I expect a posting rate of about 2-3 times per player per week of IC material, with GM posts interspersed when necessary to keep the game moving and answer questions.  There will always be days where there are more posts than at other times, and there will be times where real life will get in the way and delay posts by a day or so.  This is all normal and expected, and I will not force speed.  I want this game to go at a nice, easy pace, so that nobody feels overwhelmed by needing to post.  My own personal situation may cause delays with updates, etc. and so I am an understanding soul.  With that said, however, there will be times where speed is necessary (such as in combat) and I do reserve the right to either NPC a character or eject a player from the game should multiple, extended absences occur without notification.

I do not expect everyone to be a literary master, but I do expect more than a one-line response of spoken text in each post.  Every post, even a simple “yes” answer should be accompanied by more describing stance, expression, emotion, or even something of the thought behind it.  In short, there are few pictures here, you need to show what is being done and said with words.  In addition, please proof-read before posting as a courtesy to your fellows and use a spell-checker and proper grammar.  On the other side of the spectrum, we are all busy and if every post is a novella the principle of “the longer it is, the less I will read” will start to kick in.  Keep it to the point and entertaining.

I expect from the players and their characters a certain level of interested involvement.  That means not simply reacting to events as they unfold, but actively investigating leads, clues, and hints: your character should be motivated to act, and to act as part of a group.  Discussion in-character of such leads, of possible options, and plans of action are important for character development and to move the story along.  I encourage scenes where the characters are merely interacting with each other and NPCs to give opportunity to dig into their personalities.  There will also be action scenes, in some cases initiated or avoided by the characters based on their decisions.  Many of my games have creeping horror elements, adult situations and moral quandaries.  But foremost, the campaign is about player-heroes; neither I nor the campaign deals with hostile loners, apathetic brooders, or other characters that must be coaxed into engaging with the world and cooperating with the rest of the group.

Other Notes:

- Expect your actions to have consequences.  Don't be stupid.  Play smart.  If I give you lots of hints that opening the Red Box will be bad, don't open the box and expect to live.

- I'm a storyteller and would like to follow the rule of cool.  If it is cool, cinematic and epic, screw the rules - I'll probably allow it.  If you disagree with me, I expect a respectful appeal, preferably in private text or message.

- Unless I tell you otherwise assume you can play with the scenery to help craft the story.  But don’t go nuts making up unverified (by me) facts that have an impact on the plot or story.

- Observe proper etiquette: it is bad form to remove another player’s agency from their own character; to perform an action on/against another player's character without that player having a chance to react. For example, Red’s player can't simply write that he picks up Mary and carries her into the building over his shoulder. Mary’s player would have to agree or have a chance to avoid Red's grasp. Likewise, with NPCs; they have agency in matters that affect them.

- There will be no PvP in this game.  Don’t argue with me that it would be in-character for your character to attack another PC.  If that is the case, you and your character were selected for the game in error.  Arm wrestling does not count as PvP.

When submitting a RTJ to this game, please include an acknowledgement that you have read and understood the above.

Thank you

A question was asked about posting format, so I'll answer it here where everyone can see.

I will use "bold type" within quotes for anything spoken out loud by an NPC or GM character.  I don't mind if you use a color with bold for your spoken text, but make it a dark color with good contrast against a light background.  If you want to post something your character is thinking in terms of an internal monologue, use italics type and the rest of will know that we could hear that.

I will not be using the languages tags, too complicated.  I will trust your maturity to keep player and character knowledge separate should a conversation occur in a language you don't speak.

Please use third person tense when describing your characters actions and words.  Usually past tense works, but if there are any contingent actions, present/future works as well.  For example, "Blah," he said.  He will then run if attacked.

Finally, you can append any OOC text at the end of your post, including dice rolls, but please put a horizontal line followed by <OOC> to differentiate.  Please don't alternate IC and OOC text, the goal here is to make things easier to read.

And to restate from above, please do not make a post that consists only of spoken words.  We can't see your character so we need body language, tone, hand gestures, etc. described.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:29, Tue 15 Dec 2020.

This is one of my earlier games still alive on RPOL and over the course of the last few years/months I've made some edits and changes to my standard Game Expectation.  I will not change the expectations and code of conduct this late after a game has started without buy in, of course and so here is the new version that I propose.  Please let me know in the OOC thread or via PM if there are any issues or problems with this new text, or if you have any suggestions for additions, edits or improvements.  Thank you.


If you are interested in playing this game, and I hope you are, some things I need to lay out in advance about expectations, mine for the players and what the players can expect from me as GM.

First About My Style: I usually have a running timeline or story that the NPCs are following, often adjusted depending on player actions and adventure consequences. That means that there is a clock ticking and events will unfold as time passes. If the players want to hang around doing stuff in a one-night extended sleepless push, that is fine, and I welcome the interaction. But the NPCs are moving to the World Clock, so don’t expect the entire story to unfold in 24 game hours. Which is not to say that I discourage interaction, far from it; just that events in game will occur at a logical pace for game time, so if you guys stretch out a scene, it is you guys interacting; I will applaud and award XP for it.  A long night of discussing your next move in a hotel room is great, even better throwing in some romance with a local or a game of cards.  Just don’t expect that something will occur that advances the story if time hasn’t really passed.  The game will seem open and sand-boxy even as a storyline unfolds because of this.  There will be set missions/adventures/hooks, and minor and major plotlines running in the fore and background.

The core reasoning here is to give the players room to Role Play their characters; there is a plot, a story moving, and you are free to interact with it all you want.  If you don’t interact with it, it will still move on, and the background scenery will change or evolve.  If you interact with it, you can influence that change.  I will do my best to present interesting NPCs, situations, and storylines to entertain all of us.

I happily accept constructive criticism, compliments, and assistance respectfully communicated.  If you want to run an NPC in a scene, run it by me first.  If you have an idea for how a storyline could go, tell me.  If you want to help keep track of combat or loot or information gained, you are welcome to pitch in.  Likewise, if you have ideas for interesting NPCs (villains, rivals or otherwise) or situations for the players to work through, please let me know.

Time Zones and RL: I am usually a bit off from many on the site.  I will do my best to post regularly and keep the action going, but patience for RL issues and time zones is a must.  As much as I enjoy PbP gaming, RL always takes precedence.  Take any delays in posting from me as an opportunity, better yet, as an invitation, to keep Role-Playing.

Writing and Grammar: My web browser has spell check ability, and any good word processor will give grammar advice. Poor grammar and writing out strange accents make it harder to read and understand a post; focus on good grammar and getting the wording right. I don’t expect three paragraphs for every post, but context, mood, thinking, posture, tone of voice are all important details. A post with just in-character speech is unacceptable.  If English is your second language, I am sympathetic and understanding (it is mine also); I urge you to take advantage of the tools available.  Separate spoken text in quotes and bold and remember:  do not post a message that contains only spoken text.  See below for more on posting etiquette.

Players: I expect characters to be interested in their surroundings, curious, good-hearted even if they are scruffy scoundrels; not evil or psychopathic.  The players and their characters must have a certain level of interested involvement.  That means not simply reacting to events as they unfold or waiting for a GM prompt, but actively investigating leads, clues, and hints: your character should be motivated to act, and to act as part of a group.  Conflict between characters is fine, but not between players.  I strongly encourage the use of the OOC thread, an OOC note separated out at the bottom of a post, or private text/messages to communicate player-to-player how a scene will unfold, what the characters are thinking, how they are motivated, etc. Remember, you the player only have the text on the screen, but your characters can read body language, interpret tone, etc. So, hashing things out amicably OOC is Great!

I also expect the Characters to be Good People.  As mentioned above, they don’t all have to be paladins or lawful good, but they are good at heart and willing to do the right thing, eventually.  Good People believe in the inherent good potential in all people.  They believe evil people can be redeemed.  A Good Person will believe that a villain can be redeemed, even in the face of betrayal and evidence to the contrary.  That doesn’t mean being gullible or stupid, but it does mean that smart good people set it up for a villain to do the right thing, with a contingency expecting them not to do so.  Good People don’t kill innocents or allow innocents to be killed.  They don’t usually break the law (some feel it is okay when necessary.)  Generally, they feel a sense of justice and act accordingly.

Finally, neither I nor the campaign will put up with hostile loners, apathetic brooders, Machiavellian manipulators, or other characters that must be coaxed into engaging with the world and cooperating with the rest of the group.

Please observe The Agency Rule and proper etiquette: it is bad form to remove another player’s agency from their own character; to perform an action on/against another player's character without that player having a chance to react. For example, Red’s player can't simply write that he picks up Mary and carries her into the building over his shoulder. Mary’s player would have to agree or have a chance to avoid Red's grasp. Likewise, with NPCs; they have agency in matters that affect them.

We acknowledge that there are often considerable differences between player knowledge and character knowledge, extending not only into awareness of the immediate scene or situation, but also into real-world versus in-game skills, other character thoughts, feelings, and motivations.  However, reasonable assumptions and allowance will be made by both GM and PC to account for such knowledge, permit out-of-character discussions regarding such knowledge, and generally assume characters are people of an intelligence and wisdom commensurate with their characteristics, background, and experience.   Likewise, I expect mature players will not use player knowledge their characters do not share to inform character actions.

Lastly, there will be no PvP in this game.  Don’t argue with me that it would be in-character for your character to attack another PC.  If that is the case, you and your character were selected for the game in error.  Arm wrestling does not count as PvP.