There aren’t too many rules when it comes to playing in Sinari, but those we do have are intended to keep the game fun and fair for everyone involved.  We do have a few restrictions regarding certain character aspects, particular game-play styles as well as some general suggestions before you dive in to playing your character.  The rules are as follows:

Character Rules
Role-playing/Combat Rules
Plot Rules
Wiki Rules
Acceptable Content

Character Rules:

Race:  If you want a character that is a non-standard race (i.e. not human, elven, half-elven or dwarven) it needs to be cleared with Project Staff.  This includes standard races afflicted with curses or anything else that might cause to not be purely of that race any more (for example, lycanthropy, vampirism, etc.).  You will need to show how your character idea benefits from the difference.

Abilities:  Please keep character abilities at moderate levels.  If you feel a skill should be better than that, we request that you counter it with some deficiency.  To put in perspective, our goal is to develop our characters, not start at the end of the game.

Role-playing Rules:

Play Style:  Sinari uses Free-Form Role Play.  There are no hard and fast rules except for one: you can make no assumptions about the effects of your actions on another player’s character.  For example, you can have your character attempt to take another character’s hand, but you cannot simply state that your character took their hand.  There are exceptions to this when you and the other are in communication and agree to the results ahead of time.

Combat Style:  Sinari uses the Free-Form system for combat.  Here are two examples:

Incorrect Example: Felix rushes at the guard with his fist clenched tightly at his side. As he nears his opponent he pulls his arm back and slams his fist into the back of the man's head with enough force to send him toppling to the ground, unconscious.

Correct Example: Felix rushes at the guard with his fist clenched tightly at his side. As he nears his opponent he pulls his arm back and aims a powerful swing at the man's head, hoping to hit him hard enough to knock him senseless, or possibly even out cold.

The differences in these posts are subtle but easy enough to understand.  The first example has Felix assuming that his attack lands, and not only that, also dictates the results on the strike, not giving the other player the opportunity to react.  The second example names the attack, the goal and possible consequences, but leaves the results up to the player of Felix’s opponent.

Plot Rules:

Personal plots should be kept small-scale with limited effects.  Any plot that will make lasting impacts on the setting needs to be cleared with Project Staff.  As a basic rule, your plots should not affect more than your character and the characters who interact with them.  Personal events like a job change, a family death or a dark secret coming out are all acceptable examples (assuming they do not have far-reaching consequences that would affect the setting).

Wiki Rules:

A part of Sinari is a functioning wiki as a tool to reference information about the setting, players and tools.  All players are welcome to contribute to the wiki, but please follow the rules.

Formatting:  Please familiarize yourself with the common styles used around the wiki. If you're not sure how to create wiki pages, there is a convenient Help section that is linked on every wiki page.

For example: Usually the first page new members will make will be their character page. There is a template for basic character information that can be found in the navigation bar on the main page (linked here for your convenience) and that should be copied and added to the top of your character page. Different players include different information and employ different methods for organizing their sheets so the Character Box allows for a quick reference while playing.

Etiquette:

• Please do not make any major changes to a wiki page that is not your own.
  
  
• Correcting formatting errors, incorrect links, typos, etc. is acceptable. In the cases of public pages, such as current events, adding content to the page is acceptable assuming you follow the style outlined already on the page.
  
  
• Please do not create new content in the wiki without running it by the Project Staff. This includes any major content that you might wish to add such as world locations, points of historical interest, cultures, etc. This is not to curb creativity, but simply to make sure things are consistant throughout the world and make sense. If you're not sure, don't worry about adding something, you'll likely just be contacted about it if there needs to be adjustments. All changes in the wiki are easily updated/reverted/tracked.

Acceptable Content:

• Do not include any copy-written content without also acknowledging the owner of said content.
• Do not include any pornographic material.
• Please try to maintain a "PG-13" level for your content.
• We appreciate that not all characters fit into a "PG-13" rating, but the level of description for that character can.
• Please contact a project staff member if you have any questions about what is acceptable content and what is not.