that was my Seinfeld impression in the title
A few folks were having a discussion about NLR/Metashielding in #game-discussion, and I felt like it would be good to ask for a rule clarification here.
This is what the guidebook currently has to say about NLR:
- Content.Client_gLYJQPTBaZ.png (37.99 KiB) Viewed 10652 times
Source: Guidebook > Server Rules > [6. No Metagaming] > 4 paragraphs down
⠀
Here is the discussion in question. Sal jumps in to say that they're going to amend things, but I felt it pertinent to put this here for good measure.
You can also just view the discord convo in discord here.
[3/30/2026 6:29 PM] kazne
I can tell you that I hate NLR
[3/30/2026 6:30 PM] cleefey
NLR?
[3/30/2026 6:30 PM] nazariel
New Life Rule
[3/30/2026 6:30 PM] kazne
You might not understand why I hate it, though
[3/30/2026 6:30 PM] totallyexistingepicgamer
the whole no memory of death thing
[3/30/2026 6:30 PM] cleefey
what does that mean again
[3/30/2026 6:30 PM] cleefey
oh
[3/30/2026 6:30 PM] kazne
Deconversions being removed from cosmic cult goes hand in hand with that
[3/30/2026 6:31 PM] totallyexistingepicgamer
If you're roundstart cultist and deconverted then that's really weird
[3/30/2026 6:32 PM] kazne
You see; you cannot actually make the player behind the screen forget information, and the prior design simply expects people to behave.
But being able to selectively modify "what about a player's round they are allowed to act on" is also an administrative nightmare for staff
[3/30/2026 6:32 PM] kazne
Thus; I have simply eliminated that factor from cosmic cult altogether
[3/30/2026 6:32 PM] cleefey
reasonable
[3/30/2026 6:32 PM] totallyexistingepicgamer
yeah that makes sense
[3/30/2026 6:32 PM] totallyexistingepicgamer
meta stuff entirely is a weird spot
[3/30/2026 6:33 PM] idem778
Honestly amazing decision
[3/30/2026 6:34 PM] cleefey
NLR makes sense to an extent if you die you probably wouldnt remember dying in the same way you dont remember falling asleep after waking up
[3/30/2026 6:43 PM] raspbrr
I once had a nasty experience with NLR where as a sec cadet that got crit but not killed by a changeling, another member of security claimed that I have died which would mean I don’t remember the circumstances of my death, which obviously wasn’t true
When I tried then explaining what happened with an appropriate “yeah uh. Weird tendril armed man named [name] attacked me”, I was completely and utterly ignored for a solid 10 minutes
[3/30/2026 6:43 PM] cosmoros
Also makes antags less likely to DRN you
[3/30/2026 6:44 PM] cleefey
if you were crit NLR applies
[3/30/2026 6:44 PM] cleefey
NLR only doesnt apply to soft crit
[3/30/2026 6:44 PM] raspbrr
I specifically ahelped the circumstance and I was told at the time it was allowed
[3/30/2026 6:44 PM] scrambleking
Not quite
[3/30/2026 6:44 PM] caketaco
I really with there was a boilerplate popup/chat alert for when you go crit talking about NLR
e.g.
"You have fallen unconscious. You will not remember the circumstances of how this happened, nor the five minutes leading up to it."
[3/30/2026 6:45 PM] cleefey
same
[3/30/2026 6:45 PM] cleefey
really?
[3/30/2026 6:45 PM] caketaco
this is my ideasguy contribution
[3/30/2026 6:45 PM] cleefey
coulda sworn thats how it worked
[3/30/2026 6:45 PM] scrambleking
So the way it works is
[3/30/2026 6:45 PM] averyjoyfulindividual
if you crit you remember why you did
[3/30/2026 6:45 PM] averyjoyfulindividual
if you died you don't
[3/30/2026 6:45 PM] averyjoyfulindividual
you don't remember anything during crit
[3/30/2026 6:45 PM] averyjoyfulindividual
simple as
[3/30/2026 6:45 PM] raspbrr
yeah
[3/30/2026 6:46 PM] averyjoyfulindividual
if you pass out or get cos cult shunted etc
[3/30/2026 6:46 PM] averyjoyfulindividual
you do not remember how
[3/30/2026 6:46 PM] caketaco
Also one thing I've wondered about NLR covering being unconscious
there doesn't seem to be any specifications about falling alseep
Like, I'm sure you are supposed to remember taking a nap or whatever. Obviously.
But I enjoy the idea of a narcoleptic who constantly has five minute memory loss every time they fall under.
[3/30/2026 6:47 PM] raspbrr
I specifically ahelped during the round and an admin said I should be able to remember which then again, nobody actually believed me since they thought I was breaking NLR because it was believed I had died despite that not being the case
[3/30/2026 6:47 PM] raspbrr
so like
[3/30/2026 6:47 PM] scrambleking
Death/Sudden unplanned unconsciousness = memory loss
Unconscious/asleep/hard crit = no memory for that period that you are unconscious, exception for what wakes you up if you were sleeping/unconscious (like an explosion)
Soft crit = normal memory
[3/30/2026 6:48 PM] raspbrr
I do think NLR is good but also either just make the person forget the circumstances of their crit or just remove NLR
[3/30/2026 6:48 PM] raspbrr
because that was a terrible situation
[3/30/2026 6:48 PM] caketaco
this is straight from the guidebook
{Attachments}
[3/30/2026 6:49 PM] _mobber
what about soft crit?
[3/30/2026 6:49 PM] _mobber
i'm not reading the shit from above
[3/30/2026 6:49 PM] scrambleking
Same as normal memory
[3/30/2026 6:50 PM] _mobber
ah
[3/30/2026 6:50 PM] caketaco
iunno
lmao
guidebook doesn't use that term
[3/30/2026 6:50 PM] scrambleking
You can move, react, see and speak during soft crit, as such it is in no way a state of unconciousness
[3/30/2026 6:50 PM] caketaco
ah fair
[3/30/2026 6:51 PM] _mobber
why can't i mpreg while softcrit
{Reactions}
[3/30/2026 6:51 PM] cleefey
guidebook is outdated
[3/30/2026 6:51 PM] caketaco
I feel like NLR should almost be its own rule
Like, I get that it's under the umbrella of metagaming, but having it be hidden under the link of another rule is bound to lead to people not knowing/ignoring it
[3/30/2026 6:51 PM] caketaco
wtf how am i supposed to not break the rules then
[3/30/2026 6:52 PM] caketaco
literally 1984 2
[3/30/2026 6:52 PM] cleefey
most things are fine
[3/30/2026 6:52 PM] _mobber
2584
[3/30/2026 6:52 PM] cleefey
it just doesnt account for new features
[3/30/2026 6:52 PM] cleefey
like CPR
[3/30/2026 6:52 PM] scrambleking
here we can just do this
[3/30/2026 6:52 PM] caketaco
wish I had thought of this before that admin talk two weeks ago when they specifically asked about rules feedback. whoops!
[3/30/2026 6:52 PM] scrambleking
@Sal #bullyme hey saaaaaaal people are complaining that the metashield/NLR stuff isnt clear enough, particularly when it comes to soft criiiiiit
[3/30/2026 6:53 PM] _mobber
{Embed}
[3/30/2026 6:53 PM] caketaco
#game-discussion is the new #admin-questions, I like it
[3/30/2026 6:53 PM] caketaco
i DO want to hear what they have to say but we probably should make
like
a forum thread on the admin questions topic
[3/30/2026 6:54 PM] raspbrr
tbh I haven’t played funky in a while but damn that one interaction I had with NLR really turned me off despite it being possible on basically any other server with it
[3/30/2026 6:54 PM] scrambleking
Your welcome to not like it, but it makes for much better gameplay than dealing with antags having to RR people or go fully loud for everything
[3/30/2026 6:55 PM] caketaco
My rule of thumb is to play as a dumbass with memory loss
One time I ate a bunch of maints pills, and kept falling asleep
I repeatetly asked "Huh? Where am I?" to the doc who was helping me.
They'd fix me up, I'd say "Thanks, doc!" and then I'd fall alseep on the ground again, like, 5 seconds later
rinse and repeat about 5 times
was great
[3/30/2026 6:55 PM] caketaco
wish i knew that round ID
[3/30/2026 6:56 PM] _mobber
i did that when i was uncosculted tbh i was softcrit being dragged somewhere and i decided to play dumb and say huh what
[3/30/2026 6:56 PM] raspbrr
Oh absolutely I just meant the circumstance where others believing that I broke the rule despite that not being the case leading to me just being completely ignored specifically due to that reason and nothing else
[3/30/2026 6:56 PM] raspbrr
which was implied from what I could tell from IC speech
[3/30/2026 6:56 PM] caketaco
is anyone else doing this rn (rn means registered nurse it's slang)
if not I'll go ahead
[3/30/2026 6:57 PM] scrambleking
Oh yea, in that case its an in character issue
[3/30/2026 6:57 PM] scrambleking
Its only OOC if someone tries to give you a heads up about memory loss
[3/30/2026 6:57 PM] scrambleking
In Help
[3/30/2026 6:58 PM] raspbrr
I had to specifically explain that I did not have memory loss because I hadn’t died which then convinced the HoS
[3/30/2026 6:59 PM] salpphie
Hi wassup
[3/30/2026 6:59 PM] salpphie
Which part is confusing
[3/30/2026 7:00 PM] salpphie
Soft crit you remember things, hard crit you don't know what happens DURING it, dead is NLR
[3/30/2026 7:01 PM] scrambleking
Yea people are getting annoyed because the rules dont specify about softcrit =P
[3/30/2026 7:01 PM] salpphie
Where's that in our rulebook again
[3/30/2026 7:01 PM] salpphie
I can try to add it in
[3/30/2026 7:01 PM] salpphie
it never got added in when we added softcrit
[3/30/2026 7:01 PM] scrambleking
I belive it was metashield
[3/30/2026 7:02 PM] salpphie
gotcha, ill add a soft crit caluse
[3/30/2026 7:02 PM] salpphie
clause
[3/30/2026 7:02 PM] caketaco
Server Rules > [6. No Metagaming] > 4 paragraphs down
[3/30/2026 7:02 PM] nazariel
Yeah I was gonna say
[3/30/2026 7:02 PM] nazariel
Remembering things during softcrit make sense because
[3/30/2026 7:02 PM] nazariel
You can still talk/punch/whatever
[3/30/2026 7:02 PM] nazariel
You're still aware
[3/30/2026 7:04 PM] cleefey
can u add CPR aswell as defibing too
[3/30/2026 7:04 PM] salpphie
where would you like those
[3/30/2026 7:04 PM] salpphie
in the medical section?
[3/30/2026 7:04 PM] scrambleking
(defibing doesnt actualy exist any more in this sense)
[3/30/2026 7:05 PM] salpphie
i can change that defib just cures a shit ton of airloss now
[3/30/2026 7:05 PM] cleefey
@Sal #bullyme here
[3/30/2026 7:05 PM] caketaco
you're LATE
[3/30/2026 7:05 PM] cleefey
just replace defibing with CPR
[3/30/2026 7:05 PM] salpphie
Ah, gotcha
[3/30/2026 7:06 PM] salpphie
my list of guidebook changes grows
[3/30/2026 7:06 PM] scrambleking
Thanks saaaaaaaaal
[3/30/2026 7:06 PM] salpphie
i am not making an individual PR for each one
[3/30/2026 7:06 PM] salpphie
I am bunching them together
[3/30/2026 7:06 PM] salpphie
and the maintainers will like it
[3/30/2026 7:06 PM] scrambleking
Gimi a heads up when it hits, ill wait on updating AQFAQ for them
⠀
The discussion asks questions and makes claims on its own, but for brevity, my questions are specifically:
- What's the deal with soft/hard crit in terms of memory loss?
- "Five minutes up to your death" comes up a lot, but I can't seem to find this figure in-game. Is it just "the circumstances that led up to your death," or is there an amount of time to forget as well?
- Scrambleking, when asked about NLR, explained that:
is this accurate?Death/Sudden unplanned unconsciousness = memory loss
Unconscious/asleep/hard crit = no memory for that period that you are unconscious, exception for what wakes you up if you were sleeping/unconscious (like an explosion)
Soft crit = normal memory




