Contents 1 The Golden Rule 2 When to Play the "Consent Card" 3 Consent Abuse 4 Consent and Groups

The Golden RuleEdit

Despite the presence of stats, dice code, and so on, they do not determine the course of RP. These are merely RP aids, to give an idea of relative power levels, and to offer a dice roll to determine the outcome of a given encounter, should the players feel such a thing is needed. Our emphasis here is on telling a story. Applying for a character here is a lot of work. Nobody wants to throw that away over one dice roll.

Therefore, conflict resolution is determined by consent and agreement between players. The way it works is simple. Player one poses an attack on player two, as an attempt. Player two then determines the effect of said attack on his character. Never taking any damage from combat is considered poor play, however, so is complaining that another player did not accept an attack. It is never considered cheating to evade a combat attack that would be unavoidably lethal to one's character.

Whenever possible, if you want to take some action against another player that is at all outside the norm, you should page them and work out the consent issue before it is even posed. This should keep conflict and confusion to a minimum, and keep things running smoothly.

When to Play the "Consent Card"Edit

1. If you feel you are being pushed into taking damage that would kill or maim your character, or the circumstances of the scene have become such that you cannot think of a way to avoid such a result. One never has to agree to the death of one's character.

2. If the course of roleplay is going in a direction that you, as a player, are experiencing emotional discomfort with. Bear in mind that some people may be uncomfortable with things that seem innocent to others. For example, somebody who was in lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001, may have severe problems with a large building collapsing.

3. A course of roleplay that, for legitimate reasons associated with the character's personality or flaws, would leave the character unplayable from, say, madness, angst, or being driven to become a hermit.

4. The death or destruction of any approved advantage or tech that would be difficult or impossible for the character to replace.

5. Being Framed. This cannot be done under any circumstances without the consent of the player of the character being framed.

6. Being unmasked. It is not appropriate to simply reveal somebody's secret identity to the press, or power-pose your way into discovering it. Unless your character does something thoroughly stupid that WOULD blow their secret identity, it may not be revealed.

If it comes down to it, and there are any more complex issues which concern consent, it may be best to contact staff and explain the problem. We may be able to help you find a way out of your problem without having to "call consent."

Consent AbuseEdit

Heroes Dreams /is/ a consent-based environment. However, there are limits to the ways in which consent can be applied. In an ideal world, it would never be necessary for a player to say that they "no consent" a specific action. As long as people do not power pose and RP appropriately, the issue of active consent should not come up, but it's not a perfect world, or a perfect game. The system can be abused, as well, and that's what this file is here to describe.

Consent abuse generally falls into three categories:

1. No consenting stuff that is (frankly) stupid. You cannot, for example, permit somebody to enter a scene and then no consent them realistically interacting with it. (If you wish somebody not to start combat, you can say so ahead of time, but otherwise, if you allow the Joker to enter your scene, then you /are/ consenting to him coming in and attacking someone.) You cannot no consent people discussing your character, talking about him, or even making him look bad on the boards (Which can be dealt with ICly) unless they are claiming to have IC information via OOC knowledge.

2. No consenting reasonable, IC consequences of your characters actions. If you rob a bank, you cannot no consent the heroes showing up to stop you. If you do something stupid, you cannot no consent Clark Kent saying so in an editorial. ICA=ICC is limited on here, in that the ICC cannot be /permanent/. Characters cannot be killed without consent, and a villain who is put in prison has the right to escape. One cannot, however, no consent being arrested if that is what would realistically happen. (Though you can RP as having escaped later.) Also, you cannot no consent something that you have already RPed out. Consent has to be invoked at the time of the problem action, not later, unless the problem turns out to be so significant it warrants intervention by staff.

3. Pulling consent either to upset another player, or because they upset you. An OOC argument is not an excuse to retcon a scene or to refuse to engage in specific RP... it is legitimate to avoid another player, if there is a good reason, but once you are in scene with them, you must not use consent to "block" their RP. Retcons will not be granted if there is any indication of OOC spite being the reason.

Consent and GroupsEdit

There are detailed rules about consent as it applies to individuals, located in 'NEWS CONSENT', but a few points must be clarified regarding consent as it applies to +orgs, or characters who share a home or base.

If a villain wants to do anything against a group or a group's base for a scene at that time, then he or she should /only/ do this if there are members of the team online and willing to oppose. Consent should be requested of, ideally, the team's OOC leader, if that person is not online, then any member of the team will do. This person should ensure that there are sufficient people interested in the scene before responding.

If one wishes to involve a team or group in a /plot/, then one should talk to the leader of the group, or a member if there is no obvious leader. That person should then make sure there are /no/ consent level objections from active members of the group before agreeing (active meaning "has been on and active during the last few days," in this case). They cannot agree to a plot /without/ consulting the membership, and if they do, a team or group member has a right to discuss the matter with them and/or the person who is running the plot about their concerns, and may have a right of no consent if the plot has not been started or circumstances otherwise reasonably allow for it.

Unless a team is staff-operated, staff takes no direct role in deciding the membership or operational policies of said team.