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What is "High Fantasy" RP? Why don't you just call it Medieval?

'High Fantasy' denotes that our world is filled with supernatural beings and creatures, good as well as evil, and is set in a vague quasi-historical time of legends and magic that draws heavily from the works of Tolkien, Gary Gygax, Terry Pratchett, the Brothers Grimm, Weis & Hickman, and R.A. Salvatore just to name a few.  You might notice a few other parallels:  The Wild West, Asian influences and, most strikingly, ideas and concepts that belong to the 21st century.

Though the Sword and Sorcery-style setting has much in common with Europe's Dark Ages, our panel of experts assures us that this is not the case. Using an arbitrary date of 1250, the things that would not be in existence is a long and troubling one: stainless steel, trousers, corsets, carriages, prescription eyeglasses, city guards, spinning wheels, silverware..... the list goes on and on.

And of course, we are overlooking the most obvious fact: There were no elves, gnomes, dragons, goblins, orcs, or anything of that nature during the middle ages, either. Hence, we rely on fiction and our own imaginations to populate our world, and only use history as a reference point, while mixing in selected themes borrowed from steam punk, sci-fi, and unexpected periods of history to create a unique 'feel' that is not done justice by the simple label of "Mediaeval".

Can I use my Dungeons and Dragons character?

Yes.... and no.

Though our setting has a lot in common with many tabletop gaming environments, the are key differences that don't really allow a player to drop their character right into Senesse and expect things to go smoothly. For instance, the power-levels in Dungeons and Dragons are too extreme for this setting. A level 7 cleric would be mistaken for a powerful demigod in our setting for his range of spells and Christ-like miraculous power over life and death. We have discovered that you need much less magic and superhuman feats if you are simply clever about how you use what you have. Example? A Terrasque was once driven off by the primal telepathic suggestion of easy food in the (nonexistent) next town over, and enough people causing it annoyance that it decided Senesse wasn't worth eating.

And there's one more problem: Most Fantasy Games only allow you to choose among a few core classes that they've decided are suitable to dungeoneering, which is fine for a six person campaign, but gets to be monotonous when you have thirty or so characters all divided amongst those rare and highly unlikely professions. Remember that it's a city, not a dungeon. Druids and other nature-buffs would avoid a city altogether, and most people who consider themselves 'adventurers' would stay only a night or two before embarking on the next adventure.

How to deal with this?
(The answer is not "Everyone is a Rogue".)

If you're really committed to bringing in an existing gaming character, we suggest taking the following actions: Powering them down a bit (you needn't give up life experiences and simple intelligence and strength-- it's the extraordinary superhuman abilities that are unrealistic for Senesse), think about their reasons for coming to live in Senesse, and consider their skill-set and give them a new profession that suits this setting (a fighter would become a soldier or mercenary, a rogue would become a pickpocket or hustler, and wizards often find themselves sponsored by wealthy families and are at their beck and call for any of their magical needs, or simply freelance). The list goes on and on when you ask how to break out of the shell of conventional Fantasy Gaming, you simply need to ask.

Do I have to register my character?

Nope. We just ask that you don't use characters from existing novels, comics, movies, or any other media that you don't have the rights to. For example, when Gandalf wanders into the Inn, we have a problem. Also, please avoid creating characters that are obvious rip-offs of existing characters. Wizards named Blandalf dressed in grey with long, flowing white beards that arrive with a group of hobbits are not allowed. Got it? Good.

I have a really interesting idea for a character's race, can I play it?

You can be literally anything. You are not limited to races common in tabletop gaming, or by anything else. HOWEVER, we will caution you that your fellow patrons will get bored and annoyed with you if most of your rp deals exclusively with the angst and difficulty associated with being a member of that race. Additionally you'd better have a very good reason for being the way you are; whether by birth, race, curse or magical mishap, "Just Because" is never a very convincing excuse. You will also have to consider why this character now finds themselves in a bustling port town and adapt accordingly.

Additionally, we ask that you be mindful that there is already an extremely rich history in existence here, and to please ask around to see if your character will be stepping on the toes of pre-existing storylines, especially if you are dealing with a character idea who will have cosmic implications regarding world mechanics.  Some of these complications have been described in detail on the Character Creation page.

A Few Guidelines When Creating a Name for Your New Character

1. No Copyrighted Material. Even if it's an obscure character from someone else's work, it's still plagiarism (or fan fic) and this is not the place for that. Even if you use the surname "Baggins" and claim to be Bilbo Baggins' distant cousin who was never mentioned in any of Tolkien's works, it's still a no-no. Yes, even if it's obscure, we'll notice. Please don't.
2. Names that include non-alphabetical characters are right out. There will be no "Gr3gory", no "R@se", and no "//33/11". None. Names that include glottal stops and hyphenated surnames are, naturally, an exception.
3. Please refrain from names that are merely descriptive compound words. No one is likely to actually name their child "Darkangel Wolfslayer", "Lovelorn Lightelf", or "Oneglove Moonwalker". Adding an 'a' to the end to make the name 'feminine' is still in strict violation of good taste. (The same thing but in Japanese won't win you any friends either.)
4. One of our favorite sites for actual names that range from the familiar to the unpronounceable is Kate Monk's incredibly vast and diverse Dictionary of names from around the world http://tekeli.li/onomastikon/

How does time work? Do I have to learn new names for months and stuff?

A day in real life is a day for our characters, and you can still call the first month of the year 'January'. Just like it's easiest for our "common language" to be English, it's easiest for us to stick to our own modern calendar. There are always exceptions, though. You may be in the middle of an rp and have to go afk unexpectedly-- go ahead and 'freeze' your characters where they are and continue later. When you start again, you don't have to pretend that a few days or a week went by. Just pick up where you left off and don't worry about it. You'd be surprised how much time really doesn't matter. Likewise, if you'd like to celebrate modern holidays, you had better have a character-appropriate reason for celebrating.

Do I need to speak all Shakespearian and stuff?

We ask that you don't. Shakespeare knew how to use his language, and you, ostensibly, know how to use yours. Please stick with what you are good at: modern English.

What's with these acronyms? It's like you people are speaking another language!

Beyond your very basic set of internet acronyms (brb, lol, stfu) the roleplay community, and RDI specifically, has some special terms that we use as shorthand.

IC - Literally, In Character. This describes anything penned while you are portraying the fictional character that you have brought to the table. It includes both dialogue and narrative.

IC Room - The In Character Room. In our case, this means #RDI.

OOC - Literally, Out Of Character. This is anything and everything that you talk about that is not in the voice or in the narrative of your character. This includes instances wherein you might talk about your character, reflecting on their qualities and divulging secrets that no one In Character might know about in the OOC room; but it's considered bad form to take information discussed OOC and use it IC-- that is, suddenly endowing your character with the knowledge that he or she shouldn't have.

OOC Room - The Out Of Character Room. In our case, #RDIOOC.

Senesse - The IC seaside town where most of the action of the RDI chat happens. See Maps for more details.

Period - This won't come up too often, but it generally means "In the period between 1000 AD and 1600 AD", also known as the "Middle Ages". Obviously we don't stick too closely to the Middle Ages, so use it as a concept to start from rather than a strict rule.

PC - Player character, a character IC that is exclusively played by a single person.

NPC - Non-Player character, these characters flesh out the world around your characters, the 'everybody else' aspect of Roleplay.  There are many NPCs detailed in the Dramatic Personae section of the website.

I log in to your room, and NO ONE TALKS! What the heck is going on? Is the Inn closed for the night?

Step One: Don't Panic. Seriously. We're a small community of chatters and writers, and most of us have to sleep at some point, go to work, attend school, and maybe squeeze in some of this 'life' thing you've heard so much about.

Why are they still logged in if they're not at their computers? Good question; many answers. Some people like to read any roleplay they missed. Others like to have logs of what's happened in OOC. One guy-- I kid you not-- is lulled to sleep by his computer fan and will sometimes sleep at his desk. At no point did I promise you we were normal.

But why is there no RP when you're logged on? Here's the deal: technically? We're worldwide. We have folks around the globe who log on to participate in RDI. But that's purely technical. The most active hours for roleplay and OOC chat coincide with United States afternoon and evening. Why? Because most of us are yanks, scattered from New York to Seattle, with the occasional Canadian thrown in for good measure.

For those of you who only have a very specific timeframe to be online, and happen to live in Finland, Kazakhstan, Kuala Lumpur, or any number of other countries that Americans couldn't find on a map if it was tattooed on their own bottoms-- we're terribly sorry. We're asleep as you're reading this.

What's an NPC? Why isn't anyone serving me my drink at the inn? I asked really nicely!

An NPC stands for "Non-Player Character", and serve to fill in all of the essential functions of a believable world: shopkeepers, waitresses, folks in the street. Since there is no-one 'running' the story, you must provide your own NPC characters. Please be reasonable in their conduct, and respect the existing NPCs that we have established here by playing them accordingly.

What do you mean I can't kill the barkeep?

It seems that at least once in a roleplayers lifetime, killing NPC's seems to be a great idea.  While this might work in other settings, spicing up your roleplay with random acts of murder and theft are a sure way to imprisonment and execution.

Senesse employs a fearsome corps of guards, that will have no compunctions about apprehending and jailing your character. The severity of the punishment depends upon the severity of the crime; for example, a murder would evict a life sentence and possible hanging, while smashing the window of the Red Dragon Inn could merely be a hefty fine.

Players, and their characters, must use discretion. If a murder is performed in a back alley, with no witnesses and nothing to tie the character to the crime, then there could be no legal response. Likewise, a clever pickpocket that aroused no suspicion in their victim could get away with their crime, especially in a less-than-populated area. HOWEVER! If a victim of a mugging is still in fit enough condition to relate an accurate description of their assailant to the guards, you must assume that the next time your character is spotted by any guards, he will be stopped for questioning, and the guards do make regular patrols. 

An assault on a guard of Senesse is considered an offense punishable by death. If a character attempts to resist arrest, guards are allowed to and have no second thoughts about using lethal force to subdue said character. In addition, a character that repeatedly harasses or insults the guards would be more likely to have more violence brought to bear on them.

Guards are human(oid), and subject to human qualities such as desire for revenge. They are not mindless automatons.  If a situation that requires the attention of the guards comes up, and the player does not wish to assume that their character is jailed, fined, or killed: An Op or Half-Op will generally step in to play the guards. A senior roleplayer may also play the guards, at that player's discretion.

Is there anywhere else to live and work in town but the Inn?

It's wonderful you asked that, because there happens to be hundreds of houses, rooms, apartments, etc, that are not the Inn, many of which are rentable. It's a CITY after all. Just please, come up with something. Why go through the trouble of setting up a non-Inn residence? Because the Inn is like any hotel in that it charges a LOT more per night than your average room and board. Seen what a hotel room costs these days? Yeah. Like that. You'll run out of money really quickly if you try to live there.

Jobs can be found all over town; shops, farms, and offices are always hiring. Ask other patrons for help if you're completely dumbfounded.

What is "Godmoding"? Why can't I do it?

Godmoding is a shorthand for writing in "God Mode". You're not God. You can't decide how their character is affected by your actions. See The Rules for further information.

You can have Gods (a fairly important thing if your character is deeply religious), but please treat them as distant entities who do not directly influence day-to-day character interactions. Similarly, God-like "epic" characters are discouraged because they tend to overpower existing characters who may have little-to-no defense against such forces if disagreements come to a violent end... but as with everything, the OPs are more than willing to work with you if you've got a stellar idea.

How prevalent is magic?

The world at large is at low-to-mid level magic, and most things are done by hand or by simple machine; most of the magic outside of Senesse is used by the wealthy or powerful to either deal with crisis situations or to flaunt obscene wealth. You are unlikely to see openly magical acts and highly magical devices unless there is a nice chunk of change involved.

Senesse is different; over the years it's become the traditional haven in the Kingdom of Axtya for all manner of non-humans, mages, and folks who would stick out like a sore thumb anywhere else. It's a little wilder, the people a bit more brash, and magic quite a bit more commonplace. We're talking miid-to-High magic levels, where even middle class homes will incorporate magical devices for comfort, and seeing a fairy is notable but not something to write home about.

Can I have guns?

Sort of.

The technology probably exists for automatic rifles, but between finely crafted crossbows of all sizes and magically-derived offensive projectiles; there's little need for guns. They'd be sort of a silly concept to your average Senessian; why on earth would you bother with something so messy, bulky, easily jammed, loud?

I know, I know, you still want a gun anyway.

To be fair, cannons exist (though these too are frequently magically augmented to assist in range, accuracy, and impact); and by association smaller versions have been devised which can be carried, loaded, and fired by a single man. However, these are not pistols. These are much more akin to unusually large and bulky blackpowder rifles; which much be precisely loaded, jam frequently, are horrendously messy, and can be heard for miles around. It goes without saying that these are used almost exclusively by military forces. They leave an individual with such a weapon extremely vulnerable if he does not have lots of cover fire while he is fussing with his weapon. All this for just one little lead pellet which has dubious accuracy at best.

What? You still want a gun? Oh, you want to know if you could 'invent' an better model?

Not just any blacksmith can make a gun. They are highly specialized craftsmen who need a VERY specialized array of tools and skills, and would be rare in a worlkd like ours where so many other alternatives exist. They would be quite dedicated to the service of a large army, stationary in whatever city had been chosen as the supply point, and unlikely to move to Senesse on a whim. Now, on top of all that, you have to figure out why you'd bother perfecting a device which, as we've already discussed, has been made quite obsolete by thaumatic projectiles.

If you still want a gun, ask us about Timesharks.

The text contained in this site has been created by The Red Dragon Inn Team, and are therefore Copyright © 2004-2007 The Red Dragon Inn Team. Certain passages in the site are cited from D&D game guides, and are © their original owners. All images on this site are © their creators, if, for any reason, someone does not want something of theirs on this site, it will be taken down as soon as possible. Website design by Brammimonde.

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