Castle MacLaaran's
Role Playing Game Rules
Introduction
Current Role Playing Games and Originators
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MacLaaran Village
This will be an ongoing RPG played both in the Castle MacLaaran chat room and on the Webmaze Medieval message board. E/everybody is invited to participate. W/we have added numerous pull downs that will help role play in the various MacLaaran Village shoppes
The tale begins with the purchase of several new shoppes and business sites in the village, including the purchase of both The Velvet Hammer and The Iron Lance. There will also be a new Gift and Coffee Shoppe owned and operated by lava where people can enjoy various coffees and teas from around the world while chatting in her clever little tables.
The arrival of Seamus (NPC) from Ireland has MacLaaran all buzzing wi' rumors. He is really a much younger cousin of Tim. Eoin is Seamus' twin brother and shows up periodically. This role play will add some zest in the castle.
Kyle & lava
The RPG related to Kyle's property in Hampton, England is now complete. Kyle has sold his Athelhampton properties and after Lord Phillip's death, lava sold Hampton Castle and the surrounding properties she acquired to King Edward II.
New People
There has been a surge of new members, many of which carry weapons and practice their arts in the training area and spar pit.
MacDougal Affair
The recent raid has the entire castle humming with concerns. A Gerhild Dunstan NPC has approached Douglas MacDougal, offering her services which include her men and some info seeking in Castle MacLaaran.
Lord Talon, Sionnach, Altharen and Tyra will no doubt get involved.
First, just a few basic rules.
1. Always discuss an upcoming story line with the Games Master, Sir Kyle, before initiating action in the room. Then post the role play on the Webmaze message board using one section continuously. That will avoid mass confusion in the room and let people know who originated the RPG and the basic concept. If you are going to use Non-Player Characters (NPC) that might appear in the room, ask Kyle to add their avatar and description to the NPC list. That will let people know who's playing the various characters.
2. Once an RPG is in progress, discuss your possible inclusion in the RPG with the originator before blindly walking in and possibly upsetting the flow. Yes, ideas can change as people react in surprise ways during the live action, but try not to completely change the direction of the RPG without first gaining an agreement with the originator.
3. Always take turns. A good RPG is like a chess or checker game. Make your character's move, then wait patiently for others to respond and react accordingly.
4. Think before you post. Is this move possible? Can I see what's going on from where I am at the moment? Can I hear anything? If a player wants you to know something and react, the player will find a way to attract your attention or the originator will ask you either by email or in PM to go somewhere where you can actually learn something and become involved. Do not use magic to skip over this rule, please. Read James' detailed comments regarding the use of magic in MacLaaran. It would be wise to speak with Kyle and the story line originator before using any form of magic, including mind reading or psychic powers.
5. Normally, only MacLaaran members are included in an RPG. That way they have access to the MacLaaran message board to stay abreast of the action. At times we have included outsiders. In that case, the story line originator is responsible for keeping the visitors advised of any current conditions that might affect their role playing.
6. In MacLaaran role play there can be moments where violence occurs, but we prefer that the standard hack and slash detailed description be kept to a minimum. No blood and guts stuff, bleeding cut off heads and bodies speared up on stakes. And you can just say guilty parties are hung, with out the grisly description of the body dangling there kicking.
James MacGregor has written a detailed list about role playing. With these rules in mind, read through his comments here before attempting a story line or joining into one in progress.
Role play is designed by nature to have fun, to be able to suspend one's belief of reality and step into character, much like acting or playing at dolls or cops and robbers when a kid with an adult flavor. The character one develops is unique unto themselves and should be molded, nurtured and allowed to grow through experience and interaction with other's characters. The fact that Role play is essentially make believe or Virtual Time (VT) it allows One to conduct all manner of bizarre and not so bizarre interaction. Having said that, One must remember that what the character sees and does is not necessarily what the "Player" or the person controlling the keys of that character sees.
Example, Doug the Dwarf is attacked and waylaid be bandits in the village, and an interested bored party sitting in the Great Hall of the castle suddenly whips out his/her sword and rushes to the rescue. Though this is make believe certain mechanics have to be kept reality based. How does the person in the Hall know that "Doug" is being attacked? How big are the windows in the Hall? Are the windows higher than the castle curtain wall? How far is it to the village? How many buildings are there in the village? If "Doug" calls for assistance, what is the distance? Could he even be heard? These type of mechanics must be considered when a character makes the decision to react. Could they, or more importantly, would they be able to react? The key to successful role play is much like the ability to tell a story. Your audience will soon lose interest if one cannot logically defend their actions.
If a character consistently does things that do not seem possible i.e. blinks their eyes and fills the room with gold and jewels. MacLaaran is set in 14th/15th century Scotland, one must be cognizant of the economy and lifestyle of medieval Europe at the time. Extreme and flagrant use of magic would have definitely marked one as a witch or demon and eventually they would have been brought down and killed. There were witches and the like at that time, however, most weren't crazy enough to advertise the fact and those that did tended to wind up as crispy critters on a bonfire.
Fantasy is in play at MacLaaran but it must be melded with actual history of the time. This might seem difficult at first but that's what makes for good role play, challenge. Brahm Stocker's "Dracula" is a good example. Set in Victorian England, a monster is loose and stalking the heroine and main characters. Does the population in general of London know about Vampires? Are vampires an everyday occurrence? No. If the characters in the story had taken their tale and allegations to the authorities or press they would have been locked up in the asylum right next to Renfield. Renfield tried that and look how he ended up. The loon. The point here is to make your posts as believable as possible without upsetting the balance of overall theme. Challenging yes, difficult at times, aye, but in the long run the satisfaction of a well thought out character and storyline will far outweigh the quick post anything no matter how bizarre scenarios.
Real time mechanics applied to fantasy or VT:
Though Role Play by nature is make believe and where one suspends their belief in reality, it doesn't mean throw reality completely out the window. Certain real time nuances are still in effect. Could or would two diametrically opposed characters or entities logically get along?
Example, A character walks in with a sidekick that is a lion, panther or wolf, and another character walks in with something similar. Would it not stand to reason that all hell is about to break loose when these animals lay eyes on one another? Even if one character has trained his or her animal not to attack, what are the odds of a total stranger teaching their respective animal the same thing? And did they teach them not to attack in general, or just not attack people? Lords and Ladies in 15th century Scotland didn't tend to have exotic animals lying all around the hall. One, it would be extraordinarily dangerous. Two, at the very least it would smell something awful. Ever try to house train a Grizzly bear? What about that Grizzly bear snoozing at the feet of the bard from out of town? Castle MacLaaran is located within the confines of the Webmaze Chat Site, and one must be 18 to dwell within. Posts should be watched else a role play break down into something found during a grade school recess.
In relation to combat and spell casting; rounds are broken down in this manner; A single strike and defense by both parties is considered one round. I.e. the posts in the sword fighting portion of the Joust, listed under events. Magic use might be broken down into more than one round as it may take multiple rounds for the casting, depending on the spell.
Combat Rounds: Non-lethal combat, (Fist fighting) breaks down much the same way with one strike and one defense. A strike with either the hand or foot that connects by two steps, (See Jousts) results in the opponent being stunned. At this point the stunned character can defend only, and will either continue to be pummeled, knocked out cold if a second strike connects by two steps, or recovers sufficiently to continue to attack and defend if a strike is effectively blocked completely.
Posts in relation to combat: The posts may contain one attack and one defense per post. Under no circumstances will a character post the actions of another, i.e. "I swing my blade in an upward arc before you can move your shield to block the blow, disemboweling you with a mighty slash." Posts such as these will be ignored and not honored. The post will be stated for example "With a snarl I take a step and swing my blade in a vicious upward arc." This leaves the opponent the opportunity to post their response. Maybe they would like the opportunity to block that swing. The opponent should have the opportunity to dodge, left, right or just flat out duck. Aiming will be critical in this matter.
It should be noted that whenever possible a third party should be utilized to act as judge. As in the jousts, the attack and defense post sent in pm to the "Judge" who will as in the Jousts, state strike once he has both posts and has determined the outcome of that particular combat round. Both opponents will then post their attacks and defenses in the open. The use of the judge keeps the element of surprise involved at neither opponent will be able to anticipate the other's actions. If one of the opponents posts something other than what was posted to the judge it will be ignored as the results are already known by the judge. Continued deviation from the PM'ed posts will result in a halt to the combat and the offender will be asked to leave. Period.