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A situation has arisen that I think needs a ruling or some clarification of where the team stand. To protect the innocent, I will use my characters for the example .

Belinde is trying to find out information about a series of events. She is told by another character that Brynja was a part of them and will know what is happening. It is in character for Belinde to either send a letter to Brynja asking for information or to ask someone else to alk to Brynja for her and report back. So, what can I do?

Lets go for another example. Belinde is trying to track down a mystery assailant with a bone arm, so she posts a request for information about people with bone arms. Brynja knows someone with a bone arm and may be inclined to tell on them. Can I reply to Belinde as Brynja?

Is it ok to pass information from one of my characters to another through a third party?
If the information is part of a DM event, should that DM be consulted first?

Characters can NEVER communicate with other characters run by the same player. Period. No exceptions. This is a CoPaP wide rule, and anyone caught breaking said rule will be subject to disciplinary action.

Accidental transferance of information via third party individuals will happen on an occasion. Purposful transferance of information is considered the same as contacting directly.

This rule is in par with the muling rule (passing equipment from one character to another).

And yes, this means sometimes one character will know something another character (in your mind) should be told. As far as your character knows, you know -nothing- about your 'other' PC. You will never be in a situation where you can communicate with your other PC directly..so if it seems like you get yourself 'stuck in the middle' like that, never fear - the team will know how to guide you in how to best handle the situation. If in doubt, send a PM to the team and ask how to best handle a particular situation. 8)

If another player ICly asks you to pass along a message (usually if they don't know you play the other party,) feel free to send them a tell and OOC explain you can't be involved as you play the other PC (this has happened to me, so I know how it feels to be 'stuck' hehe) Everyone should know this rule, so everyone should be gracious enough to 'rewind' that request.

How would this affect notes left in public places? Like say the Tavern boards.

I'll use Aria and Peter as an example. I remember a discussion in the Hala forums with a notice posted in a public place. Lexy responded to something some one posted, I think I as Aria responded as well and then a few other people responded and I can't remember if I responded as Peter. No, it was not directly to myself, but to something another player posted after I had posted as Aria.

Now Peter and Aria do not know each other, but they know OF each other because of things other characters have said about one to the other. Is that permissible?

Just wanting to make sure we're all on the same page.

I don't know that situation specifically, but no, your best bet is not to reply to posts as two characters. You'll probably know each others names after awhile, but other then that, keep it as 5000000 yards away as possible. I know it sometimes get's weird, especially when somebody says "oh you really should meet so-and-so, you would -LOVE- them!" ...but it's just too bad.

This is one of those situations where an OOC rule takes precedence over anything that happens IC for any reason. Period.

What I do is to pick one character who participates in a thread or in a plot and stick to character A. Sure sometimes Character B learn some details about what's going on from other people, but I never actively participate, research, talk about, etc. etc. with Character B. By extension, Character B never passes along to anybody any info. If asked or otherwise put upon, I say "ooc" I can't do this; I have another character involved." That's just the best way to keep yourself out of any supposed 'gray' areas. In fact, I go so far as to log out Character B if something comes up which should involve Character A. Even DM events.

As well, If you're encountering too many circumstances where both your characters will take strong interest in a subject, consider having one of the characters away for a bit ICly so that you don't have to come up with why they aren't both involved.

Thanks. Thats very clear and some good advice. What I will do myself is if I have a character involved in a DM plot and something is sprung on one of my other characters is ask if I can log in with the involved character.

Just like to add on that in my experience, I've let a DM know ahead of time which character I intend to serve as my 'primary' for their plot. And they've given me OOCly gentle pokes and harsh beatings a few minutes before events to allow time for me to IC switch out.

Seems to work well for all parties involved since it's not: "What? The Hamlet is under attack? Let me go get so-and-so since they've been involved so far."

Zombie wrote:Thanks. Thats very clear and some good advice. What I will do myself is if I have a character involved in a DM plot and something is sprung on one of my other characters is ask if I can log in with the involved character.

That sounds like a reasonable request to me and an excellent way to handle it.