By the Book

It is our intention to create a game environment that is suitable for By the Book Gorean role-players. We have carefully curated our selection of mods and scripts with this in mind, and intend to continue doing so. However, there are limits on what we are willing to enforce.

There is simply no single interpretation of the books on which to create the perfect set of by the book rules. Further, many of the disagreements on interpretation are valid on both sides of the argument.

Lets take the Torvaldsland home stone for example

To some, the concept of home stone is so core to the fiction that it is assumed every Gorean has a personal one and is loyal to one unless they are an outlaw -- and thus assume those of Torvaldsland must also have them. To others, the fact that the home stone is never mention in reference to Torvaldsland, and similar Home Stone-like questions are phrased as "Who is your Jarl", strongly implies that homestones are not culturally relevant in Torvaldsland.

These particulars and many others may be important to individuals and we support their right to their interpretation within THEIR Home Stone (aka Clan or allied Hub) but we are neither going to rule on them, nor are we going to mediate arguments. The only valid forum for such discussions is in a scheduled in-game discussion forum for the purposes of exploring and learning more of the fiction we are such fans of.

What then will we enforce?

Our Rules

Simply put, our job as Server Administrators is to enforce the rules and guide lines documented on this wiki. If there is no rule about it, we are not going to enforce it. Obviously, if we discover there is some rule we should add and thus enforce we will do so with careful deliberation and subsequent notification to the community.

Our current rules establish minimum standards for:

• The physical appearance of avatars which includes what is and isn't an immersive way of dressing or arming one's avatar.

No top hats, steam punk, blue hair, elf ears, demon horns. No plate mail, no barbarian girls with two handed swords, spell casting magic users, etc!

• OOC Limits which disallow individuals to avoid fictionally authentic Gorean actions and consequences.

We disallow personal OOC limits which specify such things as no hair cutting, no collaring, no capturing, no combat, etc. We will enforce, within reason, the general premise that if it happened on Gor it can happen here.

• The minimum mechanics and aesthetics of personal and public builds.

Our rules restrict building in stupid or inaccessible locations, the creation of unassailable bases, and other aesthetic choices which ruins general immersion.

We feel this is enough

In addition to the above we believe that the following mechanics support and encourage the Gorean ideal.

• The limitation on knowledge points will force players to specialize in the manner of the Gorean caste system while further requiring group play (city states) as is necessary on Gor.
• Limiting women to using agility based weapons along with the attribute system inherently makes the choice of spending attribute points on strength illogical thus supporting the concept that women are not as strong as men on Gor.
• The availability of effective NPC thralls and the authority attribute allows non-warriors an alternative to personal combat.
• The entire building system makes the builder caste viable again!