The big three:

1: Play nice! Wheaton's Law does apply. This is supposed to be fun for everyone.
(This is #5)

2: Communicate! If there's an issue, talk to me. I will listen.

3: I wear the Viking hat. Once a decision is made I will not keep arguing about it.

Procedural rules:

4: Use color and quotes for speech. Put dice rolls and such in orange. Use quotes and italics for thoughts - if needed (see #8 below).

5: I will roll initiative for opponents as a group. PC's who roll the same or better will all act first in whatever order they post. Then the opponents will act. Finally all those PC's who rolled less will act. Again in whatever order they post. I may split a large group of opponents into two groups. Which would be  High PC's >  first opponents > middle PC's > second opponents > low PC's.

6: Wait 48 hours or until everyone in the thread has responded before posting again in a thread.

7: Describe what you attempt, not the outcome of your attempt. The GM will determine the outcome. Tell me in as much detail as you can what it is you want to accomplish and how. You may include conditional actions.

8: I am not a fan of internal thoughts and monologues. Show don't tell.
Sue glares angrily at Dave. NOT She thinks to herself "I can't believe that jerk just said that." which leads to:

9: No metagaming. This includes communicating to the other PCs through narrative what they obviously cannot know, including your plans and intentions. Don't make plans OOC; do it in-character.

"But GM!" I can hear you say. "I am an expert roleplayer when it comes to separating IC and OOC information!"

Well, I know YOU are. Bob posts something including a line about his inevitable betrayal, and you're not going to shoot him on the spot. What about tomorrow? Next week? Next month? Next month you'll remember that Bob isn't a trustworthy sort, but you're not going to remember exactly how you know this, whether it's due to IC or OOC information.

So make it easy on your fellow players by keeping that kind of thing to a minimum.

Plus this cuts down on people sniping at each other in ways that cannot be responded to, in their thoughts and descriptive text. That's awful. Don't do it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:42, Mon 06 Feb 2023.