(WIP, Second Draft)
Murann's Harbour Guard are no army, they are the threads stretched far too thin, keeping the delicate situation of the city from unraveling. Seen on almost every street in the city, they notably avoid the Crimson Row, a dilapidated slum quarter and Murann's not-so-quiet shame, and Arbas Square. But in the Thoroughfare, Upper Boroughs, Waukeen's Walk, Dawncrest Hill and other such areas of repute, their blue-and-yellow coat of arms and gleaming halberds are seen at all hours of the day and night.
While not the feared, gleaming force of the King's Own, the Harbour Guard are far more numerous, and their presence indicative of far less dire things. Present in the every day life of folk both common and high, they perform stops, searches, mediation and protection for those whom the Harbour King's laws deem are worthy of it. Those entering the city for visitation, trade or relaxation all feel the weight of their heavy gaze, tired but determined people keeping what hold they can on a fragile Peace...
In a continued effort to establish the kind of RP culture we want and help strengthen the setting from launch and into the future, the TDN team has opened up the potential for invested players to serve as guards in Murann (the primary city and hub for the server). You may apply individually, however applying as a pair may be looked upon even more favorably for reasons that will be explained in this communication.
Please be sure to read everything closely before you make a decision whether to apply or not.
Guards play a unique and integral role on any server, but not all servers have player character guards. On TDN, there are many parts of the setting and story that we believe will support the inclusion of player guards and in turn will benefit from having them. As we’re steadily refining our approach and getting stories rolling on the server, we’ve identified that having a handful of player guards present day-to-day in the server would greatly help support the DM team in accurately portraying and enforcing the setting, as well as allowing them time to keep telling the fantastical stories we're all here for.
Please bear in mind that we can’t and won’t force you to remain in your role, however there will be some slight drawbacks to quitting the guard early if you do decide to sign up which will be explained in the Benefits section.
Keep in mind also that this is a good opportunity as an initial formative experience for your character and will help to cement your character within the setting more firmly as someone recognised by the city and its residents, even after you quit (should you choose to quit). At this time, non-human Player Guard characters are not being considered. This may open up later down the road.
As a guard, your primary role will be patrolling the streets of Murann and Trademeet, as well as the space inbetween. You will ideally be paired with another guard in this task so that you have another person to roleplay with, and assigned a specific route or post by the guard captain (which will always be a DM) or your guard sergeant (another trusted player). This will consist primarily of a few things:
Furthermore, at the end of each day you would be expected to write a short report using the parchment items that will be provided by editing its description, which you’ll hand off to your sergeant or a higher officer. For the moment, reports of patrols or incidents via the Discord are accepted instead.
More specific details on how all these duties will function will be provided for successful applicants to understand better how they will perform their role.
Please be aware that as a guard, your experience and wages will only be from playing as a guard. You are barred from entering dungeons under anything less than a DM's supervision due to an event or plot. While defending players on the roads will be expected of you, going off searching for the nearest dungeon to fish them out will not be tolerated in normal circumstances.
*Footnote: For any situations where you may need to arrest another player or defend yourself from an attacker, the DMs will give priority attention to guards asking for assistance where possible. However please note that PvP should seldom be initiated by guards and there will be severe IC consequences if guards are caught attacking others or abusing their position. Corruption is not presently something we desire or have the bandwidth to support in our Player Guards.
These roles will come with some modest benefits.
Guards are an extension of the setting rules, characterized in a way that can be enforced immersively. This means that, while guard PCs can and should have personalities, backstories, and differing temperaments, ultimately they are used as tools to enforce the setting standards. Guard PCs should be NPC-lite characters; you must always be willing to adhere to the setting standards, regardless of what your character might think. To this end, we're not allowing for corrupt guard characters.
You can and will make mistakes OOCly, and we can and will address these appropriately, but to your best ability you must follow the Laws of the Land wiki page and uphold the integrity of TDN's setting. Repeated failure to do so will result in a confiscation of your guard PC. To a certain extent, we can teach guard players expectations, but ultimately this role requires a lot of self-managing and responsibility. Because we cannot afford the extra bandwidth to support the guards at this moment, it's imperative each member of the guard can function independently of constant OOC DM oversight. If you are wanting in-depth, character-expressive roleplay, it is encouraged to make an alt, and not do this on a guard PC.
Guards are primarily a tool for tone enforcement for the setting.
Guards must be on duty at all times when logged in.
Guard PCs cannot go into dungeons, Crimson Row, Murann sewers, or Arbas Square.
Guards, without exception, must adhere to the setting's laws.
Guards must respect their appointed leadership.
The classes we’ll be looking for in the guard are ideally Fighter, Warden, Scout, Rogue and Swashbuckler. On a case-by-case basis we will consider other classes, so long as they are non-magical (Warlock, Hexblade, Cleric, Wizard, etc) and have no plans to lean into magical Prestige Classes.
To apply, we’d like you to fill out a short application answering the following questions and send it to the DM Support Tickets channel in the Discord:
The Harbour Guard
Murann's Harbour Guard are no army, they are the threads stretched far too thin, keeping the delicate situation of the city from unraveling. Seen on almost every street in the city, they notably avoid the Crimson Row, a dilapidated slum quarter and Murann's not-so-quiet shame, and Arbas Square. But in the Thoroughfare, Upper Boroughs, Waukeen's Walk, Dawncrest Hill and other such areas of repute, their blue-and-yellow coat of arms and gleaming halberds are seen at all hours of the day and night.
While not the feared, gleaming force of the King's Own, the Harbour Guard are far more numerous, and their presence indicative of far less dire things. Present in the every day life of folk both common and high, they perform stops, searches, mediation and protection for those whom the Harbour King's laws deem are worthy of it. Those entering the city for visitation, trade or relaxation all feel the weight of their heavy gaze, tired but determined people keeping what hold they can on a fragile Peace...
Murann Wants You!
In a continued effort to establish the kind of RP culture we want and help strengthen the setting from launch and into the future, the TDN team has opened up the potential for invested players to serve as guards in Murann (the primary city and hub for the server). You may apply individually, however applying as a pair may be looked upon even more favorably for reasons that will be explained in this communication.
Please be sure to read everything closely before you make a decision whether to apply or not.
Overview
Guards play a unique and integral role on any server, but not all servers have player character guards. On TDN, there are many parts of the setting and story that we believe will support the inclusion of player guards and in turn will benefit from having them. As we’re steadily refining our approach and getting stories rolling on the server, we’ve identified that having a handful of player guards present day-to-day in the server would greatly help support the DM team in accurately portraying and enforcing the setting, as well as allowing them time to keep telling the fantastical stories we're all here for.
Please bear in mind that we can’t and won’t force you to remain in your role, however there will be some slight drawbacks to quitting the guard early if you do decide to sign up which will be explained in the Benefits section.
Keep in mind also that this is a good opportunity as an initial formative experience for your character and will help to cement your character within the setting more firmly as someone recognised by the city and its residents, even after you quit (should you choose to quit). At this time, non-human Player Guard characters are not being considered. This may open up later down the road.
Duties
As a guard, your primary role will be patrolling the streets of Murann and Trademeet, as well as the space inbetween. You will ideally be paired with another guard in this task so that you have another person to roleplay with, and assigned a specific route or post by the guard captain (which will always be a DM) or your guard sergeant (another trusted player). This will consist primarily of a few things:
- Checking licenses
- Keeping the peace*
- Defending others on the roads
- Investigating any reports made by players
- Reminding players of the current attitudes and social climate through roleplay
Furthermore, at the end of each day you would be expected to write a short report using the parchment items that will be provided by editing its description, which you’ll hand off to your sergeant or a higher officer. For the moment, reports of patrols or incidents via the Discord are accepted instead.
More specific details on how all these duties will function will be provided for successful applicants to understand better how they will perform their role.
Please be aware that as a guard, your experience and wages will only be from playing as a guard. You are barred from entering dungeons under anything less than a DM's supervision due to an event or plot. While defending players on the roads will be expected of you, going off searching for the nearest dungeon to fish them out will not be tolerated in normal circumstances.
*Footnote: For any situations where you may need to arrest another player or defend yourself from an attacker, the DMs will give priority attention to guards asking for assistance where possible. However please note that PvP should seldom be initiated by guards and there will be severe IC consequences if guards are caught attacking others or abusing their position. Corruption is not presently something we desire or have the bandwidth to support in our Player Guards.
Benefits
These roles will come with some modest benefits.
- Firstly, we’d like players to stick to these roles for at least 3 months. For that reason we’re offering guard players to start at level 6. This enables you to already be experienced in your class and role if you so desire, and you may request Guard-Issue equipment as well to set you up as a capable protector and enforcer of the law. If this equipment is found given to other players, expect harsh consequences.
For each month a player remains in the guard role, they get to keep a third of the bonus experience required to get them to level 6. This means that new players can potentially gain a lot of experience for free right out of the gate. However, if a player doesn’t complete at least one month as a guard, they will have all of the bonus exp taken from them.
Example: If you start at level 2 and you’re boosted to level 6 as a guard, this requires 44,200 experience. Of that 44,200 xp, each month you get to keep 14,733 xp (33%) permanently. If you quit after a month, we would take the other two thirds (29,466 xp) away from you. You would, however, get to keep any and all RP XP you gain in this role.
- Secondly, player guards will gain bonus RP XP as long as they remain a guard - this will always be the case for guard players as they are more limited than regular Player Characters in where they go and what they do.
- Lastly, player guards will get a weekly wage to offset the lack of dungeoneering. This likely won’t seem as much in comparison to dungeon-goers, however it is relatively safe and won’t suffer the natural taxes associated with dungeoneering such as loot sharing, the purchase of healing kits, license renewal, etc.
Purpose
Guards are an extension of the setting rules, characterized in a way that can be enforced immersively. This means that, while guard PCs can and should have personalities, backstories, and differing temperaments, ultimately they are used as tools to enforce the setting standards. Guard PCs should be NPC-lite characters; you must always be willing to adhere to the setting standards, regardless of what your character might think. To this end, we're not allowing for corrupt guard characters.
You can and will make mistakes OOCly, and we can and will address these appropriately, but to your best ability you must follow the Laws of the Land wiki page and uphold the integrity of TDN's setting. Repeated failure to do so will result in a confiscation of your guard PC. To a certain extent, we can teach guard players expectations, but ultimately this role requires a lot of self-managing and responsibility. Because we cannot afford the extra bandwidth to support the guards at this moment, it's imperative each member of the guard can function independently of constant OOC DM oversight. If you are wanting in-depth, character-expressive roleplay, it is encouraged to make an alt, and not do this on a guard PC.
Guards are primarily a tool for tone enforcement for the setting.
Guards must be on duty at all times when logged in.
Guard PCs cannot go into dungeons, Crimson Row, Murann sewers, or Arbas Square.
Guards, without exception, must adhere to the setting's laws.
Guards must respect their appointed leadership.
Guard Application
The classes we’ll be looking for in the guard are ideally Fighter, Warden, Scout, Rogue and Swashbuckler. On a case-by-case basis we will consider other classes, so long as they are non-magical (Warlock, Hexblade, Cleric, Wizard, etc) and have no plans to lean into magical Prestige Classes.
To apply, we’d like you to fill out a short application answering the following questions and send it to the DM Support Tickets channel in the Discord: