Underworld Ralinwood Forums

Age Restriction
Underworld's age restriction is 18 years of age. We expect all players to be mature enough to conduct themselves in safe manner while in an outdoor, natural environment. Often, the game is played after dark. It is important that all players understand the inherent dangers involved and do not become so carried away as to place themselves or others at risk. Chasing people through the dark woods, climbing trees, or traversing ravines, though usually harmless, can be very dangerous if people are not respectful of their environment.

Mature Content
Everyone, who wishes to play should be aware of mature content, in the form of "medieval speak". Often, players will speak of "wenching, brawling, or battles" while in character. Sometimes, depending on the player, the expletives can be quite colourful. While Underworld does not encourage this, we do not prevent it. Underworld is a game designed by adults for adults to play.

In addition to this, people should be aware of the fact that the Underworld Larp sometimes runs plots that contain mature subject matter and challenging social issues. Though they are tastefully presented (and done so with "growth of opinion", not shock, in mind), some people may take offense or become uncomfortable when becoming involved in such plots. We respect your right to leave the plotline if you wish to do so, and we respectfully encourage you to discuss the issue with us afterwards. Though we will not change our policy, we will happily explain what the motivation and purpose of such content was to the story, and why we felt it effectively and appropriately used.

Religion
Underworld LARP allows for a character to belong to one of several different "faiths" if they choose to do so. These faiths are entirely fictional in intent. Do not attempt to parody or mimic any real world religion.

We will be most displeased with you as you will no doubt upset many of our other players. This element has been included in the game to enhance the gameworld and to allow players to explore issues of good/evil/honour/truth/faith, etc. in an intelligent way. We expect any player who chooses to develop their character in this direction to give the subject matter of "faith" the respect it deserves. Underworld has NO religious affiliations, nor do we wish to foster ANY impression that we do. It is simply allowed in-game to enhance roleplaying. In addition to this, we wish to point out to our players that some real world faiths require for certain dress and/or formalities. Underworld is respectful of these practices and requires that all of our players are as well.

Substances and Alcohol
Illegal drugs are forbidden at game. You will be asked to leave the event immediately if you are caught using or possessing them. Our insurance does not allow for the consumption of alcohol while playing at an event. Do not bring it to the site.

There are only 2 exceptions to the no substance rule:

1. Smoking is allowed at DESIGNATED areas.
   
2. Sometimes we will allow a player (19+) to bring wine for use in cooking (stews, etc.), but we only approve it when the player notifies us in advance and shows us the wine in question.
   

Vendors
Underworld LARP is very happy to offer our players the chance to sell their product, services and wares, while at our events. We recognize that much of everything that gets sold, in one form or another, benefits the game. Because of this we're able to offer players the privileged to sell your product and make profit as a direct result of the Underworld LARP event, for a very small vending fee. Vending fees are broken down into 24 hour periods. A 24 hour table is $10 while a full weekend table is $25. Please see the Payment policy for ways to pay. Underworld LARP reserves the right to refuse any vendor if their services or product is deemed to be harmful or detrimental to the game in anyway. Players or staff found to be making profit off services or product without a vending license will be subject to disciplinary action including the possible ejection from game. Vendor fees are not refundable. Please note this only applies to players making profit with real life currency. In-game sales for in-game money are unrestricted.

Underworld LARP is committed to providing an environment free of discrimination and harassment, in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, are able to contribute fully, and have equal opportunities.

Under the Ontario Human Rights Code, every person has the right to freedom from harassment and discrimination. Harassment and discrimination will not be tolerated, condoned, or ignored at Underworld LARP. If a claim of harassment or discrimination is proven, disciplinary measures will be applied, up to and including permanent removal from game.

Underworld LARP is committed to a comprehensive strategy to address harassment and discrimination, including; providing an effective and fair complaints procedure; and promoting appropriate standards of conduct at all time

This Policy prohibits discrimination or harassment on the basis of the following grounds, and any combination of these grounds:

• Age
  
• Creed (religion)
  
• Sex (including pregnancy within the first trimester)
  
• Sexual Orientation
  
• Gender Identity
  
• Family status
  
• Marital status
  
• Disability (see separate policy on disability in regards to safety, site, and play restrictions)
  
• Race, Ancestry, Place of origin, Ethnic origin, Citizenship, Colour
  
• Association or relationship with a person identified by one of the above grounds
  
• Perception that one of the above grounds applies.
  

All persons present at a sanctioned Underworld LARP events are expected to uphold and abide by this Policy, by refraining from any form of harassment or discrimination, and by cooperating fully in any investigation of a harassment or discrimination complaint.

Game Owners and Lead Shapers, will endeavor to act immediately on observations or allegations of harassment or discrimination.

It is important to note that Underworld LARP can only ensure and enforce the Ontario Human Rights Code, at official Underworld LARP events

If you feel you have been the victim of harassment, or if you have witnessed the harassment of another, a reporting system procedure has been put in place to ensure that the Owners of Underworld LARP can give the issue the important attention it deserves. Any and all allegations of harassment need to be sent, in writing, to either of the following:

• Email: contact@underworldralinwood.ca
  

If the matter is pressing, verbal notification is of course acceptable, but for a proper investigation to be conducted a complaint in writing will be required.

All allegations are taken extremely seriously and will be fully investigated. We are not in a position to accept anonymous complaints.

See more at: http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/ontario-human-rights-code

All campfires need to be approved by the owners. If you wish to have a fire approved you must contact the owners prior to the event start and we will arrange a time for someone to come inspect your campfire. Please read below what is necessary for approval.

In order to have a campfire you must have it approved by one of the owners. We will only approve campfire pits if you have at least 5 or more people camping at your site. This avoids 70 players and 35 campfires. If you have been approved for a firepit you have a huge responsibility. If you are the last person at the fire pit you MUST either put it out or remain at the pit until you are relieved (or the fire goes out). If we happen upon your camp and your fire is going and there is nobody there you will lose your fire pit and likely worse. DO NOT LEAVE FIRES UNATTENDED!

All firepits must be dug into the earth approximately 6 inches and have a stone or other suitable surrounding ring. There must be a 10 foot radius clearing around the firepit with no burnable grass or deadfall and there must be a suitable sized opening in the tree canopy with no overhanging boughs. Furthermore, no structure (wooden, tent, etc) can be within 10 feet of an approved fire pit.

All fire pits, are required to have a unused, functional, Class A+B, fire extinguisher. It must be viable and within easy reach of the fire pit. Camps are responsible to provide their own fire extinguishers. Town Centre's will be provided by us. If the extinguisher is forgotten or not functional, the fire pit is NOT considered approved.

Fires, in approved fire pits, can only be started with traditional fire starting methods (paper, kindling, etc) or slow burning, low heat, fire starter. The use of kerosene, gasoline or any high combustion fuel, is NOT allowed.

We have no issues with people burning wrappers, paper or food waste in there fire pits in their camps. However, you CANNOT burn:

• plastic
  
• glass
  
• metal of any kind
  

If you burn any food or wrappers, please make sure they burned completely and cannot be pulled out by curious animals.

Active Characters
Underworld LARP allows you to have as many characters active at one time as you please. For a character to be playable, the palyer must pay a $15 character creation fee to Underworld Canada. Please send payments to payments@larp.ca.

Race Restrictions
No player may have more than one character in the database of the same race nor can you create two consecutive characters of the same race. The only exception to this rule is the race: Human. You can play Humans back to back and have multiple Humans active. This is because humans are very diverse in culture and it's easy to make two of them very different, even for new players

Remorts
Character "remort" is the rebuilding of your character based on the amount of accumulated Character Points you have you gained.. There are two kinds of remort, "Restricted" and "Unrestricted.”

A Restricted remort is granted after rules changes have been implemented to allow players to "tweak" their character in order to take advantage of any rules change that may apply. After a rules change has been implemented, a player has up until one month after the next event they participate in as a PC to request a change to the relevant skill. In a restricted remort, the restructuring of the character must remain true to the continuity, logic and history of the character. All abilities that qualify for a Restricted remort will be posted after the change is made. An Unrestricted remort is the rebuilding of your character from scratch using the total amount of creation points you have accumulated. It is very rare for us to allow this, though major rewrites in the rules system will sometimes warrant it.

Final Deaths / Retirement - Level 13 Retirement Cap [see below]

PCs

• All PCs must NPC a shift. To opt-out it costs $10.
  
• NPC shifts are 4 hours each.
  
• NPCing a shift will earn you 5 frags.
  
• Shifts have limited numbers of volunteers. They will be filled first-come-first serve.
  

Please refer to the shifts in the database each event for shift times. Shift times may change on an event by event basis, due to the specific event's need for NPCs at different times.

NPCs

• NPCs who volunteer for the full event will now be paid 35 frags or 1 blanket.
  
• NPCs can apply blankets every prelog, the same as PCs can.
  
• Season NPCs earn 50 frags per event or 1 blanket and 15 frags
  
• Monster Marshals earn +35 frags per event (Or 1 blanket and 15 frags)
  
• Shapers earn 70 frags or 1 blanket and 35 frags per event
  
• Props director earns +20 frags
  
• Logistics earns +25 frags  
  

Further Details
Everyone in NPC camp (season npcs, shapers, etc) needs to prelog as NPCs in the database in order to apply their blankets and/or make frag purchases.
New players must PC their first 3 events and will be exempt from NPC shifts during that time.
You're welcome to put on or take off your own makeup in NPC camp. It's well lit and we have mirrors. We suggest that you take either the first shift before you put on your makeup, or the last shift and take off the makeup at the beginning. If you prefer the "middle" shifts, NPC camp will give any roles that require masks to PCs in makeup first. We can't always promise you that there will be mask roles, but if there are you'll get them first.

If you use our chat room, you are expected to know and follow these rules. Shapers will be enforcing them.

Frequency
It's unrealistic that your character would spend 12+ hours a day sitting around a campfire. They have jobs to do, skills to train, food to hunt/collect, homes to keep up, etc.

More importantly, on an out-of-game level other players don’t like to see the same characters in the chat room constantly. It forces them to RP with the same characters (since the location is static) and discourages the use of the chat. Shapers want to run plotlines and play NPCs that interact with more than the same characters all the time.

There really is no reason for your character to be in the chat room for more than a few hours a day, 3 or 4 days a week. This will be enforced.

It may sound counter-productive for us to provide a chat room then limit its use, but understand that we are a live-action roleplaying game, not a chat room game. The chat is meant to enhance the other parts of the game, not vice-versa. If your use of the chat is discouraging it's use to other players and interfering with the shapers we will ask you to leave. We'd rather see the chat empty for 20 hours a day and awesome for 4 than have it constantly boring and full of idle accounts.

tldr: Visit the chat, don't live in it.

Locations
Locations of the chat room are static. Each room is designated as being where the scene will take place. Exceptions (if ever) on any rare occasion would be Plot driven. Players are asked to adjust their RP to fit the locations, or use Facebook or other private communication for locations not provided. New rooms can be made if there is demand, and enough reason to believe they will be used. The old retired ranger who lives in a cabin in the woods and is PC'd by someone who can be online all day and night but rarely has visitors doesn't need a room.

Visible Actions
Try not to post anything that is not visible to others. Thoughts and emotions are great additions to storytelling, but in the chat format, remember that people can only act on what they see, and they can’t see you thinking about how much a jerk that other person is. They could see the look of rage that comes across your face of course, but let them put together what those expressions mean. It’s more fun that way anyway.

It is natural to type in posts and chats as if you were composing a story. What we should keep in mind is that if we were not typing we would not SEE private thoughts and feelings that aren't shown.

Combat
The chat rooms are primarily to encourage role playing between events. Combat online is discouraged and frowned upon by the player base and the plot team. Still, from time to time combat will inevitably take place. If it does please keep the following rules in mind:

Combat favors the defender; the defender will decide the results of actions unless there is no other alternative. It's best when players can sort out situations on their own and come to a mutually agreeable, realistic result, but if this cannot be done, find a shaper. Please, be reasonable and remember that a shaper can always supersede the decisions of both the attacker and the defender when defining an outcome. Engage in online combat at your risk.

Try to be realistic within the skills of your character. If you can’t do a cartwheel, describing your character as somersaulting between tree branches to land smoothly on one knee with your arrow perfectly nocked so you can epically shoot an apple out of the hand of your enemy… well, it stretches belief a bit, and annoys other players who know you can’t do this. That being said, epic description adds a lot of combat. Just be reasonable with it.

All Combat actions should be Open actions. The result of your combat action should not be declared. The defender will declare the result. You may include your intention with your combat action.

Example: I swing my blade at your head, trying to cut it from your shoulders. NOT : I swing my sword and cut off your head.

Death in the Chat Room
While combat is rare, death should be even more so. More often than not online deaths will not count on your character sheet. That being said, each death is taken on a case by case basis. As a pc you should try to avoid death online as much as you do at an event. If we feel you are doing otherwise the death will count.

Other Rules
Unless you have the costuming to actually completely change your identity don't expect others to be fooled unless they want to be.

If your character is in Chat, you are visible and should be present at your keyboard. If you have to go away from the computer, you should exit chat until you come back. Players in chat will be free to act and react based on your presence in the room. An Exception to this is when you first enter and type your entrance description or some power/skill that hides you.

This sounds obvious but it happens : you can't be in the chat room watching without being there in game. The only exception to this is when we give permission to a new player who has yet to make a character to watch and learn how things are done.

IMPORTANT: We've given Shapers the power to send you a private message to see if you're at your keyboard. If you don't reply within a reasonable amount of time, they will kick you from the chat. You can not leave the chat open for 8 hours while you sleep and collect information like a sponge, while your character is safe from any harm or interaction.

Multiple Characters, Same Player
No player may play more than one character in the chat room within a 24 hour period without express permission from a plot marshal.

Locks
Cabins are structures and as such can be locked. A tent is not a structure, locking it will not prevent someone from cutting into the tent and taking your things.

House Rule Regarding "Trip":

A combat skill for warriors, to activate this ability the player must successfully strike the target’s leg with
a weapon and call "1 Body trip!” If successful, the target must 'fall' (safely) to the ground. The target may
stand up again as soon as they have touched their torso to the ground.

If the player feels that it is impossible to fall safely they may optionally take a knee for a 3 count. During this three count the player is able to fight and defend themselves and is not hampered in anyway other then being unable to stand, while in your count you should remain stationary, if the situation is unsafe for you to fall to the ground it should be unsafe for you to be crawling around on the ground.

Like Hamstring, the damage cannot be increased unless you use multiple Trips at the same time; however the damage type is based on the weapon used. Usable once per day per purchase.

Character Creation Fees (to create a new character) are $15/character.

For new players, that fee can be waived for the first event and can be paid on the second event. Ralinwood will take payment in cash for those that can’t pay online. New characters can be created but will be locked and unable to spend blankets until the fee has been processed and approved. 

Payment can be made to UW: Canada at any time and they will unlock your character. Please send payments by E-transfer to payments@larp.ca.


Transferring characters between Underworld LARP Guilds will incur a $35 transfer fee payable to payments@larp.ca via Paypal or E-transfer. Please include (1) the character name and (2) original home guild, and (3) the desired destination guild in the payment comments. Characters must be approved by the destination guild along with all items the character possesses. Please use the password “Underworld“. Payments lacking the necessary information will not be accepted. 

It is not likely that UW: Canada will permit transferring a character more than once a year.

Once your character has reached level 13, you cannot “buy back” deaths via the soul frag book for that character. Characters who are level 13 or higher will retire as if they were level 12 no matter what level they currently are. There are no restrictions on when they may retire.


When you retire your character or suffer final death, all your character’s belongings and possessions that are not on your person, are to be immediately turned in to the Shaper team. You cannot decide what happens to your possessions after you have made that decision (or have had it made for you through final death). This includes your last will and testament, any secret documents or buried treasure you “would” have had on site or anything of the like. There is no issue with players willing away their items to other players so long as they have done it in game, it was documented prior to your death/retirement and that documentation was given to Shaper.



When you retire or final a character and create a new one, the roleplaying, goals, themes, motives and even friendships of that new character must be dramatically different from the old. We reserve the right to force you to change your new character’s roleplay if they are too similar to your previous character. If you do not heed this warning, we will force a remort on you. You cannot pick up where your old character left off and you should do everything in your power to avoid discussing your old character. This also holds true for two active characters you own at the same time. There can be no interaction between your two characters; this includes using a third party (another player) to pass on information, items or favours. Lack of integrity is what separates a professionally run LARP from an amateur one and we will do everything in our power to maintain it here at Underworld.



Since we realize some of Ralinwood's players have already passed this cap without notice, we are happy to give you some leeway. Any player who has already reached Level 14 or above will be grandfathered under another kind of policy. We know who you all are. Please email contact@underworldralinwood.ca with questions.

Effective to posting date - February 23, 2017
The Level 13 Cap comes into effect immediately.

Guild specific rules re: Gaining a Vocation/frag sphere

In order to learn a Vocation/sphere in addition to paying the frag cost, a PC or NPC trainer must have "trained" you (done at least 10 minutes of RP training) for at least 2 (two) games. The training can happen at any in game event. Once the trainer has signed off that training has occurred for at least 2 games, then you may unlock your Vocation/sphere.