I have a few questions about PvP in front of NPCs. As an antipodean I see most of my PvP at hours when DMs are simply not around. Here is a list of things that have witnessed, and not been sure on how to react.

a) Some generic citizen starts a fight in front of guards. Obviously this is against server rules, and screenshots, letters to DMmail etc etc. are in order. But what is the immediate response? Is it alright to leap to the victims defense? If it is alright, what do you do if you win? Are you only to subdue and let off with a warning, no matter how OOC this might be? After all a death in front of guards, even in self defense or defense of another, seems like it should create more of a ruckass than can be represented without a DM. On the other hand this must suck if you are the Mang the Mighty half orc or some pot-helmeted poison-bladed assassin.

b) A guard starts a fight in front of other guards, usually as an attempted arrest. I imagine this is allowed. Is the victim (err, arrestee) allowed to fight back, since there are guards within sight? Or are they obliged to run away? This is awkward as all hell, since several times I have decided to run away from spellguard with a melee character, figuring that it wasn't alright to KD them at the place where we started the man dance. Turning and running from a mage is close to suicide. Had a DM been on, I would have tried a quick beat down and then run from the less intimidating NPC flatfoots. Obviously this applies to Tigers near NPC Tigers as well.

c) When a fight moves from a NPCless area to an NPC occupied area, is the fight supposed to stop? Or is it the responsibility of the fleeing party not to go near NPCs? The other day I was trapped, and had nowhere to run but straight into Sewertown. Now the people there are mainly sympathetic to my character, but would not have been pleased to see a lynch mob at his heals. Was I supposed to stand and die? Or was it the others responsibility to stop when we passed the first NPC? Neither of these seem like great options. Since I didn't know all the characters involved, its not really possible to make an on the fly decision about who can fight in front of whom, based on a guesstimation of who the bystanders would be more sympathic toward. What about chasing a clear criminal in front of guards/tigers? I was attacked the other day in the sewers, and the attacker fled and ran straight up the lift shaft into lower. As the attacked party, is it alright to fight there, or does one have to stop and let the assailant go?

Any rulings or etiquette advice would be greatly appreciated.

Note: Some of this may be revised at a later date, just my thoughts at the time.

Situations like these are very difficult, and the key thing is to adopt an attitude of patience, cooperation, objectivity, and civility with the other players involved in situations of this kind. I regret that DMs can't always be around.

Regarding your specific examples:

(a) If someone is clearly griefing (random attacks, no IC pretense whatsoever, spamming voice chats or whatever else) contact a DM. If this is completely impossible, a polite tell indicating that their behavior is totally unacceptable may be in order. Bottom line though, if this character is attacking other characters or just being a total OOC problem you may certainly attack the problem causer.

If the situation is more IC, you may certainly defend a PC that an attack was initiated against but I would probably avoid FD until a guard or DM possession was around. If you subdue an attacker, you might try to come to a consensus that the NPC guards there would arrest them in that situation. If no consensus can be reached or they do not cooperate, letting a DM know at a later date works.

(b) I would say you could fairly fight for a round or two before it would be assumed that the NPCs would come to the guard's aid. If you absolutely must IC continue that fight, you might want to provoke the NPCs (attack them, choking powder, etc.) and get them to attack you. Preferably, you would simply flee.

The situation of running for safety for NPCs is also somewhat difficult. Certainly, if a watchman runs to safety into the Watch House he should not be attacked there -- likewise with every other faction. Situations in which the character is not a technical member of the faction grow a little more difficult. You can safely assume that NPCs such as Intryzz, Sewer Town, the Blue Mushroom, Fort Mur will not tolerate violence.