RP Rules
These rules outline how collaborative storytelling works on Penwick.ink. They ensure that there is fairness, consistency, and respect between writing partners, and help in preserving the integrity of the world we build together.
General Rules
- No metagaming. Your character can only act on the knowledge that they have either because they were told something directly or otherwise acquired certain knowledge. As your character's author, you likely know more than your character. This rule forbids you from pretending that your character has the same information available to them as you, the author, do.
- No godmoding. You are only allowed to control your character's actions, thoughts, dialogue, and movement, not those of other characters. You may not make assumptions about how other characters will react, unless agreed upon in advance with your writing partner(s). If you have agreed with your writing partner(s) that you are allowed to god-mod (control) their character(s), you should include an out-of-character note (in a quote block or spoiler block) in your post to indicate to moderators that permission was given by your writing partner(s) for you to control their character(s) in your post.
- Create, but don't Contradict. You are encouraged to write details like weather, scenery, decorations, minor shops, decor in school hallways, portraits, etc. to enrich your writing and stories. However, added details may not contradict, overwrite, or invalidate established site lore/canon information. Yes to saying you found an odd-looking stuffed animal in your common room that seems to follow you with its eyes, yes to saying there's a pottery shop in Brynwell, no to saying your character is the new professor of alchemy.
- Just because you can doesn't mean you should. The Content Rules are the limits of what is allowed. You should not regularly be testing the limits.
- Be courteous to your writing partners. Stories tend to die if they are left unattended for long. If you need more time or are unavailable, make a best effort to inform your roleplay partners.
- Use proper spelling and grammar for your IC writing. Text speak is forbidden unless there is a narrative reason (example: your character is livestreaming and the livestream's chat is part of the narrative).
- Out-of-character comments belong in a quote or spoiler block or in specific OOC threads, not as posts in IC areas.
- No invented abilities or spells. You may only use the spells, potions, and abilities which your character has. You may not invent entirely new spells, potions, or abilities which do not exist within the site's magic system. You may create enchanted items that your character has/interacts with, as long as the effect is not something that gives your character an unfair advantage.
- Use and respect topic tags. Topic tags denote if a roleplay is finished or ongoing, and if ongoing, who is able to write in them.
- [PV] or [Private] means the thread is only available to pre-determined roleplay partners.
- [Open] means that any player may join this thread. You may choose to specify a group in this tag, such as your house, year, or club.
- [Finished] means that the thread has come to a conclusion, and is no longer able to be replied to.
- [PSM] and [SSM] refer to self-moderated threads, which you can learn about HERE.
- [OSM] means the thread is an official/staff-run moderated thread, which you can read about HERE.
- Posts must have a minimum of 200 words.
- No plagiarism. Do not claim preexisting writing as your own.
- No AI writing. You're allowed to use AI for research or grammar/spell-checking, but you may not use AI to write your posts and pass this content off as your own, see the previous no plagiarism rule.
- All posts must be in English. If you write in another language because your character or an NPC you write speaks another language, you should provide an English translation alongside it.
NPC Rules
An NPC (non-player character) is any character who is not played by you or another player. They exist to fill out the world, background faces, family members, shopkeepers, classmates, anyone who supports a scene but isn’t the focus. In most cases, NPCs are passersby in the background, faceless and nameless characters with no backstory and no role in your story other than to set the scene or help move your story along.
You are free to create and write NPCs in your threads, but you must follow two rules:
- NPCs cannot give your character information they can't get otherwise. Doing so counts as metagaming.
- You may not use NPCs to gain an advantage. If an NPC you control interacts with another player’s character, you are limited to what your own character could realistically achieve with their spells, abilities, potions, and aptitudes.
Below you can find a few more examples of what is and isn't allowed:
Spoiler (click to show)
Allowed:
- Claiming that your character's uncle is a powerful wizard
- In a solo thread, you would be allowed to write that your character's uncle used advanced spells (which your character does not have). In this case, it is allowed because the context is a solo thread, which is a thread that only involves your character and no other players. Because of this, it does not have an effect on other players' characters, and so there is no advantage.
Disallowed:
- Claiming that your character's uncle is Voldemort's bestie.
- Having your character's uncle give your character a special wand, potion of luck, or some other special item that would make them more powerful.
- Having your character's uncle apparate into a moderated thread to save your character from injury.
- NPCs must stay reasonable. They are not all-powerful, flawless, or more important than any other character on the site. You cannot claim an NPC is secretly connected to major canon-level figures or grant them special status that would unfairly elevate your own character.
- You may write from the viewpoint of an NPC (like a parent) in a solo thread, but you must clearly indicate so in your post. For example: “This post is written from the perspective of Joe’s mum.” You may also write from an NPC’s viewpoint in threads with other players, but only if every player involved agrees. This is meant to be an occasional storytelling tool, not the main way you write. If you’re using NPC perspectives more often than your character’s, you’re overusing them.
Note: Rules on NPCs are slightly relaxed/expanded for those with the
Storyteller Role
Time, Backdating & Forward-Dating
Penwick runs in real time, meaning that one year at Penwick matches 1:1 with one real-life year. This means that it takes one full real-life year for your character to graduate from their current year at Penwick or Sigerth into their next.
Graduation
Graduation is the moment when every character finishes their current in-character year, aligning with the end of the Penwick school year.
This happens every year on July 1st. After graduation, each character receives their yearly progression rewards, which include:
- Tier 0 spells unlocked for that year
- Increased Aptitude Points (AP) based on their Origin AP table
- Increased Advancement Tokens (AT) based on their Origin AT table
This marks your character’s mechanical development for the year, whether they attended Penwick, enrolled at Sigerth, or lived as an adult.
Backdating and Forward-Dating
- The first post of a thread should contain a date, indicating when that thread took place in RP time. If you do not mention a date in your post, the date at which that post was made will be assumed to be the date that the roleplay took place at. In other words: if you create a post on December 8, 2025, and specify no date in the first post of your thread, then that thread is assumed to take place on December 8 2025.
- Your threads should have a sensible chronology. If you create a thread dated to October 2nd 2025, during which your character's pet died, then that pet cannot be alive in a thread you forward-dated to November 21st, 2025.
- You are allowed to write as far back into the past with your character as you want, but only up to 1 month into the future. While forward-dating is allowed, you should generally be careful about setting your threads in the future since this may create timeline inconsistencies in your and others' stories.
