Knight Realms has made an update to its Metagame/Clark Kent rules. Below is the explanation from myself and James as well as the text of the update and a link to the google doc for it. This update will be slightly edited when it is put into the rulebook to match the same voice that the book is written in, but the intent will remain the same.
We have taken a great deal of time to think about this and make this update based on a few factors with how James and I envision the game running. Our ultimate goal is to allow players to have the most fun they possibly can within the game while making sure that no one feels left out or out of the loop. People miss events or plots and while they still want to participate, have always had that wall of "You weren't there, you can't know". And so we elected to address that. Players should be allowed to know about the plots that happen at events to keep up with the excitement and engage afterward, even if they weren't there.
The second side of it is the removal of the Clark Kent Rule, which outlined that any character you play may not ever know or interact with another character you play. Admittedly, this was a tough decision, but we leaned on the idea that this rule, in the majority of the context we would want to, or have seen it in, is out-dated. Players will write and talk story about both their characters, and in the past we have even had one player play several brothers of the same family (very well done too!). It was our ultimate decision that this rule was removed because for the most part, it doesn't actually harm anyone if characters know or interact with each other in the world. But there are still areas where we want to afford protection against clearly ill-intented actions, such as learning about different PC villain groups and then using that information as another PC to out them. That kind of behavior will not be tolerated and will be met with Violations and corrective action.
Regardless of the rule change, we will be keeping an eye on how this update plays out and making sure to correct any abuses of what our intention is behind it.
The spirit of this update is that all characters in the game should be treated as their own living, breathing entities, and that you as a player can decide how much or how little you want that character to know or how much you want to be able to help yourself create the best possible experience for you and others around you.
Our goal is for you, the players of Knight Realms, to have the greatest experience you can whether it is presented by the game, or you create it yourself through your characters.
As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out and ask! We will happily clarify or explain any part that might seem confusing!
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Meta-Gaming Policy
Any character is allowed to know IG what the player knows OOG about plot. This is to say, if the player hears about portions of Main Plot, Marshal/ST plots, or IG events, they are allowed to take whatever information into game that they have learned about the plot.
Any character is capable of knowing and interacting with any other character within the game world as if a separate entity. A player may not bring OOG information about another PC unless they have learned it IG. In the cases of plots, a player may know that certain actions were taken, but may not bring into the game who did it, unless they learned it IG.
If there is ever a discrepancy, any involved player may ask a Marshal to adjudicate the issue and resolve the situation and determine whether a Written Rules Warning is warranted.
A player may not use information in PvP or to implicate another character unless they learned the information IG as the character taking action. Violating this will result in an immediate Unsportsmanlike Conduct written warning.
The spirit of the policy is that, if a player is not directly or indirectly harmed by a character knowing information, or ruining the fun of another player for bringing that knowledge into game, then the game is not overly concerned about policing the information known by or their involvement with players and their PCs.
The Metagame and Clark Kent rules have been removed from the game and replaced with this policy.
Bulleted list of changes:
- A character may know any information about plot, lore, or events that have happened
- Players are no longer restricted from having their characters know or interact with each other
- Players may not use information from one character to PvP or implicate others as another character
Google Doc Link for Text
