The rules of the realm

We are a community looking to make every player feel welcome. While the nature of the game may lead you to win or lose, be insulted, hurt or killed in character, it is very important that those things stay in character and do not spill over out of character.

This means that it is paramount that you stay calm and respectful towards other players when talking to them out of character. We will not tolerate insults of any kind, nor other forms of toxic behaviour, on any of our platforms.

It is also very important that you roleplay at all times. Even if you believe another player has broken a rule, it is not up to you to correct it, to stop roleplaying or to break a rule yourself. If you find yourself in such a situation, contact an administrator with the /report command in game, and if none are available, raise the issue through our Discord's ticket system. Make sure you save any evidence you have, as admins cannot get a clear picture of the incident without it.

These issues can be fixed by our administrators, so you don't have to worry about losing any items or important pieces of your storyline: they will be refunded if the other player is found to have broken the rule.

Administrator instructions and decisions are to be followed at all times, even if you do not agree with them. This, however, does not mean we are tyrants who can never be wrong. You are welcome to submit a staff report through our ticket system, where a more senior (and unbiased) member of the staff team will review the administrator's decision and may overturn it, if the administrator who handled the incident is found to have made a mistake.

Bear in mind that we reserve the right to ban you from our community if you are found to have behaved in a toxic manner towards other members of our community, even if the medium used is not owned by the KCD:RP community.

Metagaming is the use of out-of-character information in character, and it is forbidden. If you found something out through OOC means (Discord, the website, OOC chat in game, etc.), you must not bring that knowledge into your character.

It also applies the other way round: you must not tell others, through any OOC medium, the in-character information your character has obtained. For example, you must not let your friends know in PMs that you are being held up by someone.

Nametags and the other OOC things on the server (OOC announcements, /b chat, /pm, voice chats outside the game and every other form of OOC communication) must not be used in character. Just because you, as a player, read on his nametag that another player's name is John Carpenter does not mean your character knows it as well. He has to ask that character his name and, if told a different name, should not immediately suspect that he is being lied to.

It is very important to separate yourself as a player from your character. We expect you to keep track of what your character found out in character and not to mix it with what you as a player know out of character. It is a fundamental part of roleplay.

Voice chat is always in character. Words that sound in character but refer to OOC things - such as "headache" for a disconnect, "in my eyes" for on my screen or "prayers" for tickets - are not allowed. If you need to tell someone something out of character, use one of the OOC text chats such as /b, /pm or /f. When talking in OOC chats, do not bring up IC things and events.

Powergaming is roleplaying unrealistic things, or forcing roleplay upon another player - both are forbidden.

Some things do happen in real life, very rarely, as "freaks of nature", but it is not realistic to let everyone experience them. This ranges from carrying horses on your back, roleplaying your sword cutting through large objects, or wrestling several people off you while they try to hold you down, to other unrealistic scenarios.

The rule also covers forcing roleplay upon other people in order to win. This ranges from roleplaying cutting through someone in one blow without giving them a chance to respond (for example: /me swings his sword and cuts John Carpenter in half) to roleplaying tying someone's hands with a rope without giving them a chance to respond and resist (for example: /me ties John Carpenter's wrists together and locks him into the pillory).

The right way to roleplay an action upon another player is to let them respond. One way to do it is to word your actions as attempts - for example /me attempts to tie John Carpenter's wrists together - followed by a question in /do, such as /do Does John Carpenter attempt to resist Thomas? (Thomas being your character, for the sake of the example.)

Not valuing your life also falls under this rule. If your character has a realistic and objective reason to fear for his life, he may not ignore that fear in order to die and avoid being the loser of the scenario. You must accept that you will not always win, and that roleplay trumps any gain you may be looking for. An example would be fighting a large number of the Bailiff's Watch to avoid a fine.

Deathmatching is killing a player without a valid in-character reason, and it is forbidden. The rule also covers any action that, without a valid in-character reason, directly tries to provoke a player into a hostile action in order to justify killing him (baiting a hostile interaction).

Some examples:

• attacking a player purely because your character is a criminal;
• killing a player to gain a monetary reward;
• killing a person who was not involved in a legitimate hostile interaction simply because they were close to it;
• killing a person because of the town they live in.

This rule covers the use of third-party software and game modifications to gain an advantage.

Players must not use anything outside of the base game to gain an advantage. This includes any third-party software that lets you cheat the system, such as automatic hotkeys for working jobs, or software that lets you spawn items, fly around the map, see other players' locations or anything of the sort.

The lore and continuity rule forbids roleplaying things outside of our server's lore: things outside the time we portray (Bohemia, 1403), things that are made up and do not fall in line with the lore our server follows, or anything that damages the continuity we have going on.

Some examples: modern slang, technology from after 1403 such as electricity, or a character from North or South America or other lands not yet discovered by Europeans.

On our server there are two kinds of death: the player kill (PK) and the character kill (CK).

A player kill means your character died as a result of an in-character scenario and can respawn and keep playing. However, you may not roleplay remembering the scenario or what led up to it, and you may not return to the place where the scenario that led to your death happened for as long as it is still going on.

For example: you and two of your friends are caught stealing, fight the Bailiff's Watch and you die. Whether your friends survived or not, you may not return, nor keep roleplaying knowing about the scenario. As far as you are concerned, you were never part of it, as you died.

A character kill means your character has been killed off permanently, and from then on you must play a different character under a different name. These kills are rare and must be approved by the staff team. They require extensive roleplay and reasoning behind them, and cannot be granted for simple things such as retaliation for thefts, robberies, etc.

After a character kill, you must roleplay not knowing anything your former character knew, in accordance with the metagaming rule.

For example: after long service to your lord, you decide to desert him and become a criminal. If he presents his case to the staff team and his reasoning and roleplay are found extensive enough, he may be allowed to CK you.

This rule covers abusing bugs in our game mode, and misusing the features the development team provides for your own gain.

Instead, you must report every bug through a ticket in the #support-ticket channel of our Discord, and stay away from those features if they give you any sort of advantage.

For example: finding a chest that spawns high-tier gear and looting it to your advantage without reporting it, when it is clearly not intended. Another example is abusing any sort of mapping or collision to gain an advantage.

Robbing and scamming players is allowed on our server, but we expect players to do it within the guidelines below, and to use this kind of roleplay to further their character development and storylines - not to rob as many people and gain as many assets as possible while disregarding the roleplay standards our community upholds. Therefore, some limits are set in stone.

A player who robs another of his belongings and money must meet every one of these criteria:

• He has a reasonable belief that the person he robs is a valid target. New players, and those who do not show that they are a valid target - through their roleplay (flaunting their wealth, or a character's wealth learned through in-character means) or their visible assets (armour, weapon, horse, house, etc.) - may not be robbed.
• He has not robbed anyone in the last 30 minutes. This makes the player roleplay during and after the robbery, rather than robbing people left, right and centre while disregarding the main point of our server: strict and realistic roleplay. If you come across a group, you may rob all of them, as long as every other criterion is met, without waiting 30 minutes between each person.
• He takes up to two items of his choosing or the entire coin purse - not both.
• He does NOT scam anyone of more than 1000 groschen per person, in money or assets.
• He does NOT kill the victim after robbing them, unless a strong and realistic reason is given. Killing them simply to eliminate a witness is not one.
• He does NOT rob or scam another player in a populated area: towns, taverns, churches and every other place NPCs and other players are likely to pass through. Ideally, robberies happen on the roads and in the wilderness outside settlements and towns.
• A player tied to a business (a shop, a tavern, etc.) may not scam or rob its customers, nor use the business as a way to rob or scam someone.
• He dismounts from his horse and/or cart to rob or scam someone: it may not be done from horseback.

Looting a player must be done through in-depth roleplay: searching him, roleplaying detaching each piece of armour and carrying it away to store it realistically, searching the sacks he may be carrying, etc. To do this, you must have the other player's prior out-of-character approval. It must never be forced: it is an act of good will by the other player.

The exception is a player who robbed or scammed you in the past, or stole something from a property or business you own, or from an area you are realistically meant to protect - a territory your faction holds, or a property or business of one of your in-character friends or associates. In these cases you may loot only the items that were taken or, if they are not there, money or assets of equal value. Be warned: you must be ready to show the IC and OOC evidence that this same person robbed, scammed or stole from you, or the exception will not be granted.

This rule covers any command that announces, advertises or in any other way informs players through in-character means - here, /yell, the herald's cry heard across the realm.

To keep things realistic and in the spirit of roleplay, it is forbidden to use them for personal advertisement or to spam the same message over and over. Use common sense, and immersive wording that sounds like something yelled in the streets of a medieval Bohemian town. It must never be in full caps or contain any OOC element.

Improper usage, for example:

• /yell Buying a fancy sword.
• /yell Looking for a fine woman to marry.
• /yell Selling an Italian Hauberk at the stall in Kuttenberg.

Proper usage, for example:

• /yell Kuttenberg's stalls overflow with treasures, but there is always room for your craft! Spend your coin in our bustling markets, buy your own workshop, and make our glorious city your new home!
• /yell The Devil's Den Tavern offers the finest wine and stew that money can buy! Traveller or local, come by for a drink and a bite to eat!
• /yell The House of Kovač is seeking new recruits for its castle's garrison. If you are an able-bodied man, make your way to the army camp just outside Raborsch and sign up!