[Balanor]

I am also not of the opinion that people should be pampered over much. But most important is that even if a character is to be punished the punishment itself offers a great oppurtunity for RP. So let any punishment be original and fun even for the offender whenever possible. If however a player does not accept a form of punishment (because it renders a long term pc useless) then an alternative form of punishment should be offered. Via tells and OOC of course!
If on the other hand a new player does not UNDERSTAND how the powerstructure of this setting is set then a OOC explaination is in order - just tell him/her that running past a Red Wizard without a sign of devotion could be trouble - if said player refuses to look into things it is better to just ignore him since he there is no use to force RP on such a person. No punishments should be dealt in that case (being ignored can be a harsh punishment in itself though ).

KTA

100% agree with this. I strongly feel that some type of warning should *always* be issued first to new PCs (or their players) before punishment occurs. It is extremely important that new players get at least an inkling of the harshness of some of the others, and the world, their PC is adventuring in before experiencing it in full force. Otherwise we could get those leaving right away and complaining about griefing.

I see this as yet another example of balancing act required to reconcile source material (death for wearing red, for example) yet display a measure of OOC respect to players who may come to adventure here that do not know how certain things are implemented or handled ICly in the PW.