GENERAL RULES:
- Keep in mind that these RP rules are subject to change at any time, and it is the player's burden to keep abreast of these changes. Furthermore, just because it isn't explicitly forbidden in the rules doesn't mean you can do whatever you wish- in a word: don't be a jerk.
- All posts are required to have a spoiler tag (titled along the lines of "GM Note", "Game Masters", etc.). If you have a private action or something to be said privately to the Game Masters (Ami, Kwando1313, Enthalpy), place it within said spoiler tags- but you may leave them empty if there is nothing you want to say and/or do privately.
- All GM spoiler tags will be responded to, whether or not they have content or not. These responses will also be in spoiler tags- each response marked with the player and/or character name it is intended for. If we respond to a blank tag, we will make a blank tag in response.
- To whisper, talk privately, or otherwise communicate with another player's character in a secret or otherwise private fashion, please utilize specific spoiler tags for that conversation. Mark these spoiler tags with the intended reading audience. For example, Player A may want to whisper to Player B, so s/z/he will make a spoiler tag marked "Player A and Player B" or "Player A's Character and Player B's Character". Only the indicated players of the players/characters indicated in the title of the spoiler tag may read the spoiler tag. Keep in mind that all Game Masters are allowed to read these as well.
- Please respond to all Game Master inquiries in a timely manner. Inability to do so will be met with warnings. Repeated offenses will be dealt with by sanctions regarding this RP.
- Please do not read any spoiler tags that aren't directed at you. We will be using the honor system, but keep in mind that part of this RP works on the anonymity of some actions and conversations. As such, if you are found reading spoiler tags that don't belong to you, the GM's will act accordingly with sanctions in regards to this RP.
- No speed posting- the act of two or more parties posting so often that other players will lose track of what is going on. The players will regulate this themselves for the most part. If it gets especially abusive, however, a GM may ask a player to wait for others to post. If abuse continues, GM's will intervene with further sanctions on the offending player(s).
- Consent!!! If any action you and/or your character does may have an enduring effect on another character physically/mentally, prevents a character from acting/speaking, or otherwise inhibits another character DO SO WITH CONSENT OF THE AFFECTED PLAYERS. If you believe someone has done something of this kind to you without consent, please contact the GM's and the Game Masters will handle it.
- Self-preservation instinct is present in all player characters. Excessive self-harm and/or suicide (inclusive of suicide-by-other-person) will not be allowed in this game. If your character is harming his/zher/herself, then there MUST be justifiable in-character/in-plot and with the approval of the Game Masters.
- A Game Master's word is the final word. If you disagree with what a Game Master, take it up with another GM. If the GM's agree on a ruling as a whole, it is the final word. If you believe that the Game Master team have done something abusive or rule-breaking, please ask a site moderator (Tap and Daniel are fairly active, and Meph, while less active, has been posting some lately) and/or Unas for help, and they will handle the matter for you.
- Activity: we encourage it. However, excessive inactivity in the RP will be met with a warning. Repeated offenses will be handled by sanctions regarding this RP.
- Animal Cruelty is expressly forbidden. Any action that harms a non-human animal will be immediately retconned by the GM's, the post will be deleted, and offending parties will be met with sanctions regarding this RP AND possible site mod staff actions.
- The game will follow the following flow of events. A Chapter will have three phases, and each phase may have one or more parts. Any part, phase, and/or chapter may last any number of in-game days, and are moved along by GM discretion.
- Chapter/Phase/Part Progression:
^^^ CHAPTER STARTS ^^^
[*] Phase "Normal Days- Free Time": A time to interact and relax- and plot.
- Part 1: A time of interaction between players, players and NPC's.
- Part 2: Monokuma's motive is given in some way, shape, or form.
- Part 3: Players once again interact with each other and NPC's. Murder applications are open during this time.
- Part 4: Murder application acceptance announced. Phase ends when a body is discovered.
[*] Phase "ABNormal Days- Investigation": The investigation phase! A time to deduce, obfuscate, and discover!
- Part 1: All doors (with only plot-sensitive exceptions) are unlocked, and players may freely roam the castle in search for clues. Testimony PM's are sent. Phase ends when all evidence is found by at least one non-murderer character.
- Part 2: If there is any inability to find clues for an extended period of time, the GM's will show which rooms still have evidence waiting to be found. This part is skipped if this isn't an issue.
- Part 3: The Game Masters determine the best possible schedule for the trial with the players, and announce it. Phase ends when the trial date is met.
[*] Phase "ABNormal Days- Trial": THE TRIAL OF THRILLS, CHILLS, KILLS!
- Part 1: Monokuma goes over trial procedure, and starts the conversation.
- Part 2: Players deliberate.
- Part 3: After a set amount of time, deliberations will be closed and voting will commence. Votes are sent in to the GM's by PM, and are decided by simple majority.
- Part 4: Announcement of correctness of verdict.
- Part 5: The execution. If the murderer has escaped notice, then s/he will also be able to have an AU ending wherein s/z/he escapes.
- Part 6: Final comments from players at the end of the trial, and a message from Monokuma if your chaperone decides it necessary. Chapter ends after Monokuma releases the students from the trial room.
NOTE: Don't worry about parts too much, I'm not going to dictate that they be followed exactly as stated, but each phase and chapter will move in accordance to events. This is just a general outline of what to expect.
MURDER APPLICATION RULES AND REQUIREMENTS:
- There will only be one murder in each chapter. Double-murders may only be committed when designated.
- Players will not make a murder application that makes finding the solution impossible or too improbable. Doing so will result in the rejection of your murder app.
- Guilt is determined by whomever directly kills the player. Third parties involved in a murder may not be the guilty party, and so cannot directly be involved in the murder or another player.
- Murder applications will be submitted to the Game Masters in private.
- Murder applications will be accepted and rejected as a whole without any changes from the GM's. We may or may not give reasons when we reject an application, but if there are reasons given when an app is rejected, the GM's will not accept that app until it meets the given conditions. However, all rejection notices will be given in a timely manner, even if there isn't a reason given for it. All acceptance and/or rejection of murder apps must have GM consensus.
- Murder applications are accepted on a first-come-first-serve basis. The first application deemed acceptable by the Game Masters will be the one used for that chapter.
- If there are no viable murder apps for an extended period of time, the GM's may pick the murderer and victim at random, creating the mystery themselves. This is ONLY an EMERGENCY MEASURE in response to excessive stagnation. In this case, sufficient warnings will be given to the players before we resort to this.
- My application...:
[*] MUST include the exact scenario of how the murder was planned.
[*] MUST include the exact scenario of how the murder was carried out (which may or may not differ from the plan).
[*] MAY include the exact scenario of how the murder was covered up.
[*] MUST include evidence that can and must be found by players before the trial occurs. Each piece of evidence must be properly categorized and labeled with a title (what the item or items are), and a short description (pertinent details about the item).
[*] MAY include testimony from other living characters. If so, I must describe exactly what the character witnesses. This information will be sent by the GM's to the intended character(s) at the beginning of the investigation phase. If my crime references something that happened earlier in the plot, a testimony must be made for involved parties (i.e. "Player A told Player B that s/he X one day before the murder". If X is heavily involved in the means, motive, opportunity- or is otherwise necessary to solve the crime- Player B must have testimony regarding X).
[*] MUST include HOW evidence and/or testimony fits together to solve the mystery.
[*] MUST include an in-character reason for doing so. This may be as simple as "the character snaps and has a moment of weakness", to "greed", to "revenge", to even "because I felt like it".
[*] MUST have evidence of a cover-up IF THERE IS ANY COVER-UP OF EVIDENCE. You may not unilaterally destroy and/or alter evidence, the body, the scene of the crime, etc. to cover your crime and expect people to solve it.
[*] IS FINAL. I recognize that after the crime is set up and the app is accepted, I (and any third party) am not allowed to hide, alter, and/or destroy ANY evidence for ANY reason. I am still allowed to argue and obfuscate the facts verbally, but I (nor any third party) may not inhibit the discovery of evidence.
- Confessions. Confessions will only be allowed with GM permission. And even then, only during the trial after the crime has been sufficiently solved.
INVESTIGATION PROCEDURE AND RULES:
- The acceptance of a murder application is publicly announced. After this time, players may go about their business until the body is discovered.
- The discovery of a body is defined as "two or more living characters- whom did not kill the victim- that visually see the body". The discovery is limited to non-murderers as you cannot discover something you've had a hand in making. Third parties, however, are exempt from this as long as they have not seen the murder committed.
- When a body is discovered, relevant testimonies will be distributed to all players via Private Message (or PM).
- When a body is discovered, the investigation phase begins. All doors will be unlocked- save for the bulkhead leading to the docking bay and/or any room deemed "off-limits" by Monokuma.
- The investigation phase ends (and the trial phase begins) when all pieces of evidence has been received by at least one non-guilty character. This will include testimony PM's being read.
- The trial date will be decided by consensus of the Game Masters, but we will endeavor to accommodate your schedules. Information regarding a set trial date will be sent to all players in some form or another (usually a post in the OOC thread and/or PM's) in at least three to seven days in advance.
- If there is a large amount of time elapsed without all evidence being found, the GM's will mark which rooms still have evidence needing to be found- but nothing else will be told to the players to keep things fair.
- All living, non-murdering, non-third-party players and/or characters will work together to find evidence. Keeping evidence from other characters through hiding, destroying, changing, or any other means is explicitly forbidden. A player's findings, deductions, thoughts, and feelings regarding evidence is still allowed to be hidden until the trial. Example: SHSL Blood Type Determiner isn't allowed to hide the blood splatter s/z/he finds, but is allowed to not share what type the blood is until the trial.
- No player is required to share testimony until the trial, although they are certainly encouraged to do so.
TRIAL PROCEDURE AND RULES:
- All trials will be held on a specific trial thread. When in use, the trial thread will be unlocked and the in-character thread will be locked. The OoC thread will always be unlocked for players, spectators, and game masters to post in for the duration of the game.
- If any one trial is broken up into several periods of a few hours instead of one block of a few hours, then recesses will be held where the in-character trial thread is locked until the court "reconvenes". Players, spectators, and game masters may still post in the OoC thread during this time, as the OoC thread won't be locked for the duration of the game.
- Players and characters absent during any necessary trial time that necessary to continue the trial at any given time will be bunnied (that is, controlled by the GM as an NPC) to help continue the trial in an expedient and efficient manner. Bunnying will be in effect until either the player arrives or the trial ends.
- Trials begin with Monokuma's opening statement (usually how the trials work), and then the rest of the allotted time will be dedicated to the players deliberating the evidence and testimony they've accumulated during the investigation phase.
- Once the deliberation time is up, players will vote via Private Message (PM) to the Game Masters (GM's). The vote will be decided by simple majority.
- While there isn't a "win condition" or "lose condition" per se, if the murderer successfully evades a guilty verdict, s/z/he will get an AU ending wherein s/z/he will escape while the other students are executed. Win or lose, the trial will end in the canon execution of the murderer, and the game will continue.
Third Party Rules:
- Third parties are defined as "a player whose character INTENTIONALLY changes the crime scene and/or evidence, and/or conspires with the murderer".
- Third parties MUST jointly send in their app with the murder app, with the consent of the player sending in the murder app, AND the murder app must include all information from the third party application.
- Third parties cannot be victims unless there is a double-murder allowed. Furthermore, the third party's player MUST consent to being murdered as well (even if the character does not).
- Third parties may NOT commit murder/suicide, nor are they allowed to accept guilt in place of the actual murderer.
- Once a third party colludes with a murderer, s/z/he is part of the crime for all intents and purposes (even if their characters do not "know" they are working together). THIS MEANS THAT THE THIRD PARTY IS NOT ALLOWED TO DIRECTLY HELP SOLVE THE CRIME UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THE INVESTIGATION AND TRIAL, UNTIL THE END OF THE TRIAL. However, the discovery of the third party's involvement by innocent parties may indeed lead to developments leading to the identification of the true culprit.
- AGAIN: CONFESSIONS ARE NOT ALLOWED. The only exception is if the other characters have sufficiently solved the crime, AND THE KILLER HAS THE GAME MASTER'S EXPRESSED APPROVAL.