Bottom post of the previous page:
Part 1 in a series of new RP-rules focused policy posts aiming to re-assess the RP rules in light of changes to the codebase such as nu-Heretics, Prog Traitors and a change in how players, coders and admins approach round progress.https://tgstation13.org/wiki/Rules
It is often said that the codebase targets MRP, while our [MRP is HRP] and our [LRP is NRP].
A big part of [MRP is HRP] comes from the way our RP rules restrict and restrain players. Forming the eye of that storm are our murderboning rules.
I would disagree with a blanket notion that our MRP server is HRP. To me, our MRP servers are just the LRP servers with many player freedoms removed. But you won't find ideas such as pain RP being enforced administratively, nor any higher quality RP than on the LRP servers. Playing Sybil and Manuel back-to-back will make that fact plainly obvious.
Afterall, the goal of the RP rules is to create more scenarios where players are drawn into person-to-person interactions with eachother.
The idea is that conflict and RP naturally follows on from players with differing and often opposing goals being brought together to interact.
All of the RP rules try and work together to create an enviornment where the above can be accomplished. That means that antags are restricted (by murderbone rules) to allow for the standard valid/not valid binary thinking that tends to be a barrier to RP to also be set aside (antags must be treated in proportion to their crimes).
Despite that, non-murderbone antags which cannot be safely contained (old heretics, changelings) are still valid for instant round removal.
Antags that can justify killing and even round removal en masse (prog traitors, regardless of kill objective caps) may seek pacifistic methods to greentext in order to rely on the protections in place that prevent them being removed from the shift so they can safely antag.
Meanwhile players sometimes rely on the anti-murderbone provisions to explicitly give antags no valid reason to kill them, rendering them effectively safe and removing a lot of the paranoia of playing SS13. However, this also works hand-in-hand with anti-powergaming provisions since the crew has no OOC reason to be armed up except for metagaming purposes since antags are less able to kill them for no reason, and any given player requires an IC reason that goes beyond "this is SS13, there's probably at least one antag out there" to create an arms race. Arms races often restrict antag freedoms and force them to compete on a similar level.
There's far more about how the RP rules work together to make certain things possible, restricting both sides to allow for better expression of "storytelling, pacing and sportsmanship" as previous headmin RaveRadbury would say. I have these concepts strongly in mind when I think about the RP rules and the purpose of them.
That being said, I'm opening up a broad discussion on the murderboning rules and killing on the MRP servers in general.
Here's some food-for-thought opening concepts to get people thinking and discussing.
1. Murderbone as a word has lost its common-sense meaning.
The rules define a single "random" kill as murderbone, but racking up 6 kills following your greentext as perfectly fine.
This is a bit deeper than it seems at first. Because the next question is:
Did we choose the wrong word, or the wrong meaning?
Should the RP rules create servers where you are not allowed to kill for no/poor reasons, but can kill as many as you like with good reason?
Or should they create servers where you are allowed to kill people for no/poor reasons, but should not kill in excess beyond any arbitrary limit even with good reason?
Or should it try and combine aspects of both? Of course making things more fuzzy will create differing rulings between differing admins - For example allowing a set number of "because I'm an antag" kills and allowing only "with good reason/cause" kills after that point is likely to create scenarios where kill-happy admins like myself will give an antag more freedom than kill-averse admins.
Can we take the best of both worlds and have it work in practice? Should we? How?
2. Our RP server turns to turn greentexting into a commandment as opposed to a suggestion.
Because the murderbone rules are tied to an antag's objectives, our MRP servers put a higher focus on players obtaining greentext to be safe from bwoinking than the LRP servers, where players are free to ignore their objectives in favour of the freedom to go do whatever.
Previously an antag was always restricted by their static, non-changing objectives.
Sometimes this didn't work out, as in the case of old heretics where their goal of ascending afforded them an almost unilateral pass to kill indiscriminately because their final objective was open-ended and could be accomplished with sacrifices. In the modern tg, progression traitors also pose an interesting question because players can now actively select their objectives. Depending on the objective, it may justify a kill. Steal objectives included.
Is sticking to greentext as the decider of whether a player is killing too much or not still a good pattern to follow with Prog Traitors? Was it ever a good pattern? Could it be improved? How?
3. There's no paranoia, no fear and players are just too safe.
This plays into long rounds where nothing happens. Those exceptionally long rounds also punish players who get removed from the shift, leading to a meta of prioritising personal safety to avoid missing out.
The extension to the rules that allows for IC slights/insults to give antags a reason to kill someone was an improvement in my eyes. Despite that, players who are polite, conscientous and help all those in need tend to have effective plot armour.
Are players too safe on MRP? Do the murderbone rules go too far in restricting the ability for an antag to kill anyone at any time for any reason or no reason? Does this cause shifts that are too long, too safe and too punishing for dying? Can this be improved? How?
