Table of Contents 1. Welcome to Haze! 4.6. The Role of the Dungeon Masters 1.1. The Haze Philosophy 4.6.1. Warning Tokens and Banning 1.2. Realism and Survival 4.6.2. Getting in touch with the DMs 1.3. A Living, Breathing World 4.7. In-game Channels 1.4. How to Join 4.7.1. Custom Text Marcos 1.5. Mature Content 5. Systems 2. Server Rules 5.1. Hardcore Ruleset (HCR) 5.1.1. Resting and Natural Healing 5.1.2. Hunger/Thirst/Fatigue (HTF) 3. Characters 5.1.3. Changes to Spellcasting 3.1. Rules for Character Creation 5.1.4. Spell Tweaks 3.2. Naming Your Character 5.2. Game Tools 3.3. Restricted Classes and Races 5.2.1. Medicine Bags 3.3.1. Paladin Restrictions 5.2.2. Search Tool and Thieves’ Tools 3.3.2. Barbarian Restrictions 5.2.3. Emote Skill 3.3.3. Druid Restrictions 5.2.4. Dicebag 3.4. Organization Membership 5.2.5. Examiner Tool 3.5. Alignment 5.2.6. Subdual Damage 3.5.1. Good versus Evil 5.3. Craftable Natural Resources (CNR) 3.5.2. Law versus Chaos 5.3.1. CNR Trade Skill Overview 3.5.3. Class and Race Alignment 5.4. Server Updates 3.6. Languages 5.4.1. Persistence 3.6.1. Setting up Languages 5.5. HAKPaks 3.6.2. Role-playing Languages 5.6. Reporting Bugs and Problems 3.7. Experience, Levelling, and TFLs 5.6.1. Possession Bug 3.8. Death and Dying 3.8.1. The Fugue Plane 6. Community 3.8.2. Inheritance 3.8.3. Suicide 6.1. Player Representatives 3.9. Feature Characters 6.2. The Players Guild Forums 3.9.1. Hamlet Leader Power and Equipment 6.3. Haze.net 3.9.2. The Free Will of Hamlet Leaders 6.4. IRC Chat 3.9.3. Death and Hamlet Leaders 6.5. TeamSpeak 3.9.4. Changing Hamlet Leadership 3.9.5. To Terminate Another Character 7. Setting 3.9.6. Player Damage System 7.1. Haze Layout 7.2. Haze in the Forgotten Realms 4. Gameplay 7.3. Adventuring in Haze 4.1. Logging On for the First Time 4.2. Role-playing 8. Appendices 4.3. In-Character versus Out-of-Character 8.1. The Major Deities of the Realms 4.3.1. IC-OOC Guidelines 8.1.1. Other Deities and Powers 4.4. Getting Around Haze 8.2. Custom Race Descriptions 4.5. Social Standing 1. Welcome to Haze! The Haze Persistent World is the official home of When it comes to theme, rules, and feel, we the HCR (Hardcore 3E D&D Ruleset) where role- take our lead from those experiences. play is strictly enforced and death is permanent. Our team of project leads, DMs, coders, builders and content creators has more than 30 years 1.2. Realism and combined experience running, and playing on, Multi-user Dungeons and Online Role-playing Survival Games. Within reason, we want our Our game is set on an world to be detailed, intricate island somewhere in the and realistic. Everything is Forgotten Realms. there for a purpose, from We’ve attempted to monster encounters to merchant create a living, prices. Players are encouraged breathing setting where to react to situations as if they role-playing means are really living in Haze. more than killing monsters. Initiative is Realism also means that it can not simply rewarded be a struggle to survive. with points and treasure: Everybody needs a reliable we give players an income and rare is the person opportunity to truly who can get by without allies change their world and and friends. Magic, for all it’s carve out their own little corner of Faerûn by steel, possibilities and potency, offers little solace in our spell, coin, or faith. The NWN engine has been low-magic corner of Faerûn. To the spellcasters of heavily tweaked: for the sake of realism; little Haze, good and evil alike, knowledge is power and works the same way as it does in the original game. secrets are jealously guarded. By the same token, magical items are rare, expensive and highly We’re grateful that you’re taking the time to study coveted - do not expect to find +5 Holy Avengers our Players Guide. The following text can be for sale at the nearest market. overwhelming, especially if you’re new to Neverwinter Nights or online role-playing - we The miracle of resurrection is just that: a miracle. Is suggest reading this first chapter in its entirety and it available? Yes. Is it available for your lowly using the rest of the text as a reference. character? Highly unlikely. When you die, it’s up to your friends and allies to rescue you from the maws of death. Are you worth a quest of such 1.1. The Haze Philosophy magnitude? Only time will tell. There is no “respawn” in Haze. Permadeath is the These are the principles that govern both the DMs palpable law of the land. It is an emotion that will and the Players of Haze: tear at your breast. It will make your heart stop as you seek to find your first set of armor and you hide Ever-Higher Standards: We always in the brush from a goblin. It will make your blood strive to improve on our accomplishments, boil as the village tax collector shakes you down for whether it’s building, role-playing, coding, money when you have little gold and want to steal storytelling, or growing our community. his purse, but are wary of being beheaded. Role-play Matters: When players take the initiative, the world responds and adapts. All things considered, the adventuring life is a Haze is not the DMs’ story - it's the harsh one. You may initially be discouraged by players’ story. daily setbacks or even the death of your character. System is Secondary to Story: Haze is But with imagination and perseverance, you may not about killing monsters and harvesting grow to be a pillar of Haze’s community. XP. We strictly enforce a focus on role- Remember: heroes aren’t born - they are forged in play over game mechanics. the fires of adversity. Inspired by Table-top D&D: We all love to play table-top Dungeons & Dragons. But there’s a trade-off: you’ll be in a community of very creative players, contributing to a great and 1.3. A Living, Breathing exciting story-line. There is as much room for intrigue and politics as there is for dungeon treks World and epic battles, and if you succeed, you’ll feel genuinely proud of your accomplishments. We use the words ‘living’ and ‘breathing’ to describe Haze. First and foremost, this is a If this sounds like something you want to be part of, persistent world where changes are permanent. If please do the following: you amass enough wealth to commission the construction of a new building, you can do it (utilizing the Stone/Resource/Lumber system Step 1: Apply for Membership to the Players described later). That building will stay in Haze Guild until it is changed by you or another player character. Join the Players Guild on the Bioware community site: If you build a reputation of generosity and public http://nwn.bioware.com/guilds_registry/viewguild.html?gid= service, you will be respected by the townsfolk and 5810 other player characters. A local cleric is more willing to heal a character who is a hero than one When you fill in your application, keep the who is a vagabond. So think twice about pursuing following in mind: the dark path - and if you do pursue it, do it well. • Motivate your request and tell us about No one in Haze has plot immunity. From the your role-play experience. lowliest Halfling to the Righteous Leader of one of • Remember that we are looking for serious the Hamlets, they are all mortal. Non-player role-players only. characters are few and far between but they too can • Wanting to join because “Haze is the most die, switch sides, move away, or respond to change active Guild” is not good enough. just as easily as player characters can. Step 2: Log into the Server Plotlines are not dictated from above - when powerful factions of players and non-player The password to the server is contained in the characters meddle in the storylines, no one can be General Discussion area of the Haze Registration sure of the outcome. One thing is for sure: Haze is Guild located on the Bioware site. Keep in mind never a dull place, often surprising the DMs as that it takes awhile for the Bioware server to much as the players. process your acceptance into the Guild, so you need to wait some time for the Haze Registration forum to show up for you. Important:. NEVER give the password to others, not even fellow Haze players! Kindly refer those who ask for the password to the Haze Registration forum. Players who can’t access the forum have no business being on our server. If you fail to comply with this rule, you will inconvenience everyone in the community with a changed password, and probably find yourself permanently banned from the server, the forums, 1.4. How To Join and IRC. First, ask yourself if Haze is really a server worth Step 3: Create Your Character your time and effort. Remember that there is a great emphasis on events driven by players and DMs.