The community playing TOUD is just that - a community - and with any community comes expectations of behaviour and observance of the cultural norms we find acceptable. Rather than say "just trust me bro" or "don't be a dick" - neither of which are great platitudes for those new players looking for direction - we prefer to draw our lines.
As such, here are a series of principles to guide you on the server:
- Ravenloft is a gothic horror setting. As an M rated game, expect blood, gore, and animated violence in everyday play. There will also be allusion to sexual themes (but not ERP - more on this later), depictions of fantasy racism, the use of alcohol, and the use of drugs. If any of these things make you uncomfortable in general, this is probably not a server you will feel comfortable playing on.
- Fantasy bigotry is fantasy. Which is to say, stuff like the elf dwarf grudging of memes, or barovians looking down on demihuman races? That's fine. Stuff that's just garbing up real world prejudices in the game's terms is not acceptable. On the topics of homophobia or sexism - neither are welcome here.
- Consent is king. If you are dealing with matters above and beyond the general server themes and expectations, you should have affirmative consent of the people involved. This means a couple things: firstly, you should not do these more mature roleplay scenes in public view, and secondly, you should be discussing this with the people involved, at least in the first onset. Examples of subjects like this include body horror, graphic torture, and any sexual content that doesn't fade to black.
- You can always opt out of uncomfortable scenes. No one should blame you if difficult topics are broached you do not want to deal with, and while it is okay to make the characters uncomfortable, it is not okay to make the players uncomfortable. Within reason of course - players abusing opt out to simply avoid the consequences of their actions will likely find themselves excluded.
- Respect your fellow players. You don't have to like every single other player on the server, but you do have to treat them with fairness and respect, as that's what keeps the community functioning well. If you're upset with someone and cannot deal with it even-headedly, please either disengage, or approach a DM for help with conflict resolution. Harassment is not welcome here, nor is griefing. If it's gotten to the point another player is in conflict with you OOC over something, take a step back and re-evaluate what you're doing, and if you don't feel you're being unreasonable, then it's all the more reason to involve a DM.
- Remember the staff and DMs are human and players too. Which is to say, manage your expectations a bit - this is a volunteer project that is a work of passion, not something with a huge team of game developers. We might not be able to fix everything right away. Sometimes, fixes might be outside of our skill level. Sometimes real life takes us away and we cannot deal with problem issues as expediently as we might like. But we're here, and we try. Please be kind.
- The TOUD world is a living and in development thing. Expect things to change. A good build may not always remain a good build. A faction might lose its standing, perhaps even be disbanded. IC actions will have long-reaching consequences in TOUD sometimes. And OOCly, we are in open development, so things may change. As we are in open development, exploits may exist. If you find them, report it immediately. If something seems too good to be true, please report it still. That's what keeps your hands clean - if we find out afterwards you were using something to get an advantage and kept it to yourself, you may be sanctioned.
- Respect the setting. Have names that make sense in character. Avoid titles in the name, as they would be conferred by others, not yourself. Have emotes and communication that make sense in character, and avoid OOC as much as possible. Keep descriptions reasonable and avoid the use of colours in names or descriptions. Without prior permission, avoid having your characters related to canon characters. Avoid "cheesing" - having abilities or appearances your class and race does not mechanically allow. If you are playing an outlander, act like one: an outlander newly-arrived to Ravenloft will not have deep knowledge of the plane. (If you make an outlander, they must be someone "newly misted", to avoid this brand of cheesing). Have a character that feels like they belongs, even if they don't - which is to say, if they stick out, they should stick out for IC reasons (different mannerisms, looking weird, etc), rather than for OOC reasons (acting improperly, being named xXxDarkAngelxXx, and so on). Avoid breaking the fourth wall.