All rooms, even private rooms, are created by the Staff and owned by specific builder characters. The building regulations are intended to reflect both the IC circumstances of how characters would be housed in King’s Landing or Sunspear and OOC considerations such as keeping down the number of rooms—not the least the number of private rooms—on the grid.
Each character is entitled to some kind of private room on the grid, though private in this instance simply means “not public”. In most cases, characters cannot get a fully private residence that is not shared with another character. However, while residences are generally connected to a House rather than an individual, exceptions can be made if the IC circumstances warrant it.
The most common setup is that guest quarters for a specific House are setup in some part of either the Red Keep or Sunspear. Those guest quarters are then shared by all members of that House that are present in either location. In most cases, a single actual room is built, though the guest quarters can be described as encompassing more rooms through the use of +views (see +HELP +VIEWS). For roleplay, +groups (see +HELP +GROUPS) can be used to represent these “virtual” rooms.
In some cases when a House includes a large number of active PCs (at least 5), a second actual room may be added to the existing guest quarters.
Another possible setup is a manse somewhere outside of either castle. The Great Houses are setup with larger manses with two rooms by default but other Houses (or, in rare cases, individuals) can sometimes be approved for smaller manses, usually consisting of just the one room. Approval for a manse for other Houses (or individuals) is dependent on both IC and OOC factors.
Most manses, even if acquired by individuals, are considered to be acquired on behalf of a House. Unless it is specifically noted as being a manse for an individual rather than a House (for example, if the character acquiring the manse is on poor terms with his House), a manse should generally be considered as replacing the House’s guest quarters and should be expected to serve as a home for any future PCs from the House as well, unless the IC circumstances make this an improbable arrangement.
The IC circumstances needs to be such that the House (or individual) who will “own” the manse has to be in the IC position to acquire a manse. It is also preferred that there are additional reasons beyond just wanting a manse for the prestige, such as having a large number of House members present in the city in question. In some cases, a SP (Story Point) may be used to acquire a manse which would not otherwise have been approved.
The OOC factors that we take into consideration is that the player requesting the manse needs to have played actively on the game for a while. It is also preferred that the manse will have at least 3 active PCs living there. As with apartments, in some cases when a House includes a large number of active PCs (at least 5), a second actual room may be added to the manse.
If you are a new to the game and you would like to have a room (having a room is not necessary!), the first thing you should ask about is whether a room already exists for your character. If the character has been in play before, it is possible that the former player already had a room setup. If so, Staff will link you to it.
If no room exists, you will need to request to have one built. To do this, use the +jobs (see +HELP JOBS) system. Please note, however, that rooms will not be created until descs following the guidelines have been submitted to Staff.
The best approach is to submit the descs via email and then submit a +job. To learn how to use the weather & time room parents to create descs that follow the guidelines, see SYSTEM WEATHERTIME DESCING.
When descing it is important for players to consider that in many cases their residences are not permanent residences owned by the characters themselves or by their House. Manses in King’s Landing are more often rented than bought, and rooms within the Red Keep are essentially guest quarters.
As noted, players are able to request the creation of fixed +groups (see +HELP +GROUPS) as well as to submit +views (see +HELP +VIEWS) in order to simulate additional space.