Baruk Khazad is a casual kinship, comprised of mature, thick-skinned adults with overdeveloped senses of humor that share a common goal of having fun, at any cost. We're not hardcore raiders, crafters, questers or PvMPers, and we don't run the kin like a business. We're pretty laid back, many people in the kin have families, jobs, school, other responsibilities in the real world that keep us from playing this game 24/7. As such, we are best described as casual.
While we're not hardcore players, there are many in the kin that might share a common interest with you, so if you are a raider, crafter, etc the chances are good there's kinmates who are as well. We do participate in raids, we have a number of active higher ranked freeps and creeps, and even some grandmaster crafters. We're a well established kinship (rank 10) and some of our members have been in the game since alpha 3.
Participation is voluntary. As a casual kin, you are not expected to participate at any time. Peer pressure will not be tolerated, please respect the wishes of kinmates that do not want to participate at all times. Any member shall be permitted to leave the raid in progress for any reason whatsoever without consequence, however due respect should be given to the raid leader by letting them know in advance that you need to leave.
Raiding participants are expected to bring their best efforts to the group. If your playstyle is affected, distracted, or suffers from external influences, you should not participate in the raid. In the event your playstyle is affected by external influences to the detriment of the group, you may be asked to leave the raid at the discretion of the leader.
Whenever possible, it is preferred that only kinmates of Baruk Khazad participate in raids. In the event not enough kinmates are available to make up a raid, serious consideration should be made towards postponing the raid.
Non-members should only be invited to participate in a Baruk Khazad raid if there are no willing members available to fill the positions on the raid. It is unacceptable to take non-members on a raid while there are willing kinmates ready to participate. If it is not possible to form a valid raid group with the classes available and willing to participate, then the raid should be postponed and willing participants should seek a PUG raid to join instead.
Any raid, being led by a Baruk Khazad member, having been organized using the Raid Scheduler, and containing a majority of members of Baruk Khazad is regarded as an official Baruk Khazad raid. If kinmates of Baruk Khazad hold a plurality or minority in the raid (even with leadership), and the raid is not organized through the Raid Scheduler, then it is not an official Baruk Khazad raid, and rules are defined by consensus with the members of the group, or the leader of the group, as normal.
It is recommended (but not required) that raids should be organized using the Raid Scheduler. Raids organized and run using this system are required to adhere to the BKP system as defined on the raid scheduler. While raid leaders have some discretion as to how they organize, reward, and run their raid, specific attention should be given to the following rules:
If a raid is organized in-game, or on the forums, or through other means, or otherwise doesn't meet the criterial for an official Baruk Khazad raid, raid leaders may elect to not allow kinmates to use BKP during loot rolls. In a non-official Baruk Khazad raid, raid leaders are forbidden to award BKP to participants. BKP shall only be awarded to participants through groups organized using the raid scheduler system.
These rules may be changed at any time, for any reason, at the sole discretion of the leader.
Baruk Khazad has a kin hall in Thorin's Halls, and as such you can get a nice 15% discount on all supplies and repairs from vendors in that neighborhood. To help offset the cost of the kin hall and ongoing maintenance, you can opt-in to the kin hall to get access to shared storage chests and rights to decorate. The opt-in cost for these privileges is 2g for shared storage and 2g for decorator rights. Anyone is welcome, at any time, to help pay for the hall by visiting the hall and paying for a week or two of the upkeep. Go on, it's fun!
Besides this awesome website, we also have a gmail-powered mail server and listserv. You are encouraged to join the listserv by sending email to root@baruk.org, and our kinmates are all welcome to have an @baruk.org email address as well. Sure, we all have too many emails, but as this is powered by gmail, you can forward it to any other address - who doesn't need a safe, throwaway email from time to time?
All active members are at granted member rank, immediately. Active members who are level 30 or above are automatically promoted to officer, and are encouraged to recruit new members at will. Officers that have exceptional knowledge and interest in a particular aspect of the game may fill an additional role in the kin organizing raids, managing crafting, etc.
Baruk Khazad is a casual kinship, but we're an active kinship. Unlike other kins that have hundreds of people on the roster, but only a few that play, we perform a regular purging of inactive accounts from the roster to ensure that the people on our roster are active, playing members. This is not done maliciously, and if you find life has taken precendence over video games, and your account (or one of your alts) has been purged, you're welcome back anytime you begin playing again - just ask any officer for a kinvite! Because of trial accounts, this really has become necessary to ensure a good roster.
The general guidelines for roster purging is as follows:
The above guidelines are entirely at the discretion of the leader, who may at any time, for any reason decide to do things differently. In general, however, the above guidelines are followed. Stay active, even if you just log your accounts from time to time. If you're going to be inactive for longer, please let us know so we can prevent your account from being purged.
Well, it's pretty hard to get booted out of this kin, but there are a few things to avoid, nonetheless. Try to be a decent, mature person while playing the game. You represent a kin with a great reputation as a fun, helpful, and capable group of people - please do your best to uphold that image. Don't be a gold farmer, and don't be a gold buyer, and please, in general just try to be civil and polite to your fellow gamers.
A kinship isn't all fun, apparently - sometimes it gets personal, and as much as I and many of you would prefer to never have anything but fun in here, sometimes that's not the case. Why am I addressing this now? Well, someone has to - and as the leader of the kin, and an all around good guy, I'm as qualified as anyone.
We need to adopt some sort of common rule of etiquette with the game, and how we interact socially with each other. We don't want to have bylaws and regulations, nor do we want a bunch of silly rules or policies, great bloody hell. What we need here is some general things to keep in mind when we're working with each other.
One thing I have always appreciated is our willingness to sidetrack our ambition, and selflessly help our fellow kinmates catch up. But we can't always be selfless like this, sometimes we need to do other things, finish a tight grind, or we've already made plans with other friends. This is the way things work out, sometimes. As long as everyone is able to have open communication and remains willing to help at a future point in time, there need be no reason for frustration.
At some point, we will all be level 50, fabulously wealthy, and carry around a memory of the fall of Sauron. But until then, let's continue helping each other.
We all need money, to repair, to buy epic gear, to level up crafing or buy mats. We are all trying to balance the social economics of the kinship against our natural desire for more, more MORE!
But we all need to be rational. Our friendships here are definitely at stake if we mistreat each other here financially, it's just the nature of the beast. Some of us, myself included, may not have MMO backgrounds, and don't know "the rules" yet, and may act or say things differently than is "normal". Please don't hold that against anyone, just help them understand:
If you offer someone something and they don't need it, sell it. If you offer something, don't ask for money for it. If you must sell to the kin, sell for actual cost of mats with no markup. Roll need only on things you need - and ask about hides and ores - you may not be the only one in need! Be polite, and accepting of others faults, when they blow it. We're all good people here.
Despite our best efforts, we're still human, and we piss each other off in some legendary, spectacular way. So what next? We all individually have our own ways of dealing with conflict, Some throw their hands in the air and flee, others might talk to everyone except the person that needs it, and some might just turtle up, selfishly keeping their frustration to themselves, banking it away until they day they can go postal and decimate those around them.
I can't tell you how to deal with conflict and frustration, nor is it my place to do so - you're all mature adults and have your own methods (or lack thereof) for dealing with the frustrations of the world.
That being said, it's worth mentioning this word: Communication. Openly communicating your concern in an immediate manner with the person that frustrated you is the best thing you can do to resolve conflict. Don't tell someone else, or save it up, or run away - just tell the person that needs to hear it.
Our goal is to get a full raiding roster for end-game content, and to have multiple supreme grandmaster crafters in each profession, and to dominate the battlefield in the Ettenmoors. To meet that goal, we encourage higher level members to help mentor lower level members to rank up, improve their craft, tactics, and play style. We're on track to be one of the greatest, most highly respected kins in the game, but we can't do it without your help.
Welcome to Baruk Khazad!