Character Policies

This page will cover policies covering character creation, alt limits, age limits, character types, and restricted or banned concepts.

Character Creation

Alt Limit

Players may make as many PCs as they can keep reasonably active. Please see 'Character Types' below for restrictions for certain types of character.

Character Types

On ITF there are three different types of characters: Featured Characters, Original Characters, and Leadership Characters (FC, OC, LC, respectively.)

  • Original Characters are what most PCs on ITF are. They are original creations of the player, and follow the listed creation rules on the Character Generation page. OCs are the easiest to get through chargen and approved, and are highly encouraged as first characters on the game. There is no limit to the number of OCs a player may have active on ITF.
  • Leadership Characters are similar to OCs, in that they are the original creation of their player. However, they are designed to hold leadership and facilitation positions for other PCs. They have a higher activity requirement (Logging on once a week, attempting to host a +event every 6 weeks) and a higher expectation for chargen. LC concepts will be highly scrutinized by Staff. However, for this additional effort, they may have an additional 15 Freebie points in chargen to spend as they wish. Each player may only ever have one LC.
  • Featured Characters are canon characters from the Harry Potter books and films. Any and all FCs should be inquired after via +request. After which Staff will hold an audition for an interested player, and determine if they are a good fit for the character. If approved, character creation for FCs follows a different set of rules. Use the Character Generation page as a guideline, but it is okay to build the sheet to the canon specifications of the character, rather than sticking hard and fast to the listed numbers. Each player may only have on FC. Not every FC or LC concept will be approved. Players are encouraged to work with Staff to determine if there is anything they can do to improve their chances of approval.

Approval

Character approval is a process by which we can best ensure immersion and fun for our playerbase. The goal of the approval process is to achieve a character which is fun for the player and also meshes well with the overall narrative fabric of the game. The goal is not to prevent players from having their own 'snowflake' fun (we all love ourselves some snowflake characters) but to make sure no single snowflake throws out the balance of the game in a way that would impede the enjoyment of the other snowflakes. Players will be treated with respect during this process, and should treat anyone assisting them in this process with respect as well.

Returning Characters

In acknowledgement of the fact that HP:ITF has such a long and rich history, returning characters will received 0.25XP per log posted on the wiki. We recognize that those players have put time, love, and energy into those characters and want to reward them for doing so. If you have a previous character that you do not wish to pick up again, they can be retired (in suitably dramatic fashion) and their log XP put toward a new character, if desired. To claim this XP, identity must be able to be verified by either IP address, wikidot username, email, or another known account. This is to do our best to protect the Intellectual Property of our players - past as well as current.

Restricted Concepts

Banned Concepts

No PC character will be approved under the age of 14. Specific 'flashback' events such as Sortings and classes, etc. will be hosted by staff at regular intervals for those who want to participate in that portion of their characters' lives, but in the present, PCs must be 14 or older to be out on the grid.

In Character Behavior

Banned Content

Any content which involves sexual interaction between Adult and Student characters (PC or NPC) is expressly forbidden.

Any content which involves rape, sexual assault, torture, murder, or other equivalent themes MUST have applicable themes clearly marked so that others can make informed decisions about their involvement in it. Such content is to be treated with respect, and any player who finds themselves in a situation with which they are uncomfortable is always free to request the scene fade to black.

Restricted Content

On HP:ITF, we have embraced the statement from JKR that racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ageism have no place in the wizarding world. This is a world of magic and has its own prejudices, flaws, and shortcomings. Those listed above are definitively Muggle in origin. Muggleborn characters or those with extensive influence from the Muggle world (Muggle or Muggleborn parent(s) etc.) are welcome to have some or all of those prejudices and beliefs, but the normative state of the game will view those as Muggle behavior and not something upheld by wizarding culture and tradition.

Handwaving

Certain things required by characters for day-to-day survival are free to be handwaved by PCs as being available to them without any particular challenge. This includes things like food and a place to sleep, but also includes the following:

  • Wolfsbane potion (Werewolves)
  • Animal blood (Vampires)
  • Birth Control (Charm or Potion)
  • Gender Presentation (Item, Potion, Metamorphmagi)
  • Reproductive Role (Item, Potion, Metamorphmagi)
  • A reasonable amount of Pepper-Up from the Infirmary
  • Cosmetic or low-impact injury/illness treatment

Obviously, we encourage our players to seek out and provide RP opportunities, but ultimately the game is about exploring the parts of the story you want to tell without necessarily being bogged down in constant acquisition of necessities.

Character Death

Because the point of this game is to enjoy the process of creating stories, HP:ITF uses a baseline of consent for PC Death. This does not extend to non-fatal IC Consequences for IC Actions, but instead provides an environment where players don't need to be anxious about randomly losing their character for no better reason than getting out of bed that day.

There will be high-risk/high-reward PRPs. Some of these may include the possibility of character death. Such PRPs must always be clearly marked and affirmative consent obtained from participating players before commencing.

Additionally, if there is an instance where problematic IC behavior persists to a point where it is negatively affecting the fun for the playerbase as a whole, staff reserves the right to remove those characters from play. Staff will do our best to find non-fatal permanent removal, but if there is not a good avenue available beyond death, that may be considered as a final option.

Hopefully, this policy never has to come into play.

Metagaming

The wiki is not IC knowledge unless explicitly stated otherwise. Information learned OOC should not be brought IC without reasonable justification. Keep the story alive. If there's information you would like your character to learn, that is a great reason to come up with an excuse for RP, or maybe even a PRP.

Alt Conflict

Unlike many games, ITF does not ban interaction between a player's alts. We are a game focusing on narrative storytelling and cooperative play. Players may make characters tied to one another, though they should be registered clearly with staff as belonging to the same player. Additionally, if important information or resources are shared between alts, these should be either covered in +notes or a literary of the interaction should be written by the player and sent to staff for approval, as well as posted to the wiki for transparency.

Plots and Events

Player Run Plots

Staff will run plot scenes from time to time, but players are also encouraged to run them as well. So long as your planned plot does not effect the broader game world, feel free to run it. If, however, you would like to run a plot that may have some impact on the world and other characters, or would like to be able to provide mechanical rewards for successful completion of the plot, please submit a short summary pitch to staff via +request so that we can make sure that there are no massive conflicts and that the level of risk matches the level of potential reward.

(Both PRPs and Events can make use of the +event system on-grid for planning and organization.)

Events

Players are also welcome to run events for the game - whether a pure social affair or something involving combat and challenges. The same basic rules apply to events as to PRPs. If your event would have an impact on the world and other characters or if you would like to provide some form of mechanical reward for attendance, please check in with staff via +request.

(Both PRPs and Events can make use of the +event system on-grid for planning and organization.)

Plot XP Gains

If someone makes your RP experience brighter - whether that's by a particularly delightful pose or portrayal, a solution to a puzzle, or a particularly daring move they somehow managed to pull off - please feel free to +request an XP Nomination for them with a small summary (or relevant pose) of what they're being nominated for. If you're nominating them for multiple things (or nominating them for running a PRP or event) please include a link to the relevant log.

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