Participants join together to share the unique and enjoyable experiences of role-playing gaming. In order to maintain a fair and fun game environment all players are expected to honor the Code of Conduct. Please read the Code of Conduct carefully, paying close attention to each point.

Be Respectful

The Dungeon Master (DM), aka Game Master (GM), and the Show Host (SH) will treat you with respect by default, and it is expected that other players will treat you with respect as well, so you have no reason to mistreat them. Disrespect in any fashion is grounds for disciplinary action.

Arguing

Take it to Dungeon Master (DM) and/or Show Host (SH). Intelligent debate is welcome, but when your emotions take control of your actions, you could be in violation of this rule. Please do not kill the “suspension of disbelief” by disrupting the flow of the game from bogging it down with frequent arguing. If you can address an issue briefly for a ruling by the DM, that is fine. Otherwise please ask to speak with the DM in private, or pass a note asking to discuss the topic during a break or at the end of the session so that the DM may hear you out in full. Please always keep it civil and be considerate of others.

Since these game sessions are being broadcast live, and involve chatroom commentary, some occasional commentary from the chat room may be read by the Show Host (and/or co-hosts) for the benefit of others viewing the video stream.

Respect All Other Players and Their Right to Have Fun.

Tabletop role-playing gaming is a collaborative effort. It only really works if everyone is working together, not just in the game, but outside of it as well. Contribute to everyone's fun and not just your own. To help with this, let's tell a good story together, and have a good time doing it!

As part of being contributory, one must keep things like the following in mind: if your character is starting to cause resentment in the other players, it might be time to either make a new character or find an in-game way to alter the character in some way. We want to make sure everyone is having fun.

Please remember that the game session's fun is not entirely dependent upon the DM, it is also the burden also rests upon each player!

Even an inexperienced DM can still end up running a fun session if the players are working with the DM and the other players, rather than simply expecting perfection from everyone else.

Show respect toward all property and possessions. Damage or theft of a Player’s, DM's, or Host's property is not tolerated.

Out-of-Character physical abuse, discrimination, or verbal abuse is not tolerated. Everyone is to maintain common sensitivity. Out of consideration to others, public intimacy is discouraged. Descriptions of sexual acts in (or out) of the game is not allowed. If someone says “No” or “Leave me alone” and you don’t listen, that is harassment. Hate speech is any speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which may incite violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group, or because it disparages or intimidates a protected individual or group. Out-of-character racist, bigoted, or excessively vulgar or distasteful language is strongly discouraged. Do not harass, bully, threaten, harm or cause discomfort for other persons. Consider harassment to be a pattern of unwanted contact, attention, or behavior.

For example:

• Use hate speech or racial, ethnic, sexist, homophobic or religious slurs.

• Harass a specific person (repeated flaming or personal attacks).

• Troll or bait the participants in general with inflammatory statements, such as ones designed to elicit a negative response from the participants.

• Violence, threats of violence, or any other action or gesture that compromises the safety of participants.

• Harassment or hate speech of any kind.

Excessive in-character racist, bigoted, or excessively vulgar or distasteful language is discouraged, but may in moderate amounts be allowed if appropriate to the character and circumstances of the campaign, for example racial comments about orcs, or orcs vulgar threats to the Free People of Middle-earth might be allowed if appropriate to the circumstances and the predefined characters.

No pornography or otherwise rated "X" material is to be displayed. Do not use, post, distribute or link to obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit, graphically or gratuitously violent, derogatory, demeaning, malicious, defamatory, abusive, offensive, hateful or discriminatory language or content. This includes "masking" language by using alternative characters/spelling /spacing to get around profanity filters or claims of profanity filter “testing."

Players are prohibited from making final rules calls or chastising others for improper role-playing. Players should instead politely call the rule or player actions into question and let the DM appropriately resolve any issues.

If a rule or player’s behavior is called into question, said rule is to be reviewed by the DM and/or SH to determine its legality/compliance.

Respect the authority of the Dungeon Master.

Hygiene, Allergies, Dress Code, Alcohol, Drugs, & Smoking

Please be considerate of all the other participants. Some participants have strong reactions from allergies, asthma, and other sensitivities to strong chemicals, perfumes, or excessive body odor.

Please avoid excessively poor grooming, noticeable body odor, or excessive perfumes out of consideration to everyone else. Severe body odor isn’t just unpleasant — it can irritate medical conditions like allergies, asthma and migraines, and is highly disruptive to the enjoyment of the game for everyone else.

No participant shall have an odor generally offensive to others when attending a session. An offensive body odor may result from a lack of good hygiene, from an excessive application of a fragrant after-shave or cologne or from other causes.

No alcohol or illegal drugs are to be brought or used at gaming sessions. Smoking must comply with Washington state laws (25' distance away from entrances and windows), Since some participants are known to have allergies and asthma, if you do need to smoke, please refrain from smoking until after the game session is over. Smoking just before a game, or during a break, tends to bring a strong unpleasant odor unto the game room afterward, and can trigger asthma attacks, so please try to wait until after the game session is over to smoke. No smoking is allowed at the gaming table.

If you do have offensive odor, the DM and/or SH will attempt to discretely let you know so that you can resolve any such issues.

Props and Costumes

Props are allowed, but no brandishing of naked steel is allowed. Please consult with the DM before bringing any prop-type weapons to the gaming session.

Though you may wear costumes and props, when not at a convention setting, this group is not expected to dress in any costumes at all. All attire must be appropriately modest and considerate of others. Determination of “appropriately modest” is to be decided by the DM and Show Host.

Be Respectful of the DM

Your character is free to do whatever you want (that is not evil, of course, since this will be a heroic campaign, not an evil one) so long as you are taking the DM's scenario seriously (but not too seriously) and following the DM's lead, at the very least in spirit. The DM works very hard to design a scenario to be exciting and so all that is asked is that you not make any intentional attempts to break that work.

Tabletop role-playing is about working together: the DM provides you with a scenario and helps you run through it, in return please provide the DM your sincere cooperation.

The Dungeon Master and/or Show Host (SH) may arbitrate debate about the game rules or other such. The DM and/or SH takes the approach of “beneficent dictator”, s/he will hear the concerns of those that wish to speak about an issue, but in the end all rulings by the DM and/or SH are final.

The final word on game rules and house rulings are left up to the DM and/or SH.

Story First, Rules Second

Rules are tools. Use them, but do not let them trap you. If the GM chooses to make changes here or there to encourage the flow of the story, do not let the flow of the game be ruined by frequent rules debate. If you have a concern, then please write a note about your concerns and pass it to the DM, then the DM can opt to adjust a rule/ruling, or decide to discuss the topic at the end of the game session to make an official decision for future sessions. Sometimes a critical issue will be impacted by a ruling, so the DM may occasionally interrupt game play to quickly research, but these instances should be avoided as much as possible.

The Consequences of Violating a Rule(s)

This is only an example progression to provide some approximate guidelines of expectation. They are not "hard and fast", and cannot possibly cover all situations. Alternate or additional remedial actions may be taken, based on the discretion of the DM and/or SH, and the severity of any individual case may escalate remedial actions. The remediation is usually at the DM's and/or SH's discretion.

1^st Level Offense: A verbal (or passed note) warning.

2^nd Level Offense: Verbal reprimand (DM and/or SH will try to speak with the player discretely away from the group if possible (this is difficult in a broadcast situation however), and potentially a loss of turns or control of character for a given time

period may occur.

3^rd level Offense: kicked out of the day’s session up to being banned from a number of sessions.

4^th Level Offense: Banned from all future participation in this group.

Player Character Campaign Guidelines

Since this is a HEROIC campaign, The character must be good at heart. It is okay for player characters to be flawed, have eccentricities, and struggle with difficult moral decisions and actions (for a less subtle extreme example, Boromir's temptation by The Ring), but in the long run they must be well-intentioned towards the greater good of The Free People. Boromir is an example of an heroic character that gave into temptation and a moment of evil action, and paid for it in the ways of the Song of Arda. If your character commits too many evil acts, the PC will increasingly lose freewill, succumbing to impulse and/or the will of others. Too much transition into this "shadow", as determined by the DM, will lead to the PC increasingly losing self-will. At the DM's discretion, if the PC performs too many evil or questionable acts, the player will no longer be allowed to control the PC, and relinquishes control of the PC to the DM.

The player character must work as much as possible as part of the group. The player must be able to actually role-play the character. The character must fit the campaign style.

Since this is an audio/video broadcast, enhanced role-playing techniques are greatly encouraged, this includes but is not limited to:

• Clear distinctions between what the player is saying (out of character), and what the character is saying (in character).

• Distinctive (even outrageous) accents, with distinct speaking mannerisms befitting your character, stereotypes are just fine.
• Exaggerated facial expressions.
• Exaggerated body language.
• Exaggerated gesturing.
• Distinctive cultural colloquialisms appropriate to the character/setting.

Attendance

Once a player participates with a character in a session, all players are expected to attend every subsequent scheduled session. It is important for the flow of the campaign that everyone does their best to be consistent in their attendance. If a you believe you will be unable to attend an upcoming session, you must inform the DM and the SH with as much advance notice as possible, prior to the next game session.

An absent player’s character is to be controlled by the DM unless the DM allows another player to control the player’s character given said player’s permission.

This is one of the reasons why it is the policy of the DM to retain all character sheets between sessions.

DM Contact information:

Hawke Robinson

(509) 481-5437 (SMS text is okay)

rpgresearcher@gmail.com

http://www.spokanerpg.com