The New Batch Of Rules

(Some of my friends and I do online role-play, taking on identities of characters and interacting with one another to come up with stories and plotlines that we would like to see but haven’t in a show/movie’s canon, and I’ve just been named as one of the moderators of a group. I’m tasked with writing up the rules for the role-play. The biggest problem in our group is outside people coming in and god-modding, controlling the other character’s actions and reactions – one of the biggest no-no’s in role-play.)

Me: “Look, I’m not saying I don’t appreciate the job. I just am really bad at writing out rules.”

Friend #1: “Just put stuff like no god-modding, respect each other. That crap.”

Me: “I can tell you now, the only rules I know front to back are the rules for taking care of a mogwai.”

Friend #2: “What’s a mogwai?”

Friend #3: “You know the cute little furry thing in Gremlins? That’s a mogwai. If you feed it after midnight, it turns into one of the funky mean green things.”

(After another half hour of chatting and explaining about the Gremlins movies and the rules to Friend #2, I have to go to bed. The next morning I check the rules area of our role-play forum to see what I have to work with.)

Rules: “Don’t get [My Name] wet. Don’t expose [My Name] to bright lights. Don’t feed [My Name] after midnight. If you break any of these rules, [My Name]’s rage will be justified and we will not protect you.”

(When the group peacefully dissolved a year later, they were still in the official rules.)