Policies

Rules & Policies

Your one-stop shop for game policy and staff desires. Links to specific policy pages are included below in the appropriate sections. For transparency's sake, a list of basic staffing requirements is included at the bottom of the page.

NOTE: We're all grown-ups. The rules have been written with that in mind, and where punishment is necessary, staff prefers to thwap the abuser, not every user.

While it is not a policy, per se, all staff-created HTML 256 color has been chosen based upon the information in this chart, to correspond with non-eyeblinding ANSI 16 colors. This was chosen as a courtesy to those whose clients do not display colors in 256.

General Policies

• Abuse. Definitions thereof and related rules/punishments.
• Age. Player and character age limits. 18 and up.
• Alt Limits. We're flexible. In essence, 4 higher xp alts, infinite low xp alts.
• Breaking Points policies.
• Building policies.
• Book List. List of books in use on this game.
• COI. Conflict of interest.
• Corrections. We won't be doing them. Use CG and +xps wisely! Staff will not modify sheets after spends are made except where absolutely necessary.
• Description policies.
• Equipment policies.
• FAQ. Questions staff is frequently asked, or anticipates being asked.
• Frailties. Policies regarding these.
• Holdings. Policies regarding shared builds.
• House Rules policies.
• PK policies.
• Punishments. List of standard punishments. What they are and why.
• Rentals. Policies on pre-built housing rental.
• Services available, as examples of what certain levels of Allies, Status, Contacts, etc. will accomplish.
• Size descriptions for easy access.
• Stat Raises. Staff's stance on raising stats/XP spending guidelines.
• Wiki policies.
• XP Tiers. A way to give you lots of xp and alts without messing up game balance!
• XP. How we handle giving out xp.

Changelings Creation Guidelines. Located on the Changeling page. Dreams. Policies and guidelines for dreams and dreamweaving. Goblin Contracts. List of available Goblin Contracts, guidelines to creation. Goblin Fruit. List of available fruit, with descriptions and policies. Goblin Vows. List of sample vows, with guidelines and policies. HBCs. Hedge Beast Companions, guidelines thereof. Hedgespun. Our Hedgespinning policies and how-tos. Hollow Gardens. How to buy/use these. Mask and secrecy! This is a live world full of mortals! Mien Guidelines. How inhuman should you look at any given Wyrd level? Wings? Tails? Horns? Pledges. What are pledges? How do you craft them? Pledge Policy. How can you see your pledges in game? Tokens. What are these? How do you make them? Trifles. Ditto. Gewgaws. Ditto. Wyrd Progression. Guidelines for what staff will accept in terms of going up in Wyrd. Psychics Merits located on main Merits page. We use a blend of GMC and SS, as GMC cut out a lot of psychic powers, and staff preferred to keep them. Please see the FAQ page for our stance on blending psychic and thaumaturgical powers.

Thaumaturges Merits located on main Merits page. As Thaumaturges were not a part of GMC, the merits are derived from SS. Since staff preferred to differentiate between types of Mortal+ characters, glomping it all together per GMC looseness was not desired. Traditions available and relative local populations, opinions thereof, availability of teachers. Mortals Attribute Limits - If you are a mortal/+ of any stripe, you are a human being. Chances are good you do not spend eight hours a day honing your mind and body to maintain it. More than three Attribute stats at 5 will be heavily scrutinized, no matter how much XP you have, and getting each and every other Attribute to 4, while not technically breaking the rules, will get gently rolled eyes. ;) The +xps command will not allow anyone with a mortal/+ template to purchase Attribute dots up to 5 once it can see that there are already three at 5 set on their +sheet. You will need to +request them from staff, with justification. Skill Limits - Zippo. While Attribute min-maxing stretches credulity, skills are just what you apply yourself to learn. If you're a regular scholar of all things skill-tacular, go for it.

Staff

There are two types of staffmembers on Fate's Harvest: ST Staff and Wiz Staff.

• ST Staff are players who have proven that they can and will run stories, and who have volunteered to help staff keep the world alive. We wantses them. Yes. All the preciouses! Storytelling Staff has one job, and one job alone: tell stories. They can see +sheets, and can answer +jobs, but only relating to the stories they are telling.
• Wiz Staff are the rule-makers, the arbitrators, the coders, the primary storytellers. In all likelihood there won't be very many of these at any given time.

Note: Annapurna is the game owner. Complaints about other staffmembers may be @mailed to her if need be. Complaints about Annapurna...well. @mail those to her, too. If you're polite, she promises to reciprocate.

ST Staff: Naming Convention - Storytellers, authors.

ST Staff: Monikers - First letter is coloured. Any colour.

Wiz Staff: Naming Convention - Mountains! Pick a mountain anywhere.

Wiz Staff: Monikers - Full name is coloured. Any colour or combination thereof.

• Equal treatment - If you can't be objective, you shouldn't be staff. All players, no matter how cool or infuriating, need to be treated with the same degree of respect. If you're always giving Good Stuff to the people you like, and Bad Stuff to the ones you don't, it will be noticed, and you will be warned.
• Wiki Page - All staffmembers must have a wiki page including their usual 'office hours' (when you expect to be around), any plots they are currently running/have run in the past, and any NPCs they are willing to play on request.
• Transparency - All staffmembers are required to post a list of alts on both their wiki page and in their +finger.
  • You CAN still play your regular PCs, with the caveat that your PCs should not be taking part in plots YOU run.
  • If your PC is in the Changeling sphere, s/he/it may not lead the Freehold while you are actively staffing. If you would like to take a staff vacation for a season, then it is peachykeeneriffic.
  • Do not fill jobs sent from your own PCs. If it is a build job, have someone else sign off on it, even if you do the building yourself.
• Storytelling guidelines - The game is not a tabletop campaign, but storytelling is storytelling. Think of it as a TV series. It is intended to be a continuous world-story, built up and sustained by smaller episodic arcs. Invite players to explore certain aspects of the world, give them adventure, and close the arc. Give them the satisfaction of knowing they are a part of the larger story. Build on the details of past arcs to keep the world alive. Consequences aren't a bad thing!

Staff storytelling's goal is to ST the setting, to give players world-arcs to bounce off of, and to give the game a sense of continuity and structure. One of STing Staff's jobs is to help players coordinate their own stories, within the larger framework of the world. Don't be afraid to gently nudge a player if their idea doesn't mesh well with the theme.

STs are expected to have notes accessible to all staff members in the event of emergency substitutions. Paperwork isn't the most fun thing in the world, but it keeps things organised if a kid gets sick right before a major event is run. If you'd rather postpone than have someone else try to interpret your work, that's fine, but notes still need to exist.

• Responsibilities - While staffers are expected to have a working knowledge of nWoD mechanics/SS/Changeling and be able to pick up the slack if others aren't around, in practical terms, not every staffer will be an expert in every subject. These responsibilities are written with that in mind.
  • Answer +jobs. If it is assigned to you, please try to respond within a day, even if that response is only to warn the player that it will take a few days to mull it over.
  • Run Stories. Another no-brainer.  :) We're the STs! Some of this is covered in other sections, but really, seriously, staffpeople are expected to ST things regularly unless they were hired solely for some other responsibility. You aren't going to be fired if your brain needs to lie fallow for a while, but the goal here IS to keep the world alive, and that takes presence.
  • Arbitrate. People are people, and people don't always like other people, or behave well. Staffpeople are responsible for USING THE PUNISHMENT GUIDELINES for ALL PLAYERS. There is a standard list. It is a standard for a reason. If you feel something someone has done does not have a list equivalent, please tell Annapurna and let her handle it. She is the game owner, able and willing to be the source of kvetching and rarrr whyyyy?! from players. Part of the job description.
• Activity and absences - Be around and available at least a few times a week. Reality happens, busy-ness happens: tell staffpeople when it is going to happen so they can compensate for your workload. It takes 30 seconds to log on and write a note... :) If you are handling +jobs which need immediate attention, hand them off to another staffer. To be very clear, if you consistently flake with no warning and no explanation, that WILL get you put on mental poop lists, and eventually will see you gently removed from staff. Staffing is a volunteer responsibility, but it is still a responsibility.
• Behavior - No-brainer: don't abuse your privileges. Don't stalk people. Don't hound people with Bad Stuff just because you don't like them. That is harassment, and a one-way ticket away from being staff. Treat players the way you would want to be treated by a staffer; don't yell at them, don't tell them their ideas are stupid, even if you think they are. If you have a problem with a +job and don't think you're capable of being objective, tag another staffer.
• NPC-Handling - Every staffer must post a public list of which NPCs they are willing and able to run on request. A staff-only list of NPC traits, history, PC contacts etc. must also be created for any cases where the NPC is needed and you aren't there. Staff will not play NPCs belonging to other staffers without permission, and only if meetings for some reason absolutely cannot be rescheduled.