1) Do Not Meta-Game
"Meta-Gaming" is where a player uses information or knowledge not available to their character.

This is not that much of a problem any more and usually is exhibited by excited and enthusiastic players. As text-based games are slow many players try and be in as much action as possible or access information (such as another player spotting a sniper but being unable to warn his companions) that is not available to them.

2) Do Not Lie to, Cheat or Steal From Other Characters.
The basic social agreement of gaming is that players will work together. The game is dangerous enough for the characters without their colleagues actively trying to get them killed. Also note that while this sort of behaviour might seem like fun role-playing many players approach this as a relaxation from such behaviour. Please be considerate.

This is a new rule because, hey, I'm 56 and what was cool and edgy when I was 20 is tedious and offensive now.

3) Be Aware Your Actions Have Reactions.
You are not an island, mistreating NPCs will eventually get out, you will find it difficult to interact peacefully with the world if you have a reputation for torture or murder. It's a tough world but there are obvious over-reactions that will impact negatively on your reputations, you have been warned.

I'm not a big believer in making examples of players but sometimes you have to show that the PCs are not always the biggest dog in town, and if they have a bad reputation those big powers will seek them out.

4) You may NOT kill or attack with intent to harm another PC without prior GM approval.
The GM reserves the right to make an empathy roll, if you fail this roll you cannot bring yourself to harm the other player, although you're more than welcome to be bitter and nasty! The GM may well re-roll this without your knowledge as time and the campaign goes on, so you may 'be pushed too far' and be told that you are ready for violent confrontation, but PCs aren't permitted to open up on other PCs willy-nilly.

I use the Cyberpunk 2020 rules (without classes) and one of the statistics is "Empathy". This statistic is you interpersonal stat and is quite important in play, and it's also the sort of "shield" the players has against becoming the evil they strive against. While I hate alignments I think we can all agree that evil really does exist in the world and generally the players are opposed to it. I had to boot a guy who just up and shot another PC during an argument over a triviality, and then another guy used the new 'no attack' rule as a way of sheltering his own poor interaction, thus it was modified again. I try and make it clear that while a player knows that a gun can only do so many "hit points damage" the *character* only sees a deadly weapon.

5) Turns: The GM posts Two times a week, Australian Tuesday and Friday
You must have your response in before then or you are NPC'd for that turn. If you miss three turns without telling anyone, your PC is 'walked offstage' and out of the game. If something catastrophic has occurred, your PC is then brought back on when you can play again.

Turn Posts are different to just posting. The Turn Post moves the action along and is exactly the same as ending a round of combat, and is used for just that during combat. This gives players a firm idea of when things have to be achieved by and how long they can discuss things. Also, people were dropping out without warning or not responding and holding up turns for weeks. I picked twice a week because I had those days off more than any other reason. We had a guy who had a house fire, so you could hardly blame him for not posting, but others just vaporised and I needed a system for everyone to know when they'd be cut out. After this I always was given good warning that a player would have to miss turns

6) Players MUST answer other players
You should always answer any speech directed at your character, even if it's to only post something like 'I ignore John.'

If this isn't instituted some players aren't answered and are stuck waiting for a response, missing turns and slowing everything down. Sometimes this turns into the dreaded 'talking to the air' where players address the air rather than be held up.

7) PCs must NOT 'think aloud' about other PCs.
Never post 'Fred thinks John is a total jerk, his plan is stupid and will get them all killed.' etc. It's cowardly, the other player gets no right of response, role-play out your differences and resolve them on the board, that's the name of the game.

We had a rash of this; I had to stamp on it because I was getting a lot of off-list complaints. It's a pernicious thing that many players fall into, the other way of doing it is the PC speaks to an NPC while well away from everyone else, but it amounts to the same thing.

8) When in combat, post a combat summary after your post.
The summary looks like:
Who you are,
Haste: yes/no,
Evade: yes/no,
Where you are,
What you're using,
What you're doing.

Such as:
Private John
Haste: No
Evade: Yes
In the ditch, crouching, by the wrecked BTR.
M16A2, 5 magazines
Covering Private Fred's advance to the gully.

9) A Rules-Speak Paragraph is A Good Idea.
If you post a long and descriptive turn, you may want to follow it by a 'rulespeak paragraph' after your turn - but before your summary - if you're concerned the GM may get it wrong. Don't skimp on your descriptions, they're the meat of the game, but sometimes a quick clarification of the 'round 1: run to barn, round 2: ready M16A2, round 3: shoot at brown-haired bandit’ makes things amazingly easier for me to GM out and I hate it when I make mistakes about your intentions.

I know it's hard to come up with thrilling narrative every turn, but please try and make longer posts of good descriptions of your actions for a few reasons. Firstly, they get me really enthused to write the story for you. Secondly, they add so much to the game. Thirdly, fifteen separate posts of "yes", "no", and "maybe" tends to "spam-out" people in different time zones, they get up and there's a hundred posts of drivel that they can hardly inject themselves into. It also is amazingly confusing to GM.

10) Trim your posts.
Only have in your post the text that you are responding to or relates to your post, and only respond AFTER the text and not before.

11) Colour Your Speech.
When your PC talks, the text of his comments should be enclosed within inverted commas and the text should be Blue, this is so other players can sort your conversation from your descriptions. However, if a character thinks something they are written the same way but they are in italics; "such as this."

12) Have Fun
No, I mean it. We're here so you can have fun. If you're not enjoying yourself I want to know, PM me and I'll see what I can do about it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:23, Sun 11 Apr 2021.