Guidelines:

• This is an opportunity to be part of a larger story and to exercise combat tactics that you otherwise would not be able to try.  Do NOT kill your opponent.  If this doesn't make sense to you, /guildremove yourself and find something more entertaining to do.
• Think outside the game, don't exploit the game design, try to make your actions such that they would make sense in the real world.
• Pace your actions.  Don't just charge in and fight until you are nearly dead.  Throw out some taunts, engage an enemy trading a few blows, back off, taunt some more, evaluate what is going on around you and then go back in for another exchange of blows.  Everquest is poorly designed in that it is very easy for a battle to be over in seconds.  Use intelligence to pace this out more.
• Do not run around like a madman because it makes you "harder to target".  Fight static battles, stand and face your foe and trade blows.  If you are a mage and a warrior charges you, turn and run in essentially a straight line, if you are nearly full of health it is reasonable for them to pursue you, if you are down to less than two bubbles of health then they should realize this and allow you to flee.
• Con everyone before attacking them.  Do not attack a "green".
• Fight until your opponent is down to one or two bubbles of health and give them a chance to flee.  Killing your opponent is not the objective.
• Take it easy on lower level characters.  There is no skill to vaporizing someone twenty levels below you. Casters, especially Wizards need to take particular care here.
• Charm and other similar spells should be used with restraint.  They can be very irritating to other players and should not be used indiscriminately.
• Be prepared to help your foe fight off NPCs. There's no honor in allowing an orc to do your work for you.
• Assist with corpse retrieval at the end of events, as necessary.
• Suggestion: When in combat take just a few swings then back off and taunt your opponent (engage in some roleplay) before returning to take some more swings.  This will help slow down combat and improve the roleplaying aspect.
• If you kill an opponent in a dishonorable fashion, honor dictates that you offer to pay weyrgeld (compensation) to your victim.  A rough guide to the amount you should pay dependent on your level is shown below:
 

Level Amount
1-5   1pp
6-10  8pp
11-20 25pp
21-30 50pp
31-40 100pp
41-50 200pp
51-60 400pp

• Killing anyone outright in cold blood is a banishable offence!
• Keep your guild tag on (do not use /anon or /roleplay), others will think you are "cheating" if you have your guild tag off. You may turn your tag off to pass safely through enemy territory to recover a corpse, but you may not use this tactic to launch a surprise attack. All opening attacks should be full frontal and preferably be preceded by a challenge.
• Do NOT attack someone while they are looting their body.
• DoT spells must ONLY be cast as your first attack.  Players killed from DoT damage lose experience.  Please respect your fellow players and do not kill them with DoT spells.
• If your opponent does not wish to flee and is willing to accept death as part of a more realistic roleplaying experience then you must offer your opponent the opportunity to surrender before delivering a killing blow (might be a good idea to take a screenshot of them saying "go ahead and kill me, I will never surrender" before you land the fatal blow).
• Do not use area effect spells as you may accidentally slay a nearby low level character.
• Do not use non-commandable pets.  If you can't control a pet, don't create it!  Death from a pet can cause experience loss.

New additional guidelines:

• High level casters should avoid summoning high level pets (we basically agreed on only pets lower than 24th level).
• Pets should never be sent to attack.
• When using any kind of a spell that freezes or roots a player be careful and move on to the next target. Do not continue to attack and beat on someone frozen.
• Use common sense in target selection. If you target a red, take one swing and move on to another target. If you target a green, give them a tap (gently) and move on to another target. In general you should just plain avoid combat with anyone that cons red or green.
• Hotkey a "/shout Myname surrenders" key and press it repeatedly if you don't want the person attacking you to kill you. At the same time turn around and run straight away from your attacker.
• Higher level casters should mem lower level spells. This will allow you to cast more often and be an active participate (rather than sitting on your butt medding) and at the same time will help avoid accidental or quick deaths.

For emphasis and clarity:

Example one:

You are a member of Forces of Light and your mission is to assasinate Arcane Vizier Dipree.  You've found Dipree but his bodyguard is arrayed in a circle around him defending him.  Do not charge right past the bodyguards to attack Dipree!  Think outside of the physics of the game, think about real world combat.  Play "realisitically".  In the real world if you charged past the guards (assuming there was even enough room that you might physically do this) the guards would probably just turn and slay you immediately via your unguarded back.

Example two:

You're a fighter and a wizard has just blasted you with a spell.  Charge him, land a few blows then yell out to him "Your feeble spells are no match for my sword" and then break off and find another target.

Example three:

You are serving as a bodyguard and are standing arrayed around the person you are to defend.  Do not charge out to attack someone (that would leave an opening for someone to reach the person you are supposedly guarding).  Instead wait for someone to attack you.

Example four:

You are a mage/cleric/druid and have used most of your mana, run away a bit to sit down and med or have several bodyguards form a circle around you so you can med.

Example five:

Can I stress this enough?  Form battle groups!  Do not run around like a bunch of unorganized individuals.  Respect "bodyguard formations" and do not charge through them to take out a caster or mission target!  Make the battles "fun", these are a group activity not a showcase for your individual power.  You are fighting players (real people) not NPCs - act like it!

More thoughts:

Killing other players is NOT the objective during guildwar.  The leaders are working hard to create objectives to be achieved and a developing storyline.  Due to the game design a player that is ten or twenty levels above another is like a "god".  Significantly lower level characters should be "beneath your notice" and more or less ignored.  Act accordingly, if you are far more powerful than anyone else on the field of battle then stand back and observe, only helping your friends a little now and then.

If you surrender you MUST NOT rejoin the war until granted permission by your Commander.  You are now a prisoner of war and must act like one, with honor.  If your captors clearly restrain you, you must go along with it. Casting Gate or running away after you have been 'tied up' is not roleplaying and is unacceptable.

Perhaps the most important aspect to remain aware of is to understand how frustrating it can be to participate as a lower level character if the higher level characters repeatedly kill you easily.  So if you are higher level than someone else, hit them once (or not at all) and seek out another opponent that is closer to your level.

If you have a complaint try to take a screenshot and document the situation.  Send this via email to your commander.  Complaints are difficult to deal with during an event.  A comment or two such as "Superman just killed me in one swing could you ask him to take it easy" is more than enough during an event.  Any complaints should be in private tells to your commander - do not shout out a complaint!

Serious breaches of these rules will result in disciplinary action leading to possible removal from the guilds.  Evidence of breaches will be in the form of screenshots or the witness statements of Commanders.