.. I am not a huge fan of a lot of rules. However, when you scroll through here you may be like WTH$#@#%%?! .. So let me begin with these very simple rules; Don't be a dick (OOCly), share the screen, practice good RP Etiquette, and respect that we prefer a lower fantasy, grittier setting for our Nord community.

Code of Conduct

While our visitors are expected to adhere to Wheaton's Rule. We expect our actual members to take the next step and be an active part of building a kind and tolerant community where trust and respect are the standard.

Be Kind

Kindness in a community will grow it, a lack of kindness will kill it. A failure to be kind will drive out those players who are themselves kind and keep only those who are not. Gamers and role-players come from all walks of life with all manner of personal challenges. Let's function under the premise that "if we have nothing nice to say we say nothing at all" - and its "not what we say, but how we say it that matters".

Teasing should make the other person feel good about the "inside joke that highlights how well you know and like each other". If that is not how they feel then you have not earned the right to tease them.

Be Tolerant

While I tend to equate a lack of tolerance with a lack of kindness, I'm going to make an additional statement here. Please welcome everyone regardless of race, creed, religion, politics, or sexual/gender orientation. Additionally, do not accuse anyone of being racist, homophobic, fanatical, nazi, fascist, etc.

Disability Respect

If you suffer from any form of mental, physical or emotional disability you have both our understanding and our sympathy. If that disability might affect how you interact with the community and you need allowances made, please let an admin know privately so that we can advise the staff team as to how best to support you.

No Religion / No Politics

Being kind includes caring about how your words and your topic choices effect others. Topics such as religion and politics, and any others like them, do not belong at the dinner table. Most of us come here to escape real life; leave it at the door. I don't care if you want to debate if pineapple belongs on pizza - but that's as far as it should go.

Topic Change

If anyone calls for a topic change, respect it immediately. This is the medium by which anyone can say this topic is making me feel uncomfortable or excluded without having to go into personal details.

Role-play Etiquette (Rules)

We expect that everyone is familiar with common role-play etiquette and knows not to do such things as; metagaming, forceful role-play aka godmodding, superman or mary sue role-play, and negative thought emotes without representation. (All players have permission to respond to negative thought emotes, directed at them, as if they were spoken out loud.) Read More ...

RP Etiquette Specific to Hofborg

Keep the Immersion

No OOC in local (say/yell/emote) or house zone. Exception: Quick "brb" or typo* corrections are acceptable. Take the joking and arguing to whisper or your own group chats.

Role-play Not Welcome

No homophobic or transphobic role-play is allowed by visitors anywhere in the town.

Lore Shaming

We do not condone lore shaming either out of character or even in character. As a community we welcome players of all lore levels and do not tolerate them being driven off over lore. If there is a serious lore break bring it to the moderators. It will be the final call of the lore-masters if the lore break is culture impacting and should be dealt with.

The Role-Play Setting

You are expected to role-play in such a way that it contributes to the storyline of the guild while not breaking the established universe or the guild setting. The guild setting is summarized as follows:

Hofborg is a town in the hold of Haafingar in Western Skyrim, consisting of one and two story buildings made of rough stone or wood walls, waddle and dab, heavy timber beams, and thatch or wood shingles. It is intended to be a location steeped in Nord culture even if some portion of the town's population includes non-Nords. The town is comprised of small walled districts, open spaces, underground cairns and rough-fare locations such as Brygg-Bottom (Lore).

The town does not have the kind of things found in larger cities; such as sewers, guild (mage, fighter, etc) halls, or paved streets. While the Motherhouse does sit above a series of hot springs, possibly from some volcanic activity, and the town is perhaps less cold than the rest of Western Skyrim -- it's never truly warm even in summer. Consequently, the population tends to wear wool, fur and leather except when under the most strenuous of activities or hot summer days. Fancy dresses will get dirty and muddy.

The townspeople, while friendly to other Nords, tends to be insular and prickly until their respect is won. Respect comes only with actions that benefit the town in the manner the town wishes to be benefitted. Visitors to the town will quickly notice that casual familiarity, causal use of magic, boasting, bragging or showing off may result in a disapproving glare or the cold shoulder. Better received are good manners, respect, hard work and community participation.

Additionally, the players for Hofborg are looking for collaborative story telling. The single-handed hero, the Harry Potter level mage, the jack of all trades who is actually the master of all trades, as well as those with significant head canon are of far less interest than base-line characters with a master skill or two. We prefer role-play to include others while also requiring lead up, effort, cost, consequence and interaction. This applies directly to how magic is handled, as well as equivalent martial power level, and role-play'd crafting. Read More ..

For a quick review, we are not interested in

The use of Thu'um, sophisticated Dwemer tech, high level magic like teleportation. Don't pull weapons/armor out of your ass, establish their presence. Magic portals should be used off screen. Teapots should not float. Items defined as rare/sacred in lore, compared to game mechanics, should be rare/sacred. Rare lore circumstances are not a good basis for a new Hofborg character.

No Vamps, No Weres

We have a strict no known werewolf or vampire policy. This means that if your character is showing obvious signs of affliction, you can expect big trouble. The mindset of the average Nord, including the Saebjorn's Captain Baene, cannot justify allowing known afflicted into the fold. If you are an afflicted character, you must endeavor to keep it secret or there will be IC consequences that may include death or exile. Please also note that we will firmly police any meta-gaming that unjustly "outs" a secretly afflicted member.

Conflict Resolution

We are a predominantly free form combat community. However we use a basic set of Dice Rules from the Nighthaven guild when free form fails between players. We also have a recognizable format for group combat that we use with our game/dungeon masters. We will adjust rules as necessary. Read More ..

See Also

• Creating Positive Conflict (Guide)
• Moderator Guide (Rules)
• How to play with NPCs (Guide)

Rules, Other

IC Leadership Positions

We will have a selection of IC leadership positions that will be given out ICly to those who have earned it in their RP. However, such positions have OOC expectations. Therefore we are going to define those as:

1. Two events a month that are related to the job you are doing.
2. Two posts a month to the appropriate Discord journal, such as the Captain's Log that shares the information the leaders need ICly; i.e. Who participated, what was the event, and what needs to be followed up on by whom.

Earning a position will take quite a few weeks. If you are interested in having such a position you may open a ticket on discord to discuss with the Player Council. Read More ..

Housing

We have plenty of room to add player homes. Our custom add-on, "Role-Play Town Portals" is able to offer a multi-destination option for player homes -- allowing a near unlimited number of player homes to be attached to the town. Fictionally, these "Housing Lanes" are described as streets, alleys, neighborhoods, etc depending on the fiction. Each of the areas has a particular look and feel and homes must match both the style and intention of the "housing lane". We do allow custom builds using both the Solitude and High Isle assets to create homes thematically appropriate to Western Skyrim and Solitude. The Leyawiin assets are too clean for our purposes, where as the High Isle Tudor (waddle-and-dab) assets are appropriate for Solitude buildings.

Our commitment to the town's immersion requires player homes to match the region, be fully decorated and appropriate for your character's IC position in Hofborg. We will not link a home until the build is complete. Read More ..

Events

All players are welcome to host events for Hofborg. The Discord event feature is active for everyone and new events can be created easily. There is only one restriction: If you want to run a plot line inside the town or using the Saebjorn ship, please reach out and let the team know. The easiest way to do this is pop open an event ticket 24-hours prior.

Otherwise, everyone is welcome to host events or run adventures with the group overland or in their homes. Some bits of advice: Pictures help events look more professional to visitors, the rumor mill can be used to announce upcoming ideas ICly. The Captain's Log and other journals are a good place to report on how the event went, and more than one day's notice for events will increase possible turn out. And finally, if you don't feel comfortable making something this official, you can post up in the #lfrp-new-arrivals channel.