve Avendar's setting and themes
• Undertaking mechanical challenges with other players
• Writing and sending thoughtful notes to all, other PCs, NPCs, or gods

Here are some examples of things that we do not consider engagement:

• Logging in to idle
• Writing a background
• Chatting in Discord or OOC, including about characters or plots
• Soloing bosses or other supermobs

Tips

If you'd like to get involved but you're new or not sure how, here are some tips to keep in mind.

• You get what you put in! If we see you talking to a lot of other PCs about things, pursuing threads, asking interesting questions, etc you are much more likely to get us engaged.
• Be proactive about participation and coming up with ideas to solve problems. We aren't there to simply serve you a solution; we want to hear what you come up with.
• If you see an NPC being played by a staff member, feel free to reach out to them and interact. That's what they're there for! Not every NPC is involved in every story however. Sometimes they won't know anything "useful," but you can still chat!
• Use notes! Write to houses, PCs, NPCs, or gods.
• Think about what your PC actually wants. Act with purpose towards a goal, even if that goal is just making friends.
• Take an interest in your fellow PCs and their own stories!