introduction
First and most importantly, Beestation Sage is considered a medium roleplay server, which means you should remain in character for most of the time and only use the OOC or LOOC channels if you need to speak to someone else in a manner that doesn’t fit your character or the game, but that being said there are few limitations on how you should act in character so long as you are not breaking any of the rules or have a good reason for it
roleplaying
The simplest way to describe role playing is that you are an actor taking part in telling a story, but unlike in most games, where a character’s personality and backstory are already written or decided, here, you get to choose the look, personality, and history of your character. You get to play as the cold blooded purple skeleton warden head of security with a low tolerance for syndicate bullshit, and seemingly knows how to fix any degree of sabotage, the big tit moffth CMO healslut waifu who everyone wants to be near, the purple skeleton god of radiation who can somehow synthesize a gas that is literally 2 septillion degrees, yet still doesn’t know how to set up the solars properly, or a slap-happy clown who seemingly fabricates banana cream pies out of thin air
character involvement
Below are listed a few simple definitions for common terms you might encounter when discussing role playing
IC
This means in character, or how you should act when playing the role of your character. When you are speaking in character to other people you should try to not refer to things outside of the game, or at least provide a good explanation for it
OOC
This means out of character, or how you, as a player, might interact with other players outside of the game. If you are talking about the game itself, including game mechanics and events that happened in a round outside of your character’s knowledge you are talking out of character. This term is also used to describe the OOC channel in-game, used by typing, “OOC [message]” into the text entry field.
LOOC
This means local out of character and is used almost exclusively to refer to the in-game channel of the same name. The LOOC channel only broadcasts to people on your screen, although it will still show for people who are nearby but not visible due to obstructions, so be very cautious when using it to discuss antagonist stuff. Everything said in the LOOC channel also shows up for all admins regardless of how close they are to the person using it, so be aware that the “no ERP IC in OOC” rule still applies
If you need to ask for help but are worried about giving away IC information, maybe go to the top right of the screen, under the tab that says “mentor”, click on it, and select Mentorhelp, and it will connect you to designated smart people who know a bit about the game
levels of roleplay
There are (generally) three main levels of roleplay that any given SS13 server will commit to: low, medium, and high. As stated above, Beestation Sage is considered medium roleplay, and Beestation Golden is considered low roleplay
Low RP
Beestation Golden does not generally require any sort of roleplaying from the players, or in the case of a cringey admin event, it’s at a bare minimum. Even if players are required to speak and act in-character there are little to no restrictions on what they are allowed to know in-game, although metagaming is usually still against the rules
Medium RP
Beestation Sage admins tend to enforce the idea that your character acts like themselves and not as if they have a neckbeard sitting at a computer controlling their actions. There are usually loose restrictions on what your character might know in-game, for example, your character might be familiar with multiple different jobs and be capable of performing them with ease, but some other MRP servers enforce the rule that your character can only know one or two jobs, but in any case, are otherwise usually lenient about how you can act in-game
High RP
HRP servers take roleplaying quite seriously. Your character is expected to act consistently with regard to past behavior, to do their job with some degree of skill, and to not interfere with the jobs of other crew members without a good reason
As an example, according to roleplay conventions, plasmamen are supposed to be quite timid due to the nature of them and their hazmat suits, and spend a great deal of effort ensuring they have the preferred honorific of those they address, which means that if you play a plasmaman the same way I do, you most likely won’t last too long on an HRP server
As another example, if you choose to play a botanist it is expected that you would not normally know how to set up the engine like an engineer, even if you are a syndicate agent
Metagaming
When you join the game it’s important to remember that you should try to see the game world through the eyes of your character, basically, even if you know something as a player that information may not be available to your character. Using knowledge that your character would not normally have to perform actionsin-game is called metagaming and it is against the rules
Sharing in-game information through OOC channels, even something that you think is innocuous, is technically a form of metagaming. This includes using methods of communication that exist outside of the game, such as discord or skype. If you are ever in doubt about whether some information you’d like to share is considered in-character knowledge it’s best to play it safe and wait until the round ends before sharing
Occasionally someone will fuck up using in game mechanics and incriminate themselves in such a way that you, as a player, recognize they’re an antagonist while your character would remain unaware. A common example is when a changeling player is attempting to use the hive mind chat and mistakenly talks about absorbing someone over the common radio channel, i.e. “;g killing research director in xenobio”. The polite thing to do is ignore it and act as if your character never heard it, or depending on what kind of character you are, instantly fucking send them to pound town for being a ling.
Another common one is if someone shares information with you about their antagonist status, or something that just recently happened to them in an OOC manner, you should do your best to not let that affect how your character acts in-game
Getting “in character”
Getting ‘in character’ can be hard, but hopefully this guide will give you some pointers on what to do
The first challenge of understanding your character is to get an idea of what they themselves are like. Experienced roleplayers will know that the personality of your character will change and evolve over time, but it’s still useful to start out with a general idea.
A few questions that you should be able to answer include:
- To outsiders and strangers, is my character shy/extroverted/friendly/arrogant?
- How much does my character value his job and how obedient are they towards their higher-ups and subordinates?
- How would my character react to stress, a combat situation or blood and gore in general?
- Is my character afraid of death?
There is no rest when there is still syndicates. - What skills does my character have outside their department?
If you are making a new character, ask yourself these questions one by one and answer them. If you can’t answer them right away, just consider the way your character has behaved so far and use that.
Is your character a person who can stay calm in any situation, regularly ignores orders, doesn’t have a problem with bashing in someone’s skull with scavenged construction tools if needed, never even feels slightly sick at the sight of gore, can take ridiculous amounts of pain and damage without flinching, and is only mildly afraid of death? If some or all of these points apply to your character, chances are you probably haven’t been role playing too much. Focusing on your own personal goals while neglecting to have your character act with some modicum of realism is called “power gaming” and, while not necessarily against the rules (at least if you’re security or a head of staff), it is still generally frowned upon.
If you have a character like this and want to try to improve your role playing, here are a few suggestions for you to try out. Don’t worry if they don’t fit your favorite character, you can always make a new one with different character traits although let them remember that the purple skeleton still lives on within you
- Try showing some degree of fucking emotion.
- Try reacting to pain (but don’t be anal about it), such as if someone is drawing blood or injecting you with something, or the warden is implant checking you without anesthetic or pain relief, do react in some way. As a caveat to this, don’t feel like you need to role play a fight, especially if it’s a life or death situation. Even in real life, adrenaline can keep a person from feeling pain until the danger has passed.
- Similarly, react to hunger. Why not ask your colleagues out for a meal? Request your favorite food from the chef, maybe.
- Nanotrasen has a rather strict military chain of command. If you want to carry out a research project, conduct engine maintenance, etc., maybe ask your department head first. People who act on their own and fuck up are usually the ones who take the blame
- As a department head keep your department running smoothly and your crew in check. Allow your staff to take breaks where appropriate, give out orders, ask people who missed a deadline to come to your office. Punish disobedience with measures such as docking their pay, suspending them from work, or even removing them from their position entirely.
- Talk with other people about things. This is difficult here because you can’t talk and do your job at the same time like in real life but, if it’s done right (such as over the PDA messenger) it really can result in some interesting RP. Talk about topics like your opinion of people on the ship, the quality of food, that hole in the window near arrivals
, or the traitor in permabrig who committed suicide.Also, roleplay wise, there’s nothing wrong with making up things that happened away from the station between shifts. - If you need help with something that your character is inexperienced with, ask an in-game friend, the responsible department, or a department head.
- When someone is being hit with an energy sword in the next room over and you go to investigate, maybe scream out, or exclaim “DAMN SON” or otherwise show that this causes extreme emotions within you, instead of just continuing on with business as usual as if a brutal fucking homicide didn’t just occur.
Other tips
When making your character try to decide on some distinguishing trait that helps them stand out a bit from the crowd, such as how Narin always speaks in the 3rd person. It doesn’t have to be anything overly complicated but it can help to distinguish your character and make them interesting.
If you are new to the game don’t be afraid to ask for help in-character. Doing so can be a great way to both learn something and make a friend along the way. It’s perfectly fine to make mistakes while performing your job, and doubly so while you’re still learning. Your character is not expected to be perfectly skilled at anything unless they are.
Unless you are one of the round’s antagonists you should always try to act according to your position, e.g. by obeying your superiors. You have no real right to ignore the captain or any other person who is considered to be your superior. This is especially true of your department head: the RD for the science team, the HoS for the security officers, the CE for the engineering crew, the CMO for medical, and the HoP for support roles.
While it might be good role play to disobey a superior if the situation calls for it you should be aware that ignoring orders is a quick way to either get outed as an antagonist or to be fired from your job! There are many in-character solutions when dealing with conflicts between your character and another character. Don’t be afraid to speak to a lawyer (or anyone else, really) if you feel your character has been wronged in some way that is not necessarily a security matter
When role playing with others try using emotions make your character stand out. Being completely emotionless or unafraid is another way to make your character seem unrealistic. If your character is experiencing pain don’t be afraid to make them scream, cry, or whimper. A happy character will smile, laugh, wag their tail, or hug others.
Try to avoid certain terms that don’t fit within the setting of the game. When talking about a round out of character the term “round” is perfectly fine. In-game, however, your character might refer to it as their shift. One exception to this tip is that, damage to a character is regularly referred to by the number of damage points and the damage types that have accrued. If you are playing a role which has to deal with healing other characters it is perfectly acceptable to state the amount and type of a person’s damage rather than giving a more realistic explanation of their injuries.
Regarding antagonists
Antagonist roles present a unique challenge for role playing. You are given a set of objectives that put you at odds with one or more crew members. Whether you need to kill someone, disfigure them, or steal something from them you should try to keep your eye out for roleplay opportunities. Bear in mind that you should be very discerning about roleplay attempts that might expose you as an antagonist. For example, something like offering to trade the warden for the reflector vest can clue them in to your antagonist status.
Your objectives are your top priority, but some good roleplay can improve the experience not just for yourself but for your target as well. In some cases you might even achieve your goal solely by using roleplay. After all, you can actually complete a lot of your non-murder objectives by just being fucking nice to people and chatting with them.
A poorly roleplayed antagonist or someone who is power-gaming at the expense of others can lead to conflicts between you and other players. On the other hand, a well-played secret antagonist will usually employ subtlety and stealth to achieve their goals while avoiding suspicion.
Of course, not all antagonists are secret, and these roles do not lend themselves well to roleplaying. A person with hypnosis training, a flash, and communist intent most likely isn’t going to have the time to stop and chat. Pirate parties are a chance for roleplay if you want to choose the peaceful trader route, while other ghost spawns like xenomorphs are probably more interested in growing the hive and less interested in talking about their feelings.
A backstory
Normally when you are an antagonist most people do not say why they are in the position they are currently in. To deepen your character it would be a good idea to ask yourself, “Why am I here?”. It could be as simple as you were offered a sum of money, or maybe the syndicate has a hostage and you are being threatened. If you’re going this route, make sure you properly roleplay it though, or don’t roleplay it at all.
https://nanotrasen.se/wiki/index.php/The_Syndicate#Syndicate_Operations
If you are unwilling to complete your objectives this round, just act quiet and hesitant, like you normally would.
Acting suspicious
Acting suspicious in game is a good way to catch the attention of the security team and be targeted for a random search. Remember that security is allowed to conduct a random search of your character during code blue, and denying a search is extremely suspicious and is likely to get you arrested so that they can conduct the search without resistance. If you have contraband you might try to hide it somewhere, like the locker rooms, or a storage implant, until you really do actually need it, in order to avoid it being discovered during a random search.
Other suspicious activities include:
- Not wearing ID, especially when paired with a mask so that you show up as Unknown to other players.
- Refusing to do your job or constantly being away from your workplace.
- Trespassing in other departments, especially in areas like engineering with sensitive equipment or dangerous objects.
- Constructing walls, grilles, or hidden doors where there usually are none. This is particularly true in maintenance tunnels.
- Carrying a weapon when your job does not allow it. Even something as simple as holding a hatchet when you are not the botanist is likely to raise an eyebrow.
- Referring to things only an antagonist would know such as the location of a bomb, or talking about absorbing someone.
- Dragging around humanized monkeys outside of the genetics lab or science in general.
- Stalking someone, especially if you aren’t familiar with them in character. Maybe use the camera bug or the crew monitor.
If you communicate (i.e. roleplay) with others about what you are doing it can be easy to avoid suspicion even as an antagonist. The right excuse can go a long way towards getting you out of a sticky situation. A traitor cargo tech walking through maintenance tunnels dragging a crate behind them is a lot less suspicious than a man in a chicken suit and a gas mask covered in blood with no visible ID hiding in an oxygen closet with a very obvious pool of blood streaking across the maintenance tunnel.
Engineers have a reason to be in maintenance while botanists do not. The presence of a librarian at a crime scene is accepted if they’re taking pictures and interviewing people who walk by. Whatever your role is, consider an appropriate excuse to explain your actions. If you’re really lucky or convincing a failed assassination attempt might look like a prank gone awry.
As you can see, some good roleplay can even assist you in your antagonistic efforts.
Suspicion and valid hunting, an off topic digression
ok so like basitan wanted me to tell yall that someone being suspicious doesnt make them valid or some shit, nor do things like hearsay over comms, although its already mentioned in the rules so i dont know why im bothering to mention it here
A Target on Your Back
Sometimes you’ll find out during a shift that you are the target for an antagonist! Usually this happens then they suddenly make their move and attack you, but other times you might find yourself being abducted to a secret place in maintenance for more nefarious deeds.
While rare, there are still opportunities for roleplay even when your life might be on the line. A changeling who needs access to your department for just a short time might agree to leave you muzzled and straightjacketed in a locked closet in exchange for your identity and DNA, giving them enough time to do their work and to change identities by the time you inevitably snitch on them after you free yourself.
Some antagonists aren’t even interested in killing anyone - cultists in particular just want to grow their numbers to achieve their goals. Keep in mind that if you are converted into a cultist, your roleplaying should not give away your newly acquired antagonist status. If you wandered off into maintenance to collect space fungus and come back to work talking about joining a strange book club you might end up giving away that there’s a cult on board.
Playing your Role
When a round begins you’ll find yourself in a job based on your job preferences. There are many jobs on board the station with a wide variety of personalities and people employed to fill them. It’s entirely up to you how your character might handle their assigned role. A sec officer might be a grizzled veteran or a jittery rookie. An engineer might be fiercely protective of the station, starting fights over a broken window. And yes, even command staff can have their foibles. I’m sure you’re familiar with some of them. Consider how other media portrays examples of your chosen job. The HoS might be a paper pushing bitch who requires an arrest report for everyone brought into the brig and who yells at their subordinates for being loose cannons, demanding they hand over their badge.
There’s no end to the possibilities that are available to you, and if you can’t think of one, there’s nothing wrong with borrowing a mannerism from a character in another story. After all, 2/3 of space station 13 is vague pop culture references anyways. Keep it up and eventually you’ll settle into a roleplay style that fits you just fine.
Other things that bastian and the badmin lads wanted me to say
Various roleplay policies
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Murder and homicide is justifiable as long as it was properly escalated. No going straight from a single rude punch to a knife in the neck. You can, however, go from a single punch to a counter punch to a brawl to using weapons, and so on. Other IC justifications may exist for murder, but these are on a case by case basis. Minor aggravations like demotions, pranks, insults, or thefts are not adequate justification.
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IC in OOC can be a no warning ban with various time ranges depending on how severe it is. To clarify what was said earlier in the guide, IC in OOC is revealing anything about the current round that others can use in the OOC channel. If you are unsure do not say it.
- Repeat offenders are subject to extended ban times for IC in OOC. If you recieved a 15 minute ban, the next ban you recieve for IC in OOC will be twice as long, after that an hour and so forth.
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As long as there is adequate IC backing and it doesn’t happen too often, assisting a traitor is within the rules. IC backing can range from being a doctor and treating every sick or injured person who comes by medbay with no exceptions, to being forced to assist in an antagonistic affair under the threat of death of you or someone close.
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Admins are not only allowed to run events or otherwise influence the course of rounds, they are encouraged to. They are as much GMs as they are enforcers of the rules, perhaps even moreso.
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Persistent character relationships are acceptable, so long as they’re actually properly roleplayed. Wordlessly assisting your OOC friends (or harming your OOC foes) ICly is NOT cool and will be addressed. Roleplaying out your interactions will help you stay on the right side of the rules. How much or how little of previous “shifts” your character recalls is up to their discretion, with the caveat that being a known traitor doesn’t persist past the round it occurred in; e.g. mothwoman CMO was a traitor one round, I usually play warden, according to roleplay conventions, I’m not supposed to know that she was a traitor in an earlier round. It still happens though, and I usually let it.
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Griefing the shuttle can also be a no warning ban. Shuttle griefing is attacking people or preventing people boarding before the shuttle has launched for no IC reason.
- Non-antagonists early launching the shuttle solo (i.e. using a confiscated emag on the shuttle, or a single person using three separate IDs) without a good IC reason (“Because I wanted traitors to redtext” doesn’t count) will usually net you a ban.
- Reading Woody’s Got Wood or other versions of pornographic reading material over the radio will 9 times out of 10 get you lynched by the crew. Reading these for the sole purpose of wanting to fight people who try to stop you will get you banned, because that’s called baiting.
- The same goes for players should they cross the boundary from casual racism/sexism (e.g. overly stereotyped characters, the occasional derogatory term etc) to extreme racism/sexism (e.g. encouraging genocide, forcing their racist behavior onto the majority/all of the crew, signing up as Adolf Hitler)
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Pick a somewhat normal name. I.e. no honorifics or nicknames (Dr Greg House or Jack “Johnny” Johnson), and should be spelled fully with capitals and no shortenings (e.g. NOT J Hoffman or jaiden mallow). Exceptions to this are lizardperson names, clown, mime, silicon, wizard and nuke op names. References are still allowed, but try to be original.
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Abusing the vox function as the AI to repeatedly swear (“Hello crew you are all abortions abortions abortions abortions abortions abortions…”) is distracting and out of character. Abusing this function will result in a warning and potentially a ban if you continue to do so.
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Antagonists are free to ignore objectives as long as they do not willingly work to counter them. Failing an objective is not grounds for admin intervention, but purposely sabotaging or working against one is.
- You may forgo a harmful objective to instead protect or safeguard your target if you wish, such as if you
lovelike them IC, or something like that. - Team antagonists are free to do the same, but only if the rest of the team is in agreement.
Roleplay policies regarding security (because you know me to be that guy)
Lethal and Non-lethal Force
- Security is to use non-lethal force first when in contact, unless there are significant risks in doing so.
- Lethal force during contact is authorized when the security force faces a significant risk, now or later, by resorting to non-lethal means.
- Significant risks may be, but are not limited to; hulks, changelings, nuclear operatives, cultists, revolutionaries, wizards or subverted and/or malfunctioning silicons.
- Lethal force is not allowed on appropriately subdued threats, unless there are extraordinary circumstances.
Asimov Silicon Interaction
- Security is not to destroy an Asimov silicon for following its laws.
- Security is allowed to destroy an Asimov silicon for following its laws in an unreasonably excessive and disruptive manner.
- An Asimov borg should be locked down instead of destruction, if possible.
Executions
- Where possible, executions are to be authorized by, in order of availability; Captain → HoS → Warden → Acting captain.
- Security reserve the right to carry out executions, without authorization, in the case of potential significant risk or extraordinary circumstances.
- When considering whether to authorize or carry out an execution, consideration should be made to the severity of the crime committed. There are varying degrees of syndicate collaboration, for example. I do admit that I am beginning to learn this myself.
Brig and Brigging Procedures
- It is expected that brigging procedures, including any punishments, are not unfairly unjustifiable in nature.
- Bucklecuffing for periods that go beyond removing inmate handling is excessive, unless the prisoner is deemed hostile.
- Confiscated items, that are important and/or department-specific, such as engineering spacesuits, should be returned to their department.
- Where possible, permabrig sentences are to be authorized by, in order of availability: Captain → Head of Security → Warden → Acting captain.
- Security reserve the right to carry out permabrig sentences, without authorization, in the case of potential significant risk or extraordinary circumstances.
- Autonomous decisions from security personnel to carry out permabrig sentences do so without the protection of authorization, so it is in the best interest of those making the decision to ensure it is justifiable.
The Armory
- Securing the armory without in-round justification beyond “code blue” is considered metagaming, therefore forbidden.
- Securing the armory includes:
- Moving parts, or its entirety, to an area outside the armory, such as a locker or a/your backpack.
- You may take a few guns for personal use, should you have access.
- Unreasonably reinforcing it or its doors (the fact that the armory is 1 wall away from space is kinda fucking gay).
- Bolting it shut via the door remote/AI.
- Moving parts, or its entirety, to an area outside the armory, such as a locker or a/your backpack.
- Securing the armory includes:
Mob-mentality, or a “grey tide”
- If a mob of crew members swarms the brig, you are free to apply stun baton in a harmful manner (use lethal force).
- Use the three strikes rule. A person that is intentionally fucking with security is to be brigged.
- Should the brigging fail, he is to be gulaged.
- Should that fail, he is to be permabrigged (or left to rot in the gulag, should he never come back up).
- If an individual repeatedly does this across multiple rounds, or you suspect him of doing so, you should adminhelp.
- If a person is intentionally fucking with security is yelling “rogue sec” or something similar, adminhelp it. This can be punished with a rule 1 violation ban.
Adminhelping and security matters
- Theft, assault, annoyances, false arrests and sentence times are in-character matters, thus not ahelpable.
- Unless if they are excessive, in which case you should adminhelp.