PVE:Roleplay Standards

Introduction

On the PvE servers, roleplaying is likely to play a larger part in the average round compared to ones partaken in by our PvP counterparts. As such, the standards for roleplay are a bit more stringent than our sister community. There are a number of guides from other codebases that cover crash courses in roleplaying which can be worth a read.

Also worth considering is the lore of the setting. Just as the PvP community lore has some deviations from established Alien lore, so to does our lore deviate from the other servers. Whilst the tier-list given here is a reasonable basis to work off of, the contents of the Aliens Colonial Marine Technical Manual and changes to lore that have been made here should be treated as more 'canon' compared to newer written sources, such as elements from the Aliens RPG & its addendums. Some examples of this are the PvE renditions of the Union of Progressive Peoples, or the TWE's Royal Marine Commandos forces, both of which differ a fair bit from how they're portrayed in the A:RPG.

General RP standards

• Attempt to maintain a basic level of literacy when speaking in-character. Proper punctuation and capitalization is also heavily recommended.

• Put yourself in the shoes of your character as best you can. Would your character do XYZ freely? Or would it require a significant contributing factor to spur them into doing such? A reasonable example scenario is attempting to surrender to hostile forces; would your marine surrender if caught alone? Would they fake their surrender, only to go down in a blaze of glory? Or would they refuse to surrender, being killed by the hostiles as a result?
  • Be talkative! Even if ICly there are reasons for your character to not speak much with certain other members of their unit, that doesn't mean you should spend the downtime of the round completely silent. Engage in chatter with other players, build rapport with one another, it all serves to flesh out the characters and make them feel more than just two-dimensional caricatures.
  • Another part of this is how you character feels at any given point, both emotionally & physically. Have they been wearing uncomfortable equipment for a long period of time? Is it chafing them to the point it draws out IC gripes/complaints? Are they hungry and in need of food? Things like this are worth thinking about during rounds to help add depth to your character & open avenues to interactions with others.
  • Avoid pain. A sane, well-rounded character would not engage in actions that are overly painful, or put themselves in harm's way without consideration (e.g. willingly stepping into the line of fire of a hostile sniper, stabbing themselves repeatedly (slip-ups with self-removing shrapnel is one exception to this), or continue to run at someone with nothing but a knife after being shot multiple times by them.)

• Rounds are, unless stated otherwise by the GM (be it directly or by their 'lore' for the round), semi-canon to one another. Your character can remember loose details about what has happened in prior rounds they've partaken in, but player deaths and similarly major events should not be considered canon between rounds. One caveat to this is prior character knowledge of the xenomorph is wholly dependant on if the round is classed as a "first contact" operation or not. If so, then characters will have no prior knowledge regarding the xenomorphs.

• Use setting-appropriate slang. The internet as we know it never developed in the Alien setting, so avoid using modern internet slang ICly. Similar to the PvP server, the cutoff point of divergence between our universe and the Alien setting is the mid 1970s onwards.

• Restrict yourself to your character's knowledge. You, as a player, might have the knowledge of how to perform complex surgeries, but your average rifleman likely doesn't. Don't explain ICly to someone who might, as a player, not know how to do organ repair surgery (as an example), but is in a role that may be expected to know such whilst you yourself are in a role that wouldn't know these things! Use LOOC to either tell them the steps, provide a link to the wiki page of surgeries, or suggest they ahelp for help from the GM. If your character does not know how to perform a job, don't go and do it yourself anyway! Instead, request the assistance of a character who does.

• Ask questions/ask for help. If you wish to learn a new job, such as corpsman, ask to learn about aspects of the job ICly from the one playing that role, the unit SNCO (they almost always have similar medical-skills as the unit medic), or the unit officer. Whilst you may not mechanically be able to do aspects of that role, there's no harm in being shown how to do those parts by someone who is mechanically able and trained.
  • For questions regarding roleplay related things, it's best to ahelp for a response from the gamemaster running the round, as they'll be able to tailor their answer best to what they'd expect from the players.

• Try to perform your job to a satisfactory standard, especially in positions of importance (medical, senior leadership roles.) Minor failures at doing so may result in IC consequences, but constant, repeated failures without sense or reason can result in jobbans (The USCM would probably not promote your character or pass them as certified for certain military occupations if they were completely unable to do their job). Note that you are not expected to be a role model marine, but are asked to not use your role to grief and to also have an OOC understanding of what’s going on.

• Inter-character relationships should be kept subtle, believable, and not disrupt the flow of a round in any significant manner. Behaviour akin to Drake & Vasquez in the Aliens film is more than okay, but the likes of an enlisted & a SNCO, or an NCO & a commissioned officer should not be engaged in any sort of relationship beyond a professional working sort. Marriages amongst marines in the same company or aboard the same ship are similarly not allowed.

Command RP standards

You're at the top. The highest ranked of those aboard the ship. You were promoted/commissioned to this position because you've demonstrated adequate capabilities of leadership skills, either in your career or during OCS (depending on your role as unit SNCO or officer). Greater power comes with greater responsibilities and stricter expectations of IC conduct, however.

• Be tough, but fair. As a carreer marine senior NCO, or officer, the enlisted and junior NCOs should afford you a level of respect (to your face, at least). Those who don't, it's more than fair to have them perform menial punishment tasks such as push-ups or cleaning up of a room. Just don't go overboard with it, ultimately it's another player who is behind the controls of the character. There may be an element of consequences for their actions that they'll be grudgingly fine dealing with, but pushing them past that point will might make it just outright unenjoyable for them.

• Don't enforce needless punishment tasks on those who haven't earned them. Things like making the whole unit do mandatory PT, cleaning the entire ship, inventorying every little thing in the storage rooms, all of those largely draw back on the chances for the players to roleplay with one another before the 'main stage' of a round begins.