General Server Rules
Staff Members are the only ones who may enforce rules.
Staff Members may use discretion when enforcing rules not listed in the ruleset or scenes that exhibited poor quality rp.
Breaking any of these rules can result in actions ranging from a warning to a perma ban against any and all guilty parties.
Exhibit Consideration and courtesy for all community members. Trolling, bullying or toxic behaviour to any community members will not be tolerated.
Keep in-character actions in-character. Do not take IC issues OOC and into the discord, any grievances should be reported to staff via the ticketing and support system.
Discrimination of any kind is not tolerated. This includes but is not limited to race, gender, sexual orientation and age.
You must be 18 years of age or over to play High Stakes Roleplay.
You must be able to speak English to an acceptable standard.
A working and suitable quality microphone is required with Push to talk enabled, background noise and chatter will not be tolerated.
All characters must be a realistic representation of someone living in the time period set.
You may not use real names of famous/infamous characters from history or literature.
Suicide, Slavery, Pregnancy, ERP and characters under the age of 18 is not permitted.
Voice Changers are permitted if the voice is realistic and does not compromise others immersion. They may not be used on and off to simply hide a characters real voice.
Any Third-Party Modification or any form of software that gives assistance and results in yourself gaining an unfair advantage is not permitted.
VPN usage is prohibited.
You must remain in-character at all times and roleplay out all scenes before logging out of the server.
OOC talk or referencing OOC events is not permitted at any time.
Inappropriate language, terms or references that do not fit the time period will not be tolerated.
You are permitted to carry 1 longarm on your back, at any one time. (bows are allowed as a 2nd weapon on your back).
Roleplay First.
Players should seek to develop storylines and interact and engage with fellow players to develop deep and meaningful storylines and relations. Roleplay comes first, remember that everyone is here to create story and to have fun. The story will not always go how you wish or events you didn't plan will unfold, roleplay all scenes, interactions and stories out to the best of your ability.
YOU ARE NOT THE MAIN CHARACTER, just because something is not going how you want it to or other players are reacting differently to how you wanted them to, does not mean it is a rule-break or poor rp. This is a 18+ server and we expect all roleplayers to act and behave like adults at all times IC and OOC.
If a story is developing that involves your character that you do not wish to progress then find an IC way to end it or change the narrative. If a another player or gang is pushing hostility on you with good story or reason behind it and you wish for this to end then find a IC way to appease the aggressor, pay them off or apologise. OOC complaining about IC story not being to your wishes will not be entertained by staff, we will not intervene and cease storylines without real justification.
There should always be roleplay, interaction and reason with another player or gang before conflict and hostilities occur. Conflict is Roleplay and we encourage and appreciate meaningful hostile encounters and stories and wish to see these develop.
Attacking, harming, or killing players without a suitable RP reason and prior interaction will not be tolerated. Griefing or constantly attacking another player without avenues for them to end the hostility is not allowed.
Injuries and medical rp should be roleplayed appropriately to the rp that has taken place. Injuries and the severity cannot be forced upon other players and it is always the players decision to decide their characters fate but clear disregard for medical or injury rp will not be tolerated.
Powergaming - Rule 1.
This Refers to a player who disregards the rules of the server or attempts to gain an unfair advantage by ignoring roleplay, exploiting in game mechanics or forcing the outcome of a scene without consideration to what's occurring IC.
You can not force Roleplay on players without giving them a fair chance to respond to your actions.
You are not allowed to revive players mid-combat to allow them to return to the scene. You must wait until the scene is over.
You can not revive downed players to continue roleplay, conflict or to kill them again.
You can not commit any crime that notifies law enforcement via a script (Bank/Store Robberies, selling drugs/moonshine) 30 minutes before a server restart nor can you do it 30 minutes after a server restart. Anything else is exempt from this rule. This includes the act of selling contraband as it allows no time for law to respond and a scene to be completed before restart occurs.
You must RP before stealing a horse or wagon and riding off
You are not allowed to call/whistle for your horse if it has been stolen.
Despawning wagons and fleeing horses to protect the contents from an RP scenario is not allowed.
Using a Lasso in an active gunfight is not permitted.
Breaking out of a hogtie if not left unattended for a significant period of at least 5 mins is not permitted.
Mag dumping incap'd bodies will be considered powergaming to coerce injuries/death
Excessive Mag Dumping/Limb Mutiliation will also be considered for Toxicity.
The server limit is 1 longarm and 1 sidearm in your hot bar or on your person. Forcing the hotbar to equip more guns onto your character is exploiting a bug and is not permitted
The following guns can be classed as concealed and can be pulled out if not in a gunbelt:
Double Action Revolver, M1899 - (Snub Nose Schofield when gun customisation becomes Implemented).
ANY other gun needs an appropriate /me to indicate you are pulling a concealed gun out and sufficient time for the others involved in the scene to notice and react .
5 seconds from the /me, to pulling the gun out, is recommended as an appropriate time taken for your character to pull the gun from it's concealment.
Metagaming - Rule 2.
Metagaming is using knowledge the player has, but not the character. Taking knowledge gained OOC and using it IC to gain any advantage or to change the direction of a story or others actions.
OOC communications tools like discord vc's or dm's is not permitted to be used to pass ic information on. You may not be in OOC vc's whilst in game.
You may not watch other players streams whilst in game yourself.
Playing siblings or alt characters involved in the same stories is not permitted. You should at all times attempt to keep alt characters stories from intertwining and having any meaningful impact in any of your other characters story arcs or fortunes.
You must also avoid joining any storylines that have led to a previous character's demise, such as character kills, events and other formalities that have led to your previously deceased characters until the conflict has subsided and been completed.
Fail RP - Rule 3.
Includes, but is not limited to, things such as - Abusing Game Mechanics, Forcing the hotbar to equip more guns onto your character than permitted, Dropping items while being cuffed/arrested, Powergaming (RPing outside of your character traits, abusing mechanics, and using means not actually in game to gain an advantage), Excessive Trolling, Forcing Unwanted RP, Sheriff Baiting, Combat Logging, Combat Storing,Talking whilst incap'd unless responding to a doctor durig medrp, OOC Chatting/Talking.
The practice of kidnapping or the robbing, of responding lawmen to notifications of mechanical/script robberies, as they arrive on scene to provide rp, is no longer permitted. It is a growing occurrence and 1 that is demotivating law to respond to alerts without a full posse. The trend of kidnapping and robbing them as they arrive on scene, to simply attempt to provide counter rp in the form of negotiations for the hostage, taking details for reports or awaiting further backup for stand offs, chases or gunfights is to cease. To do so will fall under Failrp
Using a scope in a PvP gunfight is considered FailRP.
Not Valuing Life (NVL) - Rule 4.
Your character(s) are human, with an appropriate level of fear and value for their own life. You can not be fearless in the face of immediate danger, especially during robberies or when faced with multiple aggressors.
If you are presented with a situation in which an aggressor has a gun pointed at you or is willing to shoot you, it is important to prioritize your safety and preserve your life and consider the lives of loved ones.
Attempting to fightback is allowed only if a suitable opportunity occurs where the perpetrators have become distracted and you could realistically unholster/draw a weapon, aim and use it before being immediately shot down.
NVL will be determined on a case by case basis, video evidence will always be required.
Players should reasonably roleplay fear when someone threatens their character and is put in a situation in which they may be at risk of harm or death and carefully consider the well being of loved ones if they are also involved in the scene or story.
Poor Reason to Kill (RDM/VDM/KOS) - Rule 5.
A valid and justified reason is a requirement before seeking to harm or kill players.
RDM (Random Death Match), VDM (Vehicle Death Match) and KOS (Kill On Sight) is not permitted.
You cannot attack or seek to harm any player(s) without prior Roleplay leading up to it.
Killing non-playable characters, (locals) is not tolerated.
Horses and Wagons are not to be used as weapons.
Revenge Killing is the act of going back to retaliate either by killing, attempting to kill, robbing or trying to enact revenge in any way for a scene in which you accepted death. You must wait at least 30 mins before returning to a location after you have chose to respawn. Players should wait a minimum of 60 mins before attempting a retaliation for a previous attack against them, including the players friends or associates retaliating on their behalf.
Vigilantism - Rule 6.
Players may not involve themselves in scenes that include Law going up against Criminals, such as Bank Robberies/Stores.
Player must have reasonable justification to pursue or involve themselves in revenge/conflict story lines with other players. If players have been victims of crime, targeted by other players for hostility/extortion, they can retaliate back. If players family members, close friends or businesses are the victims, they can assist in fighting back. It is on the player to ensure they can reasonably explain the justification and connection to the victim and story, for involving themselves into conflict rp.
Permanent Character Kills (CK/PK) - Rule 7.
Permanent Player Kills are always the sole decision of the player and attempts to force or coerce this outcome will not be tolerated.
Torture RP is allowed but consent and approval must be obtained from the player involved before it commences via a /me.
Consent to torture roleplay may be withdrawn at any time, if a player states this via /me, all torture actions and roleplay must cease immediately.
If you commit an act involving torture on another player, you agree to be subjected to torture roleplay as a retaliation.
You can not start or be involved in a revenge plot on a character that CKed your previous with your new one.
NLR (Taking Local Doctor) - Rule 8.
Players may remember all events leading up to their incapacitation, if they get to a Doctor Office or get revived by another player or Doctor.
Events during their incapacitation are NOT to be remembered., players can not talk in a incapacitated state unless a doctor is performing medrp on them directly.
If a player takes a local respawn outside of a Doctors Office, they can remember all events up to their incapacitation for personal revenge arcs but CANNOT inform law of the identity of their aggressors.
Robbery Rules - Rule 9.
Robberies must be performed in a realistic manner with story driven reason and purpose behind it.
Players should not be performing robberies in highly populated areas with many potential witnesses without prior planning and consideration for the ppl around, npc's should be considered as witnesses, within reason. Crimes within towns should either be sneaky or have significant planning ,effort and quality rp leading up to it and provided to the victims.
When performing a robbery, your first priority should be providing quality roleplay to the person(s) being robbed. The theft should be realistic and enjoyable for all involved.
When robbing player(s), you must not kill or incapacitate them after items have been removed from their inventory if they complied throughout the scene, unless the victim(s) are actively making repeated threats to the robbers and refuse to stop when threatened with violence, such as saying repeatedly, they are going to kill them when they are freed, alert the law, and other threats that would jeopardize your characters freedom and/or life.
You cannot rob the same person more than one time per storm. You must also not target specific people repeatedly for robberies unless they are provoking or continuing to provide reasons for you to do so.
You may take 1 Longarm, 1 Sidearm, cash and 1 stack of items from their pockets if the victim complies
You cannot instant hogite players without first getting them to surrender, raising their hands and/or putting their guns away.
If the victim decides to escalate the robbery into a gunfight and is incapacitated as a result of their actions then all cash and all items in their pockets may be taken by active participants ONLY.
If the players attempting the robbery are incapacitated during the attempt then they are now susceptible to having all visible items, cash and items in their pockets taken by the potential victim ONLY
You may only loot incap'd players after a robbery is escalated by the victim to a gunfight. Looting players after gunfights due to conflicts, arguments, Law attempting an arrest or any other scene that is not a robbery attempt, is a rule break.
Players must first interact with the owner of any horse or wagon before attempting to steal from its associated storages. Any and all items can be stolen after suitable roleplay interaction has occurred with the owner of the horse or Wagon
Players must adequately roleplay out a suitable cool-down period between any and all crimes.
Robbery Rules for Mechanical Robberies:
General Stores, Saloons, Gunstores, Doctors Offices and Telegram Stations are limited to 4 active participants for Crim and Law.
Law can arrive with a 5th person who is to remain way out of the way, refrain from entering any hostility or participate in any chase and is simply there to handle any hostages once released to allow a fair and even numbered chase between crims and law.
There must be a minimum 2hr cooldown between robberies.
Corporate or Federal level robberies such as the Banks, Forts, Governors Residence, Oilfields, Mining Company locations and St.Denis Jewellry store are a 6 person job, for both Law and Crims. Law can arrive with additonal personnel but they are to remain way out of the way, refrain from entering any hostility or participate in any chase and are simply there to handle any hostages once released to allow a fair and even numbered chase between crims and law.
Corporate robberies are now all restricted to 1 every 3 days, so 3 days between mining location robberies, 3 days between hitting the oilfields again and 3 days between hitting the St.Denis Jewellery store again.
Federal robberies are 5 days between hitting the Governors Residence, Fort Wallace or Banks other Federal sites.
Chain robbing or crime sprees without adequate role-play and cooldowns will not be tolerated.
Any hostages used for any crimes must be genuine. Using friends or gang members as a hostage is not allowed.
Once a hostage is taken then consideration for how long that hostage is held for, should be taken into account.
20 minutes maximum from taking the hostage to starting the crime is advised.
Rule of 6 + Faction Limits (18) - Rule 10.
Conflict and crimes are limited to 6 at all times , except for the following circumstances:
Whilst defending against an attack on your own turf or property
With prior approval from admins.
Factions are required to still adhere to the Rule of 6. Factions can not have separate posse's of 6 out pursuing or co-operating/assisting in the same conflict, hostility or search.
Conflict Guidelines - Rule 11.
Here at High Stakes Roleplay we appreciate and encourage conflict and hostile scenes that are driven by meaningful and impactful stories.
We encourage varying types of conflict from short and sudden conflicts that escalate and de escalate quickly to long, drawn out grudges and conflicts between rival gangs or families.
As long as each conflict has justification story wise and each scene has quality roleplay and initiation, staff will not intervene in IC matters.
Aggressors should remember to give the opposing side room to breath between attacks and demands must be made that gives the opposing side a way to end the conflict.
If reasonable demands are made by the aggressor and these are declined by the opposing side, then staff will not cease or prevent hostilities from continuing.
A feared outlaw gang are demanding a weekly tax or threatening to wreak havoc on your business and you don’t want to have conflict, pay them off or fight them off .
A family member attacked, robbed or insulted a violent criminal who now seeks vengeance, appease them or fight them off.
All Actions have consequences that can be of great significance and story changing.
Paying a weekly tax to a gang can be great roleplay and lead to a multitude of new stories just as fighting them off can do the same.
Staff is not allowed to intervene, dictate or cease story driven and justified conflict or aggression.
All players and groups are expected to find IC roleplay ways to end conflict or IC grievances.
If the aggressors are defeated multiple times, they should rp accordingly and cease the story. If the victims suffer multiple defeats they should accept the demands asked of them.
Faction Rules:
Factions need to submit all their businesses/homes so turf can be clearly defined. Turf is a home/business and the very immediate vicinity around it. Castle rule applies only to defending against attacks.
It is a Factions duty to ensure if more than 6 members are present, that 6 are clearly defined as responders to any attacks not on their own turf. Factions should limit as much as possible, travelling in groups larger than 6 to allow conflict to occur fairly.
Factions should ensure all conflict is paced out, has real justification for the escalation, that rp is driving the conflict, that scenes all begin with verbal interaction, that demands are reasonable, that a faction is able to take a L as well as the W.
https://discord.com/channels/1145304254886707200/1165942191106039829