PvP and Death Rules

Player versus Player (PvP) on Wasteland is for story building first and foremost. Wasteland is not a PvP-centric server. Trying to force ⚰️Permadeath on another player should not be your main goal. Focus on creating stories, not ending them. Consider how to make encounters fun for the other players involved over winning.

⚖️Core Rules

• Stay in character and roleplay realistically. You are not immune to fear and pain. You are not a terminator that kills without remorse.
• Record PvP where possible so you can prove what happened.
• Do not summon a 'Death Ball' by calling in more reinforcements when you already have superior or equal numbers
• Do not metagame. If you use discord to call allies to help you and there's no record of IC communication, you will be striked and the PvP will be voided (Retconned from the story).

🤝 Agreements

Any unanimous out-of-character agreement, documented via an RP Planning Ticket, overrides these rules. Ensure you save a transcript or screenshot of the agreement as proof. You must reach agreements in good faith, without pressure or coercion from either side.

Combat Types

🤔 Choosing a Combat Type

Wasteland has three types of combat. 🎲Dice, 🎭Roleplay and 🔫Mechanical.

🎲 Dice Combat and 🎭 Roleplay Combat use a turn based ordering and as such can be extremely slow to play out. As a result, there are two rules that apply to them:

• You cannot join after PvP has started. If you were not nearby at the start, you can assume that you arrived too late to intervene. You can either avoid the area, or roleplay as a bystander if that makes sense for your character to do.
• You cannot camp the area to start a second PvP after the first resolves. Let the participants leave.
• A maximum of 5 players is allowed per side unless a unanimous agreement or moderator permits more. If you want to join but your group already has a significant advantage, consider sitting out. If one side must exceed 5 players then you should instead begin 🔫 Mechanical Combat. However, note that 🔫 Mechanical Combat cannot result in any ⚡Enforced Consequences.

Announcing the start of Combat

1. To begin 🎲 Dice Combat type /me is starting Dice Combat followed by /meshout is starting Dice Combat (Late joiners). For 🎭 Roleplay Combat, simply change the wording.
2. Anyone who hears the first announcement can reply /me is joining combat and join immediately.
3. If too many people reply to join, you will need to revert to 🔫 Mechanical Combat (see above).
4. Anyone who hears only the /meshout can reply /meshout is reinforcing combat, however they can only participate at the start of the fourth round.

🎭 Roleplay Combat

When: Roleplay combat is an alternative to 🎲 Dice Combat. It offers a freeform way to resolve conflicts through roleplay and can be useful when the result has already been agreed on.

Specific Rules

• Emote every action: Such as drawing a weapon, aiming, taking cover, hiding, punching, shooting, swinging, etc
• Be specific in your emotes. For example: /me swings a crowbar at John's torso with all his might from the side, attempting to hit the stranger center chest. Do not include the other characters reaction or consequences of your action, leave that up to the other player. For example, do not do: /me swing his bat, striking Johns face breaking his nose sending blood into the air.
• Give others a chance to respond to your actions, including attacks. You can only swing or shoot once before they should be given a turn. If you are a large group, maintain the same repeating turn order.
• You can respond to attacks by dodging or taking the hit. Your character is not superhuman and should accept hits when appropriate.
• Make sure all relevant parties can see your emotes. Use /meyell or /meshout if others are not close by (e.g. you're using a sniper rifle)

Defeat: Unless the combat was friendly (Sparring, bar brawling, etc), see PvP Outcomes.

🎲 Dice Combat

When: The default option for PvP unless players agree to another type. Dice Combat is frequently used during story events run by staff.

Specific Rules

• You should still roleplay your attacks and other actions with emotes in the same way as 🎭 Roleplay Combat (See below)
• Open the dice window and roll to see how your actions play out.
• Let the other characters respond and then end your turn
• Dice Combat is currently documented on discord, but a new beta version is in testing for the next season. Officially, the old discord version is the one you should be using, not the beta.

Defeat: Unless the combat was friendly (Sparring, bar brawling, etc), see PvP Outcomes.

🔫 Mechanical Combat

When: Mechanical combat can be used when RP or Dice Combat is not feasible due to there being too many players. Most commonly, mechanical combat is used for storyteller events against NPCs.

Specific Rules

• You can never kill on sight. Everyone must agree OOC first and signal they're ready to start.
• Do not abuse mechanics such as abusing camera angles or wearing multiple layers of patched clothing.
• Characters can at any time choose to RP fleeing the battle or surrender.
• You cannot loot corpses. Ensure the items are returned to their owner.

Being killed: No consequences, you can respawn freely unless special Storyteller rules apply. You can roleplay as wounded afterwards or not, it's up to you.

💀 PvP Outcomes

After a PvP encounter ends (either through combat or with one party surrendering without a fight), the resolution process follows one of three paths:

🍃 Organic: If the winner chooses not to seek any concessions, no action is required. This is the preferred approach.

🤝 Mutual Agreement: Both parties may negotiate a resolution via an RP Planning ticket. This 🤝Agreement must be reached consensually.

⚡ Staff Ruling: If the winner seeks concessions and no mutual agreement is reached, then both parties should open tickets. Staff will then ⚡Enforce Consequences.

Additional Rules

• Communication: Do not direct message (DM) the other player to coerce or pressure them into an agreement. If disputes arise, both parties must open a ticket for staff intervention.
• Roleplaying Kills: Unless you have ☠️Permakill Approval, you must leave your opponent a way to survive. Attempts to force ⚰️Permadeath without prior approval, such as executing another character with a shot to the head, burning their body or chopping them into tiny pieces in will result in your RP being voided and potentially strikes being issued. You can roleplay a failed attempt to kill (e.g. throwing them into a river and assume they drowned)
• Backdown Severity: The severity of a 🤕 Backdown is determined by the story significance of the encounter. Applying excessive injuries in the hope of forcing a harsher result will have no effect on the backdown and may backfire later by giving others justification for the ⚰️Permadeath of your character.

⚡ Enforced Consequences

When staff are handling the consequences of PvP, they will first investigate what happened. You should provide videos and screenshots where possible. The staff member will then lay down the lore of what happened IC and apply a 🤕Backdown to the defeated characters. In extreme cases, they may enforce a ⚰️Permadeath instead.

🤕 Backdowns

Backdowns are the most common form of ⚡Enforced Consequences when you have been defeated in a conflict. Your character survives but is given some conditions to follow. If you break any of the terms for your backdown then your next defeat will mean a ⚰️Permadeath.

Backdown severity is determined by how significant the conflict was in the story.

Minor Backdowns

Minor backdowns are for spontaneous fights, combat with strangers and petty disputes or infractions.

Examples:

• A bandit robs you and shoots you when you try to fight back.
• A town sheriff arrests you after you steal an item.
• Enemy faction members capture you snooping around near their base.
• A gang member beats you unconscious for mouthing off in their territory.

Consequences:

• Short (3-14 day) fear RP
• Possible injury RP

Conclusive Backdowns

Conclusive backdowns are the result of a long term conflict with known enemies and multiple encounters.

Examples:

• A gang of bandits you've been shooting at and taunting over the radio for weeks ambush you and down you in PvP
• You lead a group that is kidnapping people from a town and the town leaders capture you.
• You try to raid the armory of a long term rival faction's base and are shot in the attempt.

Consequences:

• The conflict is considered resolved. Neither you or the group that backdowned you can resume it. This includes intentionally provoking or taunting.
• You cannot encourage others to take revenge for you, IC or OOC.
• You must RP fear of your killer for 30 real life days.
• Possible additional conditions such as giving up territory you were fighting over, dependent on circumstances.

⚰️Permadeath (CK)

Permadeath, also known as Character Kill (CK), is where your character permanently dies. There is no coming back from it. You can always choose to permakill your own character by sending them to the graveyard with the dashboard.

Permadeath will be enforced on your character if you suffer a defeat and one of the following is proven:

• A Permakill was ☠️approved on you before the encounter.
• You were attempting to carry out a Permakill yourself (See Sudden Death Rule).
• You showed no fear of death, such as saying "What are you going to do, shoot me?"
• You breached 🤕 Backdown conditions imposed on you earlier.

☠️ Permakill (CK) Approval

If you want to ⚰️Permakill another character, you can put in a ticket to ask for permission. Anyone who will take part in the kill attempt should also be added to the ticket with you and listed clearly. These tickets are only approved if you can prove one of the following beyond any doubt:

• 🤕 Backdown Violation: The character has violated earlier backdown conditions.
• 🩸Blood Feud: You have a long and severe conflict with the other character spanning many weeks and encounters, with no sign of it ending until one of you dies.
• 📜Broken Promise: The character previously made a promise to you on threat of death and has broken it. This must be due to a crucial story reason, such as protecting a secret or staying loyal to a close-knit group, not merely a personal threat or to exile them from a location.

Sudden Death Rule

If your group manages to gain approval for the kill, then any one of you can do the deed. However, the same applies to your group. If you are downed in PvP with the victim, then your own character faces ⚰️Permadeath themselves.

💥 War

If a conflict escalates to a point where large numbers of characters are involved, your group can open a ticket and declare war on the other group. Staff will then create a War Ticket. In the war ticket, leaders of each faction will discuss the rules that will apply during duration of conflict, including topics such as:

• Who is eligible for being engaged.
• Rules for engagement.
• Date/Times for all out war.
• Areas where engagement is allowed.
• Conditions for considering the conflict resolved.

⚔️ Fighting NPCs

Non-hostile NPCs played by Storytellers should be treated like any other character - they are not disposable cannon fodder and trying to treat them as such may result in a fail RP ticket. If combat does occur then storytellers will normally use 🎲 Dice Combat to resolve it.

Events involving groups of Hostile NPCs may sometimes occur. 🔫 Mechanical Combat is used during these events and you can kill on enemies sight. You can also respawn if you're killed, but Storytellers may set special rules when the event is announced to change this.