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Phantasmal Site > Innsmouth MUD > CM Policies
CthulhuMUD Immortal Policies
(Reproduced here for the edification of Innsmouth MUD, with the
understanding that they are merely for inspiration)
Becoming an Immortal:
The best way to become an immortal is to Not
Ask For It. Offer a suggestion for an area. Build it with Arcanum
once you find out if we're interested. The senior staff will look
over the area file once you've got it done and then you'll get a
creator character to build with.
Before you can become a complete builder you
have to know how to build the more complex, mobprogs and confirm
that you understand the basic commands. We will teach you this.
Also tutorials on those commands can be found at this webpage, and
feel free to ask anyone for help if you need it. To make sure that
you know the commands you'll be asked to fix a series of problems
in a set of test rooms. Use every help you need to learn the
commands, even asking the imm running the test for help if you need
to, it won't be held against you. Just so long as you learn the
commands eventually, we don't care how.
Staying an Immortal:
Just creating one area is not really enough
to validate staying on as an immortal on a permanent basis,
especially if you don't plan to dedicate yourself to any further
building. Having a creator character, as most of the senior imms
will tell you isn't so much a reward as it is a job. So, the best
way to *keep* your imm character is to build your first area
quickly and to specifications, and then, suggest and grid out
another area. Hard work will get you there, as will showing
responsibility and understanding of the mud.
Promotion as an Immortal:
Most imms will remain on a one-shot or
full-time builder status. This isn't to say we don't trust you.
merely that that is the job we need you for. A few imms will be
raised to a higher level of security or command. This is because
the top imms can't be on all the time, and it's always handy for
folks to have someone to go to when we aren't on. Promotion is
entirely at the whim of the top level imms. All of them should
agree on the need for the position and on the appointment. Those
imms with those higher securities are not given those powers as
toys, they are given them because the senior staff wants you to use
them to aid in the administration of the mud.
What Immortal Rank Means:
The vast majority of this is simply
formality. The actual running of the mud, as most of the current
imm staff knows is largely laid-back, and all opinions are welcomed
and considered. The rank system is not designed to stifle any of
the cooperation we currently have.
There are four levels of rank in immortal
status:
- Senior Staff
- God Staff
- Full-time Builder
- One-shot Builder
Senior staff run the mud by their whim and
good graces. The senior staff consists of: Yog, Tsa, Shub, and
Bast. For obvious reasons, barring critical need, this is not a
rank that is available to promotion.
God staff includes those imms who have been
given a specific task in the administration of the mud. Be this the
power of enforcer, administration, or quest running, this is a rank
that should be respected. They have authority within their field
and should be aware of their responsibility. God staff and above
are free to take clan requests for building, though obviously all
changes should be documented so we know what request have been
filled and what price was charged to the society.
Full-time builders are those builders who are
known to be reliable and creative with their areas. They are under
less pressure to produce an area quickly, because we know they'll
get it done eventually. Most imms will be considered full-time
builders. The majority of a full-time builder's attention should be
on their area(s) but goof-off time and roleplay is encouraged.
One-shot builders are those currently in the
process of proving their reliability. A one-shot builder should
concentrate their attention on their area for the majority of time
online with the imm character.
All builders can feel free to correct errors
they see within their own areas after it has been opened, or
contact someone regarding the error if they are not full-time
yet.
Demotion as an Immortal:
The best way to lose immortal rank is to ask
for it. Asking for it of course means: blatant disregard of the
rules in creation of an area, blatant disregard of the ethics
involved in running both an immortal and mortal character at the
same time, or blatant disregard of commands from the senior staff.
Basically, don't cheat in favor of your mortal character. Don't
abuse your power in either promoting other characters, or abuse it
in the form of harassment or other forms of punishment to mortals.
Don't be a jerk with your powers.
The process of demotion goes as this, it is rare
that any immortal above the rank of full-time builder will ever be
demoted, however in general: You will be warned first regarding
whatever rule is being broken. As you are demoted, whatever power
was abused will be removed. If this involves removing the immortal
character entirely, so be it. Deletion of mortal characters and
site banning is for extreme cases, those cases in which the demoted
immortal simply can't let enough alone even after being removed
from power.
What NOT to do:
- Do not allow equipment from unopened areas to be used by any
mortal character. You don't have to be mean about removing it
from them, but explain to them it is equipment that is currently
banned from use.
- Do not open your area without first gaining approval and a
walk-through by senior staff. (This covers your ass as much as
ours, so you can honestly say if a problem arises later that no
one caught it on the walk-through.)
- Do not build in other areas without notifying either the
builder of that area or a member of the senior staff.
This includes clan halls.
- Do not use your immortal to aid your mortal character in any
way. (Such aid may be interpreted as: taking your mortal
character leveling with the immortal, giving your mortal
character equipment, gold, spell-ups, experience, fame, deeds or
other benefits including using the GOTO command for the mortal's
transportation on a routine basis.)
- Do not harass players that as a mortal you do not care for.
You are running the mud, hence you need a certain amount of
objectivity. On the other hand, if they *are* doing something
wrong, don't ignore it, handle it properly. Log it.
- Do not vary in the creation of equipment from the basics
given here. If you wish to create something more spectacular, ask
one of the senior staff (preferably Bast) for approval. If it is
inappropriate as it stands she will be able to suggest ways of
balancing it out.
What To do:
- Work on whatever project you've been assigned to do.
- When a crash occurs, ask the players what happened, and see
if you can determine what caused it. If you can figure it out,
post a note regarding it to the imm board.
- If a player requires administrative handling (punishment for
spamming, harassment or a rename), attempt to find an imm with
the authority to handle it, or handle it yourself. If neither is
possible, then post a note on imm board regarding it and try to
tame the situation. When we see the note we'll handle it. In the
more extravagant cases (multi-char, harassment, or spamming)
please post a note on imm board about it even if you yourself can
handle it, so when any imm sees it again they know it's a repeat
offense.
- Be fair to the players, but remember game balance. You are
allowed to give occasional spell-ups if you're in a good mood or
they do good RP, but don't over do it.
- Recognize when a higher up makes a decision. Unless you can
come up with a further compelling argument, decisions tend to be
final when the senior staff decides on them.
- Read! Read Lovecraft, read the CoC books, read the
collections of short stories written in the style of Lovecraft,
and stay on alert for good settings or inspirations. The latest
House on Haunted Hill for instance does a very good Shub
impersonation. And feel free to incorporate this into your
settings.
- Have fun with yourself! Don't take the job *that*
seriously!!
Roleplaying:
Roleplaying is when we decide to goof off.
The random cloud fights, cat tail pulling, couch scratching, Adam
abusing, goat gluing, punch spiking psudopod mess that we produce
when on caffeine, is amusing to both player and imm, and
contributes to the developing history of the mud. (If you aren't
aware of the incidents listed above... it's probably for the best.
:) )
So of course, we want to encourage roleplaying
on even an immortal level. An imm name will set the tone for the
roleplay so it's important to pick one with a history and
personality you can convincingly play. We do try to have immortals
select Cthulhu mythos, Sumerian, or Egyptian names. Other names are
welcome as well, but researching a little bit of the history to
them so you can easily fit into the immortal RP would be nice. As a
last note, unless you plan on sticking around for awhile you
probably don't want to get too deeply entrenched in the lives of
the players. Their opinion won't keep a one-shot builder on if
there's nothing else to keep the immortal for, so it's setting them
up for disappointment when their deity disappears.
The best opportunities for RP as an immortal are
either with other immortals (see above), or with their own
worshippers. Worshippers should be played with to the extent that
*they* wish to play. Never try to coerce a character to follow you
without making it clear this is RP only, it makes the player
nervous otherwise, and that's the last thing we want to do to them.
Be as subtle, rewarding, extravagant as you want to be, everyone
should get a kick out of it. In fact, it might be fun for some of
them to develop a working theology for your immortal to use as a
standard for testing the roleplaying abilities of a worshipper.
Spell-ups or future attention are the typical
reward of good roleplaying. Rarely a character will complete an
extravagant quest for a reward. For example: I once requested the
head of a Hound of Tindalos, from a level 20 character. 40 levels
later I got the head, having totally forgotten about the quest
myself. *That* is dedication. For this the character received a
very nice statue, along with the mention that if it ever left his
grasp he would die, repeatedly. Such bonuses are not unheard of,
but should be *extremely* rare. Consult the senior staff regarding
it first. Experience should not be used as an RP award.
Certain characters wish to RP more interesting
materials with their deities or with other players.
*cough*Caroline*cough* *ahem*. Such activities should not be
performed in a well traveled room, and should be done with the
clear understanding ooc of safety. If one of the characters
requests ooc that the RP stop, it should stop right then and there.
There have been incidents between two player characters before that
ended with the banning of a harassing player. Use discretion and
common sense. And there is a vnum specifically for these activities
if they indicate the need to 'get a room'. Room
<deleted>.
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