Game Policies
Game Pace and Posting Frequency
Forum-based games are inherently very slow. It will take a long time to get anything done. Therefore, we really don't want to compound that slowness with excessive player delays. These are the simple rules:
- The Golden Rule: Please try to check the game often, and respond as quickly as possible whenever someone asks you a direct question. Even if you've been flaky and haven't made an actual game post in a long time. Shit happens, we still love you, but if we holler at you and you don't respond, then we have no choice but to assume that you have died.
- I guess this is where the EotS D&D Facebook group comes in handy, as well. Please use it.
- Please try to make at least one in-character post to advance the game each day.
- Of course, the time will come when you are too busy to do this. This is fine. In this case, all you have to do is just let us know in an OOC post that you will be out of commission for a while. We will wait for you.
- If you neither make an in-character game post nor announce that you will be absent, and a total of 48 hours passes from the time of your most recent post, then as the DM I reserve the right to post on your behalf in order to keep the game moving. By joining this game, you implicitly agree to this stipulation.
- I expect to invoke this rule very rarely. Usually I will give you quite a bit more than 48 hours, and I will bitch at you first. But be warned; it could possibly happen.
- As a group, we might need to take an occasional extended break from the game. This is also fine. We should be able to work these things out in the forums.
- Refer again to the Golden Rule above.
Rolling Dice
Any time your character takes an action that involves rolling dice, you must use the in-game
dice roller to log your roll.
- Be sure to always check "Record Each Die", and then enter something informative in the "Reason for roll" box, so we know what the roll was for.
- When copying the results of the roll to post them, please copy from the log at the bottom of the page, not the immediate result that appears at the top.
- Any time you make an attack roll, go ahead and include the damage roll in the same post, unless you are certain that you missed.
Where to Post What
- There may be multiple in-character narrative threads over the course of the game, but the title of the current one will always be prefixed with the string "[IC]". Post your character's current actions there. See "In-Character Posts" below for the conventions to follow when posting in these threads.
- Similarly, there will be a single out-of-character thread prefixed with the string "[OOC]", where you can talk about anything you want. However, the main expected purpose of this thread is to talk through what your characters are doing in the current in-character thread. Please keep in mind the below guidelines of "Realism and Player vs. Character Knowledge" when posting there.
In-Character Posts
Please use the following conventions in your in-character descriptive posts:
- Either initiate your post by clicking on the general "Post a Reply" link in the lower right corner of the page, or remember to remove the "In reply to So-and-so (msg # N):" clutter that appears when you reply directly to a previous post. In-character posts are supposed to consist of well-formed narrative text, so I prefer not to see procedural spam like this there. This request does not apply to posts in the OOC thread or elsewhere.
- Write in the third-person, present tense.
Good Example:
Luke Nounverber impales the wizard.
Bad Example:
Luke Nounverber impaled the wizard.
Bad Example:
I impale the wizard.
- Choose a dialogue color (other than red or orange), and color all of your character's spoken (or telepathically communicated) dialogue with this color. Include the quotation marks in the colored region of text. Post to the OOC thread to claim the color of your choice; colors will be claimed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Example:
"And now, young Nounverber," the Emperor says, "you will die."
- Avoid internal dialogue altogether (e.g. thoughts, feelings, etc.). See "Realism and Player vs. Character Knowledge" below for more explanation.
- Red is reserved for NPC dialogue, and orange is reserved for OOC blurbs (see below).
- At the bottom of any in-character post involving the use of an ability, dice roll, or any other relevant game mechanic, please add a block of text with a brief explanation of what you're doing, including any relevant dice roller logs. Prefix this block with the string "OOC:", and color it orange.
Example:
Luke Nounverber slams his tankard to the table with the might of a storm giant, shattering the wooden surface into a thousand puny shards.
OOC: Attempting to annihilate the table with awesomeness.
00:00, Today: Luke Nounverber rolled over 9000 using 1d20 with rolls of over 9000. Strength check to crush the table.
- Never, ever use the dreaded asterisk emote. I hate it, and if you use it, then by extension I will be compelled to hate you.
Horrible, HORRIBLE Example:
"Why, good day to you," Luke Nounverber says to the nubile young slave girl.
*Flexes his arms in a flirtatious pose*
Realism and Player vs. Character Knowledge
I believe that role-playing games are more fun if surprises and narrative twists are kept secret from the actual humans involved, and revealed only at the proper time, exactly as in any traditional literary medium. For this reason, please be aware of the following guidelines in this game:
- Players are encouraged to keep secrets from one another, and only share them with other players if and at a time when their characters would logically do so.
- Feel free to make liberal use of the private messaging feature of this game to work out with me the details of anything your character might privately know or witness, or to hold private conversations with other characters. As the DM, I will be able to see all such private messages occurring in this game, even if I'm not directly involved, so you can rest assured that the content of those messages will properly impact the storyline.
- Of course, be reasonable about this. If the entire group is standing together in a cramped tunnel, for example, and two of you try to carry on a private conversation via PM, then I'll probably clue the other players in by posting something like "A and B huddle together off to the side of the corridor, whispering suspiciously."
- When working things out in the OOC thread, remember to stay within reasonable bounds. For example, your characters probably wouldn't have time in a tense melee to plan out an intricate on-the-fly strategy, and it's unrealistic to share detailed character knowledge in a setting where the characters simply would not be able to do so, such as while negotiating with a local bureaucrat in his cramped office, or while confined to separate jail cells. Try hard not to metagame, or "crossboard" as we call it. You are playing the role of a believable character, not working your way through a cooperative strategy board game.
- In descriptive posts, refrain from showing your character's thoughts, feelings, memories or anything else that other characters would not know. The characters are not mind readers; concrete ideas can only be communicated through dialogue. If you want to hint at these kinds of things without just coming out and saying them, then you'll need to get creative with mood and body language.
Good Example:
Luke Nounverber scowls at the halfling innkeeper, unable to hide his obvious disdain. The stink of his glare is colored with an aura of unpleasant personal history, though whether from the innkeeper himself or simply others of his ilk is hard to say.
Bad Example:
Gods, do I hate halflings, Luke Nounverber thinks to himself as he scowls at the innkeeper. Ever since that time he was passed out in a drunken stupor and one of them crawled up his pants on a wild bet from his blathering companions, Luke has trembled with rage every time he looks at one. They might make a tasty meal, though, he muses with gritty satisfaction.
- I will typically make most of your character's initiative or passive skill checks for you, usually in secret. This is because sometimes just asking for a roll in itself reveals something that your characters might not know. For example, I find the classic call to "roll initiative" irritating, since that lets you know that combat is about to happen. Sometimes it's obvious that combat is about to happen, but sometimes it's not, and in the latter case it should be just as much a surprise to you as it is to your characters.
Overall Tone and Narrative Style
I probably don't have to explain this to this group, but I will clarify exactly what I expect anyway, considering the kind of silliness I've seen before on this site. This is a role-playing game campaign, not a collaborative fiction storytelling exercise. Therefore, please try to keep your descriptive posts reasonably simple and to the point. In particular, please refrain from writing ornate purple prose that is best left on the pages of amateur fan fiction buried at the bottom of the ocean. I really don't mean to stifle your creativity, and I strongly encourage you to flex your writing muscles if you so wish, but please try to steer decisively away from the realm of cheese.
Here are some examples:
Good Example:
Luke Nounverber hefts his battleaxe and charges headlong into the midst of the goblins, swinging wildly at the closest one.
Bad Example:
Lightning flashes across the ominous darkness of the sky as Luke Nounverber uncoils in the rage of his barbaric ancestors, gripping the leathery haft of his battleaxe with white-knuckled intensity, spittle flying from his twisted lips in furious anticipation of the cleaving madness of his axe edge. The day of judgement has come for the goblins. Luke leaps forward with the compressed vigor of a starving wildcat, blade flashing crazily, hacking a snarling path through the dense pack of goblins in ribbon splashes of dark blood like paint on the canvas of a madman.
When in doubt, ask yourself: what would
Hemingway do?
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:12, Mon 16 Nov 2015.