Penwick

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• Treat others the way you would like to be treated, with dignity and respect. Don't get along? Either bring in a moderator to help resolve the conflict or simply ignore each other, live and let live. Life's too short for petty drama.
• 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 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.

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• No metagaming. Your character can only act on the knowledge which 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• You may only do one magical action per turn. A magical action is: casting a spell or consuming a potion.
• You may only do one mundane action per turn. A mundane action is are actions such as crouching, climbing, hiding, eating, drinking. Note: you may perform a magical action alongside your mundane action.
• For abilities that do not auto-activate, you may only activate one ability per post/turn/round. See abilities

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An NPC is a non-player character, a character who exists to add colour and life to a scene or who plays a supporting role in your character's story, but who is not the main 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. Every character that is not your character and that is not a character written by another player on this site is an NPC.

You may create and write NPCs in your stories (for example siblings, parents, other family members, background characters, and so on), but you must abide by the following rules:

• An NPC can not provide your character with information which they would otherwise not be able to get as this is considered metagaming.
• You may not use NPCs to give yourself or your character an advantage. The rule of thumb is this: whenever your character's actions or the actions of an NPC you control affect another player's character, you are limited to actions which your character has the spells, abilities, potions and aptitude(s) to accomplish. 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 player's characters and that is what makes it allowed.

  Disallowed:

  • Claiming that your character's uncle is Voldemort's bestie.
  • Having your character's uncle give your character a special wand or some other special item which would make them more powerful. At this point you are giving yourself/your character an advantage, and that is not allowed.
  • Having your character's uncle apparate into a moderated thread to save your character from injury. You would be giving yourself an unfair and unreasonable advantage by doing this and that is not allowed.
• NPCs must be written within reason. Just like every other character on this site, they are not all powerful and are not infallible, nor are they any more special than any other character. You cannot claim that your NPC character is Dumbledore's forgotten brother or Voldemort's best friend because this would grant an unreasonable level of importance to your NPC, and therefore to your character by extension.
• 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. Example, if your character is Joe, then you should include a note reading: "this post is written from the perspective of Joe's mum." on your first post. You are also allowed to write from an NPC's viewpoint in threads with other players so long as all the other players involved all consent to it. This is intended as a narrative tool to give you greater creative freedom, but is something you should do sparingly. You're doing it wrong if you are writing from NPC perspectives more frequently than your character's viewpoint.

Rules on NPCs are a bit more lax if you have the storyteller role: viewtopic.php?t=19

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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.

• 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 other's stories.

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The site features two distinct rating categories to ensure appropriate content for each category of player. These ratings are based on RPGRating, adding one additional category for substance use.

• Student roleplaying content rules apply to all characters who are younger than 18.
• Adult roleplaying content rules apply to all characters who are 18 or older.
• It is the age of your character which matters here.

• Language - 3
  Standard profanity is allowed, like damn, hell, ass, shit, etc. Real-world racial slurs of any kind are forbidden, but fictional ones like "mudblood" are allowed. Creative cursing encouraged. Cruel language is permitted, but shouldn't dominate.
• Sex - 1
  • Nudity
    Characters may be described in swimwear or partial undress like being shirtless or wearing underwear or swimwear. Mild descriptions with narrative purpose or brief (accidental) exposure are allowed, but should be used sparingly and not be lingered on.
  • Romantic and sexual content
    Romantic content between student characters is allowed. Hand-holding, hugging, kissing and making out are all allowed, but should remain tasteful. Intimate scenes must fade to black before progressing beyond kissing. Romantic student/adult relationships are strictly forbidden.
• Violence - 2
  Combat can include serious magical duels, injuries, blood, broken bones, significant cuts, and magical damage. However, you should avoid detailed gore, torture, or permanent maiming. Deaths should only occur on-screen if plot-necessary. Physical fights can include punching and similar actions, but shouldn't be a daily occurrence. The consequences of serious injury should be addressed through medical treatment.
• Substance use - 2
  Characters may experiment with alcohol (stealing firewhiskey, sneaking drinks at events), but consequences should be realistic. Magical drug use is limited to common potions and their misuse (Pepper-Up addiction, calming draught dependency) is allowed. In-character smoking is permitted, though this may have in-character repercussions. Heavy intoxication should be rare and not glorified.

• Language - 3
  All profanity permitted. Realistic use of strong language, including in anger or for emphasis. Magical and real-world insults allowed freely. Creative cursing encouraged. Slurs forbidden except in specific historical/narrative contexts with content warnings. No restrictions on frequency or intensity of profanity.
• Sex - 2
  • Nudity
    Full nudity permitted in any non-pornographic context (meaning not described in detail). Public nudity, skinny dipping, and similar scenarios are allowed when plot-relevant.
  • Romantic and sexual content
    Romantic content between adult characters is allowed. This is not an ERP (explicit roleplay) site. Suggestive scenes are allowed, but should be done sparingly and have narrative purpose. Heavy makeout sessions, detailed physical intimacy, and sensual content are all acceptable, but intimate scenes may not be explicit. If an explicit scene is about to occur, the thread must FTB (fade to black), and no sexual act may be described. Romantic student/adult relationships are strictly forbidden.
• Violence - 3
  All forms of violence are permitted except extreme torture or excessive gore. Detailed combat, severe injuries, and deaths can be described. Psychological trauma, lasting consequences, and graphic elements are allowed. Medical scenes can be explicit. However, violence should have some narrative purpose or in-character justification.
• Substance use - 3
  All magical and real-world substances permitted. Addiction, abuse, and consequences can be explored in detail. Brewing illegal potions, drug trafficking, and substance-related crime are allowed as plot elements. Intoxication can be depicted realistically. No requirement to show negative consequences unless plot-relevant.