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OOC: Catskills RP Information Central

Pandora_CoD

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Catskills RP Information Central

Below is some information to get you started in Role Play with guilds that follow a centralized ROE (Rules of Engagement) and/or are known to primarily engage in RP-based storytelling.

We are fortunate enough to have some of the most historically known guilds across all shards that call Catskills home. Catskills was/is home to some of the greatest RP guilds such as: Shadowclan Orcs (SCO), Undead Lords (UDL), Crimson Alliance (CA), The Undead (UND), Purple Guardians of Honor (PGoH), Guardians of Valhalla (GoV), Knights of Yew (KoY), Village of Aegis (VoA), United Pirates (UP), Dragon's Claw (VvV), and yes even our own Children of Darkness (CoD). If I forget some, it certainly isn't intentional and my deepest apologies. (PM me and I'll add you here.)

Here are some basic things you should know:

GUILD/CHARACTER ALIGNMENT
Guilds usually align themselves either Good (usually Order), Neutral (switches often) or Bad (usually Chaos). There are varying degrees of each alignment and individual characters within a guild can have a different degree or alignment altogether. It is always best to interact with the individual characters to truly know them.

Lawful
A character or guild that aligns as lawful is law-abiding and almost always lives by a code. They can be lawful good, lawful neutral, or lawful evil. Examples: Purple Guardians of Honor and Children of Darkness are both LAWFUL GOOD. The Undead or the Undead Lords are both LAWFUL EVIL. All these guilds have a very intricate and expansive code of conduct, rulebook, that they operate under.

Chaotic
A character or guild that aligns as chaotic is quite the opposite and most usually lives with almost no restrictions at all. They can be chaotic good, chaotic neutral, or chaotic evil. Examples: United Pirates is CHAOTIC NEUTRAL; they don't really have a set of rules, actually they live to break them. Their actions could be perceived as good, or they can be perceived as bad --- hence their neutral stance.

RP COLLABORATION
Folks should be respectful of other groups' storylines, plots, role playing style. Respect begets respect. When you are engaging in role play, you may wish to use the following guidelines:

A) Guild Abbreviations and/or Titles mean nothing, they are a game mechanic and should not be used as RP identifiers. The truth is you do not know someone until they actually introduce themselves. And you may have heard of them, which certainly can have some misconceptions or imply bias toward them, but unless you know them you cannot substantiate any claims to their identity or role within their clans.

B) Use party chats to collaborate on storylines. Specifically when it comes to RPvP engagements. You cannot kill off someone's characters (which they have worked very hard on) without their permissions. Remember its their characters, their story, their game.

C) Highlights do NOT always mean ENEMY. The war declaration system has been used for decades, especially since the birth of Trammel, to allow for small interactions between groups. That does NOT mean they are kill on sight. We can and do highlight ourselves to FRIENDS. Again, ORANGE doesn't mean DEAD in RP.

D) Please remember that how folks act while in character is not necessarily how they are in real life. Many times things said or done are taken personally, when they are really not. This includes use of foul language and certain situations. A simple ICQ conversation can quickly clear things up.

E) Use the commonly known Rules of Engagement for any and all RPvP encounters. I have listed them below. Always remember to collaborate (use party chat) and be respectful. There is no TRASH TALKING in RP.


WHAT IT MEANS TO BE “IN CHARACTER”
When you are in game, in public, you are "in character". Forums, private messages, party chats, guild chats, and alliance chats are some areas that may be open to OUT OF CHARACTER (OOC) general interaction. Depends on how your guild structures themselves.

When approaching non-RP'ers, you can invite them to a party chat to talk more openly. Most non-RP'ers tend to follow along though and they are quick to pick up on your RP. Explaining to them what you are doing who you are and introducing yourself is always "universal".

The general style of our shard is high-fantasy, hard core. That means you may encounter a lot of supernatural situations and use of questionable language and also special use of languages (like elvish, latin, etc.). Please keep that in mind.


RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
The following Rules of Engagement, are the accepted upon ROE’s for all guilds, in all situations. The only exception to these rules are those ROE modifications allowed by the parties involved and how they chose to engage with each other through collaborative efforts.

ARMOR RESTRICTIONS: Currently characters are only restricted from wearing FACTION ITEMS and can wear artifacts and modified armor and weapons.
  • DO NOT GO OOC – RP PvP engagements must be done IN CHARACTER at all times.
  • DO NOT GO TAGLESS – All combat characters should display their guild abbreviations and titles and show their allegience. This allows, specially since orange does not equal foe (out of system guilds declare to both friend and foe), for more clear identification. KNOW THY ENEMY!
  • DO NOT PLOT BULLY – If you want to involve a person into your plot, make sure that it happens with their consent. This includes the “making” of a vampire or jailing a character to stand trial. Everything should be consentual.
  • DO NOT ATTACK WITHOUT WARNING – This means, be sure you ROLE PLAY your intentions to attack and they confirm. This includes ships out in the seas; they must be manned and you must RP your intentions prior to attacking their ships. RP > PvP in all situations. Stealthers/Assassins must have private confirmation (ICQ, party chat, etc.) to attack without warning.
  • DO NOT KILL AFK’ERS – If they cannot confirm your intentions, they are considered AFK; do not engage.
  • DO NOT LOOT – Ever! Do not even look in a body. Make sure to insure all your valuables.
  • DO NOT BRING YOUR GREATER DRAGONS – You are only allowed 1 pet plus a mount, and you can use upto 4 slots (a total of 4 slots). Mounts are allowed as long as it falls into these rules.
  • DO NOT RESS KILL – In fact, you should offer a resurrection if you can.
  • DO NOT RE-ENGAGE A KILLED PLAYER – You should wait a minimum of 30 minutes for the player to regroup.
  • DO NOT RE-ENGAGE AFTER BEING KILLED – You are required to wear your death robes over your armor after you recollect for 30 mins. However, for large scale battles between groups, once you are dead there is absolutely NO RE-ENGAGEMENT allowed, not on ANY of the players characters, for 24 hours. Use this time to role play injuries, role play capture, crawling on your knees to your ship, or other befitting conditions. You must remain in the area while wearing your death robe for the full 30 minutes or until your opponents exit the area entirely.
As much as we, the guildmasters of our guilds, take pride is carefully selecting applicants before adding them, it can never fully be guaranteed that a black sheep hasn’t sneaked into a guild and breaks these rules. All members are encouraged to take screen shots (especially of journals) of infractions should any arise and raise those concerns to their guild leaders in the private areas of these forums or in person (or ICQ).
 
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Aedon Durreah

Village of Aegis
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Stratics Legend
Re: Order vs. Chaos RP PvP Theme of Catskills

Pandy, I keeled myself last night. It was fun. *grins*
 

Flutter

Always Present
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Awards
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Re: Order vs. Chaos RP PvP Theme of Catskills

I desire to murder without rules or restrictions.
Will you let me in as an enemy to all?
Any and all are free to attack me whilst I sleep, but the same goes for both order and chaos!
Thievery and looting totally allowed!
Make for real DANGER!!!
I shall even name my character that.
DANGER!
 
S

Spion

Guest
Re: Order vs. Chaos RP PvP Theme of Catskills

I could totally do this, except that I suck at RP.

Unless I was allowed to RP a deaf/mute homicidal maniac. :D
 

Podolak

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A central location for all things RP and Catskills has been requested. Hopefully this assists people looking for information regarding RP on Catskills. I would like to get some feedback from everyone on how this should be setup and what you would like to see. For now I am moving a few RP related posts to here but am open to all ideas.

Thanks everyone.
 

Aedon Durreah

Village of Aegis
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
A central location for all things RP and Catskills has been requested. Hopefully this assists people looking for information regarding RP on Catskills. I would like to get some feedback from everyone on how this should be setup and what you would like to see. For now I am moving a few RP related posts to here but am open to all ideas.

Thanks everyone.
Podo, we already had a posting of information. Why the second one?
 

Podolak

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This particular sticky is a temporary one to try some things out and toss around some ideas. Now which are you referring to? The Guild/Alliance/RP theme thread or the History thread?

I am hoping to get opinions from everyone on how to best do this. Some feel that the other threads didn't scream RP loud enough for people looking for RP info. What do you think?
 

Aedon Durreah

Village of Aegis
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
This particular sticky is a temporary one to try some things out and toss around some ideas. Now which are you referring to? The Guild/Alliance/RP theme thread or the History thread?

I am hoping to get opinions from everyone on how to best do this. Some feel that the other threads didn't scream RP loud enough for people looking for RP info. What do you think?
The information listed on the other post are all that is needed. This thread just seems a bit redundant.

Also, we have the RP forums at http://catskillsroleplayers.proboards.com/] for those looking for something that "screams" RP.
 

Podolak

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The information listed on the other post are all that is needed. This thread just seems a bit redundant.

Also, we have the RP forums at http://catskillsroleplayers.proboards.com/] for those looking for something that "screams" RP.
We should definitely get that link in the other thread(s) so it is easier to find for people not familiar with it. Besides this thread being unnecessary, do you have any other suggestions pertaining to the existing thread perhaps or do you think they are perfectly adequate and I am completely off my rocker for making this sticky?

I am old and fall off my rocker often so that is completely possible.
 

Aedon Durreah

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We should definitely get that link in the other thread(s) so it is easier to find for people not familiar with it. Besides this thread being unnecessary, do you have any other suggestions pertaining to the existing thread perhaps or do you think they are perfectly adequate and I am completely off my rocker for making this sticky?

I am old and fall off my rocker often so that is completely possible.
*chuckles*

No old man, you are not completely off your rocker.

I think that there are those seeking ways to make RP appeal to a larger audience. And with that in mind they are looking at old welcome posts and old RP boards and perhaps seeing them as lacking to the current view of RP.

Take Pandy's endeavors as an example.

Her hope, as I understand it is to make RP seem tempting even to those not accustomed to spending their time engaged in Role play. Something that even the casual RPer or one just seeking to dangle their feet in the RP pool might look to.

Her RP is conflict centered RP, and for many not used to role playing this can be a good first look in. Sort of a half way between the world of PVP and RP.

This is not a different approach to RP though, just one from the past that appealed to many. But it is listed in the other post clearly, with the web sites for all wanting to check it out to see. Another post, or one that seems slanted towards conflict RP is not needed really.
 

Farsight

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Stratics Legend
Problem with that is that the active RP changes by the day, the week, the phase of the moon or whatever.

So the only thing we can really sticky is "We have an in-game chat channel... use it"

After that, we don't mind answering the same question over and over again, since the answer changes on a regular basis.
 

Scarst

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Back from outer space just come in to blah blah blah. I can't remember the song. I'm a terrible singer anyway. Over 2 years later, Thread revival. Damn vampire necromancers. *Pulls out his silver sword* Do I have to come and cleanse the world!
 

Pandora_CoD

Certifiable
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Going to start opening the Bloody Brew again, on Thursday nights, 9 PM EST. Starting on August 22nd! Also Market Day will be planned for the month of November. :)
 
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Aedon Durreah

Village of Aegis
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Best of luck to you folks, if you get tired of playing around there, come see me on Middle Earth. I am the hot looking warg with the fluffy tail.
 

Pandora_CoD

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We had a LOTR chapter once, it kinda died quick for us.... moved on to GW2, now that's amazing PvP. Can't wait until ESO comes out, though.... its supposed to be as good as Dark Age of Camelot was for PvP. I can't wait. The Beta testers in my TLP community have been a buzz about it.
 

Aedon Durreah

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I have tried GW2, mostly for the pvp. I did enjoy the story line of the character, but after you play that through, there is little to do. Lotro has been great fun for me, and in addition to being a part of a great Kinship, I lead one of the oldest creep(bad guys) tribe on Landroval. The community on Landy is open and top notch. We have been planning and holding some events, with the aid of Turbine which are attended by folks from all servers. I am thinking of looking into ESO as well, mostly because I am always looking to try new things. I still miss many things about UO, and from time to time open the old acct just to walk around.
 

Aedon Durreah

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Thank you, but Aedon is very happy where he is. He and his missus Janissan own a very nice area with 6 homes and a kinhall in the elven area. There are adventures to be had, and music and dancing when the mood strikes. And when my darker side emerges I can stalk the ettenmoors on my warg looking for free people to gobble down. My kinship just held Weatherstock, a huge musical concert which draws bands and attendees from all servers. We even get prizes supplied by Turbine and GM bouncers to take care of anyone seignior to disrupt things.

I no longer attend events in taverns, and spend little time simply sitting around chatting. I have started to write again, and that in itself is a blessing.
 

Pandora_CoD

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As much as I like the fact that my original post on this thread was stickied and renamed... the truth is that it does very little to tell folks about RP in general. It talks about one very specific RP theme that for now is quite dormant (looking for guilds that wish to engage in organized RPvP, so I haven't lost hope). So I am going to edit the original post to be more general and more informative.
 
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Bianca_CoD

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I can meet you outside the Prancing Pony most any night of the week Pandy. Bring an instrument, and be prepared to play long into the night.

Where is that place Aedon? Is it a new tavern or establishment? I'd love to see it!

~ Sue.
 

Bianca_CoD

Sage
Stratics Veteran
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Pandy could you add the Trade and Commerce Commission RP theme and its chapters so far?

Thank you,

~ Sue.
 

Aedon Durreah

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Where is that place Aedon? Is it a new tavern or establishment? I'd love to see it!

~ Sue.
It is in Middle Earth actually. I have been an continue to play Lotro at this time, I sill love the Cats community though, and check in here often.
 

Bianca_CoD

Sage
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Stratics Legend
It is in Middle Earth actually. I have been an continue to play Lotro at this time, I sill love the Cats community though, and check in here often.
Awwww, shucks. Well were here in UO for the next year or so and we aren't going to go back to LOTRO, most of us did not enjoy it. I'm a huge fan of Tolkien's work however. I was hoping to be able to see Aedon again; always enjoyed the RP we shared.

Respectfully,

~ Sue.
 

Drayden

Visitor
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Wow, looks like you guys got your stuff together here on Catskills. I'm a longtime role player from Atlantic. By long time I'm talking 6+ years. I left a few years ago because the activity level just fell off in ARPC. An old friend of mine talked to me about transferring to Catskills. I'm still on the fence as to if I'll be playing my main character, Drayden, a Vhaeraun drow. In my last storyline he vanished, left to the Abyss. If I transfer him to Catskills I will most likely have him be completely void of memory.

The question is....would it be worth it? Is there a place for Dark Elves in your community?
 

Zuckuss

Order | Chaos
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Wow, looks like you guys got your stuff together here on Catskills. I'm a longtime role player from Atlantic. By long time I'm talking 6+ years. I left a few years ago because the activity level just fell off in ARPC. An old friend of mine talked to me about transferring to Catskills. I'm still on the fence as to if I'll be playing my main character, Drayden, a Vhaeraun drow. In my last storyline he vanished, left to the Abyss. If I transfer him to Catskills I will most likely have him be completely void of memory.

The question is....would it be worth it? Is there a place for Dark Elves in your community?
Absolutely! We look forward to meeting you Drayden.
 

Thom

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Wow, looks like you guys got your stuff together here on Catskills. I'm a longtime role player from Atlantic. By long time I'm talking 6+ years. I left a few years ago because the activity level just fell off in ARPC. An old friend of mine talked to me about transferring to Catskills. I'm still on the fence as to if I'll be playing my main character, Drayden, a Vhaeraun drow. In my last storyline he vanished, left to the Abyss. If I transfer him to Catskills I will most likely have him be completely void of memory.

The question is....would it be worth it? Is there a place for Dark Elves in your community?
There's a place for anyone and anything here.
 

Noble Beast

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Pandora_CoD,

Thank you for your perspective on RP. It is very detailed & informative. Well done & stated. I have a few different views on some points but I am sure that we will iron them out if we happen to clash.

All K^S & others reading this,

I have enjoyed catching up on the forums (and returning to Sosaria) because of threads like this. So, thank you all for the fun-OOC & IC!

NB
 

Blind Tom the Pirate

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UNLEASHED
Catskills RP Information Central

Below is some information to get you started in Role Play with guilds that follow a centralized ROE (Rules of Engagement) and/or are known to engage in RP-based storytelling.

We are fortunate enough to have some of the most historically known guilds across all shards that call Catskills home. Catskills was/is home to some of the greatest RP guilds such as: Shadowclan Orcs (SCO), Undead Lords (UDL), Crimson Alliance (CA), The Undead (UND), Purple Guardians of Honor (PGoH), Guardians of Valhalla (GoV), Knights of Yew (KoY), Village of Aegis (VoA), United Pirates (UP), Dragon's Claw (VvV), and yes even our own Children of Darkness (CoD). If I forget some, it certainly isn't intentional and my deepest apologies. (PM me and I'll add you here.)

Here are some basic things you should know:

GUILD/CHARACTER ALIGNMENT
Guilds usually align themselves either Good (usually Order), Neutral (switches often) or Bad (usually Chaos). There are varying degrees of each alignment and individual characters within a guild can have a different degree or alignment altogether. It is always best to interact with the individual characters to truly know them.

Lawful
A character or guild that aligns as lawful is law-abiding and almost always lives by a code. They can be lawful good, lawful neutral, or lawful evil. Examples: Purple Guardians of Honor and Children of Darkness are both LAWFUL GOOD. The Undead or the Undead Lords are both LAWFUL EVIL. All these guilds have a very intricate and expansive code of conduct, rulebook, that they operate under.

Chaotic
A character or guild that aligns as chaotic is quite the opposite and most usually lives with almost no restrictions at all. They can be chaotic good, chaotic neutral, or chaotic evil. Examples: United Pirates is CHAOTIC NEUTRAL; they don't really have a set of rules, actually they live to break them. Their actions could be perceived as good, or they can be perceived as bad --- hence their neutral stance.

RP COLLABORATION
Folks should be respectful of other groups' storylines, plots, role playing style. Respect begets respect. When you are engaging in role play, you may wish to use the following guidelines:


A) Guild Abbreviations and/or Titles mean nothing, they are a game mechanic and should not be used as RP identifiers. The truth is you do not know someone until they actually introduce themselves. And you may have heard of them, which certainly can have some misconceptions or imply bias toward them, but unless you know them you cannot substantiate any claims to their identity or role within their clans.

B) Use party chats to collaborate on storylines. Specifically when it comes to RPvP engagements. You cannot kill off someone's characters (which they have worked very hard on) without their permissions. Remember its their characters, their story, their game.

C) Highlights do NOT always mean ENEMY. The war declaration system has been used for decades, especially since the birth of Trammel, to allow for small interactions between groups. That does NOT mean they are kill on sight. We can and do highlight ourselves to FRIENDS. Again, ORANGE doesn't mean DEAD in RP.

D) Please remember that how folks act while in character is not necessarily how they are in real life. Many times things said or done are taken personally, when they are really not. This includes use of foul language and certain situations. A simple ICQ conversation can quickly clear things up.

E) Use the commonly known Rules of Engagement for any and all RPvP encounters. I have listed them below. Always remember to collaborate (use party chat) and be respectful. There is no TRASH TALKING in RP.


WHAT IT MEANS TO BE “IN CHARACTER”
When you are in game, in public, you are "in character". Forums, private messages, party chats, guild chats, and alliance chats are some areas that may be open to OUT OF CHARACTER (OOC) general interaction. Depends on how your guild structures themselves.

When approaching non-RP'ers, you can invite them to a party chat to talk more openly. Most non-RP'ers tend to follow along though and they are quick to pick up on your RP. Explaining to them what you are doing who you are and introducing yourself is always "universal".

The general style of our shard is high-fantasy, hard core. That means you may encounter a lot of supernatural situations and use of questionable language and also special use of languages (like elvish, latin, etc.). Please keep that in mind.


RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
The following Rules of Engagement, are the accepted upon ROE’s for all guilds, in all situations. The only exception to these rules are those ROE modifications allowed by the parties involved and how they chose to engage with each other through collaborative efforts.

ARMOR RESTRICTIONS: Currently characters are only restricted from wearing FACTION ITEMS and can wear artifacts and modified armor and weapons.
  • DO NOT GO OOC – RP PvP engagements must be done IN CHARACTER at all times.
  • DO NOT GO TAGLESS – All combat characters should display their guild abbreviations and titles and show their allegience. This allows, specially since orange does not equal foe (out of system guilds declare to both friend and foe), for more clear identification. KNOW THY ENEMY!
  • DO NOT PLOT BULLY – If you want to involve a person into your plot, make sure that it happens with their consent. This includes the “making” of a vampire or jailing a character to stand trial. Everything should be consentual.
  • DO NOT ATTACK WITHOUT WARNING – This means, be sure you ROLE PLAY your intentions to attack and they confirm. This includes ships out in the seas; they must be manned and you must RP your intentions prior to attacking their ships. RP > PvP in all situations. Stealthers/Assassins must have private confirmation (ICQ, party chat, etc.) to attack without warning.
  • DO NOT KILL AFK’ERS – If they cannot confirm your intentions, they are considered AFK; do not engage.
  • DO NOT LOOT – Ever! Do not even look in a body. Make sure to insure all your valuables.
  • DO NOT BRING YOUR GREATER DRAGONS – You are only allowed 1 pet plus a mount, and you can use upto 4 slots (a total of 4 slots). Mounts are allowed as long as it falls into these rules.
  • DO NOT RESS KILL – In fact, you should offer a resurrection if you can.
  • DO NOT RE-ENGAGE A KILLED PLAYER – You should wait a minimum of 30 minutes for the player to regroup.
  • DO NOT RE-ENGAGE AFTER BEING KILLED – You are required to wear your death robes over your armor after you recollect for 30 mins. However, for large scale battles between groups, once you are dead there is absolutely NO RE-ENGAGEMENT allowed, not on ANY of the players characters, for 24 hours. Use this time to role play injuries, role play capture, crawling on your knees to your ship, or other befitting conditions. You must remain in the area while wearing your death robe for the full 30 minutes or until your opponents exit the area entirely.
As much as we, the guildmasters of our guilds, take pride is carefully selecting applicants before adding them, it can never fully be guaranteed that a black sheep hasn’t sneaked into a guild and breaks these rules. All members are encouraged to take screen shots (especially of journals) of infractions should any arise and raise those concerns to their guild leaders in the private areas of these forums or in person (or ICQ).

ACTIVE ROLEPLAYING GUILDS & CONTACTS
(Please PM me if you wish to be added to this list)

Purple Guardians of Honor (PGoH) (www.pgoh.org)
Thom, Katherine, or Callista --- could you give me a brief intro please? PM me!

Rangers of Spiritwood (R+S)
Tobias or Gillian --- could you give me a brief intro please? PM me! Also a website if available or forums?

AXIS (AXIS)
Jacyul --- could you give me a brief intro please? PM me! Also a website if available or forums?

The Children of Darkness (CoD) (www.childrenofdarkness.com)
CoD is a story-driven role playing guild that is based on the lore provided to us by the great author Anne Rice and use The Vampire Chronicles, The Wolf Gift Chronicles, and the Mayfair Witches (albeit in modified versions) that we use for our guild lore. We own several buildings in what we call "West Umbra" and our main city Vamp's Lair as well as hold leases to buildings in Umbra itself and other areas. We also maintain the old "Spirit Tower" in Felucca where we engage in PvP, renamed the Death Tower after the desecration of the shrine by Minax. The GM is Pandora (ICQ# 608083009).

The Royal Britannian Guard (www.royalbritannianguard.com)
Various independent regiments exist that collectively form the RBG. Also the RBG Town Guards allows individuals to also be part of the theme. Currently active RBG regiments are: RBG of Umbra, RBG of Luna, RBG of Britain, RBG of Minoc, RBG of Skara Brae (Rangers of Spiritwood), RBG of Trinsic (House of Ludes).

The United Pirates, [UP] ( http://www.aschulze.net/ultima/pirates/index.htm)
There must be included here, a long standing Role Play guild on Catskills Shard, that allows for a role play experience as a pirate. The United Pirates, [UP] are a player run community with private docks (at Red Skull Bay), open pub (The Jolly Roger), pirate/landlubber trade center (The Black Market), and player housing. [UP] members sail ships on the high seas pillaging commercial ships, capturing Dread Pirate Captains & their loot, while sinking their ships. While in public, and in-game, they always stay, "in character" as pirates. United Pirates are a faction warring guild that participates in "consensual" PvP in battles & skirmishes among other "player - Run" communities also participating in Role Play factions.
Contact Pirate Captain Trinsic at (ICQ# 570412391).


ACTIVE ROLEPLAYING TAVERNS & ESTABLISHMENTS
(Please PM me if you wish to be added to this list)

Name: Galehaven Tavern
Location: North Trinsic
Operated by: Purple Guardians of Honor
Days Open: Nightly
Times Open: 8 PM to 11 PM EST
Player Styles Allowed: RP Only
RPvP Allowed: Yes, within reason.

Description:

(TBA)

Pictures, Links, or Maps:

(TBA)

===================================================

Name:
The Bloody Brew Tavern
Location: Malas, 32'N, 2'E
Operated by: Children of Darkness
Days Open: By Announcement Only
Times Open: 9 PM to 11 PM EST
Player Styles Allowed: RP Only
RPvP Allowed: Outside only.

Description:
The Bloody Brew tavern is open to all members of the Role Playing community by announcement on the forums at or around 9 PM EST. All "other worldly" characters are asked to stay in masquerade. RPvP is allowed on these nights, although you may be asked to take it outside.

Pictures, Links, or Maps:


The Bloody Brew: Feature Page on CoD Site
http://www.childrenofdarkness.com/territories/vampslair/tavern/
 

Blind Tom the Pirate

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Catskills RP Information Central

Below is some information to get you started in Role Play with guilds that follow a centralized ROE (Rules of Engagement) and/or are known to engage in RP-based storytelling.

We are fortunate enough to have some of the most historically known guilds across all shards that call Catskills home. Catskills was/is home to some of the greatest RP guilds such as: Shadowclan Orcs (SCO), Undead Lords (UDL), Crimson Alliance (CA), The Undead (UND), Purple Guardians of Honor (PGoH), Guardians of Valhalla (GoV), Knights of Yew (KoY), Village of Aegis (VoA), United Pirates (UP), Dragon's Claw (VvV), and yes even our own Children of Darkness (CoD). If I forget some, it certainly isn't intentional and my deepest apologies. (PM me and I'll add you here.)

Here are some basic things you should know:

GUILD/CHARACTER ALIGNMENT
Guilds usually align themselves either Good (usually Order), Neutral (switches often) or Bad (usually Chaos). There are varying degrees of each alignment and individual characters within a guild can have a different degree or alignment altogether. It is always best to interact with the individual characters to truly know them.

Lawful
A character or guild that aligns as lawful is law-abiding and almost always lives by a code. They can be lawful good, lawful neutral, or lawful evil. Examples: Purple Guardians of Honor and Children of Darkness are both LAWFUL GOOD. The Undead or the Undead Lords are both LAWFUL EVIL. All these guilds have a very intricate and expansive code of conduct, rulebook, that they operate under.

Chaotic
A character or guild that aligns as chaotic is quite the opposite and most usually lives with almost no restrictions at all. They can be chaotic good, chaotic neutral, or chaotic evil. Examples: United Pirates is CHAOTIC NEUTRAL; they don't really have a set of rules, actually they live to break them. Their actions could be perceived as good, or they can be perceived as bad --- hence their neutral stance.

RP COLLABORATION
Folks should be respectful of other groups' storylines, plots, role playing style. Respect begets respect. When you are engaging in role play, you may wish to use the following guidelines:

A) Guild Abbreviations and/or Titles mean nothing, they are a game mechanic and should not be used as RP identifiers. The truth is you do not know someone until they actually introduce themselves. And you may have heard of them, which certainly can have some misconceptions or imply bias toward them, but unless you know them you cannot substantiate any claims to their identity or role within their clans.

B) Use party chats to collaborate on storylines. Specifically when it comes to RPvP engagements. You cannot kill off someone's characters (which they have worked very hard on) without their permissions. Remember its their characters, their story, their game.

C) Highlights do NOT always mean ENEMY. The war declaration system has been used for decades, especially since the birth of Trammel, to allow for small interactions between groups. That does NOT mean they are kill on sight. We can and do highlight ourselves to FRIENDS. Again, ORANGE doesn't mean DEAD in RP.

D) Please remember that how folks act while in character is not necessarily how they are in real life. Many times things said or done are taken personally, when they are really not. This includes use of foul language and certain situations. A simple ICQ conversation can quickly clear things up.

E) Use the commonly known Rules of Engagement for any and all RPvP encounters. I have listed them below. Always remember to collaborate (use party chat) and be respectful. There is no TRASH TALKING in RP.


WHAT IT MEANS TO BE “IN CHARACTER”
When you are in game, in public, you are "in character". Forums, private messages, party chats, guild chats, and alliance chats are some areas that may be open to OUT OF CHARACTER (OOC) general interaction. Depends on how your guild structures themselves.

When approaching non-RP'ers, you can invite them to a party chat to talk more openly. Most non-RP'ers tend to follow along though and they are quick to pick up on your RP. Explaining to them what you are doing who you are and introducing yourself is always "universal".

The general style of our shard is high-fantasy, hard core. That means you may encounter a lot of supernatural situations and use of questionable language and also special use of languages (like elvish, latin, etc.). Please keep that in mind.


RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
The following Rules of Engagement, are the accepted upon ROE’s for all guilds, in all situations. The only exception to these rules are those ROE modifications allowed by the parties involved and how they chose to engage with each other through collaborative efforts.

ARMOR RESTRICTIONS: Currently characters are only restricted from wearing FACTION ITEMS and can wear artifacts and modified armor and weapons.
  • DO NOT GO OOC – RP PvP engagements must be done IN CHARACTER at all times.
  • DO NOT GO TAGLESS – All combat characters should display their guild abbreviations and titles and show their allegience. This allows, specially since orange does not equal foe (out of system guilds declare to both friend and foe), for more clear identification. KNOW THY ENEMY!
  • DO NOT PLOT BULLY – If you want to involve a person into your plot, make sure that it happens with their consent. This includes the “making” of a vampire or jailing a character to stand trial. Everything should be consentual.
  • DO NOT ATTACK WITHOUT WARNING – This means, be sure you ROLE PLAY your intentions to attack and they confirm. This includes ships out in the seas; they must be manned and you must RP your intentions prior to attacking their ships. RP > PvP in all situations. Stealthers/Assassins must have private confirmation (ICQ, party chat, etc.) to attack without warning.
  • DO NOT KILL AFK’ERS – If they cannot confirm your intentions, they are considered AFK; do not engage.
  • DO NOT LOOT – Ever! Do not even look in a body. Make sure to insure all your valuables.
  • DO NOT BRING YOUR GREATER DRAGONS – You are only allowed 1 pet plus a mount, and you can use upto 4 slots (a total of 4 slots). Mounts are allowed as long as it falls into these rules.
  • DO NOT RESS KILL – In fact, you should offer a resurrection if you can.
  • DO NOT RE-ENGAGE A KILLED PLAYER – You should wait a minimum of 30 minutes for the player to regroup.
  • DO NOT RE-ENGAGE AFTER BEING KILLED – You are required to wear your death robes over your armor after you recollect for 30 mins. However, for large scale battles between groups, once you are dead there is absolutely NO RE-ENGAGEMENT allowed, not on ANY of the players characters, for 24 hours. Use this time to role play injuries, role play capture, crawling on your knees to your ship, or other befitting conditions. You must remain in the area while wearing your death robe for the full 30 minutes or until your opponents exit the area entirely.
As much as we, the guildmasters of our guilds, take pride is carefully selecting applicants before adding them, it can never fully be guaranteed that a black sheep hasn’t sneaked into a guild and breaks these rules. All members are encouraged to take screen shots (especially of journals) of infractions should any arise and raise those concerns to their guild leaders in the private areas of these forums or in person (or ICQ).

ACTIVE ROLEPLAYING GUILDS & CONTACTS
(Please PM me if you wish to be added to this list)

Purple Guardians of Honor (PGoH) (www.pgoh.org)
Thom, Katherine, or Callista --- could you give me a brief intro please? PM me!

Rangers of Spiritwood (R+S)
Tobias or Gillian --- could you give me a brief intro please? PM me! Also a website if available or forums?

AXIS (AXIS)
Jacyul --- could you give me a brief intro please? PM me! Also a website if available or forums?

The Children of Darkness (CoD) (www.childrenofdarkness.com)
CoD is a story-driven role playing guild that is based on the lore provided to us by the great author Anne Rice and use The Vampire Chronicles, The Wolf Gift Chronicles, and the Mayfair Witches (albeit in modified versions) that we use for our guild lore. We own several buildings in what we call "West Umbra" and our main city Vamp's Lair as well as hold leases to buildings in Umbra itself and other areas. We also maintain the old "Spirit Tower" in Felucca where we engage in PvP, renamed the Death Tower after the desecration of the shrine by Minax. The GM is Pandora (ICQ# 608083009).

The Royal Britannian Guard (www.royalbritannianguard.com)
Various independent regiments exist that collectively form the RBG. Also the RBG Town Guards allows individuals to also be part of the theme. Currently active RBG regiments are: RBG of Umbra, RBG of Luna, RBG of Britain, RBG of Minoc, RBG of Skara Brae (Rangers of Spiritwood), RBG of Trinsic (House of Ludes).


ACTIVE ROLEPLAYING TAVERNS & ESTABLISHMENTS
(Please PM me if you wish to be added to this list)

Name: Galehaven Tavern
Location: North Trinsic
Operated by: Purple Guardians of Honor
Days Open: Nightly
Times Open: 8 PM to 11 PM EST
Player Styles Allowed: RP Only
RPvP Allowed: Yes, within reason.

Description:

(TBA)

Pictures, Links, or Maps:

(TBA)

===================================================

Name:
The Bloody Brew Tavern
Location: Malas, 32'N, 2'E
Operated by: Children of Darkness
Days Open: By Announcement Only
Times Open: 9 PM to 11 PM EST
Player Styles Allowed: RP Only
RPvP Allowed: Outside only.

Description:
The Bloody Brew tavern is open to all members of the Role Playing community by announcement on the forums at or around 9 PM EST. All "other worldly" characters are asked to stay in masquerade. RPvP is allowed on these nights, although you may be asked to take it outside.

Pictures, Links, or Maps:


The Bloody Brew: Feature Page on CoD Site
http://www.childrenofdarkness.com/territories/vampslair/tavern/

Was saddened to read this, and see a most obvious absence of the active and very historic RP Community of The United Pirates, [UP]. This "Player - Run" city/community has been and still is a vital part of the Catskills RP Community Pandora, as you well know, even as Pike and Farsight have abandoned the shard and [UP], we are still vibrant and here to stay/ just sayin' ~Blind Tom Pirate and Trinsic
 

Pandora_CoD

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Was saddened to read this, and see a most obvious absence of the active and very historic RP Community of The United Pirates, [UP]. This "Player - Run" city/community has been and still is a vital part of the Catskills RP Community Pandora, as you well know, even as Pike and Farsight have abandoned the shard and [UP], we are still vibrant and here to stay/ just sayin' ~Blind Tom Pirate and Trinsic
Shenzin, the list of active RP guilds here is not meant to say any guild is inactive, but rather point out the active hard core RP guilds that focus primarily on RP. We're totally aware of other guilds that dabble in RP and welcome them for sure to interact in the community, but if I listed ALL of them --- well might as well just point to the MYUO listing of all guilds in Catskills as most guilds on Catskills like to dabble. ;)
 

Blind Tom the Pirate

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Shenzin, the list of active RP guilds here is not meant to say any guild is inactive, but rather point out the active hard core RP guilds that focus primarily on RP. We're totally aware of other guilds that dabble in RP and welcome them for sure to interact in the community, but if I listed ALL of them --- well might as well just point to the MYUO listing of all guilds in Catskills as most guilds on Catskills like to dabble. ;)
We are an active RP guild, long standing. Sorry you didn't know that, or have been "misinformed" We only break from RP speak as pirates, (when we are in Vent with each other;) *but we DON'T Dabble, har , har.* When you meet us, "In-Game" we are every bit pirates. [Makes one feel, talked down to], because we may not be as active on Catskills as some, but we are adventuring most every day/night.
Thank you, anyway Pandora...
But, you do your list of: CoD and PGoH, and forget us, "Tis your right matey, arrr" *smiles*
 
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Pandora_CoD

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I have no issue adding you to list if you can provide me a description and how to join the guild! ;)

AXIS as a guild has disbanded and is being reformed as something new. So I'll take them off and add you. Provide me the listing information.
 

Blind Tom the Pirate

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I have no issue adding you to list if you can provide me a description and how to join the guild! ;)

AXIS as a guild has disbanded and is being reformed as something new. So I'll take them off and add you. Provide me the listing information.
Contact information for United Pirates [UP] Catskills: Blind Tom Pirate - First Mate [UP], Icq inquiry's to Chip at Icq #113224114 or email to : [email protected] or post inquiry to United Pirates Guild Forums Catskills Shard. Thank you.

I have no issue adding you to list if you can provide me a description and how to join the guild! ;)

AXIS as a guild has disbanded and is being reformed as something new. So I'll take them off and add you. Provide me the listing information.
 

Noble Beast

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Again, I thank you for your perspective on RP. Seeing my two main disagreements printed again has prompted me to respond. (I will mention my agreement with Flutter's play-style here - K^S might be agreeable to this if we can work out an RP purpose.)

I believe that Alignment is a matter of perspective and/or circumstance. That type of RP Restriction is just that - confining. Most characters are fun to play and/or watch because they are without such limits. IE King Blackthorn, native-born prince of Chaos, sitting in Lord Brit's Chair. Fascinating!

I (and my toons) view Titles as public image. Sosarians gossip & live short lives compared to most avatars. From a player perspective, when folks see Claudia's "Preserver of the Faith" Title they know (and many witnessed) that I spent hours in Doom to attain that Title. In-Character, when a player notices the Title & comments; Claudia thinks, "Oh they must have seen me there (in Dungeon Doom); or, have heard of or are members of my faith." IC when a player calls me Lady or Grand Duchess, Claudia thinks, "They might be one of my clients managing one of my estates." People have and will talk about the rich & famous heroes of their age. My best example is my Duchess of Vesper Title. Players who have it know of the time & gold it takes to gain that one! I am proud of that effort, town, guild, and shard that inspired me to get it. *smirks* In short, I believe that Titles mean something.

Thanks for reading. *grins with a chuckle*

NB
 
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Pandora_CoD

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Claudia, a title is part of a game mechanic would not be immediately "known" to the person that encounters Claudia. They can use it to guess something about that player in character, as you have demonstrated, that leads to a conversation and perhaps a "Hey I've seen you in Doom" type of interaction --- but the assumption that you would know I am a werewolf because my guild title says "Werewolf" is in my opinion taking OOC information into an in character situation.

The alignments really come from old D&D based game play, they are not inherent to UO. UO uses them, yes ... but they did not create them. Lawful just means that a group or a person generally abides by a code of conduct or rules. Chaotic just means that you generally do not live by a set of rules or code of honor or anything of that such. Evil, neutral, or good can really happen in both instances --- Lawful or Chaotic. Now this is all meant as a GUIDELINE not a hard core stance that anyone has or that it is inflexible in anyway. Of course not.
 

Zuckuss

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I would have thought chaotic to have meant "disorderly" or "unorthodox" and perhaps "eccentric."

I figured the "code" of the character fell in the following (suffix?) categories; good, neutral and evil.

I am still learning. :)
 

Pandora_CoD

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I would have thought chaotic to have meant "disorderly" or "unorthodox" and perhaps "eccentric."

I figured the "code" of the character fell in the following (suffix?) categories; good, neutral and evil.

I am still learning. :)
You are not wrong Zuckuss for the purposes of UO. Since there is the Order vs. Chaos element here, things get even more convoluted. Again my example above is really meant as a guideline. Characters are constantly changing.... some stay the same forever, others change. For example:

Take Lord British vs. Lord Blackthorn... I say that the Blackthorn of today is perhaps unorthodox and eccentric, but I wouldn't necessarily say he's evil anymore and I wouldn't say he is Chaotic anymore either even though he is, or is supposed to be, the embodiment of Chaos. So I would describe him as Lawful Neutral, Chaos Based where he used to be Chaotic Evil, Chaos Based. Yet Lord British has always been, and probably will always be, in my opinion, Lawful Good, Order Based.

So I wouldn't get so hung up on it, and really would just say ... "Okay I am starting to RP, let me align this way or that way to start with and I'll work from there."
 
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