OVERVIEW

Your primary source of Rules information when playing 3T is your in-game journal. It contains our 3T Ten Commandments (10Cs) which are the basic rules upon which this page is based. Nothing on this page overrides anything in the 10Cs.

This section should help to clarify anything left ambiguous in the 10Cs, give you an idea of the spirit of the 3T Rules and why we have them, and lays down a few general ground rules and guidelines. Please make sure you read all of this before you start to play. The excuse of "I didn't know I wasn't allowed to...." will not be valid. As in Real Life, ignorance is not a possible excuse.

Before you shudder to think that DMs will boot you out on a whim please understand that we take no pleasure in punishing innocent players, we enjoy PvP and player interaction. We like villianous rogue pickpockets. We do laugh when a rightous mage slays a villianous evil cleric. The problem is we have to try account for every possible situation. These rules are intended to cover that. So if you wish to engage in affairs and you are in any doubt, consult the 10Cs in-game. If it is still unclear come here and see if there is a clarification. If you still aren't sure then ask a DM for their advice/opinion – then you are covered should another DM think you have done something wrong. Mistakes happen, we are all human and the rules do deliberately leave some leeway in certain circumstances.

1. DUNGEON MASTERS

Do not argue with the decisions of any DM. If you disagree with any DM's decision, then you should contact DM Taroc in the first instance, who will then discuss it with the DM in question, and the matter will be resolved between the three of you. If the matter cannot be resolved or involves DM Taroc then DM Orion should be contacted. Do not involve any other DM's. DM Orion's decisions will be final.

DMs have a difficult job to do. Players sometimes break the rules, and DMs are then called upon to act. We will all do our best to make fair yet worthwhile decisions for the good of the server and its players in general.

The staff do not get paid to do this. There is no point arguing, shouting or swearing at us or otherwise wasting our time. We are all reasonable people, but as DM's we have a lot of abilities. We can monitor players invisibly, we can hear everything that goes on in the module, we have a database which logs many actions of players which can be accessed by DMs at any time. We get e-mails and messages from players, we keep each other informed about what is going on, including players making trouble. If you are caught doing something you should not and punished for doing so, or are just asked by a DM to do something (or not to so something) there is no point in denying it, or trying to argue your way out. Do not waste our time. Accept any punishment you are given and learn from it.

If (after taking some time out and thinking about why you were punished/spoken to for doing something) you disagree with any DMs decision, then you should contact DM Taroc who will then discuss it with the DM in question, And the matter will be resolved between the three of you. Do not involve any other DMs. If a resolution still cannot be reached DM Orion can be asked for his judgement in the matter. DM Orion's decisions will be final.

2. RESPECT

Show respect to the whole server. Do not abuse anyone by swearing at them, making offensive racial/personal/sexual/religious comments or threatening them. We will not tolerate any OOC (out of character) abuse of any kind - if you have a dispute with another player, take screenshots and consult a DM.

Disputes sometimes arise on the server – people disagree or have a different idea of what is or isn’t acceptable. That's just life. This is our advice :

Do not swear, make offensive political/racial/personal/sexual/religious comments or personally threaten anyone on the server for any reason. We will not tolerate any OOC (out of character) abuse of any kind - if you have a dispute with another player take screenshots and consult a DM.

The simple thing to remember is that while we are DM's, we are also players, and we have been players for a long time. We know what it is like to play on 3T. It is difficult - it was designed that way. Respect is the key - we are all reasonable people, unless you start swearing at us or wasting our time.

The three towns is a fantasy game, yes the rumors are true! If you have any personal issues with other people we ask you to leave them outside the server. We expect all players of all ages to behave respectfully and maturely towards others. This server is provided as a free service for -YOU- the public to enjoy at your leisure, we will not tolerate abuse/harassment of an OOC (out of character) nature over any channel, this will result in your immediate ban.

Three Towns is a family friendly module. Players of all ages play here, so please act with maturity, refraining from explicit sexual language or references in any language. This includes inappropriate names, Bios (character descriptions), shouts and so on. If you wish to use more mature language and references, please restrict it to party chat or tell, i.e. players you know well.

3. EXPLOITS

Do not abuse or fail to report exploits. If you find a method of making gold/XP/reputation or getting items/special abilities which could be considered cheating or unfair (your conscience should be your guide - if you aren't sure if its wrong, then it probably is. You must report it to a DM either in game or by email (addresses on the website). Do not inform other players. If we are feeling generous, you may even get a reward. We do not have any patience with exploiters.

Three Towns is a custom made module. We do not have the time, nor is it possible, to test every section of the game for all circumstances. On 3T we define an exploit as either a bug which grants players an advantage further than that intended by the system's designer, or to abuse certain acknowledge games mechanics for unfair advantage. Some common examples particularly applicable to PvP:

- Area Transitions (ATs): ATs are a necessary evil in NWN. They serve their purpose, but they allow players to disappear from sight, and to appear without warning. In general we define AT abuse as anything which involves repeated use (spamming). This includes casting Persistent (i.e. With duration, as opposed to instantaneous) Area of Effect (AoE) spells directly onto ATs (you cannot know who is coming through the AT, nor is it fair for them to appear in the centre of an AoE soup without warning), or repeatedly entering ATs in order to lose a pursuer or gain free sneak attacks. Both of these are examples of exploiting the mechanics of ATs.
- Setting Hostile: If you do not set someone hostile before attacking them then you are gaining the unfair advantage that their offensive spells will not correctly ffect you. You must set hostile before attacking someone, however shortly before that might be. Providing when you start slinging/swinging they are set hostile, that's fine.
- Greater Sanctuary: This spell has a bug (among several) where it will sometimes not cancel correctly when you attack another player. This means you can freely slaughter your opponent and they are totally unable to attack you back. If you use GS during PvP (which you may do in order to escape, rebuff, heal etc) you must not attack until it has expired or otherwise been successfully removed, and you can be attacked.
- Logging to avoid death or regain spells: Pure exploitation - do not do it. Make sure you are out of combat and well away from any enemies before logging off.

4. SHOUT CHANNEL

Do not abuse the shout channel. "Abuse" means anything that the entire server does not need or want to hear. Examples of non-abuse - party requests, items sells, important announcements. Examples of abuse - general conversation, swearing, insulting comments, anything that could easily be sent using tell, party or DM channel instead.

This is fairly self explanatory. RP shouts are permitted providing they are not spammed to the point of annoying other players. Likewise the odd wisecrack can be fun – but keep it friendly and clean. OOC disputes in particular have no place on the shout channel. Take it to tells and if necessary screenshot and consult a DM.

If you think someone is abusing the shout channel do NOT shout back at them. Send them a polite tell asking them to be quiet, to use party chat or whatever is suitable. Only DMs should be making shouts for players to stop shouting, as they actually have the authority to enforce it.

5. PLAYER VS PLAYER

There are specific rules for what is and is not allowed in PvP. Note PvP includes all hostile actions such as taunt, hold spells, curse song, Pickpocket etc. PvP is only allowed if you have a valid reason for doing so. All valid reasons will involve some sort of positive choice or interaction between the 2 characters. Interaction can involve actions or words, the important thing is that there is a choice on the part of the person approached.

For example:

- Joining a guild or PvP team is a positive choice. If your guild is at war this means you are liable to be attacked.
- Stealing loot bags is interaction by action and the choice is to ignore the theft or attack the person taking your loot.
- Another player drawing enemies onto you, deliberately or accidentally, is interaction by action (or lack of action, or lack of care) and a valid reason for initiating PvP.
- Taxing an area invites PvP upon the taxer.
- Refusing to pay a tax when demanded, while also insisting on passing through the area being taxed is interaction by words and actions and valid reason for PvP.
- Comments and emotes which may offend (e.g. “Pike Off!!”) are interaction and invite PvP. Failing to respond to a character's presence can warrant being attacked for rudeness (beware where you go AFK and for how long!)
- Killstealing is an obvious reason for PvP.
- The above list is not exhaustive!!

Note these rules mean that while evil characters probably have little trouble in finding reason to PvP (and therefore Good character little difficulty in finding evildoers to fight), if you wish to avoid PvP you can do so by being co-operative, following some fairly simple rules and generally avoiding giving someone a reason. But PvP is a part of 3T, which most of us enjoy, and ultimately you should not expect to evade PvP altogether without considerable effort to avoid it.

If you think you have been attacked without valid reason this is the procedure that MUST be followed:
1. Send a POLITE tell the other person asking what reason they had.
2. State clearly whether you agree or disagree with the reason and if you disagree why.
3. Try to resolve this between players , for example refunding the 'snatch' and giving an apology should make amends for most mistaken kills , NOTE you do not usually lose XP for PvP kills (PKs).
4. If you are ignored or, the other party is aggressively rude or you cannot agree if the reason was valid, then scry for a DM. If no DM responds e-mail DM Taroc with full details and screenshots showing you have followed the procedure.

Pickpocket:
Due to the game mechanics pickpocket remains slightly different. You do not need a reason to PP someone but any attempt to PP gives anyone a reason to attack you. PP is also level restricted - characters level 15 and under may not PP effortless and Easy opponents, characters Over level 15 may not PP effortless opponents.

It is not acceptable to logout and bring your high level character on to serve vengeance. This will not be tolerated by the DM team.

The Three Towns believe that some of the best monsters out there are PCs. They are unpredictable, they change their tactics, sometimes they even run when it makes sense to do so. They add intelligence to the dangers that are found in the Three Towns. So, be a monster, it is good for the Towns, it is good for the community. But don't be a jerk. Give others a challenge and take on the challenge. Be the hunter and the hunted.

6. DISARM

Do not use "Disarm" to steal weapons from players. If you disarm someone and either of you die and respawn you should return the weapon to them. This should be done immediately, without PvP, in a non PvP zone or via a 3rd party.

Again fairly straightforward. If a DM is online feel free to ask them if they will return the item in question.

7. PICKPOCKET

Do not abuse Pickpocket - Any time you steal an Item you may get bonus gold dependent on your skill and the items value. However you must treat this as if you killed the character for the purpose of griefing rules, i.e. you may not steal from them again for 24 hours unless their actions invite it.

Due to the game mechanics pickpocket remains slightly different. You do not need a reason to PP someone but any attempt to PP gives anyone a reason to attack you. PP is also level restricted - characters level 15 and under may not PP effortless and Easy opponents, characters Over level 15 may not PP effortless opponents.

- You may only steal one item from each character each 24 hours. (unsecured items do not count).
- All Quest rewards and items required to complete quests MUST be returned. As a PP you are responsible for arranging this, whilst doing so you may not be attacked , but you must not PP the original victim or his companions whilst doing so. You may use a third party such as a DM if you wish to retain your anonymity.
- You may not Pickpocket whilst using Greater Sanctuary due to the bugged nature of the spell and lack of opportunity for the victim to retrieve their item.

PP can be attempted in any area that allows it. The game engine will not allow PP in a No-PvP area, so the Towns and settlements around the world which are No-PvP areas do not allow PP either. Any other location is allowed. PP can be attempted while visible or invisible (either through stealth or spell effects).

Do not abuse pick pocket - Any time you steal an item you may get bonus gold dependent on your skill and the items value. However you must treat this as if you killed the character for the purpose of greifing rules, i.e. you may not steal from them again for 24 hours unless their actions invite it. In short you may pick pocket someone until you get an item. It is treated as a PvP act

Just as a note: 3T has a system in place that detects and records all PP attempts, and saves this information to the database. Any DM can check these records in-game, so it will be very easy to see who is PP'ing and how much. If we see you have been abusing the skill, we will take action - which could range from explaining the rules to you in small words you can understand, to an outright ban, depending on the size of the abuse.

The pick pocket skill is considered a PvP act. As such it is subject to the basic PvP rules i.e. No Griefing. If you do get caught you are FAIRGAME and can be killed by any means necessary for the victim to recover their goods or gold. They may not of course grief the thief, and if the timer runs out they're out of luck. That doesnt of course mean they wont kill said thief in the future.

8. TWINKING

Do not "Twink" characters or allow yourself to be "Twinked". This means an 'out of range' character (3 levels up to 15th and 5 thereafter) may not help a lower level character kill enemies or complete quests that they would not be able to kill/complete otherwise, nor may they hand out items/gold for little or no reason. Please note that this applies to your own characters, and includes an 'out of range' character resurrecting your fallen party. An exception is made for single rescue attempts by 'out of range' characters played by other players who happen to be nearby. Logging alternative characters of your own in order to raise is permitted, only if within level range.

Twinking is a somewhat contended issue. We appreciate that many players like to help others either through natural generosity or because they like to Role Play as such. The twinking rule exists in order to maintain module difficulty of the module, but also to shift the focus from player vaults to individual characters. For example, if you have many characters of different levels this could be used to twink yourself while newer players have no similar option. This can be especially unfair in a PvP situation, or if you repeatedly resurrect your own party or friends by swapping characters.

Hence the rule above. Some examples:
- It is OK for a high level to offer services to low levels nearby, providing they are not approaching quest completion whereby helping would virtually complete the quest for them (e.g. Clearing a final room or last approach). Be a little wary not to loiter too long, help kill enemies or res repeatedly as this becomes effectively 'babysitting' and therefore twinking.
- You may swap to another character to attempt a rescue on your fallen party (we know this can be fun sometimes) but it must be within level range of the highest level character in the party.
- Buffing very low levels excessively with high level buffs is dodgy ground – please keep buffs sensible for the level. A buff or two in passing is fine, a complete set of level 40 buffs lasting 30 minutes is not.
- There is a tool called 'Merchant's Codex' available from the Blackmarkets. Use this as a guide for setting reasonable prices for items. Selling items below this amount when selling to low level characters may be considered twinking. Within level range we are far more lenient especially when partied, so feel free to share loot however you wish among party members.

9. MULING

Do not transfer/mule items/cash between your characters. You may sell items to a merchant for another character to buy, provided you have not bought the item with the specific intention to sell to another of your characters.

If we catch people muling/transferring gold, sundries or items we will delete the items, probably remove XP or levels, and in extreme cases delete the character(s) in question depending on the situation. If the item is a particularly rare drop which you would like to sell to an alternative character then you may ask a DM to help sell it, probably at the cost of a 'safe transfer' fee. Dms will only do this for rare items, otherwise you can use a merchant - selling to a merchant with one character then buying with another is allowed, but please do not deliberately set this up.

10. GRIEFING

Do not grief. By definition we see Griefing as repeatedly attacking any character, player or group by performing any hostile action including feats and abilities such as pickpocket/taunt - regardless of the outcomes.

Note - “regardless of outcome”. Even if someone keeps beating you, if you are the one repeatedly going back to wherever they are and attacking them, then it is YOU who are disrupting their game,, thus YOU are griefing them.

In the interests of fun and revenge we try not to be too specific, but hunting the same player down several times in 24 hours, or repeatedly day after day would most likely be considered griefing if they object to it. Just be sensible about it and keep civil with the players behind the characters – even if the characters are mortal enemies the players can still co-operate and show respect.

Spawn camping: this is a specific form of grief play, when you kill a character you may not wait for them right beside their spawn point, they must be given an opportunity to go elsewhere if they wish.

OTHER ERRATA AND INFO

De-leveling and DM intervention with your characters : Mistakes made to your character are not the responsibility of the DM team to correct, we will only treat characters that have faults as a direct result server crashes or specific issues mentioned to the players in module updates/changes. If you are bored with your char, or feel like a change then please do not ask us to remove or give levels to you. These requests will not be granted. As a general rule DM team, when feeling considerate, will delevel a character but no restore the levels.

The Three Towns has a perma-death system: If you lose all 5 lives and return to level 4 as a direct result of your own poor insight there is nothing the DM team will do for you. Some expectional circumstances will be looked into following a full account of what happend and others confirming your story.

NAMES POLICY

3T CHARACTER & ACCOUNT NAME POLICY

1. ACCOUNT USERNAMES AND PASSWORDS

a. NWN account usernames may not contain 'unconventional' characters and must not be vulgar, obscene, ethnically, racially or sexually offensive or otherwise

inappropriate. 'unconventional' means any account name that causes faults with characters on a players account via the database or with the database itself.
b. 3T players are responsible for protecting the confidentiality of their account information. Any use of a players account by another individual is the responsibility of the account holder. The player is responsible for the behavior of others who use his or her account. Therefore, players are strongly urged not to share accounts or account information with others.


2. CHARACTER NAMES

a. Valid player character names:

o Must be at least 3 characters in length.
o Cannot exceed 30 characters in length.
o May only contain the characters A-Z, a-z, - (single hyphen) and ' (single apostrophe).
o Must not be prefaced by the letters 'DM' or in any way attempt to impersonate a DM avatar or DM account.
o May not contain double-spaces or spaces at the beginning and end of either first or last names.
o I'm sure there were some other funky characters players could use but dont recall which work. They go here.
o Must be unique and may not appear to emulate the name of another character by minor alterations. ie "Bob Bobbet" & "B0[/b]b Bobbet"
o Must not be designed such that the exact spelling of the name is difficult to discern i.e. iLi apearing as |||

* b. Character names may not:

o Impersonate or parody any representative of 3T or creature contained in that world.
o Impersonate or parody an NPC type from the 3T game world.
o Reflect, glorify or emulate any real-world group or organization, terrorist society, criminal elements, discriminating organizations or their leaders and figureheads. This includes the use of names of real-world military, political or religious groups.
o Be obscene, vulgar, sexually explicit, offensive, hurtful, harmful, promote drugs, profane, anti-gay, and ethnically, racially or sexually offensive or impart any real-world hostility toward a specific nationality, race or religion.

Note: This list is not all-inclusive. Other names may be deemed inappropriate at a DM’s discretion.

3. VIOLATIONS

a. If a name is deemed inappropriate the usual action is to delete the character. However, DM’s may be able to change the character’s name in some circumstances. This is at the discretion the DM and server admin based on, but not limited to, account and player history and the severity of the violation. There is no guarantee that the name will be changed. Only character names that are deemed as inappropriate are eligible for a possible name change. Names will not be changed for any other reason.

b. Blatantly offensive names created in direct violation of the 3T player account and Character Name Policy will not be eligible for name change under any circumstances. These characters will be immediately deleted upon discovery and sinbins will follow.

c. The following guidelines will apply in the event that approval is given for a name change under the scope of this policy:

o The new name must be unique and may not violate any of the rules set forth in this policy. In some cases DM’s might choose a new name for the character if they are unable to contact the player. In that event, if they are unhappy with the name chosen the player may request to select a new name.
o Age/Level or any other factor of the account or character is will not invalidate this policy in any way. If you get caught at 40th level its because you wernt spotted earlier.
o Player controlled familiars and companions in 3T are also subject to these rules and policies. Players may not create names that violate the policies outlined herein. A simple delevel/relevel in such instances will suffice to fix a single familiar/companion name.


DM TEAM – May 2008