OOC Guidelines
Philosophy or Mission Statement
of the Cos RP Group
There are five priorities in Cos and they can be weighted the same.
1) Play as close to the Chronicles of Gor as written by John Norman as possible,
2) Educate rather then denigrate new players when they deviate from this rule.
3) Focus on challenging and creating new Story lines,
4) Surprise your fellow players whenever possible
5) Absolute realism.
The ethics and courtesies of role play have been in practice since the earliest days of true gaming and are so widely accepted that they can be considered common sense in most cases. Unfortunately many people on AOL have forgotten that and it is our hope that we in Cos can lead by example.
We are not looking for many names on our rosters, also known as "Roster Filler." We seek those who wish to play in a book based forum, who wish to develop story lines, and who wish to develop their characters.
***This is a group created and maintained for enjoyable role-playing. If you like it, then we are happy to have you with us. However, if you don't, there are other places on America Online to find what you are looking for. It is what we make it, let's make it a great group with great storylines! Adherence to the below listed OOC (Out of Character) guidelines are a MUST.***
*******ABOVE ALL ELSE, SHOW YOUR FELLOW PLAYERS RESPECT*******
VVV Important VVV
ACTIVE ROLE PLAY WITH THE COS ROLEPLAY GROUP: It is understood that we, as muns, all have a life outside of Role Play, however, too many players have come to the group, start a story line, take an important position, a companion, and/or slaves, and then never show up to role play with the group. 5 minutes in a room once a month, roleplaying exclusively in private rooms, or lurking in public Cosian rooms does not constitute active and quality participation in the Story Lines of Cos. If you cannot devote a minimum of two days/evenings per week to the Cos Role Play, and/or do not keep in contact with the group through email role play or active play in Cosian rooms, for a period of two (2) weeks, you will be removed from the mail string and roster . If you do not have the time to devote to your Cosian Character, then do not take any position of importance with the group. If you must take an extended leave of absence, please notify the Ubar mun, Administrator mun and the Enscribe of Cos' mun and then relenquish any official positions your character holds so they may be filled by more active members of the Cos RP Group.
*****Note: If you have a problem with a player, then talk to that player and try to resolve it. No matter what the issue, DO NOT bring it into the role play. OOC wrangling of the Isle of Cos' storylines will NOT be tolerated. If you are unable to resolve the problem yourselves, then apply the Grievance Procedure listed below:
OOC GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE FOR THE ISLE OF COS
All OOC concerns, complaints and grievances, will be submitted to the Ubar, Lucien Iteratus, and the Administrator of your respective City, in writing only, by e-mail, with log support. No IM complaints or grievances will be accepted.
A. If the complaint is about another player of the group. You must show proof that you tried to resolve it with the person and failed. The other party will also be allowed to defend themselves against your complaint.
B. Once your written complaint is received, you will be able to meet privately with either official you have written, in a private room, for a 30 minute period. .
C. If there is more than one player submitting the complaint, each player will have 10 minutes to present their case. Once all concerns have been heard and reviewed then a decision will be rendered.
D. The decision reached is FINAL and will NOT be open for further discussion. Not respecting the decision and continuing the complaint either in an OOC or IC manner could result in a player's immediate expulsion from the Cos RP Group.
E. The Ubar, Lucien Iteratus, mun has set aside his own role play every Tuesday night from 7 PM EST to 10 PM EST to accommodate all grievances. This time is not up for negotiation. If you cannot be here at that time, then it is your responsibility to make sure he has all information in reference to your grievance. All matters will be handled per the grievance procedures listed immediately above.
OOC GUIDELINES OF THE COS ROLE PLAY GROUP
1. All players must be 18 years of age or older. No exceptions. Anyone found to be a minor will be expelled from the Role Play of the Isle of Cos, and the offending SN will be forwarded to those in charge on the Isle of Cos as well as the journalists of Gor in general so that the AOL Gor role playing community can be warned of the minor.
2. All players of the Cos RP Group are to be knowledgeable of the In Character (IC) Laws of Cos and the Out of Character (OOC) Guidelines because the books are the backbone of the role play. Ignorance is not a defense.
3. All players of the Cos RP Group are to be knowledgeable of the Chronicles of Gor, written by John Norman. It is highly suggested that all players read the actual books and not rely on the web sites on the Internet, because many offer erroneous information.
4. NO Child Characters will be munned that are under the age of 16 without express permission from the Ubar mun. Period. Any characters that are munned under the age of 16 are not to be played as being brats, attention hounds, nor are they to show disrespect to any adult. NO character that is played under the age of 18 will engage in any courtship or actions of a sexual nature whatsoever. While the books of Norman speak of the actions of those under the age of 18, we live in a land of laws, and to prevent any possibility of impropriety and to protect the players of the Cos RP group, courtship/sexual role play by those characters under the age of 18 is not allowed. ANYONE caught breaking this guideline will be IMMEDIATELY expelled from the Role Play of Cos.
5. This is fantasy, but try to role-play as realistically as possible. If a storyline requires travel, then role-play it out. Don't just appear one moment on Cos, then the next at the falls. You can speed up the travel, of course, but role-play it all out, there are no teleportation devices on Gor. Bear in mind that the trip from Cos to the Sardar Mountains takes months. Expect to Role play out at least a mun week of "travel."
6. Please pay attention to the role play in the room. Be aware of your character's location in the role play. If someone plays being in the Inn's kitchen and your character is in the main sitting room, then unless you're screaming, there would be no way you could know what is going on in the kitchen IC. The walls were not made of glass and there were no intercom systems.
7. Keep out of character (OOC) posts in the chat rooms to a minimum. ( "Back, bk, wb, yw, ty" etc just interrupt the flow of play. A simple AFK or BRB will suffice, and then when you return, simply post action. Most of the players are smart enough to know that the afk player has returned)
8. There will be NO abuse of the Isle's or the Cities' mail strings. The Isle Mail String is maintained by the En'Scribe of Cos and the Ubar. If you need something sent to the entire group, send to the Ubar and the En'Scribe. Abuse of the mail strings includes, but it not limited to, the following:
8-a. Sending out rude OOC remarks about a situation, character, or mun, to the Isle mail string.
8-b. Using the Isle mail string to voice complaints.
8-c. Using the Isle mail string to give out private information about a character, mun, or Story Line to those that do not have a specific Need to Know.
8-d. "Mun Bashing" and belittling of your fellow players using the Isle Mail string.
EXCEPTION: This guideline does not apply to Mun Ban Notifications or In Character Banishments.
9. Do not use thought posts as a way to insult the mun of any character, to insult the role play of any character, or to voice thoughts that, if spoken, would get your character into trouble. If you cannot speak such things out loud, then do not voice them in thoughts.
*NOTE: Masters know their slaves intimately. If you don't want your Master reading your mind, don't play thoughts. Slaves can, and will, be killed for insulting the Free in thoughts.
10. Keep mun players out of the storyline as much as possible. Role play your character. If you do not like the way a character acts, then role play your character's reactions to it, but don't start a feud between players. Please do not mix your character with your player, because they are two separate entities. If a character has a bad reaction to yours, role play it out. Don't start messaging everyone in the group about how terrible that person is. Some characters are played with attitudes, prejudices, and histories that require them to have a negative reaction to certain situations. Remember, this is Gor, not Earth.
11. Once you play something in a storyline, you are accepting that storyline. We do not seek consent on every storyline in our group. Role-play how your character would deal with the situation and move on.
11-a. You cannot mun consent from a story line that you start. Too many times people have come to Cos, started a SL, then screamed foul and mun consent when they got exactly what they deserved. ANYONE found doing this will be immediately placed on ignore on the Isle of Cos.
*EXCEPTION: Story lines involving characters played by those who are mun banned from Cos can be consented from, within reason.
12. Ignoring the characters of the Cos RP Group, ghosting, blocking, and deleting emails from those of the Cos RP Group without reading them are all highly discouraged, and if done on a regular basis, then the player risks being asked to leave the Role Play of Cos. In cases of player refusal to engage in role play with the characters of another mun, the Ubar mun needs to be notified so that the storyline can be adjusted accordingly.
13. The Cos group will not tolerate player backbiting and/or unnecessary OOC Drama. The Cos RP Group is an adult forum, and all players should conduct themselves accordingly . There is to be no player bashing of any caliber, this includes profiles, emails, instant messages, and role play actions/thoughts.
14. ANY member found crossing IC and OOC will be immediately banned from the group and their characters evicted from the Isle. Keep your IC and your OOC separate. No exceptions.
15. ANY player found OOC harassing or being abusive to other players in role play, instant messages, or Emails will be immediately banned from the group. There is a way to argue and a way to fight, and when someone shuts the conversation down, that should be the end of it. Anyone who continues to harass after being asked to cease will be expelled.
16. While only one character is preferable and the desired course of action for the group, NO member of the group may have more than two (2) characters on the Island of Cos at one time. Anyone caught breaking this rule will be asked to pick the character that leaves the group. In addition, no single mun may have more than one (1) character on the High Council of the Isle or any City.
17. No Restore/Delete characters will be allowed. If something comes up and you have to delete your character, then let the Ubar, your City's Administrator, and the En'scribes of your City and Cos know so that you can be taken off of the mail strings. Any character that remains deleted for three (3) months will be considered, for RP purposes, dead. It will be up to the Master of any slave that deletes if the three month rule applies, or if the slave is to be listed as dead immediately.
18. Deletion of a FREE (non-slave) character without notifying the Group constitutes abandonment of the Story Line. The character will be considered dead if it remains deleted for a period of three (3) months. If the mun returns within that time, the character and mun will be placed on probation. If the mun deletes the character without notifying the group a second time, the character will be considered dead, and not allowed to return to the Story Line. It is rude and disrespectful to everyone in the Cos Role Play Group to delete a character from the Story Line without letting the group know.
19. No Animal Characters will be munned on the Isle of Cos. Period. NPCed animals are allowed as long as they are feasible by the books. IE: No kaiila are allowed on Cos. They are southern hemisphere and barrens animals.
20. Slave muns: If your character is serving and the Master/Mistress goes AFK and does not return to play in the room within 10 minutes, then move on. There is no reason for the rest of the room to be denied service because the Master/Mistress mun is not active in the chat room.
21. (Voted in by the High Council of Cos and approved by the Ubar on 12-17-08) Any City or Island that is NOT listed in the Chronicles of Gor written by John Norman will not be "officially" recognized by the Island Ubarate of Cos. If individuals wish to RP with these places, they may do so on a one on one basis, but there will be no official RP between these "unlisted" Cities or Islands and the Ubarate.
22. No slaves will be recognized that have been "bred to have animal qualities or looks." Likewise, no character, period, will be recognized that is played to have super-human powers such as, but not limited to: "sense of smell better than a sleen's, ability to fly, able to jump a tower in a single bound, x-ray vision, super hearing,etc." If Marvel Comics are sought, this is not the forum for that kind of RP. Goreans are HUMAN, not super heros. Try Rhydin or the Role Play rooms under the forum "Arts and Entertainment."
23. Ignore Orders: When the Ubar issues a Ubarate-wide ignore, it should be followed by all players in the group. For a person or Group to be on ignore, they must have done something to ruin the RP environment of Cos. The reasoning behind the ignore must be listed with the ignore order so that personal vendettas are not called in. All ignore orders will be listed on the Cos website for the reference of the players of the Cos RP Group.
24. NPCS: Cos is roleplayed around the assumption that just because there are a limited number of screen names in the storyline, there is in fact a thriving Ubarate around the group. The general population will be represented by Non Player Characters (NPCs). These characters do not have the endurance or imagination of a Played Character (SNed character}, but they are just as effective in battle. Each NPC warrior or guard rolls 2d22 and has 10 Bloodpoints.
(Revised 09-19-09 by the player of Lucien Iteratus)
