The rulebook

Community standards for fair roleplay. Find a rule, read its requirements, or share a direct link.

Community standards

Revision 03 · Community rulebook

Before you begin

This rulebook sets the out-of-character standards for West RP. In-world law may punish a character, but server rules govern the person playing them. Read the compact rule first, open its details for the requirements, and use the numbered link when asking a question or filing a report. If a situation is not covered, protect player agency, safety, and the scene until the Community Desk can give a recorded answer.

Applies to Website, Discord, and game server

Reviewed September 20, 2026

58 rules · Open details for the full requirements.

01. Membership & Rule Responsibility

Rule 01.01

Eligibility and account ownership

West RP is an adult community. Access belongs to the approved person and identities attached to the account, not to a household, friend, or character.

Rule 01.02

Know the current rulebook

Every member is responsible for the published rules and dated amendments. Nobody is expected to memorize every clause, but everyone is expected to check before taking a doubtful action.

Rule 01.03

Follow the purpose as well as the wording

The rulebook cannot list every possible tactic. Deliberately using a loophole, technicality, or missing example to gain an unfair advantage is still contrary to the rules.

Rule 01.04

Follow immediate safety and staff directions

A clear staff instruction during an active incident must be followed first. Questions, evidence, and disagreement belong in the recorded review afterwards.

02. Community Conduct & Safety

Rule 02.01

Treat the person behind the character with respect

Character conflict never licenses personal hostility. Harassment, intimidation, humiliation, or repeated unwanted contact outside the scene is not roleplay.

Rule 02.02

Hate and discrimination are not setting material

West RP is alternate historical fiction, not a venue for reenacting real-world hatred. Slurs and targeted degradation are prohibited whether presented as a joke, quote, character trait, or period accuracy.

Rule 02.03

Protect privacy and personal security

Only information deliberately shared for the community purpose may be used. Private identity, account, location, or contact information must stay private.

Rule 02.04

Some themes are outside the game

Certain material is excluded because the likely harm outweighs any roleplay value. Agreement between participants does not make an excluded theme acceptable in West RP spaces.

Rule 02.05

Respect scene boundaries and withdrawal

Consent to roleplay is not consent to every theme or level of detail. A participant may ask to reduce intensity, skip description, or bring staff into a scene without being mocked or punished for it.

03. Characters & Setting

Rule 03.01

Build for West RP in 1896

Characters should belong to the shared alternate frontier setting. The period shapes travel, work, medicine, communication, and social life without requiring players to reproduce historical abuse.

Rule 03.02

Use a credible and readable identity

A character name is part of the shared fiction and the staff record. It must read as a person's name rather than a joke, title, impersonation, or coded reference.

Rule 03.03

Begin capable, not exceptional at everything

A useful character may have experience, but expertise needs limits and room to be demonstrated in play. Backstory cannot grant authority, wealth, immunity, or mastery that bypasses the shared world.

Rule 03.04

Keep characters separate

Each character has their own knowledge, property, relationships, and consequences. A second character is not a spare set of hands for the first.

Rule 03.05

Restricted concepts need approval before play

Some concepts affect the whole setting or require special safeguards. Approval must come before the concept is revealed or used, not after it has already shaped scenes.

04. Roleplay Fundamentals

Rule 04.01

Stay in character while the scene is active

Keep ordinary play inside the fiction. Brief out-of-character communication is for safety, technical clarity, or a necessary rules check—not commentary on how others should play.

Rule 04.02

Use only information your character could know

Metagaming is bringing outside knowledge into character decisions. Information from streams, Discord, maps, another character, staff tools, or the game interface is not automatically in-world knowledge.

Rule 04.03

Offer actions; do not force outcomes

Powergaming removes another player's reasonable chance to respond or uses mechanics in a way that the fiction cannot support. State what your character attempts and leave contested results open.

Rule 04.04

Treat life and serious danger as meaningful

Value of life means responding to credible danger as a person with something to lose. It does not require automatic surrender, but resistance needs a believable chance and reason.

Rule 04.05

Use voice and text to add observable detail

Communication tools should make the shared scene clearer. They may describe what others could perceive, but not private thoughts, hidden facts, or outcomes another player must accept.

05. Conflict, Force & Weapons

Rule 05.01

Make initiation clear and give it time to land

Before force begins, the other side must be able to understand the threat or demand and have a meaningful moment to respond unless an immediate defensive emergency makes that impossible.

Rule 05.02

No random violence or baiting

Violence needs a proportionate in-world cause. Creating nuisance behavior solely to provoke police, civilians, factions, or a streamer into a fight is not a story motive.

Rule 05.03

Weapons are consequential, not conversational punctuation

Drawing or firing a weapon changes the stakes for everyone present. Handle firearms, blades, explosives, and improvised weapons as dangerous objects with lasting consequences.

Rule 05.04

Fights and duels require shared terms

A fistfight or formal duel can resolve conflict cleanly when participants understand what they agreed to. Agreement to fight is not agreement to execution, looting, or unrelated escalation.

Rule 05.05

Restraint, searching, and transport remain roleplay

Ropes, cuffs, inventory searches, and transport tools create temporary control; they do not transfer ownership of another person's scene or remove the need to communicate.

Rule 05.06

Do not rush back for revenge or reinforcements

A concluded loss needs room to matter. Returning immediately on the same or another character, relaying outside information, or recruiting uninvolved players turns consequence into a repeat match.

06. Injury, Downed States & Character Death

Rule 06.01

Carry injuries beyond the animation

An injury should reflect what happened and influence the scene for a reasonable period. Medical roleplay is collaborative, but recovery cannot be instant simply because a mechanic has completed.

Rule 06.02

The downed state limits action and memory

When mechanics mark a character downed or unconscious, play the loss of effective control. What the character remembers afterwards depends on what they could plausibly perceive and the published medical system.

Rule 06.03

Permanent injury cannot be imposed casually

Scars and lasting consequences can strengthen a story when agreed. Mutilation, disability, branding, or other permanent changes require clear participant agreement and may require staff approval.

Rule 06.04

Permanent character death is deliberate and recorded

A permanent death ends a character's ordinary play and affects everyone connected to them. It must be the player's informed choice unless a separately published, approved process applies.

07. Crime, Hostages & Custody

Rule 07.01

Crime must create more than a payout

Criminal play should create choices, risk, witnesses, investigation, and consequences. Repeating the fastest mechanic for income without meaningful interaction is not enough.

Rule 07.02

Robbery and theft need proportionate stakes

Take what serves the scene, not everything the interface exposes. A robbery should leave the victim able to continue playing and should respect any published protected-item or cooldown list.

Rule 07.03

A hostage is a participant, not a prop

Hostage scenes need a reason, active communication, and an attainable end. Randomly collecting a player only to satisfy a mechanic or demand an impossible outcome is not acceptable.

Rule 07.04

Custody and escape require credible opportunity

Arrest, transport, jail, and escape are shared scenes. Prisoners must respect effective restraints; authorities must provide roleplay and avoid using custody only to remove someone from play.

Rule 07.05

High-impact criminal plots require coordination

Serial plots, attacks on major institutions, large heists, mass-casualty events, and campaigns intended to alter the setting affect people far beyond the initiating group.

08. Groups, Factions & Territory

Rule 08.01

Count the people who are actually helping

Group limits apply to the whole coordinated side, including scouts, drivers, lookouts, outside shooters, and allies. Splitting into channels or arriving in waves does not create separate groups.

Rule 08.02

Organizations are earned through play

A name, uniform, hierarchy, or external Discord does not create an official faction. Groups should begin with relationships and a clear contribution to the shared world.

Rule 08.03

Wars and territorial campaigns need boundaries

Long-running group conflict can affect businesses, civilians, and every member's access to play. The sides need a recorded cause, scope, win conditions, and exit path before escalation becomes constant.

Rule 08.04

Leadership and corruption carry extra responsibility

Faction leaders and public-service members control access, information, and other players' opportunities. Corruption can be good story material only when it is bounded and cannot quietly hollow out a public institution.

09. Economy, Property & Businesses

Rule 09.01

Economic play must remain in world and auditable

Money, items, jobs, and services should move through intended systems and believable agreements. An economic advantage gained through a bug, duplicate transaction, or outside payment is not legitimate property.

Rule 09.02

Scams need roleplay and reasonable limits

In-character deception may be part of the setting, but it cannot rely on interface tricks, out-of-character trust, false staff claims, or agreements the system gives no way to understand.

Rule 09.03

Property rights follow the published record

Keys, menus, or physical access do not by themselves establish ownership. The Place Book, approved agreement, and game record determine who may control, transfer, search, or alter property.

Rule 09.04

A business should create play for other people

Business ownership is a roleplay responsibility, not only a passive income slot. Owners should make reasonable use of the place, communicate availability, and avoid blocking a scarce role indefinitely.

Rule 09.05

Financial support does not purchase authority or outcomes

Support helps cover community work. It must not buy staff influence, immunity, rule exceptions, guaranteed property, exclusive power, or victory over another player.

10. Law, Medicine & Public Roles

Rule 10.01

In-world law and server rules are different systems

A character may break the law without breaking a server rule, and lawful authority does not excuse a rule violation. Staff discipline and in-world justice must not be used interchangeably.

Rule 10.02

Law enforcement must create due process and play

Law roles hold mechanical and social power. Stops, searches, seizures, force, charges, and detention need an in-world basis and should leave the accused a meaningful way to understand and answer the action.

Rule 10.03

Medical roles protect access to continued play

Medical players interpret injuries and offer treatment without becoming a shortcut around consequence or a tool for faction advantage. Care should remain neutral enough that ordinary players can use the service.

Rule 10.04

Public authority cannot be self-declared

Uniforms, badges, titles, records, and institutional access affect the whole community. Impersonation may occur only within approved story boundaries and may never imitate staff authority.

11. Technical Fair Play & Public Content

Rule 11.01

No cheats, exploits, or unauthorized assistance

Every outcome must come from the approved client, server systems, and ordinary player input. Tools or methods that reveal hidden information, automate play, alter capability, or bypass limits are prohibited.

Rule 11.02

External communication cannot coordinate live play

Discord calls, streams, private messages, and other outside tools may not replace in-world communication or provide silent tactical coordination.

Rule 11.03

Disconnects do not erase an active scene

Leaving to avoid danger, identification, loss, arrest, injury, or a staff contact is combat logging. A genuine crash should be communicated and the scene resumed when reasonably possible.

Rule 11.04

Keep audio usable and public content lawful

Clear voice is part of shared play. Music, soundboards, voice changers, and streamed media may be used only when they do not overwhelm conversation, harass others, or create avoidable rights problems.

Rule 11.05

Recording does not change the rules of the room

Clips help with memories, reports, and community storytelling. Streaming or recording does not grant special treatment, and an audience must never be used as pressure against another member.

12. Reports, Evidence & Enforcement

Rule 12.01

Finish safely, then report the conduct

Players should not police each other during a live scene. Preserve evidence, avoid retaliation, and use the Community Desk once the immediate situation is safe.

Rule 12.02

Evidence must be authentic and proportionate

A report is a request for review, not a case to win at any cost. Evidence must be genuine, contextual, lawfully obtained, and limited to what the concern requires.

Rule 12.03

Enforcement considers impact, intent, history, and repair

Responses may include guidance, scene repair, a warning, access limits, removal from a role, suspension, or permanent removal. Similar incidents can reasonably receive different responses when their circumstances differ.

Rule 12.04

Appeals review process, not popularity

An appeal should identify a factual error, missing evidence, procedural problem, disproportionate outcome, or meaningful new information. Public pressure and repeated tickets are not additional grounds.

Rule 12.05

Protect the process and keep the rulebook dated

Privacy limits what staff can disclose about another member. Rules may change as the playable build and community develop, but changes should be dated rather than silently rewritten after an incident.

Rule 12.06

Player Report Disclaimer

Please provide sufficient evidence when submitting a player report, such as video footage or screenshots. Reports based solely on accusations may not be actionable. Player reports can only be handled for incidents that occur within West RP's official spaces, including the RedM server and official Discord channels. Incidents occurring outside of these spaces are not under West RP staff's jurisdiction. Submitting a report does not guarantee punishment; staff will review the evidence and determine whether a rule was broken.

Putting the rules into practice

Read the scene guide for practical examples of offering actions, pacing conflict, checking boundaries, and leaving room for another player to answer.

Read the scene guide Ask a rules question

Penal Code

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