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 permanent death 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 dozens of reinforcements to an otherwise equal encounter, or one where you already have superior 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

Agreements made with another player Out of Character (OOC) can supersede any rule below as long as those OOC agreements are made in an RP Planning Ticket, with all parties involved, in good faith, without pressure or coercion. Reports of pressure or coercion is a bannable offense.

You should always get a screenshot or copy of the RP Planning ticket transcript. If you can't produce one then the agreements you have made are meaningless and standard rules will apply.

Death Types

🌀 Respawning

Respawn is when you die mechanically and then create your character again, usually from a PvE death to zombies, NPCs or mechanical PvP.

⚰️ 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 character by sending them to the graveyard with the dashboard after dying to zombies or from a story-defining PvP, but it can also sometimes be forced from PvP or storyline events.

🌱 Second Life

Second life is essentially a respawn with consequences as an alternative to ⚰️permadeath (see above). You cannot give yourself a second life, you must put in a ticket to request one. A second life will come with conditions such as fearing your killer and roleplaying a serious injury. You can think of Second Life as a comic book character dying dramatically only to turn out to have miraculously survived a few issues later - you must lay low, but can keep on playing.

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 does not result in lasting consequences, such as 🌱 Second Life.

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 .
3. If too many people reply to join, you will need to revert to 🔫 Mechanical Combat (see above).
4. Anyone who hears the second announcement can reply /meshout is reinforcing combat.
5. Late joiners can show up and 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)

Consequences: Unless the combat is non-lethal (Sparring, brawling, etc), then being 'killed' in roleplay means you need to put in a ticket to ask for a 🌱second life or else accept ⚰️permadeath.

🎲 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.

Consequences: Unless the combat is non-lethal (Sparring, brawling, etc), then being downed in Dice Combat means you need to put in a ticket to ask for a 🌱second life or else accept ⚰️permadeath.

🔫 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.

Consequences: None, you can 🌀respawn freely unless special Storyteller rules apply.

💀 Killing another character

If you down another character in 🎲 Dice Combat or 🎭 Roleplay Combat, you should open a ticket to report it to staff. The consequences will be that the victim will ⚰️permadie or ask for 🌱second life. If you think the victim should ⚰️permadie then you can state your case in the ticket, citing evidence such as video recordings of the PvP, prior interactions and conflict history.

Taking roleplay actions such as executing another character point blank, burning their body or chopping them into tiny pieces in order to try and force the other character to ⚰️permadie will result in your petition being automatically denied and an official warning being added to your record for powergaming. Leave them a way out, such as their character being left for dead.

If the victim is granted a 🌱second life then you can state your objectives in fighting the other character to influence the terms. For instance, if your goal was fighting over control of some land, then the victim's 🌱second life conditions may involve giving up the land to you. Staff make the final decision on these conditions.

🌱 Second Life Requests

If you have been downed in 🎲 Dice Combat or 🎭 Roleplay Combat, you can request a 🌱second life with a discord ticket. Staff will then decide if you qualify and notify you of the terms if you do. If your ticket is rejected, you need to ⚰️permadie.

You cannot login while you are waiting for 🌱second life approval unless given permission to do so by staff. You can ask to be allowed to login and RP being in critical condition if your killer has no objections.

🍀Positive Factors

The following can weigh in your favor when considering second life requests:

• This is your first 🌱second life request, or your previous 🌱second life requests were unrelated to this opponent or conflict.
• Your killer was unknown to you before the incident, or the death was senseless.
• Your killer is happy for you to respawn and not petitioning for a ⚰️permadeath.
• You were attempting to de-escalate the conflict or surrender to your opponent.

🩸Negative Factors

The following will work against you in the request:

• You have breached the terms of a previous 🌱second life granted to you.
• You failed to show a fear of death, such as saying "What are you going to do, shoot me?" before your demise.
• You were actively seeking to murder your opponent as your primary goal, and it backfired on you instead.
• Your killer has evidence that you previously swore an oath to them on threat of death and you have broken it.
• Your character has a long history of escalating conflict with the opponent, such as attacking them or their property.

📜 Second Life Conditions

If your Second Life is approved, staff will lay down the lore (explaining how you survived IC) and give you a list of conditions that go with it. They will include the following at minimum:

• The conflict is considered resolved. Neither you or the group that killed you can resume it.
• You cannot encourage others to take revenge for you, IC or OOC.
• You must RP fear of your killer for 30 real life days. This means not intentionally provoking your opponent again.
• If you break any of the terms above then your next death will be a ⚰️permadeath.

💥 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.