[Gaia Reborn]

If you are reading this thread, odds are you are a new user or a guest. As such, we welcome you! Here you will find the rules of our forum - Gaia Reborn. The rules stated in this thread must be followed, as they govern the entire forum. Thank you for reading through our rules, and we hope you enjoy your time here on Gaia Reborn!

• Site Etiquette: Nobody wants to be disrespected for no good reason. All members of Gaia Reborn are to uphold themselves in a mature manner, treating others with respect, regardless of who they are. Insults and harassment will not be tolerated. Racism, sexism, and bigotry of any type will not be accepted. Bigotry is allowed in-character, (such as a human who thinks humans are the best) but out of character users must treat all members with respect.
  
  
• Posting Content: Gaia Reborn must follow the Proboards guidelines. As such, your posts must remain PG-13. Swearing is allowed in moderation; romantic content is allowed, but cut to black if the scene gets too sexual. Violence is allowed of course, and imagery is often necessary, but do not go overboard. This is an MMORPG, not Mortal Kombat.
  
  
• Speak English: English is the primary language of Gaia Reborn, and as such, we expect you to mostly speak in English. The occasional use of other languages, such as a character who is bilingual occasionally speaking in their second language, is perfectly alright, but please make sure others can understand you.

• Post Legibly: Nobody enjoys reading poorly written posts that have grammar as bad as a lazy teenager with a cellphone. You are expected to write your posts with correct spelling and grammar. We realize nobody is perfect, so the occasional typo is completely understandable.
  
  
• Don't Godmod: Nobody is perfect, that's what makes us all so unique. It is a fact of life, and it is part of our forum. While you may be the world's fastest swordsman, you cannot notice an arrow coming for the back of your head if you have your guard lowered. Godmodding is exerting too much control over characters and situations to where your character becomes nearly godlike. All characters must have their flaws and failures, as life rarely goes as planned.
  
  
• Respect Player Autonomy: Player Characters are, and should always be, under the full control of their players. Do not control another player's character or their actions/behaviors without OOC permission and respect their IC decisions.
  
  
• This Is a Literate Roleplay: All of Gaia Reborn's founding members share a love for well-written stories and roleplaying. Many of our mechanics and systems were written with literate roleplaying in mind, and as such, we do not allow use of the Basic Roleplaying format. All posts should be written in a format one would present for a writing project or a novel, with quotation marks to express dialogue and no punctuation to express actions. Threads written in Basic will receive no EXP.
  
  

[Minerva]

Player Creativity Guidelines

Gaia Reborn strives to be a superb RP forum, which puts the creativity of its players first. We wish for you to be able to experience your own stories, make your own discoveries and create your own part of the world. Literate RP in general puts a lot of emphasis on the player. While Game Masters decide everything besides player actions in other forms of RP, literate RP can only function properly when the players themselves are able to describe and play part of the world surrounding them. Nevertheless, we as GMs need to provide every player with game mechanics and world lore for each one of you to inhabit the same playing field. Hence we decided to outline the differences between the GMs’ job and the players’ privileges in the following trichotomy of Game Master Lore, Player Lore and the Adventurer’s Handbook plus some guidelines on specific issues regarding player creativity.

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Game Master Lore: GM Lore is everything, which naturally affects all players of the RP. This comprises the game mechanics, the setting, and large scale events. Game mechanics are everything, which can be considered a law of the world. This includes skills, what happens after death, classes and talents, and so on. The setting of the game can be generally divided into two parts: First there is the fundamental lore about the world. This includes among other things the world’s races, the geographical, political, and economical make-up of the world, the more important cities as well as very important and/or powerful NPCs. Second there is the story frame of what is roughly going on inside the world at which time of the RP. The setting can also be referred to as the kind of information you will find in the lore thread. Events are special occurrences inside and outside the RP. They are meant to highlight a particular part of the story and bring players together to experience it with each other. Events will be announced. Game Master Lore should be looked at as the frame and available colors of the picture we want to paint together. It limits the possibilities and inspires the RP.

Player Lore: Player Lore is everything, which mainly affects one player or the players inside a particular thread and has no important impact on other players or is not information pertinent to many players outside of the thread. This comprises the personal interpretation of GM Lore, filling out the world and of course your character’s actions inside the world. As a literate RP we fall victim to the ambivalence of language. Therefore GM Lore still needs to be interpreted by the players. As long as these interpretations do not contradict anything GM written players are free to interpret it however they feel fits. Should you be uncertain about your own interpretation, you can always look up the #FAQ or ask the GMs #questions directly. As a player you are always able to fill out the world of Gaia Reborn with locations, NPCs, villages and towns, dungeons, monsters, ruins, small scale history, small scale lore, small scale events and so forth as long as other players’ stories outside the thread are not directly affected by it without their consent and GM lore is not contradicted by it. Player made villages and towns for example may not feature cathedrals or the royal guard. Player Lore should be looked at as the individual brush strokes of the picture we want to paint together.

Adventurer’s Handbook: The Adventurer’s Handbook is the place in which GM Lore and Player Lore intersect. While players should generally refrain from just putting lore into their threads, that may directly affect others and especially all players. The Adventurer Handbook is both a place to suggest lore, which affects other players, and share information for other players to use. Hushed Whispers is an unmoderated place to spread rumors about the world. Nothing in Hushed Whispers should be considered canonical truth, but it is a great place for reaching other players with inspirational ideas. Information Proposal on the other hand is a place to suggest lore that you want to be considered true and which may affect or be used by other players. This could be the proposal of information on additional regions outside Italia or the proposal of medium to large scale events happening inside the world and so on. Every proposal needs to be first approved by a GM, before it becomes official lore. Approved information proposals are moved directly into the Adventurer’s Handbook board and are considered GM Lore. The Adventurer’s Handbook additionally serves a function of a Player Lore database, where you can share your own lore additions with all other players, so that they may become an observed part of the world. Make sure to check it out!

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Technology: The technological level of Gaia is set out to be similar to that of pre-industrial times with middle-age weapons. No gunpowder, electrical or steam driven machinery has yet been invented. Some gaps are filled with rather expensive magical artifacts or magic in general. New inventions and new technology appearing after the apocalypse due to the influence of the Adventurers have to be first researched in a research thread and approved. Already researched technology found in approved research claims, may be used in threads taking place after its official discovery.

On Game Mechanics: Game mechanics like HP and mana pools, status effects, skills, proficiencies, talent levels and so on function as physical laws of the world of Gaia and always work as they are described. It is for example not possible to deal a fatal wound to a foe without simultaneously dealing enough damage to reduce their HP to 0. A strike to sever someone’s head off will not be able to achieve its goal if it doesn’t also deal enough damage based on the game mechanics. Similarly, higher proficiencies and talent levels will always mean that the character is getting better at the linked actions. However, since the world of Gaia Reborn has become a real world after the apocalypse, game mechanics cannot explain every interaction. All interactions, which are not directly described by game mechanics, should be looked at with real life logic. This includes how certain game mechanics work out under certain circumstances. Two characters with the same proficiency but a different physique will be similarly effective at combat, but will most likely have different styles. A blacksmith, who has no idea of smithing prior to the apocalypse, but is able to craft certain items due to his talent level, will be able to gain the information he needs through the game mechanics. As a general rule game mechanics should be looked at as physical laws, while all gaps game mechanics cannot explain on their own are subject to the player’s interpretation based on real life logic.

Inconsistencies: Literate RP is prone to inconsistencies. Players may interpret GM lore differently or accidentally describe the same things in an inconsistent way. While all players should try to prevent such inconsistencies to the best of their ability, they can’t fully be prevented. Don’t be afraid of them! Don’t let the fear of creating an inconsistency stifle your imagination and creativity. In the end, the RP is meant to have fun together and create meaningful stories. Should inconsistencies arise in your threads try to come to a conclusion, which does not negate either player’s vision. GMs and moderators gladly help you with finding a synthesis if you have trouble finding one on your own.