Rules
Project Sky's rules in depth, with examples. In the game you read the same rules before your first character, and a short test asks about them.
In force since October 5, 2026
Contents
Before you start
Project Sky is a text roleplay server: we are not here to win, we are here to write a story together. The rules exist to keep that story enjoyable for everyone – including the player whose character is having a bad day.
Keep to the spirit of the rules, not just their letter. When something is not covered, ask yourself: would a real person do this in this situation, and does it make the scene better for the others too? When in doubt, the staff decide.
If something is unclear, ask a staff member with /pm or ask the community: nobody is born a roleplayer.
Before your first character the game walks you through these rules and asks about them in a short test. If you do not pass, it shows what went wrong, and you can try again. When the rules change, the test comes again.
How you talk in the game
Everything your character says and does goes through the chat. The text reaches the people near you, above the speaker's head and in the chat box.
- (just type)Whatever you type without a slash, your character says out loud. It carries 12 tiles.Good evening. Where is the hospital?Ben Cole says: Good evening. Where is the hospital?
- /yShouting: carries 30 tiles./y Stop! Police!Thomas Shaw shouts: Stop! Police!
- /wWhispering: only those right next to you hear it (3 tiles)./w Don't look, they are watching.Ben Cole whispers: Don't look, they are watching.
- /meWhat your character does./me slowly opens the door.Ben Cole slowly opens the door.
- /doWhat happens around you or what others can see; it can ask a question too./do The engine is smoking.The engine is smoking. (( Ben Cole ))
- /tryAn action against someone that may or may not work: the server rolls, and tells everyone the same./try grab the bag from his handThomas Shaw tries to grab the bag from his hand — and succeeds.
- /oocOut of character talk to the people near you, into the OOC box./ooc sorry, I froze for a minute(( Ben Cole: sorry, I froze for a minute ))
- /pmA private message to a staff member on duty (the T button shows their id)./pm 3 someone is stuck in a wall by the bankPM to [Game Master I] Peter Nagy: someone is stuck in a wall by the bank
- /rTalking into a walkie-talkie: everyone tuned to the same frequency hears it./r Dispatch, I am heading to the bank.[Radio 145.5 MHz] Thomas Shaw: Dispatch, I am heading to the bank.
RP – Roleplay
Play your character as if they were a real person: they act the way that person would act, not the way that would be best for winning the game.
Your character has a name, a past, a job, friends, fears and goals. Before you do anything, ask yourself: what would they do now? A seasoned criminal takes a traffic stop differently than a nervous student, and a nurse spends their pay differently than a gangster.
Roleplay is not a race. A good scene is not the one your character wins, but the one everybody likes to remember. If your character gets robbed, arrested or beaten up, that is part of their story too – often the best scenes come from exactly that.
Give the others room: describe what you do (/me) and what they see (/do), wait for their reactions, and do not try to decide everything alone. In good roleplay everybody plays, not just you.
This is fine
- A police officer stops you for speeding. Your character is nervous, looks for their papers and tries to talk their way out of the fine.
- Your character is hungry and broke, so they ask a friend for a loan or look for a job at the town hall.
- /me wipes the sweat off his forehead and looks around nervously.
- Your character is afraid of heights, so they do not climb onto the roof, even though the game would let them.
- In an argument you let the other side finish, and your character reacts to what they heard.
This is not allowed
- Running around the city and climbing over every fence for no reason, as if it was a race.
- Treating everyone you meet like an enemy in a shooter game.
- Rushing a scene to an end so you can go back to making money.
- Playing a character with no past and no goals who only collects money and guns.
Good to know
- Your character can have flaws: cowardly, greedy, gullible or hot-headed. A character full of flaws is far more interesting than a perfect one.
- If a scene goes badly for your character, do not log off and do not argue OOC: play it out, then talk to a staff member if you need to.
- Being broke, trouble at work or a lost licence are not obstacles but roleplay.
NonRP – Non-roleplay
NonRP is anything a real person could not or would not do, and playing without caring about the story or the rules.
Project Zomboid lets you do many things that make no sense in real life: get up after a long fall, climb any fence, drive into a wall and carry on. Here we do not do them. Everything your character does should be believable for a real person in a real situation.
Your character values their life, their health and their belongings. With a gun pointed at them, they are scared. In an accident, they get hurt, and they play it. Chased by the police, they do not drive into a wall just because the car can be repaired anyway.
Using bugs in the game or the way the server works to get ahead is NonRP too, and so is escaping a scene by logging off. The rule is simple: what would not work in reality does not work here either.
This is fine
- After a car crash your character is shaken and hurt, and calls 112 or waits for help.
- A robber points a gun at your character, so they are scared and do what they are told.
- Your car runs out of fuel, so you walk to a gas station or call someone to help.
- /me grabs his leg with a pained face and slowly limps down the stairs.
- You find a bug in the game and tell a staff member instead of using it.
This is not allowed
- Driving at full speed through the city, into walls and people, just for fun.
- Laughing at a robber's gun and walking away, as if nothing could happen to you.
- Using a bug in the game to get money, items or an advantage.
- Logging off in the middle of a scene to escape a robbery or an arrest.
- Jumping up after a bad crash and running on as if nothing happened.
Good to know
- Logging off solves nothing: the handcuffs, the cell and being knocked out are all still there at your next login.
- If you really have to leave during a scene (a power cut, family calling), say so briefly in
/oocand tell a staff member if you can. - What is believable depends on the character too: a trained soldier reacts to a gun differently than a student, but neither of them feels bulletproof.
IC – In Character
In Character is everything inside the story: what your character says, sees, knows and does.
What you type without a slash, your character says out loud to the people around them; /me, /do and /try are part of the story too. What you say or do IC, the other characters hear and see, and they can react to it – even if you regret it later.
Your character is not you. They have their own name and their own life, and they only know what they saw, heard or were told in the game. They know nothing about Discord, streams or the server, nor that they live in a game.
What your character says is their line: do not mix reality into it. If you type “brb, dinner is ready” in the normal chat, the others take it as your character leaving to have dinner.
This is fine
- “Excuse me, do you know where the hospital is?” (typed in the normal chat)
- /me takes out a cigarette and lights it.
- /do The car's engine is smoking.
- /do Does he look hurt? (the other player answers with a /do too)
- In an argument your character is angry, and shows it with their words and with
/me.
This is not allowed
- Typing “brb, dinner” or “lol my game lags” in the normal chat: that is not something your character says.
- Talking about the game, the server or your account in the normal chat.
- Calling a stranger by the name above their head when you never introduced yourselves.
- Paying back an OOC insult IC.
Good to know
/dois not only for describing: it can ask about the surroundings, and the other side answers with a/dotoo.- What you said or did IC cannot be taken back by saying it was “just a joke”.
- Your character can be very different from you: another age, another gender, other views. That is what makes it interesting.
OOC – Out of Character
Out of Character is everything outside the story: you, the player, talking about real life or about the game itself.
OOC talk goes into /ooc, never into the normal chat. What you write with /ooc, the players near you see in the upper OOC box, between double brackets – so everyone knows it is not your character speaking.
Keep OOC short and use it only when you need to: to clear up a misunderstanding, for a technical problem, or to say you have to step away for a minute. Do not argue about a scene OOC and do not settle it there: that is played out IC.
If you need help from the staff, send a /pm to a staff member on duty. The T button on the left lists them with their id.
This is fine
- /ooc sorry, my game froze, can you say that again?
- /pm 3 hi, someone is stuck in a wall near the bank.
- /ooc one minute, the courier is at the door, brb.
- Talking a misunderstanding over calmly with the other player in private after the scene.
This is not allowed
- Writing “my internet is slow” in the normal chat.
- Arguing in
/oocabout what happened in a scene instead of playing it out IC. - Insulting or threatening another player OOC.
- Telling someone in
/oocwhat their character cannot know (where the police are, say).
Good to know
- OOC takes respect too: your characters can be enemies, you, the players, are not.
- What you learn OOC stays OOC: your character cannot use it (see MG).
/ooconly reaches the people near you, like normal speech: players have no chat that reaches everyone.
MG – Metagaming
Metagaming is using something you know as a player (OOC) inside the story (IC).
Your character only knows what they learned in the game. Anything you learned on Discord, on a stream, in a voice call, in /ooc or while playing another character does not exist for your character – even if you know it for certain.
Metagaming is one of the easiest rules to break and one of the most damaging, because nobody sees it: a raid, a robbery or a secret meeting is ruined when someone knows what they could not know. If you are not sure where you know something from, do not use it.
If your character needs something from someone, they have to reach them in the game: meet them, call them or text them.
This is fine
- Your character is stranded after a crash, so they call a friend from their phone and ask for a ride.
- You read in
/oocwhere someone hid their money, and your character never goes looking for it. - A friend tells you on Discord that your place is about to be raided, but your character does not know, so you play as if you never heard it.
- Your character only calls a stranger by name after they introduced themselves or after seeing their ID card.
This is not allowed
- You message a friend on Discord to come and pick you up, and their character drives to you in the game.
- You watch a friend's stream, see where the police are waiting, and your character takes another street.
- Your other character saw a crime, so this character goes to the police about it.
- “Recognizing” someone by the name above their head when your character has never met them.
- You learn OOC who the masked robber was, and your character goes after them because of it.
Good to know
- The name above a head is OOC information: it shows you, the player, who you are playing with. Your character only knows someone's name if they introduced themselves, if they saw their ID card, or if somebody told them. The police have a rule of their own (the next one).
- If you have more than one character, each is a different person: what happened to one, the other knows nothing about.
- Streams and Discord are not forbidden – only your character using what you saw or heard there.
Police identification – the name above the head
PoliceThe name above a head stands for what the city's cameras would reveal after a real crime. So the police may use it – but only when a crime has actually happened.
SkyCity is a city of today: there are cameras on the streets, in shops, banks and gas stations, and nearly everyone carries a phone. In real life, whoever commits a crime is easily identified from the footage. In the game, the name above a head stands for that: the police may use it to identify a suspect, for example to issue a warrant in the police database.
But nobody requests camera footage for just anyone. Footage is only pulled after an actual crime, and that takes time. So an officer may only use the name when a crime happened: they saw it, it was reported, or it left evidence. Without a crime, the name above a head is OOC information for the police too, and using it is metagaming.
Since identification takes time, play it out: at the scene, describe the suspect by their looks, and use the name after “going through the footage” – at the station or at a patrol car's terminal, for the warrant or your report.
This is fine
- An officer sees someone rob a shop and run away. Back at the station, they issue a warrant on the name they saw above the robber's head.
- /do The street cameras' footage identified the suspect.
- After a 112 call, the officer checks at the scene who attacked the caller and puts the name in their report.
- A masked robber shows no name, so the police work from the plate, the witnesses and the evidence.
This is not allowed
- An officer stops a passer-by they have never seen and calls them by name, though no crime has happened.
- Looking someone's name up in the database out of curiosity, just because you saw it above their head.
- Issuing a warrant on someone who “looked suspicious” but did nothing.
- Telling an officer OOC who the masked robber was, so they can issue a warrant.
Good to know
- A crime is something a character did that the police know about: they saw it, it was reported, or it left evidence. A suspicion or a bad feeling is not.
- This rule is for the police only. For everyone else the name above a head is OOC information (see MG).
- “Masked #…” means no camera would identify that person. Once they are caught and the mask comes off, their name shows too.
- Plates are different: anyone can read a plate in real life, so the police may also look a vehicle up by its plate in the database.
- Officers' badge numbers (Badge #…) are visible to everyone, as in real life.
Force RP – Forcing roleplay
Force RP is deciding what happens to somebody else without giving them a chance to react.
/me is for what your character does, not for what happens to another player's character. If you write “punches him in the face and knocks him out”, you decided for the other player that their character did not dodge, did not defend themselves and passed out too.
When it is not certain that an action works on someone – punching them, grabbing something from their hand, tying them up, running away from them – use /try. The server rolls once and tells both of you the same: it worked or it did not. Accept the result and play it out, even when it is not what you wanted.
On the other side: when someone starts something against you with /me, react to it honestly. The opposite of forcing roleplay is not refusing everything, it is both of you getting a chance.
This is fine
- /try punch the man in the face (the server tells you both whether it worked, and you play the result)
- /me reaches for the bag in his hand. (then you wait for his reaction)
- /try jump out of the car and run for the alley
- The
/tryfailed, so your character trips, and the officer catches up.
This is not allowed
- /me punches him in the face and knocks him out. (you decided what happened to him)
- /me takes the gun from his hand and ties him up. (he had no chance to react)
- Typing
/tryagain and again until it works. - Carrying on after a failed
/tryas if it had worked.
Good to know
- Whatever the game has a tool for (handcuffs, holding, pat-downs, fines, reviving), do it with the game's tool: the server checks those.
- A
/tryis a roll, not a negotiation: no rerolls, and no arguing about it afterwards. - If someone does not react to your
/mefor a long time, ask briefly in/oocbefore you move on.
RK – Revenge kill
When your character dies, they do not remember the events that led to their death: taking revenge is not allowed.
On Project Sky nobody dies for good. When your health runs out, you are unconscious for 15 minutes. If a medic revives you in that time, your character survived and remembers what happened. If nobody does, you wake up in the hospital: that counts as dying.
After a death your character does not remember the events that led to it: not who shot them, nor why or where. Going back to kill the one who killed you is a revenge kill, and it is not allowed. The same goes for asking your friends to take revenge for you, or telling them OOC who killed you.
Let it go and move on with your character's life. A lost fight is not the end of the story.
This is fine
- You wake up in the hospital after a shootout. Your character does not remember who shot them and goes on with their day.
- A medic revived your character on the spot, and they report the attack to the police.
- Your gang keeps clashing with the other gang over a long conflict built up through roleplay – not because of your death.
This is not allowed
- You wake up in the hospital, take a gun and drive back to kill the one who shot you.
- You ask your friends to go and shoot your killer for you.
- You tell your faction on Discord who killed you, so they can deal with it.
- After the hospital you go back to the scene, “just to see what happened”.
Good to know
- A death only wipes the scene that led to it from your character's memory: what they knew before, they still know.
- After a revive there is no revenge kill: your character remembers, can go to the police, and the conflict can go on.
- A death also ends your police warrants.
LB – Loot back
After a death, going back to your body for your own things is not allowed, and neither is asking someone else to get them back.
When your character dies, their body stays where they fell, with everything they carried: their clothes, their gun, their phone. Anyone passing by can take it. Your character wakes up in the hospital, healed, with a few clothes, and their cash is gone.
Going back to your body after the hospital to take your own things is loot back, and it is not allowed. So is asking a friend to collect them for you, or telling them where you lie.
What is lost is lost. That is why your money is best kept in the bank: your bank account stays after the hospital.
This is fine
- You wake up in the hospital with nothing. Your character buys new clothes and starts saving again.
- Your character keeps most of their money in the bank, so a death does not take everything.
- You buy a new phone and start over with a new number.
This is not allowed
- You leave the hospital and run back to your body to take your gun and your money.
- You tell a friend where your body is, so they can bring your things back to you.
- A faction mate “happens” to pass by and gives everything back to you.
Good to know
- There is no loot back after a revive: your character gets up, and what was still on their body comes back to them.
- Anyone else may take what is left on the body, your friends too – they just cannot give it back to you.
- A lost ID card or driver's licence can be had again at the town hall, for a fee.
DM – Deathmatch
Deathmatch is attacking or killing another character without a good reason in the story.
Violence needs a reason your character would really have, in a situation that got there through roleplay: an argument that got out of hand, a robbery, a conflict between two gangs with a history. There is always roleplay before violence.
Hitting or shooting someone for fun, for their things or just because they are there is deathmatch. The same goes for attacking with a car: running someone over is violence too.
A robbery is roleplay as well: speak first, threaten, give the other a chance to do as told or to run. Whoever shoots at once is not robbing, they are deathmatching.
This is fine
- Two gangs have been in conflict for days. When they meet, the argument turns into a fight.
- A robber points a gun at you and you try to run away; the robber reacts.
- Someone attacks you, and your character defends themselves.
- /y Stop! Hands up, bag on the ground!
This is not allowed
- Punching or shooting a stranger on the street for no reason.
- Killing someone to take their car or their things, without any roleplay before it.
- Running people over with a car for fun.
- Shooting at once during a robbery, before the victim can do anything.
Good to know
- An insult or a wrong look is no reason to shoot somebody.
- Armed violence has heavy consequences in real life too: injuries, the hospital, the police, a cell. Your character knows that.
- Deathmatch is not answered with deathmatch: if someone attacks you for no reason, defend yourself, then report it to a staff member.
General rules
These rules are about you, the player, not your character: they apply OOC too.
Cheating
Cheat programs, modified clients, macros and gaming the server are all forbidden. The server checks everything that matters itself and logs suspicious attempts.
Bugs
If you find a bug, do not use it and do not pass it on: tell a staff member. An abused bug spoils the game for everyone.
Respect
Talk to everyone respectfully OOC. Insults, harassment, hate and remarks about other people's real lives are forbidden.
The staff
Follow the staff's instructions. If you disagree with a decision, talk it over calmly afterwards, not in the middle of a scene.
Your account
Your account and password are yours: do not give them to anyone. You answer for whatever is done on your account.
Age
You have to be at least 16 to play on the server.
Consequences
The staff judge every breach: how serious it was, whether it was on purpose, and whether it happened before.
Warning
For smaller, first-time mistakes: a word from the staff, out loud or in a private message.
Admin jail
Your character spends the given time in a closed-off area; the time only counts while you are online.
Kick
You are removed from the server at once. You can join again, but it stays on record.
Ban
A temporary or permanent ban for serious or repeated breaches. When you log in, you see the reason and how long it lasts.
If you see a breach
Do not argue in the middle of the scene, and do not pay it back: that only breaks the rules on your side too.
- 1Play the scene out if you can.
- 2Check with the T button who is on duty.
- 3Send them a
/pm: when and where it happened, who was in it (with their ids) and what happened. - 4The staff member looks into it and acts if needed; accept their decision.