Here follows the text from the signs as found in the mod, both in the Welcome Center and in the Sign Room.

Welcome to The World of Harry Potter!

We hope you enjoy your time here.

Please read the signs and play by our community guidelines. If you have any questions which cannot be satisfactorily answered in-character, please feel free to ask a game master or a fellow player.

If you believe you have discovered any bugs or other problematic issues in the mod, please share them with us on the forums at hpnwn.net, or contact the build team directly.

Server Rules

Welcome to The World of Harry Potter.

Please read and abide by the following rules. By entering the mod, you agree to play by them.

• No player killing. We have an entire policy for the way we handle D&D/NWN death in WoHP. Please see the separate sign dedicated to this topic. Player killers and hardcore player-versus-player enthusiasts are not going to find a warm reception on WoHP.

• No grief playing. Out-of-character disagreements will not be allowed to play out in WoHP. Spamming spells or in any way carrying conflicts beyond the boundaries of reasonable role play will not be smiled upon.

• Mind your language as well as your behavior. Be considerate of younger players.

• No cheating. If you have solid role play and character background, you may be given special considerations and assistance by game masters. There is no need to pursue exploits within the mod for the purpose of furthering your character in traditional D&D/NWN ways. Please do not take advantage of merchant discrepancies to acquire wealth. Please do not mule items between player characters, push your way through placeables, walls, or doors via NWN bugs, or relog just to recover spells or cheat death.

• Role Play is King. Ultimately, all game master decisions will be based on the strength of supporting role play and character background. Biographies and journals posted to the forums at HPNWN.net will be taken into consideration.

• Be considerate when interacting with others. This is a Role Playing Server. All communication in the main channel is considered to be in-character unless preceded by hash marks (//). Tells, the party channel, and the DM channel are considered out-of-character unless otherwise indicated. Always speak in character when possible. Always ask yourself if it might be possible to interact with others in-character before you communicate with them out-of-character. If you need to have an out-of-character discussion with someone use tells, or, better still, go to the Sign Room off the Entrance Hall or some other officially out-of-character area.

Player Characters and the Naming Policy

Please remember that all player characters in the World of Harry Potter are initially eleven-year-old humans attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Most are originally from England, or various places within the United Kingdom. Others come to Hogwarts from overseas--from Europe, the US, South or Central America, or Asia. It's safe to say none will be arriving from Middle Earth or a galaxy far far away. Please create your player characters with corresponding appearances and names.

Players may not have horns, tails, hooves, strangely-colored skin, or other inhuman attributes. All humanoid races are allowed for players' use, however they are all presumed to be human. The different races in HP merely represent a diversity of body type and appearance abundantly evident in any school on Earth--magical or not.

Player character names should adhere to the following rules:

• No established characters from the Harry Potter books as PCs.
• No titles or phrases in character names (Sir Anders, Lil Brother, My Homie, The Whatever, etc.).
• No popular or established names from other settings (Darth Vader, Merlin, Gandalf, etc.).
• No crude or offensive names will be accepted.
• Please do not use all small letters. Use initial capitals and a space between first and last names (e.e.cummings, ian jones, etc.).
• Please always give your character a first and last name, as Professors will commonly address students by their last name.

Players with inappropriate names will be asked to log out and create a new character. The character with the bad name may be deleted. If you wish to have a character deleted from the server vault, ask a GM or send a personal message on the forums.

Player characters, being students chosen to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, will belong to one of the primary magic-using classes: wizard, sorcerer, cleric, druid, or bard. Multi-class characters will only be permitted by game master consent in advance and for specific role play reasons. This is not to say that multiple classes or the rarer magic-using classes will not be allowed. Diversity and individualization are highly encouraged. Character balance and solid character backgrounds are also important. Generally, multi-classing will not be allowed until characters progress through the early years and begin to take advanced studies, such as after they have taken the Ordinary Wizarding Level exams.

Finally, understand that there are always exceptions--particularly for established players. Some players are even earning the right to create their own Non-Player Characters for use within the World of Harry Potter. We ask that you begin with us on a reasonable scale, and don't be too surprised when you encounter the unexpected.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can we gain levels? And how do we progress through the years as a student at Hogwarts?

A: Yes, you can gain character levels normally by gaining experience. Experience is earned by the traditional D&D/NWN means of killing monsters and doing quests, but is also going to be earned by completing homework assignments. You will have specific assigments to complete for each Year of school. Experience is also awarded by game masters for role playing efforts and event participation. However, your maximum level will be limited by your current Year in Hogwarts.

Here is the breakdown of the relationship between Hogwarts Year and Character Levels:

Hogwarts Year - - - - - - - - Character Level

1 ---------------------------- 1st & 2nd
2 ---------------------------- 3rd & 4th
3 ---------------------------- 5th & 6th
4 ---------------------------- 7th & 8th
5 ---------------------------- 9th & 10th
6 --------------------------- 11th & 12th
7 --------------------------- 13th & 14th
Beyond --------------------- 15th & up

Q: What happens after we finish Seventh Year at Hogwarts? Can I get a job? Or a life?

A: Yes, there are many opportunities and adventures to be had after you graduate from your Seventh Year at Hogwarts. You might wish to take a position in any one of the numerous departments within the Ministry of Magic. You might want to become a professional Quidditch player. You might even be able to study dragons in Romania, or become an Auror, or even a Dark Wizard. Perhaps you'll even decide to pursue a teaching position at Hogwarts. The possibilities are unlimited.

General RolePlay Guidelines for The World of Harry Potter

Thank you for joining us. We strive to make this server unique, and as "Harry Potterish" as possible. With that in mind, the following are a few pieces of advice for our players:

• Please remember that while you, the player, may have read the Harry Potter books, your character has not. Most information about the events taking place within the pages of the books is only speculation and rumor to your character.

• Please use proper titles when talking to a Professor. Professors will typically address students as Mister or Miss. This is the reason player characters are required to have a first and last name.

• Avoid overreacting. Do not solve minor grievances with disabling spells such as petrification. If it's just a small in-character argument between player characters, roleplay it out. If it seems a fight is in order, challenge the other student to visit the Dueling Chamber with you. Use disabling spells before violent, offensive, or damaging ones if things do escalate out of control.

• Animals cannot talk. Possessing familiars is conventionally acceptable, but please remember that they are not capable of speech or other human behaviors. The same goes for animagi. When in animagus form, one is not capable of human speech.

• People rarely, if ever, say the name of Voldemort aloud. There are very few in the wizarding world that do not believe doing so is truly dangerous. Most refer to him as "He Who Must Not Be Named" or "The Dark Lord" or "Mike." Even those that follow him would not dare to speak his name.

Policy on Player versus Player

Excerpted from Hogwarts, A History:
For many years, a favorite past time of Hogwarts students has been the hexing, vexing, cursing, and general annoyance of other Hogwarts students. Over the ages, one might say this practice has become an informal institution of sorts--tolerated and even expected by the faculty and staff as well as other students....

On The World of Harry Potter mod, we also expect and tolerate a certain degree of in-character harassment and inter-house rivalry--but only in the interest of role playing.

Good role playing implies an emphasis on prank-type spells, primarily of the WoHP Wand Spell variety, rather than potentially dangerous D&D/NWN spells. It is also implied that the rivalries will remain purely in-character. General server rules should be followed at all times. If you believe any character rivalry has crossed the line of good role play, inform the other party or parties and cease play immediately, leave the area, and contact a GM when one is available to discuss the situation and act as a referee.

Killing other player characters is never acceptable. Even if you have the full permission of the other player to permanently remove their character from play, know that there will be serious in-character consequences for your actions.

This is not a player-vs-player server.

If your character, in the course of role playing, begins to offend, harass, or hurt other player characters routinely, you risk categorization as a player killer or grief player. If this behavior is not addressed and rectified, you risk being banned from the mod.

If you have any uncertainties about role playing limits, please ask a game master before attempting any questionable actions. Game master decisions will always be driven by the desire for good, safe role play within a cohesive community of enthusiastic players.

World of Harry Potter On-Death System

Death is rare in the World of Harry Potter--particularly at Hogwarts.

Commonly, when a character is "killed" in the D&D/NWN sense, we say that they have been badly injured. When they respawn in the Hospital Wing or other similarly appropriate places we say they have been tended and healed, as happens on numerous occasions to Harry Potter and his friends.

The on-death system now does the following: all players will "die" at -10 hit points. From 0 to -9 there is a chance to either heal up to 1 hit point, or to continue taking damage until falling to -10 hit points. At any time during that process a PC can respawn--simply by clicking on the character to bring up the respawn dialog. Once a PC reaches -10 hit points or less, ordinary healing kits or healing spells will not work. At that point PCs can only be "raised" or "resurrected" (or respawn), although of course we don't roleplay it as such.

Please refrain from logging out and back in to circumvent the on-death system. Any player caught logging out and attempting to cheat death may be penalized by a game master.

The World of Harry Potter Credits

We would like to thank all of the people who have contributed their own special talents and creative efforts to The World of Harry Potter.

The World of Harry Potter is a purely fan-created module for Neverwinter Nights based on the story books about Harry Potter written by J.K. Rowling. We are not connected to or affiliated with J.K. Rowling or her publishers. We wish to express our sincere thanks to J.K. Rowling for her imagination and vision in creating the rich world of Harry Potter. Harry Potter and any other references to the Harry Potter material are all property of J.K. Rowling and her publishers--used with permission.

We would also like to thank the people at HP-Lexicon for their immense work, which has provided for us a huge source of information and inspiration.

We would like to thank all of our community members, past and present, who have contributed so much of themselves to our ever-improving, persistent world, including: Dumbledore (Kerry), Hagrid (Xeno), SHO-VA, Kaz, Loner (for Riddle World), Sinistra (for Astronomy and Io), Dark Angel 2004 (Mathies, for Wizard Chess), DarthRoboto (Craig), Zack_Fireblade (From), kt_08 (Katie), adam_lister, Drado, Calan (Chris), and any others who have made contributions to the mod.

And finally we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of you--the fans of The World of Harry Potter and the fantastic roleplayers of this server. You make this world live and breath. Thank you everyone who has invested so much time and energy to make this mod worth inhabiting.

Yours, Nik and JB