I think a thread specifically for sharing house rules would be a brilliant idea so people can get some helpful inspiration, newer people can get an idea of what they need to set up, and everyone gets some benefit!

Include the spirits you have at the time of writing the post so people know what kind of spirits/entities you're writing your rules for.

I keep all my spirit stuff ALL in the same file on my computer. It's just way too much to write on paper or anything.

WHITE ARTS
Spirits
'Deuce', kobold
Volkh
J, sterling angel
'Trip', alan
Entities
N/A

DARK ARTS
Spirits
my mom, human (obviously)
'Uno' & H, werewolves
F, hellhound
A, faun
K, gold djinn
Wraith
my brother S, psy vampire
Entities
'Shu', xinshu dragon

RULES
"HOUSE RULES FOR SPIRITS (not in order of importance, really)

1. UNLESS I am physically hurt by someone, or raped, or otherwise physically 'marred' by another, absolutely NO physical retaliation is allowed, and no matter WHAT, absolutely NO killing. The punishment MUST fit the crime. Never do anything that could cause me bad karma. (Of course, if I am killed and you want revenge, it wouldn't be on me at that point, do as you please.)

2. The only 'revenge' you are allowed to do otherwise is scaring them only ONCE or TWICE a week (and not anything traumatizing) giving them nightmares, or influencing their karma. Nothing physically dangerous, remember.

3. ALWAYS assess the situation before you react. Try to take both sides into account... if someone is honestly innocent and hasn't done anything to me, and I request them to be 'punished' for something, do what is right - do NOT do anything to them. If I am insistent no matter what, I give you full permission to humor me, leave for a while, and come back acting as if you have done what I requested.

4. I sometimes experience psychosis - if I end up believing you aren't real, please remember that my mind is not where it should be and that it is not entirely ME. Please do not take offense.

5. ANYTHING that does not fully intend to do good is NOT allowed inside the house (or, when I'm outside the house, too close to my general area), and their energies should not effect me or anyone or anything else inside (or outside). Anything that intends to do HARM, or does not intend but will in the future do severe and/or irreparable harm to me or any loved ones (including pets) in any way are not even allowed NEAR the house (or, when I'm outside the house, they should be kept as far away from me and my loved ones as possible).

6. My house, my rules. If you do not obey these rules, you will be punished, and punishments will scale according to the offense. I respect you, I expect no less than respect in return.

7. The Pack is a family. I am at the top, 'Uno' is directly under (more 'secondary leaders' may fall into place as time goes on). ALL spirits report to me, in the end, but for small or normal things you may refer to anyone in a higher 'rank' than you. 'Ranks' are sorted by bond strength, time you have been here, and of course, leadership skills. Trust is indeed important, and we should all remain respectful towards each other - no one is better or worse, but if you are new, even if you have good leadership skills, I need to know what your personality is like and what kind of leader you ARE, so I can appoint you correctly.

8. Safety and peace. Those two words will do you good. If The Pack strives for anything, it should be safety and peace for all of us. Do not block each other, inform me should there be any disagreements within the pack. Always respect one another, and most importantly, no fighting." (the last part I adapted from another person on the forum! Quite useful, that you for that 1ht )

"9. Lying should not be a part of The Pack. The ONLY exception is rule 3, humoring me if I'm insistent on something negative.

10. All rules MUST still be upheld no matter what mental, emotional, or physical state I'm in, HOWEVER changes to ranks that I make while not fully myself should ONLY be acted upon and made official when voted on and majority rules. Otherwise, rank changes that I myself make are set right then, no votes.

11. No one in the bathroom with me unless called, please! Really, please, that's awkward." (Most of them find this rule amusing. After the first few incidents I had to make it. It's not awkward for them, but it is for me! :lol:)

"12. Make yourself at home! You're always welcome to come with me when I go places, do things with me, interact with my dog (positively, not harmfully), share my food and drinks with me... If I leave food offerings, you're all allowed to 'dig in'! Showers are open - You don't have to join me of course, but some nice warm water can be nice. Most importantly - have fun! Don't do anything reckless, of course, but as long as it won't negatively affect anything, you're free to do as you please. If you absolutely must pull a prank, please, at most only once a month, and make sure it's something all parties involved would find funny. I like jokes, but pranks make me annoyed quickly.

13. Keep the ones I care about most safe from harm. In other words, myself and any pets, and anyone who lives with/near me that I care about as well. Keep the household safe and happy, as I would hope you would do for me. )

14. Telepathy is the best way to talk to me, astral second, and dream manifestation is third best! I encourage you to appear (of course, only if you want to). All I ask is that if it's in dream state, do not make it a nightmare, and to help me remember it, if you could.

15. Everyone deserves time to themselves. For me, whether it's private time or just wanting to curl up all alone, I may ask for you to 'tune me out' and leave the immediate vicinity by saying the phrase "everybody scatter". If I request time alone, I ask that you don't listen in on my thoughts, preferably at all, and only listen back in when I verbally say 'buttercups'. It's the code word that I'm done and you can listen back in and/or come back. However, since I'm forgetful, the time limit is 2 hours maximum. If I don't say 'buttercups' in that amount of time, come back anyway. Whether I say it or not, an immediate, automatic "tune me out" should be assumed the moment I begin to do anything strictly sexual in nature, unless I request some 'help'. Those I ask for 'help' from can stay, but the rest still applies to anyone else."

Of course I had to change a little bit of wording and such so it's more public-friendly, but there you go (the last rule was barely changed at all, for the record. It was already PG :lol: )! Feel free to nab and adapt some of my rules - that's what this thread is for! 1s

Thank you kindly for sharing your rules. It is very helpful!

~Grace~

Gracefull wrote:Thank you kindly for sharing your rules. It is very helpful!

~Grace~

Glad I could help! 1sy

Anyone else willing to share? The more pooled knowledge there is, the more rules can be tweaked and worded better, or improved.

There's actually a ton of posts about house rules about, a few from Ash and Mags as well, like so: http://www.creepyhollows.com/phpBB3/vie ... 64#p526564
Just need to do a bit of digging.

Mine currently sound like the Space Jam theme song..

Wowa that's a ton of rules. But they are solid, that's great

I initially only had 2 House Rules:

1. DO NOT SCARE ANY OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS and
2. DO NOT MAKE YOUR PRESENCE KNOWN TO ANY OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS

I recently implemented a few more that Ash suggested in another thread:

3. DISARM MALICIOUS MAGICK
4. KEEP WATCH IMMEDIATELY ON PROPERTY AND REPORT
5. PURSUE AND REMOVE ANYTHING WITH MALICIOUS INTENT
6. IDENTIFY ANY POSSIBLE CONFLICTS (assist me in judging the character of people, spirits, entities etc around me)

Florian wrote:Wowa that's a ton of rules. But they are solid, that's great

I initially only had 2 House Rules:

1. DO NOT SCARE ANY OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS and
2. DO NOT MAKE YOUR PRESENCE KNOWN TO ANY OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS

I recently implemented a few more that Ash suggested in another thread:

3. DISARM MALICIOUS MAGICK
4. KEEP WATCH IMMEDIATELY ON PROPERTY AND REPORT
5. PURSUE AND REMOVE ANYTHING WITH MALICIOUS INTENT
6. IDENTIFY ANY POSSIBLE CONFLICTS (assist me in judging the character of people, spirits, entities etc around me)

Those are good ones!

I only have so many rules because I just add them separately as I think of them and then proceed to be too lazy to combine the similar ones. I like to be as specific as possible, so they end up long, too. :lol:

GreySkyMorning wrote:

Florian wrote:Wowa that's a ton of rules. But they are solid, that's great

I initially only had 2 House Rules:

1. DO NOT SCARE ANY OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS and
2. DO NOT MAKE YOUR PRESENCE KNOWN TO ANY OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS

I recently implemented a few more that Ash suggested in another thread:

3. DISARM MALICIOUS MAGICK
4. KEEP WATCH IMMEDIATELY ON PROPERTY AND REPORT
5. PURSUE AND REMOVE ANYTHING WITH MALICIOUS INTENT
6. IDENTIFY ANY POSSIBLE CONFLICTS (assist me in judging the character of people, spirits, entities etc around me)

Those are good ones!

I only have so many rules because I just add them separately as I think of them and then proceed to be too lazy to combine the similar ones. I like to be as specific as possible, so they end up long, too. :lol:

Nothing wrong with that It's important to be specific about House Rules for sure.

Posting the full list Ash gave, here:

ASH-MDA wrote:THIS IS THE INFO FROM THE LINK:

LIST OF SOME VALUABLE RULES FOR DARK ARTS KEEPERS

- ENGAGE UNBOUNDS & REPORT
IF YOU ARE ADVANCED AS A KEEPER & YOU HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SPIRITS THEN HAVING THEM ENGAGE UNBOUNDS WHO ARE WILLING TO COMMUNICATE & FIND OUT WHY THEY ARE THERE, ARE THEY JUST PASSING THROUGH? ARE THEY THERE BECAUSE THEY WERE ATTRACTED TO YOUR SPACE? WERE THEY SENT THERE? SOMETIMES THAT KIND OF INFORMATION IS VERY IMPORTANT & CAN HELP YOU DETERMINE THE ATMOSPHERE OF YOUR SPACE. HOWEVER, IF YOU'RE NEW TO THE DA YOU DON'T WANT TO DO THIS, YOU SHOULD HAVE A STRICTER STAND ON WHAT KIND OF UNBOUNDS ARE ALLOWED IN YOUR SPACE.

- DISARM MALICIOUS MAGICK
TASK YOUR DA SPIRITS TO IMMEDIATELY DISARM ANY MAGICK THAT IS SENT YOUR WAY BY SOMEONE ELSE, OR IS AROUND YOU BY CIRCUMSTANCE.

- KEEP WATCH IMMEDIATELY ON PROPERTY
TASK YOUR DA SPIRITS TO BE ON GUARD & ALWAYS AT THE READY TO ACT AGAINST ANY PENDING ISSUE

- PURSUE & REMOVE ANYTHING WITH MALICIOUS INTENT
TASK YOUR DA SPIRITS TO AGGRESSIVELY PURSUE ANY QUESTIONABLE SPIRIT, ENTITY, OR MAGICK AND REMOVE THEM FROM YOUR SPACE IMMEDIATELY

- IDENTIFY ANY POSSIBLE CONFLICTS
ASK YOUR DA SPIRITS TO HELP JUDGE THE CHARACTER OF PEOPLE, SPIRITS, ENTITIES, AROUND YOU. SOMETIMES HAVING THAT EXTRA INPUT BECOMES INVALUABLE IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS. SOMETIMES YOUR RESERVATIONS ABOUT A PERSON OR SITUATION IS CONFIRMED. THEY HAVE A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE, LET THEM HELP YOU.

- HARM NONE
THIS SHOULD BE A STAPLE FOR ANY HOUSE RULES FOR ANY ONE. YOU DON'T WANT YOUR DA SPIRITS TO ACT ON SOMETHING IN A NEGATIVE WAY

Florian wrote:Posting the full list Ash gave, here:

ASH-MDA wrote:THIS IS THE INFO FROM THE LINK:

LIST OF SOME VALUABLE RULES FOR DARK ARTS KEEPERS

- ENGAGE UNBOUNDS & REPORT
IF YOU ARE ADVANCED AS A KEEPER & YOU HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SPIRITS THEN HAVING THEM ENGAGE UNBOUNDS WHO ARE WILLING TO COMMUNICATE & FIND OUT WHY THEY ARE THERE, ARE THEY JUST PASSING THROUGH? ARE THEY THERE BECAUSE THEY WERE ATTRACTED TO YOUR SPACE? WERE THEY SENT THERE? SOMETIMES THAT KIND OF INFORMATION IS VERY IMPORTANT & CAN HELP YOU DETERMINE THE ATMOSPHERE OF YOUR SPACE. HOWEVER, IF YOU'RE NEW TO THE DA YOU DON'T WANT TO DO THIS, YOU SHOULD HAVE A STRICTER STAND ON WHAT KIND OF UNBOUNDS ARE ALLOWED IN YOUR SPACE.

- DISARM MALICIOUS MAGICK
TASK YOUR DA SPIRITS TO IMMEDIATELY DISARM ANY MAGICK THAT IS SENT YOUR WAY BY SOMEONE ELSE, OR IS AROUND YOU BY CIRCUMSTANCE.

- KEEP WATCH IMMEDIATELY ON PROPERTY
TASK YOUR DA SPIRITS TO BE ON GUARD & ALWAYS AT THE READY TO ACT AGAINST ANY PENDING ISSUE

- PURSUE & REMOVE ANYTHING WITH MALICIOUS INTENT
TASK YOUR DA SPIRITS TO AGGRESSIVELY PURSUE ANY QUESTIONABLE SPIRIT, ENTITY, OR MAGICK AND REMOVE THEM FROM YOUR SPACE IMMEDIATELY

- IDENTIFY ANY POSSIBLE CONFLICTS
ASK YOUR DA SPIRITS TO HELP JUDGE THE CHARACTER OF PEOPLE, SPIRITS, ENTITIES, AROUND YOU. SOMETIMES HAVING THAT EXTRA INPUT BECOMES INVALUABLE IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS. SOMETIMES YOUR RESERVATIONS ABOUT A PERSON OR SITUATION IS CONFIRMED. THEY HAVE A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE, LET THEM HELP YOU.

- HARM NONE
THIS SHOULD BE A STAPLE FOR ANY HOUSE RULES FOR ANY ONE. YOU DON'T WANT YOUR DA SPIRITS TO ACT ON SOMETHING IN A NEGATIVE WAY

Oh! Thank you for posting those! I tried to have my unbounds rule be similar to the first one, letting less for-sure-good and for-sure-bad spirits hang around outside the house so they can 'knock' if they want me. I had to tack on the "their energy shouldn't effect me" part though 'cause I'm just too energetically sensitive and naturally mood-swingy for the full force of an unbound's energy to be a safe option for me. Stability is a bit more boring, but better than snapping at people I care about for tiny things, or having my chronic illness's issues flare up amplified due to adjusting to an unbound's unfiltered energy. *wince* They probably understand, thankfully. 1sy

that makes total sense, and yes, they would definitely understand 1ht