First and foremost, you MUST be willing to write at least one post every two days.  This medium for gaming requires writing.  You're not being graded on your grammar or spelling.  It's more important to get it down than to get it right.  If you're going to be unable to post, please let everyone know on the Away From the Computer thread.

Second, while this is roleplaying, strong and silent doesn't work in this medium.  Talk with the other players or indicate in some way what you're doing and thinking.  A good part of game fun is interacting with the other players.  Players who don't interact with others in-game either tend to get frustrated when they can't solve a complex situation that requires teaming or simply stop posting.  Please use black text to describe your actions and colored text (please something easy to see) for dialog.

If you choose, please use italic text without quotes in a different color to differentiate unspoken thoughts from speech

Third, and this is important, you must understand who your character is and his/her motivations.  You need to formally write them.  Without this context for your actions, you will doom yourself to reacting.  Players without this context almost always drift away.

If you're willing to write, question, interact, and frame your character's personality, you will get out of this what you put in and WILL HAVE FUN. :D
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:42, Tue 15 Mar 2011.

Players who do not post at least once ever three days (two is better) will be reduced to lurkers.  If you're going to be away, as a courtesy, please post in the Away From The Computer thread.  And yes, I understand that Life happens.  We all run into situations that render us incapable of accessing the Internet (Ooop! Ackkk!) for a protracted period.  Lacking some kind of notice, your character could well be eaten by a roaming bugbladder beast.

The following are guidelines for what to expect from disruptive play:

Intra-party physical attack: Personally, I take the view that no player can kill another without that other player's permission.

Abusive - Unacceptable publicly or privately.  One warning in expectations at game outset (THIS IS THAT WARNING), one warning in game, and then the player is gone.

Provocative - I've seen this in two flavors.  There's provocative in character, which is fine as long as the player is not so obnoxious that nobody wants to game with them (at which point it becomes Abusive).  Then, there's provocative out of character, typically to get one or more characters to react.  Most often, I've seen this second type from an active player surrounded by players who are either inactive or fail to post meaningfully.  Typically, I council that player to simply have fun, post normally, and let me (the GM) manage player participation.

Pace - This is a situation where a particularly active player posts so promptly and comprehensively that other players never feel empowered to take lead.  I handle this from two directions: 1) I Private Message (PM) the prompt player asking that they slow just a bit so that other characters can participate, 2) I PM the characters who are not responding quickly and ask them to indicate their focus based on their personal motivations.  Conversations and actions, especially in this medium, do not necessarily have to be linear.  It's OK to have three people all asking questions and having one longer response to address all of these.  I also mix in action-oriented sequences/combat that levels the participation (i.e., you must get through a round of combat for everyone before progressing).  For combat, I typically put the round of combat in the message title (e.g., Hobgoblin Attack Round 1).

Alignment - While we are not formally playing alignment, please no play that is completely misaligned with party harmony.  Adult themes are acceptable.  If it's too extreme or you have concerns about whether it's beyond the bounds of acceptable, send it to the GM in a PM.

Regarding ongoing experience, I reward teamwork, life experiences including travel, and great roleplay.  I split combat experience among participants awarding bonuses for significant contributions.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:01, Sun 16 Aug 2009.

Now that we're a bit into our game, I have a sense for our current rhythm (posting time alignment) and pace (frequency).  Given work schedules, most of our game will occur from Monday through Thursday.  Schedules do periodically change for all of us.  As long as we're all sensitive to keeping each other informed, this should work.  On those days, I'll do my best to post at least once daily.

Except for combat situations, I may engage in more intense dialog with players who can post more frequently.  If you need to catch up, please start with reading posts from Xandros and skim for questions asked directly to your character.  You might miss some details, but nothing major that is not being attended to by other players.  The idea is to have fun.  You don't necessarily need to keep the same pace as others as long as you can participate as described above.  Please make a point of communicating your intent if you're going to be away.  That way I can keep the game going and do my best to post as your character with that intent.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please PM me.