Executions, DM Raises, Expectation Management

[Pandemonium]

Executions

Executions are not done by DMs unless:

1. It warrants an immediate and harsh decision based on gameplay.
2. The Judiciary verdicts a sentence of death.

The Judiciary should be thinking in terms of simple and fair Justice, not ACLU-American sit in Jail for 15 years waiting for 15 appeals Justice before execution. It is clearly not an "anti-capital punishment" society, but neither do we want to create a Hammurabic Code Justice. We want a simple and even-handed sense of Justice, with room for character personality, bribing, Noble influence, and such to take place as long as the characters involved remain in the heart of Role Playing.

Mind you, that breaking the law for "Good" characters usually bears the same Justice that an "Evil" character bears. There is no difference really between someone who stabs a guard to rob him, or stabs a guard because they spit on him and don't want to be arrested. For the guard, he still got stabbed!!! Let's not get lost in the context of intent for now. Let's just focus on "the law is the law". To be fair to both evil and good players, there is a certain amount of equal distribution that must be given. It is highly unfair for the server and the judicial system to let "Good" characters get away with stuff because they are "good".

However, if intent can be proven to be lethal for one case, and not the other, then it is possible and most likely that the sentences will differ. Be sure that the DMs monitor the Judicial system carefully to ensure that no OOC favors are being done by any party. You the players are the Judges and the prosecutors, the defense councils, and the law-breakers! We only provide an atmosphere in which you can play. The other part we control are the Lords and nobles who oversee some of this, which our intent is to provide for you a certain level of persuasion based on character personalities and situational ethics.

Now, once a character is executed, the following applies:

1. The character MAY get raised, or they might Whitelight.
2. If the character is raised, they will be placed as hostile against all factions that enforce law in the city (which is now all of them.)
3. Any character who assisted in their raise, will be also placed on hostile to the peace official factions.

These rules apply for a 2 week period following the actual execution. After the 2 weeks is over, the guards will be allowed to continue to make life miserable for the returned character, but will not be allowed to FD them. A very liberal approach to harrassment and arrests will be given to the guards for previously executed characters. Absolutely -NO- griefing is allowed, there is a distinct and clear difference.

The immediate reaction you might think is harsh, but let's look at the reasons why we do this:

1. If you played a PC guard, and the person you just spent oodles of hours putting behind bars just gets up and walks away from a raise without any consequences, what is the point of playing or being a guard, or for that matter being executed?

2. If there were no other consequences to killing guards and doing whatever you wanted in front of them, then law in itself would be useless to enforce.

3. Because of the mechanical limitations on the game, and the lack of 24/7 DM presence, this measure is to give a little credit to "reality" and the fact that your characters actions have real and reasonable consequences for their actions in a generally good and law abiding civilization such as Arabel.

We are not punishing the player. The intent is to provide the player an opportunity to continue to play their character, but to do so in an environment that was created by their character's actions.

DM Events:

Some DMs choose to respawn, raise, or TR the characters that participated in a certain event. The flavor of the event, the circumstances surrounding the event, and the consequences of really brave/stupid actions on the part of the character, and DM preference all play a role in how/when/why characters are brought back to life.

Please do not confuse the two. One is a player driven event that is carried out by a DM to ensure fairness. The other is a DM related event where the DM sets the conditions and the circumstances that the players interact within.

Shoot, Move, Communicate

The key to happiness is expectation management. Communication of standards, expectations, and other aspects of this game should be very often, and very clear between players and DMs, and between players and players. It's okay to agree to disagree.

It's okay to win. We all like to win.

It's okay to lose. You don't have to win every single time you quest or are faced with a challenge. Characters have weaknesses and we as the DMs like to see characters role played according to their stats, that pleases us. What aggravates us is the "Superman" complex, the playing of characters well outside the range of their stats, and the absolute lack of respect towards the intentions of the game.

PvP rules are set aside in a different thread and I won't belabor them here.