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.