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Quest policies

Rules for players

  1. Questing is a privilege, not a right. A DM has the right to not include you for any reason they wish, including personal frictions.
  2. Unless the DM is clearly violating channel rules, their "table rules" stand (i.e. if the DM says "No co-channeling during a quest", that's their right).
  3. You may politely ask the DM about a ruling you feel dubious in pm, but arguing in quest or OOC with the DM is not allowed. If you have serious issues you should contact an Op or admin.
  4. Make an effort to be familiar with your character's abilities and equipment and spells ( especially spells!) so that you do not slow quests down by looking things up too often.
  5. Deliberately misrepresenting your character's abilities to a DM is grounds for immediate and extreme disciplinary action, up to and including de-leveling, or banning.

Player/DM Dispute Resolution Procedures

  1. If you disagree with or don't understand a DM's ruling you may politely PM them about it. Do *NOT* argue with them if they still don't change their mind, and most of all do not argue with them in OOC or the quest channel.
  2. If the Dm is a helper or quest runner, you may PM an OP for assistance, but be aware that unles the Dm is very obviously in the wrong ( not just a trivial rules error), you probably won't get the call reversed.
  3. Even after a quest is completed, you can appeal a bad ruling if and only if the bad call cused your character serious damage. I.E. a bad call that cused your character to die or lose a prized posession is a valid case for appeal. A bad call where the DM caused your character to fall off a horse and take 1d4 subdual damage is not. You should submit your writen appeal to Taya or Ellena for consideration.

Suggestions for DM's

  1. Remember that you are the character's eyes and ears. If you describe something tersely and the characters do something that seems "stupid" it might be YOUR fault. If so don't penalize them for it.
  2. Make the assumption that characters remember to be careful, even if their player forgets to mention it.
    a. If a character is going to face an AOO double check with them and let them know.
    b. If a character searches a container, assume they search for traps, before and after opening it, and look inside carefully.
  3. Keep in mind that not all questers like all things. Some may love long role-playing encounters or challenging fights, others may like puzzles. Try and let people know what sorts of things to expect in advance (i.e. a combat-light puzzle-heavy quest or a quest with alternating RP and combat encounters).
  4. You might consider streamlining some aspects of a quest, such as pre-rolling the initiative for NPC's, typing out long area descriptions in advance, etc.

Quest rewards

  1. Characters should *NOT* be getting over 350xp per character level for a single quest. An average should be 150/level on a short easy quest, around 200-250 for an average quest, and up to 350 for a long and or difficult quest.
  2. Quests shouldn't have a range of more than 2-3 levels unless they are not combat oriented. If they *DO* have such a level disparity, use the alternate XP award method, DMG page 168. Aditionally, the low level quest goers should *NOT* receive too much treasure just because they are on a large level spread quest.
  3. Quests that are not combat oriented should award XP via the alternate system on p168 of the DMG.
  4. Remember that all XP awards for encounters are halved.
  5. Magic items on a quest should follow DMG standards for encounter difficulty. Note that a DM is expected to use common sense and *NOT* smply roll treasures( I.E. A level 4 character should not get a +3 keen shocking Frost Scimitar). Also note that all magic items should have a quirk, even if its' as simple as an odd rune on the blade, or a bow whose arrows leave a trail of orange smoke when fired.
  6. No one item given may ever exceed 33% of "expected character wealth" without admin permission, nor should a quest ever give a character over 50% of said wealth.

General quest rules

Forbidden things

  1. Do not use PCs that are not involved in the quest for "bit parts" without explicit permission from their player.
  2. Any quest that results in a TPK (total party kill) is clearly a botched quest and will be reviewed and almost always ruled to "have never happened".
  3. Don't violate the quest reward guidelines.
  4. Please remember to post quest summaries that include who went on the quest, what they were challanged by, what rewards were given, and a brief summary of events. No reward is official until a quest is posted by the DM in charge and then approved by an admin. Simply running quests and not posting summaries is against channel rules. Also note that quest summaries should be posted in a timely manner (ideally tht night, but within 72 hours at most, barring extenuating circumstances)

Here's a short list of things that should first be approved before inclusion:

  1. Use or creation of MAJOR NPCs: Kings, crown princes, NPC's over level 15, etc.
  2. Major changes to an RP region (i.e. a quest where a tidal wave hits Kethmar and destroys half the city is a bit much. One where there's a rat infestation in the slums isn't).
  3. Using artifacts.
  4. Plotlines that could potentially change world concepts (i.e. a plotline that involves large masses of NPC's, such as an army).
  5. Plotlines that drastically affect an organization.
  6. Plotlines that include a character who normally wouldn't exist (i.e. a ninja).
  7. Plotlines that involve the Gods, directly.
  8. Giving out abnormal amounts of treasure.
  9. Playing one of your own PCs in a quest.

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