Rules

Its important to understand that Sakura does not conform to the standard rules of Sinfar and by playing here you are agreeing to the way we run things. Please take a minute to read the following and make sure you understand what you can expect from us as GM and what we expect from you as players. If you have any questions or need clarification – please feel free to reach out to Supreme Kami

What is Sakura, and what can I expect during my time here?

"Sakura" is the name we’ve given to Sakura Village and its surrounding areas (Yokai Forest etc), part of a homebrewed setting inspired heavily by Asian culture and mythology. It exists on Arche Terre but it is NOT a part of the AT faction systems or Durakiss. While there may be sub-groups within the setting that may come in opposition with each other, our focus is on GM-run events and plotlines, not on factions and PvP conflicts. The emphasis is on cooperative story development facilitated by active GM's. Expect the GM's to potentially add elements in your RP in order to develop stories we can all enjoy.
Note: We avoid using the word ‘faction’ specifically to avoid confusion since it has a specific meaning in the broader Arche Terre/Sinfar context.

DM/Builder/GM/Event Host/Kami/Supreme Kami? What does it all mean?!

Sakura is hosted within the Arche Terre branch of Sinfar all provided very generously by Mavrixio. Dungeon Masters and Builders are specific roles granted by Mav for the overall Sinfar server. Dungeon Masters enforce the overall server rules (not all of which apply in Sakura) and handle things like shard or appearance requests. Builders are given authority over the specific settings within the broader Sinfar. To avoid confusion with the broader Sinfar titles and authority we use alternative titles to designate our roles and authority which exists only within Sakura. Some of us may also happen to be Builders/DMs/Admins in the broader Sinfar team but that is separate. The following roles exist in Sakura:

• Game Master – We primarily use this title in casual conversation because most players familiar with D&D understand what it means.
• Event Host – Our GM avatars will generally have the “[Event Host]” tag in their name to designate that you should treat them as such. These avatars exist to help us facilitate events and should not be acknowledged ICly.
• Kami – Players that have shown an interest in running their own plots and story lines. If you’d like to know how to get involved and do things? These players and their characters are likely the best to find in game!
• Supreme Kami – This is the core team of story tellers, builders, scripters etc that make everything happen within Sakura. They support the Kami in running their story lines while also running their own. They are the ultimate authority in terms of Sakura and anything happening within.

What if I don’t like the rules or the GMs or their meddling?

Sakura exists within a tiny corner of a side server of Arche Terre. The only things that come in and out of Sakura are player characters with their experiences. We have no influence or control outside of Sakura. Your participation is entirely voluntary and if the idea of GM-involvement in your RP concerns you more than excites you, there are many other fantastic areas of Sinfar that may appeal to you more.

Player Housing

Standard Sinfar Player Housing rules DO NOT apply within Sakura in the sense that they are not considered protected player-owned areas within the module; At any time, your “home” may be damaged, invaded, or otherwise altered by roleplay or events, and by owning a home in Sakura, you are giving your consent for people to enter your home, and access to your home is not guaranteed. You may be asked to relocate, adjust, or even relinquish your home. While this may sound harsh, it is all part of owning property in a fluid setting where anything can happen, and we as GMs will do our best to work with you on any required changes.
Those looking for a more stable Asian-type setting in which home ownership is protected may find this in the Lotus Isles on Sinfar's main server, a fantastic setting with standard housing rules.
House-hoarding is prohibited; Players with under-utilized/empty player homes, or those owned by characters not participating in the setting, may be asked to relinquish these homes, or may find them eventually repossessed.
If you are interested in acquiring a player home in Sakura Village - seek out to one of the Sakura Village Council members in game

What is expected of you as a player?

Engage in the stories and events run by GMs and Event Hosts as much as possible to maximize your character's impact in this organic world we're building

Contribute your own stories, events and ideas to the setting. Roleplaying is collaborative story telling and you are just as vital to the process as anyone else

Trust us to be open and communicative about our goals and story plans. We may withhold some information to avoid giving spoilers but you can always come to us with your concerns. While your actions and story events may result in IC consequences you may find undesirable, it's all in the name of telling a story and everything happens for a reason. We will do our best as storytellers to make sure you are rewarded for the RP you contribute to our world.

Trust that other players are engaged to make sure you have fun with RP and will never force you into IC situations that are not enjoyable for you or would entirely exclude you from further RP. This is also an expectation we have of you, as well; Always try to leave an ‘out’ for an opposing character in conflict RP so the other character can leave the scene in an IC way (before and after any combat if it happens).

We may expect you to share information about your character’s thoughts, background, motivations, and RP in an OOC fashion so we can progress storylines or create plot hooks/character development opportunities for you.

As a player, if you are having issues and struggling, please don’t hesitate to have an OOC discussion with your fellow players or discuss it with the Kami/Supreme Kami if you feel it necessary. We don’t know everything that happens or if we do, we might only know one side of the story and understanding everyone’s perspectives can only help us make this more enjoyable for all of us. And its always better to address things before they become a problem.

Finally – if you have an idea for a story (maybe your character’s ambition is to get a fancy new sword), please feel free to reach out to one of the Kami/Supreme Kami. We try to write stories that will help your characters develop and understanding the direction you’d like them to take helps us know where and how to involve you.

What sort of epic loot and rewards can I expect?

The joy of discovering that it was never about the epic loot but about the friends you made along the way! We cannot spawn gold, items, shards or anything else of the sort as GMs. Occasionally you might receive some rewards, but they are being funded entirely from the personal belongings of the GM in question. They had to go earn it in the regular fashion before giving anything away to you or anyone else (on top of doing all the hard work of running the story line!). This means you need to be flexible with any payments or rewards you or your characters expect because we’d all prefer to be RPing rather than grinding. Purely RP’d items and currency should not be looked down upon.

What can you expect of us as story tellers/GMs?

We will do our best to create compelling and interesting stories to involve your characters and will never cause situations resulting in the permanent end of RP for your character without consent and collaboration. We will try to ensure any IC consequences to your character are both fun and compelling for you. We will intervene if we see actions in violation of the rules above up to and including things that happen organically outside our actively hosted story lines (but only within the bounds of the Sakura setting of course. Sinifer and other areas are beyond our control) If you need to come to us to resolve an issue don’t try to shop it around until you get the answer you want. Don’t try to manipulate us against one another (it’s the fastest way to get on our bad side). And please be understanding if we ask you to wait before we can respond. We work together as a team and if there is a delay – its likely because we need to decide as a team before responding.

Where can you learn about the lore and the setting?

Often, the best place to find out about the setting is within the setting; it is completely acceptable for PCs to be newcomers to the setting, and thus will be able to ask those native to the setting about the lore and the stories within. Many players AND characters started new to this setting but eventually learned and adapted to it.
If you’d like to make a character based in/from the setting – please feel to reach out to us and we’ll be more than happy to help you write a compelling background and fill you in on anything you might need to know.
... And of course here. This very place. Read through the content here!

Disruptive behavior, trolling, bullying etc

We try to be as inviting as possible. However, if someone is being a problem, they will simply no longer be welcome in Sakura. See player expectations if you’re confused about acceptable vs unacceptable behavior. In addition – all the normal Sinfar rules for disruptive behavior also apply here.
Problem players will also be referred to the Sinfar DM team as needed.

Other ways of taking part

Occasionally to work around time-zones or other issues we will also host events in Discord or over Roll20. Check with your Kami on what the rules are for your particular event as they do vary. Some events are more focused on RP and dice rolls will be purely d100 percentile dice, other times there is a strong focus on combat so the full Pathfinder or 3.5E ruleset might be used, or it could be something in between. We also have a Simplified Dice Roll Ruleset that we will occasionally use and it is attached below. Your GM will tell you which rules will apply to your particular event.

Your name in the Discord channel

We generally try to enforce that everyone set their Discord names to at least have some reference to which characters they play. This is to help everyone know who you are. We recognize that this approach has its issues and limitations, and I am currently working on a better solution but for now I would still ask that you set your name in this channel to either your character's name or "[Character Name] ([NWN Login])"