Minecraft roleplay server: rules, characters and how to run one

What a Minecraft roleplay server is

A roleplay server, often shortened to RP, asks players to act as a character who lives in the world. They talk as that character, make choices that character would make and deal with what happens to them. The Minecraft side, building and mining, becomes the backdrop to the stories players tell together.

Choose a roleplay setting

The setting decides what characters can be, what they do all day and what they argue about. Choose one, describe it in a few sentences and say clearly what does not fit, such as guns in a medieval kingdom. A mixed setting where anything goes sounds free but makes it hard for two players to share a scene.

1. 01
   A medieval kingdom

   Knights, farmers, merchants and nobles under a king with enemies. Minecraft's blocks and villages fit this setting better than any other.

2. 02
   A fantasy realm

   Elves, dwarves and wizards in a world with magic. Decide early how magic works, or every character will be the most powerful mage alive.

3. 03
   A small town

   Everyday life: a bakery, a school, a town council and a few neighbours who do not get along. Low stakes and easy for new players.

4. 04
   A frontier settlement

   Settlers building a town far from anywhere, with little food, rough weather and strangers on the road.

5. 05
   After the collapse

   Survivors in a ruined world, trading, scavenging and deciding who to trust. It works well with an abandoned map full of empty buildings.

6. 06
   Pirate islands

   Ships, ports, treasure maps and a navy that wants every pirate hanged. Boats and islands make the map itself part of the story.

7. 07
   A school or academy

   Students, teachers and houses competing for points, with lessons as scenes. Popular with younger players, so set clear content rules.

8. 08
   A space colony

   A colony on a strange planet with a council, workers and something in the caves. Builds can use the most unusual blocks in the game.

Roleplay terms and rules to write down

Roleplay communities use a handful of terms that new players will not know. Explain each one on your rules page and in your FAQ, because most arguments on a roleplay server start with a player who did not know one of them.

1. Stay in character on the map, and use the out of character channel for everything else.
2. No metagaming and no powergaming.
3. Give other players a chance to respond before your character acts on them.
4. A villain character is allowed; harassing the player behind a character is not.
5. Character death only happens with the agreement of the player, or when staff decide after a major event.
6. Take out of character arguments to a private message or a ticket, never into the scene.

Keep your general server rules as well, such as no cheating and no griefing. The example rules in the rules guide cover those, so your roleplay rules only have to cover the story.

Characters and character applications

Most medium and serious roleplay servers ask players to describe their character before they join. A short character sheet shows that the player read the setting and gives staff a chance to fix a character that would not fit, such as a vampire prince in a town of farmers.

Let players show their character name in game with /nick from EssentialsX, and let staff look up the username behind a character name with /realname. If you already take whitelist applications, add the character sheet to that form; the whitelist application guide has a template to build on.

In character and out of character chat

Nothing breaks a scene faster than someone asking about lag in the middle of a tense conversation. Split chat into channels, so in character talk stays in the world and everything else has its own place.

• Make local chat the default, so only players nearby read what a character says, just as in real life.
• Add a global out of character channel for questions and chatter.
• Use /me for actions, such as /me pours a drink and slides it across the bar.
• Teach the habit of putting quick out of character remarks in double brackets, like ((brb)), when a separate channel would be too slow.
• Keep a separate out of character channel on Discord, and a channel for character sheets and stories.

ChatControl handles chat channels and controls which players may use each one. The Discord setup guide shows how to lay out channels for a community like this.

Jobs, places and a roleplay economy

Characters need something to do between big stories. Jobs, shops and towns create small moments all day long: a guard stops a stranger at the gate, a merchant haggles over a price, the town council argues about taxes.

• Give characters jobs such as blacksmith, guard, farmer, innkeeper or doctor. Jobs Reborn can pay players for the work that goes with a job.
• Let players run shops with ChestShop or QuickShop, so trade happens between characters.
• Build places where characters meet by chance: a tavern, a market square, a harbour, a town hall.
• Add characters that are not players, such as a mayor or a quest giver, with Citizens.
• Let players found towns with their own plots, taxes and mayors using Towny when the setting has several settlements.

Keep the economy small and slow. On a roleplay server money is a reason to talk to each other, and the economy guide explains how to stop it from piling up.

Events, storylines and game masters

Players create most of the small stories themselves. The big ones, such as a war, a plague or a royal wedding, need someone to plan them. Many roleplay servers give that job to game masters: members of staff who run storylines, play important characters that are not players and decide what the consequences are.

1. 01
   The stranger

   A game master plays a mysterious traveller who arrives at the tavern with a map and a warning.

2. 02
   The trial

   A character is accused of a crime, and players act as judge, witnesses and lawyers.

3. 03
   The festival

   A harvest or midsummer festival with contests, food stalls and a chance for rivals to meet.

4. 04
   The raid

   Bandits attack a village at night, and the guards and villagers decide how to respond.

5. 05
   The election

   Characters campaign for mayor, make promises and deal with the result for weeks afterwards.

Write the result of each event into the story, so players see their choices matter. The lore guide shows how to plan a storyline over several weeks, the event ideas guide covers the planning itself, and the staff roles guide explains how to fit a game master into your team.

Keep roleplay fair and friendly

Roleplay mixes stories with real people, and sometimes a conflict between characters turns into a conflict between players. Clear boundaries and a simple way to step out of a scene keep that from happening.

• Set content limits that fit your age range, and say which topics are never allowed in a scene.
• Give every player a way to pause a scene without explaining why, such as typing ((stop)).
• Judge reports on the rules that were broken, not on whether a character was likeable.
• Punish the player for breaking rules, never for playing a convincing villain.
• Give players a fair way to appeal a punishment, as the ban appeal guide explains.

How to explain your roleplay terms on your website

Each template in the website builder has a FAQ on its shop page, called Support on the SMP template and Store on Network. Turn it into a short glossary of roleplay terms, so new players know what metagaming means before they ever join a scene.

1. 01

   Open the page with the FAQ

   Go to Website in the server panel of Astroworld Hosting or minecrafthosting.cc, open the editor and pick the page with the FAQ section.

2. 02

   Add one question per term

   Use Add question for each term, such as What is metagaming? and What does OOC mean?, and answer with one sentence and an example. The FAQ takes up to 20 questions.

3. 03

   Put the key rule first

   Add the term players break most often, usually metagaming, as the first question and switch on Open the first question, so its answer is already open when the page loads.

4. 04

   Pick a layout that fits a long list

   Set Layout to Stacked when you have many terms, or keep Side by side for a short list next to the heading.

5. 05

   Send players to the character form

   In the Help card, invite players to create a character with the Heading and Line, set the Button text and put your character form in Link. Leave Link empty to use your Discord link instead.

6. 06

   Publish the glossary

   Press Publish. Our team checks every change before it goes live, so publish a day before you open character applications.