Game Rules

1. Introduction

1.1. The rules for using an online resource are set by its owner. These rules apply to the site wyrdstone-ccg.com and to every service of the Wyrdstone: Tales Beyond the Mist project.

1.2. The rules are the same for everyone and binding on everyone. If one or more clauses are broken, the administration (hereinafter — the Keepers) may apply any penalty from section 3, up to blocking every account the offender holds. Being unaware of the rules is not grounds to overturn a decision. The rules may change without prior notice; the current version is always available on this page.

1.3. Every registered user (hereinafter — resident) must agree with every clause of these rules. Otherwise using the game and its services is forbidden. Registration means agreeing to the rules and undertaking to follow them.

1.4. Wyrdstone is a free browser game: access to it is granted free of charge, and all services are provided «as is». Residents are given the chance to use them, but no guarantee that access will be open at all times and under all circumstances. Even so, the Keepers do everything they can to keep the world running smoothly, and to make sure that dealings between the Keepers, their helpers and the residents leave nothing but a good impression — regardless of personal relations or sympathies.

1.5. The Keepers reserve the right to block any resident temporarily or permanently without explanation, refund or compensation, and to confiscate a character's in-game property if they judge it necessary. This rule is applied in exceptional cases — when a problem has no other reasonable solution, and when section 2 has been broken.

2. General Provisions

2.1. Any harmful action against the game, the site or resources connected with the project leads to the blocking of every account the offender holds. Harmful actions include: those aimed at needlessly raising the load or the cost of running the server; those causing outages or disrupting its work; those not provided for by the gameplay; those involving attempts to obtain elevated access.

2.2. Any threat or insult directed at the Keepers or their helpers — in the game, in Discord, through the support form, on third-party resources or in real life — leads to the blocking of every account the offender holds. This clause is enforced strictly.

2.3. Unauthorised advertising of other projects and resources, disparagement of Wyrdstone, and unfounded or knowingly false claims about the project and what happens in it lead to the blocking of every account the offender holds.

2.4. All accounts, characters, in-game items, holdings and actions are the property of the project. In-game valuables are not the resident's property and have no monetary value outside the game.

2.5. Any attempt at physical, psychological or other pressure on residents with the aim of seizing their characters leads to the blocking of every account the offender holds. In some cases the offender may also face liability under the law.

2.6. Any attempt to obtain passwords to other people's accounts — by software or by deception, including by posing as a Keeper or one of their helpers — leads to the blocking of every account the offender holds, with confiscation of property.

The Keepers and their helpers never ask for your password. Anyone who asks you for it is a fraud, whoever they claim to be.

3. System of Penalties

Kinds of penalty

3.1.1. Automatic silencing for spam. The general chat accepts no more than one message every three seconds. Five triggers in a row close the chat for one minute. This is not a penalty from the Guard: it lifts by itself and is not recorded in the violation history.

3.1.2. Silence (in the game — «mute») — a ban on writing in the general chat and in private messages for a set period. When silence is imposed, the offender's messages from the past hour are removed from the general chat. The penalty is announced in the general chat with its term and reason, and is recorded in the character's violation history, which is visible in their profile.

3.1.3. Imprisonment — a ban on travelling through the world and on speaking in public places for a set period. The prisoner is put in the prison of the city where the penalty caught them; while imprisoned, their title in chat is replaced with «Prisoner».

3.1.4. The term of silence and of imprisonment is set by the Guard and may not exceed 30 days. A reason is always required and is kept in the violation history.

3.1.5. Burial in the Garden of Memory — imposed by a Judge's decision, has no term, and is lifted only by a Judge's pardon.

3.1.6. Blocking of an account — the last resort, applied by the Keepers. It may be temporary or permanent.

3.1.7. A fine — the taking of crowns from an offender by decision of the Court. The size depends on the offender's level and on the article of the violation; the tariff is published in the Library. The fine is deducted the moment the lawsuit is closed and goes to the plaintiff or to the city treasury; if the crowns fall short, everything there is is taken.

3.2. The penalties in 3.1.2–3.1.3 are imposed by the Guard, Department "D" and the Keepers. Burial and fines — by a Judge. Blocking — by the Keepers alone.

3.3. A decision of the Guard can be appealed by filing a lawsuit with the reason «Appeal» in the Municipality (Eschenhall) or the Town Hall (Elgrad). Filing costs 25 crowns. Lawsuits are heard by the Judges and the Keepers.

3.4. The court issues a written verdict, which is sent to both parties. The verdict may include a fine: it is collected the moment the lawsuit is closed. The verdict does not itself impose the penalties of 3.1.2–3.1.3 — those are imposed after the hearing by the Guard and the Keepers.

3.5. All complaints about the work of the Keepers' helpers are handled by the Keepers. A decision of the Keepers is final and cannot be appealed.

3.6. Unfounded complaints — especially rude ones, containing foul language, threats or insults directed at the Keepers or their helpers — may lead to the blocking of the offender's accounts across all services of the project.

3.7. The rules are not retroactive: if an action was taken before the rule forbidding it was introduced, the new rule does not apply to that case, unless stated otherwise.

3.8. Where there are five or more chat violations in a week, each further one is punished by silence of no less than one day.

4. Accounts and Characters

4.1. Registration requires a working e-mail address. The password and the e-mail can be changed at The Seven Roads Inn (Elgrad), confirmed with the current password. You can also sign in through Discord or Google.

4.2. There is no automatic password recovery in the game. Keep your password and access to your mailbox safe yourself. If you lose access, write through the support form on the site — recovery is not always possible and is decided case by case.

4.3. Sharing your account details is forbidden. The loss of a character and of property that follows from such sharing is not compensated.

4.4. Accounts are not deleted for inactivity. A character who has not entered the world for longer than 30 days plus 7 days per level counts as buried in the Garden of Memory; on their very next login they return to life on their own.

4.5. Handing a character over to another person, permanently or temporarily, is forbidden, as is selling, trading or gifting accounts. If you lose control of your character, contact the Keepers or the support form at once.

4.6. The account holder bears full responsibility for everything their character does. Temporary loss of control over a character does not remove that responsibility.

5. Gameplay

Resident of the world

5.1.1. A character name is 3 to 20 characters long: letters, digits, underscore and hyphen. Forbidden are names containing the words «Keeper», «Guard», «Judge», «Mentor», «Innkeeper», «Steward», «Priest», «Dealer», «Overseer», and names resembling those of the Keepers and their helpers — present or past, including names close in spelling. Obscene expressions, expressions insulting other residents and meaningless strings of characters are forbidden; whether a name is meaningful is decided by a Keeper.

5.1.2. The same applies to any text a player enters: clan names, their abbreviations and castle names, pet names, gift signatures, the «About me» section, the names of Workshop goods and of Market lots.

5.1.3. Characters played by the same person, or logging in from the same computer, may not pass in-game valuables to one another by any route: through the Market, gifts, the clan treasury or the transfer of crowns to a spouse.

5.1.4. Arranged fights are forbidden. A fight counts as arranged when both sides have an interest in one of them winning.

5.1.5. A fight may be judged arranged if either condition is broken repeatedly: more than five fights against the same opponent within an hour; more than ten fights against the same opponent within a day.

5.1.6. Inflating wins, rating and achievements is forbidden — whether with a second account or by arrangement with another resident.

Exploiting bugs

5.2.1. Exploiting bugs in the game is forbidden. A bug means any action not provided for by the gameplay, aimed at gaining an advantage or harming other residents, or disrupting the correct working of the game.

5.2.2. On finding a bug, a resident must stop using it at once and report it to a Keeper in the game or through the support form.

5.2.3. Concealing a known bug, and equally spreading word of it among other residents instead of reporting it to the Keepers, is treated as exploiting it and is punished under clause 5.2.1.

5.2.4. Valuables and advantages obtained through a bug are confiscated, whether or not the resident knew about the bug.

Third-party software

5.3.1. Third-party software that performs automatic actions in the game or affects its stability is forbidden, unless expressly approved by the Keepers.

5.3.2. If you are building something for the game, contact the Keepers in advance — through Discord or the support form. That will spare you needless trouble and may well get you help.

Conduct in the world

5.4.1. Obscene language, veiled swearing and insulting expressions are forbidden in public places: in the general and city chat, in the Tavern, in signatures and in any public text.

5.4.2. Strictly forbidden are statements and discussions that assert the inequality of people by sex, race, nationality or faith, that promote drugs, violence or extremist movements, or that personally insult residents of the world, the Keepers or their helpers.

5.4.3. Religious, anti-religious and any political propaganda or campaigning is forbidden.

5.4.4. Names, titles, clan and castle names and clan abbreviations that insult other residents or contain vulgar language are not allowed.

5.4.5. Flooding is forbidden — a stream of messages with no meaning: repetitions, jokes, retellings of system messages, copying private correspondence into the general chat.

5.4.6. Direct and indirect threats of violence against the person behind the screen are forbidden where they go beyond the game world.

5.4.7. Trade announcements in the general chat — no more than once every 30 minutes. The deals themselves are made at the Market or in private messages.

5.4.8. Abuse of euphemisms and their abbreviations standing in for swearing is forbidden.

5.4.9. Requests to be punished at one's own wish are forbidden.

5.4.10. An insult aimed at more than one resident counts as an insult with aggravating circumstances.

5.4.11. Provoking others into breaking the rules is forbidden — into insults or other acts for which the provoked party may be punished. If you are being provoked, turn to a Guard and point out the message you consider a provocation.

6. The Keepers of the World and Their Helpers

General provisions

6.1.1. The Keepers and their helpers improve the world, hunt for bugs, watch over the rules and help the residents.

6.1.2. You can reach them in the city chat, by letter through the city Mail, through the support form on the site, or in Discord. Requests are accepted in Russian, English and Ukrainian. Messages with no description of the problem are not considered.

6.1.3. Requests containing obscene language are strictly forbidden.

6.1.4. Disrespect towards the Keepers and their helpers, and attempts to mislead them, are forbidden.

6.1.5. Discussing the actions of the Keepers and their helpers in the general chat is forbidden, as is insulting the guilds of the world or their members.

Who is who

6.2.1. A helper of the Keepers is a resident of the world who belongs to one of the guilds and carries out its duties. Appointed by the Keepers. A helper's name is shown in chat in the colour of their guild.

6.2.2. Keeper — purple. Watches over the rules, settles disputes, keeps the world running. A Keeper may also walk the world with no mark at all.

6.2.3. The Guard — blue. Keeps order in the chat and the cities, imposes silence and imprisonment, answers residents' questions. The Guard includes Recruits, Guards and the Captain of the Guard.

6.2.4. The Secret Police (Overseers) — blue. Watches over the rules unseen.

6.2.5. The Court — red. Judges and the High Judge hear residents' lawsuits, issue verdicts and decide on burial and pardon.

6.2.6. The Priests — red. Keep the Sanctuary of Vows: marriages, vows and oaths.

6.2.7. The Mentors — orange. Help newcomers and hold training duels.

6.2.8. The Dealers — orange. Handle the official exchange of in-game gold.

6.2.9. The Tournament Stewards — yellow. Create and run tournaments in the Colosseum and watch over fair play.

6.2.10. The Innkeepers — green. Keep order in the taverns and gather rumours.

6.2.11. The Guild of Masters — the artists and writers of the world. They have a badge but no name colour, and hold no official powers.

6.2.12. Department "D" — a service guild that helps the Keepers look into violations.

6.2.13. All helpers act by the rules of the world and the instructions of the Keepers. Any of their actions may be appealed to the Keepers.

7. Special Provisions

7.1. A first blocking of an account may be temporary if the damage is slight and the offender has admitted fault and apologised. In all other cases the blocking is permanent. No notice of a blocking is sent out.

7.2. In case of repeated violations, and where the stability of the world is at risk, access may be closed to a single address or to a whole subnet.

8. In Closing

Technical notes

8.1.1. The game runs on third-party software which may contain bugs affecting the security and stability of the server. The Keepers do not guarantee flawless, uninterrupted operation, but do everything they can to prevent failures and fix them as quickly as possible.

8.1.2. A failure may lead to a rollback — restoring the world from an earlier backup. A rollback may lose items, character stats and other data. Whatever is lost in a rollback is not restored.

8.1.3. Data channels are provided by third parties. Failures in their work may disconnect residents from the game. Property lost through such failures is not restored.

Disclaimer of warranties

Every resident understands and agrees that:

8.2.1. They use the services and resources of the project at their own risk. The services are provided «as is». The Keepers bear no responsibility, including for the fitness of the services for the resident's purposes.

8.2.2. The Keepers have no obligations towards residents, including any obligation to keep the world or other services of the project running without interruption.

8.2.3. The Keepers do not endorse, do not control and are not answerable for any dealings between residents or with third parties involving real goods, money, securities or their virtual equivalents. Using the project's services for announcements about such dealings is forbidden.

8.2.4. The Keepers do not guarantee that: the services will meet the resident's requirements; that they will be provided without interruption, quickly, reliably and without errors; that the results obtained will be accurate; that the quality of any service or information will meet expectations; that the code is free of errors and that every existing error will be fixed.

8.2.5. The Keepers are not answerable for direct or indirect damage arising from the use of, or the inability to use, the project's services, from unauthorised access to a resident's messages or to the project's servers, or from the statements and behaviour of third parties in the game and other services.

Gold and supporting the project

8.3.1. The game is free. Real money buys only in-game gold; all other gold and crowns are earned in the game.

8.3.2. A request to buy gold is made at the Bank of any city and is processed by hand. A request is valid for 48 hours; once that time passes, an unpaid request is cancelled.

8.3.3. Gold is an in-game valuable within the world of Wyrdstone. It is not money, it is not exchanged back into money, and it is not refundable. By buying gold you accept these rules in full.

8.3.4. The funds received from the sale of gold go towards running and developing the project.

8.3.5. The set of things available for gold is decided by the Keepers and may be changed at their discretion. A change in that set or in prices gives no right to a refund of what was bought earlier.

8.3.6. Gold, crowns, items and other valuables confiscated as a penalty under section 3 are not returned and not compensated — including where they were bought with real money.