Act 4: Rules and Getting Started

Rules

1. Explicit content: To put it simply, for the most part gore, blood, and adult content is allowed in No Man's Land. We seek to push the boundaries of what we want to do. However, explicit content of the sexual kind is prohibited. If you're getting to the sexy time please take it to Skype or something, just not public here.

2. Killing: ALWAYS ask for permission to kill a character, if you right a post expecting the character yours is attacking to die, know that the RPer is under NO obligation to kill off their character unless they give you permission to do so.

3. God-modding: Okay, lets be fair, for the sake of adding drama to the RP and to give challenges for the characters, I will often tell people to make over-powered characters (that have my consent and to which I look over). However I will make it more evident which characters are intended to be powerful as compared to previous acts. However, even in the case of these over-powered characters, they still take hits and damage. When your character never seems to get hurt, lose, and always seems to do everything perfectly regardless of what the circumstances may be it is considered god-modding and you will be called out for it. Don't do it.

4. Character Limit: That's right, unlike previous acts this RP will start with a character limit of TWO characters. Eventually it will increase, but we're starting small for now. Check the announcements for any news of the character limit increasing.

5. Starred character profiles: You may notice that certain characters have stars over their profiles. "Starred" characters are characters that are present in the RP for plot reasons, often considered special cases. Starred characters DO NOT count towards the RPers' character limit and they are also the only characters given permission to be more powerful than the average character.

6. Tone: For starters, we would like to move more towards a science fiction tone that Act 3 used more so than the dark realistic tone that the RP started with in Act 1. The days of characters with handguns and maybe gloves are over. As we leave the desolate city of No Man's Land and discover what the outside world has truly become, you'll find that since the events of the Great Crime War the world has changed for the more bizarre. The Super Criminal community and the world in general has advanced, technology and mutations are more common. Knowing how to use a rifle or a handgun simply won't give you an edge anymore. The power level from Act 4 onward is going to be leagues ahead of the original trilogy and we expect more colorful characters and fighting styles. Don't get me wrong, the world is still rather dark and grim, but its gotten much more alien as well. The only banned elements now would be any mystical, supernatural, or fantasy elements, and aliens.

7. Fights: This is possibly more of a tip than a real rule, but try and be kind and courteous when RPing fights, and considering planning out fights with the RPer. Fights are NOT about one character being stronger than the other, its not about winning. Fights are a form of character interaction in the same way a character interacts with his/her friends. People make both friends and enemies in their lives and an RP should reflect that. You'll find that some of the best relationships in the previous parts of this RP are between enemies and not friends. Try and actively build not only a list of friends, but a rogues gallery and a rival or two for your character.

8. Faceclaims: Faceclaims are the pictures you use to represent characters, often meant to either directly look like what you want your character to look like, or just a general idea of what you envision. Either way, it goes to say they are a valuable commodity. People go hours looking for the perfect faceclaim. While this rule may not be in full effect in other RPs, it is here: you cannot use a faceclaim if its already been used by someone in the RP (Unless of course they're supposed to look exactly like someone else, like Jackal), and if its a faceclaim used in another RP ANYWHERE on Newts, regardless of it was just used in a profile or not, or if its a minor or major RP, you MUST ask for permission. If permission is not given you CANNOT use it. Please note that Charahub is NOT a way to claim faceclaims. If the faceclaim has not been used on Newts it is not valid, regardless if you were planning to use that faceclaim shown on Charahub for Newts eventually.

9. Inactivity: Perhaps one of the most important statements listed here is that if you are inactive then no one is obliged to wait for you. That doesn't mean that the second you stop posting your characters are forgotten but simply that if you don't post enough no one is OBLIGED to wait on you. If you take longer than a day to post your character than the other characters in the thread are allowed to move on. Furthermore if you are inactive for weeks at a time without posting any moderator is allowed to ban you from the forum for inactivity.

10. Profiles: This should be common sense, but you must make a profile and it must be approved for you to use a character. There are exceptions, mostly for "plot" characters to whom cannot be completely explained yet to the RPers to maintain a certain mystique. However unless you are told otherwise you MUST make a profile for any characters you have. There are exceptions in the form of pets, babies, and followers (like footmen) but they must be listed on the profile and a moderator is allowed to disapprove of any of these just like other parts of the profile.

11. Reading: Okay, well if you've made it down the list thus far you're probably going to follow this rule, but just in case: READ! That means READ the posts, regardless of if you think they aren't related to your characters, READ the lore, and READ the profiles. Not doing so will probably result in you spreading misinformation and people will NOT look at your favorably for it. As a matter of fact, I can assure you now that as the moderator I can say that it is a great pet-peeve for most RPers here to have someone state something wrong about their characters, my own included. READ.

12. Lore: Its okay to introduce new parts to the lore. Mutations, cybernetics, nano-machines, they weren't originally in the lore but they were introduced, and now they're very important to the world of No Man's Land. That being said, please don't introduce a new peace of lore without either having it on a character profile (So it can be approved) or asking for permission. Most people will believe you are effectively pulling stuff out of your ass for no reason and will generally be confused by what the hell you're doing. We want everyone to start world-building to a great degree starting this act, we want new locations, organizations, powers, but they must be done right. Please don't pull out something from nowhere and state that it will somehow kill psychics and mutants because it just can, ask permission. Ask permission before you bring it up in the RP. IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM.

13: Factions: Please read the factions page for rules on factions, as they have their own set of rules.