Hello, and welcome to Survival of the Fittest! We're glad you've taken an interest in our roleplay, and we hope that you'll join us! This introduction will tell you how to get started.
First of all, SOTF is a roleplaying forum based heavily off of Koushun Takami's novel Battle Royale and the franchise surrounding it. Following the first version of the game, however, SOTF branched off into its own unique universe; it's still technically a fan roleplay thanks to the inspirations but it has its own canon. SOTF centers around high school students from America who are abducted by a mysterious organization known as the Arthro Taskforce and forced to fight until only one of them remains. We are currently in Version 7 of the game; this iteration features students from Chattanooga, Tennessee's fictional George Hunter High School.
While the students are the stars of the game, the Arthro Taskforce and its leader, Danya, are the recurring villains of the plot. The AT has been abducting students to take part in the game for over 10 years, and while the characters fight for their lives, other events are unfolding behind the scenes chronicling the AT's inner workings and the efforts of those trying to stop them.
If you'd like to take part in the game (and we certainly hope you will!), please read the rules and the FAQ. If you have any questions not covered in those, feel free to message a staff member; they are the members with purple usernames, both on the site and in our Discord server. You can also visit the Wiki if you would like to read up on past versions of the game.
Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoy your stay!
~The SOTF Staff Team
Table of Contents:
SotF Rules
FAQ
SotF Code of Conduct
SotF Account Policies
Character Acceptability
Daypack Contents
Danya's Guide to Survival
Contacting Staff
Official V7 SotF Rulebook
Written by the whole of SotF staff over the years, revised the 30th of May, 2019
SOTF RULES
Posting and Conflicts
1. All profiles must adhere to our profile template exactly. For more information and to view our profile template circa V7, click here.
2. Please keep OOC (out of character) comments off the roleplaying boards -- there are several sections where you can talk freely with your fellow handlers, as well as a Discord server. OOC posts on the roleplaying boards, unless done for specific reasons (i.e. an apology for being away, pointing out a critical mistake in a roleplay, etc.) are highly frowned upon and should be kept to a minimum.
3. All roleplay on the forums should be done in third-person novel format, with proper punctuation, spelling and grammar to the best of the writer's ability. We are not English teachers, and we will not punish you for bad grammar, but good grammar increases the readability of your writing and is easier on the eyes. For an idea of the level of quality generally expected of handlers (our term for writers, or those who 'handle' kids on the island), just read any current or recent thread.
4. Contact a staff member (Who are staff?) through the forum or Discord with any questions or concerns, or if you have any issues with another member of the site. Do not try to take matters into your own hands by starting an argument or verbally assaulting somebody. For more information, consult our Code of Conduct.
5. As a roleplay rooted heavily in realism, SOTF commands a certain level of knowledge about characters, the setting, and rules. Before writing, handlers should familiarize themselves with the site's rules (you're currently reading these!) including the FAQ and all other subsections, the state of the world, and with other characters as well as the current school or island (depending on if we are in the pre-game or game phase of a version). Information on a handler's own characters should be well-informed as well, and may require research. For example, if you intend to write a character with a disability, you will be expected to thoroughly research said disability and its consequences on a high school student first.
Roleplaying
1. Be realistic! SOTF places emphasis on realism within its setting, and the characters in this roleplay are ordinary human beings, the vast majority of them being high school students. Characters will be injured, and characters WILL die. Handlers are expected to write a character's condition, abilities and injuries within the constraints of reality (for instance, not just shrugging off that broken ankle in order to jump from one rooftop to another, then keep running).
2. Characters must be a high school student of the proper grade (usually twelfth) and school (V7's school is George Hunter High in Chattanooga, Tennessee). Neither underclassmen nor students currently attending other schools are allowed to participate in the game.
3. Character deaths are final; this roleplay setting does not have means of resurrecting dead characters. Character deaths are dictated by random rolls conducted twice a month (see more information on rolls here). A handler may choose to kill off their own character at will; the death must follow all the usual conventions of realism, so they cannot just drop dead without actual cause. Suicide, accident, or even being killed by another handler's character are all acceptable ways of dying unrolled. It is encouraged (but not necessarily required) to place 'death tags' at the end of a post in which a character dies, generally denoted in bold, red lettering. There are plenty of examples of death tags to get an idea of the convention.
4. God-modding, power-playing, calling hits, or any variation thereof are all disallowed. You can't automatically shoot someone with your gun, or cut them with your knife, no matter how positive you are that your hit will connect. Forcing somebody into a situation where they must take a hit, or otherwise dictating their actions in a way that forces them to act in one way and not another (ex. John backed May into a corner and shot at her chest-and-neck region seven times at point blank), is also considered god-modding and is not allowed. Handlers are suggested to converse with their writing partners in order to work out a scene; other people are usually willing to cooperate and collaborate.
5. Metagaming is also prohibited. Metagaming is using information obtained out-of-character to your advantage in-character. For example, if John has killed Bob's friend May, but Bob doesn't know that, it would be metagaming from Bob's handler to have Bob react to John as a murderer. Another example would be 'mind-reading', where a character reacts to another character's thoughts. In this case, John wants to kill Bob, but is pretending to be friendly - it would be metagaming for Bob to suddenly realize that John is going to try and kill him.
6. Survival of the Fittest contains adult themes and as such, handlers are required to be at least 13 years of age in order to participate. Please be mature enough to handle these themes and know that some threads may be sexual, gory, or ultra-violent in nature. Please label your thread with content warnings accordingly for the benefit of those that may be made uncomfortable with the themes contained within it. If you're unable to label your thread (hey, not everybody plans on writing that super-steamy sex scene when they send their character to the lagoon), contact a staffer and we'll take care of it for you!
7. Please at least have an understanding of the thread you will post in if you are not the first person to post in the thread. We don't want any misunderstandings. It wouldn't be good if you are walking peacefully into a gunfight and your character is oblivious to it all. If you plan on entering a thread, please take the time to read said thread beforehand, it'll save you a lot of grief in the long run.
8. Please insert links to a character's previous thread whenever that character enters another thread. Conversely, when leaving a thread, add a link to that character's next thread (you may have to go back and edit the post when they join the next thread). This helps to establish a character's continuity, and aids people in following along with a character from thread to thread without manually searching for their next appearance.
9. Unless otherwise noted, the limit for active threads within a given sub-area of the island is one. As such, it is encouraged to read other threads in that sub-area to determine if there is an opening before creating a new thread.
10. The exception to this rule is a Oneshot. This is a thread made up of one single uninterrupted post by a single character and can be posted outside of the active thread limits.
11. Handlers are encouraged to play multiple characters. Unlike many other roleplaying forums, all characters are played under the same handler username rather than creating a separate account for each character. There is a cap to how many characters may be played by a handler at any one time. In pre-game, this limit is six. In the game proper, this limit is four. To better understand this cap and how it is affected by adopting characters, see our rules on character adoption.
Killing and Dying
1. As mentioned elsewhere, character deaths in SOTF are determined via rolls. These rolls are usually performed at the middle of each month (around the 15th) and at the beginning of each month after the first (a real-time month represents one in-game day).
2. A number of characters to be determined by staff are selected via random dice rolls; characters are rolled individually, so a handler with four characters is statistically more likely to be rolled than a handler with one or two. However, a handler may only have one character of theirs rolled during a single session of rolling. The exception to this rule is during the rolls to determine the final four students going into SOTF's endgame, where a handler may have any number of characters rolled.
3. At the start of the game, each handler is granted one hero card and one swap card. A hero card allows a handler to sacrifice one of their own characters to save another handler's who has been selected to die, effectively switching places. A swap card allows a handler to exchange a character for one of their OWN characters who has been rolled. When death rolls are announced, handlers have three days from the time of posting (helpfully noted in the announcement itself) to play these cards.
4. Once card timers have ended, handlers have an additional 7 days to write the character's death. A death which runs over this deadline (or an extension period, if one was requested from staff and granted), is considered the same as going inactive. This means that the handler will receive an activity warning if they haven't already received one for that version. If they have already received a warning that version, the character is considered terminally inactive and will be subject to being killed off at staff discretion. While the staff will normally strive to do its best to allow handlers to keep control of death scenes, any death which runs an entire period overdue (as in, to the end of the next allotted death period) will be handled through SOTF_Help. This will occur without regard to any plans in place, in the most expedient way possible, meaning that it is strongly in the interests of any killers to make sure deaths run on time, as doing otherwise makes it highly probable that they will lose rights to the kill. This rule will only be waved in extreme circumstances, such as if a handler is Away for the entire period of time after the rolls. No matter what, however, any death that runs two death periods late will be handled by staff, even in the face of extenuating circumstances, so as to prevent the game from grinding to a halt.
5. Handlers may request an extension period for their character's death, to be granted at staff discretion. To request an extension, a handler may post in the same announcement thread that their character has been rolled in, detailing reasons why the death cannot be completed on time. An extension of one to two days will most likely be granted, but longer extensions will require stronger reasoning such as being away for an extended period of time, including posting as away in the Official V7 Away Thread. Even if the extension is granted, a character who goes past BKA/BDA voting will naturally be ineligible for that contest.
6. SOTF staff does not officially recognize any deals made between handlers to 'trade' hero cards, death rights, or similar elements of planning. Staff will not be monitoring them and will not be acting as arbitrators for deals. In discouraging these deals, deal proposals are not allowed to be posted in threads containing rolls, in Roleplaying Discussion, or elsewhere on the board or in the public Discord chat. If you choose to make a deal, you must arrange it yourself, and accept all risk and responsibility associated with it.
7. The handler of a rolled character may post one and only one time per thread in which they are rolled to request that their character be saved. They may, however, post more than that to request death ideas. Similarly, the handler of a rolled character may PM other handlers in chat requesting death ideas, but may NOT PM handlers asking for hero cards. Handlers who are NOT rolled are never allowed to post to the roll thread asking for kills, nor may they PM handlers asking for kills unless the handler has requested death ideas. This behavior is very impolite, and is expressly forbidden. Offending posts will be deleted, and further consequences may ensue for willful or repeat offenses. Handlers who are not rolled may only post in these threads if they have roll-related business, such as the use of a hero card (see rule 3 of 'Killing and Dying').
8. At the end of each month (each in-game day), voting for the best kill and the best death are held. Handlers are directed to vote anonymously for any nomination. If a death runs over time, then that character is ineligible for a Best Death Award and the killer is ineligible for a Best Kill Award. A character who wins the Best Death Award (BDA) will receive a scrolling page quote at the top of the main page of the site. This quote is nominated and voted on by the handlers themselves. The prize for Best Kill Award (BKA) is an in-universe; the winning character is announced and will be supplied with a shiny new weapon as well as other rewards, such as a freshly cooked meal, to reinforce their violence.
9. Each in-game day, certain areas are declared Danger Zones. These are areas on the island which must be vacated; failure to leave in time will result in the straggler's collar being detonated. Out of character, you have time to wrap up any threads in the affected areas in the same timeline as the card/death deadlines given out with the announcement: three days to finish up regular posts, and a further seven days in which you can only post an exit from the area. Any character who does not leave the Danger Zone within that period of time will be forfeit and modkilled through collar detonation. If you are in a Danger Zone and will be Away for the duration of the allotted exit time, have a fellow handler in your thread or a staff member remove the character for you so that they will not be killed.
Rolling Procedure
1. Every two weeks (or thereabouts), the staff will conduct a series of dice rolls with a random number generator.
2. Each number coincides with a character. If the character's number comes up, then they're up on the chopping block and slated for death. This is a change from our former system in an attempt to improve fairness—as handlers with fewer characters will now have less chance of getting rolled.
3. Any individual handler can only have a character of theirs rolled ONCE per roll; if two or more of a single handler's characters are rolled in the same session of rolls, the roll is ignored and a new character is rolled instead. This is to prevent a single handler from being wiped out within a single rolling period.
4. All death rolls are logged and posted publicly in the announcements.
Hero and Swap Cards
At the beginning of every version, each handler is given two cards: a Swap card and a Hero card. If a character is rolled that you want to see continue on, you have these options to save them:
1. A Swap Card may be used to exchange your own rolled character for another one of your own characters who will die in the rolled character's place.
2. A Hero Card may be used to exchange to somebody else's rolled character for one of your own characters who will die in the rolled character's place.
3. All cards must be used within three days of rolls being posted.
4. Each card may be used only once per version, and there is no way to gain extra cards.
5. In the event that a handler receives a Hero Card but does not want to be saved, they may contact staff stating as such and the Hero Card will be withdrawn and returned to its handler, allowing them to use it again at a later date or in the same set of rolls to save a different character if they so wish.
Note: As of V7, Roll Nulls/Null cards have been discontinued and there are no more usable roll nulls across the community.
Inactivity
This roleplay, just like all other ones, faces a few problems. Sometimes, people come onto the site, create characters, get all set to go into the roleplay... and then just disappear. As such rules are in place to ensure game health is preserved in regards to activity.
1. Two weeks without a post from a character will lead to you receiving a warning. Please be aware that this warning applies for all your characters, not just the one you didn't post with.
2. Following this warning, you will have a further week to post before being considered terminally inactive and your character will be killed off or placed up for adoption.
3. If you post within a week, then for the remainder of the current version, you must not go two weeks without posting—unless you have an appropriate absence message—with a character, or they will be declared terminally inactive and taken from you. We do try to give a bit of leeway for threads that have been held up, but it is considered your responsibility to monitor your own activity. You are allowed to skip other people in your thread if they are taking too long to post; waiting on someone else is not considered a valid excuse for your inactivity.
4. Once a character goes terminally inactive, a member of the staff will take them over via the SOTF_Help account and typically remove them from their current thread. After this point, the character will usually die via Danger Zone or another environmental hazard, a suicide, or a kill involving other terminally inactive characters if there are any. This method allows us to efficiently and impartially take care of inactive characters. In certain circumstances (e.g. the character went inactive in the middle of a fight scene), the inactive may just be killed off in their current topic for the sake of convenience and scene cohesion. If the character goes inactive early in the game, they may be placed up for adoption. Please refer to the Adoption Zone for more information on the adoption process and how it works.
Aways
1. If you ever know for sure that you're going to be away for a certain amount of time, be sure to post in the Official V7 Away Thread. If you, for whatever reason, can not post there, get a hold of somebody you know or trust and have them post for you.
2. If you are "Away", your officially noted time away from the site will not count as inactive time against your characters. Staff reserve the right to determine what constitutes both a valid reason and time for being away; if you plan to be away for several months, this is such a hindrance to the site that you will be asked to give up your characters for adoption instead.
3. Please be aware that being away does not make you exempt from rolls or danger zones for game balance and health reasons.
Escape Attempts
1. Escape attempts are technically allowed, though very difficult. If you want to try one, contact the staff via board PM or Discord, detailing your characters plan, step by step, as well as a list of all the characters involved.
2. If your plan involves other characters, a direct PM will be required from each handler involved, stating that they are approving their character's involvement and potential death.
3. Staff, upon receiving the plan will confirm as such but will not point out any flaws, aside from physical impossibilities.
4. Should you choose to enact the plan, you will need to handle it step by step. After each step, SOTF_Help will let you know what happens, either by PM, or, if you do something that would result in your character's death, by posting such in your thread.
5. You will get to write the death or, should your plan succeed, the results.
Escape plans are handled this way so that they have a very heavy risk associated with them, and to maintain realism and verisimilitude as an attempted escapee wouldn't be able to try again if their first plan wasn't perfect.
Weapons, Possessions and Supplies
1. At the start of every version, characters are rolled weapons from a pre-made weapon list staff create. These are assigned the same way that deaths are decided—via dice roll. Rolling logs are posted in order to ensure that nobody is rolling unfairly.
2. There are many different ways to acquire new weapons however. For starters, if your character kills another character on the island, they can pick up and use their weapon. Keep in mind, though, that if their gun was down to one bullet prior to you picking it up, it won't magically be refilled when you get it.
3. You can also pick up random items laying about the island. How does this work? Well obviously, if your character mysteriously finds a loaded gun lying around somewhere even though the island has been stripped, the staff is going to call you on it. However, it's plausible that you might find a broomstick, an extension cord, something that could double as a weapon lying around.
4. Items that could be used as deadly weapons as without much effort or improvisation such as knives, guns, pitchforks and other farm implements like it will always be removed from the island before the students arrival.
5. Finally, there is one other way to gain new weapons. If the members vote for your character during our monthly "Best Kill" contest, Danya and company will issue you a brand spanking new weapon to slaughter the competition with! If you have any questions about what your character might be able to find on the island, please contact staff.
6. If any items found on the island are intended to be used in an escape attempt then these will need to be cleared with staff.
Posting and Conflicts
1. All profiles must adhere to our profile template exactly. For more information and to view our profile template circa V7, click here.
2. Please keep OOC (out of character) comments off the roleplaying boards -- there are several sections where you can talk freely with your fellow handlers, as well as a Discord server. OOC posts on the roleplaying boards, unless done for specific reasons (i.e. an apology for being away, pointing out a critical mistake in a roleplay, etc.) are highly frowned upon and should be kept to a minimum.
3. All roleplay on the forums should be done in third-person novel format, with proper punctuation, spelling and grammar to the best of the writer's ability. We are not English teachers, and we will not punish you for bad grammar, but good grammar increases the readability of your writing and is easier on the eyes. For an idea of the level of quality generally expected of handlers (our term for writers, or those who 'handle' kids on the island), just read any current or recent thread.
4. Contact a staff member (Who are staff?) through the forum or Discord with any questions or concerns, or if you have any issues with another member of the site. Do not try to take matters into your own hands by starting an argument or verbally assaulting somebody. For more information, consult our Code of Conduct.
5. As a roleplay rooted heavily in realism, SOTF commands a certain level of knowledge about characters, the setting, and rules. Before writing, handlers should familiarize themselves with the site's rules (you're currently reading these!) including the FAQ and all other subsections, the state of the world, and with other characters as well as the current school or island (depending on if we are in the pre-game or game phase of a version). Information on a handler's own characters should be well-informed as well, and may require research. For example, if you intend to write a character with a disability, you will be expected to thoroughly research said disability and its consequences on a high school student first.
Roleplaying
1. Be realistic! SOTF places emphasis on realism within its setting, and the characters in this roleplay are ordinary human beings, the vast majority of them being high school students. Characters will be injured, and characters WILL die. Handlers are expected to write a character's condition, abilities and injuries within the constraints of reality (for instance, not just shrugging off that broken ankle in order to jump from one rooftop to another, then keep running).
2. Characters must be a high school student of the proper grade (usually twelfth) and school (V7's school is George Hunter High in Chattanooga, Tennessee). Neither underclassmen nor students currently attending other schools are allowed to participate in the game.
3. Character deaths are final; this roleplay setting does not have means of resurrecting dead characters. Character deaths are dictated by random rolls conducted twice a month (see more information on rolls here). A handler may choose to kill off their own character at will; the death must follow all the usual conventions of realism, so they cannot just drop dead without actual cause. Suicide, accident, or even being killed by another handler's character are all acceptable ways of dying unrolled. It is encouraged (but not necessarily required) to place 'death tags' at the end of a post in which a character dies, generally denoted in bold, red lettering. There are plenty of examples of death tags to get an idea of the convention.
4. God-modding, power-playing, calling hits, or any variation thereof are all disallowed. You can't automatically shoot someone with your gun, or cut them with your knife, no matter how positive you are that your hit will connect. Forcing somebody into a situation where they must take a hit, or otherwise dictating their actions in a way that forces them to act in one way and not another (ex. John backed May into a corner and shot at her chest-and-neck region seven times at point blank), is also considered god-modding and is not allowed. Handlers are suggested to converse with their writing partners in order to work out a scene; other people are usually willing to cooperate and collaborate.
5. Metagaming is also prohibited. Metagaming is using information obtained out-of-character to your advantage in-character. For example, if John has killed Bob's friend May, but Bob doesn't know that, it would be metagaming from Bob's handler to have Bob react to John as a murderer. Another example would be 'mind-reading', where a character reacts to another character's thoughts. In this case, John wants to kill Bob, but is pretending to be friendly - it would be metagaming for Bob to suddenly realize that John is going to try and kill him.
6. Survival of the Fittest contains adult themes and as such, handlers are required to be at least 13 years of age in order to participate. Please be mature enough to handle these themes and know that some threads may be sexual, gory, or ultra-violent in nature. Please label your thread with content warnings accordingly for the benefit of those that may be made uncomfortable with the themes contained within it. If you're unable to label your thread (hey, not everybody plans on writing that super-steamy sex scene when they send their character to the lagoon), contact a staffer and we'll take care of it for you!
7. Please at least have an understanding of the thread you will post in if you are not the first person to post in the thread. We don't want any misunderstandings. It wouldn't be good if you are walking peacefully into a gunfight and your character is oblivious to it all. If you plan on entering a thread, please take the time to read said thread beforehand, it'll save you a lot of grief in the long run.
8. Please insert links to a character's previous thread whenever that character enters another thread. Conversely, when leaving a thread, add a link to that character's next thread (you may have to go back and edit the post when they join the next thread). This helps to establish a character's continuity, and aids people in following along with a character from thread to thread without manually searching for their next appearance.
9. Unless otherwise noted, the limit for active threads within a given sub-area of the island is one. As such, it is encouraged to read other threads in that sub-area to determine if there is an opening before creating a new thread.
10. The exception to this rule is a Oneshot. This is a thread made up of one single uninterrupted post by a single character and can be posted outside of the active thread limits.
11. Handlers are encouraged to play multiple characters. Unlike many other roleplaying forums, all characters are played under the same handler username rather than creating a separate account for each character. There is a cap to how many characters may be played by a handler at any one time. In pre-game, this limit is six. In the game proper, this limit is four. To better understand this cap and how it is affected by adopting characters, see our rules on character adoption.
Killing and Dying
1. As mentioned elsewhere, character deaths in SOTF are determined via rolls. These rolls are usually performed at the middle of each month (around the 15th) and at the beginning of each month after the first (a real-time month represents one in-game day).
2. A number of characters to be determined by staff are selected via random dice rolls; characters are rolled individually, so a handler with four characters is statistically more likely to be rolled than a handler with one or two. However, a handler may only have one character of theirs rolled during a single session of rolling. The exception to this rule is during the rolls to determine the final four students going into SOTF's endgame, where a handler may have any number of characters rolled.
3. At the start of the game, each handler is granted one hero card and one swap card. A hero card allows a handler to sacrifice one of their own characters to save another handler's who has been selected to die, effectively switching places. A swap card allows a handler to exchange a character for one of their OWN characters who has been rolled. When death rolls are announced, handlers have three days from the time of posting (helpfully noted in the announcement itself) to play these cards.
4. Once card timers have ended, handlers have an additional 7 days to write the character's death. A death which runs over this deadline (or an extension period, if one was requested from staff and granted), is considered the same as going inactive. This means that the handler will receive an activity warning if they haven't already received one for that version. If they have already received a warning that version, the character is considered terminally inactive and will be subject to being killed off at staff discretion. While the staff will normally strive to do its best to allow handlers to keep control of death scenes, any death which runs an entire period overdue (as in, to the end of the next allotted death period) will be handled through SOTF_Help. This will occur without regard to any plans in place, in the most expedient way possible, meaning that it is strongly in the interests of any killers to make sure deaths run on time, as doing otherwise makes it highly probable that they will lose rights to the kill. This rule will only be waved in extreme circumstances, such as if a handler is Away for the entire period of time after the rolls. No matter what, however, any death that runs two death periods late will be handled by staff, even in the face of extenuating circumstances, so as to prevent the game from grinding to a halt.
5. Handlers may request an extension period for their character's death, to be granted at staff discretion. To request an extension, a handler may post in the same announcement thread that their character has been rolled in, detailing reasons why the death cannot be completed on time. An extension of one to two days will most likely be granted, but longer extensions will require stronger reasoning such as being away for an extended period of time, including posting as away in the Official V7 Away Thread. Even if the extension is granted, a character who goes past BKA/BDA voting will naturally be ineligible for that contest.
6. SOTF staff does not officially recognize any deals made between handlers to 'trade' hero cards, death rights, or similar elements of planning. Staff will not be monitoring them and will not be acting as arbitrators for deals. In discouraging these deals, deal proposals are not allowed to be posted in threads containing rolls, in Roleplaying Discussion, or elsewhere on the board or in the public Discord chat. If you choose to make a deal, you must arrange it yourself, and accept all risk and responsibility associated with it.
7. The handler of a rolled character may post one and only one time per thread in which they are rolled to request that their character be saved. They may, however, post more than that to request death ideas. Similarly, the handler of a rolled character may PM other handlers in chat requesting death ideas, but may NOT PM handlers asking for hero cards. Handlers who are NOT rolled are never allowed to post to the roll thread asking for kills, nor may they PM handlers asking for kills unless the handler has requested death ideas. This behavior is very impolite, and is expressly forbidden. Offending posts will be deleted, and further consequences may ensue for willful or repeat offenses. Handlers who are not rolled may only post in these threads if they have roll-related business, such as the use of a hero card (see rule 3 of 'Killing and Dying').
8. At the end of each month (each in-game day), voting for the best kill and the best death are held. Handlers are directed to vote anonymously for any nomination. If a death runs over time, then that character is ineligible for a Best Death Award and the killer is ineligible for a Best Kill Award. A character who wins the Best Death Award (BDA) will receive a scrolling page quote at the top of the main page of the site. This quote is nominated and voted on by the handlers themselves. The prize for Best Kill Award (BKA) is an in-universe; the winning character is announced and will be supplied with a shiny new weapon as well as other rewards, such as a freshly cooked meal, to reinforce their violence.
9. Each in-game day, certain areas are declared Danger Zones. These are areas on the island which must be vacated; failure to leave in time will result in the straggler's collar being detonated. Out of character, you have time to wrap up any threads in the affected areas in the same timeline as the card/death deadlines given out with the announcement: three days to finish up regular posts, and a further seven days in which you can only post an exit from the area. Any character who does not leave the Danger Zone within that period of time will be forfeit and modkilled through collar detonation. If you are in a Danger Zone and will be Away for the duration of the allotted exit time, have a fellow handler in your thread or a staff member remove the character for you so that they will not be killed.
Rolling Procedure
1. Every two weeks (or thereabouts), the staff will conduct a series of dice rolls with a random number generator.
2. Each number coincides with a character. If the character's number comes up, then they're up on the chopping block and slated for death. This is a change from our former system in an attempt to improve fairness—as handlers with fewer characters will now have less chance of getting rolled.
3. Any individual handler can only have a character of theirs rolled ONCE per roll; if two or more of a single handler's characters are rolled in the same session of rolls, the roll is ignored and a new character is rolled instead. This is to prevent a single handler from being wiped out within a single rolling period.
4. All death rolls are logged and posted publicly in the announcements.
Hero and Swap Cards
At the beginning of every version, each handler is given two cards: a Swap card and a Hero card. If a character is rolled that you want to see continue on, you have these options to save them:
1. A Swap Card may be used to exchange your own rolled character for another one of your own characters who will die in the rolled character's place.
2. A Hero Card may be used to exchange to somebody else's rolled character for one of your own characters who will die in the rolled character's place.
3. All cards must be used within three days of rolls being posted.
4. Each card may be used only once per version, and there is no way to gain extra cards.
5. In the event that a handler receives a Hero Card but does not want to be saved, they may contact staff stating as such and the Hero Card will be withdrawn and returned to its handler, allowing them to use it again at a later date or in the same set of rolls to save a different character if they so wish.
Note: As of V7, Roll Nulls/Null cards have been discontinued and there are no more usable roll nulls across the community.
Inactivity
This roleplay, just like all other ones, faces a few problems. Sometimes, people come onto the site, create characters, get all set to go into the roleplay... and then just disappear. As such rules are in place to ensure game health is preserved in regards to activity.
1. Two weeks without a post from a character will lead to you receiving a warning. Please be aware that this warning applies for all your characters, not just the one you didn't post with.
2. Following this warning, you will have a further week to post before being considered terminally inactive and your character will be killed off or placed up for adoption.
3. If you post within a week, then for the remainder of the current version, you must not go two weeks without posting—unless you have an appropriate absence message—with a character, or they will be declared terminally inactive and taken from you. We do try to give a bit of leeway for threads that have been held up, but it is considered your responsibility to monitor your own activity. You are allowed to skip other people in your thread if they are taking too long to post; waiting on someone else is not considered a valid excuse for your inactivity.
4. Once a character goes terminally inactive, a member of the staff will take them over via the SOTF_Help account and typically remove them from their current thread. After this point, the character will usually die via Danger Zone or another environmental hazard, a suicide, or a kill involving other terminally inactive characters if there are any. This method allows us to efficiently and impartially take care of inactive characters. In certain circumstances (e.g. the character went inactive in the middle of a fight scene), the inactive may just be killed off in their current topic for the sake of convenience and scene cohesion. If the character goes inactive early in the game, they may be placed up for adoption. Please refer to the Adoption Zone for more information on the adoption process and how it works.
Aways
1. If you ever know for sure that you're going to be away for a certain amount of time, be sure to post in the Official V7 Away Thread. If you, for whatever reason, can not post there, get a hold of somebody you know or trust and have them post for you.
2. If you are "Away", your officially noted time away from the site will not count as inactive time against your characters. Staff reserve the right to determine what constitutes both a valid reason and time for being away; if you plan to be away for several months, this is such a hindrance to the site that you will be asked to give up your characters for adoption instead.
3. Please be aware that being away does not make you exempt from rolls or danger zones for game balance and health reasons.
Escape Attempts
1. Escape attempts are technically allowed, though very difficult. If you want to try one, contact the staff via board PM or Discord, detailing your characters plan, step by step, as well as a list of all the characters involved.
2. If your plan involves other characters, a direct PM will be required from each handler involved, stating that they are approving their character's involvement and potential death.
3. Staff, upon receiving the plan will confirm as such but will not point out any flaws, aside from physical impossibilities.
4. Should you choose to enact the plan, you will need to handle it step by step. After each step, SOTF_Help will let you know what happens, either by PM, or, if you do something that would result in your character's death, by posting such in your thread.
5. You will get to write the death or, should your plan succeed, the results.
Escape plans are handled this way so that they have a very heavy risk associated with them, and to maintain realism and verisimilitude as an attempted escapee wouldn't be able to try again if their first plan wasn't perfect.
Weapons, Possessions and Supplies
1. At the start of every version, characters are rolled weapons from a pre-made weapon list staff create. These are assigned the same way that deaths are decided—via dice roll. Rolling logs are posted in order to ensure that nobody is rolling unfairly.
2. There are many different ways to acquire new weapons however. For starters, if your character kills another character on the island, they can pick up and use their weapon. Keep in mind, though, that if their gun was down to one bullet prior to you picking it up, it won't magically be refilled when you get it.
3. You can also pick up random items laying about the island. How does this work? Well obviously, if your character mysteriously finds a loaded gun lying around somewhere even though the island has been stripped, the staff is going to call you on it. However, it's plausible that you might find a broomstick, an extension cord, something that could double as a weapon lying around.
4. Items that could be used as deadly weapons as without much effort or improvisation such as knives, guns, pitchforks and other farm implements like it will always be removed from the island before the students arrival.
5. Finally, there is one other way to gain new weapons. If the members vote for your character during our monthly "Best Kill" contest, Danya and company will issue you a brand spanking new weapon to slaughter the competition with! If you have any questions about what your character might be able to find on the island, please contact staff.
6. If any items found on the island are intended to be used in an escape attempt then these will need to be cleared with staff.
FAQ
Q. How do I kill people?
A. To kill another student on the island, you must have permission from that character's handler. If you're interested in killing off a character—especially if said character has been rolled—PM the handler and ask for permission. If you're granted permission, collaborate with your partner to work out the details of the death, and voila! Remember, you don't decide how another character dies; that's up to the handler. If they say you can't kill their character, then you can't kill their character, plain and simple. Remember though, it's considered courtesy to only PM asking for death rights if the handler requests ideas first, as nobody likes being bombarded with unwanted messages.
Q. So... what exactly is the point of doing dice rolls?
A. While many people will voluntarily kill off their characters throughout the course of the game, many handlers want to make it as far as possible. Dice rolls are a fair way to determine which characters must be killed off each round and allow the game to progress. After all, if nobody dies, then the game never finishes! They are also a fair way to determine weaponry without playing favorites.
Q. When are the dice rolls to determine who dies?
A. Dice rolls take place during the beginning of and approximately halfway through each month, and will be presented with the announcement—if all goes as planned! Be sure to watch for them, and if you're rolled, plan accordingly to give the character a good death! Once the characters have been rolled, there will be a three day window for the playing of cards—for an explanation of how these work, see further down—which can modify which characters have to die. Once this window is up, you will have a further seven days to complete the death and link it in the announcement topic. If you require an extension, you must post within the announcement or rolls thread requesting one. Please keep in mind that you may not be granted an extension. Reasons like "I'm in the middle of finals and unable to post," will probably allow you an extension. Reasons such as "I just don't feel like doing it right now," will not. If your time is up and you've not requested/been granted an extension, your character will be turned over to SOTF_Help for elimination, and you forfeit any say in their death. This is done to keep people from prolonging death sequences for as long as possible.
Q. Does my character HAVE to be from the default high school? I wanted them to be from a rehab hospital.
A. Yes. Your character absolutely has to be from the current high school—as of V7, this is George Hunter High School. Not only that, but they MUST be grade 12 students. Furthermore, students must have attended the current high school for all four years. This encourages students to have connections with others on the island, rather than being loners who don't know anybody, which is far less interesting and engaging.
Island and Game FAQ
Q. Where is this island?
A. The terrorists aren't telling. We're sure it will be located eventually, but by then it will be too late...
Q. Nobody's been on this island in a long time. Does the electricity still work?
A. No. The V7 island had no working electrical components to begin with.
Q. Is there running water on the island, or has the water supply been cut off?
A. For V7, no, the island will not have running water. There are some areas with naturally running freshwater, and at least one well.
Q. Is there any notable wildlife on the island?
A. For V7, the animal population of the island is made up of small monkeys such as Macaques, goats, red pandas, sloths, dik-diks, peacocks, parrots, and various species of songbirds.
Q. What do the collars look like this time around?
A. The collars this time are sleek metal bands wrapped around the center of one's neck, about at the Adam's Apple. They are of modernistic and featureless design, solid matte black in color, with no obvious seam where the collar has been attached, nor obvious location of the explosive charge. Because their designer is a dork, the collars have been dubbed the model "Killer 7", as they are the seventh fully-realized iteration of collars.
Q. If I kill one of my own characters, can I pick up their weapon?
A. Originally, the SOTF policy was that if you killed your own character off with another one of your characters, you were NOT allowed to pick up and use their weapon. However, we've decided to change this for Version 2 (and beyond). Now, you may pick up their weapon after killing them, provided you don't abuse the privilege.
Q. And... what is considered abuse of the privilege?
A. Well, here's an example. If somebody were to kill their character Alice Onett with their other character Brian Twoson, and Brian picked up Alice's gun, that wouldn't be abuse. However, if they proceeded to kill off Charlene Threed, Derek Fourside, and Ericka Fivell (all their own characters) with Brian and pick up each of their weapons, that could constitute abuse of the system. Abuse is basically creating characters simply to increase your flagship's entourage of weaponry. If we notice you doing this, we may ask you to strike the posts in question from the site's canon. This extends to having your characters pool resources, such as everybody giving all of their weapons and food to one character. Simply put, if you want to collaborate, do so with other handlers. We're not here to write with ourselves.
Q. Staff can strike things from canon?
A. If you are found to violate the rules and conventions of realism in SOTF, or abuse any privileges, staff can impose appropriate consequences. For instance, god-modding can be met with that post or even the entire thread being declared non-canon. Another example might be having one character suddenly leave a thread without explanation to run across the island to grab an abandoned weapon they had no way of knowing was there (see the rules on metagaming for more information), which may prompt staff to strike the offending posts from canon AND have prohibit you from picking up the weapon for a certain period of time, or even indefinitely. This is a rare penalty that we do not like handing out, but preserving the integrity of the game is important for the enjoyment of all.
Q. I'm roleplaying with [handler] and (s)he keeps backing my character into a corner where they have to get injured! What do I do?
A. Politely request that the handler stop forcing you into a certain course of action, as god-modding is against the rules. If they refuse or continue to do so, feel free to alert a member of the staff, and we'll resolve the matter.
Q. [Handler] entered my topic, but I don't want to roleplay with him/her. What should I do?
A. If you don't want to roleplay with a certain handler because of reasons like god-modding and the like, you can always just leave the topic. However, if you don't want to roleplay with them because they're new and/or not "up to your standards", or because of other reasons not related to rules violations, we can't help you. The staff team isn't going to tell someone they aren't allowed to enter a topic because "you said so". If you've got a private storyline going on and you don't want anyone else to enter, mark the thread as private—although please be aware that not entering a private thread is considered courteous and not a hard rule.
Q. I feel like a staff member is abusing their power, what should I do?
A. We like to think that SOTF has an open-door policy when it comes to problems with the management team. If you're having issues with one staff member, don't be afraid to report them to another staff member, or take your issue to someone else. While the staff does work together, we aren't of one mind and body, and we don't tolerate unreasonable treatment of our members. Don't ever think that we'll side with another staffer just because they're staff.
Q. Who, exactly, ARE the staffers, and what are their roles?
A. The current staff team consists of MK Kilmarnock, Deamon, VoltTurtle, Emprexx Plush, and Backslash. They are denoted by purple names on both the main forum and on the Discord server, so they should be pretty easy to spot. The staff team runs most duties on the board including announcements, rolls, and contests. They also critique characters seeking approval into the game. In order to help with that workload, SOTF also has critique staff, denoted by mint-colored names. These are not full staffers but have all the same powers as staff when approving or denying characters in pregame and the game proper.
Q. I have a question that isn't on here, what do I do?
A. Contact Staff. We will review your question, and may add it here if we think it's necessary!
Q. How do I kill people?
A. To kill another student on the island, you must have permission from that character's handler. If you're interested in killing off a character—especially if said character has been rolled—PM the handler and ask for permission. If you're granted permission, collaborate with your partner to work out the details of the death, and voila! Remember, you don't decide how another character dies; that's up to the handler. If they say you can't kill their character, then you can't kill their character, plain and simple. Remember though, it's considered courtesy to only PM asking for death rights if the handler requests ideas first, as nobody likes being bombarded with unwanted messages.
Q. So... what exactly is the point of doing dice rolls?
A. While many people will voluntarily kill off their characters throughout the course of the game, many handlers want to make it as far as possible. Dice rolls are a fair way to determine which characters must be killed off each round and allow the game to progress. After all, if nobody dies, then the game never finishes! They are also a fair way to determine weaponry without playing favorites.
Q. When are the dice rolls to determine who dies?
A. Dice rolls take place during the beginning of and approximately halfway through each month, and will be presented with the announcement—if all goes as planned! Be sure to watch for them, and if you're rolled, plan accordingly to give the character a good death! Once the characters have been rolled, there will be a three day window for the playing of cards—for an explanation of how these work, see further down—which can modify which characters have to die. Once this window is up, you will have a further seven days to complete the death and link it in the announcement topic. If you require an extension, you must post within the announcement or rolls thread requesting one. Please keep in mind that you may not be granted an extension. Reasons like "I'm in the middle of finals and unable to post," will probably allow you an extension. Reasons such as "I just don't feel like doing it right now," will not. If your time is up and you've not requested/been granted an extension, your character will be turned over to SOTF_Help for elimination, and you forfeit any say in their death. This is done to keep people from prolonging death sequences for as long as possible.
Q. Does my character HAVE to be from the default high school? I wanted them to be from a rehab hospital.
A. Yes. Your character absolutely has to be from the current high school—as of V7, this is George Hunter High School. Not only that, but they MUST be grade 12 students. Furthermore, students must have attended the current high school for all four years. This encourages students to have connections with others on the island, rather than being loners who don't know anybody, which is far less interesting and engaging.
Island and Game FAQ
Q. Where is this island?
A. The terrorists aren't telling. We're sure it will be located eventually, but by then it will be too late...
Q. Nobody's been on this island in a long time. Does the electricity still work?
A. No. The V7 island had no working electrical components to begin with.
Q. Is there running water on the island, or has the water supply been cut off?
A. For V7, no, the island will not have running water. There are some areas with naturally running freshwater, and at least one well.
Q. Is there any notable wildlife on the island?
A. For V7, the animal population of the island is made up of small monkeys such as Macaques, goats, red pandas, sloths, dik-diks, peacocks, parrots, and various species of songbirds.
Q. What do the collars look like this time around?
A. The collars this time are sleek metal bands wrapped around the center of one's neck, about at the Adam's Apple. They are of modernistic and featureless design, solid matte black in color, with no obvious seam where the collar has been attached, nor obvious location of the explosive charge. Because their designer is a dork, the collars have been dubbed the model "Killer 7", as they are the seventh fully-realized iteration of collars.
Q. If I kill one of my own characters, can I pick up their weapon?
A. Originally, the SOTF policy was that if you killed your own character off with another one of your characters, you were NOT allowed to pick up and use their weapon. However, we've decided to change this for Version 2 (and beyond). Now, you may pick up their weapon after killing them, provided you don't abuse the privilege.
Q. And... what is considered abuse of the privilege?
A. Well, here's an example. If somebody were to kill their character Alice Onett with their other character Brian Twoson, and Brian picked up Alice's gun, that wouldn't be abuse. However, if they proceeded to kill off Charlene Threed, Derek Fourside, and Ericka Fivell (all their own characters) with Brian and pick up each of their weapons, that could constitute abuse of the system. Abuse is basically creating characters simply to increase your flagship's entourage of weaponry. If we notice you doing this, we may ask you to strike the posts in question from the site's canon. This extends to having your characters pool resources, such as everybody giving all of their weapons and food to one character. Simply put, if you want to collaborate, do so with other handlers. We're not here to write with ourselves.
Q. Staff can strike things from canon?
A. If you are found to violate the rules and conventions of realism in SOTF, or abuse any privileges, staff can impose appropriate consequences. For instance, god-modding can be met with that post or even the entire thread being declared non-canon. Another example might be having one character suddenly leave a thread without explanation to run across the island to grab an abandoned weapon they had no way of knowing was there (see the rules on metagaming for more information), which may prompt staff to strike the offending posts from canon AND have prohibit you from picking up the weapon for a certain period of time, or even indefinitely. This is a rare penalty that we do not like handing out, but preserving the integrity of the game is important for the enjoyment of all.
Q. I'm roleplaying with [handler] and (s)he keeps backing my character into a corner where they have to get injured! What do I do?
A. Politely request that the handler stop forcing you into a certain course of action, as god-modding is against the rules. If they refuse or continue to do so, feel free to alert a member of the staff, and we'll resolve the matter.
Q. [Handler] entered my topic, but I don't want to roleplay with him/her. What should I do?
A. If you don't want to roleplay with a certain handler because of reasons like god-modding and the like, you can always just leave the topic. However, if you don't want to roleplay with them because they're new and/or not "up to your standards", or because of other reasons not related to rules violations, we can't help you. The staff team isn't going to tell someone they aren't allowed to enter a topic because "you said so". If you've got a private storyline going on and you don't want anyone else to enter, mark the thread as private—although please be aware that not entering a private thread is considered courteous and not a hard rule.
Q. I feel like a staff member is abusing their power, what should I do?
A. We like to think that SOTF has an open-door policy when it comes to problems with the management team. If you're having issues with one staff member, don't be afraid to report them to another staff member, or take your issue to someone else. While the staff does work together, we aren't of one mind and body, and we don't tolerate unreasonable treatment of our members. Don't ever think that we'll side with another staffer just because they're staff.
Q. Who, exactly, ARE the staffers, and what are their roles?
A. The current staff team consists of MK Kilmarnock, Deamon, VoltTurtle, Emprexx Plush, and Backslash. They are denoted by purple names on both the main forum and on the Discord server, so they should be pretty easy to spot. The staff team runs most duties on the board including announcements, rolls, and contests. They also critique characters seeking approval into the game. In order to help with that workload, SOTF also has critique staff, denoted by mint-colored names. These are not full staffers but have all the same powers as staff when approving or denying characters in pregame and the game proper.
Q. I have a question that isn't on here, what do I do?
A. Contact Staff. We will review your question, and may add it here if we think it's necessary!
SOTF Code of Conduct
1. If someone asks you to stop doing something genuinely offensive, do it. If you are not completely sure that you are being inoffensive, knock it off anyways. If you think you're being harmless, be prepared to explain why to the staff should the situation escalate.
2. If you have an issue with someone's behavior, ask them to stop. If this doesn't work, report it to staff. If you escalate the situation or retaliate, you will share responsibility if/when the staff does get involved.
3. Criticism of characters/expression of opinions is allowed. We are a writing site, after all. Relentless mocking of characters is not. That's what PMs are for, if you really must do it. We want all our writers to feel welcome and safe in chat. Saying, "I do not like character X because their reactions are unrealistic and they seem lacking in emotional depth" is fine. Saying, "Character Y's dumb and gonna start eating corpses now, 'cause he's new Blood Boy!" is not. If you're unclear on the line, ask someone else's opinion.
4. Listen to the staff if they are acting in an official capacity. We're not tyrants. We are here to make sure all the members of the site feel welcome. If that means telling our friends to calm down, we will do it. It's nothing personal.
5. Violation of the chat rules may result in suspensions from the chat, the site, or both.
1. If someone asks you to stop doing something genuinely offensive, do it. If you are not completely sure that you are being inoffensive, knock it off anyways. If you think you're being harmless, be prepared to explain why to the staff should the situation escalate.
2. If you have an issue with someone's behavior, ask them to stop. If this doesn't work, report it to staff. If you escalate the situation or retaliate, you will share responsibility if/when the staff does get involved.
3. Criticism of characters/expression of opinions is allowed. We are a writing site, after all. Relentless mocking of characters is not. That's what PMs are for, if you really must do it. We want all our writers to feel welcome and safe in chat. Saying, "I do not like character X because their reactions are unrealistic and they seem lacking in emotional depth" is fine. Saying, "Character Y's dumb and gonna start eating corpses now, 'cause he's new Blood Boy!" is not. If you're unclear on the line, ask someone else's opinion.
4. Listen to the staff if they are acting in an official capacity. We're not tyrants. We are here to make sure all the members of the site feel welcome. If that means telling our friends to calm down, we will do it. It's nothing personal.
5. Violation of the chat rules may result in suspensions from the chat, the site, or both.
SOTF Account Policies
Policies on Multiple Accounts
1. On SOTF, handlers are not allowed to have multiple accounts simultaneously active. This is because we only allow so many characters per handler.
There are some rare instances where a handler may wish to change accounts. If a username change is all that is desired, that can be easily accommodated. Should you want a whole new account, however, please let staff know that you had an old one and which it was. We're fine with accounts being switched if there's a good reason or it's been a long time since you were around. Many of our handlers fall into this category. We need to know about it, though, so that we can track things like adoption eligibility, activity warnings, and staff notes/warnings between accounts, and also so the old account can be locked.
Running multiple accounts at once is effectively cheating, and will result in a ban. Changing accounts without notifying staff will be frowned upon heavily, and will result in a ban should it be determined that any inappropriate action was taken or advantage gained. If not, the handler will be warned and may face further consequences, up to and including a ban depending on the circumstances.
2. Due to incidents of ban evasion, the use of proxy servers to log into the site is disallowed. For those who do not know, proxy servers hide the location of your login. They provide no other real utility, and as such are most commonly used as a tool to evade security precautions. They are not the same thing as naturally refreshing IP addresses (which many countries have) and if your IP frequently changes for reasons besides proxy use, you have no cause for concern. We implemented this rule to better allow us to quickly weed out potential security threats. The response/repercussions for handlers using a proxy beyond this point will vary according to the situation, but if we have any reason to suspect that they are ban-evaders they will be banned as such.
If you have any questions about this rule, or if you believe that you have a legitimate need to use a proxy to access our site, please contact staff. We're very willing to discuss the situation and to make case-by-case exceptions given adequate reason; we simply want our official and default stance to be clear here.
Personal Information Honesty
1. Nobody is ever required to share information. If someone asks for information and the request is denied, that's fine, and the person keeping private should not be harassed. If you want to make up a fake name for use on the site, that is fine as long as you let everyone know it's not your real name. That's a perfectly acceptable part of privacy, just let us known you're taking these precautions.
2. Any information you choose to share should be true. Should it come out that you have lied, that will be a bannable offense. We're being very hard-line on this because SOTF is a close-knit community. We've had members meet offline often. Relationships have started through the site. Dishonesty represents a serious problem, possibly even one that goes beyond a betrayal of trust to affect offline safety of our members. This is an area in which we cannot compromise.
3. SOTF respects that gender identity is not an easy or simple subject. This policy in no way obligates transgender, gender-questioning, or genderqueer members to disclose that they are. It does, however, mean that masquerading as a gender you do not identify as will be treated like any other lying. (Note that this in no way obligates anyone to come out before they're comfortable doing so. We understand that this is a process, and staying closeted until you're comfortable is not a violation of this policy.)
4. Similarly, deception through misdirection or "guessing games" is also banned. If you wish to keep your personal information private, that is fine. Do not, however, use it to tease or entice other members. Do not attempt to convey incorrect impressions. Do not lie through omission or implication. All of these things, depending on the incident and context, may be treated like any other lying.
5. This policy does not mean you can't joke around in chat or be humorously dishonest. They key thing here is, everyone needs to quickly find out that you're joking. As an example, a well-established handler claiming to be the opposite of who they truly are in chat as a brief joke is okay because everyone knows the truth and it's easily verifiable. Running jokes are okay. Attempts at legitimate misdirection are not. If in doubt, ask the staff; we keep member confidentiality in all cases where it is not a matter of safety (individual or community).
Policies on Multiple Accounts
1. On SOTF, handlers are not allowed to have multiple accounts simultaneously active. This is because we only allow so many characters per handler.
There are some rare instances where a handler may wish to change accounts. If a username change is all that is desired, that can be easily accommodated. Should you want a whole new account, however, please let staff know that you had an old one and which it was. We're fine with accounts being switched if there's a good reason or it's been a long time since you were around. Many of our handlers fall into this category. We need to know about it, though, so that we can track things like adoption eligibility, activity warnings, and staff notes/warnings between accounts, and also so the old account can be locked.
Running multiple accounts at once is effectively cheating, and will result in a ban. Changing accounts without notifying staff will be frowned upon heavily, and will result in a ban should it be determined that any inappropriate action was taken or advantage gained. If not, the handler will be warned and may face further consequences, up to and including a ban depending on the circumstances.
2. Due to incidents of ban evasion, the use of proxy servers to log into the site is disallowed. For those who do not know, proxy servers hide the location of your login. They provide no other real utility, and as such are most commonly used as a tool to evade security precautions. They are not the same thing as naturally refreshing IP addresses (which many countries have) and if your IP frequently changes for reasons besides proxy use, you have no cause for concern. We implemented this rule to better allow us to quickly weed out potential security threats. The response/repercussions for handlers using a proxy beyond this point will vary according to the situation, but if we have any reason to suspect that they are ban-evaders they will be banned as such.
If you have any questions about this rule, or if you believe that you have a legitimate need to use a proxy to access our site, please contact staff. We're very willing to discuss the situation and to make case-by-case exceptions given adequate reason; we simply want our official and default stance to be clear here.
Personal Information Honesty
1. Nobody is ever required to share information. If someone asks for information and the request is denied, that's fine, and the person keeping private should not be harassed. If you want to make up a fake name for use on the site, that is fine as long as you let everyone know it's not your real name. That's a perfectly acceptable part of privacy, just let us known you're taking these precautions.
2. Any information you choose to share should be true. Should it come out that you have lied, that will be a bannable offense. We're being very hard-line on this because SOTF is a close-knit community. We've had members meet offline often. Relationships have started through the site. Dishonesty represents a serious problem, possibly even one that goes beyond a betrayal of trust to affect offline safety of our members. This is an area in which we cannot compromise.
3. SOTF respects that gender identity is not an easy or simple subject. This policy in no way obligates transgender, gender-questioning, or genderqueer members to disclose that they are. It does, however, mean that masquerading as a gender you do not identify as will be treated like any other lying. (Note that this in no way obligates anyone to come out before they're comfortable doing so. We understand that this is a process, and staying closeted until you're comfortable is not a violation of this policy.)
4. Similarly, deception through misdirection or "guessing games" is also banned. If you wish to keep your personal information private, that is fine. Do not, however, use it to tease or entice other members. Do not attempt to convey incorrect impressions. Do not lie through omission or implication. All of these things, depending on the incident and context, may be treated like any other lying.
5. This policy does not mean you can't joke around in chat or be humorously dishonest. They key thing here is, everyone needs to quickly find out that you're joking. As an example, a well-established handler claiming to be the opposite of who they truly are in chat as a brief joke is okay because everyone knows the truth and it's easily verifiable. Running jokes are okay. Attempts at legitimate misdirection are not. If in doubt, ask the staff; we keep member confidentiality in all cases where it is not a matter of safety (individual or community).
Character Acceptability
Characters sharing a name with a celebrity
All characters must be original characters. What that means is, you may not submit characters from movies, comic books, etc. You may not submit characters who are direct inserts of celebrities. You may not submit profiles written by other handlers without their express permission. The staff will be googling every character's name as part of the approval process.
Note that coincidental name matches are fine. If a character just happens to be named Michael Anderson but bears no other similarities to the director of the same name, that is acceptable under this policy.
Also, in the interests of realism, we will not be accepting close relatives of those from past seasons of SOTF (or any escapees, winners, or survivors of any nature). Any character of first cousin or closer status to a past contestant will not be approved.
Characters sharing a name with a person who is NOT a celebrity
While we understand that many handlers like to insert fictionalized versions of their friends/family into SOTF, there have been incidents that show that this can be rather problematic. SOTF turns up fairly high on Google results, and people tend to be very displeased when their personal information is attached to a Battle Royale situation, especially if, say, they are written as psychotic players.
As such, it is policy that inserted characters must have their names changed enough as to be unconnected to their basis by a Google search, unless the basis of the character has given express permission for the usage of their name, with full understanding of what the site is and what sort of stories are told. We realize that there is no way to double-check this before it becomes an issue, but if it does become an issue, (such as if we receive angry PMs and emails from someone asking us to take their name off the site), the consequences will be very dire indeed. There is no way to automatically replace names, so any change requires a massive amount of staff time and attention. Even a minor character may end up taking hours of by-hand replacement. More than that, coming up on SOTF can be a bad thing for people when applying for jobs, and we don't want them to only find out after the fact that one of their friends accidentally caused them trouble.
Note that this only applies to characters based on people/the names of people who the handler knows. We're not going to penalize you if a random person has the same name as your character; the odds of picking a name with nobody attached to it are fantastically low. Similarly, we will not be changing names of characters at the request of people uninvolved with the character/handler, as even a cursory glance at the profile should prove that there is no relation. Basically, it's the old disclaimer about resemblance to real people, living or dead, being coincidental: if it is purely coincidental, everything's fine.
Characters sharing a name with a celebrity
All characters must be original characters. What that means is, you may not submit characters from movies, comic books, etc. You may not submit characters who are direct inserts of celebrities. You may not submit profiles written by other handlers without their express permission. The staff will be googling every character's name as part of the approval process.
Note that coincidental name matches are fine. If a character just happens to be named Michael Anderson but bears no other similarities to the director of the same name, that is acceptable under this policy.
Also, in the interests of realism, we will not be accepting close relatives of those from past seasons of SOTF (or any escapees, winners, or survivors of any nature). Any character of first cousin or closer status to a past contestant will not be approved.
Characters sharing a name with a person who is NOT a celebrity
While we understand that many handlers like to insert fictionalized versions of their friends/family into SOTF, there have been incidents that show that this can be rather problematic. SOTF turns up fairly high on Google results, and people tend to be very displeased when their personal information is attached to a Battle Royale situation, especially if, say, they are written as psychotic players.
As such, it is policy that inserted characters must have their names changed enough as to be unconnected to their basis by a Google search, unless the basis of the character has given express permission for the usage of their name, with full understanding of what the site is and what sort of stories are told. We realize that there is no way to double-check this before it becomes an issue, but if it does become an issue, (such as if we receive angry PMs and emails from someone asking us to take their name off the site), the consequences will be very dire indeed. There is no way to automatically replace names, so any change requires a massive amount of staff time and attention. Even a minor character may end up taking hours of by-hand replacement. More than that, coming up on SOTF can be a bad thing for people when applying for jobs, and we don't want them to only find out after the fact that one of their friends accidentally caused them trouble.
Note that this only applies to characters based on people/the names of people who the handler knows. We're not going to penalize you if a random person has the same name as your character; the odds of picking a name with nobody attached to it are fantastically low. Similarly, we will not be changing names of characters at the request of people uninvolved with the character/handler, as even a cursory glance at the profile should prove that there is no relation. Basically, it's the old disclaimer about resemblance to real people, living or dead, being coincidental: if it is purely coincidental, everything's fine.
Daypack Contents
As each student is dropped off in their respective positions scattered across the island, they are issued a designated daypack. Inside the daypack are essential contents to help ensure the students' survival on the island. So, what has Mr. Danya deemed necessary for your survival this go-around? Within the kit, many things have been granted you for your own personal use. Here, you'll be given a run-down of each item, along with the purpose they'll serve in helping to aid (or for some of you, hinder) your survival.
Rations.
Each of you have been designated the same amount of rations, which are considerably more generous than in previous versions. Each of you have been issued two loaves of bread, two tins of crackers, ten high-energy survival ration food bars and four bottles of water. The island you all will be playing the game on this time around has been abandoned for years, so rations will be sparse. Your best bet, if you're running low on rations, would be to hunt and kill wild animals, or turn to cannibalism, whatever helps you sleep at night.
Map and Compass.
We wouldn't want you running into a danger zone or anything like that, now would we? Bigger, gorier kills mean bigger, better ratings. SOTF Island is supposed to be a slaughterhouse, killing is the name of the game, and to play the game properly, you need to know where you're going. Therefore, Mr. Danya has kindly provided you all with maps of the island and compasses to help you get from Point A to Point B -- and hopefully kill Guy C in between!
Designated Weapon and Instruction Manual.
Note that you'll only be receiving an instruction manual if your weapon warrants it. If you don't know how to effectively use a knife, you're on your own. Designated weapon varies via daypack, and they have, apparently, been randomly assigned to you by Mr. Danya himself. Weapons range from slinkies to guns and all things in between, so perhaps you'll get lucky. Chance is the name of this game, and Mr. Danya doesn't play favorites, I'm afraid.
Flashlight.
Given that there's no electricity anywhere on the island, you're going to need a flashlight if you want to navigate the island in the dead of night. Of course, you should be selective when using this item... don't want to catch any unwanted attention, now do we?
Mr. Danya's Guide to Survival.
Mr. Danya has been kind enough to give you a survival guide written by himself! It's a variation of the student handbook from the original SOTF, albeit with a few select differences. You'd do well to read through this booklet and take the content within to heart. Remember, children, fight with gusto, and play for keeps! Do unto others, just make sure you make it stick!
Extra Dufflebag.
The students of George Hunter High were abducted on their way back from the senior DC trip, so they'll have some of the contents of the backpacks they had with them onboard the bus. All of these have been rummaged through, and personal belongings that could cause problems down the line (read: extra weapons, laptop computers, pen and paper etc.) have been confiscated. Anything else in the backpack you’ve been allowed to keep, all tucked away in a convenient 'Property of SOTF' dufflebag!
The First Aid Kit.
Blood, pain, drama, the futility and sheer helplessness of watching a friend bleed to death before your very eyes... it makes for quite the heartwrenching scene, doesn't it? We want you all to die (except one of you of course), but we want to watch you suffer a bit. Tragedy's such a wonderful genre. Therefore, Mr. Danya has supplied every student with a standard Red Cross issued first aid kit. The first aid kit contains the following:
As each student is dropped off in their respective positions scattered across the island, they are issued a designated daypack. Inside the daypack are essential contents to help ensure the students' survival on the island. So, what has Mr. Danya deemed necessary for your survival this go-around? Within the kit, many things have been granted you for your own personal use. Here, you'll be given a run-down of each item, along with the purpose they'll serve in helping to aid (or for some of you, hinder) your survival.
Rations.
Each of you have been designated the same amount of rations, which are considerably more generous than in previous versions. Each of you have been issued two loaves of bread, two tins of crackers, ten high-energy survival ration food bars and four bottles of water. The island you all will be playing the game on this time around has been abandoned for years, so rations will be sparse. Your best bet, if you're running low on rations, would be to hunt and kill wild animals, or turn to cannibalism, whatever helps you sleep at night.
Map and Compass.
We wouldn't want you running into a danger zone or anything like that, now would we? Bigger, gorier kills mean bigger, better ratings. SOTF Island is supposed to be a slaughterhouse, killing is the name of the game, and to play the game properly, you need to know where you're going. Therefore, Mr. Danya has kindly provided you all with maps of the island and compasses to help you get from Point A to Point B -- and hopefully kill Guy C in between!
Designated Weapon and Instruction Manual.
Note that you'll only be receiving an instruction manual if your weapon warrants it. If you don't know how to effectively use a knife, you're on your own. Designated weapon varies via daypack, and they have, apparently, been randomly assigned to you by Mr. Danya himself. Weapons range from slinkies to guns and all things in between, so perhaps you'll get lucky. Chance is the name of this game, and Mr. Danya doesn't play favorites, I'm afraid.
Flashlight.
Given that there's no electricity anywhere on the island, you're going to need a flashlight if you want to navigate the island in the dead of night. Of course, you should be selective when using this item... don't want to catch any unwanted attention, now do we?
Mr. Danya's Guide to Survival.
Mr. Danya has been kind enough to give you a survival guide written by himself! It's a variation of the student handbook from the original SOTF, albeit with a few select differences. You'd do well to read through this booklet and take the content within to heart. Remember, children, fight with gusto, and play for keeps! Do unto others, just make sure you make it stick!
Extra Dufflebag.
The students of George Hunter High were abducted on their way back from the senior DC trip, so they'll have some of the contents of the backpacks they had with them onboard the bus. All of these have been rummaged through, and personal belongings that could cause problems down the line (read: extra weapons, laptop computers, pen and paper etc.) have been confiscated. Anything else in the backpack you’ve been allowed to keep, all tucked away in a convenient 'Property of SOTF' dufflebag!
The First Aid Kit.
Blood, pain, drama, the futility and sheer helplessness of watching a friend bleed to death before your very eyes... it makes for quite the heartwrenching scene, doesn't it? We want you all to die (except one of you of course), but we want to watch you suffer a bit. Tragedy's such a wonderful genre. Therefore, Mr. Danya has supplied every student with a standard Red Cross issued first aid kit. The first aid kit contains the following:
Danya's Guide to Survival
Well hello, children! I'm absolutely, positively thrilled that you've chosen to read over this wonderful book that I've so laboriously crafted just for you -- it could be the difference between life and death, you see. The fact that you've even opened this book tells me one thing about you: you're smart. Perhaps smarter than I've given you credit for. Within this guide are some key facts you'll need to know in order to survive on this island... or should I say, perhaps prolong your lives a bit longer. What you'll need to survive, most of you don't have. However, little warriors, I'll get on with it.
The Collars.
So, what do you all need to know about the collars this go around? They're waterproof, they're shockproof, and they aren't removable. But don't take my word for it, please, try to remove them. You'll experience a rather painful demise. You see, much like the first model we used, these collars are also tamper-proof, and explode when messed with, effectively leaving a nice big gap where your neck used to be. As those of you who watched the previous SOTF might've noticed, the design's a bit different -- don't let it fool you, they're still just as menacing and lethal as ever.
The collars are a vital part of our little experiment here. They monitor your pulses. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security, children. We know where you are and what you're doing at all times. Just because we aren't responding doesn't mean we aren't watching you. If you cause us trouble, we can easily have you disqualified from the game... in a rather grisly and unpleasant manner, I might add. Keep that in mind before attempting yet another futile and pointless escape plan.
Danger Zones.
We can't have you all camping out in a certain location until the end of time, now can we? I'll be announcing new danger zones and clearing others during every announcement, so be on your toes. Don't linger anywhere for too long, that's almost ensuring that that area will become a danger zone. I've got to keep you kids on the run, you see. A spooked herd stampedes more easily, and all that jazz.
Morning Announcements.
You know, children, I make the announcements for your own good, so it would be in your best interests to listen, and listen intently. I'll be giving you a list of all of your fallen friends. I might even tell you who killed them, if I'm in the mood. Then you can enact exact retribution upon their murderer and all that good stuff. Makes for good ratings, you know. Not only will I give you a tally of the dead, but I'll also tell you which areas are becoming restricted. Take heed of that, children, because once an area becomes restricted, you're sealing your own fate by lingering within.
Kill or Be Killed.
Twenty-four hours. If we've not had at least one death over the course of one day, you'll all die. Doesn't seem fair, does it? That's why you should take the initiative, children, and make sure that at least one person dies every day. They say collar explosion is a very painful way to go. Not that I would know. Regardless, it would work in your favor to make sure that the kill count is met. I'd hate to have this game end prematurely, you see. It costs me ratings, and loss of ratings costs me money.
Cameras.
You might've noticed the cameras mounted in various places across the island. Much like the original SOTF, this one is being broadcast nationwide. Remember, kiddos, you're on television, so play to the crowd! This is a blood sport in the darkest sense of the word, and people are watching for the carnage they expect you to unleash. Don't disappoint me. On the subject of cameras, it's also safe to remind you that you're being watched at all times -- not only by me, but by people around the world. Do something interesting, little warriors, make me proud!
Take Heed of Others.
I leave you with these parting words. It may seem like a great idea to team up with friends and attempt to take on the system. Remember -- you aren't the first person to have this ingenius idea, and odds are, you won't be the last. You can't defeat me. Groups seem smart. They aren't. There's always a weak link. Always someone who can't be trusted. Just because you aren't willing to do unto others, children, doesn't mean that others out there are so kind. This is a game about deceit. It's a game about murder. Be wary of others. Could you kill your best friend? ... What if your best friend could kill you?
Well hello, children! I'm absolutely, positively thrilled that you've chosen to read over this wonderful book that I've so laboriously crafted just for you -- it could be the difference between life and death, you see. The fact that you've even opened this book tells me one thing about you: you're smart. Perhaps smarter than I've given you credit for. Within this guide are some key facts you'll need to know in order to survive on this island... or should I say, perhaps prolong your lives a bit longer. What you'll need to survive, most of you don't have. However, little warriors, I'll get on with it.
The Collars.
So, what do you all need to know about the collars this go around? They're waterproof, they're shockproof, and they aren't removable. But don't take my word for it, please, try to remove them. You'll experience a rather painful demise. You see, much like the first model we used, these collars are also tamper-proof, and explode when messed with, effectively leaving a nice big gap where your neck used to be. As those of you who watched the previous SOTF might've noticed, the design's a bit different -- don't let it fool you, they're still just as menacing and lethal as ever.
The collars are a vital part of our little experiment here. They monitor your pulses. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security, children. We know where you are and what you're doing at all times. Just because we aren't responding doesn't mean we aren't watching you. If you cause us trouble, we can easily have you disqualified from the game... in a rather grisly and unpleasant manner, I might add. Keep that in mind before attempting yet another futile and pointless escape plan.
Danger Zones.
We can't have you all camping out in a certain location until the end of time, now can we? I'll be announcing new danger zones and clearing others during every announcement, so be on your toes. Don't linger anywhere for too long, that's almost ensuring that that area will become a danger zone. I've got to keep you kids on the run, you see. A spooked herd stampedes more easily, and all that jazz.
Morning Announcements.
You know, children, I make the announcements for your own good, so it would be in your best interests to listen, and listen intently. I'll be giving you a list of all of your fallen friends. I might even tell you who killed them, if I'm in the mood. Then you can enact exact retribution upon their murderer and all that good stuff. Makes for good ratings, you know. Not only will I give you a tally of the dead, but I'll also tell you which areas are becoming restricted. Take heed of that, children, because once an area becomes restricted, you're sealing your own fate by lingering within.
Kill or Be Killed.
Twenty-four hours. If we've not had at least one death over the course of one day, you'll all die. Doesn't seem fair, does it? That's why you should take the initiative, children, and make sure that at least one person dies every day. They say collar explosion is a very painful way to go. Not that I would know. Regardless, it would work in your favor to make sure that the kill count is met. I'd hate to have this game end prematurely, you see. It costs me ratings, and loss of ratings costs me money.
Cameras.
You might've noticed the cameras mounted in various places across the island. Much like the original SOTF, this one is being broadcast nationwide. Remember, kiddos, you're on television, so play to the crowd! This is a blood sport in the darkest sense of the word, and people are watching for the carnage they expect you to unleash. Don't disappoint me. On the subject of cameras, it's also safe to remind you that you're being watched at all times -- not only by me, but by people around the world. Do something interesting, little warriors, make me proud!
Take Heed of Others.
I leave you with these parting words. It may seem like a great idea to team up with friends and attempt to take on the system. Remember -- you aren't the first person to have this ingenius idea, and odds are, you won't be the last. You can't defeat me. Groups seem smart. They aren't. There's always a weak link. Always someone who can't be trusted. Just because you aren't willing to do unto others, children, doesn't mean that others out there are so kind. This is a game about deceit. It's a game about murder. Be wary of others. Could you kill your best friend? ... What if your best friend could kill you?
Contacting Staff
SOTF staff members are readily identifiable by their purple usernames on the boards and on the Discord channel. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to send a PM either through the boards or through the Discord messenger system. If you would like to send a message to all staffers rather than any one in particular, you can PM the SOTF_Help account and your message will be reviewed eventually (to ensure a prompt response, nudge a staff member on Discord to check the SOTF_Help inbox). While staff tries to check on the SOTF_Help account as often as possible, delays do happen, and so sending a message to a staffer directly is often the fastest way to contact us.
Current SOTF staff is: MK Kilmarnock, Deamon, VoltTurtle, Emprexx Plush, Backslash, Buko, and Ruggahissy.
SOTF staff members are readily identifiable by their purple usernames on the boards and on the Discord channel. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to send a PM either through the boards or through the Discord messenger system. If you would like to send a message to all staffers rather than any one in particular, you can PM the SOTF_Help account and your message will be reviewed eventually (to ensure a prompt response, nudge a staff member on Discord to check the SOTF_Help inbox). While staff tries to check on the SOTF_Help account as often as possible, delays do happen, and so sending a message to a staffer directly is often the fastest way to contact us.
Current SOTF staff is: MK Kilmarnock, Deamon, VoltTurtle, Emprexx Plush, Backslash, Buko, and Ruggahissy.